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Author |
Topic: The Princess's Crown |
Title: Neophyte
Posts: 22
Joined: 13 Jun 2007
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Date Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:39 am
Subject: The Princess's Crown
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So it's two am eastern time and I'm struck with sudden inspiration. What do I do? Write it up and post it by four am, of course! Because I don't make a big enough fool of myself when I'm TOTALLY awake, and lack of sleep makes me delude myself into thinking I'm genius. Anyway, enjoy!
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The girl known in Seattle's metroplex as Tinmai chewed her lower lip as she worked on the doll. It was a cold outside: deserts are as chilly at night as they are hot in the day. Thankfully, she had a large, walking, barking heater behind her - Minion earned his keep in more ways than one. There was also the sterno can she used to cook the ears of corn on, but although it worked for cooking, it wasn't very useful for staying warm.
She twisted the dried husks tighter together, binding the legs tightly. A glowstick propped in the rock behind her provided light enough to see, but she still squinted as she worked, brow furrowed. Finally, she took out a small pair of wire clippers and trimmed the edges, leaving only the familiar pale yellow shape, white under the sickly light of the glowstick, of a humanoid. Smiling to herself, she leaned back comfortably - Minion's back might be dusty, but she'd cleared it of bugs and burrs earlier. Bringing her knees close, she rested the doll on her stomach so that it could stand - or at least seem to as it leaned against her legs for support.
After a moment she held the doll's arms with her hands, beginning, "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful queen, a noble king and a little princess." Her voice was soft, lost in the sounds of the desert. "They had lived happily for many years together, but the King had a secret, for the King's mother had cursed him on her deathbed. Over time, he had forgotten the curse, which was kept contained because of the Queen's love. One day, however, the Queen went out to a ball, where she met the Lady of the Sky, who reached down and took the Queen up to the stars where the Queen would be happy forever, dancing and singing and laughing and watching over everyone. But the Princess and King, who had not gone to the ball, were left behind on Earth. The King was heartbroken, because he loved the Queen so much, but he knew he had to raise the little princess to be a good girl, so he stayed behind. But he grew lonelier and lonelier, and soon the curse had taken hold of him, making him take swallow potion after potion, every day, all the time, until he became a violent man."
The young girl paused now and took a drink from the bottle at her side - her own "potion". It burned as it went down, warming her. Whiskey was more expensive than beer, but it came in handy. She began painting the dried doll with some of her make-up, giving it eyes and tattoos as she continued her story.
"He fought the curse as well as he could, for the Princess's sake, but soon he had changed from the noble King he once was. The little Princess was sometimes afraid of her father now, but deep down she knew he loved her, and she loved her poor King-papa. The curse hadn't changed that. So the curse screeched and scowled, and it was sly, and it took control of the King's court. The nobles, all under the power of the terrible curse, invaded the princess's kingdom and stormed her castle, killing the king and dragging the princess off.
"Now the evil nobles did terrible things to the princess, but one of the nobles was still just a little good, and he cast a magic spell over the princess that made it so she would not suffer under the tortures of the nobles, and sealed the spell in a special crown. Now, when the nobles tried to do bad things to her and the other prisoners of the dungeon, the princess was protected by the special powers of the spell. Whenever they tried to hurt her, she could fade out of their reach to beautiful other worlds where they could not touch her. But when they stopped, she always came back to the dungeons, for the spell could not break the powers of the curse.
"But the Queen, up in the sky, did not want to see her daughter trapped and so she used her powers to pick several champions, who stormed the castle and dungeons, fighting the nobles. And while they fought, the princess's new friends took her and they fled, fled far away from the bad men. And then the princess was free!"
She paused and looked at her handiwork: the doll was decorated with a pattern of dots and lines, all done in blue and purple. She smiled and kissed the air before it, unwilling to smear her work. She took another sip of whiskey, petting the dog at her side. Closing her eyes, she listened, trying to conjure the feeling of warm arms holding her, of a clear, low voice murmuring words to her in the darkness. The words came when summoned, and she continued in the same soft voice.
"But now the princess had to flee her kingdom, which was no longer her home - the curse had consumed it. And so she and her friends travelled and had many adventures, until the princess found a new home for herself. There she began to use the magic spells she had learned to help her survive. Soon, she found she did not need the spells, only the skills she had learned from them, and so she lived her life, and had two beautiful daughters.
"The curse was angry, so very angry at the princess's happiness, and it tried to take the second daughter of the princess, and thankfully it failed. Yet it had succeeded years before in taking her son, but one day as the princess was walking along, the Queen in the sky led her through a street, and she found him! He was all grown up, for the curse had taken him when he was young and erased his birth from the minds of all, but the moment the princess saw him, she KNEW he was her son, just as she knew the prisoners of the dungeon were all lost princes and princesses just like she was.
"That was not the only time, either. The curse tried to take away more of the princess's children, but all she had to do was see them and she could tell, for she was blessed with the magic of the crown. But the crown's power grew weaker with time, for it fought the curse all the while, throughout all these years, and so now the Queen - for she is old now, and we cannot remain princesses forever - must spend more and more time with the crown, for it is the secret to beating the curse."
The girl Seattle knew as Tinmai opened her eyes and looked at the doll. In the dying light of the glowstick, the corn husk doll was pale, the blue and purple black under the moonlight. The voice of memory ended there, and the girl felt cold again. Something slapped her side: Minion's tail. She turned and heard him whine, nipping and growling as his ears twitched - a dream. She smiled a small smile before plucking the glow-stick from the wall and moving forward.
She came to where the blue flame flickered near the bare corn cobs.
"But it was too late for the Queen, in the end." She said aloud, staring impassively at the doll. Her voice was loud now, stronger than the desert's. She kissed the doll, continuing, "Because Mami's little dream-spells were only expensive little dreams. And the curse found a way to kill her through the fake dreams." She smiles ever so slightly, bitterly, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her coat and sniffling. "But I know Queen Abuelita found her and took her to the skies, where she is now dancing and singing and watching over us all with the Lady of the Sky." Her voice wavers, muffled hope and edged sarcasm. She stares uncertainly at the doll in her hand, then hugs it fiercely, cradling it in her arms.
After a few moments, she reluctantly lets go of the doll, wiping her eyes once more, before placing the doll over the blue flames then on the ground to watch it burn. Every now and then she lifts her head to follow the smoke rising up to the sky, searching the stars. Only when there is nothing left but ashes and all the smoke is gone does she murmur a prayer and crawl back to where Minion lies dreaming, wrapping herself in a blanket and closing her eyes to sleep. She whispers quietly, so quietly the tired girl isn't even sure whether she said it or dreamed she did: "Like mother, like daughter."
By morning the desert winds had scattered the ashes, and the new little princess, with her faithful companion, drove off to the "real" world to cast her own sort of spells in the name of survival, leaving her bedtime story behind.
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I will give ten thousand cool points to anyone who can guess what this is all about >.< I'm not sure I made it clear enough in the end...so respond with your theories so I know if I'm close, damnit!
-----signature----- Love your enemies. It makes them so damned mad. ~P.D. East
The greatest tragedies were written by the Greeks and by Shakespeare. Neither knew chocolate. The Swiss are known for nonviolence. They are also known for superb chocolate.
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Title: Runner
Posts: 54
Joined: 22 Nov 2006
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Date Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 4:27 am
Subject:
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Well Tin, you posted a story! Awesomes.
This thread has been up a while, and it warrants a response.
Father-Alcoholic
Mother- Dead. VITAS?
The Curse is possibly VITAS?
The Crown = Some sort of cybernetic augmentation, very possibly a chipjack for simsense/BTLS?
I don't know for sure.
-----signature----- The cells I am at the moment, soon die ... but I will be here. -The Servent, Cells
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Title: Neophyte
Posts: 22
Joined: 13 Jun 2007
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Date Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 3:05 am
Subject:
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Mwahahaha. Good job!
You got two and a half out of four - the father was an alcoholic. And the Crown WAS a chipjack.
The Curse is not VITAS, though, sorry, but the mother IS dead.
BTW, take careful note of who's who - I know it's confusing since I never use names. But try to keep the family relationships straight
Any other takers?
-----signature----- Love your enemies. It makes them so damned mad. ~P.D. East
The greatest tragedies were written by the Greeks and by Shakespeare. Neither knew chocolate. The Swiss are known for nonviolence. They are also known for superb chocolate.
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Title: Member
Posts: 346
Joined: 17 Dec 2005
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Date Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:27 am
Subject: Hmm..
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The Curse = Reality..?
And I wish I didn't know what a bunraku parlor was. :/
-----signature----- Therefor, your mechanism of material better be sickly, or let your lead spread incredibly quickly.
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Title: Fixer
Posts: 118
Joined: 10 Dec 2006
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Date Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:53 am
Subject:
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The curse was reality, yes, because her mother was kept by a gang as a toy.
-----signature----- Every man dies. Not every man truly lives.
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Title: Fixer
Posts: 118
Joined: 10 Dec 2006
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Date Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:54 am
Subject:
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The curse was reality, yes, because her mother was kept by a gang as a toy.
-----signature----- Every man dies. Not every man truly lives.
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