Tonight marks the Final Grain in the "New Machina Arc" in Amaretto's Tale. I tried to make it so tha there were no unanswered questions, but I do have to say that I might have left it open just enough for Amaretto to possibly come back to the Second Great British Empire. When that might happen; I will be honest and say, I don't know how the travels will be going. It you would like to read the whole "New Machina Arc" from the begining, then I have the links right here:
Amaretto's Tale Beginning
New Machina
Moving on, I am now ready to start the newest arc: Pesok of the Sands! The Grand Race Challenge!
Sorry, I wanted a better name than what I had been going with and lately, I have felt the need to fill the Penny Dreadful shoes of this story. So, I have also renamed the New Machina Arc as well. it is now called, The Second Great British Empire - New Machina! The First World Adventure!
I know it sounds silly, but tell me what you think.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Procrastination Station...
Today's Procrastination Station, will feature a very fun bit... YAHOO!
Yes, today's random bits shall be shown to you from the very strange section of news from the web. I will randomly be clicking news articles and such today to share with you. So now without furthur adeu, might I show you: NEWS OF THE WEB-B-B-B-B!
(So I was beign dramatic...)
Let's start with story number one:
I like coffee just as much as anyone. As a matter of fact, if I could own the most amazing coffee maker in the world, I would! However, I also like ambiance. Sometimes, drinking joe in my living room, or the office, or while I am playing my newest addiction otherwise known as Skyrim, just doesn't work. I need a place where I can laugh and talk aloud with people I don't know, or just people watch. Well thank you Tukwila, WA, cause you have just made my day with your new Starbucks.
Story number two:
Stange Cars. These cars were to be autioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. Now, you must be thinking, I've seen it all. I have watched "Back to the Future" and I know that the Delorian tops all! (Speaking of which, I saw one while I was out at the silver diner the other day... I should post photos!) Some of these are funny, while others are just plain wierd.
Story Three:
Ahh, the movies. You want to go see a movie with me? Let's go then! That will be 12.50 for movie tickets, unless youw ant to see it in 3D; then it might be anywhere between $15 to $20. Oh, did you want snacks? Anywhere from $4 - $15. It's getting to be expensive to see a movie these days. Who wants to see a movie that has heart and soul? Hmm? No one? well phoey on you, let me tell you something wild. Sundance, the world's word for indie film making is where a lot of the movies that you shell out for like to come from. Here are some movies that I would never have guessed about come from...
Story Number Four:
This is totally about bathroom humour, but not the kind tha you think. This is all about the oldest bathrroms from teh 19th century... and it's still running. FUN AND JOYSOME! Check it out, it's mildy engrosing and comes with photos of the bathroom to.
Story Number Five:
I've always wanted a cape. Not neccesarrily an invisibility cape, but one that swishes with supervillian style. Well the cape that is a part of this artical is not a supervillian cape, but indeed awesome. This is a gold cape that has been made out of spider silk. You heard correctly, and on top of that, I would recomend that you use the same madagascar spiders to create it. These spiders make thread that comes out in a golden safron color. Don't worry - they don't bite... hard. Still, PETA is all up in arms about it, but then again, when are they not all up in arms?
Story Number Six:
Not so much a story as a collection of apps that I have been playing and testing out because they are FREE!
Check them out...
So those are some of the things I have been looking at while I should have been typing teh next segment of Amaretto's tale. However, can you blame me? Sometimes, we all need a little Procrastination.
Until Next Time!
Yes, today's random bits shall be shown to you from the very strange section of news from the web. I will randomly be clicking news articles and such today to share with you. So now without furthur adeu, might I show you: NEWS OF THE WEB-B-B-B-B!
(So I was beign dramatic...)
Let's start with story number one:
I like coffee just as much as anyone. As a matter of fact, if I could own the most amazing coffee maker in the world, I would! However, I also like ambiance. Sometimes, drinking joe in my living room, or the office, or while I am playing my newest addiction otherwise known as Skyrim, just doesn't work. I need a place where I can laugh and talk aloud with people I don't know, or just people watch. Well thank you Tukwila, WA, cause you have just made my day with your new Starbucks.
Story number two:
Stange Cars. These cars were to be autioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. Now, you must be thinking, I've seen it all. I have watched "Back to the Future" and I know that the Delorian tops all! (Speaking of which, I saw one while I was out at the silver diner the other day... I should post photos!) Some of these are funny, while others are just plain wierd.
Story Three:
Ahh, the movies. You want to go see a movie with me? Let's go then! That will be 12.50 for movie tickets, unless youw ant to see it in 3D; then it might be anywhere between $15 to $20. Oh, did you want snacks? Anywhere from $4 - $15. It's getting to be expensive to see a movie these days. Who wants to see a movie that has heart and soul? Hmm? No one? well phoey on you, let me tell you something wild. Sundance, the world's word for indie film making is where a lot of the movies that you shell out for like to come from. Here are some movies that I would never have guessed about come from...
Story Number Four:
This is totally about bathroom humour, but not the kind tha you think. This is all about the oldest bathrroms from teh 19th century... and it's still running. FUN AND JOYSOME! Check it out, it's mildy engrosing and comes with photos of the bathroom to.
Story Number Five:
I've always wanted a cape. Not neccesarrily an invisibility cape, but one that swishes with supervillian style. Well the cape that is a part of this artical is not a supervillian cape, but indeed awesome. This is a gold cape that has been made out of spider silk. You heard correctly, and on top of that, I would recomend that you use the same madagascar spiders to create it. These spiders make thread that comes out in a golden safron color. Don't worry - they don't bite... hard. Still, PETA is all up in arms about it, but then again, when are they not all up in arms?
Story Number Six:
Not so much a story as a collection of apps that I have been playing and testing out because they are FREE!
Check them out...
So those are some of the things I have been looking at while I should have been typing teh next segment of Amaretto's tale. However, can you blame me? Sometimes, we all need a little Procrastination.
Until Next Time!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Quote Week - Day 4
"I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature."
- John Steinbeck
- John Steinbeck
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Two times Two
This was written as a short for a "Write or Shut up" post in Aspiring Novelists, a Face book group I belong to. Go ahead. It's just some flash fiction...
“Two times one is two. Two times two is four. Two times three is six…”
The voice droned on just slightly. Allison was quite sure that her own voice was the one that was speaking, but sometimes she wasn’t sure. She was currently in the twos and she had been repeating them for a while now. As she rode the bus, she was sure that she would eventually reach her destination, but she was not sure if she should have been going there in the first place. She thought really hard for a moment and the counting stopped. Was she really going to go this time? She shook her head in quiet disbelief and the quiet counting started once more.
The bus continued along, jolting every time it hit a dip or pothole in the asphalt that made up the road. Allison pulled her thin jacket around her just a little tighter. Even though the sun was trying it’s best to shine through the foggy morning cloud buildup in the sky, Allison still felt as if it was the dead center of winter rather than the chilly beginnings of spring. There was no way that this weather could be real. She refused to acknowledge it, as if hoping it was warmer would make it warmer.
Allison continued to mumble to herself, “Two times ten is twenty. Two times eleven is twenty-two. Two times twelve is twenty-four. Two times one is two.”
The mindless repetition made her appear crazy, but she paid no mind to that. She was headed towards her destination with quiet determination and counting numbers, to be more precise counting her twos, made her feel better. As to why she was on the bus, she couldn’t quite remember. There was a fog over her thoughts that seemed to quietly hover in her mind whenever she tried to remember. It was like a quiet thunderstorm that would only rage when she got too close to a certain destination.
She shook her head and continued to count in circles. The bus rolled to a stop for a moment and Allison heard the shuffle of people getting on and off. She continued to count and knew that soon she would be at the destination, whatever it was. For now, she would just have to simply be content with not knowing and counting. A woman sat next to her and set a rather large bag full of apples on the ground in between her feet. The woman eyed Allison carefully, but Allison continued to count. A few more stops rolled by before Allison stood up. As she did, the woman pulled out an apple and handed it to the strange girl. Allison smiled and took the apple with muted thanks.
As Allison stepped off the bus, the incessant need to count seemed to evaporate and she began walking forwards with a rather large sense of purpose. She walked down the cracked sidewalk towards what appeared to be an abandoned railroad track that led into the woods. As she saw the track she realized that she had somehow managed to make it all the way to the other side of town. That was to be ignored however as she finally realized where she was going. She followed the track down through the winding areas of trees and dirt and twisted metal from the tracks and soon she saw it, the gaping black maw rising in front of her like a monstrous gullet preparing to swallow her down.
The hole was brick on either side of itself; a slowly sloping arch enclosed it from the ground up. Swirling eddies of darkness seemed to pour forth from the hole that she remembered to be called a tunnel. The mortar was slowly crumbling away into a distant powder and it was here that she knew she had found what she was looking for. She looked at the bricks, taking in all the graffiti and other such tags that had been placed upon the bricks until she saw it. There in small black numbers, sprayed in the bottom corner of the massive arch was a question.
2 x 2 = ?
Allison knelt down in front of the small section of words and after a moment, used her hands to try to wipe off the grime from the bricks. There was a moment of silence and then the whole world seemed to hiss around her. Allison jerked backwards and watched as the space in between the train tunnel entrance took on a gentle blue hue as colors began to pour outwards from all manner of directions. Hundreds of thousands of colors swirled in a vortex of lights and sounds that filled only the central part of the arch way. Allison stared at it with amazement and a sort of wonder and slowly her hand raised itself into the air and she moved forwards to place a hand on it. Her whole body seemed to sing out in joy and pleasure as soon as she moved towards the shimmering wall.
She placed a hand in and saw her hand vanish into the strange cacophony of senses. She smiled to herself. This was where she had wanted, no, needed to be. She pushed her hand in further and felt nothing and then looked at the space behind her. There was no one there. She smiled and spoke to herself in a very low voice and said, “Four.” She smiled. It was only a moment, but there was a flash of incandescent light and then, the tunnel was just a tunnel again.
Allison was nowhere to be seen.
“Two times one is two. Two times two is four. Two times three is six…”
The voice droned on just slightly. Allison was quite sure that her own voice was the one that was speaking, but sometimes she wasn’t sure. She was currently in the twos and she had been repeating them for a while now. As she rode the bus, she was sure that she would eventually reach her destination, but she was not sure if she should have been going there in the first place. She thought really hard for a moment and the counting stopped. Was she really going to go this time? She shook her head in quiet disbelief and the quiet counting started once more.
The bus continued along, jolting every time it hit a dip or pothole in the asphalt that made up the road. Allison pulled her thin jacket around her just a little tighter. Even though the sun was trying it’s best to shine through the foggy morning cloud buildup in the sky, Allison still felt as if it was the dead center of winter rather than the chilly beginnings of spring. There was no way that this weather could be real. She refused to acknowledge it, as if hoping it was warmer would make it warmer.
Allison continued to mumble to herself, “Two times ten is twenty. Two times eleven is twenty-two. Two times twelve is twenty-four. Two times one is two.”
The mindless repetition made her appear crazy, but she paid no mind to that. She was headed towards her destination with quiet determination and counting numbers, to be more precise counting her twos, made her feel better. As to why she was on the bus, she couldn’t quite remember. There was a fog over her thoughts that seemed to quietly hover in her mind whenever she tried to remember. It was like a quiet thunderstorm that would only rage when she got too close to a certain destination.
She shook her head and continued to count in circles. The bus rolled to a stop for a moment and Allison heard the shuffle of people getting on and off. She continued to count and knew that soon she would be at the destination, whatever it was. For now, she would just have to simply be content with not knowing and counting. A woman sat next to her and set a rather large bag full of apples on the ground in between her feet. The woman eyed Allison carefully, but Allison continued to count. A few more stops rolled by before Allison stood up. As she did, the woman pulled out an apple and handed it to the strange girl. Allison smiled and took the apple with muted thanks.
As Allison stepped off the bus, the incessant need to count seemed to evaporate and she began walking forwards with a rather large sense of purpose. She walked down the cracked sidewalk towards what appeared to be an abandoned railroad track that led into the woods. As she saw the track she realized that she had somehow managed to make it all the way to the other side of town. That was to be ignored however as she finally realized where she was going. She followed the track down through the winding areas of trees and dirt and twisted metal from the tracks and soon she saw it, the gaping black maw rising in front of her like a monstrous gullet preparing to swallow her down.
The hole was brick on either side of itself; a slowly sloping arch enclosed it from the ground up. Swirling eddies of darkness seemed to pour forth from the hole that she remembered to be called a tunnel. The mortar was slowly crumbling away into a distant powder and it was here that she knew she had found what she was looking for. She looked at the bricks, taking in all the graffiti and other such tags that had been placed upon the bricks until she saw it. There in small black numbers, sprayed in the bottom corner of the massive arch was a question.
2 x 2 = ?
Allison knelt down in front of the small section of words and after a moment, used her hands to try to wipe off the grime from the bricks. There was a moment of silence and then the whole world seemed to hiss around her. Allison jerked backwards and watched as the space in between the train tunnel entrance took on a gentle blue hue as colors began to pour outwards from all manner of directions. Hundreds of thousands of colors swirled in a vortex of lights and sounds that filled only the central part of the arch way. Allison stared at it with amazement and a sort of wonder and slowly her hand raised itself into the air and she moved forwards to place a hand on it. Her whole body seemed to sing out in joy and pleasure as soon as she moved towards the shimmering wall.
She placed a hand in and saw her hand vanish into the strange cacophony of senses. She smiled to herself. This was where she had wanted, no, needed to be. She pushed her hand in further and felt nothing and then looked at the space behind her. There was no one there. She smiled and spoke to herself in a very low voice and said, “Four.” She smiled. It was only a moment, but there was a flash of incandescent light and then, the tunnel was just a tunnel again.
Allison was nowhere to be seen.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Written (Inked) Word
So I have this new addiction that I occasionally give into. I call it StumbleUpon. It is a small little button that you hit that randomly takes you to a website that people think is interesting. well, I've been wandering like a bad boy while I should be typing up my blog. Silly, silly me.
Now while I have been wandering, I have come across one of the coolest website ever. As we all know, I love the written word, and that I also have the occasional love for tattoos. Well StumbleUpon has found a website that has taken both of these loves and stuck them together. The website is known as Contrariwise. The fantastic imagery that people use to write their favorite literary phrase, or in some cases, their gibberish, and also below the picture in each post is where the phrase comes from. Please go check it out. It is full of amazing and I love it. I will admit though, some of the pictures there are very amazing, some of them are as follows:
This,
This,
and This.
Like I said, go look! Have fun!
Now while I have been wandering, I have come across one of the coolest website ever. As we all know, I love the written word, and that I also have the occasional love for tattoos. Well StumbleUpon has found a website that has taken both of these loves and stuck them together. The website is known as Contrariwise. The fantastic imagery that people use to write their favorite literary phrase, or in some cases, their gibberish, and also below the picture in each post is where the phrase comes from. Please go check it out. It is full of amazing and I love it. I will admit though, some of the pictures there are very amazing, some of them are as follows:
This,
This,
and This.
Like I said, go look! Have fun!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Reliquary!
So back in 2004, I came up with a fabulous idea... and then I scrapped it. In 2007 I found the idea, written on the back of some notes that I had taken in a Psychology class. I was cleaning out my filing cabinet when I found the idea. I fleshed it out a little and in January, I wrote the second part of a story called Reliquary. I will say, no one really responded to it, so I put it to the side, and instead, came up with an alternate universe of where entirely different things were occuring and gave up on the story of Reliquary as a short story disaster.
Well recently, because of Amaretto's Tale, I have found the need to at least finish this short tale of disaster because of... artistic endevors. Now this tale is not going to be listed in the other blogs, rather, but instead shall be here. So if you wish to familiarize yourself with teh other entries, by all means the links are as follows:
Reliquary - Part 1
Reliquary - Part 2
After reading those, might I suggest the following which is the Third instalment of this tragically short, left-on-the-wayside tale:
The girl brushed a stray brown hair out of her face and looked at the man. "Well at least we got somewhere," she responded quietly.
The man, who had crossed his arms reached out and gripped the girl by the shoulders. "You mean you didn't know where it would take us?" Amazement, wonderment, surprise, and anger all flitted in the man's face in a flurry of emotions. It appeared to Denis that the man was constipated.
"Well I knew it would take us somewhere, I just didn't know quite where..."
"You could have dropped us right in the middle of the ocean floor though! I thought you knew where this would take us!"
"Theoretically, yes. Virtually... no..."
Denis looked dejectedly at the now scattered mysteries and shook his head. He needed a break. He took the opportunity to but into the conversation and then say in a rather loud voice, "You two broke in through the back! I hope that you plan on paying for that door because no one ever uses it!" He turned around to head towards the cashier and spoke as he continued walking. "I'm calling the cops right now. I've never seen you here before, but you better not run, I have a very good memory as to what people look like!"
As he walked towards the phone he heard something being muttered and he suddenly stuck fast to the floor. He tried to move forward, but nothing his feet refused to propel him forward. It was as if he was a fly trapped in flypaper, only the brown carpet beneath him was not sticky at all.
“Hey! What did you do to me!” Denis swiveled as best as he could at the waist to look back at the two people who were now crowding out the romance and mystery section of the store. The girl ignored him and pulled on a long golden chain that was around her neck to look at something that looked like an hourglass. The lumberjack man looked at him and then snarled in response, “Shut yer mouth. No one asked for your opinion in this matter."
Denis was shocked and then all he threw up his hands in shock and fury. "You let me go this instant or I swear when I get the cops here, I'm gonna let them have you!"
The large man chuckled and then snorted. "I don't think that you are going to let anyone have anything there. Just be quiet and sit there." The girl was quickly smoothing out her dress, which seemed more like a slip than anything else. Denis all but shrieked as he opened his mouth and yelled. The girl put her hands over her ears.
"Please stop screaming, it's unbecoming." The girl actually sounded like she was offended.
"Then let me go!" Denis turned furious eyes on the girl who slowly walked to where he was and then shrugged her shoulders. She muttered something under her breath that sounded more like someone fast forwarding a tape than anything else. Denis snapped his mouth shut as he tried to listen to her, but it was impossible. Suddenly Denis tipped over and fell onto the floor in a rather untidy heap. The large man looked around and then poked at the bins.
"Comic books then. What kind of place is this?"
Denis pulled himself up off of the floor and growled. "It's a used book store. We also sell comic books." The man snorted in response. The girl fiddled with the hourglass necklace and frowned again. She looked up and motioned to the large man who came over to where she was.
"The hourglass was supposed to take us to the place where we were supposed to find the next bearer. The only person I see is this man though."
The tall man in the flannel looked at Denis and then rolled his eyes. "You have a point there m'lady. There is no way it could be him. I mean if it was, then we would have some serious problems."
Denis frowned as he brushed dust off of his shirt. He knew he would have to vacuum the carpeted floor before he left that night. The carpets were pretty dirty. He suddenly caught himself in what he was thinking and whirled on the two intruders. "All right then, you two had better be prepared to pay for that back door." Denis began to walk towards the phone once more, but he stopped dead in his tracks when the cowbell above the door rang once more. Denis froze in mid-step and stared at the door. The big man turned slowly around as the girl managed to peak around him.
There in the doorway, a young boy huffed and puffed for breath. Behind him, dressed in a thick coat and also gasping, was an even younger girl. The boy looked up through mussed red hair and long bangs and while gasping for breath said, "We arrived... as soon as... we possibly... could!" The boy continued to pant and the girl was too busy trying to catch her breath to say anything.
“Chris? What are you doing here?” Drew frowned at the boy as he tried to catch his breath.
“I'm... so... sorry,” Chris gasped. He pointed towards he back room and then finally having caught his breath said, “Edie left a note for people if this happened not on her watch. It's on the shelf on the back wall, on top of the books.” The girl with the lumberjack tapped her foot and Chris' sister, Sarah, was hiding behind him and had also caught her breath. Denis frowned and then shrugged his shoulders and walked back to where the “office” was.
Hole in the Wall was laid out as if someone had lived there at one time and the patio area had been converted to the front entrance and the register area as well as where they kept the anthologies. Right before that there was a sliding glass door and a small inset where a crowded desk and chair sat; the office. On the back wall, the oldest books that Edie kept in the store were stored. On top of the books, a small white envelope that Denis had never noticed was siting collecting dust. Drew stood on top of the ancient chair and grabbed the envelope.
Walking back to the magazine racks, he opened the envelope and then read what was written in Edie's elegant script:
Workers,
I am so terribly sorry that I did not inform you before hand, but the curtain in the back is really important. Besides simply preventing the basement from causing a draft in the store (not very well I might add), it is also a portal pit stop. Do not ask how, but I can explain why. My husband saw it, bought it from a strange man (I think it was the gypsies down the street, damn them) and used it. Usually people only come though on the weekends, which is why I work, but just in case someone comes on a weekday, let them do their thing; don't bother them, they won't bother you. You can also let them use the bathroom if you need to. If a man comes through asking for a book called “Alefile's Alchemy”, we do not have it in stock and probably never will.
Thank you,
Edie
P.S. Don't tell anyone, and place the letter back where you found it. If things get too complicated, ask the Puzzle Gnome.
Denis stared at the letter for a moment and then looked up at Chris. He then looked at the little girl and the lumberjack man. Sarah moved from behind Chris and the girl in the white dress looked relieved and stretched out her hands as if in a motion for a hug.
“Thank gods, I found you!” Sarah smiled shyly and then walked forward to within distance of the girl's outstretched hands and placed her own in the girl's. “My name is Amantha. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.” Amantha squeezed Sarah's hands happily.
Denis stammered. “Portal?”
Everyone ignored him.
“My name is Sarah and this is my older brother Chris.” Chris nodded his head and smiled as well.
Amantha pointed to the large lumberjack man behind her and said, “This oaf is named Gavon.”
Gavon frowned, “Would it kill you to give me a proper introduction at one time in your life?”
Amantha rolled her eyes, something that Denis thought that he would never see in a girl who was as poised as she was. “Fine then,” said Amantha, “Gavon Thorson.” Gavon smiled and his chest puffed up even more than it already was.
“Pleasure to meet you Lady.” Gavon bowed to Sarah and she blushed.
Denis tried to interject once more. “Portal? That thing is a portal?” Even though he said it louder, no one still paid any attention to him.
Chris moved around his sister and then spoke directly to Amantha. “I trust it then that we got here on time?”
Amantha nodded her head. “Yes, you made it on time, so I can assume that you got my message.” Chris nodded his head in a rather enthusiastic way. Sarah continued to smile.
“I think then we are all ready to go then?” Amantha smiled and began to move back towards the mystery section when Denis interjected.
“Wait now. First I hear there is a portal here and now I am expected to let you just take these kids to God knows where?”
Amantha shook her head and said, “Gods.” Denis looked at her with confusion.
“What?”
Amantha frowned and said, “You said 'god knows where'. That is incorrect, it is supposed to be gods, not God.”
Denis felt his eye twitch before he began to get mad. “No, I refuse. I won't let you take these children with you. I have duty and a responsibility to make sure that my customers are taken care of and you most certainly are not allowing for that to happen.” Denis stomped his foot down and he watched as Amantha rolled her eyes.
“This is hardly the case. I am simply here to collect the next Lady of the Glass. Would you kindly stay out of it?”
“Here here, let the Lady do as she wishes. It hardly has anything to do with you.” Gavon finished talking with a large nod of his head at the end.
Chris moved forward and patted Denis on the shoulder. “It's fine. Don't worry about it. We will be out of your hair momentarily.”
“This is to much,” Denis looked back at the note and then scrunched up his face as he read the post script. What the hell was a puzzle gnome?
Denis frowned and then looked at the wall where the hanging was. "I have a portal that functions in my store now, a pair of random people who are from Canada, without accents I might add," he paused to shake his head. Amantha raised her hand in order to get attention.
"I never said that we were from Canada here, we are from a different Canada." She stated her fact as if it was the real truth and nothing else mattered.
"A different Canada?" Chris looked at them as if the idea truly fascinated him.
Gavon frowned. "It's not just Canada that is different," he looked over at Amantha who frowned and then she shook her head.
Sarah looked forward and then waved her hand. "I think it's my turn?"
They all looked to the small girl and then Amantha smiled and said, "Yes, you are quite right. Let's get started then shall we?"
Well recently, because of Amaretto's Tale, I have found the need to at least finish this short tale of disaster because of... artistic endevors. Now this tale is not going to be listed in the other blogs, rather, but instead shall be here. So if you wish to familiarize yourself with teh other entries, by all means the links are as follows:
Reliquary - Part 1
Reliquary - Part 2
After reading those, might I suggest the following which is the Third instalment of this tragically short, left-on-the-wayside tale:
The girl brushed a stray brown hair out of her face and looked at the man. "Well at least we got somewhere," she responded quietly.
The man, who had crossed his arms reached out and gripped the girl by the shoulders. "You mean you didn't know where it would take us?" Amazement, wonderment, surprise, and anger all flitted in the man's face in a flurry of emotions. It appeared to Denis that the man was constipated.
"Well I knew it would take us somewhere, I just didn't know quite where..."
"You could have dropped us right in the middle of the ocean floor though! I thought you knew where this would take us!"
"Theoretically, yes. Virtually... no..."
Denis looked dejectedly at the now scattered mysteries and shook his head. He needed a break. He took the opportunity to but into the conversation and then say in a rather loud voice, "You two broke in through the back! I hope that you plan on paying for that door because no one ever uses it!" He turned around to head towards the cashier and spoke as he continued walking. "I'm calling the cops right now. I've never seen you here before, but you better not run, I have a very good memory as to what people look like!"
As he walked towards the phone he heard something being muttered and he suddenly stuck fast to the floor. He tried to move forward, but nothing his feet refused to propel him forward. It was as if he was a fly trapped in flypaper, only the brown carpet beneath him was not sticky at all.
“Hey! What did you do to me!” Denis swiveled as best as he could at the waist to look back at the two people who were now crowding out the romance and mystery section of the store. The girl ignored him and pulled on a long golden chain that was around her neck to look at something that looked like an hourglass. The lumberjack man looked at him and then snarled in response, “Shut yer mouth. No one asked for your opinion in this matter."
Denis was shocked and then all he threw up his hands in shock and fury. "You let me go this instant or I swear when I get the cops here, I'm gonna let them have you!"
The large man chuckled and then snorted. "I don't think that you are going to let anyone have anything there. Just be quiet and sit there." The girl was quickly smoothing out her dress, which seemed more like a slip than anything else. Denis all but shrieked as he opened his mouth and yelled. The girl put her hands over her ears.
"Please stop screaming, it's unbecoming." The girl actually sounded like she was offended.
"Then let me go!" Denis turned furious eyes on the girl who slowly walked to where he was and then shrugged her shoulders. She muttered something under her breath that sounded more like someone fast forwarding a tape than anything else. Denis snapped his mouth shut as he tried to listen to her, but it was impossible. Suddenly Denis tipped over and fell onto the floor in a rather untidy heap. The large man looked around and then poked at the bins.
"Comic books then. What kind of place is this?"
Denis pulled himself up off of the floor and growled. "It's a used book store. We also sell comic books." The man snorted in response. The girl fiddled with the hourglass necklace and frowned again. She looked up and motioned to the large man who came over to where she was.
"The hourglass was supposed to take us to the place where we were supposed to find the next bearer. The only person I see is this man though."
The tall man in the flannel looked at Denis and then rolled his eyes. "You have a point there m'lady. There is no way it could be him. I mean if it was, then we would have some serious problems."
Denis frowned as he brushed dust off of his shirt. He knew he would have to vacuum the carpeted floor before he left that night. The carpets were pretty dirty. He suddenly caught himself in what he was thinking and whirled on the two intruders. "All right then, you two had better be prepared to pay for that back door." Denis began to walk towards the phone once more, but he stopped dead in his tracks when the cowbell above the door rang once more. Denis froze in mid-step and stared at the door. The big man turned slowly around as the girl managed to peak around him.
There in the doorway, a young boy huffed and puffed for breath. Behind him, dressed in a thick coat and also gasping, was an even younger girl. The boy looked up through mussed red hair and long bangs and while gasping for breath said, "We arrived... as soon as... we possibly... could!" The boy continued to pant and the girl was too busy trying to catch her breath to say anything.
“Chris? What are you doing here?” Drew frowned at the boy as he tried to catch his breath.
“I'm... so... sorry,” Chris gasped. He pointed towards he back room and then finally having caught his breath said, “Edie left a note for people if this happened not on her watch. It's on the shelf on the back wall, on top of the books.” The girl with the lumberjack tapped her foot and Chris' sister, Sarah, was hiding behind him and had also caught her breath. Denis frowned and then shrugged his shoulders and walked back to where the “office” was.
Hole in the Wall was laid out as if someone had lived there at one time and the patio area had been converted to the front entrance and the register area as well as where they kept the anthologies. Right before that there was a sliding glass door and a small inset where a crowded desk and chair sat; the office. On the back wall, the oldest books that Edie kept in the store were stored. On top of the books, a small white envelope that Denis had never noticed was siting collecting dust. Drew stood on top of the ancient chair and grabbed the envelope.
Walking back to the magazine racks, he opened the envelope and then read what was written in Edie's elegant script:
Workers,
I am so terribly sorry that I did not inform you before hand, but the curtain in the back is really important. Besides simply preventing the basement from causing a draft in the store (not very well I might add), it is also a portal pit stop. Do not ask how, but I can explain why. My husband saw it, bought it from a strange man (I think it was the gypsies down the street, damn them) and used it. Usually people only come though on the weekends, which is why I work, but just in case someone comes on a weekday, let them do their thing; don't bother them, they won't bother you. You can also let them use the bathroom if you need to. If a man comes through asking for a book called “Alefile's Alchemy”, we do not have it in stock and probably never will.
Thank you,
Edie
P.S. Don't tell anyone, and place the letter back where you found it. If things get too complicated, ask the Puzzle Gnome.
Denis stared at the letter for a moment and then looked up at Chris. He then looked at the little girl and the lumberjack man. Sarah moved from behind Chris and the girl in the white dress looked relieved and stretched out her hands as if in a motion for a hug.
“Thank gods, I found you!” Sarah smiled shyly and then walked forward to within distance of the girl's outstretched hands and placed her own in the girl's. “My name is Amantha. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.” Amantha squeezed Sarah's hands happily.
Denis stammered. “Portal?”
Everyone ignored him.
“My name is Sarah and this is my older brother Chris.” Chris nodded his head and smiled as well.
Amantha pointed to the large lumberjack man behind her and said, “This oaf is named Gavon.”
Gavon frowned, “Would it kill you to give me a proper introduction at one time in your life?”
Amantha rolled her eyes, something that Denis thought that he would never see in a girl who was as poised as she was. “Fine then,” said Amantha, “Gavon Thorson.” Gavon smiled and his chest puffed up even more than it already was.
“Pleasure to meet you Lady.” Gavon bowed to Sarah and she blushed.
Denis tried to interject once more. “Portal? That thing is a portal?” Even though he said it louder, no one still paid any attention to him.
Chris moved around his sister and then spoke directly to Amantha. “I trust it then that we got here on time?”
Amantha nodded her head. “Yes, you made it on time, so I can assume that you got my message.” Chris nodded his head in a rather enthusiastic way. Sarah continued to smile.
“I think then we are all ready to go then?” Amantha smiled and began to move back towards the mystery section when Denis interjected.
“Wait now. First I hear there is a portal here and now I am expected to let you just take these kids to God knows where?”
Amantha shook her head and said, “Gods.” Denis looked at her with confusion.
“What?”
Amantha frowned and said, “You said 'god knows where'. That is incorrect, it is supposed to be gods, not God.”
Denis felt his eye twitch before he began to get mad. “No, I refuse. I won't let you take these children with you. I have duty and a responsibility to make sure that my customers are taken care of and you most certainly are not allowing for that to happen.” Denis stomped his foot down and he watched as Amantha rolled her eyes.
“This is hardly the case. I am simply here to collect the next Lady of the Glass. Would you kindly stay out of it?”
“Here here, let the Lady do as she wishes. It hardly has anything to do with you.” Gavon finished talking with a large nod of his head at the end.
Chris moved forward and patted Denis on the shoulder. “It's fine. Don't worry about it. We will be out of your hair momentarily.”
“This is to much,” Denis looked back at the note and then scrunched up his face as he read the post script. What the hell was a puzzle gnome?
Denis frowned and then looked at the wall where the hanging was. "I have a portal that functions in my store now, a pair of random people who are from Canada, without accents I might add," he paused to shake his head. Amantha raised her hand in order to get attention.
"I never said that we were from Canada here, we are from a different Canada." She stated her fact as if it was the real truth and nothing else mattered.
"A different Canada?" Chris looked at them as if the idea truly fascinated him.
Gavon frowned. "It's not just Canada that is different," he looked over at Amantha who frowned and then she shook her head.
Sarah looked forward and then waved her hand. "I think it's my turn?"
They all looked to the small girl and then Amantha smiled and said, "Yes, you are quite right. Let's get started then shall we?"
Thursday, February 3, 2011
It's Thursday! Update Time!
So I am trying really hard to keep up with the schedule that I gave myself and am trying really hard to keep up with it. Seriously I am. I now have a new job that allows me to write a lot more than I originally did in my old job. It also allows me a lot more time to do such things. Granted, I am not always going to be at home when I write and sometimes, I will admit, I do feel a little lazy, but I will strive to show that I can make the deadlines that I give to myself.
However, I will note something rather ridiculous in my own way. A fellow reader pointed out to me that part of Amaretto's Tale is missing! In an effort to make sure that everyone can read it, I am going to put up some redux posts. These posts will be labeled in the Archive and I am also going to put up links here within this post as soon as I am done. So wish me luck!
UPDATE!! Febuary 4th, 2011
However, I will note something rather ridiculous in my own way. A fellow reader pointed out to me that part of Amaretto's Tale is missing! In an effort to make sure that everyone can read it, I am going to put up some redux posts. These posts will be labeled in the Archive and I am also going to put up links here within this post as soon as I am done. So wish me luck!
UPDATE!! Febuary 4th, 2011
So I have the new Grain Redux posts to place here. Before you ask, there is no Grain 11... the reason why is because the original Grain 11 was actually a drawn post. Since I cannot find the original drawing, I am hunting it down, but in the meantime:
Saturday, December 18, 2010
December is here?
Is it December already? I am terribly sorry. I got a little lost after NaNoWriMo, I'll be honest. I was lost in the rewrites that were a part of my Latest NaNoWriMo novel "Darker than Ink". December is usually a month where after I have hankered down in November to type over 50k words, I now try to revise it, add to it and make sure it all makes sense. I call it revisional December. However, the other thing that happens in December is the cool and yet delusional part of the year where all is covered in snow, and sugar plums and Shoping, Shoping, Shoping! I have to shop to death.
No really, what I really wanted to say was that I am supposed to write a smal parable of teh season. This years is going to be a satire on cookie baking. I will post it sometime around Sunday night or Monday. I'm sorry that this post is so short at teh moment, but I am secretly at work.
Cookies will be known as god, and women wil aplaud what I shall be naming this year's Christmas Satire as "Baking Wars"... look forward to it.
No really, what I really wanted to say was that I am supposed to write a smal parable of teh season. This years is going to be a satire on cookie baking. I will post it sometime around Sunday night or Monday. I'm sorry that this post is so short at teh moment, but I am secretly at work.
Cookies will be known as god, and women wil aplaud what I shall be naming this year's Christmas Satire as "Baking Wars"... look forward to it.
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