The Search for Scientific Principles

[Marigold Gamgee]

Mari stared at Tiana. "She seems to think she dropped out of the ceiling," she whispered to Lëo, who was standing nearby. "D'ye think we should break it to her that we're on a street corner?"

"Nah," Lëo whispered back. "She seems perfectly happy in her garlic-like state....."

"Of Idaho!" Mari finished, and grinned. Lëo groaned at the bad joke. Mari mumbled something about taters.

Everyone was getting really, really fidgety. Mip started strumming violently at her guitar again, and Mari was reminded of something she couldn't quite place, and seemed to have to do with breakfast. All we have to do is wait for Ara, Firi, Elbie..... she counted the members they still needed, and groaned. They had better get there fast. Now was preferable.

Mari was tempted to start bouncing, but refrained from doing so. She had to put a lot of effort into it, but she did. Ara, at least, had said she'd be here. Mari hoped fervently she'd come soon. In order to while away the time, she took her journal out of her backpack. Seeing as she hadn't had it in there earlier, it must have materialized out of thick air. She wrote about the gathering of questers, and how she hoped Ara and Firi would come soon. She also recorded her extreme desire for shortbread, which she had forgotten to pack.

At that moment Lëo came up to her and offered her some short bread. Needless to say, Mari was rather disturbed by this, but she was also very grateful, and accepted it with thanks. She wondered if there was anything special about the fact that her wish had been granted after she had recorded it in her journal... but shrugged off the thought. She doubted that anyone would discover their scientific principle before they set out, except of course Mip, who already had. But that was Mip. Mip apparently defied all laws of reason, nature, and gravity. Especially gravity.

And so Mari pondered, and pondered some more, and waited.......

[Eowyn Skywalker]

Tiana looked around, whispering something about 'precious garlics' and 'conspiracies' when something hit her. "How did I drop from the roof when there is no roof to drop from? THERE IS NO ROOF!!!! Argh, why does everything always work against me? There is no sp oon, no roof, no nothin'. WHY IS THERE NOTHING WHEN I NEED IT AS A PLOT DEVICE?!?!?!?!?"

She finished screaming, and finished up with something about conspiracies in Ewok. Then she suceeded in floating back up to the nonexistant roof, and bumped her head. "It was inevitable," she muttered. "Inevitable, inevitable... nothing is inevitable, so why am I even saying this?"

<(^^)>KAVAAM<(^^)>

She fell back down from the nonexistant roof, and seemingly, turned purple as well. "I will get you, master," she muttered. "Stupid Jedi!"

After taking out her frusteration on a medal pole of doom, she finally gave up, and ate garlic flavored warheads instead, out of boredum. When Tiana realized that Anakin had put arcenic in them, however, she gagged, choaked, and threw them as far away as possible. "Coughconspiracycough."

She then fidgeted with her medal pole because she was bored, and conspired against Luke Skywalker, but because it was pointless, and she needed something to do anyhow. #nosmileys

[Firondoiel]

Firi came bouncing up the road to the Bed and Breakfast where her friends sat in the grass looking really bored. “Hallo!” she called. The group looked up at the newcomer. “Firi!” cried Keld. “At last you’ve come!”

“Of course, I’ve come. I heard of your mission….quest…thing, and have come to join you! You can’t go without a Firi you know.” She replied as she settled herself onto the ground. “Tea anyone?” Firi asked rolling a tablecloth out with teacups and teapot on it. Steam escaped from the pot when Leo curiously lifted it. “Oh, good! Still hot.” Said Firi, “I was worried it would be cold by now.” She began pouring cups for everyone. “So, where are we going? “

[Amarië]

Amarië took a cup o' tea. She sniffed it, and then set it slowly back down onto the ground. 'Smells like almonds,' she began calmly. She picked it back up and sipped it.

'It’s poisoned, isn't it?!' Amarië yelled.

'Of course not!' Firi protested.

'Yes, it is! It has a faint taste of almonds!' Amarië continued arguing.

'Its almond flavoured!' Firi kept protesting.

'Ah, of course,' Amarië said, slowly setting down the cup, 'I forgot, I'm the one that poisons the tea. Or am I not the only one?'

Amarië raised an eyebrow, glancing to those around her. She picked up her tea and slowly inched towards what seemed to be the circle. More inching.

More inching.
Yet more inching.
I'm running out of ways to say Amarië is inching closer into the circle.
Amarië is now in the middle of the circle.

Amarië snickered and gasped rancantdomly. Sipping her tea, she suddenly fell over.

'I'm okay, really,' Amarië said, still on the floor. She fell over again. Picking herself up out of the giant hole that is now in the middle of the little circle gathering-thing, Amarië went over to where she had left her stuff and gathered it all up and brung it over and sat down, becoming part of the circle. Twitchy mewed, causing Amarië to pick him up and set him in the middle of the circle, causing him to run around hissing at everyone and attempting to kill them all.

Amarië cackled and ran over to Twitchy, who was trying to steal a piece of garlic. Taking the garlic away from him and handing it back to Tiana, she walked over and set him in his basket. He became very content with that and curled up in it, glaring at everyone e-viley.

'One must wonder where he gets it,' Amarië said, patting him on the head.

Silence.

'Spifty!!'

Eyebrows raised.

'NOT THE BALLOONS!!!'

Some eeps, formally, of course.

Amarië sipped at the tea somemore, wondering if she would end up dying from it. She sighed and took out a giant stapler, then fumbled through some papers.

[Eowyn Skywalker]

Tiana sipped garlic flavored tea boredly, though no one knew where it had came from. Suddenly, she jumped up. "I HAVE IT!!!" she screamed. "Then something hit her, and she collapsed, as that was not a figure of speech, but literal. Something had hit her on the head.

But, annoyingly, Tiana had a strange resistance to remaining unconscious, especially when there was garlic around... no, wait, that was what normally knocked her out... never mind. But, anyhow, she tended to wake up fast.

"WHERE IS ANAKIN?!" she screamed, for the second time that day. "IT'S A CONPSIRACY!!!!" Tiana whipped out her medal pole (Not metal, medal), and whacked Anakin Skywalker over the head.

He dyed, of course.

"Wait." Tiana stopped. "Why in the Three Worlds is he PURPLE?!?! Stupid medal pole muttermuttermutter coughcursekavaamingforevercough! Oh I know... ASH IGHTLAYABERSAY!!!!!!"

After everyone had looked at her oddly, and crickets had finished chirping, she shrugged, and continued to knock Anakin senseless. "Coughstupidchosenbratcough," Tiana coughed, quoting her master mindlessly. "Why can't that brat ever die?"

Once Anakin had died, though no one knew how, as Tiana never was able to kill him, she sighed. "I suppose I'll have to clone him AGAIN!!"

Everyone stared at her, and she shrugged, gave a shifty-eyed look, and muttered about conspiracies in Huttese.

After she had finished that, she swiched to a bright-eyed look, and dead-panned, in a fake Irish accent: "So, where are we goin'?"

[Marigold Gamgee]

Mari smirked, shook her head, and muttered something to Mip that sounded awfully like, "Scotland, I tell ye, Scotland."

Then she cleared her throat. They had waited long enough. Everyone was starting to get shifty and glance around nervously, and this was not good. She would make her Official Speech o' Doom, and then they would set out boldly to find their Scientific Principles. A box domranly appeared, quite conveniently, really. Mari tested to see that it would hold her weight (it was wooden, of course), and as it was such an obliging box, it did. She took a deep breath and began...

"Friends, Rivendellers, Townsfolk, lend me your ears!" A few people started looking around for knives, and Lëo tried to see if she could twist her ears off, to no avail, of course. Mari snackled.

"I meant figuratively, of course!" A collective sigh was uttered. "You have been summoned here to answer the threat of not knowing you scientific principles. Bring forth the map, Mippin."

Unknown to everyone else, Mip had had a map with her the whole time, stowed away... somewhere. It was yet another reason she needed to come along - she was the Mapbearer. Mip eyed Mari warily, and then slowly handed her the map, trying to control spasmodic twitching.

"So small a thing.. such a little thing!" Firi exclaimed. "Long has my tea, the bane of fiances, kept the forces of science at bay. By the flavor of my brew are ye kept safe! Give the map to me...."

"You cannot read it!" Mari exclaimed. "Only Mip can!"

"And what does a Marigold know of such matters?"

Ala could take it no longer. "This is no mere Marigold! She is a Gamgee, heir to the throne of Condo! You owe her your allegiance!"

Firi started to giggle, and then everyone erupted in laughter. Chaos reigned for a few moments.

"Half brick in sock!" Lëo called out, and the snackles and chuckles continued.

"Fire advise goggle!" Mari shouted. "I'm not quite done yet! We shall set out on a perilous journey, and we shall find out scientific principles, and our search shall not be in vain! We shall traverse dangerous lands and journey through many perils, but we shall find our principles at last, and use them to each others' aid! Will ye aid me or thwart me? Choose swiftly!"

Everyone cheered, and there were cries of "Yea!" and "Nay!" and "Give us some tartan scones!" Mari handed out the scones, and they arranged themselves into groups for setting out. They were finally going, and it was an exhilarating feeling to be doing so.

[Amarië]

Amarië assembled herself at the back of the line, occasionally dropping something. She sat down and loaded everything into her backpack, except Merry, in his basket, of course. After that, she stood again, having her backpack on her back and Merry in his basket on her arm.

'Now, I am ready to set out,' Amarië said, petting Merry. He growled and hissed and glared at everyone from his basket.

Amarië nibbled on a scone as she waited.

[Mippin]

Mip decided to consult William about the issues. William being the imaginary friend she borrowed from her Uncle... without asking or without intent to return. They went to a corner, and analyzed the map.

"Well, William, depending on which route we want to take, I suppose that we could go any way." she said, pointing out the obvious truth. For Mip was truly the only one who seemed to be able to read the map. And to her, the map clearly pointed out where each scientific principle lay. Almost to the point that Mip could second-guess what they were. She held her tongue when it came to that, however.

"Yes, William. I agree. I should save that path for last, when the others are worn and I can bear them safely across thanks to my balrog-winginess. If they were aroused and lively at the time, I'm not sure what sort of peril we'd find."

Mip looked closely at William, who was staring intently at the map. Since he was invisible, and only Mip could really hear him, he could also read the map. Said uncle could too, but he wasn't here with them.

"William... I do believe that would be the best choice. It's simple, if we cross the lake here, assuming there is a bridge, make towards the crossroads, turn left 32 times, and right once, we should make it to Firi's principle... unless thats... nah..."

"Well folks! I've decided that we should go... THAT WAY!!!" Mip pointed towards the nearby lake and decided to start walking towards it.

[Eowyn Skywalker]

Tiana blinked, and pulled out her garlic. "Okay, let's go that way!" she announced, and began stuffing everything else into her pocket. On realizing that her pockets were full of everything from garlic, to all three LotR songbooks, Tiana shrugged, and pulled out Anakin. "ANAKIN!" she squealed, and hugged him. Upon realizing that Anakin was not a part of the quest, she sighed, and gave him garlic, and hopped off to follow Mip, along with the rest of the random people who were all off to find their own Scientific Principal (she knew this because she could read their minds, no one had informed her where they were going... beyond 'that way', of course...).

As they skipped down the not-quite-yellow-brickish-path, Tiana had a re-vileation. "It's a conspiracy!" Then she realized that she had announced that prehence, and shut up, that being hard for the insane Jedi-ish, hobbitish, etc, etc, insert really long title here girl. Surprisingly, she managed to remain quiet for a while.

Tiana blinked. "I'M QUIET!" she shouted, and suddenly realized that she was no longer quiet because she was shouting. She also realized that she had been realizing a lot of things. Tiana snrked. "I was THINKING... spiffy......... I think. Drat." As usual, none but herself could understand the pointless, and random thoughts that she typically spit out, but Tiana didn't care. She was part of a quest, and that was good enough for her now...

[Mippin]

Mip looked this way and that, as everyone filed behind her and they slowly made their way through... the place.™

She blinked nervously wondering if anyone would notice that they were blindly walking into danger... why blindly, she could not have guessed.. considering that the terrain was stereotypically the road the danger. The mountains leered menacingly and blotted out the sun, which was already covered by an overcast, dark grey sky.. to the right, their path was festooned with trees of foreboding darkness... the piercing cackle of creatures unknown rang through their ears, and the warmth was vanished before it had arrived.

The cold bit at their faces, their flanges seemed to freeze over and lose feeling, and Mip could no longer tell if she was truly holding the map or not. There was no visible evidence showing that it should be that cold there, but considering the faultiness of stereotypical doom, it fit anyway.

Mip looked at the map which she could slowly begin to feel once more. She took a numb finger and traced a small red line through the mountains and into the dark forest. They were to reach the bridge, for the bridge was the place where they must cross.. to get.. to the other side, of course.. the other side of what was also unknown, but Mip had a feeling that when the time came, she would know what this.. other side.. was.

She halted, and as such, so did everyone else. She wheeled round and whispered coarsely 'We have come quite a ways, but there is still a large path before us. We must venture through the forest. Take a break now, and afterwards, we will not stop until we are cleared of the trees. Any objections?'

A small voice was heard amidst the roaring winds... 'Where are we going?'

At this, someone with a frying pan struck the owner of the small voice, and was immediately replied with "OW! HEY! Watch it! You make me sad..."

Mip glared, and consulted with Ala and Mari. She placed the map before them and told them what dangers they would be heading into. An excerpt on the margins of the map indicated some sort of.. doom they would face if they went the way they were going, but there was no other way to get across... the thing. Surely, Mip could not carry them all and their burdens across it, for the beast that lie close would see one of them to his own while Mip voyaged over on her wings of Balrog-ish-ness. She explained this... to which Ala and Mari both nodded in understanding. Whispers they shared and soon a decision was made.. though it was not a very clear one. Nor one that could be easily understood. In fact, it wasn't really a decision.. but instead... more of a coin toss deciding whether to walk semi-blindly into danger, or to offer Lëo to the beast. Of course, the latter was unacceptable, but it was still somewhat considered. Naturally, the coin indicated that instead, they would walk blindly into danger.

Well, that said.. Mip an' the others ended their break, and made their way into the forest... they decided to sing a song on the way...


We're walkin' into danger...
Yeah.. walkin' iiiinto da-anger.
Don't know why.. but we're all walkin'...
Into da-a-a-a-anger!

We're a walkin' to our doom.
Yeah.. walkin' to.. our doom.
We might know why.. 'cause.. we're all walkin'..
Walkin'.. to our dooooooom!

We better not tell the others
(Everybody!)
Better.. not tell the o-others..
No, we better not tell the others
That they're all gonna die...

Sing it loud!

We're walkin' into danger
(INTO DANGER!)
Yeah... we're walkin' into danger
(It's our Doom!)
Don't know why (Ain't got a clue) but we're walkin'
into that good ole da-anger... yeeeah...

[Amarië]

As everyone trudged on through the dark forest to find the towering trees and thick underbrush had blocked out a major minority of the wind. But that really didn't matter now because it was impossible to see. The sky was already overcast and grey, but the huge trees and great amount of underbrush blocked out all light once five feet into the forest.

'Well... what do we do now?' Ala asked as they slowly inched forward.

There was a bit of a pause. Everyone looked in the direction they thought Mari was in, then looked in what direction Mip was last in to see if either of them had any ideas. It must have been funny for all those nocturnal animals to see the group of people looking in five different directions all for the same people, who were in fact, behind everyone.

'Did no one in this group bring a flashlight? How could you people forget flashlights?!' Ala asked. Everyone fumbled through their stuff in search of their packed flashlights to find that all the batteries were missing or dead, including the spare ones.

'Ah, no fear, I have a solar-powered flashlight,' said someone to the left. They were then smacked with a dead battery and left unconscious on the ground. But since no one can really get seriously injured, the person just had a small bump on the top of their head.

'We have a battery thief on the loose,' said Mari. 'Not to mention all the other things they could have stolen without us knowing.'

A few glanced at Mip, knowing she has a Thief License. She glared back at them, but they couldn't really see her glaring at them because it was close to pitch black so she just threw random dead batteries at them.

'For all we know they just disintegrated... the chemicals inside them might make them do that. That would explain why the dead ones are still there.'

'But why would we pack dead batteries?'

'So what do we do, then?'

'If all else fails, turn to Mip,' Ala said, fiddling around with her flashlight.

Everyone turned to the direction Mip was last in and waited for her to say something. In one fell swoop, everyone had on Night Vision Goggles and by the time they all had realized they could see, Mip was zipping up her backpack, in front of the group and ready to take the lead. No one ever did notice that once they had stepped into the forest and realized it was pitch black there were a few that already had the goggles on. Perhaps it was a mere test… just to see how the bunch reacted. Perhaps it was just a joke... or maybe it was nothing at all. The only thing everyone in the group could do was wait and follow the one(s) who lead them.