Setting the scene game, Mark II

[Talysia]

As Animal Lover 06's thread vanished because of the crash, I hope no-one minds if I start it up again. I rather enjoyed it, and it helped me in being able to visualize my locations better when writing.

I was actually able to find some of the old entries, and I'll start off the thread with an old one, just to get us going. It's a fairly simple challenge - just write up a scene to describe the title given by the poster above, setting the scene for it. Then, add a location or such of your own and the chain can continue.

Ok here's one of my old entries:

An Ice Cavern

Sunlight filters up down from somewhere and casts a strangely bluish gleam over the almost faceted ice walls, making it difficult to look at. At some point, something has had its lair or den here, as there are bones of some kind in a little pile in the corner, but there is nothing there now, and the only threat comes from the drastically low temperature. Breath steams as it leaves the mouth, disappearing into the vaulted frozen ceiling above.



Next is:


A lonely seashore

 

[crystal haven]

Hi Talysia

I hope this is the sort of thing you mean.




Until today I had not fully understood how lonely a person could be. The emptiness inside, the pain of isolation. The realisation of being alone.

I have explored this shoreline, walking with hope and determination along this desolate beach. I walked for a long time, shielding my eyes from the blowing sand, understanding too late I should have walked in the opposite direction. It would have been easier, but the outcome would have been the same. I have walked in both directions now. There is nothing here.

Nothing but cliffs behind me and sand and sea in front. I battled over lose rocks and shingle, sometimes on hands and knees, before reaching the base of this monster of stone. It stretches up towards the sky and shields me partially from the wind, but the cliff face is steep and too dangerous to climb.


The next is:

A Forest

 

[Talysia]

Hi Crystal - and yep, that's the idea.

A forest

Sunlight falls through the leafy canopy to collect in dappled pools amongst the feet of the trees. A soft, gentle wind brushes against the leaves, making hushed whispering noises, which forms the background for another array of sound - that of the animal life. A deer calls from somewhere, hidden by the thicket, and birds sing from similarly concealed spots, this time within the branches. It makes a peculiar music, but a wholly natural and calming one; one I feel at home with.

A busy market

 

[WafflesToo]

A busy market
The open-air markets of Afad bustled with activity around him. Shops lined the street on both sides, and carts crowded in front of the more permanent structures. Zachary watched turbined men hawking thier wares to the throngs bustling by. Everywhere men haggled and bartered over this good or that. He signaled the waitress for another drink and went back to watching the mass of humanity that surrounded the outdoor eatery he was relaxing in front of, itself a calm eddy next to the violent stream beyond its tables.

The next is:
A crowded playground

 

[chrispenycate]

Almost as many pushchair-wielding parents -mostly mothers, but a few slightly embarrassed males - are gathered on the sad scrap of mud on which the swings, seesaws, slides and roudabouts try vainly to hide against the assault of aggressive, destruction released from school.

Smaller members of the breed soon retreat to parental relative security, while wooden handrails are tested to splinters with knives and scissors. No-one, parent or park employee makes any attempt to protect the objects, once bright colours, now faded to differen shades of mud. The very most one can expect is that when a lesser one falls off and starts loud bawling, someone might take time to comfort it, if only to bring down the noise. Frequently, not even this happens, and the noise, the smell of urine and rot, the vision of cruelty and selfishness, all combine int a tableau of muddy purgatory.

A bridge at the base of a waterfall.

 

[ctg]

A bridge at the base of a waterfall.

I stopped for a moment to admire the beauty of the small wooden bridge, that joined together two foresting sides of the river. It was a perfect for crossing the fast moving stream that was constantly filling from a hundred meter tall waterfall.

A approach to a space dock.

 

[Talysia]

An approach to a space dock

Peculiarly shaped lights guided the shuttle towards the slowly opening dock, placed on one side of the much larger craft. The flagship of the fleet had a much larger dock than the others; indeed, several of the fleet's smaller crafts were already docked, their silvery hulls all lined up like that made quite a spectacle.

(I found that difficult. SF doesn't come easily to me.)

A desert oasis

 

[WafflesToo]

A desert oasis
Sand, for miles and miles was all he'd seen. Nothing but sand, and the inviting pool of water perpetually on the horizon. He'd been trudging mindlessly since sun-up for that water, his mind nearly gone and his strength waning when he saw something different for the first time since being stranded. It was green, a strong healthy green against the backdrop of tan. The sound of gurgling water pervaded the soft green carpet of grass and drew him to itself. On reaching the grass-lined shore under the high, shady palms he dropped his head fully under the welcome waters and passed out...


Next:
An isolated mountain top

 

[WafflesToo]

FINE! I'll do it then

An isolated mountain top
The sky was a crisp blue overhead as a cold wind blew through his bones. Standing on the top of the jagged spire and looking down into the clouds far below him he knew he had finally reached the top.

Next:
A city park

 

[Talysia]

(Sorry. I've had a few things on my mind these past few days.)

A city park

A space of green in a sea of grey, dotted with great trees and carefully cultivated flower beds to provide a place for the public to relax. Children laugh and scream as they chase each other, whilst parents sitting on the benches or the grass try to keep a watchful eye on them. Joggers run at various speeds around the ornamental lake, headphones on their ears and drinks bottles in hand, and somewhere a rather unkempt man is sitting with a drinks bottle of a different kind, trying to drink reality away.

And somewhere amidst all this, birds are singing somehow louder than the traffic around them.

A beach in high summer

 

[Simian]

A beach in high summer

Seagulls wheeled against a perfect azure sky, their cries carrying over the rhythmic crash of waves breaking upon the shore. Pensioners slumbered in striped deckchairs, straw hats and handkerchiefs pulled down over their faces to block out the glare of the noonday sun. Over the tops of paperback novels parents watched their children build sandcastles or splash in the surf, dispensing sun tan lotion, money for ice creams or warnings on the dangers of swimming too far out to sea. Young couples lay side by side on brightly coloured beach towels, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, whispering softly to each other lest they be overheard. Close to the shore a lone, sad donkey trod its familiar path, and on the far horizon the sails of unseen ships shimmered and danced in the haze.

An abandoned factory

 

[WafflesToo]

An Abandoned Factory
Standing tall against the dimming skyline was the monolithic tribute to days long past. Rusting corrugated steel siding and ancient crumbling concrete struggled to hide the aged and long inactive machinery, now covered dust and cobwebs from the dusk sky. A rusting latticework of old ladders and scaffolding crisscrossed the building's exterior in mimicry to the spun cobwebs. The few panes of glass left in its windows were completely opaque with dirt and grime. As the evening winds picked up, a few solitary tumbleweeds clinging to the walls fled the ancient sentinel.

Next
An Art Museum

 

[Talysia]

An Art Museum

The doors opened into a scene of calm correctness. Everything was in it's rightful place: paintings hung on the walls, the little red rope below signfying the boundary where the public could not cross, whilst the sculptures and exhibits were in their own little areas, protected by similar barriers. The walls were plain and white, relatively uninteresting, to better enhance the art, or so it was said, and the gold panels beneath each exhibit gleamed. And then the doors opened, to let the people in...

A railway station platform

 

[ctg]

A railway station platform

It was such a cold autumn day, especially when the wind blew through the lonely railway platform. It piled auburn coloured leaves under the benches and made old signs creak. I was the only soul puffing my smokes, like the old steam engine the engineers had moved on a dead-end rail at the end of platform.
"God damn, I hate this," I cursed the people who were sitting in warmed waiting room inside the old wooden railway station. The train was late again. It probably would arrive twenty minutes late on this god forbidden station.

A void

 

[WafflesToo]

A void

...

The End






What?! You want more? Okay, fine... do it the hard way, mmble.

A void
The spell had gone horribly wrong. The wizard screamed as a hole tore open in the air above the summoning circle and beyone the tear was, nothing. No stars, no air, no water, no black, no white, no... nothing. Air rushed by as I tried to scramble from the room, abandoning my task at hand in a vain attempt to save myself. Somehow, I reached the door and looked back in time to see the old wizard himself pulled through the hole into the void; screaming and clawing as he went. The binding circle was well broken by now... and I feared our world was doomed as i shut the door and kept running.

Next
An upscale restaurant

 

[chrispenycate]

Light from the chandeliers was shattered and rainbowed from the cut-crystal glasses, glittered back at you from silverware polished to make a mirror jealous, and flung back in waves from linen so white it seemed snow had fallen.

The sound suggested the muffling effect of snow, too; conversations in centibels, servers who took your order by telepathy, and it was fortunate the food wasn't crunchy, or no-one would have dared to chew.

But it was the aromas that carried the information. Not smells; far to cultured for that. Spicy, saucy or roast, here a flambé, there an antique wine, wafting and mixing, a symphony of gustatory samples awakening deep, dark longings.

"Just how much longer is it going to be before you get the electricity back working?" the manager snarled at me; but oh, what a genteel and civilised snarl, barely disturbing the air molecules a foot away from him.

A railway shunting yard at night

 

[Zubi-Ondo]

Clanking, clanging metal on metal. The sound reverberated off of rust laden, paint worn, corrugatted old tin walls. Long parallel refelections laid lines into the distance of the night. A flourescent lantern swung flashes of temporary color on railway cars. The man held it up between two carraiges, then leaned back looking up the track. He stuck a thumb in the air. "She's locked in. Take her away!"

Backstage at The Royal Albert Hall in 1969 after the only Pink Floyd performance ever to take place there.

 

[chrispenycate]

Clanking, clanging metal on metal. The sound reverberated off of rust laden, paint worn, corrugatted old tin walls. Long parallel refelections laid lines into the distance of the night. A flourescent lantern swung flashes of temporary color on railway cars. The man held it up between two carraiges, then leaned back looking up the track. He stuck a thumb in the air. "She's locked in. Take her away!"

Backstage at The Royal Albert Hall in 1969 after the only Pink Floyd performance ever to take place there.

Hey, that's not fair; I was there. Well, not backstage exactly, but helping remove the surround columns round the balcony, and chatting about the azimuth co-ordinator.
I could write you the atmosphere in the hall, but most of it is smells more than visual, and almost no audio at all; it wasn't the WEM PA that had deafened us but the audience reaction.

 

[Zubi-Ondo]

Hey, that's not fair; I was there.

That's why I chose the scene, Chris. I figured you had been there.

By the way, what concerts or recording sessions with famous bands haven't you been involved with?

- Z.

 

[chrispenycate]

Thousands and thousands of them; I went to hardly any sessions Stateside, and even with English studios I missed out by being over here in Switzerland from the early seventies…
But Bert's Barn (excuse me, the Royal Albert Hall) is just over a walkway from the students union of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, so prom concerts could be heard by sticking one's head out of the Dramsoc window.

The dressing rooms smelt of a century; of dust, and impregnated tobacco smoke, of disinfectant and all the cleaning products discovered over its long existence. It smelt of wax and paper, of fungus and insects.

It also smelt of right now, the leading edge of the future. A whiff of marihuana, hormone-loaded sweat, hot plastic and carbonated drinks. You had to trust your nose, as the mirror with surrounding bright bulbs was turned off, and the only light bulb illuminating the room showed signs of having been installed when Albert was around to comment. Ears told you everyone was a bit deaf; conversations were being held at about twice the normal level, but that wasn't because of the normal excesses of musicians, but the audience going wild at the end. The psychic atmosphere was a mixture of post-performance exhaustion and triumph, the moment after a successful show when all the combats and friction required to get there was forgotten in the exaltation of the arrival.

In a telecabin style ski lift