Subject: Jack Chick, Child of Gaia (long)
From: blaze(AT)table.blackguild.NOS.PAM.com
Date: 04/11/2001 1:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: <nhr0b9.28l.ln(AT)blackguild.com>
So there I was working late one night, and looking at
the Jack Chick website (www.chick.com, if you don't know
who Chick is the rest of this won't make much sense.)
And reading entirely too many of his unpleasant little
tracts. About one in the morning, inspiration struck:
what would happen if the Garou used the same approach?
I present:
"BLOOD DOLL"
A Children of Gaia Publication
***
OPENING SCENE: The Rack, a goth nightclub. A group
of half a dozen teenagers in a range of goth fashions
cluster around a taller, older man [COUNT RUTHVEN].
Pale, emaciated, with blazing eyes and inch-long fangs,
he is obviously a vampire. They are hanging off his
every word.
RUTHVEN: "Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow
old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire!"
***
SCENE 2: LILY (one of the teenagers from Page 1) is
quietly sneaking in through her bedroom window, late
at night. On one wall of her bedroom is a poster of
Lestat, and on the door is a framed ankh.
***
SCENE 3: Next morning. LILY is at breakfast with her
parents. She is still wearing her goth outfit, although
the makeup is gone; her parents both wear ecologically
sound, sustainable hemp clothes. Rather than buy
commercially produced food, they are eating organically
grown vegetables.
HOWLS-FOR-JUSTICE (Lily's father): "I had a phone call
from Silver Soul last night, Lily." <pause> "She said
she saw you down at the Rack."
LILY: "So what?"
HFJ: "I don't want you going there. I told you about that
place already. There are vampires there!"
LILY: "Oh, dad! You're so old-fashioned! Vampires are cool!"
LOUISE (Lily's mother): "Lily, vampires are an abomination
in the sight of Gaia, and cut off from Her cycle of death
and rebirth."
LILY: "Come on, mum! Nobody bothers with that Gaia rubbish
any more! I guess it's OK if you _are_ a werewolf and she
gives you powers, but what about us kinfolk? What does she
give us?"
HFJ: "Gaia gives you life, clean air and fresh water, Lily.
Gaia loves you just as much as us."
LILY: "I don't believe you! If she really cared about _me_,
she'd give me Gifts and Rites just like she gave you! Count
Ruthven says vampires don't have to ask *anybody* for their
powers, they run in the blood!"
LOUISE: "Count Ruthven is a servant of the Wyrm, child. I
want you to promise you won't go near him again."
LILY: "Okay... I promise."
Caption: BUT...
***
SCENE 4: Night, in The Rack again. COUNT RUTHVEN is
talking to LILY, who is looking up at him in admiration.
On his shoulder, unseen by all, lurks a BANE.
RUTHVEN: "Let me gift you with the Dark Kiss, my one, my
only. If you say yes, you shall gain all the powers of a
Ninth Generation Methuselah, and we shall be together in
eternity forever!"
LILY: "Yes! Now I'll have powers that my foolish Lupine
relatives can only dream of! Who needs Gaia anyway!"
***
SCENE 5: A bedroom. LILY lies on her back, pale and drained,
with bite-marks in her throat. Above her, a wrist (RUTHVEN'S),
welling blood from a deep slash. A huge, black drop of blood
hangs, about to fall; in it, we can see the face of a hideous
Bane.
The drop falls onto her tongue, and her eyes flick open in
wonder.
LILY: "YESSS! The dark kiss!"
***
SCENE 6: The Rack. LILY (who is now a vampire) is dancing
with a good-looking young MAN. Their eyes are in contact,
and his expression is vacant.
LILY: "There's just one more thing I want..."
MAN: "Anything... anything..."
She pulls him close, and bites his neck. Her eyes stare
out into the distance. There is now a BANE on her shoulder -
as usual, unheard and unseen.
LILY [THINKS]: "I'm so glad Count Ruthven taught me how
to Dominate people! Last night this guy wouldn't even have
noticed me, and now he'll do whatever I say! Even Dad
doesn't have powers like this, and he's been a Galliard
for years!"
FOOTNOTE: "Ye shall not eat the flesh of Humans (this means
blood too!) Litany, v. 7."
The MAN slumps, drained to the point of unconsciousness.
LILY leaves him on the dance floor and walks over to
COUNT RUTHVEN, who again has a BANE on his shoulder. (Look,
for future reference, just assume that all vampires have
Banes on their shoulders unless otherwise mentioned. It'll
save us a lot of time later on.)
LILY: "My eternal love! How art thou this night-enchanted
eve?"
RUTHVEN: "Adoringly, eternally yours, my fair one! Come,
drink of my blood and let us celebrate our undying union!"
RUTHVEN'S BANE (ASIDE): "You're already dead, and in the
clutches of my master the Wyrm! You just don't know it
yet!"
COUNT RUTHVEN cuts his wrist again, lets the blood drip into
a goblet, and passes it to LILY, who drinks it.
RUTHVEN [THINKS]: "Ha! The Blood Bond grows stronger! Soon
you will be my devoted slave!"
***
SCENE 7: Night, outside. Lily runs across rooftops, making
incredible leaps and bounds, eyes glowing unnaturally.
LILY [THINKS]: "I love Count Ruthven! He gave me all this...
with Fortitude, I can jump further than my cousin did with
Leap of the Spider! How can they tell me I'm a Child of Gaia
when she never gave me powers like this?"
Footnote: "But Litany v. 8 tells us, 'For all are of Gaia.'"
LILY [THINKS]: "Dawn nears... I must return to my love soon,
that we may wait out the fiery hours together in one another's
arms until Mother Night comes for us once more!"
***
SCENE 8: Outside of The Rack, now closed. The sky is beginning
to lighten. LILY stands outside, in front of the closed door.
COUNT RUTHVEN looks down at her from an upstairs window. In
later panels, we see that he has a scantily-clad young lady
(not a vampire) on the bed beside him.
LILY: "Please, let me in! It's nearly sunrise!"
COUNT RUTHVEN: "There's no room for you in here! I'm talking to
my new protege!"
LILY (in tears): "But you said we'd be together for ever... I'm
afraid of the sunlight!"
COUNT RUTHVEN: "Go away, neonate! You'll have to find your own
Haven. See you tomorrow night!"
LILY runs away, panicked.
***
SCENE 9: Next morning, Lily's home. Her parents are sitting at
the breakfast table, looking concerned.
LOUISE: "Lily hasn't been home since last night. I'm worried
about her."
HFJ: "Me too. I'll ask our nephew Peter to go down to The Rack
tonight and see if he can find her."
***
SCENE 10: Evening, at The Rack. LILY is in Count Ruthven's
bedroom, in tears again. She's bedraggled and filthy, on her
knees. RUTHVEN stands in front of her, looking down coldly,
arms folded.
LILY: "You promised you'd always love me! You liar!"
RUTHVEN: "But I _do_ love you, my dark child!"
LILY: "You sent me away! I had to sleep in a dumpster to
stay out of the sun!"
RUTHVEN (obviously lying): "I'm sorry. I didn't know it
was so close to dawn, my beloved. Helen was very upset
that I'd chosen to bestow the Dark Gift upon you, and I
had to explain to her that I love you more. I didn't want
to hurt her, you see."
LILY: "Is that true? Will you stay with me always?"
RUTHVEN (lying again): "I will love you for every moment
of our eternal life together."
RUTHVEN'S BANE: "Love you to death, more like."
Ruthven's mobile phone rings; he answers it.
RUTHVEN: "Hello?" <a pause> "Yes." <he hangs up>
RUTHVEN (to Lily): "There's someone downstairs looking
for you. Making trouble. Someone called Peter."
LILY: "...Peter? The only Peter I know is Cousin Peter.
He's Garou! What's he doing here?"
RUTHVEN: "Garou? Lure him away from here. Then KILL
HIM!"
LILY: "But he's family! I've known him since we were
babies?"
RUTHVEN: "Lily, do you love me?"
LILY: "Yes, my lord!"
RUTHVEN: "Then kill him! Now! Take this pistol, and these
silver bullets!" (He hands her these items.)
LILY: "Yes, my lord!"
LILY'S BANE: "At last, a chance to spill Garou blood!
That's what it takes to bring Gaia down!"
***
SCENE 11: The Rack, front door. PETER, an impressively
clean-cut young man, is being held up by one of the
bouncers - a gigantic, misshapen ghoul. LILY comes out
to them. Her face is obviously made up to disguise her
pallor.
LILY: "It's OK, Igor. I know this man. Peter, shall we
talk a walk?" Her smile is bright and forced.
PETER: "Sure, Lily! Let's go to the park nearby, it's
quieter there!"
LILY'S BANE: "Not for long!"
They walk away from the Rack, talking as they go.
PETER: "Lily, your folks are really worried about you.
They say you've been hanging around with vampires. And
that place _stinks_ of the Wyrm!"
LILY: "Tell them I'm OK. I'm fine. And I don't believe
in the Wyrm!"
LILY [THINKS]: "I don't want to kill him!"
PETER: "The Wyrm is real, alright! The most dangerous thing
you can do is ignore him! And those vampires serve him -
you should be helping us destroy them!"
Footnote: "Combat the Wyrm wherever it dwells and wherever
it breeds. Litany v.1".
LILY: "You don't know anything about vampires!"
LILY [THINKS]: "But I _have_ to kill him! I love Ruthven
so much, I can't refuse him anything!"
By now they have reached a small park. Lily's hand has
slipped into her purse.
PETER: "And what do you know about vampires?"
LILY (drawing the gun from her purse): "I *am* a vampire!"
(Lily's eyes blaze red, and the gun fires BANG! Peter is
hit in the shoulder.)
PETER: "Ugh!"
(He dodges as she fires again BANG! and knocks the gun from
her hand, shifting into Crinos as he does. But with the gun
lost, she panics and bolts before he can catch her, disappearing
down a side alley.)
PETER [thinks]: "The Wyrm has her already! I can't do this on
my own. I'm going to call on Unicorn for help."
(He falls on his knees, ignoring his wound, which is now heavily
bleeding.)
PETER (praying): "Oh, great Unicorn! I need your aid! A child of
us has been led astray by the Dead Ones, and needs your guiding
hand!"
Behind him, a spectral UNICORN nods her head in approval.
***
SCENE 12: Another alleyway. A well-presented young Garou walks
through it slowly. Although in Homid form, she has a horn in
the middle of her forehead; this is SILVER SOUL.
SILVER SOUL [thinks]: "I feel like Unicorn wants me to be here
tonight. I think there's something she wants me to do."
(LILY appears, coming the other way, looking panicked and
desperate. She stops when she sees SILVER SOUL.)
SILVER SOUL: "Lily! You look awful! What's wrong? You've
become a vampire!"
LILY: "I thought it would be fun... I thought I'd get
great powers, like you Garou have. And I did, but it's not
like I thought it would be. I nearly killed Peter! I didn't
want to, but Count Ruthven told me to, and I love him so
much I couldn't refuse!"
SILVER SOUL: "That's not love. That's the Blood Bond. When
you drink a vampire's blood, he gets a hold on you. And
another vampire has a hold on HIM, and so on... the chain
leads back to the Wyrm. When you became a vampire, you broke
your connection to Gaia and became a creature of the Wyrm!"
LILY'S BANE: "No! She'll undo all our good work!"
LILY: "I don't believe you! I'm not a creature of the Wyrm!
I don't even believe it exists!"
SILVER SOUL: "Let me show you!"
(She touches LILY gently, on both eyelids. LILY opens her
eyes, and stares at the BANE on her shoulder in horror.)
LILY: "It's a Bane! And it's MY Bane! And if Banes exist,
the Wyrm must be real! I was so stupid!"
SILVER SOUL: "But there is a way for you to return to Gaia,
child! You can be saved from the Wyrm's maw."
LILY: "I'll do it! But what about that awful creature, Count
Ruthven? Won't he go on corrupting people and stealing their
souls for the Wyrm?"
SILVER SOUL: "Don't worry about that. Gaia has seen to that."
[CUTSCENE: The Rack, on fire. Garou in Crinos and Hispo form
stand outside, killing vampires emerging from the doors. COUNT
RUTHVEN'S face appears at the upstairs window, looking in vain
for escape from the flames. His BANE is also panicking. We return
to the alleyway]
LILY: "So, how can I be saved from the Wyrm?"
LILY'S BANE: "I don't like this! I'm outta here!"
***
SCENE 13: A quiet hillside, somewhere in the wilderness. A
freshly-dug grave is surmounted by a small cross fashioned
of branches; someone has scratched the name LILY into the
grass by the grave, and the Children of Gaia glyph on the
other side. Lily's parents, PETER, SILVER SOUL and miscellaneous
other Children of Gaia & Kinfolk stand around, looking sad but
in a good kind of way. PETER is bandaged.
HFJ: "It is over. The Wyrm has been thwarted, and our beloved
daughter is part of the cycle. Thank you, Peter, and thank you,
Silver Soul."
PETER: "Don't thank us. Thank Unicorn!"
Behind them stands a proud spectral Unicorn, horn triumphantly
pointed towards Luna.
THE END.
*****
Apologies to Ceredwyn Ealanta, from whom I stole the
character of Silver Soul (who probably wouldn't really
act like this, but it was late at night and I was stuck
for a name.)
--
Geoffrey Brent
Reply email: g.brent at student.unsw.edu.au
Subject: Re: Jack Chick, Child of Gaia (long)
From: laskaris(AT)my-deja.com
Date: 04/11/2001 4:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: <9b14mp$la3$1(AT)news.netmar.com>
In article <nhr0b9.28l.ln(AT)blackguild.com>,
<blaze(AT)table.blackguild.NOS.PAM.com> writes:
> So there I was working late one night, and looking at
> the Jack Chick website (www.chick.com, if you don't know
> who Chick is the rest of this won't make much sense.)
> And reading entirely too many of his unpleasant little
> tracts. About one in the morning, inspiration struck:
> what would happen if the Garou used the same approach?
>
> I present:
>
>
>
> "BLOOD DOLL"
>
> A Children of Gaia Publication
<snip>
ROFLMAO
This is perfect. You manage to cach the atmosphere that
permeates Chick tracts perfectly. I could imagine the crappy
Chick art as I read the text. I especially liked the footnotes
that you included.
(although I imagined that Lily would reenter Gaia as fertilizer.)
Perhaps though you should have included a message at the end for
Wyrm-tainted people to read. (an example follows:)
-------------
Nobody can save you but Gaia. Trust Gaia today!
What to do:
1. Admit you are Wyrm-tainted.
2. Be willing to turn away from the Wyrm´s influence.
3. Believe that Gaia is the giver of all life.
4. Start serving Gaia.
What to say:
Dear Gaia I am a Wyrm-tainted FOOL. I repent and wish to stop
following the Wyrm. Please forgive me for all my misdeeds.
Do you wish to repent and to stop serving the Wyrm?
[ ] Yes [ ] No
If you said yes then a wonderful new life is beginning for you:
1. Start killing the Wyrm´s minions (vampires, fomori, etc.)
2. Give all your belongings to the closest Garou caern.
3. Praise Gaia daily.
If you said no then report to the caern closest to you in order to
be disemboweled.