Oh, for crying out...
This needs more views before it can be allowed to fall off the front page.
🙂
Come on people it's 'Tales from the Low Roads' show it some love.
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Oh, and thanks Low Roads I had a great birthday and I'm glad we'll see more of Angie's training.
Will we be seeing the sheriff again soon? She's my fave character.
Thanks for the very nice bump, TK! Have no fears... this story feels no lack of love! It tends to receive greater general interest at the TTC, where I'm more firmly entrenched (reaction has also been most gratifying at Tickling City, a new haunt), but the kind compliments I receive here at the TMF are no less precious! Lavish, thoughtful response more than compensates for light hit numbers... and the hits haven't been all that bad anyway! 800+ is a pretty good audience! I was playing to half-a-dozen before I started posting on these forums!
Thanks for inquiring after Sheriff Sephie, a character very close to my heart! She'll be on hiatus, I'm afraid, until Chapter 16... at which point she'll make a high-profile return! Sephie's participation has thus far been rather peripheral, but she was always intended as a key, involved player. That starts in earnest with Chapter 16!
Wow! Another excellent chapter! Only you could make exposition so utterly fascinating, Low Roads.
As always, my most grateful thanks to you, Moonknight! It's supremely satisfying to hear your compliments concerning the story's exposition... this series relies so heavily on explanatory background, it'd be unendurable if the language proved stale! I spend a great deal of time shaping the text, but that's no guarantee for effectiveness. Sometimes you can batter the spontaneity from speech by overanalyzing it. Confirmation that I'm on the right track, especially from one so well spoken as yourself, is a special comfort!
This chapter is positively pregnant with possibility.
First of all, what form will Mercy's newfound ally eventually assume? Will it manifest itself as male or female? Based on it's desire to emulate Mercy's comely navel, let's hope it's a girl!
Excellent! You recognize most clearly a quality of the ethereal Dreamtime visitors that I haven't taken pains to make plain: while I may refer to Mercy's pink pal as "he" in replies, that's merely a convenience and in no way accurate. Ethereals are blank slates, gender-wise; reproduction is a fleshy pursuit, and they've never had need of it. When they take on the trappings of mortality, then, the possibilities are wide open. I really hadn't thought this through thoroughly regarding the Pink Elephant (as one of the TTC members called him... I really gotta come up with a proper name!), not past a few random modifications. Your speculation opens up a whole spectrum of exciting new possibilities, though! Feedback is so essential! I can't possibly come up with stuff this good solo!
And are gal pals Mercy and Angie heading for a clash in Dreamtime? Until this installment, I never had a clue that Angie's circus chums were training her for an eventual excursion in to the Dreamworld!
That was deliberate, actually. I try to structure these chapters so that each one offers its little revelation. The plan is to have everything pay off completely in the end, with no details left dangling. I need to reread and mull this stuff over constantly, mainly to work out inconsistencies. Some are likely going to sneak through anyway... with luck, they won't be noticed!
Mercy and Angie are indeed intended to confront one another in Dreamtime, each armed with her own special discipline. I haven't decided on specific details yet... the plot always tends to be hazy past a handful of the nearest chapters.
It was interesting to see lo' Lil' Bighead again! And just in time too! I'd nearly forgotten about him! It's creepy to know he's keeping an eye on Mercy.
You're so right! It's well past time I reintroduced the guy, seeing as he still has so much story function to fulfill! There's a reason he's been quiet... I'll touch on that sometime in the next few chapters. Oh yes, he's developed a special obsession about Mercy... and he's a stalker who can track his prey into nightmare territory!
o
And of course the tickling was great, particularly Mercy's laughing her helmet off and cackling in the dark. Wonderful! I wonder if her bloated companion was merely feigning innocence, or were her pleas truly muffled?
Hmmm...should Mercy trust this creature only as far as she could heave him (which, considering his girth...)
Just so! It's my hope, at present, that our pink demonling's motives should remain uncertain! His current incarnation may seem more cherubic than the first... but if we know anything at all about Dreamtime matter, it's that it can be easily shaped to suit any purpose. Further "accidents" on his part will be suspect indeed!
I'm most grateful you found the "giggling in the dark" image effective! It seemed like a solid idea at the time, but after execution I was none too sure. It was meant to suggest a certain isolated tunnel-vision for Mercy, as though she couldn't clearly see the faultiness of her approach. Easy to draw, too, only doing mouth, nose and eyes!
And whoa! Was that horse-mantic-ore creature ever jarring! Great job introducing him!
Thanks so much! I'm most pleased you found Burbeard unsettling! Your reference to a Manticore is spot on... I'm partial to the fabulous bestiary of antiquity, and the Manticore has always been a particular favorite (if not in its specifics... no porcupine quills in sight... at least in general layout)! Unjustly minimized, he... far less recognizable than the centaur or griffin. If a creature's whole raison d'être is to "eat men", that surely marks him as a preeminent monster! And while Burbeard may not dine, he's all too eager to taste!
Any-who, already looking forward to the next installment!
Cheers!
:wise-owl: MK
Not more so than I am to bring it to you, as soon as it can possibly be done! My undying gratitude for your ever-kind encouragement, good friend!
MK
