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Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 04 Dec 2018, 10:39
by Simbellini
kls1st wrote: 03 Dec 2018, 22:52
SKatF wrote: 03 Dec 2018, 18:42 The tension builds!

I had vivid nightmares as a very small child of flying monkeys snatching me up after watching the classic Wizard of Oz movie. Those monkey statues have always made me feel uneasy. 😄
Oh ree' oh, oh reee' oh! Oh ree' oh, oh reee' oh!
:o
:roll:
:lol:
Who would name a cookie after that after that!?! Honestly...
Those flying monkeys were seriously scary! :o Yes! Cookies! What the...!
I hope I don't give anyone nightmares. The game does that already :lol:

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 05 Dec 2018, 10:18
by Simbellini
2

Blaize and Frank were a strange partnership. She an undercover special agent from the neighbouring town of Simwich and him a sometime wizard she had come here to investigate.

As they stood before Frank's window staring towards the monkeys she said

'Well we got this wrong. They never moved. We imagined it. Since you're no longer a suspect I have to get back to my own town. My kitchen was in such a mess. What if my husband, the commissioner didn't find the note I left? He'll be interrogating the whole town thinking I'm one of the missing."

"But I do feel guilty" said Frank "I am partly responsible. Those sniffids you had a fight with - well my ex-wife was part of a bio team at Simchem Labs and they were the result."

"What?" said Blaize looking horrified "they're in my town too!"

"Yes - infected seed batches" Frank muttered as Blaize looked at him accusingly.

"No - I was in computer science. AI really. It was top secret then but" he gave a slight smile "I can tell you now. I was working on the HANS project."

"Oh! We've got that in my town" laughed Blaize quite impressed.

"Well I'm glad somebody completed it. But we have to see this through" and his expression changed.

"My town is lost but maybe we can still save yours ...and they're involved somehow. I'm sure of it" and he glanced again at the mysterious monkeys.

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 06 Dec 2018, 17:14
by Simbellini
3

"There used to be as many monkeys as there were residents" mused Frank "they were everywhere. But I'm not sure now how they arrived."

"Beamed down" laughed Blaize "like an alien invasion?"

"Well they could be from another dimension"

Blaize rolled her eyes.

"What I do know is that as the population went down so did the number of those things. How can that be?"

"Maybe they took them?" But even she knew that wasn't believable. "They're just everywhere in my town." She added still unconvinced.

Frank was deep in thought. "Why had these monkeys statues remained and in his part of town?"

"Oh!" He said aloud. "They're waiting for me!"

"Waiting for you to do what?" Said Blaize.

"Waiting for me to get old like the rest of the town did. All this time I thought I was spying on them. But they were spying on me - watching and ...waiting!"

"Jeepers! That's seriously creepy" said Blaize wondering if Frank had lost it and as a special agent she had seen a lot of seriously creepy.

"So I'll give them what they want - I'll grow old".

"What?" Blaize looked dumbfounded.

"If they think they're going to snatch me they're wrong. I have a plan" grinned Frank. "We're going to spring a trap on those monkeys."

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 09 Dec 2018, 15:21
by Simbellini
4

So this was Frank's plan. He would disguise himself with the help of a bit of flour (left over from some old baking session) and make his green hair grey and pull on an old woolly hat and cardigan. Then he would pretend to nod off on a picnic bench in sight of the monkeys.

Blaize (who thought all this was nonsense) would pretend to leave town and drive away in his car. But she would sneak back and hide waiting for the monkeys to make their move.

Frank's theory was that if they could steal the lotus flower bases that the monkeys perched on they would be trapped and would have to answer some awkward questions.

So there they were outside Frank's house in the eerie, empty town.

Blaize laughed noticing Frank's walls had been spray painted

"You've been graffitied!"

But Frank explained his house had belonged to a pro skater. It was his dream pad and there was his ramp. Frank couldn't get rid of it.

Then Blaize saw the car

"Was that weird orange thing his too?"

Frank was slightly offended

"It's 'Eat my Martian dust tangerine' not orange" he said defensively.

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 11 Dec 2018, 17:12
by Simbellini
5

Everything went well until Blaize ran back to hide behind a fence and collided with an old weather machine nearly breaking her toe.

"Honestly" she cursed under her breathe "who left that there?"

Nothing happened for ages but then one after another the monkeys put out their flames and hopped cautiously towards the nodding Frank.

Blaize could hardly believe her eyes.

"At least they don't have wings" she noticed with relief "get their bases and we've got them."

She could just hear the monkeys muttering. They were saying something about bringing somebody.

"Was it Trim...Creeper? Strange name" thought Blaize.

But she tiptoed out, grabbed the lotus and stuffed them in a planter. Frank had been watching from the corner of his eye and jumped up. The monkeys realizing they had been tricked gave an ear-splitting screech and fled back towards Blaize. When they saw her and realized what she'd done they went crazy truly terrifying both Blaize and Frank.

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 11 Dec 2018, 20:52
by kls1st
Simbellini wrote: 11 Dec 2018, 17:12 5
...
"At least they don't have wings" she noticed with relief...
:o :lol: :lol: :lol: :o

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 11 Dec 2018, 23:07
by Simbellini
kls1st wrote: 11 Dec 2018, 20:52
Simbellini wrote: 11 Dec 2018, 17:12 5
...
"At least they don't have wings" she noticed with relief...
:o :lol: :lol: :lol: :o
Yes! That was to reassure the 'very small child' in all of us :o Darned scary blue monkeys :roll:

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 13 Dec 2018, 10:04
by Simbellini
6

But Blaize kept her professional cool. She knew monkeys were clever and mischievous and made a gamble.

"It's a game" she shouted and her gamble paid off.

The monkeys immediately calmed down.

"Game? Game?" They muttered curiously but then added "you're not supposed to see us."

"Well we can. Answer 20-ish questions and you get your lotus thingies back."

They glared at Frank. They needed to fix him but they needed their lotus more.

"Where is this friend you were going to get? Hmm Trim Creeper?"

The monkeys looked blank but then they said quietly

"Oooh! Grim Reaper! Not our friend!"

"But you all work together snatching sims?"

The monkeys looked at each other

"We're care-takers not sim-takers."

So you four are in charge here?"

The monkeys wrinkled their brows in thought "Eccentric...Algorithms" muttered one.

"No,no" added another "Eclectic...Artifice" but the third monkey just shook his head.

Blaize and Frank were getting impatient.

"You lot snatch someone then a special baby arrives."

"Noo! Red circle" they chattered and all tapped the air with a finger "abandon" they said.
"Leave town - long vacation."

Blaize had had enough

"This is gibberish" she whispered to Frank "I'm going to get my proton gun."

Frank shook his head. He'd seen her in action with that thing.

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 14 Dec 2018, 17:31
by Simbellini
7

But when she came back Frank was relieved to see a regulation notebook rather than a gun emerge from her coat.

"Here's my 'Can We Have?' Christmas wishlist" she said to the confused monkeys. Then right on cue it started to snow.

"Phew! Machine still works" she thought.

The monkeys all looked up getting snowflakes in their round eyes and mouths.

"Oooh nearly Christmas!" And they looked panicked. Monkeys were busy at Christmas.

"First of all we want snow and lots of it right up to Christmas....and Santa in his sleigh."

The monkeys looked relieved. That was easy. Frank lifted his head. He swore he could hear sleigh bells.

Blaize thrown a little by the instant result faltered a little.

"We want...lots of presents...and fun...and games."

The monkeys seemed to nod so Blaize tried her final and most important request

"And no more sim snatching - it's Christmas!"

The monkeys looked distressed. They all lifted a finger and did the tapping thing again.

"Abandon" they whispered sadly as if it were out of their control.

Re: The Day of the Sniffids

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 16:02
by Simbellini
8

"Grrr!" Said Blaize considering her gun again.

"I have an idea" said Frank. He looked at the dejected monkeys. The snow dripped from their wet fur. They thought they were trapped forever and would never fix Frank.

"Monkeys like to be warm and dry - follow me" and surprisingly they did.

"I'm going to lock them in my sauna" whispered Frank.

So they all trooped into Frank's house and the monkeys gratefully hopped into his stylish sauna as soon as they felt the heat.

"I'm very confused" said Blaize "did they really summon Santa? Have they really got any control? Strange things do happen in my town. Houses get renovated. Walls and even roofs change and nobody knows who did it."

Frank looked blank. He was watching the monkeys. Blaize thought well he's no help he's been living in his cellar in a state of oblivion.

Then something outside caught her eye. The snow had gone and it was a beautiful sunny day. Then it darkened and poured with rain and flashed with lightening. Then just as suddenly the snow was back. It was happening all over town so this was much more than a faulty old weather machine.

"Frank" she called nervously.

But Frank was watching the monkeys. They were rolling in the fluffy white towels and grabbing them and flicking each other.

"Life is one long game for them" he thought.