#6 Main St.

[PoeticJustice]

Alice slips out of the woods behind them, a light scrape on her cheek from the thorns bleeding lazily. Her hair will be hell to brush out, and another scrape on her leg bled more freely. She didn't seem to notice. Sally's gaze was met with a headshake and then a shrug.

"Nothing," she murmured.

[vVv]

upon sally's triumphant return, victor jumps up to wrap her arms enthusiastically 'round the poor man's neck, smearing a bit of squirrel gore across her white shirt and one cheek, then scampers back out through the brush to take a second look at the scene, now clear of the Immense Danger (*whew!*).. that fallen tree looked like somethin' might o' crashed by.. suspicious, any kinda trail there now that a Trained Professional can stop to focus for a sec without gettin' interrupted by Fuzzy Nightmares? let's see..

[Madrigus]

Madrigus frowns, then walks slowly up the bank and away from the boathouse, annoyed that the narrator apparently forgot that he was still covered in chipmunks. As one pokes it's head out of his collar, he gently uses a finger to push it back down and examines the "monster" squirrel. "If you want rodent pie, Sally, I'm sure you could use all these chipmunks I got here. I've also got an observation. Almost everywhere we've been there've been some kind of rodent nuisance. Anybody know what Liberty is capable of? And where might we find a large population of rodents?"

[kimp]

:: Dear Madrigus - the narrator didn't forget you were covered in chipmunks. She was simply set back by your apparent lurv of small, furry creatures crawling under your clothes and studiously looking the other way while contemplating the mating habits of... Ahem, your special flavor of Special

Well, that and imagining conversations involving 'No, I said NOT the horns! NOT THE HORNS! Rawr!'

P. s. The narrator has also been singing Squirrels In My Pants from Phineas and Ferb. A lot. ::

reference: http://youtu.be/0nKG_O0Ei_o

[kimp]

:: Beyond the fallen tree is... more trees. Pine needles. Leaves. More leaves. Pine needles. A rock...? Yep, that's a rock.

The broken branches on the fallen tree are close together with barely enough room for small animals to course between them; the ends of them are really sharp. Like lose a spleen sharp.

Its a safe bet no one with any sense would even consider going over that fallen tree.

The road that the group came down earlier is viewable through the trees to the left, if you lean a little. When facing directly into the clearing, the viewer will face a big old thicket of pricker bushes that seem pretty impassible.

All in all its an empty clearing in the woods that shows zero sign of humans ever having been there.

Smart money says that maybe a fat squirrel found a lollipop stuck in some mud by the water, picked it up, and stomped its fat butt and sweet, sweet prize back into the clearing to enjoy it. Being that its butt was inordinately fat it probably left a bit of a trail behind it. Maybe, possibly, a clever person would have anticipated that? Even planned for it? Just a thought ::

[vVv]

dejected, victor stomps back to where the group mills about ("stupid fat-butt dumbbrain squirrel.."), the smear of blood across her left cheek emphasizing the return of her sullen scowl in a mildly disturbing fashion. she comes to stand next to kelsey, shoots a little sheepish half-smile her way. "this one's pretty good, i guess. i'm outta leads."

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey gave Victor an encouraging smile. "Hey, you did better than I did. Liberty's having some fun giving us the runaround."

She watched Sally's interaction with the squirrel with wide eyes, but eventually gave way to laughter once it was chucked away. "I gotta say, Sally, I'm looking forward to seeing your pie. Though I don't know how many townsfolk'll be brave enough to try it!"

She nodded to Alice, then turned to Madrigus. "We said no funny business, and aside from...well, actually, even including those rodent visitors to the diner, I have no idea where a population of squirrels would hole up around here. I think Sally's right, and we might want to check the diner - it's the easiest place to get to from here, anyway."

[Sally]

Sally dusts his hands off with a series of claps and looks 'round.

"Well, Kelse' mah cookin' ain't never failt me yet, an'..." he furrows his brow for a moment, "I gotta admit it served as a coupla fellas last meals a coupla times..." he shakes his head at such a morbid notion, "An' it ain't never got no complaints. Though, these here town folks is right keen on lodgin' com-plaints..." Sally shrugs. More for him.

He looks to their leader, and Leo looks lost in thought, perhaps analyzing their next move, but not stopping their ascent back towards the AAA.

"Aight, we's runnin' outta time, so might as well git on wit' it," Sally says, "mebbe try ou' wide net trick a-gain, see if we can see anythin'. They's like to be a scant more folks at the AAA than any-where else, so gon' have to keep an eye to dis-guises."

Sally clicks his teeth a few times, then looks to Victor, "Liberty's 'bout yay high," he levels his hand at Liberty's height, "Long black hair, eyes wit' usually some sortsa blue 'round 'em," he scratches at his 'chops, "But 'steada that, look fer tics. Mood shifts, real quick like- real in-tense concentration then whip-snap onta somethin' else. She ain't gon' be startled if ya try bunglin' her up, just gon' go right inta Jack-a-lopin' off fer tha territories."

He looks to Kelsey, "You prolly know folks a spot better tha' the rest of us," Sally says, "So maybe you do a first pass-through wit' the kid, lookin' fer any out-liers? Mebbe Mad-ri-gus hang out on the far end, jus' outside, so you can pass word ta him?" he turns to Madrigus, "Yer sharper than a bonin' knife, so maybe you keep eyes on the exits from the back side, over by the Bell Tower?"

Turning to Alice & Leo, "That leaves us coverin' the back door, the path up to Main Street, an' somebody a bit ways back, lookin' to spot if she's 'round, watchin' what we're up to in the Tavern?"

[If we jump threads to the AAA, then back to here, that might cause some Chaos, but could be worth it]

[kimp]

Chaos! I'm a huge fan of Chaos!
I will totally jump forums (better I'll double post if you enter the AAA - the narrator

:: There is a man near the AAA. He has one end of a leash in his hand, the other disappears beneath the porch. He is muttering “Come on, Buffy.” There is an edge of frustration in his voice that suggests he may have been saying that, or similar words, for a little while now.

As the group approaches, he looks up and shakes his head, “Stupid dog dug deep in there and refuses to come out. She ran under there after this woman ran up here. Buff decided to bark and lunge at the woman and I thought for sure there was going to be some kind of thing, but then the woman crouched down, looked Buff in the eyes until she stopped barking then reached over, looked at Buffy’s license, and said something that made Buff tuck tail and head for hiding.”

He slants a glance towards the porch and shakes the leash again, “Darned Dog.”

If the group asks, he’ll wave vaguely in the direction of the AAA, “I think she went that way.”

That said he goes back to trying to tug his little Vampire Slayer out from hiding, only to turn again with a blue B post-it in his hands. “She said if I saw someone looking for her I should give... uh... Alice this.”

On the post-it is the rough drawing of a giant leg with a little dog fastened by the mouth to it. Scribbled on the back of the drawing is, in quotes, “Toby vs. Godzilla”
Because that just explains everything. Or nothing. Probably absolutely nothing. But, who knows…?

Stuck to the back of that post-it is another one on which is written in a very small, slightly shaky hand:
Alice: You seem opposed to leading, but did you ever think to take point? Then you lead without leading and others fall in or not. The huntsman doesn't lead the pack - he releases them and follows - as they are the true hunters. The true test is how you work in tandem, balancing your strengths, not in how you follow. ::

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey nodded to Sally. "There's still a lot of people whose names I don't know, and even a few I'm not sure I'd recognize on sight. But I think I recognize most of ours by now, or at least the ones who get mixed up in this regularly. And Liberty doesn't know I've joined the group of you...unless she's been watching and laughing at us this whole time."

She frowned a little at the thought, then shrugged. "Anyway, that sounds like a plan. You with me, Victor?"