1000 Words of Ramen

Alright, so one of my NaNoWriMo dares was to include ramen noodles. Bonus points would be if it took up at least 1000 words, if somebody had an allergic reaction to it, and if it wasn't being used for food. So far I've typed up 1184 words on the subject and voiced the fact that it was not going to be used for food, though Lampur hasn't yet had his allergic reaction to the noodles. But that will come, I promise!

Here is what I have so far on the fearsome ramen noodles:

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When she grew close enough for me to see her clearly, I could see that the small container was a cup containing…
Wet noodles.
I blinked, not sure whether or not to believe what I saw.
When I looked again, sure enough, she still held a cup of small, soggy noodles.
“Jamie, why are you carrying wet noodles, wan?” I asked, raising one eyebrow (or whatever Irish wolfhounds had above their eyes).
She grinned. “These aren’t just any noodles. These are ramen.”
I gave her the same look. “Why does that matter, wan? They’re still noodles, and I fail to see how noodles will save Sen Rali from a trio of drunk teenagers, wan.”
She laughed, though she luckily laughed quietly enough to not draw any attention to the three of us. “Well yeah. But take a look – these ramen are no ordinary ramen!”
She held out the plastic Styrofoam cup toward us, and Marlau and I bent closer to take a good look at the ramen. It looked like what normal ramen probably looked like, as I really hadn’t seen ramen noodles before, just probably a bit soggier. Taking a look at the container, I assumed that ramen were supposed to be submerged in steamy broth, so I figured that one of the reasons this particular cup of ramen was unusual was that it had no visible broth, and that the noodles were simply soggy. However, this did not seem so far out of the realm of ordinary ramen to contribute to Jamie’s treatment of said cup of ramen noodles.
I took another good look. The ramen were soggy, yes, so they sort of stuck together and glistened in the light from the parking lot. I noticed that there were a few things that weren’t noodles in there, such as bloated little peas and carrots, as well as things that looked like tiny shriveled dehydrated shrimp that had suddenly been submerged in liquid, then promptly taken out. Or something. Either way, they failed to look appetizing, nutritious (unlike “real” shrimp from the Earth plane, which actually sounded quite tasty), or all that filling. However, these little additions to the mass of wet ramen noodles probably appeared in normal cups of ramen, so I doubted that they had any sort of importance in the matter.
Could the cup itself be important, I wondered, bending down to take a look. It was white with orange and red lettering and a triangle design, but I didn’t think this had any sort of effect on the ramen as a whole, either.
What could it have been?
I paused.
Then I realized that the alcohol smell grew stronger when I bent closer to the ramen. I had simply shrugged off the sharp, pungent smell since I first realized that berating Jamie for drinking would get me nowhere (since she was handling her drunken state quite admirably, probably due to years of learning how to cover it up, so I figured I should try to ignore it for the time being and focus on more pressing matters), but now I realized that I should have paid attention to my sense of smell before my sense of sight.
The thing that was unusual about the cup of ramen noodles was that it smelled very strongly of the alcohol that Jamie had been drinking.
The liquid that caused the noodles, peas, carrots, little shriveled shrimp, and any other nasty thing inside to become soggy was not any sort of normal broth, but the very same alcohol that Jamie (and probably Mister Dupuis) had been drinking.
Well…that was certainly…strange.
“Alcohol, Jamie, wan?” I asked, disappointed and confused. “Should I even ask for more information on the alcohol-filled ramen noodles, wan?”
Jamie grinned. “Yup.” I gave her a disapproving look, and she shrugged. “I was kinda hurting for a high of some sort, and I was also kinda hungry, and it seemed like a good idea at the time…”
“Ramen noodles that were soggy with alcohol, wan?” I repeated, shaking my head. Jamie really needed to have a good idea of how to use such a strange, despicable item to our advantage to grow even a little bit in my eyes.
“Yeah…but I also have this!”
Then she held up a rectangular black metal object that I didn’t recognize. I stole a glance at Marlau who, like me, had been eyeing the ramen noodles with a large amount of distaste. I realized that the yinto might not have had as good senses of smell as the peau, on account of their smaller noses, but that their noses must have still been pretty sharp. And that horrible alcohol stench wafting from the ramen cup wasn’t exactly subtle…
It sort of made my nose hurt, in fact. Stupid Jamie with her stupid ramen and her stupid alcohol…my nose really hurt, too!
I turned my gaze back to the object in Jamie’s hand. “What is it, wan?” I asked, not expecting a good answer.
She laughed, flicking a switch on the object. A tiny flame erupted on the edge of the object, casting a flickering orange glow on Jamie’s grinning face. “It’s a lighter!”
“You use that to smoke, don’t you, wan?” I asked, glaring at her.
“That’s not important.”
Groaning, I decided to just go along with it. “What does the lighter have to do with the…wan. Oh…wan."
“Do you get it?” Jamie asked, almost unable to contain her excitement.
Marlau pouted. “I have no idea,” she muttered, looking away. Apparently, House Jiral didn’t have to have her learn about lighters and alcohol-filled ramen noodles.
It amazed me, in fact, that the thought of how the lighter and the alcohol in the ramen related to each other, but I still managed to come across the idea. “Alcohol is flammable, right, wan?”
“Hell yeah!”
“So…we’re going to light the ramen on fire, wan?”
“Hella!”
“I assume ‘hella’ means ‘yes’ in this situation, then, wan?”
“Well, yeah!”
I looked at the cup of ramen noodles. So this was to be our main weapon against the drunken teenagers on the other side of the pickup truck?
Well, considering from what I was hearing from them, it sounded like they were currently ignoring Sen Rali, and dancing around and singing.
Using a flaming alcoholic noodle dish against such a trio suddenly seemed to make sense…possibly even poetic.
Ramen noodles…
Well, you had to give Jamie some credit for creativity, even if it was probably brought on by the thing we were going to light on fire to save our friend.
“Well, let’s go do it, wan.” Looking over at the dim football game in the distance, I sighed. “Let’s just make sure not to get caught, wan. The fire might draw attention, wan…”
Jamie scoffed at my nervousness. “Don't worry about it. If it was that easy to get caught doing something drunk and weird, don’t you think there would be more teens getting arrested?”
I didn’t feel like bringing up the fact that most of the time, such teenage humans weren’t dealing with flaming ramen noodles.

Hi, My Name is Jamie Kissinger

Alright, so I just realized why I was having trouble prodding Jamie through some character development.

She had no clearly established character to begin with. Here I was, having Lampur whine about her and watching her go through some changes, when she never had a chance to get some clear footing in the character world!

So basically, I need more JAMIE. I blame this on having the thing be written in first person POV with the main character NOT as the narrator. Plus, it's making it seem like Lampur is either just as important or more important than Jamie, which is WRONGWRONGWRONG.

I can't go back and add stuff to the first couple of chapters to flesh Jamie out there, which is where she really NEEDS to be fleshed out (I wrote it in a very disjointed way that made it too difficult to continue with, so I jumped ahead to some more interesting events), since NaNoWriMo tells me not to. :P This means that either I have to go back and add it in after I finish (which I will probably do anyway, since she's the MAIN CHARACTER and all), or add it in later in the story, which I guess I will have to do.

So as of right now...I'm doing neither. I made a fresh new document, and decided to write little diary-like blurbs for Jamie Kissinger, in HER voice, focusing on HER thoughts, trying to get HER character down on paper (or, rather, computer). I'm trying to tie it into the plot so I can shove these little character gems into the story later, but hey...it's a start. And, so far, I got 758 words out of 'em that I can tack onto my wordcount in addition to the 200-something I randomly wrote into the actual story. (I'm still ahead in terms of overall wordcount, too, so it doesn't matter that it doesn't add up to 1667.)

So neh.

Jamie, please tell me more about yourself! (I'm just going to give up on Sen for now. I need JAMIE to be more of a person to me! BE MORE REAL, JAMIE, BE MORE REAL!)

Dear [INSERT]

Today I passed the 21k mark! I'm so happy to be AHEAD of my word count, as opposed to behind. I'm proud of myself for catching up over the weekend...then getting a day ahead! That will be good for this week...ew, school. Oh, well, at least there are only four days of school this week!

Anyway, while taking a break from writing yesterday, I posted in the Dear [INSERT] thread on the Fantasy forum of the NaNoWriMo forums. Here is what I put:

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Dear Jamie,
Give Lampur a break, and stop freaking out when you hear Polly's name. Yes, I know you're going to kill me now that I've said it. And no, I won't change the end of the story, and swearing at me and calling me names won't help. Oh, and please stop eyeing all those liquor stores - I won't order Lampur and Sen to loosen up on controlling how you spend your money. Sorry, kid, but you're going to have to suffer through cold turkey on all that.
Please stop making death threats,
Your "Mother"

Dear Sen,
Why are you so hard to write? Stop being so cryptic, and tell me what you want! Do you have evil plans for Jamie? Or do you just have your own agenda? What are you DOING right now? And, more importantly, what are you GOING to do? Please stop telling me right before (or after - I hate this) I write it down, you're stressing me out!
Signed with nervousness and stress,
Your Unwilling Minion (I think...)

Dear Lampur,
Hey, man, chill. Jamie's doing the best she can. Sort of. And stop rambling so much - I thank you SO MUCH for getting my word count up, but let's move the story along! I mean, with great power (FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW, thankyouverymuch) comes great responsibility, and all that jazz. Oh, and stop telling the story so disjointedly. My Inner Editor wants you to know that linear stories are much easier to edit.
But dude, I love you so much compared to Mister Inner Editor (or is it miss?). You are awesome. Just slow. But you get my word count up, so I guess I shouldn't complain...
Your friend (who thanks you for being easier to write than Jamie and Sen),
Your Loving Author

Dear Polly,
I'm sorry you're dead. Get over it. Or wait - have you already gotten over it? You need to tell me...please?
Confused in California,
Your Grim Reaper

Dear Unnamed Younger Brother,
So...um...your name. You wanna tell me what it is?
Respectfully,
Your Creator

Dear Cast of Highness,
Hahah, you people are WEIRD. :D
LOLing outside your world,
Your GOD(dess)

School VS Highness

Alright, so Highness is doing okay in the VS School battle...though I had NO TIME yet today to write. :( I've been always ahead or on top of the word count...up until today, that is. (My profile just says I wasn't because I forgot to update my word count on one of the first couple of days, or something.) I really hope I can catch up tomorrow or something...I reallyreallyreally want to reach 50,000 words.

Currently I'm at 12150 words. I need to be at 13336...

Anyway, I've got some great inspiration for the plot of my novel...but I just remembered I posted in the dares thread on the NaNoWriMo Forums awhile back! So after some digging, I finally found my post (from October 29), and here is what I had to say for myself:

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Still building my plot, so random funny dares might help with a few chapters. :)

I am taking:
- Pick a side character, any side character. When this side character was a small child, instead of a stuffed animal, he (or she) carried around and snuggled a knitted left mitten made of soft purple wool. They called it by two names, the second one beginning with 'Mc'. (example: Lala McPinny, Georgie McNoopsie, Mr. McNuttio) (and the mitten, in my novel, will be called...hmm...Red McToma) (Suggested by Fireblade K'Chona)
- "Come to the dark side, we have cookies."
+++1 if the character saying that is actually telling the truth about the cookie thing
+++2 if the character is actually a 'light' sider (gonna try to do all the extra things - no clue how yet, though) (Suggested by LadyAbby)
- Include ramen.
+Bonus if over 1000 words are devoted to the ramen.
++If somebody has an allergic reaction to the ramen.
+++If the ramen isn't even being used as food. (I actually have an idea for these... :P ) (Suggested by Greenling)

And since I decided to take three...I'll leave three as well.

Dare 1:
- Include a singing hairless cat.
BP: If it sings in another language.
DBP: If the song is never translated, so nobody knows what it means (not even the reader, unless they know the language)
TBP: If the song's meaning is actually important to the plot, but since nobody understands it...

Dare 2:
- Have your main character say this: "But honey, I thought the moon was made of SWISS cheese."
BP: If the moon is really made of swiss cheese
DBP: If "the moon" being referred to isn't any sort of celestial object whatsoever
TBP: If this results in a major turning point in the plot

Dare 3:
- Have a bunch of pairings that are completely reasonable and believeable for the first half of the novel, then have EVERYBODY switch partners for the second half.
BP: If this is done abruptly and without any sort of explanation
DBP: If this results in one or more characters ending up in a relationship that goes against their sexual preferences (like if they're a straight woman, have them in a relationship with another woman)
TBP: If they stay this way without complaining or questioning too much

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So yes. I am taking all of the dares I committed myself to ALL THE WAY.

So for the mitten one, the purple woolen mitten, Red McToma, belonged to Polly. Maybe I can make this significant to the little bit of plotness I thought up for Polly? ;) I dunno how, though. I'm thinking Jamie will say the cookie thing, and the "dark side" is just her druggie friends, or something. Meh. As for the ramen, I'm thinking a chapter will involve an unorthodox usage of Cup Ramen in order to fend off something, and then Lampur has an allegeric reaction. Mwahaha, I love making Lampur suffer! >:)

It starts!

So much stuff I managed to think up in 603 words (and that's 602 words of story - my title is only one word: "Highness"). :P

But I'm procrastinating...

I'm just excited to begin!

Already, I have some new characters. And hella terms...

Polly/Kiu Lishan: little kid, heiress in House Lishan
Ki Lishan: Polly's mom maybe
Unnamed peau: the narratorrrrrr!

And some stuff:

House Lishan: Polly's family, wealthy
Liandou: the region Polly lives in
Ki: "miss" (adult)
Kiu: "miss" (child)
Peau: guardian (or something)

And the narrator is polytheistic. Or something.

And Polly is dead. (Or something? No.)

Bahahahah.

PROLOGUE IS OVER. NOW THE STORY CAN BEGIN! :D