LMNO-PI

[Cain]

START WRITING STORY BOY!

[agent compassion]

NEVAR!

::chains herself to the detective story, clutching a detonator::

[LMNO]

UP AGAINST THE WALL, PEACENIK!

[agent compassion]

Mmm...wall...
So..firm and upstanding....

[LMNO]

you think so?

[agent compassion]

Giant kitten pwns your earth mover!

[Malaul]

awwwwwwwwwwwwww

[LMNO]

D/N/T the Fiction Authorities.

[Malaul]

::hides in the wall::

[Cain]

Hey!  Stop stepping on my scene man!

*calls Terrorist, Insurgent and International Criminals Union for territory infringement*

[agent compassion]

Do never test the giant kittens!

[LMNO]

Oh, wait.  Wrong fIREHOSE.


Here:

[LMNO]

The morning sun peeked into the room, the smartshades only allowing the sky to have a presence, the awful pulse of The City blotted out by the dark glass.  I woke to find a slim arm with sharp fingernails slung across my chest, and Erin,Äôs warm body curled up next to mine.  The sheets were rumpled and strewn over the bed, and I thought back fondly over the past several hours.  Hell of a way to end the day.  I reached up gently, and brushed her auburn hair out of her eyes.  She blinked slowly at me, first with some confusion, and then smiled a lazy smile, relaxed and content.  ,ÄúHi.,Äù

,ÄúHi  yourself.  Sleep well?,Äù

,ÄúAs far as I remember, there wasn,Äôt much sleeping to be had.,Äù

,ÄúSays you.,Äù  I checked my watch, previously tossed on a mahogany bedside table.  ,ÄúIt,Äôs ten o,Äôclock already.  We better get ourselves ready to face the day.,Äù

Erin sighed and rolled onto her back, the sheet slipping past her body, reminding me of how she was put together, the endless contours and curves of her hips and breasts.  The she frowned, and Paradise was Lost.  ,ÄúThe Ocean,Ķ,Äù

,ÄúWhat is it?  Why does this bother you so much?,Äù

,ÄúDo you want to hear a story?,Äù

,ÄúFrom you?  Always.,Äù

,ÄúWell,Ķ,Äù

,ĶI was eight years old.  Just a girl.  My parents took me to The Ocean for summer vacation, the first time we had been outside The City since I was born.  As we crossed the Emperor Cheney Memorial Bridge, I could feel The City falling away from me.  Can you believe it?  That scared me.  The creeping horror of The City,Ķ I missed it.  I remember scrunching myself down in the back seat, not wanting to look at the suburbs, the flat lines, the even planes.  

It was the first time I saw birds,Ķ They were like erratic airplanes, with broken wings, or huge, meaty flies.  I actually had to ask what they were.  I didn,Äôt believe my parents at first when they told me.  I guess eventually my curiosity took over, because soon I had my face pressed to the window, and later, when Daddy said it was safe, I rolled it down, and felt the strangest sensation:  Cool air rushing past my face.  It was probably the happiest I had ever been.

When we actually arrived at The Ocean, I couldn,Äôt believe it.  I screamed when I saw it, half in delight, and half in terror.  There was nothing there but water!  No buildings, no cars, no billboards,Ķ  No people either.  At the time, I didn,Äôt know if that was strange or not, but looking back on it, well,Ķ  It didn,Äôt matter to me at the time, because the next thing that caught my attention was the sand.  It was blisteringly white, like glass dust lit from below, and it was smooth, with slight ripples from the tide.  I ran towards it, and was shocked when I felt the grains give way beneath my weight.  I turned, and saw my parents laughing and grinning.  It was something I wish I could have framed,Ķ

,ĶSo cut to an hour later.  I had gotten up enough bravery to dip my toes in the water, and even feel the waves splash up against my calves, before running back up the beach where the towels were.  Mommy and Daddy were building a sand castle, and laughing.  That was when I heard it.  A sickening ,Äúthud,Äù sound, right behind me.  Turning around, I saw, half embedded in the sand, the mangled corpse of a man, mostly naked, mutilated.  I screamed, and then I saw more of them falling, falling out of the blue sky.  It looked as if they were falling out of the sun.  I shrieked again when a pair of hands grabbed me, and swept me off my feet.  I think it was Daddy, but at the time, all I could see was bodies, and blood, and the endless Ocean.

A voice was shouting at me, asking me what was wrong.  I just kept screaming, about the bodies, about the gore, about how flayed limbs and gutted corpses were falling out of the sun.  I felt a sharp pain in my cheek.  Daddy had slapped me.  He told me to stop making stories.  I looked at him.  His eyes were furious.  I realized that he couldn,Äôt see the bodies, even as they littered the beach, thumping into the ground, splattering the white sand with dark red blood, and pulverized organs.  I think at that point I had something of a nervous breakdown, because the next thing I know, I,Äôm waking up in a doctor,Äôs office, and he,Äôs mumbling to my parents about the dangerous psychic effects of bringing a City-born child out into the open so suddenly.

But my parents still blamed me, somehow,Ķ.  I haven,Äôt been out of the City since then.

Erin sat up quickly and perched at the edge of the bed.  ,ÄúL,,Äù she said, ,ÄúI afraid of what,Äôs going to happen if we go out there.,Äù

I reached out my hand, and she took it in her own.  ,ÄúDon,Äôt worry.  I think I can help.  Just let me make a few calls while you get dressed.  Oh, and one more thing,Ķ,Äù

,ÄúYes?,Äù

,ÄúHow do you like you coffee?,Äù  I smiled.  ,ÄúMal showed me a few of her other tricks, as well.,Äù

[Malgrin]

Splendid!

[Mangrove]

if i don't see a bridge in boston with the legend 'emperor cheney memorial bridge' sprayed on it, i will be one very sad mangrove.