An altered memory, not that great

The two walked bathed in an orangey light that only street lamps could offer. A sort of a misty foggy thing gave it the feeling of a memory realized several years later. It was sort of a dreamy feel, as if this would be important some time, but there was no way to know when, or even why.

The were in the woods, now, a park with a bicycle path winding through it in a figure eight. Various paths and clearings showed evidence of miscreants, insomniacs, and those with nothing better to do: cigarette butts, beer cans, wads of paper, and general litter were lightly sprinkled about the grounds. Despite the scattered signs of night life, the two boys, about 14, had nothing to fear. This was their neighborhood, their park. They were invincible. They walked as though they were a pair of cops on a familiar beat.

"I feel like something big is going to happen," said one. He was slightly shorter than the other, light haired, a bit wirey, and his name was Alex.

"The other, dark haired, vaguely muscular, and named Vincent cocked his head. "When?" he asked. The orangey light poked between the leaves, creating a sort of negative version of the shafts of sunlight that shoot through the clouds.

"I don't know. Soon, maybe."
"Like tomorrow? Next week? What are you talking about?" Vincent looked around, as if something were going to happen right now. Alex had a tendency to know things on accident. "What's going to happen?"

"Something big. Like, the end of the world or something."
"Oh, that." Vincent looked up at the stars. They were to the parking lot past the park. He couldn't see that many, there were street lights. "Well, what do you think we should do?"

Alex's eyes lit up. "We should get ready."

"What, we're supposed to save the world?"

"Yeah, it'l be like a videogame. We have to train. It won't be easy."

"By ourselves?" Vincent looked worried, but he tried not to show it. They were almost to the street. Occasionally, a care would pass by up ahead. The parking lot, though, was deserted.

"Nah, people will join us. And we'll get magic powers or something. Maybe we already have them and don't know how to use them."

Vincent looked at his hands. I bet I could control fire, or something, if I tried, he thought. No, that's silly. They were just about to cross the street.

"You've got to lead, though," said Alex

"What? Why? You're the one that knows all this stuff."

"Because you're the one that leads. People like you, they'll follow you. You can make decisions. And you're stronger."

Vincent laughed. "You alright? You'd never admit that. Besides, you know we're equally matched. With swords, anyway. And when you fight, you're scary."

Alex smiled. "That's exactly why. People think you're stronger anyway. Don't worry, I'm always backing you up. I'll be the brains behind it, you've got to lead."

They were at the entrance to the subdivision, directly under an orange streetlight. This is where they went different directions.

"How do you know all this is going to happen, anyway?"

"I dunno. Maybe it won't. We should get ready anyway."

I was bored. it's not that great.

In a world where nothing is certain, one lone Otter who is all by himself stands alone against the forces of darkness with no one to help him.

Surrounded by servants of chaos, the Lone Otter draws his sword, and proceeds to wave it about in a fairly unproductive and wild fashion, since there was no one to show him how to use it.

Luckily, there were some basic instructions written on the hilt: hold on end, and poke the other end into people.

You would think that with such vague instructions, the Lone Otter wouldn't stand a chance against the forces of darkness and/or chaos, but you've obviously forgotten that this is a world where nothing is certain.

Dark, armoured beasts wearing dark armour slashed and swung at our hero, but the Lone Otter, whilst swing his sword about, dodged and parried every blow. Occasionally, his sword would strike a vital artery or organ of one of the many fiends that surrounded him.

Eventually, the clearing was littered with the bodies of a dozen or so servants of dark chaos. (They were in a clearing, by the way, that may not have been mentioned)

The Lone Otter looked around at his handiwork, and said to himself, since he was the only one there, "Wow, that was easy. I think I'd like an omelet, now," and headed to a local village, which happened to have a Denny's.

Little did the Lone Otter know what waited for him in the adventures ahead. In fact, he didn't really know anything or even that he had an adventure ahead of him. He just sort of figured that being attacked by servants of chaotic darkness was the sort of thing that happened all the time. Otters, after all, are not known for their understanding of evil plots for world domination and/or destruction.

Meanwhile, in a Dark Palace, far away in a country ruled by chaos, a villainous looking fellow paced back and forth (as if one could pace in any other direction, what a superfluous use of words). "Curse that solitary water dwelling mammal, he has defeated a dozen or so of my finest warriors!" A dark figure appeared before him in a sort spooky shadowy hologram. "Fool!" said the shadow thingy. "how could your warriors be so weak to be defeated by such an unlikely hero?" The villainous looking fellow shuddered in terror, as dark shadowy overlord-types are prone to killing their own subordinates. "forgive me, dark and chaotic one. We were unprepared. It won't happen again." The shadowy thing's glowing red eyes (Dark rulers of chaos often have glowing red eyes. So do Chaotic lords of Darkness, for that matter.) narrowed. "No, no it wont." The villainous looking character proceeded to writhe in pain as pain coursed through his dark, villainous body. The shadowy thing did not kill him at this time, however, so you don't need to feel any of that weird sympathy that people sometimes feel for bad guys when higher ranking bad guys kill them.

Back in the village, the Lone Otter found the Denny's with little trouble. Upon entering the restaurant, he was seated in a timely manner by a decent-looking waitress. Said waitress proceeded to pour him coffee and told him his omelett would be out in just a moment.

As the coffee made its way from the pot to his mug, the Lone Otter suddenly realized something. "Hey, I didn't tell you I wanted an omelete!" He immediately drew his conveniently labeled sword, and pointed it at her throat, causing her to spill the rest of the coffee. Luckily, there wasn't that much. "You must have used dark magic to read my mind!"

"Please, sir," said the waitress, "it's common knowledge that otters like omeletes. You looked like you needed one." The Lone Otter sheathed his weapon, and took a sip of his coffee. "Very well. I apologize. It's just that I'm a bit jumpy. I am standing alone against the forces of darkness, after all."
It might be worth mentioning that the waitress is, in fact, human. This isn't some kind of silly animal story.

“That’s perfectly understandable, my dear. These are uncertain times, it seems as though everyone’s on edge.”

The waitress walked off to fetch the Lone Otters omelet.

On Ice Cream

There are many people in this world who would fight to death for the honor of their favorite flavor of ice cream. I have met many people who stand steadfast by cookie dough, still more who spill blood in the name of mint chocolate chip. There are the elitist toffees and the childish cookies and creams. Personally, I take the same view on icecream as I do on salad: beauty in diversity. There can be an icecream for every mood, a topping for every whim, a flavor for every desire. Let's take the pure simplicity of vanilla. It is pleasurable in and of itself, even though some less enlightened might consider it "boring." The simplest additions to vanilla create new worlds of experience, a dash of chocolate syrup, a pinch of sprinkles, a dallop of whipped cream. Sundaes are a form of art. Banana splits are sculptures of flavor. Neopolitan ice cream embraces the diversity that all ice cream should represent. Let lovers of ice cream not war over their favorites, but rejoice in the existence of all flavors!

Conceptual Pre-writing

Equal rights for Naturals!
Enhanced humans have forgotten their roots. Thos who can afford thes technologies have forced many out of their jobs; survival of the richest has taken a new level of unbelievability. Enhanced citizens are still only human, and are a prone to failure as a natural person.

"We have taken the next step in our evolution. If some choose not to enhance, then they doom themselves to extinction. Denying the changes offered is denying natural selection. humanity as we know it is redefined, and if people don't keep up with the times, they will be left behind. We have seen this in the past; hundreds of years ago, the aborigines modernized or died out. The Amish are all but extinct. The only citizens without personal computers are living like animals in the bowels of our cities. Those who refuse to merge are kidding themselves, and will eventually be forgotten by history."

Merging is a popular term for a mainstreamed form of bio-technological enhancement.
-Cerebral implants, directly connects mind to world wide computer network
-mental augmentations- speeds up thought processes, reflexes, reduces need for sleep

Other enhancements
-physical, both in appearance and performance, not plastic or chemical, but through genetic engineering
*issues with perfection

Where is humanity? consequences of supposed perfection? weakness or flaws in system?

plot concept-romeo and juliet architype, using this techno-social rift, rather than family feud.