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Infinipede's Infinifics; One-shots and short fic.
Topic Started: Aug 16 2013, 09:55 PM (729 Views)
Infinipede
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Besides Negistuck, I have one complete Negima fic, one incomplete one I've been writing out of order, and several ideas I may or may not go places with. Just gonna put down the one I have, and hopefully crank out some more soon.

I go by Mojanbo on AO3 just so there's no confusion.




Didn't You Come Knocking On My Door
(Post-series AU. Chisame and Negi's illegitimate son seeks out his birth mother after rejecting the Ostian throne.)

Quote:
 
She stands in the doorway, behind the chain of the deadbolt, haloed by the glow of computer monitors. The young man in front of her grips a scrap of paper, head nestled between his shoulders like he wants to blend into the hallway's wallpaper.

"Hello, mother," he says.

She turns, chokes back a sob, and eases open the door.


-----

He came in to a home carpeted with filth and the tokens of a hoarder. The windows shut and covered, the lights off. The kitchen swarmed with flies. He sits down on a cardboard box and it sags beneath him.

"Tell me about my father."

She's slumped in an office chair, her face lit sickly blue by the reflection of humorless code on the screen. The keyboard breaks the silence before she does. She never answers, but he's used to going unanswered.

When she asks the name they gave him, he takes a day to respond.


-----


She leaves the house once in the next week, tangled hair tied in a bun and glasses taped together at the bridge, and comes home with ten thousand yen worth of cup noodles, fresh fish and microwave dinners. The fish, wrapped in brown paper, is tossed in the fridge next to soggy rice on a plastic-wrapped plate and half a package of moldy bread.

It stays in the fridge as he forgets what day it is, until he takes it out and cooks it. It's dry and tastes like sickness. He remembers reading about aquaculture and fish swimming in their own filth before the slaughter.

They barely talk but she lets him stay.

-----


"How do you live like this?" He snips at her damp hair with scissors, and she lays back in the chair, still.

"You're living here, too," she snaps, and he sees an old fire she must have once had flicker at the surface, then fade to cinders.

The shick, shick of the scissor blades is a welcome change in sound. They don't have silence anymore, only the hum of electronics and the muffled noise of the city below.

"I don't have anywhere to go." He pauses. "I don't want to be a prince and I don't want to live in the magic country." He sets down the scissors and hands her the mirror.

"Like mother, like son," she says, and she gives him her most sincere smile.


-----

One day she opens the window in the kitchen (the cold air kills flies, she says,) and he watches her stare out at the street in vigil, like a gargoyle on a castle roof.

"Shouta is a stupid name," she says. "It's ironic, though."

The back of her head is familiar. It's what he knows best. He rubs the sponge in lazy circles on the plate but never looks away. She doesn't say anything else, and unasked questions linger on his tongue. He takes a chance.

"What would you have named me?," he asks.

Her answer is immediate. "I didn't want kids."

He replies in kind. "I know you didn't."


-----

Over a dinner of chicken and noodles cooked in the cold kitchen, he asks again.

"Tell me about my father."

She fiddles with her food. "He was an idiot. Too nice for his own good."

He shoves a serving into his mouth and talks around it. "They told me he saved the magic world."

"He did." She scoffs. "I helped."

She look down at her plate, then over at the fridge. Her eyes trace a path around the apartment that avoids him.

"You both must've been brave," he says. The plate is empty and he angles it to change the shape of his reflection.

The still air cracks as she laughs. "I was a fuckin' coward."

Her wry laughter fills the house and he feels like he's seeing something he shouldn't.


-----

This time, she talks. She grabs his shoulder and sits him down on the armrest of the next chair over. He feels her quivering even after she lets go.

A deep breath. "Your father and I never married. He doesn't even know he has a son."

"I figured." He tries to look away but the intensity of her eyes and the tired lines in her face force him back. "How did you know that he died?"

She palms at the pocket of her sweatpants like she's going to pull out her wallet. Her fingers stop short of taking it out. "I did freelance work for him. His secretary told me the day after it happened."

"I see." He remembers the android secretary who gave him his mother's address. We used to be good friends, she told him. From the way her eyes cast down with a weariness he never knew was possible from a robot, he figured it was best not to ask. "Don't you regret it?"

"What? Fucking your dad?" She gives a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sneer but her posture is still shaky and uncertain. "Giving you up?"

"I meant leaving him," he said.

"We were never together. I avoided him after that night, and about a year later he got married."

She breaks eye contact, finally, and he takes a deep breath. He collects and organizes his thoughts, dusts off old curiosities and opens drawers full of unanswered questions.

"Yeah, I regret it." She looks away still. He closes the drawers because for a moment the corners of her mouth and eyes look far older than they should.


-----

He gets a job - data entry - and an old friend offers to rent out his basement so the commute is shorter. His things are neatly packed over two weeks into little boxes, and then a rolling suitcase. He brought very little and bought even less. He tugs the suitcase out the door on its three intact wheels, and when he comes back inside for his clothes, she's standing in the living room expectantly.

"You should take this."

She approaches him purposefully, fishes around in her pocket, and places an old, faded card in his open palm. It's an image of a smiling girl with long hair in a frilly costume, holding a toy scepter and a familiar pair of glasses. Hasegawa Chisame. She looks nothing like his mother.

He wants to ask, what happened?, but he stops himself. "Really? It looks important."

"It's got no purpose anymore," she says. The way her gaze settles into a cobwebbed corner of the room, he feels she hasn't finished that thought. "You look like him."

He gingerly drops the card into his jacket pocket. "Dad had red hair, right?"

"Yeah, but you both have these damn doe eyes that make you impossible to hate," she says, and a smile plays on the corners of her mouth.

He reaches to the floor for the bag of clean clothes and tosses them under his arm, opening the door with his free hand. "I thought you said he was an idiot."

"He was." She puts a hand to her face that hides her expression perfectly, and her voice muffles and drains of strength. "I loved him anyways."

-----

They lose contact after he moves.

One day he finds and watches a recording of the Ostian coronation ceremony. His father's widow crowns the princess with teary eyes and a smile. The crowd - enough to fill ten stadiums - cheers and applauds. He shuts his laptop and curls up under his burdens. Maybe it's better this way. Despite her smile, his mother on the card seems to disagree. She watches what he becomes leaned against a monitor on a table covered in office supplies and dirty plates.

Chisame's pactio card is shredded and thrown out with the empty noodle cups.
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Darkenning
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Pervert. Also, Witch.
What a bleak, cheerless story. Well done.
"Hello! I'm Rurin, the Magical Mouse! My favorite food is cheese! My favorite pastimes are tormenting cats and facilitating romance! I have the power to bind the souls of guys who mistreat women to the depths of hell and subject them to everlasting karmic suffering! Isn't that cute? Pleased to meet you!" -- Rurin, the Magical Mouse, Magical Patissiere Kosaki-chan.
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IAmNotCreativeEnough
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Coming from him, that actually means a lot. Darkenning does live up to his name.
rikalous wrote
 
Yes I am. I said I would, and I hate going back on my word. IANCE, you pustulating whoreson, I am going to find you when this is over. They will make a torture porn movie about your death, and they will have to tone it down to maintain suspension of disbelief.

Shadow Crystal Mage wrote
 
There there. Go do evil things in the name of the government to feel better.


There Be Whales Here
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OverMaster
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Oboy. Whee.

Found in the amazing world of Tumblr!

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a lot of people on the tvtropes forums have been total assholes


Since talking ill of another Internet site's regulars where most of those involved there won't read it, that is behind their backs, is so classy instead. Tch tch. I am disappoint.
What is the point anymore?
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Hyp3rB14d3
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Isn't that exactly what we're doing with our review of Chaos Mage?
Ryouga Quest
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Infinipede
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OverMaster
Aug 24 2013, 03:09 PM
Found in the amazing world of Tumblr!

Quote:
 
a lot of people on the tvtropes forums have been total assholes


Since talking ill of another Internet site's regulars where most of those involved there won't read it, that is behind their backs, is so classy instead. Tch tch. I am disappoint.
Is it appropriate at all to bring that up in this thread? (Not rhetorical, actually curious if this is considered a general "infinipede discussion thread" or not.)

You might notice that post was made quite a while before I decided to even show my face on the tvtropes forums. I actually debated joining because of some of the stuff I had said on tumblr (and yes, the fact that the thread had quite a lot of vitriol and anger was upsetting to see,) but in the end I decided even if I wasn't gonna share my fanfic, I should at least not let fanwork for troper fics go unseen by tropers.

Really, everything on the internet is public but I didn't expect the Tumblr Expedition Club out in full force. (I'm sorry, joke presented itself, couldn't back down.)

After I joined I cut down on the public shittalking, for example, answering Overmaster's anon messages in a PM on here rather than put them on tumblr for everyone to see (because I know there are some people who probably would have posted nasty responses to them.) I know Overmaster had dug through my tumblr a bit, though I didn't know to what extent, and I was determined to clear the air of things I had said in the past that he had seen privately, between the two of us, because he was hurt by my comments about URAE.

If you are determined to clear everything out here, Overmaster, then you can, please just keep what I said in mind.





Anyways, I came in here to drop off a segment of aforementioned "fic I am working on out of order," which is basically my guilty pleasure attempt to sail my ship post-series in a way that makes sense and is hopefully interesting enough to read even if you don't ship it yadda yadda. (My biggest concern at the moment: to lemon or not to lemon. But that's a lot later.)

Quote:
 
"I still can't believe you don't drive." Chisame turned the key and the car whirred to life as Negi buckled himself into the passenger seat.

"Well, I can augment my speed and fly with magic," Negi said, "and Ayaka has a limo with coolers behind the seats, and-"

Chisame's palm pushed Negi to the side until his cheek hit the cold glass of the window. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not rich! Turn the radio on, the belts make annoying noises after it rains."

Negi fiddled with the knob that controlled the car radio. The indie rock station played for a few seconds, followed by static and snippets of talk radio and rap music before settling into the classical station. He closed his eyes and lay back against the headrest.

The car pressed on through the damp night air as the rain picked up again, hammering the windshield worse by the second until Chisame had to pull over on the highway and wait out the storm. Passing cars slowed and turned their warning lights on. A couple of sharp knocking noises that could have been hail hit the car and Chisame cringed. The last thing she needed was to have to pay for windshield repairs on a car she never drove.

Lightning crackled through the sky, followed by a peal of thunder loud enough to make Negi jump in his seat. "Where are we?" He wiped the fogginess off of the window.

"Side of the highway. If you mean which exit, your guess is as good as mine." Chisame stifled a yawn. "I lost track after I pulled over."

Negi stared out the window at the rain. "Well, Chachamaru said we just have to get to the end of the highway, then turn right onto the main road. So I think we'll be okay."

The wind whooshed past and Negi turned the knob through twenty different kinds of radio static. Chisame grabbed his hand and pushed it away, shutting the radio off herself.

"Ain't gonna work. The only stations I pick up are local."

Even though he was older than the last time Chisame had seen him, Negi's disappointed pout was still cute enough to give the smallest, fluffiest puppy a run for its money. She pressed a palm to her face and felt the warmth from her cheeks spread to her hand. What a stupid brat.... eight damn years and he's still a brat.

The patter of the rain on the windshield had eased up a bit, and Chisame looked up to see it clearing up slightly. She turned the warning lights off and merged back onto the highway. Lightning arched across the horizon. Negi watched the exits flash by through the window, humming to himself. The car slowed to a crawl and Chisame turned off of the highway and onto the flooded main drag.

"Third street on the right?"

Negi stopped humming in the middle of a long note. "Mhm."

"I didn't know you liked classical music so much, but I guess I was trying to think outside of the stereotype," Chisame said.

"Well, Nekane liked it, so I listened to a lot of it when I was younger. That and tea. She drank a lot of tea."

"So she was the stereotype, then." Chisame yawned and pulled over next to Negi's driveway. "We're here. So, uh-"

"You look really tired." Negi had unbuckled when the car stopped and turned to look Chisame in the eyes. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Yeah, because someone who doesn't do anything but write code all night has a normal sleep schedule... but the concern present in his eyes and the way the corners of his mouth twitched when he overthought things (a tic he apparently hadn't gotten over) made Chisame consider toning down the sarcasm.

"No, I've been pulling all-nighters." She yawned again, and cursed how talking about being tired made her more tired.

"Well, if it'd make the drive back a bit easier, maybe you could come in and I could fix some tea-"

Chisame gripped Negi's forehead, pushing his hair up at odd angles. He looked at her with the most sincerely confused expression and squeaked out her name. It was his "I have no idea what I just did wrong" reaction and it was the same exact thing he had done in these situations years ago. Chisame sighed.

"Okay, but nothing too caffeinated. Contrary to what you might think I want to sleep tonight."

-----

The kitchen of Negi's house was small and simple, with white counters, cabinets and tile, and barely enough room for two people to cook, let alone one human and the robot he lived with. Chisame absentmindedly wondered if Chachamaru ever hit her "ears" on the cabinet handles. Her friend did seem to spend a lot of time here - everything in the kitchen that wasn't plain white was cat-themed, from the potholders with images of fluffy folk art cats printed over them to a wooden plaque set on the windowpane: a image of a freakishly long necked black tom, with the words "le chat" printed below him in frilly cursive.

"Who does most of the cooking?" Chisame figured she already knew the answer but the sound of idle conversation was preferable to the clatter of metal tea containers.

"Chachamaru does, but I'm learning. Satsuki emails me recipes sometimes and I try them out, but honestly I really only know how to make scrambled eggs." Negi opened a container and the scent of loose-leaf tea wafted across the kitchen.

Chisame chuckled. "Just a few rice dishes, here... and, well, I know how to crack an egg into cup ramen so that it poaches in the cup."

Negi set the leaves into an infuser and hung that on the edge of a full kettle. "You'll have to teach me sometime." He smiled and sat down on the stool across from Chisame.

"So." Chisame cleared her throat. "I figure I should tell you now, because you're still screwing up dealing with girls somehow."

"Tell me what- Oh... did I say something wrong in the car? Are girls offended by tea? Nekane never-" Chisame silenced Negi by reaching across the counter and grabbing his forehead again.

"Look, I'm just gonna put this as bluntly as possible, and I'm not gonna repeat it. If you invite a girl in after a date for something insignificant like coffee or tea, what you're really doing is inviting her in for sex." Chisame let go of Negi and adjusted her glasses in a gesture she hoped looked sufficiently annoyed. He took on an expression she knew too well - hands in front of his chest, palms out, eyes wide and apologetic. Crisis management, she called it, but only in her head and never to his face.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, you just looked tired, you know I'd never-"

She grabbed him by the collar with one hand (and he was too heavy for her to lift, so it was mostly for dramatic effect.) "You'd never what?" Her face burned. Her whole damn body burned from head to toe, her other hand was at the ready, open palm, fingers curling and uncurling.

"I'd never invite you in on such a premise, Chisame, just the thought of-"

She slapped him across the face. Her whole body felt like lightning crackling to her brain and it was the most alive she'd felt in years. She felt the afterimage of the path her hand had taken when she hit him as Negi held his hand up to his cheek and looked down with the same pout.

"What I meant was, well..." His voice trailed off until it was too quiet to hear.

"I know damn well what you meant." She remembered the loud and commandeering and somehow still nervous tone she had taken with him when she was his "advisor" and tried to assume it again, and it was still there. More loud but also more nervous. "Look, you don't tell a girl you don't want to fuck her. If she likes you that's a huge damn insult!"

"So what do I say!?" Negi's voice rose. "Yes, Chisame, I would very much like to make love to you-"

She pressed down on the top of his head, silencing him again. Her hand ached red and raw where she had hit him. "You don't say anything," she growled.

"I'm sorry."

Chisame leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "I honestly wonder how many hearts you broke without me around."

"I haven't had time for dating or things like that. I've been busy with the terraforming project. It's difficult, there's been a lot of opposition from some of the people of Mundus Magicus now that the details of our plan have gone public... But I know you don't really want to hear about it. I'll just say it's stressful." Negi put his hand to his cheek again. "It stings, but it's kind of nostalgic."

"Someone has to hit some sense into you." Chisame smiled.

"Well, Chachamaru did a few weeks ago. She told me that it's what you would have done." The kettle whistled, and Negi hopped off the stool and over to the stove, slipping an oven mitt onto his hand. "I missed having you around."

"Have you been saying stuff like that to girls? Jeez, you're a wreck without me."

As Negi poured the tea into white china cups, Chisame went over the events leading up to her hitting him in her mind. Everything before was a blur of anger and heat, and she couldn't remember why she got so upset. The feeling lingered at the forefront of her mind as she thought of everything he had said and what was insulting enough to make her go off like that. No, that's wasn't it. That definitely wasn't it.
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rikalous
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Creature of the Deep

Quote:
 
Not rhetorical, actually curious if this is considered a general "infinipede discussion thread" or not.
Well, The Darkenned World basically became Darkenning General (and sometimes Discussion General, hence the name and subtitle for Actual Discussion Thread) once he got banned from tvtropes , so there's precedent. I'm sure the line of conversation can be moved elsewhere if you don't want it here, though.
Let's Watch Nanoha
Wits, magic, and hardboiled monologues.
My other claims to fame.
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rikalous
Aug 25 2013, 01:19 AM
Quote:
 
Not rhetorical, actually curious if this is considered a general "infinipede discussion thread" or not.
Well, The Darkenned World basically became Darkenning General (and sometimes Discussion General, hence the name and subtitle for Actual Discussion Thread) once he got banned from tvtropes , so there's precedent. I'm sure the line of conversation can be moved elsewhere if you don't want it here, though.
It's fine. I'd prefer the general Infinipede thread + art thread over the "get angry at Infinipede" thread any day, really. (I really don't post on tvtropes much, as I've said, the interface is not what I'm used to.)
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OverMaster
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Oboy. Whee.

Read today.

Quote:
 
so like. i feel like she’s dead. I mean, in UQ Holder she canonically is, but really I feel like her memory is dead

Chisame Is Over

or something like that

anyways i’mhaving horrible feelings over this and it’s awful


Quote:
 
this was his chance

this was his chance to fix it and he didn’t

i’ll be okay. i just need some time. thank you for understanding

a lot of people don’t seem to? like “oh its just a manga they dont exist” BITCH ILL EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN WHATEVER I WANT I DONT NEED YOUR PERMISSION TO BE SAD

Ken Akamatsu owes me a blanket and some hot chocolate if I ever meet him.


All is forgiven, BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Edited by OverMaster, Aug 26 2013, 02:24 PM.
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IAmNotCreativeEnough
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Me understands emotional investment in people who are clearly not real. I was genuinelly sad when GT killed off Mr. Piccolo.
rikalous wrote
 
Yes I am. I said I would, and I hate going back on my word. IANCE, you pustulating whoreson, I am going to find you when this is over. They will make a torture porn movie about your death, and they will have to tone it down to maintain suspension of disbelief.

Shadow Crystal Mage wrote
 
There there. Go do evil things in the name of the government to feel better.


There Be Whales Here
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OverMaster
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Oboy. Whee.

Well, at least Toriyama has made clear GT isn't canon! So cheer up, champ!
What is the point anymore?
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Shadow Crystal Mage
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OVERLORD OF ALL CRACK!

On General Infinipede stuff... what maps of Mahora do you need? I'm reasonably sure I can do the dorms, the outsdie of Sarbooks coffe, and the Chao Bho Zi area, but the areas under the library might be a little nuts. I don't think I have the right texture maps for that. Also, I've forgotten which of my texture maps and items are standard and which are custom.
I AM THE OVERLORD OF ALL CRACK!!!!!!
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IAmNotCreativeEnough
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@OverMaster

But I LIKED that scene! It was frikkin' beautiful! I cried! Honest to goodness tears of sadness! From ME of all people!

I also cried when the narrator said "La aventura de DragonBall... ha llegado a su fin.".

For some reason, while I have a very hard time caring about real people, it seems I don't have too much of an issue when it comes to caring about fictional people. I'll just blame it on Toriyama creating a masterpiece of manga and anime that I followed religiously throughout my childhood.

.... *sniff* SEÑOR PIKOROOOOOOOOO!
rikalous wrote
 
Yes I am. I said I would, and I hate going back on my word. IANCE, you pustulating whoreson, I am going to find you when this is over. They will make a torture porn movie about your death, and they will have to tone it down to maintain suspension of disbelief.

Shadow Crystal Mage wrote
 
There there. Go do evil things in the name of the government to feel better.


There Be Whales Here
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Shadow Crystal Mage
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OVERLORD OF ALL CRACK!

Great sarcasm IANCE! I almost thought you were serious!
I AM THE OVERLORD OF ALL CRACK!!!!!!
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IAmNotCreativeEnough
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I shits you not.
rikalous wrote
 
Yes I am. I said I would, and I hate going back on my word. IANCE, you pustulating whoreson, I am going to find you when this is over. They will make a torture porn movie about your death, and they will have to tone it down to maintain suspension of disbelief.

Shadow Crystal Mage wrote
 
There there. Go do evil things in the name of the government to feel better.


There Be Whales Here
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