The Star-Child, OR My Accidental Life of Crime

[Daeiel]

I will never forget that day.

It seems a silly thing to say, doesn't it? I mean, who would forget such a day? I, however, have made a point to remember that day, and so saying 'I will never forget that day' was the best way I could think to begin.

It began with a thunderstorm, and not just any thunderstorm. This thunderstorm had to be the worst storm of the century. Raindrops the size of grown men plummeted downwards, mercilessly pounding innocent bystanders to the ground. Lightning cracked open the impenetrably black sky in frightening, intense streaks - thunder pealed out as frequently as tap-dancing giants. It had to be the storm of the century.

I remember being inside, curled up under my bedclothes, trying to sleep, which was impossible with all the natural havoc gallavanting about outside. I had resolved to smothering myself with my pillow, when my mother came and shook my shoulders.

"Tammet," she hissed, "Tammet!"

"What," I answered, in a not-at-all polite tone.

"The horses are still outside," said my mother, shaking my shoulders again.

I groaned and rolled over. "So?"

That wouldn't do for my mother. She had convinced herself that either I was going out to get the horses or I was going to die trying. "Go get them, Tammet," she nearly shrieked, "Go get them and put them inside the barn!"

I looked outside, then back at my mother. It was hard to tell which was angrier, her or the storm. "Now?" I asked, just for the sake of remaining warm for a few more seconds.

"YES, NOW!" she yelled, which was surprisingly louder than the thunder raging outside, "GO PUT THEM IN THE BARN THIS INSTANT!"

Reluctanty, I peeled myself out of my warm, not at all dangerous bed and pulled on my cloak. I didn't bother with boots. I put my hood up and stepped outside.

It's a wonder I wasn't struck dead then and there, but then we would have no story.

The wind tore my cloak off and blew me against the side of our house. Rain pelted me on all sides, plastering my hair to my forehead and making it nearly impossible to see. Thunder shook the ground beneath my bare feet, lightning striking so close it actually singed my arm-hair. It was horrifying, but my angry mother was even more so.

I managed to stagger to the small pasture we keep, hounded on all sides by the wrath of the storm. In the intermittent flashes of lightning, I saw our two horses, standing petrified as the rain beat down.

Now, this is where I began to get a little concerned. Began, you might ask, skeptically, whereas I will counter that with 'Yes'. Concerned is different than scared. The storm already had me scared. Now I was concerned.

I was concerned because neither of our horses have ever shown signs of being frightened by lightning or thunder. One, because our one horse is as reliable a farm horse as anyone could ever want, and two, because the other is the dumbest animal on the face of this earth. The first is not bothered by little trifling weather, the second isn't smart enough to know what's going on, even if it smacked him in the face. Especially if it smacked him in the face. So, the fact that they were both standing there, absolutely terrified, concerned me.

I put my first two fingers in my mouth and whistled. It was hardly more than a sorry sputtering of recently swallowed rainwater combined with spit, and it made no difference as they couldn't hear it over the storm. But, thankfully, the horses saw me standing there, outlined by the lightning. They charged towards me, their hooves slipping in the mud.

I grabbed both of their halters and tried to run them into the barn. The door was open, thank goodness, but none of us made much progress in reaching that goal. The wind, rain, and mud suddenly decided that we did not need to go into the barn, and as such were working as hard as they could to prevent us from doing so.

After many bruises and near lightning-strikes, I managed to get them into the barn. Their eyes were wide-open, still frightened of something, but I was more occupied with closing the barn door than finding out what that was.

The lightning flashed again and again, like a thunder dragon having an allergy attack, as I wrestled the barn door shut, my wet fingers slipping in the torrential downpour as I tried to fix the latch. Eventually, I won, although the wind kept me pinned to the door of the barn, but at least that door was closed.

It was then that the glow hit me.

I'm serious, the glow literally hit me. One minute I'm blown against the barn door, trying to fight my way back to my bed, the next I'm on the ground, with this glow on top of me. This glowing thing just dropped from the heavens, landing right on my face, sending us both toppling into the mud.

I didn't care what it was. I was going to run away from it. It and the storm and the horses and my furious mother were all too much to handle at once. So I ran from it, as best I could, slipping and careening into the house, the wind blowing me from side to side as the lightning sent tingles scampering through my whole body.

"Tammet?" I heard my mother ask. From the sounds of it, she was safe in bed. Of course.

I peeled off everything, tunic, tights, underwear, and left it lying by the door in a crumpled, muddy, sopping wet heap. I was stark naked, and as muddy and soaked as my clothes, but I didn't care. I made a bee-line for my bed and buried myself under the covers.

"Tammet," called my mother from the safety of her back bedroom, "Are the horses in the barn?"

I didn't answer her question. Instead, I asked a new one.

"What was that thing?" I nearly whimpered.

It was one of two questions, each wrestling for authority. That one won, because I said it out loud, but the other was this. Who else saw that glow?

[Jack Spinner]

(Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!)
I saw the glow.
I remember seeing the glow very clearly. It was the storm to kick all storms in the face, the queen mother, the big one, and all that. I was just lucky I didn't have to go outside.
Various cups and dishes were strewn about my cottage, collecting the water shooting down in sheets. The floor was covered in about three inches of water anyway, as there were more leaks than cups and dishes. Such was the life of a serf.
I had all of my shoes piled up on what furniture I had, so they wouldn't be floating around on the floor. They would still be wet, but I wouldn't have to chase after them in the morning.
I had made an island of my bed, propping my trainers' cloaks on a few sticks to make a kind of tent. That way my bed would only be slighty soggy, instead of sopping.
It was working, to a degree, and I had finally lulled myself to a kind of moistened comfort, trying to ignore the thunder raging outside as the rain gradually filled my cottage, when I heard it. I heard it!
It was like a whistle, like when you blow across an empty jug, or how a flute sounds when you chuck it at someone - all the wind hissing past the empty holes to make this one hollow note. That was how it sounded.
I was immediately interested. Leaving the safety of my dampened bed, I sludged across my water-logged floor and opened the door.
Rain blew in like waves, not drops, as though my cottage were a ship on a turbulent sea. My legs were swept out from under me, I landed with a literal 'splash!', before straggling to stand and brace myself against the door jam.
And I saw it.
It fell gracefully, if something can fall gracefully. I don't think anything but this could. That made no sense, but whatever. It fell gracefully, and that's the only way I could think to describe it.
It made the whistling noise as it fell, casting the rain-bombs (for that's what they were) with celestial brilliance. It was strangely beautiful. But mostly it was weird.
I didn't see where it landed. I saw the general area, but nothing more. And then I grew tired of being blasted with rain and potentially struck with lightning, so I crawled back into my completey soaked tent-bed, determined to make out whatever the glow was in the morning, if I didn't drown during the night.
Anybody else see it?

[Elli]

I saw it.

It was a storm to end all storms, and I was stuck in it. Well, not stuck in it at the moment. At the moment, I was sitting in the loft of a barn that I found. A barn whose door happened to be open at the precise moment that I was walking by, looking for shelter. The barn smelled lived in, but I could not see any animals.

See, I am a traveler. Now, don't get any grand ideas from that, being a traveler isn't as glamorous as it's cracked up to be. Those romantic stories about great travelers who went on amazing adventures meeting thousands of friends and enemies along the way. Rather, being a traveler is cold, tiring, and as in this instance, wet.

As I was laying back to relax, the sound of horses' labored breathing made me shrink to the back of the loft. The poor creatures sounded frightened, of what, I don't know.

The door was closing, but whoever was doing the closing seemed to be having some difficulties. Soon though, it was closed and I heard the door lock. Looks like I was trapped until someone came back to get the horses out.

I was just getting comfortable when a sound jolted me up out of my home made bed. A bight glow appeared, shinning through, first the slats of the ceiling, and then the wall. It was mesmerizing, and I could not help but watch it on its decent.

I could not tell what it was, but I wanted to know. Another thought came to mind though. Who else had seen it?

((Sorry it's not that great, hopefully as I get into it, I shall get better at this XD))

[Jack Spinner]

(That was great! Seriously!)