Janelle Darkstone

The trio climbed into the car and sat down in the comfortable leather seating, very plush for a robotic car, they mused. Tex placed the bowl of hot buttered popcorn on the center console and reached for the window control, rolling the window down all the way. The martian sat in the driver's seat, having only momentarily difficulty in adjusting the seat to accommodate his short legs and managed to find a setting in which he could just barely reach the pedals with his tiptoes. An old Beach Boys song finished playing on the radio and the car spoke again. "Welcome, friends. I am CATT, a sentient mechanical being from the planet Hasselhoff. You might not have ever heard of that star system..." "Can I push the "Turbo Boost" button right there on the console?" asked Janelle. "...no," replied CATT. "Now, you may have never heard of--" "What happens if I push it?" interrupted Janelle. "....nothing happens," the car said. "Now, listen---" "I'm gonna push it," giggled Janelle. "DO NOT PUSH THE BUTTON!" the car shouted, losing its cool. The three passengers jerked upright, startled at the sudden outburst from the car. "Listen!" CATT snarled. "You are all in great danger, and it is my mission to transport you safely from this area as quickly as possible before we all come under bombardment from a starship currently in orbit around this planet! Now sit down and shut UP!" The trio sat passively as CATT put itself in reverse and backed off Tex's lawn, leaving a set of deep tire tracks in the lawn. The car grumbled to itself as it straightened out and roared down the street, "I swear by her royal highness Queen 16, I will never accept another Earth mission again as long as I function!" Janelle sat in the back seat, pouting. Cocking her head to one side she glanced at each of her companions and muttered, "You know, I can't help but think we're forgetting something..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Back at the tree, Sharpie swallowed the last bit of tuna and licked his lips, purring contentedly. He raised his head and looked around, suddenly aware of how quiet the neighborhood had become. He shrugged and began preening his fur. He was not aware of the bright object in the sky fast approaching, a pale, egg-shaped projectile tumbling end over end. High above at his station, Weapons Officer Yolkker grinned malevolently.

If it's the same as mine, have you tried clicking the up/down and instr/gauges areas of the HUD yet? The HUD will pop up and display over the bar at the bottom of the UI. Also, be sure to read the help notecard to find the key shortcuts so you won't have to click the HUD all the time. Also, if you happen to see me flying mine, be sure to stay really still and don't shoot back.

Perrie Juran wrote: Anjelikka wrote: Yes....you can photoshop it For this reason I will not be entering. Nothing against those who can photoshop, but you are pitting apples against zucchinis. ( What about those of us who shouldn't photoshop? )

Meanwhile, on the X-51 Solarian Interplanetary Battlecruiser, the helmsman turned to Commander Theramore and said, "I think we've got a lock on the Martian..." Commander Theramore nodded, his shiny dome head bright in the blinding "lens flare" lighting of the bridge. "Very good. Fire eggtubes one and four, full scatter, full detonation, on my command. Aaaaannddd f--" The massive ship suddenly lurched, throwing everyone from their seats, their tiny arms flailing wildly as they fell to the floor as they had on many, many occasions like this before because nobody had thought of inventing interstellar seat belts. The bridge lights went red, klaxons blaring loudly. Weapons Officer Yolkker stumbled to his station and switched on his viewscope. "It's the Hairball, Commander, at bearing mark three four zero and they're firing on us!" Another projectile streaked from the distance, bright with ethereal energy but also furrily with hair and spit. The missle arced in a long trajectory, gracefully (but furrily) and moments later impacted against the X-51's hull, causing the entire ship to shudder and drift off course slightly. Captain Hissyfit glared at his viewscreen. Spinning in his chair he eyed Weapons Officer Patches and hissed angrily. "What's wrong? We're not doing any damage!" Weapons Officer Patches returned his glare, his own eyes narrowed. "...it's going to be one tough egg to crack..." Meanwhile in Tex's living room, the Martian, Janelle, Tex and the bowl of hot buttered popcorn sat there enjoying themselves, practicing catching the kernels in their mouths and making a mess on the floor. Suddenly the living room window shattered in a spray of broken glass and leaves and the Car looked in on them, its pulsing red sensor eye sweeping from left to right. In a dramatic but also weirdly soothing voice, the Car calmly declared "...come with me if you want to live."

Meanwhile, on the far side of the planet the interstellar starship USS Hairball dropped out of warp, its own Cattoast IV engines creating a vibrating, purring sound as they powered down and the massive craft settled into its own orbit. Dark and sleek, the ship was in stark contrast to the mottled gray armor plating of the Solarian Battlecruiser, thousands of miles away. Captain Hissyfit watched the viewscreen carefully, his citrine-colored eyes darting to and fro watching the blue planet come into view. Turning to his right, he addressed his first officer at the science console. "Anything, Mr. Socks?" "Yes, Captain," replied Mr. Socks. "Our sensors detect the fugitive on the planet's surface, but he is not alone. There appears to be an alien Martian being in his close proximity, and it appears they might be collaborating on an escape." "Ensign Whiskers!" hissed Captain Hissyfit. "Come about, bearing one nine zero, all ahead full. We have to find that escaped telepath and return him to Felinea!" "There's more, Captain," added Mr. Socks, calmly. "I detect another alien -- this one a mechanical being from the Hasselhoff System. It appears to be preparing to extract both of them from the area." Captain Hissyfit narrows his eyes dramatically, scowling at the viewscreen. "...go, Ensign. We're running out of time..."

/me plops down next to Tex on the sofa, grabs a handful of popcorn and steals the remote control.

Anjelikka wrote: Thanks for stopping by....you should submit your picture on flickr in the group...

( Not in it for the money, just wanted an excuse to take a random picture. )

Meanwhile, the X-51 Solarian Interplanetary Battlecruiser rolled into a stable orbit over the tiny blue planet, its engines brimming with plasma energy as they powered down from its long journey from the Orion nebula. A few, tiny earth satellites came into contact and fragmented harmlessly away as they collided at high speed with the ship's outer shell. Commander Theramore sat in his captain's chair, his eyes on the large bridge display screen, his fingers absentmindedly resting on several lighted switches at his side, one marked 'Obliterate', the other marked 'Tea'. The helmsman informed him that they were at their destination and ready to begin scanning. "Very well," he nodded. "Begin your sweep. Find the fugitive Martian and destroy him, and everything around him."

Sparki-Sharpie turns his head, very, very slowly in reponse to the car. Coming down. The street. The street right there. Yep, that one. (( Wow, that car is taking forever to get here, isn't it? What a fortuitous opportunity for someone else to jump in and add to the narrative. ))

Pfft, I've seen your finger already. ...wait, umm..

You look great! :smileytongue:

Focus! Focus, thought Scampi..errr, Sharpie. This one isn't like the other humans, your future servants and slaves... this one can hear your thoughts... Tensed, his tail low and twitching, Sharpie approached the strange figure standing under the tree, making sure to stay just out of reach, a lesson he had learned from eons of cat ancestry. Creeping ever closer, he strained his eyes to make out the shadowy apparition there, and seeing it for the first time; such a strange being it was. Huge, expressive eyes surrounded by a black, blank face, black as the deepest space. It wore a red space suit and a green helmet with what looked like a broom head sticking out the top, with bristles Sharpie realized he'd much like to chew on for an hour or two if given the chance. "Mroooww?" he began. Realizing his foolishness, Sharpie scowled inwardly in spite of himself. Clearing his throat, the feline sat down in the cool grass and stared at the figure beneath the tree with a new resolve. "Let us dispense with the charaaade, shall we? I sense that you are in need of something I might have to offer, and I also have come to the realization you are in posession of some tuna, of which a transaction I find myself also agreeable. It is my firm belief that we may come to a mutually beneficial business arrangement. Shall we attend to these matters, hmmm?" And then he leaned back and waited for a reply, his whiskers twitching idly.

I dunno. It's like watching a really, really, really really slow tennis match.

( Freedom! Ha! Hahahahhaaa!! Yes! I... am... liberated! Now you will all know, and finally, and suffer the wrath of my... ) ...Sharpie felt an itch on his behind, so he sat down hurriedly in the cool grass, thrust up his leg in the air and groomed himself for the next fourteen minutes. Finishing up, he raised his head and wondered where he was. The grass looked familiar, but nothing else ... oh! The tree! My very own favorite climbing tree! His little kitty heart leapt in happiness at the thought of rubbing himself against its rough bark, of sinking his claws into it and giving his nails a good sharpening. Oh, yes! And tuna! ...wait, he balked. Tuna? Where did that come from? Trees don't have tuna, he glared, feeling the hairs on his back rising. He bared his claws, angrily... someone, or something was planting suggestions in his... ...sensing a tuft of hair out of place on his coat, Sharpie sat down and primped himself contentedly for about nine minutes. A fishy scent, wonderfully so, caught his nose and he looked up, alert and curious. The shadow by the tree was moving, or was it? Sharpie felt a sudden instinct to turn and scamper away, running as fast as the pads of his feet could find surface -- but the shadow was near, and it had something... fishy. "Mroww?", said Sharpie.

"Well, I think it's time you had a chance to go outside and make some new disaster," she said, smiling at the purring black cat. Sharpie looked up, closing his eyes and thrusting his jaw out as Janelle stroked him lightly, gathering him up in her arms and standing up from her computer. Wrapping his tail around her forearm, he settled in and purred contentedly as she carried him down the hallway, the socks on her feet slippery on the polished wooden floor. Reaching out to grasp the doorknob she felt a sudden admonition... she drew back, perplexed at the feeling that something was awry. ...out of place. ...unsafe. Sharpie meowed loudly, startling her. Feeling silly, she grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open, the cool spring air on her face and hands as she gently put Sharpie down and nudged the screen door open just enough to allow the cat to slip through, his tail high and inquisitive.

Bringing up a new tab in Firefox she clicked over to the Bank of America web site to make sure the water bill had gone through, when she noticed another strange purchase she hadn't remembered making. What is this, she wondered as she peered at the screen and scrolled down slowly with the mouse wheel -- another scratching post? Four cases of tuna fish? Sixteen rolls of extra-long toilet paper? She checked the transaction date and realized that the purchase had been made while she was at work, and for a moment she felt a slight panic that perhaps someone had broken into her house and been on her computer... Sharpie suddenly leapt from his resting spot and landed on her bare thigh, kneading his claws in and purring madly. She yelped in surprise and grabbed him with both hands, picking him up and bringing the cat to eye level. "Agh! Kitty! Bad kitty! I told you to stop doing that..!" Sharpie fixed his gaze into her eyes. From somewhere, someplace, she knew the words. She had heard the song on the classic rock station many times, but this time it seemed the music, jazzy and soulful, was coming from inside her own head. Steely Dan? Why was she hearing Steely Dan all of a sudden? Had she left the radio on upstairs again? The cat gazed harder. Janelle blinked, extended her arms and placed the cat gently back onto the desk. Crossing her arms over her chest she felt an involuntary shiver up her spine and felt a slight chill on the hairs of the back of her neck.

I'll admit I don't know the first thing about roleplaying.. I'm terrible at it anyway. I can manage one sentence and sometimes quotation marks unless I get distracted by something. ...she typed, the black plastic keys clicking under her manicured fingernails. Glancing at the screen she fixed a typo and re-read what she had typed, frowning slightly as it wasn't quite what she had meant to say but would suffice for now. For a moment she realized how rare it was that she was able to make any sense to begin with, and smiled at the thought. Sharpie lay at her side on the desk, purring contentedly, his claws drawing against the cover of a small stack of catalogs. She looked at him and wondered why do cats enjoy sleeping on paper so much? The cat gazed lazily back at her and offered no explanation.

What, is, this? Don't give me that look. You know damn well what I'm talking about -- I found your little love note in your jacket pocket when I was snoopi-doing the laundry. Don't give me that. Who is Rikki person? One of your little girlfriends? Why did you give her your number? Don't lie to me! Is this why you've been staying late at work? ..."Collecting acorns for the winter?" It's March! Get out! I don't care if it IS your house! Get out! Fine, I'll leave! Mom was right about you from the beginning! What do you mean who?! Mom! ...my mom... isn't ... isn't this 555-1973? --5309? Ummmm. Oops! Bye! *click*

It was a bright September morning, slightly chilly in the air with the coming of winter. I had just pulled on a really bad system skirt and top that I had made the day before from textures in the library and walked out once more into the world, looking around inquisitively. I was a newbie. I found a small area which seemed appropriate and stood there, thinking hard of lessons I had been taught at The Island. Carefully, hesitantly, I stretch out my hand and concentrated. Squeezing my eyes closed, small beads of perspiration on my brow, and forced every essense of my being into the fingers of my right hand, and in an instant colors! Colors burst forth in a stream of bright energy and where it met the ground -- a cube. I had made a cube. I have created.. a ... cube! At this point I considered what my title would be, something akin to 'Janelle, Mistress of Cubes'. I reflected on how it might display over my head and if it would be magnificent enough to convey my awesomeness at creating 0.5x0.5 meter plywood cubes with only my hands and my powers of squinting. Then I crashed. Colors swirled around my head and I felt dizzy as I reappeared in an unfamiliar place. Shading my eyes I discovered I had been transported back to The Island by some unseen force... but as the realization of events hit me I realized a terrible, terrible reality; I had left the cube somewhere in some long-forgotten place, all alone, desolate, never knowing if I'd return to it and bring it back home... Do cubes have thoughts? Do they dream? ....I miss you, my little plywood cube. Come home.

I've found when you're completely bored you also have to be very selective of the people you choose to mix with, otherwise you become even more bored as well as losing even more faith in humanity.

I wish there were more sims that allowed build, even for a minute so I could drop my pose stands. I wish there were more background characters to add life to a city setting. I wish there were more facial animations in my mesh head. I also wish I could move my jaw again. I miss my gags.

Tuna round and look at all those bots! I mean, just LOOK at them all! My god, they're everywhere!