Veloci-Rapture

I do intend to hit up the other thread, but I've been knocked out by a hellflu this past week. I knew I should have gotten that fucking vaccine this year.

"You speak very big for such a little girl. You wish for more power? Let me ask you a question girl, have you ever killed a human before? Injured?"  Vetiver's thoughts flashed back to her time in Yh'mi. Did she put a knife directly into someone's throat? No. But her failure had cost... too many lives. She'd known the exact number once, but it was one of those things that kept slipping out of her mind during her recovery in Ignatz's military hospital. She seemed to recall that some of the rescue team sent for her had also died. Maybe she'd just made that part up. It was possible. Perhaps even likely. But she couldn't be sure. Everything that had happened after she fell in the hole she'd helped to open, staring up at a black, armored figure making ready to cleave her head from her shoulders, up to about a week before she was finally discharged from medical with a fitness for duty order; all of that was at best a blur and at worst a dark black void in her mind. "Yes," she said, intending the word to answer both questions. "If you wish to obtain power beyond what you have, perhaps beyond what you've ever imagined doing- take hold of my hand and we shall set this city ablaze. But, in return, you will become one of my Paragon. Loyalty in return of power. This choice is yours: to stay a middling mortal for what small time you have left or to rise above all others in the ashes of Everrun. The world is yours... if you choose to grasp it." While the other man hesitated, questions on his lips, Vetiver didn't. This was what she came here for. One could argue that this was the whole reason she'd survived -- or been saved -- in the first place. Her hand reached out and grasped Lilith's. WIthout Vetiver's knowledge, an encrypted transmission blinked onto a lonely monitor at Terran Military HQ just a split second before her fingers wrapped around Lillith's hand. SENT: VICTORY VER 2.8.331 PROTOTYPE T1-A. PROJECT CODENAME: FLOWERCHILD. PASSKEY: DELTA-DELTA-ONE-THREE-UNIFORM-MIKE. SECURE: CONFIRMED. MESSAGE FORMAT: HACKERVOICE MESSAGE: "I'M IN." {END MESSAGE} {YOU HAVE OPTED IN TO MESSAGES FROM VICTORY VER 2.8.331 PROTOTYPE T1-A CODENAME: FLOWERCHILD. TO STOP RECEIVING MESSAGES FROM VICTORY VER 2.8.331 PROTOTYPE T1-A CODENAME: FLOWERCHILD: REPLY "STOP" WITH PROPER THIRTY-NINE CHARACTER CASE-SENSITIVE ENCRYPTION PASSKEY.}

Vetiver's "gift" had gotten her into trouble before, no doubt, but this was the first time it had gotten her assaulted by a man of the cloth. She gasped for air as she looked into the face of the wrathful Djinn, her small hands clasping over his to the same effect as if they were trying to pry apart a steel beam. "Do not impugn my honor girl. When I give my word, I keep it; and the stars will rain from the sky before it isn't so." She tried to stammer out some sort of apology -- even though she felt it rather unfair that she had to apologize for words she only theoretically had control over -- but Iblis's grip prevented her from getting out much more than a contrite gurgle. She hoped it conveyed her meaning appropriately, even as she knew that it wouldn't make a difference. Egos were bruised, and they required placation; in this case, that placation involved depriving Vetiver of a couple of lungfuls of air. As the Djinn continued his rant and flowers began to bloom on the edge of her vision, she decided that her inability to speak was ultimately for the best. She'd probably have ended up saying something along the lines of 'Of course! Your kind are known far and wide for their fair, transparent bargains and utter lack of any tendency to engage in dodgy shenanigans!' which had a high probability of making things worse. In a moment, it was over, and Vetiver fell to the floor. Anger rushed through her, as ever it did when she was left feeling helpless and out of control, but she quickly stuffed the emotion back down, deep into her core. It was replaced with self-loathing, which was less pleasant but also less dangerous. Before she had time to fully compose herself, a set of cold, feminine fingers gripped her chin and pulled her gaze up, into the eyes of the woman she'd come to see. "Who is him, Oracle? Do your words refer to the Witch-King himself? Are they about Zengi? Tell me." Vetiver's mind worked as she tried to retrace the threads that had produced her latest prophecy. A strand, a crossing, a knot, another knot... and another, and another... wow, that's lot of knots. Oh, hey, there's some more knots over there. And... ooh, that's a big, funny-looking knot, right in the center of just about everything. Vetiver took a deep breath. "The knot at the middle of this is bigger than both of you. All of you. You plan to just bull your way through it, but I don't see that working out in your favor. Or mine. Or anyone's. Meeting the requirements of your bargain--" her eyes flashed over to Iblis, then back to Lillith, "--the very, uh, fair, and, uh.... totally legit, totally straightforward bargain that's one-hundred-percent on the up-and-up and involves absolutely no fine-print or anything.... is just the first obstacle." Here it was. The moment of truth. "I could get you through it, through all the challenges, to get you exactly what you're looking for. But the chances are still slim... unless I had more power." Would that work? Did it need something extra? Well, a little more couldn't hurt. "Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?"

One of these days I'm going to have to sit down and actually watch those stupid movies. All I know are the memes. They're great memes. But I feel like a poser.

Working 12 hour days thanks to the snow; everyone has collectively lost their damn minds and needs all the groceries right this very instant. I will try to have a post up tomorrow, but no later than Saturday evening.

Diviners of all stripes hate being told that they "should have seen that coming". Vetiver, in particular, had always wanted to respond by throwing a rock at the person making such an inane statement, then, when they were on the ground rolling around in pain, follow it up by asking "Shouldn't you have seen that coming?" In this case though, she felt like she really should have had some inkling that she was about to be sucked across the universe at right angles and redeposited some thirty feet from where she began. Her stomach felt weak, like it might be ready to relinquish its previously-firm hold on her breakfast, and she had to put one hand on the luxuriously appointed table next to her to keep from falling over. Vetiver had never been teleported before, and she decided she hated it. Between the natural disorientation that follows such a sudden change in scenery and her own thoughts on the matter, she almost missed the end of the conversation she'd just become privy to, which was also the most important part. "The people of Everrun must die by fire, but never burn." "So be it, Djinn," The words bounced around inside Vetiver's head just as they echoed off the stone walls of the room. Threads began to weave themselves behind Vetiver's eyes, and they traced glowing lines into a dozen different futures. "You are not here for the Djinn are you, Oracle?" The dark woman was addressing her, but Vetiver could hardly hear it over the echos. She looked up at Lillith, met her gaze, and her eyes drained of all color; her irises pure white as they stared without seeing at Lillith's own. "You'll fail," Vetiver said hollowly. "You'll fail to meet his bargain. You'll fail in a dozen different ways, a hundred misunderstandings, a thousand tiny technicalities. He means you to fail. He plans for your failure even as you plan to succeed, he's been planning for someone to fail at a task just like this a million times longer than you even knew it existed. You'll fail." A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Vetiver's lip. "You'll fail, without me." With a rush, her eyes were blue again, and her proud shoulders slumped with chagrin at having addressed someone so powerful, so clearly far above her, so bluntly. "Uh, I mean, if it pleases you, your-- " Grace? Highness? Ladyship? Scary Creepy Personage? "--you. Sorry." Having utterly failed to even begin to recover from her faux pas, Vetiver decided to pay careful attention to the dust on the floor, in which her foot drew some random design. "Maybe I should start over..." she muttered. @Ataraxy

Great turnout so far, gang! Love the participation! I'll let this run for another week or so; we've got plenty of time, but I also want to give everyone an opportunity to get started well in advance of the official opening. Sometimes it takes a bit for those creative juices to congeal into something awesome, like cheese!

Rebirth/Renewal doesn't necessarily have the moral component of redemption; it could be someone trying to cure a plague or going through a spiritual journey to become something else (but not necessarily going from bad to good, like going from novice to master, or unbeliever to believer, or laity to priesthood, or burger lover to hotdog aficionado). Further, redemption doesn't necessarily require a full-on change from one state to the next. It's generally "bad person to good person", but it can also be "bad person does a thing which makes them maybe not all the way bad or bad forever". It doesn't necessitate that the change be complete, or even permanent, just that it overwrites some previously existing component (and can be undertaken for a variety of reasons). Rebirth/Renewal is big and not necessarily moral -- Redeption is moral, but not necessarily big.

Thanks! As it turns out, you are required to fill out the "Content" tab before posting, even when the "Poll" tab is filled. I was too afraid to push the submit button and find out before your comment. 😄

I bet you thought I'd forgotten all about this! Well, I haven't. I've taken the suggestions from the previous thread and boiled them down to a few general themes, and now I'm coming to Valucre to see which one they'd most like to write about for our spring contest! I recognize that these options are not necessarily mutually exclusive; humor can be a part of all of them, for example. But I'm keeping it simple for now; I want to include the broadest spectrum of stories possible, and choosing "Humorous nature survival stories" goes from being thematic to being really restrictive. Let me know what you think! As of right now, I plan to open this contest for entries on April 1st, with the deadline being May 1st.

So I'm ready to set up a poll for our Spring Writing Contest theme, but I'm kind of confused. I know I use the Poll tab, but can I also fill out the "Content" tab so there's an explanation along with the poll, or do I have to pick "Poll", fill it out, and then post a comment to talk about it?

Does that include curse words? Because I saw a character say something like "By Gaia's garters!" a while back and loved it.

Ed Norton was great as Bruce Banner. The movie itself lost me right around the time Nick Nolte started gnawing on electric cables, but I was totally down with Norton. Frankly, Mark Ruffalo just kind of annoys me. Edit: Wait, we're talking "The Incredible Hulk", not "The Hulk". My bad. That one was much better, mostly I think due to the exclusion of Nick Nolte. Plus, "No me gustarías cuando tenga.... hambre". ("You wouldn't like me when I'm.... hungry.") was such a great line, which I still quote (in english). Edit again: Well, shit, the original line was apparently delivered in Portugese, not Spanish. I give up. I'm going to bed.