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Prompting Post V

Please see the most recent MOD NOTE and ADDENDUM

(updated 5 July)

Welcome everybody. How you got here I have no idea but thank you for coming and welcome again, nonetheless . As you may have gathered this is a Fic Prompting Meme dedicated solely to the hilarious and oh-so-addictive BBC Radio 4 sitcom - Cabin Pressure. I'm aiming for this to be pretty anything goes - but in order for everything to run smoothly, there are a few guidelines. Don't worry - they're not too restrictive.

FILLING GUIDELINES

As you probably all know - our meme now has it's very own database created and maintained by the great Enigel. It both catalogues each and every prompt that we post and provides links to fills. You can find it here: Google Spreadsheet

We also have a Pinboard archive which has been put in place by the lovely

oxfordtweed in the place of our late Delicious Archive. This Archive contains a list of all the prompts this meme has to offer - you can find it here: Pinboard Archive

This is a great step forward in making our meme just a little more organised (but not too organised of course. This is Cabin Pressure) which is always a good thing.

So in order to make things easier to archive - Please nest your fills.

This can be done by either posting each part as a reply to that part's immediate predecessor, OR by replying each time to Part I OR - well you get the idea :D

It makes it simpler for Enigel and myself to link fills in a clean and clear manner. Following these guildelines will be very much appreciated guys :D

REPROMPTING

Reprompting is allowed but please include the URL of the original prompt when you do so. It will make it infinitely more easy to Archive which would make both Enigel and I very happy :)

As for everything else

Be respectful to one another. Disagreements are fine, but not everything disagreeable is trolling. If you suspect someone of trolling, just ignore it. If you cannot respond to a comment without attacking or trolling someone else, keep it to yourself.

No bashing prompts. It might not be your cup of tea - but obviously someone wants it enough to go to the effort of requesting it. So just scroll past it.

Prompt away as much as you like guys - seriously, go wild - but please try to fill as well.

NEW - If your fill includes a major element that veers from the original prompt (crossovers, established universes, kinks, et cetera), please take a few moments to check with the OP that such additions are welcome. This has caused problems in the past and it only takes a few moments of your time.
Please no RPF. I'm not trying to oppress you RPF writers and enthusiasts, I would just really like to avoid any legal problems.

When you post a fill (or post a new part of a WIP) please go over to the Filled Prompts Post (if it is complete) or the WIP Post (if there are still more parts to come) and, following each post's guideline's, post a link to this fill or new part.

REALLY IMPORTANT ADDENDUM

According to numerous Child Safety laws it is illegal to provide pornographic material to minors. Seeing that the majority of the stuff we have here is rather adult in nature, this Meme is consequently an 18+ zone. Failing to comply to this rule could result in the Meme getting shut down. So if you're here and you're under 18 please back button now.

+ Please do not post anything regarding minors in a sexual situation. It really doesn't matter how tasteful or crass it is, there are laws that classify that sort of thing as child pornography and as such, I'm afraid we're going to have to go with the attitude that safe is better than sorry.

It really is VERY important that these rules are upheld as the consequences are severe.

Other than that - go crazy guys. Any problems please just message me and I'll try my best to work it out.

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One of the characters yearning to be romantically closer to one of the other characters even though they know for a fact that their relationship will never be other than that of friends. The first character doesn't want to do anything that might risk the friendship they have, struggles with their feelings. In the end, the character comes to terms with friendship being a damn fine thing, and even though they'll never kiss or touch like the first character wants, they don't need to do that to be close.

Any major MJN characters welcome. (Martin, Douglas, Arthur, Carolyn, Herc)

TLDR: Unrequited yearning for a romance becomes genuine appreciation of an existing deep friendship. Happy, non-sexual, platonic ending please. :)

Just a tiny something. I encourage anyone to fill this for real

Dear Skip:

I’m writing this letter, even though I know you’ll never read it, because it feels like I’m saying it, and I needed to say it, even if it’ll end up in the bin as soon as I finish. It’s better this way, I think, because I’m not really good with words. I still needed to say it.

I didn’t know I could fall in love with another bloke. Everyone makes such a big deal out of it, I thought I should mention it. It didn’t feel like a big deal, though. I mean, it did, because it was falling in love, and that is always a big deal, but you being a bloke wasn’t, that’s what I mean. I don’t know what that means, about me falling in love with blokes, I mean.

I did, though, I fell in love with you, at first sight, probably.

When I first saw you, I thought you were brilliant, but not in the way everyone else is. I saw you and I found I liked looking at you, just for the sake of looking at you. Not because I thought you looked handsome in your uniform, though I did. More because I liked the way your eyes looked at G-ERTI, and how you looked a bit like a child at Christmas when you gave your first cabin address and said you were the Captain. It gave me a funny feeling in my stomach, and that hasn’t gone away in all the time I’ve known you. I don’t know if that counts as falling in love at first sight, but it was special. I don’t get funny feelings in my stomach when I meet other people.

I know I love you now. I’m sure of that. It’s funny how love can make you really happy, and a bit sad, all at the same time. Sometimes, when we’re talking, or I’m just looking at you, I feel a bit like crying, but it’s not a bad thing! Don’t worry! It’s just I feel so much when you’re around, or when I’m thinking about you, that I feel too small to hold it all inside, and it needs to find a way out.

I think about you a lot. About how skinny you are, and how I wish I could cook better so you wouldn’t mind eating what I cook. I would cook for you all day, and you would never be hungry. Or about how brilliant you can be when you’re not so scared you’ll make a mistake. I wish I could tell you how brilliant you are all the time, so you’d start believing it.

The part that makes me really sad sometimes, is knowing that you couldn’t feel the same way about me. I’m only saying this because you’ll never read it. I wouldn’t tell you, because it isn’t your fault. But sometimes it hurts so bad, and it feels like, if I could just hold you close, it would go away. As I said, I know everyone makes a big deal out of who you like, and it’s fine you only like girls. I suppose you can’t help it any more than I can’t help liking you.

I do know one thing, and that is that we’re friends. Really good friends. Maybe you can’t love me in the way I love you, and I’ll never get to kiss you silly, or run my fingers through your hair, but I do matter to you. I don’t understand why, but I’ve seen how lonely you can be. That doesn’t hurt as much anymore, because that is something I can help you with. I can be there, I have tried to be there, and maybe I am making it a bit better.

If I were to tell you how I really feel, you wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore, or at least, it wouldn’t be the same, and I think I would hurt you a lot. Maybe I’m being ego… uhm… self-centred. I’m sorry, if I am. But I don’t want to risk hurting you, not even one bit. I think it makes you a bit happy to have me as a friend, maybe. If that is the only way I can make you happy, then that’s the only way I will.

I will love you, and try to make you happy, forever.

With all the love I can feel,

Arthur.

Oh god, Arthur. I can't think of a more certain way to make sure that whatever friendship they had is forever altered. Martin wouldn't be able to look at him after that.

It was terrible, wasn't it? Just tell me if you think it was offensively terrible, I'll remove it. It's such a lovely prompt and I didn't mean to ruin it :(

Don't remove it, it's lovely, but it doesn't seem to suit the prompt. Maybe a second part or epilogue would help?

DA

If I may, I have an addendum to your wonderful letter that might bring it back 'round to the OP's prompt. If it's alright with you, I could post it, if not, that's all right too.

Please do. :)

Thank you, posted.

Right, firstly, let's make one thing clear: IT WAS NOT TERRIBLE. Far from it, and nothing you write is ever terrible. I was so thrilled to see you'd written a fill for my prompt, that you'd already written it before I got home from work, and that it then inspired in essence a second linked fill! I am a lucky, lucky OP!

Thank you for this wonderful heartaching letter, and for the impromptu group writing exercise this turned into. I could not have imagined a better fill! This was a lovely thing to come home to, thank you!

Thanks OP. I'm glad you could enjoy it in spite of my cock-up, and that you got a great sequel-fill out of it. :)

With inspiration and gracious permission of still_not_ginger:

Months later when he was alone in their hotel room in Minsk, searching for a spare pocket in his wallet for the 50 ruble note Martin had doodled a funny aeroplane on, Arthur re-discovered the letter.

It was worn fuzzy, creased and faded. After he'd written it, he'd taken it out every night, re-read it, thought again of giving it to Skip, then changed his mind, re-folded it and put it back. It hurt everytime, thinking about the ways he wanted to make Skip happy and how he knew those weren't the ways Skip wanted.

Each time, though, the pain got less, and he started to see past it and see what he did have with Martin. Skip made him laugh about things, or pointed out a brilliant sunrise or a funny card in the airport shops. He took extra time explaining things sometimes, even though he was frustrated, and made sure to include Arthur in plans, like the Captain's lounge, even though that never came about.

Skip shared things about himself with Arthur he wouldn't tell Douglas or mum. Martin had told Arthur about his big brother Simon and the time Simon had walked away when Martin was trying not to drown in a pond, which as it turned out was how he'd got his dizzy ear thing that made him faint.

Arthur in turn had told Martin about things his dad had done and said. Skip had put an arm around his shoulder when Arthur had started crying, telling him his dad was wrong, he wasn't stupid or worthless. Arthur felt loved then, and not in the tingly in the trousers way. Just loved, like he thought it might feel to have an older brother, or at least one that didn't leave you drowning in a pond.

Arthur stopped rereading the letter every night, then every week, then once in a while when he felt sorry for himself and so very alone. Then he stopped altogether and forgot about it.

He looked at the worn letter in his hand again. He still felt that pull to love, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't hurting or burning, he didn't feel left out or like there was something missing between him and Skip. Not anymore.

What they had was brilliant. It had always been brilliant, he'd just not been able to see that before, because he was looking at what wasn't instead of what was. It was like lottery tickets. You give away what you have for what you want, even though you really don't have a big chance of getting it.

He took the metal hotel room ice bucket and the complementary matches from the door out onto the small balcony, put the letter in the bucket and set it on fire, watching the fuzzy edges curl in over his words.

"I've always had what I want," Arthur said to the burning letter. "I just needed to look and see it."

When Douglas yelled at Arthur later for leaving the balcony door open, letting the smoke in and setting off the sprinkler system in their room, Martin's helpless giggles were worth it.

[All credit to still_not_ginger for the inspiration and permission to collaborate. Thank you again.]

I've left a more detailed comment for still_not_ginger, but I'd like to thank you as well for your fill inspired by her(?) letter. I also appreciate that you asked permission before adding your second fill inspired by hers. You two have co-operated to make me very happy after a hard day.

A prefect sequel! Those pieces work together so well, am glad it could be posted.

This was really great, thanks for doing it.

"I would cook for you all day, and you would never be hungry."

I'm eating a cake full of feelings right now. Awwwwwwww...

That was increadibly moving! I see what OP means with it not fitting the prompt perfectly but I just wanted to say that it was...well, incredibly moving.
And the sequel that has been written makes it perfect am lets my heart breath again :)

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Prompting Post V

Please see the most recent MOD NOTE and ADDENDUM

FILLING GUIDELINES

REPROMPTING

As for everything else

REALLY IMPORTANT ADDENDUM

yearning resolution

Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

OP Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: OP Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Addendum Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

OP Re: Addendum Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Addendum Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Addendum Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you

Re: Minifill: From me, but never to you