*Ding Dong*
Scarecrow headed to the door, stopping by a mirror to adjust his burlap sack mask. Opening the door, he smiled and waved his guests inside "Hello! Please do come in!"
The first to enter, Naruto Uzumaki placed his sacred Ninjato and Kama blade in the umbrella rack by the door, along with his various other weapons. Despite his journey through the Inferno, his armor was still in pristine condition.
After him came the hunched form of Crona. He'd never been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner before, and didn't know how to deal with it. Ragnarok though looked pleased as punch at the scent of food wafting through the air.
But unlike Naruto, Crona hadn't come alone. Behind him were his Plus Two. One was a pink haired girl in a stunning light green dress. On her chest lay the silver rosary which had caused so much trouble for her recently. Moka was holding tightly to Crona's right arm, looking all around her, smiling lightly. On Crona's other arm, in a stunning purple piece, was Kurumu. She wasn't about to let her destined one go anywhere without her, especially if that horrible Moka girl was going too!
The final guest was… Naruto? But this Naruto wasn't wearing silver armor, nor did he wield a Ninjato. Instead, he was dressed in a simple button up shirt and slacks. He carefully laid the Sealing Wand next to the Ninjato, before making his way inside. On his head, Keros practically drooled at the thought of the oncoming feast.
As they all sat down, they nodded to the hosts from the Deadliest Warrior who sat across from them, and Scarecrow, who sat at the head of the table. They spoke of this and that, exchanging gossip and funny stories. They ate and drank for quite some time, before Scarecrow finally tapped the side of his glass to get their attention. When he had it, he stood up.
"Thank you all for coming. We've had some good times so far this year. It's not over yet, but I thought I'd invite everyone over to celebrate our success!" he said.
"Here here!" Max said, holding up his glass. "I'm thankful for the season we got, and here's to another thirty four chapters of good old fashion death brawls for us" Geoff and Dorian quickly murmured their agreement.
"Um… I'm thankful for friends, and the opportunity to star in my own story…" Crona said, his voice only slightly above a whisper. "At first I didn't know how to deal with that… but thanks to the friends I've gotten, I think I can." he finished with a smile.
"And we're thankful for you Crona!" Moka and Kurumu said, exchanging glances. They may not like each other, but they weren't going to make a scene.
"I'm thankful that Crona's a chick magnet, that I've gotten the chance to butcher some unfortunate suckers, and best of all: be the star while doing it!" Ragnarok said, before swallowing an entire turkey drumstick whole. Turning to the silver Naruto he said "So how about you old timer?"
Naruto sputtered "Old timer!"
"Yeah, you're story's the oldest out of all our narratives, so that makes you the oldest!" Ragnarok said simply.
Naruto suddenly smirked "Your right, my story was first. That's something I'm thankful for. Your story didn't come out until four months after mine did." He turned to Scarecrow "And while I'm glad to be taking a break from fighting the hell-spawn, I'd be even more thankful if someone wrote my next chapter already!"
Scarecrow raised his hands apologetically "I'm working on it, I promise!"
Kurumu pouted at her host "He's got a point you know. We haven't been updated since October. You've been spending too much time working on the new guy" she pointed to the other Naruto.
"Hey! My story's just as important as your's is! At least mine isn't one sexual innuendo after another!" the card capturing Naruto countered.
"You take that back!" Moka shouted, standing up.
"Make me!" Naruto said, also standing. Sadly, this wasn't very impressive, as Moka was still taller then Naruto (how he wished he'd been written a growth spurt).
Scarecrow sighed, waving his hand. With a flash, Naruto and Moka were suddenly the same height. The younger Naruto flashed his creator a thankful grin.
"You should both actually count yourselves lucky" Geoff said, helping himself to some more green beans. "You could both be that 'Deadliest Character' story.
Everyone at the table shuddered slightly. Deadliest Character had been sitting at the bottom of the profile page since May 1st….
"By the way, why is no one from that fic here?" Keros asked from atop Naruto's head.
Scarecrow shrugged "I didn't think to invite them since I hadn't worked with them recently. Maybe for the next holiday special I will. This whole thing was kind of rushed, given that it was written at five in the morning on Thanksgiving day…" Scarecrow trailed off, helping himself to some tea, somehow managing to drink it through his mask; a skill Kakashi would have been proud of.
"Well" Naruto (the younger one) started "I'm thankful for getting the opportunity to be the Card Captor. I know it probably won't be as easy as it has been so far" he paused, disconcerted by the way Scarecrow was suddenly giggling and rubbing his palms together "but I think ultimately it'll be worth it. This'll definitely help me become Hokage. Believe it!" he shouted, making all the other guests wince.
"Seriously?" Ragnarok said looking at the kid. The older Naruto just held his head in his hands, embarrassed he'd ever talked that way "Believe it? Is that really the best catch phrase you could come up with?"
"Why?" the older Naruto asked "Do you not know how to deal with a catchphrase like that?" he smirked as Ragnarok looked away and Crona blushed, embarrassed. Something which Moka and Kurumu found so adorable they immediately glomped him. As the other male characters looked on, they all turned to glare at Scarecrow.
"So where are the hot babes that want to throw themselves at your feet in my story?" Dante-Naruto asked, cracking his knuckles…
"Aha… yes… well there were those girls in the second circle…"
"You mean the soul sucking Temptress Demons?" Naruto yelled, eyebrow twitching.
"Well… Hinata kissed you in chapter two!" Scarecrow tried to point out
"And then she left, what good does that do me now!" Naruto raged
"But you're an action story, not a romantic comedy action like Crona's" Scarecrow said.
"What about me?" the younger Naruto asked "I know my story's only like three chapters long, but do I get something like that?" Keros leaned forward, very interested.
Scarecrow looked uncertain "Well… I suppose technically almost all the Clow Cards are girls… I could probably give you something there" Naruto pumped his fist in victory; while Keros collapsed in sadness at not getting any girls for himself.
Scarecrow turned to the DW crew "And you… your stories are just fight scenes. Why would you need love interests…" he stopped and overlooked his characters "for that matter, what is up with all of you? I didn't think I wrote you all to be this… "
"Sex based?" Dr. Dorian asked
"Love struck?" Keros supplied
"Horny?" Crona muttered, though loud enough to be heard.
"Close enough" Scarecrow said. "So what's up?"
Dante-Naruto shrugged "Beats me, probably just your somewhat sad attempt to inject humor on short notice via the use of crude humor"
Captor-Naruto blinked at his counterpart "So… is that whole 'being really smart thing' something that comes with me aging, or is that exclusive to your story?" he asked. The other him shrugged, honestly having no idea.
Scarecrow pinched the bridge of his nose, this bit had run its course. "Alright everyone, I think its time we wrapped this up. I'll still need to give this a quick look over before I can post this along with everything else. So I think it's time we all went back to work" he said.
"Going to work on my story now, right?" Dante-Naruto asked.
"Yes, yes…. " Scarecrow said "And I also might finally finish that Deadliest Character fight that's been in limbo all this time" he added, though Dante-Naruto flinched at the word 'limbo', knowing just what kind of place that was…
"Hopefully they'll be able to join us for our next little get-together." he smiled at his friends/guests/creations "Who knows, we may have even more guests by the time that rolls around"
Moka sighed "Another new story? Seriously? Don't you have enough to work on?" she asked.
Scarecrow chuckled "I'm an artist my dear Moka, I go where my muse takes me."
"So what is it this time?" Keros asked, flying down from Naruto's head for more pie.
Scarecrow shrugged noncommittally "Oh I don't know. I was just thinking about how we don't have any straight up comedy fics yet, so maybe I'll try my hand at that"
Dr. Dorian cleared his throat "But weren't you going to work on that 'Naruto Uzumaki Roast' thing?"
"Yes, but not many people have been sending in jokes as I had hoped. We got a couple of good ones from Baron Von Nobody, but that's about it" Scarecrow replied.
"So what is it?" Ragnarok asked, keeping both eyes fixed on the flying plush toy that was fighting him for the last of the pumpkin pie.
Scarecrow grinned mysteriously "I won't say much… but I do have this one idea… all I'm saying is that it involves Sasuke Uchiha and cable TV"
Captor-Naruto shook his head "good luck, people hate Sasuke, you may want to pick someone else"
Scarecrow grin just got bigger "I know they hate him… that's what will make it all the funnier."
Dante-Naruto shrugged "You may want to stick to action Scarecrow, its what you're good at"
"Um… my story had some funny moments" Crona pointed out, though he ducked his head at the sudden attention.
Scarecrow just finished his drink "Oh don't worry about action. I've been getting a lot of PMs about that one story, you know the one…" he said vaguely
Max's eyes widened "You mean that one! That's the next story?" he asked
"I don't know, could be, maybe, we'll have to see." Scarecrow said. Then with a sigh, he raised his hand "Alright, that's enough of this. I can't think of anything else for you all to do or say, so it's time we said good bye for now."
One by one the characters said their farewells. Then, with a snap of his fingers, Scarecrow made them all vanish, back to fics they'd come from.
Pushing his chair away from the table (which vanished just as quickly as the guests had), Scarecrow adjusted his seat to face the screen where the reader would be looking.
"Hello. If you enjoyed what you just read, then please consider the following challenge:"
To the other authors out there; write a story about how you and your characters would spend Thanksgiving. At least one character from each of your narratives should be there, or at least mentioned. Those attending should give thanks for something (that something should in some way pertain to the story in which they appear). Whether they act in character or not is up to you, after all, you're the writer. The object of the challenge is to be funny, but if you achieve something heart-warming instead that will also be accepted. I know this particular piece may not be very good, given that I am literally writing it off the top of my head at six in the morning. You may wish to take more time then that, in which case, try and have it done before Christmas, cause by then I'll have a new challenge up for you. All entries after the due date may not get read by me. Of course, if you don't want to do my challenge, that's perfectly fine too, and I hope that this short story at least entertained you.
"Well there you go" Scarecrow said "I hope at least some of you out there will take me up on my challenge. If you do, PM me and I'll go over to your profile to read it. Please don't send me you're story. Just post it with your others, and then tell me via PM; and I'll come look at it. Most importantly, have fun with it. After all, while they may not be officially our characters; they are, in a way, our characters. Does that make sense? I hope so. So go out there and do your best!"
Scarecrow offered one last smile at the screen "Happy Thanksgiving everyone, from your good friend Scarecrow'sMainFan. Until Next Time… "
Scarecrow sighed, his message sent. Turning away from where he new the readers would be, he instead when over to his writing desk and picked up the phone. Dialing a quick number, he waited hardly a moment before the other end picked up.
"Yes hello, this is Scarecrow. I need you to get me Ichigo Kurosaki, and the Justice League right away. I've got something I'd like to discuss with them… "