A Brilliant Scheme

[Faith]

A small blonde girl sat underneathe a tree near the edge of the North Woods. Next to her was a large painted sign that said "Northern Wood Tours, 2 Rabbits Each". She would have charged about 10 normally, but with so many 0 stars and new students it would be hard to charge that for at least a few weeks yet. Her green eyes sparkled a little in the bright morning light as she waited for new students to allow their curiousity to get the better of them.

Faith was a bit of an entreupeneur, she loved making money almost as much as she loved making new inventions. Her latest invention - the Turtle Cart - sit next to her. Its capacity was only for 3 people, however it had the clever ability to quickly shoot up a cover to protect all inside from nearly any outside experiences, making it perfect for any sort of menace they might find within the North Woods.

[Autumn Madison]

“Northern Wood Tours, 2 Rabbits Each” read Autumn as she strolled past the ominous trees of Northern Wood. Her feet rooted themselves before her mind could decide on what action to take. Curiosity prodded her to toss a few Rabbits and get familiar with the grounds, but her obligation with Endrin that she had agreed to after classes urged her to continue on and save the Rabbits for a later use.

“Oh…but,” Autumn whispered to herself, torn between the two options with a hopeless gaze. Leaning down, she let her fingers snake into the side of her shoe, oddly enough in search of Rabbits (she decided it’d be the best place to hide them). “Well…there you have it…I don’t have Rabbits on me…guess I can’t go.” She smiled, and nodded surely, though the sigh that followed betrayed some sadness. “Well…maybe that girl over there will take an I.O.U?”

For a good two minutes Autumn fought with herself, searched for paper and pen, fought some more, then gave in. Approaching Faith she put on a smile of friendliness and of embarrassment. “Hi, uhm, I’d like to take the tour, but all my Rabbits are in the bank. You wouldn’t happen to take I.O.U’s would you? I promise I’ll pay up today, tomorrow latest!”

[Faith]

Faith looked up at the girl with a blank gaze. Pulling out a fairly longer than normal piece of paper she stood and held it out with a pen in front of Autumn. "Sign at the bottom... I take an extra Rabbit interest every day after it is not paid." It was difficult to tell if she was kidding or not, it was somewhat of an absurd idea however her face said that she certainly was serious. Then again, Faith always looked like that. Autumn did not know that, though.

Waiting for the girl to take the contract and pen she walked over to her sign and placed another on it reading "Back in 45 minutes, Please Wait for Turtle Cart" It was true one could probably make the trip in about 20 minutes if they knew the way. However, it WAS a turtle cart and not some sort of cheetah vehicle. And rightfully so. No one wants to pay for a tour when they do not have any time to see the surroundings.

[Autumn Madison]

Autumn took the offered pen and paper in a silent agreement, managing a small smile that faltered as she began to contemplate whether to laugh at the “1 Rabbit interest per day” or remember it later tonight. Finishing off the cursive “n” in “Madison”, she offered the pen and paper back to Faith with a word of thanks. “I appreciate this, thank you. My name is Autumn, it’s nice to meet you. Not to seem rude or anything, but aren’t you a first year here at Alice Academy like me? You don’t look to be one of the middle school students. Do you really know these woods?”

[Faith]

Faith hopped into her trusty Turtle Cart, driving it over to Autumn. She looked over the paperwork to make sure everything was in order, and when she had determined it was she folded it neatly and put it into the glove compartment. She motioned for Autumn to get into one of the two back seats that both faced diagnolly inward towards the drivers seat at the front.

"Faith Reagis, grade 1A." She informed the other girl. "I was here in the kindergarten program, my parents allowed me to attend since I was eight." The blonde girl spoke matter of factly, though she didn't seem uppity or act like she was better than the other girl. "Built the Turtle Cart last year, have been giving tours to new students since then." She was quite familiar with the workings of the North Woods, and made the perfect (if not only a tad boring) tour guide for the incoming freshman. Middle schoolers who were small enough to fit into the turtle cart still liked to try and take tours when they had time.

[eddie]

{ EDIT sorry, i pressed the shortcut by accident }

Eddie was running along the open expanse of fields, he was running for no particular reason than he loved to do it. He had spotted a nearby foresty area so had decided to run mainly to them. His eyes caught site of a small sign, but before he knew what was happening he had tripped over it, tumbled for a few metres and landed at the back of what seemed to be a giant turtle...but from his stunned perspective it did not count for much.

Eddie stood up dusting off his, plain black longsleeve shirt, making sure none of his 'markings' were showing. He was still rather, shy about them. He cleaned his white cargo pants and walked around the side of the cart. Glancing back at the sign he noticed what it said, "Northern Wood Tours, 2 Rabbits Each", hmm seems like fun Eddie thought to himself as he walked up to the one whom seemed to be running the show. A small blonde girl was there, and by her size she seemed to be a first year as well.

In a nice voice he spoke up "Hi I am Eddie Xhosa...Just call me Xhosa, I am wondering is it you I pay for the Woods tour...it seems like funny". He put his hands in his pockets and pulled out hsi wallet with his left hand. A slightly awkward smile on his face at the time being.

[Faith]

Faith nodded towards Eddie. "Please place the rabbits in the slot on the seat arm." Standing up in the front of the cart she motioned for him to get in and started her in-drive tutorial. "Please keep all arms legs and other appendages inside the Turtle at all times, while constantly wearing your safety belt-" There were two large bright yellow harness-seat belts that went over your head and up between the legs to secure you safely in the cart. "Also note the two exits on each side of the cart." She said pointing to the east and west wall of the cart, which was odd as there were no doors since all sides of the car were only about two and a half feet tall and the cart was extremely low to the ground.

Sitting back down Faith put her little key into the cart and turned it on, though it was idle. "My name is Faith and I'll be your tourguide this afternoon. We'll start with the front section where many imaginary animals reside such as the Googlybrush and the Shmastic."

[Autumn Madison]

Autumn climbed into the Turtle Cart as instructed, buckled up and examined the unique contraption with silent praise. If Faith didn’t have an Alice, Autumn would have never believed that she invented such an inventive, efficient device. But then…knowing Alices existed at all blew what Autumn was sure of out of the window. Anything was possible at Alice Academy…anything.

Recognizing Xhosa as he contributed his two Rabbits, Autumn extended a polite wave in greeting, not wishing to speak up and interrupt Faith. She was ready to venture into the much gossiped about Northern Wood. What really lay inside of it’s mysterious shroud?

[Faith]

((OOC: Not waiting for Xhosa any longer... he can jump back in when he gets back))

Faith and the Turtle started off on their little journey into the most mysteriously mysterious of all mysteries in the Alice campus... the Northern Woods <insert spooky music here>. It all seemed normal in the beginning, tall trees were everywhere and sort of hid the sun from their sight. It was afternoon though the canopy of leaves would make one venture to guess about four o'clock at night by the shades of light hitting the three adventurous elementary schoolers. They were not moving too fast... which was perfect for a tour. A large bush passed on the right, almost close enough to touch. However as you got much closer to it large pointed spikes shot out of it like a sort of flail minus the chain. There were many types of leaves and blossoms everywhere though, making the adventure all the more thrilling. Types of foiliage that had never been seen before were scattered about everywhere, and probably only could be seen at Alice Academy.

"Up ahead" Faith said after a few minutes into their travels. "On our left you'll notice the Shmastic I was speaking of earlier... be careful not to touch as they do not look threatening but can be quite dangerous if provoked." As she said this there appeared from the a branch a sort of plush-looking snake with round beady green eyes and yellow shiny skin. It's forked tongue simply lolled out of it's mouth and it was more comical than frightening in any sense.