![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
As the subject says, I owe this ficlet to
misura thanks to the second lightning round at
help_haiti. It's courtesy her, and one other person, that I have a paid account for the next two months! Wooo! anyhow, on with the fic. Misura asked for the Young Wizards universe, either with Tom and Carl's koi as central characters or, if possible, elaboration on how they got the koi in the first place. I hope this suits. :) This's 372 words, by the way.
"Excuse me."
Carl doesn't flinch. At least, to be fair, he doesn't flinch to the degree that a large percentage of Earth's population might on hearing a plainly nonhumanoid voice addressing them. Presuming that they could hear this particular sort of nonhumanoid voice addressing them, but that's really beside the point. The fact remains, to paraphrase a certain author, that when someone speaks into your right ear, you're gonna twitch. An aborted half-step forward, an only vaguely bemused shrug--wizardry gets you used to creatures and objects speaking up in a hurry--and Carl turns in place on the mall's bland tiles. "Can I help you?"
"One helps the other," says a second voice, different enough to be distinct from it's fellow but similar in tone - all delicate bubbles and graceful motion, water swirling in elegance. That puts an end to Carl's initial thought; it's the contents, and not the glass, of the large aquarium that's started talking to him. He's nose to nasal-analog with a pair of fish, now that he takes a proper look. One's black and white, the other's as calico as the average tricolor house cat, and there are - he squints, casts a more careful eye over the scene - at least three more a fin's length behind the first pair. They all look interested, one or two downright eager. "and the other. Introduce a third party, circumstances grow green as algae."
It's the calico koi who's been speaking, but now a coppery third takes up the thread. "Sorry," she says, not at all subtle in bumping her black and white friend to the side, making that much more room at the tank's front. "We're still working out a few cyntax errors. Still true, though."
carl may not be the most subtle wizard out there, but nuances are one thing. Recognizing something oracular, even when it's dropped in your metaphorical lap in the middle of a New York shopping center--well. "I get the feeling I'm going to be working out what that meant for a while." He's plenty rueful, but he's not resigned. When the One has a reason, the One has a reason. "So, just how many of you are coming home with me?"
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
"Excuse me."
Carl doesn't flinch. At least, to be fair, he doesn't flinch to the degree that a large percentage of Earth's population might on hearing a plainly nonhumanoid voice addressing them. Presuming that they could hear this particular sort of nonhumanoid voice addressing them, but that's really beside the point. The fact remains, to paraphrase a certain author, that when someone speaks into your right ear, you're gonna twitch. An aborted half-step forward, an only vaguely bemused shrug--wizardry gets you used to creatures and objects speaking up in a hurry--and Carl turns in place on the mall's bland tiles. "Can I help you?"
"One helps the other," says a second voice, different enough to be distinct from it's fellow but similar in tone - all delicate bubbles and graceful motion, water swirling in elegance. That puts an end to Carl's initial thought; it's the contents, and not the glass, of the large aquarium that's started talking to him. He's nose to nasal-analog with a pair of fish, now that he takes a proper look. One's black and white, the other's as calico as the average tricolor house cat, and there are - he squints, casts a more careful eye over the scene - at least three more a fin's length behind the first pair. They all look interested, one or two downright eager. "and the other. Introduce a third party, circumstances grow green as algae."
It's the calico koi who's been speaking, but now a coppery third takes up the thread. "Sorry," she says, not at all subtle in bumping her black and white friend to the side, making that much more room at the tank's front. "We're still working out a few cyntax errors. Still true, though."
carl may not be the most subtle wizard out there, but nuances are one thing. Recognizing something oracular, even when it's dropped in your metaphorical lap in the middle of a New York shopping center--well. "I get the feeling I'm going to be working out what that meant for a while." He's plenty rueful, but he's not resigned. When the One has a reason, the One has a reason. "So, just how many of you are coming home with me?"
no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 01:25 am (UTC)*hugs you, just 'cuz*
no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 11:18 am (UTC)Thank you very much for this!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 05:24 pm (UTC)