((thanks, Amethyst!)) Couple Going For A Midnight Stroll: AAAACK!!! *upon sight of the dead body* Girl: Call an ambulance! Call the police! Heck, call ANYBODY! *is hysterical and hyperventilating, trying not to look at the body* Boy: Uh, isn't that Mr, uh, whatshisbame, um... Anyway, he's the guy who, uh... *trues to remember* Girl: I DO NOT GIVE A HOOT!!! JUST CALL AN AMBULANCE!!! *is trying not to panic* Boy: *dials a number into his phone quickly* Hello? Hi, this is, um... (the conversation continues and the trench coat clad figure chuckles silently from the shadows*
Fay: *pushes through crowd* Sorry, excuse me, move up there... *sees the body* Bruce Parker? Why would somebody want to murder HIM? He can't be all that bad... *crowd coughs awkwardly, looks down at feet, shuffles slightly*
Police 1: *mummers quietly* I think we might need to get an autopsy for this. Police 2: *stares at the body* What was he doing out here at night? He must have been crazy...
I won't be able to come on here that much for the next few days, because today is my birthday, so there will be lots of family over, tomorrow there is something happening, Monday, I am repainting my room (some dark blue colour that looks like TARDIS blue), and Tuesday, I'm going to see the Lego movie with some friends to celebrate my birthday!
*Surprise hugs* Hey, guys! And happy birthday, Rueben!
So I'm back. Because I love Skulduggery Pleasant, and because you guys were so friendly last time around :) how are you guys doing? Revising for exams?
This might be a little strange, and people might not agree with it, and it's just my opinion, but... I just heard the song "Classic" by mkto, and I loved it. It's just so upbeat and cheerful, plus it's so sweet! But, l have to say one thing. The first part of the rap wasn't all that brilliant. "Baby you're class And baby you're sick I never met a girl like you Ever til we met" *sigh* That was the only annoying part of the rap, tbh. And it just irritates me how some songs have raps in them that just don't follow the actual message of the song! It's not that I hate that type of music, just that the lyrics and sometimes the rhythm don't... match, I guess. Most songs actually sound good with the rap (Can't Hold Us, to name one), but it's just these that don't, and they annoy me. I don't know why I'm even saying/ranting this... And sometimes the lyrics of some songs are just weird. And completely overdone. And maybe the teensiest bit meaningless. That's just my opinion. But yeah. That's been annoying me for a while and I needed to get it out. I know some people don't agree with my point of view, and that's just it. My point of view. I'm not saying it's right, just that I think it. Yeah. Where has this even gone... :P
Yeah, Star- Adra's too far away from them anyway. Even if she WANTED to come back and help, I don't think she could.
And, about this plan of all of yours- the funeral? I don't know if he's used his copy-making skills, but something tells me that he could put it to good use... That is, he's able to make duplicates of himself.
Bear in mind :)
Also, my best advice would be that your plan, whatever you all decide on, you shouldn't make assumptions about what he can do. He has so many abilities- even ones you don't know about. If it's going to be a trap, it has to be airtight, and with no chance of him EVER leaving your grasp.
*a blue-green sphere of energy bursts into being around me, shattering the dark spikes around me* *I form a hardened disk of energy and soar into the air, high above Blake*
Heavens, I hope this works . . .
*forms an energy blade in my hands* *and leaps off* *ready to dramatically skewer Blake*
((Torture you? If I was torturing you it'd be much worse. Now concentrait, I'm sure Chi would prefer you weren't killed. Or maimed, or anything along those limes in general))
*Watches Anni carefully* *Steps aside at the last moment and spins, kicking Anni in the side of the head. A concentrated explosion of shadow accompanies the kick, sending her flying*
((I'm not intelligent. I can't spell. I'm an idiot. I spelt intelligent wrongly there. I think I missed out an L. I've always been bad at spelling. I still can't spell ....got damit I spelt solider wrong. I always spell that wrong... *runs away and cries In the corner*))
*spins wildly in the air* OW! *lands on feet, skidding a few yards before I come to a halt* Humph. I suppose you do have that advantage over me. I know next to nothing of physical combat.
*slams both hands to the ground* *energy crackles into the earth* *and a spiderweb like dome springs up from the ground and envelopes Blake, crackling like a cartoon electric fence*
Nice trick ya got there *Sinks into his shadow* *Speaks from directly behind her, having rose back out of her shadow* But you really need to learn about my abilities *Karate chops her in the neck, just above her collar bone. Effectively knocking her unconscious*
(I will take this as an el perfecto momento for me to make my exit, as I am being called away to dinner. Farewell, my friend, and a good fight it was indeed.)
*Looks around a bit startled at the building that suddenly sprang up around him* *realizes it's the hotel* *Picks up Anni and sets her on a couch in the lobby then walks outside* Well that was fun. A good refresher after a long break.
(sorry if this is crap - I lose my passion on rewrites . . .)
Okay, so you know what I was saying earlier about how bands cannot be defined into one genre because they're unique to themselves and nothing like them has ever quite existed before? Well, this is true for all 'proper' bands, and your definition of 'proper' will vary depending on who you are, but I can almost guarantee you will agree with me so long as this indefinitive 'proper' is there. :) People are even more unique than bands, as art is based on life and people are life. If you're speaking to me, no one like you has ever existed. You bring something new to the world. And if you think you have flaws - well, you can't be determined without being stubborn. You have to have flaws to be awesome, and if you think you have lots of flaws . . . you must be very awesome, then. :) Even if I dislike someone, then if I know them for a while, I begin to be fond of them just because they're THEM. And if you know people . . . you gain from them, because they give you something new you've never discovered before. You add to me like if I was stealing your true name, except you keep your name, and all I have is a memorystickful of you. You can't define which part of me you gave me and which was me before, but it all just grows into me and through me and defines my very being, so it's all just me, and you make me me. You make me me. I would not be the same without you. And if you were to be destroyed . . . I would still be me, still be defined by knowing you, but part of my soul would be gone. Disappeared. Shattered. And I would never be the same.
Is that not a brilliant metaphor?
And you see, that argument yesterday sucked. It was awful. It irritated and upset so many of us. And yet, out of that bit horrible knot of frustration came a beautiful metaphor. Everything bad has good in it.
The other day, someone said this - "I realized once when I was hiding in the crack between the wall and an open door, that from my perspective, the door was closed. But if I opened the door, it would be closed from a different perspective. So no matter where you put a door, it will always be both closed and open. But they're open a lot more often than closed. Because they're only closed if you're directly facing the door, which you can only do from two positions, and from every angle in between the door is varying degrees of open. *waits for Star to make a metaphor out of this*"
And I said: "Well . . . according to Frozen, love is an open door. So I suppose . . . I suppose it's easier to love someone if you know them than hate them, so you have to be pretty damn obstinate to keep skipping around in a semi circle, always attempting to keep the door closed. I find that if I know someone for quite a while, I start to become fond of them simply because they're THEM, even if I initially disliked them amd they've given me no reason not to dislike them.
You can also see 'love is an open door' with love being things to love. Fabi's old profile picture - "Everything has its beauty, but not everyone can see it" (think it was that). If you don't love something, you just need to see it from a different angle in order to see the beauty. . . . Damn. Which means I could probably learn to love the Morganville Vampire covers. DAMN. Also, if you can see how to love something, but you prefer standing behind a closed door, then what does that say about you? Closed doors are dead ends. Block your vision. Open doors lead you to a new place, allow you to move on and grow. *suddenly feels rather guilty about all the closed doors in my life*"
So if you can't see the good in something, like living . . . You just need to move around a bit until you see the door from a different perspective, and then you'll realise that it was open all along. :)
She doesn't think about her actions. She doesn't think all of us feel bad when she says those things to Adra. Why would she even tell us that she was planning to kill herself and mention Em? Does she not think that Em would feel guilty?
Chione, I do not think she thought of anything. I believe she made a choice, and she probably followed through. If she has not replied to anyone, I have a feeling she never will.
@Jayden No please don't say that. I don't want another person gone. I don't want to lose another person from my life. Whether I have met the IRL or not I don't want to lose anyone. There's always hope. There HAS to be hope. Without hope I'm just an empty shell. So please don't says she's gone. Just the idea is making me cry. Just, please. Let me hope.
I just read where star said Oscars initials (ON) were cool. But... well, I guess no ine knows Snow's middle name. I haven't really talked about it. But Snow's initials are SOS.
Xd I am being a moron. I'm dancing around my room (which is a feat in itself, because I hardly have any room in my room) like a maniac. I am doing so many tacky dances as well as some even more tacky ones that I myself have invented. XD
I love how you're all so used to my odd pictures and names that you don't even ask anymore. Though sometimes I'd just love to explain the story behind it.
XD im contemplating the chicken nugget because yesterday we were eating various chicken bits and I stopped and just stared at a nugget for a bit. When my mum finally asked what I was doing, I came out with "contemplating life" to which my mum replyed "through a chicken nugget?".
And I came out with "one can see the whole universe through a chicken nugget. I am contemplating the chicken nugget"
Well I figure if I put anybody then someone who's just a head would get offended. If I put humans? Then people would say they're not human. It was the best way I could phrase it. Although any being with conscious thought might be wrong as well because some aren't physical beings...oh this is hard.
Any living being whether physical or not that has conscious thought and internet access or is linked to a computer and channels their subconscious thoughts and dreams onto here
It's okay, I know he's a bastard. I love him anyway. :)
I don't know if he's here today, though. :/ He wasn't here yesterday, and idk how long the issue will take to get resolved. I don't think he is online today . . . :/
I shall take this opportunity to post my belated instalment. :)
Ez flicked through the photos on Hunter's phone, and Hunter, carefully registering the energy of the other cars in the background, watched her face, watching for her eyes to widen in recognition. They moved, her vision darting over the picture, but remained focused, calm . . . oh. There it was. Ez's pretty dark brown eyes widened. "You know him," Hunter said for her, as she opened her mouth. He looked back at the road and undertook a car in front of them, before whizzing up to steadily plod behind the next obstructive lump of plastic and metal. "I do," said Ez. "He was an Ashnight." "Show," instructed Hunter, and glanced at the picture she turned towards him. "I don't know him. However, I recognised three of the other ones. All Ashnights." "Three?" There hadn't been a huge amount of people in the little group. "Three," clarified Hunter. "Did you get any names?" Hunter took his phone off her, whizzed to the left page, and handed it back. Ez looked down them. Didn't remember. "Search them in the -" "Yes." Ez searched the names in the system. All of them came up. “They better not be,” said Hunter. “Oh, they better not be. The idiots.” “Explain?” asked Ez. Hunter hit the steering wheel, hard, the impact feeling odd against his gloveless, scar-absent hands. “They’re killing out all the early Ashnights, trying to stop us forming, growing. Which is utterly stupid because then you have a paradox and the world could explode.” “This is purely theoretical,” Ez reminded him. “Of course,” said Hunter, “but they’re taking that chance?” He remembered finding out about time travel.
“But you can’t create a paradox,” J10 added. “Why not?” asked Hunter. “Because the world would explode,” replied J10. Hunter blinked. “Really?” That would be rather fun to watch from a distance. “No,” said J10, “but something equally bad would happen. And as you live in the world, the world exploding would not be very good for you, or anyone you know. Anyone. The consequences would be unthinkable. Don’t even try it.” It was an exceedingly confusing metaphor for a robot, and Hunter knew J10 hadn’t thought it up itself. M.E. had put it there, to the detail. That strong investment was worrying; it meant it was serious. “What if I create a paradox unintentionally?” “That can’t be helped, but don’t attempt it.” “What if I create a very small paradox?” “So long as the world mostly remains intact, you should be fine. I would advise not to take humans time travelling with you very much, though. Your body will take care of any damage done, but humans are not so resilient.”
He’d created a small paradox once, just for fun, involving a milk bottle. The milk bottle had exploded, which was an awful waste of milk. Another minor side effect was that Hunter had also exploded, which was rather shocking and painful, but fortunately he’d had the presence of mind to heal himself before he was reduced to a bloody mess. He had a feeling that if the paradox had been larger, the explosion would have been more intense; more violent, with greater speed. The only other time he’d voluntarily made a paradox was when he was teaching Ez what to do if she ever found herself exploding. You didn’t make paradoxes, and the robots should know that better than anyone. It was puzzling. “Sorry, what?” Hunter asked Ez. “I wasn’t listening.” She repeated. “Apparently, they are. Either way, we have to stop them.” “Yes,” agreed Hunter. “Could we not just ditch Leanne, though, and stalk old Ashnights until the – oh.” “They might be expecting - ?” “Yeah.” Ez nodded.
Hunter sighed and undertook another couple of cars, sighing at how maddening far from ‘home’ they still were.
-
Ella and Jack’s home wasn’t big. Hunter would have really liked to get them a huge, interesting house, because he liked houses like that, but that would have been unnecessary expense and besides, he’d already picked the car. Just because it made sense, however, didn’t mean Hunter had to like it. He’d blown up the front door yesterday (he’d lost his key and was trying to get in), and prior to that, he’d broken the table, and also had almost thrown a remote through the TV before realising that it wasn’t the TV’s fault it was stuck here and teleporting over and catching it. He was thinking that maybe he could steal all the doors and build a radiation shelter out of them, but he would have to do that after he broke the windows due to the fact that windows were kind of needed as an extra radiation shield, and he hadn’t worked out why he would want to break the windows yet. He thought maybe he could just break a window or two and just take it from there. You see? This was what boredom and ten-hour drives drove people to. “Okay,” said Ez. “I think we need to talk to the police.” Hunter blinked at her. “Who’s done what?” “Those dead people?” Ez asked. “Oh, yes,” said Hunter. “Race you.” Hacking the security was laughable. So much so that it resulted in Ez winning, Hunter immobilised with laughter. “Are you alright?” she asked him. “Left,” corrected Hunter, and then laughed again. “Oh my gosh. It’s so old. It’s like trying to hack a barbeque. It isn’t even a computer.” “Uh-huh,” said Ez. Hunter climbed back on the sofa. “Okay.” She linked their phones, and he looked at it. “Okay.” Leanne’s murder had not been the first that had occurred in the area in recent months. They pulled up the pictures and didn’t recognise any of the victims. “Maybe they are or would have been Ashnights,” Ez said, “but now . . .” “Or maybe they’re just random people,” said Hunter. “I don’t even understand why the robots would do this. This is so dangerous . . .” “Do you think,” said Ez slowly, “that they’re receiving orders from someone else?” Hunter looked at her. “I am such an idiot,” he said, punching a cushion. “Of course. So we just need to find this idiot.” “Unless M.E. gets them.” “In the past? It’ll take it a while.” “Okay,” said Ez. “Now to trace people without going near them.” “We use Leanne,” Hunter nodded. Ez nodded back.
Leanne was sitting at a table in the corner with one of the pipes and her friend, who was thin, taller than Leanne (but Leanne wasn't that tall), and had long dark wavy hair, a darker brown than Ez's, but thinner, and - well, Ez's hair just rocked, which maybe Hunter only thought because he liked playing with it but it still meant it won. Leanne's eyes widened when she saw them and she waved. Hunter waved back, and Ez smiled, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, and they sat down on the dark blue sofa-style seating that stretched along the back wall. Ez sat down first and scooted along, so she was opposite Leanne, leaving Hunter opposite Imogen, who was looking and him and Ez in a rather detached way. "Hello," said Hunter, in that way he did, leaning back against the sofa. "Hi," Leanne said, a little nervously. "Um," - she pointed to her friend - "this is Imogen. And this is -" "Ella," Ez filled in, guessing Leanne wouldn't know. "And Jack." Leanne nodded. "Those are ACE candles," Hunter jumped in, before the awkward silence could start, tracing the trails of wax with his gloved hand. The gloves. He probably shouldn't be drawing attention to them. "They're nice to look at, aren't they?" Leanne agreed. "They remind me of stalactites and stalagmites." "And I never see why," objected Imogen, "because they aren't pointy." Any hanging points of wax had been snapped off by countless customers. "It's just the general look," Hunter told her with a smile, still gazing at the candles. "The myriad patterns of white. The waxy feel." Ella loved how Jack could describe things like that. “Besides,” Ez added, “they used to be pointy. The points just got snapped off.” “But they aren’t pointy now,” Imogen stated. “That’s beside the point,” said Hunter, to which Ez laughed, and, after a pause to let the meaning sink in, he continued – “They’re still the same thing even if they’re a bit broken. If you got your arm cut off, you’d still be Imogen, wouldn’t you?” “But the points are what make stalactites and stalagmites stalactites and stalagmites. If -” “If you got your mind changed rather than your arm, you wouldn’t be Imogen, because the thing making you Imogen would no longer be there. Yes.” “So I’m right,” Imogen summed up. “What?” asked Hunter, looking amazed. “I said it!” Imogen glared at him. “But it was my point!” “I still said it,” Hunter insisted. “But I thought of it,” said Imogen. “Yes, but . . .” Hunter thought, trying to think a way out of this. “But I said it.” “You’ve run out of arguments.” “No, I haven’t. I’m just sticking with this one because you haven’t devalued it yet.” “Yes, I have. You said my idea. It’s still my idea, you’re just the sayer of the idea.” “I’m not as sayer of the idea.” “Yes, you are, you said the idea.” Hunter paused again. “Ez, help me out here!” Ez looked up from exchanging helpless looks with Leanne. “Yes?” Hunter poked her. “Help.” Ez looked at them. “Um.” “That’s cheating,” said Imogen. “No,” said Hunter, “it’s phoning a friend.” “You haven’t phoned anyone.” Hunter got out his phone and dialled Ez’s number. Ez rolled her eyes and lifted her phone to her ear. “Yes?” “I’m phoning you,” Hunter told her. “Really?” asked Ez, “I would never have guessed.” “Help me out?” begged Hunter. “Why should I?” Hunter chucked his phone at Ez. “I give up.” He nodded to Imogen. “You win.”
Imogen nodded, as if it was only what she would have expected. Hunter began thinking of loopholes in the rules of the universe he could exploit in order to recruit Imogen, but in the meantime – “How are you?” he asked Leanne. “Okay, thanks,” she said, nodding, smiling slightly, not feeling it. Ez broke in. “Do they know who . . . ?” “The investigation is apparently ongoing,” Leanne said, her voice quiet. Hunter nodded at her, his eyes telling her he understood, some of his memories shining out of them. Which wasn’t really great, because he didn’t like thinking about that stuff. Ez changed the subject to a shop across the road, asking if it was any good. Leanne and Imogen were saying they didn’t know. “We’ve only just moved here, you see,” Ez explained. “We don’t know anywhere.” Hunter nodded, the colour metaphorically coming back into his eyes. Of course, they stayed the same shade of blue, an empty shell. “We have to walk around the shops in circles getting lost like pathetic people. It’s embarrassing.” He pulled a face, and they laughed. “Nice you’re admitting it,” Ez said, rolling her eyes, then complained – “He always says he knows where he’s going, but he really doesn’t and we just end up more lost than before.” “No!” protested Hunter. “Yes,” insisted Ez. “Give me an example,” Hunter demanded. “Yesterday,” Ez reminded him, “when you said you knew a shortcut back to the car park, and where did we end up?” “Well,” said Hunter, and then threw up his hands in frustration. Ez rolled her eyes. “We’ll show you around a bit, if you like,” offered Leanne. “You would?” asked Ez. She nodded. “Damn, that’d be helpful,” said Hunter, looking relieved. “It’s actually pretty hard to get lost,” said Imogen, frowning. “It’s not a complex city.” “Don’t make me feel worse,” Hunter muttered. “Awh,” said Ez, rubbing his shoulder with her hand. “Don’t worry, I love you anyway.” He looked at her. “Were you sounding mocking there?” “. . . No . . .” said Ez slowly, looking like she was trying to look innocent. Leanne laughed at them. This situation was hard to manoeuvre. Probably good practise, though.
They left (past tense of leave; not Hunter being funny), and Imogen said they might as well show Ella and Jack how to get from one shopping centre to the other, because that was really all the knowledge they’d need. “Do you want me to drive us all in my car?” Hunter asked. “Our car,” said Ez. “Partially my car,” agreed Hunter. “Which can be abbreviated to my car.” “Okay . . .” said Leanne, thinking this over. Hunter nodded. “I have a cool car.” “We have a cool car and a very crappy house,” Ez lamented. “It was worth it for the car,” Hunter told them. “Shouldn’t someone who knows where they’re going be driving?” Imogen asked. “We have to learn,” Ez pointed out. They paid the bill and Hunter proudly led them to his car. “Okay,” admitted Leanne. “It’s a cool car.” “Yeah,” said Hunter. “I’ve seen cooler,” said Imogen. “Who’s the best at directions?” Hunter asked, sitting behind the wheel. “Imogen,” said Leanne. “She can explain things really well.” “Imogen in the front, then,” Ez said, sitting behind the passenger seat. Leanne and Imogen got in. “Okay,” said Hunter. “What do I do first?” “Start the engine,” Ez told him. “Well, no.” He started it and began carefully sliding out of his parking space. “You two are really sweet together,” said Leanne. “Oh,” said Ez. “Thanks.” “What’s the ship name?” asked Imogen. “I’ve never really thought about that,” Hunter said. “Pleased you want to ship us, though.” “Who wouldn’t?” “It’s the chemistry, I think . . .” said Leanne, nodding. “You really like each other as well, and you can tell, and . . . it’s cute.” Hunter almost smashed into the car in front from the distraction, but managed to keep cool. “Okay, on the road,” he said. “We can see that,” Ez told him. “I can do without the sarcastic comments, thanks,” Hunter said edgily. “Okay,” said Imogen. “When I say so, turn to the left.” A few second passed. “Now.” Hunter blinked his indicator on, and a second later, swung left. They continued down the road, navigated a roundabout and slowed down by a series of traffic lights. “So how do you guys know each other?” asked Ez, as they were approaching the roundabout. “Oh,” said Leanne. “We were at school together. We go to separate universities, so we don’t see each other much these days, though . . .” “It’s nice you’ve kept in touch,” Hunter said. “Take the third exit,” Imogen told him. Hunter carefully moved around it, looking up at the grey structure of concrete arching over the roundabout. “Why is there a building on top of us?” “It’s a road,” said Leanne. “You know that road you often come into the city on . . . ?” “No,” said Hunter. “What’s it doing on top of us?” “Well,” said Imogen. “It just is.” “Inconsiderate of it,” muttered Hunter. “Jack, take the exit,” Ez reminded him. “Oh, exit!” said Hunter, quickly turning off, mouthing an apology to a driver he was cutting in front of. “Are you sure you should be driving?” Imogen asked him. “No,” said Hunter. “But it’s cool, it’s cool. What universities are you guys at?” Imogen and Leanne began talking, telling Hunter and Ez fragments of their lives, and Jack and Ella asked, batting the conversation easily across the court, whilst Hunter marvelled at how young they were.
How could you possibly have enough experience to do anything when you had only been alive such a short time? But he supposed you had to gain experience, somehow. Tally had been this young when she died. That wasn’t fair. But what was in life? Ez caught his eye in the mirror, saying focus. Hunter looked up and tried to catch the flow of the conversation again. “Is that the shopping centre?” he asked. “The first one, yes,” Imogen told him. “Follow the signs for the car park.” He could do that easily enough. The car park was two storeys, but wide. They had quaint little ticket machines. You slowed at the barrier and reached out to push the button, and a ticket came out, which you held onto. Ez would have to remind him what to do with the ticket. They slid into a parking space and walked out. “Okay,” said Imogen. “There’s a cinema on the top floor, and below that, there’s all the places where you can get food. On the ground floor are the other shops.” “Easy enough system,” Hunter nodded. They walked down the stairs until they got to the bottom floor, which was predictably wide and flanked by shops. “Then you walk out this end,” Imogen told them. “Not past Tesco, the other end.” “Okay,” said Ez, showing she’d understood. “Do you guys want to buy anything?” asked Hunter. “I don’t need anything in particular . . .” mused Leanne. “If we see anything,” Imogen decided. She was apparently the decision-maker. They walked across the floor and outside, onto the street they’d driven down, with all the traffic lights. “Do we just go across?” asked Hunter. “Yeah,” said Leanne, and they waited at the first pelican crossing. The little green man popped up and they walked across, then ran to catch the next set. After that it was only a little side lane, so they just cheated and walked across that. “Out of shopping centre, across road,” Hunter recounted. “Yup,” approved Imogen. “Easy. Okay, then you walk along to the left . . .” Hunter stopped suddenly, then kept walking before anyone could notice, or bump into them. Robots. Wow, they were appearing everywhere. He wrapped his arm around Ez, and squeezed her shoulder meaningfully. She looked up at him, and she’d sensed them too, he could tell. They needed to follow them. But here, now?
Then Leanne froze, and this was noticeable. “Imogen,” Hunter said – she was in front – to stop her walking off. Leanne was staring, wide eyes, shock. “That’s him,” she said. “That’s . . .” She’d seen the robot. “We can’t just let him get away,” said Hunter. “But what can we do?” Hunter stared at her helplessly. Then – “Follow him,” he said. “What’s going on?” asked Imogen. Hunter ran back and over the crossing whilst the green man was still there, keeping his eyes on the robot on the other side of the road. “That’s the guy who murdered Tally,” Hunter said. “So your plan is to what, stalk him?” asked Imogen, but she was also shocked, he could see it in her eyes. “You have a better plan?” asked Hunter. “The police,” said Imogen. “Photographic evidence,” chipped in Ez. Hunter nodded and took a picture with his phone, then they scuttled across the next crossing. The robot was walking further up the street now. Too far away, but too close. Hunter and Ez’s energy . . . It would be mingled by all the people and cars, but . . . “But the police won’t know where he is,” said Hunter. “We need to keep track of him.” The man turned green, and they started walking. “I’ll go and get the car,” said Ez. “I can get the police and bring them to where you are, if you keep following.” “Good thinking,” said Hunter, passing her the weird ticket thing. She kissed him on the cheek. “Love you.” Then she dashed off, back towards the shopping centre. Hunter hoped she knew what to do with the ticket.
A novel or short story that builds up tention....isn't that basically every single successful book? That isn't nonfiction? That's not a very good question. Which makes it a hard question. Which makes it a good question.
Get this, though - we've had to do this Romeo and Juliet essay for 25% of our GCSE. The first half we've already done and that was on Romeo and Juliet. The second half is linking Romeo and Juliet to poetry. Before you do this assessment, you need to look at fifteen poems. My friend's class have only done one poem and they only have five more lessons before the assessment. What the fuck. :O
@Chi: Then you should have picked another incident. :( Because you lose marks on structure, as far as I'm aware. And, yeah. Tense, negative language. *nods* Foreshadowing?
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Couple Going For A Midnight Stroll: AAAACK!!! *upon sight of the dead body*
Girl: Call an ambulance! Call the police! Heck, call ANYBODY! *is hysterical and hyperventilating, trying not to look at the body*
Boy: Uh, isn't that Mr, uh, whatshisbame, um... Anyway, he's the guy who, uh... *trues to remember*
Girl: I DO NOT GIVE A HOOT!!! JUST CALL AN AMBULANCE!!! *is trying not to panic*
Boy: *dials a number into his phone quickly* Hello? Hi, this is, um...
(the conversation continues and the trench coat clad figure chuckles silently from the shadows*
Trench Coat Dude: *grins again and slinks from the shadows, as the the sun begins to peep over the horizon*
(after a few minutes, sirens are heard wailing faintly in the distance)
(Police arrive at the scene. Caution tape surrounds the area. A crowd starts to form.)
Crowd: *murmurs* What happened? Who is that guy?
Hysterical Old Lady In Crowd: Oh no! It's Bruce Parker, the movie star ! *faints*
*the crowd whispers, knowing that everybody in town hated him*
*somewhere in the crowd, Trench Coat Dude smiles*
((Is there a specific way you wanted the victim to be killed?))
Fay: *pushes through crowd* Sorry, excuse me, move up there... *sees the body* Bruce Parker? Why would somebody want to murder HIM? He can't be all that bad...
*crowd coughs awkwardly, looks down at feet, shuffles slightly*
((I'm fine with anything, Amethyst!))
Police 1: *mummers quietly* I think we might need to get an autopsy for this.
Police 2: *stares at the body* What was he doing out here at night? He must have been crazy...
((Sorry! I have to leave now! :( Bye!))
So do I, actually! Bye!
Punch him in the jaw-aw-aw-aw-aw
WHEN IS THIS WRAP-AROUND COVER COMING?!?!?!?!?!
HE SAID NEXT WEEK LAST WEEK WHICH MEANS THIS WEEK!!!!!
Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me for tommorow! I will be 13, finally!
Hullo! Anybody here??
I'm here :/
Awesome, Rueben! And Duck, maybe on Saturday? Possibly later today? Perhaps on Sunday? I dunno.
Hello?
-I walk out of the forest-
Anyone here?
I'm here
*She's sitting, bouncing her leg anxiously*
*Her hair is still wet from being newly washed*
*Bits of blood are still left under her nails*
Perhaps not, then.
New post.
It is my birthday right now!! I was born at 6:27 am, April the 5th 2001
I won't be able to come on here that much for the next few days, because today is my birthday, so there will be lots of family over, tomorrow there is something happening, Monday, I am repainting my room (some dark blue colour that looks like TARDIS blue), and Tuesday, I'm going to see the Lego movie with some friends to celebrate my birthday!
*Surprise hugs* Hey, guys! And happy birthday, Rueben!
So I'm back. Because I love Skulduggery Pleasant, and because you guys were so friendly last time around :) how are you guys doing? Revising for exams?
- Tia
Happy Birthday, Rueben. I wish you the best on your special day.
This might be a little strange, and people might not agree with it, and it's just my opinion, but...
I just heard the song "Classic" by mkto, and I loved it. It's just so upbeat and cheerful, plus it's so sweet!
But, l have to say one thing. The first part of the rap wasn't all that brilliant.
"Baby you're class
And baby you're sick
I never met a girl like you
Ever til we met"
*sigh*
That was the only annoying part of the rap, tbh.
And it just irritates me how some songs have raps in them that just don't follow the actual message of the song! It's not that I hate that type of music, just that the lyrics and sometimes the rhythm don't... match, I guess. Most songs actually sound good with the rap (Can't Hold Us, to name one), but it's just these that don't, and they annoy me. I don't know why I'm even saying/ranting this...
And sometimes the lyrics of some songs are just weird. And completely overdone. And maybe the teensiest bit meaningless. That's just my opinion.
But yeah. That's been annoying me for a while and I needed to get it out. I know some people don't agree with my point of view, and that's just it. My point of view. I'm not saying it's right, just that I think it. Yeah. Where has this even gone... :P
Ugh! I lost my entire comment!
Damn.
okay, well, what I was saying was..
Yeah, Star- Adra's too far away from them anyway. Even if she WANTED to come back and help, I don't think she could.
And, about this plan of all of yours- the funeral? I don't know if he's used his copy-making skills, but something tells me that he could put it to good use... That is, he's able to make duplicates of himself.
Bear in mind :)
Also, my best advice would be that your plan, whatever you all decide on, you shouldn't make assumptions about what he can do. He has so many abilities- even ones you don't know about. If it's going to be a trap, it has to be airtight, and with no chance of him EVER leaving your grasp.
*nod*
Dammit, wrong post.
((Hello!))
((Guys?))
(Sorry, I commented, but then the limit had been reached, so I have to re-type my next comment . . .)
((Everyone here? Of course I see no reason for anyone to have gone to an older post by accident, we're all perfectly intelligent here))
((Hello.))
Well I'm here.
((Are we Blake? Are allll of us perfectly intelligent here? Are you forgetting about yourself again?))
((I'm sorry I couldn't resist))
*a blue-green sphere of energy bursts into being around me, shattering the dark spikes around me*
*I form a hardened disk of energy and soar into the air, high above Blake*
Heavens, I hope this works . . .
*forms an energy blade in my hands*
*and leaps off*
*ready to dramatically skewer Blake*
((<.<))
((Even in death you torture me))
((Torture you? If I was torturing you it'd be much worse. Now concentrait, I'm sure Chi would prefer you weren't killed. Or maimed, or anything along those limes in general))
*Watches Anni carefully*
*Steps aside at the last moment and spins, kicking Anni in the side of the head. A concentrated explosion of shadow accompanies the kick, sending her flying*
((I'm not intelligent. I can't spell. I'm an idiot. I spelt intelligent wrongly there. I think I missed out an L. I've always been bad at spelling. I still can't spell ....got damit I spelt solider wrong. I always spell that wrong... *runs away and cries In the corner*))
FUCK I JUST LOST A REALLY GOOD SPEECH. -_-
#ChaseForBookNine
Silente, why are you now Echo?
((**lines! Not limes! Yes autocorrect I mean lines! L-i-n-e-s! Any thing along those limes doesn't even make sense in that concept!))
Okay.
*sighs*
Okay.
*rewrites*
#ChaseForBookNine
((Because real me= sleeping in a glass box waiting to be put six foot under.))
*spins wildly in the air*
OW!
*lands on feet, skidding a few yards before I come to a halt*
Humph. I suppose you do have that advantage over me. I know next to nothing of physical combat.
*slams both hands to the ground*
*energy crackles into the earth*
*and a spiderweb like dome springs up from the ground and envelopes Blake, crackling like a cartoon electric fence*
*turns into The Dark Shadow and revives Silente*
*turns back*
(*hugs Star*
I know that pain.
My computer has crashed many times, resulting in similar tragedy, so trust me,
I know that pain.)
((Yeah no I've been...gone...for 3 days now. And asked not to be resuscitated.))
Nice trick ya got there
*Sinks into his shadow*
*Speaks from directly behind her, having rose back out of her shadow*
But you really need to learn about my abilities
*Karate chops her in the neck, just above her collar bone. Effectively knocking her unconscious*
((And I'm in an enclosed ice box..))
((*nods* I remember that move. Erebus got sick of me squirming. She he dropped me and knocked me out. Charming fellow.))
*comically stands there for a second*
Oh.
*falls over unconscious*
*somewhere, in the distance, a bell is ringing*
*and the Midnight Hotel flourishes from the ground, growing up around Blake and I*
((**so))
(I will take this as an el perfecto momento for me to make my exit, as I am being called away to dinner. Farewell, my friend, and a good fight it was indeed.)
((Bye Clara!))
*Looks around a bit startled at the building that suddenly sprang up around him*
*realizes it's the hotel*
*Picks up Anni and sets her on a couch in the lobby then walks outside*
Well that was fun. A good refresher after a long break.
So...
Basically if Zaf takes her own life tonight. It'll be on my shoulders, because of me.
Great!
Just fucking...
((Cya, and good fight. For a novice you made me pull out more tricks than I expected))
((It won't be because of you.))
(Why, thank you, Blake.
And no, Emerald, no.
Don't you ever,
EVER,
call anything that Zafira does your fault.)
Has she replied to anyone? It has been almost a half hour, if she has not yet spoken to anyone, I would be concerned.
She hasn't replayed to my emails.
(sorry if this is crap - I lose my passion on rewrites . . .)
Okay, so you know what I was saying earlier about how bands cannot be defined into one genre because they're unique to themselves and nothing like them has ever quite existed before?
Well, this is true for all 'proper' bands, and your definition of 'proper' will vary depending on who you are, but I can almost guarantee you will agree with me so long as this indefinitive 'proper' is there. :)
People are even more unique than bands, as art is based on life and people are life.
If you're speaking to me, no one like you has ever existed.
You bring something new to the world.
And if you think you have flaws -
well, you can't be determined without being stubborn. You have to have flaws to be awesome, and if you think you have lots of flaws . . . you must be very awesome, then. :)
Even if I dislike someone, then if I know them for a while, I begin to be fond of them just because they're THEM.
And if you know people . . . you gain from them, because they give you something new you've never discovered before.
You add to me like if I was stealing your true name, except you keep your name, and all I have is a memorystickful of you.
You can't define which part of me you gave me and which was me before, but it all just grows into me and through me and defines my very being, so it's all just me, and you make me me. You make me me. I would not be the same without you.
And if you were to be destroyed . . . I would still be me, still be defined by knowing you, but part of my soul would be gone. Disappeared. Shattered. And I would never be the same.
Is that not a brilliant metaphor?
And you see, that argument yesterday sucked. It was awful. It irritated and upset so many of us.
And yet, out of that bit horrible knot of frustration came a beautiful metaphor.
Everything bad has good in it.
The other day, someone said this -
"I realized once when I was hiding in the crack between the wall and an open door, that from my perspective, the door was closed. But if I opened the door, it would be closed from a different perspective. So no matter where you put a door, it will always be both closed and open. But they're open a lot more often than closed. Because they're only closed if you're directly facing the door, which you can only do from two positions, and from every angle in between the door is varying degrees of open. *waits for Star to make a metaphor out of this*"
And I said:
"Well . . . according to Frozen, love is an open door.
So I suppose . . . I suppose it's easier to love someone if you know them than hate them, so you have to be pretty damn obstinate to keep skipping around in a semi circle, always attempting to keep the door closed.
I find that if I know someone for quite a while, I start to become fond of them simply because they're THEM, even if I initially disliked them amd they've given me no reason not to dislike them.
You can also see 'love is an open door' with love being things to love. Fabi's old profile picture - "Everything has its beauty, but not everyone can see it" (think it was that). If you don't love something, you just need to see it from a different angle in order to see the beauty.
. . .
Damn.
Which means I could probably learn to love the Morganville Vampire covers.
DAMN.
Also, if you can see how to love something, but you prefer standing behind a closed door, then what does that say about you? Closed doors are dead ends. Block your vision. Open doors lead you to a new place, allow you to move on and grow.
*suddenly feels rather guilty about all the closed doors in my life*"
So if you can't see the good in something, like living . . .
You just need to move around a bit until you see the door from a different perspective, and then you'll realise that it was open all along. :)
*hugs*
#ChaseForBookNine
**replied
That applied to both Zaf and Silente.
#ChaseForBookNine
She doesn't think about her actions. She doesn't think all of us feel bad when she says those things to Adra. Why would she even tell us that she was planning to kill herself and mention Em? Does she not think that Em would feel guilty?
That was a good speech. A long speach, but a good one. Damn your getting good at speeches.
Chione, I do not think she thought of anything. I believe she made a choice, and she probably followed through. If she has not replied to anyone, I have a feeling she never will.
I'm crap at speeches, Silente . . . :) But thanks.
I've written so many speeches like that, but I'm so out of practise . . .
I should probably copy and paste them. I have so many good metaphors, but you can only take them so far and then you're repeating yourself . . .
#ChaseForBookNine
@Jayden No please don't say that. I don't want another person gone. I don't want to lose another person from my life. Whether I have met the IRL or not I don't want to lose anyone. There's always hope. There HAS to be hope. Without hope I'm just an empty shell. So please don't says she's gone. Just the idea is making me cry. Just, please. Let me hope.
Has anyone tried talking to someone she looks up to? I feel maybe, that would help. Nobody should want to die.
Gtg now guys. See y'all real soon.
Hey peoples!
Yo Amy, got any glitter bombs on you?
No...sorry. Why? I have a glitterhrower. Would that work?
*glitterthrower
Guys, i'll be leaving now. I have an exam tomorrow. I need to sleep.
Wish me luck for my English exam! i'll need it.
*hugs Blake really tightly* I love you so so much ok? *kisses him*
Bye Chione. Good luck.
Good luck, Chi! :)
#ChaseForBookNine
So, how are you guys?
I'll be better when you start using that glitterthrower o-o
*aims glitterthrower towards sky*
*shoots it so glitter rains down*
What's wrong that you need glitter?
now on a happier note, hello everyone, how are you?
ITS OKAY ZAFS ALIVE! UNLESS SHES DONE SOMETHING BETWEEN NOW AND 10:09 GMT THEN SHES ALIVE.
Bye.
Hello Maralie. I'm fine. What about you?
well...it's quiet...
Breathe...
Hello.
Hello.
Dynamite
Hello Zafira!
Anyone on?
I'm bored...
I just read where star said Oscars initials (ON) were cool. But... well, I guess no ine knows Snow's middle name. I haven't really talked about it. But Snow's initials are SOS.
Snow Oblivion Stormberg
Snow!
I'm really not here, but I had a question for you....
Not sure what it was...
Meh.
Hello Snow! Hello Fabi!
Watch the LIES unfold.
The people we love the most are always the ones who lie most cunning!
http://youthinkyouknowaperson.blogspot.ie/
If you think of it, email me, fab. If I'm not here, that is.
It was something to do with the blue envelope... GAH.
Nvm. Probably won't remember it at this point.
Hi Amethyst! Sorry I'm not really here. :-(
It's okay. I'm kinda distant and not here either...
Okay...
Yeah. I distant too. May drop in and out.
Hi...!
Hello?
Hello?
Hi!
How are you?
I actually have to go now. Sorry... :-(
I'm good. What about you?
Okay. Bye.
Hello?
Oh.
4-ish hours late.
Yay.
:P
Serious? *gazes at the universe* You're serious? Not one single person?
*whispers softly*
Nobody?
Listening to thriller on full blast XD
Listenig to my mp4 on shuffle. And most of the songs on it are from the 80's and 90's. XD. Listening to the stalker song (every move you make)
Snow! Hi! Somebody's on! *hugs*
Snow! Hi! Somebody's on! *hugs*
How did that double with 2 minutes in between? :/
XD
I actually have some amazing songs on this thing.. c:
Msd. D:
*suddenly disappears*
Sorry... :(
XD
Bye...?
Xd I am being a moron. I'm dancing around my room (which is a feat in itself, because I hardly have any room in my room) like a maniac. I am doing so many tacky dances as well as some even more tacky ones that I myself have invented. XD
XD Sounds brilliant.
Is anybody on?
Hello...?
I love how you're all so used to my odd pictures and names that you don't even ask anymore. Though sometimes I'd just love to explain the story behind it.
SNOW! *hugs*
So, uh, why are you contemplating the chicken nugget, then? :)
FAY *flicks*
*flicks back*
*TWICE*
(I am so hardcore, as you can tell)
XD im contemplating the chicken nugget because yesterday we were eating various chicken bits and I stopped and just stared at a nugget for a bit. When my mum finally asked what I was doing, I came out with "contemplating life" to which my mum replyed "through a chicken nugget?".
And I came out with "one can see the whole universe through a chicken nugget. I am contemplating the chicken nugget"
:D I always knew chicken nuggets held the secrets of the universe.
Msd
*flicks 3 times*
*BOOM, VISIOUS*
Wbd for about 2 minutes. Possibly 3.
That they do.
Kay
*gasps, shocked*
Oh no you didn't...
*flicks back*
*FOUR TIMES*
Yeah! *snaps fingers* Beat THAT!
And I am back. :)
Any being with conscious thought?
I love the way you phrased that. :)
#ChaseForBookNine
Well I figure if I put anybody then someone who's just a head would get offended. If I put humans? Then people would say they're not human. It was the best way I could phrase it. Although any being with conscious thought might be wrong as well because some aren't physical beings...oh this is hard.
Any living being whether physical or not that has conscious thought and internet access or is linked to a computer and channels their subconscious thoughts and dreams onto here
@Silente: You could have just said 'people'. :P
I say 'people'.
If I say 'humans', Hunter tells me I'm racist. :P
Did I tell you that my friend B thinks Hunter is just such a bastard? :)
#ChaseForBookNine
Yeah that seems less offence and excluding. *nods*
Why does he think Hunters a bastard?
*she
Well, because he's just so mean. :P
It's okay, I know he's a bastard. I love him anyway. :)
I don't know if he's here today, though. :/ He wasn't here yesterday, and idk how long the issue will take to get resolved.
I don't think he is online today . . . :/
Meh.
#ChaseForBookNine
I didn't think Hunter was a bastard. In fact I though he was charming in a weird way. A different kind of charming.
Thank you on his behalf. :) *hugs*
Aw.
You're nice.
He's charming AND weird AND different AND a bastard, though. :P
#ChaseForBookNine
Charming, weird and different yes, but I've met worse people. He's just a little different, and unique. Gtg food! BBS!
Okay.
And - yeah . . . sure. :P
Well
you've met Alastair
who is, admittedly, a lot worse, but . . .
#ChaseForBookNine
I shall take this opportunity to post my belated instalment. :)
Ez flicked through the photos on Hunter's phone, and Hunter, carefully registering the energy of the other cars in the background, watched her face, watching for her eyes to widen in recognition.
They moved, her vision darting over the picture, but remained focused, calm . . . oh. There it was.
Ez's pretty dark brown eyes widened.
"You know him," Hunter said for her, as she opened her mouth. He looked back at the road and undertook a car in front of them, before whizzing up to steadily plod behind the next obstructive lump of plastic and metal.
"I do," said Ez. "He was an Ashnight."
"Show," instructed Hunter, and glanced at the picture she turned towards him. "I don't know him. However, I recognised three of the other ones. All Ashnights."
"Three?"
There hadn't been a huge amount of people in the little group.
"Three," clarified Hunter.
"Did you get any names?"
Hunter took his phone off her, whizzed to the left page, and handed it back.
Ez looked down them. Didn't remember.
"Search them in the -"
"Yes."
Ez searched the names in the system.
All of them came up.
“They better not be,” said Hunter. “Oh, they better not be. The idiots.”
“Explain?” asked Ez.
Hunter hit the steering wheel, hard, the impact feeling odd against his gloveless, scar-absent hands. “They’re killing out all the early Ashnights, trying to stop us forming, growing. Which is utterly stupid because then you have a paradox and the world could explode.”
“This is purely theoretical,” Ez reminded him.
“Of course,” said Hunter, “but they’re taking that chance?”
He remembered finding out about time travel.
“But you can’t create a paradox,” J10 added.
“Why not?” asked Hunter.
“Because the world would explode,” replied J10.
Hunter blinked. “Really?”
That would be rather fun to watch from a distance.
“No,” said J10, “but something equally bad would happen. And as you live in the world, the world exploding would not be very good for you, or anyone you know. Anyone. The consequences would be unthinkable. Don’t even try it.” It was an exceedingly confusing metaphor for a robot, and Hunter knew J10 hadn’t thought it up itself. M.E. had put it there, to the detail. That strong investment was worrying; it meant it was serious.
“What if I create a paradox unintentionally?”
“That can’t be helped, but don’t attempt it.”
“What if I create a very small paradox?”
“So long as the world mostly remains intact, you should be fine. I would advise not to take humans time travelling with you very much, though. Your body will take care of any damage done, but humans are not so resilient.”
He’d created a small paradox once, just for fun, involving a milk bottle. The milk bottle had exploded, which was an awful waste of milk. Another minor side effect was that Hunter had also exploded, which was rather shocking and painful, but fortunately he’d had the presence of mind to heal himself before he was reduced to a bloody mess. He had a feeling that if the paradox had been larger, the explosion would have been more intense; more violent, with greater speed. The only other time he’d voluntarily made a paradox was when he was teaching Ez what to do if she ever found herself exploding.
You didn’t make paradoxes, and the robots should know that better than anyone.
It was puzzling.
“Sorry, what?” Hunter asked Ez. “I wasn’t listening.”
She repeated. “Apparently, they are. Either way, we have to stop them.”
“Yes,” agreed Hunter. “Could we not just ditch Leanne, though, and stalk old Ashnights until the – oh.”
“They might be expecting - ?”
“Yeah.”
Ez nodded.
TBC
Hunter sighed and undertook another couple of cars, sighing at how maddening far from ‘home’ they still were.
-
Ella and Jack’s home wasn’t big. Hunter would have really liked to get them a huge, interesting house, because he liked houses like that, but that would have been unnecessary expense and besides, he’d already picked the car.
Just because it made sense, however, didn’t mean Hunter had to like it. He’d blown up the front door yesterday (he’d lost his key and was trying to get in), and prior to that, he’d broken the table, and also had almost thrown a remote through the TV before realising that it wasn’t the TV’s fault it was stuck here and teleporting over and catching it.
He was thinking that maybe he could steal all the doors and build a radiation shelter out of them, but he would have to do that after he broke the windows due to the fact that windows were kind of needed as an extra radiation shield, and he hadn’t worked out why he would want to break the windows yet. He thought maybe he could just break a window or two and just take it from there.
You see? This was what boredom and ten-hour drives drove people to.
“Okay,” said Ez. “I think we need to talk to the police.”
Hunter blinked at her. “Who’s done what?”
“Those dead people?” Ez asked.
“Oh, yes,” said Hunter. “Race you.”
Hacking the security was laughable. So much so that it resulted in Ez winning, Hunter immobilised with laughter.
“Are you alright?” she asked him.
“Left,” corrected Hunter, and then laughed again. “Oh my gosh. It’s so old. It’s like trying to hack a barbeque. It isn’t even a computer.”
“Uh-huh,” said Ez.
Hunter climbed back on the sofa. “Okay.”
She linked their phones, and he looked at it. “Okay.”
Leanne’s murder had not been the first that had occurred in the area in recent months. They pulled up the pictures and didn’t recognise any of the victims.
“Maybe they are or would have been Ashnights,” Ez said, “but now . . .”
“Or maybe they’re just random people,” said Hunter. “I don’t even understand why the robots would do this. This is so dangerous . . .”
“Do you think,” said Ez slowly, “that they’re receiving orders from someone else?”
Hunter looked at her. “I am such an idiot,” he said, punching a cushion. “Of course. So we just need to find this idiot.”
“Unless M.E. gets them.”
“In the past? It’ll take it a while.”
“Okay,” said Ez. “Now to trace people without going near them.”
“We use Leanne,” Hunter nodded.
Ez nodded back.
-
It was an . . . unusual café. Dark wooden table, and black walls, the floor tiled in dark stone to match. On each table was a candle, or two, stuck into a saucer, or a tier holder, or, oddly enough, a short length of pipe, each end bent upwards to hold a candle. The wax had dripped down onto the various holders, forming elaborate twisted masses.
TBC
Leanne was sitting at a table in the corner with one of the pipes and her friend, who was thin, taller than Leanne (but Leanne wasn't that tall), and had long dark wavy hair, a darker brown than Ez's, but thinner, and - well, Ez's hair just rocked, which maybe Hunter only thought because he liked playing with it but it still meant it won.
Leanne's eyes widened when she saw them and she waved. Hunter waved back, and Ez smiled, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, and they sat down on the dark blue sofa-style seating that stretched along the back wall. Ez sat down first and scooted along, so she was opposite Leanne, leaving Hunter opposite Imogen, who was looking and him and Ez in a rather detached way.
"Hello," said Hunter, in that way he did, leaning back against the sofa.
"Hi," Leanne said, a little nervously. "Um," - she pointed to her friend - "this is Imogen. And this is -"
"Ella," Ez filled in, guessing Leanne wouldn't know. "And Jack."
Leanne nodded.
"Those are ACE candles," Hunter jumped in, before the awkward silence could start, tracing the trails of wax with his gloved hand.
The gloves. He probably shouldn't be drawing attention to them.
"They're nice to look at, aren't they?" Leanne agreed. "They remind me of stalactites and stalagmites."
"And I never see why," objected Imogen, "because they aren't pointy."
Any hanging points of wax had been snapped off by countless customers.
"It's just the general look," Hunter told her with a smile, still gazing at the candles. "The myriad patterns of white. The waxy feel."
Ella loved how Jack could describe things like that.
“Besides,” Ez added, “they used to be pointy. The points just got snapped off.”
“But they aren’t pointy now,” Imogen stated.
“That’s beside the point,” said Hunter, to which Ez laughed, and, after a pause to let the meaning sink in, he continued – “They’re still the same thing even if they’re a bit broken. If you got your arm cut off, you’d still be Imogen, wouldn’t you?”
“But the points are what make stalactites and stalagmites stalactites and stalagmites. If -”
“If you got your mind changed rather than your arm, you wouldn’t be Imogen, because the thing making you Imogen would no longer be there. Yes.”
“So I’m right,” Imogen summed up.
“What?” asked Hunter, looking amazed. “I said it!”
Imogen glared at him. “But it was my point!”
“I still said it,” Hunter insisted.
“But I thought of it,” said Imogen.
“Yes, but . . .” Hunter thought, trying to think a way out of this. “But I said it.”
“You’ve run out of arguments.”
“No, I haven’t. I’m just sticking with this one because you haven’t devalued it yet.”
“Yes, I have. You said my idea. It’s still my idea, you’re just the sayer of the idea.”
“I’m not as sayer of the idea.”
“Yes, you are, you said the idea.”
Hunter paused again. “Ez, help me out here!”
Ez looked up from exchanging helpless looks with Leanne. “Yes?”
Hunter poked her. “Help.”
Ez looked at them. “Um.”
“That’s cheating,” said Imogen.
“No,” said Hunter, “it’s phoning a friend.”
“You haven’t phoned anyone.”
Hunter got out his phone and dialled Ez’s number.
Ez rolled her eyes and lifted her phone to her ear. “Yes?”
“I’m phoning you,” Hunter told her.
“Really?” asked Ez, “I would never have guessed.”
“Help me out?” begged Hunter.
“Why should I?”
Hunter chucked his phone at Ez. “I give up.” He nodded to Imogen. “You win.”
TBC
Imogen nodded, as if it was only what she would have expected.
Hunter began thinking of loopholes in the rules of the universe he could exploit in order to recruit Imogen, but in the meantime – “How are you?” he asked Leanne.
“Okay, thanks,” she said, nodding, smiling slightly, not feeling it.
Ez broke in. “Do they know who . . . ?”
“The investigation is apparently ongoing,” Leanne said, her voice quiet.
Hunter nodded at her, his eyes telling her he understood, some of his memories shining out of them.
Which wasn’t really great, because he didn’t like thinking about that stuff.
Ez changed the subject to a shop across the road, asking if it was any good.
Leanne and Imogen were saying they didn’t know.
“We’ve only just moved here, you see,” Ez explained. “We don’t know anywhere.”
Hunter nodded, the colour metaphorically coming back into his eyes. Of course, they stayed the same shade of blue, an empty shell. “We have to walk around the shops in circles getting lost like pathetic people. It’s embarrassing.” He pulled a face, and they laughed.
“Nice you’re admitting it,” Ez said, rolling her eyes, then complained – “He always says he knows where he’s going, but he really doesn’t and we just end up more lost than before.”
“No!” protested Hunter.
“Yes,” insisted Ez.
“Give me an example,” Hunter demanded.
“Yesterday,” Ez reminded him, “when you said you knew a shortcut back to the car park, and where did we end up?”
“Well,” said Hunter, and then threw up his hands in frustration.
Ez rolled her eyes.
“We’ll show you around a bit, if you like,” offered Leanne.
“You would?” asked Ez.
She nodded.
“Damn, that’d be helpful,” said Hunter, looking relieved.
“It’s actually pretty hard to get lost,” said Imogen, frowning. “It’s not a complex city.”
“Don’t make me feel worse,” Hunter muttered.
“Awh,” said Ez, rubbing his shoulder with her hand. “Don’t worry, I love you anyway.”
He looked at her. “Were you sounding mocking there?”
“. . . No . . .” said Ez slowly, looking like she was trying to look innocent.
Leanne laughed at them.
This situation was hard to manoeuvre. Probably good practise, though.
TBC
They left (past tense of leave; not Hunter being funny), and Imogen said they might as well show Ella and Jack how to get from one shopping centre to the other, because that was really all the knowledge they’d need.
“Do you want me to drive us all in my car?” Hunter asked.
“Our car,” said Ez.
“Partially my car,” agreed Hunter. “Which can be abbreviated to my car.”
“Okay . . .” said Leanne, thinking this over.
Hunter nodded. “I have a cool car.”
“We have a cool car and a very crappy house,” Ez lamented.
“It was worth it for the car,” Hunter told them.
“Shouldn’t someone who knows where they’re going be driving?” Imogen asked.
“We have to learn,” Ez pointed out.
They paid the bill and Hunter proudly led them to his car.
“Okay,” admitted Leanne. “It’s a cool car.”
“Yeah,” said Hunter.
“I’ve seen cooler,” said Imogen.
“Who’s the best at directions?” Hunter asked, sitting behind the wheel.
“Imogen,” said Leanne. “She can explain things really well.”
“Imogen in the front, then,” Ez said, sitting behind the passenger seat.
Leanne and Imogen got in.
“Okay,” said Hunter. “What do I do first?”
“Start the engine,” Ez told him.
“Well, no.”
He started it and began carefully sliding out of his parking space.
“You two are really sweet together,” said Leanne.
“Oh,” said Ez. “Thanks.”
“What’s the ship name?” asked Imogen.
“I’ve never really thought about that,” Hunter said. “Pleased you want to ship us, though.”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“It’s the chemistry, I think . . .” said Leanne, nodding. “You really like each other as well, and you can tell, and . . . it’s cute.”
Hunter almost smashed into the car in front from the distraction, but managed to keep cool. “Okay, on the road,” he said.
“We can see that,” Ez told him.
“I can do without the sarcastic comments, thanks,” Hunter said edgily.
“Okay,” said Imogen. “When I say so, turn to the left.”
A few second passed.
“Now.”
Hunter blinked his indicator on, and a second later, swung left. They continued down the road, navigated a roundabout and slowed down by a series of traffic lights.
“So how do you guys know each other?” asked Ez, as they were approaching the roundabout.
“Oh,” said Leanne. “We were at school together. We go to separate universities, so we don’t see each other much these days, though . . .”
“It’s nice you’ve kept in touch,” Hunter said.
“Take the third exit,” Imogen told him.
Hunter carefully moved around it, looking up at the grey structure of concrete arching over the roundabout. “Why is there a building on top of us?”
“It’s a road,” said Leanne. “You know that road you often come into the city on . . . ?”
“No,” said Hunter. “What’s it doing on top of us?”
“Well,” said Imogen. “It just is.”
“Inconsiderate of it,” muttered Hunter.
“Jack, take the exit,” Ez reminded him.
“Oh, exit!” said Hunter, quickly turning off, mouthing an apology to a driver he was cutting in front of.
“Are you sure you should be driving?” Imogen asked him.
“No,” said Hunter. “But it’s cool, it’s cool. What universities are you guys at?”
Imogen and Leanne began talking, telling Hunter and Ez fragments of their lives, and Jack and Ella asked, batting the conversation easily across the court, whilst Hunter marvelled at how young they were.
TBC
I dedicate this page to people.
#ChaseForBookNine
How could you possibly have enough experience to do anything when you had only been alive such a short time? But he supposed you had to gain experience, somehow.
Tally had been this young when she died.
That wasn’t fair.
But what was in life?
Ez caught his eye in the mirror, saying focus. Hunter looked up and tried to catch the flow of the conversation again.
“Is that the shopping centre?” he asked.
“The first one, yes,” Imogen told him. “Follow the signs for the car park.”
He could do that easily enough.
The car park was two storeys, but wide. They had quaint little ticket machines. You slowed at the barrier and reached out to push the button, and a ticket came out, which you held onto.
Ez would have to remind him what to do with the ticket.
They slid into a parking space and walked out.
“Okay,” said Imogen. “There’s a cinema on the top floor, and below that, there’s all the places where you can get food. On the ground floor are the other shops.”
“Easy enough system,” Hunter nodded.
They walked down the stairs until they got to the bottom floor, which was predictably wide and flanked by shops.
“Then you walk out this end,” Imogen told them. “Not past Tesco, the other end.”
“Okay,” said Ez, showing she’d understood.
“Do you guys want to buy anything?” asked Hunter.
“I don’t need anything in particular . . .” mused Leanne.
“If we see anything,” Imogen decided.
She was apparently the decision-maker.
They walked across the floor and outside, onto the street they’d driven down, with all the traffic lights.
“Do we just go across?” asked Hunter.
“Yeah,” said Leanne, and they waited at the first pelican crossing.
The little green man popped up and they walked across, then ran to catch the next set.
After that it was only a little side lane, so they just cheated and walked across that.
“Out of shopping centre, across road,” Hunter recounted.
“Yup,” approved Imogen. “Easy. Okay, then you walk along to the left . . .”
Hunter stopped suddenly, then kept walking before anyone could notice, or bump into them.
Robots.
Wow, they were appearing everywhere.
He wrapped his arm around Ez, and squeezed her shoulder meaningfully. She looked up at him, and she’d sensed them too, he could tell.
They needed to follow them.
But here, now?
TBC
#ChaseForBookNine
Then Leanne froze, and this was noticeable.
“Imogen,” Hunter said – she was in front – to stop her walking off.
Leanne was staring, wide eyes, shock. “That’s him,” she said. “That’s . . .”
She’d seen the robot.
“We can’t just let him get away,” said Hunter.
“But what can we do?”
Hunter stared at her helplessly. Then – “Follow him,” he said.
“What’s going on?” asked Imogen.
Hunter ran back and over the crossing whilst the green man was still there, keeping his eyes on the robot on the other side of the road.
“That’s the guy who murdered Tally,” Hunter said.
“So your plan is to what, stalk him?” asked Imogen, but she was also shocked, he could see it in her eyes.
“You have a better plan?” asked Hunter.
“The police,” said Imogen.
“Photographic evidence,” chipped in Ez. Hunter nodded and took a picture with his phone, then they scuttled across the next crossing.
The robot was walking further up the street now. Too far away, but too close. Hunter and Ez’s energy . . .
It would be mingled by all the people and cars, but . . .
“But the police won’t know where he is,” said Hunter. “We need to keep track of him.”
The man turned green, and they started walking.
“I’ll go and get the car,” said Ez. “I can get the police and bring them to where you are, if you keep following.”
“Good thinking,” said Hunter, passing her the weird ticket thing.
She kissed him on the cheek. “Love you.”
Then she dashed off, back towards the shopping centre.
Hunter hoped she knew what to do with the ticket.
#ChaseForBookNine
I've made enough rants about people now, so . . . :) Yeah.
Yes! It's a very crappy instalment! It's why it took so long!
#ChaseForBookNine
*THE END
It is not crappy, Starryness Middlenameyness Inkbrightness.
EZTER
I like the new installment! Iz gooowd!
@Lantern: It's very crappy. :)
*hugs*
The next one will be better, though, I think. :)
EZTER. :)
I can't help it
I ship them
and I know they don't like it but I CAN'T HELP IT.
#ChaseForBookNine
@Silente: Not really, but thanks. :)
#ChaseForBookNine
ALSO -
I have bang on 14000 words.
What is life. :P
#ChaseForBookNine
Yes really. And ikr! Ezter are just so...so...(insert suitable adjective)
Shippable! :)
But -
*ikrldudbfccmin
:P
#ChaseForBookNine
Sorry.
I know right left down up diagonal backwards forwards and whatever ccmin means...if I got the first ones right..
The diagonal comes before the down, but yes, those are correct. :)
ccmin = curvy-circular-multipledirections-invisibledirections-nonexistentdirections. :P
#ChaseForBookNine
Why is diagonal before down?
CHIIIIIIIIIIIII!
*appears behind her*
Chi! Hello! How'd it go?!
Because that's just the way I learnt it. :P
You can say it your way, I guess.
Hey Chi! :)
#ChaseForBookNine
It Um...*stares blankly*
It um..?
The Close reading was...Meh. I missed out one question.
The Pygmalion essay couldn't have went better
Lord of the flies essay... *facedesk* Fuck.
Even if what you say is true (about the lord of the flies essay being that bad) then at least the others will bring it back up :-)
It was such a bad question. It was something like "Choose a novel or short story which has an incident that involves tension"
How the fuck would I explain that?
I just added "this builds up tension" to the end of each paragraph...
One cannot simply English.
Hello.
Hey Dragona.
A novel or short story that builds up tention....isn't that basically every single successful book? That isn't nonfiction? That's not a very good question. Which makes it a hard question. Which makes it a good question.
Hey Dragona.
It's a good question because it's in like every book
But how the fuck would I explain it?! it's something you feel... I don't fucking know!
It just does!
Fuck you SQA!
@Chi: :( *hugs*
Hey Dragona!
#ChaseForBookNine
I agree Chi. How do you show tension? The only way I could possibly think of is short sentences and I don't even think that's right.
@Chi: Tension. Short sentences. *nods*
Tense language - words with negative connotations.
#ChaseForBookNine
My Pygmalion one was so good though. I was like "choose a play which has issues or importance in society"
And the 3 main issues in Pygmalion are:
Education
Equality between women and men
and social classes I think, was the last one.
So it was just...perfect.
I did Education.
I wrote 5 Peer Paragraphs and obviously my conclusion and introduction
It is short sentences but I didn't know any quotes with short sentences from the incident I wanted to do!
Get this, though - we've had to do this Romeo and Juliet essay for 25% of our GCSE.
The first half we've already done and that was on Romeo and Juliet.
The second half is linking Romeo and Juliet to poetry.
Before you do this assessment, you need to look at fifteen poems.
My friend's class have only done one poem and they only have five more lessons before the assessment.
What the fuck. :O
#ChaseForBookNine
If I were them I'd start doing some independent research..
Fuck. I forgot to summerise Lord of the Flies. Fuck.
He can't see you
Calm down
Watch out
Would they have been worth 4 peer paragraphs? No.
@Chi: Then you should have picked another incident. :( Because you lose marks on structure, as far as I'm aware.
And, yeah. Tense, negative language. *nods* Foreshadowing?
(Just guessing here. :P)
#ChaseForBookNine
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