User blog:Aravis Tarkheena/LMBWFF Part 12

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PART 12

“According to what I learned in grade 3 about Medieval history, depending on the severity of our crime, they may deal with our case soon, or we may have to wait until the king comes by the town for him to judge us,” Dioscuri said, ripping apart a piece of straw from his pallet in the tower cell.

“It would be nice to know what crime we’re being accused of,” Repeat added caustically, “so we know we’re not languishing in a castle-tower-jail-ish thingy just as a free outing on our vacation to the Dark Ages.”

Obianne thought for a moment. “We’ve probably been framed for whatever ‘crime’ we’re being accused of, although I can’t imagine who would want to cause us trouble.”

The three users originally and accidentally sent to the Middle Ages hadn’t spent long alone before being captured one by one and jailed in what would poetically be put as the highest tower in the strongest castle in the land. While pleasantly surprised to stumble upon each other in such an amusing manner, they were also understandably outraged at their incarceration, believing themselves to be innocent of any crime, offence, felony, or misdemeanor.

“We’ve just been lobbed through time into the Dark Ages,” said Dioscuri. “We can’t expect the rules to be the same.”

“If we’ve been framed, then it /will/ be hard for us to get out of this scrape. We can’t talk our way out of suspicion until we know what we’re accused of,” Repeat said.

“Which would necessitate a fun bit of Machiavellian excogitation and disingenuous confabulation with our circumspect turnkey,” added Obianne complacently.

“But even if we did find out,” Dioscuri pointed out, “It would be rather difficult to make these people eye-to-eye with us when they’re already so disparaging of our differences. For all we know, they could be thinking of us as some sub-human breed with a very ridiculous version of English.”

“I’d be more inclined to say that they think we’re a kind of alien, or a sort of humanoid species whom they have a reason to fear. We’ve been treated quite respectably, compared to most offenders in this age. For example, they’ve put us in a relatively pleasant tower cell rather than leaving us in chains to rot in a dungeon. They either respect us for some reason, or fear us. Anyways, can either of you predict an eclipse in the next few days?” Obianne asked. “Actually… nevermind that. It wouldn’t work unless we knew what time we’re in right now.”

“It most assuredly will /not/ work, for I am not from Connecticut, nor am I an Yankee, and I would wager this is not King Arthur’s court,” stated Dioscuri, most emphatically. “And I never liked that book anyway.”

After a minute’s thought, Repeat spoke again. “But the idea of delivering a great shock isn’t bad, actually. We could probably put something together with enough time.”

“Although maybe we don’t /have/ enough time,” Obianne forewarned, preparing a mental list of any possible ideas.

The thick wooden-and-metal to the room swung open, only heralded by the quiet creak of an unoiled hinge. A florid-faced guard appeared in the door without a word, then stepped back to push three more people into the room. His suspicious glare swept the room once more before he stepped back and pulled the door shut.

“This is a piece of lu-” one of them started, and was promptly interrupted by a shriek from the older girl of the group.

“Where’s Melt?” she demanded breathlessly.

“Melt? As in MeltE2?” Obianne asked suspiciously.

The girl, who was Jade, of course, nodded numbly. “She’s supposed to be here with you.”

“Melt is not a girl; I have no idea where he is or why anything abnormal would happen to him, or who you three claim to be,” said Repeat irritably.

Indygo spoke now. “Drew sent us to rescue you, and you certainly look like you need rescuing.”

“If I wanted to see Drew, I would have had Obianne summon him,” Repeat replied.

“Shall we leave you here to get burned at the stake at dawn tomorrow? I should think not. I’m Cougars, this is Indygo, and Jade over there is quite annoyed because she just got a concussion and then got tossed into jail. Well, obviously we got tossed into jail too, as you can plainly see, but we don’t have raging headaches or hate our clothes quite so much, and just so you know, our genders are switched too, and Drew renamed us, and-” Cougars was cut off by Repeat again.

“We were just planning to rescue ourselves.”

“And knowing you three, it would be an elaborate escape plan, likely utilising great mental powers, a large amount of mind games, observation, time, and a lot of other boring details,” Indygo said, summing up the likely situation quite accurately.

“The thing with Melt, now female and called Meltaryn, is that we know for a fact that she’s in this time setting. We’ve got to save her too, but I assumed she was with you three,” Jade said. “And if she /was/ here, we’d be able to get out of here quite directly via Drew’s Time Travel Services, but as it is, we’ll have to break out and find her. Or wait for her to get tossed into jail with us and join the party. But that would take a while.”

“And,” added Indygo, “Meltaryn is… different. She, he, however you want to call that character, seems like the smart, devious, and resourceful kind of person that could quite easily escape detection. I say that plan is a dead end.”

“I concur. So we shall commence with our escape plans,” Obianne said.

“You’re all too smart for your own good,” said Cougars, a trifle disgusted. “Why can’t we fight our way out of here with brute force?”

“You might have noticed that we have exactly zero weapons. If /you/ have any, by the slightest change, please alert me. But I don’t see any battle axes in your pockets, so for now, let’s take inventory of what we do happen to have.”

The six users huddled in a circle on the floor and began methodically emptying their pockets. Fortunately they hadn’t been searched. This could support Obianne’s theory that the locals were indeed afraid of them - afraid to get too close.

Soon there was a small pile on the floor, comprised of Repeat’s tape measure, Obianne’s keys and a cookie, the four silicone bracelets Cougars had been carrying, a few magnets from Indygo’s pocket, a dainty lace purse of Jade’s (filled with American coins), and Dioscuri’s multitool.

“Why didn’t you TELL us you had that?” Repeat cried in mock rage. His hand went to his own right pocket. “I often keep my pocketknife with me, but I guess I forgot to transfer it to this pair of jeans after I pulled them from the laundry,” he said, slightly rueful.

Dioscuri shrugged. “A pocketknife has nothing on a multitool. And I keep this with me all the time.”

“But back on topic,” said Obianne, nibbling on the cookie. “I do have to commend you for your excellent senses of practicality, which has resulted in this very valuable assortment of pocket-inhabitants. We have a tool and several other potentially useful items. And a cookie.”

“Now we’ve got that done with,” Repeat said, “can we actually start formulating a plan?”