Round Three: Travel

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Round Three of the Awesome Ladies of White Collar prompt fest is now open! The theme for this round is travel. Where have these women been? What have they seen? Where have they had to go, and where do they want to go?  You can either respond directly to the theme and post your work to the community, or you can leave prompts here that relate to the theme. Or you can do both. If you do post your work to the community, please tag it "round 3 - travel".

Before we begin, I just wanted to remind everybody to be respectful, fills for prompts should be posted as a reply to the prompt, or linked in a reply to the prompt.

For fics longer than one comment and vids, please use the following header:

Title:
Characters/Pairings:
Rating:
Warnings:
Summary:


Feel free to pimp the community!  a community banner can be found here, along with the round banner at the top of the page.  please resize to whatever size you want to.

sahiya has set up a collection on AO3 for the fest.  Posting fills there is encouraged, but not required.

Please read the rules carefully, and post any questions you have here.



Please please please leave suggestions for future round themes here.  We need as many as we can get.

This round is now closed to new prompts (but not to new fills!)


MASTER LIST:

Around the World by attackfish
Prompt: Sara - Sara sends Neal postcards. (ozqueen)

Fire on the Wing by attackfish
Prompt: June - There's a pretty common theme in WC fic to have June conveniently "out of town" so Neal has the house to himself - so let's hear about one of those trips. (sholio)

Lovely Home by attackfish
Prompt: Elizabeth - Her sister from upstate visits El and Peter in NYC. (sholio)

Over the River and Through the Woods by attackfish
Prompt: Diana - growing up in hotels (has its benefits) (lionessvalenti)

Your Mind's Eye Finds the Exit Sign by veleda_k
Prompt: Kate - On the run (lionessvalenti)

You Think those DVDs might be Dirty? by attackfish
Prompt: Diana - Casefic! Diana's current undercover assignment leaves her with just phone check-ins as her lifeline back to the home office. (sholio)

Comments

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Lauren Cruz: Quantico

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

June: Oh the places you will go

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Sara: She travels enough for her job. Vacations are at home.

[lionessvalenti.livejournal.com]

Kate - On the run

Filled: Your Mind's Eye Finds the Exit Sign

[veleda-k.livejournal.com]

Filled over at my journal: Your Mind's Eye Finds the Exit Sign (http://veleda-k.livejournal.com/270317.html)

[lionessvalenti.livejournal.com]

Sara(/Neal) & Elizabeth(/Peter) - Couples vacation

[sholio]

I just had an idea for this prompt, but I'm wondering if you're set on sticking to the canon couples, or if you'd mind some partner-swapping, OT4 or at least a bit of the characters experimenting/flirting along those lines? Because that's, um, kinda where my brain seems to be going with this one.

[lionessvalenti.livejournal.com]

Diana - growing up in hotels (has its benefits)

Fill: Over the River and Through the Woods

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

"What do you mean you want me to clean my room?"

Her grandmother raised one eyebrow. "This isn't a hotel. There aren't any maids here to do it for you. As long as you stay here with me, you have to clean your room."

Diana scowled. "I mean, what do you mean my room's dirty? Did you look at it?"

Grandma Berrigan snorted at her granddaughter. "I just asked you if you cleaned your room this week, and you said no."

"Yeah, well, I didn't mess it up in the first place," she shot back, staring at the ceiling in frustration. "Take a look if you don't believe me!"

Grandma Berrigan marched across the living room and up the stairs. Diana followed her to the bedroom door and leaned on the threshold as her grandmother looked around at the neat lines of knick knacks and the clothes put away carefully in the closet. Diana explained, "If you let the maids put everything away, you spend hours and hours looking for it."

"You made your point." Her grandmother pursed her lips, then smiled. "You're not spoiled. You still have to make your bed."

Diana gave her a put upon sigh. "Fine."

[lionessvalenti.livejournal.com]

Sara - first time seeing _______ (city/landmark/whatever of your choosing)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Diana and Christie go on vacation, and Christie gets the flu. Diana takes care of her in parts unknown without their favorite doctors and everybody they know. And doctors are always the worst patients...

[veleda-k.livejournal.com]

Alex: Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam

[sholio]

Elizabeth's sister from upstate visits El and Peter in NYC. (Elizabeth playing tour guide? Her sister meeting Neal?)

Fill: Lovely Home

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

"That painting above the dresser is new," Nancy remarked. "It's nice. Is it real?"

Elizabeth watched Neal duck into the kitchen out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah, that's real paint on canvas."

Her sister's eyes fell on the kitchen door, and she backed away from it ever so slightly. Her gaze shifted anxiously, and when she spoke again, her voice was pitched softly so that it wouldn't carry. "It doesn't worry you, having a criminal in and out of here all the time?"

El shook her head. "Neal's harmless."

"But still, you just never know..."

She spared a moment to imagine Nancy's face if she ever told her sister that Neal was in and out of her and Peter's bed all the time too. "Could we... not talk about this right now?"

Her sister glanced at the kitchen door again, and El saw Neal inside, leaning against the couter, eyes closed. "Well alright," Nancy said uncertainly. "Hey did I tell you Uncle Edger is getting married again?"

"Is this number five, or number six?"

"Number seven," she tittered. "Remember Ronda? It only lasted three weeks."

"Oh, yes," El bit her lip to hide her grin. "The waitress from Lodi. I'd forgotten about her."

"Mom hasn't stopped ranting about it, says he's too young to be going senile, so Uncle Edger says she can't come to the wedding."

"I"m sure she's just terribly disappointed."

Nancy smiled, calming down. "I hope it's not too much trouble showing up like this."

"Don't be silly. If it were a problem, I wouldn't have invited you," El assured her, contemplating the thinness of the wall between the guest room and the master suite. "Now, why don't you get settled. You must be exhausted."

"You ran out of plans, didn't you?" Nancy shot back.

"You caught me," she admitted. "I didn't expect you until the evening."

~*~

"She seems nice," Neal said without opening his eyes.

"Don't be like that," El told him. "She's my sister."

"What?" he asked innocently, opening his eyes wide. "I just said she seems nice!"

"Yeah, you're coming through loud and clear."

Neal pressed his lips together. "I'm going to be really happy when it's just you, me, and Peter again."

"Aww, poor baby," El teased. "Is nobody paying constant attention to you?"

"She insulted my painting, El!"

"What?" El echoed him. "She said your painting was nice!"

Neal scowled at her. "I bet she thought it went perfectly with the bedspread too."

"She was just trying to be polite! If she had known the artist was in the room, I'm sure she would have praised it to the sky." El patted his shoulder, trying not to laugh.

He shook his head and smiled. "Sure, that's supposed to make me feel better."

"Come on, da Vinci." El gave in and giggled. "Why don't I get her out of your hair and take her down to Central Park while you make dinner?"

He grimaced. "Yeah, that would be nice. I should probably head to the store for supplies."

"Make enough for four," she reminded him. "Or you're the one who doesn't get any."

"Oh, I see how it is," he laughed. She hated when he laughed like that, covering everything up behind that easy, carefree and completely false mask.

On impulse, she darted forward and kissed him firmly on the lips. "Listen," she said breaking away, "it'll be okay. When you get the anklet off, when Peter isn't responsible for you anymore, we'll find a way to tell the families. We won't have to keep you secret forever."

"It's no big deal."

She stepped back and laced her hands. "Liar."

He held his arms wide with a huge, bitter smile.

She walked backwards out of the room. As she started up the stairs, she turned around. "Don't worry, Neal, I like your painting."

He huffed. "Go on, get out of here."

[sholio]

There's a pretty common theme in WC fic to have June conveniently "out of town" so Neal has the house to himself - so let's hear about one of those trips. :D Where is she going? Taking her granddaughters to Europe? Visiting a son or daughter somewhere else? Having a clandestine meeting with an old flame? Or just globetrotting on her own?

Fill: Fire on the Wing

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The riverboat floated around the bends in the river. Samantha bounced on her toes, and June clasped her hand and pulled her away from the railing. "Your father told me that if I let you tumble over, he wouldn't buy us ice cream," she told her.

Samantha wiped the sweat off her forehead. As humid as it was, it was never going to dry on its own.

"Dad said he was going to buy us ice cream?" she crowed.

No, he hadn't but it wasn't like he was going to say no.

"If you don't fall over the edge."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, grandma, I don't think I would ever get ice cream again if I drowned."

She hmmmed, delicately. "Come over and sit down. Lean back in the chair and watch the sky." They watched the macaws flap their way from tree to tree, over the gaps in the canopy. "What do you think of them?"

"They're a lot bigger than Nicole," Samantha said, "and louder."

"Well Nicole's a budgie," June tutted. "They're supposed to be bigger than that."

"I bet their poop is huge," she said thoughtfully.

June laughed and squeezed her hand. "I bet you're right."

[sholio]

Alex - the aftermath of the Copenhagen debacle from Alex's point of view

[sholio]

How about a 1x01 tag - a snippet or two from Elizabeth and Peter's dream vacation in Mexico? When you haven't been on vacation in ages, it can't be easy to let go of all those work-related stresses, especially when one of you is running a successful business and the other one just left a con artist unattended in New York City ...

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Belize?

[sholio]

Elizabeth in San Francisco (sometime during the first half of season two)

[sholio]

Casefic! Diana's current undercover assignment takes her far away from New York, with phone check-ins as her lifeline back to the home office.

Fill: You Think those DVDs might be Dirty?

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I made a little adjustment, to this. She's in New York, but she's in long term deep cover, so it comes to the same thing.



You Think those DVDs might be Dirty?




"New York FBI office, White Collar division."

"Stop answering Peter's phone."

"Why?"

"Caffrey, give the phone to the boss."

"Aww, I just wanted to say hi."

"And stop sounding so cheerful before somebody hits you."

"Finding Peter."

~*~

"Diana!"

"Hey Jones, you mind passing the phone on to Peter?"

"What's it going to take to get you to use my first name?"

"Getting a new first name?"

"Oh ha ha, does it have to be the same as my last name? Peter's out, by the way."

"Tell him when he gets back that I'm getting close, but you might want to bring in a few more agents. It's bigger than we thought."

"Hey boss. They're not just laundering money. They're using the place as a front for smuggling counterfeit DVDs. Please let me come home"

"Getting sick of sorority houses?"

"Hey I hated sorority girls the first time through. They haven't improved."

"Can you hold off a little longer?"

"Yeah boss, sure. You owe me."

~*~

"Please tell me we get to bust the girls."

"It's like a bad porno!"

"Shut up, Caffrey, I'm trying to talk to Diana."

"Jones, when did my life become a bad porno?"

"Ignore Caffrey, he's just jealous. Criminal sorority girls and a lesbian FBI agent worming her way into their confidence, mm mm mm!"

"When this is over, I'm going to deck you."

~*~

When she flopped down in her office chair, a stack of paperwork in front of her, she started to groan, then she grinned.

[sholio]

Sara's mission in Argentina in the latter half of season two! Sneaking around, taking pictures, meeting the locals, hiding from Adler - surely there must be a few interesting things that happened to her there. :D

[veleda-k.livejournal.com]

Oh man, want.

[ozqueen]

I'm finally home and in a position where I can leave prompts and/or write! YAY! I'm so glad this was extended - I'd forgotten all about it and it's such a great idea.

So, first prompt, more to come:


Sara sends Neal postcards.

Fill: Around the World

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

He put a cork board up on the wall above his bed and bought a box full of tacks when she sent the first card from Japan. It had a picture of the Tokyo skyline on one side and a sketch of the koi fish on the samurai bonds on the other side in place of a message. He tacked it to the board koi fish side up. "That's supposed to be my trick," he told Peter.

~*~

The second card she sent she bought in the lobby of her Hong Kong hotel, but she didn't post it until she got to Shanghai. "Wish you were here," she wrote on the plane ride. "So I could get the commission on whatever you tried to steal."

She really did wish he was there, so that she had somebody to mock as she wound her way around the city.

~*~

The third she sent had a picture of a cartoon egg roll and a pair of chopsticks. It had "I finally found artwork of your caliber!" scrawled on the back. Neal put it on the board with the cartoon up, but Mozzie kept turning it over.

~*~

The last card she sent from China had a picture of one of the temples in the Hidden City. She almost left it blank, but she ended up drawing a fingerprint and a magnifying glass on the back. When she looked at it five minutes later, even she couldn't tell which was which. It was better than nothing, she supposed, not quite ready to tell him there was a change of plans, and she wasn't coming home yet.

~*~

When he got the card from Istanbul, he groaned and tore the card in half. An hour later, he fished it out of the trash and taped it back together and stuck it up on the board. The guy she was chasing wanted to fence the vases in France, but she hoped to intercept him. The card said the Hagia Sophia was bigger than she expected, and it had a picture on the front to prove it.

~*~

The only thing the postcard she sent from Greece said was "Have to go to France. I'll pick you up something nice." It had a picture of the Parthenon on it. He posted it picture up next to the Hagia Sophia.

~*~

The postcard from Paris arrived after she did. She tacked it up.

[ozqueen]

Sara buys herself a souvenir whenever she visits somewhere new.