Streams - Book 1

Chapter 16

Little black party dress

Tlaloc tapped on Jenni's shoulder, "Come on. I think we might find you something to wear in the twins' room." He pointed to a black door that looked like a shadow. He knocked briefly and then opened the door.

The room was more of a warehouse then a bedroom. There were a couple of trunks on the floor and several piles of various weapons. Against the back wall was a large wooden cabinet that looked like it had been through the wars. It had nicks, scratches, gouges, and even burn marks decorating the doors and sides. Jenni did notice something odder about the room though; there were no beds. "Where do they sleep?" She wondered.

"Outside, or wherever they set up watch!" Tlaloc replied, digging through the cabinet in search of something. Soon a pile of daggers, knives, ropes, and other weapons that Jenni couldn't identify, grew to the right of the cabinet as Tlaloc tossed the contents of the cabinet to the floor.

"Like outside, outside, or outside in the hall?" Jenni asked.

"Both," Tlaloc said, after pausing in thought. "Inside under a table, on top of a table, standing behind a door, outside in a tree, on top of a roof, they even had me bury them once with just their noses exposed." Tlaloc laughed. "Stayed there all night and half of the next day."

"Why?"

"I think it has something to do with them being completely insane." He grabbed a box from the top of the cabinet. "Don't ever tell them I showed you this," he said in a serious tone, as he pulled an old tattered drawing from one of the boxes, handing it to Jenni.

"Is this them?" Jenni squealed with joy, as she studied the image of two tiny Gnome babies dressed in diapers, each one posed in a fighting stance.

"Yeah that's them, believe me, when they say they came out fighting they mean it. Their mom was feeding Ava one time, moved the spoon a little too fast or something. Next thing she knows, she is face down on the table, with the little maniac standing over her pulling her arm up behind her back."

They both stared at the picture for a moment more before Tlaloc turned back to his search. "Ah ha," he cried triumphantly as he pulled open one of the very top drawers, "There it is."

"What is that?" Jenni asked as Tlaloc unfolded a tiny jumpsuit like the twins had been wearing under their armor. It was kind of a dull gray color and she couldn't see how it was going to help her.

"It's for you to change into." He replied, handing her the soft swatch of material.

"I doubt this could fit a Barbie doll." Jenni argued. Realizing that he wouldn't know what that was she added, "It's certainly too small for me to wear."

"It stretches. They all start out that size." He grabbed his own suit at the waist, and pulled it out from his body several inches. "Fire resistant, Impenetrable, with unlimited stretch. Plus it holds in your body heat, which is why you are shivering and I am not." He rummaged around the drawers a bit more and pulled out some body armor, "Add some armor if you like." He held the section of armor to his shin that was covered in the gray material. Once he had it where he liked, he put it up against the material and it instantly stuck and molded in place. Now it looked like the armor had always been there. He knocked on the armor lightly, showing that it was solid and would not slip or slide. "All complements of my father, and a mixture of stuff he collected from a bunch of streams. Once it has formed to your body, you can mold it for a more custom look if you like." He gave Jenni a handful of armor pieces and walked to the door. "Now dry yourself off. I'm sure everyone will be in a hurry to start the meeting." He shut the door behind him, leaving Jenni on her own for the first time since she had woken up in this strange world.