Game: Collaborative story

[sinister42]

Here's how this thing will work, at least in my brain.

I will write the first paragraph of a story. You (yes you) will write the next paragraph of the same story. And then you (no, not you, the other you) will write a third paragraph. Et cetera. And then, at some point, the story will end and we'll have a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. How cool would that be?

Rules:

1) Respect facts already established and try to maintain continuity.
2) Don't kill the main character unless it really is the next thing that happens.
3) Don't end the story unless it really is the end of the story.
4) Be creative and have fun.
5) There is no rule 5.
6) Don't just be like, "And then this dude nuked the place BOOM." That's not cool.

So. Off we go. And actually I'm going to use a paragraph I came up with yesterday on this forum.

The beginning:

It was in High Whitefield that our hero, Garreth Flundle, was born, and it will be where he dies. It's the stuff in the middle that's really interesting, and most of that doesn't take place in High Whitefield. Still, we must know more about this mysterious town, with its streets made of light and the winged creatures that call to each other in the fog. Sky whales, they were called, and Garreth grew up fearing them, despite his parents' assurances that they were harmless. Well, mostly harmless.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I have to say that based on past performance by Chrons members, it's likely this story will become very long indeed and never actually end. I agree with the rules (which are both sensible and amusing), but wonder how long it will take before the first one goes up in flames!

Fun game though, so here goes.

The beginning:

It was in High Whitefield that our hero, Garreth Flundle, was born, and it will be where he dies. It's the stuff in the middle that's really interesting, and most of that doesn't take place in High Whitefield. Still, we must know more about this mysterious town, with its streets made of light and the winged creatures that call to each other in the fog. Sky whales, they were called, and Garreth grew up fearing them, despite his parents' assurances that they were harmless. Well, mostly harmless.

Until, that is, the day when he came face to face with his first Sky Whale. Garreth was running home from school after a particularly bad day of being bullied, when he took a wrong turn. He dashed down a light-beam street his parents had warned him against travelling. Eyes blurred with tears, he did not at first notice the warning sign, 'Beware: Fractured Beam'. By the time he remembered why he was not supposed to be there, the light had already begun to split into a rainbow spectrum.

 

[sinister42]

Note: That's a REALLY good start. Thanks for jumping in! (I don't mind the idea of a long story that never ends - lots of bits and pieces to bite off and play with later. If this goes well, I may rewrite the whole thing using everyone's contributions).

Red and green split away, and Garreth's foot slipped through. A whale swam through the haze below. As the road prismed out from under him, he closed his eyes. He fell, screaming. He landed, hard, on a soft cushion of...fur? He pulled himself to a kneeling position on the heaving surface. Vertigo spun the world as he looked over the sky whale's flank and down, down, into the deepest levels of the city. He retreated to the soft center of the whale's body, shaking.

 

[sinister42]

Alright, clearly have to prod you guys into action some more here....



The sky whale veered downward, and Garreth saw the head whip back and a red eye glare at him. He held on for dear life, hoping against hope that the whale wouldn't shake him off at this elevation. Towers of carbon nanotube framed the city canyon in which he flew, their tops and bottoms lost in mist, each one an arcology housing thousands. The whale plunged into the deepest levels, cool mist spraying Garreth with mild dampness.

How the hell am I going to get back up there? He looked up to where the sky bridge he'd fallen from was. To reach that level from the ground where this whale was apparently heading...he'd have to navigate some pretty nasty downfloor neighborhoods.

 

[Duttster]

After a brief thought, Garreth nervously edged forwards, nearing the base of the whale's neck. Once again the whale peered round, that bulging red eye taking in every inch of him. As the whale faced forwards again, Garreth grimaced, before lunging forwards and grabbing hold of its gills and tugging back hard. The whale roared in pain, but as it leaned it's great head back towards him, the body followed and they ascended sharply. As he had expected. Gaining the right height, he now needed the whale to turn right slightly. Not daring to release his grip, Garreth leaned over the side of the whale, fully aware of the looming city below. It worked, the whale altered course and they were barreling dead on to the sky bridge. Now he just needs to figure out how to stop.

 

[sinister42]

With a great lunge, the sky whale's body flopped and undulated backwards. Garreth flew off and found himself falling, falling, the ground an impossible distance away. He screamed and flailed, looking for any kind of soft purchase. With a grunt, he landed, breath knocked out of him, a sharp pain in one leg, and lost consciousness.

 

[TitaniumTi]

"Wake up." The soft voice eased him from a nightmare in which a laughing giant swung him by his leg. A warm hand smoothed his forehead.

"Mum?" he forced his gritty eyes open. But the bark-rough face that watched him was not his mother's. The room he rested in was not his bedroom. In fact, it was not a room at all. It was a spherical space walled by woven vines and leaves, which twined even as he watched. He struggled to sit, but the hand forced him down.

"Lie still. It's okay." The bark face split into a smile. "You're okay."

"Never mind about the boy," a voice bellowed from behind him. "What's he done to our whale?"

 

[sinister42]

Nicely done, Titanium! Thanks for jumping in!