masteroftoys

Emily crouched low inside the old cupboard, peeking out through a thin crack she surveyed the area. The sound of whirring gears was heavy in the air. Suddenly the source of the noise came into view as a mechanical clown with a porcelain mask and evil glowing eyes shuffled past in the slow, methodical way all the toy clowns did. It walked within inches of the cupboard. Head constantly swiveling back and forth, looking. If Emily could breathe she would have held her breath. But the doll simply continued along, ignoring the slightly ajar door.

The sound of noisy turning gears softened to where Emily could only her the key slowly turning in her back. Signaling she was safe for the moment. No sooner had she let out a mental sigh of relief when once more she heard the sound grow louder. She thought for a moment that there was a second clown in the area, but she realized it was simply the first one returning to the past it came from. Watching it closely through the narrow slit in the door it shuffled past, heading for the basement. Looking away and up to the boarded up kitchen window she could see shafts of light peeking through the uppermost board edge, morning had finally come. She waited another twenty minutes, making sure every last one of the neigh-demonic toys had left before she climbed out and stretched her limbs.

Taking a moment to dust herself off, Emily did a quick check of herself. Hoping that something gad changed since the sun went down the night before. Tall black buckle shoes, white form-fitting pants with a red stripe running up the sides, red shirt with oversized buttons painted on, epaulettes, and a black tall-hat fastened to her head. Setting off across the kitchen she found the dust covered frying pan sitting against the bottom of the sink cabinet, wiling it off she saw her reflection in the shiny surface. Her face a constant smile, bright red dots on either cheek, and a key that slowly rotated behind her. Easily the brightest thing in the dark and abysmal house.

It had been five days, she reminisced, since she had come to be like this, she couldn’t remember why, or how she had come to be this way, but however the means, she had been trapped. She only remembered waking up standing in the middle of the dusty foyer, ten inches tall and transformed into a female version of the toy soldiers kids from the eighteen hundreds played with. Which, guessing from the look and feel of the house, it was at least that old. None of the clocks worked in the house, either too caked with dust and cobwebs or in need of winding to be of any use. So she wandered for unknown hours panicking and trying to find a way out. If she had only known the real terror would start once the sun went down.

As she found herself alone in the quickly darkening house, she was alerted to the sound much like the one the key in her back made as it constantly rotated . But far louder. Thinking she had found someone to help she made her way to the source, the kitchen, where she found herself face to face with half a dozen toys of equal size to her, but dressed in ragged and dark clothing. With each wearing a porcelain face, stylized as a clown. The beings turned as one and focused on her with glowing yellow eyes as they began to lumber toward her, arms outstretched.

Panicked, Emily fled, she was faster than the others, but not fast enough to ever make it out of sight, luckily the rooms on the ground floor were open with many interconnecting rooms. That, and the fact that the clowns only followed her directly allowed her to escape capture. If they could have planned to surround her they would have easily caught her, but luck was on her side for now. For when the sun came up the attackers gave up the chase and headed back down to the basement. After hiding for a few hours, sure the demons would be back any second, Emily gathered the courage to look down into the abyss. The entrance to the basement was a heavy wooden door, swung out over the steps leading up, leaving her with no way of closing the door. Looking down she saw the steps themselves went down for a short flight, before making a sharp turn to the right, blocking the sun. there was no other light from the basement, but pausing, she could hear the sounds of hears clicking and clacking naught but feet away. She imagined them waiting in the shadows slowly making their way upward as the sun set. With a shiver sunning through her plastic and metal body she fled away from the doorway and sought a place to hide.

That night, from the safety of the cupboard, she watched though the crack in the door as once more the clowns rose up from the basement. Their glowing eyes ever searching for her. Even the spiders inhabiting the many webs in the house seemed to shy away and crawl to the tops of their webs when they walked past. Emily noted that they didn’t move fast, Nor with purpose. Much like zombies in old horror flicks, before the directors started making them fast. A shudder raced up her key shaft imagining these evil clowns moving as fast as a normal person. Refocusing on the robots she found they randomly searched through the other cupboards in the kitchen. Opening one door, but not checking the other. One even opened the door to her cupboard, but she leaned back as far as she could, hiding behind a box of stale crackers. If she could have gasp she would have as the rays of light given off by the eyes came to rest on her foot. But she didn’t jump, didn’t dare move, and soon it closed the door and wandered off. Emily stayed laying down on her side the rest of the night, for the first time falling asleep.

She awoke in the morning of her third day at the house refreshed. She once more began looking for a way out of the house, but could find none on the first floor. The front door from which she had entered appeared to have no less then nine locks on it. Three deadbolts. Two chains, three latches, and a bar across the middle. They were far out of reach of the diminutive soldier-ette, and the chairs in the kitchen were made from heavy oak wood. She couldn’t even budge them. The windows of the house were boarded up with wood, only allowing sunlight through the cracks. She didn’t even have to try to know she had no hope of pulling the large nails that anchored them in place out. So, her only other option was the flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. She had ignored them before, because it seemed darker than the main floor, but she felt confident she knew the zombie-clown-robot-toys weren’t coordinated enough to climb, and they all moved to the basement in the daylight.

So she set out climbing the stairs. Even if she had been completely normal and shrunk to ten inches tall it would have been difficult. But the fact her limbs and joints moved with jerky and hard to control movements to the time of her key made it even harder than it should have. Luckily, she did find one of the perks of her new form she had failed to notice the first night. While the climbing was slow, once she got a pattern going she hardly had to stop. After fifteen steps concurred and only five to go she felt no more tired than when she started. Smiling inwardly she wish she could keep this stamina once she was turned back, which she was sure would happen as soon as she got out of this house.

Upon reaching the second floor she began searching the rooms, a master and two minor bedrooms, a large bathroom, and two broom closets revealed no exits. Te windows all boarded as on the first floor. At this time the sun had began to set and Emily weighed the safety of the second floor. She doubted the clowns could climb, and had saw none the entire time of searching. So she decided to stay up here for the duration of the night. She entered the master bedroom and used a bedpost to climb onto the bed. Happy to be somewhere soft, but slightly annoyed by the fact that she couldn’t “feel” that it was soft. But better to dwell on things like that then the fact she has been unsuccessful at escaping. Again the sun set and Emily closed her eyes imagining the clowns searching the bottom floor, unable to find their prey. As she laid there on her stomach with her hands resting beneath her chin she began to realize the clacking noises in her head were very loud indeed.

Opening one eye she looked around searching for the noise. The clicking noise was accompanied by a faint scraping sound. Focusing on the far wall she realized with a sinking feeling it was coming from laundry shoot. While unpopular in modern times, this house had several shoots that must have lead directly to the basement where the washer machine would be. But surly, those things couldn’t climb up a sheer metal shaft? No sooner had she said it aloud to herself then the hatch to the shoot swung inward, revealing three yellow-eyed robots.

They stood on a platform suspended with wires, they must have used it like a tram to get to the second floor. She didn’t have long to contemplate it as all three raised their arms and stumbled forward onto the hamper sitting in front of the shoot. The three continued lowering themselves onto nearby furniture that Emily had completely overlooked that they formed a almost perfect set of stairs. Emily remained n top of the bed, still hoping they couldn’t climb the way she had. The clowns neared the edge of the bed and raised their arms, trying to reach the unreachable. Emily had half a second to sigh with relief before she felt a slight shift under her feet looking down over the edge she was the three robots had grabbed fistfuls of the bed sheet and had began pulling. The only managed to budge the heavy blanket an inch, they would need more than three to pull her over. She didn’t even allow herself to feel the relief this time as she tried to recall if there had been laundry shoots in the other rooms. The arrival of six more clowns answered her question. All nine of the monstrosities began pulling, slowly shifting the top blanket off the edge, inch by inch. Emily simply backed up in time to the pull. Maintaining her place. Soon they pulled the uppermost blanket off and had started on the second. Emily easily managed not to fall off the edge once again. However, she noticed the sound of clicking was getting slightly louder. Timing it so she wouldn’t fall over the edge she peeked down. The robots had finished with the second blanket, and had piled it close to the bed atop the second. They were making a ramp!

Cursing them aloud, which they ignored as they continued to pull relentlessly, Emily grabbed the edge of the sheet they were pulling on and began to pull back. With nine verses one it was hardly a fight and she was forced to let go or be pulled off. The creature’s heads were now in sight over the edge as they grabbed at the last sheet and pulled. The sheet was fitted to the bed, and thus took longer than the others to start, but they strained until it came loose. Standing on the bed itself an idea sprang into Emilie’s head. Grabbing the end she walked it to the end of the bed as the clowns pulled it closer. She waited until there was just enough slack to execute the plan. She waited for them to finish with a down stroke and let go, then, she gave the biggest leap she had ever attempted in her life. With her slow and jerky legs it wasn’t far, but it was far enough she dragged the sheet over the robot’s heads and used the momentum to yank them from their spot atop the pile. She landed with a ‘thud” on her now plastic butt and skidded to a stop a few inches away from the mess of squirming blankets that contained her assailants. Using her head start she ran from the room into the nearby broom closet, behind a bucket of cleaning supplies for the rest of the night.

Upon morning’s light she left her closet and began looking through the area, she knew what she wanted, and could only hope she could find it. Thoughts raced through her mind about last nights events. In hindsight she recalled the most important thing she had seen since coming here. The first three clowns had ridden a fully functional lift up two stories. Those clowns were too dumb to figure out how to climb stairs, let alone construct something like that. She continued her search throughout the upper closets, and bathrooms. Not finding what she was looking for she headed downstairs. Going down the flight of stairs proved far more trouble than going up. She could either get down on her knees and schootch her way off onto the lower step, or she could try sitting down and sliding off facing out. Shimmying back on her jointed hands and knee was far safer, but painfully slow, as she had a hard time looking past her own shoulders, her neck very limited in it’s movements. But going facing outward was far faster, but equally dangerous. She almost fell the first three times she tried, her legs not being able to bend the way she wanted, and her plastic body not having a good sense of equilibrium. In the end she choose the slow way, calling herself a turtle as she lowered herself down.

Once on the lower level she gazed up to the windows and guessed it was just about noon, she had gotten better at guessing the time the longer she had been there. She quickly began rummaging through the cabinets and cupboards realizing the food was mostly five to six years expired.

I LIVE!!!!!!

Well it’s been weeks since I’ve updated this. “Why” I hear you ask. Because I’m lazy.

　

While I don’t have anything truly fun to post. I will post a link to Mech-toys blog spot, where they have a lovely video of the greatest marionette controllers in all of SL, they allow you to control the movement of whomever is wearing the strings, pose them, change outfits, and an amazing amount of other things to keep both puppet master and puppet happy.

http://mech-toys.blogspot.com/

http://www.disneycastmagic.com/galleries/2007-07-13-britt/images/IMG_8973.JPG

Breathtaking . . .

I miss it. ;-(

Here is a petition to show your appreciation to the creators how much we all enjoyed it and how much we want to get it back.

While looking through the vast and endless internet today, I happened upon this little find. Sadly there’s not much information or pictures out there, but I’m trying to find out more.

Toy castle is a show based off the story of the Tin Soldier. It involves the day to day life of a group of toys. Including a ballerina, toy soldier, Rag doll, and a china doll. Ignoring the fact that this is a kids program is impossible, as the characters rarely speak and, in true British style, the story is narrated by a Michael Caine clone.

However, the costumes are quite interesting. The Rag doll looks adorable, If not slightly odd as the woman plying the part is clearly oriental but wearing a blond wig that rarely covers up her real hair. The real fun is that the doll’s arms are extra long, and flop around when she moves, this gives a clear effect of being a rag doll, as well as the fact tht she would be completely unable to get out of her own costume as her hands are inside the long floppy arms . . . 8-)

 

The china doll is the one that caught my eye, the yarn hair and outfit are incredibly doll like, and the way the woman is portrayed walking adds to the effect. At this point it’s a good thing to point out that all actors are professional ballet dancers. The makeup on her is fr better then the rag doll, and I daresay the actress is the best looking of the cast. (it’s a toss up between her and the adorably floppy rag doll)

Michael Caine clone.

Interesting Meme
If you saw a police car with ME in it, what would you think I got arrested for?

Post your answer here and then post this question on your LJ and see how many crimes you get accused of!

The dice scattered across the table, well not that far considering Aisha was now only a foot high. Moving her piece the designated five spaces she came to a blue square. “Not good.” she muttered as a card sprang out of the slot.

“Do you need some help?” Jenifer asked, smiling, as the diminutive Aisha walked over to the card dispenser.

“No, I can get it myself.” Aisha replied feeling miffed that she was so small while the others were all taller then her. Even Phoebe stood a few inches over her head. The normally small playing card was now the size of a sign you’d expect to see a fan waving at a football game, the letters now nearly half the size of her hand. At just under ten inches tall reading the card while holding it was nearly impossible. Putting the card on the group she read aloud. “You’re almost complete, why don’t you have a little fun and unwind?”

Phoebe stiffened a giggle, “Well we know it has something to do with your key, Hey, you need to start giving better hints, these are getting old!” she yelled to the game as she gave it a playful lick with one of her pointed shoes. Aisha was about to rebuke Phoebe, but found that it was suddenly becoming hard to move. Slowly she turned her head and held her arms out to see them gaining a dull sheen, her skin smoothing out as birthmarks and the different shades of her skin melted into a solid color, looking almost like a rich, dark, chocolate. Lined formed on her skin and soon began imprinting themselves deeper and deeper into her skin.

A wave of panic hit her, she had been shrunk, her hair changed, to yarn, even a key placed on her back, but she had never felt them happen, they just simply appeared. This time she could feel her new joints forming, pins and gears inside her turning, and all the wile she couldn’t do anything but watch. She realized she had stopped breathing, she no longer needed to. Her nose now nothing more then an ornament on her face which was now pulling back into a smile. She tried to bring her hand up to her face, but it only responded in short, jerky movements. The changes continued over her body, she could feel the wings which had only been attached to her new dress now pull themselves in and join with her body, gears inside her reaching up to meet them. Her legs felt the same, becoming lighter, hollow, their movements slowing just as her arms had.

And then it was done. She felt the changes stop, and all was still, actually she didn’t have much of a choice. She tried to lower her arm, but found it stuck in position a few inches in front of her face. She also felt dangerously off balance, but was unable to right herself. Once more the feeling of panic flowed through her, is this what Jenifer had gone through when she had been transformed into a bird? June as a dummy? Had they been aware of it? What if there was no way to reverse the changes and she was stuck like this for the rest of her life? Of course as a toy she couldn’t age, and thus would be stuck this way forever. Her thoughts raced faster and faster as she imagined herself sitting in a landfill for all time.

Back at normal human airspace things were noticeably calmer. “Is she alright?” June asked looking down at the prone form of her friend. “What should we do?”

“I don’t know,” Jenifer replied, scratching her straw hat. Half wondering what was going on, and the other half wondering if she could use this turn of events to get out of the game sooner. “Do you think if we wound her up and had her toss the dice we could . . .”

“NO!” June and Phoebe yelled in unison. “Hello, remember last time you tried cheating?” June asked waving a hand over her wooden face.

“Wait, you tried cheating on a magical board game?” Jason asked letting out a burst of laughter. “I don’t think anyone’s tried that, and for good reason I see.”

“In my defense it would have worked if the game hadn’t been self aware.” she said jabbing a finger at June. While the boy, scarecrow, and dummy talked over head Phoebe had been examining her newly dollified friend. Reaching out behind her she grabbed hold of the key and gave a small twist.

Ok, for the past three days I’ve been trying to log into my Stuckposing account, and for some reason find myself unable to do that. I plug in my name and password, but then when I hit the “log in” button I’m sent to a dead end blank page. Not sure if this is a problem on my end or not.

The dice scattered across the table until they stopped on a one and a six. moving her piece seven spaces she came to stop on a black square on the board.

“Was that there before?” Aisha asked looking down on the ominous black square. Looking over the board they could see there were no other squares of the same color at the time. But since when did that mean anything? Picking up the card that had just popped out she read; “Congratulations, you’re half way there. So now you get to pick. Red or Blue?”

“What does that mean? Red or Blue?” Phoebe asked looking at the cards.

“I’m betting it means she gets to chose what color square she wants to land on. Blue for body transformation, and red for mental.” Jenifer said looking at the card herself.

“Umm, I think I’m going with blue, I’ll pass on the mental changes.” Aisha replied casting a look over at June who was still staring off into space with a broad smile on her face. No sooner had she said that when another card sprang from the slot. Picking this one up Aisha read once more. “You chose blue, and sense you’re acting like a clown why don’t you look like one as well.” Aisha had enough time to roll her eyes before the changes began.

The first thing that happened was a large jester’s cap suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was Green with yellow stripes and yellow fuzzy pompoms at the tips. Her shirt also turned green with large buttons down the front. A duffle appeared around her neck that stood out as if starched to the point it was more like cardboard then cloth. Smaller duffels appeared around her wrists all ending with yellow pompoms.

Her legs were suddenly covered in green and white stripped tights,

 

 

 

 

Jenifer took the dice from Aisha and began rolling them in her hands. Pausing for a moment she brought a gloved finger up to her mouth and looked at the board, the wheels in her head almost visibly turning. “You know, I wonder if-”

“NO!” Aisha and Phoebe shouted in unison, not even bothering to hear what Jenifer was about to propose.

“What? You had no idea what I was going to say, And if it’s a way to get this over with faster I’d think you’d be happy about it.” the straw covered girl said in reply.

Without a word Aisha reached over and grabbed June who was still sitting in the same position she had been for the last ten minutes. Pulling her over to her lap she reached behind the dummy’s back and began working the mouth. “Hi, remember me? I got turned into a dummy because I listened to one of your ideas on how to cheat the game.” Aisha made June say, using badly timed ventriloquism.

“Fine.” Jenifer said letting out a sigh and looking away from her toy-ified roommate. She twirled the dice in her hands a few more time before letting them drop on the board. A four was rolled and Jenifer moved her piece accordingly. It was a green square.

“How is the place going to get much more transformed then this?” Phoebe asked looking around at the park they now sat in. as if in response a card popped out.

“You’ve spent too much time scaring the birds, try being one until your next turn.” Jenifer said reading the card. “What? I thought green effected the area!” she didn’t have time to finish protesting as she suddenly felt herself getting smaller. The hat on her head seemed to be growing at an alarming rate. The scarecrow outfit slid down overtop of her as she felt the changes continue. Her skin became hard and black as feather impressions appeared. But she wasn’t just turning into a bird, she noticed as joints formed on her transforming arms. She, as well as most everything in this game, was a toy bird. As she finished changing the hat completely covered her, leaving her in darkness.

A few seconds later light once more shown in as the hat was removed Jenifer saw the now giant faces of her friends. “Are you alright?” Phoebe asked extending a finger down. Jenifer took a Shaky step onto her hand and was immediately lifted up to eye level. “I think she’s a crow. Kind of ironic.”

“Ironic.” Jenifer found herself saying unintentionally.

“Wait, Crows don’t talk. Ravens do.” Aisha interjected upon hearing the bird speak.

“Raven’s do.” Jenifer once more said. “Ugg, this is going to get old.” she thought mentally.

“What’s that on her back?” Aisha said leaning closer and examining a switch on her back.

“Should we turn it?” Phoebe asked ignoring Jenifer as she repeated the tail ends of what they said. The two girls looked at each other and gave a shrug before Aisha reached out and flipped it. Suddenly Jenifer felt her wings extending on their own and begin flapping quickly. Phoebe jumped back in surprise and nearly dropped her, but by this point Jenifer had gained enough lift to take off. And take off she did. She was mechanically flying around the room as the two others gasped in shock. Skimming low over the pond she avoided a frog in mid jump. She couldn’t truly control where she went, just how she got there. After three times around the room she felt her wings angle to spiral back down to the table and land.

If she could have talked she would have let out a yell of enjoyment, that had to have been one of the most amazing things she had ever done. She looked up at Aisha again hoping she’d flip the switch again.

“Was that fun?” the clown asked looking down.

“Fun!” the bird replied mechanically

 

“Ok, that makes it my turn.” Phoebe said as she picked up the dice and rolled them in her hand, pausing to flip the switch on Jenifer’s back and send the bird flying around the room for the third time.

With a flick of her hand she sent the dice scattering across the table. Moving her game piece the nine spaces as directed it came to rest on a yellow space. “Wait, what’s a yellow space do? We haven’t landed on one of those.” she asked looking expectantly at where Jenifer had sat a few minutes ago, but found no help as the mechanical bird made yet another joyous lap around the room.

As expected by this point a card popped up from the slot and Phoebe read it aloud. “Look to the player directly across from you, and switch. Then both make one minor change.”

“Well what does that mean? Switch places?” Aisha asked scratching her head, causing her hat to flop as she did so. Her question was answered as suddenly she felt her hair weaving itself together into yarn. Pulling a strand out she could see it had kept her natural black color. At the same time she felt her hat seem to disappear into thin air along with her neck duffle. Her clothes turned from green back to a sweater and jeans.

Across the table, Phoebe was undergoing her own changes. Her hair returned to normal hair, losing the yellow color and turning back to the original platinum blonde. Few face, however, was quickly turning a pasty white. Red dots appeared on her cheeks, but rather then being perfectly round, they were shaped like hearts, her lips turned a matching red as they pulled themselves into an adorable pucker. A hat materialized on top of her head, it was more of a cap with a spring extending from the top, atop the spring was a large red diamond that bobbed as phoebe turned her head.

A duffle appeared around her neck. Looking as if it was made from large playing cards. Her t-shirt and sweatpants she had been wearing quickly turned into a red and black one piece jester outfit that showed off Phoebe’s curves nicely. Upon her chest a black club and spade appeared in the upper red quarter.

“Ooh, you look cute with yarn hair!” Phoebe said jumping up and down in her seat, her hat bobbing forward and back as she did.

“Thanks,” Aisha said leaning back, and rubbing her temples. It felt like she had been on the mother of all sugar highs and had suddenly taken a relaxant. However she knew where the ‘sugar’ had gone as she looked across at the now exuberant Phoebe. At that moment Jenifer landed on the table in front of them and looked quizzically up at the two. “Yes, we switched.” Aisha said holding out the card as Phoebe cooed at the pretty bird. But even as she held the card in her hand she felt something happen. A spot on her back began to itch, it grew worse and worse until there was a literal “pop!” noise form behind her. Turning around she saw a pair of huge green speckled wings that shimmered as they twitch.

“Ooh! Pretty!” the clown said clapping her gloved hands together. While Aisha hadn’t noticed any physical changes, phoebe had been acting more clown-like then she had. At least she thought so.

“Ok, June is still sitting a turn out, so that makes it my turn.” Aisha said picking up the dice. But as she did she heard the last sound in the world she wanted to hear. A knock on the front door.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” the voice asked. Aisha quickly recognized it as the girl from the next dorm, Vicky. And where Vicky was her minion Kimberly was three steps behind.

Aisha held a finger to her lips to tell the other, well mostly Phoebe to be quiet. The clown nodded silently in acknowledgement, then in a singsong voice called out “Nobody’s ho-ome!” Aisha could have slammed her head into the table in frustration.

“Is everything alright in there?” Vicky called out.

“Yep, everything is just dandy. Thanks for checking, swing by later we’ll talk.” Aisha replied hopping the two would just leave.

“Really? Then you might want to explain why the outside wall looks like it’s made form children’s blocks.”

Turning to the small board game Aisha gave it a leer while muttering, “I hate you.”

 

 

 

 

“Hey, look what I found.” Phoebe said walking into the dorm room holding a old box in her arms. Phoebe was twenty one years old and in her second year of collage. Her platinum blond hair was cut to a bob and her skin was still retaining the tan she from summer even though it was already late November. Phoebe has always been the inquisitive type of girl that couldn’t leave things alone. Her latest adventure has taken her to the basement of the dorm building.

The building itself was over a century old, as it originally was the school itself. But when the school had received a grant some forty years ago they had opted to build and entirely new building and turn the existing building into the girls dorm room. The men’s dorm room was located on the other side of the school and was fairly new when compared to the aged edifice the girls called home.

Regardless of the condition of the building, there were never ending opportunities of entertainment for those who looked. For instance, Phoebe had found that the room that she and the other three girls shared had once been a science classroom, which apparently held a revolving wall panel that lead to a hidden room that must have been used for storage at one point. It now served as a walk in closet and was the envy of the floor. But even that was mundane to what she had just discovered.

In the basement, across the boiler room there always sat a picture of the founding dean of the collage. Nobody ever dared to move it as it was thought to be haunted. It’s eyes seemed to follow whom ever entered the poorly lit area. But Phoebe could care less about silly things like ghosts of respected elders. Upon moving the heavy picture she found a small knob that looked like one you would expect to see on a bank vault. Pausing to think of the date the school was founded she turned the knob to the appropriate numbers. As expected there was a faint “Click” followed by a loud rumbling from behind her. Turning around she peered into the boiler room only to find a entire section of the brick wall had pulled back to form a doorway.

The room was vacant of light, save for the light from the room outside. But Phoebe could still find her way around. In the dim light she could make out a large, empty room. The only thing in the room was a hanging light with a long broken bulb, and something sitting over in the corner. Walking over she found it was a tin box, the outside was covered with a thick layer of dust, and the underside of the box was covered with rust, but she could make out the words on the top. “Egnhcyot.”. was all it read. Seeing there was nothing else in the room she quickly took her new prize back up to her dorm room.

 

“What’s that?” asked Jenifer, as she looked over the edge of her text book. Jenifer was one of the smartest girls in school. She was a full year younger then the rest of the girls in the dorm, but was doing the same classes, in fact she was doing better at them then most. Her hair was a strawberry blonde, recently cut to shoulder length, and matched the color of her glasses. One of the ongoing jokes about Jen was the fact that her nose was so small that her glasses wouldn’t stay in place. Causing her to constantly adjust them and push them back up into place. She was also known for playing with her glasses whenever she became nervous or was trying to get people’s attention.

“It looks like an old cake tin. Whatever’s in there I don’t want any, and I don’t care how good you’re grandma’s cake is.” Came a reply from the other side of the room. Sitting at the desk was Aisha. Aisha was the oldest of the group. And frankly the mother figure to all. She was African American with mocha colored skin. Her hair was pulled back into braids with a red handkerchief tied to keep her hair from falling into her face. Aisha was the one that kept the rest of her friends out of trouble. When she wasn;t causing it herself.

“I found it in the basement in a secret room.” Phoebe said sitting it down on the coffee table. “It says two to six players. Where’s June?”

“Three guesses and the first two don’t count.” Said Aisha rolling her eyes. June, well June was know as one of the prettiest girls in the school. If not the most vain. When she wasn’t going out with every single male on campus she could be found shopping, getting dressed. Or applying makeup in the bathroom. Her hair changed on a daily basis, ranging from subtle alterations in color to wild colors that would make the passerby do a double take.

“Hey, Mrs. Mascara, get out here!” Phoebe yelled down the hallway towards the bathroom. There was a sound on an opening door as June appeared down the Hallway, her hair died a shiny black and now reached almost the entire way down her back despite the fact that only this morning it was at shoulder length.

“Alright, what’s the commotion about?” She asked, a slight New York accent playing across her voice.

“Indiana Jones just found a box in the basement, it looks like its for a game.” Aisha announced at Phoebe pried open the lid. Removing the contents the group found a board and several game pieces. The board was styled with vibrant colors. A path made of different colored spaces stretched around the board in a spiral. In the center was an open space, They soon found this was meant for a small tin item which Jen guessed held cards. But when the leaver to release the cards was pressed nothing happened.

June sat down on the opposite side from Phoebe and grabbed the pieces. They were simple pieces, in multiple colors, that looked like they belonged on a Sorry board. “I’m free ‘till eight.” She said laying a purple pierce on the “Start” zone. The rest followed suit.

“Well there aren’t any instructions.” Phoebe mused looking over the rusted box as the others took their places around the coffee table.

“Well lets just play it like Candy land.” June said picking up two dice that came in the box and rolling them in her hand. “Ok, so I’ve played it a few times more then you guys have.” she said seeing the smirks on her friend’s faces. With that she let the dice drop on the board and looked at the result. A two and a three, she moved her piece forward to land on a Blue colored square. As soon as she sat the piece on the board there was a humming from the small tin box as a card popped from a slot in the top.

The girls stared at the card in shock for a few seconds before Aisha picked it up and read it aloud. “Welcome to the game. Players shall move in clockwise turns. Upon receiving a card it must be followed or penalties will be applied. The game will not end until one player reaches the end of the path. Return the cards to the slot after reading.” Aisha turned the card over in her hand looking for more information, but it was blank. “Well that’s it.” she said handing the card back to June, who promptly pt it back into the slot. No sooner had she done this then another card popped up from the slot. This time she picked it up and read it silently.

“What did it say? Jen asked seeing the puzzled look on June’s face as she slit the card back into the slot.

“It said I Shouldn’t worry so much about my makeup. I have plenty of blush already.” the raven haired woman replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Aisha had just picked up the dice and was about to roll when she let out a gasp as she looked back up at June. For June’s cheeks had suddenly turned a bright red color as if it had been stung by a bee. But there was no swelling and the mark was a perfect circle.

“You need to go look in the mirror.” Phoebe said staring in shock as June’s lips turned an equally bright red. June ran from the room at breakneck speed towards the bath room. Aisha held three fingers into the air, then slowly brought them down one by one in a countdown. The instant the third finger was folded a blood curdling scream was heard.

“Look what that thing did to me!” June yelled tearing down the hallway back to the living room.

“Don’t be absurd, a game couldn’t cause that. it’s just a coincidence.” Jenifer said rolling her eyes. Aisha and Phoebe weren’t so sure however as they looked at each other and Aisha laid the dice down on the board.

“I’m sorry.” Aisha said, but that’s little too weird.” the dark-skinned woman said pointing to June’s face. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a card popping from the slot. Carefully picking it up she read it aloud. “Please move your piece three spaces.” looking down she saw that in fact the dice showed a one and a two.

“Ok, How the hell did it do that?” June asked still rubbing her cheeks in hopes the marks would come off.

Slowly Aisha moved her piece forward into a red space, A moment later a card sprang up. “Stop being so serious, laugh more.”

“And what the hell does that even mean?” June once more asked. While dabbing foundation she had magically produced from nowhere.

“I don’t know.” Aisha replied stifling back a giggle. “But I suddenly feel like I need to tell a joke.”

“Now do you believe?” Phoebe asked turning to a flabbergasted Jenifer. Who in turn was looking at the board as if it would suddenly jump out at her.

“Ok, the simplest approach of action would be to just put the stupid game away and have a doctor look at June’s face. It’s just a stupid board game and that’s it. Nothing more.”

“And I’m sure it just happens to know what you rolled without the use of any kind of computer chips. And that whatever the cards say magically happen?” Phoebe asked in reply.

“No, there’s no such thing as a magic children’s board game. That’s just insane.” Jenifer replied rubbing her temples.

“Then why are you afraid of rolling the dice then?” Phoebe said with a smirk crossing her face.

“Why don’t we just put the thing away?” June asked sitting back down, still looking in a handheld mirror to see her face.

“Didn’t you read the directions?” Aisha asked her giggling slightly. “The game doesn’t stop until one person reaches the end.”

“Wait, that means if we don’t finish the game I could be stuck looking like this for the rest of my life?” June asked, her voice nearing a scream. Aisha and Phoebe nodded as Jenifer let out a moan.

“Fine, this will prove it.” Jenifer said picking up the dice and giving them a toss. The small cubes bounced across the board before coming to rest showing two sixes. “Well that’s the highest anyone has gotten so far.” she muttered moving her piece. No sooner did she stop then a card sprang from the tin box. Jenifer gently picked it up and laid it face down without even looking at it.

“What are you doing? Read the card.” June urged.

“No, I’m going to prove it doesn’t magically know what we’re doing. It has no way to know that I didn’t read the card. And even more so it won’t -” But her speech was cut short as yet another card sprang up. Before June could grab it Aisha picked it up and read it aloud.

““Your first card’s effects will be increased. READ YOUR CARD.”, Well there goes your theory.” she said as she slid the card back into the slot.

“Fine,” June said picking up her card. “don’t look so stern, you’ll scare the birds. Oh wait, that’s your new job.”

“Well what the hell does that mean?” June asked looking around the room for signs of birds.

“How should I know what this ‘magic’ game wants?” She replied waving her hands thru the air in mocking manners. It was at that time when she felt the itch. It started with her back as she felt something brushing under her shirt. The sensation quickly spread across her body as she began to try to reach the itch. Her friends asking if she was all right. She Jenifer looked over her shoulder she was shocked to see her light blue, cotton shirt changing into a heavy burlap material. Her pants also were undergoing the same transformation as she felt the itching travel down. A brown jacket, also made of burlap appeared over her still blue shirt and gloves formed over her hands. A moment later a floppy gardening hat appeared on her head, and her strawberry blond hair suddenly seemed to turn thick and wiry.

Her friends gasped in shock as straw suddenly shot out from under her newly formed jacket, along with poking from random spots on her person. Her face was still the same, only framed by hair that now looked more like straw. Phoebe was pretty sure there was straw mixed into it in fact.

“What the . . .” Jenifer trailed off looking at herself. “Ok, this is not happening, This CANNOT be happening!” she yelled standing up and trying to take the gloves off her hands. Now standing up her friends could see a small pastel pink skirt had formed over the legs, and there was a loud rustling sound as she moved. “Why Won’t this come off?” she growled trying now to take off her jacket. It too would not budge.

“You’re going to kill me for saying this, Nut you look adorable.” Aisha said looking up at her straw covered friend. There was a small nod from both the other girls as they agreed.

“I don’t want to look like an adorable scarecrow, I want this off me. I’m still normal under here I just can’t get this off!” with that Jenifer let out an exasperated sigh and slumped back down to the floor, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to find a spot to rest her head on the ring of straw that not ran around the neckline of her shirt and jacket.

“Ok, why did June only get rosy cheeks, but Jenifer gets turned into a scarecrow?” Phoebe asked.

“I am not a scarecrow, it’s only an costume.” Jen replied. “And I think it has something to do with the amount of spaces you move. June moved five, I moved twelve, and then got it increased. And we both landed on blue squares while Aisha landed on a red. Our changes were physical while hers seemed mental. Which leaves the question what do the yellow and green squares do?”

Phoebe was shocked that her friend had been playing that much attention to the details. Even though she had just nearly been turned into a scarecrow, a rather cute one albeit, she was still thinking three steps ahead of the others. “Well I guess that leaves me to roll before the game gets mad at me.” She said trying to lighten the mood with a joke. The only reaction was a laugh from Aisha. With that she picked up the dice and rolled them across the board. She looked thru squinted eyes to see the dice now showed eleven. With a mental ’gulp’ she picked her piece up and moved it to a green square as a card popped up once more.

Phoebe reached out and picked the card up as if it was the source of all evil in the world. Holding it up to eye level she read it. “Toy land, toy land, for every girl and boy . . . Land.” she said reading the card and then turning it over to see if there was anything else. Seeing nothing she slid it back into the slot and sat back down on the floor. “Well nothing so far. Maybe the green squares don’t do anything?”

But even as she said that she noticed that the coffee table seemed to be turning green, spreading out slowly like a water stain. As it quickly enveloped the table she could see it wasn’t just turning green, but different shades of green. At the same time it was reshaping, it’s legs grew thicker and it’s back arched, while still remaining flat on top. A head suddenly appeared from below, the table had quickly turned into a large plastic turtle. The effects quickly spread down the legs and onto the floor, which also started undergoing the changes. The wooden floor started changing colors, reds, blues, greens, yellows, at appeared totally random at first, but soon began segmenting out into perfectly shaped interlocking squares. At the same time it lost it’s wooden texture and became foamy to the touch.

The couch, which Aisha had been sitting on suddenly appeared to eat it’s own fabric and metal, leaving only wood. The wooden planks quickly enlarged and multiplied to create a trunk. Aisha let out a yelp as suddenly the lit which was once the seat opened up, tossing her upward to have her fall inside. Then close once she landed.

The girls quickly jumped up to help their entrapped friend, ignoring the fact that the outer wall seemed to be reforming into large building blocks. With various numbers and letter painted across their pastel colored fronts. The inner wall leading out to the rest of the dorm seemed to stay the same other then all the pictures and anything else hanging on it suddenly being sucked in to it. It then turned into a mural depicting a park with green rolling hills and a ducks with large keys sticking from their backs in mid waddle.

The effects continued to the kitchen/dining room where the refrigerator, oven and sink seemed to suddenly turn to pink plastic. The wood cabinets also turned to plastic, but blue in color. The kitchen table’s legs seemed to melt as the table and chairs turned into a small pond. The plates and silver wear turned into the ducks and various fish respectively. The standing lamps that dotted the room all became thicker and turned a brown color, turning into large plastic trees. The room became dark as the lamps disappeared, only to become bright once more as a picture of the sun wearing sunglasses rose onto the ceiling.

Aisha was out of the new toy box by now and was watching the changes along with the rest of the girls. Turning she eyed Phoebe along with the rest. “Ok, so I was wrong, the green spaces do cause changes.” she said looking down as suddenly another card popped up. Reaching down she picked it up and read it. “P.S. I like your new hair.”

“Oh my god. You hair.” June said reaching over and grabbing a handful of Phoebe’s hair. It was suddenly becoming very stiff along with lengthening. Within seconds it was down her back. And now Bright yellow yarn. “Don’t, Say. A. Word.” Phoebe growled thru clenched teeth as Aisha let out a bellow of laughter.

 

Phoebe didn’t have time to stay mad as suddenly one of the wandering ducks attempted to make a meal out of her toes. She picked up the wind-up toy and sat it inside the toy box they had just saved Aisha from.

“Ok, so that makes me next.” June said picking up the dice. Even with the bright red dots on her cheeks Phoebe could tell she looked pale. And from the looks she kept sneaking at Jenifer phoebe could tell she was fearing the same thing would happen to her.

“Wait.” Jenifer said sitting up from her position on the ground, her straw rustling as she did so. “I’m on the twelfth space, and there are around fifty spaces. The larger amount you move the more you change, but I’m not sure if moving twelve spaces all at once is any worse then moving twelve a little at a time.”

“And you point is?” June asked still shaking the dice in her hand.

“My point is this; All it says you have to do is make it to the end, so I’d be better to get large numbers to get there quickly.”

“Right.” Aisha said chuckling. “We’ll just make sure we all roll really high numbers because those dice really listen to what you have to say.”

“Who said anything about rolling. Just roll them very gently so they “Just so happen” to have a large number.” Jenifer said in reply.

“I don’t know, the last time you tried getting a leg up on the game didn’t turn out too well.” phoebe said poking Jenifer on the straw filled hat.

“Just do it. What do you have to lose?”

“Umm, try my humanity.” June said pointing down to the board then to Jenifer herself.

“It’s still me, I’m just dressed as a scarecrow and I can’t get it off!” The smaller girl replied pushing her glasses back into place.

“The how do you feel about me lighting a cigarette?” Aisha asked smiling.

“No, I’d rather not be around any flame producing items at the moment.” Jenifer said scooting back slightly. “But come on, the sooner we have this game over with the sooner I can quit scratching.”

“Fine, whatever.” With that June ‘rolled’ the dice by picking them up and setting them down on the board with sixes showing and a small plop. Once again there was a small ‘ding’ as a card shot out. June picked it up and began to read it, but quickly put the card down, blowing on her fingers. The rest of the girls looked at the card as it began to glow red hot and large letters began to appear across it. This time however the words were all in capital letters, and they were drawn in an elegant fount compared to the other cards.

“You cheated. You were caught. You must pay the price. Worse, is that it wasn’t even your idea to cheat, but you went through with it anyway. We all can see who’s the Dummy in this act.” Phoebe read as the card slowly turned back to regular paper.

“The game sounded pissed.” June said looking down at the card. “I landed on a red square, doesn’t that mean mental?”

However the reply she was waiting for didn’t come as suddenly she felt something in the small of her back. Turning around she tried to see what it was, bit nothing looked out of the ordinary. However the feeling persisted and spread outwards, giving her a hollow feeling as it did.

“What’s wrong?” Aisha asked seeing June looking behind her.

“I don’t know, it feels weird. Can you see anything?” with that she turned around and pulled up the back of her shirt, but the sight made the others gasp in shock. For it now looked as though her skin around her back had turned to wood, and there was now a large hole in the center of her back. The effects seemed to be growing as well, turning her skin into wood at an alarming rate. When the effects reached her hips she suddenly fall forward onto the toy box she had been sitting on. Phoebe helped her turn around and sit back down. But the effects continued.

Her face suddenly pulled into a content smile as wood grain appeared. The red dots on her cheeks grew darker standing out even more with her now wooden face. For a moment she was solid wood, unable to move. But then two thin lines appeared from the edges of her mouth

and traveled down until her mouth opened with a ‘clack’.

Her outfit was swiftly replaced with a effeminate back tuxedo, her hair shortened onto a ponytail which promptly turned to wood. Within moments June was now a life-sized Ventriloquist’s dummy.

“Are you ok?” the rest of the girls asked at once. June however looked up and smiled.

“I. Am. Great.” She said, her mouth clacking open and shut with each word. Something in Phoebe’s mind went off, saying that June would be a little more concerned about being turned into a toy then that.

“Stand up.” she demanded more then asked. Without hesitation June stood up and stood waiting.

“Oh, that’s what it meant by “Others can make up your mind for you.” Jenifer said sitting down once more and hugging her knees and looking at June who was still happily waiting someone to tell her what do to. All three were startled when a card sprang up.

“Your friend looses a turn trying to find out how to get her mind back, her mind then returns to base. PS. don’t cheat again.” Phoebe said reading the card aloud.

“June, hand me the dice.” Aisha said holding out her hand. The dummy quickly obeyed and placed them in her hand. “Ok, momma needs a new pair of shoes.” And with that she let them roll.