This morning..

I woke early, slightly before the alarm, nerves already jangling at the day ahead. Around seven, the knock came at the door and I opened it into my mother-in-law's unsmiling face, her "Good Morning" still thick with sleep. Sage uncharacteristically ignored her grandma in favor of Spongebob until the commercial. I helped her get dressed, changed her shirt thrice because of one defect or another,...

One goes mad in Dorset.

... at pretty much everyone they met, the local history society museum (genuinely good. Indeed, I was surprised by just how good a local society can be), and the Dorchester Dinosaur Museum, where the unsmiling cashier took the best part of a tenner off me in order to let me wander around three rooms with few enough fossils but plenty of paper-mache models of dinosaurs. This last one disappointed me....

Fic: The Way Back Chatper 9/?--Foolish Pride (PG-13)

.... "Batgirl and the Titans can handle the city." At least, Harrier and Wonder Girl could. Bruce exhaled. "Then," the relief was plain on his face, "you... you aren't..." Dick shook his head, unsmiling. "I'm here for the duration." If Bruce noted the coolness of his tone, he chose to ignore it. "Good." The silence stretched awkwardly between them. At last, Bruce cleared his throat. "I was in ...

::holds up a lighter::

... "Eye in the Sky", and "Don't Answer Me". Eye in the Sky contains a song cycle  about casino gambling. The opening and closing song of the cycle is anindictment of Las Vegas. There are unsmiling faces and bright plastic chains And a wheel in perpetual motion And they follow the races and pay out the gains With no show of an outward emotion And they think it will make their lives easier ...

FIC: Figures of Speech (X-Men, Kitty/Rogue, R)

...at thirty-four thousand feet has nothing on this moment. Rogue is the mountain and she is the air, Bobby condensed thick and impenetrable between them until this moment when Marie tilts her head to the side and gestures, unsmiling, for Kitty to come in. There is a break in the clouds but it's not sunlight that pours in. They sit on the bed, and she looks at Rogue's face, at the slightly undone ...

Four questions and two kisses later

..., Mary went looking for her missing relatives. She finally found them in their bedroom. She peaked inside, silent and unnoticed. Her Uncle was obviously sick, lying in bed quiet and unsmiling. Aunt Olivia was sitting next to him, talking to him in soft whispers. She smiled and quietly started singing a childhood lullaby. Uncle Alexander laughed at that but his gentle laugh quickly ...

"Midwinter" (Drumknott/Vetinari) 2/2

...to your discretion." A few more words took shape on the page. "I don't want my city broken by unskilled hands. And in the course of nature, you will outlive me." Turning in the chair, he looked up, unsmiling now, intent. "As you yourself have said, you know me. You know what I've done to build order and security in Ankh-Morpork. Will you teach him?" The weight of it, as heavy as the city itself, ...

fic: Acciacina (2)

... a while! It’ll make things easier for you.” “I’ll try,” she said. And he thought then, with the scent of Acciacina heady and maybe making him crazy, that he’d do anything to make her smile again. She was beautiful unsmiling, but a little happiness and it was like the sun coming out after years of winter. It was something he swore to himself that he’d make happen again, no matter what it took.

Acciacina (2) (Seiken Densetsu, Hawk/Lise)

... a while! It’ll make things easier for you.” “I’ll try,” she said. And he thought then, with the scent of Acciacina heady and maybe making him crazy, that he’d do anything to make her smile again. She was beautiful unsmiling, but a little happiness and it was like the sun coming out after years of winter. It was something he swore to himself that he’d make happen again, no matter what it took.

...of that, either, even after he promised. That, also, would be very non-frustrating." "You've got a bit of a temper, don't you?" "I don't like double standards." We stared at each other, unsmiling. He glanced over my shoulder, and then, unexpectedly, he snickered. "What?" "Your boyfriend seems to think I'm being unpleasant to you — he's debating whether or not to come break up our fight." He ...