dragonqueen

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while...my internet's been down. I'll try to post more often. Loni hears the helpful voice and gazes around for the owner. All she sees, though, is a carriage horse, staring her in the face with big brown eyes. Loni stares back for a moment, and then drops her head into her hands. "Maybe running away was a bad idea. Where has it got me? Nowhere. I'm sitting on a beach with a bunch of scrap wood and nowhere to go. And I'm hallucinating. How much better can it get?" Loni mumbles to herself. She risks a glance up, hoping that maybe the hallucination will have dissapated. It hasn't. The horse is still there, waiting. Loni considers the idea that maybe she isn't hallucinating. "It looks friendly enough," she tells herself. "What would happen if I went with it? Whatever, it couldn't be worse than this. But what about the boat? I can't just leave it here, can I? Well, why not? What else is it good for? Might as well go with the horse. Afterall, it probably needs help as much as I do." After reasoning with herself, Loni stands up. Dizziness strikes, as it does when one has been sitting for long periods of time and stands up rapidly. After a moment, it clears and with a struggle Loni manages to sit astride the horse. Giving the useless boat one last glance, she shrugs and faces front. Unfortuantely she's never ridden a horse before, being from a fishing community. Leaning foward Loni looks at the horse. "Well? Are you going to move? Go on, move! Don't expect me to know where we're going. I don't really care, as long as it's far away and better than this. It's up to you. Go!" Unsure if this is how one handles a horse, but not knowing what else to do, Loni sits back and waits. The horse begins to walk foward, away from the shore. Loni fancies she hears it say "Fine. We're off, then," but tells herself to stop hallucinating. A few minutes later, Loni and the horse are on a packed dirt road, moving slowly but steadily. The horse is wondering if this is really an improvement, and Loni is trying to figure out what horses eat. Sometime later, it has grown cooler and darker. The horse gradually winds down to a stop, and Loni slides gracelessly off. Turning around, the horse looks expectantly at it. "Well? Where shall we spend the night?" Loni is too tired to consider this "hallucination". "It's not likely the carriage'll be able to get through the woods, so we might as well stay here," Loni tells the horse. "Very well, but why don't you at least unhitch me from the carriage?" replies the horse. Loni stares at it blankly. The horse rolls its eyes and points its nose at the harness. Loni pulls at the harness half heartedly. "You have to lift it over my head," the horse instructs, silently debating whether a clueless human is better than no human. With some fumbling Loni gets the harness off the horse and immediatly drops it. She climbs into the carriage and collapses, dead tired from a day full of rowing, horses, and running away. The horse munches some of the yellowish grass margining the road, then it too drifts off to sleep.

Very nice. Is she literaly a child, or older? Good imagery, and kind of eerie, but in a good way. It's neat how you used a smile upside down and then a frown upside down.

As she rows, Loni mentally inventories the contents of her boat. She has the useless fishing net, the boat itself, and her lunch. This is not much to runaway with, but Loni has made up her mind; she's not going back now. Slowly, the smudge on the horizon that is the mainland grows bigger. After a while, the burning in her muscles subsides when Loni falls into a rythymical trance. ROW, 2, 3, 4, ROW, 2, 3, 4, ROW... The water level in the boat grows higher and higher, and when the vessel finally bumps against the shore Loni is up to her knees in water. "Hey, missy! You better get out of that boat before it sinks!" The shout wakes Loni from her trance, and she climbs out of the boat. She lugs it safely out of the sea's reach, and then plops down next to it, having come to a glitch in her plot. What to do with the boat? OOC: More later, my sister needs the computer now...

It was kind of like grasping at straws. I didn't really suspect anybody until somebody else suspected them. Yup, I'm a sheep. I never really suspected Kamiya, but Kinjuru...he was a natural suspect. Anyway, I haven't really been following the Q and A thread, but I'm reading about some sort of Wolf Chronicle that might be written. You can do whatever you want with Hoshiko. She doesn't really have a background or anything.

OOC:This looks neat. I'm in. I'll go with the leaky boat and a fishing net with a hole. Loni pulls back on the oars of the rowboat, her brow furrowed with anger. She looks down at the inches of water in the boat in disgust, and wonders if she'll sink. Just like her sisters, she thinks. She knows it's her turn to fish off the mainland, but they should have told her about her boat. When Loni had noticed the small hole, she was closer to the mainland than to the island, so she didn't change course. While she rows, Loni fumes. She bets she knows which one put the hole in her boat, too- Lyda, the second youngest after Loni. She was always picking on Loni, but Swir and Kyti did nothing to stop her. Sometimes they even joined in. Alone in the middle of the ocean, in a leaky boat, a pathetic tear slides down Loni's cheek. Loni shrugs her shoulder angrily to wipe away the tear. She should be used to it by now, she knows, but sometimes it just gets to her, the way her sisters always torment her. Not wanting to think about her sisters, Loni focuses on something else. If she squints her eyes, she can just see a smudge on the horizon, which has to be the mainland. She sighs. Why did their island have to be so far from it? Loni begins to feel the long morning of rowing taking it's toll. Her sun-browned arms and shoulders ache faintly. Loni has a bad hunch that it'll get worse. Leaning foward for another stroke, Loni catches sight of her salt-encrusted fishing net. With the none-too-smooth journey of the boat, the net has slipped through the hole in the curve of the boat. A hungry fish has apparently been nibbling on it. Loni closes her eyes and tries not to cry. I'm a fisherwoman, she tells herself. I'm strong, I'm tough, and I won't cry. But it doesn't work. The tears begin to seep through her eyelids in earnest this time. Before long, Loni is heaving great sobs as she rows. Surely, she tells herself, surely it can't get any worse. I'm sitting in the middle of the ocean with a leaky rowboat and a holey net. With a sudden burst of passion, Loni whispers fiercly "I hate them. I really do." All of a sudden Loni stops rowing. Her face looks hopeful at last, as if she has just been enlightened. "Maybe," she tells herself, "Maybe I'll just stay on the mainland. It would serve them right." Rowing again, she mulls over the idea. At last her prospects have improved.

Hoshiko listens to the discussions, not really caring anymore. For her, everything has taken on an unreal quality, and it seems inevitable that none of them will leave unscarred. As Kinjuru-san speaks, she listens with half her attention, thinking she will base her theories off someone else's. At first she doesn't hear the accusation, but then her mind runs back over the speech and she realizes she has been accused. Astonished, Hoshiko stands up to defend herself. "Kinjuru-san, I do not fit the bill at all. I am passive because my mind is blank. I will admit the fact that other's pain and suffering sometimes fails to arouse passionate feelings in me is one of my flaws, as is the fact that I do not communicate well with others. I do not recall having ever offered more than a passing word as comfort. And as to being a friend to all, I think it is more that I am enemy to none. One as ordinary and sheep-like as myself does very little to make enemies, but also does little to make friends. I can assure you I have never killed anyone in the night. I must say that I think your accusations are based on wispy fluff. Maybe it is that you are simply trying to divert attention away from yourself, seeing as you have been accused so many times? As to my own vote, I will wait for Shijn-san to speak up, as killing the silent has not led to any sucess. So few of us are left... We must not turn on each other heedlessly. If we do, we are handing victory to the wolves." Hoshiko is somewhat angry at last; up to now, she has been indifferent, to an extent. To think that all these deaths have been for nothing, though, and the wolves might escape unscathed, is unbearable. This is the last chance, and she knows it. A fire sparks in her eyes, defying the wolves and it seems something has changed in her. She is on the offensive at last, she thinks, and she had to be put on the defensive for it to happen.

Hoshiko emerges from her room, her tears dried. "Thank you, Hisoka-san and Kamiya-san, for your concern. The moment has passed, fortunately. The garishness of what we are doing just came upon me in full force. As to voting, I cannot condemn a musician without rock-solid evidence, which there is not. Sawato-san, you have been acting suspiciously, I believe. You were the last one to talk to Lord Iago-sama, and now you attack Kinjuru-san, whom Lord Iago-sama, the seer, believe innocent. I am sorry, but as there is not better evidence pointing to another canidate, I cast my vote against you. I am sorry." Hoshiko thinks to herself how her emotions have dulled to what she is participating in. She is somewhat appalled at how easily she slipped back into killing. OOC: a vote for Sawato-san

Take me away from here. If it's not too much trouble. My life's gonna pop like a soap bubble, And I don't want to be a ghost among the rubble. I'm getting out of here. I'm gonna start over somewhere new. Don't know where, don't know who. But I'm saying my adieu. Anyplace is better than here. If you know what I mean. I' not too keen On this place anymore. It's just too much of a chore. To wake up every day. I just can't stay. Everything's in disarray. Sir, Won't you take my hand And lead me away from here To some happier land? Won't you please? Won't you heed my plea?

Hoshiko sees the corpse and silent tears begin to run down her face. She is horrified at what she is part of, and almost it seems it would be better to die than remain in the cesspit of suspicion and death. She begins to sob as it occurs to her that the wolves are winning and they may all escape to death. "Another one! Another one has died! They're still out there! We're all going to die! One by one! No place is safe! We must kill it now, now!" Hoshiko is hysterical as she half whispers her thoughts. She flees to her room to weep alone. "Oh gods, forgive us..."

The beat, the beat. Can you feel it? Feel it in your toes, Feel it in your fingertips. Move your feet To the beat, the beat. Pick up your feet and dance To the beat, the beat. Can you feel it now? Feel it in your body, Feel it in your soul. Dance faster, faster To the beat, the beat. Give your self to the beat, the beat. And dance, and dance, and dance To the beat, the beat. Become the beat, the beat. Tell me, can you feel it now?

Hoshiko hides her face as they duel. She jumps when she hears the gunshot. Glancing quickly at the corpse she turns her back on it. She thinks to herself how barbaric this is, to watch us kill each other with brutal shots. "All this has accomplished is another is dead, and we have one less suspect. Is this how it shall be, methodically killing everyone until we hunt down the werewolf, or kill ourselves off and leave one to be the final victim of the wolves? The killer must be found, before we condemn another innocent. I can only hope the dead forgive us for what we have done." Tears in her eyes, Hoshiko also makes a prayer at the altar. Then she retreats to her room, to think upon what has happened.

"Shijin-san has not spoken lately, this is true. Neither has Sawato-san. It seems these are our two suspects." Hoshiko laughs gloomily. "It would seem that to be silent is to be condemned. We turn upon the unknown, those who are a mystery to us. Still, has that not always been the way of humanity? I cannot condemn a musician, yet I must vote. Regretfully, I must cast my vote against Sawato-san. Please forgive me." Hoshiko speaks her piece and turns her face away. A tear trickles down her cheek. Is this how it is to be, then? A room of perfectly civilized people killing each other off to reveal the monsters. Yet isn't it them who are the monsters? Still now that it is started, it must be finished. A fight to the death. The only good thing that can be said is that if they win, the evil of the wolves will be ended, as will the evil of the hunt.

Hoshiko stirs when she hears her name. "I have not spoken because I have no thoughts on the matter. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am at a loss as to what to do. There are so many suspects, so many paths this could take...I am sorry. Another two have died? I offer my deepest condolences. Neither of them deserved that fate." Hoshiko falls silent again, brooding over her uselessness. Suddenly it dawns on her what a bloodbath they have started. How can we sit here and so calmly condemn our peers to death? What monsters we have become! It is the wolf who has done this to us...

Dragonqueen strolls into the room, accidently walking into the wall before correctly entering through the doorway. Rubbing her forehead, she glances around the cozy little room. She heads for the kitchenish area, and mumbles something that sounds vaguely like "Chocolate coffee." While waiting for her drink, Dragonqueen peruses the shelves lining the wall and selects a volume of poetry that looks like it could potentially be interesting. Picking up her drink and seeing that it is indeed a mocha, Dragonqueen settles down on a lovely soft sofa. Book in one hand and coffee in the other, she alternately reads and sips coffee. This is a wonderful combination of the two best things in life, books and coffee. Dragonqueen thinks what a wonderful place this cafe is, so warm and comfy. Attemtping to express her gratitude to the owner of the cafe, Dragonqueen blinks and mumbles "Coffee...books...good..." She trails off into silence, having forgotten what she was talking about. Shrugging she turns back to her book and hot coffee. Hot mocha coffee. Delicious leatherbound books. Heaven here on earth.

Pretty cool poem. I just had to post and say how much I loved these two lines: My heart is broken, yet still breaking. and give me back the heart you borrowed. Great poem. Even better the second time I read it.

"Iron Chef, why will you not speak? This has gone far enough. I cast my vote against you." At least there will be one less suspect, even if he is an innocent, Hoshiko thinks. OOC: a vote for Iron Chef

"Yes, Iron Chef, you have not said a word or made any action. I also believe that Iron Chef should share his tale before nightfall or die. It is harsh, but when one is hunting a killer, one must be so." Hoshiko is not sure that is quite correct, but she is not going to worry about it while the werewolf still remains at large. The sooner this hunt is completed, the better. If an innocent must die to reveal the wolf, so be it. Hoshiko reflects that the werewolf is at fault here, for sowing seeds of murder and suspicion. OOC: If Iron Chef does not speak by Night-Phase, I cast my vote against him.

I loved this poem. It was so...I don't know. I want to say happy, or joyful, but that's not quite it. It just had a certain feeling that I liked. I think it was that you could really feel the love. I also liked the lines about tomorrow. Overall, I very very much liked the poem.

So many suspects...Hoshiko silently reviews what she knows of each suspect. It seems anyone could be the killer. Perhaps Akane-san, whom no one would suspect? Or Hisoka-san, who has spoken so little? No! Hoshiko shakes these evil thoughts from her head. I cannot disrespect their grief, she thinks. Mayhaps it is better to wait until more evidence has come to light. It is not for her to accuse on flimsy hunches. Hoshiko has to admit to herself that she is grasping for straws, looking to offer insight where she has none. "Forgive me, my friends," she says aloud. "I must admit that it has entered my mind that each and every one of you could very well be the killer, and I have thought how easy it would be to accuse anyone of you just for the sake of accusing someone. But I shall hold my opinion until I am sure. In the meantime, I will tell you of my night. I retired to my chamber, and spent some time reading before drifting off to sleep. It was quite uneventful, and I can assure you, I was in my room all night." Hoshiko nods after speaking her piece, and retreats to a cornor to sit and observe.

Hoshiko had not even considered Kinjuru-san, but now that others have mentioned the possibility, he does seem a likely suspect. He says he did not kill his father, but when a shapechanger goes wolf, is he controlled by human instincts and emotions, or those of a wolf? Might not he have turned wolf and killed his father without even remembering it? Still, the tourist is a likely suspect. Hoshiko is undecided between suspects. The son or the tourist. Until further evidence comes to light, she will still withhold her vote.

Walk gently, dearest. Wake not those who slumber. Walk gently, dearest. Disturb not the balance. Walk gently, dearest. Make not the slightest sound. Walk gently, dearest. And death shall hear you not. Walk gently, dearest. Walk gently indeed tonight.

"I must agree with Hisoka. Eventually the mask will crack. Who, however, will be the bait?" Hoshiko scans the faces in the room slowly, wondering which one is the killer. It is impossible to tell at this stage. Still, one can speculate. "I myself am somewhat curious as to how some of us know so much about werewolves. The best source of knowledge is experience of course. The question is, though, was it expierience hunting these beasts, or being one?" Hoshiko falls silent, feeling she has made some start in uncovering the werewolf. OOC: I will hold my vote.

They say that I can walk on water And with your help I can. Lift me up with waves of love And I will walk on seas of joy. Lift me up with your saving hands And I will float on clouds of grace. They say that I can live forever And with your love I can.

I didn't play the first game, but this looks like fun, and I'd like to play.

I liked this. It seems a little rough around the edges, and you twisted words to fit the format quite often. Still, the poem was good. Kinda had the same sort of feel as T.S. Elliots Book of Practical Cats, I thought.