The Next Chapter- I think it's # 9-
And more happens
To all my fabulous, fabulous reviewers: I LOVE YOU! Espeshully Nyghtvision, for being so -cool-. Loved the anime pics. You all should ask her for a copy. It's great. But you won't know Janisha Silver til you read her fic, which you SHOULD, by all means. So after you read this, hop to it and go read. Meh.
So sorry it took me so long to update. Been busy. And all that jazz. Heeheehee. *hugs self in glee*
Pyro: thanks for the reviews! Yeah, you're right about Holly, I know, but I tried to cover it up by making it seem she was supposed to be that way. ^.^ I loved your story, by the way.
Holly wouldn't need permission, would she? After all, the original invite still stands. And they wouldn't have nixed it, either, in case of Fowl emergency. Heheh. At least to my way of thinking. Which, admittedly, is not to be trusted.
This is a severely mind wrenching chapter right here. I fought with writers block all the way. Bear with me here, though, at least i tried.
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As soon as they neared the shuttle port, Trouble ran out toward the gate entrance and demanded to see whoever's in charge immediately.
The gnome on duty looked down his nose at the fairy and told him that that was who he was addressing.
Much to Trouble's dismay, he was dealing with a certain "Commandant Terryl," whom the entire LEP force knew and loved dreaming of killing or inflicting serious and painful harm.
They need to put something in the training manual about this, Trouble thought angrily as he attempted to explain that he was about to bring in several Mud Men.
Oh, the rues of a commandant's life. Especially on the bad end of a buzz baton after being particularly snide and prissy.
Trouble straightened up, looking down harshly at the once cocky official. Terryl laid on the floor until the captain was well out of sight, then tried to convince the Complaints Department that it was an unreasonable attack and he didn't deserve it. After listening to 12 minutes straight of full out laughter, Terryl hung up and took an early lunch break.
But what he did on that break involved Mud Music including Shakira and Britney Spears, so I will graciously edit it out and continue with Trouble.
Trouble ran up several flights of stairs to the control panel, grabbing a microphone and switching it on. In his best important person voice, he began detailing how everyone needed to evacuate the building.
A few fairies blinked, but otherwise ignored him.
"WE JUST DISCOVERED A BOMB! IN ORDER TO NEUTRALIZE IT, WE NEED EVERYBODY OUT!" Trouble screamed, to no apparent affect.
He had anticipated this. On to plan b, then. Trouble smiled wickedly. "Excuse me, excuse me, may I have your attention please." He half expected everyone to say no, but they couldn't be bothered. "Well, too bad for you then, because there is a mad female troll coming and you need to escape now, before she gets here!"
These People could be from New York, thought Trouble, and pay more attention. Oh well. Here goes – well, most likely something. "OH NO! HERE SHE IS!"
Butler strode in, calmly, amid shrieks and screams of horror from Trouble. For a moment everything was still. Then Butler went up to a maintenance fairy and asked the time in a perfectly civilized manner.
Then all hell broke loose. The fairy he had asked gave a squeal and ran away, sparking reactions from others, who followed suit. All this resulted in a lot of noise and a crowded exit door.
A control squad showed up. For all of two seconds. One terrified look, one terrified yelp, and an even more crowded exit door later, they were nowhere to be found. Trouble spat in disgust. Must be the sprite squad.
Eventually the door was clear. Holly came in first, directing Mulch and Juliet, who were carrying the pine box containing R'hal. Artemis and Opal followed. Opal had managed to get Artemis to carry her, in a motherly sort of way. Surprisingly enough, Artemis didn't mind that much. Holly didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but she almost thought that Artemis enjoyed having the pixie around. He looked after her like she had looked after her father when he was still around.
"Well, we have plenty of shuttles to pick from," Mulch said, dropping his end of the box and scratching his head. Juliet laid her end down as well and agreed. Holly said nothing, but strolled around casually, looking at different shuttles. Trouble glanced at the arrival time monitor and winced.
"We only have about twenty minutes to get out of here before the next shuttle gets in. And so-" he glanced at Holly- "We had better hurry."
Mulch nodded vigorously. "No time to be choosy, captain. Just pick anything and lets go."
Holly selected a particularly sleek looking model, and led them to the boarding corridor. "Hop in, then. I hope my rushed decision won't result in civilian deaths."
Trouble looked at her. She was acting a lot like- what was his name?- Pegreen? Yeah, him. She was acting a lot like the only other fairy to be mindwiped that he knew of. Pegreen. Poor Pegreen. Mindwiped for a particularly messy encounter with humans. He had been clumsy and forgetful for a long time, strangely obsessed with citrus, and then just when he started to get better, got worse for about a week. During which time he lost his job, landed himself in prison and devoted himself to writing children's novels and picture books. Which, though the books sold well, was a sad fate for a once prestigious member of society. Whether he ever fully regained sanity permanently was debatable. But then again, whether he ever was fully sane was debatable. Then again, he was a male. And a sprite to boot. Sprites are not known for their incredible healing abilities. And even though Holly was a female and an elf, Trouble was still concerned. Fairies, apparently, did not take kindly to mindwipes.
Trouble shook himself. He had been worried about her more and more frequently.
Opal cooed with delight upon entering the shuttle. Though the craft was standard LEP, it had an interior like no other normal LEP ship. Very spacious and comfortable. She and Artemis seated themselves on a large seat and a half chair. She perched on his knee much like a ventriloquist's doll. Butler sat a bit farther away, eying them curiously. It was odd to see Artemis care like this. Some form of pity. Possibly from the stress he'd been under. Not too overly surprising, really. It would be good for the boy to learn. He suppressed a smile. He cared for her much like Butler had once cared for a certain goldfish he had owned when he was younger...
Mulch dragged the box into the shuttle, plopped it onto a seat and promptly sat on it with very little ceremony. He stared impressively around as though waiting for the world to congratulate him. If the world had cared, they would have, but since they didn't, he didn't hear much.
Juliet had called shotgun, and slid into the passenger seat with relish. And Artemis thought the Bentley offered comfort and a good ride. She gave a short laugh. This was comfort. She slid the vid screen down, and turned it to gnomish wrestling. Trouble scooted in next to her, and they watched in hysterical laughter.
Holly piled into the shuttle last. After this, she thought, she really ought to take a vacation. Atlantis, perhaps. Maybe even Disneyland Paris. She shook her head. Too crowded, she'd run into too many people she knew. The Orient, maybe. Relaxing, peaceful and quiet under Japan. That would do it.
If Root had mysteriously appeared and joined them on the ship, he would have been very frightened. One of his finest captains was laughing himself to tears with a Mud Girl, Artemis least favorite Mud Boy was giving his second least favorite criminal a belly rub (and Opal herself was purring like a kitten), Butler still had not had the chance to change out of his troll costume and Convict was perched on a pine box helping himself to the finest caviar underground. Then there was Holly, who was staring dreamily at the controls of the shuttle like a teen about to drive for the first time.
Root would have been speechless and thoroughly offended for about a minute, but then would have shrugged and sat down. After all, they all hadn't slept in over 72 hours, and the circumstances under which they had not slept through were clearly very taxing. One must forgive certain situations, even if one was not there to observe them as one is pretended to be for sake of example.
(A/N: if anyone cannot understand that, I am very sorry. That whole chapter is not to my pleasing at all) ================================================================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================================================================
The trip was fairly uneventful. They came off the shuttle in desired location, were then transported to their next desired location.
-Dun dun duuuun-
Root's office.
It was a tired and motley crew that assembled there, with much feet shuffling and even more yawns and groans. Stiff, tired and near beaten, it was true. But did they mind? No sir. None of their own afflictions were on their poor bedraggled minds. Not when they saw what awful shape R'hal was in when he was removed from the box.
Apparently water had gotten into the box (they all looked at Mulch, but Mulch denied it all) and discolored his face, turning it pruney and oddly pink. The rest of him had been trying to absorb water, succeeding only in vacuuming up styrofoam packing peanuts, giving him an oddly lumpy look and squishy feel. Not entirely pleasant. And the less said about the smell, the better.
Root looked him up and down, snorted, and ordered him to be cleaned and relocated to a human prison. Several reluctant looking fairies stepped up to do so.
Opal, though, was a different case. Artemis had braided her hair (under close inspection and instruction from herself) and she looked very nice. They were sitting together, she curled up in his lap in an almost puppy- like or kittenish way.
Butler and Root held conference for a short time, and after a short amount of hushed whispers, Butler straightened up and moved back to his previous location behind Artemis' chair. Nothing more was said of her, and they moved on to Holly.
Holly requested that she take a vacation; she decided to take a trip to under Florida, where there would be plenty of oranges and she could actually rest for as long as she would need. Never having taken a day off in her career, she naturally had a very long time to spend. And anyway, the Council would have paid her to take a while off anyway.
Root allowed this; he didn't think it would be a problem. Trouble said he would graciously accompany her; Root consented; she would be best off under supervision anyway.
Then they got around to Mulch. Ah, yes, they got to Mulch. It was decided that he would be given a job with the LEP; he would be stationed at a Mud Prison to keep an eye on his cousin.
At this Mulch protested.
"What? You can't do that! I have rights! You can't do this! I'm not guilty of anything- I've been cleared of all charges! No! I'll sue!"
Root grinned. "Go ahead. See if it gets you anywhere. I'm sure that you've done something illegal lately- let me see." He flipped open a file folder labeled "CONVICT" in large red letters. "Well, now, I seem to have found something. Unless you doubt the liability of alerting dangerous Mud Men to our presence?"
Mulch blanched. "Well- I-"
"Didn't think so." Root finished triumphantly, flipping to another page in the same folder. "Now, the appropriate punishment is loss of powers and probation. But there is a small snag there- both are already applied in your case. This standardly means mindwipes all around and a trip to Howler's Peak, high security and no single cells. For at least half your life- if you live long enough, with all the goblin generals."
Mulch turned yet a paler shade of pale white. Think polar bears having a snowball fight in a blizzard.
"But your other alternative is a respectable job with the LEP, living in a civilized manner aboveground in one of Ireland's finest jails, not as a criminal, but as a councilor for wayward midgets. Now, you could agree to the terms, or you could put up a fight and be doing it for free. Or you could take the Howler's Peak option. And believe you me, we aren't looking forward to wasting money on a funeral. And we all know dwarves don't cremate well."
If any more blood had drained from Mulch's face, it would have deflated. They had tried to cremate his uncle, who had died in one of their less prosperous years. Cremation was cheap, but correcting the "mistake" was a more expensive procedure.
There are reasons why dwarves are afraid of fire. It is similar to the reason they fear ice.
Mulch gulped, nodded, and quietly went to pass out in a corner.
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Not too long, but i cannot stretch this more than 6 pages. Help! Please review! I am now in the phase where i want to finish the story but -don't- know- how- gah! *collapses in corner* i know that all the characters are OOC, but there is nothing i can do about it. I'm really sorry. I just don't think i can handle doing any more to the chapter. No flames, please, just phrase them politely.
And more happens
To all my fabulous, fabulous reviewers: I LOVE YOU! Espeshully Nyghtvision, for being so -cool-. Loved the anime pics. You all should ask her for a copy. It's great. But you won't know Janisha Silver til you read her fic, which you SHOULD, by all means. So after you read this, hop to it and go read. Meh.
So sorry it took me so long to update. Been busy. And all that jazz. Heeheehee. *hugs self in glee*
Pyro: thanks for the reviews! Yeah, you're right about Holly, I know, but I tried to cover it up by making it seem she was supposed to be that way. ^.^ I loved your story, by the way.
Holly wouldn't need permission, would she? After all, the original invite still stands. And they wouldn't have nixed it, either, in case of Fowl emergency. Heheh. At least to my way of thinking. Which, admittedly, is not to be trusted.
This is a severely mind wrenching chapter right here. I fought with writers block all the way. Bear with me here, though, at least i tried.
===================================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
===================================================
As soon as they neared the shuttle port, Trouble ran out toward the gate entrance and demanded to see whoever's in charge immediately.
The gnome on duty looked down his nose at the fairy and told him that that was who he was addressing.
Much to Trouble's dismay, he was dealing with a certain "Commandant Terryl," whom the entire LEP force knew and loved dreaming of killing or inflicting serious and painful harm.
They need to put something in the training manual about this, Trouble thought angrily as he attempted to explain that he was about to bring in several Mud Men.
Oh, the rues of a commandant's life. Especially on the bad end of a buzz baton after being particularly snide and prissy.
Trouble straightened up, looking down harshly at the once cocky official. Terryl laid on the floor until the captain was well out of sight, then tried to convince the Complaints Department that it was an unreasonable attack and he didn't deserve it. After listening to 12 minutes straight of full out laughter, Terryl hung up and took an early lunch break.
But what he did on that break involved Mud Music including Shakira and Britney Spears, so I will graciously edit it out and continue with Trouble.
Trouble ran up several flights of stairs to the control panel, grabbing a microphone and switching it on. In his best important person voice, he began detailing how everyone needed to evacuate the building.
A few fairies blinked, but otherwise ignored him.
"WE JUST DISCOVERED A BOMB! IN ORDER TO NEUTRALIZE IT, WE NEED EVERYBODY OUT!" Trouble screamed, to no apparent affect.
He had anticipated this. On to plan b, then. Trouble smiled wickedly. "Excuse me, excuse me, may I have your attention please." He half expected everyone to say no, but they couldn't be bothered. "Well, too bad for you then, because there is a mad female troll coming and you need to escape now, before she gets here!"
These People could be from New York, thought Trouble, and pay more attention. Oh well. Here goes – well, most likely something. "OH NO! HERE SHE IS!"
Butler strode in, calmly, amid shrieks and screams of horror from Trouble. For a moment everything was still. Then Butler went up to a maintenance fairy and asked the time in a perfectly civilized manner.
Then all hell broke loose. The fairy he had asked gave a squeal and ran away, sparking reactions from others, who followed suit. All this resulted in a lot of noise and a crowded exit door.
A control squad showed up. For all of two seconds. One terrified look, one terrified yelp, and an even more crowded exit door later, they were nowhere to be found. Trouble spat in disgust. Must be the sprite squad.
Eventually the door was clear. Holly came in first, directing Mulch and Juliet, who were carrying the pine box containing R'hal. Artemis and Opal followed. Opal had managed to get Artemis to carry her, in a motherly sort of way. Surprisingly enough, Artemis didn't mind that much. Holly didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but she almost thought that Artemis enjoyed having the pixie around. He looked after her like she had looked after her father when he was still around.
"Well, we have plenty of shuttles to pick from," Mulch said, dropping his end of the box and scratching his head. Juliet laid her end down as well and agreed. Holly said nothing, but strolled around casually, looking at different shuttles. Trouble glanced at the arrival time monitor and winced.
"We only have about twenty minutes to get out of here before the next shuttle gets in. And so-" he glanced at Holly- "We had better hurry."
Mulch nodded vigorously. "No time to be choosy, captain. Just pick anything and lets go."
Holly selected a particularly sleek looking model, and led them to the boarding corridor. "Hop in, then. I hope my rushed decision won't result in civilian deaths."
Trouble looked at her. She was acting a lot like- what was his name?- Pegreen? Yeah, him. She was acting a lot like the only other fairy to be mindwiped that he knew of. Pegreen. Poor Pegreen. Mindwiped for a particularly messy encounter with humans. He had been clumsy and forgetful for a long time, strangely obsessed with citrus, and then just when he started to get better, got worse for about a week. During which time he lost his job, landed himself in prison and devoted himself to writing children's novels and picture books. Which, though the books sold well, was a sad fate for a once prestigious member of society. Whether he ever fully regained sanity permanently was debatable. But then again, whether he ever was fully sane was debatable. Then again, he was a male. And a sprite to boot. Sprites are not known for their incredible healing abilities. And even though Holly was a female and an elf, Trouble was still concerned. Fairies, apparently, did not take kindly to mindwipes.
Trouble shook himself. He had been worried about her more and more frequently.
Opal cooed with delight upon entering the shuttle. Though the craft was standard LEP, it had an interior like no other normal LEP ship. Very spacious and comfortable. She and Artemis seated themselves on a large seat and a half chair. She perched on his knee much like a ventriloquist's doll. Butler sat a bit farther away, eying them curiously. It was odd to see Artemis care like this. Some form of pity. Possibly from the stress he'd been under. Not too overly surprising, really. It would be good for the boy to learn. He suppressed a smile. He cared for her much like Butler had once cared for a certain goldfish he had owned when he was younger...
Mulch dragged the box into the shuttle, plopped it onto a seat and promptly sat on it with very little ceremony. He stared impressively around as though waiting for the world to congratulate him. If the world had cared, they would have, but since they didn't, he didn't hear much.
Juliet had called shotgun, and slid into the passenger seat with relish. And Artemis thought the Bentley offered comfort and a good ride. She gave a short laugh. This was comfort. She slid the vid screen down, and turned it to gnomish wrestling. Trouble scooted in next to her, and they watched in hysterical laughter.
Holly piled into the shuttle last. After this, she thought, she really ought to take a vacation. Atlantis, perhaps. Maybe even Disneyland Paris. She shook her head. Too crowded, she'd run into too many people she knew. The Orient, maybe. Relaxing, peaceful and quiet under Japan. That would do it.
If Root had mysteriously appeared and joined them on the ship, he would have been very frightened. One of his finest captains was laughing himself to tears with a Mud Girl, Artemis least favorite Mud Boy was giving his second least favorite criminal a belly rub (and Opal herself was purring like a kitten), Butler still had not had the chance to change out of his troll costume and Convict was perched on a pine box helping himself to the finest caviar underground. Then there was Holly, who was staring dreamily at the controls of the shuttle like a teen about to drive for the first time.
Root would have been speechless and thoroughly offended for about a minute, but then would have shrugged and sat down. After all, they all hadn't slept in over 72 hours, and the circumstances under which they had not slept through were clearly very taxing. One must forgive certain situations, even if one was not there to observe them as one is pretended to be for sake of example.
(A/N: if anyone cannot understand that, I am very sorry. That whole chapter is not to my pleasing at all) ================================================================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================================================================
The trip was fairly uneventful. They came off the shuttle in desired location, were then transported to their next desired location.
-Dun dun duuuun-
Root's office.
It was a tired and motley crew that assembled there, with much feet shuffling and even more yawns and groans. Stiff, tired and near beaten, it was true. But did they mind? No sir. None of their own afflictions were on their poor bedraggled minds. Not when they saw what awful shape R'hal was in when he was removed from the box.
Apparently water had gotten into the box (they all looked at Mulch, but Mulch denied it all) and discolored his face, turning it pruney and oddly pink. The rest of him had been trying to absorb water, succeeding only in vacuuming up styrofoam packing peanuts, giving him an oddly lumpy look and squishy feel. Not entirely pleasant. And the less said about the smell, the better.
Root looked him up and down, snorted, and ordered him to be cleaned and relocated to a human prison. Several reluctant looking fairies stepped up to do so.
Opal, though, was a different case. Artemis had braided her hair (under close inspection and instruction from herself) and she looked very nice. They were sitting together, she curled up in his lap in an almost puppy- like or kittenish way.
Butler and Root held conference for a short time, and after a short amount of hushed whispers, Butler straightened up and moved back to his previous location behind Artemis' chair. Nothing more was said of her, and they moved on to Holly.
Holly requested that she take a vacation; she decided to take a trip to under Florida, where there would be plenty of oranges and she could actually rest for as long as she would need. Never having taken a day off in her career, she naturally had a very long time to spend. And anyway, the Council would have paid her to take a while off anyway.
Root allowed this; he didn't think it would be a problem. Trouble said he would graciously accompany her; Root consented; she would be best off under supervision anyway.
Then they got around to Mulch. Ah, yes, they got to Mulch. It was decided that he would be given a job with the LEP; he would be stationed at a Mud Prison to keep an eye on his cousin.
At this Mulch protested.
"What? You can't do that! I have rights! You can't do this! I'm not guilty of anything- I've been cleared of all charges! No! I'll sue!"
Root grinned. "Go ahead. See if it gets you anywhere. I'm sure that you've done something illegal lately- let me see." He flipped open a file folder labeled "CONVICT" in large red letters. "Well, now, I seem to have found something. Unless you doubt the liability of alerting dangerous Mud Men to our presence?"
Mulch blanched. "Well- I-"
"Didn't think so." Root finished triumphantly, flipping to another page in the same folder. "Now, the appropriate punishment is loss of powers and probation. But there is a small snag there- both are already applied in your case. This standardly means mindwipes all around and a trip to Howler's Peak, high security and no single cells. For at least half your life- if you live long enough, with all the goblin generals."
Mulch turned yet a paler shade of pale white. Think polar bears having a snowball fight in a blizzard.
"But your other alternative is a respectable job with the LEP, living in a civilized manner aboveground in one of Ireland's finest jails, not as a criminal, but as a councilor for wayward midgets. Now, you could agree to the terms, or you could put up a fight and be doing it for free. Or you could take the Howler's Peak option. And believe you me, we aren't looking forward to wasting money on a funeral. And we all know dwarves don't cremate well."
If any more blood had drained from Mulch's face, it would have deflated. They had tried to cremate his uncle, who had died in one of their less prosperous years. Cremation was cheap, but correcting the "mistake" was a more expensive procedure.
There are reasons why dwarves are afraid of fire. It is similar to the reason they fear ice.
Mulch gulped, nodded, and quietly went to pass out in a corner.
================================================================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================================================================
Not too long, but i cannot stretch this more than 6 pages. Help! Please review! I am now in the phase where i want to finish the story but -don't- know- how- gah! *collapses in corner* i know that all the characters are OOC, but there is nothing i can do about it. I'm really sorry. I just don't think i can handle doing any more to the chapter. No flames, please, just phrase them politely.
