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 The Hare and the Tortoise

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spleahy
Theophania
aitokunaga
Aik Roy Heng
TheDirector
Vicente
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Vicente




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PostSubject: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 07, 2008 4:11 pm

What if the Hare and the Tortoise had a rematch?

>=)

Honestly, I don't even know if this will be SF, but it won't stop me from trying.

I wanted to try writing a mix of SF/comedy/fairy-tale/parody. We'll see how it turns out, I guess.

This'll be short - maybe two or three posts long.

First post!

---

"I demand a rematch!" Hare pointed firmly at Tortoise, his buck teeth gleaming under a cocky grin. "Just because I fell asleep doesn't mean you won!"

Tortoise sighed. "You wasted too much energy being a show-off pre-match. It was exactly because you slept that I won."

Hare seemed to ignore him. "I'll definitely win next time."

"I don't feel like another race, to be hone-"

"Next week. Forbidden Forest."

"No." Forbidden Forest was forbidden-

"You've got yourself a rematch!" And Hare sped off.

Tortoise looked after him for a moment, watching his silky-white frame flit between trees and roots and over fallen trunks with uncanny speed and grace. He rolled his eyes and burrowed into a mound of dirt, snuggling gently into his shell.

Okay, dear reader, here's the deal:

1) Yes, in the future, animals talk. In English.
- The first story should have confirmed this, but this is just here to remind you.

2) Tortoise won the first race
- because Hare fell asleep several meters or so from the finish line. Rumors and deductive theories concerning this issue - such as herbal sedatives might have been added to the pond that Hare regularly drinks from - have been dismissed as poppy fan-fare. More animals agree that Hare's badly-timed nap was a result of improperly timed caffeine consumption.

3) The Forbidden Forest really is forbidden
- for reasons nobody really knows. The area used to be a meadow, where a warm breeze would carry soft the songs of birds in flight - until a human war raged in the skies over the area. Then, one fateful, dreadful day, a bomb nuked the entire place (the animals refer to this ancient event as The Day the Sky Fell. Henny Penny and her heroic friends ventured to investigate the site and were never, ever seen again). Now a forest whose trees seem to touch the clouds stands in place of the meadow. But its air is sinister and evil, and strange sounds echo from within dark corners. Every animal brave or foolish enough to enter it has never returned.

News of the rematch spread like wildfire throughout the habitat, to the point Tortoise could do nothing to prevent the race. Before he knew it he was at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, staring into a darkness from which no animal had ever returned. The fanfare of the previous match didn't ring in the air today. Tortoise and Hare looked around (Hare was beaming) only to be met by feeble, nervous smiles.

The signal. Go.

Hare was already out of sight, leaving only trails in the mists seeping out of the forest's edge.

Tortoise hadn't budged. Each one of his knees wobbled.

Several animals reminded him in timid squeaks that the race had already started.

Tortoise gulped. He slowly, very slowly, plunged into the forest depths.

---

TBC =)
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TheDirector




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 07, 2008 4:26 pm

Reptiles are far more resistant to radioactivity than mammals, so Hare has made a foolish choice of venue.

John Edlund
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Aik Roy Heng




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 07, 2008 4:47 pm

Oh My God I love love love this parody-especially the chicken little (Penny Henny) with the sky falling down part!!! Keep up the great work and make sure the future stories are just as witty if not wittier!!!
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aitokunaga




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 07, 2008 11:20 pm

Oh my gosh! This is such a cute idea! It's kind of a Saturday morning cartoon idea so far, isn't it?
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 07, 2008 11:59 pm

TheDirector wrote:
Reptiles are far more resistant to radioactivity than mammals, so Hare has made a foolish choice of venue.

John Edlund

...

=(

Or has he?

OR MUST HE? (something occurred to me just now, thanks for the idea)

Aik Roy Heng wrote:
Oh My God I love love love this parody-especially the chicken little (Penny Henny) with the sky falling down part!!! Keep up the great work and make sure the future stories are just as witty if not wittier!!!

I'll try but count on fairly major changes in style throughout the story!

aitokunaga wrote:
Oh my gosh! This is such a cute idea! It's kind of a Saturday morning cartoon idea so far, isn't it?

Right, but I'm trying to move it to a more summer movie-blockbuster kind of thing. Let's hope I'm not promising more than I can handle, since I'm only planning on two or three more posts before finishing up the story. lol
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Theophania

Theophania


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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeFri May 09, 2008 11:08 pm

What a fun spin on a classic fairy tale!! I agree with Roy, the part with Henny Penny was bomb! I like how the story addresses the reader so comfortably. Continue soon please...
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http://www.csupomona.edu/~tiffanyychen/stream/
Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeSat May 10, 2008 3:44 am

Second post!

---

Hare raced along, avoiding roots as large as small bushes along his path. The rumors were true - the forest was dark - but brilliant shafts of light pierced the thick leaf canvas of the forest. Each step sent a cloud of mist to the air, and strange, mournful sounds echoed all around him. Ouch!

A sudden pain shot up his hind leg, causing him to trip and bounce several times along the path. He winced as several more cuts slit open across his body.

Metal? Lots of it, jutting from the ground like broken glass. Hare cursed the human war as he got up.

He mentally brushed off the pain. Couldn't stop now. He'd gone too far already.

Tortoise! Where are you!

-

Okay.

Reader, why don't you take a small break. Get some education while you're at it:

1) Forbidden Forest is getting larger, pretty quickly.
- Few animals know this concretely, but all of them feel it. Strange things have been happening lately - very strange, disturbing things.
- Little Boy Blue never sleeps anymore. Day or night or in-between, he stands at the edge of his pasture, blankly, restlessly gazing upon the animals he protects. This is cool and all since Mary can no longer sneak out lambs to school, but her garden has lately been growing dark, purple roses with thorns that drip thickly with poison. The silver bells and pretty maids (all in a row) her garden was once famous for supposedly found work in doing Christmas commercials.

2) Wolf disappeared a long time ago
- right into Forbidden Forest, actually. Right, the archetypal villain of all animal fairy tales ran straight into Forbidden Forest and never came back out. You could say it was Hare's fault. But this leads to our next point,

3) Hare has, or rather had, an older brother, Rabbit
- who also disappeared into Forbidden Forest. The guy was a legend - he was the one who gave this pig the idea to make a house out of bricks instead of straw or sticks, the same one who ordered twenty blackbirds to hide in the king's pie (best. prank. EVER), the exact same one who taught a cow to jump over the moon, and persuaded a dish to make friends with a spoon. A legend, damn it.

Everything Hare does somehow emulates Rabbit. The way he runs and hops, his gestures, attitude, everything. But when Rabbit disappeared, he never really got over it.

Hare was only a bunny when it happened. He had plopped down on his fluffy bunny bottom, nibbling on a carrot he'd dug up from some farm, when Wolf had jumped in front of him with a nasty snarl on his face. Blood-stained fangs? Breath that smelled of death? Acid saliva? Way too much to handle, so Hare put his paws to his mouth and squeaked.

A white blur.

Rabbit was on top of Wolf's head, thumping quickly with his feet and scratching his ear. "Hare," he smiled, "you'd better go."

Hare trembled down to his puffball tail.

"Hare, seriously. Wolf's in a bad mood today. Grandma not agreeing with your stomach, wolf?" He thumped some more and scratched the other ear.

Wolf growled, dangerously. At this Hare spun around and hopped away, stumbling every step or so - if only he were as fast as Rabbit...

"Oh!" Rabbit's ears perked up, and he bent over and peered into Wolf's eyes. "Right! The hunter pulled her out! Hey, guess who tipped him off -" He landed in a patch of thick grass. Crap, he'd twisted a leg, and Wolf would soon be right on top of him. He could hear Hare's frightened squeals.

The Forest! He might lose the brute in the thick roots and vegetation. Dangerous, but anything would be better than Hare getting eaten. Anything to buy time.

-

Hare woke with a start.

He'd blacked out?

Tea. The kick was just right, but he'd passed out as if he'd had several shots of expresso. He'd get his money back. Their nutritionists ought to be ashamed-

his ears perked. It was quiet.

Too quiet.

He gasped as pairs of red eyes blinked at him from all dark corners of the forest. He shook but he was already in crouching position, ready to spring when he needed to. They couldn't be more than bats.

One of them stepped into the light.

Or bunnies.

Ninja bunnies.

Robot ninja bunnies.

THOUSANDS OF THEM.

"If I survive this, Tortoise, you are so dead."

---

I got sleepy as I was finishing this up. I'm too lazy to rewrite it anyway.

It'll be fun brainstorming ways to resolve this, at the very least. I have this huge thing about keeping my mind preoccupied =)


Last edited by Vicente on Sat May 10, 2008 11:14 am; edited 1 time in total
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TheDirector




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeSat May 10, 2008 8:00 am

Eyes don't usually sneer.

John Edlund
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeSat May 10, 2008 11:16 am

Yikes, thanks for that! Eyes usually don't stare "for" dark corners either.
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aitokunaga




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2008 12:20 am

How could Hare tell that the robot bunnies were ninjas?
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2008 12:25 am

I'm not going for logical continuity, if that answers your question =)

Bad SF practice, I know, but bear (bare?) with me!
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spleahy




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2008 8:51 am

Haha yeah this story starting to get a bit crazy. "what if" questions have been thrown out the windoww I assume lol. Still a cool idea though. Nice story!
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2008 12:43 pm

Oh, I'm still asking them =P just not in the way we've been doing it so far. I'll try to keep the story tame from here on out - ninja turtles might be too much.
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TheDirector




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeMon May 12, 2008 2:54 pm

Maybe pirate turtles instead?

Samurai bunnies have already been done.

John Edlund
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aitokunaga




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeTue May 13, 2008 2:19 am

Who did samurai bunnies?

Vicente wrote:
ninja turtles might be too much.

Only if they're teenage Very Happy
Or the tortoise could be a ninja! Laughing
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TheDirector




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeTue May 13, 2008 7:44 am

In the Ninja Turtles comics there is a warrior from a different dimension who is called Usagi Yojimbo (Rabbit Bodyguard), who is very serious about following bushido. The Japanese names of the characters in the Ninja Turtles are hilarious. For example, the guy who runs the restaurant is called Mr. Bento (Mr. Lunchbox).

John Edlund
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeTue May 13, 2008 10:06 am

...................

I can't believe you know about the ninja-pirate theme o.o In any case, I'm pretty sure I'm leaving it at robot bunny ninjas. But what if - ? Nah. lol

I'll have the third post up soon!
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amandaheise




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 14, 2008 4:35 pm

I like the way the story is going to far, i expecially like how child book stories come together in it. To me, ninja turtles dont really fit with the characters, I wouldrather like to see other mother goose characters instead.
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aitokunaga




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeMon May 19, 2008 12:14 am

I agree. Do you know the Brer Rabbit stories? Maybe you could work those in, or maybe Beatrix potter characters!
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J.Castillo




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeTue May 20, 2008 11:37 pm

Definitely a neat take on the Tortoise
and the Hare. Are you sure it’s not too much like a fantasy story? It’s fun,
don't get me wrong, and I see "what if questions" such as when Tortoise
thinks about the human wars.



Nice start.
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeTue May 20, 2008 11:39 pm

I'm going for more of an SF/fairytale parody than true SF =P But I'll try to keep things more or less on topic.

Sorry, everyone, for not having updated yet. Midterms got me on lock, yo.
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Stephen




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 21, 2008 4:41 pm

I love the stories! Very Happy Definitely Brer Rabbit would be awesome. Perhaps some mice in the forest too? I like the way this is turning out, it's really funny Smile
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Vicente




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeWed May 21, 2008 8:58 pm

Sorry guys D= I have never read a Brer Rabbit story in my life. I've heard the name though.
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Stephen




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeThu May 22, 2008 2:38 pm

Go get it from the library, now! They're the best kids fairy tales/animal stories that exist Very Happy Wink
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TheDirector




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PostSubject: Re: The Hare and the Tortoise   The Hare and the Tortoise Icon_minitimeThu May 22, 2008 4:50 pm

However, there is some controversy about these stories, which are known "Uncle Remus" stories, and were written by Joel Chandler Harris. The are basically re-tellings of African-American stories from an oral tradition, written down by a white man. Some say he was a white man taking advantage of black culture, and others say that the stories are racist in that they idealize race relations that were in reality far from ideal.

As controversy continues to rage, Brer' Rabbit, he lay low.

John Edlund
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