The Misadventures of Saffy, Never was there such a tale of misfortune. |
The Misadventures of Saffy, Never was there such a tale of misfortune. |
Nov 21 2008, 08:15 PM
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#1
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Goodnight Group: Ranch Hand Joined: 27-March 08 |
Saffy stopped running, and sat down on a treetrunk, exhausted. Panting for breath, he looked back along the path, but it was empty. He seemed to have given her the slip. If he hadn't, he was done for. He just couldn't run anymore.
After a minute, he got up, dusted himself off, and set off. Safe, he thought. But I must say, what a close escape. If that woman had caught me, I'd hav- He stopped, not believing his eyes. His jaw dropped. It was simply too impossible, but there they were. Three tiny little men, in little green Christmas elf costumes, with matching bobble hats. And green hair. They were playing with a toy train at the foot of a tree. One of them was eating on a tomato. They appeared not to have noticed him. Saffy stared, dumbstruck. It was beyond him why he could see these little men. He racked his memory, but he couldn't remember taking any non-prescription medication in the last 24 hours. Neither had there been anything to drink recently but cold spring water (more's the pity, thought his subconscious grimly). But there they were, against all probability and rational thought or logic. And they appeared to be sparkling. One of the little men looked up, smiling. "Hullo!" he said. "Would you like a tomato, budum?" Saffy tried to speak, but his tongue seemed to be tangled in a knot. "Don't be shy," said one of the others. His voice was strangely high-pitched. "Celia gave us a dozen for helping with the harvest, budum." The first speaker was staring at him curiously. "Hey, you're not from around here. Maybe... I got it! You must be from Mineral Town, down that way!" Finally, he managed to say something. All that came out was "Urg", but it was a start. "Come on," said the one holding the train. "We'll take you back to the Treehouse. It's not often we meet new people." The little man took Saffy's hand, and they started off down the path, Saffy too stunned to do anything else. "W-what are you?" he managed. The little man turned round, smiling. "We're the Harvest Sprites, silly! What did you think we were?" he said, laughing. "Hallucinations," answered Saffy with certainity. "That's all you could be. Hallucinations brought on by that crazy farmer woman chasing me round." The sprites all chuckled. "I heard that Vesta had found a man wandering round her farm." Saffy just nodded, and kept on following the leading sprite. "My name's Vail," said the sprite, "and these are Fraw and Matthew." "My name's Matt, too," said Saffy, in a kind of dazed confusion. Just who the heck were these little people? Was this some kind of trick? It had to be. Either that, or the previous events in this crazy valley had messed up his thoughts. Following the laughing sprites, Saffy continued down the path. Little could he foretell about the terrible events about to unfold. * * * Feedback & ideas now please~ |
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Dec 27 2008, 06:46 PM
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#2
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Goodnight Group: Ranch Hand Joined: 27-March 08 |
Saffy was drying himself with a towel when the girl knocked on the door. "Are you decent?"
"One minute," he replied. The girl's name was Lumina, she had said. Once she had gotten over her initial shock at finding a naked young man unconscious on the doorstep, she had shown kindness and hospitality to him, giving him some clean clothes and letting him take a warm bath. She hadn't asked any questions about why Saffy was lying naked outside her manor house, but simply helped. Saffy smiled. In the recent unfortunate events of the past week, such kindness was a rarity. He looked at the clothes she had given him, and grimaced. She said that it was all she had right then, and that he could wear some of her butler's clothes once he had returned from taking her grandmother out for a walk. But even so, Saffy still felt uncomfortable wearing a blouse and a skirt. He struggled into Lumina's clothes, and stepped out of the bathroom. Lumina took one look at him and burst out laughing, then remembered her class and tried to keep a straight face. "I'm sorry," she said, once she had calmed down. "It's better than nothing, I suppose. Sebastian will be back soon, and I'll be able to take some of his old clothes for you. Until then, I guess you'll have to make do." Saffy nodded grimly. "Are you hungry?" she asked. "We still have some vegetables left over from lunch, and there's bread and butter." "Thanks," Saffy said, uncomfortably aware of the size of the blouse and skirt. "I'm starving." As Lumina watched him wolf down the bread and vegetables, she began to reveal her curiousity. "So, where are you from?" she asked. "Canada," said Saffy, after a large mouthful of mashed potatoes. At her blank face, he added, "You know, the large country above the Northen States." "Northen States?" she asked, puzzled. "You don't-" he stopped, aghast. Where the heck was he, that people didn't know where Canada was? "Never mind. Where am I?" "This is the Forget-Me-Not Valley." "Never heard of it," said Saffy. He was genuinely puzzled. Was he in America at all? Even the Southerners must have heard of Canada. "How did you get here?" asked Lumina. "And why were you... you know..." "I was robbed as I was travelling," replied Saffy, blushing. "The guy took my clothes, as well as everything else. I don't know how I got to this region. I just woke up and I was lying in a field instead of my bed. First I thought that I was dreaming, then I realised that in dreams you don't fall into ponds and get nibbled all over by inquisitive fish and then get bitten on the backside by an angry turtle." Lumina listened as he recounted the rest of his story (bar one or two scenes of the more intimate kind with Elli the nurse) and then took his empty plate back to the kitchen. "You say that the Phantom Thief caught you? That's funny, I thought his magic only worked on wom-" "You know this guy?" interrupted Saffy. "Yeah," replied Lumina, her cheeks colouring. "He's almost good-looking enough to make me give up on Rock. But don't tell him I said that." "So, what should I do?" asked Saffy. "I have no money, no clothes (no male clothes, anyway) and no knowlege of where I am." "You can stay here for a while," said Lumina, smiling. "You can sleep in the basement, nobody goes down there any more. I'll bring you food and water. I'd appreciate the company. As for getting home... I think you should talk to the Witch Princess." Thunder rumbled ominously outside. |
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