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Jun. 10th, 2007 03:44 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleTitle: 4 Step Pirouette
Word Count: 79, 151, 611, & 69
Spoilers: CoM. KHII.
Notes: I'm trying to avoid homework, so you guys get four interconnected drabbles (I’ll delete this post if it’s against community rules, since these all could be read together as one fic). Takes place just before the events of CoM.
Rating: PG-13 for language
I.
It had been over an hour already.
"It's. Not. Funny. Anymore." Roxas gritted out through his teeth.
"Kiddo, it'll never stop being funny," Xigbar shot back, then flipped over to stand on his head. His cloak fluttered down, revealing a second head identical to the first.
The source of Xigbar's hilarity was the big metal windup key sticking out the middle of Roxas' back. The older Nobody was laughing himself sick.
Roxas hoped they got off this world.
Soon.
II.
Three hours in, Roxas pushed past a giant rubber duck. It squeaked and toppled over. "Can we go now?"
Xigbar eyed him skeptically. That push had looked unnecessarily forceful. "You know the drill. Scour the worlds, free the hearts, build up our innumerable forces of fearsome Nobodies, yadda, yadda. Same verse, second chorus, like the Cacophonous Nocturne says."
"Same song, second verse," Roxas corrected.
"Whatever." Xigbar bobbed up and down, as close to a shrug as he was able to manage in his current body. He missed articulated joints. "You gonna argue semantics?"
"We're wasting our time."
"Whoa now. I don't always agree with the Superior either. But that's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Roxas turning around was a full body production accompanied by the creak and whirl of tiny gears. But he did so anyway, to fix Xigbar with a flat stare. "Toys don't have hearts."
"You'd be surprised."
III.
"You know,” Roxas began, deliberately casual. “Every time I've tried to take apart one of these toys, you've stopped me with some lame excuse. I’m beginning to think that this isn't a mission. It's a distraction. And I want to know why."
Xigbar's painted mouth thinned into a narrow line. He flipped himself upside-down.
“The guys….” Roxas pressed. “They’re talking about me, aren’t they?”
“S’only natural. You know how much we like you.”
Roxas didn’t buy it. Watching his scowl deepen, Xigbar sighed. Damn Marluxia’s insistence that they keep Roxas inactive while he worked on getting Sora into his little castle playground (“We can’t afford to let the castoff’s feelings interfere with the genuine article if the operation is to succeed, can we now?”). Condescending bastard.
Better to have gone with Axel’s suggestion - let Roxas get his jollies out by finding a nice well-populated world for him to go one-man genocide squad on. VIII may have been a helluva sumbitch, but he was an observant one.
“I’ve been patient,” Roxas said softly, “trusting you to tell me.”
Xigbar snorted. What, did he look like Axel or something? Feeding him a line like that… the pipsqueak shouldn’t try that guilt-trip stuff on someone who hadn’t the heart (ha!) for it. “Drop the subject.”
Roxas opened his mouth to protest -
“I said drop it.” Xigbar smiled. It wasn’t pleasant. "This is me. Pulling rank on you. Sorry, dude."
Roxas subsided, about-facing with jerky erratic movements. Xigbar wondered if half of the reason for his bad mood wasn’t just because he was so damn clumsy on this world.
As if to underscore Xigbar’s point spectacularly, the windup key in Roxas’ back struck a nearby porcelain ballerina. She fell over and onto a black domino, the latest member of an intricate and painstakingly executed setup.
It tumbled down, taking the one behind it, which took the next, and so on and so forth, until the whole formation had collapsed.
Xigbar rolled his eyes and bent over to help the ballerina up. It took a while (she had a big metal base and his sense of balance was screwy in this form). Roxas, still sulking, didn’t bother to help.
“Sorry about the brat,” Xigbar told her, as the dominoes grumbled loudly around them. “He’s got the manners of an alley cat.”
“Non,” she demurred. “I am fine. Only please…”
She tilted her frame slightly (for she had only one leg to stand upon, being stuck forever in the fouetté en tournant position) and whispered in his ear.
“Delighted to,” he winked his good eye at her. A pink flush spread across her cheeks.
Xigbar flipped over, niftily manipulating gravity to keep steady, and gave a few good turns of the key located on her base.
A delicate twinkling tune filled the air as she began to spin. Slowly at first, then gradually picking up speed.
“What’s that for?” Roxas asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
“Checking that my pirouette is not broken, monsieur,” responded the lovely ballerina. “None pirouettes so well as I. And when I do so, I am the apple of my child’s eye and the envy of all. For this was I created.”
She believed so, so she spun. Beautiful toy, prima donna of her own making, spinning the same circles tirelessly in the absolute center of her own narrow universe.
“We won’t find any hearts here,” Roxas snarled, sudden and vehement and vicious. “I. Hate. This. Place.” He opened up a dark portal and clanked on through.
Xigbar cursed under his breath and followed him.
XIII was a good kid but, sometimes, Xigbar really hated being stuck on babysitting duty.
IV.
The ballerina barely minded that she had lost her audience. There would be others to love her, to adore her. There always had been.
A Valentine bear had been watching the toys in black with keen interest. After they had gone, he looked down at the red stuffed heart clutched between his white paws. “They only had to ask,” he said, mostly to himself.
“I’d have given them mine.”
More notes:
Roxas is a windup toy. Xigbar is a topsy-turvy doll. You know, one of those dolls that have two faces, one on top and one on bottom. They usually represent two different characters (like princess and prince) and you can flip them over and play with whichever one. Game canon doesn’t support the idea that the Organization members take on suitable forms for the worlds they visit (unlike Sora and co.), but I’m going to fanwank that they sometimes make the effort.
The third drabble was originally my second entry idea for the “Belle” prompt and it was supposed to feature Roxas and Axel as puppets in Pinnochio’s world. In any case, the “belle” (the ballerina) ended up not really being a focal point at all, so I couldn’t in good conscience submit it for the challenge no matter how much I cut to make it fit the word limit. And it’s still hideously long. Ugh. Sorry, guys.
Word Count: 79, 151, 611, & 69
Spoilers: CoM. KHII.
Notes: I'm trying to avoid homework, so you guys get four interconnected drabbles (I’ll delete this post if it’s against community rules, since these all could be read together as one fic). Takes place just before the events of CoM.
Rating: PG-13 for language
I.
It had been over an hour already.
"It's. Not. Funny. Anymore." Roxas gritted out through his teeth.
"Kiddo, it'll never stop being funny," Xigbar shot back, then flipped over to stand on his head. His cloak fluttered down, revealing a second head identical to the first.
The source of Xigbar's hilarity was the big metal windup key sticking out the middle of Roxas' back. The older Nobody was laughing himself sick.
Roxas hoped they got off this world.
Soon.
II.
Three hours in, Roxas pushed past a giant rubber duck. It squeaked and toppled over. "Can we go now?"
Xigbar eyed him skeptically. That push had looked unnecessarily forceful. "You know the drill. Scour the worlds, free the hearts, build up our innumerable forces of fearsome Nobodies, yadda, yadda. Same verse, second chorus, like the Cacophonous Nocturne says."
"Same song, second verse," Roxas corrected.
"Whatever." Xigbar bobbed up and down, as close to a shrug as he was able to manage in his current body. He missed articulated joints. "You gonna argue semantics?"
"We're wasting our time."
"Whoa now. I don't always agree with the Superior either. But that's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Roxas turning around was a full body production accompanied by the creak and whirl of tiny gears. But he did so anyway, to fix Xigbar with a flat stare. "Toys don't have hearts."
"You'd be surprised."
III.
"You know,” Roxas began, deliberately casual. “Every time I've tried to take apart one of these toys, you've stopped me with some lame excuse. I’m beginning to think that this isn't a mission. It's a distraction. And I want to know why."
Xigbar's painted mouth thinned into a narrow line. He flipped himself upside-down.
“The guys….” Roxas pressed. “They’re talking about me, aren’t they?”
“S’only natural. You know how much we like you.”
Roxas didn’t buy it. Watching his scowl deepen, Xigbar sighed. Damn Marluxia’s insistence that they keep Roxas inactive while he worked on getting Sora into his little castle playground (“We can’t afford to let the castoff’s feelings interfere with the genuine article if the operation is to succeed, can we now?”). Condescending bastard.
Better to have gone with Axel’s suggestion - let Roxas get his jollies out by finding a nice well-populated world for him to go one-man genocide squad on. VIII may have been a helluva sumbitch, but he was an observant one.
“I’ve been patient,” Roxas said softly, “trusting you to tell me.”
Xigbar snorted. What, did he look like Axel or something? Feeding him a line like that… the pipsqueak shouldn’t try that guilt-trip stuff on someone who hadn’t the heart (ha!) for it. “Drop the subject.”
Roxas opened his mouth to protest -
“I said drop it.” Xigbar smiled. It wasn’t pleasant. "This is me. Pulling rank on you. Sorry, dude."
Roxas subsided, about-facing with jerky erratic movements. Xigbar wondered if half of the reason for his bad mood wasn’t just because he was so damn clumsy on this world.
As if to underscore Xigbar’s point spectacularly, the windup key in Roxas’ back struck a nearby porcelain ballerina. She fell over and onto a black domino, the latest member of an intricate and painstakingly executed setup.
It tumbled down, taking the one behind it, which took the next, and so on and so forth, until the whole formation had collapsed.
Xigbar rolled his eyes and bent over to help the ballerina up. It took a while (she had a big metal base and his sense of balance was screwy in this form). Roxas, still sulking, didn’t bother to help.
“Sorry about the brat,” Xigbar told her, as the dominoes grumbled loudly around them. “He’s got the manners of an alley cat.”
“Non,” she demurred. “I am fine. Only please…”
She tilted her frame slightly (for she had only one leg to stand upon, being stuck forever in the fouetté en tournant position) and whispered in his ear.
“Delighted to,” he winked his good eye at her. A pink flush spread across her cheeks.
Xigbar flipped over, niftily manipulating gravity to keep steady, and gave a few good turns of the key located on her base.
A delicate twinkling tune filled the air as she began to spin. Slowly at first, then gradually picking up speed.
“What’s that for?” Roxas asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
“Checking that my pirouette is not broken, monsieur,” responded the lovely ballerina. “None pirouettes so well as I. And when I do so, I am the apple of my child’s eye and the envy of all. For this was I created.”
She believed so, so she spun. Beautiful toy, prima donna of her own making, spinning the same circles tirelessly in the absolute center of her own narrow universe.
“We won’t find any hearts here,” Roxas snarled, sudden and vehement and vicious. “I. Hate. This. Place.” He opened up a dark portal and clanked on through.
Xigbar cursed under his breath and followed him.
XIII was a good kid but, sometimes, Xigbar really hated being stuck on babysitting duty.
IV.
The ballerina barely minded that she had lost her audience. There would be others to love her, to adore her. There always had been.
A Valentine bear had been watching the toys in black with keen interest. After they had gone, he looked down at the red stuffed heart clutched between his white paws. “They only had to ask,” he said, mostly to himself.
“I’d have given them mine.”
More notes:
Roxas is a windup toy. Xigbar is a topsy-turvy doll. You know, one of those dolls that have two faces, one on top and one on bottom. They usually represent two different characters (like princess and prince) and you can flip them over and play with whichever one. Game canon doesn’t support the idea that the Organization members take on suitable forms for the worlds they visit (unlike Sora and co.), but I’m going to fanwank that they sometimes make the effort.
The third drabble was originally my second entry idea for the “Belle” prompt and it was supposed to feature Roxas and Axel as puppets in Pinnochio’s world. In any case, the “belle” (the ballerina) ended up not really being a focal point at all, so I couldn’t in good conscience submit it for the challenge no matter how much I cut to make it fit the word limit. And it’s still hideously long. Ugh. Sorry, guys.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 01:40 am (UTC)Xigbar kicked ass, I enjoyed your characterization of Roxas (omgwindup~!) and I daresay you could have submitted this for the Belle contest (when you consider Roxas as the 'belle'- they're talking about him, keeping him busy, he, being the keyblade master, is sought after). ;) Next time, don't worry about it not fitting~!
I loved the first two and I'm glad you posted them, but I think you wrote the third one in such a way that you could have submitted it alone.
All in all, I applaud you. *applause*
Also- "This is me. Pulling rank on you." XD Love that line.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 08:36 am (UTC)Thanks for the reassurance. I like how short and sweet drabbles are but, when I wrote this one, I just couldn't find an easy way to cut it short. I did consider submitting the third drabble by itself but, by then, it was a tad too late. And I really think it works better coming after the first two. Gives you a sense they've been there longer.
I daresay you could have submitted this for the Belle contest (when you consider Roxas as the 'belle'- they're talking about him, keeping him busy, he, being the keyblade master, is sought after).
Neeeat. I never thought of Roxas as the "belle" here (but you're absolutely right - it fits!), even though one of the things I was trying to convey was that Roxas sees his own situation mirrored in the ballerina's actions (he has little to no control, he stuck in the same place, he was created for a "purpose" instead of being an individual, etc.)
I use that icon to pay tribute to Roxas' bitchiness.
It's a great icon. Roxas has an excellent grr!face.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 09:18 am (UTC)I loved your characterizations (Xigbar especially- the way he talks and thinks~
Glad Xigbar's characterization worked for you! I wanted him to be like your favorite eccentric uncle, who's tons of fun to pal around with until his sharp edges suddenly come out and you remember that there's a reason he's ranked friggin' second in the Organization. Also wanted to get a sense of his intelligence in there (after all, he was apprenticed to a scientist/philosopher/king/whatever the heck Ansem the Wise was). But mostly, I just wanted to play around with his narration and dialogue because he's a fellow Californian (well, not really, but he's got the accent!). XD
It took me until the second part, but I eventually figured out where they were? (Toy Story world?)
They were on some generic toyland world, though Toy Story world works too. I was vague with their surroundings because it's been a while since I've watched Toy Story and I probably would've gotten the details of Andy's room wrong.
Something about Cacophonic Nocturne amuses me
It's probably due to fandom, but I buy into the idea that Xigbar had a good deal of interaction with the younger Org members and much of it consisted of friendly teasing. I can see him saying that to Demyx's face and Demyx flailing in response.
Definitely glad you posted it.
And I'm glad you read it and commented! Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 09:47 am (UTC)BTW, Wow, that has to be the longest reply I've gotten~ XD I feel that I have to say thank you for putting such time and thought into it ^_^
And yes, I think Xigbar definitely gave off the eccentric dr.jekyl benign uncle vibes~ Hmm, I have to agree, some of the first Six don't look like your traditional scientists(Xigbar, Xaldin, Lex), but they are scientists all the same- And yeah, you have to wonder about his number~ The uncle showed through stronger, I think, but the use of the word 'semantics' implies some intelligence after all ^^ I think it turned out well!
Xigbar in California, Xigbar wrecking havoc in Disneyland and Universal Studios and all other such famous spots... XD Though to be fair, he'd prolly fit pretty well in~Yup, Xigbar would~ XD Hee, Demyx~
no subject
Date: 2007-06-12 10:29 pm (UTC)Nah. Actually, thank you for reading through it all. Whenever I write, I usually spend time mentally fleshing out the story behind the story, all that background that's necessary for the fic to be convincing. If I were to type that stuff out, I'd have boringly long author notes, so I'm always happy when someone comments and expresses interest because then I can rant at them. So, I should be thanking you for letting me babble on and on. :)