The RWP Forums - Dreamland http://www.therwp.com/forums Got a story or a role playing game in mind? Post your creative writing in here! en Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:26:33 GMT vBulletin 30 http://www.therwp.com/forums/images/v2_style/rss.jpg The RWP Forums - Dreamland http://www.therwp.com/forums The Journey Home http://www.therwp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40090&goto=newpost Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:33:59 GMT This a new, at least 3 part fic (I haven't finished it yet) that I started writing a couple of weeks ago, it gets considerably darker as it goes along and there may be some pacing issue at the start, but let me know what you think. (Mostly so I can go back and make it better)

Max and Samantha once lived in Leviopolis, a beautiful ancient city that stood on a floating island above a never ending chasm. The city was gigantic, mixing both new and old traditions, whilst cars were commonplace, they lived among tin buildings, crowds of every kind of creature, animorphised through millennia of evolution and a system based around steampunk technology. This was partly down to Leviopolis’ continued existence for longer than anyone remembered and a general confusion over what customs should have been kept and what should be moved on, either way it made for a unique, beautiful, but crowded and occasionally smelly city. Max and Samantha were young, recently married and hopelessly in debt. What happens if you get in debt in Leviopolis? Not many live to tell the tale. A few years ago, a new government came in and completely up ended the table. No longer was being poor, in debt or in unemployment an option. The official papers said it was down to successful job locators and enthusiasm to get back in the work place. But the government ran those papers and the poor were disappearing…

Max and Samantha, afraid of what fate may have for them, hid in the back of a van and ran, ran far away from Leviopolis to live their lives free from tyranny. Sadly, fate cannot be cheated and it cannot be escaped.

20 years have passed and Max and Samantha live in a small American town with their 9 year old daughter Cassie, who once again sat on the steps outside their front door as her parents shouted at each other. She didn’t know what they were fighting about this time, she never understood why they fought in the first place, don’t parents love each other? She looked out at the blue sky, a plane flew across, creating a pattern behind it. She’d never been on a plane before, it must be exciting to visit other countries, she thought to herself. She’d never been abroad. Her parents had always refused to go. She looked back at the house, it was falling apart. They’d wanted to move, but they’d never sell that worn down pokey house. That’s when they’d started fighting. Cassie played with her short black hair as she saw their silhouettes, like shadow puppets through the blinded up window.

Eventually, the front door opened and Max walked out, a tall man smartly dressed and looking young for 40 years of age and working in an office. He sat down next to Cassie.
“Cassie,” He began. She immediately knew from his tone that he was going to ask her to do something, so she assumed she’d done something wrong, but couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
“Your mum and me…we love each other very much still and I want you to know that we love you even more,”
He paused and debated his next few words “However, because mummy and me love each other so much, there isn’t enough space in the house for us both,”
Cassis nodded, she knew what he really meant. “So what I want you to do is go upstairs and take your favourite things, we’re going to put them in the car and we’re going to a new place,”
Cassie’s heart sank, she knew that her mum and dad’s marriage might have just ended, but she had no idea that it would be that quick.
“Will I see mum again?” She asked innocently.
“I’ll try to make sure you do,” He smiled and ruffled her hair, trying to make the situation seem less playful than it was, it failed.
Cassie carefully selected a load of toys, memorabilia and a photo of her and her parents, smiling away at some theme park. Being her age, she didn’t even remember a few days ago, let alone a time when her parents were content with each other and happy, so she had no idea when this was taken. She’d always liked though and often saw it as a best case scenario.

An hour passed and she walked, cardboard box of stuff in front of her, out the front door and towards the car. She placed it carefully in the boot and walked to the front of the car, taking in her reflection on the metal exterior of the 5 seater Range Rover. She hopped in the front passenger seat, a place that had often been reserved for her mum, but not that that seemed to matter anymore. As her father stepped in the car and shut the door behind him, Cassie looked back at her house, one that she may never gaze upon again. She looked at her father, he smiled back, giving the impression that everything would be all right. This calmed her down and made her feel more comfortable with the situation, as the car revved into life, she quickly spun back to look at her house. Her mother was peeking through the window through drawn curtains at her. Neither of them moved, looking at each other like a deer in headlights, the car began to drive away. Samantha became microscopic as the car quickly disappeared. The lane followed, then the neighbourhood, then Cassie’s whole world.

She stared out the window as the world flew by, motorways and fields became commonplace and the places they’d driven through had become a faded memory. As they took a back road through the countryside, Max turned to her, keeping at least a semi-eye out for the road.
“You ok, kiddo?” He asked. She didn’t reply. He was already used to this kind of response and continued talking regardless.
“When we get there, I’ll show you the house I grew up in, and the forest nearby,”
A driver behind them began moving slightly faster towards them. Max looked in his rear-view mirror in surprise.
“Boy racer here…” He muttered to himself. Then the car behind rammed into them.
“Jesus!” Max said. He didn’t know what to do next, he began to accelerate and the car behind did the same, smashing into the back of his car. Max turned to his daughter.
“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine,”
In the haste and confusion, he’d stopped paying attention to the road. There was a tight corner over a steep drop just ahead of them and by the time Max noticed it, it was too late. The car spun out of control and off the side, hurtling down the ravine.

Cassie woke up dazed, she must still be dreaming, as everything was upside down. She felt something seep up her head. She touched it and winced in a bit of pain, she looked at the red substance on her hands. Blood. A little blood. She then realised what had happened. She urgently checked around to make sure her father was alright, he was lying unconscious with his head deep into an airbag. She could see blood on the white bag and on the smashed window. She moaned and tried to free her from the repressive seatbelt, she managed to and fell onto the roof. Her head throbbed from the crash and she struggled in pain as she attempted to leave the car. She pulled herself out onto the dusty dry ground and looked at the twisted metal wreckage that had happened. She looked up and the steep hill which they had fallen down and at the broken barrier. Cassie pulled her dad slowly (because he was both stuck in the car and very heavy) out of the car.

He was breathing, but only very slightly. He coughed and roared back into life. His glasses were smashed and he looked a horrible mess, but he was alive and so was his daughter so that’s all that mattered to him. He tried to move his leg, but it was clearly broken, so he felt and intense amount of pain when he tried to move it. He looked at Cassie, unaware of what to tell her, how do you tell your 9 year old daughter “Sorry I crashed the car and nearly killed us,” He felt terrible, he’d taken his eyes off the road and it had led to this. Cassie walked up to him carefully and hugged him, thankful that both of them were just alive. “I love you dad,” She croaked, embracing him. She closed her eyes and some tears fell down her cheek. Max probably would have done the same thing if he hadn’t been looking behind her. The great big thorn bushes around the area started rustling. Max feared the worst. A wolf? A bear? A lion? He sat paralysed in fear as he held his daughter tightly. A sword cut through the layer of thorns, revealing something so much worse than a wolf or a lion. An anthropomorphic bear wearing a full suit of armour ripped through the thorns. Max recognised it instantly and rocked Cassie up and down. He shook his head. “Cassie, I don’t want you to open your eyes, keep them shut and you’ll be safe,”
The bear walked up to them and turned round.
“I found them,” He yelled, before turning straight back and pointing a sword at Max’s throat in a quick swooping motion.
“Now, it’s been a long time, Max,” The bear said, grinning a dirty smile “and my master has been getting rather annoyed that we haven’t managed to find you, until now…I am going to get such a reward for this,” He looked a bit closer and saw Cassie huddled in Max’s arms.
“A child? You had a child? When did this happen? You know The Barons rules on breeding within the poor communities!”
“I’m not in your divided communities anymore, I can do what I want,”
“You have debts to pay and you think you can just up sticks and leave Leviopolis? It’s not that simple,”
More bear guards appeared all pointing swords at the two.
“Where’s Samantha?” One asked.
“I don’t know,” Max lied, straight faced. The bear hit him hard.
“Where is she? He repeated, with a more strained aggressive tone.
“I haven’t seen her in 8 years,” Max lied again, his face showing the pain from the attack.
“Fine,” The guard said. “But we will find her” he turned around and signalled to the others “Take them away.
Cassie opened her eyes, but she may as well not have bothered, as a sack was placed over her and her father’s head. She didn’t know what was happening, all she knew was that it terrified her. She gripped tightly to her father and in doing so, nothing, not even the bear guards could tear them apart. ]]> Dreamland Troll clowns http://www.therwp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40090 Through This Way The Children Come http://www.therwp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40043&goto=newpost Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:30:53 GMT *_Through This Way The Children Come _* Late January, early morning. The children had come far with nothing but rags of clothing upon them. Across this forsaken highway that stretched beyond imagination. They could only hope for its finiteness. The great expanse of water below never ceased its...
Through This Way The Children Come


Late January, early morning. The children had come far with nothing but rags of clothing upon them. Across this forsaken highway that stretched beyond imagination. They could only hope for its finiteness. The great expanse of water below never ceased its raging. They hadn’t seen land in so long. Proper land, not this crumbling road. Not this weak barrier that stood between them and fluid-filled lungs. They kept at it, never fainting nor faltering, even at their weakest. It didn’t matter that there was no food. They would find some. It was this optimistic attitude that kept their morale up. Morale is the most important thing when you have nothing. Occasionally questions would come up though. Bad ones. The ones that usually had no answer and if they did it would take too long to find it. If you could walk across the ocean, how long would it take you? How long? How would you know you were half way? How would you know? They never asked the one question that they all wanted to ask though. The question that if asked would lead to their death.

“I found a piece of fabric.” One of them said in an indifferent tone, “You can have it.” He said to another. This gesture was thoughtful enough to warrant a smile from the other. “Thank you. I’ve been so cold.” The person said faintly. She looked it. She had the least amount of black rags awkwardly draped and tied around her compared to the others. She didn’t have goggles either. She being the only “she” around, going unnoticed the half-dozen walking ahead of her. “I don’t know what’s up with the others, but they don’t want to pay attention to you. Just another body to keep alive. More work they don’t want. I’m surprised you came this far.” The fabric-finder said.

“I wish it were different.” Said the girl.

“It can’t be different. This is the way it is. Whatever way it’s going to be won’t change by way of a wish either.” Said the boy. “They called us children back when we wished. We don’t, and so we aren’t.”

They gained maybe a mile in the last hour. They were slow moving and becoming slower still. Hardened optimism was a fair description of the group’s attitude. They knew one of them were going to die pretty soon even if not one of them looked like it. That was until they found a broken down car rusted from however many years’ worth of rain. The interior of the trunk was in good condition. Canned goods were stored inside it. Luck or whatever it was held them together just long enough to get from one place of refuge to another, and so they ate. The boy snuck the girl some food while the rest weren’t looking, although he wasn’t sure if they would’ve cared if they saw him; they didn’t care about much anymore. Neither did he. While the boy and the girl ate they had the first of many conversations.

“It’s supposed to be the longest bridge ever built.” Said the girl, removing a few of her rags while the cool morning died away and the slightly warmer afternoon was born. “Supposed to?” said the boy, “I know from traversing it that it is, even though I haven’t crossed the whole thing.”

“I don’t understand why it was built.”

“We’ve been crossing it for too long. For whatever reason we didn’t acknowledge its reason for existence. I’m not sure what it’s for but I can guess. We’re crossing it now, so maybe it was built for that very reason.” Said the boy with his indifferent tone. Even when inquiring something, he didn’t change his inflection, “After all, why are bridges built? To be crossed.” This notion was the only insightful one for the rest of their conversation, which consisted of fragments of knowledge and grunts and yawns. A billion tons of water raging beneath them, none of which they could drink. The boy thought of a goal. The first goal he thought of in a long while. Something to care about. While talking to this stranger, this girl who had followed them despite not knowing them, simply because they were human, had ignited the tiniest spark within him. Probably because she actually talked to him. It wasn't much but it was something. He didn't feel anything for anyone, not even her, but because of her he found something to do, and it consumed him. The others wouldn't care. If they found it they found it. If they didn't they didn't. But he knew what they had to do and so he would take charge and achieve this goal because he wanted to and needed to. He had to do it.

He had to find water. ]]> Dreamland Stephen Colbert http://www.therwp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40043