李杏 | Frances J., a lion-hearted girl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
perfectworry) wrote2012-06-23 02:00 pm
perfectworry) wrote2012-06-23 02:00 pm
[original: people's republic] Nowhere Man + Cup of Coffee
title: Nowhere Man
'verse: People's Republic of Heaven
community:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
writerverse + ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
originalfic100
prompt: Phase #03: Challenge #09: Weekly Quick Fic #03 ("lost in the city") + Table A - 020 Colorless
characters: Jude & Salomé
rating: G
summary: Jude follows the train tracks to the People's Republic of Heaven.
Jude threw himself around the corner, ducking as he ran. It was just a moment too late. He saw stars and the world went white as he stumbled forward, falling to his knees.
When he woke again, the world was still white. He blinked several times to clear his vision, but it did no god. He held a hand up in front of his face and was startled to discover that he could see it clearly. He shifted into a sitting position and found he could see his booted feet, also, at the end of his long legs.
Carefully, he looked around for any sign of existence in his surroundings. He knew, somehow, that this was what the space between worlds looked like and he had gotten caught in it. There were safer methods for world hopping; walking through Nowhere was dangerous, but the other methods came with a high cost. Most people didn't make it out alive, and became wraiths - little more than Nothing themselves, just cold and blank, with no memory of warmth or identity. They preyed on the borderlands.
It wasn't cold in Nowhere. It wasn't anything. Jude shivered.
He stood up and shaded his eyes against the endless expanse of blank whiteness. Snow blindness would begin to set in, assuming there was anything else to see. He squinted, hoping for some indication of which way he should walk. He had to get up and get going. Even if he didn't know the direction, walking would give him a task, a purpose - an immediate goal to cling to when the Nothing started to seep into the edges of his mind. It would fade his thoughts, his emotions. If he was trapped here long enough, it his very identity would fade until he was nothing but a wraith.
With that in mind, he set off. He sang while he walked, every song he knew. He knew the importance of keeping occupied.
He tripped over the train tracks.
Jude assume there would be nothing to see while he walked, and he knew all of that nothing could make anyone go crazy before they went dim. He hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, so when he came to the tracks, he stumbled right over them.
He could have jumped for joy. There was no telling how long the tracks went on from here, but eventually they would have to go somewhere. Someone on the other side - someone powerful - would have made them, and they would be sustaining their existence with a sheer force of will to not let them fade out.
There was no indication of which direction he should travel. Superstitiously, he turned once anti-clockwise and once clockwise with his eyes shut. He went the direction he was facing when he opened them again.
He might have done magic to show him the way, but it was too risky, and who knew if it would even work this far out? In the middle of Nowhere, the effects might be dimmed or they might be magnified. Either risk was too great, so he settled on a child's way of choosing and went with that.
There was no time in Nowhere. There was Nothing. That was the point. But there were train tracks, and Jude followed them. It was impossible to gauge distance, but the tracks slowly began to look more detailed and realistic. The tracks behind him in comparison looked like a hastily built stage set, but the rails and planks beneath his feet were less perfect, less simple. The grain in the wood became clear and unique, the nails rusty.
Jude started to run. If the tracks were picking up detail, he would be getting closer to the borderlands. He was almost free, but not almost safe. First, he would have to worry about the wraiths. They clustered on the edges, feeing on the poor souls who wandered out of their own realities, turning travelers into a ghost of themselves.
He had no weapons, and a normal knife or firearm wouldn't help much against the wraiths anyway. All he could do was run and hope. He took a deep breath and focused his mind on a singular image, his little brother's smiling face. He would hold onto that like a talisman against forgetfulness as he made the last sprint through the border between real and unreal.
When he first saw her, Jude thought she was a wraith, but she was too real to be a wraith this far in. Her red hair burned like fire in the complete blankness that surrounded them. She was wearing a black leather jacket and black denim jeans, like an ink stain against a pure white page. It stung Jude's eyes to see something so real, but he cried out to her.
Friend or enemy, it didn't matter now. They would sort that out in the real world - a real world, anyway. He didn't know if she was lost, too, or if she had come in to find him. He heard such people existed, but had never traveled between worlds by running through the white space between them. It was too dangerous.
She raised a hand to him, and he waved in return. He sprinted the short distance between them, arriving panting by her side.
"You're late," she said. "Follow me."
Jude followed.
She drew a long silver rapier from it's sheath at her side. Jude could see the dim glow of magic around the edge of the too sharp blade. This was a sword that would cut through the wraiths. He nodded his approval, but she said nothing.
If she was expecting trouble, they didn't find any. The way through was clear of wraiths, and Jude could see a city starting to take shape in front of them. Buildings and bridges faded into existence like an old fashioned instant camera, details seeping into his vision.
It was impossible to say when Nowhere became the city for certain. Like the tracks, the city became more detailed and solid as they went onwards, and Jude soon found the ground reassuringly solid beneath his feet. It was raining. The chill of it brought Jude back to himself.
His rescuer stayed on the tracks even now, and he followed her as instructed. She lit a cigarette. Silently, she offered him one, holding out the pack. Jude shook his head. She shrugged and stuffed the pack back in her pocket. The rapier was gone; in one hand, she held closed a black umbrella.
Jude drew even with her and glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, and saw it was not an umbrella at all, but a rapier pretending. He smiled at the simple trick, and the graceful way it had been executed.
She turned off the tracks, down a side street. Jude was beginning to feel the cold now. He could smell the breeze off the ocean, salty and sharp. It made him shiver in the rain. Just as his teeth started to chatter and he began to wonder if he might ask her for that cigarette after all, she stopped suddenly just in front of a small house. It was the only building they had seen with the lights on.
"The People's Republic of Heaven," she said. "If you're here, it means you can't go home."
title: Cup of Coffee
'verse: People's Republic of Heaven
community:writerverse + originalfic100
prompt: Phase #03: Challenge #09: Weekly Quick Fic #03 ("calming influence") + Table A - 039 Taste
characters: Jude & Salomé
rating: K
summary: Jude is invited for a cup of coffee. (This story immediately follows the one above.)
She invited him into her house, stopping in the entranceway to hang her umbrella on the rack. Jude looked away as he walked past it, and saw the tell-tale gleam of silver white out of the corner of his eye, betraying the nondescript black umbrella for what it really was: an rapier pretending to be an umbrella. It was a fine weapon, one made for cutting the misty ghosts that clustered on the borders between worlds.
She didn't take off her boots, so Jude didn't, either.
"Tea?" she asked from the kitchen. "Coffee?"
World hopping took a lot out of anyone, even the most seasoned travelers. Jude had no way of knowing how much time had passed while he was between, but he could feel the dimness and chill had seeped deeper in than he realized when his surroundings were nothingness for untold time and space. Especially now that he was inside somewhere warm, not out in the city where he could feel the sea breeze and the rain.
He understood the offer of a cigarette now. She was standing in the kitchen, another one in her mouth.
"Coffee," he said. It would be stronger. The first cup would be served black and bitter, no cream or sugar to soften the strong flavor. It was meant to bring him back to himself. After that, he could drink something lighter and sweeter and more pleasant to taste.
Assuming she offered him a second cup. She hadn't offered dry clothing or even invited him further in than the entranceway where he stood, unwilling to be rude. Manners were everything in every world.
"Come in and sit down," she said over her should, as though she had sensed his uncertainty and discomfort. "Coffee will be ready in a few; it's instant. You can take a hot shower after. You need it."
Jude might have been offended, but he could see how the skin on his hands had faded to a translucent white, and his hair - usually a cool flaxen blond - was nearly white at the ends. Her red hair was darkening in the warmth of the kitchen, with the smells of coffee and cigarette smoke bringing her back to herself. A hot shower, no doubt with strongly scented shampoos and soaps, would help bring him back into himself.
She bent over the back of a chair at the table, and hit a few buttons on the machine open there. Computer, thought Jude, but it had been a long time since he had seen one and he couldn't be certain. It played music, something Jude didn't recognize; the notes rose and swelled grandly, surrounding them with sound. He couldn't name it and hadn't heard anything like it before, but Jude could hear the artistry in the song. It was a masterpiece of composition and performance.
She took another drag on her cigarette before leaning over the kettle. The steam in her face darkened her red hair into a deeper auburn as she poured two cups. She didn't offer cream or sugar.
She placed the coffee down on the kitchen counter beside him before drinking most of hers, still steaming hot, in one long sip. Jude followed suit, wincing at the bitterness and scalding temperature, but he felt the warmth and reality of it course through him, warming him from heart to fingertips.
Jude didn't know anything about her, except that she knew what she was doing. She still had not told him her name, nor had she asked for his, but he trusted her instinctively.
'verse: People's Republic of Heaven
community:
writerverse + originalfic100 prompt: Phase #03: Challenge #09: Weekly Quick Fic #03 ("lost in the city") + Table A - 020 Colorless
characters: Jude & Salomé
rating: G
summary: Jude follows the train tracks to the People's Republic of Heaven.
Jude threw himself around the corner, ducking as he ran. It was just a moment too late. He saw stars and the world went white as he stumbled forward, falling to his knees.
When he woke again, the world was still white. He blinked several times to clear his vision, but it did no god. He held a hand up in front of his face and was startled to discover that he could see it clearly. He shifted into a sitting position and found he could see his booted feet, also, at the end of his long legs.
Carefully, he looked around for any sign of existence in his surroundings. He knew, somehow, that this was what the space between worlds looked like and he had gotten caught in it. There were safer methods for world hopping; walking through Nowhere was dangerous, but the other methods came with a high cost. Most people didn't make it out alive, and became wraiths - little more than Nothing themselves, just cold and blank, with no memory of warmth or identity. They preyed on the borderlands.
It wasn't cold in Nowhere. It wasn't anything. Jude shivered.
He stood up and shaded his eyes against the endless expanse of blank whiteness. Snow blindness would begin to set in, assuming there was anything else to see. He squinted, hoping for some indication of which way he should walk. He had to get up and get going. Even if he didn't know the direction, walking would give him a task, a purpose - an immediate goal to cling to when the Nothing started to seep into the edges of his mind. It would fade his thoughts, his emotions. If he was trapped here long enough, it his very identity would fade until he was nothing but a wraith.
With that in mind, he set off. He sang while he walked, every song he knew. He knew the importance of keeping occupied.
He tripped over the train tracks.
Jude assume there would be nothing to see while he walked, and he knew all of that nothing could make anyone go crazy before they went dim. He hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, so when he came to the tracks, he stumbled right over them.
He could have jumped for joy. There was no telling how long the tracks went on from here, but eventually they would have to go somewhere. Someone on the other side - someone powerful - would have made them, and they would be sustaining their existence with a sheer force of will to not let them fade out.
There was no indication of which direction he should travel. Superstitiously, he turned once anti-clockwise and once clockwise with his eyes shut. He went the direction he was facing when he opened them again.
He might have done magic to show him the way, but it was too risky, and who knew if it would even work this far out? In the middle of Nowhere, the effects might be dimmed or they might be magnified. Either risk was too great, so he settled on a child's way of choosing and went with that.
There was no time in Nowhere. There was Nothing. That was the point. But there were train tracks, and Jude followed them. It was impossible to gauge distance, but the tracks slowly began to look more detailed and realistic. The tracks behind him in comparison looked like a hastily built stage set, but the rails and planks beneath his feet were less perfect, less simple. The grain in the wood became clear and unique, the nails rusty.
Jude started to run. If the tracks were picking up detail, he would be getting closer to the borderlands. He was almost free, but not almost safe. First, he would have to worry about the wraiths. They clustered on the edges, feeing on the poor souls who wandered out of their own realities, turning travelers into a ghost of themselves.
He had no weapons, and a normal knife or firearm wouldn't help much against the wraiths anyway. All he could do was run and hope. He took a deep breath and focused his mind on a singular image, his little brother's smiling face. He would hold onto that like a talisman against forgetfulness as he made the last sprint through the border between real and unreal.
When he first saw her, Jude thought she was a wraith, but she was too real to be a wraith this far in. Her red hair burned like fire in the complete blankness that surrounded them. She was wearing a black leather jacket and black denim jeans, like an ink stain against a pure white page. It stung Jude's eyes to see something so real, but he cried out to her.
Friend or enemy, it didn't matter now. They would sort that out in the real world - a real world, anyway. He didn't know if she was lost, too, or if she had come in to find him. He heard such people existed, but had never traveled between worlds by running through the white space between them. It was too dangerous.
She raised a hand to him, and he waved in return. He sprinted the short distance between them, arriving panting by her side.
"You're late," she said. "Follow me."
Jude followed.
She drew a long silver rapier from it's sheath at her side. Jude could see the dim glow of magic around the edge of the too sharp blade. This was a sword that would cut through the wraiths. He nodded his approval, but she said nothing.
If she was expecting trouble, they didn't find any. The way through was clear of wraiths, and Jude could see a city starting to take shape in front of them. Buildings and bridges faded into existence like an old fashioned instant camera, details seeping into his vision.
It was impossible to say when Nowhere became the city for certain. Like the tracks, the city became more detailed and solid as they went onwards, and Jude soon found the ground reassuringly solid beneath his feet. It was raining. The chill of it brought Jude back to himself.
His rescuer stayed on the tracks even now, and he followed her as instructed. She lit a cigarette. Silently, she offered him one, holding out the pack. Jude shook his head. She shrugged and stuffed the pack back in her pocket. The rapier was gone; in one hand, she held closed a black umbrella.
Jude drew even with her and glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, and saw it was not an umbrella at all, but a rapier pretending. He smiled at the simple trick, and the graceful way it had been executed.
She turned off the tracks, down a side street. Jude was beginning to feel the cold now. He could smell the breeze off the ocean, salty and sharp. It made him shiver in the rain. Just as his teeth started to chatter and he began to wonder if he might ask her for that cigarette after all, she stopped suddenly just in front of a small house. It was the only building they had seen with the lights on.
"The People's Republic of Heaven," she said. "If you're here, it means you can't go home."
title: Cup of Coffee
'verse: People's Republic of Heaven
community:
writerverse + originalfic100 prompt: Phase #03: Challenge #09: Weekly Quick Fic #03 ("calming influence") + Table A - 039 Taste
characters: Jude & Salomé
rating: K
summary: Jude is invited for a cup of coffee. (This story immediately follows the one above.)
She invited him into her house, stopping in the entranceway to hang her umbrella on the rack. Jude looked away as he walked past it, and saw the tell-tale gleam of silver white out of the corner of his eye, betraying the nondescript black umbrella for what it really was: an rapier pretending to be an umbrella. It was a fine weapon, one made for cutting the misty ghosts that clustered on the borders between worlds.
She didn't take off her boots, so Jude didn't, either.
"Tea?" she asked from the kitchen. "Coffee?"
World hopping took a lot out of anyone, even the most seasoned travelers. Jude had no way of knowing how much time had passed while he was between, but he could feel the dimness and chill had seeped deeper in than he realized when his surroundings were nothingness for untold time and space. Especially now that he was inside somewhere warm, not out in the city where he could feel the sea breeze and the rain.
He understood the offer of a cigarette now. She was standing in the kitchen, another one in her mouth.
"Coffee," he said. It would be stronger. The first cup would be served black and bitter, no cream or sugar to soften the strong flavor. It was meant to bring him back to himself. After that, he could drink something lighter and sweeter and more pleasant to taste.
Assuming she offered him a second cup. She hadn't offered dry clothing or even invited him further in than the entranceway where he stood, unwilling to be rude. Manners were everything in every world.
"Come in and sit down," she said over her should, as though she had sensed his uncertainty and discomfort. "Coffee will be ready in a few; it's instant. You can take a hot shower after. You need it."
Jude might have been offended, but he could see how the skin on his hands had faded to a translucent white, and his hair - usually a cool flaxen blond - was nearly white at the ends. Her red hair was darkening in the warmth of the kitchen, with the smells of coffee and cigarette smoke bringing her back to herself. A hot shower, no doubt with strongly scented shampoos and soaps, would help bring him back into himself.
She bent over the back of a chair at the table, and hit a few buttons on the machine open there. Computer, thought Jude, but it had been a long time since he had seen one and he couldn't be certain. It played music, something Jude didn't recognize; the notes rose and swelled grandly, surrounding them with sound. He couldn't name it and hadn't heard anything like it before, but Jude could hear the artistry in the song. It was a masterpiece of composition and performance.
She took another drag on her cigarette before leaning over the kettle. The steam in her face darkened her red hair into a deeper auburn as she poured two cups. She didn't offer cream or sugar.
She placed the coffee down on the kitchen counter beside him before drinking most of hers, still steaming hot, in one long sip. Jude followed suit, wincing at the bitterness and scalding temperature, but he felt the warmth and reality of it course through him, warming him from heart to fingertips.
Jude didn't know anything about her, except that she knew what she was doing. She still had not told him her name, nor had she asked for his, but he trusted her instinctively.