Chatterbox: Down to Earth

The Mystery of the Beast

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The land of Cricket is a lovely and beautiful place, with many lands ranging from Inkwell to Chirp, and often it is a place of peace and serenity, with its inhabitants dwelling and chatting with one another, creative and playful ideas exchanged. The sky is clear and blue at day, dark indigo and sparkling with stars in the night. All is well…

Or at least, all should be well.

Crashing waves lap up against a water-smoothened beach, the sand’s grains small and sifting. Palm trees lined the beach, their fronds spiked and green. Hanging from the branches are stage lights, their bulbs dark in the midday, but once night rolls around they will light up, as if the shoreline is center stage. But now it is noon, and the beach is not where our story begins. It starts off side of the beach, past a cluster of rocks and black sand, to a sturdily put-together house resting in a treetop, the entire structure composed out of leaves and woven vines. Inside the treehouse, in a room packed with various clutter and boxes, someone sat at a computer, his bright violet eyes bored as he flicked through digital pictures on the screen. His darker violet hair was neat and straight beneath the black fedora, which went hand-in-hand with his crisp black suit. “Eck, so blurry,” he muttered, dragging the file to the tiny bin icon in the corner. “Honestly, who takes all these pictures? With that focus on the lens, you’d think it was Vixtion with her paws tied behind her back.”

“What about Vixtion?” someone else said suddenly, entering the room with a mouth half-stuffed full of mango.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, you heathen,” the first AE said, rolling his eyes and adjusting his lavender-hued tie. “You sound like an animal.”

“Figures,” the newcomer shot back, flicking a gray dog ear as he gulped down the green-orange fruit. “Anyways, what were you saying about Vixtion?” The first AE sighed, shaking his head and opening another blurry file.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, turning slightly so his brother could look over his shoulder. “Just the poor photography skills of whoever snapped this.” The second AE’s sapphire-blue eyes narrowed, his tail curling.

“Alright, in my defense it was—uh, I mean, wow, that’s pretty bad,” he began to defend himself, only catching his words in the middle of the sentence. The first AE’s head turned suspiciously, glaring at the other.

“Oh, come on, 8-Piece!” he complained as 8-Piece’s face broke into a grin. “You wasted all that memory space for these?” 8-Piece shrugged and turned away, tossing the discarded mango peel in the trashcan next to the computer desk, the fruit shell landing atop crumpled papers. 8-Piece paused to look at it for a moment, picking one up with his fingertips as keys clicked behind him. He delicately unfolded it, leaning back against the photo-covered wall and scanned it quickly. In thin, slanting handwriting were cramped notes with scattered questions marks and frantic arrows leading to each other, notes and words smashed in between. 8-Piece looked up at the AE hunched over the computer, a bored and exhausted expression on his face as he sorted through computer files.

“Working out plots again, Mew?” he asked, tossing the scrap paper onto the keyboard. Annoyed, MewFour brushed it away and left it on the floor, snorting at the thought.

“You got it,” he muttered. “But nothing ever seems to work.” Finally he leaned back and rubbed his eyes, stretched out against the swivel. “It’s like nothing I ever think up seems to work, or it’s all just too stupid.” 8-Piece’s eyebrows creased for a moment, but just as he was about to reassure his brother, there was a quiet knock at the door.

“Oh, I’ll get it!” 8-Piece said, stumbling a bit as MewFour waved his hand distractedly at him. Crossing the woven-mat floor quickly, the half-dog AE grasped the wooden knob and pulled, expecting to see perhaps another CBer come to visit Clouded, or maybe it was the newest thread in the mail?

Standing on the slender porch of the treehouse, perched upon the vines as if it were light as a feather, was a dark and hulking shape, its body obscured in shadows. Its head scraped against the roof of the house, and two blinking white eyes glared down at 8-Piece with ferocious intensity.

His legs shaking, 8-Piece let out a quiet sputter, staring up at the beast with wide, seemingly hypnotized eyes, his gaze drawn to its dark head. “MewFour?” 8-Piece called, his voice pitching up in terror, but in that second the beast lunged forwards with a snap of wide jaws, closing around 8-Piece’s body, and then it vanished in a snap of silence.

MewFour’s head jerked up, and he turned, confused. He could have sworn that… but no one was there, only the gaping quiet of the room. Sighing, he turned back to his computer screen and opened a folder titled ‘Summer- 2016’. He had no idea what he’d been thinking—he had been at this chore alone for the past three hours, not even Cloud’s company to break it. Just as he said that, however, there was a loud yawn from the stairwell, and a platinum-blonde girl with a dragging tail slumped down the stairs, her turquoise eyes half-closed. “Heya, Mew,” she said, fumbling for a mug at the sink in the other room.  

“Good morning, Cloud,” he said, working to keep a slightly derisive note from his tone. “Did you want something?” Clouded Leopard raised an eyebrow as she sipped from her coffee cup, crashing down in a wicker chair.

“No, why?” she replied, looking at him oddly. MewFour flushed for a moment, feeling foolish, but eventually continued.

“Someone called my name,” he explained. “But when I looked, nobody was there except me. I figured you had needed something.” Clouded Leopard shook her head, and with a sigh MewFour turned back to his computer and opened the next picture. “Hey!” he said, startling Cloud.

“What is it?” she said, wiping coffee from her lips and joining MewFour at the computer. He pointed to an image on the screen, showing three figures posing together, their faces close to the camera. One was Clouded Leopard, her spattered freckles nearly hidden against a tanned face. The one of the opposite end was MewFour, his lavender skin cool as he rolled his eyes at the photographer. But the one in the middle was unknown to either MewFour or Clouded now—a cheerful-looking AE with two floppy gray dog ears and a wide grin set against his dark blue eyes.

“Who’s that?” MewFour murmured, perplexedly staring at the screen. “I’ve never seen him before… maybe he’s a CBer you knew?” Clouded Leopard shook her head no, but she still couldn’t recall why that person was in a picture with both her and Mew.

Neither of them could.

So who could it be?

8-Piece’s eyes blinked open sleepily, staring into a great white expanse of nothingness. He sat up, his hands brushing a cool white floor. Everywhere he looked, nothing but white. White, all white, clear, calm and effervescent white…

“Hello?” he asked.

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Something has gone wrong in the land of CB. Minds are changing, and a mysterious beast seems to be connected to it all. Volunteers to help solve this dilemma have never been more needed. And perhaps you are to the one to do it. So you and one of your AEs—no more than one, although either you with no AE, with one AE, or just your AE alone is permissible. This group cannot grow too large for fear of… something tracking it down. To apply, please fill out the sheet below.

Hurry. We haven’t much time.

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Name:

Age:

Appearance:

Personality:

Special Skills:

Friends and enemies with inhabitants of the CB (CBer or AE):

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(This is a solo write, not an RP. Each new part should come out on Sunday or Saturday, but please don’t feel cheated if I can’t post one. Inspiration and motivation are tricky things to catch, but I’m very excited about this and really want to see it to completion. A note- I know that in the past I haven’t been very good at keeping up with my solo writes and RPs, except for the CB Spirit solo write, which was finally finished, to my delight. I promise I’ll try my hardest with this though! ~Clouded Leopard.)