What is a

Chatterbox: Pudding's Place

What is a

What is a beginning of a story?

The first of a series of events, setting up a change that a character goes through.

 

What is a story?

A place for the artist to build their creativity -- a world and setting and person to color, something to tell to the audience.

I would really rather not spend our precious time thinking about the true meaning of fiction itself. Nothing is quite so black and white. Instead, I invite you to come to this Ski Lodge to explore the worlds and characters you love.

---

You are in a roped-off area with several other children your age, all of which are nervously holding their collective breath. As an over-the-top, bubbly lady clutches a paper in her stiff, pale hand you hope for dear life that the name it reads is not your own.

You are sharing riding across a glassy river with several other first-years, a few on each boat. You are all very nervous to begin this new chapter in your life, but never the the less, excited, as the purple castle looms over you, beckoning you.

Your heart is pounding as you dash towards the hill which promised safety, the one with the pine tree. You are running blindly away from the monster as your best friend instructed you, but you have no idea what it is or how your friend could possibly know.

---

Hello. I am The Fictionalist.

I am the personification of the human’s imagination, and all of the stories it creates. A writer, no matter the medium used to express their story, is simply the fingerprint with which a story’s painting is painted.

This will not be spoiler-heavy but it will probably contain several minor spoilers. If you hate spoilers this might not be the Ski Lodge for you. Also, it might be a while until the first part comes out because I want to have the forms with me as I plan, especially because of Camp NaNoWriMo.

Form: (CBers only -- I will accept around ten people, maybe a few more)

Name:

Pronouns:

Appearance:

Personality:

Skills:

Fandoms/characters/places/etc. You want to see featured*:

*Even if it does not have a fandom, feel free to list it anyways! List as many as you want as there is no guarantee that I will know any of them. Oh, and no music fandoms -- only fictional things.

If one creates a story, what is to say that it is not real, if not in body but in mind?

Link to the original:

http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/465965

submitted by The Fictionalist, The Campus
(March 30, 2021 - 7:31 pm)

back to the Pudding's Place

AH NO NERD!!!! I WILL AVENGE YOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!! This is getting really good.

And for my explanation on Quill being the murderer; They seem to be going to the Fictionalist a lot, asking questions... That is a bit suspicious. Their first question was very odd: "How often will you be appearing? Like, will we only get to see you once or twice or more often?" CLEARLY plotting something they either need the Fictionalist around for, OR something they can't have the Fictionalist see. (Maybe poison or something) Peculiar, isn't it?

submitted by Writing_in_the_dark, age 11, NY but not NYC
(July 22, 2021 - 8:51 pm)
Day 4, part 4
“Nerd!” cried Jaybells.
“It’s Katniss! She’s gone mad like Recovery Girl!” Shouted Wreeboo. Katniss was about to turn her bow towards Wree when Niteskiies sneaked behind Katniss and attempted to grab it out of her hands. Nite merely managed to wrench it up so that the arrow missed Wree entirely. She then grew her wings out to flap up above everyone else. Katniss Everdeen lunged towards the frightened mob of CBers, which was when Nox managed to shoot her with a bow. Surprisingly, Katniss was pinned perfectly against a tree trunk. The CBers didn’t have the heart to kill this character and they doubted they could.
“What’s happened to her???” Kitty cried.
As if to answer, Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, closed her eyes and slumped on the ground. 
There was a choked sob let out by somebody in the back “Nerd . . . no . . . this couldn’t be . . .”
The CBers were truly stunned. They had just witnessed a murder.
No, not a murder. Murder required a plan made before the incident. This was a killing. A killing of their friend, Nerdface. One where the killer probably wasn’t even aware of what she was doing, considering how out-of-character she seemed and how she had died immediately afterwards.
“Could it have been the plants?” Asked Jay.
“I don’t know,” said Nite. “For all we know, the plants could still totally be the cure to this. This might be just another crash anyways -- the kind like Recovery Girl’s.”
“But . . .” Wree gulped. “But this . . .  she . . . no . . .”
“Let’s go home.” Said Nox decicsicvely, narrowing their eyes. “We don’t have time to take the bodies. There aren’t any revival centers there anyways. We’ll just -- we’ll just have to go.” Despite their effort to remain calm, they were choking back tears.
Kitty, who had been holding the pouch from Katniss right before suddenly flung it on the ground.
“It’s not fair,” Fae announced
“Who said it was??? Let’s go.” Nite responded, half-sobbing.
They had already lingered long enough. So The CBers ran back, and didn’t stop running, they hardly stopped running even when they tripped, running in a mess of emotions and fear and their minds reeling with how how they were going to explain this to The Fictionalist.
When they were just about to cross the stream, they saw a few others in the distance. 
It was three of the other CBers, plus The Fictionalist herself.
“I’m so sorry!” Sobbed Wreeboo.
“Something went wrong, didn’t it.” Said The Fictionalist, as if she had already known. “But come over here, it’ll be easier for us to hear you if you are on this side of the stream along with us.”
They did, hastily, scraping their feet numerous times on the sharp stones at the bottom of the stream in their urgency.
“ Where are the . . .” Twilight began to ask , but then realization seemed to dawn on her face. “Oh. Did they . . .”
“Yes,” said Nox grimly. “They’re gone. We didn’t have time to retrieve the bodies.”
“I’ll send some characters to do that,” said The Fictionalist, brushing aside the matter. “I’m so sorry . . . I never wanted it to go this way . . . really . . . .”
“It’s alright,” said Jay shakily. “It’s not your fault. But it’s definitely someone’s fault.”
“Alright then, all, err, eight of you, go back to the library . . .  you can catch each other up there. I think that there is some business that I need to attend to.”
Five of the CBers put their shoes back on. They headed home dejectedly with the others. When they got back, Lightning Girl said, “So. You first.”She was being dead serious.
Jaybells took a deep breath. “We had just gotten to the clearing with the morning pods and started gathering plants when Katniss whipped out a bow and shot Nerd -- twice. They died. It didn’t take long for Katniss to suddenly just die like Recovery Girl, so they were probably the same cause or something, could it have been the plant? I don’t know, it’s all so confusing and my brain’s a jumble, but what did you find?”
Luna explained. “Well, I was the one who had found the piece of paper, and apparently what we got was misinformation which Ella just read off of.” she showed the piece of paper and the others leaned in to read it.
“Silver, Writing and Quill stayed behind to find more stuff so I don’t know what those three have found . . .” They walked out of the room and returned with Writing_in_The_Dark who proceeded to tell the rest of the story.
“We were pretty sure that it wasn’t from a book because of what Luna showed you, so we decided to keep searching in case anything popped up. Silver found a book tucked in to a back corner. It was a thick leather volume.” They grinned mischievously, although the others had absolutely no idea why.
“Yeah, well,” muttered Twilight, “screw cliches.”
“We flipped through it and found some actual info on the opalblush and the morning pods. We don’t think that that’s what Katniss died from. See, Apparently, they are harmless on their if you mix both of the plants and consume them together, then it’s a deadly poison. More like mourning pods! Ha!” Writing realized only after that this was probably not a good time to make a joke. They cleared their throat awkwardly. “So, if Katniss only touched it and it was just that one plant, then that probably wasn’t the cause. Oh, and we found pictures!” They ran out of the room, grabbed the book, and showed the drawings in the thick leather volume which looked exactly like what they had been picking. “Here are the morning pods. Those look right?”
“Yep,” said Nite. “That’s definitely what we were picking.” 
“Oh, and here’s the opalblush. It says here that ‘the beauty of these flowers makes it feel like silver is a color!’ Neat, huh?”
It was strange to think, but the events had only lasted until early that afternoon, around 2 PM. Nevertheless, the CBer’s time at The Campus had been completely changed by the death of one of their comrades.
***
Again, the CBers stayed in their dorms the rest of the day. Food was delivered to them by Lina Mayfleet, but none of them ate.
They each had their own way to get out their feelings and to spend the afternoon. Some of them, like Writing, and Nox, got their anger out by screaming into pillows, becoming a one-sided contest with themysticw0lf trying to scream the loudest. There was also a fair amount of kicking things. Others got their feelings pout in more productive ways. Quill, for instance, pondered what could have happened but came up with plenty of questions and no answers. They considered going to The Fictoonalist again but dismissed the idea.
When nightime rolled in, even Twilight went to bed right away. Perhaps in dreamland, the CBers coud temporarily forget about the murder. Maybe.
---
Important references:
Katniss Everdeen - The Hunger Games
Ella - Percy Jackson
Lina Mayfleet - City of Ember 
submitted by The Fictionalist, The Campus
(July 24, 2021 - 7:12 pm)

You gotta love those ~cliches~. Ahhhh I NEED to know what's making the characters go crazy and start trying to kill people! Also, Nox is sus. I love this, keep going <333

submitted by Silver Crystal, age She/her, Milky Way
(July 26, 2021 - 2:30 pm)
Day 5, Part 1.
Ugh. Themysticw0lf had just woken up from THE WEIRDEST nightmare.
It was weird. There were people beckoning them, or no, maybe not all people . . . ? but they looked like trouble. And they were trying to lure Nox in to something, and it was working, and then . . . something that Nox had forgotten, a whole in their memory. But after whatever had happened, they had begun to fall into a pitch black abyss, senseless, falling, falling --
That’s when they woke. 
What they had forgotten probably wasn’t important, anyways. Lot’s pf vague details were missing, and besides, it was just a dream. You do you know that feeling when there is something in your mind your trying to remember, just out of reach? The right word to use which you had been so certain of a minute before, or someone’s name, perhaps? It was like that. A nag, an itch, tugging at Nox’s mind and not allowing them to do anything but relentlessly scratch it. 
“Well, I’m probably not going to get much more sleep,” They thought, slightly annoyed at the forgotten part of their dream, that itch in that unreachable spot that they couldn't recall.
They wandered into the common room, planning to read their copy of the Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan that they had drawn from their bag.
They realized that they had forgotten the book, went back to grab it, then came back to the common room. They were about to sit down and read, then decided to try those chocolates that Writing had been so protective of. Those must be good.
There was no sense of foreboding - no dimming of the sun, no foreshadowing the arrival of death at their (proverbial) door. 
until-
“Hello.” Said a voice behind them. Nox turned, and came face to face with the murderer.
“How are you feeling?” Asked the murderer.
The murderer stretched out their fingers. Nox’s gaze caught on them, terrified. They imagined a robed figure standing there, then blinked, and the image reverted back to what was really happening. Was this a gleaning? No. This was murder.
The murderer showed up, did their unpleasant business, and was gone.
Nox’s last thought before the murderer touch their skin and they dropped dead was “Nerdface.”
***
Earlier, the murderer was in the common room, waiting for a CBer to rise. There was a chance that one would, and it turned out to be Themysticw0lf. When Nox had gone back to their dorm to grab their book, it gave the murderer ample time to swallow their pill. Supposedly, if they touched someone after taking it, they would die immediately. It turned out to work. Good. Mission accomplished.
***
A cry of distress was what woke the other CBers. 
“Themysticw0lf! No!” Silver Crystal sobbed after she had walked into the common room to find the CBer sprawled against the floor, no signs of a violent death. No heartbeat, either.
Wree was up on their feet and in the common room in an instant. "Oh no! What happened! Another death? It’s N-n-nox!”
“Not again,” said Lightning Girl grimly, standing behind them.
One by one, the others began to rise. Twilight had to be shaken awake by Quill, and she groaned. “I went to bed at 3 AM you dust-covered badly-tuned alarm clock.” (Which wasn't actually true.) But she managed to rub the sleep away from her eyes pretty quickly.
“So, who’se going to tell The Fictionalist?” Asked Kitty. “I vote not me, if it’s alright to say that.”
“I’ll go,” said Quill. They had a steely look in their eyes. They had not been talking to The Fictionalist the past two nights and wanted the chance to now, anyways. 
“You sure?” Asked Niteskiies cautiously.
Quill nodded. “Mm-hm. I’ll do this. But I -- I can’t believe -- why . . . “
They were deeply shaken, but still scurried down the halls to The Fictionalist’s, happy to see her again even with this bad news.
“Lemon Drop,” they said, and the golem creaked to the side. They scurried up the stairs, and went in to tell The Fictionalist what they had found.
The Fictionalist seemed sad but not that surprised. She, Iris, and Lacun, went down to the dorms to discuss plans with the CBers for the day. Here were the rules that they were told that they must follow:
They mustn’t leave the dorms without permission.
If they needed something, they could call The Fictionalist with the handy little phone that had definitely been there the entire time but could only call The Fictionalist.
They would all be attending a funeral for the dead CBers and characters alike.
“Keep  in mind, “ The Fictionalist added towards the end, “These precautions are temporary. I will be using this time to investigate the matter. I have a team of characters has been working with me on some ways to stop any characters who have gone rogue.” This was the term that had been given to characters who, instead of crashing, randomly attacked others first, than died, like Katniss and Recovery Girl.
“Who’s on that team of people trying to stop the ones who’ve gone rogue?” Wondered Quill.
“The most involved in the matter are Leo Valdez and Princess Entrapta.” The Fictionalist responded. KItty’s face lit up when fae heard the name “Princess Entrapta.” There were so many wonders here on The Campus!
“Hopefully by tomorrow, or more like a few days, you will be able to semi-resume your previous activities. For now, have a good day -- I will periodically be delivering food and activities.”
---
Important references:
Aspects of the murder scene (mainly the method of murder and quotes) - Arc of a Scythe 
Other references: Percy Jackson, She-ra and the Princesses of Power 
submitted by The Fictionalist, The Campus
(July 28, 2021 - 8:26 pm)

Noooo, Nox!!! :( But also

PrincESS ENTRAPTA 

submitted by Writing_in_the_dark, age 11, NY but not NYC
(August 6, 2021 - 11:59 am)

So I was just looking at thins again. I miss this. It was great! Maybe I could reboot it again...

but anyway

leO VALDEZ- 

submitted by Writing_in_the_dark, age 12, Valhalla
(December 30, 2021 - 3:13 pm)
« first‹ previous123456