Me and my big mouth

It wasn't flu; it's turned out to be tonsillitis. And being stuck at home for the next few days, chugging penicillin, is giving me some writing time.   874 words yesterday. Who'd'a thought?

And, as usual, the story has started to grow. Up until now the chapter had been going pretty much along the lines I'd always intended (ignoring a spectacular number of false starts). Now, a completely unintended subplot has entered, and all because of one of those "melodramatic scene breaks" I was complaining about the other day.

(Hint: Artemis versus 'S' Division.)

I really don't know where this is going to lead. But then, I don't know…yet…where Serabi's hiring a hacker last chapter is going to lead, either, though I've worked out a few steps along the way. All I do know is that both are logical plot developments, and neither conflicts with the ultimate resolution of the story.

And thus the story remains reasonably fresh to the writer, who remains interested in telling it, despite his maudlin comments of a couple of days ago.

 

As a little bonus for sticking with me, here's an omake: a scene cut from the current chapter. You may recall from chapter 11 that Kin and Dhiti were plotting a sinister revenge upon Miyo. Here's Miyo arriving at school the next day:

School had started off normally enough for Miyo that day. She arrived a little early, and waited at the gate for Dhiti and Kin to show up. They arrived together a few minutes later, and the three of them walked in.

As she walked, though, Miyo began to feel a vague nagging feeling in her shoulder-blades. When she looked around, she saw that Kin and Dhiti were watching her. They wore identical smiles.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," said Kin.

"Nothing at all," agreed Dhiti.

"Oh," Miyo said, watching them suspiciously. "Good."

Trying not to be obvious about it, she reached behind to check for humorous notes taped to her back. There was nothing.

"Whatever are you doing?" asked Kin in well-schooled surprise.

"Far too obvious, Miyo-chan," said Dhiti, shaking her head mournfully.

Miyo took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "So, is this just a regular escalation of the persecution, or is there something in particular you're tormenting me for?"

The two glanced at each other. "Persecution?" said Kin.

"Works for me," agreed Dhiti.

"I like it, too."

"Thank you, Ma'm'selle Dhiti-chan.

And there it ends. I liked the interplay well enough; but it just isn't happening that way. Or rather, this may actually have happened; but it's going to remain off-camera. I decided that it'd just be a distraction from the rest of the action at that point, and would in any case be rendered irrelevant by later events; so, regrettably, it had to go.