Monday: After the End
Sep. 6th, 2010 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misslucyjane posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
comment_ficThe series is over. The movie has ended. The episode’s end credits have rolled.
What then?
The theme here is to take an ending, any ending, and write what happens next. Your prompt can be right after the fade-to-black or years later--centuries later, even.
A reminder of the rules:
What then?
The theme here is to take an ending, any ending, and write what happens next. Your prompt can be right after the fade-to-black or years later--centuries later, even.
A reminder of the rules:
- No more than three prompts per fandom
- No more than five prompts in a row
- If one or more of your prompts is filled, you can then prompt again
- No spoilers within prompts until a week after the airdate/release
- Warn for spoilers in bold and leave at least three spaces before the text
Remember to follow the format for our lovely coders:
For a single fandom:
Inception, Ariadne, she misses building dreams
Ten Things I Hate About You (movie), Kat/Patrick, the college years
For multiple fandoms / crossovers:
White Collar/Supernatural, Peter + Dean, lessons in the apple-pie life
If nothing here is your cuppa tea, take a look at the archive of Lonely Prompts.
tag = aftertheend
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Date: 2010-09-06 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 04:56 pm (UTC)She made the decision, after the inception job, to go back to school and finish her degree. She graduates with top marks. After that, she has job offers pouring in from every corner of the world imaginable – from the New York to Dubai.
She once thought that it would be exciting, flying across the world to design towering structures, artful and intricate, and yet majestic and powerful. She, she thinks, it still is exciting, as she signs a contract in Paris. But not nearly as exciting as the artful intricacies of the penrose stairs. Or the majestic power of buildings folding in upon themselves.
Ariadne entertains the idea of calling Cobb, just to catch up. Besides her, he is the only one of the team whose phone number lasts for more than three months. He also is no longer an extractor.
She calls him anyway, asks him how his children are, how he likes his new job. She tells him about Paris, and about building design, and about how she thought she saw Eames at an architectural conference in Cape Town, but she isn’t sure.
When she hangs up, she’s happy – but it’s not really enough. Still, it is reassurance that everything that happened to her was real – in a very loose sense of the word.
Perhaps it is fate, that she is just finishing her year’s contract in Paris when she receives another phone call, from an unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Ariadne?”
She is sure that her heart is pounding so loud, it can be heard over the phone. “Arthur!” she greets him. “How are you?”
“Good,” he answers. “I’ve been good. Do you want to grab lunch?”
“You’re in Paris?” she asks, surprised.
He assures her that he is in Paris, and she suggests a café to meet at, only twenty minutes away. The entire walk there she is already nervous with anticipation. Talking with Cobb was good, but meeting up with Arthur is better.
He is already in the café when she sits down. She smiles at him, takes a seat, and nonchalantly sets down her purse. When a waitress comes, she orders a coffee from the menu.
“It’s great to see you again,” she says, and she means it. “What are you doing in Paris?”
“Recruiting for a job,” he says with a bit of a smile. “You look good.”
“Thanks,” Ariadne says. She keeps her expression neutral, but inside, there are a thousand questions. “What kind of job?” she asks.
“Just normal extraction,” he says nonchalantly. “We’re kind of in the market for a good architect.”
Ariadne swallows hard. She looks up at Arthur, afraid to ask if he means what she thinks he means.
“I know you’re busy, and everything, but it’s a big extraction job, and our current architect just won’t cut it. He’s alright, but he doesn’t have the mind for it like you do. And they’re offering eight figures, split between us. What do you say?”
Ariadne grins.
“Of course,” she says. “Where are we preparing?”
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Date: 2010-09-06 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:25 pm (UTC)Filled!
Date: 2010-12-21 08:44 pm (UTC)Working for a tech company wasn’t quite as satisfying for Dwayne as his other occupations had been. But they were saving money for the baby, and that was what was important. Meanwhile, Whitley finally snagged a job teaching southern-accented English to Japanese businessmen.
They would walk together along the water, enjoying the lights and the night life, their last few months as single people. Whitley was as big as a house, but she didn’t mind when they went dancing at night, or off to the nightclubs and enjoying the arcades and the temples.
It was a cultural adjustment, to be sure. As much as the Japanese had a fondness for American culture, it wasn’t America, not even close. But they were together, they had each other (and, eventually, little Denzel). It was a good life.
Re: Filled!
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Date: 2010-09-06 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-18 04:22 pm (UTC)"I wasn- Oh, Oliver, dear..." Mrs. Weasley was surprised but worry seeped into her eyes. She glanced around and when she didn't see Percy her eyes fell back on Oliver. "Is-is everything alright?"
Oliver smiled reassuringly, "Every is fine, Mrs. Weasley. I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment?" It wasn't happiness he felt when Mrs. Weasley had instantly been worried about her son; just relief that his being there was going to make a difference.
Mrs. Weasley stepped back and opened the door wider. "Of course, Oliver. Come in, I'll put on tea."
Oliver followed her to the kitchen and took a seat at their worn table. He rub his fingers over the soft wood and looked around imagining all of the Weasleys around it eating their meals. It wasn't his first visit, but usually the entire family was around. It was his first time sitting alone in the Burrow. It was different and felt so small when there was no one filling the spaces. Everyone was always laughing and there was joking and on their last visit it had been the same. Even Oliver who was just becoming apart of them felt accepted. Then he saw Percy sitting to the side, quiet, head down. When he confronted Percy at their flat he would only say: they had nothing to say to me. He wouldn't argue it either. His siblings never drew him into the conversations and the few stilted conversations Percy had managed with his father had fizzled out when Percy had brought the conversation back to Ministry work two times. Oliver found it boring too, but it was what Percy was passionate for.
Oliver was here to put a stop to it. Shaking knees and all he was going to have this conversation with the Weasley Matriarch and they would make a difference together.
Mrs. Weasley set a tea tray down on the table and sat down, with a wave of her wand the pot was pouring and the sugar was spooning out. "Percy doesn't know you're here, does he, dear?"
Oliver smiled, "No ma'am. I don't think he would...appreciate my intentions for today's visit."
"You can call me Molly, Oliver. Hopefully these are the beginnings of you becoming a part of this family." Oliver blushed at the confidence in her words.
He took a sip of tea to gather his thoughts again. "Mrs- Molly, I came to talk about Percy, no. I came for Percy. He wont admit it, not in so many words, but he's miserable," Molly's eyes became glossy but no tears formed yet. "He knows he's forgiven, but he doesn't feel like he's apart of this family any more." Now there were tears and Oliver felt terrible; he hadn't come to make Molly cry. He rushed on, "I know he can be boring, with all his talk about the Ministry, but it's what he loves. And he's never fit in well with his other siblings teasing. I think, though, those are the things he misses most." Suddenly Oliver thought that Percy was either going to love him for eternity or hate him.
Molly folded her hands on the table, eyes downcast. "We've wanted to give him his space. Told the boys to behave themselves and well, Arthur and him... They'll work it between them. They will." She wiped her eyes and looked at Oliver, "I just want babies to be together. I was afraid he'd leave, again."
Oliver reached across the small space and covered her hands. "He doesn't want to go any where, but he is the same old Percy. He's gonna talk about regulations and Ministry politics. And he still wants all the unwanted attention his brothers can muster." Molly smiled and touched his cheek softly.
"You're so good for my boy." Oliver blushed again at the praise and then they were off on more pleasant conversations. Molly wanted to know how Quidditch was and he RVSP'd for the next Weasley family dinner.
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Date: 2010-09-06 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 04:05 pm (UTC)Of course they did.
Mal said a few words, they drank wine and kissed and danced and went to their quarters and made love for hours.
New crewmembers came on board. Became part of the family.
He worked on patching up their bodies. She kept their home running smoothly.
He worked on patching up her body when their home didn't run so smoothly.
She bore him twins, and River loved them intensely. There was little trace of her madness left --- and what remained was more eccentricity than insanity.
Mal had snarled that the black wasn't no place for a kid. Let alone two.
Until he'd held them for the first time. Then he'd decorated a storage area himself for a nursery.
They were happy. They were together.
They were family.
Simon and Kaylee Tam. For all time and for beyond.
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Date: 2010-09-06 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:43 pm (UTC)Battlestar Galactica, Apollo, his new life on Earth
Date: 2011-01-23 05:26 pm (UTC)When they got through the first winter, he took a break. He packed some supplies and headed out into the wilderness. They got through the winter, but he was sure there were better areas to settle. He was sure there was something he could do out there that the people who had loved ones could not.
He walked for a while, then hiked and eventually had to climb. He went as far as he could go before he stopped and made a neat, military-squared away camp. Then he sat next to his perfectly stacked fire and sobbed hard for the better part of a week. He stopped eating and barely drank from his water supply. He let himself get filthy and only slept in five minute fits.
It helped. Apollo was an identity he'd created to survive, but Lee was the one who'd wanted to bring people to a new home. Lee was the one who sat up on the eighth day and felt like himself. He washed in a river and caught fish. He made dinner and ate ravenously.
Then, once his strength was replenished, he let himself think clearly about what he'd lost. Of course, he wished his father and Kara could be there, but he'd been disappointed before.
He knew there was no guarantee he and Kara would ever have been able to make it work. She had been married - had been widowed. She had been the one to sacrifice Sam and buy so many other lives. That would have been hard for her to live with. Kara coped with stress by having sex with anyone who wanted her, and he thought bitterly that at least watching her frak the entire new world was less people than when she'd been frakking the entire fleet.
As for his father, Lee knew their issues would never be gone. He knew there was no happiness without understanding, and he still did not understand his father - except when he was understanding him all too well. All his mistakes had been his father's first, Bill's failed marriage and despairing wife becoming Dee, Saul Tigh's endless frak-ups becoming Kara's willful confidence Lee would cover for her at her worst.
He would have had to get over it. He was getting over it. He was trying. And he was doing it with his feet on solid ground and blue sky above. Sometimes it seemed like the stars were listening, so he told them whatever he would have said to his father or Kara. He talked to them like friends, and trusted their secrecy.
"I love you both," he said, up into the night air. "Dad, Kara. I remember you, Zack, Mom. I'm all right. This is a good place."
Lee Adama retired his pilot persona before he went back to his people. It felt right for Apollo to go wherever the Old Man and Starbuck had gone.
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Date: 2010-09-06 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-06 02:46 pm (UTC)*snuggles*
Date: 2010-09-06 03:12 pm (UTC)But his key still works, and the baby in his arms is uncannily quiet. Even Matty knows how important, how significant this place was to him. Matt rubs his forehead against his son's, soft tuft of blond hair brushing harder scruff of black. "This is where Daddy lived," he says, a sad smile on his face. "This is where Daddy lived with his best friend and his favorite girl." He pauses. "Daddy misses them a lot."
"Daddy talks to himself in the third person," says a clean British snap of a voice, a smile in the tone, and Matt turns around and stares, dumbfounded, at two pairs of eyes focused on him.
Then there are skinny girl's arms around his waist, squeezing hard, and Matt oofs before he can say anything else. The bright flash of teeth behind a sunny smile. Tiny fingers reaching out to meet an outstretched hand. And somehow now Mohinder's holding Matty and Matt's lifted Molly up in some bizarre switcheroo laced with laughter and not a few tears.
"Welcome home," Mohinder says to him. Their eyes lock. Matt lowers his eyes and nods.
"Can I hold him?" Molly leaps down, reaches for Matty.
Once Mohinder hands him off, that leaves him and Matt as the only two who have not yet embraced. They look at each other, laugh awkwardly. Then Matt's head is on Mohinder's shoulder, and Mohinder's forearms are resting against his back. It's an embrace much more intimate than any they've ever shared, but it doesn't feel odd. It feels right. And although Mohinder welcomed him home a few minutes ago, now is when Matt says, soft into the hollow of neck and shoulder: "Nice to be home."
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