Young Writers Society

It was exactly one day after Thanksgiving in the United States, which meant hundreds of thousands of people got up this morning and turned on holiday music. They could have at least waited until December 1st but no, they’re rather insistent on having as much holiday spirit as they can pack into about 31 days.

On YWS, the music rang through the halls as well, echoing down into the dungeons of the Knights of the Green Room castle. If it were not already annoying enough for KNIGHT @Lumi to play bad renditions of pop songs, now he was playing Christmas pop songs. His usual henchmen of KNIGHT @Casanova and squire @soundofmind, plus KNIGHT @BlueAfrica made the quality almost rise to possible.

But still to @LadyLizz, who personally avoids holiday music like a demon avoids holy water, it was unbearable. She looked out onto the YWS harbor where her ship was docked and the android skeleton crew was putting up decorations. God knows where the bunch found trees but they were having a good time and not stabbing any innocent townspeople, so that was going to slide for now.

“So when are we gonna bake cookies?”
Lizz might have forgotten that KNIGHT @Stormcloud was also hiding out in this office from the merry carolers.
“The kitchen I was offered is now attached to a restaurant undergoing some repairs, due to mischief from the SB crew.”
“Which ones?”
A pointer went to 3 wanted posters on the wall, one of a fox, one of a wizard and one of a star.
“And besides my car is still in the Resources shop, they’re having quite the backup on requests. Only hosting and transportation place I could get for the party is on Yewis express and there’s a lot about it that’s not very holiday like.”
“Such as?”
“Murder, serial killers, ghosts, bad guys, mobsters, the list goes on and on.”

Storm took the two stored duffel bags from under the couch and found the 5 gallon bucket of salt in the closet. They spent 10 minutes gathering up enough supplies to clean the train of all evil spirits and insects hanging around.

Bug spray? Check.
Holy water? Check.
Mouse traps? Check.
Demon traps? Check.

Everything got loaded onto several pack mules and dragged to the not creepy at all abandoned train station way back in the hills. The train that sat there had the understatement description of “rusted and decrepit”. At one point in time it had been a shiny red and steely black with a chrome horse tacked onto the caboose and dessert car. Now it wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but there was plenty of coal and magic to go around, so hopefully it would go somewhere.

The supplies were loaded onto the train, mules and all, and from the main car with some spellcasting, they managed to get the gears to creak into motion. One meager lantern was in this car and its dim lighting didn’t paint a pretty picture, unless you’re into blood soaked canvas.

“How long do we have until the first stop when we have to pick up actual people?”
Lady Lizz pulled a pocket watch from her jeans, banged it against the mahogany once, much to a ghost’s chagrin, and said, “In 1 post we need to be at @Snoink’s cafe to pick up ingredients and maybe KNIGHT @Kyllorac. And in 4 posts, the 6th post being my next post, we need to have one willing victim and reveal the identity of some of the previous victims and murders.”
“Oh well that’s possible.”

Suddenly there was a large clap of thunder, the skylight opened and in a bolt of lightning descended @Wolfical (who Lady Lizz couldn’t remember was a knight or not). She was dressed in a butler’s guise and holding a storage bin full of weapons.
“Did someone say murder?”

"Maybe," @LadyLizz said. "But first I said cookies."

Wolfie shrugged. "That's the next best thing. I'll, uh..." She looked down at the bin of weapons. "Where should I put this?"

"The dining car should be just fine," Lizz said. "Under a table. It certainly won't be tempting to anyone."

"You got it." Wolfie summoned a gust of wind to help her carry the bin (tools of destruction are, y'know, quite hefty) to the dining car door.

"Whatcha doin,' Wolfie?" @Persistence asked. The wizard was in his usual pastel-colored garb, and was handing out candy and puppies along the railroad tracks to whoever wanted them.

"Hey. Nothing much. Just moving this giant bin of weapons to a more suitable place."

"Groovy. Do you want a puppy?"

"Not at the moment, thank you. Poirot and Marple are enough for me to handle."

Inside the dining car, she lifted one of the red velvet tablecloths and slid the storage bin into the shadows. "Ow!" someone said.

"Oi! Who's there?"

None other than @TheSilverFox emerged.

"Fox! What were you doing under there? Hibernating?"

He stuck his thumb in the general direction of the harbor. "Have you seen the price they have on my head?"

"Well, what did you do?"

He sighed. "We were hungry, alright? We weren't planning on stealing much - @saentiel especially was appalled by the idea - but then all of a sudden the unconscious chef @Snoink caused @Sheytato's potato museum to catch on fire and now we're screwed."

"Unconscious chef Snoink? What did you do to her?"

"Oh, we didn't hit her over the head with a frying pan or anything. Goodness - she has children! @Kelpies taught me that Vulcan thing you can do with someone's shoulder."

"What?! No way! Can you teach - "

Wolfie was cut off when the door was heaved open and a shaft of light spilled into the shuttered dining car. Fox quickly ducked back under the table.

@Querencia narrowed her eyes in the dimmed light. "Wolfie? What are you doing down there?"

"Oh, nothing," Wolfie said. "Just putting a bin of weapons under this table."

"Ah, that's perfectly reasonable. But did I hear you talking to them?"

Wolfie stood up, laughing nervously. "You know us writers," she said. "Always giving personalities to inanimate objects."

Querencia nodded in understanding. "I fall prey to the urges of personification more often than I'd like to admit. Anyway. The reason I'm here is to look for the three savages that knocked Snoink unconscious with a frying pan and pulverized Shey's potato museum with a GLOWING 1000 degree KNIFE!"

"That's awful. But as I learned in history class, you're a secondary source and are therefore less dependable than the primary source I've already heard, which tells a different story."

"Primary source? Have you spoken with one of the bandits?"

"Eh? Oh, no. Certainly not. I have spoken with.. with..." She reached in her inner tuxedo pocket and pulled out Poirot the Brussels Griffon, who had been chilling there the whole time. "With Poirot, who witnessed the whole thing!"

"Well, what does Poiroit have to say?"

"He says that it was all an accident," Wolfie said, "and that the so-called savages deserve nothing more than community service, like reviewing random Chapter Twenty-Sixes in the Green Room."

"I suppose life sentence was a bit beyond necessity. Shey tends to be rather unforgiving when his potatoes are harmed."

"All aboooooooard!" they could hear Lizz yell.

Wolfie lifted one of the blinds and could see a sudden onslaught of YWSers flooding the train station. "Gotta go!" she said, slipping past Querencia and exiting the car.

Before she could be overcome by the waves of passengers, Wolfie found her way to one of the animal cars in the back. @BlueAfrica was already inside with her reindeer'd unicorn, and was singing Christmas carols to the gathered animals, Wolfie's doggo Marple included.

Wolfie didn't hate Christmas music, especially when the caroler had such a lovely voice, but she definitely couldn't endure it for the entire ride to Snoink's cafe. So she whistled to Marple, breaking her out of her trance, and they escaped to the next animal car. Persistence was there with his puppies, and @TheBlueCat with her kittens.

With a lurch, the train was on its way. Wolfie leaned against Marple and was almost asleep when BlueAfrica burst into the car on her unicorn, a (meta) train of animals following her.

"Siiiiiilent night, @Holysocks, aaaaaall is calm, aaaaaall wear Crocs."

Oh no. Wolfie buried her face in Marple's fur, but that did nothing to muffle BlueAfrica's vocal vibrations.

Seven hours later, the train stopped at Snoink's cafe. The caroler, of course, was still going strong, with perhaps even more passion because she had spotted snow outside.

"SNOW!?"

Overcome with excitement, BlueAfrica switched lyrics mid-song.

"OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL..."

Okay, so maybe not everyone on the train was as big a fan of Christmas music as she was - @LadyLizz in particular. But they had to admit that it was impressive the way Blue somehow managed to harmonize with herself. @Sheytato joined in at full volume, showing enthusiasm for the first time since his potato museum had caught fire. Until this point, he'd been staring out the window sadly, holding the lone potato that had escaped the blaze.

The moment "Let It Snow" was over, BlueAfrica launched into "O Holy Night," one of her all-time favorites because of how soprano it was. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the car didn't share her thoughts.

"Will someone please stop her singing?" @Feltrix shouted, covering his ears. "This is going to be a long train ride if we don't shut her up."

@FalconerGirl9086 and @PrincessInk tried to crowd BlueAfrica toward the door to the next car, but it wasn't easy with that unicorn in the way. It munched a Christmas cookie and ignored their efforts.

"A little help here, guys?"

Luckily, at that moment, the door to the next car opened and @Mea walked in with a plate of cookies. The unicorn nosed at it. BlueAfrica broke off her singing long enough to ask, "Is that the dessert car?"

"Yep," Mea said, "and it's got like five hundred different kinds of sweets."

"Splendid! Onward, Altivo."

To everyone's relief, Blue rode her unicorn into the dessert car. They could still hear her singing (she was very loud), but at least it was muffled by the door and halted intermittently as BlueAfrica sampled some of the sweets. The others decided not to ask for help loading ingredients from @Snoink's cafe onto the train.

Of course @FalconerGirl9086 wasn't being of too much help, since she didn't seem to exist for that moment. Instead @PrincessInk summoned in @FalconerGal9086.

@ladyLizz did not personally witness this as she and @Wolfical were scrubbing the walls of the main dining car, trying erase the possibility of anyone spotting blood behind the soon to be laid wall paper.

Ink, @FalconerGal9086, and @Mea headed to unload the foods from @Snoink's cafe. Ink took out a small clipboard and peered at the list:

-Coffee
-Butter
-Cinnamon buns...

And so on went the list, just like what you'll find in a cafe (including honey, to Ink's happiness). But at the end:

-Teddy bears.

"Teddy bears?" FalconerGal asked.

"Yes. Apparently so." Ink hid a smile. She was, for sure, pocketing one of those bears.

@BlueAfrica's holiday singing faded the further they headed to the cafe. Once inside, they grabbed baskets of pastries, boxes of coffee beans, tins of butter. Ink herself carried a teetering pile of honey jars. They still had much more work to do, but the possible promise of a snack after the job kept their spirits up.

As the train rolled along the tracks from Snoink's Cafe, the kitchen car now packed to the brim with ingredients, @BlueAfrica's holiday cheer had disappeared from the room. Some thanked god for this, because it was nearing on a Christmas miracle that she finally shut up. However, there was also some mystery about it considering they could still hear her when they shut her in the caboose.

@LadyLizz selected @Wolfical and @Stormcloud, the best butler and best hunter she knew, to go with her to the back of the train. Getting through all of the cars was treacherous, sometimes you had to crawl on the floor or avoid holes in the floorboard, so they took to the roof instead.

Yeah. Really smart. Let's go crawl on the roof instead.
They were all thinking this inside of their heads but instead of complaining, just went along with the plan, lugging the duffle bag of salt and iron. Luckily Snoink had enough salt to coat the entire train if they could just manage to kick these assholes out first.

The train was stretching on for awhile, so it was decided this would be an appropriate time to use KotGR transporter device.
"Why didn't you use this before?"
"Because they haven't worked out all the kinks yet and I was afraid of splitting up our molecules, and then getting stuck in the transporter beam and then having it be like episode 1.05 of TOS."
"Evil kirk vs good kirk?"
"Yes."
"You know, it wouldn't affect me." This came from @DemonGoddess who was pulling herself out of a skylight. "I'm already only my evil personality."
Lizz turned to her, "What do you have weapon wise against ghosts?"
"Since we don't know where any of their graves are, I just brought salt and iron."
"Good."

This time they beamed quickly over to the caboose but there was still no sign of Blue's caroling. It took one kick to bust down the door, which might have something to say about how good of quality it was. There would be someone old to blame for this, like @Griffinkeeper or @Crysi.

But for this moment, there was no one to blame except for themselves, maybe the murderer or some ghosts, as Blue's lifeless body hung from the rafters. Around her feet, there was cast chocolate cement, as were there signs of her ingesting it. On the ground next to her was a notebook, the first page reading, "J'ai une âme solitaire." The other pages had names and dates, presumably of occupants of the train.
"At least she died happy."
"Seriously, Wolf? Just help me cut her down."

Once they had her down, there was the decision of what to do. They solved this for the moment by just putting up some crime scene tape and tacking a seal on the door. Not an actual animal seal mind you, just some duct tape and a Lisa Frank sticker.

And they would have discussed further and looked through more of the notebook, if it were not for the screams that they heard coming from the other end of the train. For the sake of time, they teleported across the train, summoning other hunters as they went.
"@Flumadiddle, @Hattable, @RavenLord, your help would be appreciated."

Even in the 15 seconds it took to teleport them across the train, it was not in time to save @soundofmind, whose death was super chill. So chill that she had been frozen.

((THIS LOOKS AMAZING YES YES YES)) I will properly reply give me a bit.

"Got it! HEY GRIM! GET OVER HERE!" Flumadiddle yelled and the widely known figure walked over, in a sense. He stood there beside the short girl with wide brown eyes and a sweatshirt that read "I am not a bookworm. I am bookdragon." Grim was a tall figure who was still getting used to the cheeriness of Christmas and being around so many.
Grim slurped his cocoa and they both walked along with @LadyLizz and @Wolficial.
Flumadiddle and Grim both knew death well. Well, the action of it. They both knew that this was more then just some random murder. This had a true purpose.

((Is this good or no? Kinda new to the whole storybook thing.))

Meanwhile, in the ashes of @Sheytato's potato museum, a solitary Kyll munched on some well-roasted tubers and watched the murder train roll on by.

It had been a while since Kyll had last been aboard a vessel of vengeful violence, the last one having been a cruise ship of questionable crewing, and Kyll was currently debating the merits of hopping aboard a literal murder train versus watching from afar.

The debate was ultimately settled by a shortage of starchy snacks in contrast to the well-stocked dining car, so Kyll trundled to the next station to hop on the train.

Literally, because once the murders start, the train doesn't stop.

Mea's heart had sunk when they dragged @BlueAfrica down to the caboose because darnit, it just wasn't a Christmas tagbook without some caroling. (And yes, of course she had already been listening to Christmas music since October.) She'd been thinking of sneaking down to the caboose once she finished unloading @Snoink's delicacies, maybe to let Blue out and annoy everyone, maybe to just join her in singing.

But now... Blue's singing had suddenly stopped, and Mea felt a chill wash over her. I know that chill, she thought. That's foreshadowing.

A moment later, @Steggy burst in from the direction of the caboose, screaming bloody murder. Literally.

Mea, @FalconerGal9086, and @PrincessInk hurried to calm her down, offering her several plates of chocolate crepes and patting her back.

"What happened?" Mea pressed Steggy when she had taken several long, deep breaths without any screaming. "Did something happen to Blue? I know I felt something - "

Steggy nodded, taking a crepe. "Dead. In the caboose. Murder most foul. And I heard something about a list of future victims..."

Mea blinked. "If we're quoting Hamlet already, this is going to get depressing really fast. Seriously, quote something funny instead. Also, remind me why we picked the murder train for this party?"

"Don't look at me, I was retired when they picked the location," Steggy griped.

"So what are we going to do now?" Falc asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Don't Panic?" Ink attempted.

Appropriately, screams echoed from the other end of the train.

Behind them, @Kyllorac flung open the door, making them all jump. "Ah, good, the dessert car," Kyll said, seizing a bowl of chips.

"Was that another murder?" Ink asked, looking pale.

Everything clicked into place. "Two murders in a row," Mea said, "a list of victims - this is a mystery! We need to look for clues. Who wants to be Sherlock?"

Okay, maybe she was getting a little overexcited.

"But we haven't finished unpacking," Ink pointed out.

Mea glanced over the mess of boxes and trolleys and platters of sweets. This would be a tricky spell - there was no incantation for it in the series. Which scene to pick... She dove across the room and snatched a copy of Half-Blood Prince from her satchel, opening at once to page 65.

" 'They stood back to back, the tall thin wizard and the short round one, and waved their wands in one identical sweeping motion.' "

Cookies flew out of boxes, baking supplies ushered themselves into cupboards, and the air was filled with a hundred small projectiles. Everything clattered together as it rearranged itself, creating a cacophony that drowned out the screams.

Mea ducked as a silver platter flew over her head. It had worked! Thankfully, she only had to read the paragraph in which the spell was cast for it to work. Reading the long description of Slughorn's room putting itself back together would have taken ages.

"Let's go see what we can do to help," she shouted over the din, dumping the book back into her satchel and slinging it across her shoulder. "Falc, you stay here and look for any clues we've missed. And keep Kyll from eating all the food."

Steggy doesn't enjoy blood.

She poked limply at the plate presented in front of her. One it was a brownie, ice cream, and hot fudge. Her hunger for sweets had dissolved away when found the dead body of @BlueAfrica. It was pure coincidence that Steggy when heading back to return her blue shirt in an exchange for a green shirt had found the body. Everyone else that had found it sent her to go tell @Mea about it.

And now, Mea and the gang were gone to figure out the murder. She stayed behind in the food caboose, in some attempt to get her mind of what had happened. Two murders and no murderer found, Steggy thought. She finally took a bite of her ice cream and swallowed thoughtfully. The worst thing that could happen is lights go out.

The lights flickered for a moment which caused Steggy to look away from her dessert. I wonder...

Before she could finish her thought, the doors to the restaurant swung open. @Tuesday ran through, holding a microphone.

"Oh, hey, Tuesday. Did you hear about the-"

"This train has two murders. Yes, yes. I have heard about. To be frank, this whole thing reminds me of a Danganronpa episode I watched. Anyway, I need you to help me solve it."

"Why me?"

Tuesday smiled. "Because you know more about the murder than you think." Steggy sighed, pushing the plate away. She has a point, I suppose. It's better than worrying about it here or stuffing my face full of food in remorse for the two who died.

"Okay, I'll help."

Tuesday squeezed Steggy into a hug. "Great! Now, let's go join @Mea and everyone else!"

@LadyLizz poured another cup of coffee and flipped through the mysterious journal left at @BlueAfrica's side.
"Well I can tell you one thing ladies, Blue did not write this."
As @Mea tried on different deerstalker hats, she questioned like a true sleuth, "And why do you think that?"
"J'ai une âme solitaire."
Kyll peeked in the room and say in between gulps of cookies. "So it's French. She knew French."
"It translates to something like 'I am a lonely soul' and it's a Twin Peaks reference, she wouldn't know it. There's also no cartoons of facial features in the corners or her hand writing."

@Flumadiddle rocked in a chair in the corner, Grim hanging over her shoulder, and a cup of hot chocolate in each of their hands.
"Grim wants to know what we're going to do with the bodies."
"Like the other occupants of this train, their souls have to remain in the limbo for there being any chance of bringing them back. Which means their bodies have to remain in good condition. I might have to call @TheMaieuticMesmerist or @TheSilverFox or some of @Lumi's other henchmen to take care of getting us a new freezer unit."
"Isn't that kind of sexist? Saying that a man has to get a freezer?"
"Don't judge me, @Stormcloud. It's not my fault that those damn pirates have the corner on the freezer market."
"Okay. So what else does the book say?"
"It's all in code but I managed to get one done. The first entry goes like this..."

FFC was killed by @Nate on this very train.
He also killed Google Bot's brother which was the cause for the recent kidnapping.

"Who is Google Bot's brother?"
"I'd assume Google Plus, since everyone hates him."
"And FFC?"
"He's one of the ghosts, might want to watch out for him. We should probably figure out just how many there are."
"Yeah."

So everyone picked up another tray of cookies, pot of coffee and jar of salt, adding a bit more to the window sills just to make sure.

Fluma sat there, Grim resting on her shoulder. She slurped her cocoa while Grim was on his seventh glass.

The listened to the first entry, then the second and so on and so forth. Grim listened for clues and Fluma... she listened for clues as well.

Suddenly, there was the eerie sound of "Jingle Bells." Normally, "Jingle Bells" is a cheery song with a catchy tune, but someone was singing it like a funeral dirge.

"Wow, that is impressively sad singing," @LadyLizz said, "but considering Blue was our main annoying Christmas caroler and also really cheerful..."

"Where is it coming from?" asked @Flumadiddle.

"It kind of sounds like it's coming from everywhere," said @Stormcloud.

The singing echoed faintly throughout the train corridors. After "Jingle Bells," it shifted into a funereal version of "Santa Baby." Fluma pointed a shaking finger toward the door of the car.

"What's that???"

The singing grew louder. A figure had appeared in the door of the car - a familiar figure. But it couldn't be...

"Blue?" gasped @Mea.

The ghost of BlueAfrica didn't say anything. She? It? Whatever? kept singing and pointed at the dessert car.

"What is it?" Stormcloud asked, but the ghost unhelpfully faded away. Her singing lingered but started to sound fainter, like she'd moved to another part of the train.

"Quick!" Mea said. "Let's try to find her! Maybe she can tell us who killed her."

Wandering around the train with her two blue cats trailing after her, Cat wondered why she couldn't hear @BlueAfrica singing anymore. She wasn't the type of person to blast Christmas music in July, but once it was after Thanksgiving, she did really enjoy it, and Blue was the one to sing Christmas music the loudest and cheerfullest. She thought she heard it briefly, but it was very sad; not like Blue usually sang. She had gotten bored in the animal car after everyone left, so she started meandering around, looking for everyone.

Humming Christmas songs to herself since no one was singing anymore, she strolled into the dessert car, she saw some tasty looking chocolate frosted cookies. Shoving one in her mouth and grabbing two more, she went over to sit on the windowsill. She adjusted her blue Santa hat in between her furry blue cat ear headband. Some salt dusted the sill, and her two cats jumped up and started licking it up.

Brushing her almost blue curly black hair out of her face, she started staring out the window at the snowy scenery. Still shoving cookies into her mouth, Cat became lost in thought and didn't hear the approaching footsteps.