Wyvern

Wyvern rubs his scaly palms together at the thought of Parmenion's plan, unaware of Lord of the Gay's presence as he turns towards Morgane and her feverish demands. Considering the girl's childish demeanor, an evil grin slowly makes it's way across the overgrown lizard's face... "Hmmmm..." murmers Wyvern while digging through his pockets and pulling out a dirty, half-eaten lollipop. "Here's your lolly as promised, Morgane..." Morgane's lips tremble as she looks over the poor excuse for a lollipop... "B-b-but, this lolly is ICKY!" "Well, y'know..." says Wyvern as he pulls out an extra-large mint condition lollipop that he had stolen from a rich baby. "Better lollipops can be arranged, if you'd do me a little favor for me... I think the other ladies of the pen are in need of a play companion, so if you keep them distracted while we take care of our business, the lolly's yours." Morgane considers this for a moment before snatching the tantalizing lollipop from Wyvern's hands and exclaiming "Okay!!!" The greedy lizard grins and snickers to himself sinisterly as Morgane races off to play with the other gals, and turns towards the rest of the group before exclaiming: "Very well... we'll gather here again tommorow morning. Before then, we should have a sure fire trapeze deathtrap set up... the more horrible and dangerous, the better. I'm counting on you guys to do the dirty work of setting it up, since I need to go write out and practice my speech to the Scantavia Brothers...." With that, the overgrown lizard takes off towards his quarters before anyone can object to his not doing any manual labor... ;p

I liked this story, Yui, and particularly thought that the unfolding of the narrator's inner conflict was well done. I found it intriguing how part of the narrator's attraction to the vampire rested in her notion that he would "save her" from the "demons" that "haunt" her, as when put in context these "demons" could be referring to her sense of right and her nightmares. In this sense, her falling under the vampire's spell could have almost been a willing decision, as rather than facing the awful truth of his nature she decided to submit to his will. One thing that could possibly be improved on in the story is the little voice that acts as the narrator's sense of right. While the notion of having this voice works for the most part, I think that when it actually speaks in the third paragraph of the story, it seems to come off as morbidly comic. You might simply want to refer to the voice speaking there rather than actually giving it a line of dialogue. Anyway, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Well done.

Marishka Lyn sighs as she lies back in her applicant easychair, glancing towards a grandfather clock located in the far corner of the room in order to check the time. The eager applicant had been waiting in the office for quite a while now, and though several kind Pen members had provided her with feedback and comments, she had yet to hear from the Recruiter himself... Suddenly, Marishka's thoughts are interrupted as a she hears a low chanting approaching the office from a hall nearby: "Hi ho, hi ho We dwarves have changed you know Some old have passed, they've still got class Hi ho... hi ho hi ho hi ho..." Marishka quickly raises herself from her seat as the door to the office suddenly bursts open and six quirky-looking dwarves march in in a single file line. Each of the Elder dwarves greets and bows to Marishka Lyn before gathering around her application poem and discussing it amongst themselves. As Bravery is the bravest of the dwarves, he is naturally the first to speak up: "I admire the bravery of the narrator of this poem, as her moving on must have taken a great deal of courage... for this reason, I think that the application should be accepted!" Greedy, who is standing right beside Bravery, rubs his scaly chin thoughtfully and hisses: "I too can relate to the work... though personally, I sympathize with the antagonist of the piece. After all, anyone who can interpret the narrator's leaving as a reduction of their taxes can't be half bad!" Shiny is next in the line of Elder dwarves, and reads over the poem thoroughly before exclaiming: "Oooooo! She mentioned the "glimmer" of her smile! It's definitely acceptable in my book..." After Shiny has finished admiring the piece, Sexy glances at it and murmers: "Well... she's certainly open..." Before Sexy can continue, Silly the orangutan Elder dwarf swings from the ceiling by his tail and snatches the application poem, reading it over a few times while hanging upside down before dropping back down to the ground. The Elder dwarf then pulls out a sign and scribbles something onto it before holding it up for all to see. The sign reads: "I too like the poem, and can particularly relate to the concept of isolation being the only truly intelligent orangutan currently residing in the Pen." Finally, Silly's shadow takes on a life of it's own to form Shady the Elder dwarf, who whispers: "Of hurtful words, and fallen hopes... Her heart's desire, caught 'pon the ropes... Of emotions, often neglected... This application, shall be accepted." With that, the Elder dwarves all nod to each other and stamp Marishka Lyn's application ACCEPTED. ;-) OOC: A good poem and an ACCEPTED application, Marishka... welcome to the Mighty Pen! I hope you find us a warm and acceptant creative writing community, and I apologize for the confusion of posting this and accepting you again. ;p There was a slight database error which deleted my response in this thread and changed your status, but it should be corrected now. Once again, welcome!

Wyvern hops on one foot into the room and comes to a stop once he arrives in front of Tasslehof. Bowing to the honorable kender, the overgrown lizard hands him a large keg of Bruteweiser booze and a book of silly walks, on which he's attached a note that reads "don't forget to walk creatively from time to time as well!" OOC: Take care Tasslehof, you shall be missed.

Zen sighs as he swivels impatiently in his applicant easychair, wondering when the Elder of Initiates would finally arrive to look over his application poem. The poor guest had been waiting for the overgrown lizard for a week now, and despite constant assurances from friendly Pen members that his application would be eventually accepted, he had begun to worry that the lizard was purposely ignoring him... Suddenly, as if to provide a comforting answer to his worries, the main entrance doors of the Recruiter's Office slowly creak open... Zen immediatly jumps out of his seat, expecting to be greeted by the infamous Wyvern, but surprised to find a pointy-eared dwarf standing where he thought the reptilian Elder would be... "Zen, is it...?" questions the dwarf in a deep voice, looking the applicant over from head to toe with his keen eyes while tightly holding a sheet in his right hand. "Y-yes..." answers Zen, raising a brow curiously at the dwarf "Why do you ask?" "Well!" booms the dwarf happily, a confidant grin spreading across his face "Allow me to introduce myself... I am Bravery, Elder Dwarf of Gyrfalcon, bravest and most sensible of the current batch of Recruitment dwarves. It's a pleasure to meet you, Zen!" Having said this, the Elder dwarf bravely strides up to Zen in large strides and seizes his hand, shaking it firmly. "My companion and I will be responding to your two application poems this evening." "Your companion...?" mutters Zen while eyeing the room for another recruiter. "I don't see anyone else here..." Suddenly, the confused applicant jumps as Bravery's shadow takes a life of it's own and bows to him. The shadow then adjusts back to it's usual shape, which relieves Zen until his own shadow turns to him and whispers in his ear: "Shady I am, the Elder Dwarf of Yui-Temae... Review an application I shall, with you here today." Zen's shadow reverts back to it's normal state as Bravery looks over the first poem that Zen submitted. Grinning and turning to the applicant, the energetic dwarf exclaims: "I admire this poem for it's bravery, Zen! You're quite direct in your philosophies..." "What do you think of the other poem, 'clouds'?" asks Zen "I personally find it better..." Zen's shadow turns to him once again and whispers in his ear: "A better poem, this is indeed... more emotions, here to read... personal, your solitude... shadows only, can intrude." Having said this, the shadow gives a thumbs up as Bravery stamps Zen's application ACCEPTED. ;-) OOC: A very good poem and an ACCEPTED application, Zen... welcome to the Mighty Pen! My apologies in the long wait in responding... I look forward to reading more of your works, and hope you'll find us a warm and acceptant writing community. Once again, welcome!

Thanks to those who commented on the original... I recently revised this poem in the Writer's Workshop since I was unsatisfied with a number of parts in it. Here's the final (and in my opinion, better) version of the poem: That starry glimmer in the sky A droplet, from endless cloud cascades Those beads that cling as tears to panes Evaporate in vain To trickle is to pass unseen So burst, spread over massive plains Reach heart and hand, touch brow and thought Imbue a unique stain Fall upon the open soil Submerge, through endless dirt and pain Enrich it with your distinct smile Give bloom to hope untamed As dark clouds gather in the sky I plead for storms to set me free And reach my hands towards grey horizons... Yet endless dry spells mock me.

My interpretation of this piece is actually similar to that of Appy... The image evoked in my mind was that of somebody sitting at their 9 to 5 desk job and contemplating how their opportunities in life are severely limited. As I interpreted it, the person's "articial limit" is brought about by his "lack of self discipline," as he hasn't disciplined himself to strive for greater things than a desk job. At the end of the poem, the narrator notes how his life is wasting away as he sits at his desk... It is indeed interesting how good poetry can offer a wide variety of interpretations to the reader... Part of the beauty of poetry is that it can speak to the reader on a personal level. On a side note, I really like the form of this poem, as well as the form of most of your poetry in general. The way that the stanzas are structured is intriguing, and it makes the read more enjoyable. Well done.

Wyvern laughs out loud a bit before commenting... A very fun and clever piece of writing, Sorciere... the ending was priceless! The poem evoked many smiles from me and I laughed several times while reading it. One line you might want to improve upon is the final line of the fourth stanza, which might read better as "Right it was, my hunch." Just a suggestion... Having said this, Wyvern notes that Sorciere has become a very reliable source for excellent, down-to-Earth poetry...

As Lumpenproletariat pats a portrait of the ex-dwarf Sleazy, Idly the Elder Dwarf lounges in a comfortable easychair located in his dwarven quarters, doing nothing in particular. Suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be at a band meeting of the Elder dwarves today, the idle miniature version of Lumpenproletariat considers moving a muscle, but decides that idling in his chair is a bit more important in the end. Besides... he had a fine broadcast of the band's performance via the Mighty Pen channel on his T.V... ;p

Sounds like an excellent idea Vlad... Note that the beauty of a simple RP thread such as the one Vlad is describing is that you don't necessarily need to commit to post in it... brief one post cameo appearences can work fine as well. You can expect either a cameo from me in the thread, or a contribution of multiple posts. On a side note, Peredhil mentioned that: Hes absolutely right... in fact, I recently archived a thread with some of my first RPing in it in the Library as proof of this! Check here if you have any doubts that I was a seriously lousy RPer... ;p

The quiet halls of the Cabaret Room suddenly begin resonating with music as the Elder Dwarves of the Pen march in as a band, playing their own rendition of Snow White's "Hi Ho, Hi Ho!" Sexy is the lead vocalist (and commercial icon) of the group, Grumpy is on base guitar, Shiny plays the drums (symbols shiiiinnnny), Crazy blows into a kazoo, and Courteousy uses an elegant and delicate looking flute. Elsewhere, Greedy hands out pamphlets containing information on where to purchase the group's CDs while Silly offers bystanders banana refreshments... As Pen members gather in the Cabaret Room to witness the curious spectacle of the dwarves performing, Wyvern rushes onto the center of the stage in a nice outfit that he had "borrowed" from Orlan's laundry basket... Though it was normally a very nice suite, the reptilian Elder's scales had caused it to become wrinkled and torn, and the fact that it wasn't washed didn't give it the most formal appearence either. Raising his scaly arms into the air and silencing the band in the process, Wyvern whips out an eraser-shaped megaphone and exclaims: "Hear yee, hear yee! Now that most of the Pen's membership has gathered in the room, I would like to announce the latest Pen promotions! The following people are to be promoted:" Promoted to Page: autumn_sun Finnius Merelas Parmenion Racouol Rhapsody Promoted to Quill-Bearer: Aardvark Sorciere Wrenwind Promoted to a Ranking above Quill-Bearer of Choice: Salinye "... that is all for the moment! If you feel you should have been promoted but weren't, simply continue posting and we'll get to upgrading your ranking come the next promotions (which will occur two months from now, on November 3rd). Congratulations to all! Please be patient, as it may take a bit of time to upgrade everyone to their new ranking..." Having said this, Wyvern quickly wipes some sweat from his brow with his suite sleeve before taking a sip of booze from the Endless Decanter and exclaiming: "Another announcement, this one concerning the Elder Dwarves that you see gathered here today. This may very well be their last collective performance togather, as many of them have passed the stage of Elder and wish to rest their dwarven bones a bit. Fear not, they'll always have a place in the Pen and will still make appearences here and there... just don't expect to see them in the normal dwarf line up. Having said this, I'm pleased to announce that two new dwarves will be moving to the Pen soon... If I'm not mistaken, their names are Bravery and Shady." Having finished with his announcements, Wyvern proceeds to hop off of his podium to join the crowds of Pen members thronging in the hall, disappointed to see that the banana bread refreshments have run out...

Offers beer. Endless Decanter. Scaly. Claws geld. Hisses softly. Juggles chocolate. Provides link: http://www.themightypen.net/shoutbox/viewshoutbox.php Box o' chat. Hums tune Checks time. Counterpokes Morgane! Wyvie. P.S: Pokes Morgane again for good effect! P.P.S: Welcomes Morgane back to the Pen. P.P.P.S: Pokes Morgane yet again for even better effect!

OOC - A note before starting: the very beginning of this thread can be found in Lady Celes Crusador's post in the Madame Quixotic thread, started by Salinye. :-) This was posted by request in the Conservatory. Everyone who feels like participating should feel free to do so... ;-) Wyvern slowly turns from the doors of Celes Crusador's sleeping quarters, still blushing profusely through his crimson scales and unable to move his tail due to his nervous excitement. The lizard's embarrasment is quickly replaced with a confidant grin, however, as he begins to contemplate exactly what kind of scream he had heard given the context of the situation he had caught a glimpse of... Quickly whipping out a sheet of paper and scribbling a name onto it before safely tucking it back into his profile, the overgrown lizard grins further at the added bonus of having caught Celes in a skimpy nightgown... Wyvern whistles to himself happily as he strolls back to the Pen's Cabaret Room, noting that Celes Crusador hadn't specified what her side of the bargain would be. After all, if Wyv was to get rid of the Scantavia Brothers for her, then she should give him something in return. Not that the lizard needed any particular material motivation for his mission (he already felt a profound hatred for the two playboy acrobats), but it was certainly a potential added bonus! Turning a corner and walking into the Cabaret Room, Wyvern passes by the Elder of Bards, Orlan... The two Elders exchange knowing glances, having both seen the horrors that Madame Quixotic is capable of... Wyvern then rapidly wanders up to the sexy sexy man and whispers: "Pssst... hey Orlan, pass the word around... the male population of the Pen will gather in the Courtyard by that little bush where detective I. M. Clueless always seems to try to hide. We've got to discuss what we're going to do about these lady-hogging Scantavia Brothers..." Orlan nods to this and Wyvern continues spreading the word, hissing his meeting place to each male member he passes... Occasionally, female members cast suspicious glances towards him, at which point Wyvern tosses on an "I Love the Scantavia Brothers!" T-shirt. Unfortunatly, this only causes the ladies to become more suspicious, probably because of the "Die Scantavia Brothers Die!" exclamation scrawled on the back of the shirt in large neon letters... By the time the sun begins rising on the Pen's horizon, a number of people have gathered in the Courtyard by the bush where Inspector I. M. Clueless always tries to hide. Wyvern gesticulates wildly as he preaches to the crowd in a low hiss: "These Scantavia Brothers have got to go...! They're dominating the attention of every lady in the Pen to the extent that we're being ignored...! I'm going to be executing a few schemes to get rid of these buffoons once and for all, who's with me...?!" The other members that have gathered exchange uncertain glances with one another and slowly begin to back away, recalling how hazardous Wyvern's plots usually are... Little do Wyvern or the others know that a few fans of the Scantivia Brothers are spying on them...

Peredhil31 The foul stench quickly overpowered our heroes. One by one they fell unconcious to the floor. Some, like St. Michael, seemed more susceptible to the corrosive gas - reacting with his armor, the resultant acids consumed him quickly. Down in the main cavern, Timmy shuddered and shook. Noxious gases polluted the air as Wyvern blocked the two of the chambered stomachs within the Great Dragon. violent chemicals flowed and mixed freely. Finally Timmy belched -- (The gases exiting their normal egress crossed the platinum grid which lined the last four feet of his throat and erupted into flames. The gases which had been slipping out his - look! Heavenly Uranus! - ignited. Fire gouted hundreds of feet out the natural chimneys in the rock, sucking the gases from deeper within the complex, which in turn fueled the inferno.) and hiccupped! (The magic pollen laden flower, caught in the eructative wave, suddenly reversed in the hiccup and swept down into Timmy's left lung, lodging firmly in his bronchial tube, causing a fatal erethismic reaction.) In a violent effort to expel the flower, Timmy exhaled to death. The fire drawn vacuum nearly ruptured the eardrums of the unconcious surviving few. The flames that had reached to the dead-end (ironically their salvation) had merely shorn the hair from their wooly companions. In a brief while, the survivors began to revive...

Ephemeron Well... I sorta killed myself too... so there's not much I can care about

StMichael You don't even care that I'm dead? My ego has shattered.

Ephemeron OOC: Yay! This thread got brought back! But how to continue...?

StMichael After everything turned black (much to Ephemeron's surprize), the cavern was absolutely impossible to navigate. Black walls, black rocks, black here, black there, everywhere a black, black...uh, StMichael sits down alone. How could the party just leave him?(see previous StMichael post) StMichael ponders as a black breeze brazenly blows, biting his nose with a frigid chill. And suddenly the dastardly deed was done, stench filled the empty darkness of StMichael's corridor. And StMichael's bones lay there to this day.

Ephemeron "We've been trapped in!" Willamina wailed. Everyone began pounding the walls, looking for some way to exit the cave. But, it was too late. For down the hallway, the rumbling stopped, and they heard a very loud noise, the grandest fart among farts. It felt like a rumbling crescendo. The walls shuddered. Chips of stone from the cavern ceiling fell. "I never knew it could be that strong..." Unexpectedly, the gas soon reached our travelers. The stench was absolutely nauseating. Ephemeron began to feel dizzy, and fell towards the ground. Everything became black...

Destructo Destructo, leading the party back through the halls, slams directly into a solid wall. "Hmm.......this wasn`t here before" he thought as the rest of the party came crashing into him. "Guys this is now a dead end where do we go now?"

Ephemeron *Sob* *sniff* ... "What a brave lad," Ephemeron managed to say, recovering from his sneezing. "He went down there all by himself. Wait a minute... where's the flower?? The dragon swallowed the flower with Wyvern?" Ephemeron wiped his nose and looked around at the other guys, who nodded in agreement. "Uh oh... that's going to cause some major ingestion. Run for your lives!" As he said that, there was a rumbling that began to shake the walls of the caverns. The remaining members of the party made a mad rush towards the exit of the cave...

Wyvern Wyvern was sneezing with everyone else until he realized an interesting fact: he was unallergic to pollen! "Well guys, here's the line which seperates the men from the Wyvern... the moment of truth." Tears swelled in Wyvern's eyes. He realized that he was the only one capable of bringing Timmy to his knees. He took the large flower and placed it on his back. Pollen stopped coming out, and the sneezing fits also stopped. Wyvern turned to Ephemeron, tears streaming down his cheeks: "Well, this is *sob* goodbye Ephemeron. Take good care of your sheep for me *sniffle*. We may never see each other again!" With that, Ephemeron too began to cry, heartbroken at seeing Wyvern leave. "Arawn, remember me whenever you chase women *sob*!" With this remark, geysers of tears shot from Arawn's eyes and he found himself weeping with Ephemeron. "Destructo *sob* we were never good friends, but I'll miss you!" Destructo also began to cry. "StMichael, wherever you are, I'm *sob* sorry for your goatee!" StMichael found himself crying amongst the others. \ "Willamina... ... .... ...NICE ASS!!!" With that remark, Willamina hit Wyvern so hard, he flew all the way into Timmy's lair and directly into the jaws of the yawning beast. He was swallowed whole by Timmy! OOC:how's that for a dramatic moment?! LOL.

Zool From far down the cavern, they hear an ominous sound; "Ah... ah... ah... Ahhhhh - Chooooooooooo!!" The ground rumbled. Everyone was tossed about as a geological shock wave went underfoot "Whoomp!" Then silence... Everyone strained at the silence, even managing to withold sneezing for a moment, when echoing from far down the cavern they heard; "One for the money." "Two for the show." "Three to get ready now Go man Go! Now baby, don't step on my blue suede shoes!" "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah - Chooooooooooooo!" Another shock wave rolled undergroung, tossing everyone into the air again as they simultaneously erupted into sneezing fits of their own. "Houston, we have a problem," our heroes heard echoing down the cavern, and then again, "Aaaaaaaaaaaah - Choooooooooooo!" BY now they were used to the rolling motion of the cavern floor. Somehow, it even made their own sneezing attacks seem a little less of a problem. From ahead in the cavern came bounding a fat purple dinosaur who was getting chunks of his flesh dug out by a man with horrible acne and a fedora, and razor blades for finger nails. "No Freddy no, I love you, you love me!" screamed the purple dinosaur, as his head parted ways from his body. Freddy gave out an evil cackle of pure joy. Behind them came running a tidal wave of lawyers, and politicians, and telemarketers. "Noooooooooooo!" screamed Ephemeron. "This could truly be the end of Terra!" Lord Dreadful, who was still bouncing from wall to wall in the shockwaves from the dragon's sneezes, said, "He's in the (Ouch!) tunnel just ahead (Oof!). He's been immobilized by the (Ack!) sneezing, now we need someone to (Argh) put the goose behind him and (Oh, sorry) give the command to (Well! I say...) Give him the Goose!"

StMichael Every member of the party is struck with such sneezing fits that they are all completely immobile. Meanwhile, StMichael is stuck in the room with weird doors. He was left behind while pondering. Suddenly, he figures it out! "Woodchucks don't chuck wood!" he sings with great vibrato. Looking around for the guys, StMichael hears muffled cries of distress. No, sounds like sneezing, he thinks. As Pop-eye chases Betty Boop, StMichael casts a scrying mirror to find his lost companions. Suddenly it all becomes clear, the party is surrounded in pollen. StMichael is their only hope. Fortunately, StMichael brought some Flonaze. Now, where is that door to the underground?....

Ephemeron Aaaahhh-choooo!!! Sniff... sniff.. "Whoa... major allergies...," Ephemeron mutters as he staggers about the room. He walks next to the stem puts his hand against it for support, staying away from the rest so as not to get a beating from Wyvern. Abruptly, and rather suddenly, Ephemeron goes into another sneeze session, and accidently bonks his head against the stem. The sudden jolt, however, releases another wave of pollen down upon Ephemeron. "Hoo boy...."