"Rebel", Baccano! NaNoWriMo response
DAMN YOU, GRIDDLERS.NET. DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HECK. A WHOLE DAY WASTED BECAUSE YOU SUCKED ME IN AGAIN WITH YOUR LOGIC PUZZLE AWESOMENESS. DX But I did get to piece together a bunch of pretty pictures. :D *is shot*
Okay, so I've pretty much squandered my lead in the wordcount. D: If I don't write anything today, I'd suddenly be exactly on schedule instead of ahead. BUT I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. I will attempt to write two fics today. Possibly three. Depends when I pass out. *already pretty shaky* lol (EDIT: Oh, crap, I'm so tired right now... I'm half done the second one but I can't stay awake. DX)
This one is for ensuing's roommate, who definitely counts as a separate entity, so they made it onto the priority prompts list (only four more after this before I start second rounds! ...Unless I suddenly get requests from new people again. XD)
As for the prompt, I had a little trouble figuring out ways for Nice to 'corrupt' Chane, since both of them are already totally badass fighters, so I couldn't really connect it to violent behavior. And she ends up being more of a good influence than bad. ^^; Hopefully, what I did come up with is acceptable and enjoyable. :)
Ohohoho, This marks the fourth time half the pairing is missing from a Claire/Chane fic, and, amazingly enough, they're now tied two for two. XD
Character(s)/Pairing: Nice and Chance
Genre: Anything
Rating: Anything
Prompt: Nice is a very bad influence on Chane.
Title: Rebel
Characters: Nice(/Jacuzzi), Chane(/Claire)
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Rating: PG
Warnings: Episode 13 spoilers; The Corpse in the Conductor's Room; Companion piece to "Search Party" (aka read that one first. :3).
Wordcount: 2238
Total Progress: 35589/50000 = 71.18% complete
The first place Nice had taken Chane in search of her mysterious suitor was Grand Central Station, hoping to at least learn his name and hopefully find a lead to his current whereabouts. Unfortunately, however, as Nice had feared, the railway company had assumed that the unrecognizable second body in the caboose was in fact the young conductor's remains. Despite the face being absolutely torn to shreds, the hair color matched and the body was wearing a conductor's uniform, so the police had obviously been satisfied with the assumption.
There was already a table set aside for visitors to leave flowers and cards of condolences for the fallen conductors, including one who had been killed in a mugging back in Chicago, which had already amassed a fair collection. The Nebula Corporation, interested in keeping the true nature of the deaths a secret, unable to keep the deaths themselves under wraps, had explained that the deaths of their employees and many of the passengers was due to a partial derailing originating at the caboose, claiming the lives of those in the vicinity, with very little survivors among those caught up in it. Luckily, they added, during the incident, most of the passengers had been in the dining car located in the midsection of the train, and so were able to walk away mostly unharmed. Nice knew the story well--she and Jacuzzi had also been forced to sit through the briefing along with the rest of the passengers as the police and railway executives had explained to them that letting the truth become public would be disastrous to the already suffering economy, adding a few none-too-subtle threats to their personal safety to make sure none of them would talk. Nice hadn't been planning to tell the media in the first place due to her and Jacuzzi's, though mostly her, part in the train's current state of destruction, but the briefing had almost convinced her to do ahead and do it just to spite them.
"Excuse me," Nice asked the station official currently in charge of watching over the flowers and cards. He was immediately taken aback by her appearance, but she was used to striking unforgettable first impressions and let it slide. "We heard that something terrible happened to one of the trains. Don't tell me that that young conductor got caught up in it?"
The official quickly recovered. "Unfortunately, Ma-am, it seems that he passed away in the accident. It's terrible news, especially considering how lively and energetic he was. He brought so much life to the workplace, and will be missed dearly. I assume that the two of you met him before, and that's why you're looking for him now. I'm sorry if his mischief caused either of you suffering, and even more so that you had to learn of his passing in such a fashion."
"Mischief?" Nice asked, a little confused. Why would an undercover murderer, assassin, special agent, or whatever he was risk detection by drawing attention to himself? Was he really that confident in himself, or did she just have the wrong person, here?
"Apparently, he had a habit of proposing to any beautiful women he happened to cross paths with," the official replied, a nostalgic smile rising to his face as he remembered the last time the young conductor had been in New York. "He got so caught up in it, he didn't even properly introduce himself half the time, but his luck was always terrible; either the ladies thought he was just joking or they were already attached. He used to cause quite the stir once the boyfriends, fiances, and husbands found out."
A dark cloud was quickly forming over Chane's head as the official went on, but he didn't notice Nice's subtle gestures to be silent until after he finished explaining. "Ah," he said, seeing Chane's face tighten in anger, realizing that he had made a mistake and now he had to fix it before the young lady took out her frustration on things other than the deceased conductor. "But it seems that it wasn't a joke and that he was seriously interested in marriage every time he proposed," he added. "He told everyone that once a woman accepted his proposal, he would devote himself to her forever, even though everyone would tease him about it."
Sighing as Chane appeared to calm down a bit now that it appeared that the assumed dead conductor hadn't just been messing with her after all, Nice supposed that they were on the right track after all. At least, she didn't think there were many men out there prepared to propose to someone just after meeting them for the first time. She asked the station official for the conductor's name so they could bring a card later, but the answer was so ridiculous and over the top that she doubted that it was actually real. The official, on the other hand, finding no problem reciting the name with a straight face, assured them that they didn't have to feel obliqued to bring anything, since the young man didn't have any relatives as far as the railway knew, so they didn't have any place to forward all of the cards and flowers except the cemetery, and they already had more than enough for that purpose.
"We probably shouldn't tell Jacuzzi about your man's proposal fetish," Nice suggested, once they'd left the station and they'd walked a short distance, making sure no one in the vicinity had been inside and overheard her conversation with the station official. "He'd probably react even worse than you did back there--he takes stuff like that really seriously and might end up re-injuring himself, or worse."
Chane's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and the last dregs of fresh anger as she carefully printed capitalized words on the notepad to make up for Nice's poor eyesight. Once she finished, she held it up as steadily as she could as they continued to walk until Nice signaled completion by her response. I BET YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS FROM JACUZZI WHEN HE PROPOSED.
Nice choked, the flush due to a lack of air intensifying her instantaneous blush. "Y-you're misunderstanding our relationship," she corrected. "I-I mean, we've been kind of going out since we were kids, but just because he's sensitive about that sort of thing doesn't mean..." She suddenly stopped speaking, several thoughts assaulting her at once before she recovered. "Don't try to change the subject! We should be talking about you. Have you thought about what you're going to say when you see him?"
Chane grudgingly accepted the return to the previous topic. I DON'T KNOW, she admitted. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF MY FATHER APPROVES OF ME SEEING HIM AGAIN, YET.
"Why does it matter what your father thinks?" Nice asked, a little confused. Her father had only complained about how much time she spent with Jacuzzi once. She had been eleven years old at the time. Throwing a lit firework into his truck had taken care of his opposition, especially after she'd threatened to do it while he was inside if he ever tried to badmouth Jacuzzi again.
Chane stared at Nice like she had grown an extra head. Several moments later, she turned back to the notepad and began to write her response, suddenly feeling hesitant about something she'd long considered a well established fact. FATHER IS THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVES ME.
Nice had to read the message three times before it finally sank in. "Are you kidding me?" she asked. "It might be fine for a kid to think that way, but you're a grown woman now, aren't you? You've got to start thinking about your own happiness, here. If you're happy with just being you and your father, that's fine, but you can't just dismiss other options because he might not approve of them. I'm not really sure about this Rail Tracer guy, but it sounds like he might really love you, too, if that station official was right. Don't just accept his proposal right off the bat, of course--there's a high possibility that he isn't worth the trouble, and we didn't hear anything about the women rejecting him meeting awful ends, so if you don't like him, don't be afraid to leave him on the spot. Of course, you might fall in love with him, too, and in that case, if your father disapproves, you've got to follow your heart and just elope. Children have to leave their parents at some point, you know, or they'll never get to be happy. You have your whole life to convince him that his son-in-law is actually a really great guy, so go for it! But you should definitely make him take you on some dates while you make up your mind."
Seeming a little unsure, almost as if there was something else bothering her that she couldn't quite tell Nice about, Chane wrote, I'LL GO AHEAD AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS FOR NOW.
"There we go," Nice told her with a smile, patting her shoulder. "That's a big improvement right there. Parents shouldn't even get involved until later, anyway, you know? What he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?"
Chane began to look a little awkward, but Nice kept going on straight ahead. "You know what you need?" she announced. "A confidence booster, that's what. We should go buy you some new clothes. That's the same thing you were wearing in the river, isn't it? You can't wear that on a date! And, anyway, he's got to be looking for you, too, right? I bet he's checking out all the stores and other places women might go." It was weird--Nice had always preferred to play with fireworks as a child, but all of a sudden, she was feeling like she was a kid again, only wanting to dress up a pretty doll instead of seeing how far a firework could throw one of her father's shoes. She supposed it had something to do with Chane being mute and so very pale, making Nice want to brighten her up somehow, like how fireworks lit up the night sky.
WE DIDN'T BRING ANY MONEY, Chane somehow managed to write as Nice lead her along at a slightly faster pace.
"That's fine," Nice replied, slowing down a bit to read the note before picking up speed again. "We can just window shop for now and check things out. We're probably going to be stuck with each other for a week or two, right? That's plenty of time to get you ready."
~~~
That night, just as Nice was drifting off to sleep, she suddenly sat straight up in bed after realizing that they'd never actually bought anything and Chane had still been wearing her dry but dirty clothes when Rail Tracer had slipped her away while she and Jacuzzi weren't looking. She couldn't believe how stupid that was--she could have at least lent her some of her own clothes. They probably wouldn't have fit her perfectly, but at least they were clean and didn't smell like a river.
It was a good thing that she was fully awake now, or else she might not have noticed the light knocking on the apartment door. Grabbing her glasses, and dodging and hopping over the gang members sprawled out all over the floor, Nice considered turning on a light, but decided that would be cruel to those that had just managed to fall asleep--it had been a pretty busy night for some of them, but at least they'd all eventually managed to evade the police.
It turned out that she didn't even need to turn on a light, because the bright yellow dress Chane was wearing, complete with matching accessories, lit up the entire hall. The lamps mounted on the walls were put completely to shame. "Wow," Nice managed to say after a moment. If she hadn't been awake before, she definitely was now.
Chane didn't look very happy, probably much too used to wearing dark colors to suddenly be sold on something so bright all of a sudden. While they were out browsing the clothing stores, it was all Nice could do to pull her away from blacks long enough to introduce her to dark blues and purples.
Nice suddenly had a thought, and looked all around, but the only thing Chane was carrying was the notepad and pencil. "What happened to your other dress?" she asked.
Chane had already prepared her answer in advance. Lifting the notepad, Nice was easily able to read the bold letters. HE BURNED IT.
Slapping a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud and irritating her new friend further, Nice took a couple long, deep breaths to calm herself before saying, "Okay. You're probably really pissed at him right now, but you need to give him another chance or two, because I really, really, need to have a conversation with this guy. All these little hints I've been getting about his personality points to an insane man among insane men. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." She couldn't hold herself back anymore and started to laugh out loud.
Chane made a valiant attempt to stay stone-faced, but once the gang members closest to the door began to protest the sudden loud noises from the entryway, her shoulders began to quake in advance of the rest of her body, and soon enough she was shaking in silent, hysterical laughter, not quite able to believe how happy she was.
Okay, so I've pretty much squandered my lead in the wordcount. D: If I don't write anything today, I'd suddenly be exactly on schedule instead of ahead. BUT I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. I will attempt to write two fics today. Possibly three. Depends when I pass out. *already pretty shaky* lol (EDIT: Oh, crap, I'm so tired right now... I'm half done the second one but I can't stay awake. DX)
This one is for ensuing's roommate, who definitely counts as a separate entity, so they made it onto the priority prompts list (only four more after this before I start second rounds! ...Unless I suddenly get requests from new people again. XD)
As for the prompt, I had a little trouble figuring out ways for Nice to 'corrupt' Chane, since both of them are already totally badass fighters, so I couldn't really connect it to violent behavior. And she ends up being more of a good influence than bad. ^^; Hopefully, what I did come up with is acceptable and enjoyable. :)
Ohohoho, This marks the fourth time half the pairing is missing from a Claire/Chane fic, and, amazingly enough, they're now tied two for two. XD
Character(s)/Pairing: Nice and Chance
Genre: Anything
Rating: Anything
Prompt: Nice is a very bad influence on Chane.
Title: Rebel
Characters: Nice(/Jacuzzi), Chane(/Claire)
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Rating: PG
Warnings: Episode 13 spoilers; The Corpse in the Conductor's Room; Companion piece to "Search Party" (aka read that one first. :3).
Wordcount: 2238
Total Progress: 35589/50000 = 71.18% complete
The first place Nice had taken Chane in search of her mysterious suitor was Grand Central Station, hoping to at least learn his name and hopefully find a lead to his current whereabouts. Unfortunately, however, as Nice had feared, the railway company had assumed that the unrecognizable second body in the caboose was in fact the young conductor's remains. Despite the face being absolutely torn to shreds, the hair color matched and the body was wearing a conductor's uniform, so the police had obviously been satisfied with the assumption.
There was already a table set aside for visitors to leave flowers and cards of condolences for the fallen conductors, including one who had been killed in a mugging back in Chicago, which had already amassed a fair collection. The Nebula Corporation, interested in keeping the true nature of the deaths a secret, unable to keep the deaths themselves under wraps, had explained that the deaths of their employees and many of the passengers was due to a partial derailing originating at the caboose, claiming the lives of those in the vicinity, with very little survivors among those caught up in it. Luckily, they added, during the incident, most of the passengers had been in the dining car located in the midsection of the train, and so were able to walk away mostly unharmed. Nice knew the story well--she and Jacuzzi had also been forced to sit through the briefing along with the rest of the passengers as the police and railway executives had explained to them that letting the truth become public would be disastrous to the already suffering economy, adding a few none-too-subtle threats to their personal safety to make sure none of them would talk. Nice hadn't been planning to tell the media in the first place due to her and Jacuzzi's, though mostly her, part in the train's current state of destruction, but the briefing had almost convinced her to do ahead and do it just to spite them.
"Excuse me," Nice asked the station official currently in charge of watching over the flowers and cards. He was immediately taken aback by her appearance, but she was used to striking unforgettable first impressions and let it slide. "We heard that something terrible happened to one of the trains. Don't tell me that that young conductor got caught up in it?"
The official quickly recovered. "Unfortunately, Ma-am, it seems that he passed away in the accident. It's terrible news, especially considering how lively and energetic he was. He brought so much life to the workplace, and will be missed dearly. I assume that the two of you met him before, and that's why you're looking for him now. I'm sorry if his mischief caused either of you suffering, and even more so that you had to learn of his passing in such a fashion."
"Mischief?" Nice asked, a little confused. Why would an undercover murderer, assassin, special agent, or whatever he was risk detection by drawing attention to himself? Was he really that confident in himself, or did she just have the wrong person, here?
"Apparently, he had a habit of proposing to any beautiful women he happened to cross paths with," the official replied, a nostalgic smile rising to his face as he remembered the last time the young conductor had been in New York. "He got so caught up in it, he didn't even properly introduce himself half the time, but his luck was always terrible; either the ladies thought he was just joking or they were already attached. He used to cause quite the stir once the boyfriends, fiances, and husbands found out."
A dark cloud was quickly forming over Chane's head as the official went on, but he didn't notice Nice's subtle gestures to be silent until after he finished explaining. "Ah," he said, seeing Chane's face tighten in anger, realizing that he had made a mistake and now he had to fix it before the young lady took out her frustration on things other than the deceased conductor. "But it seems that it wasn't a joke and that he was seriously interested in marriage every time he proposed," he added. "He told everyone that once a woman accepted his proposal, he would devote himself to her forever, even though everyone would tease him about it."
Sighing as Chane appeared to calm down a bit now that it appeared that the assumed dead conductor hadn't just been messing with her after all, Nice supposed that they were on the right track after all. At least, she didn't think there were many men out there prepared to propose to someone just after meeting them for the first time. She asked the station official for the conductor's name so they could bring a card later, but the answer was so ridiculous and over the top that she doubted that it was actually real. The official, on the other hand, finding no problem reciting the name with a straight face, assured them that they didn't have to feel obliqued to bring anything, since the young man didn't have any relatives as far as the railway knew, so they didn't have any place to forward all of the cards and flowers except the cemetery, and they already had more than enough for that purpose.
"We probably shouldn't tell Jacuzzi about your man's proposal fetish," Nice suggested, once they'd left the station and they'd walked a short distance, making sure no one in the vicinity had been inside and overheard her conversation with the station official. "He'd probably react even worse than you did back there--he takes stuff like that really seriously and might end up re-injuring himself, or worse."
Chane's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and the last dregs of fresh anger as she carefully printed capitalized words on the notepad to make up for Nice's poor eyesight. Once she finished, she held it up as steadily as she could as they continued to walk until Nice signaled completion by her response. I BET YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS FROM JACUZZI WHEN HE PROPOSED.
Nice choked, the flush due to a lack of air intensifying her instantaneous blush. "Y-you're misunderstanding our relationship," she corrected. "I-I mean, we've been kind of going out since we were kids, but just because he's sensitive about that sort of thing doesn't mean..." She suddenly stopped speaking, several thoughts assaulting her at once before she recovered. "Don't try to change the subject! We should be talking about you. Have you thought about what you're going to say when you see him?"
Chane grudgingly accepted the return to the previous topic. I DON'T KNOW, she admitted. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF MY FATHER APPROVES OF ME SEEING HIM AGAIN, YET.
"Why does it matter what your father thinks?" Nice asked, a little confused. Her father had only complained about how much time she spent with Jacuzzi once. She had been eleven years old at the time. Throwing a lit firework into his truck had taken care of his opposition, especially after she'd threatened to do it while he was inside if he ever tried to badmouth Jacuzzi again.
Chane stared at Nice like she had grown an extra head. Several moments later, she turned back to the notepad and began to write her response, suddenly feeling hesitant about something she'd long considered a well established fact. FATHER IS THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVES ME.
Nice had to read the message three times before it finally sank in. "Are you kidding me?" she asked. "It might be fine for a kid to think that way, but you're a grown woman now, aren't you? You've got to start thinking about your own happiness, here. If you're happy with just being you and your father, that's fine, but you can't just dismiss other options because he might not approve of them. I'm not really sure about this Rail Tracer guy, but it sounds like he might really love you, too, if that station official was right. Don't just accept his proposal right off the bat, of course--there's a high possibility that he isn't worth the trouble, and we didn't hear anything about the women rejecting him meeting awful ends, so if you don't like him, don't be afraid to leave him on the spot. Of course, you might fall in love with him, too, and in that case, if your father disapproves, you've got to follow your heart and just elope. Children have to leave their parents at some point, you know, or they'll never get to be happy. You have your whole life to convince him that his son-in-law is actually a really great guy, so go for it! But you should definitely make him take you on some dates while you make up your mind."
Seeming a little unsure, almost as if there was something else bothering her that she couldn't quite tell Nice about, Chane wrote, I'LL GO AHEAD AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS FOR NOW.
"There we go," Nice told her with a smile, patting her shoulder. "That's a big improvement right there. Parents shouldn't even get involved until later, anyway, you know? What he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?"
Chane began to look a little awkward, but Nice kept going on straight ahead. "You know what you need?" she announced. "A confidence booster, that's what. We should go buy you some new clothes. That's the same thing you were wearing in the river, isn't it? You can't wear that on a date! And, anyway, he's got to be looking for you, too, right? I bet he's checking out all the stores and other places women might go." It was weird--Nice had always preferred to play with fireworks as a child, but all of a sudden, she was feeling like she was a kid again, only wanting to dress up a pretty doll instead of seeing how far a firework could throw one of her father's shoes. She supposed it had something to do with Chane being mute and so very pale, making Nice want to brighten her up somehow, like how fireworks lit up the night sky.
WE DIDN'T BRING ANY MONEY, Chane somehow managed to write as Nice lead her along at a slightly faster pace.
"That's fine," Nice replied, slowing down a bit to read the note before picking up speed again. "We can just window shop for now and check things out. We're probably going to be stuck with each other for a week or two, right? That's plenty of time to get you ready."
~~~
That night, just as Nice was drifting off to sleep, she suddenly sat straight up in bed after realizing that they'd never actually bought anything and Chane had still been wearing her dry but dirty clothes when Rail Tracer had slipped her away while she and Jacuzzi weren't looking. She couldn't believe how stupid that was--she could have at least lent her some of her own clothes. They probably wouldn't have fit her perfectly, but at least they were clean and didn't smell like a river.
It was a good thing that she was fully awake now, or else she might not have noticed the light knocking on the apartment door. Grabbing her glasses, and dodging and hopping over the gang members sprawled out all over the floor, Nice considered turning on a light, but decided that would be cruel to those that had just managed to fall asleep--it had been a pretty busy night for some of them, but at least they'd all eventually managed to evade the police.
It turned out that she didn't even need to turn on a light, because the bright yellow dress Chane was wearing, complete with matching accessories, lit up the entire hall. The lamps mounted on the walls were put completely to shame. "Wow," Nice managed to say after a moment. If she hadn't been awake before, she definitely was now.
Chane didn't look very happy, probably much too used to wearing dark colors to suddenly be sold on something so bright all of a sudden. While they were out browsing the clothing stores, it was all Nice could do to pull her away from blacks long enough to introduce her to dark blues and purples.
Nice suddenly had a thought, and looked all around, but the only thing Chane was carrying was the notepad and pencil. "What happened to your other dress?" she asked.
Chane had already prepared her answer in advance. Lifting the notepad, Nice was easily able to read the bold letters. HE BURNED IT.
Slapping a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud and irritating her new friend further, Nice took a couple long, deep breaths to calm herself before saying, "Okay. You're probably really pissed at him right now, but you need to give him another chance or two, because I really, really, need to have a conversation with this guy. All these little hints I've been getting about his personality points to an insane man among insane men. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." She couldn't hold herself back anymore and started to laugh out loud.
Chane made a valiant attempt to stay stone-faced, but once the gang members closest to the door began to protest the sudden loud noises from the entryway, her shoulders began to quake in advance of the rest of her body, and soon enough she was shaking in silent, hysterical laughter, not quite able to believe how happy she was.