mhalachai: (Default)
mhalachai ([personal profile] mhalachai) wrote2005-10-23 11:44 am

FIC: Three Anita Blake ficlettes

Three entires for Anita Blake at [livejournal.com profile] fanfic100.

Title: Breakfast of Champions
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Characters: Anita, Micah
Prompt: 012 -- Orange
Word Count: 200
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Rating: PG

~~*~~


"Okay," I said to myself. "Everything's done." I carefully picked up the tray and carried it through the kitchen and into the bedroom. I put the tray on the dresser, then went to the bed.

Kissing Micah's bare shoulder was enough to wake him, and he smiled lazily up at me. "Morning," he mumbled.

"Good morning, and happy birthday," I whispered, kissing him on the nose. "I made you breakfast in bed."

He blinked sleepily, sitting up. "You did?"

I nodded, going to get the tray. "Orange juice, eggs, toast, turkey bacon, coffee, all of it."

"I didn't expect this at all," Micah said, leaning back against the headboard as I put the tray over his lap. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," I said, curling up on the bed next to him. "But there is one condition."

He paused, glass of freshly squeezed orange juice halfway to his mouth. "What condition?”

"After you're done, you need to stay in here while I clean up the mess I made of the kitchen."

He grinned cheekily at me. "So I'm stuck in here for the rest of the day?"

I kicked his foot gently. "Watch it, Callahan. I know where you sleep."
~~*~~


Title: Lifesaver
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Characters: Anita, Larry
Prompt: 013 -- Yellow
Word Count: 200
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Rating: PG

~~*~~


"What's your favourite flavour of Lifesaver?" Larry asked as we waited for the lawyers to be done with the zombie.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" I demanded.

"A simple one." He fidgeted with his lighter. I knew he was trying to quit smoking, but really, this was taking the jitters to new heights of annoyance. "What else am I going to ask? What kind of Smarties do you eat last? What's your favourite chocolate bar?"

"Nice candy fetish you've got going on, Larry," I said. Across the graveyard, the lawyers were yelling at each other. I really hate lawyers. "Okay, yellow."

"Really?" Larry seemed surprised. "Most people pick red."

I made a face. "Red lifesavers taste like food colouring. The yellow ones are much better."

"Huh." Larry was silent for a minute, then he said, "What about gum?"

"Oh look, the lawyers are ready," I said in relief. "Next time we need to tag-team on a zombie, and if you're still trying to quit smoking, you'd better bring something to calm your nerves."

"Why do you think I like to pester you as much as I do?" Larry muttered as he followed me back to the grave.
~~*~~


Title: Field Trip
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Characters: Anita, Louie Fane
Prompt: 017 -- Brown
Word Count: 324
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Rating: PG

~~*~~

The glamorous part of autumn had passed, and all the leaves had turned a dead, decaying brown. I frowned as I trudged through the woods after Louie.

"Isn't this nice?" he asked, taking deep breaths of the forest air. Louie Fane, a wererat and a biology professor at the university, had commandeered me into a field trip into the woods. His alpha, Rafael, had decreed that Louie wasn't to go out alone. The Rodere didn't run much to academics, more bodyguards, and Louie had cajoled me into being his backup. Against what, I wasn't sure. The most dangerous thing in these woods had to offer was stepping in a pile of deer droppings.

"It doesn't suck," I said grudgingly. "What are we looking for?"

"Signs of a rare owl," Louie said, squinting up at the trees.

"I thought your speciality was bats," I said, kicking at the leaves.

"It is." Louie scribbled something on his clipboard. "But I'm doing a paper on the effects of the local bat population on this owl. I needed to get out to look for preliminary signs."

"Okay." I had done my degree in biology, but hadn't used it much in the last few years. Still, I had spent quite a bit of time in my last year of university doing just this, wandering around the forest looking for animals. With all the death and destruction I saw recently, it was sort of nice.

"You ever think about going back to this?" Louie asked. He knew what I'd done in college.

I shrugged. "Sometimes. I mean, it'd be a lot easier than what I do now, but I don't think I could give it up." I pointed to the base of a nearby oak tree. "Is that what you're looking for?"

Louie perked up. "Owl pellets!" He hurried over, digging out a plastic bag and a pair of tweezers.

Yeah. That was the part about college I didn't miss.

[identity profile] thymidinekinase.livejournal.com 2005-10-23 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I liked the Louis ficlette best. The Lifesavers one didn't seem to have much point, ditto the orange juice thing.

[identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com 2005-10-23 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
There is a point, and that's character development. It's not big and flashy, but it's there.

[identity profile] catherinecookmn.livejournal.com 2005-10-24 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
The joy is in the journey!

Reminds me: Do check out The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. It's short, a joy to read, and is a story with no beginning, middle or end, that's all about how people can't stand stories with no beginning, middle, or end.

[identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com 2005-10-24 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh. Does he have any books about people who can't stand Stephen King books?

[identity profile] catherinecookmn.livejournal.com 2005-10-24 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
That would be me, normally. I hate most of his output, including most of his overhyped Dark Tower series. But The Green Mile is so good it's scary -- he actually learned to write characters and not clichés by that time. And The Colorado Kid is in that vein -- it's actually a bunch of old Mainers using a "mystery" to talk a young summer intern into sticking around to run their newspaper.

[identity profile] thymidinekinase.livejournal.com 2005-10-24 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Oddly enough, he sort of does. That is, his collection of novellas, _Different Seasons_ has an introduction in which he essentially says that most of his stuff is the literary equivalent of a Big Mac, fries, and a coke. After he gets done bashing/accurately describing himself, he presents three kick-ass non-supernatural-horor novellas and one very strange supernatural novella. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" is one, "Apt Pupil" is another.

[identity profile] thymidinekinase.livejournal.com 2005-10-24 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Fair enough. I suppose my view is that character development is most relevant in a larger context, and that the ultra-short format has no larger context (unless it is explicitly part of, say, the _Inevitable_ universe, for instance).