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Post by champ103 on Jan 25, 2005 14:07:05 GMT -5
OMFG OMFG you are so good (gets down and kisses foot) but really did you get that from Daniel's son? cause I'd love it if you could get me a copy? I could try. I'm being risky by posting it here quite frankly, but I'll do my best. Yeah, Otto's a good mate of mine.
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Post by Dante on Jan 25, 2005 14:44:07 GMT -5
Okay, I give up, I'll join in.
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Post by champ103 on Jan 30, 2005 5:20:41 GMT -5
The Perilous Plane by Dupin[/b]
Dupin's Notes: Wow, I never thought I'd revive this. I haven't written this in ages, so my Lemony Snicket style might not be too good. Try to find as many litrecy references as possible. (:
Chapter Nine
Betrayal is a thing in life no one wants to meet in their path, rather like cockroaches or a pile of milk. If you’re taking steps in life, betrayal is something that sets you unbalanced, and pushes you back a few steps, like a journey along a path. Cockroaches could scare you, and chase you back down the path, and a pile of milk could get in the way, and to avoid a wet and sticky consequence, you’d have to go back down the path. But as the scale of betrayal goes, the Baudelaires hadn’t seemed to move off the spot, despite walking in cycles, up mountains, below seas, and now above the skies. They’d been betrayed by friends and guardians, betrayed by Olaf and snow scouts. But now, it seemed the Hindenburger was filled with betrayal, as they felt themselves caught in Geraldine’s wrath, and realized they had been betrayed once again. ‘No problem, Olaf!’ Geraldine cried, grinning with pearly white teeth. ‘The Baudelaire murderers won’t escape the power of the newspaper!’ ‘You betrayed us!’ Klaus cried, trying to struggle. ‘You betrayed all of the Hindenburger: Kit and Jake too!’ ‘Of course I did!’ Geraldine replied, and she broke into a loud cackle. ‘You were so easy and stupid to intimidate! It was so easy to smuggle myself into the Hindenburger! And now I’m going to kill you, a very easy task indeed!’ ‘Fdog!’ Sunny shrieked, which probably meant something along the lines of ‘you evil woman! How could you do this to us!’ ‘Oh little Susie,’ Geraldine muttered. ‘Your mouth is filled with such drivel I can’t even stand to listen to you! Someone take this brat away-how abouts we throw this little toothy toddler off this plane for good!’ ‘No!’ Violet cried, and thought ferociously. ‘You need one Baudelaire to keep the fortune, and Sunny’s the easiest to fit in a cage.’ ‘Help?’ Sunny asked, which meant. ‘I’m not sure it’s helping much, Violet.’ ‘I guess you’re right,’ Olaf snorted, and paced down the room. ‘That bookworm is the one we should get rid of!’ ‘No!’ Fiona cried, and thought ferociously. ‘Klaus could help research for evil plots, and you could torment him whenever you wanted, by taking away his glasses!’ ‘I’m not sure that’s helping much, Fiona,’ Klaus murmured, inaudibly. ‘I guess you’re right,’ Esme said, pacing down to join Olaf. ‘But that leaves the tall one with the ribbon. She’s no use! ‘No!’ Olaf cried. ‘She’s the prettiest, and the easiest to push around!’ Violet shuddered, but didn’t say anything. ‘Then who are we to throw off?’ Collete asked. ‘We only need one Baudelaire, and there are two extra! We can’t leave them all: together, they always break free of our plans!’ ‘I guess you’re right,’ the hook-handed man muttered, and stroked his chin with his hook. ‘Perhaps we should take a vote.’ ‘Or pull straws!’ Hugo suggested. ‘No, no, no!’ Kevin replied. ‘Pulling straws with equally strong hands is one of the things that always puts me down!’ ‘Well, we need to get them off our hands whilst we decide!’ Geraldine declared. ‘Is there a room to place them in?’ ‘The cabin!’ the man with the beard but no hair cried. ‘We’ll lock them in, and when we’ve decided on what to do, we’ll throw out the Snickets and the two Baudelaires!’ ‘I have a better idea what to do with those freaks!’ Olaf cried. ‘But first, we must decide which freaks to do it with!; ‘I find that rather hurtful,’ Hugo whined. ‘Never mind about you!’ Esme shrieked, moving her cloud-dress swiftly around in a cycle. ‘Take the Baudelaires to the cabin now!’ Taking another step down the path of their lives, the Baudelaires followed, knowing that getting away from the evil people might give them a chance of safety, and to run up the path further and further. They knew some of Count Olaf’s plan, but could only hope they knew enough to stop him and his vile troupe. As they were shoved into their cabin, where their regular clothes still lay on the floor, all three of the Baudelaire’s minds were in full motion. Violet was thinking about how outnumbered they all were. Jake and Kit were somehow missing, and Olaf seemed more powerful then ever, his troupe becoming large and larger. Klaus Baudelaire was thinking of a different thing: he was ashamed he was not able to realize that Harriet was not really a co-pilot, but a vicious reporter from the Daily Punctilio, working for the bad side of V.F.D. He could have prevented what had happened. And the missing Baudelaire was thinking about her keen reading, and hoping she could show her siblings it some time, in order to help save them. But as they heard the clicking of the door, as the man with the beard but no hair locked the heavy metal door behind them, they realized they needed to think faster. Klaus began to walk towards his clothes: his jacket and shirt lay tumbled over the floor, but his sister stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. ‘We don’t have time to worry about our clothing,’ she muttered. ‘We have to think of a way to stop Olaf’s plan. He’s going to take over the Hindenburger and throw us and Snickets off! If he has control of this plane, he can get to Hotel Denouement quicker!’ ‘But why doesn’t he just use the eagles?’ Klaus asked,’ or an eagle?’ ‘Helicopters and birds can only go so high where the riders can breathe,’ Violet replied. ‘Olaf probably wants it to see Hotel Denouement from far up.’ ‘Quagmire balloon!’ Sunny shrieked. ‘Egad!’ Klaus cried, adjusting his glasses. ‘I hadn’t thought about that. The Quagmire’s are probably in risk just like us!’ ‘And the Snickets!’ Violet shouted. ‘I’ll just fetch my ribbon, and we’ll get to work for thinking!’ ‘Thinking caps!’ Sunny cried, nodding in agreement. The saying ‘put on your thinking caps’ in a nonsensical one, as usually you do not have a hat to put on. Most people do not keep caps around when they are in dire situations, unless they are using it to hide something, or whether they have a bald patch on their head. But the Baudelaires didn’t care. They put on their thinking caps-or in Violet’s case, a literal ribbon, and started thinking. But as Violet reached into her dress pocket to get out her ribbon, she felt something else there. She quickly pulled it out, as if she had just touched something very hot with bare fingers, and saw it was a piece of paper. ‘Klaus, I’m sure this wasn’t here when I went to bed,’ she replied, gazing at her siblings. ‘Is there anything on it?’ Klaus asked. ‘A newspaper article or maybe a graph?’ Violet skimmed the piece of paper and quickly shook her head. ‘Just two words,’ she replied grimly, and turned the paper so Klaus and Sunny could see. ‘I’m here,’ she read out to them. ‘Why could have placed it there?’ Klaus questioned, taking the paper from his sister. ‘I recognize the writing, but I just can’t remember who’s. I have a feeling I was looking at this writing for a long time.’ ‘That’s strange,’ Violet replied. ‘I don’t recognize it at all.’ ‘Me neither!’ Sunny agreed with a frown. ‘Well, someone must be here on the plane,’ Klaus told them. ‘They must have been in this room some time whilst we were with Olaf.’ ‘We can’t figure out who it is!’ Violet cried. ‘Let alone where they are now! But we can figure out how to stop Olaf! We’ve done it so many times before! We can’t let him defeat us.’ ‘And the Quagmires!’ Klaus shouted. ‘V.F.D!’ Sunny yelled. ‘Well,’ Violet said. ‘I have no materials the invent something. I was thinking of a jet pack or a welding torch, but we need heat to create something like that, and to create a jet pack, we’d need a spring to create the force of push. And we’d need so many things that we just don’t have.’ ‘But you’ve done things like this before!’ Klaus replied, placing a hand on his sister’s shoulder. ‘You’ll get by.’ ‘I suppose so,’ Violet replied. ‘Why don’t you search for more pieces of paper around that this mystery person could have left?’ ‘I’m on it,’ Klaus replied, adjusting his glasses. ‘Lock?’ Sunny asked. ‘I suppose you could try breaking the lock with your teeth,’ Violet replied. ‘That way, we could escape easily, and go find the Snickets.’ ‘Yup!’ Sunny replied. ‘I’ll get by!’ And the Baudelaires got by: all three of them.
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Post by champ103 on Jan 30, 2005 5:24:55 GMT -5
Chapter Nine Continued
Violet thought, and looked around for various inventing materials. She found a few things, and the gears in her brains started to work once more. Klaus checked every where for paper, examining their clothes and around their bed sheets. He clambered into the cupboard, cutting his foot on a switch of some sort. It was hard to do, but he kept trying. And Sunny began to bite away the lock. It was the hardest metal she’d ever bite, but she carried on going, until all three of the children had a break, and discussed their finds. ‘How was the search going, Klaus?’ Violet asked, tightening her ribbon. ‘Not so good,’ Klaus replied, holding small bits of paper in his palms. I found quite a few pieces of paper in the room, but none of them seem any use. I found an old magnifying glass in the cupboard, but it showed there wasn’t even a mark this mystery person could have written. I found a graph about the plane’s waterworks, and a poem by Spike Milligan. I know the poem well, so I quickly detected that there were no signs of Verse Fluctuation Declaration. How did the lock go with you, Sunny?’ ‘Almost there!’ Sunny cried, which meant ‘the lock has almost worn away, there are just a few small bits I need help with.’ ‘I should be able to help with that,’ Violet murmured, and help out three long pieces of wood. ‘I found these loose from one of the bunk beds, and carved them into sharp, sinister shapes. I was thinking we could use them for self-defence if needed, and they could probably wear away the lock if we all tried. Then we could sneak down and find the Snickets. They might know of the mystery person, or Olaf’s plans. And we’d use these on Olaf’s hench-people if necessary. Let’s hope we don’t get in a situation like that.’ ‘Rather,’ Klaus replied. ‘I think we should all get to work and start attacking at that lock.’ ‘Good thinking,’ Violet replied, handing her siblings one each. They walked over to the lock, united as siblings, and each clutching one of Violet’s well-constructed truncheons, began whacking at the lock Sunny became so close to breaking herself. ‘Woah!’ Klaus cried, above the roar of the truncheons. ‘Sunny, you did a really good job on this! It seems we won’t have to spend much time-it’s already weakening! This should be a piece of cake!’ ‘Yum!’ Sunny joked, and got back to hammering on the lower bits of the lock, since standing she could reach the rest. Within minutes, the lock simply gave a small cracking noise, and Violet was quick to test the door. She pulled down on the handle, and found it pushed open fairly easily. ‘We’ve escaped!’ she cried, tiptoeing out of the chamber. ‘It really was a piece of cake!’ As I’m sure you already know, the saying ‘a piece of cake’ does not refer to a slice of moist, usually flavoured sponge, with an icing coating around the top. It refers to a chore or a situation being very easy, and the Baudelaires were right as they emerged back into the hallway. It was very easy, when Violet used her inventing skills, Klaus used his researching skills, and Sunny used her skill of biting. But as they looked around to check if anyone was nearby, they saw not a piece of cake, but a piece of mystery, in the shape of another piece of paper, and a huge marking on the wall. ‘What could it mean?’ Klaus asked, rushing to the huge arrow carved into the metal wall. ‘Clue?’ Sunny asked, crawling over and picking up the small piece of paper. She smiled, as this gave her a chance to read, and after studying it for no more then a few seconds, she spoke up. ‘Follow the arrow!’ she cried, and pointed to the huge marking on the wall. ‘Perhaps it could be Kit and Jake,’ Klaus replied,’ and they want to let us know that they’re safe.’ ‘But perhaps it’s yet another evil person,’ Violet suggested,’ trying to get us into a trap.’ ‘Widdershins and Phil?’ Sunny asked. Her siblings shrugged. ‘Well, I guess we should follow the arrow,’ Violet told Klaus and Sunny. ‘Just be very cautious. Keep your truncheons at the ready.’ ‘Aye!’ Klaus cried, as if Captain Widdershins talk had not yet worn off on him. ‘Aye!’ Violet cried back, holding up her truncheon. And with that, the three Baudelaire orphans started making their way across the hallway. ‘If I’m right,’ Klaus replied. ‘We should be coming up to the control room and the Flying Library.’ ‘Aren’t the snow scouts guarding the control room?’ Violet questioned. ‘We won’t be able to get past them.’ ‘Useless treasure hunt,’ Sunny muttered with a frown. ‘Perhaps it isn’t Kit and Jake.’ Klaus replied. ‘Maybe it’s the snow scouts themselves. They turned down an offer to turn good, but perhaps they’ve had a change of heart whilst thinking about it.’ ‘Perhaps,’ Violet replied. ‘But evil rarely turn good.’ They continued down, and they did not come across any foe to use their truncheon on. They felt good about that: violence was something the Baudelaires couldn’t stand. Violent video games back at the Baudelaire home were the ones they didn’t enjoy. Violent movies were the ones they would skip to go and read a book. And using violence themselves, was something they didn’t really want to think about. ‘I think I can hear the snow scouts,’ Klaus whispered to his sisters, as they approached a corner. ‘They should be right round there.’ ‘That’s where the control room and the Flying Library are too,’ Violet replied, whispering. ‘How do we get past?’ ‘Note!’ Sunny shouted, holding up a third piece of paper. Being the smallest of the three, and closest to the ground, it had proved many times that she could usually find things lying around easily. ‘What does it say?’ Klaus whispered. Sunny looked at the piece of paper. ‘Use masks to go left,’ Sunny read out to them. Her siblings gazed at one another in confusion. ‘Masks?’ Klaus asked,’ what could this person mean by masks?’ ‘Perhaps disguises?’ Sunny suggested. Violet tightened her ribbon, and thought very carefully, placing a hand on her chin. Placing a hand on your chin is a gesture of hard thought. I used placed a hand on my chin whilst thinking how to untie the rest of my body from a large barbeque grill. Count Olaf placed his dirty hands on his chin to think up more vile plots to kill the Baudelaires and take their fortune. And now Violet was placing her hand on her chin, to think what the mystery person could mean. ‘I think they mean actual masks,’ she concluded. ‘The snow scouts probably still have them.’ She peered round the corner, to see the bunch of them talking and laughing around the door of the control room. She nodded as she turned back round to her siblings. ‘How do we get them to take them off?’ Klaus replied. ‘So we can use them?’ Violet thought again. ‘Well, if you were wearing a mask like that, what reason would you have for taking them off?’ she asked. Klaus looked down at the floor and thought. ‘Itch!’ Sunny shouted! ‘But we don’t have any itching powder, and we can’t just wait for them to have itches,’ Klaus replied. ‘I was thinking more along the lines of making this place very warm and hot. That way, they’d get so hot with the masks on, they’d take them off.’ Violet nodded thoroughly. ‘That’s a great idea Klaus!’ she cried. ‘Perhaps this too will be a piece of cake!’ Klaus smiled, pleased that his older sister admired his abilities. ‘Thanks,’ he replied. ‘But to make it hot around here, we’d need to turn off the air-conditioning, which is located in the control room, which is where we’re trying to get to anyway.’ ‘Nope!’ Sunny cried, and pointed to the piece of paper. ‘Use masks to go left!’ Violet took the note from her sister, and looked at his, Klaus peering over her shoulder. ‘Left would mean going into the Flying Library,’ she mused. ‘So this mystery person must be in there!’ ‘Or it could just be another clue,’ Klaus pointed out. ‘Trap!’ Sunny squealed worryingly. ‘Well, we have to find out,’ Violet replied determinedly. ‘If we can’t get into the control room, we have to find another way to make this corridor very hot.’ All three Baudelaires looked around in thought. ‘There must be a switch to activate the heater,’ Klaus replied. ‘You can decide how hot you want the room, house, or in this case, plane to be.’ Violet frowned at the idea. ‘Wouldn’t it be in the control room as well?’ Violet asked. Klaus shook his head in delight. ‘The heat switch would be located by the main heater. It would also heat up the water boiler, and all the radiators. And if you look round there, the snow scouts are standing by various radiators.’ ‘Oh, Klaus, that’s perfect!’ Violet cried quietly, embracing her brother. ‘I think we can do this!’ ‘I know we can do this!’ Klaus cried. ‘It ought to be a piece of cake!’
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Post by champ103 on Jan 30, 2005 5:25:28 GMT -5
Chapter Nine Continued
Where’s main heater?’ Sunny asked. Klaus looked down at his sister and shrugged. ‘It could be anywhere on the plane, Sunny,’ he replied. ‘It could be in the Flying Library, or even in the entrance room, where Count Olaf is. Usually they’re secured at the back of a wardrobe or a cupboard.’ ‘Well, where have we seen a cupboard like that?’ Violet asked them. ‘Or a switch?’ ‘I can’t think,’ Klaus replied. ‘The only time I’ve been focused on my surroundings were when I was searching for the pieces of paper in the chamber, and even then, I was half-focusing because I cut my foot.’ ‘Ouch, why didn’t you mention it to us?’ Violet asked. Klaus didn’t reply, but merely stood, looking down at the metal floor. ‘Klaus?’ Sunny asked, tugging at his trousers. ‘You two,’ he replied. ‘I know where the switch is.’ Violet smiled, and gave a small jump in delight. Sunny gave a huge toothy grin, and hugged her brother’s leg. ‘Where is it?’ she asked. ‘Well, when I was searching, I cut my foot in the chamber cupboard,’ he explained. ‘I only briefly looked back at what had caused it, and when I looked it was a switch! It might not be the heating switch, but we’d better go and check.’ ‘Split up?’ Sunny asked. ‘No,’ Violet replied. ‘We should all go together. We can’t afford losing each other again.’ They all nodded, and baring their truncheons tight, they rushed back quickly through the dim hallways, looking around for any pieces of paper or enemies, although in several occasions in my life, those two things have meant the same. Very soon, they arrived back, and found that the journey was yet another piece of cake. Klaus frantically crawled down into the cupboard and searched around, until he found the switch, and called his sisters towards him. ‘See?’ he replied. ‘You can move the switch to 5oc, 10oc and so on. This sounds like a heating switch to me.’ ‘You’re right, Klaus!’ Violet replied. ‘Now, what should we set it to?’ ‘The highest it will go to!’ Klaus replied, turning to switch right around. As the heater, the boiler, and the radiators started to heat up, the Baudelaires started to feel its power, even as they started making their way back down to the snow scouts. However, as they started making their way across the hallway, they heard a patter of footsteps behind them, as something else came that would stop this being a piece of cake. ‘Boss!’ the hook-handed man cried out. ‘Come see this! Those brats have escaped! They’ve left their room! It was locked, but they got out! Oh-there they are!’ The Baudelaires gasped as the fully-grown man started chasing after them. The heat of the Hindenburger started to take an effect on them, and they started to run slower as they began sweating. The hook-handed man seemed to have the same problems, and the Baudelaire quickly got further away from him, until they arrived at the corner again. ‘Come back, you idiots!’ the hook-handed man cried. ‘I’ll hack you into little pieces! I’ll grill you like salmon!’ ‘Keep running!’ Klaus panted to his sisters. ‘The snow scouts have taken off their masks!’ ‘Grab one!’ Sunny cried. They rushed around the corner, as the hook-handed man continued to shout horrible threats at them. They each scooped up a mask from the floor, and attached it on before the snow scouts could tell what was happening. And then, they simply emerged into the group. ‘Who are you?’ a girl asked to Klaus. Klaus thought quickly. ‘I’m Ackroyd,’ he explained carefully. ‘And these other two are Aggie and Christe.’ Violet quickly took over as Klaus stammered from the heat. ‘Count Olaf ordered a few more snow scouts to come to guard the control room,’ she said. ‘After all, we don’t was those vile Snickets to escape!’ ‘No, no, no!’ cried Sunny, trying to act as evil as possible. The girl snow scout was about to reply, and she wiped sweat from her forehead, but there was a roar from the corner as the hook-handed man charged in. ‘Where are those Baudelaires?’ he shouted. ‘I want to claw their eyes out!’ Klaus gulped. To think that they thought there was some good inside. Deep down inside, there is a bit of good in anyway, the way deep down inside a mine, there will be some delicate gold. The Baudelaires had dug deep into the mind of the hook-handed man, who they knew as Fernald. They had almost retrieved the gold from him, only for there to be an avalanche inside, and now the remains were gone, and the hook-handed man was as evil as ever. ‘You must have seen them!’ he cried, taking a step towards the snow scouts. ‘I did!’ cried Violet, thinking quickly. ‘Those menacing three rushed in here, but then they doubled back to trick you! They mentioned heading to the kitchen to hide!’ ‘Are you sure?’ the hook-handed man asked. ‘Because if you’re lying, I’ll gut you like I would the Baudelaires!’ ‘She tells the truth!’ Klaus shouted. ‘They rushed back!’ ‘I’ll go find them!’ the hook-handed man cried. ‘And when I do…’ His voice trailed off, and so did he as he retreated back around the corner. ‘Hey!’ Violet cried. ‘I heard something from the Flying Library! I’ll go check it out!’ ‘So will me and Christie,’ Klaus replied. ‘So we’re not outnumbered if it’s something bad.’ ‘Great idea!’ Violet cried. ‘Come along Ackroyd!’ ‘Are you sure you don’t want more to come?’ a boy asked. ‘Quite sure,’ Klaus exclaimed. ‘After all, we need to keep as many as possible to guard the control room.’ ‘I suppose,’ the boy mumbled. The Baudelaires opened the door to the Flying Library, and saw that it was in just a huge wreck as the other rooms. The bookshelves were toppled over, and the chairs were scattered around. However, one was still up, and as it spun around, the children needed no more pieces of mystery. Now that they had enough pieces, they could make the whole cake, now that Quigley Quagmire was sitting right in front of them.
End Of Chapter
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Post by Dante on Jan 30, 2005 5:58:41 GMT -5
Quigley, huh? I'm only slightly disappointed, but I suppose I didn't see him coming. I expected the surviving parent, as it happens... Anyway, this is looking increasingly good, although I don't like Sunny as much now that she can speak properly. Hurry up with Chapter Ten. ‘I’m Ackroyd,’ he explained carefully. ‘And these other two are Aggie and Christe.’ *claps* Very good.
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Inumaru
Catastrophic Captain
Light Jak Rocks (So does Dark Jak)
Posts: 53
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Post by Inumaru on Jan 30, 2005 21:28:37 GMT -5
I knew it waas Quigley.
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Post by champ103 on Feb 1, 2005 4:38:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments. I think I'm about halfway through Chapter Ten!
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Post by Pucca on Feb 1, 2005 15:14:20 GMT -5
Marvelous as ever, George!
Keep up the good work.
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Post by Ennui on Feb 17, 2005 15:23:56 GMT -5
Read it all this afternoon. Very good; helps provide a fix while I wait for the real thing. I'm enjoying this a lot.
(Top moments have to be Sir and Nero, and Geraldine...)
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Inumaru
Catastrophic Captain
Light Jak Rocks (So does Dark Jak)
Posts: 53
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Post by Inumaru on Feb 20, 2005 16:44:03 GMT -5
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Post by Dante on Feb 20, 2005 16:45:47 GMT -5
Otto, You, and Daniel can get into real legal trouble for this. Yes. Yes, I expect they could. *is too tired to argue for the truth anymore*
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Post by champ103 on Feb 21, 2005 12:19:17 GMT -5
*le sigh* Okay, you realize that Otto is probably less then a year old, right? And you realize this is in the fanfiction section, correct? Grr...Chapter Ten is giving me a writers block. It's bound to come eventually.
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Post by champ103 on Feb 21, 2005 13:20:31 GMT -5
The Perilous Plane Book The Twelfth
Dupin's Notes: Sorry, this has taken me forever to finish this chapter, and it's by far one of the worser chapters so far. I hope you enjoy it, and Chapter Eleven ought to be a lot better.
Chapter Ten (Picture of a parachute, the person using it hidden)
‘Quigley?’ Violet asked, astonished. She had not suspected the mystery person to be her lost friend. How did he get in the plane, and sneak past Olaf and his accomplices? ‘I can’t believe you’re here!’ Klaus remarked, his mouth wide open. He was thinking of similar questions to Violet, but yet he was somehow also disappointed about the state of the Flying Library, now it was in ruins. ‘My goodness gracious!’ Sunny cried. She couldn’t believe that Quigley Quagmire was aboard the Hindenburger, but she was so delighted, her toothy smile became bigger at the sight of him. ‘Baudelaires!’ Quigley cried, standing up from the chair. ‘I knew you could figure out the clues! I just knew you were clever enough!’ He stood forward, and quickly gave Violet a large hug. He turned, and shook Klaus’ hand thoroughly, before leaning down, and picking up Sunny. ‘It’s great to see you, Quigley,’ Violet replied, blushing slightly. ‘We have so many questions, you must tell us your story.’ ‘But of course, of course,’ Quigley replied. Why don’t we all grab chairs and I’ll tell you everything that’s happened to me since I was carried away by the other tributary.’ ‘Quigley,’ Klaus interrupted. ‘We need to warn you: there are a large amount of snow scouts just outside the door.’ ‘I know,’ Quigley replied, smiling. ‘After all, I left you the clue. I wasn’t sure how you’d make it though. Because of my cartography skills, I knew masks were usually worn in cold areas, so if you made it very-‘ ‘Hot!’ Sunny cried happily. ‘That’s right!’ Quigley squealed, placing the youngest Baudelaire down again. He walked over, and sat back down on his chair. ‘The snow scouts are nothing to worry over, Baudelaires,’ he explained. ‘They’re just children, like you and me.’ ‘But they’re evil,’ Violet replied. ‘They’re working for Olaf.’ ‘And in a way, we’re working for V.F.D,’ Quigley said. ‘We took one side of the schism to help, the snow scouts chose another.’ ‘But they were forced too!’ Violet shouted. Klaus shook his head, and rested a hand on his sister’s shoulder. ‘No, they chose,’ he said. ‘They rejected the chance to join us earlier on, remember? Quigley’s right.’ ‘Just remember, you three,’ Quigley added,’ all the people in the world are people, choosing their own ways and their own lifestyles. Through my journeys, I’ve learned it.’ ‘I wish we could say the same,’ Violet replied. ‘But all we’ve learned is that some people are evil, and some people are good and noble.’ ‘But Violet, that’s not right,’ Quigley replied. ‘Do you think that V.F.D members have never done a bad thing in their lives? And do you think that Olaf has never done a noble thing: that his life was just full of bad?’ ‘I’m not sure I understand,’ Klaus replied. ‘We know V.F.D was a united organization, once apon a time, but after the schism, Olaf took the evil side, and the Snickets took the noble side.’ ‘V.F.D was mixed,’ Quigley explained, grabbing a seat for Violet to sit on. He made his way across, to pick up more for the other two Baudelaires. ‘They went different ways, but that’s exactly what I was saying. Do you think that when they were united, half of them were evil and half of them were noble? They were all trying to succeed the same goal.’ ‘And what was that?’ ‘I’m not quite sure,’ Quigley replied, frowning slightly. ‘Over my travels, there have been so many things I’m not quite sure about. If you three take a seat, then I can explain it all. It’s awkward standing up.’ The Baudelaires sighed, and did what Quigley suggested. In their heads, they all thought Quigley had it wrong: that Olaf was a wrongdoer, and the Snickets were good. But they sat down on the chairs. They wanted to hear what he had to say: they hadn’t seen him in so long, and they couldn’t wait to catch up.
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Post by champ103 on Feb 21, 2005 13:21:38 GMT -5
Chapter Ten Continued
‘Hey, kids!’ cried a voice of a boy from the Flying Library’s door. ‘Everything okay in there?’ ‘Yeah, everything’s fine!’ Klaus cried back nervously. Now that they had taken off their masks, they couldn’t risk the snow scouts walking in and recognizing them as the so-called murderers. ‘What are you doing in there?’ the boy asked. ‘We’re…kicking books around!’ Violet shouted, trying to sound like someone on Olaf’s side. ‘But don’t come in! You need to guard Kit and Jake in the Control Room!’ ‘Are you sure?’ the boy asked from behind the door. ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ Sunny cried. ‘No come in!’ They heard the boy sigh from his place in the hallway. ‘Very well,’ he said, and nothing more. There was a patter of feet as the snow scout retreated back to the Control Room door, where the Baudelaires knew the Snickets were inside, very scared. They couldn’t help but feel slightly bad that they weren’t helping them, but they knew they would soon, as soon as Quigley Quagmire had finished his story. ‘First thing’s first,’ Klaus began, using a saying one uses when there’s a particular thing they want to know that they need to know at that moment. ‘Why are you in the Flying Library, where anyone can just walk in? I thought you’d hide in a cupboard or some place like that?’ ‘If I hid in a cupboard, Count Olaf and his accomplices would find me pretty easily. He looks around all the places he goes to, trying to find things to steal. I must say, must things aboard the Hindenburger are wrecked, but in any case, all of his troupe are illiterate. They never rely on books, and they’d never take a good look around the Flying Library.’ ‘That’s clever,’ Violet spoke, leaning back in the chair she was sitting apon. ‘If I were you, I guess I would have hidden in a small tight space.’ Quigley turned to Violet on his chair, and have a small shrug. ‘I’ve been hiding here for quite a while,’ he mused. ‘I suppose I’ve had a lot of time to think about it all.’ Sunny nodded from her space on a smaller chair. ‘Howaboard?’ she asked. ‘That’s a good question, Sunny,’ Klaus replied, and turned to Quigley. ‘It almost slipped my mind. How did you get aboard the Hindenburger, and where have you been hiding the whole time? ‘Go peek?’ Sunny asked, which probably meant something along the lines of ‘ And why did you stay hidden, instead of letting us know you were aboard?’ Quigley gazed outside a small window, where the sun was just beginning to raise into the light sky. Outside, everything looked so peaceful, but inside the Hindenburger, everything was havoc. The Baudelaires joined Quigley as he peered out from the clean glass, and wished they could join the sky, and leave the perilous plane they had clambered aboard just a day ago. Finally, Quigley gave a sigh, and his attention turned back to the three children around him. ‘Where should I start?’ he asked, but then he gave himself a clear answer. ‘The beginning. Since we split up at the waterfall by Mount Fraught.’ ‘That sounds good,’ Klaus replied, wiping his glasses quickly. He usually did this before he began reading a book, but to him this was a story of Quigley’s travels, and something spurred him to do so. ‘The beginning.’ ‘Well, the waters of the Stricken Stream were cold, as I’m sure you’ll know. I was horrified to lose you three so soon after we’d met. I said we’d meet at the Hotel Denouement in confidence, but I wasn’t too sure where it was, and I knew you three had no idea. I watched the last sight of you, and clung onto a log. My body felt so cold in the water.’ ‘Where did you end up?’ Klaus asked him. Quigley smiled. ‘I’m not sure,’ he replied honestly. ‘It’s the truth: I found myself coming into the same path as the toboggan you three were on, but I only caught a glimpse of you before you turned round the corner. I swam down and along to catch you, excited. I guess I thought I could really reach you: I wasn’t focusing on the cold water, or the fire that reached throughout the hinterlands. I was focusing on you three, but when I finally arrived at the corner, you three had completely disappeared.’ ‘That’s awful strange,’ Violet replied. ‘We weren’t travelling too quickly on the toboggan before we arrived at the Queequeg.’ ‘You just answered the query,’ Quigley replied, grinning. ‘A submarine had taken you away. I didn’t want to face travelling along after you’d gone: any companion would do.’ ‘Who did you find?’ Klaus asked. ‘I found no one,’ Quigley answered. ‘I finally clung onto some rocks by the sure, and pulled myself to safety before the cold water really harmed me. I spent all night and all day just walking around the hinterlands. Everyone seemed to have gone.’ Quigley gave a small shrug, and leant down from the chair. He picked up a book, and held it in front of his face with two fingers, before letting it go. It dropped to the floor and lay there. ‘My parents had had some old companions,’ Quigley continued. ‘Kit and Jake Snicket, between the other two siblings. My journey was like the Flying Library: a complete mess. I had no idea what to do, but I needed to contact them. And I needed to contact you three of course. I found an old telegraph machine at the remains of the Caligari Carnival, along with some newspaper articles. One read that you three had been spotting getting aboard a submarine named the Queequeg. It wasn’t the Daily Punctilio though. Now that I think of it, I can’t remember the name at all. I hadn’t heard of it before though.’ ‘So I guess you then sent us a telegram?’ Violet asked. ‘Exactly,’ Quigley replied. ‘I sent one to you, and one to the Hindenburger. I wasn’t sure who exactly was on the Queequeg, but I knew of Captain Widdershins, who read poetry, so I added some Verse Fluctuation Declaration to help you find Briny Beach. I sent Kit and Jake a similar telegram, and I knew they were to pick you up.’ ‘We expected you in the taxi,’ Violet asked. ‘Where were you?’ ‘I was making my way towards where the plane landed,’ Quigley explained. ‘I needed to get there as you did.’ ‘But you didn’t,’ Klaus reminded him. ‘All we found when we got there were Sir and Nero.’ ‘And they were driving a car,’ Quigley finished. ‘And in the boot of that automobile, was where I was hiding.’ ‘But I must confess, I’m really confused,’ Violet said. ‘Why didn’t you come and talk to us, and joined aboard the Hindenburger with us?’ ‘I got aboard,’ Quigley explained. ‘Obviously. I climbed through a window, the one in the chamber.’ ‘I’m still very confused,’ Violet replied. The Hindenburger swooped down around the clouds, and her stomach sank as it did so. Outside the window was clear white as they flew through a soft bunch of clouds. ‘So was I, as I climbed through the window,’ Quigley said. I didn’t know you were coming aboard. I just needed to get in without anyone seeing me.’ ‘But why?’ Violet asked. ‘We were worried about you. We would have been thrilled to see you!’ ‘I know,’ Quigley said, and looked down at the floor. ‘But Kit Snicket wouldn’t have.’ Klaus raised an eyebrow, and placed a hand down on Quigley’s shoulder. ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘You know what I was saying earlier?’ Quigley. ‘That one side of V.F.D isn’t all good and noble, and one side isn’t all wicked and twisted? Well, this will give me a chance to explain it. You know what side of the schism Kit Snicket is, right?’ ‘She’s on the good side, the noble side,’ Violet pointed out, nodding. ‘And she IS good and noble. She helped Captain Widdershins build the Queequeg in the first place.’ ‘You’re right, Violet,’ Quigley replied, nodding. ‘Kit has done many good things.’ ‘I’m not sure I quite follow you,’ Klaus explained, leaning forward. Klaus thought that Quigley’s apparent personal philosophy was quite the interesting one, but he couldn’t quite understand it, even with his immense vocabulary and researching results, a phrase which here means ‘his finds from all the research he indulged in, and all the words he had compelled himself to learn.’ ‘Kit Snicket hasn’t led a life of good,’ Quigley said slowly and carefully. ‘She’s done wrong to people. It’s like Count Olaf’s disguises, from Shirley to Detective Dupin. He appeared to be a nice receptionist, or a helpful detective on the outside, but you knew he was pure evil when he took off his disguise.’ ‘But Kit Snicket isn’t in disguise!’ Violet cried. ‘What has she done wrong, Quigley. Why wouldn’t she want to help you?’ Quigley sighed. ‘When Jacques was at Dr. Montgomery’s house, like I explained in the mountains,’ he said,’ he had a visitor one day, who I soon learned to be Kit Snicket. I didn’t mention this in the mountains because it meant nothing to you then. It meant nothing to my story. She seemed nice, Jacques looked up to her, even though they were twins. But Jacques told me one night, only a few before he left, that Kit Snicket had a grudge against the Quagmire household. Apparently, someone in her family-her mother, I think, committed a crime against the Quagmire family, and she had taken sides. She hated the Quagmires, despite the fact none of us had done anything. She took her mother’s point of view: and understood why she had burned down our house.’ Violet’s eyes widened, and she shifted in her seat. Learning someone is a fraud is a hard thing to do. All over the country, people had been learning Count Olaf was a fraud, after every disguise, and every shenanigan, a word which here means ‘every crime that he had committed.’ I learned that a dear relative of mine was a fraud when she took part in a horrible event. And the Baudelaires learned that Kit had taken sides with Rowena, her mother, who had caused the Quagmire parents to be killed, and Quigley to be alone.
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