MEME: AU Drabble Things

[aintnoconvict]

Speaking of AUs: I am blaming Dien and her tumblr for this.

1.) Tag in with your characters.
2.) Someone else tags you with with an alternate universe setting. Inclusion of their character(s) in the AU is totally cool.
3.) Write a three-sentence fic drabble-like thing in response.
4.) You tag others with AU prompts and get drabble-things in return.

GO GO GO!

Comments

[loveawkward]

Because I can't help myself.

Azkadee and Jason. College students. NYC. Pick the school. :D

[personaldemon]

Columbia does not offer a class in Witchcraft, but it does offer courses in history, culture, archaeology-- and to the inquisitive mind piecing together a history of magic in the Otherside, these are useful.

She was ten when her mother sent her away, to safety, to a place free from the rampage of her younger sister's possession. Old enough to understand; old enough to remember; old enough to be stricken by the apparent wasteland that the Otherside was when it came to magic.

In the eight years since she has listened hungrily for every fairy tale, every ghost story-- everything that suggests that there is magic, even here. Or even just that there was, that it had existed. She needs that like a tree needs water.

The trail has led her here-- she loves learning, even if magic is not part of it-- to this university with its libraries and thousand fields of study. So many doors are open to her-- it almost makes up for no magic, almost, almost.

Some doors are still closed. You're an undergraduate student, miss, says the librarian. Those books are in the special collection. You'll need an authorization from a professor...

She doesn't take kindly to 'no', although she no longer does what she did as a child, no longer insists that she is royalty and that her wishes are paramount. Mockery from fellow children had taught her the futility of that.

There are other methods. Sneaking into the special collection, for one.

She slips through the quiet, quiet room past graduate students who pay her no attention, each lost in their own field of study. She hunts through the stacks for the books she knows are here somewhere, a scrap of paper with titles scrawled in her hand.

Lost in her own hunt, she doesn't realize that another seeks the same quarry. Their hands reach for the volume in the same moment.

His eyes are sharp blue, but so are the eyes of many people. His hair is ginger with an odd streak of white through it, though he can't be much older than herself. Neither of these things are what makes her freeze, heart suddenly pounding.

It's the subliminal crackle of energy in his touch instead, where their hands rest on the same volume. The sharp ozone smell. The hum in her teeth like bees.

Magic.

He studies her, vaguely surprised as well, but more offended, it seems. Irritated.

"Excuse me. I need this for my studies."

Her hand tightens on the volume. "So do I," she counters, willing her voice to boldness.

His lips thin into a frown. "You're not even supposed to be here, miss."

Found out. She curses to herself. If he calls the librarians she might get thrown out, which would be humiliating. "Shouldn't knowledge be open to all, regardless of how many classes they have under their belt?"

He tugs the volume loose. It hangs in the air between them, neither of them willing to relinquish their claim to it. "I have no opinion on the matter. I meant, you are not supposed to be in this world."

Raw shock makes her let go. He takes the book, turns his back to her, and walks away.

She stands staring a moment. "Wait," she says to his shoulders. He keeps walking.

She doesn't take kindly to 'no'.

In the end, they both get thrown out.

[azoftheoz]

OMG this is fantastic. I adore it. Thank you.