[Fic] "Harvest: Downwind" -- original, Ekanu
Here is another piece of "Harvest." This is set after Ekanu and Denifar have a screaming argument on the vision island. Here they begin to tentatively make up -- mostly because Denifar is a city boy and very much not into this whole 'nature' thing, and Ekanu is willing to take an indirect approach to hashing out their issues. (300 words)
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Harvest: Downwind
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"Say something."
Ekanu blinked, startled out of her lazy, mid-afternoon doze. She glanced across the clearing to where Denifar was sharpening their one knife. The scraping ring of steel on stone continued, but he wasn't watching his hands. He was watching her.
"Why? I thought you didn't want to speak with me," she said.
Denifar grimaced, looking back down at his work. "I don't. Not about anything important. But it's so quiet out here. I've never been anywhere this isolated, not without other people around. There's nothing to hear but my own thoughts, and I don't want to listen to them any more than I want to listen to you talking about your be-drowned wind. Talk to me about something that doesn't matter."
Ekanu couldn't help laughing. Nothing to hear? They were surrounded by the world speaking -- by wind and waves, by birds and insects, by leaves and sand and stone. Human voices were such a small part of all there was to hear. "You," she said, "are deaf."
"Ekanu..."
"And what makes you think I want to speak with you?" she added. But she did want to -- or rather, she needed to -- and if she started small, perhaps she could circle around to the words that mattered.
"I will tell you a story that Lya-Lya told me, about Aerin, Gwylach's daughter, and how she met her three companions and became mother to the Hlaenor," Ekanu said, pushing herself upright to sit with her back against the tree that shaded her. "Long and long ago, when the world was young and Gwylach danced in the forests in the flesh, a young hunter chanced across the stream where she was bathing--"
The words washed out across the clearing, blending with the sounds of the afternoon. After a minute, Denifar's hands stilled, and he began to smile.
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Inspired by the 4/12/10 15_minute_fic word #135: island
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Incidentally, what I really wanted to do with this prompt was write up a version of a story Vicky and I brainstormed ten or twelve years ago. It was intended to be a comic -- kind of a teen romantic comedy superhero spoof -- called "Island Girl." The idea is that some kids in the Star Island/Cass Lake community had superpowers and secret identities and served as protectors of the island against various nefarious evil-doers. It was loosely environmental in message, but that wasn't the real point.
The main character was Island Girl, who defended Star Island against the depredations of the Bank Eroder. Her sidekick, Rip Rap, was secretly a kid from the town of Cass Lake who worked at the Sailstar Marina, and the Bank Eroder (in his civilian identity) worked as a clerk at Teals grocery store. Another girl (we were never sure whether she was an islander, a mainlander, or somebody who frequented one of the mainland resorts) went by Lady Windigo, and would sometimes work with Island Girl and sometimes work with the Bank Eroder, depending on her whim.
Island Girl's grandfather had been a hero in his youth, who went by the moniker Trail Maintenance. He had fought the Litterbug, who later reformed and married him; she was Island Girl's grandmother. Following in her grandparents' romantically troubled footsteps, Island Girl had a crush on the civilian identities of both Rip Rap and the Bank Eroder, but she didn't know that they were her sidekick and her nemesis. I think Lady Windigo might have known (and she and Island Girl did know each other's civilian identities), but because Lady Windigo was playing her own game, she basically sat back and laughed at Island Girl's romantic mishaps.
Vicky did some character designs at one point -- they mostly involved bathing suits and domino masks, with beach towels for capes -- but we never really worked out a plot and she got bored of comics, so nothing ever came of the scenario. Which is a pity; it was awfully cute, in a doofy way.
Anyway, I wanted to write about that, but it requires too much explanation for 15 minutes. Maybe some other day. *grin*
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Harvest: Downwind
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"Say something."
Ekanu blinked, startled out of her lazy, mid-afternoon doze. She glanced across the clearing to where Denifar was sharpening their one knife. The scraping ring of steel on stone continued, but he wasn't watching his hands. He was watching her.
"Why? I thought you didn't want to speak with me," she said.
Denifar grimaced, looking back down at his work. "I don't. Not about anything important. But it's so quiet out here. I've never been anywhere this isolated, not without other people around. There's nothing to hear but my own thoughts, and I don't want to listen to them any more than I want to listen to you talking about your be-drowned wind. Talk to me about something that doesn't matter."
Ekanu couldn't help laughing. Nothing to hear? They were surrounded by the world speaking -- by wind and waves, by birds and insects, by leaves and sand and stone. Human voices were such a small part of all there was to hear. "You," she said, "are deaf."
"Ekanu..."
"And what makes you think I want to speak with you?" she added. But she did want to -- or rather, she needed to -- and if she started small, perhaps she could circle around to the words that mattered.
"I will tell you a story that Lya-Lya told me, about Aerin, Gwylach's daughter, and how she met her three companions and became mother to the Hlaenor," Ekanu said, pushing herself upright to sit with her back against the tree that shaded her. "Long and long ago, when the world was young and Gwylach danced in the forests in the flesh, a young hunter chanced across the stream where she was bathing--"
The words washed out across the clearing, blending with the sounds of the afternoon. After a minute, Denifar's hands stilled, and he began to smile.
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Inspired by the 4/12/10 15_minute_fic word #135: island
---------------------------------------------
Incidentally, what I really wanted to do with this prompt was write up a version of a story Vicky and I brainstormed ten or twelve years ago. It was intended to be a comic -- kind of a teen romantic comedy superhero spoof -- called "Island Girl." The idea is that some kids in the Star Island/Cass Lake community had superpowers and secret identities and served as protectors of the island against various nefarious evil-doers. It was loosely environmental in message, but that wasn't the real point.
The main character was Island Girl, who defended Star Island against the depredations of the Bank Eroder. Her sidekick, Rip Rap, was secretly a kid from the town of Cass Lake who worked at the Sailstar Marina, and the Bank Eroder (in his civilian identity) worked as a clerk at Teals grocery store. Another girl (we were never sure whether she was an islander, a mainlander, or somebody who frequented one of the mainland resorts) went by Lady Windigo, and would sometimes work with Island Girl and sometimes work with the Bank Eroder, depending on her whim.
Island Girl's grandfather had been a hero in his youth, who went by the moniker Trail Maintenance. He had fought the Litterbug, who later reformed and married him; she was Island Girl's grandmother. Following in her grandparents' romantically troubled footsteps, Island Girl had a crush on the civilian identities of both Rip Rap and the Bank Eroder, but she didn't know that they were her sidekick and her nemesis. I think Lady Windigo might have known (and she and Island Girl did know each other's civilian identities), but because Lady Windigo was playing her own game, she basically sat back and laughed at Island Girl's romantic mishaps.
Vicky did some character designs at one point -- they mostly involved bathing suits and domino masks, with beach towels for capes -- but we never really worked out a plot and she got bored of comics, so nothing ever came of the scenario. Which is a pity; it was awfully cute, in a doofy way.
Anyway, I wanted to write about that, but it requires too much explanation for 15 minutes. Maybe some other day. *grin*
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)