Eerie, Indiana fanfiction: Night Diving
Jan. 17th, 2017 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deifire, I totally stole your headcanon of Janet and Melanie's friendship...
Follows on from At the Seaside and In the Bleak Midwinter and The Lake at Night and man, do I ever need to update that Masterlist...
The full moon had just risen over the horizon and was hanging fat and creamy gold over the black glass waters of the still lake. The headlamp beams of passing traffic cast shivering orange beacons over the smooth surface and the ghost-lights from the Eerie Boardwalk shimmered in muted multi-colours that illuminated the rotted wood pilings beneath it.
Janet Donner sat on the cold shore, the grubby toes of her pink high-tops barely brushing the waterline. Around her were dozens of tiny bark boats, adrift among a sea of wood shavings that covered her lap, her Eerie Baitshop and Sushi Bar work apron, and the patch of smooth sand in front of her. A half-smoked cigarette smouldered in a foil ashtray swiped from the restaurant’s outdoor tables, and she opened and closed the bladed pen knife in her hands in a smooth motion born of reflex. The steady hum of cars on the road at her back soothed and steadied her, because even so many years later, too much silence and solitude still threatened to send her scrambling into her parent’s bedroom in a cold sweat of panic, desperate to confirm their presence with her own eyes.
A pool of moonlight on the water erupted in a shower of salt foam and something dark and gleaming broke the surface. Janet was on her feet in a second, shedding curls of tree bark in every direction as she waded into the shallows.
Melanie Monroe pushed her soaking hair out of her eyes, spat out a mouthful of seaweed and scales, and raised her clenched fists aloft in a gesture of victory. Her arms were slick with black ichor past her elbows, and she was holding a slim golden tube in one hand.
“Yeah!” she hollered. “Suck it, sea monsters! You can’t stop this train! This train likes to steal! Woo!”
Janet laughed, the sound bubbling up from beneath the cloying layer of tension and fear that had choked her only moments before.
“So things went well?” she asked, holding out her hand. Melanie seized it between both of hers, awkwardly gripping the golden rod at the same time, and hauled herself into a standing position. Iridescent scales fell away from her in a sparkling midnight rainbow as she left the water, the last remnants of a spell bartered from a Sea Witch in exchange for a microwave that worked underwater and a sizable chunk of Janet’s red hair.
“I’m pretty sure the mermaids are going to ask me to join their volleyball team,” Melanie said. “I don’t know if I’ll do it, though.” She stepped onto dry land, gathering her hair into a rough ponytail and wringing it dry, passing the ornately carved staff to Janet as she did so. Her fingers left circles of black ooze on the golden surface.
“Still Team Mud Sharks?” asked Janet, unsuccessfully trying to wipe her hands off on the hem of her shirt.
“Go Sharks,” agreed Melanie with a nod. “You’ll need sugar and dish soap to clean that stuff off,” she added, gesturing at Janet’s hands. “Sorry.”
“What is it?” Janet sniffed at her stained t-shirt, then made a face.
“Do you know what happens when you punch a teenage kraken right between his eye-stalks?” asked Melanie.
“No...”
“You do now.”
Janet turned the slim gleaming cylinder over in her hands. One end was bent and slightly flattened, the ornately carved bas relief decorations squashed out of shape by some great impact.
“Did you bludgeon someone with this thing?”
Melanie shrugged.
“Some people just let their tentacles do all their thinking,” she said. “It’s like, just let me collect my undersea relic and be on my way, but no, they have to get grabby and carnivorous, and suddenly it’s head trauma and severed appendages for everyone.”
Janet knelt to rummage in a large gym bag, producing a thick bath towel in a brilliant shade of fuschia. She tossed it to Melanie, who caught it one handed, then wrapped the stained and sticky staff in a roll of baking parchment before stowing it in a side pocket.
“I feel like pancakes,” she said. “Do you want to walk into town with me and get breakfast at the World o’ Stuff before we meet the boys?”
“Sounds great,” said Melanie. “I’m starving, and my mouth tastes like old flip-flops and fresh monster blood.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s one of Radford’s new milkshake options,” said Janet, and they both laughed.
Janet
A Ghost in Pink byfroodle; Janet's family during the year she was Lost
Jogging byfroodle, in which Janet Donner adapts to life in regular Eerie
Plans byfroodle, in which Janet Donner deals with Daylight Savings Time yet again
DST byfroodle, in which there is a lighthouse
Figurehead byfroodle, in which Lake Eerie's ghost pirates encounter the lighthouse
deifire, I totally stole your headcanon of Janet and Melanie's friendship...Follows on from At the Seaside and In the Bleak Midwinter and The Lake at Night and man, do I ever need to update that Masterlist...
The full moon had just risen over the horizon and was hanging fat and creamy gold over the black glass waters of the still lake. The headlamp beams of passing traffic cast shivering orange beacons over the smooth surface and the ghost-lights from the Eerie Boardwalk shimmered in muted multi-colours that illuminated the rotted wood pilings beneath it.
Janet Donner sat on the cold shore, the grubby toes of her pink high-tops barely brushing the waterline. Around her were dozens of tiny bark boats, adrift among a sea of wood shavings that covered her lap, her Eerie Baitshop and Sushi Bar work apron, and the patch of smooth sand in front of her. A half-smoked cigarette smouldered in a foil ashtray swiped from the restaurant’s outdoor tables, and she opened and closed the bladed pen knife in her hands in a smooth motion born of reflex. The steady hum of cars on the road at her back soothed and steadied her, because even so many years later, too much silence and solitude still threatened to send her scrambling into her parent’s bedroom in a cold sweat of panic, desperate to confirm their presence with her own eyes.
A pool of moonlight on the water erupted in a shower of salt foam and something dark and gleaming broke the surface. Janet was on her feet in a second, shedding curls of tree bark in every direction as she waded into the shallows.
Melanie Monroe pushed her soaking hair out of her eyes, spat out a mouthful of seaweed and scales, and raised her clenched fists aloft in a gesture of victory. Her arms were slick with black ichor past her elbows, and she was holding a slim golden tube in one hand.
“Yeah!” she hollered. “Suck it, sea monsters! You can’t stop this train! This train likes to steal! Woo!”
Janet laughed, the sound bubbling up from beneath the cloying layer of tension and fear that had choked her only moments before.
“So things went well?” she asked, holding out her hand. Melanie seized it between both of hers, awkwardly gripping the golden rod at the same time, and hauled herself into a standing position. Iridescent scales fell away from her in a sparkling midnight rainbow as she left the water, the last remnants of a spell bartered from a Sea Witch in exchange for a microwave that worked underwater and a sizable chunk of Janet’s red hair.
“I’m pretty sure the mermaids are going to ask me to join their volleyball team,” Melanie said. “I don’t know if I’ll do it, though.” She stepped onto dry land, gathering her hair into a rough ponytail and wringing it dry, passing the ornately carved staff to Janet as she did so. Her fingers left circles of black ooze on the golden surface.
“Still Team Mud Sharks?” asked Janet, unsuccessfully trying to wipe her hands off on the hem of her shirt.
“Go Sharks,” agreed Melanie with a nod. “You’ll need sugar and dish soap to clean that stuff off,” she added, gesturing at Janet’s hands. “Sorry.”
“What is it?” Janet sniffed at her stained t-shirt, then made a face.
“Do you know what happens when you punch a teenage kraken right between his eye-stalks?” asked Melanie.
“No...”
“You do now.”
Janet turned the slim gleaming cylinder over in her hands. One end was bent and slightly flattened, the ornately carved bas relief decorations squashed out of shape by some great impact.
“Did you bludgeon someone with this thing?”
Melanie shrugged.
“Some people just let their tentacles do all their thinking,” she said. “It’s like, just let me collect my undersea relic and be on my way, but no, they have to get grabby and carnivorous, and suddenly it’s head trauma and severed appendages for everyone.”
Janet knelt to rummage in a large gym bag, producing a thick bath towel in a brilliant shade of fuschia. She tossed it to Melanie, who caught it one handed, then wrapped the stained and sticky staff in a roll of baking parchment before stowing it in a side pocket.
“I feel like pancakes,” she said. “Do you want to walk into town with me and get breakfast at the World o’ Stuff before we meet the boys?”
“Sounds great,” said Melanie. “I’m starving, and my mouth tastes like old flip-flops and fresh monster blood.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s one of Radford’s new milkshake options,” said Janet, and they both laughed.
Janet
A Ghost in Pink by
froodle; Janet's family during the year she was LostJogging by
froodle, in which Janet Donner adapts to life in regular EeriePlans by
froodle, in which Janet Donner deals with Daylight Savings Time yet again DST by
froodle, in which there is a lighthouse Figurehead by
froodle, in which Lake Eerie's ghost pirates encounter the lighthouse
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2017-01-17 08:16 pm (UTC)there's only one "s" in bas relief*cough*
ahem.
this is GLORIOUS
no subject
Date: 2017-01-17 09:05 pm (UTC)damn you autocorrect!!no subject
Date: 2017-01-18 12:57 am (UTC)normally stuff like that doesn't bother me but i took an art history course in college and some things just stick with you in weird waysno subject
Date: 2017-01-18 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-17 10:14 pm (UTC)And not just because I am totally filled with glee every time someone takes one of my headcanons and runs with it. :D
[redacted before posting, because I just realized ch. 6 of that one story is not up yet and this was a spoiler]
no subject
Date: 2017-01-18 08:09 am (UTC)aww no, i could have gotten sneak peeks!!