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Dinner interrupted before I could do this part (idea from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sg_fignewton of my year-in-fic overview, so I posted what I had and saved the favorite excerpts from each of last year's stories for this entry.
My favorite bits may not correspond to the best parts of the stories. I also tend to be very fond of my closings, which aren't really appropriate for this meme, particularly if you haven't read one or more of the stories! I tried not to include anything that would spoil a story.
"Fresh Scars" This passage is a bit long but still my favorite scene, so I've shortened a paragraph but kept the dialogue. The dialogue in this and and the scene that follow (with Nick, Stephen, and the nurse discussing head injuries) were actually the germ of the entire story:
"Don't worry, it's nothing personal," James hastened to assure him. "Part of my job, really: visit the injured employee. Keeps up morale among the troops." If he let on he was there to ask questions, Stephen would probably insist he could answer them, and God alone knew where that might end.
Stephen frowned as if he were thinking hard. "But I'm not an employee."
Had he taken a blow to his head among all his other injuries? James would have to ask a nurse. "Really? I'd hate to think I'm wasting my time here."
"I was fired."
He'd actually forgotten, in all the commotion. Cutter had said something about having fired him, but that had been days ago. James had planned to give the man some cooling-off time so he didn't have to rehire Hart later. Then everything had gone to hell, again, and he'd never asked Cutter if he'd meant it. He wasn't about to admit it had just slipped his mind. "Oh, that—verbal termination doesn't really count. Cutter couldn't be bothered to do the paperwork."
"I'm not fired because Cutter didn't do his paperwork?" The man didn't seem at all offended; his tone was perfectly matter-of-fact. Offended would probably require considerably less sedation.
James replied in kind. "As it turns out."
"Then my job is safe forever," Stephen answered in the same slow, calm voice.
"Beg pardon?"
"Cutter never finishes his paperwork. I've completed most of his reports. I think Abby does the rest. I do most of the requisitions."
James accepted this new information in silence. He should probably have realized that. . . .
The medication had clearly put Stephen in confessional mode. James could take advantage of this, he realized. He could probably find out anything he wanted to know.
There were only two problems. The first was that the information wasn't terribly reliable. The second, and far more important, was that he already knew more about Hart and his teammates than he'd ever wanted to know in the first place.
"'Sunrise over Eden": Jules dropped his arms to his sides and stared at his mother with his mouth open. His hands twitched a little as he tried to think of something to say. She smiled. He might believe he was no longer the same he had been before the treatments, but that look of bewilderment had not changed at all. She could still see her little preschool son in the man who towered over her. Genetic modifications could change the mind, but not the soul. The treatments had not been her idea, but she never regretted them.
"Zephyr": Thor laughed quietly, and he was not surprised when Loki started at the noise. It was a sound few of his people made any longer. "You had so many chances, Loki, and you wasted them all." He sobered a little. "That is true of all of us, myself included. I hope it does not become the epitaph for our race."
"Vale, amice": The knowledge that he could not live beyond a few months at most did not trouble Jacob. He felt a slight surprise at his own calmness, but he could already feel that life without Selmak had lost much of its color and texture.
sg_fignewton of my year-in-fic overview, so I posted what I had and saved the favorite excerpts from each of last year's stories for this entry.My favorite bits may not correspond to the best parts of the stories. I also tend to be very fond of my closings, which aren't really appropriate for this meme, particularly if you haven't read one or more of the stories! I tried not to include anything that would spoil a story.
"Fresh Scars" This passage is a bit long but still my favorite scene, so I've shortened a paragraph but kept the dialogue. The dialogue in this and and the scene that follow (with Nick, Stephen, and the nurse discussing head injuries) were actually the germ of the entire story:
"Don't worry, it's nothing personal," James hastened to assure him. "Part of my job, really: visit the injured employee. Keeps up morale among the troops." If he let on he was there to ask questions, Stephen would probably insist he could answer them, and God alone knew where that might end.
Stephen frowned as if he were thinking hard. "But I'm not an employee."
Had he taken a blow to his head among all his other injuries? James would have to ask a nurse. "Really? I'd hate to think I'm wasting my time here."
"I was fired."
He'd actually forgotten, in all the commotion. Cutter had said something about having fired him, but that had been days ago. James had planned to give the man some cooling-off time so he didn't have to rehire Hart later. Then everything had gone to hell, again, and he'd never asked Cutter if he'd meant it. He wasn't about to admit it had just slipped his mind. "Oh, that—verbal termination doesn't really count. Cutter couldn't be bothered to do the paperwork."
"I'm not fired because Cutter didn't do his paperwork?" The man didn't seem at all offended; his tone was perfectly matter-of-fact. Offended would probably require considerably less sedation.
James replied in kind. "As it turns out."
"Then my job is safe forever," Stephen answered in the same slow, calm voice.
"Beg pardon?"
"Cutter never finishes his paperwork. I've completed most of his reports. I think Abby does the rest. I do most of the requisitions."
James accepted this new information in silence. He should probably have realized that. . . .
The medication had clearly put Stephen in confessional mode. James could take advantage of this, he realized. He could probably find out anything he wanted to know.
There were only two problems. The first was that the information wasn't terribly reliable. The second, and far more important, was that he already knew more about Hart and his teammates than he'd ever wanted to know in the first place.
"'Sunrise over Eden": Jules dropped his arms to his sides and stared at his mother with his mouth open. His hands twitched a little as he tried to think of something to say. She smiled. He might believe he was no longer the same he had been before the treatments, but that look of bewilderment had not changed at all. She could still see her little preschool son in the man who towered over her. Genetic modifications could change the mind, but not the soul. The treatments had not been her idea, but she never regretted them.
"Zephyr": Thor laughed quietly, and he was not surprised when Loki started at the noise. It was a sound few of his people made any longer. "You had so many chances, Loki, and you wasted them all." He sobered a little. "That is true of all of us, myself included. I hope it does not become the epitaph for our race."
"Vale, amice": The knowledge that he could not live beyond a few months at most did not trouble Jacob. He felt a slight surprise at his own calmness, but he could already feel that life without Selmak had lost much of its color and texture.
