At some point in my life, a friend of mine introduced me to the joy of a simple computer game called Creatures and I fell in love with the way that you could interact with the virtual world and the creatures which inhabited it. Around that time I was playing with writing stories again for the first time since primary school. I was drawn in by the idea of writing a love story for two creatures built inside the world of the game. A kind of fan-fiction if you will. As seems to be par-for-the-course for my writings of that time, this story deals with crossing boundaries and breaking down social barriers. A good friend of mine encouraged me to write the first chapter and as a tribute to her, the character Charlie is named after her girlfriend of the time. I hope you enjoy the story and appreciate it even if you don't know what a norn is, or a grendel, or why they aren't exactly generally considered the happiest of bedfellows.
Pipe Dreams
Part One: Russell's Secret
Slowly, gently, Russell awoke from a really good night's sleep, to see his best friend Charlie curled up next to him, fast asleep. Russell smiled, his small face beaming in the early morning sunlight. A soft mist still curled around the base of the palm trees. Morning was always something special on the island. And here up in the trees, Russell and Charlie didn't have to worry about the nasty Grendels getting to them...
Slowly, as the sun rose in the sky, Russell decided that the morning would not be complete until he had eaten, so he got up carefully, so as not to disturb Charlie, and he tiptoed over to the carrot vendor. As quietly as he could, he pressed the button on the vendor and nibbled the carrot delivered. He crept back over to where Charlie was sleeping, and lay down, on his front, facing Charlie, watching as his best friend slept.
Charlie was a little older than Russell was; in fact, Charlie was only a little younger than Russell's mom was; but Quientia was an early breeder as she had, although she hated to admit it, some Essex norns in her ancestry. Russell, now nearly one, was only six months younger than Charlie was; and yet Charlie exhibited the symptoms of being a mature adult.
As Russell lay there, watching Charlie's chest rise and fall, he slowly realised that he too was changing, becoming surer of himself, and surer of his feelings. Russell knew that he was supposed to feel attracted to other norns, monogamy being rare and frowned upon in Albia, to have a desire to kiss them, to caress them, to enjoy their company. And yet no one in Albia fulfilled Russell like Charlie did.
Charlie was fun to be with, was a good laugh when times were good, and a good comfort when times were bad. When Quientia was pregnant with Russell's younger sister Rona, Charlie would help to relieve her pain by fetching her feverfew from the stone bridge, and Morning Glory to help her stay awake when she was too tired to go on. When the egg had finally been laid, it was Charlie who had stayed with it, for two days and two nights, until one morning, it had hatched. Quientia, quite recovered from her ordeal, had thanked Charlie, but had then taken Rona away and Charlie had not seen her since. "Never mind" thought Charlie, as everyone treated Russell's friend this way.
Gently, the sun filtered through the palm leaves and onto Charlie's face. The small creature turned over, and Russell watched as Charlie's face slowly screwed up in an attempt to keep the light of morning at bay. As Russell watched, Charlie slowly awoke, and gazed back at him. For a moment, everything was perfect, Russell gazed into Charlies' eyes, Charlie gazed back into his; but whereas Charlie was simply groggy with sleep, Russell was in love. "Charlie can never know," thought Russell, as he caught himself gazing at Charlie now fully awake, and with that, the two friends went to the carrot vendor to get some breakfast...
Part Two: Charlie's big mistake.
Sated after gorging themselves on carrots, and a few coconuts that they had hoarded from their last trip to the lower Island, they both curled up to sleep once more. But Charlie was only able to close his eyes. Sleep, although once it had a grip on him it help him like a vice, was difficult for Charlie to grasp. His mind fought to hold onto the tendrils of his fading memories of the dreams he had had the night before. And not to help matters, he could hear the sounds of norns playing across the waters in the tower. His green ears pricked up to the sound of one particular voice, the voice that had only ever said one thing to Charlie - the voice of Rona. Even now, he recognised her giggles.
Quietly, so as not to wake Russell, Charlie slipped onto the transporter pad and pressed the button. Russell continued to sleep, and began to dream. In his dream, Russell and Charlie were running along until they came to lover's leap. In his dream, Charlie held Russell in his arms, gently stroking Russell's fur. Everything was so perfect and then suddenly, Charlie let go of Russell, and flung himself from the clifftop.
Russell awoke with a jump, he glanced around for his friend and discovered him gone, and his bed of palm leaves cold and not slept in. It was early evening and Russell was tired. He had had quite a shock from the dream, and his body was still coping with the sudden influx of adrenaline. He ate a few carrots and as he finally calmed down, he decided that Charlie must have been called by the other grendels. Russell knew that Charlie would come back - he always did...
Meanwhile Charlie, having materialised on the Lover's Leap Transporter pad, had almost fallen down the cliff at the same instant that Russell awoke. Having regained his balance, Charlie had decided to find Rona and he made his way east until he found a lift. As he pushed the down button, Charlie noticed a small red herb in the lift. He picked it up and sniffed it. This red fruit smelt wonderful, and without another thought, he ate it.
As Charlie made his way across the pond, he noticed that he was feeling somewhat more needy than usual. He found himself unable to voice his desires, and yet he knew that something needed to be fulfilled. As he made his way up to the lift in the tower, he heard Ronas' giggles once more. Charlie was certain that she was nearby. He pressed the lift call button and waited for it to arrive.
Back on the Island, Russell was gently drifting in and out of a calming sleep, as the evening drew on the air gained a small nip of cold. Russell wrapped himself in the palm leaves which had absorbed the energy of the sun, and dozed lightly, thinking of Charlie's face.
As the lift arrived, Charlie felt very light headed indeed, and he barely noticed that Quientia was already in the lift when he staggered into the cane cage. Quientia, noticing Charlie's state, and realising that he did not know what was happening, decided that she would "take care" of him.
She pressed the down button and as the lift began to descend, she spoke to Charlie, soothing him and persuading him to lie down and sleep. The lift came to a halt by the showers, and Quientia, once she had stopped the lift from going back, stepped into the showers and tried to cool off. As she looked at Charlie through the water, she remarked to herself on how he had grown in the past six months, and on how she had been so rude to him after he had helped her with Rona.
"Still" she thought, "I can make it up to him now".
And as Charlie awoke, he found that Quientia had carried him to near the still, and that she was drinking hooch. Even though she must have drunk three cans of hooch, Quientia was not staggering about due to her Purple Mountain genes. Only the player piano would make Quientia dance, and then only if she listened to it for a long time. As she drank, she ran her fingers over Charlie's body. With no fur to hide himself, all of Charlie's muscular frame was visible. Slowly, Quientia fed Charlie more of the red fruit he had found in the lift, and once again he found himself unable to voice his desires.
"Sshhhh", said Quientia, "I know what you need." With that, Quientia began slowly, gently, to kiss Charlie. His head span, his mind a whirl of emotion, he began to focus his desire, to channel his emotion. He couldn't control himself, it was as though he was watching from a distance, as his body weakly, and very slowly began to reciprocate Quientia's advances. Charlie's mind watched in disgust as his body and hers entwined.
Russell awoke again that night, this time, calm and quiet, he thought he had heard the distant sound of a kisspop, but he thought that he must have been dreaming. As he lay there thinking of Charlie, the transporter began to activate. Russell thought that Charlie would come bounding off the pad, but instead, Charlie materialised on the pad and almost collapsed. He was a wreck, almost unable to move. Russell, his smaller frame straining under the effort, gently moved Charlie to the palm leaf bed, and wrapped him in the warm leaves. Russell stayed awake throughout the night, soothing Charlie and mopping his brow.
All through the night, Charlie was delirious, murmering something about a strange red fruit. Toward the end of the night, Charlie began to doze lightly, and in the relative quiet of Charlie's gentle snores, Russell began to clean his body. As Russell gently wiped his soul mate's strong frame, he noted that his body was smattered with a red paste. Russell has heard of a strange fruit which adults sometimes ate before kisspopping. His mother would speak of "Tomatoes" before she and Paul kisspopped to make Quientia pregnant with Rona.
When morning came, Russell realised that there was no way that he could care for Charlie alone, and he began to rouse Charlie. "We have to get you to your own kind" Russell whispered to him. Charlie began to stagger to his feet. Weak from a lack of energy, Charlie begged Russell to let him eat something, but he was unable to keep the carrot, which Russell offered him, in his belly. Sick with fever, Charlie quickly vomited. Russell pulled Charlie over to the transporter and pressed the button. As they materialised at Lover's Leap, Russell noticed a bowl of chicken soup. Having eaten this, Charlie felt a little better and they slowly moved over to the lift.
Quickly, Russell took Charlie to the underground cart which passed through the pipe under the ocean and under the statue of Nornity. Taking the lift at the other end back onto the Island, Russell noted how far they had journeyed, and how little distance they had actually covered. He could see their palm leaf beds above them. Pausing only to crack open a coconut, Russell bundled a still very ill Charlie into the boat and left in after him. As they travelled across the sea to the jetty by the Grendel tree, Russell and Charlie ate what little of the coconut they could stomach. Russell got out a palm leaf he had been carrying since they left the island, and began to write a note to Aramis the Grendel leader.
"Dear Aramis, Charlie has taken ill with a fever which I cannot seem to help. I am very worried for his health and would dearly appreciate it if you could help him." Russell read the note out loud as he completed it, and he helped Charlie over to the lift where Charlie collapsed next to the call button. Russell placed the note on the now lightly dozing Charlie and pushed the call button. When the lift arrived, Russell pushed Charlie into the lift and made it go up. Russell shed a tear as the lift went where he would surely be killed if he followed, and slowly made his way back to the kitchen.
Russell was sure that Aramis would not let one, of his own kind, suffer the indignity of suffering when he thought that he could help. With that thought in his mind, Russell ran to the kitchen more quickly, feeling happier in himself, that he had done the right thing by his friend.
Part Three: Realisation.
As Russell was dozing in the kitchen, by the stove one morning about two days after he had left Charlie's health to the grendels, he heard a loud moan. Waking quickly, he rushed out into the garden to see his mother Quientia squatting by the greenhouse screaming in pain. Quickly he ran to the stone bridge, remembering what Charlie had done, he collected some feverfew and ran back to give it to his mother. A short while after she ate the feverfew, her pain subsided and she gave birth to a small egg.
The egg was perfectly formed, and just the right size. Already, Quientia could sense that the child inside was going to be well, and so she lay down to rest. Russell continued to gaze at the egg, until he realised that something was wrong. The originally green egg was slowly changing to a yellowish shade as it grew. Russell soon realised that the egg was no normal Norn egg. It looked like it was changing into a Grendel egg. Worried, Russell decided that he should wait until the morning and then ask his mother, so he slept next to the egg.
As Russell slept, his mind drifted back to when his mother was lecturing him about what was
good to eat, and what would give you fever.
"Now this", Quientia began, "is a tomato. Harmless to all but grorns, it
will give you a warm feeling and later in your life, a desire to be with other norns."
Russell awoke, with the realisation that this was the fruit Charlie had spoken of. He glanced
at the egg, which was slightly larger than before, and a uniform shade of green, and he
went back to sleep.
Meanwhile up in the Grendel tree, Athos, Ben and Aramis gathered around Charlie, as Carol the Grendel's medical expert fed Charlie a special herb. Charlie slowly came around and was feeling a lot better. Carol turned to Aramis and began to whisper in to his ear, soon Athos and Ben were involved in the discussion which, as far as Charlie could tell, centred around him and his health. Soon, Carol came over to Charlie and told him to rest. She asked the other grendels to leave her so that she might care for Charlie more effectively. They wandered off in the direction of the tree house.
Once Aramis and the others were out of earshot, Carol turned to Charlie and said
"Charlie, once you are well, you will have to flee this place", Charlie looked quite puzzled and so Carol continued "I have discovered that you are not Grendel, not Norn, but grorn. It seems that Aramis wants nothing to do with you if you are not a Grendel, but he has granted me my wish that you shall stay here until you are well."
"What happened to me?" began Charlie, getting more and more flustered by the minute
"Calm yourself" soothed Carol, "It seems that a silly female drugged you with tomatoes and then you got carried away."
"Do you mean that we kisspopped?" asked Charlie, becoming more and more worried
"It wasn't your fault" explained Carol, "You were drugged and so she took advantage of you." However Carol knew that this wouldn't be the end of it. As Charlie was a grorn, it was entirely possible that the female had conceived, and as such, her child may not be cared for as she may think it the child of a Grendel. Carol knew that Charlie would have to return to health and find this child.
In the garden, Quientia had awoken early in the morning, before Russell, and having written him a small note, she ran off toward the submarine bay. She never got that far, for as she passed the foot of the Grendel tree, Aramis and Ben appeared and forced her into the lift. They took her down to the nightshade mushroom and made her eat three of its deadly poisonous loads.
Feeling incredibly sick, Quientia lay down on the cold cave floor to try and regain her strength. However as the glycotoxin spread throughout her body, she could feel the life force drain from her very soul. As the grendels thought she was dead, they began to chat about what they would have to do with Charlie's child once they found it.
Hearing what the grendels intended to do to her child, Quientia silently evoked one of the ancient spells left to her by her parents. It was the spell of afterlife communication. Having uttered the immortal words, she had used up all of her remaining energy, and she fell lifeless on the cave floor. Aramis prodded the now limp body, and pronounced her well and truly dead. The grendels spent a few moments laughing at how easy it had been to get her to eat the mushroom, then they took her lifeless body and out it in the submarine, sending it to the bottom of the ocean with little ceremony or tact.
Russell awoke, feeling warm and cosy, and snuggled up to the egg which was now a uniformly deep green colour. "I must have been dreaming" he thought as he remembered the egg turning yellow. It looked at least half a day from being movable, and so he went off in search of something to eat. He walked over to the lemon trellis where he had eaten two or three of the bitter fruits before he noticed a palm leaf on the greenhouse shelf. He walked over to it and saw that it had writing on it. He read the note carefully, several times to ensure that he wasn't dreaming
"Dear Russell, I realise now that what I did was wrong. While you were sleeping, I seduced Charlie and fed him tomatoes. He was out of control, his desires overwhelmed us both and we kisspopped. I'm sorry for any hurt I have caused you, and I hope that you will eventually be able to forgive me. I have gone to the submarine to be alone for a while. Please look after Rona, and if my child is a boy, please call him Ronald. Your loving, if a little afraid, mother -- Quientia"
As Russell was reading the note, the egg had reached full size, and Rona had appeared from the kitchen. Rona, seeing Russell was engrossed in the letter, picked up the egg and carried it to the incubator where she started the hatching process. Russell was disturbed by the noise of the egg cracking and he ran to the incubator, just in time to see the doors open and a small Norn pop out. He had his mother's purple body, his sisters arms, and his head. Only one thing was strange about this Norn, he had Charlie's feet. Rona smiled at the baby and looked at Russell. She was now almost eight months old and had learnt to speak very well.
"Russell" she began, "Can I take our brother to the computer?"
"Of course you can" said Russell, glad to be able to leave Rona to look after the child; "Call him Ronald though, that's the name mom wanted."
With Ronald and Rona in the lift on the way to the computer room, Russell sat back by the oven to think about the situation he found himself in. Charlie was not a Grendel but a grorn. This meant that should the Grendels find out, they would most certainly banish him from their domain. No one must know about Ronald's feet he thought, and so he set out to find his mother.
Part Four: The Discovery
Russell set off across the garden to find his mother; his mind a whirling mass of emotion, confusion reigned and he soon found himself stumbling almost blindly due to the tears which were streaming down his now matted face. As he passed over the cane bridge underneath the Grendel's domain, he tripped over a root and found himself falling. Russell landed at the base of the Grendel tree with a thud, breathing very heavily, Russell passed out in a heap of damp fur.
The cane lift descended from the tree's branches, its sole passenger curled up sobbing at his terrible predicament. Charlie knew that he could never return to the Grendel's realm in the treetops, and he knew that he would never be accepted into Norn culture because of his appearance. Charlie felt betrayed by almost the whole of Albia. Only one person had remained true to him, and Charlie thought that Russell would never forgive him.
Russell lay at the foot of the tree, heaving great sobs as he thought of how his best friend was now the father of his brother, and how he would never be accepted into Norn culture until people knew that he was not a true grendel. Russell felt lost in a sea of emotion stronger than any torrents of desires or drives he had ever felt before, and one thing shone through, only one feeling remained standing in an otherwise now barren heart, Russell knew that he loved Charlie, and that Charlie would never feel the same way.
The lift arrived at the cane bridge, and announced itself with a resounding clang on a bell. The late morning sun streamed into the cavern from the east, blinding Russell as he fought to resolve the identity of the creature approaching him. Russell quickly realised that this was no Norn he knew, and that it could only be a Grendel.
Russell scrambled to his feet, determined to stand his ground against this intrusion on his privacy. The Grendel began to move more and more quickly and Russell realised that it was Charlie. Russell ducked into a small hollow at the base of the tree to avoid being plowed over as Charlie rushed past. Russell was confused as to why Charlie had not seen him, when he looked down at himself and realised that his matted fur had picked up a lot of mosses and tree bark whilst he had been asleep at the base of the tree. Russell must have blended into the background, and Charlie had run past into the submarine cavern.
Russell began to clean himself, determined that his friend would not see him in such a mess. In a matter of minutes he was cleaned and his fur glossy in the midday sun. As Russell began to move into the submarine cavern, he saw a bent and bowed Charlie frantically pressing the submarine call button which had been installed to make travel easier within Albia. Russell didn't want to startle Charlie, so he tiptoed into the cavern and waited to see what Charlie would do.
After a short while, the submarine arrived, Russell saw Charlie enter the submarine, and then he heard a scream. Charlie came running past Russell again too quickly to notice his friend, and ran straight to the lift where he went up to the jetty and disappeared in the boat before Russell had a chance to recover from the shock. The submarine clanged its bell and departed on its way to the island. As the submarine left the dock, Russell noticed a large brown sopping wet mess on the dockside. Slowly he approached it.
Gently, Russell pushed at the seaweed ridden fur ball until eventually it rolled over, and Russell could see that it was his mother. Russell screamed, louder than he had ever screamed in his life, his voice echoed all over Albia, and Rona came running, clutching Ronald in her arms. "What is it?!?" she asked breathlessly upon arriving in the cave. Russell took Ronald into his arms and stepped aside, revealing their dead mother. Rona collapsed onto the floor, sobbing into the fur of her deceased parent. Suddenly her body began to warm and glow. The three young norns stepped back as the glowing from their mother's body grew brighter until it would have blinded them if they hadn't turned away. After a few minutes, the glowing returned to a level such that the norns could look again.
Before them stood their mother, but she was somehow different, her feet did not touch the ground, and her fur sparkled as though it had stars within it.
"My Children" she began, "Do not fear for me. Rona you shall look after Ronald as though he were your own child. Russell, it is your destiny to break the taboos of Albia." As she spoke, her body became fainter and fainter.
Afraid to loose his mother without understanding her last words, Russell rushed forward and embraced his fainting parent. As she finally left Albia, Russell finally understood what she had meant.
Part Five: The Realisation.
Russell now knew that it was up to him to ensure that all the Norns of Albia knew that Charlie was not a Grendel. Rona was shaking by his side, quiet and seemingly unsure of herself. Ronald, sensing that something was amiss had started to whimper and called out for Rona. If Ronald needed her Rona would do as her mother had asked and care for him until he could survive by himself. As she slowly took him from the arms of Russell, she could tell that Russell was not paying attention to the situation at hand, and so she asked him to explain what the matter was.
Russell and Rona sat down in the garden, each with a carrot, and with Ronald safely learning at the computer, Russell began to tell Rona the whole story. His sister listened intently as Russell explained about how he did not like the female norns. He explained how Nancy had always seemed too brash, how Ruth was always just too noisy. Russell explained to his sister about how close he felt to Charlie, and how as he grew, the feelings he had for him increased in intensity. Rona admitted to Russell that she had noticed how he looked at Charlie, and had wondered for some time if the adaptations, which had been made to their world, had taken effect. With the a gesture of true sibling love, Rona and Russell hugged, and with tears streaming down his face, Russell completed his story, telling of how Charlie had run off into the boat, and crossed over to the desert island.
"You have no choice", retorted Rona, "You absolutely must go after him, tell him how you feel, it can only help matters."
But Russell was not convinced, part of him was screaming out to hold Charlie and to tell him how he felt, yet other parts of him were so afraid of rejection that they did not want to risk it. Eventually, Russell headed off for the showers to relax and think things out.
Part Six: Pipe Dreams
Rona gathered Ronald to her, and began to make her way to the island. She had resolved that if Russell wouldn't, at least she would tell Charlie. She reached the island on the boat, and found a lot of coconut littered about the dock. She placed Ronald down on the dockside and he immediately began playing with a ball on the sand. Rona went over to the other lift and began to descend to the observation bubble -- one of Charlie's favourite places. As the lift arrived, she saw Charlie lying at the very end of the bubble, gazing into the sea quietly humming. Rona stumbled out of the lift as it began to ascend once again, and Charlie, startled by the noise, turned around to face her.
Rona could see that Charlie had been crying and she immediately went to comfort him. He shunned her advances and curled up in a sobbing heap on the floor crying.
"Leave me alone" his gasped in between great long drawn sobs, "I didn't want her, I didn't!"
No amount of soothing sounds from Rona to stop Charlie crying, so she sat with him, confident that if Ronald had wanted her he would come to find her. She eventually convinced Charlie to come up in the lift with her and that he would feel better in the sunlight.
When the lift arrived, Ronald was in it, playing with the ball he had found. As this lift was one of the oldest in Albia, they could not all fit in the lift, and Ronald refused to be parted from his ball. As such, Charlie said that if Rona went up first, he would come up straight after her. Rona climbed into the lift and pushed the up button. Once she had left his sight, Charlie went over to the observation bubble once more, pushed his hand up against the glass and quietly he whispered. "Russell, how you will never know." He heard the ping of the lift announcing its arrival and spun around to see that it was empty.
Charlie entered the lift, and as it arrived at the island level, he saw that Rona was by the docks playing with Ronald and the ball, whilst trying to persuade Ronald to eat some of the coconut. Charlie opened his mouth, and as loudly as he could, he cried out "I'm sorry Rona, I can't go on" and he pushed down on the lift before she could stop him. Arriving on the lower level of the island underground system, he ran over to the cart and made it go to the east. As he passed through the connecting pipe under the ocean, he watched the fish in the water and sighed. How he was going to miss all this he thought.
As he arrived at the base of the lookout tower, he heard the showers running, but could not see anyone. He assumed that an irresponsible grendel had left the water running, and he turned it off. He continued along to the still. As he neared the large alcohol maker, the memories of his encounter with Quientia came flooding back. He sat for a while, staring at the still, and as he did, it seemed that Quientia spoke to him.
"I am sorry for what I did" she began, "I know now that you love Russell. Find him, and tell him. You owe him that much."
Someone else acknowledging his feelings was too much for Charlie, and he began to sob. As he lay, tears streaming from his large eyes, Russell ran over from the pictures he had been looking at. He saw Charlie crying on the floor by the still and immediately flung his arms around his friend. Slowly Charlie stopped crying and dried his eyes on Russell's soft fur. He looked at Russell, he gazed deep into his blue eyes, and whispered "Am I dreaming?".
Russell closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. Charlie also closed his eyes, revelling in the soft touch of the norn he loved. Without a word, Russell led Charlie to the cart and they both got in. Russell stopped the cart in the middle of the pipe, and as they gazed at the fish, together, they at last felt whole again. They faced each other, and gently kissed. And there, under the ocean, as evening fell over the island, Russell and Charlie finally had their Pipe Dreams, together.