(no subject)
Posting this here (and at ff100, of course) because I like it. Yeah. And things.
Title: Untitled
Fandom: Buffy
Character: Buffy and Dawn
Prompt: 51 - Water
Word Count: 380
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Takes place pre-Sunnydale, Buffy is 15 and only just beginning as a Slayer.
She swims elegantly, lazily, a relaxing breaststroke in an empty pool. No one else to yell at her, no one to tell her what to do, no homework to pretend to finish, no false study groups to lie sweetly about so she can protect her parents from becoming the next Sunday brunch in an alley. None of that, in this moment. Just her and the water and summer vacation and the hot Los Angeles sun, making the water glitter and shine around her. Perfect, blissful calm.
Until about exactly four minutes later. “AAAAAH! Attack of the LITTLE SISTERRRRR!” comes the resounding battle cry, followed by an impressive splash, especially for a nine year old girl with skinny legs and a too big bathing suit that used to be hers. She grins as a half-laughing, half-spluttering face pops up right next to her, and her eyes widen in surprise and too late realization as she finds herself promptly pushed underwater. It is in this moment that she decides to play a trick. She realizes that she can hold her breath for longer than she thinks, and lets her body float to the bottom of the pool, head down. She hears the surface dive and feels the tug on her bathing suit strap, and turns over, opening her eyes and making a face at her sister underwater. She pushes the dark haired girl upwards and out into the air, laughing and tugging gently on her hair.
“Meanie. You scared me!” the younger one pouts, lower lip wibbling as she crosses her arms over her chest , struggling to keep her head above the water in the deep end.
She ruffles her sister’s hair. “Just a game, Dawnie. Just playing, promise.” She grins and bites her sister’s shoulder lightly. “Race you to the other end?” she says before pushing herself off the wall.
* * * * * * * *
Dawn blinks into the sudden darkness in front of her, blinding light and too many terrible things to imagine or name gone now. All because of her. She reaches her hand forward, touching the empty space where her sister had been.
“This is just a game too, right Buffy? Just playing?”
The echo of her raw, childlike voice is her only reply.
FIN
Title: Untitled
Fandom: Buffy
Character: Buffy and Dawn
Prompt: 51 - Water
Word Count: 380
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Takes place pre-Sunnydale, Buffy is 15 and only just beginning as a Slayer.
She swims elegantly, lazily, a relaxing breaststroke in an empty pool. No one else to yell at her, no one to tell her what to do, no homework to pretend to finish, no false study groups to lie sweetly about so she can protect her parents from becoming the next Sunday brunch in an alley. None of that, in this moment. Just her and the water and summer vacation and the hot Los Angeles sun, making the water glitter and shine around her. Perfect, blissful calm.
Until about exactly four minutes later. “AAAAAH! Attack of the LITTLE SISTERRRRR!” comes the resounding battle cry, followed by an impressive splash, especially for a nine year old girl with skinny legs and a too big bathing suit that used to be hers. She grins as a half-laughing, half-spluttering face pops up right next to her, and her eyes widen in surprise and too late realization as she finds herself promptly pushed underwater. It is in this moment that she decides to play a trick. She realizes that she can hold her breath for longer than she thinks, and lets her body float to the bottom of the pool, head down. She hears the surface dive and feels the tug on her bathing suit strap, and turns over, opening her eyes and making a face at her sister underwater. She pushes the dark haired girl upwards and out into the air, laughing and tugging gently on her hair.
“Meanie. You scared me!” the younger one pouts, lower lip wibbling as she crosses her arms over her chest , struggling to keep her head above the water in the deep end.
She ruffles her sister’s hair. “Just a game, Dawnie. Just playing, promise.” She grins and bites her sister’s shoulder lightly. “Race you to the other end?” she says before pushing herself off the wall.
* * * * * * * *
Dawn blinks into the sudden darkness in front of her, blinding light and too many terrible things to imagine or name gone now. All because of her. She reaches her hand forward, touching the empty space where her sister had been.
“This is just a game too, right Buffy? Just playing?”
The echo of her raw, childlike voice is her only reply.
FIN