Post by Cesela on Jul 31, 2016 2:42:00 GMT
Author's note: When I first saw this challange, I giggled because there was only one thought in my mind as to how the story should go. Written in the memory of Elizabeth Sladen and Sarah Jane Smith; because every woman need their superadvanced lipstick spy-gadget.
Special thanks for Taliya for doing an amazing job betaing this on such a short notice.
Wordcount; 1080
Summary: Of Coffee, pancakes and explosions. Jodie never gets a morning off.
It's my first time ever writing Jodie. Hopefully it isn't too terrible!
____________________________
Jodie Starling loved children: the sound of mirthful and innocent laughter, the stamping of small feet through the house. And most of all, how they perceived the world with wonder and excitement. She envied them for it just a little bit – for her own childhood had been ripped away. Yet there was no resentment, for she had sworn to protect everyone else from experiencing the same terror.
Jodie sipped her cup as she leaned against the kitchen bench; her eyes followed the movement in the garden below. Mitsuhiko, Genta and Conan were playing with a ball. However the game had stopped for a few moments since Genta was scolding Conan for cheating (which he had not; it was just a part of their routine).
It was on lazy mornings like these; with the spring morning sun warming up the air, a good cup of coffee, and a stomach full of pancakes that she felt at peace – and yet, she loved her job. It was the opportunity to help – the understanding that she was doing something important with her life. However, sometimes there was that small voice that want nothing more than to settle down, maybe have a child or two, and live a life without having to look over her shoulder, constantly afraid that today would be the day she made a mistake and everyone she cared about died – again.
Shu – or Okiya Subaru as he went by these days – was whistling from the living from as he gathered the plates from their early lunch, and Jodie allowed herself a soft smile at the domestic feel of it all. She did not come here often – it was important to keep Subaru’s identity and involvement a secret; to everyone he was simply a student.
Jodie’s free hand crept across the wooden surface of the bench in search of her phone. However, when her fingers did not bump against the plastic item, she tore her gaze from the window. There was no phone, and it took her a second of confused blinking to remember that it was still in her purse in the corridor. She shook her head with a self-deprecating smile at her forgetfulness before exiting the room.
The Kudou household was a large, beautiful home. It was a house Jodie would have more than loved to live in one day with a family. However, it was far too large for only one person, and she sometimes wondered how Subaru managed to wander its empty, lonely corridors every day.
The sight that met her as she entered the hallway evaporated the idyll of the morning. Her stomach filled with burning cold and she dropped her cup of coffee as the next few seconds played out as if in slow motion.
Ayumi stood over her purse – her open blue, ¥13.000 DKNY purse. Grasped in her small hands was a tube of red lipstick; her tongue stuck out in concentration as the little girl rather clumsy twisted the base. The sight itself appeared innocent, and it would have been had Jodie not been Jodie Starling – an undercover FBI agent.
What Ayumi held was not ordinary lipstick; quite far from it. It was actually a small bomb issued by a secret lab that not even she was technically cleared to know of its existence. The instructions to detonate had been rather simple; twist the base five times and it would activate, and within seven seconds it would explode. And Jodie, with adrenaline levels spiking wildly and terror causing bile to rise in the back of her throat, had been so certain she had left all those gadgets at her rented apartment in a hidden compartment in her closet.
As the cup hit the ground she lunged, her limbs stretching as far as she could as she shouted a warning. However, she knew it was already too late as Ayumi twisted the base of the lipstick one last time. Jodie threw herself over the girl, curling around her to shield her from the blast. Her foot slashed out in the direction of the concealed mini-grenade. She felt it graze her heel as the resultant clatter was the only indication that it was no longer next to them anymore.
Jodie held her breath and only tightened her grip on Ayumi as the girl tried to twist out of her hold with a confused noise. She could feel the child’s heart racing in surprise. The agent tried to whisper ‘It’s going to be okay, Ayumi-chan.’ However, the words died on her lips as thoughts of failure gripped her mind. Once again, someone would be hurt because she had been too late to stop it.
When the seconds ticked by and there was no explosion; no rocking of the room as the bomb finally detonated, she finally unfurled from her positon one limb at a time to turn in the direction of where she assumed the lipstick had rolled.
There, underneath the first steps of the staircase lay the innocent item. From this close, she could clearly see that the top of the lipstick bullet peaked up from the shell. Her heart jumped in relief as she realized the colour was a bright cherry-red rather than the deep scarlet shade on her FBI-regulated gadget.
“I found it in one of the bedrooms,” a small voice sniffed. Ayumi’s voice trembled from tears. “I was only borrowing it; I was going to put it back.”
Jodie turned back towards the crying girl on her lap and embraced her suddenly. Ayumi hiccupped but her arms were strong as they sneaked around Jodie’s waist to reciprocate the hug.
“It’s alright,” she eventually managed to say as her pulse calmed down when it finally clicked that they were never in any danger for a mistake she had made; her gadgets were still locked away from inquisitive fingers. Perhaps here, under this rooftop, she could finally allow herself to let go of any thoughts of the underworld wars – of secret missions and lost companions.
And as Shu sauntered into the hallway, picked up the pieces of the broken cup, and cleaned up the spilled coffee with a rag, they shared a look of understanding. Once in a while; everyone needed to take a breather away from their troubles. Even undercover agents deserved a morning off. And this, this was more than enough for Jodie; the morning sun, Shu, pancakes, a good cup of coffee and the sound of laughing children.
At least, for now.
Special thanks for Taliya for doing an amazing job betaing this on such a short notice.
Wordcount; 1080
Summary: Of Coffee, pancakes and explosions. Jodie never gets a morning off.
It's my first time ever writing Jodie. Hopefully it isn't too terrible!
____________________________
Jodie Starling loved children: the sound of mirthful and innocent laughter, the stamping of small feet through the house. And most of all, how they perceived the world with wonder and excitement. She envied them for it just a little bit – for her own childhood had been ripped away. Yet there was no resentment, for she had sworn to protect everyone else from experiencing the same terror.
Jodie sipped her cup as she leaned against the kitchen bench; her eyes followed the movement in the garden below. Mitsuhiko, Genta and Conan were playing with a ball. However the game had stopped for a few moments since Genta was scolding Conan for cheating (which he had not; it was just a part of their routine).
It was on lazy mornings like these; with the spring morning sun warming up the air, a good cup of coffee, and a stomach full of pancakes that she felt at peace – and yet, she loved her job. It was the opportunity to help – the understanding that she was doing something important with her life. However, sometimes there was that small voice that want nothing more than to settle down, maybe have a child or two, and live a life without having to look over her shoulder, constantly afraid that today would be the day she made a mistake and everyone she cared about died – again.
Shu – or Okiya Subaru as he went by these days – was whistling from the living from as he gathered the plates from their early lunch, and Jodie allowed herself a soft smile at the domestic feel of it all. She did not come here often – it was important to keep Subaru’s identity and involvement a secret; to everyone he was simply a student.
Jodie’s free hand crept across the wooden surface of the bench in search of her phone. However, when her fingers did not bump against the plastic item, she tore her gaze from the window. There was no phone, and it took her a second of confused blinking to remember that it was still in her purse in the corridor. She shook her head with a self-deprecating smile at her forgetfulness before exiting the room.
The Kudou household was a large, beautiful home. It was a house Jodie would have more than loved to live in one day with a family. However, it was far too large for only one person, and she sometimes wondered how Subaru managed to wander its empty, lonely corridors every day.
The sight that met her as she entered the hallway evaporated the idyll of the morning. Her stomach filled with burning cold and she dropped her cup of coffee as the next few seconds played out as if in slow motion.
Ayumi stood over her purse – her open blue, ¥13.000 DKNY purse. Grasped in her small hands was a tube of red lipstick; her tongue stuck out in concentration as the little girl rather clumsy twisted the base. The sight itself appeared innocent, and it would have been had Jodie not been Jodie Starling – an undercover FBI agent.
What Ayumi held was not ordinary lipstick; quite far from it. It was actually a small bomb issued by a secret lab that not even she was technically cleared to know of its existence. The instructions to detonate had been rather simple; twist the base five times and it would activate, and within seven seconds it would explode. And Jodie, with adrenaline levels spiking wildly and terror causing bile to rise in the back of her throat, had been so certain she had left all those gadgets at her rented apartment in a hidden compartment in her closet.
As the cup hit the ground she lunged, her limbs stretching as far as she could as she shouted a warning. However, she knew it was already too late as Ayumi twisted the base of the lipstick one last time. Jodie threw herself over the girl, curling around her to shield her from the blast. Her foot slashed out in the direction of the concealed mini-grenade. She felt it graze her heel as the resultant clatter was the only indication that it was no longer next to them anymore.
Jodie held her breath and only tightened her grip on Ayumi as the girl tried to twist out of her hold with a confused noise. She could feel the child’s heart racing in surprise. The agent tried to whisper ‘It’s going to be okay, Ayumi-chan.’ However, the words died on her lips as thoughts of failure gripped her mind. Once again, someone would be hurt because she had been too late to stop it.
When the seconds ticked by and there was no explosion; no rocking of the room as the bomb finally detonated, she finally unfurled from her positon one limb at a time to turn in the direction of where she assumed the lipstick had rolled.
There, underneath the first steps of the staircase lay the innocent item. From this close, she could clearly see that the top of the lipstick bullet peaked up from the shell. Her heart jumped in relief as she realized the colour was a bright cherry-red rather than the deep scarlet shade on her FBI-regulated gadget.
“I found it in one of the bedrooms,” a small voice sniffed. Ayumi’s voice trembled from tears. “I was only borrowing it; I was going to put it back.”
Jodie turned back towards the crying girl on her lap and embraced her suddenly. Ayumi hiccupped but her arms were strong as they sneaked around Jodie’s waist to reciprocate the hug.
“It’s alright,” she eventually managed to say as her pulse calmed down when it finally clicked that they were never in any danger for a mistake she had made; her gadgets were still locked away from inquisitive fingers. Perhaps here, under this rooftop, she could finally allow herself to let go of any thoughts of the underworld wars – of secret missions and lost companions.
And as Shu sauntered into the hallway, picked up the pieces of the broken cup, and cleaned up the spilled coffee with a rag, they shared a look of understanding. Once in a while; everyone needed to take a breather away from their troubles. Even undercover agents deserved a morning off. And this, this was more than enough for Jodie; the morning sun, Shu, pancakes, a good cup of coffee and the sound of laughing children.
At least, for now.