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  1. - Top - End - #811
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Starting at post #87, dated Monday 3 December, I currently have 2984 words and four maps. Posting this early in case I forget again and don't post on Sunday.

    Currently no good examples of "When life hands you rat poison", but I'm working on it.
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    The Named, a superhero webnovel where names are everything. (Updated 3/14/14)

  2. - Top - End - #812
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    Lady Serpentine's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    519 words of Changeling concept work:

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    The basic premise is someone who was a bit off to start with, and, after a failed suicide attempt, was taken to a fairly well-known mental health specialist; unfortunately, said specialist was a Bondthrall, and delivered her to his Keeper, relying on the fact that people would expect her to be different to cover up any discrepancies between the real Isabel and her Fetch.

    During her Durance, she was kept in an Arcadian 'mental hospital', which was really more of a cross between a horror movie and a pseudo-Victorian asylum, along with the others sent to The Doctor over the past few years, where she underwent all sorts of ineffective, and in, at the very least, the vast majority of cases, unnecessary, Fae versions of medical procedures.

    Eventually, she managed to escape her restraints, and slip between the bars on her window, fleeing back to the real world, though she's still haunted by memories and nightmares.

    Physically, she's tiny and fragile-looking; thin, wispy, almost a ghost. Her color scheme is primarily greys, with a few splashes of white, and perhaps a bit of black around the eyes, all contrasting sharply with the bright red of her blood and the purpling bruises. Blending in, hiding, averting notice, all are overall themes, here and, to some extent, in her head as well. Her default outfit, if she has one, would be tattered rags, hedgespun from moonlight and mist, stitched together with fear and pain.

    Mentally, she's free, but she doesn't necessarily know what to do with that; intellectually, she knows that, now, she'll only have the direct consequences of her actions to deal with, but she's still scared to do anything at all without orders, or at least permission, and asking for permission is something that scares her, at best; her chains are broken, but they're the only thing that was keeping her on her feet, other than her resolve to escape... Which, now, tortures her as well; while she, logically, knows that it was run then or be caught, she left the others behind, and knowing that while she's trying to build a life for herself, they're still there, isn't an easy thing for her to deal with, and she can’t help thinking, at times, that if she'd been a little less focused on her own escape, she could have helped them.

    She's also not entirely grounded in this world anymore; at worst, she thinks that she's back there, and even at better times, she often sees her worst memories overlayed onto her actual surroundings, like ghost images of Arcadia, as though the two realms overlap; how well she deals with this depends on what's actually going on around her, and just how fragile her mental state is at the time.

    Her theme songs are 'Take the Pill', 'Gaslight', 'I Don't Understand', and 'I Want My Innocence Back', all by Emilie Autumn.

    Mechanically, I was thinking of taking the Dual Kith merit, and making her a Tunnelgrub Ogre; a Tunnelgrub because escape and hiding are both major themes for her, and an Ogre because of the line “By definition, Ogres are those who have been shaped by unthinking violence…”, though a Wizened Seeming could also be appropriate.


    ...This may count for 'When life hands you rat poison', honestly.

  3. - Top - End - #813
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Chimera

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Quote Originally Posted by Glass Mouse View Post
    Haha. It's been a while since that happened

    I'm fixing the status post.
    Both times for the exact same reason:

    "Oh I haven't done 6 pieces for the challenge yet, better make this sunday extra artsy!"

    *4-5 hours later at 3 am*

    "Wow I can't believe I did more than 3 comic pages in a day, I'm sooo tired. T_T"

    *completely forgets WHY he stayed up till 3 AM*


    Literally the explanation in both cases I was late.

  4. - Top - End - #814
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    Lady Serpentine's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    I did 865 words of Changeling story in the past hour or two, so... Hopefully I'm covered for this week, between that, the 519 words of character concept for another Changeling, and the two verses I sent you?

  5. - Top - End - #815
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    Mercenary Pen's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    I think I'll have to sit this week out guys... was hoping to write something today, but due to sudden illness, I'm thinking this is not such a great idea...
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    Warning: This post may contain traces of nuts, madness and/or sarcasm, you have been warned.

  6. - Top - End - #816
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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to make it this week. Helping plan out my brother's Eagle Ceremony takes up most of my time at the moment.

    Quotes and goodies:
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    You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til ya understand who's in ruttin' command here! - Jayne Cobb

    I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you. - Malcolm Reynolds

    Because I'm allergic to things I don't wanna do. *coughcough* - Caboose
    Photos from the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise.

    CHARACTERS
    I has a story! Updates when I can.
    3DS Friend Code: 2595-1862-5907

  7. - Top - End - #817
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Lady Serpentine's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    More Changeling stuff, this time 197 words of a pledge:

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    By my true name, I grant you the power to see those who would hide from you for a single moon, one short month. One turning, dark to dark, in which all things will be revealed to you. Further, I swear that none but I shall walk through your dreams for this span, and your pleasant dreams shall themselves be my reward for this service.

    By your true name, you grant me leave to walk there that I may perform my task. Swear that you will let me take from your dreams what I deem fair payment, so long as it does you no harm. Swear that you will keep the knowledge I grant you from all who do not know it already, even as I keep your dreams, until the moon is as it was when we swore once again.

    And let the one who is forsworn in this oath wake to find its teeth at their throat; ill-luck follow you if you are proved false in your promise of silence, and may my strands on the loom of Fate tangle and snap should my boon prove empty.

    Do you so swear?

  8. - Top - End - #818
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    Glass Mouse's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Huh. Sunday late afternoon is a weird time to discover that you've spent your week sketching secret comic notes, website building and design-related schoolwork... I was so sure I'd met the goal, like, Tuesday XD

    Time to draw some stuff, I guess!
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    Challenge badge
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    Avatar courtesy of the talented Neoriceisgood. Features Pumpkin from my webcomic.


  9. - Top - End - #819
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Chimera

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    I think I made enough new comics this week to pass, so I'm not gonna make a fancy new folder of stuff.

    I've done some commission work as well, but I prefer to keep that stuff hidden if I pass the mark anyway.

  10. - Top - End - #820
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    KerfuffleMach2's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    So, I know I said I wouldn't be able to make it, but...work was insanely slow today. I think I might have had a dozen customers the whole eight hours we were open.

    So, I got some done. They've been stuck up on my DeviantArt.

    Quotes and goodies:
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    You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til ya understand who's in ruttin' command here! - Jayne Cobb

    I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you. - Malcolm Reynolds

    Because I'm allergic to things I don't wanna do. *coughcough* - Caboose
    Photos from the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise.

    CHARACTERS
    I has a story! Updates when I can.
    3DS Friend Code: 2595-1862-5907

  11. - Top - End - #821
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Planetar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Hrm, actually, while I will definitely be back next week, I don't know if I'll be around for several weeks after that. I'm traveling out east for 2-3 weeks, and may be to busy to do the challenge properly, not to mention to find opportunities to upload. We'll see! I'm not going to worry about it over winter break though, one way or another.

  12. - Top - End - #822
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    Glass Mouse's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    School day means early-ish status. Woo!


    Glass Mouse passes with a Challenge prize, 400-ish words of critique, 1,700 words of RPG and short story, and a redraw.

    C'nor passes with 865 words of story, 197 words of pledge, 519 words of character background about metaphorical rat poison handing, and two verses for a poem.

    HeadlessMermaid passes with nine photos of a train station and skies.

    The Grimmace uploaded five different poems.

    Neoriceisgood passes with a bunch of comics.

    Icewalker will make a one-week comeback next week.

    Mercenary Pen is sick.

    nersxe passes with 2,984 words of RPG and four maps.

    KerfuffleMach2 passes with six character portraits and two city/airship drawings.


    Thus, the Grimmace, Icewalker and Mercenary Pen FAIL this round!

    Glass Mouse, C'nor, HeadlessMermaid, Neoriceisgood, nersxe and KerfuffleMach2 PASS this round!


    Current standing:
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    Glass Mouse
    Current run: 111 weeks
    Longest run: -
    Themes: -

    C'nor
    Current run: 5 weeks
    Longest run: 1 week
    Themes: 3 weeks

    HeadlessMermaid
    Current run: 2 weeks
    Longest run: 11 weeks
    Themes: -

    The Grimmace
    Current run: -
    Longest run: 18 weeks
    Themes: -

    Neoriceisgood
    Current run: 15 weeks
    Longest run: 8 weeks
    Themes: -

    Icewalker
    Current run: -
    Longest run: 13 weeks
    Themes: -

    Mercenary Pen
    Current run: -
    Longest run: 5 weeks
    Themes: -

    nersxe
    Current run: 2 weeks
    Longest run: 4 weeks
    Themes: -

    KerfuffleMach2
    Current run: 1 week
    Longest run: 1 week


    It's nersxe's turn to choose a theme




    @Icewalker: Ooh, that sounds like fun! Sun and summer is always great this time of year.

    @KerfuffleMach2: Great job! Those sudden time and inspiration rushes are great

    @Neoriceisgood: I cleaned my inbox yesterday, and since I'm at school, I can't find your stash link. So I'm gonna have to trust that you made enough - it fits with my impression from yesterday, at least. I'll check it if I get home and let you know if there are problems

    Also: I'm counting critiques towards the Challenge total. It makes no difference today, but in the future they may make or break a week. Are critiques too far from the Challenge spirit for people to accept? I'd argue that they're pretty much literary or artistic analyses/essays, but I thought it best to ask.
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  13. - Top - End - #823
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    KerfuffleMach2's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    As long as they are a full, well written critique, then I have no problem with that.

    Quotes and goodies:
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    You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til ya understand who's in ruttin' command here! - Jayne Cobb

    I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you. - Malcolm Reynolds

    Because I'm allergic to things I don't wanna do. *coughcough* - Caboose
    Photos from the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise.

    CHARACTERS
    I has a story! Updates when I can.
    3DS Friend Code: 2595-1862-5907

  14. - Top - End - #824
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Chimera

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    @Neoriceisgood: I cleaned my inbox yesterday, and since I'm at school, I can't find your stash link. So I'm gonna have to trust that you made enough - it fits with my impression from yesterday, at least. I'll check it if I get home and let you know if there are problems
    Sent you the link, I did like 11 pages though so I'm pretty sure I passed that 6 piece mark.

  15. - Top - End - #825
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Zjoot's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Oh, I meant to ask this...It's not exactly uploading, but I had a piece published over the week last week. For future reference if it happens again, would that count towards the Challenge?
    Awesome Lion Avatar by the wonderful Mr. Saturn. Thanks


    I have a bloog now. Go check it out if you love strange poetry.

  16. - Top - End - #826
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    This week's theme is: Relaxation.

    Something I myself am going to have to work hard to incorporate, but hey, that's the whole point of a challenge!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baveboi View Post
    Nersxe gets a cookie.

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    The Named, a superhero webnovel where names are everything. (Updated 3/14/14)

  17. - Top - End - #827
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Planetar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Perhaps I will write a song which will incorporate this theme. I intend to write some music over the next two weeks as well as finally finishing my novel.

  18. - Top - End - #828
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    Glass Mouse's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Quote Originally Posted by KerfuffleMach2 View Post
    As long as they are a full, well written critique, then I have no problem with that.
    I don't know about well written, but I try

    Quote Originally Posted by The Grimmace View Post
    Oh, I meant to ask this...It's not exactly uploading, but I had a piece published over the week last week. For future reference if it happens again, would that count towards the Challenge?
    If I understand it right, you wrote something some time ago, and now it's getting published? If so, no, it doesn't count. It would definitely count for the week you wrote the thing, though.

    Exceptions are made if you, fx, maintain a consistent webcomic, blog (or other) with a buffer. If you can point to something like that and go, "See, I produce X amounts of posts/comics/whatever on a schedule and have for some time", I'll just count the published pieces.

    Quote Originally Posted by nersxe View Post
    Something I myself am going to have to work hard to incorporate, but hey, that's the whole point of a challenge!
    Irony!

    I'll do my best to incorporate this. It sounds like it'd be good stress therapy.
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    Avatar courtesy of the talented Neoriceisgood. Features Pumpkin from my webcomic.


  19. - Top - End - #829
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Starting at post #111, dated Monday 10 December, 3655 words, including one scene of the Lieutenant and his sole remaining comrade kicking back and talking shop about home. Posting this early in case I forget.

    Holy crap, if I had written like this in November, I'd've gotten through NaNoWriMo no sweat.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baveboi View Post
    Nersxe gets a cookie.

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    The Named, a superhero webnovel where names are everything. (Updated 3/14/14)

  20. - Top - End - #830
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    Lady Serpentine's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    1,036 words of combat:

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    Quote Originally Posted by C'nor View Post
    [Garage]

    Melee Injector, Antipersonnel. M.I.A. Or, as she had chosen to call herself, in the relative privacy of her own head, Mia. A tiny thing, a wisp, just under five feet tall, and thin, even for her size. But oddly beautiful, in some ways, with her corpse-pale skin, contrasting sharply with her short hair, inky black, almost as though it had been dyed, which was why she had, just prior to this, been chosen as an Escort.

    Currently, she was crouched behind a fallen piece of support pillar, with a gun salvaged from the body of the most heavily augmented member of a security team - despite her size, she was incredibly strong, as she had to be, given her specialty - slung across her back.

    Next to her was one who had been an Escort already, given the name Aerie, when all this began, compact, but still larger than Mia, shaven-headed, and armed with weapons that could probably cut through most anything.

    To the left, pressed against the base of the fallen support, for it had split in the middle, a salvo of missiles from an Assault Beast, fired at a Revenant who was climbing like a spider, faster than human eyes could follow, though there were few enough of those here, and had managed to escape it to join their little band by leaping from her perch, though not without harm, the bones in her left arm splintering as she landed, proving too much for the column with the damage it had already sustained, was Belladonna, tall, almost spindly, and metal-eyed, with the pistol from the human member of the security team tucked into her belt, cradling the the rifle that the midling had used.

    Cut off from them by a pair of security teams, partly sheltered by the portable barriers they had brought when the extent of the breakout became clear, were the other three members of their group, all combat models, of one sort or another, pinned down behind fallen machinery of some sort, knocked down by the same Assault Beast that had destroyed the pillar.

    Shrugging the comparatively massive weapon off her back, Mia peeked over the support, taking aim at the midling of the nearest of the two teams, who had come out of cover to deal with another squad of Revs, this one charging towards a gap in the defenses, and unaware of the danger behind them, then let off a single shot at the cyborg, aiming for roughly the center of their chest, so as to maximize her chances of hitting with the unfamiliar weapon.

    ((Aerie and Belladonna will come into play next post. I have questions relating to them before I use them. The others, of course, are pinned down or injured at the moment.))
    Quote Originally Posted by C'nor View Post
    [Garage - You Can't Kill Me, I'm Already Dead]

    Mia is already moving, twisting to get undercover, putting her heightened reflexes to good use, when the transhuman fires, but it's not quite enough to save her. Even as she goes out of view, three pellets catch her torso, ripping apart flesh and dermal armor like so much glass, and sending molten shards of the support screaming through the air.

    But the damage, extensive as it is, isn't quite enough to kill her immediately. And, being a combat model, with the capabilities, not just the looks, to make her a fit Escort, she has a few tricks up her sleeve, or at least her right arm, that being the only one functional at the moment. Specifically, her skin splits apart, hand reforming into a nest of syringe-tipped tubes, even as she reaches for the nearest of the corpses, mercifully, for both of them, one with his head torn apart, so that there's likely no chance of ever hoping to bring him back again, injecting nanobots into its ankle, which immediately begin breaking it down into components with which to rebuild the damaged Rev.

    Still, she'll be out of the fight for a while; even state-of-the-art medical technology can only do so much, and she's rather badly hurt. But in the meantime, her companions continue to fight, not knowing if she'll live or not, for they have nothing they can do for her.

    All save the one known as Arachne, that is. She is, for the moment, too badly hurt to fight, in some ways a liability, though one the rest, for good or ill, will not abandon, unwilling to condemn her to remaining here, and so has time for small gestures, such as gently drawing the head of a girl who might be dying into her lap, and stroking their hair, that if these were their last moments, the last thing they feel might be a friendly hand.

    Even as this goes on, unnoticed and unremarked on, however, the battle continues to rage; at the moment that the transhuman stops firing, Aerie stands, hands reforming into weapons even more powerful than those borne by the huge cyborg.

    BOOM!

    BOOM!

    BOOM!

    Three thunderclaps, deafening in the enclosed space, ring out as lightning seems to leap from her hand, the air between them ionizing in an attempt to overload its circuitry, or failing that, at least cause difficulties with whatever parts of it remain flesh as its nerves receive signals they were never designed for.

    Should that prove ineffective, the two weapons that folded out of her back may end up being somewhat more useful, spraying energy pellets much like those from its own weapon at a truly astonishing rate.

    Her last weapon, however, is the most impressive, launching a mass of energy pellets even more powerful than those that they've been trading up to now, connected by a webwork of tiny, cylindrical, magnetic fields, each containing a band of plasma, at it. Of course, it's also the slowest to recharge between shots... but really, with a weapon like that, how many times do you need to fire anyway?

    Belladonna, meanwhile, turns her attention to the rest of the field, eyes blurring as she scans for threats, events seeming to move almost at a standstill as she locks onto targets, identifying a transhuman, well-placed to to kill an Escort with a good shot at killing one of the remaining Assault Beasts, as particularly troublesome, and sending a burst at his head with her salvaged weapon, preferring not to draw attention to her own systems just yet.


    Yeaaah, I'm probably not hitting the theme this week. Unless that little interlude with Arachne and Mia counts?

  21. - Top - End - #831
    Ogre in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Posted around 6 new pages @ the regular link, that should do it.

  22. - Top - End - #832
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    Lady Serpentine's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    724 words of discussion about the motivations of one of my characters, if it counts:

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    Quote Originally Posted by C'nor
    Mm. That's... Sort of accurate about Lilium. But I would dispute that they're necessarily the cause of the problems they're taking care of, other than the night-terrors. Wren's always been clumsy, after all, so the injuries they prevent would have happened even if they'd never met, insofar as one can say anything would happen if any two people never met each other.

    And Lilium does keep their feeding to a minimum, as well as spreading it out between Wren and Tirya. It's bad, but assuming souls grow back, which I'm fairly sure is what we've been going with, it's not all that much worse than a vampire feeding on someone; unpleasant if they're doing so without permission, certainly, but not, if they're otherwise a good person and someone you're close to, inexcusable, seeing as Dolls are hunted, and the more Wren knows, the more danger she's in.

    Of course, if they don't, then, well... Lelium either becomes a much, much, darker character than I'd intended, or I need to rework things, since they do care enough not to do permanent damage to these people.

    As for why they feed on Wren, addiction is certainly part of it. As is stability. They could, perhaps, find new people every week, but never knowing where their next meal is going to come from isn't a good place to be in, especially since they turn into a killer if they go too long without eating.

    They're probably more addicted to, or at least reliant on, Wren's companionship. They probably could stop feeding on her if Wren were to find out and insist that they do, but it would be, at best, a toss-up if they could cope with Wren leaving. The only three people she really cares about - possibly four, if one includes Nadine, because of the fact that they're Clan-siblings - are her sister, Tirya, and Wren, and her sister isn't exactly someone she can go to, seeing as Isabel is a Black Dog and all. So they'd only have one person to act as a support network, after losing the only other person they're close to, and one of the sources of stability in her life, and they can't tell Tirya what's going on, or feed on her if she's going to be able to provide support, meaning that either any semblance of stability in the important sections of their life is gone because there's no-one they can rely on being able to feed on or they have to (and in any case, it's still considerably destabilized because they can't feed any more on Tirya than they could when they were also feeding on Wren) or they have to go without, and, in fact, provide, emotional support.

    As for your question of whether or not Lilium would be able to keep feeding on Wren if she knew that she was being fed on, so long as Wren was okay with it, then yes, they would be. They do damage, yes. But they repair it, too. If Wren finds that night-terrors, quickly calmed, and some temporary harm to her soul, which also heals, are an acceptable trade for Lilium being able to keep a low profile and not risk turning into more of a monster than they have to be, Lilium could certainly accept that.

    Still, most of my objections are quibbling about the details - you hit the core theme of what's going on here quite well; while Lilium has become nicer since Tangle and I started plotting, the idea is certainly something that hurts both of them, and could fall apart any time, with Lilium being the one responsible for most of the harm it's doing. An abusive relationship is quite a good representation of things between them.

    Also, for a little additional snippet, if you're interested, Going Under - and quite a few of the other songs off of Fallen -, by Evanescence, seems to fit this situation quite well.

    Oh, and congratulations, Neko. You pretty much perfectly summed up my thoughts on the Black Dogs.

    And Dragons, that seems to be a very good overview. Though unfortunately, since I don't have the intimate knowledge of things I do with Lilium with most of what you talked about, I haven't got nearly as much to say to you as I did to Neko.


    1,557 words of RPing:

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    Quote Originally Posted by C'nor
    ((Mm. Talia wouldn't hunt her down, I think. Remember, she did say that if things dissolved into chaos, she hoped they didn't run into each other again. But she would kill her to protect the rest of the Hatters, if she had to, though she'd be pretty traumatized afterwards, to the point that she'd probably completely block off her emotions for a while.))

    Talia had, as Acacia spoke, begun to turn back towards her, hearing the pain in her friend's voice. Had she waited, the Hatter would have said something, perhaps. Or if nothing else, reassured her with a gesture. But she had not, perhaps, through the tears, having seen Talia's lips begin to move, and, fearing what would be said, fled before the mad girl could speak.

    Or maybe she had simply fled because she was in pain, and wished to be somewhere she could recover. Or, for that matter, it might be none of those. It was hard to tell, and the winds whispering secrets in Talia's mind were of little use.

    Regardless, she had, it was clear, hurt her friend, and so she darted after her, tears of her own forming, and, for once, left unsuppressed, though she was not with the Hatters, for Acacia was as close to family as anyone else could get, and she trusted her enough that, though it was long since instinct to hide her emotions, she would let them show.

    "And you don't?", Kiran asks softly, laughing a bit as well. "Even the ones you send my way still count, you know... I'm fairly sure Adrian is one for both of us, too, though if he's not figured it out, I think he doesn't need to know.

    More seriously, though, yes. Mouse, Lola... Christine, in some ways... Acacia, of course, and then even more recently, Nancy, to some extent. And that's just the ones I've seen in the past few days. Quite an impressive collection, when you think about it, though I suppose it says something about me that the vast majority of the people I know fit into it."

    And then the jackal yelped and whimpered, plainly in pain, likely, as Kiran knew, from one of the other members of Adrian's family, something Alan confirmed a few moments later, once he could speak again.

    "You three wouldn't happen to require Nancy's services, would you? Because I can certainly step up the schedule for my visit to be today, if you do... Or if nothing else, just send her over with Mouse, though I'd rather prefer not to do that, given that I'm not entirely sure if Nancy would count as one of my friends or not, so sending Mouse could be rather dangerous for her.

    And you know, Lola mentioned a rather interesting law that I'd forgotten about recently... Apparently, I could have chosen to have Karl put down for breaking Acacia's ribs, since she was protecting me. Seeing as you and Maxwell were certainly protecting Adrian, I wonder if it could be stretched to have his father put down? Certainly, the man deserves it, after all."

    "We'll be over in... Perhaps half an hour? Maybe a bit more, depending on how long people take to get ready. No longer than twice that, though," Kiran replied quietly, gently slipping an arm around Acacia, and massaging her shoulder with his free hand. "Normally, I'd say not to do any work until Nancy's looked at you, but considering that's also what keeps you from getting hurt worse, I'll leave that to your discretion... See you soon, Alan," he went on, hanging up the phone, and going to gently disentangle himself from Acacia, as he finished speaking, though Alan would have enough time to speak if he chose to, in which case he'd hold off on ending the call.

    "Do you want to go, love?", he inquired softly, smiling a bit, and digging through one of his desk drawers, from which, a moment later, he pulled a mid-length, heavy-bladed, knife. "I know you're not doing well, but I also know that that hasn't stopped you before, when I was going somewhere, so..."

    Sometimes, being Goddess-touched was simply a feeling of rightness. The knowledge you were correct, unmistakable for anything else. And when that happened, well, what choice did you have but to act on it?

    "Half-bloods. Like demigods, almost, only in your case it was a demon, not a deity. Is that it?", Deireadh asked softly, already knowing the true answer, whatever he said, and acting on that knowledge before he could respond. "Aideen, drop the spell, if you would. These are not enemies, unless we make them so. At least not all of them. Some of them may be, certainly, but no more than would be the case if they were full humans..."

    With that, she pulled the radio from her pocket, summoning Realtabais to her shoulder with a thought as she did, anger plain in her tone, despite her face remaining impassive, when she spoke.

    "Davey, you'd best figure out a way to stop the fight before you get me and one of them on you. These people are half-bloods, not Horrors, and half-human is enough for me to protect them from anything, including you," she snapped, before abruptly cutting off the channel, though the contact had barely ended for a second when she opened it again. "Oh, and next time, you stupid son of a hairdresser's whore, try calling one of the people who knows something about what's going on before you start shooting!"

    If Kurt hopes to unnerve Deireadh with his stare, the effort fails miserably. She simply returns it, near-black eyes, so often unsettling, locked upon his own, cold anger on her face, emotions finally let loose, now that they're alone.

    "We are not the problem for you, little fool," she says quietly, reaching out to gently lay a hand on Joan's shoulder, again, to most, an innocuous gesture, but one that her friend likely knows means that she's preparing to channel magic into her. "The ones I had to talk out killing you immediately are, but my friend is not one of those.

    Now, if you want me to be able to be able to keep those we both care about safe, tell me what you are, exactly. It's plain you're not a normal demon; you go to school, you make sure others are safe, you've not tried to kill us yet. But we see you as one, and that needs explaining, for some of us are... Rather overzealous."
    Deireadh's face twisted, becoming almost as inhuman as that of a full Horror, when Aideen said that she thought she might be partly delusional, and her fist shot forward, faster than most human eyes could follow, shadows trailing the magic-enhanced attack, aiming for the lowest of the mage's ribs, and with enough force behind it to almost certainly leave a deep bruise on the bone, if not break it.

    Should the blow hit, it's followed up with another, just as fast, and hard, trying for Aideen's right shoulder, where the collarbone attaches, which should, hopefully, at least hamper her use of it, then a grab for her throat, this time relatively gentle, so as not to do any permanent damage, though still hard enough to be painful, and should it succeed, the girl will likely be left with some rather nasty bruises on her throat.

    (If all that takes place:)

    "Never call me mad again, nathair iníon," the priestess snarled, rage and hatred, along with long-buried pain, and just a touch of fear, in her voice. "Do you understand?"


    Lilium


    I think you've had enough experience,


    To differentiate between a heart of gold,


    And what you cradle in your gentle arms;


    Can you not recognize a soul already sold?



    How do I save you from the things I've been?


    I can't deny the past, it's written on my face.


    How do I save you from the mess you're in,


    When I can't make you leave this torturous embrace?


    As Wren winced in anticipation of the impact, Lilium's hand shot out, almost too fast to to see, plucking the book from the air - or attempting to, anyway; what actually happened was that they knocked it away, sending it flying, pinwheeling across the room, cover and pages fluttering like a mad bird, from the force of the blow - even while they gently, though still unnaturally quickly, drew Wren back out of the way, just in case she had misjudged greatly enough that the mortal would still be in danger of being hurt by the heavy volume, though that unfortunately left her off-balance...

    An error, which, fortunately, Lilium soon corrected, pulling Wren back against theirself,an arm about her waist keeping her from falling forward as a result of all this being whirled about, and their body acting as a wall, of sorts, providing stability for the clumsy human.

    "You okay, dear?", they asked gently, looking down at Wren worriedly, plainly concerned for her, and reaching up with their free hand to gently part her hair, searching for any sign of an injury where the book would have struck had they not intervened. "That would be a pretty nasty thing to get hit with, after all..."

    ((Let me know if I need to change anything, of course.))


    I also did an adaptation of the song Were-Owl, by SJ Tucker, for one of my Drow characters, but again, I'm not sure if that counts or not...

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    Last edited by Lady Serpentine; 2012-12-17 at 06:31 AM.

  23. - Top - End - #833
    Troll in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    I started work, but I only got 363 words down- a pity because I was intending to fit the theme in...

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    Jackson fell in for inspection. It was currently five in the morning, and he was due to be filling out a fire team patrolling the suburbs that morning, but a surprise inspection had been announced the night before, and now the entire unit to which Jackson belonged were out on the parade ground standing ready for inspection, each of them having risen before the dawn to make sure that every aspect of their uniform and kit was in perfect order for whichever senior officer had ordered the sudden inspection. Either side of their unit, other companies fell in, similarly dressed to impress.

    Damn it all, Jackson thought to himself, this is a war zone, not a fashion show. He was pretty sure he wasn't alone in thinking something along those lines, but like the professionals that they were, neither he nor the majority of his comrades in arms let on to any thoughts of the sort as they stood to attention on the parade ground.

    Finally, with all of the companies on the army base assembled on the parade ground for inspection, with the notable exception of the company that was currently in charge of guard duty to protect the base perimeter, a small knot of senior officers strode out to take their places on the reviewing knoll, looking out over the assembled force. This must be important, Jackson told himself, after all, the base commander usually has better things to do with his time than conducting surprise inspections, and the same is also true of Colonel Martins, especially since he's the base's chief of operations.

    "Gentlemen," announced Colonel Martins, "I have an important announcement to make to each and every one of you today, an announcement which affects our missions from this point onwards. At twenty one hundred hours yesterday we received a message which our intelligence services have since confirmed, informing us that a coup d'etat took place in the capital of the Central African Empire- an armed insurrection that managed to overwhelm and utterly destroy their present leadership. The new leadership has called us to request a truce while they try to return order to the nations under their banner.
    Part of YugiohITP
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    Warning: This post may contain traces of nuts, madness and/or sarcasm, you have been warned.

  24. - Top - End - #834
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Glass Mouse's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Status!


    Glass Mouse passes with six comic character drawings.

    C'nor passes with 724 words of character motivation, 1,557 words of RPGing, and a song adaptation.

    HeadlessMermaid passes with nine photos of city sights and closeups.

    The Grimmace passes with ten poems.

    Neoriceisgood passes with six comic pages.

    Icewalker didn't upload/send me anything.

    Mercenary Pen wrote 363 words of army fiction.

    nersxe passes with 3,655 words of RPGing, including a Lieutenant and his comrade relaxing.

    KerfuffleMach2 didn't upload/send me anything.


    Thus, Icewalker, Mercenary Pen and KerfuffleMach2 FAIL this round!

    Glass Mouse, C'nor, HeadlessMermaid, the Grimmace, Neoriceisgood and nersxe PASS this round!


    Current standing:
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    Glass Mouse
    Current run: 112 weeks
    Longest run: -
    Themes: -

    C'nor
    Current run: 6 weeks
    Longest run: 1 week
    Themes: -

    HeadlessMermaid
    Current run: 3 weeks
    Longest run: 11 weeks
    Themes: -

    The Grimmace
    Current run: 1 week
    Longest run: 18 weeks
    Themes: -

    Neoriceisgood
    Current run: 16 weeks
    Longest run: 8 weeks
    Themes: -

    Icewalker
    Current run: -
    Longest run: 13 weeks
    Themes: -

    Mercenary Pen
    Current run: -
    Longest run: 5 weeks
    Themes: -

    nersxe
    Current run: 3 weeks
    Longest run: 4 weeks
    Themes: 1 week

    KerfuffleMach2
    Current run: -
    Longest run: 1 week
    Themes: -


    It's KerfuffleMach2's turn to choose a theme





    @C'nor: You've really reformed your Challenge participation, it's great to see! Go you!

    ...and everyone else, of course. That just stood out to me

    Also; if you don't feel like something fits in the theme, then it probably doesn't. At least that's what I'll go by. As I've said before, I try not to judge the grey cases.
    Last edited by Glass Mouse; 2012-12-18 at 05:45 AM.
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    Challenge badge
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    Avatar courtesy of the talented Neoriceisgood. Features Pumpkin from my webcomic.


  25. - Top - End - #835
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Posting in the thread that I'm accepting The Challenge starting this week. Looking forward to at least passing the first week.
    Thanks goes to Vampire Pumpkin for my awesome avatar!

    Formerly known as The Fiery Tower Formerly known as Catseye2121.

  26. - Top - End - #836
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Mouse, you accidentally put me in both the fail and the pass lists. :P
    Spoiler: I got a cookie!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baveboi View Post
    Nersxe gets a cookie.

    Spoiler: I write
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    The Named, a superhero webnovel where names are everything. (Updated 3/14/14)

  27. - Top - End - #837
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Glass Mouse's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Quote Originally Posted by The Fiery Tower View Post
    Posting in the thread that I'm accepting The Challenge starting this week. Looking forward to at least passing the first week.
    Sweet! Welcome to the Challenge

    And thanks for the PM. That arrangement works fine by me.

    Quote Originally Posted by nersxe View Post
    Mouse, you accidentally put me in both the fail and the pass lists. :P
    Oops, somehow I ended up with your name instead KerfuffleMach2's. No idea how that happened
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    Challenge badge
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    Avatar courtesy of the talented Neoriceisgood. Features Pumpkin from my webcomic.


  28. - Top - End - #838
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    Lady Serpentine's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    You missed the 1,036 words of stuff that I posted two posts up from my main word-dump.

    And yeah, it is rather nice to be able to actually pass this. I've had inspiration recently for some reason.

  29. - Top - End - #839
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Planetar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    I won't be uploading again until January, I'm afraid. Once I'm back and school starts up again though, I am going to attempt to get back into the swing of things.

    Not sure with what, as I'll mostly be editing my novel, but we'll see.

  30. - Top - End - #840
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    KerfuffleMach2's Avatar

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    Default Re: The CHALLENGE continues!

    Hey!

    Sorry about not being on for a while. I blame shenanigans.

    I will not be making the goal this week, but I will be good for next week.

    And since it's kind of late for a good theme...can I just pick a free theme week? That way nobody gets punished for something that's my fault?

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    You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til ya understand who's in ruttin' command here! - Jayne Cobb

    I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you. - Malcolm Reynolds

    Because I'm allergic to things I don't wanna do. *coughcough* - Caboose
    Photos from the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise.

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    I has a story! Updates when I can.
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