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Post by Hermes on Nov 13, 2010 13:34:46 GMT -5
Yes, I, too, suspected the cow as soon as L saw her/him. (I guess it's the henchman of Olaf who was disguised as a cow in TUA.)
Oh, and I like the reference to the fountain and the odd mailbox - actually a woman disguised as a mailbox, perhaps?
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Post by Christmas Chief on Nov 14, 2010 6:42:15 GMT -5
Lemony Snicker. *giggles* Now, I wonder who's responsible for that little error? That would be MS Word. Before I knew how to fix it, any time I typed "Snicket" into the program it would auto-correct it to "Snicker". I started reading this earlier, but then had to leave for several hours. I have a vague sense that "Mr. L." might actually be the character's original name... did you pick it for any particular reason? But yes, this is a good reconstruction of the reason Lemony has to hide his face, and I agree with it, and I also like how you tied it in to events at the dairy. Mr. L for some reason sounded familiar, and in any case a good name for a librarian. But no reason beyond that, no. Oh, and I like the reference to the fountain and the odd mailbox - actually a woman disguised as a mailbox, perhaps? The very same!
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Post by Hermes on Nov 14, 2010 9:30:54 GMT -5
I have autocorrect turned off. Though in any case, 'snicket' is a genuine word.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Nov 14, 2010 17:35:05 GMT -5
I just looked that up; it's a very appropriate definition, and it's actually rather surprising I hadn't noticed before. But I have looked it up in a corporeal (as opposed to online) dictionary and saw no entry.
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Post by Dante on Nov 15, 2010 3:47:28 GMT -5
Corporeal dictionaries are biased against any word with less than three syllables. That's not actually true, but you will encounter situations where it'll seem true. But in any case, I really like the way you used that false AutoCorrection in this story.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Nov 28, 2010 15:49:02 GMT -5
This chapter is based on an actual event in history.
--- Chapter Eleven: The Umbrella Man[/u] Lemony waited anxiously inside the abandoned building for static in his radio to go off. Today he and several volunteers had a very important mission to accomplish, so when he finally did hear a voice say “All clear. Meet at designated spot. And bring accessory.” He was instantly relieved, but then almost as quickly overcome with a new problem. An accessory was a problem. Usually Lemony’s hat was his preferred accessory, but that was being borrowed by R. His trench coat would be his next choice, but that was being “washed” at a questionable drycleaner some miles from where he was staying. The walking cane, though more conspicuous, proved very helpful in many departments throughout Lemony’s career, but that was borrowed by an optometrist and never returned quite some time ago.
Thus Lemony was left with only one option. An umbrella was resting in the corner of a room, and he took it before fleeing out the door.
**********
An important-looking man rode in a long car, waving to the crowd. Lemony saw him approaching, and opened the umbrella on his comrade’s suggestion. His comrade went by the initial B, and was telling Lemony that villains were stationed nearby. They, too, were trying to recruit the potential volunteer for their purposes. “Lemony, they have weapons.” Said B. “Our connections say that they’re stationed in that building there.” He pointed to a tall building that used to be headquarters with the top window open. “What accessory did you bring? Oh, perfect, an umbrella. If you could, Lemony, use the Umbrella Code we practiced last meeting to signal to our volunteers standing by that it is not safe. And don’t look now, but everything we do is being filmed by another of our enemies not far behind you.” Lemony began to execute the motion practiced last meeting by opening and closing the umbrella, rotating it slightly, and ultimately telling the volunteers on the other side of the street that the neophyte was in danger, and so were they. Then, suddenly, a shot was fired. Lemony’s first instinct was to panic, but instead he kept sending the code to evacuate. Meanwhile, B was raising his hand to the sky, telling the nearby aerial volunteers to retreat. “Message received, Lemony, we can stop now—but remember, we’re being filmed and one of the most influential people in the world has just been shot. Look natural.” B said this all very quickly and under his breath. To Lemony, it felt strange to be surrounded by such chaos and try to look calm—it seemed like they would attract more attention that way in any case—but he obeyed without question. B took a small radio out of his pocket and waited for the static. “Yes, we’re fine. Over.” B waited for a response. “No, he was shot. Over.” B answered the question. “Yes. I’ll see you there. Over.” B then put the radio away and said to Lemony, “You go left, and I’ll go right. Meet at the designated area.” Lemony nodded ever so slightly, and he and B went their separate ways. It wasn’t until years later that Lemony realized just how out of hand he and his associate’s expedition had become. The authorities were desperately in search of “the umbrella man”, and Lemony realized he had to put an end to it. He put a note with a fair amount of money attached to an unsuspecting neighbor’s doorstep, and days later, sure enough the umbrella man was “identified”. ---
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Nov 28, 2010 16:16:41 GMT -5
I was afraid before reading this that I might not be able to figure out the historical event that inspired it. But I'm ninety-nine percent sure I got it. This chapter really got me wondering if, had another of Lemony's accessories been available to him, then would the volunteer's life have been saved? It really makes one think.
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Post by Hermes on Nov 28, 2010 16:25:50 GMT -5
Ha! Very nice. So now we know when the series really took place (or at least when Lemony was active.)
Is B anyone in particular?
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Post by Christmas Chief on Nov 28, 2010 17:49:33 GMT -5
B is Bertrand (but his identity is concealed here because the authorities are still looking for him--they're in for quite a disappointment, I think).
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Post by Dante on Nov 29, 2010 2:46:32 GMT -5
Sherry Ann, I'm not sure why I didn't see this last night, but I've seen it now. I initially thought it was going to be about this, but I was wide of the mark; I hadn't heard about this umbrella man. Reading up on it, I really like how carefully you've worked real historical events into this chapter.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Dec 16, 2010 6:16:11 GMT -5
Chapter Twelve: A Traitorous Taxi[/u] Lemony anxiously waited on the sidewalk for his associate to drive him to the theater where they would both receive a message from Dr. Sebald. He was wearing a coat from his disguise kit, with sleeves too long and too loose. The coat kept him warm, however, which was a great advantage on such a cold day. Finally, a taxi stopped right beside where Lemony was standing and he eagerly climbed inside. He noticed that the driver was wearing a large hat that concealed his face; this secrecy was only to be expected, with the work for which the organization participated. Lemony sat down and began to organize the files he had brought with him. It wasn’t until he glanced out the window that he noticed that they were being followed. “I do believe we’re being followed,” Lemony relayed to the driver. The driver nodded and made a sharp turn out of the street and into a shrubbery. He hurriedly exited the taxi, and Lemony was quick to follow. They were walking toward the theater when the driver suddenly said, “Is this the place, Fernald?” Lemony froze. He realized that the driver had mistaken him for a traitor to V.F.D., and was a traitor himself. However, Lemony knew for now he had to act as though nothing was wrong, as his training had taught him, and nod. Soon they arrived to the theater door, where a man was standing guard, his sleeves long as Lemony’s. The guard walked up to the driver, and said, “You! I had to ride here with a despicable driver who wouldn’t stop talking because you couldn’t be bothered to stop at the place I told you to!” The driver looked truly bewildered. Then the guard threw his hands up in the air and allowed the sleeves to fall. Where his hands should have been, there were two deadly hooks. Lemony slowly began to inch away. Something must have clicked in the driver’s head right then, because he dashed for Lemony and threw him to the ground. Lemony couldn’t fight very well, but he knew more evasive techniques than was probably good for anyone. He tripped Fernald so that he fell onto the driver, which allowed him to roll into a nearby bush. He waited until the two stood up and looked frantically around, then quietly and carefully took a stone and tossed it sideways into a bush at least thirty-five feet away. “There!” said the guard, and he and Fernald ran to the bush. Lemony took the opportunity to run behind the theater. The cold was such that Fernald and the driver weren’t able to follow his footprints. Even so, they had plenty of other methods to track him down, many of them quite clever. Lemony remembered that they had both been in V.F.D. at one time, so they knew plenty of techniques. Still, no one had put these tricks into practice more than Lemony. He listened to the voices carefully, and noted the subtle traces of where the two had walked, and this allowed him to make his way back to the crashed taxi. “Behind the building.” He heard the driver say. “You go east, I’ll go west.” This allowed Lemony to go north. “Around that bush,” Lemony eavesdropped on Fernald. This gave Lemony the opportunity to throw a stone at a bush some yards away. “There!” He heard the driver say, and through the small hole Lemony was peering through, he saw the driver point to a point very near his hiding place. This let him move carefully towards the taxi. But when he finally got there it wasn’t empty. This was decidedly a good thing, for the woman waiting was his sister. She nodded, started the engine, and drove off. If Lemony had been able to attend that night’s performance, he would have known Dr. Sebald couldn’t meet him at the place he’d previously said he could. He would have saved over twenty hours of precious time, and might have been able to save a dear volunteer.
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Post by Dante on Dec 16, 2010 9:21:37 GMT -5
Very insightful chapter; it's only appropriate that Lemony would be the greatest at escaping and avoiding trouble, since he seems to be in so much more trouble than everyone else, and has been for years. And are we at Chapter Twelve already? It doesn't seem like so many.
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Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on Dec 16, 2010 9:40:59 GMT -5
Yes, Lemony's ability to escape dangerous situations more than makes up for his lack to fight well. I liked, too, the introduction of Fernald. Also, I commend Lemony for keeping his cool upon finding out that he was not the volunteer the driver assumed him to be (or is it vice-versa?). Anyway, thank goodness for the efforts of the V.F.D. Training School! ;D
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Post by Hermes on Dec 16, 2010 14:55:22 GMT -5
Oh gosh! This is the occasion when Dr Sebald doesn't turn up in TUA, right? Excellent as always!
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Post by Christmas Chief on Dec 17, 2010 7:48:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Yes, this is the part when Dr. Sebald doesn't come in the UA; Lemony was waiting for a message from him, unaware that a message had already come.
Last chapter coming (relatively) soon. (In six days.)
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