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rainbowfic2015-07-12 12:03 am
starphotographs) wrote in rainbowfic2015-07-12 12:03 am
Folly 19, Skyblue Pink with Striped Polka Dots 8
Name: starphotographs
Story: Universe B
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (Summer Carnival), Canvas
Characters: Milo (POV), Edina, Kit
Colors: Folly 19 (That's not real), Skyblue Pink with Striped Polka Dots 8 (“I am a zizzer zazzer zuzz as you can plainly see.”)
Word Count: 1,234 (…I swear I didn’t try that.)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Summary: Teenage Milo learns about a fun Martian tradition.
Note: I mentioned this in my White Opal Saturation, and figured it could use its own story. :D
Something to Write Home About
We, young and old were all headed down to Yellowknife Bay. Edina drove the bus, just because she loved driving and always volunteered. The road was moving slowly today, because everyone was going to the same place.
It was Ghoul’s Day.
I’d heard of Ghoul’s Day before, and I knew it happened around this time every year, but I’d never gotten a chance to participate, and I didn’t really understand it. All I knew was that it had something to do with sending letters to a monster, and that everyone packed their letters into canisters that got shot up into space.
But, I guess I’d find out soon enough. The road sloped downhill. Mt. Sharp towered over everything. My brother wriggled in his seat.
“What are you gonna tell the Ghoul, Milo?”
“Oh… I don’t really know yet.”
The problem was, I knew that there wasn’t really a Ghoul, and I didn’t understand the tradition too well, so I wasn’t sure what kinds of things we were supposed to write. Kit, on the other hand, either knew or didn’t care. He’d been scribbling away in a spiral-bound notebook the whole ride, while I stared out the window. I kept on staring. He kept on writing. I decided that, when we got there, I’d ask Edina what all of this was all about.
*****
Yellowknife Bay isn’t a real bay. We don’t have any real bays at all. What it is, is an old lake, dry for billions of years. I’ve never been sure why they didn’t call it “Yellowknife Lake” or something, but that was a long time ago. Everyone who did all the naming was long dead by the time people actually started living here. None of us got a say in what anything would be called.
But, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bay or a lake. The important thing is, it’s big and flat, so it’s a perfect place to set up temporary launch pads. And there need to be a lot of those. Everyone in the three cities has something to say.
Everyone but me.
I walked around for a while, checking everything out, then went to find Edina. She was just finishing up with helping the old people and littler kids out of the bus. When they’d all gone their own ways, I nudged her arm.
“Um, Edina?”
“…Hmm?”
“I know we’re supposed to send letters to the Ghoul, but what is the Ghoul, anyway?”
She smiled, and sat cross-legged in the dirt. As usual, she wasn’t wearing any shoes, and her t-shirt looked odd next to everyone else’s their scarves and coats.
“Sit down, and I’ll tell you.”
*****
“A long time ago, when people were first learning about Mars, they did it by sending machines that would take pictures and study the ground. Sometimes, they worked very well, and showed the people back on Earth mountains and sunsets, and told them what the world was made of, and what the weather was like. When the people saw these things, they saw that Mars was a little bit like where they lived, and very beautiful. It made them want to come here.
But, the machines didn’t always work. They’d get stuck, or get lost, or wouldn’t send back any information or pictures. It was just a coincidence, because things break all the time, but it happened a lot. So much that one man joked that the machines must have been eaten by the Great Galactic Ghoul.”
*****
“Edina?”
“Yes?”
“If the Ghoul ate machines coming from Earth, why are we sending it things when we live on Mars? And why send letters to something that eats all your stuff in the first place?”
“I’m getting there… Are you hungry, Milo?”
I nodded. Edina opened the big container of food next to the bus, pulled out a sandwich, and handed it to me. I took a bite and chewed, waiting for the rest of the story.
*****
“When the first people came to Mars, a good while before I was made, they also had machines that didn’t always work. And I guess one of them was feeling funny, and mentioned the old joke about the Ghoul.
I’m not sure when this happened, or how it caught on, but someone had the idea to send a capsule into space, with a letter saying everything the scientists were doing. Maybe the Ghoul would read it, and see that what the humans were doing was very important, and remember to leave them alone.
After a while, it wasn’t just scientists living on Mars, and all the people who weren’t sent letters, too, because what they were doing was also very important. Now some people say that the Ghoul came to love us, and to love seeing our history unfold. Even the small parts. And we all need to send a little bit of our thoughts, so it can know what kinds of people were living that year.”
*****
By now, Kit had wandered back, and was eyeing my sandwich. Edina passed him one of his own, and he sat down on the ground next to us.
“Edina?”
“Milo?”
“Is the Ghoul something people really believe in?”
“Maybe some. I think people just love a tradition.”
Kit was eating his sandwich with one hand, and waving his notebook in my face with the other.
“Milo, write!”
“I still need to think of something!”
“There’s no time!”
I looked around. Lines were forming in front of the canisters. A man on a loudspeaker was saying “please proceed to launching stations” over and over again.
Edina put her hand on my shoulder, smiling.
“Think, Milo, think!”
Kit jammed the pen and pad into my hands. I still couldn’t think of something to tell the Ghoul. But, I could always think of something to ask, so I wrote down what I thought was a reasonable question:
"Who actually reads this stuff?"
That was all. Edina laughed, and put her arm around me, pulling me close.
“…You’re always so serious.”
She held me like that for a while. I leaned into her. Edina was never any warmer than the surrounding air, but it still felt good. Before I met her, it had been years since anyone really did things like that with me. Kit could get clingy, but this was different. Edina made me feel like I could be the one doing the clinging, if I ever needed to. We sat together like that for a while, then she ran a hand through my hair, stood up, and helped me to my feet.
“Come on.”
*****
We stood in line until my legs hurt, and then it was finally time to put our letters in the capsule. Kit’s notebook page, folded so many times it almost became a tiny cube. My skinny scrap of paper. Edina’s sealed envelope, nice stationary, her name neatly printed on the front.
Then the man on the loudspeaker started saying, “please clear the launch area.”
So we all went back to stand next to the van. I was still hungry, so I ate another sandwich. We waited.
Someone somewhere pressed a button, and up the capsules went. Loud, trailing smoke, piercing the yellow sky. Carrying thousands of thoughts.
Letting the universe know that each and every one of us is so terribly important.
Pleading that it wouldn’t catch us in its jaws.
starphotographsStory: Universe B
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (Summer Carnival), Canvas
Characters: Milo (POV), Edina, Kit
Colors: Folly 19 (That's not real), Skyblue Pink with Striped Polka Dots 8 (“I am a zizzer zazzer zuzz as you can plainly see.”)
Word Count: 1,234 (…I swear I didn’t try that.)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Summary: Teenage Milo learns about a fun Martian tradition.
Note: I mentioned this in my White Opal Saturation, and figured it could use its own story. :D
We, young and old were all headed down to Yellowknife Bay. Edina drove the bus, just because she loved driving and always volunteered. The road was moving slowly today, because everyone was going to the same place.
It was Ghoul’s Day.
I’d heard of Ghoul’s Day before, and I knew it happened around this time every year, but I’d never gotten a chance to participate, and I didn’t really understand it. All I knew was that it had something to do with sending letters to a monster, and that everyone packed their letters into canisters that got shot up into space.
But, I guess I’d find out soon enough. The road sloped downhill. Mt. Sharp towered over everything. My brother wriggled in his seat.
“What are you gonna tell the Ghoul, Milo?”
“Oh… I don’t really know yet.”
The problem was, I knew that there wasn’t really a Ghoul, and I didn’t understand the tradition too well, so I wasn’t sure what kinds of things we were supposed to write. Kit, on the other hand, either knew or didn’t care. He’d been scribbling away in a spiral-bound notebook the whole ride, while I stared out the window. I kept on staring. He kept on writing. I decided that, when we got there, I’d ask Edina what all of this was all about.
Yellowknife Bay isn’t a real bay. We don’t have any real bays at all. What it is, is an old lake, dry for billions of years. I’ve never been sure why they didn’t call it “Yellowknife Lake” or something, but that was a long time ago. Everyone who did all the naming was long dead by the time people actually started living here. None of us got a say in what anything would be called.
But, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bay or a lake. The important thing is, it’s big and flat, so it’s a perfect place to set up temporary launch pads. And there need to be a lot of those. Everyone in the three cities has something to say.
Everyone but me.
I walked around for a while, checking everything out, then went to find Edina. She was just finishing up with helping the old people and littler kids out of the bus. When they’d all gone their own ways, I nudged her arm.
“Um, Edina?”
“…Hmm?”
“I know we’re supposed to send letters to the Ghoul, but what is the Ghoul, anyway?”
She smiled, and sat cross-legged in the dirt. As usual, she wasn’t wearing any shoes, and her t-shirt looked odd next to everyone else’s their scarves and coats.
“Sit down, and I’ll tell you.”
“A long time ago, when people were first learning about Mars, they did it by sending machines that would take pictures and study the ground. Sometimes, they worked very well, and showed the people back on Earth mountains and sunsets, and told them what the world was made of, and what the weather was like. When the people saw these things, they saw that Mars was a little bit like where they lived, and very beautiful. It made them want to come here.
But, the machines didn’t always work. They’d get stuck, or get lost, or wouldn’t send back any information or pictures. It was just a coincidence, because things break all the time, but it happened a lot. So much that one man joked that the machines must have been eaten by the Great Galactic Ghoul.”
“Edina?”
“Yes?”
“If the Ghoul ate machines coming from Earth, why are we sending it things when we live on Mars? And why send letters to something that eats all your stuff in the first place?”
“I’m getting there… Are you hungry, Milo?”
I nodded. Edina opened the big container of food next to the bus, pulled out a sandwich, and handed it to me. I took a bite and chewed, waiting for the rest of the story.
“When the first people came to Mars, a good while before I was made, they also had machines that didn’t always work. And I guess one of them was feeling funny, and mentioned the old joke about the Ghoul.
I’m not sure when this happened, or how it caught on, but someone had the idea to send a capsule into space, with a letter saying everything the scientists were doing. Maybe the Ghoul would read it, and see that what the humans were doing was very important, and remember to leave them alone.
After a while, it wasn’t just scientists living on Mars, and all the people who weren’t sent letters, too, because what they were doing was also very important. Now some people say that the Ghoul came to love us, and to love seeing our history unfold. Even the small parts. And we all need to send a little bit of our thoughts, so it can know what kinds of people were living that year.”
By now, Kit had wandered back, and was eyeing my sandwich. Edina passed him one of his own, and he sat down on the ground next to us.
“Edina?”
“Milo?”
“Is the Ghoul something people really believe in?”
“Maybe some. I think people just love a tradition.”
Kit was eating his sandwich with one hand, and waving his notebook in my face with the other.
“Milo, write!”
“I still need to think of something!”
“There’s no time!”
I looked around. Lines were forming in front of the canisters. A man on a loudspeaker was saying “please proceed to launching stations” over and over again.
Edina put her hand on my shoulder, smiling.
“Think, Milo, think!”
Kit jammed the pen and pad into my hands. I still couldn’t think of something to tell the Ghoul. But, I could always think of something to ask, so I wrote down what I thought was a reasonable question:
"Who actually reads this stuff?"
That was all. Edina laughed, and put her arm around me, pulling me close.
“…You’re always so serious.”
She held me like that for a while. I leaned into her. Edina was never any warmer than the surrounding air, but it still felt good. Before I met her, it had been years since anyone really did things like that with me. Kit could get clingy, but this was different. Edina made me feel like I could be the one doing the clinging, if I ever needed to. We sat together like that for a while, then she ran a hand through my hair, stood up, and helped me to my feet.
“Come on.”
We stood in line until my legs hurt, and then it was finally time to put our letters in the capsule. Kit’s notebook page, folded so many times it almost became a tiny cube. My skinny scrap of paper. Edina’s sealed envelope, nice stationary, her name neatly printed on the front.
Then the man on the loudspeaker started saying, “please clear the launch area.”
So we all went back to stand next to the van. I was still hungry, so I ate another sandwich. We waited.
Someone somewhere pressed a button, and up the capsules went. Loud, trailing smoke, piercing the yellow sky. Carrying thousands of thoughts.
Letting the universe know that each and every one of us is so terribly important.
Pleading that it wouldn’t catch us in its jaws.
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GUT PUNCHING IS MY JOB. I gave it to myself. XD
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