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Young Writers Society


The Time Games



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Thu Mar 30, 2017 1:26 am
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sheysse says...



March 29th, 2017

To whom this letter was sent to,
Congratulations! You have been selected for your high intelligence and aptitude at various skills to participate in a competition between brains similar to your own. This competition will comprise of many individual challenges, of which are puzzles, riddles, decision-making, and knowledge.
Should you choose to accept this offer, simply send this letter back to the address it was mailed from, and we shall bring you to the location of this competition.
Sincerely,
Leonardo da Vinci


The Storyline


Leonardo Davinci has invented the first time travelling machine, and has decided to celebrate this accomplishment with a competition... Held in 2017. He has asked many prestigious figures of the past to participate, and the prize for victory is lifetime use of the time machine.

The Rules


Select a character long dead so as not to offend anyone.

Stay away from evil people, since no one wants to root on someone responsible for many deaths.

Stay away from World War II so as not to offend anyone.

Choose a character who is well known, like Alexander Hamilton of Winston Churchill. Most of everyone knows who they are without a Google search.

A victor has not been decided, so stay sharp to pull your character through the challenges.

Select a character of high intellect, since that was one of the reasons Davinci selected each character.

Leonardo Davinci is, obviously, off limits.

The point in your character's life at which you bring them to this competition is up to you. It can be before they have done anything great, or long after. Just avoid making them too young.

No sex, and keep swearing to a minimum.

Don't kill off other characters without permission of that character's writer.

Have fun is not a rule. I will not force you to enjoy yourself. But I will strive to make it enjoyable, so that you can have fun. ;)

More information and character templates will be posted soon. Head over to the DT and claim the historical figure you want before someone else does!
Last edited by sheysse on Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.





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Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:28 pm
sheysse says...



Character Templates



Code: Select all
[b]Historical Figure:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Year of Birth:[/b]
[b]Year of Death:[/b]
[b]Profession:[/b]
[b]Famous For:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Other:[/b]





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Gender: Male
Points: 1983
Reviews: 176
Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:53 pm
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sheysse says...



Charles Darwin



They had metal horses! That they rode!

Charles Darwin was walking through the center of – what was it called – a city! That's right, yes, New York City! He had just gotten out of one of those metal horses, and was being led by the man in the suit to the 'hotel'. Hotels were apparently these huge metal towers, big enough to scratch the sky, and that they have a multitude of identical rooms which people can stay in.

Supposedly da Vinci was going to let all the participants stay in one, and then tomorrow the competition would commence. He still hadn't told anyone what the first challenge was, however.

When they arrived at the hotel, Darwin was amazed at the door. It spun in a circle, and he had never thought of creating a door that way. Then there was the elevator, a platform that could be lifted automatically so people didn't need to use stairs. Maybe in the 21st century they didn't have stairs...

The room was a strange design. There was a huge bed, and a sink. The sink could produce water just by turning a lever (Where did it come from?), and wells seemed no longer valid. There was also a black box with a strange remote next to it. Darwin learned the box made pictures appear if he pressed the red button on the remote.

Darwin wasn't supposed to leave the room, or so da Vinci said. But where was he supposed to eat? Flipping through the magazine in his room, he discovered this thing called Room Service, and they brought him food.

After eating, he went straight to bed. Maybe it was the time travel, but he felt a lot more tired than he normally did at this hour.[ I guess I haven't slept in a hundred years, he thought with a chuckle. The humor was lost when he realized that at this point in time he was dead, and that somewhere was a grave with his long degraded corpse. He went to sleep thinking deeply about this.



That night, Darwin was awoken by the screams of a maid in the hotel. She was screaming something about blood, and no pulse. He was too tired to register what was going on, but one shout snapped him out of it. “Murder!”





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Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:13 pm
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Brigadier says...



Harry Houdini


Houdini found himself sitting in a hotel room in New York, on the phone with someone in the same business and watching the people stroll through the streets below him. On any other day, this would be completely normal and he would be so joyful to be back in his home city after months of traveling. Right now he should be jumping for joy and walking on sunshine, as the younger kids liked to say even in his day. But this wasn’t just another day after returning from a tour, this was over a hundred years after returning from a tour. There was the image of the past few weeks seared into his brain, even though according to the world around him, it had happened a century ago.

Harry re-thought every single detail of that night. He was walking home from visiting his mother’s grave, a habit Bess and Dash were calling obsessive but even though two months had passed, he just couldn’t let go. The feeling of guilt rested with him, like it was he himself who drove her into the grave. So for every night for two months, he would leave the small office where the paper was held, and walk to the cemetery where she rested. Like clockwork. And now he thought of how stupid that was to do, the same route, so easy to be followed by even the most amateur detective.

Finally, he was through with the instructions from da Vinci. Don’t go outside and don’t go and talk to anyone. Don’t do anything that could possibly be perceived as having a little bit of personal freedom in this new century that you might want to escape to. Escape is the really key word here and he just couldn’t get it out of his mind, so he grabbed his coat from the small chair and headed out to make his escape.

“I’ll tell my backstory to anyone that will listen. They’ll probably think I’m a drunk or living on pipe dreams but I can’t deal with da Vinci’s ramblings and restrictions now.”
He slammed the door on the way out and all the guests on the floor heard him, including Darwin who was resting one room over. Darwin came out into the hall, despite his fear of da Vinci’s warnings.
“Houdini, where are you going? You know what he said.”
“Yes I do know Charles, my good man. And New York is a hell of a place, you should come out with me.”
“But the technologies and the fear and I just couldn’t bear it.”
“Come on Charles, you’ve got to live a little. It’s a new century, a completely different world to explore. I for one, want to see if the deli my family always went to is still there, that should be a fun trip around the city. I mean the subways seem daunting but I’m sure I’ll figure out the computers soon enough.”
“I’m going inside, you have fun messing with da Vinci’s temper.”

When Houdini stepped out into the bustling New York streets of Downtown Manhattan, he found certain memories coming back to him, and he looked to the skies to thank his mother and curse his father. These two occurrences had happened simultaneously many times in the past few months. Now just to decide which way to go, north to the Bronx or south to Brooklyn, or maybe just north enough to find 79th street. He thought to himself, it really would be nice to see the market again and that dreadful house.
Luckily he found himself by a subway stairwell and started down, having absolutely no clue how the system was organized nowadays and barely any money to pay for a ticket. Once reaching the bottom, he found himself presented with those strange electronic computer machines, asking for money in exchange for tickets. Houdini took several tries at this before a tall and angry man behind him started complaining.

“Hey man, pay for your ticket or move out of the way.”
“I’m sorry, is there an issue with the speed of the interchange of money here?”
Harry felt the knife slipping out of his sleeve once again, giving him flashbacks to many a night but one in particular. He felt like fighting at that exact moment but instead slid the pen knife back up his sleeve and ran back up the stairs.
I guess I’ll just have to make it there myself. It shouldn’t be that bad. But before I set this for another date, I’m going to find some pipe tobacco and a drink.

Once Houdini had found himself such a store, he headed back to the hotel, where he was met in the lobby by another kidnapped guest. It was one of the women, Mary something, Mary Anne or whatever. Harry hadn’t been paying particularly close when da Vinci had picked him up and thrown him into a small time machine, something that still felt crazy to say.

“So it seems I am not the only one here who felt like escaping Leo’s reign.”
“I am only here because Darwin beat down my door out of fear of you getting killed. It seems I am the only one who is enough of a man, pardon me woman, to come out and seek you.”
“Well when you put it that way, how would you like a drink?”
“I think that would be a rather good way to start the conversation of why exactly some of these people fear you. I feel like liquor has something to do with it.”
“Maybe I should just talk about how we all got here.”

They boarded the elevator, or the death trap, as charles liked to call it. Harry opened his door, took two glasses from above the miniature ice box, and poured a drink for Mary whatever her name.

“That night was a turning point for me and I’m sure for you as well.”

~~

I had seen the man in the cloak following me a few times this week but put it off as a nervous fan or colleague, until the point where he followed me into a closed alleyway. I waited until I heard his footsteps drop and the cane to stop clicking, before turning around to meet him, not wanting to get sprung in some surprise attack. As the old man stood before me, my mind immediately darted to finding a way of escape.

“Please Mr. Weisz, do not panic a bit, I just need to talk about your future.”
“My future? What are you, some other fake seer with visions of my death and how I should not slander you across my paper.”
“Or do you go by Houdini in this time? I always get these timelines mixed up, the 20th century is so messed up.”


I felt the pen knife slipping out of my sleeve while I tried to keep from stabbing the old man.
But he might have companions and this might be a mugging.
So I made the split second decision of spinning around him and taking the knife close to his artery, before starting to demand to some information. But before I could start, he asked me a very simple question, “Why do you carry a knife?”

“Look here, you’re the one that jumped me. But I’m a Hungarian Jew from a bad part of New York and I’m in a dangerous business. Do you see any part of this story so far that is reason for me not to carry a knife?”
“In that stating I can see your point but you really must come with me for your own safety.”
“Where exactly?”
“Through time.”

~~

“I started to laugh at this point but it only lasted a few seconds before I was knocked out by someone behind me. I've got to admit though, the guy that hit me, hit as hard as a ton of bricks slamming into the pavement. That's what I felt like too.
When I woke up I was in the craft with you and the others. So tell me, Miss Mary, how exactly did you end up in this situation?”
“It’s a long story, I think I’ll need another drink.”

Houdini took their glasses, added a few more cubes and refilled them. He walked the length of the room before reaching the radio, and fumbled with it to the amusement of the Mary character. He found a classical music station and left it there. Then he lit the newly stuffed pipe and leaned back in his chair.
“I’ve got the time. We’ve got nearly all the time in the world.”

the brigadier rides again!
LMS VI: Lunch Appointment with Death






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Wed Apr 19, 2017 7:30 am
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rosette says...



Martin Luther


Luther awoke with a start, and sat upright in his bed. Was that a scream he'd heard? No, impossible. Who would scream at a time like this, in the complete dead of night? He rubbed the top of his balding head and frowned thoughtfully at the darkness about him, at the white sheets he lay atop of, the extravagant walls and paintings. He did not like this place. He did not like these people. That Italian and his foreign ideas of time travel. Luther knew he should have never trusted him. The whole party of travelers were suspicious, each with their own foreign habits and ideas. Heathens, he thought with a shake of his head. They must learn the truth of the Gospel. He must teach them. Perhaps that was why he had been called to come.

Luther was about to kneel beside his bed and pray for the help of the Lord when he heard rushed footsteps outside his door and panicked voices. A door opened and slammed shut. Something was wrong. Luther frowned and scratched his head once more. He had not ventured outside his room since that Italian had placed him here. He did not dare to. He only prayed that the Lord's will be done in this affair. He did not trust any of these people enough to have a conversation with them. Though that young man (was his name Louis?) had seemed to be one of the few sensible people in the group. So thoughtful and solemn. Almost a bit like Luther himself. He should speak with him. Almost as soon as the thought passed through his mind, a knock sounded on the door.
"Mr. Luther?" a male voice asked.
Luther arose from his kneeling position and stepped carefully to the door, pausing just outside it. "Who calls?"
"Louis Pasteur, sir. I must speak with you immediately. It is quite urgent."
Luther heard the alarm in his voice and bowed his head in silent prayer. Then he opened the door.
On earth I long to be like Him





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Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:23 pm
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Feltrix says...



King Tutankhamen


Life was good in Egypt, at least, for some people. For instance, it was good for Tutankhamen. He was sitting on pillows, leisurely eating fruit while being fanned my his attendants. It was not good for his attendants. They were forced to fan a spoiled brat on a sweltering day.

The peace and quiet was rudely interrupted by cries of excitement, and a few screams of terror.

"Attendant," Tut murmured without opening his eyes. "Find out what's happening, and then make it stop."

The attendant hurriedly obeyed, bowing as he exited the room. He was only gone for a minute, before he returned, breathless. "My lord!" he gasped. "My lord! We have a visitor."

"Who?" Tut wasn't really listening.

"A god."

"Oh." That was interesting. "Which one?"

"I don't know," the attendant replied. "But he's asking for you."

Without a word, Tut extended a jewel-encrusted hand. His gilded cane was placed in it. Tut rose unsteadily to his feet before gaining his balance. "Best not keep the gods waiting," he said, limping out of the room.

--------------


Tut stood next to the pale, bearded man and waved to the crowd. They gave a deafening cheer. "They think you're a god," Tut whispered in the aging man's ear. "But I know better."

The man chuckled. "I've been called worse," he said, amused. "What gave it away?"

"You're old, weak, ugly," Tut observed. For his part, the old man seemed to find this amusing. "But that doesn't mean anything. Gods often disguise themselves. No. It's that." Tut nodded in the direction of the metal room. "Gods have no need for such things. So that leaves the question: Who are you?"

"My name is Leonardo da Vinci," he said. The crowd's cheering finally stopped. As one, they dropped into a bow. "And I want you to come to the future with me."

Tut arched an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

"Yes."

"Impressive. How far ahead?"

"Over five thousand years," da Vinci said. "You're taking all this very well."

"I know the gods sometimes descend to earth," Tut said. "Although I'm surprised they gave something to someone like you."

Da Vinci chuckled. "So, what do you say? Do you want to come to the future?"

"Can I bring my attendants?"

"No."

The twelfth pharaoh of Egypt sighed. He wasn't used to being told 'no.' Then again, if the gods had given him something like this, he must be more that what met the eye.

"Very well. Take me to the future."
Intrepid Explorer
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Founder of Hermits United
TIME Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year
Dark Matter Overlord
Kind of a Big Deal





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Sat Apr 22, 2017 2:20 am
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PrincessInk says...



Louis Pasteur



Louis stepped into the hotel door, feeling it spin around and around till it deposited him inside the lobby. His legs felt shaky and he wasn’t so sure he liked being on a moving floor.

The young woman in the lobby, seeing his confusion, sent a maid to help him to his room once he had registered.

The maid pointed to two narrow doors at the back. “Name's Jane. So here’s the elevator.”

“E-le-va-tor,” he repeated. “What is that?”

She crinkled her forehead. “An elevator! Don’t you know?” She repeated herself again, more clearly. The people in the lobby eyed him with confused looks as well.

"Could you explain...its function?"

A ripple of shocked whispers ensued, and Louis turned away from them to hide his blush. How odd 2017 was! He barely listened to Jane's explanation, and embarrassed himself further when he gasped as the "elevator" doors slid open. He managed to step inside without quaking, though. As the odd contraption glided up, his insides lurched but he kept a straight face; he’d have to get used to it.

The walls of his room sheltered a spacious chamber. A large bed with silken pillows faced a large flat screen on the other end. His curiosity overtook him and he asked, “What is that for?”

“A TV, of course!” Jane frowned.

Louis sensed he was irritating her. “I beg your pardon, madam, but I am not well-versed in modern—uh—objects. Would you kindly give me a tutorial?”

As the woman pointed out the modern “technology” around his quarters, Louis hung on to every word. The bathroom proved to be as interesting as the bedroom—a shower-head could drip water like rain! Some large horn could be wedged into a cranny into the wall and blast hot air!

When the woman was gone, he scribbled down all the information. No way would he slip a step once he had gotten accustomed to living in 2017.

***
That night, Louis collapsed onto the bed. His head spun at everything he had seen and heard. What a confusing world! He could hardly believe this was Earth, and that he was in America. From what he had learned, there were obviously less than fifty states! At least his competitors in the Time Games could empathize with him; they were confused as well.

Despite his exhaustion, sleep couldn’t take over. The buildings outside were shimmering like gigantic lanterns. Louis crossed over to his window and pulled the curtains shut. Then, lying back down on his bed, he closed his eyes…

***
A scream shattered the air.

Louis jolted awake, his heartbeat pulsing so quickly he couldn’t count the beats.“What was that?” Pulling on his dressing robe, he charged out of the room and banged on the nearest door—Mr. Luther’s. “Mr. Luther!” He struck the door as hard as could.

“Who calls?” The voice trailing through the door had a flicker of alarm.

“Louis Pasteur, sir. I must speak to you immediately. It is quite urgent!” Louis glanced over his shoulder. He let out a breath he had been holding as the door opened, and rushed inside Mr. Luther’s room. "For I heard a scream!"

Footsteps stormed the corridor and before Mr. Luther could respond, Louis slammed the door shut and gazed at Mr. Luther. "Something's happened."
always daydreaming, always clumsy








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