"Yeah," D_R said. "And we'll also get two small fries and a Whopper with that."
She rolled her eyes. What had happened over the past two days was shocking, some might even call it... well, she didn't know a word, but the would call it that.
Gav sat up. "Want to go outside again? The inside of this apartment is getting dreadfully dreary, and I loved the pink skies, didn't you?"
"Yeah," she said again, her mind preoccupied with other things.
"Seriously, what was that you said earlier about math and science at my school? They have a very good course, no need to downgrade it, D."
"Gav..." She ran her fingers through her hair and got up from the floor, stretching. "Just be quiet, will ya?"
"Ah, I see. The cat wants some alone time," he replied, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes, yes I do. And I'm not a cat, whatever LW wants you to think."
Why did this happen? Gav thought. You know why it did. You just couldn't say no. You said yes. Now, look what you did.
His thoughts were interrupted as D_R opened the door. "Coming?" she called, stepping out into the hall.
"Yeah."
They went down in the elevator for the second time that day, as both D_R and Gav were still confused about their new surroundings, and they wanted to explore a bit more. The sky was pink, and the trees were blue; the clouds were unusually fluffy and multi-colored, and the buildings were different shades of the rainbow and rounded like marshmallows. The architecture is certainly strange, D_R thought.
As they stepped onto the soft pavement - yes, it was very soft and floaty - they both looked around and breathed deeply. Ah, the smells. It was all very sweet and satisfying, but also extremely confusing.
Very, very confusing.
"Ah, I see that you've come down once more," a female voice called.
D_R and Gav spun around, surprised, and feeling quite out-of-sorts. "I thought we were alone," Gav whispered.
"I guess not."
They both watched as a short, young woman strode towards them, readjusting her tortoiseshell glasses. Her thick, red hair was tied up in a ponytail, and it swung from side to side. She looked to be about a year older than D_R - 17 or so.
"Short, isn't she?" D_R mused.
"Extremely... but why did you bring up politics? I know some of the politicians are a bit 'short' in how they talk to people, but we have a bit of a problem going on right now."
She narrowed her eyes. "Gav..."
"I see you're having some sort of a discussion," the young woman said. "Forgive my manners. I'm Twiggy, and you?"
"I'm... D_R," D_R stammered, "And this is Gav."
"Well, certainly a pleasure to meet you both. Just hopped in here a few days ago, but the story is a bit droll, you might say, but this scenery is quite fascinating!"
Twiggy, as she called herself, had a slight British accent, and spoke with a fast, lilting manner that made her sound very intelligent, if not high-class.
"Interesting," D_R lied, still confused. "If you're as smart as you look," she began, "can you tell us what this place is? It's strange... very strange."
"Oh, Cloudy? This is Cloudy Street you're standing on. The road sign is right over---"
"No," D_R interrupted her, glancing at Gav for help, "I mean this PLACE. It's like a storybook fairytale land or something."
"Yeah," Gav put in.
Twiggy looked happily at both of them, then opened her arms wide, and cried, "Why, this is Marshmallow Land! You've never heard of it? Well, I haven't either, but I've been exploring it ever since I landed here, and some of the most exquisite things I've found!" She looked off dreamily. "It's quite jolly, all of it."
She's nuts, D_R thought.
"So... We got here through a ceiling fan, if that's believable," said Gav.
Twiggy winked. "I traveled here through a bright, pink portal! It was on the wall in the Courtyard Mall in downtown London. I'm sure you've heard of it because it's the best!"
"The portal thingy?" D_R asked.
"No, silly, the mall! It's the absolute best in London, you've got to try it sometime!"
D_R rolled her eyes and gestured for Twiggy to continue.
"Alrighty then. I was trying on a dress, and everything was tickety-boo, then the mirror in the dressing room turned pink, and sucked me in... strangest thing, it was. I landed here after that. But I love this place, D_R! I'll tour you through it, and we might even check out the Tower while we're at it." She smiled sweetly and took D_R's hand. "I just know we'll be the best of friends!"
She was genuine and well-meaning, but just a bit too jolly for D_R.
Gav looked around nervously, then at his shaking hands. No, it wasn't from the cold. Not one bit, he thought. The Tower, she had said. Stuff is about to get real.
~Meanwhile, in LW's original apartment~
I slowly turned around, a bit shaken from my surprise. A young guy, about my age, was standing before me, his eyes wide. Two armor-clad individuals were standing behind him, and a drone hovered above them.
"My goodness," I whispered.
"I'm Cliff," the young guy said, "and these are my friends, Nerdz, and Kaya."
"Hello, I'm LW," I said. I didn't really know what else to say, so I just kept quiet, and let Cliff and his friends do the talking.
"You got here at the same time as we did, it would seem," Cliff said. "We've been watching you go in and out of your apartment. By the way, you might want to put this on." He slung a large backpack off his shoulder, unzipped it, and handed me a tough, leather suit. Black armor plates were sewn into the metal, and a large overcoat lay on top of the folded pile. "Creatures come out at night," he said, with a raised eyebrow. "You don't want to run into them without protection. We found these suits near the Spire."
"Ooookay..." I muttered.
This was definitely weird.
I was confused. How did these guys even get here, and where was I even at? It seemed like a moldy duplicate of my street back home, to say the least.
One of the guys behind Cliff stepped towards me and extended his hand. "Nerdz at your service, LW."
"Alright, thanks, I guess."
He looks like a character from Alien, I thought, with all that bulky armor. He carried a large assault rifle of sorts, and a light gold sword was strapped to his torso. Kaya was garbed in like manner as well, and both of them had sizeable helmets on. I found it funny that the large drone that circled above Kaya's head seemed to follow her everywhere.
"Nice to meetcha!" she said with a flourish, bending down on one knee. She looked up at me, her round face beaming. "You're kinda cute, by the way."
My face went red.
Cliff turned towards her and scowled. He was dressed in the same, black leather suit that he had handed me, and a scant assortment of weapons was strapped to his vest. "LW, we don't really know where we are, either, but I'll give you a brief explanation of what we've uncovered over the past few days. We landed near the Spire, after getting sucked through a doorway in our highschool in New Hampshire. Yeah, we kind of deserved it, I guess. We're graffiti artists, and the auditorium needed a fresh new coat of paint."
I couldn't help but snicker.
"Whatever," he continued. "I found these suits in an old shed after Kaya almost got killed" - he scowled at her once again at this statement - "by one of the monsters."
"Wait, explain these monsters," I interrupted.
He sighed. "I'd like to finish my story first."
"Oh, please do," I said, with mock suspense. "I mean, I might enjoy getting killed by one of these things, too!"
He rolled his eyes and began again. "This is Acid Street. Sounds like a zombie video game to me, but anyways. Seems as though this place is named "Grime", and we think it up, so don't even look at me that way."
"Yeah," Nerdz said. "He doesn't like it when people look at him 'that way', whatever that means." He chuckled to himself.
Kaya snorted, and the drone bucked in the air.
Cliff took a deep breath and bit his lip. "Alright, that's enough." He searched my face, then asked, "So LW, how did you get here?"
I explained away (everything about the Script, D_R, and Gav, and my other friends who might be still waiting at my apartment), then rushed up to my apartment to change.
"We don't care if you change in front of us," Kaya started to say, but Cliff cut her off with a hard punch to the stomach. It didn't hurt her at all, since she was covered in a veritable mech suit, but Cliff didn't recover from the knock to his fist as well as he'd like. Kaya tittered to herself as I came back down in my new suit. It fit me like a glove, not to mention that is was insanely epic.
"We'll get you some weapons soon enough," Nerdz said lazily. "You know how to handle an assault rifle?"
"Uh... not really. I've played Call of Duty once or twice, but I kind of know how to handle a P90. You know what I'm talking about? It's a small gun from Stargate SG-1, and it's repetitively used as the SG teams' main gun throughout the Stargate theme."
"Man..." Nerdz whispered, "I love Stargate! We should have a binge sometime, dude."
"Definitely."
"I'll join in," Kaya said happily.
I glanced at her for a moment, and received a coy wink in return. I blinked and readjusted my glasses, then looked away.
"Okay, now that you're finished with your nerdist gathering, I'd like you to turn your attention to the creature coming towards us," Cliff said, cocking his head towards the end of the road, and aiming his gun.
A black blur was screaming down the street, heading for us at an alarmingly fast pace.
"Most terrifying," Nerdz breathed. He searched himself, then placed a handgun in my shaking hands. "9 mil, LW. Easy as pie. Use both hands, and just aim, bro."
Both Nerdz and Kaya were ready with their rifles aimed at the creature, but I was standing there like a dimwit, eyes wide.
Suddenly, something cold and electric took control of me, and I aimed.
A muzzle flash.
Something bowled me over.
A howl.
Then, as I figured I was good as dead, all went black. Yeah, I thought so.
~Meanwhile, with a certain Irish boy somewhere else entirely~
Just kidding, I don't want to extend the story too much where you fall asleep.
My life seems to be filled with computer problems lately, but what really kept me from writing was a family problem last weekend. I won't go into detail, but I'd like to thank you all for praying for me. I really appreciate it - more than you might know, in fact.
So... Twiggy. You might not know her, but she's a user on Lego Ideas (has been for four years now) who's a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, who loves all things Lego. She's a wonderful person as well (Don't let the peppy-off-her-rocker personality fool you. I mean, in the story... right?), has an awesome sense of humor, and a great taste in music.
She has one model here on MB, and her sigfig is featured in the new Lego Creator 10273 Haunted House set
j2, don'tcha worry about your role. I'm planning to have you star somewhere in the next few chapters - you'll be in more than one.
General_Veers (at least that's how I think you spell your username xD), I had to create a name for your character, since it was female, and "Veers" sounds a bit rugged, don'tcha think?
Welp, God Bless, and happy reading!
Signing off,
~LW
#Beesechurger