RE: The Vagabonds - interactive Paintings, season 2: the Final!
I'm intrigued by how the mind works.
A comment by @fraenk had pulled me into this phase of the challenge initially, and each time I sat down to write about a match, story elements just came to me, and, as @marty-art justly observed, a plot developed. Where it came from, I don't know. Sometimes I had to search online for the meaning of a word or concept that had entered my thoughts.
Your introduction of the Grand Final is beautifully written. But so many details are filled in already that my imagination wasn't able to flourish as I wished it would.
Anything I came up with for the Grand Final felt contrived to fit in with the introduction provided. So I humbly asked Monica to hand her torch over to you, to do with as you pl... ZINGGGG!!!!
![flash of light](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNXU97TvSvZtfinkYmfeUWeSShQDmFbEkaap5c37CCYZi/flash-of-light.png)
aHa! Monica knew it! @edward.maesen didn't have the wherewithal to bring her saga to an end! Had he forgotten about timeline jumping?! Why didn't he simply access an alternate universe?! It was time for her to step in. And so she did!
Monica and Mutia found themselves standing in front of each other.
A thick mist appeared, drowning the world in a hazy fog.
All became dark.
The chanting of the crowd faded away and everything went completely silent.
Time froze.
"Caern, is that you?" Monica asked. "Indeed, you know me as Caern" he responded with a big warm smile on his bearded face. Everyone marveled at his radiant appearance. He was surrounded by a golden aura, which made his red hair look even more fiery. Over his garment —or were they fish scales?— he wore a magnificent golden breastplate. On it, Monica deciphered the letters E N L I L, written in an ancient long-forgotten alphabet.
"He looks like one of the Shining Ones", Monica thought. "Had the ancient gods of lore returned?"
She started to feel curious. Where did these thoughts come from? Who were the Shining Ones? And how did she know to read that ancient language on Caern's breast plate? And why did Caern look completely different from his octogenarian vagabond appearance (yet she recognized and knew it was him)?
Meanwhile, Mutia looking at Caern in awe, had dropped down to her knees. She figured he was more than a mere mortal vagabond.
All thoughts about competing in a match had dissipated into thin air.
Surrounded by Mutia and the others, Monica and Caern sat down and talked for hours and hours. They talked about distant lands and stars and galaxies. They talked about a life of peace and abundance, without struggle and strife. Slowly Monica began to remember.
Mutia wiped her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was as if she was looking at a reversed time lapse video. Monica's appearance was becoming younger by the minute!
The gathering was coming to an end. "It's time for us to go" said Caern and he reached out his hand to Monica. As Monica stood up, a breast plate magically materialized over her garment. Caern smiled knowingly as he read the letters N I N L I L. The cycle of time was spiraling from end to new beginning.
Monica and Caern left the field, together they walked up the mountain, to a garden with a spring where the life-giving rivers for the valley below originated. In the middle of the garden stood a majestic grand tree with apples of gold.
Still dumbfounded by all that had happened Mutia stood up to leave also. As she turned around she noticed an object in the grass.
![flash of light](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNXU97TvSvZtfinkYmfeUWeSShQDmFbEkaap5c37CCYZi/flash-of-light.png)
...ease.
PS
No kidding, screen capture of the time (11:11) on my laptop the moment I finished the above story:
![screen-capture-finish-time.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmY34DQYZzkCtyyK7ZwnoWkP1qjM4fAtmnUtGaTziXAMVe/screen-capture-finish-time.png)
First of all, I agree: the mind, consciousness is the most intriguing thing to try to figure out. I could expand on that here, but this probably isn't the place to do so! :P
I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to discuss this outside the Realm of the Vagabonds and I'm very much looking forward to that!
It is weird how a phrase or word can present itself while you're in the process of writing (wherewithal!). This may be related: my 5-year old son is now starting to read/write and it's fascintating to observe his thinking-process. Beauty in action :)
After the QF's and SF's I felt like I had little to bring in value, just to present the already-made characters, let the dice choose a game and sit back reading your awesome stories. So I really wanted to write a little of my own, setting the stage for the finale. I'm glad you enjoyed it, but sorry it got in the way of your fantasy!
Now then... I'm weighing my words here... You've written a beautiful, warm and even optimistic story. Thank you! It isn't what I expected, but screw that, this is a game. And the game should never be what is expected ;) Instead of taking a swordbuckling, hack 'n slash-approach in a contest with grim Vagabonds pitched against each other, in your story I'm now seeing them finally coming together as a big gipsy-family, listening to the ancient wisdom of old (young?) Caern, coming back from the ages of time to tell them about liberty, abundance and peace [not affiliated with the similiarly-named discord-channel].
So, is Caern actually the Grand Vagabond?
Thank you big, big, bigtime for making The Vagabonds a fun experience here on steemit, your input was invaluable and made it far bigger, and awesomer than I ever expected!
Oh, and a few more things: I never acknowledged Duff the Drably Dragon as I had no idea how to incorporate him/her/it in the Vagabonds-canon. It's a funny creature, but I just had no idea what to do with him/her/it...
And T B R: I did get the clue, hehe. Thanks for returning it to me. I'll see what I can do with it!
11:11
That's what my parents would say when they were about to scorn me... :(
This whole story (every match) came to be without me wanting it to turn out as it did. I sat down with the intention to write an epic sword-slashing, limbs flying, virgin sacrificing, backstabbing, poison spitting grand finale, but that's not what surfaced.
So is there a Grand Vagabond in my version of the story? I think not.
And Duff the Drably Dragon... that was a nod to Puff The Magic Dragon ;)
Hahahaha, I weighed them carefully as I'm not quick to use the word beautiful. But it weighed ok here :)
Thanks, totally not familiar with Puff!
And in conclusion no Grand Vagabond? That's fine by me! That's another option I didn't expect, so that's great :)