+- Drunkard's Walk Forums (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums)
+-- Forum: The Drunkard's Walk (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=21)
+--- Forum: Drunkard's Walk VIII: Harry Potter and the Man from Otherearth (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=28)
+--- Thread: Teaser (/showthread.php?tid=6137)
Teaser - Bob Schroeck - 05-19-2012
Anyway, after a twenty-minute "flight" from darkest Romania, I
found myself sprawled on a patch of bare dirt in the sun, with
Charlie standing next to me, laughing his fool head off. I
rolled over onto my back, then knocked him off his feet with a
quick legsweep. As he went sprawling himself, I hopped to my
feet with a quick kippup and took a quick look around me.
The bare patch was actually part of a dirt road running through a
good-sized meadow. On three sides of us, the meadow was bounded
by lush old-growth forest; the road ran toward the forest in one
direction, and in the other vanished over a low hill that blocked
my view of anything beyond it. The sun was shining to beat the
band in a brilliantly clear, bold blue sky. It was warm, but not
uncomfortably hot.
Nodding to myself, I looked back down at Charlie, who had gotten
to his hands and knees during my glance around. "That," I said,
"had to be the single worst magical transport I've ever used, and
I've used some doozies."
He laughed and looked up at me. "Heh. Should have guessed you'd
never used a portkey before." He held out his hand. "Here now,
give us a hand up."
I gave him a dubious look. "If you pull me back down into the
dirt when I do, Charlie, I will *so* kick your ass."
He laughed again. "Would I do that?"
"In a heartbeat," I said. "I haven't forgotten who dunked me in
the camp cistern."
"I *told* you, that wasn't me! It was Tannenbaum!" Rather than
wait for me to offer a hand, Charlie climbed to his feet.
"Tannenbaum was visiting *Vrajitor lui alee* in Bucharest that
day, and you know it." As he straightened up to his full height,
I began slapping the dust and dirt off his clothes. Maybe a bit
harder than I needed to, but he deserved it. "If you'd decided
to blame someone who was actually *in* the camp, I *might* have
believed you."
"I swear on my mother's grave..."
"Charlie, two things. First, your mother's still alive, which is
one of the points of this visit. Second, you would swear on your
mother's grave that you were a 140-centimeter Swedish girl with
three legs if it would further one of your gags."
A thoughtful look crossed his freckled face. "Yeah, I suppose I
might, at that."
I whapped him on the back of the head, but not hard enough to
cause cranial trauma. "C'mon, Laughing Boy. Lead me to this
Burrow of yours before I decide to bury you out here up to the
waist -- head down."
As it turned out, the Burrow was on the other side of that low
hill -- which was only low on our side: when we crested the top,
I saw that it sloped gently down into a broad, low dell, in the
center of which was what I could only assume was a house.
It was either that, or someone had spent his life creating a
three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle out of building supplies using
an Escher collection as a guide.
It was, as best as I could determine, about three stories tall,
or trying to be -- but rooms and wings hung off the thing with
an arbitrary whimsicalness that made it difficult to determine
what floor they were supposed to be on. The lowest level looked
like it might once have been a classic British cottage or
farmhouse, but *so* many random architectural encrustations had
been applied to it that it was hard to be sure. At least one
part seemed to be *upside-down* and reachable only by an exterior
door and a crawlway past a working chimney. It was much larger
in the middle -- where I figured the second floor was likely to
be -- than at either end, but had no supports of any kind.
Despite this, it defied all logic by appearing to be rock-solid.
"And he built a crooked house..." I muttered to myself as I
stopped short at the sight of the place.
"Well, there it is, the Burrow," Charlie said as he came up
alongside me. "The Weasley ancestral home, the family's been
living there for... Merlin, I don't know *how* many generations."
He slapped me on the back. "What do you think?
"Charlie," I said softly, "I now understand you *far* better than
I did five minutes ago." I shook my head and snorted a brief
laugh. "Whoever built this house clearly was in a blood feud
with both physics and architecture. Either that or clinically
insane."
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Black Aeronaut - 05-19-2012
Bob Schroeck Wrote:"Charlie," I said softly, "I now understand you *far* better thanLMAO!!! This.... Just this...
I did five minutes ago." I shook my head and snorted a brief
laugh. "Whoever built this house clearly was in a blood feud
with both physics and architecture. Either that or clinically
insane."
- Ebony - 05-21-2012
It's not insanity; it's just that the Weasleys recycle everything. You want madness, visit Chateau Lovegood.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
- ECSNorway - 05-23-2012
Ebony Wrote:It's not insanity; it's just that the Weasleys recycle everything. You want madness, visit Chateau Lovegood.There is at least one fanfic out there where the critters Luna is constantly going on about are, in fact, Lovecraftian abominations, so madness is entirely apropos.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
- Bob Schroeck - 05-23-2012
It's very strange, but the beginning of this Step is coming out not unlike a Buddy Movie -- it only occurred to me that this is the first time I've ever written Doug with an adult male friend (who wasn't the avatar of another author, that is) with whom he has a goofy friends relationship. It's starting to be kind of a shame that once Doug gets settled in at Hogwarts, he's going to part ways with Charlie -- they bounce off each other so well.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- zojojojo - 05-23-2012
the cockles of my heart are warmer after reading that teaser
-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.
- ECSNorway - 05-23-2012
Bob Schroeck Wrote:It's very strange, but the beginning of this Step is coming out not unlike a Buddy Movie -- it only occurred to me that this is the first time I've ever written Doug with an adult male friend (who wasn't the avatar of another author, that is) with whom he has a goofy friends relationship. It's starting to be kind of a shame that once Doug gets settled in at Hogwarts, he's going to part ways with Charlie -- they bounce off each other so well.The first thing I thought when I read this post was that you were planning on Doug buddying with Sirius... then I remembered that it was Charlie in the teaser and blinked...
And I think it works. Honestly, Sirius would be a bit cliche for this sort of thing. Charlie, on the other hand? Genius.
Single most underused character in the series, too.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.