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Post by Zylaa on Jan 17, 2008 15:22:19 GMT -5
And, once again, Kiddo dies in a NTWF story. Of her own devising.
Didn't you post some story that you had written for your mother online a while ago, Kiddo? Was that a different one?
I suppose I'll volunteer as an expendable. Now that we're in the middle of an even-more-warped-than-usual Kiddo world seems the perfect time to volunteer, don't you think? XD
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Post by Rider on Jan 17, 2008 17:07:34 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]This is amazing. And I can picture Stally yelling that. XDDD
*breathes deep* I'm signing my own death warrant here, being your rival and all, but I'm willing to volunteer as well. Expend me as you will, O writer of awesomeness.[/glow]
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Post by Ikkin on Jan 17, 2008 22:40:49 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]This is amazing. And I can picture Stally yelling that. XDDD *breathes deep* I'm signing my own death warrant here, being your rival and all, but I'm willing to volunteer as well. Expend me as you will, O writer of awesomeness.[/glow] I'm kind of surprised that she used me without my volunteering but didn't write you in. XD Great story, Kiddo. ^^ Can't wait to see where it goes. (Even if I am afraid for the sake of Ikkin XD)
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Post by Kiddo on Jan 19, 2008 1:55:09 GMT -5
HAH! Kiddo didn't die last chapter! She died this one. I had to carry on the tradition.
“Well,” Rider said after almost five minutes worth of contemplation, “I’m pretty sure this isn’t what Patjade had in mind when she said to ‘bring Kiddo back’, but it’ll do.”
The pirates were assembled on the deck of the White Weewoo, Huntress beaming in her captain’s hat and Kiddo’s spear in one hand. Rider just stood there, utterly still except for the sea breeze in her hair and cape, surveying the scene. The rest of the pirates stood back, a bit unsure of what to make of the sight. The sails were folded and the ship stood motionless in the ocean, rocking slightly in the choppy waves. The pirates were all assembled around the main mast, where a person slumped.
“Well, didn’t know what else to do,” Huntress said with a shrug, “I mean, we had to get her out of the Gray Lands. And you turn around to wherever you want to go to get out of there… so I brought her back to here.”
There was a lot more to that. Huntress had pulled Kiddo’s spear out of the ground and the pirates had carried the unconscious fox-phoenix out of the Gray Lands. There had been no fire. Just blood… lots of it… and the pirates had been forced to break into their store of phoenix down to heal the wound.
No one was sure what to do, for there was no fire, and there was no rebirth and renewal. Everything they had seen in the Gray Lands pointed towards the opposite. Death. Decay. Things that should not be. Even the wings of the phoenix were dying and could not be restored. The down had mended the hole the spear had left. The wings stayed as they were, tattered, broken, and decaying. Huntress had looked closer at them and found the feathers matted and dirty, the slim barbs that held the tendrils of each feather together broken and useless. There would be no flight with these. She had heard stories of when the wings were broken before, during the time of the Angelis Luci, but there had been fire then. There had been a defiant struggle to the end, only succumbing to the glorious death when there was no strength left to fight.
It was as if the wings had died a long time ago and the person who carried them had yet to realize it.
“So what do we do now?” Ikkin asked.
The pirates all stared at Kiddo, tied to the mast like a prisoner with her useless wings draped to either side. Huntress rocked on her heels. She had a hunch. After seeing the decay in Kiddo’s world and the loss of control; she had a hunch. Hopefully it’d work out.
“Wait for it,” she said in reply. And sure enough, after a moment Kiddo’s eyelids fluttered open blearily.
The pirates instinctively stepped back, expecting ninja-phoenix wrath to descend upon them. Nothing. She only looked about briefly, once, then slid her eyes shut again. Huntress was reminded of when they found her, laying on the altar in the burnt circle and wondered if the pendulum had already fallen upon this one.
“Well ninja, welcome aboard the White Weewoo,” Huntress said grimly, launching into her plan, “I don’t think the others are going to come rescue you anytime soon so you’d best make yourself comfortable. We’ll even leave some meepits behind to keep you company.”
Silence. Very awkward silence.
“If you’re trying to bait her,” Rider whispered, “I don’t think it’s working.”
“No, really?” Huntress whispered back, “What gave you that idea?”
“The fact that the ship isn’t on fire yet.”
Huntress chewed on her lower lip. This wasn’t going to plan.
The sun was too bright for Crystal’s liking. Her team was down to just her and PFA. Of all the bits and pieces of the world Crystal was quickly deciding the fields were the worst. She just couldn’t get over the sensation of being watched and for a ninja this was very unsettling. They were supposed to be the ones doing the watching. Besides. There were footprints here and there. The hoof marks of the hunt. And clawed, semi-humanoid prints interspersed here and there. There were creatures about. She just couldn’t see them.
Crystal was aiming for the direction that the hunt had come. There was a hill and at the top was the remains of a fort of some sort. That could be a good place to start looking for Kit – anything but the endless remains of the dying plain would be a nice change. Of course, this was Kiddo’s world. And it had gone bad. She shivered and stopped paces short of the entrance to the fort. It was crumbled and overgrown with weeds and for an instant Crystal had a strange feeling that this was not a place to set foot in.
It was not a place for the living. It was not a place for humans.
“I think the hunt came more from the sky,” PFA finally said.
“I think so too,” Crystal replied, “but the hunt vanished… we’ve got to hope Kit just got hurt in the fight and wasn’t taken by them.”
“Do the Gray Lands work that way?”
“I suppose they do no – !”
Her sentence was cut short. There was a knife in her shoulder and she stared up, stunned, into the purple-orbed eyes of something that was not human. The two regarded each other for a moment, then the creature wrenched the knife free, dropped to all fours, and vanished again. Crystal drew her kunai with her good hand and tried to ignore the pain. PFA had her weapons out and was holding motionless, listening. Neither spoke. That thing was invisible and it was still around.
It went after Crystal again, the knife-wound just a lead-in for what would be the fatal blow. Crystal heard the whistle of air and threw herself to the side, a touch too late, but the knife did not meet its mark. There was the sound of a body hitting a body instead, two animalistic cries of pain and rage, and a collision of bestial fury as her savior entwined with her attacker, meeting tooth and claw and fang and muscle.
The wolf was huge, shaggy and tan with streaks of white around its chest and bands of black scattered across its body. Crimson marked its flank where a rune was drawn in its fur. An old rune. Beneath it writhed the attacker, one of Kiddo’s creations, a lanky humanoid of purplish fur and striped, screeching in pain as the wolf savaged the arm that tried to hold it back. And then the wolf won and buried its muzzle into the chest of the creature, simply pushing through skin as if it were only clay, and the great jaws grasped something and pulled. The creature gasped and faded into mist and the wolf stepped back, the beating heart held between its jaws, dripping black blood.
And wherever the blood fell the land eroded even further, the grass simply melting as if struck by acid and leaving bare, scorched earth behind.
It turned and walked away, still carrying the heart. The two ninjas just stared for a moment.
“We’re following it,” PFA said, “Because if that thing can take out whatever has gone wrong with this land I want to be on its side.”
Crystal agreed with only a nod and the two trailed behind the wolf, across the plain and the sun that was sickly bright, back towards what Crystal knew to be the intersection of all the worlds here. Where the scorched circle was.
The pirates had threatened many things. They were on the verge of unleashing the meepits when Kiddo had stopped them with a single word. No. And the somber finality of the statement killed all their ideas and one by one they drifted off until only Rider remained.
It was as if Kiddo wasn’t even bound, for all she seemed to care. The pirate stared at her, at the wings, and then glanced to where Huntress was issuing commands to her crew. They were going to take the White Weewoo into harbor and deliver Kiddo to Patjade. See if she could fix this mess.
“Look Kiddo,” Rider finally said, “You’ve got to do something.”
“You shouldn’t have come,” Kiddo just said dully.
“Yeah, well, after someone tried to rip Ishmale’s innards out with just their hand we tend to get concerned.”
And fear flashed across Kiddo’s features for a moment.
“The Veiled Lady is only after me,” she said.
There. This was getting somewhere.
“Yeah. Right.” Rider laughed. “Not anymore, my idiot ninja friend. Just what is this Veiled Lady, anyway?”
And Kiddo only stared at her in disbelief.
“She’s… you really don’t know?” And Rider shook her head. Kiddo looked away, across the ocean. “She’s who dwells beyond the ninth wave of the shore. The one who carries the night in her arms and promises the dying warriors an epic. She is muse.”
“The Veiled Lady… is your muse?”
And Kiddo nodded glumly. Rider took a deep breath. Exhaled. Tried to remain calm. Failed.
“WHY THE HELL IS YOUR MUSE TRYING TO KILL US?!”
That certainly got everyone’s attention, including Kiddo’s. For a moment the old ferocity was back but it was twisted in a way, by some strange sort of desperation that lay just beyond the feral rage in her eyes. Some sort of plea. Rider couldn’t make it out.
“I don’t know!” Kiddo screamed back, her voice harsh and broken, “If I knew, then maybe I could stop her! But the dreams are all gone, my worlds are broken, and they’re all dying and there is NOTHING I can do to stop it!”
“Oh, don’t give me that! Stop being so stinking weak and invoke the fire. Do I need to put a sword through your chest to force the issue?!”
“I’ll die,” Kiddo said grimly, “There is no fire.”
“WHY!? Because you gave up on it? Because the Veiled Lady took it? Fight, dangit! What the hell are you?”
And Rider turned her back, panting hard. All activity on the White Weewoo had stopped and Rider just wanted to yell at people. Tell them to get back to work. Tell Huntress to get her crew back to work. Anything.
“What am I?” Kiddo whispered, “I’m tired. That’s all.”
And there was a startled shout from the onlookers. Rider turned and saw the first tendrils of flame flicker from the tips of Kiddo’s broken wings. For a moment hope surged around her – things would be back to normal. Sure, she’d burn the White Weewoo down with her but at least things would be normal again. They could fight this Veiled Lady or muse or whatever it was. But then Rider saw the blank stare in Kiddo’s face and knew that no, this wasn’t like before, and things were going to change beyond repair…
Then the phoenix fire came and Rider had to turn away.
The wolf led them to the burnt circle. It did not stop but the two ninjas did, just at the edge. The wolf walked on and lay the black heart on top of the altar, then stepped back and howled. It was an ancient cry, a keening song that spoke of ages of the ocean against the shore, of the mysteries within the trees, and the cycles of the moon that had passed over and over again long before humans came. The heart sizzled, turned red, and then a swirl of energy wrapped around it and shape formed up around the now-beating heart until another wolf stood upon the altar, fully formed, and panting at the effort of its own rebirth. The howl stopped and the wolf hopped down and joined its brother, identical in all respects. They started to slink away, off towards the forest, and Crystal stepped forwards into the circle.
“Wait,” she said and the two wolves both turned, “You’re… you’re cleansing the land, aren’t you? Whatever you are. Can you take us to Kit? We have to find him.”
And the wolves stared at her for a moment, then one put its nose to the ground and they broke into an easy lope.
“Sure this is a good idea?” PFA muttered as the two ninjas joined the wolves in their hunt.
“Do you have a better one?”
She did not. So they followed the wolves across the broken landscape that seemed to be even more silent and still after the wolf’s howl. As if it were watching. Judging. Wondering what would happen to this land that was being broken down, bit by bit.
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Post by Dragon on Jan 19, 2008 12:19:22 GMT -5
*gaspfoamwobble*
Amazing, Kiddo. Amazing.
And sad. D:
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Post by Omni on Jan 19, 2008 19:24:12 GMT -5
TWILIGHT PRINCESS! … That's what I was reminded of when the wolf came along. *already mentioned The Painted Lady* Fwee! Museinastory! Discussion of what our muses looked like was a topic in the 'Bloids about a month ago (I believe), so I find this pretty interesting.
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Post by PFA on Jan 19, 2008 20:07:34 GMT -5
*didn't read this until just now* Ooh, PFA is in a story of Kiddo's, without PFA asking to be in it? I am honored. And scared. Very scared. At any rate, this is interesting so far. Can't wait for the next part.
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Post by Rider on Jan 19, 2008 21:02:10 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]This is amazing. And I can picture Stally yelling that. XDDD *breathes deep* I'm signing my own death warrant here, being your rival and all, but I'm willing to volunteer as well. Expend me as you will, O writer of awesomeness.[/glow] I'm kind of surprised that she used me without my volunteering but didn't write you in. XD Great story, Kiddo. ^^ Can't wait to see where it goes. (Even if I am afraid for the sake of Ikkin XD) [glow=red,2,300]I haven't been active until a week or two ago. It's understandable. XD “WHY THE HELL IS YOUR MUSE TRYING TO KILL US?!” I get the world's best lines. ^_^ I love you, Kiddo. *'shippers rejoice* Not like that. -_-; But yes, breathtaking as always. <3 [/glow]
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Post by Stal on Jan 20, 2008 4:15:41 GMT -5
Am I the only one not surprised that Kiddo's muse is trying to kill us? In all the years I've read Kiddo!stories, her muse has been responsible for more deaths than I think I've otherwise seen. <.<; ...At the very least, I'm not surprised it'd want to kill me...I seem to die a lot by Kiddo's hands... Anyway, Kiddster, this is a good story. Glad to see you're writing something more to add to the NTWF mythos.
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Post by Crystal on Jan 20, 2008 13:11:04 GMT -5
Stal has a point.
Rider also has a point... about Kiddo/Rider. <3333 Remember guys, I want to be the godmother of your babies!
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Post by Nimras on Jan 21, 2008 21:51:22 GMT -5
Yey for the wolf! My kin has a role! *and there was much rejoicing!*
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Post by Kiddo on Jan 26, 2008 0:57:54 GMT -5
The White Weewoo was in flames. The pirates sat in their lifeboats, having expected this outcome after hearing Huntress’s grand plan. They just watched it burn. It was different this time… in the past, Kiddo’s suicidal firebomb had been a quick strike before she’d winged off again to hit land before she completely collapsed into ash so that the ocean waves wouldn’t scatter the means of her rebirth. Now, the Phoenix itself was there.
It burst into life in all its blinding majesty, the embodiment of death and life wrapped together, a force beyond understanding and a force that did not belong in this realm of mortals. It rose from the burning wreckage of the White Weewoo, spreading wings that were bigger than the ship itself into the sky, the brilliant colors of gold, red, blue, and others that no one could put a name to. The sight was burned into the minds of everyone who saw it. This was no phoenix – it was the Phoenix. The first. The last. The one that died every evening on a pyre it built itself and rose each day, perishing in agony and being born the same day after day. The pains and suffering of the world rested on its wings and it took those and burned them in sacrifice, then scattered the ashes to the wind and brought new hope upon a crest of flaming feathers in the morning.
At its breast, wreathed in the flame and the feathers of the Phoenix, was a human figure. It was curled up in a fetal position, knees tucked against chest, arms hugging legs, and her hair spread out around her, buffeted by the winds whipped up by the conflagration. Then the Phoenix cried, a long note of a single pitch and there was a story in it that only one person there could understand. Then the Phoenix was gone and Kiddo was falling… into the water with no wings to stop her descent.
The moderator meeting room was tense. Stal had delivered his report as quickly as he could for things were wrong. Everything about this was wrong. There was someone sitting in the middle of the room that hardly anyone recognized but everyone knew that without a doubt, this was Kiddo. She had yet to speak.
“So Kiddo’s muse is out to kill her,” Patjade said, writing this down on Stal’s whiteboard, “Being unsuccessful, it is trying to kill others to draw her out, presumably. Kit is missing. PFA and Crystal are searching for him. And the pirates set their ship on fire.”
“The Phoenix was there!” Huntress exclaimed, “THE Phoenix!”
Silence fell after that. Kiddo sat on the stool, sunken into herself. The pirates had pulled her from the water and found some clothing before bringing her here, to see if she had anything to say about the Veiled Lady and what had happened.
Why she no longer had wings. Where the fox tail and fox ears had gone. Why she was just… a human. A very defeated human worn thin by events no one in the room understood and she was not telling.
“I invoked the fire,” Kiddo said hollowly, “and it was the last time I will. That is gone now.”
“What do you mean, gone?”
Kiddo looked up at Stal. There wasn’t the despair he expected, at losing something so integral to her persona, but only calm acceptance. Like she had been expecting this all along.
“That part was dying. You saw the wings… they were decaying. They were broken. I haven’t been able to fly for a long time. So I gave it back from where it came… change comes and goes. Nothing remains.”
She dropped her gaze again and lapsed back into silence. The room felt oppressive.
“Ishmale almost died,” Pat finally said.
“I’ll handle it,” Kiddo replied.
“How?”
“I’ll find a way.”
“Your world is dead!” Stal finally cried, “We saw it! It’s dying! You’ve given up your wings – or did those die too? How are you going to fight your own muse, something of your own creation, if everything around you that you have made is falling to pieces?”
And Kiddo growled. Not the growl of a human imitating an animal, but the growl of an animal itself. Everyone stepped back and Kiddo slid off the stool, falling to all fours and snarled once at Stal, the eyes glassy and glazed as if seeing something far away.
“I will find a way,” she repeated in a whisper, “Do not follow me. We will end this, the Veiled Lady and I. I’ll fight and destroy everything I created if I have to… or die trying.”
She slunk towards the exit, still on all fours and the motion seemed more natural, as if that was how things should be. No one tried to stop her, but as the door closed Rider took a deep breath.
“So just how many of us plan to follow her?”
The wolves led PFA and Crystal into the forest. The ninjas stuck close to the animals, moving like shadows through the dying woods, their speed stretched thin to match that of the small pack. For it was a pack… as they ran, more wolves joined the ranks, until when they finally stopped PFA counted at least nine. They spread out and then waited at the edges of a clearing. Crystal finally took a deep breath and stepped inside.
A single tree dominated the barren dirt. It hunkered over her, limbs malformed and swelling with rot from the inside. Several places had burst into oozing sores. And on this tree was Kit, his arms and legs embraced by the trunk so that he was held fast by the body of the tree itself. His head hung down, mercifully unconscious, for there was an open wound on his bare chest, just above heart. It was like someone had shoved their hand into his chest and left something behind… a dark taint that pulsed with the same rhythm of his heartbeat. Crystal could see where it had spread into his veins just by tracing the lines of black decay beneath his pale skin.
This. This was what was killing the world. The Veiled Lady was destroying it and the wolves were removing that taint, waging a war within the realms that Kiddo had created.
There was something carved into the ground. Burnt lines into the dirt, spelling out a message. Crystal paused and read it out loud, afraid to give the words voice but knowing that this would give them meaning. Power. Perhaps understand.
“Look beyond the shore, oh bard, to where the dreams have all gone to die.”
Primal forces were at work here. Crystal stepped forwards and called Kit’s name. There was no response. Then one of the wolves howled, another joined in, and soon the clearing was filled with the chorus of their cries. The tree shivered in fear and withdrew its hold, letting Kit fall into Crystal’s arms.
“What about that?” PFA asked, stepping forwards and pointing at the dark hole above his heart.
Crystal did not reply. There was taint… and there was a way to remove it. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then forced them open again. She must be brave.
And she plunged her hand into the wound, past the taint that burned like ice against her flesh, and closed her hand around the fluttering heart of her dear friend. As the wolves had done, she pulled it free. There was no resistance, it came free as easily as lifting a stone, and Kit’s body dissolved into mist. Crystal held back a sob as she turned to face PFA who stared at her in complete disbelief.
“We take it to the burnt circle,” she whispered, “and pray the wolves have not led us astray.”
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Post by Nimras on Jan 26, 2008 1:08:18 GMT -5
... Poor Kit. That has to hurt. Ohh, places where it's not just pirates and ninjas. I volunteer to be murdered in this story. ...Aren't you going out on a limb by calling Kit "he"?
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Post by Kiddo on Jan 26, 2008 1:15:40 GMT -5
... Poor Kit. That has to hurt. Ohh, places where it's not just pirates and ninjas. I volunteer to be murdered in this story. ...Aren't you going out on a limb by calling Kit "he"? All I know is that I had to listen to Crystal cooing about Kitten (who I assume is Kit?) for a week so he needs to die painfully.
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Post by Stal on Jan 26, 2008 1:17:14 GMT -5
... Poor Kit. That has to hurt. Ohh, places where it's not just pirates and ninjas. I volunteer to be murdered in this story. ...Aren't you going out on a limb by calling Kit "he"? All I know is that I had to listen to Crystal cooing about Kitten (who I assume is Kit?) for a week so he needs to die painfully. Yeah, that'd be Kit. XD I would've paid to watch that, too...
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