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Old.
This originally appeared at this page in the Brain Crash journal. It is reposted for reasons that will be obvious when I make my next post.
This happens to me sometimes. A pair of characters have appeared in my mind, and they're doing things. Rearranging things to suit their tastes.
Let's see what they're up to.
There is a rabbit, and a dragon. The rabbit is small, stocky. He's wearing a top hat, but no other clothing. He is itallic. The dragon is a large grey-colored one. She dwarfs the rabbit easily, but seems a quiet type. She is bold.
They are in a desert. This may be important. There is a cactus, but it shows no inclination to join the discussion.
They sit for a while. The dragon is lazy, watching the sun slowly rise. The rabbit is idly drawing pictures in the dust. The pictures are crude in style (but not content) and mostly of other rabbits. Rabbits can be funny that way.
It's silent for a long time, save the soft wind. Eventually the dragon turns to the rabbit.
Once, she says softly, there was a rabbit and a dragon. They were sitting in the desert...
No, nope. We're doing that one. interrupts the rabbit, with a shake of his head. We gotta move ahead of the times. We should always be a step ahead of where we are, so we can look back and see where we were when we were where we used to be, which is where we are now. The rabbit gives his best wise look.
The dragon looks like she's used to this. She doesn't reply for a while.
So how would you start it? she finally asks, laying her great head upon the ground. The ground does not protest. It is also used to this.
The rabbit clears his throat and gets to his feet. He strikes a speaking stance. In the not too distant future, although certainly not too far off, there was... a boy.
He stops and looks at the dragon, as if to see that this is all right. The dragon does not move.
The rabbit continues to speak, This boy had a Thing.
The dragon rolls one eye towards the rabbit. Will this be one of those stories, then?
The rabbit shakes his head, and keeps going. The Thing was a powerful Thing indeed, for it could change the world for all time... The dragon gives a soft snort through her nose, prompting a questioning look from the rabbit. What? Are we going to be properly allegorical or not, here?
I said nothing. replies the dragon, settling herself once more. The rabbit squirms a bit, adjusting his speaking posture, and nods once before moving along. The Thing spoke to the boy as he stood on a cliff, watching the world stretch out before him. The Thing is underlined. The boy is in quotes.
I am a mighty Thing, boy. said the Thing, and I can give you anything you wish.
The rabbit seems to flag for a moment, and then looks up at the dragon. You end this one,he sighs, for I can never come across in the right tone.
The dragon shakes her head softly, We should let them end it. she says, and gets to her feet. The rabbit climbs onto her back and they walk to the cliff, where the boy and the Thing stand. There they sit to watch.
"But what will I ask for?" pleaded the boy. The Thing did not reply. "Only I might end up doing more harm than good, and I do wish to avoid that..."
So it shall be. said the Thing, and the boy did more good than harm, which is a fine and worthwhile thing to wish for indeed.
The rabbit and the dragon watch together in silence as this occurs.
What a hopelessly optimistic ending... mutters the rabbit softly.
It is, and it isn't. the dragon states in return, with the calm of a practiced mediator.
Commit yourself! the rabbit snaps.
But the dragon had already left to be commited. After a moment, the rabbit followed her.
This happens to me sometimes. A pair of characters have appeared in my mind, and they're doing things. Rearranging things to suit their tastes.
Let's see what they're up to.
There is a rabbit, and a dragon. The rabbit is small, stocky. He's wearing a top hat, but no other clothing. He is itallic. The dragon is a large grey-colored one. She dwarfs the rabbit easily, but seems a quiet type. She is bold.
They are in a desert. This may be important. There is a cactus, but it shows no inclination to join the discussion.
They sit for a while. The dragon is lazy, watching the sun slowly rise. The rabbit is idly drawing pictures in the dust. The pictures are crude in style (but not content) and mostly of other rabbits. Rabbits can be funny that way.
It's silent for a long time, save the soft wind. Eventually the dragon turns to the rabbit.
Once, she says softly, there was a rabbit and a dragon. They were sitting in the desert...
No, nope. We're doing that one. interrupts the rabbit, with a shake of his head. We gotta move ahead of the times. We should always be a step ahead of where we are, so we can look back and see where we were when we were where we used to be, which is where we are now. The rabbit gives his best wise look.
The dragon looks like she's used to this. She doesn't reply for a while.
So how would you start it? she finally asks, laying her great head upon the ground. The ground does not protest. It is also used to this.
The rabbit clears his throat and gets to his feet. He strikes a speaking stance. In the not too distant future, although certainly not too far off, there was... a boy.
He stops and looks at the dragon, as if to see that this is all right. The dragon does not move.
The rabbit continues to speak, This boy had a Thing.
The dragon rolls one eye towards the rabbit. Will this be one of those stories, then?
The rabbit shakes his head, and keeps going. The Thing was a powerful Thing indeed, for it could change the world for all time... The dragon gives a soft snort through her nose, prompting a questioning look from the rabbit. What? Are we going to be properly allegorical or not, here?
I said nothing. replies the dragon, settling herself once more. The rabbit squirms a bit, adjusting his speaking posture, and nods once before moving along. The Thing spoke to the boy as he stood on a cliff, watching the world stretch out before him. The Thing is underlined. The boy is in quotes.
I am a mighty Thing, boy. said the Thing, and I can give you anything you wish.
The rabbit seems to flag for a moment, and then looks up at the dragon. You end this one,he sighs, for I can never come across in the right tone.
The dragon shakes her head softly, We should let them end it. she says, and gets to her feet. The rabbit climbs onto her back and they walk to the cliff, where the boy and the Thing stand. There they sit to watch.
"But what will I ask for?" pleaded the boy. The Thing did not reply. "Only I might end up doing more harm than good, and I do wish to avoid that..."
So it shall be. said the Thing, and the boy did more good than harm, which is a fine and worthwhile thing to wish for indeed.
The rabbit and the dragon watch together in silence as this occurs.
What a hopelessly optimistic ending... mutters the rabbit softly.
It is, and it isn't. the dragon states in return, with the calm of a practiced mediator.
Commit yourself! the rabbit snaps.
But the dragon had already left to be commited. After a moment, the rabbit followed her.
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-JM
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But I wonder now if the boy wonders what more he might have wished for, what else he could have -- perhaps he even uses the words "should have," but these are misleading -- wished for.
I can't help but hear questing. Perhaps the boy, perhaps the rabbit and the dragon, or perhaps the squirrel behind, is the one who quests. I know this Thing well. So well, I would presume, that with disclaimer that I can only do my best in clear conscience to do so, I can tell you what it would have said if another question had been asked.
Had been asked. Will be asked. Is being asked.
It answers everyone who asks, you know.
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The rabbit calls it an ending. Obviously.
Is it? I can't really say that. (Obviously not for those two. Boy and Thing have never reappeared. Presumbably they're doing something else now, if they're still about. Chronology goes fast and loose around here.)
...As far as questing...
That I can't say. I try not to let my characters speak for me, but I try not to speak for them either because then we argue over who's speaking for who.
(The latest Rabbit and Dragon piece was not supposed to turn out like that. I had a light whimsical tale of them gently subverting sitcom tradition as they live together. Rabbit was extremely put out that the script got switched at the last minute and at great expense. We'll use the house set someday.)
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The rabbit calls it an ending. Obviously.
The rabbit is highly anchored in measured time, not conceptual time. While the Boy and the Thing have ceased to exist to his perceptual reality, that isn't necessarily an indicator that they have ceased to exist. It was an ending point for one moment, perhaps one arch of causal interrelation. But I see time oddly.
Is it? I can't really say that. (Obviously not for those two. Boy and Thing have never reappeared. Presumbably they're doing something else now, if they're still about. Chronology goes fast and loose around here.)
Your sense of time and mine are remarkably similar.
...As far as questing...
That I can't say. I try not to let my characters speak for me, but I try not to speak for them either because then we argue over who's speaking for who.
I ask no one to speak for anyone who isn't comfortable with the exchange. I reflected, voiced it, and that was all.
(The latest Rabbit and Dragon piece was not supposed to turn out like that. I had a light whimsical tale of them gently subverting sitcom tradition as they live together. Rabbit was extremely put out that the script got switched at the last minute and at great expense. We'll use the house set someday.)
*smile* Fair enough. Needless to say, I very much enjoyed it, and that offer stands for any and all of you, in any combination, to talk sometime. (Saying it that way, sadly, makes it sound like a much odder suggestion than I feel it really is. Apologies for that.)
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Where shall we three...
*pause, count*
Two. Four.
...whatever. ...meet again? In other words, where should we pile up and chat?