FAKE Triple Drabble: Squiggles
Jan. 11th, 2025 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Squiggles
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Bikky, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: Early in the manga.
Summary: Bikky is puzzled by the contents of Ryo’s work notebook.
Written Using: The dw100 prompt ‘Symbols/Cymbals’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Triple drabble.
Picking up the notebook that had fallen out of Ryo’s pocket as he’d taken his coat off, curiosity got the better of Bikky and he flipped it open, frowning at the page. It was covered in squiggles and dots that didn’t resemble words at all, as if some little kid had been pretending to write without knowing anything about the alphabet.
Seeing Bikky’s puzzled expression, Ryo laughed. “You’re not going to be able to read that.”
“What is it, a foreign language?” Bikky knew it wasn’t Japanese, because Ryo had been teaching him how to read that, but he couldn’t think what else it might be.
“In a sense. It’s still in English, but it’s shorthand. The symbols stand for sounds rather than words. It comes in handy for making notes when I’m questioning crime victims or witnesses. Writing everything out longhand would take too long, so I get it all down this way, then type up my notes back at the precinct.”
“Did you make it up?”
Ryo’s smile widened. “No, it was invented by an Englishman back in the eighteen-hundreds. I took a typing and shorthand course in high school. Everyone made fun of me for it because I was the only boy in a roomful of girls, but it seemed like something that would be useful no matter what kind of career I decided on. Computers were everywhere, so learning to touch-type made sense, and the shorthand made taking notes in class easier too. I’ve never regretted learning.”
“Could you teach me?”
Ryo raised an eyebrow. “Why? So you can read my work notebook?”
“No, so me and my friends can pass notes to each other in class. That way nobody else can read them.”
“Including the teacher if you get caught?
“Bet she already knows shorthand.”
The End
Seeing Bikky’s puzzled expression, Ryo laughed. “You’re not going to be able to read that.”
“What is it, a foreign language?” Bikky knew it wasn’t Japanese, because Ryo had been teaching him how to read that, but he couldn’t think what else it might be.
“In a sense. It’s still in English, but it’s shorthand. The symbols stand for sounds rather than words. It comes in handy for making notes when I’m questioning crime victims or witnesses. Writing everything out longhand would take too long, so I get it all down this way, then type up my notes back at the precinct.”
“Did you make it up?”
Ryo’s smile widened. “No, it was invented by an Englishman back in the eighteen-hundreds. I took a typing and shorthand course in high school. Everyone made fun of me for it because I was the only boy in a roomful of girls, but it seemed like something that would be useful no matter what kind of career I decided on. Computers were everywhere, so learning to touch-type made sense, and the shorthand made taking notes in class easier too. I’ve never regretted learning.”
“Could you teach me?”
Ryo raised an eyebrow. “Why? So you can read my work notebook?”
“No, so me and my friends can pass notes to each other in class. That way nobody else can read them.”
“Including the teacher if you get caught?
“Bet she already knows shorthand.”
The End
(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-12 12:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-01-12 11:51 am (UTC)Thank you!