I watched the birthday song and dance with interest and tried not to laugh. Somehow I thought that Grump wouldn't appreciate my sense of humor.

"Happy Birthday?" I said questioningly to Nathanael. Then I figured that it was. Ryan (the person helping to write Ryan and Grump, not here in Ditto Town) had probably seen that it was Booky's birthday and decided to write a post about it.

I felt rather like a puppet after I considered that.

Evory tasted confetti and decided that, for all of its color, it was not nice at all.

It was just a little disorienting to suddenly appear somewhere else. I decided I really didn't like teleporting. Glad there's no such thing in the real world, I thought. Somehow I couldn't help thinking of Earth as "the real world", even when Dittopia was so painfully real itself.

I vaguely recalled something about a house elf from the Mansions, but couldn't name him. Hopefully his singing scared any nearby badguys away.

"Happy birthday booky" I said before turning back to Kevin, I then proceeded to tackle the much larger man by taking out his legs with my body. I groaned as he landed on me then said "Shh, no one can know, if they found out that we were from earth they would kill us" I said trying to fool him into thinking that they came from the same earth he did.

Kevin quickly scrambled off of me "OK, why?"

I stood up and responded "The prejudices in this town to anyone from our home planet earth are huge, I would be careful if I were you"

Kevin looked down at me, raising an eyebrow "I've been here for a few years now and haven't experienced these prejudices" he said "In fact they've all be very kind"

What could I say, I had created him to be a modern day Sherlock Holmes telling a yarn to him and convincing him of it was as hard as catching armadillo without gloves. Considering I've never tried catching an armadillo at all I wouldn't know.

---

VACs scattered over to the otherside of the square, hiding next to building he transformed into somthing that looked like a mouse droid and rolled onto the ship behind two soldiers

I tried my best not to laugh at the sudden singing outburst from the small creature that apparently knew Booky (a character from some RP perhaps). After the little guy disappeared, I turned to Booky. "Many happy returns on the day, Booky." I said before turning to Derran.

Apparently, Derran had decided to scout around on his own while we were preoccupied, for he suddenly jumped down from the roof of the closest buildings and walked over to Ryan. "There are several enemy soldiers scattered throughout the town. Most seem to be around the large ship in the middle of the Square." The elf reported and then waited, expecting Ryan to give some-sort orders.

I wasn't sure what to do. The man behind me continued to prod my back with his blaster, jamming it again and again into my spine. I became irritated as his idiotic laughter went on. "Please just...shut up!" I breathed, not believing, even though he brandished it quite well, this stupid guy could really do anything dangerous to me with his weapon. I didn't doubt that the Twi'lek could inflict some uncomfortable circumstance on me if she tried, so I didn't test her temper. The ship loomed closer as we approached and I found my voice taken from me. I've got a bad feeling about this... I thought.

Jason sign language talked to Matthew due to the radio's being jammed "Should I take out the two soldiers"

Matthew used the force to reply mentally "No, I'll contact VACs and tell him to follow that girl, we can't blow our cover yet"

Jason nodded and ducked back into his position, Matthew reached out with his mind to contact the small maximal. Boy these halfway mechanical minds were hard to reach. Finally he made contact and thought to VACs Stay calm VACs its just me

Not heading Matthews warning VACs nearly jumped out of his cybertron armor, the voice inside his head was so unexpected. What with the radios being down. Who could blame him.

"Matthew you idiot!"

Le Loup Noir entered the cell block, moving straight past Harry and Hank and going directly to the cell which held the girl. He looked down at her for a long moment, his sea-green eyes bright behind his wolf-head mask.

He turned to Harry and Hank and said something in French.

"Uh, the Captain wants to know how you came to be here," Harry said to Susie.

-----

I hated how everyone was looking at me to tell them what to do next because I really had no idea. I mean, I liked being a leader, sure, but only when I had a set list of things I had to do, or had some sort of guidebook or curriculum. Here, we were on our own and I didn't think I could handle that responsibility.

Still, we needed to do something. And as Le Loup Noir was my character, I guess it naturally fell to me to lead.

"So, um, I guess someone needs to find out where we can get big, explosive weapons. Um, and someone needs to find out what kind of cloaking that ship has. Oh, and we also need to find out what happened to that girl that was captured."

------

"Like, you shut up," Sameka said, rolling her eyes. "You're our prisoner, like duh. So, like, you need to start, like, acting like one."

P.S."Brooklyn!"

"Heh, thanks guys. Definitely a memorable birthday experience," I said. I listened as Ryan listed the things that we needed to do. "Weapons are easy. We just need to get into the Ditto Town Armory. Remember? From Secret Origins? It's been here since the Time Lords were around and it has pretty much every weapon imaginable inside of it. The only problem is these soldier guys might have it under guard already. As for the cloaking field, my sonic screwdriver should be able to handle that."

I quickly moved away from the door when I heard someone coming. A small gasp escaped my throat as I saw the masked man staring down at me. This must be the Captain. I thought. Harry confirmed my thought moments after the Captain spoke to him in what sounded like French. Not that my French was any good, but my Mom had learned French and she had taught us kids a few phrases.

"I--I'm not sure," I said, my eyes darting back and forth between Harry and the Captain. "One minute I was at home, and the next I was here."

Hank saluted the captain and stood to the side, listening to the beginnings of a conversation. He mused that Harry had translated ineptly. How incompetent.

------------

Claric poked Lonnie up the ramp of the ship and inside. "Yeah. Prisoner. Waaaaait." He stopped abruptly. "Wait. If she's that prisoner, then how she's acting is how a prisoner acts. Right?" He looked over at Sameka hopefully.

------------

I hesitantly raised my hand. "I don't know how to use any weapons but my fists."

"What am I supposed to do? Tremble and shake in your presence!?" I asked, challenging her to make me. I hesitantly looked around the small area of the ship we had gone in. This couldn't be that scary....I watched all those starwars movies. None of the really important people were ever wounded too badly. But I suppose there were a few times....Luke's arm...and Han...oh!! I thought, feeling a sudden pang of fear. They wouldn't hurt me! I had nothing they wanted! I was a simple girl from earth. What did they want? I suppose begging them would do no good. But crying would only show weakness, and they would know they could manipulate me easily. But I wanted to cry! The man than started saying something about me acting like a prisoner. I shook my head....and waited.

* backtrack *

As everyone had made their transitions, I had only stood and watched, my heart sinking. As Ryan had pointed out, I had been here before, and I knew the elves. Besides not being sure if writing powers would work for me, I also wasn't sure if it would be wise. The problem was, I was so close to all my "characters"--they were all part of me, or showed different parts of my personality. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I wasn't sure I wanted to attempt it. And if I did, how would it effect my characters with those characteristics? Would they get hurt if I..."borrowed" some of their powers or armor?

I was so lost in my thoughts that I nearly missed Sylvia's call for departure. I immediately grabbed a piece of paper and one of the now scattered pens, then paused. To write, or not to write? Sylvia made her final announcement before departure. I gulped. This is it...what gets done, is done I thought, and scribbled my order onto my scrap paper. Shoving it into my pocket, I hurried to gather with the others, vaguely wondering if anyone would notice--or if I truly had been here too long. I was kind of sure Sweeet would, now that she was force-sensitive, but I doubted anyone else would. I was the last into the circle, and stepped in apparently just in time, too. Looking around the back alley, I really wasn't expecting Grump to appear. Microseconds into his song, a chill came over me, and then what felt like a snake suddenly curled around my arm. Jumping and trying not to shriek (I think I made a sound somewhat reminiscent of a hiccup), I looked down and discovered that Silvren had come with us.

"Oh no..." I muttered. Now what?? I also realized at this moment that we had left without, well, without letting the elves know where we were going. And now I had everyone's favorite child with me. Now, to see if my skribbles (stet) had worked like everyone else's had....

Arin? Limwen? are you there? As talk around me moved away from birthdays and into armories, my heart began to sink. It hadn't worked....

Who are you??? a voice suddenly demanded. I jumped (again. Maybe certain personages were right about how much coffee I drank....), and looked around. I didn't see anyone new, or anyone that would be talking to me. Then, I felt foolish. I never had experienced telepathy before, but this was apparently my first taste of it (and proof that the rest of my wish list was reality).

This is Amë.

Since when did you start telepathing?

Um...don't ask. These teleporter people are taking us all over the place, though. We're back at the bookstore, and Silvren is with me...she must have come in right before we left.

I waited patiently for Arin's string of elvish curses to finish.

So, yeah...what do you want me to do? I asked.

Take Silvren with you and STAY ON THIS PLANET. I will catch up with you...hopefully. Keep her safe!

Huh boy....

"Oh, yeah," I said, remembering the Armory now. "I have no idea where that is." I looked over at Sylvia hopefully.

-----

Le Loup Noir studied Susie for a moment, his eyes cold yet bright with anticipation, an odd combination.

He turned to Harry and said something else.

"Uh, the Captain wants to know where the others are that came with you. They appeared next to or in the Fountain or something. But then they disappeared."

-----

Sameka's mouth opened and shut like a fish and then she frowned. "Like, omigosh, you're like, so rude! I hope the Captain like, tortures you for that."

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Others? I wondered. Other people were appearing in Ditto Town? Who were they? And where were they? If they had appeared at the same time, why hadn't I seen them?

"I don't know who you're talking about," I said. "There wasn't anyone else with me."

"Is this the subtle way mortals ask for help?" Sylvia asked, looking at Ryan.