orig fic: Lindy Hop
May. 1st, 2009 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynOriginal fiction, short, non-graphic, no warnings.
Lindy Hop
“Lindy? Did you like that Moonlight show that was cancelled?”
There was no response, but Lindy was working on the center medallion of her lace shawl.
“I thought it was stupid and I was glad they got rid of it.”
“Why?” Lindy asked, “Because they had the girl falling for the vampire? That bothered me.”
“Oh. No. Not that, or not exactly. It did seem creepy that she was lusting after someone who had known her in diapers. I thought it was like the vampires hadn't put any thought into what the future was going to be like. The way the characters were written, it was like all vampires are stupid and unable to deviate from habit. Mostly it was just unbelievable because it kept going back and forth between there being a vampire society and all vampires being loners to avoid detection.
“I keep thinking about it. Like, wouldn't you want to Turn a couple tax attorneys if you were a lone vampire? If there is a whole network of vampires, do they do their own or contract through Witness Protection? Did they invent Witness Protection? What about Enron accountants? That kind of thing on a small scale would be ideal for hiding group assets. From a practical standpoint, any child could see the vampires on the Moonlight show just didn't have a thought in their heads and I don't see how they could survive decades, let alone lifetimes.”
Lindy finished the row and put down her knitting. “You think about this too much. It's no wonder you don't get any knitting done at home.”
“I don't think I think about this more than other single women fantasize about movie stars or musicians.... Well, maybe. Nobody has to imagine guitarists existing before thinking they're sexy. Women think guitarists are sexy because it's obvious they have some clue what to do with their hands. That was something that bothered me about the vampires on the TV... they just didn't behave with confidence. Even when it was a mundane task like getting a glass of water or driving. Think about it Lindy, when you were 16 and learning to drive, you had to think about everything, right? But now, now you know how it feels to be accelerating and what kinds of things to be considering so there are fewer surprises. Because practice has smoothed out having your feet moving independently of your hands and you have confidence. I would think hundreds of years-old vampires--- they'd have to be graceful. Either from practice or whatever superpowers they had.”
“Yeah. Imagine if you had super speed and didn't tie your shoelaces. Or super strength and kept crushing doorknobs. You're right, they looked like 20-somethings who'd never had a job or lived for real. It was completely unbelievable.
“Do you think you'd want to date a vampire?” Lindy asked.
“I don't know. It'd be like dating anyone, depends on the guy. There are wife beaters who convince the woman that she deserves to be abused until none of her friends will talk to her anymore and end up leaving her alone to try to find a way out of a nightmare. That mesmerization stuff that's mentioned in about half the books would be an extreme version, but it's not exactly a different concept.
“There are men who insist that the woman convert to his religion or insist that they spend more time with his family than hers. There are men who say his career is more important than hers when a transfer comes in. There are women who subsume themselves into their families and children until they stop looking human because they think that's what their men want.
“But really, do you think most women wouldn't want a man who looks young and pretty but knows what he's doing in bed? It probably takes 20 years to get a guy to pay attention to more than his cock and by then they're usually getting a bit decrepit at least on the edges. Just when you've got him trained up, he's limp thinking about the mortgage and your teenage kids stay out so late you've fallen asleep waiting for them to come home. By the time they finally move out, if they ever do, the man's so old he needs Viagra and Cialis to get it up.
“They say in those commercials that men who take nitrates for chest pain shouldn't take it... the Trader Joe's bacon advertises itself as nitrate free. Does that mean bacon is doubly bad for you because they stopped fortifying it?”
Lindy doubled over laughing, knocking her empty glass off the table where it barely dodged her knitting bag between her feet.
“Hey, I'll grab us some refills. You drinking the frozen red wine slush stuff again tonight?”
Lindy nodded, still giggling madly, and proffered her swipe card.
At the counter, “I'd like another decaff cappuccino, and a refill of the red stuff for my friend--- what does she do? It's not the “rabbit ears”, it's more like Spock drinking tea.... Live long and prosper-ity? The quirked pinky finger is hard to do though.”
The barrista smiled and looked pointedly at the card reader.
The first swipe beeped. “Insufficient funds. Huh?”
“Oh. Sorry, your friend's was first.”
“But I just charged my card yesterday, there should be more than twenty dollars left!”
The barrista winced.
Lindy came up to the counter. “There's a reason we always meet here. They know me here and my “usual” is a bit more than is generally on offer. I'll buy this round.”
completed draft Nov 17, 2008
Lindy Hop
“Lindy? Did you like that Moonlight show that was cancelled?”
There was no response, but Lindy was working on the center medallion of her lace shawl.
“I thought it was stupid and I was glad they got rid of it.”
“Why?” Lindy asked, “Because they had the girl falling for the vampire? That bothered me.”
“Oh. No. Not that, or not exactly. It did seem creepy that she was lusting after someone who had known her in diapers. I thought it was like the vampires hadn't put any thought into what the future was going to be like. The way the characters were written, it was like all vampires are stupid and unable to deviate from habit. Mostly it was just unbelievable because it kept going back and forth between there being a vampire society and all vampires being loners to avoid detection.
“I keep thinking about it. Like, wouldn't you want to Turn a couple tax attorneys if you were a lone vampire? If there is a whole network of vampires, do they do their own or contract through Witness Protection? Did they invent Witness Protection? What about Enron accountants? That kind of thing on a small scale would be ideal for hiding group assets. From a practical standpoint, any child could see the vampires on the Moonlight show just didn't have a thought in their heads and I don't see how they could survive decades, let alone lifetimes.”
Lindy finished the row and put down her knitting. “You think about this too much. It's no wonder you don't get any knitting done at home.”
“I don't think I think about this more than other single women fantasize about movie stars or musicians.... Well, maybe. Nobody has to imagine guitarists existing before thinking they're sexy. Women think guitarists are sexy because it's obvious they have some clue what to do with their hands. That was something that bothered me about the vampires on the TV... they just didn't behave with confidence. Even when it was a mundane task like getting a glass of water or driving. Think about it Lindy, when you were 16 and learning to drive, you had to think about everything, right? But now, now you know how it feels to be accelerating and what kinds of things to be considering so there are fewer surprises. Because practice has smoothed out having your feet moving independently of your hands and you have confidence. I would think hundreds of years-old vampires--- they'd have to be graceful. Either from practice or whatever superpowers they had.”
“Yeah. Imagine if you had super speed and didn't tie your shoelaces. Or super strength and kept crushing doorknobs. You're right, they looked like 20-somethings who'd never had a job or lived for real. It was completely unbelievable.
“Do you think you'd want to date a vampire?” Lindy asked.
“I don't know. It'd be like dating anyone, depends on the guy. There are wife beaters who convince the woman that she deserves to be abused until none of her friends will talk to her anymore and end up leaving her alone to try to find a way out of a nightmare. That mesmerization stuff that's mentioned in about half the books would be an extreme version, but it's not exactly a different concept.
“There are men who insist that the woman convert to his religion or insist that they spend more time with his family than hers. There are men who say his career is more important than hers when a transfer comes in. There are women who subsume themselves into their families and children until they stop looking human because they think that's what their men want.
“But really, do you think most women wouldn't want a man who looks young and pretty but knows what he's doing in bed? It probably takes 20 years to get a guy to pay attention to more than his cock and by then they're usually getting a bit decrepit at least on the edges. Just when you've got him trained up, he's limp thinking about the mortgage and your teenage kids stay out so late you've fallen asleep waiting for them to come home. By the time they finally move out, if they ever do, the man's so old he needs Viagra and Cialis to get it up.
“They say in those commercials that men who take nitrates for chest pain shouldn't take it... the Trader Joe's bacon advertises itself as nitrate free. Does that mean bacon is doubly bad for you because they stopped fortifying it?”
Lindy doubled over laughing, knocking her empty glass off the table where it barely dodged her knitting bag between her feet.
“Hey, I'll grab us some refills. You drinking the frozen red wine slush stuff again tonight?”
Lindy nodded, still giggling madly, and proffered her swipe card.
At the counter, “I'd like another decaff cappuccino, and a refill of the red stuff for my friend--- what does she do? It's not the “rabbit ears”, it's more like Spock drinking tea.... Live long and prosper-ity? The quirked pinky finger is hard to do though.”
The barrista smiled and looked pointedly at the card reader.
The first swipe beeped. “Insufficient funds. Huh?”
“Oh. Sorry, your friend's was first.”
“But I just charged my card yesterday, there should be more than twenty dollars left!”
The barrista winced.
Lindy came up to the counter. “There's a reason we always meet here. They know me here and my “usual” is a bit more than is generally on offer. I'll buy this round.”
completed draft Nov 17, 2008
