Post by Amelie on Aug 23, 2020 20:23:34 GMT -5
Amelie crossed her legs as she watched two mice scramble around the floor each carrying crumbs of bread and cheese. This was a common event. Though from noble stock, Amelie's family had been brought to ruin some years ago. She had only escaped thanks to her maid who was now working several jobs to keep the both of them fed. Of course, as a former noble of high breeding Amelie could never lower herself to do any actual menial labor. She was too good for it for one, and two as she always said, it would be a waste of her talents.
"So herein lies the conundrum my dear rat. You've come for food, which is of course detestable, to thieve from a member of the glorious Ersatz family is unequivocally the highest of offenses, and yet even so you show the gall to raid upon my wears. Brave of you, insolent fool, but have you ever heard the quotation that bravery and fool-hearty are twins that sleep underneath beds? Of course you haven't because I wrote it! Fufufuf... knave!"
The mouse of course would not listen to her as it wasn't human and continued to scurry around the floor which disgusted Amelie.
Quickly but gracefully pulling herself up on to the table so the mice wouldn't be able to climb up her legs or onto her feet, a terrifying thought indeed, Amelie sat atop the table holding her knees to her chest.
"The rats want the food but the food is mine so I simply must force these rodents to understand that stealing from MY pantry is against their best interests... but how?"
Amelie's eyes scoured the room for items she could use.
"A bit of rope perhaps? Possibly, but maybe something a bit finer the rope is often rugged... does my place require ruggedness? Let's leave it in the possibility pile while I take in other things. Of course, of great import is that I stay as far away from the rodents as possible. Not out of fear of course, but simply disgust... so we have the rope of course I'll need something to attract the fiends, cheese or bread I take it as those are obviously some of their favorites judging by empirical evidence. What else... I'll need to construct well of course a capturing device."
Looking around the room, Amelie saw a woven basket. The basket had seen much use and needed mending, but for this it would suffice.
"Ah yes, that ragged old thing. We needed a new one anyhow. I doubt it could withstand many more trips to the market what with it's raggedness. The stitching is even coming loose and various spots. Perfect! This will work quite amiably with the other aspects of this plan! Of course I must take care to not crush the mice, but capture them. If I crush them."
Amelie cringed.
"I would have to force the maid to clean it. Not much of a problem but she will be working quite late into the night, meaning that I would have to wait with the beast's blood carcass rotting on my floor until late into the evening. Detestable and unacceptable. Nay, I shall catch the creatures and then... hmm... what to do with them after I catch them? I fear if I simply release them, they will take it as a game or some such thing where they feel it perfectly acceptable to return. If that were the case, then death would be their only option. Though I must say, crushing such a creature is quite disgusting. Very barbaric. I'm sure there could be a better solution to the problem... well first things first as Papa used to say."
Pushing out the chair to a point between the table and the kitchen counter, Amelie stepped from the table on to the chair. Of course, the small shack that Amelie dwelled in with her maid was little better than a hovel, which made traversing the distance quite easy.
"There, now I shall simply collect the rope and the basket."
Gathering the two items, Amelie was suddenly startled by the shouts of two men living in the shack next to her.
"WELL, MAYBE IF YOU HADN'T BUNGLED THE JOB YA PISSANT WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS NOW WOULD WE?!"
"ME! I FORGET WAS IT ME THAT WAS TOO DRUNK TO GO ON THE LAST JOB OR WAS IT YOU.. WAIT A MINUTE! YEP, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT! IT WAS YOU YA BLIND DRUNKEN IDIOT! HEY! OUR FOODS GONE! DID YOU EAT IT ALL YOU FAT SACK OF LARD!"
Amelie scowled.
"These buffoons arguing, shouting, and disturbing my great work even now... in the middle of the day! Oh! Oh oh oh oh! Now that is a plan!"
Grinning maliciously, Amelie began to tie the rope to the basket with a sturdy knot.
"Now then to enact act one, the capture!"
Grabbing a piece of bread and some bits of cheese, Amelie tossed them on the floor.
"Patience in all things... but especially in victory."
Waiting, the rats slowly but surely made their way to food.
"Such greedy beasts..."
When the rats finally made it to the cheese, Amelie quickly dropped the basket on both of them capturing them.
"Too easy..."
Taking the basket lid, Amelie quickly slid it under the basket and turned the basket over. Now the rats were secure.
"Stage one complete... now for stage two..."
Cracking the opening door the shack, Amelie placed the rodent filled basket atop the crack while winding the rope around a leg of a chair and trying it to kitchen table which she now sat on.
"There, a perfect trip wire. Now, then let the show begin!"
Clearing her voice, Amelie shouted out to her quarreling neighbors.
"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP! I STOLE YOUR FOOD AND IF YA WANT IT BACK, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PRY IT FROM ME COLD DEAD FINGERS!"
Amelie smirked.
"Yes, that should do..."
All at once the sounds of quickly moving heavy steps sped towards the door.
"Rising action..."
The two rogues threw the door open and the first entered hitting the trip wire and tumbling down as the chair was pulled towards him due to the room and slammed into his face.
"Crescendo"
As the first rogue went down the second stumbled over him but the basket containing the rats was already falling towards his head.
"And now a bit of slapstick..."
reaching into her pocket, Amelie took out two chocolate candies and tossed one at each man. The first candy went under the firsts shirt, the other down behind the back of his collar.
"Did you two know that the rats here are typically starving, it's why they enter dwellings such as ours in the first place. It's quite annoying, but one thing to always remember is that rats love these candies above all else. Mayhaps they put a little magic in it and the rats can sense it? I'm not quite clear on the reasoning behind it, but never the less I think you'll find my little factoid to be quite true."
As predicted the rats went ravenous for the candy running down each of the men's shirts. As the men scrambled to remove the rats, Amelie took her time getting down from the table. She then trotted to the corner of the room where a sturdy branch was.
"This should do the trick. You two hold still now."
Lugging the stick back towards the two men that were now both on the ground wrestling with the rodents that clawed at the candy in their clothes. Raising up the stick she would bring it down hard on the first man knocking him out.
"Now finally for the conclusion..."
Amelie would do the same to the second man.
"And fin! Bravo!"
Holding her head outside the door, Amelie would shout to all passerbys.
"EY! THESE TWO LOUSES GOT A TOUCH OF THAT MAGIC PLAGUE! YOU ALL HEARD! THE ONE WHERE RATS START GROWIN' OUT OF THEM TO SPREAD THE PLAGUE EVEN FURTHER! WE GOTTA GET THESE TWO IDIOTS OUT OF TOWN BEFORE WE ALL GO DOWN!"
None of the passerbys moved and some even started to walk away until one spoke up.
"AND WHY THE 'ELL SHOULD WE DO ANYTHING 'BOUT THAT?! NONE OF MY CONCERN NO INNIT?!"
"NONE OF YOU'RE CONCERN?! AND IF THE TOWN IS RIDDLED WITH PLAGUE THEN WHERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING? THE CAPITAL?! YA DIMWIT MIGHT AS WELL THROW YOURSELF TO THE MAGIC KNIGHTS WHILE WEARING A BOW! THE TOWN'S THE ONLY SAFE HAVEN WE GOT! NOW HOW MANY OF YA IDIOTS ARE GOING TO HELP ME GET THESE IDIOTS OUTTA HERE BEFORE WE'RE SWIMMING WITH PLAGUE?!"
Several of the bystanders looked at each other, then moved to start helping.
"PUT A CLOTH OVER YOUR MOUTHS AND NOSES, DON'T WANT TO BE BREATHING IN WHATEVER GOT THESE TWO SICK!"
Several members of the crowd did as they were told, then grabbed the two men and began to move them towards the cities outskirts.
"YOU ALL SAW THEIR FACES! IF YOU SEE THEM AROUND TOWN MAKE SURE THEY'RE ESCORTED OUT! FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS! I HEAR THAT'S HOW LONG IT IS BEFORE EITHER YOU'RE CURED OR YOU DIE!"
As the crowd hauled away Amelie's neighbors, she waited for a few moments then went next door to their hovel.
"Not much in here that I could use... filthy... but maybe some things will be worth it..."
Picking up various supplies and anything she deemed useful, Amelie went back to her own shack and closed the door.
"You know, that trap went better than expected. I got rid of the rats, as well as my incredibly annoying neighbors. In fact, with my gift for ingenious strategy I may even have a knack for trap making. In fact, I bet traps would allow me much more versatility when it came to plotting out scenarios! But not just any traps... what would be truly marvelous is if I could use traps of a magical nature, as well as a physical... hmmm...."
Amelie smiled.
"Well, why not? Why couldn't I use magical traps? I've never heard of anyone using it, but just as magic spells can be sustained there should be no reason a type of magic, plotted on points to a surface could not also be maintained and used as a trap..."
Pulling out her grimoire, Amelie immediately decided to test her theory.
"First we will need some radii and vertices to stabilize the magic in a point. The magic very stable but also fragile, so that way when the pattern is disturbed, the system ignites and causes the necessary devastation... to test I'll make a miniature with extremely low power. At most, this should circuit, or trap if you will, should merely let out a bang."
Working carefully and intricately to make sure the magic was balanced, Amelie continued her work. It was painstaking, but then again to her knowledge, she was the first to ever try to use magic in this way. Not to mention that even if you told her she had only reinvented the wheel, Amelie would would insist that either her invention came first or that it was simply better in every possible way.
After several minutes passed, Amelie believed she had a working, functional, mini-trap composed of her own magic.
"My magic is quite versatile and can imitate the look of others, so for this small art work, I believe I should make it appear as a classic explosion, yes... I think imitating the explosion element would work perfectly here."
Finishing her small magical trap, Amelie took a few steps back.
"Best to practice some caution when experimenting with new things."
Opening her front door, Amelie found a small pebble, picked it up, then returned inside.
"This should do."
Taking the pebble, Amelie flicked it at the small trap she had created. When the pebble hit the circle, disturbing the magical symbol, it popped firing outward in blue, orange, yellow, and white glass.
Smiling devilishly, Amelie walked up to her experiment.
"It worked! Of course it worked... fufufu... I invented it. Now then, just to increase the size and mana capacity. Now knowing the miniature works, fufufu, it only stands to reason that the life-size version should work as well..."
"So herein lies the conundrum my dear rat. You've come for food, which is of course detestable, to thieve from a member of the glorious Ersatz family is unequivocally the highest of offenses, and yet even so you show the gall to raid upon my wears. Brave of you, insolent fool, but have you ever heard the quotation that bravery and fool-hearty are twins that sleep underneath beds? Of course you haven't because I wrote it! Fufufuf... knave!"
The mouse of course would not listen to her as it wasn't human and continued to scurry around the floor which disgusted Amelie.
Quickly but gracefully pulling herself up on to the table so the mice wouldn't be able to climb up her legs or onto her feet, a terrifying thought indeed, Amelie sat atop the table holding her knees to her chest.
"The rats want the food but the food is mine so I simply must force these rodents to understand that stealing from MY pantry is against their best interests... but how?"
Amelie's eyes scoured the room for items she could use.
"A bit of rope perhaps? Possibly, but maybe something a bit finer the rope is often rugged... does my place require ruggedness? Let's leave it in the possibility pile while I take in other things. Of course, of great import is that I stay as far away from the rodents as possible. Not out of fear of course, but simply disgust... so we have the rope of course I'll need something to attract the fiends, cheese or bread I take it as those are obviously some of their favorites judging by empirical evidence. What else... I'll need to construct well of course a capturing device."
Looking around the room, Amelie saw a woven basket. The basket had seen much use and needed mending, but for this it would suffice.
"Ah yes, that ragged old thing. We needed a new one anyhow. I doubt it could withstand many more trips to the market what with it's raggedness. The stitching is even coming loose and various spots. Perfect! This will work quite amiably with the other aspects of this plan! Of course I must take care to not crush the mice, but capture them. If I crush them."
Amelie cringed.
"I would have to force the maid to clean it. Not much of a problem but she will be working quite late into the night, meaning that I would have to wait with the beast's blood carcass rotting on my floor until late into the evening. Detestable and unacceptable. Nay, I shall catch the creatures and then... hmm... what to do with them after I catch them? I fear if I simply release them, they will take it as a game or some such thing where they feel it perfectly acceptable to return. If that were the case, then death would be their only option. Though I must say, crushing such a creature is quite disgusting. Very barbaric. I'm sure there could be a better solution to the problem... well first things first as Papa used to say."
Pushing out the chair to a point between the table and the kitchen counter, Amelie stepped from the table on to the chair. Of course, the small shack that Amelie dwelled in with her maid was little better than a hovel, which made traversing the distance quite easy.
"There, now I shall simply collect the rope and the basket."
Gathering the two items, Amelie was suddenly startled by the shouts of two men living in the shack next to her.
"WELL, MAYBE IF YOU HADN'T BUNGLED THE JOB YA PISSANT WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS NOW WOULD WE?!"
"ME! I FORGET WAS IT ME THAT WAS TOO DRUNK TO GO ON THE LAST JOB OR WAS IT YOU.. WAIT A MINUTE! YEP, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT! IT WAS YOU YA BLIND DRUNKEN IDIOT! HEY! OUR FOODS GONE! DID YOU EAT IT ALL YOU FAT SACK OF LARD!"
Amelie scowled.
"These buffoons arguing, shouting, and disturbing my great work even now... in the middle of the day! Oh! Oh oh oh oh! Now that is a plan!"
Grinning maliciously, Amelie began to tie the rope to the basket with a sturdy knot.
"Now then to enact act one, the capture!"
Grabbing a piece of bread and some bits of cheese, Amelie tossed them on the floor.
"Patience in all things... but especially in victory."
Waiting, the rats slowly but surely made their way to food.
"Such greedy beasts..."
When the rats finally made it to the cheese, Amelie quickly dropped the basket on both of them capturing them.
"Too easy..."
Taking the basket lid, Amelie quickly slid it under the basket and turned the basket over. Now the rats were secure.
"Stage one complete... now for stage two..."
Cracking the opening door the shack, Amelie placed the rodent filled basket atop the crack while winding the rope around a leg of a chair and trying it to kitchen table which she now sat on.
"There, a perfect trip wire. Now, then let the show begin!"
Clearing her voice, Amelie shouted out to her quarreling neighbors.
"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP! I STOLE YOUR FOOD AND IF YA WANT IT BACK, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PRY IT FROM ME COLD DEAD FINGERS!"
Amelie smirked.
"Yes, that should do..."
All at once the sounds of quickly moving heavy steps sped towards the door.
"Rising action..."
The two rogues threw the door open and the first entered hitting the trip wire and tumbling down as the chair was pulled towards him due to the room and slammed into his face.
"Crescendo"
As the first rogue went down the second stumbled over him but the basket containing the rats was already falling towards his head.
"And now a bit of slapstick..."
reaching into her pocket, Amelie took out two chocolate candies and tossed one at each man. The first candy went under the firsts shirt, the other down behind the back of his collar.
"Did you two know that the rats here are typically starving, it's why they enter dwellings such as ours in the first place. It's quite annoying, but one thing to always remember is that rats love these candies above all else. Mayhaps they put a little magic in it and the rats can sense it? I'm not quite clear on the reasoning behind it, but never the less I think you'll find my little factoid to be quite true."
As predicted the rats went ravenous for the candy running down each of the men's shirts. As the men scrambled to remove the rats, Amelie took her time getting down from the table. She then trotted to the corner of the room where a sturdy branch was.
"This should do the trick. You two hold still now."
Lugging the stick back towards the two men that were now both on the ground wrestling with the rodents that clawed at the candy in their clothes. Raising up the stick she would bring it down hard on the first man knocking him out.
"Now finally for the conclusion..."
Amelie would do the same to the second man.
"And fin! Bravo!"
Holding her head outside the door, Amelie would shout to all passerbys.
"EY! THESE TWO LOUSES GOT A TOUCH OF THAT MAGIC PLAGUE! YOU ALL HEARD! THE ONE WHERE RATS START GROWIN' OUT OF THEM TO SPREAD THE PLAGUE EVEN FURTHER! WE GOTTA GET THESE TWO IDIOTS OUT OF TOWN BEFORE WE ALL GO DOWN!"
None of the passerbys moved and some even started to walk away until one spoke up.
"AND WHY THE 'ELL SHOULD WE DO ANYTHING 'BOUT THAT?! NONE OF MY CONCERN NO INNIT?!"
"NONE OF YOU'RE CONCERN?! AND IF THE TOWN IS RIDDLED WITH PLAGUE THEN WHERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING? THE CAPITAL?! YA DIMWIT MIGHT AS WELL THROW YOURSELF TO THE MAGIC KNIGHTS WHILE WEARING A BOW! THE TOWN'S THE ONLY SAFE HAVEN WE GOT! NOW HOW MANY OF YA IDIOTS ARE GOING TO HELP ME GET THESE IDIOTS OUTTA HERE BEFORE WE'RE SWIMMING WITH PLAGUE?!"
Several of the bystanders looked at each other, then moved to start helping.
"PUT A CLOTH OVER YOUR MOUTHS AND NOSES, DON'T WANT TO BE BREATHING IN WHATEVER GOT THESE TWO SICK!"
Several members of the crowd did as they were told, then grabbed the two men and began to move them towards the cities outskirts.
"YOU ALL SAW THEIR FACES! IF YOU SEE THEM AROUND TOWN MAKE SURE THEY'RE ESCORTED OUT! FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS! I HEAR THAT'S HOW LONG IT IS BEFORE EITHER YOU'RE CURED OR YOU DIE!"
As the crowd hauled away Amelie's neighbors, she waited for a few moments then went next door to their hovel.
"Not much in here that I could use... filthy... but maybe some things will be worth it..."
Picking up various supplies and anything she deemed useful, Amelie went back to her own shack and closed the door.
"You know, that trap went better than expected. I got rid of the rats, as well as my incredibly annoying neighbors. In fact, with my gift for ingenious strategy I may even have a knack for trap making. In fact, I bet traps would allow me much more versatility when it came to plotting out scenarios! But not just any traps... what would be truly marvelous is if I could use traps of a magical nature, as well as a physical... hmmm...."
Amelie smiled.
"Well, why not? Why couldn't I use magical traps? I've never heard of anyone using it, but just as magic spells can be sustained there should be no reason a type of magic, plotted on points to a surface could not also be maintained and used as a trap..."
Pulling out her grimoire, Amelie immediately decided to test her theory.
"First we will need some radii and vertices to stabilize the magic in a point. The magic very stable but also fragile, so that way when the pattern is disturbed, the system ignites and causes the necessary devastation... to test I'll make a miniature with extremely low power. At most, this should circuit, or trap if you will, should merely let out a bang."
Working carefully and intricately to make sure the magic was balanced, Amelie continued her work. It was painstaking, but then again to her knowledge, she was the first to ever try to use magic in this way. Not to mention that even if you told her she had only reinvented the wheel, Amelie would would insist that either her invention came first or that it was simply better in every possible way.
After several minutes passed, Amelie believed she had a working, functional, mini-trap composed of her own magic.
"My magic is quite versatile and can imitate the look of others, so for this small art work, I believe I should make it appear as a classic explosion, yes... I think imitating the explosion element would work perfectly here."
Finishing her small magical trap, Amelie took a few steps back.
"Best to practice some caution when experimenting with new things."
Opening her front door, Amelie found a small pebble, picked it up, then returned inside.
"This should do."
Taking the pebble, Amelie flicked it at the small trap she had created. When the pebble hit the circle, disturbing the magical symbol, it popped firing outward in blue, orange, yellow, and white glass.
Smiling devilishly, Amelie walked up to her experiment.
"It worked! Of course it worked... fufufu... I invented it. Now then, just to increase the size and mana capacity. Now knowing the miniature works, fufufu, it only stands to reason that the life-size version should work as well..."
