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Post by Ajax on Mar 12, 2014 14:32:39 GMT -5
Maybe. 15 minutes at :00?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 14:33:34 GMT -5
Maybe. 15 minutes at :00? Sounds good! Best of luck to you!  |
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Mar 12, 2014 14:49:19 GMT -5
I'm not letting you two have all the fun.  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 14:55:37 GMT -5
Whoo, join on in! I'm amazed at how much I get done when we do these. xD Word count wise, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it really helps. I wrote over 1k words yesterday. |
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Mar 12, 2014 14:57:11 GMT -5
That's great, Squid =D I overshot 1k as well! Hopefully we can do that again today. ^^
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 15:16:45 GMT -5
283! Not bad! And I finished up the second part of this story! (Both parts so far are about 5k words long. Hm. This may end up being another incredibly large story.)
Did you want to go again?
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Mar 12, 2014 15:17:05 GMT -5
797 words. I love this story xD; I don't think I've started the actual INTERVIEW yet!
"Good!" Kristy was back to her chipper self as though nothing had happened. "Let's go, then!" She paused and glanced at me. "Hey, Cass? Aren't you the expert here? Where exactly does Kastraliss live?"
That was easy, I'd done my research thoroughly for my article. "He lives in the deepest part of the Bogshot Swamp." I replied.
"Let's get moving, and, of course, I brought this to be safe." I had to stop my eyeballs from jumping out of my head. Kristy? Doing something to be safe? I was astounded and extremely curious. I stared without comment as she pulled out a tiny glass phial filled with a clear liquid. "Antidote, in case Kastraliss doesn't want to see us, but I doubt that will happen," she said dismissively with a wave of her hand. "After all, it's not like we're going to steal his black bogberries or anything."
I sighed. There was no talking Kristy out of anything once she got excited enough for it. Yes, I'd tried secretly searching her for an off switch, but of course, there was never any to be found.
"Protector," I called out, summoning my Ogrin. He bounded towards me on three legs, the fourth occupied by stuffing a marshmallow into his mouth. I frowned. "Now, Protector, not only are you going to spoil your dinner but you'll short-circuit if you eat so many."
"I can't quite help it," he beeped, abashed. "She was very kind to me." I stole a glare at Kristy, who was struggling to keep herself from laughing.
I shoved my tiny notebook and a bottle of water into my bag ruefully. "Let's just get this over with," I sighed, mounting Protector. Kristy followed, hugging me. Nine times out of ten I appreciated the tightest of hugs, but this...oh, never mind, I could deal with it. The Ogrin surged with electricity, far quieter than any Neopet-made motor ever could, and sprang off southward, away from the snowy mountains I'd known as a child, away from the safety of home.
"Now do be careful, Protector," my voice was nearly lost to him in the winds almost as loud as the Techo Fanatic. "This place is filled with mud and traps. You've got to stay on high ground."
"But what about you?" He purred. "Will you not short-circuit, yourself, if you step in the bog?" I stroked his neck. Kristy laughed into the wind, let go of me, and raised both her arms. I had to grab her by the hair to get her back on, something I regretted doing only a few seconds later. To my surprise, it didn't seem to faze her all that much. "Apart from that one time she nearly drowned, I don't think you'll have to worry about her!" she guffawed.
I whirled around, my patience growing thinner than Bart's apple bobbing water. "I thought I told you never to speak of it again."
The sky overhead turned a deep purple, and I hugged Protector's neck tighter. The landscape had changed to a mottled brown and green, and I wasn't sure when it had happened. "Stay close," I whispered, mostly for myself. I shivered. This wasn't the friendly cold that I'd known for years in Happy Valley. This was a cold that rang with pure evil and of ominous things to come.
"Are you vibrating? Perhaps I can jump-start your circuitry," Protector beeped politely, energy crackling around his cheeks. I leaped off of the Ogrin immediately. "How many times do I have to tell you, Protector, that unless I'm in grave danger, I don't need to be jump-started! I'm organic!" The Ogrin bowed his head as Kristy patted his neck and handed him another marshmallow. "I have the tendency to forget," he whispered, nuzzling the blonde journalist in thanks.
"Oh, for..." I didn't get to finish. A low rumbling spread through the swamp and vibrated what little solid ground I had under my feet. I weighed the options: help Kristy interview the serpent I only had the guts to admire from afar, or risk electrocution by my own faithful pet.
I decided right then and there I'd rather be zapped to a crisp.
"Let's go back, it's just not safe here!" I pleaded, hopping onto Protector once more.
"It's beautiful..." Kristy sighed and walked forward with absolutely no trouble. It was almost as if the moss was her old friend and worked with her to pile underneath her feet. "Just look at that drapery, and the flowers, and the little Bagguss patch over there..." She swooned and said Baggus patch caught her gracefully.
I narrowly dodged a wicked-looking bog hole, getting covered in mud up to my thigh before relying on Protector to pull me out of there. "You've got to be kidding me."
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Post by Ajax on Mar 12, 2014 15:17:11 GMT -5
453 words. Someone give it a quick read for me ^^ The stars twinkled and glittered in the distance, shining out into the darkness of space like a lighthouse on the rocks. The Virtupets Space Station was tumbling through the vacuum, spinning towards Neopia faster than the eye could follow. Out of a window, set deep into the bottom was a face. A blue blumaroo stared out onto the world spinning below him. His name was Zelroo.
With a sigh, he turned away from the window, back into the bustle of the space hanger before him. The room was filled, from side to side, with a hundred different types of spacecraft. Set high in the rafters above him, bright bulbs shone down, flooding the floor with their incandescent light. The noise was incredible, as his staff of Grundo workers milled around, doing their final checks on the craft before them.
“Excuse me,” squeaked a voice to his left. There was a small grundo, green of course, clutching a clipboard tightly with one hand. The other was raised as if to tug at the blumaroo’s arm. Perhaps he had thought better of it when he saw the metal casings. “Sir, I’ve been told to inform you that Engine B in the X-A88K space craft has failed.”
Zelroo sighed. The X-A88K was the newest, and most troublesome, of his designed space ships. With some effort he turned to face the small neopet in front of him, his bionic legs clunked on the metal flooring beneath him as he moved.
“Specifics?” he queried, not bothering with politeness.
“Well Sir,” came the squeaking voice of the Grundo, “It appears that the main turbine has failed in the start-up phase. Jimmy… I mean, Inspector Jimmy sir, seems to think that one of the fans has come loose again sir.”
“Hmm..” pondered Zelroo the designer, “That does seem to be a recurring problem.”
“Yes sir.”
“Name?”
“Neton. Engineer, 3rd Class. Sir”
Zelroo sighed again. Dr. Sloth was not going to be happy when he broke the news that his fleet wouldn’t be the most technological able that it could be. That was his job after all, in repayment for his robotic body. He gestured Neton to follow him with a jerk of his hand, who immediately complied, as all grundos did. Zelroo strode over to the spacecraft in question, Neton almost breaking into a run to keep up. A large group of grundos were there, arguing loudly about the best way to fix the turbine. There’s Inspector Jimmy, 1st Class, thought Zelroo, Still sporting that ridiculous pair of goggles I see.
The crowd quieted as the blumaroo approached, parting slightly. Zelroo stood before them, almost a head taller.
“Problem?”
“A loose fan again sir,” said Inspector Jimmy smartly, almost saluting.
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Mar 12, 2014 15:19:48 GMT -5
Oooh, lovely start, Ajax. c: Is it for the Storytelling competition?
And Squid, of course I want to go again =D
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 15:22:25 GMT -5
Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) - Oh dear, sounds like you and Kristy are up to some wacky hijinks. xD D'awww, Protector is adorable. <3 I love robot characters. Want to start at :30 and go for maybe a half hour this time? Ajax - Looks good! I love that Zelroo is an engineer, there just aren't enough of those in stories. You do a great job with the mechanical detail. Here's mine: A blast of wind made Gwyneth’s leathery wings billow like sails, and she fought to stay upright as Blynn guided her into the clouds. The dense fog slapped Hyren’s face with overpowering wetness, a million tiny particles of water hitting his bare skin at once. Knees firmly into the Ganuthor’s back, Hyren pulled out his and Blynn’s travelling cloaks and wrapped them around their shoulders.
“Thanks!” Blynn called back to him, yelling to be heard above the wind.
Hyren sneezed miserably in response. He hated rain. But he hated even more the thought of stalling while his family was in trouble. Finally they pulled out of the clouds, and the cold night wind felt like it was slicing through him, chilling his very bones. The cloud layer stretched below them like a roiling sea, while above hung a canopy of stars. Distant thunderheads amassed on the southeastern horizon like a pack of beasts circling their prey.
The Grundo put a hand on Gwyneth’s matted fur. The Ganuthor couldn’t fly high enough to avoid those storms, so they’d have to try to outrun them. “Sorry, girl,” he muttered. “Hang in there.” They all just had to hang in there.
***
It was dark—that was the first thing Terra noticed. Dark and stuffy. But she was breathing. That was a good sign.
Something heavy and scratchy was covering her face. She aimed a sharp breath out of pursed lips to try to blow it away, but it simply settled back on her nose and chin after a moment.
That was when she started to panic. Her next thought was to move it away with her hand, but when she went to move it from behind her back she quickly realised her wrists had been bound. With rope. Really scratchy rope. She was currently trapped in Scratchy Claustrophobia Land.
She was not okay with this. I added the last paragraph and a half that I wrote after the end and didn't count in my word count so it makes sense, and because it amused me and I wanted to share it. Terra's inner monologue is proving very entertaining to write.
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Mar 12, 2014 15:25:38 GMT -5
Oooh I really like the Terra bit. The audience is made aware of her predicament at the EXACT same time she is =D
I would like that, @surfersquid, but I fear I might actually finish the story and neglect my research paper...hm...
LET'S DO IT
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Post by Ajax on Mar 12, 2014 15:28:32 GMT -5
Oooh, lovely start, Ajax. c: Is it for the Storytelling competition? Not necessarily, I tend to go for short stories if I have a decent idea. If it doesn't go anywhere then probably storytelling xD Ajax - Looks good! I love that Zelroo is an engineer, there just aren't enough of those in stories. You do a great job with the mechanical detail. Ha. Yeah, I tend to go quite detailed for no necessary reason. I was just making up random mechanical-sounding things though! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2014 15:29:13 GMT -5
Oooh I really like the Terra bit. The audience is made aware of her predicament at the EXACT same time she is =D I would like that, @surfersquid, but I fear I might actually finish the story and neglect my research paper...hm... LET'S DO IT Thanks! I really wanted to do stream-of-consciousness for this part and I'm glad it's working well. It's always an interesting challenge to come up with fresh and engaging ways to introduce a character coming out of unconsciousness. Especially when the reader has spent the past five thousand words having no idea what's happened to said character. Slow reveals are the best.  xD Well, work on your research paper if you need to! I have plenty of other stuff to do on my end. I just felt bad leaving you without a word war partner. ^^; |
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Post by Ajax on Mar 12, 2014 15:31:36 GMT -5
p.s. i can't do another word war at the moment! Sorry all.
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Post by Ajax on Mar 12, 2014 15:32:56 GMT -5
I'll be interested to know how this story end fluffle xD - Thinking of entering it for NT?
I think the last section is the best squid. I really enjoy that sort of writing.
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