Post by (_+*Lou*+_) on Feb 4, 2008 16:27:25 GMT -5
I'm in the process of writing a story that I want some feedback on, so I thought I'd post in the At Pen's Point place.
Both main characters are mine, but they're both from universes that aren't, if that sounds logical. Sort of say, in the same category as, someone who went to Cinderella's ball, though obviously that's not the story.
The universe that the story is set in is sort of a not-mine one that has been edited considerably.
No not-mine characters or worlds are referred to by name, because that's not the point of the story.
My question is, is this fan-fic or main Pen's Point board with a notice that other non-named people (authors, TV people, movie people, whatever) invented some of it? Particuarly since I'm trying really hard so that if one reads it, you can't just go "Oh, that's [Cinderella]" or something.
NOTE: Story has nothing to do with Cinderella.
Both main characters are mine, but they're both from universes that aren't, if that sounds logical. Sort of say, in the same category as, someone who went to Cinderella's ball, though obviously that's not the story.
The universe that the story is set in is sort of a not-mine one that has been edited considerably.
No not-mine characters or worlds are referred to by name, because that's not the point of the story.
My question is, is this fan-fic or main Pen's Point board with a notice that other non-named people (authors, TV people, movie people, whatever) invented some of it? Particuarly since I'm trying really hard so that if one reads it, you can't just go "Oh, that's [Cinderella]" or something.
NOTE: Story has nothing to do with Cinderella.
And here's the actual story so far.
I pulled out a bar stool and sat down, nodding to some of the regulars. A few nodded back. I was usually accepted anywhere that people didn’t want real names, and this wasn’t any exception. And they’d probably been mind wiped out of remembering last time I’d been here, when a certain friend of mine had dragged me out by one ear while yelling at me to set a good example. It so figures. She’d been letting me get away with it until those novices were so stupid.
Now I had to come to the saloon place in secret, but I wasn’t exactly going to stop. I’m known only as M by anyone who isn’t related to me or almost. I have a few other names, some of which aren’t really appropriate here, but the fact remains, I’m not one to avoid a place this awesome even if one of the most magically powerful people in the multiverses drags me out by one ear.
My ear still hurt, too. I rubbed it, one tugging absentmindedly on one emerald earring. I’d only risked wearing them because when compared with the rest of my ragged, orange-brown outfit, they looked stolen.
As I said before, I’m going to tell you that my name is M. I’m a 14 year old girl; I have black hair and amber eyes, no freckles, and a mean temper. I can run you through with multiple weapons and have a certain amount of magical powers, and by certain I mean that I’m certainly not going to tell you how much until I have to.
A few stools away, a small fight was breaking out, but this wasn’t quite as mean a place as it used to be, and the barguy yelled at them to stop. Time was, he would’ve just let them finish it, but the laws are creeping in even here.
Not that much, of course. It’s not like anyone was physically separating them or anything, but they did settle down. They aren’t overfond of the law here. It’s taken too many customers, one way or another.
That’s why I love it. It’s so easy to blend in. There’s got to be a place like this somewhere in my universe, and I AM going to find it, and maybe live there.
That was when I felt a bit of a ripple in the time stopper I had on this place. Oh yeah, that friend of mine I mentioned earlier? You aren’t allowed anywhere outside of HQ without pretty much stopping a universe, or you could completely mess it up. Magic can’t bleed into other universes, and neither can beings. Imagine if unicorns were to suddenly land in your yard. And crush you. And you were supposed to become president or whatever you call your leader. (I said IMAGINE). See? Very bad sorts of things can happen.
When you go home from HQ, your memory’s wiped, and you basically forget all of this stuff until you are sort of pulled in again or whatever. You can set a time for that to happen when you leave.
So. Back to the ripple. No one would notice the paltry little time disturbance that I had going on, at least not until they got close up, when it would meld with theirs and there’d be no WAY to notice. But someone had just pretty much closed down a planet, maybe even a universe.
This meant only one person, of course. My lovely little rule-following friend, as mentioned above multiple times. She didn’t really mind me being here, but she couldn’t show favoritism, and if she let me visit places whenever, then others would, and sooner or later we’d have more problems.
All this could be solved, of course, by ignoring me, and this had been the state of affairs pre-idiots incident.
Sighing, I levered myself off of the bar stool and ran for the back exit. A couple of my better friends, at least the ones who could notice things at this point, noticed me running for the exit and, apparently not having forgotten the last incident, stood up as a tallish girl in blue strode in.
A few large guys standing up can really block the sight of me running for the exit, and somehow the girl didn’t notice me as I decided foolishly to watch what happened through a largish crack in the wall.
A few more things stood up.
See, my friend can really mimic the attitude, accent, language, and outfits of pretty much anywhere, up and to a point. Today she hadn’t really bothered with the attitude part, but still. The thing is, attitude or no attitude, under the best of circumstances she screams “authority figure”. In the bar, authority figures are suspect, and if you don’t look the sort of being who can cut someone in half, you may find yourself in trouble. Luckily, my friend looked as if she could cut someone- possibly me- in half. Unluckily for her, with that aura of magic about her and the angry expression on her face, it wasn’t too hard for people to decide who or what she was. They were always wrong, of course, but here it really was in my favor.
They weren’t going to tell her anything.
There’s an unspoken and frequently ignored code of honor amongst the thieves, desperadoes, swindlers, smugglers, con men, criminals, outlaws, and innocent but hunted people comme moi who frequent that particular establishment and it involves not ratting on people, particularly the sort of people who can cut you in half with a war axe. And the war axes in that universe are much worse than the ones in mine.
So they ignored her, and sat back down.
That isn’t really going to stop her, of course, as she marched right up to the bar, and then out the way I’d gone.
I skittered behind a board in time, praying that the magic in the air- it was thick in this universe- would prevent her from scanning. I was right. Of course, she marched right into the place again, and I had the feeling that she was going to have some questions for the inhabitants.
Not all of them really needed to stay on my good side. I dove carefully into the shed, where my portal usually showed up, wondering if I could get to HQ and pretend that nothing had happened.
The portal wasn’t there, but I suddenly saw that someone had followed me.
_
I called her a Naga, though what her actual species was I had no idea. She was greenish in color, and almost had scales. I would have been more surprised to learn that she was part reptile than that she wasn’t. She was one of the few girls who came to the saloon regularly, so we immediately had something in common besides the fact that I doubted that she was supposed to frequent the establishment any more that I was. Also like me, she never ordered drinks, and she may have been old enough to. Of course, I have about no tolerance for anything stronger than tea, including something they serve at HQ called “soda”, so yeah… I’d never really said anything to her, so I was surprised she’d followed me.
“You aren’t from this universe,” hissed the Naga rather hostilely. “That girl is looking for you, and she isn’t either. You aren’t supposed to be here, and when you are, time stops.”
“I doubt you’re supposed to be here either,” I commented. She wasn’t the sort of being that had anything to hide from, as far as I could tell, besides her parents or whoever didn’t want her hanging around in rough areas. And she twitched a little whenever someone came through the door, and additionally she was the only being I’d seen in the bar with even an ounce of magic ability. “Why are you?”
“I meet my boyfriend here,” she said, blushing, and as she said that something jolted, and all of a sudden someone clearly human was blushing instead, and had just finished saying the same thing.
“Why are you here?” said the human woman. She looked oddly familiar, as if I’d met her before in some universe, and then I remembered that I had but she seemed younger now, or maybe I hadn’t.
141-142 effect.
The words jolted themselves into my brain. I couldn’t have…
I shrugged, because I hadn’t had the first part of the conversation with her, probably. “Who’s your boyfriend?”
“He hangs out here a lot,” she said. “He’s, um…”
“I’ve considered that career path myself.” There was no way this girl could be dating one of the more dangerous characters. Hopefully. I’ve met some people who love does really strange things to. One of my relatives once dated someone who was under orders to murder him. What was worse was that they got back together.
She nodded, stood up, and then walked out of the shed. I watched her suspiciously.
141-142 effect.
This was so completely not good.
One of my other friends at HQ had discovered the effect, in which one semi-existent universe that almost never gets portaled is so similar to another that it affects the other. People can fall in love with the wrong people, because someone else only exists in one of the worlds, for instance. It’s scary, it’s dangerous, and so far there’s only one person who even remotely understands how to shift from one universe to the other, because the semi-existent one is so hidden. You could call them what-ifs, but some perfectly legitimate universes result from that.
I’d fallen into an alt universe. It was the only explanation.
I stepped out of the shed. The back wall of the bar was missing a major section of repairs, and a few unintelligible posters in the local language were new. One frantic glance upwards told me that at least the few bluish sparkles above me remained. That meant that the time stop was still in effect in this universe, though fragile.
It could vanish. That possibility hit me hard in the throat. I could change things. I could already have changed things. And this world… I did frantic calculations. If my suspicions were correct, this universe was about 20 or 15 or so years behind the normal one.
Straight in the middle of the portal. Let me back up and explain a bit of terminology. Portals are the passages between universes, expressed in Main World (where you probably are) and a few others as books, movies, even the occasional TV show. They show themselves when usable as blue whirls of primal magic. “Portal” can also refer to an actual novel, show, whatever.
If I was right, and if I was in an alt universe… I could, if the time control vanished, conceivably mess up this world with the introduction of foreign magic. I could even do simpler things, such as ruin a romance or a life goal. This could influence the other world at the same time period, changing time…
Ugh. My brain hurt now.
M mess up worlds. Much better.
I stumbled into the street of the town, dragging my feet. I couldn’t use magic, I thought, that could mess up the time lock. I couldn’t do anything. I just needed to try to find a portal, and get out of here. Fast.
I collapsed against a wall. My body was wracked by the starvation I was undergoing in my home world, and that was another problem. You can’t really absorb nutrients from another universe. I could black out, finally returning home because you can’t die in another universe either.
I really didn’t like that solution. I wasn’t completely sure how hurt you could get in a parallel universe, or whether I could die again when I reached mine, and just because I wasn’t really a huge player in international events currently didn’t mean that I wouldn’t be in the future. I mean, for crying out loud, I was almost royalty.
I held my face in my hands. My hair was slipping out of its usual careful bun, and I reflexively reached up to pull it back into the simple leather holder.
It was so pointless. I hid my face in my hands again, willing myself to remain calm. No magic, I repeated under my breath. No more melting things. I just needed to find the portal or something… Get out of here, somehow.
‘Ria. My best friend from home and HQ had to be looking for me.
I closed my eyes, dropped my hands and focused, trying to send a signal to her. “It’s me… M… I’m in trouble again…”
“Hey, human-girl. You all right?”
I jolted upwards, jumping to my feet and putting one hand on the handle of the war axe slung behind me.
A brunette girl who appeared around 13 or so was watching me critically. She wore the loose, pale outfit so popular around here for whatever reason, and brown semi-cowgirl-style boots. A pistol hung at her side.
I could spot a kindred spirit when I saw one.
“Yeah,” I muttered, sliding my hand away from my war axe but putting my other on the handle of my throwing knife just in case. I was horrible with the thing, but it appeared impressive when I waved it at somebody. “I’m all right.”
The girl snorted. “Sure yah are. And I can fly to the moon with that board over there.”
I narrowed my eyes. I could take care of myself. Didn’t I look as if I could?
“I’m Alree,” added the girl.
“M,” I said shortly.
“Em…” muttered Alree. “Pleased to meet yah, I guess.”
Her accent was stronger than most of the ones I heard, and I could hear the actual words she was saying instead of the usual perfect translation into what I spoke. The translation spell was wearing off. This was not a good sign.
If I messed up this world, or worse, its counterpart, HQ would be quite within their rights to kill me. They wouldn’t of course, as there’s really no way to accurately replace me in my home world, and as the only girl who could murder me wouldn’t, but I would be in trouble.
“C’mon,” said Alree. “You can’t hang around here, Em, someone’ll run you over for fun.”
You don’t have your magic anymore, M, and I doubt Alree can hurt you.
I shrugged, and followed the girl over to a strange contraption parked (probably illegally) on the sidewalk. I couldn’t remember what the things were called, though I was sure I knew. Motor-trikes, maybe? It was one of the words that didn’t translate well.
Alree hopped onto it, slinging on a helmet and gestured for me to sit behind her. With some misgivings, I did. I resented being treated as though I needed someone to take care of me. I was responsible for preserving the life of an innocent girl that about a million ruthless people wanted dead in my home world. I didn’t need this random person showing me around. Shouldn’t I be wearing a helmet, too, though?
Then I had to revise my opinions on my ability to handle this world. The motor-trike started moving. It was much faster than anything I’d ever ridden before, including the giant birds and the sports car. I also noticed that we appeared to still be on the sidewalk, though Alree did veer off into the road as the crowd grew.
“This is fast moving,” I commented tersely. Maybe I could hint her into slowing down.
“It’s army surplus,” said Alree proudly, and then with a twist of her hand the thing moved still faster.
Slowly, I began to grow used to the thing’s movement, or maybe it was just that as we entered a twisting hive of alleyways, Alree began to slow down. “My brother’s getting married soon,” she told me as someone yelled at us from a window.
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, her family doesn’t really like him that much, or at least I guess they won’t once they meet him. They’re rich.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, but the lady’s really nice, or at least I guess she is, I hope they stay together. He was moping earlier, all ‘she’s giving up her future’, but they’re still together. I ask you, who in their right mind would give up a future for my brother?”
“No idea,” I said rather desperately. “My cousin used to date an assassin, though.”
Alree laughed at that, though it really wasn’t the funniest story. “I suppose this girl’s not doing that bad.”
The machine slowed slightly, as though Alree was pondering something.
“I’m getting out of here, you know,” she said after a few seconds. “I’m not letting myself live his life. I’m not owing money to those bandits, or running afoul of the law, or worrying about whether I can trust my friends.”
“Where are you going?” I asked. I couldn’t really think of anywhere else in this universe I’d prefer, though admittedly I didn’t have to actually live here.
“The city, I suppose,” said Alree. “I’m gonna be a waitress or something, I can cook, and I’m gonna be rich eventually.”
I nodded, though she couldn’t really see me.
Over the next quarter of an hour or so, I was treated to Alree’s views on politics, war, science, flying, animals, obnoxious people, and the future. “Sooner or later this place is going to be something, yah know. I almost want to be here when it happens. Almost.”
Slowly, the contraption came to a stop. I could still see sparks of the time stop overhead, and then a voice came into my mind. “Twelve hours, M. I can be there in twelve hours.” I started.
Alree jumped off of the seat, and I slid down. Twelve hours.
“My house,” said Alree proudly, gesturing as if she was showing me a palace. “Much better than my last one.” It was a lean-to shack against one corner of an abandoned building, and quite clearly possessed at least two rooms.
“Nicer than where I live,” I said grudgingly. I’d only been able to build one room.
Alree shrugged modestly. “I made it myself. My brother still thinks I’m living with our great-aunt, but there’s a limit to how much of her I can stand. So I moved down here. They demolished my first hut, so I moved into this one. Much better location.”
Sure.
I didn’t ask who “they” were, because I didn’t really want to know.
“I stay at my brother’s occasionally, but he’s not in much, so I prefer it here.” Alree shrugged. “I haven’t really told him about this place, anyhow. He’s got enough problems.”
I had by this time a sneaking suspicion that the woman I’d run into was Alree’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. I ran over my memories of the portal rapidly, and could come to only one conclusion.
Alree didn’t exist. Either, in the other world, she’d died or had never happened. The smart money, I thought, was probably on never happened. I didn’t bet, of course, my supplies of coin in my home world being limited enough.
The 141 142 effect was probably the result of two semi-connected universes trying to be as similar as possible. This meant that Alree’s hold on life was probably already tenuous, and as far as I could see, she wasn’t exactly Miss Safety to begin with. Oh well. The problems of a semi-existent girl were not my concern, particularly considering that changing the worlds was forbidden. It was perhaps arrogant, but all we did was go in and out of universes, with no one remembering our presence. It was the safer option. Power corrupts.
“You can come in if you want,” said Alree. “There’s rats in the alley.”
I hurriedly skipped into the shack. Rats are not one of my favorite things, and this universe had oddly large ones.
“So,” said Alree, who was apparently unperturbed by the fact that she’d just brought a complete stranger into her home, “where’re yah from?”
“A little town pretty far away from here,” I said, not even lying.
“Steal the earrings, or are they yours? I warn you, I don’t hold with thieves even if you could call my brother one.”
“They’re mine,” I muttered, miffed. “I wasn’t always a peasant.”
Alree appeared to find the word “peasant” quite hilarious. “You really aren’t from around here.” She tossed her head, sending braids flying in every direction.
I laughed, and so did she.
“Eh-hem,” came a voice.
Now I had to come to the saloon place in secret, but I wasn’t exactly going to stop. I’m known only as M by anyone who isn’t related to me or almost. I have a few other names, some of which aren’t really appropriate here, but the fact remains, I’m not one to avoid a place this awesome even if one of the most magically powerful people in the multiverses drags me out by one ear.
My ear still hurt, too. I rubbed it, one tugging absentmindedly on one emerald earring. I’d only risked wearing them because when compared with the rest of my ragged, orange-brown outfit, they looked stolen.
As I said before, I’m going to tell you that my name is M. I’m a 14 year old girl; I have black hair and amber eyes, no freckles, and a mean temper. I can run you through with multiple weapons and have a certain amount of magical powers, and by certain I mean that I’m certainly not going to tell you how much until I have to.
A few stools away, a small fight was breaking out, but this wasn’t quite as mean a place as it used to be, and the barguy yelled at them to stop. Time was, he would’ve just let them finish it, but the laws are creeping in even here.
Not that much, of course. It’s not like anyone was physically separating them or anything, but they did settle down. They aren’t overfond of the law here. It’s taken too many customers, one way or another.
That’s why I love it. It’s so easy to blend in. There’s got to be a place like this somewhere in my universe, and I AM going to find it, and maybe live there.
That was when I felt a bit of a ripple in the time stopper I had on this place. Oh yeah, that friend of mine I mentioned earlier? You aren’t allowed anywhere outside of HQ without pretty much stopping a universe, or you could completely mess it up. Magic can’t bleed into other universes, and neither can beings. Imagine if unicorns were to suddenly land in your yard. And crush you. And you were supposed to become president or whatever you call your leader. (I said IMAGINE). See? Very bad sorts of things can happen.
When you go home from HQ, your memory’s wiped, and you basically forget all of this stuff until you are sort of pulled in again or whatever. You can set a time for that to happen when you leave.
So. Back to the ripple. No one would notice the paltry little time disturbance that I had going on, at least not until they got close up, when it would meld with theirs and there’d be no WAY to notice. But someone had just pretty much closed down a planet, maybe even a universe.
This meant only one person, of course. My lovely little rule-following friend, as mentioned above multiple times. She didn’t really mind me being here, but she couldn’t show favoritism, and if she let me visit places whenever, then others would, and sooner or later we’d have more problems.
All this could be solved, of course, by ignoring me, and this had been the state of affairs pre-idiots incident.
Sighing, I levered myself off of the bar stool and ran for the back exit. A couple of my better friends, at least the ones who could notice things at this point, noticed me running for the exit and, apparently not having forgotten the last incident, stood up as a tallish girl in blue strode in.
A few large guys standing up can really block the sight of me running for the exit, and somehow the girl didn’t notice me as I decided foolishly to watch what happened through a largish crack in the wall.
A few more things stood up.
See, my friend can really mimic the attitude, accent, language, and outfits of pretty much anywhere, up and to a point. Today she hadn’t really bothered with the attitude part, but still. The thing is, attitude or no attitude, under the best of circumstances she screams “authority figure”. In the bar, authority figures are suspect, and if you don’t look the sort of being who can cut someone in half, you may find yourself in trouble. Luckily, my friend looked as if she could cut someone- possibly me- in half. Unluckily for her, with that aura of magic about her and the angry expression on her face, it wasn’t too hard for people to decide who or what she was. They were always wrong, of course, but here it really was in my favor.
They weren’t going to tell her anything.
There’s an unspoken and frequently ignored code of honor amongst the thieves, desperadoes, swindlers, smugglers, con men, criminals, outlaws, and innocent but hunted people comme moi who frequent that particular establishment and it involves not ratting on people, particularly the sort of people who can cut you in half with a war axe. And the war axes in that universe are much worse than the ones in mine.
So they ignored her, and sat back down.
That isn’t really going to stop her, of course, as she marched right up to the bar, and then out the way I’d gone.
I skittered behind a board in time, praying that the magic in the air- it was thick in this universe- would prevent her from scanning. I was right. Of course, she marched right into the place again, and I had the feeling that she was going to have some questions for the inhabitants.
Not all of them really needed to stay on my good side. I dove carefully into the shed, where my portal usually showed up, wondering if I could get to HQ and pretend that nothing had happened.
The portal wasn’t there, but I suddenly saw that someone had followed me.
_
I called her a Naga, though what her actual species was I had no idea. She was greenish in color, and almost had scales. I would have been more surprised to learn that she was part reptile than that she wasn’t. She was one of the few girls who came to the saloon regularly, so we immediately had something in common besides the fact that I doubted that she was supposed to frequent the establishment any more that I was. Also like me, she never ordered drinks, and she may have been old enough to. Of course, I have about no tolerance for anything stronger than tea, including something they serve at HQ called “soda”, so yeah… I’d never really said anything to her, so I was surprised she’d followed me.
“You aren’t from this universe,” hissed the Naga rather hostilely. “That girl is looking for you, and she isn’t either. You aren’t supposed to be here, and when you are, time stops.”
“I doubt you’re supposed to be here either,” I commented. She wasn’t the sort of being that had anything to hide from, as far as I could tell, besides her parents or whoever didn’t want her hanging around in rough areas. And she twitched a little whenever someone came through the door, and additionally she was the only being I’d seen in the bar with even an ounce of magic ability. “Why are you?”
“I meet my boyfriend here,” she said, blushing, and as she said that something jolted, and all of a sudden someone clearly human was blushing instead, and had just finished saying the same thing.
“Why are you here?” said the human woman. She looked oddly familiar, as if I’d met her before in some universe, and then I remembered that I had but she seemed younger now, or maybe I hadn’t.
141-142 effect.
The words jolted themselves into my brain. I couldn’t have…
I shrugged, because I hadn’t had the first part of the conversation with her, probably. “Who’s your boyfriend?”
“He hangs out here a lot,” she said. “He’s, um…”
“I’ve considered that career path myself.” There was no way this girl could be dating one of the more dangerous characters. Hopefully. I’ve met some people who love does really strange things to. One of my relatives once dated someone who was under orders to murder him. What was worse was that they got back together.
She nodded, stood up, and then walked out of the shed. I watched her suspiciously.
141-142 effect.
This was so completely not good.
One of my other friends at HQ had discovered the effect, in which one semi-existent universe that almost never gets portaled is so similar to another that it affects the other. People can fall in love with the wrong people, because someone else only exists in one of the worlds, for instance. It’s scary, it’s dangerous, and so far there’s only one person who even remotely understands how to shift from one universe to the other, because the semi-existent one is so hidden. You could call them what-ifs, but some perfectly legitimate universes result from that.
I’d fallen into an alt universe. It was the only explanation.
I stepped out of the shed. The back wall of the bar was missing a major section of repairs, and a few unintelligible posters in the local language were new. One frantic glance upwards told me that at least the few bluish sparkles above me remained. That meant that the time stop was still in effect in this universe, though fragile.
It could vanish. That possibility hit me hard in the throat. I could change things. I could already have changed things. And this world… I did frantic calculations. If my suspicions were correct, this universe was about 20 or 15 or so years behind the normal one.
Straight in the middle of the portal. Let me back up and explain a bit of terminology. Portals are the passages between universes, expressed in Main World (where you probably are) and a few others as books, movies, even the occasional TV show. They show themselves when usable as blue whirls of primal magic. “Portal” can also refer to an actual novel, show, whatever.
If I was right, and if I was in an alt universe… I could, if the time control vanished, conceivably mess up this world with the introduction of foreign magic. I could even do simpler things, such as ruin a romance or a life goal. This could influence the other world at the same time period, changing time…
Ugh. My brain hurt now.
M mess up worlds. Much better.
I stumbled into the street of the town, dragging my feet. I couldn’t use magic, I thought, that could mess up the time lock. I couldn’t do anything. I just needed to try to find a portal, and get out of here. Fast.
I collapsed against a wall. My body was wracked by the starvation I was undergoing in my home world, and that was another problem. You can’t really absorb nutrients from another universe. I could black out, finally returning home because you can’t die in another universe either.
I really didn’t like that solution. I wasn’t completely sure how hurt you could get in a parallel universe, or whether I could die again when I reached mine, and just because I wasn’t really a huge player in international events currently didn’t mean that I wouldn’t be in the future. I mean, for crying out loud, I was almost royalty.
I held my face in my hands. My hair was slipping out of its usual careful bun, and I reflexively reached up to pull it back into the simple leather holder.
It was so pointless. I hid my face in my hands again, willing myself to remain calm. No magic, I repeated under my breath. No more melting things. I just needed to find the portal or something… Get out of here, somehow.
‘Ria. My best friend from home and HQ had to be looking for me.
I closed my eyes, dropped my hands and focused, trying to send a signal to her. “It’s me… M… I’m in trouble again…”
“Hey, human-girl. You all right?”
I jolted upwards, jumping to my feet and putting one hand on the handle of the war axe slung behind me.
A brunette girl who appeared around 13 or so was watching me critically. She wore the loose, pale outfit so popular around here for whatever reason, and brown semi-cowgirl-style boots. A pistol hung at her side.
I could spot a kindred spirit when I saw one.
“Yeah,” I muttered, sliding my hand away from my war axe but putting my other on the handle of my throwing knife just in case. I was horrible with the thing, but it appeared impressive when I waved it at somebody. “I’m all right.”
The girl snorted. “Sure yah are. And I can fly to the moon with that board over there.”
I narrowed my eyes. I could take care of myself. Didn’t I look as if I could?
“I’m Alree,” added the girl.
“M,” I said shortly.
“Em…” muttered Alree. “Pleased to meet yah, I guess.”
Her accent was stronger than most of the ones I heard, and I could hear the actual words she was saying instead of the usual perfect translation into what I spoke. The translation spell was wearing off. This was not a good sign.
If I messed up this world, or worse, its counterpart, HQ would be quite within their rights to kill me. They wouldn’t of course, as there’s really no way to accurately replace me in my home world, and as the only girl who could murder me wouldn’t, but I would be in trouble.
“C’mon,” said Alree. “You can’t hang around here, Em, someone’ll run you over for fun.”
You don’t have your magic anymore, M, and I doubt Alree can hurt you.
I shrugged, and followed the girl over to a strange contraption parked (probably illegally) on the sidewalk. I couldn’t remember what the things were called, though I was sure I knew. Motor-trikes, maybe? It was one of the words that didn’t translate well.
Alree hopped onto it, slinging on a helmet and gestured for me to sit behind her. With some misgivings, I did. I resented being treated as though I needed someone to take care of me. I was responsible for preserving the life of an innocent girl that about a million ruthless people wanted dead in my home world. I didn’t need this random person showing me around. Shouldn’t I be wearing a helmet, too, though?
Then I had to revise my opinions on my ability to handle this world. The motor-trike started moving. It was much faster than anything I’d ever ridden before, including the giant birds and the sports car. I also noticed that we appeared to still be on the sidewalk, though Alree did veer off into the road as the crowd grew.
“This is fast moving,” I commented tersely. Maybe I could hint her into slowing down.
“It’s army surplus,” said Alree proudly, and then with a twist of her hand the thing moved still faster.
Slowly, I began to grow used to the thing’s movement, or maybe it was just that as we entered a twisting hive of alleyways, Alree began to slow down. “My brother’s getting married soon,” she told me as someone yelled at us from a window.
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, her family doesn’t really like him that much, or at least I guess they won’t once they meet him. They’re rich.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, but the lady’s really nice, or at least I guess she is, I hope they stay together. He was moping earlier, all ‘she’s giving up her future’, but they’re still together. I ask you, who in their right mind would give up a future for my brother?”
“No idea,” I said rather desperately. “My cousin used to date an assassin, though.”
Alree laughed at that, though it really wasn’t the funniest story. “I suppose this girl’s not doing that bad.”
The machine slowed slightly, as though Alree was pondering something.
“I’m getting out of here, you know,” she said after a few seconds. “I’m not letting myself live his life. I’m not owing money to those bandits, or running afoul of the law, or worrying about whether I can trust my friends.”
“Where are you going?” I asked. I couldn’t really think of anywhere else in this universe I’d prefer, though admittedly I didn’t have to actually live here.
“The city, I suppose,” said Alree. “I’m gonna be a waitress or something, I can cook, and I’m gonna be rich eventually.”
I nodded, though she couldn’t really see me.
Over the next quarter of an hour or so, I was treated to Alree’s views on politics, war, science, flying, animals, obnoxious people, and the future. “Sooner or later this place is going to be something, yah know. I almost want to be here when it happens. Almost.”
Slowly, the contraption came to a stop. I could still see sparks of the time stop overhead, and then a voice came into my mind. “Twelve hours, M. I can be there in twelve hours.” I started.
Alree jumped off of the seat, and I slid down. Twelve hours.
“My house,” said Alree proudly, gesturing as if she was showing me a palace. “Much better than my last one.” It was a lean-to shack against one corner of an abandoned building, and quite clearly possessed at least two rooms.
“Nicer than where I live,” I said grudgingly. I’d only been able to build one room.
Alree shrugged modestly. “I made it myself. My brother still thinks I’m living with our great-aunt, but there’s a limit to how much of her I can stand. So I moved down here. They demolished my first hut, so I moved into this one. Much better location.”
Sure.
I didn’t ask who “they” were, because I didn’t really want to know.
“I stay at my brother’s occasionally, but he’s not in much, so I prefer it here.” Alree shrugged. “I haven’t really told him about this place, anyhow. He’s got enough problems.”
I had by this time a sneaking suspicion that the woman I’d run into was Alree’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. I ran over my memories of the portal rapidly, and could come to only one conclusion.
Alree didn’t exist. Either, in the other world, she’d died or had never happened. The smart money, I thought, was probably on never happened. I didn’t bet, of course, my supplies of coin in my home world being limited enough.
The 141 142 effect was probably the result of two semi-connected universes trying to be as similar as possible. This meant that Alree’s hold on life was probably already tenuous, and as far as I could see, she wasn’t exactly Miss Safety to begin with. Oh well. The problems of a semi-existent girl were not my concern, particularly considering that changing the worlds was forbidden. It was perhaps arrogant, but all we did was go in and out of universes, with no one remembering our presence. It was the safer option. Power corrupts.
“You can come in if you want,” said Alree. “There’s rats in the alley.”
I hurriedly skipped into the shack. Rats are not one of my favorite things, and this universe had oddly large ones.
“So,” said Alree, who was apparently unperturbed by the fact that she’d just brought a complete stranger into her home, “where’re yah from?”
“A little town pretty far away from here,” I said, not even lying.
“Steal the earrings, or are they yours? I warn you, I don’t hold with thieves even if you could call my brother one.”
“They’re mine,” I muttered, miffed. “I wasn’t always a peasant.”
Alree appeared to find the word “peasant” quite hilarious. “You really aren’t from around here.” She tossed her head, sending braids flying in every direction.
I laughed, and so did she.
“Eh-hem,” came a voice.
