November 21, 2017 :: Today's Words: 2,651 :: Total Words: 24,090

Your character finds the only remaining example of Coordination on the entire planet. What do they do with it?

Timothy and Lila were playing the video game together—the one that his mother had gotten him a little while ago and where he found the last boot in the planet. They were progressing quite well as a team when they came upon a small pouch.

Timothy picked it up and looked inside.

“You have found the last Coordination Talisman on the planet. Do you want to sell (◦) or keep (X)?”

Timothy looked at Lila. “I sold the boot and got attacked.”

Lila shrugged. “Keep it and see what happens.”

Timothy pressed the X button. The screen faded to black. When the picture came back, he was standing on the edge of a cliff. The caption across the bottom of the screen read, “You have chosen to keep the Coordination Talisman! You must now fight your way down from this cliff to demonstrate your worth!”

Timothy sighed and began the tedious work of beating off the attackers. At least this time he had a partner.

“This is weird,” said Lila as she battled one of the warriors.

“Yeah, I feel like it should have done something different.”

“Oh well. More XP at least.”

Timothy grinned and defeated his fifth attacker. Together their characters moved down the mountain, ploughing down the offensive force as they went.

Your character has a sudden craving for coffee ice-cream.

Robin, Paula, and Alaina returned to the plane Alaina had arrived on. They explained the situation to Apollo and Travis, who quickly confirmed that they, too, had been cut off from their contacts with CSIS. They were on their own.

“Now what?” asked Robin, then put a hand on her stomach. “Crud.”

Paula looked over sympathetically. “What is it this time?”

“Coffee ice cream.” Robin sighed. “Is there ice cream on this thing?”

Travis nodded. “Just vanilla, though.”

Robin stood up and headed for the galley. “I can make coffee and add it. I’m getting pretty good at this.” She started digging around, setting the coffee to brew. “Anyone else want coffee? To drink, I mean,” she added when she saw their faces.

Everyone nodded, so she made sure there was enough for five, then returned to the group. “Anyway, like I said, now what? We don’t even know for sure what the mission is.”

Apollo shrugged. “Pool our information about the mission and see if we can piece it together, I guess.”

Alaina nodded. “That makes the most sense. You guys do that. I’ll see if I can hack the servers and get some more information from HQ.” She pulled out her laptop and booted it up.

Robin got her tablet and made sure it was in airplane mode, then opened up the notes app. “I can take notes and stuff but I’ll have to deal with the coffee and ice cream when the coffee’s ready.”

Paula held out her hand. “I can do the notes. You deal with the ice cream and coffee. I take two sugars and two creams.”

Robin handed over the tablet and Paula got it set up so she could type as everyone talked. “Who wants to start?” she asked.

A mysterious stranger gives your character a quest. They must deliver some more chocolate to Burma.

Paula sat back and scrolled through her notes. “Okay, so it looks like we needed to get the nuclear power plant plans, which Alaina did, and the iPad, which Robin has, to the same place. Not sure yet why the iPad was to go to Armenia and the plans to Eritrea. Do we know where this Achird fellow is?”

They all exchanged confused looks.

“I guess that’s what you need to find out, Alaina,” said Robin. She pushed her ice cream bowl—licked clean—out of the way and took her tablet back from Paula. “Are you in yet?”

Alaina bit her lip. “Almost. Just give me a few more minutes and I’ll have it.”

Robin took the dirty dishes to the galley and set them in the sink. “Anyone want more coffee?”

Everyone did, so she put on another pot and returned to her seat.

Alaina suddenly pushed the computer away and clapped her hands together once. “In!”

Apollo came around and stood behind her. “Okay, the case file is number 5287B69J589.”

Alaina found the file and downloaded it, then disconnected her computer from the internet. “This will make it easier to stay under the radar,” she said. She opened the folder and began to read file names.

Apollo pointed to one of the files. “This one.”

She nodded and opened the file. It was the one they needed. Alaina scrolled through the file, scanning as she did so. “It looks like Achird may be in prison in Burma?”

Robin went to the galley to retrieve the full coffee pot and began refilling everyone’s cups at the table. “So we’re going to Burma?”

Alaina shrugged. “I guess?”

Travis stood up and headed for the cockpit. “I’ll start getting ready to go. We refueled already, so just pre-flight checks.”

Alaina closed out the file and looked through the rest of the folder. “Hm, looks like we may be missing someone,” she said, clicking on one of the files.

Robin’s phone buzzed and she looked down at the screen. She had a text.

“Bring chocolate to Burma.” She didn’t recognize the number.

“Um, guys?” She held up her phone. “We need chocolate. And we need to identify this number.”

Alaina looked back at the file she’d just opened. “Michelle von Stratten,” she said.

The women looked at each other in surprise. “I thought she’d died,” said Paula.

“Says here she’s divorced and has a kid. They live in Calgary.”

“Well then. I guess we’re bringing chocolate to Burma.”

Your character finds the only remaining example of chocolate for their hard work on the entire planet. What do they do with it?

Timothy was playing his video game by himself when he found a large chunk of chocolate. It was larger than his character. He chose to sell it this time, and again had to fight his way down from the edge of a cliff. He was getting good at the challenge, at least.

Your character enters Eritrea. There see Chuck Norris. How do they react?

Florian ambled along the tarmac at the airport in Asmara. He had it on good authority that the women were all holed up in a hotel there, and he was looking forward to seeing Paula again—and pounding her into the ground.

He found the hotel easily enough since it was the tallest one near the airport. He approached the front desk and put on his friendliest attitude.

“Hi there, I’m looking for some friends. Three women, about forty, one is blonde, one has brown hair, the other black.”

The clerk stared at him blankly for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry, sir, we can’t offer the whereabouts of our guests, especially not based on a simple description.” He returned to his computer work.

Florian scowled and turned away from the clerk. Direct was his favourite approach, but it didn’t always work out. He’d have to try and find them some other way.

He looked up at the entrance to see a delegation coming into the building. Near the centre of the crowd of people was a figure he thought he recognized.

There was a break in the crowd, and Florian got a clear view of the rugged man they were gathered around.

“Crap,” he muttered as the man’s eyes met his.

Florian turned and ran down a hallway. He took the first turn he saw and found an open closet to hide in. He held his breath as the footsteps pounded past… then stopped… and came back to the closet.

“Florian, you may as well come out,” came the man’s voice. “You know it’s not worth it to put this off.”

Florian sighed and opened the door a crack. “I suppose you’re right.” He pulled the door back and then pushed it quickly outward, hoping to catch his pursuer off-guard.

Alas, he was ready for it and grabbed the door out of Florian’s hands. “That’s an old trick,” he said.

Florian ducked the roundhouse kick but was unprepared for the follow-up right hook. He stumbled back into the closet and knocked over some brooms and mops.

“Look, man, I didn’t know you’d be here, okay?” he said.

His assailant grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him out of the closet. “Florian, you know that doesn’t matter. You know that wherever you go, I will be there waiting for you, ready to dish out the punishment you deserve.”

Florian hooked his right leg around the other man’s left knee and pulled sharply to the side. “How can you even know where I’m going to be? I only know when I get a communication from my boss.”

“I’m Chuck Norris.” The man punched him in the jaw. “I know everything you’re going to do before you do it.”

Florian tried to punch Chuck Norris in the nose but his target moved at the last second.

“Just like that,” said Chuck Norris.

Florian couldn’t just give up. He kept trying to defend himself, but Chuck Norris was by far the better fighter.

When the fight was over, Chuck Norris nudged Florian with his toe. “You should probably find a different line of work, Florian. It might be safer.” Then he walked away.

Florian groaned and lay on his back on the floor in the hallway. The speaker in his ear crackled to life, and his handler spoke. “Florian, the women aren’t at the hotel anymore. They checked out this morning. We’re in the process of finding them. I’ll be in touch.”

Florian sighed.

Just his luck.

Did your character just see Lampent? Or was it something else?

Sophie got into the habit of walking home from school with Timothy and Lila so they could look for more Pokémon. It was a lot of fun, and her mother was so happy that she didn’t have to listen to her daughter babble on about Liza Minnelli for hours every day anymore, so once she established that Sophie was spending time with kids from her class at school and had met Timothy’s mother, who seemed nice if a bit distracted, she had no problem with it.

One afternoon they spotted a Lampent. Sophie saw it first and pointed it out to the others. It was glowing eerily as it floated across the park. Nobody else seemed to notice it.

The three children followed the Lampent over to a large oak tree that had a big hole in the trunk. Squirrels occasionally set up house in the hole, storing *nuts for the winter and playing tag and hide-and-seek in the branches of the tree.

The Lampent sailed into the hole and the glow suddenly went out.

The children looked at each other confusedly. Lila ran over to the tree and stood on her tip-toes to see inside the hole. “It’s not here anymore!” she called out.

The other two joined her and they all jostled for a spot at the opening.

The Lampent was definitely gone.

Your character sees a news report that 92 examples of a grilled cheese sandwich have disappeared. What's going on?

Alaina was trawling the web, looking for something diverting (her location expertly concealed) and she landed on the perfect thing: a news report with the most ludicrous headline.

“Hey, look at this! Apparently someone stole 92 grilled cheese sandwiches from the annual grilled cheese festival in Wisconsin!”

Robin and Paula came over and looked at the article over her shoulder. “You know, I saw a news report about cider being stolen from Frankfurt when I was in Armenia,” said Robin.

Alaina looked up that story as well. “Hm. Do you suppose it was the same people?”

Paula giggled. “Maybe they’re having a party.”

Alaina elbowed her. “Maybe you’ve been in the cider.”

“No more than you have, hon.”

Your character loses their prized possession: teddybears. How do they react?

Lila went home after seeing the Lampent and went to her room to read.

She emerged a few seconds later, her eyes wide. “Daddy?” she called.

Her father came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. “What’s up?”

“Where are my teddy bears?”

Her father frowned. “You teddy bears?”

Lila went back into her room, and he followed. She pointed to her bed, where she always lined up all of her teddies before she went to school in the morning. “My teddy bears.”

Her father got down and looked under the bed, but there was nothing there. “I don’t know, honey,” he said. “Maybe they went to a picnic.”

Lila put her hands on her hips. “Daddy!”

He smiled. “I know, I know.” He sat down on her bed. “I’m sorry they’re gone, honey. I don’t know what happened to them. Why don’t you think about places we can look for them, and I’ll help you look after dinner.”

Lila nodded and went to her desk. She pulled out a notebook and took a pen from the cup, then went back to her bed. Her father stood up and started to leave, then paused in the doorway. “I hope we can find them. Make sure your list has lots of places on it.”

Lila nodded and started making her list. After writing three things down, she remembered what Timothy had said about his pirates. She went to her closet and opened it up, but her teddies weren’t there. They weren’t in her dresser drawers, either. Not even under the bathroom sink. She sighed and returned to her list. She wasn’t sure where they could be, but at least she could make a long list of places to look.

Your character has won a vacation to Brachium, to visit a temple of Uzume.

Fred opened the letter with trembling hands. He had entered a contest several weeks ago, and this had come from the contest headquarters.

He scanned the contents and his heart stopped as he saw the words “We are pleased to inform you that you have won…” but then he kept reading and his heart started beating again and he began to sag.

A trip to Brachium? There was no way he was going to a star in the constellation of Libra. And no way there was a temple there for Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, the Shinto goddess of the dawn. Obviously the contest was a hoax.

He sighed and returned to his work, dropping the letter and envelope into the recycling bin.

Your character sees a news report that 46 examples of fluffy blanket and a cup of tea. have disappeared. What's going on?

Alaina was still monitoring the news reports for odd goings-on when they landed in Burma. She was rewarded with a ping on her phone as they deplaned.

“Oh, wait, check this out!” she said, and the others gathered around, jostling to see the small screen.

“Does that say… 46 fluffy blankets missing from a historic site in England?” asked Paula.

Robin nodded. “And a cup… of tea?” she added.

Alaina skimmed the article. “The cup was over 100 years old and belonged to the Queen.”

“But it had tea in it?”

“Yeah, they brew a fresh pot every morning and pour her a cup.”

Paula snorted. “That’s really weird.”

Alaina shrugged and turned off her phone. “Yeah, well, they’re British.”

Your character dreams about some motivation and lemon scented sunbeams.

The entire team found a place to rent that was off-grid so that they wouldn’t alert anyone to their presence. There were two bedrooms so the women took one and the men took the other.

That night, Alaina had another weird dream.

She was sitting in her rocking chair again, in her cabin, next to the stove. And she could smell lemons for some reason.