Thursday, November 29, 2007

Treehouse Correspondent - #1


Reynaert: (typing) Dear Lissi, Surprise! A letter! I'm sure you're having a great time hanging out with mom and dad, but hopefully you'll get this and get a chance to read it.

Reynaert: A bunch of us refugees got here a couple weeks ago. Things are busy, and there are a LOT of Fae here. But the Treehouse is pretty nice, and I like it a lot. More than I thought I would. I've made a bunch of friends, and the humans living here are really nice too.

Reynaert: The human lady who lives here gave me this laptop, and showed me how to use the interwebs (something like that). And right away I made a friend! She mailed me this hat. She's very sweet. And then Wendy (the human lady) asked me if I'd write like a news correspondent thing about living here at the Treehouse.

Reynaert: I told her I didn't really know how to do that, and she said "Well, just write it like it's letters" so I'm writing it as letters to you. I hope you don't mind my putting letters to you on the internet. But I figured if I did, you'd be guaranteed to see them.

Reynaert: So things here are pretty nice. There are a lot of kids and there's always something going on. I spend a lot of my time playing with the kids. They remind me of us, when we were little, playing in the yard. Do you remember, Liss? They're nice kids, and I really enjoy hanging out with them.


Reynaert: Hey, speaking of "the old days", do you remember that dog the neighbors had? That big shepherd dog? You were pretty little, you might not remember him. But he was about big enough for you to ride! I wanted a dog so bad.

Reynaert: Well, now I have a dog! I found him! He was just wandering around outside, and it's been really cold and snowy here, and not good weather to be a dog, alone, outside, so I brought him in.

Reynaert: Wendy said that she hadn't seen any posters for a missing dog around the neighborhood, so I could keep him! But she said I had to take care of him, and see to his food and water and stuff.

Reynaert: Which is no problem! He's a great dog. I think I'm going to train him to be a fierce attack dog like the old neighbor's dog was. And I've already figured out the perfect name for him!

Reynaert: Fury! His name is Fury the Doginator! But he just goes by Fury.

Reynaert: And right now, Fury is telling me he would like to go for a walk. So, I'm going to take him out for a walk and I'll write more later and maybe show you around the Treehouse a little bit. Give mom and dad my love, okay sis? I'll write again soon.

Sincerely,

Rey

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Refuge

*****
(Quiet afternoon at the Treehouse.... suddenly the sounds of the front door opening, and voices... Wendy leaves the office to investigate)

Wendy: Hey. Hi you guys. Whatcha doin'?

Lenore: Oh, hi Miss Wendy, we're just watching the...

Thorne: You're home.

Wendy: Yeah, where else would I be?

Thorne: Emi said you had a lunch appointment.

Wendy: Nope, dinner. I don't have to leave until about 6 p.m. Why?

Wendy: GAH! Um... Thorne, who are they and why are they in my foyer?

Thorne: (sigh) They are refugees from the war, and they are in your foyer because the Treehouse is a sanctuary.

Wendy: Refugees? From what? Is that Tegen down there?

Thorne: You really do need to learn to read pixish, Wendy. So you can read the news for yourself.

Wendy: Yeah, yeah. So, refugees from...?

Thorne: There is a huge fae war raging in the North. It's entering it's second century at this point.

Wendy: What on Earth do you fight about for two hundred years?

Thorne: I'm not sure anyone even remembers anymore. Most feel they're just fighting out of habit now.

Thorne: Two of the Great Houses of the North have fallen, and these are the survivors. Some are members of the court, and of the royal families themselves.

Thorne: They have lost everything, and some are having a harder time adapting than others.

Thorne: But I told the King that we had room for any and all refugees he wanted to send us.

Wendy: We do?

Thorne: Yes, we do.

Wendy: You know the dogs are going to freak when they smell there's a squirrel in the house, right?

Thorne: He might smell a little different to them.

Wendy: Why, because he belongs to a pixie?

Thorne: No, because he IS a pixie. That's her brother.

Wendy: Woah (thinking of Miranda) so ALL red headed pixies are trouble, then.

Thorne: (laughing) Yes, I would say so.

Wendy: I almost didn't recognize Tegen in casual wear.

Thorne: Well, her wardrobe is no accident. Tegen has worked with refugees before, back in the camps after Darrigan's War. She's been so helpful, and told me that she felt it needed to be made clear to the refugees, especially coming from the Courts in some cases that the Treehouse is a very informal place. There is no Court here, there is no rank, we are all equals.

Wendy: She's expecting some of them to have problems with that.

Thorne: As am I.

Thorne: (sigh) There will be more. There are some that can only travel by night, and they'll be here after sundown. And the King said there were children, Lenore's age, which is why the children were watching up here I think.

Wendy: Where on Earth are they all going to SLEEP, Thorne?

Thorne: Well, your bed is quite large.

Wendy: Hey! HEY! Wait a minute, you were going to sneak in refugees while I was gone at lunch, and put them in my BED?!

Thorne: Well, what is it you're always saying? Oh yes, "It's always easier to ask forgiveness than permission."

Wendy: Ooooh, you. (laughing) Aren't YOU the sneaky Pixie!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Questions for Ariel

*****

Miranda: Hmm... well, her lights are on. So she's probably home.

Miranda: What the? "For Sale?"

Miranda: (knocking) Oh beloved siiiister....

Miranda: Hmm, well Baxter isn't barking. Maybe she took him for a walk?

Ariel: Well HELLO there! Come on.... oh, hi Miri. I thought you were the nice fella comin' over to see the house.

Miranda: Yeah, yeah. Wrong. So what did you do with Baxter?

Ariel: Oh, he's stayin over with Eris and her friends, over at that nice big house they got. They've got a great big yard he can play in and Ophelia said he'd make friends with a new playmate, her pet, Fluffy!

Baxter: (frightened whimper)

Ariel: Isn't that wonderful?

Miranda: Yeah, ducky. So can I come in?

Ariel: Absolutely not. Can't have you messing things up for my showin', dumplin'.

Miranda: Fine, we'll talk out here. Wait, so why are you moving all of a sudden? Police again?

Ariel: No, nuthin' like that, sweetie. No, I heard from a council member that I'm ... friends with, that they're puttin in a night club RIGHT NEXT door! So I'm gonna get out before all the noise moves in.

Miranda: Wow, pretty understanding buyer willing to purchase a house under those conditions.

Ariel: Well now, they just don't need to know about that little bit of information, do they? It'd keep them from seeing just how wonderful this little house is. You know, maybe keep them from their dream home. So, what can I do for you Miri?

Miranda: Where are you going to stay after you sell the house, 'cause you're sure as heck not coming to live with ME.

Ariel: As charmin' as your rustic little cabin is, darlin', I'll be staying with Eris and her friends until I get that C. Pender to build me a new house. He's pretty well booked up, so it might be a little bit, but the girls don't mind at all.

Miranda: Yeah, so about the Creepy Sisters. Why would they be keeping Sebastian captive?

Ariel: What?! Uh... why, Miri! What ever would make you say such a thing?

Miranda: Someone saw a person who looked a LOT like Sebastian being dragged into the Creepy Sister's house, and hu... they said YOU were there too.

Ariel: Oh, now honey. What a terrible thing to say. You know that's ridiculous. Sebastian's in the tropics, studying up on the shape shifting pixies of the West Islands. Remember? Oh Miri, would you REALLY believe someone's Halloween night hallucination over the word of your own SISTER?

Miranda: Yeah, yeah I would. Well... you know I'm going to go ask them.

Ariel: Well, you go right ahead, sweetie. But they're not going to tell you anything.

Miranda: Oh yeah? Swore them to secrecy did ya?

Ariel: (sigh) No Miri, they're not going to tell you anything because there's nothing TO tell. I can't believe you think I'd do something so terrible to our only BROTHER. Miri, you just make me sad.

Miranda: (snort) Nice try. That used to work on mom and dad, it never worked on me. I haven't heard from Sebastian in MONTHS and he was supposed to come visit, and suddenly someone sees you chaining him up...

Ariel: Oh look, there's the fellow to come see the house!

Miranda: You're selling to Mighty Mouse?

Ariel: Oh, Miri, shush!

Ariel: Hi, you must be Theo. I am so glad to meet you! Thanks for coming, I think you're going to like the house a lot. That's my sister Miranda, unfortunately she's got somewhere else to be. Dontcha, Miri?

Miranda: Whatever.

Ariel: Now we'll just start with the front. This porch was custom designed by renowned builder, Mr. C. Pender, and...

Miranda: Wow, you're going to love this house! All the nightlife and everything, once they put that huge, loud nightclub in RIGHT NEXT DOOR. Byeee!

Ariel: OH! Let's go on inside. Uh... well, I don't know anything about that....

(Ariel and Theo go inside)

Miranda: Hmm... well, Vee saw SOMETHING. That's for sure. Because I didn't tell Ariel what night Sebastian was spotted on, so how else would she have known it was Halloween? This is bad. This is real bad. Hmm... but she's probably right, those Creepy Sisters aren't going to just TELL me... no, this is going to take some drastic action...