A/N: Like I mentioned earlier, greater than/less than symbols don't seem to work, so to keep things simple I used +/- in place of them for dealing with the tree modus. But on to the story, yes?
A young lady with short blonde hair stood in her room wearing a t-shirt with an evil looking lavender squiddle on it and a skirt.
Due to a violent storm, her house had just lost power, along with her wireless internet connection. This had severed her link to a popular video game she was playing with a young man at a critical moment. That young man was relying on this young lady to reestablish a connection somehow. This young lady named…
Named…
It's on the tip of my tongue. What was the name of this young lady again?
Flighty Broad? No, that wasn't it!
Let's see, one more time…Rose LaLonde? Yes, that was it!
Her name was Rose. As was previously mentioned, she was without electricity, although her laptop computer was still functioning on battery power.
She had a variety of interests. She had a passion for rather obscure literature, many books of which could be found on her tall bookshelf. She also enjoyed creative writing, but was somewhat secretive about it.
She had a fondness for the bestially strange and fictitious, as evidenced by the posters hanging above her bed, and sometimes dabbled in psychoanalysis.
She also liked to knit, and her room was a bit of a mess as many of her knittings lay scattered about the floor. And on occasion, if just the right one struck her fancy, she liked to play video games with her friends.
The thought of retrieving her arms from the purple box in the corner of her bedroom crossed her mind, but the purple package's contents were private! No one was allowed to look inside, and she pushed it into a cabinet.
Her writing journals, which lay on the floor beside her bed, were also for her eyes only. She quickly kicked them under the bed.
Rose walked back to the cabinet where she had hidden her box and took her violin which was sitting atop it. She captchalogued it, sorting it in the root card of her sylladex.
Then she wasted approximately 40 seconds playing the violin while her friend was in peril.
Still locked in his room, John walked over to one of his movie posters to tell Liv Tyler he loved her before impact.
Since his good for nothing friend was obviously not going to bail him out in time, he issued words of parting fondness to dear, sweet Liv. Oh, if only Affleck could have been the one to make the final sacrifice instead of her stubborn, blue collar, salt-of-the-earth father. Then she would fall into John's arms for consolation, and he would be the one to make the deceased Bruce Willis proud.
Rose captchalogued her knitting supply bag, which had been sitting on her bed. It occupied the leaf card under the violin, per the Tree Modus's alphabetical sorting method.
K- V.
Looking out her panoramic window offered Rose a view of the thunderstorm that raged outside and her yard below, with the mini mausoleum housing her dead cat, Jaspers, who died when she was young. Her mom had the structure erected with a spirit of scornful irony in response to Rose's youthfully innocent request to hold a funeral for the animal. At least, that is how she had come to interpret the gesture in retrospect.
She could also make out the silhouette of the laboratory next door, a facility which likely broadcasted a strong wireless internet signal. She may be able to connect to the signal from a different part of the house. Perhaps if she sought higher ground?
Rose captchalogued her laptop and prepared to make the journey through the house.
L- V. L+ K.
This caused the tree to be unbalanced, so her sylladex auto-balanced itself. Now the laptop occupied the root card, while the other two items comprised the leaves.
K- L. V+ L.
She then picked up the large book that had been on her desk, the Grimoire for Summoning the Zoologically Dubious. This book was absolutely indispensable for enthusiasts of her ilk. Of which there were very few.
She placed it in her sylladex. G+ L, G- K.
Stepping out into the hall, she looked to her left.
Hanging just next to her door in the hallway was a painting of an exquisite wizard. Her mother collected these awful things ironically. She must have known how much Rose detested them, and there was no doubt in her mind Mom stored these dreadful things in the house to bother her.
Down the hall and to the right was the way to the observatory. Perhaps she would be able to connect up there.
Her mother's room was also that way. She would have to watch her step.
Rose tiptoed toward the observatory and approached a juncture in the hallway. Beyond the juncture was the observatory.
She edged cautiously to the juncture, on the lookout for her mom who was undoubtedly lurking nearby.
She made a stealthy jump to the other side and continued on her way through the dark hall.
Soon she stood in front of the door that led to her destination. She hadn't ventured up there in quite some time.
The door opened to an exterior walkway, leading to the tower's entrance.
Rain hammered down on Rose from above, instantly soaking her. She had seen less inclement weather before.
'Oh, the things I'll do to help out a friend.' She thought to herself.
She hurried inside and up the steps, entering the observatory – empty except for the great telescope pointed skyward.
First, Rose put her laptop down on the floor to get it situated, but removing it from the root card caused all the branches and leaves to be severed! All her items were dumped unceremoniously on the floor.
She decided she may as well see what she could observe while she was up here.
She was in a hurry, sure, but that didn't mean she couldn't take a moment to peek through the huge telescope.
Looking through, she found a gap in the clouds. It seemed a flurry of smaller meteorites was streaking steadily overheard. She wasn't sure what this meant, but it was somewhat disconcerting.
Turning back to her scattered items, Rose stacked her laptop on the Grimoire for maximized elevation, and sat down in front of it on the floor.
She needed every advantage she could get.
Now it was time to access the laboratory wifi network.
There were several signals being broadcasted from the laboratory, each of relatively decent strength. One of them was mysteriously and quite conveniently unsecured, requiring no password.
She selected the signal and reconnected the game with John.