Group Effort; Something by Joy Everlasting and Jelly Bean

[Joy_Everlasting]

NOTE: Please only post in this thread if your name is Joy_Everlasting or jelly_bean. Thanks.


Joy Maloy took a deep breath as she walked into the coffee shop. Today was the day; she could feel it. All her efforts of the past months would be payed off. The short young woman walked to the counter, her orange hair drawing stares from strangers, and ordered a small, plain, black coffee. The boy at the cash register smiled as he printed out her receipt and handed her the hot styrofoam cup; this was a daily procedure. He watched, amused, as she took a deep breath and dramaticly took a sip of the strong black drink. A terrible, green color flooded her face, as she forced the liquid down her throat.

With a sigh of disappointment, Joy turned to order again. The young man had anticipated her; a latte was already sitting on the counter. Still sighing every couple of seconds, she paid him, and took the second cup. This time she went straight to a booth in the corner, stopping to set the first cup down in front of an older woman who was reading the newspaper in the second booth to the door. This set up had been worked out long ago, ever since the woman, a Mrs. Kelding, had commented on her watefulness when she threw the un-drunk coffee away.

Joy sat down in her corner booth, and took a sip of her latte as she stared out the window. She had been so hopeful, and all for nothing. But one of these days, she would be able to drink a whole cup of black coffee, and then she'd join the ranks of the other people who liked black coffee, without all the creams and sugars. Not that there was anything wrong with cream and sugar; Joy liked her cream, but most people did, and it was boring to be like most people. So she would continue her effort to be able to drink black coffee.

 

[jelly_bean]

Geneva "Jelly" Bean looked up from her small drawing tablet to see Joy in the middle of her morning ritual. She watched it every day; and every day it was the same. Geneva herself had a morning ritual, and that was watching Joy along with ordering one bagel, plain, with too much butter on top. She wondered if she would ever have any success with that black coffee, she always ordered it but never took more than a sip. Geneva well recalled her own days of futility in black coffee; she thought that anybody who was suave, sophisticated, and tough drank their coffee black. And perhaps it was true, but she had given up ever hoping to be one of those people. She had not weakened to the point of most people, adding oozing whipped cream, expensive coffee, sugar, cream, candy-flavoring... just a dose of cream and two tablespoons of sugar gave her what she needed. Even though she knew that wasn't enough cream and too much sugar, that's just the way she took her coffee.

Taking a hefty bite of the buttery, soggy bagel, she gave a left-handed wave to Joy, hoping to catch her attention. They were long-standing friends after months and months of talking about such things as song lyrics, oddities, insanities, and stories. Joy probably was unaware of Jelly's latest quirk, though, which was to try and become ambidextrous. But so far, all she had managed to do is make her writing illegible.

Even so, she wondered if there was something interesting happening in their quaint town, for her sparkling antannae((think: two glitter balls held up by springs on a headband)) were bobbing more than usual and that meant there was important news to be had. Besides having antannae sprouting from her head, Geneva appeared normal with her hair in need of cutting(her short hair not quite even), normal height and weight, and wearing a red shirt which said "NEBRASKA: COME PLAY". Regardless that they were not in Nebraska and she was not from there.

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

In between taking sips of her latte and looking straight into the sun - Joy could never remember how that had become part of her sunny-day daily routine, but it had - Joy noticed Geneva waving at her from her booth. At least she guessed that it was Geneva; every day the spots from staring into the sun made it rather hard to see much of anything. Once there had been an embarassing incident in which she had thought she'd seen Geneva waving, and it had turned out to be her great-aunt Ellen. But usually it was Geneva waving, so Joy grabbed her half-full latte and dashed over to Jelly's table.

She had barely sat down before she burst out, "You'll never guess what happened, Jelly! Remember that shopping sweepstakes at the hardware store? Well, I won third place! I get a ten second shopping spree. So I get anything I can get into my cart and bring back to the door in that time. I'm so excited, but I don't know what to get. Do you want to build anything?" The last question was spoken in a breathless gasp, which was probably because Joy was completely out of breath.

After a deep breath, she went on, "And you know who won the grand prize, the ten minute shopping spree?" Without waiting for a reply, she went on, "The mailman! I wonder what he's going to buy." Having told all her news, she stopped to take a drink of her latte. But since she was so excited, she forgot that the latte was hot, and the hot contents burned her tongue quite badly.

 

[jelly_bean]

Geneva knew there was a 50/50 chance of being not seen by Joy, especially since she always first sat at that table which was full in the sun. But she knew that she would be acknowledged eventually; she usually was. Besides that time she went one table too far and got her relative... Fortunately, today Joy saw her immediately and made her way over, bursting out with what Jelly had suspected--news.

"You did?!" She exclaimed at the news. "Congratulations!" She shouted, yanking her headband off and flung it in the air, as you would a hat. It banged the ceiling before dropping to the seat besides Geneva. Of course, whilst that was happening, Joy was still continuing on. "Well, the only thing we need right now is more paper. The tic tac toe gang has forced me into writing some epic novel of how wonderful and smart they are, but I have no writing paper left. Plus you'll probably need some soon, as lots of people have been contacting you for song lyrics lately. I knew that your song would be a hit--a one-hit wonder, if I may add." Was what she added to the conversation, which was ignored as Joy told her about the first place winner.

"The mailman?! He won?! How could they let him win, though? He'll most definitely clean their store out; have you seen that man sprint to make a delivery admist being chased by a dog?" Geneva proclaimed, eyes wide. "Oh, come now. First he'll hit all the math work books they have, give them to little kids later. Then he'll probably get all the coffee mugs he can hold." At that point, Jelly finally took a break from being astonished and such, and took another hefty bite of her sogging bagel. "When do you get your ten seconds?"​

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

While Jelly was speaking, Joy was only half-listening. That's the way she usually was; her short attention span required it, and she'd learned at the age of twelve and three months that half paying attention was better than trying for a few minutes to pay complete attention, and then completely losing any focus whatsoever. That lesson had come when she started singing happy birthday at her cousin's wedding. Joy had a loud voice, so the song had been heard by everyone, and the glares she'd received from the preacher, the bride and groom, and pretty much everyone at the service, had alerted her to her mistake pretty quickly.

So while Jelly was talking about the mailman, Joy was off swimming with fuzzy polar bears. The water in the Arctic was really cold, so Joy was shivering a little, when the ear that was listening to Geneva - her left ear; the right one was still listening to the polar bears - took in everything the Jelly was saying, which took a little longer because of her divided attention. Of course, when she heard it, she immediately began talking again, leaving the polar bears for a little bit. He'll probably look at the calculators first though. Of course, I don't know if there are any calculators that are better than the one he has; it's almost like a computer!" She took a quick sip of her latte, to keep her warm when she started thinking about polar bears again, but her return was delayed by Jelly's question.

"I don't know. They said something about today or tomorrow, but that was yesterday. So I guess that would mean today. But the store doesn't open for another four minutes, so I can't go quite yet. Do you want to come with when I go?" Joy twirled one of her orange curls around her finger as she asked, before randomly saying, "I wonder if the word orange comes from Latin, or Greek... Or maybe Italian."

 

[jelly_bean]

When Geneva caught sight of Joy's first shiver, she figured Joy was pretending she was a refrigerator. It wasn't unusual for Joy to not pay attention; when they had met again for a second time she had taken her aside and warned her that she often paid half to no attention to events that were going on, and that was fine with Geneva. She often paid too much attention to things and ended up boring people to sleep with details like how many ceiling tiles were in room 106 at the dentist's office, so Joy was a nice relief from normal people. "Calculators! Of course. He'll most likely snatch up the T1-83. You know, the $199.98 one? He could probably replace his cell phone with that thing." She exclaimed, taking a sip of her own bad coffee.

"Of course I'm going to go. What better things do I have to do besides make a large batch of soup no one likes? Orange was probably come up with by an overly intelligent group of kumquats. Well, better 4 minutes early than never, as they always say. Let's go!" She said, finishing her bagel but abandoning the coffee. Not even waiting for a reply, she stormed out of the store, completely missing the sighs of relief the rest of the customers and management gave at her leaving the store.

Realizing then what Joy had said about the time, she stopped in her tracks. "If she was told today, yesterday, wouldn't the thing have been yesterday? And if it was yesterday, why are my antannae going haywire? I wonder if there are other important events occurring as I speak! I need to check this out!" She said to herself, right in the middle of the street.

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

"What?" Joy exclaimed, her attention returned because of Jelly's mistake, "No, the TI-83 only costs $98.49. He'll want the TI-93." The words were barely out of her mouth before Geneva was replying to the rest of what she'd said, and was on her way out the door. "Wait, what?" was all that she could say, as her mind pulled itself out of its near-hypothermic state, and registered what had been said. Downing the last few drops of her latte, Joy pushed it into the restaurant's trash box-thing, the flap of which pinched her hand as it swung back. Why did garbage's at restaurants have those flaps? The question had always confused her, but there was no time to think about that now; she had to go to the hardware store.

Dashing past the random sighing customers, and out of the store, she realized only too late how stupid it was of her to run, as she tripped and fell on the pavement, scraping her knees and accidently getting her hand caught in the strap of a woman's purse. The purse-holding woman looked at Joy in what Joy thought was a look of horror and concern for her knee, but was really horror at the attempted theft of her purse and concern for how she would keep the criminal there long enough for the police to come. Joy unkowingly solved the problem by handing the woman her purse back, and running after Jelly, who was standing in the street for some strange reason.

 

[jelly_bean]

"I wonder where Joy went? I miss her. Why did she leave?" Geneva pondered, scratching her head for a couple seconds before finally making her way off the street. She had, in her excitement, forgotten that she was the one who did the leaving and the wenting. She made her way quite aimlessly to the Everything Mart.((that's what I have officially named the store. )) "Why should I even come, if Joy isn't here? She should've left me a letter as to where she was going before she just left like that. It's rather rude to leave unexpectedly!" She said to herself, before shouting, "Yoohoo, Mr. Postman!"

He was there, waiting for his ten minutes, as he noticed Jelly in all her weird glory. "I keep telling you, my name is Fred. Will you please call me Fred instead of Mr. Postman?" He replied. "But Mr. Postman fits." She answered matter-of-factly. "Be sure to pick up a T1-83, Mr. Postman. They're over $100 off as of late! It's quite marvelous. But the T1-93s are nice, too." Geneva continued, nodding as she spoke. His eyes glowed at the mention of the T1-s. "That they are... such magnificent inventions, those calculators! Did you know that having one of those babies is going to make me the talk of the math club? Oh, how jealous they'll be! They'll have to exponate--" was all Jelly heard before she tuned out what sounded like math related talk. The fact was, she hardly ever heard what Fred said, because a lot of what he spoke about had to do with math.

"Where's Joy? I know she won the ten second run, and you two are usually together. Is she off getting arrested for jaywalking or something?" He asked, after taking a break from his mouth off about math. Usually, that would be quite a rude question. But she and Jelly were compulsive jaywalkers, Jelly even more so, so if one went missing for over a day, it was the first guess that they were down at the station talking themselves out of jail time.

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

Just then, Joy dashed up to the pair, gasping for breath. "Hide me! I didn't think anyone was looking, so I switched the tics and the tacs in someone's tic tac toe game, while they were inside eating cookies. But someone saw, and the only way to get away was to jaywalk and..." The rush of words was cut off as Joy ducked behind a nearby orange garbage can.

The reason for her sudden flight was made apparent by the appearance of a tall policeman with brown hair and a moustache biking across the parking lot, despite the many screeching brakes and honks he was receiving from cars. It was soon very that he was looking for someone, or at least not looking where he was going, as he rode right into the curb next to Jelly and Fred. His bike fell over, and he went with it, hitting his helmet hard on the pavement. The wheels spun for a couple seconds, slowing down with no one to pedal, and no ground to grip. But the policeman wasn't hurt; after only a second or two he was up, brushing off his now-dusty uniform, and glaring at Jelly, Fred, all entering or exiting customers of Everything Mart, and even the store itself.

"Have you seen a little orange-haired girl?" he asked Geneva and Fred, barely waiting for an answer before continuing. This was a new policeman, or he would've realized that Joy was quite nearby, since Jelly was there, instead of going on about her terrible deeds. "That little troublemaker... You know what she did? Well, first she dared to disrupt a game of tic tac toe," the O with an X through it badge on his arm testified to his adoration of the game, "And then she had the nerve to jaywalk through MY territory! As soon as I find her, she's going to be in big trouble. I'm going to make sure she doesn't get out of prison for a year!" Realizing his complete lack of reason for sending Joy as far as prison, the policeman amended, "Or at least jail overnight."

 

[jelly_bean]

"Joy!! Welcome back! Why on earth did you lea--you did? Score!!" Jelly cried gleefully, switching from about five different emotions in two seconds. She wasn't fond of the tic tac toers either, and often did just as Joy did, if not worse. Sometimes she even went around in a wig and moustache, challenging people to a game and then sabotaging it. But she instantly realized what that meant, and whirled away to avoid looking like she was speaking to a garbage can. Not that it wasn't normal for her; but she was trying for normal normal.

Geneva watched with unconcern as the policeman zoomed up from nowhere, jayriding recklessly up from the street onto where they stood. She watched with even less interest as he made a crashing stop. But when he hopped up unharmed and dusty, she tried to make herself look concerned and like a good, law-abiding citizen. The fact that he was glaring and not shouting was a good sign to Jelly, and so she smiled. "Mr. Postman" Fred looked shocked, before also turning to glare at Jelly. Except she was all he glared at, because Joy was hiding and he would've felt silly glaring at a garbage can. "I have more important things to do then stand around and watch you and your shenanigans again. I'm not part of this and I won't be arrested for it! I have too many mathematical discoveries to make. Good day." He said, the frown evident behind his own moustache as he walked away even as the officer asked them a question.

Jelly was relieved at that, for she knew he may take revenge for her calling him Mr. Postman all these years. Or Mr. Post-It.... "I have. And she was very suspicious looking, with her hair as orange as a radioactive carrot!" She said, as she knew a normal person might say. Geneva knew full well he was new(as she didn't recognize him and he didn't recognize her) and didn't know about J&J yet, and she was going to take advantage of it. "She did what? Oh, the outrage!" She mustered with all the theatrical talent she had. "And jaywalking too? Why, someone like that should be lined up and shot! Sir, if such a person was nearby, I'd have her under citizen's arrest immediately. But she left quite quickly, probably searching for another poor soul's tic tac toe game to spoil." But his last comment was what made Geneva nearly break character. Prison for a YEAR?! He can't... he can't do that! Even if he does have a glorious moustache. She thought to herself, realizing she must do something different, perhaps switch tactics. She made up her mind to try and reform her jaywalking ways; she was getting tired of being a near-jailbird. Maybe I'll get a moped.

"Sir, I'm just absolutely sure she didn't mean any harm. I got a good look at her, and she looked innocent as an angel, even with her suspicious hair. ...By the by. I noticed that darling badge on your shoulder, and I must say, does there happen to be a tic tac toe club? I just adore the game. But I'm not very good. Can you help me?" She said, trying to be as charming as possible, even forcing a southern twang in her voice. She quickly latched on the policeman's arm and started trying to lead him away, her antannae bouncing as she thought, RUN, Joy, run! Scoot! He's new enough not to know to cart us off on-sight of a street! Jelly wasn't sure if Joy could get the message, as she wasn't wearing similar antannae, but she was smart and would figure out what Jelly was trying to pull.

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

Jeremy, the policeman, sputtered and huffed as he heard Geneva's description of the "innoccent" trouble-maker, completely ignoring Fred (He didn't like the mail; all it brought him were bills, so he didn't those who brought him mail either). He was about to start reminding this strange girl with bouncing antennae that the other girl, the one he'd been chasing, was far from innoccent, when Jelly took his arm and started talking about the amazing game of tic tac toe.

Tic tac toe was the love of Jeremy's life, and if he'd been any good at it, he would've played professionally. But he wasn't good at the game at all, so he had to be content with protecting the tic tac toe players of the town, and other people too, if the tic tac toe players didn't need help at the same time. But he knew everything about the club, and immediately began telling Jelly everything he knew, suprised that she didn't know about it. "Of course there is! It's over on Mason street, next to the old bakery. I'm sure you've seen the building; it's three stories tall, and has a big sign on the front. Everyone who matters belongs to that club, and there's always a game going on..." He continued talking, barely pausing for breath.

Meanwhile, Joy was peeking over the garbage can and, with the aid of the message Jelly was sending through her antennae, realized what her friend was doing. Quickly and quietly, she snuck into Everything Mart, deciding to dye her hair neon-yellow, so the police man wouldn't recognize her if he ever saw her again. And she was going to get a pogo stick, one of those ones that could bounce up to six feet high, so she wouldn't have to jay walk. Of course, she wasn't quite sure if jay-bouncing wasn't illegal as well, but it didn't really matter. And she needed a pair of antennae like Jelly's, but those couldn't be bought at Everything Mart. So she'd just have to be content with getting the pogo stick, and the hair dye, and whatever else she could grab on her way to the check out for her shopping spree.

But she wasn't going to start without Geneva, so Joy waited just inside the store, inside one of those clothing racks where no one could see her (except one young woman who was looking at one the dresses on the rack, and who ran away when she saw Joy there), so the policeman wouldn't catch her if he came insde. I hope he doesn't arrest her for some reason... she thought worriedly, watching the door carefully.

 

[jelly_bean]

((Lol, that four minutes seems to be dragging into an hour. But it can't be helped!))

Geneva knew she had him like a fish on a hook when his eyes lit up at the start of a tic tac toe conversation and he allowed her to lead him in another direction. "Of course there is! It's over on Mason street, next to the old bakery. I'm sure you've seen the building; it's three stories tall, and has a big sign on the front. Everyone who matters belongs to that club, and there's always a game going on..." At that point, Geneva wasn't paying any attention to him anymore. She, in fact, knew everything about the tic tac toe club of main street. She at one point had been one of the highest ranked members, taking the game seriously and competing whenever she could. Then, she one day saw a pair of antannae in the window of a store and fell head over heels in love with them. The day after she bought them, she quit the club. A week later, she made friends with Joy. Instead of being the triumph of the 3-T club, she was now the terror.

At the moment, Jelly figured Joy was now successfully away from the garbage can. But she couldn't escape the policeman just yet. Joy is most likely going to be waiting for me to cheer her on her shopping spree before she starts, and if I abandon him suspiciously, he'll tail me back to there and pop Joy a good one. How do I get him safely tucked away somewhere, far far away? Her antannae were bobbing furiously, and she was trying her best to nonchalantly hold them still, all the while keeping a good grip on Policeman Jeremy's arm. Wait! Joy probably has a disguise by now. It should be okay to go back. She concluded, then polished up her best smile.

"Mr. Policeman, I ever so hate to interrupt such a fascinating conversation, but I do have to make a run to the store... grocery shopping and things. We'll have to continue this conversation another time. It's been fun!" Jelly said, in one slightly hurried breath. Without even waiting a reply, she did an about-face and sprinted back to the store. Panting, once inside she whispered as loudly as she could, "Yoj! Yoooj! Where are you??"

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

((Oh yeah... I think it's open now. ))

"Oh... Well..." Jeremy was rather disappointed at having his monologue on the wonders of tic tac toe cut off. "Maybe we can play a game of tic tac toe together..." But Jelly was already gone, and his last word ended in a sigh. "...sometime." Jeremy the policeman had completely forgotten about the jay-walking orange-haired girl, and was instead thinking of how happy he was to meet another tic tac toe-loving young woman, even if this particular young woman wore antennae. Of course, he was also rather disappointed at her sudden exit, but the store was about to close, so she had an excuse. He sighed again as he picked up his dented bicycle, and started wheeling it away.

Inside Everything Mart, Joy was getting ready to start the spree without Geneva, when she saw her friend enter, alone thankfully, and heard her whispering Joy's codename. Someday we really should come up with better codenames, was her thought, as she whispered "Aveneg," loudly in return, and slipped out from her hiding place, pushing several pants off the display thing on her way. Trying to look inconspicuous, Joy immediately turned back to pick the over-decorated jeans up, and place them back where they were supposed to be.

Then she started stretching; bending over and touching her toes, reaching over her head, and random other stuff that she thought she remembered people doing at the last (and only) track meet she went to, about seven years ago. The things may not have been very affective, but they looked slightly athletic. Joy was going to be completely ready for this shopping spree, and she was going to get everything she needed. As she stretched, she talked to Jelly. "So how did you get rid of that crazy policeman?"

 

[jelly_bean]

((Maybe? Just maybe? Awwww! I feel so bad for Jeremy! Especially since he's dealing with a con-....girl. I wonder what'll happen when he finds out about those two?))

Geneva was long-removed from the poor policeman, but it was unlikely to be the last meeting of the three. She knew of a tournament happening just that evening... and she was fully planning to attend. She was relieved when Joy made her way from under the clothing rack, for she knew Joy was an expert hide-and-seek player, and often couldn't be found for hours on end. Geneva looked around as discreetly as possible, and only saw an employee putting up a clearance sign, not paying them any attention. The whole town was in the process of getting used to those two, so some things were no longer surprising to regulars. (The town did have a moderate number of tourists, though, who always were surprised.)

Jelly watched with interest as Joy did some stretches. "Wow! I didn't know you were so athletic, Joy! You should teach me those stretches sometime. Let's go find Mr. Postman, I wonder if he's done his spree yet?" She said, beaming at her friend. Reaching over and linking arms with Joy, she began dragging her along through the store, out of the clothing department. "How did I get rid of him? Easy--targeted his weak spot. It's like when a man is overly conceited, to get unwanted attention off yourself, you just ask him, 'Tell me about yourself' and look interested. I just asked him about tic tac toe. I might've been there all day! But I do feel sort of sorry for him, he doesn't even have a clue about us. It's like offering a fish a worm with a hook in it. That and with his love for tic tac toe, we just may have earned our get out of jail free card." She explained, making it much wordier than needed, hoping Joy picked up at least half of what she said.

Geneva perked a moment later. "Look! Mr. Postman!" And there he was, standing in front of an aisle with a shopping cat, standing behind a yellow line. The owner of the store and a couple sponsors were there also, looking disappointed at the lack of hype. They didn't think a girl wearing antannae and an orange-haired girl along with a couple of shoppers milling around counted as successful marketing. Fred looked excited as he gripped the handle of the cart, and he even smiled as he noticed the two J's. "So you made it! Even I am impressed." He declared, as he cast a glance at the owner, who shook his head at the unasked question. "Thirty seconds." Jelly cocked her head to one side, confused, before she made a quiet meeping sound. "He's about to start! That must mean you're next after him!"

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

((He'll go crazy, and start stalking them so he can arrest them for something. ))

Joy waved at Jelly in between stretches, before returning to her serious, but rather silly-looking, game face. She was running through her list in her head. Hair dye, pogo stick, something else that I can't remember... Why can't my memory last longer? As she finished stretching, Joy smiled. "Thanks, I learned them from watching gymnasts." Of course, she had watched the gymnasts - on tv, and hadn't seen a thing about stretching, but gymnasts seemed like they were supposed to stretch a lot. "I don't know, I haven't see-" And then Jelly was dragging her along, at Jelly's usual pace. Not that Joy wasn't used to how fast Geneva walked, but this had come as a surprise, despite how much Joy should have expected it. "-seen him," she finished, as she caught her breath from the sudden start.

While Jelly talked, Joy glanced around at the displays, looking for things that she would want to get in her spree, and trying to remember what she'd forgotten. There was a huge display of supersoakers and water balloons, and a trampoline, but she wasn't sure that she'd be able to get the huge thing into her cart. "How smart of you," she commented at an opportune moment in Jelly's monologue about her simple dispatch of the policeman, before the words really sank in. "Another tic tac toe fanatic?! Aren't there already too many of those in this crazy town?" Not that there was much more she could do about it. Joy was already up to her neck in tic tac toe sabotage.

Joy laughed when she saw Fred and heard Geneva's greeting, and it was a moment after Jelly that she realized what was going on. She was in the middle of waving to Fred when the realization hit her while Jelly's words reached her ears at the same time. "Oh my! I've got to find a cart then!" she exclaimed, before whirling frantically, forgetting that she had ten minutes while Mr. Postman shopped, and not noticing the two other carts standing next to the owner. "Jelly, do you see any carts? And what color hair dye should I get? There's so much to do! Is there anything you want that I could try to get?" And then the owner blew his whistle and Fred's ten minute spree started in a squeak of cart wheels.

 

[jelly_bean]

((...........................that sounds fun. Well, we'll probably have some activity in the 'evening' when Geneva goes to the tic tac toe tournament and drags Joy along with her. We could have him conveniently be there, or after they cause a ruckus he can be called in to come to investigate.))

Jelly had successfully not heard anything until Joy's voice exclaiming about tic tac toe fanatics finally penetrated her ears. Blaming her daydreaming on her antannae, she took the headband off and tucked it under her arm. Without the antannae on, she looked oddly.... normal. Continuing on with Joy's intruding thought, it was true enough that the town in itself wasn't quite normal. Tic tac toe was the most seriously taken ....sport, if you would, inside the city gates. One troubled young man nicknamed 'Cucumber' had even committed suicide after losing an important game. The whole town, save Joy, Jelly, and a couple of mice that lived in the sewer, was incredibly passionate concerning the game and many stores were dedicated to it. Those who were vocal about their dislike or disinterest were often shunned, except for in the case of the two Js. That was only because they were considered to have a disease that didn't allow them to like tic tac toe, which everyone referred to as anti-c-tac-toe, which was strange since it WAS true that Geneva at one point was the tic tac toe champion.

She was startled again out of her train of thought as she heard Joy frantically bombarding her with questions.
"Jelly, do you see any carts? And what color hair dye should I get? There's so much to do! Is there anything you want that I could try to get?" She tried to look calm and answer the questions, but instead she looked questionable and answered, "Calm. Ah! I mean, yes! Look! That shopper over there has a cart! And there's another, in Fred's hands! And most of the shoppers have carts, and this store has carts... get blue! Or green! Or both! And pick up some red, will you? My praying mantis is starting to fade back to green again." Geneva managed, before she heard the whistle.

"Look, we both know you can run. You were on the track team, once! Several years ago! You just grab whatever you feel like and we'll find a way to make use of it. Just grab a lot." She said, in what could've been mistaken for a reassuring voice. But she was never too good at that, so she might have been worrying about her lunch, inwardly. "Go, Mr. Postman! Go!" She cheered.

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

((Yeah, it's going to be an interesting night. He'll probably be there, unless he's on duty, which he shouldn't be, because he has been all morning. ))

Joy barely acknowledged Jelly's advice with a nod and a quick, "Blue, green, red, right," as she rushed over to the empty carts, which she had finally noticed. She grabbed the first one, and started toward the start/finish line, but then she turned around because the wheels were too squeaky. The second was wobbly, and the third was both squeaky and wobbly, but she didn't feel like turning to try the fourth, which she would later discover was perfect, instead continuing to the side of the line. She had less than ten minutes left until it was herturn, since Fred had started his spree, and it was supposed to last ten minutes. She took a deep breath; soon she would be running full speed through the store, and back to the check out. If only she could remember how long ten seconds lasted; she knew how to figure it out, but she was rather preoccupied at the moment.

From what she could see, everything she wanted was in one of the first few displays, which was good; Joy didn't really want to remind Jelly that her years of track had been spent doing the long jump, which didn't really help while pushing a shopping cart. And it didn't help that Jelly's tone was so indecipherable; "Jelly, did you forget your lunch again? I could try to grab groceries if you need them," she called, hoping that she had interpreted the tone right. She knew from experience that Jelly could say anything and mean anything else while she was saying it, without anyone being able to tell what she meant. Thankfully her head was clearing up a little, and her nervousness was fading slightly.

While listening to Jelly's reply, Joy was inwardly counting, but then she lost count, so she had to count out loud, which she proceeded to do in a very loud voice. "ONE MISSISSIPPI! TWO MISSISSIPPI! THREE MISSISSIPPI! FOUR MISSISSIPPI!" And so on up to ten mississppi's; this was one of those times when Joy really wished she had a watch. She couldn't remember how fast ten seconds went, so she was trying to estimate, to the frustration of the owner and employees, who were plugging their ears and glaring at her. "Oh, that's not very much time." she commented as she finished. It would be rather difficult to get the cart much of anywhere and back in that amount of time. Of course, she might have counted too fast; she could never tell without a clock right in front of her.

 

[jelly_bean]

((So it works out swimmingly! Let's just hope he doesn't put in overtime for one *cough* reason or another...))

Geneva watched with anticipation as Joy tested out the carts she had pointed out. She heaved a sigh when she heard the telltale squeak of the wheels and the jerky motion in which the wheels moved. If only she had her handy dandy bag with her, it held everything one could imagine except the normal feminine items; including a small can of WD-40. From eye drops to a screwdriver kit to small books, her yellow bag was always stuffed full with things. ("If I have to lug around a purse all day, I'm going to make it worth it!") So busy in thought was she that she didn't notice her friend's concentrated look, which was quite impressive indeed. She was also trying to think if she wanted Chinese or Subway's for lunch, which is why she was precisely no help to solving Joy's inward dilemma.

But what she was was surprised when Joy apparently read her mind, forgetting her reassuring-or-is-it-lunch voice she had donned just moments ago. "I didn't, I was thinking about what it should be. What compliments a half-digested butter-saturated bagel? I don't think I need any gro--" She cut herself off when she figured out how Joy had read her mind. "No, no! I didn't mean to use my lunch-wanderings voice, I meant to be reassuring! You know... even if you do fail to get anything at all because you trip on your own feet, humiliate yourself in front of the entire store and waste your opportunity of a lifetime, you'll still have me and we still have some money to get lunch!" Geneva corrected, once again attempting her reassuring voice, hoping to sound less hungry. She said what she did to diffuse any of Joy's own morbid thoughts, not thinking that if she didn't have any up to that point, she would now. She gave a smile and suddenly plopped the pair of antannae on top of her friend's head.

At the same moment, Joy proceeded to start counting in her outdoor voice the Mississippis in the world. So, of course, Geneva whirled around trying to get a look at the Mississippis. "Time? Time? What does Mississippi have to do with time?" She said. The grocer stopped scowling long enough to holler, "Five minutes!" to Fred, who had whizzed down a nearby aisle a moment ago. Then, abruptly, he turned and started whispering to the sponsor, who looked at him at length, then nodded firmly. The short conversation, which the girls had not heard, was such: "Look, those two birds are gonna scare away the customers, with that one wailing one mississippi two, and the other blabbering on and on and on 'till a fellow's ears are ready to fall off his head. Whaddyah say about just having the carrot-top start now and getting it over with? I 'spect she can avoid colliding with the other fella, and I don't think I can tolerate five more minutes of those two."

So with the sponsor's affirmation, the grocer turned to Joy and smiled. "You're up. Are you ready? You're startin' early."

 

[Joy_Everlasting]

"Oh... Well..." Joy still wasn't very reassured, but at least Jelly didn't sound hungry this time. "And I think Chinese would go great with a half-digested bagel." Of course, it would have to be half-digested as well to go perfectly, but Jelly would probably have a hard time achieving that before eating it, so Joy didn't say anything more about that, instead thinking about buying mountain climbing gear. Joy had always loved mountain climbing, ever since she was a young child watching people climb in movies she'd felt like that was the sport for her. And watching more while growing up strengthened that feeling. Of course, she'd never actually climbed anything other than a tree or a staircase, but Joy just knew that she would be a natural. And even if she wasn't, good ropes were always useful, even if not for climbing mountains.

The five minute warning interupted Joy's thoughts, and started her nervousness up at a higher intensity than before; only five more minutes until she got her chance. What if she failed? Joy was always prone to doubts, and now was no exception. And then, to top it all off, the grocer turned and came toward her. Joy was sure that he was going to say that there'd been some mistake, and that she hadn't actually won anything, or that her loud counting had caused the sponsor to take back her spree. But what he did say suprised her even more; "You're up. Are you ready? You're starting early." The suprise combined with her high levels of anxiety caused a rather unexpected reponse; Joy fainted, collapsing behind her cart.

Despite all appearances, this wasn't a real fainting spell, though Joy had had those before. But she had read too many old mystery/romances, from way back in the times when women fainted whenever they were surprised, or frightened, or anything of the sort. Of course, Joy hadn't realized that this was because women back then wore corsets, and thus couldn't breathe especially when they were excited, so she thought that this was what all women should do when they were surprised. She had also realized that she couldn't faint on whim like most of the women in those stories could, unless she held her breath for a while. But that took away from seeing the shocked faces when she collapsed, as everyone could tell by the blue color of her face when she was holding her breath. So Joy resorted to falling over and closing her eyes when she was suprised, which was definitely right now, so that's what she was doing, despite all appearances. It did get her a few bruises, but she didn't mind.

 

[jelly_bean]

"JOY!!" Geneva shrieked, paling at the sight of her supposedly unconscious friend. "Stop, drop, and roll! Duck and cover! Say no to drugs! Somebody DO something!!" She said in a panic. Jelly had seen Joy faint at only one other time and this seemed different. Her face had been a calming shade of blue in the last episode, now her coloring was normal. "Joy! Joy!" She said, with theatrical anguish. "How could you leave me? You're too young to die." At this point, Jelly's hand was placed dramatically at her forehead, for she had also recently been reading medieval dramas. "Cruel world! How can you strike at one so innocent?" You would think she would have bothered to check her friend's pulse, but that would've taken logical thought.

The grocer, at this point, had gone from startled to annoyed. "She ain't dead, you babbling weirdo! She fainted, 'er somethin'. Oh, lordie, how much more can I take?" He moaned to himself, slapping his forehead. "Go cart her off to the storeroom until she comes to, then we'll see about her run. I want that finished as soon as possible, that's for sure...." Again, he finished off talking to himself. Jelly nodded gravely, before somehow managing to get Joy fully in the cart. She began wheeling her friend down the aisles, drawing many a strange look from the other shoppers. Geneva caught sight of one of the employees and shouted, "Yoo hoo! Where's the storeroom?" The girl, decked out with several piercings and a purple streak in her dyed blonde hair, eyed her as if she were a freak. "Over in the back, says 'Keep Out' on the door. Why...?"
"Thank you very much!" She interrupted, giving the girl a merry wave before continuing to roll Joy along.

She shoved the barred door open and entered the darkened room. A single lightbulb hung from a string was the only source of light, but it was bright enough for Geneva to see two more employees.... playing tic tac toe. "Oh, no! I'm in enemy territory!" She whispered under her breath. "Evasive maneuvers!" Jelly abruptly changed her course(which went from straight to left), much to the consternation of the cart, which gave a loud squeak in protest. Ignoring the sound, she wheeled her and her friend out of view, which was behind a series of shelves stuffed with peppered corn.

"What the heck was that?"
"I dunno. Your move."