Surface Dwellers: An Interactive Story

^{Let me show my age a bit here.}

Do any of y’all remember Quizilla? No? Well, it was a fun little website where anyone could make a… yep, a quiz. Now there were a lot of simple quizzes but a bunch of people, myself included also used it to tell interactive stories.

Quick example…

^{You’re walking through the forest behind your house, the sound of your parents shouting at each other fade into bird songs, rustling leaves, and the gentle breeze. As you inhale deeply appreciating the peace you feel a chill pass through your body. Its eighty something degrees out, so you pause for a moment, only a moment and think old Aunt Ellie woulda said I walked through a ghost… Maybe I’m going crazy like her! As you shake your head with a wistful smile thinking about the od bat, missing her, a sound reaches your ear… is that, water?}

^{That can’t be right, there's no creeks in my woods, I am going crazy Your curious nature overwhelms you though and you decide to follow the faint babble. As you walk things begin to catch your eye; Strange flowers, oddly colored birds, insects much bigger than they should be, you grew up in these woods, you know them like the back of your hand and you had certainly never seen a bush of sky blue roses anywhere let alone here. As you continue walking, as the sound of the stream grows louder, your concern grows with it.}

^{Suddenly the earth is ripped away from under you, a shrill scream escapes your lips before you realize that your hanging upside down. Panting in panic you frantically try to figure out what the heck just happened.There's rope bound around your ankle holding you a few feet in the air. After a moment of flailing about like a drunken fish you realize you’ve been swept up into what seems to be some kind of trap. Why are you in a trap?! Who set the trap?! What was the trap intended for?!}

^{You have no knife, nothing sharp at all to cut yourself down and there's nothing within your reach to grab hold of. What do you do?}

^{A. Scream like a maniac and hope your parents miraculously hear you.}

^{B. Start to swing back and forth trying to grab hold of the nearest object and maybe from that point figure out a way to escape.}

^{C. Resign to your fate and hang there limply humming NSYNC songs and wait for the blood pooling in your brain to slowly kill you.}

The answers that you chose would affect the outcome you received. I loved the interactive short story and I wrote them often. The other night I was thinking about just how much I loved them and how maybe I could do something like that again. I thought we’ll I can post them on Steemit! But how? The Quizilla format allowed me to write the main story and I think something like ten small alternate endings depending on which combination of choices you clicked and automatically directed you to the right ending. Steemit doesn’t allow this convenience… I thought that people could put their choice in a comment and I could manually deliver the response to each, but then everyone could see outcomes and the element of surprise is removed, and that’s half the fun!

So I thought and I thought and I thought and as I started reading chapters of @dreemit’s books that she’d posted here on Steemit (loving it by the way!) I finally I came to the idea that I could do one long story. Every week I could post a chapter within a main plot line, and at the end of each chapter have choices for Steem creatures to choose from.

^{Ellie gazed deeply into the sparkling lilac eyes before her, filled with anticipation. The portal was only open for a few more minutes, and wouldn’t open for another fifty human years. She had to choose now.}

^{A. She searched those eyes and she knew. She knew she would never love a human man, she knew that no one could ever love her like the fae before her did, that if she returned she would grow old and gray and wrinkle alone, and on her deathbed she would call his name. “I’ll stay. I’ll stay with you Mannon.” She whispered breathlessly.}

^{B. The image of her little brother flashed through her mind, with Papa gone and Mama working herself to the bone she was all he had. A single tear escaped, it felt like lava carving a path down her face. It fell to the earth and she watched as a sprout began to grow, winding its way up from the earth until a single small sky blue bud was visible. “I’ll never forget you.” She whispered breathlessly.}

The choice selected by popularity of readers would become the first bit of the next chapter, and though the repercussions of the example story are pretty clear; even seemingly insignificant choices will alter the entire storyline. A choice given as simple as the main character leaving work early or not when the boss offers it could lead to introduction of new characters, new villains, subplots, love interests, so on and so forth. Because I’m laying this all out on a Friday, I will continue on Fridays.

The main thread of the story will feature two women. While on the surface they lead seemingly ordinary lives battling real world issues like parenting, paying bills, cars breaking down, custody disputes, and bad neighbors, they also have a wee little secret.

Get it? Okay great!

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Without further ado, let's introduce our characters…

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Knife. Fork. Spoon. Wrap.
Knife. Fork. Spoon. Wrap.
Knife. Fork....

She prefered it to be busy, to not have a moment to think through taking orders, getting drinks, balancing plates, clearing tables, washing dishes, baking bread, cashing out, and carrying on table side conversations. She liked to be fully engrossed in her work, keeping it a separate reality, but she still appreciated moments like this. Where she could check out and let her mind wander, she used these moments for meditation. Blocking out all of her to do lists, her piles of bills, her never ending stream of self-questioning, she allowed her mind to rest in these moments. To wander down rough paths hidden in trees and brush, to feel she sunshine and the breeze, to hear the shale falling like rain… to go places that healed her spirit.

They never seemed lasted very long though, the jingle of the hanging bell on the door pulled her back. “How’s my favorite trooper doing today?” She smiled without taking her eyes off of her task. She often knew who was coming in without having to check, the beauty of regulars, she kept time by them. Must be ten after three already, how long was I gone? she wondered, allowing her eyes to focus and sweep her work station, Oh, she was mildly surprised to see both the main silverware bin and the back up bin filled to the brim.

“Helluva lot better now I get to see your pretty face darlin’” He sighed and he lowered himself onto a counter stool. She playfully feigned surprise, placing a hand over her chest, gasping lightly “Oh, you’re gonna make me blush!” She ignored the voice shouting from the back, “That Carter?” as she moved grabbing her customers favorite mug “Yeah, its me Nan.” Addalane smiled lightly at the coffee pot in her hand. “Ya want the special or the usual?” This right here is exactly why she loved her job, why she could deal with eleven hour shifts five or six days a week, every day was the same. Predictable, steady, comfortable. “Eh I’ll go the usual.” She returned to him and set his cup of coffee down without offering a spoon. He didn’t take any cream or sugar. “Your eyes look sad, old man.” She said lightly, cocking her head to the side a bit, searching his face.

A shadow of a smile crept across his features, but didn’t touch his eyes. “You can read me like a book kid. My time is coming. They’re bringing in a rookie next week to ride with me, show him the ropes before they give me my watch.” Lane felt her heart cracking. Jim and Ally never had kids, she had never asked about the details but she knew it was because Ally couldn’t, and after Ally had passed away a couple years back… well Jim’s job was all he had. It was always coming of course, the Troopers have a mandatory retirement age for safety reasons but damn it didn’t feel like it would come so soon. What would he do now? “Oh, Jim I’m so…”

The bell chimed again and a pair of pigtails bounced over and settled on the stool next to the dejected state trooper as she swung off her backpack and let it fall on the counter with a thud. “Hiya Mama, hiya Mr. Carter.” She chimed, scrunching her nose at the hair tossle she was receiving from her daily snack companion. “Hi baby, did you have a good day at school?” Lane asked, deciding to leave her previous conversation for another time and leaning over the counter for a quick kiss from her seven year old. They didn’t look very much alike at first glance the two of them... Lane with her thick wavy black locks, olive skin and honey colored eyes and Ronan with her pale, freckled skin, soft green eyes, and fine pin straight strands of fire atop her head, when you really looked though you could see Ronan’s mother in he face, the shape of her eyes, the sharpness of her nose, the shadow of a chin dimple. No one in town had ever really seen her father, and just assumed he was incredibly Irish… he was not.

“I punched Aidan Donaldson in the nose.” She exclaimed proudly, her eyes lighting up with the unique excitement of knowing you’re about to get food. Nan rounded the corner, setting a plate of sweet potato fries and honey down in front of Ronan, and turkey club and plain fries in front of Trooper Carter, she knew to throw down the girls food with his so that it'd be done when she got there. “Was that little shit picking on you again?” Nan asked, a hard frown accentuating her wrinkles, hands placed firmly on her wide hips. “Nan!” Lane gasped, though she shouldn’t have been surprised. “Well he is a little shit.” Carter interjected from behind his cup of coffee. “Carter!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Totally a little shit.”

“Ronan!” This one was nearly a squeal. “That is quite enough of that all of you, Ro eat your fries and do your homework please, we’ll talk about what happened later!” Her voice was firm enough that they all knew not to play. Nan went back to orders, Carter helped Ronan with her homework, and Lane went back to work, preparing things for Meghan and Sophie to come in for the dinner shift. Just as she was finishing up Carter stood and threw some money down on the counter, handed Ronan a five with a wink and grinned when she winked back with a mischievous smirk to show that she understood the silent exchange while Mama wasn’t looking was for the punch in the nose. He announced he was heading home finishing with his usual “See ya tomorrow darlin’.”

“No, not tomorrow, taking the day off.” Lane sighed heavily, untying her apron at the sight of Sophie coming in through the back door and punching out on the register. “Well damn. I forgot that was tomorrow.” The old trooper ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair as he cast her a look of sympathy. Lane walked over so they could speak a little quieter, out of Ronan’s and everyone else's ear shot. Not many people around here knew anything of Ronan’s father, she liked it that way, it was easier to let them think he was dead and be too polite to inquire. Nan, Jim, Alley and her best friend Lee were the only souls who she’d ever whispered a word about him too.

When Lane and Lee had shown up at the dinner seven years ago with a newborn in tow, counting change between them to split an order of pancakes Nan took notice. She offered them a free meal and a caring ear, and after hearing the story the two young ladies told her she absolutely insisted that their flight end here, that she’d give them jobs and take care of them until they settled.

Jim Carter was the one who answered the call when he caught up to them the next night, and ran the scoundrel off. Put a bullet in his leg on the way, it never got reported though, after Nan had filled him in to the unique circumstances they all decided it was best to keep it between them. He decided it would be safest for the baby to be somewhere else while the girls worked, and what safer place than his own home, so he went and he told Ally the story about two strange girls and a baby, who needed their help. She didn’t hesitate, she took care of little Ronan while her Mama worked, and never once asked for anything in return.

They hadn’t heard so much as a whisper from him until about a month ago Lane got a letter informing her of an impending court date. Bastard was taking her for custody. “You want me to call in, come downtown with you?” He asked, his eyes wandering over to the oblivious fireball zipping up her bookbag. Lane hadn’t told her. “It’s alright, I need to go alone. I don’t want him thinkin’ I’m scared of him because I'm not anymore. I’ll be careful I promise.” She vowed quietly, her eyes hard as steel, “I know what he is now, and I know how to handle him.” Carter nodded in hesitant acceptance and they went their separate ways.

When they got back to their humble little home, the moment Ronan’s feet hit the bottom stair of the porch she took a deep sniff and shouting “AUNTIES MAKING GUMBO!” took off like a rocket into the house. After all these years the thought of separating had never cross Lane and Lee’s minds. Chuckling she followed, albeit more slowly, picking up the discarded backpack and shoes left in her little fireball’s wake. Stepping into their home was like crossing a portal into another world, the walls were lined with books in ancient languages long since lost to humanity, current drawings and notations of astrological charts, apothecary jars filled with ingredients, completed potions, things to be preserved… herbs and flowers hung drying from a web of twine across the ceiling, this was a place of magic. By the time she stopped to lean against the kitchen doorway, arms and ankles crossed and soft smile on her lips, Ronan was already sitting on the counter next to the stove and Lee was playfully shouting “Girl, how many times do we have to tell you that cinnamon doesn’t taste good in everything!”

Lane watched her friend. She watched her sway to the music, a Hindu chant to Shiva today, her mane of shiney black curls bouncing lightly with her movements, she watched her poke Ronan in the nose with a dark finger the tips painted hunter green. Way she moved was so graceful, but you could see the tension coiled under that dark skin… Lane imagined her for a moment, walking with lions in Africa as her grandmother had. She was a lion. She watched her sister, thinking about the day that they came here, to this little town… running.

Lee had run with her. She didn’t have to do that. She didn’t have to leave the order and give up her life, give up everything because Lane had broken the covenant rules and not only gotten involved with a man (if you could call him that), but gotten pregnant without the explicit consent of the elders. She realized quickly after why those rules were in place… why a Priestess must be much more cautious than she had been. There were a lot of tricky creatures out there, and some of them pretended to love you. The elders had informed her of her pregnancy before she’d known, and given her a choice… Cast forth her child and stay in the covenant under punishment for her indiscretions, or die with it. She ran, she ran to her child's father. Once learning that she was no longer under the protection of the covenant his act was no longer needed.

He locked her away and used her for sick amusement. His only considerations were to not hurt her in a way that would hurt the child, and to give her enough food and water to make sure the child was nourished. Lee had followed her though, spent four months searching for her. Eventually she found her friend, she watched and she waited slinking through the shadows like the lioness she was until the opportune moment presented itself. Lane and Ronan we’re free because of her. They ran, from both the covenant and from Hyde.

They ran for six months, Lee midwifed Ronan in the back of a stolen Dodge Durango, and kept on running until a couple of weeks later they wandered into a dinner in some random small town, where both of their adversaries we’re run off by the one thing that had kept them alive and safe all of these years, humans. It was the law that the covenant enforced that humans be kept unaware, they would not break their own law… and Hyde would not risk bringing the covenant down upon himself (there was no statute of limitations in the covenant, he would be punished not only for exposure but for crimes against a Priestess for impregnating her), especially not after Carter had shot him… not after Lane and Lee saw what color he bleeds. They's survived by dwelling on the surface. With a bright flash of white, a lioness smile, Lee turned her head. “Will you please tell your child that I do not care what they serve at her school, dinosaur chicken nuggets are not food?”

“She’s right, they are NOT. Which is why one of us packs a lunch for you every single day, we love you far too much to give you that poison.” They’d had this conversation a million times, Ronan knew she wasn’t allowed to eat what other kids ate, and she knew it was because she was not a normal human, she was a Priestess, and priestesses couldn’t interrupt their energy fields by consuming anything that didn’t come from and return to the earth if they didn’t want to get very sick and much of the normal human food didn’t fit that criteria… but she was still seven, and dinosaur shaped food was still appealing.

Their conversation was interrupted by a minor commotion outside. “Sounds like them damn ‘coons got into the cans again.” Lee scoffed shaking her head. The raccoons around here had to be mutant, they were far too smart. “I have a good idea Mama!” Lane raised a brow. “Does it involve keeping them as pets?” She inquired, giving her daughter a pointed look, she was all for taking in animals in need, but keeping wild animals just to keep them was against the way of nature. The smile Ronan gave her was all the answer she needed.

A.

Lane thought for a moment about allowing it and letting her daughter learn natural consequences from dealing with her good idea, but with everything going on right now she didn’t think that she had the patience for it. “I’ll go run them off.” She groaned pushing herself off of the wall and crossing the kitchen, she stopped and looked over her shoulder at her daughter… well she didn’t want to deal with it just yet “But feel free to make up a mission plan and present it to me for evaluation, then we’ll see.” With that she pulled open the back door.

B.

“Alright Ro, we can try your idea… but you’re going to be responsible for this entire plan and for fixing any chaos that this plan creates, you hear me?” She asked pointing for intimidation, and with Ronan’s enthusiastic agreement Lane turned, shaking her head at her own craziness and headed to the the living room, she needed a good book.

I do hope that I’ll get involvement because oh that would be so much more fun and challenging for me, so read silently if you wish but I highly encourage participation. Who knows maybe I’ll even be able to incorporate reader ideas separate from the choices I lay out… So welcome one and all to @Accio’s Fiction Fridays! Stay tuned ;)

(Image credit moi @accio)