RE: Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen
07-31-2017, 01:09 AM
Earl woke up in a pool of water. Not a pool. A lake.
Not a lake. An ocean.
How did Earl know an ocean was? Easy. He read books. You would be surprised what you could learn when you tried.
Earl sat up. The ocean was, in fact, a pool. A pool of his own sweat. He was in his bed. He remembers having a terrible reaction to something he was smoking- he had an epiphany. Then Jude clocked him in the 'off switch'. You know, that spot at the base of your skull and- nevermind. Mental note: Drink a lot. Water. Juice. Milk. Coffee. Tea. Whatever. Just drink a lot of it. He felt like a wrung out sponge. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a wet cigarette. He put it into his mouth.
He almost jumped a little when the spark appeared in front of him. A crackle of electricity between Fatalism's fingertips. A muse. A demon. A thought. Thoughts were impulses inside one's brain. Conquer someone's electricity, and you conquer their body. Earl looked up at Fatalism. They had crawled up on his bed. A thought, a being of pure mental energy. Electricity. Their fingers crackled with lightning, which they brought up to Earl's face. The electricity began to pass through the material, harmlessly shocking his face. He grunted.
Then, all at once, the material dried out and caught fire- Earl inhaled deeply, reducing the entire thing to ash. He held his breath and stared at Fatalism. They leaned in and touched his face. His nervous system twinged. His shoulders, then his elbows, then his wrists and hands lost control in that order. Earl exhaled, and Fatalism inhaled, taking the cloud of foul smoke into it's face. . .
Fatalism stood up, and exhaled a small black cloud, charged with electricity. Releasing it, it joined the other clouds that circled the top of Earl's room, a uniquely weird little weather system just in his house.
Suddenly, there was a rumble of thunder. Earl jumped again a little, and looked up angrily. He preferred his indoor showers when he had already taken the time to lock up his book. . .s. . .
The clouds over his head remained silent, just slowly circling the ceiling. He was reminded of something. Cripes. He leapt out of bed and grabbed the Chronicles of Allison. He began flipping through them. He missed something. Something important.
Alice sighed to herself. She was greatly uncomfortable. She passed out, or something- and was put on some boxes, with a blanket under her? That was not nearly enough to offset the fact that she was sleeping on wooden crates. Then add the fact that she didn't have a pillow, or a blanket to go on top of her. . .
Also, while she was sleeping, that weird man- Earl? Earl started screaming at her incoherently before Judith knocked him out cold. She tried to go back to sleep after that, but found that hard to do, as shortly after all that was over, Viss came in and tried to get Alice to 'share her time' with Viss.
Alice was not in the mood for shenanigans, so Viss decided to go for the second most annoying option. She climbed up on Alice, curled up on her legs, and fell asleep. Or was pretending to be asleep. Either way, it was annoying, Viss weighed quite a bit for such a small, lithe lizard- and every time Alice stopped petting her, Viss would make an angry hissing noise.
So. Alice had time to think. . . and read! Qhen had very very helpfully made her some notes- with Judith's help. Judith was very kind. Brought Alice a pillow for her back. Brought her a glass of milk. Brought her a slice of bread with some jam! Offered to rub her shoulders. Around this time, Alice had realized that she had made another 'friend mistake'. Judith and Qhen's notes were fascinating.
So, the Cafe- the Idle Amusement- was owned by the short, angry man. His muse was 'Terse'. His muse 'type' was 'trade'. He traded his ability to have conversations with more than one word at a time, in exchange for his ability to move objects with his mind. But only when he was angry.
In fact, basically everybody who came to the Idle Amusement were Musers. Was that a verb/adjective for people who mused? Or a portmanteau of Muse User? She wasn't sure. Judith had also, helpfully included information about herself. Quite a lot of it. Height. Weight. Age. Color of Eyes. Blood Type. Favorite Food. Least Favorite Food. A little written bit of history about herself and her people. It was all fascinating, but sort of devalued by the fact that Alice was absolutely sure that this lady was being sorta- desperate. Although Alice was touched? Viss, she could excuse. But some random person she's never met taking a serious interest in her? That was. . .funny.
What Judith did NOT include was information about any of the other people that Viss and Qhen had met and played cards with. Nor information about Earl Viscount. Alice sighed, and put the notes down. Okay, so she had gotten some information. The muse thing was not unique to her. Also she wasn't technically a Muser? Apparently the way she utilized Empty's power didn't count. . . And also, Alice was not seized by a consuming emotion or thought, positive or negative.
This was all interesting, but Alice had some more important thoughts in her mind.
Could she get any information she was actually interested in? She wanted to go out into the CloudSea. She looked around. . .
Alice began to tip backwards. She laid down, and Viss sat on her stomach, and stared down at her. Her tail folded around, and offered Alice her pen.
Viss put a hand up to her forehead and spun slightly to the side and then hit the floor. THUMP. Viss let out a pained hiss.
Viss watched Alice, her tail flicking back and forth idly. Alice rolled her eyes, and stared up at the ceiling. She tapped her papers with her pen. Viss' tail began to flick a little more.
Alice let out a long sigh. Viss' tail began to wag. She wanders over, and peeks at Alice.
Alice stared up at the ceiling. She could hear Viss breathing. She really was excited about this. That's weird. Viss is- Viss is weird. Alice closed her eyes.
. . .
Sigh.
Viss rolled over. Alice reached out and grabbed Viss by the arms- She wasn't a fool- and pulled her close. Viss began to do that purring thing, and she was warm and Alice just- fell asleep.
Her pad of paper and pen fell over. She really had gotten one thing written down.
[ ] More Crew?
. . .
( ) Seb.
( ) Jude.
( ) Katie.
( ) . . .That Guy over There.
( ) . . .Earl?
Not a lake. An ocean.
How did Earl know an ocean was? Easy. He read books. You would be surprised what you could learn when you tried.
Spoiler
He almost jumped a little when the spark appeared in front of him. A crackle of electricity between Fatalism's fingertips. A muse. A demon. A thought. Thoughts were impulses inside one's brain. Conquer someone's electricity, and you conquer their body. Earl looked up at Fatalism. They had crawled up on his bed. A thought, a being of pure mental energy. Electricity. Their fingers crackled with lightning, which they brought up to Earl's face. The electricity began to pass through the material, harmlessly shocking his face. He grunted.
Then, all at once, the material dried out and caught fire- Earl inhaled deeply, reducing the entire thing to ash. He held his breath and stared at Fatalism. They leaned in and touched his face. His nervous system twinged. His shoulders, then his elbows, then his wrists and hands lost control in that order. Earl exhaled, and Fatalism inhaled, taking the cloud of foul smoke into it's face. . .
Fatalism stood up, and exhaled a small black cloud, charged with electricity. Releasing it, it joined the other clouds that circled the top of Earl's room, a uniquely weird little weather system just in his house.
Spoiler
The clouds over his head remained silent, just slowly circling the ceiling. He was reminded of something. Cripes. He leapt out of bed and grabbed the Chronicles of Allison. He began flipping through them. He missed something. Something important.
Alice sighed to herself. She was greatly uncomfortable. She passed out, or something- and was put on some boxes, with a blanket under her? That was not nearly enough to offset the fact that she was sleeping on wooden crates. Then add the fact that she didn't have a pillow, or a blanket to go on top of her. . .
Also, while she was sleeping, that weird man- Earl? Earl started screaming at her incoherently before Judith knocked him out cold. She tried to go back to sleep after that, but found that hard to do, as shortly after all that was over, Viss came in and tried to get Alice to 'share her time' with Viss.
Alice was not in the mood for shenanigans, so Viss decided to go for the second most annoying option. She climbed up on Alice, curled up on her legs, and fell asleep. Or was pretending to be asleep. Either way, it was annoying, Viss weighed quite a bit for such a small, lithe lizard- and every time Alice stopped petting her, Viss would make an angry hissing noise.
So. Alice had time to think. . . and read! Qhen had very very helpfully made her some notes- with Judith's help. Judith was very kind. Brought Alice a pillow for her back. Brought her a glass of milk. Brought her a slice of bread with some jam! Offered to rub her shoulders. Around this time, Alice had realized that she had made another 'friend mistake'. Judith and Qhen's notes were fascinating.
So, the Cafe- the Idle Amusement- was owned by the short, angry man. His muse was 'Terse'. His muse 'type' was 'trade'. He traded his ability to have conversations with more than one word at a time, in exchange for his ability to move objects with his mind. But only when he was angry.
In fact, basically everybody who came to the Idle Amusement were Musers. Was that a verb/adjective for people who mused? Or a portmanteau of Muse User? She wasn't sure. Judith had also, helpfully included information about herself. Quite a lot of it. Height. Weight. Age. Color of Eyes. Blood Type. Favorite Food. Least Favorite Food. A little written bit of history about herself and her people. It was all fascinating, but sort of devalued by the fact that Alice was absolutely sure that this lady was being sorta- desperate. Although Alice was touched? Viss, she could excuse. But some random person she's never met taking a serious interest in her? That was. . .funny.
What Judith did NOT include was information about any of the other people that Viss and Qhen had met and played cards with. Nor information about Earl Viscount. Alice sighed, and put the notes down. Okay, so she had gotten some information. The muse thing was not unique to her. Also she wasn't technically a Muser? Apparently the way she utilized Empty's power didn't count. . . And also, Alice was not seized by a consuming emotion or thought, positive or negative.
This was all interesting, but Alice had some more important thoughts in her mind.
Could she get any information she was actually interested in? She wanted to go out into the CloudSea. She looked around. . .
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Alice let out a long sigh. Viss' tail began to wag. She wanders over, and peeks at Alice.
Spoiler
. . .
Sigh.
Spoiler
Her pad of paper and pen fell over. She really had gotten one thing written down.
[ ] More Crew?
. . .
Spoiler
( ) Seb.
( ) Jude.
( ) Katie.
( ) . . .That Guy over There.
( ) . . .Earl?