Another Time Another Place

[peter]

Dropping silently to his belly Avatar crawled the last twent feet through the undergrowth untill, disguised by both the pitch night blackness and thick untamed foliage, he could overhear what was passing between the rag-tag grouping surrounding the small camp fire.

There were eight of them in total, five men and three women as far as he could tell, and each was seated cross-legged as close to the fire as space and the heat would allow. Bowls of steaming broth occupied most of their attention but between crudely spooned mouthfulls a clearly heated debate was taking place.
"I say we take him down now!" said a large heavy-boned man, who Avatar could have sworn was weraring the face paint of a clown, "He's getting more confident by the day and we ain't getting no younger!"
The man fished in his bowl with thick and none to clean fingers, pulling out what might have been a goat vertibrae but equally might have belonged to the bands dog which had been missing for two days. He shrugged and popped the bone whole into his mouth. Crunching down as he spoke, a shower of spittle and bone acommpanied his measured opinion. "Cut down the body - then kill the head is what I say."
"Sarge, if you spit on me one more time today I swear I'm going to stick that goat jaw straight up your ass," said a boney faced individual lank of hair and dark of complexion. What the **** did you do to this mother anyway; it tastes more like shit-house rat than suckling kid."

Sarge shifted uncomfortably, surrepticiously slipping a piece of red dog-collar that had floated to the top of his bowl beneath his buttock before the others noticed it. "Vraith - if you can do better, then tomorrow get the fu...."

A loud crack from the undergrowth opposit where Avatar remained concealed had the group spinning to their feet, hands flying to knives, axes and machetes in readiness for whatever it was that could be heard pushing through the bush toward the camp.

"What the...!" said Vraith, as a small but perfectly formed girl pushed confidently out of the thicket and stood, hands on hips, grinning like an imp, "Lorin - correct me if I'm wrong - but aren't you supposed to be on a different planet?"


[......if you coninue it, I'll read it. A multi-authorial project done for fun . It lives, it dies, no harm done!....]

[Linna Heartbooger]

Just discovered this for the first time... I laughed so hard, even though I think there's a lot I'm not getting.

Have you told the people who are named in it?

Sarge shifted uncomfortably, surrepticiously slipping a piece of red dog-collar that had floated to the top of his bowl...

LOL!!!

[Savor Dam]

Nice find-and-bump, Linna.

Good stuff, Peter. First of all, the tableau:

• Av lurking at the edge of the camp
  Sarge & Vraith in camp...with a few more to whom we have not yet been introduced
  Lorin (is she alone?) brashly emerging from the foliage

Naming can't be coincidental. Having met a couple of your named players IRL (and reserving the possibility I also know some of the unnamed others), I hesitate to put words in their mouths, but I'd definitely follow a continued story.

There's ample precedent. After the 2011 fest, Sarge started an extensive-and-hilarious thread about the fictional adventures of many of the attendees. Over the years, there have been a few other threads that were either overt or thinly-veiled stories about people here.

We like reading about our community...unless we don't.

[sgt.null]

I had missed this. it needs to continue. as I need to continue the fable. thank you for the kind Words SD>