Narrative writing snippets [2021]
Snippets of my writings for collaborative fiction games, in which each participant writes the actions of a single character.
A wound.
The doctor talked about her fallen comrades as if they were an infected wound. As something to get rid of. Tsubaki looked at him in silence, hardly taking in the doctor’s words. When his eyes drifted away from her, the woman lowered her gaze and met… Sasuke’s. Her captain’s expressionless eyes stared back at her, upside down like a ninja hanging from the ceiling, printed in the papers Hachi held over his lap. Behind Sasuke, Heshikiri Hasebe’s profile peeked through. And, most likely, the rest of the squad followed behind.
Tsubaki raised her hand towards the files, but did not find the strength to reach them. The pain in her heart grew unbearable, like a deep gash being held open without anaesthesia to examine its insides. Impotence, helplessness, remorse and shame hit her like a bucket of freezing water. She was not able to protect them then, and she felt unable to look at their faces on paper now.
Instead of reaching for the papers, Tsubaki’s open palm hit the floor loudly as she let out a pained groan. Her fingers tensed, her face twisted in a grimace as the pain boiled within. She leaned forward on her hand and raised her gaze up to the doctor, burning like a wildfire covered with clouds that forecasted heavy rain.
“My family is not a wound. They are not a hindrance. They are my strength!”
Tsubaki growled slowly, emphasizing every word, steadily raising her voice until it became a roar.
Her eyes burnt. Her mouth burnt. Her fingers burnt. She felt like she would combust at any second, but she could not stop herself. “I became who I am for them! With them! We existed as a whole!” The pain spread to Tsubaki’s limbs, feeling like they were ripped apart. Like if she was only a floating head, powerless, immovile, hurting. “There’s nothing left of me to amputate, Doctor. The battle already did. They were all that I had!”
[...]
She closed her mouth and exhaled heavily, nearly emitting fire from her nostrils. And just how lightning and thunder announce rain, Tsubaki’s outburst gave way to silence, then to tears that fogged her eyes and extinguished the flames. They did not pour like rain, but danced between her eyelids as they stood motionless, fixed on Hachi’s direction without looking at him. Tsubaki was not ashamed of crying, but it was not the time. Tears wouldn’t bring the dead back, transform into supplies, or magically fix their time travel gear. After several long seconds she closed her eyes, allowing a few drips to roll down her cheeks.
“I know how it works. We lost comrades in the past.” The faces of squadmates long gone appeared in the darkness of her thoughts. But they left one at a time. “Sasuke made us go through 'group therapy' when it happened. But we had the safety of HQ. We had each other to lean on. I have none of that here.”
Tsubaki sighed and opened her eyes, spent, charred, like a devastated forest. “Perhaps I do have a wound. I definitely do. A deep one.” She muttered, her voice now slightly hoarse, crispy around the edges. “However, I must see through it, and wear the scar with pride.” As the most desolate scenery can become green again, so would she. No matter how long it’d take.
A flying scabbard!?
It came right at Tsubaki, and gave her no time or space to react. Get hit on the face, or lose hold of her weapon.
As soon as she felt the wooden shaft against her palm, she closed her eyes and turned her head around to redirect the blow away from her face. She felt it hit near the temple. Luckily it didn’t land with the tip -that would’ve drawn blood-, but it was painful enough to make her clench her teeth.
Even worse, it made her close her eyes.
[...]
[...]
Where is he? Opening her eyes again, Tsubaki swung the naginata in a wide motion, in the direction Tadahiro moved away from her first thrust. But he was faster than her blade. He dashed to her side and raised his now unsheathed sword towards her arm. That crimson blade was close. Very close. Too close. Flying right to her shoulder. Until it was not.
A breath before the impact, the trajectory of the blade jerked. Jerked, but cut through, and traveled forward. Slash! Sharp, astringent pain. The blade broke through Tsubaki’s skin. Her arm burnt. Her shoulder burnt. A yelp escaped her throat.
But Tadahiro was still close, very close, and his blade too. He was still a threat. And he was still in the trajectory of her own blade.
Tsubaki pushed through the pain, using the strength of her other arm to finish her naginata’s swipe. Using her feet to reposition herself, turning around, turning her shoulder away from Tadahiro’s reach and her weapon towards him.
“Hyah!”
The naginata’s tip flew in front of Tadahiro’s face when he stepped out of its range, at a safe distance. Ah, but it did hook his wide straw hat. Throwing it right off his head, and up into the air, then to the ground.
[...]
[...]
Finally, that stupid hat was off. It revealed bloodshot eyes and a twisted grimace. Twisted with… pain? How? Tsubaki took a couple steps back without taking her eyes off Tadahiro. He has a weak spot. Where? Wait… the way he held his arm up. Particularly, the way he didn’t. The flinch in the block. The jerk in the cut.
There it is.
With enough distance between them, Tsubaki allowed herself a second to glance at her own injured shoulder. A perfectly good yukata, ruined with blood and a rather big cut on the sleeve. Tadahiro’s sword mostly slashed through fabric, but underneath, her skin burnt. Whatever. With a groan, she ripped the torn sleeve off, revealing a long cut from her triceps to her shoulder blade. Long, but not deep. Painful, but not incapacitating.
If anything, the red, pungent feeling accelerated her heartbeat. The unexpected red scabbard piqued her interest. The red blade, painted with her blood and so many countless others’, pumped adrenaline through her veins. And the red eyes, those eyes that shone in such a familiar way, made her blood boil.
Tsubaki’s fight response rose rapidly, bubbling from her core, seeping through her wound, reaching her head and spilling from her lips in the form of a smile. Brave, reckless. Determined and foolhardy. The smile of someone feeling truly alive after having gone through hell.
Instead of returning to the office, Ren escorted her to the nearby gardens, to a quiet spot with lawn desks and outdoor chairs that looked way too nicely arranged to have been prepared in the spur of the moment.
“Such a place...” Elise looked around, and looked at Ren with an inquisitive gaze.
A light breeze tousled his hair and framed his comfortable smile, certainly different that the one he always wore at the office. “I guess this explains your constant absence.” She always saw Ren as a carefree slacker, but now Elise realised he simply wasn’t made to be caged in a cubicle. She thought that the sun and the leaves and the breeze suited him so much more, as she looked at Ren with a newfound respect.
[...]
“It is a beautiful place, I agree.” The outdoors scenery was sure to boost creativity and inspiration. Not that she needed much, but it was always welcome.
She sat down and got her files ready. “As fun as this might be, break time is over now. Time to get back to work.” Elise rolled her shoulders and focused on the case in front of her.
They worked in comfortable silence for a while. Elise looked up from her screen for a second, and saw Ren’s handsome face set in a focused expression. She was used to beautiful people, as her work as a model agency lawyer made her constantly be surrounded by attractive and graceful individuals. However, that rare expression looked particularly good on Ren.
[...]
Elise barely registered the passing of time, completely focused on work, until she felt a warm hand on her upper arm. She raised her eyes from the screen to a beautiful sunset that painted everything orange and looked at Ren, his hair like fire, his smile like honey, and his blue eyes in stark contrast with the whole scenery. It was a truly breathtaking sight.
She needed a couple of seconds to come back to reality, and when she did, everything felt too real. She was suddenly extremely aware of Ren’s closeness, the almost sensual touch in her arm, and the way her heart was reacting to all of this. Ren’s soft words only made it worse, and Elise turned her face as soon as she felt heat creeping to her cheeks.
“I can’t believe you used such a sappy line.” She said, sharply closing her laptop and putting away her files. Once she put some inches between them, though, she continued with a smile. “And I can’t believe even less you make it work. You’re too good-looking for-”
The sound of her phone interrupted her mid-sentence. Elise looked at the screen and her expression darkened as she picked it up. “Yes? ...Yes sir, immediately.”
The conversation was short, and she hung up with a sigh. Elise turned to Ren for a second with an apologetic look, and continued to gather up her things. “The boss. He wants to see me in his office. He didn’t sound happy, so I should be going.”
The conversation was short, and she hung up with a sigh. Elise turned to Ren for a second with an apologetic look, and continued to gather up her things. “The boss. He wants to see me in his office. He didn’t sound happy, so I should be going.”
