WHY YOU AND ME NO USE THIS AT SAME TIME?! IT'S ALWAYS JUST YOU OR JUST ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAUUGH!!!! DEUAEUAEGH!!!

Wanderer "He snickers from the treetop"

I could hear the sounds of their footsteps below me, angrily searching in the night. Every once in a while, I could see the silhouette of the pudgy soldiers through the tree branches; every now and then catch a glimpse of their lamplight.

                “Did anyone find him?!” I heard a man shout across the foggy wilderness. He skulked into my line of vision, his presence boastful, like a man of power. Probably a general, I thought to myself. To his side rushed this mousy man, who shook his head.

                “No sir,” He said in a painfully nasal voice. “We’ve searched the perimeter up and down, general. No sign of him.” I smirked to myself at the name ‘general’. Knew it.

                The general growled furiously, storming to the trunk of the tree. “How could we be so careless?! I can’t believe we lost him again!” He roared, lashing out and punching the tree. He winced at the pain in his hand and clutched his fist close to his chest.

                ‘That’s not nice,’ I thought sarcastically, ‘what did the poor tree ever do to you?’ I silently chuckled at my own joke.

                “Do you want the others to keep up the search?” The other man asked, turning to leave.

                “No, it’s no use.” I crossed my arms triumphantly as he spoke. “Once Rue Hinton is gone, he’s gone. He could be right under our noses and we’d never find him.”

                ‘Or right above them.’ I mouthed, thoroughly amused by the whole situation.

                “What are we going to do about the plans?” The mousy man asked. “You know, he’s going to kill us when he finds out it was stolen, especially by Rue. How can we tell him we lost the el-”

                “Shut up, moron!” He hissed, looking back and forth. Wow. This whole thing seemed like a bad storybook to me. “You and I are the only two soldiers ALIVE that know about those plans. No one else can know.” He gave exhausted look at the smaller man and turned to leave.

                “Sorry…” the latter replied, scurrying off behind the general.

                I had to stifle a laugh as the rest of the troops headed back to their little town. I had to hand it to the Victorian President; he had a knack for hiring the “smartest” people I have ever met.  I counted each man as they passed below me until the last of them walked by. All of them were talking about the “legendary” Rue Hinton, which, in itself, was hilarious to me. A legend was the last thing I thought of myself as.

 I took the contents of my pocket out; a small notebook made of hardbound leather, a few crumpled up dollar bills, five bluish coins, and the paper I’d just stolen from the guards. I held it up to look at it. It was folded in thirds and marked with the Victorian seal of confidence. I opened it, looked at the drawings and plans on it inside, and closed it again. It didn’t mean much to me; I had no idea what it was talking about. I didn’t know exactly what to do with it, but I knew I needed to get it from the Victorians. They can’t have this kind of information for themselves. “Wait.” I remembered, “Didn’t my father leave me a note explaining exactly who I should go to?”

I stuffed all of it back into my pocket except for the book. I flipped it open and began to leaf through the pages, looking for the writing I knew was my father’s. Finally I found it; a yellowed paper fell from the binding of the book. It was unmistakably my father’s handwriting. In his elegant but still masculine handwriting was scrawled a note I’d seen many times before.

Rue,

I know that by the time this note means anything to you, I will likely have been gone for several years. I want you to remember this; if you ever find you need a spark to find your way and I’m not around, find Arthur Docherty. He’ll be able to help you, no matter what. He lives in the Punk region. I have faith that you will be able to find him in your ‘darkest’ hour.

                        ~ Dad.

  “Huh,” I said. “I’m actually not far from the Punk region, I think.” I jammed the book back into my pocket and sighed. “Guess I’ll try to find this ‘Docherty’ guy tomorrow, ask him about it.”

                I relaxed amidst the tree branches and took my pan flute from my other pocket.  I knew it would be a long night, high up here in this tree. It wouldn’t be safe to come down until the next morning, so instead I leaned against the tree and tipped my hat down over my eyes. I played a melody with the pan flute quietly to myself. ‘Ah,’ I thought to myself, ‘Sleeping in treetops. My favorite.’

"If i could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by?"

Wandering Prologue, if you want

                      I got asked, well, begged really, by Kels, to add something i wrote. Probably what's fair, comsidering i havent been here in who knows how long. I apologize! This is the prologue to my story, "Wandering".Here you are! ~ Emma

              I wish that the people who lived before me weren’t such morons. I mean, I didn’t personally know them, but all I’ve heard since before I remember is about how badly they destroyed our world. I remember, when I was around four years of age, and I heard for the first time about something called electricity. My father told me humans hundreds of years ago depended on it so much, whatever it was, that every source of it was exhausted by their greed. People never had stopped trying to find other ways to make practical amounts of electricity. Never did they succeed. But this time, I knew, that it would be different. I had the plans I needed, taken directly from the Victorian Government itself.

The Misadventures of Poor Finian Round Four

The Misadventures of Poor Finian Round Four

 

“ Achoo!”

“Bless you.”

“A-a-achoooo!’

“You too.” Finian sighed, leaning over a crockpot in the kitchen of the trios shared apartment. His friends were sick, probably the flu or something. Due to his superior immune system, however, Finian had gotten off scot-free! Lucky him. That means he had to take care of them. And so he stood. 

He’d tied Allyson’s light red apron around his neck, and a chef’s hat had been forced upon his head. It was lunch time, or would be after the stew was done. He’d gone for a beef stew, with fresh cut potatoes and carrots from his garden out back. He had hand chosen the herbs and spices for use from a natural food store down the road. In short, it was just about perfect.

Finian turned around to the stove, and opened the door to peer at his garlic bread. The butter had melted into the crusty bread, soaking the ground garlic and salt into it. He nodded in approval and turned the stove off.

“Hey! Sick people to the table. Hurry up, or it’ll get cold!” He laid out two bowls and forks (it was stew after all) and set a piece of the toast beside them. Then he ladled spoonfulls of the thick broth, veggies, and meat into their bowls.

Two figures shuffled into the kitchen, an ice pack on Ally’s head and a blanket wrapped around Gavin. They slumped down in their respective seats and glared suspiciously at their meals. Gavin poke cautiously at a chunk of meat and raised an eyebrow at Finian, seeming to ask a usually rather important question. Finian sighed.

“Yes it’s edible. Eat.” Gavin closed his eyes and shoved a spoonful into his mouth. His eyes flashed open and a look of complete contentment settled over his features. He sighed in ecstasy.

“Finian… why didn’t you ever tell us you could cook this good? This stew is phenomenal!” Finian smiled lightly, but shrugged off the complement. The only reason he didn’t cook was ‘cause he was too lazy.  The boys looked over to their companion.

Allyson was wolfing down her stew, not letting a drop escape her grasp. A few seconds later, She held out an empty bowl.

“Refill.” She demanded. Awed, Gavin scooped another serving in. Not even ten seconds later the bowl, re-emptied, was again held out.

“I think you’ve had enough.” Finian muttered, and moved to take the bowl away.

STAB

“Aiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!” Finian withdrew his hand and rubbed it in pain. “You stabbed me! With a fork!”

“Refill.”

“Y-yes ma’am.

The misadventures of Gavin round 1

Gavin nervously sat down in a booth near the middle of the restaurant. This was his solution to “Wooing his fair maiden”, inviting her to dinner. True, it wasn’t entirely his idea, Finian had suggested not letting Allyson cook. Gavin reminded himself to think him later.

A bell tinkled and Gavin sat ramrod straight as the object of his affection walked in. Allyson had dressed nicely for the night, (by nicely he means she brushed her hair and put on a dress shirt.) and Gavin found himself unable to stop staring. She sat down across from him, smiling and picking up the menu. Who knows how long later, the waitress showed up, breaking Gavin out of his trance. He quickly ordered a sweet tea, and turned back to Allyson.

“S-so, how are you?” He blurted out.  She giggled.

“Gavin, what’s with you? I saw you not twenty minutes ago. Are you sick? Your face is red.” Gavin’s blush increased. Luckily the waitress came back with their drinks, and Gavin promptly gulped some of it down.

“So, what can I get for you two?” The waitress asked.

“M-macaroni and c-cheese for me, p-please ma’am.”  Gavin stuttered. She turned to Allyson.

“Chicken noodle soup please!” Gavin secretly wondered if Allyson had an off button when it came to soup. Probably not.  Ally grinned at him.

“So, how did you manage to convince Finian to stay at home anyway? He really loves going out to eat! I don’t see why when I am perfectly good at making dinner, but…” Gavin, recently recovered from his last blushing spree, half choked on his drink and reddened.

“I-I um, really, really wanted to eat out, w-with just you. I wanted to t-talk to you. I g-guess Finian understood that.” The poor boy cocked his head, a shaky grin on his face.

“Hmm. I suppose that makes since. And what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“ I-I-I-I-I-I-I um… I l-lo-lov-“ 

“Here is your Mac and Cheese, and your Chicken Noodle Soup, can I get you anything else?”  Gavin banged his head down on the table in frustration, but gave a thumbs up at the waitress. “Alright, enjoy your meal!” The waitress nodded her head and left. Allyson poked Gavin’s head

“Gavin!” a muffled noise was heard. “What? I can’t hear you. Speak up. Gavin, what were you going to say?”The teen’s head shot up.

“I said I love you!” Gavin’s face went from bright red to pale in about three seconds. Ally’s dark skin flushed. “I-I… I said that out loud, d-didn’t I?

Pretentious lions

Oh, beware the lion that you see as pretentious,

As thinking itself to be unique and worthy of all attention.

For if you claim it to be preposterous,

It will most likely eat you.

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What? It will!