Subject: [FFML] Re: [I, My, Me, Strawberry Eggs][dark/surreal] Path to Greatness
From: "DB Sommer" <sommer@3rdm.net>
Date: 2/21/2002, 1:37 PM
To: "Brian Randall" <brian@azurite.org>
CC: <ffml@anifics.com>


I have no idea whatsoever of this series. So let's give it a whirl.

There were no prereaders, so read at your own risk:

Understood.






Path to Greatness

[-The Pact-]

"They are unworthy. I know this to be true, and you cannot deny it.
My school is run by this principle."

"And I disagree. I say that their force can be a creative one. A
constructive force."

"You are wrong. It is too active, too destructive. It is not a force
that I will tolerate."

"A bet, then

Nooo. Not another 'Bet' fic. :)


It was far too seldom that he truly gave himself time to simply think
as much as he would have liked.

Much of his time was spent doing the things that a teacher must do,
and, increasingly, the things that a woman must do. So much so that
when he was required to be neither,

If he is a 'he' then being a woman is hard, unless you're from R 1/2.


For what _that_ was worth. His face was already soft and rounded,
very feminine. His hair was long, kept tied back while he wasn't in
his normal clothing. Normal clothing? When had they become that, anyway?

It wasn't important, he decided. But he smiled at the mirror and
attempted to make a pretty face, and even without the makeup, even
without coloring his hair, he couldn't decisively label his image
'male' or 'female'.

Hermaphrodite then. :)

At the end of the futon, Kurage was curled up, not waking. The sign
about the dog's neck was clearly labeled, "Do not disturb."

Heh

But then, was that really a problem? There was Sensei, after all.
Well, there were many sensei, but there was only one Sensei. Other
teachers could come and go, and doctors wore the title, too.

But Sensei was Sensei.

Heh. This could be problematic.What's her age, by the way? Might want to
mention it.


She folded herself into a crouching position, staring at her chariot.
Motorcycle. The vehicle of herself when she wished it, and in many
ways, the conveyer of much more than her own slight personage.

A good deal of attention had been paid to the recent modifications --
modifications that would be perfect for, say, putting out a fire
with all the style and grace that a being of her statue

statue?


The only problem was that the arena was too much in the control of
her enemy. On the other hand, while her enemy could define the
arena, only _she_ could define the weapons.

A balance, of sorts.

He bowed his head, considering. "I think so," he said after a moment.
"Why?"

"So you know how great you could have been?"

"You could have been a contender."


smiling, his eyes sparkling with eerily youthful joy and hope. "I
don't remember, Mori-chan!"

Opening his mouth to explain, Mori realized that he couldn't remember
anything important to discuss, either, and instead said, "I need a
job...."

Heh.Nice abilities that one had.


"Don't worry, Mori-chan! I'm sure something will turn up soon!"

***

[Amawa]

She lay on the futon, staring at the ceiling.

Dressed in casual clothing at the moment, she had found the energy to
change, considering

considered (I think)



"Of course!" the woman all but crowed. "I'll make arrangements at the
baths right away."

At the baths? Odd place to do that sort of thing, I would think.


Her homework sat on her desk before her, though her eyes were
distant. Her attention was as far from the homework as the weather,
heavy rains keeping ghosts and perverts

Heh. Interesting duo to mention.


The leap that had told her that trust was a good thing, and the leap
that had saved Sensei's job at the school.

Heh. Obviously backstory I'm unaware of.



Words she didn't want to hear. She was losing the battle, and Hibiki
was faring far poorer. "Need?" she stated quietly. "What do you want
me to do?"

"Well," she temporized, staring at the ceiling and deep in thought,
"something to make my voice work the right way all the time?"

And again. "The right way," she mused quietly.

Yes. Interesting way to term it.



"That's vary cute, Aoki," she said, folding the letter away and
pocketing it.

"How did you know?" he blurted out. Realizing his mistake, he quickly
babbled, "I mean, what makes you think it was me?"

Heh. Too late.


There were a great many things she did not like.

She smiled bravely through them, though.

That's what her mother told her to do, after all.

But her smile failed her whenever a man approached Sensei.

Why? What was it that made her worry and sigh whenever Sensei was
near men?

Heh. I can just imagine what it is. :)


And yet, even as his eyes roved freely over the lewd images of women
who brazenly paraded their skin across page after page.... It just
felt so boring. There was guilt, yes, and a subtle fear of being
caught, yes, and.... Mild disgust.

Interesting reaction.


But today was Saturday, so she would have to wait until Monday before
she could deliver it. Maybe she could bake some cookies.

Heh. And so it won't get done at all.



She had left early, heart hammering loudly in her chest, small bag of
cookies and love-letter secure in her hands.

Oh. So she did write it. I thought she was going to procrastinate until it
was too late.



But she could return the same bright, pointless smile she always wore
towards this stranger in Sensei's body.

Heh. More perceptive than perhaps even she realizes.

"I see. Thank you,
Hibiki-sensei!" She had smiled when her mother died, and she could
keep on smiling even as Sensei was vanished.

had vanished (perhaps?)


"You won. My champion was taught too well, I suspect."

"Then I am right."

"No, you forced the issue with your control over the arena."

"Another game, then?"

"No. I think I tire of playing, for the time."

Hmm.. Intersting way to end things. I think I got the gist of it, despite
not knowing the series. Interesting, and the surreality worked for his
piece.

D.B. Sommer






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