Ficlet: The Dark Wizard's Castle
Title: The Dark Wizard's Castle
Fandom: The IT Crowd
Characters: Richmond, OCs
Rating: G
Warnings: Semi-spoilerish for one bit of 04x06
Word Count: 470
Disclaimer: IT Crowd belongs to Graham Linehan
Notes: In honor of tonight's episode, I bring you a tale from Richmond's childhood.
"What are you building?"
Richmond looked up over the plastic tower he he'd been constructing since playtime had begun, black Lego brick by black Lego brick. There was a boy watching him. Richmond recognized him from his curly dark hair and ugly orange cardigan; he sat two rows over from him. He couldn't remember his name. "A castle," he said. "Isn't it obvious?"
The boy scratched his neck - the cardigan looked itchy - and tilted his head curiously. "Who lives there?"
Clicking the last Lego into place on the tower's battlements, Richmond thought for a minute. "A dark wizard," he decided. "And an evil dragon. The wizard rides around on the dragon at night, stealing treasure and ... and bringing destruction." With this in mind, he thought he ought to build a hall big enough for the dragon to live in, and set to work on it.
The boy leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing as peered at the castle. "Why's he do that? Destruction's awfully messy."
"Because deep inside," Richmond said, a note of excitement creeping into his voice, "he's terribly lonely."
Standing up straight, the boy crossed his arms. "That doesn't make any sense to me."
Richmond felt affronted. "Of course it does," he said. "He ... he has to hide from the world .... because ... because they don't understand him!"
"Maybe if he didn't steal the world's treasure, they'd understand him better," the boy said sourly. "Aren't you going to build a moat?"
"Oh," Richmond said. He looked at the boy evenly. Despite their disagreement, he considered asking him if he wanted to help him build the moat. And maybe a secret room for the all the treasure, come to think of it.
Just then, one of the other boys - Richmond knew him well, unfortunately, he'd been in his class the year before - came up from behind and slung an arm around the curly-haired boy's shoulder. "Oi, there, pillock," he said, "what you hanging out here with gloomy for? You two going to be creepy friends together?"
"N-n-no!" the boy said, his face flushing. He twisted out of the other's grasp, who laughed and, giving him a playful-but-not shove, wandered off, calling out to Richmond as he went, "See you after school, Felicity!"
Richmond watched them go impassively, and then held out a piece of Lego to the boy, who was still standing there, panting. "Do you want to play with me?"
The boy looked at him wildly, then frowned and shook his head vehemently. "Get away from me, weirdo!" he shouted, and ran away.
His hand still outstretched, Richmond watched him as he ran over to the other side of the classroom, and went and hid amongst the stacks of picture books. He turned back to look at his Lego castle, and slowly began to disassemble it.
Fandom: The IT Crowd
Characters: Richmond, OCs
Rating: G
Warnings: Semi-spoilerish for one bit of 04x06
Word Count: 470
Disclaimer: IT Crowd belongs to Graham Linehan
Notes: In honor of tonight's episode, I bring you a tale from Richmond's childhood.
"What are you building?"
Richmond looked up over the plastic tower he he'd been constructing since playtime had begun, black Lego brick by black Lego brick. There was a boy watching him. Richmond recognized him from his curly dark hair and ugly orange cardigan; he sat two rows over from him. He couldn't remember his name. "A castle," he said. "Isn't it obvious?"
The boy scratched his neck - the cardigan looked itchy - and tilted his head curiously. "Who lives there?"
Clicking the last Lego into place on the tower's battlements, Richmond thought for a minute. "A dark wizard," he decided. "And an evil dragon. The wizard rides around on the dragon at night, stealing treasure and ... and bringing destruction." With this in mind, he thought he ought to build a hall big enough for the dragon to live in, and set to work on it.
The boy leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing as peered at the castle. "Why's he do that? Destruction's awfully messy."
"Because deep inside," Richmond said, a note of excitement creeping into his voice, "he's terribly lonely."
Standing up straight, the boy crossed his arms. "That doesn't make any sense to me."
Richmond felt affronted. "Of course it does," he said. "He ... he has to hide from the world .... because ... because they don't understand him!"
"Maybe if he didn't steal the world's treasure, they'd understand him better," the boy said sourly. "Aren't you going to build a moat?"
"Oh," Richmond said. He looked at the boy evenly. Despite their disagreement, he considered asking him if he wanted to help him build the moat. And maybe a secret room for the all the treasure, come to think of it.
Just then, one of the other boys - Richmond knew him well, unfortunately, he'd been in his class the year before - came up from behind and slung an arm around the curly-haired boy's shoulder. "Oi, there, pillock," he said, "what you hanging out here with gloomy for? You two going to be creepy friends together?"
"N-n-no!" the boy said, his face flushing. He twisted out of the other's grasp, who laughed and, giving him a playful-but-not shove, wandered off, calling out to Richmond as he went, "See you after school, Felicity!"
Richmond watched them go impassively, and then held out a piece of Lego to the boy, who was still standing there, panting. "Do you want to play with me?"
The boy looked at him wildly, then frowned and shook his head vehemently. "Get away from me, weirdo!" he shouted, and ran away.
His hand still outstretched, Richmond watched him as he ran over to the other side of the classroom, and went and hid amongst the stacks of picture books. He turned back to look at his Lego castle, and slowly began to disassemble it.