Ficlet: The Dresden Files/Jeremiah: Alternate Reality
For ja_bucc in response to the drabble ficlet meme.
Title: Alternate Reality
Fandom The Dresden Files/Jeremiah
Request: Winifred/Hrothbert & any Jeremiah muse
Words: 344
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just passing through.
"I do not like what this portends."
The raven-haired beauty drew the folds of her woolen cloak more tightly about herself, as if it were more shield than attire. The portal through the Nevernever had opened upon an urban scene of desolation. No matter where she turned, her green-eyed gaze encountered only broken concrete and asphalt, the hulks of burned out vehicles, and the crumbling shells of hollow-eyed buildings. Nature sought to reclaim what had once been hers, thrusting saplings through mortar and climbing over chrome and metal with ivy tendrils.
"I sense nothing of hope here. Only death and desperation."
"It is but one possible outcome, should the Vampire Courts prevail. Not a happy future, to be sure, but I do not believe it to be one completely without hope." Her companion slipped a comforting arm about her shoulders even as he lifted the other to point.
Winifred's gaze followed and saw what she had overlooked. A blonde girl-child sat on the ground within the confines of a blackened plexiglass bus shelter, small elbows resting upon her knees and chin cupped within her palms. Around her were gathered other, slightly older figures in a wide array of colors and attire but none over the age of 30 winters. Each and every one wore the same attentive expression as they listened to the man standing before them.
He was unremarkable, this man in threadbare clothes and bearing the burden of a battered knapsack upon his back, yet his face was expressive and his hands animated as he spoke to his diverse audience.
"They call themselves Tellers. They are the Archives of this future," Bob explained. "I sense there is something of magic and the mundane in those who answer this calling."
"So not all will be lost." Winifred allowed herself a grim smile of acknowledgement. "Knowledge is hope. Perhaps it will help to rebuild the best of what went before."
"And, presumably, avoid the mistakes that brought humanity to near extinction. Alas, only time will tell whether they will have learned the proper lesson."
Title: Alternate Reality
Fandom The Dresden Files/Jeremiah
Request: Winifred/Hrothbert & any Jeremiah muse
Words: 344
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just passing through.
"I do not like what this portends."
The raven-haired beauty drew the folds of her woolen cloak more tightly about herself, as if it were more shield than attire. The portal through the Nevernever had opened upon an urban scene of desolation. No matter where she turned, her green-eyed gaze encountered only broken concrete and asphalt, the hulks of burned out vehicles, and the crumbling shells of hollow-eyed buildings. Nature sought to reclaim what had once been hers, thrusting saplings through mortar and climbing over chrome and metal with ivy tendrils.
"I sense nothing of hope here. Only death and desperation."
"It is but one possible outcome, should the Vampire Courts prevail. Not a happy future, to be sure, but I do not believe it to be one completely without hope." Her companion slipped a comforting arm about her shoulders even as he lifted the other to point.
Winifred's gaze followed and saw what she had overlooked. A blonde girl-child sat on the ground within the confines of a blackened plexiglass bus shelter, small elbows resting upon her knees and chin cupped within her palms. Around her were gathered other, slightly older figures in a wide array of colors and attire but none over the age of 30 winters. Each and every one wore the same attentive expression as they listened to the man standing before them.
He was unremarkable, this man in threadbare clothes and bearing the burden of a battered knapsack upon his back, yet his face was expressive and his hands animated as he spoke to his diverse audience.
"They call themselves Tellers. They are the Archives of this future," Bob explained. "I sense there is something of magic and the mundane in those who answer this calling."
"So not all will be lost." Winifred allowed herself a grim smile of acknowledgement. "Knowledge is hope. Perhaps it will help to rebuild the best of what went before."
"And, presumably, avoid the mistakes that brought humanity to near extinction. Alas, only time will tell whether they will have learned the proper lesson."