The Enduring Man-Child (Registered User) ::Ping!:: (Let's continue here for a while now, since the thread's a little messy below.) The Bureau Drawer With The Neckties was like no other instumentality in existence (excpet perhaps for Ernie Kovacs-style drawings), for all Man-Child's various aspects were simultaneously appearing in their various venues and almost immediately returning to his original body. This point must be stressed, or the visits of Man-Child's various manifestations to sundry characters will seem to have taken up much more time than they did. This being now stated, let us continue! One particular manifestation of Man-Child landed in a strangely familiar place, though he could not make it out for sure at first. In fact, he wondered if he might be in any danger from some unseen foe. However, in feeling about with his hands he found a smooth wall, which seemed to indicate he was in a modern building of some kind, and eventually he encountered a light switch. Almost instinctively, he flipped it on. The site that met his eyes stirred a strange nostalgic yearning in his bosom, for he was in the (now deserted) college radio station he had once worked in. Perhaps it was after hours, or no one was present because of summer break. But on closer inspection, it was not the station as it currently exists, but the one he remembered from his own college days. Although the advent of Mrs. Brisby had been before his college days, nevertheless he found all about him numerous record albums from the early Eighties that he particularly associated with Mrs. Brisby. "Wow!" he exclaimed, "Culture Club! Men At Work! The Pretenders! Asia! Tommy Tutone!" He was reminded once again of the very special sounds of 1982-83 which seemed almost to have been produced under the very aegis of his beloved Furry Toon Mother. "And here's She Blinded Me with Science! And Der Kommisar! And Spirits in the Material World! And . . . uh-oh! . . . Mac McAnally's Minimum Love (better leave that one alone)!" Man-Child, even in his somewhat attenuated state, knew he had stumbled upon a goldmine of absolutely essential materials for the person who had made the year 1982 unforgettable. "Let's see . . . how do I carry all these things? And how do I . . . " Then he noticed the swirling colors of the particular Necktie Drawer from which he had emerged. Wonderful! Now all that remained was to shovel as much early Eighties kitsch into the drawer as possible for instantaneous transferrence to the Coffeehouse. After all he thought I'll bring it all right back, before anyone even misses it! Ah, sweet nostalgia! ------ Indy (MB Admin) A portal opens at the Coffeehouse... Indy and Bedivere emerged in a flash of light, then looked around, confused. "Say, where'd that Man-Child go?" Bedivere asked. The Rangers, who'd arrived just before them, came over to explain. Or rather Foxy did, since it was her uncle who asked. "You were with one part of Man-Child because he was split into parts when he went into the palomino's tie-drawer." "What's that supposed ta mean?" Bedivere asked. Foxy shrugged. "I dunno, it's just what they told me to say." Indy took a look around. The festoons were going up, someone had brought in a nice cake, and now Man-Child (or at least one part of him) returned with a stack of records and a record player. "Like the vinyl too, eh?" Indy asked. "I've been converting a bunch of Mantovani over to digital the past few weeks." Man-Child began searching for a place to plug the player in. "All these are from the year 1982, to celebrate that glorious year when Mrs. Brisby first touched our lives!" Bedivere was mingling already, his Texas charm making that easy. Steve, Flora and Mercy were asking him questions, and he was flapping his chiopteran gums mile-a-minute. "All y'all* haveta come to Hondo someday! I'll take ya on a real beetle drive, and you'll get the feel of what it was like for the first Texas prairie bats who tamed the West!" * - For those unfamiliar with Southern expressions, "y'all" refers to one person and "all y'all" to more than one. ------ CD (Registered User) Soon, a small party started before most others had arrived The Stereotypical Hunter was in the background at start of all, but soon joined everyone else present in the place. "You're an archeologist who found the Holy Grail?" He asked Indy. "I know stories about the crusades. The crusader came all from Mongolia and they traveled to South America to wage war against the Counter-Reform Helvetians who lived there. And then they would make a trail of breadcrumbs so they wouldn't lose their way. But then Jesus turned all those crumbs into fish and told the fish to "stand up, and walk". And then those Teutons didn't know where they came from anymore. The were so angry they..." The Stereotypical Hunter kept telling tall tales that for some reason seemed somewhat strange to anyone he talked to. But next to that, the waiting didn't seem to bother anyone. Especially CD who now had all the time in the world to draw pictures. ---------- What will...Forget it, not enough questions that need to be answered. Just read the next chapter of the story tread. Good day and enjoy waiting for the others. ------ Loki (Registered User) The Elizabeth River, Norfolk, VA . . . "Moored, shift colors!" is one of a Sailor's favorite things to hear when they've been underway for a while. A few hours after this word was passed aboard the USS Arthur W Radford, Loki left the ship, carrying a ditty bag and a bag of someone else's garbage that he'd gotten stuck with. TO an outside observer, he appeared to be humming the theme to the Mr. Ed TV show of years ago, but Loki had made a subtle change to the lyrics. "My boss is a horse's *** of course . . ." Loki sang, as he walked towards the dumpster to deposit the bag of someone else's garbage. The garbage was stinking and leaking, and of course the bag had ripped, making it all the more difficult to carry. "Who's a horse's ***?" Thomas asked. "Watch your language," Loki admonsished him. "Just 'cause I talk that way doesn't mean you can." Loki tossed the bag of someone else's garbage into the dumpster with a resounding splat. "My leading petty officer. He's the same grade as I am, and has only a few years seniority over me, but he runs the division as if he were the lord admiral of the Navy." Loki struck out across the base in the general direction of where he remembered having parked his car. "So what are you going to do about him then?" Thomas asked. "Ignore him for another four months, 'til he leaves. Then he ceases to be of any concern to me whatsoever. Besides, I've got bigger fish to fry at the moment." "The celebration?" Thomas asked. "Yup," Loki answered. "I want to get underway about noon tomorrow. That gives us just enough time to get home, check the mail, and get Verdandi provisioned for the journey." "That reminds me. Just how do you use a 24-foot sailboat for interdimensional travel anyhow?" Thomas asked, not a little nervously. "Very carefully," Loki said, not at all reassuringly. "The calculations are all correct, I checked them over a couple times for accuracy, and once we cross the dimensional barrier, things will become a lot easier, trust me. I wouldn't miss this celebration for anything. I have a lot to thank Mrs. Brisby for." "You mean, the timing?" "Yeah," Loki said with a sigh, "pretty much. She did come along at just the right time, even if I was a year late. But given the circumstances at the time," Loki trailed off, lost in thought. Thomas knew what Loki was talking about, and they passed the rest of the walk across the Naval Station in silence until at length they found Loki's aged but adored old Jeep. Climbing in, they left the Naval Station by the lightest traffic route possible. ====== A half hour later, in Loki's apartment, Loki asked, "Do you know what the worst thing about being underway for two weeks is?" "Being underway for two weeks?" Thomas answered, only half-jokingly. "Two weeks worth of junk mail." Thomas looked at the pile of bills, credit card offers, almuni asociation notices, newspapers, newsletters and advertisements, and agreed. ------ Loki (Registered User) The Chesapeake Bay, and beyond . . . The thread was dying out, but Loki was interested in it so he determined that he should do whatever he could in order to keep it alive. Up to this point that had included rather a lot of tedious narrative about what a lousy time he was having in his real-world job, but now he had something interesting to write about. Let's call this bit: THE JOURNEY TO THE DRAGON PLANET (cue impressive musical soundtrack, with lots of bass drums, violins and french horns) ====== Thomas watched from the cabin top of Verdandi, Loki's elderly but well-cared-for sailboat, as Loki made repeated trips from the dock to the boat, stowing things away in the cabin below. Almost all of them were too heavy for a mouse to handle, so Loki did the loadout himself. Besides, he wanted to make sure everything was secure, so that a good roll didn't make a mess of his cabin. Thomas, for his part, was feeling even less secure about the journey, especially since Loki had inexplicably replaced the brand-new compass with an antique-looking brass binnacle, complete with a brass oil lamp for lighting the compass card. In addition, though the GPS receiver was still present, Loki had brought a star chart which contained not even one constellation that Thomas recognized, an astrolabe, a brass sextant that looked just as ancient as the compass binnacle, and a rather odd-looking clock in a box, which Loki told him was properly called a Chronometer. It looked like junk to Thomas. He'd seen wristwatches in better shape. "So what's all this junk for?" Thomas asked. "This 'junk', as you put it," Loki said, pausing for a breather in the companionway, "is especially for navigating to the Dragon Planet. We couldn't get there without it." "You still haven't told me how we get to the Dragon Planet from the Chesapeake Bay in a twenty-four foot sailboat," Thomas pointed out. "Ah, but that would be spoiling the surprise!" Loki exclaimed. "Suffice for now to say that it's more predictable and comfortable than the Bureau Drawer with the Neckties, though perhaps not quite so poetic. Trust me, it'll be fun." "Yeah right," said Thomas under his breath, "about as far as I can throw you." "Do you want to go on this trip or not?" Loki asked. "Of course I want to go. Just why all the mystery is what wanna know." "More fun for the readers that way," said Loki with a huge grin. "Anyhow, I'm done, so if you're having second thoughts, say so now or forever hold your peace, I'm about to cast off." Saying this, Loki slid the hatch shut and twisted a key in the small instrument panel. Below the cockpit, the bright red one-cylinder Westerbeke diesel engine rumbled into life. Thomas swallowed hard, remembering the ducking he and Loki had gotten a few months ago on a Laser sailing dinghy. Loki had assured him that Verdandi was much more stable. But he so wanted to meet Mrs. Brisby again. That desire overcame all of his fears. "All right then," Loki said, and went to the dock and cast off the mooring lines, tossing them onto the cabin top and cockpit sole. Leaping nimbly back into the cockpit, he pushed the throttle forward, and Verdandi smoothly accelerated away from the dock, out the jetty and into the sunset-streaked bay. Loki coiled up and stowed the mooring lines as they motored along. "I thought you wanted to get going at Noon," Thomas said. "Do you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?" Loki asked. "No" admitted Thomas, who hadn't read much since his escape from NIMH all those years ago. "You should read more, it broadens the mind. Take the tiller." Loki switched off the motor and set to work raising the vessels sails. With a ratchet of winches Loki quickly had both sails up, and Verdandi caught the wind in handsome style, bearing away from the jettys on a close reach. Loki took a look aloft and adjusted the trim of the headsail. The boat heeled over to a comfortable angle as she sailed over the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, beating upwind into the Chesapeake Bay proper. "You want to steer for a while? The first leg of our journey will only take until just after sunset." "Okay," replied Thomas. "What do I do?" "I'll take care of the sails, so just worry about out heading. We're going to head North now, so come left to course three-five-zero. Just push the tiller over to windward and hold it there until the new course lines up with the lubber line on the compass." Thomas pushed the tiller over, and watched the compass as Loki carefully adjusted the sails' trim. They were now sailing on a beam reach, and on a starboard tack, heading North up the Bay as the sun set to Port. "Three-four-zero," Thomas reported. "Great, now just keep her there for a while." Loki consulted the chronometer, then plotted their GPS position on a conventional chart of the bay. With a look at the odd star chart, he settled back against the cockpit coaming with a satisfied grunt. The stars were just beginning to come out now, and Loki switched on the navigation lights. The red and green sidelights and white sternlight made reflections off the waves on the bay. While Thomas steered, getting the hang of the manner in which Verdandi answered her tiller, Loki hummed an old sea-ditty to himself, keeping a lookout for other traffic on the surface. Not that he worried for a collision, he just didn't want anyone else to see where he was going. About an hour later, after the sun had gone completely away, Loki checked the GPS one last time, then switched the instrument off. It wouldn't do them any more good where they were about to go. He consulted the Chronometer. The window was still open. "Alright there Thomas, you've done well with the tiller so far. Let's see how you do now." Loki pulled a chain from around his neck. It had an odd flat ornament on it that was shaped sort of like an anchor, except that the space between the shank and flukes was filled with odd symbology. This he inserted into a slot at the base of the old brass binnacle. "Come right, steer course four-two-zero." Thomas looked at the compass card. "Um, you do know this compass has only three-hundred and sixty degrees on it, right?" Loki grinned. "Four-two-zero. Just put the tiller to leeward and trust me." Thomas shrugged. "Four-two-zero." He put the tiller over to port and Verdandi answered, climbing up towards the wind until she reached a heading of true North, three-six-zero. Suddenly there was an unearthly glow from the compass and, as the saying goes, they dropped off the face of the earth. ------ Loki (Registered User) Beyond the Chesapeake Bay . . . or . . . THE JOURNEY TO THE DRAGON PLANET CONTINUES (cue impressive musical soundtrack, with lots of bass drums, violins and french horns) ====== To Thomas, it seemed as thought the compass suddenly grew to nearly twice its size. At the same time, the tiller vanished, to be replaced by a large wooden ship's wheel with brass trim. The deck ahead of him stretched out in every direction, the rigging, masts and boom grew and multipled, and the two small winches on the cabin top became huge capstans, one forward and one aft. To his utter astonishment, Thomas found himself standing on the deck of a three-masted, square-rigged ship sailing through some sort of strange open space, rather than the more naturally assumed element of water. He looked at the compass card, and discovered that he had the ship on a steady head of four-hundred and twenty degrees, on a compass scaled for six-hundred and thirty. He looked to Loki, who was now dressed in a mid nineteenth-century Naval uniform, with the rank of Captain. He and Thomas were roughly the same size, thanks to the Law of Dimensional Compatability. He was consulting the odd star chart that he'd brought with them, and Thomas saw at once that it corresponded precisely to the weird sky the ship was sailing through. "Neat trick, eh?" Loki asked. "Amazing!" Thomas agreed. "Verdandi is a ship of dreams. This is her interdimensional form." "That's quite useful," Thomas agreed, looking at everything around him in wonder. "The first rule of traveling in another dimension is to be willing to leave the rules behind. Now, let's see what's up then!" A ferret wearing a short blue jacket with brass buttons and a single stripe upon his sleeves approached from the after hatch. "Loki! Long time no see! When are you going to get around to writing that story you promised us?" Loki tapped the side of his head with a single finger. "It's still brewing up here, First Lieutenant Burrows. Are all hands aboard?" "Aye, that they are, and ready and rarin' for a voyage they are too!" "Then assemble the crew, and I'll tell them what our mission is to be!" "Aye aye sir! Bosun! Sound the assembly!" The boatswain blew a long call on his pipe, and soon ferrets in duck trousers and frocks with neckerchiefs were crowding about the deck. From the officers quarters aft came Second Lieutenant Martinez, followed by the warrant officers from the steerage, Gunner Sims, old Joshua the Ship's Carpenter, Ross the Sailmaker, Alexander the Paymaster, the Surgeon whom everyone simply called "Doc", and finally the Ship's Cook and Wardroom Steward. "I know I've long promised you a story," Loki began. "This isn't it, it's merely a short tale, but an important one nonetheless. We're bound for the Dragon Planet, to attend a very special celebration for a very special lady." Old Joshua raised his hand and was immediately recognized. "Do you mean that anniversary celebration for Mrs. Brisby?" "Why yes!" Loki answered, "But how did you come to know about that?" "Well sir, this here odd fellow appears all of a sudden in me tool chest. Scared the life half out of me he did too! Said his name were the Everlasting Man Child, or something like that." "The Enduring Man Child," Loki corrected him. "Aye, that's the fellow. He told us all about it. We've been expecting you ever since." "Well I'll be dipped!" Loki said, much to the amusement of the crew. "Where'd he go then?" Lieutenant Martinez spoke up. "We let him have a berth in the Wardroom, seeng as he couldn't get back. Here he is now." The Enduring Man Child, or to be more precise, one of his fragments, came up from the Quarterdeck hatch. "Do the stairs on ships all have to be that steep?" "Why hello there EMC!" said Loki warmly. "I hadn't seen you since your misadventures on my other ship. How are you?" "To tell the truth, I'm a bit worried," the EMC began. "The Bureau Drawer with the Neckties has always been a bit wonky, but I find I'm having trouble collecting myself. I would hate to be in fragments for the celebration." "So I see," said Loki. "No doubt other aspects and fragments of you are ahead of us, perhaps even as far as the Ranger Coffeehouse itself. I'll have the crew keep a bright lookout for them. Your presence aboard should draw them, so we may be able to collect enough to draw the rest by the time we reach the Dragon Planet. I'd be more than happy to lend whatever aid I can in pulling yourself back together." "Do you think it will work?" The Enduring Man Child asked. "I'm not entirely certain. Barring the Wardrobe in the Land of Spare Room, I'm entirely unacquainted with interdimensional travel through furniture containing clothing." "Ah. Oh. Oh my," said the Enduring Man Child. "It's up to you my friend. Bear in mind that having many of you rushing about through multiple dimensions could be hazardous, so I hope you have what it takes to do something about it. The resources of this vessel are at your disposal." "Great," said the EMC, unsure just where to begin. "Well men, we have a challenge ahead of us as well as a voyage, a treasure hunt of sorts, to reunite the Enduring Man Child here with his other selves. Are you up to it?" In response, the ferrets thundered back their batle cry, "Mustela Putorius Furo!" "Then lay aloft and unfurl the top gallants and royals! We must make as much sail as possible if we're to complete our mission and make it to the Dragon Planet on time! There will be general liberty when we arrive!" "Hurrah!" The crew responded, and set to work, each ferret to his station. Soon the mighty vessel was under full sail. "Thomas, you should go below and find the musicians to practice. One of the crew will mind the helm." "Oh, okay." Thomas, still feeling a little dazed by what had occurred, went down the hatch to the next deck, and found another surprise waiting for him. Verdandi was armed. Well-armed in fact. An even dozen large cannon, IX-inch Dahlgren Smoothbores, crouched in the relative darkness of the gun and berth deck, six to a side. Not for the first time, Thomas wondered just what Loki was up to. Loki retired to the Captain's cabin, doffing his sword, hat and coat. He had a major surprise for the crowd at the Ranger Cafe all right. A fitting celebration for Mrs. Brisby's twentieth anniversary. He lay down on his bunk to rest, and presently he bagan to dream . . . and to remember . . . Flashback to 1977, give or take a year. Loki was but a young student in Elementary School in Texas at the time. The Teacher had a new book that she wanted to read to the class, and so she did, over the next few weeks. It was rare enough to find a teacher willing to read to her students, and rarer still to find one with the wisdom to read the Newbury-Award-winning book, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" Loki well remembers the enchantment and wonder he felt when first he heard of Mrs. Frisby, and her son Timothy, the Mysterious Dr. Ages and the helpful crow Jeremy, the spooky old owl and the enigmatic Rats of NIMH. With these thoughts in his head, Loki drifted off for a brief nap, secure in the knowledge that the watch would wake him if his attention were required. ====== Loki also knew that if he continued to monopolize the story thread, people would begin to throw things at him, se he decided to pipe down for a while and let someone else tell a story of their journey to the Ranger Coffeehouse. ------ The Enduring Man-Child (Registered User) How convenient! Man-Child was quite fascinated by the ferrets. He'd often thought of what it would be like to have one as a pet, though the physiology of the female ferret (namely, what happens to her during estrus) raised troubling halakhic issues. But he was soon distracted by a most surprising development. "Man-Child? Am I invited?" The question was very subdued, and no wonder, for he found just off the deck floating in the interdimensional ether, none other than Yolei Inoue, the "bad girl" of the past two story threads. "Sure, Yolei! Er . . . where's Davis? You do like him, don't you?" "Sure I do!" she said, reacing behind her to produce Davis, who was completely zonked out by the Magical Female Powers(tm) of the bespectacled beauty. "Well, how about bringing him along?" Man-Child suggested. I'd love to!" she answered and began to board. "Wait a minute. Where's Cody?" Man-Child suddenly asked. "Cody?" she repeated, a bit confused. Then she remembered that Man-Child, feeling sorry for poor Cody (since he was sure to develop a crush on Yolei sooner or later), had suggested that Yolei adopt Cody after marrying Davis. "Oh, he's back home, I'm sure. He's fine. I've asked him if my relationship with Davis bothers him and he says he's fine with it." "Poor brave soul!" Man-Child said, certain that little heartbroken Cody was weeping his eyes out somewhere at that moment, "He simply doesn't want to tell you the truth. Please, Yolei, bring little Cody along with you!" "I don't know if I could . . . " she said. "There's this great crib I've been thinking of giving you guys as a present. Cody can live in it!" "I don't know if he'd like that," she said reluctantly. Man-Child put on a heartbreaking, hangdog expression. "Now, do I have to remind you how mean you were to me in the last two story threads?" he asked. Yeah, well, you wrote 'em she thought. But she decided it wasn't worth the argument (besides, one never knew when Man-Child would pitch a hissy fit), so she reached back into the dimensional pocket and brought out a very reluctant Cody. "Honest, I'm fine with this whole Davis and Yolei thing!" he protested. "You kind, brave, unselfish soul!" Man-Child exclaimed with admiration. Meanwhile another voice called to Man-Child from just off the deck, and upon looking in that direction who should he see but . . . HER . . . Mimi Tachikawa, the heroine of the last story thread, and the Breaker Of A Zillion And One Hearts. "M--Mimi!" Man-Child managed to stutter, sweating profusely from Mimi's double-rectified Magical Female Powers(tm), "I suppose you came because you know no one can deny you anything you want." "That's ri-iight!" she said in the confidence her knowledge of her Powers(tm) gave her. "Will you do me one favor, O Omega Point Of All Desire? Would you kindly bring poor dorky Jyou with you? Pleeease???" And even Mimi could not resist his child-like whining (and knowing what sometimes happened when he didn't get his way). "Certainly, Man-Child!" she said, reaching back and bringing the poor unsuspecting Jyou (lucky guy!) into this dimension to travel with them. "Where's Izzy?" Man-Child asked. "Izzy? Why?" she asked, understandably enough. Yolei sighed, knowing what was coming next. "I know you can only marry one incredibly lucky guy, but like Yolei, if you and Jyou would adopt poor little Izzy, I'm sure it's the best thing we can do to prevent what would otherwise be a life of undying misery at having been rejected by you." The look on his face showed that he considered the answer obvious. "Er . . . Man-Child, Izzy's fine. He's not in love with me . . . honest!" "Pikachu becomes very sad when the bearer of the Crest of Sincerity tells a big fat story," Man-Child said. Obviously a tantrum was on the way. "Hey, listen you! That is not a story, and I'm the one who felt sorry for you and kissed you in the last story thread, so why don't you . . . " "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" Man-Child wailed, in a way that he hadn't since he was having trouble loading corrupted jpg's that everyone else could load with no trouble. "Please Mimi, it's not worth it! Just humor him!" Yolei begged. "Oh, very well!" Mimi sighed. Then, using her Magical Female Powers(tm), she produced the "lucky" Izzy, who appeared about as reluctant as Cody. "Now are you satisfied???" she asked, exasperated. "Sure. Now Pikachu is happy again!" Man-Child said, beaming with innocence. "I'm glad someone is," Izzy whispered to Cody. Man-Child showed the new passengers to their quarters, bubbling with anticipation at how happy Loki would be to see who had joined them. ------ CD (Registered User) Meanwhile, again CD had stopped drawing pictures of Clarice since he was running out of paper. "Where's the rest of you?" He asked part of EMC that was still in the coffeehouse. "I...Don't know." He answered, obviously not recovered from being more than one person. "I guess there can be only one." CD guessed. "What's taking you so long?" "I...Don't know." EMC answered again. "I guess it's up to me to save your other half from whatever problem you ran into." He said heroicly. "To bad I have no idea how to do that." Suddenly CD got a plan and took one of the few remaining empty papers and took a pencil and began to write. 'suddenly...CD...got..the..power...of..Teleportation." "There, that should do it." He said triumphantly. "Now let's see if it works." He said teleported himself to the kitchen where Flora and Mercy were busy preparing hot chocolate. The girls where immediatly scared by how CD got into the kitchen but didn't drop any of the hot liquid. "Sorry ladies, just trying out my new superpower. Say, what happened to that stereotypical hunter I wrote for you two?" CD asked his creations. "He went chasing this strange lederhosen guy when he corrected him on his storytelling. According to that mad man the seven goats where eaten by a wolf. Can you think of anything more cruel?" Flora answered his question. "Okay, have fun ladies." CD said and got ready for another location shift. "Note to self: write in Clarice later on if no one else does." he thought to himself and of he was. ---------- Will CD find EMC (the better half)? And will he use his new powers in a good way? And will he really write in Clarice later on? The future is in the hands of he who has the guts to continue this tread. Good day and don't let the post die! ------ Loki (Registered User) Sail ho! "Sail ho!" the lookout cried from the foremast. "Where away?" asked Lieutenant Burrows, who had the deck. "Two points forward of the starboard beam!" Lieutenant Burrows directed his glass on the reported bearing, and saw another fragment of the Enduring Man Child, floating towads the ship in almost a ghostly manner. "Heave to and call away the gig! Lively now mates, pick him up!" Ferrets sprang into the rigging, furling sails as the gig crew came on deck. Readying their boat with the speed brought by years of practice, they soon had the falls made fast, and crewmen manned the davits and lowered away. Of course, none of this activity takes place aboard a ship without the Captain knowing about it, and Loki came up on deck to see what was going on. For the time being he had missed the commotion in the Wardroom caused by the arrival of the EMC's companions. "What's going on?" Loki asked. He was mostly curious, as he trusted the judgement of his officers. "We're sending the gig to pick up a fragment of the Enduring Man Child." "Wonderful, that should cheer him up." Since Lieutenant Burrows, like any prudent watch officer would, had already sent a messenger to fetch their guest, the Enduring Man Child soon appeared on the quarterdeck, together with Yolei, Davis, Cody, Mimi, Jyou and Izzy. "Well EMC, that's quite an entourage you've collected." Loki took note of the Magical Female Powers (TM), but since he had an image as Captain to maintain, he ignored them to the best of his ability. "Why thank you. It is all right isn't it?" the EMC asked, knowing how picky ships were about stowaways. "Well certainly, any friend of yours is welcome aboard." The gig was now hoisted aboard, the crew having returned swiftly with the fragment of the Enduring Man Child that they had collected. The lookout aloft sang out again, as he had spotted yet another fragment ahead. Loki pondered for a bit, and finally put two and two together. For someone who knew as much as he did, he could be surprisingly slow-witted at times, especially when he hadn't gotten enough sleep. "Of course! Inductive Temporal Imaginative Mass Attraction!" "Correct!" the Enduring Man Child said. "By having these characters around me, then my other fragments will be attracted all the faster. I should be together in plenty of time for the party." "Oh sure," said the newly arrived fragment of the Enduring man Child. "You've got all the answers." "No, just enough," replied the Enduring Man Child. Loki watched in curiosity. "So how do the fragments join?" "Like this," said the Enduring Man Child, and took a step towards the other Enduring Man Child. The other Enduring man Child took a step away. The Enduring Man Child frowned in puzzlement and stepped closer again, while his other fragment stepped away again. "Hey you, we're part of the same person you know, we belong together!" "You'll have to catch me first!" Said the other fragment, and ran away laughing, with the Enduring Man Child in pursuit. The chase ranged over the spar deck and into the rigging, with the ferrets also attempting, unsuccessfully, to aid the EMC in recapturing his other self. Loki watched in amazaement. "They're as bad as Peter Pan and his shadow," he observed. "Don't I know it," Yolei replied. As further fragments drifted to the ship, the chase only grew larger and more confused until it resembled the end credits of the Benny Hill televison show. Loki half expected to hear someone playing the theme from that show on a saxaphone. Loki hadn't seen the Benny Hill show in a while of course, and that reflection brought a new memory to the surface. Well, an old memory actually, I suppose there's really no such thing as a new memory. Loki had of course heard about the theatrical release of The Secret of NIMH, and wanted very much to go and see it, but there were far too many other things on his mind in the summer of 1982, and so he could not see it in theaters. This is why he was a year late, but also why the timing of his first meeting with Mrs. Brisby was so fortuitous. Loki's reverie was broken by the lookout's cry of "Land ho! Dragon Planet dead ahead!" They had arrived, and needed now only to moor as close to the Ranger Coffeehouse as possible, where Loki understood the party had already begun. Of course, the first order of business was to ensure the Enduring Man Child was complete. How to accomplish that in time for the party? ------ KS (Registered User) As the Verdandi prepared to moor... Inside the Coffeehouse, KS had this odd feeling he'd forgotten something... "So this is where you got to!" Dee stated as she emerged form the dimensional portal hidden amongst the decorative potted plants, "Think you could warn us next time you plan to disappear into foliage like that?" As the raven haired inventress walked further into the coffeehouse, a similarly sized weasel followed behind like a loyal dog (though that had more to do with the leash Dee had him on). "That' what I forgot!" KS declared, smacking himself in the forhead. "You think I'm a 'what'?!" Dee almost yelled, "I don't qualify as a 'who'?!" "No, that's not what I meant and you know it," KS replied, "It was the 'fact' that I had companions that I forgot. That's what qualifies as a 'what'." "Yeah, right," the mouse mumbled as she rolled her eyes, "He brings Raven here twice but I don't even get an..." her train of thought began to trail off as she spotted a familiar chipmunk off in the distance. Letting go of the leash, she began to sneak up on what she assumed was her fiance. "GOTCHA!" Dee yelled as she tackled Chip, and promptly gave him a big wet kiss. "Uh, Dee," KS tried to intervene, "I don't think that's your Chip!" It was only after his statement that he noticed Dee was no longer holding the leash. "He's loose!" "Who's loose?" Dee asked in complete indifference. "Drywall, that's who!" he sternly answered. "Geez, what kind of trouble could an obsessively curious weasel get into," Dee dismissed as she continued snuggling Chip, which seemed to irritate Gadget quite a bit. Oblivious to one of the problems Dee had caused, KS went off to recapture Drywall Weasel (otherwise he'd never be able to use him in his next fanfic). ------ Kat (Registered User) *ping* back to the top again ;) "C'mon, Kat, where are you?" muttered Kuwani as she idly moved the arms on one of Kat's DBZ Trunks action figures while she was sitting in Kat's favorite chair. The Tari sorceress was toying with the notion of magically animating the figure when she felt something light and furry on her head. Kuwani rolled her eyes and asked, "Are you having fun yet, Kat?" as she reached up to remove whatever the cat-earred human had placed on her head -this- time. "Yup." replied Kat. "I found a really neat alternate Earth. I'll tell ya all about it later." Kuwani examined the light, furry object that had been on her head. It looked like a ball of black fur--bigger than a softball, but smaller than a basketball--with huge, cute eyes and tiny paws. The critter choose that moment to let out a loud, "OooooOOOoooh!" Kuwani gave Kat a questioning look. "I hope you didn't annoy it's inhabitants with this Kuriboh." "Nah, I picked that up on the way back.." "I hope the Meowth that Psycoke gave you doesn't mistake it for a ball of yarn." Kat shrugged. "My meowth may be crazy, but she isn't -stupid-." Kuwani let the subject drop and pointed toward Kat's computer. "Somebody's been here & they left a message on your computer." the Tari declared. "Huh? But I turned it off before I..." Kat stopped in mid-sentence as she saw that there was a piece of paper on her computer's keyboard. "Oh. You mean quite -literally- that somebody left a message." Kat picked up the piece of paper and looked at it. "Hrmmm...handwritting looks familiar." she muttered while reading the note. "Hey! It's from E-MC! And he's inviting us to an anniversary party for Mrs. Brisby!" "Huh? Lemmie see that." Kuwani levitated over Kat's shoulder and looked. "But how did -he- get -here-?" Kat gave the Tari a funny look. "By now, you really oughta know better that to ask a question like that." Kuwani floated to the ground. "To the Coffeehouse, then?" "But of course!" Kat replied with a grin. ------