Ditto Fountain I

[Rising_Star]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Katie blinked in surprise as a pastry was shoved into her hands and a strange stranger pinched her cheek. Not one to refuse free food (even if she didn't need it), she ate up the sweet with gusto, shaking her head to Miss Lucinda's question.

"Ain't got no mummy or daddy," she said, spewing bits of pastry. "Not that I 'member. I just got outa that Fountain." She pointed with the hand holding the pastry, crumbs falling to the ground.

Jakov and his men stopped by the Cup and Platter to grab a bite to eat themselves before continuing their supply run. They made their way to a table that was just behind one that sat a man with glasses and a child of the female variety. As he sat, he caught the words of the man with the glasses.

Frowning slightly, he turned in his seat and looked over at the two. "What did you say about the Fountain Fellowship?" he demanded.

A Funny Thing Happened

Needless to say I knew exactly where I was. The problem was I knew I was not supposed to be there. Somehow though, I was not entirely surprised. After what had happened with Chad and Apprentice and Thea with their characters coming to life in front of them, I should have expected a similar thing happening in the future. I just didn't know it was going to be in my future.

While I knew I would need to get home somehow, I could not help but take a stroll down the streets, admiring how everything looked almost exactly how I imagined it. With a slight grin, I opened the door to the Cup and Platter and stepped inside. There were already several people there, and I could not help grinning wider when I saw an actual house-elf cleaning in a corner.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

[narnianerd]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
Scrappy had continued rolling before he noticed that Katie Navy Blue was not behind him anymore. So he turned; when he saw the lady he rolled his optical "Not this nutcase again" he thought before rolling back and angrily beeping at the Ms. Miss Lucinda Evangeline

[eustacegirl]

The Aftermath

Molly stumbled upon a large castle. Little did she know Ellie lived there. As a child she was always the curious type. FInding the castle unlocked, she crept in. It was Huge! THere were flowers everywhere. She gasped when she saw a statue about to look at her.

[narnianerd]

A funny thing Happened
Garn one minute I was ridin' sarg through the woods when da old boy stopped to get a drink at a puddle. da next thing I know me an sarg nearly killn' a platypus an come up in the middle of a town with lots o strange people running around like a chicken with their heads cut off. But then I recognized something; a big mansion “I've done gone and got us in Ditto Town!” I yelled to Sarg, grabbing his ear and looking into his face.

[humdedum]

Hamelin

Annika watched as the boy started to fall. "An explanation would be helpful!" she managed to say. She looked from Olivia back to the boy, then to the pipe.

[Bookwyrm]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

"Oh, you poor dear! No mommy and daddy and transported to this big strange world all by yourself?! Oh my, what is this multiverse coming too? Now, little girl, would you like to come home with me?" Miss Lucinda said in her usual overly friendly stream-of-consciousness style.

[Rising_Star]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Katie pondered a second. . . .

"Okay!" she agreed, finishing off the pastry with a grin. She turned to the droid. "No offense, mind you," she told him. "She just looks like 'er beds'll be more comfortable than yours."

A Funny Thing Happened

I was grinning and reading the menu when a commotion happened at the door. Before I knew what was happening, tables flew through the air and citizens scattered everywhere. I dropped the menu in my surprise and stood there, shocked, as two enormous men stomped into the Cup and Platter.

"We're searching for a Sith Artifact," one of them boomed. "We were told it was in this town. We expect full cooperation."

I stared. The men looked familiar but I could not place them. I was sure I had not written for them before . . . or had I?

P.S."Brooklyn!"

[stargazer]

A Funny Thing Happened

It was a typical waiting room, with magazines to read and quiet Muzak in the background. But the little bundle of energy in my lap was interested in none of this.

"When is Mommy coming back?"

"When the doctor is done seeing her. She wants to make sure the baby is okay."

"I want a sister."

"It might be a boy," I teased; we purposely had avoided finding out so we could be surprised.

"It's a girl," she said confidently.

Just then the door opened to admit my wife and her doctor. "Everything's fine, Mr. Baxter," she said with a smile. Looking down at our daughter she added, "In about three weeks you'll have a little brother or sister to play with, Angela."

It was lunch time, and moments later we arrived at our favorite restaurant. Angie loved watching the spectacular fountain that played in front of the building. She was the most curious, adventurous six-year-old I knew.

I guided Gina to a bench near the fountain, took Angela by the hand, and went in to check on our reservation. When we came back out my wife was rubbing her head. "I feel dizzy, Dan," she said.

"What's wrong?" I began, sitting next to her, only to feel a similar dizzy spell.

"I don't feel good," a little voice offered.

Then the spinning seemed to stop, and I opened my eyes again.

"Look, Daddy," my daughter said, and to my astonishment she was standing next to a fountain - an unfamiliar fountain - and pointing at a platypus frolicking in the waves.

Suddenly, impossibly, I knew where we were. "Oh, boy," I muttered. *

* Anyone remember Quantum Leap?

[sweeetlilgurlie]

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum

Reeses Peanut Butter cups? Check. Glass of water? Check. Computer on? Check.

I was pretty content as I logged into my account on the family computer. My dad had fixed the site blocker so that it allowed me to access NarniaWeb without all the annoyance of turning it off; that was the main reason I was pleased. The second reason was that it was a day off from school! How much more awesome could my day get? I could get on NarniaWeb easily and besides that, I didn't have school.

The computer was booted up and internet explorer was open. I typed in the NarniaWeb address, pressed enter, and waited for the site to come up. And waited. And waited. I began to get a little impatient. I thought that dad fixed this problem! Finally I relaxed as the browser window began to load. It was filled with blue swirls that faded in and out, like a screensaver.

"What the heck?" I wondered to myself. Bug, or NWeb April fool? Except it wasn't April. Hmm. I leaned in to check it out....

And promptly discovered that I was leaning into the screen. I was too shocked to say anything. I tried to pulled my head back and found that I couldn't. Then I was hurtling headlong into crazy colours and then blackness.

[Arwenel]

Hamelin

Olivia hurried to the boy's side and knelt next to him, then hesitated, unsure of what to do next. How could she tell if he was alive, dead, or under some sort of spell? Did they have time to tend to him before the Piper was gone, forever out of their reach?

"Help me wake him," she called to Annika, gently shaking the boy. "He might know something about the Piper!"

[narnianerd]

Hamelin
Caden groaned, all the blood rushing to his head had been too much for him but his was slowly regaining consciousness. He opened his eyes and recognized a familiar face bending over him but he just couldn’t place it… “Liv?” he asked the girl.
A Funny Thing Happened
I had walked into the Cup and Platter behind the two men when the started shouting when a man -whom I recognized immediately well I should you know for- it was Matthew Benedict and sure enough there was Kale Martina sitting directly behind him. Matthew said to the man “Now why would you be looking for a sith holocron in the cup and platter?”
A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
The droid beeped and produced a cake from somewere in his compartments. He figured he'd have to bribe the girl out of going with this culttess nutcase

[zlcva]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Chase started slightly and turned in his chair to face the unknown speaker.

"Ah," he said when he saw Jakov, and adjusted his glasses so they sat better on his nose, "I was just telling my niece here how incredible it is that we're sitting in the very place they did at the start of one of their old adventures." He turned back to Nessie and grinned.

"You see, Nessie?" he said, "Even newcomers to Ditto Town know of the Fountain Fellowship. Who knows, maybe someday you'll be as famous as them!"

Nessie ignored her uncle's ramblings, her attention instead fixed on Jakov. She thought the young man looked decidedly cute, and it was crush at first sight. She smiled shyly at Jakov, hoping he would look at her.

[Rising_Star]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Jakov felt someone staring at him and glanced over at Nessie, passing her over as a child and turning back to Chase. Then something made him look again. Studying the girl for a moment, he wondered if he was going crazy. Something about Nessie reminded him of . . .

Shaking himself inwardly, he turned back to the man. "Maria Sanchez is one of their number, correct? Do you know if . . . Cei has joined them as well?" He frowned slightly.

----

"Ooh, cake," Katie said, taking said cake and biting into it. "Fanks!" she mumbled through the sweet stuff. "Whatchoo got at your boss's place?" She wondered if Scrappy's boss had cake like this all the time. She glanced sidelong at Miss Lucinda, wondering if the older woman had another pastry on her.

A Funny Thing Happened

I stared, dumbfounded, as one of the big men glanced over Matthew and Kale with a look of disdain before swiveling around and pointing straight at me.

"You'll tell us where it is," he boomed. I glanced behind me, hoping they were pointing at someone else. Nope, it was me. I took a step back but was unable to escape in time. Great, just great. I didn't even know who these guys were and they already got me hostage. Just my luck. One of the beefy guys had me by the arm and was moving toward the door.

"What's your name?" I asked hesitantly, wondering if he was a character I had thought up but had never written for.

He did not answer. So much for that plan.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

[zlcva]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life
Chase tapped his index finger on his lips as he muttered the name "Cei" to himself thoughtfully. Suddenly, he brightened and snapped his fingers in triumph.

"Cei! Yes, of course! I know the name! My my, no one's heard from him since the War of Souls, I imagine. I didn't recognize the name at first because he went by an alias then. His name was Tomas, if I recall correctly." He leaned towards Jakov conspiratorially and spoke in a low voice.

"Most people don't know about that. But me being a historian and all, especially of the Fountain Fellowship, I like to find out those sort of things." He grinned, but was interrupted as a thought occurred to him.

"Are you a friend of theirs by any chance?"

Nessie grinned to herself and looked away. He had looked at her twice! She looked around the room without any conscious thought and almost missed a man sitting in a dark corner looking at her. She noticed him as her gaze slipped by. But as she looked back at him, she frowned in confusion. There was no one at the table. She could have sworn she had seen someone.

--------

Up in space, on the fringe of Dittotopia's gravitational pull, Autobot Space Case oversaw a maintenance crew working on the space bridge.

"Make sure the ion generator is secured to the main power terminal. We've been having trouble with it staying on lately," Space Case said to a young robot.

"Well no wonder!" the 'bot, whose name was Skydive, replied snobbishly as he examined the equipment. "This thing's gotta be decacycles out of date! Why on Cybertron are you using such ancient equipment?"

Space Case sighed. Ever since Skydive had arrived with the last supply shuttle from Cybertron two years ago, he'd had nothing but confrontations over how far behind the Dittotopian Autobots' technology was. Space Case had more than once deactivated his audio receptors while the younger Autobot ranted about the inferiority of their equipment, defenses, even their personal alternate modes.

"Just do what you can," Space Case sighed and continued to run through the diagnostic checklist.

[narnianerd]

A Funny Thing Happened
Shono spun around on his bar stool, “not so fast; we’ve been expecting you two for a long time now it would be rude to not stop for a while and have a drink” he drew his blasters, instantly the room lit up green and white as two lightsabers were ignited. I was going to just stand aside and let them pass but once I saw that they were being resisted I drew my revolver “Stop right there”
(Slightly)
Shono scrolled "Oh yah Matthew has stuff like this all the time, and he has a really nice padawan and you and her would get along really good" he said while backing into the lady behind him.

[Rising_Star]

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Jakov nodded slightly. "I knew Cei . . ." he said, trailing off and looking thoughtful. So his old master was alive. That would explain the voices he had been hearing in his head at night, the ones that whispered to him things of the Light Side of the Force, things that kept him from his main objective.

Speaking of which . . . he turned to the little girl and tried his best to give her a friendly smile. Unfortunately it came out as more of a wince.

"How old are you, Nessie?" He glanced over at Chase. "It is Nessie, right?"

----

A Funny Thing Happened

I swallowed hard, thinking I did not want to get into a confrontation here. Not only did I not know how to fight, I didn't even have mace or pepper spray in my pocket.

The big man not holding me laughed and swatted the kid's revolver to the side. "Seeing as we just now discovered there was an Artifact in this town, I highly doubt you were expecting us," he said to Shono. The big man holding me laughed too. I just stared.

This was all wrong. Something about these men seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. They hauled me up and half-pulled, half-dragged me out of the Cup and Platter. I was sure I would have bruises for months.

P.S."Brooklyn!"