《Terms and Conditions》Setting the Stage
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EXFLIBBERAGUIL GULPED.
It had been so long ago that he had landed one of these ships. Nearly forty years, as Exflibberaguil had gone back in time a couple of times. Unfortunately, his time machine was broken, but he supposed his was outdated anyway. He’ll just buy another one on Driew.
The landing was scheduled in three galactic hours.
“Sir, fuel unit is going into grams.”
“Box—”
“Shut up. Yes, I know.” Box said.
“Good.” Exflibberaguil gripped the handles. “Why didn’t you tell me to land sooner? There’s not enough fuel for auto-land!”
“Sir, I did,” Box whined, “but you forgot.”
“I don’t remember forgetting anything!”
“Because you forgot about that too!” Box groaned. Then it said, “Box, shut up.”
“Did you record my voice?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t give your permission to do that!”
“Yes, I know. But your ferret did.”
“Why?”
Before Box could answer, Countdown started again, reminding Exflibberaguil he only had three hours left.
“Shut up!” Box and Exflibberaguil said at the same time.
Exflibberaguil jerked a lever and felt the pressure drop. “Box, can’t you NoseTalk to the ship or something?”
“NodeTalk. And no. It was specially designed so that it was impossible to hijack this ship. It’s blocking all access to my requests.”
Exflibberaguil sighed, pulling the lever up once more. Then his face brightened. “Hey, Box, I need you to assist me.”
“Of course! I am so happy to be of assistance!”
“Remember, if this ship crashes and we all die, it wasn’t my fault, ok? It was my ferret’s fault. Or even better, your fault. Just in case anyone asks.”
“But sir, if we all die, how can I—” Box stopped, looked at Exflibberaguil’s face, and said, “Wait, don’t say it. ‘Shut up.’” Box repeated the recording.
“Translator, please give me another catchphrase.”
The ship accelerated suddenly. “Damn it. Driew’s gravity is finally strong enough to have effect. I was wondering how far we’d have to be for such a small planet to pull us in.”
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“Sir, you probably want to switch gears and—”
“Pipe down, Box.” A beat. “How was that?”
“I’ll have to record that too.”
NICK STARTED MAKING HER WAY TO MCDONALDS.
She strapped a cave light on to her bike helmet, and duct taped a flashlight to her handle. Exflipper had told her to be in a good mile radius from McDonalds, but Nick wouldn’t be listening to that. Whatever Exflipper was doing, she didn’t want to miss it.
Nick took a roundabout route to McDonalds, being careful not to be in Ms. Wooddell’s line of vision. As she pedaled along the sidewalk, she suddenly realized that she had no idea what she was doing.
It had never occurred to her that Exflipper’s claims of being an alien were true, but if not, why was she going to McDonalds?
Perhaps it was a show? Or some crazy gadget? Maybe Exflipper was a child genius, who invented some sort of UFO-looking machine, and now needed Nick as a witness?
Or maybe Nick was really just going to be kidnapped. What a clumsy way to do it, though. It would probably have been smarter to leave an email or something. Not a stupid website that barely anyone would go to.
Or maybe it was a McDonalds worker. Some sort of contest? Maybe she’ll get a free serving of chicken McNuggets.
Nick realized it took more imagination to think of reasons why someone would want to meet her at McDonalds, than it did to simply believe the whole alien hoax.
Anyways, whatever happened, it was bound to be amusing, at least.
Nick pedaled on harder.
Soon, the gold McDonalds ‘M’ came into view. McDonalds was in a sort of clearing in a semi-forest. You had to be only a few yards away to see it. A twisty road led up to the parking lot. Nick had brought some money, just in case the whole thing really was some stupid prank. At least she’d have something to eat.
Nick wheeled her bike into a bit of trees, making sure she was far enough in that she looked like a shadow. Nick leaned her bike on a trunk and sat down, waiting.
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She squinted at the large “M”. Was there a billboard stuck to it?
She was momentarily distracted by a McDonalds employee dressed in red stripes drive up in a nice car.
TIMOTHY ARRIVED ON HIS SHIFT.
He looked anxiously at the sign. It still read Sunday.
Something was supposed to happen today.
He stepped out of his car, parked in the reserved employee lot, and entered through the kitchen door. As usual, there was only one chef who was half asleep.
He relieved the other employee’s duty for the moment, standing behind the counter. His eyes kept on darting to the window. Was that a creak? He wished McDonalds had a window on the ceiling. But then again, if something was to happen, he would know. One of the customers would say something.
The man from last night entered. Timothy was able to understand what “the usual” meant this time.
“Here you go,” Timothy said, less polite then yesterday.
The man grunted. His lungs were just as full of smoke as yesterday. “There’s something stuck to building,” he said unhappily, “almost made me miss this place.”
Timothy’s heart quickened. “Yes?”
“On the big M. Nearly didn’t see this road. Covered all the light.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, a piece of paper or something. Get rid of it.”
“I believe it was a sign.”
“I don’t care what it is. Get rid of it. Don’t want to see it tomorrow. Next time I’ll complain to the manager.”
“Yes, sir.”
The man grunted and left.
If nothing happened today, Timothy though, he’d personally remove the sign and resign from his work. He had already thought of an excuse. He had a rich, childless uncle who recently died and left all his fortune to Timothy. He’d be able to pay back his student loans.
But somehow, Timothy felt certain something was about to happen today.
REMEMBER THE DOCTOR WHO CURED THE MEERCAT SPECIALIST’S TAPEWORMS, THE ARCHEOLOGIST’S DOG, AND THE DRESSMAKER’S PRICKED FINGER?
Well, he was able to remove a small splinter of the unidentified object which caused the whole finger infection.
As he was shutting down for the night, hoping he’d finally be able to get some sleep, he heard something coming from the stethoscope he wore around his neck. Hesitating, he placed the earbuds into his ears.
It was a low, humming noise. The doctor moved the stethoscope around.
The sound was coming from the biohazardous trash bin. He opened it.
A pale light was emitting from a piece of gauze. Donning latex gloves, the doctor slowly pulled it out. He hadn’t noticed the glow before, as it was only visible in the dark.
Using tweezers, her carefully pulled out the small fragment the gauze was protecting.
It was the splinter he had removed from that whining dressmaker earlier that evening.
“Donna?” he called, then, with more impatience, “Donna!”
“Yes doctor?”
“Look at this.” He raised the tweezers so the nurse could see.
“What is it?”
“Came from one of the patient’s finger. Have you seen anything like it?”
“No, doctor, though the piece too small to make sure. Might just be a glow-in-the-dark toy fragment. Do you want it analyzed?”
“Would it cost a lot?”
“Perhaps. But if we found some rare material, we might get a lot of money.”
“Stop with your fantasies, Donna. There’s no such thing as a rare material nowadays.”
“Then what should we do with it?”
The doctor considered. “Find out how much it costs to be analyzed,” the doctor decided, “then I’ll make a decision.”
“Yes, doctor.” Donna retreated.
The doctor placed the splinter into a container and pocketed it, remembering his lack of sleep.
It was probably some sort of nut anyway.
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The Curio Shoppe
Kellan Klein is an ordinary college student with an average, if traumatic and painful past. Everyone grows up grappling with depression and anxiety that seem to be genetic in a house with parents that, while loving, fight all the time and have weird ideas about what kids should and shouldn't do, right? Everyone deals with bullying, racism, judgement on their romantic inclinations and their family's economic status and just general shittiness, right? All of Kellan's friends sure did, and for all of them, entertaiment media were a welcome escape from their painful, dreary lives. After all, who wouldn't want to sail the seas with Monkey D. Luffy and the Strawhats, or help Meng Hao con increasingly powerful and influential people, or join Cecil Harvey and his friends on their weird journey to save the world, or make friends with Peter Parker while pretending to not know he was everyone's favorite wall-crawling superhero? Kellan certainly wanted to, and while he pursued college to seek out a career he saw himself enjoying, something felt inexplicably empty about his life. So when a decidely sinister force kidnaps him and the prettiest man he's ever seen saves his life and offers him his wildest dreams, Kellan becomes the shopkeeper of a mysterious, dimension hopping shop, complete with a system that helps him acquire items. abilities, materials, and other cool shit to stock it with, as well as some other neat perks. Will Kellan become a boring overpowered MC, like the kind from web fiction that he reads to sate his boredom? Will he keep his generally kind, sweet nature despite the shit he's gone through and will go through, or will he inexplicably become a scary, violent, irrational arrogant douchebag? Will he use his newfound abilities to explore the multiverse and improve the lives of himself and others, or will he become his own antithesis, a purely mercantile jerk obsessed with money and profit, with no concern for anything that doesn't help or hurt his business? Find out in The Curio Shoppe! Author's note: Please suggest possible setting he could visit in the comments. I'll gather ones i'm familiar with, and at the end of every arc, a poll will be held to decide the next location he visits. There will be polls for other purposes, and I might not always go with the poll winner if I feel one of the other options is more fun to read/write about. I will not use the settings of other RRL writers without their permission.Do not ask for that, unless the author in question gives permission. Most settings he visits will be slightly AU in some way or another, but please remind me if I drift too far from canon unintentionally or characterize a character wrongly. This work will eventually fit all tags I selected once he visits universes suited to those tags, so don't ask when or where a given tag is coming. I do not own the cover art, it belongs to Nicholas Belanger Thiel, and I will stop using it if he asks me to. Kellan doesn't look like the old man on the cover, though once he acquires a disguise-type ability he may occasionally use that appearance. The tapir, however, will be a thing, as despite looking like a failed attempt at an elephant, tapirs are cool and this dragon finds them to be kinda cute. The art, along with more of Nicholas's pieces, can be found at https://www.artstation.com/artwork/51bXz
8 196Chosen Chaos
30 years have passed since first contact. Earth has now been accepted into the galactic community, is expanding its territory to other planets, and has begun to adopt the myriad advanced technologies found throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. But as the least advanced race in the galaxy, the Earthians are struggling to carve a niche for themselves, made all the more difficult by the fact that they are the only race in the entire galaxy incapable of developing supernatural powers. Until recently. Few know how or why, but small groups of Earthians have begun to display superhuman abilities — and the militaries of the galaxy have begun to display interest in them. Combined with the rise of an evil thought to have been vanquished two decades ago, these superpowered Earthians are forced to choose between the value of their own lives… and the value of the entire galaxy. Part 1: Chosen Few — A mundane visit to the local science museum starts off a series of worrying events for Austin Travis and his friends. They would like nothing more than to continue living their lives as they have, but the universe seems to have other plans… Part 2: Chosen Elite — CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir return to normal military operation and discover a clue to finding powerful ancient technology. However, they aren’t the only ones to discover this clue, and soon find themselves in a race against time to prevent the technology from falling into the wrong hands… Part 3: Chosen Hidden — As the summer comes to an end, Pierce Bradley and his friend prepare for their last few days studying abroad on an alien planet. Pierce would like nothing more than to return home and flaunt his new experiences in front of his friends and classmates, but the universe seems to have other plans… Chosen and its three parts begin the Key Saga, a new novel series that takes place 20 years after Rise — which tells the tale of the aforementioned evil. Reading Rise is not a prerequisite for reading Chosen, but it will help to understand the setting and the various conflicts within. Character art on cover by @quassihollic on twitter.
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8 172Sage Fall
Out of hiatus, but with a hitch. . Read most recent "chapter", Status Update, for more info. Trapped for thousands of years. Betrayed by the ones he held dear, the ones he called family. Finally set free by happenstance, Amrin sets out to find the ones that locked him in the heart of a mountain. Find the answers he's been asking himself while conscious within the darkness. The world has changed in his time away. Learning new things, meeting new people, struggling with questions he may never get the answers to. He will journey through this new world and search for the "family" that betrayed him and figure out why they did it. If they did not have the answers he was looking for, there would be consequences. *This is a VERY HEAVY story driven fiction (read: can be slow!). There are some sections of action, drama and soon/eventually, mature related content (sexuality and gore). There are going to be sections with lots of text and little dialogue. There's going to be sections with lots of dialogue and little descriptive narration. ***Word of warning and advice. To save yourself the potential disappointment! The MC is mostly a pacifist! If you're looking for a super OP protagonist that uses his powers to get what he wants and to hell with the consequences, this story IS NOT for you. There are times when it should be obvious why, other's it's only implied. Either way, if you are expecting "shoot first ask questions later" mentality from the MC, regardless of how powerful he is, save yourself the disappointment and look elsewhere. I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all the readers and commenters of my story. It's all the positive feedback and comments that really give me the motivation to keep going. Honestly. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. So, again. Thank you!
8 86ONE NIGHT STAND WITH A STRANGER: [COMPLETED]
Magagawa bang ma In love ng dalawang tao na nag kakilala lang dahil sa isang gabi nilang pagiisa ng hindi inaasahan?WARNING: ❗❗THIS STORY CONTAINS BED SCENE❗❗A/N: This story is TagLish, I'm not that good at english so I'll write this with tagalogJ.J
8 189A guide to university, first year!
Tips and tricks on how to survive your first year of university or college.Disclaimer: All pictures used in this book is from google. Rankings:
8 144