The Story So Far...

*@Lilyrose, this is the NES page. If you want to know more about what's going on then you can head over to the Writer's Block Forum and find the thread titled 'Discussion and Organization for Gateway NES' under the 'Never-Ending Stories' section. There's also a wiki where we keep important information like all the character files, and what's happened most recently in the story. I would give you a link but I can't atm *
--Pun'kyheadRe

imma make a new character, Pandora <likes being called panda> Age 12 She is chill, yet fun. Black hair, 5' brown eyes, likes white lace and ripped jeans
--The Avalanche Author {Anna .M.}

Liz decided to go on a walk. While she was gone, she ran into a stranger, on a horse. The stranger was a woman. The girl looked quite small. Liz screamed, and quickly the youth girl stopped. The youth girl got off the horse and said, "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Liz decided to be nice. " Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you alone? She asked.
--The Avalanche Author {Anna .M.}

*Hey there, Anna, that's a cool character you got there. I'm not sure how well the horse fits in with where the characters currently are, but I'm sure we can make it work. Thanks for adding to the NES!* "Echo?" Echo's head snapped up, her eyes falling on Icicle. The younger girl's pale features were scrunched in mild concern, "Sorry, you spaced out." Icicle explained. "Oh, yeah it happens, guess I'm a little too tired from all the running around we've been doing." Echo said, smothering a yawn even as she spoke. She stretched, a couple bones popped in her back, "That, and these headaches have been killing me." "Headaches?" Icicle leaned forward to prop her elbows on her knees, her wintry eyes trained on Echo. Echo shrugged, trying to brush off Icicle's concern, "It's nothing, I've just been running around too much. Stretched too thin, you know?" "Are you sure?" Echo hesitated, just for a moment, but it was long enough for Icicle to catch on to her bluff. The paler girl reached out and rubbed Echo's shoulder comfortingly. A heavy silence stretched on, binding the room like a rubber band, until finally Echo heaved a sigh and turned to Icicle. Her eyebrows were knit tight above her eyes, and she worried her bottom lip with her fingers. "Can I tell you something?" She asked. Icicle nodded, "Of course." "Before Liz mentioned you were here, I had no idea who you were." Icicle's hand stilled on Echo's shoulder, confusion took over her features. "You...what?" "It was-- it was like you didn't exist, until you did. I didn't remember you, I didn't even know you were a person. I keep trying to think back, I keep trying to find a moment when I decided to put you out of my mind for whatever reason, because there must be a reason." Echo paused to catch her breath, when she spoke again, her words were shaky, "But I can't find it." She slumped. Her hands went to her eyes and she rubbed furiously until the heels of her palms dug in too deep, forcing her to stop. Admitting out loud that she hadn't remember Icicle made the whole thing more real. She couldn't shake the icky feeling that was crawling over her skin, and a new headache was beginning to pulse at the base of her skull, the same place that itched when she used her powers. There, that was another thing she had kept from the group; since the headaches had started, her powers had gone haywire. She couldn't turn, and she was picking up other people's emotions left and right so fast and so many that at times she couldn't tell which were her own and which belonged to strangers. It was Icicle who broke the silence next, "Do you remember the others?" she asked softly. Echo peeled her hands away from her eyes to stare at Icicle, her lips twisted downwards. "Well yeah, I mean I remember Liz and Gary just fine." Her headache struck the pulsing up a notch. Icicle ran her fingers through her fine, white hair, "and Hazel, or Fawn? Do you--Echo!?" Icicle thrust out a hand barely in time to catch Echo by the chest and keep her on her perch on the edge of the bed. Echo's eyes rolled back in her head, and moan escaped her parted lips. "Echo? Echo! What happened? What's wrong?" Icicle rushed to get her friend lying down, "Come on, talk to me girly, do I need to get the nurse?" Echo clutched her head in her hands, her breath came in short, shallow gasps, and her arms shook where they weren't tensed from grabbing her own hair. Everything was foggy, everything was painful. Her skull beat with one massive headache, like a second heart. She could feel Icicle stroking her hair out of her eyes and trying to pry her fingers from her head, but it was as if Echo's body did not belong to her. Icicle could be touching a stranger, for all Echo could respond. A single word filtered through all else and spun around and around inside her head. Hazel Hazel Hazel. Hazel was real, Hazel was a person. She /remembered/ Hazel. And suddenly, it was as if a dam had broken in her mind. Memories flooded out like water, washed her mind, soaked into the pores of her brain, so many that the water was black and deafening. With, came the voice, Hazel's voice, swirling all around.@EchoEchoEchoEchoEchoEchocanyouhearEchohelpusEchopleaseEchoEchoEchoEcho@. She screamed.
--Schismsre

*Forgive me if I portray you're character the wrong way, Anna!* Meanwhile, with Liz; Liz took a moment to observe the strange new girl. She was short, and clearly young. Her black hair was coiled in a loose braid down her back, and her warm brown eyes flashed. The girl's attire was shockingly modern considering the fact that she was wandering the deserted countryside on horseback. "I'm Liz." Liz held out her hand to the girl. After a moment, the girl took it, and they shook. "Nice to meet you, I'm Panda." The girl, Panda, flashed a smile full of small, pearly teeth. Her left baby eye tooth was missing, in it's place, the tip of an adult tooth was poking through her gum. "What're you doing way out here in the middle of the night?" Panda asked. Liz narrowly bit back a laugh, "I could ask you the same." "Yeah but I asked first." "You did," Liz held her hands up in mock surrender, "I was looking for a place to have a midnight picnic with my friends, we're all staying over in the Chaplain for a bit. I go to school there." Liz pointed at the school. The light cast by the building's nightlife fell short of where the two girl's stood talking. Panda peered around Liz to stare at the massive school, her brown eyes widened in wonderment. "Whoa, cool!" she gasped. Liz nodded, a hint of pride swelled in her chest. She loved the Chaplain, it had become her home as much as the Mansion had been. "Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing out here at such a late hour." She said, reaching out a hand to stroke the horse's nose.
--Schismsre

Mallory's ears twitched and their green eyes brightened. /Disturbance/, they registered. A loud noise. Mallory was supposed to investigate loud noises. Was there a threat to the humans? Or, more importantly, a threat to Mallory's rest? If Mallory stayed in the closet, no threat would locate them, right? But perhaps it could.... or perhaps one of their pod was in danger. Although they were not that close to those humans, they were their /pod/, and without a pod they would be wandering, moving, /running/ again without direction. Allies were safety. Mallory pouted and stood, casually exiting the broom closet and went in search of the noise. // Mallory opened the door open just a smidge and peered inside. There were only two human girls-- wasn't one of the pod? "Is this not where the noise came from?" they enquired. One girl, who held the other limp girl in her arms, looked up in surprise. "Oh, um, no, Echo was the one who screamed," she clarified. "Who are you? You don't look like a student." Mallory looked down at Echo. "That human is in my pod," they explained. They looked up at the girl and smiled. "I'm Mallory! Who are you?" "I'm Icicle," she replied. /Pod?/ she thought. /That means she's with the group from the Mansion, right?/ (*purposeful use of pronoun. Icicle mistakes Mallory for a girl) "What happened to Echo?" Mallory asked curiously. "I do not see any evidence of an occurrence." "Well, she... I'm not sure what happened," Icicle said, not quite trusting Mallory yet. "She malfunctioned?" Mallory guessed. "You do that a lot. Does she need repair? Or-- the other word. Healing?" "I don't know," Icicle said regretfully. "I'm not sure what would help her right now." "I'm rotten luck for 'healing'," Mallory said, leaning back. "Maybe I should go...?" they wondered aloud. They supposed if they left they would return to rest or perhaps wander. They could last a day on the energy they had replenished from their rest... maybe they could find something more interesting around than resting.....
--ShadowAce

And so Mallory left Icicle to call upon the Chaplain Institute clinical team. A few nurses would be on their way to tend to Echo who had entered a rather frightening paralysis. As Liz conversed with the new Pandora (Panda for short), Mallory skipped down the halls and opposing branches of the school. Students in various dress according to their designated branch stared at the small alien only briefly before returning to their late night duties. Some were asleep and some were keeping the Institute bustling with life. Eventually, Mallory arrived full circle back to the point where they started exploring and ran into Leed. He jumped in surprise and breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew. It's just you." Mallory laughed at this ridiculous human's reaction. "Why are you in such a rush, human?" They questioned. Leed gestured for the youngling to keep quiet. "I'm in search for the Technology branch. Don't tell anyone that I'm doing this." Tiptoeing, he spun around a corner and inched past several student dormitories. "Oh, I know where that is located! Follow me Leed." Mallory dashed without being detected, blessed with the gifts of a short body and speedy legs. They traced a finger along the walls and moved through corridors to find one of the twenty Chaplain branches. "Here!" Mallory clapped. "The Technology branch, where students wear darker navy outfits and lemon colored bowties. What is so interesting about this area of the building?" Signs above provided the obvious answer. Leed grinned. "Because the members of this faction deal with robotics. I'm sure there are workstations in here somewhere that have components to build this." Mallory squinted as Leed lifted up a blueprint to their face. The schematics were drawn by him and depicted a pair of goggles with the feature to zoom. Every detail was well stressed. "Hmmmm," Mallory pondered. Their bones tingled defiantly. "You want to build this? I can do that better than any human prodigy! And quicker! Allow me the blueprints, Leed. We are going to use a Technology branch workstation." Excitement glittered in Leed's eyes as he looked down at the kid. "Awesome! We should hurry before Liz's picnic at midnight."
--AuthorMind(Justin)

(I will write the next paragraph in continuation when I have time.)
--Stray

*ayyyy I'm back could I hop on the bandwagon??*
--palaces out of paragraphs {luna}

*@Luna, heck yeah. you um, you have some older characters still being used as part of the original gateway group, if I remember correctly?*
--Schismsre

*Yeah, actually. Icicle and Echo, and if Stephen is still part of this, then him as well. So what's going on? Would anyone mind helping me get up to date on the story/characters? Thanks. :)*
--palaces out of paragraphs {luna}

*@Luna Hey! It may sound like a hassle, but your best bet at this point is glimpsing over either our wiki for the NES or Writer's Block Forum to catch up. Reading both should work also ig. The link to the wiki is on the WB Forum. We finished an arc and started an arc on here so a lot has happened*
--AuthorMind(Justin)

*Alright that's cool. Thanks guys! I'm excited to get back into this. :D*
--palaces out of paragraphs {luna}

(Excited to have you back, Luna!)
--Stray

*Im excited to be back! Also I hope you guys don't mind that I'm posting rn.* Stephen noticed something weird was going on from the moment he had caught a glimpse of the magenta-haired child. During his time in the Gateway Mansion, he had encountered some strange people, and he couldn't help but be curious since he hadn't had any activity in what felt like forever. After leaving the mansion for Chaplain, he and Liz had grown farther and farther apart, but now he was getting restless and bored of normal life. He had tried not to be weird, but eventually had given in to his curiousity and followed the small child at a distance. He had heard a girl (possibly Echo?) cry out earlier which only intensified his curiousity. 'A picnic at midnight?' Stephen wondered silently. 'With Liz? What are they up to?' He wondered about this recent development as he stood against the wall, and turned to go back to find Liz when he was spotted by another student whose name was either Maggie or Millie, he couldn't remember which. "Stephen, hey!" she called in a friendly voice. Stephen jumped. "Hi..." he said, trying for a smile that ended up looking a bit like a grimace. He glanced behind him nervously, hoping that the odd pair hadn't heard this exchange.
--palaces out of paragraphs {luna}

Like so many other Gateway Mansion kids, Stephen had desired a break from the toll that witnessing monsters brought upon his shoulders. Liz knew the feeling all too well. But as they grew accustomed to Chaplain Institute, they slowly forgot more and more about their friends. Were these the side-effects to leaving the Mansion? Could this phenomenon be the reason for Echo's catatonic state? Magic was to blame here. A power that only the Gateways at the Mansion possessed. Icicle tapped her foot nervously as she sat beside a crew of students working at the school wide clinic. They assessed Echo's condition and ran around grabbing supplies and medicine to ease down her throat. "Will she be okay? What are you giving her?" Icicle frowned. A much older doctor (not a student but an Institute faculty member) spun and crossed his arms. His name tag read Dr. Comfrey. "Fluids. If your friend here dehydrates, she could worsen her shape. Do you know what caused this sudden fainting?" Icicle held herself from revealing too much to the doctor. Many ordinary humans here were unaware of the abilities that she and other Gateway Mansion kids had. It was kept secret (along with the fact that she was a water nymph). "No," She lied.
--AuthorMind(Justin)

KidPub's Never Ending Story

In Gateway Mansion there are many, many doors. Some lead to great and at the same time terrifying adventures. While others simply lead to darkness and storage spaces. Nevertheless, two young siblings, Gary & Liz, inhabiting Gateway Mansion never know what is around the next corner. Because, in such a topsy, turvy place, your next move, your next breath, could be your last.

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