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Post by Arual on Nov 2, 2008 20:08:47 GMT -5
Cecil saw what the bird did, and heard what the aquaintance had explained, and his head dropped. How stupid can you be, Neko? It won't be easy whether it's two-thirds or God knows whatever it will be?! That made no difference to the young man seeing as though he still had to keep everything inside that....inside.
Another portal opened......and a blackened figure appeared inside of it....but it was impossible from the distance he was at to see who it was.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 2, 2008 20:36:44 GMT -5
"Well...?" came the voice, Makashi's voice. He sounded rather pleased with the trial passed to Cecil from Neko and there was a slight nod, "Come on Cecil, you're one step closer to your bride." he said, obviously from the tone in his voice he very much believed that Cecil would find the next trial near impossible. Neko might have unintentionally made his trial hard, but Makashi was doing this on purpose. It would all only go downhill from here.
The blue jay let out a low whistle, obviously expecting Cecil to jump through whatever hoops he was required to... actually... hmm... jumping through hoops- with a wheelbarrow in tow, that would be hard! Oh well, Cecil could only wait to find out what this trial was going to be.
Well, to start it off... when you draw nearer you can see something... a passageway with high walls on both sides and a two foot thick log stretching accross the center of the passageway forming a nice little barrier there.
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Post by Arual on Nov 2, 2008 20:45:51 GMT -5
Cecil looked over and saw it was Suzume's (i wanna say grandfather...but i forget) relative; the one who in the first place, let them be allowed to get married at all. The young man thought the same words the man spoke to him, trying to keep positive and clear headed even though the first thing automatically seemed impossible.
He nodded and had the wheelbarrel carefully in toe, trying not to spill a thing- which is HARD AS HELL- and make it over. Thank God for all that 'unneeded' training he did! It was pretty heavy! "Eleven to go, Cecil....Eleven to go...." he told himself softly. When he made it through he stopped himself and set the wheelbarrel down.
"What's this challenge going to be?"
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 2, 2008 20:57:57 GMT -5
"Get over the log." Makashi said simply, a bit of a shrug. "Get yourself from where you stand now to this side of the log." he really didn't have much to explain about it, it was a simple task that normally would have been easy except of course for that damned wheelbarrow. "Most times I might ask you to saw the log in half but I'll just see what you do without a saw. I hope you don't mind." Makashi didn't intend for just anyone to marry his granddaughter, he wanted to see if this kid was capable of solving problems with a level mind and perhaps then Cecil would be able to handle life with Suzume with a level mind. Makashi was perfectly calm as he stood there, waiting to see how Cecil and the wheelbarrow would get around the obstacle.
The blue jay seemed amused by the challenge and expectant of Cecil, blinking it's goldenrod eyes before taking to flight and down the corridor it went, leaving Cecil to solve the challenge, if it was going to help then it seemed like it would have to wait, either that of Li-Wa had blatantly lied to Laura about the usefulness of the creature. Oh well.
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Post by Arual on Nov 2, 2008 21:17:09 GMT -5
Cecil looked at the log.....then to that damn barrel with the water. He'd get Neko for this later, of course. "Yes." he said like an echo in return, though it wasn't echoed- he was just thinking.
Move your body and the barrel at the same time, it's a done failure, move yourself, and you loose the object you need most to make it to the end of all the tasks. He could make the wheelbarrel change shape while keeping the water in it.....
Well so far it seemed easy- if it wasn't for a barrel to complicate things!!!!
He looked like there were a lot of things messing with his head- and then it stopped. Cecil took a deep, calming breath and made a few hand signs until the water froze. It stopped with a little less than in inch from the rim of the wheelbarrel, and Cecil then careful still, had lifted the wheelbarrel over the log over to the other side of the log.
A moment or two he though that it would have slipped out of the 'container', but it didn't. It was a little close for a second.....but after setting the object down Cecil unfroze the water. His pale skinned face just a little red from various things.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 2, 2008 21:23:30 GMT -5
Makashi nodded before holding a hand just above the surface of the water, "You cannot freeze this water again, if you have to find a trick to hold the water secure again then changing it's form will not work." he said, a slight nod, of course this wasn't part of the origional challenge at all, Makashi was just purposely making things more difficult for Cecil.
The bird returned, landing on the edge of the wheelbarrow, of course now one would realize that if the water did spill, freezing it was still not an option, if Cecil spilled the water then he'd have to come up with a lot more different tactics though fewer tactics if everyone else wasn't inclined to eliminate a method of holding the water in place. That bird was back though, whether or not that was a comfort was for Cecil to decide.
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Post by Arual on Nov 2, 2008 21:27:23 GMT -5
The young man nodded. "I understand," said the groom, "So- what's next?"
Cecil was not used to this, but he was doing his best to understand- to endure- and marry Suzume like they both very much would love to have happen (he and the bride).
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 2, 2008 21:35:39 GMT -5
"Continue on down the corridor and you'll reach the next challenge soon enough." he said with a nod, "There will be three doors and two challengers." he had a smile on his face, obviously glad to see that Cecil was making it through the challenges with enough ease. One could also note that there was a large goldfish swimming in circular motions inside the water, it's globular eyes looking up at Cecil quietly. Well, there was a bird and a fish... if there was any meaning to the animals then it was completely lost on the writer, she was just throwing in elements as she went along and would find purpose for them later. Having random details helps sometimes and makes things interesting and yes, you got it! Everything from the mentioning of the fish and onward was simply filler. Congratulations.
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Post by Arual on Nov 2, 2008 21:40:26 GMT -5
A smirk was on Cecil's face, happy he was able to do something- but not happy that he couldn't freeze it anymore. Well, that's what Ninja training is for, right? Of course it was.
A while later, as the boy tried to keep his pace steady and unwavering for anything coming out of that barrel; Cecil FINALLY made it to the third station. He set the heavy wheelbarrel down and took a breather while he could. That bird....and now....fish? Wow, this was getting weird.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 2, 2008 21:48:22 GMT -5
Well of course it was weird, you should see some of the stuff I write for English class!
The bird tilted it's head to the side and looked at the doors, a pair of beings then formed on Cecil's shoulder next to the bird, "He's going to lie to you." whispered the first impish being.
"And he told you the truth." finished the other. The two were human in appearance if not dwarfed, thier eyes slitted and dashed with orange and purple, smiles on thier impish faces as they hummed quietly. One slung an arm around the bird as if they were old buddies though it was obvious that the bird itself wasn't too terribly fond of the creatures.
The contradiction of the two little demons was enough to make anyone wonder, "You can ask one question each and then choose a door, the door's passages change each time you leave and once it is opened, there's no turning back." they explained, now awaiting Cecil's solving of the puzzle. Who were these things anyways? Well... normally they were seen bothering Shade, the Flare teacher and upon hearing that there were challenges being arranged they promptly signed up. Yeah, lucky Cecil.
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Post by Arual on Nov 2, 2008 21:58:36 GMT -5
Cecil could hear the voices, and wanted to run into a wall. Imps were the most annoying little things ever. He learned that in History class three years ago. (*shivers*) Before he asked any questions, he tried to use on of the many jutsu tricks he learned at TMA....but as he shut his eyes and tried to see what was behind each door- it came in a backlash. His eyes stung like fire had been blown into them and he took a minute blinking to refocus his eyes again. "Damn, that hurt!" he told himself mentally.
"I don't know which one of could be the liar or the honest one; or if they both lie....or are both truthful. They're definately here to bug my and distract me from clear judgement if anything." Cecil said thinking of what to do.
"This was a question I remember from back home at school. The Door of LIFE and the Door of DEATH.....but- I do-I don't know." he said within the confines of his mind, calculating everything he can possibly think of.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 4, 2008 18:47:59 GMT -5
The blue jay looked at the doors and then quietly towards Cecil and released a squawk of a noise that could only be assumed to be some kind of odd equivalent to a chirp. The bird was vexed according to how it was reacting to the imps that seemed utterly fascinated with the winged bird. The imps plucked at the bird's feathers, "Nice bird, yes?" one of them said, petting the bird's head and cooing a soft song. The imps were like children if anything, albeit somewhat spoiled children but children none the less.
"So which one are you going to choose?" asked the one that wasn't preoccupied with the bird, from the looks on thier faces they didn't rightly know all too well what was on the other sides of the doors either, then again- they could be lying to Cecil but then what good is two liars to anyone?
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Post by Arual on Nov 4, 2008 18:56:16 GMT -5
Cecil; going against himself in all possibilities, looked straight ahead. With the water still pretty frozen (oddly enough) he felt a bit more confident to focus on a door then spilling water. "Why should I choose one?" he told himself with as sarcastic pinch of his tone, though it stayed within the confines of his mind.
"I don't know."
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Nov 4, 2008 19:11:38 GMT -5
"You should choose one because if you don't then you won't make it to the end of this..." came a reminding tone that would be noticed to be oddly familiar, where it came from was a mystery and who it was from would be the kind of thing hidden just from thought in that place that irritates anyone. One of the imps was now holding it's hand and crying, it could be assumed that the blue jay had gotten a hard nip on the imp so life went on.
There was still the choice to make. All three doors seemed identical and all three doors had no discerning factors about them.
The bird looked up at Cecil, expecting him to decide for himself but obviously this wasn't coming any time soon so the creature took to flight and landed on the doorknob of the door to the far right, looking attentively back at Cecil. Whether or not the bird was right or not was now the question, but it was all anyone had to go off of at this point.
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Post by Arual on Nov 4, 2008 19:16:44 GMT -5
((sorry- brain dead tonight ><))
Cecil went over and hesitantly opened the door where the bird was, putting the barrel behind him so if anything happened- it wouldn't spill. But he kept it touching the back of his leg....just in case.
On the other side of the door was another portal awaiting his passage through, so Cecil took the wheelbarrel and went through the portal.
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