Shipping itP II: Scourge of the Seven Seas

[happyturtle]

Shipping Inc: Record Retrieval - Part 3

Spoiler

Show

“What are you doing here?”
“…Who are you?”
“Look to your left.” A small hole appeared in the fourth wall, but disappeared when Hiro glared at it.
“What’s that? Some sort of political statement?”
“OK, Doctor Who references aside, what?”
“…Thufir? Why do you all of a sudden look like your avatar?”
“It just kind of goes with the rest of the scenery. This is the visualisation room after all.”
“You know what this room does, then?”
“Sort of. I don’t really understand it. Zero only unlocked it and explained it very briefly to me before riding off into the sunset.”
“Riding off into the sunset? PZ can ride a horse?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“How would a horse get onto the top floor of a building?”
“Exactly. He rode off on a Fourier transform. Actually, you could get a horse up here. You just wouldn’t be able to take it outside this room. The idea of the visualisation room was to help people with their fics by allowing them to watch scenes as they imagined them. Anything you imagine is real in here, at least if you’re properly in tune with the room. But if you try to take it outside, it vanishes…hm.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been in here for a while, sorting out these threads – I’m using them to map out timelines of the characters in my big Stoppard-fic, you see, it’s much easier to imagine different colours of thread than it is to find real ones – anyway, could you guys bring me some food and water? I’ve been imagining mine for a while, and I’m worried if I step outside the room I might spontaneously die of malnutrition.”
“How long have you been in here?”
“Oh, about 3 weeks.”
“3 weeks?! So how’s this fic of yours progressing then?”
“It’s great! I’ve almost started!”
“…3 weeks of work and you’ve almost started.”
“Well, yeah. Lots of planning. Ye cannae just rush into these things, ye ken.”
“Point o’ order, Big Man: Ye can just rush in. We always just rush in.”
“Aye, Big Yan, point well made. But ye’ve got to know where ye’re going to rush in, ye ken. Ye cannae just rush in anywhere. It looks bad, having to rush back oot again, straight awa’”
“Enough?”
“For now.”
“But why are you still here? Didn’t you get fired after the takeover like the rest of us?”
“…Takeover?! Fired?! What are you talking about?”
“What? You don’t know? How can you not know? We were taken over and had to start up a new company? I realise you’ve been working in here this whole time, but surely they must have come up here?”
“Well, just a hypothesis, but maybe they couldn’t get in. At the moment, the room is attuned to me. Since I didn’t know we’d been taken over, the possibility of them coming in here never entered my mind, so they wouldn’t be able to exist in the room. Who are these takeover people, anyway? And why are you here if we were all fired?”
“We came back for some missing records. And it was Lyinginbedmon, with Advanced Battle Royalties.”
“Damn him. Well, I suppose I’ll get out of your way-”
“Ahah! We finally got that door open!” Lyinginbedmon looked around the room and suddenly spotted the group. “You! Get out of my company!” He clicked his fingers and the hired muscle who’d obviously been trying to crowbar the door open lumbered forwards.
“Oops. I guess I shouldn’t have asked. Records is just one floor down, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but-” Rabbit was cut off by the floor vanishing beneath her and the others, and being replaced by crashmats, which broke their fall on the next floor down.
“Hurry! Knock on the ceiling when you want to come back up!” Thufir called through the hole as it closed up again.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?”
“From what he said, it sounds like he’s nigh-omnipotent as long as he stays in that room. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“ALERT ALL PERSONNEL. WE HAVE INTRUDERS IN THE BUILDING, BELIEVED TO BE IN RECORDS AT PRESENT. ALL ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS NOT REQUIRED OUTSIDE THE BUILDING TO CONVERGE ON RECORDS IMMEDIATELY.”
“So much for stealth. Turtle, to the front! Fan, watch out for anyone sneaking up on us. Rabbit, this was your department, where are we going?”
“Down here!” They all ran through shelves and shelves of fics, Rabbit occasionally grabbing some on the way and tossing them to people with free hands to carry them.
“OK, here we are… damn, I missed one individual fic.” Rabbit hurriedly scribbled down a title and some directions. “Fan?”
“Sure. Be back in a minute.” Fan ran off out of sight.
“Right, now let’s see…” Rabbit inserted a memory key and started frantically typing on the computer terminal “Come on, come on… files transferred, there we go.”
“While we’re here, crash their database.”
“Do we have time?”
“Thufir’s providing us with an easy exit and we’re waiting for Fan, we may as well take the opportunity to mess things up for them a bit.”
“Be so kind as to drop any weapons and step away from that terminal, please. Your ninja friend turned out to be less observant than you obviously hoped. Now be reasonable. Return the stolen property, and as soon as Dr. Minoblendy has finished dealing with your friend upstairs we can begin negotiating the size of your forthcoming generous donation to our company, and the extent of the charges we will press against yours.” Behind the floating Salmon stood a group of thugs, one of them holding an axe to the throat of an unconscious Fan.
“…Stand down, guys. We don’t take risks with our people’s lives.” Heads hanging, they obeyed. Happyturtle threw her warspork to the floor with a disgusted look on her face. The thugs moved round to encircle them.
“Good. I’m glad you can see reason, unlike certain more foolish individuals I’ve recently had to deal with.”
“Foolish I may be…”
“Oh no, not again.”
“But my strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure!”
“No objections, but there’s eleven of them.”
A blur flashed in front of the thug holding Fan. When it had passed he looked in slight puzzlement at his empty arms and the head of his axe, which fell off. Turtle picked it up and through it into the computer terminal, smashing it.
“True. But now,” said Mordokai as he lifted the revived Fan to his feet and flicked Turtle’s warspork back up to her, “There are 3 of us.” He smiled, light glinting off a tooth (Narrative causality is fairly strong in a building devoted to the writing of fan fiction).
The thugs, glancing round, noticed that their boss had apparently recalled some other important business which simply could not wait. Being possessed of slightly more brains than most thugs, they decided to follow his example.
“Let’s go.”

They ran quickly back the way they had come originally, hurriedly filling in Mordokai on the details as they went. When they arrived, Turtle’s spork assault on the ceiling quickly attracted Thufir’s attention, leading to a neat hole, through which Turtle jumped first, carrying Vespe, then Rabbit, holding Curly, then-
“Ah! Now I see it!” Lying spoke some words in a language they didn’t understand, presumably magical, and to their horror the hole suddenly closed up, and the wall Thufir had obviously imagined to keep him out vanished before their eyes.
“An impressive piece of magic, I must admit. It took me some time to disconnect you, but now you are disconnected, the room will no longer obey you any more than anyone else. The playing field is evened between us, and the balance of power tilts back to me.” He gestured, and both doors and all the windows suddenly locked themselves.
“You are impressive indeed.” Lying preened at this compliment as Thufir reached for something in his pocket. “But in doing this, may you not have loosened some of the constraints on the original spells?”
“The only significant constraint on those spells was the area of effect, I believe.”
Thufir grinned widely. “Just as I thought,” and blew sharply on a whistle he had not been holding a few seconds earlier, the sound now travelling through the windows, to outside ears. Only those outside ears high enough to be within range of the top of the building of course, but…
“GRAAAARGH!” *CHOMP*
Godzilla’s bite took out a chunk of the wall on two floors, freeing both halves of the raiding party.
“You’re brilliant, Thufir!”
“I know. Now go! Quickly!”
Thufir turned back to the advancing infuriated Lyinginbedmon with fire on his hands and lightning in his gaze, while the raiding party leapt out onto Godzilla’s retreating back as it headed back towards the waiting Scourge Inc.
“You can use your real power, or you can use the power of this room, but not both at once, I think. Either way, do you think you can match my imagination? My mind is all the power I need…”

Some days later, Scourge Inc was running smoothly again, and Turtle headed up to Curly’s office.
“Curly, I know the raid was hard and all, and we barely got out, but-“
“But you want to go back and rescue Thufir.”
“Well, yes.”
“Risking more losses in the process, with no means of obtaining a decent distraction/getaway animal this time, you want us to go charging back in to a hostile company who will be surely be expecting us to try something of the sort, to rescue someone who as far as we know will be unable to leave until he’s had a meal or two.”
“…Yes?”
Rabbit, Vespe and Mordokai poked their heads in the door.
“Cannons ready, Cap’n Curly!”
“Course set for Shipping Inc, Cap!”
“I’ve got the squad ready to go on your command, Ma’am.”
Turtle looked back and forth from Curly to the three at the door, bemused.
“…You mean- But you said-”
“We don’t leave our people in there.” Curly stood up. “It’s a million-to-one chance,” she said, “But it might just work…”

I love it! But damn. Now I want a visualization room.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I'm also blue eyed & blonde haired. Arians for the win!

I also have blonde hair!

And visualisation room would be awesome!

[Thufir]

Yeah, the visualisation room is a wonderful idea. Just as long as you remember to eat real food...

[Dallas-Dakota]

What....about....Personal hygiene?

[Lyinginbedmon]

What....about....Personal hygiene?

He made the freaking floor vanish, plumbing shouldn't be much of an issue.

[Dallas-Dakota]

He made the freaking floor vanish, plumbing shouldn't be much of an issue.

That was after the spells were half-broken and not limited to the the room so much...

[Kaelaroth]

Overload

Spoiler

Show

Strange Fear I Ain't Felt For Years
Turtle shuddered, a thick pallour of sweat creeping onto her cold face. An open marriage? Who's idea had that been. Yours./Oh, I know... She said to herself, on both counts.
The boy's coming, and I'm close to tears
Turtle felt pinpricks of water in her eyes. What was she to do? It'd been way too long since she'd had a date, and, now, well, really, she was a bit out of date. Heh. I said date twice. Twice. Oh god, I find that funny. What am I, crazy? He was walking her way now, his eyes bright with glee, and maybe a little wine. OK, a lot of wine.
I can't let go of you now
Grabbing Rabbit's hand, she let out a mewl, and her sister spun round, her dark locks spinning impressively through the air (along with her martini, which danced into the lap of a nearby oil baron called Khan, who swore in annoyance, before running to the toilets) as she looked at her sister. With a great degree of rancour. What now?
Imagination's playing round for free
Oh, good god, you're thinking about going home, aren't you? No! Not after I spent so much on those scissors to give you that bloody haircut!
In my world I take him out for tea...
And now you're thinking of crawling back to that camp vamp of yours, a cuppa tea at the ready, weeping that you need him, and only him, eh? EH?! Not gonna happen! Rabbit looked disgusted, as she flicked out a compact, and touched up her icy blue mascara, surveying the area behind her. Cutie at five, no, four, no, twelve, or is that one, o'clock! Swerving impressively to the other side, bringing her reluctant sister with her, Rabbit smashed through a bank of lonely musicians, t'wards the blond. Why hello. Want a drink?
Oh my god, can't say no..
How can I say no? The blond guy winked back, and, together, the new, cute couple wandered t'wards the bar. Ugh, slut. Turtle murmured, as she slipped her wedding band back on. Back home to Fan, then. Humming a little tune to herself, she strolled out the club, where Rabbit and Randy were already tossing themselves about the dancefloor. Hells, I fancy a cuppa tea...

Yes, I know it's awful. But I felt obliged to write something.

[happyturtle]

Overload

Spoiler

Show

Strange Fear I Ain't Felt For Years
Turtle shuddered, a thick pallour of sweat creeping onto her cold face. An open marriage? Who's idea had that been. Yours./Oh, I know... She said to herself, on both counts.
The boy's coming, and I'm close to tears
Turtle felt pinpricks of water in her eyes. What was she to do? It'd been way too long since she'd had a date, and, now, well, really, she was a bit out of date. Heh. I said date twice. Twice. Oh god, I find that funny. What am I, crazy? He was walking her way now, his eyes bright with glee, and maybe a little wine. OK, a lot of wine.
I can't let go of you now
Grabbing Rabbit's hand, she let out a mewl, and her sister spun round, her dark locks spinning impressively through the air (along with her martini, which danced into the lap of a nearby oil baron called Khan, who swore in annoyance, before running to the toilets) as she looked at her sister. With a great degree of rancour. What now?
Imagination's playing round for free
Oh, good god, you're thinking about going home, aren't you? No! Not after I spent so much on those scissors to give you that bloody haircut!
In my world I take him out for tea...
And now you're thinking of crawling back to that camp vamp of yours, a cuppa tea at the ready, weeping that you need him, and only him, eh? EH?! Not gonna happen! Rabbit looked disgusted, as she flicked out a compact, and touched up her icy blue mascara, surveying the area behind her. Cutie at five, no, four, no, twelve, or is that one, o'clock! Swerving impressively to the other side, bringing her reluctant sister with her, Rabbit smashed through a bank of lonely musicians, t'wards the blond. Why hello. Want a drink?
Oh my god, can't say no..
How can I say no? The blond guy winked back, and, together, the new, cute couple wandered t'wards the bar. Ugh, slut. Turtle murmured, as she slipped her wedding band back on. Back home to Fan, then. Humming a little tune to herself, she strolled out the club, where Rabbit and Randy were already tossing themselves about the dancefloor. Hells, I fancy a cuppa tea...

Yes, I know it's awful. But I felt obliged to write something.

Iz not awful. *bonks Kae on the head* It's sad and evocative and I love it.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Overload

Spoiler

Show

Strange Fear I Ain't Felt For Years
Turtle shuddered, a thick pallour of sweat creeping onto her cold face. An open marriage? Who's idea had that been. Yours./Oh, I know... She said to herself, on both counts.
The boy's coming, and I'm close to tears
Turtle felt pinpricks of water in her eyes. What was she to do? It'd been way too long since she'd had a date, and, now, well, really, she was a bit out of date. Heh. I said date twice. Twice. Oh god, I find that funny. What am I, crazy? He was walking her way now, his eyes bright with glee, and maybe a little wine. OK, a lot of wine.
I can't let go of you now
Grabbing Rabbit's hand, she let out a mewl, and her sister spun round, her dark locks spinning impressively through the air (along with her martini, which danced into the lap of a nearby oil baron called Khan, who swore in annoyance, before running to the toilets) as she looked at her sister. With a great degree of rancour. What now?
Imagination's playing round for free
Oh, good god, you're thinking about going home, aren't you? No! Not after I spent so much on those scissors to give you that bloody haircut!
In my world I take him out for tea...
And now you're thinking of crawling back to that camp vamp of yours, a cuppa tea at the ready, weeping that you need him, and only him, eh? EH?! Not gonna happen! Rabbit looked disgusted, as she flicked out a compact, and touched up her icy blue mascara, surveying the area behind her. Cutie at five, no, four, no, twelve, or is that one, o'clock! Swerving impressively to the other side, bringing her reluctant sister with her, Rabbit smashed through a bank of lonely musicians, t'wards the blond. Why hello. Want a drink?
Oh my god, can't say no..
How can I say no? The blond guy winked back, and, together, the new, cute couple wandered t'wards the bar. Ugh, slut. Turtle murmured, as she slipped her wedding band back on. Back home to Fan, then. Humming a little tune to herself, she strolled out the club, where Rabbit and Randy were already tossing themselves about the dancefloor. Hells, I fancy a cuppa tea...

Yes, I know it's awful. But I felt obliged to write something.

Haha, Rand would not accept my slutty attempts

:: sighs:: Atleast I tried!

[CurlyKitGirl]

Shipping Inc: Record Retrieval - Part 3

Spoiler

Show

“What are you doing here?”
“…Who are you?”
“Look to your left.” A small hole appeared in the fourth wall, but disappeared when Hiro glared at it.
“What’s that? Some sort of political statement?”
“OK, Doctor Who references aside, what?”
“…Thufir? Why do you all of a sudden look like your avatar?”
“It just kind of goes with the rest of the scenery. This is the visualisation room after all.”
“You know what this room does, then?”
“Sort of. I don’t really understand it. Zero only unlocked it and explained it very briefly to me before riding off into the sunset.”
“Riding off into the sunset? PZ can ride a horse?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“How would a horse get onto the top floor of a building?”
“Exactly. He rode off on a Fourier transform. Actually, you could get a horse up here. You just wouldn’t be able to take it outside this room. The idea of the visualisation room was to help people with their fics by allowing them to watch scenes as they imagined them. Anything you imagine is real in here, at least if you’re properly in tune with the room. But if you try to take it outside, it vanishes…hm.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been in here for a while, sorting out these threads – I’m using them to map out timelines of the characters in my big Stoppard-fic, you see, it’s much easier to imagine different colours of thread than it is to find real ones – anyway, could you guys bring me some food and water? I’ve been imagining mine for a while, and I’m worried if I step outside the room I might spontaneously die of malnutrition.”
“How long have you been in here?”
“Oh, about 3 weeks.”
“3 weeks?! So how’s this fic of yours progressing then?”
“It’s great! I’ve almost started!”
“…3 weeks of work and you’ve almost started.”
“Well, yeah. Lots of planning. Ye cannae just rush into these things, ye ken.”
“Point o’ order, Big Man: Ye can just rush in. We always just rush in.”
“Aye, Big Yan, point well made. But ye’ve got to know where ye’re going to rush in, ye ken. Ye cannae just rush in anywhere. It looks bad, having to rush back oot again, straight awa’”
“Enough?”
“For now.”
“But why are you still here? Didn’t you get fired after the takeover like the rest of us?”
“…Takeover?! Fired?! What are you talking about?”
“What? You don’t know? How can you not know? We were taken over and had to start up a new company? I realise you’ve been working in here this whole time, but surely they must have come up here?”
“Well, just a hypothesis, but maybe they couldn’t get in. At the moment, the room is attuned to me. Since I didn’t know we’d been taken over, the possibility of them coming in here never entered my mind, so they wouldn’t be able to exist in the room. Who are these takeover people, anyway? And why are you here if we were all fired?”
“We came back for some missing records. And it was Lyinginbedmon, with Advanced Battle Royalties.”
“Damn him. Well, I suppose I’ll get out of your way-”
“Ahah! We finally got that door open!” Lyinginbedmon looked around the room and suddenly spotted the group. “You! Get out of my company!” He clicked his fingers and the hired muscle who’d obviously been trying to crowbar the door open lumbered forwards.
“Oops. I guess I shouldn’t have asked. Records is just one floor down, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but-” Rabbit was cut off by the floor vanishing beneath her and the others, and being replaced by crashmats, which broke their fall on the next floor down.
“Hurry! Knock on the ceiling when you want to come back up!” Thufir called through the hole as it closed up again.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?”
“From what he said, it sounds like he’s nigh-omnipotent as long as he stays in that room. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“ALERT ALL PERSONNEL. WE HAVE INTRUDERS IN THE BUILDING, BELIEVED TO BE IN RECORDS AT PRESENT. ALL ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS NOT REQUIRED OUTSIDE THE BUILDING TO CONVERGE ON RECORDS IMMEDIATELY.”
“So much for stealth. Turtle, to the front! Fan, watch out for anyone sneaking up on us. Rabbit, this was your department, where are we going?”
“Down here!” They all ran through shelves and shelves of fics, Rabbit occasionally grabbing some on the way and tossing them to people with free hands to carry them.
“OK, here we are… damn, I missed one individual fic.” Rabbit hurriedly scribbled down a title and some directions. “Fan?”
“Sure. Be back in a minute.” Fan ran off out of sight.
“Right, now let’s see…” Rabbit inserted a memory key and started frantically typing on the computer terminal “Come on, come on… files transferred, there we go.”
“While we’re here, crash their database.”
“Do we have time?”
“Thufir’s providing us with an easy exit and we’re waiting for Fan, we may as well take the opportunity to mess things up for them a bit.”
“Be so kind as to drop any weapons and step away from that terminal, please. Your ninja friend turned out to be less observant than you obviously hoped. Now be reasonable. Return the stolen property, and as soon as Dr. Minoblendy has finished dealing with your friend upstairs we can begin negotiating the size of your forthcoming generous donation to our company, and the extent of the charges we will press against yours.” Behind the floating Salmon stood a group of thugs, one of them holding an axe to the throat of an unconscious Fan.
“…Stand down, guys. We don’t take risks with our people’s lives.” Heads hanging, they obeyed. Happyturtle threw her warspork to the floor with a disgusted look on her face. The thugs moved round to encircle them.
“Good. I’m glad you can see reason, unlike certain more foolish individuals I’ve recently had to deal with.”
“Foolish I may be…”
“Oh no, not again.”
“But my strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure!”
“No objections, but there’s eleven of them.”
A blur flashed in front of the thug holding Fan. When it had passed he looked in slight puzzlement at his empty arms and the head of his axe, which fell off. Turtle picked it up and through it into the computer terminal, smashing it.
“True. But now,” said Mordokai as he lifted the revived Fan to his feet and flicked Turtle’s warspork back up to her, “There are 3 of us.” He smiled, light glinting off a tooth (Narrative causality is fairly strong in a building devoted to the writing of fan fiction).
The thugs, glancing round, noticed that their boss had apparently recalled some other important business which simply could not wait. Being possessed of slightly more brains than most thugs, they decided to follow his example.
“Let’s go.”

They ran quickly back the way they had come originally, hurriedly filling in Mordokai on the details as they went. When they arrived, Turtle’s spork assault on the ceiling quickly attracted Thufir’s attention, leading to a neat hole, through which Turtle jumped first, carrying Vespe, then Rabbit, holding Curly, then-
“Ah! Now I see it!” Lying spoke some words in a language they didn’t understand, presumably magical, and to their horror the hole suddenly closed up, and the wall Thufir had obviously imagined to keep him out vanished before their eyes.
“An impressive piece of magic, I must admit. It took me some time to disconnect you, but now you are disconnected, the room will no longer obey you any more than anyone else. The playing field is evened between us, and the balance of power tilts back to me.” He gestured, and both doors and all the windows suddenly locked themselves.
“You are impressive indeed.” Lying preened at this compliment as Thufir reached for something in his pocket. “But in doing this, may you not have loosened some of the constraints on the original spells?”
“The only significant constraint on those spells was the area of effect, I believe.”
Thufir grinned widely. “Just as I thought,” and blew sharply on a whistle he had not been holding a few seconds earlier, the sound now travelling through the windows, to outside ears. Only those outside ears high enough to be within range of the top of the building of course, but…
“GRAAAARGH!” *CHOMP*
Godzilla’s bite took out a chunk of the wall on two floors, freeing both halves of the raiding party.
“You’re brilliant, Thufir!”
“I know. Now go! Quickly!”
Thufir turned back to the advancing infuriated Lyinginbedmon with fire on his hands and lightning in his gaze, while the raiding party leapt out onto Godzilla’s retreating back as it headed back towards the waiting Scourge Inc.
“You can use your real power, or you can use the power of this room, but not both at once, I think. Either way, do you think you can match my imagination? My mind is all the power I need…”

Some days later, Scourge Inc was running smoothly again, and Turtle headed up to Curly’s office.
“Curly, I know the raid was hard and all, and we barely got out, but-“
“But you want to go back and rescue Thufir.”
“Well, yes.”
“Risking more losses in the process, with no means of obtaining a decent distraction/getaway animal this time, you want us to go charging back in to a hostile company who will be surely be expecting us to try something of the sort, to rescue someone who as far as we know will be unable to leave until he’s had a meal or two.”
“…Yes?”
Rabbit, Vespe and Mordokai poked their heads in the door.
“Cannons ready, Cap’n Curly!”
“Course set for Shipping Inc, Cap!”
“I’ve got the squad ready to go on your command, Ma’am.”
Turtle looked back and forth from Curly to the three at the door, bemused.
“…You mean- But you said-”
“We don’t leave our people in there.” Curly stood up. “It’s a million-to-one chance,” she said, “But it might just work…”

Discworld!
This series of yours is getting better and better. I just hope the million - to - one chance isn't the one involving the voonerable spot.

[randman22222]

Haha, Rand would not accept my slutty attempts

:: sighs:: Atleast I tried!

Heh, I'm not even the dance club type.

...Doesn't mean I don't dance, though.
Apparently, I can dance quite well.

[Thufir]

Discworld!
This series of yours is getting better and better. I just hope the million - to - one chance isn't the one involving the voonerable spot.

I just finished reading that book.
Actually, I don't have any real plans to continue it at the moment. I've yet to come up with something interesting for the rescue of me.
Although, that said, I'm having some ideas now...

[happyturtle]

Turtle's henchpixie Lex is a world class baker. She'll come along with cakes to give Thufir.

[Raistlin1040]

Happy Moon/Raist shipping, yay!

Rebel Yell: Moon Called/Raistlin

Spoiler

Show

Gah. Prom. Moon didn't like it. Really, she had only been dragged along by her friend Cassie for "moral support". Sure, she'd had a bit of fun, getting an outfit, and a mask, and all that, but once she was actually there, it was kind of boring. Her boyfriend had said he didn't want to go to a stupid prom, so she was dateless. She say over by the punch table, watching Cassie talk to some cute guys.

She felt a bit jealous, actually. She was pretty, she had a nice red dress, and a cool red mask to go along with it. But nobody seemed interested in her. Of course, she'd probably turn any guy down, she did have a boyfriend after all, but she wanted to be noticed. Moon took a cup and filled it with punch, sipping it slowly, annoyed.

She continued like that for a while, checking the clock every five minutes to see when the damn thing would be over. Still had over an hour left, gah. She set her cup down and wandered over to the stairs, sitting down. Moon heard the shuffle of footsteps coming down the stairs and got up to move, looking at the person making the noise.

He was interesting. He wore a tight black dress-like thing, with blue and red stripes, and a black mask. His blonde hair was tinted red, standing out against his snow-white skin. Moon looked at him, wide-eyed. She must have looked odd because he raised an eyebrow.

Can I help you? He asked. She blinked, and shook her head, seemingly unable to form a coherant sentence. He chuckled at her state of confusion and looked out on the dance floor.

So, you here with someone? He asked. N-no. She managed to stammer. I have a hard time believing no one would ask you. He said replied. She blushed. I just don't, is all. She said, trying to shrug it off, sitting back down on the stairs. The guy sat down next to her.

So, do you have a name? Moon. She said. Raist. He nodded. So Moon, tell me about yourself. She looked at him, confused. Why? Don't you have a date? I mean, you really shouldn't keep her waiting. Nah, I'm here alone too.

Moon bit her lip gently, he was cute. And he seemed nice. Well, I don't even really like it here. I'm just here because my friend dragged me along. Raist nodded. Gotcha. I like music, and dancing, and stuff like that, but this just isn't my place. Moon shrugged. So, you wanna go somewhere else then? Raist asked.

She frowned slightly. I have a boyfriend. Raist shrugged. So? I'm asking you to come hang out with me at a club I know, not asking you to marry me. She couldn't help but giggle, standing up. Alright, fine. He stood up as well, and they walked out of the crowded prom gym, heading outside.

The two walked down the sidewalk, talking, until they reached a building. It's closed. Moon said, suspicious. Yeah, but I know the guy who owns the place, he keeps a spare key under the tile. He reached down and lifted up one of the brick tiles, grabbing the key and opening it up.

The interior was really cool, faintly illuminated, mirrors, a jukebox. Raistlin walked over to the jukebox and pressed the on button. Billy Idol's Rebel Yell began to play. He grinned and walked over to Moon, extending his hand out in a mock-high-class way. May I have this dance? She giggled, taking it. Are we actually to do like, a waltz, to Billy Idol? She asked, smiling. He smiled right back. Why not?

They danced for the entire night, happy as the music played.

Grr. I am still on the 'not as good as I can do' writing streak. Ah well.

[happyturtle]

Would anyone be interested in doing a ship-fic with Moon_Called and me?

Repost, because I want to see it, but can't think of anything.

[CurlyKitGirl]

@Thufir: Tch; simple. Draw inspiration from the book you've just finished. Some crackpot scheme like that'll have the masses giggling.

RIght; I'm on a poetical tilt at the moment and this just seems right. And yes, for those who have me on MSN it's my personal message thingy there too.
Those two lines have had me enchanted from the moment I read the poem (see title link), it just struck inspiration; and if they make you think of Midsummer Nights' Dream you're not alone.

Part of AMENshipping. But only in that it will almost entirely revolved around AMENites.

Cassie/Exy:
Sundry AMENites

The Faery Court

Spoiler

Show

And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays

- Ode To A Nightingale; John Keats.

Soft, what light through yonder window breaks upon the fairest face of the Faery Court? The sun, bright Helios riding through the arching heavens pauses to gaze in wonderment at she who is held gently as a nightingale cradled in the hand by her beloved and their court. Moon pale and luminescent the Queen prepares for the ceremony.
King Exachix; red haired trickster blessed by Pan held court, gentility from all ranges of the verdant hills and forests in attendance eagerly awaiting the Blessing of the King and Queen on this most auspicious day. Summer and Sun blessed King and Winter and Moon blessed Queen would exchange the precious crowns of rule. His silven kings’ crown adorned with sapphires dark as the night sky would be exchanged for the golden circlet of Prince Consort. Her silver circlet of Princess Consort in turn exchanged for a crown gilded by the rays of the proud sun and festooned with leaf green emeralds.
For only on the first day of the full moon on the Autumnal Equinox would the powers of rule be exchanged between the two for true equality in life.
And so did the highest lords and ladies of the Tuatha Dé Danann gather to welcome the continuation of the cycle. First and foremost amongst the nobles stood Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called of the Highlands; her being in the ascendancy with her sovereign Queen. Also there was the Lord Magtok with His Lady wife RHL of the Southern Counties; him to be in ascendance with Her Majesty from this day until the next Exchange. Smiling in the crowds, waiting to give celebration also were the Lady Curly of wild Cornwall; Lord ruki – chan of mountained Wales; the Lady of the Emerald Isle and the Lord of the Northernmost Islands. These latter four always being the ruler of their governed lands as they had not yet found their love, this was of no cause for concern as the lives of the Tuatha were nigh – eternal and the cycle most – hallowed by the Gods would be followed by the rulers of each land who owed fealty to the King and Queen of the Islands.
Sun blessed Exachix: king. Moon blessed Castaras: queen.
The murmur of discussion, melodious as a flowing brook filled the throne room as the king stood consulting with the eight vassal rulers, waiting for the appearance of the gracious queen.
“My liege, it will be a blessing that you may rest from the fatigues of rule for your sweet Lady wife. She has been eager for her chance to guide our peaceful company.” Spake Lord ruki – chan.
“Aye, we have yet to have you guest at our winter manse for the winter solstice. We have invited the divs of Persia for the winter Hunt this year. They eagerly await the chance to race through the perfect white blanket that covers our lands during the months of winter.”
The Lady of Cornwall cut in, “’Tis a long time since you’ve had the pleasure of chasing the cowering humans, the fear filling the crisp air with its heady aroma, and the blood looks like some rare winter bloom. We all shall be attending, perhaps your Lordship should come.”
King Exachix laughed, the rich timbre hung proudly in the air, “It has been a long time since I partook of the hunt; perchance shapeshifting is permitted?” The hosting Lord and Lady nodded proudly, glad that they followed the ancient precepts rather than the newer ones chosen by the other courts of the Faery. Their court still took to shifting from their human – like state to their animal forms, unlike others who followed human influences.
The king readily accepted the invitation, but in his heart he felt slight sorrow that his loved Lady would be unable to attend a winter hunt of such magnitude. Nonetheless, he was gladdened by the courtesy and friendship his vassal rulers still offered him and Castaras. “Has the queen chosen where her chief court will be during her ascendancy?” queried Magtok of the Southern Counties.
“She’s oft spoken of holding court near the isle of Avalon on the south coast.” Said the Lady of the Emerald Isle, one of the queens’ dearest friends. The king nodded in confirmation and the Lord and Lady of the Southern Counties smiled in delight for to host the Reigning Court was a great honour.
A wave of magic trembled in the air as the magic of the queen rose into power as the sun peaked in the soft blue heavens; wire –stringed harps and a soft playing chorus of trumpets silvered the air as Queen Castaras of the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Isles walked proudly up the steps to take the High Throne. King Exachix, who had strode to his place at the foot of the great steps as the first notes of music graced the gathering was the first to bow to his Lady Queen.
“My Queen, most cherished love of my heart, may you reign with the grace and wiseness which you are known and honoured for. I offer you my allegiance undying and wish you, your family and your kingdom peace, love, honour and triumph over our enemies, human and Fay.
“I crave the honour of kissing my Queen.” He glanced up and smiled his secret and most treasured smile. One filled with a love as great as a mountain, persistent as a river and warm as a perfect summer day; the one he only gave to his Castaras.
Delight in her eyes, the queen nodded and allowed her Lord husband to approach and bestow a kiss on her. This they did every time the cycle turned and it was as honoured as the most traditional ritual the courts of Castaras, Moon blessed and Exachix, Sun blessed followed.
Rising from her throne the queen took the hand of her Prince Consort and faced the nobility of their courts and the pair bowed showing their unspoken vow of never considering themselves above any one of their vassal lords and ladies. They blessed the court in the solemn manner of all such exchanges and lead the assembled in the joyous dancing that one special visitor once called ‘so graceful that it puts the stars themselves to shame’ as he gazed upon the Fair Folk one morn. As the queens’ sigil rose in the night sky, colouring everything in ivory and silver the Tuatha Dé Danann gathered once more about their beauteous queen as she completed the ceremony.
“Well, my Lord husband of my heart; he for whom my very heart beats, will you join me in the bower one last time before we move the Court?” whispered Castaras, silver haired and graced by Artemis into Exachix’s ear after their lords and ladies retired for the night. Laughing softly, the two slipped out into the night.

And I know that the Tuatha Dé Danann are an Irish faery race, but I've decided to apply the name to all the faery races of the British Isles. It's a bit odd actually as the Tuatha Dé Danann are actually fairly benevolent while on the whole, the faery of the British Isles are blood thirsty, malignant (or at least uncaring) people.
Fits in quite well with AMEN doesn't it?
Anyway, there is potential for more stories based in this universe so anyone can do one or not.

Note: the nightingale is seen as a symbol of the imagination; inspiration; the supernatural and immortality. The link to the full poem is the title.

EDIT: The original name was Nightingale, but I never liked it, even when I was writing out the fic; it has now been renamed The faery Court, but once again, I don't really like this title either.
I suck at titles.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I prefer to remember the story of The Nightingale

[CurlyKitGirl]

I can't do titles. I just called it that because of the poem name. Speaking of Keats' poems, Waitrose quotes the first stanza To Autumn to sell their food. I was fairly shocked at that.

1) I may rename the piece.
2) I want to do a story based on that story now.

EDIT:

1) I did rename the fic.
2) I still want to write something based on The Nightingale.

[Dallas-Dakota]

1) I did rename the fic.
2) I still want to write something based on The Nightingale.

I can be in?
*puppy eyes*

[Lyinginbedmon]

Kneeknibble would be pretty perfect as the Nightingale, as your inspiration I'd love to be the Emperor

[Castaras]

Cassie/Exy:
Sundry AMENites

The Faery Court

Spoiler

Show

And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays

- Ode To A Nightingale; John Keats.

Soft, what light through yonder window breaks upon the fairest face of the Faery Court? The sun, bright Helios riding through the arching heavens pauses to gaze in wonderment at she who is held gently as a nightingale cradled in the hand by her beloved and their court. Moon pale and luminescent the Queen prepares for the ceremony.
King Exachix; red haired trickster blessed by Pan held court, gentility from all ranges of the verdant hills and forests in attendance eagerly awaiting the Blessing of the King and Queen on this most auspicious day. Summer and Sun blessed King and Winter and Moon blessed Queen would exchange the precious crowns of rule. His silven kings’ crown adorned with sapphires dark as the night sky would be exchanged for the golden circlet of Prince Consort. Her silver circlet of Princess Consort in turn exchanged for a crown gilded by the rays of the proud sun and festooned with leaf green emeralds.
For only on the first day of the full moon on the Autumnal Equinox would the powers of rule be exchanged between the two for true equality in life.
And so did the highest lords and ladies of the Tuatha Dé Danann gather to welcome the continuation of the cycle. First and foremost amongst the nobles stood Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called of the Highlands; her being in the ascendancy with her sovereign Queen. Also there was the Lord Magtok with His Lady wife RHL of the Southern Counties; him to be in ascendance with Her Majesty from this day until the next Exchange. Smiling in the crowds, waiting to give celebration also were the Lady Curly of wild Cornwall; Lord ruki – chan of mountained Wales; the Lady of the Emerald Isle and the Lord of the Northernmost Islands. These latter four always being the ruler of their governed lands as they had not yet found their love, this was of no cause for concern as the lives of the Tuatha were nigh – eternal and the cycle most – hallowed by the Gods would be followed by the rulers of each land who owed fealty to the King and Queen of the Islands.
Sun blessed Exachix: king. Moon blessed Castaras: queen.
The murmur of discussion, melodious as a flowing brook filled the throne room as the king stood consulting with the eight vassal rulers, waiting for the appearance of the gracious queen.
“My liege, it will be a blessing that you may rest from the fatigues of rule for your sweet Lady wife. She has been eager for her chance to guide our peaceful company.” Spake Lord ruki – chan.
“Aye, we have yet to have you guest at our winter manse for the winter solstice. We have invited the divs of Persia for the winter Hunt this year. They eagerly await the chance to race through the perfect white blanket that covers our lands during the months of winter.”
The Lady of Cornwall cut in, “’Tis a long time since you’ve had the pleasure of chasing the cowering humans, the fear filling the crisp air with its heady aroma, and the blood looks like some rare winter bloom. We all shall be attending, perhaps your Lordship should come.”
King Exachix laughed, the rich timbre hung proudly in the air, “It has been a long time since I partook of the hunt; perchance shapeshifting is permitted?” The hosting Lord and Lady nodded proudly, glad that they followed the ancient precepts rather than the newer ones chosen by the other courts of the Faery. Their court still took to shifting from their human – like state to their animal forms, unlike others who followed human influences.
The king readily accepted the invitation, but in his heart he felt slight sorrow that his loved Lady would be unable to attend a winter hunt of such magnitude. Nonetheless, he was gladdened by the courtesy and friendship his vassal rulers still offered him and Castaras. “Has the queen chosen where her chief court will be during her ascendancy?” queried Magtok of the Southern Counties.
“She’s oft spoken of holding court near the isle of Avalon on the south coast.” Said the Lady of the Emerald Isle, one of the queens’ dearest friends. The king nodded in confirmation and the Lord and Lady of the Southern Counties smiled in delight for to host the Reigning Court was a great honour.
A wave of magic trembled in the air as the magic of the queen rose into power as the sun peaked in the soft blue heavens; wire –stringed harps and a soft playing chorus of trumpets silvered the air as Queen Castaras of the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Isles walked proudly up the steps to take the High Throne. King Exachix, who had strode to his place at the foot of the great steps as the first notes of music graced the gathering was the first to bow to his Lady Queen.
“My Queen, most cherished love of my heart, may you reign with the grace and wiseness which you are known and honoured for. I offer you my allegiance undying and wish you, your family and your kingdom peace, love, honour and triumph over our enemies, human and Fay.
“I crave the honour of kissing my Queen.” He glanced up and smiled his secret and most treasured smile. One filled with a love as great as a mountain, persistent as a river and warm as a perfect summer day; the one he only gave to his Castaras.
Delight in her eyes, the queen nodded and allowed her Lord husband to approach and bestow a kiss on her. This they did every time the cycle turned and it was as honoured as the most traditional ritual the courts of Castaras, Moon blessed and Exachix, Sun blessed followed.
Rising from her throne the queen took the hand of her Prince Consort and faced the nobility of their courts and the pair bowed showing their unspoken vow of never considering themselves above any one of their vassal lords and ladies. They blessed the court in the solemn manner of all such exchanges and lead the assembled in the joyous dancing that one special visitor once called ‘so graceful that it puts the stars themselves to shame’ as he gazed upon the Fair Folk one morn. As the queens’ sigil rose in the night sky, colouring everything in ivory and silver the Tuatha Dé Danann gathered once more about their beauteous queen as she completed the ceremony.
“Well, my Lord husband of my heart; he for whom my very heart beats, will you join me in the bower one last time before we move the Court?” whispered Castaras, silver haired and graced by Artemis into Exachix’s ear after their lords and ladies retired for the night. Laughing softly, the two slipped out into the night.

That...is beautiful.

<3

I now have an urge to do an avatar based on this ship. *scuttles off*

[Mr. Moon]

*ker-snip*
Grr. I am still on the 'not as good as I can do' writing streak. Ah well.

Aw, that was sweet, Raist.

@Curly: Nicely done. I like the new writting style.

Would anyone be interested in doing a ship-fic with Moon_Called and me?

Another repost.

Also, I'm still waiting on a Saurous/MC fic.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Koorly, the avatarists muse since October '07.

And here's the second part of my Faery Court. What? Inspiration struck; once again, title is link to the poem that I semi - used for flavour.
It's not really love per se, but still quite nice and fairly atmospheric. It could be better, but ill cat.

The Winter Hunt

Spoiler

Show

Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
Our breasts are heaving our eyes are agleam,
Our arms are waving our lips are apart;
And if any gaze on our rushing band,
We come between him and the deed of his hand,
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,

The moon soared high in her silver chariot bejewelled with the dazzling stars who dance attendance to the night’s queen. Tonight she rode resplendent in her battle armour for tonight there would be a hunt.
The cruel north wind sang his battle song, wailing in his strident harsh voice as the blood thirst rose, steeping the countryside in instinctive fear and unnamed dread.
For this hunt was a cause of celebration; both the Prince Consort Exachix and the Queen Castaras of the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Isles were present because of a diplomatic chance. The divs of Persia and both the Lesser Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the Scottish Lowlands were all eager to discuss treaties of peace long lasting between the four courts; the two of Scotland being the lesser as the Lowlands were not governed by the Moon blessed Queen Castaras or the Sun blessed Exachix, though both were in their domain, but independent.
The Lord ruki – chan, being ruler of the Tylwyth Teg; the Lady Vespa of the Emerald Isle representing the Sidhe; the Lady Curly representing the fey folk of both Cornwall and the south and the Lord Draken of Orkney and beyond representing the trow, fairies and the various folk of his lands were also present for the hunt and discussion being, as they were, rulers of individual races and courts.
And these nobles foreign, exquisite and of beauty ethereal, as befitting their station waited for the sound of the hunting horn. At the front of the nobles assembled stood the Queen and her Prince Consort gazing at the wild haunts of the Highlands of the Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called. “Exquisite. Does it not please the eyes of my love who rivals the Gods in beauty and in wisdom?”
“Aye, lord of my heart it does. And I hear that the humans of this area have all but forgot our power, ‘tis high time we let them taste our powers. And the Unseelie would rejoice in the relaxation of the precepts this once. But I must admit that is has been a long time since either of us last tasted the flesh of those humans who choose to step into our realm on the days of greatest magic.”
The Lady of the Highlands, she being most sensitive to the magic in her realm in her time of ascendancy approached the soft speaking couple. “My Queen; my Lord, it will be soon.”
“Then we shall being. Send the word out.” So it was said and done by the Winter blessed Queens’ servants.
Many of the crowd of wondrous creatures shimmered as if some soft silken mist had passed over their stately forms. The mist passed and lo, animals of great stature stood. Queen Castaras was a proud moon silver’d mare; her Prince Consort a fox, tall as a pony. The Lord and Lady of the Highlands were both great hounds with burning eyes; the rulers of the Southern Counties were a proud stag and hind; the Lady of Cornwall a majestic lynx; ruki – chan of Wales and Vespa of the Emerald Isle were likewise both noble wolves and the Lord Draken of the Northern Isles a fierce - eyed great sized hawk. Others of the Courts were strong – limbed stallions, dogs beyond number, vicious bears of magical speed and among the divs of Persia were many winged horses of the like not seen in European Courts for many a century.
Those lords and ladies of the Fair Folk not possessing the sublime power of shape shift mounted their steeds or stood expectantly awaiting the unspoken signal which would cause the horn of the hunt to sound out its thirsty rings. The death awaiting north wind cried his joy harder and set the unbound hair of the Fay whipping through the wind, as did the manes of both the horses and Fay – horses and the fur of the other animals rippled wildly like some great placid lake bestirred by an oncoming storm.
The birds took flight and hovered. Waiting.
Those still in human form began to breathe heavy, lusting after the joy that would dawn soon.
Up in the heavens where the gods ranged the moon in her pale war chariot sped faster through the gathering storm clouds. Her delicate attendants now dismissed, fearful of the slaughter and blood – joy to come. The clouds through which she raced boiled in their blackness casting the snow whitened and ivory glazed lands below in furiously flickering shadows.
The horn sounded, loud and widespread as thunder, yet it was not thunder.
The Winter Hunt; the wild hunt raced through the countryside sending mortals cowering under the rough bedcovers; wishing for the dream, so they thought it was, to be over. They knew down in their soul, where the childish fears were still kept, that this was not a night of mortals, but of the immortal wildlings and Fay. They feared. ‘Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we dare not go a – hunting for fear of little men.’ How right they were.
But it was not ‘little men’ they had to fear this night, but the full might and awesome power of the Faery Courts. Any man foolish enough to be out on this night who did not bear iron – Faery – killing iron – would be punished if they caught sight of the hunt. And as always, swift – footed Queen Castaras with a mane of sea foam was given the first letting of blood. And racing beside her always was her Exachix, sun blessed and trickster of the Court.
Though many of the hunt racing with careless grace through the dangerous, dramatic countryside were not in their mortal form the mesmerising refrains of ancient Sidhe songs made the valleys and hills echo with their otherworldly songs; songs which could bring the unsuspecting to their hunting grounds.
The songs set the rhythm of the run and the pounding of hooves and paws made the earth tremble below and the shrieks of the Faerys would split the air like lightening on the sighting of a worthy prey. Men, women and lords died, were taken away or given fright on their gleeful chase.
And the Courts rejoiced.

With a little quote from The Fairies as well.
I'm actually researching for this so feel free to google most of the names of the Courts and faeries if you're curious.

EDIT:
@^: Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called of the Highlands. And there may be some in the other thread/earlier in this one.

[Thufir]

Inspiration has struck! Not for a continuation of my Shipping Inc arc, though ideas are circulating, but for another fic. I've pretty much entirely plotted it out, I just need characters. Volunteers? I can't guarantee to include all or even any of the volunteers, but as yet I have very few ideas for who should be who.

Edit: Roles filled, and I've started writing. Interestingly enough, I decided to include Moon_Called just before she volunteered.

[Calamity]

Inspiration has struck! Not for a continuation of my Shipping Inc arc, though ideas are circulating, but for another fic. I've pretty much entirely plotted it out, I just need characters. Volunteers? I can't guarantee to include all or even any of the volunteers, but as yet I have very few ideas for who should be who.

Ooh! Ooh! I volunteer! S'been a while since I was in a fic.

[Mr. Moon]

*snip*
The Winter Hunt

Spoiler

Show

Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
Our breasts are heaving our eyes are agleam,
Our arms are waving our lips are apart;
And if any gaze on our rushing band,
We come between him and the deed of his hand,
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,

The moon soared high in her silver chariot bejewelled with the dazzling stars who dance attendance to the night’s queen. Tonight she rode resplendent in her battle armour for tonight there would be a hunt.
The cruel north wind sang his battle song, wailing in his strident harsh voice as the blood thirst rose, steeping the countryside in instinctive fear and unnamed dread.
For this hunt was a cause of celebration; both the Prince Consort Exachix and the Queen Castaras of the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Isles were present because of a diplomatic chance. The divs of Persia and both the Lesser Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the Scottish Lowlands were all eager to discuss treaties of peace long lasting between the four courts; the two of Scotland being the lesser as the Lowlands were not governed by the Moon blessed Queen Castaras or the Sun blessed Exachix, though both were in their domain, but independent.
The Lord ruki – chan, being ruler of the Tylwyth Teg; the Lady Vespa of the Emerald Isle representing the Sidhe; the Lady Curly representing the fey folk of both Cornwall and the south and the Lord Draken of Orkney and beyond representing the trow, fairies and the various folk of his lands were also present for the hunt and discussion being, as they were, rulers of individual races and courts.
And these nobles foreign, exquisite and of beauty ethereal, as befitting their station waited for the sound of the hunting horn. At the front of the nobles assembled stood the Queen and her Prince Consort gazing at the wild haunts of the Highlands of the Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called. “Exquisite. Does it not please the eyes of my love who rivals the Gods in beauty in wisdom?”
“Aye, lord of my heart it does. And I hear that the humans of this area have all but forgot our power, ‘tis high time we let them taste our powers. And the Unseelie would rejoice in the relaxation of the precepts this once. But I must admit that is has been a long time since either of us last tasted the flesh of those humans who choose to step into our realm on the days of greatest magic.”
The Lady of the Highlands, she being most sensitive to the magic in her realm in her time of ascendancy approached the soft speaking couple. “My Queen; my Lord, it will be soon.”
“Then we shall being. Send the word out.” So it was said and done by the Winter blessed Queens’ servants.
Many of the crowd of wondrous creatures shimmered as if some soft silken mist had passed over their stately forms. The mist passed and lo, animals of great stature stood. Queen Castaras was a proud moon silver’d mare; her Prince Consort a fox, tall as a pony. The Lord and Lady of the Highlands were both great hounds with burning eyes; the rulers of the Southern Counties were a proud stag and hind; the Lady of Cornwall a majestic lynx; ruki – chan of Wales and Vespa of the Emerald Isle were likewise both noble wolves and the Lord Draken of the Northern Isles a fierce - eyed great sized hawk. Others of the Courts were strong – limbed stallions, dogs beyond number, vicious bears of magical speed and among the divs of Persia were many winged horses of the like not seen in European Courts for many a century.
Those lords and ladies of the Fair Folk not possessing the sublime power of shape shift mounted their steeds or stood expectantly awaiting the unspoken signal which would cause the horn of the hunt to sound out its thirsty rings. The death awaiting north wind cried his joy harder and set the unbound hair of the fay whipping through the wind, as did the manes of both the horses and fay – horses and the fur of the other animals rippled wildly like some great placid lake bestirred by an oncoming storm.
The birds took flight and hovered. Waiting.
Those still in human form began to breathe heavy, lusting after the joy that would dawn soon.
Up in the heavens where the gods ranged the moon in her pale war chariot sped faster through the gathering storm clouds. Her delicate attendants now dismissed, fearful of the slaughter and blood – joy to come. The clouds through which she raced boiled in their blackness casting the snow whitened and ivory glazed lands below in furiously flickering shadows.
The horn sounded, loud and widespread as thunder, yet it was not thunder.
The Winter Hunt; the wild hunt raced through the countryside sending mortals cowering under the rough bedcovers; wishing for the dream, so they thought it was, to be over. They knew down in their soul, where the childish fears were still kept, that this was not a night of mortals, but of the immortal wildlings and fay. They feared. ‘Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we dare not go a – hunting for fear of little men.’ How right they were.
But it was not ‘little men’ they had to fear this night, but the full might and awesome power of the Faery Courts. Any man foolish enough to be out on this night who did not bear iron – faery – killing iron – would be punished if they caught sight of the hunt. And as always, swift –footed Queen Castaras with a mane of sea foam was given the first letting of blood. And racing beside her always was her Exachix, sun blessed and trickster of the Court.
Though many of the hunt racing with careless grace through the dangerous, dramatic countryside were not in their mortal form the mesmerising refrains of ancient Sidhe songs made the valleys and hills echo with their otherworldly songs; songs which could bring the unsuspecting to their hunting grounds.
The songs set the rhythm of the run and the pounding of hooves and paws made the earth tremble below and the shrieks of the Faerys would split the air like lightening on the sighting of a worthy prey. Men, women and lords died, were taken away or given fright on their gleeful chase.
And the Courts rejoiced.

With a little quote from The Fairies as well.
I'm actually researching for this so feel free to google most of the names of the Courts and faeries if you're curious.

EDIT:
@^: Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called of the Highlands. And there may be some in the other thread/earlier in this one.

Well, yes, but... I still want to see one done. I'm an attention whore, after all.

Also: Nicely done.
Flee before me, foolish mortals! Fall before my blade! *crazed laughter*

@Thufir: Ooh! Pick me! *waves hand wildly in the air*

[Thufir]

It is written. Idea and some dialogue taken from The Merchant of Venice. I'm not entirely sure about the title, any suggested alternatives would be welcome.

The 3 Boxes

Spoiler

Show

Many suitors came seeking the hand of the fair lady Ego, but hers was not an easy heart to be won. For she had determined in her youth that she would be wed only to one who truly understood her. In the course of ordinary courtship, given the many attentions she received, this would be very difficult, so instead she devised a series of tests, through which those attentive and intelligent enough to pass might gain an insight into her way of thinking.
The exact nature of most of these tests is not necessary to this narrative. All that need be said of them here is that very few passed. The final test, however, is well-known and is in part the subject of this tale. A suitor who passed the various other tests would finally be admitted to a room, in which stood the Lady Ego, her trusted sister SMEE, and 3 boxes. The Lady Ego would then explain the test to them:
“Congratulations, sir, on progressing this far. All that is now between you and myself is a single pane of glass. You will see the three boxes in the middle of the room, of gold, silver, and lead, each with an inscription. My sister holds the keys. You may choose one key, to open one lock. If fortune favours you, and opening your chosen box you see my face therein, then we two shall wed. But if you choose wrong, you must leave, and never again hold any hope of marrying me. You are additionally bound by honour never to reveal to any other which of the boxes you chose.”
And so it went. On the golden box was inscribed: ‘Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.’ On the silver, ‘Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.’ And on the lead, ‘Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.’

The first to reach this final test was one Dallas-Dakota, a legionary of Cookiemonstroucities, and a most enthusiastically devoted young man. When presented with the test, he responded thus:
“What many men desire? Certainly many men desire the Lady Ego. But many men desire many things; she is hardly unique in that respect. As much as I deserve? Great though my love may be, I have little else to make me worthy of such a one as Lady Ego. But the lead! Though it be dull, unlike the first two boxes, yet this belies the more truthful sentiment: That he who loves, truly, must for the sake of his love be willing to give and hazard all that he has, as if ’twere nought of any worth, for compared with the value of his love, it is not. Thus I choose! The lead box! Give me the key!”
The Lady SMEE handed him the key, and he bounced back to the box to open it. Within, he saw no picture of his lady’s face, nothing but a neatly handwritten scroll.
‘You that choose not by the view,
Chance as fair and choose as true!
Incautiousness for e’er you’ll rue,
For the Lady weds not you.
In hazarding, you may not gain
Aught but love’s long-lasting pain.
For those who act on feelings plain
Shall comprehension ne’er attain.’
And so he left, a single tear dewing his eye.

“I thought he was nice.”
“Nice but impulsive. And he made the obvious choice. Putting it in the lead box because most men judge by appearances might have worked in Shakespeare’s time, but now, it’d be clichéd.”

The second was Raistlin, 1040th Lord of Earth, the 9th plane of Chaos.
“Let me see… Give and hazard all I have? I am too prudent for such incautious action. What many men desire? I think I will not choose what many men desire, because I will not jump with common spirits and rank me with the barbarous multitude. Which leaves silver… As much as I deserve? I think an objective assessment of my considerable intellect would indicate me to be deserving. In addition, of course, gold is the obvious choice for its richness, so the straight bluff would be to place the picture in the lead box as that rather is of scant value. Yet such a bluff in this day and age would be clichéd and at least as obvious as placing the picture in the golden box. Which again leaves silver. Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves. I will assume desert. Give me a key for this, and instantly unlock my fortunes here.”
Scarcely waiting for the key to be removed from the key ring, he snatched it and thrust it into the lock.
“Ah, and here… This is not the Lady Ego! This portrait shows the head of a blinking idiot! And a scroll.”
‘The fire seven times tried this;
Seven times tried that judgment is,
That did never choose miss.
Some there be that shadow's kiss,
And have but a shadow's bliss.
There be fools alive, iwis,
Silver'd o'er, and so was this.
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head:
So be gone; you are sped.

PS It’s a mirror.’
And so he stormed out, outraged at such an insult.

“Bit full of himself, that one, although I thought some of his reasoning made sense.”
“Indeed, he wasn’t unintelligent. Just not as intelligent as he thinks he is.”
“So the picture’s in the gold box after all.”
The Lady Ego smiled at her sister.

3rd came Randman, aka Agent 22222, about whom little was known other than his name, that he was intelligent, and that he was fairly wealthy. He was rumoured to be some kind of mercenary, despite his official-sounding title.
“Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath. Must give: For what? For lead? Hazard for lead? Men that hazard all either have little to hazard or are foolish in the extreme. For the silver, as much as I deserve is a fairly arbitrary quantity, and who can determine it definitively? Can’t really be properly quantified. What many men desire, though? I hear much, and I have heard from many sources the number of the Lady Ego’s suitors. And in all things I must look to worth: What worth is there in lead? ’Tis not worth the effort expended in carrying it. Silver is worth much, but ten times undervalued to tried gold. Where else should be the great prize of these tests but within the richest of furnishings? Deliver me the key: Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may!”
And so, like Dallas and Raistlin before him, he opened his chosen box… and read the scroll contained therein:
‘All that glisters is not gold,
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold,
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll'd.
Fare you well, your suit is cold.’
“Cold indeed, and labour lost: Then farewell, heat, and welcome, frost!”

“I can’t believe it! The whole thing is just an elaborate means of torturing men!”
“I personally think of it as simply a very stringent screening process.”
“One that removes 100% of the applicants.”
“And yet they keep coming. Amazing, isn’t it, what people will do when they possess that greatest of all treasures, which is Hope.”

“Such a test as this seems out of character, from what I have learned of you, Lady Ego.”
“Is that so, Lord Kael Roth?”
“Indeed. While these inscriptions advise the suitors, I feel assured opinion would be divided at any level of intelligence. You do not strike me, Lady Ego, as such a one to risk herself on a 1 in 3 random chance.”
“Perhaps I leave the identity of my husband to fate and the will of the Gods.”
“Or perhaps these tests are an elaborate façade. None of these boxes contains your picture, but since none may tell which box they chose, none realises this truth. You engender hope in your suitors, prevent them flocking after you in the course of regular courtship, and ultimately do not need to marry any of them, as indeed I believe ‘tis not your intent to marry.”
“Your understanding is impressive, my lord.”
“Indeed. But though I have heard that was the purpose behind these tests, now seeing your true purpose I will take my leave of you. I trust we will see each other again some day.”

“He had you bang to rights there. You’re running a shell game with your hand in marriage as the ball!”
“That’s a fairly accurate way of putting it, yes.”

“Congratulations, Sir Calamity, on progressing this far. All that is now between you and myself is a single pane of glass. You will see the three boxes in the middle of the room, of gold, silver, and lead, each with an inscription. My sister holds the keys. You may choose one key, to open one lock. If fortune favours you, and opening your chosen box you see my face therein, then we two shall wed. But if you choose wrong, you must leave, and never again hold any hope of marrying me. You are additionally bound by honour never to reveal to any other which of the boxes you chose.”
“I can’t see the glass.”
“Indeed not. We make the best glass in the world, I understand.”
“Hmmm. I’ve heard the point of subjecting all your suitors to these tests is a way of helping them to understand your way of thinking. Is that true?”
“Indeed.”
“So what have I learned from the other tests? I’d say I’ve learned to be cautious, not to trust anything I see, and to pay attention to all the fine details. Also, that while you give us the requisite information to solve a problem, you don’t have to make it obvious.” He glanced across the 3 boxes. “Certainly many men desire you, but many men also desire pizza, to choose an example completely at random. Deserving is hard to define clearly, but anyone saying a beautiful woman is what he or she deserves would seem a bit arrogant, I think. And giving and hazarding’s all very well, but it’s not exactly reliable, is it? Which is something of a conundrum, since from what we see, you have effectively hazarded yourself on a 1 in 3 chance of getting married to anyone who makes it this far. Why would someone like you do that?”
“Were I to tell you, how would you learn to understand me?”
“Fair point.” He peered through the glass for a while as if looking for something. “May I see the keys?”
The Lady SMEE held them up for him to see. He ran his finger slowly across the thin threads attaching each key to the ring, held his other hand up as if ready to pick one of them off, but then closed it on the air and dropped it to his side. He then walked across to the glass, ran his hand across it, knelt down by the bottom right hand corner, inserted the nigh-invisible glass key into the nigh-invisible glass lock, and turned it.
“At last, someone who really thinks! I will be happy to marry you sir…”
And so it was. The Lady Ego was married to Sir Calamity within the week, and they delighted their friends and acquaintances with shared wit, (Save for those friends and acquaintances towards whom the wit was sometimes uncharitably directed) and all who saw them agreed that you might travel the world all your life and never find another couple with such a great understanding of each other…

20 years later…
“Congratulations, good sir, on progressing this far,” said Moon, daughter of Lady Ego and Sir Calamity, “You see in this room there are 3 boxes, of gold, silver, and lead. They each have an inscription which may give you guidance, if you wish it. The keys to them are in the next room, along with all the ordinary keys for the house. You may choose one key, with which you may open one lock. And if behind that lock you find my picture, then you and I shall wed…”
And one by one, the suitors came, and she laughed to see how, with eyes only for the 3 ornate keys of gold, silver and lead, they all completely failed to notice just inside the door the small, unadorned key labelled ‘Portrait Gallery’…

[Raistlin1040]

*Giggles* That's totally how I talk when I'm in an intelligent mood too.

It's good.

[RabbitHoleLost]

I love all the ships posted today =D

You guys make me so happy when I come home from work <3

[Castaras]

The Winter Hunt

Spoiler

Show

Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
Our breasts are heaving our eyes are agleam,
Our arms are waving our lips are apart;
And if any gaze on our rushing band,
We come between him and the deed of his hand,
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,

The moon soared high in her silver chariot bejewelled with the dazzling stars who dance attendance to the night’s queen. Tonight she rode resplendent in her battle armour for tonight there would be a hunt.
The cruel north wind sang his battle song, wailing in his strident harsh voice as the blood thirst rose, steeping the countryside in instinctive fear and unnamed dread.
For this hunt was a cause of celebration; both the Prince Consort Exachix and the Queen Castaras of the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Isles were present because of a diplomatic chance. The divs of Persia and both the Lesser Seelie and Unseelie Courts of the Scottish Lowlands were all eager to discuss treaties of peace long lasting between the four courts; the two of Scotland being the lesser as the Lowlands were not governed by the Moon blessed Queen Castaras or the Sun blessed Exachix, though both were in their domain, but independent.
The Lord ruki – chan, being ruler of the Tylwyth Teg; the Lady Vespa of the Emerald Isle representing the Sidhe; the Lady Curly representing the fey folk of both Cornwall and the south and the Lord Draken of Orkney and beyond representing the trow, fairies and the various folk of his lands were also present for the hunt and discussion being, as they were, rulers of individual races and courts.
And these nobles foreign, exquisite and of beauty ethereal, as befitting their station waited for the sound of the hunting horn. At the front of the nobles assembled stood the Queen and her Prince Consort gazing at the wild haunts of the Highlands of the Lord Saurous and Lady Moon_Called. “Exquisite. Does it not please the eyes of my love who rivals the Gods in beauty and in wisdom?”
“Aye, lord of my heart it does. And I hear that the humans of this area have all but forgot our power, ‘tis high time we let them taste our powers. And the Unseelie would rejoice in the relaxation of the precepts this once. But I must admit that is has been a long time since either of us last tasted the flesh of those humans who choose to step into our realm on the days of greatest magic.”
The Lady of the Highlands, she being most sensitive to the magic in her realm in her time of ascendancy approached the soft speaking couple. “My Queen; my Lord, it will be soon.”
“Then we shall being. Send the word out.” So it was said and done by the Winter blessed Queens’ servants.
Many of the crowd of wondrous creatures shimmered as if some soft silken mist had passed over their stately forms. The mist passed and lo, animals of great stature stood. Queen Castaras was a proud moon silver’d mare; her Prince Consort a fox, tall as a pony. The Lord and Lady of the Highlands were both great hounds with burning eyes; the rulers of the Southern Counties were a proud stag and hind; the Lady of Cornwall a majestic lynx; ruki – chan of Wales and Vespa of the Emerald Isle were likewise both noble wolves and the Lord Draken of the Northern Isles a fierce - eyed great sized hawk. Others of the Courts were strong – limbed stallions, dogs beyond number, vicious bears of magical speed and among the divs of Persia were many winged horses of the like not seen in European Courts for many a century.
Those lords and ladies of the Fair Folk not possessing the sublime power of shape shift mounted their steeds or stood expectantly awaiting the unspoken signal which would cause the horn of the hunt to sound out its thirsty rings. The death awaiting north wind cried his joy harder and set the unbound hair of the Fay whipping through the wind, as did the manes of both the horses and Fay – horses and the fur of the other animals rippled wildly like some great placid lake bestirred by an oncoming storm.
The birds took flight and hovered. Waiting.
Those still in human form began to breathe heavy, lusting after the joy that would dawn soon.
Up in the heavens where the gods ranged the moon in her pale war chariot sped faster through the gathering storm clouds. Her delicate attendants now dismissed, fearful of the slaughter and blood – joy to come. The clouds through which she raced boiled in their blackness casting the snow whitened and ivory glazed lands below in furiously flickering shadows.
The horn sounded, loud and widespread as thunder, yet it was not thunder.
The Winter Hunt; the wild hunt raced through the countryside sending mortals cowering under the rough bedcovers; wishing for the dream, so they thought it was, to be over. They knew down in their soul, where the childish fears were still kept, that this was not a night of mortals, but of the immortal wildlings and Fay. They feared. ‘Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we dare not go a – hunting for fear of little men.’ How right they were.
But it was not ‘little men’ they had to fear this night, but the full might and awesome power of the Faery Courts. Any man foolish enough to be out on this night who did not bear iron – Faery – killing iron – would be punished if they caught sight of the hunt. And as always, swift – footed Queen Castaras with a mane of sea foam was given the first letting of blood. And racing beside her always was her Exachix, sun blessed and trickster of the Court.
Though many of the hunt racing with careless grace through the dangerous, dramatic countryside were not in their mortal form the mesmerising refrains of ancient Sidhe songs made the valleys and hills echo with their otherworldly songs; songs which could bring the unsuspecting to their hunting grounds.
The songs set the rhythm of the run and the pounding of hooves and paws made the earth tremble below and the shrieks of the Faerys would split the air like lightening on the sighting of a worthy prey. Men, women and lords died, were taken away or given fright on their gleeful chase.
And the Courts rejoiced.

More huggles for you Koorly!

And more ideas to add to the avvie...it's getting complicated!