Post by Launa on Oct 21, 2009 22:16:05 GMT -8
Introduction: I love writing Harper. Whether intense and dramatic or light and comedic, she is the key to that part of my mind that I understand... but no one else does XD There is something completely cathartic about writing an insane character.
This is my Happy Halloween story. I didn't want to write something intense. Matthew is the master of that. So here's something I hope puts a smile on your face.
Warning: This was written before daemons changed to elementals.
~*~
Harper glanced up at the doorway. There were 732 reasons she could think of why she shouldn’t walk up the rickety steps and into the attic and only three reasons why she should. It was spooky. It was Halloween. She was curious. She smiled. Three reasons were always enough for her.
Below her the house party rocked the building, moving her even as she stood still. The tassels on her realistic 1920s flapper girl costume swayed to the beat. She liked all the movement, the little fringes that danced even when she didn’t. She fingered the pearls around her neck and grinned a very wicked grin.
It was an old house, so the stairs creaked as she crept up them. She was glad the music was so loud. She doubted the host, a teenager whose parent’s were away, would want her wandering around. But by now the party would have started to drift out of the inexperienced host’s hands and he was probably weeping over a mustard stain on an antique pillow, not looking for insane immortals poking around his house.
She thought of everything that could be hiding in the attic. There could be treasure. There could be portals into another world. There could be an entire new galaxy to explore. There could be ice cream. She reached the door and placed her hand on the knob and giggled once in excitement. With a great deal of swelling, suspenseful music playing in her mind, she turned it. It was locked. The music in her mind stopped. She frowned. How very anticlimactic.
She glanced up along the doorway and ran her hands over the door frame. There was no spare key hidden over the door or in the corners over the hallway. She crossed her arms and pouted. She heard a sharp, crystalline crash and a wail of despair from the host. She smiled. He should learn not to disobey his parents. She reached for the knob again and put some of her strength, which was many times more than that of a human at one in the morning, behind the twist and the locked was forced back. She pushed the door open a bit. The knob was loose under her hand. Broken. She felt guilty about it for a moment, but then shrugged and stepped into the room.
She looked around in wonder. It was a fairly classic attic for such an old house. Cedar-lined. Dusty. Large with curved walls fitting the shape of the roof. It was full of totes and boxes stashed on top of each other, some labeled, some not. A small window let in the glow of the full moon, casting it on an old, fold-out card table in the middle of the room. She shuddered a bit at the eerieness of the moon on Halloween and walked toward the table.
She glanced down. A ouija board sat on the table. It wasn’t particularly old, and the planchette was cheap plastic. She sat at the table and glanced around. She didn’t particularly like ouija boards. Not that she had ever played with one, but Lazarus had always been against immortals dabbling in the occult. Apparently calling on demons when you had the ability to call forth real power from Heaven was irresponsible. But Lazarus knew that telling Harper not to do something was the very worst way to keep her out of it. She did see his point. She had met a couple demons before, and they weren’t very nice at all. But still…
She chewed a piece of her hair and leaned back in her chair. She hated moral dilemmas. They were such a buzz-kill. She finally made up her mind and leaned forward, taking the planchette in her hands.
“I want to contact a daemon. A big one. Not a demon, remember, but a daemon. An elemental in this world. Don’t you be opening any portals into Hell on me or I will be very perturbed. Now. I want to contact a daemon. Oh mighty daemon of whatever element has the biggest of you lot. Do you like ice cream?”
Her hands moved slowly across the board and she sighed. She was sure she was moving the piece with her subconscious. How very dissatisfying.
Suddenly, she felt a powerful tug on her arms and she was nearly pulled out of her seat as the planchette fell over the word “yes.” The house began to shake and an otherworldly shriek filled the air, seeming to pull at the walls. She was instantly shrouded in darkness and a cold sweat ran down the back of her neck. This didn’t feel like any daemon she had ever encountered.
“I told you no portals into Hell!” she screamed and pushed the board off the table as she ran for where she remembered the door had been, glad that her night vision was almost perfect. She could feel something watching her, coming after her. She screamed again and threw open the door, nearly falling down the attic stairs.
The party had also been enshrouded in darkness, everything shaking with the cold wind that was blowing from the attic. Pictures flew off the walls. Cupboards burst open and threw dishes at unsuspecting partiers. Most of the guests tripped over each other, trying to find the door. Some drunk kids sat still in the living room laughing at what had to be a great Halloween party trick. The host continued to wail as everything was shattered. What had she unleashed?
“It’s a ghost!” some screamed.
“Demon!” another shrieked.
“Hey, dude, sweet effect.”
Harper was pushed and rocked as people streamed around each other, trying to get out. Suddenly, she felt ice-cold hands grab her and pull her into the air. People around her screamed even louder as she seemed to be thrown up near the ceiling for no apparent reason. Harper struggled and kicked against her invisible attacker, but to no avail.
She shouted and tried to cover her face as her abductor crashed through a window out of the house. They flew through the night sky nearly ten miles through the city to a local, abandoned park, where she was set back on the ground. She shook. One hand was bleeding from the glass of the window.
“I’m sorry!” she called. “I didn’t mean to disturb your rest or anything, but please go back in the board. I’d really appreciate it!” she called. The wind whipped up around her again, seeming to encircle her. Her fringe tassels twirled around her. She would have loved it if she weren’t so afraid that she was going to be sucked into another dimension. The wind blew harder and she was nearly lifted off her feet again.
Suddenly, however, it died down and came to a complete stop. She blinked. Before her stood a creature with crystalline skin and jagged edges, almost like ice. It glanced down at her with big, ice-blue eyes. It was nearly two feet taller than she was. She gasped. It was the biggest daemon she had ever seen. She looked closer and fought the urge to reach out and touch it. Hundreds of tiny daemons had combined, fusing together into one, giant creature.
It looked at her with its head cocked to one side and she suddenly forgot that it had just destroyed a home and nearly shredded her to ribbons throwing her out a window. It had puppy-dog eyes.
“Oh. I see now,” she whispered. “Yes, I suppose that was rather unfair of me. Come on.”
It took her nearly an hour to reach home. Her adopted father, Lazarus, raced out the door the instant she approached, stumbling and limping as he left his cane inside. He nearly tripped down the stairs when he saw her. He looked up at the daemon with his mouth dangling open.
“Can I keep him?” she questioned with a smile. “He’s going to need a lot of ice cream.”
This is my Happy Halloween story. I didn't want to write something intense. Matthew is the master of that. So here's something I hope puts a smile on your face.
Warning: This was written before daemons changed to elementals.
~*~
Harper glanced up at the doorway. There were 732 reasons she could think of why she shouldn’t walk up the rickety steps and into the attic and only three reasons why she should. It was spooky. It was Halloween. She was curious. She smiled. Three reasons were always enough for her.
Below her the house party rocked the building, moving her even as she stood still. The tassels on her realistic 1920s flapper girl costume swayed to the beat. She liked all the movement, the little fringes that danced even when she didn’t. She fingered the pearls around her neck and grinned a very wicked grin.
It was an old house, so the stairs creaked as she crept up them. She was glad the music was so loud. She doubted the host, a teenager whose parent’s were away, would want her wandering around. But by now the party would have started to drift out of the inexperienced host’s hands and he was probably weeping over a mustard stain on an antique pillow, not looking for insane immortals poking around his house.
She thought of everything that could be hiding in the attic. There could be treasure. There could be portals into another world. There could be an entire new galaxy to explore. There could be ice cream. She reached the door and placed her hand on the knob and giggled once in excitement. With a great deal of swelling, suspenseful music playing in her mind, she turned it. It was locked. The music in her mind stopped. She frowned. How very anticlimactic.
She glanced up along the doorway and ran her hands over the door frame. There was no spare key hidden over the door or in the corners over the hallway. She crossed her arms and pouted. She heard a sharp, crystalline crash and a wail of despair from the host. She smiled. He should learn not to disobey his parents. She reached for the knob again and put some of her strength, which was many times more than that of a human at one in the morning, behind the twist and the locked was forced back. She pushed the door open a bit. The knob was loose under her hand. Broken. She felt guilty about it for a moment, but then shrugged and stepped into the room.
She looked around in wonder. It was a fairly classic attic for such an old house. Cedar-lined. Dusty. Large with curved walls fitting the shape of the roof. It was full of totes and boxes stashed on top of each other, some labeled, some not. A small window let in the glow of the full moon, casting it on an old, fold-out card table in the middle of the room. She shuddered a bit at the eerieness of the moon on Halloween and walked toward the table.
She glanced down. A ouija board sat on the table. It wasn’t particularly old, and the planchette was cheap plastic. She sat at the table and glanced around. She didn’t particularly like ouija boards. Not that she had ever played with one, but Lazarus had always been against immortals dabbling in the occult. Apparently calling on demons when you had the ability to call forth real power from Heaven was irresponsible. But Lazarus knew that telling Harper not to do something was the very worst way to keep her out of it. She did see his point. She had met a couple demons before, and they weren’t very nice at all. But still…
She chewed a piece of her hair and leaned back in her chair. She hated moral dilemmas. They were such a buzz-kill. She finally made up her mind and leaned forward, taking the planchette in her hands.
“I want to contact a daemon. A big one. Not a demon, remember, but a daemon. An elemental in this world. Don’t you be opening any portals into Hell on me or I will be very perturbed. Now. I want to contact a daemon. Oh mighty daemon of whatever element has the biggest of you lot. Do you like ice cream?”
Her hands moved slowly across the board and she sighed. She was sure she was moving the piece with her subconscious. How very dissatisfying.
Suddenly, she felt a powerful tug on her arms and she was nearly pulled out of her seat as the planchette fell over the word “yes.” The house began to shake and an otherworldly shriek filled the air, seeming to pull at the walls. She was instantly shrouded in darkness and a cold sweat ran down the back of her neck. This didn’t feel like any daemon she had ever encountered.
“I told you no portals into Hell!” she screamed and pushed the board off the table as she ran for where she remembered the door had been, glad that her night vision was almost perfect. She could feel something watching her, coming after her. She screamed again and threw open the door, nearly falling down the attic stairs.
The party had also been enshrouded in darkness, everything shaking with the cold wind that was blowing from the attic. Pictures flew off the walls. Cupboards burst open and threw dishes at unsuspecting partiers. Most of the guests tripped over each other, trying to find the door. Some drunk kids sat still in the living room laughing at what had to be a great Halloween party trick. The host continued to wail as everything was shattered. What had she unleashed?
“It’s a ghost!” some screamed.
“Demon!” another shrieked.
“Hey, dude, sweet effect.”
Harper was pushed and rocked as people streamed around each other, trying to get out. Suddenly, she felt ice-cold hands grab her and pull her into the air. People around her screamed even louder as she seemed to be thrown up near the ceiling for no apparent reason. Harper struggled and kicked against her invisible attacker, but to no avail.
She shouted and tried to cover her face as her abductor crashed through a window out of the house. They flew through the night sky nearly ten miles through the city to a local, abandoned park, where she was set back on the ground. She shook. One hand was bleeding from the glass of the window.
“I’m sorry!” she called. “I didn’t mean to disturb your rest or anything, but please go back in the board. I’d really appreciate it!” she called. The wind whipped up around her again, seeming to encircle her. Her fringe tassels twirled around her. She would have loved it if she weren’t so afraid that she was going to be sucked into another dimension. The wind blew harder and she was nearly lifted off her feet again.
Suddenly, however, it died down and came to a complete stop. She blinked. Before her stood a creature with crystalline skin and jagged edges, almost like ice. It glanced down at her with big, ice-blue eyes. It was nearly two feet taller than she was. She gasped. It was the biggest daemon she had ever seen. She looked closer and fought the urge to reach out and touch it. Hundreds of tiny daemons had combined, fusing together into one, giant creature.
It looked at her with its head cocked to one side and she suddenly forgot that it had just destroyed a home and nearly shredded her to ribbons throwing her out a window. It had puppy-dog eyes.
“Oh. I see now,” she whispered. “Yes, I suppose that was rather unfair of me. Come on.”
It took her nearly an hour to reach home. Her adopted father, Lazarus, raced out the door the instant she approached, stumbling and limping as he left his cane inside. He nearly tripped down the stairs when he saw her. He looked up at the daemon with his mouth dangling open.
“Can I keep him?” she questioned with a smile. “He’s going to need a lot of ice cream.”
thank you. Yes, she is the princess of impulse. As for Gremlins... I think Harper could have made a cameo in ANY 80s movie. *chuckling at the thought of writing her in to scenes in 80s classics*