news and new fic
So! The first week of my internship is done, and in a lot of ways I'm really happy with it-- my crewmates (i.e. the people I'm working with), my living situation (i.e. the substitute frat house we're living in), the work we'll be doing (i.e. laying out plots and measuring things). In other ways, though, I'm reserving judgement: my team leader, and the agency we're working for.
Anyway, we'll have to just wait and see how it goes. First impressions can be misleading, and people change, so I'm giving it a good month. Out of a six month internship, that seems pretty reasonable to me.
First new fanfic in a while! Check it out, and tell me what you think. It's Magic Kaito/Detective Conan, but if you haven't ever heard of those don't let that stop you. I think it's pretty self-explanatory.
~*~
Koizumi Akako and Nakamori Aoko did not get along. They were oil and water, honey and vinegar, thief and detective. Put together, the reaction was instantaneous: stony silence, followed by a violent explosion of cosmic proportions. It was amusing, Kaito decided, in an oncoming-train-wreck sort of way.
He liked to throw them together sometimes, just for the fascinated horror it produced. Popcorn was an especially good snack while watching the resulting fun.
Still, it didn’t make sense. Aoko and Akako were both beautiful young women (okay, so you told Aoko that on pain of death by dismemberment, and Akako’s reaction was even scarier), were both intelligent-hell, they even shared some weird obsession with brooms. Why, then, were they enemies, rather than friends?
There was really no good reason, Kaito thought decisively. Someone would just have to help them realize it, that was all. And what a lucky coincidence-he was just the man (thief, and magician) for the job!
But all good matchmakers need a partner in crime (or love, or friendship). Kaito mulled over his possibilities. That friend of Aoko’s, what was her name? No, she was too loud; the secret would be out in an instant. Hakuba? Too stiff-he would never go along with it.
It would have to be Shinichi, there was just no choice. Not even Akako could resist cute little “Conan-kun.”
~*~
“Are you kidding?” Shinichi scowled, the expression oddly cute on his young-old face. “No. Oh no. No, no and no.”
“Aw, please?” Kaito tried a full-out pout: lower lip trembling, eyes wide and teary, hands clasped by his chin. “For me?”
“No,” Shinichi snapped, “and take off that damn monocle when you do that, it’s freaky.”
Kaito slipped the monocle into a pocket and decided to try a different tack. “This is really very important to me, Shinichi,” he said solemnly. “To have the two most important females in my life trying to kill each other is seriously distracting. Why, I could be killed! Who knows what I might be driven to!”
“You can’t possibly by trying to claim Koizumi is one of the two most important girls in your life.”
“She could turn me into a rabbit.”
“So next time they start arguing, just put them to sleep or something.”
“Are you suggesting I drug two helpless women?” Kaito blinked.
“No!” Shinichi snapped. “And put that deck of cards away.”
Kaito sadly put away the deck of cards he had been shuffling. There had to be some was to convince Shinichi to help him. He just wasn’t cute enough to pull this off on his own. Besides, after that thing with the purple herring, they didn’t trust him nearly enough.
“You really want this, don’t you?” Shinichi asked quietly from next to Kaito.
Kaito didn’t jump. Where had Shinichi learned to move that quietly? “Yes.”
“Why?”
Kaito struggled to put his nebulous feeling into words. “They both deserve to be happy. But. . . I can’t be there as much for Aoko any more, not and still hide the Kid, and I know Akako isn’t happy, even though she pretends she is, and they could help each other so much, you know how girls are-”
Shinichi reached out and touched his hand lightly. “Then of course I’ll help you.”
Kaito’s answering touch was equally brief. “Thank you.”
~*~
The first item in any new business, Kaito decided, was to conduct a little research. At least, that was true in the phantom thief business: the more thorough the research, the better (easier, flashier, and more fun) the heist. Surely that was also true for matchmaking.
Not that it was exactly matchmaking, per se, as in the making of a match. Or was it? Kaito wondered. “Good thing I’m doing research,” he told the dove sitting on his windowsill. The dove silently agreed, which Kaito thought was awfully big of it.
Doves always agreed. It was one of the reasons Kaito loved them so much. Well, that and the dramatic appeal. And the whole magician-rabbits-doves-hat thing, although Akako had put him off rabbits for good.
So all in all, it was a good thing he was doing some research before the actual matchmaking.
Matchmaker, Kaito read, noun. 1. One who arranges or tries to arrange marriages. 2. One who arranges athletic competitions, especially in professional boxing.
Well, the second one was definitely out, and the first was also not quite right. Could girls even get married in Japan? Somehow, Kaito didn’t think so, even if that had been his original intent-and it wasn’t, not really. He just wanted them to be friends, it wasn’t like they had to start liking each other or anything. Although it would be fine by him if they did-
Riiight. And that was enough of that train of thought. Maybe another dictionary site?
Matchmaking is any expert-run process of introducing people for the purposes of dating and mating, usually in the context of marriage.
Huh. Well, that also wasn’t right, even though he was something of an expert, although he was more an expert thief than an expert matchmaker. Third time was the charm, right?
Matchmaker: one that arranges a match; especially: one who tries to bring two unmarried individuals together in an attempt to promote a marriage.
Well, that was the closest yet. He was trying to arrange a “match” between Akako and Aoko. Good enough. Then he frowned thoughtfully at the screen. “What is this “Fiddler” thing they keep talking about?” he asked the dove. When it failed to answer he shrugged, leaned forward, and typed it into the search engine.
Two and a half hours later Kaito shut down the computer in a daze. There was only one thing that he knew for certain: more research was definitely needed.
~*~
“Why are we watching this again?” Shinichi asked as he settled back on the couch, his short legs dangling absurdly.
“Research,” Kaito informed him loftily as he passed the popcorn.
“And this requires watching an American musical why?”
“Don’t try to pretend that you don’t know English even better than I do,” Kaito said as he fiddled with the buttons on the remote. “Why I can’t get this stupid thing to ever work for me. . . there!”
“Kaito. Why are we watching this?” Shinichi repeated with a surprising amount of patience.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full like that. Do you know what my mom would say if she saw you doing that?”
Shinichi swallowed. “Yeah, that you should stop being such a bad influence on me. Now-the movie?” he glared.
Kaito somehow failed to look abashed. “Oh, that. It’s research for the matchmaking, of course.”
Shinich forced down rising apprehension with a struggle. “The “matchmaking” between Nakamori-san and Koizumi-san that you somehow got me to agree to?’
Kaito grinned just a shade too brightly, a gleam in his eye. “Yup.”
“I’m doomed,” Shinichi groaned.
“Yup.”
“And stop saying that.”
“Yup.”
~*~
A/N: Yes, the musical is "Fiddler on the Roof," one of my all-time favorites.
Anyway, we'll have to just wait and see how it goes. First impressions can be misleading, and people change, so I'm giving it a good month. Out of a six month internship, that seems pretty reasonable to me.
First new fanfic in a while! Check it out, and tell me what you think. It's Magic Kaito/Detective Conan, but if you haven't ever heard of those don't let that stop you. I think it's pretty self-explanatory.
~*~
Koizumi Akako and Nakamori Aoko did not get along. They were oil and water, honey and vinegar, thief and detective. Put together, the reaction was instantaneous: stony silence, followed by a violent explosion of cosmic proportions. It was amusing, Kaito decided, in an oncoming-train-wreck sort of way.
He liked to throw them together sometimes, just for the fascinated horror it produced. Popcorn was an especially good snack while watching the resulting fun.
Still, it didn’t make sense. Aoko and Akako were both beautiful young women (okay, so you told Aoko that on pain of death by dismemberment, and Akako’s reaction was even scarier), were both intelligent-hell, they even shared some weird obsession with brooms. Why, then, were they enemies, rather than friends?
There was really no good reason, Kaito thought decisively. Someone would just have to help them realize it, that was all. And what a lucky coincidence-he was just the man (thief, and magician) for the job!
But all good matchmakers need a partner in crime (or love, or friendship). Kaito mulled over his possibilities. That friend of Aoko’s, what was her name? No, she was too loud; the secret would be out in an instant. Hakuba? Too stiff-he would never go along with it.
It would have to be Shinichi, there was just no choice. Not even Akako could resist cute little “Conan-kun.”
~*~
“Are you kidding?” Shinichi scowled, the expression oddly cute on his young-old face. “No. Oh no. No, no and no.”
“Aw, please?” Kaito tried a full-out pout: lower lip trembling, eyes wide and teary, hands clasped by his chin. “For me?”
“No,” Shinichi snapped, “and take off that damn monocle when you do that, it’s freaky.”
Kaito slipped the monocle into a pocket and decided to try a different tack. “This is really very important to me, Shinichi,” he said solemnly. “To have the two most important females in my life trying to kill each other is seriously distracting. Why, I could be killed! Who knows what I might be driven to!”
“You can’t possibly by trying to claim Koizumi is one of the two most important girls in your life.”
“She could turn me into a rabbit.”
“So next time they start arguing, just put them to sleep or something.”
“Are you suggesting I drug two helpless women?” Kaito blinked.
“No!” Shinichi snapped. “And put that deck of cards away.”
Kaito sadly put away the deck of cards he had been shuffling. There had to be some was to convince Shinichi to help him. He just wasn’t cute enough to pull this off on his own. Besides, after that thing with the purple herring, they didn’t trust him nearly enough.
“You really want this, don’t you?” Shinichi asked quietly from next to Kaito.
Kaito didn’t jump. Where had Shinichi learned to move that quietly? “Yes.”
“Why?”
Kaito struggled to put his nebulous feeling into words. “They both deserve to be happy. But. . . I can’t be there as much for Aoko any more, not and still hide the Kid, and I know Akako isn’t happy, even though she pretends she is, and they could help each other so much, you know how girls are-”
Shinichi reached out and touched his hand lightly. “Then of course I’ll help you.”
Kaito’s answering touch was equally brief. “Thank you.”
~*~
The first item in any new business, Kaito decided, was to conduct a little research. At least, that was true in the phantom thief business: the more thorough the research, the better (easier, flashier, and more fun) the heist. Surely that was also true for matchmaking.
Not that it was exactly matchmaking, per se, as in the making of a match. Or was it? Kaito wondered. “Good thing I’m doing research,” he told the dove sitting on his windowsill. The dove silently agreed, which Kaito thought was awfully big of it.
Doves always agreed. It was one of the reasons Kaito loved them so much. Well, that and the dramatic appeal. And the whole magician-rabbits-doves-hat thing, although Akako had put him off rabbits for good.
So all in all, it was a good thing he was doing some research before the actual matchmaking.
Matchmaker, Kaito read, noun. 1. One who arranges or tries to arrange marriages. 2. One who arranges athletic competitions, especially in professional boxing.
Well, the second one was definitely out, and the first was also not quite right. Could girls even get married in Japan? Somehow, Kaito didn’t think so, even if that had been his original intent-and it wasn’t, not really. He just wanted them to be friends, it wasn’t like they had to start liking each other or anything. Although it would be fine by him if they did-
Riiight. And that was enough of that train of thought. Maybe another dictionary site?
Matchmaking is any expert-run process of introducing people for the purposes of dating and mating, usually in the context of marriage.
Huh. Well, that also wasn’t right, even though he was something of an expert, although he was more an expert thief than an expert matchmaker. Third time was the charm, right?
Matchmaker: one that arranges a match; especially: one who tries to bring two unmarried individuals together in an attempt to promote a marriage.
Well, that was the closest yet. He was trying to arrange a “match” between Akako and Aoko. Good enough. Then he frowned thoughtfully at the screen. “What is this “Fiddler” thing they keep talking about?” he asked the dove. When it failed to answer he shrugged, leaned forward, and typed it into the search engine.
Two and a half hours later Kaito shut down the computer in a daze. There was only one thing that he knew for certain: more research was definitely needed.
~*~
“Why are we watching this again?” Shinichi asked as he settled back on the couch, his short legs dangling absurdly.
“Research,” Kaito informed him loftily as he passed the popcorn.
“And this requires watching an American musical why?”
“Don’t try to pretend that you don’t know English even better than I do,” Kaito said as he fiddled with the buttons on the remote. “Why I can’t get this stupid thing to ever work for me. . . there!”
“Kaito. Why are we watching this?” Shinichi repeated with a surprising amount of patience.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full like that. Do you know what my mom would say if she saw you doing that?”
Shinichi swallowed. “Yeah, that you should stop being such a bad influence on me. Now-the movie?” he glared.
Kaito somehow failed to look abashed. “Oh, that. It’s research for the matchmaking, of course.”
Shinich forced down rising apprehension with a struggle. “The “matchmaking” between Nakamori-san and Koizumi-san that you somehow got me to agree to?’
Kaito grinned just a shade too brightly, a gleam in his eye. “Yup.”
“I’m doomed,” Shinichi groaned.
“Yup.”
“And stop saying that.”
“Yup.”
~*~
A/N: Yes, the musical is "Fiddler on the Roof," one of my all-time favorites.