Don't Drop the Book

[Madison Andrews]

Madison Andrews had had an interesting week. She'd successfully made a friend at the pool... maybe. She wasn't really sure about that area yet. She'd harrassed a few people. She'd met a cute boy and gotten to meet the Phantom of the Opera in the flesh... so to speak. Life was going pretty well. Unfortunately, when school work is done and training is over... there was still very little to do around the sleepy school in the middle of Vermont.

So, she was out by the pond with a book (Sourcery by Terry Pratchett). She was in the mood to read about a world that was shaped like a disc which rode on the backs of four elephants who stood on top of a giant space turtle which swam through space to... wherever space turtles go. Sourcery was one of the funnier ones starring Rincewind the Wizzard (copyright). 

Maddy liked it because it had a girl who wanted to be a hairdresser, but she had the genes of the world's best and oldest barbarians in her blood and she just happened to be good at going on adventures and stealing stuff.  So, she sat by her favorite tree beside the pond, opened up her book and prepared to be transported to a magical world for a little while.

[Colton Bryan]

Today had been a slow day, at least to Colton it had been. After he had very little sleep last the previous night, he'd been fall asleep in class the entire day, and since he was continually woken up every time he fell asleep he became even more tired as the day went.

Now that classes had ended for the day he was walking towards the pond and to his favorite spot, book in hand as he jolted himself awake every time he fell asleep on his feet. Eventually he made it to the pond, not noticing the only other person there, and as he walked to his spot he dropped his book on the ground. When he bent down to grab the book he tripped and fell down on his face, his glasses flying into a nearby bush.

[Madison Andrews]

Maddy watched the boy come along and drop his book, sending himself and his glasses flying. Immediately she jumped up and went to fetch the glasses, hating the thought of a person without their ability to see looking for the one thing that could help them see. It was funny in movies, but this was real life and in real life it was really quite irritating.

"Here you go," Maddy said, proffering the glasses to the boy, "You should try to be more careful. Sometimes trolls hide in bushes just to steal glasses from unsuspecting people."

[Colton Bryan]

Colton was slow to get up, his body still to tired to move quickly. He looked around, his vision blurred without his glasses, grabbing his book while he looked for his glasses. Suddenly his glasses appeared in front of his face, and he took them from the hand that held them muttering tiredly, "Thank you." He then stood up very slowly with his body wobbling a little as he got to his feet.

[Madison Andrews]

Maddy stood up next to the boy and considered him for a moment. He didn't look so good. He looked like he was ready to fall over any minute which wasn't any fun at all. Maddy stood beside him and held out an arm in an attempt to steady the boy.

"Are you okay?" she asked him with concern in her voice, "The goblins didn't get to you did they?"

She decided to keep going with the goblins idea because it was fun to talk about ghosts and goblins. Also, if the boy really was as dead on his feet as he looked, then it might encourage him to go to bed if he thought he was hallucinating. If not, well Maddy had a reputation anyhow.

[Colton Bryan]

Now that he was standing up Colton looked at the person who helped him, noticing they were a girl he wondered how he didn't notice that from her voice. He didn't get why the girl suggested goblins, but Colton was to tired to question her about it, so he just said in a very tired voice, "No goblins, just insomnia." Colton though hadn't realized how much sleep deprivation had drained his control of his ability, so when he spoke he sounded like he was speaking in gibberish, though in fact it was a mixture of multiple languages, and there was no way anyone but another omnilingual person could understand what he was saying.

[Madison Andrews]

Maddy blinked at the gibberish the boy produced from his mouth and wondered when she'd lost the initiative. She was supposed to say gibberish to people and they were supposed to look at her in confusion. Not answer her in completely indecipherable gibberish themselves! That wasn't how the game was played! How did she regain control of this? She usually responded to people in gibberish that was at least understandable. This boy had responded to her in gibberish that wasn't even a recognizable language to her.

She stood there, staring at him for a moment and then asked, "Have the goblins taken away your ability to speak English?"

[Colton Bryan]

Colton took a moment to process that the girl hadn't understood him. He muttered unintelligibly under his breath, then while rubbing his eyes he tried to speak again, "I said I have insomnia, and sorry about saying stuff you couldn't understand" Unfortunately when he spoke his words sounded even more jumbled up than last time. As he finished speaking his book slipped from his tired fingers once again, causing him to look down and begin leaning down to pick his book up again while he wobbled on his feet and waved one of his arms, trying to keep from falling over again.