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The Talechaser
- Posts:
- 9
- Group:
- Global Moderators
- Member
- #5
- Joined:
- March 11, 2013
- Character (1)
- Gallia Wuquus (equineReaction)
- Character (2)
- Xolotl (festeringFlesh)
- Character (3)
- Yog-Sothoth (threshholdLurker)
- Character (4)
- Var'gylux (threshholdServant)
- Character (5)
- Hank (wizardLizard)
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A stone engraving shows a congregation -- not only cats and dogs, but humans, goats, racoons, birds -- gathered around the entrance to a temple. A lion stands there, its face grim.
Spoiler: click to toggle "Our land faces a most dire threat. It is no challenge the bulls can face head-on, nor even something with a face, which the sparrows could gain intelligence from..."
"... it is a threat of despair."
A murmuring spread throughout the crowd, beast looking to beast. How was such a thing possible?
"We all know the dark days which have spread to us. The upheavals. The sudden disappearances - and, reappearances," the lion adds, as he looks to a particularly-shaken tortoise. "The strange creatures. The whispers."
"These days are hard on us, it is true... but our soothsayer has foretold that without a hero, our destruction will come from within."
Again the crowd murmured, anxiety spreading through them like water through a stream. The soothsayer's head drooped, knowing that her words were only half-truths.
"One amongst you must stand up for your people and become the hero which this jungle needs! If you believe you have the courage... come forth, and accept the test of mettle!"
The first to step forward was a boar, and the lion beckoned the soothsayer forth. She laid a hand on the boar's forehead, and he recoiled, screaming.
"What WAS that-?!"
"That," the soothsayer explained, calm, "was one tenth of the hopelessness you will have to shoulder if you hope to save your people. Go now. Your mother is concerned for you... visit her."
The boar stepped down, dazed, and a jaguar took his place.
She was overwhelmed after a moment.
With each creature who backed down, there were less who would attempt the challenge. From the smallest ant to the largest elephant, none were able to withstand the horrors which apparently awaited them.
No one could save the jungle.
Towards the back of the crowd, three humans clustered together -- a woman, her mate, and the infant she cradled in her arms. She looked to her husband, concern in her eyes.
"Can't anyone handle -- whatever it is the king is talking about?!"
"It's all right, Judy," the man said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "The jungle is full of fine creatures. Someone will be able to do it. Look --" he gestured to the podium, smiling. "There's the bull now. He's defended us from all of these strange creatures before. He'll defend us from this as well!"
But the bull, upon the soothsayer's touch, stumbled back just like all of the others. A goat screamed about the hopelessness of their situation, and fainted, unseen by the husband as he turned his head back to face his wife.
"But that - that isn't possible - Uten is the strongest of all beasts-!"
"Oh, dearest... what are we to do..? Our child..."
The man looked from the infant in her arms, to the staggering bull.
"... won't face anything close to despair. I'll make sure of it."
But as he turned, she grasped his sleeve with her free hand.
"No! No, not you..."
Gently he took her hand in both of his, smoothed his fingers over her skin. "I have to try. Maybe I can do what none of these people can do! I mean, I've always - my brother's always been - but maybe..."
"You'd be taking on something we can hardly even comprehend...! I need you! Let someone else save the jungle!"
"That's the thing," he smiled as he patted her hand. "I'm not doing it for the jungle, Judy. I'm doing it for you. You and the squirt there."
"I..." Judy looked away. "... I guess... I can't stop you..."
"Hey," he reached up, stroked her cheek. "It's gonna be okay. You can come visit, right?"
"Yes - of course -"
"And it probably won't work anyway," he laughed, "but you never know. There's always a chance."
"I... suppose so. Be careful, dear."
He embraced her, mindful of their child, and then advanced through the crowd.
The lion turned away, heaving a heavy sigh. "There is no one capable of handling your restrictions, soothsayer. If we relaxed the terms..."
"No. It must be this way."
"There is no one else willing to even try! My people are scared, their spirits are SHATTERED--"
As the king turned, he found himself face-to-chest with Judy's husband. He waved, sheepishly. "I could give it a shot. Always wanted to be a hero."
"... very well. Soothsayer."
The man knelt, so that the monkey's paw could reach his forehead.
What followed was agony.
No -- to use such a term would insult the concept of agony. This was despair, crushing, palpable, such that it could stop hearts and blind the weak. The man grit his teeth, as almost every part of him told himself to flee.
Every part but the one which remembered his family.
His nails dug into his flesh as his hands balled into fists, but he did not pull away. Even as the soothsayer's grip tightened, he made no move to resist. He knew -- his wife -- his child --
And then, he was on his back, blearily blinking up at the creatures leaned over him. "Wh..."
The soothsayer raised her brow. "You passed."
And as he pushed himself up, looked to his wife's worried face in the crowd, it was the soothsayer who gestured him into the temple.
"Come. You will become what the jungle needs."
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The Talechaser
- Posts:
- 9
- Group:
- Global Moderators
- Member
- #5
- Joined:
- March 11, 2013
- Character (1)
- Gallia Wuquus (equineReaction)
- Character (2)
- Xolotl (festeringFlesh)
- Character (3)
- Yog-Sothoth (threshholdLurker)
- Character (4)
- Var'gylux (threshholdServant)
- Character (5)
- Hank (wizardLizard)
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Hank Glittercrush and the Talechasing Youth
"This place is a land of heroes and villains, terrifying highs and exhilarating lows. But sometimes, heroes come in packages which we don't quite expect..!"
Spoiler: click to toggle "We join our hero as he treads through unknown lands -- the JUNGLE OF MISFORTUNE! Fearlessly he strides above the muck with a levitation spell, not deeming the mire worth his attention --"
"And then he falls, mud splattering his frill, as he takes pity on the mud's desperate attempts to befoul his scales!"
"No, you idiot," Hank mutters, "I'm distracted by your fuckin' narration is what!"
"Our hero is not supposed to be able to hear the epic of his deeds!"
"Yes, well, you're being loud enough for it. Look, sit down, I'll tell you a goddamn story."
"'Kay!" And from the trees, a kitten of a margay skitters down, perching nearby.
"Geez, you're a little'un. Okay, listen. Once upon a time, long, long ago..."
"Boring! Where are the heroes? The villains? The dashing excitement as the ruffians and knaves are vanquished?!
"Would you calm down? There's a knave in this story, yes -- and she is the hero."
"What?!"
"Okay, you've lost your speaking privileges." Hank sat down on a nearby branch, and breathed out, smoothing down his frill.
"Because I'm the one talking, now."
-
In that time, back in that place -- a place far from here, further than you could ever imagine -- there was a kingdom in the clouds. It was a peaceful place, undisturbed by time.
Before they came.
There's something you have to understand -- they were destined to come. There is no timeline in which they did not. Trust me, I've looked through the files. First the Denizens, and then... the Heroes.
But first, the Denizens. The villains of our story, so to speak. The vile creature who embraced our land was called Empusa, and within her belly slept something even worse. Worse -- but manageable. The Knave could have taken them out, if this were a straight game.
But it wasn't. See, things... happened.
One night I had a terrible dream. Circles within circles, ancient writings on the wall. I felt like I was falling upwards into oblivion.
And I knew.
I wasn't an independent adult with parents at home -- I had no parents.
I wasn't a scholar at the university -- we had nothing to study.
We were props. Decorations in the most dangerous game the universe had ever created. My memories were fabrications, created the moment that the hero's session had initialised. And so were we.
It was crushing, you know? Realising that everything you knew was a lie. I packed up and I left the village... I didn't want any part of what was going on there. I guess I became a bit of a travelling monk, meditating on what had been revealed to me. 'Cause it wasn't all thrust at me on a silver platter. It took a damn hunk of work to figure out.
The word for me was 'glitched', and I wasn't the only thing in the game with that particular problem. The entire session was fucked.
But I'm rambling. The hero of this story -- the Knave -- she came to our world eventually, too. A real diamond in the rough, that one. Tough as nails. Really caring nails, but, you know, nails. She didn't want anyone knowing she was helping us at first, but she sure did help. I watched from afar, knowing that they'd eventually send her to me.
And they did.
The Knave's a real cut-and-dry girl. She doesn't like riddles. Which worked out just fine for me -- I'd seen enough of the workings behind them to be sick of misleading words as well. She thought of me as code, and I didn't have the heart to convince her...
... see...
... as soon as they entered the game, they became constructs, too. Every one of the heroes are as much code as you or I.
But even thinking of me as a construct, I think we got along pretty well. I rode around in her fetch modus sometimes. Managed to save a few of her things when she inevitably died.
Don't worry, she got better.
The Knave and her friends were fighting a losing battle. There were too many cooks in the kitchen, see? Hackers, they called 'em, trying to mess with the guts of the files. With each alteration, the instability grew. I was able to understand more of the underpinnings of the system as more holes were opened up for me to look through.
This isn't a story of triumph, by the way. At least, not yet.
Because a lot of people died. Glitched away into oblivion. One of them sacrificed herself -- the Knave's lover. One of them, anyway. She had a few. It's a hero thing, don't ask me about it. Others were simply taken by the code, overwhelmed by the gnarled atrocity it had become.
They escaped, mind you. That's why we're here now. A short stop-over with some alien heroes, and off we skipped into a new session.
... a new session.
Can you even begin to comprehend that? I was created for the land of Alchemy and Magic, and that place is gone now -- destroyed from the inside, no doubt! No one even knows what to do with me. I'm an anomaly. A stable one, mind you -- the game officially counts me as a "land-specific entity", which is what the critters which decorate the land without being consorts or enemies are classified as -- but an anomaly nonetheless. I still know the things which I learnt from my session, but the holes have been patched, now; I couldn't learn anything new about the inner workings of this round, even if I tried. I don't even have consort knowledge, since I'm not a consort.
I'm just a refugee, I guess. A relic from a broken land. My role's been played out, and it's not like I can offer any clever insights into the workings behind everything any more.
So here I am, figuring out what to do with my life. 'Cause see, if there's one thing the Knave -- she's your Witch, by the way -- taught me, it's this: heroes aren't always obvious. Sometimes your hero's a real jerk. And sometimes your hero is exactly who you're not expecting.
-
"But what happened in the end?" Jemima asks, leaning forward. Hank laughs, shaking his head.
"What end? Look, kid -- stories don't work that way. Not real life stories."
"But it can't be a real life story. There's no Knave, or cloud land, and I don't know any evil beings called Empusa!"
"Yes, that's my point, they're from other places."
"Other places?"
"You know. Not here."
"But we've always been here!"
Hank leans against the tree, sighs, shakes his head. "You've got a long way to go, kid. Maybe I'll teach you about it someday. For now, tell me -- what're you doin' narratin' everyone what goes by?"
"I'm gonna become a Talechaser!"
"A talechaser."
"Yup! They chase tales! Not, you know," she swishes hers, "tail-tails, but tale-tales. The story kind. And if I'm gonna do that, I gotta learn how to chase them!"
"Right..." Hank, to his credit, doesn't roll his eyes. "But you're pretty far out from the village. Could be dangerous out here."
"Oh! It's okay! I know my way back, easy-squeezy! It's not like I'm..." But as Jemima turns, her face crumples. "... lost..."
"Kid, kid it's okay, don't --"
"LOOOST! I'm lost! MAMAAAA!"
"-- cry. Hush-shush-shush!" Hank scrambles over to her, clamping a claw over her muzzle. "It's okay. Really. Honest. But you're gonna --"
Stomp.
"-- let the enemies--"
Stomp.
"-- know where we--"
STOMP.
"-- are." He stares as the cipactli stops in front of them, its primary mouth hanging open to reveal rows of wicked teeth.
"Mmffpfhph!"
"Well, fuck. Okay, listen," Hank switches to the language of the native constructs, the strange chittering thing which the players couldn't possibly understand. "We're really, really sorry we interrupted your nap."
"Ah weren't sleepin'."
"Studies?"
"Ah'm not a student."
"... well, whatever we interrupted, we're terribly sorry about it. Now, sir, if you'll just excuse us--"
"Ah'm a GURL!"
"Ma'am! I meant to say ma'am. Absolutely meant to say ma'am. No offense meant. Now if you'll just excuse us we have a really important thing to get to. Over there. Away from you."
"Ah was huntin', is whatchuh intahrupted! An' let ol' Bussie tells yuh, it ain't unwelcuhme! Mm-MMM!" Several of the cipactli's tongues slipped out to lick their lips. Jemima's eyes widened, and Hank tightened his grip on her muzzle.
"Ehh, well... see... you don't want us."
"An' why naht?"
"Well, you see, uh, how do I put this? Uh -" Lightbulb. "- I'm very poisonous. See the bright colours? Have you ever seen something so bright on anything you wouldn't throw up the next morning?"
"Y'are sorda cuhlaful... aight! Gimme da gurl, ah'll 'ave CAT tuhnight!"
Hank looked at Jemima, and she stared back with frightened eyes. It would be eminently practical to hand her over -- the cipactli would have something to keep her busy while he fled. But...
... but...
"Oh, you don't want her."
"An' why naht?!"
"I've already started to eat her! And, you know, I'm venomous too. Blackened her veins. Why, she's as poisonous as I am! A lovely little adaption to stop bigger things from stealing my kills."
"She dun't looks dead."
"Oh, I start eating them while they're still alive."
"Ah dun't even sees no tooth mahrks!"
"You wouldn't, would you? Look at the kid! She's furrier'n a peach! It's not like everyone's good enough to have scales like us."
"Ah guess... but whah's th' blood?"
"Oh, coagulating agent. My bites don't shed blood, makes the venom less effective. I just bite her and wait for the collapse. Should be happening right.... about... now," Hank hisses out the last word, giving Jemima a significant look. The margay blinks, and then swoons into his waiting arms.
"See? Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a lunch date with this little lady. I saw some nice chow down at the river, though -- try there."
"Whadda nice young gentahman! Ah hope yuh lunch is nice." The cipactli smiles with all of her jaws, and trundles off towards the river. STOMP. Stomp. Stomp.
Once he's sure she's gone, Hank breathes a sigh of relief. "Okay. You're good. Not bad for improv, eh?"
Jemima pushes herself up and smiles. "Everyone in our village knows how to act, silly! Um... can you take me back there?"
"Hey, sure thing. After all..."
Hank shakes his head, and looks up at the jungle canopy.
"It's what a hero would do, right?"
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The Talechaser
- Posts:
- 9
- Group:
- Global Moderators
- Member
- #5
- Joined:
- March 11, 2013
- Character (1)
- Gallia Wuquus (equineReaction)
- Character (2)
- Xolotl (festeringFlesh)
- Character (3)
- Yog-Sothoth (threshholdLurker)
- Character (4)
- Var'gylux (threshholdServant)
- Character (5)
- Hank (wizardLizard)
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Hank Glittercrush and the New Destiny
"Sometimes, fate overlooks us. Sometimes, we outlive our purpose. When that time comes, what are we to do with ourselves? Shall we consign ourselves to obscurity and dive into the lake of despair? I think not!"
Spoiler: click to toggle It wasn't his town, but the treetop consort village was still comforting to Hank, in his own way. Replace the branches with clouds, and it might even come close to his own home --
-- or at least the place which was programmed as his home.
He, too, had felt the echo in his mind, the breaking of the universe. And once he had delivered Quincunx to the safety of Malhaut's world, he'd eventually gone back there, to the murky jungle he was classified as part of these days.
But he hadn't expected what he found when he entered the margay's village.
"I'm sorry," murmured a wizened old cat, white fur at his eyebrows and his cheekbones, "but the Witch simply isn't welcome here. Not after what we've heard."
"Hn... what'd you hear?"
"She is the one who brought forth the breaking-noise. We caught a dog and demanded it tell us what it had done... and when it finally confessed..." Deuteronomy shook his head, ears back against his head. "Maw, maw. She is an evil witch who conspires with the great enemy in order to bring about our downfall. My people are not witty nor strong enough to handle such a creature. We will not suffer any dealings with her."
"Fuck -- just -- look, you gotta realise," Hank gestured to him, "that you need your Hero to complete your quests and save your world, right?"
"Stranger, your phrasing is -- as usual -- bizarre and arcane to us. But I believe I understand your point. She was meant to be our salvation, to deliver us from evil."
He coiled his tail around his staff, slammed it to the ground before gesturing to the diseased trees.
"I am not as foolish as my flock. Does this look like salvation to you?!"
Hank looked away with a grimace. "... guess not."
"You are her friend, and that isn't a point in your favour. But... you're not like her." The elder breathed out, and Hank saw his elder in him, in that moment. It was strange, considering how different they were, but...
Well, perhaps every village was programmed to have an authority figure like that.
"And you helped one of our kittens," Deuteronomy continued, his voice heavy, "and you seem to be working independently of her. I cannot exile you in good conscience."
Hank wished that he could just headbutt the damn cat and impart everything he knew. But he couldn't. The elder was smart -- but not smart enough to realise that he was shooting himself in his own paw.
"That's great, but -- look -- you're not gonna be able to fix your problems on your own." Hank decided to skip the part about this being a pre-programmed part of most quests, to avoid the consorts cutting down the Hero's work. "If you're not gonna accept that the Witch really wants to help you, even if she did fuck up, then who's gonna --"
He caught a glimpse of his claw as he gestured to the elder.
Oh.
Oh.
"We will find a way," Deuteronomy insisted.
Hank couldn't help but feel like he was about to do something he really wasn't qualified to do.
But it wasn't like he had a destiny any more.
"Fine," Hank snapped, his frill flaring out. "If you won't trust Gallia, how's about you trust me? I sure as fuck haven't unleashed any unknowable God-Beasts."
"You are still an outsider, stranger. You have helped us, but I do not know if I can trust you."
"Sure you can! I've got a very trustworthy face."
Deuteronomy just gave Hank a withering look.
"Okay, okay. How can I prove to you that I'm the real deal then, huh?"
The elder leant back on his haunches, looking upwards at the patchwork canopy. "... there is a ritual we go through, with our young toms. A method we use to prove courage."
"And what's that?"
"We hunt."
"... yeah," Hank puffed out his cheeks, his telltale saa-saa sigh. "Of course you do. You are cats, I guess."
"Margay!"
"Whatever. So what do I gotta do?"
"Go and speak with Munkustrap. He is the sharpest and strongest amongst us. He will guide you."
Hank had a bad feeling as he clambered over the branches. Deuteronomy was the smartest cat in the bag -- and even he was an idiot...
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