Timestamp meme!

[outstretched]

Give me one of my own stories, and a timestamp sometime in the future after the end of the story, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll write you at least a hundred words of what happened then, whether it's five minutes before the story started or ten years in the future.

Not sure any of you will bite, but I'd really love it if you did ;_;

Comments

[axolotl]

I'll totally bite because it's a way to get your take on something I've been pondering. :)

Antiphony, thirty-seven days after Lyra arrives at Green's, 7:30 PM.

[masu_trout]

Awesome!

Um, Chewing on Pearls, either one month later or five years before? (Your White intrigues me.)

[outstretched]

Five Years Before

One would think the rattling of the train would wake her up, but it doesn't. The trains changed from alarm clock to lullaby years ago. Too many years to count, in White's opinion. Not many things count to her.

She sleeps on a bench at the end of the station, a thin blanket draped across her chest and some of the strongest pokémon on the subway circuit quiescent in their balls at her belt. It's noon outside by the time she wakes up; it might have mattered to her if she spent any time up there, if the sun in the sky was anything more than a passing curiosity to her. White's real life is, has always been, in the tunnels.

She wakes up when the thirtieth train on the day shift comes rattling through the station, right on time. Her eyes flash open and she rolls to her feet without much preamble, tucking her blanket back into her bag as she walks forward. The train doors open and she steps on easily, mouth stretched into a wide, luxurious yawn. One hand combs through her ponytail, working through the tangles, as her other hand reaches for her poké balls. She feels through them, checking each one, before her hands settle to her sides. She's not expecting any passengers this far back in the train, and she receives none. White rides without reaching for a handhold, bending her knees and shifting her weight to accommodate for the turns and rattles that she knows by heart.

She steps off at the gear station and looks for breakfast. She's making a lazy circuit around the central hub before she catches sight of a young man standing at the multi station. His stance is shy, and she's never seen him before. Curious, she heads down the stairs, her hand again reaching back to feel through the poké balls at her belt. Maybe he'll be able to keep up with her, maybe he won't, but she never turns down a chance to learn something new.

"Hi!" she says with a crooked smile. "I'm White! You're challenging the Multi Train for the first time, right?"

[masu_trout]

*Screeches*

Eek, I can't believe I didn't see this before! It's absolutely lovely-- I love how you characterize White, and the hints of her past in lines like White's real life is, has always been, in the tunnels. And I really love the mental image of White growing up as a part of the subway. I also love this line a ton: White rides without reaching for a handhold, bending her knees and shifting her weight to accommodate for the turns and rattles that she knows by heart. It's great characterization and a just plain gorgeous sentence, too.

Basically, great job!