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fandomweekly2016-03-25 05:56 pm
sealrat) wrote in fandomweekly2016-03-25 05:56 pm
Entry tags:
[#008] Up Is Down (Leverage)
Theme Prompt: #008 Rooftops
Title: Up Is Down
Fandom: Leverage
Rating/Warnings: None
Bonus: No
Word Count: 530
Summary: Parker has always seen the world a little bit differently. Set before the start of Leverage.
It had never really made sense why the first floor was the one on the ground. The first floor should be the top floor. Oh, sure, in math you start at zero or one and go up; the naming convention was a physical representation of an abstract concept. ‘Start’ was the key word there. Starting, beginning, launching. All of those ‘from the ground up’ sort of ideas.
Nine times out of ten, that wasn’t where Parker started. Ground floors were always full of security, both physical and electronic. There were guards and people and cameras and metal detectors. Walking through the front door (or even the back) was difficult without a crew; and sometimes even then, traditional methods of entry were simply too onerous to consider. For no reason she can divine, roofs were an afterthought in most buildings. Rooftops are ceilings for those with no imagination. They are an end, full stop; a punctuation that cuts off the sentence of human ingenuity. It’s a mistake she exploits with near-childish glee.
There were exceptions, of course, but rooftops are some of Parker’s favorite places regardless of the challenges they set. They are the beginning of the heist; the place where days or weeks or months of planning is finally set in motion, where hours of study and practice and patience are put to use. Her presence gives them a purpose that no architect would ever design, and returns them to a place of status. Far from the bedrock below, a roof is her foundation.
Up here, over a thousand feet in the air, Parker can see rooftops all around her. More foundations and challenges for another day, they are her audience and her accomplices. They are better than people. Simpler. More useful. Her name is spoken only in whispers, hardly a ghost even in dark corners where lesser thieves sit hunched over plans that will fail. No one really knows who Parker is, and she likes it that way, but rooftops comprehend her. Rooftops will bear witness to this feat, to her, with neither awe or judgement. Like her lock picks or the harness that weaves around her now, roofs are tools and they are beloved, trusted with her life.
Standing a few feet from the ledge, Parker sways into the breeze, testing its speed and direction. Her watch ticks down the final seconds, and then she’s gone: sprinting into nothing and diving into freedom. Arcing down, she allows herself to whoop as gravity tries to reclaim her. Air rushes past her ears, roaring like the crash of a wave on rocks, and quieting just as quickly when she grips the rope snaking through her harness.
Gravity will once again be denied the pleasure of controlling Parker; the rigging on the roof holds as she knew it would, ensuring that she comes to a stop of her choosing. Her choice was pivotal. Gravity could be as much an ally as an enemy, but it was Parker’s decisions that made it so. If gravity meant getting caught or killed, she simply ignored it.
Tonight, the roof is the ally against the rest of the building. Perhaps tomorrow, when the CEO discovers a particularly expensive absence, someone else will think of the roof with a little more respect.
Title: Up Is Down
Fandom: Leverage
Rating/Warnings: None
Bonus: No
Word Count: 530
Summary: Parker has always seen the world a little bit differently. Set before the start of Leverage.
It had never really made sense why the first floor was the one on the ground. The first floor should be the top floor. Oh, sure, in math you start at zero or one and go up; the naming convention was a physical representation of an abstract concept. ‘Start’ was the key word there. Starting, beginning, launching. All of those ‘from the ground up’ sort of ideas.
Nine times out of ten, that wasn’t where Parker started. Ground floors were always full of security, both physical and electronic. There were guards and people and cameras and metal detectors. Walking through the front door (or even the back) was difficult without a crew; and sometimes even then, traditional methods of entry were simply too onerous to consider. For no reason she can divine, roofs were an afterthought in most buildings. Rooftops are ceilings for those with no imagination. They are an end, full stop; a punctuation that cuts off the sentence of human ingenuity. It’s a mistake she exploits with near-childish glee.
There were exceptions, of course, but rooftops are some of Parker’s favorite places regardless of the challenges they set. They are the beginning of the heist; the place where days or weeks or months of planning is finally set in motion, where hours of study and practice and patience are put to use. Her presence gives them a purpose that no architect would ever design, and returns them to a place of status. Far from the bedrock below, a roof is her foundation.
Up here, over a thousand feet in the air, Parker can see rooftops all around her. More foundations and challenges for another day, they are her audience and her accomplices. They are better than people. Simpler. More useful. Her name is spoken only in whispers, hardly a ghost even in dark corners where lesser thieves sit hunched over plans that will fail. No one really knows who Parker is, and she likes it that way, but rooftops comprehend her. Rooftops will bear witness to this feat, to her, with neither awe or judgement. Like her lock picks or the harness that weaves around her now, roofs are tools and they are beloved, trusted with her life.
Standing a few feet from the ledge, Parker sways into the breeze, testing its speed and direction. Her watch ticks down the final seconds, and then she’s gone: sprinting into nothing and diving into freedom. Arcing down, she allows herself to whoop as gravity tries to reclaim her. Air rushes past her ears, roaring like the crash of a wave on rocks, and quieting just as quickly when she grips the rope snaking through her harness.
Gravity will once again be denied the pleasure of controlling Parker; the rigging on the roof holds as she knew it would, ensuring that she comes to a stop of her choosing. Her choice was pivotal. Gravity could be as much an ally as an enemy, but it was Parker’s decisions that made it so. If gravity meant getting caught or killed, she simply ignored it.
Tonight, the roof is the ally against the rest of the building. Perhaps tomorrow, when the CEO discovers a particularly expensive absence, someone else will think of the roof with a little more respect.
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