Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Wheeza

Cloak had gone back to the Nexus. He knew he would be ostracized if any other Realm Walker saw him, so he stuck to the shadows. The person he sought out was here, she was another Realm Walker.

She was his aunt. His mother's younger sister, his grandfather's second eldest daughter. Wheeza. The one that helped him recover some of the trauma when he was kicked out by his mother -- simply for the crime of his mother not liking his cooking of the stew dinner. . . .* She helped him out the suicidal thoughts that he had, back when he was the most defeated man in the Nexus . . .

And there was a reason that he didn't want Shadow to come. He did not know how they would react to each other . . . probably a stupid concern, but one he had nonetheless. His aunt was like him, estranged from the rest of his family, barring Shadow and Faith. He hadn't spoken to Dagger and her husband and daughter in a very long time. His mother had dismissed them both as "losers", when she herself was the biggest loser of all . . .

The house was at the end of a steep, down incline, after going up an incline before evening out. It was a rural, heavily forested area.

He knocked on the door to the single-story home. It was his cousin's house, he apparently had asked his mother live there with him. He had a decent one. Not everyone was so lucky.

Wheeza has answered the door. While Cloak was a feline Realm Walker, his aunt was a canine Realm Walker, specifically a German shepard.**

"Cloak! What's up?"

"Sorry to bother you, Wheeza," Cloak said, rather modestly, "but you're the only one that I know that knits or crochets."

"Ah. I think I know where this is going," she said. "Come in, come in."

Cloak couldn't help but wonder about that, but he followed her inside. His cousin and his wife were both currently at work, and his aunt was off. They walked to directly straight from the door, then took a right, crossing the threshold into his aunt's room.

"Spin-Yarn, right?" she asked. "I think that his sock was left in the Prime Universe, where you made your home."

"How do you know about Spin-Yarn?"

"Your grandfather told me all about him," Wheeza answered. But, before Cloak could ask, she replied, "years ago. He told me about him."

"How did he --"

"He created the sock that he ensnared him in," his aunt answered.


* An oversimplification of what happened, perhaps. In any case, it was a confrontation was inevitable to happen, and the beef stew was just the catalyst, I suppose . . .

** A reference to my aunt's innate loyalty, as well as the fact that she used to have a German shepard that passed away when I was 15.

[redtailedsaffa]

Spin-Yarn was much better off when he wasn't talking.

[theyoungphoenix]

I will catch up soon-ish. I have a good twenty-something books to read still, but each book only takes me about twenty minutes to read.

[Cloak]

So, are you saying that I should make 'em longer, Abby?

[guitarhero01234]

She might not be saying that, but I'll say it. You totally should make the memoirs books longer.

[theyoungphoenix]

So, are you saying that I should make 'em longer, Abby?

Sure! I wouldn't mind longer Memoirs books.

[Cloak]

Well, that has already been a trend with the books that I've been outlining recently. But twenty chapters is usually the requisite chapter number I go by.

I'm currently outlining "Am I Blue?" which is basically Blue's backstory book, but I usually don't know how many chapters that they'll be until I outline them. Sometimes it's more, rarely it's less, it all depends on the story.

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Sock It to Me

"He what?"

"Yes, he visited the Prime Universe time to time," Wheeza said, realizing quite quickly that Cloak had not known this. Her tone was soft and gentle, with a crack of good humor in it. "Granted, he didn't spend nearly as much time as you do -- now, don't go think I put any stock in those ludicrous beliefs of the smaller-minded Walkers. I know why you stay there. You found a niche, a place to belong. You found friends that you know you can trust. That's all any being could wish for."

"Thank you for your kindness, Wheeza. I know what they say if me," Cloak said, in an uncharacteristicall y small voice. "But do you know how to make another garment to incarcerate Spin-Yarn?"

"Funny you should ask," she said, getting up. "I happened to be thinking about Daddy one day a couple of weeks ago. Between you and me, he was really never good at crocheting or knitting."

Well, that explained how Spin-Yarn managed to escape.

"So, I wondered," she continued to explain, "knowing your grandfather as I do, what would happen if the sock he made got destroyed. I knew he used a rather looser weave than was prudent, but I figured he knew better than me. I was still a child, then, after all."

"A child?"

"Yes," Wheeza confirmed, "I was about, oh, six or seven when he made it."

So Spin-Yarn had spent at least five thousand years, Dweller time, inside that sock. No wonder he didn't speak much -- it must have smelled horribly in all that time. Geesh -- no wonder he was evil. Then again, he would have had to be plenty evil before to warrant Sage to incarcerate him -- but a sock? Really? Were there no better options?

"Anyway," Wheeza said, with a snap to her voice, bring out a single sock thst had Realm Walker script all over it, "on a whim, I went ahead and crocheted this. It should be sufficient to trap the little guy. Almost seems a pity that such a tiny guy had to be so evil."

"Well, he was trapped in a sock," Cloak.pointed out. "And he is about be again."

"Yes, he's about come full circle," she said. "Well, good luck with you."

[Cloak]

Tomorrow's chapter may be a bit later than normal.

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Rebellion? That is So Sixties!*

Spin-Yarin knew his messages were sent out, and they were automatically translated into whatever primitive language these stupid apes and miscellaneous masses of nothings spoke. He wondered idly if they even understood his message, though he believed that he dumbed it down sufficiently enough.

He waited for their capitulation. It shouldn't really take long. The earthquakes should have garnered him plenty of credibility to follow through on his threats. But this inherent arrogance, like all stereotyped villains, would come to bite him in the end. If he was practical, if he was pragmatic, he woukd have realized that it was far better to follow through with his initial plans for the Atlas String, instead of this whole "hold-the-world-hostage" scheme of his.

Honestly, it reduced him to the level of Saturday morning cartoon villain. Especially when he decided to be all egomaniacal, nearing megalomania (although not quite there), about all this. In his arrogance, he had permitted himself to become foolish and, yes, even a little naive. It was naive to expect that people would just so readily give up their freedoms and rights to a tinhorn dictator with childlike schemes and aspirations.

Few may be tricked into doing such, some may sacrifice it for others, but this was not like any of those scenarios. Spin-Yarn just sat near the Atlas String, futilely waiting for the abject capitulation. He waited . . . and waited . . . and waited for the sign of global surrender.

But what he got was the very thjng that he warned everyone not to do. Warned not to do it, or he would allow this world to, quite literally, fall apart. He was incensed that they did not take him up on what he saw as a generous offer.

The people of the world rebelled. And the RAFians were leading the charge with Shadow in tow. All of which seemed to be unconcerned with being underwater, as none struggled to breathe beneath the yarn waves. Shadow, Saffa, guitarhero, Abby, Dino, Phoenix, Horse, Aquilai, Blue, and Richard stood as the frontline of the vanguard of this Rebellion.

"You DARE to DEFY me?!" Spin-Yarn demanded.

"Wow." Shadow said, rather cheekily. "He sounds like Malice."

"If she guzzled with razor blades and lemon juice," Saffa grumbled, knowing full well that Shadow was referring to his manner of speaking.

"You DARE to MOCK me?!" Spin-Yarn demanded.

"Yes. Yes, I do." Saffa said, quite honestly.

"What do you think you can do?" Spin-Yarn spat. "I hold all the cards here. You have leverage, no power over me. I can absorb the Atlas String at any time of my choosing."

"Then why haven't you?" GH asked, already suspecting the answer.

"That's immaterial," the yarn magician snapped.

"That's plenty of material, actually," GH noted.

"SILENCE!" Spin-Yarn roared. Apparently, he didn't like others contradicting him. "You can do NOTHING!! You CAN'T stop me!! You can't even KILL me!!"

"Perhaps not," came a voice behind him, standing between him and the Alpha Stitch, "but they can distract you."


* Yes, that's a Fairly Oddparents reference. Back before that stupid fairy dog was a regular.

[redtailedsaffa]

Those yarn puns though. XD

[Cloak]

Puns? Wait -- oh.

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Talk to the Sock

"Distract me? What could you possibly --" Spin-Yarn took notice of Cloak. Especially his piercing eyes -- which weren't as piercing as his grandfather's, but still there was a certain familiarity to it. "YOU!!"

"You mistake me for my grandfather," Cloak said, unable to hide the note of pride in his voice at the very thought of being compared to his grandfather. "The pale mockup you constructed could not measure up to him."

"You cannot do anything to stop me, either. Even your grandfather couldn't kill me. You have no leverage." Spin-Yarn said quickly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "Uh, could you move?"

"No."

"It makes no difference if you do!" Spin-Yarn said, and Cloak was suspecting that this guy was mostly bluster. "You still have no leverage over me!!"

"Oh?"

"Yes!! There is nothing you can do to st-- wh-what is that?"

"Oh, just a simple sock," Cloak said, coyly. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, though."

Spin-Yarn didn't seem to be convinced. He was finally being smart, and Cloak gave a quick sidelong look to Shadow, and she got the message easily and quickly. She worked to get everyone to safety, as the yarn ocean would soon no longer be yarn.

"Wh-what do you plan to do with it?"

"Oh, what can one to with a sock missing its matching pair?" Cloak said, subtly hinting that he knew where he other sock that contained Spin-Yarn went. Cloak allowed the silence to grow between the two of them, and Spin-Yarn never stopped eyeing the sock. Cloak waited until everyone was in safety, knowing full well that he had Spin-Yarn's entire attention due to this sock.

Of course, Cloak wasn't without more tricks.

The Realm Walker threw the sock at Spin-Yarin who shrieked like a terrified child, as the sock landed upon his button nose -- outting itself as an ordinary, mundane sock with no magical qualities whatsoever.

"Why you little --"

"You are hardly one to call anyone 'little'." Cloak said, pulling the real magical sock from his cloak. It had a powerful aura around it, an aura that Spin-Yarn did not seem to recognize. To his costs, as it did levitate above Cloak's palm, and it swiftly absorbed the yarn magician without so much as a surprised word of.protest from him.

Cloak swore the sock even burped.

[guitarhero01234]

That fake sock made me laugh pretty hard XD

[Cloak]

Excellent, GH.

. . .

Damn, every time I see your sig, GH, it makes me hungry. . . .

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Rendering Reality

With Spin-Yarn gone, reality reformed and remade itself back as it should be. Reality rendered itself back to material matter. People became flesh and sinew again, machines became metal casing and circuit boards again, and so on.

Of course, RAF wasn't venerated for their role in this by the loudest, most obnoxious voices in politics and whatnot chose to actually blame them for it, and they were just covering their butts.

Naturally, it wasn't true. But politics don't always deal in facts, but deals in emotion. Some people don't care about facts as long as they have someone to hate, someone to scapegoat. It's a sad truth, but there really are people like that in the world. Heck, the Red Lanterns are probably 80% these kind of people -- but that is a generalization, one could say.

There is no such thing as universal popularity, and it is a foolish endeavor to seek it out.

***

Cloak held the sock, which squirmed in a most disconcerting way. The yarn magician Spin-Yarn was still alive within the sock . . . for the time being, anyway. Cloak knew that this sock was stronger than the last, but there was always a chance that he could escape again.

This could not be allowed to happen.

Cloak knew what had to happen. It did not please him what must occur, what he must do to ensure this never came to pass. He could not allow it to happen again . . .

Was it ruthless? Was it arrogant? Was it . . . was it wrong?

Possibly yes to all three. But he would do what he must, despite the later viewpoints on the action.

He sent the sock through the Veil. Literally.

***

Aboard a spacecraft, a slight cloaked figure strode up to another, who sat imperiously in a straight-backed chair with gold accents. He had fold his hands in front of him, elbows on his thighs, and he rested his chin atop his fingers.

"What do you want?" he said, in a bored, flat-toned voice.

"Now, now, Gamesmaster," came a honeyed voice. "Is that any way to speak to the person who broke you out of prison? The person who provided this ship for you? The latter of which was not easy to acquire."

"So you want gratitude? A 'thank you'?" Gamesmaster said, sounding rather ungrateful.

"No," the figure said. "No, that isn't my reasoning for coming."

"Then what is your reason for this visit, Malice?"

"Oh," Malice said, coyly, "just to give you a 'head's up' of a couple contenders . . ."

[guitarhero01234]

Damn, every time I see your sig, GH, it makes me hungry. . . .

Which was exactly the point of my putting a picture the delicious bunzuh in there
Damn it, now I'm hungry too.

[redtailedsaffa]

Your sig is pure evil.

[Cloak]

New book, new chapter.

BOOK XCVI:
GLADIATORS
CHAPTER ONE:
Obstacles and Complaints

Saffa was running. She was in human form, and the light was dim. Much too dim for her liking. But she hadn't time to complain.

"Zzzzzzt!"

A beed drone buzzed her, but she managed to avoid it, by pure chance. That wasn't supposed to be here.

"Zzzzt!"

"Zzzzt!"

"Zzzzt!"

More? Wonderful. Just bloody wonderful. These weren't supposed to be here either. Soon, seconds later, the swarm passed. Saffa did not hesitate to run to her destination again. She climbed into a circular passageway, only to press herself to the ground. The high-pressure jet of water would have taken her head off! And three more jets of high-pressure wated followed.

This wasn't supposed to be here!! Saffa was growing increasingly irritated. As she scrambled to her feet as she headed down an adjacent passageway at one o'clock. She did not know when another jet of that high-pressure water would come.

Suddenly, egg-shaped devices dropped from the ceiling as the passageway opened up. These were new. They weren't supposed to be new. The stone eggs glowed in a very Electrode way.

"Oh, god."

Successive explosions rocked the passageway. But when the smoke cleared, Saffa had gone and a Psycholeopterran was in her place, intangible. But then Saffa swiftly demorphed, resting for only a minute, before continuing her trek.

"Whoa!!"

Saffa stopped short. There was a concussive blast of fire to the left. Then to the right. Then back to the left. Then back to the right. Pause. Then the pattern started up again. The RAFian was beginning to get seriously miffed. This wasn't supposed to be here either.

"Zzzzzzeeeeeee," came a lazy sound.

"Oh, not this again!" Saffa said, deftly morphing Tyrannopede, and using the web to embed the whizzing shurrikens. Saffa continued on, demorphing as she ran. The fact that she wasn't showing any exhaustion was an impressive feat in and of itself.

Then she came to a dead end, and several incendiary blasts at her, going from red to blue. But Saffa had reflectively morphed a Cdabdozer, and was fortunate enough that her skin was the first thing to change. She powered through as she completed the morph.

<That was a dick move!!> Saffa complained loudly as the passageway vanished, revealing it all to be an obstacle course, a training sim. Saffa swiftly demorphed and she was livid.

"Seven-point-two-zero minutes," Terenia said. "Not your best time, Saffa."

"It's not my fault!" Saffa protested angrily. "Goom put new traps in the tunnel!"

"Of course," Goom said. "Gotta keep you on your toes. And it's not easy for someone without hands!"

"Blue, it's your turn."