Games without Frontiers

This is the 2nd half of my "new ficlets post."  See previous post for the general intro:

Ficlets, Part 1!

To repeat part of that general info: No real spoilers to speak of, though the 1st one makes a very general reference to events in "Dentist of Detroit."  All are pretty much G-rated, though the last one could be read as being somewhat suggestive. :-)  ETA: I can't put all four ficlets in one post, so the first two are here, and the last two will be in a separate post.

And on to the rest of the fic:

Prompt: Defiance (any character prompt) - Neal
Characters/Pairings: Peter & Neal
Summary: One possible future
Word Count: 675

 

( The last time Peter Burke catches Neal Caffrey... )


Prompt: Collector (any character prompt?) - June
Characters/Pairings: June (mention of Neal)
Summary: Everyone has it backwards
Word Count: 67 (sentence fic)

( She is a collector of beautiful things )

I want to take a moment to thank elrhiarhodan , whose Prompfests always manage to pull me in and get my creative juices flowing, even if I only end up writing a few short fics.  I'm working on a slightly longer piece, and the mid-season finale has put something new in my head, but the things I've actually finished recently are all fills from the last Promptfest, which ran through most of July (and a few days of August).

And now, here's the fic:
Note: No real spoilers to speak of, though the 1st one makes a very general reference to events in "Dentist of Detroit."  All are pretty much G-rated, though the last one could be read as being somewhat suggestive. :-)  ETA: I can't put all four ficlets in one post, so the first two are here, and the last two will be in a separate post.

Prompt: Blake - Anticipation
Characters/Pairings: Blake, Jones
Summary: It's hard being the new guy
Word Count: 341 ( Waiting for that double finger point is hard... )


Prompt: Satchmo - Smooth
Characters/Pairings: Satchmo, mentions of Peter, El & Neal
Summary: Trouble shows up in the night. Satchmo POV.
Word Count: 570

( Satchmo is a smart dog )

Having succumbed to a bit of nudging, I took the plunge and signed up for wcpairings , a fic swap put together by the wonderful elrhiarhodan  and rabidchild67 .  It produced all sorts of terrific stories.  In fact, the longer it went on, the more I wished that my posting date wasn't so late, as I didn't know how I'd manage to live up to the standard that was being set by all the authors whose stories came before mine.  Which I'm telling you in large part to encourage you to check out all the wonderful stuff everyone wrote. :-)

And now that the reveal post is up for Round 1, here's my contribution:

Title:  Clothes Make the Man (The 'In the Rain' Radio Mix)
Prompt: Neal barefoot in the rain.  Peter watching.
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Peter, Neal, brief appearances by the ensemble players
Spoilers: None
Summary: One possible future (there’s something different about Neal, if Peter can just put his finger on it…. )
Word Count: 2261

A/N: I can’t help myself, but I have to mention that this is now officially an AU…in which the Burke’s kitchen has not been totally remodeled. :-)

 

( Here there be fic... )

So the ever-wonderful elrhiarhodan  hosted another Promptfest, which ran for a month from March 10 to April 11.  This time around, the 'fest was a "Single Sentence Challenge," the idea being to try to tell a whole story in just one sentence.  I found myself intrigued, but a little daunted, wondering just what I could do with single sentences.  I discovered that one thing I could do was make liberal use of dashes, semi-colons and parentheses. :-)  The process was at times challenging (How can I fit everything I want to say into just one sentence?), and at times liberating (Hey!  I may not feel capable of writing a whole story featuring Top!Sara, but I can write a sentence's worth.).  In the end, it was a blast, both to write for and to read.  I was humbled and awed by what many of the writers were able to do with just one sentence.  And, as has happened in the past with these 'fests, it got me writing again after a lull.  Also, since everything was sentence-length, I was able to find time to write here and there, despite being buried by work a lot of that time.  I kind of went back and forth about posting, as, well, they're "just" sentences, but after a bit of thought (and a bit of prodding), I decided, "Why not?"

And so with that background, I give you 29 sentences of White Collar.  Most of these are gen, a few hint at more (though none are really explicit), and they are just presented in the order I wrote them.  Subtitles are the prompts that I was filling.

 

( Sentence Fic, Ho! )

 

Let me just say that I didn't start out intending to write a White Collar Old West AU.  I really didn't.  But such are the joy's of Promptfest (as hosted by the amazing elrhiarhodan ).

Title: On the Trail
Prompt: Peter - Leather
Rating: PG? (it's occasionally suggestive, but otherwise quite tame)
Spoilers: None
Characters/Pairings: Peter, Neal
Summary: Bounty hunter Peter Burke is on the trail of the notorious confidence man and safe-cracker, Neal Caffrey
Word Count: 3023

A/N: This all started when the prompt "Peter - Leather" led me to the idea/image of Peter using a strip of leather instead of cuffs on Neal, because it couldn't be picked.  Oh, yeah, and they're in the old west. :-)  There were actually at least two or three versions of the scenario in my head (including one in which Peter and Neal are partners), and what follows is the one I ended up writing.  I'm leaving the ending as I wrote it for Promptfest, although I think it actually could use a few more scenes to make it more of a stand-alone story.  I hope to get around to writing those in the not-too-distant future (though even with them, or maybe even more so with them, the story seems to beg for a sequel).  And I'd like to write the other version as well.  We'll see.  Also, I'm still casting about for a title I like - I had to give it something to make posting easier, but I'm not attached to it.

 

( Peter Burke sat at a corner table, nursing a beer )

 

*****************

In other fannish news, I seem to have made the rather sudden decision that I'm going to Comic-Con this year.  I have a college friend who lives out in San Diego, and when I found out she was going (or at least trying for tickets), I decided to give it a go.  The process for buying tickets was completely INSANE, but I managed to snag a 4-day pass.  So - trip to San Diego this summer.  Woot!

So the wonderful elrhiarhodan  is hosting another Promptfest, and for some reason the first two ficlets I've produced have been a Satchmo fic and a Bugsy fic.  Not sure what's up with that.  Not sure what's up generally, since I think the next one may be an Old West AU.  Um, help?

Anyway, the fic:

Title: Broken Routine
Prompt: Satchmo - Nighttime
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Characters/Pairings: Satchmo (with mention of his people and a very brief appearance by Neal)
Summary: Nighttime routines in Satchmo's house :-)
Word Count: 662

( There is a routine in Satchmo’s house at nighttime )


Title: What a Little Dog Knows
Prompt: Bugsy - Power
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Characters/Pairings: Bugsy (though it's really more about June)
Summary: Ruminations by a little dog on the nature of power
Word Count: 162

( Bugsy knows he’s a little dog. )

Title: Five Times Peter Burke Didn't Arrest Neal Caffrey
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Characters/Pairings: Mainly just Peter & Neal
Summary: The title pretty much is the summary.  Features a bit of both Neal!Whumpage and Peter!Whumpage.
Word Count: ~5300

A/N: This is something I started writing a really long time ago, but then I got stuck, and then things got really crazy at work, and then after a while I started to worry that a number of plot elements/plot points had, in the meantime, become kind of fandom cliches.  Oh, and I'm quite confident that it will be thoroughly Jossed by the upcoming flashback episode.  Despite all of that, however, I really liked the structure and the progression of the piece - I had a couple of things that I was trying to develop with each successive encounter, and I still think that aspect works pretty well.  I also need to thank elrhiarhodan , whose Promptfest got me writing again.  And I kind of bent and twisted a brief moment in one of the season 2.5 promos to fit what I was doing - if you've seen it, I think you'll spot it pretty quickly.  So, without further ado...

 

( Part I )