The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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Postby Derantor » Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:50 am

G-guten Morugen!

We all know the drill: Valentine's day is around the corner, people shy and bold buy gifts for their loved ones, or the ones they hope will become that one day ... many a story has been written on the topic, but - some characters always get left out. So, we gotta change that!

Welcome to the third holiday writing challenge: Minor Characters Need Love, Too!

The challenge is to write a short Valentine's Day themed scene: how will the character of your choice go about showing their affection? Will their efforts be rewarded, or will the spines come out? This time around, your PoV character can NOT be one of the following: Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato or Kaworu. They hogged the attention badly enough! Of couse, the aforementioned characters can still be the target of affection of your PoV character, whether you choose Hyuga or Hikari or ... Gendo? :bigeyes:

Here are the rules:
  • The word limit is 400 words or less.
  • The time limit is 7 days, as always!
  • With the exception of Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato or Kaworu, every character appearing in Evangelion is eligible to be your PoV character!
  • The scene must take place on Valentine's Day!
  • Everything else is up to you - let your imagination fly! And as always: the most important thing is that you have fun!
  • Once you're done, post your story here in a spoiler, with the wordcount as the spoiler title, like this: [*spoiler="Word count xxx"]TEXT[/spoiler]. Simply remove the * for it to work. The title of your work doesn't count towards the wordcount and can be mentioned outside the spoiler!

So that's it! Discussion, feedback and questions go HERE.
My writing on Ao3 and FFN

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Re: The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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Postby Hidranick » Sun Feb 14, 2021 5:01 pm

Testament
By Hidranick
Word Count=397
SPOILER: Show
Under the microscope Yui inspected the dividing cells of Adam. She scribbled a note down on her clipboard next to her. However fascinating the cells were, they would eventually die.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. A sudden jerk of her arm knocked over a mug, the neglected cold coffee spilling on the table.
“You need to rest,” Fuyutsuki said, looking down at his microscope, “Go. I’ll finish up.”
Yui moved to the door and stopped, “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Outside the laboratory she sat in the small garden near the east wing entrance. She took in her surroundings; red and white pines circled the lab while birds chirped on top of their branches and twisting boughs. Even those things would die someday.
“Yui,” A voice said.
She broke out of her thoughtful trance and saw Gendo, standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. She smiled and motioned for him to sit next to her on the bench.
“How are you?” Yui asked.
“Good,” Gendo shifted uncomfortably, “ I... wanted to give you something... since it’s that day.”
Yui’s face turned to puzzlement, “What day would that be?”
“You really have been in the lab too much,” Gendo chuckled, “It’s valentine's day.”
Yui brought her palm to her forehead and they shared a reserved laugh. Gendo pulled something out of his pocket and hid it in his palm.
“What is it?” Yui asked.
Gendo opened his hand to a small stone, a fig leaf carved onto its coarse surface. She was expecting flowers… but a stone?
“Well this is unusual,” Yui said.
“I didn’t like the idea of flowers,” Gendo started, “They wilt and die. Remember when we grew those fig trees in the garden over there?”
He pointed to the place where Yui had been looking and she nodded in agreement.
“Well, this way I thought we could preserve that memory. Even when humans are gone, when the oceans dry up, or the sun burns out, this rock will still be around. And whatever other life stumbles across it will carry us on in their memories, immortalizing us in their history. That way, we won’t really die. You understand?”
The whole time he spoke Yui felt a blush rise to her cheeks. She quickly covered the hand holding the stone, the object being locked between their interlaced fingers and kissed him on the cheek.

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Re: The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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Postby Orange Juice » Fri Feb 19, 2021 6:53 pm

Well, I thought I would do something slightly different. It's a little over the limit but I couldn't find a way to get it down. Hope you like it.

Word Count:414  SPOILER: Show
After school, they talked for a while at the gate, until inevitably, at a lull in the conversation, began the awkward dance of social disengagement: Hikari tugged at Touji’s sleeve, Touji yawned, stretched, and glanced at Shinji, who just shuffled in place and blushed again as Asuka renewed her grip around his arm and tapped her foot impatiently. Today he seemed possessed by a nervous giddiness none of them had ever before seen in him, and whose source, they all knew, was the heart-shaped box of chocolate he now clutched to his chest, bound by a pink ribbon. He could barely conceal his elation when he spoke. ‘Well… Shall we…?’

And Kensuke knew it was time for him to go. Damn him, he thought, even you, Shinji; Touji and the Class Rep had been easy enough to see coming, but Shinji…? Quiet, diffident Shinji? And with her… Damn him, damn them both. On the train home he placed on his knees his squat tower of obligation chocolates, but three stories high. It was not that he envied his friends, or even resented them their happiness—truly he didn’t—but that his isolation on this of all days forced upon him a mood of melancholy self-examination he spent the rest of his days trying to avoid, and was able to, with some success. Now it selected him, like the claw machines couples flocked to on this day, lifted him out of the crowd, made an example of him.

At home he lays a checkered tablecloth onto a table for two, lights a candle, serves up two plates of spaghetti, and with a strange, darkened expression (as if seeking to efface from his memory this action) places a ribbon-bound box of chocolate onto the table, one he had purchased earlier. Then, cupping his hands to his mouth, he gasps in feigned surprise.

‘Oh Yumeko…’ he says, ‘I return your feelings…’

Silence, dead air. He drops his fork clanging to the plate and takes his face in his hands. ‘But you’re not real, so what’s the point!’ Now he looks up, eyes red, at the anime girl printed on the pillow, its stuffing gone lumpy in places from hugging. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says, and there is genuine contrition in his voice, ‘I didn’t mean it...’ But there’s no answer. Across him, the girl on the pillow returns an invariant smile, her blue eyes wide as always, seated on a stiff wooden chair, slouching slightly.

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Re: The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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Postby Zusuchan » Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:55 pm

It's not particularly good, but at least it's something.

Word count 396 words  SPOILER: Show
The chocolate was tasty and crunchy, like it always was. Nonetheless, she ate it without a tangible feeling of excitement or joy. She took a bite, registered the objectively good taste and then took another bite, all without attaching anything but perhaps a mere hint of emotion to the process. This was Valentine’s Day, the day which all those in love tended to celebrate, going out with their boy-or girlfriends for a nice date or asking them if they were interested in such a relationship in the first place. This was the day where romantic relationships were in the air, no matter if they were only beginning or had gone on for longer.
This was what Yukino thought Valentine’s Day should mean-but for her, it was nothing else than a largely meaningless exchange of gifts. Her school forced students to present a chocolate to whomever they wanted on 14th February and so she had come to associate that date with tasty, crunchy chocolate being given and taken, instead of the deeper emotional meaning she assumed others derived from it.
To worsen her lack of excitement over the whole deal was the fact there was someone she liked-a someone who just so happened to be a very prim, very proper, rather old-fashioned girl dating a masculine jock. The heart will do what the heart wants, but those feelings of love she felt only served to make her ache for something she would never get. She wanted so much to laugh with Hikari, to call out with her, but she restricted herself, fearing that close contact would only enlargen her desire and her melancholy. Every time Hikari was a good girl, every time she admonished the class or talked with that redhead friend of hers or went on a date with that jock of hers, chatting away like the happiest bird in the world, every time was like a small knife making a small cut on her back, a reminder of how far away from Yukino was that which she really wished for. And so she had stopped communicating with Hikari, had said no to calls for a trip to the mall or the cinema, had distanced herself from Hikari as much as she could.
Yukino sat and ate her chocolate, a tasty, crunchy chocolate, in the shape of a heart. She ate it and liked the taste.

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Re: The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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Postby Derantor » Tue Feb 23, 2021 8:03 am

I'm terribly sorry for being so disengaged this time around. Again ... :uhh:

The deadline has passed - I decided to let it run for a little longer, since it seems to have been an inopportune moment for many, with participation being rather low. Or maybe the topic wasn't to taste? Whatever the case, if you are interested, let me know in the discussion thread!

The Third Writing Challenge is now officially over! Thanks to everybody who participated! ^_^
My writing on Ao3 and FFN

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Re: The Holiday Writing Challenges Part 3: Valentine's Variations!

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Postby dzzthink » Fri Feb 26, 2021 7:39 pm

Nice stories I must say.
"Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive." - 1 Corinthians 10:23


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