RE: Madeline Beaufort and the Moon Thief
05-19-2016, 07:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-20-2016, 07:18 AM by Colby.)
Panic set in. Madeline kicked and thrashed wildly, even trying to bite the vines. She attempted to surface, but amidst the tendrils she could not get a hand or foothold as they would slip and slide along themselves downward. The tendrils were practically airtight when grouped in such a mass, so try as she might, Madeline couldn’t breathe.
Exhausting her fight and flight response, Madeline became still. In this moment, she realized she was going to die. In the stories Madeline had read, when people were about to die they were supposed to have their life pass before their eyes. So she thought it was strange when instead, her mind was taken to a single memory from her past.
She was five. Her mothers, Donna and Alexandria Beaufort had taken Madeline to the beach. It was one of those days where there was no real good reason to be at a beach; The sun was out, but the sky still seemed grey, The water too cold to dip your feet in, much less swim, and set up right next to the Beauforts were an extremely rambunctious redneck family. But, the Beaufort family had packed for the outing so Donna and Alexandria figured they would atleast give it a good hour or two. Madeline didn’t seem to care anyways, as she ran up and down the beach blowing bubbles with a bubble stick.
Madeline had decided she was going to build a sand castle. Paying special attention to detail, she created a mound while simultaneously taking sand out around it, building a trench. She stuck her bubble blower into the top, serving as a flagpole. Careful not to touch the ocean directly with her feet, she dug a channel out of the sand extending all the way into the wet sand, and when the next wave rolled in the water filled her her moat.
A sea star was swept in with the tide. Madeline was pleased that her magnificent castle now had its first inhabitant.
Caught in a kind of uncomfortable situation a person might find themselves in with a stranger, Madeline’s parents were distracted by an old woman selling trinkets on the beach. Had they been properly focused on their child, events would not have played out the way they did.
A boy, red faced and covered in band-aids performed a running jump into Madeline’s castle.
Reacting as if the castle were an irreplaceable masterpiece, and not something that took her ten minutes, she screeched. “Hey!”
The boy ignored her, “Oh, look! Starfish!”
He grabbed the five-armed fish out of the water.
Madeline only had a minimal understanding of marine biology at this point in her life, but she was pretty sure starfishes needed salt water to live. “Put it back!”
“He's my pet now! His name is... Batman!” He waved it around like a toy airplane, making whooshing sounds.
“It’s turning purple!” Screamed Madeline, distraught. “Let it go!” She clawed at the boy’s face, failing, as she was incapable of reaching his height.
“What are you gonna do about it?” Taunted the boy.
He had a point, and Madeline was at a loss, what could she possibly do? Madeline felt weak and useless, a tiny girl against a giant. But then, something changed within her. Without any apparent cause, all her feelings and emotions washed away as the wave broke and receded back down the shore.
Dictated by some instinct, Madeline grabbed her bubble blower and pointed it at the boy. She blew a bubble and it drifted slowly towards him. It touched him, and then popped. The boy didn’t move.
Madeline’s emotions returned to her. She felt disappointment, as whatever she had thought she was doing had no effect. She anticipated some sort of retaliatory remark from the boy, but he said nothing. Not even a scoff or a smirk. He stood there, perfectly still with the starfish held high above his head and the same defiant look on his face. The boy achieved an eerie level of stillness. The whole beached moved on, even Madeline shifted her weight, but the boy didn’t move at all. Something seemed off and though she couldn’t understand it, it was irrelevant. The starfish still needed her help.
She pushed at the boy, and he fell sideways, still in the exact same position he was in, landing in the sand with a THWUMP. Madeline grabbed the defenseless invertebrate out of the boy’s hand and ran to the ocean, placing it in the freezing sea. She watched as it’s red-orange color returned to the aquatic animal and it was swept back into the sea.
Now she grew worried about the boy. She went back to poke at him, but before she could, he began to move. It took him a moment to process what had happened, and then began bawling.
His face covered in sand and tears running down his eyes, the boy ran back to his family, which were the obnoxiously loud rednecks. In unison they all turned to the Beauforts with a look of scorn. The mother, a skinny woman with a trucker hat began accusing Madeline of harming her ‘precious little boy’. It took only moments for the whole redneck family to join into the uproar. They apologized for their daughter and the Beauforts packed their things and left as fast as they could.
Madeline never really figured out what she had done to the boy on that day. Over dinner conversations in the Beaufort household that day became known as the time Madeline beat up a boy twice her size at the beach. The story had been told so many times by her parents that she had forgotten the anomalous nature of what had actually occurred.
A curious calm washed over Madeline. No longer did she focus on the pain, or fear. One thought was all encompassing. She just needed some space to think.
A sphere of light expanded out of Madeline’s chest. Curiously, it expanded through the ship’s metal lining while the vines were pushed out of the cockpit as the orb increased it’s size.
She made the most she could out of the fortuitous situation, and got back to the objective at hand. Searching behind the thrust control mechanisms, Madeline found the button right where James said it would be and forcefully pressed it. The ship never made any noise when it was powered on, but a slight vibration slowed to a halt. The fibers overhead that were held up by the strange orb fell limp onto a pile. Following this chain of events, The orb disappeared suddenly like a light when its switch is flicked off.
Exhausting her fight and flight response, Madeline became still. In this moment, she realized she was going to die. In the stories Madeline had read, when people were about to die they were supposed to have their life pass before their eyes. So she thought it was strange when instead, her mind was taken to a single memory from her past.
She was five. Her mothers, Donna and Alexandria Beaufort had taken Madeline to the beach. It was one of those days where there was no real good reason to be at a beach; The sun was out, but the sky still seemed grey, The water too cold to dip your feet in, much less swim, and set up right next to the Beauforts were an extremely rambunctious redneck family. But, the Beaufort family had packed for the outing so Donna and Alexandria figured they would atleast give it a good hour or two. Madeline didn’t seem to care anyways, as she ran up and down the beach blowing bubbles with a bubble stick.
Madeline had decided she was going to build a sand castle. Paying special attention to detail, she created a mound while simultaneously taking sand out around it, building a trench. She stuck her bubble blower into the top, serving as a flagpole. Careful not to touch the ocean directly with her feet, she dug a channel out of the sand extending all the way into the wet sand, and when the next wave rolled in the water filled her her moat.
A sea star was swept in with the tide. Madeline was pleased that her magnificent castle now had its first inhabitant.
Caught in a kind of uncomfortable situation a person might find themselves in with a stranger, Madeline’s parents were distracted by an old woman selling trinkets on the beach. Had they been properly focused on their child, events would not have played out the way they did.
A boy, red faced and covered in band-aids performed a running jump into Madeline’s castle.
Reacting as if the castle were an irreplaceable masterpiece, and not something that took her ten minutes, she screeched. “Hey!”
The boy ignored her, “Oh, look! Starfish!”
He grabbed the five-armed fish out of the water.
Madeline only had a minimal understanding of marine biology at this point in her life, but she was pretty sure starfishes needed salt water to live. “Put it back!”
“He's my pet now! His name is... Batman!” He waved it around like a toy airplane, making whooshing sounds.
“It’s turning purple!” Screamed Madeline, distraught. “Let it go!” She clawed at the boy’s face, failing, as she was incapable of reaching his height.
“What are you gonna do about it?” Taunted the boy.
He had a point, and Madeline was at a loss, what could she possibly do? Madeline felt weak and useless, a tiny girl against a giant. But then, something changed within her. Without any apparent cause, all her feelings and emotions washed away as the wave broke and receded back down the shore.
Dictated by some instinct, Madeline grabbed her bubble blower and pointed it at the boy. She blew a bubble and it drifted slowly towards him. It touched him, and then popped. The boy didn’t move.
Madeline’s emotions returned to her. She felt disappointment, as whatever she had thought she was doing had no effect. She anticipated some sort of retaliatory remark from the boy, but he said nothing. Not even a scoff or a smirk. He stood there, perfectly still with the starfish held high above his head and the same defiant look on his face. The boy achieved an eerie level of stillness. The whole beached moved on, even Madeline shifted her weight, but the boy didn’t move at all. Something seemed off and though she couldn’t understand it, it was irrelevant. The starfish still needed her help.
She pushed at the boy, and he fell sideways, still in the exact same position he was in, landing in the sand with a THWUMP. Madeline grabbed the defenseless invertebrate out of the boy’s hand and ran to the ocean, placing it in the freezing sea. She watched as it’s red-orange color returned to the aquatic animal and it was swept back into the sea.
Now she grew worried about the boy. She went back to poke at him, but before she could, he began to move. It took him a moment to process what had happened, and then began bawling.
His face covered in sand and tears running down his eyes, the boy ran back to his family, which were the obnoxiously loud rednecks. In unison they all turned to the Beauforts with a look of scorn. The mother, a skinny woman with a trucker hat began accusing Madeline of harming her ‘precious little boy’. It took only moments for the whole redneck family to join into the uproar. They apologized for their daughter and the Beauforts packed their things and left as fast as they could.
Madeline never really figured out what she had done to the boy on that day. Over dinner conversations in the Beaufort household that day became known as the time Madeline beat up a boy twice her size at the beach. The story had been told so many times by her parents that she had forgotten the anomalous nature of what had actually occurred.
A curious calm washed over Madeline. No longer did she focus on the pain, or fear. One thought was all encompassing. She just needed some space to think.
A sphere of light expanded out of Madeline’s chest. Curiously, it expanded through the ship’s metal lining while the vines were pushed out of the cockpit as the orb increased it’s size.
She made the most she could out of the fortuitous situation, and got back to the objective at hand. Searching behind the thrust control mechanisms, Madeline found the button right where James said it would be and forcefully pressed it. The ship never made any noise when it was powered on, but a slight vibration slowed to a halt. The fibers overhead that were held up by the strange orb fell limp onto a pile. Following this chain of events, The orb disappeared suddenly like a light when its switch is flicked off.
Spoiler
Hi there! I'd really appreciate it if you took some time to read my adventure Madeline Beaufort and the Moon Thief! Thanks!
![[Image: 8zbr3I4.png]](https://i.imgur.com/8zbr3I4.png)
Dope ass dragon created by the incomparable Earthexe
Dope ass dragon created by the incomparable Earthexe