Tangerine 15 - Guided Tour with Gummy Bunnies
Author: Tatra
Challenge: Tangerine 15 - Guided Tour
Topping: Gummy Bunnies (Wriye DW Prompt 2)
Word Count: 1,510
Rating: PG-13
Story: Metawin
Summary: Queenie's second day in Metawin starts off with a bang.
Queenie didn’t realize what was wrong until she stepped out of her house to wait for her promised companions. Her room was still in shambles, as was the rest of the house, but she was used to living out of boxes. Metawin High also had uniforms, which made getting ready for the day easy enough. She still took her time to pick out her accessories. They had to be just perfect and something that would grab everyone’s attention.
She pulled out her cell phone as she stepped outside of her front door, fired off a quick message to James to make sure that he didn’t forget. The sun glared into her eyes and she held her hand up like a sun visor and looked up at the palm trees that stood against the orange sky. “What the hell?”
Turning and looking at the sky at a different angle did nothing to change the color of the sky. She had heard that the color of the sky was subjective to individual's perspective, but it had been the normal blue yesterday.
“We had hoped to get here before you came out,” James said. He strolled up to her, looking about as strange as the sky above her. Still a t-shirt and worn jeans, but over that he had on a strange robe that was unbuttoned and went down to his shoes. His hair was the truly odd part, a bright pink styled into spikes.
“You look like a porcupine,” Queenie blurted out. “Halloween's still half a year away.”
“It’s just how I look in this shift,” James said. He spread his arms out and twirled around, his robe flying out behind him. “You don’t like it?”
“What is going on here?” Queenie asked. She was almost reluctant to look over at Merit. Could he have changed away from his gorgeous looks like James?
Merit looked just the same as yesterday, with his conservative black and white clothes. Except, instead of a jacket, he wore the same kind of robe as James. Even Sloan was wearing the horrid robes and acting like they weren’t a bad fashion choice.
“You look fairly normal even after the shift,” James commented, sounding fairly disappointed. He looked Queenie over, evaluating her the same way that she had done with him. “I was hoping for some horns or a tail or something like that.”
Queenie scowled and crossed her arms. Had she really been that transparent? “Would you please explain what is going on? What is this shift that you're talking about?”
“Your parents didn't explain it to you?” Merit asked. His voice was soft and inquisitive.
She shook her head. “They didn't say anything.”
“Pearl thought that might be the case. It’s rather hard to explain, Sloan?” Merit turned to her.
“You really should ask your parents for a better explanation, but essentially the town of Metawin isn't like ordinary towns.” Sloan pushed a strand of her even brighter red hair behind her ear. “Not many people talk about it, but the government does special tests here. There’re so many stories about how this came about, but either something went wrong or they meant for this to happen. But, the world around us changes every day.”
“Is that what happened to the sun?” Queenie asked. The world still looked like she was wearing orange tinged glasses.
“No one knows why, but that’s just how the shield seems to work when it runs with magic,” James said.
“Did you really just say magic?” Queenie put her hand on her hip. “It’s really not fair to ramble on at me in a drug induce haze without letting me in on it.”
“No drugs, no lie,” Merit said. “As strange as it is to believe, a third of the time in this town things like magic exist. In fact, that’s what we’re being taught in school today.”
“You’re kidding.” A dragon swooped over head, momentarily blocking out the glare from the sun. Queenie stared at the large flying lizard until it disappeared behind a house. “Oh my god.”
“Welcome to Metawin,” James said. His grin was almost brighter than his hair. “You ain't seen nothing yet. Come on, we’ll show you around.”
Queenie glanced back up at the sky. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Don't worry. The dragons aren't interested in us.” Sloan sighed, sounding wistful.
“It’s the griffons you need to look out for,” James said. “Those things can get nasty and have the unfortunate side effect of truthfulness. Not a fun thing when you’re trying to flirt with someone.”
“Thankfully there’s no flirting going on here," Queenie said. She took a deep breath and let it out. Just like any other new town, ignore all of the oddities and focus on fitting in. She could do this. “Let’s get going, then, before we’re late for school.”
“We’ll give you a guided tour,” James said. He led the way down the street, which looked pretty much the same as it had the day before.
Besides the dragon and the orange sky, there wasn’t anything magical about the street she was on. The next block turned onto the main street, which had transformed overnight.
When her father had first driven her through the town, it looked like any of the ordinary small town main streets. Most of the businesses ran down in a line: Mom and Pop stores mixed together with chain stores. The tidy street now bustled with an open air market place that blocked the street off.
Then again, she hadn’t noticed any cars on her street as they walked down it. “What happened to the cars? Do people use the dragons instead?” she asked.
James burst into laughing and then waved his hands. “Sorry. I’ve always wanted to try riding the dragons, but no one ever lets me try.”
“That’s because they’ll probably end up eating you,” Sloan said. She turned to Queenie. “The dragons ignore us and we ignore the dragons for the most part. Unfortunately we’re stuck walking everywhere.”
“Luckily, there’s not much to walk to,” Merit said. He swirled his finger around. “This really isn't a big town and you can walk through it in a day. We only have to go to school and back.”
“How can you accept this as normal?” Queenie asked. She came to a stop and pointed at a griffon. “That is definitely not something you see every day.”
“Every other day,” James said. He gently tugged her arm doing. “It’s best not to point at those things. They tend to take it personally, I’ve found.”
“You were also laughing in its face,” Merit said.
Queenie folded her arm and tapped her foot on the pavement. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to point at a creature that obviously shouldn't be there and she wouldn't know how it would react, but she still wanted an answer to her question. “Why aren't you guys more freaked than you are?”
“We just got used to it,” Merit said. He ran a hand through his hair. “It took us a while to accept what had happened to the town, but after such a long time, there was no choice but to just accept it.”
“You just gotta roll with it,” James said. His eyes were lit up with excitement. “The whole thing is completely awesome, too. I mean, how many times have you ever wished that you could use magic?”
“Never,” Queenie said, cutting that line short.
“Not even to make yourself prettier?” Sloan asked. There was a bit of snide hidden within Sloan’s tone and a challenging look in her eyes.
Queenie refused to let it bother her, simply raising her eyebrow. “I’ve been able to do all of this without magic and I’ve found that I’m pretty enough, thank you.” She turned back to the griffon, narrowing her eyes at it. “Magic. And we’re actually going to learn it in class?”
“Of course," James said. He started bouncing forward again. “It’s more of a lab class, but I’m sure that you’ll catch up on everything pretty easily.”
“I’m sure that I will,” Queenie said. “Do I have to wear the robes, though?”
“The robes are imbued with protective magic," Merit said. “They’re kind of like safety goggles or lab coats. That way you can do magic and not worry about doing harm to yourself.”
“If only they looked more stylish.” If she had to, she would wear it, but she would prefer not to. At least everyone else was going to be wearing the same thing, so it wasn't like it would be completely horrible. And, while it clashed with her wardrobe, at least it didn't mess up her hair.
“You’ll get over it,” Sloan said. She sounded completely unconcerned about fashion. Of course, the black robes totally went with her punk rocker look.
An alarm started wailing, as though a fire had broken out. Queenie wouldn’t have reacted, except that the three that she was with suddenly froze.
James grabbed her arm and started running, dragging her along. “Run!”
Challenge: Tangerine 15 - Guided Tour
Topping: Gummy Bunnies (Wriye DW Prompt 2)
Word Count: 1,510
Rating: PG-13
Story: Metawin
Summary: Queenie's second day in Metawin starts off with a bang.
Queenie didn’t realize what was wrong until she stepped out of her house to wait for her promised companions. Her room was still in shambles, as was the rest of the house, but she was used to living out of boxes. Metawin High also had uniforms, which made getting ready for the day easy enough. She still took her time to pick out her accessories. They had to be just perfect and something that would grab everyone’s attention.
She pulled out her cell phone as she stepped outside of her front door, fired off a quick message to James to make sure that he didn’t forget. The sun glared into her eyes and she held her hand up like a sun visor and looked up at the palm trees that stood against the orange sky. “What the hell?”
Turning and looking at the sky at a different angle did nothing to change the color of the sky. She had heard that the color of the sky was subjective to individual's perspective, but it had been the normal blue yesterday.
“We had hoped to get here before you came out,” James said. He strolled up to her, looking about as strange as the sky above her. Still a t-shirt and worn jeans, but over that he had on a strange robe that was unbuttoned and went down to his shoes. His hair was the truly odd part, a bright pink styled into spikes.
“You look like a porcupine,” Queenie blurted out. “Halloween's still half a year away.”
“It’s just how I look in this shift,” James said. He spread his arms out and twirled around, his robe flying out behind him. “You don’t like it?”
“What is going on here?” Queenie asked. She was almost reluctant to look over at Merit. Could he have changed away from his gorgeous looks like James?
Merit looked just the same as yesterday, with his conservative black and white clothes. Except, instead of a jacket, he wore the same kind of robe as James. Even Sloan was wearing the horrid robes and acting like they weren’t a bad fashion choice.
“You look fairly normal even after the shift,” James commented, sounding fairly disappointed. He looked Queenie over, evaluating her the same way that she had done with him. “I was hoping for some horns or a tail or something like that.”
Queenie scowled and crossed her arms. Had she really been that transparent? “Would you please explain what is going on? What is this shift that you're talking about?”
“Your parents didn't explain it to you?” Merit asked. His voice was soft and inquisitive.
She shook her head. “They didn't say anything.”
“Pearl thought that might be the case. It’s rather hard to explain, Sloan?” Merit turned to her.
“You really should ask your parents for a better explanation, but essentially the town of Metawin isn't like ordinary towns.” Sloan pushed a strand of her even brighter red hair behind her ear. “Not many people talk about it, but the government does special tests here. There’re so many stories about how this came about, but either something went wrong or they meant for this to happen. But, the world around us changes every day.”
“Is that what happened to the sun?” Queenie asked. The world still looked like she was wearing orange tinged glasses.
“No one knows why, but that’s just how the shield seems to work when it runs with magic,” James said.
“Did you really just say magic?” Queenie put her hand on her hip. “It’s really not fair to ramble on at me in a drug induce haze without letting me in on it.”
“No drugs, no lie,” Merit said. “As strange as it is to believe, a third of the time in this town things like magic exist. In fact, that’s what we’re being taught in school today.”
“You’re kidding.” A dragon swooped over head, momentarily blocking out the glare from the sun. Queenie stared at the large flying lizard until it disappeared behind a house. “Oh my god.”
“Welcome to Metawin,” James said. His grin was almost brighter than his hair. “You ain't seen nothing yet. Come on, we’ll show you around.”
Queenie glanced back up at the sky. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Don't worry. The dragons aren't interested in us.” Sloan sighed, sounding wistful.
“It’s the griffons you need to look out for,” James said. “Those things can get nasty and have the unfortunate side effect of truthfulness. Not a fun thing when you’re trying to flirt with someone.”
“Thankfully there’s no flirting going on here," Queenie said. She took a deep breath and let it out. Just like any other new town, ignore all of the oddities and focus on fitting in. She could do this. “Let’s get going, then, before we’re late for school.”
“We’ll give you a guided tour,” James said. He led the way down the street, which looked pretty much the same as it had the day before.
Besides the dragon and the orange sky, there wasn’t anything magical about the street she was on. The next block turned onto the main street, which had transformed overnight.
When her father had first driven her through the town, it looked like any of the ordinary small town main streets. Most of the businesses ran down in a line: Mom and Pop stores mixed together with chain stores. The tidy street now bustled with an open air market place that blocked the street off.
Then again, she hadn’t noticed any cars on her street as they walked down it. “What happened to the cars? Do people use the dragons instead?” she asked.
James burst into laughing and then waved his hands. “Sorry. I’ve always wanted to try riding the dragons, but no one ever lets me try.”
“That’s because they’ll probably end up eating you,” Sloan said. She turned to Queenie. “The dragons ignore us and we ignore the dragons for the most part. Unfortunately we’re stuck walking everywhere.”
“Luckily, there’s not much to walk to,” Merit said. He swirled his finger around. “This really isn't a big town and you can walk through it in a day. We only have to go to school and back.”
“How can you accept this as normal?” Queenie asked. She came to a stop and pointed at a griffon. “That is definitely not something you see every day.”
“Every other day,” James said. He gently tugged her arm doing. “It’s best not to point at those things. They tend to take it personally, I’ve found.”
“You were also laughing in its face,” Merit said.
Queenie folded her arm and tapped her foot on the pavement. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to point at a creature that obviously shouldn't be there and she wouldn't know how it would react, but she still wanted an answer to her question. “Why aren't you guys more freaked than you are?”
“We just got used to it,” Merit said. He ran a hand through his hair. “It took us a while to accept what had happened to the town, but after such a long time, there was no choice but to just accept it.”
“You just gotta roll with it,” James said. His eyes were lit up with excitement. “The whole thing is completely awesome, too. I mean, how many times have you ever wished that you could use magic?”
“Never,” Queenie said, cutting that line short.
“Not even to make yourself prettier?” Sloan asked. There was a bit of snide hidden within Sloan’s tone and a challenging look in her eyes.
Queenie refused to let it bother her, simply raising her eyebrow. “I’ve been able to do all of this without magic and I’ve found that I’m pretty enough, thank you.” She turned back to the griffon, narrowing her eyes at it. “Magic. And we’re actually going to learn it in class?”
“Of course," James said. He started bouncing forward again. “It’s more of a lab class, but I’m sure that you’ll catch up on everything pretty easily.”
“I’m sure that I will,” Queenie said. “Do I have to wear the robes, though?”
“The robes are imbued with protective magic," Merit said. “They’re kind of like safety goggles or lab coats. That way you can do magic and not worry about doing harm to yourself.”
“If only they looked more stylish.” If she had to, she would wear it, but she would prefer not to. At least everyone else was going to be wearing the same thing, so it wasn't like it would be completely horrible. And, while it clashed with her wardrobe, at least it didn't mess up her hair.
“You’ll get over it,” Sloan said. She sounded completely unconcerned about fashion. Of course, the black robes totally went with her punk rocker look.
An alarm started wailing, as though a fire had broken out. Queenie wouldn’t have reacted, except that the three that she was with suddenly froze.
James grabbed her arm and started running, dragging her along. “Run!”