FIC: Oz drabbles (various characters, R)
Feb. 27th, 2013 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanillalimeI recently participated in the Waiter, There's An Oz Drabble Tree In My Soup drabble tree. I wrote seven Oz ficlets for the tree: two centering on the Beecher/Keller relationship, two featuring Claire Howell (my favorite "love-to-hate" character), an Oz/SVU crossover AU, a Leeloni RPF, and one that I wrote to prove to myself that I was capable of acknowledging the canon events of Season 666. Heh.
It was my first time writing Oz fic, and it was great to have a fun, low-pressure opportunity to get my feet wet. Hopefully, the experience helps pave the way for writing bigger and better Oz stories.
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Prompt: really little kids, fromlunadesangre
(Beecher/Stabler)
Length: 262 words
Toby sat down on the park bench near the play area for really little kids, far away from the basketball court. The bigger kids hanging out over there--the ones who rode dirt bikes and used swear words and wrestled around on the ground--always scared him a little. His dad said he would be in the courthouse for only a few minutes, but Toby had heard that before.
Toby opened up his book to the carefully marked page. He was working his way through all the Hardy Boys Mysteries, in order, and was currently on #29. As he began to read, Toby became oblivious to his surroundings.... until a dark, unmoving shadow blocked his light. He looked up into the face of a boy a little bigger than him, with blazing blue eyes, short dark hair, and a crooked grin that could pass for either nasty or nice.
"That's a good one," the boy said. "I've read them all. I'm going to be a detective, just like them, when I grow up."
Toby smiled brightly. He liked this boy already. "Me, too. Or maybe a lawyer, like my dad."
"My name's Elliot. Wanna play Hardy Boys? I get to be Frank, since I have dark hair and I'm older. You'd make a good Joe."
"Sure!" Toby exclaimed. "What do you want to do?"
Elliot looked over at the basketball court. "My cousin Chris is over there. I'm sure he's up to no good. Let's go investigate."
Toby jumped up and eagerly walked with Elliot across the playground. He wasn't scared anymore.
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Prompt: sits down at the other end of the bus, fromakio4000
(Beecher/Keller)
Length: 178 words
Chris shuffles past the hack and sits down at the other end of the bus. The ride from Cedar Junction back to Oz will take hours, but Chris doesn’t mind, knowing that every mile will bring him closer to Toby. He can’t wait to breathe the same rank air as him, wash in the same rusty water that he uses, eat the same disgusting food that he does. He hopes McManus will put him back in Toby’s pod.
He wonders if the place has changed much, but he doesn’t really care as long as the one constant remains. Then he laughs. When did he begin to think of Toby as a constant in Em City? He thinks and answers his own question. When they realized that they loved each other. He associates Em City with their love, and it remains constant, even when they do their best to show that it doesn’t.
Yessiree, this long bus ride wasn’t going to bother him one bit.
It never occurs to Chris that he might not go back to Em City.
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Prompt: the sound of chair legs scuttling, fromcmk418
(Lee Tergesen/Christopher Meloni)
Length: 184 words
Warning: RPF
Chris impatiently tapped his menu against the edge of the table. It had been too long since he’d last seen him. It was always too long.
Then Lee was there, and Chris barely had the time to stand before he was wrapped by strong arms into a lingering bear hug. God, he always smelled so good.
Over the sound of chair legs scuttling, he heard Lee say, “So, guess what?” as they sat down.
“What?” he automatically replied as he handed him the other menu.
Lee grabbed his hand, pushing the menu down. “No. Guess.”
Chris turned to look at Lee and saw on his face overwhelming happiness, excitement, pride. And he didn’t have to guess. He knew.
Immediately, he thought of a dozen irreverent jokes, but for once he was unable to vocalize them. Perhaps it was because his throat was suddenly so very tight. Instead, he reached out and cradled Lee’s face in both his hands, looked directly into his eyes, and saw tears welling up to match his own. Then he found his voice.
“Bitch, you will make a great father.”
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Prompt: swooning princess, frombalder12
(Suzanne Fitzgerald)
Length: 136 words
After Macbeth’s catastrophic ending, Suzanne decides her next Oz production should be less violent and performed by staff. The story of Snow White seems safe, and, in an attempt at dramatic irony, she casts Claire Howell as the swooning princess.
Unfortunately, Claire becomes a diva, constantly making petty demands during rehearsals and belittling colleagues and superiors. She is universally hated by the time the curtain opens.
The show goes well, though, until the end, when Prince Charming Murphy plants Love’s First Kiss on the enchanted Snow White. When Claire doesn’t respond to his kiss, Murphy looks closer, then calmly exclaims:
“That bitch is dead!”
As a poisoned apple is held up, chaos erupts and accusations fly. Suzanne buries her head in her hands. She is never going to make it to Broadway with this track record.
_________________
Prompt: A fucking birthday cake?!, fromakio4000
(Beecher/Keller)
Length: 219 words
After a long day of brain-numbing data input, Toby returned to an empty pod to find an opened package placed on top of his bunk.
A fucking birthday cake?! Jesus, he just will NOT give up.
Toby had spent weeks dulling his animosity toward Keller to apathy, finding constant anger to be exhausting and unhealthy. He wondered if Keller had misinterpreted this transformation as forgiveness.
Toby picked up the cake and tried to decide whether to dump it, give it someone else, or save it to smash in Keller’s face. Then he caught a whiff of the sugary frosting and felt his stomach rumble. Knowing his birthday dinner would consist of chicken nuggets, he elected to swallow his pride.
As Toby grabbed a handful, his fingertips hit something surprisingly hard buried in the center. Slowly, he pulled out a plastic baggie containing a small wrapped object. Inside the wrappings was an old gold wristwatch.
His father’s wristwatch.
Toby closed his eyes and clutched the watch in his hand. Shock gave way to the confusion of How? When? Where?, but he knew that, once again, Keller had somehow masterminded the impossible.
When Chris sat down next to him at dinner that night, Toby, for the first time since his return to Oz, did not get up and move elsewhere.
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Prompt: that was just too easy, fromakio4000
(Claire, Gloria, Diane)
Length: 219 words
Claire walked into the breakroom with a heavy sigh and poured herself a cup of coffee.
Gloria and Diane looked up from their conversation. “Rough shift?” Gloria asked.
“The usual shit,” Claire replied. “O’Reily was giving me a hard time.”
“I’ll bet,” Diane said under her breath.
Claire glared at her. “But I did have the pleasure of breaking up Keller and Beecher.”
“For fucking or fighting?”
With a roll of her eyes, Claire answered, “I can’t tell the difference anymore.”
“O’Reily, Keller, Beecher,” Gloria murmured, shaking her head.
Claire grinned. “Marry, fuck, kill.”
“Marry Beecher, fuck Keller, kill O’Reily,” said Diane quickly. “That was just too easy.”
“I disagree,” retorted Claire. “Kill Beecher, fuck O’Reily, marry Keller.”
“You would kill Beecher?”
“Yeah, a mercy-killing,” explained Claire. “What about you, Dr. Nathan? I bet you’d marry O’Reily, fuck Beecher, kill Keller.”
“Why do you say that?”
Claire raised an eyebrow and smirked. Quickly, a heated discussion followed, voices overlapping as rumors collided with secret desires. None of the women noticed the arrival of additional bodies into the room and were startled when someone yelled out, “Hey, why are you ladies so worked up?”
The three women turned and looked into the faces of McManus, Murphy, and Father Mukada. Then they looked at each other and burst into laughter.
The game was over, and they knew better than to have a second round.
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Prompt: family had to come first, fromlisacali
(Angus Beecher)
Length: 248 words
Angus quietly looked around the unfamiliar private visiting room, thinking about all the things he could be doing if it weren’t for the fact that family had to come first. They had spent months pulling strings (and greasing a few palms) to get Toby into this facility after Oz was declared uninhabitable. But his mother was no longer able to handle these visits--emotionally, mentally, physically--and, as the new proverbial head of the family, Angus had offered to relieve her burden.
The guard delivered Toby to the room, and Angus thought he saw genuine happiness behind those glassy eyes. He felt ashamed for not feeling the same in return.
When Angus began the conversation by trying to explain why their mother wasn’t there, Toby asked why their father hadn’t come instead. When Angus pulled out the new photos of Holly to share, Toby asked to see new ones of Gary. When Angus tried to update him on the status of his legal situation, Toby asked how Keller’s appeals were coming.
Angus had never been a very good liar. As he sadly hugged Toby good-bye, he realized these visits would be useful in honing his skills as a lawyer.
When the doctor emerged from behind the two-way mirror, Angus looked at him with confused disappointment.
“I thought you said this was one of his good days,” he commented.
The doctor looked at him sympathetically and replied, “The days when he doesn’t remember ARE his good days.”
It was my first time writing Oz fic, and it was great to have a fun, low-pressure opportunity to get my feet wet. Hopefully, the experience helps pave the way for writing bigger and better Oz stories.
_________________
Prompt: really little kids, from
lunadesangre(Beecher/Stabler)
Length: 262 words
Toby sat down on the park bench near the play area for really little kids, far away from the basketball court. The bigger kids hanging out over there--the ones who rode dirt bikes and used swear words and wrestled around on the ground--always scared him a little. His dad said he would be in the courthouse for only a few minutes, but Toby had heard that before.
Toby opened up his book to the carefully marked page. He was working his way through all the Hardy Boys Mysteries, in order, and was currently on #29. As he began to read, Toby became oblivious to his surroundings.... until a dark, unmoving shadow blocked his light. He looked up into the face of a boy a little bigger than him, with blazing blue eyes, short dark hair, and a crooked grin that could pass for either nasty or nice.
"That's a good one," the boy said. "I've read them all. I'm going to be a detective, just like them, when I grow up."
Toby smiled brightly. He liked this boy already. "Me, too. Or maybe a lawyer, like my dad."
"My name's Elliot. Wanna play Hardy Boys? I get to be Frank, since I have dark hair and I'm older. You'd make a good Joe."
"Sure!" Toby exclaimed. "What do you want to do?"
Elliot looked over at the basketball court. "My cousin Chris is over there. I'm sure he's up to no good. Let's go investigate."
Toby jumped up and eagerly walked with Elliot across the playground. He wasn't scared anymore.
_________________
Prompt: sits down at the other end of the bus, from
akio4000(Beecher/Keller)
Length: 178 words
Chris shuffles past the hack and sits down at the other end of the bus. The ride from Cedar Junction back to Oz will take hours, but Chris doesn’t mind, knowing that every mile will bring him closer to Toby. He can’t wait to breathe the same rank air as him, wash in the same rusty water that he uses, eat the same disgusting food that he does. He hopes McManus will put him back in Toby’s pod.
He wonders if the place has changed much, but he doesn’t really care as long as the one constant remains. Then he laughs. When did he begin to think of Toby as a constant in Em City? He thinks and answers his own question. When they realized that they loved each other. He associates Em City with their love, and it remains constant, even when they do their best to show that it doesn’t.
Yessiree, this long bus ride wasn’t going to bother him one bit.
It never occurs to Chris that he might not go back to Em City.
_________________
Prompt: the sound of chair legs scuttling, from
cmk418(Lee Tergesen/Christopher Meloni)
Length: 184 words
Warning: RPF
Chris impatiently tapped his menu against the edge of the table. It had been too long since he’d last seen him. It was always too long.
Then Lee was there, and Chris barely had the time to stand before he was wrapped by strong arms into a lingering bear hug. God, he always smelled so good.
Over the sound of chair legs scuttling, he heard Lee say, “So, guess what?” as they sat down.
“What?” he automatically replied as he handed him the other menu.
Lee grabbed his hand, pushing the menu down. “No. Guess.”
Chris turned to look at Lee and saw on his face overwhelming happiness, excitement, pride. And he didn’t have to guess. He knew.
Immediately, he thought of a dozen irreverent jokes, but for once he was unable to vocalize them. Perhaps it was because his throat was suddenly so very tight. Instead, he reached out and cradled Lee’s face in both his hands, looked directly into his eyes, and saw tears welling up to match his own. Then he found his voice.
“Bitch, you will make a great father.”
_________________
Prompt: swooning princess, from
balder12(Suzanne Fitzgerald)
Length: 136 words
After Macbeth’s catastrophic ending, Suzanne decides her next Oz production should be less violent and performed by staff. The story of Snow White seems safe, and, in an attempt at dramatic irony, she casts Claire Howell as the swooning princess.
Unfortunately, Claire becomes a diva, constantly making petty demands during rehearsals and belittling colleagues and superiors. She is universally hated by the time the curtain opens.
The show goes well, though, until the end, when Prince Charming Murphy plants Love’s First Kiss on the enchanted Snow White. When Claire doesn’t respond to his kiss, Murphy looks closer, then calmly exclaims:
“That bitch is dead!”
As a poisoned apple is held up, chaos erupts and accusations fly. Suzanne buries her head in her hands. She is never going to make it to Broadway with this track record.
_________________
Prompt: A fucking birthday cake?!, from
akio4000(Beecher/Keller)
Length: 219 words
After a long day of brain-numbing data input, Toby returned to an empty pod to find an opened package placed on top of his bunk.
A fucking birthday cake?! Jesus, he just will NOT give up.
Toby had spent weeks dulling his animosity toward Keller to apathy, finding constant anger to be exhausting and unhealthy. He wondered if Keller had misinterpreted this transformation as forgiveness.
Toby picked up the cake and tried to decide whether to dump it, give it someone else, or save it to smash in Keller’s face. Then he caught a whiff of the sugary frosting and felt his stomach rumble. Knowing his birthday dinner would consist of chicken nuggets, he elected to swallow his pride.
As Toby grabbed a handful, his fingertips hit something surprisingly hard buried in the center. Slowly, he pulled out a plastic baggie containing a small wrapped object. Inside the wrappings was an old gold wristwatch.
His father’s wristwatch.
Toby closed his eyes and clutched the watch in his hand. Shock gave way to the confusion of How? When? Where?, but he knew that, once again, Keller had somehow masterminded the impossible.
When Chris sat down next to him at dinner that night, Toby, for the first time since his return to Oz, did not get up and move elsewhere.
_________________
Prompt: that was just too easy, from
akio4000(Claire, Gloria, Diane)
Length: 219 words
Claire walked into the breakroom with a heavy sigh and poured herself a cup of coffee.
Gloria and Diane looked up from their conversation. “Rough shift?” Gloria asked.
“The usual shit,” Claire replied. “O’Reily was giving me a hard time.”
“I’ll bet,” Diane said under her breath.
Claire glared at her. “But I did have the pleasure of breaking up Keller and Beecher.”
“For fucking or fighting?”
With a roll of her eyes, Claire answered, “I can’t tell the difference anymore.”
“O’Reily, Keller, Beecher,” Gloria murmured, shaking her head.
Claire grinned. “Marry, fuck, kill.”
“Marry Beecher, fuck Keller, kill O’Reily,” said Diane quickly. “That was just too easy.”
“I disagree,” retorted Claire. “Kill Beecher, fuck O’Reily, marry Keller.”
“You would kill Beecher?”
“Yeah, a mercy-killing,” explained Claire. “What about you, Dr. Nathan? I bet you’d marry O’Reily, fuck Beecher, kill Keller.”
“Why do you say that?”
Claire raised an eyebrow and smirked. Quickly, a heated discussion followed, voices overlapping as rumors collided with secret desires. None of the women noticed the arrival of additional bodies into the room and were startled when someone yelled out, “Hey, why are you ladies so worked up?”
The three women turned and looked into the faces of McManus, Murphy, and Father Mukada. Then they looked at each other and burst into laughter.
The game was over, and they knew better than to have a second round.
_________________
Prompt: family had to come first, from
lisacali(Angus Beecher)
Length: 248 words
Angus quietly looked around the unfamiliar private visiting room, thinking about all the things he could be doing if it weren’t for the fact that family had to come first. They had spent months pulling strings (and greasing a few palms) to get Toby into this facility after Oz was declared uninhabitable. But his mother was no longer able to handle these visits--emotionally, mentally, physically--and, as the new proverbial head of the family, Angus had offered to relieve her burden.
The guard delivered Toby to the room, and Angus thought he saw genuine happiness behind those glassy eyes. He felt ashamed for not feeling the same in return.
When Angus began the conversation by trying to explain why their mother wasn’t there, Toby asked why their father hadn’t come instead. When Angus pulled out the new photos of Holly to share, Toby asked to see new ones of Gary. When Angus tried to update him on the status of his legal situation, Toby asked how Keller’s appeals were coming.
Angus had never been a very good liar. As he sadly hugged Toby good-bye, he realized these visits would be useful in honing his skills as a lawyer.
When the doctor emerged from behind the two-way mirror, Angus looked at him with confused disappointment.
“I thought you said this was one of his good days,” he commented.
The doctor looked at him sympathetically and replied, “The days when he doesn’t remember ARE his good days.”
