Spinning Still -- Shade's NaNo

[Rikku]

^__^ *loves title!*

[Tam]

*applauds title of awesome* =D

[Shadaras]

Glad y'all like the title. ^_^

Also, it feels so weird to have this thread be four pages and not even NaNo yet. Just saying. xD

Anyway!

Sarika. Colleen's classmate and best friend. I like her. I should, considering who she's based off. xD Fair chance she gets a bigger part in all this than I expect. Probably by having her go to Mistral; she has the mind for it. (and by saying this I make it nearly inevitably so. ^_^)

[Shadaras]

Colleen looks somewhat like Jack Harkness and somewhat like Mal. Just because of a coat. And because of her shoes and the coat she reminds me of Tenn. *easily entertained*

SPOILER: Click to show

Though, that she's blonde and female makes resemblance to brown-haired male characters kind of odd. But it's still entertaining.

I'm drawing Colleen, Sari, and Austin dressed up for Halloween. :3 It's rather fun and time-consuming.

If I have a plot, it's hiding until I start writing. xD If I have a plan, it's hiding until I start writing.

Should be fun. NaNo'll be here in 27-ish hours. ^_^

[Schoolrikku]

^_^ I like her!

... And this is not due pretty much entirely to the coat at all not even a bit.

[Shadaras]

Happy Halloween.

...and now that I have finished crazy picture of NaNo-related doom, I have nothing to do but wait for the next slightly-under-three hours. xD

And y'know the sort of jittery-fluttery feeling in the core of your body that tends to be associated with love-excitement-nerves? Yeah. That would be what NaNo-jitters are being this year. It's somewhere between fascinating, entertaining, and seriously weird.

[Rikku]

xD 's always been that way for me. Less this year than the others, but still there; restless excited energy, like you're about to give a speech that you think everyone will find hilarious like you intend them to but you're nervous anyway, because what if it doesn't? That happy kind of nervous.

... *admires prettypicture s'more*

[Shadaras]

2k in about half an hour. xD I am insane. ^_^

SPOILER: Click to show

The hunger eating away at her wasn’t the worst of it. No, the worst was the thirst, swelling her tongue, clogging her throat, thinning her skin until she could feel each heavy beat of her heart. She had long ceased to truly see the ceiling above her, with its grainy patterns that she had so often traced with her eyes during sleepless nights. Now, all she saw was the darkness of her eyelids, and soft flickers of emotion as the world passed her by.

Once, she would have sunk into those emotions, filtered through them until she saw a person’s heart, and told what she saw to her friends and her leaders. Once, she would have looked at them, searching for joy, or even just a flicker of delight that told her that people saw more than just despair in the world. Once, she would have echoed her friend’s voice, taking her power and boosting it, letting her have free access to her mind in return for more power.

Once, she would have held the world in her mind, and smiled.

Once.

Once, a long time ago, before the world told her of its inanities, its insanities, its unfairness and its horrible, unalterable, fates, dark shadows looming over all minds, even those clouded by Norm and other drugs. Clouding even the very minds that sought to fight the shadows, even those bright lights that had shone against the dark, forcing it back, forcing it, making it retreat until there was nothing left but a glimmer, a promise, a blip of gray against white. Once, a long time ago, she had seen a heart so dark with shadows that it was rainbow-bright.

No longer.

No longer had she even the comfort of tears. Her eyes burned, beneath closed eyelids, with the need to cry, but all her tears had dried up days ago, leaving nothing but the cold comfort of knowing that soon, those dark shadows of fate would take her as well, and lead her by the hand to the land she dreamt of, in flickers of sleep between endless moments of torment in which her body called to her, asking her to answer the world, asking her to eat, or drink, or ever move to expel waste from her body. She ignored it all, lying in her bed motionless, arms crossed over her chest in the position that meant in all cultures I am dead.

And though her body still insisted otherwise, she was dead. She had left the world behind, refused both the pleasure and pain of the world, and taken instead the realm of the mind for her own. The realm where dreams were real and she could see once more the friend who had shown her light in the midst of darkness, who had opened up the sky in pursuit of the Mother-cave where all life had been born. She had lost herself in that light, and the light had held her, and taken her out again, and always, always, held her when she cried.

Then the light had flickered: once, twice, thrice, and all is lost.

One dawn, two, three – three days, three flashes, three chances before all hope is lost, before even the body breathes its last, before even the deepest instincts agree that there is nothing left here to save, this has been lost long ago to time, we can let it be as well and the heart stops beating and the lungs stop compressing and the little lights of the mind, flashes of electricity lighting the intellect, go dark at last. Red turns brown and pink becomes the pale bruise of death. There is nothing, then, and that nothing is her mind: dark with pale, pale with dark.

And death rides above them all, a headless nightmare on a pale horse, fire in his eyes and hooves sparking white light where they strike. He is beautiful, she knows, and she reaches out a hand to him. He looks at her, and, in that moment, she sees his eyes, and she is scared. They terrify her, those eyes, as nothing else ever has. And she shrinks back, and the horse bays, and rears, and turns, and charges away. Those eyes follow her, and follow, and haunt her, voids of voids inside the brightest light, with a deep deep sympathy that she knows most would never feel, but that breaks her heart.

She can feel him, and she can feel the world.

...and that is how Spin begins. =D It keeps going for a bit and then I get to the point of that ramble-beginning and the story really starts. xD Which can be proven by how my mind counts this as a prologue, not as Chapter I.

Soyes. :3 Sleep now, more writing in the morning.

((Also, most of this was written whilst listening to Mr. Brightside by The Killers. Just for reference. And because I'm sort of curious to know just how many times I've heard it in a row by now. xD))

[Shadaras]

SPOILER: Click to show

The question then came: how was he to study the Norm’s effects? An answer followed on the question’s heels: the Brennans. Lionel nodded slightly and let those thoughts drift to the back of his mind to sit and stew and design a study program for him. For now, studying and being silly were of higher priority. “Hey, Augie,” he began, “did you hear about the frog thing?”

“What?” Augie’s disbelief echoed in the stairwell. “What frog thing?”

“No?” Lionel grinned and opened the door to their floor. “It goes like this. In class on Friday, Madame Pip had us experimenting on frogs.”

“Frogs. Why frogs, out of all the things in the world?”

“Because she likes frogs.” Lionel shrugged. “I didn’t make this up, mind you. So, she asks us to perform what’s essentially brain surgery on them, taking note of what place we removed so that we can discover the effects it has.”

“With frogs.”

“Yes. With frogs.” Lionel shrugged. “I’m not sure if it would have worked better with mice or not. Anyway, she shows us how to get to the brain, and how to scorch a section of the brain. And we’re working on that, when suddenly one of the girls – Marielle? – squeals and there’s a loud pop from where she’s working. We all stop and look, of course. And guess what we saw?”

“A frog thing?”

“No, we saw the cause of the frog thing.” Lionel grinned. “We were working in pairs, right? Except there was an odd number of students. Marielle was working by herself. The frogs had already been set out. See where this is going?”

Augie looked at him in disbelief. “You were performing brain surgery. On frogs. And—”

“Yes.” Lionel slung an arm over Augie’s shoulders. “Go ask some of my classmates if you don’t believe me. Or Marielle; she was pretty shocked by the whole thing. And you know the kicker of this whole thing? Madame Pip was the person in the room laughing the hardest.”

At that, at last, Augie laughed and straightened. “I can believe that. She’s probably the weirdest teacher in the school.”

“What about Duke?”

“He doesn’t count,” Augie said primly. “He’s not a teacher. He’s the librarian.”

“And that doesn’t count?”

“Depends on how strictly you’re defining teacher.” Augie shrugged. “Okay, I think I can one-up your frog story.”

“Really?” Lionel thumped his arm. “Go on, try.”

“It began like this...” Augie started talking, voice and hands growing increasingly animated, and Lionel listened with half his mind, glad his friend had returned to his normal self.

...yes. This is what happens when I run out of sensible things to write about. xD I write about a frog thing.

...it almost makes sense in context sort of?

All the plotlines have now discussed the Norm in some way. I approve of this, because the Norm seems to be the main thread of this story, which is kinda neat and kinda weird, but should lead to a fun story, overall. ^_^

[Amneiger]

*is responding to what you posted on his thread this morning* I didn't have time to read your excerpts because I was too busy panicking. xD And I can't tell what the cause of the frog thing is.

[Rikku]

*is also bemused by the frog thing* ... Um, but in an amused kind of way. xD It feels almost like something I'd write, in a Shadeish sort of way, and that amuses me as well.

*glances at wordcount* *gives a competitory sort of grimacegrin* *rushes to Word*

[Shadaras]

The frog thing is written off the top of my head with no plan and is really more WTH than most things I write, yeah. xD

:3 That it reminded me of Rikkuwriting is why I posted it, mostly. Also because it amuses me by sheer nonsensicality.

I should go hit 10k afore midnight now, yesyes. ^_^ (no I don't know when I decided I should do that yes I am insane shush now plz xD)

[Shadaras]

12,029 words in one day. xD Dear lord, I am insane.

Anyway, excerpt. The entirety of Chapter III: Gus, Present.

SPOILER: Click to show

She looked so peaceful, lying there. If he didn’t know better, Gus could believe she was just sleeping. That he knew very well she wasn’t, and that he knew exactly why she wasn’t, made everything worse. He sighed, and reached out to stroke her cheek. Her skin was so fragile, now. So easily broken. Strange, for a person who had once been one of the strongest he knew. He’d thought she was still strong, despite everything that happened, up until discovering that he couldn’t reach her mentally when she’d been late to the Institute yesterday.

“I miss her too,” he murmured, voice and mind speaking the same words. “That doesn’t mean I’m willing to die for her.”

A brief surge in emotion in Sumati’s mind made Gus wince. “I’m sorry, but what else am I supposed to talk about? Besides,” he added grudgingly, “I didn’t think you were awake.”

Laughter sounded in an empty mind. A rush of words followed, and Gus suspected he would’ve been able to follow if he had more of the empathy side of telempathy. He had exactly enough to be able to feel strength of emotion, but couldn’t read anything else. As far as thoughts went, he could easily search those out. He wouldn’t be here if he weren’t; a strong s/r telepath was practically a necessity, when a telempath was on the edge of death. They had to have the mental connection as well as the physical links to life that most people required.

Brett would have told him, scornful, that mind was nothing in regards to body. Body, to his brother, was the measure of life, though mind was the ability to move the machine. They had always disagreed on that. Gus sighed and kept stroking Sumati’s short red-tinged black hair. It was scruffy, unwashed, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the feeling of warmth on her body, a physical tie that made it easier for her to remember why the world wanted her and made it easier for him to tie into her mind and keep her here no matter what.

“Gus, you’ve been here nearly an entire day. Can’t you let someone else take care of her?”

Gus grunted and glanced up at the voice. “Kid, did you know her?”

“Which one?” Harvey scratched at the blond stubble on his chin. “I knew Su, obviously. Tanith? Not so much.”

“Then you can’t understand why it’s so important that I stay here.” Gus turned back to Sumati, watching her nostrils flare, ever so slightly, with each breath.

Harvey didn’t move.

At last, Gus sighed. “First question. Is there another strong s/r here?”

“Amelia.” Harvey’s response came instantly, sending before being spoken.

“Second question.” Gus met Harvey’s eyes, looking past the thin clear-framed glasses. “Did she know them?”

Harvey hesitated, but at last said, “No.”

“Then no, I’m not leaving.” Gus shrugged one shoulder. “I can last a long time.”

“Long enough?”

“What did I tell you when you first came here?”

“Then no, you can’t.” Harvey’s challenge rang in mind more strongly than in voice. He pushed gently. “Gus, I could spell you, at least. Let you have a few hours of sleep. Would—”

“No,” Gus said, closing his eyes. He hadn’t thought he’d inspired such loyalty among anyone, let alone independent Harvey. “I can’t leave her.”

“She’s an empath, right? S/r?” Harvey moved around to touch Gus’s shoulder. “How strong?”

“R/s empath, with slight telepathic receiving to go along with that. Makes it easier to establish contact.” Gus contemplated that, and the hand on his shoulder, equally in mind and body. “Kid – Harvey – what are you trying to determine?”

“If you could stay with her in your sleep.”

The silence that followed Harvey’s statement resonated in the darkened room. Soft beeps from the life-support machine, the breathing of three people, trailing echoes from outside – they were noise, but silence rested behind their sounds. Gus thought, in the part of his mind not constantly murmuring to Sumati, about what his student – his friend – had said. At last, he let out a sigh, and said, “Alright. Echo me, and I’m willing to try that, so long as she’s okay.” A flare of emotion and words that felt like laughter lit Gus’s mind. He winced. “Okay, then.” He sighed. “Is there a pallet in here, or do you need to bring one?”

“Of course there’s one here. I’ll pull it alongside Su, sir.”

Gus smiled tiredly at the formality. Harvey only brought it out when he was pleased or insubordinate. You could tell which by the presence or absence of sarcasm.

The sounds of wood on concrete were harsher than Gus had expected. The expected, “Sorry, sir,” followed the noise, and what followed was a grunt and the considerably quieter presence of Harvey’s swearing as he carried the pallet across the room and let it thud down onto the floor. “How out of it are you, sir?”

Gus glanced at the kid, irritated by the question. “I’m here, kid. Stop worrying about me.”

“You’re asking me to echo you,” Harvey said, sour. “It’s the least I can do to try and make sure I’ll stay sane and safe while I do that.”

“True.” Gus pushed against the chair, and fell back again with a soft swear as his muscles trembled and cramped. “Fine. Help me, Harvey. And make sure I move around, in the days to come.”

He thought he heard Harvey think something like Are you really going to hold out that long?, but it was hidden behind shields and the soft words “Yes, sir” as Harvey pulled Gus to his feet and supported him as he lay down on the pallet, one hand still holding Sumati’s.

“Harvey?”

“Yes?”

“Keep her safe.”

“I’ll do my best, sir.” And then, in the echo of his mind, Gus heard, Besides, I’m bound to you, sir, so I’ll keep you both safe. I’ll do my best by you.

Gus smiled and, with a constant murmur in the back of his mind, slipped into dreams.

[Rikku]

^_^ Gus is nice. And I like Harvey as well! And am glad he decided to saunter along at the last minute, 'cos he's neat!

... And you're the best kind of insane. <3

[Strife]

Hey, if you keep that up, Shade, you'll reach 50k in less than five days. xD That's gotta be an NTWF record, srsly.

Buuut anyway, your NaNo is looking more and more intriguing by the day! Chapter 3 is such a tease. x3 You might just have to show the whole thing to us once it's done. ^_~