((I don't even know what this is. Sorry. Figured I may as well post it, though.))
Fabi blinked and tried not to fall over. She was standing under a large, faded wooden sign that said "Welcome to Eastwest."
She looked around. A homeless man was hiding behind a newspaper. It would have been a better hiding spot if he'd unrolled the newspaper first.
Fabi may have ever-so-slightly panicked and ran off into the forest.
Another thing to beat herself up over later. As if it wasn't bad enough that she was stuck in another dimension, when she'd had the information she'd needed to stop the whole thing from happening. She wondered who else had been shunted. It had been a huge demonstration, and so many of her friends had probably been there. She pulled out her cellphone as an experiment, but there was no signal. Well, it had been a bit of a long shot anyway.
Fabi moved quietly through the woods, around the perimeter of the town. She didn't want to see people, didn't want to talk to them. Part of her was irrationally afraid that she would stand out like an elephant among flies, that something about her was so obviously not from around here, the townsfolk wouldn't accept it. And even if they did, would she get to stay here? Would she want to stay here?
She curled into a ball under a tree, covering her head with her hands. This had to be a nightmare.
She didn't wake from it.
Okay, Fabi. Snap out of it.
She stood, and went to look for something she could eat.
She was usually vegetarian, but she couldn't be, not here. It was a lot safer to eat unknown animals than unknown plants, and even though she recognized a few leaves as edible, she wasn't sure if they were edible here. Maybe she was panicking about this whole new-dimension thing too much, but she didn't want to risk it.
A few hours and a roasted rabbit later, she remembered why she didn't eat meat. Her stomach was so queasy. She had made sure the rabbit was cooked thoroughly, at least she thought she had. It wasn't like she cooked rabbits regularly.
Of course, she didn't have any antacid tablets.
Fabi stood shakily. Hopefully the people in this dimension still got indigestion. She couldn't avoid talking to people forever.
The homeless man was still under the Eastwest sign, and he took several steps back when he saw her. She sighed, and hoped he wouldn't start spreading rumors or something. She could teleport away if she needed to, but she doubted the locations would line up right, so she was reluctant to try.
There were a few people around in the little town, and they all stared at her. She grimaced. How was she supposed to ask where the drugstore was? If there was one... She was beginning to doubt it.
Her stomach ache wasn't worth this feeling of not belonging. She turned to go back to the forest... And saw a tiny door marked 'Pharmacy.' It was in the corner of a closed grocery store, and the door was dusty.
Fabi quickly unstuck the lock and pushed the door open. A quick look around the place told her that everything there had probably expired long ago. Still, though, it was a shelter somewhere a bit away from all the stares. But someone had probably seen her come in. She couldn't stay. She turned around and went back the way she came.
"Are you lost, ma'am?" There was an old couple standing behind her. The man who had spoken looked nice enough, but what was Fabi supposed to say? 'I accidentally came here from another dimension, and by the way, magic is real?'
She settled for a stammered apology. "I-I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to be here. I'll go now."
The couple exchanged a glance, then the woman asked, "Do you have a headache?"
"No...why?"
"Most of the town has been complaining of headaches for awhile now," the man explained.
"Well... I don't have a headache. I'm not from around here, though. Sorry?" Fabi winced at the man's glare.
"Don't worry, hon," the woman said comfortingly, reaching out to give Fabi a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Fabi stepped back. "None of us would press charges against someone as young as you. If you can just tell us what it is you used, and how you distributed it, we can..."
"I didn't do anything! I just got here earlier this afternoon." Fabi was sure her face was bright red. She hoped they'd believe her, though of course, they had no reason to.
The man narrowed his eyes. "Lying is a sin, young lady. I'll have my eye on you."
The woman reached her hand out again, then thought better of it. "Just please, stop now, okay?"
They hustled off, but the scene had attracted so much attention already. Fabi felt like she could sink into the ground and disappear. Her stomach was still queasy, but that was hardly important now.
"Don't mind them," a voice said. "Leroy and Ursula are both extremely paranoid. The headaches are probably from nothing more than pollen, or potentially dehydration. Now, what did you need medicine for? I may be able to help."
Fabi turned to see a woman in her thirties with a blouse that actually looked like it had been white once. She was about to say something, but a man in plaid cut her off.
"Ms. Quinn, you can't seriously be trusting this stranger!"
"Who said anything about trusting her? I'm just offering to help with her..." Ms. Quinn looked closely at Fabi, analyzing. "Stomach ache, correct?"
Fabi nodded slowly. "I'll be fine, though."
The man in plaid frowned. "I think you should leave this town now."
"Mr. Fitzgerald, if we continue to treat strangers in this manner, we will have no one to run to if something happens to this place."
"What are you suggesting? We don't need another mouth to feed around here! And what could happen to this place, anyway?"
Ms. Quinn turned to fully face Mr. Fitzgerald, and paced around him in a circle, pounding her fist into her hand. "There could be a forest fire--" Pound. "The river could flood--" Pound. "We could all turn on each other and end up tearing the town apart--" She took a moment to glare at him before pounding her fist again. "We could have trouble with bears or cougars. Just because no one's seen them in years doesn't mean they're not out there--" Pound. "If we don't treat people with common courtesy, they will have no reason to do so for us."
Mr. Fitzgerald looked around at the other townsfolk, who all shook their heads at him.
"When I was a boy, we actually had to respect the people I'm charge," one man muttered.
Mr. Fitzgerald stormed off in a huff.
"Well, then." Ms. Quinn looked around, then gestured to a teenager who was leaning against the wall of a nearby building. "Daniel, run down to my place and grab the blue jar on the third shelf of the medicine cabinet. Don't take anything else, I'll notice." Daniel didn't move, so Ms. Quinn held out a five-dollar bill and waved it. That got him moving. "Quickly now."
"It's alright," Fabi said as the townsfolk began to disperse. "I don't want to be a bother..." Her stomach was still queasy, but nerves always made it worse, so maybe it'd go away once she wasn't in the spotlight.
"You can't go until Daniel brings back the medicine. I didn't argue with Fitzgerald so I could let you just leave like that."
"Oh..." Fabi was silent until the teenager returned with a jar of antacid tablets. After Ms. Quinn gave him his money, Daniel handed Fabi the jar.
"You probably don't want to stick around," he muttered. "Eastwest isn't the most open-hearted place you could find."
"Thanks for the warning," Fabi said, taking a tablet from the jar and popping it into her mouth. After all this fuss,she couldn't stop here and not have the antacid.
"No problem." Daniel went back to leaning against the wall and looking bored.
Fabi stood there awkwardly, then offered the jar to Ms. Quinn. "Thank you..."
Ms. Quinn waved her off. "Keep it. I'll get Anna to make more if anyone needs it. You need anything else? Socks? Water? A place to stay the night? There's a bed in the loft of the barn. No one uses it. Might be a bit cold, though."
"I'll be fine." Fabi turned to go back the way she'd come.
"Suit yourself." Ms. Quinn shrugged and walked off in the opposite direction.
Fabi slowed as she reached the woods again. The further she walked, the more she felt like she'd explode. Finally, she collapsed in a heap under a tree, silent tears flowing from her eyes. She didn't usually get homesick, maybe because before Blogland, she hadn't had any one place to grow attached to. Now, though... She was farther from home than she'd imagined she could be, and she didn't know if she'd ever be back. She didn't want to admit how much that scared her.
((Heh... Aretha portrayed the feel of my dimension better than I did. I got completely diverted by an antacid tablet. Oops.))
((Hopefully I'll have a more relevant chapter soon.))
((Happy New Year, y'all!))
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Aretha Tesla: Dimension One
I might post this before I'm finished with it, just so that if anyone else wrote themselves in the same time and place as me, I can either change it or collaborate or something, for consistency. Also, if you made up any details about the dimension that don't match mine, you can tell me and I'll change that. Consistency is very important to me, and can be slightly difficult in a story with loose boundaries that we're all writing together. :p
"Oh," Aretha said, not pleased or irritated, just surprised, and maybe a little amused.
"It would appear that we've left the demonstration," Niccolo added, in a similar tone.
"Yes, it certainly would. So..."
"We've been shunted. There were a few mages tampering with the machine recently; it is safe to assume they are the cause of our current situation. It is also safe to assume that they have ill intentions. They succeeded in gathering many high-ranking government officials in one place at one time, so it is also likely that there are others from our dimension who have been stranded here, and that this dimension is meant to compromise us in some fashion." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes, and I could feel him searching for a way to shunt back. He shook his head. "Its energy is too unbalanced. I'm more likely to shunt us into oblivion than back to the demonstration."
I took a deep breath. "Then I guess we just survive." He nodded.
I think it best that we communicate mentally from this point forward, he thought, his voice just as rich in my mind as it was out loud, if this dimension is meant to harm us, there may be any number of surveillance methods employed against us.
Right, I replied with a curt nod, and looked around a bit. Of course, from the moment his feet touched foreign ground Niccolo had been absorbing all sorts of information about our surroundings. There were squirrels in the half-dead trees- they'd appeared in some kind of forest- and a few rodents and raccoons scurried across the ground. There were a few deer, too, but it seemed as though the whole planet was half dead, so it was probably best not to kill those. If we were there long enough to need to eat, we'd take a squirrel.
The trees grew healthier in one direction, so we followed it until we came to a river. Niccolo gave the water a glance and tasted it before I had a chance to warn him. Of course, he knew it might be poisoned, and I knew he could handle poison, but I didn't want him to use too much of his energy early on, since we'd probably need it later. Luckily, he determined that while it wasn't perfectly fresh, the worst it would give me would be a headache, so it should be safe to drink.
Well, I started, we should probably-
Don't let your guard down, he cut me off, because as much as I knew I shouldn't I had started to let my guard down, and I'd probably continue to do so without some source of stress, but yes, I believe we ought to create some form of shelter for ourselves here. And for a moment I marveled at the fact that suddenly being thrown into a new dimension didn't constitute a source of stress in my mind. It isn't that you've changed, he commented, explaining, only that you've lost so much. Everything you might have longed to return to in your dimension is gone. Your duties are not, but as you've been stranded here in the line of duty, you need not concern yourself with those for the time being. He was right, of course. And we headed off in search of a place to make camp.
Soon enough we came across the shambled remains of an old factory, and took shelter beneath a large fallen concrete slab. We returned to the forest to catch two squirrels, and Niccolo cooked them over a small fire. He kept the flames hot and put the fire out quickly, unwilling to allow too much smoke to betray our location. I went to retrieve some water, and we teleported back to the overhang so that if anyone had seen the smoke, they still wouldn't have any tracks to follow, and I struggled to fall asleep as the sun fell over the rusted sky.
It's beautiful... And actually very steampunk, in a way. Dying forests, dilapidated factories, and red skies... The twins would have loved it. To the mortal world, I was dead. And a murderer. My life there was over, and of course that meant I could never see my mortal friends again, no matter how much I wanted to. Six sisters, gone.
You say that as though they've died. One of them has, I know, but the rest are alive and well, despite your absence.
Well is a relative term, I replied, a few tears slipping out. They were never really happy, and I-
Aretha, listen. They may not have spent their whole lives happy, but neither have they spent all their lives suffering. They are moving on, and you need to as well.
I took a deep breath, and nodded, letting the tears dry on my face. He was right. Again.
And now you must rest, he reminded me, tossing his heavy (and surprisingly soft, for a garment full of knives) jacket over me. He shifted into a cat and curled up beside me, purring softly, and even though I knew he wouldn't sleep, he stayed there long after I was calm enough to slip into dreams.
I woke before sunrise, but wasn't especially tired, so I decided not to try to fall back asleep. You're still here, I commented, surprised to find the black cat still at my side.
Of course, he replied smoothly, where else might I have gone?
I don't- oh! A quick glance at his memories gave me my answer. You kept the nightmares away.
Indeed.
You know they don't really bother me, though. I mean, I know it's just a dream...
I am fully aware of that. He kept them from me anyway.
Ok then. Do you want to sleep? He politely declined, having already slept for exactly two hours, and after splitting another squirrel for breakfast we headed off to explore. Teleporting wouldn't be wise, Niccolo explained, because the places we remember from our world were probably drastically different and potentially dangerous here, so we went on foot. Well, hoof. We were sitting ducks if we kept still, and we wanted to find whatever traps the strangers had set before they found us. We needed a way to move swiftly with minimal fear of recognition, so Niccolo shifted into a black horse, making certain the bottoms of his hooves were soft so they wouldn't clack against the ground, and I wore his coat, the hood that he made in it covering my face. We raced out of wherever we had been, flying past a sleeping stranger beneath a sign, and kept just outside of the road.
We determined it unsafe to talk to any locals. Or anyone at all, really. If we saw someone we knew, we would make sure they were really who we thought they were, and then follow at a distance. The safest thing was to make sure that no one knew where we were. I imagined we looked like some sort of specter, tearing down the edge of the street with the long black coat flying out in the breeze, my face shrouded in shadow, and although Niccolo's hooves pounded in quick succession against the ground we remained completely silent.
Wait, slow down a bit, I asked him as we entered an old city. Let's look around. He slowed to a walk so I could glance about the broken buildings, occasionally picking up his pace to jump over bits of rubble blocking our path. The air was laden down with eerie silence and stagnation. Dust was everywhere, as if the buildings had just collapsed one day and no one ever touched them again. I found a hand sticking out from under a large piece of cement, put it was already old and decaying.
It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years. Like, even the dust is perfectly intact, save for where we just stepped. If this is a trap, it's a really overly elaborate one. I pointed out, beginning to doubt that we had anything to fear from the city. Where we first appeared was a different story, but here- it would take so much effort for one group of people to construct and age a whole city entirely from scratch, and just as hard to turn an existing one into a death trap without leaving so much as a footprint, and on top of that the people who sent us here had no guarantee we would come to this city. They made their adjustments to the shunting machine last minute, so it wasn't likely they would have created something so detailed, and if they had, they wouldn't have left so many variables.
Excellent observation, he agreed, I've been considering this as well. It seems unlikely that anything about this dimension we've observed thus far was specifically designed to harm us in any way. While that possibility still exists, it is more probable that they intended to trap us here indefinitely, or even that sending us to this particular dimension was unintentional. Either way, for the moment, we were trapped, and all we could do was just keep living until we found a way out.
We kept our pace at a walk as we made our way through the city, conserving our energy in case we might need it later. "Stop!" I suddenly yelled aloud, our agreement to refrain from speaking forgotten.
What is it? He came to a halt immediately, and I could feel the concern radiating off of him. Too struck to respond, I slipped lightly off his back and ran towards a nearby building, quickly slowing down as I approached. When I was only a few feet away, I knelt down and reached out a hand. "Hey, little kitty," I cooed softly, "What are you doing here?"
Niccolo breathed deeply, relieved, and I felt his amusement. If silence weren't valuable he would have laughed. You care too much, he suggested fondly.
You care too little, I replied in the same tone, but we both knew that wasn't true. "Come here, little kitty," I kept spoke softly as I slowly approached the yellow kitten huddled in a crevice of crumbling brick, "I promise I'm softer than those bricks." Eventually the tiny cat pricked up his ears, and I stopped a few inches away, waiting to see if he'd come to me. He did. "Aww, look at you," I murmured, scooping him up, "You are so small." He fit easily in my hands. I moved a thick knife from Niccolo's coat to my pocket, and tucked the shivering kitten into my pocket, which had become quite warm, and headed back towards Niccolo.
Aretha, he warned gently, Much as I know you wish to, we cannot keep the cat. Before you refuse, consider how difficult it may become to keep him alive, should any dangers emerge. I thought for a moment, then sighed with resignation. He was right. I kept the cat in his coat anyway, waiting to put it back until it stopped shivering. After a few minutes, I heard a meow stronger than one any kitten was capable of producing, and I set the kitten gently on the ground before running back towards Niccolo. The second cat was a fully grown calico, who quickly lifted the yellow kitten by the scruff of his neck and ran off again. I smiled, and we kept walking.
This is not yet finished- I have to write the rest of the second day and then the third, which is when we'll be shunted again. If you guys have any notes or want to collaborate or anything, let me know, otherwise I'll just keep writing on my own.
"Oh," Aretha said, not pleased or irritated, just surprised, and maybe a little amused.
"It would appear that we've left the demonstration," Niccolo added, in a similar tone.
"Yes, it certainly would. So..."
"We've been shunted. There were a few mages tampering with the machine recently; it is safe to assume they are the cause of our current situation. It is also safe to assume that they have ill intentions. They succeeded in gathering many high-ranking government officials in one place at one time, so it is also likely that there are others from our dimension who have been stranded here, and that this dimension is meant to compromise us in some fashion." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes, and I could feel him searching for a way to shunt back. He shook his head. "Its energy is too unbalanced. I'm more likely to shunt us into oblivion than back to the demonstration."
I took a deep breath. "Then I guess we just survive." He nodded.
I think it best that we communicate mentally from this point forward, he thought, his voice just as rich in my mind as it was out loud, if this dimension is meant to harm us, there may be any number of surveillance methods employed against us.
Right, I replied with a curt nod, and looked around a bit. Of course, from the moment his feet touched foreign ground Niccolo had been absorbing all sorts of information about our surroundings. There were squirrels in the half-dead trees- they'd appeared in some kind of forest- and a few rodents and raccoons scurried across the ground. There were a few deer, too, but it seemed as though the whole planet was half dead, so it was probably best not to kill those. If we were there long enough to need to eat, we'd take a squirrel.
The trees grew healthier in one direction, so we followed it until we came to a river. Niccolo gave the water a glance and tasted it before I had a chance to warn him. Of course, he knew it might be poisoned, and I knew he could handle poison, but I didn't want him to use too much of his energy early on, since we'd probably need it later. Luckily, he determined that while it wasn't perfectly fresh, the worst it would give me would be a headache, so it should be safe to drink.
Well, I started, we should probably-
Don't let your guard down, he cut me off, because as much as I knew I shouldn't I had started to let my guard down, and I'd probably continue to do so without some source of stress, but yes, I believe we ought to create some form of shelter for ourselves here. And for a moment I marveled at the fact that suddenly being thrown into a new dimension didn't constitute a source of stress in my mind. It isn't that you've changed, he commented, explaining, only that you've lost so much. Everything you might have longed to return to in your dimension is gone. Your duties are not, but as you've been stranded here in the line of duty, you need not concern yourself with those for the time being. He was right, of course. And we headed off in search of a place to make camp.
Soon enough we came across the shambled remains of an old factory, and took shelter beneath a large fallen concrete slab. We returned to the forest to catch two squirrels, and Niccolo cooked them over a small fire. He kept the flames hot and put the fire out quickly, unwilling to allow too much smoke to betray our location. I went to retrieve some water, and we teleported back to the overhang so that if anyone had seen the smoke, they still wouldn't have any tracks to follow, and I struggled to fall asleep as the sun fell over the rusted sky.
It's beautiful... And actually very steampunk, in a way. Dying forests, dilapidated factories, and red skies... The twins would have loved it. To the mortal world, I was dead. And a murderer. My life there was over, and of course that meant I could never see my mortal friends again, no matter how much I wanted to. Six sisters, gone.
You say that as though they've died. One of them has, I know, but the rest are alive and well, despite your absence.
Well is a relative term, I replied, a few tears slipping out. They were never really happy, and I-
Aretha, listen. They may not have spent their whole lives happy, but neither have they spent all their lives suffering. They are moving on, and you need to as well.
I took a deep breath, and nodded, letting the tears dry on my face. He was right. Again.
And now you must rest, he reminded me, tossing his heavy (and surprisingly soft, for a garment full of knives) jacket over me. He shifted into a cat and curled up beside me, purring softly, and even though I knew he wouldn't sleep, he stayed there long after I was calm enough to slip into dreams.
I woke before sunrise, but wasn't especially tired, so I decided not to try to fall back asleep. You're still here, I commented, surprised to find the black cat still at my side.
Of course, he replied smoothly, where else might I have gone?
I don't- oh! A quick glance at his memories gave me my answer. You kept the nightmares away.
Indeed.
You know they don't really bother me, though. I mean, I know it's just a dream...
I am fully aware of that. He kept them from me anyway.
Ok then. Do you want to sleep? He politely declined, having already slept for exactly two hours, and after splitting another squirrel for breakfast we headed off to explore. Teleporting wouldn't be wise, Niccolo explained, because the places we remember from our world were probably drastically different and potentially dangerous here, so we went on foot. Well, hoof. We were sitting ducks if we kept still, and we wanted to find whatever traps the strangers had set before they found us. We needed a way to move swiftly with minimal fear of recognition, so Niccolo shifted into a black horse, making certain the bottoms of his hooves were soft so they wouldn't clack against the ground, and I wore his coat, the hood that he made in it covering my face. We raced out of wherever we had been, flying past a sleeping stranger beneath a sign, and kept just outside of the road.
We determined it unsafe to talk to any locals. Or anyone at all, really. If we saw someone we knew, we would make sure they were really who we thought they were, and then follow at a distance. The safest thing was to make sure that no one knew where we were. I imagined we looked like some sort of specter, tearing down the edge of the street with the long black coat flying out in the breeze, my face shrouded in shadow, and although Niccolo's hooves pounded in quick succession against the ground we remained completely silent.
Wait, slow down a bit, I asked him as we entered an old city. Let's look around. He slowed to a walk so I could glance about the broken buildings, occasionally picking up his pace to jump over bits of rubble blocking our path. The air was laden down with eerie silence and stagnation. Dust was everywhere, as if the buildings had just collapsed one day and no one ever touched them again. I found a hand sticking out from under a large piece of cement, put it was already old and decaying.
It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years. Like, even the dust is perfectly intact, save for where we just stepped. If this is a trap, it's a really overly elaborate one. I pointed out, beginning to doubt that we had anything to fear from the city. Where we first appeared was a different story, but here- it would take so much effort for one group of people to construct and age a whole city entirely from scratch, and just as hard to turn an existing one into a death trap without leaving so much as a footprint, and on top of that the people who sent us here had no guarantee we would come to this city. They made their adjustments to the shunting machine last minute, so it wasn't likely they would have created something so detailed, and if they had, they wouldn't have left so many variables.
Excellent observation, he agreed, I've been considering this as well. It seems unlikely that anything about this dimension we've observed thus far was specifically designed to harm us in any way. While that possibility still exists, it is more probable that they intended to trap us here indefinitely, or even that sending us to this particular dimension was unintentional. Either way, for the moment, we were trapped, and all we could do was just keep living until we found a way out.
We kept our pace at a walk as we made our way through the city, conserving our energy in case we might need it later. "Stop!" I suddenly yelled aloud, our agreement to refrain from speaking forgotten.
What is it? He came to a halt immediately, and I could feel the concern radiating off of him. Too struck to respond, I slipped lightly off his back and ran towards a nearby building, quickly slowing down as I approached. When I was only a few feet away, I knelt down and reached out a hand. "Hey, little kitty," I cooed softly, "What are you doing here?"
Niccolo breathed deeply, relieved, and I felt his amusement. If silence weren't valuable he would have laughed. You care too much, he suggested fondly.
You care too little, I replied in the same tone, but we both knew that wasn't true. "Come here, little kitty," I kept spoke softly as I slowly approached the yellow kitten huddled in a crevice of crumbling brick, "I promise I'm softer than those bricks." Eventually the tiny cat pricked up his ears, and I stopped a few inches away, waiting to see if he'd come to me. He did. "Aww, look at you," I murmured, scooping him up, "You are so small." He fit easily in my hands. I moved a thick knife from Niccolo's coat to my pocket, and tucked the shivering kitten into my pocket, which had become quite warm, and headed back towards Niccolo.
Aretha, he warned gently, Much as I know you wish to, we cannot keep the cat. Before you refuse, consider how difficult it may become to keep him alive, should any dangers emerge. I thought for a moment, then sighed with resignation. He was right. I kept the cat in his coat anyway, waiting to put it back until it stopped shivering. After a few minutes, I heard a meow stronger than one any kitten was capable of producing, and I set the kitten gently on the ground before running back towards Niccolo. The second cat was a fully grown calico, who quickly lifted the yellow kitten by the scruff of his neck and ran off again. I smiled, and we kept walking.
This is not yet finished- I have to write the rest of the second day and then the third, which is when we'll be shunted again. If you guys have any notes or want to collaborate or anything, let me know, otherwise I'll just keep writing on my own.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Fabi: Dimension One
The dimension:
It’s post-apocalyptic, I suppose. Houses are still houses, and there are some rebuilt cars (mostly vans and buses for transporting large numbers of people). (Also, they no longer run on gas, but a combination of common kitchen oils) There’s still a water system, faucets, etc. No TV or internet, though. There’s radio, but it’s mostly used to communicate, and there’s no music or anything. Electricity has been rediscovered, but complicated machines and things like that are mysteries. The magical community was completely destroyed, but there are a few solo mages around the edge of things. Where once there were major cities, you will find abandoned urban wastelands, though a few people still live at the edges and scavenge. Also, most factories either were exploded or abandoned, so store products are limited. And there are no airplanes.
Magical abilities—Teleporting is probably a bad idea. You would appear in the same location on the earth, but the stuff there will likely be different, (i.e. the Irish Sanctuary collapsed into rubble) so you might end up in an unpleasant situation.
The dimensional balance is off, making it hard to focus on the dimension you want to shunt to, meaning that if you tried, you’d probably end up stuck between universes and cease to exist. Unless you got lucky, and then you would flicker back to where you started in about seven minutes.
Other disciplines should be unaffected, I believe.
I’m highlighting a village called Eastwest, which corresponds geographically with the theater, though you may have your character appear elsewhere, as there is an element of chaos involved.
Eastwest is surrounded by forest. There’s a river running through on the north side, which is filtered down to drinking water by a process that only the Water Manager (by default), a Mr. Rutger, understands. There's a River Road that runs past the town and follows the river. There’s a creepy homeless guy who sleeps under the Welcome to Eastwest sign, and he will be extremely surprised at any form of kindness.
There are these buildings and some others.
· An abandoned library
· A Lighthouse with no clear purpose, as there is no sea nearby, and the river isn’t especially treacherous. Lighthouse interior is equipped like any ordinary lighthouse, but the bulb burnt out.
· A Water Plant
· Police/Fire Station [With one vehicle that is a lot less sophisticated than a firetruck, but has a ladder and a hose]
The house of the mayor at the edge of town
· A school
· Other things. I don’t care.
Also, you can invent your own inhabitants of this dimension as desired.
Oh, btw, the water's poisoned. It won't really affect you unless you've been drinking it for a long time, though. The townspeople will generally complain of headaches, but besides that, you'd have absolutely no reason to expect the water to be poisoned unless you saw it happening or read minds or something.
Let me know if you have any questions, or want to collab (I have Fabi, the homeless guy and a few other locals I have ideas for).
I'm hoping the next dimension will be posted in two weeks. If you finish a chapter for this one late, though, that's okay, just make sure it's labeled so readers know where it fits in.
Any volunteers to write the next dimension are welcome, and just do whatever you and your characters like with this one.
· A school
· Other things. I don’t care.
Also, you can invent your own inhabitants of this dimension as desired.
Oh, btw, the water's poisoned. It won't really affect you unless you've been drinking it for a long time, though. The townspeople will generally complain of headaches, but besides that, you'd have absolutely no reason to expect the water to be poisoned unless you saw it happening or read minds or something.
Let me know if you have any questions, or want to collab (I have Fabi, the homeless guy and a few other locals I have ideas for).
I'm hoping the next dimension will be posted in two weeks. If you finish a chapter for this one late, though, that's okay, just make sure it's labeled so readers know where it fits in.
Any volunteers to write the next dimension are welcome, and just do whatever you and your characters like with this one.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Fabi: Dimension-Writing
So, I think Ember is writing the first dimension, but I'm putting some general guidelines for dimension-posts here. You don't have to follow them 24/7, but they're probably good things to keep in mind.
- You don't need to say every detail. It's okay to let other writers put their creativity into adding to your idea. If you don't care who runs the grocery store, you can let the person who writes the scene in the grocery store decide.
- Specify anything that's really important to your idea so that people don't have to bother you about it later.
- Give a brief description of any important characters in the dimension. Like, if Mevolent in your dimension is Supreme Galactic Commander, then his personality, values and ruling style are important to the dimension and should be included. If you want to use the alternate version of someone's character, ask permission.
- Current events are also good. If the Supreme Galactic Commander is facing rebellion from the Leprechaun People, and the entire country of Ireland is in the middle of a war, that's important.
- Check the comments on your dimension post. This is probably the best place for questions.
- If something is the same as it is in the real world or in the SP-world, you can just say that instead of describing it in detail.
- Be creative! Your dimension can be as normal or weird as you want it to be! I don't really want to assign a template for how everything should be done/presented.
Generally, I'd prefer it if you were to stick with ideas based on
- Your own imagination
- Real World
- SP World
I mean, I'm not going to enforce that, and if you explain enough about what your dimension is like, it doesn't matter, but please don't say "This dimension is like The Hunger Games only without Katniss." For one, I'm not sure if everyone in the collab has read the Hunger Games, and for another, just taking an idea that's already out there is sort of boring. If you want to have a dimension where Mevolent runs a country with a Capitol full of rich people and some smaller, poorer, outlying settlements, that's actually sort of cool, and if you explain it well enough for people who haven't read THG, if there are any, you could actually do that.
So I guess the rule isn't "stick to those three sources," but more like
8. Make your dimension original
9. Make sure other people can understand it
Actually, at the end of the day, those two are the important guidelines. Sorry for all the rambling.
So I guess the rule isn't "stick to those three sources," but more like
8. Make your dimension original
9. Make sure other people can understand it
Actually, at the end of the day, those two are the important guidelines. Sorry for all the rambling.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Fabi: Something Happens (Finally)
((I should probably mention that the Tadra bit in the last chapter was posted ahead of its chronological place. Sorry about that. Just... Mentally line it up so that everyone disappears at around the same time. Except some people disappear later. So... Um...yeah. Oops?))
Valice finally pushed through the crowd to where the chaos had been. "Is everyone alright?"
Valice finally pushed through the crowd to where the chaos had been. "Is everyone alright?"
Elder Tesla looked up. "We're all fine except for him." She gestured to the man lying on the floor, Valice recognized him as the man who started the fight.
"Who is he?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Tesla replied, turning to the man next to her. "Any progress?"
The man shook his head, "His mind is impenetrable. It would appear to be his discipline, a purely defensive ability, not common."
Valice blinked. "Well, is there anything you need help with?"
"We should be fine, but thanks for the offer." Elder Tesla smiled. "There's an empty seat there if you'd like to join us. I'm Aretha Tesla, but you can call me Ari if you like. Most people do."
"I'm Valice." Valice smiled and took a seat. Unfortunately, it was the third seat assigned to the Hungarian Council of the Elders.
*******Fabi didn't burst the doors open dramatically and swoop in to the rescue. That would have been pretty stupid, and probably have ended up getting her in trouble. Instead, Ami slipped into the sound-and-light booth with a quick flash of identification, while Liz and Fabi snuck backstage.
Fabi had taken a lot of theater in school, so it felt so...familiar to be backstage again. She knew though, that this wasn't really the time to reminisce, especially after she heard the applause. The demonstration was starting.
There was a rustling from behind them, and the woman in black stepped out, a gun in one hand, a needle in the other. Fabi concentrated, focusing while the gun was still, while she could still have enough control over it, using the bullets themselves to disable it.
The woman smiled slightly, setting the gun down with a smile. The needle, too. And then she charged, aiming a kick at Fabi's torso, aiming to knock her into the curtain. Fabi dodged to the side, grabbing the foot and tugging it so the woman was off-balance for a moment.
Fabi took the opportunity to run, out onto the stage, to where the Professor was screaming his hands stuck to a metal plate, his skin starting to turn pale. Other people were screaming, too, and there was a bright glow pulsing across the room. Probably not good.
*******
Sage grinned at the person next to her, a dark-haired girl who looked about the same age, maybe a little older. "Hi, I'm Sage, what's your name?"
The girl's focus was on someone a few rows ahead, but she jumped and turned when she heard Sage's voice.
"I'm Ruby," she said hesitantly, and looked at Sage suspiciously.
"Are you enjoying the demonstration?"
"I guess so."
"You don't look too enthusiastic."
Ruby shrugged, and then disappeared.
Well, Sage thought, that was rude. And then she looked around her and saw the complete and utter chaos.
*******
The boy called Rathrockt watched with interest as the professor set up the machine. The old man flicked a switch and the whole room seemed to vibrate. He turned to the audience with a smile and said "And now for the final step." Rathrockt watched as he pressed his hands against the metal plate...and screamed in agony. Rathrockt tried to get up, to go help, but there was this pulse throughout his entire body, and he recognized the feeling. He was being shunted.
*******
Sparky Braginski worked her way through the chaos and onto the platform that extended from the right side of the stage. Her goal was to get close to the malfunctioning shunting machine and short-circuit it. Plain and simple.
A thin man darted out from backstage, blocking her path. She ducked around him, dodging his kick and sending him stumbling to catch his balance.
She was at the computer-box in the middle of the stage, electricity already crackling in her hand, when the machine pulsed. A wave of shunting energy hit her and she disappeared.
*******
"What kind of party should it be?" Ember asked, ignoring the chaos behind her. Someone was trying to kill someone else, and in all honesty, that was boring.
"I don't know, maybe a soup, salad and sandwich party?" Snow glanced around slightly concerned, then shrugged.
Ember wrinkled her nose. "I hate soup, salad and sandwiches."
"All kinds?"
"All kinds."
Snow paused for a moment, watching as some Sanctuary agents with official-looking badges interfered, breaking up the quarrel and taking away the dead body. "How is that even possible? I love peanut butter and jelly!"
"HOW CAN YOU? THEY'RE DISGUSTING!"
"Weird..." Snow was silent for a moment. "Oh, I know! Strawberry smoothies?"
"NO!"
"You're crazy. Do you at least like Skittles?"
"OMG. YES. SKITTLES."
"Okay. Um... Skittles and...shakes? Seafood?"
"Okay, that works." Ember smiled creepily at the people who were telling them to shut up and sit down. Both of those had a word starting with S.
"So we go to a seafood place that also has milkshakes. I think we'll have to bring our own Skittles.
"And then we can say something," Ember decided. "Oh, also, you're singing."
"What? Why?"
"Because I sound like a screaming walrus when I sing."
"Oh. But--"
"Ooh, and maybe we can dance the salsa!"
"Um... I don't know how."
"Neither do I."
"I think maybe we'll have to cross that idea off the list, then."
"You're probably ri--Wait, there's a list?"
"Uh, I meant a figurative list. In my head."
"Oh."
There was a minute of silence from the two of them, then Ember spoke again. "People are screaming and running around like idiots behind us. I think maybe we should acknowledge their existence."
"Probably..."
Ember looked around. "Oh, I think the demonstration already started, like a while ago."
"So we missed it?"
"Looks like something went wrong with it somehow. I need to find Mycroft, he'll have some answers." Ember looked back to where she'd last seen Mr. Holmes, but there was no one there. "Talk to you later, Snow Stormberg!" she called over her shoulder as she skipped off, still not really paying attention to the chaos.
Snow shrugged, and sat down again. There was a bit of a throbbing in her head, then her vision blurred and she was somewhere else entirely
********
Fabi tried to melt the plate off of the professor's hands, but there was some sort of magical force preventing her from controlling it. She turned around to see the Scandinavian woman staring at her.
"I thought Bloodseeker took care of you," she hissed.
"I'm tougher than I look," Fabi responded with a shrug. She looked around for Liz, but her friend was nowhere in sight. She was probably sneaking around for a sudden attack, either that or she was dead.
"I'm sure you're tough," the woman sneered, advancing.
Fabi backed away, down the extension on the left side of the stage. If she could buy Liz some time... The professor screamed one more time, then fell silent, and the audience was pretty much in chaos.
Ami's voice came over the intercom, telling people to be calm. "We'll figure out how to get the people who disappeared back, don't worry. Fabi, you might want to watch where you're going."
Fabi turned to look behind her at the row of seats, her eyes widening as she realized what Ami was referring to. She started to twist to the side, but the Scandinavian woman was too fast, shoving Fabi into one of the now-empty seats.
Her stomach churned, and the world around her began fading. The last thing she saw was Liz Herald swinging down on a wire, knocking the woman to the floor. She mouthed something, probably meant to comfort Fabi and sound on top of things, but the image was already gone, and Fabi was somewhere else, somewhere in another world.
((I'm really sorry for how late this is. Again, apologies f I got your character wrong.))
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Fabi: The Day of the Demonstration (and DOOM)
Sage stood straight, flashed a badge, and
received her nametag-necklace thing with the word USHER on it in really
big letters.
...
...
...
Leading people to their seats was really really boring.
...
...
...
So she mixed things up a bit, making sure all the horribly impolite people ended up in the back and the friendly people in the front. The seating arrangements were better that way, anyways.
*******
Fabi twitched in her sleep. Again. Liz Herald frowned, considering, then slapped her.
"I-I'm fine." Fabi mumbled, twitching a bit more.
"Liz," Ami Laurel-Sang frowned at her colleague, then turned back to Fabi. "Wake up, please, we need your help."
"You're certainly not fine," Liz retorted, ignoring Ami completely, "Also, you're the only one who really knows what's going on. Wake up."
"Liz!"
"What, is that all you can do? Say my name in an annoyed tone and ask Fabi politely to wake up, please, at her earliest convenience? The demonstration starts in twenty minutes, and if Harden and the rest did something to sabotage it, we need the agent who was on the job to give some sort of statement!"
"The agent who was on the job was attacked by an unknown person with an unknown form of magic, and is hardly in any shape to "give some sort of statement." I thought you were supposed to be--"
"Don't, please Ami? I'm fine, really," Fabi said in barely a whisper, though both heard her.
"Fabi, what happened?" Liz asked, "Are you alright? Who was that man in the suit?"
"His name's Magnus Bloodseeker."
"Seriously?" Liz wrinkled her nose. Talk about bad taste.
"Check database 9. Or ask Raeza, she hacked into some files on him."
"Who is he, then?" Ami asked
"Remember the Administrator at the L.A. Sanctuary, about nine years ago?"
"The one who considered Elder Trueno incompetent?"
"He was incompetent." Liz rolled her eyes. "That's why he's dead."
"Liz!"
"Ami!"
"Please..." Again, the two fell silent when Fabi spoke. "Yes, that guy. He went a bit bizarre, decided he hated the Sanctuary and all forms of order, reason and laws, and joined this... For lack of a better word, cult."
"Yes, the files said. Thanks for updating them by the way. Continue?" Ami asked with a raised eyebrow, and Fabi took a deep breath.
"So they really don't like the Sanctuary, and the professor's big machine, supposedly capable of harnessing his power, is going to be demonstrated in front of a crowd of mostly Sanctuary officials."
"We have to make sure that doesn't happen!" Liz exclaimed, jumping up, but Ami held up a hand.
"So the man in the suit was Bloodseeker. That makes sense, actually. His power did make people sleepy, though I thought that was just a side effect of his impenetrable mind."
"He's obviously grown stronger since the last time anyone checked up on him." Fabi frowned in irritation. "Am I allowed to stand up? Liz has a point. About, you know, doing something."
Ami frowned, hard, but didn't let petty disagreements get in the way of her sense. "Yes,but do it slowly in case any part of you is still asleep. Liz, would you mind going round and getting the car?"
Liz smirked and left the room to arrange transportation.
********
September Seneca Silver smiled slightly, sitting back in her seat. The shunting experiment would certainly be something...interesting. That's why she was here, out of curiosity.
The man in the seat next to her folded up his umbrella and sat down as well, a slight frown on his face. "Do you see that gentleman, the one by the pedestal?"
"The one with the stupid mustache?" Ember asked.
"No, that gentleman. There, with the gray suit-jacket. He's a wanted criminal of some sort. Not a burglar, he lacks the poise and gracefulness needed to accomplish something notable in that field, not to mention the wealth he would have if it was some such crime. I would guess he's a murderer."
"How do you know he's a criminal?"
"Do you see how he's keeping his back to the stage? That brunette in the hat, leaning against the railing, is a detective. The other people in that direction do mostly office work, so he's likely to be avoiding her."
"Oh."
"Indeed. Shall we apprehend him?"
"Well... It's not like we have any proof of what he did. Maybe I should warn the detective, though."
"Fair enough," Mycroft decided, standing up so Ember could pass and make her way to the aisle.
Snow Stormberg looked up as the blonde with the creepy smile approached.
"Are you looking for a wanted criminal?"
"Um...no." Snow replied. "I am a detective, though. Snow Stormberg, at your service."
Ember smiled. "September Seneca Silver."
"Hey, our names are all alliteration-y!"
"Yeah, they are." Ember smiled creepily. "Do you want to have a party for the letter S.?
"Sure!"
*******
The Scandinavian woman frowned at where Elder Iota was sitting. It was the wrong seat, she wasn't supposed to be in the front row. She didn't have the entire seating chart memorized, but she could have sworn that the London Sanctuary took up most of the first row.
The fact that Iota was sitting there didn't matter, she would be shunted anyway (she was sitting in what was meant to be the English Grand Mage's seat) but the fact that the seating arrangements had been tampered with was definitely a problem.
She scanned the crowd for Magnus, but noted the two men watching him. One, she recognized as the purple-haired head Spotter from the Scottish Sanctuary, the other was a well-dressed man with an umbrella. They were both likely to be trouble.
Next, she checked for Harden. He was being beaten up pretty badly by one of the American Elders. He'd probably realized that she, too, was
The woman in black sighed. Of course she had to do everything herself.
*******
The professor frowned slightly. He didn't like stages. Unfortunately, he had to agree to present his invention in front of a bunch of important people, or the Sanctuary wouldn't provide him with some of the more obscure and dangerous parts.
He supposed that made sense, one couldn't be too careful with sensors that absorbed magic and used it. That's what it would do, absorb parts of his magic and use it to shunt something. And hopefully it wouldn't explode in front of everyone important.
The professor fidgeted with his tie as the Master of Ceremonies came over. "Mr. Apparatus?"
"Professor, if you wouldn't mind."
"Mr. Professor, sorry."
"Yes?"
"The Grand Mage wishes to know when you will be ready to begin. Some of the guests are growing...rowdy."
The professor sighed. "I'll begin at once, then."
"Much appreciated." The Master of Ceremonies left the backstage area for the auditorium, and all the people. The professor shuddered slightly and got to work, double-checking everything. He didn't notice the new sensor plate. Or the readjusted wiring. Or the woman in black standing directly behind him, a gun in one hand, a needle in the other.
*******
"He has an impenetrable mind," the man in the coat stated simply.
"You bet I do!" Everest Harden grunted. "You'll never get anything out of me!"
"I would not be so certain of that."
Elder Tesla looked down at Harden. "You used to work in the Sanctuary, didn't you? Why did you attack me? Some sort of revenge?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's it. Let me go now?"
Tesla's eyes narrowed, and Harden got the awful feeling that she was going to attack him again in a mess of kicks, punches, elbows, knees... She was...rough.
"The demonstration is about to begin. We should probably keep him unconscious until this is over."
"Very well." Those were the last words Harden remembered, before he found his eyes closing.
*******
Trip Castalan glanced over and decided that Aretha and Niccolò didn't need any help. The man who'd attacked them was an idiot, not worth bothering over.
With that, he focused his attention back on the demonstration, the old man and the machine he'd spent most of his lifetime building.
"Did you see that?" Adra Dark hissed from the seat over.
"What--? Oh." Trip frowned as he caught a glimpse of the people moving around furtively backstage. "I believe that's trouble." He squinted, then jumped suddenly. "That woman in black has never been convicted of any crime, but..."
"But...?" Adra raised an eyebrow, ignoring the old man giving a speech on stage.
"But she's been...associating with the wrong crowd. This group of anarchists, I suppose you would call them, had this base camp in rural Norway. Most of them were arrested some time ago for various acts against the Sanctuary, sometimes even the world, but there was never any evidence connecting her to their crimes. As far as I know, she hasn't left Norway in the past 127 years. I was always under the impression she was training for something. Something big. We need to..."
Trip blinked, and then he was someplace else entirely. Unless the theatre had a library mode, that is. A minute later, Adra was beside him.
"You do know it's impolite to vanish in the middle of a conversation?"
"Adra! You need to get out of here! I think this is some sort of trap!"
"Is it that Norwegian woman, then?"
"No... Viktoria Ty isn't a teleporter or anything like that, more of a burglar, assassin and engineer."
"Engineer? Do you mean..." Adra looked around. "Oh gods, she did something to the machine, didn't she?"
"Um...probably?"
"Then where the hell are we?"
Trip smiled and took her by the arm. "Let's find out, shall we?"
*******
((This is the first half of what would've been the last bit of the intro, except that I have this one more scene I need to write for it, but it's been ages since I posted something, so I'll give you the first part. If you are unhappy with the bit featuring your character, you can ask me to change a detail or rewrite it yourself, as long as it doesn't change the main plot too much. Also, I put characters where they fit, and some may have a bit more to do than others.That's because of what I found easiest to write, and where everything fit and things like that, and is not meant to offend anyone. If your character isn't in this bit, he/she will appear in the next bit unless you tell me to do otherwise, which you should do now, so I know. I should have the final part of the intro up sometime within the week, and then we can begin the first dimension!))
...
...
...
Leading people to their seats was really really boring.
...
...
...
So she mixed things up a bit, making sure all the horribly impolite people ended up in the back and the friendly people in the front. The seating arrangements were better that way, anyways.
*******
Fabi twitched in her sleep. Again. Liz Herald frowned, considering, then slapped her.
"I-I'm fine." Fabi mumbled, twitching a bit more.
"Liz," Ami Laurel-Sang frowned at her colleague, then turned back to Fabi. "Wake up, please, we need your help."
"You're certainly not fine," Liz retorted, ignoring Ami completely, "Also, you're the only one who really knows what's going on. Wake up."
"Liz!"
"What, is that all you can do? Say my name in an annoyed tone and ask Fabi politely to wake up, please, at her earliest convenience? The demonstration starts in twenty minutes, and if Harden and the rest did something to sabotage it, we need the agent who was on the job to give some sort of statement!"
"The agent who was on the job was attacked by an unknown person with an unknown form of magic, and is hardly in any shape to "give some sort of statement." I thought you were supposed to be--"
"Don't, please Ami? I'm fine, really," Fabi said in barely a whisper, though both heard her.
"Fabi, what happened?" Liz asked, "Are you alright? Who was that man in the suit?"
"His name's Magnus Bloodseeker."
"Seriously?" Liz wrinkled her nose. Talk about bad taste.
"Check database 9. Or ask Raeza, she hacked into some files on him."
"Who is he, then?" Ami asked
"Remember the Administrator at the L.A. Sanctuary, about nine years ago?"
"The one who considered Elder Trueno incompetent?"
"He was incompetent." Liz rolled her eyes. "That's why he's dead."
"Liz!"
"Ami!"
"Please..." Again, the two fell silent when Fabi spoke. "Yes, that guy. He went a bit bizarre, decided he hated the Sanctuary and all forms of order, reason and laws, and joined this... For lack of a better word, cult."
"Yes, the files said. Thanks for updating them by the way. Continue?" Ami asked with a raised eyebrow, and Fabi took a deep breath.
"So they really don't like the Sanctuary, and the professor's big machine, supposedly capable of harnessing his power, is going to be demonstrated in front of a crowd of mostly Sanctuary officials."
"We have to make sure that doesn't happen!" Liz exclaimed, jumping up, but Ami held up a hand.
"So the man in the suit was Bloodseeker. That makes sense, actually. His power did make people sleepy, though I thought that was just a side effect of his impenetrable mind."
"He's obviously grown stronger since the last time anyone checked up on him." Fabi frowned in irritation. "Am I allowed to stand up? Liz has a point. About, you know, doing something."
Ami frowned, hard, but didn't let petty disagreements get in the way of her sense. "Yes,but do it slowly in case any part of you is still asleep. Liz, would you mind going round and getting the car?"
Liz smirked and left the room to arrange transportation.
********
September Seneca Silver smiled slightly, sitting back in her seat. The shunting experiment would certainly be something...interesting. That's why she was here, out of curiosity.
The man in the seat next to her folded up his umbrella and sat down as well, a slight frown on his face. "Do you see that gentleman, the one by the pedestal?"
"The one with the stupid mustache?" Ember asked.
"No, that gentleman. There, with the gray suit-jacket. He's a wanted criminal of some sort. Not a burglar, he lacks the poise and gracefulness needed to accomplish something notable in that field, not to mention the wealth he would have if it was some such crime. I would guess he's a murderer."
"How do you know he's a criminal?"
"Do you see how he's keeping his back to the stage? That brunette in the hat, leaning against the railing, is a detective. The other people in that direction do mostly office work, so he's likely to be avoiding her."
"Oh."
"Indeed. Shall we apprehend him?"
"Well... It's not like we have any proof of what he did. Maybe I should warn the detective, though."
"Fair enough," Mycroft decided, standing up so Ember could pass and make her way to the aisle.
Snow Stormberg looked up as the blonde with the creepy smile approached.
"Are you looking for a wanted criminal?"
"Um...no." Snow replied. "I am a detective, though. Snow Stormberg, at your service."
Ember smiled. "September Seneca Silver."
"Hey, our names are all alliteration-y!"
"Yeah, they are." Ember smiled creepily. "Do you want to have a party for the letter S.?
"Sure!"
*******
The Scandinavian woman frowned at where Elder Iota was sitting. It was the wrong seat, she wasn't supposed to be in the front row. She didn't have the entire seating chart memorized, but she could have sworn that the London Sanctuary took up most of the first row.
The fact that Iota was sitting there didn't matter, she would be shunted anyway (she was sitting in what was meant to be the English Grand Mage's seat) but the fact that the seating arrangements had been tampered with was definitely a problem.
She scanned the crowd for Magnus, but noted the two men watching him. One, she recognized as the purple-haired head Spotter from the Scottish Sanctuary, the other was a well-dressed man with an umbrella. They were both likely to be trouble.
Next, she checked for Harden. He was being beaten up pretty badly by one of the American Elders. He'd probably realized that she, too, was
The woman in black sighed. Of course she had to do everything herself.
*******
The professor frowned slightly. He didn't like stages. Unfortunately, he had to agree to present his invention in front of a bunch of important people, or the Sanctuary wouldn't provide him with some of the more obscure and dangerous parts.
He supposed that made sense, one couldn't be too careful with sensors that absorbed magic and used it. That's what it would do, absorb parts of his magic and use it to shunt something. And hopefully it wouldn't explode in front of everyone important.
The professor fidgeted with his tie as the Master of Ceremonies came over. "Mr. Apparatus?"
"Professor, if you wouldn't mind."
"Mr. Professor, sorry."
"Yes?"
"The Grand Mage wishes to know when you will be ready to begin. Some of the guests are growing...rowdy."
The professor sighed. "I'll begin at once, then."
"Much appreciated." The Master of Ceremonies left the backstage area for the auditorium, and all the people. The professor shuddered slightly and got to work, double-checking everything. He didn't notice the new sensor plate. Or the readjusted wiring. Or the woman in black standing directly behind him, a gun in one hand, a needle in the other.
*******
"He has an impenetrable mind," the man in the coat stated simply.
"You bet I do!" Everest Harden grunted. "You'll never get anything out of me!"
"I would not be so certain of that."
Elder Tesla looked down at Harden. "You used to work in the Sanctuary, didn't you? Why did you attack me? Some sort of revenge?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's it. Let me go now?"
Tesla's eyes narrowed, and Harden got the awful feeling that she was going to attack him again in a mess of kicks, punches, elbows, knees... She was...rough.
"The demonstration is about to begin. We should probably keep him unconscious until this is over."
"Very well." Those were the last words Harden remembered, before he found his eyes closing.
*******
Trip Castalan glanced over and decided that Aretha and Niccolò didn't need any help. The man who'd attacked them was an idiot, not worth bothering over.
With that, he focused his attention back on the demonstration, the old man and the machine he'd spent most of his lifetime building.
"Did you see that?" Adra Dark hissed from the seat over.
"What--? Oh." Trip frowned as he caught a glimpse of the people moving around furtively backstage. "I believe that's trouble." He squinted, then jumped suddenly. "That woman in black has never been convicted of any crime, but..."
"But...?" Adra raised an eyebrow, ignoring the old man giving a speech on stage.
"But she's been...associating with the wrong crowd. This group of anarchists, I suppose you would call them, had this base camp in rural Norway. Most of them were arrested some time ago for various acts against the Sanctuary, sometimes even the world, but there was never any evidence connecting her to their crimes. As far as I know, she hasn't left Norway in the past 127 years. I was always under the impression she was training for something. Something big. We need to..."
Trip blinked, and then he was someplace else entirely. Unless the theatre had a library mode, that is. A minute later, Adra was beside him.
"You do know it's impolite to vanish in the middle of a conversation?"
"Adra! You need to get out of here! I think this is some sort of trap!"
"Is it that Norwegian woman, then?"
"No... Viktoria Ty isn't a teleporter or anything like that, more of a burglar, assassin and engineer."
"Engineer? Do you mean..." Adra looked around. "Oh gods, she did something to the machine, didn't she?"
"Um...probably?"
"Then where the hell are we?"
Trip smiled and took her by the arm. "Let's find out, shall we?"
*******
((This is the first half of what would've been the last bit of the intro, except that I have this one more scene I need to write for it, but it's been ages since I posted something, so I'll give you the first part. If you are unhappy with the bit featuring your character, you can ask me to change a detail or rewrite it yourself, as long as it doesn't change the main plot too much. Also, I put characters where they fit, and some may have a bit more to do than others.That's because of what I found easiest to write, and where everything fit and things like that, and is not meant to offend anyone. If your character isn't in this bit, he/she will appear in the next bit unless you tell me to do otherwise, which you should do now, so I know. I should have the final part of the intro up sometime within the week, and then we can begin the first dimension!))
Friday, August 23, 2013
Fabi: The Professor's Assistant, the Saboteurs and everyone following everyone else
August 2013
Sage Tunstall pedaled over to a couple of homeless people and gave them the lunch her Uncle Tate had packed for her. She hated those artificial lunches-that-come-from-the-store-in-a-box, but didn't want to throw it away, because the landfill was already so ****ing full. It didn't need more manmade, artificial, wasted ****. She’d already bought a nice spinach salad at the organic grocery place back in Watkins Square, anyway.
((Chaos as in disorder, confusion and fear, not Adra's creation of the same name. This doesn't refer to an actual being, really. Just clarifying. Also, sorry it's not all the way done, but I felt like I had to post something because it's been a while and I don't want this blog to die before it's begun.))
The wind blew a few strands of hair around her face as she coasted down the hill and around the corner. STARBUCKS! Sage swerved to avoid the line that stretched out the doorway and narrowly missed a tree. Stupid coffee. Stupid landscaping. Also, there really ought to be a bike lane. Why the **** wasn't there a bike lane? Or at least a shoulder in which people weren’t parking their dirty gas-guzzling cars? Seriously.
A few more blocks and she'd reached the alleyway. She pedaled past it without a glance, parking her bicycle at a park a block or so away. She chained it to the fence, then walked off in the direction she’d come, this time turning into the alleyway and looking for the door. Where had the old man put it?
She glanced along the walls, next to the trash cans and recycling bins (apparently the idiots here didn’t have a compost bin) around the metal gate at the end. Then she looked under the pile of banana peels and facepalmed. Of course it’d be there, a small square trapdoor this time. It looked barely big enough for anyone to fit through, but then, it also looked like it didn’t lead anywhere but into the ground, no hole or anything. When Sage put her foot through it, though, it went through the dirt. She swung it around, searching for a ladder or something, then realized that the other side was sideways. In one swift motion, swung the other leg through and fell through, ending up lying on her back on the floor in the hallway outside the professor’s workshop.
*******
The two figures in black exchanged glances as the girl disappeared. She hadn’t seen them, and they knew that. They also knew where the door was, even though it had automatically closed and the banana peels automatically replaced themselves almost immediately. And now they were going to use that information to their own advantage. Joy. After several minutes, they left, but they’d be back soon enough, probably at night.
Fabi opened the gate she’d been hiding behind and started back towards the street, but a man in a grey suit stepped out of nowhere and blocked her path. She sensed the gun in his pocket, preparing to stop a bullet if necessary, but he didn’t draw it. Instead, he pointed.
She raised her sword too slowly; she knew that even as she began the motion. When the man pointed at her, it was like a galaxy, stars all over her vision, blinding her. She still had her metal sense, though, and the man had a pair of daggers in his coat. It took all her energy to focus, but he wasn’t moving, watching to make sure the galaxy finished her. The daggers twisted and bent, it felt painstakingly slow, but it was fast enough that the man didn’t have a chance to react. There were more voices now, some of them familiar, but she couldn’t recognize them. She heard a scream cut off, but she was drifting away from it all, farther into space, away from everything she knew and loved. Eventually, she closed her eyes and welcomed the dark void. The stars were gone, and there was…nothing.
*******
The professor wiped his brow as Sage left. His assistant had a good heart, that's why he hired her, but sometimes she was a little too...animated. When she started off on a passionate rant about how the planet was pretty much doomed, he couldn't keep up with everything she said as she paced and gestured wildly. Granted, he was a bit diverted by preventing her from knocking over various pieces of intricate machinary, but still, it was exhausting and hard to keep up with.
They'd made good progress, though, on the machine, the masterpiece which could potentially save the planet. He finished the last bit himself, welding on the flat piece with the inverted handprint. This was the piece he could use to channel his power into the machine, which would then shunt the world's air pollution into an empty dimension. At least, that's what was supposed to happen.
When the professor had finished for the night, he locked his lab and went home to drink some tea and then sleep. The figures in black were waiting. The one on the left pulled back her hood slightly, revealing pale skin and a few strands of light blonde hair. "Are you ready for this, Harden?" she asked in an accent that was most likely Scandinavian.
The man, Everest Harden, responded in an American accent from someplace southerly. "Of course I'm ready. Why wouldn't I be?" The woman shrugged and headed over to the door, stopping over it and wrinkling her nose. Harden got the message and swept aside the banana peels.
The woman opened the trapdoor gingerly, then slipped through, silent as a cat. Harden followed a little more doubtfully. So he wasn't ready, then, the woman muttered under her breath with a small snort. She didn't bother to wait, heading straight for the machine. She'd been trained for a long time, trained to be efficient. It was time for her to use her training, now that she was finally out in the world.
A quick, deft motion and the woman in black had swapped out the sensor plate. She readjusted the wiring slightly and smiled. "Do you have the seating chart?"
Harden, who had been pretty useless so far, jumped and hurriedly pulled it out. He read off the seat numbers of several prominent Sanctuary officials.
The woman smiled wider and hooked up a device that looked sort of like an iPad with a bunch of extra cables coming out. She typed in several commands, and then they were gone the way they'd come. The plan would work, of course. Even the professor's genius couldn't counter it. And even if He did somehow, they'd still get what they wanted. Chaos.
Harden, who had been pretty useless so far, jumped and hurriedly pulled it out. He read off the seat numbers of several prominent Sanctuary officials.
The woman smiled wider and hooked up a device that looked sort of like an iPad with a bunch of extra cables coming out. She typed in several commands, and then they were gone the way they'd come. The plan would work, of course. Even the professor's genius couldn't counter it. And even if He did somehow, they'd still get what they wanted. Chaos.
((Chaos as in disorder, confusion and fear, not Adra's creation of the same name. This doesn't refer to an actual being, really. Just clarifying. Also, sorry it's not all the way done, but I felt like I had to post something because it's been a while and I don't want this blog to die before it's begun.))
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Fabi: Bios
Fabi: Bios
Um, I need to know this much, and any other info you have lying around would probably be useful.
Also: If you're making a new character for this, please don't make a shunter, as it would be boring if everyone could just go back. If your character can shunt usually, there's something preventing that. Somehow. Magical abilities are allowed, though, unless the dimension specifies otherwise.
For each character who will be shunted:
How would you describe them if you didn't know their name? (red-haired woman, evil-sword guy, mustache dude, nail-biting girl, etc.)
Appearance.
What they would wear to a scientific demonstration.
Personality (if different from in the MC/Blogland RP)
Who do they already know?
Occupation
Back story (As much as you think will be important to the plot. Again, if I already know this, or should already know, you can skip this part)
Magical ability (again, if I don't know. And if it's something unusual, details on what they can do would be nice)
Weapon(s) of choice/fighting style
Reaction to appearing somewhere that's definitely not the theatre.
Example:
Fabi S.
Quiet girl, thinking girl, fidgeting girl, something like that.
She's pretty ordinary looking, I guess. A bit above average height, neither skinny nor fat, light brown hair, blue eyes, a few light freckles and pimples and other spots on her face. Also her nose is extra pinkish in the summer.
Well, since it's an important occasion with plenty of goverment-y official-ish people, she'd probably try to dress up. I imagine she'd wear a nice jacket and a white shirt with buttons and a collar, but she'd have her normal casual black pants and sneakers on. :-P
She's me, so... Some things you can't necessarily tell on the blog: has trouble staying still, doesn't usually say out loud when she's upset, can't stop thinking. And then the rest is me, so...yeah.
She knows whoever, I guess. Up to you all. :-)
She's freelance, but has done work for the American Sanctuary, usually tracking/following potential criminals. She also deals in information and intelligence, though that's not usually something the Sanctuary hires her for. She also does random jobs including assassination, assassination prevention, guard, bodyguard, thievery (if she believes it's a good cause), research, research, research. ((In practice, I feel uncomfortable having her research others' creations, though, so I'm not really sure if her research skills will come into play)) Oh, also she makes weapons with her metal-bending abilities.
((I'm skipping back story for now, since mine is kinda boring))
Fabi bends metal. Basically she reshapes it, it's easiest to melt it into little droplets, but she can di creative stuff too, and if she can concentrate enough, or is going insane (either works) she can actually make the metal heat up to the point where its too hot to touch. Also she can sense metal, sort of like x-ray vision, except it doesn't apply to bones and stuff, just metal. And she doesn't see it, exactly, it's like another sense entirely, and it gets stronger as she works at her metal-bending.
Fabi generally fights with a sword, though she can use anything metal. And she generally doesn't remember to completely melt the opponent's weapon because of the adrenaline. She does manipulate her own sword to lengthen and twist in unexpected directions and she uses her metal-sense the best she can.
Fabi would probably think it was a conspiracy plot at first and ask who everyone was to see if there was any connection. She'd try to pretend not to panic, but would fidget a lot, and would take charge of the situation only if no one else did. I imagine she would realize what was going on to some extent, at least the fact that they had been mistakenly shunted, but she wouldn't really know what to do about it.
And anything else you want to include. As I said, if I roleplay with you a lot, or you're in the MC, I probably can write your character based on that. And the number of characters you want to include is up to you, I guess, as long as it's reasonable.
And I'm going to start writing the intro now, I think. And I'm going to need the bios before I can finish it, but the beginning should be okay...
So...yeah. Any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to let me know.
Um, I need to know this much, and any other info you have lying around would probably be useful.
Also: If you're making a new character for this, please don't make a shunter, as it would be boring if everyone could just go back. If your character can shunt usually, there's something preventing that. Somehow. Magical abilities are allowed, though, unless the dimension specifies otherwise.
For each character who will be shunted:
How would you describe them if you didn't know their name? (red-haired woman, evil-sword guy, mustache dude, nail-biting girl, etc.)
Appearance.
What they would wear to a scientific demonstration.
Personality (if different from in the MC/Blogland RP)
Who do they already know?
Occupation
Back story (As much as you think will be important to the plot. Again, if I already know this, or should already know, you can skip this part)
Magical ability (again, if I don't know. And if it's something unusual, details on what they can do would be nice)
Weapon(s) of choice/fighting style
Reaction to appearing somewhere that's definitely not the theatre.
Example:
Fabi S.
Quiet girl, thinking girl, fidgeting girl, something like that.
She's pretty ordinary looking, I guess. A bit above average height, neither skinny nor fat, light brown hair, blue eyes, a few light freckles and pimples and other spots on her face. Also her nose is extra pinkish in the summer.
Well, since it's an important occasion with plenty of goverment-y official-ish people, she'd probably try to dress up. I imagine she'd wear a nice jacket and a white shirt with buttons and a collar, but she'd have her normal casual black pants and sneakers on. :-P
She's me, so... Some things you can't necessarily tell on the blog: has trouble staying still, doesn't usually say out loud when she's upset, can't stop thinking. And then the rest is me, so...yeah.
She knows whoever, I guess. Up to you all. :-)
She's freelance, but has done work for the American Sanctuary, usually tracking/following potential criminals. She also deals in information and intelligence, though that's not usually something the Sanctuary hires her for. She also does random jobs including assassination, assassination prevention, guard, bodyguard, thievery (if she believes it's a good cause), research, research, research. ((In practice, I feel uncomfortable having her research others' creations, though, so I'm not really sure if her research skills will come into play)) Oh, also she makes weapons with her metal-bending abilities.
((I'm skipping back story for now, since mine is kinda boring))
Fabi bends metal. Basically she reshapes it, it's easiest to melt it into little droplets, but she can di creative stuff too, and if she can concentrate enough, or is going insane (either works) she can actually make the metal heat up to the point where its too hot to touch. Also she can sense metal, sort of like x-ray vision, except it doesn't apply to bones and stuff, just metal. And she doesn't see it, exactly, it's like another sense entirely, and it gets stronger as she works at her metal-bending.
Fabi generally fights with a sword, though she can use anything metal. And she generally doesn't remember to completely melt the opponent's weapon because of the adrenaline. She does manipulate her own sword to lengthen and twist in unexpected directions and she uses her metal-sense the best she can.
Fabi would probably think it was a conspiracy plot at first and ask who everyone was to see if there was any connection. She'd try to pretend not to panic, but would fidget a lot, and would take charge of the situation only if no one else did. I imagine she would realize what was going on to some extent, at least the fact that they had been mistakenly shunted, but she wouldn't really know what to do about it.
And anything else you want to include. As I said, if I roleplay with you a lot, or you're in the MC, I probably can write your character based on that. And the number of characters you want to include is up to you, I guess, as long as it's reasonable.
And I'm going to start writing the intro now, I think. And I'm going to need the bios before I can finish it, but the beginning should be okay...
So...yeah. Any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to let me know.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Fabi: How Stuff May or May Not Work
Okay. So this is how I think it will work:
I'm going to start, and I'll write the part where the shunting experiment goes wrong and sends people to another dimension. I'll need profile/bio things for any characters you want included. If you want to write it from your character's perspective later you can as well. It's optional. And then someone else (Ember may have volunteered) will invent the first dimension and do two posts--a first chapter and a brief description of anything she wants to specify about her world. Anything minor that wasn't specifically said about a place can be decided later by whoever's writing at the time. And then people who want to write for the dimension can do so, and we probably need a writing order or people can split up, whatever works. Because it's not just called the Shunting Experiment because it's an experiment that goes wrong in the plot. The entire collab is an experiment, really.
And if any of that sounds like it won't work, or you have a different idea, then comment! I'm open to suggestions and ideas of any kind, and I would love input on this idea.
Also: After the collab has started, I'm leaving the option open for anyone to guest write a dimension without joining the collab, if no one else has a particular idea that time around. Unless anyone has an objection to this.
So, um, I might start like advertising this collab in Blogland, but if I'm really annoying you, you can tell me to shut up.
I'm going to start, and I'll write the part where the shunting experiment goes wrong and sends people to another dimension. I'll need profile/bio things for any characters you want included. If you want to write it from your character's perspective later you can as well. It's optional. And then someone else (Ember may have volunteered) will invent the first dimension and do two posts--a first chapter and a brief description of anything she wants to specify about her world. Anything minor that wasn't specifically said about a place can be decided later by whoever's writing at the time. And then people who want to write for the dimension can do so, and we probably need a writing order or people can split up, whatever works. Because it's not just called the Shunting Experiment because it's an experiment that goes wrong in the plot. The entire collab is an experiment, really.
And if any of that sounds like it won't work, or you have a different idea, then comment! I'm open to suggestions and ideas of any kind, and I would love input on this idea.
Also: After the collab has started, I'm leaving the option open for anyone to guest write a dimension without joining the collab, if no one else has a particular idea that time around. Unless anyone has an objection to this.
So, um, I might start like advertising this collab in Blogland, but if I'm really annoying you, you can tell me to shut up.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Fabi: SO IT HAS A BLOG NOW...
...WHICH PROBABLY MEANS IT'LL ACTUALLY HAPPEN AT SOME POINT IN TIME.
I haven't the faintest idea how to run one of these things, though. I mean, I can add authors and yeah, play with the font, formatting, etc., but as far as the actual logistics behind it..like getting people interested, getting the working together bits to work out okay, and all those little details like that...I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. How exciting!
Copy-and-pasted idea summary from my blog:
Then, everyone could take turns coming up with a dimension. Like, anything. One person would set the stage and specify anything important they wanted to have in their dimension and then anyone else who wanted to try would have a turn and then we'd all be automatically shunted to another dimension. If the characters split up, they wouldn't necessarily appear in the same place in the next dimension, so different people can write at once (after the first person has invented the dimension) and if anyone was touching someone when everyone was shunted again, they'd join. And anyone who dies dies.
There can be anything in a dimension, alternate endings with SP characters, (Like Tanith with no remnant! :D or Sanguine being from somewhere other than Texas. That'd be weird, but the whole point of this would be a fun experiment-y thing, so weird is okay)
And that's my idea as it currently exists--subject to changes depending on what people want to do.
And if no one wants to do this, I might write it myself, because it sounds like fun, to me anyway. :-)
BUT PEOPLE READ THAT AND COMMENTED OR TALKED TO ME ABOUT IT. AND NO ONE READS MY BLOG! SO APPARENTLY THERE'S INTEREST IN THE IDEA. SO I GAVE IT A BLOG NOW.
AND THE ANSWER TO EVERY QUESTION IS "I DON'T KNOW."
EXCEPT IF YOU'RE ASKING TO JOIN. THE ANSWER IS YEAH, IF I DON'T LOSE INTEREST IN THE IDEA. FABI CAN BE FLAKY AT TIMES AND FORGETFUL. ALSO SHE GETS BORED REALLY EASILY.
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