When one is backlogged, it's nice to see shorter things to C+C.

Krista Fisk wrote:

An attempt at writing a fic in 500 words or less.
 

I don't like placing those limits on myself, personally. The muse tells 
me what to do, and it's best to give it as free a reign as possible.

Then again, I don't really like the actual process of writing so much as 
I do the end result. But that's pretty common in most things, I think.

Incarnation
a Gumdam Wing fanfic
 

To be honest, I was never that big on WG, fanfic or original. Especially 
after Full Metal Panic gave me the Heero Yui I always wanted to see. ^_^

by Krista Fisk
(1,074 words)

~*~


    Duo dressed in red for the mission. Everything he wore was
dark, deep red, from his velvet vest and tailed coat, to his trim
slacks, to his silk shirt with the fall of lace at his throat and
cuffs, right down to the ribbon that tied off the end of his
braid.

    Everything red... except the stark bone-white ivory mask
that covered the upper part of his face.
 

Hmm. Almost would expect Trowa to be the clown in a getup like that.

    When he first showed me his getup, I frowned. "That's a
disguise?"

    He rolled his eyes at me. "*Costume,* Heero. The party is a
masquerade."
 

Paper faces on parade. Masquerade.

    Hardly comforting. "I can see your braid, your eyes....
Anyone familiar with your wanted posters -- which includes most
of the guest list -- will recognize you in a second."
 

No, I've seen the caliber of villains in the series. Treize would be 
about the only one, since everyone else is sub-Dr. Evil in intelligence.

but his eyes were hard, and glinting like chips of
ice behind the bone mask. "Trust me, Heero. There are times to
skulk in shadows, and times when the best hiding place is right
in plain sight. This fancy OZ shindig definitely qualifies as the
latter."

    I snorted. "Where did you learn *that* little nugget of
espionage wisdom?"
 

Actually 'hide where they'll never look' is basic espionage tactics. 
Plan that they'll look there anyway goes hand in hand with it, though.

    "Edgar Allen Poe," he said with a wink, as he began to
practice palming his knives.
 

Heero: I don't recall that name. What course did he teach?

Duo: That was a joke.

Heero: Oh. Jokes are wasted on me. Laughing is a waste of energy that 
gives away your position. Besides, only Yahoo Serious is amusing.

    If nothing else, reading Poe gave me insight into Duo's
unique flair for the dramatic; not to mention his biting, dark
sense of humor.

    Especially now, as I holstered my .45 and stepped over the
fallen bodies of the seven soldiers unfortunate enough to get
stuck with security room detail,

And somewhere Dr. Evil is going, "See? Oz is foolish. I would have only 
placed one inept guard there, rather than seven. That means I would have 
six more inept guards than they do at this point.

    Clothed in the color of fresh spilled blood, he moved among
them like he belonged, chatting with strangers as if they were
old friends, pretending to sip at his champaign, and rubbing
elbows with the best of them. If anyone spared him a second
glance, it was never with suspicion or animosity.
 

Odd. Unless there are a high number of teenagers there, his short 
stature would be noticable. Almost as much as a tall woman would be. 
Maybe if he was dressed as a servent their eyes would pass over him, but 
his height for a male would draw attention to him.

    Duo moved ever closer to the king... and then in one
spinning rush, he passed the king and the fairy consort, and was
lost in the crowd once again.
 

I'd have problems with the ease of this... except it's Oz, which is a 
pseudonym for stupidity.

    Duo was already at the rendezvous point when I got there.
His silent presence might have taken me by surprise, but in the
dim light of the crescent moon, I could see his pale bone mask
hovering like a wraith in the black of night.

    "Duo?" My voice was shaking, and I didn't know why. 
 

Me either. Heero's ice. He calmly blew himself up several times in the 
series, as I recall.

    He reached up and pulled off the mask. His face seemed
starkly young and all too human in contrast, but his dark eyes
were old. Old, and very, very tired.

    "Mission accomplished," I said.

    He nodded once. "Yeah," he said. His voice was hoarse, and
for a fleeting moment, I wondered if he had been screaming.
 

It would be a good idea. Then he'd blend in with the crowd even more.

    
    But then he grinned that lopsided grin that never quite
reached the spark in his eyes. "'And Darkness and Decay and the
Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.'"
 

This was... okay. I think my bias against the series worked against it. 
Not so much the central characters just as the general incompetance of 
the opposition. Anyway it did accomplish  what it was supposed to do. 
Nice touch at the end with him reciting Poe. Grammar was good and solid. 
Not much more I can say.

DB Sommer

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