From: "Aaron Smith" Save Address Block Sender Subject: Fwd: Don't have a heart attack, but it's a post from Spiffy Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 18:25:37 PDT Okee, after discussing this with the rest of the Admin ppl, I'm going to have to say that for more than one reson, I'm going to have to say that the other writers aren't allowed to do the same thing I'm doing as to inserting myself into the plot... you'll understand what I mean once you read this: ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Aaron Smith" To: gall9262@kutztown.edu, spiffykun@hotmail.com, CyraLin@aol.com, skyechan@ptd.net Subject: Don't have a heart attack, but it's a post from Spiffy Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 22:31:41 PDT Okay, I'm sending this to JUST admin first, because this deals with a major issue as to narrator interaction. Keep in mind, I have little or no (Mostly no) control over plots that don't concern my characters, which I think would fit in with my role as a narrator IRL. Waddaya think, sirs?" Spiffy -=-=-=-=-=-= Spiffy stumbled up to his room, turned on his computer, and began to check his e-mail. All things concidered, he was haveing a rather stressful weekend. Between work and summer classes, he had very little free time to do anything. It didn't help that 3 of his friends - including his roommate - had been missing for over a month. The cops were looking for them, of course, but without a ransom note or any kind of lead, the only hope was that they'd turn up alive somewhere. "Wow, I've got a LOT of mail today. Let's see... spam, spam, letter from nobody, spam... letter from nobody?" Usually a lettter like this was just a spammer masking his return-to adress, but for some reason, Spiff didn't think so. All the subject said was "FARPG," so he clicked on the "Read Mail" button... And couldn't believe it. {insert post where Stana, Paul, and Teri get sucked into the FARPG world} "It's.. it's them! someone wrote a story about them!" Now he was totally intrigued. Pulling a little trick he knew, he checked the full header for the e-mail to see who'd sent it. Not only was it SENT by nobody, but it was sent TO nobody - both spots were blank. for all intents and purposes, this e-mail shouldn't even have existed. He read the whole e-mail, and looked for any more - of which there were plenty. "According to the dates on'em, these things are pretty old - so why'd it take so long for me to get'em?" Spiff rubbed his temples - he was tired, and probobly wasn't thinking clearly, but for some strange reason, he decided to write a reply. Why not? he'd just get an error messege anyway, saying you can't send mail without filling out the "to" column... He wrote something short and pointless, hit send, and... "It sent! I can't believe that sent!" Going back to his Inbox, he saw there was a new message. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There was a bright flash of light, and Stana, Teri, & co. were surprized to see a small, leathery creature run past them screaming: "Wonko! Wonko!Wonko!Wonko!Wonko!Wonko!Wonko!Wonko!Wonko!..." "Teri, it did NOT just yell what I think he just yelled,... did he?" "No. No way, it can't be... could it?" There was another bright flash of light, and a large bearded man carrying a huge battleaxe ran past, shouting: "GOBLIN!GOBLIN!GOBLIN!GOBLIN!GOBLIN!GOBLIN!GOBLIN!..." "WONKO?! But that's..." "...impossible! Wonko's just something Spiff made up, isn't he?" Clip and Shinji were still face-faulting at the whole event. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If Spiffy had been dumbfounded before, he most certainly was, now. "Okee, so let's recap what's going on - my friends are trapped in a fantasy e-mail world, and I can modify it by sending replys. Gotcha. Well, then! Count 3 friends coming back to the real world!" Post written, post sent. the plot was short and sweet, everyone ended up where they were supposed to be, and the message didn't send. "NO! You just WORKED! Why won't you work NOW?!" Spiffy glared at his Inbox for a while, then selected a letter at random, replyed to it... and it worked! "This is just getting WAY too freaky..." ------ Several days later... Gradually, he came to a realization. He couldn't really WRITE the plots that were going on... just influence them - push them this way and that by adding a detail here, a well-placed tree there. Any time he tried to do something drastic, the letter just wouldn't send. Most of the time even minor changes didn't work, but sometimes was better than none at all. As for now, he needed someone on the inside - someone who COULD alter the plot when he couldn't. Inspiration hit him, and he started typing. "This can't be right - how's a blind kid with no fighting experience gonna help?" Spiff found out soon enough. It seemed that whenever this character was involved in the plotline, he had more control. His stories seemed to write themselves, but he was able to save "Finn" from harm on more than one occasion - sometimes by doing a lot more then just BENDING the plot. "Okay, my friend, time to see if you're up to this. I can't force you to do something you don't want to do, but there IS a way for me to ask you. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Find out WHAT in my next e-mail