Challenge [100] 100 - Ahaha, last minute enteries.

[koolsnowball.livejournal.com]

You know what? I told myself several times that the next time I attempted a drabble for this community, it wouldn’t be about Nobodies/Random Nobodies. Because I didn’t want people to go from ‘Oh, that’s a nice and original story’ to ‘oh, wait, she’s a one-trick-pony’.

But, of course, the first thing I thought up for this challenge…

Challenge: [100] - 100
Title: Odds
Word Count: cutting it close with 572. >.>
Spoilers: Uh. Late KHII if you haven’t reached it. Like, don’t read this if you haven’t reached the last world kind of thing. ^^:
Characters: Random Dusk (x3), mentions of Sora and co., and also Axel.
Rating: G
Notes: Rawr, this was terribly awkward to write. At some point in time I might just revisit this and make it longer and better. Maaaaybe…



We’ve got another one.

83 sighed at this report and glanced back at 103.

Where?

103 pointed it out – in the flow of identical soldiers, there was one differentiating itself by shuddering violently in one place.

Thank-you, I will take care of it. Just keep the others moving.

103 half-bowed back and rejoined the crowd, while 83 approached the shivering Nobody.

Dusk, state your number.

In response to the order, the Dusk raised its head and shook a little bit less.

Two—two-twenty-seven! it stammered.

227? 83 repeated flatly, fairly certain they hadn’t reached 2000 in Dusk-numbers. This didn’t seem like it would be a positive encounter – stumbling over your own thoughts was never a good sign.

227 nod-bowed, but before 83 could begin questioning, it started shuddering violently.

Sir! What are we doing?! We’re walking to our deaths! We-

Hey now, that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? 83 said in what he was pretty sure was an upbeat manner. He privately hoped 227 would pick up on that attitude and subconsciously copy it—it had worked the last few times he had to halt a mental-breakdown, after-all.

However, 227 stopped moving (as much as a Dusk could do, anyway) and stared at him.

Sir, we’re on our way to take out VIII, and according to what I’ve heard, the Keybearer or XIII or whatever he’s calling himself, and his friends.

Yes, but we outnumber them one-hundred to one, 83 pointed out.

But sir! The Keybearer alone defeated IX and III! Not to mention the other Nobodies in between them and here! 227 was sounding frantic again, probably trying and failing to follow the character guidelines it had created in an attempt to trick itself into thinking it had a personality. A nice plan, but obviously the wrong way to go in a panic situation like this, 83 thought.

Sir, 100 Dusks are not going to succeed where 1000 Heartless failed!

Heartless are weak, 83 responded automatically, and 227 countered before he could catch himself.

III and IX were not. We may not be Heartless, but with all due respect, sir, we’re still too weak to stand a chance, even when we outnumber them.

83 sighed to himself. The new Dusks were just getting too smart for these kinds of ‘blindly-follow-the-leader’ missions. He moved onto using logic to defuse the situation.

The Keybearer has been fighting non-stop since Twilight Town at least, and VIII has been fighting for longer. They are surely very tired by now, and with our numbers, we have a chance of winning. By your standards, it may not be big, but at least it is there.

227 was silent as 83 made his last point.

And even then, would you rather fight for your heart and risk dying here, or flee and completely lose your chance to get it back?

For a moment, 227 didn’t react, just wiggled in place. Eventually, it decided it would take its chance here. 83 went over his facts with 227 again, but with more detail on how they were sure to win and the traitors were sure to lose, and they continued on their way.

Later, when VIII went out in an explosion that made his assassins look like firecrackers, 83’s last thoughts before he burned up were ‘I’m sorry, I guess I exaggerated a little’, even though 227 had, true to its predictions, already been axed by the Keyblade two minutes earlier.

~~


And then this,

Challenge: [100] - 100
Title: faces/facets
Word Count: 227
Spoilers: Only if you don’t know what a Nobody is.
Characters: An unspecified Nobody
Rating: G
Notes: Second entry!
*cough*While I was writing this thing out, the original idea kept changing direction. And this … is what it turned out. >.>
Slightly better of the two, in my opinion…

~~

There seemed to be about a hundred different kinds of emotions, and about a hundred more ways to express them.

Needless to say, this made acting all that much harder for those unable to truly feel. Working from memory (if one had it) was a good place to start, but it still felt too… contrived.

Smile, grin, smirk.

But they tried anyway, for several different reasons; habit, to keep ‘in practice’, to better fool those with hearts, it depended on who was asked, and what mood they decided they were in at the time.

Grimace, gape, pout – which could either be playful or serious, by the way.

And why exactly were there so many alternate interpretations for expressions, anyway?

Frown – which could be depressed or simply displeased – scowl – which could be disgust or anger, and back to smile – which could mean anything, really, one could make it sad, condescending, sometimes genuine…

Ah, and also a revisit to the grin – true happiness, faked assurance, display of instability.

And that was just the mouth. The eyes and eyebrows played a part too, probably, changing and warping the interpretations even more, and let’s not forget body language.

He leaned back from the mirror, expression back to the neutral state of all Nobodies when no one was looking. Feelings were confusing even with a heart, so without one?
They were hopeless.
~

As usual, constructive criticism is welcome. ^^

thanks litebritelizzie for editing~ :D <3 <3 <3!

... Also, sorry if it takes me a bit to get back to comments. >.>;

Comments

[lindskaba.livejournal.com]

Ooooohhhh, total love for these. They're really consistent within themselves, and creepy in their own respects. They do seem a bit...contradictory of each other though? In the first, your dusks show a great deal of emotion, while in the second you show a nobody who is unable to feel. Personally, I'm not entirely sure what my final view is on nobodies and emotions, so I like both of them standing alone XD Your writing is really clean and concise and just...really nice :) Good job.

[aetherae.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I liked both. ^^ I do think the second was better though. XD Just one little thing though:

227? 83 repeated flatly, fairly certain they hadn’t reached 2000 in Dusk-numbers. This didn’t seem like it would be a positive encounter – stumbling over your own thoughts was never a good sign.

I'm fairly certain that 2000 should be 200. Hope this helps. :)

[(Anonymous)]

No, because the dusk first says "two-two-twenty-seven". It's stuttering. 83 assumes it meant just 227 instead of 2227, which is what it said.