Ficlet Time, part III!
Jul. 5th, 2005 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ruI'm guessing this is a longer-than-usual ficlet length. Apparently brevity isn't my strong point...>_> Oh well.
For the splendid![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sinnocenti!
Eve bounced out of the MU gymnasium, swinging her duffel bag haphazardly. When she had signed up to take a badminton class, she had been expecting to be playing it outside—that’s how she and her cousins always did it back home(not to mention her aunt would probably explode if she found them playing badminton inside). However, she had discovered, to her disappointment, that apparently the Miskatonic University version of playing badminton involved playing it in the gym with some nets strung up between two poles. But! If nothing else, it meant that coming back outside was that much more wonderful.
And what a day it was. The sun was shining, the birds chirping, the leaves rustling, the flowers flowering, and everything, to Eve anyway, seemed happy. She let out a big stretch, reaching her arms as high above her as possible while standing on her toes. Now, she thought, for some outside time. Slinging her duffel bag across her chest, she scampered off down the sidewalk, arms outstretched at her sides, gaining a couple confused looks from bystanders as she ‘flew’ towards the school commons, planning on spending some quality time with her favorite oak tree. For her, everything was perfect, until—
WHAP!
Smacking head-on into something warm and body-like, Eve yelped in surprise as she clattered to the ground, duffel bag and all. She groaned, wincing in pain at where she landed. "Ow, that wasn't very nice..." she said, looking up to see what or who exactly she had run into.
She was greeted by a pair of unsettlingly red eyes. Nicky raised an eyebrow at her, making no move to help her up. "Oh, hey Eve." he said flatly.
Whether or not he was glad to see her was lost in her expression suddenly brightening, completely forgetting that he was the one that had made her fall in the first place. "Hi Nicky! How are you? Isn't it a nice day out today?"
Nicky didn't seem to be interested in talking, instead preferring to look around, apparently to make sure no one else was around. "Yes...nice day." he said, before letting out a quiet, resigned sigh. "So nice, in fact, that I think it's worth sharing. Why don't you join me?"
The smile on Eve's face could have lit the entire university. "Really? Wow, I'd love to! I never thought you'd ask me to come join you in something! I know some of the best places on campus for day-enjoying, like the benches near the fountain, and the commons area, and--"
"Actually, I was thinking of somewhere a little more...exotic." Nicky moved to a large, nearby maple tree, grabbing hold of the lowest branch. "C'mon. Quick, before anyone sees." He easily swung up into the branches, a few leaves being knocked off as he moved his way up the tree.
Eve hesitated, not quite sure what to make of this new development. Most people didn't just randomly walk up to a sidewalk tree and start climbing it. Well, maybe Nicky had something special in mind. Maybe it was someplace new to enjoy the day that Eve had never found before. The feelings of hesitation lifting, Eve approached the tree and started to climb up into it, clambering her way through the boughs. She had just reached the branch under the one Nicky had settled on when he finally decided to be a little merciful, and lent her a hand up to sit on the branch he now perched upon.
Releasing Eve, Nicky leaned easily against the trunk, one foot slung lazily over the side. Eve, on the other hand, balanced precariously on the limb, trying to get herself into a more comfortable position. “Well, this certainly is different," Eve said uneasily, "You come up here a lot?"
"Lately I have been," Nicky replied, relaxing, now that they were safely up in the tree, "I find the view interesting."
Eve turned to look in the direction Nicky was gazing, across the street, realizing that she knew the building he was looking at quite well. "What’s going on over at our dorm?” she asked, quieter now. Suddenly, her face took on a deep, almost serious expression. “It’s not something evil being afoot, is it?”
“No,” Nicky said, a hint of amusement playing over his face at Eve's attempts at being dark, "no evil being...afoot."
Eve relaxed. "Oh, well, that's good then. Because that would be bad if evil was being afoot, wouldn't it? After all, we're way over here."
Nicky looked at her, the expression on his face silently asking her if she was being serious. "Yes," he said carefully, "it would be rather bad. But I tell you what: Why don't we sit very quietly and silently watch things to see if evil decides to...go afoot, okay? After all, we wouldn't want...afooting evil to hear us, right?"
Eve gave him a knowing look. "Ohhhhh, I see. Yes, like spies! Okay!" Making as little noise as possible, she settled into a position that flattened her close to the tree branch.
For a while, the two watched the dorm silently, watching the comings and goings of their fellow students. Eventually, quickly growing bored with sitting quietly, Eve's gaze fell upon a set of windows that looked rather familiar to her, distinct with the South Park poster next to the Les Mis one. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Hey! That’s Mitri’s room, isn’t it? HEY MI—“
Nicky’s act of clamping his hand over her mouth was as much a movement to keep her quiet as it was to keep her from leaning too far over and falling out of the tree. “Shh! He’s asleep right now. You wouldn’t want to wake him up, would you?”
Eve settled back onto the branch uneasily, unsure for a moment whether or not Nicky was mad at her. Another thought crept into her head before she could think more on that particular subject though. “Why is Mitri asleep now? It’s such a nice day. He should be out enjoying the sunshine!”
Nicky sighed a long-suffering sigh. “I know, but I guess he’s just like that." He turned back toward watching the window. Automatically, Eve followed suit, wondering what it was that Nicky was so intent upon.
She didn’t have long to wait. After a few moments, the door to Mitri’s room opened, and his roommate, Derek, walked into the room. From what Eve could tell, he had just gotten out of the shower, as he sported an old, raggedy bathrobe and water dripped from his hair.
"I bet he's not finished with his shower yet,” Nicky said softly, a satisfied smile playing on his face, “He’s come back to get one special thing from here. And see that dresser he’s going to? That’s not his dresser. That’s Dimitri’s. Look at what he’s getting from there.”
Sure enough, Derek paused in the room for a moment, taking a glance at the bed where Eve presumed Mitri was sleeping, before walking to the dresser next to it and picking something off the top before turning and leaving the room. Her eyes widened in shocked surprise.
“Oh my…”
***
Eve fidgeted in her seat at the table. Ever since she saw what she had seen up in that tree, she had been concerned. All of it, to her anyway, seemed impossible. Mitri didn’t seem the type to have that just lying around in plain sight, and the fact that Derek was so casually using it too made it all the more worse. Did Mitri know about this? Maybe she should tell him. But wouldn’t that make things more problematic? She passed her peanut butter and banana sandwich from one hand to the other, occasionally taking little nibbles from it as she fretted.
Across the table, Nicky worked calmly on his sub sandwich, watching Eve surreptitiously out of the corner of one eye. "You shouldn't be so upset about it. Lots of people do it."
Eve gnawed on her sandwich anxiously. "I know, I know, but it just seems so...so wrong."
Nicky let out a slow breath, setting his sandwich down, looking her straight in the eye. "Maybe you should try and get your mind off of it. Go take a walk or make daisy chains or something. You don't need to be here."
"I know, but, well, I kinda feel like I should be." Eve replied, not taking her eyes off of her sandwich.
Nicky shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, "if that's what you want to do. But I want you keeping quiet during this."
At that moment, Dimitri walked through the door, looking uncomfortably around the cafeteria. With a broad, exaggerated smile, Nicky stood and waved Mitri over. When he approached the table Eve and Nicky were occupying, the latter took Mitri into a rather unexpected bear hug. "Mitri! How've you been? School treating you well?"
For a moment, Mitri looked like he had just been ambushed and then embraced by a spine-covered octopus. After he recovered, he gave Nicky a suspicious look. "What--what is this all about Nicky? You asked me to come here, said you had something you wanted to tell me." Eve flinched, trying her hardest to hide behind her sandwich. Mitri glanced at her. "Oh, please don't tell me you dragged Eve into something."
Nicky barely gave the girl a second glance. "Oh no, she just happened to stumble along." He cracked his knuckles, and sat down at the table. Mitri followed suit. Nicky spoke in a low tone, indistinguishible amongs the rest of the cafeteria din. "Now, on to business. I happen to know something that you may or may not want to know about. Something that directly affects you. It may be better for you to live in blissful ignorance of it, which may be more beneficial to you, but on the other hand, you may want to know so you can put a stop to it. But, of course, if you feel you need to know it, I wouldn't want to give you something for nothing, you know?"
Mitri's eyes narrowed warily, glancing about as if he wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. "What are you onto? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to take advantage of me, or something."
Nicky took on a pained expression. "Take advantage of you? Mitri, my friend, you wound me. I would never do something like that to you! No no, I simply offer you something that you might want to know. Or maybe it's something you'd rather not want to know. I'll leave it up to you as to whether or not knowing would be worthwhile. And if you do want me to tell you, well, there is the matter of a certain English paper I have due next week."
"You're not going to tell me whether or not it's something important? Just gonna let it stew?" Mitri asked, "Not even gonna tell me how it affects me?"
"Well, I'm taking a risk even mentioning it to you. I think some certain people might get in trouble if I did."
"How so?"
Eve finally couldn't stand it any longer. "You mean you don't know?!?" she exclaimed, slamming her sandwich down on the table, causing a stray banana slice to slip out from between the pieces of bread and land on the tabletop, "You don't know what's been going on when you're asleep?" She moaned, horrified. "Your roommate's been using your shampoo behind your back! Without asking!"
Nicky grimaced, one hand holding his head while the other balled up into a fist. He should have known better than to let Eve stay put. She was a liability. Now his perfectly formed plan to confuse the hell out of Mitri with questions was all for naught.
For a moment, Mitri simply stared at Eve incredulously. Then, after a few moments, his mouth cracked into a grin and he let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh Evee," he said, patting her affectionately on the head, "what a silly thing for you to worry over. I know Derek uses it. I've asked him not to, but he's too lazy to go and get his own shampoo. I figure as long as he doesn't do anything stupid with it, it's alright. Now, why don't you stop worrying about things, and run along, alright? How about if I meet up with you later, and we can go down to the commons and play frisbee or something, okay?"
Eve's face, after a moment of worry, relaxed, and then brightened. "Okay! I'll get my best frisbee out for it. I'll see you then!" As if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Eve bounced up, shoving the rest of her sandwich in her mouth in one large bite, before practically dancing off, leaping through the doors of the cafeteria.
Mitri's face turned serious again, returning to Nicky. "Now, about this info that you claim I might want to know..."
Nicky smiled slowly, craftily. Maybe this wouldn't be a total bust after all.
For the splendid
sinnocenti!Eve bounced out of the MU gymnasium, swinging her duffel bag haphazardly. When she had signed up to take a badminton class, she had been expecting to be playing it outside—that’s how she and her cousins always did it back home(not to mention her aunt would probably explode if she found them playing badminton inside). However, she had discovered, to her disappointment, that apparently the Miskatonic University version of playing badminton involved playing it in the gym with some nets strung up between two poles. But! If nothing else, it meant that coming back outside was that much more wonderful.
And what a day it was. The sun was shining, the birds chirping, the leaves rustling, the flowers flowering, and everything, to Eve anyway, seemed happy. She let out a big stretch, reaching her arms as high above her as possible while standing on her toes. Now, she thought, for some outside time. Slinging her duffel bag across her chest, she scampered off down the sidewalk, arms outstretched at her sides, gaining a couple confused looks from bystanders as she ‘flew’ towards the school commons, planning on spending some quality time with her favorite oak tree. For her, everything was perfect, until—
WHAP!
Smacking head-on into something warm and body-like, Eve yelped in surprise as she clattered to the ground, duffel bag and all. She groaned, wincing in pain at where she landed. "Ow, that wasn't very nice..." she said, looking up to see what or who exactly she had run into.
She was greeted by a pair of unsettlingly red eyes. Nicky raised an eyebrow at her, making no move to help her up. "Oh, hey Eve." he said flatly.
Whether or not he was glad to see her was lost in her expression suddenly brightening, completely forgetting that he was the one that had made her fall in the first place. "Hi Nicky! How are you? Isn't it a nice day out today?"
Nicky didn't seem to be interested in talking, instead preferring to look around, apparently to make sure no one else was around. "Yes...nice day." he said, before letting out a quiet, resigned sigh. "So nice, in fact, that I think it's worth sharing. Why don't you join me?"
The smile on Eve's face could have lit the entire university. "Really? Wow, I'd love to! I never thought you'd ask me to come join you in something! I know some of the best places on campus for day-enjoying, like the benches near the fountain, and the commons area, and--"
"Actually, I was thinking of somewhere a little more...exotic." Nicky moved to a large, nearby maple tree, grabbing hold of the lowest branch. "C'mon. Quick, before anyone sees." He easily swung up into the branches, a few leaves being knocked off as he moved his way up the tree.
Eve hesitated, not quite sure what to make of this new development. Most people didn't just randomly walk up to a sidewalk tree and start climbing it. Well, maybe Nicky had something special in mind. Maybe it was someplace new to enjoy the day that Eve had never found before. The feelings of hesitation lifting, Eve approached the tree and started to climb up into it, clambering her way through the boughs. She had just reached the branch under the one Nicky had settled on when he finally decided to be a little merciful, and lent her a hand up to sit on the branch he now perched upon.
Releasing Eve, Nicky leaned easily against the trunk, one foot slung lazily over the side. Eve, on the other hand, balanced precariously on the limb, trying to get herself into a more comfortable position. “Well, this certainly is different," Eve said uneasily, "You come up here a lot?"
"Lately I have been," Nicky replied, relaxing, now that they were safely up in the tree, "I find the view interesting."
Eve turned to look in the direction Nicky was gazing, across the street, realizing that she knew the building he was looking at quite well. "What’s going on over at our dorm?” she asked, quieter now. Suddenly, her face took on a deep, almost serious expression. “It’s not something evil being afoot, is it?”
“No,” Nicky said, a hint of amusement playing over his face at Eve's attempts at being dark, "no evil being...afoot."
Eve relaxed. "Oh, well, that's good then. Because that would be bad if evil was being afoot, wouldn't it? After all, we're way over here."
Nicky looked at her, the expression on his face silently asking her if she was being serious. "Yes," he said carefully, "it would be rather bad. But I tell you what: Why don't we sit very quietly and silently watch things to see if evil decides to...go afoot, okay? After all, we wouldn't want...afooting evil to hear us, right?"
Eve gave him a knowing look. "Ohhhhh, I see. Yes, like spies! Okay!" Making as little noise as possible, she settled into a position that flattened her close to the tree branch.
For a while, the two watched the dorm silently, watching the comings and goings of their fellow students. Eventually, quickly growing bored with sitting quietly, Eve's gaze fell upon a set of windows that looked rather familiar to her, distinct with the South Park poster next to the Les Mis one. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Hey! That’s Mitri’s room, isn’t it? HEY MI—“
Nicky’s act of clamping his hand over her mouth was as much a movement to keep her quiet as it was to keep her from leaning too far over and falling out of the tree. “Shh! He’s asleep right now. You wouldn’t want to wake him up, would you?”
Eve settled back onto the branch uneasily, unsure for a moment whether or not Nicky was mad at her. Another thought crept into her head before she could think more on that particular subject though. “Why is Mitri asleep now? It’s such a nice day. He should be out enjoying the sunshine!”
Nicky sighed a long-suffering sigh. “I know, but I guess he’s just like that." He turned back toward watching the window. Automatically, Eve followed suit, wondering what it was that Nicky was so intent upon.
She didn’t have long to wait. After a few moments, the door to Mitri’s room opened, and his roommate, Derek, walked into the room. From what Eve could tell, he had just gotten out of the shower, as he sported an old, raggedy bathrobe and water dripped from his hair.
"I bet he's not finished with his shower yet,” Nicky said softly, a satisfied smile playing on his face, “He’s come back to get one special thing from here. And see that dresser he’s going to? That’s not his dresser. That’s Dimitri’s. Look at what he’s getting from there.”
Sure enough, Derek paused in the room for a moment, taking a glance at the bed where Eve presumed Mitri was sleeping, before walking to the dresser next to it and picking something off the top before turning and leaving the room. Her eyes widened in shocked surprise.
“Oh my…”
***
Eve fidgeted in her seat at the table. Ever since she saw what she had seen up in that tree, she had been concerned. All of it, to her anyway, seemed impossible. Mitri didn’t seem the type to have that just lying around in plain sight, and the fact that Derek was so casually using it too made it all the more worse. Did Mitri know about this? Maybe she should tell him. But wouldn’t that make things more problematic? She passed her peanut butter and banana sandwich from one hand to the other, occasionally taking little nibbles from it as she fretted.
Across the table, Nicky worked calmly on his sub sandwich, watching Eve surreptitiously out of the corner of one eye. "You shouldn't be so upset about it. Lots of people do it."
Eve gnawed on her sandwich anxiously. "I know, I know, but it just seems so...so wrong."
Nicky let out a slow breath, setting his sandwich down, looking her straight in the eye. "Maybe you should try and get your mind off of it. Go take a walk or make daisy chains or something. You don't need to be here."
"I know, but, well, I kinda feel like I should be." Eve replied, not taking her eyes off of her sandwich.
Nicky shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, "if that's what you want to do. But I want you keeping quiet during this."
At that moment, Dimitri walked through the door, looking uncomfortably around the cafeteria. With a broad, exaggerated smile, Nicky stood and waved Mitri over. When he approached the table Eve and Nicky were occupying, the latter took Mitri into a rather unexpected bear hug. "Mitri! How've you been? School treating you well?"
For a moment, Mitri looked like he had just been ambushed and then embraced by a spine-covered octopus. After he recovered, he gave Nicky a suspicious look. "What--what is this all about Nicky? You asked me to come here, said you had something you wanted to tell me." Eve flinched, trying her hardest to hide behind her sandwich. Mitri glanced at her. "Oh, please don't tell me you dragged Eve into something."
Nicky barely gave the girl a second glance. "Oh no, she just happened to stumble along." He cracked his knuckles, and sat down at the table. Mitri followed suit. Nicky spoke in a low tone, indistinguishible amongs the rest of the cafeteria din. "Now, on to business. I happen to know something that you may or may not want to know about. Something that directly affects you. It may be better for you to live in blissful ignorance of it, which may be more beneficial to you, but on the other hand, you may want to know so you can put a stop to it. But, of course, if you feel you need to know it, I wouldn't want to give you something for nothing, you know?"
Mitri's eyes narrowed warily, glancing about as if he wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. "What are you onto? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to take advantage of me, or something."
Nicky took on a pained expression. "Take advantage of you? Mitri, my friend, you wound me. I would never do something like that to you! No no, I simply offer you something that you might want to know. Or maybe it's something you'd rather not want to know. I'll leave it up to you as to whether or not knowing would be worthwhile. And if you do want me to tell you, well, there is the matter of a certain English paper I have due next week."
"You're not going to tell me whether or not it's something important? Just gonna let it stew?" Mitri asked, "Not even gonna tell me how it affects me?"
"Well, I'm taking a risk even mentioning it to you. I think some certain people might get in trouble if I did."
"How so?"
Eve finally couldn't stand it any longer. "You mean you don't know?!?" she exclaimed, slamming her sandwich down on the table, causing a stray banana slice to slip out from between the pieces of bread and land on the tabletop, "You don't know what's been going on when you're asleep?" She moaned, horrified. "Your roommate's been using your shampoo behind your back! Without asking!"
Nicky grimaced, one hand holding his head while the other balled up into a fist. He should have known better than to let Eve stay put. She was a liability. Now his perfectly formed plan to confuse the hell out of Mitri with questions was all for naught.
For a moment, Mitri simply stared at Eve incredulously. Then, after a few moments, his mouth cracked into a grin and he let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh Evee," he said, patting her affectionately on the head, "what a silly thing for you to worry over. I know Derek uses it. I've asked him not to, but he's too lazy to go and get his own shampoo. I figure as long as he doesn't do anything stupid with it, it's alright. Now, why don't you stop worrying about things, and run along, alright? How about if I meet up with you later, and we can go down to the commons and play frisbee or something, okay?"
Eve's face, after a moment of worry, relaxed, and then brightened. "Okay! I'll get my best frisbee out for it. I'll see you then!" As if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Eve bounced up, shoving the rest of her sandwich in her mouth in one large bite, before practically dancing off, leaping through the doors of the cafeteria.
Mitri's face turned serious again, returning to Nicky. "Now, about this info that you claim I might want to know..."
Nicky smiled slowly, craftily. Maybe this wouldn't be a total bust after all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-06 11:36 pm (UTC)THIS IS AWESOME. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 x infinity!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-07 05:16 pm (UTC)I love how Eve and Nicky bounce off each other, particularly when Nicky's scheming and Eve is all "<3 <3 <3!" and is totally clueless. XD Those two are so hilarious. <3