Sweetcherrie

Parasites under our skin, locals complain. “Hold still, this will be over in a minute.” The nurse injected the needle slowly, and when she pulled back the little chemical worm was firmly in place. The child hadn’t even cried much, and she gave it a lollypop. Ever since They had landed, she hadn’t had one moment of rest. They insisted that all should be vaccinated as soon as possible, which in her humble opinion was a ridiculous job, but what They wanted, They would get. It had been clear since the beginning that the world’s leading governments were all behind this project, and if the governments decided something like this collectively… She sighed, tired as she was she really didn’t feel like injecting the next worm, and for a short moment she thought about calling in sick, but They would know, They always knew. Sometimes she wondered how and why they had come here, but one wasn’t supposed to ask. No, one was supposed to follow orders. Back in her days it had been different, back then people still had a voice, people were allowed to disagree, and people were allowed to think freely. Now They were here and all freedom of thought or speech was taken away. It was already dangerous to even think about the old days, if They would find out They would surely come and punish her. The next person in line came standing in front of her. Mindlessly she performed her job, and let her thoughts run freely. Having been a nurse for quite a few years now had taught her hands how to perform injections without her brains having to perform them as well. As the hollow needle pierced the skin she went back in time. “Ssh, I know, we’ll be ok.” He put his arms around her, and held her tight. Today they had gotten the last tests back; it would be impossible to have children ever…at least if they planned to stay together. She had run out of tears to cry, but held on to him and let him shush her to sleep. In his arms she felt safe, and even despite the fact that she’d really wanted children, she would never want them with someone else than him. He was her life, the light in her eyes, and she couldn’t imagine a life without him. The definition of love must be what they had; it simply couldn’t be anything else. The feelings they had for each other were purer than fresh snow, and warmer than the sun. She felt whole with him at her side…if only they would’ve been able to have children together. She closed her eyes, and gave in to the sleep that was taking her back into some childless nightmares. She carefully pulled back the needle, and left the worm behind. It moved slowly under the skin, strengthening its position from within. She knew it was feeding on tissue, but it would be all right. They made sure it was. Unknown to any of their medical standards the worms did a lot of good; it had certainly given her something she’d never expected to have anymore. “By God, you can’t really believe this?” His voice was filled with anger, and disbelief. She had brought the subject up a couple of days ago, and he was firmly against it. Putting something under your skin that was alive and feed off you was not his idea of a good idea, but it would be a possibility for her dreams to come true. The long-term effects of the worm on humans was still unknown, and They could tell him anything they wanted, but he wouldn’t allow them to endanger his beloved without proper reasons. The woman that had just received a worm thanked her with tears in her eyes, and she smiled, knowing full well that it wasn’t all as rosy had people believed it was. The first cases of rot had already set in. Cases where the worms had gone haywire and had eaten them from within. She shuddered at the thought, and glanced over her own arm. Under her skin she could feel the worm do its job. “I beg you, don’t do it. You will forget how to love me, you’ll turn into some freak.” She had looked at him with pure love, and understanding, and had assured him that she could never stop loving him even if she tried. He had shaken his head, and she had entered the little building. Ten minutes later she had come out, and a month later she had gotten the tests back; she was pregnant. “Just make sure you don’t bump into anything the first couple of days. The implant still needs to settle.” Patting the little wound with a piece of cotton wool she motioned the next person to step forward. Almost eight, almost time to quit. They kept them busy, 60-hour shifts were becoming more and more normal, and the people without worms had given up trying to get a job. He had given up on life even. “Why are you so stubborn?” “I refuse to let my life be led by Them, it’s my life and I do with it what I want to do with it.” Their son was growing fast, and she was ecstatically happy, hadn’t it been for the fact that he hardly wanted to look at their son. He felt it was spawn from the devil, and he said it wasn’t normal. He was now sixty years, old and in the passed forty years he had aged normally while she, under influence of the worm, had aged about five. Their marriage was on the verge of breaking down, and she couldn’t care less. Already she’d had intercourse with other wormcarriers. “Moohoom, when are you finished? I want to have my diner now, it’s been two weeks, and I’m sorta hungry now.” “In a moment sweetie, almost done here.” She couldn’t cry when he died, she was long over him. He’d led a lonely life, and his refusal to accept the worm had been his refusal to accept her, and their son. She had never forgiven him for it. “Thank you miss.” “You’re very welcome, could you please close the door on your way out?” The farmer she had just injected had immediately looked a few years younger. She didn’t agree with the worm any longer it had destroyed her love, but at the same time…..it was so wonderful to be young, and stay young. She slithered back to the kitchen, and nudged her son with one of her antlers. He turned around and his featureless face looked at him. From out the black hole that was his mouth came some sounds, and with her trained ears she managed to understand. “I love you mom.” She smiled.

Pigeons drop drop project; collect crap. “Incoming!!” With a loud bang the load hit the floor, and bounced for a few meters before coming to a halt. From all around the inhabitants of the village came running over, and started pulling at the nets that held the package together. Soon after the loot was divided amongst the men and women, and those with children were given most, but of course most was saved for their queen. Slowly the crowd scattered and what had once been a neat package were now a net, and some wood from the box that had been around the provisions. All things edible had been cleanly removed, and they left the crap behind. High above the beating of the enormous wings could still be heard, slowly getting weaker now more and more distance was put between the messenger and the drop off. In between the bushes a child and his mother were walking hand in hand back to the nest. Their neighbours were all carrying their share high above their heads, at times like this it was nice to have 6 flexible limbs, usable as arms or legs. Mayr had trouble guiding her son home, and keeping her load steady above her head at the same time. Little Jant was sulking behind her, he had wanted to carry something as well, but she had told him that ants that had just hatched were not supposed to carry such heavy stuff. They reaches the tunnel entrance, and went left, left, right, right, walked for about hundred meters straight, another left, and another right, and then they arrived at their own cosy little hole. Mayr dropped her stuff on the kitchen counter and started selecting what would have to go into the fridge and what not. “Mommy?” With her back standing to him and still putting away the stuff they had managed to grab from the delivery, Mayr only hummed a yes. “Mommy, can I have one of those candy bars?” “You know sweetie, that they are for dinner.” “But I would like one now.” Mayr was suddenly sick of her sons whining, and it wasn’t even her own son. The queen had bred him and told her to take care of him. Mayr didn’t like the male ants; Jant would probably grow up to be a soldiers, just as so many of her adopted sons had become soldiers, and she had lost most all of them in battle. The war had started when Arachnus had exclaimed himself king of the hill (and I mean literally hill, seeing that they lived on a green hill in the forest). Arachnus claimed the throne, but the people wanted to keep their queen, so she sent out her soldiers, and they went. Until today this was the bloodiest war Mayr had ever seen in the 28 days she now lived, and she had seen many a war. Luckily the “Pigeon Brigade” had offered them help, but if it hadn’t been from the emergency drops that the pigeons had done, they would have starved long ago. Arachnus children were constantly on the move, and they would not shy away from eating their enemies, even worse they bragged loudly about it when they sat in their webs. Every time there was a secret dropping all the workers had to run out and get it all in as fast as possible. The queen could only spare a few of her soldiers to protect the workers, and Mayr always felt unsafe on these occasions. Once she had seen how one of her adopted sons was attacked and devoured by a child of Arachnus, and she wished to never see it again. But today all had gone well, and their cupboards were filled again. She was finally finished packing and told her son that they would go out and see if they could find some extra’s to support the movement, after all Mayr might be scared, but she was a worker, and work she would. With little Jant sulking behind her, she walked back through the tunnels, and found a safe passage out of the nest. Immediately her senses told her where to go, and she followed her anglers out of the nest into the direction that she had noticed the faint scent of sugar. Shortly after she discovered the source and was amazed to see that it was massive and sweet. In the distance a neato necro gnomie girl’s voice could be heard screaming about her pixystix, and that she wanted it back, but Mayr didn’t understand what the girl was screaming, and didn’t care either. She attacked the sugary thing and with the acid that dripped from her jaws she managed to work off a piece that she could just about carry. It was a waste to let Jant walk back empty handed, but little ants were not supposed to carry anything. Dragging the loot along she started her way back, and was just on the point where she’d only have to round the corner to see the entrance of the nest, when suddenly a big hairy leg stepped in front of her. With fright she dropped her load, and Jant tried to practise being a brave soldier and jumped in front of her. His little antlers shivered nervously, and he had fisted his legs and waved them in front of the massive spider. From above a thundering laugh came from the spider, and he lifted the little Jant up between his pinchers and looked at him with all his eyes. “So you think you can do something against me.” He thundered with his laugh again, and Mayr screamed and if she wouldn’t have been so worried for her son she was sure she would have fainted. The spider moved the tiny ant toward his jaws, and Jant was wriggling to get free and punch him on the nose at the same time. Of course the spider would probably lose the barely hatched ant in his hollow tooth and wouldn’t taste him at all, but Mayr was still not planning on letting him try. She jumped out and bit the spider in his leg, producing as much acid as possible in the meantime. The spider first didn’t notice anything, and little Jant was slowly transported towards the massive jaws, but then the acid started working. At that moment several things happened at the same time. The spider opened its pinchers and Jant started tumbling towards the ground. The wind picked up very locally, and when Mayr looked up she saw that it came from two pigeon wings beating the air towards them. With difficulty she managed to grab hold of a grass stalk, and as the wind was still blowing fiercely more and more pigeons showed up. Then they started dropping things. At first Mayr couldn’t see what it was, but then it became clear that the pigeons were bombing the enormous spider with their own excrements. Pidgeon poo flew all around the place, and Mayr tried to hide under the grass stalk she was clinging on to. Jant had been blown into a bush, and luckily the branches were holding him back from flying all over the place. More and more spiders showed up now, to try and help the first one, but nothing could be done against the flashes of crap now falling from the sky. Suddenly one of the pigeons came flying down en *whack* one of the spiders was swallowed away. Now all the pigeons came flying down one by one and every pigeon snapped up a spider, and not before long Arachnus army had been swallowed whole by the swooshing pigeons. The great king himself stood on top of the hill and tried to direct his children to attack the flying monsters, but nothing was to be done. Half an hour later the battle was over, and the last pigeon came down and crushed Arachnus himself between its mighty beak. Together they flew away, and all that was left was a landscape that looked more like a gigantic compost heap. Mayr ran over to Jant, and found that he was a bit shaky, but this cleared up quickly when he saw that all the spiders were gone. All the way back he told Mayr how he would be a great soldier, and that he would also fly like them when he would grow up….and sure enough two little stumps on his back already showed the beginning of wings. Soon after the crap from the pigeons was collected, and only a little bit after that a new war had started. The soldiers went on fighting as usual, and the workers went on working as usual.

Dogs gone and done it again. “Howler! you idiot!” The sirens of the police cars were coming closer, but ‘Howler’ was still climbing out of the window. He’d never been one of the fastest and the ‘Dogs’ had only accepted him because they thought that with his impressive size he would easily scare some of the other gang members away just by looking at them. Howler wasn’t really called Howler, when he was born his parents had called him Pepe, or well, his dad had called him ‘idiot’ from the beginning, and still did, but when he had joined they’d nicknamed him Howler. Never before had they taken him with them on a job. You see, Howler was a bit slow, and every time he would hurt himself he would start howling loudly, which was also the reason that he had been given that nickname. Of course going on a job with someone that would wake up the whole neighbourhood when he would hurt a toe by knocking it against something (and he did that about 10 times a day on average) wasn’t the most sensitive thing to do. But tonight Bull, the boss, had decided that he could come. Unfortunately for him, and for the others this had turned out a big mistake. The house they had broken into had been properly checked out…they thought. But instead of the owners being away on holiday as their source had told them, they had walked into the bedroom and had found the couple sleeping in bed. Out of fright Howler had knocked his shins against the bed, and had not only woken up the couple, but had also managed to howl the neighbours awake while his mates finished off the couple. They had grabbed what they could grab, and made a run for it. Only Howler had been hopping around clutching his leg and howling as if he wanted to call a pack of wolves together. Finally his friend had managed to drag him along, and they had run to the window. Unfortunately, Howler’s size might be an advantage in some situations; here it was a major disadvantage. He had managed to get halfway through the window, and then got stuck. His friend was pulling and pushing to get him loose, but he didn’t budge even an inch. “Forget it Sniffer, just let me here, and get your own ass in safety.” “No way, all in, all out! Now pull in that stomach of yours.” Howler tried with all his might, and finally they managed to push him back in, not that this was much help, but at least he wasn’t stuck anymore. The police cars had arrived and at the front of the house they heard the car doors slam shut. Quickly they ran into the shower, and Howler knocked into the door, and if his friend had threatened to hurt him even more, he would have started howling all over again. They stepped into the bathtub, and hid behind the curtain. Breathing silently they prayed that the police would not look in here, and that they would get a possibility to escape. From behind the curtain they could hear the policemen walking around and then the two men started speaking. “I wonder what happened here?” “Hmm…it certainly looks queer.” “Oh my, look at that poor man.” “Yeah, I’d better take out my pen.” “uhuh, you’d better write some things down indeed.” “Maybe you should better write seeing that I can’t read.” At this the two friends behind the curtain looked at each other. What policeman would not be able to read? And why were they talking in rhyme? “Ah look at that!” “Jeez, that woman is fat!” “I meant the footprints in blood!” “Ah yes, I see it now, bud.” They heard the policemen walking around in the bedroom, and Howler though he was going to pee in his pants if it would take much longer, either from fright of being discovered or from laughing; these two sounded even more stupid then he normally felt. “I think we need to call in back-up.” “Yup.” At this Howler could no longer control himself, and burst out laughing. Surely the two of them would be able to handle those two rhyming morons. His friend looked at the heavens and together they rushed to the other room. What they saw there was so horrific, monstrous and horrible that both their mouths dropped open. Howler finally peed in his pants, and his friend’s face had gone as white as freshly washed sheets. A disgusting sting had now filled the room, and something had started screeching. It sounded as if ten women were pulling their nails over the school board at the same time. Howler backed away, but in his clumsiness he stumbled over the rug, and feel backwards……and kept falling……and falling……and….. “You idiot! You overslept! You will be late for that interview!” Pepe woke up and looked around, the horrible noise was still there, but turned out to have been his alarm clock. Suddenly he remembered that it was indeed today that he had that interview with the security company “Dogs & Co”....He suddenly didn't feel to sure that he wanted the job any longer....

Armadillo Speaks. Waggling along the road Hermy was thinking about how he would explain to his wife that he was home late again. He knew that she was starting to suspect him from cheating on her, and that while all he had been doing was hang out with his colleagues after work was done, and that not even for long since they’d been having really long days at the lily pond. He sighed, and picked up speed again. His feet were flapping on the hardened road, it had been dry for weeks on now, and the gravel roads spew up dust every time he put down his webbed feet. His head was still full of what they had been talking about, and round and round went Bob’s speech. Armadillo had spoken to them about the union and how they deserved better wages. Everybody had cheered him on, and even Hermy had joined in, but now he didn’t feel too sure anymore. He had a wife and kids to look after, and if it would come to a strike as Bob had said he would be missing out on his hard-needed salary. He picked up speed, and his feet flapped faster over the road. He longed to be home, and only hoped that his wife wouldn’t be too angry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Where have you been all this time? Heh? I’ve been slaving over a good diner, and now it’s all gone cold!” Hermy cringed with every one of his wife’s quacks. Of course she was absolutely right, if only he wouldn’t have listened to Bob. Tomorrow he would tell Armadillo that he would not go along with the plan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “We have to stay strong! They will try to give us promises, but they’ve never kept it!” Bob’s voice bellowed over the pond, and the audience cheered at his words. Today it had become common knowledge that Bob Armadillo was running for union-president, and the atmosphere couldn’t have been happier around the pond. Several ducks were holding banners, and some squirrels were throwing nut shelves around as confetti. The smallest among the smallest insects were all gathered high above the water, and some were sitting on lily leaves, their tiny screams inaudible in the crowd, but cheer they did. From the side the managers and directors of the factory were watching closely. All of them had sour looks on their faces, and some had already left. They knew no work would get done today; the strike was total now. Hermy was standing on the side, his wife would be so angry with him for not having work. Not that he could do anything about it, he was just one duck, how could he stand up to all these animals that wanted this to happen. No, it would be better to just wait and stay clear of his wife as much as possible until this was all over. If only he could speak to some of the bosses…..wait! wasn’t that? Yes, it was…. All the way at the back he saw the big boss himself, Coyote Wolf was standing with his arms crossed, and watched the gathered crowd. He wished he could do something to stop this strike; the truth was that he wouldn’t mind paying them more, but the factory was on the verge of bankruptcy and he really couldn’t afford to pay them anything more than he did. He sighed, he knew full well that most of his workers hated him, but unfortunately pollution and the bad economics made his job very bad. His glance fell on that idiot Hermy, and their eyes met. Hermy met the eyes of the top man of the company, and as the big boss nodded, he looked around. After he’d made sure that nobody had seen him, he slipped around the back and went inside. The boss was waiting for him in the deserted corridor. “I think we can help each other…” The boss sounded calm and relaxed. He had it all though out in his head, and with his many years of experience he knew exactly how to play on people. Hermy tilted his head. If he were to get some work, and money out of this his wife never needed to know that there was a strike. He slowly nodded. “Maybe…what would you have in mind?” The boss leaned closer and the rest of the conversation was whispered in soft tones. Every now and then there was a loud cheer coming from the crowd outside, when Bob had obviously said something that they loved hearing. But the two men…err…ducks didn’t listen they were caught up in their own little thing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With a deep sigh Bob sat down, he knew that he had taken on a dangerous job, but he also knew what he was fighting for. His wife brought him a cup of warm chocolate milk, and he smiled at her. He had no idea what he would ever do if something happened to her; she was really his best friend and love of his life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Outside it was dark, and the moon was hidden behind the many clouds that hung low at the sky that night. Hermy’d had problems sneaking out of the house without his wife noticing, but had managed to do so without waking her up. He tiptoed through the streets, and finally reached the house of his destination. With the glasscutter that the boss had given him he drew a small hole in the window, and stuck his wing through to open the door from the inside. Soundlessly he entered the kitchen and looked around, he was supposed to only take the wife, but wondered how on earth he would do that. Hermy walked into the living room, and what he saw there made him grin broadly. Armadillo had fallen asleep with a book in his hands, the reading light still on. This made the entire thing a lot easier, he’d only have to sneak up, and snatch her away. Bob would wake up tomorrow find the note, and resign for the election, easy as that. He went up the stairs, and opened the door to the master bedroom….and blinked. The bed was empty! “Slowly turn around, and keep your hands where I can see them.” The voice sounded not even angry, but more disappointed. Hermy did as he was told, and stared straight in Bob Armadillo’s face. “I…I…” “You were going to take my wife….well ever since this whole business started my wife and I sleep in the hidden basement. What you saw in the living room was only a doll. Now stay where you are and I’m sure the police will be here shortly, I’ve already called them.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “I will keep protecting you! Last night one of you has tried to sabotage the election, but it hasn’t happened, I say vote for me, and I will make sure these things will all be put to an end!” The crowd cheered, and Bob felt glad. Not only because all had turned out ok; Hermy had talked and the police had taken in the boss, but also because his popularity had risen, and a new top man was now leading the factory. He looked upon the future with a smile now.

Police puts lid on pot. The sun burned down on the vegetable garden, it had been hot all summer, and the vegetables all looked rather meek. The lettuce was cringing away from the bright light, and the strawberries desperately tried to hide under their leaves. It was the hottest summer of this century they’d said on the news, and Minka believed them in an instant. She’d been trying to pep the carrots a bit by giving them water, but their leaves still sadly hung towards the black soil. If this would keep up she would have to harvest sooner than she had planned, and she was sure the vegetables wouldn’t like that. She sighed, and watered the radishes for the third time that day. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Mommy I’m so thirsty.” “Stop whining, sweetie, the human will soon come with water again.” And indeed, soon enough drops of water start entering through the roof. The carrots washed the drops of sweat from their orange faces, and the radishes polished their red cheeks till they shined. The potatoes put their feet down, and the cucumbers relaxed and stretched out. Only a short while after however, the sun had turned the water into damp and it felt like a sauna under the ground. The different vegetables got the irky feeling they were being steamed, and the little carrot complained loudly to his mom that he didn’t like it anymore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wiping her forehead free from transpiration with her arm, Minka rolled up the garden hose again. The sun was finally setting and it was starting to cool down a bit. She kept hoping for rain, but the skies had been cloudless all day, and it didn’t look like it would change one bit. With a last look at her vegetable garden she turned around and walked into the house. She walked to the kitchen and started diner; her husband would be home soon, and she wanted to have diner ready when he arrived. Taking out an enormous pan from one of the cupboards, she laid out the vegetables she would need. The recipe of her grandmother had always been one of her husband’s favourite meals, and the paper it was written on was crinkled and stained. Her grandmother had always cooked for a big family so Minka made sure she divided all the ingredients in half before she got her knifes out. She filled the pan with water, and placed a carrot on the chopping board. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “I say, I smell water…I hear it too!!” The leak lifted its head slightly and looked around, its leaves bristling softly. The sound of running water was rushing over their words and they could hardly hear each other, but now they could also smell it. It was as if they were taken from hell to heaven, and the vegetables rejoiced. They had been in the hot ground so long that the whole idea of water, and in this quantity was overwhelming them. In fact, one of the tomatoes fainted with excitement. The cucumber was shaking with anticipation and felt he would explode any time soon if he wouldn’t get into that divine wetness. They all screamed so loud that the vegetables in the garden stirred, and erected their leaves into the air so as to hear better. They could hardly understand what their friends and relatives inside were saying, but they all heard one word; water! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She decided she would do the tomatoes first, and reached out her hand towards them. In her other hand she steadily held the great kitchen knife, and she placed a tomato on the chopping board. For a moment the knife hovered high above it in the air, and then she brought it down to chop the head off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A scream pierced the air, and the little hairs on the strawberries that were taken in for dessert all stood up straight. Only moments later the air was silent again, and the tomato blood was seeping over the kitchen counter towards the carrots, who desperately tried to get away. The next moment one of them felt a hand close around him, and two moments later the carrot was no more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Mommy I also want to go swimming! Can I please?” The mother looked wearily at the little one. He had somehow managed to sneak into the grown-ups meeting, and had heard them discussing about whether they should or should not go on an expedition for this source of water they had heard the screams about earlier that evening. The fresher vegetables were all in favour, but the ones that were wrinkled had their objections. “But, what if we won’t make it? In a few hours the sun will be up again.” “Exactly! In a few hours the sun will be up again! Don’t you see that that’s the reason we need to go now?” The stud that had spoken last was of the new year, and arrogantly looked at the cabbage. He’d been having all the youngsters behind him all evening, and slowly his enthusiasm and reasoning was convincing the others of the necessity to look for water as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marnix slipped on his trousers and strapped his belt on. He checked if his gun was still on the safety switch and said a small prayer that he never had to use it. Ever since he had joined the police force he’d been praying that he would never have to use the weapon. He really was a peace loving man, and had only signed up because he felt he could be of use this way. He sleepily walked downstairs and felt slightly better at the thought of that delicious vegetable soup Minka had made for him yesterday; he would take some to work for lunch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “I told you this was a bad idea!” After a long meeting, the vegetables had decided to send a small group out to explore, and then if they would come back with good news they would all join them. From their midst they had chosen the stud, some parsley and a carrot. The three of them were now standing on the side of the big pot, and peered inside. The carrot had turned almost green again when he had seen his relatives floating around in the water; all chopped up and boiled to death. Suddenly they heard a sound behind them, and they all dropped down and pretended to be dead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Marnix walked into the kitchen he saw the vegetables lying on the counter. “Aww, I’ll have to remember to thank Minka, she even left me some fresh vegetables to add.” He turned on the heat under the pot and waited till the soup was boiling; there was nothing he liked better as the combination of warmed up soup and some fresh and crunchy vegetables. He quickly chopped the carrot and the parsley, but decided to put the spud away. Come to think of it, it was weird that his wife had left out a potato; it would take far too long to warm up. Humming to himself the cop put the lid on the pot, and went about making himself some tea.

Cuban Commerce Collapses! Bob once met a young guy from Cuba Who smoked a cigar like a tuba He said “Brother, Yo! “I think you should flow.” And Bob said, “I don’t think I dig ya” The Cuban guy gave him the cigar And Bob’s eyes slowly went ajar They huffed and they puffed Bob sneezed and Bob coughed And then his face slowly went bizarre Bob’s eyes then slowly rolled backwards His body slightly leaned towards The wall and the floor The desk and the door He took a dive that earned him awards The young guy looked at Bob going And said, “man, I think that you’re flowing He blinked with his eyes And looked at the skies “Maybe we should do no more blowing” The end of the story is easy And maybe a little bit cheesy They did smoke no more The cigars ignored And this is why…..errr The Cuban Commerce Collapsed. OOC: Still not exactly what I would like it to be, but was one of the first ideas that came to mind and have been working on this since I've started this whole thing. And to be honest.....I really don't want to think limmerick anymore for about the next...oh, 100 years or so

Then there was rain It was a good thing that the carpet was of a decent quality, because otherwise Marissa would surely have walked holes in it by now. She had been pacing back and forth for almost an hour, and since she had arrived at the theatre she hadn’t sat still for even two seconds. Tonight would make the difference in her life. She knew it, and this knowledge did nothing to make her feel more at ease. Just as she was about to turn back towards the big dressing mirror again, the door opened. In the opening stood the stage master. He was a massive, round man, with an enormous moustache. The first time she had seen him, Marissa had found it hard not to laugh when he started speaking. With his posture you’d expect a full bass voice, but his shrieks had given her an almost incontrollable urge to giggle. Then she had managed to keep it in, but tonight she wasn’t so sure. “You’ll be up in 10 minutes,” He peeped. She bit her tongue, and nodded. When he closed the door behind him, she started giggling. The nerves were racing through her body, and turned the giggles into some sort of crazy laughter. Marissa had to cross her legs so she wouldn’t pee in her pants, and when she had finally managed to catch her breathe it was time. The laughing had loosened the knots in her stomach slightly, and with a tiny bit of confidence she stepped up onto the stage. The audience was all looking at her, their faces serious. Her eyes darted towards the back right corner, knowing that there was where the big people would be sitting. Marissa swallowed hard, and stepped up to the microphone. She wrapped the cable once in her right hand, and held the rest in her other. The brand of the microphone flashed with golden letters “Almost Dragonic”. She’d never heard of the brand, but then again, she’d never heard of this bar before either, she could only hope that everything would go fine. Marissa nodded to the musicians, and they set in a soft tune. With quivering voice she started to sing, but as the song developed her voice grew stronger and more self-assured. Losing herself in the music the words were carried into the audience on her magically sweet voice. Your voice was like the sunWarm and safe, left me undone Your eyes were like the sky Fresh and sweet, left me feeling shy Green as grass and white as snow Just a lass, I didn’t know Didn’t know what to say Didn’t know what to do When I met you My heart was like a child Pure and blank, left you with a smile My feelings were like sunrise Hot and burning, left you in surprise Red as the roses, bright as snow Just a girl, I didn’t know Didn’t know what to say Didn’t know what to do The day I met you Our love was like the sea No room for others, only you and me Our dreams were like jewels Full and shining, we were fools Dark as sin, black as the crow Not a woman, I didn’t know Didn’t know what to say Didn’t know what to do The day I lost you Blue as your eyes, cool as ice Became a woman overnight You taught me about love You taught me about pain First there was sun And then came the rain The last bittersweet note drifted over the audience when suddenly the microphone started singing on its own. Marissa squinted her eyes, and cringed as the effect was bashed by a very loud, and very annoying scream. Everybody in the audience stuck their fingers in their ears, and most even got up to leave. Desperately Marissa tried to find the words to talk them back to their seats, but apparently it wasn’t the first time it happened that evening. In the corner where normally the big record bozos were sitting, now only sat what looked like an overgrown lizard. Swallowing hard she got up from her seat, and turned around to leave the stage. Never was she ever lucky enough to be at the right place on the right time. Just last week she had been in the audience and had seen how two people were plucked right of the stage and offered a record deal there and then. Just when she put the stool back in place she heard a loud cough. Looking back Marissa saw that it was almost empty now. In front of the stage stood the overgrown lizard. “I…errr…we could make big bucks with that voice of yours, you know.” Marissa turned towards him, and looked at him. Never before had she seen something or someone like him. Come to think of it the whole audience had been sort of strange-looking tonight, she even though that she had seen a sort of catwoman in a corner. “What would you say about becoming the very first Almost Dragonic Nightingale?” Marissa blinked. Was he talking about her? “You’d only have to sign here, here and…aah yes, here,” His claw extended towards her and in his hand he held a fumbled piece of paper; his eyes gleamed with what seemed excitement, and also something else. Marissa hesitated shortly, but then took the paper from him and started reading. “No need to read it, it’s all boring stuff anyways…” Marissa smiled but read nevertheless. “Excuse me, but it says here that I would get 000000.1% of the profit and that the rest would go various different companies.” “Ah yes, err, no need to worry about that.” “But each company is called ‘something something & Wyvern’....” The almost dragon rubbed his hands together, and she was now sure that the shine in his eyes was one of greed. She squinted here eyes to read the small print, and gasped when she read the following lines. When singer does not manage to attract at least 1.000.000.000.000 people in the audience, her or she will pay Singers & Wyvern three zillion geld, or in case singer does not have this she can pay by spending one night with Wyvern (the great, almighty, may he live forever, and get filthy rich). She looked from the paper at the grinning lizard and back to the paper, the next moment Wyvern felt a ball of paper hit his head, and Marissa was walking away. Better not be famous than be an Almost Dragonic Nightingale!

Saved for the second time. He had never meant for this to happen. How could it have gone so wrong…again? The boy wriggled himself out of the drainage pipe he had ended up in, and checked his clothes. The mud was already drying up, and the various excrements had left the sort of stains his mom would surely not be happy with. Marvin tried to block out the stench, and looked around, this was definitely not this world. In his mind he went over what could possible have gone wrong this time. Like last time he had been chased by Brett and his gang (Marvin hated the gang, and Brett even more, and he kept wishing that he was 2 years older, 2 feet taller, and that his mom would finally allow him those karate lessons he’d been wanting for two years now) and like last time he had opened a random door in the alley. Like last time the door had seemed to open into an empty hallway, but like last time he had suddenly found himself in the sewers, and had ended up at the entrance of the sewers at the outskirts of a city. This time, however, the world he had ended up in seemed a lot less friendly. The world he had ended up in two months ago had been sunny and there had been flowers everywhere, but here it was dark and dreary, and as far as he could see there were only grey buildings and more grey buildings. He wondered if he would be lucky enough again to find someone that would be able to show him the way home. In the happy world he had found a nice woman all dressed in green in the park that had taken him home, but he somehow doubted there would even be a park in this world. When he had tried to explain his previous adventure to his mother, she had only looked at him as if he was losing his mind, and he had not tried to explain it to others. People no longer believed in different world, but Marvin knew they existed, and he was standing in the middle of the proof of their existence. He decided to start walking, and would see where he would end up. As he walked the drizzling rain kept falling, and although it didn’t seem to get him very wet at first, after half an hour his clothes were soaked till the very last thread, and still he hadn’t seen anything else but the grey buildings. The strangest thing was that there were no doors to enter the buildings. They all seemed to be made out of one big block of cements, and if he looked up he could see windows, but no doors. The longer he walked the stranger it felt, especially since he also hadn’t seen a soul since he had entered this world. Come to think of it, it was totally silent. Marvin had been thinking so hard about how he could possibly have managed to end up here, and how he would get back, that he hadn’t realized that all sound he’d heard so far had been his own thoughts. Just when he started to feel desperate, he saw something shining in the distance. It was so different from anything else in this world that it had to be something special. As he came nearer he almost broke into a run. The light had a strange, almost magnetic effect on him, and the closer he got the warmer he felt. When he was close enough Marvin could see that it was a bar. Soft light was streaming out of the window, and the outside walls and windowsills were all painted red. Music was floating on the air, and by hearing this music Marvin felt his inside all warmed up. “This must be a good place”, he thought to himself and walked towards the door, “and if it isn’t it’s still the only door I’ve seen since I got here, so I don’t have much choice” When he pulled the door open the smell of freshly baked gingerbread started drifting towards him, and seduced him to step inside. Inside he could that all the walls were all covered with red velvet, and the candles that were burning gave the place a warm glow. It looked like a bar. There was a tap on his right hand, and tables with chairs around it on his left. The music he had heard earlier was coming from a jukebox that was standing in the corner. At first it seemed that he was alone in the bar, but when he took another two steps forward he heard someone mumbling. It came from behind the bar, and Marvin decided to have a closer look. When he had reached the bar, a head appeared above it. The woman behind the bar had been looking for something under the bar, and now emerged with a bottle in her hand. She put it on the bar, and then she saw Marvin. “Can I help you?” Her voice was soft and warm, and Marvin thought how much he wanted that his mom had a voice like that. It felt as if the voice was enveloping him entirely in a warm fuzzy blanket, and he could have stood there forever just listening to it, if she hadn’t been looking at him. Her eyes were cold, and when he stared into them he felt the comfortable feeling her voice had given him disappear as a departing train, slowly at first but quicker the longer he looked at them. Suddenly he heard a loud click, and whit a shock he turned around. At the door a second women had appeared and the click had been her turning the key in the lock. He was now shut in, and when he looked back the first woman was licking with her tongue over her lips. Unwillingly he took a step backwards. “Oh now,” she pouted, “The little boy is scared.” Marvin took another step backwards away from her, but felt an arm stroke his back. The second woman had approached him from behind, and was now feeling his arm as if he was some piece of meat that had to be checked. He stumbled backwards, and the women started to laugh. The voices had changed, and their heads were graduately changing as well. Where it had been beautiful before, it was now slowly starting to wrinkle, and her soft red curls were slowly turning grey and resembled more and more the dreadlocks he had once seen on an abused dog. He looked around, desperate to find an escape route, and when his eyes fell on a corner, it slowly shifted into stairs. The first woman had stepped forward from behind the bar, and was walking towards him, in her hands she had a long sharp knife and she was making it even sharper. With every step she took she slid the blade past one of those filing sticks he had seen the local butcher use to sharpen his knives. Marvin held one eye on the stairs in the corner, and the other on the two witches that were approaching him. He measured the distance in his head, and just as one of the women stretched out her hand he ran as fast as he could towards the corner, and ran up the stairs. The two women were too surprised to react, and Marvin was already halfway up the stairs before they started moving. The stairs spiralled round and round and round. Marvin could hear the women panting and cackling behind him and he ran even faster. He started to feel tired, but far above him he saw a light, and felt that if only he could reach the light he would be safe. The light came closer and it turned out to be a small exit sign, one that you find above emergency exits. Marvin grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. He rushed through it and slammed the door shut. As he stepped back the door started disappearing and he could now hear the witches slam their fists against the inside in fruitless attempts to open it again. Still panting Marvin turned around to see where he had ended up. It had to be the top of the building where he now was, but it looked more as if he had ended up in a forest. When he turned back the entrance had been overgrown with plants, and all he could do was enter the forest. Under the trees it was shady, but not cold, and after the first angsty steps into the forest he felt the calm of the trees flowing down on him. Some of the branches lowered and let their leaves softly caress his face. Marvin really felt wonderful now, and started to forget about the witches when he suddenly saw a clearing in the woods. In the middle of the clearing stood a parkbench, and on the bench sat a woman clad in a green robes. Marvin immediately knew who she was, and stormed forward. “You have to help me again!” He threw the words out as a plea. She looked at him, almost as if she had just awoken from a trance. “I know you….” “Yes, yes, you helped me home last time.” “Aaah, oooh,” Her face had lit up with the ‘aaah’, but had darkened again with the ‘oooh’. Apaltra, for it was her that had been peacefully sitting in between the trees, shook her head. “I’m really sorry, but last time it was more luck than knowledge that I could help you.” Marvin felt his heart sink, he had been sure that she would be able to help him. As she saw the boy’s face sadden, Apaltra felt sorry for him, and really wished she could help him. The previous time she had somehow stumbled across a portal, and had sensed the magic radiating from it, but now they were far from the nearest portal known to her, and she really had no idea how to help him. The trees above them rustled their leaves, and Marvin now let his head droop. He would never ever come home again, and felt very sad about it (and who could blame him, his mother had promised him that morning to have fresh baked cookies ready when he would get home). The wind whispered through the leaves, and offered some comfort to the little boy. To Apaltra however the breeze contained something else. A whiff of magic made the little hairs on her arms stand up, and she shivered as Goosebumps appeared on her arms. The magic was now so thick in the air that she could almost smell it, and she knew that it must be something really powerful that the energy was this tangible. Marvin, who hadn’t felt a thing, had started to sob softly, but Apaltra put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe..” Immediately his watery eyes lit up as he looked at her doubting face. “There is something big around her, something or someone magic, we could see what exactly it is..” Marvin felt his heart jump up again at her words, surely she would find a way hadn’t she managed to get him home the first time as well? He took her hand, and full confidence he waited for her to guide him. Apaltra didn’t feel all to sure if she would even be able to move a stone back to the boy’s world, but nevertheless started walking in the direction of where she had sensed the magic. As they walked onwards the forest became thicker, and the moss under their feet subdued the sound of their footsteps. Not even a bird was heard here, but she felt that they were nearing the source. A soft glow came from a dense group of trees in front of them, and Apaltra knew that it must be there where the magic came from, and she steered them towards it. Marvin had seen the glow as well, and let go of her hand to run towards the group of trees. Suddenly he felt his feet hit a rock and he was launched into the air. The speed at which he had been running had sent him flying, and he flew straight towards the group of trees. With a loud POP, the boy was gone. A distant thank you could be heard and then the glow faded and disappeared entirely. Apaltra blinked, she had no idea what she had done to be thanked for, but felt glad that she had somehow managed to locate another portal. She then shrugged, and walked back to the park bench to listen to the birds some more. Marvin felt himself flying through the air, and with a dull thud he landed on his feet. When he looked up he found himself standing in front of his own house. He sent the lady in green another thank you in his head, and ran towards the front door. The smell of freshly baked cookies welcomed him in, and he was glad that he had been saved for the second time…until his mom saw the stains in his clothes that is

If I managed to do this correctly you should be able to click on the headlines that I’ve done so far and be transferred to the story or poem that goes with it. Thanks to all the pennites who have provided me with the headlines You can find the original start-up thread here. Headlines: 1. Saved for the second time 2. Then there was rain 3. Cuban Commerce Collapses! 4. Police puts lid on pot 5. Armadillo Speaks 6. Dogs gone and done it again 7. Pigeons drop project; collect crap 8. Parasites under our skin, locals complain 9. Prized ducks set off alarms day and night. 10. The cemetary everyone is dying to get into. 11. Beaver attacks man's log. 12. Sharpein commerce flourishes, cuban cigars in style. 13. Sleep can save rare rhino. 14. Time slowed down for maintenance. 15. Morning Glory.

Depending on the situation, as long as there aren't any guys around I'm in love with I'm the butterfly, buuut as soon as I start feeling things for someone it sorta ties my tongue, and I start throwing out all sorts of stupid things. (seeing that I'm already someone that can speak before she thinks, not being able to think is actually making these sort of situations a disaster) However, I will still try to go for it, and try to make contact. I think it's very possible to have two totally different people together. However, I can imagine it must be hard for the shy person being dragged to social gatherings all the time, and for the butterfly to stay at home. Then again I've never been able to keep up a relationship, not with a shy person nor with a butterfly...so who am I to give my opinion here

“Make-up? I didn’t have time to put make-up on…” At Anna’s question, Sweetcherrie had grabbed a mirror, and had scared half to death. Her face by now looked more like she was going to war, and she realized that something must have gone wrong. “I….I have to go now.” Without answering Anna’s question she runs off towards her room. In front of the mirror she scrubs off the make-up. Sweetcherrie had to scrub so hard that her face was all red by the time all the green and blue was gone. Looking on her watch she saw that if she would change quickly she’d have time for a nap before she would have to be on stage. From her cupboard she takes a red bikini and puts it on. Turning around in front of the mirror she happily realizes that she looks good. Nothing can possibly go wrong in this round, and with a sigh she sets her alarm clock, and lies down. The combination of a tired body and mind, and a very soft bed, soon make sure that she’s fast asleep.

Dana stepped onto the temporary stage that had been set up for the occasion, and looked at the audience. Sweetcherrie had asked her between running back and forth for the Beauty Pageant and the organization if she could introduce the bachelors for the auction. She had no idea who would exactly join in, but somehow Sweetcherrie had tricked her into saying yes. Dana had prepared a speech, but at the last moment she had decided to keep it short. It would be so much better if the participants would introduce themselves. She stepped up to the microphone. “Ok, from now on the bachelors have one week to present themselves to the audience, after this the people that want to bid can hand in three names by PM and the amount they bid on this person. They’ll have three days to do that. All clear?” Dana looked around, and saw that some people were nodding. No questions arose, and she stepped of the stage again to give the bachelors the possibility to present themselves.

Vlad: Both are fine I have started writing the stories/poems that go with the headlines, need 7 more though to be able to make this a proper magazine As soon as I’ve managed to write all (or at least most) of the stories/poems I will announce a meeting for the start of phase 2. Stay tuned! Phase 1: 1.Saved for the second time 2.Then there was rain 3.Cuban Commerce Collapses! 4.Police puts lid on pot 5.Armadillo Speaks 6.Dogs gone and done it again 7.Pigeons drop drop project; collect crap 8.Parasites under our skin, locals complain Phase 2: Patham – pictures, write and interviews Appy – interviewer, (columnist) Venefyxatu – horoscope lady Tannuchan – agony column Katzaniel – cameraperson Mynx – any way possible (time permitting) (if I knew how to I'd make one of those neat tables, I would....unfortunately I don't )

The girls run around the corner and back to the stage. Finally they feel they are safe again, and still panting they stop running. Sweet looks at Appy. “Jikes, that was close!” "Waaay to close!" Appy agrees and pants a bit to get her breath back. Sweet looks around to make sure they can't be seen from here, then her eye falls on the big clock that hangs back stage, one of the hands pointing to halfway round four. Appy sees the stage and shouts, "Oh no! I still didn't finish Apaltra's speech, what is she going to do without it!" "uhoh, I should get back I think!" Appy nods, “me too. I'll see you later again ok?” With those words she rushes off towards her pile of paper and starts scribbling again. “bye bye,” Sweet waves and runs back to her room. Once back in her room she dives into the agemachine, and two seconds later Sweetcherrie emerges. She looks at her watch, and forgets all about that she had to use the toilet. She runs towards the stage, and sighs with relief as she sees that she’s not too late yet. Wyvern received a hesitant applause for his performance, and Sweetcherrie was probably the one that clapped the most enthusiastic, seeing that she has missed the whole show. Her name is announced, and she steps forward. Once on stage she takes her time to look around the audience. She looks at the faces of her friends, and they all stare back at her with their mouths open. In her haste she hadn’t even looked in the mirror, and the image she was giving away was most uncommon. Her face was still covered in different colours of make-up, and it looked as if she should be wearing a read nose and a dotted bowtie instead of the elegant dress she was wearing. Confidently she steps forward, unaware of her looks, and thinking how nice it is of her friends to still pay attention to her after what happened during the last round. She knows that her answer is the only answer she could possibly give, and takes the microphone. “If I win, I will…. absolutely not change a thing.” A murmur goed through the audience. Was she really saying that she wouldn’t do anything for the Pen if she won? “I think my answer needs some clarification,” Sweetcherrie says with a smile. “I haven’t been around long yet, but you’ve taken me in as if I was one of you to start with, and I’ve worked hard to prove that I was worth of this loving gesture. And as said, I will not change that, I will keep working hard, and give all my energy to keeping the Pen the place it is.” With a last smile (that looks more like a clown’s grin) she turns around and leaves the stage. OOC: First part co-written with Appy

There is some confusion about what I will be doing...and that's probably because I'm being scatterbrained again somewhere... The 'articles' I will write will be shaped into stories or poems, not into articles as they are written in a real newspaper. Appy came with the idea of calling it more of a magazine and not a newspaper, this description is probably more correct. Just a little clarification..... and oh....*bounces happily* already four people for phase 2, yay :woot:

Phase 1 can be found here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Thank you so much love, kisses, bubye.” Sweetcherrie put the phone back on the charger and sank down on her bed. Absentmindedly she stroked Troy, who was sleeping on the bed, over his head, and stared into nothingness. Silently she wondered what she had gotten herself into this time. Should she have said no? But how could she? It was a good friend that had asked this of her and he wouldn’t have asked it if he wasn’t desperate. Why was she always such a pleaser, she had no idea how to make a newspaper. Sure she wrote a bit, but a whole newspaper that was totally different. She picked the phone back up and dialled the number; she would tell her friend that she couldn’t do it. That she didn’t know anything about making newspapers, and that if he had problems in his love life this was his problem and not hers. Her finger hovered above the connect button. He had helped her when she was in trouble, and she knew how important this was for him. Wouldn’t it be only fair that she did this for him? She put the phone down again, and bit on her fingernails. She would do this, she had no idea how, but she would do this. After all it couldn’t be that difficult, the machines were all there, all she had to do was make sure that she found enough people to man them. Oh, and she should find writers of course, and maybe even someone that could do the horoscopes. Sweetcherrie rushed to her desk and took a piece of paper and a pen and started scribbling. Dear Pennites, I have been asked by a friend to publish his newspaper for him on this special occasion. I would like to ask for your help with this since I know little about how to publish a newspaper, but I’m confident that with a little bit of your help I can make this a success! The making of this newspaper will consists of two phases: 1.I need headlines, any headline you can think of. Afterwards I will write the story or poem that goes with this headline. If for example someone gives me the headline “Crucified nun dies in exorcism” (taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 19/06/05) then I would write the story this headline inspires me to write. I have taken an existing headline here as an example, but of course you can just make a headline up (i.e. “Wyvern fails again!”) I will start of by 15 headlines, and if there is space in this newspaper for more (read if my brain hasn’t collapsed by then) I might consider taking on new headlines. 2.For the second part I need people that are motivated to help me actually publish this newspaper once I’ve written the main articles, and maybe even write some side articles. I need people to fulfil the function of the photographers, journalists, technicians, interviewers….basically any function that you can think of that works at a newspaper. There will be a meeting at a yet to pronounced date (in RP) and in this meeting we will discuss the making of this special “Pen Gazette”. I would be very grateful for any help I can get, if you can help and would like to, then please sign up your name on the list below. Please make sure to state what function you could fulfil if you are interested in helping with phase 2. Love, Sweetcherrie She sat back and read what she had written one last time. Satisfied with what she had written she nodded and started up her laptop to type it out. The thing started with a howling sound, and protested heavily. Even Troy woke up and sleepily raised his head to see who was in pain. “Don’t worry this is something you can’t heal sweetie.” Sweetcherrie mumbled, and set to work. Ten minutes later she pressed the print button and the neat letter came rolling out the printer. With a last hesitation between calling back her friend and the task ahead of her she resolutely stepped out her room to pin up this note in the Cabaret Room.

Both are so full of feelings... thank you...

The previous round had left her feeling slightly undone, but she wasn’t planning on giving up. She would maybe not win, but at least she would be there, and fight for a good position! She checked herself in the mirror, and walked back towards the stage. Backstage she heard CheerMynx announce the fourth round. She started thinking hard about what she would do for the Pen if she would win. Again she knew that her talents were none too special compared with some of the others around here. Suddenly she knew the answer and let out a small scream of joy. The applause subsided and she waited calmly for her turn.

“What on earth will I do for this part?” Sweetcherrie paced back and forth through her room. She’d been thinking what she was good at, but hadn’t found a lot of specific things. Sure, she could be kind of charming, and she was ok with organizing things, but a real talent? She didn’t think she had any. With a sigh she sat down behind the mana internet to see if there was anything that would give her ideas. She browsed through various sites, but none seemed to be any good. The flashy images and sounds were dazzling her in 3d, and she almost fell of her chair when all of a sudden a picture of a demon seemed to jump at her through the screen. Suddenly she had an idea! She got at work and about two hours later she nodded satisfied with what she had done, and turned her computer off to get some sleep. The next round would be the tomorrow, and she didn’t want to show up with bags under her eyes. The next morning she woke up with a smile on her face. She was confident that round three would work out pretty ok, and when she had taken a shower and dressed with care she picked up her laptop and walked to the portal. The sand under her feet felt warm, but today she didn’t worry about not having her shoes on. In fact she had even left them off on purpose since today it wouldn’t matter what she wore, today she would embezzle them with her talents! Sweetcherrie arrived early, but luckily she got a little nod from Mynx, and she started setting up her equipment. When everything was ready she grabbed the microphone, and announced her act. “Ladies and Gentlemen, today I will present you myself, in a way that shows how I’ve used my talent for organization, design, and I’ve even used my charm.” At this she winked at the jury, and started the presentation she had prepared. A life-size picture of herself working on some documents appeared. The image smiled, and winked at the guests and she commented along as she went to the next slide. She clicked with the device she had in her hand and went to the next slide. Suddenly the demon that had surprised her the night before jumped out and raged through the audience. Some of the guests fell backwards of their chairs, and Gryphon already jumped up from the jury table to fight this monster if needed, when Sweetcherrie clicked again. She giggled nervously, “Oops, I’m very sorry that happened, I guess that one must have slipped through. Don’t worry, the next one will be-“ She clicked, and a flock of harpies flew out of the screen and started attacking the jury. At her next click a massive troll stormed out and with a mighty roar he turned on her. Paralysed with embarrassment she forgot to click to the next image, and the troll took a swing at her. Just as it was about to hit her to smithereens the image flickered and disappeared. Sweetcherrie came to her senses and saw that the screen of her laptop was black. She looked backstage and saw that Anna had stumbled over the cables and by that she had luckily unplugged her laptop. With a fiery red face she walked back to the microphone. “I guess…I guess, that I’ve just shown you my talent for messing things up. It must be the heat that, I mean, yeah, I…I’ll be going now.” With a little hesitation she added a small thank you, picked up her laptop and hurried backstage. She thanked Anna for saving her and ran away towards the portal to get back to her room. How would she ever dare to show herself again after this?

A dark figure approaches the campfire, and silently takes place. People look and some start whispering, but the figure gives no sign of noticing them. The hood was drawn far down, and it was impossible to make out who was under this hood. A sleeve moves up and from underneath a gloved hand appears. The fingers make a small gesture, and a couple of marshmallows fling themselves on a stick. The stick floats towards the fire and slowly starts turning above it. Then a voice, a whisper barely audible, comes from under the hood. “I’ll tell you a story.” The stick keeps turning above the flames, and the only sound heard is the crackling of the fire. Some people shiver, but nobody speaks. With a soft voice the hooded figure starts speaking. “The town was silent. Only the sound of the wind, rustling through the leaves could be heard. He loved walking around on Sundays. Everybody was in church, but not him. He was walking through the older part of town. The trees formed a green arch above his head, and every now and then a ray of sunlight managed to wrestle itself a way through them and threw bright spots on the street. There were only farms here; of the really big kind that still had the cows inside the same building as the living part was. It was peaceful and quiet, and it felt good to walk around, and give his mind the necessary rest. He’d been working for three weeks straight, even during the weekends. One of his big-shot client’s daughters had had a mental break down, and had needed his support. Psychiatry wasn’t always fun, but this had been an interesting case. The kid was only sixteen, but was sure that she’d seen the devil. Even worse she knew for sure that she was being followed by the devil, and that Satan was waiting for her to give up his soul. He’d assured her that if she’d lay off the dope for a while, that Lucifer would show far less interest in him.” The speaker chuckles. “As if Lucifer would show interest in someone like her.” The hood slides a bit backwards, but the hands reappear and pull it back in place. “Eventually the kid had believed him, or at least had said that she believed him, and she’d become calmer and calmer as therapy progressed. The sessions had been intensive, but he felt good for achieving what he had achieved. Yesterday had been the last session. The girl had embraced him, thanked him, and had said goodbye with tears in her eyes. He was certain that she’d be able to make it on her own now. Nearing his house he saw my shadow shooting off, but since church had gone out a couple of minutes ago he assumed it was some neighbourhood kid that was playing outside. The weather at least was good enough, and although there weren’t many kids in his neighbourhood, the ones that were there always played tricks on him. They thought he was eccentric, in reality he just liked your privacy (I also like privacy, but that has different reasons), and since his clients all came to him, he’d never needed to show himself too much in town. This had caused the people from the village to gossip about him, but he didn’t care. Each and every one of his customers was rich enough to buy the village he lived in, and he was arrogant enough to think that he was immortal…boy was he wrong, but I’m going to fast now. When he entered the house, I was waiting, just like I had waited for the girl. I wasn’t very strong back then, not strong enough to take on two people at the same time, but once the kid had been on his own…let’s just say that her legs were the best part. Our psychiatrist strolled through the house as if he owned the world, not knowing what to do with his time now he had so much of it to himself, and I waited for the right moment. I was patient, always have been and always will be, I have too much of it you see…just not enough entertainment… Finally he settled on watching TV; some nature documentary with elephants, boring, but I waited. He was too watchful still at the moment, and I needed him to be off guard. The girl had taken enough of my energy to leave me weak, but it had been worth it. Shame she hadn’t screamed, I always like it when they scream, but it seemed she had accepted her fate.” A silence follows the words, but then the voice resumes. “He started dozing off, and I knew that there would be no better time to move. I summoned a rope, and it softly tied him to the chair; not too tied cause it would wake him up, and I wanted him to be properly tied before that happened. I gagged him, I like them screaming, but not while I’m still preparing my entertainment. When he felt the cloth slip into his mouth he opened his eyes, and spread them wide with fear, but he couldn’t move. He started wrestling the ropes, but to my joy this only made it worse for him, and I saw red stripes appear on his wrists. I kept my hood on, because I knew that he would probably pass out if I showed my face, somehow most people’s brains short-circuit when they see my face….I still wonder why, but that’s besides the point now. He soon realised that it was no use, and only his eyes kept screaming to let him go, but I just got my equipment ready. I laid out my scalpels, from small to big, and went looking in the kitchen what interesting devices he had. His kitchen had obviously been expensive; it had a marble top, and the handles were made of silver with gold decorations. Apparently our little psychiatrist liked showing off his money. In one of the drawers I found a couple of candles, and grabbed them together. I also found matches, a roll of kitchen paper and a butler tray. I took it all back to the living room, and placed my tools neatly on the butler tray. I looked around to see what else could be fun, and saw a fire poke in the hearth. Concentrating I flicked my hand, and a fire started burning. I placed my seal on it and put the poke in the fire, and left it for the moment; it would take a while before it was ready to use, and besides there were other things to have fun with first. His eyes followed me around, and showed hope. Hope that someone would come and help him, hope that he would be saved, hope that it was only a bad prank, and hope that he wouldn’t have to die today.” The stick above the fire stops turning, and the marshmallows slide off, and disappear under the hood. New marshmallows slide themselves on the stick. “Not bad these, a bit too sweet maybe, but not bad at all.” Sweetcherrie moves to offer the hooded figure a drink, but before she can open her mouth the voice stops her. “I’ll finish my story first, but thank you.” As she settles back down again, the stick starts turning again, and the voice continues. “I sat in front of him, and took up my finest scalpel. He would die, but not before I’d had some fun. I held the scalpel in the fire, and when it was glowing slightly I returned to my customer. His eyes grew bigger as I moved the scalpel towards his arm. With slow movements I pulled the blade through his skin, and wrote the word ‘liar’ in his arm. He would have screamed, the pussy, but the gag prevented him from doing that. The wound was bleeding only slightly, since I had only cut through the outer layers, and since the knife had been hot enough, it had partly burned the wound shut. ‘You need to learn that you can’t just do whatever you wish.’ My voice must have surprised him, because he stopped wriggling for a moment. My scalpel moved to his other arm, and I cut off his thumb. After pressing a piece of paper against it, I smelled a foul odour. I looked down at his crotch and saw that he had wet himself. Poor fellow, he’d done so much to others, but couldn’t take the heat himself. Precariously I placed the thumb on the butler tray, and lit a candle. I dripped the candle wax over his face, and he almost passed out when I accidentally spoiled some in his right eye. I didn’t want him to go blind, yet, so I made sure that the rest of the wax landed elsewhere. After a while the candle bored me, so I picked my scalpel back up and started drawing. It became a real work of art, but somehow he wasn’t appreciating the beauty of it. By now I had removed half of his skin, and suddenly thought of a new way to play. In one of the kitchen cabinets I had seen vinegar. I hurried over to get it, and washed most of the blood off. Now my artwork was revealed in all his glory. On his, now naked, body was written the story of how he had been mistreating people. This gentlemen that thought of himself as a saviour of souls, had been playing dirty for a while already. Various criminals had walked from prison after paying him royal amounts to declare them insane. Murderers and rapists were now comfortably going through therapy sessions, while they should’ve been locked up and thrown in the deepest dungeons. The words I had so craftily carved in his body told this story, and he knew that I knew. He also knew that I would not show remorse, and that he would pay for what he’d done. It was really a shame that I couldn’t risk removing the gag, but the terrified look in his eyes told me enough. By now the poke in the fire was glowing red-hot, and it was time to mark him. With care I untied one of his arms. He was too scared to pull it back, and probably still hoped that I wouldn’t kill him. I placed the poke on his upper arm, and my mark burned deep into his skin. He fainted. My work here was done and after I had cleaned up the mess I checked the burn; it was deep enough, and would show him for what he was the rest of his life, and maybe it would even help him change his life. I left as quietly as I had come.” Here the voice trails off. “Off course you’re all wondering now, why I didn’t kill him. I’ll tell you why. The next morning our psychiatrist waked up, and discovers that there was no blood. His skin was intact, but his upper arm was hurting like hell. When he rolled up his sleeve he saw the rune sign, my rune sign. He knew it meant that his soul was mine now; he knew that I would be watching him, and would finish the job if he would ever be unfaithful to me. You see, I could have killed him, but I like having people around that owe me. This fellow has been one of my most faithful servants the rest of his life, and has helped entertaining me on many occasions. This was back in ??? I think the guy’s name was Freud, and I think he even did some useful stuff with his life afterwards.” Here the voice stops talking. The marshmallows slide of the stick, and disappear under the hood. “I’d like to take that drink with me, please” Sweetcherrie stops staring as soon as the voice addresses her. She asks with a hoarse voice what drink it may be, and hands over the requested beer. She blinks, and when she looks again the figure is gone, and the stick stops turning and drops dead in the fire. OOC: You know I'm not the only one who is allowed to post in this thread....

Sweetcherrie hops in, and looks at the items for the item auction. “Hmm…Katz?” Katzaniel looks up, smothered in carnival work, and with blood red eyes of lack of sleep. “Yes?” “So, this thumb thing is that the same as the Trollgate Guide we needed?” “Hmm?” “Yeah, we sorta need a Trollgate Guide, but I guess we can baptise it err…thumb thingy. Just to make sure shall I just put Trollgate Guide down?” “Err…sure.” “Goodie.” Katz dives back in the papers, and sleeps two minutes later. With a black marker Sweetcherrie crosses out Denriggo's Thumb, and writes down: Denriggo's ThumbTrollgate Guide – PM Sweetcherrie

There were still a number of people sitting around the fire, and Sweetcherrie was toying with her drink. She hardly ever drunk alcohol, but tonight she had decided to drink a few glasses of wine. She felt slightly tipsy, but that only helped her to get in the right mood. The romantic stories had been very nice. She sighed, she had only few romantic experiences in her life, but there was one story that she could maybe tell. She cleared her throat. “Maybe I could tell something…” The people around the fire went silent. Sweetcherrie had mainly listened to the other stories, but now people turned to listen to her. “Well, it’s a while ago, but it happened when I was about fourteen…” and she started telling… “Oh come on…you should come with us.” Brandon had been trying to talk me into this for a while already, but I really wasn’t sure if I should go. It would be different if Jason was going as well, but Jason wasn’t allowed to go either. My uncle and aunt were staying on a campsite, and they had invited me, as their niece, to stay with them for a while. The original plan had been that I only stayed for three days, but then I met Jason. Now it had been almost a week, and I kept prolonging my stay, hoping that he would notice me. Jason was the most perfect guy I’d ever seen; not only was he cute, but he was also very nice. Unfortunately he also seemed not at all interested in me. Instead Brandon had taken an interest in me, and had tried all the childish jokes in the book to get my attention. The event he was talking about was a puzzle hunt. The campsite’s activity team organized it, and everybody was talking about it. My aunt and uncle had forbidden me to go, but I wasn’t feeling too sad about it because Jason wasn’t allowed to go either. I shook my head again. “I told you already, I’m not allowed.” “Then sneak out, you never seemed too bothered by what is and isn’t allowed before.” It was true. Almost the whole week I’d been sneaking out to meet up with them in the evenings. Brandon and Jason were both two years older than her, and they were always allowed to stay up later than me. But I had decided that the evenings were my best opportunity to hook up with Jason, if only I knew how to seduce a guy. “We’ll see. I have to go now, see you later.” Brandon stayed where he was, sulking, while I walked back into the direction of the caravan. I had just passed the toilet blocks when I heard my name. Turning around, I saw it had been Jason, and he was now trying to catch up with me. My heart missed a couple of beats, as always when I saw him, and I tried to look utterly calm. “Hey..” We stood there silently for a moment; apparently neither knew what to say. “I was wondering if you were going to that puzzle thing tonight?” He’d said it so fast that I was hardly able to make out the words. “I thought you weren’t going?” “Well, I wasn’t, but if you are, I will.” For a moment I thought that my heart would stop beating, but it picked back up again. When I spoke my voice was hoarse. “I will if you will…” “Great then I see you tonight at our usual place?” I nodded. He turned around to walk back to his own tent, but changed his mind, turned around, and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I was stumped, and before I could say something he was gone already. I stared after him for a moment. He had kissed me. My steps were a thousand times lighter than they had been five minutes before. It was already ten when they finished diner, and shortly after everybody went to bed, but I didn’t go to sleep. I lay silently waiting until I heard my uncle snore, and snuck out the tent. Luckily they had allowed me to set up my own tent next to their caravan, and this way I could silently get away during the nights. Brandon and Jason were already waiting at the back of the toilet blocks. There was no light burning here, and the shades made it easier to go unseen. Together we walked towards the starting point of the puzzle hunt, and waited there for the instructions. We were just in time, and were the last group to leave. Two more girls, and a guy were put in our group, and with the six of us we were to find the first person with a hint, This person would then give us the next hint, and so on. We entered the forest, and one of the girls immediately started meeping that she was scared. The guy put an arm around her shoulder, and assured her that there was nothing to be scared off. The other girl snickered, and joked that we had three guys with us that would protect us if something would happen. She walked closer to Jason, and I felt green with jealousy. I wanted to walk next to him, and now she was walking there. Brandon joined me, and I hated him at that moment. He tried to grab my hand, but I shook it lose, and walked in front of the group. I would show them that I wasn’t scared. It wasn’t going too bad, and we’d already found four hints when Jason came walking next to me. He sighed. “I finally managed to free my arm from her, she kept clinging on to it, but I gave her to Brandon now.” And sure enough when I turned around, Brandon was having his arm around the girl. A tiny sting of shattered ego went through me. It was weird, I really didn’t like him, but now he had shifted his attention from one moment to another to someone else. I decided that it wasn’t worth thinking about. Jason was here and he was walking next to me. We walked close to each other, and in the dark he took my hand, and squeezed it lightly. Butterflies were flying wildly around in my stomach, and I squeezed back. We looked at each other, and knew that we’d have to get away from the group somehow. “Let’s go.” He whispered, and he pulled me into a bush. We had already been walking at the back of the group, and when they disappeared nobody noticed at first. We ran to get away from them before they would notice, but he didn’t let go of my hand for even the shortest moment of time. When we stopped running we found ourselves in front of an old look-out. It was used to count the wild and look at birds, but now it was in the middle of the night, and it was silent. We climbed the few steps, and sat down on the floor. Jason pulled me in his arms, and we kissed for almost half an hour, or at least until I was out of breathe. Then I crawled closer against him, and he kept his arms warmly around me. “I’ve been wanting to do that all week already, but I didn’t know how.” Moonlight fell on his face, and I felt more in love than I had ever been before. He was amazing, and the night was amazing. We talked for a while and eventually we came to the subject of ghosts and spirits. He said that he had once before evoked a spirit, and that it had been rather funny. The subject always gave me the chills, but I was warm in his arms, and felt invincible there, so I asked him if we could do it again. He nodded. “Sure we can, we’d need something reflecting though…” He felt around in his pockets, and pulled out a mirror. By then I knew that he’d been planning to get me here, but only felt more in love with him for it, and my ego was pleasantly stroked as well. He only grinned and kissed me again. Half an hour (and again breathless) we returned to the subject of evoking spirits. Jason took the mirror, and lit the candle he had also brought. He placed the candle behind us, and held the mirror in front of us. With his arms around me I was almost falling asleep by then, which was no wonder because it was already around three in the morning. He told me to look in the mirror, and started mumbling words. “Please Bloody Mary, come to speak to us in the mirror.” For a moment nothing happened, but then a face appeared in the mirror. It was the face of a woman Her hair was black, her lips were black, and even her eyes were black as the night, but her skin was whiter than snow. I stared at the mirror and didn’t date move. Suddenly I heard a voice. It sounded as if it was a little girl, and she was screaming ‘mommy, mommy!!’ I turned around to look at Jason’s face, and saw that he had heard the voice as well, but hadn’t expected to hear a voice. His arms gripped closer around me, but the voices did not stop. “Marja, where are you?!” This was more the voice of what must be the mother, and she sounded scared, very scared. A dog started barking wildly, and the screaming of the child became louder. “Mommy! Mommy! Heeeelp!” For a moment we heard nothing, but then we heard a heart-tearing scream. “Noooooooo!” The scream chilled me to the bone, even though Jason’s arms were still around me. I knew he had heard the same, because he took the mirror and smashed it to the floor, begging the spirits to leave us. The dog barked once again, but it sounded more distant now. Then it was silent.” Here Sweetcherrie stops talking, and leaves the silence do its work upon her audience. When people started to move restlessly she resumed. “We sat there, huddled together, for at least another hour, before we dared to move. It had started dawning already, and a ray of sun fell on the shattered pieces of the mirror. Blood was dripping from the mirror, and we didn’t know how fast we had to run to get the hell out of there. We left the mirror behind, and hurried back into civilization. In the lights of the campsite all seemed a lot less scary, and when I looked at Jason I knew that he too doubted if what had just happened was real. I stayed another two weeks at that campsite, and even for almost two months afterwards Jason was my boyfriend, until we both found someone closer by. A couple of years later I went back to that area, and did some research. It turned out that a young girl had once dies close to the old lookout post. She had stepped into a swampy place, and was sucked in. Her mother and her had been walking the dog, and the mother had witnessed how the swamp had swallowed her little girl. After this I’ve never been back there again.” In the silence that followed Sweetcherrie filled her glass again, and waited for the next speaker to take his or her turn. OOC: A bit early to switch to horror stories, if anybody still wants to post a romantic story feel free to do so. But since I will be very busy tomorrow and the coming week, I felt it better to post this now, and start the creepy stories.

When they arrived back at his tent, Sweet jumped of the camel, gave the animal some pats and walked over to where the magical items were displayed. A large collection of shining stuff was blinking heavily in the sunlight. But Sweet didn’t look at them. Her eye had fallen on a half broken teddy bear that lay in a corner; half-forgotten it seemed. The bear had only one eye, and the thread that had been his mouth had come unravelled, but to Sweet it radiated softness….and something else. “Mister whatsyournameagain, can I have this bear?” A look of greed came in Achib’s eyes, he saw his chance to earn back the money he had somehow managed to lose on the book, but he quickly recomposed himself and nonchalantly walked over to the little girl. Sweet still held the teddy bear, and hugged it tightly against her. “Oooh, but this is not a normal bear…it is a special bear.” A very special bear indeed. I got it for free with some other magical junk, and she’s willing to pay, some people are just too stupid. But then again this bear is at least a bit special, not as special as the amount I'm going to ask for it, but still He grinned inwardly about his own evil thoughts but to Sweet he only smiled. The girl looked closely at the bear. “So what does it do?” “As soon as it has an owner it protects this owner by his magic.” Sweet’s eyes started to shine. “You mean that it will attack everybody that is mean to me?” “Err…sort of yess,” Achib rubbed his hands together, “and it costs only 350 geld.” At that very moment the bear started to glow, and Achib suddenly stumbled backwards, tripped over one of his own carpets, and fell on his bum. Sweet noticed nothing and looked very disappointed. She felt very sad all of a sudden, but she simply didn’t have this much geld. She started to put the bear back, and looked at it again. Achib, who was just crawling back up, suddenly felt a sharp kick against his behind. “Ouch, who did that?” He turned around, but there was nobody there. Sweet had now put the bear down, and walked away, head hanging sadly. Achib looked after her, and suddenly felt a kick against his shins, but this time it didn’t stop. He felt another kick against his behind, and suddenly the bear stood in front of him. The fluffy arms in its side, and its single eye was staring angrily at the Arab. Electricity seemed to radiate from the bear, and Achib was thrown back on the ground. Something started to leak through in his brains. Man, this bear is stronger than I thought.. Another kick against his shins made him crawl back up and he started calling after the girl. “Little miss, I….ouch….I’m doing what you want me to do….I made a mistake in the price…Ouch…I mean…I…the bear is all yours.” Sweet had turned around, and looked at Achib who was dancing around as if someone was shooting at his feet. A big smile had appeared on Sweet’s face. “Are you sure?” No I’m not sure, I want to make a lot of money… “OUCH…Yes! Yes, I’m sure…take him, please.” The bear was lying innocently against the other magical items, and seemed to grin happily as the little girl ran back and took it in her arms. She hugged it tight and then she hugged the Arab. This must be her lucky day! First he gives her a really neat book, then she gets to ride her camel, and now he had given her the teddy bear. Holding the bear tight against her, she bounced away towards the next stand, leaving behind Achib who was now rubbing his behind, and had a very sour look on his face.

The nerves had calmed down a bit, and Sweetcherrie was now going through her clothes to see what she would wear for the formal round. Nothing seemed suitable enough, and a big, colourful pile had already formed on her bed. Finally at the back of her cupboard she found what she’d been looking for. Sweetcherrie took the dress out and held in front of her; it would look amazing. The red silk felt cool against her skin when she slipped the dress on. Now her hair needed doing. She sat down in front of the mirror and took out the different pins she would need. Half an hour later she nodded satisfied at her reflection. Lastly she put on the jewellery she had laid out earlier. Then the clock told her it was time to go and she hurried to the beach portal. Seconds later she stood at the beach, and felt somewhat silly in her evening gown between all the people that wore swimsuits. The sand felt warm between her toes….wait a second…sand! Between her toes! Sweetcherrie looked down, and discovered that she had forgotten to put her shoes on. Why was she such a scatterbrain at times? There was no time to go back and get them, she sighed and kept her dress up as she walked to the stage. When Tanny was finished, Sweetcherrie inhaled deeply and stepped onto the stage. She held her head high, and hoped that everybody would look at the dress, and not at her bare feet. Her dress was low-cut at the back, and flowed closely around her body. The red of the dress and the red blush on her cheeks mixed well, it made her look vivid and gave her a warm glow. Her soft golden curls were dancing around her head, the glitters she had put in them reflected the sun as she walked forward to show herself to the members of the jury. The necklace she was wearing was simple, but made her neck come out better, and the make-up she had used brought out the blue in her eyes. All in all she knew she looked good, and could only hope that it would be enough. She smiled at the jury and turned back to leave the stage. Just as she wanted to slip between the curtains she felt her bare foot slip on something wet, and trying to look elegant and stay upright she grabbed one of the curtains. Unfortunately either the fabric or the curtainrail wasn’t made of the best quality, because with a tearing sound she fell forward, taking the curtain with her. Sweetcherrie wormed her head out of the pile of curtain that had fallen on top of her, and her face was now positively redder than her dress. Even if the jury hadn’t seen her bare feet, they had certainly noticed this! Trying to think quickly to make her blooper a little less obvious, she stood up and took the curtain with her, now using it as a cape, and bowed, pretending that this was all meant to be. “Thank you!” Not waiting for any replies she quickly disappeared behind the other curtain, and left the curtain that had fallen down behind on the stage. Backstage she looked what she had stepped on that made her slip, and saw that she had a little bit of bunny poo under her foot. She glanced around, and saw the fluffy bunny in the corner with Tanny. She sighed and walked towards the sea to rinse her feet before getting ready for the next round.

The sight of Wyvern sunken half away in the sand is rather funny, and Sweet giggles loudly about it. “Hello Mister Lizard, why are you half buried?” But the almost dragon is too busy wondering why his quick sand hasn’t worked, and Patham answers. “He tried to build a sand castle, but something went wrong. You can try if you want, it’ll earn you some geld for candy.” With the word 'candy' Sweet’s eyes grow big, and she nods eagerly. “Can I just start here?” But she doesn’t wait for an answer and starts building. Soon enough she has made a massive pile of sand and has started sculpting it into the right shapes. The pile of sand is bigger than the little girl, and she has to stand on her toes when she shapes the towers. Halfway she steps back and looks at her work. The castle now has a tower on each corner, a real courtyard, and a yet empty moat. Sweet goes back to work, and with the tip of her tongue sticking out she starts on the windows. Slowly the castle gets more and more shape, and when she is finished it looks almost as a real castle, except that it is smaller. Patham looks at it appreciatively; the little girl really did a wonderful job. With a proud look in her eyes Sweet looks at her castle, it has really turned out well; all it needed now were inhabitants. She puts her hand in the pockets of her dungarees and draws out paper and her magic pens. Soon after she has drawn a little princess and a prince, and has even given them very real looking clothes. Now she only needed someone with a little magic. Looking around she sees Venefyxatu in the distance, and without further thinking she starts shouting. “Venefixmetoo!!! Yooohoooo!” The mage looks up, and sees the little girl gesturing at him. With a smile he moves over. “Nice castle.” “Thanks, can you move your fingers…you know to make my people alive?” Looking from the castle to the drawing to the little girl, Venefyxatu chuckles. “Sure.” With a few muttered words the figurines spring to life, and the prince happily hugs the princess before looking around. When they see the castle, both ooooh and aaaah, and walk over to the drawbridge towards the castle. The moat is now filled with water, and tiny crocodiles are swimming around in it. The massive oak doors stand open welcoming and the portcullis is drawn up to receive them. Upon entering the castle they fall silent, and look around. They’re standing in an enormous, candlelit hall (well enormous to them at least). Hand in hand they walk through the hall and enter a long corridor. The walls are entirely covered with mirrors, and from the ceiling hang crystal chandeliers. The sunlight that falls through the large windows is reflected a million times, and the whole corridor swims in little rainbows. When they walk through the corridor and enter the next room, it starts dazzling them again. All the walls are covered in blue velvet, and there’s an enormous bed standing at one side of the room. The bedspreads are also blue velvet, and on the head of the bed they could see a silver crown. “This must be your room.” The prince says to the princess, and they continue their tour of discovery. The next room is entirely decorated with crimson velvet, and the bed is even bigger. This time there is a golden crown on the head of the bed. “And this must be yours.” The princess says to the prince, and they walk to the next room. A shining bathroom twinkles when they enter; golden taps, and a golden bathtub. The walls are decorated with white marble, and the floors are made of red marble. They return to the big hall, and look at each other. “We can certainly be happy here.” The prince says. “Yes we can, and our children too.” The princess replies. Together they walk back outside, and look up at Sweet. In choir they say thank you, and enter the castle once again. Surprised Venefyxatu and Patham look at each other; Sweet only giggles.