This is not the story I assured you all I was writing. This is something else. You can have it to read while I work out what the hell I'm doing with my new story (which I'm writing like an absolute retard, by the way. Writing a story like a patchwork quilt is not smart, don't try it). But don't worry, once I have enough of a chronology and a decent amount of confidence that I won't get bored and quit, you will have that other story too. Promise.

In the mean time, there's this.

As per my usual preference for writing, it shifts between character perspectives a couple of times. That will be noted by one of those fancy page break things that FF has. The ones I put under my author's notes. Or I'll just start a new chapter, because I'm lazy. Any leaps through time where the character remains the same is indicated by using *...|...* This is so you don't get confused. I don't have labels to let you know who's narrating, but it should be fairly self-explanatory. If not, comment and I'll fix it.

Sorry for blathering.

For whatever reason, the volume of her music didn't seem to be helping her. She tossed her guitar on the floor with a disgusted flick of her wrist. She curled up into a ball and did a few mid-air somersaults, hoping they'd clear her mind. All it achieved was filling her eyes with hair and giving her a headache. She dropped from the air onto her bed in a very graceless manner and stared at the ceiling for a few hours. When dawn finally set wan rays of light oozing under the curtain she fell into a restless sleep.

*...|...*

Banging woke her some interminable period of time later and she groggily rolled out of bed muttering a string of foul curses under her breath. It was still day time; the clock read midday and that was too early to be out of bed. She snatched her axe bass from against the wall, practically fell down the ladder and heaved it at the door.

The door groaned briefly, shuddering against the hinges. One of them gave out and the door dropped a few inches letting in a shaft of blinding yellow light. She hissed.

"Who calls at such an unglobly time of the day?" she screeched, hair thrashing around her face. Finn stepped around the door, poking it with one finger and smiling broadly as it wobbled on its last hinge. Jake followed him through, he was the size of a mouse and his eyes were huge. It was a bizarre combination.

"That was awesome, Marcy!" he exclaimed. "You almost put the blade through Jake's paw!"

Her hair stopped waving and settled around her shoulders. "Oh," she said. "Sorry Jake."

"It's fine," he replied, resuming a normal size. "I almost get impaled all the time."

"What are you two dorks doing here?" Marceline asked them, trying to rehang the door without getting smacked in the face by the sun. She eventually gave up, figuring it'd be easier later, when it was dark and the sunlight was blocked by the cave. She floated over to them and hovered cross-legged above the sofa as they sprawled on the floor. Jake turned into a starfish and flopped about for a moment, making her smile.

"We're bored," Finn sighed in an overly dramatic way. "We went to see PB but she didn't have any crises for us today. Today's going to be peaceful and that's boring."

"Yeah, we wanted to know if you had anything planned," Jake continued. "You get up to some cool shenanigans."

Marceline smile widened. It was funny how happy it made her that they came over to visit. Even if it was because they had nothing better to do. "Well I was going to… you know, sleep? Because I don't like sunshine and stuff."

"Aw nutbags," Finn said, sitting up. "Sorry to wake you Marcy." He smacked himself in the forehead. "I'm such a dumb-head."

Jake shook his head. "Nah bro, I forgot too. How lame."

Finn sprang to his feet. "We'll go so you can sleep." He headed for the door.

"Eh," Marceline replied with a shrug. "It's not like I need a great deal of sleep anyway." She tugged on her gloves and slammed her broad brimmed hat on her head. "Let's go find some trouble."

*...|...*

As Finn had said, there didn't appear to be a great deal going on in the Candy Kingdom, but Marceline paused as they went past to stare at the palace, its towers rising above the city walls. She shook herself and flew on after Jake, loping across the plains with Finn perched on his back, smiling. Jake jogged for a while, sniffing the air as though he could smell trouble, all Marceline could smell was the sugary aroma of cotton candy trees. And grass.

They cleared the last of the fluffy trees and Jake raced off towards the Mountain Kingdom. Marceline adjusted her hat, glanced once more over her shoulder and followed. They paused at the Cube Village for a break not long after.

The small squarish townsfolk clamoured around Finn and Jake, but when Marceline landed with her axe bass, they averted their gaze and kept their distance. She smiled, not minding the wary looks they shot her as they shied away. Bearing her fangs at them, she floated over their heads, grinning from ear to pointed ear as they cowered away.

"Marceline," Finn said. "One of the Cube-folk is stuck in the well over there, we'll be right back." He glanced at the expressions of the little people. "Don't be scared of her," he told them. "Her bark is worse than her bite," he said the last in a stage whisper. Marceline bristled.

"It is not," she huffed indignantly.

He and Jake laughed, allowing the squares to usher them over to their equally square well. It didn't take long for Marceline to get bored and she drifted over the tiny town a few times, watching the people. Every time they saw her shadow they'd run for cover, making her chuckle. It never ceased to amuse her just how afraid of her people were.

She stopped, thinking that it wasn't the same everywhere. Before the thought could run away with her, Finn and Jake reappeared. Smiling, cheering blocks trailed in their wake and clustered around their ankles. It made walking hard for them because they were worriedly trying not to stand on the townsfolk.

Marceline glided closer and the cubes scattered, giving the heroes more room to move. The little people still followed and cheered, they just did it from slightly further away. She glared at them and chortled when their eyes widened and they ran off.

"We can go now," Finn said, smiling face dirty. "Mission accomplished."

"Good," Marceline sighed. "This place is so boring." She looked around. "What do they even do for entertainment here?"

Finn shrugged and climbed up onto Jake's shoulders as the dog expanded. Marceline followed him up, still hoping for a decent answer. She didn't get one. They kept heading towards the Mountain Kingdom, although why they thought they'd find action there specifically, she didn't know.

Once they crossed the lowest peaks, however, they found something moderately exciting. A stone golem was hurling wads of earth at a collection of stick people, running around madly with no apparent sense of self preservation. They simply ran in circles while the golem tossed clump after poorly aimed clump of soil in their general direction. Their little stick mouths were open and tufts of grass, leaves and in one case a small sapling adorning their heads like hair wavered as they ran. Their high pitched shrieks were giving her a splitting headache and her expression soured. It would be so easy to make them stop screaming.

Glancing over at Finn and Jake who were beaming broadly at each other, she decided that chopping them into tinder wouldn't go down well. Jake got as close as he could and started to shrink, at the same time, Finn let out a war cry and leapt from his friends head onto the golem's face. If golems were smart enough to show facial expressions other than rage and dumbfounded blankness, this one would have been stunned. Finn smacked the golem in the nose a few times while Jake started herding the stick people away from the scene. Marceline unlimbered her axe bass and joined Finn. She struck the golem on the back of its neck so hard it staggered.

Once the stick folk were carefully sheltered behind a nearby mountain, Jake returned, turning himself into a giant shoe and kicked the golem in the stomach. The golem roared and swiped at Finn, sending him flying. Marceline abandoned her attack and swooped down to catch him before he hit the side of the mountain. Jake didn't even seem to notice and just kept kicking.

Eventually the golem, doubled over and groaning, staggered away into a forest between two peaks. Jake bumped knuckles with Finn and they hurried off to find the stick people. Marceline followed at a distance. For some reason, she wasn't enjoying herself. Much as it had been fun to hack into the rock golem… it just wasn't as rewarding as she'd expected.

She sighed and floated up to them, not finding the terrified expressions on the sticks as satisfying as the cubes before. Perhaps she was just tired. She checked the position of the sun; it was well over half way down the sky.

"I'm going home guys," she said, reaching up to adjust her hat again. Her hands rubbed up her arms surreptitiously, always aware that the gloves could slip down and expose her to the sun. She could be paranoid making sure they stayed in place sometimes.

"Aw," Finn groaned. "If you have to." His shoulders slumped.

"Yeah, well. It's getting late and I should really get some sleep before evening," she replied, slinging her guitar back over her shoulder. She reached out and bopped them both on the head. "Enjoy the rest of your day though, dorks." Marceline grinned and twisted through the air, heading off before they could talk her into staying.

"Ugh," she snorted as she flew, pulling the brim of her hat down even though the sun was to her back. Well. Mostly to her back. She went straight home, not even making a detour for food as she normally would going past the Candy Kingdom. Once back in her cave she tossed her hat and gloves on the sofa, deposited her bass on its rack and curled up above her bed, hoping to snatch a few hours of sleep before her… standing appointment.

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