[Voice/Action]

[flickerflash]

[This is a very comfy forest, really.  The sunlight's warm, and Katie curls up near a fallen branch and near faceplants into a patch of new spring flowers and waits for Snow White to maybe come dancing through her dreams, or Bambi, or maybe a couple rebel fighters on an awesome speeder bike chase that she can help with.  Ewoks, even.  Look, it's her dream, okay.   She'll will one of these things into existence if she can manage it.

It takes her a long while to realise she's not actually sleeping, and that's ... a little concerning.  Because to her knowledge she doesn't make a habit of going to sleep anywhere other than her very cozy bed, and she doesn't remember why she'd be out here. 

Sleepwalking.  All the way out here?  Kidnapped.  Her parents aren't rich.  By aliens.  That's a little better, but still kind of worrying.  There's a distinct level of nervous settling over her now because she's entirely alone in the middle of a place she doesn't recognise, and she's just not adventurous enough to want to be out here without any obvious way of getting home.

It's not her fault, is it?   She can't get into trouble if it's not her fault.  (Is today a school day?)

It's when she staggers upright, still yawning, that her foot catches on the edge of something and she thumps back down to earth with a startled sound, turning to glare at whatever she'd touched (why are her feet bare?), and stares at the journal lying in the grass with her name stencilled on the front.  And Katie reaches for it, because if it has her name maybe it has an explanation, and... the sight of it touches off muzzy memories of its own.  Familiar, somehow.

So she opens it.

Oh.  She knows what this is.]

[Voice]

...hello?

Comments

[voice]

[ayu_nee]

Bath? No, I haven't. Where is that?

[voice]

[flickerflash]

It's a bit west of London!

[This is clearly helpful.]

[voice]

[ayu_nee]

I've never met anyone who came from London, either. There aren't a lot of foreigners where I'm from.

[voice]

[flickerflash]

That's okay. I haven't met anyone from Japan, either. Until now!

...do you have ninjas?

[voice]

[ayu_nee]

Oh, well... yes, but they wouldn't admit it openly.

[voice]

[flickerflash]

Really? Are they good guys or bad guys? Do they have clans? Or evil empires?

[ayu_nee]

It would depend on your point of view, I suppose.

But... "evil empires"? What do you mean?

[flickerflash]

Like the Foot Clan! They're a bunch of ninjas that are run by someone who's going to take over the world.

[1980s cartoons have a lot to answer for.]

[ayu_nee]

Oh... my. Well, I don't know of anything quite like that. The entire world would be quite a bit to rule over, wouldn't it?

[flickerflash]

I think he was going to do it with lots of robots.

[ayu_nee]

What are those? Some kind of weapon?

[flickerflash]

Uh huh. They're big and made of metal, and he has whole armies of robots. They kind of explode when you stab them, though.

[ayu_nee]

...oh my.

Well, if there are any ninja clans with exploding metal monsters that are planning to take over the entire world, I've never encountered any.

[flickerflash]

Well, that's probably good, then. [Though she looks a little disappointed. Well, it sounded interesting!] You'd never get anything done if there were robots everywhere.

[ayu_nee]

I would imagine. Especially if they were exploding— who would have to clean up after all that?

[flickerflash]

Oh, you're right! That would make things very messy. Though if they accidentally blew the school up as well, that's not so bad.

[ayu_nee]

Do you not like going to school?

[flickerflash]

I'm a little girl. I don't think we're meant to.

[ayu_nee]

Oh, I see.

Well, I can't imagine that blowing up the school would make things much better. They'd likely just find somewhere else to hold classes.

[flickerflash]

Oh...true.

[She deflates for a second-- and then brightens.] Oh, but having school somewhere else might be fun. Maybe they'd have classes outside.

[ayu_nee]

But then wouldn't you get as tired of having classes outside as you do inside?

[flickerflash]

I don't think I'd ever get tired of being outside. There's always something to see! And sometimes they'd have to stop classes because of rain.

[ayu_nee]

I suppose you have a point. Maybe if you asked they'd hold classes outdoors? I wouldn't suggest trying to do anything to the school building to force the issue, though.

[flickerflash]

O-oh, I wouldn't! [She shakes her head wildly in protest.] I like the Professor too much. But that's a good idea. I bet she wouldn't mind holding a class outside every now and then.

[ayu_nee]

And sometimes there are things you can learn outside that can't be taught in a classroom.