Kaylin's Curse (part 7: The Root)

Kaylin starts stirring what was left of her lukewarm coffee absentmindedly, while she defensively scans the cafe. While she doesn’t see or sense anything out of the ordinary, her worn condition puts her on her guard. “Yeah, Tresa, though I’d rather not believe it, I think you might be right. It would be just like those EWEFUCCERS to mess with us. But I’ve never known them to be this devious. For one thing, they’re not that smart.”

A corner of Tresa’s lips lifts a little, “Hell no, they couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag…with the bottom ripped out.”

“And they aren’t that sneaky. I could smell one of their schemes a mile away. I wouldn’t even have to think about it—they’re usually so obvious.”

“Yeah, they’re just bound and determined to fight us head on, and you know how pointless that is,” Tresa grins.

“But back to the problem at hand…this is not typical. Something is wrong here. I don’t know what they’ve done to me, or how they’ve done it, but I have certainly not felt myself lately,” Kaylin quits playing with her spoon and finally pushed away her cold coffee.

“It’s physical, right? Could it be some sort of…poison?” Tresa asks.

“That would be my guess. But I don’t understand it. How could they have managed to slip something in? We’re always on guard. And why just me? Wouldn’t it have been smart to get both of us, since we’re double trouble?”

“Hmm,” Tresa ponders. She decides to switch to her previously untouched glass of water and thirstily drains the glass until only a few half-dissolved ice cubes remain. Then uses her spoon to single out an ice cube and begins thoughtfully crunching on it. “You’re right; it really doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“And why something that acts so slowly. I mean, if they were that clever, wouldn’t they want me incapacitated as soon as possible? So far, I certainly don’t feel like I’m going to keel over any second; I’ve been just feeling a little more ill each day. But it’s like going from a case of the sniffles to a touch of the flu.” As though on cue, Kaylin removes a tissue from her purse and tries unsuccessfully to quietly blow her nose.

“It could be they were trying to be subtle, so the sickness would creep up on you, before you noticed it. They wouldn’t understand that you and I are capable of seeing through this bullshit and cut right to the root of the problem so quickly.” The waitress finally returns to the small table, and leaves after picking up Kaylin’s rejected coffee cup and filling Tresa’s water glass.

“You know, it occurs to me,” Kaylin says softly, “that perhaps we should leave the café and go somewhere a bit…more well-suited to such a discussion.”

Kaylin's Curse.Part2

After setting aside the sodden brown mess that at one point had been cocktail napkins, Tresa took another sip of her coffee and eyed her friend's empty cup.

"You want half of mine?" Tresa offered finally, as Kaylin was currently eyeing her cup greedily.

"Nah, I'll wait for a fresh cup" Kaylin responded, noticing that there was, indeed a fresh pot brewing.

They both turned their attention back to the events of the day. The new ability they had discovered quite accidentily just that weekend had been a hit-quite literally-that afternoon in their little adventure. The two had been quick to employ their new skill to cause just a bit of mischief to an old friend ("this much" was the current favorite amount, finger and thumb spread a half inch apart). After all, if you weren't seen....you didn't get caught!

"Did you see the look on his face when his latest practical joke got him? He wasn't expecting his own little inventions to attack him! Imagine misplacing your mouse traps on your computer chair. I almost started laughing out loud...and then I tripped over the paint kit on the floor. Why is he always leaving his model kit paint out in places it shouldn't be! Who paints models on the floor anyway?" Kaylin exclaimed. "I'm going to have to do some work to get 'radioactive red' paint out of my hemp shoes"

"No kidding. The best part was when--" Tresa broke off as the waitress walked up with a pot of coffee in each hand.

"More coffee ladies?" She asked in a polite, if slightly bored and world-weary voice.

"yes/no" came the answer, Yes from Kaylin, who had not yet had her quota of mocha-mint, and no from Tresa, for whom too much coffee is a bad thing indeed.

"Where was I?" Tresa continued, mentally going over the last 5 minutes of conversation in her mind after the waitress left. "oh yeah...The best part! He didn't even realize he'd been set up. How dumb can someone be? --Don't answer that, Kaylin, or you'll lose your second cup of coffee-- I wonder how long his ass will be red from getting the smack laid down? That had to hurt having his mouse traps go off when he sat down to check his email. He should really have been looking where he was going to sit. Too bad you couldn't get a view of the action from my side of the room. You got to see the expression though!"

Kaylin mimicked the pained and suprised expression of someone who has had a "brilliant" plan backfire on their person, and took a sip of coffee.

"My coffee doesn't taste like Mocha Mint!!!" Kaylin was, by now, starting to be peeved.

"Hmmm," Tresa was looking at the world-weary waitress by the whiteboard. "It's not Mocha mint anymore."

Kaylin's Curse

Two cups of mocha mint coffee come together with a muffled clang, dully resounding over the relaxed conversations that typically occur in a coffee house tucked between the offices of an insurance company and a real estate agency. Now the small businesses are at rest, and the downtown street is bathed in urban semi-darkness, hazy with light from the vintage street lamps and the muted glow of the small coffee house where our two heroines are toasting their latest success.

"We rock!" Kaylin excitedly proclaims, nearly soaking her companion in flavored coffee as it sloshes out of the cup onto the glass-topped table. Hurriedly, she sets down the cup, grabs her napkin, and attempts to circumvent the flow of the dreaded clothes-staining stream. Kaylin and Tresa watch as the 4 inch square paper beverage napkin transforms into a mushy brown wad that somehow manages to hold back the coffee flood. Kaylin beams as though she constructed Hoover Dam itself.

"At least one of us does," Tresa replies with a smirk. She takes another napkin out from underneath her own cup and assists Kaylin with sopping up the leftover minty puddle.

"Okay, okay, so I'm not perfect--just nearly so."

Hm, I like the idea about Bob...maybe , Bob Brownsguard or something... and he's the bad guy. It would be cool to have some people helping us out on this one. I say that only you and I have administration rights, and that others can help with ideas and the like. we have ultimate say on plot line though. Nick is welcome to work on the bad guy or whatever he likes. I may invite someone, I may not, it will depend. I like the idea of having something happen on a sunny day. Maybe it's hot and she didn't bring any water on her hike and the rain didn't come to cool her down so she goes into a cave to get out of the sun for a bit. maybe there was some sorto fo earthquake recently that opened that openeing, so normally it's not there and noone has explored there before. She has a flashlight, cause she's always prepared like that, and quickly realizes it's a burial chamber or a treasure room? anyway there are cool things there, books in old languages, amulets, rings, treasure, a sword???/dagger???

How's that. I think it should start out with the "extrodinary" being like a treasure hunt find kinda thing, and then maybe whatever objects she procures are tied into some sort of magic that happens...and hasn't happened in a while, but the world is changing, going back to magic and dragons and elves...maybe the "Veil" between their world and ours is weakening and we'll have to share the world with them again, and learn how to coexist agian, rather than like in tolkien where the elves time is at an end, maybe it's at a beginning. Maybe they feel superior to us, but don't know how to live in our world.

Her having a family would be good too. Maybe a fam like ours, not to imagenative....one that feels she should settle down into a nice self respecting career, get married, and forget about her imagination. Maybe there is one relative, and old sister of her grandma or something, that she callls....Aunt Meg or something, that knows about magic cause she herself can use it a bit. Maybe magic is even more of a rumor in their world than in ours. Speaking of that, I think it should be an earth like planet, but not earth. But we don't have to say it's not earth, just make up names of places that could exist, like "robinsdale" or "Worthington" or whatever, and not really give state or country names. Or if we do, we can refer to themn in such a way that it leaves the reading audience wondering.

Well, that's all for now. What else do you think of...as for the baddy...Bob could be a dark mage or something, someone who knows how to use magic, but doesn't realize the Veil is that thin, and who is trying to cause a world war, a leader of some sort, and he realizes magic is coming back into the world and wants to set himself up as a dictator. NOt quite a Sauron, but maybe a Saruman kind of guy. He's tricky though, and maybe knows our heroine personally...friend of the family. Smart, later 40's distinguished looking, friends in high places and good at talkign his way into what he wants (cause he uses magic). Maybe right now he can only do lower level magics, like he can see through the animals eyes, and persuade them to do something, but not control them, or summon them type of a deal? he knows though if he can get ahold of some magic artifacts or books (hint hint) that he'll be able to change that and thus control the world....

Ok, your turn to brainstorm....

Tis a start, tis a start. Very creativesque by the way. Originally when I thought of the idea for a blog like this, I was thinking more on the lines of something quite silly, but really, with the time we've spent creating it, I can see how it's going to not be quite so silly and more difficult. Ideas, Ideas, Ideas.

yes, I think having other uniquely named characters would be good....I think also Krysha should have a family--you know, parents, strange relatives, siblings--that she has to deal with, though they will not be the center of her conflicts, but the can be involved in the plots or at least get mentioned once in a while, just to sort of expand and also bring the story down to a familiarish level--family relations and all that stuff. I think, that just to throw something in there, she should also know one character with a name like Bob. Why? CONTRAST! ;) well...that and some comic relief...but maybe he or she can be a very MYSTERIOUS fellow or even a supervillain/ess....with the name Bob. Which of course harkens to such classics as Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "I am an enchanter...There are some who call me...Tim?"

What else comes to mind....hm yes, frame stories can be fun, so good call on that. I'm not quite sure what to do about the ordinary/extraordinary story assignment thing. Perhaps you'll have to start out on that. The getting out of the storm thing is interesting. I had another thought....what if every day it typically DOES storm there, but one day it is actually calm and sunny and bright? sometimes I think having something happen on a nice sunny day makes it more mysterious than on a dark storm night, since the storm thing is done so much. Like, she could be seeking shelter from the sun, cuz she's part dark elf or something...okay, maybe that's a stretch, since she's supposed to be a fairly ordinary chick with extraordinary things happening in her world....or should she and others be extraoridnary in a fairly ordinary world? or should they both be extraordinary or both me ordinary? hmm...some things to consider.

I mean, what kind of world does she live in? Is it comporable to earth, and yet not earth? like in Dragonball Z? I mean, they say it's Earth....but they don't mention real places or cities....and there's dinosaurs and dragons..and people can fly. Anyways

On another note, I was talking to Nick just now, and he sounded like he'd like to help us if he can. He could make up a villain of some sort, come up with some other plot ideas, other characters. It's up to you if you think it's a good idea. I haven't told him the site yet, so we can prepare for whatever and also I wanted to let you know first, cuz I don't know if you've invited anyone to our site yet or not. If you'd rather it just be us, that's okay too, but I think that it might be cool to have another mind or two involved. So yeah, let me know and we'll get crackin.

But now I gotta jet to class. Later!

Hmmm. How's this for a start, I'll put some ideas down, and then you edit them and we'll get something rolling.



Name...Krysha Evengale
Age...22
Sex...female, duh
Location...made up city, say...can't think of name
Occupation...College Student, amatuer writer, daydreamer, and (mage, something cool here???)
Idea...Some mundane city of a size somewhere between Minneapolis and Eau Clair, not to big, not to small. Lots of culture, night life, but parks and maybe a big forest nearby or something. Maybe near something of the caliber of Stonehenge, aka big, ancient and a mystery? Krysha is a student who likes to explore and go places to write her poetry and music. maybe some sort of bard action? She has good friends...we need to come up with some names like, a guy named Lyon and a girl named Saraidh, and another girl named Gwen. Or something. The girls have this little pact thing going on, maybe Lyon is gay...I don't know, maybe he's just a good friend. A teacher gives her an assignment to find something ordinary and make it extordinary, or vice versa, but Extrordinanry to ordinary may be more fun...Like, she goes to this stonehenge-esk place, to sketch it and write down why she thinks it's extrordinary and what is ordinary, to brainstorm. It's a creative writing class, and so she gets to make up the charecters in the story she's writing on ( a story within a story thing going here) and so she's out there and a storm comes up, but in the center there is a cavern, opening cave thing...that is usually blocked but for some reason today isn't, so she goes there to get out of the lightening.

How's that for a start to something, or at least to get the creative juices flowing. PS I got rid of the test ones below. well, they'r not below anymore. Start with this, edit this, or make a new entry, tell me waht you think,
Talk to you later girl....

PPS the first entry could be a diary entry from Krysha that we use her name on, or something like that, something we found that we add, or any "direct pages of writing we find of hers can go on her name, otherwise it's us telling the story, like she's alive somewhere, but not in the here and now...just an idea.