T h e • O u t s i d e

Okay.

Ok, so do you wanna start or should I?

Well don't we need to wait for anonymous or ende? Or can the story move forward wihtout their charries?

Ambrosia - I see Cass again, "Hey." I nod to her getting off the floor.

James - I walk into Maryanne and Carter, "Hey."

Cassandra: I grimace when I see Ambrosia and scratch my head. "We may have a little problem..." I say as my eyes flicker towards the door of the girl's dorm. I can hear the little blonde girl talking to Khonsu and Helios now. "Dif the guy with the horns send you?"

Carter: "Aw, Duke James. I see you are well. Have you come to help us defeat the evil vector?"

James - "Why of course!" I smile, "I'm the only one who can defeat her!"

Ambrosia - I bite my lip, "Why is it such a problem?"

Carter: I scoff. "Such vanity. You're lucky I find myself without a weapon or men. Now then, where is-" I had just turned the corner when I bp into something hard. I fall to the ground and look up, wiggling my nose. My eyes widen when I see who it is: the vector! She doesn't look quite as scary as before...but maybe it's all a ruse? I instantly hop up and brandish the lavender at her, the only thing I've got on my. "Back, foul demon!" I say as I toss it at her.

Cassandra: I watch as the lavender hits me on the nose and then falls to the ground. Um...what to say, what to say. "Um, should you be doing that?" I ask. The kid- although I can't quite tell if he's a boy or girl. He's wearing boy clothes, but that face...- grimaces and covers my mouth, looking down the hall. "Hey, no need to summon the dragon. We promise to kill you quickly. Erm, um, you know...whatever you're supposed to do to ghosts."

Ambrosia - I go over to Carter, "Carter, this is Cass," I tell him. I lower my voice, "She used to be one of us."

James - I look at Ambrosia with pity. I see the pain in her eyes. She had been so hurt when Cass left.

(Most of the kids haven't started to see yet...I only included Andrea because she was young. Older kids like Carter, Maryanne, and Tara still don't know about the place. I was gonna have them gradually start go see them, and I figured Andrea only started to yesterday, which is why she got in trouble.)

Carter: I blink, nit really sure what she's talking about. "I don't know, she looks pretty old to be one of us. Besides, I thought she was a long dead princess."

Ambrosia - "She was here when she was your age," I tell Carter. "She's my sister."

Carter: I look at the two of them and blink. Now that you think about it, they do look a lot alike...hm. I take the lady's hand and start to shake despite the shock in her face. "Well then, I'm Jenks, Carter Jenks, head of the espionage and intelligence unit here at the C.L.A.U.D.E headquarters." She smile a bit and shakes my hand. "Yes, I remember. Hello, Carter, I'm-" "Aha!" I say. "You thought that was my real name, didn't you? Fool! As a ln espionage serviceman, I'd be a fool to give you such power. Here at The Orphanage, C.L.A.U.D.E's undercover name, everyone has at least two faces and three eyes on their friends. But I suppose you are to be trusted, and so you may call me agent negative 099."

Ambrosia - I laugh, "He's got an over active imagination."

Cassandra: I smile a bit as I clasp my hands in front of me. "Yea," I can see that," I say. Suddenly, Carter turns towards the girl's dorm and frowns. "Hey, Andrea," he calls. "You ok in there?" I hear an "Oh" sound in the room as the door opens, showing the blonde girl with her rabbit at her chest. "Mmhm, I'm fine. I was jst looking for my rabbit," she says as she slowly closes the door. I let out the breath I'd been holding.

Ambrosia - I catch eyes with Cass, I knew Andrea wouldn't say anything, she was too shy.

back!
Maryanne
Just as I was about to come up with a witty response to the 'master' thing, the vector came up and began talking to Carter. Holding my breath and kicking the lavender away, I smile "And I'm Maryanne. Also known as the Monster by the boys, and Pinkeye by the girls"

Carter: "I don't know about monsters, agent 383, but it seems as though our vecter is not a vector at all, but a possible triple agent!" I take a flashlight out of my pocket and turn it on te woman. "Now then, who do you work for?" She blushes and runs her fingers through her hair. "Ok, I see everyone is a but riled up...if we all settle down, I promise to tell you guys a story. It's a good one too, scout's honor." I frown and thin about this. Normally, I'm the one who tells stories, at least in the boy's dorm. But if she's an adult, she should have the best stories.

Maryanne
I stifle a laugh, should have recognized his change in mode. Then my ears perk up at the mention of stories. "Stories? Really?" Half of the girls in the dorm were too 'grown up' to listen to stories, even if I tried to tell them. So I usually went over to the boy's dorm to listen to Carter.

Carter: "Ok..." I say slowly. "But no funny business!" She nods and leads us into the girl's dorm as Andrea waves at something. "Hey, are you sure you ok?" I ask. She blinks as though coming out of a dream and then nods. "Mhm, promise." Cassandra leads us to what I guess is her bed and tells us to sit. "Ok, I'll be honest with you all. There are rules to this story, ones that you have to swear to obey, no matter what." She puts out her pinky and looks at us. "Yo break a pinky promise is an offense punishable by death," she says as her voice gets darker. I gulp a bit but narrow my eyes as I lift my pinky up to wrap around hers. She blinks. "I haven't told you the rules yet." "Comsider this your induction. Now, you're one of us, an offese that could also be punishable by death if you choose to betray us." After a moment, she nods. "Ok," she says. "And now, for the rules. There are only two. You must never, ever tell anyone about what you're about to hear. And two, remember that no matter that no matter how strange these tales are, everyone of them is absolutely true."

Maryanne
I, also, complete the time honored ritual of the pinky swear, nodding seriously. Absolutely true strange tails? That was too good to pass up, and there was no way I would betray her trust.

brb

Cassandra: I crack my hands as I spot the twins out of the corner of my eye. They have a new person with them as well, a small girl with see through skin and a heart sewn onto her simply dress where hers should be. Her eyes were replaced with holes and on her head was a crown of thorns and roses. Her arms seemed to have flowers sewn into them, which faded as they went to her shoulder. She nods at me and I smile. Kore.

"Once upon a time," I start. "In a place far, far away, there was a castle. But it's a place that exists only if you look hard enough, between the Bird Ruins and the Gardens, on the line between fiction and reality. Are you watching closely for it?"

Maryanne
A castle, got it. Nodding, I looked hard through every nook and cranny, straining my eyes

Cassandra: I smile as the kids try their best to look. "Here," I say softly. "Close your eyes. Picture this: a world where the sky is a thousand swirling shades of blue, always moving, twisting, turning, dancing. The mischevious lavender sun shines down on the castle, surrounded by wild flowers that sway and swirl and whisper secrets to anyone who is willing to listen. It is said that the flowers hold the royalty of the castle in captivity, making them get lost when they wander too far. The castle for the royals has become a sanctuary for the Queen and her fair son, who live alone in the castle after everyone else got lost in the garden."

Maryanne
Closing my strange eyes, I concentrated on what she said. It was beautiful, the living sky pulsing above the fairytale castle. Then I saw a shadow that almost seemed to move with my mind, shimmering a light pink. The shadow moved down to the castle, tracing it's fingers against the cold stone.

Ambrosia - I smile at Cass, "She's doing it again," I say to the twins quietly.