Chasing plot bunnies
Apr. 2nd, 2005 01:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bobcatmoranI don't understand how my brain works sometimes. I finish a huge writing assignment and what does my brain decide I should do? Write. Okay, it's writing fanfiction, which is quite different than a research proposal or academic paper, but still, writing to unwind from writing seems a bit bizarre. Maybe the plot bunnies finally got sick of being cooped up. Goodness knows this particular one has been scampering about for a long time.
A bit of background: X and Zero, for a reason which I have yet to figure out, have basically switched bodies. Their personalities and memories were transferred, and they are, for the time being, stuck like this until the techies can figure out how to move all that data back without damaging either of the two Maverick Hunters. This is the first morning they spend in this new situation.
X opened the door a crack and glanced out. Nobody out there. He poked his head out a bit farther, looked left, looked right, then quickly darted out, running for his room as fast as his legs would take him, hoping that no one would come down the hall and see him. He pounded on the door. “Ze—er, X?” he amended for the benefit of anyone who might happen to be listening. “X? Are you in there?” He fidgeted anxiously, then knocked again.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, keep your shirt on,” X heard his own voice come from within his room. The door slid open with a jerk. “Hey, kid. What’s up?” X shoved his way past Zero into the room, closing the door behind him. “Well, good morning to you, too. What’s the matter? Get homesick?” Zero gave X a grin.
“Ah, no, it’s not that. I’ve … er … got a bit of a problem.” X turned around, revealing a hairbrush firmly wedged into his newly-gained blond hair at about shoulder height.
“X! What did you do to my hair?”
“I didn’t do anything. I was just trying to — ow, Zero, don’t tug at it like that — trying to brush it, and it got stuck.”
Zero stuck his fingers in the mass of hair, trying to free the brush. “Just trying to brush it? What did you do, wrap my hair around the brush first?”
“No, I was just starting at the top and working my way down, and I ran into this huge tangle, so I tried …” X trailed off as the small tugs of Zero’s attempts at freeing the brush stopped. He looked behind himself. Zero was staring at him with a look of complete incredulity.
“You were brushing my hair how?”
“Just, you know, brushing it like normal. Why? Does your hair need some sort of special brushing method?”
“You’ve never had long hair, have you?”
“Um, no, Zero. The last time I checked, my hair has always been the same. Well, at least until yesterday evening.”
Zero made a pained noise. “You have to start from the bottom and then go up.”
“Like this?” X mimed a brush stroke that started at the end of a strand and then went upward. “Wouldn’t that get your hair even more tangled?”
“No, you have to get the knots out at the bottom part of the hair, then the next bit up, and then the next bit. Otherwise you just end up shoving it all down into one big knot, like the one you seem to have trapped my hairbrush in.”
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t know. I should have told you,” Zero said, pulling strands of hair away from the brush. “I just hope we won’t have to cut this loose.”
“I’m really sorry, Zero.”
“Stop apologizing.”
X reached around to the back of his head, ready to try and help, but Zero shoved his hands back, saying that he had it under control. X tried to look behind himself without turning his head. “Zero, where did you get that sweater you’re wearing?”
“It was in your closet.”
“Hm. I don’t recognize it.”
“Yeah, well, it was in the way back. You’ve got some really weird crap in there, you know that?”
“Weird crap?”
“Yeah, like that box full of those silver disc things.”
“Silver disc … oh, my CDs.”
“See who?” Zero asked.
“CDs. They were a twenty-first century way of storing music.”
“Do they still work?”
“If you have a player, yes.”
“You got one?”
“It’s probably in the back of my closet along with the rest of my ‘weird crap,’” X said. Seeing the thoughtful look that Zero suddenly got, he quickly added, “Don’t try using them without me there. They scratch easily, and then you can’t play them any more.”
“Aw, you’re no fun,” Zero said. He pulled several more strands of hair free. “Okay, now I should be able to … yes! Success!” He triumphantly raised the hairbrush over his head. “Now stand still, X. I’ll finish brushing my, er, your hair the right way.”
X stood patiently while Zero worked out all the tangles, including the remains of the massive one that the hairbrush had been tangled in.
“X, can you slouch or sit or something? Your body’s too short to let me see the top of your head.” X bent his knees into a sort of half-crouch. “Thanks,” Zero said. “You didn’t bring a hair binder, did you?”
“No. You want me to go back and get one?”
“Yeah. I need to show you how to put up my hair. There’s probably one on my desk or something.”
“Or I could just grab the one that I took out last night.”
“Or you could do that, yes.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After X demonstrated his abilities to deal with over a meter of hair to Zero’s satisfaction, the two hunters went down to the cafeteria. X had noticed that Zero’s body sent out much stronger indicators than his own when it was low on energy, and he was actually starting to have trouble concentrating. An energy capsule would probably take care of the problem more efficiently, but MHHQ was trying to encourage those reploids that could to stick to eating real food, since it was actually cheaper overall, despite the fact that it wasn’t as efficient an energy source.
Besides, X thought, eating a slice of toast, real food tasted better. Energy capsules tasted like ammonia and always left his mouth feeling like someone had just coated the inside with vaseline. Just thinking about it made him want something to drink to get the taste out of his mouth. He reached for his mug of tea, only to knock it over, spilling the contents all over Zero’s plate.
“Argh! You klutz, I was eating that!” Zero exclaimed.
“Sorry,” X said, quickly getting up to find some napkins. He didn’t like being in this new body, and not just because of the hair or the fact that it couldn’t deal well with low energy levels. No, the problem with this body was that it was bigger than his own. He kept underestimating the distances to things when he reached for them, or would forget that he was now suddenly a few centimeters taller and whack his head against things. He had noticed Zero having some similar problems, missing things completely while reaching for them, but at least Zero wasn’t constantly knocking things over. Earlier this morning, before the hair crisis, X had managed to knock Zero’s radio off his desk and then he hit his head on the underside of the desk while searching for the antenna, which had snapped off in the fall. He hadn’t told Zero about that yet, and he hoped he’d be able to fix it before his friend found out.
He returned with a pile of napkins and a new mug of tea to find Zero halfway through a fresh plate of eggs, talking to Alia between bites. “…and so they were all, ‘Oh, no, can’t do that, too dangerous, might erase your memory completely,’ so we’re stuck like this for now. Hey, napkins, all right.” Zero grabbed a small stack and set them in the puddle of tea.
“Good morning, Alia,” X greeted the operator.
“Morning, er …” Alia trailed off. She lowered her voice. “Should I call you X? Zero told me that you two don’t want word of this to get around.”
“I think you can if you just keep your voice down. There’s not too many other people around right now.” X reached for his tea mug. It fell over with a clatter, spilling into Alia’s lap.
“Do we need to get you a sippy cup?” Zero asked, handing Alia some napkins.
“Shut up.”
A bit of background: X and Zero, for a reason which I have yet to figure out, have basically switched bodies. Their personalities and memories were transferred, and they are, for the time being, stuck like this until the techies can figure out how to move all that data back without damaging either of the two Maverick Hunters. This is the first morning they spend in this new situation.
X opened the door a crack and glanced out. Nobody out there. He poked his head out a bit farther, looked left, looked right, then quickly darted out, running for his room as fast as his legs would take him, hoping that no one would come down the hall and see him. He pounded on the door. “Ze—er, X?” he amended for the benefit of anyone who might happen to be listening. “X? Are you in there?” He fidgeted anxiously, then knocked again.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, keep your shirt on,” X heard his own voice come from within his room. The door slid open with a jerk. “Hey, kid. What’s up?” X shoved his way past Zero into the room, closing the door behind him. “Well, good morning to you, too. What’s the matter? Get homesick?” Zero gave X a grin.
“Ah, no, it’s not that. I’ve … er … got a bit of a problem.” X turned around, revealing a hairbrush firmly wedged into his newly-gained blond hair at about shoulder height.
“X! What did you do to my hair?”
“I didn’t do anything. I was just trying to — ow, Zero, don’t tug at it like that — trying to brush it, and it got stuck.”
Zero stuck his fingers in the mass of hair, trying to free the brush. “Just trying to brush it? What did you do, wrap my hair around the brush first?”
“No, I was just starting at the top and working my way down, and I ran into this huge tangle, so I tried …” X trailed off as the small tugs of Zero’s attempts at freeing the brush stopped. He looked behind himself. Zero was staring at him with a look of complete incredulity.
“You were brushing my hair how?”
“Just, you know, brushing it like normal. Why? Does your hair need some sort of special brushing method?”
“You’ve never had long hair, have you?”
“Um, no, Zero. The last time I checked, my hair has always been the same. Well, at least until yesterday evening.”
Zero made a pained noise. “You have to start from the bottom and then go up.”
“Like this?” X mimed a brush stroke that started at the end of a strand and then went upward. “Wouldn’t that get your hair even more tangled?”
“No, you have to get the knots out at the bottom part of the hair, then the next bit up, and then the next bit. Otherwise you just end up shoving it all down into one big knot, like the one you seem to have trapped my hairbrush in.”
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t know. I should have told you,” Zero said, pulling strands of hair away from the brush. “I just hope we won’t have to cut this loose.”
“I’m really sorry, Zero.”
“Stop apologizing.”
X reached around to the back of his head, ready to try and help, but Zero shoved his hands back, saying that he had it under control. X tried to look behind himself without turning his head. “Zero, where did you get that sweater you’re wearing?”
“It was in your closet.”
“Hm. I don’t recognize it.”
“Yeah, well, it was in the way back. You’ve got some really weird crap in there, you know that?”
“Weird crap?”
“Yeah, like that box full of those silver disc things.”
“Silver disc … oh, my CDs.”
“See who?” Zero asked.
“CDs. They were a twenty-first century way of storing music.”
“Do they still work?”
“If you have a player, yes.”
“You got one?”
“It’s probably in the back of my closet along with the rest of my ‘weird crap,’” X said. Seeing the thoughtful look that Zero suddenly got, he quickly added, “Don’t try using them without me there. They scratch easily, and then you can’t play them any more.”
“Aw, you’re no fun,” Zero said. He pulled several more strands of hair free. “Okay, now I should be able to … yes! Success!” He triumphantly raised the hairbrush over his head. “Now stand still, X. I’ll finish brushing my, er, your hair the right way.”
X stood patiently while Zero worked out all the tangles, including the remains of the massive one that the hairbrush had been tangled in.
“X, can you slouch or sit or something? Your body’s too short to let me see the top of your head.” X bent his knees into a sort of half-crouch. “Thanks,” Zero said. “You didn’t bring a hair binder, did you?”
“No. You want me to go back and get one?”
“Yeah. I need to show you how to put up my hair. There’s probably one on my desk or something.”
“Or I could just grab the one that I took out last night.”
“Or you could do that, yes.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After X demonstrated his abilities to deal with over a meter of hair to Zero’s satisfaction, the two hunters went down to the cafeteria. X had noticed that Zero’s body sent out much stronger indicators than his own when it was low on energy, and he was actually starting to have trouble concentrating. An energy capsule would probably take care of the problem more efficiently, but MHHQ was trying to encourage those reploids that could to stick to eating real food, since it was actually cheaper overall, despite the fact that it wasn’t as efficient an energy source.
Besides, X thought, eating a slice of toast, real food tasted better. Energy capsules tasted like ammonia and always left his mouth feeling like someone had just coated the inside with vaseline. Just thinking about it made him want something to drink to get the taste out of his mouth. He reached for his mug of tea, only to knock it over, spilling the contents all over Zero’s plate.
“Argh! You klutz, I was eating that!” Zero exclaimed.
“Sorry,” X said, quickly getting up to find some napkins. He didn’t like being in this new body, and not just because of the hair or the fact that it couldn’t deal well with low energy levels. No, the problem with this body was that it was bigger than his own. He kept underestimating the distances to things when he reached for them, or would forget that he was now suddenly a few centimeters taller and whack his head against things. He had noticed Zero having some similar problems, missing things completely while reaching for them, but at least Zero wasn’t constantly knocking things over. Earlier this morning, before the hair crisis, X had managed to knock Zero’s radio off his desk and then he hit his head on the underside of the desk while searching for the antenna, which had snapped off in the fall. He hadn’t told Zero about that yet, and he hoped he’d be able to fix it before his friend found out.
He returned with a pile of napkins and a new mug of tea to find Zero halfway through a fresh plate of eggs, talking to Alia between bites. “…and so they were all, ‘Oh, no, can’t do that, too dangerous, might erase your memory completely,’ so we’re stuck like this for now. Hey, napkins, all right.” Zero grabbed a small stack and set them in the puddle of tea.
“Good morning, Alia,” X greeted the operator.
“Morning, er …” Alia trailed off. She lowered her voice. “Should I call you X? Zero told me that you two don’t want word of this to get around.”
“I think you can if you just keep your voice down. There’s not too many other people around right now.” X reached for his tea mug. It fell over with a clatter, spilling into Alia’s lap.
“Do we need to get you a sippy cup?” Zero asked, handing Alia some napkins.
“Shut up.”
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Date: 2005-04-03 04:11 am (UTC)