Bleargh I am exhausted. Only one hour left to go. My eyes burn. Mew. BUT I threw a chocolate at MCM and it hit him right in the face and it was hilarious!

Chapter 43 outline:

Koen saves Valerye from the fire. They must have missed something, something worth killing for. Must be the ghost story. Get into Vooruit after pleading with cleaning staff. Pick up cup: empty except for a tiny bit of dirt. Here are three subjects that have nothing to do with anything, just that Achyel researched something around them. They look up the original reports again, realize Achyel wasn’t doing myths of world war 2 at all… he was a chronicler! So he must have known about these problems, but he didn’t do anything… why not? They go to see him and he admits it all: he extorted money from their families in the past, but he had nothing to do with their current problems. But then why was it so much work to assemble profiles? Son arrives. It was him.

Maybe I am tired but I don’t get exactly what Achiel was doing and what it has to do with the Damascus and WWII storylines. Meh. I will pester MCM later.

Chapter 44 outline:

Knew his father had done terrible things, so he used his position to blackhole the families to keep anyone from finding out. Bruno somehow picked it out, decided to cause problems. Killed him to keep him quiet. Achyel despondent. Will have him taken care of. Going back home, Valerye thanks Koen for everything. Koen says he’s happy things worked out, can move on now. Goes home, opens logbook to write down the resolutions. One, two, three. He stares at the results, then realizes what he’s seeing: it’s an Archivist code! Reads it: “Koen watch the cup or we will all die.”

This whole time the cup has been (physically!) sitting behind us in the venue, in the exact location it is supposed to be in the story. So now we are watching it. We are watching it carefully.

Is it just me, or are the excitement levels rising in a very high level? I mean, seriously. Achiel was a blackmailer? Mysterious words on Walls? That’s just all a little too much for me!

OUTLINEZ

Aziz shows up. Trapped in mosque, fight between Aziz and Khouri, Aziz punches Khouri right over onto his back. Oh crap. Says he was wrong. The wall has a message in it, upside-down. They lie on the ground, looking up at it, and Aziz asks: “What does this mean?” Khouri is desperate. “It means everything is wrong. Everything.” The siege hits the doors.

AND

Koen saves Valerye from the fire. They must have missed something, something worth killing for. Must be the ghost story. Get into Vooruit after pleading with cleaning staff. Pick up cup: empty except for a tiny bit of dirt. Here are three subjects that have nothing to do with anything, just that Achyel researched something around them. They look up the original reports again, realize Achyel wasn’t doing myths of world war 2 at all… he was a chronicler! So he must have known about these problems, but he didn’t do anything… why not? They go to see him and he admits it all: he extorted money from their families in the past, but he had nothing to do with their current problems. But then why was it so much work to assemble profiles? Son arrives. It was him.

In the mean time, I have been promoted to ventriloquist (even though I have no idea how to spel that), Anna is falling a sleep right newt to me, and the thruth has finally been uncovered…

I have no idea how knock knock jokes work beyond the who’s there reply.

Statistics as of chapter 39:
Wordcount: 47,613 words
Average chapter: 1,190 words
Longest chapter: 1,939 words
Shortest chapter: 711 words
Projected length: 53,550 words
Number of chapters: 45

MCM is taking a sugar break before he begins Chapter 40. He looks jittery. Also he’s trying to be funny but failing. Ha. Typical. And Jan is busy watching some cycling event…?

Here’s the chapter 39 outline:

Tuur doesn’t kill them. Unties them instead. Says Adele is right, that this is not who he is. When it comes down to it, he needs to do what HE thinks is right, not what his father would have done. The weapon is hidden in the floor of the south side of the Vooruit building, yes? Henri nods. Then they haven’t much time, because von Schiff is moving there with troops now. They run for the building, but come across American troops, a small detachment, running there too. Meet Col Anderson again. He knew who von Schiff was the whole time, but he had to let them go so he could track them and see where they’d end up. But now they’ve got him and it’s all going to be taken care of. Stay put, and he’ll call ’em if he needs ‘em. They’re stuck down the street as a firefight breaks out, von Schiff’s forces vs the Americans. Francis and Adele race through the crossfire on the way to the Vooruit building. Dash through lobby, end up in basement, find vault in floor. Francis asks for help opening, crowbar or something, but Tur is gone. Trying to open it when von Schiff arrives gun aimed at Adele’s face.

I don’t have much to say about this chapter, except it seems like the stories are starting to come together. The weapon is hidden in the Vooruit, and Valerie/Koen keep hanging out there as well and are on the hunt for a WWII artefact…. What if the Nazi gold is really the weapon or whatever that Francis et al are looking for? Hm. I still do not see how the Damascus storyline ties in.

Right MCM has gone off for a walk so I’ll be back later.

17.12

Wooo… got distracted, completely didn’t realize that MCM has finished chapter 40 BEFORE going on his walk so now I’m playing catch up while Jan goes out for a smoke (yet again!).

Here was the outline:

Citadel is under attack. Aziz climbs to the top of a wall and looks out and spots Khouri’s whole block on fire. Gets near but can’t see Jasmin or Boulos anywhere. Then they find him, Boulos dragging Jasmine along as she cries that her father will die. The crowd moves them to the gates with refugees, and Aziz looks back over his shoulder as the siege lays in.

I have to admit to being a little disappointed by the Damascus storyline. I have no idea how it relates to the rest, and I feel like MCM is just jerking our chain. The whole egg hunt for Jasmine, for example, was a waste of time. And despite all the drama about the mirrors and the sketching lessons etc, they didn’t manage to copy portions of the mosque wall nor get Khouri to leave. It seems a waste. And now after all that he gives up?

That is all I have to say for the moment. There’s only 5 more chapters left to write, in 5 hours. MCM’s bang on track although I don’t know what he’s going to do about dinner!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEh. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. HAPPY DANCES ALL AROUND.

MCM just checked the data, and apparantly people have added over 47500 suggestions to the database. That’s kinda huge. So I did a happy dance, actually more than one. And ran around the building looking for people to hug because I’m so excited. I am totally psyched.

Not that we’re being overrun in the Cafe by people, but the people who are brave enough to come and check us out are all really enthusiastic, and I’ve had a couple of really interesting conversations. In the Vooruit, the people working here are also totally on board, and it’s so nice to not feel like a total lunatic for doing this. Not that we aren’t lunatics, after all even if we weren’t before, it’s obvious that the lack of sleep turned us al into insane crazy monkeys.

But now I’m like a bouncing monkey with cimbals, you know the one from Toy Story 3, but without the evilness?

Yups, this is pretty much how I look at the moment.

So yeah, since I currently only hear “WOOOHOOOWHOOOWHOOOWHOOOOO” in my head, I can’t really give any insightful insights into the outlines. I’ll leave that over to you guys!

Chapter 35

Koen is at Vooruit with a black eye when Valerye arrives. In the end, she has to know too. It’s what she does. He gets her up to speed and they head off to fix the problem. It goes a little wrong, but they pull it off.

Chapter 36

The outline is that there is no outline!

Chapter 37

City is on fire, Jasmine is waiting to escape as looters take hold. If Aziz leaves her, she’ll be killed for sure… but if he doesn’t get Khouri, she won’t go. Looters break in and attack, but are stopped by Boulos. Says he’s got this under control, go get the old man. Aziz makes his way to the mosque, pushes past the panicking crowds, finds Khouri, who still refuses to go, even as he scribbles madly. Aziz says Khouri is crazy. Transcribing this wall is meaningless, it’s pointless, it has no significance. Khouri says this is what they DO, but Aziz won’t hear it. “It doesn’t matter one bit. You can clap your hands and feel as self-important as you like, but the truth of the matter is this: until you write it down in the Archive, it doesn’t really exist, Khouri! It doesn’t MATTER!” Khouri tells him he doesn’t have to stay, and Aziz says that’s good, because he’s leaving, and the entry for Khouri will read: “He was an idiot who couldn’t see past his obsessions.”

Chapter 38

Taking stock of things: three little quests that say nothing about anything other than Bruno abusing his position. Can’t make sense of it. What was he doing? What was he trying to do? Maybe it DOES have something to do with the plastic cup. Realize they’ll never know for sure. Say their goodbyes, and just as Koen is walking away, the office explodes!

Explosions!!

Also, in other news, MCM is back on track. It was a little scary today, but it looks like he’ll make it in time. Awesome.

People are also very enthusiastic. For instance, my mother; was so excited the computer picked her answer, she took a screenshot of it so she had proof.

See you later, I need to go out and celebrate a bit.

Look at his face. He totally knows he’s one lucky ba–

Okay, okay, I’ll tell the truth this time, honest. Maybe.

So what happened is yesterday Cathi (WA_side) was playing around on the who cares website (a promo stunt for Vooruit) and she managed to win a prize somehow! Obviously as she is in Australia, she cannot drop by to pick up the prize, so she forwarded the email to me and I wandered over to pick it up.

Imagine my surprise when I am given two coupons for a glass of champagne from the bar! Actually you don’t need to imagine it; here’s a photo of me looking surprised and/or like a zombie (I’m tired, sorry):

Now I just need to decide who to treat… or maybe I’ll drink both glasses myself!

Exciting times! Ereaders.nl wrote up a great article about the event, woo!

Other than that it’s been a quiet morning. The Vooruit opened later than usual, and we’re all a little tired from the past few days. I think — if all goes like yesterday — we’ll perk up after lunch. Although I have a feeling MCM forgot to schedule in time to eat for today so he’ll just have to starve.

Okay on to the chapter 33 outline:

Francis, Adele and Tuur sneak past guards and get into Cathedral again, look everywhere and finally find the last inscription. Ready to leave when von Schiff shows up. Francis tells von Schiff Tuur has nothing to do with this, that they tricked him into guiding them, and von Schiff agrees. Tuur isn’t with them. He’s a collaborator, and he sold them out.

In WA_side’s words, 33 was a cruel chapter. Poor Adele, all convinced she was playing Tuur when she was the one being played. And now we’re one step further away from discovering the truth about the messages and where the weapon is! Except generally MCM gives us the codes to things, and this time he has been careful not to let us know what the secret messages say. Hrm.

IN OTHER NEWS… (While I wait for MCM to finish chapter 34) Behind the scenes I am working on a spoof rap song for MCM to sing during the celebratory book launch tonight at 10:05pm. This is what we’ve got so far:

MCM:

[singing]
I’ll take you to my candy shop
I’ll let you lick the small laptop
Go ‘head girl, don’t you stop
Keep going till you hit capslock (WOAH)

I’ll take you to my candy shop
Boy one taste of what you got
You’ll have me spending all I got
Keep going till you hit capslock (WOAH)

[rapping]
You can have it your way, how do you want it
You gon’ back my story or should I push up on it
Temperature rising, okay let’s go to the next level
Livewrite me some questions hot as a teakettle
I’ll break it down for you now, baby, it’s simple
If you be a reader, I’ll be your writer
In the Vooruit or in back of my hotel
With or without glasses, you’ll be my belle

Thoughts? Additions? Suggestions?

12.18

Woo MCM has finished Chapter 34 and we’re going to shoot off for lunch soon. Well me and Jan will shoot off for lunch; MCM is running up to grab food and bring it bak down because he stupidly didn’t plan for eating today and he’s still behind schedule. Haha.

In the meanwhile here’s the outline quickly:

Brought back to house and put under arrest. von Schiff tortures Henri to get the location out of him, but he’s too crazy to give it up. They take the notes and go off to get their own people to crack it. They’ll call when they have the answer, at which point Tuur can kill them all, and he’ll be richly rewarded for it, too. In the new world order, there are special spots reserved for loyal German-minded people like himself. They leave. Francis asks Henri where it is, but he’s paranoid they’re still listening. Adele says what good will it do? They’re not getting out anyway. Even if they knew, what good would it do? Talks about the research she left unfinished, how no one will ever be able to make sense out of it without her, how unfair it all is that Francis dragged her into this. Adele upset with Tuur for betraying them, but he appears unmoved. Phone rings, he answers, says “yes, yes I understand,” and hangs up the phone, cocks his gun.

I think MCM is tired and has cut much of the fluff from the outline, keeping only the essential points to move the story forward. He didn’t include Henri’s paranoia nor the character building from Adele (still leaving her as a bitchy mouthy useless character, argh!), although he did give Tuur a bit more backstory.

Right. Time for food. Jan and I need to get something for MCM as well; he went upstairs but came back empty-handed, saying he’s too nervous/ill to eat. I think it was this morning’s double espresso. In any case we’ll make sure he gets something in him, no worries!

Allright. Obviously Anna and I are no MCM’s. There’s just only so much our brains are capeable and after about 14h we both kinda faze out. We do keep reading (though if we actually understand everything is a totally different issue), but dispatching gets kinda hard, especially with all the people around at night. In the end it all comes down to fighting to remain sane, or at least keep up appearances.

So here are the outlines for the chapters we missed, there’s quite some differences, so hope you enjoy!

chapter 25

Aziz at a cafe talking to an old man about the situation. Asks what he’d do if there was someone he had to save, but the person wouldn’t listen. Old man says throws a basket over their head and drag them away on a donkey. Aziz inspired. Buys a pair of baskets from a vendor, but gets into an argument with a man with a donkey that just about turns violent. Just then, Boulos steps in and arrests him for assault. Aziz argues that they need to get out of the city because Temur will kill them all, but Boulos is blinded by jealousy. Thrown into jail and told he’ll never get out, because Boulos answers to no one.

chapter 26

Aziz meets up with Jasmin and they make their way towards the mosque. He’s not sure how he’ll sneak all this in, or even if Khouri will agree to it, but it’s the best bet they have. He tells Jasmin to go back home and pack what she needs to survive and wait for him. She thanks him for all his work, and gives him a kiss goodbye. He watches her go, then turns to find Boulos standing there, angry. He tries to escape, but Boulos is too angry. Struggle, fight, and the glass all breaks. Aziz’s plan is ruined, and they’re all going to die.

chatper 27

Arrive in Ghent and find an abandoned house. Still a few hours of daylight left, so they head to where the Judges were kept, in Saint Bavo Cathedral. They have to keep a very low profile, because the Germans are still in control and will react very badly to foreigners tromping around. Get past a patrol outside, into the Cathedral and look for the place the painting. Tuur asks a priest, who tells him the paintings were taken away years ago, and no one is sure where. They start snooping around, trying to find some clues about the disappearance, and see written on the back of a column in tiny lettering, a line that sounds like it’s Biblical, but isn’t. Francis finds another, and then it’s clear: this is how Archivists leave notes when their work is unfinished and they feel their lives are in danger. It should be a four-part encryption, so you need all four lines to decipher it. Henri finds part 3, but before they can locate the last part, German officers come in and demand to know what they’re doing.

chapter 28

Tuur covers for them, saying Adele had hidden a photo of their parents here before the occupation, and now that they had been killed, she wanted to keep it close, but it was lost. Adele cries, Germans seem placated, kick them out. Getting dark so they go back to the abandoned house, try to decipher without the last piece. No such luck. They need to get back inside and find the final clue. When Tuur has gone to bed, Francis and Henri compare notes about the weapon, how it will change the course of history, more powerful than anything ever imagined. They need to get back into the Cathedral that night, and get to this thing before the Germans do.

chapter 29

Valerie going to call it all off when another package arrives in the mail, and it’s from Bruno again, this time less precise sent to a different address and returned. They go there and get nothing useful. Valerye kicks Koen out and tells him to go his own way.

chapter 30

Koen follows up Place 3 and realizes it has everything to do with the address. Tries to help but gets in over his head.

chapter 31

Aziz has an idea. He met this man who created a kind of projection machine by lighting a candle and using a sheet of mirror-glass to make a larger version on a wall. If they reversed the process, maybe he could make it more accurate to transcribe the wall, which would speed things up immensely. They find the glassmaker in town and ask for help. They’ll need a stack of mirrors, as smooth as possible, and a set of reflectors to make the projection. Glassmaker thinks it’s impossible, but Aziz has money. Jasmine runs off to find something that can draw on glass, and Aziz loads up with the stuff. The city rocks as they’re attacked by Temur.

chapter 32

Aziz meets up with Jasmin and they make their way towards the mosque. He’s not sure how he’ll sneak all this in, or even if Khouri will agree to it, but it’s the best bet they have. He tells Jasmin to go back home and pack what she needs to survive and wait for him. She thanks him for all his work, and gives him a kiss goodbye. He watches her go, then turns to find Boulos standing there, angry. He tries to escape, but Boulos is too angry. Struggle, fight, and the glass all breaks. Aziz’s plan is ruined, and they’re all going to die.

So once again MCM has failed to stick to his outline. I mean, look at this:

Chapter 25 outline

Aziz at a cafe talking to an old man about the situation. Asks what he’d do if there was someone he had to save, but the person wouldn’t listen. Old man says throws a basket over their head and drag them away on a donkey. Aziz inspired. Buys a pair of baskets from a vendor, but gets into an argument with a man with a donkey that just about turns violent. Just then, Boulos steps in and arrests him for assault. Aziz argues that they need to get out of the city because Temur will kill them all, but Boulos is blinded by jealousy. Thrown into jail and told he’ll never get out, because Boulos answers to no one.

What actually happens is Aziz is trying to raise an army of Juniors to help copy the wall of the mosque so that he can get Khouri to leave town, but then the students he gets mess things up and a brawl breaks out. After that he gets arrested by Boulos, but instead of arguing about needing to escape, he just thinks it’s funny that he’ll die in jail rather than killed by the Temur. And Boulos makes no mention about not answering to anyone.

I guess the ending is roughly the same, but still. That’s pretty far off course. It makes me feel like MCM really is just making this all — oh wait, he is. Nevermind.

Right, me and Jan need to go cull some reader answers from the database. You’d be surprised how many annoying people decide to be “cool” and put in rubbish-y arrogant questions/answers. Argh!

I have nothing to say! Woo. One of the boys here was flirting with me which is really funny because earlier today MCM was mocking me about things like this… seems I haven’t lost my touch after all! Ha.

Here’s the chapter 23 outline:

Place 2: Valerie’s stuff and resolution

Yeah. So stuff happens and stuff. Woah. Exciting. My mind is totally on this game. I know what it’s all about. Etc. Why is no one getting it on without anyone? I don’t know. Don’t ask me. Ask Jan. She’ll explain everything right….. NOW!

(JAN 21.12h CET) weehee funny hour

Ok, lets skip comments about 23, because I have nothing to say about it, and lets go straight to number 24. First of all. De Rechtvaardige Rechters really exists, and it’s quite a nice place, very affordable, and on a kick-ass location. MCM actually ate the vol-au-vent, and he LOVED it, and said it was some of the greatest food he ever had. Then he asked the owner what she would recommend, and she suggested the linguini. I think it’s really cool that he’s incorporating all the local stuff, and really doing an effort to make it feel like Ghent.

I wasn’t a huge fan of how the kiss went down though, I’m not entirely sure she would actually kiss him back. Without being drunk that is.

OUtline!

Compare notes over dinner. Valerye not keen on going after ghost story.

In the backstage, MCM and Anna just had a huge conversation about the rules of flirting and how Anna goes about it, and it was quite intriguing. Who knows, after this MCM’s understanding of the female mind might actually have improved.

Dinner is done, stomachs are full, chocolate has been had, and MCM has been caffeiniated. Everything is set to go for the last 6 hours of today. Today was a strange day, it never really gained full speed.

We all only had 3 hours of sleep, the weather was really nice, so there weren’t that many people in the Kafee (it’s slightly better now, but it’s still not very, very active). Currently there’s some friends of mine passing by, which is always nice, and most of all because they are very enthusiastic.

This is the outline for this chapter:

Meet Tuur. Not German, just trying to keep the peace around his farm. The jeep is busted, but he offers to bring them to Brussels himself if it will help the Allies. Dangerous place right now, but it’s worth it. Driving along, hear about his family, father being arrested. Mention Judges, and he slams on the brakes. The Judges aren’t from Brussels, they’re from Ghent. John the Baptist was left in Brussels, but the real meat of the story is from Ghent. What are the chances the Germans know that? Probably very good, but if not, they might have a slight advantage. They take off.

I really like Francis. It’s his whole attitude, it really is the kind of character I like. I like Tuur as well, and MCM told me he actually researched what the meaning of the name is, and he didn’t want to change it, because it fits so well. So now I’m slightly curious about what it means. I’m also glad that The Just Judges (Rechtvaardige Rechters), are back in the picture, because that whole story is awesome (and see, that’s a thing that binds the two storylines!!!!!!)

Onwards (and especially enjoy chapter 24!!)