Music Meme Craving
I think the title says it all. I was struck with a craving to write some more Sam/Sybil drabbles. I'm taking that as a good thing since I have been less than motivated to write anything at all lately.
1. Schadenfreude - Avenue Q
Vimes stayed home for the days following Young Sam's birth. Sybil had assured him that she and the nursemaid could handle things but in Vimes' mind, he hadn't seen his wife for a whole week.
"So... can you tell me about your trip or is that not allowed?" Sybil had asked when he'd explained.
He'd thought about it carefully and decided that talking about the past couldn't disrupt the space-time continuum. So he told her everything he could remember.
"You threatened to what?" Sybil asked when they got to the part about Captain Rust.
"Shoot him... and actually, that wasn't me... as such. It was the you know, the other one." Vimes said sheepishly.
"So you didn't shoot him." Sybil said, she sounded slightly disappointed.
"No, I just punched him."
2. Amish Paradise - Weird Al Yankovic
Vimes unwrapped Sybil's gift. It was another Disorganizer. He smiled and tried to seem pleased. In another slightly larger box, was the manual. Vimes sighed and stuffed the little wooden box containing this new imp into a pocket. He suddenly felt... old. In a handful of years there had been so many changes in the city, the clacks, the newspaper, Disorganizers, paper money. It could overwhelm a person. It was as if all the technology of some other civilization had crash landed and been absorbed by the city.
3. Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey
At breakfast, Sybil watched her husband eating and considered that he was an easy man to feed but probably a bit tricky to love. It wasn't his personality that was the trouble. There was something rather more honest about a snarky bastard than someone with a pleasant demeanor. He'd shown her his worst first and then when she'd decided that she could handle it, he'd revealed a hidden, kinder side.
The problem was and always would be the badge. She knew that some women wouldn't handle the way he thought that all crimes were important and that idea of his that the city would sink into the sea if he wasn't watching it. Sometimes, she wondered why she could put up with it. Why could she trust him to always come back to her eventually?
4. Green Finch and Linnet Bird - Sweeney Todd
Vimes had promised himself that he would get Buggy Swires that buzzard he'd always wanted. The trouble now was that he had absolutely no idea how to go about getting it. He'd considered asking at the Palace Menagerie and with some hunting enthusiasts but the menagerie people wouldn't give up either of theirs and the hunters refused to understand that Vimes wanted a live buzzard.
"The pictsies, sir." Swires had said when Vimes finally asked him.
"Pixies?"
"No, pictsies," Swires corrected, "they catch them and break 'em in, like yon bigjobs do with horses."
"Ah." Vimes said helplessly, "So can I leave it to you to contact the pict-sies and buy a buzzard. I'll sign off on the expenses so long as they're reasonable."
"Nae problemo, sir."
Swires leaped off Vimes' desk, gripped the knob of the bottom drawer, pulled the drawer open in some way that Vimes couldn't even begin to describe, jumped into the drawer and then out again, carrying that half-empty bottle everyone knew he kept there.
"What are you doing with that?" Vimes asked.
"Down payment, sir."
5. #1 Crush - Garbage
Vimes and Sybil did end up visiting the Bonk Chocolate Museum. It was... interesting. While there the topic of conversation steered slowly away from chocolate and more towards Captain Tantony and of the less than brilliant things he did, like trying to arrest the Baroness and going anywhere near Wolfgang.
"I shouldn't have said anything to him." Vimes said, "He wouldn't have tried it on if I hadn't lost my temper."
"But he's all right, there's no need to feel guilty, dear." Sybil said.
"I just... this keeps happening." Vimes said, "You should see how the rookies act when they see me. They act like I'm important."
"You are important."
"I mean, personally important. Like it matters what I think of them. Like they're all trying to impress me. It's almost as bad as Carrot."
Sybil smiled but didn't say anything. It was sweet that he was so uncomfortable at how awed the younger watchmen were. It was understandable, Sam was the sort of man that anyone would want to impress. She wouldn't tell him that and she certainly wasn't going to tell him that there were people out there that would die for him.
6. On and On - Stephen Bishop
"Do come again, I'm sure Errol will be glad to see you." Lady Sybil said.
She gave Captain Vimes a washed out smile. Inside, she felt like dying. She'd had to hurry him out the door and closed the door quickly after him because she was teetering precariously over some edge that she didn't want to fall off of while he was watching. When she did finally cry, it was only after he'd been long gone and only for a little while because she didn't want to risk anyone catching her doing so.
"You just let him walk out the door." She said, feeling very disappointed with herself. "You could have asked him to stay. You could have... told him how you felt. Maybe you were too subtle."
7. The Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance
Sybil had been his third thought. Third?! Of all the things in his life, how could he possibly let Sybil be third on his list of priorities? Vimes sat at a desk in the Treacle Mine Road watch house and glared at the cracks on the wall. Third. After ambition and principles, his wife came third.
"Oh gods, I'm becoming one of those men." He said.
"One of what men, Sarge?" someone asked and made Vimes flinch.
It was Sam, asking of course. His younger self.
"Just one those stupid men that thinks he's better than he actually is." Vimes said. "One of those men that forgets what's important and leaves it behind. Don't ever become one those men, Vimes."
"Yes Sarge." Sam said, not having any idea what he was actually talking about.
8. When I Need You - Leo Sayer
Young Sam finally fell asleep. Sybil kissed her baby's head and yawned hugely. Then she took another iconograph of him. She'd promised Sam that she would even if actually mailing them wasn't practical. She knew that he would only be in Borogravia for a little while. She went downstairs to check on the dragon pens. The head cavern girl was going a very good job, much to Sybil's chagrin. There wasn't much that needed to be done. She felt a bit of a loose end then she started missing her husband again. She went into the Ghastly Pink Drawing Room and opened a packet of Pantweed's Slim Panetellas and left one of them on an ashtray to smolder. She never thought she'd miss the smell of foul cigars so much. The longer Sam was away the more she started to like the smell.
9. Surfer Girl - Beach Boys
"Stop listening like a husband and start thinking like a copper." Sybil said.
The measurements for the upstairs and downstairs didn't add up, she said. It wasn't too noticeable but one of the walls in the embassy was rather thicker than the others.
"So what do you think it is?" Vimes asked.
"I think it's suspicious." Sybil answered.
Copper girl... Vimes thought and felt a little squeeze on his heart.
"How much thicker is it?" he asked.
Sybil gave her husband a Look. He was almost smiling. He was trying not to but she could see one corner that insisted on turning upwards.
10. Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
The opening of a new watch house was never a grand occasion. It didn't gather crowds. There wasn't someone to cut the grand ribbon with a pair of hilariously big golden scissors. The first day of the newly reopened Treacle Mine Road watch house was like any other. Except that Vimes, Sybil and Young Sam got together and had lunch at the nearest eatery. In this case, they had greasy Agatean take away. They sat at a booth next to the window and watched watchmen walking in and out.
"Feeling nostalgic?" Sybil teased.
"I think I've had enough of reliving the good old days to last me a lifetime." Vimes said. "But it's nice to see the old place running again."
1. Schadenfreude - Avenue Q
Vimes stayed home for the days following Young Sam's birth. Sybil had assured him that she and the nursemaid could handle things but in Vimes' mind, he hadn't seen his wife for a whole week.
"So... can you tell me about your trip or is that not allowed?" Sybil had asked when he'd explained.
He'd thought about it carefully and decided that talking about the past couldn't disrupt the space-time continuum. So he told her everything he could remember.
"You threatened to what?" Sybil asked when they got to the part about Captain Rust.
"Shoot him... and actually, that wasn't me... as such. It was the you know, the other one." Vimes said sheepishly.
"So you didn't shoot him." Sybil said, she sounded slightly disappointed.
"No, I just punched him."
2. Amish Paradise - Weird Al Yankovic
Vimes unwrapped Sybil's gift. It was another Disorganizer. He smiled and tried to seem pleased. In another slightly larger box, was the manual. Vimes sighed and stuffed the little wooden box containing this new imp into a pocket. He suddenly felt... old. In a handful of years there had been so many changes in the city, the clacks, the newspaper, Disorganizers, paper money. It could overwhelm a person. It was as if all the technology of some other civilization had crash landed and been absorbed by the city.
3. Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey
At breakfast, Sybil watched her husband eating and considered that he was an easy man to feed but probably a bit tricky to love. It wasn't his personality that was the trouble. There was something rather more honest about a snarky bastard than someone with a pleasant demeanor. He'd shown her his worst first and then when she'd decided that she could handle it, he'd revealed a hidden, kinder side.
The problem was and always would be the badge. She knew that some women wouldn't handle the way he thought that all crimes were important and that idea of his that the city would sink into the sea if he wasn't watching it. Sometimes, she wondered why she could put up with it. Why could she trust him to always come back to her eventually?
4. Green Finch and Linnet Bird - Sweeney Todd
Vimes had promised himself that he would get Buggy Swires that buzzard he'd always wanted. The trouble now was that he had absolutely no idea how to go about getting it. He'd considered asking at the Palace Menagerie and with some hunting enthusiasts but the menagerie people wouldn't give up either of theirs and the hunters refused to understand that Vimes wanted a live buzzard.
"The pictsies, sir." Swires had said when Vimes finally asked him.
"Pixies?"
"No, pictsies," Swires corrected, "they catch them and break 'em in, like yon bigjobs do with horses."
"Ah." Vimes said helplessly, "So can I leave it to you to contact the pict-sies and buy a buzzard. I'll sign off on the expenses so long as they're reasonable."
"Nae problemo, sir."
Swires leaped off Vimes' desk, gripped the knob of the bottom drawer, pulled the drawer open in some way that Vimes couldn't even begin to describe, jumped into the drawer and then out again, carrying that half-empty bottle everyone knew he kept there.
"What are you doing with that?" Vimes asked.
"Down payment, sir."
5. #1 Crush - Garbage
Vimes and Sybil did end up visiting the Bonk Chocolate Museum. It was... interesting. While there the topic of conversation steered slowly away from chocolate and more towards Captain Tantony and of the less than brilliant things he did, like trying to arrest the Baroness and going anywhere near Wolfgang.
"I shouldn't have said anything to him." Vimes said, "He wouldn't have tried it on if I hadn't lost my temper."
"But he's all right, there's no need to feel guilty, dear." Sybil said.
"I just... this keeps happening." Vimes said, "You should see how the rookies act when they see me. They act like I'm important."
"You are important."
"I mean, personally important. Like it matters what I think of them. Like they're all trying to impress me. It's almost as bad as Carrot."
Sybil smiled but didn't say anything. It was sweet that he was so uncomfortable at how awed the younger watchmen were. It was understandable, Sam was the sort of man that anyone would want to impress. She wouldn't tell him that and she certainly wasn't going to tell him that there were people out there that would die for him.
6. On and On - Stephen Bishop
"Do come again, I'm sure Errol will be glad to see you." Lady Sybil said.
She gave Captain Vimes a washed out smile. Inside, she felt like dying. She'd had to hurry him out the door and closed the door quickly after him because she was teetering precariously over some edge that she didn't want to fall off of while he was watching. When she did finally cry, it was only after he'd been long gone and only for a little while because she didn't want to risk anyone catching her doing so.
"You just let him walk out the door." She said, feeling very disappointed with herself. "You could have asked him to stay. You could have... told him how you felt. Maybe you were too subtle."
7. The Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance
Sybil had been his third thought. Third?! Of all the things in his life, how could he possibly let Sybil be third on his list of priorities? Vimes sat at a desk in the Treacle Mine Road watch house and glared at the cracks on the wall. Third. After ambition and principles, his wife came third.
"Oh gods, I'm becoming one of those men." He said.
"One of what men, Sarge?" someone asked and made Vimes flinch.
It was Sam, asking of course. His younger self.
"Just one those stupid men that thinks he's better than he actually is." Vimes said. "One of those men that forgets what's important and leaves it behind. Don't ever become one those men, Vimes."
"Yes Sarge." Sam said, not having any idea what he was actually talking about.
8. When I Need You - Leo Sayer
Young Sam finally fell asleep. Sybil kissed her baby's head and yawned hugely. Then she took another iconograph of him. She'd promised Sam that she would even if actually mailing them wasn't practical. She knew that he would only be in Borogravia for a little while. She went downstairs to check on the dragon pens. The head cavern girl was going a very good job, much to Sybil's chagrin. There wasn't much that needed to be done. She felt a bit of a loose end then she started missing her husband again. She went into the Ghastly Pink Drawing Room and opened a packet of Pantweed's Slim Panetellas and left one of them on an ashtray to smolder. She never thought she'd miss the smell of foul cigars so much. The longer Sam was away the more she started to like the smell.
9. Surfer Girl - Beach Boys
"Stop listening like a husband and start thinking like a copper." Sybil said.
The measurements for the upstairs and downstairs didn't add up, she said. It wasn't too noticeable but one of the walls in the embassy was rather thicker than the others.
"So what do you think it is?" Vimes asked.
"I think it's suspicious." Sybil answered.
Copper girl... Vimes thought and felt a little squeeze on his heart.
"How much thicker is it?" he asked.
Sybil gave her husband a Look. He was almost smiling. He was trying not to but she could see one corner that insisted on turning upwards.
10. Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
The opening of a new watch house was never a grand occasion. It didn't gather crowds. There wasn't someone to cut the grand ribbon with a pair of hilariously big golden scissors. The first day of the newly reopened Treacle Mine Road watch house was like any other. Except that Vimes, Sybil and Young Sam got together and had lunch at the nearest eatery. In this case, they had greasy Agatean take away. They sat at a booth next to the window and watched watchmen walking in and out.
"Feeling nostalgic?" Sybil teased.
"I think I've had enough of reliving the good old days to last me a lifetime." Vimes said. "But it's nice to see the old place running again."