In the month that followed, the girls labored earnestly to keep things normal as...well.. such a situation could normally be. And they were successful for the most part, with minor disagreements from the multiple characters in question. Harold Zidler, for example, quarreled with Harry Potter when he caught the wizard-boy lifting lip rouge from his Caboodle. "Confounded Potter!" Zidler boomed, rousing the entire household. "I told you to stay out of my makeup!" It was well-known that Zidler was jealous of Potter on account of his vocal talents--Potter was singing his little magic heart out in the shower one day, belting out Zidler's famous Moulin Rouge! notes like it was nothing. Interestingly, Harry Potter could sing Christian and Satine's lines with as much accuracy and zest. Zidler, who had poked in to use the Johnny, was not amused. In any case, it was settled that Potter was only digging in Zidler's belongings to, as Potter insists, "play a prank on Leggie."
But generally, everything was peachy. The girls had to work particularly hard to keep the respective characters from witnessing themselves on television. As hard as it was Phoebe, Chickie, and Tara completely did away with their movie collections (which means they rented out a storage unit and put them there instead--also, might I add, hooking up a VCR/DVD and TV set for when withdrawals from these relative movies would hit them). However, regular cable was still a problem, first recognized when Potter saw himself in a preview for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and almost went into a seizure. Then the inevitable--the characters witnessing their real-life actor-parts starring in new movies. So the girls re-evaluated their plan, and went out one day and purchased every movie in existence that does not involve any of the characters in the household, or their counterparts, or anyone else in the films they came from who might show up. Thus, the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" quickly became a household favorite.
The characters had to stay in the apartment at all times, save for Toulouse who was the official trash-taker-outer. And then he was not allowed to utter a single word to anyone in the Outside World. Of course they lived in New York, so if someone did see a vividly dressed, drunken midget taking out ten bags of trash a week, no one questioned it.
It's also helpful to admit that the girls, at liberty to amuse themselves, helped each individual dress more… modernly, to avoid any further conflict between their worlds and ours.
Phoebe generously allowed Samwise Gamgee to wear her signature "Rocky Horror Lips" black shirt, and Frodo Baggins wore Tara's "Bone Daddy"Jack Skellington T-shirt. Gandalf the wizard wore a plain white T with baggy jeans, and his long hair in a ponytail, looking positively charming beside his new girlfriend, Satine. Satine, by the way, was getting medicine for her nasty consumption problem and doing quite well, only passing out twice a day instead of every five minutes. And Phoebe was always more than happy to remind Tara that when Satine was offered to pick from either of the girls' wardrobes, the courtesan immediately dove into Phoebe's closet rather than Tara's. Tara seemed unruffled at the time, but was known to turn a dirty shade of red at Phoebe's friendly reminders. Nevertheless… you dirty sack of…..NOW Legolas the Elf had a thing for the Nickelodeon channel and always wore his favorite red and yellow 'SpongeBob SquarePants' shirt. Despite the girls' many persuasions, Legolas would not change his hairstyle, or let anyone go near his precious silvery-dark-side-braided locks. Once Phoebe tried to sneak and redo it as he slept at night, but as Phoebe does not always think like Phoebe should, the Elf sprang at once to his feet and bit her outstretched finger nearly in two. The wound was gone in merely days thanks to the help of Strider, who was a great healer of course, and who wore Adidas sweatpants and a pink muscle shirt with noisy brown flip-flops as his outfit of choice. Still, bad blood remains between Pheebs and the Legster, but we won't go into their petty crimes against each other (like the time Legolas refilled Phoebe's feminine-shaving-cream bottle with salsa dip). Zidler and Toulouse always wore cowboy jackets with fringe; Harry Potter wore his regular school shirt and pants; Qui-Gon Jinn and Commodus were very fond of matching tuxedos with spinning bow-ties; Obi-Wan usually wore only a terrycloth robe; and Christian usually wore his wifebeater and suspender-pants, or nothing at all, to match his partner Phoebe.
There was also the matter of the actor Ewan McGregor, who turned up mid-last-story when he was kidnapped on a mission given from the girls of the house to Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Aragorn (son of Arathorn, just so we're clear on that). Ewan McGregor was at first forced to stay, but after a while he grew fond of his eccentric companions and stayed of his own will. (It also pays to mention that Ewan, who unwittingly stuffed the One Ring into his underwear one night, was undergoing some awkward changes of his own. To be later explained.) The girls, of course, forbade each other to make any moves whatsoever on Mr. McGregor, and to stick strictly to their own lovers. Tara, of course, had Obi-Wan Kenobi eating out the palm of her hand (quite literally); Phoebe and Christian were dubbed "Sexaholix" on account of their frequent disappearances into nowhere to do, well, the funky monkey; Robin and Spiderman-slash-Peter Parker were very happily in luff... which brings us up to this current date where we are soon to see the latter couple depart on a much-anticipated romantic vacation to Australia. It was no trouble letting Spider-man out of the house as Peter Parker, for Parker was already a modern character and adapted fairly easily. The only trouble here would be if Parker ran into his real-life counterpart, Tobey Maguire. If this is the case, Chickie considered sensibly, then she would merely knock Parker out cold and run off with Maguire. No harm done.
The hobbits Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee made a hefty fuss that this event should be celebrated immensely, in true hobbit fashion, and be the talk of the millennia. "It must put Uncle Bilbo's last birthday party to shame!" Frodo would shout, always giving Tara an ulcer. It would mean drawing great attention to themselves, which would make things…..awkward for the rest of the world.
But Phoebe managed to convince Tara that it would be enjoyable and innocent. Most importantly, Phoebe promised that she wouldn't have to do any work, and on that last note Tara was at once agreeable. Everyone in the household pitched in ideas, everyone except for Spider-man and Chickie, of course, because this was a -surprise- party for them.
So it is on this occasion that we begin. The girls rented out some forest land in the middle of nowhere to hold the little gathering, lying and telling Spider-man and Chickie that Legolas was going to shrivel up and die if he didn't find a tree to be with soon, which was believable enough. (Legolas had early on formed an attachment to a certain cactus plant in the living room of the girls' apartment, and only when the cactus finally died did Legolas leave its side.) So the gang told Chickie and Spider-man that to support Legolas in his time of trial, they were going to haul a bunch of tents and camplike stuff to the woods for a weekend. Interestingly, Chickie and Spidey weren't allowed to join them at the camp until later that night, insisting they stay back to record "A Knight's Tale" for Harry on HBO. Dubious, the couple agreed and stayed home.
Commodus and Qui-Gon insisted there be a Fun Jump, so there was; a big red and blue one, the size of a small house. There were six tables filled with goodies of ALL sorts, including some assorted magic candies Harry had on him at the time of his arrival (mostly Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans), ten different cakes, oceans of Dr Pepper, three tables filled with meats, potatoes, breads, pizza, and various cheese, etc. There was Funny Foam, whipped cream, water guns, a giant chest full of 60's clothes, a Slip N' Slide, a small blow-up pool with floats far too big for it, water noodles, Nerf balls, a big trampoline, a sea-saw, a merry-go-round, finger paints, jump ropes, and various games like Candy Land, Wizard's Chess, horseshoes, and limbo.
So here we are. In the Middle of Nowhere (official location title) among a bunch of trees; almost Forbidden Forest-like, except there aren't any werewolves, or unicorns, or Voldemorts around here. That we know of…
But generally, everything was peachy. The girls had to work particularly hard to keep the respective characters from witnessing themselves on television. As hard as it was Phoebe, Chickie, and Tara completely did away with their movie collections (which means they rented out a storage unit and put them there instead--also, might I add, hooking up a VCR/DVD and TV set for when withdrawals from these relative movies would hit them). However, regular cable was still a problem, first recognized when Potter saw himself in a preview for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and almost went into a seizure. Then the inevitable--the characters witnessing their real-life actor-parts starring in new movies. So the girls re-evaluated their plan, and went out one day and purchased every movie in existence that does not involve any of the characters in the household, or their counterparts, or anyone else in the films they came from who might show up. Thus, the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" quickly became a household favorite.
The characters had to stay in the apartment at all times, save for Toulouse who was the official trash-taker-outer. And then he was not allowed to utter a single word to anyone in the Outside World. Of course they lived in New York, so if someone did see a vividly dressed, drunken midget taking out ten bags of trash a week, no one questioned it.
It's also helpful to admit that the girls, at liberty to amuse themselves, helped each individual dress more… modernly, to avoid any further conflict between their worlds and ours.
Phoebe generously allowed Samwise Gamgee to wear her signature "Rocky Horror Lips" black shirt, and Frodo Baggins wore Tara's "Bone Daddy"Jack Skellington T-shirt. Gandalf the wizard wore a plain white T with baggy jeans, and his long hair in a ponytail, looking positively charming beside his new girlfriend, Satine. Satine, by the way, was getting medicine for her nasty consumption problem and doing quite well, only passing out twice a day instead of every five minutes. And Phoebe was always more than happy to remind Tara that when Satine was offered to pick from either of the girls' wardrobes, the courtesan immediately dove into Phoebe's closet rather than Tara's. Tara seemed unruffled at the time, but was known to turn a dirty shade of red at Phoebe's friendly reminders. Nevertheless… you dirty sack of…..NOW Legolas the Elf had a thing for the Nickelodeon channel and always wore his favorite red and yellow 'SpongeBob SquarePants' shirt. Despite the girls' many persuasions, Legolas would not change his hairstyle, or let anyone go near his precious silvery-dark-side-braided locks. Once Phoebe tried to sneak and redo it as he slept at night, but as Phoebe does not always think like Phoebe should, the Elf sprang at once to his feet and bit her outstretched finger nearly in two. The wound was gone in merely days thanks to the help of Strider, who was a great healer of course, and who wore Adidas sweatpants and a pink muscle shirt with noisy brown flip-flops as his outfit of choice. Still, bad blood remains between Pheebs and the Legster, but we won't go into their petty crimes against each other (like the time Legolas refilled Phoebe's feminine-shaving-cream bottle with salsa dip). Zidler and Toulouse always wore cowboy jackets with fringe; Harry Potter wore his regular school shirt and pants; Qui-Gon Jinn and Commodus were very fond of matching tuxedos with spinning bow-ties; Obi-Wan usually wore only a terrycloth robe; and Christian usually wore his wifebeater and suspender-pants, or nothing at all, to match his partner Phoebe.
There was also the matter of the actor Ewan McGregor, who turned up mid-last-story when he was kidnapped on a mission given from the girls of the house to Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Aragorn (son of Arathorn, just so we're clear on that). Ewan McGregor was at first forced to stay, but after a while he grew fond of his eccentric companions and stayed of his own will. (It also pays to mention that Ewan, who unwittingly stuffed the One Ring into his underwear one night, was undergoing some awkward changes of his own. To be later explained.) The girls, of course, forbade each other to make any moves whatsoever on Mr. McGregor, and to stick strictly to their own lovers. Tara, of course, had Obi-Wan Kenobi eating out the palm of her hand (quite literally); Phoebe and Christian were dubbed "Sexaholix" on account of their frequent disappearances into nowhere to do, well, the funky monkey; Robin and Spiderman-slash-Peter Parker were very happily in luff... which brings us up to this current date where we are soon to see the latter couple depart on a much-anticipated romantic vacation to Australia. It was no trouble letting Spider-man out of the house as Peter Parker, for Parker was already a modern character and adapted fairly easily. The only trouble here would be if Parker ran into his real-life counterpart, Tobey Maguire. If this is the case, Chickie considered sensibly, then she would merely knock Parker out cold and run off with Maguire. No harm done.
The hobbits Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee made a hefty fuss that this event should be celebrated immensely, in true hobbit fashion, and be the talk of the millennia. "It must put Uncle Bilbo's last birthday party to shame!" Frodo would shout, always giving Tara an ulcer. It would mean drawing great attention to themselves, which would make things…..awkward for the rest of the world.
But Phoebe managed to convince Tara that it would be enjoyable and innocent. Most importantly, Phoebe promised that she wouldn't have to do any work, and on that last note Tara was at once agreeable. Everyone in the household pitched in ideas, everyone except for Spider-man and Chickie, of course, because this was a -surprise- party for them.
So it is on this occasion that we begin. The girls rented out some forest land in the middle of nowhere to hold the little gathering, lying and telling Spider-man and Chickie that Legolas was going to shrivel up and die if he didn't find a tree to be with soon, which was believable enough. (Legolas had early on formed an attachment to a certain cactus plant in the living room of the girls' apartment, and only when the cactus finally died did Legolas leave its side.) So the gang told Chickie and Spider-man that to support Legolas in his time of trial, they were going to haul a bunch of tents and camplike stuff to the woods for a weekend. Interestingly, Chickie and Spidey weren't allowed to join them at the camp until later that night, insisting they stay back to record "A Knight's Tale" for Harry on HBO. Dubious, the couple agreed and stayed home.
Commodus and Qui-Gon insisted there be a Fun Jump, so there was; a big red and blue one, the size of a small house. There were six tables filled with goodies of ALL sorts, including some assorted magic candies Harry had on him at the time of his arrival (mostly Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans), ten different cakes, oceans of Dr Pepper, three tables filled with meats, potatoes, breads, pizza, and various cheese, etc. There was Funny Foam, whipped cream, water guns, a giant chest full of 60's clothes, a Slip N' Slide, a small blow-up pool with floats far too big for it, water noodles, Nerf balls, a big trampoline, a sea-saw, a merry-go-round, finger paints, jump ropes, and various games like Candy Land, Wizard's Chess, horseshoes, and limbo.
So here we are. In the Middle of Nowhere (official location title) among a bunch of trees; almost Forbidden Forest-like, except there aren't any werewolves, or unicorns, or Voldemorts around here. That we know of…