Return of the Fountain Fellowship

David raised his eyebrows at Ace. "Lieutenant Ace, huh? What'd you do to get that punishment?" His eyes crinkled at the corners as he almost smiled.

"Thanks, though," He said, "I appreciate it." He glanced up at the time and nodded. "I have to go get suited up. See you around, sir." David waved and headed off.

----------

Meanwhile, Grace was going on a very boring tour of the external lab facilities of MESS. One of the lab technicians was blathering on about how great MESS was, and how their work was so important, yada yada yada.

Grace cleared her throat to get the other's attention. She didn't take the hint. Grace did it again. No result. Finally, she just interrupted her flat out. "This is all wonderful, but can I talk to someone who really knows what they're talking about? What do you actually do here? Where do you do it? What are your experiments?"

The tech looked at Grace in shock, not entirely sure of what to do.

"Can I talk to your head scientist?" asked Grace bluntly.

The tech stammered a reply at last (Grace didn't quite catch it) and scurried off.

"Finally," Grace said, shaking her head in disbelief.

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

Stella watched the scene, her brown eyes narrowed. She quickly jumped up as soon as they were dismissed, put her bowl away and ran for the doors. Pushing past everyone, she ran to Dorothy, who was waiting outside the dining room.

"Curls!" Stella pulled her behind a corner and said, "You're in big trouble and I really don't want to do this, but I think it'll help your case."

Dorothy stared at Stella, until pain exploded from her nose, caused by Stella's swift hand. She gasped as her vision swam momentarily. Her left hand flew to her nose and she stared at Stella, eyes wide.

"Sorry," Stella said, shrugging. "Just savin' your neck. Don't worry, I didn't hit you hard enough to break your nose. Just hard enough to make it a little red...and possibly bruise it..." Stella offered a slightly apologetic smile.

Dorothy pulled her hand away to make sure that her nose wasn't bleeding. Voices could be heard as the other Receivers filed out of the dining room. "What are you thinking?" Dorothy asked, touching her perfect, but painful nose again.

"Daniella shoved that bowl into your face pretty hard, huh, Dorothy?" Stella smirked, turning away and hinting at her objective. "Tivvens is on her way to find you. Don't bend the truth too much, yeah?"

Dorothy watched Stella saunter away, her mouth parted in shock. She sniffed, straightened her uniform and followed, looking for Sam.

~~~

Stella caught up to Will and Lyssa. "Sorry, I had to do something."

~*~ Brywahr Academy ~*~

“Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything, Brywahr is still dull as ever.” Will said with a playful smirk.
Will bent down and grabbed his bag, then pulled his notebook off of the table and stuffed it in, “So, What were you up to anyhow?”

~*~ Brywahr Academy ~*~

Stella shrugged. "Running around and hitting people." She said nonchalantly, with a slight grin on her face. From what she knew of Lyssa and Will, they would both think she was joking.

~~~

Dorothy caught sight of Sam and walked up to her. Taking the girl by the arm, she turned her toward herself and said, "Now, if we're going to spend multiple hours in each others company, I think we need to get a few things straight. I do not tolerate foolishness, or any other such craziness."

Dorothy smiled her signature smile; cold and unkind. "And, if you do anything to cause trouble for me, you will regret it. If you wish to get out of this dungeon, you will listen to everything that I have to say and you will obey me in everything." She took a breath. "And for goodness sakes, don't listen to anything Daniella tells you, unless she's agreeing with me or the Givers. Do you understand?"

~*~ Brywahr Academy ~*~

Dan let out a sigh of relief as Ms. Tivvens dismissed them. He quickly gathered the few things that he had brought into the cafeteria and left the room as swiftly as he could manage without actually breaking out into a run. As soon as he was out of the room he caught up to Brownie and cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.
"Didn't I would get out o' that one so easy." He flung out a relived chuckle "And who are our new friends here?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lilly walk swiftly out of the room head down, staring at her shoes, she had no clue where the theater and she didn't want to look like a fool and have to ask, but there was no help for it and she didn't want the humiliation of getting lost for the second in two days, she tugged on a lock of her hair for a bit and then decided that she would just have to ask.
"Brownie?" there was that accent again "How might I get to the theater?" Well, this way at least she won't have to worry about being completely lost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mckenzie Nicholas Midread hadn't had a chance to do something really fun yet today, and now was his opening, he caught sight of the girl with the fiery red hair, the one that everyone had dubbed "The Wild One" and made his way inconspicuously towards her, when he was close enough he grabbed a lock of her hair and gave it a hard yank, then he quickly slipped back through the crowd of receivers so that he wouldn't be detected. Now to see her reaction!

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

"Are they?" Brownie asked Daniella. He didn't really know how frightening the Givers were, because they never punished him. Then he tried picturing them punishing Lilly and they did seem terrifying to him indeed. "Yeah, I guess they are."
Just then, his beloved Lilly came up to him. She asked the way to the theater. "It's in the very end of the Eastern Hall. Would you like me to take you there?"

~

Lyssa laughed at what Stella had said. She wasn't sure if it was a joke or not, but it didn't matter, really. Lyssa had, after all, had times when she wanted to go around and hit people too.
Stevie, who was still with them, was still thinking over what Atom had pointed out earlier. "I can't get over that Brownie Mason. Do you realize he can go around and do whatever he wants? Whatever he wants? He was the only Receiver in the Dining Hall who didn't look bothered by Tivvens a minute ago. He just sat there cool as a cucumber."

~

"Foolishness?!" Sam screamed at her. "You are foolishness! Foolishness is what you are made of! I will regret nothing, but you will regret ever speaking to me! Sam listens to no one but Sam!" and she spit at Dorothy.
Just then, Sam felt someone tug at her hair. She whipped around but saw no one. Frustrated, she let out a scream and charged at the general mass of Receivers in the hall.

~Riella

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

Daniella rolled her eyes at Brownie's obvious question. "No, I was just saying that because I'm a rebel." Then, he noticed Lilly. "Yeah, we cna both take you there."

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

Dorothy's jaw dropped when Sam spit at her. She growled and stood to her full height. "This is hopeless!" She exclaimed, glaring at the girl before her.

A hand pulled on a lock of Sam's hair and the boy who it belonged to quickly walked away.

Dorothy Ann Pickett wasn't one to stick up for brats she didn't like, but in her current bristled state, she didn't let it slip this time. She would gain Sam's trust if it was the last thing she did. Straightening, Dorothy turned on her heels and walked right up to Mckenzie. "Mckenzie, you may think you got away with that, but you are wrong. Now, I would appreciate it if you marched right back there and apologized to Sam. She's had a rough morning and I don't want it to get any worse. Apologize now." She said the last two words in a drawn out, demanding tone.

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

Brownie tried not to look annoyed at Daniella, first for her harsh reply, and second for her volunteering herself to go along. He had wanted to escort Lilly alone, so he could get to know her more. There wasn't really a place to go on a "date" at Brywahr Academy, after all, so he had to make do with talking to her between classes. But that would be hard to do if Daniella was always there.

~Riella

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

As soon as she was dismissed, Tess decided to look for the two other new "receivers", as they were called here. But finding them was harder then she thought so instead she just walked along with the group. She nearly ran into the new male receiver when she tried to get out of the way for Sam, as she charged at the group. She turned around and said to him(who was holding his wife's hand) "oh I'm so sorry! Are you alright? I'm Tess !"

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

"Hello Tess!" Henry answered with a warm smile. "How are you?"
"You look a little lost," his wife put in. "If you'd like, you can follow us to our room. There's no classes for awhile, and we were thinking of holding a Bible study with whoever wants to come. Don't tell the Givers though. I don't think they'd allow it."

~Riella

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

"We can all do whatever we want...we just run the risk of being caught." Stella said, smirking. She glance at Brownie. "You know, I've never really talked to Brownie...Perhaps I should..."

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

"Sure," answered Stevie. "He's a nice boy, you know. He just irritates me. Because he doesn't have to worry about getting caught... ever. I guess it's not his fault. Just as long as it doesnt go to his head."

~Riella

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

"Thank you very much! I would love to join you!" Tess replied very enthusiastically. She believed that she could really like these two receivers a lot.

~*~Brywahr Academy~*~

Dorothy's jaw dropped when Sam spit at her. She growled and stood to her full height. "This is hopeless!" She exclaimed, glaring at the girl before her.

A hand pulled on a lock of Sam's hair and the boy who it belonged to quickly walked away.

Dorothy Ann Pickett wasn't one to stick up for brats she didn't like, but in her current bristled state, she didn't let it slip this time. She would gain Sam's trust if it was the last thing she did. Straightening, Dorothy turned on her heels and walked right up to Mckenzie. "Mckenzie, you may think you got away with that, but you are wrong. Now, I would appreciate it if you marched right back there and apologized to Sam. She's had a rough morning and I don't want it to get any worse. Apologize now." She said the last two words in a drawn out, demanding tone.

Mckenzie Nicholas Midread was infuriated That miss. Pickett had seen him, That spoiled my fun, so I'll spoil her's. He thought to himself as he turned angrily around and trained his face to look confused.
"Whatever do you mean, Miss. Pickett?" He asked in a lazy unconcerned way "Whatever could I have done to displease you so? Why I have absolutely nothing to apologize for, I believe it's Brownie that pulled the girls hair, I saw him do it." He knew it was a long shot but he was willing to give it a go, after all there was nothing that they could do to him that he would be afraid of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thanks," Lilly said "I'd really appreciate it, she stopped pulling at her hair and looked up into Brownie's face "That's if you don't mind I mean..." she glanced at Daniella "And you." Lilly looked back down and closed her eyes for a brief moment. She almost wished that Daniella hadn't offered to come... But she wasn't sure exactly why that was...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dan had been about to offer to show Lilly the way to the theater when he realized the chance that this could be for Brownie, and he noticed the rather obvious disappointment on Brownie's face when Daniella had offered to go with them so he took action to help his friend.
"Hey Daniella, I found a book that I think you'll like while I was in the library yesterday. would you like to come take a look?" It was the best he could do.