nenena | Yuletide 2007

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Yuletide 2007

I'm taking the plunge and participating in

yuletide this year, if only because of the inclusion of a certain fandom that starts with an M and ends with a bharata.

But looking over the (so far) master 2007 list of fandoms, there's a lot of great stuff potentially being offered. And a lot of things on that list are making me go, "Hmmm, it would be an interesting writerly exercise to offer myself as a writer for that..."

So, who's with me? ;)

PS - Relevant important information for newbies is at

yuletide_admin.

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Me. Of course.

I have you to thank for sucking me in. ;)

:)

Set early on in The New Mutant series.

Title: Midnight Waiting, Midnight Baking

If it has been announced by a claxon, it couldn't have been more obvious.

Feet thudded up and down the hall, team members called out to each other, someone banged on a door, yelling to get your act in gear because there were monsters to fight and people to save.

Rahne drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees. She could feel her heart pounding and she spent a moment trying to find the words to a remembered prayer, but they wouldn't come, so she improvised. "Dear Lord in Heaven, please watch over them, and keep them save."

After a few minutes, when the noises subsided, and a great whoosing came outside of a plane taking off, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in."

Dani opened the door. "Hey, there." Rahne was glad to see her. Having grown up without any family or close friends, she still found it surprising and wonderful that someone would care enough about her to come and check on her. Dani came and sat down on the end of Rahne's bed. "I'd have been in sooner, but the halls were pretty full and I didn't want to get in the way."

"I know. Me either. Did you hear what it was about?"

Dani shook her head. "Not really. Monster-something-something. Danger. Buildings being demolished." She fiddled with the edge of the blanket, looking away. "They can take care of themselves. They've been doing this for a long time. It's hard to watch them go, though."

Rahne nodded. She knew that as well as Dani did, but still, the X-Men put themselves in mortal danger. Sometimes things never went like they *should*. The New Mutants were still in training, still learning to control their abilities, and even though they'd had a scrape or two, it was always the older team that was relied upon to deal with any dangerous events.

Dani shrugged and stood up. "Guess I'll go back to my room. Get back to sleep. Early classes tomorrow. I think we've got Danger Room exercises first thing."

Rahne reached out and caught Dani's hand. "I don't think I can fall asleep again," she said quietly. And then her stomach rumbled. "Oh!" She covered her face in embarrassment.

Dani laughed. "We can't fight the bad guys this round, but I bet we can fight off being hungry. I could use a snack, too."

Rahne put on her bathrobe and slippers while Dani grabbed her own from her bedroom, and they made their way down to the kitchen. Sam and Roberto were already there. Roberto was juggling oranges, and dropped one as they entered.

"We came down for a snack," Dani explained.

"They woke us up too. Considering they're on an entirely different level, that's some feat," Sam said. He bent down and stared deep into the refrigerator. "Aw, nuts. There's nothin'."

"There's fruit," Roberto reminded him. He peeled one of the oranges and divided it into quarters, offering slices to everyone. "Shan's lucky she's visiting her brother and sister tonight, or she'd be out of a good night's rest, too."

Rahne sat down at the table to nibble on the piece of orange. "'Tis very sweet. Thank you."

Roberto smiled at her and Rahne's heart gave a little flutter. She just wasn't used to anyone looking *so* at her.

"Nothing? You gotta be kidding," Dani said and looked in the fridge herself. "There's plenty. Look. Eggs."

"Yeah, but that requires cookin'. Ah was hopin' for something easier." Sam looked in the cupboards. "Cereal. How much milk is there?"

"Enough." Dani pulled the eggs out. "You know," she said slowly, looking at the eggs, "we could make some cookies."

"Dani, that'd take too long!" Sam complained. He had two boxes of cereal on the countertop, one composed entirely of thrashed wheat, the other entirely of puffed corn. Neither looked appetizing.

Dani pointed at the small television in the corner. It was on the news, with the sound turned down low. "And you weren't going to stay up all night to see if the X-Men ended up on tv?"

Rahne glanced at the tv. It hasn't shown anything other than the weather and political news. What if the trouble wasn't on Earth? The Professor had a lady friend who wasn't human and had gone to win back her throne. Even in the short time since she'd come here, so many things had happened. Things that she'd have thought impossible once. The Reverend would have called most of it evil, even those who were good, just because they were different. What he'd taught her, what was good and what was evil, was hard to understand sometimes now that she'd begun to see more of the world. She wondered what sort of evil were the X-Men fighting tonight.

Sam touched her shoulder and she turned to look up at him. "Dani wants us t' help her make some cookies."

"Of course," Rahne agreed.

Roberto grabbed down a bowl. "I volunteer to stir." He grinned. "Yet another perk for having super strength."

Despite her worry, Rahne giggled.

Dani handed her the carton of milk with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "See if that's still good."

"Aye," Rahne said, and gave the milk a good sniffing. Her sense of smell in wolf form would have been much keener, but she was in her bathrobe and was tired of shredding all her clothes. "Still fresh," she told them.

It was the work of a few minutes to gather up the rest of the supplies. Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder. No one could seem to find a recipe book, so they went from memory.

"Baking powder *and* baking soda?" Dani asked as looked between the two in her hands. "Or just one?"

"I dinna know," Rahne said. "Try both. But just a pinch of each."

They cobbled together a recipe and dropped it by the spoonfuls onto old baking sheets they found. The kitchen filled with the delicious, sweet scent of cookies.

"Ah think they're done." Sam pulled the sheets from the oven and then put in the second round of sheets. It had made a lot of batter.

"Look!" Roberto turned the television's sound up.

A stern newsman was finishing a report. "Our sources confirm that two known and wanted men were indeed dropped off at the doorstep of one of the city's precincts. Damage to the city's backup generators appears to be severe, and crews are now working--"

Rahne was hugged from behind, gathered into a group crush of happiness.

"They're coming home!" Dani whooped. "I bet they'll be hungry after all that super hero business."

"We'll leave them the biscuits," Rahne said. "We've made too much for ourselves."

"Good idea--" Dani stopped and pointed to the clock. "Do you *see* the time? We've got to be up in a couple hours."

"And we've got morning Danger Room practice!" Roberto added.

"We have to clean this up too," Rahne said. She couldn't believe the mess they had made. Had they brought *every* item out and used it? Batter was dropped on the floor, eggshells were piled in the sink, measuring spoons were littered everywhere. Still, the mess didn't upset her. Not so long ago, she'd had no one to make such a mess with.

Dani put her hands on her hips and gave the kitchen a glare. "Yeah, we can't just leave it like this."

"Quickly, then," Sam urged.

Working together, it didn't take as long to clean it up, but they still dragged themselves wearily off to bed. Before she left the kitchen, Rahne scribbled a note and left it by the biscuits to let the X-Men know they should help themselves to the Mystery Cookies. Fighting evil gave one an appetite.

OH MY GOSH.

Whoever you are, I love you. This was perfect! It was sweet and satisfying, and you got all of the characters pitch-perfect. (And you even wrote out Sam and Rahne's accents correctly!) I have no idea what I did to deserve this, but THANK YOU!

You're very welcome.

And it's because you deserve a happy surprise!

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Yuletide 2007

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An anonymous fic-gift

Re: An anonymous fic-gift, Part 2

Re: An anonymous fic-gift, Part 3

Re: An anonymous fic-gift, Part 3

Re: An anonymous fic-gift, Part 3