These are my contributions to the drabble (100 words) "door prizes" for the July 2011 FKFicFest game (full slate). Related: Party Favors 2010.
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"While the Other Survives" (PG)
Nick sometimes berated himself for not leaving Natalie in a hospital, but that would have delivered her, hostage, to Lacroix. Instead, half-dead Natalie and newly-human Nick had seized Lacroix’s inaction to stagger into the sunrise and run for their shattered lives. Every day, a new place. Every night, barricaded against Lacroix’s pursuit.
Afflicted worse than O’Neal, Natalie healed incompletely. Stripped of his powers, Nick made mistakes. They had each other, wholly, at last. But Nick wanted so much more for Natalie than this shadow existence.
It could end only one way, Nick determined. Him or Lacroix: one had to die.
For: Twilight2000
Prompt: "Nick/Nat. What if LaCroix didn't kill everyone in LK…?"
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"No Place Like" (G)
“When I heard about your inestimable maker,” Feliks clasped his hands behind his back, “I thought, it’s too long since I’ve seen Nicholas in person.”
Nick sat in his old friend’s new house, surrounded by cardboard boxes. “As if you would abandon your gardens just to visit me.”
“London had grown stale,” Feliks admitted, settling into an armchair. “It was time. But I do want to learn who this new Lacroix-free Nicholas is. I have high hopes.” Feliks held Nick’s gaze as long as Nick would let him. Gently, Feliks asked, “Can you be at home in yourself at last?”
For: Leela-cat
Prompt: "[Nick, Feliks.] 'I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself' — Maya Angelou."
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"Rapprochement" (G)
“Got a minute, Cap?” Knight asked.
Reese gestured the detective into his office. He couldn’t help frowning. Earlier, Knight had disagreed with him in front of Commissioner Vetter and two fellow precinct captains. Reese admitted that Knight was right on the facts, but that wasn’t the point. They couldn’t work together if he couldn’t depend on Knight to recognize his own team.
“Tracy explained it to me.” Knight shut the door behind him and spread his hands. “I don’t have good instincts for ... politics. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
Reese sighed, relieved. “That’s all it takes.”
For: Waltd
Prompt: "Nick gets on the wrong side of the captain and has to get back in his/her good graces."
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"Only the Medium" (G)
Janette stared at her smartphone.
Once, Nicolas had hired minstrels to serenade her. Early in his pianoforte enthusiasm, he had composed a sonata for her. Later, he had lured her down onto piano benches beside him to turn his sheet music, partners in performance. He had cranked gramophone handles to spin cylinders, then platters, for her amusement. Radio requests and mix-tapes had had their moments.
Now, he tweeted a link to a password-protected playlist. She sighed as she clicked. But then the first track brought her his voice; the second, his fingers on his instrument; all, his mind on her.
For: LastScorpion
Prompt: "Nick/Janette. Time keeps on slipping into the future."
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"As Many Facets " (G)
The Tosca program listed her under “townspeople,” but Jennifer felt as flushed with success as any diva when she took her first bow at Four Seasons Centre. She had been growing, working, straining toward this almost since she could remember, before her school chorus, back to her dad’s cassette tapes. Stravinsky, Parker, Lennon ... even polka. She never tried to disentangle her love of music from her love for him.
Jennifer’s herd of relatives waited outside the back door; they applauded when she appeared. Her mother engulfed her in a flower-bearing hug. “Your dad would burst with pride.”
For: Gnosticdiva
Prompt: "Jenny Schanke. All grown up and a chip off the ol' block."
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"Red in Tooth and Claw" (PG-13)
The golden retriever lapped up animal blood willingly enough, Nick had seen, but so would Lacroix, deprived of another appellation. Gentle, tail-wagging Perry preferred to feed on humans. Guide-dog training could not purge that; regret over Ralegh should not disguise it.
Jody had filled a bowl on Nick’s kitchen floor with medically-discarded human blood. Nick leaned against his counter, arms crossed. His mouth watered; fangs strained; mind churned. When Perry woke, the dog snarled possessively before gulping it all and looking for more.
Jody now faced the same impossible choice Nick once had. He would try to ease her way.
For: LaFenris
Prompt: "Nick, Perry, Jody Fraser... Nick has to temporarily dogsit."
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"Catharsis " (PG)
Natalie cried on Nick’s shoulder across the divided movie-theater seats. Nick stretched his arm around her and told himself that he should have expected this. While film-festival tickets surely trumped last year’s belated birthday card and flowers, he had seen King Kong reduce her to tears. He knew how Natalie let herself find, in movies, the release that she denied herself in the real life she lived so fiercely.
Nick rested his head on Natalie’s. Tears were almost like blood; trust akin to possession. Emotions they could not otherwise share flowed freely, for a moment, in the flickering silver light.
For: MalinaldaRose
Prompt: "Nick/Natalie. An evening at the movies."
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"Not Strangers" (PG)
While the mall conveniently corralled prey, Lacroix mused, he would prefer to hunt less placid quarry. At least his errand was brief. He stepped into the electronics shop for a new modem. To his surprise, he found himself face to face with: “Doctor Lambert.”
Startled, she threw back her shoulders and met his eyes. “I won’t pretend I don’t know you.”
“Of course not.” Lacroix inclined his head. “That ruse is for Nicholas. It pains him that you’ve forgotten; and you, that you recall, yet dare not say.”
“You’re a psychopath, you know.”
“Yes.” Lacroix smiled. “And what are you?”
For: Sure_i_am
Prompt: "Natalie & LaCroix. A face-off... set pre-season 3."
END
