catko

Idris Elba as Ace Freeley, pilot onboard Serenity.

When Wash is injured in an explosion during a job involving noxious gas, he's required to rest his eyes for three weeks to allow them to heal and for his vision to come back to normal. Due to some Unification Day hijinks, Mal's gotten in bad with most of his and Zoe's former cronies and running mates, so it's up to Jayne to scout out a temporary replacement pilot. He comes up with John "Ace" Freeley. Seems like it'll go okay, but turns out Knack has a shady past--several shades of shady, one of which is as a former officer for The Alliance. Another is...he recognizes Book and Book recognizes him. But neither will say more. Plus, he's a good enough pilot to piss Wash off. Bound to be complications.



Idris Elba brings just the right amount of grizzled experience, bad boy charm, sheer physical and mental competence, and devastating English accent to the role of a mercenary with a possibly violent past. He can hold his own in a firefight, stay calm in an emergency, and cook a mean protein stew.

Fandom: The Librarians
Words: 401
Theme: Unusual Holidays, January; taken from this site: http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/january.htm

Cassandra glared at The Book, then let her gaze drift to the open air above it, eyes darting and fingers fluttering. “Hmphf,” she grumped. “Apparently January is a low time for magical action, just like it is in the ordinary world.”

“Post holiday slump,” called out Ezekiel, who was stretched out by the fire, chewing on licorice and gazing at a handheld device. “What do you expect on the day after New Year’s Day? Worst time possible for the thieving arts. Everyone stays home, hides out, pawns their valuables to pay off their excesses…..” He sighed, and stared toward the fire.

“Hey, man,” growled Stone, passing by with an armful of old maps. “If you’d stick to the lawful life, you wouldn’t need to worry about ups and downs.”

“Children, children,” said Eve briskly, coming down the stairs. “We’re just bored. If only you all would make good use of this down-time by practicing your self-defense.” The others groaned loudly, and Ezekiel made a great show of burrowing even deeper in the armchair.

“Well if we think our January’s boring, take a look at these funky holidays.” Jacob held up an old piece of newsprint. “Fruitcake Toss Day? Humiliation Day?” He chortled as the others, lacking anything better to do, gathered round.

“BEAN day,” scoffed Ezekiel. “I wouldn’t half want to avoid that one. Phew!” He held his nose in a broad gesture.

“Aw, Cuddle up day,” murmured Cassandra. “That sounds nice.”

“Well here’s something we can do to expand our minds,” said Jacob. “We can each pick a day and research it. Then, when the day comes, you can share the history with the rest of it. Who knows, buried deep in some of these might be some mythology that might come in handy.”

Ezekiel moaned, but then his eyes caught on the list. “January 9. Play God Day. That’s for me. Back later!” The others watched him head to the computer, rolled their eyes, and scanned the list for something to pick. “Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day, the 12th,” proclaimed Eve. “I’m sure that’s got a great story behind it.”

“I’m deciding between Cuddle Up Day and National Hugging Day. That’s the 21st, so it gives me more time to plan something,” said Cassandra brightly. “And as for me,” said Jacob, “I’m going to look into Appreciate a Dragon Day.” He eyed the Back Door, then the maps in his hand, with speculation.

...for lands_of_magic. Some lyrics NSFW.



( Songs and links )

...for lands_of_magic
Fandom: The Librarians
Words: 432
Notes: for the prompt "New Year's Eve"

Colonel Baird strode into the Library annex, whistling softly to herself, having just completed a security tour around the perimeter of the grounds. Hardly necessary, not on a holiday night, but bracing nonetheless. Once in the room, she looked around with surprise at the Librarians, engaged in random though characteristic activities. Jacob was at the long table, paging through a book that looked ancient and crumbly, his eyes lit with excitement. Ezekiel was slouched in a corner, thumbing at an electronic device that was presumably some type of video game. Cassandra was staring into space with her hands moving in front of her. And Jenkins was just coming down the stairs, a tea tray in his hands.

"What in all heck are all of you doing here ON NEW YEAR'S EVE?" As they all looked over or up at her, she checked her watch. "Ok, admittedly, it's only 7 pm. But shouldn't you be out celebrating?" She sat opposite Jacob at the long table as Jenkins drifted by, depositing the tea tray in front of her. "I mean after all. You could go anywhere in the world to celebrate. It might be 7 pm here, but it's sure to be midnight somewhere." She pointed to the Back Door and looked around indignantly. "Whoa, settle down, Nellie," Jacob intervened mildly. "Don't see you gettin' gussied up to go party in Berlin."

She shrugged. "Yeah, well. With Flynn off in Antarctica, I figured I'd just spend the evening here. Brush up on my tae-kwon-do." She made a few martial arts movements, catching the attention of Cassandra. "What? Oh, New Year's Eve. Well, yes, I was calculating the probabilities of attending an actual party and having fun." She shook her head as she stabbed at the air. "Highly unlikely. I'm going to play it safe."

"Never celebrated New Year's, ever," called out Ezekiel. "Always been a working night for me." He too gestured in the air, more in the nature of picking pockets and slipping jewelry off unsuspecting necks. He chuckled to himself as the others rolled their eyes.

"Well, as none of us seem to have any particular plans, maybe we should do a little something here," said Jacob. "That is, if Jenkins doesn't mind." Jenkins sketched a bow of welcome. "Perhaps the Back Door could be employed to bring items of revelry back here for us to enjoy. Let's see, where shall we start?"

Eyes alight, the Librarians and the Guardian gathered around, tossing out suggestions for where to go and what to get to celebrate the New Year in their own, magical way.

Fandom: Scorpion
Prompt: Weather
Words: 165

“Oh the weather outside is frightful, da-da-dahhh da-daahhh da-dah-dah,” Toby sang as he entered the Garage and locked the door behind him.

“What is THAT?” Happy, who had been coming forward to greet him, dropped back a step. “Is THAT…a Christmas Carol?”

Toby’s face softened, as it always did when seeing her; then he paused in thought. “Da-da-dadeda-dah dah dah…” he sang to himself. “….Let it snow, let it snow…Yup. Well, technically it’s a Christmas-season song, not a carol.” Arms outstretched, he ambled toward her.

She put up a warning hand. “Hold it right there. No Christmas carols. OR…” as he began to argue, “Christmas season songs.” Her glare froze him in his tracks. He parted his lips to protest, but then again, he knew his Happy. So instead he dropped his head, looked sheepish, and made a zipping motion across his mouth. She stared for a moment, then strode toward him, and, making an unzipping motion across his mouth, gave him a big kiss.

Fandom: Scorpion
Prompt: Holiday Song--Merry Christmas, Baby by Christina Aguilera
Words: 187

"Great job, Ralph. Who doesn't love a rendition of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer?" called out Sly, adorned in a Santa's cap, as he clapped and waved Ralph back to his seat. "To call that a rendition is abject flattery," muttered Toby to Happy, as he took a swig of his whisky-spiced hot apple cider. "Strictly grade-school talent show quality." "Shhh, shut up," growled Happy, socking him on the arm. "He may be a genius, but he IS in grade school. You think you can do better, get up there." She gestured toward the makeshift stage where they'd set up a flatscreen, speakers, and a PS4 running Rock Star. "Nope, too late, there goes Paige," Toby grinned smugly. "Looking none-too-confident, and singing...uh oh. Christina Aguilera? Doubt she's got the chops for it." He settled back in his chair and threw slightly bruised arm around Happy's shoulders. But as the piano tinkled in, and Paige began belting out "Merry Christmas, baby, You sure did treat me nice, oh ooh yeah yeah..." he sat up in his chair, and joined in the surprised cheers and "woo-woos" of all the others.

I've been leaning toward writing Leverage fics, so I thought I'd better have some Leverage sigtags...

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Check it out! And tell 'em I sent you! Of course I realize the scene above is from a movie. But it's been --on-- tv!

Made in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the film Labyrinth.

A Four-Disc Music Collection on the themes of Labyrinths, Liliies, Diamonds and Pearls (symbols for the 30th anniversary).



( Covers and song links... )

Title: The Dove Escapade
Rating: G
Word Count: (all lengths welcome)
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. Rights belong to the respective creators.
Notes: Written for prompt #50 "Give Yourself The Day Off" for the dove_drabbles comm, which gives monthly prompts based on the phrases inside the wrappers of Dove chocolates.

“Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-di, only the good die young….” Hardison sang tunefully as he moseyed into the main room. Pulling the Beats off his head,  he shook himself slightly, eyed the computer set up, and prepared to settle down at the table, feeling just a bit put upon. “At work at 8 am on a Sunday, man, either I got weak or Nate’s a total jerk,” he muttered. “‘Get the sweep done before Monday,’” he mimicked to himself. “Well okay, bossman, here I am.” He gave a look around the empty room, and his eyes lit on a glass bowl on the table. “Yeah, yeah, now that’s just what I need.” He reached over and plucked a foil wrapped candy, and held it up to his gaze. “Lil bit o’ chocolate to speed me on my way.” He peeled off the foil and was about to pop the candy into his mouth, when the inside of the foil caught his eye. He peered closer. “What’s this? A message in a wrapper? "Give yourself the day off”?” He looked from side to side, then at the computer, then at the chocolate. “Y’know what, my friend…” he flipped the foil over, “my friend Dove? I believe I will do just that.” Popping the chocolate into his mouth, he shouldered his backpack, flipped on his headphones, and sauntered out the door.

Parker pulled the hood of her sweatshirt off her head as she strode into the room, glaring at the digital clock on the wall, blinking 9:00. She parked herself on the edge of the table, swung her bag onto her lap, and began scrabbling around inside, lips moving in not-totally-silent cursing. Finally her hand grasped the desired object, which she pulled out with a glare and proceeded to turn the dials on what looked to be a very complicated combination lock of some kind. As if realizing this would take some time, she dropped resentfully into a chair, put her legs up just barely not on Hardison's keyboard, and prepared to apply herself to the lock. She'd show him, demanding this on a Sunday, stupid idiot, and here she'd planned to test out some new climbing equipment, and she'd never been any good at multi-combos, and ARGH! She slammed the lock down on the table. At the sound of a rattle, she quirked her head at the glass bowl and bent forward to grab a foil-wrapped object. Moments later she was up and out of the room with nary a look back at the lock sitting solidly on Hardison's mousepad, thinking about her climbing gear and a real nice rock wall at the gym on 12th Street.

Round about noon, Eliot could be seen hustling out of the building, security maps forgotten, romance on his mind and a small ball of foil rolling between his fingers.

Running her fingers through her hair, Sophie lounged into the empty room and looked around with an air of slight surprise. Thought Nate had laid down strict instructions that they were all to meet, Sunday notwithstanding, due to the rather massive failure of their recent caper. Sure, he'd said in the morning, but really, Sunday mornings were for beauty sleep, and after all, not like what she did needed practice, or homework, or anything tedious, not like the others, who, true, could stand to brush up on their skils, if the latest debacle was any indication. Even Nate wasn't here, and if the Taskmaster couldn't be bothered, then why should she? Still, a twinge of guilt, or maybe call it accountability, made her resigned to sit and listen to some dialect podcasts. Good to be sitting here working when Nate came back from wherever in a foul mood. As she bent to turn on the desktop computer, her eyes lit on the glass bowl. "Oooh, Dove candies, how do you do," she purred under her breath. Plucking one of the golden bits, she slowly unwrapped it and, as was her wont, checked the inside wrapper with her usual superstitious thought to take the self-esteem message to heart. "Give yourself the day off." Her lips curved in a smile. "Ah, well, when fate sends a message, who am I to resist shoe shopping?" With that, she slung her purse back on her shoulder and headed out.

Upstairs, Nate dozed in between reading the latest Jack Reacher, glancing at the security cams that intermittently framed his team moving in and out of the place, and occasionally nibbling on one of a pile of Dove chocolates that did not have "give yourself the day off" written on the inside of the wrapper.