The SSSS Scriptorium

[SeaAngel]

but... but... but melting boring ... it doesn't make hair shine in the dancing lights as if was coming alive

You find a melting wall boring?? 
I need to step away from you, now. Very slowly. No sudden movements. *uncomfortable grin*

[P__]

It's not that it's boring in itself, but it usually doesn't glow much and won't make hair shine so it's obviously much less interesting than a controlled fire (wild fires are no fun though)
Plus you can't really melt trolls to death... either burn them, shoot them or have them freeze

[Solovei]

I love it!  Even though your story does contradict my claim that Lalli fails some basic functions of cat-hood, such as purring and keeping your lap warm...

Because I have an evil mind, I can't help picturing what happened about 30 minutes after the end of this story:
1. Tuuri pads into the kitchen, hoping to sneak a piece of dried fruit from Mikkel's porridge-making stash before everyone else wakes up. 
2. Peeking through the cockpit door to make sure Emil won't catch her, she lets out an EEEE! of delighted amusement.
3. A confused series of grunts, bangs, and then a loud THUD as Emil wakens with a start, flails about, and falls heavily to the floor.  A softer THUMP as Lalli, ejected from his warm nest, neatly lands on his feet.  He gives Tuuri the outraged stare of a cat rudely deprived of its sleep. 
4. Tuuri giggles as Emil, red-faced, shouts "NO!  No!  It's not what it looks like!"
5. Mikkel, woken by the ruckus, looms up behind Tuuri in the doorway.  Instantly sizing up the situation, he very theatrically turns his eyes away as if to say, "Aw, let's give the happy couple some privacy."  (And stifles a chuckle behind one massive hand.)

Just picturing Emil flailing about and falling over is amazing. Of course he'd be all huffy and embarrassed about it.

[Sunflower]

Just picturing Emil flailing about and falling over is amazing. Of course he'd be all huffy and embarrassed about it.

Of course he would.  Just imagine what he'd be like in yoga class.  He'd barely last two seconds in Standing Bow-Pulling Pose.  (Tuuri could last about 10 seconds, at least on her first try.)

[Solovei]

Of course he would.  Just imagine what he'd be like in yoga class.  He'd barely last two seconds in Standing Bow-Pulling Pose.  (Tuuri could last about 10 seconds, at least on her first try.)

Lalli is probably a secret yoga master, if only because his cat powers probably let him be super flexible.

Actually, I can see them finding some long-forgotten yoga book and being very confused by it.
Tuuri: "There's pictures in this one... what are these people doing? They're making weird shapes with their arms and legs..."
Sigurn: "Oh, thiiis. Yes, this is an ancient form of magic. Very difficult to master."

Quick, someone write this!

[Sunflower]

Lalli is probably a secret yoga master, if only because his cat powers probably let him be super flexible.

Actually, I can see them finding some long-forgotten yoga book and being very confused by it.
Tuuri: "There's pictures in this one... what are these people doing? They're making weird shapes with their arms and legs..."
Sigurn: "Oh, thiiis. Yes, this is an ancient form of magic. Very difficult to master."

Quick, someone write this!

Actually, I kind of did ages ago, though it lacks any kind of plot attachment:
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=7.msg877#msg877

[ruth]

i'm working on something, so keep your eyes peeled! just may have to wait until i've finished my finals for this semester.

[Solovei]

Actually, I kind of did ages ago, though it lacks any kind of plot attachment:
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=7.msg877#msg877

YES! Those are all exactly how I was picturing them. Good job, Sunflower!

[Esko Oksanen]

To start us off, here is a little thing I posted on the comments earlier, in which Emil tries to teach Lalli some stuff (and fails... maybe?)

A Lesson

Emil had drawn the night watch again; he was beginning to think the Dane had rigged the lots out of some misplaced spite towards him personally. Still, Lalli was usually up during the night anyway, and spending time with the scout wasn’t too bad, once you got over the fact that he didn’t understand anything you said. It was kind of nice, in a way.

“-- So anyway, this guy I was in training with, he thought he was the best at everything, but clearly he was just trying to show off in front of the girls, you know? It was really pathetic!” He finished with a self-satisfied laugh, raising his arms to stretch his back. As always, the Finnish teenager said nothing, the expression on his face that of slightly bored apprehension as he sat with his arms folded over his knees, rifle at his side.
“You know, Lalli, one of these days we should have an actual conversation. That would be nice, right? Maybe I could teach you some words or something while we’re out here...”
This seemed to pique the scout’s interest, as he sat up and glanced at Emil with an almost imperceptible smile. He tapped his chin, looking at their surroundings. There wasn’t much, really.
“Um… lets see…” At this point, he made an exaggerated shivering gesture. “It’s cold, right? Kallt?”
He got a few blinks in reply, but this didn’t deter him. He was a Swede after all, and if Swedes gave up this easily, they would not have reclaimed so much of their lands, or built a city as magnificent as Mora.
 “Okay, maybe that’s too hard... “ after all, cold was a very abstract term. You can’t touch cold, at least not when it’s in the air. Maybe he should look for something more solid, something real. He pointed excitedly to the small fire they’d been allowed to set up to keep warm during the night. “Brasa. Can you say that, Lalli? Braaa-sa.”
This time, the Finn nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything in response. Emil was starting to feel a bit silly, sitting out here and saying random words and waving his hands like an idiot. He pointed up to the full moon. “Månen?” Surely he would understand that, he was the one that summoned the thing, supposedly. But once again there was only a small nod and nothing else to suggest comprehension.
“Ugh, I give up.” He said finally and bit off a chunk of his meat jerky in frustration, staring into the dancing flames. For a while, everything was quiet; only the howling wind broke the night-time silence. They had picked a good spot to make camp for the night, and the chance of an attack here was minimal, but Sigrun had insisted on setting up a rotating watch anyway. He was about to start dozing off, just for a short while… it was fine, really, because Lalli was right there and he was much better at this than...
“Emil…”
The sound of his name snapped him awake. It was his turn to blink now - Lalli had never, ever called him by name before. His features softened somewhat and he smiled before realizing that the scout was pointing at something off in the distance.
The smile vanished. “Go get the others. We need to leave.”

Esko stares right into Solovei's eyes before getting down on one knee and putting his hand in his pouch.
He slowly pulled it back out, revealing a perfectly shaped unpealed potato.
Esko quickly looked straight into Solovei's eyes, filled with warmth, as he whimpered, "Solovei... Will you be..."
He was interrupted by an instinctive gulp but he quickly continued his sentence as opposed to starting again and risking another nervous gulp.
"My... senpai...?"

[Sunflower]

Esko stares right into Solovei's eyes before getting down on one knee and putting his hand in his pouch.
He slowly pulled it back out, revealing a perfectly shaped unpealed potato.
Esko quickly looked straight into Solovei's eyes, filled with warmth, as he whimpered, "Solovei... Will you be..."
He was interrupted by an instinctive gulp but he quickly continued his sentence as opposed to starting again and risking another nervous gulp.
"My... senpai...?"

EEEE!  <delighted giggle>
As Falstaff said in "The Merry Wives of Windsor":

   Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green Sleeves!

[Solovei]

Esko stares right into Solovei's eyes before getting down on one knee and putting his hand in his pouch.
He slowly pulled it back out, revealing a perfectly shaped unpealed potato.
Esko quickly looked straight into Solovei's eyes, filled with warmth, as he whimpered, "Solovei... Will you be..."
He was interrupted by an instinctive gulp but he quickly continued his sentence as opposed to starting again and risking another nervous gulp.
"My... senpai...?"

I'm actually eating a potato as I write this.
Not YOUR potato of course. A completely unrelated potato.
But I thought it was worthwhile to point that out >D

[Esko Oksanen]

EEEE!  <delighted giggle>
As Falstaff said in "The Merry Wives of Windsor":

   Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green Sleeves!

OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE YOU IN THE MOST PLATONIC WAY.

[Sunflower]

OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE YOU IN THE MOST PLATONIC WAY.

Likewise, my dear fellow.    All those Shakespeare classes in college finally paid off!

[Paul Ferris]

i'm working on something, so keep your eyes peeled! just may have to wait until i've finished my finals for this semester.

How's it going? You can't have MORE exams only two weeks from Christmas

[partofacitygiant]

Started writing about a scout in northern Finland, trying to keep this one a bit gloomier than the main story... but I guess it'll get gloomy too at some point.

Prologue:

Location: Kajaani headquarters of military and scouts (total personnel 200)
Time: June, year 90

"So, you then decided really to get out for a while, did you not? Five weeks!"
"yes, Mam..."
"I'll have to say after three weeks we started thinking that you might have moved to Keuruu and forgot to leave a notice!!"
"No, Mam... I went north."
"yes yes, you like 'your wildernesses' but do you have any idea how much inconvience your spring vacation caused to your fellow scouts back here in Kajaani??"
"Didn't really think of them mam, you see, I found this really detailed map of old times stuffed in a plastic rescue equipment container in an abandoned pickup truck, and ...
"We had to completely revise our patrols aroud Vaala and start training few people in day scouting from scratch!, what do you have to say in your d... what did you say?"
"Yes, told no one of that, sorry for that, mam, this map you see..."
"What map, what are you mumbling about?"
"If you'll let me explain, mam..."
"Well then, A report of your activities of the past five weeks, please."
----
"Mam. You see, I'm sort of a map buff and of course when I find anything of old I'll check those out while out, so I can decide if they're worth carrying back..."
"ok, go on..."
"This is the map that intrigued me so I thought I keep it to myself for a while, it's not as if many scouts do 2 weeks out continously and since I'm the only one I know of who moves in this area, I thought to keep it to myself..."
"Well, that's a start for an explanation...let's see the map then."
The long-distance scout draws out the map in question from his backbag and says:"it's a bit damaged since I fell out of the raft I used... I done my best to dry it and smooth it afterwards... first a word about the area what's depicted on the map, if I may, mam?!"
"Well that goes to the skalds to copy as it should have been immediately, and be glad it's here with you... we do not like people wandering off as you should know, maybe you should work in the fields for a while or...   ah well, do go on, that looks like an accurate map, despite the condition."

"Yes, as far as I can tell, this is an accurate map over an area where I have been trying to enter for a while now. As you may well know from my previous reports, the areas north of here are very barren, good food sources are few, and there aren't too many safe places to camp out there, few lakes, almost no islands on them and all that... So you might understand my excitement of a map that has at least once in history been accurate showing this area of near-impenetrable bogs and swamps that's been blocking our reconnaissance missions for several years now...
"ok, this starts to be interesting.
"The area in question is a bit over the edge of our normal 2 week range, so previously I've only reached the southwestern edges of this area on my longer outings.
"Yes, I can see why YOU should see this exciting, more wildernesses to wander about, but how come you used a whole fricking five weeks out there, this still needs some additional explanation, and the map should have been copied immediately, who knows whats been lost from it.
"Yes, sorry for that, I wasn't expecting the journey to take that long, but travelling in an unknown area where you don't have maps of can be real slow, especially when you have to mostly fish for food and nearly none of the silent world farms that have plants to harvest... in fact I decided to get on this in spring mainly for the perch and salmon...
"umm, I'll take it you didn't stay on this map then, or that it's partly inaccurate or you got lost, something scouts should never do!"
"Well... yes, yes and yes, mam. When I was planning this journey... well maybe it's better to tell how I got the idea of the expedition first.
"That could be helpful, yes.

--------

flashback
location:Kajaani scouts' living room/kitchen
time: early morning, breakfast, september 12th, 89

A very tired-looking night scout enters.
"Hello, Arto, good to see you back." "Hi, welcome back." "Nice to see you after a long time!"
There are few additional general greetings from the present day-scouts and long-distance scouts, six in total. 
"Hello."
"Was it a rough trip?"
"Tell me more."
"How's everyone?"
Arto sighs and says:"Those who got back alive went straight to bed, I just can't sleep right now. ------ . Damn, I'm sure those trolls can count!"

--------

By this time the scouts have realised lives have been lost on this expedition approved by the headquarters.
"Tell us, Arto."

--------
Arto shrugs, then straightens and starts,
"Yes, of course you'll hear about it later, so why not now. So we left here in August after harvest had begun, well-stocked like we thought, on ammo and food, so we could make it 'fast out - fast in', like our captain told us. That place is not for men..."
"Take it easy, you're safe now."
Sad grin appears on Arto's face and he continues:"Well all went well to the first rapids that had been scouted before, after that...  The start of the river is ok I guess. Some 70k out there are many little farms that have some trolls but nothing special, so we didn't even have to use much of our stock, and everyone was quite happy to be in the company that could reach the Sea eventually. We only had to go round a couple of areas, and we knew where these were. Then..."
Deep breath.
"then we got to an area, you've not seen such a huge flat land I'm sure. Well some bogs maybe but here there was no water on land and trolls everywhere you look... a terrible sight."