The Walking NTWF (Chapter 1 Preview Now Up!)
Apr 24, 2014 17:53:59 GMT -5
Elcie, Celestial, and 6 more like this
Post by Robyn on Apr 24, 2014 17:53:59 GMT -5
OKAY I COULDN'T WAIT. Thanks to everyone that dealt patiently with my rambling about this for the last couple days. And now, the first chapter of The Walking NTWF.
Chapter 1: The Life of the Party
Chapter 1: The Life of the Party
The voices swelled around me. They weaved and writhed over each other, from the faintest hiss to the loudest bellow, all gathering to form a tidal wave roaring against my back. I could hear the air rush around skyward fists and through the spaces of clawed fingers. I kept my eyes closed tight, kept silent. My breathing became constricted as their cries grew more desperate, and I could feel my lungs, concaved and aching inside their cage. For a terrifying moment, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.
“CHUG, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG-- YEAHHHHH!!”
I slammed the glass mug onto the table, grinning as I wiped the last bit of froth off my lip. Polishing off a whole pint of beer was a lot easier said than done, it turned out, but hey-- I’d done it. With a deep, much-needed breath, I swiveled around in my seat to face the crowd.
“Is everyone having as good a time as I am tonight?” I shouted. Cheers erupted from my audience.
“Best house party in recent NTWF history or WHAT?!” I yelled, punching the air. Everyone’s screams garbled into one resounding yes. I swung an arm around to point at the booming stereo system, where Jay and Thundy were attempting to have a conversation over the music.
I cupped a hand to my mouth, and in a moment of party triumph, I crowed, “DJ JAY AND EMCEE THUNDY BETTER TURN IT UUUUUUP!”
Both laughing, Jay cranked the volume, and Thundy bumped that bass. The din of the crowd was drowned out by a beat so sick it was contagious-- everyone out on the floor lost themselves to dance as colored lights strobed around the room. I turned back to the bar, positively giggling. Let no one ever say that Robyn T. Bird can’t throw a decent party, I thought. I kicked my feet back and forth under the counter as I flagged down Dan, who’d offered to bartend tonight.
“Another over here?” I asked with a hazy grin.
He arched a brow, gently taking the mug that I was practically shaking in his face. “You’ve had quite a few already. Shouldn’t you wait for that last one to settle before you start another?” he asked.
“Oh, DAN,” I said, “Come ON. It’s my BIRTHDAY.”
“I thought your invitation said that this was a house-warming party. Also, your birthday’s in March.”
I considered that for a second.
“Okay, so it’s not my birthday. But come on. Pleaaase? AW DAN COME ON NO,” I groaned as he stowed the empty glass in the sink.
“Nope. You’re cut off,” he said, crossing his arms to finalize the matter.
My head fell to the counter with a soft thunk. “Dan. How could you,” I whispered.
“Aw, you’ve got better stuff to do than drink right now anyways. You’re hosting a party! Go dance it off. Come back in an hour,” he said.
“FINE,” I sighed. With a dramatic glare that I’m sure he pointedly ignored, I pushed off from the bar, wobbling a little as I stood. My smile kept creeping back up on me. That guy was just so funny. He didn’t even know it, but he was.
After one of the most intense dance sessions of my life, the music finally died back down to a quiet ambience, and I was left milling around my house amongst all my guests. It didn’t take long for me to get back into my hosting groove. I shifted around from group to group, conversation to conversation, keeping the vibe flowing like a gear through a well-oiled machine. It wasn’t until my stomach grumbled loudly that I excused myself from speaking with Elcie to head over to the snack table.
A few of the others had stopped here as well-- Liou and Azzie, all dressed in their party best, were currently being served fruit punch into fancy plastic glasses by Icon.
“Hey, Robyn,” he said as I walked up, “Looks like I beat you to the punch line, huh?”
“Ugh. How am I supposed to compete with that?” I asked. He shrugged good-naturedly. I’d usually at least attempt a comeback pun-- maybe something with pun and punch? No, the moment was past. Drat. I turned to the girls. “Liou, Azzie! You both look so pretty tonight. Thanks so much for coming out.”
Azzie beamed at me, and Liou smiled with bright eyes as she sipped her drink.
“Thanks! Something bad’s going to happen tonight,” she said cheerily. Icon nearly choked on a pretzel.
I stammered, “Excuse me?” Didn’t I make sure there was nothing in that punch? I thought.
“Don’t worry. There isn’t,” Liou said, “Oh, but I was supposed to tell you something-- ahem.”
What could only be described as an indoor bout of thunder and lightning suddenly consumed the girl, and I was thrown onto the floor with the sheer force of the display. I squinted up, shocked into speechlessness at what I saw. Liou’s hair had gone white, and her dress had lengthened, the silk flapping around with an ethereal wind. White flames seemed to lick out from under her heels, with rays of blinding light streaming out from her fingers and face. Before I could even respond, she opened her mouth. A voice entirely not her own spilled out, shaking the house even louder than the music had.
On that last word, a piercing shriek rang through my mind. An overwhelming emotion washed over me-- some nightmarish mixture of dread, malaise, despair, and the purest terror-- and I blacked out.
The next thing I knew, Azzie and Icon were staring at me expectantly. I looked around, lost as could be and feeling like I might be sick at any moment. No one else around the house had stopped talking or even spared a glance over at us. Did that...really just happen? Liou, to my infinite surprise, was standing exactly where she was before, glass in hand.
I didn’t even know what to say. “Liou, what--“
“Yep, that was all!” she nodded. She took another tiny sip, set her unfinished drink on the table, and then to the bafflement of the rest of us, she announced, “Okay, I’m leaving. Thanks for the party! Good luck with everything!” And with a toss of her blonde hair, she was out the door. I had no words.
I tried to make sense of my last thirty seconds as Azzie placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Are you okay, sweetie? You’ve gone really pale all of a sudden. Do you need to sit down?”
“Looks like whatever she said certainly packed a punch,” Icon said. “What was so bad that she couldn’t say it to all of us?”
“Wh-- C-could you not hear her?” I asked.
They shook their heads.
“Uh, Robyn. Liou whispered it in your ear; it looked pretty private,” Azzie said. “Do you...not remember? Here, come sit down.”
She began to lead me over to the couch, but as I sat down, I noticed a few other forumers looking over at us, whispering amongst themselves. Gelquie and Celestial were starting to push through the crowd, questions written all over their faces. Pushing down my nausea, I forced myself to stand. I was not going to let this...bizarre hallucination ruin the best party in recent NTWF history. Not on my watch.
“No! Uh, no, I’m fine. Sorry. Sorry, guys. It was...snacks. How are we doing on snacks?” I asked.
Now it was Azzie’s turn to look completely confused. “Uh, well-- I mean, we are running a little low, but I really think that you need to--“
“Azzie! Oh my goodness. AZZIE,” I said, “The snacks. That’s what she meant. We need more. That’s all I’m really worried about here. Can you help me out? Snacks? Please?”
“I, uh-- I, yes, if you really need--“
“YES, we REALLY do. You get those, because I am gonna take Celes and Gelquie here--“ I swiftly intercepted them both as they finally reached us, turning them back around the way they came, “and we are gonna go start up a round of Cards Against Humanity. How does that sound, guys?”
Celes and Gelquie exchanged grins, and I let out a breath of relief. This party was still on, and chances were whatever had just happened to me was an isolated incident that would soon be completely forgotten about, right? Right. I pulled up a chair at the card table.
Somewhere in the background, I heard Icon bid Azzie goodbye as she stepped out.
The door shut quietly behind her.
* * *
After a few rounds of the game, I excused myself to go check on the rest of the party. Dan finally relented to serve me one last drink, and my nerves had thankfully settled a little, at the cost of a bit of my coherence. I only tripped once as I passed the partygoers-- almost three hours in, and things still seemed to be running smoothly.
Or so I thought, until I realized that someone had taken it upon themselves to turn on my big-screen TV. The channel had been switched to the news, of all things. The sound of stern voices and sirens clashed with the dance music coming from the other side of the room. I couldn’t quite make out the bulletins. They were scrolling along the bottom edge of the screen, much too quickly for me to follow.
The only person I could see watching it was Draco. He was planted firmly on the couch, fingers digging into the edge of the cushions. An anchorwoman in a pressed red suit read the headlines through pinched lips, and an overhanging graphic of cars exploding and panicked people occupied the top corner of the screen.
“More disturbing news today as yet another animalistic assault strikes the forum,” she read. “Police officials state that this is the fifth attack to have been reported from Memory Lane, while still others have been documented in both Tabloid Town and the Icy Taco. Citizens are urged to take caution when traveling outdoors, as the assailants have been known to primarily bit--“
The dissonance of her cool voice and her spiked words were not something I could process at the moment. I clicked the power button, and the TV faded to black with a low hum. Draco kept staring even after the last pixel died out.
I cleared my throat and said, “Um, sorry. I had the TV turned off for a reason. The news is kind of a huge buzzkill, huh?”
He seemed to relax his death grip on my new cushions as he turned to look at me. I thought he’d be annoyed that I turned off his show, but instead there was a completely different emotion on his face, one that I couldn’t quite translate in my current state. His eyes were dulled and dark, jaw set in a deep frown.
“That’s really close to here, you know,” he said, “Memory Lane.”
“Haha, yeah. It is,” I replied, scratching the back of my neck. I somehow couldn’t meet his stare. We lingered in an uncomfortable silence for a while before Draco clapped his hands on his knees and stood up.
“Well. You guys enjoy the rest of the party. I’m going to go home so I can watch the rest of this,” he said, making a beeline for the door. It took me a few seconds, but after I figured out exactly what he was saying, I stumbled forward to catch him before he left.
“Hey, wait, wait, wait!” I called, dodging guests that he’d shouldered past on his way. “Hey, you can’t just leave now! We’ve like...didn’t even start yet!”
A cool night wind breezed through the open doorjamb, and I felt my face heat up with sudden indignation. Was he seriously leaving? The nerve of that guy! Here I was, working my tail off to throw the most fun party he’s probably gonna get to go to for months, and he’s going home to go watch the news? So rude!
“Dude, I said WAIT,” I called before realizing he’d stopped right in front of the exit. His eyes were on his arm, where my hand just happened to be forcibly pulling him back into my house. I heard a few murmurs behind me, and I immediately let go.
“S-sorry,” I mumbled, “It’s just. Everyone’s here; you don’t have to leave now. Like, you like the party, right?”
Draco straightened his sleeve back out. “It’s got nothing to do with the party. I just don’t think it’s very safe here, that’s all.”
“Not safe?” I repeated, “This is like, the safest place you could probably ever even be right now. Seriously. Look, everyone’s here.”
“So you’ve said.”
“No, I mean-- ugh.” Nothing was coming out as articulate as I wanted, and I was sure I sounded like an idiot. “What I mean is, no one’s going to like. Attack us or anything. They wouldn’t dare, with all these people here. And those were like, not even incidents? Five times, in all of the NTWF. Come on. That’s nothing. Five is nothing.”
“Five is five,” Draco said, “Five attacks are not nothing. When’s the last time you ever heard of anyone attacking anyone on this forum?”
I couldn’t even remember what I’d had for breakfast at that point.
He took my silence as cue and replied, “Exactly. Something’s going on, Robyn. And I’d rather not waste my time dancing and socializing here when there could be real danger headed for town any minute. No offense.”
And with that, he stepped out, closing the door behind him. I shook my head, trying to straighten out both my thoughts and my vision. Wait. Why was it so quiet? I spun around, and all of the guests that had stopped to watch that little exchange awkwardly struck their conversations back up and did their best not to look over. I bit my lip, fighting embarrassment and a creeping sense of worry.
I started to tally up what I could in my mind. Two friends had bailed. I’d sent one friend was out at night amongst potential violent criminals alone, and now, I was apparently on the verge of losing it. I slumped down on the couch where Draco had been, rubbing my temples.
I was never going to throw a party here ever again.
“CHUG, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG-- YEAHHHHH!!”
I slammed the glass mug onto the table, grinning as I wiped the last bit of froth off my lip. Polishing off a whole pint of beer was a lot easier said than done, it turned out, but hey-- I’d done it. With a deep, much-needed breath, I swiveled around in my seat to face the crowd.
“Is everyone having as good a time as I am tonight?” I shouted. Cheers erupted from my audience.
“Best house party in recent NTWF history or WHAT?!” I yelled, punching the air. Everyone’s screams garbled into one resounding yes. I swung an arm around to point at the booming stereo system, where Jay and Thundy were attempting to have a conversation over the music.
I cupped a hand to my mouth, and in a moment of party triumph, I crowed, “DJ JAY AND EMCEE THUNDY BETTER TURN IT UUUUUUP!”
Both laughing, Jay cranked the volume, and Thundy bumped that bass. The din of the crowd was drowned out by a beat so sick it was contagious-- everyone out on the floor lost themselves to dance as colored lights strobed around the room. I turned back to the bar, positively giggling. Let no one ever say that Robyn T. Bird can’t throw a decent party, I thought. I kicked my feet back and forth under the counter as I flagged down Dan, who’d offered to bartend tonight.
“Another over here?” I asked with a hazy grin.
He arched a brow, gently taking the mug that I was practically shaking in his face. “You’ve had quite a few already. Shouldn’t you wait for that last one to settle before you start another?” he asked.
“Oh, DAN,” I said, “Come ON. It’s my BIRTHDAY.”
“I thought your invitation said that this was a house-warming party. Also, your birthday’s in March.”
I considered that for a second.
“Okay, so it’s not my birthday. But come on. Pleaaase? AW DAN COME ON NO,” I groaned as he stowed the empty glass in the sink.
“Nope. You’re cut off,” he said, crossing his arms to finalize the matter.
My head fell to the counter with a soft thunk. “Dan. How could you,” I whispered.
“Aw, you’ve got better stuff to do than drink right now anyways. You’re hosting a party! Go dance it off. Come back in an hour,” he said.
“FINE,” I sighed. With a dramatic glare that I’m sure he pointedly ignored, I pushed off from the bar, wobbling a little as I stood. My smile kept creeping back up on me. That guy was just so funny. He didn’t even know it, but he was.
After one of the most intense dance sessions of my life, the music finally died back down to a quiet ambience, and I was left milling around my house amongst all my guests. It didn’t take long for me to get back into my hosting groove. I shifted around from group to group, conversation to conversation, keeping the vibe flowing like a gear through a well-oiled machine. It wasn’t until my stomach grumbled loudly that I excused myself from speaking with Elcie to head over to the snack table.
A few of the others had stopped here as well-- Liou and Azzie, all dressed in their party best, were currently being served fruit punch into fancy plastic glasses by Icon.
“Hey, Robyn,” he said as I walked up, “Looks like I beat you to the punch line, huh?”
“Ugh. How am I supposed to compete with that?” I asked. He shrugged good-naturedly. I’d usually at least attempt a comeback pun-- maybe something with pun and punch? No, the moment was past. Drat. I turned to the girls. “Liou, Azzie! You both look so pretty tonight. Thanks so much for coming out.”
Azzie beamed at me, and Liou smiled with bright eyes as she sipped her drink.
“Thanks! Something bad’s going to happen tonight,” she said cheerily. Icon nearly choked on a pretzel.
I stammered, “Excuse me?” Didn’t I make sure there was nothing in that punch? I thought.
“Don’t worry. There isn’t,” Liou said, “Oh, but I was supposed to tell you something-- ahem.”
What could only be described as an indoor bout of thunder and lightning suddenly consumed the girl, and I was thrown onto the floor with the sheer force of the display. I squinted up, shocked into speechlessness at what I saw. Liou’s hair had gone white, and her dress had lengthened, the silk flapping around with an ethereal wind. White flames seemed to lick out from under her heels, with rays of blinding light streaming out from her fingers and face. Before I could even respond, she opened her mouth. A voice entirely not her own spilled out, shaking the house even louder than the music had.
“EARTH WILL CRACK AND ROT WILL RISE,
AND ILL DOTH OVERTAKE THE EYES.
BEGIN WITH ONE WHO’S PROVEN WARY,
FOLLOW ONE WHOSE LEAD SHALL CARRY.
FRIENDS TO DUST AND TOOTH ARE LOST,
THREE SURVIVE AT ANY COST.
TRAIL THE SUN OUT TO THE WEST,
ONLY THERE LIES AGELESS REST.”
AND ILL DOTH OVERTAKE THE EYES.
BEGIN WITH ONE WHO’S PROVEN WARY,
FOLLOW ONE WHOSE LEAD SHALL CARRY.
FRIENDS TO DUST AND TOOTH ARE LOST,
THREE SURVIVE AT ANY COST.
TRAIL THE SUN OUT TO THE WEST,
ONLY THERE LIES AGELESS REST.”
On that last word, a piercing shriek rang through my mind. An overwhelming emotion washed over me-- some nightmarish mixture of dread, malaise, despair, and the purest terror-- and I blacked out.
The next thing I knew, Azzie and Icon were staring at me expectantly. I looked around, lost as could be and feeling like I might be sick at any moment. No one else around the house had stopped talking or even spared a glance over at us. Did that...really just happen? Liou, to my infinite surprise, was standing exactly where she was before, glass in hand.
I didn’t even know what to say. “Liou, what--“
“Yep, that was all!” she nodded. She took another tiny sip, set her unfinished drink on the table, and then to the bafflement of the rest of us, she announced, “Okay, I’m leaving. Thanks for the party! Good luck with everything!” And with a toss of her blonde hair, she was out the door. I had no words.
I tried to make sense of my last thirty seconds as Azzie placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Are you okay, sweetie? You’ve gone really pale all of a sudden. Do you need to sit down?”
“Looks like whatever she said certainly packed a punch,” Icon said. “What was so bad that she couldn’t say it to all of us?”
“Wh-- C-could you not hear her?” I asked.
They shook their heads.
“Uh, Robyn. Liou whispered it in your ear; it looked pretty private,” Azzie said. “Do you...not remember? Here, come sit down.”
She began to lead me over to the couch, but as I sat down, I noticed a few other forumers looking over at us, whispering amongst themselves. Gelquie and Celestial were starting to push through the crowd, questions written all over their faces. Pushing down my nausea, I forced myself to stand. I was not going to let this...bizarre hallucination ruin the best party in recent NTWF history. Not on my watch.
“No! Uh, no, I’m fine. Sorry. Sorry, guys. It was...snacks. How are we doing on snacks?” I asked.
Now it was Azzie’s turn to look completely confused. “Uh, well-- I mean, we are running a little low, but I really think that you need to--“
“Azzie! Oh my goodness. AZZIE,” I said, “The snacks. That’s what she meant. We need more. That’s all I’m really worried about here. Can you help me out? Snacks? Please?”
“I, uh-- I, yes, if you really need--“
“YES, we REALLY do. You get those, because I am gonna take Celes and Gelquie here--“ I swiftly intercepted them both as they finally reached us, turning them back around the way they came, “and we are gonna go start up a round of Cards Against Humanity. How does that sound, guys?”
Celes and Gelquie exchanged grins, and I let out a breath of relief. This party was still on, and chances were whatever had just happened to me was an isolated incident that would soon be completely forgotten about, right? Right. I pulled up a chair at the card table.
Somewhere in the background, I heard Icon bid Azzie goodbye as she stepped out.
The door shut quietly behind her.
* * *
After a few rounds of the game, I excused myself to go check on the rest of the party. Dan finally relented to serve me one last drink, and my nerves had thankfully settled a little, at the cost of a bit of my coherence. I only tripped once as I passed the partygoers-- almost three hours in, and things still seemed to be running smoothly.
Or so I thought, until I realized that someone had taken it upon themselves to turn on my big-screen TV. The channel had been switched to the news, of all things. The sound of stern voices and sirens clashed with the dance music coming from the other side of the room. I couldn’t quite make out the bulletins. They were scrolling along the bottom edge of the screen, much too quickly for me to follow.
The only person I could see watching it was Draco. He was planted firmly on the couch, fingers digging into the edge of the cushions. An anchorwoman in a pressed red suit read the headlines through pinched lips, and an overhanging graphic of cars exploding and panicked people occupied the top corner of the screen.
“More disturbing news today as yet another animalistic assault strikes the forum,” she read. “Police officials state that this is the fifth attack to have been reported from Memory Lane, while still others have been documented in both Tabloid Town and the Icy Taco. Citizens are urged to take caution when traveling outdoors, as the assailants have been known to primarily bit--“
The dissonance of her cool voice and her spiked words were not something I could process at the moment. I clicked the power button, and the TV faded to black with a low hum. Draco kept staring even after the last pixel died out.
I cleared my throat and said, “Um, sorry. I had the TV turned off for a reason. The news is kind of a huge buzzkill, huh?”
He seemed to relax his death grip on my new cushions as he turned to look at me. I thought he’d be annoyed that I turned off his show, but instead there was a completely different emotion on his face, one that I couldn’t quite translate in my current state. His eyes were dulled and dark, jaw set in a deep frown.
“That’s really close to here, you know,” he said, “Memory Lane.”
“Haha, yeah. It is,” I replied, scratching the back of my neck. I somehow couldn’t meet his stare. We lingered in an uncomfortable silence for a while before Draco clapped his hands on his knees and stood up.
“Well. You guys enjoy the rest of the party. I’m going to go home so I can watch the rest of this,” he said, making a beeline for the door. It took me a few seconds, but after I figured out exactly what he was saying, I stumbled forward to catch him before he left.
“Hey, wait, wait, wait!” I called, dodging guests that he’d shouldered past on his way. “Hey, you can’t just leave now! We’ve like...didn’t even start yet!”
A cool night wind breezed through the open doorjamb, and I felt my face heat up with sudden indignation. Was he seriously leaving? The nerve of that guy! Here I was, working my tail off to throw the most fun party he’s probably gonna get to go to for months, and he’s going home to go watch the news? So rude!
“Dude, I said WAIT,” I called before realizing he’d stopped right in front of the exit. His eyes were on his arm, where my hand just happened to be forcibly pulling him back into my house. I heard a few murmurs behind me, and I immediately let go.
“S-sorry,” I mumbled, “It’s just. Everyone’s here; you don’t have to leave now. Like, you like the party, right?”
Draco straightened his sleeve back out. “It’s got nothing to do with the party. I just don’t think it’s very safe here, that’s all.”
“Not safe?” I repeated, “This is like, the safest place you could probably ever even be right now. Seriously. Look, everyone’s here.”
“So you’ve said.”
“No, I mean-- ugh.” Nothing was coming out as articulate as I wanted, and I was sure I sounded like an idiot. “What I mean is, no one’s going to like. Attack us or anything. They wouldn’t dare, with all these people here. And those were like, not even incidents? Five times, in all of the NTWF. Come on. That’s nothing. Five is nothing.”
“Five is five,” Draco said, “Five attacks are not nothing. When’s the last time you ever heard of anyone attacking anyone on this forum?”
I couldn’t even remember what I’d had for breakfast at that point.
He took my silence as cue and replied, “Exactly. Something’s going on, Robyn. And I’d rather not waste my time dancing and socializing here when there could be real danger headed for town any minute. No offense.”
And with that, he stepped out, closing the door behind him. I shook my head, trying to straighten out both my thoughts and my vision. Wait. Why was it so quiet? I spun around, and all of the guests that had stopped to watch that little exchange awkwardly struck their conversations back up and did their best not to look over. I bit my lip, fighting embarrassment and a creeping sense of worry.
I started to tally up what I could in my mind. Two friends had bailed. I’d sent one friend was out at night amongst potential violent criminals alone, and now, I was apparently on the verge of losing it. I slumped down on the couch where Draco had been, rubbing my temples.
I was never going to throw a party here ever again.