The Characterisation of Annabelle le Roux

Chapter Fourteen: Support

Phoenix's funeral occurred on a sunless day. Everybody wore their dullest clothes and Annabelle straightened her hair to fit the lifeless occasion. Guards with guns patrolled the streets, they were nominally there as peacekeepers, but they were watching the crowds for the smallest infraction to start a fight.

Among the crowds was the pixie like girl Veronique, side by side with Ferne' brave. She waited until the mound of earth covered Phoenix's grave like a brown dome. She waited until the well-wishers started to disperse and then she gathered up her bravery and went to Annabelle.

"I can help you" she said "We all want to help you. At my school I started a club"

"A club? What sort of club" asked Annabelle.

"It's a little bit embarrassing, but it's a "I love Annabelle le Roux Club" said Veronique "Hey maybe you know Ferne'?" she abruptly continued.

"Ferne'?" said Annabelle and she scrunched up her eyes "Sounds familiar – yes that's right – Ferne' Brave. I think that Phoenix spoke about him once or twice. He was the one who took me to the hospital when Phoenix died and he gave one of the speeches at the funeral .He compared Phoenix to Arthur. He made some good points. Didn't realise that the lines of the Arthur legend had been given numbers for easy reference.

"Useful really" interrupted Veronique "But that boy studies too much. You can always spot him in a crowd, either his head is in a book or he is busy doing pull-ups. Can't decide if he is a nerd or a jock, but one thing that he never does is laze around. He has too many goals for that."

"Why do you want to talk to me about him?" asked Annabelle.

"I don't know if you know but he was head boy the year after you left school." Said Veronique "He runs a bit of an illegal club where we would study Mamlish law"

"Why would he do that, that doesn't seem very fun" answered Annabelle.

"We don't do it for fun" said Veronique "We do it because we hate the Mamlish"

"Okay" said Annabelle taking a step back.

"And we want to help you" said Veronique.

"You want to help me" said Annabelle visible confused. "Help me with what"

"Haven't you noticed that you are now strong, and you can easily beat the burly guards in an arm to arm wrestling match. We want to help you take on the Mamlish and the Lesser Lord George."

"Why do you think I will be of any use. I didn't even know what the potion was when I saw it next to Phoenix's bed, so I am afraid I drank it all. There is none left, not even a single drop. And I don't know where Phoenix got it from."

'We don't need to be super strong to help you" said Veronique "At least that is what Ferne' says"

"Go on" said Annabelle.

"For instance, we can distract the burly guards when you are on a mission." Annabelle raised her eyebrows at the word mission, but she let Veronique continue speaking. "I know that you can easily handle three of them at once, because I have seen it, but can you handle four, how about five, if there are three of us on a mission you will never need to find out."

"I wouldn't want to put anybody in danger. Stay away from the burly guards!" said Annabelle loudly. "Besides many of them are not bad guys. Times are hard, sometimes people have to drop their moral standards to earn a little bit on the side"

"We can help you find information" said Veronique "For instance, we can find out how Phoenix got that potion. Perhaps we will be able to get more of it."

Annabelle nodded her head. An island full of super strong individuals, perhaps they can rule the world and become the new Mamlish. "Sounds intriguing, tell me more about yourself.

"I'm Veronique and I have been elected spokesperson for the children's army."

"Tell me where the potion came from and I'll figure out the ways in which you can help me fight the Mamlish"

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James enjoyed the support of those closest to him. They always read and spoke about this work. Sometimes when he spoke to other creators he got the feeling that they worked in a vacuum pushing on into the silence.

He of course imagined a bigger world with his real audience in it. These were sophisticated people who enjoyed all the subtleties of the point that he was trying to make and were not crude enough to come up to him in person and make conversation about it.

"I see the point that you were trying to make about patience in your last book" one of Alicia's friends Catherine said to him..

'What?" said James, he had been quietly reading in the living room and was shocked to be addressed without Alicia around.

"You were saying that sometimes patience is worthless, worse than worthless, you should just go out into the world and make things happen."

"You are talking about my book about Alex and the dragon?" said James trying to orient himself.

"But you are one to talk, because all you do is laze around all day. Alicia came into the room and immediately Catherine and she started talking and laughing about something that they had seen on the internet together. While James was left to ponder the transparency of his own meaning.

Many years later James contrasted this experience with the reality of having Zilby on the air. On his drive to work, he saw the shining faces of all his characters. There was Annabelle, there was the Lesser Lord George, there was Ferne'. Executives handed out cocktails, radio presenters spoke about it between songs. He suddenly felt as if they were all Catherine. All of them being so crude as to understand the meaning. It left him exposed.

A/N: Hey - Could you do me a favour and answer the following questions (if you you want to)

What genre do you think this is? What tags would you use for this story? Do you think that tags help at all?