RandomRuth
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She’s been eyeing Mr Farnon over Charlotte’s shoulder as he wanders closer, having managed to extract himself from Mr Dobson’s questioning. He looks so handsome in his Sunday best, well put-together, his pocket square just so. Audrey can’t help but be proud — of his well-pressed suit, of course.
He doesn’t comment on finding Audrey in the middle of the gravestones, just holds his arm out for her. “Shall we?”
They share a private little smile as she hooks her arm with his, the rest of the congregation fading into the background, his eyes twinkling in that way she’s noticed they do when she catches his gaze lingering on her.
They walk down the path arm in arm, only separating so he can open the Tapsel gate for her to pass through first — once their arms are linked again, she tries to go right, towards home, but he pulls to the left.
She looks over at him, raising an eyebrow.
“I thought it would be nice to go for a little walk,” he says.
(It's Audrey's birthday and Siegfried has a surprise in store — but, as usual, it doesn't go quite according to plan.)
One-shot, set post-6.06 "Our Hearts Are Full"
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“I’ve nearly got it,” Siegfried says, strain in his voice as he reaches for the knee again. His brief attempt at reassuring eye contact with Mr Seacombe is foiled by the strands of his hair that are falling into his eyes — he should’ve combed it back before he left Skeldale House, but the call-out was an emergency one. Mrs Hall had answered the telephone, relayed to Siegfried that this ewe had been in labour for hours with no progress and Mr Seacombe needed help — urgently.
Siegfried has a late night call-out to a ewe experiencing lambing difficulties.
One-shot, pre-series.
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safely, gathered in by RandomRuth
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
20 Aug 2025
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Then it’s the scythe’s turn, with its long, two-handled shaft and huge, curved blade attached at an angle. Beside him, Ellie straightens up in her chair from the slump she’d fallen into like someone’s dumped a bucket of ice water on her head.
“Oh, shit,” she whispers, near breathless.
Joel straightens too, glances around. “What?”
“I’ve never seen one in real life before,” she tells him, watching the scythe, her eyes practically sparkling. “That’s the Grim Reaper’s stick.”
Joel is frazzled, but he has been listening — it helps that he already knew what this one is called from Before. “It’s called a scythe.”
Ellie’s delighted grin is only getting bigger. “Sick.”
(Joel and Ellie attend a town meeting to discuss the upcoming barley harvest, Joel worries about the future, and Ellie picks up a new hobby.)
One-shot, set after season 1, and almost a year after "creatures, great and small".
Series
- Part 2 of all, who live
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creatures, great and small by RandomRuth
Fandoms: The Last of Us (TV), The Last of Us (Video Games)
21 Jun 2025
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“Ellie? That you?”
Joel’s home early.
Halfway between the front door and the stairs and in full view of the kitchen, Ellie freezes. “Fuck,” she mutters, low. “Yeah,” she says, loud enough to carry.
She has no choice but to stay hunched over herself like Quasimodo from that movie — it’s suspicious as fuck, but she manages to manoeuvre her arm to mostly obscure the squirming of the tell-tale bulge under her hoodie.
(Ellie and Joel have settled in Jackson. While Ellie goes to school and, Joel hopes, makes some friends her own age, he tries to keep their house from tumbling down around them. Ellie does befriend some Jackson locals, and tries to sneak them into her room — without Joel noticing that they’ve all got four legs.)
One-shot, set after season 1.
Series
- Part 1 of all, who live
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"Arguing with god is probably not one of the best plans Root has ever had, but the alternative — working with Reese, ugh — is much worse."
One-shot, set in late season 3.
Recent series
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Ellie and Joel and life in Jackson.
- Words:
- 33,507
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 4
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Summary
These drabbles are a select few of my favourites from a couple of drabble challenges I used to take part in over on fanfiction.net — the E/O Drabble Challenge and the SPN100 Challenge. In both cases you were emailed a word every week and asked to write a 100 word drabble containing that word. While I always got the word of the week in, I very often went over my total word count!
- Words:
- 1,338
- Works:
- 5
- Bookmarks:
- 1
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Summary
These stories are only loosely drabbles, really. Back in 2014 I was a member of the POI Discussion Forum (now apparently defunct, I can't find it online), where there was a prompt: write a 250-word drabble about Team Machine completing an ordinary task.
I took that idea and ran with it, but never really managed the word count, always going over. I've rewritten a few of my favourites and brought them here.
- Words:
- 1,777
- Works:
- 3
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Done for a tdkr-kink prompt. Every year, Jim Gordon gets Father's Day gifts from Jimmy, Babs, and an anonymous gift-giver with very expensive taste in ties.
Gordon really has too many ties.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 6,398
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 31
- Kudos:
- 846
- Bookmarks:
- 170
- Hits:
- 6,824
Bookmarked by RandomRuth
22 Jun 2026
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In 1919, telegraph operator Stede Bonnet returns from the Great War with no memory and no voice, unable to recall what happened to break his mind. On his first night at home, he sees the translucent image of a man he knows is Ed in the mirror, except that this Ed comes from 1719.
Just as Stede knows that he's lost his Ed, this Ed has lost his Stede, and neither of them knows why. Reaching out across these broken lines of connection over two centuries, they'll work together to remember the endings of their stories, and to find what they've lost.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 82,208
- Chapters:
- 7/7
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 298
- Kudos:
- 275
- Bookmarks:
- 92
- Hits:
- 6,102
Bookmarked by RandomRuth
20 Jun 2026
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Lois is a good mom. No, scratch that, a great mom. There just might be one small area that she's lacking in, and she's got a plan to fix it. After all, how hard can it be?
Bookmarked by RandomRuth
13 Jun 2026
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A Journey Unknown by Acewithapaintbrush
Fandoms: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
21 May 2026
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“What is a ‘field trip’?”
The unexpected question makes me stop in my tracks. I stumble over my own two feet and almost bite my own tongue which is a new low, even for me. If I keep going like this I am never going to beat the clumsy human allegations. At least Rocky is not here. If he’d witnessed my latest embarrassing blunder he would have found ways to tease me about it for a week straight. It’s unfortunate that my class has to see me like this but they are a lot more forgiving and understanding of their ungraceful teacher than my best friend. A fact I like to hold over his head from time to time.
Not that he cares. He maintains that he’s earned the right to mock me as much as he likes after having to watch me stumble and fall repeatedly over the same threshold for four years.
And maybe he’s not wrong.
Don’t ever tell him I said that.
********
There is no way Grace can take the pebbles on a field trip. At least not without help.
Series
- Part 2 of Teacher Grace's Extraordinary Curriculum
Bookmarked by RandomRuth
12 Jun 2026
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The Greatest Act of Optimism by Acewithapaintbrush
Fandoms: Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary (2026)
30 Apr 2026
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The Eridian thrills a high sound that doesn’t get picked up by the translator which means that it has no clear meaning. Like when a human gasps or sucks in a deep breath. It actually sounds a little like that. When they notice that I’m staring straight at them they scramble back into their hiding spot and hold very still.
A child, I realize with a start.
That’s a child!
“Hey,” I call and the kid squeaks again. I was about to get to my feet but abort the movement and crawl closer on my hands and knees until I'm inches away from the xenonite wall. I wait and it takes me much too long to realize that they don’t have to peek around the corner to see if I’m still there.
“Hey there,” I try again, my voice low and calm. It’s my teacher voice, the one I use for shy and scared students.
Used.
The fact that I haven’t had to use it for years and it still comes to me automatically almost knocks the air out of my lungs but this is not about me, it’s about making sure the little pebble doesn’t die of fright from the scary alien. “Hi, I’m Grace. It’s alright, you don’t have to be scared.”
***
How Grace finally gets back into a classroom, where he belongsSeries
- Part 1 of Teacher Grace's Extraordinary Curriculum
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 6,881
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- 1/1
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- 808
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- 9,184
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- 1,663
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- 45,203
Bookmarked by RandomRuth
12 Jun 2026