Free Companies Inc. Presents:

Writer's Block Strikes Again!

The fic with a lot of unnecessary exclamation points

By Keza: Queen of Procrastination

AN: WOW she's actually updating? Oh man oh man oh MAN! Sorry for the delay… ark, I'm so horrible! But, alas, here it is. Enjoy. Review. Etc. And don't mind the fluctuating accent. I really don't like writing in it.

Last Chapter: Oh jeez, does anyone remember what happened last chapter? Well, Blink and Race and an interesting run in with a drunk Cards, some mispronunciation, and… a shrine? Hoh boy.

+

"I am headin straight ta bed," I announced as Kid Blink and I tromped into the lodging house. "Poker or no poker. Craps or no craps. I'm dead tired, and my hand hurts!" I think Midget had broken a finger. Damned wheelchair.

"Hey, I'm not protesting," Blink reminded me. "Thought someone said that Snipeshootah and Slidah were playin' tonight."

I brightened up.

"Really? Ha! Those younguns'll be easy game!"

"Though you was goin' ta bed?"

"Shaddap!"

So in the usual fashion, I took part in a few games of poker before falling asleep at the table. Someone stole my money while I was asleep. There will be hell to pay when this stupid quest is over.

It was a good night - I wasn't plagued by any dreams, although Pie-eater complained of a restless sleep the next morning. I didn't pity him at all. In theory, Brooklyn was the last borough we had to cleanse. And after that? My sleep would always be dream-free. I was looking forward to it.

"Brooklyn taday!" I told Blink as we left the following morning and headed towards the bridge. "We're almost done."

He just yawned. Well, I guess not everyone can be an enthusiastic as me.

We managed to hitch a ride almost to the bridge - cause damn, it's a long walk - and somehow I suppressed my urge to push Blink off the carriage as we jumped off. Oh, but it's so fun! We tromped across the bridge in a casual fashion, though secretly looking around for any authors that would try to attack us. Hey, it's happened before. We got off the bridge without too much trouble (except for that incident with the seagulls…) and stood around pretty awkwardly. By now we knew that if we just stood around, eventually something would happen, and someone would approach us. I felt pretty experienced in this 'curing' thing.

When still nothing had happened - after oh, about twenty minutes, we decided to take matters into our own hands. I took a few tentative steps towards the nearest alley. Nothing happened. Some girl tried to sell us a flower. Blink declined and she threw it at him and then ran away.

"Maybe dere aren't any authors in Brooklyn?" Blink suggested. I shook my head.

"Nah, dere's gotta be! Kezah probably would've said somethin if not."

"True."

There was an awkward pause. Blink picked up the flower and studied it. He nearly poked his eye out with a thorn.

Suddenly a scream pierced the air. I grinned.

"That's what we were lookin' for!" I exclaimed. Blink dropped the flower, startled. He sucked on a knuckle (bleeding as the result of the thorns) and followed me as I set off towards the sound of the scream.

Ten minutes later, we still hadn't found anything. Almost knocked over a fruit stand though.

"I could've sworn it came from this direction!" I insisted. Blink shrugged.

"I thought it came from back there, but whatever you say. Does this look infected?" he asked, holding out his knuckle.

"No," I said without looking. The scream sounded again.

"Ok, this way!"

"Say, that sounded like a guy screaming," Blink commented.

"Who said all the newsie authors were girls?"

"Well, Kez-never mind."

"Besides, who says girls can't have, erm, manly screams?"

"Stop talking while you're ahead, Race."

"Shove it."

"Where?"

The scream again.

"Never mind where, let's go!"

"You brought it up," he mumbled. I decided to ignore him and jogged off towards where the scream still lingered - near an old warehouse. Hmm. Interesting. We approached the warehouse, where muffled sounds could be heard from inside. I exchanged glances with Blink, then tried the door. Locked.

"Wait!" Blink stopped me from picking the lock. "I've ALWAYS wanted to do this."

He backed up, then came running at the door. I groaned inwardly - was he going to try to bust it in or something?

THUD!

Blink barreled into the door with a meaty thud and fell flat on his back, eyes closed, spread eagled.

"You can pick it now," he rasped. I shook my head disapprovingly and did so. The lock clicked open instantly, allowing me easy access - for Blink it was a little harder…. I had to drag him inside, and he almost got stuck in the doorway. Ah, well…

The warehouse was, to say the least, HUGE! It was just one big room, with an enormous ceiling and unlimited floor space. It was dusty and gloomy and I started sneezing the moment the door was closed behind us. In the middle of the room we could see lights, and what looked like a small bonfire. Who would be crazy enough to start a bonfire in the middle of a warehouse? Oh, right. Writers. Silly me.

"I guess we should check it out," Blink said, back on his feet.

"Guess so." Neither of us made a move. "You first, o' injured one," I sad with a smile. Blink growled but started walking towards the source of the light all the same. I followed at a safe distance.

When we came closer it became apparent that there was some sort of ritual going on. There were four people that were chanting, dancing around the middle fire, and throwing things up in the air. A fifth was tied to a thick post near the fire and was writhing around despite their bonds. Blink and I exchanged uneasy glances, but, being the smart boys we are, continued forward.

"Ready girls?" one of the dancers shrieked.

"Ready!" the other three answered.

"Nooo!" cried the one tied.

"Deah Lord, what're they gonna do to that poor kid?" I muttered.

"Let the sacrificial rites begin!"

"Ok, question answered!" I said nervously… and to myself. Blink was already trying to stop the event from happening.

"Eeek what're you doin'?" The girl who had been about to push the tied up figure into the fire struggled under Blink's hold. I ran in to help him.

"What am I doing?" Blink asked in disbelief. "What are YOU doing?"

"Leggo a' me!"

"And you won't kill the helpless person?"

"Hrmm… Not yet."

We released the girl. She took a few steps back, glowering, and rubbed her arms. The other three stopped their dance to stare at us.

"Well?" the girl spoke up again. "What are you doing here?"

"We heard a scream," I explained.

"Told ya we shoulda gagged 'em!" Another of the girls muttered.

"You just interrupted something very important," she spat.

"Shit, Race! It's Spot!" Blink had managed to slide around to the one tied up, and was now slitting his bonds. So that's who stole my switchblade… I focused on the task at hand. Blink would pay later.

"Why would you want to kill Spot? I mean, you'se writahs, right? If anythin', he's only helped ya."

"Yeah, we're writahs," she agreed. "It's that obvious, huh?"

"We've had a lot of practice."

"Well," one of the girls who hadn't spoken before sided up to Blink. "I'm Sweets." She smiled innocently. Blink finished releasing Spot and backed away slowly - but she wasn't discouraged.

"Blinky, I haven't seen you forever!"

"Uhh, uh, uh…"

"Don't mind him," I cut in. "He's had some bad experiences - just don't call him Blinky."

Sweets shrugged.

"K then."

Blink relaxed, then surveyed her curiously.

"Hey, you look familiar!"

She grinned.

"Oh, so you do remember that one night…"

"Erm… no… I mean… I've just seen you before."

"She's Jack's sister!" another, skinny, girl chirped. "Hey, I'm Loud Mouth," she said, sticking out her hand. We both shook it cautiously.

"Oh yeah!" Blink was saying. "Jack's sister. That's right."

"Oh…" Sweets pouted, then sulked off. "Never mind then."

"GIRLS! THE VICTIM IS ESCAPING!" the leader girl from before bellowed.

"That's Nevada," Loud Mouth informed us. "Oh, and the other one is Riot."

Riot waved cheerfully. I saluted back.

"COME ON!" Nevada continued. She glared at us. Riot managed to catch Spot and was trying to tie him back onto the pole. They had put a gag in his mouth this time around.

"Well," Riot said. "It was nice chattin' with you boys. But we have a problem, and we're really trying to solve it here, so if you could just… continue on your way, well, that'd be grand!"

"Uhm, ok, but one more thing - why exactly do you want to sacrifice Spot?"

"Oh, it's not like we want to," Loud Mouth explained. "No no no."

"Well, I do," Riot reminded her.

"Yeah, Riot does - she doesn't like him, but anyway, it's not like we want to-"

"Actually, I don't really care," Sweets agreed, once again edging closer to Blink.

"Ok! So Sweets doesn't care and Riot would love to see him suffer, but BESIDES that… we don't really want to sacrifice him, it's just that… well… we have to!"

"You have to?"

"Mmm."

"Why?"

"Writer's Block," all four said simultaneously.

"Sacrificing such a loved newsie as Spot will surely appease the gods," Nevada told us earnestly.

"And, so, if the gods are appeased, then they'll take away your Writer's Block?"

Nevada nodded.

"This is a new one," Blink muttered, trying to shake Sweets off.

"I'll say," I agreed. "Isn't there another way to do this?"

"What, kill him?" Riot shrugged. "Well sure, we could hang him, or slit his-"

"No, no, I mean, another way to get rid of Writer's Block."

"Oh. Dunno."

There was a lengthy silence where I pondered the subject matter, trying to think of another way to get rid of the girls' Writer's Block. For lack of a better thing to do, Nevada sat on the ground and put her legs behind her head.

"I love it when she does that," Riot confided in me.

"I've got it!" I announced. Everyone looked up - even Spot looked excited… erm, I think.

"Well?" Nevada asked, prodding me with her foot - which was still behind her head. That freaked me out a little.

"Ok, here's what we do…"

For the most part, they listened attentively to my plan, except for a few interruptions…

"Wait, so where are we going to get the ostrich again?" Sweets asked.

"Quiet, I'm getting to that."

"I don't think there are ostriches in New York," Nevada said doubtfully.

"Ok, we'll drop the ostrich! Just listen!"

As Sweets went to refuel the fire, a loud sound was heard.

"Door slamming - did someone just come in?" Loud Mouth frowned. A form came into view through the gloom, standing out mainly because of the bright white underclothes he sported.

"Spot? You in here?" he called, then, noticing the fires, trotted towards us. All four girls stared, Blink and I averted our eyes with disgust.

"Blue!" one of them squealed. Yep, it was Brooklyn's champion swimmer… and still dripping wet. Did I mention he wore a lot of white? A lot of see through white? Spot was immediately forgotten - both by the girls and Blue. Blink and I took this chance to untie him (again).

"Hey Blue…"

"Hey ladies!"

"I don't know how to swim, Blue…"

"Ooh, yeah, can you teach us?"

"Let's go!" I hissed, stealing out of another door with Spot and Blink.

"I hope they don't sacrifice him," Spot said as we ungagged him.

"Nah, I don't think so," I said. "They seem quite… er… entranced by him."

"Yeah, or just his-"

"So Spot, how did you end up in their hands anyway?"

Spot looked embarrassed.

"I don't wanna talk about it, ok?"

"Come onnnn," Blink taunted.

"No! Oh, damn, Sweets has my slingshot…"

"You can get it later," I assured him. "For now, we should probably get out of here. Or, at least, you should. Blink and I still have some business to take care of."

"Yeah? Well… I guess I owe you. So if you need so help, just call," Spot said, then trotted off.

"Do you think Blue will really cure their Writer's Block?" Blink asked curiously.

"Hell if I know!" I snorted. "But it's definitely possible. And I'm not sticking around to find out. Come on."

+

Thus ends chapter seven! More apologies for the horrid delay.

Thanks to Cards for helping me out with the 'cure.' Bwah hah hah.

Next Chapter: Don't fret, Brooklyn is only halfway done! And can it get much worse than sacrificial attempts? Oh, it can… it can…

And to the Featured Authors of Chapter Six: Which included, for those keeping score: Sweets, Riot, Loud Mouth, and Nevada. If any of you strongly disagree with how I wrote your character (remember I only had that profile thing to go by) then please contact me by review/e-mail/AIM and tell me what's up! I'll gladly edit it. Blah blah blah.