Author note:I COULDN'T WAIT A WHOLE WEEK TO UPDATE THIS!
I've heard from my sister that the author's note is abbreviated as A/N and isn't written out. WELL I SAY TO YOU NAY NAY! I will write it the way I want!
I've gotten two people now who have added Over the Rainbow to their alert watch (OH MY GOD! Thank you Asiram and Kyo-kun AND Hatsuharu are hot you make me weep with happy!) and I've gotta a review. (OH EM GEE CAN YOU IMAGINE THE HAPPY THAT I AM? HOLY CRAP!) So, anyway, thank you so much for your review Monkan, thank you so much for the compliment, I doubt I deserve it though. Weep weep weep weep!
Summary: Tino Väinämöinen is used to his quiet, dreary life in the little cabin outside of Helsinki, living with his young Aunt Katyusha and dog Bloody Hanatamago, but when a terrible snow storm blows his house into the odd-ball country of Oz he meets some colorful characters on the yellow brick road. A loud and boisterous Scarecrow with a zeal for life and a drunk-esc swagger, an emotionally stuffy tin woodsman (who often reminds the Scarecrow that he is in fact totally brainless) and a socially awkward lion with a terrifying face. Will Tino ever get back home to Helsinki?
Chapter 3: Tino Saves the Scarecrow:
Tino marched along the yellow brick road, marveling at how well kept it was. "For being the north of the country, they mustn't get a lot of snow, these roads look pristine." He chattered to Hanatamago, thinking about how the roads into Helsinki normally looked like hell after the winter months and had to be repaired. It seemed to Tino that the Munchkins must be farmers, as what the yellow brick road seemed to be cutting through was mostly farms. Occasionally he would spy a farm house, tiny people, (these being adult Munchkins, he figured, as they were bigger than Alfred and Matty that he had met before. However, they seemed to be only as tall as Tino.) Something else he took notice of was that all the houses were painted blue, and many of the Munchkins he spied were wearing shades of blue. "Blue must be big here." He commented to his, currently quiet, companion while thumbing at the blue stripes in his own sweater.
After several hours of walking Tino directed his sore feet to a blue fence separating a corn field from the yellow brick road, on top of which he perched himself. The boy and his dog supped on a few pieces of bread. Tino hadn't bothered to pack any butter, it would have spoiled in the basket, so they ate it plain. There was very little of interest about the corn field to keep the attention of Tino's eyes while he ate, but they did fall upon a queer scarecrow in the field a few feet behind him. He turned himself on the fence to face the funny looking fellow. He was dressed in a coat that, at one time, had been blue, but had faded into such a dark grey it almost looked black. A large leering grin was painted on its face and two blue eyes peered out of its head. What was even queerer about it was that the straw, for his hair, was stuck up in all directions in wild disarray and a small, black and red cap balanced on the side of his head. "If I was a crow, I'd be terrified, he looks like a madman." Tino commented lazily, but the nibble of bread he had just bitten off fell out of his mouth when he thought he spied the Scarecrow blinking at him. He rubbed his eyes furiously and blinked several times himself at the curious creature, but it just blinked at him again! This time the expression on its face had changed and one of its eyebrows sat up higher on its head, staring back at him quizzically. Tino leapt down from the fence and approached the scarecrow with mouth agape.
"Well Hej to you too." Chided the scarecrow just as Tino had come to the base of the stick he was stuck on.
"Y-You just spoke… didn't you?" Tino asked, wide eyed. In Helsinki scarecrows CERTAINLY didn't speak.
"You bet your fluffy hair I did. How're you doin'?" It questioned, its leering grin becoming a little friendlier.
"Good… I guess. As good as I can be considering all the circumstances… h-how are you?" Tino replied, after all, if someone asked you how you were you kind of were expected to ask the same back, right? Even if that person was a man made of hay and old clothes?
"Not so good." Scoffed the scarecrow. "It kindda sucks being stuck up here all day and night just scaring away crows. I mean, it just gets really old fast, and I can't get the hell down 'cause I got this pole stuck up my back. If you could shimmy me down, I'd be real grateful." The scarecrow's smile returning to that Cheshire grin. Tino pondered this for a moment and, shrugging, pushed up on the scarecrow's boots. This forced the silly creature off the pole… and left him falling in a crumbled heap on the other side of it. "Perkele! Sorry about that!" cursed Tino, dashing around the other side and helping the straw-man to his wobbly feet.
"Oh, no big deal." Crowed the scarecrow, puffing out his stuffing filled chest with pride, "I feel like a new man!" He proceeded to stretch and yawn and move about on his legs. With a bit of a chuckle Tino thought; 'He swaggers like he's drunk.' He was brought out of this thought by Scarecrow inquiring as to who he was and where he was going. "Oh, my name's Tino. This is Bloody Hanatamago-" the scarecrow made a disturbed face at such a horrible name, "And we're going to the Emerald City to see the Wizard of Oz. He's going to send us back to Helsinki."
"Where's the Emerald City? And who is the Wizard of Oz? And what's a Helsinki?"
"God, well, okay I don't blame you for not knowing where Helsinki is, but you really don't know who the Wizard is? I thought everyone knew him here." Chortle Tino at the utter confusion painted on the scarecrow's face. He'd certainly been sure, with the commotion Feliciano had made about him, that there couldn't be a single person in Oz that did just love the Wizard to death.
"No. 'Course I don't know that stuff; I don't know anything. I'm stuffed with straw, I ain't got no brains at all." The scarecrow waved off Tino's comment with his sad explanation.
"Oh, wow. I'm sorry." Tino said, uncomfortably. He had no idea how something without a brain could move around, and Scarecrow seemed to think and have thoughts, but Tino was no brain surgeon, and Oz seemed like such a queer place, so who was he to judge? "Do you think Oz could give me some brains? The crows aren't afraid of me anymore, and I heard them saying that if I just had me some brains I would be as good as any real man, and better than some!" The scarecrow pointed a gloved thumb (or was the glove his hand?) at himself. "And what's the use in stickin' around here when the crows ain't even afraid of me? You won't mind if I tag along?" Inquired the brash scarecrow.
"I guess not." Stated Tino, he wasn't good at saying no. Sure, the scarecrow seemed like a bit of a loud mouth, (is that what happens when you learn to talk from crows?) but he seemed nice and had already infected the previously weary Tino with new found vigor to continue the journey. "I mean, the more the merrier right? But, ugh, the Warlock of the North told me that it's going to going to be pretty dangerous. Are you sure it could be safe for someone with no brain to travel through dangerous country?"
Scarecrow cackled, "Me? I'm not afraid at all! Look I'm just a bundle of stuffing! You could stomp on my toes or stab at me with a needle 'til you were exhausted and it wouldn't hurt me a bit. I don't feel pain at all, so I'm not afraid of anything… well… anything besides a lit match." The Finn's new companion chortled as he dashed on his drunkards legs behind Tino as they continued on with the journey. "Hey, let me carry that basket Tino. It looks heavy, and I don't get tired out like you flesh and blood people do." Crowed the straw-stuffed man as he snatched it away and bore it easily, Tino was relieved, as it had been heavy.
The journey continued on without a moment of silence passing between the two. Scarecrow, for someone who claimed to be a fool and claimed to have only been 'born' two days prior, never seemed to bore of asking questions of Tino and making comments on them. As well, he never seemed to run out of energy. (Despite, because he had no brains, he tended to walk headlong into pot holes in the road, instead of walking around them like Tino and Hanatamago and the Finn would have to help him back up on his drunkard's-legs again.) After several hours Tino and Hanatamago needed to rest and eat. Tino had broken off a piece of bread and offered it to Scarecrow, who waved it off. "My mouth is painted on. I ain't ever hungry. By the way, tell me about the Helsinki." The Scarecrow seemed to love being told about things and so Tino described Helsinki to him, and the tiny grey house he shared with his Aunt Katyusha, and how he missed it and desperately wanted to go home.
The straw-man raised an eyebrow. "Helsinki sounds like a dump, why would you wanna go back? It's a lot nicer here." Tino scoffed as he peered up at him. "That's just because you have no brain. 'Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.' Us flesh and blood people are drawn to wherever our home is, even if we go some place nicer." The Scarecrow shrugged. "I guess it must be because I have no brains. If I did maybe I'd want to live someplace like that, but then, I would want to stay here, because it's my home." Tino wanted to pull him out of his dour mood. "What about you?" Inquired the Finn.
"'Fraid the life of a Scarecrow isn't that interesting, and I've only been alive for two days. But I remember the farmers who made me said I was a handsome scarecrow and I was happy to be fulfilling my duties. But then they left me alone in the field, and the second day of being out there the crows stopped being afraid of me and started eating up the corn. I felt totally worthless. The crows told me I could be a man and live a worthwhile life if I had some brains. They're the only thing to measure your worth by the crows said. I got pretty lucky 'cuz if I hadn't met you I would have been stuck up on that pole. It would have been torture to have been stuck up there knowing I was worthless. Now I just hope the Wizard will give me some brains, and then my life will be worthwhile. I was even pondering having a person's name, 'cause there's so many scarecrows in the world, it'd not be easy to tell us apart y'know? I'm thinking Mathias is my name, it must be! 'Cause if I thought of it, and I'm a fool, so it's gotta be the obvious name." For a rare moment, Scarecrow's smile wasn't leering or mocking, but it was small and thoughtful. This touched Tino. "I'm sure he will, Mathias. The Warlock of the North seemed to think highly of him. I'm sure if he can get me back to Helsinki, he can get some brains in your head." And with that, he stood, and helped his wobbly-legged friend up to his feet. The sooner they got to the Emerald City, the sooner Tino would see his aunt and Mathias the Scarecrow would have his brains.
##############################################
Hej: Hello in Danish
'Fraid this chapter isn't as fun as the last two, but, hey, Denmark's in the story now. Prepare for his over energetic, loud, obnoxious banter. He's not being too much of a pest to Tino, but wait until Norway and Sweden are there, he'll rev up his desire to pester for attention… ESPECIALLY Norway's attention!