Suffering From "Unicorn Overdose"
Well, one of Kita's friends gave her a DVD today... of her absolute favorite movie from when she was a child, "The Last Unicorn." Now, don't get me wrong, I love the movie too, but she's been playing with it nonstop for the past four hours. Ergo, I have it stuck in my head. I was trying to write a response for this weeks' challenge over at
psohdrabble, so I already had D on the brain. This is what wound up coming out...
Title: Walking Man's Road
Author: Lithium Delusions
Word Count: 479 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Set after volume 10 of the original Pet Shop of Horrors so spoilers for that. Neither Pet Shop of Horrors or the Last Unicorn belong to me. This is unbetaed, because I haven't been able to pry her away from the TV, so if you see a mistake, please point it out.
She is more graceful than any deer, though her steps have slowed and her violet eyes are tired and sorrowful. “Count D.”
“Lady Amalthea.”
It is almost a smile that she gives him. “I have not been called that in centuries.”
“What brings you here?”
“Too many years treading Man’s road, I suppose. And regret.”
D’s odd eyes darken. “Evil was done to you.”
Life flares in her again. “No! Never that. Love was worth any price.” She tips her graceful head, fathomless eyes knowing. “But you know that too, don’t you?”
D flinches. “Yes.”
“It is well. Let your grandfather condemn what he does not understand.” She gently touches his cheek. “Take my advice then. You will regret more than I, if you do not go after him. The last of a kind is not a comfortable place to be.”
D’s eyes are sad. “I know.”
Her wise gaze is loving. “I was like you once, D. Naïve and unsure of my own heart, afraid of what I felt and more afraid of what I was - had become. I will not regret loving him, ever.”
His slender hands tremble and he sets down the teapot he has unconsciously been clutching since she appeared.
“You should not either. Go. Go after him, D.”
Slowly, D nods. “And you, lady? What will you do?”
She looks longingly at the shop for a moment, wistfulness in her every graceful line. “I thought to rest, to forget. But no. The road is long and my legs still strong. I will go on for a while longer. I do not wish to forget. He should be remembered. All of them should.”
“All?”
“The magician too, and his lady. I thank him still for what he did. And it has made it easier to walk this road, now that I have learned the trick of hiding myself in plain sight. He did me a good turn with his enchantment. Becoming human, I learned how to hide myself as one. My brethren would not… could not learn and many of them have gone from this world. I rescued them once, and they are now nearly gone… and this time, I cannot save them. Not from themselves…”
Regret darkens her expressive eyes. “Someday I may very well be the last, once again. When that happens, I will come back to this place, wherever it may be. But until then, I will walk Man’s road a bit longer. And if that does not happen… I will continue my travels.”
She offers him a smile that holds as much hope as regret, and turns. She shimmers, and a slender graceful woman with a curtain of hair the color of snow falling on a moonlit night and eyes the color of lilacs, leaves the shop, her only mark a single cloven hoofprint in the pile of the Persian carpet.
A/N: If you haven't seen "The Last Unicorn" (what rock have you been under, and can I join you?) it's about a Unicorn that goes on a quest to find where all the other unicorns have gone. To hide her, the magician Shmendrick turns her into a human. She begins to lose her sense of "unicorn" self and falls in love with the kind Prince Lir. To rescue the other Unicorns she is forced to return to her unicorn shape and abandon the Prince she loves. Walking Man's Road is a song in the movie and the description of her hair color at the end comes directly from the book the movie was based on.
psohdrabble, so I already had D on the brain. This is what wound up coming out...
Title: Walking Man's Road
Author: Lithium Delusions
Word Count: 479 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Set after volume 10 of the original Pet Shop of Horrors so spoilers for that. Neither Pet Shop of Horrors or the Last Unicorn belong to me. This is unbetaed, because I haven't been able to pry her away from the TV, so if you see a mistake, please point it out.
She is more graceful than any deer, though her steps have slowed and her violet eyes are tired and sorrowful. “Count D.”
“Lady Amalthea.”
It is almost a smile that she gives him. “I have not been called that in centuries.”
“What brings you here?”
“Too many years treading Man’s road, I suppose. And regret.”
D’s odd eyes darken. “Evil was done to you.”
Life flares in her again. “No! Never that. Love was worth any price.” She tips her graceful head, fathomless eyes knowing. “But you know that too, don’t you?”
D flinches. “Yes.”
“It is well. Let your grandfather condemn what he does not understand.” She gently touches his cheek. “Take my advice then. You will regret more than I, if you do not go after him. The last of a kind is not a comfortable place to be.”
D’s eyes are sad. “I know.”
Her wise gaze is loving. “I was like you once, D. Naïve and unsure of my own heart, afraid of what I felt and more afraid of what I was - had become. I will not regret loving him, ever.”
His slender hands tremble and he sets down the teapot he has unconsciously been clutching since she appeared.
“You should not either. Go. Go after him, D.”
Slowly, D nods. “And you, lady? What will you do?”
She looks longingly at the shop for a moment, wistfulness in her every graceful line. “I thought to rest, to forget. But no. The road is long and my legs still strong. I will go on for a while longer. I do not wish to forget. He should be remembered. All of them should.”
“All?”
“The magician too, and his lady. I thank him still for what he did. And it has made it easier to walk this road, now that I have learned the trick of hiding myself in plain sight. He did me a good turn with his enchantment. Becoming human, I learned how to hide myself as one. My brethren would not… could not learn and many of them have gone from this world. I rescued them once, and they are now nearly gone… and this time, I cannot save them. Not from themselves…”
Regret darkens her expressive eyes. “Someday I may very well be the last, once again. When that happens, I will come back to this place, wherever it may be. But until then, I will walk Man’s road a bit longer. And if that does not happen… I will continue my travels.”
She offers him a smile that holds as much hope as regret, and turns. She shimmers, and a slender graceful woman with a curtain of hair the color of snow falling on a moonlit night and eyes the color of lilacs, leaves the shop, her only mark a single cloven hoofprint in the pile of the Persian carpet.
A/N: If you haven't seen "The Last Unicorn" (what rock have you been under, and can I join you?) it's about a Unicorn that goes on a quest to find where all the other unicorns have gone. To hide her, the magician Shmendrick turns her into a human. She begins to lose her sense of "unicorn" self and falls in love with the kind Prince Lir. To rescue the other Unicorns she is forced to return to her unicorn shape and abandon the Prince she loves. Walking Man's Road is a song in the movie and the description of her hair color at the end comes directly from the book the movie was based on.