Patchwork Universe

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 12:42 am Post subject:

"Leave? We can leave?"

"I would give my very soul to whatever gods rule this place, if only they would let us go!"

After a brief struggle, Doomshadow found himself forced to tell the whole truth.

"If I still had a soul to offer, of course."

Jack Frost · Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:20 am Post subject:

Jack understood now. "Ah! Bewitchment, you mean. The sorceress Mercury has deluded and confused poor Lilac. Frightful. And this place feels uncomfortably... prickly, anyway." He wiped a bead of moisture from his forehead. "Let's hurry off."

Rose Briar · Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 3:44 pm Post subject:

"Come, Karkadann, we are to leave," Rose bRiar said, urging the unicorn to stand. As the silver equine preceded the small group out of the refreshment area, the rose maiden turned to offer the dark lord a helpful arm.

"Let me help you, dear Godcousin," she said. "Perhaps it is some malign magic that has overcome you and led you to these delusions that you are a dreadful personage of Shadowed Doom. But be of good cheer, Jack and I know you are no such person but our good friend Lilac, and soon you will be feeling back to normal."

Glancing over her shoulder she added. "Oh, Jack, can you round up Lilac's pet monkey creature? I'm sure he wouldn't want it left behind."

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:29 pm Post subject:

Lilac staggered towards the door, leaning heavily on the rose maiden. His body seemed crammed full of unfamiliar organs. Those strange humps on his back - were they gossamer fairy wings, begging to be unfurled?

Or was he even Lilac Warble?

Was he fairy or fey? Dark Lord or Godcousin? He no longer knew...

Jack Frost · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:46 pm Post subject:

Elsewhere, a small gathering of guests in the refreshments area were disturbed by the tall, blue-skinned actor who had been seen dancing before.

"Good day, fair friends! I was just passing though here, looking for my friend Ivor. He's a strange, misshapen fellow, about this high, and we have to leave quickly because we're in rather... rather a..." -a pained look came across Jack's face- "...a hurry to escape the clutches of the evil sorceress who rules this place. She's put a spell on one of my friends, you see, convincing him that he's not Godcousin Lilac but some foul beast called Doomshadow. And now," Jack continued with a look of mounting horror, "I am going to have to hurry away, because some similar bewitchment has just caused me to tell you all the secrets I was trying to hide from you and no doubt you'll be summoning the guards any moment now."
Jack left at a brisk walk. No doubt the polite applause was some kind of secret signal. And now something was stopping him even from running away properly.

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 6:37 pm Post subject:

Ivor whimpered, and pushed himself further under the table. He had heard the Bad Woman telling the Cold Man to take him away, and knew he had to hide.

Surely Master wouldn't let them take him away from this lovely place? This little piece of heaven, where all the children hugged him and stroked his fur?

He froze in terror. He could hear the Cold Man shouting, right next to his table. He hoped his tail wasn't showing...

Rose Briar · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:24 am Post subject:

Supprting the wieght of the dark lord, Rose Briar followed the unicorn out into the sunlight. Jack hadn't caught up with them yet but she thought it would propably be better not to delay. The strange malady that had overcome her Godcousin might rreturn at any moment.

As they came out of the building and into the fresh air, the rose maiden wondered what direction it would be best to travel in. A newcomer to this plane might decide to retrace her footsteps to the Rose Garden but she knew that the cojnections between the realms were inconstant, besides the Rose Garden had also affected Lilac strangely.

Looking about her for some indication of where to go, she noticed the subtle arrow affixed to the front of the main building. It pointed east.
"A sign," she said, with relief. "Look, Lilac. By such tokens do the powers communicate with us. "The sign points east, so let us go that way with haste and hope to find somethign there that will bring you out of this fugue."

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:57 pm Post subject:

Lilac Warble nodded slowly, and removed his arm from his companion's shoulder. He seemed to shudder briefly.

"Over hill, over dale,
Through bush, through brier,
Over park, over pale,
Through flood, through fire!
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere"

It was clear that his singing had not improved since his first meeting with the rose maiden.

"And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see"

Warble began dancing on the spot, his arms held out to an invisible partner. On his back, beneath the leather, something stirred.

"Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."

And with those words he began to skip merrily across the fields, heading in the direction of the eastern mistwall.

[OOC: Sincere apologies to Sir Francis Bacon^H^H^H The Sixth Earl of Derby^H^H^H W. Shakespeare.]

Rose Briar · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 10:32 am Post subject:

The rose maiden followed afterwards and when she realised Lilac was drawing ahead she leapt lightly on to the back of Karkadann the Unicorn and followed swiftly afterwards.

She drew level with the dark lord just before the mist and pointed to it.
"Come, Lilac..." she called. "There is nothing to fear."
Then she was lost in the mists ahead.

ooc: Rose Briar now moves to The Map Room: The Ivory City

Jack Frost · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 2:53 pm Post subject:

As Jack was stepping backwards from the guests, there was a sudden pained yelp. He froze, then looked downwards.

"Ivor? I am sorry, old chap. Didn't see that there. You really shouldn't have left it lying around. Come on, we've got to get out of here before the sorceress finds us. I can't blame you for wanting to hide, but they'll find you sooner or later-- come on, get out of there!"

The pain in Ivor's squashed tail was replaced with a burning-cold sensation as a pair of icy hands yanked him out from under the table.

"I hope that didn't hurt too much-- now quickly! We don't seem to be able to run here, but we can at least walk away in as much of a hurry as possible."

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:58 pm Post subject:

Ivor looked up at the Cold Man, and sighed. He could not feel His Master's Presence anywhere. And, wherever he might have gone, he knew the Lord would need his faithful servant. Clearly, it was time to go.

He scrabbled around briefly in his gigantic pack, and extracted a slimy, fleshy object which might have been the bladder of some unknown animal. Certainly the variously organic tubes dangling from it suggested that. Ivor thrust his right paw deep into the organ's folds, and took a firm grip on Jack Frost's hand.

"Not cold", he said, peering up into his companion's face. "Hand stay warm now."

[OOC: Jack Frost now has a little Ivor, and everywhere that Jack Frost goes, that man like thing is sure to go. Until one of them decides otherwise, anyway:-)]

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 9:09 pm Post subject:

The humps on Lilac's back squirmed frantically beneath the confining leather, as if some trapped animal was trying to escape. Abruptly, there was a tearing noise, and a pair of gigantic wings unfurled, adopting shapes not convenient to describe. The wings beat strongly and their owner rose rapidly into the air, dripping miscellaneous fluids onto the grass below, which swiftly began to wither.

Turning to the east, Lilac flew into the mist. It was time to cross the border, to enter another of these ever changing lands...

[OOC: Lord Doomshadow now joins the Map Room: The Ivory City]

Jack Frost · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 1:01 pm Post subject:

ooc: Sorry about my not-here-ness. Exams had been demanding my attention. They're over now.

The show appeared to be over. The two actors, one in blue-makeup and one dressed as some kind of great dog, had left.
What had it been about? The first clearly represented Winter-- or perhaps the whimsical changefulness of Nature, with his gallivanting and capering. What was the second supposed to be? His costume was much shoddier-- you could even see the stitches, for Heaven's sake. Or maybe that was deliberate. You never could tell with these modern plays. Perhaps his patchwork appearance was intended to resemble Man's futile, piecemeal attempts to tame Nature's icy wrath.
It was all a little confusing, but it was at least good that these people were pushing the boundaries of their art.

Outside the school, Jack Frost was in trouble. Rose Briar and Lilac had both left: he was alone in the domain of the Mercury Sorceress. Well, except for Ivor, who seemed to be trying to tell him something.

"What's up, boy?" asked Frost. "Someone's in trouble? Fallen down the well? No? What, then?"

Ivor lost patience, and started pulling Jack in the direction of the scorched and sizzling patches of ground which marked his master's passing.

ooc: Continued in The Map Room: Lost Frost