Thursday: Otters

[mahmfic.livejournal.com]

I'm mahmfic, your host for the week. Today's theme is Otters! Yes, these awesome semiaquatic mammals are today's theme. Interpret it any way you'd like.

Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and fandom's full name for ease adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
If your prompt or fill contains anything that can be a trigger for the reader, please add a warning for that to give the reader the chance to decide if they want to read or not.
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing. Use the spoiler cut option found here.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above mentioned spoiler cut.

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get the ball rolling...
+ Cabin Pressure, any, Arthur gets hold of 100 otters
+ Sherlock BBC, Sherlock Holmes+/John Watson, someone posts on John's blog that Sherlock's look-alike animal is a otter. John is quite amused. Sherlock is not.
+ Phineas and Ferb, Perry the Platypus|Agent P, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Agent P teams up with rookie Agent O to defeat Doofenshmirtz

We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2015 collection. See further notes on this new option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? Check out the just created Lonely Prompts Spreadsheet. For more recent prompts to write, you can also use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community.

While the Lonely Prompts Spreadsheet and LJ's advanced search options are available, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching for in the future.

tag=otters

Comments

[tigriswolf]

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, patronus

[tigriswolf]

author's choice, author's choice, [character's] daemon is a river otter

wish winter would only call you back to me (Rise of the Guardians, Jack Frost)

[rett-chan.livejournal.com]

Mere moments after the departure of the boy with white hair like snow, a white-furred river otter surfaces from the lake and clambers up onto the ice.

"Jack?" she calls in a high, wavering voice. "Jack?!"

There is no reply, only the wind.

~

Jack Frost is so, so lonely; always has been for as long as he remembers. He laughs and plays and makes fun for children who never suspect he is there, and all the while he feels as though something important has been hollowed out of his soul and forgotten.

All the people he sees have companions that never leave them, devoted talking animals that aren't really animals at all, but he has never had one, has he? If only he did, he would be so much less lonely, maybe it wouldn't even matter that he goes unseen.

He tries not to dwell on it too much.

~

The white otter, whose name is Eira, comes across a strange black horse one night. The creature sends chills through every last particle of Dust that forms her.

It prances around her, snapping and stamping with a sort of playful nastiness. It doesn't quite touch her at first, only almost, almost. She tries to run, but the creature is always there to block the way.

Finally she stops. She draws herself up to her full height and makes a snarling growl.

The strange horse's teeth fasten onto her side. She screams and writhes, and then the creature lets her go and backs off, shaking its head vigorously to rid it of the biting frost.

Eira has no idea what just happened, but thereafter she has a black mark on her side in the shape of a horse's bite. Sometimes, when she looks at it, she has a nagging feeling that she narrowly escaped becoming something terrible.

~

His memories returned and Pitch defeated, Jack Frost goes looking for Eira, his dæmon. He died, he knows, and those who have died do not have dæmons, but still he hopes.

The Man in the Moon wouldn't bring him back but not his dæmon, would he? If he did...

Best not to think of that, yet, but it would be unforgivable.

"Jack!" he hears, and it is her, unmistakably her voice. He looks around and there she is, running on the wind, her fur as white as his hair. She reaches him, barrels into his arms. He holds her to his chest and whispers, "Eira," overwhelmed.

They talk and talk, three hundred lost years to catch up on. Jack examines the black mark on Eira's side with concern, and seethes when he hears how it came to be.

"Maybe," she whispers later, "maybe Pitch had the right of it."

"Eira!" he exclaims. "How can you say that?"

"I'm not saying I like what he did, but... we've been separated for three hundred years, Jack, and the Man in the Moon knew and didn't do a thing!"

Jack holds her tight. The black mark on her side tingles.

"Forget it!" she says, abruptly afraid. "Forget I said anything!"

Jack looks at her with a blank, empty expression, and she knows he won't, can't, forget. He's already spent far too long forgetting.

Suddenly he is all smiles. "You have to meet the Guardians, Eira!" he enthuses. She nods, chuckles.

They have always been good at pretending that everything is fine, even to themselves.

[tigriswolf]

Chronicles of Narnia (films), author's choice, Otters in Narnia

[tigriswolf]

Marvel movies, ex-Winter Soldier, on his quest to rediscover his humanity, the ex-Winter Soldier comes to utterly adore sea otters

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher, Ivy, Ivy's fondness for otters saves the day

[tigriswolf]

Marvel movies, ex-Winter Soldier/Steve Rogers, otters holding hands

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, any, the hedge knight called the Slippery Otter (http://asoiafwwg.blogspot.com/2009/10/slippery-otter.html)

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor + Loki, Thor's ottering (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ottering) just about drives Loki crazy

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Any, any, no one expected them to be an otter shifter

Fill: Sherlock (BBC)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The first time John Watson found the otter in the bath he was surprised, but even then he had sufficient experience of living with Sherlock Holmes to take it in his stride and back quietly out of the bathroom, muttering about having a shower later. Similarly for the next few occasions; it was inconvenient, especially when a chase had left him feeling tired and grubby, but he had quickly learnt that by the time he had made and drunk a cup of tea the otter would have disappeared. Quite where it had gone he wasn’t sure, but as it caused much less trouble overall than Sherlock did, he wasn’t inclined to ask. The only thing he was sure about was the otter appeared when a case had involved water, be it the River Thames, the lake in Regent’s Park or, as was currently the case, the fountains in Trafalgar Square.

John was finishing his mug of tea, prior to returning to the bathroom for a shower, when he was surprised to see DI Lestrade emerge from the bathroom, wearing a towel.

“Sorry,” John said, “You’ll have to wait. There’s an otter in there.”

“Not anymore,” Lestrade replied.

“What?” John looked understandably confused as Lestrade crossed the floor to go to Sherlock’s room. (Sherlock having returned to 221B briefly had hurtled out again). “And when did you get here? I didn’t hear you arrive.”

Shortly afterwards a now dressed Lestrade re-emerged from Sherlock’s bedroom. “I came in with Sherlock.”

John looked at him and grinned. “Go on then, tell me you’re an otter.”

“Otter shifter to be exact,” Lestrade replied. “Comes in extremely useful at times.”

John suspected he was doing an excellent impression of a goldfish. “Can I get you anything?” he asked weakly.

“Coffee would be nice, thank you. And then, while we wait for Sherlock to return, would you like me to explain?”

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Any, any, conversations derailed by baby otters

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric+Alphonse Elric+Winry Rockbell, The kids find otters at the river

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Any, Any+Any, "That's otterly preposterous!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Good Omens, Any, "What does an otter have to do with anything?"

[jaune-chat.livejournal.com]

Redwall series, any otter, the first times otters discover hotroot pepper!

[mahmfic.livejournal.com]

Cabin Pressure, any, Arthur gets hold of 100 otters

Fill:

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

“That was Carolyn,” Douglas said to Martin as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. “She said we are to get to GERTI at once, followed by something incoherent, but she definitely finished by saying it was all our fault.”

“Nothing new there then,” Martin replied. “Still, I suppose we’d better do as she wants.”

They reached GERTI a few minutes later and Douglas strode up the steps and opened the passenger door to the plane. As he did so two otters trotted out and headed down the steps. Douglas grabbed hold of Martin and dragged him into the plane before hurriedly shutting the door again, narrowly avoiding trapping a further otter as he did so.

“I wish you hadn’t done that, chaps,” Arthur said. “They’re surprisingly hard to count and I’m not sure how many got out when Mum left.”

“How many do you think you’ve got?” Douglas asked.

“Well, there’s definitely 16 in the overhead lockers, but so far I’ve not been very successful in getting them sitting in pairs in the seats. They tend to wriggle out of the seat belts and move around. I know I had 100 when I began, but it all depends how many have already escaped.

Martin had been concerned at the amount of noise coming from one of the overhead lockers and had cautiously opened it, being aware that otters might well have moved even before any flight.

“Actually, Arthur,” he said, “You may have more than 100 otters now, since one of them appears to have gone into early labour. You do know1 passengers should not travel in the later stages of pregnancy, don’t you?”

Douglas sighed loudly. “I’m beginning to understand just how St Mary felt.”

[mahmfic.livejournal.com]

Sherlock BBC, Sherlock Holmes+/John Watson, someone posts on John's blog that Sherlock's look-alike animal is a otter. John is quite amused. Sherlock is not.

[mahmfic.livejournal.com]

Phineas and Ferb, Perry the Platypus|Agent P, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Agent P teams up with rookie Agent O to defeat Doofenshmirtz

[oh-mcgee.livejournal.com]

DCU, Bruce Wayne/Jason Todd, summertime + otter pops

in other news i'm going to hell.

[likewinning.livejournal.com]

"Is this really a productive use of your time?"

Jason opens one eye. He didn't hear Bruce approach him, but what fucking else is new – Jason's smaller and lighter and he's still figuring out how the hell Bruce does that.

He's not even Batman right now. He's got his office attire on, expensive suit and tie, hair slightly disheveled for that perfect Bruce Wayne doesn't actually give a shit about his business assets look.

Jason tilts his head back. It is hot as balls out here, even by the pool, but Jason's been soaking up the sun for hours, jumping in the pool now and again when he gets too hot, terrorizing Alfred by walking back into the house with wet feet so he can get more popsicles.

Alfred finally gave up after the third trek, came out with a mini cooler full of Otter Pops and a big enough container of water that Jason could probably survive out here for days.

"It's summer," Jason says. "What did you do on your summer vacations?"

"Trained," Bruce says. "Studied. Use my time to –"

"Become a super boring human being," Jason finishes for him. He fishes another popsicle out of the cooler, tears it open with his teeth. "Jesus, Bruce, it's like you were born thirty years old."

"How many of those have you had?" Bruce asks him. He takes off his suit jacket, folds it over the chair next to Jason's and sits down. His face is flushed from the heat, and one of the buttons of his shirt is undone.

"Dunno," Jason says. He slurps at the popsicle, licks his mouth when some of the juice runs down his chin. "You want some?" he asks.

"What are they?"

"Sugar," Jason says. "Otter Pops. Just about the cheapest popsicle you can buy." He bites off another piece, offers the popsicle to Bruce. "Try it, it's good."

"No thank you, Jason," Bruce says. "You should get inside. In this heat –"

He starts to stand, but Jason reaches out, curls his fingers around Bruce's tie and pulls him back down. He takes another bite of his popsicle, leaves it in his mouth and leans forward until Bruce stares at him, opens his mouth for him and lets Jason's tongue in. He lets the ice slip from his mouth into Bruce's, keeps his mouth on Bruce long after he swallows.

When he pulls back a little Bruce is still staring at him, and he reaches forward and wipes at the sticky, red juice on Jason's mouth.

"Good, right?" Jason asks.

"Hm," Bruce says. He kisses Jason again, gets his hand around the back of Jason's head to get him in closer, until Jason's moving forward off of his chair and climbing into Bruce's lap. "Oh, fuck," Jason says, and Bruce says "Language."

"Yeah, yeah," Jason says. His hand his full of melted popsicle, and so is Bruce's shirt. "Hope you didn't like this outfit too much," Jason says, showing Bruce the damage.

"It'll wash," Bruce says. He chuckles, lifts Jason's sticky hand up to his mouth and licks it clean, rolling his tongue around each finger until Jason's grinding down against him in nothing but damp swim trunks.

"You know," Jason says, a little breathlessly, "If I blew you right now, I bet it would feel so good."

"Jason," Bruce says, as Jason starts working on the buttons of Bruce's pants, his shirt, starts sliding down Bruce's body, "Not – here."

It's not no. Jason smirks up at him, lets Bruce help him back to his feet. Bruce tips his head down, licks the sweat from the dip in Jason's collarbone, slides his hand over Jason's stomach and then takes Jason's sticky hand in his and pulls him toward the door. Jason grabs a couple more popsicles, tearing another open with his teeth as they head inside.

[oh-mcgee.livejournal.com]

DCU, Jason Todd/Tim Drake, fighting because Jason refuses to watch Sherlock with him because of that weird otter dude with the stupid name

[oh-mcgee.livejournal.com]

DCU, Jason Todd/Roy Harper,  "Otters, man."  "Are you high?" "Yup. You want in on this?"

[marlex.livejournal.com]

Young Wizards, Nita Callahan+/Kit Rodriguez,
"We've never worked with otter wizards before."
"Well, then you've been missing out."

[marlex.livejournal.com]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, any, "U.S.S. Otter? Really"

[leni-ba.livejournal.com]

Mercy Thompson series. Mercy (and/or Adam). "Yes, evil otters. You have no trouble with witches, vampires and werewolves, but you draw the line at evil otters?"

[leni-ba.livejournal.com]

any. any. Otters were important to ancient cultures.

(By the way, they really were. Example: Chimú culture (https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2796/4048304627_5a29f31a7d.jpg))

[leni-ba.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter. any. An animagus who shifts into an otter.

Fill- Shift, PG

[reeby10.livejournal.com]

It takes a long time to figure out how to become an animagus since she doesn’t have anyone to help her and the books she needs are few and hard to come by. It takes even more time to practice and meditate and hope that she’ll be able to get it right, but in the end, she manages it, and it’s so, so worth it.

The first time she manages to shift, she’s locked herself in the Room of Requirement and it changes to give her some water to swim around in, and while she’s immensely proud of herself, it’s not quite right yet. Two days later, she sneaks out of the castle in the middle night and makes her way to the lake.

The water is cold right up until she shifts into her otter form, and then it’s absolutely perfect. She glides easily through the water, fur slicked down, and she laughs and plays by herself, free and happier than she thinks she’s ever felt.

She flops up on the shore hours later, unsure of exactly how long she’d been out there. Dawn was just tinting the sky, so apparently much longer than she’d meant to stay, but she’d been having too much fun to stop. She shifts back to human, already missing the freedom of her animagus shape, and dries off with a quick flick of her wand. She whistles as she makes her way back to the castle, already planning her next escapade.