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The Menagerie play by post RPG would like to thank both Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson for their Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. They made the world that much more fantastic.
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Life « Thread Started on Jun 16, 2012, 11:11am »
Lily settled on the narrow ledge that ran the length of the building's roof. The moon was hanging low in the sky, something that dragged her eyes upward every time she spotted it. There was a reddish tint to the moon's face this evening, too; as if the sky was crying blood.
Lily stood up and swung one foot low off the ledge bringing it back up to the stone on toe. She did the same thing with the other one until she had made a circuit of the roof; foot sweeping low and then back to the toe. She never stopped, she never wavered, and she never came off pointe.
When the circuit was complete her next attempt was a lot more dramatic. She danced, spun, and at one point dropped her hands upon the stone to bring her body around in a circle. This circuit was much faster, nevertheless feet were nimble and confident without fail. Lily moved along the rooftop like a wind-up toy. And when the final gear ran out she went as still as stone at western corner.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #1 on Jun 19, 2012, 5:08pm »
There were people walking past the building Lily was perched upon. That, in and of itself, was not uncommon. What was unusual was the smell of them. They were not alive. This was something of a novelty for Lily. She was familiar with the undead, of course, but only her master walked around with the impunity the creatures below her showed.
She would expect them to be skulking about the darkest side streets not taking some leisurely after hours stroll past the park. Lily watched them a little longer. They were dressed in festive attire and seemed imbued with jovial good humor. And now she realized why they had caught her attention. They reminded her of the wealthy young men who patronized the ballet.
But those men had been alive. These were not even close.
Lily dropped down off the building to follow them.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #2 on Jun 19, 2012, 9:12pm »
"Halt."
Renquist's voice does not sear into her head because it can or because of his blood within her. He does not resort to such trickery and really, has never had to. He simply states his want with some urgency, because... well. She is his - just as she is his world and he would touch her now.
He has wondered, in idle moments and even more heated ones, whether she understands the hunger he has for her. He tells her of his wicked desires, he demonstrates as best he can how much he needs her; but he wonders if the importance of that is lost upon his pet. So simple in her ways. So completely elegant in her design. And so very dark and complex in her nature. But it remains simple.
He steps from the shadows and his hand settles atop her head, slender fingers and nails gently raking over her scalp and down her neck as he presses his cold, damp skin to hers. His other hand settles upon her hip and he holds her, a dark embrace as he whispers in her ear like an insistent, undeniable lover; his cruel eyes following what may well be her prey.
"They are such pretty puppets, are they not; my pet? Smitten with their newfound power and so very callous in how casually they stroll about. I have no doubt they are entirely oblivious to the both of us."
His hand grasps her throat, nails still teasing skin as he presses a kiss to her mouth, lingering there a brief moment. He sighs as he looks to what holds her interest again.
"Yes. How terribly insulting. I dare say they are not worth your time my precious... but I demand they witness your splendor, the ungrateful bastards. Come. Let us hunt."
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #3 on Jun 20, 2012, 8:12am »
Lily came to a stop as soon as the word halt left his mouth. The word, however, did not keep her from watching the dead men. That only occurred when his hand landed upon her head, when his body was pressed to hers, and when his lips brushed along her own. She made a sound, too; a needy thing that was caught between their lips.
For Lily, Renquist’s embrace was glorious. Everything around her and everything inside her felt more powerful. It was if she drifted in a somnambulist state otherwise. There were brief moments of lucidity, but nothing that created the intensity his presence brought her.
His voice penetrated the exploration of those things.
He would hunt with her? It was unexpected. Not that she has any plans of denying him. She would not deny him. Her eyes turn to gaze at him bathed in the glory of the blood moon; he was her master, her maker, the architect of her world. There was nothing she would not do were he to ask.
His words were echoing in Lily’s ears when she began the dance of death.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #4 on Jun 23, 2012, 7:31pm »
Renquist held her hand still, stepping to turn her, standing shoulder to shoulder with his pet. His eyes were watching the rats flee into the dark and a slight but terribly sinister smirk playing on his lips. He thinks for a moment, clicking his tongue... and then looks to his pet with a dangerous, plotting expression.
"My pet... I would like to see you bait them. Quickly now, head them off. Let us see just how these fools respond to my delicate dancer.
I shall be on their heels, though they shan't know it."
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #5 on Jun 24, 2012, 11:26am »
Lily was happy to comply. She slithered along behind the raucous men using their conversation and banter to mask her footsteps. It had taken mere minutes for her to slip past them, too. She found that quite pitiful, shameful even. These creatures were dead. But, they had no more sense than the live men she hunted.
Disgraceful specimens. Did they know nothing?
Lily stepped out from beneath the overhanging awning of the building entrance in front of them. She appeared fragile, delicate, the ruby silk of her dress flung out around her hips when she spun on one pointed foot her hands wide apart, and her head tilted back to the moon.
She might have been a worshiper from some ancient sect greeting the moon goddess for as much attention as she paid, or seem to pay, to anything else. Her appearance suggested it, too. There was nothing civilized about Lily. Her hair was straight and streaming off her shoulders, instead of tamed, ribboned, or bowed. The silk of her dress was extremely fine, but there were no frills, lace, or any other decoration. She had no gems at her neck or ears either and her feet were utterly bare. She was pale, though, as many courtly ladies.
She stood there with a golden halo from the street lamps playing about her body.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #6 on Jun 27, 2012, 5:58am »
Lily could spot Renquist when she looked to them, though they had no inkling he was behind them. He wasn't decided as yet what his role should be in this game, but presently he was enthused to be a spectator, to see what happened between these rates and his precious dancer.
No, he was no more than a shadow presently, a glint from his teeth and the burning, scarlte embers of his eyes burning brightly in the ebon night.
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #7 on Jun 27, 2012, 8:07am »
All chatter ceased. The men, if you wanted to call these dead things that, stopped and glanced at each other. Some sort of non-verbal communication passed between them, though. One of their number stepped forward, while the rest stayed clustered together in a group.
“A grand evening to you, miss.”
He was greeting her as if she were human. Lily found this laughable. But, her expression when she turned to face the man showed none of that buried amusement. No, instead she gave him a look filled with disdain and aloof superiority. It was the same stare he might have gotten had he dared speak to a Queen.
The time lengthened. Her suitor nervously toyed with the sleeve of his suit jacket and attempted a new topic of conversation.
“Tis a beautiful display. Your dance.
She did not replied with words. There might have been a sound, though, one that discarded his flattery as casually as she might have discarded her shoes. He was keeping her attention focused while the others of his company separated to surround her. They were callow, slow, and she had seen them move.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #8 on Jun 27, 2012, 8:17am »
Renquist remained, cloaked in utter darkness. They could not, would not see him should they even look his way. His eyes glared though, pupils dilating in pure excitement, manicured nails lightly scratching at his chest. He saw everything, missed not a single thought that led to motion.
He remained still. It was a beautiful dance, but Renquist knew that the next would be a wicked crescendo of bloody grace.
He wanted her now. Already. But it had to wait. It must.
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #9 on Jun 27, 2012, 9:15am »
Lily’s eyes shone red for a single heartbeat. The young man in front of her had ignored his new instincts and stepped closer. He should have listened to them. He should have known. But, he was using his eyes to see.
Fool.
Lily had a heartbeat. But, she was not alive. She had died at the end of a hangman’s rope. Perhaps, he was quite rightly confused at the conundrum she presented. No. Not this impetuous one or any of his friends. They were foolish. They saw what they wanted to see. They heard what they wanted to hear. It was too late for them to change those decisions now, as well.
He had stepped into the moonlight beside her.
Lily drew him closer. She lifted her hands up above her head and swayed to the deathly music only she could hear. And when he went to wrap his arms around her? She broke his neck.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #10 on Jun 27, 2012, 9:22am »
He remained, restrained and stationary, still determined to let this play out, let her dance with these fools; let them learn new fear with their new, but abrupt unlife. He was willing them on, he yelled, roared in his own head to have them act now; attack his pet.
When she snapped the neck of the first, he hissed in delight, hands clenching in sheer rapture. That would be the drum beat, the very start of this sonnet, that dramatic first note that heralded the start of they symphony. He paced closer, just ever so slightly closer, almost shaking in his anticipation. Those eyes still watched everything, saw everything... but she shone in his mind, glowed in the dark and to him; she was bathed in an ever-bright spotlight.
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #11 on Jun 27, 2012, 9:40am »
His companions? The other four men that had split up to surround her witnessed the final act and did not see. He fell to the ground when Lily opened her hands, too, nothing more than bones and dust. And one by one the rest of them tried the same thing, or rather they tried to embrace her. It was if their actions were already decided, already plotted; bit players beneath the blood moon's flood lights.
The music was no longer silent, either. Lily was humming as they raced toward her. She leaped up in the air, one leg arrow straight and the other bent in the classic pointe position. Her head tucked over and she rolled in mid-air to land on that same arrow straight leg behind them.
The next man's neck was broken before they had a chance to register where she had gone.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #12 on Jun 27, 2012, 9:47am »
Renquist was caught in something of a dilemma now. Part of him wanted to spit, to curse these whelps that had no business daring to touch her. The other part, no smaller than the other, wanted to laugh in mockery and disgust, wanted to point an unrelenting finger and communicate with nothing but crude sneering that they were entirely pathetic.
The man he was... or rather being he was, was eager to unleash his blade and sever them all. Kill them, claim them, drag their screaming souls into his gullet and feed his ever-growing power, press him harder toward incalculable degrees of miserable mastery, tighten the leash he held upon the darkness and blood. But that would be easy. Simple. Boring.
No, he would have them... but only when his beloved had her fill.
They were flirting with death in a very unfortunate literal sense. But death, his Lily... well she was not so easily wooed.
Lily [M:9999999999:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=546&page=1#19046] member is offline
[b]Zombies are the new vampires, didn’t you know that?[/b][0:Dead][1:Alive]
Joined: Nov 2011 Gender: Female Posts: 113
Re: Life « Reply #13 on Jun 27, 2012, 10:50am »
Two down and three more to go. Not that Lily was counting them. She was humming louder, though. In fact, to watch her you might believe she did not have a care in the world. She went through the motions of her dance with blithe abandon. She threw her body into leaps and bounds with an utter lack of fear.
Humans live in fear. They spend their whole lives being afraid of one thing or another. As a ballerina Lily had known fear. The fear of breaking her legs, the fear of not being good enough, and later the fear of being caught out. The list is endless for humanity and only gets longer.
Lily was no longer human or limited by fear.
She spun around; the newest bundle of bones falling to the earth. Then she wrapped her arms about the closest man's neck. She used his body as a weapon, beating his friends to the ground before wrenching his head right off.
“It's hard for me to stay in the moment. Without the past, where is the guilt? And without the future, where is the dread? And without guilt and dread, who am I?”
Renquist [M:0:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=cs&thread=545&page=1#19021] member is offline
[b] You won't live to regret it...[/b]
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 155
Re: Life « Reply #14 on Jul 3, 2012, 9:38am »
Renquist could not remain still any longer, there simply wasn't any want left. He wanted to dance with her in the pale moonlight, he wanted to force these bastards watch how majestic she were with him, to him. He wanted her now and always and in no place and in no time, would any being ever prevent that from being so. Least of all these whelps.
His smile pierced his veil and he stepped into the light with his hands slapping in applause, those wicked teeth gleaming dangerously. His voice was mocking those that remained, a hint of laughter, of cruel jest.
"You are honored this night dogs, isn't she simply lovely?"
He expected an answer, a compliant one. He did not tolerate conflict well.
Welcome to The Menagerie. We are a free role playing game with less rules and more freedom. After many years, a couple of hosts and a few different game systems, we feel that less is more. Players get to be truly creative, which in turn leads to more enjoyment in game.
We invite you to join us in crafting our world and look forward to making friends. Should you have any questions, feel free to post in our chat box or ask any of our members or staff.
May you enjoy your stay.
It must be said that this game is the product of continued dedication and friendship.
Grayell: Game inventor and closet basement geek.
Yukiko: Admin and dream-weaver.
Marlena: Admin and promoter extraordinaire.
The Menagerie has enjoyed many incarnations, revamps, reimaginings and renovations and none of it would have been possible without the ongoing support of my friends, the players. Their unwavering loyalty and endless dedication to this project has been stellar.
I would like to thank all admin and staff past and present, in particular Tiberius.
I would like to thank friends and staff no longer with us, and to the few I hold most dear: John, Roland, Alex, Azriel and Jenkins.
Thank you all.
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Our 2nd site archive with: Total posts 70665, Total topics 1819 & Total Members 86.
...or our first site archive with: Total posts 69401, Total topics 1325 & Total members 145
...OR the very humble start of our game at our friends, www.Heroscapers.com.
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