Topic: Lunatic Fringe  (Read 25510 times)

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Offline Governor Ronjar

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #40 on: March 04, 2007, 10:37:30 pm »
I'd be willing to bet she buys the holo-simulator...

need MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Offline KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #41 on: March 05, 2007, 05:20:13 pm »
Ah, I was wondering when we'd see more of this. Looking forward to seeing how her jump goes. For some reason, I see Dina turning into an adrenaline junkie. ;)

And Krenn! Long time no see. Consider this my belated welcome back. :)
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Offline Captain Krenn

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #42 on: April 14, 2007, 01:10:55 am »
been a while since this was updated

Not that I care you know, those two make my skin crawl

Still they are like a train wreck, you can't look away even though you know you ought to..

and hi folks :)




Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #43 on: April 14, 2007, 09:20:47 am »
Ooops.

Sort of let posting this slip my mind.

--------------------



There seemed to be far more to UAF than I'd imagined.

Kathy's lessons had started simply enough.  She taught me to change my position in zero-gravity, something I was familiar with from past entertainments but had never done calmly and rationally.  She taught me which positions would slow me down, which would speed me up.  She demonstrated the speed principle by setting the false sky into motion and giving me some idea of what it was like to plummet wildly toward the earth.  It'd frightened me a little, and I suspect she knew that, but I was also exhilarated...by the middle of the day, my enthusiasm had infected.  She was smiling more.

"Is that the way it is when you jump?" I asked, munching on the sandwich she'd provided. I kept the question casual, but I needed to know.  I hadn't felt what I wanted during the practices

"Oh God, no."  She laughed.  We were sitting at a card table.  The hangar had been abandoned at lunch time, but we remained.  Kathy liked to order in.  "The holos are just to give you an idea, let you practice without any danger."

"What's it really like?" I took a sip of lemonade.

"Oh...huh."  She considered.  "I can't describe it.  It's incredible."

I nodded.  Incredible was always good. We were quiet for a moment.

"I really do want to know how you talked Neal into this."  She declared.  Friendliness remained in her tone and expression but she'd suddenly become serious.  I shrunk back in my chair a little.

"I paid him."  I said.  "A lot."

Kathy frowned.  "If something happens to you and we get shut down that's all our jobs.  There's no way you paid him enough to cover that."

"Twenty bars of latinum."  I whispered and drank more lemonade.

"Holy sh*t."

I shrugged.

She shook her head, pink hair bobbing about.

"You have to know that's a fortune."  She accused.

"Not in the places I frequent.  It's valuable here, but not so much near the borders."

"I don't want to know how you got that kind of money."

"I probably shouldn't tell you." I confessed.

"God damned fortune..." She muttered.  The quiet lasted much longer this time. We nibbled on our sandwiches, sipped our lemonade.  Finally, she spoke.  "Why do you wanna do this that bad?"

"It's really not that much money."  I reiterated.

"It is here." She clarified.  "Even if you've got a lot more you know that...you don't just throw something that valuable away."

I hadn't counted on her phrasing things that way.  She was, of course, correct.  "I suppose you don't."

"So what's the deal?"

"It's rather personal." I said.  I had intended to leave it at that, but something about Kathy loosened my tongue.  At the time I blamed her muscular limbs and her pert breasts.  Silly Almondine. "I had some dealings with a Klingon.  During all of it I...felt something I enjoyed."

"You slept with a Klingon?"  She sounded dismayed.  I laughed, quite hard.

"No, though I did try!  It was something else...I felt..."  How had I felt?  The only person I'd really explained this too had been the skillful bartender.  "...supreme.  I felt as if there was nothing I couldn't do or...something like that."

She studied me.  I waited for her to say something, but then realized she was still listening.

"It was so different than usual."  I related.  "Like the difference between being asleep and aware."

"So what's this got to do with jumping out of a shuttle."

I shrugged.  "I thought it might've been the danger that made me feel the way I did.  So I decided to do something dangerous to see if I could get it back."

"You haven't felt it since the first time?"

I shook my head.

"No.  It...sort of dissipated.  It lingered for some time, but then it left.  I want it back."

"I'm a bit afraid."  I admitted.  "I'm worried this might not work."

Kathy stared at me as she finished her sandwich.

"It was good enough to drop twenty bars of latinum?"

"I would've given him all my latinum."  I confided.

"Jesus you're weird."  She drained her lemonade.

"I know."

"We better get moving."  Kathy declared.  "I still need to show you a lot of stuff."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.  I took a last sip of my drink.  The neon-green stripe on my jumpsuit was quite prominent.

"Is there a place where I can buy one of these?"  I said, indicating my attire.

"Sure.  Why?"

"I may die...”  I said.  "I want a pink one."
"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
                                                                 ---------Rod Serling, The Last Flight

Offline Governor Ronjar

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #44 on: April 15, 2007, 12:52:32 am »
As you described, a conversation. Good dialogue and a good look inside your character's mind. But then, this comes easilly to you after so many previous pages...

Now...give us MORE!

You have delayed long enough! ;)

--rogmann
'It's a lot of hard work being a mean bastard...' --Captain Eric Finlander, CO USS Bedford (The Bedford Incident)

'Jaken...are you pretending to be dead?' --Lord Sesshomaru, Inuyasha.

Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #45 on: May 01, 2011, 02:54:37 am »
Yeah, it's been years.  But this is on the short list of 'finish before I die'.

---------------------

There was a hotel that suited me near the airfield.  I checked in that evening, my new jumpsuit and helmet still in the bags.  I tried to have fun.  There were men and women in the bar I could've claimed for the night.  Instead I stayed in my room, arms and legs wrapped around the giant floor pillow I'd demanded from room service.

I was frightened.  Oh my yes, I was frightened.  The holograms had been fun.  The descriptions of freefall from Kathy had been electrifying.  Soon the falling and that icky gravity would be real, and my supple young self might pull the wrong cord and end up somewhat less than attractive.

I cried a little at the idea.  What would the universe be like without Almondine?  Would anyone notice the loss?  Other than Argent, of course.  I spent some minutes wishing I'd known that Klingon fellow better.  Not sexually.  In retrospect, he seemed a tad eccentric for his race and I've always been terribly fond of eccentric.

Unusual that I never once thought of not showing up at the hangar.

Fear can be rather exhausting and I drifted off early.  When I awoke, I called for breakfast in bed and had my nails done.  I might hit the ground screaming but I'd be perfectly pedicured if anyone managed to find my toes.

I arrived at the hangar early.

"At least if you get swept out to sea we won't have any trouble finding you."  Kathy opined.

I'd been admiring my backside in the locker room mirror.  My jumpsuit's pink material did nice things to it.

"I'm good at being seen."  I giggled.  Kathy snorted out a laugh.

"C'mon, Princess."

I followed her onto the runway.  The little yellow and black shuttle was waiting on us.  Neal stood at the door, ushering the other jumpers into the ship.  He frowned a bit when I appeared before him.  I thought for a picosecond that me might refuse to take me.

"In we go."  He muttered.  I giggled and climbed into the aircraft.  There were benches to sit on.  I was next to Kathy.  We took off.  I was near a window and rubbed my hands together as the ground shrank away.

"Breathe."  Kathy instructed.  I did.

Neal spoke to the herd of freefallers over the shuttle intercom, telling us things like altitude and how much time till we got to the jumping place and other things.  It seemed like an eternity until he said it was time.  There was a lot of jostling around as helmets and goggles were pulled on.

My helmet was white, which matched my jumpsuit's stripe.  I carefully tucked my hair up before pulling it on.  Googles and breathing equipment were next, and the force field generator that would keep me from burning up.  That, ironically, was what made UAF so dangerous.  With it slung in front of my belly, there was no place for an extra parachute.

I felt the pressure drop in the cabin.  The air grew cold.  I gripped Kathy's hand.

"I'll be right behind you."  She declared.  The door slid open.  Neal gave the signal.  I stood with the other jumpers who, jumped out the door.  A couple hesitated.  One crossed himself.

My turn came.

We were up so high that all above was dark and littered with stars and the so-far-down surface of Tellis displayed its curve.  Puffs of cloud drifted far beneath, and the sky they floated across was an impossible shade of blue.  The sun was there too, too harsh to look at directly but so gorgeous I had to try.

I felt small.  Insignificant.  I was the tiny bit of all of it that called itself Almondine, and I loved it.  I'd known pleasures so intense they'd driven people mad.  I'll not lie and say they couldn't compare to my first glimpse out the shuttle hatch, but they'd been simpler forms of exstacy, pleasure that began and ended with the physical.  This was something else.  This was divinity or as close as I could get to it.

It was not, curiously enough, the feeling I'd been looking for.  I didn't care.

"Jump or get out of the way!"  Someone yelled.  I ignored them for a further second of bliss.  Then I sensed hands moving toward me, intending to pull me out of the door, no doubt.

So I threw myself into the sky.

"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
                                                                 ---------Rod Serling, The Last Flight

Offline Scottish Andy

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #46 on: May 08, 2011, 10:31:35 pm »
Nice to see this one getting continued. I loved reading of her moment of divinity; that sight must have been truly awe-inspiring. Can't wait to hear what she thinks and feels on the way down!
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Offline Grim Reaper

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #47 on: May 09, 2011, 02:01:26 am »
I agree with Andy, though what I wonder more is what is she really looking for? She doesn't quite know, but you do Larry? Care to tell us?  :P ;) As an alternative, gimme more!
Snickers@DND: If there is one straight answer in that bent little head of yours, you'd better start spillin' it pretty damn quick, or I'm gonna take a large, blunt object, roughly the size of Kallae AND his hat and shove it lengthwise up a crevice of your being so seldomly cleaned that even the denizens of the nine hells would not touch it with a 10-feet rusty pole

Offline Hstaphath_XC

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #48 on: June 20, 2011, 12:22:01 pm »
I vaguely remember starting to read this years ago, but had clearly missed an update or two.  So, I reread it all today and will be watching to see if anymore ever gets written.  Thanks!
Hilaritas sapientiae et bonae vitae proles.

Offline Mentat Jon

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #49 on: October 02, 2011, 07:07:45 pm »
* Thumbs up *
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Offline Captain Sharp

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #50 on: December 01, 2011, 12:46:11 am »
I see La'ra continues to post updates at his normal, blazing pace.

Keep up the good work, man.

--rog
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Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #51 on: December 06, 2011, 09:55:01 pm »
There was a glimmer of panic as my body realized there was no ground to support it.  Then there was more utter pleasure, physical but not sexual.  I whooped and yelled and hollered.  And fell.

The pleasure didn't die, but it faded to a level where I could actually think, and I began searching the sky, trying to take in every possible detail.  Other jumpers were far below me, their bright suits easy to spot against the blue of the ocean.  If I squinted, I could see the glimmer of my heat shield as it protected me from the increasing friction.  My suit helped against the cold, but there was still a glorious bite to the air.  I nibbled my bottom lip.  I giggled.  I spread my arms and legs wide, the way Kathy had taught me.  It might've been a bit early for that, but the movement was meant to slow my plummet and I wanted it to last.

The other jumpers got smaller after a bit, and Kathy, in black and yellow, fell past me.  Her goggles and helmet hid any expression, but I could see amusement in her posture.  I waved.  She gave me a thumbs-up.

Ages came and went before I started passing clouds and the ground below was began to lose its curve.  It would be time to open my parachute soon...the readout on my goggles would tell me when.  Below me, the jumpers who'd already opened seemed to be flying back towards me.  It was a thrilling illusion.

The words 'pull' were suddenly in my vision, flashing on the inside of my little goggles.  I was not immediately obedient--Kathy had told me many jumpers waited past the optimum altitude and admonished me not to do so.  I couldn't help myself.  I wanted a few more seconds of high-speed bliss.  I decided to count to five, then pull the cord.  Perhaps the slow descent would give me yet another new enjoyment.

My fingers were wrapped around the ripcord when I noticed that Kathy hadn't opened yet.  It made me happy, to see her waiting too.  She'd done this hundreds of times...yet she still wanted more.  Did that mean it never grew old?  Never became a done-before thing?  If so, then dear God it was certainly worth the danger.

Another look at Kathy, though, told me there was nothing ecstatic about this, to her.  Her arm was tugging at something.  I could see panic in her motions.  She was tugging at her ripcord, but no silk blossomed.  She kept pulling.  I kept watching.  I am not ashamed to admit that it took precious seconds for me to realize something was wrong;  I'd never done anything remotely like this before.  It hit me that I should do something, but I couldn't figure out what.  We were falling, not flying.  I couldn't just swoop over there.  The pull message on my goggles grew more insistent.

The thought of dying, which had been swept aside by joy, returned with some ferocity.

I didn’t know how to save Kathy.  If I tried, that was it for Almondine.  Some of the visions from the night before, my lonely night in the hotel, returned; my body slamming into the ground and splattering like a jelly-filled balloon. Tears stung my eyes.  It wasn’t fair that I couldn’t help her.  It wasn’t fair that I had to watch her die.  Somehow, my mind turned her into Argent.  I imagined him hitting the ground, all his fine bones turned to powder. Losing Argent would kill me in the most painful manner imaginable.

Amidst all the fear and the horrible visions, I realized with great clarity that everyone had an Argent.  That Kathy was Argent to someone.  Her brother perhaps, or her lover.

I couldn’t let her die, then.  Hitting the ground myself would be preferable.

I knew, from the lessons in the holo-sim, that I could make myself fall faster.  This seemed a foolish thing to do, but Kathy had her arms and legs spread wide, trying to slow her fall, perhaps in hope that her parachute would miraculously decide to work.  If I sped up...could I reach her?  If I did reach her, could I do anything?  I heard the questions in my head, but my new resolve would not allow me to concoct an answer.  I tucked my limbs in tightly, tilted my body down.

I sped up.  My stomach seemed to move toward my back and the wind whipped at me in a most violent fashion.  I could aim myself, but only crudely, and I bounced across the sky as I did my best to zip toward Kathy.  I decided I would try and grab her.  Yes, that was it.  I would grab her, hold on for dear life, and open my parachute.  Surely that wouldn't rip off my arms.  Maybe we'd live.

Somehow, she saw me.  I credit my color choice.  She waved at me, in that rude way of someone trying to tell someone not to do something.  Well it was too late for that.  I zoomed on, her plummeting body coming closer and closer.

And I missed.  She had been in front of me, close enough to touch.  Then she was gone, and my goggles were filled with the sea.  I could see ripples and waves and other details I would have to be quite low to see, and I froze.  Petrified.  Mortified.  Terrified.  My goggles were still, vainly, urging me to pull the ripcord.

Something hit me, quite hard, and for a moment I thought I had hit the ground.  That was silly.  I could still see the ocean, rushing up towards me, and there were limbs and hands pawing at me and a voice in my ears.  Kathy!  How had she caught me?  It didn't matter.  She was doing something, manhandling me in a fashion that in another situation might've been most arousing, but which I did not have time to appreciate.  I found myself wrapped around her, legs and arms, hugging her against me.  God, I didn't want to die.

"Pull, God damnit!"  She yelled.  I blinked, and fumbled for the cord.  Don't hit yet...don't hit yet...

A great, powerful force tugged us upward.  It was a harsh, horrid feeling, and I could feel myself spinning wildly about.  I looked up.  The silk canopy of my parachute billowed above us, and Kathy was still wrapped in my arms...and my harness, she'd attached herself somehow.  Dizzying speed had become a gentle fall, though I'm certain my shoulders were bruised.  The sensation was brief, but lovely, and I found myself enjoying...

"Hold on!"  Kathy yelled, and I made the mistake of looking down.  There was still sky between us and the ocean, but not terribly much.  The water below glimmered blue.  We weren't supposed to land in the water.  The island was somewhere off to my left.

I gasped, and held my breath.  That was kind of silly considering my helmet gave me oxygen...though it's supply was measured in minutes.  Our fall felt so slow, but the sea was coming up fast...I knew from the training it was too fast...

The impact forced the air from my lungs, and I felt parts of me shatter.  I would've screamed.  I couldn't, gasping desperately instead.  Water was all around me.  Where was the sky?  I couldn't tell, and the silken shroud that'd saved my life fell, obscuring the world.  Cords and straps tangled my arms, and I flailed and kept trying to scream.

I saw Kathy's arm slashing back and forth, a knife in her hand.  She was yelling at me, but I couldn't hear her word. 

I'm fairly certain that I was begging for help when I finally lost consciousness.
"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
                                                                 ---------Rod Serling, The Last Flight

Offline Captain Sharp

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #52 on: December 06, 2011, 10:13:10 pm »
Good save! I credit her color choice too...space whore.

 ;D

Dina is a hero, who would have figured?

--Guv
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"Yeah?"

"You wanna tell me why there's a statue of you here lookin' like I owe him something?"

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Offline Grim Reaper

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #53 on: December 07, 2011, 02:24:24 am »
It's a gem like always larry. Maybe she has some La'ra in her quite a different way then she intended originally...

 ;) :P
Snickers@DND: If there is one straight answer in that bent little head of yours, you'd better start spillin' it pretty damn quick, or I'm gonna take a large, blunt object, roughly the size of Kallae AND his hat and shove it lengthwise up a crevice of your being so seldomly cleaned that even the denizens of the nine hells would not touch it with a 10-feet rusty pole

Offline Scottish Andy

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #54 on: December 07, 2011, 11:59:04 am »
Nice continuation! And Dina has something other than selfish hedonistic urges knocking around in her psyche. Good to see them come out.
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Offline Scottish Andy

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #55 on: February 23, 2012, 01:24:41 pm »
Dina's still broken drowning...
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The Senior Service rocks! Rule, Britannia!

The Doctor: "Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."
Mickey: "Wot's that?"
The Doctor: "No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say 'Magic Door'."
- Doctor Who: The Woman in the Fireplace (S02E04)

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Offline KBF-Frank

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Re: Lunatic Fringe
« Reply #56 on: May 09, 2015, 03:00:51 pm »
bump to front   ;D