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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.
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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)
(January 1, 2017 - 11:51 am)
Yay, Nano's finally over! That was kind of intense having to write so much in one month. I met my goal, but I didn't finish my novel. (It's always there, hovering over my shoulder...I can't get rid of it!)
But then I had the idea to do another Nano for myself with this ski lodge! So I'm going to try finishing (or at least coming close to finishing) the story within the month of August. Here's the latest installment:
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Up in the living room, the CBers pulled the seating into a circle around a table. It seemed they couldn't decide on the arrangement of the furniature, but that was no matter: they were too busy to care what their living room looked like.
"Okay," Dragonrider said, scooting her chair up. "Cassy's out there somewhere, and that's a problem. We should probably go out there and find her, both for Lily's sake and our own."
"Definitely," Poetic Panda said, nodding. "Cassy can set traps out there and basically confine us to the house. I remember at the farm we had to fight to keep the land around our fort clear. We had a lot of help from animals, but we don't have very many animals here, soooo..."
"The thing is, we have to figure out why Cassy ran away in the first place," Brooklyn Newsie said. "She looked offended when she ran away--like we got mad at her and we weren't supposed to. It makes me think there's more to her story."
"WE WILL SPARE NO SYMPATHY," Elvina declared loudly, right in Brooklyn Newsie's ear, "FOR THE ENEMY."
"Come on, Elvina. We don't know Cassy's reasoning," Newsie said.
Elvina sat back and crossed her arms. "Whatever you say."
Newsie shook her head.
Moonfrost was shifting uncomfortably in her chair, glancing from CBer to CBer as they each made a point. She was the only Chatterboxer, apart from the murderer, who knew why Cassy had done what she had done--and was still doing what she was doing. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to try and meddle with the flow of things--but, then again, the other CBers had no idea what they were getting into.
"Maybe she ran away to--uh--escape the murderer's wrath," Moonfrost suggested. "What if she'll get punished if we find her? What if search parties are all part of the evil plan?"
Elvina snorted. "Then too bad, I guess."
"Elvina!" Newsie said. She smacked Elvina with a pillow.
"Okay, fine, I relent," Elvina said. "We should try to do this in the safest way possible. For, uh, all of us."
"So then how do we want to tackle this?" asked Poetic Panda.
"All right," Booksy said. "We're going to split up into three teams. Puck, you can fly, and so can you, Ariel. So you two will fly up ahead, and when you see Cassy, you'll tell Lily, and she'll tell us. WAIT." Booksy looked around. "I'll be you anything the murderer is communicating with Cassy via the communications devices."
Brooklyn Newsie leapt up. "You're right! She was wearing an--" she faltered, realizing she was cutting it very close to the secrets she was keeping. "An earpiece," she finished. "When I last saw her. Rather than her walkie talkie."
Moonfrost narrowed her eyes curiously.
"Was she now?" asked Hotairballoon.
Brooklyn Newsie nodded. "Yep."
There was a rustle of paper as CBers noted this in their books.
"So if we get rid of the communications devices, then Cassy can't communicate with the murderer," said Booksy. "And she can't send us any ominous messages."
Ice Wolf grabbed a decorative bowl off the coffee table. "Okay. Everybody put your things in here."
The CBers obeyed without complaint--even the murderer.
Ice Wolf made sure every CBer surrendered their device, then held them in her lap.
"Now what do we do?" she asked. "Burn them? Throw them away? Give them to Lily?"
"Maybe we could crush them," suggested Joan.
"Seems like a waste of money," Owlgirl pointed out.
"Let's ask Lily when we're done. For now, we're keeping them right here in the middle of the table where everyone can see them." Ice Wolf set the bowl on the table.
"Okay, okay. Back to business. Finding Cassy..." Poetic Panda said.
"Now that she can't communicate with the murderer, do we have to?"
"Lily needs to talk to her," insisted Autumn Leaves. "We have to find her."
"Why do you think she ran away in the first place?" argued Moonfrost.
All heads turned to Moon.
"She can't stay here, obviously," she said. "If she were working with the murderer willingly, she would probably have stayed, don't you think?"
"No," Elvina said.
"Of course, if she were being blackmailed," continued Moon, "she would've been forced to run away, because her cover was blown."
"I think she would've run either way," Nighthawk said.
"Okay, maybe you're right. But maybe the key here isn't to catch Cassy, but to contact her. What do you say?"
"It's a start," Cinderpelt agreed with a shrug.
"Okay, then, let's try it." Elvina had already leaned over and was plunging her fist into the bowl of devices. She pulled her hand out with an earpiece between her fingers. The murderer saw it and stiffened, recognizing the polished black sheen of its own earpiece. This day was definitely not going well.
"CASSY," Elvina shouted into the earpiece. "CAN YOU HEAR ME!!! IT'S ELVINA!"
Brooklyn Newsie snatched the earpiece from Elvina. "I don't think she'll respond to that, Elvina. Not after, uh, you know. Someone else try. Like, someone who wasn't there for the incident. How about you, Hotairballoon?"
HAB shrugged. "Okay." He took the earpiece. "Hey, Cassy, can you hear me?"
"You have to turn it on, silly," said Brooklyn Newsie.
Hotairballoon frowned. "Oops, my bad. Uh...here, you try, Cinderpelt." He thrust the device into Cinderpelt's lap.
She picked it up and turned it on. "Hey, Cassy, can you hear me? We want to know what's going on! We're not mad at you or anything. Why can't you come back?"
Silence.
"What if she got rid of her earpiece?" Kate said.
"She'd better not have," growled Hotairballoon.
"Hmm," Moonfrost murmured.
"Well, this isn't working. Why don't we work on this later?" Nighthawk suggested.
The CBers sighed. "Okay."
Then they started sharing clues--comparing the things they didn't want kept secret. They were like computer chips, processing information and storing it away, trying to find a connection between the data.
One Chatterboxer managed to link three giant puzzle pieces together--and found a stunning picture as a result.
Kate the Great fell back against one wall and reread her conclusion one last time.
Yes, there was no way around it--the murderer was planning a trap for Ice Wolf.
Kate closed her notebook and glanced around warily. What Nighthawk had told her earlier hadn't lined up with Moonfrost's observations, and by the time Kate had worked out who'd been fibbing, she had accidentally read part of Ice Wolf's notebook and overheard Brooklyn Newsie describing the decor in the western hallway. Kate had added a bit of her own knowledge to the mix and came away with a chilling result.
"I have to warn her," she muttered. Kate stood up and scanned the room for Ice Wolf and found that was talking to Autumn Leaves in the far corner. Now, how do I do it without letting the murderer hear?
Kate was stumped. Without knowing who the murderer was, she couldn't very well make sure they were on the other side of the room when she went over to talk to Ice Wolf. And if she took Ice Wolf out of the room to tell her, the murderer would probably get suspicious and follow them at a distance.
Suddenly Kate remembered that the trap was dependent on the note sitting in the vase of fake flowers in the western hallway. If she could remove the note, Ice Wolf would be safe!
Kate pushed her way out of the room. Now I just have to find the western hallway.
~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, the murderer was following the same path Kate had, but at a faster rate, for it knew many more secrets than its fellow CBer.
After following a trail of stories, accounts, and descriptions across the room, the murderer stopped, looked at its notes, glanced around in surprise, and looked at its notes again. If it was not mistaken...if Kate really had talked to Nighthawk, and if Newsie really had seen her staring at Ice Wolf's journal...then its whole elaborate scheme was at stake!
But where was Kate? A quick discussion with Ice Wolf left the murderer relieved that Kate hadn't spilled the beans yet. But then...If Kate hadn't spilled the beans, what was she doing?
The murderer looked around. Yes, Kate was certainly not in the room anymore.
"Oh, she left just a few minutes ago," Brooklyn Newsie said in response to the murderer's question.
"Thanks," the murderer said, and suddenly it knew where Kate had gone. Thankfully it had a leftover gourmet poisoned vanilla mini-cupcake...
~ ~ ~
Kate was had just turned the corner to the western hallway when what seemed to be a floating cupcake smushed itself into her mouth. After regaining her bearings, she realized that the cupcake had been held aloft by someone's hand, which of course was attatched to an arm, and finally, a body that had been hiding against the wall just around the corner...
"You might as well swallow it now," suggested the murderer, using Kate's surprise against her. To keep herself from choking, she gulped down the sour cupcake, still getting over the shock of having it stuffed into her mouth in the first place.
"Ew, that was gross," she said. Then, as the surprise faded, she began to wonder why she was feeling so lightheaded..."Hey, wait a minute...!"
Kate, in a last-minute attempt to recover the faulty message and save Ice Wolf's life, stumbled towards the vase with the faux-flowers...but only made it two steps before tripping over her own feet and falling flat on her face.
"It was a good try," said the murderer consolingly, standing by as Kate's senses faded away. "Maybe you'll know better than to swallow such a cupcake next time...If there is a next time..."
Kate heard it, barely louder than a thought, right before meeting her untimely end. She had just enough time to wonder what the murderer meant by that--'If there is a next time'--before everything faded away and she appeared in the small, peaceful waiting room where deceased vacationers stayed until their ski lodge was over.
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Also, I made a Lake Lelillo trailer a few days ago, as well, if any of you were interested in watching it. It's (very creatively) called, 'Lake Lelillo Trailer'.
(August 2, 2017 - 8:41 am)
(August 2, 2017 - 6:21 pm)
(August 2, 2017 - 7:44 pm)
YAY! A new installment!
Theory: The murderer stuffed a cupcake in Kate's mouth, then told her to swallow it. She did. AEs are so crazy, you would expect one to do that, right? And you would swallow the cupcake, thinking that they were just being weird, as AEs are. OR, the murderer has to be a CBer that Kate knows and trusts.
(August 3, 2017 - 8:39 am)
NOOOOO I DIED!!!
Good theory Pepper! Hmmmm... Also, people will wonder what I was doing in the Western hall. And maybe investigate. Unless the murderer moves me. But they'll probably still find minute traces I was there... Or that a body was dragged somewhere.
(August 3, 2017 - 4:58 pm)
OH MY GOSH. I just realized that Brooklyn will know who the murderer is! Or at least suspect it! Because the murderer asked her where I was, then went after me, then I died!
(August 3, 2017 - 5:00 pm)
Ooooh, now I'm really scared. I might start drinking from a private hip flask like Mad-Eye Moody!
(August 4, 2017 - 6:24 pm)
Oh dear. I'm in deep yogurt.
Btw THANKS KATE! I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU IF THERE IS A NEXT TIME.
(August 6, 2017 - 5:12 pm)
For the record, I just want to say that if the murderer tries to kill me I will not go down without a fight. I am a NEWSIE, after all. It's literally either selling papes, running, or fighting with us.
Tina's ghost says kant. What do you mean? I can't translate for you any more.
(August 9, 2017 - 10:31 am)
(August 17, 2017 - 11:35 pm)
This is amazing Micearenice! You never cease to amaze me with your incredible writing.
(August 20, 2017 - 5:49 am)
Please write more! It's really good!
(September 2, 2017 - 8:22 am)
(September 6, 2017 - 7:24 pm)
(September 8, 2017 - 1:10 am)
Has anybody seen Micearenice, or is this thread dead?
(September 11, 2017 - 7:30 pm)