Post by Vanga on Feb 19, 2008 23:24:45 GMT -5
~Earlier That Day~
“Hey, Ishiki, are you awake in there?”
“Man, give it up, he’s always sleeping.”
“Hey, have you guys ever heard about that prank with putting someone’s hand in a cup of hot water?”
“Forget it, man. He’ll get mad when he wakes up.”
“C’mon, when has Ishiki ever gotten mad before?”
Ishiki Musouka continued to listen in on his friends’ conversation at his expense, having woken up several minutes prior to the devilish suggestion being raised but enjoying reminiscing about his latest dream too much to open his eyes just yet. He had gone there again, back to that second world where fantastical monsters lived instead of human beings, where danger and adventure seemed in abundance and everything was more exciting than here in his own world. It was as vivid as ever, the same as all of the other visions he’d had of the place since he was just a young kid. Inwardly sighing, he decided it was time to give up the charade and return to his reality.
“You know, that trick requires the victim to actually need to go.” the daydreaming youth announced as his eyelids fluttered open lazily to reveal deep brown sights squinting with agitation directed at the bright overcast, “Besides, it’s a mute point since I have to be asleep for it to work anyways.”
“Whoa, Ishiki, you’re awake!” the small gathering of his friends exclaimed with surprise before chuckling nervously.
As a couple of them who had professed particularly keen interest in actually going through with the prank apologized profusely to him, Ishiki tuned out their voices for the most part, reaching black-gloved hands up to his face and pushing back his orange goggles so that they nestled in the comfort of his thick black hair. He had properly secured his eyewear to his face that day before his routine snooze to help cut off some of the sun’s glaring rays. Leaning against the chain fence circling the roof of his high school that he had been using as his best shot for a backrest while he slept, he reached over to the backpack fallen over by his side and dug around for something inside. Pulling out a simple black notebook, he flipped through a few pages until he came to a stop when he found what he was looking for.
“Is that what you saw this time?” one of his friends asked, leaning in from the side to get a better look.
There was a picture of a magnificent wolf-like creature, sketched out with snow white fur and contrasting dark stripes from nose to tail. His fearsome jaws were in the appearance of being cut off in the middle of a mighty roar and muscular legs carried him in a full out sprint across a grassy field. By the few noticeable rocks and hills in the background as makeshift land markers the beast was by all means enormous. So well sketched was the picture that if it were only colored in it would seem like it were literally leaping off the page, trying to escape into reality’s embrace.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Ishiki replied with a smile of latent excitement, flipping through the pages again after a moment and again coming to a preplanned stop, “and him again of course.”
The young teenager’s expression turned to one of fondness as he studied the dragon-like creature, his bat-wing ears perked up as if attending to a sound of interest. His wide eyes looked around curiously and the long tail protruding from his back had a small kink in it, leaning to one side as his head tilted at an angle to better observe something. Whatever the creature might be that was drawn up in his notebook, he had over a dozen pages just like it, all depicting the same striking beast. Though all the pictures that he had sketched out fascinated him, only this one creature came with such a striking bond to him that he would feel it every time he saw the animal in his dreams.
This would be the time that he would normally start sketching what he’d dreamt about, but there was nothing new to his visions. That happened sometimes, a relapse like television reruns showing what he’d seen before when he fell asleep in the past. Having looked at the picture long enough, Ishiki closed up his notebook and returned it to his backpack before slowly rising to his feet.
“Man, Ishiki, you’re a fantastic artist.” one of his friends said enthusiastically, “You could be really famous, but the real money isn’t in fantasy monsters, you know.”
“They’re all real, you can be sure of that.” Ishiki replied casually, not really bothering to take the same compliment he had received a hundred times over from dozens of different people to heart again. Reaching down, he snagged his backpack strap and hoisted the bag up onto his shoulders.
“Yeah, yeah, as you always say.” Another of his friends shrugged in a defeated gesture, smiling sympathetically, “But one of these days, dude, you’re going to have to snap ---”
Suddenly the school bell rang, dismissing all the students with its clatter, “Got to go,” Ishiki said during the break in the lecture he was getting caused by the racket, already walking off, “See you guys around!”
_____
“Big brother! Welcome home!”
As Ishiki came rolling to a stop in front of his house, his little sister was there at the door to greet him. As she waved enthusiastically from the porch steps as he snapped the wheels built into his footwear into their non-mobile positions and walked the length of sidewalk left between him and his house, he gave a smile of greeting in return.
“How’s my favorite sister!” he asked, ruffling her hair with one hand as he used the other to get his school bag off of him and drop it on the floor near the front door.
“Great! No cavities, see?” She gave a wide smile, pulling her mouth open even wider with her two index teeth. That’s right, mom had taken her to the dentist that day while he was at school.
“Well, that’s because you’re so good at brushing.” Ishiki replied with a chuckle as he walked past her and climbed the stairs on a direct route to his room.
Once he was there, he collapsed onto his bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes, and thought about the dream he’d had. He always reminisced about his visions when he could; they contained the most magnificent things he had ever seen. Nothing in the real world could even remotely compare to the staggering sight of those creatures from the other world. Once again, like clockwork for almost every single day since he was just a child, Ishiki pondered when the day would come when he could travel to that world that he knew was out there and calling to him. He had been waiting for the signal ever since his first sight of the place, his first vision of that red dragon-like creature.
Sighing audibly out of frustration, he just lay there, letting his mind wander and daydream. It wasn’t clear as to when exactly he fell asleep, but he was soon snoozing once again, back in the world inside his head. Little did he know at that moment how close he was to seeing the real deal and putting aside the need to fantasize about such a place. It wasn’t much longer now…
_____
Ishiki came grudgingly back to waking consciousness as something in his pocket began to buzz and beep. Groaning groggily, he rummaged around with a limp hand until he managed to pull free his cell phone. Someone was sending him a message. Curious, he flipped open the top and accepted, reading what it had to say. His eyes quickly widened, only growing larger as time continued. This was it…
Leaping out of bed, he burst out of his room and dashed down the stairs towards the front door. Skidding to a halt, he took a quick, rather impatient glance at his backpack. He’d probably need it for where he was going. Rummaging inside the bag, he pulled out the notebook and tucked it away inside his jacket. Without a second of hesitation, he then made a rush out the door. He had been waiting for this too long, he wasn’t going to wait a second longer then he had to.
By the time he made it to the street, flipping the wheels in his shoes free to get him where he needed to go, he heard someone calling him, “You’re going, aren’t you? To that other world you’re always dreaming about?”
He turned around and saw his sister, riding her bicycle in the afternoon light. Ever since his parents had taken the training wheels off of that thing she had gone at it almost nonstop. She came to a braking stop in front of him, her gaze curious. Out of all his friends and family, everyone he knew and told about his fantastic visions, his little sister was the only one who believed in him that they were real. She was the only one who’d understand by the excitement in his features that the desire lingering with him for a lifetime was about to be realized.
“That’s right,” Ishiki answered, smiling widely as he crouched to look eyelevel with her, “I finally got the signal I’ve been waiting for and it’s time for me to go.”
“I want to come too!” his little sister exclaimed, catching him by surprise as small tears bunched up in the corners of her eyes.
“I can’t do that,” he replied after a moment’s consideration, “you know more than anyone how dangerous it might be.” He shook his head and laughed a little, I told you, though, that when I get back I’ll tell you everything about the place.”
“Y-you promise?” she asked, looking up at him hesitantly.
“You bet,” Ishiki replied, grinning reassuringly at her and making her finally smile in turn.
With that, he left, riding off in the last hours of light towards the reality of his dreams. His sister called after him, wishing him luck and waving him goodbye, but he didn’t look back. Goodbyes were the farthest thing from his mind right now. What was happening in these moments wasn’t an end of something, but rather a beginning. He was finally going to see those places first hand that he only got to look at before from the backs of his eyelids. All of the excitement and passion bottled up over years of waiting were released as he followed his phone message’s instructions and made his way to that second world.
~~~~~
Ishiki gave a low whistle from his high position on a hill overlooking a wide-stretching field below. He felt more alive than he’d ever felt in his entire life, because he was no longer in the human world. The bizarre animals living everywhere could account to that quite easily. One would have thought that he’d have had his fill by now, but he knew that he’d never be satisfied to the point of deadening his excitement over the experience. Nothing could ever do that, not after all the years of waiting he had to endure just to get here.
After taking that strange talking train to a station platform built in the middle of the expansive grasslands he now walked through, not to mention getting his cell phone changed into a strange and bizarre, but undoubtedly cool, red and black device, he had let go of all his pent up anxiousness and sprinted from his very first steps into the new world. He didn’t stop until he found this place and decided to make the sensible choice of finding out where he should go from here. For the most part he didn’t really care, everything here was going to be so fascinating that it didn’t matter which direction he took, but he couldn’t forget that he was looking for something, that red dragon creature that was the greatest among many reasons why he wanted so badly to come to this place.
Noticing a small village off in the distance and feeling inexplicably called to travel there, he made his way down from the hilltop and onto a plain dirt road below, weaving along on a course towards the place. Snapping out his footwear’s wheels once again, he started a slow, lazy roll down the beaten path, weaving from side to side almost as much as the road he traveled on was doing. As he moved along, a flock of brown-feathered hawks sailed high overhead, sporting single feathers tied behind their heads in an Indian fashion.
“I’ve seen those before,” Ishiki muttered to himself in fascination as he dug into one of his jacket’s inside coat pockets and retrieved his notebook.
Flipping to the right page, the studied the picture he had drawn of a trio of the same type of bird soaring through the skies among a series of puffy clouds. Again, his drawing seemed so lifelike that the birds almost soared out of the page they were sketched on, yearning to join their brethren in the sky above. Ishiki came to a slow, straight roll as he quit pushing forward and instead split his focus between the picture he had drawn and the genuine articles soaring through the air over his head.
“Hey, Ishiki, are you awake in there?”
“Man, give it up, he’s always sleeping.”
“Hey, have you guys ever heard about that prank with putting someone’s hand in a cup of hot water?”
“Forget it, man. He’ll get mad when he wakes up.”
“C’mon, when has Ishiki ever gotten mad before?”
Ishiki Musouka continued to listen in on his friends’ conversation at his expense, having woken up several minutes prior to the devilish suggestion being raised but enjoying reminiscing about his latest dream too much to open his eyes just yet. He had gone there again, back to that second world where fantastical monsters lived instead of human beings, where danger and adventure seemed in abundance and everything was more exciting than here in his own world. It was as vivid as ever, the same as all of the other visions he’d had of the place since he was just a young kid. Inwardly sighing, he decided it was time to give up the charade and return to his reality.
“You know, that trick requires the victim to actually need to go.” the daydreaming youth announced as his eyelids fluttered open lazily to reveal deep brown sights squinting with agitation directed at the bright overcast, “Besides, it’s a mute point since I have to be asleep for it to work anyways.”
“Whoa, Ishiki, you’re awake!” the small gathering of his friends exclaimed with surprise before chuckling nervously.
As a couple of them who had professed particularly keen interest in actually going through with the prank apologized profusely to him, Ishiki tuned out their voices for the most part, reaching black-gloved hands up to his face and pushing back his orange goggles so that they nestled in the comfort of his thick black hair. He had properly secured his eyewear to his face that day before his routine snooze to help cut off some of the sun’s glaring rays. Leaning against the chain fence circling the roof of his high school that he had been using as his best shot for a backrest while he slept, he reached over to the backpack fallen over by his side and dug around for something inside. Pulling out a simple black notebook, he flipped through a few pages until he came to a stop when he found what he was looking for.
“Is that what you saw this time?” one of his friends asked, leaning in from the side to get a better look.
There was a picture of a magnificent wolf-like creature, sketched out with snow white fur and contrasting dark stripes from nose to tail. His fearsome jaws were in the appearance of being cut off in the middle of a mighty roar and muscular legs carried him in a full out sprint across a grassy field. By the few noticeable rocks and hills in the background as makeshift land markers the beast was by all means enormous. So well sketched was the picture that if it were only colored in it would seem like it were literally leaping off the page, trying to escape into reality’s embrace.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Ishiki replied with a smile of latent excitement, flipping through the pages again after a moment and again coming to a preplanned stop, “and him again of course.”
The young teenager’s expression turned to one of fondness as he studied the dragon-like creature, his bat-wing ears perked up as if attending to a sound of interest. His wide eyes looked around curiously and the long tail protruding from his back had a small kink in it, leaning to one side as his head tilted at an angle to better observe something. Whatever the creature might be that was drawn up in his notebook, he had over a dozen pages just like it, all depicting the same striking beast. Though all the pictures that he had sketched out fascinated him, only this one creature came with such a striking bond to him that he would feel it every time he saw the animal in his dreams.
This would be the time that he would normally start sketching what he’d dreamt about, but there was nothing new to his visions. That happened sometimes, a relapse like television reruns showing what he’d seen before when he fell asleep in the past. Having looked at the picture long enough, Ishiki closed up his notebook and returned it to his backpack before slowly rising to his feet.
“Man, Ishiki, you’re a fantastic artist.” one of his friends said enthusiastically, “You could be really famous, but the real money isn’t in fantasy monsters, you know.”
“They’re all real, you can be sure of that.” Ishiki replied casually, not really bothering to take the same compliment he had received a hundred times over from dozens of different people to heart again. Reaching down, he snagged his backpack strap and hoisted the bag up onto his shoulders.
“Yeah, yeah, as you always say.” Another of his friends shrugged in a defeated gesture, smiling sympathetically, “But one of these days, dude, you’re going to have to snap ---”
Suddenly the school bell rang, dismissing all the students with its clatter, “Got to go,” Ishiki said during the break in the lecture he was getting caused by the racket, already walking off, “See you guys around!”
_____
“Big brother! Welcome home!”
As Ishiki came rolling to a stop in front of his house, his little sister was there at the door to greet him. As she waved enthusiastically from the porch steps as he snapped the wheels built into his footwear into their non-mobile positions and walked the length of sidewalk left between him and his house, he gave a smile of greeting in return.
“How’s my favorite sister!” he asked, ruffling her hair with one hand as he used the other to get his school bag off of him and drop it on the floor near the front door.
“Great! No cavities, see?” She gave a wide smile, pulling her mouth open even wider with her two index teeth. That’s right, mom had taken her to the dentist that day while he was at school.
“Well, that’s because you’re so good at brushing.” Ishiki replied with a chuckle as he walked past her and climbed the stairs on a direct route to his room.
Once he was there, he collapsed onto his bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes, and thought about the dream he’d had. He always reminisced about his visions when he could; they contained the most magnificent things he had ever seen. Nothing in the real world could even remotely compare to the staggering sight of those creatures from the other world. Once again, like clockwork for almost every single day since he was just a child, Ishiki pondered when the day would come when he could travel to that world that he knew was out there and calling to him. He had been waiting for the signal ever since his first sight of the place, his first vision of that red dragon-like creature.
Sighing audibly out of frustration, he just lay there, letting his mind wander and daydream. It wasn’t clear as to when exactly he fell asleep, but he was soon snoozing once again, back in the world inside his head. Little did he know at that moment how close he was to seeing the real deal and putting aside the need to fantasize about such a place. It wasn’t much longer now…
_____
Ishiki came grudgingly back to waking consciousness as something in his pocket began to buzz and beep. Groaning groggily, he rummaged around with a limp hand until he managed to pull free his cell phone. Someone was sending him a message. Curious, he flipped open the top and accepted, reading what it had to say. His eyes quickly widened, only growing larger as time continued. This was it…
Leaping out of bed, he burst out of his room and dashed down the stairs towards the front door. Skidding to a halt, he took a quick, rather impatient glance at his backpack. He’d probably need it for where he was going. Rummaging inside the bag, he pulled out the notebook and tucked it away inside his jacket. Without a second of hesitation, he then made a rush out the door. He had been waiting for this too long, he wasn’t going to wait a second longer then he had to.
By the time he made it to the street, flipping the wheels in his shoes free to get him where he needed to go, he heard someone calling him, “You’re going, aren’t you? To that other world you’re always dreaming about?”
He turned around and saw his sister, riding her bicycle in the afternoon light. Ever since his parents had taken the training wheels off of that thing she had gone at it almost nonstop. She came to a braking stop in front of him, her gaze curious. Out of all his friends and family, everyone he knew and told about his fantastic visions, his little sister was the only one who believed in him that they were real. She was the only one who’d understand by the excitement in his features that the desire lingering with him for a lifetime was about to be realized.
“That’s right,” Ishiki answered, smiling widely as he crouched to look eyelevel with her, “I finally got the signal I’ve been waiting for and it’s time for me to go.”
“I want to come too!” his little sister exclaimed, catching him by surprise as small tears bunched up in the corners of her eyes.
“I can’t do that,” he replied after a moment’s consideration, “you know more than anyone how dangerous it might be.” He shook his head and laughed a little, I told you, though, that when I get back I’ll tell you everything about the place.”
“Y-you promise?” she asked, looking up at him hesitantly.
“You bet,” Ishiki replied, grinning reassuringly at her and making her finally smile in turn.
With that, he left, riding off in the last hours of light towards the reality of his dreams. His sister called after him, wishing him luck and waving him goodbye, but he didn’t look back. Goodbyes were the farthest thing from his mind right now. What was happening in these moments wasn’t an end of something, but rather a beginning. He was finally going to see those places first hand that he only got to look at before from the backs of his eyelids. All of the excitement and passion bottled up over years of waiting were released as he followed his phone message’s instructions and made his way to that second world.
~~~~~
Ishiki gave a low whistle from his high position on a hill overlooking a wide-stretching field below. He felt more alive than he’d ever felt in his entire life, because he was no longer in the human world. The bizarre animals living everywhere could account to that quite easily. One would have thought that he’d have had his fill by now, but he knew that he’d never be satisfied to the point of deadening his excitement over the experience. Nothing could ever do that, not after all the years of waiting he had to endure just to get here.
After taking that strange talking train to a station platform built in the middle of the expansive grasslands he now walked through, not to mention getting his cell phone changed into a strange and bizarre, but undoubtedly cool, red and black device, he had let go of all his pent up anxiousness and sprinted from his very first steps into the new world. He didn’t stop until he found this place and decided to make the sensible choice of finding out where he should go from here. For the most part he didn’t really care, everything here was going to be so fascinating that it didn’t matter which direction he took, but he couldn’t forget that he was looking for something, that red dragon creature that was the greatest among many reasons why he wanted so badly to come to this place.
Noticing a small village off in the distance and feeling inexplicably called to travel there, he made his way down from the hilltop and onto a plain dirt road below, weaving along on a course towards the place. Snapping out his footwear’s wheels once again, he started a slow, lazy roll down the beaten path, weaving from side to side almost as much as the road he traveled on was doing. As he moved along, a flock of brown-feathered hawks sailed high overhead, sporting single feathers tied behind their heads in an Indian fashion.
“I’ve seen those before,” Ishiki muttered to himself in fascination as he dug into one of his jacket’s inside coat pockets and retrieved his notebook.
Flipping to the right page, the studied the picture he had drawn of a trio of the same type of bird soaring through the skies among a series of puffy clouds. Again, his drawing seemed so lifelike that the birds almost soared out of the page they were sketched on, yearning to join their brethren in the sky above. Ishiki came to a slow, straight roll as he quit pushing forward and instead split his focus between the picture he had drawn and the genuine articles soaring through the air over his head.