Story fragment
Oct. 18th, 2005 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaSo my life's all over the place. I'll post another chapter of something soon, but right now I'm in the phase where, when I finally do get a chance to write, I get sidetracked by fragments of scenes rather than working on the actual chapter.
Eh.
So I offer up a fragment that I like for some reason. Standard I-will-not-kill-you-for-criticizing disclaimer applies. It's from Ice, set at a god-knows-when (or doesn't) future point in the story. Technically, it probably has spoilers just by being a future part, but honestly, Ice is so fragmented and odd that it's not really an issue.
"Why do you come down here?" he said, not looking up.
There were a lot of answers to that. Instead of making one, the child slid through the doorway to peer over his shoulder. "What's that?"
"You don't have to keep up the act, you know," he reminded her, but of course she did. "I know you understand it." And she did, but she understood that what they knew and felt could be two different things, and that she had to ask for him to treat her like a child.
He sighed in defeat, not sounding truly annoyed. "It's a DNA sequence. I'm working on this segment here-" and he pointed with a white triangle, his real hand barely moving in the corner below the screen. Already his voice had picked up somewhat, enjoying explaining. "I'm trying to make it so the creature will have better lungs. The last prototype burnt out its own lungs using fire moves." He turned finally to look at her. "What do you think, kiddo? Know the magic fix?"
She smiled the way she'd learned, shook her head slightly the way she'd learned. "I think you'd be better off using something else's lungs."
He laughed. "Like a magmar's. That'd get rid of the problem, all right. Chimeras are banned, we both know that. It makes the higher-ups feel better if some patchwork of chance and a little trial and error is used than if we just take the whole thing. It gives them the illusion any of us know what we're doing."
"How's your project doing?"
"Proceeding. Nothing impressive, but proceeding. You want to talk to her when she's all done?"
"I guess. Won't be much it says."
"Have some confidence in me, little Ice. I'm not making a record player. I'm going to make her able to learn. She'll think. Who knows? Maybe you can make her into yourself. Want to try?"
"I'm better at it than they are," she said, flashing half of a fanged smile at him for an instant. "Don't you think?" She didn’t need the reassurance, he did. That she needed him, the words he said.
"Consider it a challenge, then. Teach the children of a god the subtle ways of man." And he laughed.
Eh.
So I offer up a fragment that I like for some reason. Standard I-will-not-kill-you-for-criticizing disclaimer applies. It's from Ice, set at a god-knows-when (or doesn't) future point in the story. Technically, it probably has spoilers just by being a future part, but honestly, Ice is so fragmented and odd that it's not really an issue.
"Why do you come down here?" he said, not looking up.
There were a lot of answers to that. Instead of making one, the child slid through the doorway to peer over his shoulder. "What's that?"
"You don't have to keep up the act, you know," he reminded her, but of course she did. "I know you understand it." And she did, but she understood that what they knew and felt could be two different things, and that she had to ask for him to treat her like a child.
He sighed in defeat, not sounding truly annoyed. "It's a DNA sequence. I'm working on this segment here-" and he pointed with a white triangle, his real hand barely moving in the corner below the screen. Already his voice had picked up somewhat, enjoying explaining. "I'm trying to make it so the creature will have better lungs. The last prototype burnt out its own lungs using fire moves." He turned finally to look at her. "What do you think, kiddo? Know the magic fix?"
She smiled the way she'd learned, shook her head slightly the way she'd learned. "I think you'd be better off using something else's lungs."
He laughed. "Like a magmar's. That'd get rid of the problem, all right. Chimeras are banned, we both know that. It makes the higher-ups feel better if some patchwork of chance and a little trial and error is used than if we just take the whole thing. It gives them the illusion any of us know what we're doing."
"How's your project doing?"
"Proceeding. Nothing impressive, but proceeding. You want to talk to her when she's all done?"
"I guess. Won't be much it says."
"Have some confidence in me, little Ice. I'm not making a record player. I'm going to make her able to learn. She'll think. Who knows? Maybe you can make her into yourself. Want to try?"
"I'm better at it than they are," she said, flashing half of a fanged smile at him for an instant. "Don't you think?" She didn’t need the reassurance, he did. That she needed him, the words he said.
"Consider it a challenge, then. Teach the children of a god the subtle ways of man." And he laughed.
