10 songs / 10 ficbits (Tracks #1-5)
The meme: 10 songs / 10 ficlets, aka Why Take Fic Prompts From Your Friends When You Can Take Them From Your iPod, last seen at musesfool.
The method: put mp3 player on shuffle, note the first 10 songs, write a drabble/ficbit inspired by each. musesfool did all one fandom and posted in one big batch, but I'm not as rigorous as that.
Believe it or not these are all het or gen. Also can't believe I got #1 without cheating XD but then again the odds of Spitz coming up are good.
*
Track #1: 「海を見に行こう」- スピッツ | "Umi wo Mi ni Ikou" - Spitz
Honey & Clover, Shuuji and Hagu.
*
Souvenirs
The night before they left, Hagu couldn't keep still. She dashed back and forth across the living room, chanting "Umiumiumiumiumi!" in an unstoppable mantra. The cats skulked underfoot, suspicious of open suitcases. When Hagu made another swoop toward the laundry room, they skittered in opposing directions, ears flat.
Shuuji answered the phone when it rang. "Yamada-san? That's right, tomorrow. You're sure it's not too much trouble? I know it's out of your way. I could ask one of the neighbors--"
Swoop. "Is that Ayu?!"
"Here, I'll put Hagu on."
She seized the phone in both hands. "Ayu! What do you want from Shikoku? Udon noodles? Pomelo? A pilgrim staff? Ohenro Whip-chan?"
"No pomelo this time of year," said Shuuji, laughing. "But she can have whatever she wants otherwise. Cat-sitter's privilege."
* * *
Track #2: "Kamiki Village's Restoration" - Yamaguchi Hiroshi (Okami OST)
12K x Okami crossover.
*
Restoration
She was a greater artist than he would ever be. At a stroke of her brush dead trees burst into bloom, or water gushed from springs long since abandoned. The demons that roamed the land fell in an onslaught of flowers. The scarred earth healed and grew green again. She could summon the sun to burn even in the darkest reaches, the furthest north.
It all happened so quickly, with such ease.
Come to my kingdom, Taiki begged her, please. Or let me borrow your brush, and show me how to paint like you do.
* * *
Track #3: "Käppee" (live version) - Värttinä
Odin Sphere, Gwendolyn and Griselda.
*
Valkyries
As a child Gwendolyn wore a swan-cloak of purest white. From the balcony of her tower room she watched her sister's squadron fly in formation past the palace, resplendent in warrior colors. She frowned down at her wan feathers, then up at the sky.
When she was thirteen she woke one morning to find the bedsheets stained with spots of red. Before the week was out, her sister gave her a new swan-cloak. Its feathers were the color of bruises, black and blue-violet. Gwendolyn held her breath as she laid her fingers on one wing.
"If you are grown enough to shed blood, shed it in battle," her sister said.
* * *
Track #4: "Jabuticaba (Stuhr Remix)" - Bebel Gilberto
12K, Renrin.
*
Koukashou
She veiled herself when she went into the city, when she walked along the market streets at dusk. Sellers took her for a modest housewife or the chatelaine of some estate, and called out to her from the stalls on either side, waving to coax her underneath their brilliant awnings. Breadfruit, Mistress, try a piece. Lychees picked this morning. Just taste these dragon fruits, Mistress. Try the crimson fortune.
She paused beside a basket, unable to stop her smile. Her hand strayed from her sleeve toward the fruit.
"Shall I cut one for you, Mistress?" the seller asked.
She shook her head, still smiling.
"My lord grows these," she told him. "In our garden."
* * *
Track #5: "He Came to Meet Me" - Hem
Spirited Away, Haku and Chihiro.
*
Some July
They walked together for what must've been hours. She lost track of time--she forgot there was such a thing as time to lose track of. Too much had changed at once for her to reckon with: the intensity of light, the depth of color in her surroundings. The smell of crushed grass. The shape of the world itself.
Suddenly the sky was flushed with sunset. Her parents would be wondering where she was.
"Oh," she said in a daze. "I should--I have to go home."
He looked at her with his green, green eyes that shone like stones under moving water. She couldn't remember if his eyes had gleamed that way when she was younger. She didn't think they had.
"Do you," he said.
* * *
The method: put mp3 player on shuffle, note the first 10 songs, write a drabble/ficbit inspired by each. musesfool did all one fandom and posted in one big batch, but I'm not as rigorous as that.
Believe it or not these are all het or gen. Also can't believe I got #1 without cheating XD but then again the odds of Spitz coming up are good.
*
Track #1: 「海を見に行こう」- スピッツ | "Umi wo Mi ni Ikou" - Spitz
Honey & Clover, Shuuji and Hagu.
*
Souvenirs
The night before they left, Hagu couldn't keep still. She dashed back and forth across the living room, chanting "Umiumiumiumiumi!" in an unstoppable mantra. The cats skulked underfoot, suspicious of open suitcases. When Hagu made another swoop toward the laundry room, they skittered in opposing directions, ears flat.
Shuuji answered the phone when it rang. "Yamada-san? That's right, tomorrow. You're sure it's not too much trouble? I know it's out of your way. I could ask one of the neighbors--"
Swoop. "Is that Ayu?!"
"Here, I'll put Hagu on."
She seized the phone in both hands. "Ayu! What do you want from Shikoku? Udon noodles? Pomelo? A pilgrim staff? Ohenro Whip-chan?"
"No pomelo this time of year," said Shuuji, laughing. "But she can have whatever she wants otherwise. Cat-sitter's privilege."
* * *
Track #2: "Kamiki Village's Restoration" - Yamaguchi Hiroshi (Okami OST)
12K x Okami crossover.
*
Restoration
She was a greater artist than he would ever be. At a stroke of her brush dead trees burst into bloom, or water gushed from springs long since abandoned. The demons that roamed the land fell in an onslaught of flowers. The scarred earth healed and grew green again. She could summon the sun to burn even in the darkest reaches, the furthest north.
It all happened so quickly, with such ease.
Come to my kingdom, Taiki begged her, please. Or let me borrow your brush, and show me how to paint like you do.
* * *
Track #3: "Käppee" (live version) - Värttinä
Odin Sphere, Gwendolyn and Griselda.
*
Valkyries
As a child Gwendolyn wore a swan-cloak of purest white. From the balcony of her tower room she watched her sister's squadron fly in formation past the palace, resplendent in warrior colors. She frowned down at her wan feathers, then up at the sky.
When she was thirteen she woke one morning to find the bedsheets stained with spots of red. Before the week was out, her sister gave her a new swan-cloak. Its feathers were the color of bruises, black and blue-violet. Gwendolyn held her breath as she laid her fingers on one wing.
"If you are grown enough to shed blood, shed it in battle," her sister said.
* * *
Track #4: "Jabuticaba (Stuhr Remix)" - Bebel Gilberto
12K, Renrin.
*
Koukashou
She veiled herself when she went into the city, when she walked along the market streets at dusk. Sellers took her for a modest housewife or the chatelaine of some estate, and called out to her from the stalls on either side, waving to coax her underneath their brilliant awnings. Breadfruit, Mistress, try a piece. Lychees picked this morning. Just taste these dragon fruits, Mistress. Try the crimson fortune.
She paused beside a basket, unable to stop her smile. Her hand strayed from her sleeve toward the fruit.
"Shall I cut one for you, Mistress?" the seller asked.
She shook her head, still smiling.
"My lord grows these," she told him. "In our garden."
* * *
Track #5: "He Came to Meet Me" - Hem
Spirited Away, Haku and Chihiro.
*
Some July
They walked together for what must've been hours. She lost track of time--she forgot there was such a thing as time to lose track of. Too much had changed at once for her to reckon with: the intensity of light, the depth of color in her surroundings. The smell of crushed grass. The shape of the world itself.
Suddenly the sky was flushed with sunset. Her parents would be wondering where she was.
"Oh," she said in a daze. "I should--I have to go home."
He looked at her with his green, green eyes that shone like stones under moving water. She couldn't remember if his eyes had gleamed that way when she was younger. She didn't think they had.
"Do you," he said.
* * *