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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 20:51:57 GMT -8
Outline the flows in dark red.
Color them in with orange. Pepper the bright tile with flecks of yellow.
Color in the rocks. Move on. Repeat.
Chelsea’s movements were predictable and concise, almost ritualistic in nature. The art had all of her attention, the only time she ever lifted her head to observe her surroundings being when she needed to discourage people from walking on her masterpiece – or, if they insisted, to instruct them how to do so properly. She was quite picky about the way anyone walked on the colored pavement, claiming all manner of terrible fates would befall those who didn’t heed her careful warnings.
This girl’s imagination was clearly amok, thought passersby and they promptly avoided bothering her, making the wise decision to circumvent the colored concrete tiles by walking along the adjacent grass. Chelsea’s volcanic obstacle course stretched for eleven tiles, ending only when Chelsea’s lone orange chalk piece broke for a final time and collapsed into useless powder. At this point she had the brilliant idea to surround the ‘pit’ with grass, mimicking its elongated borders.
For this venture, Chelsea had no playmates. Indeed, she needed none, lest these friends run the risk of being pestered constantly by her picky standards of what color went where and in what sort of way. As orange gave way to green Chelsea once again became lost to her art and failed to notice those watching curiously, wondering what sort of artistic monument could be worth commandeering so much sidewalk.
“No, no! You can’t walk on the orange part!” Chelsea protested, as someone took an ill-planned step forward and the tip of their shoe touched the fiery cauldron below. “It’s lava! If you touch it it’ll burn you up!”
Chelsea stood and brushed her clothes free of what chalk she could manage, but succeeded only in smearing it further.
“The grey parts are rocks. You can step on those because they won’t burn you. But!” She held her finger up matter-of-factly, pointing to the other. “If you lose your balance you have to go back to the beginning! You have to do it all without falling if you want to go through.” Created by Misso
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Post by Astrit Zupan on Nov 12, 2014 18:38:15 GMT -8
It's alive with the beating of a young heart | It was a sunny day, and Astrit didn't have any more homework left, so he figured he might as well treat himself to something special. A trip to the park was plenty special for his purposes.
He went by bicycle, over the river and through the woods down to the park, just one of many going hither and thither in this great chimaera of a city. The trip was quick and uneventful. When he arrived at the park, he tied his bike up and began to meander along the paved path, looking around at all there was to see.
There was plenty to see. Astrit paused for a little while to watch a couple of enormous white swans ducking under the water, presumably eating the vegetation down there. A little ways down, he had to leave the sidewalk for a little ways in order to avoid a couple who were getting their picture taken. After that, he didn't run into any trouble for quite a bit, until...
Astrit blinked. The sidewalk before him was positively coated with chalk, mostly orange dotted with yellow, but also lines of red and patches of gray. “Am I supposed to walk on this?” he muttered to himself, taking a tentative step forward.
“No, no! You can't walk on the orange part!” a girl's voice shrieked, startling him into jumping backwards. “It's lava! If you touch it it'll burn you up!”
Astrit hadn't even noticed the girl—a surprising lapse, he thought, since he was so given to paying attention. Then again, when he did catch sight of her, it seemed less surprising that he hadn't before, being as she was well-nigh coated in exactly the same chalk that covered the sidewalk. Judging by her voice and attitude, she was probably at least a few years younger than him.
What's she on about? he wondered.
But further explanation was, in fact, forthcoming. “The grey parts are rocks. You can step on those because they won't burn you,” the girl asserted. “But! If you lose your balance, you have to go back to the beginning! You have to do it all without falling if you want to go through.”
Something clicked into place inside the boy's head. Man, she's persuasive, he thought. He was only doing this to humour a little kid. Definitely. That was absolutely the only reason why he stepped up to a little ways before the edge of the fiery expanse and took a careful step onto the first rock.
Heat presses in on him from below, like it's trying to lift him up, but he is strong and surefooted. He must make his way carefully, or else the lava flowing quick and hot below him could swallow him up and burn him to a crisp. Having won his way onto the first rock, he scans the lava ahead of him for another safe place to stand. There—he sees it—he leaps for it. The fire threatens this rock, though, so he does not stay longer than a second before taking a jump to the next, which is broader. This affords him a moment to plan his next few steps: there are two very small rocks peeping out of the lava that he can use as a bridge to a larger one, but he must be very precise and very quick, both, in order to take that path. He is up to the challenge; he leaps lightly, on his toes, on this and that and then safety on the large one. A satisfied grin settles on his face, as he turns to the next challenge...
When he finally leapt from the last rock to the green safety of the other side, he found himself standing next to the girl. She was taller than him—quite a lot taller, as he hadn't realized until just now. Hopefully she wasn't as much younger as he had assumed at first.
“Say, what's your name, anyway?” he wanted to know. “I'm Astrit.” | @theironlass | 662 words |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2014 12:35:36 GMT -8
Wordlessly the boy obeyed her every word – just the way she wanted it.
A brief laugh escaped her, perhaps inaudible due to distance, and she crossed her arms over her chest to observe the other’s attempt to jump across the flaming cauldron below. As Astrit’s imagination caused the searing heat to lick invisibly at his feet, Chelsea envisioned herself as a volcanic goddess presiding over puny mortals attempting a near-fatal challenge. Her hair and dress flowed in the heated wind, blue eyes piercing through the smoky haze to the pool in the volcano’s crater. Lava flowed and churned like water as it bubbled over the crater’s sides, cascading down the rocks to whatever poor fools might live below.
Astrit’s foot securely landed upon a small rock. He was skilled at avoiding death, no doubt training for years before coming to attempt the goddess’ dangerous game. Again, he jumped! Again, he landed! Closer and closer he came and as he did so the molten rock around him bubbled furiously, attempting to intimidate him into turning around. Only a few more obstacles lay in his path, and soon her would be face to face with the great deity herself!
Chelsea’s vision faded as soon as Astrit’s foot contacted the fake green grass she’d been drawing. In the other world, the goddess’ challenge had been met and she was obligated to reward this mortal with his every heart’s desire.
In this case, he asked for her name. Clearly, until this moment, she was a merciless being, the embodiment of destruction and war whom none dare dignify with a human identity...
Like Astrit upon first seeing the boy at such a distance she assumed he was older than she was. However, he approached her and it was revealed that she was far taller than he – almost eight full centimeters! Chelsea’s blue eyes blinked curiously, tinted by both confusion and amusement. The way he carried himself surely there was no way she was older! She was but a girl of ten!
But he played her game well, which was worthy of this small reward. Chelsea decided immediately that she liked him, as anyone willing to humor her shenanigans was. She clapped her hands together once, punctuating the sound with a pair of shortened giggles. Age did not matter when it came to greatness or friendship, and in fact Chelsea did need a few more friends who were willing to put up with her.
“I’m Chelsea!” She bowed dramatically, because a goddess must be polite to those whom had earned her respect. “I’m pleased to meet you, Astrit! You are a worthy opponent.”
Chelsea stepped to the side, eyes scanning the chalky landscape before her. The lava flow began so abruptly… she would continue to extend it from that side, seeing the end was quite obviously covered in grass and dirt.
“I never suspected such a young mortal would be able to defeat the volcano! I will have to make it more difficult!” She proclaimed. Clearly, she was still trapped in character. Created by Misso
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Post by Astrit Zupan on Nov 18, 2014 19:43:31 GMT -8
It's alive with the beating of a young heart | Although part of him was still trying to hold onto a dignified pretense to the contrary, Astrit had enjoyed that little trip across the volcano. He hadn't had so much pure, clean fun in quite a while, so the girl's continuing to behave as if there was a game of pretend going on didn't bother him at all. His first clue to this was that he would not expect a dramatic bow to be the ordinary reaction to an introduction. Of course, he was plenty willing to play along.
“I'm Chelsea!” she declared, and Astrit filed this name away in the back of his mind together with all the other names of people he had met recently. Perhaps this would be only a brief acquaintance, but it was also possible that they would meet again...
“I never suspected such a young mortal would be able to defeat the volcano!” Chelsea proclaimed, and though he understood the tacit terms of the game that she set out, Astrit still bristled a bit at one word in particular.
“I am not so young,” he protested, automatically shifting up a register in the grandiosity of his language in order to match the girl's. “I have seen the coming and going of thirteen years!”
To be fair, he was speaking to a girl who behaved as if she were considerably younger than himself and yet towered over him by so much that it was embarrassing. Being shorter by eight centimeters or so wouldn't have sounded so bad if it were put to him in the abstract, but when he took into account that his age-mates would probably have been taller than the girl by at least that much, it highlighted his unfortunate shrimpiness all the more harshly.
In the imaginary world, it was easier to deal with. Goddesses were expected to be abnormally tall and grand compared to mortals. | @theironlass | 317 words |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2014 7:20:34 GMT -8
Chelsea took a step backwards breathed a dramatic gasp, hands flying up to cover her mouth as if she’d just seen or heard something unbelievable. “A full thirteen years! Age has been kind to you, mortal!”
So he was a lot older than she thought he was. She didn’t think a thirteen-year-old would be so much shorter than her… much less a boy! The dramatics faded as Chelsea, with a sudden wave of pride washing over her, stood tall with as perfect a posture as she could get.
“Hmmm…” Chelsea brushed a finger thoughtfully against her chin, observing the boy closely. “That’s still a young age for a warrior. You are to be commented!”
… That was the word, right? Whatever! It sounded right!
She turned to the grass on the left, upon which a small, blanket sat protecting an old, greyed cat and a bucket of chalk from the damp elements below. She dare not touch the cat with her colorful fingers, as exemplified by her cautious maneuvering of her hands around the stuffed creature to pull the chalk away from it without harming it. Miss Kitty didn’t look like she’d be able to stand very many more tumbles through the wash.
Taking the bucket of chalk pieces into her arms she carted it back over to Astrit with a big, multicolored grin on her stained face.
“I can make you god, and together we’ll make really hard obstacle courses that only the bravest of men and women can conquer! As the first to fairly complete my volcanic obstacle course, this is the highest honor I can offer!”
Thirteen.
To be perfectly honest… she did not expect an older boy to take the offer. Someone her age, perhaps! She’d hoped as he’d approached that she might be closer to her in age but the sad fact was that kids getting into their teens were pretty close to that stage where they were boring – or at least felt they were too good for girls like her! But… hope. Maybe. She’d love a playmate.
"... If you want to, I mean..." Created by Misso
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Post by Astrit Zupan on Nov 26, 2014 22:43:37 GMT -8
It's alive with the beating of a young heart | It was obvious that Chelsea's reaction was exaggerated for the sake of keeping up her dramatic goddess persona, but her surprise appeared to be genuine. Of course, Astrit ought to have expected that his age should surprise people. He had just been contemplating how tiny he was for thirteen, after all.
It still stung. He hated how young he looked.
The words Chelsea chose to express her reaction, though, salved it a bit. “Age has been kind to you,” she said. Astrit never would have thought of it as a kindness, but if the girl wanted to treat it as such, it would be sort of nice. At the least, it was a sign that she wasn't going to laugh at him or look down on him (figuratively—there wasn't much either of them could do about the literal version).
“That's still a young age for a warrior,” she added. “You are to be commented!”
Commented? Astrit wondered. He had the sense of what she meant, but the word sounded just a little bit off. After a few moments, he figured out what was wrong: she must have made a malapropism for commended. That was all right; he bowed deeply in thanks, and the girl scampered off to fetch a bucket of chalk.
She had an offer for him when she returned.
“I can make you god, and together we’ll make really hard obstacle courses that only the bravest of men and women can conquer! As the first to fairly complete my volcanic obstacle course, this is the highest honor I can offer!”
Caught up as he was in the game, Astrit liked the idea. He was considering how best to express his interest when Chelsea and her giant grin suddenly seemed to deflate.
“...If you want to, I mean...”
That framed things rather differently. When she put it like that, part of him wanted to refuse. It was such a childish activity, and to continue now would mean to admit that he wasn't just humoring a younger child. That there was something in him that wanted to play the game.
It was a secret, just how much he hungered to exercise his imagination, to play like he hadn't had the strength for when he was Chelsea's age. But he was sure she wouldn't notice that he was desperate for it, if he covered it up well.
He knelt down dramatically. “O goddess, I would be honored to accept.” | @theironlass | 411 words |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2014 19:57:24 GMT -8
Chelsea’s cheeks were dusted with a light pink as her face brightened again considerably. He was agreeing to her request! While in character, the Goddess was relieved to finally have a partner in her creation of the world and in her challenging of mortals. But the girl who played her was simply happy for a playmate who enjoyed the art and acting as much as she did.
The dramatics of this situation did Astrit a favor, masking that desperation with the mere hint of play. He knelt down but unbeknownst to him, for Chelsea was a decent actress in her own right, the girl he was humoring was far more giddy than she was letting on. A small bounce proclaimed her joy, but it was quickly squelched for she could maintain her divine presence.
“Then,” Chelsea began, gingerly touching the boy’s left shoulder with a tiny hand, “by the innested power in me I proclaim you a god!”
She didn’t quite realize that ‘innested’ wasn’t a real word, and that’d she’d merely conflated ‘invested’ and ‘innate’ into something no one in the world would ever understand, but it made sense to her so obviously it would make sense to Astrit as well. She hummed, as if attempting to create some kind of magical sound effect and bam! The spell was cast!
Astrit was now a God, capable of wielding the magical instruments that allowed the divines to do wonders upon the mortal realm. Chelsea beckoned the boy to stand and held the chalk out as she did so, inviting him to take a picture of the various colors to begin his project.
“I was thinking about making a thorn bush after the volcano. You can do whatever you want!” She encouraged, her grin not once shrinking. She couldn’t help but allow the bounce in her step to be visible. “Since you beat the volcano, we need to make it even harder for the next person.”
If a next person would ever come.
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Post by Astrit Zupan on Dec 30, 2014 0:45:30 GMT -8
It's alive with the beating of a young heart | “Then by the innested power within me, I proclaim you a god!”
Astrit's face slowly spread into a grin as the “goddess” hummed magically, providing sound effects for his transformation. He imagined that he felt power running through him and settling especially in his hands, changing him into a god. Idly, he took apart that weird word, “innested,” in the back of his mind. “In-nested.” It made perfect sense, when he split it that way: lots of compound words in English were backwards to the usual grammar like that, and it gave him a mental image of divine power as a nest of eggs inside the deities that they could hatch whenever they liked in order to make things happen. Surely that was as functional a metaphor as any.
As he got to his feet and accepted the chalk from Chelsea, Astrit looked over the obstacle course, reviewing how it went. To tell the truth, it was quite formidable, sprawling for quite some distance along the sidewalk. Chelsea had pretty much treated the pathway as her own personal coloring book.
“I was thinking about making a thorn bush after the volcano,” Chelsea explained exuberantly. “You can do whatever you want! Since you beat the volcano, we need to make it even harder for the next person.”
Astrit nodded, looking at the ends of the path with a critical eye...
The newly exalted volcano god examines the limits of his domain, tools in his hand to extend his reach. His skill has brought him this far, through the difficult course, but what can he do to make it still more difficult for the next challenger? Ah, he sees what he can do...
“Ah, I've got it!” he muttered to himself, and settled down to drawing further lava, with more red shapes than gray in it: the red represented stones that were covered by the lava, and though they could be mistaken for safe places to stand, the flowing molten stone above them would surely sweep the challenger away into the fiery depths of the volcano... | @theironlass | 317 words |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 2:18:07 GMT -8
Chelsea contemplated deeply the potential for mayhem this little obstacle course now had. She had a partner, which meant there were two brains involved and thus two imaginations. Logically this meant that anything the two of them did together would be doubly amazing! As Astrit left her side to go attend to the lava and volcano, Chelsea turned her attention to the empty space that lay before them. Her thorn bush idea was a good one, but not enough.
“What if I put a dragon in it?” Chelsea spoke aloud, mostly to herself though Astrit very likely would have heard. “Would it be too much? Maybe I should save it—oh. OH. Yes! I’ll make a castle at the veeeery end, and put the dragon in that!”
Chelsea clapped at her sudden display of cleverness, spraying a thin veil of chalk dust at her face that invoked a cough.
“Defeat the dragon, and get even better stuff than before!” Of course, no one else could be a god. Astrit had fairly obtained that right before all others, and it was exclusively his. She turned to the boy, interesting in what he planned to do and saw immediately that he was continuing the lava pit, making it harder and, oooh… trickier! She knew exactly what he was trying to do and bounced over enthusiastically!
“Ah! Why didn’t I think of that? Lava rocks that sink into the pit! Right?” It was bad enough that a foul step could send the best acrobats tumbling into the lava, but now there were rocks that seemed stable enough but were full of trickery! She liked this new god, yes she sure did!
“After a volcano like this, defeating a dragon should be easy. Maybe I should put the dragon before—but wait! If they tame the dragon they can just fly over the volcano! Hmmm…”
Created by Misso
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