Shebad

They say that when the people stopped worshiping the great god, he tore a gap into the fabric of destiny and cast it away in anger.
He knew that this void would bring an end to the entirety of the world and the people.
But his daughter, Akane, pitied the human race and tried to save them. She collected the few fallen threads of destiny she could find and tried to mend the gap.
But the threads were frayed and entangled. Woven between eachother.
Connected. Fused.
They would never be quite the same.
And the void of nothingness was only restricted by a handful of threads.
A handful of lives.

There were five.

The Girl Without A Voice

Linn stared blankly at the far wall of the cave, seeing. Oh gods, she couldn't stop seeing. Possibilities. Hundreds of them. Futures. The good and the bad. Something strange was happening to her thread.
Of course, her thread had always been a bit weird, frayed and stretched and generally in bad shape.
But now.... this was something new.
It was separating from all the rest of the threads. With each passing day it pulled away from the others.
Her forehead scrunched in regret as she watched her destiny retreat from child hood friends and family. Acquaintances. Anyone she knew.
Her thread stretched, alone and in a rigid straight line over a vast expanse of... nothing.
The same nothing that threads frayed into at the end of lives.
It was like traveling through death.
And then along the way two more threads suddenly danced into hers. Both were as frayed and battered as hers. And as alone. Together they wound towards...
Something.
She stretched her sight but she couldn't see any further. That was the edge of her vision.
She backtracked towards the two phantom threads, reaching for any information. There was hardly anything. An angry girl. A perceptive boy.
She paused, looking closer at the boy's thread.
It felt.... familiar somehow, as if she had seen it before.
She couldn't place it though. And his face didn't seem familiar.
Just his thread. His soul signature.
Sighing at this riddle she pulled back even further, searching the path of her own thread yet again for a fork, an alternate route.
But she knew she wouldn't find one.
This path had an absoluteness to it.

She was going on her journey through death.
And there was nothing she could do about it.

Ho ho. A new story. Bet that caught YOU off guard.
If YOU actually applies to anyone anymore.
And yeah, I know it's cliche and weird.
But I felt obligated to write it.
It's the first real story idea I've had in a LONG time.

What else, what else....
Oh.... Most of these characters are based on real people.
I wonder if you can guess them.

“Shut UP!” I roared. “Will ALL of you PLEASE shut up?!” The shouts immediately quieted to a tolerable level.
They were bickering.
AGAIN.
“Ugh.” I groaned. I couldn’t do this. I just couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t handle the love triangles… pentagons… hexagons… who KNEW how big they got? The SPIDER WEBS of drama woven through high school life.
It was too much, even for a vampire. (That’s right, I’m a vampire. And no, I don’t bloody sparkle. Eat your hearts out, Twilight fans.)
Without another word I started rifling through various boxes in my room. I needed a vacation. And I knew just how to get one.
“What are you looking for?” Sarah asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the room.
“My Sansa.”
“But it’s right over there.” She pointed at the mp3 player sitting on my computer desk.
“My OTHER Sansa.”
“You have ANOTHER one?”
“Yes, I do.” I stood up and glared at Megan. “STOP WHINING!” I shouted.
“But I didn’t even say anything!” she whined.
“I can HEAR you THINKING.” I muttered.
Jim gave me an odd glance.
“Are you going to go ahead and tell them now?” he asked.
“I will in a moment. Once I find that… mp3 player….” I responded, continuing the search. “Unless you want to keep it secret?”
“Nah, I don’t mind.” He answered.
“Tell us what?” Annie butted in. I ignored her.
“Tab? Michael? You two don’t mind?”
Michael shook his head.
“I don’t care.” Tabby replied. “I’ve been meaning to tell Matt anyway.”
“Tell me what?” Matt questioned.
“You’ll see.” Tabby stated.
There was more silence as I continued my search.
“Wait, the mp3 player you got on the 17th last year?” Tabby asked.
“Yeah. I figure a long vacation would be nice. Want to come Tab?”
“Heck yes! This is going to be fun.” She smiled. “And you probably have so many more songs on it by now.”
“That I do.”
“Can Matt come?” Tabby asked, earnestly.
“Sure… if he wants. In fact everyone can come if I could just find my Sansa.”
Where could it be…. Maybe….
“Ha!” I exclaimed, triumphantly pulling a second Sansa out of the bottom drawer of my dresser. I blew some dust off it and then turned it on.
“Full power. Cool. It’ll last the whole trip then.” I said to no one in particular.
“What trip?” Bryan asked.
“The magical one… to cookie land.” I replied, sarcastically.
Silence. I sighed and began my explanation.
“My name’s Paige Cavaliere and I’m a vampire.”
I paused to let that information sink in.
“What are you ON?” Bryan finally asked. “And where can I get some?”
“You’re joking, right?” Sarah asked. “Please tell me you’re joking… why aren’t you laughing?”
“Told you they wouldn’t believe it.” Jim laughed.
“Maybe a little fang flashing would help.”
I smiled at Bryan, letting my fangs extend slightly and my eyes glow dull red. Sarah, Megs, and Annie took an involuntary step backwards.
“Shit…" Sarah whispered.
“Cool!” Matt said. I laughed. Good kid.
“I’m a vampire too.” Jim said, with a slight bow. Sarah backed away from him.
“Werewolf.” Michael kept his explanation simple.
“Spirit.” Tabby smirked. “And before you ask, that is NOT the same thing as a ghost.”
There was more silence.
“This is a weird ass dream.” Annie finally stated.
I shrugged. Hey, if she wanted to think it was a dream… that was cool with me.
“Anyway, Tab and I are leaving now. You can tag along if you want. Under one condition. No. FREAKING. DRAMA. Oh yeah, and there’s always the slight possibility you could get severely injured and die.”
More awkward silence…
“Well, where are we going anyway?” Megan questioned.
“Er… it’s sort of hard to tell. Especially when this thing is on shuffle.” I answered, waving the second Sansa in the air.
“The Sansa…” Bryan started.
“Is magical and teleports us… well, you’ll see if you come.” I answered. “So, who’s coming?”
Matt, Megan, Bryan, Sarah, and Annie looked at eachother, unsure.
Matt finally nodded. “I’m in,” he said. Tabby smiled and hugged him.
“This is going to be SO much fun!” she exclaimed.
Sarah looked the most unsure.
“It’ll be fun.” I said, smiling again. She looked at my fangs, worriedly. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” I added.
“Come on. Come with us! You know you want to. PLUS, You’ll escape the drama.”
“Would I go on a vacation with two vampires, a werewolf, and a spirit to escape drama?” Sarah asked herself. “Yes, Yes I would. Okay, I’ll come.”
“Megan? Annie? Bryan?” I asked, looking at them all.
Bryan shrugged. “I’m curious now. I’m in.”
“I’ll go… it’s not like-“ Megan began.
“NO.” I growled.
“What?”
“That was the beginning of an emo comment.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything!”
“Riiight.”
All attention turned to Annie.
“This IS just a dream so I might as well go.” She said.
I shrugged at her again, and then turned to the rest of the group with a smile.
“You're gonna have to stop doing that, though.” Sarah murmured. “It’s sort of creeping me out.”
“Sorry.” I said, the smiling vanishing from my face.
“Okay. Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. Enjoy your trip!” I shouted.
Now Playing – Here It Goes Again by OK Go

Not an update. Sorry. Sorry.
Instead you get to see what I've been doing in computer graphics!
WOO! Be excited!!!
(Someone out there (AKA Annie or Bryan): BOO! UPDATE!
Me: DON'T MAKE ME HURT YOU!! BE EXCITED ABOUT MY ART!!!!!!!!!)
But honestly... updating? Pf. YEAH RIGHT. DBQ and band comp this weekend. Normal scheduled practice on Tuesday. Parade Thursday. Pep Rally and game Friday.
So sorry.

But anyway...... art.
This was all (Okay, except for the folder cover) done on Adobe Illustrator CS3. (That right there is an awesome program.)

My Folder:

Fun to draw. Nice first impression folder. Paige- Random artsy kid that likes music.

First Project (To Create a Unique Building via the Pen Tool)(Also to get a feel for the program):

Meh. I didn't use too much (*cough*ANY*cough*) scenery. I wish I had. But I still like the building. (THIS IS NOT A BOAT. A bunch of people thought it was. I don't know why.)

Second Project (To Create a Shaded Apple using at least Five Different Tints and Shades):

Shading on the computer? Pain in the ARSE! (We weren't allowed to use the gradient tool.)

Third Project (To Create an Underwater Scene using the Pen Tool and lots of Layers):

Love it. Love how it came out and everything. One small detail..... the grass/plant life/whatever could use major work. Otherwise I love it.

Fourth Project (To Create a Color Wheel with Radial Balance):

Pretty simple and boring but for some reason extremely hard. I think it was because everything had to be EXACT for it to line up.

Fifth and Current Project (To Create three Expressive Drawings using the Brush Tool):

A triptych. (Google. It's fun.) I turn it in Monday.
And that's it. Ta Da.

EDIT: Haha! I have the actually files and not crappy images from my camera.

Tired. Tired. Tired.
Finished. Ish. I've added text.
But I REALLY don't feel like taking another picture.
So for what it's worth.... there's my drawing.

THE LONG AWAITED POST!

Hooray! CONFETTI!

The town of Dohln could be described with two simple words: Pure. Chaos.
"OUT OF THE WAY, OUT OF THE WAY!" someone screamed at me. I took a couple steps back in time to miss being run over by a large horse. (Aw man. What a shame.)
People all over town were packing and buying things. Vendors screamed their sales pitches.
"BUY HORSES HERE! ONLY THREE LEFT! CAN BE BOUGHT FOR A LOW PRICE!”
"Canteens! Canteens! TAKE WATER ON THE ROAD!"
"HEALING POTIONS! EVERYTHING MUST GO!"
I turned to Megan with a raised eyebrow.
"Wasn't this place s'pposed to be quiet and uncrowded?!" I questioned/screamed.
"So much for THAT idea!" she screamed back. Our group continued even further into the town, looking for the others. It was a hopeless cause though. Even if we had been standing mere inches from them we might have missed them.
"OOF!" I cried as I was shoved into someone.
"Sorry, sorry." I started muttering, and pulled them to their feet.
"It's really not a problem."
"WHAT?"
"IT'S REALLY NOT A PROBLEM!"
"OKAY!" I turned back to the others.
"We've been all over this place! Should we just call it a day and go to the inn and hope they show up there?!" I called out. I received no definite responses. A shrug from Matt and Megan. Michael started babbling which of course didn't help and Tabby wasn't really paying attention (or maybe she just didn't hear). We stood for a few more moments, trying to figure out what to do.
"Can I interest you in buying a pet?" The person I'd knocked to the floor finally asked.
"........ WHAT?!" I yelled back at him.
"A PET! Y'know, to take with you on your travels!!"
"WHAT?!" I asked again. I didn't hear most of what people said WITHOUT background noise. WITH it was IMPOSSIBLE.
The kid grabbed my arm and started tugging me through people towards a shop. I gave a confused glance to the others who just sort of tagged along.
Finally he pulled me inside the store and I was pleasantly surprised to be able to hear myself think again.
"Sound proofed walls." the kid informed us. "But anyway... do you want to buy a pet?"
"A pet?" I echoed and took a look at the shop around us. There were rows after rows of crates and cages filled with animals. There were even small fenced in areas further down.
"OOOOOH! I WANT A PET!!!!" Tabby shouted excitedly. I smiled.
"Okay, let's look around. Chances are we aren't going to find the others anyway...." I announced more to myself than the others. Everyone began to mill around. Pet Shop Boy stayed with me.
"So, what sort of pet are you looking for?" the kid asked me. "The name's Eric, by the way."
Eric.... why does that seem so familiar?
"I don't really know....... what do you have?"
"Just about everything. Cats, dogs, dragons, birds, lizards, horses......"
"Dragons sound cool." I commented and he led us through the maze of cages.
"Right here."
I looked in the direction he was pointing to find several cages, each with a dragon in them. There were fire breathing dragons and dragons that seemed to glow. Some had wings and some didn't. One dragon even had a double set of wings.
As I looked at the dragons, Eric continued to talk.
"I can't believe having sound proofed walls actually paid off. It's weird. This town was a quiet place all of an hour ago. The glitches have got everyone freaked."
That caught my attention. I looked up from the little silver dragon I was inspecting.
"Glitches?" I questioned. "Have they caused all this commotion?"
Eric looked surprised.
"Oh yeah! Didn't you get the PM?"
"PM?" I echoed. "I didn't get any PM."
"Then you have no clue......" he muttered more to himself than me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tattered piece of paper.
"This PM is from the admins. They sent it out about an hour ago to everyone. But maybe the glitch stopped you from getting it."
I grabbed the paper, slightly worried at what I would find.

ĐěAŕ Ga이mepla//yeŕs,
The;ŕe is an eřŖor with NÅVŖÂ's comp이이ers. wE are wŏŔk;iNg to fiX įt. Remaiñ calm.
We haVe;;; ope\nēd tw이lve ēsca//pe poŔTals on var\\ious po이ñts of the m/ap. PlEäse m;ake your way to th/em įn an ordeŗly fashion.
-Ądm\iŇ

"Oh wow." I said quietly. This was a problem. "I knew about the glitches but..."
"Yeah, everyone's in a rush to get to the portals. Well, to FIND them first off. No one knows exactly where they are. There are some rumors but nothing concrete. And it'll be even harder now with the modified game map."
The blank stare I gave Eric must've shown that I had no idea what he was talking about. Modified game map?
"You haven't heard about that either?" he asked incredulously. "Where have you guys been? Inside a giant box of ignorance?"
"Apparently." I muttered.
"Haven't you noticed how changed the map is?" he asked.
I shook my head. "This is our first and only stop. We haven't even gotten our starter quest yet.”
For future reference, starter quests are exactly what they sound like. They’re basically quests you get to start off your RPG game. When you complete a quest you (of course) get a load of experience points and gold and whatnot. Then more quests become available to you.
"Basically, the glitches seem to have meshed all six of the games NAVRA runs. If you haven't noticed from your odd costumes."
I nodded. I had already guessed that much.
"Well, it’s done the same thing with the world map. I’ve gotten word of vampires and werewolves raging war across the map, random black beings around that swallow you whole and trap you inside the haunted house. Alien NPCs are trying to take over the game world. It’s basically a giant mess.”
I bit my bottom lip worriedly. What if something had happened to the others?
“I’m not even going to try for the portals yet.” Eric continued to talk. “There’re too many people out right now and everyone’s a little tense. I’m going to wait till things calm down a bit.”
I nodded absentmindedly to him, still worrying away in my mind.
“But anyhow, what do you think of the dragons? Any of them catch your eye?”
I turned back to the dragons.
“This silver one is sort of cool.” I said, pointing.
“That’s a storm dragon. They can be pretty temperamental. But if they like you, they’re very loyal.” I looked closer at the little thing, trying to keep myself from worrying by inspecting the dragon closely. It really was beautiful. Its scales shone silver and had tiny wisps of mist escaping its nose and mouth.
“Want to play with it?” Eric asked.
“Um… Sure?”
“Okay, just hold out your arm. Oh yeah, and if it bites you…… I’m not responsible.”
With those comforting words, Eric released the latch on the cage and the silver dragon took flight. It circled around my head a couple times and then landed on my outstretched arm. It looked at me curiously and then blew a tendril of mist at me.
“Is it a girl or a guy?” I asked, continuing to stare at it. It had a set of brilliant gray eyes too.
“Guy.” Eric informed me.
“What’s his name?”
“He doesn’t have one yet. We usually let the owners pick the name.”
“How much does it cost?”
“About two thousand gold.”
I drew in my next breath quickly. Two thousand gold? I only had half that amount. I was truly disappointed by that fact. I really, really liked that dragon.
“BUT, since business is so slow...... maybe I can sell him for fifteen hundred.” Eric added. I said nothing. It was still a bit too much...... but then, I guess I could borrow some?
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to try and beg money off people.” I declared. The silver dragon flew back onto Eric’s shoulder as I walked off.
“Megan! Tabby! Matt?” I was shouting.
“Paige Cavaliere.” I heard a familiar voice proclaim. “I just lost the game.” ((4:30 PM))
I turned around very surprised to find Alex Geck along with a gigantic bird.
“Alex! I- ........ Is that an ostrich?”
“Yes, it is, in fact. Her name is Penelope.” He said, holding his hand out to introduce me. “Paige, Penelope. Penelope, Paige.” The bird bowed its head very slightly. I returned the favor.
“Um..... hello.....” I said, still slight unbalanced by the fact that I was talking to an ostrich. “......By the way, hi Alex! I didn’t know you were at NAVRA! I don’t remember Kaitie mentioning it.”
“It was sort of a last minute thing.” Alex informed me. ((Psh. Yeah. AKA Paige can’t think of any other reason.))
“Oh. Well, now you can come with us on our quest! Or... rather... portal search...” I trailed off, my thoughts doing little mental loops. Glitches.... Couldn’t find friends.... Ran into Eric.... Entered the pet store.... Saw the dragon.... Couldn’t buy the dragon.... Needed money... Found Alex...
“Hey Alex. Have you seen Megs, Tab, or Matt? I need to beg money from them. Unless you have five hundred gold.....”
“Nah, I just spent the rest of my money on Penelope. And I haven’t seen Tab, Megan, or Matt. But I DID just see Bryan and Steven near the entrance.”
“Really?” I questioned. Then they were here? I dashed off towards the front door.
“I’ll talk to you later Alex!”
“Bryan?! Steven?!” I shouted.
There they- WOAH.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR.
THIS POST IS POWERED BY.......


NOW, back to our show.

“.........” I stared at the two.
Steven was basically decked out in medieval style armor and weapons. If Megs was the master of firearms, then Steven was the equivalent with everything else. He had swords and axes and knives…..And on his feet were....... sandals. I stared at those. They seemed so…… out of place. But then, I guess we weren’t ALL going to get generated awesome items of doom.....
The things that REALLY caught my attention though, were Bryan’s wings. They were.... huge.... And shiny..... and metal...... Similar to Matt’s and yet entirely different. Living machinery.
My original urge to poke them was cancelled out, however, when I noticed Bryan’s back. The armor that covered his back was already beat up and his shirt was shredded and bloody.
My first reaction was to bolt off to try and find a healing potion but a small part of my brain reminded me that we were inside a computer game.
“Are you okay?” I asked, trying to keep myself from screaming the question at him.
“’Tis but a scratch.” Bryan tried with a halfhearted smirk. But despite his joking manner, I could practically hear him wincing.
“What happened?”
Steven answered for him.
“His wings are razor sharp. And flying isn’t fun.”
I was very suddenly happy I HADN’T decided to prod his wings with my finger.
“Are the pain dampers working at all?” I asked.
The people at NAVRA had figured that being put through constant physical pain would take away from the game. So the pain dampers would dull the intensity of wounds after a certain amount of time.
“It doesn’t FREAKING feel like it.” Bryan grimaced.
“Sorry.” I muttered. “Stay right there. Maybe I can find a healing potion….”
“Alex!!! ALEX?!” I practically ran into him and Penelope.
“Hi again…” he started. “I just lost.” ((8:33 PM))
“Do you have any healing potions?”
“No-“
“Kay, thanks! YOU TOTALLY DIDN’T LOSE BY THE WAY. FIFTEEN MINUTES!” I ran off again.
Who else would have healing potions? Tabby, Matt, and Megs don’t. I know that for sure….. What about….. Eric!
I took a sharp left past some wild cats that all hissed and growled at me and headed back towards the dragons. Eric was there helping Megan out. Megan had a pretty green dragon on her right hand and she was handing Eric gold coins.
“One more thing. About the pets in this game. They’re more like familiars.” Eric was explaining. “It’s sort of like a mind link. They feel what you feel type thing…”
“That’s sort of creepy.....” Megan commented.
“Yeah, but don’t forget. They’re just computer programs.”
“Actually, that’s even creepier.”
“Well....... No refunds. Sorry.” Eric said with an odd cat-like smile. It reminded me of something….. Something distant... A dream maybe?
“Sorry to interrupt. Do you have any healing potions?” I asked Eric.
“Yeah, but I used them on injured customers onl-“
I had taken this opportunity to stab Megan’s dragon with my right index finger. It gave an angry hiss and chomped down on my finger.
“How about now?” I asked, shaking my finger out trying to ignore the pain.
“.......You haven’t actually bought anything.......”
“Come ON!” I shouted.
“...... By the way, that dragon has a poisonous bite.”
“ERIC!” I growled. I hardly knew the kid, but I felt almost perfectly at ease yelling at him. It was odd.
“Okay, okay!” he said. “I’ll get one. But then you have to bring back that five hundred gold.”
“I know, I know! Hurry please!” He pulled a flask out of his pocket.
“Pour it on the wounds.”
“Okay. Thank you! Bye!” I went running again.
“Don’t forget about your finger! I was serious about the poison thing!”
“OKAY!”
By the time I got back to Bryan and Steven, the rest of the group had joined them. Annie and Kaitie were busy talking and didn't notice.
"Hi Paige-" Sarah started.
"Hold that thought." I cut her off. I uncapped the flask of light greenish liquid and put just one drop on my finger. It burnt (in Sarah Carns's words) like a mother but eventually the large bite wound in my finger sealed together with just a small scar.
"Here." I handed it to Bryan.
".... Thanks?" he asked/replied.
"You better be thankful! I just let Megs's poisonous dragon chomp down on my finger for that!"
I received no answer from Bryan who was getting Annie to help him out by pouring the healing potion on his torn up back.
I turned back to Sarah Carns.
"Holy crap. You're wearing a kimono." Was the first thing out of my mouth.
And indeed, she was. It was a pretty blue kimono with patterns of wind currents and flowers all over it. She was also holding tessens, which were basically metal fans. Metal fans that could hurt people.
"Holy crap. You're wearing...... jeans..... and armor....... Actually that's not surprising at all." Sarah concluded. I laughed.
"How was your trip into Dohln?" I asked.
Sarah gave me a mini rant about the trip and the problems the glitches had caused and everyone's powers (so far). Kaitie was a sort of telekinetic. Bryan was something like a pyrokinetic? I couldn't quite make out the specifics. Annie was randomly skilled with the use of a bo staff and nunchucks, and Steven had some sort of possession power. Sarah herself could control wind with her tessen.
I gave her, in turn, a mini rant about our own powers and travels. I left out most of what I'd learnt about the glitches. Sarah was paranoid already. DEFINITELY didn't need to worry her.
After we had swapped stories, I begged five hundred gold off Sarah and Kate combined and went to buy my dragon whom I christened Thor. Sarah Carns brought an orange tabby cat named Butterfinger that could turn into a tiger. Bryan brought a raven that he named Quoth, according to Alex's advice. Steven and Kate didn't really want pets, and besides Kaitie and Annie had already spent almost all their money on some miscellaneous supplies. Tabby and Matt agreed that they wanted to buy weaponry (and also that Matt substituted as Tab's pet, having wings and all). Michael didn't seem particularly interested in any pets.
Not that we could tell if he HAD wanted one. He just stood around talking to himself and occasionally saying "I just lost" in sign language to me at which point I would hit him over the head.
"Well, then Bryan can be MY pet!" Annie announced. "He has wings!"
Bryan gave her a dead panned look.
"OR his hair can be your pet!" I chimed in.
"We never did name his hair, did we?"
"What should we call it?" I questioned. "Him? Her? Is your hair a guy or a girl?"
This, of course, spawned a nice little rant about Bryan’s hair and its name and gender.
We were all back together again. It was nice. It was peaceful.
And then the front wall and roof of the pet store were smashed in sending debris flying everywhere.
Ah yes, Dohln. Such a peaceful place.

Do you realize that post is almost three thousand words? Five pages. 2,793 Words. (And NOW I get to go EDIT IT ALL! WOOOOOOOOO!)
That's intensive.
I was reading my Untitled story today.
Why are my current stories such utter crap?
Untitled was so much better.
I'm sorry for the down grade in my writing.
I can't really explain it. Maybe I just need to stop writing for a bit.

...
Zero.
I hesitantly opened my eyes. The others were talking.
“Well that was weird. All the screaming and crap...” Megan was saying.
“Probably just a computer error of some sort.” Someone replied. It sounded like Matt, but I couldn’t really tell. “I’m sure they’ll sort it out.”
“O fpm’y lmpe. O- EPSJ!” someone else gave a surprised exclamation in an entirely foreign language. My vision finally began to adjust to the game.
“O- O- O vsm’y dqrsl rmhaodj!” Michael was still shouting anxiously. Everyone else was just staring at him, confused.
Something had definitely gone wrong while we were loading.
First, there was Michael's little speech problem. And besides that, our costumes were all wrong.
“Holy crap!” I heard Megan yelp as she caught sight of her outfit.
She had on a dark brown jacket over a black t-shirt, some jeans, and knee high combat boots. The type with unnecessary buckles all over them.
But what really freaked her out was the fact that she was covered in firearms. Hand guns hung from her belt. She had ammo strapped across her chest and two guns stuck in holsters wrapped around her right leg. She had a rifle slung over her back and in each hand she held an assault rifle. She inspected the guns carefully with a slight look of disbelief on her face.
"I DIDN’T put THIS on my ID." she finally stated. “These weren’t even options in the game we loaded.”
I searched my brain for an explanation.
When NAVRA’s machines screwed up...... it must have crashed all six games into eachother. I scanned the other's outfits. And we all ended up with a mixture of items from those games.
I paused for a moment.
I wonder what happened really. Whatever it was...... the people loading us sounded worried. Scared even. And it didn’t sound like ‘just some computer error’. Does that mean we’re in danger? ... Eh. I'm probably just being paranoid. This is NAVRA we're talking about. They'll take care of any issues that come up.
I turned my attention back to the others and continued to inspect their modified costumes. Tabby had on a cuirass, like she had picked on her original ID, but it had an odd blue glow to it which meant it was probably alien tech combined with the original medieval armor. She also had on gauntlets that crackled with electricity. The rest of her costume was plain. Some skintight black slacks and a t-shirt under the cuirass.
"Hey!" I protested when one of the gauntlets sparked violently and almost hit me. An idea slowly formed in the back of my mind. The super hero game....
"Hey, Tab. Can you control that.....?" I asked, motioning to the electricity. She gave me an odd thoughtful look before replying.
"I dunno. I'll try."
Everyone watched as she stretched out her left hand, concentrating on a particular patch of grass and....... ZZZZZZZZZTT! A huge bolt sparked off the gauntlets and hit the ground leaving a distinct burn mark.
Everyone jumped back with a few surprised exclamations.
".... Cool!" Tabby giggled, followed by one of her maniacal cackles. She then preceded to freak Michael out by repeatedly burning the ground inches from his feet.
“Don’t kill him.” I muttered absent mindedly to her and then inspected Matt's costume.
It was by far the funniest. See the thing was... he had wings. That's right. WINGS. Big, black, feathery wings.
He flexed them experimentally.
"Well, that’s awesome.” He finally announced.
"Aww. You look like an angel!" Tabby beamed, stopping her assault on Michael.
Besides the wings he wore a tuxedo and dress pants. He also had an odd glow around him, but it wasn’t alien tech. If you looked closely you could see he had tiny multi colored bubbles of light that floated around him like an aura.
He held out his hand, palm up, and gathered them into a small ball of light. After a few minutes they separated and went back to their free floating mode.
Electricity and light. Oh yeah, and bad ass Megan. I absentmindedly watched Matt and Tabby chase Megs around. Megan was threatening them with one of her assault rifles and Matt had pulled up a wall of light to defend himself and Tabby. So what exactly is Michael?
I turned my attention back to him. He was still babbling incoherently.
"Yjsy'd mpy rmhaodj!" he cried. “Eju vsm’y O dqrsl rmhaodj?!”
“.....” I stared at him. “Michael, shut up or I’ll set Tabby on you.”
Silence. Okay, so he understands us.
I looked over his costume. Black hooded cloak. I mentally noted it was unfair Michael got the black cloak. He just wasn’t cool enough for that.
Underneath the cloak his entire body was covered in machinery. Glowing armor plates and whatnot. Sort of like MJOLNIR armor, but more compact, helmetless, and broken into individual plates. It was pretty awesome.
And totally unfair. As said before, Michael just wasn’t that cool. Master Chief would kick his ass.
So what was causing his speech impediment? I didn’t see anything touching his throat that could be changing his speech and I couldn’t think of anything else it could be.
“What’s that stuff all over his face?” I heard Matt ask. He and Tabby were standing beside me. Megs was standing a little away off throwing wary glances at us.
“What?” I questioned, and took a look at where he was pointing. There was an odd series of black swirls around the edges of Michael’s face. I walked up and gave a swirl on his forehead a swift jab.
“PE!” he protested. The swirls weren’t raised, and it felt like normal skin. So...... he had markings all over him which made him........ a shapeshifter? But that didn’t really explain the language issue..... But then they might not be connected… After I thought through a few more mental circles I shrugged and looked back at Michael.
“I have no clue what the heck you are, bud. OR how to fix your little speech problem. Sorry.” I sighed.
".....Eraa...... htrsy. Pj, Smf O kidy apdy.”
"....... Yeah......... okay......” I said, giving him a blank stare. After all, I had no clue what he was saying.
He signed ‘I lost’.
“Seriously? We're standing in a virtual reality game and you don’t know what SPECIES you are and all you can think about is the game? Seriously?” I complained. He shrugged. I flicked him on the forehead.
"Dpttu." he muttered apologetically. There was a couple moments of silence while everyone stared at Michael.
"........ Well, I guess this doesn't actually change much. No one understands him anyway." I decided with a cheery grin.
"OR listens." Tabby chimed in.
"JRU!" Michael protested. We just laughed. I finally realized I had yet to inspect my own costume.
I looked down at my clothes. I had on a shirt of chainmail overtop a plain t-shirt. On top of the chainmail I had on some light armor that covered my chest, shoulders, and part of my upper arm. A small dagger was attached to my belt. I also had on leather vambraces, kneepads, jeans, and sneakers. It was an odd mix of modern clothes and medieval armor. I wondered what sort of powers I had, if any. I was just about to test some things out when Michael spoke up.
“Er djpiaf qtpnsnau hry hpomh.” Michael said. Everyone just gave him blank stares.
“We should probably get going.” Megan pointed out. We had spent at least half an hour standing around observing our new costumes.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Matt agreed.
“O KIDY dsof yjsy. Niy, pg VPITDR, mp pmr imfrtdysmfd zr.” Michael started babbling.
“What do you think he’s rambling about?” Tabby asked.
“Who knows?” I replied. I looked out over the grassy field we were standing in. The sun had just begun to set and I could see the small glowing town of Dohln about a mile away from us.
“Come on, let’s go!” Tabby said excitedly. Without hesitation she went running off. Smiling at her enthusiasm, I followed.

Umm. This is honestly only half a post but it's the last day of summer and I can't keep my mind on typing long enough to finish. Not proofed yet. Proofed as of now. (3:54 PM on the 25th. Because you care.) Sorry for schizophrenic writing style or direction? Michael's speech isn't just random letters (as much as it looks like it). It's actually a modified version of his own code. So, if you have no life see if you can figure it out.
Check for errors? I guess.... maybe.... later.

Gotta make it. Gotta make it. The mantra repeated in my head. Can't stop..... not now...
I'd come too damn far to bail out now. I'd sacrificed too much. I could hear angry howls. The werewolves were coming. Bullets sprayed over my head along with pulses of blue energy. Mafia. Aliens.
I ignored. Kept running.
The portal.
It was so close. I could see it shrinking away, its bluish light fading fast.
More gunfire. A bullet ripped through my arm.
I stifled a cry of pain. Had to keep going........ Had to make it.....
It was shrinking still, the size of a car door.
It was now or never.
I leapt.
Have.... to.... get....through....!!!

"If you would please follow me, I'll show you to your consoles."
Someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"Come on, Paige. We're going." I looked over to find Tabby tugging me after the group.
"Coming, coming." I murmured, trailing her.
I still couldn't believe we were here. NAVRA!
How cool was that?!
The North American Virtual Reality Arcade was the biggest, most advanced virtual reality arcade in the world. It ran no less than six different multiplayer RPGs at a time.
Which was quite a feat, if you thought about it.
Over seven hundred people plugged into a totally invisible world.
"We're going to have to split you up into two parties." One of the employees informed us as we walked along. "We have a limit of five people per party. It's easier on our servers. But don't worry, you guys can still meet up in the game."
I glanced at the others.
"Where should we meet?" Kaitie asked.
"How about........ Dohln?" Bryan suggested after a few moments.
"Dohln.... Dohln." I murmured, searching my brain for information. It was a small town. Had an inn, couple shops with some basic equipment..... It was also fairly close to every load point. It made sense to start off there.
"It's fine with me." I said.
Everyone sort of nodded or shrugged in agreement. Well, except Tab.
"Why does Bryan get to pick where we go?" she protested.
"I don't care WHERE we go." Bryan said to Tabby. "Dohln is just the closest place to all the load points."
Tabby stuck her tongue out.
"Smarty pants."
Bryan just kept his mouth shut.
The woman chattered on as we walked by rows upon rows of people enclosed in glass capsules. Bulky helmets covered their heads leaving only the lower half of their face visible. Hundreds of tiny sensors were attached to various points on their bodies.
It was sort of creepy but I didn't dwell on the thought. Our group stopped in front of a set of five empty "consoles".
"If half of you would please take your seats, the techies will load you up." the woman said, motioning to the consoles. "The rest of you follow me."
We split up in no particular fashion. Annie, Bryan, Steven, Kaitie, and Sarah got loaded up while Michael, Megs, Matt, Tab, and I continued on.
We soon reached another set of five empty consoles.
"Take your seats, please."
Each console contained something similar to a lounge chair. Once one was hooked up and loaded, the chair would recede slightly into the machine and a domed glass cover would slide over you and seal, creating a sort capsule.
It all had very sci-fi vibes to it. I took my seat and tried not to fidget as technicians placed sensors on my arms and legs.
When that was finished, they carefully placed the helmet over my head.
"This may feel a bit weird." someone warned me. I felt an odd rushing sensation around me. And then I was loaded in...... or.... Wait, was I?
Why was I still aware of my outside surroundings?
"This is the transition stage. We just need to load your IDs."
Oh right. Transition. Transition was a sort of loading screen. It gave the computers time to sync IDs with the correct people. Your ID was a character you created after you brought tickets to get into the arcade. You picked the character's appearance, clothing, weapons, and special abilities.
Of course, to start you only had a set amount of money and ability points. You could gain more ability points through battles and whatnot. It was standard RPG game stuff.
"Okay, you're almost loaded. Just thirteen more seconds." someone announced.
Thirteen seconds.
13... 12... 11...
BANG!!! Someone's screaming.
10... 9...
"What the hell was that?"
"I don't know."
8... 7... 6...
Bzzzzzzt!!! There's the crackle of electricity.
"The machines have gone haywire!"
5... 4...
"CANCEL THE LOAD! NOW!"
"I'm trying!!!"
3... 2...
"GET THEM OUT OF THERE!!"
((Lost.))
1...

Weird place to end. I wanted to add to it but I'm sick of thinking 'bout this story.
I just want to FINISH the first post.
And why are we at NAVRA? Birthday party?
That was my original thought.
Can you tell I watched Galaxy Quest recently?
ACTIVATE THE OMEGA 13!!
And...... I'm dealing with TEN different characters in this story.
I will PROBABLY misrepresent you and you MIGHT not get a lot of dialogue in some posts.
Sorry.

So, this is my first piece I've done all in ink.
(Well, okay...... Ted and Alfred too. But that was for school.)

I really, really like it.
It's dark and I got high off all the sharpie I used on it.

Alex was my inspiration for this.
We were standing there looking at a bird house...
And started one of those rants....
End result? Evil faeries that live in bird houses in order to trick birds into being eaten.

Yeah.... we're so cool.

Note: My hand is in the picture. Roar. I hate that.

But now I have to leave and go fix a bunch of art projects for little kids I don't like.
-_-

I love this.

Hmm.... Kunai would be my weapon of choice.

I think I'll draw Bryan with shuriken. I just picture him with them. Don't know exactly why.

Bonuses:
Sketchy-ness:

Drawn on the back of a crumpled, torn camp flyer found on the bottom of my mom's car.
While I was baking in it for about two hours waiting for my parents and brother to stop talking to people in church.

OLD art.
HAHAHA.
It's great stuff.

Finally stopped being a bum.

I'm actually quite pleased with this. (Even though it took me four or five days to think the whole set up through. -_- )
On to Ninja!Me! WOO!
And then maybe Sarah (Ninja!Sarah. HAHAHA. That's just great.) And then... Bryan and Matt. Though I don't have a GREAT idea what Matt looks like, about the only difference with anime characters is the hair.
Alex, Kaitie, Annie, Michael..... Steven (because he was upset Tabby didn't draw him)...

Chances are only about 50% of those people will actually be drawn.
Let's start small....
Sarah and I. (Though I don't know how the heck I'm gonna do Sarah. -_-' ) After that, we shall see.

And as consolation:
I LOVE YOU, ANNIE!
I really, really, really don't want to go to homecoming.
But I'll CONSIDER it, how's that?

Mmm. Next post, will have Ninja!Me and some planning sketches. (It's fun to see how crappy my art can look when I'm doing it rough.)
Maybe I'll post some art from when I was seven.
THAT would be funny.

Really fast piece. Probably took me less than an hour, an hour at most.

Looks older cause it started as an attempt at a realism piece.
But then it didn't look right so I kept making his chin smaller, and rounder, and.....
Turned into an anime/realism fusion.



I don't care for the piece, but I needed it drawn out of my head, so awesome.

Whenever I stop being a bum (no time soon) I shall draw a ninja version of Tabby and I.
Watch for it?
Don't watch for an update.
At least not till I get rid of these headaches. Which should be in about a week. I'm getting new glasses.

Guess what? I'm about ten times blinder than I was before.
YAY!

Bye.

I think this is my favorite piece out of anything I've EVER made artistically. Paint, pencil, crayon, sculpture, pastel, watercolor, print making....
THE BEST.
It's pretty spectacular.

I started this piece at 3 AM.
It's now 5:45 PM.
Took a long, long time to get it right.
But I think I have it.

And now.... Without further ado....
I present SHINE ON.


Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd - -
"Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph,
sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser,
come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!"

Head is absolutely buzzing from lack of sleep and staring at the same piece for too long.
But I love this piece with a passion.

I don't think I have anything else to say....
Later.

F) This turned out NOTHING like I thought it would when I started. I had something more like this in my head when I did.

It's 2 AM.
I'm going to make this short.



Took several days. I think about three or four.
As for size, it's four pieces of notebook paper taped together.
Head hurts.
And I need a new purple colored pencil.

Titled Psychedelia as a Phineas and Ferb reference since, that's what I was thinking of when I started the piece (despite the fact I was watching Independence Day).

And now, I have no life except for guard practice.

Bryan, I await your update.

Good night.

(Unless I stay up even later changing to a Garfield mood theme. Which I PROBABLY will do.)
(AND the song "Distorted" from the band music is forever stuck in my head.)

I come bearing art.

I just finished this one tonight. I ♥ Perry. (And you can see all the mixing I had to do in the bottom right.)

It's going on my wall.
♫ DOO BE DOO BE DOO BA. DOO BE DOO BE DOO BA. ♫

Don't know who Perry is?
A) I am deeply saddened.
B) Watch this.

Other art?
While back..... started my shoes.


On the right shoe I want to do marching hammers.....
When I'm motivated anyway. The inside is going to be the same.

And in other news, did you know you can make BLINKING TEXT?!
Just use <blink> text </blink>.

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time."
-Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller

We were surrounded. I pulled a force field around myself and Bryan and glared out at the gang members that filled the alley we were in. They were well armed, I had to give them credit for that. Everyone of them had a handgun, or brass knuckles, or a switch blade. I was getting Greaser Mafia vibes from the whole thing.
"Give it up, girly. You're not leaving here alive, you might as well go quietly."
I sighed. Cocky gangbangers. Precisely what the world needed less of. Did they honestly have no idea who they were screwing with? I glanced at Bryan.
"Suggestions?" I asked. Bryan's powers weren't just straight up empathy. They included an uncanny ability to sense weaknesses. It made him hell to ever get in a spat with, but otherwise had gotten us out of some pretty tight spots.
"That group, the one to your right there." he said, pointing to a handful of kids with switchblades. "They've been in a fight recently. They've got wounds all over them. We can take them down first, see how much hot air this gang is made of."
"Okay, ready? GO!" I projected my forcefield outward, knocking everyone around me to their feet. Turning, I smashed several large boulders into the group Bryan had pointed out. Two or three of them went down on their knees. The others advanced on me, switchblades out. Bryan walked up and kicked someone's left knee, hard. With a cry of pain, they hit the ground. Whirling he caught someone in the neck with the side of his hand. I couldn't stand there and watch though. The rest of the group was getting their bearings.
A bullet whistled over my head, making me wince. I thanked God that whoever had shot that had bad aim.
"Bryan?" I called out. Metal was already spreading across his body, making him impervious to bullets. Satisfied that he could handle himself I started my own work. Pillars of rock sprouted from the ground in very inconvenient places, sending people sailing through the sky. Earth shifted, trapping feet. Boulders flew, smacking others in their faces or chests.
It didn't take long for the gang to scatter. In fact, it probably seemed a lot longer than it actually was. There was a bit of cleanup, calling the police and explaining the whole situation to them. Cuffing anyone we had knocked out or trapped... But it still didn't take long.
Moments later Bryan and I were sitting on a roof top somewhere, staring out at the city.
"Well, that was a nice distraction." Bryan said. He ripped off a piece of bandage he had rolled in his pocket and wrapped a couple of his fingers.
"Need it?" he asked, holding up the bandage roll.
"Yeah." I sighed. I took it from his hands and wrapped my arm. Bloody switchblades. I had a deep cut in my left arm.
"Here." I said, tossing it back. He caught it and pocketed it. There was a long pause.
"I wish Sarah was coordinating." I sighed. "I feel almost blind without her. How long do you think it'll take them to recollect and call in the big guns?" When we'd gone after the gang we knew that they'd act like, well, a gang. If we were going to put even one of them out of business we needed to pull the whole gang up by the roots. We'd basically just chopped off some leaves. The scattered members would report back to whoever was their superior, we'd kick their butts, and then we'd wait for the next level up to appear. And we'd continue this cycle till we'd attracted the attention of whoever was the leader.
"Hmm.... I'd say an hour at least. Probably more."
I looked at the sky. It was still relatively early in the morning. Probably seven or eight. I hoped the others had gotten some sleep. That Annie was holding up okay. Michael too. That Sarah hadn't gone into total shock once we left. That Tabby hadn't blown the place up. I glanced off in the direction of HQ. There wasn't any smoke rising from it. Yet.
"So.... now what?" I questioned. Bryan shrugged.
"Ummm.... we could always- What was that?" I looked back at him. He was on his feet, spikes forming over his body.
"What?" I questioned, preparing to create a force field.
"I swear I felt someone-" With a surprised exclamation he vanished into the ground, as if he was being dragged down. Moving quickly, I put a field around my right hand and punched a hole into the roof.
Jumping down, I peered into the darkness. The place was empty. Looked like an office building of some sort. There was an audible thud somewhere down below me.
"Bryan?" I spoke into my ear piece.
"Outside the main entrance." he informed me through my ear piece. "I know what we're going to do for an hour."
"Sounds like a blast." I replied, booking it down the stairs.
"Paige? Bryan?" A different voice buzzed in my ear piece.
"What is it?" I asked, just hitting the first floor.
"Annie had another dream. Something about pink cloaked cult members?"
I burst through the door to find myself surrounded by.... pink cloaked cult members.
"Little late." Bryan muttered. "We're already surrounded by them. Anything else?"
"Nothing yet."
"Should we book it or engage them?"
"I don't think we're going to have much of a choice." Bryan said.
'Give it to us.' A voice echoed through my head. 'Give it to us now.' I moved to attack, but instead felt my arms drop slack to my side and my legs freeze up, as if I had lost control of them.
"Crap. Telepath." I groaned. One thing about our little group: we had ZERO defense against mental attacks. The closest we got was Bryan, and an empath was nothing compared to a telepath.
"Give what to you?" I questioned, trying not to freak. Telepaths were nasty business, and they had us at a serious disadvantage.
'The key.'
Key? What key? My brain went through a mental list. Car keys. Why would they go through all that trouble to get our car keys? I mean sure, the cars were cool, just not THAT cool. House key? HQ didn't really have an official key. Which left....
"Your birthday gift." Bryan said, finishing my thought.
The key Sarah had given to me for my birthday last year. My universal skeleton key...
It was still back in my room at HQ.
Too late I realized I'd just given up its location.
"They don't have it." someone announced. "It's back at their base."
I watched the entire group collectively vanish in a dazzling display of purple lights. As soon as they were gone I regained control of my body.
"Sarah. Bunch of telepathic phasers headed your way. Looks like they've got some sort of teleportation too." I warned her. "And they're after my skeleton key. It's in my room by my bed. Grab it for me, will you?"
"Kay." I heard her response. "I'll wake the others."
“You alright?” I asked Bryan.
“I’m fine. Whoever pulled me through the roof wasn’t much for hand-to-hand combat.”
“They’ve got some sort of weak point around their neck.” He added, talking to Sarah.
“Mmm hmm. Got it.” I heard her mutter.
And then we were back in the air. The sun was just struggling to the middle of the sky, smothered by gray clouds. It looked as if it was about to rain.
So far, in the course on one day, I had received a prophecy of the death of all my friends and myself, pissed off a gang, and been attacked by fanatic pink cloaked cult members. Oh yeah, and stopped a bank robbery, but that didn’t even seem like it was part of the day anymore.
But I guess that’s just life in Spinpoint.

Okay, let's see.
Post is a bit shorter than usual. Sorry.
Paige is horrible with estimating time. Seems like the times not right? Too little or too much? Well, Spinpoint is a magical place that runs on different time than us. So HA.
Er.... universal skeleton key. Pretty much impossible to make. I don't care. Sarah's so awesome she can MAKE the impossible happen.
Also, I'm aware the story is moving really fast. Probably too fast to count it as good writing. Awesome. I just wanted to finish this update since it's been quite some time since my last one.
And, I know I didn't address my little flashback plot line. Once again, I just wanted to get the update out of the way.
As always, check for typos and continuity errors. This post has been edited OVER and OVER and OVER so there's probably a lot of them.
Please and thank you.

I had another notable dream that I can remember (at least partially). It's not really all that disturbing though.

Let's see.... in it, I was at some sort of private boarding school. Pointless detail to the memory: I had a school uniform on. Plaid skirt and a jacket of some sort over a blouse. But anyhow.... we were evacuated from the building because of what I assumed was a fire. I remember thinking that it was probably a senior prank of some sort. However, when we got outside..... there were two gangbangers with guns. I don't remember them actually saying anything but we all ended up sitting on the ground outside, basically their hostages. Then, they singled me out and kept telling me I couldn't sit near certain people or places outside... so I continued to move until finally I couldn't find anywhere to sit. I asked him where the heck he wanted me to sit and he directed me into some sort of nook in a brick wall. Then both the gang members took out their guns and prepared to shoot me. And I was pretty much freaking out (but then, who wouldn't?). AND THEN....... Bryan bursts through the door (even though we were outside a few minutes earlier we were now inside....) and shoots them down with what sounds like an automatic of some sort. There's a complete absence of blood... but they die. Apparently... Bryan is my older brother. (Even though, we don't look alike, and he's the same age as me. (Give or take a couple months.)) Somehow, we reach the conclusion that we're both in an action movie, sort of like my Time Traveling Adventures story. (Which, in this dream, Bryan hasn't read. Because I comment on how it's similar and he states he's never read it.) So then.......... we end up in the backseat of a truck with someone (I think our grandmother?) driving a gazillion miles an hour to get the heck out of there. On the way someone tails us and we end up having a shoot through the windows car chase (at night). When we figure out the people are going to shoot at us Bryan asks me for his gun which I don't want to touch because it's dark and I figure I'll probably blow off my own face. Eventually, he just has to get it himself. We stop at a drive in restaurant of some sort (that looks like the one from the Outsiders). While we're there we meet some sort of arch nemesis? Our driver (grandmother?) tries to shoot the guy through the window, but the glass is bullet proof. For some reason I get really angry at the guy, grab the gun out of our driver's hands and shoot the guy through an open window of his car. I don't kill him but he laughs and goes "good shot" and TA-DA first blood in the entire dream. So then we drive off...... I think that's about it..... At least that I can be sure I'm remembering correctly.

Second time I've had a dream about guns following thinking about Bryan's air gun right before bed. Odd....
And as for the gang/mafia thing.... in my next update there's going to be a gang.
And... Outsiders? Er........ I... blame.... Sarah Carns.
Boarding school? No freaking clue.

And despite the whole crack atmosphere of this thing.... The weirdest part is I don't mind wearing the skirt.

Bracing myself, I marched back into the game room with a couple Tylenol and a glass of water.
"Sarah?" I asked. Gently, I rested my hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me, as if coming out of a daze.
"Fruck." she managed, gasping for air almost as if she had been drown- I stopped. 'Let's not go down that road.' I thought to myself. At any rate, she was gasping for air.
I wondered what to say.
"Are you okay?" I finally asked. She looked at me oddly.
"Oh yeah, just peachy." she whispered. She pulled the water out of the glass I was holding and gulped down the Tylenol.
She didn't say anything else. With an absent minded flick of her hand, she turned the TV on. Spongebob was playing. We watched in silence a few minutes, trying to forget Annie's nightmare.
It didn't last though. The sound of footsteps on the stairs signaled Bryan's return. I glanced towards him. Bryan's form was shifting continuously. Blond, brunette, tall, short, green skin, blue skin, tan, pale, wings, metal, glowing eyes, short hair, long hair, fangs, tail... The shapeshifter equivalent of fidgeting.
"Look Sarah, Bryan's going to detonate or something if he doesn't get out of here and I'm not letting him go alone." I informed her. She looked back at Bryan. I could feel him pulling our emotions subconsciously, making Sarah and I just as restless as he was.
"Are you going to be alright on your own?" I asked, staring at her. "Because we can stay."
"I'll be fine. Go on. Don't worry about me...."
I glared at her, unconvinced.
"Sarah...." I whined. "Tell the truth!"
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" she said, with more conviction. "Go on, I'll just watch cartoons for a bit, kay?"
"If you need anything, you know you can-"
"Yes, mother."
Sighing, I scrambled to my feet.
"Okay Bryan, let's jet." I said. "Oh wait, crap. Uniform." I remembered. I glanced at Bryan who had already changed. Freak. Being prepared. No normal person was ever prepared. Okay, at least not in MY definition of normal. Which consisted of Michael, Tabby, Annie.....
Okay.
So maybe it WAS normal.
I ran upstairs and quickly changed into my uniform. I hadn't needed it earlier but now it was probably a wise idea to wear it. We wanted to spread the word that the Band was out in full force. We wanted to discourage any future criminals while we were kicking the butts of the current ones.
Our uniforms had caused me quite a headache. There had been far too much to consider. Practicality, style, colors, materials…. It was all one giant mess.
We eventually figured out something, though I didn’t understand why they were called uniforms. OR costumes. There was almost nothing uniform about our outfits, and they weren’t really costumes. Just a bunch of normal clothes.
But whatever the case, people recognized them as our costumes, and I guess that’s what counts.
Mine own was just a tan vest over a brown t-shirt and some lightweight tan capris. The vest was pretty durable, resistant to knives and fire. Bullets would go right through it though, so I wasn’t going to get too comfortable. I wore sneakers as well. Even though it was easier for me to move earth when I had bare feet, it was also easier for me to get giant, jagged pieces of glass stuck into my skin. Or nails. I’d had a bad encounter with one of those that taught me quite a lesson.
Boots were probably better for hand-to-hand fighting, but nothing compared to sneakers in running like hell. I had to do a lot of that.
Besides the basic stuff, I wore something similar to Batman’s utility belt in which I had placed some of Sarah’s custom zipties and a pair of handcuffs. I also picked up a couple smoke bombs, a metal cable, and a bit of duct tape. (Can’t go without it.) Sarah had supplied me with a bunch of miscellaneous items. I didn’t carry many of them though. The belt was an annoyance, being rather heavy and sometimes jangling as I moved.
I made sure my earpiece was secured and working and then headed back downstairs.
Bryan had (for now) stopped fidgeting. I glanced at his costume.
His had been a REAL pain to design. Not because of the style, or anything as trivial as that, but because of his powers. Spikes, wings, tail.... Normal clothes just weren’t designed for them.
In the end we (and by we I mean Sarah) had to make a sort of “self repairing” fabric. Ever read comics? Familiar with Reed Richard’s “unstable molecule” clothing? That’s basically what we ended up with.
The costume itself was just a t-shirt and jeans. The shirt had a gray X across the front, outlined in black and red. Beneath the shirt he wore something akin to black under armor that was about as durable as my vest. This was also made out of Sarah’s “unstable molecule” fabric.
And as for shoes, he just wore sneakers. Why? Because it made sense.
He equipped himself with some of Sarah’s gadgets and double checked his ear piece. He also grabbed a gun loaded with stun rounds. He was freakishly proficient with it and I’d hate to see someone go up against him if he had live rounds. It would be a bloody mess.
“Okay, ready?” he asked. I nodded. He sprouted a pair of wings, and even though I couldn’t see it, I knew he was doing something screwy with his bone density so he was light enough to lift off the ground. He stepped outside and took to the air.
I trailed him, making a rock glider.
And then we were out, flying over the rooftops of the city.
The Band was on the move.

"Annie?!" I shouted. "Michael!!" Carefully I limped through the wreckage of the Walmart. It was a pretty large store, enough for my voice to echo in it. Sarah trailed me, turning lights on as we went further into the store.
"Go down there." Sarah said, indicating an aisle to my left.
I followed her lead and eventually found my way into the Pharmacy section.
"Now the camera's signal is coming from right over.... there." Sarah said, pointing.
"Well there's Michael." I muttered. The poor kid was propped in a corner, holding a bandage to his head with his eyes closed. The bandage was already stained a brownish red color.
"Where's Ann-" Sarah began.
"Sarah! Paigie!" Annie shouted. I looked around me. I could hear her but.....
"Up here!" I looked up and found Annie hovering over me. “I can fly!” she added, in case the crash landing had given Sarah or I severe brain damage.
‘Flight, huh?’ I thought to myself, making a mental list of our powers. I had escaped the league once, but they were after us. It was a good idea to be prepared.
Gently, she settled onto the ground.
“How are you?” I asked her.
“I’m fine. But Michael’s got a gash on his head. And he keeps-“
“Annie?” I heard Michael mutter and looked over to find him holding his head, the bandage missing entirely.
“Here.” She said, handing him a new bandage.
“I SWEAR he JUST had one.” Sarah said, confused.
“He did.” Annie replied. Now I was confused.
“He keeps burning through them or something. At any rate, he’s disintegrating them. AND don't touch him. It hurts.” She showed me a light burn on her arm which she'd patched up.
I added this odd ability to my mental list and then took a seat on the ground because my leg had begun to ache.
“What happened to your leg?” Annie asked. I gave her a summary similar to the one Sarah had gotten.
“….. So this is basically one big, messed up crack dream?”
“Except for the dream part, yes.”
“Well, crap.”
“Yeah, crap.” I agreed. Silence.
“Well, I’d better get something for your leg.” Annie muttered. “You’re not going to burn through it, right?”
“Nah.”
“Good, cause it’s a pain to keep getting new one-“
“Annie?” I heard Michael groan.
Annie sighed, and then she was in the air again. Sarah sat by me with her laptop.
“Any signs of the others?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. I’ve seen plenty of angry league members looking for you though.”
“Oh. Joy.”
“Wait....” Sarah said, with a pause.
“What is it?” I asked, glancing over her shoulder.
There was Tabby Gold, surrounded by league members who had nasty intentions written all over their faces.
“Crud.” I hissed. “Where is that? Let’s get there as fast as-“
“Wait.” Sarah said again.
I watched the scene play out in the monitor, fearing for Tabby’s health. And then, she shot up in a giant pyre of flames, lighting up anything and everything around her. The camera died as we watched.
“Well that’s... awesome.” I muttered, after staring at the blank feed for a few moments.
“Scary.” Sarah said.
“Awesome.” I countered.
“Scary but awesome.” She compromised.
“Meh.... good enough. Well, at least we know Tabby’s well. Any signs of Bryan?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Keep at that. Annie, can you go collect Tabby? She should be easy to find. The flaming person that’s speeding through the sky. I’ll watch Mike and keep him with bandages.”
“Since when did you become our leader?” Annie asked, handing me something for my leg and a box of bandages for Michael.
“Since Mr. Lloyd retired.” I answered.
And that's basically how I became the leader of the Band.
Sheer sarcasm.

I know Annie's last line sounds a bit snobbish. But I wanted to finish this update off and that was an easy way to do it.
Needs to be proofed. I might do a quick scan.

And here's an awesome video that inspired the following excerpt:

"So wait.... does this mean... you could morph your hair.... into a cat?!" Annie exclaimed.
I almost snorted the water I was drinking out my nose. We were all sitting outside HQ, having a picnic of sorts.
"Never gets old, huh?" I queried her.
"Nope."
"It kinda makes you wanna-"
"Break into song?"
"... Not really what I was aiming for but-"
"NANA-NANA-NANA-NANA NANA-NANA-NANA-NANA CATMAN!!!!"
"Oh God....." Bryan muttered.
"CATMAN!! NANANANANANA-"

I don't know why anyone other than Sarah Carns would be interested in this, but I had an odd urge to post it.

I had an odd dream containing part of our Outsiders story with music playing to it.
And then my brain slowly developed that into the idea of making a soundtrack for our Outsiders story.

So...... TA-DA!
Here it is:

Opening (Confusion) – Here it Goes Again by OK GO
Our Grand Entrance (Return) – Back in Black by AC/DC
Socs – Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani
Greasers – High Voltage Remix by Linkin Park
Enter, Nick and Austen – Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother
The Burning Park – Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple
Recovery (Paige and Pony) – Gifts and Curses by Yellowcard
House Arrest – Sadie Hawkins Dance by Relient K
Sarah and Sammy – Your Guardian Angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Crashing the Soc Bash – Five Minutes to Midnight by Boys Like Girls
Bloody Mess (Soc Retaliation) – Stop by Pink Floyd
Return to Reality (Déjà Vu) – Here it Goes Again by OK GO

And before you comment and/or ask.....
Sammy is imaginary.
Yes, I was dating Ponyboy in this story.
Now leave it alone.