Dance Card (Mythklok Interstitial)
Sep. 8th, 2011 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tikificTitle: Dance Card (Mythklok Interstitial)
Author: tikistitch
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Abby doesn't wanna dance.
Warnings: Tons and tons of OCs. And not just OCs: these are OCs who are children of other OCs.
Notes: This flashes forward a few years in the continuity.
"I'm not going to dance lessons!" fumed Abby, with all the great certainty of an eight year old girl. She sat on her bed, arms crossed, immovable.
"That's nice dear. Now get ready!" trilled her mother from the other room.
Abigail scowled. She was rather good at scowling. It was one of her specialties. But, alas, there was no audience for the murderous gleam in her ice blue eyes.
She grabbed the little Functional Bunny cellular phone from her bedside table and called the number of the one being who might possibly understand her terrible plight.
"Uncle Sariel!!!!"
"Abigail. So, what has your mom gone and done now?" came the genuinely warm reply.
"My stupid mom is being stupid!" Abby explained.
She heard the soft sound of a door shutting on the other end of the phone. "Uh-huh. She does that. You wanna tell me how she's being stupid?" Had someone just told Uncle Sariel a joke? He sounded like he might laugh.
Abby puffed her cheeks and blew. "She's making me take DANCE LESSONS with Uncle Vishnu!" Perhaps Uncle Sariel could send up an elite squad of his Klokateers to liberate her? That would be cool.
"Oh, that's nice. You know our Boon takes lessons...."
"Yes and Boon is WAAAAAY better than me!" Abby adored Boon, and was, some day, fated to marry him. At least, that was what she believed. But MEANWHILE.... well. Her cousin hadn't even really been born. He had been specially created. To make everyone else feel clumsy and stupid.
There was a soft laugh at the other end of the phone. "Boon is way better than ME at most everything. But I think you should give this a chance, sweetie. I didn't like it at first, but your Uncle Ganesh showed me some really good dances. You'd like them. They're about wars and guys with swords and lakes of fire and stuff."
Abby listened with growing disbelief. Adults! They all stuck together. Even sort of non-stupid ones like Uncle Sariel. "So you won't send a team of Klokateers to rescue me?" she wailed.
"Well, unfortunately, my staff is really, really busy right now. How about this? You try a couple lessons, and if you still hate it, I will personally come talk to your stupid mom."
"With a sword?"
"Uh. You do realize your mom could kick my ass?"
"Maybe," allowed Abby. Her mom could be stupid and annoying and stupid, but she was also pretty badass when armed with a pointy object.
"All right. You call me later and tell me how it went. Say hi your mom."
"Bye," muttered Abby sullenly, turning off the phone and tossing it back on the nightstand.
"Flabby's gonna go DANCING!"
Abby looked up with ill-concealed relish. Finally, someone worthy of focusing her current Look of Death: her stupid brother.
She stood up to her full height, which was unfortunately a couple inches shorter than her big twin brother. Uncle Sariel called him Monster Kid, a nickname Liam thought was perfectly awesome.
"You're stupid," she coolly informed him.
"Dancing Abby, Dancing Abby," he taunted.
"Is that you, Liam?" sang their mother's stupid voice from the other room.
"Uh. No," said Liam, who suddenly cringed.
Abby grinned cruelly.
"Get ready for your piano lesson, dear," said Raziel.
"But Moooooooom!" whined Liam. "I don't wanna play PIANO, piano is for DOUCHES, I wanna be cool and play guitar, like Skwisgaar!"
"You'll never be cool," grumbled Abby.
"That's nice, dear," called Raziel with what sounded a rather studied obliviousness. "Now get ready."
Liam was barreling out of Abby's room. "But Moooooom," he pleaded.
Abby sighed. She thought of the electric guitar, sitting mostly gathering cobwebs in the corner of Liam's room, and the occasional lesson with their older half-brother, Skwisgaar. "You amn't be any goods if you do not practice! You ams be bads, like Tokis!" And then her mom would lead off a fuming Uncle Toki to teach her a new knitting stitch.
Well, at least her stupid brother was fated to spend the next hour miserable. It was some consolation.
"Lady Raziel. Darling! It's been ages!" The tall blue god stooped over quite a long way to trade air kisses with tiny Raziel.
"Vishnu, my dear!" replied Raziel, tipping down her oversized sunglasses. "We were soooo grateful you could make some time for our little Abigail," she said, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
Abby was actually not terribly little compared to her mother. Uncle Ganesh had told her not long ago that he expected she would grow taller than her mother in not a few years. "Will I be super tall like my dad?" Abby had asked. "No, my dear, you will be about average," Ganesh had told her. Abby had sighed. Average, her fate in life. "Will she at least stop treating me like a little kid then?" she had demanded of him. "My dear," he had answered, "you are a small child, and will be for some years to come, and for that, we are most grateful." And he had kissed her on her forehead, and she had puffed an exasperated puff of the average kid.
"Abby! It's so cool that you're taking lessons with me now. Uncle Vishnu has taught me some really good dances and we can learn them together and my dads like to dance and you'll really enjoy it you'll see."
Abby regarded her cousin Elias warily. He had obviously been put up to this by Uncle Sariel. Elias was not average in any sort of way. He was small for his age, still even a bit shorter than Abby. But he was already stunning looking, with amazing infinite dark eyes, and some day he would be utterly gorgeous, like Uncle Ganesha.
And he was already a brilliant visual artist. He had started painting museum quality murals while still in diapers. When Uncle Ganesha had shown around some of his recent constructions to a few of Mom's artist friends, they had wanted to show him, having no idea the artist in question was the human equivalent of a grade school boy.
And he was a good dancer. A really good dancer. He was destined to be his family's next Lord of the Dance.
"Ah, Lady Abigail," Lord Vishnu was saying. Abby's mom had departed, and now the tall blue god stood over her, hands on hips, more hands on his chin, and yet more hands pointing in the air. "Daughter of Lord Wotan and Lady Raziel, part Seraph, on your mother's side, which will make you tend towards stubbornness. Destined to Shri Brahma," continued Vishnu, using his side of the family's weird name for her cousin, "budding military strategist, aspiring swordsman, lover of all things Functional Bunny and student of the oeuvre of Yaoi Teardrop."
Abby found herself glaring. Yaoi Teardrop were cute! What was wrong with liking them?
"Whatever is wrong, my darling, hmmmmm?" inquired Vishnu, raising a heavily plucked brow.
"I don't wanna take dance lessons," she told him.
"Abby!" cautioned Elias.
"Well, no," said Vishnu, plucking at his saffron-colored robes and straightening up his shining mandala. "The girl has an opinion. Let her speak. So, how would you rather be wasting your afternoon, pet?"
Elias shook his head in warning, but Abby said, "Something cool. Like sword fighting."
"All righty," said Vishnu.
"Uh, all righty what?" she asked, confused.
"Draw a little sword, cupcake. We'll have a darling little duel."
"Abby, don't!" said Elias. But she had already drawn a sword. Darling, he said? She would show him!
She held her stance for a moment. "Well, what are you waiting for?" inquired Vishnu,
"Aren't you gonna draw?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't think so," he said, stifling a yawn.
She stood a while longer.
"Well what are you waiting for? Come on! Come on!"
Abby struck.
...and landed on her bottom.
She turned around, Comfused, and looked at Vishnu. How the heck had he tripped her?
"Well, I have never," he was saying. "Your posture is impossible!"
"What did you do?" she demanded. "You tricked me!"
"I didn't even need to trip you, little one. I'm surprised, with your sense of balance, you can even stand upright."
Abby was drawing her sword again.
Abby lunged again.
This time, she ended up on her face.
"I would have expected a little better from a daughter of Raziel," huffed Vishnu.
She jumped back up. She flew at him.
Amd was back on the ground, this time with no sword.
Vishnunstood over her, waving her own sword in her face. "Stubborn as a Seraph, no sence of balance, no style, no grace. Tsk! You are a sorry little thing aren't you?"
Abby was breathing hard.
"I will call your mother. There is no way I'd even consider taking on such a poor student. You would be a complete waste of my time." And so saying, he tossed the sword down beside her. Itnfell with a clang.
Abby breathed, forcing back the hot tears.
She noticed the room seemed to have darkened.
Vishnu turned.
"You can't treat Abby like that!" It was little Elias, standing before Vishnu like a pint-sized angel of vengeance. "She's my friend! If you're not gonna teach her, then I'm not gonna take lessons from you any more either. And I'm gonna go home, and I'm gonna tell my dads, that I don't wanna see you any more! I don't care if you're Lord of the Dance, YOU'RE MEAN!" He had both sets of arms out now, and all were wagging furious fingers at his uncle.
Vishnu paused. And then, much to Abby's surprise, he bowed to Elias.
"If Shiva's heir wishes it, then it shall be so," he said. He extended one graceful hand towards Abby, and she grasped it. He pulled her to her feet.
"Young Abigail, your mother is the greatest swordsman who ever lived. DO YOU KNOW WHY?"
Abby shook her head.
Vishnu held up many index fingers. "Your mother is also one of the greatest dancers in existence. I went up against her once myself. She cannot be bested! And it has given her style, and grace. Balance! Discipline! You may yourself pick up some of these tools if you wish to study with me. Lord Brahma appears to believe you have potential."
Abby looked between Vishnu and a now hopeful looking Elias.
"Why didn't you just tell me at, instead of making me fall on my butt?" she groused, rubbing her sore posterior.
"There is a utility to occasionally falling on one's ass, although, hopefully, not during a performance. Now, are we ready to quit dithering and begin?"
Abby looked up from her geometry homework to the ringing phone. The ring tone was a very old song, one Uncle Ganesha had played her. Some really cool old geezer named David Bowie.
"Hello, Uncle Sariel."
"Abigail. Should I send an elite squad of Klokateers?"
"Naw. I guess not."
"You were supposed to call me."
"Didn't Boon already tell you? I fell on my butt," Abby sighed.
"Yes. And, after the butt-falling?"
"Uh. Well. I guess. Not too bad. OK." She frowned. It had actually been sort of not lame.
"All right."
"And. Uh," she told him. "Boon?"
"Yeah?"
"Boon is nice," she said.
"Yeah, we like him," his father laughed.
"He yelled at Vishnu!"
"Vishnu needs yelling at sometimes."
Suddenly, there was a crashing sound on the other end of the phone line. Abby grinned.
She heard Uncle Sariel yelling at someone in his office. "Pickles! This are the good lamps. The one's over there! Yeah! There!" His voice came back to the receiver. "I gotta go. Talk to you later."
She set down her phone, only to see an icon on her laptop blinking. She clicked her mouse, and the screen filled with Boon's face, already in mid-soliloquy, “So, you're gonna keep taking dancing with me, because I won't go back without you, because it wouldn't be any fun, and I've asked my dad, and he says it's OK if I quit if I feel that strongly about it, because you should always-”
“Boon! I'm gonna keep taking dancing. I just told your dad.”
“Oh, OK!” The screen jerked as he swung his own laptop around to reveal part of a rather large, partially finished artwork in the background. He was in Uncle Ganesha's studio, and Uncle Ganesha was there, arms crossed, and more arms rubbing a paint drop off his forehead. “'Cause my dad and I started a piece that expresses my interpretation of our dance movements in the cubist style. It's been a while since I've done a two dimensional piece!”
“It's really nice. Very colorful,” said Abby, feeling somewhat at a loss.
“Dear,” said Uncle Ganesha, “Vishnu wasn't too hard on you was he? I studied with that old sonofabitch for many years, and it was greatly to my benefit. But, he can be an asshole.”
“Naw, it was OK,” she told him.
“Abigail! Liam! Your geometry tutor is here!” came Raziel's voice.
“I gotta go,” she told Elias.
“OK, can you come over later and see?”
“Yeah, I'll ask my mom.” She clicked off the talk program. “Coming, Moooom!” she yelled.
“Awwwww, Moooooommm, why do we gotta take GEOMETRY!” Liam was whining from her doorway.
“Liam! How can you figure out artillery distance without geometry!” Abby told him.
“Eh, I guesso,” he allowed. “That new tutor is kinda weird,” he whispered to her.
“I like Galileo!”
“He speaks Italian funny.”
“Maybe we can get him to climb the Leaning Tower and drop stuff again?”
“Yeah, that might be cool. OK.”
And off they went....
Author: tikistitch
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Abby doesn't wanna dance.
Warnings: Tons and tons of OCs. And not just OCs: these are OCs who are children of other OCs.
Notes: This flashes forward a few years in the continuity.
"I'm not going to dance lessons!" fumed Abby, with all the great certainty of an eight year old girl. She sat on her bed, arms crossed, immovable.
"That's nice dear. Now get ready!" trilled her mother from the other room.
Abigail scowled. She was rather good at scowling. It was one of her specialties. But, alas, there was no audience for the murderous gleam in her ice blue eyes.
She grabbed the little Functional Bunny cellular phone from her bedside table and called the number of the one being who might possibly understand her terrible plight.
"Uncle Sariel!!!!"
"Abigail. So, what has your mom gone and done now?" came the genuinely warm reply.
"My stupid mom is being stupid!" Abby explained.
She heard the soft sound of a door shutting on the other end of the phone. "Uh-huh. She does that. You wanna tell me how she's being stupid?" Had someone just told Uncle Sariel a joke? He sounded like he might laugh.
Abby puffed her cheeks and blew. "She's making me take DANCE LESSONS with Uncle Vishnu!" Perhaps Uncle Sariel could send up an elite squad of his Klokateers to liberate her? That would be cool.
"Oh, that's nice. You know our Boon takes lessons...."
"Yes and Boon is WAAAAAY better than me!" Abby adored Boon, and was, some day, fated to marry him. At least, that was what she believed. But MEANWHILE.... well. Her cousin hadn't even really been born. He had been specially created. To make everyone else feel clumsy and stupid.
There was a soft laugh at the other end of the phone. "Boon is way better than ME at most everything. But I think you should give this a chance, sweetie. I didn't like it at first, but your Uncle Ganesh showed me some really good dances. You'd like them. They're about wars and guys with swords and lakes of fire and stuff."
Abby listened with growing disbelief. Adults! They all stuck together. Even sort of non-stupid ones like Uncle Sariel. "So you won't send a team of Klokateers to rescue me?" she wailed.
"Well, unfortunately, my staff is really, really busy right now. How about this? You try a couple lessons, and if you still hate it, I will personally come talk to your stupid mom."
"With a sword?"
"Uh. You do realize your mom could kick my ass?"
"Maybe," allowed Abby. Her mom could be stupid and annoying and stupid, but she was also pretty badass when armed with a pointy object.
"All right. You call me later and tell me how it went. Say hi your mom."
"Bye," muttered Abby sullenly, turning off the phone and tossing it back on the nightstand.
"Flabby's gonna go DANCING!"
Abby looked up with ill-concealed relish. Finally, someone worthy of focusing her current Look of Death: her stupid brother.
She stood up to her full height, which was unfortunately a couple inches shorter than her big twin brother. Uncle Sariel called him Monster Kid, a nickname Liam thought was perfectly awesome.
"You're stupid," she coolly informed him.
"Dancing Abby, Dancing Abby," he taunted.
"Is that you, Liam?" sang their mother's stupid voice from the other room.
"Uh. No," said Liam, who suddenly cringed.
Abby grinned cruelly.
"Get ready for your piano lesson, dear," said Raziel.
"But Moooooooom!" whined Liam. "I don't wanna play PIANO, piano is for DOUCHES, I wanna be cool and play guitar, like Skwisgaar!"
"You'll never be cool," grumbled Abby.
"That's nice, dear," called Raziel with what sounded a rather studied obliviousness. "Now get ready."
Liam was barreling out of Abby's room. "But Moooooom," he pleaded.
Abby sighed. She thought of the electric guitar, sitting mostly gathering cobwebs in the corner of Liam's room, and the occasional lesson with their older half-brother, Skwisgaar. "You amn't be any goods if you do not practice! You ams be bads, like Tokis!" And then her mom would lead off a fuming Uncle Toki to teach her a new knitting stitch.
Well, at least her stupid brother was fated to spend the next hour miserable. It was some consolation.
"Lady Raziel. Darling! It's been ages!" The tall blue god stooped over quite a long way to trade air kisses with tiny Raziel.
"Vishnu, my dear!" replied Raziel, tipping down her oversized sunglasses. "We were soooo grateful you could make some time for our little Abigail," she said, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
Abby was actually not terribly little compared to her mother. Uncle Ganesh had told her not long ago that he expected she would grow taller than her mother in not a few years. "Will I be super tall like my dad?" Abby had asked. "No, my dear, you will be about average," Ganesh had told her. Abby had sighed. Average, her fate in life. "Will she at least stop treating me like a little kid then?" she had demanded of him. "My dear," he had answered, "you are a small child, and will be for some years to come, and for that, we are most grateful." And he had kissed her on her forehead, and she had puffed an exasperated puff of the average kid.
"Abby! It's so cool that you're taking lessons with me now. Uncle Vishnu has taught me some really good dances and we can learn them together and my dads like to dance and you'll really enjoy it you'll see."
Abby regarded her cousin Elias warily. He had obviously been put up to this by Uncle Sariel. Elias was not average in any sort of way. He was small for his age, still even a bit shorter than Abby. But he was already stunning looking, with amazing infinite dark eyes, and some day he would be utterly gorgeous, like Uncle Ganesha.
And he was already a brilliant visual artist. He had started painting museum quality murals while still in diapers. When Uncle Ganesha had shown around some of his recent constructions to a few of Mom's artist friends, they had wanted to show him, having no idea the artist in question was the human equivalent of a grade school boy.
And he was a good dancer. A really good dancer. He was destined to be his family's next Lord of the Dance.
"Ah, Lady Abigail," Lord Vishnu was saying. Abby's mom had departed, and now the tall blue god stood over her, hands on hips, more hands on his chin, and yet more hands pointing in the air. "Daughter of Lord Wotan and Lady Raziel, part Seraph, on your mother's side, which will make you tend towards stubbornness. Destined to Shri Brahma," continued Vishnu, using his side of the family's weird name for her cousin, "budding military strategist, aspiring swordsman, lover of all things Functional Bunny and student of the oeuvre of Yaoi Teardrop."
Abby found herself glaring. Yaoi Teardrop were cute! What was wrong with liking them?
"Whatever is wrong, my darling, hmmmmm?" inquired Vishnu, raising a heavily plucked brow.
"I don't wanna take dance lessons," she told him.
"Abby!" cautioned Elias.
"Well, no," said Vishnu, plucking at his saffron-colored robes and straightening up his shining mandala. "The girl has an opinion. Let her speak. So, how would you rather be wasting your afternoon, pet?"
Elias shook his head in warning, but Abby said, "Something cool. Like sword fighting."
"All righty," said Vishnu.
"Uh, all righty what?" she asked, confused.
"Draw a little sword, cupcake. We'll have a darling little duel."
"Abby, don't!" said Elias. But she had already drawn a sword. Darling, he said? She would show him!
She held her stance for a moment. "Well, what are you waiting for?" inquired Vishnu,
"Aren't you gonna draw?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't think so," he said, stifling a yawn.
She stood a while longer.
"Well what are you waiting for? Come on! Come on!"
Abby struck.
...and landed on her bottom.
She turned around, Comfused, and looked at Vishnu. How the heck had he tripped her?
"Well, I have never," he was saying. "Your posture is impossible!"
"What did you do?" she demanded. "You tricked me!"
"I didn't even need to trip you, little one. I'm surprised, with your sense of balance, you can even stand upright."
Abby was drawing her sword again.
Abby lunged again.
This time, she ended up on her face.
"I would have expected a little better from a daughter of Raziel," huffed Vishnu.
She jumped back up. She flew at him.
Amd was back on the ground, this time with no sword.
Vishnunstood over her, waving her own sword in her face. "Stubborn as a Seraph, no sence of balance, no style, no grace. Tsk! You are a sorry little thing aren't you?"
Abby was breathing hard.
"I will call your mother. There is no way I'd even consider taking on such a poor student. You would be a complete waste of my time." And so saying, he tossed the sword down beside her. Itnfell with a clang.
Abby breathed, forcing back the hot tears.
She noticed the room seemed to have darkened.
Vishnu turned.
"You can't treat Abby like that!" It was little Elias, standing before Vishnu like a pint-sized angel of vengeance. "She's my friend! If you're not gonna teach her, then I'm not gonna take lessons from you any more either. And I'm gonna go home, and I'm gonna tell my dads, that I don't wanna see you any more! I don't care if you're Lord of the Dance, YOU'RE MEAN!" He had both sets of arms out now, and all were wagging furious fingers at his uncle.
Vishnu paused. And then, much to Abby's surprise, he bowed to Elias.
"If Shiva's heir wishes it, then it shall be so," he said. He extended one graceful hand towards Abby, and she grasped it. He pulled her to her feet.
"Young Abigail, your mother is the greatest swordsman who ever lived. DO YOU KNOW WHY?"
Abby shook her head.
Vishnu held up many index fingers. "Your mother is also one of the greatest dancers in existence. I went up against her once myself. She cannot be bested! And it has given her style, and grace. Balance! Discipline! You may yourself pick up some of these tools if you wish to study with me. Lord Brahma appears to believe you have potential."
Abby looked between Vishnu and a now hopeful looking Elias.
"Why didn't you just tell me at, instead of making me fall on my butt?" she groused, rubbing her sore posterior.
"There is a utility to occasionally falling on one's ass, although, hopefully, not during a performance. Now, are we ready to quit dithering and begin?"
Abby looked up from her geometry homework to the ringing phone. The ring tone was a very old song, one Uncle Ganesha had played her. Some really cool old geezer named David Bowie.
"Hello, Uncle Sariel."
"Abigail. Should I send an elite squad of Klokateers?"
"Naw. I guess not."
"You were supposed to call me."
"Didn't Boon already tell you? I fell on my butt," Abby sighed.
"Yes. And, after the butt-falling?"
"Uh. Well. I guess. Not too bad. OK." She frowned. It had actually been sort of not lame.
"All right."
"And. Uh," she told him. "Boon?"
"Yeah?"
"Boon is nice," she said.
"Yeah, we like him," his father laughed.
"He yelled at Vishnu!"
"Vishnu needs yelling at sometimes."
Suddenly, there was a crashing sound on the other end of the phone line. Abby grinned.
She heard Uncle Sariel yelling at someone in his office. "Pickles! This are the good lamps. The one's over there! Yeah! There!" His voice came back to the receiver. "I gotta go. Talk to you later."
She set down her phone, only to see an icon on her laptop blinking. She clicked her mouse, and the screen filled with Boon's face, already in mid-soliloquy, “So, you're gonna keep taking dancing with me, because I won't go back without you, because it wouldn't be any fun, and I've asked my dad, and he says it's OK if I quit if I feel that strongly about it, because you should always-”
“Boon! I'm gonna keep taking dancing. I just told your dad.”
“Oh, OK!” The screen jerked as he swung his own laptop around to reveal part of a rather large, partially finished artwork in the background. He was in Uncle Ganesha's studio, and Uncle Ganesha was there, arms crossed, and more arms rubbing a paint drop off his forehead. “'Cause my dad and I started a piece that expresses my interpretation of our dance movements in the cubist style. It's been a while since I've done a two dimensional piece!”
“It's really nice. Very colorful,” said Abby, feeling somewhat at a loss.
“Dear,” said Uncle Ganesha, “Vishnu wasn't too hard on you was he? I studied with that old sonofabitch for many years, and it was greatly to my benefit. But, he can be an asshole.”
“Naw, it was OK,” she told him.
“Abigail! Liam! Your geometry tutor is here!” came Raziel's voice.
“I gotta go,” she told Elias.
“OK, can you come over later and see?”
“Yeah, I'll ask my mom.” She clicked off the talk program. “Coming, Moooom!” she yelled.
“Awwwww, Moooooommm, why do we gotta take GEOMETRY!” Liam was whining from her doorway.
“Liam! How can you figure out artillery distance without geometry!” Abby told him.
“Eh, I guesso,” he allowed. “That new tutor is kinda weird,” he whispered to her.
“I like Galileo!”
“He speaks Italian funny.”
“Maybe we can get him to climb the Leaning Tower and drop stuff again?”
“Yeah, that might be cool. OK.”
And off they went....
