bITS 'N CHUNKS
Back to the work again, So, mixed feelings about this one. It's a story I feel like I've been working on for years but I can't quite figure out what I'm trying to accomplish with it. It was even my NaNoWriMo one year and it was epic buuut I rewrote it again and again, and I realized maybe there's not anything in particular I want to do with it. The novelty is kind of over and any rehash of Dark Magical Girl in 2017 just pales in comparison to Madoka Magica or even Magic Knights Rayearth. So I don't mind sharing it with y'all. This is probably the best iteration of this story and I'm glad I brought the idea into this exercise. This is one of two magical girl/magical warrior stories I wrote for the challenge and the other one was...mighty grim. "Long Live Tybalt" Billy Noors has done pretty well for himself. At the ripe old age of thirty-five, he has gone from school bully to heroin addict to magical super hero saving the world while in the throes of addiction to successful systems administrator making a nice comfortable living and finally being able to work from home. His wife, Jania, rounded the corner to enter his work space, clutching a glass of his usual cranberry and pomegranate juice. Before she can set it down on the table, he grabs the glass from the bottom. Jania gasps when the glass nearly spills. "Why'd you do that?" "Oh, I just like a little risk sometimes," Billy says with a smirk. Jania groaned and folded her arms but eventually returns the smirk. "I suppose if staining the carpet is all the risk you're taking these days, then I'm doing pretty well." And Billy didn't say anything back because that brief, playful statement put him deep in his feelings. She didn't have to rub it in. Jania left after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence and Billy stared at his screen until his eyes burned and the room was orange with sunset. Finally, he broke out of his trance when his familiar turned house pet Maomei jumped into his lap. Maomei is, for all intents and purposes, a chubby house cat with round ears and big green eyes. His fur is dark gray. But his tail splits off into three at the base. He traipses around on long legs closer to that of a gazelle than a feline. He has no nose but can still smell somehow. His cute little kitty mouth actually hides two rows of serrated teeth capable of shredding a grown human and his tiny paws cover massive claws. On his forehead, the white symbol of his planet, Myuumyuusei. And he talked sometimes, although since he'd gotten the knack of meowing he has used human words less and less. Maomei has been on earth for at least one hundred years, causing disaster and shrinking the local population wherever he went. When Billy was about sixteen--Maomei says fifteen, like it matters--the feline creature recruited him to wield the magical Marauder Sword, transforming Billy into Marauder Tybalt, the red-suited magical boy that used his powers to battle monsters, save citizens, and in his worst moments to score cheap street drugs. In the end, it turns out these mutated creatures were manifestations of Maomei himself and simply a distraction from his ravenous appetite for people. He and Maomei battled for the fate of the Earth and Billy was victorious. Over that anyway. Once the fervor of the world being saved died down and with little else to fight for, Billy checked himself into rehab. The long process involved forgiving himself, begging for forgiveness from others, and most importantly forgiving Maomei. Billy wasn't sure if Maomei would ever forgive him for that fateful trip to the vet for a neutering, to control his murderous impulses. "Howzit howzit, Mao-mao?" Billy muttered, idly scratching the creature's ear. Maomei licked his paw and used it to clean his ear. "Don't call me that," he said in his weird Donald Duck-esque voice. "Maowy, Jania called me boring." "Don't call me that either." Offended, Maomei jumped down to the floor. He started to leave, but he turned around. "But I'm sure she didn't actually say that." "She implied I don't take risks anymore." Maomei chirped. "Does she not know about the time you hacked the company software just to fix it, brrow?" "I suppose not. But that was silly, not risky." Maomei stood on his hind legs to reach the arm of Billy's chair. He dipped his head for a pat. Billy ran his fingers through the white birthmark and pushed the creature down. Maomei chirped again, annoyed. "Silly can be risky, too." "Yeah, but I wanna do something dumb. Dumb as all hell. Like interfere with a police investigation or set a building on fire so I can rescue people." Maomei twitched his tails. He didn't have an answer for that, so he settled on, "Mrow?" "I know. I'm so tired with the routine of life right now. It's almost night time, whaddya say to one good ol' adventure, mate?" Maomei ran one of his tails under his nose in thought. When he was distracted, he would chew on them. "That seems risky and dumb and not even fun." "It'll be fun, I promise. Just a little danjah," Billy said, exaggerating the remains of his South African accent. "We'll be a team again, like before." Maomei wanted to continue protesting, but the look in his master's eye was too intense for him to waste the energy. He felt a bit of debt to Billy -- after the whole thing with him sampling the human race like a buffet and taking advantage of a young boy needing help, he was all set for euthanasia for his crimes until Billy "adopted" him. His own planet wouldn't take him back and Billy was the closest thing to a confidant he had at the time, but after Maomei mellowed out a bit they had grown to be real friends. To that end, this excursion would not be like the old days. Billy kept his gun, the Pleiades Blaster, in a locked display case. He'd pawned off his original sword for dope money, but in a lot of ways it was good because it meant he was free of Maomei's magical control. With his own power, he created his own weapon: an augmented shotgun that fired shots from deep within the cosmos. Billy unlocked the case eagerly and took out his old boomstick. "Should I dress up? Should I do it?" Maomei curled up on the floor. "I don't think your old clothes fit." Billy frowned. "Oh, I'm fat now too?" Maomei sized his master up, from the skinny legs to the shabby gut and messy hair. "No, but you're taller and not cocaine skinny like you used to be." "Thanks, Maowy," Billy muttered. He locked the gun away again and rested his hands on his hips. "Well, guess I'll make myself a new suit." Maomei breathed a sigh of relief. Billy couldn't sew a stitch for his life, so their night out would be postponed for at least a month or more. Maybe Billy would come to his senses. In between secret nightly sewing sessions and the searching for patterns, Billy began telling stories again. He and Maomei would reminisce until the wee hours of the morning about monsters and misadventures while Billy tried to find cheap jeans to alter online. He finally found some red jeans that reminded him of the ripped ones he wore as an angry young youth post-magical career, and to complete the look he decorated them with safety pins. Maomei thumbed the idea down but Billy kept adding belts and shirts and patches until finally Maomei sighed and gave up. A month and a half later, they were finally doing this. Billy had even whipped Maomei up a kitty jacket. Maomei passed. They stood on the roof of an office building five stories up, gazing down at the pavement for something to happen. Billy took a deep breath, gulping in the night air. "Sure feels good being on patrol again," he said, smacking his lips. He yawned; it must be past ten, he thought, hoping Maomei didn't hear him. "I'd rather be eating," Maomei muttered. "You'd always rather be eating." Billy scooped up Maomei in his arms and jumped off the building, landing perfectly on his feet. It felt so damn good to fly. They swept through the streets, coming across nothing but a few errant kids past curfew that Billy promptly sent home. In the park, nothing but illicit couplings. The hours rolled by with little to no activity that a little neighborhood watch couldn't fix. As the moon sank they found themselves in front of a 24 hour gas station, hungry and defeated. Before they went in, Billy rested his gun against the side of the building, away from the electric eye guarding the entrance of the store. "This wasn't as fun as I thought it would be," Billy said. "Maybe I've grown up." Maomei purred in response. Billy tried to hide Maomei in his shirt but the man at the counter behind bullet proof glass was barely paying attention to them. So he let Maomei walk around freely and choose what he wanted. They got some taquitos and powdered donuts and Mountain Dew. Billy sighed again as the man scanned the items. He tried to think of the positives. He'd gotten his cardio in for the week, probably saved a young man from making a bad decision perhaps? Little things did go a long way. "Sir, it's $13.63." Billy internally swore at the rising costs of everything as he felt his pockets. Only to realize he had no pockets. He swore out loud and blushed. "Aye, mate, think me wallet's in the car," he said, chuckling nervously. The store clerk glared at him. The tension was broken up by the bell jingle that signaled in a new customer. The man was wearing sunglasses at two in the morning which already looked suspicious in addition to his trucker cap and loose windbreaker in the moist end of summer heat. And behind his back was Billy's Pleiades Blaster. He stood back near the freezer with the beer and next to the salty snacks isle, pointed Billy's own gun at him and his familiar and the store clerk. "Wallet out, fool!" "Sir, that belongs to me. And I don't even have my wallet." "Everything in your pockets then!" The store clerk pressed the emergency button; lights flashed as the alarm blazed. The would-be thief panicked and pulled the trigger on the shotgun. It rumbled and glowed as it powered up, a galaxy of smoke swirling around the barrel. It clicked a few times then backfired, causing a massive explosion of stars and gas. A shot straight from the depths of the cosmos blew one of the thief's hands clean off and burned the other extensively. The man screamed and screamed as he collapsed. Billy dashed over and picked up his gun, then ran back to the counter where Maomei had already snatched their snacks and drinks with his tails. Billy winked at the blubbering clerk before running off into the breezy night. Far away from the gas station and on top of another building to view the city's skyline, Billy and Maomei watched the sun rise. "Well, that turned out a little exciting. Oh shit, think the guy will tell?" Maomei ate the last of his taquito. "This city has never paid you, they owe you a donut or two." Billy nodded in agreement, reflecting back on the man's appearance and easy dispersal. "Wait…was that guy even real?" Maomei simply purred in response. Billy frowned, a little angry at the missed opportunity for any real danger but fortunate no one got hurt for real. He'd even robbed a store, something he hadn't done since he was in his twenties. He sipped the rest of his Mountain Dew contemplatively as the pink sun slowly replaced the moon in the sky. "Well, either way it goes. Thanks. But you're wearing the kitty vest next time." Maomei chirped, offended. Vision Thing- Sisters of Mercy/Black Lodge - Anthrax
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Ia! If you've come this far, you're either looking for weird or you know you've found it... TRESPASSING
September 2018
TAGS
All
|