Ficcage ahoy!
I seem to write more, faster, and better with a deadline. (NOT nagging, I should point out - nagging makes me pout and sulk and actively avoid whatever it is I'm being nagged to do, even when I think doing it would actually be a good idea. Nagging = bad, n'kay?) So I'm gonna try something...
This is Part One of a fic I started some time ago. Ideas for it have been burbling up in my head ever since, stirred up by my fleet of ever-attentive fic plunnies, but the actual writing keeps stalling. I figure if I post a bit of it in my LJ every week, I'll HAVE to write more to keep up with my self-imposed deadline, right? Right? RIGHT?!
Ahem. Plus you guys can give me feedback. Feedback is nice. X3
Conan Rerun
by Mel the Redcap
inspired by Dogmatix, just like ‘Chibi Evil!’ was (but by a comment, this time, not a pic. Sheesh, you’d almost think she’s doing this on PURPOSE...)
[ --A beginning (of sorts)... ]
Five-year-old Kudo Shinichi, sneaking back to his room after a midnight cookie-raiding expedition, glanced out a window as he passed it and blinked. There was a kid out there in the garden, standing in the pool of light cast by a nearby streetlamp, staring up at the house with a really weird look on his face.
Putting his crumby prize down carefully on the ledge, Shinichi undid the catch and pushed the window open. It stuck for a moment, then creaked as he forced it past the rusty spot; when he turned back from making sure neither of his parents had heard it (his Kaa-chan had radar for this sort of thing, he just knew it), the kid was looking straight at him.
...With an even weirder look on his face. It was starting to make Shinichi feel kind of creepy.
“Whatcha doin’?” he called down, trying to stay fairly quiet. “I bet you’re not s’posed to be up. I mean, I know I’m not s’posed to be out of bed, and you’re all the way out of your house!”
The kid didn’t say anything, just stared, and Shinichi frowned. “I bet you’re gonna get in trouble when your parents catch you.”
“...I bet I am, too,” the other boy said finally, voice so soft and shaky that Shinichi had to strain to hear him. “I’m not supposed to eat after my bedtime.”
Cookie halfway to his mouth, Shinichi glanced down at it, then peered suspiciously at the kid in the garden. He wasn’t eating anything, so why...?
He looks a lot like me, he realised, feeling a chill go down his spine. Only I don’t wear glasses, and maybe he’s a bit bigger...
Something was telling him that it would probably be a good idea to close the window and go back to bed now, but he wasn’t Kudo Yuusaku’s (stubborn, curious) son for nothing; he stayed. His mother Yukiko’s influence probably had more to do with his next actions, though. After breaking his cookie in half, he struggled briefly with his conscience before sighing and stuffing the smaller piece in his mouth, throwing the other bit down to the boy in the garden.
“You look like you were in a fight,” he observed in a muffled voice, spraying a few crumbs out the window. “Kaa-chan says that’s not a good idea, but Tou-chan says it’s sometimes okay...”
“Kind of a fight, yeah. They started it.”
“That’s all right then, I guess. Didja win?”
“Sort of. I guess so, but...” There was a long pause. “Well, yeah, I won.”
“That’s good. Whatcha doin’ in our garden anyway?” Shinichi asked, starting to relax and settling down for a good chat. This looked like it could get interesting. “And how’d you get in? Tou-chan always locks the gate at night.”
“I climbed the fence,” the boy shrugged, looking down at the cookie as if he didn’t know what to do with it. “As for what I’m doing here... nothing useful, I guess.” He laughed, not convincingly, then looked back up and waved. “Thanks for the cookie... I gotta go. Bye.”
“Wait!” Shinichi yelled, leaning perilously far out the window. “I’m Shinichi! Kudo Shinichi. Who’re you?”
Another strained laugh floated back to him out of the darkness under the fence. “Nobody, now. Have a nice life, Kudo Shinichi...”
“What?! Wait up, I wanna know--”
“And just what do you think you’re doing, young man?!”
In all the bustle of being dragged back inside, dusted for crumbs, whisked back to bed and scolded -- plus the lecture he got the next day, about how dangerous leaning out second-floor windows could be -- Shinichi completely forgot about the strange boy in the garden.
For roughly twelve years, anyway.
* * * * *
This is Part One of a fic I started some time ago. Ideas for it have been burbling up in my head ever since, stirred up by my fleet of ever-attentive fic plunnies, but the actual writing keeps stalling. I figure if I post a bit of it in my LJ every week, I'll HAVE to write more to keep up with my self-imposed deadline, right? Right? RIGHT?!
Ahem. Plus you guys can give me feedback. Feedback is nice. X3
Conan Rerun
by Mel the Redcap
inspired by Dogmatix, just like ‘Chibi Evil!’ was (but by a comment, this time, not a pic. Sheesh, you’d almost think she’s doing this on PURPOSE...)
[ --A beginning (of sorts)... ]
Five-year-old Kudo Shinichi, sneaking back to his room after a midnight cookie-raiding expedition, glanced out a window as he passed it and blinked. There was a kid out there in the garden, standing in the pool of light cast by a nearby streetlamp, staring up at the house with a really weird look on his face.
Putting his crumby prize down carefully on the ledge, Shinichi undid the catch and pushed the window open. It stuck for a moment, then creaked as he forced it past the rusty spot; when he turned back from making sure neither of his parents had heard it (his Kaa-chan had radar for this sort of thing, he just knew it), the kid was looking straight at him.
...With an even weirder look on his face. It was starting to make Shinichi feel kind of creepy.
“Whatcha doin’?” he called down, trying to stay fairly quiet. “I bet you’re not s’posed to be up. I mean, I know I’m not s’posed to be out of bed, and you’re all the way out of your house!”
The kid didn’t say anything, just stared, and Shinichi frowned. “I bet you’re gonna get in trouble when your parents catch you.”
“...I bet I am, too,” the other boy said finally, voice so soft and shaky that Shinichi had to strain to hear him. “I’m not supposed to eat after my bedtime.”
Cookie halfway to his mouth, Shinichi glanced down at it, then peered suspiciously at the kid in the garden. He wasn’t eating anything, so why...?
He looks a lot like me, he realised, feeling a chill go down his spine. Only I don’t wear glasses, and maybe he’s a bit bigger...
Something was telling him that it would probably be a good idea to close the window and go back to bed now, but he wasn’t Kudo Yuusaku’s (stubborn, curious) son for nothing; he stayed. His mother Yukiko’s influence probably had more to do with his next actions, though. After breaking his cookie in half, he struggled briefly with his conscience before sighing and stuffing the smaller piece in his mouth, throwing the other bit down to the boy in the garden.
“You look like you were in a fight,” he observed in a muffled voice, spraying a few crumbs out the window. “Kaa-chan says that’s not a good idea, but Tou-chan says it’s sometimes okay...”
“Kind of a fight, yeah. They started it.”
“That’s all right then, I guess. Didja win?”
“Sort of. I guess so, but...” There was a long pause. “Well, yeah, I won.”
“That’s good. Whatcha doin’ in our garden anyway?” Shinichi asked, starting to relax and settling down for a good chat. This looked like it could get interesting. “And how’d you get in? Tou-chan always locks the gate at night.”
“I climbed the fence,” the boy shrugged, looking down at the cookie as if he didn’t know what to do with it. “As for what I’m doing here... nothing useful, I guess.” He laughed, not convincingly, then looked back up and waved. “Thanks for the cookie... I gotta go. Bye.”
“Wait!” Shinichi yelled, leaning perilously far out the window. “I’m Shinichi! Kudo Shinichi. Who’re you?”
Another strained laugh floated back to him out of the darkness under the fence. “Nobody, now. Have a nice life, Kudo Shinichi...”
“What?! Wait up, I wanna know--”
“And just what do you think you’re doing, young man?!”
In all the bustle of being dragged back inside, dusted for crumbs, whisked back to bed and scolded -- plus the lecture he got the next day, about how dangerous leaning out second-floor windows could be -- Shinichi completely forgot about the strange boy in the garden.
For roughly twelve years, anyway.
* * * * *