A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
Matthew was so disgrunted about being chewed out by the Jedi master. He decided to get it out of his system over a drink. So he went to one of the closest bars and went in to see two jedi's "Great" he muttered before he noticed the boy from the ship.

"What the heck??" he asked as he walked up inbetweent the three force users "What is this? A party? Oh um, one Cacunca please" he said to the bar tender.
---
Kale wasn't going into that low life bar so she went for a stroll, as she passed the bakery a loud scream came from the building. She spun around, ignited it and kicked the door in. "WHATS GOING... Oh dear" she said as she brought her hand up to protect her ears.

Scrappy rolled into bakery behind Kale before he beeped in awe and spun around to get away from that horrible... Thing-that-made-loud-noise
---
A magical transwarp of time and space was accuring at this very moment, humans from another universe were being transported via... The fountain.
Nate scrambled out of the water... well, this must be ditto town he thought I recognise many features... But its different...

You can say that again said a voice in his head "AHHH WE CAN HEAR EACH OTHERS THOUGHTS!" yelled Nate.

Restart

Ty worked his jaw back and forth in frustration. "Listen, if you're not going to tell me anything, why bother to come down here? Just tell me what's going on! Please!" He looked at the priest pleadingly.

----

Chase rolled his eyes. "Well that's bull. Everyone has a favorite color. Just . . . what color do you look at and say 'oh that's really nice' or something like that?" He stared at her intently as if this question were the most important one she could ever answer in her life.

----

Layla frowned slightly. "Isn't . . . that a good thing? I mean, it's good to do things as a family." Even as she said it however, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Mrs. MacShane did not have family dinners. At least, she never had while Layla had been there.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

The priest's eyes slipped shut and he exhaled. He understood Tyler's frustration, for he felt the same, however different the distress was for both of them. Tyler struggled to understand while knowing nothing, and he hassled with knowing while his hands were tied. But he wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time; he had to find away to work around the bonds Dotty put on him. Even if all he did was insignificant in comparison to what he could really do, he wasn't going to just standby and do nothing again.

Reluctantly, slowly, he forced himself to shake his head. "I can't. Because it's not my place to tell. It's Dorothea's."

With the knowledge that he was going to have to explain himself, the priest walked across the room and sat down on the bed beside Tyler. Looking into the teen's face, he continued carefully, hoping his words wouldn't go over the boy's head. "If I told you what was going on I would break her trust in me--No," he shook his head and corrected himself quickly, his gestures becoming more animated as he tried to make Tyler understand, "her trust in people. Dorothea has lived in a life filled with suspicion and distrust and fear because no one would listen to what she was trying to tell us. I know she never said anything to you, but I also know by the way she was acting and pushing people away that she was trying to tell anyone who would notice that something was wrong."

Father Jacobson took a breath as he let that sink in. "I want to help, Tyler," he said sincerely. "I really do. But I can't help you in the way you want me to. Because the way you want to help her is not what she needs the most."

~~~~~~

Mary Jane frowned as the thought came to her that this question was slightly pointless to answer, but, looking around the room, she tried to do what Chase suggested. Lifting her hand, she pointed at a green pillow that laid un-purposefully on the floor. "That's a nice color . . . ?" she stated carefully, as if it might be the wrong answer.

~~~~~~

Shane snorted. "Yeah," he said sarcastically. "One would think. . ."

He didn't know what his mother could be up to, if it was her who wanted this dinner. She was always too "sick" to have them over to eat, so this led Shane to wonder what dirty mischief was afoot now.

"Do you know where MJ is?" he asked suddenly, looking up ate Layla.

Restart

"Yeah, of course." Sydney said, reaching over and patting Aveda on the back in a surprisingly non-awkward way. Aveda shrugged him off and slid off the stool before moving to the booth by the window, hoping they both felt like jerks for whatever reasons. Sydney glanced at Samantha with an apologetic half-smile before he followed the girl and sat down next to her.

----

"Like I care. Who are they gonna believe? Me, or some twit that just walked in and asked a bar if they cater?" Walter shrugged, picking up a drink that he assumed Lynn had been drinking on the job.

Restart

Samantha wondered if Aveda always acted so . . . offended. Biting her lip gently, she followed the two and sat down across from the girl and Sydney.

"So . . . you live in Monstropolis?" she asked, starting off the conversation semi-formally.

----

"Better hope they don't believe in 'the customer's always right,'" Elena said casually, glancing at the drink and wondering if she could get away with having some.

----

Ty shook his head and stood. "I'm tired of all this crap," he said. "If you won't give me a straight answer I'm going to Dotty. And if she doesn't give me anything than I'm giving up. A person can only take so much abuse and if she pushes me away again, I'm not coming back." He gritted his teeth and made for the door. "I'm sick of being yanked around like this," he muttered under his breath as he opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

----

Chase grinned and nodded. "See there? That's progress. You like the color green. It's maybe not your favorite, but it's a step in the right direction." He looked at her a moment and tilted his head slightly. "My favorite color changes a lot. Right now though, I think it's hazel."

----

Layla was hesitant to say at first. But then she realized she should not keep a mother from her daughter and so sighed and answered, "At our place."

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

When Tyler stood to leave, the priest jumped up and quickly followed. "You're making a mistake, Tyler," he insisted while he closed the hotel door behind him. "She doesn't need a protector like you think she does, she needs a friend right now!"

~~~~~~

Mary Jane frowned thoughtfully. "Why aren't you sure it is your favorite?" she asked.

~~~~~~

At that reply Shane laughed outright. "That'd be a hoot if Mom found out," he snickered, and at that thought he grew suddenly pensive.

Restart

"I can't be her friend if she doesn't trust me," Ty hissed, pushing the button for the elevator a little harder than necessary.

----

"No, I'm sure it's my favorite," Chase said. "I'm just not sure for how long it's going to be." He studied her carefully, wondering if she was getting his subtle hints or if it was all just flying right over her head.

----

Layla frowned slightly. "Why would it be?" she asked cautiously.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

"Yes, I know that." Father Jacobson sighed and looked up to see how far away the elevator was. The time it took to get on the floor would have to be enough for what he really needed to say.

"That's why I came. To help you let her know that she can trust you." He took a deep breath before he dropped the bomb. "Don't judge her, Tyler. If you want to be her friend, don't judge her for what she's doing. You don't know the whole story." The priest looked at the teen with the hope that what he said would get through to him.

~~~~~~

Mary Jane's frown deepened slightly as she tried to process what he said. "Oh," she said, unsure she understood at first, but then she started to nod slowly. "Because it changes a lot. Ah, I get it now." Smiling, happy she got it, she turned her attention back to the TV.

~~~~~~

"Quick! Get some of John Luke's stuff packed," Shane abruptly commanded. He turned quickly away and ran off into his room. With the door open banging could be heard as he looked for something.

Restart

Ty did not answer, just stared at his cold expression in the reflection of the elevator doors. Then the doors opened and the reflection fell away.

"I know," he said finally stepping in and pressing the "close doors" button. "That's what I'm going to find out." The doors shut and he pressed the button for the lobby. With a sigh he pushed back his hair and ran his hands over his face.

When he got to the lobby he sprinted to the garage, got into his car, and drove to the hospital. It took him a moment to get up his courage to walk into her room, and when he did he kept his face carefully impassive.

"Hey," he said finally, looking at Dotty from across the room where he stood in the doorway.

----

That went well, Chase thought with some disgust, shaking his head and turning back to the TV. "So um," he cleared his throat. "What's your favorite food then?"

----

Layla carefully stood, laying John Luke's head down on the couch before hurrying over to Shane's room. "What in the world are you doing?" she asked, frowning at him from the doorway.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Moira's ear-shattering screaming continued on for a few more seconds after Nikolas spoke. Then the cold breeze stopped and she reverted back into her previous outfit. The banshee baker looked a bit embarrassed as she self-consciously smoothed back her windswept hair.

"Sorry. It's a bit hard to fight off the old habits. In the old days, I would have been doing that all night long, except for breaks when I would appear at the nearest body of water, washing bloodstains out of old clothes."

Instead of looking frightened, Malcolm just looked confused.

"Wait, are you saying I'm going to die? How? When?"

Pandora peeked over the top of the counter, spotted Scrappy, and disappeared back under it with a yelp. She still wasn't used to robots.

Moira suddenly noticed the kicked-in door and swore in something that might have been ancient Celtic.

"Did you really have to kick the door open? It's a glass door. This is a shop, not a blooming fortress. And turn that thing off," Moira snapped before turning to address Malcolm. "Yes, Malcolm. You're going to die. You're going to be Jack's first Dittopian victim unless we can stop him first."

-----

"Oh, no worries, dearie. I can understand how it might look a bit bad and we did just meet. Now follow me. The barrow wights told me they think there's a vampire in the crypt over here in the corner. Maybe we shall get lucky and find more than one! Oh, that would be nice, dearie."

Miss Lucinda all but skipped through the graveyard, arriving at a shabby crypt in the farthest corner of the graveyard. She knocked on the door and listened intently for sounds of life or rather unlife.

-----

"You again," Ana said distastefully and then continued her conversation with Caedan. "Honestly, I think most of them are exactly like that. Either like dear Master Vendar over there or they've got a god complex. At the risk of sounding like some old hag, they don't make Jedi like they used to."

"Telling more impressionable strangers your amusing stories again, Master Dyar? How old are you claiming to be now? I suppose eventually you'll be telling us you built the Fountain," Master Vendar commented acidly.

"Don't be ridiculous. The Fountain was ancient long before I ever arrived on Dittopia," Ana retorted.

"Dittotopia."

"Give me a break. It's been common practice to call it Dittopia since the Time Lords were around and they named the fraking planet."

"While I might be reluctant to deny your personal commonness, you are a master of the Jedi Order. There is a certain amount of decorum you should observe. Using loutish slang names for the planet is a habit beneath you, Master Dyar. As is profanity."

"Give me another drink, please. I'm begging you," Ana said to the bartender.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Nikolas suddenly looked at Malcolm with new interest. "Do you think you'll go to your Underworld, or to mine?" he asked, his dark eyes gleaming strangely.

"We'll help you!" Peter told Moira, eager to do something besides stand around and eat pastries.

Hero looked Kale up and down with some distaste. "I hope you're willing to pay for that," she said, nodding to the shattered door.

----

From inside the crypt came an irritated groan and a voice called out in an annoyed British accent, "Would you please stop that awful knocking? Some people are trying to . . . sleep."

Katie frowned slightly. "Wot 'e talkin' about? I fought vampires sleeped in coffins in daytime."

----

Caeden, who was not a Force-user (and never would be to his knowledge) watched the two Jedi Masters with wide-eyed interest, the strobe lights of the bar reflecting multiple colors in his shiny blue eyes.

"Woooooow," he said slowly. "This is better than Days of Our Un-Dead Lives or General Medical Bay!" He paused then quickly added, "Not that I watch soaps of course. But I've seen clips and man, you two definitely top them."

He decided to ignore the presence of the other Jedi, too absorbed in watching Ana and Master Vendar.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

A (slightly) less normal life
"Well sorry, I thought sombody was being stinking murdured in here..." she said as she began digging through her pockets and pulled out a hand full of credits and slid them on the counter.

"Will this do? she asked... Scrappy rolled in warily and beeped a few sounds which Kale took a moment to decode in her brain before she said "I'll help" Scrappy jumped in suprise and bepped angerly at Kale as he shook his dome shaped head back and forth in disgust..
---
Matthew rolled his eyes "I see you two are getting along again..." he sat down next to the boy "I hate it when these two argue... They go on and on and on... Can I get a drink as well?" he said to the bar tender.

Restart

"Yeah." Sydney said, surprised this didn't feel weirder than it did. He set his glass on the table and leaned back against the back of the booth.

"I got an apartment a couple months ago, it's a pretty nice city to live in." He said, dwelling briefly on how much trouble breaking up with Kisa and breaking their lease so they could find their own places had been. He never failed to be at least a little surprised by how at ease his mind was now about the whole ordeal. While he regretted that things hadn't worked out the way either of them had hoped, he didn't hold any grudge against Kisa and he didn't feel any guilt on his part either. As far as feelings on serious break-ups went, he felt pretty lucky.

-----

"Seriously, I'm not that worried about it. They're not gonna fire me without a coaching or something." Walter grinned after finishing the drink and setting the glass back.

"I'm gonna go tell her we don't, just cuz." He said, turning to go.

A (slightly) less normal life

Kevin chuckled "I geuss we can... Who the heck was that... Spirit, guy, thing..." Nate looked around "He said his name was David Benedict... Lets find a library and look him up"

Kevin nodded "Come on... Maybe if we find him he can tell us where we are and why we are here" Nate looked around "Yeah" he steped forward and asked a ramdom townsperson where the nearest library was but he came up with a name of a book store named "Realms" he said to his brother.

When Kevin heard the new's he nodded and Nate said "Its right around the corner" so they headed off to the bookstore where they walked right in. Nate began looking around and Kevin went strait to the counter "Would you happen to have anything on David Benedict or his family line?"

Hidden Away

Jackie shook her head and jerked her gaze away from the crowd. "No, I'm just..." Her sister had a far-away look in her eyes. Ah, well. She was off in some country just now. Steph always had quite the imagination. "Bye!" Jackie told her sister with a wave.

After a little while she was in art class. The class itself was pretty fun. Jackie always enjoyed art, and she especially liked doing the charcoal sketches they were working at right now in class. Ahrick wasn't there though; Jackie knew cause she looked for him.

She was kind of disappointed. Somehow she'd been really looking forward to seeing his stuff. Maybe he was out of school with a sickness. Jackie idly wondered what kind of sickness a vulcan could catch. Weird.

Class was dismissed with the annoying (yet relieving) BRINNG! of the bell. Jackie stopped to talk to her friend Allie at her desk on the way out. "Let me see your panda!" Jackie said to Allie, excited.

Allie made a face and held up her piece of thick charcoal paper. On it was a shape that vaguely resembled a panda. "It looks like crap."

"No, it doesn't!" Jackie protested, holding back her natural criticism. "It's just abstract." She grinned.

"Thanks." Allie said, obviously not believing her but taking what Jackie had given anyhow.

Jackie cleared her throat slightly. "Did you see Ahrick today?"

"Your crush?" Allie asked, a bit too loudly for Jackie's taste.

Jackie gave her a look that silenced Allie from further tactless comments.

"Nope, and I haven't for the past few days." Allie said.

Jackie frowned. A long sickness, maybe? "I'll go ask Ms. Dewalt." She waved goodbye to Allie and went over to her teacher.