Clinic

Come in! Come in good sir! Take a seat; now what may be your problem?

Mm. Mhm. Ah. Loneliness with a touch of angst I see. No worries, no worries, its hardly dangerous. Just make sure to have a good dose of Humor, and some Idealistic Hope as well. For this I recommend reading a few comic books. Just take two pages a day, three times daily. Also, don't forget to give this presciption to the nurse outside; she'll be more then happy to supply you with a bottle of heroic quotes as well. Just be careful not to overdose...

......

Hmm...a tricky case, I do believe. Have your been reading right? Thinking well? What has your daily consumption of skeptism been like? Mmhm. Mm. Oh, I see, I see. Not enough cultural depth in your diet, I believe. Just watch your morning newspaper intake; more "Local" and "Life" articles and less "Sports".

You seem to have an excess of self-confidence as well. Have you been swallowing your pride recently? No? I know they taste bad, but its good for you. Here, I'll prescribe you a few doses of "pridebeforefall" articles. Two articles a day, prefably after meals. That way, they'll be easier to digest. Just be sure not to read more than the recommended intake. See you!

.......

And what have we here? Tsk. Tsk. Fantasy Overdose I see. Who does want to be this time? A superhero? Oh dear, a really large overdose. Too much idealism and dreams in his system I believe. Might be a little tricky purging the excess hope from his soul.

Didn't I give a presciption for this? What, No? Tsk, youngsters these days, what with their illegal Fantasy traffiking and day-dreaming. This is why we have presciptions and guidelines for reading! But don't worry madam, just let me give him a quick jab of Reality and he should be as right as ra-

Oh? He's afraid of needles you say? Fine then. In that case, just give him some critcal feedback. Make sure he consumes it all too. There are a few critic clinics outside that will give you some. Here's the prescription. Oh, make sure he eats them with a pinch of salt as well; There's a chance he might be allergic to disappointment.

.........


What? What do you mean our stocks of Creativity are low? Prepostrous I say. The factories should be more than capable of-

Not effective? It can't be uneffective! It's Creativity! There's no other drug stronger than tha-

Yes, yes I know the natural producers are extinct. We wiped them out ourselves! All we had to do with isolate the relevant genetic structure and the precious chemical could be havested without all that stupid hassle and chaos and-

Failed? I thought they worked! Weren't those experiments a success? The simulated creativity and pseudo-inspiration were proven to have an effec- No longer any use? All our drugs depend on that thing! I don't care, we need to find some other way to simulate Creativity; There's almost none of it left.

A so it begins....

If you read Klow's blog, you'll see his post abouts TNN

Alright, confession time: I'm joining the writing squad.

Erm, what's the big deal? some may say; Others might go: WTF NOOB

I dunno, I never really was part of the "original" TNN, but in many ways I found the storylines and ideas behind it...interesting.

And so according to XM, my writing will provide a "outsiders" pov about TNN, GEP and so on. Makes me worried though. It means a) suddenly I'm a representative, though of what, I'm not sure and b) I'm gonna screw up. Somewhere. I know I will.

Doing an arc right now, its rather...testy. So far about 3-4 people have read it, and I'm not exactly keen on spreading it out. For one thing, the entire pieces can be rather...insultive at times, me thinks. For another, I fear for my n00bish writing skillz.

But klow isn't complaining and XM's fine, so I guess that'll do.

I really like writing though; Hopefully I'll be able to pull this off. ^^

Night.

Life is like a Game...

The wizard stood silently, grasping his staff. There was not much time left; he had to do it.

Now he looked at the party before him, its members scattered, their weapons lost. Slain? Perhaps, He wasn't sure. Did one of their eyes just move? Did that hand just twitch? Perhaps, but Hope was useless now.

It didn't make a difference anyway.

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"It...was a good battle, huh?" No response. Not that he expected one anyway, but still, it was nice to ask. There wasn't any time for questions later.

"...I mean, we did good right? It was a loss from the start I guess...but still, at least we tried, right?" No response.

"My fault? Perhaps...I'm not too sure. What could I have done? I wasn't fast like you, or strong like you, or smart like you. I just did what I could to fill in the gaps..."

The eyes were shut, but the face seemed to be looking at him...

"I don't know, maybe I should have focused on you guys more. It certainly seems that way now. But there was just so much to do..." Laughter? A smile?

"Haha, very funny. But its true, isn't it? Perhaps if I wasn't so focused all the time, I might have seen this coming...I might have done something..."

The memories were back now, filling his mind. A scene of five people atop a rock, laughing, drinking, the spoils of battle around them.

"But its too late now, isn't it? I think you're right. I should have just gone all the way, not bothered with the other stuff. Perhaps...perhaps I could have been strong enough."

Another memory. A figure in the corner, in the shade. Watching the rest with a slight smile, a half-daze. Snatches of their conversation float past...

"Or perhaps...I should have spent less time with it and more time with the party. With you guys. At this point, I don't think it really matters anymore." With a sigh, the slideshow ended. Silence refilled the world.

Still no response.

"Yeah, I think so too. If we had more time perhaps. Maybe, just maybe...no. This is the only way. I guess...I'm sorry. " The staff was getting heavy now; There wasn't much time.

"See you guys then. Maybe we'll meet, Maybe we won't."

"Goodbye"

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A Brillant Flash, as bright as day, filled the room. It grew and flowed over the bodies, poured over the ground. The light grew brighter and brighter, until the glow reached beyond the room, outside the dungeon, into the skies, where it disappeared forever.

Silence.

The bodies twitched. A finger moved. Slowly the party members groaned in pain. Slowly they got up, and surveyed the scene. Slowly, as one, they recalled the words of their last member;

A single tear.

And then they were gone.