the spook me prompt in its works...
Oct. 21st, 2007 12:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nebuliaHere's the first part of it. It's not going to be horror or creepy, like last year's, but it has kind of dark themes. It's more gentle drama than anything else, a bit like "the art of contentment" if anything. But not as strange. Or romantic. Or in present tense. And with more plot.
The ghost came to her for the first time as she was doing a kata in the dojo.
She felt it behind her, a breath of wind, sudden chill in the room.
Her heart stopped. She hadn't felt a ghost in a long time. Few of the dead remained attached to this earth, and few were as fluid but as grounded as the one whose mind had just brushed hers.
She dropped her bokken and whirled. "I won't hurt you," she said aloud.
Ghosts were terrified, flightly things, expecting attack at any minute.
This ghost was pale, white on white shadow, almost a mist, its features nearly indiscernible. She couldn't tell its sex, though it had long hair. It floated half an inch above the floor, in hakama, with a katana.
I'm not expecting to be hurt, it said into her mind, unafraid. Ghosts were not capable of verbalization, though none she had met had ever seemed to realize that/ That instinct wore off a century ago.
It seemed a bit clearer to her now; it smiled, she could tell, and its eyes, though still colorless were now visible, large.
It was a man—an effeminate-looking one, but a man nonetheless. A little taller than her, and old.
"What do you want?" she asked.
You just moved here?
"A few days ago. It was, supposedly, an old family home, but…" she shrugged. "At one point, my teenaged I-don't-know-how-many-greats-grandmother got blackmailed out of it and for most of the Meiji restoration, it was a gambling hall. How do you know it?"
Not as a gambling hall—simply a place I visited a few days before my death. A dojo, then, with an orphaned fifteen-year-old assistant master, I think. I barely remember her. I returned…after Meiji's death, and it was abandoned, so I stayed here. His face was clear now; he had a large cross-shaped scar on one cheek, and color was beginning to come to his hair. Red. Odd, because he seemed so Japanese…
He smiled ruefully. I'd escaped one too many exorcisms to want to spend time around people. I haven't shown myself for nearly fifty years. If I may ask…he paused, and then took a breath, though he didn't need to. Who are you?
Red hair and strange violet-blue eyes, but still transparent. "Kamiya Kaoru," she told him, bowing slightly. "And you?"
Himura Kenshin.
"It's a pleasure. Why don't you sit?" she kneeled in place, and he did so as well. "Now, what's keeping you here?"
He blinked. What?
His form was becoming more corporeal, more so than she'd ever seen a ghost. He was no longer transparent, and his knees were resting fully on the ground.
Kaoru sighed, a little impatiently. "I hope you're just surprised and not dense," she muttered, and then said, more loudly, "Ghosts. There are not very many on this earth, not at all. I've only met four or five in my life, and according to the man who told me about myself, that's more than most Undead ever meet. You're still here because you've got some sort of attachment to this earth."
Attachment? I have not been…attached to anything for a long time, that I haven't—I hadn't been attached to anything for a long time even when I was alive. I am a rurouni, a wanderer. He did a sudden double take, and Kaoru had to hold in a smile. Wait—Undead?
Yes, my prompt was zombie, and yes, there are ghosts in this as well. And yes, Kaoru is a zombie. But no, she does not eat brains. Well, not really.
Stay tuned to find out what happens next! *cheesy grin*
I'm kinda tired. Last night I went to bed at 10 and woke up at noon. Today I was still sleepy, and even took a nap at about 5-ish. But now I'm tired. I really need to catch up.
*sigh*
Night.
nebulia out
The ghost came to her for the first time as she was doing a kata in the dojo.
She felt it behind her, a breath of wind, sudden chill in the room.
Her heart stopped. She hadn't felt a ghost in a long time. Few of the dead remained attached to this earth, and few were as fluid but as grounded as the one whose mind had just brushed hers.
She dropped her bokken and whirled. "I won't hurt you," she said aloud.
Ghosts were terrified, flightly things, expecting attack at any minute.
This ghost was pale, white on white shadow, almost a mist, its features nearly indiscernible. She couldn't tell its sex, though it had long hair. It floated half an inch above the floor, in hakama, with a katana.
I'm not expecting to be hurt, it said into her mind, unafraid. Ghosts were not capable of verbalization, though none she had met had ever seemed to realize that/ That instinct wore off a century ago.
It seemed a bit clearer to her now; it smiled, she could tell, and its eyes, though still colorless were now visible, large.
It was a man—an effeminate-looking one, but a man nonetheless. A little taller than her, and old.
"What do you want?" she asked.
You just moved here?
"A few days ago. It was, supposedly, an old family home, but…" she shrugged. "At one point, my teenaged I-don't-know-how-many-greats-grandmother got blackmailed out of it and for most of the Meiji restoration, it was a gambling hall. How do you know it?"
Not as a gambling hall—simply a place I visited a few days before my death. A dojo, then, with an orphaned fifteen-year-old assistant master, I think. I barely remember her. I returned…after Meiji's death, and it was abandoned, so I stayed here. His face was clear now; he had a large cross-shaped scar on one cheek, and color was beginning to come to his hair. Red. Odd, because he seemed so Japanese…
He smiled ruefully. I'd escaped one too many exorcisms to want to spend time around people. I haven't shown myself for nearly fifty years. If I may ask…he paused, and then took a breath, though he didn't need to. Who are you?
Red hair and strange violet-blue eyes, but still transparent. "Kamiya Kaoru," she told him, bowing slightly. "And you?"
Himura Kenshin.
"It's a pleasure. Why don't you sit?" she kneeled in place, and he did so as well. "Now, what's keeping you here?"
He blinked. What?
His form was becoming more corporeal, more so than she'd ever seen a ghost. He was no longer transparent, and his knees were resting fully on the ground.
Kaoru sighed, a little impatiently. "I hope you're just surprised and not dense," she muttered, and then said, more loudly, "Ghosts. There are not very many on this earth, not at all. I've only met four or five in my life, and according to the man who told me about myself, that's more than most Undead ever meet. You're still here because you've got some sort of attachment to this earth."
Attachment? I have not been…attached to anything for a long time, that I haven't—I hadn't been attached to anything for a long time even when I was alive. I am a rurouni, a wanderer. He did a sudden double take, and Kaoru had to hold in a smile. Wait—Undead?
Yes, my prompt was zombie, and yes, there are ghosts in this as well. And yes, Kaoru is a zombie. But no, she does not eat brains. Well, not really.
Stay tuned to find out what happens next! *cheesy grin*
I'm kinda tired. Last night I went to bed at 10 and woke up at noon. Today I was still sleepy, and even took a nap at about 5-ish. But now I'm tired. I really need to catch up.
*sigh*
Night.
nebulia out
