Lions and tigers and bears... (tag Zack, Sorrel and Ash) on Labyrinth Gardens

Stephen Baxter

May 03, 2005 9:39 AM

Lions and tigers and bears... (tag Zack, Sorrel and Ash) by Stephen Baxter

OOC: Sorrel, Ash, I'm assuming you guys beat us here as Zack's a bit slow *grins at Zack*. BIC:

Stephen, by the time he had reached the way out, was back to running again, although not so fast as before in deference to his shorter companion's smaller stride. He barged out through the door, glanced over his shoulder to be sure that he hadn't lost Zack, and then kept on moving.

"Ash? Did you find Sorr- oh, there you are," he said, coming upon the other two. "Hey, guys. I found Zack," he pointed a thumb at the other boy. "You all ready to go? Its thataway," he pointed into the gardens, straight through part of the hedge, ignoring the paths that sprung out in all directions.

Still with the feeling that haste was needed, he started to push his way through, going once again in the direction he had taken earlier that morning.\n\n

39 Stephen Baxter Lions and tigers and bears... (tag Zack, Sorrel and Ash) 49 Stephen Baxter 1 5

Zack

May 03, 2005 10:56 AM

no, no, we're in Wonderland, not Oz by Zack

Zack had spent most of the run - okay, part of the run - trying to stare at the walls as they went by them to see if they really did, as Stephen had said, have ears. It wouldn't have surprised him. Most of the run, though, had just been spent trying to keep up and breathe.

When Stephen finally came to a stop in the Labrynith Garden, he wasn't sure if he should be relieved that he had a chance to catch his breath (he was starting to wheeze) or apprehensive because he was pretty sure he remembered there being hedge maze somewhere in the Alice in Wonderland story and the Queen was near it. He hadn't ever read the actual story though, and he might be misremembering the movies. He made a mental note that when he got back to the library, he'd put away the Chemistry and see if he could find Carrol's book.

Further thought in that direction was suddenly cut short as Stephen charged straight through the hedge. So this is how Arthur Dent felt when Ford suddenly hitched them up onto the Vorgon ship. Nothing good ever came of asking questions in these sorts of circumstances, and time was apparently of the essense. He ran after Stephen, wondering when he'd get to ask who was trying to blow of the Earth today and what Stephen thought the four of them could do about it.

It suddenly occurred to him that Stephen might be from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. That would be cool. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Zack no, no, we're in Wonderland, not Oz 0 Zack 0 5

Sorrel and Ash

May 03, 2005 1:37 PM

Dude... You read too much by Sorrel and Ash

"Where - we -going?" gasped Sorrel, as they pegged it through the corridors with a total disregard for the rules. She normally wouldn't have been so out of breath by this point in a run, but she normally (well... normally before doing anything sport related, anyway) wouldn't have been punched in the stomach moments before setting off.

"Outside. Tell ya in a sec," said Ash, remembering just in time that the paintings were probably listening in.

As they burst through the doors and down the steps, Ash slowed a little to let Sorrel catch up, and so they were at a speed more conducive to talking.

"Stephen found a place," said Ash, sucking in a few deep lung fulls of air, "It's going to be a kind of secret hang out. A..." he wondered if he should gratify Sorrel with the information. She'd find out sooner or later... "boys only fort," he grinned.

Sorrel stumbled slightly, a feeling unrelated to her rapid heart rate exploding against her ribcage. She tingled with excitement at the idea, and at the idea that she was included in it. Of course, she'd never admit even to herself that them rejecting her had been option. She was twice as boyish, at least, as that wimpy Aladren kid. Talking of which....

She nodded in greeting as the two other guys came jogging up.

"Finding her wasn't the hard part," muttered Ash, kicking Sorrel in the shin. She rolled her eyes as she tried not to noticeably limp after them, wondering if Ash was deliberately trying to impair her chances of keeping up, or if he was just too fricking thick to put two and two together and realise that his choices of target would have that effect. She was slightly behind Ash, her speed having been compromised, which put her in the perfect position to swing a right hook into his left shoulder.

OOC - so's bloody Sorrel... Been to see HHGG movie by any chance? And not only would it 'be cool', it would also explain a lot...\n\n

0 Sorrel and Ash Dude... You read too much 0 Sorrel and Ash 0 5

Stephen

May 05, 2005 11:31 AM

I think that's why the library is his hangout by Stephen

Stephen pushed through the gardens, only occasionally going along established paths, and then only for short stretches. If there was one thing he believed in, it was that off the beaten track was where the interesting things were to be found. And he'd been proven right, on the whole, only that morning. As he finally neared the spot, his pace slowed to a jog, and then to a walk, and finally he stopped, turned and grinned at the other three. He didn't think they'd been followed, but he took the chance to check out behind them at the same time just the same.

There didn't look to be anyone else around.

"Ok guys," he said, "this is it." The anticipation, the overwealming excitement at being able to share his discovery made it difficult to stay still. He didn't fight it. Moving forward a little more, he pushed aside a few low lying branches and cleared the view ahead, waving the other three forward. "Check it out."

Ahead, there was a short open space, and then something that Stephen had never noticed on the grounds the year before. A stream. Sure there had been a few fountains between the plants and the statues, but this was definitely something new. Something that couldn't have been missed. He hadn't actually tried to see where it started, or where it ended, but here, here it divided off part of the gardens, part which was already fairly secluded, and a fair way off the beaten track... by Stephen's method of travel anyhow.

Part of the gardens for which he envisioned a wonderful use.

He moved forward, urging the others to do likewise, pointing out this and that. "The water's not to deep," he told them, moving towards it. "Probably enough to deter some people though. And see that tree?" he pointed at a large old tree of an indeterminate species (at least to Stephen who had never bothered to make a great study of trees). "I reckon we should build the fort there. In that tree."

Still urging the others on, he stopped to pull of his shoes and socks, and rolled up the legs of his jeans. Stuffing the socks into his shoes, and tying the laces together so he could sling them over his shoulder, he started to wade through the water, planning on pointing out a relatively large clear space to the twins... but it was deeper than he had anticipated and his jeans got wet anyhow when he stumbled into waist deep water.

"Whoah!" he exclaimed, rather impressed and not in the least put off by his unexpected soaking. "I swear... its gotten deeper since when I was here before."

OOC: I've seen it! Loved the opening sequence... and was whistling 'so long and thanks for all the fish' for ages afterwards.\n\n

39 Stephen I think that's why the library is his hangout 0 Stephen 0 5

Zack

May 05, 2005 2:49 PM

What's wrong with reading a lot? by Zack

While Zack liked to think of himself as a direct and somewhat unconventional sort of person, he had to admit that he probably would have tried to find a route to whereever Stephen was going that required a little less trailblazing.

His robe was torn in at least two places, his backpack kept getting caught on some of the thicker hedge branches, and there were little scrapes and scratches on his hands and lower arms, and probably on his face and neck, too. He shook his head and a few leaves fell out of his hair. God knew what else was still there. He really should've cut his hair before coming back to Sonora.

The clearing that Stephen dramatically revealed at the end of their journey was a little disappointing for Zack. He'd been hoping for a spaceship. An isolated clearing was something of a letdown, even with a stream and large tree. But then Stephen was talking, saying "I reckon we should build the fort there. In that tree."

Oh. Oh, well, that was different. They were going to build a fort. He wasn't sure why the aliens would pick this particular spot for an attack on Earth, or even Sonora, but Stephen was the one from Betelguese, so Zack would take his word for it. Zack didn't want to sound like an idiot for needing to ask, either, so he just assumed there was probably some invisible magic source or something in the ground here that the aliens needed or that Sonora had to defend.

He studied the terrain, nodding to himself and only distantly aware of Stephen as the pseudoEarthman dunked himself in the stream. Fort designs flitted through his thoughts, and he discarded some elements, kept others, and added more. Construction was going to cause a few problems since they didn't have access to powertools or industrial metals, so he figured a camoflagued fort would have to do.

Pity Stephen didn't seem to think the adults of the school would believe them about the alien invaders or they could get much stronger defenses out here. But wait, the school had to have defenses already. He could work with those. He vaguely remembered reading something about anti-apperation barriers and spells to make normal people and their technology like weather satallites not notice the place.

"Assault is likely to be by ground, then?" Zack asked. Stephen had said the stream might deter some of invaders, though Zack wasn't going to count on that. Not without seriously deepening it. "Is this a battlement or a secret fort? How many people do we need to accomdate?" Those were the critical questions, any further design would depend on the answers.

OOC: Yeah, I saw HHGG, too. Good movie.
OOC2: Zack really needs to get out more. Sci-fi conventions don't count.\n\n

0 Zack What's wrong with reading a lot? 0 Zack 0 5

Stephen

May 06, 2005 3:07 AM

All depends on who you care to ask... by Stephen

Stephen, wading rather ponderously - his clothes were water laden enough that moving, especially through more water, wasn't the easiest of activities - out of the water onto the other bank, turned to listen better when Zack started to talk. He scrunched his nose, glanced at the tree again, and then at Sorrie and Ash, and finally back at Zack.

"Secret," he answered the most important point first. "Its easier to keep it secret than to make it a big thing, right? I suppose ground is most likely, I haven't seen people riding their brooms out here before - have you? And I don't know how many people... not too many, 'cause there aren't that many guys at the school - not compared to all the girls - and this is going to be the boys-only fort after all. Dunno how many of them we'll end up inviting along anyhow. Although..."

Feeling as though he was taking his life in his hands (which he very well may have been doing) he glanced back at Sorrel, raising an eyebrow enquiringly. "Sorrie? What do you reckon, about the keeping girls away part. You think they'll be more likely to find us if we build defensively, or if we go for the secret thing?"\n\n

39 Stephen All depends on who you care to ask... 0 Stephen 0 5

Ash and Sorrel

May 07, 2005 6:01 PM

Reading is lame, and the library is so gay by Ash and Sorrel

Ash and Sorrel followed Stephen, paying no heed to anything that scratched their arms or legs. They emerged, panting slightly, Ash sporting a scratch on one cheek, into the clearing where Stephen's discovery was. They wasted no time in pulling off their shoes and socks, and following Stephen in hanging them around their necks. Ash rolled up his jeans as Sorrel, who was wearing shorts, plunged right into the water after Stephen.

The water lapped around her legs, and was colder than she'd expected. It was a welcome relief from the heat, although it stung the scratches and the graze where Ash had kicked her, at the same time as having a slightly numbing effect. She watched Stephen plunge deeper than he'd expected, but followed anyway, the water seeping up her shorts.

"It's a good moat," she commented, as Ash waded along behind her. "Of course it's likely to be a ground attack," she told Zack. He was lower down the food chain than her, so when he said something stupid, it was her job to make sure he knew it. He could always belittle her in class. If he dared... "The prisses are hardly going to risk breaking a nail by flying. Though I can hardly see them crawling through that lot either," she said, jerking her head back at the way they'd come.

She and Ash hauled themselves out the moat, and a frown crossed her face as Stephen asked her about girls.

"How should I know what a typical girly girls think?" she asked petulantly, giving Stephen a light jab in the arm.

"Make it both," suggested Ash, knowing Sorrel was not going to volunteer her opinion on this. He could afford to, because he really was a guy, so no one would call him a girl. They might do to Sorrel if they thought she thought like one. Plus his answer proved that he had no idea how they thought, so was hedging his bets. "We can fire slime and mud at them if they come near, but we ain't exactly going to go shouting about it being here either, are we?" \n\n

0 Ash and Sorrel Reading is lame, and the library is so gay 0 Ash and Sorrel 0 5

Zack

May 18, 2005 2:32 PM

Yes, the library is a happy place, I like it there by Zack

Zack was begining to get the definite impression that he was not defending Sonora from alien attackers. In fact, he was quite sure that the words 'boys-only fort' meant that the defenses were supposed to keep out not enemy invaders trying to take over the Earth or the school but their classmates.

Come to think of it, he'd been given no reason to believe otherwise. He flushed a little in embarrassment at the fact that he'd been taking the idea of alien invasion seriously. He called himself three kinds of idiot (in Kling-on, Sindarin, and English) then frowned at the stream that the other three had already crossed.

It wasn't very wide, but Zack doubted he'd be able to jump it without embarrassing himself. Instead, he took off his sneakers and threw them across, took off his school robes and folded them into a neat pile on this side of the stream, laid his socks on top of the robe, rolled up his trousers as best he could. He waded slowly across, using his toes to test out the streambed in front of him to prevent himself from stumbling into a deep spot like Stephen had apparently done.

Even with all his caution, he was short enough and the water was deep enough that he couldn't help getting his pants wet.
Coming out on the other side, he looked back at the stream, biting his lower lip. "We can make that deeper pretty easily," he told them. "The bed is full of clay, we can either use what we take out to help fill in the walls of the fort or make defensive positions under the tree. Of course, if we make the stream deeper, we'll need either a bridge for ourselves, or we'll have to always come by broom."

"As for the fort itself, I'm going to need to look up how to build in trees. It's not really something city kids learn."\n\n

0 Zack Yes, the library is a happy place, I like it there 0 Zack 0 5

Stephen

June 02, 2005 9:45 PM

well, I like it here, this fort will be cool!! by Stephen

OOC: Sorry... took me a while to notice you'd replied and then things just got fun! BIC

"A drawbridge!" Stephen crowed. "That's what we need! One that only we can open... Zach, do you know any spells that would make it respond like to a person's voice, or a password, or a password in a certain person's voice or something like that? You know, like that voice recognition stuff they've got on some computers."

Jimmy had been enthusing on the subject during the last week of the holidays, before Stephen had gone to visit the Cravens. He wanted it for his computer as he reckoned that with it he could keep his little brother Andy from messing with his stuff. He had even talked about how he could use it to secure his room, but by that stage Stephen generally zoned out, not having the faintest clue what his friend was on about once his talks descended into the technologically technical.

But when it came to building forts...

"Planks," he said knowledgeably. "You get planks of wood and rope and nails and," he subjected the tree to a quick assessing glance, "it should be easy enough to climb without bothering about nailing steps to the trunk. If we climb up to there," he pointed up to a branch above a cluster of others, "we could set up a rope pulley and lift them up. Only problem is... where do we get the wood?"\n\n

39 Stephen well, I like it here, this fort will be cool!! 0 Stephen 0 5

Sorrel and Ash

June 05, 2005 11:25 AM

Girl but not geek free.. Can't everything, I suppose.... by Sorrel and Ash

Although Oatmeal guy seemed seriously off this planet, the Cravens were loving the ideas that were coming thick and fast.

"It can have all kinds of defences!" grinned Sorrel, when Stephen mentioned a moat. "They poured boiling oil on people in castles!" This fact was one of few retained from school. A large majority of these facts were to do with history, as that usually had the most gory, and therefore interesting, things.

"So we could have some kind of really sticky potion!"

"Or one that burns! Like acid!"

They were about to suggest archers along the branches of the tree, and begin thinking of improbable things for them to fire, when Stephen - of all people - brought them back down to earth. Wood... Nails... Any of it. The twins stared around, as if expecting large amounts of building material to suddenly appear (stranger things really had happened since they'd been here). None of them seemed to be in luck though.

"Well, most of the school brooms aren't much better than firewood," said Sorrel, making sure to emphasise the 'most' so that Stephen wouldn't take offense on Fido's behalf.

"But they ain't exactly a good shape," commented Ash. "I'd say our best bet would to be smash the door to the broom shed off of its hinges, or y'know, take the walls and all to boot. Can't see that being too easy to get away with though..."

"Y'know that don't mean we're not willing to try, right?" added Sorrel, grinning mischeviously. \n\n

0 Sorrel and Ash Girl but not geek free.. Can't everything, I suppose.... 0 Sorrel and Ash 0 5