Silence of Sound, Chapter 1

I want to see how people react to this without any author notes first, and maybe I'll get around to explaining what it is and where i'm going with it. Enjoy!

-Triscribe

Guiding her rollboard down the crowded walk lane, L-SS JNSN idly flicked through the ads that popped up on her view screen each time she passed another store. Some of the people she passed, those who saw and admired her suit’s vibrant blue hue, her helmet’s elegant fins, and the casual swaying motions she used to maneuver the rollboard, sent pings for Friend requests to the teen’s datafile. L-SS glanced at the pings arriving at the edge of her view screen, the interior of her helmet’s visor, and angrily dismissed them all. Anytime she was on a hurry through the city, there were also at least a few dozen Friend requests shot to her. Usually L-SS would take the time to go through the profiles of the people behind them, sort out those who matched her caliber of Cool, accept them and toss out the rest.

After her bad morning cycle, though, the teen wasn’t inclined to indulge anyone’s hopes.

Her now former-boss, J-NS FLR, had waited until L-SS got to the designer’s shop to send her the message of immediate employment termination. When the teen stormed to the back office to demand an explanation, FLR’s only response had been to trigger her security drones, which forcefully ejected L-SS from the premises. Furious at the loss of her job, she’d since been rollboarding aimlessly around the walk lanes of Arctopolis, deleting Friend requests from strangers and ignoring the hails from people she knew who’d heard about the termination.

Eventually, though, she went ahead and triggered the Open command on a Chirp Alert from her Friend S-MY. As L-SS’s oldest confidant, the other girl had a right to receive a reply.

OMG, wat happen with the FLR freak? The Chirp displayed.

Terminated my position, L-SS typed on her bracer’s holo-keyboard. Guess she finally got fed up with my style, knew I was on my way up and her on the way out.

Too true. The return reply came in a few moments later. Where u at now?

Dunno. Around.

Coordinates, L! The demand was followed by the image icons for sympathy and exasperation. L-SS knew her Friend wanted to come hang out with her - since looking cool and relaxed was usually the way to get back at people trying to be upsetting - but all the teen wanted to do was keeping rolling about by herself. She didn’t particularly care about her image at the moment, only for working some of the frustration out of her system.

I send coords when I someplace I know you heard of. She sent with an amused icon. S-MY shot back one sticking its tongue out, but took the hint and left her alone after that.

Leaving the more crowded walk lanes behind as she moved into a residential district, L-SS browsed some of the Special Offer ads that downloaded from the Web every night cycle. She didn’t normally bother with the exotic arrangement of goods that one could purchase from the Trading Companies, letting the ads expire and delete on their own time, but it was something to do. The teen paused when she came across an ad for some antique Stargazers, left over from The Era Before. Studying the image file of the odd looking tubes, L-SS inadvertently found herself tilting her head and helmet back in order to look at the sky.

Ugly, black and grey smog filled the atmosphere over the city, rendered harmless by the c-breathers built into every person’s custom helmet. Supposedly, Stargazers had once allowed humans to study distant objects in space in an age before everyone wore vision enhancing visors, also now a permanent feature of their headgear. L-SS wondered if the skies had always been so dirty, and if a Stargazer was powerful enough to see past the smog.

Knowing her ample Digi-Credit savings would be able to support her for years if necessary before a new job was secured, the teen went ahead and impulsively ordered one from the seller’s Website. If nothing else, owning an antique like that could raise her Coolness Caliber.

And maybe... She’d actually be able to see some stars.

Shaking her head at the thought, L-SS brought her gaze back down to the surface world - just in time to see the large garbage collector vehicle that rammed into her at forty MPH. In the moments that she was airborne, the teen was offered a dizzying view of the sky, buildings, and ground rotating around her. It seemed oddly restful, actually. Then reality caught up with her, about the same time that gravity did.

When L-SS was finally able to start thinking again after her painful impact with the pavement, the first thing she registered was something tickling the side of her head. Except... That wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t so much of a physical sensation as something else, but L-SS didn’t have a way to describe it. Lifting a hand to her head, the teen was startled to find a gash ripped into her helmet; two of her gloved fingers were actually able to enter it and touch something soft and rubbery, which she assumed was her skin.

Suddenly aware of a painful tightness around her throat, she reached both hands towards it, finding that the decorative seal which kept her helmet attached to her full-body suit had become bent inwards. Scrabbling with it, L-SS was finally able to untwist the thing - and at the same time, accidentally release her helmet from its locked position.

Terrified, as every lesson she’d ever been taught about the dangers of the city’s atmosphere came to the forefront of her mind, the teen nonetheless cautiously removed the headgear she’d worn since reaching ten years of age. Further sensations assaulted her - the protrusion at the front of her face began to twitch as it detected something unpleasant, which was mimicked by further ticklings entering the rubbery shape at the side of her head, which L-SS determined had a matching one opposite it. Tilting her head back to stare upwards and try to make sense of these new stimuli, a gap in the teen’s face opened, just below the protrusion. Grit and smog, two things she was always able to ignore even when they tapped against her visor, entered, immediately setting the teen to coughing and hacking. Her vision was beginning to grow blurry even as public security drones finally arrived, with medical ones right behind them. L-SS waited for their instruction messages to pop up, belatedly realizing that she wouldn’t be able to see them without wearing her helmet. Then it didn’t seem to matter anymore, as her vision went dark.

Alais' Nightmare

Blinking as she came awake with a soft groan, Alaisiagae had to take a few moments to remember where she was. The sight of dilapidated brick walls rising up towards a star filled sky suddenly jolted her memory: going on patrol through the streets and alleys surrounding the college campus, being attacked by a woman wearing a bloodstained lab coat over top a grey jumpsuit, briefly spotting the Grinning Ghost appearing from the shadows before some foul smelling gas was released in front of her face...

Sitting up in a panic, the crimefighter scanned her immediate surroundings, but didn’t see any sign of either the bizarre scientist or Ghost. In fact, there was no sign of life anywhere. No music playing from nearby buildings, or the sound of cars going by - not even the occasional insect or rodent noise. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Alais shuffled backwards, putting her back to a wall as she assessed herself for injuries.

Aside from a pounding headache, an ugly greenish-yellow stain on her chestplate, and the tell tale soreness on her back that indicated she’d have bruises in the morning, there didn’t appear to be anything amiss. With a sigh, the teen allowed her head to tip back and rest against the brick wall.

That was when she realized her helmet was gone.

Eyes widening, the teen’s hands flew upward, proving without a doubt that the piece of armor responsible for protecting both her skull and her identity had vanished. Instantly, Alaisiagae’s thoughts turned to Grinning Ghost, but everything she knew of the younger girl suggested that she wouldn’t be responsible for such a thing: it was too easy a prank, too unlike her.

So, that left the scientist woman as the likely suspect.

Attempting to get her brain in order to determine a next move, Alais nearly missed the hissing that began to spill from the shadows around her. She most definitely did not miss the lanky figure that shuffled into the meager light, visible only in the center strip of the alley.

“What the...?” The hooded head tilted to one side, revealing a grinning mouth full of jagged, pointy teeth, and Alaisiagae’s breath caught in her throat. Across from her, the creature’s hisses changed their pattern, sounding almost like... laughter?

Eyes glowing with a sinister red light began to appear in the shadows, more collections of toothy grins gleaming beneath every pair. Alaisiagae refused to allow herself to freak out, but as more of the raggedly dressed creatures shuffled out of the darkness, she had a hard time keeping her emotions under control.

Then the first of them leapt for her throat, and it was as though Hel’s gates had been opened.

Reacting on instinct, Alais swung her fist and knocked the creature away. As the others started to attack her as well, the youth reached for her club to have a longer reach in the fight.

It wasn’t there. First her helmet, now her weapon - as she was forced to resort to rely only on her feet and fists, Alaisiagae felt no remorse whatsoever as she began growling and yelling every English and Nordic curse she’d ever learned.

A weight landed heavily on her back, forcing the hero to stumble forward. One of the creatures had dropped onto her from above, digging its claws into her armor and unleashing a torrent of the hissing laughter directly in her ear. As irritating as the sound was, Alaisiagae had to at least be grateful the thing wasn’t trying to bite her - those teeth were huge, after all.

Taking her initial stumble into a charge, the youth bounded forward through the thickening barrier of monsters, turned, and slammed the creature still clinging to her into the wall. The hisses instantly became a gurgle as the thing’s grip loosened, allowing her to grasp and hurl the creature over her head. It went down in a tangle of limbs with two others, which helped, but there was still a veritable army of them preparing to rush her position.

Concentrating on all the anger and frustration she could muster, Alaisiagae gathered it all together in a tight ball within her gut. As the first of the second wave of monsters tensed to leap forward, the hero released a blood-curdling battle cry, a vibrant blue-green aura springing into life around her armored form. It didn’t deter the creatures from their attack, but it did heighten Alaisiagae’s reflexes as she knocked them away, and she found herself snapping limbs and smashing in faces just as easily as if she were sparring with the training dummies back home.

Some unseen signal must have passed among the monsters, because then they did start to bite. The moment Alais became aware of this was when a searing pain erupted from her right forearm, where one of the creatures had dug its teeth through the leather and kevlar mesh, straight into her flesh. Furious, she swung her arm, and the monster, into the brick wall, forcing it to let go. Her reprieve was brief, though, as more of the creatures began to employ the same tactic.

Most of them couldn’t get through her plated armor, but any and everywhere that was just under layers of heavy duty cloth was fair game. Soon enough, Alaisiagae had creatures hanging from her all four of her limbs, making movement to get them off nearly impossible. One last monster walked calmly up to her, the wide grin striking a chord of terror within the hero as its laughter filled the air. It reached forward, claws digging into either side of her neck as it prepared for the final blow-

“ALAIS! WAKE UP!”

The familiar voice was like a bucket of cold water to the face. Instantly, Alaisiagae’s eyes snapped open, registering the same rising walls and night sky as before. This time, though, the sounds of city life and a nearby battle were all too evidently present. Rising unsteadily to her feet, Alais released a shaky noise of relief as she checked and found that both her helmet and weapon were still in place.

Further down the alley, Grinning Ghost was leaping about, dodging the gas bombs and vials thrown by the scientist villain while launching back her own knives and bolos.

“Dude! Are you going to come give me a hand or do you want to go back to Dreamland?” The teen yelled at her in irritation.

Realizing that it had all been a gas-induced nightmare was all the rage Alaisiagae needed in order to activate her aura, charging forward with an inarticulate roar. The villain barely had time to gape in astonishment before a gauntleted fist plowed into her midsection, sending the woman flying several yards to crash heavily to the ground.

She didn’t get back up again.

“Ha! Bet she’s gonna regret throwing that hallucinogen at you come morning!” Ghost said cheerfully, sauntering up to Alaisiagae’s side. The hero reflected for a moment that the younger teen’s satisfied grin was not an expression she would ever be annoyed at again.

It was so much better that the horrific alternative presented by the monsters of her nightmare.

Altogether At Last

Excerpt from the first of my Turning Point Trilogy, Wolfen's Rage. Enjoy!

Crant was tapping her foot anxiously as she waited outside Nentanuk’s hut, watching for the exact moment that day shifted into night. It was nearly three hours since she’d arrived, and the pendant just needed the final two steps in order to be completed: drying under moonlight, and then to be bonded with a few strands of her fur. The instant it was done, Crant was planning to run back to town to find Teresa, and hope the dwarf hadn’t given up on her returning.

Parunta’s golden light faded below the horizon, while Shan’s Eye and Calu’s Rest began to glow more brightly from their respective places in the sky.

“Nentanuk!” Crant called through the open door.

“I’m coming woman, don’t get your tail in a twist.” Grumbling, the magician left her hut, cradling in her claws the newly potion-coated pendant. It reminded Crant somewhat of a centaur shaman’s dreamcatcher, a detail she’d long noted while carrying around the instructions for making one.

The two of them headed to the edge of the surrounding stand of trees, towards one oak in particular. It was completely devoid of leaves, bearing several lightning scars along its topmost branches and trunk.

Out of her sleeve, Nentanuk produced a long cord, onto which she strung the pendant before tying it closed in a loop. Then she hung the thing from one of the lower branches, stepping back and allowing moonlight to completely bathe the pendant.

“There,” the magician smiled slightly. “Now while we wait, let’s go get a bit of your fur, wolfen.”

“Alright,” Crant hesitated briefly. “Anonian.”

Nentanuk froze.

“I’m assuming that’s what you are, at least, despite the fact that every history tome I’ve ever read agreed that they were all wiped out in the Great Massacres.” The woman forged on. “And after hearing what you said before, about the Immortals stealing from the Animkind gods...”

“It’s... Been a very long time since someone deduced my true race for themselves.” Nentanuk finally responded. “How...?”

Crant could only shrug. “Like I said, I’ve spent several years wandering just about everywhere. I once was invited to tour Vika’s palace in the Far North, and she had an entire wall depicting every breed of dragon to have once lived upon her shores, including the Stormers-”

“Who my particular Anonian breed greatly resemble.” The magician finished for her. “You are a very strange individual, Crant. To have earned a place among the Animkind is one thing, but to be on friendly terms with the Ice Goddess herself... I have a feeling there’s a great destiny in store for you.”

“I doubt that very much, but thank you anyway.” A hint of bitterness crept into Crant’s tone, but Nentanuk chose not to comment on it.

“Well, shall we continue on making you a lesser danger to your environment, my friend?” Grinning, the woman nodded, and the pair of them returned to Nentanuk’s hut.

-WR-

“Hey,” Aldra said nervously. “Do you guys feel that this might not be such a good idea? Like, maybe we should have waited until dawn?”

“By that time, another family of townspeople could have been taken.” Mentras reasoned.

The group was on the simple track that led up the hill outside of town towards the Dweller’s home. Andren had taken the lead on the narrow trail, purposeful steps taking her forward as the elf ignored both her brother and the uneasy feeling in her stomach. Behind the archer came her twin, followed by Teresa, then Mentras, and with Krun making up the rear. It had taken some badgering, but the four of them had eventually convinced the meckle orc to come with them - first to make sure they didn’t get turned around inside the town, and then onwards as extra muscle. He didn’t seem terribly happy with the situation, but agreed nonetheless.

Aldra wasn’t the only one worried, as they could all sense the same feeling of danger as him: it was as though the darkened landscape around them was warning the group not to go on. Just as she was going to turn around and say that maybe they should wait until daylight, Andren reached the track’s end and stopped. They had arrived at the thick grove of trees, with a small hut barely visible in the center. Through the cracks in the closed shutters and the door came some sort of greenish light, and everyone picked up on the low murmur of magic being done. Before Andren could work up the courage to keep going, Teresa stomped past her and hammered on the door.

“Who’s there?” They’d clearly interrupted something, if the worried tone was anything to go by.

“Open yuir door right this minute, ya cowardly demon! We want a word with ye!” Teresa called back. The rest of the group approached the hut. They could all hear the distinctly panicked sounding voice inside, overtop a growl that grew in volume.

“Why does it sound that way?” Krun muttered to them. “Why would a demon be afraid? And of what?”

“A bigger demon.” Mentras suggested. He stalked up to the door and began fiddling with the latch.

“Alright, ya blasted bein’!” Teresa yelled. “If you can’t come out, we’re a’coming in!”

“NO!” The creature screamed, just as the door crashed down - from the inside. Teresa and Mentras were thrown back by a giant beast that came out. It was huge, with long fur bristling from under strained clothes and dagger-length claws. It’s eyes were crazed, foam dripping from a mouth full of sharp teeth that were bared in a vicious snarl.

“W-w-wo-WOLFEN!” Aldra screamed. The monster’s eyes swung to the terrified elf, and it growled in his direction. Before it could take two steps toward him, Krun stepped in and threw a punch aimed at the wolfen’s lower jaw. The force of the blow forced the mad creature back a few steps, but then it recovered and leapt at its new target. Krun barely managed to avoid the teeth snapping at his arms, stumbling away from the wildly swinging claws.

“Crant! Stop this!” Getting back to her feet, Teresa did a double take as the fearful shout resounded through the grove. Eyes drawn back to the wolfen, she sucked in a startled breath when noticing the familiar sword hanging from a belt tightly caught around the wolfen’s waist. The dwarf had no time to act on this, though, before a tall being flew out from the hut on large, leathery wings, tackling the monster and forcing it away from Krun. Grappling, the pair went crashing into a leafless tree, breaking the trunk near in half. The air around them crackled, and then a trio of lightning bolts appeared out of nowhere, stabbing into the wolfen’s form and eliciting a pained howl.

A hand on her shoulder caught Teresa’s attention, and she looked over into Mentras’ alarmed eyes.

“We can’t fight that thing!” He hissed, tail swishing in agitation. “We have to get out of here, get some soldiers or something!” Teresa clamped her jaw down on an unhelpful comment.

“Mountainmover dwarves don’t run from a fight.” She said instead, pulling out her broadsword. Mentras stared at her, eventually gulping and pulling out a pair of daggers. Closer to the trees, Andren had gotten her brother to calm down, and the pair of elves were rapidly stringing their bows. Krun had regained his composure, readying his axe for a fight even if he didn’t know the first thing about combat.

Together, the five prepared to charge in to assist the winged being, whom the wolfen had finally succeeded in dragging off and throwing aside. All of their attention was on the bellowing monster.

So, no one was prepared for the arrival of a fast-paced melody on the air, or the green tendrils that suddenly burst forth from the ground to wrap around everybody’s limbs and weapons, holding them in place.

-WR-

Hours, Seesor had been crouched in the tall yellow grass, ears and tail twitching as he intently studied the magic-infused abode. His abilities as a druid connected him to all forms of life, and most forms of mystical power, allowing the tiny faun to sense a great many things even without seeing them.

He could feel the mighty presence of the being who lived within the wooden dwelling.

He could hear the tingles of the various spells she’d put up to protect her home, keeping out any with less than noble motives.

He could smell her pain, built up over hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of years of loneliness.

Digging his fingertips into the soil between his hooves, Seesor took a deep breath, and on the exhale, let his magic reach out. It was a tentative probing, meant to be nothing more than a humble inquiry, so the protective wards on the dwelling allowed him entry. He gained several flashes of disjointed images, old memories and emotions used to power the multitude of spells. This was someone who used more types of magic than he’d known existed, but at their core was a being who’d gone from being a cherished loved one to the last of her kind in a matter of hours.

As he retracted the probe, Seesor wasn’t surprised to find tears streaming down his cheeks. Shifting position, the faun curled up within the little nest he’d made, slowly descending into sleep as he pondered over the bits and pieces he’d seen of Nentanuk Magicborn’s soul.

When he next awoke, there were voices nearby.

Jerking upright, Seesor felt his eyes widen as he recognized three of the scents passing by his hiding place - the elves and the orc creature. Curious as to why they and another two were approaching the dwelling, the faun crept after them. As neither he nor the others seemed to have ill intentions, they were all allowed past the wards of protection, though Seesor still felt an uneasy ripple over his fur as he stepped through and  into the trees.

He was focusing more on the energies filling the air than what the group was doing, but his attention was instantly captured by the raging monster to emerge from the wooden dwelling. Staring in horror as the creature went on a rampage, Seesor tried to figure out what was going on. His earlier nap meant he must have missed the monster’s arrival, because it definitely had not been present that afternoon. Hurriedly extending a bit of his magic, the faun was only able to get a sense of ragepaingriefkill before some other force, dominating the creature’s actions, drove him back out.

But it was enough for Seesor to gain an idea of what he had to do for the wolfen.

Bringing his carved flute to his lips, the faun began to play. The stirring, almost violent notes burst from his instrument, instigating a frenzy in the Growth magic around him. Vines and roots were called forth, emerging to the same pulse-pounding rhythm, and wrapped themselves around all the nearby people.  The elves shouted in surprise, attempting to twist their way free. Their companions reacted much the same way, though the orc suddenly stilled as his ears recognized the music for what it was. The winged being also held still, her expression a cross between gratitude and irritation.

As for the monstrous wolfen... It howled in anger, ripping away many of the tendrils that attempted to bind it. Only once he was sure enough of the plants were holding it in place did Seesor dare show himself and approach the beast. The others throughout the grove took notice of him then, several calling out a warning not to go near the monster. Seesor ignored them.

He continued to play his flute, though with those around him firmly secured by the tendrils, the faun allowed his tune to slow into something more resembling a lullaby. His steps were slow and quiet, but unfaltering in the face of the snarling creature and snapping teeth. Ignoring the terrified flutter of his heart, Seesor willed a calming wave of magic to cover the monster before him, soothing its phantom pains and convincing the overpowering force to depart for a time.

As the wolfen’s struggles ceased, a strange transformation took place. The pale grey fur shrank away, revealing sun tanned skin and blonde hair. The leather garments became less strained, returning to looseness on a much smaller body that slumped in weariness. Intelligent, relieved eyes looked up from where the human woman was supported by the same tendrils that had previously held her prisoner, seeking out the gaze of her helper.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, before those eyes rolled up in her head and Seesor’s song sent her into a peaceful slumber. He continued to play a while longer, until those behind him had become still as well, and then he ended the flow of magic. Seesor brought down his flute, and the tendrils returned to the ground, releasing their various captives and setting the sleeping wolfen-woman down.

“Alright.” Standing to her full height, Nentanuk glared down at the faun. “I want an explanation for all this. Now.”

Life Changes

Y'know what's really ironic about that last post? Less than a month after I put it up, Dad and I had an falling out and I haven't spoken to the man since.

Life throws some pretty nasty curveballs right at your feet from time to time.

In other news, I'm living at the college of my choice now, keeping on top of my homework and making time for various projects. I'm gonna try to start posting regularly on this site again, too, probably with various pieces from my Creative Writing class and whatever I work on during the weekends.

To whomever continues to read this blog, thanks. It's the little things in life that keep a person going - like the views on here, and to my DeviantArt and fanfiction.net accounts. I'm still adjusting to a life that doesn't involve being surrounded by pets and farm animals, and it's easier on some days more than others. But my handful of staples are enough to help when nothing else seems to be a positive.

Life has that habit of going on, doesn't it?

-Taylor the Triscribe

Father's Day

What is it Dad's do?
Mostly, they're there for you.

Through thick and thin
Good and bad
No one's more on your side
Than your Dad.

He's supposed to be kind,
Though will sometimes get mad
It's only because he loves you
Because he's the Dad.

There was a time
I thought I'd never achieve
The standards he expected
And for that I grieved.

But when all was said and done
He told me "Don't be sad,
No matter what happens,
I'll still be your Dad."


Happy Father's Day, Dad - I know I don't always measure up, that I've caused you numerous headaches and heartaches over the years, but I hope this goes a little way towards expressing how much I'm glad to be your daughter.
Love,
Taylor

Ballistics Division, Chapter One, Part 1

Teaser for my first Sci-Fi work: The Ballistics Division

Enjoy!

-Triscribe

As Kyra Kurse stepped out of the prisoners’ barracks, she glanced around the grey camp and wondered once again how humanity had been reduced to this. The fourteen year old  had spent the last seven years of her life in the labor camps of the Bugaliik Exemplaries, the aliens who had felt it was in the best interest of the citizens of planet Earth to be absorbed into their empire.

After almost two decades of the Bugs integrating with their culture, most humans had been ready to assume that the extraterrestrials truly meant them no harm - and all it took was a single year of widespread destruction to completely destroy that belief. But the Bugaliiks didn’t want to exterminate humanity... They wanted to give them a higher purpose in life, and what higher purpose could there be than dedicating their lives to serving the Exemplary Empire?

Kyra’s parents had been among those captured who fought against the attempts of co-existent servitude, and were taken to the city the Bugs had established on the Moon. She hadn’t seen them since, but their final words to her had haunted the girl in nightmares ever since:

“Protect your brother, Kyra! Whatever happens, keep Kilan safe!”

Almost as if he knew exactly what was going on inside her head, the younger boy joined her outside the barracks just a moment later, taking his big sister’s grimy hand in his own.

“Think anything interesting will happen today?” Ki asked, looking up at her with hopeful eyes and forcing an exasperated chuckle from Kyra. If there was any single way to describe her brother, it was that he always looked forward to the next bit of excitement. Sadly, living in one labor camp after another, Kilan hardly ever got his wish, though that meant the nine year old was always ecstatic whenever something different did happen.

Kyra hated to think of what happen to him when the boy reached his full maturity.

In the time since the Bugaliiks had conquered most of Earth’s civilizations, they had begun implementing surgical procedures that broke a human’s mind and made them unthinking drones, blank slates, the perfect slaves. That was the real reason that they kept youths like her and Kilan in the labor camps across the planet’s surface: as long as kids and teens were still growing and developing, the procedures were useless on them - their brains would just work around the changes, resulting in a being who still had free will.

“Depends.” Kyra said evenly, betraying no sign of her internal fears. “Maybe if Rick gets his act together today, he’ll finally stand up to Bernice and her cronies.”

“Good - he doesn’t deserve to get picked on by them.” As the siblings started moving towards the building that distributed the prisoners’ food, Kilan prattled on about the social injustices of the camp bully, which Kyra was fine to let him do. It was her own fault, in a way, telling Ki bedtime stories about brave people like their parents, who always stood up for what was fair and right.

She’d never had the heart to tell him that the real world was a very unfair place, not fit for honest or innocent people.

“And maybe if the guards weren’t such jerks, or didn’t always rely on the cameras to watch us, they’d see what was really going on and... and... Ky?”

“Hm?”

“What’s that?”

Kyra looked to the north, towards the mountain foothills that her little brother was staring at. “What’s what? I don’t see any-” She cut off her own words with a gasp, as three vehicles from the Time Before burst out from the foliage that dotted the hills, and came roaring straight for the camp.

Whoops

Uh... Hi there.
So, I have undeniably and irreversibly sucked into the world of fan fiction.
... It's a surprisingly nice place to be, but sadly, I promised myself a long while ago that the only things to go into this blog would be my original works of writing. Which means the Musings have been horribly neglected over the last few months.
And, there's been stuff to pop up in my personal life as well:
I'm eighteen now - not sure I feel like an adult just yet, but still.
I've been accepted to a couple colleges, and am trying to pull together the money to get to the one I really want to go to (family members... Are having varying levels of willingness and opportunity to help).
Senior year of high school. 'Nuff said.
Where do we go from here? The time has come to figure that out.
I'd like to start posting some short pieces and poetry that have been created in my Creative Writing class at school, and will from time to time whip out some updates for Bloodfeather and the other extended stories you've been reading. From time to time, they may even have illustrations added (wouldn't that be snazzy?). And I might, if push comes to shove, put some tales on this site that are technically fan fictions, but are more about Original Characters I've come up with rather than the shows/movies/comics they're based off of.
Oh, and if any of you want to go take a look at the stories I've been posting (mostly Batman and Young Justice so far, though there are a lot of other things in the works such as assorted Transformers, Hobbit, some big name Marvel heroes - you get the idea) you can look my account up on fanfiction.net: I'm the Triscribe here, I go by the same name there.
So long, folks!
(Oh, and good luck with the April Fooling in a few days.)