RPG Apartment Building C

Shinmaru · June 26, 2004

Heh, things are getting a bit hectic around here. I?m going to be away tomorrow, so I figured that I should try my best to start up the RPG today. Right now, we?re just starting simple; Charlie is coming back to Apartment Building C after a day out of town and he?ll be collecting rent from the tenants. I figure that?s a good enough way for everyone to introduce their character a bit more and flesh out some of the details of the house and the tenants? rooms.

EDIT: Just so there is no confusion, I'm including the list of participants in this post.

KnightOfTheRose (Volvo Nike)
OtakuSennen (Tom Wesley)
KarmaOfChaos (Daisy)
Arika (Candy DeMoore)
wolf prncss (Protiva)
DeathKnight (Kenneth Andrew Howell)
Nebackenezzer (Simon Jester)
Shy (George Washington)
Wondershot (Emilio)

Rain. It was everywhere, and it would not go away. Charlie emerged dramatically from a conveniently placed cloak of fog that enveloped the surrounding area. Thick droplets of water doused Charlie?s face and his thick clothing. Charlie wiped his brow with a dampened sleeve, which, of course, only served to make his face even wetter than it already was. Charlie grimaced, cursing slightly, and pulled out a pair of swimming goggles that he had swiped from a little girl at the local YMCA. With the grace of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Charlie struggled to put the goggles on his head, finally winning his hard fought battle after five minutes. Most unfortunately, Charlie neglected to note that the goggles would snap against his face when he let go of them and was met with a sharp pain to the face when he let go of his goggles.

Rubbing his goggles and cursing with pain, Charlie took a look at where he was. Two bright lights coming at him at high speeds told Charlie that he was standing in the middle of the street. With the bravado of a fifteen-year-old geek at a high school dance, Charlie let out a high-pitched yelp and dove out of the street, narrowly missing a collision with a large truck. The driver of the truck took a moment to slow down, flip Charlie off and drive off again. Charlie stood up, wiped the mud off of his robes and shook his fist at the truck driver.

?Same to you,? Charlie yelled. ?You fat, inbred son of a *****!? The truck skidded to a stop and Charlie?s eyes widened in fear. ?...great.? Charlie decided not to wait for the truck to turn around and give chase; instead, Charlie took this opportunity to hightail it to his apartment building as soon as possible.

?See what happens when we go outside, Charles?? Charlie told his lantern. ?We get guys like that trying to kill us. It?s better just to hang around inside most of the day. Though, with the psychos we have hanging around at home, maybe getting run over would be an improvement.? Charlie slowed to a slight jog, raising his lit lantern above his shoulder that his vision would be improved. Charlie was about halfway to the apartment building when he ran up to a young man loitering by an empty building. When the young man saw Charlie approaching with his lantern held up in the air, he began jumping up and down excitedly.

?Oh my god!? the young man yelled. ?Is it time for the Olympics already?!? By this time, Charlie had already passed by the young man. All at once, however, he stopped so that he would be able to think about and appreciate exactly what the young man had said.

?What the hell are you talking about?? Charlie asked.

?The Olympics,? the young man said. ?You?re carrying around an Olympic lantern, aren?t you?? Before Charlie could utter even one word, the young man swiped Charles and ran off with him. Charlie gave chase and attempted to recover his beloved lantern. Splashes of water flew in every direction as Charlie ran as fast as he could after the young man. Eventually, Charlie caught up to him and wrestled him to the ground. The heavy torrential downpour had loosened up the young man?s grip, unfortunately, and Charles slipped out of the young man?s hands.

?Charles!? Charlie yelled. ?I?ll save you!? Charlie immediately let go of the young man and bounded after his lantern. He knew that he would not be able to run fast enough to catch Charles, so, at the last moment, Charlie leapt into the air, arms outstretched, and attempted to catch Charles. Charlie caught Charles by the very tips of his fingers and somehow managed to keep a firm hold on him even as he hit the ground with an audible thump. Charlie skidded for a couple of feet and then leapt up with a cry of victory. He turned around to face the young man and brag to his face.

?Ha!? Charlie said. ?That?s what you get for-? Charlie cut off his own sentence as he realized that the young man was gone. With the look of eternal grumpiness returning to his face, Charlie trudged angrily back to the apartment building. By the time he came home, he was just about drowning in dirty rain water, which had conveniently come from the drain that dumped out water onto the area near the front door.

Charlie walked inside his dirt apartment building and hung his robe on the coat rack that was near the door. The robe was soaked and heavy with water, so the flimsy wooden hook that Charlie placed his coat onto snapped almost immediately after Charlie let go of his robe. Charlie frowned and sighed heavily. He was used to things breaking around the apartment. It was just the way things were.

Charlie walked over to the stairs and took a look at the calendar that was hanging at a crooked angle on the wall above the handrail. Charlie let out another audible groan as he realized just what date it was; it was the end of the month, time to collect the rent from the tenants of the building. In Charlie?s ideal world, he could just leave the pack of weirdoes living in his house alone. Charlie did not really care for regular people too much and the tenants of this apartment building were by no means normal.

However, the bank had been very pushy with Charlie as of late, reminding him very often that he had payments to make on the apartment building, as his late uncle had been in heavy debt at the time of his death. Charlie began walking up the stairs, grumbling to himself over his lot in life. He walked all the way up to the second to last stair, which gave way and broke under the pressure of Charlie?s boot. Charlie had not seen this coming, so his momentum carried him forward a bit and he tripped face first onto the ground. Charlie got up, coughing, and wiped away the thick dust that had caked onto his goggles. He took a moment to pull his foot out of the stair and limped down the hall to his room.

Charlie removed his key from his pocket, opened his door and closed it. He walked a couple of feet and was yanked rudely to the floor; his long, red and yellow scarf had gotten caught in the door. In a perfect imitation of Sideshow Bob, Charlie grumbled disgustedly and unwrapped his scarf from his neck. He then stood up, opened his door, removed the scarf from the doorway and closed the door again. Charlie removed his goggles from his face and threw them comically onto his bed. Charlie then placed Charles upon his desk and blew out the flame that was inside of Charles.

?Sorry, buddy,? Charlie said. ?But I?m going solo tonight. You understand, right?? Charles looked up mournfully at Charlie. ?Now don?t look at me like that! I?m just trying to protect you, is all?you?re so vulnerable to danger, Charles. I don?t want to lose you?? With that, Charlie picked up Charles and kissed him passionately. Most unfortunately, however, Charlie burned his tongue on the glass inside of Charles. When he yelped with pain and attempted to pull back, Charles? hatch closed upon Charlie?s tongue trapping it momentarily. Charlie hopped up and down and, after a few minutes spent struggling, pulled his tongue out of Charles.

?What the hell was that about, Charles?!? Charlie yelled. ?Did you just try to kill me?!? Charles stared up at Charlie. ?Don?t you dare use your cute look on me, Charles. You know it makes me hot when you do that.? Charlie refused to look at Charles for the rest of the night and left the room in a huff. He then went back into his room, because he had forgotten to bring along the collection bucket. The collection bucket was a small tin pail with the Salvation Army insignia on it.

?Might as well get started?? Charlie said to himself wistfully, as he walked over to the first tenant?s door and knocked on it softly.

And that?s where my post ends. Everyone, just post your introduction post, and we?ll take it from there ^_^

Revelation · June 26, 2004

[size=1][color=#696969]"Oh! A guest! Puppy, we have a guest!"

[i]Candy pranced up and down with a watermelon flavored lollipop in her mouth. She had her hair in pig-tails and she was wearing her duck slippers, along with a white t-shirt that had a anime style cat, and white shorts with pink stripes on the side. She walked up to the door and opened the door wide. A smile came across her face, although it was only Charlie. She took the lollipop out of her mouth and began to talk in a perky, preppy, valley-girl type of voice, which annoyed everyone, yet made Candy even more adorable than she already was.[/i]

"CHARLIE! I was wondering when you were, like, coming by. I just got this, like, amazing thing to tell you. Well, actually, first of all...I have your money. That's what you want, right?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"Like, just a minute."

[i]Charlie took one glance inside the apartment and saw hundreds of posters of Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, the Backstreet Boys, Nick Lachey, and all those other famous people that girls, like Candy, fall for. The walls were painted in a shade of pink that no sane adult would use. Everything inside the room was pink, baby blue, white, and all the bright colors that, again, no sane adult would have.

With her lollipop in her hand and the money in the other, Candy placed at least 100 dollars in the collection bin. Charlie did not say anything for it was good business with Candy. She may know retail prices and buyer's prices of clothes and the like, but she knew nothing of the art of the business of...well...being a land lord. Candy smiled and giggled childishly and watched as Charlie walked down to the other tenants. She stood at the doorway waving "good-bye", before returning to her "animals", who "spoke" to her.[/i]

"So, anyways. Aww...Kitty. Like, what's wrong?" [i]A stuffed animal that resembled Garfield was sitting on Candy's bed, making no movement. Yet, in Candy's eyes, it moved and purred like a cat. Hell, it was a cat to her.[/i] "Did you, like, want to see Mr. Charlie, too? Oh my god. Are you, like, jealous that Ducky got to, like, see him and you didn't? Oh. It's, like, ok. Come here. I'll give you, like, this BIG hug!"

[i]Squeezing the cat, Candy held it in her arms until its eyes were popping. When she felt like the cat had enough, she put it down again. She walked to the window and looked outside. She saw someone with a telescope, but she didn't realize the person was looking at her and her large breasts. She waved to him and went back inside, opening the window a bit wider and pulling the curtains open a bit higher.[/size][/color][/i]

OtakuSennen · June 26, 2004

[color=navy]Charlie sighed. "One whackjob down, eight more to go.. Well, I may as well just get it over with. I don't want to leave poor Charles alone for too long. Why do we always end up fighting on Rent Day..? Maybe I'm too tense. Charles would never [i]want[/i] to fight with me. Such a sweet guy.." As he smiled at the thought of his warm, literally bright companion, he came to the next tenant's door.

[i]Knock knock.[/i] "Open up, Tom, time to give me your rent."

Charlie stood there for a moment, scratched his ***, with no response from the oddball occupant. "Come on, Tom, I know you're in there."

A rather faint "Just a minute..!" was heard through the door, along with the sounds of clanging and a diminuitive psycho frantically shuffling about in his room. A loud thud came from the back of the apartment, there was a long pause, but eventually Tom, in all of his greasy glory, came to the door holding an ice pack to his head. "Oh, um, hello, Charlie.. You came for the rent, yes?" He scratched his skinny face, where his antisocial hives were beginning to show.

Charlie just looked down the hall for a moment, rolled his eyes, and sarcastically muttered, "Of course not, Tom, I'm just here to chat."

"Ch-chat? Um, well, let me just.. Well.. Put away some stuff- certainly legal, non-threatening stuff- in my bedroom. Heh, I don't have guests here very often, and-"

The ornery landlord didn't want to waste any more time on the poor, sick freak. "Tom, no- actually, I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee.. Well, nevermind, just give me the rent, and I'll.. Um.. Come by [i]later,[/i] yeah.."

"Oh, okay then. I'll just go get my wallet, then.." With that, Tom went into his room, and came back a minute later with a peach-colored wallet, crudely fastened together by blatantly amateur stitching, and an "I Love Darleen" 'picture,' all in blue ink, and some rather unsightly pimples.

Charlie couldn't help but stare at the odd wallet as Tom pulled out $110.84. The tenant seemed rather panicked when he looked up at his landlord's face, and quickly said, with a strange, somewhat threatening tone, "Oh, this old thing? It's, um, just a rare wallet, imported from.. Italy. You know, that country dominates the imported, one-of-a-kind, collectable hand-crafted wallet market."

There was a long, awkward pause, as Tom waited for Charlie, who, quite honestly, had nothing to say about Italy conquering the obscure wallet market, to respond. The gruff landlord then took the liberty of shutting Tom's door on himself, with no form of a goodbye, and then carried on to the next room. [/color]

KarmaOfChaos · June 26, 2004

[SIZE=1][COLOR=deeppink]Charlie continued down the dark, creepy hallway, and had begun to wish he had brought his darling Charles along. Sighing, he came to an about face at the next door, and with effort that seemed almost painful, he reluctantly brought his fist up to knock. However, before he could, the door swung wide open revealing a huge grinning face, several flashes of red and purple plaid, and two hands swinging dangerously close to his face.

And, thus, he was enveloped in a giant bear hug from the overtly tall female clad in male pajamas.

"HI CHARLIE!" Daisy squealed, "I heard you coming down the hall!" Charlie looked as if he couldn't breathe. In fact, he was turning a lovely shade of indigo. She released him and he sank to the floor, gasping for air.

He looked up her and, twitching severly in his right eye, screamed, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! YOU ALMOST SUFFOCATED ME!"

Daisy blinked. "I saw two people doing it on the street today. They looked awfully happy doing it. Was it wrong Charlie? Am I bad?" She looked as if she were about to cry.

Charlie twitched a couple more times and remembered that Daisy had amnesia. Not only did she not know her own strength, she didn't know any social etiqutte. Well, he couldn't really boast over knowing that much about it either, but at least he didn't go around hugging his landlord! He'd be cheating on Charles if he did that! Not to mention, he'd be hugging himself. Sighing, he got up and said, "It's okay Daisy. But, in the future, don't go around hugging people unless they ask you for it. Wait. They could be some creepy weirdo looking for..." he blushed severly, "Uhhhhhjustdon'thuganybodyokay?Okay!" He grinned nervously and was about to run away, but then he remembered his reason for being here. "OH! Daisy, do you have the rent?"

She stared at him a few moments, racking her brain. "Ooh! The green papery stuff that they traded me for the pajamas! Yes, I have it." She smiled brightly.

Charlie stood there, expectantly waiting. Daisy didn't move. After about five minutes, he was getting slightly annoyed. "Well, are you going to go GET it?"

"Oh! OH! Of course, sorry!" She ran into her apartment, pulling out the appropriate bills (Charlie had taught them to her earlier), and returned, dropping them cheerfully into the bucket.

"Thank you." Charlie sighed the sigh of relief. Thank God that was over. He continued down the hall, while Daisy went skipping in the other direction, to parts unknown.

Presumbly the kitchen.[/color][/SIZE]

Wondershot · June 27, 2004

"Whew." Charlie gasped as he exited the apartment, and began a long treacherous climb up the next flight of stairs to the next apartment, Emilio's apartment. He looked up at the thin door marked "2A", and wore a look of grim determination as he marched up to the door as through he were about to run a marathon, which, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that he just had a few minutes ago. This look of determination was apt at the moment, due to the fact that Charlie was determined to figure out at least one personal fact about his most secretive tenant, Emilio. He strode up, and rapped lightly on the door, only to see it swing open under the weight of his hand.

Tenatatively, he entered, as though he expected something to lunge out at him, as was the case with Daisy's apartment. He looked down at the floor around him, and it looked like a scene from the movie "Big", only everything was dismantled. Careful not to step on the tiny pieces of the PS2 lying on the floor, he called out, as though expecting his tenant to be hiding behind one of the massive wall-sized speakers.

"Emilio?" Charlie called out, and, although this did not surprise him all that much, he made no attempt to resist jumping at the sound of the baritone-female/soprano-male voice coming from above him, as Emilio was hanging from the ceiling fan, rotating slowly.

"Hello, landlord. Is there any way I can be of help?" Charlie looked around, and realized that he was now standing on an iron and fiberglass platform with bright neon pink and blue tinted arrows attached to it. It looked like it had been hastily ripped off from an arcade machine, but before he could ponder the point any longer, Emilio dropped from above, and landed on top of Charlie, who fell to the ground in a mess of wires and game platform chips. He scrabbled around desperately for some kind of purchase on the ground, when his hand rested on Emilio's chest. He gasped.

Was that a breast?...No...Yes...No...Not sure.

"Is there something you need?" Emilio asked again, in his (possibly her) misty hybrid voice, and Charlie desperately reached behind himself for the cash bucket. He held it out, and muttered weakly:
"Rent..." Emilio reached behind himself (or was it herself?), and pulled out an enormous leather bag, which he/she grabbed by the bottom, and proceeded to empty its entire contents, one hundred dollars, in quarters, into the bucket. Charlie gasped under the weight of so much change, and before he could put the ideas together again, he found himself on his feet, and being ushered hastily out of the apartment by a very silent Emilio, who then procceded to make a small motion, like a dance move, before spinning around and slamming the door in Charlie's face. He fell against the opposite wall, and took a deep breath to stop his head from spinning. He looked down and felt the weight of four hundred quarters cutting into his fingers, as he began walking towards the next apartment.

He hoped that Charles would never find out about this.

Corey · June 27, 2004

[size=1]Volvo paced his room again, unsure that his residence at this facility had still gone undetected. He had been here for months, but had yet to see anything remotely important. He punched his door and watched it swing open ironically. The bolt had snapped off.

[b]Charlie-[/b] "Ummm... Rent?" Volvo wracked his memory. The person standing there was Charlie the 'Landlord'. This was obviously a very agonizing title, for Charlie always seemed to be tired and in a bad mood. A Landlord must be some kind of extreme military commander. They had something in common, but only vaguely.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "Rent?" Charlie sighed and held out the bucket. "Oh..." Volvo walked back into his apartment, kicking clothes over small bits of alien technology. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. This was a perfect opportunity to gain some vital information. "Come on out Charlie." He looked back and saw Charlie puzzled. He must have said something wrong, the English language was a b¡tch to learn. "Ummm... My apartment. Come." Charlie tentatively stepped in and tripped over something covered with an ugly red shirt. "Let me help you over. Up... Over... Down... Achh...." He motioned at a sofa and grabbed a small rod from a table. Charlie sat down and started looking immediately uncomfortable as Volvo sat next to him and stared. Charlie blinked. Volvo didn't. Charlie blinked. Volvo didn't.

[b]Charlie-[/b] "Ummm... Rent?" Volvo jabbed him with the rod. Charlie went limp. The rod had sent a jolt of electricity to his brain short circuting it. Not lethal but leaves you with the feeling of a hangover. He pulled out another device and shoved it into Charlies ear. A small fiber trailed out of it and into Volvo's ear. The mans mind was connected to his own.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "Hmmm..." He concentraited and tried to bring up the mans innermost secrets, no doubt they would be about the incredible military secrets of this world. A small oil lamp floated into his minds eye. "Yes?" It must be some kind of weapon! Charlie stirred and jumped slightly. Volvo yanked the device from both of their ears and threw it across the room. "Here you go Charlie." He dropped one hundred and fifty dollers onto his lap. It was easy to print off earth money from one of his toys.

[b]Charlie-[/b] "Oh... Uh... What happened?"

[b]Volvo-[/b] "Hi!" He pushed Charlie out of the door.[/size]

Shy · June 27, 2004

Charlie walked up to the third floor, giving a long sigh, and shook off the last remaining bits of rain from his person. Odd grass stains littered the path leading up to George?s apartment, and being that he was also the building?s custodian it was quite frustrating to him. Charlie tapped on the door lightly, and entered the apartment.

?Hello George. It?s time for you to pay your rent for the month,? Charlie announced as he walked in. He looked around for a moment with disgust. For a man who was usually so careful about keeping a neat and tidy appearance (George always kept his wig freshly powdered) Charlie could never understand why his apartment was such a mess. It?s as if George didn?t know how to clean a room, Charlie thought. George was nowhere to be found, although old magazines and inkwells were abundant in the room.

?George? Where are you George?? The landlord continued to venture further into the apartment, browsing through a May 2002 issue of ?The Virginian? that he found lying on the carpet.

?I am in my quarters!? A commanding voice replied from the room ahead of Charlie, ?Take a seat in the parlor and I will be with you in a few moments.?

?Parlor?? Charlie took a second look around the living room. Aside from a wooden rocking chair there was no furniture present; the only piece of artwork being a very-dated map of America, which had the words ?Historical Reproduction? in bold type across the bottom. Of course, being unwilling to accept his ?time-travelling? to the 21st Century had crossed off the words long ago with his feather and inkwell. Charlie made quick use of the rocking chair, and began to move happily back and forth as he waited for his tenant to appear.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from the bedroom. It sounded like something made of glass had shattered, and George?s voice could easily be heard shouting at the still unknown second party he was with.

?Plato! How could you do such a thing! Do you want Master Charles to discover you and take you back to where you came from??

[size=2][b]?THUD!?[/b][/size]

No response could be heard from Charlie?s seat in the rocking chair, and for a moment he wondered if the second person in that room was dead. George was a little strange, believing that he was the original president of the United States, but Charlie never thought of him as being dangerous. Charlie continued to rock back and forth in the chair, faster and faster as his imagination began to build up an elaborate scenario of what had taken place in that other room.

George opened his bedroom door a crack, and slid through, slamming it shut behind him. He leaned on the door nervously, ?Hello Master Charles! Would you care to go for a stroll around the block with me??

Charlie stared back in disbelief, and raised an eyebrow, ?Have you even looked outside of the building, George? It?s pouring rain outside.?

?Nonsense,? George shrugged off this information and smiled, ?If my troops could face an entire winter in this harsh weather, there is no reason that we should not go outside and enjoy the beauty of nature.?

?Uh-huh.?

Charlie stood up, and reached his hand out towards George, ?It?s that time of the month, Mr. Washington. I?m willing to ignore whoever is in your bedroom if you pay me now.?

?What? There is nobody else in my bedroom! What an accusation!?

[size=2][b]?THUD! THUD!?[/b][/size]

??but even though you have offended my honor, Master Charles, I will still pay my rent promptly.?

George reached into his coat, one of the older kinds you only see on a painting, or one of those robots they have at Disney World, and pulled out a small leather sack. It jangled as he rummaged through it with his hand, and he pulled out a pair of very old-looking coins.

?I trust that you still accept silver,? George handed Charlie the two coins. Upon further inspection Charlie noticed that the coins were dated ?1756? with large images of Queen Elizabeth on both sides.

?Yeah, whatever,? Charlie muttered as he walked out the door, ?Why can?t he just pay in cash like everyone else??

Whisper · June 27, 2004

Charlie walked cautiously up to a wodden door covered in grime. The brass letters on the door: 3B were hanging at odd angles. As Charlie knocked on the door the B fell off hitting him on the foot. Charlie cried out in pain, hopping on one foot, and cradeling his sore foot in both hands. Tears sprung at the corners of his eyes. [I]I wish Charles was here.[/I]

Charlie heard scrambling inside. Charlie stood up straight, preparing himself. Charlie vivedly remembered the last time that door opened and how his face had met a slippered foot, sending him flying into the opposite wall, and waking up minutes later with a nose bleed and an intense headache. This tenent was dangerous...

As the hinges on the door creaked Charlie squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable. When he felt no severe pain in his face he opened one eye slowly. Protiva was bouncing on the balls of her toes, a cup of cofee in her hands which was half sloshing all over her Indian dress. Her face brightened when she saw who it was. "Ah! Hola Senor Charlie! Como estas?"

Charlie blinked, "Erm...could you say that again?"

Protiva hit her forehead with the palm of her hand, "Oh, right. Sorry. Come in, come in."

Protiva motioned Charlie into the apartment. Charlie walked in tentativly. Charlie's jaw dropped. The walls were painted a very bright pink that seemed to burn into his retina. Charlie rubbed his eyes, "What in the name of seven hells?"

Protiva bounced to his side, "Oh, you like it? I painted it for Mr. Fuzzy. He said brown was too boring. So I painted it the same color as him!" Protiva fingered the fuzzy, pink ballpoint pen that was on a chain around her neck, "Sorry Mr. Fuzzy is so quiet today." Protiva frowned, "He dosen't to seem to like you that much..."

Charlie turned around, eager to leave, "Oh yes...erm," Charlie thought of a brilliant excuse to leave, "so as not to upset Mr. Fuzzy I would like to collect the rent and go on my way..."

Protiva smiled, "Oh yes, yes, yes, yes I'll go get it."

Protiva skipped into an adjacent room. Charlie looked around. [I]I really should ask the tenents to notify me before they do major redecorating such as painting the walls.[/I]

Charlie walked into the living room which contained a satin couch which looked like belonged in an Arabian movie and mounds of plush pillows to sit on surrounding a low wooden carved table. The pillows were satin as well with golden tassels. There were satin curtins with matching golden tassels. An oriental rug depicting peacocks and tigers covered the floor. Charlie started backing up only to bump into a stuffed tiger, with jaws wide open. Charlie screeched. In the center of the room was a glass display case. The case contained hundreds of ballpoint pens, not one the same. All were fixated into a gold pen holder. Charlie walked up to the case. [I]What's so special about ballpoint pens anyways?[/I] Charlie reached towards the glass. He pulled one of the door handles to find it unlocked. He opened it. At that moment Charlie was hit over the back of his head. Charlie crumpled to the floor. He looked up to see Protiva, a look of fury upon her face.

"You dare try to steal one of my precious pens!"

Charlie stuttered, "No it's not like that at all..."

Protiva narrowed her eyes, "That's why they've disappeared over the years! You've been stealing them!" Protiva picked Charlie up by the scruff of the neck. Charlie whimpered.

Charlie braced himself. [I]I'm going to be killed by a crazy Indian woman.[/I]

Protiva set Charlie up on his feet and stuffed a 100 dollar bill into his hands, "LEAVE AND NEVER COME INTO HERE AGAIN YOU FOUL PEN STEALER!"

Charlie scrambled out the door to have it slammed behind him.

Cambrian_Explosion · June 27, 2004

Charlie approached the next door with much trepidation. To an outside viewer the door would appear to be a harmless broom closet; rather dirty (the norm of this particular building) and with a crudely carved 3X hanging on it by a trio of rusty, bent nails, but in no other way remarkable. To Charlie, this was the portal through which two-thirds of his troubles originated. Charlie set down his heavy pail, squared his shoulders, rapped on the door, and covered his head with his arms, dreading the worst.

The door creaked open; Charlie uncovered his head, and saw the smiling face of a slightly transparent 15 year-old boy dressed in luridly bright Hawaiian shirt and shorts. He floated to eye level with Charlie, and said with a slightly echoing voice ?Hello Charlie. Finally decided to pay a visit to my humble abode??

?No, perhaps another time Simon,? Charlie said. ?It?s the end of the month. I?m here to collect the rent,? and picked up the pail with some difficulty owing to the 400 quarters he was still carrying.

?[B][I]WHAT?!?!?![/I][/B] ? Simon shrieked.

Charlie was caught rather off-guard by this response. He had been expecting to either be paid with a cheerful ?Come round for a cup of tea sometime,? or to have a live bullfrog stuffed into the front of his pants. Or both. He did not expect Simon to get angry, least of all take offence.

?But you must,? pleaded Charlie ?you?ve caused more trouble (and trouble is an understatement) in the three weeks you?ve been here than all the other guests combined in several months!? Charlie hoped his tenant would not point out the most obvious reason why he shouldn?t pay rent, that he occupied a spare broom closet instead of a room.

He didn?t. Instead Simon slammed his door shut with a howl of outrage, which died into the distance. [I]How is that possible? It?s just a broom closet.[/I] Charlie thought. But then, as he turned to leave, the door flew open, and Simon dragged through it a book larger than Charlie. Simon opened the mammoth volume and began flipping through it at high speed, shouting ?Volume 5, chapter 86, section 4, sub-section R, paragraph 109, sub-paragraph 74 of the [U]Poltergeist Book of Supernatural Law[/U]; ?The landlord of a corporeal inn, tavern, apartment complex, boarding house, or other public housing may not charge any apparition a fee for housing against the said apparition?s will.? Go ahead, read it yourself.?

Simon slammed the huge book on the floor, open in front of the startled landlord. Charlie distinctly heard something crack under the weight of the of [U]Poltergeist Book of Supernatural Law; Volume 5[/U]. Curious, Charlie bent down to read the book. But there were two problems. The text was almost incomprehensively tiny, and it was also written in some sort of meaningless gibberish. Another interesting point was when his eyes slid out of focus, the page seemed to reveal a picture of a red squirrel beating the living daylights out of an emu with a large stick. ?I?ll take your word for it,? muttered Charlie. He turned to go again, but Simon shoved a large wad of bills into his hand. Charlie looked quizzically at Simon who simply said, ?It isn?t against my will.?

?But why get in a huff and drag out that gigantic book?? Charlie asked.

?It?s the principle of the thing,? Simon replied, tossing the book in first, then closing the door after him. Charlie wondered how the big book could possibly fit in the tiny broom closet, but he was so relieved to get away from the poltergeist without the live bullfrog in his pants that he didn?t think much about it.

DeathKnight · June 28, 2004

[color=crimson]"I only have one more tenant to collect from. That is the best bit of news I've had all day." Charlie thought to himself as he approached the next and last door. This tenant was a seemingly reasonable fellow- a self described inventor and scientist, but every couple of weeks there seemed to be a mishap with one of his "inventions". Charlie hoped that maybe he would have a bit of luck, and that this collection would be uneventful in comparison to the other tenants he had interacted with that day.

He raised his hand to knock when a high-pitched, mechanical whine started up from just inside the door. There was momentary cursing as the whining persisted, but silence soon fell. Charlie was about to shrug it off when the silence was shattered by a small "boom" that shook the door violently, nearly knocking it clear off it's hinges. Worried, he knocked loudly- "Mr. Howell? You alright?" he asked, waiting for a sign of life.

The door whipped open and a plume of foul-smelling smoke poured out of the room and permeated into the hallway. Kenneth came out with a blackened face, clothes and goggles, coughing a bit. "Who the hell is it?" he asked, "Damn these dirty goggles and that bloody stupid machine." Kenneth brought a gloved finger up to his goggles and tried to wipe away the dirt- as it didn't work he sighed, noting the dust, dirt and oil coated on his gloves too. "No wonder. Hold on a second, whoever the hell you are." He removed his goggles, revealing the only clean place left on him, and let them drop around his neck. "Ah, Charlie! I'd ask you to come in but uh," he glanced back, "Welp. You know. That uh, yeah. Making scientific progress you know, hahaha-ck!" He coughed as he inhaled mouthfuls of the smoke, "what-.. are you doing.. here?"

"I'm- agh." Charlie coughed a bit and managed to clear his throat enough to say one word- "rent."

"Already, huh? Well hell, if I can see in this room of mine, it's yours. Uno momento, por favor!" Kenneth slinked backwards into the heavy smoke, disappearing from view. He whistled a bit as he tried to wave away the smoke, trying to locate the the funds. Overturning various large textbooks, electronic/metallic debris and just general hunks of trash, he found a small envelope labelled "RENT". He checked the contents inside- all was clear. He rushed back to the front door to the uncomfortable-looking Charlie and placed the envelope on top of the collection bucket. "You look like you are having trouble with that bucket, Charlie- haha, you got 400 quarters in there or something? Ah, well. That should be enough for the month, yeah."

Charlie nodded, and was about to say his goodbyes when the high pitched whine started up again. Kenneth's eyes widened significantly as he glanced behind him, the whine getting ever louder.

"I thought the thing blew up! Damn." He said, rubbing his pitch black chin with his gloved hand.

"What is that?!" Charlie asked, shifting to the side to peer into the room, but seeing only smoke.

"Just the sound of progress, I assure you! That sound is completely normal. Well, I'll be seeing you later so.."

Kenneth was interrupted as the sound of the whine transferred into a loud clanking noise- it could be best described as a "something is screwed up" noise. The inventor fidgeted a bit, and glanced back towards Charlie.

"Hey, listen- if we're done here I think I should go turn that machine *off* before it. It. You know, uh. Wastes more.. power." His eyes glanced to the side briefly, as the clanking noise worsened.

"Sure, you.. go take care of that."

"Thankyoubye!" Kenneth said, flying back into his room. He didn't even bother to shut the door, racing to shut the machine off before it.. wasted more power. With a sigh of relief the clanking sound slowly faded off into silence, leaving him in his now-wasteland of a room.

"What a damn mess.. and infront of the landlord too. What went wrong, hmn.."

Charlie was long gone by this time, happily leaving the smoke and "power wasting" machinations of Kenneth behind him.[/color]

Shinmaru · June 28, 2004

Okay, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, we can get to the real parts of the RPG. This first scenario is pretty basic, but I'm sure that we can all build it into something pretty memorable. Right now, I think that we'll ride this scenario out as far as it goes, because doing every scenario with the systematic approach that we used for the introductions would get boring after a while, and nobody would be able to do their characters justice with only one post per scenario. So, just keep posting and we'll see where this takes us.

Charlie did not know how it was possible, but each of the tenants had managed to make him more suspicious of their motives than before. It was very clear to Charlie that each of them were up to no good in their rooms. However, what really made Charlie angry is that he could really do nothing about it. They all paid their rent, and despite some occasional grumbling, they all paid on time. Interrupting Charlie's train of thought was a massive cough that welled up from inside of him, forcing its way through his throat. As soon as Charlie was finished hacking and wheezing, he sent a vicious glare in the direction of Kenneth's room.

However, since Kenneth's door was closed, he did not see Charlie glaring at him. After a few moments of hardened glaring, Charlie sighed and attempted to pick up his Salvation Army bucket. The bucket was nearly overflowing with quarters, and Charlie's stick-thin arms could barely pick the bucket a couple of feet off of the ground before he had to sit down and rest.

Charlie groaned as he realized what he would have to do; he would need to pick up the bucket, move it forward a few feet, and place it down again so that he would be able to catch his breath. Charlie would need to do this over and over again until he made it all the way downstairs. Complicating things further was the fact that he was currently on the top floor of the apartment building, the third floor. Charlie thought it would be a big stretch to expect that the rickety wooden stairs would be able to withstand the combined wait of Charlie and his money bucket, but he had no alternative.

So, with a massive grunt, Charlie picked up his bucket, moved it a few feet and set it down again. Over and over again, Charlie completed this task until calling it repetitive would be considered a massive understatement. Somehow, Charlie made it all the way down to the bottom floor of the apartment building. He put his bucket down by the door and went over to fetch his keys from his coat, which was laying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Normally, Charlie did not care for driving, but he knew that he would not be able to carry his Salvation Army bucket all the way to the bank without at least pulling what few muscles he had.

Charlie searched his coat pocket and found his keys. When his hand tightened around them, the lights in the apartment building flickered slightly. Charlie rolled his eyes and moaned loudly, throwing his keys upon the floor in frustration.

"Great, just great," Charlie fretted. "Figures that right when I'm about to go out, the electrical system decides to screw around." Charlie started to walk over to a shadowed, secluded area of the apartment building, but thought better of it. Instead, he went over to his bucket and prepared to lift it up again. "I can't leave my bucket out in the open," he reasoned. "Who knows who might come and try to take my money?"

So, Charlie went through the struggle of carrying the bucket up two flights of stairs and set it down in front of his room. Charlie unlocked his door and gave the bucket a hard kick. Charlie's foot slammed against the bucket and it did not move an inch. He grabbed his foot in pain and hopped up and down, screaming all the while. After a few steps, Charlie lost his balance and fell down the stairs. A few of the tenants could hear Charlie's head bounce against the stairs as he fell downwards. When Charlie hit the bottom, he stormed back up the stairs and pushed his bucket into his room.

"Come on, Charles," Charlie said, motioning to Charles. "You're coming with me." Charlie picked up Charles and walked out of his room, closing and locking it behind him. Charlie, holding Charles in his right hand, went back downstairs and over to the shadowed, secluded area that was on the right-hand side of the staircase. It was so dark in this area that Charlie had not known about it until he had accidently stumbled upon it a couple of weeks after he had inherited Apartment Building C and moved in. The light inside of Charles flickered softly, revealing a hidden door and a rubber glove on the wall. Charlie set Charles on the floor for a few moments and proceeded to put on the glove. Then, he unlocked the door, picked Charles up off of the floor and went inside the door, locking it behind him.

Inside of the door was another set of stairs, leading downwards. The area was dark, dank and a very unpleasant area. The sound of a drop of water dripping against the floor constantly drilled its way into Charlie's head whenever Charlie stepped foot into this area. Soon, Charlie reached the bottom and spied what he wanted, which was across the room: A circuit breaker. More accurately, a penny which was currently tipping in and out of the circuit breaker.

Charlie ran over to the circuit breaker, and with his rubber-gloved hand, adjusted the penny so that it would stick firmly inside of the circuit breaker. Charlie then took a moment to listen for any suspicious noises that might be coming from upstairs. He had not told any of the tenants about this underground area, because he did not believe that he could trust any of them with the knowledge of where to control the flow of electricity in the apartment building. That, and Charlie rather enjoyed being asked for help every once in a while, because most of the tenants required copious amounts of electricity for whatever it was they were doing in their rooms and when the electric system went on the fritz, they practically begged Charlie for help. It was a feeling that he really enjoyed.

When he did not hear any noises, Charlie went back upstairs, out of the hidden door, and, with Charles in tow, picked up his jacket and headed back upstairs to his room to fetch the bucket of money. After another half-hour ordeal, Charlie was finally outside and ready to drive to the bank. Charlie took a look at his car; he had not driven it in a while and he had no idea what make it was at all. It was banged up beyond recognition, though it still worked decently. Charlie thrust the bucket into the back seat and climbed into the front. He put Charles in the passenger seat and buckled his seat belt. When he was assured that Charles was secure, Charlie buckled his own seat belt, checked to make sure everything was okay and pulled out from the alley that he had parked his car in.

"Thank god I'm finally able to get this crap over to the bank," Charlie muttered to himself. "I've gotta make a mental note to remind those whackos to stop paying in change..." Despite this, though, Charlie was decently happy and leaned back in his seat, glad to be away from the apartment building for the time being.

Unbeknownst to Charlie, however, was the fact that the penny, which had been hanging so precariously in the circuit breaker when Charlie set it right, was now wobbling to and fro, ready to fall out of the circuit breaker at the slightest mishap in the house.

And there you go. I'm sure that everyone knows what's going to happen next, so you guys and gals take it from here.

KarmaOfChaos · June 29, 2004

[color=deeppink][size=1]Daisy was currently dancing around the kitchen, with several pots of delicious somethings cooking on the stove. She completeled ignored the thumping, stepping, and other noises, including one that sounded like something large tumbling down the stairs, in favor of continuing her cooking. Such sounds she had come to learn were quite normal in this apartment.

While in the middle of dancing, she noticed several small furry rodents (known to most of the world as squirrels), scratching at the window. Being Daisy, she did not know that it was not normal for squirrels to be scratching at the window. Grinning happily, she danced over to where they were.

"Awwww such cute little furrie-kins! Would you like to help me cook, hm?" they scratched harder, and she squealed, "AWWWW SO ADORABLE!!!" And with that, she opened the window and let them in.

Those squirrels...well. It turned out they were rabid squirrels.

The leader of the group had rather blood shot eyes, and immedieatly attacked the unwitting Daisy. As it clenched its teeth firmly onto her finger and drew blood, she screamed a high pitched scream that would wake even the most comatose of avid gamers glued to their T.V. screens, and swung it forcefully against a wall, killing it instantly and splattering little squirrel brains all over the lovely, peeling floral print.

Another squirrel, enraged by the loss of his comrade, scurried up the wall and got ready to spring at her. But this was not before she could grab a pot of boiling aspargus and slam it into him, thus adding more squirrel brain art to Charlie's wall. This time however, she also smashed a huge hole in the wall, knocking the penny out of its socket and sending the electricity once again on the fritz while the house shook violently against her the force of her pot.

For a minute it looked as if the whole house might come down, but fortunatly it remained upright. The apartment settled into complete darkness, and the only sounds that could be heard were the scurrying of several other rabid squirrels, and the indignant activites of the tenants above.

Daisy stepped back into the hallway, running into several things in the process. Seeing that the rest of the house was in darkness, she promptly put her finger on her lower lip and went, "Oopsie daisy..."

-Karma[/color][/size]

Corey · June 29, 2004

[size=1]Volvo looked up at the light in his room with small slitted eyes. Not now. He was just about to try and contact home. The light flickered, then steadied. There was a thump on the stairs outside of his room and a little cursing. He shrugged and hunkered back over the machine, streaching one of his tentacles out of the neck of his tshirt. The human body was so cramped. He turned the dial from his stove that he had retrofitted the machine with. Most of the components he had brought with him had mysteriously stopped working after being exposed to the radiation these human people call 'radio waves'. He had found a small transistor radio on the street and saw a component he could use, but when he turned it on a few of his devices fizzled into unworking oblivion. He cursed the radio and threw it out the window to hit a passing motorcyclist which in turn slammed into a pole which fell on a car with an impressive sound system which turned on and destroyed almost all of his devices from the radio waves it gave off from the shock of being hit by a pole. He had screamed and drove a fist through his cheap drywall wall.

But the eclectisity could not go out now. He needed to get in touch with his people and inform them about the situation on planet Earth. He needed more time. More time to gather information. He was sure he was in the right place. 'Cheap Apartment' meant 'extremely important military instalation even if the people were a little stupid'. The machine roared to life, spewing a small cloud of 'diesel' exhaust into the air. He clapped his hands in success and withdrew the tentacle. The light gave a final bright shine and went out. The rest of the power-draining items did the same with rapid monotonosity.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "Ah mitten..." He wasn't sure what a mitten was, but it sounded evil. There was a large crash from somewhere around him and a bit of plaster dust seeped its way into his hair. Scampering sounded from inside his wall and made him jump up onto the couch. He had reson to believe all small scampering creatures of the mammal orientation were out to take over the world before his race could. "Out of here you filthy little... things!!!" He kicked the wall, leaving a small boothole, and let out a burst of his own language that made the window implode. Glass showered over the room and a burst of cold air made him shiver. He jumped to the couch again and, after a moments consideration, darted out of the door. The hallway was also dark, disorienting him and causing Volvo to slam into the adjacent wall. He yelped as something furry scampered over his hand.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "Yarrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He jumped backward and fell down the stairs. He slammed his head at the bottom and fell unconscious.[/size]

Wondershot · June 29, 2004

[i]I've been searching for a man,
all across Japan.
Just to find...
To find my samurai.[/i]

Moments before this chaos had erupted, peaceful music had been wafting serenely from apartment 2A, almost creating a thicker atmosphere everywhere it went. An unusually high voice was accompanying this tune, and as one looked back at apartment 2A, one would see tones of bright pink and sky-blue neon coming from the crack under the door. The music seemed to be growing louder, and upon closer inspection, it seemed to be some sort of exotic techno.

[i]Someone who is strong,
but still a little shy.
Yes, I need...
I need my samurai![/i]

Emilio, crouched down in a rather strange squatting position, was now arched over the dismantled PS2, and was now reassembling it with all the speed and expertise of a real Japanese engineer, and all the while, singing this song to a tiny tape deck lying in the corner of her otherwise furniture-bare apartment.

"ai, ai, ai, I'm your little butterfly...green, black and blue, making patterns in the sky...ai, ai, ai..." Emilio continued this unnaturally high rendition of his/her favorite song, when suddenly, something in an even greater decibel level than Emilio's voice came from the apartment adjacent, and Emilio turned just in time to see the bright neon lights on the arcade pad in the center of the room flick off abruptly. Emilio stared at the pad in horror, when a massive rumbling sound came from the hallway and Emilio heard something smack like a heavy lead weight on the door, which swung open easily, offering no resistance.

Emilio turned to see a mysterious silver-eyed man in his/her doorway, who seemed to be trying to scramble to his feet and put his t-shirt back on at the same time, an effort which was not going quite so well, owing to the fact that there were also several squirrels, some of which frothing at the mouth, crawling all over him. In a matter of moments, Emilio leapt into action, helping some of the squirrels off his visitor, dealing deadly dance-like kicks to each of them, eventually ending with a two-fingered flick right between the eyes of the last, sending him flying across the hall and smacking into the stairwell, unconcious. Emilio got up and looked at the man as he got to his feet, and he/she also noticed that the man's eyes had turned hazel.

"Oh! rodents!" the man cried out, almost a few seconds too late, as he turned to face the strange...person...standing in the doorway behind him. In a split second, the man whipped out a small electric rod, and Emilio went limp almost too quickly, within moments, the alien mechanism was inside Emilio's head, and Volvo prepared to recieve the data...

There was much loud music...and bright neon lights...and the music appeared to be in a language that Volvo did not recognize. every few seconds, a miniature earthquake, almost rumbling in a pattern, would jar his insides and disorient him. Emilio began to stir, and Volvo pocketed the device, believing that this vision might have been evidence of some kind of aphrodisiac. Volvo looked as Emilio got up, and Emilio stared back in return, expression mysterious as usual.

"The power appears to be out." Emilio said in greeting, as he/she reched into a back pocket and flicked out a tiny purple velvet fan, which he/she would always hide behind when speaking to strangers. Volvo eyed the fan carefully, as his eyes turned to pine-green, evidently believing that this strange device now in front of Emilio's face was some kind of weapon. Volvo nodded assent, as though afraid of the earthly weapon and it's capabilities.

"Well, why don't we go check on it, then?" Emilio asked, marching out into the darkness, feet gliding smoothly along the floor, as Volvo trailed behind, waiting for a chance to strike the human off guard...

Corey · June 29, 2004

[size=1]Volvo had recovered quickly, but not as quickly as he should have. The dark seemed to coax him into some kind of deep state of serenity which made comming back to consciousness extremely difficult. He sat up maybe four minutes after he had thudded against the floor only to find several of the small furry things crawling over his chest. Apparently they knew h wasn't human an felt rather safe, even if they were diseased.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "Arrrrggggg!!!!" He slammed his body against the closest object which happened to be a door. It opened and within seconds te squirrils were gone. He narrowed his eyes and the electricity momentarily flared allowing music to blare and lights to flash. He jabbed the human with his rod wen he turned his back and watched him fall limp. The images he got from his device were strange and difficult to understand. Probably the result of some chemical or drug... He pulled it from the persons ear as he/she stirred.

[b]Emilio-[/b] "The power seems to be out." The person whipped out a small rotating device that seemed to give off some sort of breeze. He inhaled deeply and the pouch on his back filled. There were probably contagens being blown at him. "Well, why don't we go check on it, then?" The human must be trying to lead him to some kind of ambush. The squirrilies must have alerted him somehow. He couldn't take any chances. This one would have to be delt with.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "The..." He searched for the word and came up empty. "The... Down attic..." Emilio looked at him and brandished the whirlygun again.

[b]Emilio-[/b] "The basement?" Volvo nodded, unsure if that was the right one. "Good idea." Volvo flinched as he/she turned sharply and headed down to the first floor. The alien followed hesitently, looking for an opening.

[b]Volvo-[/b] "What's wrong with the eclecticity?" Emilion shrugged.

[b]Emilio-[/b] "I don't know. What do you think is wro-" The person began to turn again to point the weapon at him, why he had followed int he first place was beyond him, and Volvo had clipped him in the jaw. Emilio crumpled and fell, the fan scraping at the floor before stopping. Volvo took it and ran back to his apartment to take a look at it under a flashlight. It had to be something powerful if it was toted by someone like that.[/size]

DeathKnight · June 29, 2004

[color=crimson][b]CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.[/b]

...

Kenneth wiped some sweat off his still-black brow and stepped back, looking over the small device. In a few minutes he had located the problem and corrected it- through several very odd, loud noises. It was perfect timing- he was curious as to what the noise was, and he needed a break. Maybe head down to the kitchen to make a light snack- he had worked on that thing through a couple of lunches, dinners and breakfasts. He dusted himself off a bit to be 'presentable' and reached up to turn his small ceiling fan light off. As he pulled the chain, *all* the lights in his apartment went off at once. Startled, Kenneth pulled the chain a few more times and got no response. Sighing, he stumbled his way into 'finding' his door- face first. Scrounging around nearby, he found his high-tech flashlight under a small pile of trash. He flicked it on a few times to test it and opened the door, shining it every which way.

Placing the beam in his path, he whistled as he went down the third floor hallway, heading for the stairs. As he walked, he passed by a few odd looking doorways into rooms, including one that seemed to have the tatters of grass scattered up to it's doorway.. but by the various noises coming from inside he guessed they were dealing with the power problem in their own ways. Not wanting to disturb them, he sighed and decided to just head downstairs- maybe Charlie could tell him what was up. "Ugh, I was about to switch that puppy on too. The most important thing I've done in my free time sidelined by whatever this is.."

He turned and his beam fell down the eerie looking stairway. Kenneth suddenly realized how quiet it was and was getting a bit freaked out. Quickly he jogged down the stairs, only stealing a glance down the second floor hallway- he paused and looked down it, seeing various corpses of squirrels. There was a long pause , a few blinks and several thoughts that came at once. "What the hell is this? How did these vermin get in here? Ugh, what fool.. nevermind, power. Power is the priority here."

He jogged down the stairs and saw a young lady.. eh, a young man.. a person laying, not moving an inch. He approached and shook the person several times. "Hey! Hey you, are you alright? Ugh, were we attacked by squirrels?! Damn those rodents, they are attacking my apart-.. What the hell am I saying?!?!!"

Kenneth got up and ran towards the kitchen to get an ice cold glass of water to bring the "guy" through back to consiousness. As he approached it, his flashlight blinked a few times on and off before shutting off completely- cursing, he struggled to find his way into the kitchen, feeling the soft breeze of air coming from one direction- "Did someone really leave a window open? Oh sheesh. If I could.." He groped around, trying to find the glassware.

His hand landed on a hot pan- a still very, very hot pan. He whipped his hand back and let out a loud, booming string of curses- forgetting for a few minutes about the "guy" in the hallway..[/color]

KarmaOfChaos · June 29, 2004

[color=deeppink][size=1]Daisy was in the midst of retriving what was left of her cooking, which wasn't really going successfully because it was pitch black and she kept running into things, when she heard several loud crashes up stairs, some eerie spurts of talking, and then a loud string of cursing. Stepping from behind the fride with a giant bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup cradled in her arms, she saw a tall man with goggles and ruffled hair who was running around, screaming curses and holding his hand tightly. Now, this sight was rather amusing, so she started to laugh, but then realized he was acutally hurt, and quickly went in the freezer and got an ice pack. She tapped him on the back to get his attention, and he jumped about five feet in the air and screamed a high pitch scream that almost matched her own, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Daisy blinked, and shyly handed him the ice pack. He looked at, then realized what it was for. "Oh. Thank you! Is there another one of those in there? There's a guy...ehm...girl, er..someone in the hall who's knocked out cold, and he...she...it may need help." She nodded and went in the freezer, pulling out another ice pack. She was about to close the freezer door again when she thought better of it, and grabbed several more just in case.

"It's this way," he pointed, and Daisy followed him. Emilio lay there, his left leg occasionally twitching, and mumbling something unintelligable. She ran over, and to Kenneth's surprise, simply picked him up and began up the stairs.

"Where are you going?!" Kenneth shouted.

"To put him in bed! He's not hurt, he's just sleeping!" She replied cheerfully, and continued up to her room, where she deposited him upon her king-size bed. A sweatdrop appeared behind Kenneth's head, as he followed the oblivous amnesiac.

Little did they know, a small contingent of rabid squirrels had gathered in the basement. And these weren't your average, everyday, run of the mill rabid squirrels.These were genetically inhanced rabid squirrels. The new leader squirrel stood on top of a cardboard box, giving a speech to his squirrel minions. It was decided among them that the humans must be erradicated, and that the squirrels could then take over. They spread out, and began setting booby traps all over the basement.

Meanwhile, Kenneth was, fruitlessly, trying to get the power back on by flipping switches. Daisy sat in the middle of the hallway, staring at a slinky, when a large thump was heard...

-Karma[/size][/color]

Shinmaru · June 29, 2004

"Why does parking have to be so horrible on weekdays?" Charlie asked himself, as he roamed around the bank's parking lot for the fifth time. Complicating matters further was the fact that Charlie's bucket of money was dangerously close to tipping over, and Charlie most certainly did not feel like picking up all of that loose change off of the floor of his car. While he was mulling over that, Charlie spotted a free spot in the far corner of the parking lot. It was much farther away from the bank than he would have liked, but Charlie knew to take things when you could get them, so he drove over to the parking space and parked his car there.

Charlie got out of his car and went over to the back seat, where his Salvation Army bucket was waiting. Before he went to pick up the bucket, however, Charlie bent over to the front seat and whispered lovingly to Charles.

"Be a good boy and stay in your seat, Charles," Charlie cooed. "I have enough problems without you acting up, okay?" Charles, of course, stayed completely silent, and Charlie took that to mean that they were in agreeance with each other. Charlie smiled to himself, turned his attention back to the back seat, and rubbed his hands together, getting himself ready to lift up the bucket. He gripped his hands tightly around the handle of the bucket and lifted it up with a series of heavy grunts and groans. Little by little, Charlie pulled his bucket through the parking lot and into the bank, settling himself into the long line that was formed in front of the bank tellers.

Charlie looked up at the clock nervously. He had already been away from the apartment for fifteen minutes, and the long line did not look like it would be moving very speedily. As much as Charlie enjoyed his time away from Apartment Building C, he was not exactly comfortable with the idea of leaving the tenants on their own for any length of time. He was sure that something was going on there at the moment; he could feel it in his bones. Charlie feared the worst...that someone, somehow, had on gotten their hands on the first draft of the novel that he was writing. That novel was not yet ready for public viewing! It still needed to be tweaked and rewritten! Charlie seethed to himself before he noticed that he was being called up to the next open bank teller.

Charlie snapped back into reality and, struggling mightily, pulled his bucket over to the bank teller and lifted it up onto the teller's desk. The bank teller looked at the bucket, then at Charlie, then at the bucket again.

"Sir?" the teller asked. "What is this?"

"It's a bucket of money," Charlie answered. "What does it look like?"

"Why do you have a bucket of money here?" the teller asked. Charlie frowned.

"I want to deposit this money into my account," Charlie said.

"Look at all this change!" the teller said. "Couldn't you have at least gotten dollar bills rather than change?"

"Look," Charlie said, becoming quickly irritated. "If I could have gotten dollar bills, I would have gotten dollar bills. But I wasn't paid in dollar bills, I was paid in quarters, dimes, nickels and a silver piece from 1756. So there."

"There are places where you can get change exchanged for money, you know that, right?" the teller noted.

"Just put the money into my account!" Charlie yelled. "I'm on limited time here!" Little did Charlie know that he was right. He had been away from the apartment for a full half an hour, and already things were going wrong. If Charlie had known that the electricity had gone out and the tenants were mixing with each other, he would be having fits.

"Fine, fine," the teller said. "Sit down over there, we'll have to count your money to make sure that we get an accurate reading of the total amount of money in your account." Charlie rolled his eyes and plopped himself into a chair, grumbling all the while about the sad state of affairs in the world and how a guy couldn't even get some good service any more. "Oh yeah," the teller added, pointing at Charlie's red and yellow striped scarf. "If you're looking for the next showing of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the theater's that way." Several of the teller's co-workers pointed and laughed at Charlie, who turned beet red and gnashed his teeth angrily.

"For your information," Charlie spat venemously. "This is a replica scar from the webcomic Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. I wouldn't sink as low as to replicate that low-grade wannabe magic in Harry Potter!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," the teller grinned. "My mistake." Charlie simply turned around in his chair, grumbling grumpily to himself.

Revelation · June 29, 2004

[size=1][color=#696969][i]Sitting in her room for nearly the entire morning, Candy grew hungry. She needed energy for the rest of the day and looked to her "pets". She smiled sweetly and jumped off of the bed and onto the floor. Still wearing the clothes she had on when Charlie had came by, Candy exited her apartment and walked down the hallway to the kitchen, while humming "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

Emerging out into the kitchen, Candy had seen that real, live squirrels were there and that one of them, rather large, was giving a speech. She squealed and walked over and petted it on the head. She then remembered why she was down there and searched the refrigerator. Several items were left over, yet a new, fresh peach had caught her eye. She squealed and grabbed it from its place and walked to the sink, carefully washing it, while the squirrels watched her carefully.[/i]

"Hi, Squirrelies. Bye Squirrelies! Behave yourselves."

[i]With a giggle, Candy was out of sight and the squirrels were left to their plans. Meanwhile, Candy entered her bright and very pink room with a fresh fruit in her hand. She took small bites from the peach and looked at her "pets". They seemed to look at her with longing eyes. She then looked around and saw that even her favorite animals, the tiger, lion, ostrich, emu, and snake, were looking at her longingly...in her mind.[/i]

"Oh my god, like...aww. I'm, like, so sorry, guys, but, like...oh. This is, like, people food, you know? Yeah, and, like, you can't eat it. I'll try to, like, get you something. Ok?"

[i]Yet the animals still looked at her with unblinking gazes and a longing in their gleaming eyes. Candy ate away at her peach and wondered what the other tenants were up to. She decided to take a field trip to Daisy, who was presumably a nice friend.

Candy walked out once more with a watermelon flavored gum in her mouth. She walked around, calling Daisy's name, when at that moment she heard a loud [B]thump[/B].[/i][/size][/color]

Whisper · June 29, 2004

Protiva hummed to herself as she was making a cup of coffee. When it was ready Protiva took a deep breath of the aroma, closing her eyes, and sighed deeply. Before opening her eyes though Protiva walked right into a table spilling the hot coffee all over herself and falling to the ground. While falling Protiva's chain necklace snagged on the table causing it to break and sending her pink fuzzy ballpoint pen flying. Protiva's face hit the foot of the table creating a nosebleed. Protiva moaned. Protiva slowly lifted her head up, "Mr. Fuzzy?" Just then the electricity flickered off leaving Protiva in the dark. "Mr. Fuzzy?!"

Protiva's call was met by silence. Protiva began to get worried. Mr. Fuzzy could have gotten hurt. Protiva reached up for the edge of the table and lifted herself up. Protiva squinted in the dark. "MR. FUZZY?!" Panicked, Protiva groped around the room.

[I]Why did the electricity go out? It must be because of that damned pen stealer. He thinks he can steal Mr. Fuzzy in the dark. Well he can think again![/I]

Protiva knelt on the floor, feeling around. She felt something fuzzy under her palm and grabbed. It was Mr. Fuzzy. Protiva cradled the pen in her hands, "Oh, Mr. Fuzzy I was so worried about you!"

Protiva stood up and stumbled out of her apartment into the hallway, Mr. Fuzzy clasped firmly in one hand. She glimpsed a dark figure jogging down the stairs. [I]Must be Charlie. He thinks he can get away does he...[/I]

Protiva snuck to the top of the stairs and looked down. She saw that it was actually Kenneth. Protiva turned around to go back to her apartment. She saw a small form a few feet in from of her. The form looked like a squirrel. Before she could confirm this it jumped at her. Sharp teeth sunk into her ankle. Protiva screamed and fell over creating a large thump.

DeathKnight · June 30, 2004

[color=crimson]A few slinks on the slinky moved as a soft vibration went through the walls of the house, thunder rolling ominously outside. Kenneth's eyes traced up to the ceiling, darting about a bit- he was getting irritated at the noises, the lack of light- even the sound of the dark clouds pelting the window down the hall with rain.

He glanced down to Daisy and suddenly remembered- Charlie! All this with.. Emelio, wasn't it? He had forgotten! His eyes opened wide for a second- how could he have done that? He snapped his fingers as he leaned down to her, noting her odd attire for the first time, but saying nothing. No time for that now.. "Hey, did you see Charlie at all? That was kinda my whole reason for being downstairs." He asked.

"Nope. Only thing I saw was those cute, adorable and HORRIBLE little animals." She said, shaking her head.

"Umm? Small.. little animals? Alright, that's interesting but.. only Charlie knows where the circuit breakers are in this place. Ugh. Is there a basement? I've never seen one..." He rambled on to himself, thinking out loud, before finally slumping onto the floor. "I guess we wait it out, huh?"

"I guess so!" Daisy said with generous amount of cheerfulness. Kenneth shook his head- she was somewhat odd, but seemed to mean well. She poked the slinky a bit with her finger, pausing for a moment to see the reaction. Kenneth sighed and slumped down the wall, staring aimlessly.

Suddenly, there was a loud [b]thump[/b] from upstairs. It was accompanied by a rather loud scream of fear and pain. Kenneth's eyes darted up to where it had come from with some shock in his eyes. "Ugh, that didn't sound good. You and I should go check it out. Maybe we can find the circuit breakers up there in that [b]broom closet[/b] that is up there- well, I think it's a closet." Kenneth tapped his chin a bit and shrugged, "Oh well. Either way, this will work out. Come on, Emelio should be alright, yeah?"

Kenneth didn't mention his extreme irritation and nervousness about being back to it just being himself in this weird place in total darkness. He waited for an answer but was interrupted by a close by call- someone was calling out Daisy's name.

"Eh?" Kenneth looked around, "Am I hearing things?"[/color]

OtakuSennen · June 30, 2004

[color=navy]Tom sat in his room eating a year-old granola bar with a box of Juicy Juice by his window. He could hear gunshots and tires screeching outside of the building, but all of the street lights that weren't broken yet gave an illusion of real moonlight. ..Well, they would be more convincing, if the moon were orange with lots of shoes tied together hanging from it.

"Ah, fine dining with the mood of a Victorian ball," Tom said to nobody in particular, as he took another bite of the rock-hard granola bar.

The electricity was out, yes, but Tom didn't really need light right now. He felt like resting for a moment, after a hard day of deep-frying the fries at McDonald's.

This rest would not come, however, as he heard a very loud thump come from an apartment on the other side of the building. "Hm," Tom muttered, as he stood up, resting his half-empty (not half-full) Juicy Juice on an empty cardboard box that once held illegal fireworks, before its current owner had found it behind a dumpster downtown as he was searching for Pogs. "That was distinctly the sound of a human body dropping." He lit a candle, grabbed his tried-but-true "Trusty Whackin' Hammer," patent pending, and headed out into the hall. After all, there was nothing else to do, except for finish the sculpture of a devestatingly obese gerbil he had started to make earlier that day. Perhaps finishing it with no possible way to see the sculpture could give the piece an interesting touch, but that could wait.

As Tom walked down the hall, he did not hear that odd Far Eastern music that seemed to always be coming from one of the many delapidated apartments. "You would imagine that someone so into that strange little game would have some sort of auxiliary power in case of emergency like this." For a moment Tom was silent, but it was not long before he began to snicker strangely. In a few minutes the crazy chuckle became a deranged uproar of laughter. God knows why Tom did this, but it happened several more times as he sauntered down the hall, talking to himself about the insane housemates that he had ended up with.

There was some rustling sounds coming from the apartment in which that odd Indian woman resided, and Tom would have entered the room if he wasn't afraid of the doorknob being booby-trapped. You see, every once in a while he has a sort of paranoia phase, during which he is afraid of some random object. A week ago his worst fear had been Jolly Ranchers and their too-good-to-be-true tastiness, and just a few days ago he refused to come within fifty feet of anything Hello Kitty-related, especially those "shoulder" massage wands..

So, instead of seeing if the Indian woman had fallen over and died a slow, painful death, Tom decided to head downstairs and try to engage in small talk with the people that he had heard conversing a minute ago.

Tom continued to walk down the hall, his legs making rustling noises as they waded through the sea of ugly-*** shag carpet. This was no ordinary ugly-*** shag carpet- it measured half a foot high with each individual patch of carpet its own special shade of disgusting orange or green. Bits of various snack foods were stuck in the carpet, which gave it all a very chunky, disgusting look. The whole thing, in the end, looked like vomit-patterned carpet.

The quiet of the hall was shattered by a crunching sound, followed by a squeak of pain. Startled, Tom jumped with a slight yelp. As he landed, another crunch followed by a squeak was heard. Slowly, careful not to make another crunch-squeak combo occur, Tom took a step back, kneeled, and sifted through the shag rug carefully, so that the candle wouldn't light the carpet on fire. He then found a group of squirrels, all sizzling and warm. Two of them happened to have shoe prints on them, which were quite obviously made by Tom.

"My, my," Tom said as he poked one of the deceased rodents with a 12" long novelty pencil. "What unfortunate animals." He then saw a squirrel who was not quite dead yet- in fact, it was running from corpse to corpse looking for something, as a mugger would look for his victims' wallets.

"Hello there, little squirrel," said Tom, as he picked up the survivor, which viciously tried to escape the hands of the human. Upon closer inspection, the squirrel seemed to have an ear missing, patches of missing fur and one leg that wasn't persistently trying to kill Tom with its claws. "Well, it seems that you broke a leg. I think I'll take you back home with me, once the power turns back on." The squirrel bit Tom's hand, so, to discipline the rogue rodent, he hit the squirrel against the wall a few times. "I shall name you Irwin, for I knew an Irwin once, at work.. Rather unfortunate fellow. It seems that he came to a very tragic end during a shake machine accident. And you remind me of him!" He smiled at the squirrel, which seemed to be knocked out. He sat the squirrel on his shoulder, not expecting a response, and turned the corner which led to the stairs.

---

[i]No animals were harmed in the making of this God-awful post. [/i][/color]

KarmaOfChaos · June 30, 2004

[SIZE=1][COLOR=deeppink]"Daisy? Daaiiissyyyyy..." Candy called from the third floor.

Daisy pricked her ears and then shouted back, "Candy! I'm down here and I found the neatest thing! I don't know what it is, but it's just so cool!" She pushed the slinky back and forth, then squealed with delight.

The sounds of someone trying to figure out where they were going were heard, and finally, many resounding 'thump thump thumps' as Candy tumbled down the stairs. Fortunatly, for the blonde, brain damage was not an issue. She stumbled around a bit, and Daisy ran to support her. They both sat down on the floor and Daisy pulled out the slinky.

Gasps of wonder from both girls filled the air.

"It's so pretty Daisy!" Candy whispered, in awe.

"I know...and look, look, watch this!" Daisy whispered back, and poked the slinky. It vibrated back and forth.

Their eyes got humongous and they sat entranced. Kenneth walked up behind them, took one look at the both of them, and another large sweatdrop formed at the back of his head. Clearing his throat, he began to speak, making both girls jump into each others arms and scream at the top of their lungs. He quickly plugged both his ears (to prevent damage), and waited until they were done.

"Daisy...Candy...it's just me. Jesus." he muttered, and then began to speak again, "We need to find out what that THUMP was, it sounds like someone may have gotten injured. Plus, I believe the circut breaker may be up there, allowing us to get the power back. So...are you coming or not?"

Daisy and Candy blinked simultaneously, still hugging each other. "Sure!" The both spoke, in unison.

"But um...wait...what about Emilio?" Daisy questioned, looking back at her apartment room. As if on cue, he/she appeared in the doorway.

"Hello everyone," he stated, and stared at them all. There was a few moments of silence, then Kenneth simply began marching up the stairs. Daisy and Candy followed suit, holding the slinky between them, and Emilio trailed behind the whole party, looking like something straight out of a French modern art class. When they finally reached the 2nd floor, they found Protiva, sprawled out and unconscious, with blood seeping out of a suspicious looking bite mark on her left palm.

"Crap," Kenneth uttered eloquently.

Daisy pulled a Hello Kitty bandaid out from seemingly nowhere, and applied it to Protiva's hand. Smiling happily with her handy work, she looked up, only to see a dark figure looming in the stairway to the third floor.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

OtakuSennen · June 30, 2004

[color=navy]Tom looked down at the odd group of tenants. "Oh, um.. Hello," he said, joining them at the bottom of the steps. "I just came downstairs to see about the power, or, well, the lack of it. None of you happen to have a very tiny ice pack handy, would you? You see, my little friend here-" He paused, examining the puzzled faces of the group. His eyes then drifted to the woman on the floor. "Oh, you're worried about her, right? It looks like it's just a flesh wound- OH SWEET JESUS, A HELLO KITTY BANDAID." Tom, you see, was still in the 'recovery' phase of his fear of Hello Kitty [font=Palatino Linotype]paraphernalia.[/font]

The girl in the men's pajamas tilted her head inquisitively. "What's so wrong with Hello Kitty?" She looked at the body to her right, revealing her Hello Kitty hairclips in the process.

Tom was breathing so heavily due to the shock of the multiple images of the menacing little cat-bastard that he ended up blowing out his candle. In a desperate move to feel secure in the darkness, he leaped down the remaining stairs, rather close to Kenneth.

"..What the bloody hell is up with you?"

"Um.. Eh, sorry." Tom stepped back slowly, in an attempt to not anger the man, and applied some cream to his rash that had suddenly appeared at the thought of human contact.

And so the group continued their search for the circuit breaker, with Daisy and Candy blissfully cheery, still thinking about the wonders of the Slinky with delight, Emilio still smoldering a little, Tom shaking at the thought of Hello Kitty in the immediate area, and Ken dragging the unconcious Indian woman behind him.[/color]

Cambrian_Explosion · June 30, 2004

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy.

IC: Simon looked up at the ceiling light in annoyance. It had flickered a bit, steadied, and then gone completely out. But he could still read his book, [U]Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix[/U], by his own luminescence and learn more about his hero, Peeves. But the noises outside were really beginning to bug him, especially the ear-splitting screams. Finally, after a particularly loud one, he shut the book with a snap, grabbed a few ammonia-filled water balloons, and raced to the door of his broom closet. [I]If there it this much screaming,[/I] he thought, [I]I might as well join in the fun.[/I]

Simon was about to exit when someone attempted to force entry into his closet. Attempted because it was securely locked. Simon simply flew through the door like a bat out of hell and pelted most of his fellow tenants with his water balloons. After the new blood-curdling screams died away, Simon broke into a fit of laughter, then came over to see what was going on. Everyone backed up, but Simon simply chuckled a bit, and said "Relax, that'll hold me over 'til the morning. I'm not a mad dog, y'know. By the way, what the hell is going on down here? What's with all the screaming? And what are you all staring at? You look as though you've seen a ghost."

"Well, for starters, we have not only seen a ghost, but had ammonia-filled water balloons chucked at us by one," Kenneth stated, [I]very[/I] politely he thought. Simon sweat-dropped at this, and muttered something unintelligible. Kenneth continued, "As for what's going on, well, the power's out and we're trying to find the circuit breaker, we though it might be in that broom closet you just zoomed out of."

"It won't be in there," Simon assured him. "Not anymore anyways."

"How do you know that?" asked Emilio.

"'Cause I live there, you... person," Simon informed him/her (it?). He then looked down and saw Protiva unconscious. ?What are you doing with her??

?We, like, found her, like, unconscious in the hall, y?know,? squeaked Candy, peeping around Tom, looking terrified.

?Uh, what?s she doing unconscious?? asked Simon. [I]God, that girl, whatshername, oh yeah Candy, her voice[/I] really [I]grates on my intangible nerves. I?ve got to stop saying ?y?know? so often.[/I] he thought. Simon looked at Tom and noticed the brutalized squirrel for the first time, ?And what are you doing with roadkill slung over your shoulder??

?His name is Irwin,? sniffed Tom, ?and we don?t know what happened to Protiva.?

?Okay, let?s just get back on track people, we need to find that circuit breaker,? announced Kenneth. ?Let?s try to find the basement, if there is one.?

RPG Apartment Building C

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