RRR FF
Round-Robin ‘Riting, Free-Form — the way we tried it before. For those who want perfect freedom to write anything they like.
Date: November 3, 2005
Categories: Fiction, poetry, and fanfiction
Comments RSS TrackBack 138 comments
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KitKat
in November 3rd, 2005 @ 23:27Howabout we start in the mountains, rather than the city.
All people! Take vote.
a)mountains
b) city
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Kricket
in November 4th, 2005 @ 07:24mountains!!!!!!!!!
I’m glad we got this straightened out. Why don’t you start it KitKat?
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Cliché
in November 4th, 2005 @ 11:18City > Mountains.
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Phoenix
in November 4th, 2005 @ 16:25how about a sci-fi plot this time?
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KitKat
in November 4th, 2005 @ 18:02Okay, another vote!
Take vote peoples!!!a) sci-fi
b) bizzarre disatourous plot (spelled wrong on purpose….)and yes. I am glorifying sci-fi, so make it sci-fi!
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Lizzie
in November 4th, 2005 @ 19:11sci-fi/fantasy. because fantasy pwns.
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Phoebe
in November 4th, 2005 @ 22:25Let’s make it a sort of fanstasy – sci-fi mix. That way we’ll all agree!
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ChinTsu
in November 4th, 2005 @ 23:39Yes! Perfect! But what should we write about? We need main characters! And they can’t all be female. Are there any boys here who write?
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Axa
in November 5th, 2005 @ 00:00Yeah, a mix sounds good. I always prefer natural settings, cities make me twitchy.
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Phoebe
in November 5th, 2005 @ 00:30I’ll make a boy character, even though I’m a girl.
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Phoebe
in November 5th, 2005 @ 00:33Ok, so now we have a slightly planned out thing, let’s go!
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randomrohanfreak
in November 5th, 2005 @ 00:59Who says girls can’t write about boys? I like the idea of fantasy/sci-fi mix too. How about a city IN the mountains?
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Phoebe
in November 5th, 2005 @ 14:05Sounds cool to me. You were going to start, KitKat?
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 5th, 2005 @ 15:45hey i think i’ll actually do this one. haven’t tried this stuff in a while….
so i make up a character and then just go with the story right? but i write about my character? something like that?
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Phoenix
in November 5th, 2005 @ 19:29yep! go right on ahead!
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Phoebe
in November 5th, 2005 @ 21:39Just do your thing.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 5th, 2005 @ 23:49Can we start writing already? Is KitKat starting this one?
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Phoebe
in November 5th, 2005 @ 23:59I don’t know, either KitKat was doing it or Ebeth was doing it, but neither is here.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 6th, 2005 @ 00:45KitKat? Ebeth? Where are yoooooo? I don’t want to just talk and wait for the story to start!
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Phoebe
in November 6th, 2005 @ 13:10RandomRohanFreak, if neither is here by tonight, you go ahead and start. I hafta go do my NaNo stuff. I’m behind, I’ve only got, like, 4700 words.
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Phoenix
in November 6th, 2005 @ 13:11oh, come on guys, stop waffling! here, I’ll start. Sorry, I’m not starting in the mountains immediately.
Of all the starships in the Terran Reconstructon Fleet, the Archanon was undoubtably the biggest. it was a huge, lumbering thing, more than a mile long and half that in hight, shaped like a giant, silver, gleaming bean. It sat in the Shipyards waiting for the moment when, burdened by over ten thousand men, women, and children, all the highest nobility of the Exulted Empire, it would depart from Earth to seek new worlds. A few minds had momentarily flicked to the ones who would be left behind, but quickly left them. After all, they were just peasants.
They did not know that one of these peasants was aboard the ship at the moment.
Matt crept through the grey, dimly lit halls on his hands and knees, going as quietly as he could as quickly as he could. reaching a crosspassage, he barely paused as he selected the precise one he needed and started down it, creeping noiselessly over the rough carpeted floor. He stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway facing the bare wall, and stood up. When not on his hands and knees to avoid detection, he was really quite tall for his age. He reached an arm up to a tiny grate in the wall, took out a small screwdriver, and began to twist away the nails, his practiced actions making barely a sound. the grate fell away. He hoisted himself up to it, and slowly squeezed his skinny body through the opening that could not have been more than six inches square. With a small clacking noise, he fastened the grate back in place. He started off, crawling through the widening passage towards the Bridge. the duct twisted and turned like a giant rabbit’s den, not that Matt had ever seen a rabbit before. He had lived all of his thirteen– fourteen? twelve? he didn’t know– years on this ship. He had only been off it to scrounge the shipyards for food, and he knew every nook and cranny of it. he carefully skirted the heat shields designed to blast apart any rats that were in the ducts. Like me, he thought ruefully. Rats like me.
finally he reached the bridge. peering down through a tiny gap in the cieling, he beheld a strange scene. Two muscled Shipmasons were coming through a door that Matt knew was the shortest way outside for people who didn’t have his advantages. They were each holding the end of a rope, which were pulling and jerking violently, so violently that more than once the rope was nearly wrenched out of its holder’s hands. struggling and cursing, they moved an inch at a time further into the room, towards where the Mastermason was standing, his hands clasped behind his back, looking very bored. Fianlly they gave a great wrench in unison and what they were pulling was dragged through the door to land uncerimoniously on the ground.
It was a girl. About Matt’s age, she looked, with dark red hair done in a thick braid down her back, now sloppy and undone. She wasn’t tall, but with the fight she had evidently been putting up she was evidently stronger than she looked. The ends of the two ropes were bound tightly about her wrists, and she was wearing the ragged, dull clothing of the lowest class of peasant.
“stand up.”
the girl looked up at the Mastermason, who had spoken. He was a thin, almost emaciated noble, with a sharp, pale face and a thin mouth. He looked cruel and unjust, which, reflected Matt, he probably was. All nobles were cruel and unjust.
the girl, after searching the Mastermason’s face for a moment, curved her lips into what resembled a sneer. “I’ll not obey one such as you, Mason,” she said in what was clearly as insulting a voice as she could muster. “not one who should rightfully be back in the pens with the serfs!”
the Mastermason’s face contorted with fury. “I’ll have no lip such as that, peasant,” he said, putting the same emphasis on the word as she had used when she had called him Mason, a word which, Matt knew, applied to only the indentured servant craftsmen, a rank far blow that of Mastermason. “throw her in the hold,” said the man to the two workers. “let’s let this girl know what happens to peasants found abourd this ship. take her away.”
the girl was dragged off by the two Shipmasons in the direction of the hold. Matt hesitated for a moment, and then, using an alternate route in the ducts, followed.
((how was that?))
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22
Phoenix
in November 6th, 2005 @ 13:14hey, why was that all in italics?
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Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in November 6th, 2005 @ 14:25Some extra slash-i commands crept into your text somehow. I’ve taken them out and added extra spaces to offset your paragraphs.
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KitKat
in November 6th, 2005 @ 15:04Erm…was that in the mountains?
I thought we said we began in the mountains. But it was good, but if we don’t want this to be all wierd…well actually, it is free form, though. Sorry I couldn’t be here. I would’ve started but it looks like Phoenix did a great job and we have to start with her!!! You’re a great writer, Phoenix! Ever considered writing a real-time book?Matt followed the two muscled men as they dragged the struggling girl into almost pitch-black darkness. Wails and moans echoed off the walls. The girl panicked. Matt knew her thoughts. “This is a torture chamber, isn’t it?” Suddenly the girl became Ice stiff the men, who were in front of her, still pulled, but then were jerked back to see that she was as still as a stone. Her face was pale and she was shivering.
“Erm…is she all right? I’ll call the boss.”
The other man nodded.
“This is 784 calling in. The girl’s all stiff.” He rasped into a walkie talkie.
“That’s just like them,” said the Mason. “They get scared when they go down there our it’s just some act to make them let them go.” The staticy voice of the Mason responded. When the girl heard this, she couldn’t help it but let the blood flush into her face and become deep red with defeat. How could she had known?
She again hesistated, but they tugged on the rope, leading her deeper and deeper down. “Dumb girl.”
Matt followed behind. Lower down, the carpet vanished and the flooring was replaced by cold steel. Once it began, one of Matt’s footsteps echoed and he stopped, cold.
“What was that?” whispered one man.
“Dunno,” replied the other.
“Well then forget it.”
This time, Matt took a step as each of the men took one of their mechanical steps, easy to follow.
“Okay, get in there.” Roared on of them. The clanking of chains cold be heard and then the scream of the girl.
“There’s a rotting body in here!” She shrieked.
“That’d be the mage,” chuckled one of them. “Geez, it’s a wet blanket girl.” The girl sighed.
“Okay, let’s go back.”
Now Matt understood the danger he was in. They would be going back, and it was two narrow for two people. His only chance was…
* * *
“Boss, I don’t know what happened to Merg. One moment he was there, then the next her must have fell unconcious. ”
***Matt let go of the hand hold that was sending electric jolts up his spine. He fell from the ceiling down with a clang to the bottom.
“Who’s there?” whispered the girl.
“You don’t know me.” He replied.
“Tell me your name,” she demanded.
“Matt.”
“Lotus.” she replied.
“Well, then, Lotus. I have some picklocking to do.”
* * *
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Phoebe
in November 6th, 2005 @ 15:23Thanks for starting that up, Phoenix.
Matt swallowed. Obviously, this girl was a stowaway. And so was he. Not good. No doubt she’d end up kicked into a rocket jet or something, a very painful way to go. But Matt’s concience – his bloody, stupid, idiotic concience – was bothering him again. He did have cyanide, lest it be needed. I am a stupid idiot, he told himself, but there was nothing to be done aout ot now. So with a reluctant sigh, he scrambled down the duct after the girl and her captors.
Chapter 2
In Which Matt’s Job is Cut Out For HimThe duct twisted and turned. The girl was smart enough to delay them as much as possible and try to get help, so she was stomping loudly and stopping every once in a while to tie a non – existant shoe. Matt, soon enough, was hot on their trail.
Eventually, they came to a small chamber. It was completely empty, aside from a small door and a collection of oxygen tanks in the corner.
(I’ll write this later, etc., the people are gonna push her out in to outer space, but than the engine goes crazy and the ship kinda goes crazy and eveyone goes flying. Matt and the girl get out alive.)
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Phoenix
in November 6th, 2005 @ 19:34KitKat and Pheebs, those were good, but don’t really fit. fistly, KitKat, Matt is in the duct. he therefore is in no danger of capture. Plus, “fear” is clearly not in the girl’s vocabulary. She is not afraid.
Pheebs, the ship is not in space and is not even finished being built.
plus, if we are putting in magic, please do not bring it in this early in the plot! It cuts out suspense. Just a frienly request from Eddie, your shipboard computer!
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Phoenix
in November 6th, 2005 @ 19:35oh, yeah, and KitKat: I have considered publishing somthing. look in the archives for somthing called Dragonseye, parts one and two!
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Phoebe
in November 6th, 2005 @ 20:59What magic?
Fine, we won’t use mine. But I’m slightly frusterated here because firstly you didn’t mention those points before, but your only telling us now. I like KitKat’s though.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 6th, 2005 @ 21:10yeah are you gonna do any more of dragonseye or no? that was really good…
ok. let’s see if i can figure out what’s going on.
k lemme see if this works…
Matt led the girl along the endless tunnels of the ship. Eventually they came to a small space that was slightly larger than the rest of the small passageway they were in. Matt stared at the seemingly solid wall, obviously thinking hard.
“Where are you taking me?” Lotus asked fiercely. “Why am I coming with you? What reason do I have to trust you?”
Matt turned back to her with a slightly hurt look on his face. “I got you out!!!” he said. “And besides, we’re both stowaways right? It doesn’t help either of us if I turn you in.”
Lotus considered that. “That’s true,” she admitted. “Ok carry on. What are you doing anyway?”
Matt found what he was looking for-the tiniest gap between the steel walls. “This,” he said proudly, “Is my room.”
Lotus gasped. “This…you stay here?” Matt nodded. “But…but..but this is amazing!!! This is what I’ve been looking for!!”
Matt shrugged. “It’s just an escape pod” he said. “Not much really.”
Lotus ignored him and walked around, looking carefully at the controls. “Perfect.” she said a bit smugly. “Absolutely perfect.”
Matt was still confused. “I’m not sure I understand…” he began, but was cut off by another question.
“Matt, do you know where this spaceship is going once it’s built?”
Matt just stared at her. “um…space?” he suggested tentatively.
Lotus rolled her eyes. “Where in space Matt?”
Matt shrugged. “Is it important?” he asked.
Lotus gave him a slightly maniacal smile. “Oh yes. Oh yes. It’s very important. To me anyway.”
“I still don’t understand…” Matt said helplessly.
Lotus smiled again, this time more understanding. “Don’t worry Matt. It’ll be fine. I have something to do. Something important…”
She sat down and began to study the controls.
zat ok?
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Phoenix
in November 6th, 2005 @ 21:40lovely!
but I did TOO mention all those things! read my chapter more carefully!ok. backround. Lotus is not really a peasant, exactly. she is the daughter of a former noble who was denounced for being “anti-state” (i.e. free thinking) and stripped of his title. the ship was heading to colonize a new world, because Terra is becomeing largely inhabitable, and Lotus was on the ship trying to sabotage it, because she dosn’t want the nobles to escape. sort of a revenge thing. she is kind of a single minded, cold, calculating sort of person and can be quite heartless and cruel if need be.
Matt is a street rat, plain and simple. his mother raised him and stuck him in the ship, knowing of it’s mission and hoping to save him.
Ebeth, I don’t know where you wanted the ship to be going, but fire away!
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Phoebe
in November 6th, 2005 @ 22:40That’s cool, Ebeth!
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 7th, 2005 @ 13:30um…i actually had no clue where the ship was going… i vill tink of someting though! unless someone else has an idea…
sry but i can’t make up a plot and then write, i just sorta go with whatever i can think of…
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Phoebe
in November 7th, 2005 @ 19:07Just as Lotus thought she had found the right button, there was a loud crash. She and Matt glanced at each other, and than, with another crash, were thrown off their feet. Lotus went sprawling and Matt skidded into the wall, and before either could get to their feet, there was another crash and both braced themselves and managed to stay upright. “Let’s get out of here,” yelled Lotus over the noise as a table overturned and went flying at them. Matt dodged a glass vase, intact with genetically modified orchids, which smashed into the wall behind him and they managed to get to the portal that led out into the twisting labyrinth that was the ship, which was a enormous carrier type. “We need a window,” shouted Matt. They both dashed out into the hallway. “Anyway,” he said, trying to keep up with her, “I think it’s going to some nearby planet, just to get out of here. With the upcoming apocalypse and all.” he waved his hands distantly. “Great,” said Lotus sarcastically, biting her lip. “Really helpful.” “Well sorry,” said Matt, feeling slightly hurt.
Imani, at that moment, was biting her lip as well. Here she was, down on the ground, while the enormous cargo ship began to launch into the stratosphere. And she wasn’t on it. If the nobles weren’t there to clear things up, chances are that the next acid rainfall would kill them all. That is, if they didn’t run out of food first. The nobles had taken all the food except for the occasional rotting apple or sick rice field. So what to do?
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randomrohanfreak
in November 8th, 2005 @ 18:07Lotus yanked at the tubelike silver skirt that was slowing her down. The flimsy polyester ripped through easily, revealing dark cotton shorts on her muscular legs. She sped up, drawing even with Matt again. It wasn’t that hard. He was slower than any of her brothers. Lotus stuffed the awful-tasting fabric into her mouth, not wanting to leave any trace of their escape or route behind.
Of course, they couldn’t get much farther without being caught by the ringing of an alarm bell. Lotus was surprised that they had managed this much unnoticed. “Pick up the pace,” she yelled to Matt. “Or I’ll have to leave you behind.” She intended to do no such thing, but if living with the heartless nobles before her father’s exile had taught her anything, it was that threats worked.
Exile was a stupid word for death, thought Lotus. Because that was what they did when they exiled you, the nobles. They stuck you in a poison gas chamber and made everyone that ever cared about you watch as you slowly choked and went blue and fell to the bottom of the chamber clutching at your throat. When you didn’t twitch anymore, they’d let you out and throw you Outside.
Lotus was so absorbed in her memories of her father’s execution that she didn’t notice the tripwire.”Watch out!” Matt screamed, and then “Run!” as the bell started to ring.
Tear gas filled the hall. Lotus was having trouble seeing through the haze of tears, but she thought she saw something vaguely oval, with a circle in the middle. There was nothing like that on the ship, except–
“A door!” she cried. Guards in bright green suits were straming out of the doors now. She and Matt frantically turned the wheel, any which way until they heard it click. Pushing the heavy silver door open, Lotus leapt out. If Matt didn’t have the sense to follow her, let the Guards get him.
It was a very long way to the ground.
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Phoenix
in November 8th, 2005 @ 20:34Matt jumped out the door after her and fell down, down, down… luckily, they were on a lower level of the ship. All his instincts were screaming at him to find somthing, anything to grab on to, and he reached out, attempting to find a handhold. His fingers scrambled frantically across the smooth metal, but there was simply nothing there.
Suddenly there was a hard thump and he hit something hard with excruciating force. The last thing he felt was the searing pain before he blacked out.Matt woke to the soft murmur of voices. A ray of brown light struck his face, and he groaned.
“Hush…” soft, rough hands pushed him down, futher into his bed of reeds. They were dry and sharp, but they felt like a cloud when cradiling Matt’s bruised body. “Hush…” the soft hands tilted a cup to his lips, and he let the cool, unusually clear water trickle down his throat. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
A girl his own age was kneeling by his palate, holding the now-empty cup. She was wearing the same peasant clothes as Lotus was, but she looked nothing at all like Lotus, with her, soft-looking, wavy brown hair that framed her face and big brown eyes, she was almost buetifull, even with her rags and dirt stained features. Lotus…
Suddenly, he sat up straight. “Lotus! I forgot!” he began to stand up, but the girl gently pushed him down again. “Rest,” she said. “It’s okay. She’ll be okay, we found her a few yards away from you.”
Matt turned his head. He could just make out a similar pallet to the one he was on, and the figure of Lotus on it, asleep.
Suddenly, there was a clatter of a door being thrown open and a big, full, husky voice called, “Imani! How are they doing?”
the girl, Imani, looked around to where a woman who must have once been full-bodied and plump stood in a doorway. “this one’s fine, Ma`me, she answered, and the other is sleeping. I don’t think they’ll be hurt.”
“Good, Imani. Keep tending them, supper will be ready shortly.” she walked out and closed the door.
Imani turned back to Matt. “I saw you were on the ship,” she said quietly. “You are going to escape.” it wasn’t really a question.
“well,” said Matt, “we want to, of course, but we don’t have a ship.”
Imani leaned closer. Softly, she said, “If I told you I could help you, would you… take me with you?”
Matt inhaled sharply. “well, sure, I guess…” he said, “but what about your family? and all the peasants?” he pulled away slightly. She was making him feel a bit befuddled.
the girl smiled sadly. “my family, my Ma’me, Po’pe, and my Grandma’me, and only about a hundred other people, we are the only ones left. And all but my family were taken as slaves. You see, “she added,” the nobles no longer seek to maintain the illusion that we are people. Now they buy and sell us like cattle. I can find you a ship. “just, you must rescue all the people.” before Matt could say anything, she put in, “If you cannot find it in your heart to save them for thier own sake, do it for mine.”
she stood up and moved out the door, closing it softly behind her. Suddenly, Matt heard a movement behind him. He sat up quickly and looked around. Lotus was standing up on her palate, her hands on her hips. She had an expression of disgust on her face.
“well?” she said nastily.
Matt blushed to the roots of his hair. “uh.. I got us a ship, Lotus…”
the girl tossed her crimson braid and rolled her eyes. “I don’t need someone with me who falls for every pretty face he sees,” she said. “but I’ll forgive you, because A, you saved my life, and B, you got us a ship. You going to rescue those slaves?”
“of course,” said Mat in horor, “and not just because what she said! don’t tell me you wouldn’t have!”
“good,” answered Lotus, “because those people need saving. We’ll go just as soon as your lady-love finds us a ship.” she sunk back down on her palate and appeared to fall asleep immediately. Matt imitated her, but he lay awake for a long while.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 8th, 2005 @ 21:25I can’t resist posting again… so many ideas…
Lotus watched as Matt appeared to drift into sleep. She pretended to, but her mind was too busy, and the pain of her arm was too intense. Had she broken it? It was splinted roughly, with cloth wrapped around wood that looked as if it would snap if it was touched. The splint reminded her of living in exile with her mother and brothers. Larch had broken his arm, and Ma’me had splinted it with wood from trees weakened with acid rain. As soon as the arm had healed, though badly, men in shiny silver suits with masks that covered their faces had taken them away.
They’d Exiled Larch, making Ma’me, Lotus, Maple, and Beech watch, just as they had with Po’pe. Then they took Maple and Beech and gassed them both at the same time. Lotus had been terrified they’d do the same to her, but the executioners tossed them out, alive. Barely, for Ma’me. Seeing her husband Exiled had been bad enough. Seeing the same done to her sons was unbearable. Lotus had read books where that happened, a woman’s husband and sons are killed, leaving her with only a daughter. The books had treated that as inhuman and sexist, that she didn’t care enough for her daughter to live. Lotus understood, though, that it wasn’t. She’d often envied Ma’me the peace that would come when she was gone, gone to wherever you went after you died.
It probably wasn’t any better than messed-up Terra, but it couldn’t be much worse, and Po’pe, Larch, Maple, and Beech were there.
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Phoebe
in November 8th, 2005 @ 21:50Imani stood up, away from the dumbstruck boy – why was he staring at her like that? Imani didn’t have much experience with young men – and scrambled over to the medicine cabinet. There wasn’t much, aside from some aloe, a few bandages, and other odds and ends. The nobles had taken the medicine, once more. Idiots. Scowling, she picked up the poppyseed oil and began boiling a poultice over the fire.
The ship that she had wasn’t exactly what Lotus was exactly looking for. It was some old Firefly model B, capable of fitting fifteen people comfortably. It’s oxygen tank leaked and the engine was rusty. Ah well. She sighed and stirred the stew pot.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 9th, 2005 @ 01:02Why does it seem like every other entry is by me? I am too controlling and I have nothing better to do.
Lotus watched tthrough her long eyelashes as Imani stirred. Why was Matt so obviously infatuated with her? Imani was too old for him. She looked about seventeen, and Matt was what? Thirteen? Fourteen? Fifteen at most, if he was malnourished and slow-developing. And Imani wasn’t that beautiful, was she? Her wavy hair was dirty and matted, although Lotus knew she didn’t look much better. But still…
Suddenly, Lotus realised how utterly stupid this was. Was she jealous? That was ridiculous. Why would she be jealous, when she didn’t even care about Matt, besides his saving her from Exile and finding a ship. She didn’t care about him as a friend, and certainly not like… like that.
That, what some people called love, was what had killed Ma’me. Lotus had no intention of it happening to her.
The stew smelled good, certainly better than what she or Ma’me had ever been able to conjure up from the scraps on Terra that weren’t on the ship. Lotus sat up.
“Stew?” asked Imani. “It’s not much, but if you’re starving, it tastes like what nobles eat. I suppose you’d know about that.” There was a hint of bitterness, of resentment in the girl’s tone. Lotus understood how much someone like Imani could hate the nobles. They were the ones who had killed Lotus’s family and sold Imani’s friends into slavery.
Imani wasn’t the one to be angry at, or even Matt. If the nobles cared for people other than themselves, none of them would be here. The nobles were the ones to hate, and Lotus would make sure they felt that hatred.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 9th, 2005 @ 13:54ooh. the plot thickens. I have no ideas. at all. my brain is blank. tragedy has befallen your companion of the RRR FF.
I will think of something and post. i will! eventually.
i like the anti-nobles thing. somebody to get revenge on. mwahaha.
i will return (mwahaha
) sometime. and go typetytypetype and figure out some wonderful piece of the plot. maybe when i have some energy. arrgh.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 9th, 2005 @ 18:46darn italics. Administrador? *puppy face* And for people like me, might you provide a crash course in italics and bold and MAKING THE STUPID THINGS STOP? For everyone else’s sanity, I will not post another installment until someone writes the next bit. So hurry, because I have too many ideas. Now if only this were the case with my 2000-word NaNo story…
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Phoenix
in November 9th, 2005 @ 18:46“where is it?”
“just this way,” aswered Imani. “we go around here a lot, you know, because sometimes the Masons drop a bit of food. Wait a moment…” the tall, pretty girl peered around a large pile of scrap metal into the gathering darkness. She stepped carefully past it and turned a corner, vanishing from view. Matt heard the soft ping of metal vibrating, and then silence. After a moment, Imani’s voice called, “all right, come on, then.”
Matt stepped around the pile, Lotus following quickly after him. They found Imani standing proudly beside a tiny spaceship, hardly more than thirty feet long and half as high, it’s once-polished coat now dull and tarnished. But still, it would fly. “great, Imani, thanks–”
“what a piece of junk!”
Imani and Matt both whirled thier heads around at the same time. Lotus was standing in her typical hands-on-hips pose, eyeing the little ship as if it were a hound that had just made a mess on her foot.
“well,” retorted Imani after a moments shocked hesitation, “well, if her Ladyship dosn’t like it, that her Ladyship can get herself her own ship!” she glared at Lotus, her soft eyes sparkling with anger.
“uh, guys…” said Matt nervously, trying to place himself between them, “stop it! Imani, the ship is really great, it’s perfect…”
“Her Ladyship dosn’t seem to think so!” flared Imani.
“The ship is junk!” said Lotus again. “even if we do get her in the air, there is no way we can board the Archanon, rescue the slaves, destroy the ship, and fly her to a good planet with enough food and supplies for a hundred people! She’d break up in a week, even if we could cram everyone on without dying of suffocation! I say we find a better ship.”
“Listen,” said Matt, attempting to reason with her, “Lotus, we have no choice. All the good ships on Earth have been commandeered by the Terran Reconstruction Fleet, they have them! We can’t just take them!
Suddenly, Lotus’ eyes lit up. “that’s it! Matt, you’re a genius! We’ll take the ship we need, maybe even two or three! We can steal one with Photons and maybe even a Disintegration ray, cut a whole in the Archanon’s slave hold, get everyone out, and fry that Noble nest! We can do it now, today!” she began to pace feverishly back and forth, muttering to herself enthusiastically.
“Oh yes, brilliant, your Ladyship,” said Imani in a voice more typical of Lotus, “Brilliant, that is, if we want to add being caught and enslaved to our to-do list today! They won’t overlook the absance of three or four large armed ships for long. They’ll catch us before a week has passed!”
Matt expected the red-haired girl to make a sharp retort to what was obviously a true assesment, but to his surprise, she laughed. “Oh, Imani, Matt, don’t you understand? By the time they notice, it won’t matter anymore! Didn’t they tell you?”
Imani and Matt both stared at her, dumbfounded. “Oh, no, of course they didn’t,” Lotus answered her own question. “Didn’t you ever wonder why all the crops failed? why the animals got sick? and why the Nobles seemed to know about it way beforehand?” seeing the still blank looks onthier faces, she continiued, “oh, isn’t it obvious? the Nobles didn’t just predict this, they caused it!”
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Phoebe
in November 9th, 2005 @ 18:50((Y’know, that worked perfectly. I was planning on Imani being, like, 14. MUAHAHAHAHHAHA.))
Matt was quite dumbstruck. He usually had fairly quick wits, but this was like… Like… Let’s not get into it. He dragged his eyes off Imani and ate a bite of stew.
Lotus decided to get the info about the ship. “Eh, Imani, about your boat?” “Oh,” said Imani uneasily, “It’s, um, a fifty year old Firefly model B.” This, for some odd reason, only seemed to make Lotus happier.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 9th, 2005 @ 18:53no keep writing! maybe you’ll inspire me…i really have no ideas right now…
to end italics (and everything else) you have to add a / before the i and after the without the spaces.
voila
i tinks i spleled tat rite. i donte speek frenche
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 9th, 2005 @ 18:54sry that kinda disappeared (the example i mean) (yes there was an example) i’ll add commas instead
try that…
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 9th, 2005 @ 18:55arrgh didn’t work!!! meester GAPA? can you use your Special Administrative Powers (SAP) to make it STAY PUT??!!
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Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in November 9th, 2005 @ 20:33I’d like to help, but I’m not sure what you’re trying to do.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 9th, 2005 @ 20:36I made an example of how to end italics, and i tried putting commas and spaces in between the html but it disappeared. I was wondering if you have any SAP to stop that.
if you have the prentice hall password that would be useful too…
yeah but i was just trying to show her how to end italics.
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Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in November 9th, 2005 @ 20:45Oh. I’d just say that it’s the same thing you do to start the italics, except that you put a slash before the i.
In other words, you write “(i)stuffyouwanttoitalicize(/i)” using angle brackets (less than and greater than signs) instead of the parentheses.
The problem with trying to show someone how to do it is that if you write angle brackets in a post, the computer thinks you’re giving a command and tries to execute it, and the angle brackets disappear.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 9th, 2005 @ 20:47ah. that’s what it was doing. i wondered why it was disappearing, cuz it wasn’t real html i was writing…not that i know all that much anyway but i’m pretty sure most real html doesn’t have commas in between…
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Phoenix
in November 9th, 2005 @ 21:18uh, Pheebs… You and I wrote the same episode by accident…
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Phoebe
in November 10th, 2005 @ 00:17Um, we’ll use yours…
Imani shrugged. “It doesn’t make any difference. You can go blow things up with your rays, but I’m staying put, because even if you free the slaves, they’re only going to get re-murdered by the acid rain, starvation and plague.” Just like Ma and Da, and Larch, Maple and Beech… gassed without even the room. Gassed, like Ellriyana and – her mind cut her off. Don’t think about that, it reprimanded her. Right. She looked up at Matt and Lotus and tried to resume an angry expression.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 10th, 2005 @ 19:01A big italicised YAY! Hope that worked.
Lotus groaned. Did not being educated like a noble mean you didn’t know how to think? “Don’t you see?” she said. “We capture the ship, free the slaves, and escape Terra. We can go to the old Martian colony, or a part of Luna we haven’t dumped our trash all over. We sabotage the ship. Let the nobles stay here and rot in the acid rain. We can leave.”
Lotus’s eyes reminded Matt of her hair at that point– dangerously flamelike and wild.
“If they knew enough about us to plan the crop failures at the time it would hit us worst, who’s to say that they aren’t watching us at this very moment? Coming to gas us?” asked Imani.
At that moment, the door burst open. The people huddled around the fire started, but it was only Imani’s mother in the doorway.
“Imani!” she gasped, her face worried and scared. “Get out of here, and take your friends! They’re coming on another raid!”
Nobody needed to be told who “they” were. Imani scrambled down a bolt-hole Lotus hadn’t noticed, but she and Matt followed her into the damp dirt.
They sat perfectly still. Lotus’s breathing seemed unnaturally loud. If the Masons caught her, it would be Exile for her. Matt and Imani too, because they’d helped her.
Lotus was distracted by sounds of screams from above. “There is no one you would be interested in! Only me. My husband and daughter are dead. I am a poor old widow living alone.” The voice of a Ground Patrol mamber floated down the tunnel.
“Lie all you like, woman. It’s you that’s tortured and Exiled, not me. We will find your husband, daughter, and the traitors you harbour. If you tell us now, we won’t torture you, only Exile.”
“I will not.” Thre was a sound of a club hitting someone’s skull, and a dragging noise, then silence.
Imani put her head in her hands and began to sob.
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Phoenix
in November 10th, 2005 @ 19:20*shivers* this sounds like the Nazis… a little less intense, please, or Phoenix will have an emotional breakdown.
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Phoebe
in November 10th, 2005 @ 19:25Lotus clapped her grubby hand over Imani’s mouth to shut her up. Imani ripped it off and angrily scrambled up the tunnel. The soldiers were gone, as was her Ma. All over her except for – oh, lord – there was a pool of blood. It trailed away in the direction where the soldiers had gone. Imani’s legs felt weak. She collapsed onto her knees and just sat there for a moment, crying her eyes out. She felt as if no scream, no matter how loud, could ever relieve the misery and horror she felt at this moment.*
Imani tried anyway.
Lotus and Matt heard Imani yell. Lotus thought it was a dying animal at first. She and Matt squirmed up the tunnel as fast as they could go and found Imani crouched over the blood – stained ground. “Oh,” said Lotus quietly. For once, she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t dare say anything for fear that it would be the wrong thing.
Finally, Imani stood up and turned around. She walked in the opposite direction. Throwing Matt a glance, they both scampered along after her. After a moment, Matt decided to speak up. “Where are we going?” ha asked timidly. “Somewhere.”
*Similar line seen in Presopolis, by Marjane Satrapi. Good book, eh, graphic novel.
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Phoenix
in November 10th, 2005 @ 19:42I SAID, no Naziism! listen, I’m serious! less intense from now on.
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Phoebe
in November 10th, 2005 @ 22:36They aren’t Nazis, they’re just really, really mean… just because your a horrible, violent person doesn’t mean your a Nazi. Ah well. Right. Less extreme.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 10th, 2005 @ 23:40Great job, Phoebe! Ummm… about the nobles- they aren’t really Nazis, are they? I mean, they don’t believe in killing all the people of a certain group just because they’re “inferior?” Well, all right, they do. I dunno If I can do less extreme. But I’ll try for Phoenix *hugs*.
Umm.
Oh yeah, and nobody like those stupid anti-Asian politicians or those miners who killed Chinese miners for good gold spots. Or I will have a nervous breakdown. Come to think of it, the nobles are sort of like that, too, aren’t they? All right, then we have to make sure that we… ummm… REALLY REALLY HATE THESE AWFUL RACIST PEOPLE.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 11th, 2005 @ 22:53Is no one here? I shall write yet another chapter, then. FEAR ME!
Imani turned to Lotus with tear-streaked eyes. Her face was uncomfortably like Lotus’s, or Ma’me’s, or any of the people she had known who had lost a loved one. The suffering, the sorrow in Imani’s face seemed endless. It brought back every time Lotus had cried, every time she had cursed the nobles for taking everything she cared about except herself, every time she had sobbed into her pillow at night and begged for someone to bring them back.
She did not know what to say in that moment, that moment that seemed to last forever. The three of them stood frozen there, sorrow and grief written on their faces in blood and tears. It felt right to Lotus in a way that nothing had before. But it felt wrong, that ordinary people barely out of childhood should have to grow up so fast. Imani had become old in a day. Lotus was as hardened as an ancient soldier who has seen too much death. And Matt. She did not know about Matt, only that he had lost someone, possibly everyone.
Perhaps alone among these people, Lotus turned her grief into hate. A change came over her, although she was standing in the exact same place. She turned harder, less obviously sad.
“We will defeat them, if it is the last thing we do. We will avenge them.” No one had to be told who Lotus meant by the second ‘them.’ She meant her father and Imani’s mother and Larch and everyone who the nobles had ever taken life away from. And perhaps she meant the three of them, too.
“Let’s go.”
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Phoebe
in November 12th, 2005 @ 00:50Phoebe on Nazism:
If you are a horrible, mean, dreadful, terrible, violent person, you aren;t necessarily a Nazi. It’s the moustache that really seperates the men from the boys.
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Phoebe
in November 12th, 2005 @ 00:52AH, yes, Racists are nasty… But like In Avenue Q, “Everyone’s a little bit racist, insi – i – i – ide….”
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 12th, 2005 @ 08:55hah. like that one phoebe. gotta have the moustache. lol!
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MontgomeryGurl
in November 12th, 2005 @ 12:08Well, this is getting interesting!!!!! In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve not been on MuseBlog for a while. I kind of got out of my groove, and then I didn’t know what was going on so I just stayed away. But, anyway, MG’s back!!! *wild, spontaneous applause of other Musers here*
This story is really great!!!!! I’m actually understanding what’s going on. So far, everyone’s been good about not writing random stuff for no reason.
Imani began to run down the passage way. Matt and Lotus followed her without a moment’s hesitation. Further and further they ran, crouched low in the small tunnel. Once Lotus asked where they were going, but then Imani had rather violently shushed her, and then whispered, “no talking. They’re right above us.” This was all it took to make Matt and Lotus so passionately quiet that the air almost quivered with the words they were not saying.
Along the way, Matt began to think. Of course he thought, everyone thinks, but I mean he began to think about the two girls in front of him.
Lotus. That name did not fit her at all. She was strong and hard, Lotus was a sweet name, one that reverberated with love and peace. He had feeling that Lotus’s thoughts were anything but lovely and peaceful.
Then there was Imani. He didn’t know much about her. She loved her mother, and hated the Nobles, but that could define all of the peasants. At least, all the ones who still had mothers living. He didn’t have a clue how she would react under stress, if she was the vengent type, and to what lengths she would go to save her mother, or to satisfy a hatred. He had a feeling, though, that Lotus was the only one in that tunnel who truely knew what hatred was.
Hatred. He remebered how he felt when he first realized what had happened to hsi mother. He had known she put him on the ship when he was seven, but until three years ago he hadn’t had a clue what happened afterwards. Three years ago he had found her body in a cell, as far back as it could be. Somehow what hurt him the most was that he knew for the last months of his mother’s life, she hadn’t been able to see the sky, the dear sky that symbolized freedom for her. He remembered that he had wanted to kill whoever did this to his mother. He had wished he was strong enough for vengeance. But he had a feeling that this was nothing compared to what Lotus felt.
They had been running for a long time, and Matt was running out of breath. Being hunched over for thirty minutes straight is not the most comfortable position, too, and he found himself just wanting to rest. But something drove him on. He coudn’t stop.
It was much later before Imani finally stopped. He was so lad to lay down and stretch out his back, that for several moments he didn’t even care what was going on. Eventually, however, Lotus’s voice, demanding to know where they were, cut through his thoughts.
“We are directly under the jail. I’ve taken you under their head quarters. That was why we couldn’t talk. My mother is somewhere above us. I’m not going anyhwere until we free her and everyone else up there.”
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MontgomeryGurl
in November 12th, 2005 @ 16:40Um, will someone please pick this up?
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Phoenix
in November 12th, 2005 @ 21:13what I meant by Naziism was that those soldiers SOUNDED like Nazis. Being a Jew, we get taken on field trips to hear Holocaust survivors’ stories a lot and those soldiers sound like them *shudder*. I”l pick it up shortly, but I’m a bit pressed for time. do we wnt to put in magic, or no?
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Phoenix
in November 12th, 2005 @ 21:13what I meant by Naziism was that those soldiers SOUNDED like Nazis. Being a Jew, we get taken on field trips to hear Holocaust survivors’ stories a lot and those soldiers sound like them *shudder*. I”l pick it up shortly, but I’m a bit pressed for time. do we wnt to put in magic, or no?
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randomrohanfreak
in November 12th, 2005 @ 23:17Does everyone really want me to do it? Because I feel like I’m writing too much here. Blame it on the RRRw/R thread. I was going to be writing a lovely story with rules against posting every other chapter, but it still hasn’t gotten off the ground. Sooo… here I am.
Lotus looked around. So they were under the jail. It was oddly silent in here. She expected to hear the racket of torture equipment and the screams and weeping of prisoners, but she heard nothing. Lotus knew that silence was more deceptive than noise. If you heard noise, you had at least some idea of what was up there.
“So, if we’re not going anywhere until we free the prisoners, we’d better start thinking of ideas. Because I don’t think there’s much food down here, somehow. And from the expressions on your faces, I doubt any of us remembered to bring any,” she said.
“Not we, I,” said Imani. “My mother is in there. You two can leave whenever ou want.”
Lotus recognised something in Imani, something of a kindred spirit. In both girls there was the stubbornness, the care for others that didn’t show obviously, and the same drive and will to live.
“We,” she said firmly. “There are too few people in the world who hate the Nobles as much as we do. You will not do this alone.” In the darkness, they grasped each other’s hands in a gesture of friendship.
“We,” said Imani.
“So,” Matt said after a pause. “How do we free them, take over a few ships, escape the Nobles, free everyone still on Terra, escape to Mars or the Moon, and still live to be twenty?”
Lotus had no idea.
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Phoebe
in November 12th, 2005 @ 23:43Hmmm, magic? I’m iffy about it. I thought it’d be less Sci – Fi – y.
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MontgomeryGurl
in November 13th, 2005 @ 00:38Yeah, I kind of thought this was going to be a more “realistic” tale. I sort of envisioned a little bit of Sci-Fi, but I thought it would be more grounded in reality.
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Phoenix
in November 13th, 2005 @ 14:26just curious! I don’t want magic either, it would take your mind off the plot.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 14th, 2005 @ 00:04No magic. We added magic last time and look where it got us. *shuffles feet guiltily* I like the sci-fi turn the plot has taken, and it would be kind of weird to change it and make it more realistic now. I will do all of you a favor and not write any more.
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Phoenix
in November 14th, 2005 @ 21:28Matt was leaning against the smooth stainless steel wall of the ship, banging his head repeatedly against the hard surface. thud. thud. thud. thud…
Imani was lying on the floor, staring at the cieling, mutturing to herself. The only person who was fully in control of herself was Lotus, who was sitting cross legged on the slanted floor, not moving a muscle. She must think… there was a solution for thier problem, she knew, she just was trying her best not to arrive at it.
Unfortuantely, she finally had to. “Uh, guys!” she called out.
Matt stopped banging his head against the wall, and Imani sat up. “Idea, Lotus?” asked the older girl.
“’cause we sure need one,” added Matt.
“yes.” Lotus was talking in a much less nasty tone than usual. “uh, well, yeah.” she apperead to be struggling to find somthing to say. “Um, well, I figured out how to rescue the slaves and launch our ship. Unfortunately, there is no possible way to destroy the Archanon, but I guess we’ll just have to figure that out later.”
Imani’s troubled face broke into a rapturous smile. “oh, Lotus! that’s great! how will you do it?”
“there’s a Terran base that controls the fleet,” said Lotus. She was still not sounding like herself. “It’s operated by slaves, with a few overseers to keep them inline. If we can break in, we can open the cargo bay, fly a small World ship and a few fighters close to the Archaron, get the people on the ship and just… fly away. We can go to the system the Nobles were going to, it won’t take more than a few years at light speed. But,” she warned, “the fleet has to be programmed from the ground, so you’ll have to learn how to pilot it. Normally I would, but if I stayed on the ship we wouldn’t go anywhere. We can load it with farming stuff and seed and oxen and…”
“We don’t need to kill the nobles,” said Imani, “they can go off on thier own. Without any slaves to order around they’ll probably all kill each other anyway…”
Lotus sighed, and said ruefully, “I guess so. Still, I was looking foward to destroying the ship, but the children…”
Matt, however, was staring, dumbfounded, at Lotus. “operated from the ground…” he mouthed, and then, “Lotus… you arn’t coming with us?
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Phoebe
in November 14th, 2005 @ 22:53((No big deal, guys, but we’re kinda going the direction we went last time – with Ruby kind of being the MC. So try to give the others something good as well.))
Imani shrugged. “Okeedokee. stowing away on a noble – ridden ship will be a brand new lovely educational experience.” Matt and Lotus stared at her. Imani glanced sharply back. “I haven’t got anything to live for, you pessimists.” Matt still wasn’t sure. He paced the dank tunnel and tried to resist the urge to bite his fingernails. Tunnels. Mother. Dead. Ack. Ths sent his mind reeling back to hatred.
That again. Imani must have felt hatred before. Her entire family was dead – at least, he thought, most of it – and she had seen them all gassed. That was hate. Lotus’s dad had been killed, but her mother was a mystery. Him? Who was his dad? No one knew, even him. As far as he had known, he had never had a father and it didn’t bother him. But Lotus and Imani had. Now that he thought about it, was his mother even married? He didn’t know.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 14th, 2005 @ 23:28rrf!! Stop being so apologetic! you can help write the freakin story if you want to! ok if you don’t have any ideas or anything…but if you just don’t cuz you think you’ll mess it up..you won’t
Lotus folded her arms stubbornly. “Well somebody has to stay on the ground and get it moving!”
“I know…but…no, isn’t there another way?”
“THERE IS NO OTHER WAY MATT THAT’S JUST HOW IT’S GOING TO HAVE TO BE!!!” Lotus shouted, suddenly quite angry. “Just…just…I’ll be fine ok?!”
Matt opened his mouth to argue again but Imani shushed him. “Lotus,” she said softly, “are you absolutely sure there’s nothing else we can do?”
Lotus was shaking slightly now, but her eyes were still defiant. “Yes,” she said stubbornly, “It’s the only way.”
Suddenly she started to cry. “I’ll miss you!! I’ll miss you so much!” she sobbed.
“We’ll see you again!” Imani said. “We will. Nobody can separate us for long.”
Lotus stopped crying and her face grew hard. “That’s stupid. I was being stupid. Just forget it.”
“But..” Matt said helplessly.
“I said FORGET IT!!” Lotus screamed. “That never happened ok??!!”
Matt looked down. “ok,” he said softly.
“So,” Lotus said in a tougher voice than usual, “Let’s go. I’ll help you guys pack. We’ll get your mom out later Imani, if we set her loose now the nobles would be suspicious.” There was a dangerous glint in her eye that warned the other two not to mention what just happened or show any sign of sympathy. They just nodded dumbly and followed her.
k guys I decided to go ahead and just write something already cuz A-haven’t written on here in a while B-I’m having no luck with my hw and C-Just because. Excuse the cheesiness of it. i don’t usually write touchy-feely stuff. I tried to make it a bit more interesting than the usual cry-on-each-other’s-shoulders-helplessly thing. tell me if you likez, tell me if you hates.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 14th, 2005 @ 23:43
heh. That worked. sry Phoebe, i wrote that before urs got posted.
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Phoenix
in November 15th, 2005 @ 17:30sorry I’m mainstreaming Lotus, but she’s the coolest charecter (I think) so I can’t really help it. I’ll try harder not to.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 15th, 2005 @ 17:34What’s wrong with having one MC? As long as she’s well-developed and the other characters get to do stuff, I for one think it might help prevent some of the clutter of the previous thread.
On the way out of the tunnel, Imani remembered what was likely going to happen to her mother. She stared at Lotus’s unflinching back and tried to work up the courage to contradict her.
“Umm… Lotus?” she said. Lotus turned her head. “Isn’t my mother going to be gassed soon? We should probably get her out now.”
“They have to put on a mock trial first, where they get her a lawyer and try her in court for crimes against nobility. She’ll be convicted. Then they’ll Exile her. We have time.”
Imani din’t ask how Lotus knew. The bitterness and pain in her voice told Imani how.
Matt was tapping on the walls, listening for something. Imani hated being made to feel like an ignorant idiot, but she asked anyway. “What are you doing?”
“Listening for echoes.” he replied. “If I bang on the wall just right, there’s some chemical in the soil that causes different echoes depending on what’s in there. I’m listening for the sound of a few people and a lot of ships in a fairly large room.”
Even Lotus looked impressed, but neither girl pursued the subject further. THey watched as Matt held his ear to the dirt and tapped it.
Finally he stood up straighter and banged his head on the tunnel ceiling.
“Ouch. I think we’ve got it.” Lotus was already feeling for a passage in the roof. Scrabbling at the soil, she managed to get Imani very dirty and also to uncover a trapdoor. Imani and Matt went to help her open it.
With a huge heave and a conspicuous creak, the old metal hinge moved and a ray of dusty sunlight entered the hole.
The three of them climbed out, blinking after the darkness.
When Imani’s eyes came into focus again, she saw the silver-clad back of a Guard. Lotus dragged on it and pulled the Guard through the hole. He began to call for help.
Imani hit him on the head with a rock. Matt put on the silver mask and poncho.
“Good idea,” said Imani. Lotus pulled the gun out of the Guard’s pants.
“I know how to use this thing,” she said, and tucked it into the top of her shorts.
Imani threw the rock at the head of another Gurad who came peeking down the hole and took his clothes. Lotus got another gun.
When they caught their third Guard and Lotus was dressed and armed to the teeth, Lotus, Imani, and Matt left the hole to go get a ship.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in November 15th, 2005 @ 23:07hah i love how lotus takes all the guns. that’s soo character. rock on!
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randomrohanfreak
in November 16th, 2005 @ 19:42A random thing on the side. Eldura is Imani’s mother, if you couldn’t tell. I don’t want her to become a MC, but I’m adding another level of tension to the story. Or trying, anyway. Go me.
Eldura sat in the cell, talking to herself. By now, the guards would probably think she was mad. She was actually trying to stay sane, to relieve the endless boredom, fear, and helplessness thet engulfed her.
“And then Imani said, ‘Why is the sky grey and purple?’ And I said, ‘Because of the pollution. It used to be blue.’ And she stuck her thumb in her mouth because she was only four and asked, ‘Well, why was it blue, then?’ And I told her I didn’t know, and she asked, ‘Why is it polluted? Blue is a much prettier colour than grey. Shouldn’t the nobles want to keep the sky pretty?’ And I said…” Eldura muttered to herself, keeping in her mind the memory of who she was and who she loved.
If she remembered a better life, she’d keep hope, and that was what was important. Hope. She closed her eyes and pictured the mural Imani had painted on the walls of the shack when she was ten, the one of a better world, with a blue sky. In almost seven years, it had faded, but Eldura still had the memory as fresh as the day her daughter finished the work.
“You.” A Guard was at the door to Eldura’s cell. “It’s time for your trial. Get up.”
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ChinTsu
in November 19th, 2005 @ 03:04Our last story didn’t go wrong because we added magic, it went wrong because it was our first one and we were just learning.
No magic though in this one. The Sci-Fie semi realistic plot is just fine and it’s good.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 19th, 2005 @ 20:13The last story went wrong partially because we had too much magic, but mostly because we didn’t have any rules for te magic. We just made magic do whatever we needed it to do, without any consequences or side effects. This will not happen again. We learned our lesson. However, magic would really mess up the sci-fi plot we’ve got going now. So we’ll stick to it they way it’s going now. I’m sure we all have our ideas of how we want the plot to turn out, but we don’t need magic. What we need is a story that makes sense, and so far *crosses fingers* we’ve got that.
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Phoebe
in November 20th, 2005 @ 13:53Eldura stared at the guard, than quickly caculated the chances of what to do. She shut out the noises coming from the bottom of her cells – rats, probably, she thought, wincing – and decided on something she hadn’t done for years.
She stalled. Feet shufflings, “hey what was that’s,” and other such shenanigans ensued.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 22nd, 2005 @ 00:16After they had taken care of the Guards, the room was strangely deserted. It was dusty and had a few ships in it, but they were even older than Imani’s Firefly, which Lotus didn’t believe possible.
She voiced all their thoughts when she asked, “Where are the ships?”
Imani shrugged through the silver poncho. Her voice was muffled. “Maybe in a different room?”
Matt turned his hooded head around, looking for something. “Wait,” he said. “There are no doors here.”
Lotus looked around. He was right. To all appearances, they were trapped. “Then how did the guards get in?” she asked.
Imani leaned against the wall, thinking. Suddenly, a panel slipped out of the featureless plaster. In glowing blue letters it read, “Fingerprint necessary for passage. fingerprint must be in Noble database.”
“That would be me, then,” said Lotus.
“But I thought that you were exiled from the Archanon,” said Imani.
“Banished, yes. But being noble is my birthright, and by the laws of Terra, I’m still a noble.” She pressed her thumb to the screen. It flashed, and then a door opened in the wall.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 22nd, 2005 @ 23:20To clear up the noble birthright thingy, because I’m not sure I explained it right in the story: By the laws of Terra and the Archanon, a noble has their title in their genes. The exact genes used are relatively useless, and only differ by one base from that of non-nobles. Because of this, when a Noble is born to Noble parents, their fingerprints and genetic code are entered into the Noble database. The database will always recognise them, even if they are thrown off the ship, because their genes and fingerprints don’t change. That’s why Lotus could get in.
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randomrohanfreak
in November 26th, 2005 @ 21:14Why is nobody here? You will force me to cry. WAAAAAAH!
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randomrohanfreak
in December 1st, 2005 @ 19:41Everyone has left meeeeee…
I’m all alone….
You all hate me! My self-esteem is plummeting like a rock.
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Ebeth The Lurker
in December 1st, 2005 @ 19:53But your grades are whooshing up like an unladen european swallow!!!
i would do more writing stuffins here but the evil overlord lamuth is giving us sooo much writing to do, when i get time (or start procrastinating) I really don’t feel like doing more writing.
sry!
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Phoebe
in December 28th, 2005 @ 18:21Imani couldn’t help but be happy when the panel slid open. There was something telling her that that had been a baaaaaad idea, but hope, something she hadn’t felt in a while, blocked all uneasiness out. She followed Matt and Lotus through the door, and they set off down the hallway.
Matt spotted the first ship. It was basically Imani’s Firefly, only bigger, and with a sizeable rust hole bored into the side. “Last resort,” said Lotus, and they continued.
The next one was Imani’s find. This one was huge and in fair shape, but fuschia. “Can’t use it,” said Lotus, sliding down the nose of the ship after peering at the controls through the windshield. “It’s a Gambling Ship – for rich eejits who think that gambling away their riches in the middle of outer space is a novelty idea. It doesn’t go anywhere, pretty much just sits in space, drifting from port to port.”
Lotus found a niceish ship next, good sized, fast, and not pink. After a quick check, however, they discovered that the engine had nearly completely deteriorated. “That puts the kaposh on that one,” sighed Imani.
That’s when they came across the Cobalt. Imani spotted it’s nose from the corridor, and when they all turned the corner they found exactly what they needed. A liner, this one a fairly recent model. The only putdown they found was a tear in the apholstry of the pilot’s chair.
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Phoebe
in December 28th, 2005 @ 21:17“It’s big, too,” said Lotus happily. She had insisted that Matt let her stand on his back so she could see through the window. “It’s a luxury liner,” she informed them, squinting through the glass. “We can get all that junk out of there and set up something a little more useful. This place is practically abandoned, it should be easy to set it up.” She hopped off Matt’s back. He groaned and rubbed his back. “Ah, quit whining,” snapped Lotus. She hopped up the stairs to board the ship and set her fingers on the keypad, which flashed red twice, than green. The door slid open with a metallic whine. The three of them carefully entered the main lobby and looked around.
The place was huge, and rather fancy. Apparently, no one had bothered to remove all the artwork and such that lined the walls. “Yeesh,” said Matt, impressed. Lotus was completely unphased. “That’s the controls room. Imani? You know how to function that engine?” “Yep.” said Imani, prying open the door and sitting down at the driver’s chair, looking right at home. “Good,” said Lotus placidly. “Matt and I are going to get this stuff out of here while you get familiar with the controls.”
In a few minutes, working fast, Lotus and Matt had completely emptied the main dining room, tossing the tables and chairs out the door and leaving only a few. The pantry was huge and well stocked wth unrottable foods, and the kitchen appliances were in good shape. The luxury cabins had to be stripped down, and the matresses and blankets got shoved into the dining room for beds. All the spare weight was tossed out. Lotus gleefully found a good amount of militia supplies in a storage room, which she than hid in the collapsible seats in the bar. Every room possible was converted into a living area.
Imani was very pleased with herself. She had found the pilot’s hat in the glove complartment and found that it fit her very well. All the steering, etc., was figured out. She even knew how to control the intercom, which would be very handy.
Than she remembered something. She grabbed the intercom and set it to “entire ship.”
Matt and Lotus were heaving a chandelier out the door when Imani’s voice rang throughout the ship. “Lotus, Matt, bad news,” Imani said. ” i just remembered there are people monitoring who acesses certain areas, and they know who enters what buildings and where, by their fingerprints. So, basically, they know Lotus is here.”
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Em
in December 29th, 2005 @ 12:41i would write some of this, but i am a little confused. if someone could just summerize their plan?
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Phoebe
in January 3rd, 2006 @ 10:41There isn’t a plan. It’s free – form!
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Em The Hot Pink Bunny
in January 8th, 2006 @ 21:45meant the character’s plan, what they want to do. never mind, i have it now (i think).
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Phoebe
in January 9th, 2006 @ 13:12Cursing in fluent sanskrit, Lotus scrambled back to the controls room, dragging Matt, who was swearing very loudly. Imani was sitting at the pilot’s chair. She spun it around as soon as they came in. “What do we do?” Lotus stopped for a minute and thought. “Ummmm…” Matt shrugged. “Get out of here.” “Well, obviously,” snapped Lotus. Imani snapped. “I’ve got it! We’ll go launch one of the other ships, so they’ll have two to track.” “That’s all we can do,” said Lotus grimly. “You stay here and get ready to launch. Matt and I will launch it.” They ran out of the room while Imani turned back around and fiddled with a purple knob on the panel, muttering under her breath.
Lotus and Matt got out of the ship and ran over to the next one, a small one. Matt clambered into the window. “What do I do?” “Pull the crank on the side,” instructed Lotus, “Than give the stickshift a twist. Than jump out the window.” “Ok,” said Matt dubiously. He did as Lotus said. The engine gave a shudder, than started. Matt seized the stickshift and pushed it forwards to the side, and the ship swerved and sped down the runway. Grasping the window with all his might, he vaulted out of it and landed hard on the concrete floor. “Owwww…” he moaned. Lotus ran up and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Come on, we have to get in the ship.”
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Em
in January 18th, 2006 @ 14:07waaaiittt… wasn’t lotus going to program the fleet from the ground?
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The Phantom Norker
in January 19th, 2006 @ 17:43Footfalls were filling the hallways now. Matt and Lotus ran for their lives, but the Guards had longer legs. Matt looked at Lotus and saw, for the first time, panic in her face.
Lotus looked at Matt and knew what she had to do.
“Run, Matt!” she said. “Get on the ship and tell Imani I’m not coming.”
“You can come, Lotus. This ship doesn’t need to be operated from the ground,” said Matt. “You have to come.”
“That’s not what it is,” said Lotus. “The Guards don’t know you and Imani are here. Only me. If they think they’ve caught me, they won’t look for you. You can rescue the peasants. You can leave Terra. It’s easy.”
“No. It’s not.”
“Look,” cried Lotus, losing patience, “which would you rather save, me or all the innocent people of Terra? Go!”
Matt looked at Lotus. Even though he barely knew her, he already recognised the stubborn set to her jaw. He knew that she wouldn’t change her mind now.
So instead he stared at her face, trying to memorise the expression she wore. He imprinted her messy red braid, her sparkling, defiant eyes, the bulge in her Guard’s uniform where a gun stuck out, in his mind.
They were coming closer.
“Goodbye, Lotus,” said Matt before running as fast as he could.
“Goodbye, Matt,” called Lotus. Then she turned around and drew the gun.
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Cedar
in March 3rd, 2006 @ 18:14HOWDY RRR-ERS!
IF YOU WANNA DO SOME REALLY USEFUL WRITING, THEN COME ON DOWN TO THE ‘MUSE MOVIE?’ THREAD, AND POST YOU SCRIPT IDEAS.
NOTE: THIS IS RIDUCLOUSLY IMPORTANT!
PS: I STARTED THE THREAD. MY POSTS ARE ALL WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE THIS MESSAGE HERE. READ THEM, AND THEN IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, JUST ASK.
SEE YOU THERE.
BYE.
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Violetfire
in March 8th, 2006 @ 20:10Yo, Cedar, you’re hurting my eyes. Is the CAPS LOCK button on your keyboard stuck or something?
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Aleu_roleplayer
in March 8th, 2006 @ 20:18Is this a roleplay?
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kokopelli #13, a.k.a. TerroR
in April 19th, 2006 @ 09:17
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kokopelli #13, a.k.a. TerroR
in April 19th, 2006 @ 09:21
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kokopelli #13, a.k.a. TerroR
in April 19th, 2006 @ 09:23
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Pentatonikk in Spadesâ™
in October 19th, 2006 @ 19:28Am I allowed to necro on here? Just wondering. Because this was shaping up to be quite a nice little short story, and it seems a shame to abandon it so close to what seems to be the end, ja?
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davidude
in March 22nd, 2007 @ 19:45so sad… it’s abandoned… and I’m too lazy to read the thread and add more…’
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the man for aeiou
in September 17th, 2007 @ 20:29yeah! it is open!
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the man for aeiou
in September 28th, 2007 @ 17:31POSTN HERE!
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agagabagabag zepata (trevor the decent)
in September 28th, 2007 @ 19:23Wow. old thread.
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Alice
in September 28th, 2007 @ 23:31105- I know.
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the man for aeiou
in September 29th, 2007 @ 11:08105- would you like to help?
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agagabagabag zepata (trevor the decent)
in September 29th, 2007 @ 11:40No.
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Gimanator
in September 29th, 2007 @ 12:48108-well, that’s putting it bluntly.
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the man for aeiou
in September 30th, 2007 @ 16:21109- how about you?
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the man for aeiou
in November 28th, 2007 @ 18:27DIEING THEARD! DIEING THEARD! HELP! HELP!
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¡IBCF!
in November 28th, 2007 @ 18:43111- Sorry, The Man for Aeiou, but I think we can’t save this thread.
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the man for aeiou
in November 28th, 2007 @ 18:57112- please, call me TMFA. and with a little luck, we can!
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Prarilius Canix, taking a break from NaNoWriMo
in November 28th, 2007 @ 19:06113- I’ll help resurrect it. Would someone give me a summary of what has taken place so far? If not, I’ll read it, and then I’ll return here after NaNo.
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¡IBCF!
in November 28th, 2007 @ 19:16113- Oops, sorry, TMFA. Come on, people! Keep this thread alive!
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the man for aeiou
in December 3rd, 2007 @ 17:41114- yeah! it is very short, and I might post it soon.
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Prarilius Canix
in December 3rd, 2007 @ 17:55Hello. I’m back. Would you, possibly, post a summary?
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the man for aeiou
in December 3rd, 2007 @ 21:29117- here”
lotus is an noble, matt is a commoner, and they have to stop the rest of the nobles from killing all of the commoers as the nobles are leving the dieing planet.
just read the theard. it took me half an hour.
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the man for aeiou
in December 3rd, 2007 @ 21:33please! as if about twenty post with the man for aeiou and the story show up, blame apple.
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Prarilius Canix
in December 3rd, 2007 @ 22:02Right. I’ll read the thread.
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the man for aeiou
in December 4th, 2007 @ 16:48120- I’d post, but ever time I try, the computer says “you can’t do that” , basicly.
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Alice
in December 5th, 2007 @ 19:09Fine. This thread has about three people, I’ll make it four. I’ll read it later.
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Prarilius Canix
in December 5th, 2007 @ 19:11I’ll read it this weekend if I have time.
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Alice
in December 5th, 2007 @ 22:24I read the entire thread. It’s a nice story, nicer with a little revision to clear the confusion, but that’s not even terribly necessary. It’s main shortcoming is Lotus’s slight resemblance to Kari and the horrible longing it gives me for the good ol’ days when E2MB was still around and the sci-fi RRR was still going. I really miss those days… *breaks down*
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the man for aeiou
in December 6th, 2007 @ 13:50*gives alice choklit*
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Alice
in December 6th, 2007 @ 14:16125- Thank you.
I do miss the story, but I’ll live. Maybe this will sort of fill that hole.
I’ll write after br– lunch.
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Alice
in December 6th, 2007 @ 14:32Matt ran. He closed his ears to whatever was going on behind him and simply ran. He clambered into the Cobalt, surprising Imani.
“Matt! What about the other ship? Where’s Lotus?”
“No time. Just launch.”
Imani nearly protested, but she recognized in Matt’s eyes something that she herself felt only too strongly. “Alright, Matt.” She launched the ship.
Matt closed his eyes, but he could still see Lotus turning, her hand on the gun. It hurt his head, his eyes, his heart.
He turned and ran out of the cockpit.
—-
That’s a truly horrible piece of writing, but it might get the story moving again.
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Alice
in December 9th, 2007 @ 17:01. . . Then again, it might not.
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Prarilius Canix
in December 11th, 2007 @ 19:33I’ve got to read this sometime soon. Maybe I’ll put it on Don’t forget these threads. That’ll remind me not to forget.
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Prarilius Canix
in December 11th, 2007 @ 20:09I just put it on DFTT.
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The Man For Aeiou
in December 19th, 2007 @ 22:28but the GAPAs do not think this is worth a link on the front.
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POSOC
in December 20th, 2007 @ 18:18Yes, they do.
I’ll read this sometime during Christmas Break. At the earliest, in two days.
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The Man For Aeiou
in December 20th, 2007 @ 18:36hi, GAPAs!
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Piggy
in March 5th, 2009 @ 21:18Heh heh heh… Piggy has unearthed an ancient, dead thread. Does anyone want to resurrect this RRR?
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POSOC
in January 8th, 2011 @ 15:25I found, somehow, that I’d put this on an ancient DFTT. And I don’t know why. *rereads thread*
Oh. I see. Despite DFTT, it seems we did F T T. What a shame.
But I can’t write anything that mixes s.f. and fantasy… it’s something of a mental block for me. My scientific-rigor reflex and my wondrous-strange reflex act in exact opposition.
Actually, in a quick skim it seems that people are turning away from fantasy and going more to s.f… Bluh, if only I’d discovered this project earlier in vacation, then I might have had a hope of resurrecting it and sticking with it.
Maybe after Acadec county comp. Maybe.
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Alice
in June 10th, 2011 @ 18:15Why is this “currently popular”? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
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POSOC
in June 10th, 2011 @ 18:40Spambots.
All of them.
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Alice
in June 10th, 2011 @ 18:50Oh, right, spam. Makes sense.
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LiveStrong! (And I suppose I could answer a few of those questions. But— **pauses dramatiaclly** They’re gone!!!! Ha!)
