The Magical Land of Ooo » Places

         Nicolette finished her shower and toweled herself off. When she was dry she looked around, "Crap." She muttered to herself realizing she had left her clothes in the guest bedroom. Even though she was fairly certain she was the only one in the house she thought it would be best if she covered herself and she wrapped her body in a towel. Mere seconds after the towel was covering her body she heard a voice from the other side of the door. ""Hands in the air monkey-brain!" the voice scream and the door flung open. There was a young boy, probably around 16 or 17 standing in the doorway, "I dunno who you think you are but your hams are-" the boy started to stay before blushing bright red and stuttering "N-n-n-n-na-k-ked..." and stumbling out of the bathroom and shutting the door behind himself. "How cute." Nicolette thought to herself, and then she heard the boys voice again, "Once you're d-d-decent, we'll have a chat, ok? Because this is my house." Nicolette smiled, "Well then you best walk away from the door, cause my clothes aren't in here. And we wouldn't want to embarrass you again now would we?" she said with a light chuckle. She grabbed her hair dryer, which she had remembered to bring with her and turned it on. She didnt wait for the boy to confirm if he was still there before opening the door and floating outside.

She frowned a fake frown as she noticed the boy wasn't there. "Oh well, I'll tease him more later I guess." She said quietly to herself as she made her way to the guest bedroom drying her hair and wrapped in only a towel. Once she made it to the bedroom she opened her purse, which thanks to her shrinking magic contained all of her clothes. "Now, what to wear." She thought out loud as she sifted through her purse, ultimately deciding to wear a black skirt, with red highlights, that was probably a touch shorter than it should be, but hey she thought it was cute, and a simple black tank. She then opened her purse back up and pulled out her red knee high boots that matched quite well with the skirt and tank. She took a quick glance at the mirror in the room and smiled, "This'll work." she thought with a smile gracing her face.

She floated through the house looking for the boy and found him, still red faced, in the living room. She sat down on one of the comfortable looking chairs, although she didn't sit in a traditional fashion, she sat with her legs over one arm of the chair and letting her head and hair flow back over the other. "So, let's start off with introductions, I'm Nicolette, and I'm a vampire. I was not breaking into your home, and I meant no harm, I just needed a place to sleep for the day. I have no home you see, I'm constantly traveling so I figure it'd be a waste if I bought a home I never used." She said explaining everything like it was all a misunderstanding and her being there was no big deal. "And you are a human, but that's all I can figure out, so tell me, who are you? You have a quite lovely home." she said buttering him up.

         Diesel

ACHOO!
With that sneeze a small flame erupted from the red and black demon’s nose. “Grah! I hate this why am I Prince of the Fire Kingdom, stuck at a man’s bakery and for what to be used as a stove!?” Diesel sighed sitting on the crate with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. A bored expression was all you needed to know of the situation at its current state. Luckily the crate hadn’t burned to a crisp because of Diesels high body temperature but he managed to lower it enough so he wouldn’t get into more trouble than he already was.

And as always Smiley just floated about making faces at the baker whenever he turned his back on the two. Then a gruff voice crashed through his thoughts and along came a stinging pain at the back of his head. “Ouch! What was that for old man?” the baker simply glared at his temporary employer and waved his hand over to the fire Diesel was in charge of maintaining.

The fire had gone down considerably and in a rather uncharacteristic action on Diesels part he jumped in worry making the fire go back to how it had been before; the flames were of a different color than would be considered normal. Even though it made the baker nervous Diesels dark fire actually made the bread rise faster and apparently it the products of it tasted better too.

Realizing what he had done, Diesel glared at the oncoming customers scaring a child away with his glare. This earned him another whack to the head “stop trying to scare away my customer’s boy! You’re just making your sentence longer” he said with a smirk on his face and then turned back to kneading the dough. “No need to hit every time though stupid old man” muttering but then flinched expecting another blow to the head. Thankfully the old man’s ears weren’t very good as he didn’t hear a thing Diesel had said. Smiley then began to laugh manically which sent shivers down the baker’s spine but Diesel just smiled at the reaction and in turn got himself the whack he deserved not too long ago.

Smiley snickered at this as it was his intention to make life harder for his friend even if it meant said friend would get back at him. Diesel glared at Smiley but went back to maintain the fire eventually another customer came around this time it was a small family. One of the children fixated its attention on trying to grab Smiley much to his dismay. The two ran about in circles leaving the child tired and ready to cry if it weren’t for their sweet bread to have finished. While Smiley simply panted a black tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, “you have a tongue!? But you don’t even eat food so what the hell are you gonna taste you stupid fire ball?” Smiley simply stuck his tongue at Diesel and went back to making funny faces.

---

Finally after a few more hours of doing absolutely nothing the baker let Diesel go and gave him a bag of sweet bread as payment. Without a second glance from the young demon, Diesel went on his merry way and decided to cause some last minute mischief before he left the town. The two shared a cheeky smile and Diesel formed a small ball of dark fire in his palm and threw it at the bakers butt. Soon enough the baker was running around trying to put out the fire but failing too until finally all that was left was his baker’s hat which he used to hide everything else.

Blushing a bright tomato red the baker ran back inside yelling at Diesel to get lost and that he’ll pay for what he did. Of course Diesel thought nothing of it but instead went back to eating his sweet bread. After some time had passed Diesel across a large expanse of land with nothing but grass, forests and a few lakes, the two companions grinned at one another and began to run. Diesel laughed like one would expect from an evil person but to say Diesel was downright evil wasn’t even close to the truth. “MWHUAHAHAHA! Soon this land will all be mine Smiley just you wait, everyone back home will be jealous once they find out I, Diesel ruled the grasslands!” without realizing it Diesel had created a wall of flame to surround him making emphasis on his declaration and no doubt alerting those nearby of his presence.

And because of that wall of flame Smiley caught fire and began to run (if you could call it that) about yelling at the top of his lungs (does he have any?) Diesel ran after him trying to catch his poor companion until finally he managed to do so. Giant tear drops fell from Smileys eyes but he was still on fire and so Diesel ate his companion. But no worries about Smiley, Diesel soon spit him out the flames were put out with their makers spit. This made Diesel laugh again seeing Smiley all covered in spit, his own flaming body somewhat doused by the spit. The fire ball frowned but was still glad that he was no longer on fire.

         

The air was cool and the space around her had a cave-like silence as the young girl flew across the Cloud Kingdom on her brown-feathered morrow. She stood on the creature's back with caution yet carelessness as she reached her arms up, attempting to grab one of the soft fluffy clouds that drifted above her. Eventually, she settled down onto the creature's back, and twisted a soft smile forth from her lips. "Flake," she asked, "are you sure we should do this? We can always go back, y'know..."

There was brief silence, and then a firm voice masked in a heavy British accent replied back, "Raleigh, I'm telling you, you'll LOVE this place. I've been there before. I know you despise cities and crowded places; you've told me that a BILLION times. But I'm TELLING YOU, the Candy Kingdom is different. Much different..."
The morrow swooped down, sending billows of wind currents towards the girl. As her long, messy hair blew violently in the breeze, she grasped on tightly to the creature's feathers as the giant bird continued to speak. "Besides, I know you. I've known you only for two weeks, and I know that you essentially can't stay in the same place for a long time. You're one of those people who thrives on change, and that's exactly what this experience is: change. I mean, have you even lived in a city before?"
The girl shook her head. "Well then, you'll try the city for once. Maybe you'll like it."

The morrow passed by a party of cloud people, who giddily waved to the girl as they danced on top of the white fluff in the sky. She waved back, hearing loud, vibrant music as she quickly greeted the lively group. It was a few moments later that the morrow spoke to her again. "Alright, Raleigh, I'm going to drop down now and land on the surface. Hold on tight..."
In an instant, the giant creature faced its beak downwards, and plunged away from the heavens of the skies. Raleigh put all of her strength into gripping the bird's neck. As the two dropped, she could feel her legs rising up above her, as if she was falling head-first into the earth below. In less than a minute's time, everything came to a sudden brake, and gently, the bird flapped its wings slowly as it coasted to the surface.

Once the creature was grounded, the girl jumped off of the bird's back, and planted her brown boots onto the soil. She placed her hands on her hips as she took in the view, and then turned around to face the small sheep that stood where the morrow was once located. "Y'know, Flake, I think I actually like you better in your morrow form. I don't have to look down to see you." The brown-woolen "lamb" rolled his eyes, and then raised his hoof in front of her. "Behold, the beautiful Candy Kingdom."
Raleigh's eyes widened as she gazed upon the magnificent city that lay in front of her. Even from far away, she could still smell the faint scents of peppermint and cotton candy. Colorful buildings sprung up from behind the large candy wall, including the royal candy palace that lay in what seemed to be the center of the kingdom. Although she could not see anybody passing through the gates that lay between a moat of orange soda, Raleigh could hear the high-pitched sounds of small candy citizens as they ran their errands. She smiled, and then turned back to Flake. "Alrighty, let's go."

Inside the city, Raleigh's attention switched from one place to another in seconds. Her nose tingled with dozens of sweet scents, and she tried as hard as she could to keep her mouth from watering. "Man, this place takes a lot of determination to get through. I have to battle my innermost temptations in order to keep myself from eating anybody!" Flake gave a chuckle, and then continued to follow the peanut brittle path, making sure not to bump into the hundreds of citizens that passed by. "So, I guess we'll just stay in one of the hotels for the night. We'll settle our stuff there until we-..."
"....Raleigh?"
Flake ran backwards against the flow of traffic until he found his friend standing with a confused look in her eyes in the middle of the street.
"Uhhh...Raleigh?" Flake asked perplexedly, "You alive?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry..." she apologized as she came out of her trance, "It's just...that sign over there...." She pointed to a small abandoned stand near a sugar-coated fountain. There were piles of various junk laid out across the area. "What about it?"
"The sign on the top of the booth...It says "Tirinei's". I used to know a Tirinei..."
"And a Tirinei used to know you, RALLY!"

The human girl felt a tight grip around her chest as well as cold water as the familiar voice behind her spoke. She gasped, and an expression of shock and disbelief appeared on her face as she hugged the water nymph in front of her.
"TIRI!!! Tiri, I can't believe it's you!"
"Long time no see, huh? Who's your little friend?"
"Oh, right..." Raleigh pushed Flake closer to the tall nymph whose hair flowed clear blue streams of water. "Tiri, this is Flake. Flake, Tirinei."
"Pleased to meet you miss...?"
"Clearwater. Tirinei Clearwater. Nice to meet you too."
After bending down to give the animal a strong handshake, the bold water nymph crossed her arms and loosened her posture.
"So, what brings you two here to the elusive Candy Kingdom? Y'all tourists?"
"Far from it. We're moving in here! We were actually just looking for a hotel."
Tirinei's eyes widened with excitement, "Why stay in a crummy hotel when you deserve much better? C'mon, follow me..."

The woman led Raleigh and Flake out of the city, into the Cotton Candy Forest. The whole way, the human girl and her lamb companion gave each other glares of confusion, yet excitement. It was a mystery where Tirinei was leading them. Eventually, brown mountains appeared from the distance, and the pink forest started to come to an end. In the forest's place lay a bright red barn that seemed to stand out among the sea of green grass. Raleigh's face glowed with happiness as she stepped across the wooden plank that allowed passage over the narrow stream.
"Tirinei, it's just like your place! The stream, I mean. The place...it's amazing!
"Only the best for my little sister!" Tirinei said with a soft smile and a wink, "I picked a valuable location for an adventurer like you. Close to the Candy Kingdom while also near the Grass Lands and the mountains. Little fun fact about this place; supposedly, many years ago, a rainicorn used to live here!"
"Explains all the colors around the place!"
Although there was nothing abnormal about the barn's surroundings, its location seemed brighter and more vibrant in the sunset than the usual house.
"Right. Listen Raleigh; I'd love to give you a tour of the place, but I really don't got any time. I have to get back to the shop..."
"Oh. Right. Well, it's no problem! I'll gladly take it! What about you Flake?"
"Same! There's just something so cozy about this place..." the lamb said with a warm smile.

"Great! Sold! Now...I guess we have to discuss payment..." Tirinei put her hands behind her back, military style, and circled the new residents as she spoke. "Normally, I don't sell this kind of house to two newbies like you, but seeing as you guys are an exception, I'll cut you some slack. I'm willing to give you this place for a discounted price: 10,000 gold coins.Deal?"
"Alright. But how much for me?"
"10,000 gold coins."
"...Yeah, but, I'm your sister."
Tirinei gave a mischievous smile, "11,000 gold coins!"
"WHA???"
"Look, Raleigh," Tirinei crossed her arms and gave the girl a serious glare, "Times are hard. I'm not gonna sell you THIS nice of a house for free. Either you cough up the money, or you don't."
"Tirinei..."
"Alright, so you don't got the money. I'll take a trade of equal value. How about that fancy gold hammer strapped to your backpack?"
Raleigh looked down at the metal hammer that was hooked onto a part of her white canvas backpack. Encrusted with various gems and inscribed with runes along the handle, her hammer was quite a beautiful weapon. She had attained it only a couple of days before after finding it hidden beneath a pile of jewels in the Evil Forest.
"Tirinei, I'm sorry, I can't. It's my only weapon. I'd be defenseless."
"Alright then," the water nymph's face showed lines of blunt satisfaction, "I'll take your lamb friend then. I'm sure someone'll want him for some nice stew or something..."
"Wha?"
Furiously, Raleigh blocked Flake from Tirinei's reach. "NO!" she boomed,"YOU'RE NOT TAKING FLAKE!"

"Well then," the water nymph's expression grew serious again, "Give me the hammer, or you're gonna be sleeping in the forest tonight."
Raleigh shrugged, rolled her eyes, and then without hesitation, ripped the hammer right out of its strap on her pack.
"Here," electricity crackled in her green eyes, "take your stupid hammer."
"Thanks," Tirinei snorted, dragging the heavy hammer on the ground as she advanced towards the stream. "Nice doing business with you. See you two around. Welcome to the Candy Kingdom."
She then stepped into the water, and dissolved into the clear blue liquid as if she was a part of it. Raleigh tightly clenched her fists as she watched her sister get dragged away by the soft current. The hammer floated away in the stream as well.
"You said she was your sister, right?" Flake asked.
"Yeah."
"I figured. You two seem like you've had your fair share of family arguments."

As the sun progressed on its journey to the west, Raleigh and Flake looked around the house. Although Raleigh was still tense from her encounter with her sister, Flake enjoyed all the surprises he found around his new home. There was a stone well, a small bench, and much to the duo's surprise, a large pumpkin patch in the back. Flake jumped up and down in delightment as his eyes gazed upon the vast field of orange fruits.
"This is brilliant!" he exclaimed, "I can make some pumpkin spice tea, while you can make some good ol' fashioned pumpkin pie!"

After taking a look at the area outside of the house, the two opened up the barn doors, and investigated the inside. "Great," said Raleigh, "It's barren in here. No furniture or nothing. There's not even a couch."
"Hey, at least we got cabinets and everything. Let's go check upstairs."
The two climbed a ladder, where they found more barren space. Piles of hay lay scattered around the room.
"Guess we're sleeping on hay beds tonight." Flake said cheerfully. Raleigh shrugged.
Afterwards, the two climbed back down, where they unpacked their bags and settled their stuff around the house.