It's night. You'r

Chatterbox: Pudding's Place

It's night. You'r

It's night. You're sitting in your bed, staring out the window, searching for something lost. But you can't remember what it is, or was. All you know is that it's out there...it's important...and it was once yours.

Perhaps you never used it, perhaps you did--once, maybe twice. Or more. But for some strange reason, you can't remember if you did or didn't. Or what effect it had on you. Or...where it is now.

As you awoke from a particularly bland and boring dream, the memory that you were missing this...thing slid into your head. As you sat in a haze between asleep and awake, you stared outside, scouring the landscape that, for one fleeting moment, was no longer the familiar world you saw every day.

So here you are, staring outside, searching.

And then you finish waking up.

And here you are, trying to remember what you were just doing.

Hm, you think, smacking your dry lips. The covers rustle as you reach for your water glass, which sits by your lamp on your nightstand like it does every night. That's really wierd...I can't remember my dream. It seemed important--almost real. Your hand meets cold glass and you close your fingers around it. You bring it to your lips for a satisfying sip, but you realize that it's empty.

"Darn," you whisper. You'll have to get out of bed to fill it up--but it's really cold, and you don't have socks on.

Eh, it's no big deal. You'll fill it up.

Throwing the covers to the side, you haul yourself out of bed. With every footstep towards the kitchen all memory of strange dreams and searches leaves you, and by the time you return to your comfy nest of blankets with your full cup of water, the night seems almost normal. That is, until you glance outside the window.

Something moves across the front of the moon, which is full and shines right through the middle of your window, lighting up your comforter. What could it have been? It seemed familiar...And perhaps it's the fact that you're still half asleep, half awake that you can sense it, but a powerful force beats from it. Calling you. Presenting opportunities that you absolutely cannot miss.

Without any hesitation you get back out of bed, but before you can even leave your bedroom you notice a puddle of water near your nightstand.

So that's where all my water went, you realize. I must've knocked it over. Upon closer inspection you realize that there's writing on the carpet, glowing faintly yellow from under the patch of wetness.

The writing is so interesting you don't even realize how strange it is that the puddle isn't soaking into the carpet, or wonder how the words got there. In fact, the words don't even seem scary to you, despite their suspicious nature.

Hello, person! You are one of the lucky few CBers to be chosen to go on a nice, relaxing, beautiful vacation over Lake Lelillo! (Lay-LIH-loh) If you do indeed come, and we absolutely hope you do decide to, you will be given a free getaway from work, school, and empty water glasses! Here at Lake Lelillo, you will have all-day access to the lake itself, the fun attractions, the ice cream stands, the hot dog stands, the hamburger stands, the steak stands, the spagghetti stands, and any other stand marked with a silver star. (Which is all of them, so please don't forget!) Your rooms will be huge and most of them will even overlook the lake! They will of course be inside our one and only Luxury Lake House, which you will live in until your stay comes to a close. Remember this is all completely free, free free! Please pack your things, bring an AE and/or CAPTCHA if you'd like, and wait with them by the nearest stream at sunrise tomorrow morning. As we always say: All inlets lead to Lelillo!

~Your Soon-to-be Chaperones, 

Cassy and Lily of Lake Lelillo 

How you read all that small print was beyond you. Will you go? It certainly seems relaxing enough. The choice is yours to make.

-------------------------

I'll tell you all when the spots are closed, so join while you still can!

Please note that this is my second ski lodge, and it's kind of linked to my first. In a sense, it's the next part. I don't know if I should call it a part two, or what, but some things might reference the first ski lodge. Don't worry--I'm not going to make things super confusing. I'll explain things as I go--and I really need new CBers to join in. But I also need some CBers from my previous ski lodge to come. ('Course, they don't have to join if they don't want to; I'll understand.)

Here's another clue (if you didn't catch the others...) for the CBers who were in my first ski lodge, or read it, and wanted to be in this one:

What do you get when you cross a scorpion and a sloth?

Hehe, my alias isn't going to last the day. :D

submitted by Your Chaperones, Cassy and Lily
(January 1, 2017 - 11:51 am)

Yeah, Micearenice! Great writing!

LilyCat... watch out...... 

submitted by Pepper Star
(May 9, 2017 - 4:08 pm)
Everybody screamed, shouted, yelled, wailed, did all the panicky things that people shouldn't do in a crisis.
"QUIET!" came a loud, authorative voice. Lily. Since when was Lily loud and authoritative? The CBers quieted down in surprise and looked around for Lily. She was coming down the peagravel walkway with Ice Wolf.
When the backyard was silent, Lily asked, "What happened? Why was everyone screaming?"
The Cbers looked at each other. Kate the Great raised her hand. "LilyPad touched a deadly plant and...um..."
Ice Wolf gasped. So did Lily. "Oh no!"
"What kind of plant did you say it was, Autumn?" asked Poetic Panda.
"Two plants. A manchineel tree and a New Zealand tree nettle. What I don't get is why they killed her so fast. It would take way longer than five minutes to grow deadly enough..." Autumn Leaves wandered away from the group to observe the tree nettle again. When she came away from the plant, her face was ashen. "That explains it," she said.
"What?" demanded Lily.
"The tree nettle was coated in some kind of poisonous oil. I think it must be," Autumn gulped, "ricin," she whispered.
"What's that?" asked Shadow.
"The poison from the ricinus communis, or the castor oil plant. It's 12,000 times more toxic than rattlesnake venom. Just 700 micrograms can kill a person weighing 159 pounds or less...That, combined with the other toxins, would be plenty to..." Autumn found herself unable to continue and fell silent.
"I'm confused," Ariel said. "Does the tree nettle grow ricin on it?"
"No," Autumn said. "Someone put the ricin on the nettle. Recently. And I bet it was on the manchineel, too. It's hard to say, though, because the manchineel is covered in acidic sap already."
"So it wasn't an accident?" Cinderpelt asked.
"No. You can tell someone just planted them there. The ground is still loose."
"Yikes."
Lily glanced at the CBers. "Maybe we should go inside."
"But we have to have a funeral..." Dragonrider said, trailing off.
"If you touch her, you'll get poisoned, too," warned Autumn Leaves. The CBers pulled away quickly, as if afraid the deadly poisons were going to leap off LilyPad and onto them.
"I thought I saw a hazmat suit hanging in the closet," said Lily, taking no notice to the shocked, suspicious expressions that flitted across the CBers' faces. "I can go grab it."
The CBers idled in the yard for a few minutes until Lily returned wearing a white suit with gloves and a mask.
"And that just happened to be hanging in the closet?" Jayfeather asked, eyeing the suit with extreme scorn.
Lily faltered. "Hm. It does seem rather suspicious, now that you mention it," she said, stopping to observe the white crinkly fabric.
"Especially since it was just your size," agreed Puck.
"Had you ever seen it before now?" Wordsy asked.
Lily shook her head. "...Nope. But random things always turn up in this house."
"You're probably wearing the murderer's toooool," Briar hinted.
"It's--ohhhhh," Lily said. "I see." She took off the suit, just in case there was poison hidden inside. Although if there had been, she'd probably be dead already.
"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Puck.
"Let's bury her right here," suggested Autumn Leaves.
So they did, and after a quick funeral, they retired to their rooms.
~ ~ ~
"Okay, something has to be done," Hotairballoon said, "about lots of things."
"Especially the murderer," said Poetic Panda.
"I thought the murderer was the only problem," Elvina said.
"No," HAB said. "--It's not. There's another problem, with Jayfeather and possibly Ariel."
Jayfeather looked up from the book he was pretending to read. "Ahem. Please don't go spilling all my secrets."
"I'm pretty sure it's no secret what you're trying to do," Hotairballoon said.
"What?" asked Cinderpelt, turning on her AE. "What are you trying to do?"
"Nothing," mumbled Jayfeather.
"Eliminate himself," said Hotairballoon matter-of-factly. "To put it gently."
The room fell silent, more silent than it had been before. Hope could never seem farther away.
"WHY?" demanded Cinderpelt.
Jayfeather looked sullenly around the room. His eyebrows knitted together in a defensive position. "None of your business," he said quietly, furiously returning to his book, which was upside down at this point.
Nobody wanted to address this matter, so they akwardly turned to another topic. It didn't matter, though, because nothing they said would've changed Jayfeather's mind. He was too far gone.
Instead, they quietly discussed the murderer, which was a topic depressing in itself, but still more pleasant than trying to figure out what was going on in Jayfeather's mind.
"So about the other problem. The main problem. The murderer," Hotairballoon said.
"I've already been trying something," Ice Wolf said.
"I know," HAB replied. "But we need to do more stuff."
"Like what?" asked Nighthawk.
"Like...I dunno. What we did at the farm was pretty cool," he said. "Except for my job, which wasn't very cool. Working for the murderer."
"Um. Right," Dragonrider said.
"It's okay, though. You were being controlled by a mysterious force and you had no idea what you were doing, so...no harm done."
"But there was still harm done," murmured Dragonrider. "I still wish I knew what possessed me to do that."
"Right, and that's why you came here, to find answers," Hotairballoon concluded.
"Now wait, wait, wait," Nighthawk said, looking at Dragonrider. "How do we know...uh...heh..." Her face turned pink and she looked at her feet.
"Exactly," sighed Panda wearily. "We don't. We don't know anything."
"Ah, such confusion," sighed HAB. "I still think we should take proper precautions to protect ourselves."
"So, train?" asked Moonfrost.
"No...not exactly. The murderer's not training an army."
"Then do what?"
"I was thinking more like...trust circles. No--even better. Has anyone ever played Clue?"
Dragonrider's hand shot up. So did Moonfrost's, Kate's, Ice Wolf's, Autumn Leaves's, and Elvina's.
"For those of you who don't know what Clue is, it's a game where the players are trying to solve a mystery. Each person has cards, which serve as clues, and since each 'clue' is different, they all know something the others don't. They compare clues and make notes. Then they race to see who can solve the mystery first. If we treat this like Clue, we might have a better chance of finding the murderer," Hotairballoon explained. "And of course there's the fact that one of the players is always the killer."
"I saw Clue in the closet," Ice Wolf said, rising. "We should play it, just to get a feel for it."
The CBers murmured their consent.
As the murderer watched the game that followed, an idea hit it. The comparison of their predicament to a game gave the murderer an idea--a devious, creative idea...
------------------------------------- 
submitted by Lily and Cassy, Lake Lelillo
(May 12, 2017 - 7:49 am)

Super sorry I haven't been on! Brilliant writing as always, and a great plot!!

submitted by Nighthawk
(May 14, 2017 - 6:48 am)
submitted by TOP!!!
(May 12, 2017 - 7:53 am)
submitted by Tippy Topsarenice
(May 12, 2017 - 7:54 am)
submitted by Tippity Topsarenice
(May 12, 2017 - 1:19 pm)
submitted by Top!
(May 12, 2017 - 8:40 pm)
submitted by Top for new writing!, toppokepokenudgetopnudge
(May 14, 2017 - 2:25 pm)

Still reading. :) Love it all! Great job on our personalities!! (Seriously though; I'm pretty sure that Ariel would try to kill himself if he couldn't be with Saphira, so great job with that part!) 

And, TOP!!!  

submitted by Joan B. of Arc, age 14, Camelot
(May 17, 2017 - 6:10 pm)
submitted by Top! , For hope!
(May 21, 2017 - 10:10 am)
Thanks guys! I'm having a lot of fun developing everyone's personalities.
I have a bunch of random fun facts from the story here, in case you're curious about the things that almost happened:
~Jayfeather was almost the one who ate the acid-covered salmon at the begining, but I decided he had too much potential for comedy relief, so I chose Saphire to eat it instead, whose personality I had developed less.
~Leafpool's death was based off a practice scene I wrote in which Owlgirl was caught in her room by the murderer.
~Cassy's name was inspired by a girl named Cassy from the Michael Vey series. I had just read books 5 and 6 when I was making this ski lodge, and the name Cassy seemed to suit Lily's sister.
I'll add more as I think of them! My computer's about to die, so I'd better post this now. 
---------------------- 
Moonfrost, Booksy, Joan, HAB, Poetic Panda, Dragonrider, and Puck, who had recent experience with themed rooms, were in the process of remodeling the CBers' living quarters--into looking like detective offices. After all, to be in a detective's office is to be a detective, no? Well, whether having the words 'private eyes' painted on your bedroom door creates a positive phsychological state or not, redecorating their rooms gave the CBers something to do--and something rebellious at that. In the bedrooms, they rearranged the orientation of the beds, painted over the wallpaper with tan washable paint (they weren't that rebellious), laid down tan rugs, and placed an old gray desk next to each bed. They rearranged the furniture in the living room to make it look like a cozy sort of lounge. Which, technically, it had already been, but the redecoration team made it look more professional.
The others gathered as much paper as they could, and, if they hadn't packed any notebooks, they made some of their own. They customized them, and borrowed pens from their friends. Ariel took part in the project as well, but Jayfeather stayed seated in his chair, staring at page seven in his book the entire time. He remained motionless even when Joan came over to move the chair to a new spot. This worried the CBers immensely, though they didn't let it show. Now that they were aware of his train of thought, they could keep an eye on him from afar.
When they were done, the CBers made themselves nametags and placed all their possessions in lock boxes (also found in the closet) that they had tucked away under their beds. Right away they started their investigations. Little did they know these little steps would be immensely helpful to them later on.
They formed little groups, asked each other questions, moved on to other groups, and continued in this fashion until dinner.
Dinner was a silent affair, eaten in dim lighting by very distracted diners. They left without dessert, so as to get to sleep early and be refreshed and alert during the next day--their sixth day. Yes; it was high time they got things under control...
--------------------
Day Six~Part One
The sun rose and began to boil the lake. The night had been warm, however, and no steam arose from the ground. All that could be seen rising to the sky were the wavy heat lines dancing across the curves of the cobblestone pathways. This day was, as some might say, going to be a 'scorcher'.
But the Chatterboxers had no time for playing in the lake. As soon as they woke up, they began to study with their roommates.
~ ~ ~
Owlgirl was thinking about Autumn Leaves's advanced botany course when Kate the Great tapped her on the shoulder.
"Yes?" Owlgirl asked, coming back to reality.
"We were just having a consensus--what are the odds the murderer is in our room, do you think?"
"Well," replied Owlgirl, "there are--" she quickly did some counting on her fingers "--thirty-two people here right now. I personally don't think the murderer is a CAPTCHA, because CAPTCHAs can't spell. So with nine CAPTCHAs, that gives us twenty three Chatterboxers and AEs. The most CBers are in the Johnny Johnson room, though. So I'd say we have a lower chance of bunking with the murderer than the others."
"Well, we all had the same amount of people to begin with, except for the Johnny Johnson room, so our chances are the same," pointed out Hotairballoon. "But did you notice how the James B. Nelly room has the least amount of people living in it now?"
"You're right!" Joan exclaimed.
"But that doesn't mean anything," Joan argued. "Because only two of us were killed in a bedroom."
"Which rooms were those?" asked Moonfrost. "I forgot."
"The James B. Nelly room and the Tabitha Tucker room," Hotairballoon replied. "I think."
"Yeah, it was," Grace said.
"It was Leafpool in the Tabitha Tucker room, and it was Pepper Star in the James B. Nelly room..." said Owlgirl.
"It's more likely the murderer was in Pepper's room to begin with," Kate the Great said. "Leafpool was killed while we were all awake, so it could've been done by anyone. We hardly would've noticed."
"So you're saying..." Grace said.
"...it's more likely the murderer is in the James B. Nelly room," finished Joan.
~ ~ ~
Elvina sat upon her bed, leaning slightly to the left to avoid the glinting brightness of the sun shining through the James B. Nelly room. "What were you doing, Cinderpelt, when we were doing the egg drop the other day?" she asked.
Cinderpelt thought. "I was helping make the egg container for the egg."
Elvina scribbled something down in her notebook. "Now...do any of you have any thoughts on what Ice Wolf could be doing? Remember the thing she did yesterday? In her room?"
"I don't know. Probably something to do with busting the murderer," Booksy suggested, writing something in her own notebook.
"Blrb," Legolas offered.
"Interesting observation, Legolas," Elvina said, adding a note to her book.
Luna sat by quietly, taking in everything with a mysterious glint in her eyes.
~ ~ ~
Brooklyn Newsie sat in the Tabitha Tucker room, lost in thought. Why had no one bothered to go back and talk to Cassy? Instead of just assuming she was working with the murderer, shouldn't they try to be sure? Then they could do something like...lock her up? Free her of her blackmail? Something? It would be better than nothing, that much was certain.
~ ~ ~
"It's really crowded in here," Ice Wolf complained. "Now that there are less of us, can't we spread out into the other rooms?"
"I'm sure there are no rules about that," Nighthawk replied. "I mean, we just painted the walls and we didn't get in trouble. But I like it in here."
"Now that all the vines have been painted over," Shadow agreed, nodding.
There was a long silence.
Suddenly, Ice Wolf began to laugh. "We're all just sitting here, waiting for the next death."
"Yeah," laughed the others, because the concept was kind of funny.
"Why don't we go eat?" suggested Ice Wolf at the same time Autumn Leaves, Joan, and Elvina did.
~ ~ ~
At breakfast, Lily and Cassy tried to convince the CBers to continue the events. "We're supposed to be your chaperones," Lily said, "but you've spent a lot of time by yourselves."
"Yeah, but in light of recent events, we thought we'd better try to investigate and find out who the murderer is," Dragonrider said.
"Oh, okay. Anything I can do to help?" asked Lily.
"Me too?" Cassy added.
"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, suuuuuuuuuuure," Grace said, trying not to sound suspicious. She took a sip from her cup of water. "Ew. This is disgusting." Looking down, she saw that it was completely blue-green. "Why is my water blue? And it has these weird floating thingies in it."
Owlgirl assumed her AE was overreacting. "It's FINE, Grace. You probably spilled some gummy bears in it or something. Just drink it."
Grace grimaced, but didn't complain about her water again. Have you ever heard the saying, 'manners get you nowhere?' Probably not, because an AE invented it, but in Grace's case, this was true. The day she decided to use her manners was the day she died.
At the end of the meal, as everyone was clearing their plates, Grace fainted. Or at least, everyone thought she had fainted. In reality, she had done much worse than fainted. The CBers set down their plates and crowded around the AE, who was sprawled across the syrupy floor with her eyes closed.
"Grace," Owlgirl said. "GRACE," she yelled, slapping her AE's face. "Wake up!"
Jayfeather checked Grace's nonexistent pulse. "Well, she's not waking up, that's for sure."
Owlgirl turned white. "What do you mean?"
"Seems to me that water was poisoned," Jayfeather said with a shrug. "I guess she didn't spill gummy bears in it after all."
"B-b-but--" Owlgirl stammered.
"There doesn't happen to be any of that left, does there?" Jayfeather asked, standing hurriedly and reaching for the glass. Hotairballoon snatched the cup before Jayfeather could grab it. He handed it to Autumn Leaves, who accepted it with a puzzled expression. "Why are you giving this to me?" she asked, staring curiously at the blue residue at the bottom of the glass.
"You're the--plant expert, right?" Hotairballoon asked.
"Yeah. But this doesn't look like a plant to me."
"Is this that blue algae from Australia?" Hotairballoon asked, pointing at the leftover blue lumps. "I read about it in my science book, but I don't remember much about it. In high concentrations it can clump like that, though, right? And the fact that it's blue..."
"Oh yeah, you're right!" Autumn Leaves exclaimed, holding the glass to her eye. "It is blue-green algae!"
"I'm probably wrong," HAB said.
"No, actually," Autumn Leaves said. "You're not. See how it looks green when you hold it to the light?"
"Weird."
"Another death by plants," muttered Autumn Leaves. "Is this the murderer's new theme? Deadly plants?"
Autumn Leaves explained the cause of Grace's death to everyone, and they also agreed that the murderer was going on a plant theme. After the funeral, they resolved to avoid all suspicious drinks (they should've been doing that long before) and all plants that weren't 100% known to be safe.
Obviously, the murderer could just change its plan once it was figured out, but since plant-themed deaths weren't the murderer's intent anyway, there was no need to. The real plan would be made known the next day--that is, the game would truly begin.
submitted by Lily and Cassy, Lake Lelillo
(May 21, 2017 - 8:21 pm)

QUICK! TO THE GUEST LIST!

submitted by Brooklyn Newsie
(May 25, 2017 - 10:27 am)

Noooooooo, Grace!!!!

I'm dead! I'm dead! Whoa, does that mean I'm a ghost now? Like what even am I?

submitted by Owlgirl & GRACE
(June 22, 2017 - 10:43 pm)
submitted by Topsarenice
(May 24, 2017 - 10:46 am)
submitted by TOPSARENICE
(May 24, 2017 - 11:29 am)