The Caucus Race and a Long Tale (Chelle and Blacksmith)

Stepping into the fray of desolate alley brought Elaine in clear sight of a more timid looking girl than she expected. While this mystery girl offered no real objection, Elaine took the look of tremidation to mean something of guilt for performing the same crime Elaine herself performed. "You don't look like a carnival ghost. Did you sneak in here for enlightenment as well?"

"Oh for God's sake. Can we stop telling everyone about enlightenment. It's great you went to a college campus for something other than a repeat of Kent State, but can we please just get back to doing something remotely-- and the guns are coming out."

"Not guns." Elaine spoke as she rummaged through her drawstring bag to the companion no one could see. "Something better." After a few seconds, Elaine's arm resurfaced from the depths of her bag bearing a statue of a Bhudda and a small pack of incense sticks. "See, if you want to get enlightenment--"

"This will be worth the genocide of brain cells."

"You need to light these sticks on fire, and for some reason they smell funny, I like it, but I'm just better than everyone. " Bearing the markings of a bar in Mexico, Elaine lit the tips of the sticks until a line of smoke began trailing off. "Then, you take them--" With a sudden forceful gesture, Elaine shoved the end of the stick directly into the torso of the Bhudda. "And you stab this fat guy repeatedly."

"Are you trying to gain enlightenment by ascertaining a hate crime hat trick."

"Haha, you said 'ass'." With the force she placed upon the edge of the stick, the shaft splintered. Each barb only gave Elaine enough leeway to make a few jabs before she finally exhausted the supply. "And there you go." Elaine placed the still in tact Bhudda statue down in front of the girl. "After you stab it and it isn't dead, you reflect on 'why isn't it dead'?"

"If that was all it took to gain enlightenment, I assure you the greater population of the world would gain a higher state." He paused. "Or dead. But that seems to be the two options for you."

Staying as motionless as the gargoyles that lurked amongst the crippled water feature Lilia stood with arms clutched to her chest, an instinctive defensive measure when dealing with possible threats. This strange Asian woman had so far presented no such danger, she was simply so strange that the rather naive girl believed her schizophrenic, a trait which has been demonised and exaggerated throughout her young life. Not only did the cowgirl's constant stream of foreign words confuse the ballerina but the very act of procuring the cheery little Buddha statue left the young agent quite bewildered. Her lips formed into a small 'o', her shimmering cerulean eyes flickering in and out of concentration as the curious woman began jabbing the incense sticks into the small ornament. It was a quite a disturbing display watching the jolly statue have its bulbous form shanked without mercy; however Lilia allowed the woman to continue, a bit wary of what may happen if she were to interject.

Eventually she was handed the statue and even though she was left even more confused than when the woman began she allowed a polite, albeit dazed smile. Maybe this woman was a clown or entertainer who used to work here? It was surely a possibility considering the fact that she was wearing such strange attire. Cradling the strange little gift against her stomach the ballerina tentatively took a step to her right, allowing the cover of a rundown popcorn stand to shield her from the harsh wind. Standing all by her lonesome she wandered where her companions had gone. Had Skyler or Eric retrieved this elusive pear shaped object or was it going to be forever lost in this wide and wacky expanse.

Fortunately for the young agent her adoptive mother did appear from behind the cowgirl. Chewing on her lower lip the girl meekly raised the statue and with peculiar little smile she showed Skyler the gift. "I got an early Christmas present...", she lightly giggled, still unsure of what to do with the strange smelling statue. The girl knew that her silvery haired guardian would instantly come to her aid if the strange woman was to attack..although such a thing seemed unlikely considering the fact she as giving away free presents. Time would only tell.

Giving the present pleased the young girl, making Elaine's first diplomatic endeavor somewhat of a success. It may not send in the same manner, but it was better than shooting off the bat. "Remember that time we fought off the hordes of undead in Bangkok?"

"No, because you just made that up."

"Well, I've got a plan." After winning the approval of the young girl, all Elaine just needed to defeat the other woman using some of her cunning and all of her brains. "Spirit Corgi! I choose you!"

"What do you think I am?"

Coming back to the real world, Elaine began to pace in a circular motion around Skyler. "My ghost dog thinks I need to settle this without the aid of his magic, world ending powers. I guess his mighty wisdom is correct, since any kind of violence could disrupt my path to enlightenment." Her hands remained behind her, resting against the bottom of her drawstring bag. Elaine sewed a zipper into the bottom of the bag--Elaine has mad sewing skills-- to make sure she was never more than a few seconds from arming herself. "After the ending all the zombie apocalypses ever, I decided it's actually more cowgirl to not fight people, and that was my first step to enlightenment."

"Whether you realize it or not, everything you just said was a lie."

"So, if you're ready to begin the path to enlightenment, I'll see you there." Elaine unzipped the bottom of her bag and caught the two pistols as they fell into her hands. "That girl will put the statue of Bhudda on her head, and the first person to make the statue fall without actually destroying the statue reaches a step in enlightenment--also, I guess don't shoot the girl."

Standing idly by the rundown stand the rather beautiful young agent stood with arms crossed over her midsection, clutching the little idol as she watched with a perplexed look on her face at the two grown women. It was quick and assured exchanges of words and most of it was lost in translation up until the point where the cowgirl procured her weapons. Never before had such confidence been displayed towards Skyler, not even Franklin Salters would dare brandish his arms against the silvery haired warrior. What on earth was going on? Lilia's mind raced for possible answers, but nothing seemed to make sense. The overwhelming scent of incense was obviously corroding her thought processes and it was only until her 'mother' addressed her did it all begin to make sense.

"So...so it's just a game?", she mumbled, a bit unsure of how to properly react to said situation. Had she of not received the gift such a strange scenario might not have ever occurred, but then again this pistol wielding circus entertainer was obviously a bit 'different' so the sudden introduction to this peculiar game had the ballerina's eyebrows raised. She was however completely immune to the little bits of metal that were going to get slugged at her, they would feel like nothing more than a brush of wind against her skin. "...Okay, I guess I can do it..", she whispered, half smiling as she bowed her head, there was no loss in a little bit of fun. The girl's pale peachy skin immediately took on its more lustrous and enchanting diamond variant, the chubby statue carefully balanced on top of her head whilst she waited for this little game to commence.

No sooner had she placed the ornament above her brow had her mother shot a knife at it, knocking it off the glimmering perch and causing it to shatter at Lilia's feet. A low groan escaped her throat follows by the pouting of her bottom lip, that statue had to be the shortest lasting gift she had ever received...a shame really considering it was from an amusement park. This brief moment of childish disappointment was halted when Skyler quickly swivelled on her heels, midway between Lilia and the cowgirl with weapons raised and ready.

Lilia had no idea why her guardian would of reacted like so, the peculiar Asian woman had presented no threat...as far as Lilia knew.

As the small statue fell to the ground, Elaine let out a condescending laugh. "You suck at enlightenment." Growing more bewildered by Elaine's erratic behavior, the destruction of the gift brought a level of disappointment to the younger girl's face. "It's okay--" Elaine wiped her eyes from the intense laughter overtaking her. "You'll get the hang of it sooner or later." With the statue destroyed, it left Elaine in an odd situation on how she would gain her step with the statue destroyed.

"Well, I feel that just meeting these people should be enlightening enough for us to leave." The dog, not wanting to see how this would escalate, and it would only escalate, urged Elaine to retreat to a safer location. Ignoring his whining, she placed her pistols in her bag, and reached in to grab something to take its place.

Rummaging through her bag to pull out something to take the place of the statue, Elaine pulled out a small, plush corgi. "This will do." Her path to Lilia came under obstruction by the now gun wielding woman, but Elaine merely took a few steps towards her, shadow jumped through her, and placed the stuffed corgi on Lilia's head. Needing a good path for a bullet's proper trajectory, Elaine turned back and jumped through Skyler again. Once she reached a distance of twenty meters, Elaine sharply turned around and unzipped the bottom of her bag.

While the pistols plummeted, Elaine turned immediately to snatch them from the air. Uncanny precision carried the bullet around Skyler and impacted the round thirty feet from Lilia. While she would feel relaxed at the bullet's distance from her, Elaine held a sudden surprise. Flipping the gun the place the grip facing her head gave Elaine the perfect access to detonate the round. Elaine anticipated the explosion doing enough to cause the timid Lilia to duck, causing the toy to fall from her head, and thump onto the ground with the sound of victory. "Enlightenment."

A plush toy corgi was now the new replacement for the oriental idol shattered at the timid agent's feet, a rather adorable gift that the girl was sure to take care of. The game commenced almost immediately after she was handed the toy, the bullet whizzing through the air around her silvery haired guardian and knocking the little doggie off its perch, although unlike its fat predecessor the corgi survived intact. Although the protection of her adorable little gift was the lesser of her concerns, the revelation that this cowgirl did in fact have superhuman gifts sparked both a sense of wonderment and worry within the meek ballerina. A curious ability involving shadows, something that would have otherwise shocked the girl if she had not experienced far stranger things. The plush toy did provide some comfort amidst the howling wind and the light showers of rain that occasionally fell from the grey rumbling ceiling, Skyler had apparently deemed it suitable to invite the cowgirl on their fruitless attempt to find the pear shaped item.

Looking up at her surrogate mother Lilia pursed her peachy lips, gazing upwards with shimmering cerulean eyes."Are you sure she'll be helpful..I think she's a bit crazy..", the young agent whispered in Russian, wiping some dirt off Skyler's neck in the process. "Hopefully uncle Cornelius got the right place..", she mumbled, cocking her head to the side all the while cradling the toy against her form. Giving the cowgirl tentative glances just in case she were to do anything unruly.

"I don't feel any more enlightened. I wonder what went wrong?" While Lilia seemed pleased enough with the stuffed corgi, Elaine gazed over her gun to try as if she tried to find some kind of instructions for enlightenment.

"You fired a bullet with explosives inside-- because let's address that one first: bullets aren't dangerous for you; you need bullets that explode-- and you fired them at an attempt to gain higher understanding? You don't know where any of this went wrong. Not a thing."

"I think it went wrong when I gave you chocolate!"

"Well what do you know, a show of remorse."

"No! No! It's because I don't want you here!"

"Why would you apologize, you amoral sociopath, that would require you being wrong."

"Exactly!"

"Exactly what?"

"Exactly!" Once the argument escalated to the point where even Elaine began to remember no one else could see who see was arguing with, a point of order came over her to restore the situation. "You needed me to help out how?" Placing her guns back into her drawstring bag, slinging it over her shoulder, Elaine proceeded to point her head towards the mother and daughter she met-- and forgot-- only a few minutes ago. "If it's something evil I'm going to beat you up, because evil is dumb and I beat it up. For enlightenment!"

Lilia stood idly by her mother as the rather psychotic female conversed with herself, firing off random bouts of dialogue that further confused the Russian ballerina. She had never come across such a peculiar person and that was saying a lot considering she was friends with an albino rage monster. But her apprehension towards the woman was overwhelmed by her innocent curiosity and by the time Skyler had asked the cowgirl for assistance on their merry quest Lilia gave a warm simper and a nod, a silent encouragement to join the treasure hunt.

"Oh..where is Eric by the way?", she whispered in her native tongue, glancing around in hopes that she would see that elusive young man. Her teeth had naturally found their way clamped onto her lower lip and she had to mentally remind herself not to such a thing, Skyler said it scarred her pretty lips. "Is he around?", she asked, looking up at her silver haired guardian with bright blue eyes, curious as to what happened to the brooding blacksmith.

A gentle draw of the strings summed up her attitude toward the complexity of the situation. "Why is the pear red?"

"Does it matter? I don't see why you pry into the most minuscule details while you in no way have looked into why they are in an abandoned theme park, oh..." His voice raised to garner her attention. "and armed!"

"Is it something to do with the weather? Because it's too hot in this state." And humid.

"It's not the heat; it's the humidity that will kill you. Also, following people blindly into unfamiliar places looking for 'special' items."

"I think we should all split up. It's safer that way."

"Said no one. Ever."

"Do you have a better idea?" A dire gaze dropped down to her incorporeal companion in question.

"Many. First of all..."

"They're not good if no one is listening, and I'm the only one who can hear you and I don't care!" Taking her victory in stride with her talent, Elaine refocused on the situation. "Don't worry about being able to see in the dark either, evil is dumb, and dumb things are afraid of the dark, so evil can't see in the dark."

"Aren't you afraid of the dark?"

Removing her bag from her back, Elaine dug to find something. "Aren't you afraid of loud noises?"

"Why would that..."

A gun shot rang out in the air, because Elaine thought it needed to get louder in order for it get more quiet. It probably did. "So with that, we'll all start looking for this pear. Also, the pear is red. And Special." Elaine informed them of the parameters as though she knew and they didn't. "Anyone else have anything to say before we head into the dark to look for it?"

"Everyone hates you."

"No. Well then let's go get it." And Elaine began her movement towards an abandoned roller coaster station.

Time had passed, and with searching and such taking up most of their time, the night came faster than expected. Skyler had found the Pear, though, and a few others that looked just like it. She would have to get back to uncle Cornelius and let him authenticate the items. Most of them just looked like junk, though. Sighing, she shook her head and rendezvoused back with Elaine and Lilia. "Well.. it seems we found a few pear shaped, red items.. It's late now, and tomorrow is a big day.." she sighed and looked to Lilia with a tired smile. "We have a real amusement park to go to.." she spoke in Russian, and flashed a warm smile. A helicopter had come, and lifted Blacksmith out of the area, leaving the women stranded. Shaking her head, she made a quick call, explaining it to Uncle Corn.

After she had gotten off of the phone, she looked to Elaine. "It was nice.. meeting you. Maybe we'll run into each other again. For now, good luck." she said, offering a lazy salute before stepping off with Lilia to wait near the entrance for Uncle Corn to arrive.

Soon the auburn ribbons of the late afternoon danced into the moody heavens above, the remnants of the passing storm drenching the corroded park like a wet rag. Birds chirped their final song, the melodic lullabies signalling the dawn of night, the end of their search. The three women, strangely beautiful in the ancient amusement park, had traversed its rusted steel and moulded timber labyrinth in the seemingly vain task of finding the elusive red pear. Whilst the drudgery of searching for such a strange item wore the young russian down she did admittedly have quite a fun time exploring every hidden gem that the pasty blue and red theme park offered. Fate seemed to draw the search into the dwindling midst of day and it was only until the shrill beep of a distant car horn did the makeshift search party eventually find Cornelius' 'magical pear'. Buried amongst the wilting corpses of old stuffed toys and cheap throwaway items was the crimson object, a warm radiance leaking off it's glimmering skin.

The somewhat awkward farewell with the curious, albeit humorous cowgirl forced a pouty Lilia to give her a brief hug, not exactly caring if the woman wanted one or not. Ignoring the fact that said cowgirl probably didn't understand Russian Lilia gave her a meek smile and a polite "See you later" before treading out of the theme park with a dainty arm linked around her mother's. The day had been long, exhausting and eye-opening for the young agent...allowing the girl to experience the Brave new world even further.

"Today was fun", was all the petite girl could chirp before leaning into Skyler's embrace, no sooner had the car arrived for their departure did she fall into a deep slumber against her guardian's form. Life had only just beckoned a day worth remembering for the scarred ballerina, her destiny shining a little bit more brightly.



(Corn's POV)

Receiving the call was an admittedly difficult task for the spritely old man, having lost his beeping buzzard of a gizmo in the dazzling labyrinth of books in the Caster library, it was only until after the third missed call did Cornelius locate his beeping phone. Answering the cry of the rather standard ringtone, the benevolent bearded bookkeeper's jolly timbre resounded across the old library as he answered the call of his recently discovered grand-niece. Inquiring their health and wether they had encountered any trouble the old magician was considerably relieved when there was no report of danger from the amusement park, one which had closed down several years ago. Fumbling his luscious facial locks, the witty wizard found it especially disheartening that Lilia only experienced a hollow shell of what a real them park could offer and the instance it was mentioned he promised the duo a trip to grandest place on earth, 'Google' had told him it was Disneyland. This news was well received by Skyler and a noticeably drowsy Lilia and the spritely fellow thought it best to organise said outing later on, when the young Russian regained her strength.

My dear, this item is of incredible worth and importance to society as whole...I hope you know how thankful I am for the help you sacrificed today, who would've thought? An amusement park?! HAH! Oh Amélie begged to go...but who knows what mischief that little devil would've gotten up to!"", he chuckled, a big grin creeping against the silvery bushel of hair that encased his thin smiling lips. The drive back to Skyler's residence was peaceful and relatively entertaining, the two Caster's speaking in hushed voices as their beautiful young companion slept. "Tell Lilia that I am exceedingly grateful for her help...I shall visit later on in the week, bring her a little thank you gift for her hard work.." Cornelius gently smiled, innocence clung tightly to the sleeping beauty and he knew that she deserved the finest gifts on this earth had to offer. A brave girl she was, a hero for the downtrodden.

Tragedy and adventure unfolded in the search for the pear. The darkness parted in the illumination of Elaine's blinding judgement. While extending the search for the pear Elaine dispatched a vampire, two onis, and a demon-who-shall-not-be-named-- but no one could see, because they were looking somewhere else.

The tiny ballerina gave Elaine a hug. The bigger woman, who failed enlightenment because enlightment isn't about shooting something, it's about shooting everything around it and letting it happen, walked on with her life, leaving the shaman and the spirit behind.

"Well that was anticlimactic."

"We had so much development to do with so much unfinished plot."

"Forget it. We'll do our own plot. With blackjack and hookers. You know what forget the plot."

"At least you finally finished an adventure. How long's it been since you could say that?"

"Umm, did we ever go to Mexico?"

"Yes. That happened and no one can forget."

"It gets a little hazy sometimes."

"I guess the wake of tragedy behind you can't be seen through--"

"I guess I'm just better than everyone."

"Well there's a thought we can put a pin in."

"Do you think people will call me egotistical for just being better than everyone?"

"Probably."

"Are they projecting?"

"Most likely."

"You know, I think I made a mistake when I shot at that girl to get enlightenment."

"I'm glad you came to realize--"

"If I had shot her it wouldn't of broken."