All right, this is last minute, kinda un-edited since I wrote and rewrote this about ten times, thus delaying my entry into Compy's Comp if you were wondering Compy, and now it's late here but not so late ACC time, and I may explode because you should have seen my writing yesterday and the other days they were depressing as heck and or just bad like I used bad much too often but same with much even now darn I should probably not point out flaws but you know what oh well
do i still have outcastry written in here? Oh well. Do you know what this title is? It is a whim. A title on the whim. It is a title that will never be relevant to the story I think because I may just look at the plot I've scraped up and think... no. And then change it midway because gosh I'm rambling and so is this
LET'S DO THIS.
Chapter One: Actually a Prologue
"Hiya, Redd. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
I was immediately met with a screeching fox, barking expletives and threats before I had the common sense to pull away. He mentioned something about me being some sort of traitor, but I didn't quite understand, so I asked him to explain. More obscenities, something about how ugly my hair looked, and that I needed some morals. Funniest thing to come out of his mouth, the dumb fox. I didn't laugh, but it put a smile to my face. My hair was drop-dead gorgeous.
"Now, now, Redd. Calm down," which is what I said, but only seconds after the words left my mouth, he went batty, bawling like a child into the speaker. Quite the opposite of calm. "all salesmen have to suffer a loss in their lifetime, don't they?"
For all his outbursts, he sobered up quickly enough to become angry again, but it's a vicious cycle of him shooting bullets and them bouncing right off me. I'd blink dramatically, simultaneously turning my head to meet his eyes when mine opened, and watch the rare dance of an idiot in distress. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll mature and learn to let sleeping dogs lay. However, until then I'll believe that the sleeping dog was a mere lost kitten and prod it further. He'd appreciate that. He always appreciated me before, so I'll treat it as though we never changed.
I hung up on him after 'dealing' with his tantrum for a minute or two, leaving only a snarky remark for him to fume about. Stepping away from the phone, I held my breath. One. Two. Three. I let go. Then, a smile. Perfect.
Twenty four hours ago, I was slaving over pathetically composed art meant to replicate someone's creation I didn't know. I probably spent more time fixing the abundant flaws that were buried within each painting than it took to make the fake in the first place. Beads of sweat would trickle off my skin, the rubbish tent only capturing each drop and tossing it back for me to sweat out once more. An endless day that had to come to an end.
Six hours ago, I lost my mind. I kicked walls, thrown fragile objects and watched them shatter on walls, busted my feet so my toes were wedged in, and I don't want to think of that poor kid's mental health anymore I swore that much and that badly. It's funny how I felt mosquitoes biting into my stomach for the tiniest things, but I don't bat an eye at counterfeicy until I got sick of it. Most important, an old photo of me as a kid and a fox... laughing... it's gone now. I burnt the photo and the memory away, and doused myself in vengeful, menacing thoughts to fill the gap. What would reside in the empty space was an act of revenge, not a happy memory. While I may regret being content with the unequal replacement, it would have to do.
Three hours ago, no alarms went off. Not like that was a feat, cans on strings are never a good source of security. A safe was broken into, but that wasn't a feat either. It felt nice to be a friend of a criminal with no sense. You get to know stuff. Like lock combinations. The contents of that safe were emptied into a duffel bag, "a black and gray one to match my heart" which I think he expected me to take well. Fat chance now, bud. By the way, I like color. That duffel bag was slung over my shoulders, and me and the bag didn't take its time to escape the heck-hole until we got a good four miles away and daylight cracked the sky.
One hour ago, I boarded a train to somewhere. I wish I could say I had a plan, but unlike previous tasks I was given, this was all me. Redd might of been dense enough to miss my irritation, but he was devious with his plans. He could never execute them himself, so he sent me. I was flawless. I can't say I was as cunning as him, no matter how much I said otherwise.
Now, I knew where I was going, and I know where I am. If I said anymore, which I will, I'd look cocky.
I was headed to Ensen, isolated from all the buzz I've heard too much in the city, and with money to live like a queen in peace. Once I figured that out, I felt my anchors loosen and fall off as I swam to the calm waters in an ocean of noise. One could also call it freedom. I prefered my way, and just called myself a genius.
The train itself wasn't much, but it was well-kept to hold up the illusion that it was a lot. Several passengers were decked up in fancy suits and gowns, or at least some sort of casual attire that was worth tens and thousands of bells with no good reason for but the brand name. Plush cream seats untouched by the outside world and its grime lined the train's sides, complete with a glossed table for dining hours. I did notice that the illusion failed to take care of its fabrics, as the carpet was an ugly yellowish brown, with brown not being part of the fabric at all. The seats may have been top dollar before, but the covers were washed mechanically, despite its claims to be hand-washed. I could understand why, who has the time to hand-wash seats in a train anyway? Who cared? Obviously, no one.
When I stepped out of the phone booth, a bit small for me to fully take advantage of my luck without discomfort, I noticed the people more than just a label of 'kinda rich'. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it seemed welcoming, unlike the infamous group in the city. I suppose, I thought, to signal a new start, I'll become an extrovert. A kind-hearted extrovert.
I swayed my fresh, white skirt as I made my way through the aisle. My navy blue jacket hugged my arms up to the cuffs, and looked snug compared to the loose white shirt one size bigger than me. When you rush your clothing choices, you get interesting results, results that I'm glad turned out all right for me in the end. Plopping down in my seat, I glanced around... and around...
I quite possibly alerted her to my presence a bit too loud. By how she jumped in her seat, swirled around, and stared at me as though I wasn't alive, I definitely was too loud.
"Er," she said with a start, glancing around nervously, "hello dear. Do I know you?"
"I can't say we do, unfortunately," I learned quickly that acting cool and recognizing cool were a sea and a puddle respectively, and I'd have to row fast if I could cross the sea in time to save my drowning self. "but I had to comment on your fabulous outfit. Is that from... Gracies?"
I didn't know many types of clothing joints, but the big one in the city was hers. Was I right? Was I wrong?
"Why, how did you know?" she exclaimed with a slight squeak. "I adore her clothing. Do you shop there too?"
Score.
"To be honest, I never was in a position to shop there," talking about myself might be a mistake. "for a long time, I was not in a good spot financially..." I chuckled nervously, hoping I didn't screw up.
I didn't. Her eyes widened, looking bigger than ever with her black eyeliner framing her eyes. I intrigued her. "Are you still poor?" she asked bluntly, her paws hanging on to the seat.
"I'm glad to say no!" I smiled. Oh gosh. "It's the reason I'm here, actually," This is at the top of the plaque in the thieves guild, and I'm pretty sure it said what I was doing was a serious no-no. "I'm moving to someplace better as a celebration of my new wealth." Idiot!
Hopefully it turned out all right. Hopefully it turned out all right-
"How'd you get the money?"
Drat.
"Eh, you know, Stalk Market." I said a little too hastily to be natural.
She didn't seem to notice. "It's amazing how that market helps so many! I bet it was like a dream come true. I was born into money, so something like that's nothing too big to me, but it's great that it helped you!"
Not gonna lie, I was a bit taken aback. Geez, thanks. I'm getting offended over being belittled about something I didn't do.
"Ahaha, thanks. Being born into money... sounds great."
"Not really, actually. But I'm sure it sounds great like you said!" she squealed that time, I think I was exciting her a bit too much. "By the way, where are you headed to? Oh, and what's your name?"
Should I have had a fake name? It would be logical, as an outlaw and all. If Redd ever got real spiteful, he could give my name to the cops and run, putting me at a higher risk than ever. I didn't have much of a risk now, honestly, but chances isn't something I should take.
I didn't think logically though, so I just went ahead and said it. "My name's Caroline. Call me Cora, though. It's shorter, and I like it better. Headed to Ensen."
"Ohmigosh, I love Ensen!" never mind, this was a squeal. Or was it a squeak like the first time? A mix? "My bee-eff-eff is there, and we hang out at her house for hours. Her name's Hazel, by the way. You should totally talk to her, and maybe we could all hang out together!"
"That sounds great!" I exclaimed with what might have been mock excitement. I couldn't tell at this point. On one hand, friends. On another hand, not sure if I want these friends. I decided to give in, and accept the friendship. But first. "Do you mind if I borrow a pen? I need to write something down, along with your friend's name. I have a horrid memory."
"Of course!" she replied giddily, handing me a silver fountain pen with a black top and silver, undecipherable cursive writing on the side. It was cool to the touch, but the clip felt warm for some reason. "You're great by the way. I've never met someone nice on the train before; I wish more people like you were here!"
"... Thanks," I sheepishly said. "Your name? I forgot to ask. Heh, see my memory in action."
"Oh! It's Olivia," she tucked her head into her shoulders, looking embarrassed, almost. "must have forgot as well."
I nodded, and scribbled gibberish into the palm of my hand. Between all of that, I wrote 'Hazel'. The ink was smelled like ink, but it had a crisper feeling to it. I was holding a really fancy pen. In between my scribbling, she turned away from me, already distracted by whatever was out the window. It surprised me when the train halted to a stop a lot harsher than I would expect.
Attention! We are at Ensen Station. Attention! We are at...
The speakers droned on, but I had already gotten up. I smiled and waved goodbye to Olivia, and she did the same. Spacey, but nice. I think I like her now. The doors opened, and wind buffeted my face and blew my hair back. The wind felt nice, however. I refrained from being anymore dramatic and jumped off the train. The doors didn't stay open for long, right after I got off they shut, and it moved on. I suspected the train was a lot more manual than it led me to believe.
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"Because I was "the smart one," I thought I was always right. I learned
"smart" and "wise" aren't always the same"-Vio, Four Swords Manga
I don't really have anything to say for the Author's Notes, I realized. I may have added that all to the top. Well. This is awkward.
Thank you guys, I kinda pooped this out with a mixture of my daytime brain and nighttime brain, and I'm not too sure which brain is better for the typing of fanfics. I know for sure that it's not a good idea to mix them. I seemed to have ignored that.
I think now is a time to say it. This fanfiction is brought to you by Computerfan's Fanfiction Competition 2013, conveniently entered in it as well. VOTING IS NOT OPEN. NOT YET. I'LL TELL YOU WHEN IT IS. Or... you can follow said competition and check out the fanfics entered in it as well, because they're all lovely.
As for the next chapter, er, sorry 'bout the wait, and I'm still sorry about it since I don't have it yet. I'll be starting it today, and hopefully taking the plot somewhere, and maybe it'll come out before the 23rd, when my Internet package runs out and I won't be able to access the Internet until I get back home on the 25th. We'll see though.
The town of Ensen could be described vaguely but perfectly using its choice of natural scenery as reference. Smelly. From stepping off the train station, I was enticed by a fluttery aroma wafting from the path cleanly tiled with multi-colored stones, and unlike anything I've seen, they seemed to glisten under the cloudy sky. It was to be noted that no streetlights littered the sides, and they were instead replaced with alternating blue and purple violets that erupted its natural perfume. The walkway lit itself. I arrived at the Town Hall with a long ways to go before I reached the end of the self-operating path.
Before entering, a faded map was displayed on the door, blocking the window for some odd reason. On it I saw the path was circular, with the town hall being the only important building that was located inside the big doughnut. Everything else was on the outer edge with the train station. Villager houses were clumped in the doughnut hole, except that wasn't quite true. The town was actually pretty large, and the locations of each villager was scattered near and far.
After pondering upon the map for thirty seconds or more, I decided I wanted to allude to loneliness by placing my house outside the doughnut hole, way in the corner, snuggled between uncharted forest and civilized forest. If everyone turned out to be swell, I'd create a tent smack dab in the middle and become the world's richest camper also with the world's largest tent. I set the goal flag down and marched into the Town Hall to discuss my plans, confidence seeping out my brain-bucket.
Town Hall was where I met Isabelle, who oddly enough was both the mayor and said position's assistant. The front desk's order of work moved from left to right, with several important looking folders against the rightmost wall. Next to it was a telephone, at the end a gumbled pile of staplers and post-it notes, and all in between various other stuff that I supposed was less important than whatever was in those super-secret manila folders. The back desk was organized similarly leading to the conclusion that the jobs were run by the same person. Of course, after all that was done, I noticed the shared name-tag at the head of each desk. I pretended it was worth the effort, but I'm not sure how far that will get me if I continue this way. Regardless, Isabelle didn't care one bit and gave a blinding smile in my general direction.
"Why, hello! Are you new here?"
I nodded.
Isabelle had closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she looked a bit exasperated. "Excuse me, ma'am, are you new here?"
OH. "Yes, I am!" I stated, this time verbally, and also one smidgen too loud as well. "I apologize if this is on short notice, but I guess I was too excited. I hadn't heard of this town, but from the description I saw, I think I'll like it here a lot," I gave a toothy grin to be polite, but honestly, I tried much too hard to be polite. I was more like the kid talked about in a candystore the way I delivered that final blow, but I figured I wouldn't stand out with how ludicrous others can get.
Isabelle appeared confused. "You heard about us?" she cocked her head slightly, like she couldn't believe what she heard.
Ensen. Isolated. Ensen! Isolated. Shoot. "You... have you gotten a visitor as of recently? Or one that left, not too sure about that." I asked tentatively, throwing figurative darts at a black wall.
"... Yeah, I believe we had one, sort of... he left," she shifted her eyes nervously, concerned. "Do you know him?"
"I do, actually. A good friend of mine, believe it or not."
"I can believe it," her paws became of sudden interest to her. This was getting weird. I had to keep up, but this dog was through fast-balls when I was expecting curves.
"Really? Haha, he told me about this place. I hope that clears it up for ya'."
"I... suppose it does," she started, trying to avoid eye contact. She eventually braved the peer into my baby blues, and the gaze was met with equal force, which could also be seen as awkward, reluctant force. "Sorry for my rude behavior, I'll get your papers right away!" she scooted a similar, less faded map to the one on the doorway towards me. "While I go about this, you should take a look at the map. Your decision now isn't final, not ever, but it can be hard work and money for you to change it if your house is already built. It's also a waste of resources, and since resources pour into our town privately, they come in less frequently than busier towns. What this means for you is that rebuilding and ordering items out of stock cost more than it would if you bought it when it was available, and it will take longer to arrive as well. I hope you understand.
"I would also like to mention this- but since you've heard from someone who lives here you'll know already- we strictly adhere to the guidelines given to us. On occasions, you'll see posts on the notice board from me on changes to the system, which is voted on by sending letters to the Town Hall. All you have to do is specify it to one of the post office managers to send it here, and they'll take care of it properly. An issue has to reach a 2/3rd's majority before it's addressed. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, issues are not publicly announced, so anything that a villager feels is problematic is spread through word of mouth. Keep tabs with everyone, it's for your own benefit. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
No. And what? The whole system seemed unproductive, and while Isabelle talked animately so it wasn't boring, a condescending tone lingered here and there. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she thought I was dumb. Of course, was the tone condescending or stern? At times, I can't tell the difference. Even when everyone was up in arms about something some guy said about their mothers or whatnot, I thought... never mind, I didn't really like the guy who insulted everyone's mother. He sounded like a teacher.
"All right, please go ahead and circle the general area you'd like to be in the village, and come back to me after you're done." she handed me a pen, walked away from the reception desk, and sat down at the desk in the back. For a few seconds, she waited, and in a few more seconds, a concerned look struck her face once more. I think she rose her paw and tried to talk, but it ended in her shaking her head and turning to a file cabinet at the very back, leafing through the surprisingly located files.
It didn't take much long for me to pick out a nice corner of the map for my house. It was like multiple choice, but none of the answers were necessarily wrong, persay. There were some bad choices though, like the bottom-left and top-right. The bottom-left had solar panels, and it'd be just my luck that one panel would kiss the sun, throw it's pounding heart of flames right at my doorway, and set the poor thing on fire. The top-right... I didn't like it. There was an eerily placed cliff there, and I was afraid of blatantly expressed low heights. An elephant would be my choice if I had to choose between it and a mouse. The bottom-right was too boring. It had nothing. In the end, top-left won me over. I circled it six times with the golden pen, which was poorly defaced with a black marker on the side. I waved towards Isabelle to signal my decision made.
She took one look at the map and started sputtering. "Um, m-ma'am? You've picked your house to be much too far from everyone else! It's in your best interest to choose a location near everyone else, or it will be inconvenient when you're trying to-"
"Nonsense!" I blurted out, and Isabelle was taken aback. "You see that pretty pink arrows right there? It's only a few minutes walk from where I'll be, and I love recycling! It's why Ensen is such a great place for me. And if you see this river right here," I pointed to the blue squiggly line that started close to the top-left but not quite, and traced my finger down to the bottom where it left the map, going outside the boundaries once or twice. "my house will most likely have it behind me at all times, so I will be isolated given a flood in the opposite direction! I'll be going down with all of you!"
The look on her face said that I should not have mentioned that, but it worked, she scrambled back, a bit fearful, to fill out the paperwork. "I-I'll get on it! I... suppose you're done here..." she gave a few nervous fake laughs. "I think Tom Nook should help you from this point on for now, so you'll be fine. Take that map, I'll give you an updated one later."
"Thanks!"
"Yes. T-thanks."
I was about to leave, but with my door on the handle I heard her running frantically towards me. "Oh! One more thing!" she handed me a navy blue, ballpoint pen, with a three white rings in the middle. "Take this. Complimentary."
"Well, uh, thanks! It's nice."
"You're welcome," she smiled, and went back to work.
I twirled the pen around while walking away from the Town Hall. It was cold, like it hadn't been touched in years. It was, however, a nice pen. The thing that stood out to me the most was that the cap was oddly warm. It clashed with the cold.
Weird.
Author's Notes: The end is a bit rushed, and I originally intended for it to include some town occurrences, but then the chapter would be crazy long. Sorry 'bout that. I also have some lovely rules for you all, and some voting information. They're also crazy long. Wasn't there an abridged version of it somewhere? There should be. It'll be in the next post because it's long.
Also, was this chapter really so focused upon dialogue? You know what, talking is great. I love talking. Interactions, interactions, we are interactive people who love each other. Shush.
1. Absolutely no telling anyone who you voted for. Especially not the person themselves. The only people who should know your vote is yourself and me. And any randomers you decide you want to tell that are unrelated to ACC. You're welcome to say you're going to support/vote for them, that can't be stopped, but as long as you don't actually say you voted for them then it's okay.
2. You can't vote for yourself. Ever. If you even try to, you'll have a vote deducted from you.
3. Please note the amount of times you can vote will vary throughout the competition. For now, you can only vote once a day.
4. Every vote (for now) is consisted of 3 possibilities.
Type 1: You give 1 vote to 1 story.
"eg. I vote for Shella" Type 2: You give 2 votes to 1 story, and 1 vote to another
"eg. 2 votes for TTACWW, 1 vote for bunkbeds" Type 3: You give 1 vote to 3 different people
"eg. 1 vote for DarkMuffin, 1 vote for accflover101, 1 vote for Cutiepiepie"
This means that if you want to only vote for your favourite, you can only award one vote. But if you want to give them more, then you have to vote for another. It also allows you to spread votes out between three. This stops people spamming me with 3 votes for one person, and also reduces the chance of getting bottom ties of more than 2/3 at the start of the competition. Let's not have another bottom 7 like in 2009.
5. You must send your votes in a PT to JUST me. No judges, only you and I. Just calling it 'Competition Vote' or even just 'Vote' is fine. But please do not put something like 'Vote for ElizabethPrower' or 'Competition'. No contestant names, and make it obvious it's a voting PT, please.
6. Please note that I do have a busy life. If I don't reply to your PT, even after a few days, make sure you've actually added me. If you have, then hover over my name at the top where it shows everyone in the PT. If it says I have read it, then you're welcome to post again and remind me. As soon as I read a PT and count a vote, I post to say thanks, or I forget whether I've counted or not. If I've not replied but read it, it means I forgot to count it. The only other time you're allowed to post to remind me is that if I've started announcing results, but not viewed your PT. Your vote could make a difference to a result, so if it gets to that stage, I'm actually asking you to please post again. When I'm not posting results and I see an unread vote PT, I may not check until before I start results. I'm lazy. But I will get there.
7. Contestants and judges are allowed to AND encouraged to vote. Although it may surprise you, the bulk of votes in past years have been from people involved in the competition. Yes, voting for others could well affect your own position... But I rely on nice and supportive contestants to keep the thing running. Especially in the early stages, where I need all the votes I can get to avoid a massive bottom tie. Judges are also allowed to vote for their own groups of course.
8. Please feel free to advertise in your own threads, and ask for votes. Please do not post in anyone else's threads (this includes NOT saying stuff like 'Great story! Please check out mine and vote!' or whatever) or other people's PTs without permission. Also, when advertising, ensure you either tell them the voting rules yourselves or refer them to this thread first.
9. The only person on all of ACC not allowed to vote is me. Poor me.
10. Voting is ALWAYS open. What happens, is that at the end of the week... There's a seal-off point for that week. Any votes after that will then carry on to the week after. If the person you voted for past that cut-off is then eliminated the next day, then I'm afraid your vote is forefeit.
eg. Deadline for week 3 is Friday at 11.59pm ACC time. You vote for... Hammer_Kirby at 12.01am Saturday. Your vote is carried on to week 4.
Hammer_Kirby is then eliminated week 3. You lose your vote.
I should specify every week when the cut-off point is, and it should stay the same time and day of the week each time. It's your responsibility to get your votes in before that time, but I do still encourage you to keep voting after the cut-off and get votes in for the week later.
11. Finally, everyone's vote count will keep going up and up throughout the competition. So, if xMuffinx has 4 votes week 1 and gets through, she starts week 2 with those 4 votes. Then if she gets 3 votes week 2, she'll have 7 votes. This'll continue throughout the competition, so contestants that are in the bottom tie have to really fight to get out there. Everyone else will keep rising, and it's down to the contestants to improve their writing and fight for their place.
Of course, if you've seen previous competitions, there are certain twists that may disrupt this... Oops.
I'd appreciate if you'd vote for me, but please check out his competition itself and look at the stories entered! Some of them are really good, better than mine probably. And if it wasn't mentioned in the voting rules, don't send Computerfan multiple PTs. He'll be hurt.
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"Because I was "the smart one," I thought I was always right. I learned
"smart" and "wise" aren't always the same"-Vio, Four Swords Manga
I need to go back and read the first chapter but I'm half asleep so later, I guess. But I love your writing style; you always have a weird way of doing things, but it works out well.
I don't have the faintest clue as to where you're taking your story, plot-wise, but I guess I'll have to wait and see (and maybe reread it as a whole)
Trust me Ian, reading things while half-asleep is a terrible idea. Go to bed and wake up anew and not mix up words with other things. Because that's scary. It's like, you can change history that way. You were half-dead, you saw some ancient relic in English, and then you read it wrong and spread the wrong and it's just terrible all throughout unless the original message was wrong and you were right. Which isn't likely, unfortunately, but who knows? Maybe you're magical.
Thank you everyone, I'll try to get a bunch of chapters done over the summer so I can post them at a much more regular rate. Let's not have a repeat of my last few fanfics.
yeah it kinda has and i thought i was bad when i go more then two weeks without an update
Signature--------------
"Because I was "the smart one," I thought I was always right. I learned
"smart" and "wise" aren't always the same"-Vio, Four Swords Manga
Posted:
7/10/2013 2:26pm
