ok, new fanfic idea.... *fiction, about the fiction, about the fiction ;)* if that makes any sense....

Everyone around became quiet... They had all heard the yell... They looked like they knew who was but I didn't have a clue,"uhh, Micaela? Is there someone at your house?" *many someones maybe?*
Rhain smiled and spoke at a normal tone,"doesn't surprise me that he was the first one to speak up."

I sighed and closed my eyes, making a mental note to let Shand have it later. "Matter of fact, yeah, I have several....guests...here..."
"Guests?" Dolan whispered incredulously. "Guests?!? I stinking LIVE here!"
"Ummm..." I cringed slightly. "Do you have any...guests....today?"
"Yeah, that's subtle," Vered chuckled.

Looked at all of them,"hang on, let me ask." I held the phone away but asked loud enough so Micaela could here,"do I have guests here?"
They all tilted their heads,"guests? Do you mean us?" Xyle pointed to himself
"we live here... I didn't know you were a guest if you've been living somewhere for nearly a year with no plans of leaving." Lock crossed his arms
I held the phone back up to my ear,"according to them they are not guests."

'Ha, funny, mine said the same thing." I glared at them all.
"Hi Buttercup," Shand said, pressing his face to the phone.
"I cannot breathe!" I yelled finally, then took a deep breath. "Uhhh... so I guess similar strange things have been happening over there. Makes me feel better... it's actually kind of exciting."
"No, this just confirms how slow you are," Searc rolled his eyes in Dolan fashion.

"Yeah...it's interesting...I dont know if I'd use exciting yet..." I stopped for a second."Wait...Buttercup?" I tilted my head before the revelation hit me, "Oh! haha, hi Shand."
"So he can talk to you but I cant talk to Micaela!" Pharris yelled at me.
"He only said hi, Pharris." I frowned at him.
"Then let me say hi to her! It's only fair!" He crossed his arms.
"All's fair in love and war." I stuck my tongue out at him then sighed, "Here." I held the phone out which he quickly stuck his face to.
"Hi Precious! Listen, she wont give me alot of time to talk so I wanted to say-" I yanked the phone away.
"I said you could say hi." I sighed, "You caught Pharris' hello, right, Micaela?"

"Haha!" I smiled, thinking that, strangely enough, I had never heard his voice before then. "Hi to Pharris too.... ok, so really, how are we gonna work with this?...I mean, my parents are gone for today, but when they get back... I can just say it's not going to be easy concealing, oh, I don't know, twenty-ish people in this house without them knowing. And with me knowing."

That thought didnt occur to me until she said it...I'd have to hide all of them...and if I couldnt, how was I going to explain it? *Oh, hey mom and dad, well, I know you see these random people and I just want you to know they've been here and sleeping arrangements have been made for a year now...where? Oh, they sleep, slept and are going to all sleep in my room.* Yeah...that'd be great, "I have no idea what we're going to do with all of them..." I facepalmed and rubbed my forehead.

"Hey...you can't kick us out," Shand reminded, pointing at me. "I mean, yeah, I've got the ship out back, but..."
"For real?" I asked, running to the nearest window. Yup, there it was - The Talon. Much bigger than I had expected it to be, in much better shape.
"Haha, you expected it to be falling apart," Shand folded his arms. "I'm more responsible than that."
"With your ship. Your responsibility level ends beyond that," Dolan added.
"I have an idea..." I said softly. "Your ship's pretty big, right Shand?"
He only stared at me.
"..And we're the only ones who can see it?"

I had become lost about two minutes ago and just stared blankly out the window with the phone to my ear, catching words now and then I understood.
"What's going on?" Xyle asked, "What did she mean 'I dont know what we're going to do with them'?"
Locke frowned, "I think we've become a problem."
I shook my head, "Nonono, it's not that."
"Then what is it?" Chantelle tilted her head.
"Living arrangements have to change now." I answered.
"Cant we just continue to sleep in your room?" Rhain pulled out a chair at the kitchen table.
"It's a little different now." I smiled.

"Yeah, I mean, if my parents find out I have a grown man living in my closet, they might be a little upset," I sighed.
"If you want people living on my boat, you're going to have to be prepared to offer...compensation," Shand folded his arms. "I don't turn my ship into a bed n' breakfast for free."
I eyed him. 'How 'bout this. I go through my entire computer, do one of those little word search thingies, and delete every occurance of the word 'Shand'. Wipe you off the face of history completely. Sound like a fair exchange?"
"Low blow...you don't play fair," He mumbled.
"Must be where you got it from," Vered interjected.
"Fine," Shand resentfully agreed.
"Ok, I might have an idea," I told Samantha. "...Are you and your people up for a trip out here? A nice visit would do us all some good..."

I looked at the group with me,"wanna go visit the campers and camp director?" their faces lit up.
"they look excited...not sure how I'm going to get them over their without getting pulled over but I'll do my best."
"we've got your yellow car and my motorcycle... We should be fine." Locke looked determined to get over there.
"yeah it should be fine... As long as we don't get pulled over." I frowned

'Well the whole invisible factor will probably help you out there," I added. "I can send Dolan with another car if that helps."
"So you think a car driven by seemingly nobody is going to get by the getting pulled over issue at hand?" Dolan laughed.

"I should be able to get them there... Not sure about the mmotorcycle thing though." I looked at Locke who shrugged
"Dolans help probably wouldn't hurt." Locke added.
"invisible!" I looked at him disappointed
"better an invisible person drive a car than a motorcycle." he returned my frown with an amused smile

"Whatever way works...the sooner you're here the better," I sighed, glancing over at Shand, who could obviously barely contain his excitement. "Yeah, get over here fast before Shand bursts a blood vessel or something."

"is he that excited?" I smiled then looked over to Locke who was no longer smiling but looking over at me with a face of warning.... When I had imagined it I was always slightly annoyed but this face looked more like fatherly concern than anything else so I found myself not minding it. "might want to tell him to calm down..."

"Calm down. The assassin smells blood," I warned Shand.
"Yeah yeah, tell Locke I miss him too," Shand waved the warning off.
I shrugged. "Well, we'll all be waiting...anxiously.." I caught a disapproving look from Kvanne, who had just walked in and was obviously not in the mood for visitors. "..some more anxiously than others."

I nodded, "We're on our way..talk to you in a few." I hung up the phone and looked at everyone, still noticing we were missing a few. "Well, lets get ready...sounds like she wants us over there as fast as possible." They nodded like I had just given them some sort of serious mission.
"I'll go find mom." Aeren stood and nearly ran out the room.
"I'll go stop Sidra." Pharris smiled slyly to himself.
"Pharris, you sure you want to flirt with her at this moment? Or ever? You're going over to Micaela's house." I eyed him, causing him to sigh.
"Let Sapphir take care of it when we fill her in." Locke looked over at Pharris who sighed and walked up the stairs.
"Torrin is still asleep." Xyle commented, "I'll wake him up." Xyle darted up the stairs towards my room.
"What about Eroll?" I looked around at all of them.
"He should be wherever Sapphir is talking politics." Chantelle took another sip of her tea.
"Alright...well, I guess I should take a shower and make myself somewhat decent..." I looked down at my old t-shirt and sweatpants. "Give me twenty minutes...I sudjest you all be in the car before I get downstairs."

"Ok,if we're having company, I want this house spic and span!" Alliy said right as I hung up the phone.
"I don't think Samantha and her crew are really gonna care what the house looks like," I said sofly, knowing that if Alliy really wanted the house clean, no amount of reasoning was going to stop her.
"Now, exactly who do you want the house to look nice for?" I asked, remembering her eagerness to have them visit.
"You don't need a reason to keep a clean house!" She argued, turning away from me. *Hmm...I'll figure this one out...eventually...*
"So she's coming?" Shand asked, actually slightly bouncing up and down on his toes. Dolan came over and put a heavy hand on top of his head, putting a stop to that.
"She and all her people are coming," I announced. "I want everybody on their best behavior, and-"
"SMANTHA'S COMING?!?! WITH LOCKE?!?! AND CHANTELLE?!?!? YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" Lunath proceeded to dash around the house, jumping on furniture, sliding around the floor, throwing things at Cinaed...which Cinaed really didn't seem to mind. I sighed.
"Anyone who is not an excited little kid and can't help it needs to be on their best behavior!" I restated.
"Why's she gotta bring Locke?" Shand folded his arms, mumbling. "Just bring the parole officer along, just for fun..."
"If Samantha has a parole officer, where the heck is yours?" Searc asked with his perpetual scowl.
"I guess it's Micaela," Shand glared over at me. I furrowed my brow and shrugged as if asking 'uhhh...why?'
"Well, if you can put Pops on house arrest, I think you're the one in charge around here."
'Ha, we're not revisiing that," Dolan warned.
"Thank you for just now noticing that I'M the one in charge," I rubbed my forehead and surveyed the chaos imploding all around me...realizing I was about to add to that chaos ten times over...if not more....*where are the advil?...*

I had a lot to think aobut in the shower but I didnt mind...what upset me was what I saw when I got out the shower.
I had just finished getting ready and walked out my bathroom when I saw my room in a million pieces..
"What else do we need, Chantelle?!" I heard Locke's shocked and annoyed voice coming from one end of my room and looked over to find him holding two rather large bags.
"Locke Strafe, dont take that tone with me!" She argued back...it was odd to hear them talk like that to each other, actually.
"What are you two doing to my room?!"
"Packing for the trip." Chantelle's voice took it's normal tone.
"Half that stuff you're taking is mine!" I pointed at the bags Locke was holding, "Even the actual bags are mine!"
"You see! We dont need all of this and have no right to take all of this!" Locke looked over to Chantelle who crossed her arms and frowned.
"You know what...just bring the bags...know that you're going to half to hold them on the way there...is everybody else ready?" I rubbed my face and sighed...this was so frustrating.
"Yeah, they're all waiting in the car." *Wow, they actually listened...*
"Well, lets go then." I began to walk out my room.
"Samantha, your hair is still dripping wet." Chantelle walked after me.
"I dont have time to dry it, it's just going to have to be that way." I sighed.
"Am I going to have to keep a close eye on Shand?" Locke followed us down the stairs.
"I would like it if you didnt."
"That wasnt my question."
"I know...how about you just dont and enjoy your time with Lunath." I answered as well walked out the door towards the yellow car.

"Alright, battle stations, people," Kvanne called out uninterestedly as Alliy bustled around, fluffing pillows and trailing Lunath and Cinaed, who both seemed to unintentionally mess something up everywhere they went.
"Battle stations? It's Samantha and her crew, not the whole continental army," Vered argued.
"Duly noted. And ignored." Kvanne shook his head. "I have reason to believe that one of the said 'crew' is an assassin, correct? As I said, battle stations."
"Locke?" Dolan unintentionally snorted a chuckle. Kvanne stared at him. "Oh, come on, Locke's a happier person than you are."
"Not by much, though," Shand muttered under his breath.
"Well you don't give him much reason to be happy, do you?" Searc asked Shand with a smirk.
"How he chooses to interpret the input information fed to his brain by his four senses is not my business or my issue." Shand declared.
"Five senses, Shand, there are five." Dakara facepalmed.
"For real?!?! When did they add the new one?!? And why wasn't I notified?!"

Though it didnt look like it to anyone else, my car was extremely packed to me and the crowd of people in it.
"Move over, Rhain!" Aeren whined from the very back of the car.
"I cant!" Rhain pushed against Aeren.
"Stop pushing!" Xyle complained as Aeren bumped into him.
"Calm down!" Sidra yelled from the middle of the car to them.
"Sidra, dont yell, it's not helping!" Sapphir stared at her sister annoyed.
"Dont tell me what to do!" She snapped back at Sapphir.
"Sidra, she's right." Torrin looked up from the floor where he sat at her feet in a tight ball. Sidra glared down at him.
"We should all try to be quiet." Chantelle added in, recieving stares and glares from everyone in the car.
"I second that." I added, one hand on the steering wheel, the other one rubbing my head.
"I dont want to be quiet! We should all sing a song!" Pharris added in as he stared out the back window.
"Sing and I'll end your fun with a nice slit to the throat." Locke turned around from the passenger seat and glared at him, "And I mean end it all."
I prayed silently that the ride wouldnt be much longer...I had to be at least fifteen minutes away...I hoped.

"So where are all going to hide when Locke gets here?" Dolan asked Kvanne sarcastically. "Are there enough nooks and crannies for all of us, or are we going to have to employ a sacrificial lamb?"
"Like none of us know who THAT would be," Searc coughed discreetly.
"Lambs are rather fluffy, are they not?" Shand asked obliviously. "They make cute little noises and taste good....we talking about the same animal? And where are we going to get one of those?"
"I'll be the lamb!" Lunath called in passing, jumping off the sofa and running around the room.
"Well that wouldn't be as fun, now would it?" Seth folded his arms.
"Wouldn't be as much flying 'fur', thats for sure," Dolan said as he poured another cup of coffee.
"What would you be like if you didn't stay caffeinated all day long?" I asked curiously.
"Very sad," Dolan mumbled before taking a sip.
"But you're like that anyway even with the-" Shand was interrupted by a cup full of the stuff slung into his face. He didn't seem very surprised. Hesitantly, he licked his lips. "Hmm...I understand your strange addiction to the stuff.... it grows on you...."
"And now drips from you." Aleric observed.

"I dare you! Dare you!" Pharris yelled up at Locke.
"What song did you want to sing, Pharris?" Eroll asked beside him.
Pharris cleared his throat, "BABY, TAKE YOUR TIME! STOP AND SEE FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, THE THINGS YOU'RE MISSING OUT ON!" From seemingly no where, something flew and hit Pharris in the face.
"Shut up!" Locke yelled, still turned around in his seat.
"MY BLOODY NOSE!" Pharris pulled his hand away from his face, "LITERALLY!" I didnt need someone to tell me his nose was bleeding after that...
"Someone get him a towel or something!" Rhain yelled, trying to push away from Pharris.
"We're in a car! You want one to magically come out of no where?" Xyle looked over at Rhain as he pulled on his own sleeve to rip it. "Here, use this."
Pharris took it gratefully, "At least someone cares!"
"Thank the Lord!" I blurted out.
"That's how I feel!" Pharris responded back.
"Not that!" I sighed, "We're here!"

"THEY'RE HERRRRRREEEEEEEE!!!!" Lunath broke into a whole new string of excitement, somewhat reminiscent of a tribal warrior about to go on a raid, or maybe impart a rain god or do some other unearthly activity.
"Battle stations," Dolan said slyly, taunting Kvanne.
"Whatever. Let the assassin in, just open the door and let him walk in," Kvanne huffed.
"Yeah, that was the plan," Fallon folded her arms, coming from the study.
"You know, after much deliberation, I'm with you on this one, Uncle Kvanne..." Shand said sweetly. "You know, I wouldn't be opposed to bringing out the heavy artilery right here and opening the windows and-"
"You want a repeat of the Buttercream war?" Aleric shuddered.
"Ah, no...that'd be we'd be using real ammo," Shand rolled his eyes.
"DON'T HURT LOCKE!!!!" Without warning, Lunath tackled Shand as he peeked out the window, wrestling him to the ground and pulling on ears and earrings and eyepatches and whatever else he could get his little hands on.
"Stop it! Ouch! No, I was just- just gonna open the door and welcome them with a hug!! STOP IT LITTLE SNOTNOSE KID!!!"
The room fell silent as Lunath, with wide, offended eyes, slowly crawled off Shand and the others glared at him in shock and condescention.
"Ah, did I say snotnose?" Shand laughed uneasily, then pulled Lunath into a bear hug and ruffled his hair somewhat roughly. "I meant....angel from heaven.... words are powerful, you know.... "He lowered his voice. "You spawn of the devil."
"What?" Dolan growled.
"You wonderful people whom I love and am proud to have descended from," Shand muttered.

I turned the car off but kept the doors locked so no one could get out, "Everyone needs to be on their best behavior, ok?" I looked back at all of them, "I'm sure Micaela would still like a house before the day is over with."
It was quiet for a few seconds before I got salutes and nodds from everyone and took them as my cue to unlock the doors and let them out.
I was surprised all of them got out calmly as if they had all done this before...alright, maybe I shouldnt have been shocked...
They waited outside the car patiently as I got out and locked it again...I looked at all of them as they stared at me, "What?"
"Well...you see, when we all walk like a group like this, you usually take point." Xyle answered.
"I do?" I tilted my head as several of them nodded, "You cant walk without me leading?"
"Oh no, we can, "Pharris spoke up, "We just dont...I'm actually not sure why." He frowned.
"Whatever all of you want." I began to walk towards the front door. It felt slightly awkward to have all of them follow me...if anything, I should be following them in since I didnt exactly know what was waiting for us inside...