Loose ends
No surprises over here, although I was sure I'd be higher in Math.
And now this meme I took from Laurus.
When you see this, post a little weensy excerpt from as many random works-in-progress as you can find lying around. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.
*****
Chapter 4 of Out of the Ordinary. The part I have finished writing is Kaho & Spinel interaction:
Kaho wasn't intimidated by its looks, as she had seen so many spirits of several shapes at home. If anything, she really didn't know how to deal with the creature, whatever it was. She hadn't gone there to fight, and the cat's magical presence was practically the opposite of hers. She clutched her handbag just in case.
She stopped at a five-foot distance of it, more or less, waiting for the being to make its move. However, it just stayed still, glancing at her with annoyance. The situation went on for some minutes. Clueless and frustrated, she made an attempt.
“Um, well. Hello?” She grinned, friendly, hoping the cat would do anything.
“Good afternoon,” it replied.
“Oh great, you can talk! That makes things easier.”
“You do not seem to be fazed. I understood most humans express some degree of shock towards someone like me, especially if they had the gift of speech and logic?”
“True,” she rubbed the back of her neck, “but I'm used to this kind of stuff by now.”
“I see.”
“Uh, did you want me to have a reaction?” She smiled cheerfully, with her eyes wide open. “I can scream in terror or gasp in surprise, if you want me to!”
“...No, I would rather not.”
“Okay then. Just checking.”
*****
This is a Cardcaptor Sakura crossover I started as a surprise for laurus_nobilis. I can't remember how it went afterwards. Perhaps I should rewatch that movie now that I can, and try something.
Yue shook the grains of sand invading his long silver hair, resigned to the torture of sun and salt and earth on his pale body. Not even the sea breeze or the magical fan his master -who was placidly sitting besides him- had set on him could help to feel comfortable in the least. He tried to retrieve a tiny shell without getting himself dirty.
Cerberus gave up on his attempt on making a sand castle, which was futile with the size of his paws, and ran to observe the hermit crab he had discovered. It wouldn’t be scared of him, unlike the seagulls. He tried not to think about food; they just got there, and it looked like lunch would be unpacked any time soon.
Meanwhile, a Clow Reed wearing one hundred percent white cotton sipped his piña colada and reclined his back on the wooden chair. The panama-styled hat leaned to the side. Yes, it was so nice. The calm before the last storm he’d cause. His last holiday. The sound of waves was only interrupted by the occasional and exasperated groan coming from behind his moon guardian’s teeth.
Then the peace broke in the shape of an old man.
As soon as his presence was in their range, the guardians left their positions and entered attack mode. It didn’t matter the man looked so frail, as you can’t trust appearances when it comes to wizards and magicians, and he certainly was one. He’d almost look stereotypically like one, even, with the long gray beard dragging to the floor.
Almost being the keyword. His outfit made an outrageous contrast with his aspect: the red cap and snickers, the sunglasses, the multicolored striped T-shirt, and the tacky yellow Bermuda shorts. It didn’t suit the physical age the man sported.
*****
Something from a story from Fujitaka's POV. Spanish.
Como todos los jueves en la tarde, el hombre entró en el aula 12 del primer piso a dar su cátedra a la sección D. Él tomó sus apuntes desde el fondo del maletín café, colocó los folios de papel en paralelo y los golpeó levemente contra la mesa. Miró hacia sus estudiantes, y les dedicó una sonrisa antes de empezar con la lección del día.
-Magia -dijo.- ¿Algunos de ustedes creen en ella? Levanten la mano los que sí creen que exista. No sean tímidos.
La mayoría de los jóvenes miraron al profesor Kinomoto como si le faltara un tornillo. Algunos suprimieron una risita. Unos pocos brazos se alzaron, que él procedió a contar mentalmente.
-Tal como esperaba; una minoría. Sin embargo, en el antiguo Egipto, no sólo la mayoría de los ciudadanos creían en la magia, sino que estaban seguros de lidiar con ella en su vida cotidiana. Los dioses confiaban el poder divino en los faraones, sus descendientes, y en los sacerdotes; éstos últimos intercedían en el plano mágico por el pueblo. Curar enfermos, ayudar a las mujeres a dar a luz, asegurarse que los muertos tuviesen una vida de ultratumba sin faltarles nada, crear amuletos, conjurar maldiciones… Todo esto iba más allá de supersticiones. Era la religión. Eran la realidad.
“Pero la magia, ¿realmente existía? ¿Serán las famosas maldiciones de las tumbas tan literales como se solía creer? ¿Hay algo de verdad en las películas de terror occidentales sobre momias? Es algo que nunca sabremos. Tal y como no hay forma de saber si nuestras creencias religiosas particulares son verdaderas o no desde el punto de vista lógico, o son simple resultado de los mitos y supersticiones tradicionales japonesas acumuladas a lo largo de los siglos. ¿Qué garantía tenemos que las miko de los santuarios sintoístas tienen más poderes que un sumo sacerdote egipcio?
“¿Quiénes de ustedes creen que las miko poseen poderes sobrenaturales? Levanten la mano, por favor.
Más gente se animó esta vez.
-Bien, pues los egipcios creían que los sacerdotes eran verdaderos puentes entre la vida y la muerte, lo terreno y lo divino. Con esta introducción empezaremos el capítulo cuatro: la magia y lo sobrenatural en la sociedad egipcia.
Y la clase prosiguió como si nada.
*****
I found some half-done vignettes from Alphonse's point of view I didn't even remember I had written. These aren't fragments, but everything I got.
I cannot sleep or dream anymore. Those activities are consequences of having a flesh body. So the nights are endless in this world of steel. I watch my brother sometimes, compensating my own lack of sopor by himself. But that's dull, and it's embarrassing -yet endearing at the same time, in his own little way- to see him lying flat, drooling, with the stomach exposed.
I'm not sure I want to know what kind of dreams he has, not even the merry ones. That maniacal grin in his face could mean anything. Being 1.70 centimeters tall? Winning the Colonel? Doing things with Winry? I try not to think about that, and I never ask him the next day.
Most of the time, I distract myself with books, or glancing through the window of the temporary hotel room. There's not much I can do without waking brother up. My suit of armor is too noisy when it moves.
*****
One of my most vivid childhood memories, after my mother's death and the fatidic day when we played with life, was the first time I entered my father's studio.
It happened a couple of weeks before my seventh birthday. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, in which we were stuck indoors, with no possibilities of playing with Winry and Den at the fields. We had tried all the toys and the board games -I had won brother in Monopoly twice, so he was getting irritable like every time he loses.
"How about we play hide-and-seek?" Brother proposed. Our house wasn't so big, but we didn't care. I nodded.
We tossed a coin we found between the sofa's cushions. He chose heads, and heads it was.
"Okay, Al," he said. "I'll seek."
"Again?" I complained. He hated to hide.
So he went against the wall, covering his face with his eyes -I bet he was cheating, though- and started counting out loud.
"One! Two!"
I ran out of the living room, looking for the best spot. I had gone to mom's bedroom last time we played, so I didn't think it was good idea. Bathroom, maybe? I could get inside the cupboard below the sink. At that age, I was small enough to get anywhere in.
This was written before the Elric-centric omake, so I had no idea how their bathroom was like.
*****
Finishing with some Okami. Human!Amaterasu & Waka, precanon.
She ran as fast as those weak legs let her, holding her breath and ignoring how damp the grass was under her bare feet. She had no idea where she was going. By instinct, she somehow arrived at the top of the tallest tower in the Plain; it would be a good idea to go upstairs and check that thing out, now that she thought about it. So, she moved the brush and drew a line on the bricks. Confident of her Catwalk power, she hurried over the wall.
She wasn’t alone. Someone was waiting for her on top of it, looking at the sky with gloomy eyes. Still, when he turned around and perceived the white and red figure behind him, he erased the resented stare for a teasing one.
“Well, Amaterasu-kun.” The voice was trying to sound calm, but deep down they both knew it wasn’t.
She bowed her head as a greeting, and stood next to him. The god wasn’t surprised he already knew, and perhaps even more than she did. She’d make sure he wouldn’t gloat about it this time, though. Unlike the Celestials who had to deal with him, she usually found his arrogance endearing. She liked arrogant people. But it wasn’t the time and place for that: time of action, time of battle, no time for wordplay.
“Can you sense it, Ushiwaka?” She cut to the chase.
“Indeed, it woke me up. For once I had a peaceful slumber without nightmares... But that’s not the point. How did you see it so soon?”
“I didn’t. I smelt it.”
It didn’t seem he found that statement itself strange. There was something wild and natural about the way the sun deity interacted with the world. Sometimes she was a gentle breeze, sometimes a hurricane. He had heard from the elders she could even turn into an animal at will.
“It’s several ri away from us, ma chérie. Such a nose you’ve got!”
“It doesn’t matter. Its aura’s stench is ahead of it.” She made a disgusted grimace, and he was able to see her pointy teeth. “It smells of bloodlust, of ambition, of death. What is that being, anyway?”
“One of those monsters,” he replied without more details, because she’d knew what he was talking about. “Frankly, it’s impressive it survived all these years after that hecatomb. Impressive and disappointing.”
“How did your tribe handle them?”
“Well, I was under refuges during the whole time, so don’t trust my words. But I heard the usual method was to seal them up. In some occasions ordinary magic would suffice, and in some others they had to resort to atomic weapons. I wonder if this one escaped the hunt or it just broke out from its jail. Either way, all of what killed the moon couldn’t take it down, or that’s alarming.”
“That’s strong,” she frowned.
“Too strong, baby.”
“I’ll handle it,” she assured him, pointing at the weapons hanging from her back.
“You won’t,” he argued back while shrugging.