Stories To Be

Summoned before the court, May, both a Paladin of Ellonia (Goddess of Goodness, Light, etc) and the Baroness Dov's personal knight, appeared when expected. In her armor she strode down to the foot of the slightly raised dais on which the Baroness Dov stood. The two briefly exchanged smiles, before May knelt as becoming of her station to her liege. Through her long service to Dov, the two had become more than master and servant, they were friends. Good friends. Yet May aspired for more.

All but the blind or newest to Dov's Barony could see from their interactions out in public that May had stronger feelings for Dov than was expected, or even appropriate. Dov didn't encourage those feelings, but she didn't deny them either. She always maintained their relationship as friendly companionship at best.

But before the court, they both acted as expected. So on this day, May did not expect anything out of the ordinary. A new task perhaps. Obviously something official for it to be brought up in court proceedings.

"You wished to see me, Your Ladyship?" May offered properly when her knee hit the floor.

"Yes," Dov replied formulaically. She swept her gaze over the assembled people, then announced: "I have received a proclamation from the King." She gave a momentary pause for all those who felt the need to acknowledge to get out their murmurings before continuing. "His Majesty is forming an elite team, whose purpose is to be the defense of the Kingdom in any unique ways that may present themselves as unfillable by the offerings of the standing army and scholarly core." Less murmurings this time, but many interested looks, both approving and worried.

May looked up at Dov, wondering what this meant for the two of them, and the Barony as a whole.

"He further communicated," Dov went on, "that while his preference would be for me to join this team, he understands that as we are still a new Barony my leaving for the capital would undermine this area's stability." Many nods, and a few sighs of relief, went around at this. "So His Majesty has entrusted me with the decision of whom to send in my place," and with that she looked down at May.

In the same moment, fear seizing in her chest, May sought out Dov's eyes. No..., she silently prayed. Not me....

"Dame May," Dov formally announced, "Of all I know, I believe you are the best suited for this assignment. I know you will represent both myself and our Barony with distinction. But more so, you are exactly what the King needs for such a team."

May stopped listening to the official declaration, for with each word she felt herself becoming more lost. She tried to will Dov's attention to her, perhaps in some way convince the Baroness Mage to magically or officially undo and change the last five minutes. Of course May had no actual power to do so. But when Dov finally did look directly at May, May's attention snapped back from silent desperate whim to the present.

"In my stead, Serve him as you would me," Dov instructed her.

May closed her eyes. It was her turn to respond, to accept. As applause erupted around them with expectation of the cursory 'As you wish', May looked up with sadness and pleading in her eyes. "But..." she struggled with her words, "I... I love you," she confessed, barely loud enough for Dov to hear over the noise.

Dov's expression softened, though she tried to keep the pity she felt from showing. She reached out with one hand and cupped the side of May's face. With a tone of 'That's exactly what I meant,' she replied, "I know."

May's face fell, both her countenance and her eyes to the floor. It was all she could do to keep tears from forming, and in this moment she barely had the will for that.

Dov quieted her voice for only May to hear. "I can't be the partner you want," she said gently. "You need a new Lord, new Liege," she corrected herself on the title she used, then continued. "And that is the King. Serving him, you will be to able find the person you love, who will love you back," then she added for clarification, "in the same way." Dov tipped May's head up, to try and get May to look at her. Even though it didn't succeed, she went on. "May, I want you to become the best you can. But that's not possible with me." She then leaned forward and kissed May on the forehead. Then stood and took a step backwards. Returning her voice to a courtly level, she proclaimed quite clearly for all to hear: "I release you from your oath to me-"

May's head dropped. Already on one knee, she appeared to be bowing in acceptance. But in truth, her heart was shattered and dashed to the ground at those words.

"- and an oath of fealty sworn to the King shall replace it," Dov declared with finality.

An order then, her last to May. And though the first part prevented the second from being binding, both Dov and May knew May would follow through on it.

---

(Writer's note: I wanted to bullet out the rest, not write whole scenes, in the interest of time. What's below is the compromise. Will clean up as able, especially since it moves back and forth through time instead of being linear!)

On her way to the Capital, May finally decided to seek out a bonded mount. She hadn't done so at her earliest ability given her profession, but now heard her Deity's call for it. In very little time a pure white Unicorn called Sunset appeared while she sat in a forest and took her up. In doing so her broken heart began to mend.

May was the first to arrive in answer to the King's call. While waiting on the others, she petitioned to become a Knight of the Realm, and passing the trials became Lady May. Every day she worked in service to the King, one way or another, just as she had for Dov. But as much as she worked out of love for Dov, she also worked so as not to have to think on her own hurt, turning herself over to her religion and her duties. It's during this time the rotating P around her head grows in strength and shininess.

Nearly a year later, after knowing who all the members of the elite team are, it is named The King's Fist, for they are all fighter types. Lady May - a Paladin with a Unicorn, Melani - a Ranger with a Pegasus, Shyelle - a Druid with a Blink Dog, Reisin - an Archer Mage, Nikki - a Fighter Cleric, and Gim - a Barbarian. Once assembled, training begins so they all can learn each other and get used to working as a team. The team is formally activated over two years from when the King initially called for it. A seventh member joins shortly thereafter, Cedric - a Fighter Rouge.

After the team is sent out as a group for the first time, they soon discover since they were not the nobles or leaders that had originally been called for by the King, they are little more than a specialized force, and though they answer only to the King – typically by way of his personal aid Bob - they have no more power or authority, or even support, in the Kingdom than any Captain/Major in the army.

Then the team shrank in size when Cedric bowed out suddenly. But as he was a late addition it didn't change dynamics much. However, when Nikki finally left due to not fitting in well with the rest of the team and frustrations over philosophy differences with the only person she truly trusted on the team, Lady May, the group was affected by the loss of manpower. She isn't replaced either, though the team's support numbers grow as Reisin gains an Archon follower and Shyelle another animal companion. The the team undergoes a change in membership when Gim resurrects for the third time and decides to return to his order. Another is sent in his place, whom the King's Fist accepts without hesitation out of necessity. He proves to be an adequate fit.

Eventually the mortality rate in the King's Fist causes membership to semi-routinely change, some willing to accept the repeated deaths as part of their service more than others. As a consequence re-training with new members no longer takes place, as there isn't the luxury of time for it (as you will see). The King's Fist takes to keeping a ranking cleric able to cast resurrection and True resurrection on notice and at least two diamonds of needed worth in treasury for the spells to minimize interruption in their quests, despite the considerable drain on their collective resources and down time to maintain these. But it's finally the arrival of Otto - a specialized Healer - that allows the King's Fist to survive long terms away from the Kingdom's available Clerics, and allows them faster pace in their ultimate purpose.

However, for her dedication outside of the demands of the King's Fist, the King gave May a small piece of land of her choice within half a day's travel of the castle to make a new life on. May had a small stronghold-like chapel with sleeping quarters and a practice grounds built on her parcel of land. Within a few months, six followers have arrived. Two wished to learn the ways of Ellonia that May followed, two who wished to serve Lady May. And one, Delantim, a full-fledged Wizard she had met by chance during one of the King's Fist's training runs, and then a second time while both had been working independently for the same ends, is most resolute about helping May even though he shares very little with her other than a general philosophy on life. Yet he and May seemed to mesh so well it was as if they had known each other forever. May made room for them all, even adding one actual room for Delantim's research even though she didn't understand it.

At some point within her first four years of service to the King, May's personal pain was laid to rest and she developed a more personal respect for her King, and thus came to serve him out of genuine loyalty to him and not just her past. It also allowed her to think more on living life and what she truly is able to do, as opposed to simply moving through each day in the way and manners expected of her. Later the King (or perhaps it was Bob) was savvy enough to figure out, long before May realized it, that with her following growing May was in actuality training a future small army of Paladins and their aids. These two developments combined earned her personal notice by the King, to the point of infrequent invitations for a private audience with him.

Shortly thereafter, the Druid asked May if he may claim the unused land next to her stronghold to plant a grove. With a shrug, May agreeed. Unknowing that the two of them had just laid the groundwork for a future association of yet to be established Druid and Paladin orders. In addition, the fledgling grove quickly becaome the home forest for Sunset, and so also ends up the future residence of a prolific family of unicorns. Over time a very magical and goodly set of land grows hand-in-hand, the fortress Eastward towards the Capital and the grove Westward with only a little creep into and around the fortress' land.

By the time the King's Fist is beginning to be known and recognized on their own Kingdom wide, the King comes down with a mysterious magical illness. The team is sent after the only divided cure, an artifact amulet with the power to bolster the wearer's constitution. The idea being it would provide the ability to fight off the illness that the magical part is sapping away. As time slipped away from them in their quest for the amulet, May began to truly fear for the King's life. Eventually successful, the ordeal brought the King to seek May's counsel for the first time. And after the abrupt disappearance of Bob, May found herself more at the King's ear. Both honored by and respectful of the trust, she tried to not abuse the relationship, instead approaching it with a healthy sense of fear. But she knew she also needed to learn what she could, and keep the King's health and the Kingdom's interest in mind. The amulet only allowed the King to recover, it didn't actually remove the illness from him. Which meant he would have to wear it for the rest of his life if a true cure wasn't found.

During their efforts to retrieve the amulet the King's Fist began to learn about ancient history of the land, and a threat that would destroy the Kingdom if it managed to free itself, and had apparently been attempting to do so for decades. "It" was Lantier, now a being of Taint, formerly the last King of the long fallen Kingdom that had spanned all the lands from the ocean to the mountains. Lantier had grown so powerful and corrupt before his overthrow that none existing today could stand against him. (Indeed, in the years to come the entire army sent to stand against the Taint's advancement out of the tower - half the Kingdom's forces - would be lost while the King's Fist attempted to solve the Lantier issue the needed way.)

There were 13 artifact amulets, 12 of which time had scattered throughout the land, that originally had been used together to seal the being away in a tower, and which could again be used to relock the weakened and now fracturing seal. Followers of Lantier attempting to break free of his tower prison had already begun gathering the amulets years before, and Taint was slowly spreading outward from his tower over the land nearby. However, other beings or groups also after the powers of the amulets had begun collecting them recently, complicating efforts of both Lantier and the King's Fist. The last complication for the King's Fist was that not only had the 13th amulet not been seen or heard of since the time of the creation of the seal, there was also no record to be found of what it looked like or what its power was. Even the Watchers' Tower and records kept by that Order – the group that trapped the being and created the seal and then maintained existence to watch and make sure it was never broken - had no answers on the 13th amulet. Any page with that information was missing from their books, and the original Masters of the Order hadn't woken from their stasis sleep in centuries. Nor did they conveniently wake now. Instead, the King's Fist had to join the Watchers' Order to gain their powers against Taint and access to whatever knowledge was in the Tower still. But that meant they also gained their curse.

Labels: Character History, Lady May, RP

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This writing is for the Writing Group, whose March 21st topic was:

Moon. Take that however you want.

So this isn't what I had been intending to write. I was going to write for a story I started years ago for an online Whitewolf contest, but stopped after my story concept didn't get pas the first round. I thought I had stopped writing for it because of disappointment over that and not having the motivation to pick it back up later (especially when other topics/stories became more relevant to me). But as I was thinking on what short scenes I wanted to do for this subject with each of the characters, it become more difficult for me to put together what I had in my mind. Then I hit upon a completely different scene idea which I really liked. But still I couldn't bring it out. This morning I finally realized my overall issue: the story's main plot line had been forced into a direction I hadn't originally wanted, for the sake of the writing contest. So continuing with a story I already felt was in the wrong place just wasn't sitting well with me, even though I could come up with ideas to further it. I couldn't come up with a new plot that would fit well with the Moon scenes I was thinking of for this assignment, so instead I went with something completely different when this idea struck me while procrastinating on this assignment and reading interesting history on the internet.

---

Like all beings, I do not remember my birth, but I know my Mother. She is beautiful and radiant, and takes good care of me. She shields me from the harmful things that travel around and would mess with me if she wasn't there. She shows me how to weather the bugs that fly into us try to hurt us, but I haven't figured out how to grow the layer of skin she has that keeps most of them from leaving marks on her like they do on me. Mom always keeps a hold of me so I don't go wandering places I don't understand, even when she sleeps. She leaves me in the presence of my Grandmother then too, just to be safe.

I have lots of family, which is good because friends are really hard to come by out here. Mom routinely takes me around to see the other members of our family so I don't feel lonely. Sometimes she and I even play hide and seek with my Grandmother. But I don't get to see my cousins much because Mom's smaller siblings, the ones Grandmother keeps closest to her, didn't have any children, and Mom's largest siblings who had lots of children don't come by all that often. Well, maybe one of Mom's closer siblings had children, but I don't remember much about that Aunt before she died. So if she did, those cousins are long gone too.

Sometimes I worry about Mom dying too. My Aunt spread out after she died, her body simply falling apart in its lifelessness. Over time Mom's features have spread out also. But she's always kept herself together so I try not to think about it much. Besides, her wild white hair has always moved wherever it felt the need to, flowing, curling, twirling, tangling up, and smoothing out, yet it hasn't messed up any of her vibrant blue and greens. I think she lives her entire life that way. So long as I stay within the few rules she's set, I can do whatever I want.

Still, I would like to go exploring myself. To see where those strangers to our neighborhood that go zipping by come from. A few of them do return regularly, so I've learned about what's out beyond home. But learning and seeing for yourself are such different things! The older I get the further away from Mom I manage to go, but even then she has me come back closer every year (which she calls a day) to make sure I'm alright. Sometimes I tug at her a little too hard, but it's just because I get excited and forget what I'm doing. Or to get her attention. Grandmother does the same thing, but with her fire instead of her hold on us.

Very recently Mom has been doing brand new things. I don't know if she's trying to check on me more directly or if she's preparing me for something. But it's the first time I remember her ever throwing tiny pieces of herself at me. Most are smaller than the bugs that leave marks, though Mom's pieces sometimes pinch. Sometimes they don't. And sometimes they just fly by, like she missed me but not on accident. Six times there were even moving pieces out of those that attached to me, and even stranger, they then left me and went back to her! Though those moving pieces were early on in this stage of hers and haven't been back since. Mom's also been throwing pieces of herself out at most of the others in the family too. I wonder what it all means....

Labels: CRWS

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This was for the Writing Group's Feb. 7th assignment, which was:

You are the newly elected leader of a nation at war. Your first task is to hand write orders that will - without being read - be copied, sealed and delivered to locked safes for each of the commanders of vehicles (air, sea, ground, whatever) that have nuclear weapons. The orders are only to be opened in the event that your nation is destroyed and there is no leadership or government left for the commanders to receive orders from with respect to launching a nuclear attack.

Keeping in mind you may have to convince a commander who has just lost everything and has no one to answer to anymore to follow your orders, what do you say?

It's not as good as I would like, but it gets my point across fairly concisely.

---

Dear Commander,

My final directive to you is simple: DO NOT USE ANY NEUCLEAR OR MASS DISTRUCTIVE WEAPONS, and keep your crew alive.

Hear me out before discarding this order. At this point you may feel vindictive or that you have nothing left to live for. At the least there is nothing for you to come home to. As awful as this is, furthering the annihilation of our species and long term destruction of the planet won't solve what's already occurred.

What CAN be a solution is one of two options I see from this side. Either,

1) retreat, and escape with your crew and ship into exile. In such you will have saved the small part left in the world of our country, culture, and beliefs, so that we are not completely eradicated. Carry on wherever you can, keep our memory and principles alive, so the future won't loss us.

Or,

2) surrender, assuming you believe the enemy will not kill any of you, and in doing so attempt to gain the condition of being able to return to our country once it's safe to search for survivors or anything salvageable of who we once were. This way you can attempt to help any part of us that might still be in need.

Either way, the point is to keep as many of us who are still alive as such to carry on for the rest of us, without costing any more lives.

Labels: CRWS

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This poem was written for our Dec. 19th writing assignment for the writing group my friends and I "re-started". I assignment was:

take the quote and run with it- make a poem, a short story- something that you're inspired to create from the quote:

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both..."

Here's what I wrote.

---

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
and sorry I could not travel both..."

One lead the way of light of the day
The other the beauty of night

Yet, alas, two such dichotomies
can not at once be the same

So we're forced to choose
One or two
Or option three
There be stuck in one spot not deciding

None give rise to knowing the others
We can only stay or go

Each course has its lessons as a way to know
Each giving more choices still

Each has dark and light
Hide in one
Or shine in the other
But not be stuck in one spot deciding

So whichever way you choose, God speed to you
I'll not be found here, lollygagging

I'm on my path, right or wrong,
Trying to enjoy the way

Labels: CRWS, Poem

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This writing was for the Front Lobby Bench, whose August topic was:

I want to try a much broader topic this time, just to show that topics don't have to be a paragraph-plus long concept. So this month, it's Fairy Tale. Do whatever you want with it, but if you'd like a little more guidance, here are a few suggestions:

- Fairly straight forward retelling of a fairy tale
- Story from the perspective of a different or new character
- Fairy tale in a new setting
- A story that uses or examines the conventions of a fairy tale

On thinking about my X-men character Angel and her love, I realized their story was very much like a fairy tale, so that's what I used to write this fairy tale. Instead of using Alyssa's story, as I had already written that before the topic was posted, even though it is technically the tale of a Fairy. Heh.

---

Once upon a time there was a teenage girl who lived with her father and four older brothers. She had long fiery red hair, deep green eyes, and porcelain white skin. Her father and two of her older brothers were law enforcement officers, with the youngest boy likely to follow in their steps.

When the girl was born her mother named her Angel, because after four boys that's what the baby girl looked like to her. But Angel's mother died when she was eight, leaving the five males in the family to try and raise her. They didn't have much problem doing so, treating her like every other member of the family: a boy. That is, until she started physically developing. At which point the only way her older brothers knew how to deal was to become overly protective. Her father did his best to raise his daughter along with his four sons, but could only do so much. In the end, the only female influence Angel had in her life was from her two tom-boy school friends (so not much) and her own memories of her mother.

One day while Angel was out playing a ball game with other teens, one of them pushed her from behind and she suddenly lost control of her arm. A blue glow then appeared around her hand, clearly magical. Everyone was surprised, and curious at first. They all knew about magic, but only a few had actually seen any before. Angel felt very nervous, both from uncertainty of what was happening and from the tingling sensation of the magic through her skin. Then she felt the magic trying to forcibly leave her. Before she could say a word, it leapt form her hand and a tree in front of her exploded. Many of the teens ran, including Angel who was the most scared.

The magic effect continued to plague Angel over the next several days. Any time she was touched more roughly than a tap or she accidentally ran into something, the blue glow appeared around one of her hands and within seconds would leap from her and cause something to explode. It got to the point where Angel was afraid to put her hands anywhere but under her own arms or get too close to people, for fear of accidentally hurting someone.

Her father was very concerned, but had no idea what to do to help her. Then out of the blue he received an invitation to meet a man who claimed to be able to help Angel. Her father did some research on the man before deciding to meet the man to see if the claim was valid. After a week of research and meetings, Angel's father decided to bring Angel to the man's school for "the gifted" to see if she'd like it.

Angel was soothed to find other teens who were going through issues similar to her, manifesting magical powers. But when she accidentally blew a small hole in a roof, she was quickly reminded of how dangerous she could be to others. She decided to stay at the school so she could learn how to control her magic.

Over the next couple months she learned her body generated destructive magic under the principles of kinetic energy, and how to "hold on" to the magic that would appear around her. Her rough and tumble lifestyle with her brothers led to her magic developing strongly. But it also meant she had the strength to do other things with her magic once it was under control, such as flying. She made a new best friend and couple other good friends at the school in that time also.

Then it came time for the school's yearly dance ball. None of Angel and her new friends had dates, but they still went shopping for outfits and the girls had a hair braiding party, which Angel attended. It was her first party with only girls, and she found it fascinating. During the braiding party there was a knock on the door. When it was opened, there stood a handsome prince. Tall, lithe, and acting a bit shy. He asked to speak to Angel.

Out in the hallway, the prince introduced himself and asked if he could escort her to the ball. Angel was very surprised, but not knowing what to do said yes. Bart, the prince, brushed his auburn brown hair from over his eyes and smiled. Then he bowed, and left. Angel went back in to the party with her friends, where much giggling and excitement abounded for the rest of the night.

The ball was like a dream for Angel. Bart was an excellent dancer and conversationalist. He made some obligatory dances with other important girls, but always came back to Angel with a smile. But most surprisingly, Bart and Angel won King and Queen of the ball. Even though Angel was sure it was because of her prince being so well known, she enjoyed being crowned anyway. Then she and Bart got their own dance, and it was as if the rest of the world melted away. The song they danced to was called "And Then He Kissed Me". Still, the most magical moment for Angel came when Bart walked her to her room after the ball was over. Or rather danced her there. The sky was clear and the stars were bright and shining. The air was only slightly cool, but enough to prompt Bart to put his cloak around Angel. All the way one or the other of them hummed. At her door, they paused and admired their surroundings. Then Bart leaned in and kissed her.

From that moment on, Bart and Angel were together whenever duties and lessons didn't demand their time. Angel's control over her magic was steadily growing, and she started learning about Bart's magic powers also. She learned there was a very powerful magician who had blessed - or cursed, depending on how you look at it - Bart's family with their magical abilities. But that same magician fed off those powers and systematically came to consume each member of the family. Only Bart's Uncle had been able to evade the Magician so far, because of the help of his Aunt, but Bart didn't tell Angel how his Aunt and helped his Uncle.

Bart and Angel became an official couple just before Holiday. Neither of them wanted to leave each other for so long, but due to their separate families' responsibilities it couldn't be helped. They waited together on the staircase before the school's front door to be picked up. When the time came for Bart to leave, Angel told him she loved him for the first time.

Throughout the year Angel's family could tell she was turning into a woman. It was obvious she loved Bart, and she seemed to be growing out of childish and teenage ways. Angel's brothers put Bart to the test several times, and he always came out besting them.

Eventually Angel had mastered her magic enough to be safe, and so decided to return home. But she still kept in contact with her friends at the school, and of course her prince. They dated regularly. Angel's two tom-boy friends at home thought he was the best thing. Even those who had disliked Angel over her good looks, couldn't find fault in Bart.

One night Bart didn't show up as agreed. Angel spent hours out on her father's porch waiting for him, worrying more and more. Eventually her father tried to coax her in out of the cold night air, but she refused to leave where she had promised to meet Bart. She and her father had a serious conversation about the relationship then, during which he came to the realization his little girl was no longer that. Angel confessed to her father that she was scared that this Magician had found Bart. Her father left to do what he could to try and find his daughter's prince.

Eventually Bart appeared, very haggard, worn and injured, clearly having fought off a magical assault. Angel promptly put him to bed, and after securing her father's permission for Bart to stay at their home, she spent the next days tending to him, nursing him back to health.

Eventually Angel's youngest older brother took her aside and they had a brother to sister talk about men and women. Satisfied Angel was still a young woman but in her right mind, the family finally willingly accepted that Bart was going to be in their future.

But then Angel suddenly decided she couldn't deal with her life anymore and she needed to go away on an extended vacation. It was a surprise to many, and devastating for Bart. Some suspected foul magic was used to force her to that decision, but no one was certain and Angel refused to give a reason. Even though Angel assured Bart she still loved him, he felt like she left him as well. Still, he wrote her everyday, and she wrote back as she was able. But his will slowly eroded away without her.

The day came when the Magician surfaced again. Both he and Bart knew the only loophole to the family's curse, and that without Angel, Bart was at the Magician's mercy. He cast his most powerful spell to capture and start devouring Bart.

Far away, Angel felt something was wrong. She didn't know how, but she could tell it was time to go home, that she needed to reach Bart. She left as soon as she could, and traveled the very long journey straight through to Bart's family's castle, using all the magic she had within her ability to get there. By the time she arrived she was so worn from the trip she had a hard time flying and could barely even walk anymore. On entering the castle she came across Bart's Aunt, who was crying. Angel asked where Bart was, and the aunt motioned to a door. She tried to seem hopeful at the sight of Angel, but it was clear she thought Bart was too far gone to be saved as she had saved Bart's Uncle from the Magician. Angel hesitated only for a moment, then took a deep breath and forced herself to open the door.

On the other side Bart lay suspended in the air by the Magician's strong magic. It arched around and through him, taking energy and flesh from his body. Angel already knew what she was going to do and immediately started to sing. She sang "Then He Kissed Me", the song she and Bart considered their own, changing some of the words to fit the two of them. She slowly moved towards Bart as she sang, looking all around for the Magician. She made it right up to Bart's side before the Magician appeared. In a moment of indecision Angel nearly lost Bart, but her instincts told her to ignore the Magician and not confront him magically. Instead, she turned to Bart and at the proper moment in the song she sang to him that she loved him. She had to cross the threshold of the spell eating away at Bart to truly reach him, and did so willingly. Then she repeated herself, but this time whispering to him "I Love You".

As the magic surrounding Bart started to pull at Angel too, Bart woke up. He turned to her, and they kissed. The magic of true love forced the Magician's spell to immediately brake with a large bang and a bright flash. Angel was knocked unconscious from it, and so failed to see Bart drive off the Magician.

Once it all was over, Bart and Angel recovered together and, of course, lived happily ever after.

Labels: FLB

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If there's a way,
        when this is all over will you please stay?

He'd told me he didn't like home.
Had a-brother to inherit the throne.
Still I could tell right then from his tone.
He was going to stay with duty.
In the end, he chose family.

Of course he turned the question around.
But my answer was easily found.
To my band I was already bound.
There is no way I could leave these three.
So it seems, I chose family.

Perhaps my question wasn't that fair.
For merely weeks we'd been together.
But like him I've nare met another.
From a diff-rent world he came to be.
Yet knowing this, we chose family.

But really, he chose his family...
        over me.

Labels: Finished, Melody, Poem

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This writing was for the Front Lobby Bench, whose July topic was:

We're Alone.

It's the future (however distant or close is your choice). We humans have mapped the heavens, have found thousands upon thousands of extra-solar planets, identified the composition of them all with advanced technology, and turned all sorts of listening devices spanning the frequencies to the Earth-like ones for decades. And what have we found? Nothing. Not one peep. No signals, messages, pictures, accidental broadcasts, voices, or any sort of non-astronomical sounds. The final analysis? All of science is agreed. We're alone.

Earth is the only planet on which intelligent life has arisen. What does that mean for us humans? How do we react? How does this impact our advancement as a race, if at all? Where do we turn our technological efforts now?

It is just an outline of a story, but there's still answers in there.

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Yes, the future. Far enough that there are viable means of space travel between solar systems, if not galaxies. I've not yet decided if the mode if space travel is linear, as in actual physical travel through space at high speeds, or some other method like folding space or extra dimensional.

Humanity hasn't changed too much since the announcement of no extra-terrestrial life. Withing the first couple decades after the announcement there was a noticeable though small surge in religion, especially those that proclaim humans as the ultimate creation of God or as the last step before spiritual enlightenment. Surprisingly it was the entertainment industry that took the biggest hit, as interest in alien stories and movies rapidly declined. But Hollywood and its counterparts are not to be kept down, and adapted to other drama sources for their stories. Science itself was pulled down at first, as dispelling the theory of life having evolved on other planets caused a widespread questioning of other generally accepted scientific principles, but it quickly adapted. Now scientists make sure they have evidence in support of a hypothesis before it is called theory, and lack of proof the hypothesis is wrong does not make it right enough to be acceptable. Advancements have been made in medicine, transportation, communications, convenience appliances, and of course weaponry. Still, overall the day to day life of people didn't change much. People still work to earn money, still go to school, still meet and marry and perhaps divorce, still try to find the meaning of life, and still go hungry or go to war.

This story focuses on the day one hundred years after the announcement, chosen specifically by the head scientist for its symbolism. Today is the day he launches a supposedly working prototype time vessel. Time machines have been made, travel to the future was achieved a whole lot easier than to the past since that's the way humans naturally progress through time. But the only kind that can send things to the past have been limited to data packets: information, messages, things that can be reduced to being transmitted via light or wave particles. And even those can only transmit back as far as when the machine accepting the arrival of the data was first created. It seems the idea of only being able to travel to a time in which whatever is traveling has already existed has won out over the idea of not being able to exist more than once at the same point in time.

Now this scientist believes he has a working machine that can transport a living being to the past using the powerful light and energy fields generated by stars, using the same technique current time machines use to send light to the past, and much in the same way except also shielding living matter from the strain of the journey. And since any given star, such as Earth's Sun, can be billions of years old it means a person could potentially travel billions of years back in time!

What could be done with this advancement in technology if it works? The possibilities are numerous. But our scientist has a special task in mind. After the initial test jump of one day to the past proving successful he intends to take genetic material with him, such as proteins and amino acids and whatnot, along with a lifetime of interstellar data he has amassed, back to the far past. Then he will travel the Milky Way galaxy to seed planets of the correct composition and state to allow for evolution like occurred on Earth. His desire a two-fold achievement: 1) prove evolution, 2) allow for the development of extra-terrestrial life in the same time frame as life on Earth, so that we're not alone.

The only hiccup in his plan, from his point of view, is when one of his assistants piece together what he's intending to do. The assistant has major concerns over the plan, and tries to convince the scientist to not go through with the plan. Firstly, no one knows how actions in the past might affect what is known to be the time line. If he succeeds - in creating other life elsewhere - he would change at least the past hundred years, possibly for the worst. Can time even change, or would the scientist be destroyed in the attempt? Or what if creating a temporal causality loop would unmake all of creation? If God exists, that would possibly bring in a whole other set of issues.

The assistant is not willing to take any of those risks, and definitely not willing to let the scientist do so either. The assistant tries to enlist help from the other assistants in stopping the scientist. Sabotage is decided on, though they know that will only delay the scientist. Ideally they would want to replace the scientist as the test subject, but getting a volunteer and one that is trusted to not attempt anything in the past, is hard. Some sort of government intervention or the creation of a group to oversee the ethics of time travel, if they - ironically - have the time to get such things established. The original assistant secretly considers murder as a last option.

Labels: FLB, Story Idea

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