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31_days2006-10-31 10:41 am
incandescens) wrote in 31_days2006-10-31 10:41 am
[October 31st] [dragon noir] fire and water
Title: fire and water
Date/Theme: October 31st / what goes bump in the night
Series: original noir, involving dragons
Character/Pairing: Lung Gouen
Rating: G
Shanghai was full of little spirits by both day and night. The more powerful ones could stay indoors on an evening like tonight, and recline with some proper form of diversion. If there were matters that needed to be attended to, then their inferiors would attend and perform and report later.
Lung Gouen objected, in a silent and abstract way, to the need for his presence this night. He was not of a rank who could easily be commanded, and even if the weather was pleasant, with the spring rains scything down in great washing floods, he had other things to be doing. A book to read. A set of accounts to falsify. A speech to prepare. A well-mannered concubine who would have been warming a jug of wine to share.
Instead, he was walking through the streets, nursing a cigarette under his tilted umbrella. He had been informed that he would be contacted. All that was left to do was to walk and enjoy the rain.
The streetlamp above him went out -- not in a slow guttering whimper of light, but in a sudden crushing darkness that clawed out its brightness.
He continued to walk.
"All due respect is given," a voice whispered from above, chewing over the words like dried squid, "but conversation would be more convenient if the esteemed personage were to pause for a moment."
"Unlikely," Lung Gouen replied, "unless you are the person I am to meet."
"It is possible," the voice above him admitted, "but one does not wish to state anything definite under the current circumstances. The rain is thick and carries voices where they might otherwise not travel."
Lung Gouen stopped. The shadow above him stretched its length from one side of the street to the other, bordered by the distant streetlamps which still illuminated the area. "Speak, then."
"A matter of small consequence to the Kings of the Oceans and their children, but possibly of significance to the Heaven and Earth Societies. The Son of the White Serpent seeks what his father laid aside."
Lung Gouen snorted. Smoke drifted from his cigarette in a long coil. "The one is as dead as his father."
Silence came from above.
"And even if he were to live," he added, "as you say, it is none of my concern."
"A grudge was held," the voice whispered, and the shadows moved and breathed in rhythm with it, "even if there were deaths on both sides. Furthermore, if this matter involves the Heaven and Earth Societies, then it will also involve an individual in whom the esteemed personage below me takes a personal interest. This is intentional."
Lung Gouen removed the cigarette from his mouth. "Such an individual," he said calmly, "has been placed outside interference by celestial authority, owing to the circumstances of his birth. For him to be killed --"
"Will be accidental," the other voice cut in. "It will be quite accidental, and no more a case of interference than it would be for the esteemed personage below me to cultivate him as a friend."
"You go too far."
"Surely if the esteemed personage below me has come at my request, then he wished to hear what I had to say."
"You have said enough," Lung Gouen said, and flung his cigarette down onto the pavement at his feet. A gust of fire leaped upwards, hissing as it boiled the rain to steam, and tore at the lamppost and the sky above.
The darkness evaporated in a bubbling scream.
Lung Gouen snapped his fingers.
The streetlamp above him burned steadily. As he walked on again, he withdrew another cigarette from his cigarette case, and slipped it between his lips. It began to burn of its own accord, coiling smoke upwards silently.
Date/Theme: October 31st / what goes bump in the night
Series: original noir, involving dragons
Character/Pairing: Lung Gouen
Rating: G
Shanghai was full of little spirits by both day and night. The more powerful ones could stay indoors on an evening like tonight, and recline with some proper form of diversion. If there were matters that needed to be attended to, then their inferiors would attend and perform and report later.
Lung Gouen objected, in a silent and abstract way, to the need for his presence this night. He was not of a rank who could easily be commanded, and even if the weather was pleasant, with the spring rains scything down in great washing floods, he had other things to be doing. A book to read. A set of accounts to falsify. A speech to prepare. A well-mannered concubine who would have been warming a jug of wine to share.
Instead, he was walking through the streets, nursing a cigarette under his tilted umbrella. He had been informed that he would be contacted. All that was left to do was to walk and enjoy the rain.
The streetlamp above him went out -- not in a slow guttering whimper of light, but in a sudden crushing darkness that clawed out its brightness.
He continued to walk.
"All due respect is given," a voice whispered from above, chewing over the words like dried squid, "but conversation would be more convenient if the esteemed personage were to pause for a moment."
"Unlikely," Lung Gouen replied, "unless you are the person I am to meet."
"It is possible," the voice above him admitted, "but one does not wish to state anything definite under the current circumstances. The rain is thick and carries voices where they might otherwise not travel."
Lung Gouen stopped. The shadow above him stretched its length from one side of the street to the other, bordered by the distant streetlamps which still illuminated the area. "Speak, then."
"A matter of small consequence to the Kings of the Oceans and their children, but possibly of significance to the Heaven and Earth Societies. The Son of the White Serpent seeks what his father laid aside."
Lung Gouen snorted. Smoke drifted from his cigarette in a long coil. "The one is as dead as his father."
Silence came from above.
"And even if he were to live," he added, "as you say, it is none of my concern."
"A grudge was held," the voice whispered, and the shadows moved and breathed in rhythm with it, "even if there were deaths on both sides. Furthermore, if this matter involves the Heaven and Earth Societies, then it will also involve an individual in whom the esteemed personage below me takes a personal interest. This is intentional."
Lung Gouen removed the cigarette from his mouth. "Such an individual," he said calmly, "has been placed outside interference by celestial authority, owing to the circumstances of his birth. For him to be killed --"
"Will be accidental," the other voice cut in. "It will be quite accidental, and no more a case of interference than it would be for the esteemed personage below me to cultivate him as a friend."
"You go too far."
"Surely if the esteemed personage below me has come at my request, then he wished to hear what I had to say."
"You have said enough," Lung Gouen said, and flung his cigarette down onto the pavement at his feet. A gust of fire leaped upwards, hissing as it boiled the rain to steam, and tore at the lamppost and the sky above.
The darkness evaporated in a bubbling scream.
Lung Gouen snapped his fingers.
The streetlamp above him burned steadily. As he walked on again, he withdrew another cigarette from his cigarette case, and slipped it between his lips. It began to burn of its own accord, coiling smoke upwards silently.