May Vignette

[Mordelain]

You awake one morning to find you're developing strange powers over matter. Lifting objects with your mind, thought control, energy beams all become second nature. How do you respond?

This Vignette will remain open until May 31st. Good luck!

[Sagequeen]

Erissa is telekinetic and already knows it. ^^

Spring had spread her verdant, flower-woven gown across the lands, and love was in the air. Love, and just about everything else in Erissa Caedron's chambers. The wedding ceremony was a few hours away, and she had just received word that the blushing bride, a cute barmaid, was fretting with cold feet. The high ef had no idea the state of her music student, who had no doubt been kidnapped and showered with every licentousness known to man the night before.

"Peach! It will be the peach linens with the white napkins. No! Cream! Cream napkins! The roses are white!" The scattered high elf's voice rose above the din as harried bridesmaids darted to and fro, plucking napkins from Erissa's telekinetic grasp and dodging place settings that were being arranged mid-air. "It must be perfect! If I see a single spot on the glasses, I will-"

Crash!

Every girl in the room froze and paled with fear. Erissa's mouth hung open as she saw the crystal centerpiece - the one she had specially commissioned and payed more for than she cared to think about, the one that was to sit on the table of honor - in a million twinkling pieces on the floor.

It had been two beautiful lovebirds, and she had broken it. Every linen, napkin, and plate in the air trembled. The high elf took a deep, cleansing breath, and the goods slowly descended to the ground, mostly sorted.

"Ms. Caedron," a timid girl whispered.

"Shhhhh," the elf breathed, eyes closed, "or so help me, I will-"

Whack!

The room was dead silent, enough so to hear Erissa swallow the lump in her throat. "For the love of all that is holy," she began. With a grimace, she opened her eyes.

"The broom," the timid girl blurted out, and picked it up off the ground where she had knocked it. "Just the broom... to um..." She twisted in the elf's silence, trying desparately not to call attention to the fact that Erissa had broken the crystal.

"Then sweep, girl!" Erissa barked. "Back to work! Fold the linens! We will press them on the tables. Anna! You are in charge of the steamer. I suggest you do not forget it here. Let us go! Box it up and grab as much as you can carry. I will get the rest."

The ladies filed out of Erissa's chambers, ducking below the steady stream of boxes that floated tenuously overhead. They rushed through the quiet residential wing of the Ixian Castle, through the long corridor that led to the banquet hall. When the first bridesmaid passed through the threshold, she stopped in stunned wonder, setting off a chain reaction among them that jostled the goods in their arms. Erissa nearly jumped out of her skin.

"We have just enough plates, ladies," the elf warned as she thrust her way through the door, "so if a single one is broken, I will-"

Crack!

Wood. Erissa recognized the sound of it splintering immediately, and the scream that followed could only mean one thing. Her chandelier. It took what little concentration she had left, but the elf caught both the workman and her priceless chandelier mid-air, and set them down gingerly on the ground. The ladder lay useless across several tables, a number of rungs split down the middle. She rubbed her temples as the girls admired the hall.

The expansive room was beautiful to begin with, but the high elf's planning had seen it dressed in swaths of flowing fabric, from the vaulted ceiling to the marble floor. Sconces shimmered behind diamond-like veils, lighting gorgeously carved tables with matching chairs. A small fortune of silver serving sets sat in perfectly ordered rows, not a hint of tarnish to be seen. A quartet of the Ixian's finest musicians drew ethereal notes from warm, vintage instruments as they prepared for the influx of guests and dancing that would surely follow.

"It's so..." the young woman, Anna, said in wonder.

"Beautiful!" another giggled. She deeply inhaled the scent of roasting meat and freshly baked bread.

"Ugh," Erissa groaned, and cursed the broken ladder. "I will deal with it later. Ladies!" The bridesmaids snapped to attention. "Linens, place settings, napkins. Flatware, glasses, centerpieces, in that exact order. Get to it!" They flurried to the boxes and set to work with the finishing touches. Erissa looked from the ladder to the chandelier, then to the hook high above.

"Ms. Caedron!" Anna called, her face beet red. "I forgot-"

"Go! Get it! The linens must not have creases, and we cannot set the tables until they are perfect!" Erissa shook her head and muttered to herself. "Much more of this, and I think I will-"

Boom!

The elf held her breath and turned around slowly. Confetti cascaded down around her. "Glad to see the cannons have been retrofitted properly," she said, raising an eyebrow at the young man who grinned mischeviously at her. Her eyes lit up as an idea struck her. "You! Get me a ladder!"

"A wha?"

"Ladder," the impatient elf snapped. "Tall as you can find." The man shrugged and disappeared through the doorway. By the time he returned, the ladies had steamed the linens and set the tables to Erissa's perfect standards. It would be a beautiful reception, and the outdoor wedding ceremony preceding it was an hour away, and she nodded at the girls to get themselves ready.

"Where do you want it?" the man asked, dragging it behind him. Erissa looked from the ladder to him, and back to the ladder again.

"I said the tallest you could find!" she nearly screeched. "This one will not even reach halfway to the ceiling, and I have a chandelier to hang. Are you daft?"

"Um, yeah, I remember," he said, a touch of wiseass breaking through. "But this was it."

"No," Erissa groaned. "It has to be perfect! Everything has to be perfect! I have already lost my crystal lovebirds, so it might as well be a sloppy tavern if my chandelier is not in its proper place!" Tears threatened to spill forth from her blue-green eyes. The man snorted as he laughed.

"Why don't you just float it up there?" he suggested. "You are telekinetic, aren't you?" Erissa's face went perfectly blank. In a heartbeat, she pressed her lips together in a thin line.

"Just take your ladder and go," the elf said. The man shrugged and grabbed a rung. "And if you tell anyone, anyone, so help me, I-" Erissa snapped her mouth shut and glanced around the quiet room, shellshocked.

"Allllrighty then," he said, rolling his eyes. "Good luck with that." She waited until he was gone, then gently lifted the chandelier through the air and graced the lofty ceiling with it.

"You are telekinetic, aren't you?" she mocked. "Of course I am. Idiot! I would like to see you do all this." The muted light of the room was refracted in the suspended gems, and cast tiny spashes of color all around the hall. "Perfect," she whispered, drawing her folded hands to her chest. She only allowed herself a moment before rushing back to her chambers. Ten minutes later, she sprinted in her dress and heels to her assigned chair beneath a clear, blue sky, and the sounds of the wedding march filled the air.

The dark-haired bride was stunning, and the groom perked up noticably through his hangover when he saw her on her father's arm. Erissa sniffled into a handkerchief as they said their vows.

"Will you love him and cherish him, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, til death do you part?" the priest asked, smiling warmly at the bride. She grinned, and her eyes twinkled as she looked deeply into the groom's.

"I will."

CrashwhackcrackBOOM!

The high elf dropped her head into her hands. Perfect, she thought. Juuuussst perfect.

[Philomel]

Yip, yip, yip, yarp!

"Arghh!" she growled, shaking her head as it lay facedown in the pillow, "Agggghhh VERIDIAN!"

The fox nickered, cheekily. A feeling of amusement commicated itself from him in her mind.

She flailed out with her hand at him to the side of the bed, where he always slept. But he had already bound out of the way, the volume of his noise intensifying towards something mocking.

"Whatever you think, fox," she hissed, turning her face towards him, but still lying belly-flop down, "You are not a cockrel!"

The image of a proud and very red cockrel appeared in her mind, in a typical Faun farm, strutting his fancy 'stuff'.

"No!" she yelled, and grabbed the cushion from under her head.

At least, that was what she aimed for. Her hand made the movement, her fingers extended, but she never actually touched the soft fabric of the thing. Instead, something light and sudden, feeling like a breeze or a whisper of energy burst out. The cushion was not physically altered yet her head suffered the loss of comfort - it burst out of its seeming own accord and flung across the room.

Whumff. It hit the opposite wall of the small store room, then slid down to land on the floor. Nowhere near where the Earth Spirit was standing, but still none the less shocking.

Philomel blinked, and stared at the cushion, violet and now still.

"Was that ..." she furrowed her brow, and tilted her head. Obviously she must have tilted her head a way, causing the cushion to slip out and fly across with some weird enertia. Obviously. After all, that was the only thing that made sense.

Sitting up fast she stretched her neck, blinking fast, "Just the kinetic energy. I don't know my own strength."

Veridian let out a series of barks, but his confusion was as high as hers.

Steadily, the faun-whore dragged her fingers through the back of her loose un-plaited dreadlocks. They eased, gently, separating each thick lock from the rest with their violet and chestnut tones. The surprise seemed to have passed, and so she felt the relaxation in the room enough to let out the yawn that desperately needed to be emited, but then -

A burst of that save tingling energy again came from her fingers. This time she was sure it was her right hand, and in particular her fore and ring fingers. The hair they touched jerked back angrily, dragging her with it. She slammed back, right against the wall, and her head rang with a loud bell and intense pain.

"What the FUCK?!" she screamed, staring at her hand, "What the damned fuck?!"

The fox's hair stood on end. He was letting out a rapid string of barks, and his mental communication was all about fear. Also, he could not stay still; his feet paddled, he ran around in circles in panic.

Philomel rubbed her fingers with her left hand, wrinkling her nose.

"Ow..." she told them, uncertainly, "That was sore."

Her fingers only zapped again with a fiery energy, this time picking up her entire bed. It flipped it over, and her on it also, slamming her on the floor. As the bed bashed into the many shelves containing herbs and ointments the world became one of chaos and splintering wood. Philomel let out a cry of shock, but not before the largest shelf with the largest ceramic jar upon it fell. Pinned down by the bed she could do nothing as it flew down onto her head and knocked her clean unconcious - ending that short burst of telekenesis without mercy.

[Quentin Boone]

Philomel receives 400 experience and 200 gold.
Use of Topic: You met the brief of the topic really well.
Creativity: You did a good job of being creative with Phi's new-found powers and making sure it really messed her day up, it would have been good to see the fox floated as well, though. Especially as he was the first source of her irritation.
Mechanics: There were a few spelling and grammatical errors throughout your post. Be sure to proof-read in the future as most of these would have been caught.
Notes: You did a fantastic job of showing Phi's shock and surprise at what was happening, and the way it ruined her day was actually quite funny.

Sagequeen receives 400 experience and 150 gold.
Use of Topic: Unfortunately, you didn't really meet the brief. The idea was that the powers were a new thing you suddenly gain.
Creativity: Using a wedding day preparation as a backdrop to show the powers was a brilliant idea. The chaos surrounding it really rang true of a last-minute rush that should really have been done at least a day ago.
Mechanics: There were only minimal errors in your writing, a very well-written piece!
Notes: The sense of panic showed through really well, as did the resignation at the end. Really good characterisation.

[Lye]

Exp & gp added!