The Age and Country Hotel - Part III; Evolution from the Glitch | Forums

[Tasho]

Tasho is holding Dayne's hand rather tightly, and biting a thumbnail but otherwise manages to remain mostly calm.
Dayne is feeling...or rather not feeling a numbness in his hand, but wisely ignored it, as he used his free hand to brush a strand of blue hair away from her grey eye. "You okay Tasho?"
"I'm fine...it was just a blackout. And a storm. I've...well, I've not seen worse, but it COULD have been worse. We should probably cheak on the elves, Wink tends to get a little...excited due to storms."

As the pair head upstairs...Tasho's hand apparently glued to Daynes, Tasha in another part of the room is clinging to the surprisingly still unconcious form of Achenar, shaking visibly. Her head is buried in his shirt.
Tora sees her as she turns from the window and goes over, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. "It's okay Tasha...the lights are back on, and the storm is more or less passed on, for now."
Tasha sat up. "I knew that..." she carefully unclenched her hands. "I was just...um...protecting Achenar. In case the window...broke?"

In all the excitement, no one noticed that Iris was nowhere to be seen.

[T.O.O.O.]

<A HREF="http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/story.asp" TARGET=_blank>The Story of the Film So Far:

Doug and Bob are metropolitan policemen with a difference. Doug likes nothing more than slipping into little...</A>
Er, sorry, wrong story.

Gads, I've got too many characters! Gaspar has retired off to the lands of Faerie, where the only contact he will have with the A&C will be in an advisory role. He hopes.
His old friend Pargaeas had made a discovery on Anastoss, one of the old Peria homeworlds. However, Yeesha showed up and whisked her away on the Journey. Consequently, TOOO and Cannax have picked up where she left off.
The Peria siblings, The Spread Eagle and his sisters, Angie and Jasmine, have returned to Merkar to find out why our old nemesis, Donald Trump, has built a university there.
Jo is hanging out at the A&C. Angelo has come to join her.
Tyree is stuck back at the Library Age, making (what else?) yet another pot of tea.

sa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&ch sa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&chsa&ch

Anastoss

TOOO considered the paintings. Then, he walked over to the tenth mural. "You said it was sealed with metal, not stone, right?"
She nodded. "Right."
"Maybe it didn't start out as a burial chamber," he suggested.
"What, you mean an infirmary?" She looked down the stairs. "That's a lot of stairs to carry somebody."
"Not if you're a bahro," he explained. "They could've just simply linked in with the patients. Help me with this mural."
Together, they hefted the tenth mural off the wall and considered the control panel on the wall behind it.
Cannax sighed. "Another famous D'ni puzzle lock."
He shook his head. "The D'ni were never here, remember? I think this is some kind of emergency override to seal the doors."
"If the contagion was airborne," she suggested, "it wouldn't have made any difference."
"Maybe it wasn't," he said. "It could've come from the water or something. Then again, maybe it was genetic. With the birth of the new Peria, the old Peria maybe also mutated - like, I don't know, a genetic time bomb?"
"Which could've left them more susceptible to disease!" she added. "The door wasn't to protect the general population, it was to protect the patients!"
TOOO considered the final mural. "Didn't do them much good."

[jahura]

Zander and Jahura both turn to the wall behind them where the opening allowed them through. Both have an odd feeling something happened back there, and Jahura impulsively looks at her KI for messages.

[Downloading Messages]

"Good grace." Jahura says, "how many messages have we missed?"
Zander looks at his KI and makes a clicking noise. "I wonder if there's an 'abort' sequence."

"OY!" A shout comes from above them, "What the frod are you two doing here? Get out!"
"That must be our doppleganger." Zander says, "meet you up there?"

"I can do better than that." Jahura says with a wicked grin. She walks over to the search book and takes the quill in her hand. After a moment's consideration, she writes in the book:

Unauthorized Personnel Imitating Zander Nyrond

YaaaaaAAAAAAHH - WHUMP!
Onto the table lands a Nyrond that looks very much like Zander except for one minor detail - instead of purple to Jahura, this Zander is white. Jahura crosses her arms and slowly approaches the table. Zander steps up and joins her side.

"Not without an explanation." Jahura says.
White Zander clears his throat, pops another lozenge, and speaks.
"That makes three of us! You both are supposed to be playing with giant gears according to my schedule." Oddly, this Nyrond pronounces the last word sked-juel instead of shed-u-uhl as Nyronds normally do. Purple Zander's brows raise above his glasses, and White Zander silently curses his gaffe.
Bloody cross-ponding.

"I'm here with a message for Tully and Marae." White Zander continues, "that's all you need to know. I suggest you get back to whatever it was you were doing before the Faerie expedition lest Achenar go through a reversion. There's a book linking you back on Tier 5. That is all."
He defiantly crosses his arms and glares at Zander and Jahura.

Purple Zander reaches out and pulls the false goatee from White Zander's face.
"Hey!" White Zander cries out, covering his mouth.

"You'll get this back when we get a full explanation of what the frod is going on here." Purple Zander growls.

[marae]

Marae and Tully scurry down the second floor hallway, past Zander and Jahura's room with the slightly out of kilter "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the door, and halt, panting, in front of the Library panel. Marae reaches up to touch it, as Tully stands behind her, shifting from one foot to the other, his feet squelching in his shoes.

"Are you sure you don't want to change first, love?" asks Marae, turning to look at him, her hand poised before the panel.

"Not entirely, but there's not enough time. I can change on the smallship." Marae nods and presses the panel. The door opens.

"Well, this is interesting," comments Marae as she surveys the scene before her.

"Quite," says Tully, coming in behind her. He touches the panel and the door silently closes.

[cathyk]

With OracleSong and Adric looking after Kelsa, Scully looked round the room to see if anyone else needed help. She spotted Tasha cradling an unconscious Achenar and went straight over.

"Um, I don't think we've met, though I've seen this gentleman before. My name's Scully, I'm a doctor," she said. Tasha didn't look up but replied distractedly.

"I'm Tasha Chan, and this is Achenar, um, that is A&C Achenar."

"There are two Achenars?" Scully asked surprised, then stopped herself. What with turning into a vampire, ghosts, cat nun-nurses and silver dragons, why should be she be surprised that there were doppelgangers running around as well?

"Let me examine him," she went on, prying Achenar from Tasha's grasp, laying him in the recovery position. Her medical training was easily recalled, almost comforting, as she examined Achenar.

[T.O.O.O.]

Anastoss

Between the two of them, they operated the controls and finally opened the metal door.

Down, down, down the stairs they walked. "Doesn't anyone believe in elevators anymore?" TOOO asked. But as they continued...

"Phew!" Cannax said, waving her hand in front of her face. "No wonder they had to bring the skeleton out! They probably didn't even bother to embalm them!"
They stopped, and looked at each other. "Do we really want to continue?" Cannax asked.
"Tell you what," he suggested. "I'll go down and take a quick peek - see what I can find before I get overcome."
She looked at him incredulously. "You're not going down into that."
He smiled and took her into his arms and held her. "I'll be okay."
She reluctantly let him go.

[jahura]

The scene Marae and Tully walk into:

Two Zanders, one propped up on the center table with one arm while the other hand is held over his mouth, the other standing next to the table holding something hairy and glaring at the first. Jahura also stands by the table, arms crossed and outwardly stern, but underneath rather bemused by it all.

"Well," Zander demands, "out with it."

The impostor drops his hand and sighs.
"Since you're both here I might as well." He grumbles, "although it wasn't exactly according to plan. Then again, nothing where Tully is concerned ever is." He sits up and hangs his legs over the side of the table.
"You've figured out by now I am not Zander Nyrond. Sorry, but for reasons deemed cod liver croquettes I cannot reveal my true identity to you or anyone at this time. I am from the future - your present future. Tully and Marae, you two are in a royal mess - up to your heckles, as it were. Did you read the dossier I forwarded?"

"Yes." Tully replies with a raised eyebrow, "I skimmed it. Brid and Bres and some Nyrond bloke named Bruce."

"Brus." The impostor replies, pronouncing the name broosh, "and if things go their present course, he may yet exist."

"And you don't want that to happen?" Tully asks with a tone of disenchantment.

"Neither do you." The impostor snaps back, "you'll have to trust me on that."
"Why?" Tully asks. "wouldn't knowingly canceling a life bring on - "

"No!" Marae interrupts, "Forget it! He's been through too much already. As much fun as a coup may sound, if it means death for Tully then we're not having any part of it! He's no martyr for politics! We'll just have to take the future as it comes." She grabs Tully's arm in a firm grip with both and nods affirmatively.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about deathblock." The stranger says.
Tully's face turns red.

Marae looks from the impostor to Tully. "Why, Tully?"
Tully looks to the floor.

"Tell her." The impostor says.

[The_Eye07]

Originally posted by Tora_Neko:
Tora glances out the western window towards the Australian beach. The waves have calmed down considerably and other than a light rain the storm appears to be over.

"All quiet on the western front!" she announces.

Neko's ears *****, "Unless that's only The Eye of the storm that's arrived." she reminds her human.

The Storm - which had appeared to have abated, now gathers momentum as the wind has changed direction. The clouds start rotating in the distance, and the view looks something like this:



For all appearances, the storm has passed......but,it has not yet arrived.

[Speedyserd]

Speedy saw the storm outside of a window. Her feathers paled a little.
"I think it's about time to start boarding up the windows... VIKINGS!"
She waited for a moment and didn't hear any feet coming.
"Gisli! Thorstein! Anyone?"
An Ara walked up to the stork.
"They're out with their boat. They're afraid that the storm will carry it away this time, for it nearly loosened the ropes from the first tie-down," it explained.
Speedy
"Ok, you gather up the other Ara and see if Ty is around as well. We need to board up as many windows as we can ASAP,"
"Roger,"
"Actually, I'm Speedy,"
And with that, the Ara went off to find the others while Speedy went to find some hammer, nails, and plywood.

[marae]

"Well, love..." Tully looks up at Marae, and his expression is anguished. "Remember we were talking about how Bríd and Bres might want one last fling?" Marae nods silently. "Well, I think they might be wanting to um... take it to the next level."

There is a long moment of silence. A Nyrond... named... Marae's jaw slowly drops and her eyes grow wide as realization comes to her. Without even realizing it, she begins to back away.

"Oh... no. No. You can't mean... No. Absolutely... No WAY am I going to... I can't believe she'd... No..." She shakes her head in denial and continues to back up until she has backed into the closed door. She feels herself slipping into panic. There has to be a way out of this...

Something is nagging at the back of her mind. "The smallship! Tully, we're going to be late!"

"Quite right," says Tully, taking her hand. "We need to get away from here." He nods absently to Zander and Jahura. "Excuse us, please." He presses the panel and they hurry through the door.

**********

Bres sits in quiet contemplation on the great stone, watching with interest as his hand slides partway into the rock and back out again. The afternoon light is dampened by the approaching storm; he can smell the rain coming, can feel the mounting tension of a world on edge. By contrast he can sense the peace of the world to which he ascends, the quiet thrill of multitude, the awe of oneness. He wonders for a moment why She would be so eager to put that aside, but then he feels something stirring at the base of his spine and he remembers...

<span class="ev_code_yellow">They are coming. It won't be long now.</span>

Beneath the shrine a golden glow fills the chamber where the Well emerges. The light plays off the Salmon's scales. Manannan stands beside the Well, his softly colored cloak shimmering about him, his long grey beard flowing. His eyes are closed, in deep concentration. Epona, standing beside him, lights a brazier with a flaming brand.

The guests are beginning to assemble. The rows of seats which crowd up the walls on either side of the room are filling with a shining host: Vibrantly clad in flowing robes and sparkling jewels, gods and goddesses of all denominations take their places to await the arrival of the Chosen One and the beginning of the ceremony.

The fire licks at the logs, rising to a fierce blaze which makes shadows on the walls behind the assembled. Its light sparkles on the jewels; it dances on the water.

The Salmon flicks his tail, and as if responding to an unvoiced command, descends into the depths to rise to the world above.

**********

Marae and Tully hurry through the pub, their faces clearly showing a heightened state of alarm. Those who have time to notice have no time to speak to them, however, before they are gone. Duke gives a startled whinny and starts after them, but then he remembers that he is not going this time, and that they will be bringing him a souvenir. He halts just before he gets to the veranda door, which falls to in front of him. The wind that enters through it is cold and wet. He watches them go, and shivers -- the storm seems to be winding up again, and he is just as happy to stay inside where it is warm and dry.

As they approach the shrine, Marae and Tully feel the wind surge behind them, blowing down the hillside. It drives a spattering of large drops into them with terrible force. "This is no good!" shouts Tully, as the wind shifts around and plows into them from the front. "The smallship won't be able to land -- too much turbulence! We'd best go back--"

"We can't!" Marae practically screams. "We have to get out of here! Tully, if they're planning what we think they're planning, we have to go, now!"

"Love, surely a couple of hours--"

"Tully, do you realize what day this is?"

"What?"

"It's February Second!" Marae's voice is shrill with panic. "It's Her Day! This is when they want to do it! We can't wait... We just can't..."

"Oh, frod." Tully grips her hand and the two of them pelt forward, heedless of the wind that now tears down their lungs. They skirt the Well as the wind shifts yet again...

"Oh, frod!" Tully feels the wind slam into them both full force; it forces its way between them and he can feel her fingers slipping from his grasp; the next moment his heart stands still as, with a dreadful scream, Marae is lifted by a gale-force gust and tossed like a rag doll... into the pool...