A Funny Thing Happened

I brightened. "Yes, I remember that. I like the dress, by the way." I smiled and wondered if I could post for a roleplay from inside Ditto Town. Though that probably wouldn't work. It'd be like...mind control. Weird.

A woman with a long dark braid strode past. I only caught a glimpse of her face, but I could've sworn it was..."Is it weird to you?" I asked Amë, "I mean, meeting your characters? Do they know you wrote them?"

A Funny Thing Happened

"It was, at first, when I first met them," I replied. "And actually, it is really weird, because there's like an alternate me chronicling what I'm saying right now. We went on Nweb and checked. It's like I split into two persons."

A Funny Thing Happened

"You can go on NarniaWeb here? That's nuts." I blinked quickly, trying to take it all in. "I hope my two selves merge back together when I get home. If I go home." I sighed. "Am I a character now? This is so weird."

I began to try to get past the weirdness of it all. It certainly wasn't doing me any good to dwell on it.

A Funny Thing Happened

"As stimulating as this conversation is," I interrupted Lady A and Sweeet. "We kind of need to get going." I could see the Realms bookstore in the distance and shifted on my feet. Then without waiting for anyone else, I went ahead and ran toward the store, eager to get inside and do the research to get home. An uneasy feeling kept nagging at me. Like something bad was going to happen and that, when it did, it would be my fault if I did not get these people to safety.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

((@Ryan: I'm pretty sure we were walking as we were talking. Drake and Cordelia headed off to the bookstore and I think I wrote that I followed them. ))

A Funny Thing Happened

I shrugged and folllowed Ryan to the bookstore, along with Drake, Cordelia, and everyone else.

A Funny Thing Happened
I followed the others, bringing up the rear. I listened to the others' conversations, especially Lady A and Sweeet's, though I wasn't sure who they were, since no one had really introduced themselves. I knew Ryan and Booky by sight since I was friends with them on Facebook, but I could only guess as to who the others were. I had a sneaking suspicion that the boy that had sung upon my arrival was narnianerd, given the fact that he was the youngest boy, and 'nerd was the only writer I knew of in that demographic.

Anyway, I went back to listening and wondered what my counterpart writing for me was thinking. Had he planned out what my fate would be yet? Or was he just winging it and following the lead of Rising_Star and the others? I decided to just follow along and find out... and then realized that I had probably just answered my own question.

Yikes, I was confusing myself. I decided to think about Zacce and Delantare instead. I wondered if the version of Zacce and my other characters from the old "Real Life" story would be here, and if they would remember coming to our world. I had dropped out of the story right after meeting my characters, so I wondered if it even counted for them. I supposed I would find out soon enough.

A Funny Thing
I shifted towards the back of the group till I was walking in step with Zclva "Yes and if your wondering I'm Narnianerd" I said as I we walked up the stairs "Isn't this so cool!" I added, I would never thing about the possibilaty of me dying like an adult would...

A Funny Thing Happened

"Right," I said, looking at sweeet and shrugging, then following Ryan into the Realms. "And yes, all you need is an internet connection. I think the C&P may have wifi? But either way, it is true. Either we're characters, or our alternate selves are scribes recording the history of another planet as it happens."

Restart

Nate knew that all too well, but he wasn't going to comment on how long it took for Dotty to get over her paranoia with him.

"Why did you take her?" he asked suddenly, taking a deliberate detour on topic but not too far off since Tyler opened the door. "From the hospital."

At Alyson's accusation Father Jacobson only smiled wanly. "This is the only way she knows how to," he said softly. "She has her reasons for doing this, but whether or not it shows she is doing all this becuase she cares about them."

The priest bowed his head and sighed. "Look, I am sorry I can't tell you what you need to know. Even if Dorothea hadn't taken me into her confidence, I still couldn't tell you where she went." He looked at Alyson directly, dismay softening the tone of his voice. "She slipped out while no one was looking, which really took us by surprise considering her condition."

~~~~~~

Mary Jane sniffed. "She said she was surprised," she told him as she lifted her finger to wipe the corner of her eye, "to find me pulling pranks and that I was doing it alone."

A Funny Thing Happened

I stopped at the door and waited semi-patiently while Drake and Cordelia opened the store. As soon as they did I ran inside and began to go up and down the shelves, looking for something that would help me.

I saw all sorts of titles, strange, normal, and paranormal. I had to stifle a grin when I saw The Monster Book of Monsters twitching slightly on a shelf nearby. I skipped over it though and kept looking for anything on universe-hopping, Le Loup Noir, and the Fountain. While I perused I also looked for anything that talked about the last time NWebbers fell into Ditto Town. Maybe they said how they got back.

Restart

Ty shook his head slightly. "She was going to leave anyway. I thought it would be better if she left with me than by herself. They would have caught her in an instant too. She was too weak to really go far."

He frowned and looked around the sanctuary, as if he expected to see Dotty hidden there somewhere.

"Okay, well thanks for the help, I guess," Alyson said, disappointed with the lack of information. With a sigh she moved around him and started down the stairs. As she did she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her recent history. Finding the call back numbers, she called back the number Dotty had called on just recently, hoping to catch her.

----

Chase looked incredulous. "Are you kidding me?! You weren't doing it alone. It was all my idea." He frowned. "Geez, what does it take to get recognition around here?" He huffed in annoyance.

"And it's not like it was a dangerous or dirty prank. They're just bowling balls. They're useful."

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

It took Nate a moment to process the meaning of Tyler's words, but at the word weak he practically jumped. "Weak? Weak from what?"

The priest turned to watch Alyson leave but decided to let her go down alone. With a heavy heart, he walked over to the railing, and with the evening wind blowing at his face he folded his hands in prayer.

It rang twice before the call went directly to Dotty's voicemail.

Hello, you've reached Dotty's cell phone. She doesn't want to take your call right now, so please leave a message and maybe I'll think about responding. BEEP!

~~~~~~

Mary Jane turned and frowned slightly at Chase. "Is that what this was all about?" she asked, hurt and resent fighting for control over her tone. "I told Principle Bernard that it was all my doing, and you wanted to get caught?"

Restart

Ty paled slightly when he realized he had let something slip. He tightened his lips and turned away. He knew she must not be in the church if she had not pounced on him for that, so he made his way toward the front of the church to leave, trying to think of any other place she might go.

Alyson frowned. "I just thought you should know that your absence has sent Nate and Ty Waters on a frenzy looking for you. I hope your satisfied. They're positively freaked out." She hung up abruptly, not bothering to say anything else now that she knew Dotty was not even going to answer her phone.

----

Chase shook his head and flushed slightly. "Well, of course I didn't want to get caught. That's not the point of a prank is it? But--" he cut off abruptly when he realized what she had just said. He looked at her curiously.

"You told her it was all your fault?" he asked, stunned. "Why the heck would you do that?"

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

Fifty-two hours, twenty-six minutes, twelve seconds . . .?

Oh, heck, never mind.

The furrows creasing Dotty's forehead smoothed exasperatedly as she clapped her cell phone close and thrusted it out of sight in her hoodie pocket. Lifting her hand, she brushed her blown astray bangs away from her eyes. There were sirens sounding off faraway from where she stood on the sidewalk; so distant yet piercing they had the akin relationship to the beginnings of a headache.

Maybe that's why she had that slight ache between her eyes, she thought.

This was the first time since who knows how long, and she wasn't about to try to guess again, that she had come out of hiding since after she left Tyler that night at his hotel. It was no wonder she got this kind of greeting from the outside world: cold, damp, and ironically detachedly noisy; they knew when they had been rejected and were giving her the cold shoulder.

It made Dotty huff to think of it that way. Yeah, well, I didn't miss you that much either.

Dotty glanced down the street warily, even though it was empty besides herself, and then lifted her eyes to the tall building in front of her stretching up to the misty midnight sky. Illuminated with brightly aimed lights, the concrete sign behind her declared the building's purpose for her arrival:

The Monstropolis Current.

A news clipping was crumpled in her fist by her side as she surveyed the newspaper facility with narrow eyes. It was very much past midnight with the obvious signs that the building was locked up and no one but security was roaming around inside, which meant that the perpetrator was more than likely not there.

Dotty turned her chin sharply, popping a vertebra in a swift motion. Didn't matter, she concluded, she knew how to get her message across without being seen. This was what she wanted anyways.

Her plans instilled in her head ran over the objectives of her mission as she took her final look over the building and turned to walk down the steps. Adrenaline pumped in her veins, but her gate was slow, as if it was blocked by an impenetrable wall. Eventually, though, she made her way into an alley down the street that led to the backside of The Current. Like she had her ways of manipulating certain events to happen into her favor, she had a skill with breaking and entering using a slight of hand trick.

They won't see it coming, will they? Dotty mused to herself. The stolen patient breaks in and trashes The Monstropolis Current? Death threats are written all over the idiot writer's office wall. The gossip story in her hand crackled as she scrunched it into a tighter ball; her knuckles white until she released it, letting it drop to the puddle filled street. She did not look back as the ink of the photographs of herself and Tyler bled in the pool of water. Anonymous, of course, but will they think it was me?

A shadow fell over her tired eyes, sacks of deprivation hanging underneath, and everything got darker as she continued further into the alley. She certainly hoped so.

--------

It was very early the next morning when The Current found out, and they were a buzzed by the events of last night. All work inside was distracted and everyone stood in the hallways. Some were taking account of the events as they watched, but most simply watched, amazed. Something like this did not happen every day.

Outside was no better; blue and white lights flashed all up and down the streets. Traffic was diverted or occasionally stopped altogether for the curious, asking what was going on. No one had answers, for something like this was not easily explained.

Police walked in and out of the building, but only a few questioned the newspaper employees inside. Most of the men in blue, however, were concentrated behind the yellow tape that was blocking off a small lane. There were more men than usual standing guard by the tape, trying to keep the cameras from getting a closer look, but they allowed men wearing white to enter. And the guards also helped the men in white get past the tape and cameras again as they towed a gurney out of the crime scene.

Floods of questions were asked, but the men in white did not know anymore than they did. The police were not saying anything yet, but they were not surprised at how the news of the incident had leaked out to the public so fast. Concoctions of a story were already spreading without police confirmation, and pictures of the victim taken at the scene only spread the story far and wide like wildfire.

It was the first story announced that morning on television. It was a major story, even without the facts, as debatable commentary grew like gossip's fire. The story was: "Stolen Patient Found Unconscious Outside Monstropolis Current."

~~~~~~

Mary Jane bit her lip, uncertainty falling as she lowered her eyes. "I don't know," she confessed softly. "It is partly true. I did put the ball on her front porch..."

A Funny Thing Happened

The Realms was any book-lover's dream come true. They had everything, and I meant everything, plus things that wouldn't be in any bookstore in our world.

I began to search, passing the Magic section and heading into History. I began to look for recent history books. When had NarniaWebbers last fallen into Ditto Town, anyways?

As I turned a corner to look some more, my eyes fell on a tiny little bluish girl. At least, she seemed all blues, blacks, and pale whites. I froze. This was a character I had only thought of- I hadn't ever written about her.

The Fairytale section was directly across from recent history and she was curled up on the floor reading Thumbelina. She noticed that someone else was there and looked up after a minute, smiling at me.

"Hello." She said in a surprisingly strong voice. "I'm Evory."

No doubt about it. This was the Tatterdemalion I'd thought up.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
"A little, but not much." Kale answered as quietly as she could as she continued down the hallway. Not much at all she thought to herself. "But I was seen, Master. I have to get off the ship. I'm on my way now." she said. "But the memory swipe didn't work." she added regretfully.