Chapter 60 – the rant

Aztec gods were some of the scariest ever, all snake heads and necklaces of human hands.

And of course, murder is scary too.  It should be apparent by this point that Hercynia is far from a perfect or safe place to live, but this particular series of attacks has shocked the town through sheer creepiness.

***

I haven’t seen this week’s Heroes or Survivors yet, but I mean to.  I guess I’ll have plenty of shows to talk about on Monday!

That’s if I get a chance to watch anything over this weekend, with two Music Tech essays and the first draft of my History coursework essay to start and complete.  I mean, finish off.  Because obviously, I’ve started the essay, haven’t I?  Of course I have.

Ugh.

I’m sick of History, actually.  It’s too difficult to keep up with it.  Admittedly, I have, ahem, ”missed” a few of the lessons, but they’re just so boring, and I never learn anything when I’m there.  I genuinely like the subject, just not the course or the way it’s being taught.

Anyway, no sense in sitting here whining about it.  I’d better go get on with it!

Chapter 60 – Mictlantecuhtli – my thoughts

(johnny07)

So, I’m assuming everyone heard about the latest body that was found with an “m” on his head on Tuesday? That one wasn’t far from here at all.

In the letter that was in the news, it said that the victims had been claimed by Mictlantecuhtli, “the god of death”, which is why everyone thinks the murders were committed by some kind of cult.

I’ve done a bit of research into that name. Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of Mictlan. He was the Aztec god who ruled over the depths of the underworld, where the bones of the dead lay. He was a skeletal figure with huge, wide eyes, and was often depicted as bloodstained or wearing a necklace of eyeballs. Charming, no?

His wife was Mictecacihuatl, the skull-faced Lady of the Dead. He was associated with owls, spiders, bats and dogs (dogs accompanied souls to the underworld).

The letter in the papers claims that Mictlantecuhtli is a benevolent god, but the stories I’ve been reading make him sound vindictive and malicious. He was worshipped largely out of fear, and the Aztecs would offer human sacrifices to keep him happy. Granted, the Aztecs seem to have been fond of human sacrifices, but all the same, he doesn’t seem to have been a very nice guy.

Interesting though that was, it doesn’t tell us anything about who is committing the murders. Clearly not someone who is mentally stable. Nobody in their right mind believes that an actual god is claiming these people. Even if I was remotely religious, which I’m not, the murders showed obvious signs of being committed by a human. The culprit or culprits obviously made an effort to cover their tracks, but they can’t hide the fact that the victims died of strangulation and stabbing, for example. And I somehow doubt that a god would use a marker pen.

I guess the most likely explanation is that the murders are being committed by a cult, or maybe one fanatic. Perhaps the murders are actually sacrifices, and the ”m” on their foreheads is a signal to Mictlantecuhtli? But that doesn’t explain the letter. If you’re going to engage in cult rituals, why risk blowing your cover by sending a letter to the press and telling the world what you’re up to? It seems more like an egotistical gesture than anything.

This whole thing really bothers me. I mean, is it safe to even leave the house? Who knows what kind of nutters are out there? As it is, I never really did much socially in the evenings, but now every time I even go outside I’m scared, like some psycho could be waiting around every corner with a knife and a marker pen.

Chapter 59 – the rant

If Bradley is so tired, she shouldn’t be posting at this late hour, but I really didn’t have any choice.

Bradley seems to come in for more than her fair share of nasty experiences, doesn’t she?  First stalkers, then kidnappers and now murderers.  One of the pitfalls it’s easy to fall into as a writer is to sympathise with your characters so much that you can’t bear to see them suffering.

The name “Mictlantecuhtli” hasn’t been mentioned before in the story, although it did appear in one of the tags used by Johnny.  That’s because this is a news item that everyone in Hercynia would already know about, so Johnny and Clouds didn’t think it necessary to mention that name.

***

I saw the first episode of a new BBC drama series the other day.  It’s called Survivors, and it’s really good so far.  It’s about a group of people who are the last survivors of an epidemic that has wiped out over 90 percent of the world’s population.  Apparently it’s based on an older series, which was in turn based on a book by Terry Nation, the man who created the Daleks (no, I don’t mean Davros).

I visited Coleg y Drindod (Trinity College), a.k.a. Carmarthen uni, today.  It seems kind of small, and it’s in the middle of nowhere, a bit like where I live, actually, but the Creative Writing course they offer there is really good.  I spoke to one of the lecturers there, and he gave me a very long and interesting talk about the course, as well as the college, university in general, course interviews, living in Wales, etc.  He seemed a really nice guy, and I was honoured that he was prepared to give up so much of his time to help me, but this did mean that my mum and I were at the university for much longer than we anticipated, and I had a friend’s 18th birthday party to get back to (I swear, everyone is turning 18 lately!).

Then we got held up by traffic, and there were two accidents, and loads of roadworks, and I arrived home half an hour late for the party, which wouldn’t have mattered nearly so much if the party hadn’t began with a sit down dinner.  Furthermore, I still needed to dress up as a walrus, as required by my party invite.  This could have been achieved more speedily if I hadn’t received a phone call from one of my friends asking me where the hell I was while I was trying to change.

As it was, I didn’t have time to wrap the present, and my walrus tusks were mauve drinking straws because I couldn’t find white ones, and I forgot to stuff my suit with a cushion, so everyone thought I was meant to be James Bond or some kind of pimp, but no matter.  I got to the party just over an hour late (Google Maps’ directions suck), and it was great fun.

It was a very odd party, actually.  It was kind of like being 6 years old again.  We were all dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass (the birthday girl was Alice).  We had jelly – fortunately there was still some left for me! – and ice-cream, and we played party games like pass the parcel.  It was probably the nicest, most innocent party I have been to in some time.  Well, OK, not entirely innocent, but as innocent as you could reasonably expect some of the people present to be.

Anyway, I’ve only just got back, which is why this is being posted so late in the day.

Chapter 59 – Murder

(bizzariarox)

i suppose you heard about mictlantecuhtli’s latest attack yesterday? i was the one who found the body.

it had been a good day up until that point. i’d stopped by at the odd jobs agency on my way back from a game of football i’d been playing with iaru and his mates, and i saw this request for a single delivery, that said it was urgent, to be made to a house in forest floor, under tree top town. that’s not far from where i live, so i thought, why the hell not? 20€ just for delivering a parcel!

so i took the bus home as usual, but instead of stopping there, i headed on to forest floor. i’d forgotten just how dark it gets there in the evenings. it took me a little while to find the house in the dark, but i found it, and delivered the parcel successfully. i turned to hurry back so as to catch the last bus to south dock, but i took a wrong turn down one of the streets and wound on the edge of the woods. i was going to just turn back, but then i spotted this figure slumped against a tree. i thought it might be someone hurt, so i just went to have a look. i saw it was a man, and that he wasn’t moving, so i called out, “are you ok?” he didn’t react at all, and then i got closer and realised the guy had a little black “m” on his forehead.

that was the most surreal moment ever. for a moment, i thought it couldn’t be real, you know? like i was imagining it or something. and then i panicked. i straightened up, looked around, and ran. i didn’t stop running until i was out from under tree top town and back in the open. then i called the police, and told them what i’d seen.

it was hard to get the words out. i think i was in shock. then of course they wanted a full explanation of everything, what was i doing there, did i see anything suspicious, etc. so it was a while before i could go home, and i was exhausted by that point. i had to hand my proof-of-delivery slip thingy in today, cause the agency was closed by the time i was done talking to the police.

why does everything crazy seem to happen around me? i mean, am i being punished for something? do i have bad karma?

everyone at school has wanted to discuss what happened. normally i’d be the first to tell everyone about such an exciting tale, but i’m so tired today, and i’m really not in the mood for people being morbid. as far as i can tell, i’m lucky to be alive myself. if the killer had still been around, they could have been really close by. the whole experience was scary as hell.

need sleepp now…. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Chapter 58 – the rant

But what of the guitarist, Clouds?  Won’t he be perfect as well?

“Squee,” for the uninformed, represents the (stereo)typical fangirlish squeal.  In other words, Clouds thinks the lead actor and actress are hot.

You know, if Minutes 2 were a real movie, I bet it would be an instant success.  I mean, if Clouds is to be believed, it’s got action, it’s got a witty script, and it’s got eye candy of both genders.  Something for everyone!

And they could subtitle it “Midnight”, and then it would be called Minutes 2: Midnight.  No?  Never mind.

Have you noticed the tags under the story posts?  Normally I only use categories, but under each chapter, you will find tags relating to that chapter.  These exist within the story, and were added by the characters themselves.

***

Saturday’s Merlin was an unusually violent (though nonsensically bloodless) episode.  The storyline was pretty good, but I’m getting impatient regarding the overall plot, which seems to be going nowhere.

Saturday’s LG15: the resistance was much more promising in terms of plot movement.  Chapter 10 was fun and had some surprising twists, although some of the main characters are getting just a little annoying.

Today’s episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures was interesting, but Sarah Jane herself displayed some rather obvious stupidity.  It’s the first part of a time-paradoxy story, which seldom bodes well.

I’ve done some really stupid things myself lately – it’s probably best not to go into all the details, but alcohol has usually been involved - and it’s occurred to me that I am doing very little with my life.  I’m lazy.  I really need to sort myself out.  I’ve also realised that I’m the sort of person people take advantage of.  I’m sick of being funny, I’m sick of being “cute”, and I’m sick of being pushed around.  I’m told I give off “victim vibes”.  I don’t know why that might be, but it’s time I did something about it.

Chapter 58 – Minutes 2 and Another School Update

(CloudsAreGatheringOverMe)

I saw Minutes 2 at the cinema the other day. It’s really quite good. I didn’t think the plot was as good as the last movie, but the action scenes are very convincing, and the script is very witty. I loved the scene in the factory. And of course, Matteo Mazur (squee!) is just as hot as he was in the last movie, so that was reason enough to go see it. Laxmi Takahashi (squee again!) is a welcome addition as well.

Ahem… where was I? Oh yeah, I also loved Mike Lance’s cover of the main theme. Brilliant song.

It sure is getting dark early in the afternoon of late, isn’t it? It was already dark by the time we came out of the cinema. Thankfully, we all made it back home without getting murdered by Hawkbites or Swords or Aztec death cults with marker pens, despite my parents’ worries.

Meanwhile, at school, things aren’t going so great. Well, my art project is going nowhere, anyway. I’ve been cutting out bits of everything from photographs to cereal packets and sticking them in my sketch book, but I still haven’t got my final project planned. I wanted to do something bright and happy, but I’ve been worrying too much over the last few weeks to do that.

At least music technology is looking more hopeful. I’ve got the drum track basically sorted now. It might need a little tweaking once I’ve got the rest of the song recorded, but it sounds very similar to the drums on the original song.

I’ve been spending more time in the study area generally of late, and I’m getting to know my bassist pretty well. I’ve heard him play now, and he’s almost there already; with a bit of practice, I think he’ll be perfect for my recording.

Chapter 57 – the rant

Silly Bradley.  Fictional characters never get to enjoy normal lives!

Wonder what Bradley is so happy about…

***

I didn’t like Wednesday’s episode of Heroes very much.  It was far too dependant on continuity, and they still screwed up – Elle was vicious and psychotic when we first saw her, so her personality in that episode was a complete rewrite.  Still, I guess it had its moments.  I like Angela and Linderman more now than I used to.

Yesterday I donated blood for the first time ever, which was an interesting experience.  It was funny, because when I got there, I saw three of my friends sat waiting to donate there.  We hadn’t arranged to meet up or anything!  It was a weird coincidence, but one I was grateful for, because I think I would have been a lot more nervous without people to talk to.

All the same, I was still pretty nervous.  When it was my turn to give blood (I was the last of the four of us), the nurse thought I looked so worried and asked me if my friends had dragged me along, and told me that I didn’t have to donate if I didn’t want to.  I assured her that I was fine, that I had come of my own choice, and that I wanted to donate.

Everyone always says it doesn’t hurt.  I didn’t believe them, but to my surprise, it really didn’t; not in the slightest.  I was determined not to look at the blood coming out, but in the end I couldn’t help myself.  I turned my head to wave at my friends, who were sat at a table eating biscuits, and I saw the tube sticking out of my arm; the tube had turned red.  The situation seemed so absurd – dude, that’s my blood! – that I burst out laughing, and I couldn’t stop for some time.

Of the four of us, only one of us had given blood before, and she was the only one who managed to stay calm and composed the whole time (of the other two, one almost fainted, and the other couldn’t stop talking very fast).  There was a huge box of biscuits on the table, and we ate our way through rather more than our fair share.  So while I expect the nurses were glad to see young people turning up – it’s mainly older people who donate – I think they were even more relieved to see us go!

You know, I felt so elated afterwards.  It’s a great feeling, you know?  Knowing that by donating you have probably saved someone’s life.  As I said at the time: “Go us!”

I saw a friend at school today who I hadn’t seen in ages, so that was cool.  She’d only come in to talk to one of the teachers about something, but it was nice to see her again.  There are so many people who I just haven’t seen since they finished their A2s.

Everyone seems to be turning 18 lately.  In a bit I’m heading into town for yet another friend’s birthday celebrations.

Chapter 57 – Normal

(bizzariarox)

i’ve been in a good mood basically all week. happier than i’ve been for some time, actually. everything seems so much clearer to me since i got back to england. apart from anything else, i love having my normal life back.

there’s been a lot more schoolwork to do than there was last term. everyone has been spending a lot of time in the study room. problem is, i find it’s hard to get any work done when teachers keep walking in and, telling us all to keep quiet. i find the strict atmosphere much more distracting than the people talking!

i’m going to my second martial arts class very soon. the first one was alright. we were just learning the basics. it’s an odd style. they just call it “martial arts”, but it’s a weird mix of techniques from karate, judo, savate, capoeira and boxing, among other things. they claim to have “taken inspiration from a variety of martial arts traditions and refined them into the perfect fighting style”, which sounds like marketing bs to me, but adam assures me they know what they’re doing.

iaru signed up for the classes with me, which was cool. i don’t know anyone else there, so it sure is nice to have a friend there. iaru already goes to the gym every week for fencing lessons, so he’s used to the place. it’s not much like the gym i used to go to. it’s more like a dojo than anything else, only the design isn’t very japanese.

Chapter 56 – the rant

Johnny is always happy to help!  Especially if it’s a pretty girl he’s helping.

Some Music Technology recording coursework can be an absolute nightmare to complete, so it’s great when you can find people who are willing to let you record them.

***

Current listening: Ozma, “Korobeiniki”.

Chapter 56 – I have a mission (I choose to accept it)

(johnny07)

I’ve got a new project to work on. You remember I took up the guitar recently? Well, there’s a girl in my English class who’s doing a music tech project where she needs to record a cover of “Who’s There?” by the Gathering Clouds, and she was looking for a guitarist, so I volunteered to play it. I said I’d have it ready to record by Christmas.

I know, you’re probably thinking I’m too much of a beginner to perform a recordable-quality tune, but it’s a really basic part, there are only about five guitar chords in the entire song (the synthesiser leads), so it should be easy enough. Anyway, the girl in question is really nice and she said she was having difficulty finding anyone who would play the guitar on her recording, so I felt I had to help. I did warn her that I’m not very good, but she said she was just glad to have found a guitarist. So now it’s my duty to rehearse this until it’s perfect.

She’s also recruited a rather idiotic friend/unwanted acquaintance of mine to record the bass part. I hope he takes it seriously. He’s a pretty good bass player, but he’s the sort of person who is liable to say he’ll do something, and then doesn’t bother.