Cowboy Bebop: Living a Dream Part II
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 2:17 am
Living a Dream
Part II
Real Live Cowboys
By K. T.
It seemed like an eternity before I kicked upward for a breath. I surfaced with a hauling gasp and coughed up water.
The hover-jets were circling the hollow sky-scraper, the men inside just waiting for me to venture out.
Well they could just wait, dammit.
I wasn?t about to offer myself up like a lamb to the slaughter.
I worked on controlling my breathing before having a very shocking thought.
I was in the Atlantic Ocean. And, while it was cold...it wasn?t THAT cold...
Sharks.
I glanced around and saw a long panel of floating metal.
Okay.
Looks good enough to me.
With long, even strokes, I began swimming steadily toward my floatation device.
I struggled to keep my panic at bay when I felt something brush past my leg.
There are LOTS of different sea...creatures. Right?
I picked up the pace.
Hauled myself up onto the large debris piece with a gasping thanks of praise to whatever higher power was out there.
Shivering slightly, I glanced around and peered into the shadowy waters. Fins surfaced and water blew up in a blast.
It sprinkled down on me like rain, but I could hardly feel it. All I could see was the magnificent creature sticking its head out of the water.
It was black and white and had...well, rather sharp teeth...
Okay.
So I wasn?t going to go swimming again any time soon...
?Shoo!? I fluttered a dripping hand at it and it waved its large fin-thingy back.
Sighing in exasperation, I hugged my legs to my sopping chest and pressed my mouth to the tops of my knees.
Great.
A regular Flipper...in the extra large, black and white version.
I snorted a laugh at my own weird humor and then pushed myself onto my hands and knees.
Maybe I could paddle this thing toward...well, anywhere.
Gun shots echoed off the sky-scraper?s walls and shouted throughout the hollow building?s belly. The Killer Whale disappeared with a loud shriek and I saw his fin exit through a low hole in the side of the building.
That was my own exit cue.
?All right, Valentine. We?ve had enough of your games.? A voice shouted at me. ?come out or we?ll come in!?
Decisions, decisions...
I glanced around the water once more to see if there were anymore ?fun-water-friends? lurking about and closed my eyes as I let the water climb up over my body.
It was starting to get cold now.
Really cold.
Trying to maintain an even breathing pattern, I began stroking for the hole.
?You?ve till the count of three, Valentine.?
Yeah, yeah.
?One...?
My lungs began to burn from the cold air and my shallow breaths.
?Two...?
Man am I outta shape! You?d think I?d done nothing but lie around for the past month and a half! Well I haven?t! I?ve been WORKING! Hard too, dammit!
?THREE!?
I took a breath and went under as I swam through the hole.
Surfacing, I cringed as the gun shots from behind screamed throughout the hollow building.
I swam in the Killer Whale?s wake, hoping they?d take no notice of me.
?There she is!?
Did I ever mention how much I despise that word.
Hope.
They were on jet-skies now, and coming in fast.
One flew by me and I sank under.
Think, lady, think!
And suddenly, there was a Killer Whale?s nose right in front of me. I swam just beneath the surface and stared at the beast...
And it swam at me, shoving me in the water, away from the jet-skis.
It surfaced and I dug my finger tips into its nose, breathing in air before it went under.
Only thing is, it didn?t go under. Just plowed along like a big, black and white tug-boat, pushing me toward the coast.
The jet skis came up and around the whale and one of the men pointed a gun at me. I winced at the shot, clenching my eyes shut...
And opened them...only to get nearly-drowned in the large splash of another whale which had, apparently, come up under the guy.
This was getting ridiculous. Flipper slowed to a stop and I dropped from his nose to tread water. He opened his mouth and I cried out, clamping my hands over my ears as the thing let out a chittering noise rivaling any of Ed?s screetches.
Then I saw it. The innocent, un-manned, floating-upright, jet-ski.
Heh. Heh.
As the whales...discussed...whatever, I managed to clamber onto the damn thing and, after about fifty tries, it started.
That?s when I realized I couldn?t hear the hover-jet anymore. I looked back at the building and...it was a pile of rubble. The hover-jet must have been buried in the building?s collapse...
I must say that there is a fine line between sanity and....wel...insanity, and I was walking it very unsteadily. My laughter scared the whales into silence and when I straightened they were...looking at me.
I took in a deep breath, my laughter trailing off when neither gazes dropped.
?Sorry, jeeze.? I turned the jet-ski toward shore and passed the two water-beasts. Glancing back I saw them following and sped up a little.
Somewhere in the back of my memories, there?s a distinct music for the chase scene between a water-beast and a human....
I clamped down on my irrational panic and guided the water-craft onto the beach, just beside the large, rotting docks.
Movement caught my eye and I had the chance to look up before a dark-skinned, spider-limbed, bright-red-head tackled me, a hairy, fat dog landing on my stomach. We all tumbled back into the sand, and I lay there, twitching.
?Faye-faye!?
And then I was promptly licked...by both girl and dog.
?Ed...? I named, teeth clenched.
?We saw them circling around and thought we should hold back incase anything happened.? Ed explained...in surprisingly good English (er, Japanese ^_^).
?Tu-san! Boo-san!? Ed shoved off me, leaping over me like a frog, and ran to the water?s edge. She waved to the whales, speaking gibberish, dancing about like a rubber doll, and I stood, brushing sand from my dripping, sand encrusted clothes.
I caught Ein?s dark gaze on me as he stood, mouth open, tongue out.
?Nice to see you, too.? I pushed slim fingers through my short, tangled hair, and then shook it, sending drops flying.
?Ed!?
I glanced up at the young, male voice and a body dropped to land in front of me. The young man straightened, his eyes roaming up my body, which, naturally, would attract any attention, whether it be male or female admiration, and stilled to meet my eyes in a shock of green which closely mirrored my own color. Then he grinned, a smile whose devil-may-care insinuation made me take a step back.
?You must be Faye.? He took a step forward to match my own and I stepped back again.
It?s not that I?m not...well...into guys..or anything like that...
It?s just..
He looked young.
Yeah. That?s it.
Young and...familiar...
His strong-fingered hand, bronzed from the sun, quickly shot out and clamped about my wrist, dragging me forward.
?Nice to finally meechya, Aunty.?
I felt my eyes widen and then his lips caught at mine, his other hand digging into my damp hair.
I think it?s safe to say I was little more than shocked.
Part II
Real Live Cowboys
By K. T.
It seemed like an eternity before I kicked upward for a breath. I surfaced with a hauling gasp and coughed up water.
The hover-jets were circling the hollow sky-scraper, the men inside just waiting for me to venture out.
Well they could just wait, dammit.
I wasn?t about to offer myself up like a lamb to the slaughter.
I worked on controlling my breathing before having a very shocking thought.
I was in the Atlantic Ocean. And, while it was cold...it wasn?t THAT cold...
Sharks.
I glanced around and saw a long panel of floating metal.
Okay.
Looks good enough to me.
With long, even strokes, I began swimming steadily toward my floatation device.
I struggled to keep my panic at bay when I felt something brush past my leg.
There are LOTS of different sea...creatures. Right?
I picked up the pace.
Hauled myself up onto the large debris piece with a gasping thanks of praise to whatever higher power was out there.
Shivering slightly, I glanced around and peered into the shadowy waters. Fins surfaced and water blew up in a blast.
It sprinkled down on me like rain, but I could hardly feel it. All I could see was the magnificent creature sticking its head out of the water.
It was black and white and had...well, rather sharp teeth...
Okay.
So I wasn?t going to go swimming again any time soon...
?Shoo!? I fluttered a dripping hand at it and it waved its large fin-thingy back.
Sighing in exasperation, I hugged my legs to my sopping chest and pressed my mouth to the tops of my knees.
Great.
A regular Flipper...in the extra large, black and white version.
I snorted a laugh at my own weird humor and then pushed myself onto my hands and knees.
Maybe I could paddle this thing toward...well, anywhere.
Gun shots echoed off the sky-scraper?s walls and shouted throughout the hollow building?s belly. The Killer Whale disappeared with a loud shriek and I saw his fin exit through a low hole in the side of the building.
That was my own exit cue.
?All right, Valentine. We?ve had enough of your games.? A voice shouted at me. ?come out or we?ll come in!?
Decisions, decisions...
I glanced around the water once more to see if there were anymore ?fun-water-friends? lurking about and closed my eyes as I let the water climb up over my body.
It was starting to get cold now.
Really cold.
Trying to maintain an even breathing pattern, I began stroking for the hole.
?You?ve till the count of three, Valentine.?
Yeah, yeah.
?One...?
My lungs began to burn from the cold air and my shallow breaths.
?Two...?
Man am I outta shape! You?d think I?d done nothing but lie around for the past month and a half! Well I haven?t! I?ve been WORKING! Hard too, dammit!
?THREE!?
I took a breath and went under as I swam through the hole.
Surfacing, I cringed as the gun shots from behind screamed throughout the hollow building.
I swam in the Killer Whale?s wake, hoping they?d take no notice of me.
?There she is!?
Did I ever mention how much I despise that word.
Hope.
They were on jet-skies now, and coming in fast.
One flew by me and I sank under.
Think, lady, think!
And suddenly, there was a Killer Whale?s nose right in front of me. I swam just beneath the surface and stared at the beast...
And it swam at me, shoving me in the water, away from the jet-skis.
It surfaced and I dug my finger tips into its nose, breathing in air before it went under.
Only thing is, it didn?t go under. Just plowed along like a big, black and white tug-boat, pushing me toward the coast.
The jet skis came up and around the whale and one of the men pointed a gun at me. I winced at the shot, clenching my eyes shut...
And opened them...only to get nearly-drowned in the large splash of another whale which had, apparently, come up under the guy.
This was getting ridiculous. Flipper slowed to a stop and I dropped from his nose to tread water. He opened his mouth and I cried out, clamping my hands over my ears as the thing let out a chittering noise rivaling any of Ed?s screetches.
Then I saw it. The innocent, un-manned, floating-upright, jet-ski.
Heh. Heh.
As the whales...discussed...whatever, I managed to clamber onto the damn thing and, after about fifty tries, it started.
That?s when I realized I couldn?t hear the hover-jet anymore. I looked back at the building and...it was a pile of rubble. The hover-jet must have been buried in the building?s collapse...
I must say that there is a fine line between sanity and....wel...insanity, and I was walking it very unsteadily. My laughter scared the whales into silence and when I straightened they were...looking at me.
I took in a deep breath, my laughter trailing off when neither gazes dropped.
?Sorry, jeeze.? I turned the jet-ski toward shore and passed the two water-beasts. Glancing back I saw them following and sped up a little.
Somewhere in the back of my memories, there?s a distinct music for the chase scene between a water-beast and a human....
I clamped down on my irrational panic and guided the water-craft onto the beach, just beside the large, rotting docks.
Movement caught my eye and I had the chance to look up before a dark-skinned, spider-limbed, bright-red-head tackled me, a hairy, fat dog landing on my stomach. We all tumbled back into the sand, and I lay there, twitching.
?Faye-faye!?
And then I was promptly licked...by both girl and dog.
?Ed...? I named, teeth clenched.
?We saw them circling around and thought we should hold back incase anything happened.? Ed explained...in surprisingly good English (er, Japanese ^_^).
?Tu-san! Boo-san!? Ed shoved off me, leaping over me like a frog, and ran to the water?s edge. She waved to the whales, speaking gibberish, dancing about like a rubber doll, and I stood, brushing sand from my dripping, sand encrusted clothes.
I caught Ein?s dark gaze on me as he stood, mouth open, tongue out.
?Nice to see you, too.? I pushed slim fingers through my short, tangled hair, and then shook it, sending drops flying.
?Ed!?
I glanced up at the young, male voice and a body dropped to land in front of me. The young man straightened, his eyes roaming up my body, which, naturally, would attract any attention, whether it be male or female admiration, and stilled to meet my eyes in a shock of green which closely mirrored my own color. Then he grinned, a smile whose devil-may-care insinuation made me take a step back.
?You must be Faye.? He took a step forward to match my own and I stepped back again.
It?s not that I?m not...well...into guys..or anything like that...
It?s just..
He looked young.
Yeah. That?s it.
Young and...familiar...
His strong-fingered hand, bronzed from the sun, quickly shot out and clamped about my wrist, dragging me forward.
?Nice to finally meechya, Aunty.?
I felt my eyes widen and then his lips caught at mine, his other hand digging into my damp hair.
I think it?s safe to say I was little more than shocked.
Who? What happened to Jet? Heehee. So many questions... Great job! 
