Project97: Chapter 9:: A World in Flames

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Chapter 9:: A World in Flames

Mala Das was walking towards the station when she stopped suddenly.

It was about fifteen minutes earlier that she’d got a call from her mother at the office. A few of her friends were coming over, she said, and she wanted her daughter to meet them. Meaning, get home as soon as possible. Mala had sighed a little and began gathering up her things. She was well aware of her mother’s euphemisms. Her 'friends' were probably some little-known relation whom she had called over to fix up her daughter’s marriage with someone eligible. The person in question wanted to see what the product was before he took the risk of marketing it. Fair enough. But of course, she didn’t want to marry. And something told her that the relation in question wouldn’t turn up today.

She had great faith in intuition.

Nevertheless, she persuaded Aditi,her colleague, to cover for her; re-tied her hair, gathered up the desh magazine she was reading, her comb and her untouched bottle of water into her bag and headed out to take the local to her house. The bus would take ages...

It was then she saw the book, jumping up at her from the array of lurid covers stacked by the road to form a makeshift old-books stall.She had to buy it. It had two red eyes gleaming from a mass of pitch darkness on the cover with the words ‘The word from hell” written in squiggly silver hand at the bottom.

It reminded her of the day before yesterday...

She’s been on her way home when she saw ‘The complete collection of gruesome horror stories’ arranged alluringly at the window of the small bookshop at the beginning of her lane. She didn’t have enough money to buy it and after much futile haggling, had come away defeated. Yesterday, as she was passing the shop she found it locked and a bespectacled middle-aged man sitting with a stack of new books on a bedspread in front of it.
“The shop’s been ransacked, miss. Yesterday. A couple of hooligans, completely drunk, came armed with stones the other night and vandalized the store... broke the stuff, took away the little cash they could find, ripped off most books...teenagers these days, I tell you...no control whatsoever. The owner’s horrified. Asked me to sell off the damaged books, the best I can. He’s closed for a few months, Insurance stuff, thana-poolish and all, you know.”
Mala had been shocked. She liked the old man behind the counter,with his lopsided grin and hairy ears…known him for ages. Yet she also reflected , not for the first time, on her remarkable ability to get out of scrapes unscathed. Somewhat like the collected horror fiction book that she’d wanted to buy the other day: it had been unharmed,despite the vandalism the other night: glossy and new, an insult to its less-fortunate tattered neighbours. (She got the book for a mere Rs. 125 instead of the Rs. 450 printed on it.) She smiled ruefully to herself. The gods conspired to make her life uneventful. “But safe,” she had thought.

This time round, she didn’t wait. After a few minutes of haggling, ‘The word from hell’ was hers to treasure for forty bucks.
* * * *
By the time she came to the station, she’d missed the 2.10 train.Making her way through the string of jostling people, she booked her ticket and sat down on an empty seat, wondering whether to start reading the new book, or finish the half-read Desh. She decided not to do either and simply look around.
So many of them...Waiting to be touched.
She spotted a dirty,scrawny looking man skulking around in the corner: half-hidden, inconspicuous. He sat on what looked like a large wooden box. As far as she could make out. As he caught her eye, he grinned, disarmingly. She smiled back, instinctively. But she was also taken aback....beggars don't usually smile at you, do they? Come to think of it, he didn't look like he wanted to beg.But perhaps that was his little trick.Just as she was about to go and offer a coin to him, she heard it.
The music. It was charming: soft, fresh and lilting. It had a voice in it. A voice that spoke in pictures, not in words. The music reverberated off the walls of the station and seeped into her. Making her long for something...something...
It stopped. She turned towards him and smiled. She didn’t know what made her do that. She never talked to people she didn’t know. Well...except children, that is.

Peacock-blue. Light green. Peacock-blue again. Glinting...

“ I have seen you somewhere before, haven’t I?” ...Peacock-blue...
“Mark. Mark Middleton”... blue-green ...
“Mala das.” She heard herself saying. ...Light green...
She reached out.

For her bag. And with a final “well-see-you-later-but-don’t-care -if-I-don’t” smile, she moved away. To another bench. The man made her feel uncomfortable. Nothing much, really. (It took a lot to actually fluster her.) Just a vague sense of discomfort. Like a mosquito itch you couldn’t reach at.

Not that she minded men around her. She could always take care of them. She was simply “Not Interested, thank you very much”. Her dispassionate stare could throw most of them off balance. Like that other guy over there, looking at her in a sideways glance. Reasonably good looking: witty tee-shirt, dirty jeans, ruffled hair, unkempt looks et all. The kind of guy adolescent teenagers might like. Supercilious, even condescending. She wondered whether to favour him with one of her dispassionate stares. She decided not to. She liked the effect of the grown-up arrogance mixed with a child’s anger at being tricked into doing something unpleasant. It almost made her smile.

She noticed another child in the distance. A young girl, with a nose-pin. The child looked contemplative. As she watched her, she moved away into the crowd.

Red-pink. Violet-pink.

And then it happened. The single most exciting event in Mala Das’s life. Perhaps the gods were not looking. Or forgot.

She saw the world go up in flames around her...

Red-blue. Red-yellow. Red-red.All around.

She saw the young backpacker fall flat on the ground, she saw the scrawny looking boy disappear in a cloud of smoke, she saw the harmonica man go up to the backpacker.

She decided it was a good (and only) time to leave.She didn't want to get caught up in the Chaos that was beginnig to take shape. She could see well enough. Weaving through the smoke and the crowd, she limped out of the station...

8 comments:

Rhea Silvia said...: Lovely. Glad to see Mala Das is back in the game. ;D; February 9, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Doubletake, Doublethink. said...: aaaaaaaaaaaargh this totally goes against my setting for Him! whatdoido whatdoido?

Now i shall have to stretch my imagination a little more. i KNEW i should have put up my chapter earlier.

but oh, you write so well. i love mala.; February 9, 2008 at 7:32 PM
Anonymous said...: erm....chapter 8 took place in a surface railway station, not in underground railway. you won't find foot over-bridges in calcutta metro. true, mark middleton met mala das in an underground station but that doesn't mean they haven't bumped into each other a second time in a different place. so a little editing would give consistency to the whole railway station scenario. :)

btw, that twisted ankle's gonna hurt like a bitch. medical expenditures. khoroch'er ar kono shesh achhe?; February 9, 2008 at 8:17 PM
Bone said...: i want to make the same point as above. the last chapter was written with a railway station as background, and i planned my (unpublished) chapter according to that. ebaar aami ki korbo?

btw, i love the way she sees colours in everything. it's nothing short of TOWTUHLLLLY amazing xD; February 9, 2008 at 9:28 PM
Bone said...: also, if you read the description of gordon well, he isn't actually a kid. i mean, "bearded"? idontknow, gordon is a bit too sketchily potrayed. i thought of him as roughly-reaching-middle-age when i (sortof) used him in my chapter. we should prolly verify his supposed age with his writer when we catch him next.; February 10, 2008 at 3:12 AM
CheshireCat said...: Oh about the metro station thing-y.
I continued it from Mark's first encounter.
I'll change this to the metro station...but Mandy, could you please change the first encounter to a railway station please? coz, all Mala's reactions are based on Mark and his first encounter....

And @doubletake, doublethink.
I can make her not Him, you know. Doesn't have to be Him.; February 10, 2008 at 8:51 AM
CheshireCat said...: I mean, I'll change this to the railway station.; February 10, 2008 at 8:52 AM
Rhea Silvia said...: I'd thought Gordon was older too.; February 10, 2008 at 10:43 PM

Abeo Roux

Name: Abeo Roux
Sex: Female
Species: Human
Age: 24
Physical Description: Has blossomed into a lean, confident and supremely stylish young woman, with wavy red hair and sharp brown eyes.
Strengths/Weaknesses: Everything about Abeo is double-edged. Her strengths become her weaknesses and vice versa. There's something deeper about her, more sinister, more intense, than what is seen at first glance. Her Twin is inside her own self, and is rarely ever visible to someone who hasn't known/observed her for a long time, unless of course, the situation demands it.

Adan Garcia

Sex: Male
Species: Unknown
Age: Looks about 38. But his real age is lost, even to himself.
Physical Description: Not too tall, not too short, but capable of appearing either. Brown hair highlighted by gold because of unending hours in the sun (which is weird, because, he wears a cowboy hat). He is stocky to look at, but is actually constructed out of pure muscle. Always dressed like an outlaw: trench coat, dusty boots, weird belt etc. But he also carries a black felt bag, very ancient and dusty and looks almost empty, slung to his sides.
Has a very easygoing smile above a square thread-barely goateed chin - capable of being both charming and sinister, but mostly the former. That’s until you look into his eyes, generally in the shadows of his hat, which cannot be mistaken for anything other than evil and dangerous. Gives off strange energy waves.
Weaknesses/ Strengths: Capable of fighting both with his brawns and brains, but prefers to fight with brawn, because brain's the last resort (he thinks of it as an act of charity to his adversaries). Has high manoeuvering skills and can appear to be at particular places and disappear from it at a random instance. Oh, he is also a time traveller (and doesn’t need flashy gadgets to do it, he just flicks a button in a dark little corner of his brains). Doesn’t talk much. Mostly observes from the shadows of street corners and backrooms.
Only weakness that he himself knows about is body odour. Carries a deodorant everywhere, which he never uses. The rest he prefers to keep secret at present because, he feels, it’ll ruin his style.

Al'skandar Phillips

Name: Al’skandar Phillips.
Sex: Male.
Species: He’s not very sure. Looks mostly human.
Age: Late teens.
Physical Description: Average height. Pale. Square jaw, aquiline nose, thin mouth. Longish hair, brown at the moment, used to have silver threading through it. One wouldn’t notice Al’skandar in a room with ten people in it, till he looks up. His eyes are silver… completely. Which explains his clothing choice of caps and hooded jackets. Shades help, but not indoors. The jeans and shirts he wears are ordinary, if rather faded. Also wears a leather wristband, which is broad enough to hide an intricate silver tattoo.
Strengths: The kid at the back of the class who seems to be sleeping but can quote his/her words back at the teacher, complete with mistakes. Well, figuratively, because Al’skandar was home-schooled. He’s easily ignored. And he can finish off people’s sentences… literally. Of course, he usually does it in the relative privacy of his mind. Wouldn’t want anyone to think him a freak or anything.
Weaknesses: Physical Strength. Well, the lack thereof. Al’skandar can throw a punch, but he’d much prefer not to. His usual MO is to run away when the other person/people think(s) about hitting him. Or just ducking, which course of action does not end well for his assailant(s). He also tends to arrogance. However, he’s a bit tensed right now about the prospect of starting college.

Ascronos Hell

Sex: Male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Undisclosed, but at least middle-aged
Physical Description: Very tall and sinewy. Long silver hair and haggard careworn face of a sorcerer obsessed with secret studies. Large eyes with great dark pupils, described as frightening and haunting by those who meet him. Long thin nose, slightly bent and crooked. Long scar on face, running in a vertical line above and below eyes, caused by experiment gone wrong. Fingers long and artistic, capable of great strength. Star-shaped mark upon a broad forehead, and strange runic symbols of unknown origin and meaning carved upon torso. Prefers simple clothing, black cloaks and fitting garments. Sometimes hooded, face in shadows. When in armour, menacing and imposing. Iron body armour with some ornamentation, also carries a massive rune-etched sword.
Strengths: Great intellect, scientific and necromantic curiousity, patience and belief in own abilities. Determination. A fair amount of physical strength. More to be found out.
Weaknesses: Overt self-reliance, hatred for the ordinary, cruelty.

Cybele

Sex: Female.
Species: One of the Other Worldlies. Shall be talked about later.
Age: Does not really matter, does it, as long as she looks 24.
Physical Description: Black-haired, brown-eyed, she is visible in your average penthouse dreams. She possesses a vivid smile and a body to die for. Literally.
Strengths: Blood Sugar Sex Magic.
Weaknesses: Men.
Marital Status: Single (How, one may ask. Its just that no one's been able to keep up with her. Yet.)
Likes: Chocolates and Tarot Cards.
Dislikes: Bad breath.
Occupation: Currently engaged in seducing a high priest of the RHEUMATIC ORDER.

Exitium Morsque

Sex: Apparently male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Late 40s-early 50s.
Physical Features: About 6 feet tall and very thin. Has bluish grey eyes and long, greying hair. Slight hunchback. Slight limp in the left leg. Wears an old army greatcoat and baggy trousers. Sports a small tattoo of a snake, on the back of his right hand.
Strengths: Can move very fast in spite of limp. Very good with the kobudō set of weapons. Carries a walking stick with him. Very piercing stare. Persuasive. Has an extensive knowledge of technology. Has a sense of humour. Seems to be able to take higher amount of damage than normal.
Weakness: Frequently disappears. Cannot be relied upon much. Has a tendency to believe the best of people. Still believes in values like honesty and patriotism (this could also be a strength). Has a tendency to play the devil's advocate.

Gordon

Sex: Male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Unknown
Physical Description: Dirty ragged clothes, bony limbs, dirty claw-like nails. Head is hooded most of the time so face cannot be distinguished clearly. Long dirty brown hair, bearded, piercing and disturbing gaze. Has a box all the time - a blackish brown wooden box with a heavy lid and metal knobs, and strange engravings on the surface, dirty and dented. He stays in this box at some street-corner nearby a railway station, apparently a street sleeper.

Himalaya alias Him

Sex: Female
Species: Apparently human
Age: Apparently 10-and-a-half
Physical Description: Smallish, coffee coloured, snub-nosed, brown-eyed. Unnoticeable and nondescript for most of the time. Crooked teeth giving way to a crooked smile that is both very rare and startlingly lovely. Sleek black hair, usually pulled into a ponytail. Grubby knees, faded clothes. Prefers being shoeless. Has had a tiny nosepin since birth, muted gold. It won’t come off. No dramatic scars, to her disappointment, just scabs.
Strengths: Non-prejudiced. Is a kid. Can keep quiet when required, can blend into the background if necessary. Self-reliant to an extent, therefore resourceful. Has an imagination that leans towards depravity.
Weaknesses: Same as above. Also a little nosy. If it had been a strength it would have been called inquisitiveness, but the plain truth is that she's nosy. In a covert way, of course.

Mala Das

Sex: Female
Species: Apparently human
Age: Around 27-29 years (she gets all flustered when asked)
Physical Description: Everbody knows a Mala Das (pronounced Daash), with different names perhaps. She is around 5’2”, neither fat nor thin, neither tall nor short, neither dark nor fair. Has medium-length black hair, usually well-oiled and braided. Oval nondescript face with a small pretty nose, calm peaceful rather large black eyes and a soft, slightly petulant mouth. All her features are rather ‘beautiful’ when considered separately, but when they come together in her face, no striking beauty is created. Her face is perhaps not plain, but neither beautiful - rather ordinary.
Strengths: Soft-spoken, reserved and shy. Has great persuasive power. Generally described with the vague “She’s nice.”
Weakness: The tendency to be inconspicuous, almost invisible. And not even remotely exciting.
Marital status: Unmarried. Reason 1. Does not want to leave old mother. 2. Never really liked somebody in that way (unless you consider Shah Rukh Khan, of course). Nevertheless, her mother is still on the lookout for respectable marriage ads.
Occupation: Receptionist at an average office (not a very well-known one perhaps, but "very respectable").
Quirks: The only thing not ordinary in her is her almost compulsive obsession with horror novels. They tend to make her laugh.

Marco Zabrinski

Sex: Male
Species: Human
Age: 23
Physical Description: Average height, slight tan, medium-length hair, slightly bony cheeks with a stubble which he never gets rid of. Clothing differs from time to time but normally a pair of jeans and a T-Shirt with a leather jacket over it. Has a tattoo of a dagger on his left arm and it peeks out of his sleeve.
Strengths: Mental toughness unmatched
Weaknesses: His past
Occupation: Climbing the stairs of success in the drug trafficking industry
Born in: Masovia, Poland
Stays at: Rome

Mark Middleton

Sex: Male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Apparently, late 30s.
Physical Features: Light built, medium height, casually dressed, does not stand out from a distance. Walks slowly, talks in a low voice, but the discerning eye will notice a casual grace to his movement of the kind imparted by restraint of a greater agility. Angular face, framed by flowing black hair streaked with a few grey strands. Prominent eyebrows, deep, calm, almost weary eyes. Nose would've been small and sharp if it didn't look like its left side had been smashed by a heavy blow. Overlooking that flaw, there is a mildly melancholy, worn-out charmingness about him. Only when he grins - which he does not do often - the person being grinned at realizes that the man looking at them is different, quite different from what they had taken him to be.
Strengths: Presence of mind. Learns/understands/reacts appropriately before others around him even realize he's working things out.
Weaknesses: Does not know who he is or why he is here. No friends, weapons or any other visible advantage. No apparent goal/ambition/purpose. Curious and easily tempted, but he's struggling to control that. Is likely to discover more of his strengths and weaknesses as he goes by.

Mer-Unta

Sex: Female
Species: Mermaid
Age: 7 in Mer-years (21 in Human years)
Physical Description: Black wavy hair with brown highlights, waist length. Clear skin, slim figure, height 5 ft. Lower body is that of a fish, each scale a shiny bluish-green colour. Has startlingly green eyes, that seem to probe into the depths of your mind when she's looking at you. Wears a long chain of sea-shells strung together. Speaks a rare dialect of the Mer-people, called Mer-drinab, though she can also speak English. Walks on her hands when she is on the ground.
Weaknesses: Loses strength if she is not wearing her sea-shell necklace.
Strengths: Has fantastic strength in the lower 'fish' part of her body, one lash from it can make a dent in cement. Strong swimmer, can cover great distances in a few minutes or so. Mer-Unta can also change the colour of her eyes according to her mood.

Moses Putatunda

Sex: Male
Species: Human
Age: 22
Physical description: Average Joe looks. But looks kind of cute with ruffled hair. Piercing eyes. Worn out mountain shoes, likes to wear t-shirts with logos of his favorite bands. Unwashed jeans, worn out by heavy use, not by the brand manufacturer. The usual unkempt backpacker look.
Strengths: Above average intelligence, excellent intuition and perceptiveness, superior observation skills (sometimes over-rated) , very persuasive when needed. Can also cause bizarre and disastrous random events and affect random people randomly anywhere in the world with electromagnetic brain impulses. But he doesn't know it.
Weaknesses: Indecisive, sometimes impatient and given to fits of rage, weighs 48 kgs. Others will be unveiled progressively.

Psyche Wilson

Sex: Female
Species: Homo sapien
Age: 23
Physical Description: Tall. Dark, slightly curly hair (below shoulder length). Coffee-coloured eyes. Broad frame. Slight tan. Wears black-rimmed, rectangular spectacles. Wears a mood ring on the middle finger of the left hand. Smart sense of dressing, although not too adventurous. Not unattractive.
Strengths: Sharp, courageous, calm, stoical, generous, loves children. More to be disclosed as story progresses.
Weaknesses: Short attention span, proud, unforgiving, slightly conservative or old-fashioned (however you may want to put it). More to be revealed. Also, has vertigo.
Marital Status: Unmarried
Likes: All the books her grandmother left her, children, dogs, pink carnations, alcohol.
Dislikes: Her father, her current job, cats.
Occupation: Does free-lance work for local newsapapers. Looking for another job.
Born in (place): Athens, Greece.
Stays at: Istanbul, Turkey.

Rufeus

Sex: Male
Species: Vampire
Age: 17-and-a-half
Physical Description: Medium height, thin, slightly hunched. Pale skinned, an almost triangular face, deep black hair. Bloodshot, intense eyes; a short, crooked nose, bat-like ears, a tapering chin and sharp, pointed teeth. Tiny, thin scratch below the right eye which always seems fresh. Long, slender fingers, like a pianist, with fingernails which look weathered, slightly yellowed. Speaks slowly and with an undertone of hostility, due to his embittered views about his existence, identity and spite for things in general. Dressed in a shabby, medieval black overcoat with specks of dry blood in the middle, a black, torn trouser.
Strengths: Extremely determined, has strong views about things,v alues his judgment which is more humanely relevant than riddled with savage desires. Possesses considerable strength and can turn extremely ruthless when he faces his enemies, especially if he's emotionally provoked. Has exceptionally controlled thirst for blood, which arises from immeasurable spite for his family and his identity.
Weaknesses: His disregard, contempt for his identity, his unwillingness to appreciate himself for who he really is which results in a rising discontent, an emotional imbalance within.

Zephyrus alias Henry White

Sex: Male
Species: Half-god
Age: Ageless
Physical Description: Long shiny raven black hair. A slim built. He is characterised by his flowing black robe and scars on his forearms. Looks like he is in his 20's (a major advantage when it comes to flirting). Mismatched blue and hazel eyes.
Strengths: Ageless good looks. Ruthless and cold. His heart has stopped beating long ago. Does not possess physical strengths as such but his "almost-immortality" protects him from being killed in the hands of any human.
Weaknesses: Overconfidence.

Quicknotice 3

It's already been way longer than the deadline, so here's the second wave of dropping authors. (The first wave included authors who had registered but never posted.)

This wave, will drop authors who had posted characters but never wrote a chapter. The characters remain, and will be free to be picked up by any active author who wants them.

(The third wave of dropping will be for authors who have written one chapter and haven't returned to carry ahead the story. Therefore, be warned and prepared.)

[Late September, 2008]

Quicknotice 2

The characters gone pouf from the posts, yes. And no, nothing's been deleted. All the details have been sent to the sidebar, where they will stay for now on... since as the story progresses our characters' reactions to each other should not, ideally, be designed by our personal equations in life. All we need to know is who is who.

I haven't deleted any of your character posts either. They've been sent to the drafts and can be retrieved, if you want to.

And there are more than five characters now, so we jump into the story. Newcomers, however, please feel free to introduce yours characters. Make them a post (see the first post for further instructions). They'll arrive at the sidebar (and the drafts) in due course of time.

Project97

Quicknotice 4