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Escape: Lizzy catches Austin trying to escape school by climbing the brick wall.

The House on Empth Street
Players: Trinityblue, Ice Queen
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"This is the place?" Rhye asked, looking at the old house that looked as though it was falling apart. There weren't any more windows and plants had overrun the yard, and the house. Vines climbed up the walls, almost hiding the rotting wood from view.

"Looks like it. That means this treasures' gonna be in there," Kaeden said, looking at it and not looking worried in the slightest. He then looked at Austin. "What's the letter say?"

"It says 'Our home, the one you dreamed of, on the corner of Empth Street. I still picture the tree swing we promised to hang. Under the fireplace'," Austin read. There was a gigantic tree in front of the house that looked promising for a swing. "And this is Empth Street."

"See? This should be the house. Let's go, Kaeden said, starting to walk up the concrete steps to enter the house. "Under the fire place, right? We'll check there first."

"If it's still all together..." Rhye replied with a sigh, hugging on the book she had bought. Her armband also felt unusually warm to her, but that was probably her imagination playing trick on her.

Austin paused to peer through the dirty glass window next to the front door. He scowled, bringing his sleeve up to try and clean it off, but all it did was smear the dirt. "Looks like we can't see what's waiting for us," he said as he reached for the door handle.

"Yeah, but then, we can just look in when the door's opened," Kaeden added. He hadn't even tried the windows. He also let Austin open the door, hands in his pockets, he looked over at Rhye with a small smirk. "Scared, Rhye?"

"No, why should I be?" Rhye replied defiantly, looking back at him from a small frown.

"Cuz there might be ghosts," he replied easily.

"Aye," Austin said as he walked into the dusty, dark foyer of the house. The floorboards creaked under his weight and he paused for a moment to let his eyes grow accustomed to the dimness.

In front of them was a grand staircase with long wooden railing down both sides. To the right was a room full of cloth draped furniture, a living room of sorts. To the left was the dining room, with a large chandelier hanging above it. There were spiderwebs everywhere. Austin sneezed.

"Woah," Rhye said, looking into the rooms once her eyes adjusted. This was scarry looking at all. In fact, it was interesting looking. She wasn't about to try those stairs, though. Who knew what condition they were in!

Kaeden looked around as well, but didn't say much of anything about it all. Oddly, he had been quieter than normal.

"Anyone see the fireplace?" Austin asked as he looked around, wishing he had brought a flashlight. Then he started patting his various pockets, wondering if he actually had. He had a bad habit of pocketing something and forgetting it was there.

"Wouldn't a fireplace normally be in a living room? That's where ours is, at home," Rhye offered, heading for the room with cloth covered furniture.

"Really? Then we'll start looking there," Kaeden said, then looked back towards Austin. "You sure you don't have a flashlight?"

Austin started patting the pockets of his pants now, searching for a bulge that seemed promising. "I might..." he said, stopping at one pocket and feeling through the material for a moment. "Yeah, this feels like one," he said as he stuck his hand into the pocket and pulled out a flashlight. "Where'd I get this, anyway?" he asked blankly.

"Other than your pants? No idea!" Kaeden replied, then stepped aside so that Austin could lead the way in the dark. "You're the one with the light, you lead," he told the other boy.

"Right, right," Austin said, fumbling with the flashlight for the switch. He blinked as it turned on, then stared into the blue lit cobwebs that it now brought into view. "Guess this is as good a direction as any," he said, starting out.

The floor creaked even more dangerously under his feet.

"Be careful where you step, the floor sounds bad," Rhye warned him at the creaking noise.

"It's old, of course it creeks," Kaeden replied, not bothered by the sound by watching his step anyway.

Austin moved forward, raising his flashlight high and eyeing all the furniture for a moment before his light hit black brick. "There," he said, focusing the light on the fireplace. "Let's get the treasure."

There was a line of dusty pictures hanging on the walls that Austin blatantly ignored.

Kaeden also ignored the pictures as he went forward to find this treasure.

Rhye didn't, however. She peered at the dust covered pictures, trying to see the images under it all. Who were these people? Were they the ones in the letter?

"It said under the fireplace," Austin said, looking at the fireplace that went from ceiling to floor. "But there's no 'under it'. Unless he was talking under the floor," he added, scowling and searching the floor with his flashlight.

"Or under the bricks," Kaeden said, crouching down and starting to wiggle the bricks to see if any was loose. This was an old house. There should be something loose, after all!

Rhye looked up at the ceiling. "You know, I hope this isn't like one of those old houses where they have two fire places. One on the ground floor and one on the top floor."

Austin jerked, blinking at her. "They have those?" he asked. For all he knew, to be honest, all houses had a fireplace or two... or three. He had never actually lived in a house. "You can go look while Kaeden and I pry up these bricks." Or Kaeden did.

"..... I just hope those stairs don't break," the luck dragon said, but she left the boys, heading for the stairs to go up and find out what was up there. Alone. Okay, she'd better not think of that one! She really would get spooked.

"Hey, get your knife. We'll get the bricks up that way," Kaeden told the other boy, his own knife in hand.

Austin pulled out his knife, his eagerness for treasure overwhelming his laziness as he crouched down next to the other boy and started scraping at the bricks.

There were more pictures as Rhye walked up the stairs, some even clean enough to see. There was no picture of a family with a baby. Mostly they were pictures of people from an era before the book had been written.

No woman and child? Huh.... But it was creepy to be doing this too. Here they were, robbing dead people. It was wrong. Yep, very wrong.

But at the same time, she couldn't help but be curious. What was left behind? The stairs Rhye walked on gave creaks and groans, but the wood held. He walked across the second story, looking for the other fire place, if it was here.

There was no fireplace. In fact the rooms seemed empty, as if abandoned long ago. It had a hollow feel to it, not the place where a child had been raised at all.

"This one's loose," Austin said as one of the bricks jiggled. "Gimme a hand, would you?"

"Right," Kaeden replied, going to the brick to pry it up with his friend.

Rhye frowned at this understanding. This.. so wasn't a place a child would have been in. None of the rooms even looked like a kid room. Maybe it was the wrong house, after all. Or it was remodeled. She went back down the stairs. "Nothing up there," she told them on the way down.

Austin stared at the piece of paper hidden under the brick,then pulled it out slowly, making sure not to tear it.

"It's too dark to read it in here," he said as he stood. "Let's go."

Something told him that this wasn't going to be a map.

Pretty Fish
Players: Trinityblue, Ice Queen
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The Aquarium had kicked Polly out twice before Tock caught her crying, stormed in, and dumped a small pile of gold coins on the counter with a dark, promising expression. It was now accepted that Polly was free to visit the aquarium for the rest of her life, if she so wished.

Technically, although they tried not to mention this to Tock, he had built an entire wing for the more exotic fish with pure pocket change. Now everyone knew Polly, Austin, Kaeden, and the rest of the pirates by face, and if a new worker ever said anything about them waltzing in and out as they pleased, they were quickly silenced.

That was why Polly was sitting on one of the padded benches in the biggest aquarium room, her chin resting on her knees, her arms hugging her legs to her chest. She was happy there.

"Polly!" Rory said, seeing the red-head and the unmistakable feathered tail. Aurora had been taking her baby sister to the aquarium. Lucky for her, that's where she found her old, childhood friend. She hadn't seen the girl since she was running away.

Rory pushed the stroller towards the girl. "Man, I haven't seen you in a long time. How are you? How are things?" she asked.

Rayne was hugging an octopus that they had gotten in the gift shop as she was pushed towards another new person. Orange-red eyes looked at this girl and her two tails were curled up around her.

Polly glanced up, then down at the baby, her mind racing as she tried to figure out--"So Chris and you had a baby?" she finally asked, since it was the most obvious (to her) situation. "She doesn't look like either of you, though. So you got a new boyfriend?"

Chloe had gotten her watching soap operas, and the effects were horrendous.

"What? No!" Rory started to laugh. "No, this is my baby sister. Her name's Rayne," said the teen, taking a seat with Polly. The stroller faced them now. "Rayne, this is Polly, another friend of mine."

"Ello," Rayne said, cuddling her toy more. Wow this girl has some bright hair! And the beads... she liked the beads.

Polly grinned at her, that old, brilliant grin that lit up the room. "Do you like fishies, Rayne?" she asked. "I think they're great. They remind me of home." She glanced at the glass walls, watching as a big blue one swam past with a slightly longing expression.

"Fishies! I likes fishies!" Rayne said, leaning in her stroller to see them more.

Rory had to make sure the thing didn't tip over. "This is her first time here," she said. Poor Polly was still home sick, huh? Now that sucked.

"Really?" Polly asked. "This is my favorite room in the entire building! My Dad paid for it, but they can't really post that on a sign or anything, cuz it was pirate treasure that did it."

She pointed at an angel fish. "That one's named after me, you know!" The irony of that statement must have gone over her head, though, because she sounded quite proud of the fact.

Rory caught it, though and grinned. "Seriously? Awesome! And your dad paid for the place? Does that mean you get in here for free? Man I wish we could," Rory said, shaking her head.

Rayne wiggled out of her stroller, then walked up to the glass. "Ooohhh, fish has your name? Cool!" the little fox girl said, beaming back at Polly. The octo was still in her hands.

"Yep, her name's Polly, too," Polly said, nodding. "They haven't named a fish after Kaeden yet, but there's an octopus named after Austin! It's cuz he keeps getting into stuff he shouldn't."

"Octopus?" Rayne questioned, looking at her toy again. Then held it up to Polly. "Octopus! Austin!" She had no clue who Austin was, but that didn't seem to bother in her in the slightest.

Rory snickered as her baby sister looked back at the fish. "Yeah, that fits him. Do Jake, Tock and Chole have fish named after them?" she asked, looked back at the water.

"They don't got an alligator," she said a bit sadly. "So there's nothin' named after Tock. But Chloe picked a puffer fish! She thought it was cute." She looked at Rayne, grinning. "Chloe's a hippo. She's very proud of it, too."

"Chloe can cook, too! I remember her making desserts back when you guys were at the house," Rory said, thinking back to when they call came over for a visit... and to see Pollys new dad.

"Maybe Kaeden should be a clown fish," Rory added, tilting her head in thought.

Polly laughed. "I would SO do that, but he swore if I ever named a fish after him without his learning he'd tell everyone where I kept my candy stash," she said, shrugging. "But I'll tell him you said so!"

She looked at the fish again. "We're going back to the island for the weekend in a few hours, so it's kind of silly to come here."

"Na, not really," Rory replied. "You get to see the fish without having to hold your breath. And it's nice here, anyway." Then she looked back down at her friend, concern in her green eyes. "You doing okay, though?"

"Rory, my Dad bought me an aquarium," Polly said, grinning at the other girl. "Well, as good as. Just because he caught me crying cuz they kicked me out. I'm good. And we go back to the island on the weekends, so I've got both worlds."

"Oye! Polly!" Austin said as he came into the room. "I had an idea."

"Oh great."

"This one's got promise!" Kaeden replied, talking with Austin, hands in his pockets though he was grinning. He liked this place and was glad they could come in whenever.

"Good," Rory replied before turning her attention to the other two. "Hey guys!" she called out to them.

Rayne looked over now, distracted from the fish.

"But you got to come with me," Austin said, only briefly waving at Rory before he grabbed his cousin's hand and dragged her out. "I gotta show you somethin'. Somethin' important."

Well, somewhat important. To be honest he had been walking and walking around the town trying to figure out what in the hell he was going to do with the deed, and then he had seen it!

"Hey Ror," Kaeden replied, turning to follow the other two. "Don't worry," he told Polly. She should probably worry, if he said something like that to her.

Rory looked at Rayne, then picked her up. "We've got a detour, squirt, let's go. We can come back," she promised, setting the baby in the stroller, then following them.

"We had a lil... diversion this morning," Austin told his cousin, still tugging her by the hand as they left the aquarium and went down the street. "It led to us being the owners of an old, creepy house, see? But it's not on the water, and who wants something not on the water?"

"Not me," Polly said, earning a knowing nod.

"So we went around the town and came to--" he pulled to a halt in front of a crowded, dingy looking orphanage. "This."

"An orphanage," Kaeden chimed in, looking at the place.

"So, you've got an old house, and something to do with an orphanage?" Rory asked, not clueing. So she was just a little lost. Rayne didn't have a clue, she just held on to her octopus, watching what the others were going to do.

He patted his pockets, searching and eventually finding the deed. "I can't do it," he said, honestly, holding it out to Polly. "An' I won't let Kaeden do it, either, cuz it goes against my every belief to give somethin' away, but--"

She was staring at the kids, knowing she had seen that same, homeless look on her own face before, remembering the tears she had cried as she was left behind. "Polly?" Austin asked.

"Hey," Kaeden told her, on the other side of her. "You're gonna like this, so, ya know, don't go sobby on us, 'kay? Just let him finish." Then he looked to Austin to finish up the tale.

"I get it already," Polly snapped. "And I ain't sobby," she added, yanking the deed away from Austin. "I'm the captain," she added arrogantly as she strode through the gate and into the building to give their booty away.

Kaeden snorted at this, shaking his head. Then he looked back at Rory who'd followed them. Then at the baby. What's with people and babies, lately? "Who's that?" he asked.

"My little sister, Rayne. Rayne, these are Kaeden and Austin," she said, pointing them out.

Rayne just started at Austin. Then pointed at him: "Octopus!"

"Oct--oct--OCTOPUS?!" Austin demanded, shocked enough to lose his usual lazy expression.

"Octopus!" Rayne repeated, holding up her toy octo.

Kaeden chocked, then started to laugh at Austin's expression. He did't have a fish to be teased with, after all!

"We were at the aquarium," Rory explained. "And Kaeden? The clown fish is you."

That made the other boy stop laughing. "Hey now!"

"It fits!" Austin said, distracted from his new nickname. Then Polly walked out of the building, her hands shoved into her pockets, a slight grin on her lips.

"Done," she said. "C'mon, guys, we've still got time to watch the fish before we leave for the island."

The Clam Hunt: Orli and her brother come over to talk to Polly, clam hunting commences and Polly and Austin realize that there might be a connection between the witch and the charm store.

The Map
Players: Trinityblue, Ice Queen
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There was a gigantic map that hung on a wall in the public library. It was around all the of books on the world, atlases and things like that. It wasn't too popular of a place to be, unless you had a book report on the world.

At the moment, there was a boy with a skunk tail, staring up at the map. He stood on a foot stool that allowed you to get up and personal with the map. The map was now decorated with many, many sticky notes.

"You sure you wanna go?" Austin asked his cousin. "It sounds lame."

"I'm not sure I wanna go," Polly said. "But she might come in handy later if I keep playing nice." She scowled as they walked past the doorway of the library, then stopped, backing up. "Hey, I found Kaeden!"

"What? Seriously? He's been missing all day!" Austin said. Then he looked up. "What in the hell is he doing in a library?" he asked as Polly dragged him inside.

One thing was for certain: Kaeden wasn't doing a book report. He blinked, looking around as if trying to figure out where he was... and why the hell he was even here. Then he saw the two. "Oh, hey, what's up?" he asked, trying to fake that he knew why he was here.

He also noted the stickies on the map.

"What's up?" Polly asked. "You're the one that's in the library," she said, earning several dirty looks from the librarians.

Austin, on the other hand, was leaning close to read the sticky notes. He didn't even seem to notice the other two.

"Yeah, but what brings you by?" Kaeden asked her, letting Austin look and think Austin like thoughts. He didn't even try to guess at what the other boy thought. "I.. I came to look at the map," he so lied.

"She wanted to drag us to a party," Austin said, still not looking up from the notes. "But I think we have a treasure map here."

Polly jerked. "Seriously??" she asked, getting yet more dirty looks and a few "hush!" from people around them.

"Austin..." Kaeden started, then lowered his voice greatly. "Don't tell me you wanna take this map now??" he asked and looked back up at the map. At least no one asked about the notes! He had no idea how they got there.

Then he looked back at Polly. "Also, I am not going to any parties," he added.

"Course not," she said. "We've got a massive sized treasure map. But where'd it come from?" she asked, digging through her pockets and pulling out the note from Orli. She looked at it for a moment and it started to crinkle, turning black before it burst into flames.

"Young lady!" the librarian said, shocked. "You cannot light things in a public library! Someone get the extinguisher!"

The panic that this caused gave Austin the time he needed to cut the massively huge map down and roll it up. "Gimme a hand, Kaeden," he said as Polly let the flaming piece of paper hit the ground.

Kaeden didn't even hesitate as he started to help removing the map, being careful of the stickies. Well! At least Polly fire thing came in handy for things other than camp fires! Again the skunk boy assumed the role of follower, but he wasn't about to take command with this thing. Hell, at least he kinda sorta found the map!

"Young men, stop right this--" The librarian jerked as a rack of magazines lit up, her eyes wide with shock as she raced to save them, and Polly and the boys sauntered out of the library, their stolen map in hand.

"See? I told you the invite might be entertaining," Polly bragged.

Capture the Pirate
Players: Ice, TB
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Austin whistled under his breath as he walked through the park, tossing the wallet he had stolen into the air and catching it again. It had been a good day for pick pocketing. Now he could buy himself something!

But he wasn't going to get too far. Rhye was in the park with Kash when she saw the little thief and gave him a glare. One hand reached out, taking ahold on her twin's arm. "Kash! It's -him-! That little brat who took your ring from me!" she whispered so as her voice wouldn't carry to him.

She still hadn't forgiven Austin for his betrayal.

"Reeeeally," Kash said, eyeing the boy thoughtfully. "So how should we get it back?" she asked her sister, since she was pulling a blank. "He's a kid, sure, but he looks oddly tough." She frowned at that, wondering if two teenage girls were enough to scare him.

Rhye didn't have much doubt, herself, but that would be bulling and they weren't bullies. She frowned a bit, tail twitching. "Well... maybe we could lure it out of him. How do you lure something away from a pirate?"

"With the promise of something better!" Kash said, cheering up. Then she stopped, thinking. "So what should we offer?"

"I do not want to trade anything for something he -stole-" Rhye told her twin, hands going to her hips. "That's like... paying him and rewarding him for it!"

"We're not going to give it to him! We're going to use it as bait, remember?" Kash said, her eyes on the pirate kid. "I'm kind of surprised he's still a kid, though. I thought he was the same age as us."

"Oh, well, good. You're probably going to be better at that then me," Rhye admitted, looking at the boy again. "I thought he was actually a little older.... maybe he's just a slow grower."

"Huh... but that might be something we can use against him, too," she said thoughtfully, her tail swishing back and forth twice. "C'mon, let's go talk to him."

Austin was completely unaware he was being followed. He was too busy dealing with the fact that all the wallet he had stolen came with was a license and a twenty. Dammit.

"Oohhh, good point," Rhye said and then fell silent as she watched Austin. Really, he could have been a fun friend, but then he had to go and ruin it by stealing the ring her sister had made her. Well, she was going to get that ring back!

He glanced up when they got to him, blinking as Kash draped an arm over his shoulder. "Hi," she said with a grin. "We haven't met yet, I don't think. But you've met my sister!"

"Ah, well, I--" he said, glancing up at Rhye quickly. "You grew well."

A little evilness went off in Rhye's mind as she leaned over slightly to smile at him. "Thank you. This is my sister, obviously, Kash. Kash, this is Austin," she said. Never mind the pirates had shown up in their store, Austin hadn't really met Kash, nor Kash him.

Idiot that he was, he gave them both a flourishing bow while pocketing his stolen wallet again. "It is a pleasure to meet you," he said to Kash.

"Really," Kash said. "So pleasurable that you'd give my sister back her ring?"

He blinked, honestly having forgotten that.

"I haven't forgotten about that, you know," Rhye added from his other side, giving his hair a light, almost playful tug. She didn't want him pissed off and not fall for this, after all.

"I don't ah... happen ta have it on me just at tha moment," Austin said hesitantly, looking from one twin to the other. Damn they were cute. "But if you'd give me an hour I'll just go back ta tha ship and--"

"We can go with you if you want!" Kash said.

"Yeah! I want to see the ship. I've never seen a real pirate's ship before," Rhye said. It was true that she hadn't and that she wanted to see it. Nevermind it was more so she could get her ring back.

"Ah, well ya see, my da--no! My uncle! He's a bit scary ta tha ladies and--"

"We don't mind scary, do we Rhye?" Kash asked her twin evilly. "Come on, Austin, we're your friends, remember?"

"No?"

"Silly, who joined you on that house treasure hunt? I did try to help you. Besides, I doubt your uncle could be -that- scary," Rhye said. "I still want to see the ship. Plleeaasee Austin?" she asked, giving him her sweetest, pleading look. It always worked with their dad.

He groaned, running a hand over his face but careful not to run his kohl. "Okay, fine, but only for a moment, got it?"

"Yay!" Kash said, hugging him. The faint flush he got was enough to make her smirk. Boys were a lot easier to deal with than she had thought.

Rhye also cheered, giving him her own, evil twin hug. The poor boy was now surrounded by the girls, even if it was just for a moment.

"Now, ah, which way was it again..." he said, digging out his compass. Kash glanced over his shoulder and stared as the compass started spinning wildly.

"I think it's broke," she said finally.

"No, no, you just haveta look at it right."

"It's broke," Rhye muttered, hand going to her hip. "I'd assume new the water since it is a ship." She had the worst feeling this was going to take a while.

"But there's lots of water around here--oh, there we go! A heading!" he declared, heading off to the right and leaving them to chase after him.

Rhye gave Kash a look and a small grown, silently asking what they had just gotten themselves into. Then she took her hand to follow.

"You're telling me," Kash said slowly as she followed the boy, "you can't even find your own home without a broken compass?"

"Directionally challenged," Austin said, as if that explained everything.

"Your compass is!"

"Very directionally challenged," Rhye echoed, looking at the compass again. There was just something weird about it, and she didn't know what that was. Other than it was broke.

"What is that thing?" The sight of Bastion twisting his way down her arm almost gave Kash a heart attack. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see if Austin had noticed, but his attention was on the compass. "It's magic... or not," the snake went on. "I don't trust this punk, we should just curse him and get it over with."

"Veering starboard," Austin said, changing direction slightly.

"Or," Atreyu cut in on his own way down the Rhye's arm, making her give a little jump as well, "With a little luck, we will get where we're going, reguardless."

She gave him a little glare for picking up bad habits from Baston, then looking at Austin. "We're not yet on a ship..." she told him, answering how he told them how to turn.

Austin pulled to a stop in front of an ice cream shop. "Ah... I live here?"