Storyline Name: Rebel Recon: Storytime
Creator(s): Sailor Uranus and Anait Zelleire
Forum: Crystal Tokyo
Advanced or Relaxed: Advanced Relaxed for ease of shared/interrupted storytelling
Plot Summary: On a rainy day, when their mission is scrubbed due to foul weather, Temperance Rivers and Tesherin Walker find themselves in the makeshift library they created, whereupon they find a group of younger children enjoying a story read by one of the Childcare volunteers. When a particularly loud clap of thunder heralds the loss of electricity and thus reading light, to calm the children's nerves, Tesh intervenes with the telling of his own story, eventually working Tempy in with minor (and then major) parts; however, not quite enjoying the Damsel in Distress role, Tempy turns the story on its head to make up a new fairytale, wherein the Princess saves the day. During their retelling they inadvertently pull a third party into the story, and as their bizarre tale finishes, the pair introduce themselves to a potential new ally.


Details on any necessary information: Sequel to Rebel Recon, happening in an alternate universe wherein the day of Usagi and Mamoru's wedding heralds the day the Dark Moon Clan returns. As mentioned in Rebel Recon:

Quote :

:: for ease of play without stomping all over Japanese culture, we're using American Dub names and changing the setting from Tokyo Japan to Star City, USA, but keeping all storyline elements / original manga plot the same. Exception: In this world, Melvin (Umino)'s last name is Cross instead of Butlers. ((for personal preference reasons))

Overarching storyline of this AU:

Restrictions: Civilians only; histories must include knowledge of the world as it is in the AU and fit the setting swap to "Star City, California" instead of Tokyo, Japan.
OOC Thread: Skype
Member to Character List:

Temperance Rivers - Anait Zelliere

Tesherin Walker - Sailor Uranus

Daisy Moore - Aurae

Thunder shook the room around them; even being within the recesses of their apartment-complex-turned-home-base, Tesh imagined he could hear the rain pouring outside. Their mission had been scrubbed due to bad weather, and now he and Tempy had an empty afternoon ahead of them. He didn't know what she had intended to do with it, but he had dragged her along anywya to take a look at how their little library had grown. When they had returned with their bags of books - having nearly been caught by a droid in the process - the parents and official childcare volunteers had been immensely grateful; Melvin Cross himself had congratulated them on the idea, and had even made it a low-priority mission objective to anyone who found themselves near a school, library, or bookstore to raid the place for reading material to build their own libraries and studies in the safety of their hideout. 

He hadn't been to see the place since they had first dumped those books there weeks ago; they had been too busy scouting and repairing cameras - he was getting pretty handy with a screwdriver, and he did say so himself - so now, he felt, was the perfect opportunity to see how things had gone. Raising his eyebrows to Temperence, he hit the door handles beneath the sharpie-on-recycled-paper LIBRARY sign and jumped back, nearly into the blonde, as several kids screamed in response to the door opening.

Heart racing, he recovered quickly, pressing into the room to have a look around, expecting danger - a droid or something - but found nothing but the scared group of kids. A small handful of volunteer workers were with the 30-some-odd children, who looked startled more from his entrance than anything. Exaggeratedly, he put his finger to his lips. "Shhhh!" he whispered loudly, "This is a library!" With big, fake, tip-toe movements, he crept over to the loosely-circled group and took a seat on a table beside them, facing towards the young woman who had apparently been in the middle of reading them a story from a picture-book before he had so rudely interrupted.

He looked around, taking in the collection of books appreciatively - it had definitely grown from the two bags they had brought in - but just as the young woman had begun to read the story again, thunder crashed and the lights went out.

Blackout. With kids. In a library. And of course they were screaming. 

"Woah woah woah!" Tesh yelled, jumping up with his limbs flailing comically, hoping to turn their attention from scary blackout to ridiculous man -- no one liked being scared. He turned exaggeratedly, finding Temperence, and whisper-yelled, "Tempy!" he paused, looking around in the less-than-half-light, "I think it's raining!" 

With a little help from her, he could maybe turn the afternoon around for the poor volunteers by entertaining the kids for a bit.

Ren found the sound of pounding rain relaxing, however it had caused their mission to be cancelled and now she was unsure of what to do.  She had been using the constant missions to keep her mind busy, keep it from wandering.  When Tesh came to unwillingly take her to the library, she would never tell him that she was more willing to do that, then sit alone, afraid of where her thoughts would take her.  Ren was indeed happy for those who the growing library now served, though she hoped that his stroke of genius wouldn't inflate his head too much like his supposed screwdriver skills had been recently.   

Ren rolled her eyes exaggeratedly at Tesh's eyebrow raise as he opened the door, her slight grin turning into a tight line as the scream reached her ears and her hands flew up to keep him from falling into her.  Following him into the room, she was relieved to see that it had only been the children reacting to Tesh's entrance. The adrenaline faded away as quickly as it had come and Ren remained near the door, leaning on the wall, a half grin returned to her face as Tesh took his place among the kids, a perfect match really. 

The thunder had been booming unrelentingly outside and with the latest crack, the electricity had gone out.  The high pitched screams filled her ears and she looked around for some way to calm them when Tesh's voice caught her ears. He thought what? Ugh. She could see what he was doing but she had to wonder what made him think it was a good idea to bring her on board. "Rain?! Oh my that's terrible! Whatever shall we do?" Ren whsiper-yelled back in a sarcastic damsel-in-distress voice as she walked over to him. What was his plan?

Tesh grinned, having acquired a playmate. "I don't know what we can do, but I know what -" he straightened and posed heroically, quickly thinking up a name, "Terran, the Miller's son would!"
He turned back to the group of kids, as though expecting applause, but when none came (as he knew it wouldn't), he asked of the confused kids, "Don't you guys know the story of Terran, the Miller's son, and his adventures against the Thunder Lord Rumbleton?"

Most of them shook their heads 'no', but there was one that shook his head 'yes', and Terran resisted quirking a brow. Little liar. Of course none of them knew the story because he was making it up as he went along. 

"Well, do you want to know about Terran the Miller's son and this adventures against the Thunder Lord Rumbleton?"

He was met with a resounding yes! and, fueled by their mingled curiosity and adoration (--okay, he could be making up the adoration part, but his creative juices were flowing and no one could touch him now! Mwahahahahaha!), he quickly launched into the story, projecting his voice to be heard by all in the room, yet not so much that he was shouting. 

"Once upon a time there was a miller's son named Terran who lived in the grand old country--" he almost said 'of' but caught himself - making up a country name would be difficult. He pressed on without a pause, "Being a miller's son, he spent his days making flour with the use of his trusty windmill. One day, it started to rain." He stalked the front of the crowd, their eyes following him. "This wasn't unusual, of course - Rain is natural and is needed for food to grow, but this rain was different. This rain drummed on and on for days." He stopped walking, facing them to make a point, "And then weeks, and then a whole month. The river flooded, and soon the people were coming into the hills of the country, and they all cried out--"

He threw his voice to sound like an old woman's - why not? - and cowered before the kids, "Oh no! Whatever shall we do? The rain! The rain is too much! We have angered the gods!" 

He straightened, "Now Terran's business had been bothered by the constant rain - either the wind was too strong or wasn't blowing at all. So he stepped up and said," Tesh changed his voice, ""My name is Terran, and I am the miller's son! I will go to the gods to see how we have angered them and set things right!" And the crowd cheered!" he made fake cheering sounds, Hooraay! yaaay! yaaaay! and waved his hands and then mimed walking off, "So Terran put together his pack and set off to find the gods to see how they had been angered, heading for the highest mountain in the land.


"He traveled for days in the cold, wet, rain," he hugged himself, rubbing his upper arms pathetically, stomping along, "All alone, and very lonely, until - " he spotted Tempy, "He found a tower with a beautiful princess inside!" He smiled and hopped next to Temperence, and motioned her up onto the table.

"And what was this princess's name?" he asked the kids.

"Rapunzel!" a few shouted.

"No, no no! Rapunzel? What kind of name is that?" someone laughed, "Her name was Daisy and she had been stuck in that tower for a very long time."

Ren knew she would regret joining Tesh in his latest act of good will.  He began his story, one she had never heard though he was probably just making it up.  She stood off too the side, a bemused expression her face at all of his exaggerated movements.  As she watched him, she momentarily forgot her part in this scheme until he motioned for her, the princess apparently, to hop up onto the table, her tower.  Well if she was going to be a part of this then she might as well enjoy it. 

Ren hopped up onto the table with great enthusiasm and began speaking her part of the tale, "Tis true that Daisy had been locked in the tower for a very long time, so long in fact, that the princess had taught herself how to fight!" Here she mocked a punch and a kick, "She was no longer a trapped princess, but instead a treasure hunter!" The kids all gasped in surprise and a small grin took her face.  "The tower once a prison, now served as the perfect vault for her horde." She quickly moved over to Tesh and put him in a mocked arm lock behind his back.  Looking around at the silent but focused kids she continued on, "When Terran happened upon her latest spoils, she demanded his reason for not throwing him off the top of the tower!"

What in the world?!


Tesh had to bob and then duck completely out of the way as Tempy first punched then kicked the air around him - he covered his head and stepped back completely as she proudly proclaimed that the meek little princess, Daisy, was actually a treasure hunter who could seriously kick his -er, Terran's - ass. He stood back through her introductory speech, at a loss for words by her passion. And then her immediate arm-lock. 

Yes, he had his playmate... but at what cost?


"Uuh--" Tesh hesitated, his mind racing to get back into the story he had created but Tempy had righteously pirated - serves him right for attempting to cast her as a meek and captured princess, right? He cleared his throat, ""Beautiful, Strong Princess!" Terran addressed, "I had only meant to help you! I am but a poor miller's boy, on my way to ask the gods what we have done to anger them so as to send such rain! I am not after your spoils!""

Ball's in her court. Was Terran the Miller's son actually a terrible tragedy?! Who would confront Thunder Lord Rumpleton? Daisy could certainly do it. Maybe he should've thought ahead - called it Terran and Daisy, Rumpleton-killers?

Ren hoped that Tesh would enjoy the princess character she had come up with.  If he wanted her to play along, then a few changes would have to be made to the typical story.  She listened to his response, not releasing her grip on him even the slightest bit.  After he finished, "Help me? HA! The poor miller's boy thinks he can help me?!" In her fit of laughter she released his arm from her hold.  After she finally finished laughing, Ren mimed someone deep in thought, like the thinking man statue.  "You say you're going to the gods then?" Her question was followed by mumbling that sounded like "they could have a lot of treasure there..." She turned back around to face Tesh/Terran and clapped her arms on his biceps, a grin on her face.  "Tell you what poor miller's boy, take me with you to see the gods, and I shall forgive you for finding yourself so close to my horde!"

She groaned inwardly to hear the princess of this impromptu tale named "Daisy". What an awful name. It was basically Dee's least favourite name of all time. She hated just to hear it. Because, of course, it was her name. Her girly, stupid, infantile, dumb-sounding first name. Ugh. It was torture to listen to yet one more story with a wimpy girl who needed to be saved...with that terrible name.

But then the story changed, the blonde woman aggressively modifying her role, and suddenly this Princess Daisy was not a doormat but a warrior. This brightened Dee's perception of the thing slightly, but she hadn't come to like this poorly-named princess just yet.

She glanced around, peering through the dim setting at the assembled children. So far they all seemed to be okay. This story was a welcome distraction from the thunder, lightning, and semi-darkness. Unfortunately, it was impossible for her to continue to perform her duties without better conditions. The batteries in her flashlight had died just this morning, and she hadn't had a moment to procure replacements from supply before she was due here for check-ups. The makeshift library wasn't a makeshift hospital, and that made it less intimidating for some of the youngest members of their group. As one of the few medical personnel, Dee was slowly developing into a jack-of-all-trades as far as medical services were concerned. One of her newest tasks involved providing routine exams for refugee civilians.

Her dark eyes watched the proceedings with curiosity; there was nothing else she could do at the moment, after all. How was their story going to continue?

Tesh couldn't believe how in-to-this Tempy was getting! As her emotions changed in front of him, her off comments coming out so naturally, he wondered if she had had acting experience in the past -- of if she wanted to act in the future~ Suddenly she had him in her firm grip, his response probably exactly what Terran's should have been - this was quickly entering LARP territory, he laughed to himself, but he couldn't keep the kids waiting.

"Terran, grateful to still be alive," he narrated, looking past her to the kids, "had no choice but to accept Princess Daisy's help, and had suddenly found himself an ally. Together they gathered up Princess Daisy's treasure-hunting gear and supplies, and set out towards the tall mountain once more!" He pulled away and turned as if to lead a march. With a grin, he added, "Along the way they were tempted to stop for treasure, but they had a noble purpose to them and resisted the urge! Eventually they made it to the tallest mountain, and they started to climb."


He paused, "It was difficult, because it was so wet on the mountain, but still they climbed, and climbed, and climbed, until they reached a giant cave near the very top. There, they met him.


"Thunder Lord Rumbleton." the word was dripping with malice, and he leaned towards the kids as though he were a scary, looming presence. "Rumbleton was -" he hesitated - he hadn't really thought of why Rumbleton was evil... or what exactly would cause this to be an adventure... so he described Rumbleton to stall for time. "-Old and grey and withered, with an evil steely glare. While he was old, he was strong, and it was he who summoned the rain and called the wind, he ordered the thunder, and all because he was... mad..." uh...

Spoiler:

Ren looked to Tesh as he proceeded with the next part of the story, mimicking his movements, grumbling when he mentioned passing the treasure.  She knew that he would not let her live this down later, but she was determined to pull the story in any weird directions he could, just to spite him.  She knew he wouldn't get angry, instead he'd take the changes in stride.  He wouldn't be Tesh if he didn't act like a kid half the time.

The perfect opportunity presented itself when he trailed off describing Lord Rumbleton.  She decided to hijack the storyline once again, "Upon the two's entry into the cave, Lord Rumbleton demanded to know why they were disturbing him.  Terran told him about how the rain he was calling down was destroying everyone's livelihood down in the village.  Lord Rumbleton became angry, 'Insolence! How dare you question me!' And with a snap of thunder, he transformed Terran into a ferret!"  Ren grinned mischievously at Tesh as his eyes begged to know why he was now a ferret in his own story.  "A ferret! And now it was up to Princess Daisy to not only go through the quest to stop the rain, but to return the talking rodent to his old self!" Ren paused as the children laughed at the idea of the hero being a ferret.  "Not wanting to be Lord Rumbleton's newest pet addition, Daisy scooped up ferret Terran and ran out of the cave, almost knocking over an old hag." Her voice became croaky and ominous, "Be warned adventurers, Lord Rumbleton's crown has been stolen! If you wish the rain to stop, then you'll need to find it and return it to him. For this you will need a seer, in that forest yonder you will find her. And with a flash of lightning the old hag was gone. Daisy knew that if she wanted to get back into the treasure filled cave, she would need to find that crown, and she set off for the forest, the talking ferret Terran riding on her shoulder."  Ren turned to Tesh, indicating that it was now his turn, a very pleased look on her face.

OOC:

Tesh's jaw hung open as Tempy transformed Terran, the story's hero, into a ferret. He stared at her openly as she introduced a plot-device character and gave their heroes a quest, but while she had neatly explained how they would solve Lord Rumbleton's problem, she had left out... "But Terran won't stay a ferret, right?" he asked, and then cleared his throat, remembering that he had a say in this story, too, and rephrased, "Terran was most upset at his new lot in life, and while he took easily to riding on Princess Daisy's shoulders, he could not help but fret for his own life for a time. As a ferret he could still help the people by making the rain stop, but he wondered if he would remain a ferret for the rest of his days. As they traveled back down the mountain he wondered if, by saving the people from the rain, they might give him a place to live, with a warm ferret bed and ferret food... that wouldn't be so bad, right?" he was starting not to think so, anyway.

"So Daisy and Ferret-Terran continued on their long, wet journey towards the forest and the seer within," he mimed slogging along, "At this point, most of the forest was under an inch or two with water, and thunder had started disturbing the low thick storm clouds - Rumbleton was getting impatient; if they didn't find the crown soon, who knew what would happen?


"Finally they found a little hut, the first dwelling they came across since entering the forest, and they knew the seer must be within! "The seer has to be there!"" he threw his voice higher and squeakier to be Terran's new ferret-voice, ""There's no other place for her to be! What should we do, Princess Daisy? Should we knock? Would she know we're coming?""

He wondered briefly how he would change his voice for the seer - he was already high and squeaky - would the kids get confused? Maybe it can be a manly seer or something?

OOC:

Ren watched Tesh as he continued the story, reveling in her ability to dash his expectations of the story's plot. She enjoyed watching the oh-so-confident, never-miss-a-beat Tesherin struggle to with the consequences of her storytelling.  She held back a chuckle when he revealed his ferret voice, deciding that she wouldn't torture him too much or it wouldn't be fun.  Ren quickly looked around the room and saw a young teenage looking girl who had been there when she and Tesh arrived. Might as well...


Ren picked up where Tesh left off, answering Ferret Terran's question, "Well Terran, if she really is a seer, then she should know. And Princess Daisy walked confidently towards the door," As Ren spoke she walked around the room until she was next to the volunteer.  "Before Daisy could knock though, the door swung open, and standing before them, was the seer!" Ren held her hands out towards the volunteer in emphasis. A pause as the kids looked shocked at the sudden introduction of the new person, Ren quickly pulled the volunteer back up to where Tesh was, making absolutely no eye contact with anyone. "Daisy and Terran were slightly shocked at first, but they quickly regained composure and asked the seer for help! So seer," Ren looked at the volunteer finally. "What is your name and how do we find Lord Rumbleton's crown? Ferret Terran began jumping on her shoulder excitedly, Oh and how do we make him a real boy again?"

OOC:

Ohhhh no.

No nope no no no thank you please no.

But the hand that closed around Dee's was firm and sure, and the young woman pulled the medic to her feet and ushered her up into the limelight. This was only a small performance for children otherwise frightened by the power outage, but she felt like she had been thrust onto a grand stage and expected to dazzle a large audience. She felt even shorter than usual, now that she was flanked by these two tall young people.

Oh well. There was no way out of it now. If the kids wanted a seer, then they'd get one.

Dee waved her arms grandly, aiming for an air that seemed "mysterious".

"I am Madame Myra Magdalena Mimsy Millicent Medium!" she announced boldly, mentally hoping she could recall that entire long name again if she needed to.

"The crown of the Thundering King was cruelly stolen, taken from him by his nefarious cousin, Commander Cumulus! He has hidden it within a place where the rumbling crash of Lord Rumbleton can never reach. You must find the place where sound cannot echo and rain cannot dampen."

"Oh, poor child," she continued, turning her attention to the "ferret". "How terrible that you should be trapped in the body of a wiggling rodent! There is only one cure for this—you must find and eat the Golden Cricket!"

Dee shuffled forward, aiming for over-dramatic flair. The giggles of the children watching only encouraged her. She winked at them and leaned forward for a "whisper" loud enough for all to hear.

"Luckily for them, the Golden Cricket is held in the hoard of Commander Cumulus."

A volunteer from the audience? Tesh liked a challenge, but this was insanity. He tried to keep up, and as soon as the teenager started speaking his mind shot open in a daze, trying hard to remember all of the characters and challenges she suddenly introduced. Madam Myra Magdalena Mimsy Millicent Medium?! That's a lot of M's -- Commander Cumulus was one he could handle, the riddle though?! He... wasn't the best at cracking riddles. He saw nothing but question marks as he thought it over, but suffered mental whiplash as M-M-M-M-M-M -- M6? Mags? Mags. Mags was talking about his own fate -- er, Terran's, anyway.

Golden.

Cricket.

Well crud. 

With a stage whisper, Mags turned and told the kids where to find the cricket, but he bet Terran and Princess Daisy weren't as lucky with that information. "'Madam Mags!'" he squeaked in his ferret voice, "Terran was worried, he couldn't grasp her riddle! "Can we get another hint?! It's important to find the crown and stop the rain!""

Spoiler:

Well, crap. She hadn't really planned an answer for that riddle, it just kind of sounded right at the time. Still, Dee knew she couldn't let the kids realize she was fumbling. It was time to think on her feet and just keep running with it.

"Are you aware of the one sound that cannot echo?" she replied to the confused ferret, accompanied with more dramatic hand waving.

"In the fortress of the thief you will find a doorway decorated with that emblem, and beyond that doorway lies the prize you seek."

Hopefully this was the last of her interactions with the two. She was very ready to go back to sitting with the audience instead of embarrassing herself up here.

Ren relaxed a little as their "volunteer" went along with the part. There was the possibility that she wouldn't cooperate, but she hoped that her having already been here meant that she would.  Now she stepped back up to Tesh and the volunteer, inserting herself back into the storytelling.

"Princess Daisy only had to think for a moment to know that the answer to the riddle was-" She paused for dramatic affect, "A duck! 'I know a place with lots of doors that have symbols on them!' Princess Daisy told the others about this mystical village where no one lives but each house has a special door. So the three adventurers set out for this village and after a time of journeying they finally arrived." Ren now relinquished the story back to either of the other two "storytellers".

"When they entered the village, everything was quiet, and wet, and miserable," Tesh explained, miming out walking through the village by making "Daisy" walk forward, "They passed several doors with different animals above them - there were antelopes, and anteaters, and aardvarks, and--" Why was he only using "a" animals? ... he grinned, deciding immediately to continue it for as long as he could, "alpacas, and albatross, and alligators and ants and" he was running out... "an armadillo, and then, finally, a duck. "Look!"" he squeaked in his Terran-ferret voice, ""There! A duck! How do we get in?"" 

He grinned, looking to Tempy, ""Princess Daisy, maybe you should 'quack' to make it open!""

Did he just...? Quack, really? Ren silently glared at Tesh as he offered the plan of quacking to open the door.  "Princess Daisy agreed and mustering all the skill she had, she quacked with all her might!" Ren put her hands to her mouth and attempted to produce a quacking sound, it was less than believable. "The door swung open and after the trio entered into the room the saw the entrance to an underground cave.  The adventurers followed the tunnel deeper until they came to a fork in the road.  Down one path they could hear loud snoring, It must be Commander Cumulus," Ren whispered in her Daisy voice.  "The other path had glinting lights at the end, the hoped it was the treasure room and chose that path.  Upon entry they discovered more gold than even Daisy had stored away and at the very top..." she paused for dramatic affect, "was the crown!  Daisy climbed the pile of treasure, several pieces falling into her pockets along the way, and retrieved the crown.  They were just about  to leave when Terran started squeaking about the cricket.  So they looked around and finally found the golden cricket in a cage.  Both the seer and Daisy had to look away as Ferret Terran ate the cricket but not a moment later he had returned to normal size." Ren could hear that the rain outside was lessening, the thunder much quieter than it was before.  The lights should be back on soon...  Just as the thought entered her mind, the lights flickered until they had turned back on fully. She had to finish before they lost their attention, "They returned the crown, the rain stopped in Terran's village and the Daisy had more treasure for her horde. The End." Ren bowed then pulled Tesh to the back to the room so the volunteers could take charge of the kids again.  She turned to Tesh and whispered with a smirk, "Well there went all my free time, how will you repay me?"  He merely chuckled and shrugged in response, "I'm sure you'll figure something out."