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adddictions2010-04-30 10:33 pm
brotherlyunion.livejournal.com) wrote in adddictions2010-04-30 10:33 pm
Entry tags:
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the|alternate|universe|meme
ONE. list your characters (journal names optional).
TWO. others reply with one of those characters or a pairing for you to write; platonic or romantic is up to you.
THREE. pick five cliché AUs from this list (complete with explanations!), and write something of any length - a sentence, a paragraph, a drabble, or a full-length ficlet, if you'd prefer - for each of those five AUs, involving that character or pairing.
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pearl+edgeworth one. [timeskip]
"That may be the case, Miss Fey, but I'm sure you can understand why we'd want to ask him a few questions. Just to be sure of his intentions."
"It's just a date, Mr. Edgeworth. Just one date! All that he's doing is taking me to a movie, you don't need to cross-examine him!"
Really, when dating Pearl Fey required you to go through what may as well be a full trial at the hands of the Demon Prosecutor himself before you were even allowed anywhere near her, it was no wonder that most of the boys in her school restricted themselves to nothing more than looks of longing in class.
pearl+edgeworth two. [dystopic cyberpunk] 1/2
"You look a little young to volunteer for this, Miss...?"
"Fey, sir." Pearl forced herself to meet his eyes, trying not to let how nervous she was show through her shaking. She clasped her hands together on her lap tightly, her back rigid against the cold metal of the chair. "My name's Pearl Fey."
She couldn't help feeling scared, even a little awed. Miles Edgeworth was known to everyone as one of the two leaders of the resistance, and it had taken her long enough to actually find him that facing him somehow seemed even more terrifying. Two years ago, what people previously dismissed as crackjobs and conspiracy theorists had been saying for years had finally come to pass; AIs and computers, now more sophisticated than they had ever been, had taken it upon themselves to use their superior intelligence and logic to turn on their makers. It had been quiet, that was the most troubling part. Only a few people had noticed the power changing hands from human to machine, and by the time everyone became aware of it it had been too late.
Pearl had been nine back then. Now she was eleven, and if there was any way she could help the resistance group now that she'd found them, then she wanted to do it.
It was convincing the leaders that would be the hard part.
Edgeworth sighed, taking his own seat opposite her and rubbing his temples. Pearl couldn't help noticing, just as she had when she had been brought in, that there was no technology in the room; it was lit by candles (candles! She'd never seen real candles before) and even the communicator at Edgeworth's side looked as though it had been cobbled together by hand, so that the machines couldn't use it for their own ends. It was a far cry from the bright, mechanised lights of the floating cities, or the fantastical landscapes of the virtual realities that people were used to experiencing.
"Miss Fey, it's not that we don't appreciate any help that is offered. But this is no place for a child," Edgeworth said finally. "We are at war, and no one involved will come out of this completely unscathed."
Pearl bowed her head and bit her lip. "I - I know that, Mr. Edgeworth. I really, really, do, but..." She took a breath. Come on, Pearly. Be brave! "People are already getting hurt out there all the time because of the machines just for accidentally breaking the rules, s-so even if I didn't join, I'd still be in danger, wouldn't I?"
Edgeworth shook his head, and Pearl's heart sank.
"I admire your enthusiasm. But that's not the only issue here. As a child, you would only endanger the rest of the operation as well, you see?" He sighed. "Even you finding us here is problematic."
"Oh..." Pearl felt crushed. She knew that she was only a kid, but she couldn't really slow them down that much... could she? "I'm sorry, I didn't even think of that." She looked up at the man sitting across from her. "I really am truly sorry."
pearl+edgeworth two. [dystopic cyberpunk] 2/2
"I know, but..." Suddenly, an idea occurred to her, and she met the other man's eyes determinedly. "Mr. Edgeworth, what if I told you that I was a technopath?"
Edgeworth's eyebrows rose so far that they were trying to merge with his hair. "Miss Fey," he managed, "Technopathy doesn't exist. If it did, it would certainly be something for the machines to be wary of, but --"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Edgeworth," Pearl cut across him, her heart thumping at his outraged expression. "But it does exist, I promise you that it does! My entire family have been technopaths for at least five generations," she pressed on. "I could prove it if I had something electronic!"
"Such as this communicator?"
Pearl could tell that he still didn't believe her. Well, she would just have to prove it to him then, wouldn't she? She nodded with a smile. "Yes, that would work just fine! If you just give me a minute..."
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the communicator. Its parts were old, she realised; some of the wires were frayed, and its self-contained, nuclear battery was at least 20 years behind the current model. The speaker even came off an antique radio, she realised with surprised. But it was sturdy; despite its Frankenstein construction, it did its job. It was a good machine.
She concentrated again. The receiver would be the obvious thing, she decided. She turned its dial in her mind, tuning the frequency until it picked up a sound that it clearly shouldn't. The dulcet tones of the latest pop hit came blaring out of the tinny speaker.
She opened her eyes to see Edgeworth staring thunderstruck at the communicator, still jauntily playing the tune. He looked as if he was in shock.
Pearl smiled. "Now do you believe me?"
When Edgeworth looked up at her and nodded, dumbstruck, she knew that she was in with a chance.
pearl+edgeworth three. [harry potter]
pearl+edgeworth four. [crossover - X-Men]
The welcome only becomes more bizarre when the ball abruptly drops to the ground, right in front of his eyes, and bounces merrily down the corridor after its close encounter with his eye.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" He looks up to find a small girl on the staircase, her hands clasped over her mouth and her brown eyes wide with shock. "I didn't hurt you, did I? I'm really, really sorry, sir!"
Professor Xavier, still next to him in the wheelchair, only smiles at Edgeworth's disbelief. "Pearl is a telepath and medium," he says in that calming, authoritative voice of his. "She's only one of the many mutants that can find a safe home inside this school. As can you, if you would like, Miles."
Edgeworth still isn't sure about that. But as he looks up at the girl - Pearl, was it? - she waves a little shyly, still biting her lip with nerves, and for some reason, he can't help wanting to speak to her. After all, if he wanted a story of what this place was truly like, it would be better to get it from a child, wouldn't it?
It's after dinner that he first talks to her, sitting in a chair next to her by the fire. She has a book balanced in her lap, and is leaning over it in concentration, mouthing the words as she reads. It takes him a minute to notice that she's not turning the pages with her hands. While he's still trying to figure out how to speak to her, she looks up of her own accord, her eyes widening on seeing him.
"Oh! Hello there, sir." She bites her lip again. Maybe it's a nervous habit. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I was just playing."
He shakes his head. "... It's alright," he says, after a pause. "Your name's Pearl, isn't it?"
She nods brightly. "Yes! Pearl Fey, it's nice to meet you. And you're Mr. Edgeworth, aren't you? Professor Xavier told us. Don't worry, sir, you'll really like it here once you've settled in, I just know it." The change from her previous shy demeanour is astounding, and Edgeworth is taken aback by it.
Dodging the topic, he says instead, "Your powers seemed rather well-developed earlier this afternoon."
"Oh, really?" Pearl looks astonished and even a little pleased, a small smile on her face. "I-I'm really not that good yet. I can't lift anything heavy, and it still tires me out a little if I use them for too long. But I'm practising as much as I can!" she adds, her expression suddenly taking on a fierce determination. "It's important for me to control what I can do, so the Professor's helping me."
As the night wears on, Pearl tells him all he could have ever wanted to know about life in the facility - the lessons, the help everyone gets with their powers, the X-Men ("As soon as I'm old enough and strong enough, I want to help them!"), and asks him almost as many questions as she gives answers. She doesn't seem disappointed when he doesn't answer them all, though, only understanding ("A lot of people here have things they don't want to tell the others."), and he gets the peculiar feeling that despite her seeming naivety, she is a lot wiser than her years.
When Pearl's face lights up the next morning upon hearing that he's decided he'll be staying at the institute, he almost feels touched.
pearl+edgeworth five. [fairytale]
So when his latest fairy godchild not only listened to all of his advice but also managed to win her happy ending, he couldn't help returning the hug she gave him just from sheer relief that for once, everything had managed to end right.
Re: pearl+edgeworth