britomart_is (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
britomart_is) wrote2011-05-05 11:10 am
britomart_is) wrote2011-05-05 11:10 am
The time, it is stamped.
Give me one of my own stories, and a timestamp sometime in the future after the end of the story, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll write you at least a hundred however many words of what happened then, whether it's five minutes before the story started or ten years in the future.
For reference, stuff I've written.
Don't feel obligated to request something just to feed my ego, it doesn't need the help (the analogy that just popped into my head is that my ego is like one of those squirrels in parks who are used to handouts of human food so they get really aggressive and beat you up and steal your lunch money/your lunch). But I'm working on multiple larger projects and would love to have some prompts I can whip out when I need a (productive) break, so if you want to take advantage of my procrastination, fire away!
For reference, stuff I've written.
Don't feel obligated to request something just to feed my ego, it doesn't need the help (the analogy that just popped into my head is that my ego is like one of those squirrels in parks who are used to handouts of human food so they get really aggressive and beat you up and steal your lunch money/your lunch). But I'm working on multiple larger projects and would love to have some prompts I can whip out when I need a (productive) break, so if you want to take advantage of my procrastination, fire away!
1/2
The winter lasts for a very long time, but it never snows. Maybe it has always been winter.
Spring comes suddenly, and it takes some time for body to thaw.
Body lies quiet and still and sits where it is propped. Soon He will come back and body will feel the vibrations of voice, feel the gravel beneath walking feet. Body waits and waits, but nothing happens. Body grows concerned that He is never coming back and that body will rot and bloat and smell, which is distressing for reasons body can't quite pin down.
Colors and shapes blur all around body. Body's eyes focus. There's a person out there. Hello, person, body thinks.
Body didn't used to think so much. It used to be colder. It used to be ... crowded.
Time passes and body doesn't seem to rot, even though He doesn't come back. Body idles like a driverless car, and why is that, why is it that body knows the thunder-rumble and the bone-shaking quiver of engines?
When body accidentally moves an arm, it stops immediately and waits for pain that never comes. The next time it happens, it's on purpose. Daring, experimental, body wants at its leg, and the leg moves! Body listens closely, but no, body is still alone, He didn't move the leg. Body did.
Once emboldened, body grows reckless. It watches the person moving around out in the world, standing and walking and things, and one day body tries standing. It takes a liking to it, and from then on body stands whenever it can.
Even though it isn't winter any more, sometimes there are chills, and sometimes there are things that hurt, and the person makes the cold and the pain go away with blankets and band-aids and sometimes food that makes body's stomach stop cramping when body puts the food inside. The person has green eyes and makes lots of noises. It looks at body's eyes a lot. Body names the person Handsome Man and hopes that he doesn't go away.
Sometimes body wakes up with wet on its face. There are bad things at night; at night it's still winter. Once body wakes up with a knot of hurt in its throat and its throat vibrates and sound comes out. Body is startled into silence. Drawing up its courage, body hums its throat, tries to replicate those vibrations again.
Body practices its throat-humming a lot, but mostly when the Handsome Man is away, because when Handsome Man is there and hears body, he seems to get very upset. Now that body's paying close attention, most of Handsome Man's wide range of noises actually mean things that body understands. But when Handsome Man's green eyes go wide and he gets up close, he mostly makes the Sam noise. Sam Sam Sam, Handsome Man says, and body feels bad for upsetting him, so it stops trying to make sound.
2/2
Then.
Maybe.
Body wakes up with wet on its face again. Handsome Man is touching body's head and shoulder and chest, and it makes the Sam noise, quietly. Body doesn't want Handsome Man to be sad, and body thinks about how wonderful it would be if body could talk to Handsome Man and tell him not to be sad. Talk to him. Talk to him.
Handsome Man pulls body in close and body feels Handsome Man's heart thudding. They both have heartbeats. That one is Handsome Man's, and this one is ...
Mine, body decides, and its heartbeat goes faster, which is uncomfortable but exciting. My heartbeat, and if it belongs to body now, and if the arms and the legs and the throat do too, then body isn't really body, exactly.
Self has watched the Handsome Man smile very carefully, because it's good when Handsome Man smiles, and Self decides that he will learn how to do it, too. He'll practice that, along with making the right noises, until he can talk to the Handsome Man and tell him not to be sad, because he's so good and he makes Self not hurt and he's beautiful when he smiles. There's no good reason to be sad, as far as Self can see. They're warm and nothing hurts and they both have heartbeats of their very own.
Handsome Man gives Self soup to eat, and Self tests out a smile, but Handsome Man has turned around again and missed it. Handsome Man keeps talking while Self eats. Handsome Man is talking about the winter outside, and if Self had worked out his own talking a little better, he would correct Handsome Man, because Self knows winter very well, and the snow outside is not winter. Sometimes Self has wanted to give up on talking in frustration, because he knows the words but not how to make them come out right.
They sit on a couch and eat food that burns Self's mouth. Later when Self's belly is full and Handsome Man is talking, Handsome Man catches Self looking at him. Self likes to look. Handsome Man comes up so close that Self can smell the spicy on his breath, and Handsome Man makes the Sam noise, loud.
A thought distracts Self so he stops looking. Usually he feels bad for Handsome Man because Handsome Man keeps trying to talk to Him, but He isn't there and hasn't been ever since spring came. But sometimes -- and this thought makes Self's stomach clench up and his palms sweat -- sometimes he dares to think that Handsome Man is talking to Self.
If that's true, then everything changes. Self thinks about it in the dark, when the sheets are cold because Handsome Man hasn't come to bed yet.
Self wakes up from winter with a twitch and a gasp. He blinks the wet out of his eyes. Handsome Man is still sleeping, curled on his side with an arm under the pillow. During the day Handsome Man can do just about anything, banishing cold and bringing food and walking and talking like it's nothing, so beautifully himself, at home in his own body. In sleep, Handsome Man seems softer and sadder and smaller.
Self doesn't want to wake Handsome Man. Self is dry-mouthed tight-jawed hand-shaking frightened about tomorrow and he thinks it's better to practice now, while Handsome Man is asleep and gone away. He makes the rumble in his throat stay small and quiet. "Hello."
Sparks and shivers run all over Self's body. A pleasant sensation aches his face and he realizes he's smiling without even trying.
He leans in closer, elbows on the sheets. "Hello, Handsome Man." From here Self can see every individual eyelash. "I'm going to meet you tomorrow," Self says, low and secret. He hopes it's a good surprise and that it makes Handsome Man smile.
Self puts his head on the same pillow as Handsome Man and lets their knees touch. He presses his toe against the top of Handsome Man's foot. It's warm in the bed. Warm keeps the winter out. Sam shifts closer and drapes an arm over Handsome Man's waist, sneaks an ankle between his legs. Makes sure Handsome Man is warm, too.
Re: 2/2
Loved it, loved it, and it was a glorious thing to wake up to :)
Re: 2/2
Re: 2/2
The fascination with Handsome Man (:D!) was so...ngh. Little Sammy learning to worship his brother all over again. ♥