No author's Note this week, too lazy.
Holly, or shall we say, Juliet, strolled along the corridor of the Capulet estate, obediently following the Nurse's call of "Juliet!"
She walked in, seeing a lady in red talking to the Nurse.
"What?" Holly blatantly said.
"Excuse me," said the lady in red, "is that a way to talk to your mother?"
Holly started to say, "You're not my mother," but held it back, holding her head down in fake apology.
Lady Capulet proclaimed, "Nurse, Juliet and I must talk alone. Then, after a while, you may come back, since you know her age."
The Nurse replied, "Of course I do."
"She's not fourteen," Holly's "mother" replied.
"No, she is not now, but she will be soon. How long until the next holiday?"
"About a fortnight."
"At that night she will be fourteen. On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen…" the Nurse went on talking, and Holly started to not pay attention. The Nurse kept talking and talking, and Holly realized in this world she was thirteen, which was surprising. In her world she was around 85, and if she was a thirteen year old elf she would still be in elementary school, the fairies' version of it anyway.
"Will you not, Juliet?" the Nurse finished.
"Ok…" upon hearing her new name, Holly replied with the blandest answer.
"I really hope to see you married, Juliet."
"Do you want to be married?" her mother asked.
Marriage, Holly thought, at thirteen, D'arvit! She spoke, "No, thanks! The honor of being married is for older people." Little did Holly know, what she spoke was close to her line. Man, am I gonna kill Foaly…
"You speak with much wisdom."
Holly grimaced at the remark. Lady Capulet, however, persisted. "Many women younger than you have already tied the knot. Paris, who wishes to court you, is the one you must marry."
Paris is probably some old dude who's twice my age, Holly thought, shuddering.
"Paris is a wonderful man, perfect for you too."
"So, what do you say? Can you love Paris? Tonight he will be here, and learn to love him as he hath loved you. The love you two will bring will help Verona, but only if you learn to love him," Lady Capulet said.
"She will learn to love, and like the love she recieves."
What was that supposed to mean?
"Can you like Paris's love?"
"If he's close in age and cute in looks, fine," Holly said, lying through her teeth. Hopefully he'll have a decent personality too…or maybe…I can get out of this hellhole where there's dresses and arranged marriages. Sure, the fairies had their occasional arranged marriage, but that was out in the suburbs and farms, not in the cities where Holly was born and grew up in.
Someone wearing a hideous orange outfit walked in, bowing to Lady Capulet. "Madam, everyone has arrived. Please follow me to the party."
"Alright," Lady Capulet stated as the servant walked out, "Juliet, you will like Paris's love and learn to love him."
"Yes, yes," the Nurse said, following Lady Capulet.
The two left Holly standing there in shock. Marriage? At thirteen? To Paris, who sounds like an old guy with a beard? The horror! Speaking of horrible people, where was Artemis, who wasn't that horrible, but… And why do these names sound so familiar? A childhood story, perhaps? A play, a movie, someone or something Mud Man? Where was she? Exasperated at Foaly, Holly followed the only people in this time she knew the names to.
Artemis, as he walked through the streets of Verona, noticed several things about the time period, being the genius he was. His clothes included a blue cape, matching puffed-up blue shirt, and- to his absolute horror- tight blue pants. Since he was a genius, it was startling that he did not try to figure out the time period before. The streets were cobblestone, people rode horses or were drawn in primitive carriages, and the streets were lined with pushcarts with people selling goods and produce. He had been following Benvolio from a distance, and remembered that he would have to get home to go to the Capulet's party, and since he did not know where home was, he would have to find out. Artemis was happy though, since he could memorize an entire play. The only odd thing though, was that they talked similarly to today's terms. How could that many historians be wrong?
"Hello, Benvolio" Artemis greeted.
"Hello," replied Benvolio.
"Give me a torch,-- it is too dark," Artemis said.
"We all must dance with someone tonight, especially you, Romeo," Mercutio, a friend of the Prince said.
"I dance like I have two left feet," Artemis replied truthfully.
"You are in love, borrow Cupid's wings, and you will fly," Mercutio replied.
Well, at least their analogies are still the same. "His arrow hurt me too much."
"You can still fly on love's tender wings."
"Is love a tender thing? It is too hurtful."
"Love can be both tender and rough-- Here, look at my mask," Mercutio said as he put on a blue and green mask.
"Come on, lets go," Benvolio said.
"If you must insist," Artemis stated.
"Come on, its getting dark, and soon if our torches burn out we will not be able to find our way," Mercutio declared.
"That's not true."
"We're spending too much time arguing when we could have been there by now, that's what I mean."
"I suppose, but you two have yet to wear your masks. Why wont you?"
"I don't know."
"Well, put them on."
"Alright." Simultaneously Benvolio and Artemis put on their masks. Benvolio's was different shades of green, and Artemis's had different shades of blue. He could barely see through the opening.
Mercutio said, "Romeo, you seem so melancholy."
"Why do you ask?"
"I had a dream," Mercutio said.
"Wow," Artemis replied sarcastically, "So did I."
"Well, what was yours?"
"That dreamers' dreams speak no truths."
"But what they tell you about their dream is true."
Mercutio started to rant about someone Artemis recognized from mythology, Queen Mab, a fairy who caused dreams. It was very boring, and after five minutes of it, the boy genius and Benvolio's obvious boredom slowed him down, but he kept talking. Artemis, as always the boy genius, would have listened, but he already knew about it, so why would he listen?
"Ok, Mercutio, whatever. All this is a myth anyway," Artemis said with a bored tone. But he was bored, after all who wouldn't be after that speech? But he had used slang when he talked. Artemis, who tried to always sound like the great intellect he was, used whatever. He shuddered.
"Yes, I do talk of dreams and myths. Even though there is no proof of them being true, they still provide laughter and recollection about certain topics we would ne'er think about now."
"Mercutio, you need to stop talking. Now we're even more late to the party," Benvolio interrupted.
"Come on, let's go" Artemis declared.
"Yes, yes," Benvolio said.
The three young men walked through the cobbled streets towards the Capulet estate, Artemis silently congratulating himself for interpreting his lines. During his unneeded confidence boost, he realized that the party scene was next. He would have to make a girl fall in love with him, which to the thirteen year old was terrifying, especially since he had to act like he loved someone in return. He had never really thought about women, or love, and now in the next couple of hours, he would have to experience it for himself. But still, who was Juliet? And where was Holly?
Operations Booth, present time, about three hours after the switch
"Foaly!" someone screeched.
"What, Julius?" replied the witty centaur.
"Where the D'arvit are they?"
"I dunno."
"Yes you do, pony boy! Tell me now!" Commander Root walking into the room, his face his trademark color.
"But I don't know!" Foaly said innocently.
"If you don't tell me now I'll shove your computer - -" Root threatened.
"Now, now don't need to be like that, Julius," Foaly said smarmily. Of course he knew where Artemis and Holly were, he didn't know what year they were in though. Or whether they had taken over two people's identities or just appeared out of nowhere. They were in Verona, Italy, and that was all he knew. And since Foaly was an unappreciated genius who supposedly knew everything, he might as well keep his status.
"Tell me the D'arviting truth NOW!"
Foaly watched as Root took out his Neutrino 2001 and pointed it to the centaur. "I don't know!" he said exasperatedly.
"Really?" Root questioned as he turned the weaponry on.
When Root pulled the Neutrino to Foaly's head, Foaly admitted, "I know where they are but not when." Typical for Julius to use something I cant against me, the centaur thought.
"I thought you were a genius, Foaly, you're supposed to know these things!"
"Sorry, Julius."
"Don't call me Julius!" Commander Root roared, storming out of the room while Foaly added, "Well, it is your given name."
"Temper, temper," Foaly tisked. He had to admit though, he was worried about Artemis and Holly. Why didn't he know? Why wasn't the iris cam showing up on his screen? He had tested it before with a bug he had shoved into that machine, and it had worked. Ugh, he hated putting himself down. Time to go get some carrots. And some beetle juice. Make that a couple cartons of carrots, cans of beetle juice, a petition to get a raise, a better budget. He could use this incident to get a better budget. He could say that the lack of money caused this whole thing.
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