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Post by Ikkin on Feb 10, 2006 17:56:26 GMT -5
It's a story written by the infamous Child Dragon and you just "have this feeling" that bad things are going to happen? I'd be preparing for the freakin' apocalypse, if I were you. Is my reputation for doing horrible things to my characters really that strong? On second thought, don't answer that. But hey, at least they all had happy endings, right! (cause the neo-censors would smite me otherwise...) Well, then, explain this, Miss "At least they all had happy endings." j;) (But really, that was one powerful story... that's why I still remember it!)
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Post by Zylaa on Feb 10, 2006 18:03:12 GMT -5
Is my reputation for doing horrible things to my characters really that strong? On second thought, don't answer that. But hey, at least they all had happy endings, right! (cause the neo-censors would smite me otherwise...) *Dream's VERY faulty and minuscule Sarcasm Radar gives a questioning blip.* Didn't one of them have her house burn down or something? And... numerous other stuff I'll remember later. Anyhow, great chapter. For some reason the idea of the crew throwing the sake overboard made me giggle. Happy ending. Key word. Hey don't give neo all the credit. AL had a happy ending, for one, despite huge odds.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2006 8:13:03 GMT -5
Kiddo, I'm loving it so far - awesome job.
*plays Twilight Zone music*
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Post by Kiddo on Feb 13, 2006 9:12:07 GMT -5
Is my reputation for doing horrible things to my characters really that strong? On second thought, don't answer that. But hey, at least they all had happy endings, right! (cause the neo-censors would smite me otherwise...) Well, then, explain this, Miss "At least they all had happy endings." (But really, that was one powerful story... that's why I still remember it!) Uh, uh, uh... OMG it's Superman! Quick! Look! Go off and be distracted! *crickets chirp*
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Post by Ikkin on Feb 13, 2006 12:40:38 GMT -5
Well, then, explain this, Miss "At least they all had happy endings." (But really, that was one powerful story... that's why I still remember it!) Uh, uh, uh... OMG it's Superman! Quick! Look! Go off and be distracted! *crickets chirp* The only thing that'll distract me is a new part. j;)
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Post by Zylaa on Feb 13, 2006 19:20:44 GMT -5
Uh, uh, uh... OMG it's Superman! Quick! Look! Go off and be distracted! *crickets chirp* The only thing that'll distract me is a new part. I'm with Ikkin. We shall become creepy stalker people until you write more.
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Post by Kiddo on Feb 13, 2006 19:22:32 GMT -5
The only thing that'll distract me is a new part. I'm with Ikkin. We shall become creepy stalker people until you write more. A new chapter of Voices is on the list of things to do right under a new chapter of Langley's Ark.
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Post by Scar on Feb 13, 2006 19:26:11 GMT -5
I'm with Ikkin. We shall become creepy stalker people until you write more. A new chapter of Voices is on the list of things to do right under a new chapter of Langley's Ark. SQUEE, I love Langley's Ark! :3 But Voices is great too *looks nervously to rabid fangirls/fanboys* :3
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Post by Thundy on Feb 13, 2006 19:34:00 GMT -5
*slowly catches on to this*
If this were published, it would be a national best-seller. The suspense works well!
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Post by Zylaa on Feb 13, 2006 20:47:05 GMT -5
I'm with Ikkin. We shall become creepy stalker people until you write more. A new chapter of Voices is on the list of things to do right under a new chapter of Langley's Ark. Ok. Good start. What's above Langley's Ark? Just kidding. No pressure. Well, some.
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Post by Kiddo on Feb 14, 2006 2:40:02 GMT -5
I did my best to engage Kiddo in a conversation. I really did. I went down the entire things that got her chatting: ninjas, writing, kunaing random NTWFers, ninjas, harassing pirates, and more ninjas. Nothing worked. She just replied in short, terse phrases until it was obvious that she was not in the mood for talking. I lapsed into frustrated silence as well and for the longest time all that could be heard was the flame of the torch and our footsteps.
Eventually, I grew tired of this nonsense. Kiddo was a very blunt person and well, it was time for a taste of her own medicine.
“Enough,” I said, “What is wrong with you? You’ve been moody and irritable since getting back. Look, if something bad happened down there, I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. So spill. We’re all worried about you.”
Kiddo stopped. Looked down the tunnel ahead, where it vanished into darkness.
“Do you feel that?” she asked.
I blinked. This was unexpected.
“Feel what?”
“The cold. It’s getting colder. What nightmares of yours start with frost?”
I shivered. It was getting colder.
“I don’t know. How about you?” I whispered.
“Too many to count. The gate to the underdeep is just ahead. Let’s go.”
And all thoughts about dragging out of her what was wrong fled my mind, for I had a troubling suspicion that I was about to find myself with plenty of problems of my own.
The noise started shortly after entering the underdeep and closing the great heavy gate behind us. Kiddo was right – it wasn’t just noise. It was a voice. A rich male voice that seemed to just drift through the corridors. Entranced, I followed it, with Kiddo following a couple steps behind. At one point I thought to ask her what it was and she just shrugged and said she wasn’t sure. Some figment that was stuck down here that needed to be freed. And that perhaps, with the two of us, we could do it.
There were creatures following us, but with someone I knew by my side, and a ring of light around us, it wasn’t so bad. I heard the claws skittering alright, and the sibilant hissing from all around, but it wasn’t enough to drown out the voice. I could tell that he was singing now and I asked if this was how it was when she went down here. Kiddo said yes, pretty much.
Then she stopped me. Put her fingers on the wall and I saw her tracing claw marks.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, “It’s just products of our subconscious. Keep your head together and we’ll be fine.”
“It’s getting colder,” she whispered and I saw frost starting to creep around her fingers.
“Well, don’t think about it. If you had nightmares about this, ignore them. C’mon, tell me about Sabreur and his firebombs again.”
“I read a book once,” she said, “where this group was sent to investigate a fort that had gone silent. They found blood everywhere but no bodies.”
“Kiddo, stop it.”
The hissing was growing louder around us. I shivered and saw my breath in the air.
“As they traveled deeper into the fort it grew steadily colder. There was a tunnel leading deep into the earth where a creature of old slept and dreamt of a time when the earth was cold, far colder than it is now.”
“STOP IT.”
She knew the rules. I knew the rules. You don’t voice what scares you in the underdeep because it will come to life. Yet she stood there, watching the frost creep off the stone and onto her fingers and kept talking. I wanted to hit her, make her stop somehow, silence her, anything. Under all of this lay the song we had been following all this time.
“Then they found the bodies. The fort had slaughtered itself, one by one killing each other in absolute calm and then killing themselves. Even then, they went down into the earth and the cold, and when the group ventured into the deep they found only the cold and the dead ready to drag them into the underground.”
“KIDDO!”
I screamed her name. All light went out and my lantern slipped from my numb fingers. The gibbering horde of nightmares pressed in on us and swearing I drew knives. Slashed out. Wasn’t sure what I hit, could have been the demons, could have been air, could have been Kiddo. But everything dissolved into blindness and terror.
“Here, here!” The voice, the one that had been singing. Calling for me now. “Run this way!”
I turned. Yelled for Kiddo. Mindless cries met my voice and I felt claws rake across my back. I jabbed, felt cold blood rush out across my wrist, burning the skin and the knife clattered to the ground.
“Run!”
And I did. Ran with all my might, until I thought my heart would burst, and then everything stopped and fell into silence. I tripped, toppled onto natural stone and felt my fingers touching water.
“Kiddo?” I asked weakly, struggling to my knees.
I had just been kidding about running off and leaving her. Oh God, it had just been a joke…
“Kiddo…”
“Ssh, shh.”
That voice. I narrowed my eyes, trying to force them to adjust to the pale light that was starting to stream in from the rocks around me. A natural cave with a deep pool in the middle.
“I left her.”
“It’s alright now, dearest one, quite alright.”
I could see the speaker now. A centaur, brown dappled with white. Long limbs resting on the rocks with his front hooves trailing in the water. Tanned upper body, wiry and rippled with muscle, and sharp features with golden hair. I found myself at a loss for words as he rose – so effortlessly graceful! – and walked towards me.
“Everything will be alright. Everything.”
He was right in front of me now, cupping my head in his hands. His fur seemed to shine in the pale light.
“Everything is fine.”
And he kissed me on the brow.
(I wrote this late at night with the cats making noise behind me. I'ma gonna have nightmares, I just know it, especially since that book I described is real and really did terrify me when I first read it)
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Post by Crystal on Feb 14, 2006 4:07:24 GMT -5
XD
At least I got a hawt centaur.
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Post by Gav on Feb 14, 2006 5:40:51 GMT -5
Crystal/Centaur. XD Wow.
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Post by Zylaa on Feb 14, 2006 18:23:49 GMT -5
XD At least I got a hawt centaur. . . . You completely RUINED the mood! S'ok. Man this is freaky. I drew a picture, and I thought it was cool, and I was going to upload it... and my scanner doesn't work. So just picture a badly drawn siren sketch right about here.
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Post by Kiddo on Feb 15, 2006 21:14:05 GMT -5
When I found out that Patjade had just sent my two mortal enemies – the leader and co-leader of the ninjas – off to their certain demise it was like Christmas came early. I started plotting immediately. I, captain of the White Weewoo, would take my crew and pillage the ninja HQ. Since there was no Kiddo around to drop a phoenix fireball onto the deck of my ship and catch the sails on fire we would be able to get in close and storm it relatively unhindered. The ninjas would be in disarray. We’d throw their tea into the harbor. Draw naughty pictures on their paper walls. Make molotov cocktails out of their sake. Oh, bliss. Oh, beauteous chaos. Then Patjade ruined it all.
“And no, you may not use their absence as an excuse to blow up their home,” she said, “Take Spot and go wait for their return from the underground.”
Spoilsport. How had she known that I was even thinking that? Not me! I’m a perfect angel. Arrrr.
So, greatly disheartened, I set off for the entrance to the underground with a bottle of rum and Spot. Then we settled in for a very long and boring day.
Kiddo and Crystal did not return until late that evening, when the sun was starting to reach for the horizon. Spot and I had alternated in watching. First one of us would nap, then the other, and so on. I practiced sword for a bit, drank all my rum, and Spot drew in her sketchbook. I tried to get her to draw me some incriminating evidence about Kiddo to toss on the Tabloids later but she wasn’t cooperating. Note to self: kidnap Spot and make her walk the plank later.
The two of them were very quiet when they came staggering out of the underground. Crystal was slightly clawed up, like a horde of wet cats had been dumped on her, and Kiddo was seemingly unscathed.
“What happened to you two?” I demanded. They just looked at me blankly. “C’mon, tell. I sat out here all day waiting for you two drag your rears out of there, as per orders of Patjade. Passed up an opportunity to sack your HQ too! How’s that for dedication?”
“Don’t listen to her, it wasn’t hard,” Spot said mildly, “She spent the day laying in the sun and drinking rum.”
“Shuddup you! So. Fix the noises?”
Crystal nodded.
“Yes, they’re taken care of. I hope.”
And she and Kiddo looked at each other. Then they started walking off, side by side, without another word.
“Right,” I said softly, “Spot, go get Patjade for an emergency moderator meeting, sans Kiddo and Crystal.”
“What? Rider, how much rum did you drink again?”
“Not enough! Didn’t you notice? Crystal’s eyes were different. Brilliant emerald green.”
Spot just stared at me. I sighed in exasperation.
“Spot, Crystal is CHINESE in ethnicity. Emerald green is not one of their natural eye colors. Now go get Patjade!”
It was past dark by the time everyone assembled. People were quiet and the atmosphere was tense. I paced near the front, just in front of Patjade, who was handling everything with utmost calm.
“So, two days ago we sent Kiddo into underdeep,” Stal said. He’d taken a deep breath and was now doing one of (in)famous recaps. “She comes back acting funny and asks Crystal to go back to the underdeep with her. They go off, come back, and are both acting funny. And now Crystal has had a bizarre change in eye color. It must be connected…”
“Stal,” Wanderer said, “Duh.”
“Yes, but how?”
“You’re the one wearing the trenchcoat,” Linny said, “Play detective for us.”
“How about instead of speculating,” Patjade began and we all fell silent, “we call the two in.”
“Now?”
“You sure?”
“What if it’s not safe?”
She waited the protests out.
“I believe in openness and honesty among the staff here. If something is wrong we owe it to Crystal and Kiddo to find out what. Right now we can just speculate. All we know is that there were noises and now those two are changed. With the transient nature of the underdeep we could be going up against anything. Meowth, go fetch them please.”
It took half an hour for her to get over there and back. She whispered to Tracy who whispered to – oh to heck with it – it traveled around in whispers through the moderators that she had found them both wide-awake in their rooms, with this weird smell of burned tea hovering about.
Patjade had them both sit on stools in the center of the room. Normally Kiddo would be fidgeting with restless energy – I swear she’s a closet ADD – but now she was utterly still and calm. Not even her tail was twitching. Crystal was the same way. They just looked mildly ahead, not really paying attention to anything. I noticed that Patjade was wearing her sword and after a moment put her hand on it. I did the same for my own.
“Kiddo, Crystal,” she said, “As admin of this forum I’m going to have to ask you to tell us exactly what happened. Start from the beginning and leave nothing out.”
First Kiddo spoke. She told us about the voices and Patjade’s eyebrow rose at that point. We had not known it was a voice. Then she told us about the darkness, and the mad run, and then something about a dead-end. From behind the wall, she said, she could hear the voice and so she thought if she had someone else they could get beyond the wall and find the noise.
“I thought you said it was the pipes,” Linny said.
“The underdeep doesn’t have pipes,” Kiddo replied.
Already the contradictions were starting. Crystal’s story was much the same up until the point of the darkness. Then, she said, they got separated and she found the dead-end. Couldn’t budge it with her will, went wondering around and found Kiddo. Beat it before something worse happened.
“Just like ninjas,” I said, “Get lost and then turn tail and run.”
Neither of them made a comeback. That was when we all knew for sure that something was wrong.
“Can you two wait outside, please?” Patjade asked.
They exited. I looked them both over carefully as they left. Neither was armed. That was when a plan started to form in my mind.
“A voice,” Tracy mused, “That’s odd.”
“Definitely. And if they both had similar experiences than there is a pattern. The underdeep isn’t known for its patterns.”
“So something has become strong enough to exert its own will on the underdeep?”
“But what? I mean, wouldn’t it be one of our creations? What kind of will is strong enough to do that?”
“Collective subconscious?”
“But that only results in figments.”
And so on. The only thing we agreed on is that something had happened when they came across that dead-end that they either didn’t remember or were avoiding the subject. Then Mindela hit upon an idea.
“What is that spell that Kiir likes so much in Dungeons and Dragons? Dominate?”
We all stopped talking and turned to look at her.
“Kiddo hates it, I know that much. Let’s a person take control of another person’s free will. That’s a very common thing in fantasy as well – and surely Kiddo isn’t the only one scared of it. What if there’s a pocket of that hanging about in the underdeep?”
That only led to more questions. Who or what was doing the controlling? Was that kind of fear strong enough to manifest? And all that time I stayed quiet and examined that tickle at the back of my head. There had to be a way to make things right. Get one of them to tell us what was going on. I could see them standing outside in the window. Just, standing there. The moon was high and I could see the shadow of Kiddo’s wings falling long before her.
Wings… Kiddo… that’s it.
“Guys,” I said, “Call Crystal back in.”
They did as I asked. I had that note in my voice. I told her to sit down and at the door, warned Patjade to be ready to restrain Crystal if necessary.
“Rider,” she said, “What on earth are you doing?”
“Something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Hitting the reset button.”
And I walked outside the shut the door behind me. Kiddo turned at the noise. I walked over and shifted all my weight to one leg, nice and casual. Let my hand wrap around my sword.
“Nice night, eh,” I said, “and just look at that moon.”
Sure enough, like a robot, Kiddo looked at the moon. I took a step behind her, said something about how ninjas stink to cover the sound of me drawing my sword, and then thrust it clear through back, through her heart, until the blade was buried up to the hilt.
I didn’t expect for blood to reek so much. I nearly gagged as it flooded across my hands, sickly copper and hot against my skin. Kiddo coughed, once, and I smelled a hint of sandalwood. Phoenix fire. I had to move. I pulled the sword free and staggered backwards, out of range. Kiddo collapsed, her wings falling limp over her. The tips of the feathers caught first, then the fire spread, until her entire form was a bonfire. I could hear a commotion inside the mod building and wasn’t sure if it was about me killing Kiddo or if Crystal had gone nuts. Didn’t really care.
The smoke brought with it incense. I inhaled deeply, felt my eyes water and a cough burn in the back of my throat. The fire washed across my face and slowly died down until only a pile of ash remained. The noise inside had stopped and a couple moderators had walked out to survey the crime.
“Rider,” Tdyans said weakly, “Why?”
“Because when Kiddo dies stuff gets reset, right?” I said, “All her injuries are healed without a trace. So if she is possessed or mind-controlled or something that’ll be reset in the morning. I hope.”
Or I just severely ticked someone or something off.
“But we never decided she was possessed for sure…”
“Give me a break!” I cried, “What more proof do you need? She turned her back on a pirate! C’mon, honestly. If that were really Kiddo she would have seen that coming.”
I stabbed my sword into the ground to clean it of the blood.
“Crystal went nuts when you did that,” Buddy said, “Patjade conked her on the head. She’s out cold.”
“Whatever. I’m done with this for the night. I need a bath.”
“First you’ve taken in years, I’m sure,” Stal muttered.
I tried to make a snide comment and failed. Just didn’t want to. Tired. I just walked away instead and behind me I could hear them discussing on who was going to guard Kiddo’s ashes until morning. I didn’t even have the energy to remind them to have a robe handy. Besides, this way would be more exciting.
((Had to continue the tradition. And if you don't know the signifance of the last two sentances... well, you'll find out. Everyone else, please don't ruin it))
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