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Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood By SiviB
Blair sat up, brushing dead leaves out of his hair, and blinked in the cool morning's light. "Funny," he commented to no one in particular, as this was who was present at the time, "I don't remember planting a forest in my bedroom. JIM!!!"
Moments later, a sleepy Sentinel came lumbering around quite a large tree and rubbed his eyes. "'Morning, Chief. Did you pick up any hunny at the store yesterday?"
"Honey? No, Jim, I didn't." The Befuddled Anthropologist shook his head and bounced on his heels a bit, thinking Deep Thoughts about the Nature of Trees in Bedrooms. "Um, Jim, did you notice anything out of the ordinary this morning?"
Being a bear.er.a detective with quite a lot of Brain, Jim rubbed his eyes with his paws and started looking about for Clues. "We're in a forest, Sandburg." He scratched his tummy, which had started to Rumble in a Hungry Manner. "Usually my visions are a little more blue-tinted."
Blair shook his head, bouncing more than ever. "I don't think this is a vision, Jim. For one thing, I'm wearing clothes. For another, Simon's here." Blair couldn't help himself. He bounced over to Simon, who was looking Grumpy, and said, "Hi, Simon! What are you doing in Jim's vision?"
With a shrug that settled all of his feathers back into place, Simon glared at the Bouncing Anthropologist and said, "Whoo-oo said this was Jim's vision? Will you stop bouncing, Sandburg! The rest of the team are just behind me." And sure enough, the rest of the detectives from Major Crimes, plus Daryl, were making their way through the trees. None of them looked particularly Happy to Be There.
"Chief, will you please stop bouncing for a minute? We need to figure out what's going on, and then find some Hunny. I'm getting hungry."
Blair turned back to look at his friend. "Jim. You're turning into a small Bear. Stop it." He tried to speak sternly, but found that all he really wanted to do was bounce at Megan. So he did.
"Stop that at once, Sandy." Megan was bouncing gently herself, but was trying to hide it. She had a vague feeling of something being missing, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her pockets were empty.
"Sorry, Megan. So here we all are. Together. In the woods." Bounce bounce bounce. "I have no clue what's going on." Blair was usually very good at Figuring Things Out, but found the need to bounce almost overwhelming and Not Conducive to Deep Thinking at all. So he gave up and bounced into the woods.
"Chief! Where are you going?" Jim called after Blair with some Concern, because Bad Things tended to Happen to Blair in the woods. "Simon, I have to go after him. You all try to figure out what's going on, and we'll meet back at Owl's.I mean Simon's.I mean.that big tree house over there." And he pointed to a big tree house Over There. Everyone agreed and Jim lumbered off into the woods after his Friend.
(((((()))))))((((((((())))))))((((((((()))))))))
"Hunny, Hunny, Hunny.Jimmy's lookin' funny.and his nose is kind'a runny.Hunny, hunny, hunny." Blair sang a little song as he bounced, looking for Jim's breakfast. It had become Very Important to him to find Jim some honey, though he couldn't really say why. The bounce was dissipating, too, leaving behind a sort of Tentative feeling the Further he went into the woods. Considering some of his past Adventures in the woods, it was perhaps not too surprising that he started to Jump at Shadows and not bounce at all.
Then there was the mystery of why the whole crew of Major Crimes was in this wood in the first place, and why Megan was slowly turning into a Kangaroo, and Joel a Rabbit, and didn't Cassie's ears look surprisingly Long? Visions and Animism were normal for Shamans and everything, but this was getting Ridiculous!
A Noise startled the No-Longer Bouncing Anthropologist and he froze behind a tree. It was not a normal Noise such as one would hear in the woods. Not like rabbits or squirrels, or any other Scurrying kind of Noise. Neither was it a tree-y kind of noise. It was a low, plaintive, howling Noise and it sent shivers up Blair's spine. For a long moment, he remained behind the safe and rather large tree and listened.
All was quiet. The Hunny Mission forgotten, Blair turned back the way he came and was trotting in that direction when the Noise came again. From Right In Front of him.
He froze. Thinking again about his past Adventures in the woods, Blair was in no hurry to move toward that sad, scary, hungry Noise until he was much Closer to Jim. He listened as the Noise came closer and now it was calling his name! "Saaaaaaandbuuuuurg!" Blair could feel his Heart racing. It chased his aorta around his esophagus and back again, down into his tummy to fight with the Butterflies there.
Closer now. Blair looked for a Convenient Hiding Place, and spied a hollow tree with great Relief. Mustering up one final Bounce, he landed in the tree trunk and tried to be Very Quiet Indeed.
Unfortunately, the tree did not want to be Very Quiet. It began to Buzz. Now, in Blair's long experience with woods, trees, and Anthropology in general, a Buzzing Tree was a Bad Thing when one was inside it. The Noise was scary; Bees were more scary, especially when Quite Vexed.
Hoping there was a pond nearby, Blair clambered out of the tree trailing an Angry Cloud behind him. He caught a glimpse of Jim's ursine face as he dashed past. "Saaaaandbuuuuuurg!" Jim called after him, and the Noise was suddenly not so scary anymore.
Fortunately for Blair, there was indeed a Pond, Conveniently Close to the beehive. He escaped the bees with only a few Owies, and Jim was able to Abscond with some Hunny while the Bees were Otherwise Occupied. Jim felt a bit guilty, Stealing from the bees like this, and decided not to report himself to Simon or IA, Just In Case. Soon, Jim and Blair were walking back to Owl's.er Simon's.er.that Tree House over there. Blair picked duckweed from his hair and looked down at his partner.
"Jim, why are you shorter than me?"
"You are obviously in denial, Chief."
Blair pondered this. Usually, it was Jim who was in Denial. Never mind what about, it seemed to be a natural state for his Sentinel. Now."What am I an denial about, Jim?"
"Your inner Piglet."
So Blair Pondered some more. What would it mean to embrace his inner Piglet? It might be frightening to be Quite a Small Animal, but he was, after all, Quite a Small Anthropologist especially next to Jim and Simon, who Loomed. He turned to Jim to Discuss Matters In Depth, then realized that he was walking next to a Bear of Very Little Brain who, in other realities, consorted with Jagulars. And in such cases, when you Think of Things, you sometimes find that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
And Blair realized at last that Jim was right. Abruptly, he felt quite Small and was looking up at Pooh again. He took his friend's hand and they reached the Tree House together. "You seem to have accepted your inner Winnie, Jim." He knocked on the door marked 'Trespassers Will' and waited for someone to open the door.
"Yes, well, I'm also fairly certain I'll wake up soon." Pooh smiled wryly and opened the door for Piglet.
"Saaaandbuuurg!" The Noise again! Piglet looked behind him as the door opened and felt a large Hand on his shoulder. He looked up.
.at Simon Banks. "Sandburg! Wake up! You're setting a bad example!" The Captain glared through his glasses as Blair straightened up in his chair and wiped the small trickle of drool from his chin. "What were you reading anyway?"
In Haste, Blair tucked the copy of "The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" into his backpack. "Um.er.It was a book of lectures on Yamamano Funeral Rituals. Pretty dry stuff."
"Really. Is that why you were singing a song about honey?"
Blair felt his face go white, then red. "I." gulp " I was?"
"Hunny hunny hunny.Jimmy's lookin' funny.and his nose is kind'a runny.hunny hunny hunny." Rafe sang softly behind him.
Blair gulped and looked over to his grinning partner. He sidled up behind him. "Jim!" he whispered.
"Yes, Chief?"
"Nothing," said Blair, not taking Jim's paw in front of All the Guys but thinking about it Real Hard. "I just wanted to be sure of you."
THE END
Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood By SiviB
Blair sat up, brushing dead leaves out of his hair, and blinked in the cool morning's light. "Funny," he commented to no one in particular, as this was who was present at the time, "I don't remember planting a forest in my bedroom. JIM!!!"
Moments later, a sleepy Sentinel came lumbering around quite a large tree and rubbed his eyes. "'Morning, Chief. Did you pick up any hunny at the store yesterday?"
"Honey? No, Jim, I didn't." The Befuddled Anthropologist shook his head and bounced on his heels a bit, thinking Deep Thoughts about the Nature of Trees in Bedrooms. "Um, Jim, did you notice anything out of the ordinary this morning?"
Being a bear.er.a detective with quite a lot of Brain, Jim rubbed his eyes with his paws and started looking about for Clues. "We're in a forest, Sandburg." He scratched his tummy, which had started to Rumble in a Hungry Manner. "Usually my visions are a little more blue-tinted."
Blair shook his head, bouncing more than ever. "I don't think this is a vision, Jim. For one thing, I'm wearing clothes. For another, Simon's here." Blair couldn't help himself. He bounced over to Simon, who was looking Grumpy, and said, "Hi, Simon! What are you doing in Jim's vision?"
With a shrug that settled all of his feathers back into place, Simon glared at the Bouncing Anthropologist and said, "Whoo-oo said this was Jim's vision? Will you stop bouncing, Sandburg! The rest of the team are just behind me." And sure enough, the rest of the detectives from Major Crimes, plus Daryl, were making their way through the trees. None of them looked particularly Happy to Be There.
"Chief, will you please stop bouncing for a minute? We need to figure out what's going on, and then find some Hunny. I'm getting hungry."
Blair turned back to look at his friend. "Jim. You're turning into a small Bear. Stop it." He tried to speak sternly, but found that all he really wanted to do was bounce at Megan. So he did.
"Stop that at once, Sandy." Megan was bouncing gently herself, but was trying to hide it. She had a vague feeling of something being missing, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her pockets were empty.
"Sorry, Megan. So here we all are. Together. In the woods." Bounce bounce bounce. "I have no clue what's going on." Blair was usually very good at Figuring Things Out, but found the need to bounce almost overwhelming and Not Conducive to Deep Thinking at all. So he gave up and bounced into the woods.
"Chief! Where are you going?" Jim called after Blair with some Concern, because Bad Things tended to Happen to Blair in the woods. "Simon, I have to go after him. You all try to figure out what's going on, and we'll meet back at Owl's.I mean Simon's.I mean.that big tree house over there." And he pointed to a big tree house Over There. Everyone agreed and Jim lumbered off into the woods after his Friend.
(((((()))))))((((((((())))))))((((((((()))))))))
"Hunny, Hunny, Hunny.Jimmy's lookin' funny.and his nose is kind'a runny.Hunny, hunny, hunny." Blair sang a little song as he bounced, looking for Jim's breakfast. It had become Very Important to him to find Jim some honey, though he couldn't really say why. The bounce was dissipating, too, leaving behind a sort of Tentative feeling the Further he went into the woods. Considering some of his past Adventures in the woods, it was perhaps not too surprising that he started to Jump at Shadows and not bounce at all.
Then there was the mystery of why the whole crew of Major Crimes was in this wood in the first place, and why Megan was slowly turning into a Kangaroo, and Joel a Rabbit, and didn't Cassie's ears look surprisingly Long? Visions and Animism were normal for Shamans and everything, but this was getting Ridiculous!
A Noise startled the No-Longer Bouncing Anthropologist and he froze behind a tree. It was not a normal Noise such as one would hear in the woods. Not like rabbits or squirrels, or any other Scurrying kind of Noise. Neither was it a tree-y kind of noise. It was a low, plaintive, howling Noise and it sent shivers up Blair's spine. For a long moment, he remained behind the safe and rather large tree and listened.
All was quiet. The Hunny Mission forgotten, Blair turned back the way he came and was trotting in that direction when the Noise came again. From Right In Front of him.
He froze. Thinking again about his past Adventures in the woods, Blair was in no hurry to move toward that sad, scary, hungry Noise until he was much Closer to Jim. He listened as the Noise came closer and now it was calling his name! "Saaaaaaandbuuuuurg!" Blair could feel his Heart racing. It chased his aorta around his esophagus and back again, down into his tummy to fight with the Butterflies there.
Closer now. Blair looked for a Convenient Hiding Place, and spied a hollow tree with great Relief. Mustering up one final Bounce, he landed in the tree trunk and tried to be Very Quiet Indeed.
Unfortunately, the tree did not want to be Very Quiet. It began to Buzz. Now, in Blair's long experience with woods, trees, and Anthropology in general, a Buzzing Tree was a Bad Thing when one was inside it. The Noise was scary; Bees were more scary, especially when Quite Vexed.
Hoping there was a pond nearby, Blair clambered out of the tree trailing an Angry Cloud behind him. He caught a glimpse of Jim's ursine face as he dashed past. "Saaaaandbuuuuuurg!" Jim called after him, and the Noise was suddenly not so scary anymore.
Fortunately for Blair, there was indeed a Pond, Conveniently Close to the beehive. He escaped the bees with only a few Owies, and Jim was able to Abscond with some Hunny while the Bees were Otherwise Occupied. Jim felt a bit guilty, Stealing from the bees like this, and decided not to report himself to Simon or IA, Just In Case. Soon, Jim and Blair were walking back to Owl's.er Simon's.er.that Tree House over there. Blair picked duckweed from his hair and looked down at his partner.
"Jim, why are you shorter than me?"
"You are obviously in denial, Chief."
Blair pondered this. Usually, it was Jim who was in Denial. Never mind what about, it seemed to be a natural state for his Sentinel. Now."What am I an denial about, Jim?"
"Your inner Piglet."
So Blair Pondered some more. What would it mean to embrace his inner Piglet? It might be frightening to be Quite a Small Animal, but he was, after all, Quite a Small Anthropologist especially next to Jim and Simon, who Loomed. He turned to Jim to Discuss Matters In Depth, then realized that he was walking next to a Bear of Very Little Brain who, in other realities, consorted with Jagulars. And in such cases, when you Think of Things, you sometimes find that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
And Blair realized at last that Jim was right. Abruptly, he felt quite Small and was looking up at Pooh again. He took his friend's hand and they reached the Tree House together. "You seem to have accepted your inner Winnie, Jim." He knocked on the door marked 'Trespassers Will' and waited for someone to open the door.
"Yes, well, I'm also fairly certain I'll wake up soon." Pooh smiled wryly and opened the door for Piglet.
"Saaaandbuuurg!" The Noise again! Piglet looked behind him as the door opened and felt a large Hand on his shoulder. He looked up.
.at Simon Banks. "Sandburg! Wake up! You're setting a bad example!" The Captain glared through his glasses as Blair straightened up in his chair and wiped the small trickle of drool from his chin. "What were you reading anyway?"
In Haste, Blair tucked the copy of "The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" into his backpack. "Um.er.It was a book of lectures on Yamamano Funeral Rituals. Pretty dry stuff."
"Really. Is that why you were singing a song about honey?"
Blair felt his face go white, then red. "I." gulp " I was?"
"Hunny hunny hunny.Jimmy's lookin' funny.and his nose is kind'a runny.hunny hunny hunny." Rafe sang softly behind him.
Blair gulped and looked over to his grinning partner. He sidled up behind him. "Jim!" he whispered.
"Yes, Chief?"
"Nothing," said Blair, not taking Jim's paw in front of All the Guys but thinking about it Real Hard. "I just wanted to be sure of you."
THE END