Ficlet: The Illusive Man #033, #069, #014
Title: Success Has No Limits
Fandom: Mass Effect
Character/s: The Illusive Man, John Shepard
Prompt: #033 Fence
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Some lessons stick, no matter how far we are from home.
Notes: Written for my prompt table from ficlets100
“Daddy, why doesn't our farm have fences like everyone else's?”
Leaning against the truck he'd been loading with crates of produce, he crossed his arms and smiled wryly at his young son.
“John, fences mean accepting what you have as your due. I've always believed in striving for more. Never settle, my boy, because there's always more out there.”
Years later, his office is walled with glass, the universe endless around him. There are no fences in space.
John Shepard knows well the deadliness of the vacuum, but the panel above his bed stays open to the stars.
Title: Let Me Be Your Guiding Hand
Fandom: Mass Effect
Character/s: The Illusive Man, Miranda Lawson, Jacob Taylor, Jane Shepard
Prompt: #069 Girl
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Is he the father of Cerberus, or its leader?
Notes: Written for my prompt table from ficlets100
Sometimes he feels older than anything in the universe; the only one who understands the Reaper threat, who is willing to do what must be done.
On those occasions, he looks around him and sees children.
Miranda, disillusioned and hurting and running from the father to whom she chains herself, fearfully denying the need to belong.
Jacob, a boy still playing make-believe, hero and protector, missing only a noble steed.
And Shepard, a lost little girl desperate to gather the family she never had, befriending where she should only command.
But a blink, and the children become assets to command.
Title: Senseless Sacrifice
Fandom: Mass Effect
Character/s: The Illusive Man, Jane Shepard
Prompt: #014 Destiny
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: As he waits for the completion of the Lazarus Project, the Illusive Man reflects on the battle for the Citadel.
Notes: Written for my prompt table from ficlets100
Any seasoned commander - hell, even one still green around the edges - should have left the Council. Even taking into account that Shepard always refused to see how the alien races hindered humanity's progress, the numbers left little ground for debate.
Yet he had read the report - watched scratchy footage, even - of the Alliance fleet turning away from Sovereign and suicidally charging into the geth warships around the Destiny Ascension.
He smiles sharply now, though he didn't then; it's both a bitter comfort and a cruel pleasure that, once Shepard is revived, his hatred for her will no longer be one-sided.
Fandom: Mass Effect
Character/s: The Illusive Man, John Shepard
Prompt: #033 Fence
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Some lessons stick, no matter how far we are from home.
Notes: Written for my prompt table from ficlets100
“Daddy, why doesn't our farm have fences like everyone else's?”
Leaning against the truck he'd been loading with crates of produce, he crossed his arms and smiled wryly at his young son.
“John, fences mean accepting what you have as your due. I've always believed in striving for more. Never settle, my boy, because there's always more out there.”
Years later, his office is walled with glass, the universe endless around him. There are no fences in space.
John Shepard knows well the deadliness of the vacuum, but the panel above his bed stays open to the stars.
Title: Let Me Be Your Guiding Hand
Fandom: Mass Effect
Character/s: The Illusive Man, Miranda Lawson, Jacob Taylor, Jane Shepard
Prompt: #069 Girl
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Is he the father of Cerberus, or its leader?
Notes: Written for my prompt table from ficlets100
Sometimes he feels older than anything in the universe; the only one who understands the Reaper threat, who is willing to do what must be done.
On those occasions, he looks around him and sees children.
Miranda, disillusioned and hurting and running from the father to whom she chains herself, fearfully denying the need to belong.
Jacob, a boy still playing make-believe, hero and protector, missing only a noble steed.
And Shepard, a lost little girl desperate to gather the family she never had, befriending where she should only command.
But a blink, and the children become assets to command.
Title: Senseless Sacrifice
Fandom: Mass Effect
Character/s: The Illusive Man, Jane Shepard
Prompt: #014 Destiny
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: As he waits for the completion of the Lazarus Project, the Illusive Man reflects on the battle for the Citadel.
Notes: Written for my prompt table from ficlets100
Any seasoned commander - hell, even one still green around the edges - should have left the Council. Even taking into account that Shepard always refused to see how the alien races hindered humanity's progress, the numbers left little ground for debate.
Yet he had read the report - watched scratchy footage, even - of the Alliance fleet turning away from Sovereign and suicidally charging into the geth warships around the Destiny Ascension.
He smiles sharply now, though he didn't then; it's both a bitter comfort and a cruel pleasure that, once Shepard is revived, his hatred for her will no longer be one-sided.