I'm of the crowd that thinks second person is pretentious... so why am I using it? Huh.

Also, I was aiming for subtle and I think I hit fucking confusing instead.

on bonds, might they be chains

You enter, and it is entirely, breathlessly quiet.

You run your eyes over each facet of the room, and a frown distorts your face. Whatever it is you are expecting, you do not find it.

There is a desk, a window, and a bed. You take one step forward, then two, and then you stop.

Ten years ago (and for a child like you, ten years is a long time), your lady mother called you to her. She gave you a gift--a little person, just one year younger, with blue eyes and dark hair and told him he is yours.

She gave you a person--an entire person, another being, a brain and a body and a beating heart, and it is only now, ten years too late, that you understand the weight of it. Or, if not true understanding, then perhaps a glimmer.

The room is empty, of course. The bed is unmade. There is nothing on the desk, and it is dusty from disuse. There are no books. The window that dominates the east wall is shut.

You leave.

(To be more accurate, you flee. But then, you are a child.)

Labels: _fiction, c: charon fury, c: kit scythe, verse: errerrin

Labels: _fanart, c: uzumaki naruto, fandom: naruto

Playing around with a possible plot. Also, I just like exploring the dynamic between Allie, Dark, and Sam.

852 words, of the unedited and unread kind.

thread

The apartment was locked. Sam tried the door once, twice, and then turned to give Dark a pointed look. Dark returned the look with a carefully blank expression that suggested the rolling of eyes without any actual physical movement.

Finally Sam said, "Well?" and Dark did not sigh as he moved forward.

He bent over slightly, and did something that resulted in a metallic, clicking sound. A moment later the door swung open. It would probably never close properly again, but that didn't stop Allie from trying to shut it after the three of them entered.

The first thing Sam said was, "Wow, it's hot."

He moved, without hesitation, through a door. Allie shot Dark a questioning look.

"There was a fire in the area two years ago," Dark explained.

"Ah," Allie said, and followed Sam.

Sam was moving through the bedroom in an unknown, but systematic pattern. His eyes weren't closed, but they gave the impression they should be. Whatever the brunet was seeing, it wasn't anything she would understand. Occasionally he would pick up objects and hold them in his hands, exploring every centimeter with his fingers. As he worked, his frown deepened.

"Well, someone died in here alright," he said.

"Vampire?"

"No," Sam answered her, in a tone that almost suggested disappointment. "Something else. Dark!"

The blond vampire was instantly there. Allie's gaze swept to the side; the corner of her lips turned down. It was the only sign of her surprise that she allowed.

"Okay. So, we have a vampire--tall, maybe eighty kilograms--going through the window." Sam pointed. "He lands, approaches the bed, and gets to our man Rob here. Rob doesn't wake up until the vampire has his mouth on his throat."

Sam kicked the foot of the bed, as if in demonstration.

"That's all pretty normal. What isn't normal is the next part. Rob doesn't die. No, don't ask me how," he said, before Allie could even think of interrupting, before her internal question had even fully solidified, "I don't know. Sometimes miracles happen. He runs through that door, probably bleeding all over his clothes, and out. Then the police find him on the street and, ka-ching, there's an article in the newspaper, people read it, some people get curious, we happen to be curious enough to break into the poor guy's house...."

Sam circled, eyes tracking from the window, to the bed, and then back to the window. It felt suddenly cold.

Sam's heartbeat increased, and he was almost panting. Allie and Dark stood very, very still, as Sam--

expanded.

Allie had never pretended to understand Sam's ability, and Dark's knowledge was based mostly on conjecture. Now, though, they could both feel it, a slight pressure on their skin that grew outwards until it was as if the whole room had filled with static.

Now, it was clear that Sam could--feel, touch, sense the entire room. Allie closed her eyes and shivered. It felt frighteningly intimate.

Sam's eyes landed on her. Then they went back to the bed. "So. Back to our vampire. He mortally wounds Rob, watches the guy go... and something else comes through the window.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't touch the sill, the walls, the floor, or the ceiling. Maybe it's floating. The vampire watches it come near, and it's moving way too fast for him to see it properly. It's just a blur. Then the vampire's too busy dying to care much about keeping his eyes open."

Sam... pushed, and Allie shivered again; so did Dark, this time, though his expression remained the same as always: blank.

"And then... well, I got nothing."

There was a sudden snap, and Sam's presence disappeared, confined to the boundaries of his body. "Wow," he said. "That was useless. We should head back."

Dark said, "How much information can you gather from a corpse?"

Sam looked at him. "A hell of a lot more than objects," he answered finally. "But less than from anything living."

"Then we should track down the vampire's carcass." Without waiting for Sam's agreement, he left the room. Allie followed him, moving quickly to fall into step by his side. She turned to study the older vampire properly. "Why are you so concerned?" she asked finally, tone almost light.

Dark didn't misunderstand. "Anything that can kill a vampire so easily is our concern," he murmured. "After all, we have someone to protect."

"Or you could just be pulling him into something dangerous," Allie retorted, but just as quietly.

Dark said, "Anything is better than the path he's currently chosen."

Allie stopped. "You... that's--if he heard you say that!"

She wasn't angry, but it was an emotion near enough that she felt justified in narrowing her eyes, clenching her fists.

Dark just said, "He is someone to protect." He turned suddenly, ignoring her completely, and said, "Sam, is there anything else to learn from here?"

The dismissal was clear.

Sam looked at them, and shrugged. "I'm gonna try feeling this place out for a bit," he said. "You guys wait outside."

This, at least, was an order Dark obeyed.

Labels: _fiction, c: allison fencer, c: dark, c: samuel gray, verse: darkcity

Labels: _fanart, c: yamanaka ino, fandom: naruto

Once in a while, I try to draw Gaara. It always ends the same: Fits of frustration, portraits that never work right, color schemes that work against me, hair that refuses to look nice no matter WHAT I do, a general disagreement among facial proportions...

Still.

Once in a while, I try to draw Gaara.

Labels: _fanart, c: subakuno gaara, fandom: naruto

I'm bored. Instead of reading Death of a Salesman, let's see if I can summarize and describe my verses, hm?

Errerrin: Once upon a time, a god was sealed. After nearly a thousand years, he's waking up. On one side is an ancient but dwindling organization racing against time to reseal him. On the other: a young prince and princess desperate for power to guarantee their city-state's survival in an upcoming war against monsters everyone thought extinct.

Darkcity: About one Samuel Richard Grey, whose wife is killed by vampires and who thus makes the probably unhealthy decision of seeking revenge... by eradicating the vampire population. He gathers similarly insane vampires to his cause. When he's not being a homicidal little shit, Sam is a PE teacher at a pretty crappy public school.

Boneyards: Code just wants to save his sister. Liam just wishes life were less boring. Elle thinks they're both idiots. None of them ever thought they'd have to save the world, but sometimes, these things just happen.

This verse is shiny because it's post-apocolyptic.

Etherworld: Methis--a mercenary who struck a deal with the dark magician, Sezhrarn, in order to resurrect his dead wife. Lucas--a fairly normal boy, other than having a few really, really creepy powers. Other characters include Aliza, a dragon; Camen, a fallen prince; and Trisha, a mother.

Labels: _meta, verse: boneyards, verse: darkcity, verse: errerrin, verse: etherworld