| nepeta | Why are the squirrels sinister? |
    5,300 / 50,000 Official Participant
Joined: Dec 9, 2007
Location: Ankh-Morpork Posts: 196
Posted on:
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 41 |
I ended my last scene with a mangy squirrel following the MCs. What could this sinister squirrel be planning? I'm thinking he'll call his friends and they'll attack the MCs, but I can't think of anything specific for them to do, other than bite and scratch. I want something...more. |
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30,014 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 44
The squirrels could group up and form a behemoth made entirely of squirrels? Hivemind included, of course.
37,658 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 51
I'm thinking acorn armed catapults - dozens of them. :)
30,007 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 56
I'm thinking he'll call his friends and they'll attack the MCs, but I can't think of anything specific for them to do, other than bite and scratch.
Oh, but they could have rabies for all you know! :) ----------
NaNoWriMo 2008: Fantasy- Forgotten Sunlight>Win!
5,300 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 16
Those are great ideas!
----------I'm still open to more suggestions though.
50,155 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 18
The squirrels think the characters are nuts. They intend to seize them and bury them in the leaves for future storage.
----------"What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 24
The squirrel is not the danger, he is just spying for the REAL danger .... which i dont have any idea and so you are in no better shape than before I offered this tidbit.
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
5,300 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 30
That's the funniest thing I've heard today! XD
----------5,300 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 32
Hm...he could be a spy for the witch they are going to meet.
----------33,393 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 19 10
Because squirrels are evil in-and-of themselves. Disney is a conspiracy to make us feel otherwise.
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 17
Squirrels are rats with fuzzy tails - a little marketing goes a LOOOOONG way!
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
12,134 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 23 17
A friend of mine once saw a squirrel steal a man's lunch off a park bench. It was in a plastic bag, and the squirrel grabbed it and ran away with it, bag and all.
So, I think the squirrel is planning to mug your MCs.
----------“Women desire six things: They want their husbands to be brave, wise, rich, generous, obedient to wife, and lively in bed.” -- Geoffrey Chaucer
“There's no workman, whatsoever he be, That may both work well and hastily.” -- Geoffrey Chaucer
47,230 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 02 24
Evil squirrels...how did they get to be evil? Was it something in the nuts or the water and if so could they try giving some to the characters? Are any of your characters allergic to squirrels? Are their nuts grenades--pull off the cap and boom!? Can these squirrels change their size? Do they have mob-like influence over the rest of the forest animals? Are their tails magical dusters that stir up storms--with acorns for hail?
----------0 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 03 29
um... could they be ninja squirrels?
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 17 35
Teen-Aged Mutant Nija Squirrels!
The squirrels on my college campus were evil Russion Communist squirrels. How they infiltrated academia and set up their cell is unknown. Squirrels are evil and sneaky that way.
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
36,864 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 05 40
they are scouts for the evil Moose! c'mon, if you have Squirrel you must have Moose.
----------42,120 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 25
In the Swabian dialect of the German language, there is a saying: "The devil is a squirrel."
It´s true, though. They look cute, but they are pure evil.
Besides, they could steal something your MC really needs. Or whatever they throw at him is cursed.
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 28
Too funny! ----------
"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
55,641 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 07 30
Four words:
Squirrel. Eating. A. Bird.
Its photoshopped, but I have a photograph of a squirrel holding the body of a bird with both paws and *CRAMMING* the damn thing into its mouth.
Squirrels climb walls. Their shrieks sound like babies crying. They are vicious little bastards when cornered.
Parasitic brain squirrels. The squirrel jumps onto someone's back, latches its awful little claws into their neck, sticks its tail straight down their back, and rams the hidden neuro-toxin laden needle hidden beneath the fluff of the tail into their spine. It controls their body. They got NUTS!
----------Chasing the Muse (personal blog)
"Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?"-Hoban Washburn, Serenity
5,300 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 07 44
Wow, these are great suggestions! Thank you, everyone.
----------362 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 07 47
I'd go with lightsabre-wielding squirrels, myself.
----------I would shout about being an Iron Warrior, but I'm not sure how many Warhammer fans are around here . . .
36,864 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 07 58
Come to the Dark Side...we're all nuts. ----------
269,229 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 08 17
Okay, after all the fun humorous answers, here's what immediately came to mind.
Borrowing, ala Granny Weatherwax. Believe me, if I was followed by a squirrel in the Ramtops, especially if it looked like an unusually haughty squirrel that looked like it was used to getting the right of way from wolves, I would suspect a witch was riding its mind and using it to scout, wonder what that witch wanted with me.
Darker nastier example (I really like Granny even if she's one of those obnoxious people that gets called a curmudgeon because they're lovable even if they're hard to get along with) would be the crows that Randall Flagg used to follow the party in The Stand by Stephen King.
A mangy scrawny squirrel that's possessed and directed by a human or nonhuman intelligence of hostile or at least self-interested intent, implies that this controlling being doesn't care much about what happens to his tools. He's used that squirrel for a long time and interfered with its harvesting nuts, ridding itself of parasites, its normal self care. The squirrel is run down and unhealthy because it's a slave. The puppetmaster using it has probably got negative plans for the party -- or is at least very callous about how it treats the animals it uses. Those who abuse animals also abuse humans under them.
It could be very ominous if you're aware of it that way -- and there could be other small creatures of similarly poor condition following them too, same source. Some ratty moulting starving bird or other.
Granny Weatherwax was always kind to the creatures she Borrowed, fed them afterward to pay them for the privilege, one of her more sympathetic qualities. If a squirrel she Borrowed had the mange, she'd Borrow it right into her hut and rub in some anti-mange salve along with giving it some nuts.
So the condition of the squirrel is what makes it scary -- it's being misused and the characters are facing a potential enemy or potential enslavement that would include being worked into the ground.
Enjoy, I hope this idea is useful to you.
----------Nanowrimo 2009 Double My Best - Four 80k novels!
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1,339 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 08 32
Forget the "light" - SABRE-TOOTHED SQUIRRELS!
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
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Nov 8, 2009 - 09 14
Maybe it's not a squirrel; it's a were-squirrel? If it catches up to your character it might bite them and then every full moon (or other moon-face of your choice) your MC will turn into a squirrel.
----------I don't really have time for this...
31,889 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 10 07
They could have red glowing eyes and fly at the men of the round table while everyone shouts, "RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!"
So sorry: I couldn't contain it.
Squirrels - hmm.... How about, instead of biting and scratching, their teeth grow into sharp fangs and their claws become razor sharp. They could also have screeching voices that sound like a thousand demons screaming out at once.
I would not get too close to those squirrels. Please update and let us know what you've done with those mangy, evil things!
----------2009 - Chasing the Sun: A Fairy Tale
19,263 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 13 23
Remember, squirrels have the innate power to determine the local vector of g. They get to decide the direction in which gravity works (that's how they run up trees - they just adjust the direction of local g).
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Nov 8, 2009 - 16 14
"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
30,007 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 17 19
Not to mention the rest of the evil woodland creatures. The squirels surely have lots of allies to back them up. Evil bunnies, beavers, geese, the list can go on and on. ----------
NaNoWriMo 2008: Fantasy- Forgotten Sunlight>Win!
28,559 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 19 46
This topic made me laugh; I use the tag "Malignant Squirrels" in a few other places, which to me brings to mind a tumor or blight. Perhaps the squirrels are biding their time until they can sweep across the land, consuming and destroying all in their path. One squirrel might not be able to do much, but in a swarm, they could bring down just about anything, without having any special powers besides a certain unnatural fearlessness and willingness to sacrifice itself. Death from a thousand cuts and all that. Could even have a squirrel dart into someone's mouth, trying to choke that person from the inside.
5,300 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 19 53
You guys have amazing ideas!
That's a bit too horrific for me, but it's a very creative idea. Thanks :)
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