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yakalskovich) wrote2004-09-14 10:12 pm
yakalskovich) wrote2004-09-14 10:12 pm
Displaced Drabble
Backstory for one of my charecters from the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
discworld_rpg
This should have gone as a drabble on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
freeformchick's journal where she's doing the backstory drabble meme, but it was too long for an LJ comment, so it goes here and gets linked from there.
Two Or Three Days
There were a few remarkable lily ponds in the wood near the castle; otherwise, the place was bleak and stark and boring. These insipid immortals were obsessed with death and darkness, bats and coffins and dungeons. Even when they "reformed", they still clung to it. Beth Metatronim loved the light in all its aspects, even though it would burn his skin within a few minutes.
That whole "vampiric reform" fad was the most ridiculous idea he had ever come across. For a vampire to stop drinking blood from the living vein and trying to consume human food was just as natural as trying to make a tiger eat grass. Unfortunately, his sister Gimel, always curious about the outside world, had decided that this was the way things were going, and so here he was, enduring the company of those simpering ex-bloodsuckers.
He was a bit angry at Gimel for abandoning him like this, for breaking out of their safe sibling world into a place where he could not, would not, follow her. To leave him stranded in a place where they'd once been together, now that Avirzah'e was hibernating in retreat slumber and probably wouldn't wake for the next three or five decades and Beth was truly alone. Damnation, he needed her - and now she had to do this to him!
And the company was infinitely grottaceous. Subterranean, even. Positively troglodytic.
First, there was that biddy, or rather, that old bat, as she pretended to be now. Seems all that "reform" nonsense had been her idea in the first place. Beth had met her a few times before that, and she'd been quite the ordinary Überwaldean vampire lady, underwired nightdresses, long black hair, the lot. Now she was just -- batty. Beth flippantly called her "Margo" and enjoyed annoying her. This was her turf, and she was disturbingly strong here.
Then there was the picture-box fellow, the "iconographer", a reformed vampire named Otto that Gimel had already known when they'd both still been themselves. He had that device where a small demon was trapped in a box and forced to paint exactly what it was shown for a fracture of a second - it painted incredibly true to nature, but with as much imagination as a block of wood. Expressionless, like a frozen image from a mirror, only it was the correct way around, like a painting. Beth had no time for that and told the Otto fellow so. The following debate was at least -- invigourating. Otto, though, was obviously, hopelessly, cruelly smitten with his mortal employer who published a "Newspaper" - another new-fangled invention.
Gimel had tried to explain to him what she was doing for the "Newspaper" - designing and selling "advertising". The concept broke Beth's brain, and she had given up. Asked why she didn't perform on stage as was her most innate art form, she matter-of-factly explained how women weren't allowed to in this part of the Disc. That broke Beth's brain some more. Gods, these people were benighted.
Then, Gimel had that human pet, a quite handsome and very masculine fellow who was apparently leading the local city watch. She wasn't doing anything with him, really, but still he was hers. She'd explained to Beth how that Lajos was darkly romantic, his sweet, longing sadness delicious to share. "He's in love, you know", she explained.
"How nice for you", Beth retorted.
"Oh, not with me", Gimel said. "He's deeply and heartbrokenly in love with an actor fellow whom he's only met once, years ago, and who doesn't care one jot about himl."
"I can imagine it must be poignant to witness that", Beth said, honestly. Beth wasn't one to scorn or deny emotions. "What an empty, pointless exercise, though. I'd have thought he'd forgotten about it all by now, and wouldn't moan so."
"Oh, he's recently met the fellow again, over the PC; that was when he fell in love with him."
"What's a PC?"
This new concept came close to breaking Beth's brain again, but he just hung on, and got the hang of it. Interesting device. Beth instantly wanted one as well, but Gimel explained they were only made in one place in Ankh-Morpork, and not easy to come by. She'd had hers from another human pet of hers, a student wizard who'd gone home to study some more.
Lajos had even written poems on the PC thing for his actor, all anonymous. But instead of mysteriously romantic, the actor found them just scary. Beth read them - they were a bit immature for a grown man, but not bad. Apparently he hadn't practiced his slightly rusted rhyming skills for some time. Some ideas were rather original - Beth liked the one about the "night-ghasts", which had a certain darkly naive something.
A lily pond and one mediocre human poet weren't enough to entertain Beth for a long time, though. Lajos, actually, had taken Beth aside and asked how long he was planing to stay, and did he need anything? Beth had said to never mind, he could very well remain without proper sustenance for the two or three days he was staying here with Gimel. There had been something in that man's dark blue eyes then, a sober disappointment, a short, dejected pain; but he had shrugged it off before Beth's very eyes, like someone used to rejection and thwarted hopes.
Beth was sitting at tea with the trio of ex-vampires when he decided to leave the next day. He actually quite liked tea, in its place, but having it drunk at him in reformed prissiness was just too much.
That was the moment when Lajos bounded in, like an enthusiastic poodle with a new toy. He had his PC device under his arm and opened it on the table. "Here I have the proof that iconographs can be art", he declared. Otto grinned delightedly, but Gimel groaned inwardly, quite clear to Beth's senses. Beth concluded that something that annoyed his sister must be good under the circumstances, and really looked at the thing. There were shadows over a staircase, a subject as odd as it was fascinating - and done in a wash of obscured colour that Beth could hardly believe was iconography. Instantly, his interest was woken. "Sorry for ruining your argument, Beth," Lajos said lightly, with a wistful grin that also woke Beth's interest. Well, he'd stay another day, then, and look into all of this. Some of it started to feel promising.
discworld_rpgThis should have gone as a drabble on
freeformchick's journal where she's doing the backstory drabble meme, but it was too long for an LJ comment, so it goes here and gets linked from there.Two Or Three Days
There were a few remarkable lily ponds in the wood near the castle; otherwise, the place was bleak and stark and boring. These insipid immortals were obsessed with death and darkness, bats and coffins and dungeons. Even when they "reformed", they still clung to it. Beth Metatronim loved the light in all its aspects, even though it would burn his skin within a few minutes.
That whole "vampiric reform" fad was the most ridiculous idea he had ever come across. For a vampire to stop drinking blood from the living vein and trying to consume human food was just as natural as trying to make a tiger eat grass. Unfortunately, his sister Gimel, always curious about the outside world, had decided that this was the way things were going, and so here he was, enduring the company of those simpering ex-bloodsuckers.
He was a bit angry at Gimel for abandoning him like this, for breaking out of their safe sibling world into a place where he could not, would not, follow her. To leave him stranded in a place where they'd once been together, now that Avirzah'e was hibernating in retreat slumber and probably wouldn't wake for the next three or five decades and Beth was truly alone. Damnation, he needed her - and now she had to do this to him!
And the company was infinitely grottaceous. Subterranean, even. Positively troglodytic.
First, there was that biddy, or rather, that old bat, as she pretended to be now. Seems all that "reform" nonsense had been her idea in the first place. Beth had met her a few times before that, and she'd been quite the ordinary Überwaldean vampire lady, underwired nightdresses, long black hair, the lot. Now she was just -- batty. Beth flippantly called her "Margo" and enjoyed annoying her. This was her turf, and she was disturbingly strong here.
Then there was the picture-box fellow, the "iconographer", a reformed vampire named Otto that Gimel had already known when they'd both still been themselves. He had that device where a small demon was trapped in a box and forced to paint exactly what it was shown for a fracture of a second - it painted incredibly true to nature, but with as much imagination as a block of wood. Expressionless, like a frozen image from a mirror, only it was the correct way around, like a painting. Beth had no time for that and told the Otto fellow so. The following debate was at least -- invigourating. Otto, though, was obviously, hopelessly, cruelly smitten with his mortal employer who published a "Newspaper" - another new-fangled invention.
Gimel had tried to explain to him what she was doing for the "Newspaper" - designing and selling "advertising". The concept broke Beth's brain, and she had given up. Asked why she didn't perform on stage as was her most innate art form, she matter-of-factly explained how women weren't allowed to in this part of the Disc. That broke Beth's brain some more. Gods, these people were benighted.
Then, Gimel had that human pet, a quite handsome and very masculine fellow who was apparently leading the local city watch. She wasn't doing anything with him, really, but still he was hers. She'd explained to Beth how that Lajos was darkly romantic, his sweet, longing sadness delicious to share. "He's in love, you know", she explained.
"How nice for you", Beth retorted.
"Oh, not with me", Gimel said. "He's deeply and heartbrokenly in love with an actor fellow whom he's only met once, years ago, and who doesn't care one jot about himl."
"I can imagine it must be poignant to witness that", Beth said, honestly. Beth wasn't one to scorn or deny emotions. "What an empty, pointless exercise, though. I'd have thought he'd forgotten about it all by now, and wouldn't moan so."
"Oh, he's recently met the fellow again, over the PC; that was when he fell in love with him."
"What's a PC?"
This new concept came close to breaking Beth's brain again, but he just hung on, and got the hang of it. Interesting device. Beth instantly wanted one as well, but Gimel explained they were only made in one place in Ankh-Morpork, and not easy to come by. She'd had hers from another human pet of hers, a student wizard who'd gone home to study some more.
Lajos had even written poems on the PC thing for his actor, all anonymous. But instead of mysteriously romantic, the actor found them just scary. Beth read them - they were a bit immature for a grown man, but not bad. Apparently he hadn't practiced his slightly rusted rhyming skills for some time. Some ideas were rather original - Beth liked the one about the "night-ghasts", which had a certain darkly naive something.
A lily pond and one mediocre human poet weren't enough to entertain Beth for a long time, though. Lajos, actually, had taken Beth aside and asked how long he was planing to stay, and did he need anything? Beth had said to never mind, he could very well remain without proper sustenance for the two or three days he was staying here with Gimel. There had been something in that man's dark blue eyes then, a sober disappointment, a short, dejected pain; but he had shrugged it off before Beth's very eyes, like someone used to rejection and thwarted hopes.
Beth was sitting at tea with the trio of ex-vampires when he decided to leave the next day. He actually quite liked tea, in its place, but having it drunk at him in reformed prissiness was just too much.
That was the moment when Lajos bounded in, like an enthusiastic poodle with a new toy. He had his PC device under his arm and opened it on the table. "Here I have the proof that iconographs can be art", he declared. Otto grinned delightedly, but Gimel groaned inwardly, quite clear to Beth's senses. Beth concluded that something that annoyed his sister must be good under the circumstances, and really looked at the thing. There were shadows over a staircase, a subject as odd as it was fascinating - and done in a wash of obscured colour that Beth could hardly believe was iconography. Instantly, his interest was woken. "Sorry for ruining your argument, Beth," Lajos said lightly, with a wistful grin that also woke Beth's interest. Well, he'd stay another day, then, and look into all of this. Some of it started to feel promising.
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*evil grin*
This was the fifth drabble for today (well, it was a bit long for a drabble; with a drabble, you're not supposed to scroll), and there is a sixth still in my DeepestSender being worked on, and then tomorrow morning my time I'll answer the remaining ones from the backstory drabble meme.
And then I just found that there is now fanfic for one of my oldest fandoms, and I am so writing the one thing that I always felt needed to be written there, after all this drabblage...
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Shutting up now.
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