>From 'Just When You Thought No One Would Say Another Word About This'
Productions:
PROLOGUE
She had been the Guardian of Time for over nine centuries
before the madness claimed her. She had fought it like the others
had, with everything she had and more. But in the end, like all
her predecessors, she snapped.
Pluto: Barney is god! I do love you, and you love me! Muhahahahaha!
What could have been flickered through her mind, flickering
across her vision, images fluttering like the pages of a book. It
could have been the madness but she could swear that she heard
cars
cards (I assume)
this time it was as loud as a thunderstorm. The voices swirled
around her once again, as they always do when that cacophony of
insanity came calling, and she could hear her. HER. Her nameless
tormentor saying the words in a flurry.
Youllneverhavehimnernevernevermineminehesallmine.
Hmm. I like that. Very...disturbing to me. Very effective.
Shuffle. Shuffle.
Gambler King: Go Fish. You lose.
People living, people dying. A multitude of newborns
screaming their first cry, drawing their first breath of air,
starting their lives. Children walking a thousand forked paths,
choices made by themselves and forced upon them by the vagaries
of fate, leading them to their destinies. Dying alone, living a
life of pain.
Picking their noses. Picking their asses. Too many roads to see. ^_^
Life and death, a million born as a million die,
Ah, finally hit population growth zero, I see.
seeing all
the infinite paths that was the chaos of Probability. An eternity
of lives passing through her mind in one endless second, another
waiting to take its turn and then the next one.
The mists swirled around her, her power pushing them away.
Power crackled up and down the ivory white staff, the
staff; the
orb that
topped it glowing with an unnatural light.
Fuscia? (I think that's certainly an unnatural color)
Shuffle. Shuffle. Flicker. Flicker.
HE
Stars exploded in her vision, as
don't think you need that comma
blinding her. Suns imploded while planets were born. Swirling
shadows in the blackness of space stared back at her as they
sucked her in.
Better than her sucking them, I suppose. ^_^
IS
She saw worlds, young and old. Molten lava flowed over the
surface of a fledgling sphere while icy winds blasted across the
lifeless husk of another. Red. White. Blue. Yellow,
should be a period.
Black. Green;
A colon instead of semi-colon here, I think.
MINE
Extinguished...
FOREVER
Snuffed...
ALWAYS
Destroyed.
MINE.
Greedy little voice, isn't it? Redundant too.
Her power reached its apex as the purple-pink glow of
energy erupted around her. Crackling arcs of energy danced all
over her prostrate form, up and down the staff's length and the
space around her. The mists were caught up in the power as they
whirled creating
whirled, creating (I think)
From the violently swirling mists around the Guardian of
time,
Shouldn't 'time' be capitalized here?
The pain came moments later, after the staff had clattered,
powerless, to the ground. The gloved hand still held it,
seemingly bound to the Time Staff by an invisible force. The
winds dissipated and the mists calmed as the power went away and
all was silent in this place outside of Time.
Neat. Nice imagery.
She held handless bloody stumps before her, the blood
coming out in spurts, crying her pain and shame in silent sobs.
Bah. Tis but a flesh wound.
The tears fell on the blade as it withdrew into the mists. In a
moment of clarity, she looked her side
something missing there. Not sure if it's a word or what.
and peered into the mists
>from underneath her hair.
The mists had settled down and came back to surround her,
enveloping everything in sight with tendrils of white. Her eyes,
blurred by tears, could not pierce the thick mists, but she knew
who was there.
Usagi: Whoops! Sorry about that, Setsuna. I know mom told me never to run
around with a knife in my hands, and I know I accidentily did this before
with Rei, but it really was an accident. Sorry.
Youllneverhavehimnernevernevermineminehesallmine.
"You know... I loved you.",
you," she
she weakly gasped out as she
forced herself to stand with difficulty. Without her hands it was
a hard task, but she managed. She could see the black silhouette
of her executioner before her. She swayed, feeling the loss of
blood and the shock of losing her hands. The Madness was raging
at the gates of her consciousness. She held it back. Damn if she
was going to die crazy. She would pass out of this existence as
she came into it,
She's going to go back into her mother's uterus?
sane as the day she was born. Sane as the day
she first held the staff and the power sang in her blood. She
smiled weakly. Is this what all her predecessors thought when
faced by the figure before her ?
Nah. The last one was thinking of cottage cheese before he bit it.
She saw the black form move and felt the cold steel of the
blade at her neck. She could also feel its warmth, the warmth of
its magic, hungry. Hungering for her. She tried to widen her
smile, tried to present her executioner with the face that he had
met so long ago. The beautiful face of a young girl, filled with
promise and hope.
Executioner: Nice try, but you're just old and skanky now, Pluto Baby.
her.
"Not yet.",
yet," responded
It moved silently and quickly like the autumn wind that
blew through the forests, that took dead leaves from the gnarly
drop 'the' and make it 'gnarled'.' Sounds better to me.
branches and sent them flying. The only sound that came in it's
its
passing was the thud of a body as it hit the ground.
"Now, you thank me."
Moments later, a great wind blew out from the Gates of
time.
Seems like this time should be capitalized too.
It pushed the mists out, out, out, leaving a path as it
whistled its way outward into the Lands of Time.
Like here.
some prologue
Chapter 1
The winds will always be there. They will always be
blowing. Through dark forests and bright meadows, the winds will
fly. They always have, they always will.
Until Entropy takes over, anyway.
Some winds converge and
become strong turning into tornadoes, ravaging everything in
their path, a symbol of destruction. Some winds blow with humble
meekness, silent and soft as a caress, giving succor and rest,
symbols of peace and serenity. The ocean winds blow and drive
great ships across the vast unknown, symbols of travel and
adventure.
Unless they sink, in which case they become nice homes for fish.
The cold winds blow, dragging dead leaves, blowing
through dead trees, bringing the cold of death with them. But
whatever they maybe,
may be
they are the winds, neither good nor bad,
but just the wind.
What about 'ill winds'? ^_^
Let us follow one such wind as it starts its journey. From
the top of a snow capped mountain,
How dramatic. Personally I would have started with 'From the crack of the
ass of some guy that had too much chili the night before.' :P
the cold wind flew down.
Beneath a setting sun, it howled down the mountain's steep face
towards the forest below. The forest's trees had become brown in
'with' would be better than 'in' IMO
approach of winter and the some
drop 'the'
But as all strong winds do, this one weakened, slowed. It
did not howl anymore as it reached the outer reaches
'reached...reaches' feel too close together. Perhaps 'arrived' for the
first.
Garnet shuddered as she felt the wind's cold touch caress
her bare skin. She rubbed her hands together and rubbed her arms,
With her legs? Better reword that slightly. perhaps a 'then' instead of
'and'
taking great care not to disturb the load on her back. Dressed in
simple woodsman clothes, she looked around her. She sighed in
relief as she saw a
'the' is better than 'a', I think
lightning blasted stump of a tree nearby. The
load of firewood on her back was getting heavier as time passed
Ah, so she's in an increasing gravity field. ^_^
and she was glad that she was getting close to home. Besides, the
sun was setting and though the twin moons, Castor and Pollux,
Oh? I thought those were the names of stars. Which planet is this then?
gave enough light for travelling at night, she would rather be
home with her grandparents. There were enough stories of haunted
Greenwood that most people avoided travelling it by night. Even
Tenchi, one of the bravest persons Garnet knew,
Except when it comes to choosing women.
hesitated going
into the Greenwood at night, even when she dared him.
Hitching up her shoulders, Garnet made sure the firewood
was secure and made sure
already used 'made sure'. Drop the second one and substitute 'and that her
braid'
her braid was alright. It wouldn't do
good
drop 'good'
to have her luxurious green hair damaged a few days before
the town festival. Several of the young women of the village
envied her hair and it was Garnet's pride and joy to wear it
loose when she went with her grandfather to the village every
seventh day for supplies. Most importantly, of course, is
was
that
Tenchi liked it. He'd praised the way she cared for it and how
she kept it as beautiful as it was. Garnet smiled a little as she
thought how much trouble she took to get his attention.
It had taken flashing her tits to get him to acknolwedge she existed.
Tenchi
was the son of the best carpenter in town. Nobuyuki Masaki had a
good eye and skilful
skillful
hands.
As Garnet found out every time she went to the Masaki household and he felt
her up.
He was always was called upon to
either fix a house or to make additions. Tenchi's grandfather was
the local priest of the Temple of Fire up near the foot of the
mountain. Though quite far apart the Gabrievs
Un oh. If Gourry comes up, this could be trouble. ^_^
and the Masakis
were the closest of neighbors, excepting for old Uncle Stivan in
his shack, and had quite a cordial relationship, even though the
Masakis were of the blood of Jurai. Garnet and Tenchi were the
best of friends growing up, and now that Garnet had just passed
her sixteenth summer, she decided that she wanted to be more than
just friends. Garnet grinned a little at how thick Tenchi could
be, but most men were like that, her grandmother told her,
pointing out her grandfather as an example.
Nah. He's just avoiding you, babe, so that he won't hurt your feelings when
he confesses his feelings for the town's air-headed constable. ^_^
She sighed again, as she felt the weight of her load as she
started up another hill.
I'd reword that. Perhaps.
again under the weight of her load as she
A few more hills and she would be at the
Gabriev homestead. Her family was quite well-off by local
standard
They had a brick outhouse instead of a wooden one.
and no one would just call the Gabriev residence a
homestead. More like a combination doctor's clinic, school,
sherrif's
sheriff's
office and sheep ranch.
and brothel, primarily for those that liked sheep. ^_^
Strange, but the Gabriev family
was always strange. For Garnet, it was more like boringly normal.
Yes, her Granny Lina taught her a little sorcery.
Lina: Yes, my young granddaughter. The Dragon Slave can he used for all
sorts of household chores, like killing spiders and such.
Yes, her
Grampa Gourry could still slice a tree into a hundred pieces at
the age of sixty.
Though it took him an hour to do it, and even then only if his arthritis
wasn't acting up.
Yes, the place is probably the most interesting
place in the entire thirty mile area, other than the Masaki
Shrine. But after having grown up in it, it kind of loses its
lost its
novelty.
True. There's nothing more boring than being in a land where nothing boring
happens.
What she wanted was adventure !
The kind that she heard her grandmother talk about when she
was a little girl and from all the stories she read in the family
library.
I can just imagine how Lina would have painted herself in the past
She wanted to go to some of the places she'd heard
about. To go to Cephiro and see its Magic Knights and their
titanic Mashins,
Sorry. Nothing there but three old biddies, a trio of rusted out hulks, and
a stuffed and mounted Makona left there now.
and go to the various beautiful places she read
about from the book The Knights of Cephiro. To see the beautiful
forests,
Slashed and burned to make way for condos.
the deep blue oceans,
Now black from all the oil spills.
and probably go to the floating
crystal islands in the sky.
Mined until there's nothing left but a couple of boulders hanging in
mid-air
Hey. It's progress, baby.
Just not Cephiro, she wanted to go to some of the other
worlds she had read about. To go to Autolyca, a world where magic
was non-existent and the law was upheld by the Knight Sabers,
like from the book by Ruby Lightfingers, The Three Knight Sabers,
one of Garnet's all-time favorites. Or maybe go to Jurai, where
Tenchi's ancestors came from, and see the Great Trees,
reconstructed by the Empress Serenity XXII's magic, may the Light
shine always upon her name. Even maybe to the capital itself,
Selene, a world constructed by the Empire's greatest magicks and
technologies, a world in itself with no need for a star to warm
it, all governed by the power of the Silver Shard, the last piece
of the Silver Crytal.
Ah, but what about other places, like Apokolips and the home of the every
cuddly Darkseid? Now there's a cool place to hang out. Always something
happening there.
She might even get to see a Senshi, not one of the lesser
ones created for the other worlds but the Planet Senshi,
descendants of the original seven who held their titles.
Sailors Sneezy, Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Doc. Now there
were some tough senshi there. They didn't take crap from nobody.
They were really badly written, but Garnet wasn't exactly
after the writing. The novels were from the Guardians series
printed sometime before she was born. They were about the
Guardians, the men who supplemented the Inner Senshi in defending
the Empress and her daughter. Usually drawn from those of noble
blood, they were always portrayed as incredibly handsome,
chivalrous, and all the stuff that women liked in men.
Regretably, it turned out that most of the real guardians were, in truth,
crossdressers. Like The Last Knight of the Rose, Utena Tenjou. Or The Lord
of Okonomiyaki, Ukyou Kuonji.
walk home. Tenchi had taught it to her one time when they were
children. He called it Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku, in Juraian that
meant Ultimate Destiny Apocalypse. It was from this story that he
had heard from his grandfather about a prince who dueled to have
the Bride of the Rose.
Well, I was close.
It ended like all fairy tales, with the
prince riding off into the sunset with his bride.
Only to have their horse stumble into a tiger pit trap where they ended up
impaled in a bunch of wooden stakes. Those were Garnet's favorite tales.
Tenchi told her
that it was probably one of the most beloved of Juraian legends
and that his grandfather told him that every year they celebrate
it at Jurai by holding a great tournament of the sword where the
winner gets to claim the Rose Bride as his wife. Well, that is,
if she accepts.
Depends on if she's a shallow tramp or not, eh?
They weren't the totally uncivilized barbarians
like some of Terrans believed them to be.
Just mostly uncivilzed barbarians.
grandmother wouldn't do it, losing her only heir in the Art would
be a big
'great' sounds better than 'big' IMO
> Garnet set off once again, trying to recover from the
effects of the vision. From what her grandmother knew, she was a
natural Seer. Probably a powerful one, that's why her visions
were so strong and affected her deeply. She'd looking
She went looking
"He's mine."
The words seemed to come from behind her again. She
hopped to it, ignoring the female voice.
"He's mine. Always remember that. He will always be
mine.",
mine,' the
**********
Lina Gabriev looked staight
straight
across the table and into her
guest's eyes.
"What are you doing here ?"
"Is it not enough for me to visit old friends ?"
Got to be Xellos
"More like old puppets.",
puppets,"
nice work and an interesting start. Has a very epic feel to it. Very epic.
Slow and steady set the pace. Nice to finally get back on the C+C
bandwagon.
D.B. Sommer