The CHALLENGE chugs on!

[Artman77]

Queue up the "Jaws" theme. Artman is about to strike again! I feel kinda guilty picking the theme every time, but given that we only have a week to do 6 pieces, I think we should get a theme by monday or tuesday, don't you guys?

THIS WEEKS THEME:
The Elements; metal, wood, air, water, and fire.

[Glass Mouse]

No need to feel guilty. The only reason you're able to do it is because the theme pickers choose not to do it themselves. I'd do it myself, but I have too much of an unfair advantage

Also, absolutely agreed about the soon-ness of a theme. The thread rule is that if a theme is not chosen by Wednesday, it doesn't count (ergo, no on loses their theme streak).

I like the addition of metal into the elements, btw!

[The Bandicoot]

I'd like to accept the challenge. My only question is what is your stance on photography? How many photographs would it take to count?

[Glass Mouse]

I'd like to accept the challenge. My only question is what is your stance on photography? How many photographs would it take to count?

Six photographs. They must be taken during the relevant week (as holds for all challenge pieces) and feature different subjects*, but that's pretty much it.

If those are acceptable terms, then welcome to the Challenge!


* I was halfway through writing "must satisfy an alldiff constraint" before I noticed. Exams are melting my brain. Help.

[The Bandicoot]

Alright, I'll happily start the challenge this sunday Prepare yourselves for artistic-ish photos of my day-to-day life

[LeSwordfish]

Two more novel extracts

256 Words

Spoiler

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“I don’t trust Johnny Lee.” Kessler said. Grice looked around at the grimy alleyway they were stood in.
“You couldn’t have told me this in your office?” he grunted.
“All those anti-surveillance systems in my office were installed by Johnny. He could be listening to anything we say in there.”
Grice gestured at the city around them. “You know London’s the city with the most security cameras in the world? You know that half of those cameras are ours anyway? You know that it’s raining out here and the coffee machine’s inside?”
Kessler took a deep breath. "I think Johnny's out to get me."

Grice didn't respond for a second, and Kessler thought for a moment that he'd truly surprised him. Then: "And?"
"And what?"
"And... You were done?"
"Yes!" Kessler was indignant.
"Oh?" Grice said simply. "Johnny-boy's basically been out to get you from day one, and not long ago you banged his head against a wall. I was expecting you to have some more information, to be honest."
Kessler wasn't sure where to go with this. "Johnny's been out to get me since day one?"
"Give or take. He's a good bloke, though, so it's been on the backburner now times are tough."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Grice shrugged. "Thought you knew."
Kessler put that aside, with some effort. "Okay, well, I did not. Moving on from that, if it was backburner then it bloody isn't now. You know what powers we gave him? Enough to bring this company down around our ears!

1295 Words

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There was a pause. Cora was to the side of Mathilde and Johnny, so she didn’t see the full force of the look Mathilde gave, but the effect on the rangy businessman was strong: he practically gulped, and managed to look a little aroused at the same time. Cora was reminded of Adam and Jessie.
“I never said I wouldn’t, just…”
“So you’re still in?” Mathilde augmented her look with a quirk of the eyebrow.
“Yes, yes i’m still in, it’s just…”
“Good.”
Mathilde turned away from him and took a sip of her tea.

Zero minutes to go. The lobby of Kessler Towers was lit up, and visibly nearly empty. A receptionist was cleaning his nails at the desk, while three members of the security team were chatting around a water cooler.
“External cameras?” Gideon asked.
“Looped.” Lee responded.
“Alarm?”
“Two-minute disconnect. If you’re going, go now.”
“We, mister lee, We’re going. Cora, Sho, Mathilde, with me- Adam, Jessie, stay with mister Lee.
Gideon jogged forward, out of the alley they’d been waiting in, and the three he’d chosen followed. They crossed the road and headed up the low stairs to the door. Cora’s heart was pounding in her chest, and old training was running through her mind like a ticker-tape - too fast to pick out anything specific, but a vague confusion of forms, falls, and strikes.
If I stop running now - if I turn, and leave, the station is right there - this ends. They can’t do this without me.
It was the only sensible thing to do.
She didn’t do it though, instead following Gideon and Sho across the road. Inside, the guards seemed to be moving, heading towards the door. The receptionist had picked up a phone.
“Mathilde, the alarm.” Gideon said, and they’d hit the door and it all started.
The door was open and gideon moved straight through and into the first of the security team, bringing his hand around in a vicious chop to the man’s unarmoured neck that sent him spiralling aside in pain. Mathilde ducked around the grab of the second man and dived for the receptionist - Sho moved in behind her, and threw a punch that narrowly missed her assailants head.
Gideon was a whirl of motion- planting a foot in the crotch of his downed first foe, before twisting to deliver a pair of crossed blows to the other. He ducked an attempted grab, and as the man went for a taser kicked it away and out of his hand, before unleashing another flurry of blows. The final was a vicious kick to the stomach, which even through the body armour knocked him onto his back. Two of the guards were down and Sho was ducking away from a third - Gideon turned to him and grappled him from behind before twisting his arm out - there was a crunch, and a howl of pain, and the guard dropped- a surgical kick to the side of the head and he was out cold.
There was an ugly mechanical click. Mathilde was crouched on the desk, the muzzle of her pistol aimed at the head of the receptionist. Cora’s heart stopped for a second.
Mathilde nodded at the phone. “The alarm’s cut. Why don’t you drop it, and we dont need to get angry?”
Carefully, the receptionist complied.
“Alright.” Gideon said, looking down at the three injured guards and nodding, satisfied with the evening’s work so far. “Let’s bring the others in.”

Gideon briskly bound and gagged the guards and receptionist, before locking them in a broom cupboard. Mathilda spoke to him in a low voice for a moment, before moving forward into the rest of the building as Adam, Jessie, and Lee crossed into the lobby behind them. Lee immediately ran over to the receptionist's computer and began rattling at the keys, while Adam looked around in polite amazement. It was, save the blood on the floor, an impressive place- brushed wood and brass fittings, with something of the feeling of a Manor House. The red stag logo of Kessler Securities hung on the wall, glowering down at them as if it disapproved. Cora was a little reminded of the public spaces of the museum.
"For such a shiny building on the outside, they're trying to feel different in here, aren't they?" Adam asked quietly. Behind him, Jessie was rummaging in her satchel.
"Kessler was very big on the mood." Lee said, "He said all we needed was our red stag and the same mood, and we'd bestride the sodding world."
"How'd tha work out?" Jessie asked.
"I'm robbing my own company to make rent. Guess."
Gideon returned from the cupboard, and scowled as soon as he saw Jessie. "What are you doing? I didn't tell you to bring that."
"This?" Jessie held up the object in her hands, and Cora saw that it was Viper, a fresh magazine loaded.
"Yes, that. I don't want a firearm that can't be concealed. What if someone saw you with it?"
"It was in my bag a minute ago." Jessie shrugged. "Tell yeh the truth I forgot to take it out. Haven't emptied my bag since 'fore we got the Deadeyes."
Gideon scowled. "Well, leave it behind the counter. If there's a genuine firefight, a weapon that... vulgar marks you as a target."
Jessie counter-scowled, but did as she was told, unshipping the strap and tucking the gun into the space below the desk, out of sight from the window. Lee tutted as she moved him aside.
"We're as in to the security system as I can get us without Kessler's access." he said. "And the cameras are showing no other security on the ground floor."
"None that I can find, either." Mathilde announced, returning. "We might be good here."
"I love it when a plan comes together." Gideon said mildly. “Is everyone aware of the next stage?”
He pointed at Adam, who looked briefly hunted before replying “The master console.”
He pointed at Jessie “The failsafe in the basement.”
And at Cora “With me to the office.”
He adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “I’ll prepare the climbing equipment. We’re moving from a balcony on the third floor. I’ll meet you there.”
Mathilde seemed to be talking to Lee, so for a moment the students were left alone.
“So.” Adam said, and stopped.
“Yeah.” Sho said. He didn’t seem lost for words often, but he was now, and massaging the bruised knuckles on his right hand. “Here we go.”
“Aye.” Jessie said. “Couple more hours an’ we can live in glory.”
“Or die in pretty much the least glorious way possible.” Cora said. “You just have to use the computers. I’m going to climb the building.”
“With Gideon.” Sho pointed out. “Dude knows what he’s doing.”
“Hmm.” Cora said, but didn’t say “that’s what i’m worried about,” which she wanted to.
“I’ll see you afterwards, right?” Sho said. “First thing i’m going to buy is… an island. A small one, as practice for owning a big one.”
Jessie snorted. “Dream on, Tanaka. I’m buying some robots.”
Sho ignored her, and gave Cora a hug. “It’ll be great. You’ll see.”
Cora made herself hug him back. “I hope so.”
“Soppy goodbye kiss?” Jessie asked adam.
“Only if I also get a “We’re totally going to own this” butt-grab.”
“Aye, take two.”
Cora politely averted her head from that scene and squeezed Sho further. There was a moment of companionship, of the sort she remembered from a long time ago, and then they broke apart.
“Ready to go?” Mathilde asked, returning to the group with Lee in tow, laptop under his arm.
“Aye, but one thing.” Jessie reached round behind Adam. “Freebie. Alright, i’m ready.”

[Artman77]

Linkage:
comic
fire
water
metal and air
wood
planetscape 1
planetscape 2

Out of curiosity, would the comic actually count as two? One for the main character and one for the water character?

[Artman77]

and...

THIS WEEK'S THEME: Film Noir

I picked this one because it doesn't just apply to the visual art, but to writing as well. The Film Noir style of speech is some of the coolest dialogue out there... it's like a kind of free form poetry almost.

[Glass Mouse]

Status for the week of May 4 - May 10!


Glass Mouse passes with a Genre Unsavvy comic strip, a silver wedding shield, and an OC meme.

Lycunadari passes with an ace day selfie, two characters, and four flower pictures.

Allan Dotson passes with a Critters page, a ninja monkey, an ogre child-thief, a ratperson, a… dragon-riding sci-fi unicorn, a wingfolk with her pet wolf, and an electrically-powered cyborg.

Cuthalion didn’t upload/send me anything.

Artman77 passes with a water elemental comic, five elementals (fire, water, metal, air and metal), and two planetscapes.

redfeatherraven didn’t upload/send me anything (again).

LeSwordfish passes with 256 + 1295 words of novel extracts.


Thus, redfeatherraven and Cuthalion FAIL this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, Allan Dotson, Artman77 and LeSwordfish PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

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Glass Mouse
Current run: 237 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 4 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 123 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 36 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Cuthalion
Current run: -
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Artman77
Current run: 4 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 4 weeks

redfeatherraven
Current run: -
Longest run: 4 weeks
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: 2 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme (May 11 - May 17), chosen by Artman77, is Film Noir.

Next week's theme is chosen by redfeatherraven - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

Oh, hey, remember me? I said some ridiculously long time ago that I'd like to accept the challenge, and never got around to it. Well, now I am, if you don't mind! Maybe I'll actually be able to get something done.

Better late than never. Welcome!

Out of curiosity, would the comic actually count as two? One for the main character and one for the water character?

Personally I tend to count each comic panel as one piece, but that’s me. You could make the argument that every distinct character drawing counts as one piece (so that would be… four? here).

Also, gotta respect that fact that you filled the entire Challenge quota with (beautiful) theme pieces. That’s hardcore!

[Cuthalion]

Aaaagh give me a minuteeeee

On that note I may be making tons and tons of drawings. I've been counting each sheet of four torso studies as one.

EDIT: Check again for all.

[redfeatherraven]

Bah. This one was on me again. I keep thinking I'll have time for it during work, but something always seems to come up at the last minute. Going forward I'll ensure I needn't rely on it (though I'll take it as it comes regardless).

I have time to work on this week's submissions right now, in fact, so I'll get cracking. I'll update this post with the results.

[LeSwordfish]

1547 more words from four different scenes! I admit, i'm kind of ignoring theme.

Spoiler

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It was him! Kessler would recognise that haircut anywhere. He seemed to be talking intently to the woman next to him as they hurried along the corridor - one of her hands on his arm, she seemed to be dragging him more than anything. Large as life and twice as bastard, Johnny Lee.
Kessler made some mental calculations. They would reach the elevator in maybe thirty seconds... Would they have to wait for it? Maybe two minutes before they got down to the lobby.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and speed-dialled Grice. The gruff voice answered instantly. "Talk to me."
"Harry! He's here!"
"Eh?"
"Johnny! He's here at Kessler Towers. Looks as if there's people with him too! I think he's breaking in!"
"Arse." Grice was emphatic. "****ting arse. What are they doing?"
"Heading down to the lobby now. They're in a hurry."
"Right, okay." A pause- perhaps he was thinking, or talking to his 'business partners'. "Okay. I'll be over now. Has the failsafe triggered?"
"How would I know? All I've got is cameras."
"Okay, fine. Try to... Bloody stall them, or something."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Kessler's voice had been rising sharply in pitch throughout the conversation - it was something around the level of Minnie Mouse. "How do I sodding stall them?"
"Think of something!" Grice roared. "If I'm there, I can clear this whole mess up, but if they get away this whole company is finished and we both go to jail. So use your goddamn mind Stevie-" from the sound of his breath he was running now "-this is do or goddamn die and if you don't earn your salary in the next five minutes? You never do again."
He hung up abruptly. Kessler was holding the phone in a iron grip-he forced himself to let it go. It fell to the ground with a clatter.
Stall them. Right. They were in the lift- less than a minute left. Could he talk to them? Nope, what could he say? Could he stop them with force? The idea was laughable, though he didn't laugh. Maybe he could find a weapon?
Where would a weapon be? The guards had them. Where are the guards? Okay, where else would a weapon be?
Frantic, flailing, he looked under the desk, and was struck dumb for a few seconds by what he found.
It was a weapon. A bulky sub-machine gun, with an oversized clip and matte-black finish. He pulled it out- it was lighter than he expected- and turned it around until he realised there wasn't a safety catch to take off. It's side had a pattern of green snakes twisting along it and, picked out on the stock in gold, a single word - Viper.
Despite himself, Kessler smiled.

---

The lift door pinged open, and Kessler lifted himself out of his makeshift cover- he was crouched on the other side of the receptionist's desk. He aimed the weapon as best he could- it was longer range than it was really designed for- and fired a short burst of shots as Lee emerged from it. The gun was silenced, it seemed, because it made only a small sound, a chunk-chunk-chunk. Three shots arced down towards the elevator though, and Lee, who had been emerging at a run, yelped and dived to avoid them. Kessler laughed out loud- it was tremendously satisfying to see the poncy sunglasses slip from his CIO's face as the man scrabbled like a rabbit back into the lift, swearing at the top of his voice.
“Hey Johnny!” he shouted, firing another pair of shots. “You’re ****ing fired!”
“You can’t fire me!” the shout came back, Lee leaning out of cover with fury on his face. “I quit!”
Lee was immediately pulled back into cover, and Kessler paused in his shooting. From the sound of things, there was a vicious argument going on inside the lift, with the phrase that reached him being “Keep your goddamn head DOWN.”
“Hey Johnny!” he shouted again, rising above the desk to see if there would be a reaction. “I refuse to accept your resignation, because you’re ****ing -JESUS.”
The woman he’d seen on the camera with Lee had leaned very slightly out of cover and fired a quick snapped shot with her pistol. The boom of the shot sounded terrifyingly forceful next to his own rattling gun. It missed Kessler’s head by inches and blew the monitor on the desk next to him into fragments. He felt shattered glass and plastic stab him in the sides, and dived down into cover again with an unmanly shriek.
Okay. Okay. So, their gun was bigger than his. He didn’t lift above the desk again, but raised his pistol over the surface and fired a few poorly-aimed shots. In return, a hole the size of a fist was punched through the wood next to him by another shot.
“Stall them somehow.” he said to himself, moving sideways in case of another round. “Thanks, Harry.”

---

"I've never pretended to know much about our computers." Grice said thoughtfully, "so I'll take your word for it. If that's what you're worried about... Well, i wouldn't disagree."
"We can't... vanish him? Like Bryson?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. You'll find no records of any suspicion in mister Bryson's death." Grice gave Kessler a hard look. "Besides, you didn't seem too keen on that when it happened before."
"Yes, but with Johnny he's-" really annoying -"a bigger threat."
Trice shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't know. Nothing you can do to him while he's the big man in the computer systems. If he goes, the company goes. If he dies, the company dies. If he happens to have a nasty accident with a dark night and a malfunctioning car crusher, the company..."
"Okay, okay." Kessler thought. "So we take away his computer access, and then we can... downsize him."
"We can't fire him, he'll just go to the police."
"No, I meant, like in the car crusher."
"What?"
"Downsize, as in make smaller?"
Grice raised an eyebrow.
"I was saying we should kill him. It was meant to sound menacing."
"Oh." Another shrug. "It didn't, really. Just sounded like you were talking ****e."
Kessler grunted in frustration. "Why doesn't anyone respect me any more? I'm in charge of a Fortune 500 company for gods sake, and..."
"Yeah it's a mark of skill as a man-manager that you need to bump people off to escape bankruptcy. We don't have the budget for respect Stevie, and we don't have the time to sound menacing."
Kessler opened his mouth.
"Also you ain't very good at it."
Kessler closed his mouth. Grice had the decency to look apologetic. "Look Stevie, I'll kiss your boots if you want if we get out of this. For now... It ain't the worst idea."
"We'll have to do it when he isn't logged in. Overnight. I left a loophole in the system so I can retract his access -I'll take him out of the system, and you take him out."
"Yeah." Grice said carefully. "Yeah, that'd work. Also, nice take me out parallel. Much more subtle. When'll we be doing this?"
"Tomorrow night, the eighth. Can you have everything ready by then?"
"Would've thought so." Grice said. "I'll take Riggsy and Pucker, lead'em myself. You get him out of the systems, I'll go ter his apartment and... downsize him."
It sounded much better when he said it.

---

Two more rounds had blasted sections out of the desk, and Kessler was starting to feel rather more suppressed than suppressing. Whoever was in the lift, however, was clearly sufficiently unnerved by his occasional returned fire that they weren’t charging out of cover, instead happy to shoot until he was dead. This was, on reflection, not at all a comforting thought. Aside from moving sideways and the occasional pot shot, there didn’t seem to be anything he could do to stop this happening. A part of him was horrified that if he died here he would lose this company, this glorious thing he had spent his life building - this was shouted down by the rest of him, which was more concerned that if he died here he would be dead.
Even so, he couldn’t resist one last taunt.
“Hey Johnny! If you wanted to rob this company blind why not do it like everyone else, by doing deliberately ****ty work? Though if you were, how’d we tell?”
“I poured my heart into this company!” Lee shouted back.
“Yeah, well, you should have put your brains into it too!”
Inside the Elevator, Lee turned to Mathilde and tutted. “That is so like him.”
“If you know him so well, can you tell me where he’s hiding?” Mathilde was in no mood for trading insults. She checked the time since the failsafe had been activated - five minutes, nearly. The police would be there in seconds. “We need to go now, but whatever he’s firing at us will go straight through us. It’s silenced, but that’s still a massive calibre.”
“Can we make a run for it?” Lee asked. He seemed snappy and edgy, and Mathilde felt that was an entirely unfair underreaction to the situation.

Takes me to a total of 66k words for this novel - I wonder if I can hit 70,000 over the next weekend.

[Artman77]

My work for the week.

[Cuthalion]

This next week's will have a slight delay as well, perhaps a day, because of unfortunate circumstances. I've already done over six, though, so fret not.

[Glass Mouse]

Hooray, I found a quiet corner of internet! Status for the week of May 11 - May 17 incoming.


Glass Mouse passes with a Genre Unsavvy comic strip, a classic noir scene, and ~240 city photos (not yet uploaded due to technical issues)

Lycunadari passes with ten pretty flower photos.

Allan Dotson passes with a Critters page, a handsome barbarian, a gnome superhero, a buncha cake orcs, a mutant medic, a mousy swashbuckler, the amazing polarbearman, and a dwarven barbarian.

Cuthalion will upload this week's works later this week.

Artman77 passes with a noir detective, three skullsy paintings, a noir comic, and a logo.

redfeatherraven didn’t upload/send me anything due to work.

LeSwordfish passes with 1547 words of novel scenes.


Thus, redfeatherraven FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, Allan Dotson, Artman77 and LeSwordfish PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

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Glass Mouse
Current run: 238 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 5 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 124 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 37 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Cuthalion
Current run: 8 weeks (pending: 1)
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Artman77
Current run: 5 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 5 weeks

redfeatherraven
Current run: -
Longest run: 4 weeks
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: 3 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme (May 18 - May 24) has not been chosen yet, so it is up for grabs.

Next week's theme is chosen by LeSwordfish - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

1547 more words from four different scenes! I admit, i'm kind of ignoring theme.
[snip]
Takes me to a total of 66k words for this novel - I wonder if I can hit 70,000 over the next weekend.

You can do iiiit

[LeSwordfish]

Oh, gee, uh, I have no idea what to put for a theme. I've only seen a couple so far- why doesn't someone else choose one now and i'll take my turn next time it comes around.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Sorry guys, I was hoping to get the whole video a week going sooner rather than later, but unfortunately my computer took a turn for the worse. Luckily I seemed to have fixed all the issues, and updated to a newer system to boot! So, hopefully, everything is fine now...and I can begin editing and posting.

[Artman77]

Theme: Fantasy

@Glass Mouse; I'm looking forward to checking out that Noir scene!

[Cuthalion]

Glassy, the two most recent ones are from this week (trees and neighborhood).

[LeSwordfish]

I didn't hit the 70k - might try for some more on the bank holiday - but I did exceed this week's target with 2192 words! This is scattered scenes from a big climax so dont expect them to make much sense to read.

Spoiler

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The basement of Kessler Towers was a lot less neat than the rest of it. Mathilde borrowed Lee’s keycard to get them through an anonymous side door, and then lead them down the staircase behind it. Jessie pulled her phone from her bag and used it as a torch- even with the lights on, this area seemed dim and oily.
“Jesus,” she said, for something to say, “there ain’t much behind the shiny face, right?”
“Not at all. But he’s not so bad.”
“What?”
Mathilde turned back with a twinkle in her eye. “You weren’t talking about Johnny Lee?”
Jessie laughed hollowly. “Aye. Hilarious.”
Mathilde smiled and turned to continue down the stairs. “You’ll have to find a way to keep your sense of humor, Jessie. Tension is a real killer.”
“So are police gunmen.”
“Leave them for me. As a general rule, though, I prefer my team to not be jumpy and irritable on a job. Smooth, professional, and calm.”
The bottom of the stairs was a T-Junction of corridors, seemingly made of painted cinderblocks. Mathilde took a second to familiarise herself with the arrows painted on the wall, touching them gently as if in thought, and turned left. One hand stayed out to trace along the blue stripe delicately, absent-mindedly, as she paced the corridor. Jessie double-timed for a second, and fell into step next to her.
“Yeh know where we’re going?”
“I do, but it never hurts to be sure.”
The end of the corridor was an underground car park, almost empty at this time. Mathilde paused here and did a quick count of the cars.
“Nobody we were expecting to be here that isn’t. That seems good to me.”
“Yeh know how everyone gets here?”
“Within reasonable error, sure. If there were half-a-dozen more cars we’d be asking who owned them and where in the building they were.”
“So everything’s fine.”
“Everything’s fine. Again, Jessie, you’ll need to calm down. Don’t have a barney, or whatever young people say.”
“Well, they dinnae say
.”
Mathilde shrugged and began crossing the car park to an equally innocuous door on the other side. “Whatever the phrasing is. Can I be honest with you, Jessie?”
“I hope yeh’ve been honest so far, like.”
“This is an audition, as much as anything else. Do well, and we’ll be very interested in working with you in future. Be jumpy, be on edge, and we’ll thank you politely, pay you handsomely, and head our seperate ways.”
Jessie stopped in her tracks. “Fer real?”
“Really. Gideon’s very keen on recruiting new talent.” She stopped and turned to Jessie. “Your team is exactly what we’re looking for - you in particular. Myself and Gideon both have certain mechanical skills, but we’re very keen on getting some in-house expertise.”
“No ****?” Jessie resisted the urge to beam. “I hope I dinnae let yeh down, aye?”
Mathilde’s smile was slightly brittle. “If you let us down, this whole thing falls apart. If you impress us,
what we want to see.”
“Well then.” Jessie lifted her head proudly. “Let’s get impressive.”
She overtook Mathilde and strode onwards towards their exit.
The security office was low-ceilinged and dingy, with a rack of computers along each wall. A musty smell came from the locker room next door, but Jessie ignored it, in favour of the metal cage at the other end of the room.
“That’s the failsafe in there?” she asked.
“Sure. Remember, this one is just meant to be opened by whoever on the security team is in the office at the time.”
The far end of the room was closed off by a sheet of metal bars, part of which was a door. It reminded jessie of the cells in american TV shows, right down to the hefty lock on the door. Instead of the mandatory low bed and tally-mark scratches on the wall, the only object in there was a knife-switch, set into the wall with a tangle of wires leading away from it.
“That’s really it?”
“The user interface isn’t very impressive, no, but it doesn’t need to be. Hold down the switch to stop the failsafe from going off, release it when we’re done.”
Jessie studied it critically, and shrugged. “We’ll need to get through the lock first - I can pick it.”
“No need.” Mathilde held up a chunky silver key. “Lee provided us with this.”
Jessie had swung her bag off her bag to root through it - disappointed, she rested it on the desk. “Do you want to do it, or shall I?”
Mathilde unlocked the gate and opened it grandly. “You go. Your moment, after all.”
Jessie entered the cage, and rested one hand gently on the switch. “Whenever we’re ready?”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“Ach, Ah were born ready.” She pulled the switch down and held it in place.
Mathilde clicked her radio. “We’re ready when you are.”

A quarter-kilometer up from the ground, Cora allowed herself a grunt of irritation.
“Should I take that as you not being ready?” Mathilde’s voice said in her earpiece.
“Not quite yet my dear.” In the earpiece, Gideon was crystal clear, but outside, over the howl of the wind, she couldn’t hear him at all. She laboriously peeled one of the pads off the wall and slapped it down again, as far up as she could reach.
Mathilde looked at the timer, and then up at Jessie. She smiled, and a shiver ran down Jessie’s spine as she saw the sadness in it.
“I was hoping this wouldn’t need to happen, Jessie.”
“No. No. Yeh dinnae bastard dare…”
“...But, we needed an end put to this.”
“No, no-”
Jessie threw herself toward the door.
The Timer hit zero.
Mathilde released the button.
The Failsafe went off.

Lee stepped smartly backwards out of the safe as the timer stepped down. Sho looked from him, to the timer, to the door, and swore.
“You bastard-”
The failsafe went off.
The noise was horrendous, a dozen shrieking alarms, a blaze of warning lights. Adam was nearly dropped to his knees by the shock of it, and Sho staggered. Lee was dazed, but turned and ran- towards the end of the corridor, away from them. He glanced back, briefly, furnished them with a smile of infinite smugness, and left.
The door was closing.
It was already too narrow a gap for SHo to fit through by the time he’d reached it, and he had no desire to be crushed by six inches of solid steel. Instead he threw himself against the handle, hoping to force it open by sheer strength. It pushed him across the floor like a man with a mop.
With a solid thoom, the door closed. Clearly the alarms were on the outside, because it was suddenly deathly, oddly, silent.
Adam collapsed backwards onto the floor and against the wall. Sho slumped against the door.
“****,” he said, in a small voice.

The timer reached zero.
The failsafe triggered.
Cora heard the alarms and whirled, twisting easily into a fighting stance. Whatever move Gideon made, she would be ready-
-but he had pulled a shotgun from his pack and was pointing it directly at her. He didn’t even seem to be paying much attention as he cocked it, his head turned to watch the screens.
“It’s done. The Gentleman caller is deployed.”
Cora’s eyes flicked to the exits- the open window, the sealed door. Gideon smiled at the screens- perhaps the most genuine emotion she’d ever seen from the man, a smile of pride and relief that was almost childlike- and then turned to her. His face was hard now, and his voice tinged with regret.
“As such, my dear, I’m afraid i’m now going to have to kill you.”



“You go first. I think it’s you he wants to kill.”
Lee spluttered a bit. “You’re the professional killer. I work in IT. You go first.”
“Professional thief.” She leaned out and fired another shot. “Any killing is on a strictly amateur basis.”
“Well how many times have you been shot at? Because for me it’s basically zero.”
“Oh do shut up.” Mathilde moaned. “Hold on- quiet.”
“What?” Lee scowled as Mathilde cocked her head to listen. “What?”
“Shut up, shut up - thats definitely it.”
“Definitely what?”
“Police sirens.”
“So? What’s- oh.”
Mathilde rolled her eyes. “Exactly.”
“What do we do? Do we rush him?”
Mathilde leaned a little bit out, and a shot slipped past her ear. “Nope.”
“Then what?”
She moved back into the cover completely. “Be quiet, let me think.”
Lee managed to be quiet for five whole seconds, before starting. “Maybe we can-”
“No. I have a better idea.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Mathilde straightened, switched her gun in her hand, and then struck like a snake. The solid metal hit Lee like a hammer to the centre of the forehead with a vicious crack of bone. His eyes crossed instantly, and he weaved on his feet.
“I won’t miss you, Johnny.” Mathilde said sourly, and kicked him in the stomach. Lee fell backward- out of the lift, and directly into the line of fire. He landed on his face, and didn’t rise.
Mathilde hit the button on the lift and let it carry her up and away.

The sirens were getting louder and louder now, and Kessler was in a full panic state.
His heart was pounding in his ears, and his hands were sweaty on the gun’s barrel. The sound of the sirens filled his ears, filled this whole area of the world. He couldn’t really tell whether they were truly that loud, or whether they were all in his head. Perhaps he was going mad.
Grice wasn’t coming, that much was clear, but at least the shooting had stopped. Five minutes ago that would have been all that Kessler would have wanted in the world, but now he had loftier ambitions, like not spending the rest of his life with a roommate called Slasher. He still dared to peek over the desk, though.
The lift door was closed. Johnny lay face-down on the floor in a pool of blood.
Oh my god, I killed Johnny.
****.
Oh… ****.
Cover forgotten, the gun dropped, he scrambled around the edge of the desk and walked over to the body. His heart was roaring now, and clearly the sirens weren’t that loud because his footsteps on the ground were drowning them out no matter how slow he went.
He stood over his CIO - the corpse of his CIO - and remembered the times that he had gleefully imagined choking the life out of the man, with an appreciative crowd around them. It seemed sharply less funny now. He didn’t want to turn the man over and see the hole in his face that could have caused the pool of blood around his head.
Red and blue, flashing on the walls, drew him back to his situation, and he turned blearily to see the police vans pulling up outside, the officers deploying, the stabbing beams of torches through the glass. Someone was saying something through a megaphone, something important-sounding like “put your hands up” or “you’re under arrest”. The meaning was unmistakable, anyway.
Slowly he began to walk back towards the window. There was no way out of this one: no way they wouldn’t have covered all the exits, no way they wouldn’t chase him if he ran. Look forward to cold showers, Steven, because where you’re going they’ve cutback the hot water.
His brain acting on autopilot, he bent and scooped up the gun. It sat comfortably in his hands- he’d always imagined guns like this as being heavier, remembered the few times he’d been hands-on with Kessler Securities Lethal Deterrent technologies. Of course the criminals were ahead of the times, that was only to be expected. As he picked the gun up, there was a definite tension outside, a raising of weapons, a certain attempt on the part of the police to be behind each other. The voice in the megaphone was far louder and more urgent now.
“Oh, shut up,” he said to it.
He reached the doors and pushed them open. The sound and the flashing light washed over him, dazzling and blinding him, as effective as a Kessler Securities Sound/Light Nonlethal Deterrent Flashbang. He raised one hand to block his eyes from the light - they even had a helicopter, was that really necessary? - but couldn’t help feeling that something was required of him, like he’d been pushed onto a stage.
“I’m not going to jail,” he said matter-of-factly, and brought Viper up. The megaphone screamed, the lights flashed, and he pressed the barrel of the gun to the underside of his chin and pulled the trigger.
A single brightly-colored foam pellet hit him hard in the jaw and dropped to the ground. It rolled away, and the eyes of thirty members of the metropolitan police followed it.
“Ow,” Kessler said, because it had really hurt, and then started to laugh, only stopping when he was tackled so hard the wind was driven clean out of him.

[Artman77]

skull
skull plus paint pen
portrait
noir 2 - Hercules
noir 3
final fantasy characters

I didn't finish my dnd-type characters done (so cliché that I would nail this week's theme to the wall!) but I got a Hercules and a few FF14 characters in, so I'll have to call it good enough.

[The Walrus]

This looks like it could be fun to try. My submission for this week is 1,958 words of a novel I'm writing, found here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...3#post19303383.

[Artman77]

Anyone hear from Glass Mouse?

[Glass Mouse]

Eep! I am so so so SO sorry, guys. I have no excuse, I just… forgot. Between exams and no sleeping and two birthday parties, somehow I managed to check the thread, then forget about it. Doesn’t help that I barely use the playground for non-Challenge things anymore. Thank you very much, Artman, for bumping the thread and reminding me.

So, while there’s still time, status for the week May 18 - 24!


Glass Mouse passes with a Genre Unsavvy comic strip, a fantasy-setting RP character, and ~250 nature photos.

Lycunadari passes with an OC elf portrait, four flower photos, and an armful of bird drawings.

Allan Dotson passes with a Critters page, a comic creator, a cyborg zombie, a cyborg ape, a bioroid cop, a unicorn-riding robot, and a frogman.

Cuthalion passes with a sheetful of trees, a sheetful of neighbourhood, a torso, a sheetful of hands, and an ara bust portrait.

Artman77 passes with two skull paintings, a portrait, two times noir musclemen, and a sheet of Final Fantasy characters.

redfeatherraven didn’t upload/send me anything (again).

LeSwordfish passes with 2,192 words of novel climax.

The Walrus passes with 1,958 words of a comedic drow novel.


Thus, redfeatherraven FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, Allan Dotson, Cuthalion, Artman77, LeSwordfish and The Walrus PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 239 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 6 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 125 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 1 week

Allan Dotson
Current run: 38 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 1 week

Cuthalion
Current run: 10 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Artman77
Current run: 6 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 6 weeks

redfeatherraven
Current run: -
Longest run: 4 weeks
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: 4 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

The Walrus
Current run: 1 week
Longest run: -
Themes: 1 week

This week's theme (May 25 - May 31) has not been chosen yet, and since it is so late in the week, no one will lose their theme streak for not following whichever theme might be announced in the next few days (though it could still be fun to have one, and theme-followers will still get their +1).

Next week's theme is chosen by The Walrus - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.






Also, hi and welcome, Walrus! ‘Grats on passing your first week

[Artman77]

Theme: People

[LeSwordfish]

Six jetbikes - with tchnically-people riding them.

[The Walrus]

I haven't finished chapter two of Drow Employee of the Month yet, but I'll post the 1,567 words I've completed so far here:

Spoiler: Chapter Two, Incomplete

Show

S examined his possessions, spread out on his cot in the house Rilynduis barracks. There weren’t many of them. A good portion of S’ wealth had consisted of various weaponry in the form of daggers, cudgels, brass knuckles, truncheons, and darts, most of which he carried on his person at any given time. When he was brought to see Director Lael earlier, a large chunk of this collection had been confiscated, and S had found no luck in getting any of it back. Was this sort of situation why bankers always talked about “diversifying your investments?” Sighing, S shoved everything that couldn’t easily be worn into a large sack, and had to content himself with carrying only enough weapons to arm five or six people.

News had spread quickly, and S had to endure pitying or smug looks from many of his co-workers before escaping the large castle serving as Rilynduis’ headquarters. After he got out, S’ pace slowed considerably. He was in no hurry to get to his new job, and he didn’t yet know how he was going to get there. According to the papers Lael had given him, house Deltyn was located in the city of Temallovallet, at least sixty leagues from his current location. A short enough journey for the surface world, but the Underdark was a different matter. S had gone on patrols into the wilds separating the few civilized regions before, but always with at least ten or eleven fellow guards. Such patrols were not without danger, but S happened to know from experience that no monster could eat more than two, at most three drow at once before getting sick. He also happened to know that there were certain spices and powders, readily concealable within the folds of someone else’s uniform, that were indetectable to elvish olfaction but which made their bearers priority targets for monsters.

At last, the great steel gate of the city S had been living in for the past twenty two years eventually came into view in spite of S’ tepid pace. Taljss, a soldier of house Rilynduis who seemed to get assigned the cushy job of gate duty suspiciously often in S’ mind, greeted him as he drew near.

“Hallo, S! Come to take a break from your rigorous schedule of protecting furniture from the forces of evil? Better not tarry too long, I think I can hear a futon crying out in distress!” Taljss grinned warmly enough that S almost believed her mocking was good-natured.

“Please spare me the sarcasm. I only once told you I thought gate duty to be a job trifling enough for a baby gnome, and I only once was assigned to guard a chair. And that turned out to be a far harder task than you might expect!”

“Oh, really? You’ll have to tell me all about it, then!”

“Well, I - erm, actually…” S mumbled. “You don’t really need to hear it. No, you can hardly afford distraction from such an arduous job as gate duty.”

“So, chair-guarding turned out to be completely boring after all,” Taljss said, paying no attention to the metal structure behind her. The major disadvantage of her constant postings to the cities’ various entranceways was decreased access to the gossip flowing through the main buildings of the noble houses.

“Yes. Exactly. Nothing interesting whatsoever happened that night.” S stared through the steel bars of the gate at the broad tunnel stretching away from the city. The first side passage opened up not two hundred feet past the gate, and many others branched off not further down. In S’ mind, any one of them could have been concealing a bandit or monster eagerly waiting to jump out upon a drow stupid enough to try to leave the city alone. “Well, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you, but I have business in the city of Temallovallet, and need to be going now.”

“Temallovallet! You’re kidding me again, aren’t you?” Nevertheless, Taljss signaled to someone in a tower flanking the gate, and shortly thereafter its steel grates squeaked to the side just enough for a single drow to slip out. S moved a few feet closer to the gate, then stopped. In his single good ear, he thought he could hear the not so far away buzzing of a snatcher fly, and for a second his eye glimpsed what might have been the tip of an iron blade glinting in the mold-light, poking out from behind that first side passage.

“Um, you wouldn’t happen to know of any caravans or large parties heading towards Temallovallet anytime soon, would you?” asked S, unmoving.

Taljss laughed. “What’s this? The great S, hero of sofas and footrests, is afraid of venturing out alone?”

“What? Afraid? Certainly not! No, I just realized that if went by myself, my great skill would protect only me, whereas if I joined a larger band, I might protect ten or twenty people from harm! Preferably twenty, actually. Maybe thirty or more if you know of any groups that large.”

“Now, now, S, there’s no need to feel you have to defend your courage. Trust me, everyone in Rilynduis knows exactly how brave you really are.” Taljss signaled again, and the gate became closed once more. “As to your question, I do believe there is a religious pilgrimage of sorts heading south, passing close to Temallovallet at one point. Not sure what exactly they’re pilgrammaging for, but you can talk to priestess Minroos of the public temple if you think you can persuade her to let an uncouth heathen in at the last moment.”

“Who wouldn’t want to have as capable a guardsdrow as S join their party? It’ll be no problem,” said S, already striding off towards the cities’ sole publicly available temple to Lolth. Unlike the luxurious prayer halls of some of the larger houses, the institution was small and cramped, especially with all the crates of supplies and scurrying workers which now filled it to near bursting. Draught lizards were parked all around the building, attached to wagons were being filled with various goods and foodstuffs. It didn’t take long for S to find who he assumed to be priestess Minroos, a short bespectacled figure frantically flipping through papers on a clipboard and calling out helpful suggestions as to the placement and organization of items. Given that some of these suggestions contradicted each other or referred to supplies that didn’t seem to exist, S figured that he still had some time before the caravan departed.

“Excuse me priestess, but do you know if there’s still room for a capable guardsdrow to join your-” S began.

“No, no, put that lizard on wagon five! He’s a rascally one, and if he smells the bat-pork in wagon two, he’ll- What do you mean there isn’t any bat-pork on wagon two!? I thought I told that orc to-” Minroos finally took notice of S patiently standing beside her. “Oh, go talk to Istdrin, he’s in charge of the roster, white robes, can’t miss him- Hey! You two! You’re holding that box the wrong way up, it’s- No, the other way!”

S slipped away from the shouting priestess and quickly located a tall drow in white robes off in one corner of the temple, frowning down at his own clipboard. “Excuse me good sir, but do you know if your pilgrimage has room for-”

“It’s not a pilgrimage,” the white robed figure interrupted. “It’s an experiment.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, dear me, I forgot my manners. Ahem. I’m Istdrin Fresek, scientist. I’m working with priestess Minroos on a grand project to resolve the crisis once and for all!”

“You don’t mean the mid-immortality crisis, do you?” asked S. S knew only a little about the crisis: Around thirty years ago, all the clergy in the Underdark received divine omens and visions to the effect that Lolth was undergoing some sort of terrible bout of ennui and existentialism. Although the goddess eventually got over it, she had changed. For unknown reasons, she no longer favored spiders as her chosen symbol. This, of course, left open the question of what animal she did favor, for surely she had to have some symbol or another. Everyone had their own, often vehement opinions as to what this animal had to be. The virtues of scorpions, beetles, moles, snakes, squids, starfish, jellyfish, crabs, bats, mites, and a vast menagerie of others were loudly extolled at every opportunity.

Soon, war broke out. All of the Underdark trembled with the force of the battles between arachnid-lovers and worm worshippers, between those who claimed they’d be okay with anything lacking a spine and those who thought bats and snakes to be the pinnacle of Lolthishness. After tremendous amounts of bloodshed, nothing had been resolved, and finally all the factions had been forced to call a truce: No one was to be persecuted for any of their beliefs about Lolth’s new symbol. Of course, there were still some who thought that that the clerics had been mistaken and Lolth still liked spiders, and others thought maybe that her symbol must be some type of fungus; but the truce forbid banning the proclamation of opinions even as heretical as these. There was only one opinion so universally loathed, so reviled by nearly all who didn’t hold it, that the treaty declared that belief to be completely unacceptable.

As for next week's theme, I think I'll choose The Power of Niceness. Anyone who's read my novel so far can be pretty sure that I'm not conveniently choosing that to match up with what I'm already writing.

[Artman77]

OH SNAP! I just realized what day it is. It looks like I beat Glass Mouse, so hopefully I don't fail this time. I actually had all my work done by Wednesday, computer took a crap and I had to buy a new one. Getting new stuff is fun and I kinda-sorta forgot I had to upload still. Please excuse poor picture quality; I had to do it with my phone since I can't seem to find the drivers I need for my scanner.

coat of arms
spray paint girls 1 and 2
man
woman
breathe smoke

[Glass Mouse]

This week, we’re on time! Status for the week May 25 - 31!


Glass Mouse passes with a Genre Unsavvy comic strip and two people portraits.

Lycunadari passes with eight botanical photos.

Allan Dotson passes with a Critters page, a giant snail, a party-ready orc, a wererat, a Marceline, a Critters crossover, and a jungle elf.

Cuthalion uploaded two bird mugshots. Edit: saved by last-minute upload

Artman77 passes with a coat of arms, two bikini girls, two coal croquis, and a… smoke-breathing Hulk?

redfeatherraven is out due to disappearance.

LeSwordfish passes with six jetbikes with riders.

The Walrus passes with 1,567 of drow employee shenanigans.


Thus, Cuthalion FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, Allan Dotson, Cuthalion, Artman77, LeSwordfish and The Walrus PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 240 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 7 weeks

Lycunadari
Current run: 126 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 39 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 2 weeks

Cuthalion
Current run: 11 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Artman77
Current run: 7 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 7 weeks

redfeatherraven
Current run: -
Longest run: 4 weeks
Themes: -

LeSwordfish
Current run: 5 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 1 week

The Walrus
Current run: 2 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 2 weeks

This week's theme (June 1 - 6), chosen by The Walrus, is The Power of Niceness.

Next week's theme is chosen by me.

Six jetbikes - with tchnically-people riding them.

Nrwooom! I love the colour scheme

As for next week's theme, I think I'll choose The Power of Niceness. Anyone who's read my novel so far can be pretty sure that I'm not conveniently choosing that to match up with what I'm already writing.

You sure? If there's one thing fanfics have taught me, it's that that is the defining characteristic of drows!

(I'm kidding, I love drows... I just love them a little more when they're evil)

[Cuthalion]

I need to start scanning on Sunday or something. Blog updated and you are due many apologies.

PS your inbox is full