Various ratings, pairings, etc, for various challenges.
Fandom/Claim: Roswell (General Series)
mission_insane Unthemed Table 4, Prompt 05. Chef
Michael, Gen, 200 words
Working the grill at the Crashdown wasn't brain surgery or anything like that fancy biology stuff Liz was always babbling about while she wiped down the tables, and he pretended not to listen or understand. Then again, she could barely scramble an egg. He liked it, though, even though he gave Liz and the other waitresses a hard time, and bitched about his job on a regular basis.
He figured that it was an unwritten part of the job description (and one of the perks). Only the ones who could hack it, like him and Daryl and Jose, did it. The ones that were all nervous and nice never lasted. First time there was a major rush, and people started getting pissy about their food, they were out of here. Michael would just snort and get to work.
Flip this; stack that. Outer space was just a theme for plain food with weird names. It wasn't really rocket science, and probably wasn't what he wanted to be doing forever, but he was good at it. He didn't have to pretend to be something that he was not. He was smart enough to know that was pretty damn good for now.
Fandom/Claim: Roswell (General Series)
mission_insane Unthemed Table 4, Prompt 03. Cocoa
Isabel, Gen, 200 words
Isabel held the warm mug in both of her hands and breathed in the steam, sharing a smile with her mom over the rim. This has always been one of her favorite rituals, as far back as she can remember. It had started on one of the first nights she had spent in this house, one of the first times she had ever been separated from Max. She had been unable to relax enough, alone, in a strange place, to close her eyes and go to sleep. Diane had looked in and found her backed up against the headboard, her arms wrapped tightly around her skinny knees and wide awake.
Instead of chastising her to go to sleep, she had led Isabel to the kitchen and pulled out these little white packages. Hot water from the tea kettle and some milk turned the brown powder and little white lumps into the best thing she had ever tasted, especially after Diane had smiled and shaken a bit of cinnamon on top. Isabel would be the first to admit that her mother wasn't great in the kitchen, but Starbucks had nothing on her. Nothing was as good as cocoa with her mom.
Fandom/Claim: Roswell (General Series)
mission_insane Unthemed Table 4, Prompt 06. Eyes
Liz, Gen, 150 words
No one was ever really invisible in a small town. The more someone tried to hide, the more she stood out from the crowd. Liz felt as if everyone was always watching her now, as if she really had sprouted bobbing antennae and skin the silver and green of her ruined uniform. She tried to pretend nothing was different, and that she was the same small town girl in on the private joke they were all pulling on the tourists. It just wasn't as funny anymore.
The sheriff always seemed to be around. Her parents tracked her every move. Now, the FBI was involved as well. It was like Max had painted her with a bull's-eye that day instead of a small silver handprint. Yet, for so many eyes that were watching her, they were all so very blind.
She wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse.
Fandom/Claim: Roswell (General Series)
mission_insane Unthemed Table 4, Prompt 01. Scandal
Kyle, Gen, 275 words
Kyle knew his role. He was a teenager, and every teen knows the expectations and pecking order, even if some tried to pretend they were too cool for all of that. He was the Sherriff's son, a decent looking guy, first string on the football team, a starter for the basketball team, and a decent outfielder come baseball season. He wasn't the smartest guy around, and maybe he didn't study all that hard, but he made decent grades, and did okay. He'd probably end up at a state school, playing ball for a few years, and then come back and sign on at the Sherriff's station, eventually wearing the badge his dad had, and his grandfather before that.
He wasn't supposed to get dumped by his brainy, but beautiful, girlfriend, especially not for a weird like Max Evans. He wasn't supposed to go away to football camp and come back spouting Buddhist platitudes and meditating on his existence in front of a statue of a golden, fat man. He also wasn't supposed to die, so he figured he was even.
After all, it was a lot harder to be cocky about your role in the universe when it suddenly expands on you to include whole new galaxies. It was easier to be philosophical about the girl of your dreams dumping you for the creepy outsider, when you knew he really was some fairy tale alien king, even if you can't tell anyone about it. It certainly didn't hurt near as much once you realized that maybe she wasn't the girl of your dreams after all, because you were just now figuring out how to dream.
Fandom/Claim: Roswell (General Series)
mission_insane Unthemed Table 4, Prompt 08. Trouble
Maria (Maria/Michael, Max/Liz), G, 125 words
Maria knew he was trouble with a capital 'T,' slinking around all scruffy, tagging along after Max Evans. Nothing good ever came from men like him. Everyone knew he lived on the wrong side of town, with his drunken foster father, and he skipped school more often than not. It was a miracle he could even read. (Though she had never actually seen him with a book, so that could just be a rumor.) He barely had any manners and never left a tip, no matter how many refills he rudely demanded, while Max stared at Liz. She certainly wasn't going to admit that he was a little fascinating, or that there was a reason she always knew exactly when Max was watching Liz again.
Destiny Spins Out of Control
Fandom: Roswell (Michael/Liz)
Prompt: mission_insane Unthemed Table 2, 08. Idea, & varietypack100: 043. Square (225 Words)
After we discovered it and what it meant, it always struck me as weird - the way the four-square symbol was drawn. After all, I am an artist, and a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words. The lines suggested that we were all connected; we were all one. Yet, we weren't, not really. Not yet.
I suppose that it could have been done differently. I had puzzled it over and over in my head. It could have been a square, with horizontal and vertical lines. Except, it never came out right. The only thing that connected us all was Max, our king - especially Tess... That was a pyramid, not a square. There was no balance.
It turned out that I was wrong. I just didn't have all of the information. They drew it right, but I don't think that even "they" - whoever they were - could have known what it all meant.
It took a human girl - a young woman, with more to lose than any of us - to help us and to discover our destiny. You see that little point in the middle, where all of the other lines intersect; that's the axis. That's Liz Parker.
She gave us our heart, and she saved us all - the Royal Four and both of our worlds.
Nobody had counted on Little Lizzie Parker.
For: varietypack100 078. Where?, roswell_100 001. Desert
Title: Silent Scream
Author: Syrenslure
Rated: G
Disclaimer: All things Roswell belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, et al.
Wordcount: 100
Michael
The desert was his refuge, a place where he could feel inexplicably at home, yet incredibly lost. He thought it was fitting, since it was also the quietest place he knew and the one place where he could be as loud and as alien as he liked. When the rest of his life was overwhelming - deafening him with slamming doors, drunken yelling, and Max's voice, in his head, telling him how to be and who to be - and he didn't think he could go one more second without screaming, Michael fled here to enjoy the silence and just be himself.
For: varietypack100 091. Birthday, roswell_100 49. Unbirthday
Title: Life Of My Own
Author: Syrenslure
Rated: G
Disclaimer: All things Roswell belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, et al.
Wordcount: 259
Michael
Michael grumbled as he struggled with the poufy tissue paper stuff that he was stuffing into the bag with Isabel's gift. He really loved her, but sometimes he wished she wasn't such a -- princess. Her seventeenth birthday is tomorrow and heaven forbid that he forget to get her a gift that "showed some consideration, on time, and is properly presented - not 3 days late and shoved into a cheap grocery sack."
It was ironic that as much work she demanded that he put into her gift that she had never gotten him one. Or maybe she had, once; he couldn't really remember. He had probably made her regret it, if she had. He has never really celebrated his "birthday." Hank certainly wasn't the presents and cake type. He didn't think that Isabel and Max realized how normal their lives were - and his was not. He did his best to keep it that way.
It was all arbitrary, anyway - some random date chosen by a social worker for a child who could barely talk and had no concept of a birthday. After all, he was pretty much hatched. For him, there was only one lure of the special day. Once enough of them had passed, he would be free. No more Hank. No questions of his comings and goings (not that there were many now, as long as he pretended to follow most of the rules). Soon he would have eighteen of his unbirthdays, and he could do as he liked. Maybe then, he would find something to celebrate.
For: varietypack100 077. What?, roswell_100 046. Journal
Title: Things I'll Never Say
Author: Syrenslure
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: All things Roswell belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, et al.
Wordcount: 100
Liz
Sometimes, when I'm alone and it's really quiet and still, I shake. I don't know why. I'm not cold or anything. Max healed me; there's nothing wrong, anymore. It just feels like there's something inside of me boiling up and trying to get out. I try not to think about that too literally.
Grandma Claudia brought me this journal last Christmas. She told me that as I got older, I might appreciate a place to "let it all out." I couldn't imagine what I'd tell a book that I couldn't tell my best friend.
My imagination's gotten a lot better.
For: varietypack100 035. Sixth Sense, roswell_100 100. Widow
Title: You Oughta Know
Author: Syrenslure
Rated: PG
Disclaimer: All things Roswell belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, et al.
Wordcount: 100
Tess
"I knew this was meant to be." That's what I told them - told Max. Surely, they had to see it, now. Everything that Nasedo had told me was true. The orbs had confirmed it. Max is the King and I am his Queen.
I remember. I remember how it felt to love him, and to have him love me. I also remember how it felt to lose him when he died. It felt like my soul was being torn in half.
I must remember. Why else would it hurt so badly to watch when he turns to run after Liz?