And so begins my delving in to the Tome of Unwritten Works for content.
This was originally thought up about 12 months ago in the middle of a night after waking up at roughly 1 in the morning. I lay there for a few minutes and then this spark of inspiration hit. Half hour later, I was busy jotting down plot notes. This was a month or three after starting to read a book called The Weird, a compilation of short stories that all had an aspect of strange, unusual happenings that occasionally bordered on supernatural (more details on these in a future post, perhaps) from such authors as Franz Khafka, Steven King, H. P. Lovecraft and William Gibson.
I remember that I should have written the entire thing out that night/within a few days because I quickly lost the inspiration impetus and the will & time to write it faded. I also remember that I intended this to be a longer story (details at the end, after the conclusion) that possibly would have been a story to fill out for NaNoWriMo, if I were ever to do one, but I have decided that it is not necessary, nor could I carry it on to novel length (again, details at the end).
Bed is made, lunch is sorted and packed. Time?
*check watch*
0749
Excellent, on time today. Maybe even early, depending on how good the walk is.
*leave home*
*lock door*
*start walking North up street*
Jeez, it's a good day -
*brief look up to sky*
- for early Winter. The clouds are far and wide spread, white. Sunny. It's warm. Must be about 20 degrees.
*brief check phone for current temperature*
22. Wow, looks like it will probably hold too. A light breeze from the West, but it's not as chilly as yesterday morning's.
Oop, person coming.
*brief nod*
"Morning."
*other person nods and says "Good Morning."*
*smile as person walks by*
I think that moving here was one of the better things that I have done. The people seem quite friendly. I think that's the benefit of moving away from the larger central locations: The more crowded it gets, the more people try to hold back, close themselves in. It's like a defense mechanism. It just seems like people are more open out here where the space is more open. The open air is better and people just seem more... I don't know.... free, I suppose. You just couldn't - oop, another one -
*smile*
"Good Morning."
*older person smiles, tips head and jovially says "How's it goin'?"*
"Great, how are you?"
*older person winks and says "Not bad, have a good one."*
"You too."
*person walks by*
See, that's just another example of the good life people seem to be leading out here.
*wait by corner as car moves in front*
*car has moved on, street is clear*
*move across*
Right, today's itinerary. Today should be a breeze: most of the hard work was done in the past week. After finishing the installation of the next two systems today or tomorrow, and the usual generic troubleshooting, the whole place ought to be moving a whole lot more smoothly. It's not that it was bad before, it's just that it could have been run better. This upgrade will bring it in line with everything else in the city. The whole service will then be updated and should work well for the next ten or so years. This is really a step forward and I'm proud to have done my part with it. Today is looking up, I think.
*loud noise*
*look up*
*primary school children running*
*"HI!" shouts one, waving as she goes by*
*smile and wave back*
"Hi!"
*"BYE!" as the last one waves and goes past*
"Bye!"
I remember being like that. It wasn't that long ago, really. Run past the old tree, right to the corner of Jones Street, Wait for the lollipop lady to stop the traffic. Walk, always walk or you would get in to trouble, across the road, then start sprinting again until you hit the school.
Ahh... good times.
*notice younger high school kids approaching*
*nod head*
"Morning."
*the one on the right barely tips head whilst maintaining eye contact, the one on the left appears to be in deep concentration or otherwise distracted*
*notice something... indescribable*
...Huh... That was... odd...
*turn back whilst still walking forward*
*the one who is on the right has also turned back whilst walking slower, a look of vague confusion on his face*
*stop as he stops and exchange glances*
*shake head for a moment before returning to face forward and walk*
I'm not really sure what just happened but something a little... strange. I... don't know. Unusual.
Umm...
Moving on...
*notice the breeze from the south*
*shiver*
Damn, who turned the air conditioning on? It's a lot more chilly than before.
*notice that the light has visibly dimmed*
*look up*
Where did that black cloud come from?
*look down to ground*
*wrap arms around self*
Uhh...
So ... Yeah, so the only real issue will be management. I think they will throw a spanner in the works when they see the corners cut to get things done. Documentation of how it was done is not as important as actually doing it. If we waste time on that, we will never get it done on time and then management will whinge at how much over this is costing every day. And the meetings. Jeez, I mean -
*sound of car horn*
*look up and stop walking*
*notice car has had to swerve around you as you stepped off the curb*
*notice angry driver glaring at you, raising arms to ask what you were thinking*
*raise hands up defensively*
"My bad, Sorry!"
*driver shakes head and drives off*
*resume walking*
Wow... my mind is off today.
...
Anyway, management.
Yeah, with their incessant meetings and progress checks, it's hard to get anywhere when you are subjected to daily meetings detailing progress. I mean if I'm in a meeting, I am not working on the project. If I'm typing up documentation that really doesn't need to be done then I can't do work. And if I'm in a meeting I can't do anything to the -
Wait...
Now I'm in cyclic thoughts.
Dammit.
*notice that legs are exerting more energy than expected*
*realise this is because of a hill*
*notice a sharper, colder breeze has kicked up*
*shiver*
*check watch*
0801
I do not have a good feeling about today...
"So I was watching X-Men this morning and I was thinking just how much superheroes and superpowers have changed in the past... I don't know... century," Daniel said.
"Century?" asked James.
"Well I guess that's how long they have been around. Comics and things like that."
"Right."
They crossed the road to start the descent down the hill.
"Yeah, look at the older style heroes. Superman, for example, has been around forever and can do EVERYTHING: Fly, impervious to damage -"
"Except for Kyptonite."
"Well yeah... But that's kinda the point I'm getting to. See, as time has gone on, the heroes are getting less powerful and have more weaknesses or use their abilities less for some reason."
"Oh... Kay..."
"No, really, think about it: Heroes these days are getting hurt more often. Back in the day, it was nearly unthinkable for a hero to take any form of real damage. These days, not a day goes by without half a story being told where the hero has been crippled or beaten before rising up again."
"For example?"
"OK, how about Batman."
James snorted. "Batman's been around forever. Didn't they have, like, a live action TV show ages ago or something?"
"Hmm... maybe. Dunno. I'll look it up on the internet later. But think of recent times. The most recent Batman movies has him nearly dead or completely failing for half of the movie."
"Another thing: Batman's not a real superhero."
"Hey? Why not?" Daniel looked puzzled.
"He's got no superpowers. All of his stuff is technological advancement and having a shitload of money to throw around."
"Yeah, but it's close enough."
"Meh. Let's try a different example then. X-Men, you said."
"Yeah, ok. Storm. Weather Control. That's Game Over for anyone opposing you, right? So why isn't she running the world or something? Why would bad guys ever exist when someone can literally point lightning at you?"
"You're only thinking of Storm because of the booty."
"Pshyeah. Also," Daniel pointed ahead, "big black clouds approaching."
James thought for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, alright. I'll give that one to you. Who else?"
"Jean Grey. You get the movies and the cartoon and probably the comic books where she is kinda powerful. Everyone keeps telling her that she has potential, but she never really uses it to the fullest extent ever until after she gets hurt."
"Yeah. How about X2 where she leaves the jet to get it to fly and then gets flattened by the wall of water? What sort of dumb plan was that? You are telekinetic! You can do all of that from INSIDE the friggin' plane!"
"Exactly! What about the cartoon and Jubilee: Her special ability is to create miniature fireworks. What?"
They stopped at the corner of the road and, upon seeing no cars coming, started crossing it.
"How 'bout Gambit?" James said. "He doesn't seem to do anything apart from making cards go on fire." He moved to mimic throwing a playing card, and nearly hit a running child in the head. "Hey!"
The child, and another one, ran by shouting their childish shouts.
"Pfft," Daniel started. "Kids? Who needs 'em?" After a shared chuckle, he started again. "Professor X? Capable of psychic thought reading and even MIND CONTROL. His weakness? Paralysis and not actually doing either of those things unless the world will end if he doesn't. If they got much worse, they'd be as wishy-washy as having somebody... I don't know... controlling the wind, but only if the moon is at the right phase or something."
James laughed.
"Or controlling emotions because it would be a weak ability."
Daniel laughed too, before they both noticed the person approaching.
"Yeah, piss weak."
James started to look at the ground, while Daniel acknowledged the stranger's presence when the stranger cheerfully nodded towards them and said "Morning."
And then something happened... to Daniel, it felt like a breeze changing direction. It seemed unusual and, thinking it was a direct result of the stranger that just passed, he slowly turned around to face the stranger. The stranger must have also noticed this because they were now eying each other. A look of confusion passed between them as they stood facing for several second before the stranger shook their head and started moving on again.
"Uhhh... James?" Daniel slowly drawled out. James, meanwhile, was several steps further down the street. "James?" Daniel jogged to catch up to his friend.
"What?"
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"What just happened then?"
"What do you mean?"
"Something just happened then... with that stranger."
James shrugged and rose an eyebrow.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Daniel stood there for a moment, started trying to justify it in his head before shaking it and moving on.
"I just... Umm... yeah... So... X-Men, right?"
James just smiled as the conversation continued.
So.. yeah.
In the original plan, there was supposed to be a third scene (and extension to the first), where the Stranger was walking past a crossing with a Stop-Go Technician (sorry... Lollipop person) who recognised what happened from a distance. The whole idea was that there was another realm, a sort of shadow realm where all thought and emotion resides, and that only a few people could directly manipulate other people's emotions and thoughts.The other realm was an area that could be described as a series of colour and currents (like wind or water currents). Those who were slightly attuned, as Daniel and perhaps the stranger in this case, might be able to feel the change of current. More adept people might be able to describe it in terms of a grey-scale visualisation of the currents surrounding people, as James might be able to. More experienced people would then associate it in terms of colour changes surrounding people.The Lollypop person was one who could quite clearly see this other world and saw what James had inflicted on the stranger (manipulation of the currents and colours in the realm to generate the negative emotion) and made an effort to make reparations. The Lollypop person would then seek out James to work out a way to control him from a distance, for it is clearly an evil person who manipulates people for apparently no reason.
Anyway... It was going to end up as a longer story, but things didn't work out that way because I couldn't really work out a grander scheme/justification for the story.
I think another part of it was that the whole "other realm" aspect was a little too close to the Nightwatch series by Sergei Yukyanenko. In that series, magic happens and there is a separate simultaneous realm where magic and lives are altered through manipulation of said realm. I've only read Nightwatch but I have the other 3 books waiting to go and I'll hopefully have those read on flights that I'll soon be taking...
:D
Hope you enjoyed it, or it at least got you thinking for a bit.
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment