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kh_drabble2006-07-21 10:35 pm
thano.livejournal.com) wrote in kh_drabble2006-07-21 10:35 pm
Entry tags:
I suck. XD
Challenge: [o70]: Starlight
Title: A Shortcut
Word count: 600 (again)
Spoilers: For KHII, definitely; for COM, slightly.
Characters: Riku and a friend.
Notes: XD I cannot make things short and simple to save my life. As for the drabble... it's the first thing that popped into my mind after reading the prompt, and things just flowed from there.
Rated: G
"Lost, dear?"
Riku whirled around.
"Did I frighten you? Don't worry. Isn't much an old girl can do to a young man on the night of a storm."
A lady as wrinkled as leather with a tattered cap and rain-boots appeared from an alleyway, pushing a shopping cart.
She looked him up and down and snorted. "You've things to do, right? Call off your blade, please. The little I could've done to you I didn't." She squinted through the rain. "You are lost, aren't you?"
Riku, at a loss for words, dismissed his weapon. His portal had led him to a city with rain...
Clucking, the old lady rummaged in her cart. "I'm Mrs Walker. My first name is Daphne, but please don't call me that - ah," she found an umbrella, "you're taller than me; hold that and we'll talk. You're on Baker's Street, Gainesville, Virginia, The United States of America, the planet Earth, the Milky Way. Do you have your bearings now, dear?"
Obediently holding the umbrella, Riku blurted, "You could've done what to me?"
Mrs Walker shot a look into his eyes. He added a meek "ma'am?". You didn't mess with this sort of bag lady. He just knew.
"Made you a sandwich. Although I don't think that was your question."
He drooped. The rain plastered his bangs to his face, dribbled damply into his coat. Weeks of opening portals to various worlds to find a place that wasn't had worn him out.
Riku felt something dishtowel-like dabbing his nose. Opening his eyes, he saw the old woman peering into his face more gently. Tsking, telling him to close his eyes again, she firmly wiped clumps of hair from his face, as if he were four again after a day at the beach. "You've been fighting the darkness. I don't think for your own sake; for a dear friend. A noble cause. What are you searching for?"
"A world that never was," His words stumbled. "A boy who's nobody."
"What were you using to travel?"
"The darkness in between."
Mrs Walker exclaimed, "That will never do! Earth is a ways from the main darkness, and you'll need to pierce the boundary between that darkness and light to get nowhere. Darkness binds the planets together, but you have to stop and find the corridor to each planet. Inefficient. What you need," she declared, reclaiming the umbrella, "is a way to traverse space, to a world that's near the dark, yet filled with light."
"Wait-"
"I know just the spot. We'll take this in one dive. Fighting the dark in yourself ought to have toughened you up. Don't be frightened."
Riku lost his senses.
He tried to move, then realized that either he had lost his vision or he didn't have anything to move at all. Darkness had a tendency to thrum against one's eyes and ears. Here, if he stopped thinking, he would cease to exist.
A sudden tingle confirmed that he was still alive. Sunlight suddenly invaded his eyes; the rainwater started to evaporate from his clothes.
"It's safe enough here. It's Penelope's realm, and her light's always been strong."
Riku sat down in what felt like springy grass. He wanted to sleep and make all the weirdness stop.
"Now dear, you're on a world in a pocket of light in the middle of the darkness. When you're rested and dry, take any corridor out, and you're bound to run into the border. I must be going..."
"How... who are...?" he attempted.
She smiled. "Just an old star whose light's gone out a long time ago. I made this pocket; it was me or Penny, and she's younger. She'll last for a good while yet.
"Now, a girl's got to tesser."
Mrs Walker disappeared.
Title: A Shortcut
Word count: 600 (again)
Spoilers: For KHII, definitely; for COM, slightly.
Characters: Riku and a friend.
Notes: XD I cannot make things short and simple to save my life. As for the drabble... it's the first thing that popped into my mind after reading the prompt, and things just flowed from there.
Rated: G
"Lost, dear?"
Riku whirled around.
"Did I frighten you? Don't worry. Isn't much an old girl can do to a young man on the night of a storm."
A lady as wrinkled as leather with a tattered cap and rain-boots appeared from an alleyway, pushing a shopping cart.
She looked him up and down and snorted. "You've things to do, right? Call off your blade, please. The little I could've done to you I didn't." She squinted through the rain. "You are lost, aren't you?"
Riku, at a loss for words, dismissed his weapon. His portal had led him to a city with rain...
Clucking, the old lady rummaged in her cart. "I'm Mrs Walker. My first name is Daphne, but please don't call me that - ah," she found an umbrella, "you're taller than me; hold that and we'll talk. You're on Baker's Street, Gainesville, Virginia, The United States of America, the planet Earth, the Milky Way. Do you have your bearings now, dear?"
Obediently holding the umbrella, Riku blurted, "You could've done what to me?"
Mrs Walker shot a look into his eyes. He added a meek "ma'am?". You didn't mess with this sort of bag lady. He just knew.
"Made you a sandwich. Although I don't think that was your question."
He drooped. The rain plastered his bangs to his face, dribbled damply into his coat. Weeks of opening portals to various worlds to find a place that wasn't had worn him out.
Riku felt something dishtowel-like dabbing his nose. Opening his eyes, he saw the old woman peering into his face more gently. Tsking, telling him to close his eyes again, she firmly wiped clumps of hair from his face, as if he were four again after a day at the beach. "You've been fighting the darkness. I don't think for your own sake; for a dear friend. A noble cause. What are you searching for?"
"A world that never was," His words stumbled. "A boy who's nobody."
"What were you using to travel?"
"The darkness in between."
Mrs Walker exclaimed, "That will never do! Earth is a ways from the main darkness, and you'll need to pierce the boundary between that darkness and light to get nowhere. Darkness binds the planets together, but you have to stop and find the corridor to each planet. Inefficient. What you need," she declared, reclaiming the umbrella, "is a way to traverse space, to a world that's near the dark, yet filled with light."
"Wait-"
"I know just the spot. We'll take this in one dive. Fighting the dark in yourself ought to have toughened you up. Don't be frightened."
Riku lost his senses.
He tried to move, then realized that either he had lost his vision or he didn't have anything to move at all. Darkness had a tendency to thrum against one's eyes and ears. Here, if he stopped thinking, he would cease to exist.
A sudden tingle confirmed that he was still alive. Sunlight suddenly invaded his eyes; the rainwater started to evaporate from his clothes.
"It's safe enough here. It's Penelope's realm, and her light's always been strong."
Riku sat down in what felt like springy grass. He wanted to sleep and make all the weirdness stop.
"Now dear, you're on a world in a pocket of light in the middle of the darkness. When you're rested and dry, take any corridor out, and you're bound to run into the border. I must be going..."
"How... who are...?" he attempted.
She smiled. "Just an old star whose light's gone out a long time ago. I made this pocket; it was me or Penny, and she's younger. She'll last for a good while yet.
"Now, a girl's got to tesser."
Mrs Walker disappeared.
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YOU
YOU
SHE DEFINITELY
YOU!!
I love you forever for weaving in A Wrinkle in Time canon. I absolutely just love you. Brilliant.
♥ ♥ ♥!!
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Dude.
I sometimes find, when people come up with these brilliant drabble ideas, that the actual writing of it suffers greatly, and am so so delighted when such is not the case. So in-character, lovely dialogue and very crisp images. LOVELOVELOVE
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