pinch-hit: outside pov

[tigriswolf]

Today's theme is outside pov because the reader knowing something the narrator doesn't is always fun. Whether it be an original character's pov, or a secondary character, or however else you choose to interpret, give us your outside pov prompts, yeah?


Y'all know the rules:


*No more than five prompts in a row.
*No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
*No spoilers in prompts.

If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space.

Have fun!

Comments

[tigriswolf]

Highlander, author's choice, on the surface, Adam Pierson isn't all that impressive

[tigriswolf]

Cinderella (any), author’s choice, pov of a person at the ball who knew the mysterious woman for who she was – and attended the wedding, smiling

Filled - based on Ever After: A Cinderella Story

[tinhutlady.livejournal.com]

“Your father doesn’t know what true beauty is,” the old man said as his aged hands swept across the parchment with graceful, sure strokes. “Dressing you like this. Sketching you like this.” He blew out a breath and smiled at the expressionless girl. “A portrait for a man you do not know? This is not what finds you a husband.” He paused. “Or is it that you already know what finds you a good husband? Perhaps he knows what makes a good wife, too, eh?”

The perfectly poised female sitting in the chair squirmed a little, blushed, and did not meet his eyes. Instead she gazed out the window behind him and tried to regain her composure.

“Ah! Now you remind me of her - a young peasant woman I met once, a woman who was not breathtaking by any means, only handsome. She worked her family’s fields. She read books. She did everything a woman shouldn’t, such as speak her mind and have her own thoughts. She dreamed. She fell in love, too. I prepared the costume for her so she could attend a ball and meet her love in secret.” He noticed the change in breathing in the woman before him and nodded knowingly.

“No gown, no shoes, no perfume, or powder could have aided her the moment she saw him, for the beauty that was within her, the love she felt for him,” he sighed again and tapped his charcoal-smeared finger knowingly against the side of his nose, “outshone all the trappings I had dressed her in. And him? Well, his love was just as evident. Even though his parents were surprised by her lower station, they recognized love and were defeated. Those two were married and are married still. They make a good king and queen, don’t you think?”

A small smile delicately curved the young cheek, and the eyes sparkled with wondrous life. Quickly he captured it in the image he was sketching, transforming the two-dimensional art into a living thing of beauty, grace, and emotion.

When the father came in later, he frowned at the picture of his little girl and beckoned the artist over.

“This is not what I asked for,” he said. “This is not my little girl.”

“No, this is the woman your little girl has become. Someone loves her and she loves him in return.”

“But she has never met the man I have chosen for her.”

The artist chuckled and nodded toward the empty chair. “And she probably never will.”

[tigriswolf]

Avengers movieverse, author’s choice, outside pov on the first time the Winter Soldier and Captain America fight together on the same team

MCU - Steve + Bucky

[ghostdude101.livejournal.com]

This is Sergeant Helena Cain’s second time working with the Avengers. Well, ‘with’ is a relative term, the last time she mostly handled evacuating the civilians and guarding the perimeter. But what the hell, she’d been close enough to the action, and she even killed a couple of the bastards they were fighting, so she counts it as one anyway.

There is none of that this time. She was in the thick of the action, ducked behind a crumbling wall with the archer - Hawkeye, was it - and picking off whatever they’re fighting this time, one by one. Robots? Monsters? Aliens? She can’t even tell anymore, but it doesn’t really matter, does it, when the most important thing is that they die when they get shot in the head.

She keeps up the assault for a while, but eventually her bullets run out and there was nothing she could do but stay crouched and hope that nothing gets past the shelter.

She sees bright colours through the corner of her eyes and turns to see Captain America running into the fray, his shield flying true, hitting one, two, three enemies in the head before returning to his outstretched hand. There was another man beside him, and her heart drops when she recognises him. She’s seen him before, over and over on the news when all the madness was going down; helicarriers going down, Captain America arrested for treason, the gunfight in the streets. She shudders just thinking about it.

Apparently the man - the Winter Soldier, that was what they called him - is fighting on the Avengers’ side now. He’s keeping up with Cap’s pace, watching his back and not letting any threat get too close to him.

Watching them fighting side by side was, well, interesting, to say the least. They aren’t perfectly in sync, not yet at least. It reminds her of her rookie days, when she was still trying to get used to the NYPD blues, still trying to shake the awkwardness with her partner.

She and Danny had gotten there eventually, and she had a feeling these two would, too. It was obvious that they were used to keeping each other safe, at least. The Captain’s shield would come down in front of the Winter Soldier, blocking a blast, and come back up just as the other man lines up his shot, a split second before he pulled the trigger.

The longer the fight goes on, the more restless she gets. She hates feeling like a sitting duck, and the feeling multiples tenfold when an explosion erupts somewhere near her, showering her with debris. Hawkeye had disappeared somewhere, presumably running out of ammunition just like her.

She chances a look around the wall, and finds that a silvery weapon-looking thing was lying there beside a dead enemy. She tries not to focus on the dead body, not wanting to lose her nerve, and gauges the distance of the weapon. It’s just out of her reach, so she takes a deep breath and listens carefully to the sound of the fighting. When she thinks it’s the best chance she is going to get, she goes for it, darting out of her hiding place, grabbing the weapon and dashing back as fast as she can. She presses back against the wall for a second, heart pounding, and then takes a look at the thing.

The weapon wasn’t too hard to figure out. It’s a kind of laser blaster, long and hollow, with the trigger at the end. She doesn’t fiddle with any of the buttons, just sights along the barrel and pulls the trigger, bracing for a recoil. There wasn’t any, just a sharp whine as a bolt of light leaps out of the front. Her first shot was wide, but as she gets used to the strange trigger, she begins to hit closer and closer to where she was aiming.

That is, until a loud shout makes her jump. It is already very loud around her, but the anger and desperation in the cry makes her take look. It was the Captain, shouting something she couldn’t hear as he shoved the Winter Soldier back with his shoulder, taking the brunt of the shot that was meant for him.

[tigriswolf]

Supernatural, author’s choice, one of Dean’s old teachers sees him on the news – “I always knew that boy was no good.”

[tigriswolf]

Avengers movieverse, author’s choice, any of the Howling Commando’s pov on Steve’s rescue of Bucky

[iceybreath.livejournal.com]

Transformers (any), Megatron/Starscream + any, how Decepticons and Autobots see their relationship

[likewinning.livejournal.com]

The Following, any FBI agent, Ryan Hardy through the eyes of anyone not drinking the Ryan Hardy Kool-Aid

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward/Winry, "They're not dating?"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Fullmetal Alchemist, Roy+Any, the Playboy Colonel

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Burn Notice, Fiona+/Michael, They're explosive, but they work

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Burn Notice, Sam Axe, more dangerous than he appears

[tigriswolf]

Godzilla (2014), author’s choice, reactions across the world

[ciaimpala.livejournal.com]

The Musketeers (BBC), D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis; another musketeer reflects on the close bond between the four men and how they would do anything for each other

[likewinning.livejournal.com]

Fight Club, any space monkey, Marla and Tyler's relationship through their eyes

[scribblemyname]

X-Men Movieverse, any, an X-girl has an outside job (superheroing won't pay the bills) and their co-workers outside POV not knowing they're a mutant

[scribblemyname]

MCU, Clint + any, they don't really believe or else don't know that Clint grew up in a carnival though the signs are there

[scribblemyname]

The Unusuals, Casey + her dad, Casey's dad's POV when she grew up and/or her job

[scribblemyname]

The Unusuals, Walsh/Beaumont, Beaumont's POV of Walsh's secrets before they were together

[scribblemyname]

MCU, Natasha/Clint/Bucky, no one really knows what those three are up to

fill

[likewinning.livejournal.com]

"It's weird, right?" Tony asks him. Steve thinks Tony means the way he's been staring at Clint and Bucky for the last five minutes as they stand around talking, but with Tony, it could be anything, so he asks, "What's weird?"

"Those three," Tony says, gesturing to Clint and Bucky. There's only two of them, but Steve knows he means and Natasha. It's rare to see all three of them together at once, unless it's during a battle, but Steve – reluctant as he is to admit it – knows what Tony means.

It started a couple months ago, when Bucky first came to live at the tower. At first he kept to himself, only really speaking to Steve – and even then, as needed – but gradually, Steve noticed him with the others.

He's not sure who was first, Clint or Natasha. The longer it goes on, this magnetic, unspoken sort of thing between the three of them, the less sure Steve is of much about the three of them work.

All he knows, really, is that he catches Bucky smiling a little more each day. He sees him and Barton pull slowly away from each other when he passes them by, catches a little brush of the hands or an exchanged heated glance; he overhears Bucky and Natasha chatting softly in Russian, and wishes only fleetingly that he knew what they were saying.

Even if he asked, Steve's sure he wouldn't get an answer from any of them. Ex-spies have their secrets, and he respects that, even if he doesn't always like it.

Which is more than he can say for Tony.

"No one really knows what those three are up to," Stark says.

Steve looks over at Clint and Bucky, both of whom seem lost in that little world of them. He thinks how Natasha hasn't changed her hair or her cover in some time. "Well," Steve says. "It's not really anyone else's business, is it?" he asks, and he claps Tony on the shoulder in a way he hopes conveys they're not a science project, Tony, find something else to study.

[ivotedforsaxon.livejournal.com]

Pacific Rim, Newt/Hermann + any, "I thought they hated each other."

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Animorphs, any or all main six, one of the Auxes' POV.

[icarus-chained.livejournal.com]

Star Trek TOS, Spock/McCoy + Any, "Are they enemies?" "I'm not sure they're sure." (from 'Bread and Circuses')

[tigriswolf]

Highlander, any immortal friend of Duncan's, thoughts on Duncan's student Adam Pierson

[wrong-song.livejournal.com]

It's not that Amanda doesn't like Adam. She likes him very much - first for the obvious reasons, and then for the not-so-obvious ones - and it's the realization of the latter that makes her take a step back and really look at him.

What she finds is a man who's smart enough to challenge his teacher, but not so smart that he can't still be taught, and who's not defenseless by any means - or, at least, not anymore? - but still with just enough vulnerability, a newness to all of this, that makes him near irresistible.

Beyond the surface, she finds something else. It's just an impression, instinct cultivated over a millennium, but something about him feels wrong. Takes one to know one, as they say, and she certainly knows what it's like to pretend to be someone else, and then someone else, and then someone else - hiding bits and pieces of herself from the world, from her friends, from her partners, for reasons both innocent and less so. Is that what she's seeing? And if so, why? There's no point that she can see. Surely, he must've found Duncan vulnerable at some point in the last three months, and if he just wants to hide, he could do better than apprenticeship to an Immortal who hasn't even changed his name in 400 years.

Amanda likes to think she's perfected the art of spotting a con, even a good one. Adam is either a very, very good one, or she's reading too much into all of this, and he's exactly who he seems to be.

After hanging around both of them for a few weeks with no discernible cracks in the facade, she decides it might be best for her continued sanity if she moves on and lets Duncan figure this one out himself.

Months later, when she learns the truth, she feels a strange mix of vindication and awe, the latter lasting just about long enough for her to meet the real Adam.

Then again, maybe that's just how he wants her to feel.

[tigriswolf]

Avengers movieverse, Zola, he is not at all surprised that James Buchanan Barnes is on the kill list for his algorithm

[nanoks.livejournal.com]

Supernatural: Wee!chesters, the nurse in the hospital watching Dean hold his baby brother knew the older boy would be the younger boys lifelong protector