We Are the Sand

We Are the Sand Chapter 5

Chapter the Fifth:Shading

Where do we go from here? When these words have been unspoken.

Roxas had to admit he was rather conflicted about the whole stick thing. "Stick-kind" for a strifekind just did not sound overly impressive, yet it was really the best he could do on such short notice. Plus, impressive or not, it did seem to do some good against the mobs of ebony creatures that occasionally surrounded him on the streets. So there was that. Besides, there could be no Order of the Stick without a stick, Order of the Phoenix be hanged. After all, there was no Phoenix involved, whether Phoenix Down, Phoenix Feather, or any other kind of resurrection device. Which meant they would be in big trouble were any of them to die, but that was not something he really planned on doing anyway. Not that most people planned on dying in the first place, but never mind that.

Unfortunately, his mother insisted on keeping his impromptu weapon outside. Right. Good thinking, that. Really. It was not as though Roxas needed the stick (branch) to beat back the Darkness or anything. Nope. Just another dirty, germ-covered thing that belonged outside. Of course.

The fact that she insisted on simply referring to the weapon as a stick instead of a branch certainly did not help matters. Nor did her calling it Stick Stickly instead of the Stick of Destiny. Really, was that her way of being "cool?" If so, she really should stop, since she clearly was not good at it in the slightest. It was most likely a reference to something, but his mother was really not good at references or anything of the sort. She should study Roxas and his group of friends if she really wanted to learn how to be hip with the young people. On the other hand, she would never be hip as long as she kept using the word "hip."

It goes without saying that Roxas explained these things to his mother, albeit in a tone that suggested that she should know all this already. So, finally, his mother relented and allowed him to keep the Stick of Destiny in the garage, which really was not that much better, but was somewhat of an improvement, which was probably the best for which Roxas could hope. So there was that.

There really is no point in saying that Hayner's parents would let him keep the stick in the house, as Roxas was not, and is not, Hayner. And since Hayner is not the one with the stick, it really is moot.

Of course, this was the main topic of discussion when the kids returned to school the next day. Getting beat up by plush toys was not something one easily forgot, and the Order of the Stick was still kind of a big deal to them. Not to mention overrated boy sorcerers who did not even dabble in necromancy or the occult. Then again, Charles Dexter (no, not that Dexter or that Dexter.) Ward had done that, and look where that got him.

Selphie joined the group in the foyer after her mother had dropped her off at school. Having one's parents drive one to and from school is far less embarrassing when the reason for this is because little evil critters tried to kill you, but you were able to beat them off with a broom. Also, it beats having to take the bus by a long shot. Roxas almost envied her, then realised that she probably came close to dying, which would really botch up one's day, especially since it was just after her birthday, and she had not gotten a chance to watch the "Scream" box set she had received from her aunt and uncle. Hayner wished he had a cool aunt and uncle like that. The downside to this being that they occasionally forgot they even had a niece, (such an easy thing to do) and ended up spending lots of money on her to make up for that. But hey, cool presents when they remembered. That totally made up for not even getting a card from them for years on end.

Roxas' Aunt Aurora and Uncle Philip tended to send him mecha and anime figurines, so he really could not complain about what he got from them. No, he was truly the one with the "cool" aunt and uncle, as his friends were wont to tell him. Unlike Kari's maiden aunts, Anastasia and Drizella, who sent her the same sweater every year for her birthday and Christmas, with the only difference being the colour. Never mind that Kairi never wore sweaters. Ever. Roxas occasionally wondered how she was able to stay warm during the winter months.