Restart

The priest took a step down from the alter. "Of course," he replied. There was a readiness and willing to assist them in any way he could in his voice.

It was obvious to Nate that Father Jacobson had a concern for the girl they were looking for. Even though the priest had met Dotty, he couldn't help falling under the belief that the concern was fostered under Tyler's show of heartfelt worry.

He looked down at the movie star, his mouth pressed in a grim line; he was having a difficult time believing it was genuine.

~~~~~~

After a while the whispered conversation dropped off into silence, and the principle and Mary Jane sat motionless for a few moments. Then the toll of a small clock seemed to have awaken the two, and Mary Jane stood and murrmured a goodbye, which Principle Bernard nodded in her own farewell.

Mary Jane walked quietly out of the kitchen into the living room. Empty handed, she paused at the couch Chase was seated in. "I'm ready to go," she told him softly, her voice hardly breaking a whisper, as if afraid to upset the house with her own voice. She clutched her hands in front of her tightly as she waited for him.

Aftermath
Ellie let out a smile. "You two know each other too well to spar anymore." she said, "You each know what the other is going to do." she joked with a grin. "And that was my guess." she added about his helmet. "I can't blame you for that." Then she saw Matthew and Alexander start to walk over, and wondered what was coming.

(Slightly)
Kale slowly made progress. She slipped in and out of rooms when anyone came by, with a few close calls, and slowly but surely made her way towards inside of the ship. The only thing bothering her was figuring out how to find out what the Sith was up to.

((Hey, would you guys mind putting "Less" after your "(Slightly)"? I only ask because we had another RP that went by "(Slightly)" and so that name really should be reserved for that first one. Thanks! ))

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

"Hey!" A young crew member caught sight of Kale and approached her, hand on his blaster holster. "You're not part of the crew." He frowned suspiciously. "How did you get on this ship?"

----

Jakov nodded slowly. "What will you do once it's translated?" he asked, sincerely curious this time."

Restart

Ty glanced over at Alyson. "Last time we were here, we went up to the tower," he said to her. "If she is here, she might be up there."

Without waiting for either Alyson or Nate, the teen made his way over to the door that led to the stairs that would take him up into the tower. He climbed the stairs quickly, hoping that Dotty would be there.

Alyson hesitated only briefly before following.

----

Chase jumped to his feet. "What's going on?" he asked, glancing toward the kitchen. "What were you guys talking about? Are you okay?"

P.S."Brooklyn!"

A Funny Thing Happened

"It's a literary emergency," Drake lied smoothly. "Just follow me. Cordelia, you coming?"

"Of course. I never pass up a chance to nag you," Cordelia said brightly.

I smothered a laugh and looked around at the others.

"So we ready to go?"

Funny Thing
I looked over from my argument with Hummy "Let's go" I said putting my hunting license back in my pocket.

The Aftermath
Alexander said as the walked over to John and Ellie –at this point John put his visor down- and looked remorseful “I am ever so sorry about that, I got a little carried away. Will you forgive me Ellie?” he asked.

A Funny Thing Happened

"I'm definitely ready to go," I said, nodding vigorously.

I looked around at those with me and then followed Drake and Cordelia out of the Cup&Platter.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

A Funny Thing Happened

I looked up, noting that everyone seemed to be heading out. Finally! "Me too." I agreed with Ryan, really talking to no one in particular. I figured that whoever heard me could make of my words what they would. With that, I followed everyone out the door.

Kari frowned. "Oh. Okay." She shrugged and went back into the kitchen to place a couple of orders.

A Funny Thing Happened

"So, why are we here again?" Arin asked as the three of us dismounted. Since the twins were originally designed to look like me, and I had happened to be wearing my pjs when I arrived, and thus was now wearing a borrowed dress of Alàtariël's, the twins had turned into triplets.

"Because, when I was reading on the forum, apparently some of the other writers have been sucked into this world," I replied, looking around in a slightly perturbed manner. The last time I had ventured out of Esteë had been during the case of The Disappearing Smilies, and I was in no hurry to repeat that experience.

"Honestly, it would be nice if you could visit sometime when there isn't a crisis," Arin grumbled. I reached over and lifted Silvren off of Arin's horse.

"Why is Aunty Amë ill-news?" Silvren asked.

"She isn't, your mother is just being a grump," Alàtariël replied. "In the C&P?"

"In the C&P," I affirmed, taking a deep breath and pushing the door open, incidentally smacking Booky in the head.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I gasped. "I didn't read that far ahead in the for---um...Hi."

I finished awkwardly and wondered if Booky would know who I was. After all, he'd never seen a picture of me, except for one where I was completely backlit on my facebook.

Aftermath
Ellie glanced at Matthew quick before she replied, hoping he hadn't made Alexander apologize. If his apology was forced, it didn't really mean anything. "Yes, I forgive you." she said, seeing as she couldn't really say no. "Just try not to let it happen again." she added, not wanting him to get off too easily.

(Slightly) Less ((sorry Rising_Star, I'll remember from now on ))
Kale turned around, her hand going towards her lightsaber simply out of habit, and saw the crew member. She waited a second, neither of them moving, not sure how to react. Then she remembered Matthew's advice, If you have to, take a memory from a mind of a crew member, but swipe the memory from him as well. She quickly hoped no one was around and gave it a try.

A Funny Thing Happened

"Ouch!" I yelped, backing away from the door in a hurry. "It's a pub, not an urban warfare course."

I glanced outside, spotted two identical women, complete with horses and looked back at the newest arrival, who looked uncannily like the others, minus the pointy ears. She was holding a pointy-eared baby. I knew there weren't a whole lot of elves running around Dittotopia and only one person wrote for a pair of elven twins.

"Lady A, I presume?"

A Funny Thing Happened

"Oh, good!" I gasped, thankful that Booky had sense enough to guess. "Yes, yes, it's me, and you're your excellency self, that's obvious enough. I'm really glad I--we, that is--found you guys. How many of you are there now?"

"Ames...." Alàtariël said gently, coming up behind me.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I exhaled, closing my eyes for a moment, then opening them up and smiling. "Yeah, I'm a little hyper now. Anyway, welcome to Ditto Town. As you said, I am Lady A, and it is good to see the rest of you. What's going on?"

A Funny Thing Happened

I winced automatically when the door hit Booky in the face, but could not help snickering slightly. I looked out and saw the elves. I grinned, knowing instantly who the one holding the babies must be.

"Lady A! Hi!" I waved. "We're heading toward the Realms bookstore to figure out how to get home," I explained.

----

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

The young crew member blinked and then frowned. "You're not a crew member," he repeated. "This isn't a tourist ship. It's a private vessel, so you probably should get off before I have to report you."

He thought she seemed nice enough and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, even though she was acting a little strange.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Funny Thing Happened

Drake raised a skeptical eyebrow and said," More of you? And you've met the elves already? This must be an extraordinary tale."

I glanced nervously back at Drake. He was trying to hide it with a politely neutral expression, but I could see the suspicion lurking. He was as bad at hiding his emotions as I am. Cordelia looked fairly oblivious, but despite her occasional bout of blondness, she was more than smart enough to know something odd was going on.

Restart

Nate followed behind Alyson as Father Jacobson brought up the rear. The procession was a tight fit, even as each one was practically on each other's heels to get up to the tower, but it was mostly cramped because the staircase was small and close fitting. All the way up no one said anything until the priest announced something when they reached the top of the stairs.

"The tower is locked," he called up to Tyler. He tapped Nate lightly on his shoulder, a quiet request for permission to pass, and when Nate stepped aside the priest quicken his gait to catch up to the teen. "What with the repairs to the bell tower it's not safe up there, so we had to block it off. For insurance purposes."

He pulled out a silver key, as if it was need for proof. But with Tyler stopped by the barred door at the top there was little proof needed. Father Jacobson stepped around Alyson, careful of the tiny steps, and working around Tyler he unlocked the door. It took a couple of tries for the lock to give way Nate noticed, as the lock on the door didn't look like it was installed properly, but after a few different turns and one solid shove the priest had the door open with a smile, triumphant.

Nate could hardly wait to get up to the bell tower, and being at the bottom of the line didn't help his patience. But once everyone exited the staircase and entered the tower he rushed in, half expecting (other than finding Dotty there) to collide into an enormous bell.

Instead he tripped over a hammer. Yelping in surprise, he hastily skipped over avoiding another misfortune with sliding his foot over a screwdriver. It took him a moment to find a safe place to put his feet, but looking around the room he thought the priest mention of "repairs" to be an understatement. The little room housing a small bell, suspended few inches away from Nate's head, looked rather like a construction zone, in his opinion.

Reminding himself why he was here, Nate kicked the offending hammer out of his path and started to look around. "Dotty?" He walked over to a pile of wood, a place that looked like it could be used for shelter, and poked his head in. "You here?"

There was no answer except for the loud honking from mid-afternoon traffic coming in from the exposed walls.

~~~~~~

Mary Jane peered down at her hands and then turned for the door. "I'm fine," she replied quietly. "Can we go now?" She didn't really wait for him as she opened the door and started to show herself out.

Restart

Ty looked around the small room, thinking it looked different than the last time he had been there. He saw the balcony where he and Dotty had talked and stepped toward it, sidestepping workman tools.

"Dotty, if you're in here and don't call out, I swear I'll tell them everything you told me," he threatened, thinking that was as good a threat as he could give.

----

"Yeah, sure. Of course," Chase hurried over and led the way to the truck, opening the door for her. He was rather disappointed that his plan for an awesome evening of "bowling" had been cut short in such a despondent way.

P.S."Brooklyn!"