It's night. You'r

Chatterbox: Pudding's Place

It's night. You'r

It's night. You're sitting in your bed, staring out the window, searching for something lost. But you can't remember what it is, or was. All you know is that it's out there...it's important...and it was once yours.

Perhaps you never used it, perhaps you did--once, maybe twice. Or more. But for some strange reason, you can't remember if you did or didn't. Or what effect it had on you. Or...where it is now.

As you awoke from a particularly bland and boring dream, the memory that you were missing this...thing slid into your head. As you sat in a haze between asleep and awake, you stared outside, scouring the landscape that, for one fleeting moment, was no longer the familiar world you saw every day.

So here you are, staring outside, searching.

And then you finish waking up.

And here you are, trying to remember what you were just doing.

Hm, you think, smacking your dry lips. The covers rustle as you reach for your water glass, which sits by your lamp on your nightstand like it does every night. That's really wierd...I can't remember my dream. It seemed important--almost real. Your hand meets cold glass and you close your fingers around it. You bring it to your lips for a satisfying sip, but you realize that it's empty.

"Darn," you whisper. You'll have to get out of bed to fill it up--but it's really cold, and you don't have socks on.

Eh, it's no big deal. You'll fill it up.

Throwing the covers to the side, you haul yourself out of bed. With every footstep towards the kitchen all memory of strange dreams and searches leaves you, and by the time you return to your comfy nest of blankets with your full cup of water, the night seems almost normal. That is, until you glance outside the window.

Something moves across the front of the moon, which is full and shines right through the middle of your window, lighting up your comforter. What could it have been? It seemed familiar...And perhaps it's the fact that you're still half asleep, half awake that you can sense it, but a powerful force beats from it. Calling you. Presenting opportunities that you absolutely cannot miss.

Without any hesitation you get back out of bed, but before you can even leave your bedroom you notice a puddle of water near your nightstand.

So that's where all my water went, you realize. I must've knocked it over. Upon closer inspection you realize that there's writing on the carpet, glowing faintly yellow from under the patch of wetness.

The writing is so interesting you don't even realize how strange it is that the puddle isn't soaking into the carpet, or wonder how the words got there. In fact, the words don't even seem scary to you, despite their suspicious nature.

Hello, person! You are one of the lucky few CBers to be chosen to go on a nice, relaxing, beautiful vacation over Lake Lelillo! (Lay-LIH-loh) If you do indeed come, and we absolutely hope you do decide to, you will be given a free getaway from work, school, and empty water glasses! Here at Lake Lelillo, you will have all-day access to the lake itself, the fun attractions, the ice cream stands, the hot dog stands, the hamburger stands, the steak stands, the spagghetti stands, and any other stand marked with a silver star. (Which is all of them, so please don't forget!) Your rooms will be huge and most of them will even overlook the lake! They will of course be inside our one and only Luxury Lake House, which you will live in until your stay comes to a close. Remember this is all completely free, free free! Please pack your things, bring an AE and/or CAPTCHA if you'd like, and wait with them by the nearest stream at sunrise tomorrow morning. As we always say: All inlets lead to Lelillo!

~Your Soon-to-be Chaperones, 

Cassy and Lily of Lake Lelillo 

How you read all that small print was beyond you. Will you go? It certainly seems relaxing enough. The choice is yours to make.

-------------------------

I'll tell you all when the spots are closed, so join while you still can!

Please note that this is my second ski lodge, and it's kind of linked to my first. In a sense, it's the next part. I don't know if I should call it a part two, or what, but some things might reference the first ski lodge. Don't worry--I'm not going to make things super confusing. I'll explain things as I go--and I really need new CBers to join in. But I also need some CBers from my previous ski lodge to come. ('Course, they don't have to join if they don't want to; I'll understand.)

Here's another clue (if you didn't catch the others...) for the CBers who were in my first ski lodge, or read it, and wanted to be in this one:

What do you get when you cross a scorpion and a sloth?

Hehe, my alias isn't going to last the day. :D

submitted by Your Chaperones, Cassy and Lily
(January 1, 2017 - 11:51 am)

The word Top fills you with determination.

submitted by Topper
(April 14, 2017 - 9:06 am)

The word Top fills you with determination.

submitted by Topper
(April 14, 2017 - 9:07 am)
submitted by top, age poke!, nudge!
(April 20, 2017 - 4:27 pm)
submitted by Top top top top top , age poke poke , nudge nudge nudge nudge
(April 21, 2017 - 5:17 pm)
submitted by @Micearenice??????
(April 23, 2017 - 10:07 am)

Yikes, sorry again! I'll post the next installment soon.

submitted by Micearenice
(April 26, 2017 - 7:20 pm)

Micearenice, are you going to post a new installment soon? I want to keep reading so badly!!! TOP

submitted by Dragonrider
(April 26, 2017 - 5:49 pm)
Short part! I need to catch up on some writing. Sorry in advance for any typos; I'm in a hurry...
-------------------------- 
The CBers had to wait for a few minutes on Ice Wolf, who had locked the bedroom door and was apparently doing something with paper. She finally emerged from the room looking excited, but no one asked her what she had been working on.
Cassy was thrilled when the CBers asked if they could participate in the next event, although seemed to find it strange that they insisted on helping her with every single little detail of the project.
"Oh! Thank you, September," Cassy said as September grabbed a box out of Cassy's arms and carried it to the little table in the large, pink wall-papered sitting room they had decided to use.
"Also, I think there are some--"
"Already got them, Cassy!" announced Ice Wolf.
"The icing holders?"
"Yep! From the food stands."
Cassy was standing in a closet in the hallway just outside the sitting room, sifting through the closet for a collapsable table she was sure she had left there. "Great! And can someone--"
"If you're talking about the carrots, I've got them right here," Autumn Leaves said as she walked by.
"How are you doing this?!" Cassy asked, dragging a metal pole out of the closet as dust eddied into the hall.
"Your list is hanging up in the employee break room," explained Elvina, lugging a bag of potatoes into the sitting room.
"Wait, how did you get in the break room?"
But all the CBers were already in the sitting room, waiting for the event to start.
Cassy pulled the table out of the closet and dragged it into the sitting room. It was an airy, well-lit expanse with a fireplace in the back. All the furniature had been shoved to the front of the room, leaving empty hardwoods in the rest of the room. By the fireplace were four portable stoves that stood next to one plastic table each. The last stove had no table to stand by, but Cassy soon remedied that with the table from the closet.
On either wall was a portable plastic shelf covered in various spices and hard candies, and the bottom shelf of both were stacks of pots and pans, as well as some silverware. There was also a portable fridge on one wall, which was filled with raw meat, fruit, and vegetables. A bag of starchy brown tubers sat forlornly to one side of the fridge like a sack of potatoes.
The CBers sat in the makeshift audience seats, which consisted of the furniature that had previously been arranged throughout the room and was now set up in rows. Cassy finished assembling the plastic table, plugged the stoves into the wall, and then walked to the center of the room.
"Welcome, everyone," Cassy said with a grand sweep of her hands, "to the first annual Lake Lelillo cooking competition!"
Everyone clapped politely.
"I know you're proably thinking we should've used the kitchen for this, but the kitchen is REALLY tiny because it's one of the only things we didn't rennovate...so we're using the Rose sitting room instead! We'll have three of you come up at a time and cook the best food you can! You can make dessert, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but only one of those, and you'll only have ten minutes apiece!"
Ariel raised his hand. "How do you cook food in thirty minutes?"
Jayfeather also raised his hand. "Won't the meat give us food poisoning?"
They looked at each other with unreadable expressions.
LilyCat started meowing at them angrily, but no one knew what she was saying. Booksy patted the little cat's head and the CAPTCHA fell into a frustrated silence.
Cassy stepped back to the stoves. "These are really hi-tech stoves. If you cook your food in just the right way, it'll be fine."
"What if we're bad at cooking?" Hotairballoon asked.
"Then...hope the judges have a unique palette!"
Cassy looked around. "Which teams will go first? Or, maybe you should get into teams first. Your team can be as big as you want it to, but it might be hard to fit ten people into that tiny cooking space."
Everyone formed into their respective teams and it was decided that the CAPTCHAs would sit this event out--most of them were small enough to fit into a boiling pot of water, and in a frantic cooking competition, you never knew what CAPTCHA might be sitting near an elbow in need of some room.
In the first team was Grace, Autumn Leaves, LilyPad, and Nighthawk. In team two was Jayfeather, Ariel, and Hotairballoon. Team three consisted of September, Dragonrider, Poetic Panda, Booksy, and Elvina, and team four was the smallest team of all--just Ice Wolf and Brooklyn Newsie.
Cassy started her stopwatch and the audience watched the show begin--CBers puzzled over their hi-tech stoves for a few frantic minutes before finally realizing they were voice-activated, then set about gathering the supplies for their meals.
"GRACE!" Autumn Leaves shouted suddenly. She had just set a pot of water to boil when the AE had dumped a handful of rainbow gummy bears into the water.
"Calm down, Autumn, I know what I'm doing," Grace said.
In the audience, Puck laughed out loud. "Can someone make me some popcorn?"
Ariel just so happened to be by the spice rack when his sister said this. He threw a bag of popcorn seeds across the room and she caught them. "Gee, what am I going to do with these?" She tried to eat one just for fun but spit it out when she heard a crack that wasn't from the seed.
Next to the team with the pot of sticky gummy bear soup, team two was having a silent battle between its members, although some of them didn't know it.
Jayfeather dumped some candy onto a frying pan while Ariel buttered it. Hotairballoon added some cinnamon, but as soon as he turned around, Jayfeather and Ariel plopped some meat onto the pan. The audience wondered what they thought they were doing, but shrugged. That's what happens in a team of AEs.
HAB added some cream cheese in hopes of making the nasty-looking meal taste better than it looked, but as soon as he turned around, Jayfeather and Ariel turned the stove off.
"This meat isn't done," HAB said, grabbing the pan from Ariel as Ariel walked past, putting it back onto the eye of the stove. He turned the flames on and stirred the sticky mess.
While Hotairballoon, Jayfeather, and Ariel fought over the flavor (and edibility) of their meal, the largest team was peeling and boiling potatoes, frying steaks, and seasoning vegetables. The delicious smell of their meal wafted across the room and masked the smell of burning candy and gummy bear soufflee (which actually smelled good, but not as good as the savory scents from team three's table.)
Team four worked the hardest of all. They were making gourmet sandwiches, which they arranged on a plate.
submitted by Lily and Cassy, Lake Lelillo
(April 27, 2017 - 7:18 pm)

I'm confused. Why the HECK would anyone NOT want gummy bear soup?!

Because they have normal taste buds?

*snort* Zey do not appreciate ze great chef talent possessed by moi!

Are you trying to do a French accent like Lily?

Ils ne sont pas aiment mon cuisine! 

Wait, how do you know French.

Aha! Je suis plus intelligente que toi, non? Je suis le déjeuner laid!

*looks over shoulder*

Hey!

Just as I suspected! Google Translate. You know you just said that you're the ugly lunch, right?

Good grief gummy bears, that's not what I...

Never trust Google Translate for French. Or any language for that matter. Haven't you ever watched those Google Translate Sings videos on YouTube?

No.

Do you even watch YouTube?

Trust me, you do not want to know what I watch on YouTube. *dreams of gummy bear remixes*

Yeah you're right. You know what else I don't want to know? What your so-called soup tastes like.

(mutters) Hope you're the next victim.

Oh really? Who else would buy you gummy bears, hmm?

Haha. Never mind. Um..... #ProtectOwlgirl!  

submitted by Owlgirl & Co.
(June 22, 2017 - 9:54 pm)

Topping this!!!

Up to the top you go!!  

submitted by Top
(April 28, 2017 - 6:10 pm)

Hi, Micearenice!  Could you please write a list of the CBers who are still alive? Thanks!

submitted by Topper
(April 30, 2017 - 2:35 am)

Sure! I've been doing some planning today, and I finally know what to write! XD

Here's a list of the remaining CBers/CAPTCHAs/AEs:

Owlgirl
Grace (AE)

Brooklyn Newsie
  Tina (CAPTCHA)

Kate the Great

LilyPad

Hotairballoon

September
  Chester (CAPTCHA)

Nighthawk
Briar (AE)

Moonfrost
  Shadow (AE)
Holly (CAPTCHA)

LilyCat (CAPTCHA)

Poetic Panda

Elvina
  Legolas (CAPTCHA)

Dragonrider

Joan B. of Arc
  Ariel (AE)
Puck (AE)
Sir Galahad (CAPTCHA)

Autumn Leaves
  Luna (CAPTCHA)

Booksy Owly
  Wordsy (AE)

Cinderpelt
  Jayfeather (AE)
Cinderheart (CAPTCHA)

Ice Wolf
  Nico de Furr (CAPTCHA)

TOTAL CBERS: 16

TOTAL AEs: 7

TOTAL CAPTCHAS: 9

OVERALL TOTAL: 32

---------------------------- 

I hope I didn't miss anyone! That's a lot of people.

I'll post the next installments very soon!

submitted by Micearenice
(May 7, 2017 - 7:18 pm)
Team four worked the hardest of all. They were making gourmet sandwiches, which they arranged on a plate. As you know, it's hard to make a really delicious sandwich that counts for creativity and quality, especially when all your ingredients are pre-chosen for you. That's why Brooklyn Newsie and Ice Wolf took it upon themselves to invent the never-before-seen (except maybe by AEs, who technically invented it first) candy sandwich, the Sriracha sandwich, the potato sandwich, and of course they had to (to quote the commercial they made up in their heads) 'reinvent that classic sandwichy taste with our amazing buttered crispy turkey sandwich!' There was also a vegan lettuce sandwich.
After the teams had finished, Lily and Cassy stepped forth to judge the food.
"Wait, stop--stop trying to eat that--DON'T EAT THAT--THAT IS DISGUSTING--" HAB snatched the bowl of food out of his teammates' hands. "Cassy, just disqualify us now, please. I'm afraid this thing is poison to the taste buds."
"Or maybe even real poison," piped Jayfeather, lunging for the bowl of gunk, which Hotairballoon held just out of his reach with a sidelong glance at the AE.
Cassy, who was judging team one's food by Lily, took a look at the blobby mess and had to agree--that food was too gross to even look at. "Sorry team two. You're disqualified."
"Wow, look at this gummy bear souflee!" Lily exclaimed, holding up the rainbow-colored, gelatinous creation. "How did you make this?"
Autumn Leaves was about to tell her that Grace had just thrown some gummy bears into a boiling pot of water and it magically became a souflee, but Grace interrupted her.
"Top secret. It's confidential."
Lily and Cassy both tried it and--as far as Grace was concerned--gave it top marks.
The two chaperones judged the rest of the food and then announced the winners to be team one--much to team one's surprise.
The rest of the CBers then had their turn. Watching people cook is generally not fun, but when the self-appointed head chefs are AEs, it's hard not to laugh. Especially if those AEs have only ever cooked cheese sandwiches in a microwave.
Puck finally got that popcorn she was wishing for, although she didn't expect it to appear inside her bean casserole. "I thought those were BEANS!" she exclaimed, bewildered, as her casserole came alive with white styrfoamy pieces of puffed corn.
"Ah, you used to be so good at cooking," Joan mused from the next table over.
After everyone had been judged, the winners had a challenge between themselves. It was team Gummy Bear versus Team Rocket, which was led by Moonfrost and also included Shadow, Owlgirl, and Kate the Great.
In the end, Team Rocket won. Their meal had just been too creative to ignore--it was a pillow-shaped wrap filled with every dessert you could imagine, and it tasted pretty good.
After an hour and a half of cooking, the CBers thought they would be glad never to set foot in a kitchen again, let alone eat anything.
As soon as the CBers left the Rose sitting room, Moonfrost told them she'd catch up with them later. As she waited for the group to round the bend at the end of the hall, she went back into the sitting room. Lily and Cassy had left to take the stoves back to their places, so the CBette was alone for the time being. Moonfrost walked over to the window on the right side of the room. She peered off into the distance and spotted the snow-capped mountain looming into the sky. She remembered her conversation with Cassy, then nodded to herself. She turned away from the window and left the room.
~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, two AEs split off from the group at the exact same time, almost as if they had planned it.
They headed into an empty hallway decorated with fading blue wallpaper that was peeling from the walls. "I don't think it would've worked anyway," said Jayfeather to Ariel abruptly.
Ariel shrugged, looking down. "I guess you're right. You can't make poison out of edible food unless you're a chemist. What are we going to do now?"
Jayfeather was silent for a moment as he contemplated his choices. "We could...do...it...ou--ourselves."
Ariel looked into Jayfeather's eyes with a frightened expression, but said nothing.
"I mean, couldn't we?"
Ariel shook his head. "No."
"Then...we could send a letter. To...you know. Ask them if they could...do us a favor."
"I can't believe I'm even considering this," Ariel said. "But Saphira..." His face fell even further and he looked at his feet, blushing.
Jayfeather patted Ariel's shoulder. "I know, buddy. I've made up my mind already, but you don't have to do this. There's still time. Cinderpelt keeps telling me to let it go, that it wasn't my fault, and I tried to stop running. I just can't..." Jayfeather took a deep, shuddering breath, "...get the images out of my brain."
Suddenly they heard light pawsteps coming down the hallway. Soon, LilyCat emerged from the shadows, her whiskers glinting in the dim lighting. "NDIE!" she hissed at them. "DNTD. LUSE. WILL. TEWL. IGLS!"
Jayfeather and Ariel looked at each other. "What did you say? We don't understand you."
LilyCat screeched more angry words at them, but they had no effect since no one was there to translate for her. Finally she threw her paws up in surrender and turned to leave, thrashing her tail behind her.
The two AEs both sighed in the quiet, dim darkness that mirrored their own spirits, then started back for the group.
----------------------------
With some of their group loosing the will to live, some of them already having lost it, and some of them knowing exactly what was going on, the Chatterboxers were divided and they didn't even know it.
They were sitting in the backyard, enjoying the sunshine and cool waves, or at least pretending to. September kept trying to get people to play water volleyball with her, but she was so good at it everyone got tired of playing against her.
"You mean I've been practicing all this time for nothing?" September asked, bobbing around in the lake with the volleyball balanced perfectly on her head.
"I'll play you," Booksy offered, getting up from her chair.
"Now tell me again where Ice Wolf went?" Hotairballoon asked, watching Booksy walk off to a surefire defeat. He was sitting on a beach chair next to Grace, far off from the splashy water.
"She went inside," Grace answered.
"Inid," confirmed Nico, who was digging under HAB's chair. His nose was covered in white sand.
"Alone?" wondered Hotairballoon.
"...Yep," Grace said. "She'll be fine. I bet."
Owlgirl walked up the beach to join the two relaxing CBers with a frustrated expression. "The water SURE looks NICE," she said, glaring at her AE. "Too bad my BATHING SUIT didn't get packed."
Grace looked at her CBer incredulously. "Why are you blaming me for forgetting your bathing suit?!"
"Because there was a pack of gummy bears taking up the space where my bathing suit was supposed to go," replied Owlgirl flatly. "Mind if I join you guys up here?"
"Go ahead," HAB said. Owlgirl had just sat down on a warm, comfortable chair when there was heard a swishing sound nearby. For a few moments, the three looked around for the source of the noise. Their eyes fell upon the decorative wall of bushes separating the sandy beach from the grass of the backyard.
LilyPad had just been walking by, a smoothie in hand, when the swishing started. She leapt away like a startled cat, thinking for a moment there was an AE waiting inside the bushes with a water gun, but when no water squirted out of the leaves, she crept forwards for a closer look.
"Guys, I think there's a wounded bird in here!" she called. The other CBers looked on curiously, some of them moving closer to LilyPad to see the bird.
LilyPad was just pushing the leaves of the bush aside when Autumn Leaves looked up from the shore and screeched, "NO!"
LilyPad screamed as her hands made contact with the plants. Autumn Leaves was tearing across the sand now, running as fast as she could and scattering sand everywhere. The others ran to LilyPad as well, though not as fast as Autumn Leaves, who seemed to be the only one who knew how very bad the situation was.
LilyPad had fallen to the ground and now looked very, very pale. She was clutching her hands, her eyelids fluttering between open and closed. "Ohhhh," she moaned. Her hands were blistered and red, and her feet, which had brushed the bush when she fell, were starting to look even worse than her palms did.
Autumn Leaves dragged LilyPad away from the plants, then went over and gaped at what had once seemed like simply a decorative segment of bushes.
"Just as I thought. Manchineel," she said to herself, aghast. She stared for only a moment, and as she turned to get back to Lily, her eyes caught on something else, and her astounded expression turned to shock. She looked at the plants in better detail. "Tree nettle!" Her eyes widened, and she stepped away from the foliage slowly, her own face now almost as pale as LilyPad's.
She returned to the CBette's side, pushing through the crowd. "Nobody touch those bushes!" she announced.
"Why?" Jayfeather asked. "Are they deadly?"
"Yes!" shouted Autumn Leaves. "VERY!"
If Hotairballoon hadn't been standing next to Jayfeather when Autumn Leaves answered his question, there might've been two deaths that day. Thankfully, Hotairballoon reached out and grabbed Jayfeather's arm just as the AE was about to run off.
LilyPad moaned again.
"How do you cure it?" asked Elvina worriedly.
"That's the problem," Autumn Leaves said. "I know how to identify it, but I don't know the cure. I took an advanced botany class," she explained, but her face then grew confused. "Wait, I did?"
"That's right!" Owlgirl said. "Wait, I think?"
"The words," LilyPad said suddenly, opening her eyes and bringing everyone back to the present. "Maybe someone can--read them--"
"What words?" asked Autumn Leaves.
"The ones...by the beach...in the rocks...I saw them. And that's why...with the bushes...and the poison..."
"You're saying--"
"The murderer targeted me," LilyPad said, her eyes fixated on something only she could see. "Because I read the words. Don't go--"
But LilyPad never finished her sentence.
Ever.
----------
Rest in Peace, LilyPad.
---------
submitted by Lily and Cassy, Lake Lelillo
(May 8, 2017 - 8:37 pm)

This is so good :-)

LilyCat translation--

DIE! DON'T DO IT. LUCY. WILL. TELL.

I couldn't get the igls, though....

Is Lucy part of this Ski Lodge? Because it could've been 'loose'...or, lose....

Igls could stand for something... 

Snowy says iyat. Shush! I need to focus... 

submitted by Ghostly Icy
(May 10, 2017 - 12:06 pm)

THATS A REFERENCE TO MY ISLAND PARADISE RESORT SKI LODGE GUYS!!!!!! THAT'S A REFERENCE TO MY SKI LODGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!!!!

I had a hunch of comments on so many things in this ski lodge....the soufflé...winning the baking competition, the bathing suit.......but THIS. THIS!!!!

Look: 

That's the problem," Autumn Leaves said. "I know how to identify it, but I don't know the cure. I took an advanced botany class," she explained, but her face then grew confused. "Wait, I did?"

"That's right!" Owlgirl said. "Wait, I think?"

Shsbsgssfs In my ski lodge, Shadowmoon WHICH WAS AUTUMN LEAVES'S NAME BEFORE SHE CHANGED IT says that she took an advanced botany class. That's why she got confused! Because she's remembering a time from another ski lodge! And that's why I GOT CONFUSED TOO because I was a character in my ski lodge....the Manager of the island resort is eventually revealed to be Owlgirl the CBer. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

This ski lodge isn't just connecting to the farm one, it's connected to other ski lodges!!

Now here's the really weird thing....my island resort ski lodge isn't finished. It's ongoing. The killer hasn't been revealed yet.

So, is this lake ski lodge happening after my ski lodge, when my ski lodge has theoretically ended, killer revealed, yards yada? Or is it somehow happening simultaneously, or in an alternate/parallel existence/universe? Does it have something to do with the Mystery?

I have to go to bed now...I'll post the quote about the advanced botany class later. 

submitted by Owlgirl
(June 22, 2017 - 10:09 pm)