shylarah

The Twelve Labours: General Discussion

@Dark Wind Ooh, that sounds like it would have been neat! Write it now just for fun?

Wings Askew

Nikki neither slowed nor changed direction. "I know they are, but this way's faster~" she called back, still laughing. "It's a shortcut. Just be careful, you don't wanna fall!" She leaped off the edge of a short drop, landing in a crouch at the bottom and following a path half-overtaken by grass and following it around a bend and over a rope bridge that had seen better days. She didn't even break her stride as she darted across, though the placement of her feet was clearly carefully considered, and none of the boards she stepped on were damaged enough to break at the impact. The bridge, or rather what ws left of it, was both rickety and missing planks, and a careless step might easily spell disaster -- particularly since only one of the side ropes was still whole. In short, precisely the sort of route Nikki would pick, given the opportunity.

Unquiet

Darkness, filled with nightmares mixed with memories that wove with fragmented visions. The sweep of time, flowing past unnoticed. A distant pounding that grew louder, and the sound of a strange but compelling song....

The girl awoke with a jerk, slamming her head against the top of her coffin as she tried to bolt upright, the impact bringing tears to her eyes. She fumbled in the dimness of the cracked prison for the only thing she truly cared about, and nearly sobbed in relief when her questing hand came across the worn fabric of her beloved plushie. Tucking it securely into the length of rope that served her as a belt, she reached for the brilliant crevice that indicated access to the outside world. The pounding from her dreams seemed to have faded, as had the rhythmic call of the rain -- had it been raining? But there were other sounds, the rumble and crash of falling stones and the hum and tick of...why did she have the mental image of gears?

The girl scrabbled at the gap, and managed to wrench the cover of her coffin aside enough to squirm free, taking a deep breath of air that wasn't so stale. She could smell rain and dirt, and for a moment her heart soared. She was free, somehow she was free, and she'd be able to go back home to--

The thought ground to a halt, a pained sob nearly bursting from her lips but she choked it back. She remembered what had happened. She remembered where she had been sent. This must be the Stone. And there was no going home, no one waiting for her if she did. The child shivered and opened her eyes to look around, only to squeeze them shut again against the blinding light. So long in the dark, and she was nearly blind out of it. Strains of a song filled her ears, tugging at her thoughts. A lingering trace of vision flitted past her eyelids, a horrific figure that claimed to be a god, seeking to possess a woman. And the song...the song was important. The god was evil, her experience with the thing that clung to her mother told her that. It was the same sort of thing, darkness and madness and contradiction, and she hated it.

But the song, the song was the opposite. Whoever was singing, she thought that person might be someone she could trust. The child ventured to slit her eyes open, still needing to squint against the brightness. There were other people there, and she didn't trust them. People would hurt you and hate you and lock you up in a coffin. She didn't want to get too close to them, but could hardly avoid it, unless....

Forcing her protesting limbs to move, the girl clung to the tangle of ivy and other plants that covered the wall, working her way slowly around the edge of the room. She didn't look at the dark shape with the glowing eyes. Even unable to make it out clearly, instinct whispered that looking at it would only bring pain. She prayed the blurry figures that must be the other people she heard speaking wouldn't see her as she picked her way around the edge of the room, aiming for a level other than the one they seemed to be on, and trying to head for the singing.

Wings Askew

@Alina13 Honestly, what makes me uneasy is that you tell us she is misunderstood by everyone, instead of saying what she does that might make people misunderstand her and letting us decide how our characters feel, for example.

Nikki is going to see an antisocial person as having a giant target painted on their back, and go after them until she finds them boring or they open up. It can result in friendship, animosity, or just not caring about them if they're dull, but she wouldn't ignore them off the bat.

There is potential to play this character as a sheltered, conceited, troubled, better-than-thou young woman. But there's also potential to play her less well, and that concerns me.

Unquiet

Amuné by verdenda of Subeta

Name: Amuné Ris

Abstract: a frightened child with a troublesome gift

Appearance: Only eight years old, Amuné is a slight child, more angles than baby fat. She has wide gray eyes and short mousy brown hair. Her clothes are not in the best condition, stained and torn in places. At the moment she is extremely shy and wary of others, scaring easily. Her constant companion is a battered kitten doll that she will not leave behind without a fight. There’s something odd about her, but it’s hard to determine what.

Details: Amuné is the child of a Rover who settled down with a village midwife and healer. She was a strange girl even as a babe, though she didn’t register on the snare screening, as she lacked any visible traits. But she was indeed a snare, and one with an unusual gift. Past, present, and future: a Seer with training can glimpse them all, learning from what has come before and predicting what lies ahead. Amuné did not receive any training, however, and even when her father realized what was going on, he cautioned her to keep it secret, and do her best to avoid visions. Despite her efforts, the girl was not able to prevent them completely, nor was she able to keep from describing them aloud with total success. As a result she was viewed as a queer child, and ended up having only a few good friends.

Her mother was unnerved as well, mostly because she tended to notice primarily how Amuné’s moods frequently reflected downward turns in illnesses or stillborn children before the fact. It didn’t become a serious issue until the child’s seventh year, however, when her baby brother became quite ill. The girl did everything she could to help, as she adored her brother, and was really worried about him. Her mother saw it instead as an omen of disaster, and made use of forbidden arts to ensure the boy would recover. The healer was able to cure her sick son, but it came at a price. She was corrupted by the bargain, and became host to a lesser minion of one of the old gods.

Amuné could tell something had changed in her mother, but not what. However, the creature viewed the child and her ability as a threat. It didn’t take too much persuasion to turn the woman against the young Seer. She’d never been comfortable with the girl’s strange moods and odd fits that didn’t have any evident source. She was a superstitious woman even at the best of times, and the darkness riding her took advantage of that, twisting her to its own ends. Then both she and it turned their attention to the rest of the town. They played upon emotions and fears, sowing anger and doubt. Over time, they convinced the townsfolk that there was something wrong with the girl, that she was a snare that had somehow gone undetected, or more likely a witch, and her fits were evidence of her evil power, that the things she said that were out of place but oddly insightful or foreboding in hindsight were actually times when she used magic to bring disaster. Eventually woman and creature were able to goad a number of the citizens into action.

Things didn’t go the way anyone expected. A cruel twist of fate hit the child with a vision during the confrontation, and her words were taken as a curse. The ensuing chaos left flames spreading through the village, destroying houses and claiming lives. The local guard intervened before Amuné was killed by the enraged mob, but not soon enough to keep her father from dying in an attempt to protect her. Nor did the girl escape so easily; she was judged guilty and sentenced to the Stone.

Songs:
Unlimited Sky, Tommy Heavenly6
Lacrimosa, Kalafina
Prototype, Chiaki Ishikawa (short version; can't find the long one)

Wings Askew

@chukklehed Hhaa, the way you described it is different, for sure.

Unquiet

(will add pic when I get back to my computer and can access it~)

Name: Amuné Ris

Abstract: a frightened child with a troublesome gift

Appearance: Only eight years old, Amuné is a slight child, more angles than baby fat. She has wide gray eyes and short mousy brown hair. Her clothes are not in the best condition, stained and torn in places. At the moment she is extremely shy and wary of others, scaring easily. Her constant companion is a battered kitten doll that she will not leave behind without a fight. There’s something odd about her, but it’s hard to determine what.

Details: Amuné is the child of a Rover who settled down with a village midwife and healer. She was a strange girl even as a babe, though she didn’t register on the snare screening, as she lacked any visible traits. But she was indeed a snare, and one with an unusual gift. Past, present, and future: a Seer with training can glimpse them all, learning from what has come before and predicting what lies ahead. Amuné did not receive any training, however, and even when her father realized what was going on, he cautioned her to keep it secret, and do her best to avoid visions. Despite her efforts, the girl was not able to prevent them completely, nor was she able to keep from describing them aloud with total success. As a result she was viewed as a queer child, and ended up having only a few good friends.

Her mother was unnerved as well, mostly because she tended to notice primarily how Amuné’s moods frequently reflected downward turns in illnesses or stillborn children before the fact. It didn’t become a serious issue until the child’s seventh year, however, when her baby brother became quite ill. The girl did everything she could to help, as she adored her brother, and was really worried about him. Her mother saw it instead as an omen of disaster, and made use of forbidden arts to ensure the boy would recover. The healer was able to cure her sick son, but it came at a price. She was corrupted by the bargain, and became host to a lesser minion of one of the old gods.

Amuné could tell something had changed in her mother, but not what. However, the creature viewed the child and her ability as a threat. It didn’t take too much persuasion to turn the woman against the young Seer. She’d never been comfortable with the girl’s strange moods and odd fits that didn’t have any evident source. She was a superstitious woman even at the best of times, and the darkness riding her took advantage of that, twisting her to its own ends. Then both she and it turned their attention to the rest of the town. They played upon emotions and fears, sowing anger and doubt. Over time, they convinced the townsfolk that there was something wrong with the girl, that she was a snare that had somehow gone undetected, or more likely a witch, and her fits were evidence of her evil power, that the things she said that were out of place but oddly insightful or foreboding in hindsight were actually times when she used magic to bring disaster. Eventually woman and creature were able to goad a number of the citizens into action.

Things didn’t go the way anyone expected. A cruel twist of fate hit the child with a vision during the confrontation, and her words were taken as a curse. The ensuing chaos left flames spreading through the village, destroying houses and claiming lives. The local guard intervened before Amuné was killed by the enraged mob, but not soon enough to keep her father from dying in an attempt to protect her. Nor did the girl escape so easily; she was judged guilty and sentenced to the Stone.

Wings Askew

@Rekaigan I loved Nausicaa's glider, but Nikki would hate it.

@Ebonsquire DEAR GODS THOSE ARE GORGEOUS. Not sure if Nikki's is designed like that but collapsable, but wow. WOW.

The Twelve Labours: General Discussion

Thank you both for your feedback, @mdk@Polybius

I did actually put a line break in the quoted passage (and other places), I simply didn't skip a line. <br> instead of <p>. My personal feeling is that if the exchange is still continuing, it's not appropriate to skip a line. Granted, I gained that impression from novels that also /indent/ each new line, but it's stuck with me. I can see reason to do it the way you suggest, though, for clarity purposes.

I definitely see room for telling more about myself. I don't often put actual-me into stories as more than an incidental cameo, and I forget that you all don't know me the way I do! Certainly should keep that in mind for when I am a character in the future.

As for saying more about Schrody, that's something I did consider. The end decision, however, was that I couldn't reveal more about him and maintain the premise of the story: that I knew next to nothing about him. As a note, yes, Schrody is a him. I do actually have a character base by this name, and he has served several purposes for me in the past. He was singularly stubborn about talking to me for a long time, though I knew a little more than I portrayed for the purposes of this challenge.

Wings Askew

@Rekaigan I use the idea of a hang glider like Aang's in Avatar:TLA, mostly because I loved the look of it, and I don't think Nikki would have the patience to cart something unwieldy around with her. It appeals to me and fits her. <3