Well, hello again!
Sorry for the long wait, but as many may know, this is not my "main" story, so I don't work on it as much. Also, I am prone to writer's block during relatively dull scenes (sure, I can attempt to think in the fifth dimension, but meal-time conversation eludes me).
Some of you have read my other story, and some have not. This is for those of you who have not had the extreme pleasure of basking in my pure, unadulterated (okay, maybe slightly adulterated), awesomeness. Hahaaa…no, I speak in jest; as I am the center of the universe, everything is basked in my awesomeness. There are sometimes terms and ideas in my stories that I feel need to be explained or defined due to in-story constrictions and general obscurity. These will be denoted with an asterisk*, the corresponding elucidations will be placed into an addendum at the bottom of the chapter, under a bold title, so you can't miss it.
*This is an example of what you would see at the bottom of the page. Further explanations will have an added number of asterisks. These are not always important to the story, but will often be interesting/clarify some things, as I take the application of science very seriously in my stories.
I didn't know if this story would appeal well to readers (as it is, in some aspects, a representation of my own psyche, and I tend to have rather…eccentric tastes), but people are actually following it, even though it 1) has only been out for a few weeks 2) is short 3) has a terribly overused title…must I go on? I believe I will change the title eventually, perhaps to something more existential and presumptuous such as "A hypothetical dissertation of the travails of an aggrieved mind during the adolescent phase of a troubled Asian female in fictional society". …huh, it doesn't fit. Oh well guess it's back to the drawi-wait, I don't draw. The computer, then. Enjoy! (it's just a suggestion, you really aren't required to enjoy it; just keep in mind that the alternative is a painful, albeit imaginary, death).
Chapter 2
Contrast
"One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside."
― John Lennon
Jade looked around, taking stock of unfamiliar surroundings. Great, a random alley-a dirty one too. She groaned and managed to stand up, brushing some of the grime off her clothes. Her limbs were still shaky from the rush of adrenaline, so she leaned on the wall to recover. Where the hell was she? Walking to the end of the alleyway, she looked around for street signs, and was shocked at her location. "Market and…Noe? Where the hell is Noe? Wait a second…" Making her way towards Market, she realized that it was one of those three-way intersections that San Francisco had in abundance. As in many sprawling cities, poor planning and explosive growth had caused some streets to cross diagonally, creating asterisk-type cross-roads (sorry for the explanation, but some may not have seen these if they live in a less-densely populated area than So Cal). Sixteenth and Market, not dreadfully far away, but she usually wouldn't walk it. Grumbling at the early morning traffic, she made her way to Uncle's shop, though without her usual jaunty gait.
She entered just as her uncle Jackie (though he was really her first cousin once removed, or something like that) was coming down the stars that led to the extra bedrooms, scratching his head. He startled when he saw her, as he was prone to do. "Jade? How did you…never mind, not important. What happened to you, Jade? Where have you been? I looked everywhere for you!"
Jade had been subject to Jackie's bumbling interrogations hundreds of times, and she had become fairly adept at handling him. She was tempted to actually tell him the whole thing from the beginning, but was afraid he would send her to a shrink, or worse, back to china. Stalling for a good excuse, she fell back on sarcasm.
"And a good morning to you too. I've been outside, in case you were wondering."
Giving a heavy sigh, Jackie ignored the sarcasm, as per usual. "Yes, good morning, Jade. Now tell me, where have you been to get so dirty?"
"Uh…rolling around in an alley?" "Well, that's more or less true, I suppose."
Jackie just stared at her, flabbergasted, "Why were you rolling around in an alley?"
"Camouflage, duh. That's the only way to escape from mind-eating robots. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if I had my own ray-gun." Her Cheshire smile seemed to take up half of her face.
Jackie facepalmed, his hand dragging down half of his face in his characteristic fashion. He didn't know much about children, but he was certain that Jade was much more rambunctious than most kids her age. He understood that humans were curious by nature, but she seemed to have gotten a triple dose, and it had caused a whole mess of trouble-most of which Jackie had to get her out of. She had been kidnapped by criminal organizations, turned into an evil being set on taking over the world, and even sent (accidentally) to the netherworld, escaping by the skin of her teeth. He had thought of sending her back to china, but her parents had sent her to him in the hopes that she would flourish in a new environment. Though she still got into the occasional fight (either with a schoolmate or a demon-sorcerer), her grades had improved, and she was extremely outgoing, even participating in the dragon scouts (though it was the equivalent of the boy scouts, she hadn't wanted anything to do with "pansy knitting work and picnics" as she had put it) and helping out around the shop. It was times like these where he could only shake off the crazy and continue on with his day.
"No, Jade." He stated firmly, "you are not getting a gun, ray or otherwise. Now go get cleaned up and come back down for breakfast. Tohru is making his special Tamagoyaki*.
Jade ran off to get ready, while Jackie walked into the kitchen/dining-room, where a four-hundred pound Japanese man stood with a knife in his hand, which he brought down with great speed and force, making quick work of his target. Deftly scooping up the minced onions, he tossed them into a large bowl, and he was just about to crack some eggs when a grating voice made him wince, "Tohru, more garlic! Uncle needs it! How do you think Uncle lived this long…with onions? I don't think so!" Jackie watched the sizeable former criminal acquiesce in his typically mild manner, "Yes, Sensei."
Jackie's uncle, who everyone called Uncle (his old friend the exception-he called him "chuckles"…yeah, that's the reaction everyone had), was an adept chi wizard who had, in his time, been in a traveling theatre group and owned a disco store (which was now an antique shop). No one knew his exact age or the true depth of knowledge contained within his frail form. Although Uncle was too old to do any real fighting, he got around easily enough, and had mastered an uncommon form of martial arts that allowed him to take on most anyone not empowered by supernatural forces.
Jackie had at first distrusted Tohru, but Uncle had vouched for him, and he had proven himself time and again, fighting with Jackie, befriending Jade, and-just a short while ago-becoming a full fledged chi wizard. Jackie stood in the doorway for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
"Tohru, we need to talk about Jade."
The Asian man looked up from his task for a moment, "What about her, Jackie?"
"I'm not really sure, and that's what worries me. I think she's hiding something from me. That's not like her."
"Hmmm…Jade does seem to be distracted as of late, but she has always been a bit restless. She's not like you and I, content to do the same thing every day. Give her time; I am sure she will come around."
Jackie frowned, pensive. "You might be right, Tohru. It's just that things have been quiet lately, so I'm waiting for the next bad thing to happen. *sigh* …and I used to worry about whether or not I was translating ancient texts correctly."
Tohru chuckled lightly "At least you never had to take orders from a talking statue."
Jade rushed up to her room, closed the door behind her, and proceeded to stare off into space. She stood there for a minute, then shook her head vigorously, causing her shoulder-length black hair to flail around aimlessly. She went over to her bathroom to wash the dirt off, and-she glanced down at herself-change her clothes.
She paused as she passed the mirror over the sink, staring at her reflection. Brown eyes gazed back at her out of a haggard face. It wasn't that she couldn't sleep, she just didn't want to. It didn't used to be this way; before, when she had been…whole, she had almost never remembered her dreams-just fade to black and bam, it was morning. She couldn't say when it started, exactly; a few months ago, she had experienced her first terror, but she shrugged it off, thinking it a simple nightmare. Then a couple of weeks later she had one more, and a fortnight after that, yet another; as with most things, patterns are defined by trifectas**. In that moment, Jade had realized that the terrifying visions that greeted her at night would be a recurring blight on her mind, a plague to which she didn't have the cure. The terrors had increased in both intensity and frequency as the weeks passed; her last respite hadn't lasted a week.
Jade took a deep breath and let it out slowly, sloughing off her foul mood. No use wallowing in self-pity, she just had to find out how to fix her problem before…she didn't care to think what the terrors would eventually culminate in. Insanity, or something worse? Sighing, she put on her spare jacket*** and went downstairs. When she entered the kitchen, her view was blocked by the reassuring bulk of Tohru.
"What's up, T?"
The large man turned, a smile lighting up his face. "Good morning, Jade. I was just finishing breakfast." He sighed humorously "it was supposed to be a surprise."
"Wasn't going to work. Even if Jackie hadn't given it away, I could recognize the smell of your Tamagoyaki anywhere." She sniffed the air for emphasis. "…though I think you overdid it on the garlic."
Tohru leaned down and looked around surreptitiously "Don't worry; I made a separate one just for you. No garlic."
She grinned. "You're the best, T."
The relationship between these two was a stellar example of the old adage 'opposites attract'. Despite having a mottled history (of which the particulars were too sore a subject to bring up), this odd coupling of a height-challenged girl and a sumo seemed almost a force of nature; Jade's happy-go-lucky attitude tempered by Tohru's steadfast tranquility created an atmosphere that often helped to bring an optimistic feeling to even the most dire of situations.
Though this had saved Jackie's sanity often in the past, the recent lull in the magical crimes department, along with the resumption of his career full-time (it's hard to stay on top of your job when you're busy trying to stop various apocalypses), found him in a much less stressful mood.
Tohru called the others to breakfast while Jade set up the table (as they all hailed from either China or-in Tohru's case-Japan, they were well versed in using chopsticks, and each had their own pair. In fact, Tohru had gotten Jade a pair of jade chopsticks-complete with rest-for Chūgen****). Uncle came in, berating Jackie over his shoulder. "You are teeerrible nephew. Uncle said to get sixth century vase, not sixteenth century!"
Jackie apologized, a bit sheepish. He had gone to the address the ad had listed and asked for "the vase". He should have examined it more closely, but then again, who has two vases created a thousand years apart just sitting on their mantle? He would have to return and exchange it. However, that would have to wait, because he was busy today.
He waited until they were all seated before making his announcement "I got a call from the University (it's the San FranciscoStateUniversity, but since some of his work is closely associated with it, the others know which one he is talking about). Dr. Pahl*5 wants me to come in as a guest lecturer, and consult with me about a potential Chinese to English archaeological dictionary." Jackie smiled at the thought; he had worked with Dr. Pahl before-they had even published a few papers together-and he was looking forward to seeing him again.
Tohru, as per usual, showed a genuine interest in Jackie's work. "What will you be talking about, Jackie?"
"Yeah, you gonna tell them about the time you wrestled a snake to get the invisibility talisman? Or the time we went to Mexico and ended up reanimating Quetzalcoatl who thought that I was some other random god and that El Toro was the god of the underworld and he was shooting sunbeams everywhere and-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Jade." Jackie held his hands up, halting the barrage of words from his niece's mouth. "I'm going to be showing them archaeology techniques, not telling them about my encounters with Mesoamerican deities." He finished off the last of his meal with obvious gusto. "Tohru, thank you for the meal; Jade, don't be late for school; and Uncle, I'll exchange that vase for you tomorrow."
His words were met with a nod, a grunt, and a "humph", respectively.
[End chapter 2]
This chapter was intentionally left without any type of suspense or conflict at the end; just in case you were wondering if I was a lazy writer (I am, just not that lazy). You will see my reasoning for it later…or not. Do you people like the quotes? They're cool, aren't they *puts thumbs in suspenders, struts off like a boss*. JK, I wear a monocle and top hat with a pocket watch and a cane. I am also Asian (hey, Russia is part of Asia too!).
Any errors/whatnot, please tell me. I try my utmost to bring you the epitome of excellence regarding the English language, but I am sadly fallible (ten times more so than a computer, apparently).
Next chapter: Jade goes to school! $#!T goes down, and a familiar face is involved? Tune in next time for: Night Terrors (working title).
Addendum:
*A delicious Japanese breakfast omelet, with several layers of egg rolled together (sort of like sushi). Tohru adds a few special ingredients that make his quite tasty.
**What I mean by this may not be obvious to everyone (but probably is). To explain would be difficult, as it requires an advanced knowledge of psychology (which I do not possess). To put it simply, the mind recognizes patterns in groups of three. How many throws/shots does it take to judge distance? (You might only need two, but the third is going to be accurate). How many points do you need to triangulate a position on the earth's surface? If you punch a wall and it explodes, will you just assume you can always do it, or try it again, then once more to be sure? I haven't done much research on this, but you must agree out of personal experience, at least, eh? Or not, just google it, "omne trium perfectum" and all that.
***One can assume she has a spare (possibly even two or three), as she wears it every day.
****Often with an "O" added as an honorific to make it O-Chūgen, this a Japanese holiday occurring on July 15,where people will give gifts to those that they feel indebted to. I do not ascribe myself as an expert on Japanese culture, but I try to look like I do. Usually, the gift is reserved for one's "social superior" or a relative, but Tohru had found them on discount (hey, he's a parolee working at an antique store, so he doesn't have much in the way of disposable income) and couldn't wait for Jade's birthday to come around to give them to her. Besides, they're practically family (apparently, it is incorrect to use the word "family" after an adverb b/c in that case it would technically be an adjective that isn't modifying anything-like saying "He was a really cool". However, it sounds better this way to me, and you can figure out that I am using it as a noun, not an adjective).
*5 Dr/Prof Pahl is an actual archaeology professor with a Ph.D. (presumably in archaeology). I chose him b/c 1) he works at a university in San Francisco and 2) his primary interest is China. If you'll remember, I placed Uncle's shop not too far away from the intersection of Market and Sixteenth. As it is, I would say that the university is about fifteen minutes away. I do have a reason for choosing these seemingly random locations. For instance, there are a few antique stores not too far away from that intersection, and there is a small alley on Noe Street, right off of Market. You see, there is a method to the madness. Hmmm…would anyone be adverse to a Monk appearance? XD Sorry, but that's just what San Francisco reminds me of (it's a jungle out there). I ramble; apologies, continue your reading please
