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EF: Chapter 11
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scissorkitty



Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 789
Location: Escaping the Hair Lair

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:57 pm    Post subject: EF: Chapter 11  

The Story So Far...

What happens when a womanizing jerk ticks off the local tavern owner in olden times? Why, a mysterious lingering curse, that's what! The jerk just happened to be Rolph.. but the curse he carried just keeps spreading!

“May you and your bastards live the life of the damned forever!” the barkeep had cried, and so Rolph did just that... but not ONLY Rolph! Every child he produced throughout the centuries lives on at the physical age at which they died: a set of septuagenarian triplets born in 1772, a nefarious forty-something born in 1890 and a financially astute nine-year-old born in 1892 .. and that's just the older kids!

Europa Fielder, one of his more recent accursed offspring, is twenty-two years old, still alive and therefore not yet immortal. She discovers that somehow her estranged father has broken free of the curse, having died instantly as the centuries of immortality caught up with him. Europa is determined to find out how.

Euro teams up with her immortal brother Davis, a quasi-skater stuck at fourteen, and Bernice, killed a century ago at the age of nine, and the little trio set out in search of the origins of the curse. All the while, the threat of Harrold, a malingering older brother who is intent on injuring Euro to the point of vegetation, lingers over the group.

Euro, previously hidden a bathroom, has ventured outwards and explored the back hallways of the nefarious funeral parlour. Now, having just crept to a door and barged into stall the supposed attack on her sister, Euro is confronted by Bernice, Davis, the librarian, Lurch the undertaker and.. a mysterious someone..




"Wha? Buh.. who and then... and you.. the marmalade, and the ash, and the crawling. TEXT! MY TEXT! And the sounds??"

My brain shouted a perfectly cohesive collection of expletives and questions, while my mouth spattered out a mash of misshaped syllables. The assembled crowd stared me down, and I felt my self-esteem begin to evaporate in the warmer air.

"Okay. uh, let me try that again. What is going on here?"

Davis threw an arm around my shoulders, and flung the other wide in an expansive welcoming gesture.

"This, dude, is family."

The familiar stranger at the scrabble table turned around, and eyed me with one slightly bruised sardonic eyebrow posed in a position of familiar distaste.

"Hello, Europa." Harrold rolled my name off his tongue, coating it in murky intentions.

Oh. Shit. Harrold. And more family? I stumbled a little, and Lurch..er.. lurched over and led me to a nearby chair with surprising gentleness. I hoped his other customers received the same solicitous treatment, though I supposed in general it wouldn't matter to the dead.

Bernice neatly finished off her tiles, hi-fived the creepy librarian, and came over to pat my hand in a matronly manner- quite disconcerting in a child-look-alike.

"It's alright, Euro. I know this is a shock. And I know you're more than a little shocked to see us bonding so casually with our mutual enemy.." She gestured calmly to Harrold, and continued.

"As it turns out, there's more in common with our goals than not, so after roundly beating him in an earlier game, " she smiled brightly, "We instigated the current state of truce, between Harrold, us, and you."

Okay. I settled a little deeper into the worn plush velour of the chair, and, and steepled my fingers under my chin.

"Soo.. right. Truce. But what's with Happy and Lurch suddenly being declared family members? Are they..." I stumbed over the words. "Uh.. part of the club?"

"You mean Immortal?" Happy chirped into the conversation, her hands busy cheerfully assembling what seemed like an army of hot, buttered, marmalade sandwiches. "Oh yes. Quite!" She stuffed a toasted crust into her maw and made satisfied muttering noises to herself.

Lurch also confirmed his, um, membership, although with a silent nod in my direction.

"Yes, they are, Euro." Bernice let go of my hand, and patted my kneecap in a fatherly gesture, instantly switching gender roles. "You see, Lincoln has been running the funeral home for the past 60 odd years, and Gladys has been working at the library for approximately the same amount of time. Both came across each other after mutually stumbling across the tea shop- which used to be here.. and which previously housed the tavern!"

"The tavern? I mean.. ye olde taverne of ancient antiquity- the curse giving one?"

"Yep!" Davis grinned and hauled me to my feet. "The curse-giving one. It turns out we were just lucky to get to the library and this place at all. The whole Incarna thing was really just a dead end! But anyway, so, you're not going to believe this... you came in through there. Did you even LOOK?"

Bounding to the door with the effortless spunk of an endless teenager, Davis dragged me behind him and opened the oak door again. Helpless against his tidal flow, I followed.

"Okay, man. Okay! I give. I'm looking at what, exactly?"





DP: So? What are we looking at?

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The Meaning Of Fear



Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 980
Location: In a deep, dark corner of the universe, plotting.

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:43 am    Post subject:  

A giant carving in the wall that has all of the rules, bindings, and whatevers of the curse engraved upon it?

Nice chapter, by the way.
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Crunchyfrog



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 3998

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:12 am    Post subject:  

It's the Eyebrow Tree, Duhhh!

The bathroom was once a part of the original building (which back then wouldn't have had bathrooms) but it is a design etched into the stone wall.

If I remember rightly, the Eyebrow Tree design appeared on the mysterious note that sent them on their quest, and also on the front of the book that Rolph gave to his wife before his unexpected demise (if I remember rightly, he nullified the curse on himself by marrying someone and crumbling into a pile of centuries old dust the minute he said 'I do')

This design has a lot to do with the barkeep who originally made the curse...

Good chapter! :)
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scissorkitty



Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 789
Location: Escaping the Hair Lair

Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:34 am    Post subject:  

holy crap, Crunchy! You remember EVERYTHING! No wonder you're the queen of synopsis! :) Are you for hire?
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scissorkitty



Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 789
Location: Escaping the Hair Lair

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:18 am    Post subject:  

Hey guys! It's Story Revival Time, here at Eterna, and so... here it is!

What's on that wall??

I suggest re-reading the above chappy and perhaps the synopsis, just to get back into the swing of things.. i know i sure had to!.. and then lets see what's up.

I have some definite plots, conclusions and crazy planned!
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Crunchyfrog



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 3998

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:33 am    Post subject:  

Yeaaahhhh!!!

Eterna back in action!

Wowowowowwwooo!

*Pummels Reiso's lever* :-o

Ahem. And voted.
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