City of IF

scissorkitty

Prologue:

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away... a beautiful baby girl was born. The King and Queen of the land were very proud of their tiny daughter, and named her Rosemyrta, their tiny rosebud. As the years passed, and the Princess grew and learned, so too did the citizens of her kingdom come to love the little girl. She was pretty as a picture, with thick, soft curls the colour of rosewood newly polished, and deep eyes the bottomless black-green of a freshly grown brier vine. Her skin was fair, with rosey cheeks and petal-soft little bow lips.

On the morn of her sixth birthday, just as her first adult tooth began to fill in the charming gap in her smile, Rosemyrta's royal Parents took her by the hand, and led her deep into the wooded hills behind the castle.

After some time spent traveling by horse, and a little longer spend traveling by foot, they came to a clearing wherein they were met by a strange peddler woman who lived in a little wooden wagon the colour of gold. The peddler woman took the Princess by the hand and led her, parents following close behind, into the wagon. There, Rosemyrta received the begining of the Mark that would guide her through to her adulthood and her ultimate Power.

As they left the wagon late the following evening, Rosemyrta sucked on an aloe leaf, and contemplated the small rosebud tattooed on her tailbone. This mark would grow and change as she would grow and change, her parents had explained, and would eventually evolve with her, granting her powers to help her rule.

Many years passed, and Rosemyrta became a young woman. Slender and delicate, she maintained the supple softness of a newly minted bloom. Her parents, older then, had begun to pale in comparison to Rosemyrta's blossoming beauty, and they knew their Rule would soon come to an end.

Finally the day came, and the King and Queen summoned their little Princess, now perhaps not so little after all, to meet with them in the hallowed Garden. A small, beautifully maintained private courtyard, the Garden had always been off limits to the Princess. Now, however, the guarding gates were thrown wide, and the limbs of the different plants and trees therein were decorated with streamers as if for a celebration. Rosemyrta entered the beautiful sanctum with grace and glee, and was astonished to find her Royal parents standing on a small rise near the outer wall. They were dressed simply in white silk robes, and held hands.

"Our daughter", began the King. "The time has come for you to Rule. May you tend our Kingdom with wisdom and kindess, prune away her troubles, and bring our land to gentle fruitrition. Long may you Rule."

"Our Princess", continued the Queen. "Someday you too will plant your roots in our Garden, giving your guidance and your counsel to those to come. Today, however, is our day to give that Gift to you. Long may you Rule."

As Rosemyrta looked on, her Parents turned towards the wall, looked down into the colourful valley below, and shed their robes. With their backs turned, she could see the Marks that gave her Parents their Power, and their personalities. For her Mother, strong and loyal, wise and firm.. an Oak spread from her buttocks to her shoulders, throwing wide branches around her upper arms, and into her hairline. For her father, clever and tenacious, loving and shrewd.. a charming Ivy climbed from crown to tailbone, adorning his torso and wrapping around his legs.

A thin sparkling mist filled the Garden, and when it had cleared, a new Oak stood overlooking the valley, and an Ivy bush climbed the trunk, and tumbled over the Garden wall.

Guide in Love, Daughter. A silvery whisper on the wind tickled Rosemyrta's ear. We will ever be here if you need us. Long may you Rule.

A horrible burning began inside the new Queen's heart, and she cried out with all her might, "HOW CAN YOU LEAVE ME TO THIS ALL ALONE?!"

At the same moment, the Mark at her spine erupted into a shower of Rose Brier vines which began to scale her torso, and descend her thighs. The people in the towns below cried out, as a thick hedge began to wrap around their lands, hedging them in towards the Castle, and essentially locking all comers from the lands outside the Kingdom.

For you see, vines can protect, but also strangle.

Chinaren · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:53 am Post subject:

Quote: Rosemyrta's royal Parents took her by the hand, and led her deep into the wooded hills behind the castle.

I took this as an extremely sinister line. I mean, come on. Why would a king and queen go behind the proverbial bike sheds? The plann was to dump her wasn't it? Then they met that kindly old biddy who stopped them.

The only reason for this that I can think* of, is that this so called 'daughter' of there's wasn't 'their' daughter at all, but a bastard child of some pervy gigalo the king had hired to film with is wife and then post online. Failing in his attempt to have an abortion, as the wife liked the man-for-hire, he held his seething anger in by assuming an evil double identity which stalked the streets mutilating prostitutes and leaving their sliced up carcasses for innocent school-children to find.

Finally he located a magician strong enough to cast a spell of control over his wife, who was, by now, bonking every bloke in sight.

With dominance restored, he forced the two to the woods. His plan was to make a filthy beastiality movie with a donkey he'd had moved there earlier, and then to perform a grisly execution of them for his own sexual gratification.

However, he was thwarted in his scheme by a kindly, hard working, tattoo artist, who also happened to be part time sorceress. During the course of the discussion, the kid wanted a tattoo, and the king obliged, seeing as how he'd planned the murderous gore-fest later on he figured it didn't matter.

However, he then insulted the innocent old biddy, and the tattoo wasn't finished, forcing them to return to the castle. God only knows what happened to the donkey he left there.

Well, that's my theory anyway. :|

This is why I'm a republican (in the anti-monarchy sense, not the Merican party sense), you can't trust those royal bastards. The princess was probably out all night as well, shagging anything that moved 'cos she's a princess.

What? I'm just saying is all. The whole system is flawed man! Look where it got them in this story, the whole financial establishment is probably going down the pan, 'cos some spoilt princess got a tattoo.

Vote Roundhead!

*Bearing in mind I'm pretty drunk

Guest · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:07 am Post subject:

It made sence to me c'ren. Though at first reading it, I thought they were going to get rid of the princess or lock her away in a tower. I liked the story.

scissorkitty · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:00 pm Post subject:

HAAA!

Man.. And i thought I hid all the sinister overtones until the ending! :) Well, that's what we all get for writing so early in the wee hours.

C-ren... dude. I don't know what to say. It's like you're reading my mind.. backwards? With Jack the Ripper overtones? Speaking of which, you may have finally cracked that case- should you alert Sherlock Holmes or something? Scotland Yard? The Queen?? Then again, being anti-monarchy.. hm. Perhaps something on a more vigilante wavelength would tickle your fancy.

Your insights into my SG actually would make a hilarious SG of your own, C-ren! Think about it! We could write parallel universe tales or something.

Crystal- yep, you two were obviously out all night partying it up together, shading the world with dark overtones. :P

Okay- so my actual plans for this SG were to take suggestions for the next chapter, and write each chapter as a seperate little tale set in the Roslin Kingdom. Soo.. as to that regards... any suggestions?

The White Blacksmith · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 2629

What about doing it as a Heroes-esqe story? People create characters, and then you write a chapter for that character with a dp at the end for the creator to answer. Each chapter is short, but gradually the characters meet and interact. It could be big.

~~Copyright Whitey, 2008. I want 26% of all profits.

scissorkitty · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject:

oo.. good idea, Whitey! That's definitely in the realm of what I was thinking. I love the idea of having the stories and characters start to intermix...

So On That Note...

Lets hear your suggestions for the first character/situation to occur in Roslin! Each tale will be one chapter long. Instead of a DP, at the end of each little tale, there will be a chance to offer suggestions, and then to poll for the next character to come along. As things evolve, we'll see if we can start linking situations together... OH! And let's tie in Whitey's idea a bit.. so whoever suggested the character that WINS the poll, gets to decide the situation of that tale!

...and..... GO!

The Meaning Of Fear · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:32 pm Post subject:

Good start. Not much else I can say at the moment, though.

The White Blacksmith · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 2629

When are these situations going to be set? When this has just happened (or is happening) or a hundred years or so afterwards, when the whole kingdom is covered in brambles, and have adapted their lives to deal with it?

If it's a hundred years afterwards, what about starting with a minstrel having finished telling that tale to a group of village children/teens, who then go off into the forest (or briars, whatever) for adventure?

scissorkitty · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:35 pm Post subject:

That's one, then, Whitey!

I'm leaving it up for interpretation. It could be set later, like you said. It could be set during the rein of the new queen, or after.. or before...

anytime! Let the suggestions flow- and nod to your setting, if you like.. and we'll build it from there.

Crunchyfrog · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 3998

Mmmm. From the point of view of the queen's chambermaid, who sees the entire story from a completely different angle?

scissorkitty · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject:

OO! exciting options, dudes! I just need one or two more to get going!

JezSharp · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:13 am Post subject:

That was a very good opening scissorkitty, it kept a good line of tension and I loved the way that it mixed up the good (princess, natural power, seemingly good rulers) with the sinister (power obtained from a hidden sourceress rather than a widely recognised one, and the of course the thorns...it leaves a huge range of places for the story to go...

If the idea for this is to have a series of oneshots bringing in charachters, in a sense building into a tapestry then I would suggest one way to go would be to start with someone lowly and work upwards in a chain linking the characters together...so perhaps a peasent and his family whose farmland runs up against the wall...or of a lone boy from another village with powers of his own who finds his way into the village despite the thorns.

The story could take place at some future time and work well, I think having introduced the princess of thorns who is sweet innocent and twisted it may be better still to set the story 5 or 6 years on; at any rate to craft an opening with so much potential is really good, I look forward to seeing how this develops.

scissorkitty · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:46 pm Post subject:

BOO HOO HOO!!

This little tale needs a few more votes to get a move on! Please help!

The Meaning Of Fear · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject:

I voted, and when I saw the results, I loled.

Looks like it's a 3-way tie now.

D-Lotus · Joined: 21 Oct 2004 Posts: 4123 Location: Hollywood, USA

Well, I voted for the lone boy because it resembles the option which I would have liked to suggest, which is that of the boy who the princess eventually falls in love with and learns to share responsibility with, thereby making amends with her parents and her kingdom.

The Meaning Of Fear · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:17 pm Post subject:

:lol:

Great job D, now it's 4 way.

scissorkitty · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:53 am Post subject:

Thanks guys.. but now I need tie breakers!! *lol*

scissorkitty · Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject:

Great Googah-Moogah! I totally forgot about this one! QUICK- I NEED A TIEBREAKER!!