Cary O'Brien sat stoney-faced at his cousin Cole's computer. His large dark brown eyes flicked back and forth across the glowing screen, and his small though rough-looking body was supported by the back of the chair. His hair was black and spiked, frosted at the tips. Normally he would have been more awake and in-reality, except that something was bugging him. The dorm around him was in complete chaos, things piled in random corners, the leftovers of food packages and food itself lay sprawled aorund the room as though some monster had charged through gleefully. The blankets were in a crumpled mess at the end of the bed, and two bean bag chairs supported the backs of the riotous collegers. Carefree shouts of over-enthusiasm rang around the room, as Travis and Cole pushed the bottons on their controllers, watching thier little Tekken characters proceed to beat the living crap out of eachother.
"HEY that's no fair!"
"Tell that to the computer, twinkle toes."
"I'd rather tell it to your face!" Travis tackled his friend and attempted to wrench the controller from his hand. Cole held on steadily and tried to kick at the form pinning him down. Cary hardly raised an eyebrow, smirking lightly to himself though making no move to assist his distressed relative. Cole was a tall, skinny and lanky guy, with glasses and short black hair, hinted with streaks of blood red coloring. He appeared weak, though often in these quarrels between him and his best friend he sometimes ended up the better off. Travis on the other hand was not quite as tall as Cole, though still had some height to him. His dirty blonde 'grubbins hair' (as it was dubbed by cole) fell into his eyes as he pinned cole down easily using one hand to hold him down and the other to try and get the controller. He appeared much stronger than the latter, a tank top revealing well defined muscles, that cole often teased him about, calling him 'Fabio'.
"You two are like the Tweedle Dee and Dum of the 21st century," Cole said, yawning while the two scuffled.
"Hey I'm not fat!" protested Cole, putting travis in a chokehold.
"I didn't say YOU were Dee."
"Weren't they both fat?"
"LITTLE KID MANUVER!" Travis cried, grabbing ahold of the controller and jerking his arm back and forth until Cole had no choice but to let go or have his arms ripped from his sockets. A victorious cry was quickly turned into a fearful yelp as the sound of someone getting piledriven into the bean bags was heard. And still Cary sat, putting his chin in his hand and sighing.
"Have you guys seen Typo online recently?" came the totally out-of-the-blue and calm question.
"What?" questioned Cole, who had a whimpering Travis by the hair.
"Typo? No..why?" interjected Travis, reaching up, grabbing Cole's arm and flipping the unfortunate child over his head and smacking his back down onto the ground.
"I'm just worried.."
"You should be."
"eh, why...?" Cary turned just in time to get a mouthful of pillow. He spat and spluttered, grabbing a glass of water and dumping it over his assailant's head.
"Dude don't electrocute yourself."
"It's not me who should be worried about getting electrocuted!"
"EEK!"
"Calm down Cole he's just a little bug! Easily squishable.." Travis tackled Cary from his chair and dragged him over to the corner where he picked up a pillow and was about to whack Cary.
"Holy shit.." came a quiet voice over by the computer.
"What??" Cary demanded. WHACK! "Ow!"
"Sorry. Impulse." Travis grinned stupidly.
"Get out of my way you ogre." Cary pushed Travis aside, who leaped onto the ground and latched himself onto Cary's ankles. The 16-year-old muttered, having to strain quite a bit to walk across the room with a 200 lb. weight clinging to his legs. Once making it over to Cole, he said "Do you have an witch hazel? There seems to be an abnormal GROWTH-" Cary said this, kicking Travis who responded with a quiet 'ow?' while he continued "on my leg. Could you remove it for me?"
"You guys let's be serious for a moment shall we?"
Travis couldn't help burst into laughter, which was soon quieted by another kick and a more annoyed 'OW?!'
"What is it?"
"Read this. Apparently the feds are after our buddies again, seems like they're serious this time."
"How do you mean?" came a painful question from someone on the floor.
"Hold on.." Cole kept reading, Cary doing the same over his shoulder. Then Cary's eyes widened, reading faster than Cole.
"No!"
"No what? This is just about some hacker chick who's dissapeared and in serious trouble.. Dude the dad even has a reward for finding her. Wonder what she did that was so bad, oh wait.. Apparently she's been kidnapped too. She's just a well-rounded little demoness isn't she?"
"HELLO??" Cary echoed into Cole's ear, smacking him on the side the head "That's Fi!!"
"Who?"
"Typo....??"
"Oh. Well that's not good."
"Is she available?" KICK "ow... Hey maybe we should rescue her."
"I don't think she needs rescuing.." said Cary, reading the article over again.
"What makes you say that?"
Cary was searching around for his jacket, which he found promptly. "Cause if she needed rescuing then her dad wouldn't be the one offering a reward for it."
"Huh?" both the others questioned simultaneoulsy.
"We don't need to save her guys, we have to prevent her from being saved. Who here wants to go on a little trip?"
"Cary!" excalimed Cole "What will aunt Jean say?! I'm supposed to be taking care of you this week! No wild adventures!"
"How very unlike you Cole, actually listening to my mom?"
"Well.."
"Oh C'mon, it'll be fun."
"I'm in!" cried Travis, getting up and staggering over to collect his wallet which was scattered all over the room.
"What about our classes though Trav?!"
"Screw 'em. This is life, Tweedle Dum, and as the walrus said 'the time has come'."
*~*~*~*
"8 hours in a plane and I had to sit inbetween beavis and butthead. Shouldn't my insurance cover this?"
"Cole?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"You shut up Travis! You were the one who ordered the beans!!"
"Hehehe..."
"Hey c'mon guys where's the love?" cary questioned, grabbing his bag off the revolving shoot.
Travis awwwed cornily and bear-hugged both cole and cary, picking them up for a moment or two. Cole grimaced stiffly.
"Put me down, you're scarin' people."
Travis set his buddies down gently, then began to show off to passing girls. Cary ignored this, taking a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Alright, alright.. now according to this it's not too far from the outskirts of the city.. a suburb on the north side... Number 306 Oregon Ave."
"Ooooh flying monkey shit check out the rack on that-" Travis was interupted by a sharp pinch and then a pulling of his ear, dragging him from the airport.
"You two treat me like my mother!"
"Don't go getting all excited now Travis." Cole said, waving down a cab.
"Cole?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to kill you. Just thought you'd like to know."
"That's nice."
The three of them tossed their bags in the trunk of the yellow cab. Cary climbed into the backseat, peering out the window at the other two as they argued over the shotgun.
"But I get sick in the back!"
"Quit your whining, I'm older than you."
"FINE! YOU can sit next to mr-scary-cab-driver-don't-know-english-man! I'll sit in the back with the urchin!" Travis declared hotly.
"Hey!" Cary growled at Travis when he got in. "I feel sorry for you, having to spend an hour in this cab with the little urchin who gets a little miffed when insulted.."
He only had a second to become fearful, when all of a sudden the cab shot forward like a little kid who'd sat on a bottle rocket. Instead of an hour, they were there in less than 15 minutes..
Cary put his hand up on the fake leather seat, attempting to peel his face away from it.
"Man, talk about major whiplash.." Travis groaned quietly.
"So I'm guessing you charge by miles, not hours?" Cole asked the driver politely, handing over some money. A mmmmmmmPOP came from the back as Cary finally managed to remove his skin from the seat and step out of the car, only to fall flat on his face from nausea. Travis did basically the same thing. Cole stepped out of the cab, over Travis and around to the sidewalk where Cary was. The cab drove off, leaving them alone on a quiet suburb street. It was dusk and growing quickly darker. The band started off down the sidewalk, Cole and Travis in front, Cary straggling behind, looking everywhere around them. Cole had the paper with him, checking the numbers on mailboxes.
"I still don't know what you think we'll acomplish by finding her house, Cary."
"Huh?" responded the teenager, who was distracted by everything around them as though Fiona was just going to leap out of the bushes.
"(sigh) Nevermind. What?" Cole looked up agitated, feeling Travis' hand on his chest, stopping him from moving. Looking off down the sidewalk, the pair saw a *very* pretty girl. As she came closer, her features became more evident. She wasn't very tall, but she was thin and her face, though humble, could be mistaken for a model's. Her hair was a firey crimson red, and she walked with a certain slowness to her step.. as though lost in thought.
"It's just a girl, moron. She looks way too young for you anyway. Probably about 15 or something.. man when are you-"
"Hello." The girl said curiously, stopping in front of them. Apparently she didn't want to walk all the way around them, but she didn't want to be the cause of trouble either.
"Ahoomunahoomanahoo..." burbled Travis, using Cole's shoulder to keep himself from falling over. She forced a friendly smile and was about to walk around when Cary pushed through the two older guys,
"What is it, why'd you...stop..." He had come through and ended up face-to-face with the young girl. They blinked at one another, and both were at a loss for words. "I'm..a.. I'm Cary." he stumbled over his words, unable to take his eyes from hers. She blushed lightly then spoke, her voice that used to be soft and sad now had a sort of rapture to it, staring back into his brown eyes
"And I'm Tavie."
"HEY that's no fair!"
"Tell that to the computer, twinkle toes."
"I'd rather tell it to your face!" Travis tackled his friend and attempted to wrench the controller from his hand. Cole held on steadily and tried to kick at the form pinning him down. Cary hardly raised an eyebrow, smirking lightly to himself though making no move to assist his distressed relative. Cole was a tall, skinny and lanky guy, with glasses and short black hair, hinted with streaks of blood red coloring. He appeared weak, though often in these quarrels between him and his best friend he sometimes ended up the better off. Travis on the other hand was not quite as tall as Cole, though still had some height to him. His dirty blonde 'grubbins hair' (as it was dubbed by cole) fell into his eyes as he pinned cole down easily using one hand to hold him down and the other to try and get the controller. He appeared much stronger than the latter, a tank top revealing well defined muscles, that cole often teased him about, calling him 'Fabio'.
"You two are like the Tweedle Dee and Dum of the 21st century," Cole said, yawning while the two scuffled.
"Hey I'm not fat!" protested Cole, putting travis in a chokehold.
"I didn't say YOU were Dee."
"Weren't they both fat?"
"LITTLE KID MANUVER!" Travis cried, grabbing ahold of the controller and jerking his arm back and forth until Cole had no choice but to let go or have his arms ripped from his sockets. A victorious cry was quickly turned into a fearful yelp as the sound of someone getting piledriven into the bean bags was heard. And still Cary sat, putting his chin in his hand and sighing.
"Have you guys seen Typo online recently?" came the totally out-of-the-blue and calm question.
"What?" questioned Cole, who had a whimpering Travis by the hair.
"Typo? No..why?" interjected Travis, reaching up, grabbing Cole's arm and flipping the unfortunate child over his head and smacking his back down onto the ground.
"I'm just worried.."
"You should be."
"eh, why...?" Cary turned just in time to get a mouthful of pillow. He spat and spluttered, grabbing a glass of water and dumping it over his assailant's head.
"Dude don't electrocute yourself."
"It's not me who should be worried about getting electrocuted!"
"EEK!"
"Calm down Cole he's just a little bug! Easily squishable.." Travis tackled Cary from his chair and dragged him over to the corner where he picked up a pillow and was about to whack Cary.
"Holy shit.." came a quiet voice over by the computer.
"What??" Cary demanded. WHACK! "Ow!"
"Sorry. Impulse." Travis grinned stupidly.
"Get out of my way you ogre." Cary pushed Travis aside, who leaped onto the ground and latched himself onto Cary's ankles. The 16-year-old muttered, having to strain quite a bit to walk across the room with a 200 lb. weight clinging to his legs. Once making it over to Cole, he said "Do you have an witch hazel? There seems to be an abnormal GROWTH-" Cary said this, kicking Travis who responded with a quiet 'ow?' while he continued "on my leg. Could you remove it for me?"
"You guys let's be serious for a moment shall we?"
Travis couldn't help burst into laughter, which was soon quieted by another kick and a more annoyed 'OW?!'
"What is it?"
"Read this. Apparently the feds are after our buddies again, seems like they're serious this time."
"How do you mean?" came a painful question from someone on the floor.
"Hold on.." Cole kept reading, Cary doing the same over his shoulder. Then Cary's eyes widened, reading faster than Cole.
"No!"
"No what? This is just about some hacker chick who's dissapeared and in serious trouble.. Dude the dad even has a reward for finding her. Wonder what she did that was so bad, oh wait.. Apparently she's been kidnapped too. She's just a well-rounded little demoness isn't she?"
"HELLO??" Cary echoed into Cole's ear, smacking him on the side the head "That's Fi!!"
"Who?"
"Typo....??"
"Oh. Well that's not good."
"Is she available?" KICK "ow... Hey maybe we should rescue her."
"I don't think she needs rescuing.." said Cary, reading the article over again.
"What makes you say that?"
Cary was searching around for his jacket, which he found promptly. "Cause if she needed rescuing then her dad wouldn't be the one offering a reward for it."
"Huh?" both the others questioned simultaneoulsy.
"We don't need to save her guys, we have to prevent her from being saved. Who here wants to go on a little trip?"
"Cary!" excalimed Cole "What will aunt Jean say?! I'm supposed to be taking care of you this week! No wild adventures!"
"How very unlike you Cole, actually listening to my mom?"
"Well.."
"Oh C'mon, it'll be fun."
"I'm in!" cried Travis, getting up and staggering over to collect his wallet which was scattered all over the room.
"What about our classes though Trav?!"
"Screw 'em. This is life, Tweedle Dum, and as the walrus said 'the time has come'."
*~*~*~*
"8 hours in a plane and I had to sit inbetween beavis and butthead. Shouldn't my insurance cover this?"
"Cole?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"You shut up Travis! You were the one who ordered the beans!!"
"Hehehe..."
"Hey c'mon guys where's the love?" cary questioned, grabbing his bag off the revolving shoot.
Travis awwwed cornily and bear-hugged both cole and cary, picking them up for a moment or two. Cole grimaced stiffly.
"Put me down, you're scarin' people."
Travis set his buddies down gently, then began to show off to passing girls. Cary ignored this, taking a piece of paper from his pocket.
"Alright, alright.. now according to this it's not too far from the outskirts of the city.. a suburb on the north side... Number 306 Oregon Ave."
"Ooooh flying monkey shit check out the rack on that-" Travis was interupted by a sharp pinch and then a pulling of his ear, dragging him from the airport.
"You two treat me like my mother!"
"Don't go getting all excited now Travis." Cole said, waving down a cab.
"Cole?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to kill you. Just thought you'd like to know."
"That's nice."
The three of them tossed their bags in the trunk of the yellow cab. Cary climbed into the backseat, peering out the window at the other two as they argued over the shotgun.
"But I get sick in the back!"
"Quit your whining, I'm older than you."
"FINE! YOU can sit next to mr-scary-cab-driver-don't-know-english-man! I'll sit in the back with the urchin!" Travis declared hotly.
"Hey!" Cary growled at Travis when he got in. "I feel sorry for you, having to spend an hour in this cab with the little urchin who gets a little miffed when insulted.."
He only had a second to become fearful, when all of a sudden the cab shot forward like a little kid who'd sat on a bottle rocket. Instead of an hour, they were there in less than 15 minutes..
Cary put his hand up on the fake leather seat, attempting to peel his face away from it.
"Man, talk about major whiplash.." Travis groaned quietly.
"So I'm guessing you charge by miles, not hours?" Cole asked the driver politely, handing over some money. A mmmmmmmPOP came from the back as Cary finally managed to remove his skin from the seat and step out of the car, only to fall flat on his face from nausea. Travis did basically the same thing. Cole stepped out of the cab, over Travis and around to the sidewalk where Cary was. The cab drove off, leaving them alone on a quiet suburb street. It was dusk and growing quickly darker. The band started off down the sidewalk, Cole and Travis in front, Cary straggling behind, looking everywhere around them. Cole had the paper with him, checking the numbers on mailboxes.
"I still don't know what you think we'll acomplish by finding her house, Cary."
"Huh?" responded the teenager, who was distracted by everything around them as though Fiona was just going to leap out of the bushes.
"(sigh) Nevermind. What?" Cole looked up agitated, feeling Travis' hand on his chest, stopping him from moving. Looking off down the sidewalk, the pair saw a *very* pretty girl. As she came closer, her features became more evident. She wasn't very tall, but she was thin and her face, though humble, could be mistaken for a model's. Her hair was a firey crimson red, and she walked with a certain slowness to her step.. as though lost in thought.
"It's just a girl, moron. She looks way too young for you anyway. Probably about 15 or something.. man when are you-"
"Hello." The girl said curiously, stopping in front of them. Apparently she didn't want to walk all the way around them, but she didn't want to be the cause of trouble either.
"Ahoomunahoomanahoo..." burbled Travis, using Cole's shoulder to keep himself from falling over. She forced a friendly smile and was about to walk around when Cary pushed through the two older guys,
"What is it, why'd you...stop..." He had come through and ended up face-to-face with the young girl. They blinked at one another, and both were at a loss for words. "I'm..a.. I'm Cary." he stumbled over his words, unable to take his eyes from hers. She blushed lightly then spoke, her voice that used to be soft and sad now had a sort of rapture to it, staring back into his brown eyes
"And I'm Tavie."