Fanfiction: Angles of Reflectance (Pumpkin Scissors)

[nebroadwe]

Title: Drabbles: Angles of Reflectance
Fandom: Pumpkin Scissors (anime or manga version)
Character(s): Alice, Oland, Oreldo, Lionel
Pairing(s): Canon 'ships.
Rating: T (Oreldo doesn't go any lower)
Word Count: 300
Warnings: None. Takes place during the duel at the ball.
A/N: Written for a fandom that needs more love -- unfortunately, I think I need more canon before I can start imagining my own plots, but given that the anime concluded with the ball arc and Del Rey's release of the manga is proceeding at a glacial pace, that ain't going to happen any time soon. The fun here was writing character haiku: taking the existing concepts and paring them down to essentials in the appropriate voices. Concrit welcomed with three hots and a cot. Crossposted from nebroadwe to pumpkinscissors.
Dedication: For Laura Mulvey, for obvious reasons. ;-p

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1. Narcissus

      When she stumbles, awkward in the silks and manners her sisters graciously affect, Lionel catches her -- his lovely pawn, advancing rank by rank toward her apotheosis, ignorant of the game's subtleties. He woos her in clichés because he sees her thus: chess-piece, princess, callow maid.

      Yet even before she raises her sword between the mob and its prey, her words have pierced his complacent illusions. Transfixed, he watches her harry her opponent, as radiant as the battle goddess who rode beside the first emperor, and knows her already a queen in a contest which suffers many ... but only one king.

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2. Satyriscus

      Ah, breasts. Let other fellows praise a woman's lips or thighs; Oreldo's a boob man. They're so versatile. You can give them a nudge to convey intent or a friendly squeeze to express satisfaction; you can even wax lyrical about a lover's pillow upon which your weary head longs to rest and earn points for savoir-faire.

      This predilection makes it easy to refrain from shopping in the company store, whose display models are pretty damn underdeveloped. He never imagines they have anything to reveal until the lieutenant sheds her skirt, trading modesty for maneuverability. Huh. Nice gams, LT. Too bad ...

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3. Orestes

      In Oland's dreams, the lieutenant blazes like a signal rocket, burning through the cold blue mist that wraps him when he wades into the river of blood. During the duel, she shines like her own sword beneath the ballroom's fancy chandelier, lightning-quick and fierce. It's strange, then, that for the few seconds she sags fainting against his chest (before her sisters whisk her away) she reminds him of the fireflies he used to catch on warm summer nights in the park, and how they crept on tickling feet across his knuckles before lifting off, twinkling, into the friendly dark.

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[Acknowledgments: Pumpkin Scissors is created by Iwanaga Ryotaro and serialized in Monthly Shounen Magazine. The anime of the same title was directed by Akiyama Katsushito and produced by Studio Gonzo x AIC in association with COSPA. Copyright for this property is held by Iwanaga Ryotaro and Kodansha/Izumi Project, inter alia.]

Comments

[poisonjack.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love this! Especially Oland's, but Lionel's is pretty darn cool, too. And you're right, of course. This fandom definitely needs more love and more canon to fic about xD

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Lionel's drabble went through draft after draft, getting a word tweaked here and a phrase changed there, mostly because I had a dickens of a time getting the transition at the start of the second paragraph right. (Also because writing someone who seems to think in cliches is annoying. I kept having to de-urple his prose.) Oland's took a few rounds to get going, but once I had the signal rocket simile it pretty much wrote itself. The only challenge there was keeping the language and the syntax simple. My English major is always straining to get off its leash.

(I'm not sure what it says about me that Oreldo's drabble was the easiest of the three to produce. Oog.)

[poisonjack.livejournal.com]

What does de-urple mean? I read it first as de-purple, which still makes sense, I guess, but prolly isn't what you meant xD

It means that you are awesome. This is what it means. Or perhaps it's just that Oreldo's perspective is very easy to see :P

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Urple prose" is purple prose that's so bad it makes you hiccup with laughter. (I remember a writing team who once defined one member's job as pouring bleach all over the other's purple prose. It's a lot harder when you have to do it all yourself.)

Or perhaps it's just that Oreldo's perspective is very easy to see.

I'm not sure I want to be that closely in touch with my inner leering male. :-)