mrsronweasley: (at swim two boys)
mrsronweasley ([personal profile] mrsronweasley) wrote2004-03-18 11:19 am

Drabble me this, drabble me that.

Here are the first few drabbles. I wrote them yesterday/last night, and I have to say, I had waaaay too much fun.

Some warnings:

Some people forced me to write Pervy!Baby drabble, in which the first half is true, and the other is so very obviously made up.

And some other people have forced me to commit blasphemy, and, you know what? I knew you were going to pick that. I just knew it! Thus, I've written an... At Swim, Two Boys drabble. Dear me. Oh my gracious me, indeed.

On with the drabbles...


For Victoria:


Remus rested against a rough wall. Dawn was just breaking, the pale pink light washing through the wet London streets, making them glisten in that dull, London way. His eyes strained from the light, and he rubbed his palm against his face. Two-day stubble. That’s how long he had been inside. Two days, two nights, empty hours and minutes, empty life, really. It was Monday now, the beginning of a new week. It pulled at him, pulled at him like a cord around his neck. A noose around his neck, more like, and one he could not shed. He wanted to give up, but could not. He wanted to let go, but would not. All he could do was start the new week, go through it, end it in another drunken stupor. Every Monday morning he would meet the dawn here, at the side of his building, smoking the last cigarette in the packet, the last morsel of his cul de sac weekend.

He couldn’t hide, he couldn’t forget, he couldn’t cheat or die. He had to go on, and so he went with the cord, with the noose that dragged him each Monday morning out of his flat and into the street. In a few hours, he would go to the nearest café and buy coffee. He would then go to work, and at night, he would lock up and walk home. And it would go on, each day, each week, each year. Eventually, it would end, but on its own. He had no energy to help it along, just like he had no energy to keep moving; it was all done for him. And so he followed the dawn, his twenty sixth year of existence, his twenty sixth year of being alone. Just another year in another life; just another day for another man.

The sun slowly warmed his back as he walked away.

~*~*~*~



For Kellie:


The girl watched a woman go by.

“Mommy!”

“No, sweetie, that’s me.” The lady next to her – short curly hair, glasses, plump, very similar to the one that had just passed – smiled at her daughter. “I’m mommy.”

“Mommy!” The girl smiled and turned back to watch the passers-by. “Dog!”

“Yes, that’s a dog. That’s a cat over there.”

The girl ignored the cat. It was the dog that held her attention. “Puppy!”

“He’s a bit too big for a puppy.”

“Dog!”

“Yes, sweetie, what about the dog?”

The girl thought. The dog was big, black and shaggy. He was fluffy and probably a bit scary. The man that was walking with the dog looked very tired. He had bags under his eyes, but he was smiling and even smiled at her as he walked past. She smiled back. Something had just happened that she could not explain. Something was decided for her, but not in that usual way that her breakfast was decided for her, or her underwear. No, this was much better than that – it was decided what she would do when she grew up. She was lucky that way, because few babies knew things like that. But she did! She turned to her mommy and opened her mouth. The very first sentence of her life approached, bubbling over with over-excited babble.

“I’m going to write gay smut when I grow up!”

Her eyebrows drew together. What was wrong?

“Mommy?” She leaned over the bench to where her mommy had landed. “You OK?”

~*~*~*~

For Katie:

(I wanted to write one for a picture of us, too, but it wasn't working, and it was all coming down to the fact that I love you madly, anyway, so...yeah.)

~*~*~

He hugged the form in front of him more tightly, and breathed in his lover’s smell. It was a smell long familiar, the smell of Irish Spring soap and slight sweat, mixed in with the spices they had used to make dinner. Rosemary, he recalled, and yes, that was a bit of oregano. He closed his eyes and relaxed into the pillow. Just earlier that day they had had an unfortunate sort of run-in with his sister-in-law. It was a general rule that they avoided any family members, but even in a relatively large town it was sometimes difficult to do, and while picking out just the right jar of pasta sauce in the supermarket, he had spotted her, three paces away, looking at olives. Before he could turn around and make like he hadn’t noticed, she turned his way and their eyes locked. He had never been a violent person, and made it a general rule not to hate anybody, not even Republicans. But this woman – this small, light-haired teacher – inspired so much anger in him that it bordered on real hatred, the sort that made you want to stick sporks in eyeballs. She pursed her lips and looked at him with very similar feeling, then turned away. Her last words to him were echoing in his mind, the day that he had cut his family off completely for fear of ending up in a strait-jacket in a white padded room.

“Evil incarnate, that’s what you are! You’ll be punished for your sins, you perverted freak! And stay away from my little boys!”

He shook his head to clear it and turned back to his lover, who was still undecided as to whether to go with the "Newman’s Own" or "America’s Choice".

“Let’s get "Newman’s Own." We can afford it today. Let’s celebrate.”

Clear gray eyes looked up at him and warmth spread through his entire body.

“What are we celebrating?” He could never get enough of that young, husky voice.

“Us.”

He inhaled the spicy scent once more. If he was “evil incarnate,” he sure had it good on this Earth. And Hell could always wait, anyway.

~*~*~*~


For B:


It was the mid-summer heat, he was sure. It couldn’t have been anything else. It was the heat that had been driving him mad and making him dream of things he had never dreamt of before, or even dreamt of dreaming. Dreams were in general his most troubling way of understanding his subconscious, and last night’s dream had been the most troubling yet. As he lay next to his girlfriend, her soft breath filling his ears, he dreamt of a body, a slick, hard, angular body – a body whose musculature and frame could only belong to a man, and whose shape and feel were driving him mad. He dreamt he was touching that body, running his hands over the defined hipbone, over the soft skin overlaying the hard muscle, licking it, breathing on it, inhaling its scent. It was an unusual scent – spicy, musky, a smell wholly different from what he was used to, and it too was driving him mad. He dreamt, and tossed, and turned, and moaned, and when he woke up and knew that he had climaxed, he cleaned himself off, turned to his side, looked blankly ahead of him, and thought of nothing, aware only of his beating heart and a profound sadness that now filled his entire being.

~*~*~*~


For Hildi:


“My dearest one,

Today, I went for a walk in the woods, and thought of you. I take walks often, as you know, and think of you even more than that, which you have probably guessed. It was sunny, and the woods glowed with the light – it was exquisite. And I thought of how your long hair looks in the sunlight, as if it were made of gold weave, only lighter, much less gaudy, like wispy golden clouds. I imagined making love to you just then, on the grass of the nearest field, so that I could see how you looked against its soft rustling. Or I would have laid you out on red velvet, in the sun, and watched your body glowing – your smooth skin, your soft hands, your full hips. While I was walking, I remembered a line from a recent novel by a man named Oscar Wilde, and it’s been playing in my mind ever since then. “The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history.” I cannot be sure, but it might just have been written for you. I miss you. I love you. I shall see you soon.

Yours ever,
Madeline”


~*~*~*~


For Rochefort:


“I say, MacMurrough, are you listening to me?”

MacMurrough turned back to his companion. The tedious fellow was all he had for company at the moment, and his own thoughts kept talking over the monotone voice. He pulled on his Abdulla and looked out the window of the moving train through the ensuing smoke. They were passing through England, on their way to Holyhead. From there, a boat would take them to Dublin. Back to Dublin, back from a long journey. He tried thinking of his time in America, he tried remembering the young man he had met at one reading – sensitive eyes, sensuous mouth, sensational tongue – but only one face he could picture in his mind, a face not seen for ten years, a face that will not leave him until Purgatory take him, a face that awaits him in his eternity in Hell. He heard the young voice, its intensity not lessened through the years; it grew more and more insistent as he grew more and more frustrated.

“MacEmm, you wouldn’t leave that way without saying anything, sure you wouldn’t?”

He had meant to, of course. Meant to leave, meant to forget, to never think again, but of course, the boy was craftier than himself. He could not resist those eyes, the hair that flopped so in the front and tickled on the skull. He could almost feel the soft, brick-like texture of the shaven neck, the silky, rain-washed locks that found their way back with every shake. The night, the cool sea breeze, the wine, the breath, the boy. Two boys, in love. And himself in love, and torn that way. What had been that poem that he spoke to Jim? Something about the sea, he knew, and later, as he sat the endless nights and days in prison, Jim’s small figure hunched against his, it kept coming back to him, again and again, like a lullaby that Nanny Tremble used to sing to make him sleep.

My grief on the sea, how the waves of it roll,
For they heave between me, and the love of my soul.


“MacMurrough, you sure are a tedious fellow, you know that? Poet or no poet, you simply refuse to carry on a conversation with me. Am I just a piece of arse for you, then?”

And my love came behind me, he came from the South,
His breast to my bosom, his mouth to my mouth.


It had been red wine that he had sipped that night. He’d sipped his wine and held his boy, his boy that he could not protect, his boy that wasn’t his at all, his boy, his…

He got up and walked out into the hallway, leaving the man to stare incredulously after him.

Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle. Somewhere, in the Irish sea, the blue, gray, silent sea, their ghosts still swept the waves, their love still haunted the wind, their spirits still swam against the tide.

And his shadow still lurked among the rocks, crouching and hiding, in shame, in prison, in love.

~*~*~*~

There will be more either later today or tomorrow. Now I'm addicted to drabbles. Dammit!

I still can't believe I wrote ASTB. Roche, you should be ashamed of yourself! *g* Are you surprised at all whose point of view I took?..

[identity profile] soupytwist.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, oh, so cute, so cute, so cute. And the pervybaby one is HILARIOUS, and Remus is so tragic, and ASTB fic is so wrong but weirdly works when you write it because you get it and gyaaaaah MacEm gyah gyah gyah I love him. wow. All of them are awesome. You are awesome, and amazing, and wonderful, and how the hell do you do that, anyway?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know, but I'll try to continue if it keeps you this happy! *g* Thank you, sweetie, I'm so glad you liked them. I'm sorry I never wrote the one with the Wifey icon, but it was strangely difficult. Very difficult. I may yet, we'll see.

And I love you, and you're amazing, too, and wonderful, and I don't know how you do it, but you know all about this, so I'll shut up now.

*lovelovelove*
ext_1310: (lupin)

[identity profile] musesfool.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
*sniff*

Poor Remus.

He suffers so well.

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I hope it didn't disappoint, then! I was sniffly, too.
ext_1310: (sad)

[identity profile] musesfool.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 09:29 am (UTC)(link)
No, no disappointment at all. Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for. *g*

[identity profile] llembas.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
He tried thinking of his time in America, he tried remembering the young man he had met at one reading – sensitive eyes, sensuous mouth, sensational tongue – but only one face he could picture in his mind, a face not seen for ten years, a face that will not leave him until Purgatory take him, a face that awaits him in his eternity in Hell.

That sentence is perfection. I just love MacEmm.

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, thank you! I'm so glad that you approve, especially as a MacEmm fan. In all honesty, I loved writing him, and it came so naturally, it's freaky. But the man hasn't lived inside my head for over a year for nothing. You learn a few things along the way...

[identity profile] rochefort.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
Liz!!! I'm rendered speechless! Almost. What can I say? I knew you would write something good, but this was just absolute perfection – a small piece of poetry. The first ASTB fanfic. It's so right that you should write it. And it was him, down to every little posh and perfectly enunciated syllable.

Thank you sweetie. It was perfect.

I'm off to read the others now.

Phew!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I was hoping you'd like it. I'm so glad you did. The thing is, once I got the idea for it, it just flowed out, and I was sad when it was over. Like I told Jen above, it came naturally, writing MacM, and felt strangely right. I'm glad that I seem to have gotten him right. Yay. That makes me really really happy.

Although, I believe that there's another piece of ASTB fanfic out there by someone...though I haven't yet read it (bad me).

I hope you enjoy the others, too. But phew, you liked the ASTB one. Yay!

Re: Phew!

[identity profile] rochefort.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
The others were all fab – as minx said, it's such versatile writing. The mood and voice changed with every piece. But even though they were brilliant (and I loved angsty Remus and smutty baby Liz), ASTB remains my favourite. It was just so MacEmm.

Re: Phew!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:26 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, it's my favorite, too. I was so excited about it last night, I called Jo, but didn't get her. I kept calling and calling, and it turned out that she'd gone to bed at 8:30. So, she called me this morning, and I read it out to her. It felt like MacEmm to me, too. Is that wrong? I just felt him there, it was him and nobody else. Now that I think about it, it's just...weird. I mean...I'm not normal, am I?

Re: Phew!

[identity profile] rochefort.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
No, it's not weird, and it's perfectly normal. It's a real talent to be able to capture a character like that. I'm not surprised you were so pleased with it. I didn't think ASTB fic could be done, but you proved me wrong, I'm happy to say.

Re: Phew!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I like that first sentence. Can that be my new motto? *g* You're really making me blush here. Thank you. You have no idea how much hearing this means to me.

mwah!

[identity profile] jadis31.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
that is the most beautiful piece of drabble ever. I told you I loved it this morning, but it has gotten better. it's.... it's perfect. It's MacEmm. it broke my poor little heart, but you knew it would. and I like that he had a 'piece of smut' with him... heheh... still getting some, at least! that's my boy.

Love and Anchovies,
Jo

[identity profile] jadis31.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 09:12 am (UTC)(link)
the others are wonderful as well... I jsut now read them. I wish that had been your first sentence. imagine how perfect. I can see your mother's face. :)

and the one for katie was fantastic. I like pasta sauce in celebration. and I hope that damn woman chokes to death on her own hair (that is the most humiliating way to die that I can think of at the moment)

and color me silly, but I feel bad for the poor woman in B's drabble. poor dear, she not only woke up dirty, but now she's going to be waking up alone.

okay, I really should work.

Love you, still.

Love and Pills,
Jo

*grin*

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:12 pm (UTC)(link)
You have no idea how good it felt to read you the drabble in the morning. I was DYING yesterday, not being able to talk to you, and read it to you, and it just relieved some of my jitters. And I'm so glad you like it. And of course he's getting some - he's MacEmm. Who the fuck could resist?!

I'm glad you liked the one I wrote for Katie - I liked it, too. They were cute, those boys. And yes, the poor woman in B's drabble is, indeed, poor. I feel horrible for her. I'm very very evil that way...

Love you, too. You know how much.

mwah!

Re: *grin*

[identity profile] jadis31.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
no, I decided that the poor woman in B's drabble is the bitch in Katie's... just a few years earlier... amused the hell out of me :)

"who the fuck could resist MacEmm?" isn't the question... it's more "why the Fuck would any one even Try?"

what are you doing tonight? and for the rest of the weekend? I am really bored... wanna come to philly?

Love and Smoky Treats,
Jo

Re: *grin*

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
no, I decided that the poor woman in B's drabble is the bitch in Katie's... just a few years earlier... amused the hell out of me :)

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha! You're such a freak, I love you, man. Really really love you.

And you're right about that question. I mean...really. WHAT is the point?

How about...you come down here? Eh, eh? Pwetty please?.... *coerces you*

Love and Abdulla,
mwah!

Re: *grin*

[identity profile] jadis31.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
can't come up :( I tried, but not this weekend. but.. but I will still see you in two weeks! just two weeks!

but I will be bored for a lot of the weekend, so you should call me. frequently.

LOVE YOU

Love and Tickets,
Jo

Damn, damn, damn!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
Damn! That sucks. :-/ *sigh* But we WILL see each other VERY soon. Yes. I'll just keep on telling myself that.

Bummer. Bummer, I say! Bummer.

love and DAMN!
liz

Re: Damn, damn, damn!

[identity profile] jadis31.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
I know... there is great unhappiness in the Jojo... but, in just a few weeks... just a few weeks.

so, what time did you get up today? and why would Sam do that to you?

Love and Feet,
Jo

[identity profile] lea-ndra.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
lovely drabbles, all of them, but the ASTB one made me cry. Really. It brought tears to my eyes, tears for MacEmm, but most of all tears for Jim and Doyler's love.

The last part? Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle. Somewhere, in the Irish sea, the blue, gray, silent sea, their ghosts still swept the waves, their love still haunted the wind, their spirits still swam against the tide.

And his shadow still lurked among the rocks, crouching and hiding, in shame, in prison, in love.

Oh God.

btw, I don't know if you've seen it, but I wrote a drabble myself, a tribute to ASTB. Not really an ASTB drabble, but one with references. Lots of, actually.
You can find it Nightswimming.

Another pair of Irish boys, but swimming all the same.

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:14 pm (UTC)(link)
but the ASTB one made me cry. Really.

Awwww! I'm sorry! But I will take that as a compliment, as well. *blushes* I'm very glad you liked it.

I'll definitely read your fic! Thanks for pointing it out to me. :)

Ah, Irish boys...who can resist them?

[identity profile] lea-ndra.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:29 pm (UTC)(link)
nobody can. :-)

[identity profile] themorningstarr.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 09:48 am (UTC)(link)
OMG, Liz! These are so great! The pervy!baby was perfect. You are brilliant.

<3

*loves*

The very first sentence of her life approached, bubbling over with over-excited babble.

“I’m going to write gay smut when I grow up!”


as;ldkfjas;ldkjf;aslkdjf
ads;flkjasd;lfkjasdf

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Hehehe, glad it lived up to the, er, expectations. I felt horrible writing it, because I felt like a total pervert, but then I figured - I'm writing about myself, not about some other 'baby' so then I just had fun with it. And I really did use to mistake random woman for my mom. And one of my first words ever was dog. I just never saw a dog being walked by Remus... :-P

[identity profile] hildigunnur.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 09:49 am (UTC)(link)
These are so beautiful. Some are melancholy ... other with a certain kind of defiant humour. Great writing and I look forward to seeing more.

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm very glad you liked them. :) I had to have humor in there, otherwise I would have crumbled, I think... Soooo saaaaaaaaaad... :-P
ext_25473: my default default (Peace (Thanks for the pic Elismor!))

[identity profile] lauramcewan.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 10:07 am (UTC)(link)
~...Oh.

Directed here by [livejournal.com profile] lea_ndra for the ASTB drabble.

My dear, that is the most beautiful little bit of writing - so lovely, so evocative! I could feel MacEmm's pain, his loss and suffering - it's perfect.

Oh, thank you for writing that. It is long past time I should reread this book. Long past.

Hello!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much for the kind words. It's a great relief to know that the drabble isn't being printed out and burnt for sheer blasphemy. Then again, maybe it is. :-P In any case, I'm very very glad it seems to have worked for people. I had a really good writing it, guilt or no guilt.
ext_25473: my default default (Default)

Re: Hello!

[identity profile] lauramcewan.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Why would there be any guilt? I felt it was right in line with the book itself - such a lovely story.

Re: Hello!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, guilt because I've always been very VERY much against ASTB fanfic, because it's such a self-contained and absolutely brillian book that messing with it an any way feels incredibly wrong. Like hubris, actually. But it makes me feel ohhhh so good to know that this fit...
ext_25473: my default default (Default)

Re: Hello!

[identity profile] lauramcewan.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:29 pm (UTC)(link)
oh I understand. It fit, sweets, it fit really, really well.

Be proud! :D

Re: Hello!

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I am! :D

[identity profile] miraminx.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
Wow! This is an amazing display of your versatility and skill, from the humorous (pervy baby, indeed!) to the deeply sad--the ASTB piece, which is just incredible. Beautiful use of language and interweaving of memories and quotes in a way that mirrors the original.

In the Remus piece, I especially love this line: It pulled at him, pulled at him like a cord around his neck; that's a really striking image, and works very effectively to convey Remus's sense that he's strangling in a trap. The piece also expresses the kind of grim determination that must have kept Remus going when his world was destroyed.

Thanks for these gorgeous pieces.

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, thank you! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, actually. I'm so glad you liked them, they were so much fun to write. I'm especially glad you liked the Remus one - it was a bit tough, for some reason, so I'm glad it worked for you. Yay. :)

Thank you again!

[identity profile] thrihyrne.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 09:01 am (UTC)(link)
I second Minx. Beautiful, all of them, especially the Remus one. I can tangibly feel that deadening ache which still relentlessly pulls him on, through another day, another week...

Wonderfully, but sadly, captured.

[identity profile] padawan-aisling.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 11:32 am (UTC)(link)
how beautiful.. how sad.

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make people sad. But I'm glad you found it beautiful. :)
ext_10634: (young!jaime)

[identity profile] snoopypez.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
::purrs:: I love them ALL.

Especially Pervy!Baby. ;P

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 11:32 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you. ;) You're all pervy, man - you actually LIKE the pervyBaby? ;) Hehe... :-P
ext_10634: (andrew! - silvercobwebs)

[identity profile] snoopypez.livejournal.com 2004-03-18 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Where did my comment go?! >.< I left one, I know it, because it went through!!

..if it shows up, feel free to delete this one. :P

[identity profile] thrihyrne.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 09:05 am (UTC)(link)
I've just had to print up the Remus one.

********looooooooooooooooove*********

(in that desperate, wish I couldn't relate kindof way)

[identity profile] mrsronweasley.livejournal.com 2004-03-19 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, thank you! That's really flattering, seeing as how it's only a little drabble. :) I wish I couldn't relate, either, but on the other hand, it does make for interesting writing (as in, it's interesting to write.) I sympathize.