Just to let you know, the now unamed dragon story has reach 24 pages long in the word file backup, and at 11,000 odd words is just over a fifth of the way to being classified as a short novel. It's quite firmly out of "short story" and into "Novella" though. I'm considering it's future, but like most novels originally published serially, that most likely looks like so much revision it will be hard to recognize (see the magazine version of "Ender's game").
In the mean time, I've been catching up on some much needed backstory, some of which required cursory amounts of actual research. I'm as amazed as you are.
In other news, I'm considering a career as a professional Dramaterg.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Chapter 17: The Big Decision
I looked blankly at Quentin, then at Teresa. I guess I was sort of in shock; I was still getting around being part of the MLF, and now I was supposed to be their leader or something? It was a lot to take in.
Teresa didn't seem to get this; in fact it seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry to bring me up to speed. She started talking, though I wasn't really tuned in completely.
"After your mother was captured," she said, "Thadius took control of the NA and her place as president of the council was taken by the leader of the New England faction, a man named Fintan O'Connell. Fintan doesn't think very highly of the Brimmers, and he's trying to have the charter modified to keep you from coming back into power. He has some support, but not enough - too many of the council members have personal ties to the Brimmers. But the O'Connells are the second most powerful family in the order, and -"
Quentin cut in again. "Basically," he said, "All thou needst to know is that thou art probably the rightful leader of the MLF, but thou art not likely to be reinstated anytime soon. Just the same, even Fintan can't deny that we need people - especially Draconics. So Thadius cut a deal with him - we'll continue to extend protection to thee, in the form of at least one operative at all times, until thou completest thy training. Since no other silvers are available, Teresa, being a gold and the closest available, will serve as thy mentor,"
"Wait a minute," I answered, still somewhat lost, "Training for what?"
"To go Draconic, of course," answered Teresa. She seemed surprised I'd had to ask the question.
"Hold on," I said. I was taken aback by all this. "Who said anything about me turning Draconic?"
They were both silent for a moment.
"Well," began Teresa, "We'd just assumed, I mean, the heir to the Brimmer dynasty and all, who wouldn't want -"
I stopped her.
"Look," I said, "I don't want to be heir to anything! Until a week ago, I didn't even know I was Draconic, much less their king or something. All I want is to live a normal life not being attacked by vampires. Now, as it is, I haven't done anything illegal. I feel for you guys, but I don't want to subject myself to that sort of thing,"
Another stunned silence. This time it was Quentin who jumped in.
"I can't believe mine ears," he began, indignantly. "Skyler Woods Brimmer, not wanting to fight for the disenfranchised? Not wanting to stand up for those with no voice? That doesn't sound like a Silver Dragon at all. Perhaps a red or a green could show such cowardice, but not a Silver. Thy Grandfather must be rolling over in his grave with shame,"
"I'm sorry," I said, "Really, I am, but you'll just have to find a new savior. At least until I'm out of high school. What about my sister? She's got to have the same genes I do"
"Catherine has already agreed to join the NA in a few years," answered Teresa, matter-of-factly.
This surprised me. Probably more than anything else I'd heard that night. Catherine was a pacifist. Not declared or anything, but she just a generally peaceful, level-headed manner. She'd never agree to go fight anyone.
"Look," continued Teresa, "You don't really have much of a choice. The Vampires are after you, and their sphere of influence extends over most of the world. If you don't agree to be trained, we can't have someone keep protecting you, which means we leave you to fend for yourself. So if you don't fancy moving to the Netherlands or Southern Asia, I'd accept. Since you're going to have the bad parts of being a Draconic anyway, you might as well take the good. Besides," she added, "Don't you want to help us rescue your mother?"
I thought about this for a few minutes, and realized it was true. There was no escaping it now. I could learn how to defend myself, or be killed. And getting to meet my mother would be good too. I had so much to ask her...
"Alright," I said. "I'm in. When do we start?"
Teresa didn't seem to get this; in fact it seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry to bring me up to speed. She started talking, though I wasn't really tuned in completely.
"After your mother was captured," she said, "Thadius took control of the NA and her place as president of the council was taken by the leader of the New England faction, a man named Fintan O'Connell. Fintan doesn't think very highly of the Brimmers, and he's trying to have the charter modified to keep you from coming back into power. He has some support, but not enough - too many of the council members have personal ties to the Brimmers. But the O'Connells are the second most powerful family in the order, and -"
Quentin cut in again. "Basically," he said, "All thou needst to know is that thou art probably the rightful leader of the MLF, but thou art not likely to be reinstated anytime soon. Just the same, even Fintan can't deny that we need people - especially Draconics. So Thadius cut a deal with him - we'll continue to extend protection to thee, in the form of at least one operative at all times, until thou completest thy training. Since no other silvers are available, Teresa, being a gold and the closest available, will serve as thy mentor,"
"Wait a minute," I answered, still somewhat lost, "Training for what?"
"To go Draconic, of course," answered Teresa. She seemed surprised I'd had to ask the question.
"Hold on," I said. I was taken aback by all this. "Who said anything about me turning Draconic?"
They were both silent for a moment.
"Well," began Teresa, "We'd just assumed, I mean, the heir to the Brimmer dynasty and all, who wouldn't want -"
I stopped her.
"Look," I said, "I don't want to be heir to anything! Until a week ago, I didn't even know I was Draconic, much less their king or something. All I want is to live a normal life not being attacked by vampires. Now, as it is, I haven't done anything illegal. I feel for you guys, but I don't want to subject myself to that sort of thing,"
Another stunned silence. This time it was Quentin who jumped in.
"I can't believe mine ears," he began, indignantly. "Skyler Woods Brimmer, not wanting to fight for the disenfranchised? Not wanting to stand up for those with no voice? That doesn't sound like a Silver Dragon at all. Perhaps a red or a green could show such cowardice, but not a Silver. Thy Grandfather must be rolling over in his grave with shame,"
"I'm sorry," I said, "Really, I am, but you'll just have to find a new savior. At least until I'm out of high school. What about my sister? She's got to have the same genes I do"
"Catherine has already agreed to join the NA in a few years," answered Teresa, matter-of-factly.
This surprised me. Probably more than anything else I'd heard that night. Catherine was a pacifist. Not declared or anything, but she just a generally peaceful, level-headed manner. She'd never agree to go fight anyone.
"Look," continued Teresa, "You don't really have much of a choice. The Vampires are after you, and their sphere of influence extends over most of the world. If you don't agree to be trained, we can't have someone keep protecting you, which means we leave you to fend for yourself. So if you don't fancy moving to the Netherlands or Southern Asia, I'd accept. Since you're going to have the bad parts of being a Draconic anyway, you might as well take the good. Besides," she added, "Don't you want to help us rescue your mother?"
I thought about this for a few minutes, and realized it was true. There was no escaping it now. I could learn how to defend myself, or be killed. And getting to meet my mother would be good too. I had so much to ask her...
"Alright," I said. "I'm in. When do we start?"
A note about titles
You may have noticed the latest chapters have not said "Revival" - this is because it is no longer the title. It may become the title of part two. Part one, as of now, is title-less.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Chapter 16: Once Upon a Time
"As thou knowest," Quentin began, "Thousands of years ago the Necromancer and his forces of darkness wiped the elves from the earth. Towards the end of this purge, some of the remaining elves sought refuge across the sea. Piling into hastily put together ships with almost no means of navigation, they set off for the New World. Almost none of these elvish explorers made it across the sea, and those who did had perished long before humans started crossing the ocean. But at least one passenger did survive - a silver dragon egg, quite possibly the last of it's kind.
Of course, there were no dragons native to North America, so this one was quite alone. He eventually settled in the Appalatian mountains. As European settlers began to arrive, he was at first quite friendly to him, as they reminded him of the elves he had known as a wyrmling. But the humans didn't return his kindness. They had heard stories of the dragons of the old world eating young maidens and burning villages. So they feared him and avoided him where possible.'
"On one side of the mountain lived a tribe of natives. They lived far enough away they had little contact with the dragon, but they often saw him flying above them. They began to call him the Skylord.
"The trees on the other side of the mountain were prone to occasional forest fires - these were neccesary to help the trees grow and they were a natural part of the ecosystem. But the settlers immediately assumed they were caused by the dragon, and began to call him the Woods-Burner.
"The dragon grew and developed, living a life of solitude, cut off from his kin. Then the dragon hunters came. Dragons were nearly extinct in the old world by then, and thousands of disenfranchised dragon hunters, having no quarry, came to America, hearing rumors of new bounties there. One of them nearly caught the dragon, and he decided he needed to hide. He took human form and chose as a human name a clever permutation of the only two names he'd ever been known by - Skyler Woods Brimmer.
"Eventually Skyler had a son. some time later he went off to war, where he apparenlty died. His son, however, Skyler Woods Brimmer Jr. , survived. He moved to the city of St. Louis, at the time one of the largest in the nation, and it was there that he began developing his powers. Being fully half dragon, it took him a lot less work to develop them than it does draconics these days. As he got older it became apparent to him that half-dragons were not the most popular people, and he soon learned to keep his powers secret. He still used them though - whenever he saw someone being oppressed or taken advantage of, he would transform, save them, and turn back into that harmless street man. Slowly, stories of this urban reptilian superhero started to circulate. Other Americans with dragon blood, rare at the time, began to flock to St. Louis in hopes of learning more about this man. It was there, in 1891, that the MLF, or Magical Liberation Front, was founded, by a collection of disgruntled draconics, elvishes, and other arcane relics, supported by quite a few nonmagical workers, mostly Chinese immigrants. The Chinese, as you know, revere dragons, and were somewhat upset at how draconics were being treated by the government, especially after the Draconic Registration Act of 1901.
Skyler Woods Brimmer was installed as its first president. And, until the eighties, a Skyler Woods Brimmer headed the organization for it's entire existence, accept for a brief period between III and IV. About that time the MLF absorbed HOUND - the Holy Order of UNdead Defenders. A group of Vampire hunters, HOUND had become aware that the chief Justice of the supreme court had been bitten by a vampire,and feared they would use this to gain control of the government. During World War II, the employment of dark magic by the Japanese inspired Americans to even greater anti-magic sentiment. The order was driven completely underground by ensuing legislation. Since then we've kept a low profile, focusing mainly on keeping the undead in check, but also trying to fight further anti-magic legislation.
Lisa Brimmer rather controversially accepted the presidency in '84. When she was captured a few years later, you were only a baby - we resolved to keep an eye on you and let you live a normal life, then ask you to accept the post when you came of age. Unfortunately, there's been some dissention on that point lately - which is what we came to discuss with thee,"
Of course, there were no dragons native to North America, so this one was quite alone. He eventually settled in the Appalatian mountains. As European settlers began to arrive, he was at first quite friendly to him, as they reminded him of the elves he had known as a wyrmling. But the humans didn't return his kindness. They had heard stories of the dragons of the old world eating young maidens and burning villages. So they feared him and avoided him where possible.'
"On one side of the mountain lived a tribe of natives. They lived far enough away they had little contact with the dragon, but they often saw him flying above them. They began to call him the Skylord.
"The trees on the other side of the mountain were prone to occasional forest fires - these were neccesary to help the trees grow and they were a natural part of the ecosystem. But the settlers immediately assumed they were caused by the dragon, and began to call him the Woods-Burner.
"The dragon grew and developed, living a life of solitude, cut off from his kin. Then the dragon hunters came. Dragons were nearly extinct in the old world by then, and thousands of disenfranchised dragon hunters, having no quarry, came to America, hearing rumors of new bounties there. One of them nearly caught the dragon, and he decided he needed to hide. He took human form and chose as a human name a clever permutation of the only two names he'd ever been known by - Skyler Woods Brimmer.
"Eventually Skyler had a son. some time later he went off to war, where he apparenlty died. His son, however, Skyler Woods Brimmer Jr. , survived. He moved to the city of St. Louis, at the time one of the largest in the nation, and it was there that he began developing his powers. Being fully half dragon, it took him a lot less work to develop them than it does draconics these days. As he got older it became apparent to him that half-dragons were not the most popular people, and he soon learned to keep his powers secret. He still used them though - whenever he saw someone being oppressed or taken advantage of, he would transform, save them, and turn back into that harmless street man. Slowly, stories of this urban reptilian superhero started to circulate. Other Americans with dragon blood, rare at the time, began to flock to St. Louis in hopes of learning more about this man. It was there, in 1891, that the MLF, or Magical Liberation Front, was founded, by a collection of disgruntled draconics, elvishes, and other arcane relics, supported by quite a few nonmagical workers, mostly Chinese immigrants. The Chinese, as you know, revere dragons, and were somewhat upset at how draconics were being treated by the government, especially after the Draconic Registration Act of 1901.
Skyler Woods Brimmer was installed as its first president. And, until the eighties, a Skyler Woods Brimmer headed the organization for it's entire existence, accept for a brief period between III and IV. About that time the MLF absorbed HOUND - the Holy Order of UNdead Defenders. A group of Vampire hunters, HOUND had become aware that the chief Justice of the supreme court had been bitten by a vampire,and feared they would use this to gain control of the government. During World War II, the employment of dark magic by the Japanese inspired Americans to even greater anti-magic sentiment. The order was driven completely underground by ensuing legislation. Since then we've kept a low profile, focusing mainly on keeping the undead in check, but also trying to fight further anti-magic legislation.
Lisa Brimmer rather controversially accepted the presidency in '84. When she was captured a few years later, you were only a baby - we resolved to keep an eye on you and let you live a normal life, then ask you to accept the post when you came of age. Unfortunately, there's been some dissention on that point lately - which is what we came to discuss with thee,"
Chapter 15: Finally Some Answers
I'd been alone at my house for nearly an hour when I got the phone call. It was Teresa.
"Come outside, Skyler," she said.
"You sure?" I asked, "I thought I wasn't supposed to be out after dark,"
"We've swept the area," she answered, "You're safe. Besides, it's only a few meters,"
Outside the house was a large, rather broken down-looking black and brown Corvair van. As I approached, the door opened. Teresa was sitting in the middle seat farthest from the door.
"Skyler," she said as she saw me coming out, "Get in. We have much to discuss,"
I climbed into the vehicle and sat down next to her. I tried to close the door, but it stuck badly.
"Thou has to push in at the same time," said an unfamiliar voice from the seat in front of me. It was gruff, but friendly, and I couldn't help but notice his word choice.
"Uh, thanks," I muttered. After a few more embarrassing seconds, I finally got the door shut. I looked around. I couldn't see the man in the front seat especially well, but the shotgun seat appeared to be occupied by a bulky looking piece of equipment. The back seats were full of garbage bags. Teresa had a laptop computer on her lab, which appeared to be displaying a back view of my house. The van smelled heavily of garlic.
The man in the front seat turned around. He was old, but not decrepid - his face was showed a determination that said he didn't plan on leaving any time soon. He was wearing thick-rimmed, round glasses and a wide-brimmed black hat, and had a short, white beard over most of his face. From what I could see of his clothing, his seemed to simply be wearing a black liturgical robe, the kind you often see on Catholic priests.
"Skyler," said Teresa, "This is Quentin. Quentin, Skyler Woods Brimmer VI,"
"A pleasure," said the old man, "I've lived through three Brimmers, and none has disappointed me yet. I'm sure thou wilt be no different,"
"Is he the increased protection you offered?" I asked, wondering exactly how much good this guy would actually be in a combat situation.
"Actually," answered Teresa, "The Council declined my request. Quentin decided to come anyway,"
"Skyler Woods Brimmer V saved my life three times," said Quentin, "And Lisa has once as well. I still owe thy family a great debt,"
I really wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, Teresa cut in again.
"Pretty much everyone in the Northern Alliance still supports you and your mother," She began, "But in the Council as a whole, a lot of people are saying it's about time the Brimmer dynasty ended, and that it's backwards to be clinging to a hundred and fifty year old monarchy when we're in the state we're in. They very nearly pulled me off of watching you entirely. You can thank Quentin and Thadius for pulling some strings and getting you the deal you did get,"
This was way over my head. I understood a tiny fraction of what she was saying, and I got the feeling they expected me to know a lot more. That would explain some things.
"Teresa!" said the old man, "Slow down. The boy's barely absorbed that there is a Northern Alliance, he hardly needs to be struggling to understand their internal politics. Now Skyler," He said, turning to me, "How much dost thou know about thy great, great, great, great, grandfather?"
"Come outside, Skyler," she said.
"You sure?" I asked, "I thought I wasn't supposed to be out after dark,"
"We've swept the area," she answered, "You're safe. Besides, it's only a few meters,"
Outside the house was a large, rather broken down-looking black and brown Corvair van. As I approached, the door opened. Teresa was sitting in the middle seat farthest from the door.
"Skyler," she said as she saw me coming out, "Get in. We have much to discuss,"
I climbed into the vehicle and sat down next to her. I tried to close the door, but it stuck badly.
"Thou has to push in at the same time," said an unfamiliar voice from the seat in front of me. It was gruff, but friendly, and I couldn't help but notice his word choice.
"Uh, thanks," I muttered. After a few more embarrassing seconds, I finally got the door shut. I looked around. I couldn't see the man in the front seat especially well, but the shotgun seat appeared to be occupied by a bulky looking piece of equipment. The back seats were full of garbage bags. Teresa had a laptop computer on her lab, which appeared to be displaying a back view of my house. The van smelled heavily of garlic.
The man in the front seat turned around. He was old, but not decrepid - his face was showed a determination that said he didn't plan on leaving any time soon. He was wearing thick-rimmed, round glasses and a wide-brimmed black hat, and had a short, white beard over most of his face. From what I could see of his clothing, his seemed to simply be wearing a black liturgical robe, the kind you often see on Catholic priests.
"Skyler," said Teresa, "This is Quentin. Quentin, Skyler Woods Brimmer VI,"
"A pleasure," said the old man, "I've lived through three Brimmers, and none has disappointed me yet. I'm sure thou wilt be no different,"
"Is he the increased protection you offered?" I asked, wondering exactly how much good this guy would actually be in a combat situation.
"Actually," answered Teresa, "The Council declined my request. Quentin decided to come anyway,"
"Skyler Woods Brimmer V saved my life three times," said Quentin, "And Lisa has once as well. I still owe thy family a great debt,"
I really wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, Teresa cut in again.
"Pretty much everyone in the Northern Alliance still supports you and your mother," She began, "But in the Council as a whole, a lot of people are saying it's about time the Brimmer dynasty ended, and that it's backwards to be clinging to a hundred and fifty year old monarchy when we're in the state we're in. They very nearly pulled me off of watching you entirely. You can thank Quentin and Thadius for pulling some strings and getting you the deal you did get,"
This was way over my head. I understood a tiny fraction of what she was saying, and I got the feeling they expected me to know a lot more. That would explain some things.
"Teresa!" said the old man, "Slow down. The boy's barely absorbed that there is a Northern Alliance, he hardly needs to be struggling to understand their internal politics. Now Skyler," He said, turning to me, "How much dost thou know about thy great, great, great, great, grandfather?"
Monday, February 14, 2005
Chapter 14: Sparring partners
Jason and Faye came over later that afternoon. Jason was bursting with energy. I soon found myself involved in a three way sword fight using dowel rods of varying length.
Faye was using the longer, thicker rod like a quarter staff, and effectively holding us both at bay. She was fast and acrobatic, and it was harder to get in a hit on her. She also obviously knew how distracting she was - she was used to using it to get the upper hand when she fought guys. She picked out her outfits to take your eyes away from her weapon, so you'd forget to defend yourself.
Her brother, her constant sparring partner, was obviously immune to this tactic, so their fights tended to last longer. As Faye ducked to avoid one of Jason's swings, she very nearly broke a vase. We stopped to take a breather.
"We should go outside," said Jason, "We don't want to endanger any more of your stuff,"
It was already starting to get dark. I remembered what Teresa had said last night, and I didn't want to take any chances.
"I'd rather not," I answered, "Hey, did you ever find out about that armor?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Yeah, it's from my Grandpa," he answered, "but I don't know anything else about it,"
"Weird," I said, "He never mentioned it in his letters?"
"Not that I remember," Faye cut in, "But I was gonna look over them again to check,"
"Well, keep me posted," I said, "I'm very curios,"
"Me too," she answered, "You're sure you don't want to go outside?"
"I can't," I replied.
She looked somewhat downcast. I wished I could tell them why I was held to this new restriction. I wished, in fact that I did noty have it. But somehow I doubted even Faye's skills with the dowel rod could stand up to a couple of those vampires.
We went to play some video games, but my heart wasn't in it. Somehow, when you've been dealing with real vampires and dragons, computer-animated ones just don't seem as threatening. In a little while it was time for the Andersons to go home. As she was leaving, Faye asked me if everything was ok.
"You seemed kinda distant today," she said.
I felt distant. Until a few days, I'd felt like I could tell Jason and Faye anything and they'd understand. Now it felt like I was in a different world than them. BUt things were just getting started; it was going to get worse before it got better.
Faye was using the longer, thicker rod like a quarter staff, and effectively holding us both at bay. She was fast and acrobatic, and it was harder to get in a hit on her. She also obviously knew how distracting she was - she was used to using it to get the upper hand when she fought guys. She picked out her outfits to take your eyes away from her weapon, so you'd forget to defend yourself.
Her brother, her constant sparring partner, was obviously immune to this tactic, so their fights tended to last longer. As Faye ducked to avoid one of Jason's swings, she very nearly broke a vase. We stopped to take a breather.
"We should go outside," said Jason, "We don't want to endanger any more of your stuff,"
It was already starting to get dark. I remembered what Teresa had said last night, and I didn't want to take any chances.
"I'd rather not," I answered, "Hey, did you ever find out about that armor?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Yeah, it's from my Grandpa," he answered, "but I don't know anything else about it,"
"Weird," I said, "He never mentioned it in his letters?"
"Not that I remember," Faye cut in, "But I was gonna look over them again to check,"
"Well, keep me posted," I said, "I'm very curios,"
"Me too," she answered, "You're sure you don't want to go outside?"
"I can't," I replied.
She looked somewhat downcast. I wished I could tell them why I was held to this new restriction. I wished, in fact that I did noty have it. But somehow I doubted even Faye's skills with the dowel rod could stand up to a couple of those vampires.
We went to play some video games, but my heart wasn't in it. Somehow, when you've been dealing with real vampires and dragons, computer-animated ones just don't seem as threatening. In a little while it was time for the Andersons to go home. As she was leaving, Faye asked me if everything was ok.
"You seemed kinda distant today," she said.
I felt distant. Until a few days, I'd felt like I could tell Jason and Faye anything and they'd understand. Now it felt like I was in a different world than them. BUt things were just getting started; it was going to get worse before it got better.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Revival - Chapter 13: Plans and Phone Calls
The next day was Saturday, so I slept until noon. It felt good, one of those deep, dreamless sleeps that you wake up from feeling like it never happened at all. I came down stairs and mom was sitting at the table, eating lunch. I guess technically she's my step mom, but she's the only mother I knew as a child, so that's what I'm gonna call her.
"You're finally up," she commented. "Jason called you several times. Seemed excited,"
After I had some breakfast, I called him back.
"Hey," he said, "Where you been? I've called like, five times,"
"I had a long night," I answered, "So I slept in,"
"Oh," he said, "Well, Harvey worked spectacularly,"
"Good to hear," I answered, "Would have been quite a waste if he'd stalled or you couldn't get him to start,"
"No," said my friend irritably, "I mean on Marissa. She totally changed her attitude towards me,"
"Umm.. not to burst your bubble or anything," I replied, "But is a girl who changes her opinion of you because of simple material things really such a great find?"
There was a longish pause.
"I don't think that was it," said Jason after a while. "I think it's more about the ritual than the actual motorcycle. Sort of the twentieth century equivolent of riding up on a white stallion, you know?"
"Or maybe you just look really good in leather," I suggested.
He laughed. "You know I do. So look, I want to tell you guys all about it. Can we hang at your place tonight?"
"Probably," I answered, "I'll ask. Hey, did you ever find out about that armor?"
"Nope," he said, "Haven't even thought about it. I'll tell you tonight though, ok?"
"Ok," I answered.
I asked my mother, who said it was ok. I told Jason and hung up.
So much had happened in the last few days. It felt like I was on the verge of something; like I could feel how my life was about to change. I needed someone to unload all this on. I wished I knew if it was safe to say this kind of thing over the phone. Catherine always knew what to do about stuff like this. Plus I was wondering if she'd figured any of this out. Doubtless whoever was so intent on either killing me or keeping me alive had a similar interest in her. I hoped I hadn't somehow helped them find her with my carelessness.
I needed to know more. For one thing, I needed to know how far away Teresa's superiors were and how long it would take her to contact them; she had promised me answers as soon as she'd cleared them through them. I decided to try and call her.
I dialed the number. There was a beep.
"Hello," said the familiar voice, somewhat peppier than he'd heard it last night. "It's Teresa. I'm not here. If you'd like to leave a message, press two. If you'd like to die painfully, press one. Bye!"
There was another beep. I hung up. I hadn't really expected it to work. I needed to talk to someone about this though. And there was only one person who I thought I could trust; or if I couldn't it wouldn't matter, since she already knew. I decided to take Zhong up on her offer. I called her up next.
"Hello," said her mother's heavily accented voice.
"Can I speak to Zhong?" I asked.
"Ohyes," she answered, as if they were the same word, "Onemomentplease,"
At least I think that's what she said. I've never been very good at interpreting Mrs. Hua.
"Hello?" asked Zhong, now on the other end.
"Hey," I answered, "It's Skyler,"
"Oh, what's up?" she asked.
"We're getting together at my house tonight," I started, "I was wondering if you'd like to come,"
"Oh, I can't," she answered, "Lot's of work to do. Sorry,"
"It's ok. I just..."
I'd known Zhong for more than a year - I'd never had trouble talking to her before. Somehow it felt wierd though- I mean, I only wanted to talk to someone who knew what I was going through, but at that moment the request seemed so much heavier. I decided to let it drop.
"Yes?" she asked, expectantly.
"Never mind," I told her,"I'll see you Monday,"
I hung up the phone, and went to find something to do for the next hour or so.
"You're finally up," she commented. "Jason called you several times. Seemed excited,"
After I had some breakfast, I called him back.
"Hey," he said, "Where you been? I've called like, five times,"
"I had a long night," I answered, "So I slept in,"
"Oh," he said, "Well, Harvey worked spectacularly,"
"Good to hear," I answered, "Would have been quite a waste if he'd stalled or you couldn't get him to start,"
"No," said my friend irritably, "I mean on Marissa. She totally changed her attitude towards me,"
"Umm.. not to burst your bubble or anything," I replied, "But is a girl who changes her opinion of you because of simple material things really such a great find?"
There was a longish pause.
"I don't think that was it," said Jason after a while. "I think it's more about the ritual than the actual motorcycle. Sort of the twentieth century equivolent of riding up on a white stallion, you know?"
"Or maybe you just look really good in leather," I suggested.
He laughed. "You know I do. So look, I want to tell you guys all about it. Can we hang at your place tonight?"
"Probably," I answered, "I'll ask. Hey, did you ever find out about that armor?"
"Nope," he said, "Haven't even thought about it. I'll tell you tonight though, ok?"
"Ok," I answered.
I asked my mother, who said it was ok. I told Jason and hung up.
So much had happened in the last few days. It felt like I was on the verge of something; like I could feel how my life was about to change. I needed someone to unload all this on. I wished I knew if it was safe to say this kind of thing over the phone. Catherine always knew what to do about stuff like this. Plus I was wondering if she'd figured any of this out. Doubtless whoever was so intent on either killing me or keeping me alive had a similar interest in her. I hoped I hadn't somehow helped them find her with my carelessness.
I needed to know more. For one thing, I needed to know how far away Teresa's superiors were and how long it would take her to contact them; she had promised me answers as soon as she'd cleared them through them. I decided to try and call her.
I dialed the number. There was a beep.
"Hello," said the familiar voice, somewhat peppier than he'd heard it last night. "It's Teresa. I'm not here. If you'd like to leave a message, press two. If you'd like to die painfully, press one. Bye!"
There was another beep. I hung up. I hadn't really expected it to work. I needed to talk to someone about this though. And there was only one person who I thought I could trust; or if I couldn't it wouldn't matter, since she already knew. I decided to take Zhong up on her offer. I called her up next.
"Hello," said her mother's heavily accented voice.
"Can I speak to Zhong?" I asked.
"Ohyes," she answered, as if they were the same word, "Onemomentplease,"
At least I think that's what she said. I've never been very good at interpreting Mrs. Hua.
"Hello?" asked Zhong, now on the other end.
"Hey," I answered, "It's Skyler,"
"Oh, what's up?" she asked.
"We're getting together at my house tonight," I started, "I was wondering if you'd like to come,"
"Oh, I can't," she answered, "Lot's of work to do. Sorry,"
"It's ok. I just..."
I'd known Zhong for more than a year - I'd never had trouble talking to her before. Somehow it felt wierd though- I mean, I only wanted to talk to someone who knew what I was going through, but at that moment the request seemed so much heavier. I decided to let it drop.
"Yes?" she asked, expectantly.
"Never mind," I told her,"I'll see you Monday,"
I hung up the phone, and went to find something to do for the next hour or so.
Chapter 12 - version 2
It wasn't a fair fight. The guy was bigger, stronger, and had the element of surprise. I ducked out of the way just in time to avoid being bitten, then sort of spun out of his grip. Whatever I did, it worked. I managed to get away for a moment. I ran towards the house. I wasn't sure what I'd do when I got there, but I figured I'd decide that later. Unfortunately, it didn't come to that. I got maybe five feet before he grabbed me again. He didn't have to chase me; he just sort of glided over to me. I wrestled with him as best I could, moving my neck around as he tried to bite it, but there was no way I could last very long like that. I thought I was done for.
I stuggled as hard as I could to get out of his grip. I used one of my legs to kick his leg out from under him, trying to knock him off balance. He didn't seem to notice. I was out of tricks. I could feel his cold hands on my shoulder and arm, as he pulled me in towards his mouth. I had all but stopped fighting it.
Then suddenly I heard a roar coming from behind him. Two golden, scaly claws grabbed him and pulled him rather forcefully off of me. I broke free, and ran the opposite direction as fast as I could. I turned to look and saw the battle.
My rescuer was about the size and shape of a human, but the resemblance ended there. It was covered in bright, golden scales, with a reptilian head and rows of sharp teeth. Oddly enough, it was wearing human clothing - a blue halter top and jean shorts. It had a lizard-like head with a mane like a lion, except made of very thick strands of hair - almost like tentacles. Two large, leathery wings were folded on its back, and a long tail trailed behind it.
The guy who had attacked me turned to try and escape, but it was too late. The creature opened it's mouth and unleashed a stream of fire on my attacker. The flaming man took off and drifted very quickly away towards the moon.
The creature walked towards me. It moved very gracefully, in a feline sort of way. As it moved, it transformed. The wings sunk into the back, the leather scales flattened themselves into the skin, and the head seemed to morph itself inward. Standing before me, by the time she arrived, was a perfectly normal looking human woman, probably in her mid-twenties. Well, not perfectly normal. Exceptionally beautiful. Her ethnicity was hard to pinpoint - there was definately some Asian, but also hints of Hispanic. She had shoulder-length brown hair, round, full cheeks and a very well-formed body. She was not smiling- in fact, she looked rather upset - but I was so happy to be dealing with an attractive young woman instead of a scaly monster that it didn't seem to matter.
"Umm... thanks?" I offered.
"I warned you not to do any exploring, Skyler," she said contemptuosly. "The enemy doesn't waste time. Now that he knows you're under protection, he'll be sending a more powerful force soon. And I might not be there to help,"
Suddenly it dawned on me to whom I was speaking. "So you're Dragon girl," I said, "It fits,"
"The name's Teresa Willard," she said, holding out her hand, "No 'H'"
"Skyler Woods Brimmer the sixth," I said, then added after a moment, "Although I suspect you already know that,"
"Yes," said Teresa, "I've had my share of dealings with the Brimmer family. Believe me, this was not my first choice of assignment,"
"Who assigned you here?" I asked.
"All in good time," said the woman, "You'll find out soon enough. Right now I have to figure out what to do about you,"
She started walking through the woods. I followed.
"What do you mean?" I asked, when I caught up with her.
"The enemy now knows your location, and probably suspects you're trying to develop your powers," she answered. "Furthermore, he knows you have a fully trained draconic protecting you. Next time it's not gonna be single vampire. It's probably going to be a dragon humter to deal with me and four or five tougher vampires or just general thugs, to make sure you get taken out of the picture. You may have to get away for a while. Is that managable?"
I thought about it. Leaving right now would be darn inconvenient; it was the beginning of a new semester, I'd probably have to make up a bunch of school, and if I didn't take the test soon, my driver's ed credit would expire. In retrospect all that seems pretty insignificant, but at the time, It mattered a lot more.
"I'd rather not," I answered.
"Well, It may prove unavoidable," said Teresa, "But I'll see if I can get you increased protection. Stay on your guard, and try not to be out after dark. And I'd start carrying a wooden stake. A cross necklace wouldn't be a bad idea, either. You go to church?"
This might seem really slow of me, but it wasn't until that moment that I realized I'd been dealing with a vampire. You have to remember, though, that back then we still thought they were extinct - the last vampire was supposed to have perished sixty years ago in the war.
"Usually," I said, "But my dad owns a funeral parlor. There's religious stuff all over the place,"
We came out of the woods by a road. A small blue Mazda was parked on the shoulder.
"Need a ride home?" she asked.
I told her it would be nice, and I climbed in. Teresa reached over, picked up a large trash bag, and threw it in the back. The cars interior smelled heavily of garlic.
"There's some extra stakes in the back," she told me, "I'll get you one before I go. Not that I'm going far,"
"How long have you been following me?" I asked her.
"Since you typed 'Lisa Brimmer' into a search engine and set off our alarms," she answered.
"Why am I important enough to assign someone to watch me?" I asked. "For that matter, why am I important enough to send someone to kill me?"
"Your name makes you important enough," she answered, "There has never been a 'Skyler Woods Brimmer' who didn't cause they enemy major problems. I suspect the thought of getting the next one before he could defend himself would be quite tempting,"
"So my grandfather -" I began, but she cut me off.
"No more questions," she said, "I've already told you more than I'm authorized to. I'll answer your questions once I've cleared them through my superiors,"
"Okay," I said. There was a long silence.
"So what are you allowed to tell me?" I asked.
"Strictly speaking," she answered, "I've already told you too much. You like Journey?"
"What?" I asked, thinking I'd be going on some mystical trip.
"The band," she answered, "Journey. Most of what I have in here is either either techno-punk or Broadway, but you seem like more of an eighties music type to me,"
So there was no more talk of draconics or vampires. The rest of the trip was spent listening to "Don't Stop Believing," and, on Teresa's part, singing along. I got out of the car holding a wooden tent stake and a small bag of garlic, along with a small piece of paper containing her cell phone number. I had had enough excitement for one night, so I crawled into my bed, and went to sleep.
I stuggled as hard as I could to get out of his grip. I used one of my legs to kick his leg out from under him, trying to knock him off balance. He didn't seem to notice. I was out of tricks. I could feel his cold hands on my shoulder and arm, as he pulled me in towards his mouth. I had all but stopped fighting it.
Then suddenly I heard a roar coming from behind him. Two golden, scaly claws grabbed him and pulled him rather forcefully off of me. I broke free, and ran the opposite direction as fast as I could. I turned to look and saw the battle.
My rescuer was about the size and shape of a human, but the resemblance ended there. It was covered in bright, golden scales, with a reptilian head and rows of sharp teeth. Oddly enough, it was wearing human clothing - a blue halter top and jean shorts. It had a lizard-like head with a mane like a lion, except made of very thick strands of hair - almost like tentacles. Two large, leathery wings were folded on its back, and a long tail trailed behind it.
The guy who had attacked me turned to try and escape, but it was too late. The creature opened it's mouth and unleashed a stream of fire on my attacker. The flaming man took off and drifted very quickly away towards the moon.
The creature walked towards me. It moved very gracefully, in a feline sort of way. As it moved, it transformed. The wings sunk into the back, the leather scales flattened themselves into the skin, and the head seemed to morph itself inward. Standing before me, by the time she arrived, was a perfectly normal looking human woman, probably in her mid-twenties. Well, not perfectly normal. Exceptionally beautiful. Her ethnicity was hard to pinpoint - there was definately some Asian, but also hints of Hispanic. She had shoulder-length brown hair, round, full cheeks and a very well-formed body. She was not smiling- in fact, she looked rather upset - but I was so happy to be dealing with an attractive young woman instead of a scaly monster that it didn't seem to matter.
"Umm... thanks?" I offered.
"I warned you not to do any exploring, Skyler," she said contemptuosly. "The enemy doesn't waste time. Now that he knows you're under protection, he'll be sending a more powerful force soon. And I might not be there to help,"
Suddenly it dawned on me to whom I was speaking. "So you're Dragon girl," I said, "It fits,"
"The name's Teresa Willard," she said, holding out her hand, "No 'H'"
"Skyler Woods Brimmer the sixth," I said, then added after a moment, "Although I suspect you already know that,"
"Yes," said Teresa, "I've had my share of dealings with the Brimmer family. Believe me, this was not my first choice of assignment,"
"Who assigned you here?" I asked.
"All in good time," said the woman, "You'll find out soon enough. Right now I have to figure out what to do about you,"
She started walking through the woods. I followed.
"What do you mean?" I asked, when I caught up with her.
"The enemy now knows your location, and probably suspects you're trying to develop your powers," she answered. "Furthermore, he knows you have a fully trained draconic protecting you. Next time it's not gonna be single vampire. It's probably going to be a dragon humter to deal with me and four or five tougher vampires or just general thugs, to make sure you get taken out of the picture. You may have to get away for a while. Is that managable?"
I thought about it. Leaving right now would be darn inconvenient; it was the beginning of a new semester, I'd probably have to make up a bunch of school, and if I didn't take the test soon, my driver's ed credit would expire. In retrospect all that seems pretty insignificant, but at the time, It mattered a lot more.
"I'd rather not," I answered.
"Well, It may prove unavoidable," said Teresa, "But I'll see if I can get you increased protection. Stay on your guard, and try not to be out after dark. And I'd start carrying a wooden stake. A cross necklace wouldn't be a bad idea, either. You go to church?"
This might seem really slow of me, but it wasn't until that moment that I realized I'd been dealing with a vampire. You have to remember, though, that back then we still thought they were extinct - the last vampire was supposed to have perished sixty years ago in the war.
"Usually," I said, "But my dad owns a funeral parlor. There's religious stuff all over the place,"
We came out of the woods by a road. A small blue Mazda was parked on the shoulder.
"Need a ride home?" she asked.
I told her it would be nice, and I climbed in. Teresa reached over, picked up a large trash bag, and threw it in the back. The cars interior smelled heavily of garlic.
"There's some extra stakes in the back," she told me, "I'll get you one before I go. Not that I'm going far,"
"How long have you been following me?" I asked her.
"Since you typed 'Lisa Brimmer' into a search engine and set off our alarms," she answered.
"Why am I important enough to assign someone to watch me?" I asked. "For that matter, why am I important enough to send someone to kill me?"
"Your name makes you important enough," she answered, "There has never been a 'Skyler Woods Brimmer' who didn't cause they enemy major problems. I suspect the thought of getting the next one before he could defend himself would be quite tempting,"
"So my grandfather -" I began, but she cut me off.
"No more questions," she said, "I've already told you more than I'm authorized to. I'll answer your questions once I've cleared them through my superiors,"
"Okay," I said. There was a long silence.
"So what are you allowed to tell me?" I asked.
"Strictly speaking," she answered, "I've already told you too much. You like Journey?"
"What?" I asked, thinking I'd be going on some mystical trip.
"The band," she answered, "Journey. Most of what I have in here is either either techno-punk or Broadway, but you seem like more of an eighties music type to me,"
So there was no more talk of draconics or vampires. The rest of the trip was spent listening to "Don't Stop Believing," and, on Teresa's part, singing along. I got out of the car holding a wooden tent stake and a small bag of garlic, along with a small piece of paper containing her cell phone number. I had had enough excitement for one night, so I crawled into my bed, and went to sleep.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Question
Question for everyone: should I just keep writing and revise everything when I'm done, or should I revise chapter twelve now and post a hopefully more exciting version? Please give me feedback on this.
Now I will attempt to hone my skills with an irrelevant practice action sequence:
Mortimer looked down from his flying gazelle at the herd of attack Guinea pigs who were pursuing the Queen's 1967 Ford Turino. He knew she would not last very long if they caught up with her. He had to act. He urged the Gazelle forward. He could feel the wind on his back as he closed in on the guinea pigs. Suddenly, one of them caught sight of him. It squealed a blood-curtling squeal and jumped into the air. The other oversized rodents turned to face him, hunger burning in their eyes.
They all began to jump into the air. One of them grabbed the gazelle's hoof. His mount furiosly beat it's wings, trying to escape, but it was caught fast. Mortimer looked down at the ground moving below him. I wasn't that high up. He could probably survive the fall. Another guinea pig gabbed the gazelle's hoof. Under the combined weight it plummeted to the ground.
Mortimer jumped off it's back, drawing his peanut-butter-covered mace as he hit the ground. The sticky bludgeon felt heavy in his hand, and the smell of Jiffy (tm) mixed with the smell of blood in the air. Mort looked around. The gazelle was struggling to free it's legs while trying it's hardest to impale one of it's assailants. But the rest of the creatures were fast closing on the queen - and getting away from him. With one last glance at his embattled companion, he hoisted his peanut-buttery weapon into the air and ran towards the herd of guinea pigs.
He was running faster than he had ever run before. He could barely breathe now, but all he could think about was keeping those monsters from getting to the queen. Finally he closed on the guinea pig at the back of the pack. With a final burst of strength, he threw himself onto it's back.
The confused animal looked around, trying to identify it's attacker. At the same time the peanut butter was doing it's job - it's enticing smell had begun to lure the guinea pigs away from the queen. Turning away from their pursuit, they approached him, slowly, letting off low, menacing purrs. Seeing himself hopelessly out-numbered, Mortimer realized he had only one option. He removed the small, avacado shaped projectile from the top pocket of his vest and hurled it with all his might into the air.
As the avacado flew up, time seemed to slow. He could see each guinea pig breathing in and out. He could see exhaust slowly emerging from Her Majesty's tail pipe. And as the avacado reached the apex of it's flight, time stopped. The fruit opened up, and out stepped Franklin Pierce.
"Hello, Mr. Lima Bean," said the former president, with a snicker, "I see you've finally taken me up on my offer. I just hope your prepared to pay the price!"
So, give me specific feedback on that, and I will improve it accordingly. Then I will try to apply that knowledge to my story. Since it will entail many major action sequences in the near future, I felt this was a neccesary step.
Now I will attempt to hone my skills with an irrelevant practice action sequence:
Mortimer looked down from his flying gazelle at the herd of attack Guinea pigs who were pursuing the Queen's 1967 Ford Turino. He knew she would not last very long if they caught up with her. He had to act. He urged the Gazelle forward. He could feel the wind on his back as he closed in on the guinea pigs. Suddenly, one of them caught sight of him. It squealed a blood-curtling squeal and jumped into the air. The other oversized rodents turned to face him, hunger burning in their eyes.
They all began to jump into the air. One of them grabbed the gazelle's hoof. His mount furiosly beat it's wings, trying to escape, but it was caught fast. Mortimer looked down at the ground moving below him. I wasn't that high up. He could probably survive the fall. Another guinea pig gabbed the gazelle's hoof. Under the combined weight it plummeted to the ground.
Mortimer jumped off it's back, drawing his peanut-butter-covered mace as he hit the ground. The sticky bludgeon felt heavy in his hand, and the smell of Jiffy (tm) mixed with the smell of blood in the air. Mort looked around. The gazelle was struggling to free it's legs while trying it's hardest to impale one of it's assailants. But the rest of the creatures were fast closing on the queen - and getting away from him. With one last glance at his embattled companion, he hoisted his peanut-buttery weapon into the air and ran towards the herd of guinea pigs.
He was running faster than he had ever run before. He could barely breathe now, but all he could think about was keeping those monsters from getting to the queen. Finally he closed on the guinea pig at the back of the pack. With a final burst of strength, he threw himself onto it's back.
The confused animal looked around, trying to identify it's attacker. At the same time the peanut butter was doing it's job - it's enticing smell had begun to lure the guinea pigs away from the queen. Turning away from their pursuit, they approached him, slowly, letting off low, menacing purrs. Seeing himself hopelessly out-numbered, Mortimer realized he had only one option. He removed the small, avacado shaped projectile from the top pocket of his vest and hurled it with all his might into the air.
As the avacado flew up, time seemed to slow. He could see each guinea pig breathing in and out. He could see exhaust slowly emerging from Her Majesty's tail pipe. And as the avacado reached the apex of it's flight, time stopped. The fruit opened up, and out stepped Franklin Pierce.
"Hello, Mr. Lima Bean," said the former president, with a snicker, "I see you've finally taken me up on my offer. I just hope your prepared to pay the price!"
So, give me specific feedback on that, and I will improve it accordingly. Then I will try to apply that knowledge to my story. Since it will entail many major action sequences in the near future, I felt this was a neccesary step.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Revival - Chapter 12: Teresa's assignment
It wasn't a fair fight. The guy was bigger, stronger, and had the element of surprise. I ducked out of the way just in time to avoid being bitten, then sort of spun out of his grip. Whatever I did, it worked. I managed to get away for a moment. I ran towards the house. I wasn't sure what I'd do when I got there, but I figured I'd decide that later. Unfortunately, it didn't come to that. I got maybe five feet before he grabbed me again. He didn't chase me, he just sort of glided over to me. I wrestled with him as best I could, moved my neck around as he tried to bite it, but there was no way I could last very long like that. I thought I was done for.
Interestingly enough, it was about then that it occured to me that the guy was probably a vampire. This might seem really slow of me, but you have to remember, back then we still thought they were extinct - the last vampire was supposed to have perished sixty years ago in the war. I remember realizing that if a vampire bites you, it starts a chemical reaction in your blood that turns you into a vampire within a week - I'd done a report on it for my biology class last year. The knowledge that a fate worse than death awaited me was enough to inspire me to one final attack. I used one of my legs to kick his leg out from under him, trying to knock him off balance. He didn't seem to notice.
I was out of tricks. I could feel his cold hands on my shoulder and arm, as he pulled me in towards his mouth. Then suddenly I heard roar coming from behind him. Two golden, scaly claws grabbed him and pulled him rather forcefully off of me. As soon as I was free, I ran the opposite direction as fast as I could. I turned to look and saw the battle.
My rescuer was about the size and shape of a human, but the resemblance ended there. It was covered in bright, golden scales on it's arms, legs, and head. It's body probably was too, but it was covered up. Oddly enough, it was wearing a blue halter top and jean shorts. It had a lizard-like head with a mane like a lion, except made of very thick strands of hair - almost like tentacles. Two large, leathery wings were folded on its back. It was breathing a stream of fire onto my assailant. The flaming vampire took off and drifted away towards the moon.
The creature walked towards me. It moved very gracefully, in a feline sort of way. As it moved, it transformed. The wings sunk into the back, the leather scales flattened themselves into the skin, and the head seemed to morph itself inward. Standing before me, by the time she arrived, was a perfectly normal looking human woman, probably in her mid-twenties.
Well, not perfectly normal. Exceptionally beautiful. Her ethnicity was hard to pinpoint - there was definately some Asian, but also hints of Hispanic. She had shoulder-length brown hair, round, full cheeks and a very well-formed body. She was not smiling- in fact, she looked rather upset - but I was so happy to be dealing with an attractive young woman instead of a scaly monster that it didn't seem to matter.
"Umm... thanks?" I offered.
"I warned you not to do any exploring, Skyler," she said contemptuosly. "The enemy doesn't waste time. Now that he knows you're under protection, he'll be sending a more powerful force soon. And I might not be there to help,"
Suddenly it dawned on me to whom I was speaking. "So you're Dragon girl," I said, "It fits,"
"The name's Teresa Willard," she said, holding out her hand, "No 'H'"
"Skyler Woods Brimmer the sixth," I said, then added after a moment, "Although I suspect you already know that,"
"Yes," said Teresa, "I've had my share of dealings with the Brimmer family. Believe me, this was not my first choice of assignment,"
"Who assigned you here?" I asked.
"All in good time," said the woman, "You'll find out soon enough. Right now I have to figure out what to do about you,"
She started walking through the woods. I followed.
"What do you mean?" I asked, when I caught up with her.
"The enemy now knows your location, and probably suspects you're trying to develop your powers," she answered. "Furthermore, he knows you have a fully trained draconic protecting you. Next time it's not gonna be single vampire. It's probably going to be a dragon humter to deal ith me and four or five tougher vampires or just general thugs, to make sure you get taken out of the picture. You may have to get away for a while. Is that managable?"
I thought about it. Leaving right now would be darn inconvenient; it was the beginning of a new semester, I'd probably have to make up a bunch of school, and if I didn't take the test soon, my driver's ed credit would expire. In retrospect all that seems pretty insignificant, but at the time, It mattered a lot more.
"I'd rather not," I answered.
"Well, It may prove unavoidable," said Teresa, "But I'll see if I can get you increased protection. Stay on your guard, and try not to be out after dark. And I'd start carrying a wooden stake. A cross necklace wouldn't be a bad idea, either. YOu go to church?"
"Usually," I said, "But my dad owns a funeral parlor. There's religious stuff all over the place,"
We came out of the woods by a road. A small blue Mazda was parked on the shoulder.
"Need a ride home?" she asked.
I told her it would be nice, and I climbed in. Teresa reached over, picked up a large trash bag, and threw it in the back. The cars interior smelled heavily of garlic.
"There's some extra stakes in the back," she told me, "I'll get you one before I go. Not that I'm going far,"
"How long have you been following me?" I asked her.
"Since you typed 'Lisa Brimmer' into a search engine and set off our alarms," she answered.
"Why am I important enough to assign someone to watch me?" I asked. "For that matter, why am I important enough to send someone to kill me?"
"You're name makes you important enough," she answered, "There has never been a 'Skyler Woods Brimmer' who didn't cause they enemy major problems. I suspect the thought of getting the next one before he could defend himself would be quite tempting,"
"So my grandfather -" I began, but she cut me off.
"No more questions," she said, "I've already told you more than I'm authorized to. I'll answer your questions once I've cleared them through my superiors,"
"Okay," I said. There was a long silence.
"So what are you allowed to tell me?" I asked.
"Strictly speaking," she answered, "I've already told you too much. You like Journey?"
"What?" I asked
"The band," she answered, "Journey. Most of what I have in here is either either techno-punk or Broadway, but you seem like more of an eighties music type to me,"
So there was no more talk of draconics or vampires. The rest of the trip was spent listening to "Don't Stop Believing," and singing along. I got out of the car holding a wooden tent stake and a small bag of garlic, along with a small piece of paper containing her cell phone number. I had had enough excitement for one night, so I crawled into my bed, and went to sleep.
Interestingly enough, it was about then that it occured to me that the guy was probably a vampire. This might seem really slow of me, but you have to remember, back then we still thought they were extinct - the last vampire was supposed to have perished sixty years ago in the war. I remember realizing that if a vampire bites you, it starts a chemical reaction in your blood that turns you into a vampire within a week - I'd done a report on it for my biology class last year. The knowledge that a fate worse than death awaited me was enough to inspire me to one final attack. I used one of my legs to kick his leg out from under him, trying to knock him off balance. He didn't seem to notice.
I was out of tricks. I could feel his cold hands on my shoulder and arm, as he pulled me in towards his mouth. Then suddenly I heard roar coming from behind him. Two golden, scaly claws grabbed him and pulled him rather forcefully off of me. As soon as I was free, I ran the opposite direction as fast as I could. I turned to look and saw the battle.
My rescuer was about the size and shape of a human, but the resemblance ended there. It was covered in bright, golden scales on it's arms, legs, and head. It's body probably was too, but it was covered up. Oddly enough, it was wearing a blue halter top and jean shorts. It had a lizard-like head with a mane like a lion, except made of very thick strands of hair - almost like tentacles. Two large, leathery wings were folded on its back. It was breathing a stream of fire onto my assailant. The flaming vampire took off and drifted away towards the moon.
The creature walked towards me. It moved very gracefully, in a feline sort of way. As it moved, it transformed. The wings sunk into the back, the leather scales flattened themselves into the skin, and the head seemed to morph itself inward. Standing before me, by the time she arrived, was a perfectly normal looking human woman, probably in her mid-twenties.
Well, not perfectly normal. Exceptionally beautiful. Her ethnicity was hard to pinpoint - there was definately some Asian, but also hints of Hispanic. She had shoulder-length brown hair, round, full cheeks and a very well-formed body. She was not smiling- in fact, she looked rather upset - but I was so happy to be dealing with an attractive young woman instead of a scaly monster that it didn't seem to matter.
"Umm... thanks?" I offered.
"I warned you not to do any exploring, Skyler," she said contemptuosly. "The enemy doesn't waste time. Now that he knows you're under protection, he'll be sending a more powerful force soon. And I might not be there to help,"
Suddenly it dawned on me to whom I was speaking. "So you're Dragon girl," I said, "It fits,"
"The name's Teresa Willard," she said, holding out her hand, "No 'H'"
"Skyler Woods Brimmer the sixth," I said, then added after a moment, "Although I suspect you already know that,"
"Yes," said Teresa, "I've had my share of dealings with the Brimmer family. Believe me, this was not my first choice of assignment,"
"Who assigned you here?" I asked.
"All in good time," said the woman, "You'll find out soon enough. Right now I have to figure out what to do about you,"
She started walking through the woods. I followed.
"What do you mean?" I asked, when I caught up with her.
"The enemy now knows your location, and probably suspects you're trying to develop your powers," she answered. "Furthermore, he knows you have a fully trained draconic protecting you. Next time it's not gonna be single vampire. It's probably going to be a dragon humter to deal ith me and four or five tougher vampires or just general thugs, to make sure you get taken out of the picture. You may have to get away for a while. Is that managable?"
I thought about it. Leaving right now would be darn inconvenient; it was the beginning of a new semester, I'd probably have to make up a bunch of school, and if I didn't take the test soon, my driver's ed credit would expire. In retrospect all that seems pretty insignificant, but at the time, It mattered a lot more.
"I'd rather not," I answered.
"Well, It may prove unavoidable," said Teresa, "But I'll see if I can get you increased protection. Stay on your guard, and try not to be out after dark. And I'd start carrying a wooden stake. A cross necklace wouldn't be a bad idea, either. YOu go to church?"
"Usually," I said, "But my dad owns a funeral parlor. There's religious stuff all over the place,"
We came out of the woods by a road. A small blue Mazda was parked on the shoulder.
"Need a ride home?" she asked.
I told her it would be nice, and I climbed in. Teresa reached over, picked up a large trash bag, and threw it in the back. The cars interior smelled heavily of garlic.
"There's some extra stakes in the back," she told me, "I'll get you one before I go. Not that I'm going far,"
"How long have you been following me?" I asked her.
"Since you typed 'Lisa Brimmer' into a search engine and set off our alarms," she answered.
"Why am I important enough to assign someone to watch me?" I asked. "For that matter, why am I important enough to send someone to kill me?"
"You're name makes you important enough," she answered, "There has never been a 'Skyler Woods Brimmer' who didn't cause they enemy major problems. I suspect the thought of getting the next one before he could defend himself would be quite tempting,"
"So my grandfather -" I began, but she cut me off.
"No more questions," she said, "I've already told you more than I'm authorized to. I'll answer your questions once I've cleared them through my superiors,"
"Okay," I said. There was a long silence.
"So what are you allowed to tell me?" I asked.
"Strictly speaking," she answered, "I've already told you too much. You like Journey?"
"What?" I asked
"The band," she answered, "Journey. Most of what I have in here is either either techno-punk or Broadway, but you seem like more of an eighties music type to me,"
So there was no more talk of draconics or vampires. The rest of the trip was spent listening to "Don't Stop Believing," and singing along. I got out of the car holding a wooden tent stake and a small bag of garlic, along with a small piece of paper containing her cell phone number. I had had enough excitement for one night, so I crawled into my bed, and went to sleep.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Revival - Chapter 11: The Heist
The next day was Friday, and it was time to get the plan underway. Jason had made sure Marissa would be waiting for hime around 7:30 - quite how he'd accomplished this, I wasn't sure. Regardless, this gave us about an hour and a half, after the Anderson's had finally left with Fay and Zhong, to find the keys. Jason and Fay had told me what they knew about their parents' standard hiding places, from similar experiences over the years. Jason had then gone to search their room. I felt a little uneasy searching someone else's house, but on the other hand it was kind of exciting. Plus, we were just trying to get back something that rightfully belonged to Jason and Fay. It's not like we were trying to steal anything.
I was in the basement, digging through various boxes and things. Not actually opening them- apparently the Andersons would never hide anything small in a large place, because of when Mr. Anderson lost his Social Security card. But apparently, there was precedent for them hiding a fairly flat object by taping it to the bottom of a box, although Fay doubted they'd try something like that twice. Still, I figured I'd check all the boxes.
As I removed one box from the side of the wall, I was given a bit of a scare by what appeared to be a full suit of medievil armor. I resolved to ask Jason about it. I finished the rest of the boxes and went upstairs for my next assignment.
"Hey" said Jason, as he rummaged through a kitchen drawer. He looked up and hald up a small, but normal-looking key. "I think this is the key to the shed. Go check it while I look for the other one,"
"Sure," I answered. he handed me the key and went back to his work. I turned to go, then stopped and asked him, "Why do you have a suit of armor in your basement?"
"A suit of what?" he asked, somewhat startled.
"Armor," I responded, "Like, old medievil stuff,"
"You're kidding," he answered, "Where?"
"Behind some boxes, I'll show you later," I turned to leave.
"Great," he said as I walked out.
The key fit the lock on the old shed perfectly, and, after a little coaxing, I managed to get it to turn. Actually opening the door was harder still, but eventually it slid open without major incident. Inside was Harvey, and a helmet, along with some tools and a few cans of gasoline. I walked over to to Harvey. It - he? - seemed like so much more than a common vehicle. Noble, somehow, like a trusty steed. I could see why it had such a pull on Jason. In fact, I was having trouble pulling my eyes off of it myself. I was still standing there when Jason came in behind me.
"Hey," he said. It startled me - I hadn't noticed him coming in. He was wearing a leather Javket and looked pretty much ready to go.
"I found the key," he said. "I'm gonna go. Lock the shed behind me and leave the key in my mother's left bathroom drawer. Thanks for your help,"
He puled the helmet on and jumped on Harvey's back. Maybe it's just my mind jumbling it with the armor I'd just seen, but something about Jason on that motorcycle seemed very knightly.
"How you getting home?" he asked
"Bus," I said, "I've got faire,"
"Sure you don't want a ride?" he asked.
"No," I answered, "I'm good. Good luck tonight,"
"Thanks man," he said. He zoomed off.
I locked up the shed, put back the key, and I was about to start off on my walk to the bus stop when I noticed the track left by the motorcycle tires on the snow. It was getting dark, but I didn't want to risk leaving such an obvious sign. Besides, I'd always had an especially high tolerance for cold. I selected a large branch from the wooded area behind the house and tried to do that thing people do in the movies, where they cover their tracks with large branches. It didn't go especially well, but it did look better than it had before. It was quite dark by the time I'd finished. I took the branch back to the woods, and had just set it down when I fet something. Two cold hands had set themelves on my shoulders. I turned around just in time. The guy was trying to bite me. He was freakishly strong, to - I could barely turn around. The man had pale white skin and dark hair, and glowing red eyes. His mouth was open, revealing two large fangs. And he was pulling me towards him.
I was in the basement, digging through various boxes and things. Not actually opening them- apparently the Andersons would never hide anything small in a large place, because of when Mr. Anderson lost his Social Security card. But apparently, there was precedent for them hiding a fairly flat object by taping it to the bottom of a box, although Fay doubted they'd try something like that twice. Still, I figured I'd check all the boxes.
As I removed one box from the side of the wall, I was given a bit of a scare by what appeared to be a full suit of medievil armor. I resolved to ask Jason about it. I finished the rest of the boxes and went upstairs for my next assignment.
"Hey" said Jason, as he rummaged through a kitchen drawer. He looked up and hald up a small, but normal-looking key. "I think this is the key to the shed. Go check it while I look for the other one,"
"Sure," I answered. he handed me the key and went back to his work. I turned to go, then stopped and asked him, "Why do you have a suit of armor in your basement?"
"A suit of what?" he asked, somewhat startled.
"Armor," I responded, "Like, old medievil stuff,"
"You're kidding," he answered, "Where?"
"Behind some boxes, I'll show you later," I turned to leave.
"Great," he said as I walked out.
The key fit the lock on the old shed perfectly, and, after a little coaxing, I managed to get it to turn. Actually opening the door was harder still, but eventually it slid open without major incident. Inside was Harvey, and a helmet, along with some tools and a few cans of gasoline. I walked over to to Harvey. It - he? - seemed like so much more than a common vehicle. Noble, somehow, like a trusty steed. I could see why it had such a pull on Jason. In fact, I was having trouble pulling my eyes off of it myself. I was still standing there when Jason came in behind me.
"Hey," he said. It startled me - I hadn't noticed him coming in. He was wearing a leather Javket and looked pretty much ready to go.
"I found the key," he said. "I'm gonna go. Lock the shed behind me and leave the key in my mother's left bathroom drawer. Thanks for your help,"
He puled the helmet on and jumped on Harvey's back. Maybe it's just my mind jumbling it with the armor I'd just seen, but something about Jason on that motorcycle seemed very knightly.
"How you getting home?" he asked
"Bus," I said, "I've got faire,"
"Sure you don't want a ride?" he asked.
"No," I answered, "I'm good. Good luck tonight,"
"Thanks man," he said. He zoomed off.
I locked up the shed, put back the key, and I was about to start off on my walk to the bus stop when I noticed the track left by the motorcycle tires on the snow. It was getting dark, but I didn't want to risk leaving such an obvious sign. Besides, I'd always had an especially high tolerance for cold. I selected a large branch from the wooded area behind the house and tried to do that thing people do in the movies, where they cover their tracks with large branches. It didn't go especially well, but it did look better than it had before. It was quite dark by the time I'd finished. I took the branch back to the woods, and had just set it down when I fet something. Two cold hands had set themelves on my shoulders. I turned around just in time. The guy was trying to bite me. He was freakishly strong, to - I could barely turn around. The man had pale white skin and dark hair, and glowing red eyes. His mouth was open, revealing two large fangs. And he was pulling me towards him.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Revival - Chapter 10: My first mistake
For the next few days, it looked like I might have a normal life. No startling revelations, no mysterious IMs telling me what not to do, no unidentified voices - I was actually starting to forget about things.
Thursday afternoon, as I was thinking over all this, it occured to me that I really knew very little about draconics, the MFA, or any of this bussiness. I decided to just do some basic research. I had barely typed "Draconic" into Google when I recieved an IM.
dragon_gurl'01: Skyler, what are you doing?
It was her again. I was sick of this. I wasn't going to let her stop me. I ignored her and clicked on the first link.
dragon_gurl'01: Get off that site right now, Skyler
dragon_gurl'01: We talked about this
We hadn't talked about anything. In our last conversation she'd done nothing but repeatedly tell me to stop looking up my mother. I typed my reply:
The6th: No we didn't
The6th: I still don't know who you are
dragon_gurl'01: I'm a friend, ok?
dragon_gurl'01: The enemy isn't tracking you nearly as closely as we are, but he might have filters for some keywords
dragon_gurl'01: We can't take any chances with you
The6th: who is this enemy you keep talking about?
The6th: and why are you tracking me so closely?
dragon_gurl'01: I'll explain that all eventually, but for now you have to trust us
dragon_gurl'01: Get off that website, ok?
No one likes being kept in the dark. I was fed up with this. I decided to use the only card I had.
The6th: Tell me who you are and what's going on, or I'll type "I am Skyler Woods Brimmer and a powerful draconic" into Google!
dragon_gurl'01: Don't be an idiot, Skyler
dragon_gurl'01: He has eyes everywhere, and he'd like nothing better than to catch the heir to the Brimmer family unawares and with no powers
dragon_gurl'01: Now you have two options: Do as we say and live a relatively normal life, or keep looking for answers, and some morning very soon you'll wake up dead
She was right; I'm not stupid. And I wasn't going to risk that she might be telling the truth. I signed off of the internet and, just to be safe, deleted my history files. Before I signed off of IM, though, I sent a final message.
The6th: You sure there's nothing else you can tell me?
dragon_gurl'01: All in good time. For now the less you know, the better. Trust us, Skyler. We'll keep you safe.
I was still a little uneasy about the whole thing, but there wasn't really much I could do. I signed off and went to do some homework.
Thursday afternoon, as I was thinking over all this, it occured to me that I really knew very little about draconics, the MFA, or any of this bussiness. I decided to just do some basic research. I had barely typed "Draconic" into Google when I recieved an IM.
dragon_gurl'01: Skyler, what are you doing?
It was her again. I was sick of this. I wasn't going to let her stop me. I ignored her and clicked on the first link.
dragon_gurl'01: Get off that site right now, Skyler
dragon_gurl'01: We talked about this
We hadn't talked about anything. In our last conversation she'd done nothing but repeatedly tell me to stop looking up my mother. I typed my reply:
The6th: No we didn't
The6th: I still don't know who you are
dragon_gurl'01: I'm a friend, ok?
dragon_gurl'01: The enemy isn't tracking you nearly as closely as we are, but he might have filters for some keywords
dragon_gurl'01: We can't take any chances with you
The6th: who is this enemy you keep talking about?
The6th: and why are you tracking me so closely?
dragon_gurl'01: I'll explain that all eventually, but for now you have to trust us
dragon_gurl'01: Get off that website, ok?
No one likes being kept in the dark. I was fed up with this. I decided to use the only card I had.
The6th: Tell me who you are and what's going on, or I'll type "I am Skyler Woods Brimmer and a powerful draconic" into Google!
dragon_gurl'01: Don't be an idiot, Skyler
dragon_gurl'01: He has eyes everywhere, and he'd like nothing better than to catch the heir to the Brimmer family unawares and with no powers
dragon_gurl'01: Now you have two options: Do as we say and live a relatively normal life, or keep looking for answers, and some morning very soon you'll wake up dead
She was right; I'm not stupid. And I wasn't going to risk that she might be telling the truth. I signed off of the internet and, just to be safe, deleted my history files. Before I signed off of IM, though, I sent a final message.
The6th: You sure there's nothing else you can tell me?
dragon_gurl'01: All in good time. For now the less you know, the better. Trust us, Skyler. We'll keep you safe.
I was still a little uneasy about the whole thing, but there wasn't really much I could do. I signed off and went to do some homework.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Revival - Chapter 9: Plotting
The next day I couldn't focus on anything. There was just so much weird stuff going on - PreCalculus just didn't seem important. After school Jason gave me a lift over to Zhong's house to figure out how -and possibly if and why - we were going to steal Harvey. Zhong's mother opened the door, welcomed us in, and said something that was clearly meant to be in English but I couldn't for the life of me understand. I asked her to repeat it, but I was just as lost, so I decided to just let it slip. Zhong was apparently not home yet, and none of us spoke any Mandarin, so further attempts at communication seemed rather pointless. It was rather akward.
We were all rather glad when Zhong and her father showed up. Mr. Hua had about as much English as his wife. He muttered a few friendly, yet incomprehensible words to us then headed up stairs. It suddenly occured to me something Zhong had mentioned last night.
"You're dad gives presentations about his work, doesn't he?" I asked her.
"Yeah, he was giving one last night," she answered.
"Doesn't he need better English for that?" I asked.
"You'd think so," she answered, "Here's the thing. He can write in English just fine - it's speaking and understanding he has trouble with. So he memorizes the presentation, then when it comes time for questions, I translate. That's what I was helping with,"
"Ah," I said. It seemed to make enough sense.
"Well," said Jason, "Let's get started, shall we?"
There was a murmer of agreement.
"Ok," he continued, "Here's the plan so far: Faye is going to create some sort of diversion and lure the parents away from the house. Zhong, you can help with that if you like, it would keep you from being implicated if things went wrong. Sound good?"
"Umm.. sure," she answered, seeming a bit perplexed.
"Skyler, you and I need to spread out around my house and find two keys - one to the shed where Harvey is being held, and the key to Harvey himself. Since nothing else is kept in that shed, we should be able to remove Harvey to a new location and have use of him for sometime before the parents suspect anything. I take him, you lock the shed, then hand me the key and I'll go to a locksmith's and have copy's made. That way, I'll be able to get in and out whenever I need to. Any questions?"
"Umm," I raised my hand, "Just one. Why are we doing all this again?"
"Marissa," Jason answered, "She swoons over guys with motorcycles. Trust me on this, okay? Her friend Haley's single. I could set you two up if this goes well," He winked.
"No thanks," I answered. Haley was clearly out of m league and I didn't really care. I had more pressing matters to think about.
"When are we doing this?" asked Faye, who had been unusually silent up until this point.
"That depends on two things," answered her brother, "When we're all free, and when Marissa is free. I trust your diversion is flexible?"
"Oh definately," said Faye, "You know how good I am at sweet-talking people. I can keep mom and dad driving around for hours. You just leave that to me,"
"Ok then," he said "Anyone have plans Friday afternoon?"
"Are you kidding me?" I asked. I hadn't had a date since sophmore year - hadn't really wanted one, to be honest.
"It's settled then," he stated, with finality, "Friday after school, the heist begins,"
Since we still had some time before had to go home, we hung around for a while. We played doubles Ping-Pong in the garage, but Jason and I kept losing- Zhong is freakishly good at that game. A while later I had to go to the bathroom - the downstairs one was in use, so I headed upstairs. As I walked past an office, I heard an unfamiliar voice.
It wasn't saying anything unusual. Just a lot of yes's and no's - the boring half of a phone conversation. The voice was strong, male, and unnaccented. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint from where. I asked Zhong about it when I got downstairs.
"Hey," I asked, "Is there anybody else staying with you?"
"No," she answered, in her frequently perplexed manner, "Why?"
"I just heard a voice, that's all," I said
"Must have been the ghost," Faye joked, "This house is built on an old Dakota burial ground,"
"Maybe it was just the radio?" Zhong suggested.
"Probably," I answered. I might have been the radio. It was possible, I supposed. I decided just to let it slide. In an hour or so, it was time to go home. I severely hoped I wouldn't find things too much stranger than when I left.
We were all rather glad when Zhong and her father showed up. Mr. Hua had about as much English as his wife. He muttered a few friendly, yet incomprehensible words to us then headed up stairs. It suddenly occured to me something Zhong had mentioned last night.
"You're dad gives presentations about his work, doesn't he?" I asked her.
"Yeah, he was giving one last night," she answered.
"Doesn't he need better English for that?" I asked.
"You'd think so," she answered, "Here's the thing. He can write in English just fine - it's speaking and understanding he has trouble with. So he memorizes the presentation, then when it comes time for questions, I translate. That's what I was helping with,"
"Ah," I said. It seemed to make enough sense.
"Well," said Jason, "Let's get started, shall we?"
There was a murmer of agreement.
"Ok," he continued, "Here's the plan so far: Faye is going to create some sort of diversion and lure the parents away from the house. Zhong, you can help with that if you like, it would keep you from being implicated if things went wrong. Sound good?"
"Umm.. sure," she answered, seeming a bit perplexed.
"Skyler, you and I need to spread out around my house and find two keys - one to the shed where Harvey is being held, and the key to Harvey himself. Since nothing else is kept in that shed, we should be able to remove Harvey to a new location and have use of him for sometime before the parents suspect anything. I take him, you lock the shed, then hand me the key and I'll go to a locksmith's and have copy's made. That way, I'll be able to get in and out whenever I need to. Any questions?"
"Umm," I raised my hand, "Just one. Why are we doing all this again?"
"Marissa," Jason answered, "She swoons over guys with motorcycles. Trust me on this, okay? Her friend Haley's single. I could set you two up if this goes well," He winked.
"No thanks," I answered. Haley was clearly out of m league and I didn't really care. I had more pressing matters to think about.
"When are we doing this?" asked Faye, who had been unusually silent up until this point.
"That depends on two things," answered her brother, "When we're all free, and when Marissa is free. I trust your diversion is flexible?"
"Oh definately," said Faye, "You know how good I am at sweet-talking people. I can keep mom and dad driving around for hours. You just leave that to me,"
"Ok then," he said "Anyone have plans Friday afternoon?"
"Are you kidding me?" I asked. I hadn't had a date since sophmore year - hadn't really wanted one, to be honest.
"It's settled then," he stated, with finality, "Friday after school, the heist begins,"
Since we still had some time before had to go home, we hung around for a while. We played doubles Ping-Pong in the garage, but Jason and I kept losing- Zhong is freakishly good at that game. A while later I had to go to the bathroom - the downstairs one was in use, so I headed upstairs. As I walked past an office, I heard an unfamiliar voice.
It wasn't saying anything unusual. Just a lot of yes's and no's - the boring half of a phone conversation. The voice was strong, male, and unnaccented. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint from where. I asked Zhong about it when I got downstairs.
"Hey," I asked, "Is there anybody else staying with you?"
"No," she answered, in her frequently perplexed manner, "Why?"
"I just heard a voice, that's all," I said
"Must have been the ghost," Faye joked, "This house is built on an old Dakota burial ground,"
"Maybe it was just the radio?" Zhong suggested.
"Probably," I answered. I might have been the radio. It was possible, I supposed. I decided just to let it slide. In an hour or so, it was time to go home. I severely hoped I wouldn't find things too much stranger than when I left.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Arrghh!
Ok. So I decided to go see Amy's concert instead of going to my Grandma's birthday dinner at Olive Garden. It was unfortunate, but it was a decision I was ok with - missing my Grandma's birthday for my girlfriend's concert. Accept, it didn't go that way. Instead, spent my evening standing out in the cold waiting to be picked up for that concert, while my family was all enjoying there meal at olive garden.The concert's been going on for twenty minutes now. Amy's gonna be upset I wasn't there, and I feel like I've wasted my day.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
I want to apologize to everyone I've been an ass to over the last few days. I don't have any excuses, but you wouldn't want to hear them anyway. I apologize and I admit that I was wrong about a lot of stuff.
And Sarah: Thanks for talking some sense into me.
If you're not one of the people I'm talking to, ignore this.
And Sarah: Thanks for talking some sense into me.
If you're not one of the people I'm talking to, ignore this.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Revival - Chapter 8: magicasian89
The6th: Hey
magicasian89: Oh, hey.
magicasian89: what's the thing tomorrow about?
The6th: We're gonna steal a motorcycle
magicasian89: Harvey?
The6th: yup.
magicasian89: I think I might sit this one out.
The6th: understandable
magicasian89: he doing this for Marissa?
The6th: Who knows? His mind works in strange ways
magicasian89: you could say that about any of us
The6th: lol true.
magicasian89: brb.
The6th: k
magicasian89 is away at 7:15 PM
magicasian89 returned at 7:35 PM
magicasian89: Sorry that took so long
The6th: 's ok
magicasian89: My father needed help with one of his demonstrations
The6th: You run the projector or something?
magicasian89: something like that
The6th: Something weird happened while you were gone
magicasian89: really
The6th: This girl just randomly started IMing me
The6th: At least I think it was a girl
magicasian89: You know her?
The6th: no
The6th: but she seemed to know a lot about me
The6th: wouldn't tell me who she was
The6th: it was kinda creepy
magicasian89: sure it's not just your sister playing as joke on you?
The6th: I really don't think so
The6th: her sn bothered me too
magicasian89: what was it?
The6th: dragon_gurl'01
magicasian89: what was she talking to you abuot?
magicasian89: *about
The6th: stuff she had no way of knowing
magicasian89: like what?
The6th: I can't say
magicasian89: ah
magicasian89: listen
magicasian89: If you ever need someone to talk to
magicasian89: I know what it's like having something like this going on and not be able to tell anyone.
The6th: Why's that?
magicasian89: I can't say
magicasian89: I wish I could tell you Sky, I really do
magicasian89: I have to go
The6th: see you tomorow
magicasian89: bye
magicasian89 signed off at 7:51 PM
magicasian89: Oh, hey.
magicasian89: what's the thing tomorrow about?
The6th: We're gonna steal a motorcycle
magicasian89: Harvey?
The6th: yup.
magicasian89: I think I might sit this one out.
The6th: understandable
magicasian89: he doing this for Marissa?
The6th: Who knows? His mind works in strange ways
magicasian89: you could say that about any of us
The6th: lol true.
magicasian89: brb.
The6th: k
magicasian89 is away at 7:15 PM
magicasian89 returned at 7:35 PM
magicasian89: Sorry that took so long
The6th: 's ok
magicasian89: My father needed help with one of his demonstrations
The6th: You run the projector or something?
magicasian89: something like that
The6th: Something weird happened while you were gone
magicasian89: really
The6th: This girl just randomly started IMing me
The6th: At least I think it was a girl
magicasian89: You know her?
The6th: no
The6th: but she seemed to know a lot about me
The6th: wouldn't tell me who she was
The6th: it was kinda creepy
magicasian89: sure it's not just your sister playing as joke on you?
The6th: I really don't think so
The6th: her sn bothered me too
magicasian89: what was it?
The6th: dragon_gurl'01
magicasian89: what was she talking to you abuot?
magicasian89: *about
The6th: stuff she had no way of knowing
magicasian89: like what?
The6th: I can't say
magicasian89: ah
magicasian89: listen
magicasian89: If you ever need someone to talk to
magicasian89: I know what it's like having something like this going on and not be able to tell anyone.
The6th: Why's that?
magicasian89: I can't say
magicasian89: I wish I could tell you Sky, I really do
magicasian89: I have to go
The6th: see you tomorow
magicasian89: bye
magicasian89 signed off at 7:51 PM
Revival - Chapter 7: A Plea for Help
I tried not to think about it. The whole bus ride home I tried to purge my mind of all of this - my mother, my genes, what would happen when someone found out - all the questions. When I got home I tried to focus on homework, but my curiosity got the better of me. I got on the computer and googled "Lisa Brimmer".
After sifting through several sites devoted to an Olympic tennis player and cast and crew lists for community theatre shows in the Chicago area (Choreographed by Lisa Brimmer), I finally found a link that might have applied my mother. Unfortunately, the link was broken. I found the imdb profile of a rather unsuccessful actress (possibly the same woman as the choreographer, I mused) and tried several other dead ends before giving up in frustration. I was going to need outside help. Fortunately, I knew just where to get it.
I had opened my e-mail box and was about to start composing my plea when I got a phone call from Jason. He was just calling to confirm that we were meeting at Zhong's house tomorrow night around four. I said I'd be there as soon as I could. The distraction would be a welcome one.
I sat down and began composing the e-mail, telling everything I'd discovered, and then...
I deleted the whole thing. Some information is just to sensitive to trust the internet. Maybe I was starting to give a little too much credence to Mora's "The government screens your e-mails" theory, but something was telling me not to commit any of this to writing. It would be like having a written confession - irrefutable proof. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a more reliable method for sending messages. Phone lines could easily be tapped, especially long-distance. I could write a letter in code, but I got the feeling that was the sort of thing that worked far better in novels than in real life. Still I figured I'd try. The worst that could happen was that Catherine would recieve a horribly confusing letter, which she'd probably ignore anyway. The code had to be subtle, yet obvious enough that she'd see it. I puzzled over it for a while then started writing.
Dear Catherine,
How are you? Really good, or just minorly good? I'm great here! Is everything alright with Vince? We are anxious to hear from you. Send me an e-mail sometime, you rarely do these days. Could you not write or call more often? Seeing as we -
I stopped and looked at I was writing. Far to obvious. Minorly good? It didn't flow naturally at all, and once you realized some letters were bolded you found the code immediately. Plus she'd broken up with Vince a month ago. There was no point in this. I didn't know why I was being so paranoid. It didn't matter. I was going to have to either wait until my sister came home for break to ask her about this or risk traditional methods of communication, neither of which I liked. At the moment though, there was nothing I could do about it.
After sifting through several sites devoted to an Olympic tennis player and cast and crew lists for community theatre shows in the Chicago area (Choreographed by Lisa Brimmer), I finally found a link that might have applied my mother. Unfortunately, the link was broken. I found the imdb profile of a rather unsuccessful actress (possibly the same woman as the choreographer, I mused) and tried several other dead ends before giving up in frustration. I was going to need outside help. Fortunately, I knew just where to get it.
I had opened my e-mail box and was about to start composing my plea when I got a phone call from Jason. He was just calling to confirm that we were meeting at Zhong's house tomorrow night around four. I said I'd be there as soon as I could. The distraction would be a welcome one.
I sat down and began composing the e-mail, telling everything I'd discovered, and then...
I deleted the whole thing. Some information is just to sensitive to trust the internet. Maybe I was starting to give a little too much credence to Mora's "The government screens your e-mails" theory, but something was telling me not to commit any of this to writing. It would be like having a written confession - irrefutable proof. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a more reliable method for sending messages. Phone lines could easily be tapped, especially long-distance. I could write a letter in code, but I got the feeling that was the sort of thing that worked far better in novels than in real life. Still I figured I'd try. The worst that could happen was that Catherine would recieve a horribly confusing letter, which she'd probably ignore anyway. The code had to be subtle, yet obvious enough that she'd see it. I puzzled over it for a while then started writing.
Dear Catherine,
How are you? Really good, or just minorly good? I'm great here! Is everything alright with Vince? We are anxious to hear from you. Send me an e-mail sometime, you rarely do these days. Could you not write or call more often? Seeing as we -
I stopped and looked at I was writing. Far to obvious. Minorly good? It didn't flow naturally at all, and once you realized some letters were bolded you found the code immediately. Plus she'd broken up with Vince a month ago. There was no point in this. I didn't know why I was being so paranoid. It didn't matter. I was going to have to either wait until my sister came home for break to ask her about this or risk traditional methods of communication, neither of which I liked. At the moment though, there was nothing I could do about it.
Monday, December 27, 2004
D & D !
I've been reading my new DM's guide, and I'm putting together my first campaign. It's gonna be awesome. It's about transdimensional pirates. Well, actually, it's about regular pirates who will end up trapped on another plane - one entirely of my own design. They adventure with go through several planes - some modified from existing D & D cosmology, and some entirely new. WIth new planes you literally get to change all the rules - time, the laws of physics, it's all mutable. Plus a little thing called Wild Magic...
It's sort of like D & D meets Sliders - probably a lot like that, since both change casts several times throughout their run. Anyway, I've got lots of ideas. All I need is a good group - either my current one when we finish Paul's campaign or a new group of people.
It's sort of like D & D meets Sliders - probably a lot like that, since both change casts several times throughout their run. Anyway, I've got lots of ideas. All I need is a good group - either my current one when we finish Paul's campaign or a new group of people.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Revival - Chapter 6: Digesting the information.
My initial reaction was just sort of a numb shock. I didn't say anything. I just kind of stared at the picture, wishing it wasn't there. At first it was just the shock of discovering that my Mother was a criminal. Then I realized it also meant she was probably alive. It hadn't yet sunk in that if my mother had dragon blood, I, by extension, also had it. I was taking it one step at a time.
"You ok?" asked Mora.
"Fine," I said, "I'm fine," I didn't want it to get out that my mother was in prison, or that she was a Draconic - they weren't exactly loved by the public right now, what with DOMA and all. Still, I wanted a closer look.
"Can I have a copy of this?" I asked.
"Sure," she answered, "I can get another. I saved it all on to a disc. Why do you want one?"
I am terrible at impromptu lying. I tried to think of a convincing reason, but my imagination failed me. So I told a modified version of the truth.
"She looks familiar," I said, "We might be related, I'd like to find out,"
"If you're related, that'd make you part dragon, wouldn't it?" Mora said, "That'd be sweet!"
That's when it hit me. I was part dragon. If this got out, it could ruin me. Being a white male, I didn't have much experience being discriminated against, and I wasn't eager for that to change. People don't like Draconics. It could keep me out of colleges, work places, any government job... it was just a terrifying prospect to me at the time.
"What do you mean sweet?" I asked. "People hating you, not letting you do things because of something you have no control over, why would that be cool?!"
"Because," answered Mora, "You'd be able to shape change and burn people's houses down if they mistreated you. Despite what some baptist's say, gay people can't do that,"
"Only if I actually go Draconic!" I answered.
"And why wouldn't you?" she asked, "I mean, if you were gonna get the bad part anyway, why not get the benefit's too?"
"Because they put you in Jail!" I answered, "Yes, being a half-dragon sucks, but all they can do is discriminate against you in small places. If you go Draconic, you don't even need to commit a crime. You have no rights,"
"You don't think being able to fly and breathe fire is worth the persecution?" She asked.
"Not really," I answered truthfully.
"Well, all I know is liking women gets me what half-dragons get - all the discrimination with none of the super-powers - and it's not worth it. If I had a choice, I'd take being a Draconic any day,"
"It doesn't matter," I lied. "We're probably not related anyway,"
"Too bad," she answered.
I went back to looking at he paper. There wasn't a huge amount of information on my mother. Her classification was listed as silver. Height: 5' 8 (human); 6'6 (draconic), Weight: 140.
Member of the influential Brimmer family. Married, two children. Suspected leader of the Northern regional cell of the MFA. Has been involved in at least two robberies and one assasination. Currently being held at the Camelot facility.
I desperately wanted to be able to click on that link. My mother, a cell leader for the MFA? Why had this been kept from me? I wanted to find out. I thought about asking my father, but I didn't know how he'd react. There was really only one person I could trust with this, and I decided to try and get in touch with her when I got home.
Just then Zhong approached us, having somehow escaped her side of the cafeteria. That was good. I needed a distraction.
"Zhong!" I called. She looked startled, then saw me and wandered over.
"We need to use your house for plotting," I said, "Is that cool?"
"Tonight?" she asked, "No. My parents are entertaining guests. Some of my dad's investors, very important. Tomorrow good?"
"It'll do," I answered.
"Is that your mother?" asked Zhong, pointing to the papers.
Zhong had been to my house enough times to have seen the pictures, and she had a notoriously photographic memory. So much for keeping this secret. I had to try though.
"No, the resemblance is striking, though, isn't it?" I lied.
"Yes," answered Zhong sarcastically, taking the paper, "And with the same name, too. How unlikely is that?"
"Wait a minute," said Mora, "Your mother? So we weren't talking hypotheticals a minute ago! You're actually a -"
"Shut up!" I said. I lowered my voice, "Guys, seriously, we have to keep this low profile. If it get's out, it could ruin my chances of getting into a good college or getting a good job. I could end up in prison. This isn't a joke,"
"Your secret's safe with me," said Mora, "But I would so start trying to develop your powers,"
"No," I said.
"What a waste," she answered.
"Is this what we're plotting about?" asked Zhong.
"No. It's just something silly. But I'd prefer you not tell anyone about this - even Jason and Fay. Is that alright?" I asked hopefully.
"Don't worry," said Zhong, "I'm good at keeping secrets. I've been holding on to some for years now,"
"Good," I answered, "I need time to figure this out. It might not even be real,"
"Ok," answered Zhong. "I'll see you tomorrow then, no?"
"Yeah," I answered, "See you then."
The bell rang, and we got up to leave. All the way home I went over all this in my head - what I'd do when they came for me, why they hadn't already - I mean they had have my name in a book somewhere, didn't they? I wonderted if I could really trust Mora. And I wondered if my mother really was still alive in some cell somewhere. I didn't know where the answers to these questions were, but I knew where I was going to start looking. I decided to put it out of my head for a while and think about stealing a motorcycle.
"You ok?" asked Mora.
"Fine," I said, "I'm fine," I didn't want it to get out that my mother was in prison, or that she was a Draconic - they weren't exactly loved by the public right now, what with DOMA and all. Still, I wanted a closer look.
"Can I have a copy of this?" I asked.
"Sure," she answered, "I can get another. I saved it all on to a disc. Why do you want one?"
I am terrible at impromptu lying. I tried to think of a convincing reason, but my imagination failed me. So I told a modified version of the truth.
"She looks familiar," I said, "We might be related, I'd like to find out,"
"If you're related, that'd make you part dragon, wouldn't it?" Mora said, "That'd be sweet!"
That's when it hit me. I was part dragon. If this got out, it could ruin me. Being a white male, I didn't have much experience being discriminated against, and I wasn't eager for that to change. People don't like Draconics. It could keep me out of colleges, work places, any government job... it was just a terrifying prospect to me at the time.
"What do you mean sweet?" I asked. "People hating you, not letting you do things because of something you have no control over, why would that be cool?!"
"Because," answered Mora, "You'd be able to shape change and burn people's houses down if they mistreated you. Despite what some baptist's say, gay people can't do that,"
"Only if I actually go Draconic!" I answered.
"And why wouldn't you?" she asked, "I mean, if you were gonna get the bad part anyway, why not get the benefit's too?"
"Because they put you in Jail!" I answered, "Yes, being a half-dragon sucks, but all they can do is discriminate against you in small places. If you go Draconic, you don't even need to commit a crime. You have no rights,"
"You don't think being able to fly and breathe fire is worth the persecution?" She asked.
"Not really," I answered truthfully.
"Well, all I know is liking women gets me what half-dragons get - all the discrimination with none of the super-powers - and it's not worth it. If I had a choice, I'd take being a Draconic any day,"
"It doesn't matter," I lied. "We're probably not related anyway,"
"Too bad," she answered.
I went back to looking at he paper. There wasn't a huge amount of information on my mother. Her classification was listed as silver. Height: 5' 8 (human); 6'6 (draconic), Weight: 140.
Member of the influential Brimmer family. Married, two children. Suspected leader of the Northern regional cell of the MFA. Has been involved in at least two robberies and one assasination. Currently being held at the Camelot facility.
I desperately wanted to be able to click on that link. My mother, a cell leader for the MFA? Why had this been kept from me? I wanted to find out. I thought about asking my father, but I didn't know how he'd react. There was really only one person I could trust with this, and I decided to try and get in touch with her when I got home.
Just then Zhong approached us, having somehow escaped her side of the cafeteria. That was good. I needed a distraction.
"Zhong!" I called. She looked startled, then saw me and wandered over.
"We need to use your house for plotting," I said, "Is that cool?"
"Tonight?" she asked, "No. My parents are entertaining guests. Some of my dad's investors, very important. Tomorrow good?"
"It'll do," I answered.
"Is that your mother?" asked Zhong, pointing to the papers.
Zhong had been to my house enough times to have seen the pictures, and she had a notoriously photographic memory. So much for keeping this secret. I had to try though.
"No, the resemblance is striking, though, isn't it?" I lied.
"Yes," answered Zhong sarcastically, taking the paper, "And with the same name, too. How unlikely is that?"
"Wait a minute," said Mora, "Your mother? So we weren't talking hypotheticals a minute ago! You're actually a -"
"Shut up!" I said. I lowered my voice, "Guys, seriously, we have to keep this low profile. If it get's out, it could ruin my chances of getting into a good college or getting a good job. I could end up in prison. This isn't a joke,"
"Your secret's safe with me," said Mora, "But I would so start trying to develop your powers,"
"No," I said.
"What a waste," she answered.
"Is this what we're plotting about?" asked Zhong.
"No. It's just something silly. But I'd prefer you not tell anyone about this - even Jason and Fay. Is that alright?" I asked hopefully.
"Don't worry," said Zhong, "I'm good at keeping secrets. I've been holding on to some for years now,"
"Good," I answered, "I need time to figure this out. It might not even be real,"
"Ok," answered Zhong. "I'll see you tomorrow then, no?"
"Yeah," I answered, "See you then."
The bell rang, and we got up to leave. All the way home I went over all this in my head - what I'd do when they came for me, why they hadn't already - I mean they had have my name in a book somewhere, didn't they? I wonderted if I could really trust Mora. And I wondered if my mother really was still alive in some cell somewhere. I didn't know where the answers to these questions were, but I knew where I was going to start looking. I decided to put it out of my head for a while and think about stealing a motorcycle.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Revival - Chapter 5: A familiar face
The first step of planning the heist was, of course, planning how to plan the heist. Jason and Fay's house, our favored spot for scheming, was also the home of those against whom we were scheming, and therefore unusable. My house was a terrible scheming spot, namely due to a lack of good food. Scheming just isn't the same with out Root Beer and Cheetos. We resolved to ask Zhong about it next time one of us saw her, shrimp chips being an acceptable ethnic alternative to the Cheetos. That was really all we had time to resolve before the lunch bell rang.
My next period was study hall with Mora. Zhong was confined to the other side of the cafeteria by evil Nazi woman, but occasionally managed to wander over on false pretenses. Today Mora was pouring over a rather large document she'd printed off the internet.
"What's that?" I asked, with the sort of half- interest I reserved for my dealings with Mora.
"My friend hacked these from the FBI site," she answered. She was probably lying, but I thought I'd indulge her. "They're records of all the known Draconics and half-dragons with ties to the twin cities area," She looked at it for a minute. "A through I," she added.
"Cool," I said.
"Yeah, theres a lot more than you'd think. Let's see..." she started reading, "Name: Thadius Hawkins. Status: Missing, presumed dead. Last seen October 23rd, 2002. Classification: Blue. You know how these work?"
"How what work?"
"Classifications. See, there are a bunch of different kinds of Draconics, each with different powers and skills. It's all super classified but I've figured out some stuff. Black is the least dangerous. The most dangerous is either gold or silver, I think. You generally don't want to cross any that are metallic sounding, though,"
"What's the difference?" I asked. I was actually somewhat interested at this point.
"Oh, you know," she answered. "Size, power, if they can fly, if they can breath fire or anything, that kinda stuff. Some types also tend to folow weird codes,"
"Like what?" I asked.
"Well, the Asian ones follow some kinda code of honor, and the European ones don't have anything like that. They think of themselves like Samurai or something. I don't know much about it,"
"Samurai are Japanese," I said. "Dragons are Chinese,"
"Whatever," she answered, then went back to reading.
She read in silence for a while, then looked up.
"Hey," she said, "Brimmer. Any relation?"
She held up the picture. The last time I'd seen that face in person I was three months old, but I'd memorized the picture. The text confirmed it. Name: Lisa Brimmer. Status: Captured, January 13th, 1989.
My next period was study hall with Mora. Zhong was confined to the other side of the cafeteria by evil Nazi woman, but occasionally managed to wander over on false pretenses. Today Mora was pouring over a rather large document she'd printed off the internet.
"What's that?" I asked, with the sort of half- interest I reserved for my dealings with Mora.
"My friend hacked these from the FBI site," she answered. She was probably lying, but I thought I'd indulge her. "They're records of all the known Draconics and half-dragons with ties to the twin cities area," She looked at it for a minute. "A through I," she added.
"Cool," I said.
"Yeah, theres a lot more than you'd think. Let's see..." she started reading, "Name: Thadius Hawkins. Status: Missing, presumed dead. Last seen October 23rd, 2002. Classification: Blue. You know how these work?"
"How what work?"
"Classifications. See, there are a bunch of different kinds of Draconics, each with different powers and skills. It's all super classified but I've figured out some stuff. Black is the least dangerous. The most dangerous is either gold or silver, I think. You generally don't want to cross any that are metallic sounding, though,"
"What's the difference?" I asked. I was actually somewhat interested at this point.
"Oh, you know," she answered. "Size, power, if they can fly, if they can breath fire or anything, that kinda stuff. Some types also tend to folow weird codes,"
"Like what?" I asked.
"Well, the Asian ones follow some kinda code of honor, and the European ones don't have anything like that. They think of themselves like Samurai or something. I don't know much about it,"
"Samurai are Japanese," I said. "Dragons are Chinese,"
"Whatever," she answered, then went back to reading.
She read in silence for a while, then looked up.
"Hey," she said, "Brimmer. Any relation?"
She held up the picture. The last time I'd seen that face in person I was three months old, but I'd memorized the picture. The text confirmed it. Name: Lisa Brimmer. Status: Captured, January 13th, 1989.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Revival - Chapter 4: Harvey
Ok, perhaps I should explain about Harvey. Jason and Fay's grandparents, Samuel and Samantha Anderson (people called them Sammy & Sammy), were a little bit crazy. When they were in their late sixties, about eleven years ago, Sam found out he had a brain tumor and was going to die in a few months. So he decided, since he had nothing to lose, he would go on a motorcycle trip zig-zagging across the entire U.S., visiting every state along the way. Sammy decided she would go with him - it would be like a second honey moon. So they went off for their last hurrah. Along the way they sent fifty post cards to their grandkids - Fay keeps them all in a little box. I've read them. They're very funny. Sam was quite the character. In them he refers to the motorcycle as "Harvey" - Harvey the Harley.
He died two days after he got home. About two years ago, Sammy died. In her will she left "Harvey" to Jason and Fay. They were thrilled to hear this - their parents were less enthusiastic. They said the thing was a death trap, and neither of their children was getting on it. After months of convincing, they finally conceded to let Jason take classes and get a motorcycle license. For a while he drove Harvey around and he was happy. Then one day he very nearly got in a fatal accident. His parents locked up Harvey and forbid him to ride it again until he was eighteen.
Jason had talked about stealing Harvey many times since then, but he had never worked up the guts to actually do it. I figured this time would be the same. I was wrong.
He died two days after he got home. About two years ago, Sammy died. In her will she left "Harvey" to Jason and Fay. They were thrilled to hear this - their parents were less enthusiastic. They said the thing was a death trap, and neither of their children was getting on it. After months of convincing, they finally conceded to let Jason take classes and get a motorcycle license. For a while he drove Harvey around and he was happy. Then one day he very nearly got in a fatal accident. His parents locked up Harvey and forbid him to ride it again until he was eighteen.
Jason had talked about stealing Harvey many times since then, but he had never worked up the guts to actually do it. I figured this time would be the same. I was wrong.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Revival - Chapter 3: All's fair in Love and War
As close as they were, Jason and Fay were about as different as a brother and sister can be. Jason was a few inches taller than me and fairly well-built, but liked to make himself as small as possible. Fay, a diminutive 4'10", filled the room with her personality. She flirted incessantly with everyone, but had no desire for a boyfriend (or a girlfriend for that matter, though people did talk). I've never met anyone more confident in their own attractiveness - which made her all the more attractive. I never really felt that way about her, but I can't say I never thought about it.
Jason, on the other hand, had until a few months ago had trouble talking to anyone he didn't know. He seemed to have gotten over that and was now hopelessly trying to romance a very attractive young woman with whom he had no chance whatsoever. What was amusing was the zeal he put into it. It was as if instead of creeping out of his shell like most shy people do, he had done a complete one-eighty into being a vibrant dynamic personality. He had lost all inhibitions and no longer cared what anyone thought about him. So far in his quest to win her heart had had tried everything from making her a new origami animal every day for a month to writing a song in four part harmony and mustering a quartet to sing outside her window. The girl, her name was Marissa, was either incredibly dense or just had a cruel sense of humor- she appeared to be totally oblivious.
Anyway, Fay and Jason were already sitting at the lunch table when I got my tray. Jason was looking, as always, across the table to where Marissa was sitting talking to her friends.
"How's it going?" I asked him
He sighed plaintively. "Nothing's working," he said eventually, "I've tried gifts, singing, quoting the Bard... even baking cookies. No luck,"
"Everything short of, you know, asking her out," answered his sister.
"Not my style," he answered, "I mean, eventually, of course, but first I have to win her over. She'd never say yes now,"
"How do you know if you haven't tried?" I asked.
"If I try and she says no," he explained, "I'll have to try again later, and asking for a second date after you've been rejected is just pathetic,"
"And following her down the hallway reading sonnets isn't?" asked Fay.
"I should go on a quest for her," said Jason suddenly, ignoring his sister, "Too bad there's no more dragons to slay,"
"Half-Dragons?" I suggested.
"Look," Fay cut in, "Jason, here's your problem. Well, one of many problems. Every attempt you've made has been anywhere from a few decades to a few centuries out of date. If you want a quest that will impress her, you need something modern,"
"That's it!" cried Jason suddenly, as if an idea had coming flying from the sky like a meteor and hit him in the back of the head, "I'm going to steal Harvey!"
Jason, on the other hand, had until a few months ago had trouble talking to anyone he didn't know. He seemed to have gotten over that and was now hopelessly trying to romance a very attractive young woman with whom he had no chance whatsoever. What was amusing was the zeal he put into it. It was as if instead of creeping out of his shell like most shy people do, he had done a complete one-eighty into being a vibrant dynamic personality. He had lost all inhibitions and no longer cared what anyone thought about him. So far in his quest to win her heart had had tried everything from making her a new origami animal every day for a month to writing a song in four part harmony and mustering a quartet to sing outside her window. The girl, her name was Marissa, was either incredibly dense or just had a cruel sense of humor- she appeared to be totally oblivious.
Anyway, Fay and Jason were already sitting at the lunch table when I got my tray. Jason was looking, as always, across the table to where Marissa was sitting talking to her friends.
"How's it going?" I asked him
He sighed plaintively. "Nothing's working," he said eventually, "I've tried gifts, singing, quoting the Bard... even baking cookies. No luck,"
"Everything short of, you know, asking her out," answered his sister.
"Not my style," he answered, "I mean, eventually, of course, but first I have to win her over. She'd never say yes now,"
"How do you know if you haven't tried?" I asked.
"If I try and she says no," he explained, "I'll have to try again later, and asking for a second date after you've been rejected is just pathetic,"
"And following her down the hallway reading sonnets isn't?" asked Fay.
"I should go on a quest for her," said Jason suddenly, ignoring his sister, "Too bad there's no more dragons to slay,"
"Half-Dragons?" I suggested.
"Look," Fay cut in, "Jason, here's your problem. Well, one of many problems. Every attempt you've made has been anywhere from a few decades to a few centuries out of date. If you want a quest that will impress her, you need something modern,"
"That's it!" cried Jason suddenly, as if an idea had coming flying from the sky like a meteor and hit him in the back of the head, "I'm going to steal Harvey!"
Physical and mental models
When I write, I like to be able to envision things as they happen. To do that, I usually have to have a clear idea of what a character looks like. So when I invent a character, I like to have to models for him or her - a physical model and a mental model. They have nothing to do with each other. For instance, Jason and Fay Anderson, characters you're going to meet soon, are physically modeled off of Marten and Lara (with some minor changes, like red hair). Their personalities, however, are a mix of Paul and Marten, but mostly Tyler for Jason and a mix of Katie O'brien and Catie Phillabaum for Fay. Skyler has curly hair, but looks sort of like me otherwise. His personality is mostly mine, since he is the narrator. Mora is modeled off of Amanda Turner in some ways, but her personality isn't coming out how I wanted. The rest of the key characters are still abstract and will likely remain so for some time. This is in lieu of an update - I won't publish it until it's good enough, and this one clearly needs something, so bear with me. In a couple of days maybe.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Revival - Chapter 2: My Life Before
Aside from a few isolated events that were lost on me at the time, the trouble really started when I was 16. The year was 2004, and President Chaparral had just been reelected. Most Americans pointed to DOMA, the Dissipation of Magic Act, as the main reason they elected him. With the Republicans pushing to amend the constitution to allow them to lock up suspected part-dragons and other semi-magical creatures, as well as cutting off government funding to arcane research, anti-magic sentiment was polarizing the nation.
I personally didn't care much either way. As far as I knew I didn't know any part-humans, and there were so few left I thought the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. We needed to have elected a president based on bigger issues, like the brewing war in China. But really politics weren't much more than a hobby for me then, I was just trying to get through school and learn to drive.
My constant companions throughout high school were Jason Anderson and his little sister, Fay. Jason was my age, Fay was a year younger, and the three of us were inseperable. I probably spent as much if not more time at the Anderson home as I did at my own. The fourth member of our little quartet was Fay's best friend, Zhong Hua. Her parents had moved here from China before the first war. I had acquaintances besides these three, but none were close friends, with one possible exception who I'll get to in a minute. For the most part I was happy, though I struggled a little with the things all teenagers do - schoolwork, relationships, stuff that seems important at the time - until you find out what important really means.
The only other person I spent any amount of time with was a girl by the name of Mora Bridges. We met because we were seated in study hall together, the seating arrangments being alphabetical. Mora was the ultimate non-conformist, which made her an interesting person to be around. At first glance she looked like the classic, angsty lesbian goth girl. But beyond that first impression was a much deeper personality, something I discovered as we had plenty of time to talk in study hall. She was interested in various occult things - on a purely scholarly level, of course, I doubt she really believed all of it, though it was hard to say sometimes. But she'd show me things in books, and through her I learned a lot of seemingly useless trivia about the Arcane age.
Now as most of you probably know, there's a huge amount of controversy over the historical accuracy of accounts of the Arcane age. Scores of Christians have tried to revise history to eliminate magic altogether, with some degree of success. Lots of respectable people believe Elves were nothing more than exagerations of stories told by aristocracies to inspire respect and awe, or that Orcs were an earlier stage of human evolution. Mora believed that both sides were revising history - that Elves, rather than the imposing overlords history made them out to be, had been an enlightened, benevolent race who had helped humans get to where they were today, and that Conner Macer was a mass-murderer rather than the savior of the human race, and that he meant for the Vampires to go bad. I didn't believe a word of it - I mean how could anyone? - but arguing with Mora was thoroughly pointless, so I mostly just nodded and listened to her far-flung conspiracy theories with feigned interest. If I known what I know now, I probably would have paid more attention.
I personally didn't care much either way. As far as I knew I didn't know any part-humans, and there were so few left I thought the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. We needed to have elected a president based on bigger issues, like the brewing war in China. But really politics weren't much more than a hobby for me then, I was just trying to get through school and learn to drive.
My constant companions throughout high school were Jason Anderson and his little sister, Fay. Jason was my age, Fay was a year younger, and the three of us were inseperable. I probably spent as much if not more time at the Anderson home as I did at my own. The fourth member of our little quartet was Fay's best friend, Zhong Hua. Her parents had moved here from China before the first war. I had acquaintances besides these three, but none were close friends, with one possible exception who I'll get to in a minute. For the most part I was happy, though I struggled a little with the things all teenagers do - schoolwork, relationships, stuff that seems important at the time - until you find out what important really means.
The only other person I spent any amount of time with was a girl by the name of Mora Bridges. We met because we were seated in study hall together, the seating arrangments being alphabetical. Mora was the ultimate non-conformist, which made her an interesting person to be around. At first glance she looked like the classic, angsty lesbian goth girl. But beyond that first impression was a much deeper personality, something I discovered as we had plenty of time to talk in study hall. She was interested in various occult things - on a purely scholarly level, of course, I doubt she really believed all of it, though it was hard to say sometimes. But she'd show me things in books, and through her I learned a lot of seemingly useless trivia about the Arcane age.
Now as most of you probably know, there's a huge amount of controversy over the historical accuracy of accounts of the Arcane age. Scores of Christians have tried to revise history to eliminate magic altogether, with some degree of success. Lots of respectable people believe Elves were nothing more than exagerations of stories told by aristocracies to inspire respect and awe, or that Orcs were an earlier stage of human evolution. Mora believed that both sides were revising history - that Elves, rather than the imposing overlords history made them out to be, had been an enlightened, benevolent race who had helped humans get to where they were today, and that Conner Macer was a mass-murderer rather than the savior of the human race, and that he meant for the Vampires to go bad. I didn't believe a word of it - I mean how could anyone? - but arguing with Mora was thoroughly pointless, so I mostly just nodded and listened to her far-flung conspiracy theories with feigned interest. If I known what I know now, I probably would have paid more attention.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Revival - Chapter 1: Skyler Woods Brimmer
Where does a story begin? Aside from the creation narrative in the Bible, no story really starts where the narrative does - they tend to have at least a little background. Even if a story begins with the birth of the main character, there are still older characters whose early life and background will be alluded to, and thus an earlier part of the story remains untold. My story begins more than ten thousand years before I was born - but I'm a little sketchy on the details of that part. So I'm going to start at the earliest part where I can have some degree of accuracy, about a hundred and seventy years ago.
In 1856 in the town of Riverview, Indiana, population two hundred some, a stranger showed up. His name was Skyler Woods Brimmer. Skyler had no parents, and no family history to speak of - he said he was found by his mother on her doorstep when he was a baby. The woman who had raised him, he maintained, had lived alone, and she had just died, so he had come to Riverview to seek his fortune. Of course, none of this was true, but they had no reason to doubt it, so they all believed him. Hoosiers are simple folk, not used to deception, and ready to accept anyone who's willing to work hard and support themselves.
Skyler was well-liked by all of his neighbors, and set about making a life for himself. Four or five years later he got married. His wife was pregnant with his first son when the war broke out. Most of the men in the town signed up to fight on one side or the other, but Skyler had no desire to fight. Pressured by his friends, though, he eventually gave in. He fought with distinction but was put on the front lines at the battle of Shiloh. As his body was never recovered, he was proclaimed MIA, but his wife pretty much gave up hope when she heard the news. She named the boy Skyler Woods Brimmer Jr.
The second Skyler Woods Brimmer lived a fairly normal life, had two sons and three daughters, though what befell his daughters is information I've been unable to acquire. His second son died in a fire at the age of fourteen, His first son he named Skyler Woods Brimmer III, and the name has been passed down ever since. Interestingly enough, only one male heir from each generation has survived - any boys not named Skyler Woods tended to perish at an early age. In 1955, Skyler Woods Brimmer V gave birth to a daughter, Lisa Brimmer, my mother. Number five had the unfortunate distinction of being the first not to bear a son to carry on the name, though he did have three daughters. He was rather distraught about this fact most of his life, and it was his dying wish that Lisa name her son Skyler Woods Brimmer.
In 1983 Lisa married Wallace Tamsworth, a funeral parlor owner from Minnesota. When she married him, she insisted that their first son be named after her father, to honor his wishes. He found her obsession a little eccentric, but he was in love with her, so he agreed. They first gave birth to a daughter, my sister Katherine Tamsworth, and then 3 years later to me, Skyler Woods Brimmer VI. Three months later my mother disappeared. My father remarried a few years later, but it left me in the difficult position of being the only member of my family with my last name. Even more difficult when I learned the import of that name.
Skyler Woods Brimmer the first was no ordinary man. He passed on certain... talents to his descendants, and with them a name both famous and infamous in circles most people don't even know exist. I would discover all this eventually. But at the time, all it was was a long, cumbersome name, inherited from a woman I never got a chance to meet. I was an ordinary kid, with an ordinary life. But all that was about to change.
In 1856 in the town of Riverview, Indiana, population two hundred some, a stranger showed up. His name was Skyler Woods Brimmer. Skyler had no parents, and no family history to speak of - he said he was found by his mother on her doorstep when he was a baby. The woman who had raised him, he maintained, had lived alone, and she had just died, so he had come to Riverview to seek his fortune. Of course, none of this was true, but they had no reason to doubt it, so they all believed him. Hoosiers are simple folk, not used to deception, and ready to accept anyone who's willing to work hard and support themselves.
Skyler was well-liked by all of his neighbors, and set about making a life for himself. Four or five years later he got married. His wife was pregnant with his first son when the war broke out. Most of the men in the town signed up to fight on one side or the other, but Skyler had no desire to fight. Pressured by his friends, though, he eventually gave in. He fought with distinction but was put on the front lines at the battle of Shiloh. As his body was never recovered, he was proclaimed MIA, but his wife pretty much gave up hope when she heard the news. She named the boy Skyler Woods Brimmer Jr.
The second Skyler Woods Brimmer lived a fairly normal life, had two sons and three daughters, though what befell his daughters is information I've been unable to acquire. His second son died in a fire at the age of fourteen, His first son he named Skyler Woods Brimmer III, and the name has been passed down ever since. Interestingly enough, only one male heir from each generation has survived - any boys not named Skyler Woods tended to perish at an early age. In 1955, Skyler Woods Brimmer V gave birth to a daughter, Lisa Brimmer, my mother. Number five had the unfortunate distinction of being the first not to bear a son to carry on the name, though he did have three daughters. He was rather distraught about this fact most of his life, and it was his dying wish that Lisa name her son Skyler Woods Brimmer.
In 1983 Lisa married Wallace Tamsworth, a funeral parlor owner from Minnesota. When she married him, she insisted that their first son be named after her father, to honor his wishes. He found her obsession a little eccentric, but he was in love with her, so he agreed. They first gave birth to a daughter, my sister Katherine Tamsworth, and then 3 years later to me, Skyler Woods Brimmer VI. Three months later my mother disappeared. My father remarried a few years later, but it left me in the difficult position of being the only member of my family with my last name. Even more difficult when I learned the import of that name.
Skyler Woods Brimmer the first was no ordinary man. He passed on certain... talents to his descendants, and with them a name both famous and infamous in circles most people don't even know exist. I would discover all this eventually. But at the time, all it was was a long, cumbersome name, inherited from a woman I never got a chance to meet. I was an ordinary kid, with an ordinary life. But all that was about to change.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
The Muse Strikes Back
Funny about muses - they don't care about schedules. Mine is especially inconsiderate - she waits until I have two papers, a Physics study guide, a virtual fieldtrip, and armfuls of music to learn for choir, not to mention two half-way decent stories already going, to drop what may prove the greatest story idea I ever get in my lap. It's horribly complex, drawn from such diverse influences as D & D, Harry Potter, X-men, and Buffy. But it's so good. And it's evolving very quickly. So just a warning - I'm probably going to drop the pixie story for a little while to pick this up. After that I'll try and run the two concurrently for a while. I think the setting and pacing of this story is sufficiently different from that one that it will work.
The idea is difficult to put into just a few words, but the best word to describe it is epic. It's a bizarre take on magic and a number of fantasy ideas, set in what's basically the here and now, only... different. Sort of like the world of Jasper Fforde in the Thursday Next series, just in as much as it's our world, if- (insert hypotheticals here). But everything else is in tact. Basically, just real enough that people can relate to it, while being out there enough that people go "wow, this is really different," I don't know how to better explain it. The hypothetical in question involves half-dragons. This story will possibly start this weekend, and will jump right into the narrative with minimal exposition, probably less than I usually have.
P.S. I already have a working title!
The idea is difficult to put into just a few words, but the best word to describe it is epic. It's a bizarre take on magic and a number of fantasy ideas, set in what's basically the here and now, only... different. Sort of like the world of Jasper Fforde in the Thursday Next series, just in as much as it's our world, if- (insert hypotheticals here). But everything else is in tact. Basically, just real enough that people can relate to it, while being out there enough that people go "wow, this is really different," I don't know how to better explain it. The hypothetical in question involves half-dragons. This story will possibly start this weekend, and will jump right into the narrative with minimal exposition, probably less than I usually have.
P.S. I already have a working title!
Friday, November 26, 2004
I suck at titles
As he flew off in search of their quarry, Brazik was thinking about the happenings of the morning. He was horribly confused by Simile's behavior. He wasn't in love with her, not by any stretch of the word. In fact he'd been thinking about breaking it off with her the previous night. But no girl had ever given up an opportunity to spend more time with him before, and because it had never happened, he had assumed it to be impossible. He was going over what, in his mind, seemed to be the two options - Simile was crazy, or she was a lesbian. He'd been trying to reconcile one of these options with what he knew of her when the squid incident took place. That's when a new idea came to him (a rare event in the life of someone like Brazik). Maybe he wasn't being manly enough. After all, he didn't step in and try to tackle the squid. He'd just been too startled to think about it. This, he reasoned, must be why Simile would want to spend less time with me. I must show her how tough I am. The fact that the supposed cause came after the supposed effect did not matter to Brazik. When present with a problem, he tended to choose the situation with the simplest solution, even if it had obvious logical flaws. This is what was going through Brazik's mind when Poji alerted the others to his discovery.
"D-D-D-Down there!" he let out.
"Found one?" asked Brazik.
"N-n-no, b-b-but, l-l-l-look,"He pointed down. Four creatures were marching, carrying something between them. A fifth rode in front, on some sort of giant cat. They looked sort of like a cross between a man and an Armidillo. They were heavily armored with long tails ending in spike-balls. They were carrying pikes, and had swords at their sides.
"Orks?" asked Brazik
"Orks are more reptilian," answered Tether, "And they're too tall to be goblinoids. I can't recall ever studying a creature like that,"
(Tether had never been outside the colony any more than the others, but he was an avid reader and had amassed far more knowledge of the world than most pixie's his age)
"Who cares?" asked Isa, "They're not our problem,"
Simile was staring at what they were carrying between them. Lying on a make-shift litter, still unconscious, was the little girl.
"No," she answered, "It's mine,"
And with that she dove down towards them.
"D-D-D-Down there!" he let out.
"Found one?" asked Brazik.
"N-n-no, b-b-but, l-l-l-look,"He pointed down. Four creatures were marching, carrying something between them. A fifth rode in front, on some sort of giant cat. They looked sort of like a cross between a man and an Armidillo. They were heavily armored with long tails ending in spike-balls. They were carrying pikes, and had swords at their sides.
"Orks?" asked Brazik
"Orks are more reptilian," answered Tether, "And they're too tall to be goblinoids. I can't recall ever studying a creature like that,"
(Tether had never been outside the colony any more than the others, but he was an avid reader and had amassed far more knowledge of the world than most pixie's his age)
"Who cares?" asked Isa, "They're not our problem,"
Simile was staring at what they were carrying between them. Lying on a make-shift litter, still unconscious, was the little girl.
"No," she answered, "It's mine,"
And with that she dove down towards them.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
War on Love
Screw the war on terror. Someone needs to start a war on love. It's a powerful, destructive force that needs to be stopped. It's kind of like a drug. Sure, it makes you happy while you're on it, but then you get withdrawal symptoms and you go crazy. I got addicted to Ashley. I haven't had her for three months and I think I'm going to go crazy.
I need help. I don't need Amy to be out of town for a week. Seeing her keeps me from spiraling into madness. And God help William if I complete that spiral, because right now a huge part of me wants to make him suffer for this, and I'm afraid of that part winning over.
I need help. I don't need Amy to be out of town for a week. Seeing her keeps me from spiraling into madness. And God help William if I complete that spiral, because right now a huge part of me wants to make him suffer for this, and I'm afraid of that part winning over.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Regaining sanity
I kinda flew off the handle there. Just to make it clear to everyone, I am not going to abandon Amy and go on a hopeless quest to win back Ashley, nor am I going to stalk anyone. I still don't know what I am going to do, but it definately won't be that. Just wanted to put that in writing so ya'll could hold me to it.
Amy is really a remarkable girl, and I'm going to stick with her through this. Anything less would just make things worse.
Amy is really a remarkable girl, and I'm going to stick with her through this. Anything less would just make things worse.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Epilogue
This'll be my fifth post in two days, but I can only hope it comes at the end of it all, as a sort of an after thought. Feelings are like a river. If you just let them flow, they might flood every so often but it'll be slow and you'll be able to handle it. But if you try to damn them up, then eventually the pressure will become so great the damn breaks, and water comes gushing in. Last night the damn burst. The damage was extensive. Today I tried my best to clean it up. All I can say is I've learned something very valuable from all this, and I'm not likely to forget it anytime soon.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Explanatory rant
Why am I depressed? Nothing else is going wrong; everything is going great. I just had a great show. And I didn't even have an hour to be happy before she had to step in and shove reality in my face. Why the hell can't I just LET HER GO?!!!
I've got to have the worst timing of anyone. I could have felt this way before we broke up, or during the weeks she was crying over me, or anytime between then and when she started dating William, and it actually would have done some good. Now, it's just useless emotion drivng me slowly insane. And I can't do a thing about it. And I can't even get into another relationship for fear of this happening again. I don't need this right now. I'm such an idiot!
I need to cuss.
@#!#$!!!
Somehow I don't feel any better.
I've got to have the worst timing of anyone. I could have felt this way before we broke up, or during the weeks she was crying over me, or anytime between then and when she started dating William, and it actually would have done some good. Now, it's just useless emotion drivng me slowly insane. And I can't do a thing about it. And I can't even get into another relationship for fear of this happening again. I don't need this right now. I'm such an idiot!
I need to cuss.
@#!#$!!!
Somehow I don't feel any better.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Almost got a title..really
For a time, no one moved. Everyone just stared in silence at the spot where the squid had been. After a while, Brazik decided to end it. Having no idea what had just happened, he chose to ignore it.
"Well," he said, "I think we're short a tent. It'll be tight, all five of us sharing one, but we can make do. Let's gather up the fabric and the rest of the provision's and get going,"
Most of the others seemed to come out of the trance-like state and started moving about, following his instructions. Isa, however, just sat there.
"What about breakfast?" asked Poji after a while. The others agreed and they sat down to eat before they left. Isa slowly stood up and walked over to join them. The shock of being attacked had not yet worn off of her. They ate in silence for a while. This made Brazik uncomfortable, so he decided to say something.
"You know what our objective looks like," he said. "We agreed that a squirrel or a badger, though powerful, would be too easy. As you all know, we've decided to go after a Phidgeon*,"
"We know all this," said Tether. "The question is where to find one. We've seen no sign of them since the flock we past yesterday afternoon. Many have already migrated south. I fear we may have waited too long."
"Nonsense," answered Simile, "It's barely Arkatz.** It's not nearly cold enough to have driven them away,"
"I'm confident we'll find one," assured the leader, "But when we do, we'll have to act fast to restrain it. Tether will attempt to get a harness onto it it, while Simile, Isa, and Poji try to rope it's feet. I will have the most dangerous job, attempting to clamp shut it's beak so it cant burn us,"
"My hero," intoned Simile sarcastically.
They finished their fruit and lifted off through the canopy.
**The 6th month of the 8 month pixie year.
"Well," he said, "I think we're short a tent. It'll be tight, all five of us sharing one, but we can make do. Let's gather up the fabric and the rest of the provision's and get going,"
Most of the others seemed to come out of the trance-like state and started moving about, following his instructions. Isa, however, just sat there.
"What about breakfast?" asked Poji after a while. The others agreed and they sat down to eat before they left. Isa slowly stood up and walked over to join them. The shock of being attacked had not yet worn off of her. They ate in silence for a while. This made Brazik uncomfortable, so he decided to say something.
"You know what our objective looks like," he said. "We agreed that a squirrel or a badger, though powerful, would be too easy. As you all know, we've decided to go after a Phidgeon*,"
"We know all this," said Tether. "The question is where to find one. We've seen no sign of them since the flock we past yesterday afternoon. Many have already migrated south. I fear we may have waited too long."
"Nonsense," answered Simile, "It's barely Arkatz.** It's not nearly cold enough to have driven them away,"
"I'm confident we'll find one," assured the leader, "But when we do, we'll have to act fast to restrain it. Tether will attempt to get a harness onto it it, while Simile, Isa, and Poji try to rope it's feet. I will have the most dangerous job, attempting to clamp shut it's beak so it cant burn us,"
"My hero," intoned Simile sarcastically.
They finished their fruit and lifted off through the canopy.
___________________________________________
*A mere nuisance to the larger races, these large birds, cousins of the Pheonix, often try to roost in pixie colonies, starting dangerous fires in the process.**The 6th month of the 8 month pixie year.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Pixie rescaling
For story purpusoses, I'm making an adjustment to my background information. The Pixies are being rescaled slightly. The base height is now about 9 centimeters. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Bonus pixie update! The story finally gets interesting!
As Simile approached the camp, two things about the girl at the orchard still bothered her. The mystery of her appearance and attire rested heavily on her mind, along with a mix of guilt and anxiety for leaving her unconscious in the forest. She was mulling over this as Brazik flew up to meet her.
"Good morning, sweetheart" he said in his deep, husky voice. His unusually large wings were beating furiously to keep his Bulky, muscular body in the air. He moved forward to try to kiss her, but she darted backwards, then up and over his hear, turning around as she passed him, then flying backwards towards the ground. When he got done being confused, he turned around towards her.
"What was that for, baby?" he asked
"You're getting a little to comfortable with me," she answered, "I'm cutting you off,"
He looked stunned.
"Not forever," she continued, "Just till we finish the ceremony. Consider it an incentive," she turned around to make her landing, then looked over her shoulder at him.
"And the gentlemanly thing," she finished, "Would've been to offer to help with the bags. After all, I did get us breakfast,"
She turned and walked toward the camp, and Brazik walked behind her. Poji was already sitting out side the other tent, and Tether exited it just as they approached.
"Rashez*, Simile!" he said as he saw them.
"He smiles indeed," she answered traditionally.
"What's for breakfast?" asked Poji
"Crab-apples," answered the young woman. "Why aren't the tent's up?" she asked.
"Folding the tent with Isa inside would probably be a bad idea," answered Tether
"Well why isn't she up? She's had her chance to sleep in already," she set down the bag of apples and marched into the tent.
Isa was inside, braiding her hair and humming softly to herself.
"Isa!" said Simile as she entered. "We're not going to a party, we're going hunting. I'm sure the rodents will forgive you if you don't look your prettiest. Get out of the tent now,"
"Well aren't we the bossy one today?" asked Isa. "Someone didn't get enough sleep today. Or did you have a fight with your Omatzi?"
"I'm not kidding Isa. We have a lot of work to do, and I, for one, am looking forward to the initiation. Your hair can wait,"
"You're just jealous cause you don't have any," she said. Simile's turquoise hair was close cropped, growing out only slightly in the back,"
"I like it that way," she answered. "It doesn't get in the way, and unlike yours, it's ready to go when I wake up. Get moving now if you want breakfast," she walked out.
"Tether," she said, "I've been thinking about your idea, and I've decided I like it,"
"What?" asked the other.
Simile bent down and put her hand on one of the tent stakes, motioning the others to do the same. Tether immediately got it. The other two puzzled for a while, then bent down. Simile counted on her fingers. 1...2...3
"Now!"
They pulled up their stakes. The tent collapsed. At the same moment, beam of purple light shot out of Simile's forehead into the tent. Isa screamed.
There were two lumps in the fabric of the tent. One was pixie shaped, definitely Isa. The other appeared to have tentacles and a very large head, and soon ripped through the fabric of the tent. The tentacles had blades on them. It looked like a squid with scimitars. It raised one over Isa's cowering form.
"No!" yelled Simile. To her amazement, the creature stopped, and lowered it's blade, then turned to look at her. The others were staring in amazement.
for a long time, nothing happened.
Simile looked at the squid.
The Squid looked at Simile.
Everyone else looked at the scene with disbelief.
And then the squid vanished.
____________________________________________________
*Ancient pixie greeting, shortened form of Rashez smile on you. Rashez was either a diety or a great king, no one really knows."Good morning, sweetheart" he said in his deep, husky voice. His unusually large wings were beating furiously to keep his Bulky, muscular body in the air. He moved forward to try to kiss her, but she darted backwards, then up and over his hear, turning around as she passed him, then flying backwards towards the ground. When he got done being confused, he turned around towards her.
"What was that for, baby?" he asked
"You're getting a little to comfortable with me," she answered, "I'm cutting you off,"
He looked stunned.
"Not forever," she continued, "Just till we finish the ceremony. Consider it an incentive," she turned around to make her landing, then looked over her shoulder at him.
"And the gentlemanly thing," she finished, "Would've been to offer to help with the bags. After all, I did get us breakfast,"
She turned and walked toward the camp, and Brazik walked behind her. Poji was already sitting out side the other tent, and Tether exited it just as they approached.
"Rashez*, Simile!" he said as he saw them.
"He smiles indeed," she answered traditionally.
"What's for breakfast?" asked Poji
"Crab-apples," answered the young woman. "Why aren't the tent's up?" she asked.
"Folding the tent with Isa inside would probably be a bad idea," answered Tether
"Well why isn't she up? She's had her chance to sleep in already," she set down the bag of apples and marched into the tent.
Isa was inside, braiding her hair and humming softly to herself.
"Isa!" said Simile as she entered. "We're not going to a party, we're going hunting. I'm sure the rodents will forgive you if you don't look your prettiest. Get out of the tent now,"
"Well aren't we the bossy one today?" asked Isa. "Someone didn't get enough sleep today. Or did you have a fight with your Omatzi?"
"I'm not kidding Isa. We have a lot of work to do, and I, for one, am looking forward to the initiation. Your hair can wait,"
"You're just jealous cause you don't have any," she said. Simile's turquoise hair was close cropped, growing out only slightly in the back,"
"I like it that way," she answered. "It doesn't get in the way, and unlike yours, it's ready to go when I wake up. Get moving now if you want breakfast," she walked out.
"Tether," she said, "I've been thinking about your idea, and I've decided I like it,"
"What?" asked the other.
Simile bent down and put her hand on one of the tent stakes, motioning the others to do the same. Tether immediately got it. The other two puzzled for a while, then bent down. Simile counted on her fingers. 1...2...3
"Now!"
They pulled up their stakes. The tent collapsed. At the same moment, beam of purple light shot out of Simile's forehead into the tent. Isa screamed.
There were two lumps in the fabric of the tent. One was pixie shaped, definitely Isa. The other appeared to have tentacles and a very large head, and soon ripped through the fabric of the tent. The tentacles had blades on them. It looked like a squid with scimitars. It raised one over Isa's cowering form.
"No!" yelled Simile. To her amazement, the creature stopped, and lowered it's blade, then turned to look at her. The others were staring in amazement.
for a long time, nothing happened.
Simile looked at the squid.
The Squid looked at Simile.
Everyone else looked at the scene with disbelief.
And then the squid vanished.
____________________________________________________
**deragatory term for a lover.
Monday, November 08, 2004
The untitled first Doom pixie story, part iii (of part I)
No novel means time to work on pixies. That's a good thing for you.
Back at the camp, Tether was just waking up. Having taken first watch, he had gotten to bed pretty late, and he considered it acceptable to sleep in a little, especially since Simile had volunteered for breakfast duty. Expecting to see his rotund friend, Poji, on the other side of the tent, he was pleased, if a bit confused, to see Isa lying there instead. She had shuffled her blanket down to her feet and was lying on her side facing him, snoring softly, with a gentle contented look. A red-orange night shirt-like garment hung loosely around her sleeping blue form, and her luxuriant dark green hair fell over her shoulders. She was not quite as shapely as Simile, Tether mused, but she was very beautiful in her own right. At least, while she was asleep.
His ponderance was interupted by Poji entering the tent.
"What are you doing up?" asked Tether, "I thought she had third watch"
"I thought so too," said the boy.
"Well,, why didn't you wake her then?" asked the other
"I was.. " Poji began. He stopped, unable to think of a convincing excuse. "H-h-how is it m-m-my fault?" he asked eventually. "Sh-She should have been up,"
"Then wake her," said Tether. He turned to leave.
"W-why don't you?" asked Poji.
"You had the last watch, you wake her,"
By this time, Isa has started to stir. she turned overand stretched then slowly sat up.
'What time is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"J-j-just after sunup-p," said Poji, angrily "L-longg past you're w-watch,"
"I'm sorry," she said sweetly, "I must have overslept. I need my beauty sleep every so often. Thank you for taking my watch for me,"
Her sweet voices, pitched like a child's, melted the look of rage from Poji's face. "I-it was n-no problem," he said.
Isa stood up and took her hunting clothes off of the rack. "Would you too mind waiting outside? A girl needs her privacy,"
"O-of course," said Poji. He left back through the tent flap.
"May I equip myself first?" asked Tether, " I have a feeling we'll be moving out pretty quick after breakfast,"
"You can stay," said Isa, "I really just needed to get rid of Poji. I don't enjoy being gawked at,"
But you have to admit," pointed out Tether, " His attraction to you has it's advantages. You probably got more sleep last night than anyone else. I'm worried he can only work double shifts for so long, though"
"You think I did that on purpose?" asked the girl
"I didn't say that,"
"I'm not trying to take advantage of the poor boy," she responded.
"Good" said Tether. He collected the rest of his things and headed out the door.
That's four out of five main characters somewhat developed, and we're almost ready to start a plot. Please tell me what you think.
Back at the camp, Tether was just waking up. Having taken first watch, he had gotten to bed pretty late, and he considered it acceptable to sleep in a little, especially since Simile had volunteered for breakfast duty. Expecting to see his rotund friend, Poji, on the other side of the tent, he was pleased, if a bit confused, to see Isa lying there instead. She had shuffled her blanket down to her feet and was lying on her side facing him, snoring softly, with a gentle contented look. A red-orange night shirt-like garment hung loosely around her sleeping blue form, and her luxuriant dark green hair fell over her shoulders. She was not quite as shapely as Simile, Tether mused, but she was very beautiful in her own right. At least, while she was asleep.
His ponderance was interupted by Poji entering the tent.
"What are you doing up?" asked Tether, "I thought she had third watch"
"I thought so too," said the boy.
"Well,, why didn't you wake her then?" asked the other
"I was.. " Poji began. He stopped, unable to think of a convincing excuse. "H-h-how is it m-m-my fault?" he asked eventually. "Sh-She should have been up,"
"Then wake her," said Tether. He turned to leave.
"W-why don't you?" asked Poji.
"You had the last watch, you wake her,"
By this time, Isa has started to stir. she turned overand stretched then slowly sat up.
'What time is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"J-j-just after sunup-p," said Poji, angrily "L-longg past you're w-watch,"
"I'm sorry," she said sweetly, "I must have overslept. I need my beauty sleep every so often. Thank you for taking my watch for me,"
Her sweet voices, pitched like a child's, melted the look of rage from Poji's face. "I-it was n-no problem," he said.
Isa stood up and took her hunting clothes off of the rack. "Would you too mind waiting outside? A girl needs her privacy,"
"O-of course," said Poji. He left back through the tent flap.
"May I equip myself first?" asked Tether, " I have a feeling we'll be moving out pretty quick after breakfast,"
"You can stay," said Isa, "I really just needed to get rid of Poji. I don't enjoy being gawked at,"
But you have to admit," pointed out Tether, " His attraction to you has it's advantages. You probably got more sleep last night than anyone else. I'm worried he can only work double shifts for so long, though"
"You think I did that on purpose?" asked the girl
"I didn't say that,"
"I'm not trying to take advantage of the poor boy," she responded.
"Good" said Tether. He collected the rest of his things and headed out the door.
That's four out of five main characters somewhat developed, and we're almost ready to start a plot. Please tell me what you think.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Thursday, November 04, 2004
I hate November
Not much else to say. It's easily the worst months of the year, and this one is particularly bad. Less than a week into it I've gotten enough sleep one day out of those five, our nation re-eleected one of it's worst presidents ever, I've had more homework than I can remember having ever, and I realized that I still have feelings for Ashley, which I'm trying to get over for William's sake. And I'm taking it all out on Evan, which really probably isn't fair, but I can't really help it and it's sort of his own fault. Today I screwed up a lab in physics and Mrs. Dingman yelled at me in Chamber, because I was unfocused, because I'm not getting enough sleep. I clearly don't have time to write a novel.
The one ray of hope in this nightmare of a week has been Amy. And even she I'm a little uncertain about. I'm thinking about quiting Chamber choir.
And yes Evie, I'm comfortable posting all this here because I'm 90% certain you're the only one still reading it.
The one ray of hope in this nightmare of a week has been Amy. And even she I'm a little uncertain about. I'm thinking about quiting Chamber choir.
And yes Evie, I'm comfortable posting all this here because I'm 90% certain you're the only one still reading it.
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