Take the brandy and pretend to drink it.
He offers me the brandy glass in his right hand, the one I'm certain he has just poisoned. I'm going to have to play this very carefully. One false move could be literally fatal!
My heartbeat is raised and my mind is racing. It's possible that my hands are shaking too, but I must not show a single sign that any of these are so. I take a measured breath in an attempt to calm myself - to appear impassive - and with a polite curl of my lip and a slight nod of appreciation I reach out and take the glass. My eyes never leave his, and his never leave mine...
We watch each other minutely for the slightest sign. He knows I'm doing just that, surely? He's watching me watching him for signs: mocking me! Playing this sick game for his amusement.
As I swill the dark liquid around the bulb of the large snifter, as I was taught to do, I buy myself invaluable seconds to think. He smiles at me and mirrors my action with his own, untainted, drink. I return the smile. He ups the ante and serves back a bigger smile. I volley it with what can only be described as a grin. An infinitesimal beat and he smashes the grin back with an unnerving peal of laughter, bordering on the manic. I do the same. My paranoia peaks and a wave of nausea swells from the pit of my being, as we stand there, face to face, in hysterics.
"Cheers", he practically screams.
"Cheers to you", I venture boldly.
We both tilt our drinks in the direction of the other and fluidly follow the motion through as if to drink...
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THE GOODS
You're currently reading a branch in the story
Outsmart. This branch
was posted on April 23, 2008 by
Very thorough. I like the description of Dias: "Depends on who you ask."
: )"
Sorry I haven't added to this in a while. I've been meaning to but lately I'm finding it incredibly difficult to find time to sit down and write something worth posting. I'll try to add soon!
♥"
I actually was going to have the last branch option say 'Cal [last name], but I was afraid that the choices would be too restrictive. Think I should go back and change it?"
Hmm I love the way every branch in this story ends with something like this. It's like a soap opera... they always have to stop right at the part you're dying to see. :P"
So, as you can see, we've got a Joe. My thoughts: perhaps it really is just a regular 'Joe', as it were, and not Dias at all. Or maybe it really *is* Dias, just under a pseudonym. I mean, if he really were as great as Cal said, would he just offer up his real name to every passing person who asked for it? Who knows, maybe he would...
So, read the situation however you please : D"
I did a lotttt of thinking about Edward's situation here, so don't take that reading lightly!
*is excited* :D"
I guess it's finally here!
Eeek :D"
lol, by the way, if that was all a lie, then it was pretty convenient when Gabrielle walked in and announced that she's pregnant, thereby forcing Edward to try to help Cal, not to mention giving Cal a chance to act horrified and convince Edward that his story is true.
So... not saying this is the way I want to take it, but Edward should still have plenty of doubt about the werewolf, or wereanimal story. Not that there's anything he can do about it... poor Edward :-/"
I was thinking the same thing with the modernization at first too. But, like you said, either way, Edward is in one hell of a pickle. He needs all the help he can get."
Jillian, I'm glad you finally dated it somewhat... I've been wondering what time period we're writing in. I keep wanting to give Edward a cell phone, but I wasn't sure if we wanted him to have internet or not... I was thinking the search for a cure might be more interesting without it. But now that you wrote that, I'm changing my mind... I think it's better to be modern, and have a huge overload of information on possible cures. Between Cal demanding that he cure him and not hurt him, and Nicolas demanding that he kill him and not cure him, Edward is going to have a hard time figuring out what to do."
For example, most cultures have the legend of a man turning into a beast with a full moon, but the specific animal often depends on the culture and which animal is feared in that region. In India, the legend is usually a man transforming into a tiger; in Africa, the legends tell of men transforming into ferocious hyenas.
It's a pretty interesting subject!"
:)"
They did put in parenthesis, however, that the werewolf would actually have to be *wearing* a belt, which I guess, isn't always a given."
I had momentarily forgotten about it until you mentioned it in a comment a few days ago."
:)"
FWIW, it'll get bleeped out if people aren't logged in or if they have the profanity filter turned on. If they're logged in and have it disabled, they'll see it. (It's not the greatest filter, but it gets the obvious stuff.)"
You know what I think would be fun? Making an addventure story where every branch had to be consistent with all the other branches, even the ones way down another path. So any characters, settings, events, etc. would have to be accounted for somehow.
Nice job branching. I can't figure out if I should pick it up in the 1st person or back to 2nd though..."
I've already thought of where I'm going to take this but I won't be able to post it until a little later."
Oooo the suspense!"