@False Move: This seems like the beginning of a story I would like to see!

@False Move: There is a lot to this story that i want to know. Who is the young woman? What is her relationship to Ellia? How has Ellia lived so long and never played chess before?

I love the output of this thread! I mean, when was the last time we created this much material over a single weekend?

I love the output of this thread! I mean, when was the last time we created this much material over a single weekend?

@ The Perfect Pear -- I was sort of hoping that someone would do something like this for the Raiker prompt, and Raven (unsurprisingly!) did not disappoint! The payoff is wonderful, but I also love the image at the beginning, of Raiker watching the villagers going about their daily business, and thinking of them as the building blocks of his poem. It reminds me very much of the line from Dylan Thomas's poetic manifesto, about how he liked to order words about and, knowing some of their behavior very well, he had even learned to beat them at times, which, he said, they appeared to enjoy. You can sort of apply the same sentiment to Raiker and his inspirations, but the implications are, needless to say, much, much darker...

@ The Fall of the Tower -- Another great piece in the same vein. I want to call special attention to the line about the color of the young woman's hair, and how crimson had been an artistic liberty, because I think it's absolute dynamite. Also, it's nice (or, you know, terrible) to see Raiker holding court again -- it seems like he hasn't done a reading in some time. (Which is probably good news for everyone else...)

@ Lifeline Origins -- Aaarrrgh, this is, like crazy good. As far as I'm concerned, this is the canon explanation for how The Woman wound up in The Place In-Between. I was sort of wondering if Mr. Venn might have figured into her situation (he seems busy in this thread), and I think you hit the nail on the head here. I think the most important part, too, is that the Woman isn't tricked -- she walks into her fate knowingly, which I think explains the sort of resolute sadness that I get from her. Assuming Raven approves of Raiker's part in this piece, I'm going to call this canon.

@ What Lies Beyond -- And here's another stonking great piece. Between Hush-Hush and the Mirror Universe, this story combines one of my favorite characters with one of my favorite places. I've always felt like Hush-Hush have a lot more story potential than I've ever really allowed them to showcase, but the issue that I keep running into is that they're so resolutely mysterious -- they keep secrets from me, and from everyone else, for that matter. I only ever know what they're up to when they're with Jackie. I love this notion for what they might be doing in their spare time -- what their "unknowable agenda" might be, as Jackie puts it. And I can't help but wonder just who the other members of the Order would be, and why they would be so interested in finding a portal to other planes. Hrmm... (Also, the fact that Hush-Hush allow themselves a smile, and that, for them, a smile is just the slightest upturn of one corner of their lips, is perfect. That's spot-on for Hush-Hush.)

Man, the more I read about Raiker Venn the more awesome he seems. He's basically the Joker except replacing "funny" with "tragic". It's a really cool character concept that ranks him with the likes of Homura Akemi and Charlotte Grotte in the very highest tier of fictional characters.

The one thing that I do need to nitpick is... Saigo isn't exactly hirsute. He doesn't really have any body hair to speak of actually, but at the same time, I know exactly how you came to the conclusion he was, so that one is perhaps somewhat on me too for being a bit broad in his description.

(Incidentally, I just reread "Here, There Be Monsters" this weekend. Man, I love that story. Thanks again for writing it with me, Orcish!)

Glad you liked it! It seemed like a perfect fit to me, Hush-Hush and the Mirror World.

Well, I might have to put Lifeline Origins up for vote, then. And also come up with a proper title for it.

This is turning out some good content, but I must admit a couple of pieces, Lifeline Origins and What Lies Beyond I must admit, I'm missing the context. Need to find it...

As Jackie DeCoeur’s train rolled up to the platform in downtown Aureg, steam billowed in great gouts from between the slowly-turning iron wheels, and the engine’s whistle let loose a high, reedy wail. It blew four times – once short, once long, twice short.

Staring out at the bustling platform through the window of her dining car, the red-eyed woman reflected that the code wasn’t strictly necessary. Hush-Hush always had an uncanny ability to sense her presence; there was no question of the husher twins boarding the wrong train by mistake.

And there they were, standing together on the platform, their faces placid as they watched Jackie’s train pull to a stop. Their four blue eyes caught Jackie’s two red ones through the window glass, and the twins’ heads moved up and down, almost imperceptibly, in a small, perfectly-synchronized nod of acknowledgement.

Looking at Hush-Hush, Jackie had to smile.

It was the height of the day, and Aureg’s Grand Station was teeming with activity. Crowds of foxes, humans, centaurs, minotaurs, and noggles jostled for position along the thronged platforms, craning their heads to get a glimpse up at the arrival boards, or using their elbows to clear a path as they struggled against the current of moving bodies to make their way to this train or that. The packed station seemed ready to burst at its seams.

There was just one exception to this crowded state of affairs: Where the husher twins stood together on the platform, a small circle of open space had formed all around the white-haired, white-robed, pale-skinned human twins. Both women stood silently with their arms crossed in front of their chests and their hands tucked into the sleeves of their robes, each’s posture a perfect mirror of the other’s. Had they wanted to, the sisters could have extended their arms out in any direction and touched only empty air. The otherwise chaotic throng of people throughout the station appeared united by one single, shared thought: that it would be prudent to leave some space between themselves and the otherworldly pair of mages waiting together on the platform, silent and still.

So, when Hush-Hush walked across the platform and climbed aboard the waiting train, people in the crowd around them started, as though they had just seen statues spring to life.

Jackie waited until both sisters were aboard the train, then she held her arms out wide and hugged the twins collectively. She had once tried to shake their hands individually – the experience seemed to make both twins profoundly uncomfortable.

“Where’s Lucy?” the red-eyed woman asked. “I figured she’d be here with you.”

The demoness had appeared briefly several days earlier, just long enough to announce that she’d found Hush-Hush, that Jackie ought to go to Aureg to collect the twins, and that she would keep an eye on them in the meantime. Then the black-eyed woman had disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

It had been a strange encounter, Jackie thought – totally devoid of Lucy’s usual variety of predatory playfulness. It had been much more like the curt, abbreviated interactions she usually had with Mal. That had set her wondering whether the demons had taken a collective decision to change the way they dealt with her.

After all, she reckoned, her last playful exchange with Lucy had ended with her threatening to kill the black-eyed woman. The demoness had laughed the threat off. But she would also have told Mal about it. And Mal, Jackie suspected, had a less indulgent sense of humor than Lucy.

In the meantime, Hush-Hush shook their heads.

“The demon in question merely told us that you were coming, and to await your arrival,” the twins said. “We have not seen her for several days.”

Jackie frowned. “Did she say where she was going?”

Again, the twins shook their heads.

“Merely that she had matters to attend to.” The twins seemed to reflect for a moment. “Our encounter with the demon you have called Lucy was somewhat unpleasant. We were initially unaware that she was in your employ, so we took certain steps to subdue her, which she did not appreciate. It is possible that she did not wish to remain in our presence.” The twins each inclined their heads slightly, and Jackie saw something flash across their four eyes. “We were not sorry to see her go. The demon made a hurtful comment about us.”

Jackie had to suppress the urge to laugh. “What did Lucy say?”

“She stated that we were strange,” Hush-Hush said. Their voices remained flat and without intonation, but Jackie could sense that their feelings had been hurt.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice,” Jackie said. “But demons tend not to be very nice.” She sighed. “Anyway, I’m sorry that I sent Lucy to find you, but I needed to see you, make sure you were okay. When you up and disappeared, it didn’t worry me at the time, but I’ve been given reason to worry of late. Would it be rude of me to ask where you got yourselves off to?”

The twins shook their heads.

“There were certain questions which occurred to us,” they said. They spoke in perfect unison, giving an eerie stereo quality to their words. “Since you appeared to have no need of us at the time, we took our leave and attempted to seek answers.”

“And did you find them? Answers, I mean?”

Hush-Hush’s brows furrowed ever-so-slightly.

“We did not,” they said. Their cool, blue eyes held Jackie’s gaze in a way that few other living souls were brave enough to. “In fact, we acquired yet more questions.”

Jackie gave the twins an apologetic look.

“Just send me a postcard next time, okay? I know you two can take care of yourselves, but you know how I am,” she said. “You’re my people, and I care about my people.”

The ghost of a frown crossed the twins’ faces. “Communication by postcard would have been impractical from the places we traveled to,” they said.

Jackie shook her head. The twins sometimes struggled to grasp figurative speech.

Haha, I just sort of assumed because of the sideburns... When someone says sideburns and broad shoulders, I think of Ganondorf, and in my head, Ganondorf is always extraordinarily hairy. O_O

Ah, well, what do you do? Glad you liked it.

At the time, I honestly had a lot of trepidation about whether or not I'd be able to write good stories with Gale. "The Wind and the Waves" was sort of a very odd duck -- it's the only story I'd done in the first person, and it didn't really have a lot of traditional Magic elements in it.

@ Gale.wav -- Oh, that's just wonderful! The visualization of Gale makes sense to me. I think her skin would have to be pretty tan, from all the time spent outdoors, and she would definitely be dressed practically, with clothes which are probably made from sail fabric. And the blue eyes fit. I used to sort of worry that giving her blue eyes would be a little too on-the-nose, but, basically every time I worry that something is too on-the-nose, it turns out to actually be a good idea, so I should probably just learn to do the exact opposite of what that instinct tells me.

And I'm glad that you wrote the Aamir/Gale piece, too! It is neat to see them have this sort of musical encounter. And I also think it's interesting that, whereas Gale and Penelophine never ask for or offer their names to each other, Aamir introduces himself at the very beginning. It's a subtle difference between the characters, but it makes total sense. And Aamir's visualization of the music is also an interesting contrast to Gale's experience, which is more physical and kinetic.

Thanks a ton for sharing this one!

I can attest to how odd it is to write in the first person what with the entirety of Legacies being done that way. On the one hand, it's something that seems substantially harder to do* but on the other, once done, it legitimately creates a flow that you couldn't achieve any other way. It's an interesting phenomenon in that regard because those stories are so fundamentally tied to the viewpoint.

*To be honest, it's a bit hard to think that it was so rough getting into Raef's headspace purely because... that's how I pretty much have to write. I have to subsume my identity into the character, so it isn't like I'm even watching them from a second viewpoint. It isn't a "what should they do?" it becomes a "what do I do?" Which all told, I worry how healthy that is for my ego...

Yeah, I think first person is a real challenge to write it, because it requires an even deeper understanding of the character and the character's perspective. I mean, it's one thing to get a character "right" in dialog and in action, but to get a character right in absolutely everything including basic world view is a hard thing to do well.

I think I've only written three first person stories for the M:EM, if M:EMory serves...

Anyway, both of the characters I used in those three characters have really "our-there" personalities that I think helped cheat the first person into being easier. In "Dead Man 'Walking," the narrator Eristi is a crazy and smartass psychopath, and that was a lot of fun. The other two were the Donagut stories, which benefitted from the Noir theme that permeated them anyway.

Still, I do love me some Donagut narration...