Tidbit #17

1 0 0
                                        

I'm in a petting zoo sized pen with tall concrete walls instead of fences. Inside with me are a bunch of newbies to the Secret World who believe themselves to be super stereotypical versions of what they actually are. There are three vampires who refuse to come out from under the awning near the entrance. I've got a juvenile werewolf who won't come out of her lupus form, and keeps stealing my stuff and running around with it. A few wizards who are carrying around sticks they found on the ground and claiming they're their 'wands.' And last, but not least, a human who is crying and praying in the corner because he believes we're all devils who want to kill him. "Just come out. Just stick your hand out. It won't hurt you," I say. The vampires look skeptical. "Look, you may be vampires yourselves, but I've lived in this community all my life. You're not gonna burn up in the sun," I say. Suddenly I feel something ripped away from my belt. I spin around and see the werewolf running off with my water bottle. I give chase. "Jessica Davids, you come back here with my drink right now!" I shout. She runs in circles around the huge pen, and I chase her. She drops the bottle as she sees a group of butterflies around some flowers. She barks at them. As I'm picking up the bottle I shout at her. "You know, you could catch them easier with your hands," I call. She looks at me, almost as if she's considering, then she continues to jump around. I sigh. I look over and see the vampires still cowering under the awning. I make my way to the student wizards. They're casting spells at each other, practicing. They wave their wands and chant the spell but seem surprised when the wands don't strengthen them. As I walk up I say, "You can't make your spells more powerful with just sticks. You need a real wand, and those are not real wands," I say. They turn to look at me. "But that's what they used in Harry Potter," One says. "Yes, but even in Harry Potter, with their extraordinarily short wands, they had to make them special," I explain. "What do you know?" Says another. "Yeah! I don't see you doing any magic." Accuses the third. I slap my forehead with my hand. "Ugh." They get back to practicing. I feel a presence be behind me and whirl around. "No!" I say sternly. If she wants to act like a dog, I'll treat her like a dog. "No!" I say again. She backs off. "Sit," I order. She resists. "Sit!" I command again. She does. "Now stay." I turn around and walk towards the crying human. "Jarred?" I say. He looks up, his eyes wide and puffy from crying, his face wet with tears. He recoils. "No! Get away from me!" He cries. "I'm not here to hurt you," I sooth. "None of us are going to hurt you." "I've seen what these monsters can do. Just look at this group. Look at those children over there, throwing flames, and bending the air to block them. Its unnatural." He then points to the vampires. "And them. Demons of the night, they can't even step into the light," I sigh. "Yes they can, they're just being idiots." He ignores me. "And that... thing. That's not a real wolf. It's a twisted freak of nature. None of this is natural! I don't belong here!" He cries. "I just want my family back. Just leave me in peace!" He curls up tighter and lowers his head once more. I can hear his quiet sobs. This man's wife and children were murdered by a vampire. Drained in front of his eyes. As we speak, Protector Joey is looking for the culprit. I look around at the people in the pen. How am I ever going to get anywhere with these guys? I have to come up with some sort of plan.
- - - - - *** - - - - -
Alright, here we go. I casually walk towards the wizards. Once I'm close enough I grab one of their wands and bolt off with it. "Hey!" He shouts, and they all give chase. I look over at Jarred. He's watching in fearful curiosity. Well, at least he's watching. I grab Jessica's attention. "Jessica!" I shout. She looks over, seeing the stick in my hand and her tail stars wagging. "Fetch!" I throw the stick towards the vampires. They look befuddled as it lands at their feet. Then they look up to see me (unable to stop at this point), three teenage wizards (also going too fast to do anything), and a giant wolf (with no intention of stopping). First Jessica slams into them, and they manage to keep their footing. Then I slam into them, pushing as hard as I can. Then the wizards stumble into us and we all fall out from under the awning and into the sunlight. The vampires gasp and hiss, but they don't burn. They pat themselves down, checking for burns but don't find any. As we start getting up, Jessica is shaking. Suddenly her form convulses and she turns back into a human and falls over herself laughing. "Oh... my god... that... was the funniest... thing... ever!" She says through laughs. Her laughter is contagious and soon we're all laughing. "You should've seen your faces," One of the wizards say to the vampires. "Priceless." "You were right," One of them says to me. "We didn't burn." "I told you," I say. "You were right about us too. In Harry Potter someone can't just come up and take your wand. Maybe you know more about magic than I thought," Says a wizard. "Exactly. Jessica, how's it feel to have fingers again?" I ask. She clenches and unclenches her hands, and takes a deep breath. "It's nice. Maybe I don't have to stay a wolf to be a werewolf," She says. I look over at Jarred and see him smiling at the display. I walk over, and hold out my hand. "So, Jarred. Have I convinced you not all of the Secret World is bad?" He looks up at me. He takes my hand and I lift him to his feet. "Maybe I should learn a thing or two about you people before I assume you're all evil," He says tentatively. "All evil. Ha!" I say. "Wait till you meet Protector Joey. He's the leader of this town." The others come up behind us. "I can't wait to show you all around Endromidus," I say, smiling.

ScenariosWhere stories live. Discover now