[Loveless] [Ritsuka, Soubi] Shapeless
Title: Shapeless
Author/ess: thornsmoke (also here at ff.net)
Series: Loveless
Length: 779 words, one shot
Character/pairing: Ritsuka-centric, Soubi
Rating/warnings: K+/PG
Summary: What Ritsuka wants.
Ritsuka’s character is, by far, one of the most intriguing I’ve encountered. I like the mystery surrounding him - the fact that he simply woke up two years ago and couldn’t remember who Ritsuka was, as though he suddenly changed personalities, is especially interesting but not really as developed in the series as it could be. The subject’s mostly ghosted over when it’s brought up, so it’s nice to see it explored more in-depth like this.
I like the idea used here, how sometimes Ritsuka fleetingly feels what the real Ritsuka felt, what his wants and secrets were, and how it’s a constant reminder of the fact that he’s not him. I like how he goes back and forth between asking the doctor if, when Ritsuka comes back, these years will disappear along with himself, and then decides that no matter what, he just wants Ritsuka’s mother to smile again and thus whatever goes, goes. This manages to hit every point in his character’s dichotomy, how he wants to be and wants not to be, and does it so well. Seeing this reflected in his interactions with Soubi is even better. Also, I’m fond of the parenthesis style and this utilizes them well to get across the little things. All in all, this is a good study of Ritsuka’s character and delivers it in gorgeous writing. Definitely give it a shot.
Preview:
Unfamiliarity pulses through his veins: old promises, despair, tastes and secrets that aren’t his. Blindly, he lifts a hand to the fading light but finds them gone, having coiled through his mind into nothingness.
The other Ritsuka, he guesses - and sees, then, the sudden tautening of his mouth, the drawing of brows fine and dark against his skin. His tail makes prowling lashes around him, taut with the certainty of expecting something unknown, and the scene is all very familiar, though not his own when last he saw it. Startled, he remembers - memory that is not his, a careless laughing Ritsuka with the coy simplicity of the indulged - a strange animal at the zoo: liquid eyes, small bared teeth.
(His eyes, his teeth against the intruder in a body already taken.)
Author/ess: thornsmoke (also here at ff.net)
Series: Loveless
Length: 779 words, one shot
Character/pairing: Ritsuka-centric, Soubi
Rating/warnings: K+/PG
Summary: What Ritsuka wants.
Ritsuka’s character is, by far, one of the most intriguing I’ve encountered. I like the mystery surrounding him - the fact that he simply woke up two years ago and couldn’t remember who Ritsuka was, as though he suddenly changed personalities, is especially interesting but not really as developed in the series as it could be. The subject’s mostly ghosted over when it’s brought up, so it’s nice to see it explored more in-depth like this.
I like the idea used here, how sometimes Ritsuka fleetingly feels what the real Ritsuka felt, what his wants and secrets were, and how it’s a constant reminder of the fact that he’s not him. I like how he goes back and forth between asking the doctor if, when Ritsuka comes back, these years will disappear along with himself, and then decides that no matter what, he just wants Ritsuka’s mother to smile again and thus whatever goes, goes. This manages to hit every point in his character’s dichotomy, how he wants to be and wants not to be, and does it so well. Seeing this reflected in his interactions with Soubi is even better. Also, I’m fond of the parenthesis style and this utilizes them well to get across the little things. All in all, this is a good study of Ritsuka’s character and delivers it in gorgeous writing. Definitely give it a shot.
Preview:
Unfamiliarity pulses through his veins: old promises, despair, tastes and secrets that aren’t his. Blindly, he lifts a hand to the fading light but finds them gone, having coiled through his mind into nothingness.
The other Ritsuka, he guesses - and sees, then, the sudden tautening of his mouth, the drawing of brows fine and dark against his skin. His tail makes prowling lashes around him, taut with the certainty of expecting something unknown, and the scene is all very familiar, though not his own when last he saw it. Startled, he remembers - memory that is not his, a careless laughing Ritsuka with the coy simplicity of the indulged - a strange animal at the zoo: liquid eyes, small bared teeth.
(His eyes, his teeth against the intruder in a body already taken.)