A/N: Anyone who's read my LotR fics knows I'm a fan of dialogue only stories. They usually feature only two people. When my creative writing teacher got her hands on my little collection, she noticed this, and decided that it was time I mixed things up a little. So I give you a dialogue only story with more than two characters. I hope it reads as well for you as it did for Annie.
ETA: Eek, my apologies. It seems this site decided that it didn't like my line breaks and munched 'em. This probably makes more sense with them in, so sorry about that.
Exploring
"Face it. We're lost. You got us lost."
"We aren't lost. We're… we're…"
"What are we doing, Alan?"
"We're… we're exploring!"
"…"
"It's true!"
"Two hours and that's all you can come up with?"
"Well, it is true."
"No, Alan. We started out exploring. We are now lost."
"Fine then, you take the map."
"Finally!"
"Well?"
"You had it for two hours, let me have at least a minute, okay?"
"Fine, fine, whatever."
"Hey!"
"Hay is for horses."
"Hah. Hah. Now look."
"What?"
"Don't you see it?"
"See what?"
"Why we're lost, moron."
"Shut up Virgil. It's not like you're doing any better. We're still lost."
"So now you admit that we're lost?"
"No… Nothing like that. We're still-"
"I know, I know. Exploring."
"There's nothing wrong with exploring."
"Oh, I know, that's why I agreed to come out with you. However, you had us exploring the wrong island."
"What?"
"You have the map for the isle of Moyla."
"… oops."
"Uh-huh."
"… So what now?"
"Now? Well, do you have any other maps on you?"
"No…"
"Right. Okay."
"Okay what?"
"The island isn't that big. So if we pick a direction and stick to it, we have to come across the shore sometime, right?"
"We haven't so far."
"We haven't been walking in straight lines either, so far."
"So what do we do?"
"We pick a direction. Since you were the one to get us here, would you like to do the honors?"
"Uh, sure. How about that way?"
"Fine by me."
"… Virgil?"
"Yeah?"
"Uh, I'm really sorry. About this, I mean."
"I know, kid. Don't worry about it."
"Hey, look! Is that water?"
"Yeah, I think it might be. Congratulations, we've found the ocean!"
"Now we have to find the house."
"We'll just walk along the shore until we see it. Shouldn't take too long."
"Is that it up there?"
"Looks that way. Now we just need to find a path."
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"Listen. Can you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Shh…"
"Is that…?"
"Sounds like."
"You don't think he…"
"No way. I mean, c'mon."
"Only one way to find out."
"Dad? Scott? What are you doing out here?"
"Uh, well, we were looking for you."
"Oh. Well, you've found us."
"Yes, yes, I see that."
"Dad?"
"Yes Virgil?"
"What's that?"
"Oh, this? It's nothing…"
"Is that your map?"
"… yes."
"It looks an awful lot like ours, actually."
"Yours?"
"Where did you get this?"
"From Brains. I put it in my pack this morning. I could swear I put the right one in, too, but I guess I must have made a mistake."
"Hmm…"
"What are you thinking son?"
"Oh, nothing really."
"Nothing?"
"Sure Scott."
"I know that look and it's not nothing."
"Oh, I was just thinking of taking Gordon out exploring."
"Exploring?"
"Oh yes. You know, to the isle of Moyla. I hear it's lovely over there this time of year."