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Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - Bob Schroeck - 02-17-2004
After tucking her in, I stepped into the bathroom and used the
complimentary coffee-maker to brew myself some tea. A few
minutes later, with cup in hand, I sat down on the empty bed next
to the nightstand onto which I had emptied her pockets. I went
over the few things I found on her, and tried to make sense of it
all: a handful of the local Japanese currency (about five bucks'
worth, if the exchange rate was about the same as home in this
timeline), a few white rose petals, and a student ID card for a
private school in Japan. In her right hand she'd been holding
several pieces of white marble that looked like they'd been
freshly broken off of something architectural. And stuck in her
sleeves had been several long, very sharp thorns. That was it --
no passport, no other paperwork, no indication how she'd ended up
laying on top of me in Central Park. For all I knew, she'd
arrived from another universe just like I had.
I took the time to study the ID. Assuming it wasn't a fake, her
name was Tenjou Utena, and she was a student at an "Ohtori
Academy". She wasn't quite 14 yet, provided there was no
funkiness with calendars or time travel for either of us. I
looked up and glanced over at her sleeping form. With her height
and figure, she looked somewhat older than 13, but I supposed it
was possible. Far more odd was that, judging by her eyebrows and
lashes, her pink hair was apparently natural, a fact with which
the ID had concurred.
I sat and sipped my tea and considered this information for a
while. Curiosity warred with prudence, but in the end curiosity
won out, and I picked up the telephone handset.
In a Manhattan almost at the same point in time as my native
here-and-now, even without metahumans, it wasn't hard to find a
company with a WATS line that I already knew I could tap into
with a modicum of effort. In ten minutes, I had set up a nice,
untraceable long-distance connection, and was speaking to a very
helpful Nippon Telephone operator. She was able to connect me to
the Ohtori main switchboard, for which I thanked her.
When I got the Ohtori switchboard operator, I asked directly for
Utena Tenjou. The operator apologized and informed me that there
were no private phones in the academy's dorms, but she could
transfer me to a pay phone in Higashi-kan, the dorm where Ms.
Tenjou lived. I gave her my most profuse thanks, and waited
through several seconds of clicks for the ring tone.
The phone on the other end rang four or five times before someone
picked up. "Hello, East Hall, Shinohara Wakaba speaking," said a
young, bubbly-sounding girl's voice in Japanese.
"Yes, may I speak to Tenjou Utena please?" I asked in low tones,
so as not to disturb the occupant of the other bed.
"Sorry, she's out."
"Do you know when she might be back?"
"I'm not sure." Shinohara Wakaba's voice took on a contemplative,
musing tone. "Nobody's seen her around for at least a day, which
is really odd, because you can't really miss her, you know what I
mean?"
Thinking of her hair color and the rather... unique... ensemble
Utena had been wearing when I found her, I chuckled. "Yes, I
believe I do."
"Anyway, can I take a message? I don't live here, but Utena's my
best friend in the world, and I usually see her a couple times a
day."
For a moment, I almost gave in to the urge to do the
compassionate thing and let the girl know that her friend was...
what? Eleven thousand kilometers away and recovering from the
combined effects of an avalanche and getting impaled on a sword?
But my common sense -- which usually spends its time napping or
reading comic books -- chose that moment to stand up and kick me
in the brain. "No," I said softly, "that's okay. I'll call back
tomorrow. Thank you very much."
"Oh, no problem!" she chirped. "Bye now!"
"Good-bye," I echoed with a smile, and terminated the call. Then
I spent a few minutes undoing my phone phreakery and thinking
about what I'd learned. Utena looked to be from this universe,
all right. But how the hell had she ended up in Central Park,
battered, scratched, fingernails broken, and run through from
behind by a sword?
My usual response to weirdness in unusual -- which is to say,
"normal" -- circumstances is to look for magic. So after hanging
up again, I turned around on the bed, settled my eyes on the
sleeping girl, and lowered myself into magesight. I hissed as
soon as I did.
God-touched.
That was the only thing I could call it.
The girl had the strangest aura I had ever seen -- a human aura,
no doubt, but blended with it, or more precisely, grafted onto
its golden glow, was the tricolored helix that until that day had
for me always marked a Celestial of some sort. It was not at all
like Ayanami Rei's aura, which had manifested its Celestial
component normally; instead, this was... attached. Almost glued
on, for lack of a better description. Weird.
What was she? Had someone, some being, tried to *make* a demigod
or a godling, using a spare human and a handful of the cosmic
Forces that comprised a divine aura? She sure as hell couldn't
have been born that way.
Did she know what she was?
Did she even want to know?
I sat there in the darkness and nursed my tea, her deep, sleeping
breaths the only sound in the room -- the only sound save for a
single word she muttered in her slumber: "Anthy..."
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Re: Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - Koryimran - 02-17-2004
Wow Bob, that's really interesting. Having watched the last epsiodes of RGU just a couple weeks ago that really fits well. Now I just want more.
Shawn Earl
Working on Degree #2
heh - Herr Bad Moon - 02-17-2004
You know, those Ohtori people took kitbashing just a little too far.
And Doug phone phreaking is just cool. Sure, as chief of security he probably knows a thing or two, but just spoofing a call to Japan is funny to me for some reason.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"
Re: heh - Star Ranger4 - 02-18-2004
OOOOOoooooo... I like, Bob.
Hope this one makes it's way to the top of the production list sooner rather than later!"I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
Re: heh - Bob Schroeck - 02-18-2004
I think it'll be going on the "must write" list. I've got too many live, demanding images in my head to abandon it now.
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.
re: mi: fa: sol: la: si: do! - Foxboy - 02-18-2004
Well, howzabout DW VIII: You Say You Want a Revolution for a title?
So . . . that means the Utena step is third in the queue after DW II? (After Holy^3 . . .Cow, and Angel Baby?)
Of course, the Kodocha step might well turn out to be the shortest one . . .
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Re: heh - offsides - 02-18-2004
Well, you know my opinion about this one - we've discussed a variety of bits for it
Offsides
Drunkard's Walk Forum Moderator and Prereader At Large
Re: heh - Bob Schroeck - 02-18-2004
Foxboy, that's the best title anyone's come up with for it so far... I might just steal that from you.
As for where in the Walk it is, I have no idea yet. I need to look at my itinerary and see what works.
Josh, yes we have. And I have new bits, based on the most recent developments.
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.
Re: heh - Valles - 02-18-2004
Quote:I dunno... I kinda like Tip Your Hat (To the New Constitution). Partly because I don't much care for that particular Beatles tune, and partly because I like being 'clever' about things like this.
Foxboy, that's the best title anyone's come up with for it so far... I might just steal that from you.
Blessed be.
-n
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: heh - Bob Schroeck - 02-18-2004
Well, I suppose I should have polled my prereaders first, after all...
That's a good one, too... gotta remember that.
And Foxboy, I just thought of a reason why I shouldn't use your suggestion -- it's already the title of one of the Symphonies in EPU's "Symphony of the Sword". While they certainly don't have exclusive rights to a title, courtesy to fellow writers compells me not to poach on their turf.
(Edit: Dismissed Valles' suggestion too quicky, so I undismissed it.)
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.
Re: heh - WengFook - 02-18-2004
very good... awesome good. really cool. gah.. I'll sum it up as.. I want more -__-U
Okay I was hit by a little bit of lameness while trying to think of a decent title for the RGU step so here it is in all its glory.
Drunkards Walk VI: Revolutions...
yes yes i know.. ill go wash my brains now
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.
Titleness - Guest - 02-19-2004
"One Revolution, under Dios..."
Nah.
"Revolutionary Teacher Sangnoir", to coin a pun on two anime titles....
Hm. I'm not good with titles today.
Re: Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - Herr Bad Moon - 02-19-2004
I remember from one of my philosophy classes in high school some quote that I really liked, but I don't remember who said it. It goes like this if memory serves:
"If I can't dance at your revolution, I'm not coming."
Just thought I'd add that to the pile.---------------
"A billion robot lives are about to be extinguished. Oh the Jedi are gonna feel this one."
-Professor Farnsworth
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"
Re: Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - jonathanlennox - 02-19-2004
Quote:"Dance Dance Revolution"?
"If I can't dance at your revolution, I'm not coming."
Re: titles - Bob Schroeck - 02-19-2004
I think someone on the FFML wrote a spamfic entitled "Dance Dance Revolutionary Girl Utena" some months ago, but I'm damned if I can remember anything more about it...
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.
Re: titles - Foxboy - 02-19-2004
33 1/3 Revolutions per Mutant/ Min-Utena?
Kiss from a Rose (um, no, just random babble. . . )
These are the Dios of Our Lives?
Tomorrow Never Dios?
meh. just hadda respond...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Re: Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - The Wanderer - 02-19-2004
Quote:Heh. I've seen much the same sentiment expressed in terms which I find both considerably more blunt and considerably less work-safe, and I must say I preferred that version.
"If I can't dance at your revolution, I'm not coming."
Not that it would be any good at all as a title...
Re: titles - The Wanderer - 02-19-2004
Quote:I have a complete local archive of all fiction posted to the FFML which I did not deem absolute, untouchable shit, and another one of all messages posted to the FFML which were neither duplicates nor similarly pointless to keep, running back to when the list came back from the dead; I keep messages older than the beginning of 2003 in a separate folder, but searching the more-recent folder for any messages containing both "Dance Dance" and "Utena" turns up only a con report and an MSTing, neither of which sounds like what you're talking about.
I think someone on the FFML wrote a spamfic entitled "Dance Dance Revolutionary Girl Utena" some months ago, but I'm damned if I can remember anything more about it...
If the spamfic in question is anything other than a figment of your rather impressive imagination, you must have seen it somewhere else.
Re: titles - Star Ranger4 - 02-19-2004
I think it was mentioned in "Curse of the Fanboys" as one of Chaos' wierd Chaos-fics, myself."I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
Re: titles - nemonowan - 02-19-2004
> I think someone on the FFML wrote a spamfic entitled
> "Dance Dance Revolutionary Girl Utena" some months
> ago, but I'm damned if I can remember anything more
> about it...
I remember it too. It wasn't very good even for a
spamfic, the punchline was just that instead of sword
duels, they competed at DDR.
NN
Re: titles - Bob Schroeck - 02-19-2004
Yeah, that sounds about right, N... real short, kinda stupid punchline.
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.
Re: titles - mephron - 02-19-2004
Quote:
I remember it too. It wasn't very good even for a spamfic, the punchline was just that instead of sword duels, they competed at DDR.
Oh well.
(It was going to get me assassinated anyway.)Brazil has decided you're cute.
Re: titles - Bob Schroeck - 02-20-2004
Hey, don't do that. Just because someone else did a lousy job with it, doesn't mean yours won't shine.
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.
Re: Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - chibipoe - 02-20-2004
Bob, I just want to say that you are one superb author and I greatly look forward to this when it becomes a full-fledged step.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Re: Just For Fun, An Utena Fragment - Bob Schroeck - 02-20-2004
Thanks, chibipoe. I have some really killer ideas, born of some solid research with a thorough leavening of imagination; it'll be a very different Utena fic, if it ever gets done.
-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.