when your friend knows you have too many wips
@yeetresponsibly asked for five responses to the WIP flower meme, so they’re getting five responses to the flower meme.
From A Hero Lies In You, my 2017 Power Rangers/MCU crossover:
Off to the side, Tommy sighed. “This isn’t how we make friends, AJ.”
“This is how I make friends,” she corrected. “If someone is intimidated by the fact that I can use a weapon better than they can, I would rather know up front.” She grinned at Jason. “Are you intimidated?”
“A little,” he admitted, shrugging. “And intrigued. Does that count too?”
Tommy dragged a hand over his face. “Great. Now I’m a third wheel.”
“Not yet.” AJ patted her twin’s arm and set her bokken aside. “So. Jason. Do you have plans for the rest of your afternoon or was your run the big adventure for the day?”
From the untitled sequel to A Hero Lies In You:
If Zordon could have, he would have facepalmed. Jason knew that look, because it was the same expression that he saw on his own father’s face time and time again. “I am not familiar with this term, ‘fucked,’” Zordon said.
“Oh my god.” Trini hid her face in her arms. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to have the birds and bees conversation with a giant floating head on the wall.”
Billy sat up straighter in his chair. “Oh! I know the answer to this one!” He cleared his throat. “When two people love each other very much-”
“Love is not required,” Zack butted in. “But continue.”
“-And experience sexual attraction to each other, they may choose to use their sexual organs to-”
“BILLY!” Jason, Tommy, AJ, Kim, and Trini all shouted in unison.
From an untitled Star Wars fic, in which Anakin would eventually raise the twins on his own in Tatooine:
While Anakin floated in a bacta tank, the others discussed strategy aboard Bail’s ship.
Padmé smoothed a hand over her stomach. “I will not be able to hide the baby much longer,” she admitted. “The galactic media was already starting to ask questions before all of this. They won’t be safe on Coruscant.”
“None of us are anymore,” Obi-Wan reminded her. “Yoda and I, especially. We will have to disappear.”
“Stopped, the Emperor must be,” Yoda said. “Face him, I will.”
The bodies piled in the Temple flashed through Obi-Wan’s mind. “Allow Anakin and I to help.” Would he plead with his old Jedi Master? Obi-Wan would do what he had to. “Anakin will be better in a few day’s time.”
“No. Along a different path, your destiny lies. Carry the fate of the Jedi, Senator Amidala does.”
Bail glanced between the three of them, confused. “Have I missed something?”
Padmé straightened in her seat, embodying the Senator she was. “The baby is Anakin’s.”
“Master Windu’s last transmission confirmed that Palpatine tried to convert Anakin to the Dark Side,” Obi-Wan continued. “Anakin resisted. If Palpatine found out that Anakin has a child…”
“I will not allow anything to happen,” Padmé agreed. “Jedi or no Jedi.”
Obi-Wan inclined his head towards her. “I agree.”
“So. Keep the child safe you must. To the Emperor I will go.” Yoda bowed his head.
From an untitled Final Fantasy VII Remake fic; Barret at Aerith’s house:
Underneath the plate, with synthetic daylight, such flowers shouldn’t be possible. But, if what Tifa and Cloud said was true, Aerith was something special. The last Ancient. Wanted by Shinra.
A woman who traded herself to save Barret’s daughter.
He followed the path to the top of a small hill, overlooking the property. From here, he couldn’t hear the buzz of the slums beyond, just the stillness of the night. Barret sat on the ground, one knee up, resting his gun arm on his leg. He brought his other hand down, palm flat in the grass, fingers digging for purchase in the damp soil.
The other AVALANCHE members never quite believed that Barret could actually hear the cries of the planet. Cloud, certainly, brushed it off as the delusions of a fanatic leader. But Barret knew the truth in his bones. The planet was in pain, dying, because of Shinra’s mako energy. They had to be stopped, and to hell what it cost him.
Barret assigned himself the planet’s protector. He led the others, willingly tore himself away from his daughter and put his life in danger, so the planet might survive.
Here, in Aerith’s garden, the planet whispered back to him.
From the original attempt at the fake medium/real ghost prompt - this would be too long to finish in time for Chocolate Box, so I wrote Preserving Life Is As Good As Dying instead:
Riley Sloane believes in ghosts. The evidence is overwhelming; there’s definitely something happening in the afterlife.
She just can’t see them. Or communicate with them.
Her business cards say otherwise: Riley Sloane, Medium for Hire. A real life Ghostbuster. Her parents, if they’d stuck around, might have been proud of her.
It’s not that she lies to people, exactly. Over the years, Riley’s learned that people aren’t listening for what you say, but for what they want to hear. They’re looking for closure, forgiveness, an apology. Riley gives it to them and pockets a paycheck at the same time.
Logically, she knows this sweet gig can’t last. Eventually, someone will figure out her truth and she’ll have to get a “real” job. Work at a bank, slave away at a cubicle and despise her life. But not yet.
Right now, she makes her own rules. She pays her bills and deals in the occult at the same time. There’s always a market for mediums, Riley’s found. Someone always wants to say goodbye, clear the air, get one last message from their loved ones.
Perhaps she should feel guilty about lying to them.
No one ever bothers to look out for her, so it’s time Riley looks out for herself.