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strangetomato) wrote2015-07-28 10:30 pm
Short Story: Sneak Out with Ophelia
Warnings: none
Sneak Out with Ophelia
A Short Story
Ripp glanced at his wrist, examining the nondescript standard-issue black watch set precisely to military time.
The General insisted on it, as he did with many things, but on this one point his son agreed with him completely. Time. Time was very important to Ripp.
At exactly 0100 hours, he made his move.
"Ripp?"
He froze, terror surging through his very bones.
"Is that you?"
Buck.
Buck, it was only Buck.
Thank the Watcher.
Heart still racing, he opened the door to his brother’s room.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” he asked.
“I woke up.”
“Maybe you weren’t tucked in tightly enough…”
Buck hadn’t been tucked in at all, but it hardly seemed necessary to dwell on that. Ripp usually did it himself when the General wasn’t looking, but he hadn’t been able to that evening.
“Here you go. That’s better…”
“Would you… sing me a lullaby?”
“Of course.”
Tchibi tomba loonak voobatz nooboo,
Tchibi tomba loonak voobatz snerd
“Took you long enough,” she said.
“I was busy okay.”
“So where we off to tonight, Grunt?”
“Creepy bunker?”
“Yeah, creepy bunker’s always good.”
“Cool.”
“No limo tonight?” he asked.
“That was a one time deal.”
“Hey Phi…”
“What?”
“Don’t fall in!”
“Aaaah! Noooo…”
“So did you and Johnny do it yet or what?”
“None of your beeswax.”
“Hey, just wondering. I don’t need like any details or anything.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” she said.
“Unless you, you know, really, really want to tell me.”
“Dream on, perv.”
“You, me, and a bag of chips,” she said. “The usual…”
“Always the highlight of my day. Or well… night, I guess.”
“Lots of stars out here tonight.”
“Yeah...”
“Are you going to Johnny’s after school tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s Wednesday. Spaghetti day.”
“Yeah, I know. Hanging around until you get an invite again?”
“You know it.”
“Yeah, me too.” They both laughed.
“Jenny must be so sick of us by now,” he said.
“Are you kidding? She loves us.”
“Yeah… she does.”
“Don’t you have to work?”
“So I’ll be a bit late. It’s not like they even notice if I’m there or not. Like who even gets gas there ever?”
“Can I play with your hair?” she asked
“Yes, please do.”
“Your hair is so much nicer than mine.”
“Sure it is. Blond hair is not attractive at all, I hear.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Phi. Your hair is awesome.”
“Johnny’s is better.”
“Well duh. He’s Johnny. Nobody can compete with that.”
“My Mom used to do this,” he said.
“I know.”
“You know, some people actually sleep during the night,” she said
“So I hear.”
“Seems it’s a lot easier without all the screaming ghosts.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Even when they aren’t out, I just end up worrying… you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You must be tired.”
“Not really,” he lied.
“Maybe we should sleep. How much time do we have left?”
He checked the watch. “Enough.”
“You could set the alarm…”
“No, I don’t trust it. The General probably messes with it.”
“That paranoia seems to be contagious.”
“Just because you’re paranoid--”
“Don’t mean they’re not after you.”
They laughed. “Great song. You still have my record, by the way,” he said.
“I’m safekeeping it for you. So the General doesn’t toss it in the trash. So Tank doesn’t stomp it to bits.”
“Thoughtful of you,” he said. “Listen, you sleep. I’ll watch the time.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’ll just sleep in class tomorrow.”
“You’re going to fail the final.”
“Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ll cheat off your test.”
Ophelia closed her eyes, a smile on her face. “Would you… do the thing?”
“Of course.”
Tchibi tomba loonak voobatz nooboo,
Tchibi tomba loonak voobatz snerd
Ripp checked his watch again.
Time to go soon.
But not yet.
Notes:
This short story grew out of my thoughts about Ripp's "canon" want to sneak out with Ophelia at the start of the game. What if they do that every night? Maybe it's because she can't sleep with the ghosts and the worries. Maybe that's why he's failing school. Maybe he's not really as lazy as he seems. Maybe he's just extremely exhausted all the time...
That, and all my Ripp/Ophelia feels. Not even necessarily in a romantic way, but all the things that bring them together and make them work as friends. The things they have in common and the things they provide each other that nobody else can. Things like that. I believe they do grow to love each other. Not necessarily in a romantic way or a physical way, but I do think there would be real love there in any of their infinite number of potential pixelated lives (at least in the ones overseen by me). Maybe tragic, maybe not. But there.
Anyway, this is a stand-alone story from Strangetown, Here We Come, though it certainly could work in the context of that story too. If I were to start S,HWC over and remake it knowing what I know now (which is no more than a beautiful dream unless I figure out how to clone myself), I would likely include something like this in the early chapters.
The lyrics are from the nursery rhyme from the Free Time EP (well, my best guess at the lyrics - thank you for the suggestions on Tumblr!) and Territorial Pissings by Nirvana.
I would LOVE to hear any comments or feedback you have. :) Anon commenting is enabled, as always. I'd love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading!
Bonus gag:
The next day...
no subject
But anyway, enough about that. :P
Dare you say that? Haha! Oh no, you dared... I think the shipper police are coming for you.
Yeah, that's sort of the idea I was going for, and how I generally think about these two. That all these feelings are there and it doesn't register that way to them right away. Or maybe at all. I like the idea of it continuing to be the undercurrent of a friendship too, like I said. But yeah, that's how it was in S,HWC. It was there for a very long time and then one day they just saw it. This wouldn't be out of place in that story. I think there were a couple of similar scenes as it was.
Thank you! :) Setting the camera angle like that has been one of the best storytelling tricks I've learned in recent years. There are so many interesting things you can do with that. And the distance there... it makes it all seem more like a private moment, you know?
I'm a big fan of playing with hair too. :) On one hand it's such a small thing, and no big deal, but it's also a very intimate gesture.