Meanwhile over in the Age 233....

Meanwhile over in the Age 233, the vvvrrrrrmmmmmmmmm sound continues, and even begins to sound slightly less muffled and slightly more echoey. No change is apparent on the outside appearance of the confetti mound, however.

At long last, the train pulled into the Town Station. Unlike the previous stops, this station was huge and filled with people, but the forumites noticed that there were no tunnel people among them. The roof of the station was supported high above by massive and impressive columns, leaving a relatively open platform, ringed by shops and newsstands.

"Wow!" the forumites gasped. By contrast, the tunnel people looked on the impressive platform with disgust.

"Town Station!" the conductor hollered, "EXPRESS delivery. Now, give me my hat!"

As CK gave the conductor his hat back, the tunnel people on the train looked out at the platform.
"Ready to brace the comments?" asked Dorian.
"Now or never I guess..." replied Kari.
"Come out with us," said Urdu, "since we are going to the same location,"
The tunnel people looked at each other and shrugged. "Might as well..."
And so the doors opened, and there was silence on the other side. The two groups stared at each other.
"Umm... excuse us," Marae stated as she tried to get off the train, but the crowd refused to move.
"Why are there tunnel people on the train?" "Don't they know they're not allowed?" "Is there a janitor on the train to clean up all of the dirt they left behind?" "I'll wait for the next one," were only some of the comments that the forumites could hear over the massive amounts of comments at once that occurred after Marae talked.
"How are we getting off?" Sora asked. Toz shrugged.
And suddenly, it was quiet once again. The forumites and tunnel people "What happened?" asked Eliza.
"Yeah, some of their mouths are still open!" exclaimed Cat.
"Dang, no more tea..."
Everyone looked at Speedy as she was looking at her empty cup. "What? I need more to drink..."
"Speedy, did you do something to the crowd?" asked CK.
"They're only locked. They were noisy and giving very flammatory, degrading remarks from what I heard... not allowed," Speedy rationalized.
"Ok, but how do we move them?" asked Doris.
"Pick them up and move them I guess... I'll unlock them once we leave the station," Speedy said with a shrug.
The forumites "Well, you have to admit, it does somewhat help," Toz commented.
And with that, the forumites and tunnel people worked together to move the people out of the way so they could get a path out of the station. It took about 30 minutes, but the group finally left the station. Speedy did her little mod-magic. "Ok, they're unlocked... where's the town hall?"

Meanwhile, at the mound of multicolored shredded paper that covers the Age 233 Bar....

The vvvrrrrmmmmmmmmmmm sound has been joined with a faint yet rhythmatic chukah-chukah-chukah-chukah sound.

The confetti mountain seems to shiver despite theabsence of any breeze.

As the forumites emerged from the train station, they looked around for some indication of which way to go next. The street outside was filled with a chaotic bustle of people, running this way and that over a street that had a thin coating of confetti.

"Will we never be rid of this plague?" Eliza lamented at the sight of colorful paper.

1000 Posts swallowed hard, saying, "Well, there could be worse things..." The tunnel people just glared at him.

"Anyway, where do we go from here?" Speedy asked.

Sora pointed at a nearby cluster of street signs and observed, "There's our directions." Many of the steel signs had been covered in confetti-mache signs that pointed in different directions. Apparently, the recent pandemic had forced some changes in where the business of the city was done. The sign for the Town Hall pointed to the center of a large confetti mound, but a confetti sign that had been pasted to the bottom of it pointed towards the outskirts of town.

"I guess we go that way," Marae commented.

"What a minute!" Unlucky 13 shouted, "Where's Cat?!" The forumites looked around, but there were only two mogs among the group. Cat suddenly emerged from the station, carrying a few large thermoses.

"Where were you?" CK asked.

"Oh, I was just looking for some hot water for Speedy, but all I could find was a bunch of expresso."

"YES!!!" Speedy declared, swiping the thermoses. The forumites and tunnel people all

"Mmm... That's better!" remarked Speedy as she opened a thermos and poured out a cup in the cap and took a sip.

After a few more sips, Speedy looked up at everyone and asked, "Is everyone ready to go?"

Everyone looked at each other and agreed that they were. "Ready when you are."

"Ok. Here Urdu. Carry these please." she said, more as an order than a request, as she thrust a couple of the thermoses into his hands. "You're in charge of these. Don't lose 'em."

"Me? Why me? I don't drink coffee," Urdu protested. "You're the one that drinks coffee, not me."

"Yes. But my hands are full. I need one for the cup and one for the thermos. My mod stick under one arm. I'm full up. Have to be ready at a moments notice. And besides, It's espresso, and since you don't drink coffee either, I know none of it will turn up missing. It won't turn up missing, will it?"

"I'll try not to let it out of my sight," says Urdu, looking warily at the mod stick. "I'll just have to make room for it."

Urdu shuffles a few things around in his coat pockets to sling the thermoses, one on each side to balance out the weight.

"That ought to do it I think. Ready to go now Speedy?"

"Err... umm... You might say that. I've had a lot of coffee. Is there a ladies room around here?"

All of the forumites just roll their eyes at Speedy.

"We'd better ask one of the locals," says CK. "No telling where they had to move those."

As the forumites looked around for a local to inquire about a restroom, a small hitchiker, a small Martian potato, decided to make it's timely escape, dropping from the side pocket of Urdu's coat, and blended in quickly with the colorful drifts of confetti that were everywhere, without notice to anyone.

Vvvrrrrmmmmmmm-chukah-chukah-chukah-vvvrrrrmmmmmm-chukah-chkah-chukah-vvvrrrrmmmmm.....

A well established tunnel gapped through the confetti mound around where the Age 233's door usually could be seen. Just outside a sign sat on top a stand, proudly proclaiming:

quote:

Regular, Printer, and Construction Paper:
Colored and MulitColored
COMING SOON!!!

"We need to get to the town hall... I don't know how much time we have to find a bathroom," Marae moaned.
"There MUST be a bathroom there," commented Toz, "Speedy, can you hold it until then?"
Speedy winced. "I guess so..."
"Good, now let's start walking... quickly," Marae stated, picking up the walking pace.
While Cat wanted to continue sniffing around the confetti signs, his brothers managed to pull him away and drag him with the other forumites.

At least they were not alone. A large crowd of people were in front of them, about 300 feet ahead of them. According to the tunnel people, those people lived in the city and more than likely, they were going to the town hall meeting as well.
"Great, let's follow them," said Sora.
"Hey CK, would you happen to have a port-a-potty in your pocket?" asked Speedy.
"Umm... I don't think so..."
"Ok, that's it, I'm flying ahead," Speedy moaned, and she took flight, speeding ahead.
"Dang, she's quick," commented Dorian.
"She's not called Speedy for nothing," said Unlucky 13. "But too bad she didn't bring us along,"
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be there soon..." said Marae.

She couldn't belive her eyes, as she squinted through a pair of antique binoculars. "It looks like CK, Marae and Speedy" she said to her constant companion and friend since Mystillarium III, Big Blue. "I never thought we'd see them again".

"They must be trying to find the town hall, Blue, how can we help them?"

Big Blue had her own idea - and with that she floated high above the building so as to act as a beacon.

Suddenly Speedy flew right into Big Blue and the two of them fell to the roof of the makeshift Town Hall.

"Quick, I need a restroom - which way???" whimpered Speedy.

Blue just stared blankly and seeing that she was going to be of no help whatsoever, Speedy took to flight in a spiral downward, to the entrances of the building.

Mara and Big Blue looked out into the distance and she could still see the remaining forumites, slowly venturing to the make-shift town hall.

"FIVE MINUTES UNTIL TOWN MEETING COMMENCES!!!" was blared across some loudspeakers that were hung outside of the building.

"Oh dear, Big Blue! The group won't make it in time! What shall we do?" Mara moaned, looking at her loyal companion fish.

Big blue just looked at her.

"Of course! You can help carry most of them over here... we might need to make two trips due to the large group but at least they'll make it on time! Good idea!" chimed Mara.

And with that, she climbed onto Big Blue and flew out towards the forumites from the town hall.

Marae gets a panicked look on her face. "Five minutes? Five minutes?! How am I supposed to get caught up in five minutes?"

"I don't know," says Urdu, "but since none of us knows how to run a town meeting, I think you'd better. After all, this was your idea."

"You're... you're right... OK..." Marae gulps, then quickly digs in her pocket, and pulls out a copy of Robert's Rules of Order. "Well, that's not what I was looking for, but at least now we know how to run a town meeting."

The forumites stare at her blankly.

"OK, OK, I'll get caught up! Give me five minutes!"

"Can't do that," says CK. "We've only got four."

Marae groans and digs once more in her pocket, finds her script, and starts reading, hoping she can figure out where she is in it before it's too late...

At this point Mara and Big Blue arrive, and everyone agrees that Marae, even though she is still reading her script, ought to be among the first group to go, since she knows how to run a meeting.

The first contingent of forumites piles on Big Blue's back and is swiftly delivered to the Town Hall; Mara and Big Blue take off immediately to race back for the rest.

"THIS MEETING IS CALLED TO ORDER!!!" comes booming from the loudspeakers; Marae is still reading. She jumps, then does the only thing she can think of to do:

"FIVE EXTRA LARGE: ONE WITH MUSHROOMS, ONIONS, PEPPERONI, AND BROCCOLI; ONE WITH ONIONS AND SPINACH; ONE WITH HALF SUN-DRIED TOMATOES ABD HALF RED ONIONS; ONE WITH EXTRA CHEESE, HALF ITALIAN SAUSAGE, AND HALF GREEN PEPPER, ONE WITH DOUBLE CHEESE, THE WORKS, AND HOLD THE ANCHOVIES; ONE PLAIN CHEESE; NO, WAIT, THAT'S SIX EXTRA LARGE; THEN WE NEED FOUR HAMBURGERS: RARE, MEDIUM, WELL-DONE AND OVERDONE; COKE, SEVEN-UP, MOUNTAIN DEW, DIET PEPSI, DIET COKE, DIET RITE, DIET WRONG, AND SPRITE; AND TWO HARD-BOILED EGGS!" she bellows, while her companions stare at her.

"What was that for?" asks Speedy.

"The meeting was called to order, so I'm ordering. That oughta keep 'em busy for a while." Marae goes back to catching up.

The head chairman and the rest of the town council went

"Umm... is there a pizza chef in the hall currently?" asked the chairman into the microphone.

The attendees looked amongst themselves, shrugging and whispering over the outburst.

"Oi! Someone aska for a pit-za?" chimed someone from the back with a heavy Italian accent.

"Oh, good, yes... um... could the woman who shouted out the order please repeat it?" asked the chairman, "I only wrote down up to the Works..."

As the council chairman furiously scribbled down Marae's lengthy lunch order, the other council members shuffled papers and adjusted microphones...

"Marae?" says Urdu, as Marae continues to rattle off the order. "Marae!"

"Yes. What is it Urdu? Can't you see I'm busy repeating the order?!"

"Umm... Yes. Sorry... But could you add a mexican pizza with grilled onions?.... Please?"

"What brought this on? You just trying to be different?..... Oh all right. Next time.... A little more warning please? Since the fellow is Italian, he may not have some of the ingredients for one of those, but I'll relay it anyway."

"AND A MEXICAN PIZZA WITH GRILLED ONIONS!" added Marae, as she finished repeating the order.

The council members looked back and forth to each other, obviously a little puzzled, not knowing quite what a mexican pizza was, but wrote down the order anyway, and passed it on to the member in charge of food safety.

The council chairman then tapped the microphone and proceeded to speak, "Ma'am?"

Marae, startled, while still flipping through the pages of Robert's Rules, drops the book, "Yes?" says Marae.

"This is highly irregular. This proposal should have been brought up for consideration for the agenda for this council meeting, but given the unusual circumstances of this meeting, we'll try to look past the disruption of protocol and decorum. Please, do try to refrain from such deviations in the future. Please see our pizza shop owner for a resolution to your request."

With this, the council chairman instructed the food safety council member to pass the order on to the pizza shop owner.

"Now... FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS! TOWN BEAUTIFICATION! WHO'S IN CHARGE THERE? ANYONE?!

"AYE! THAT WOULD BE ME!" shouted a high pitch voice.

Everyone turned towards the right of the front panel, where a rather short person was standing on top of a few boxes which were placed next to a covered easel.

"MY NAME IS FREDERICK VON SNOBBISH, LEAD LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT FOR PRETTY-TREES-R-US! PRETTY-TREES-R-US HAS BEEN HIRED TO INVESTIGATE THE CAUSE AND RESOLUTION FOR THE SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF PAPERS THAT HAS INFECTED THIS TOWN!" the short man shouted. Some of the people in front of him were wincing due to him being loud AND high-pitched.

A moment later, a microphone was handed to von Snobbish, but he shook his head. "THIS IS MY NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE, WHICH IS GREAT FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING! NOW, AS MANY OF YOU MAY ALREADY KNOW, THIS PAPER SUDDENLY APPEARED ON MARCH 20TH OF THIS YEAR. OUR ESTIMATES CONCLUDE THAT OVER 10 TONNES OF PAPER HAS BEEN SPREAD OVER A FIVE SQUARE MILE AREA, AS IT CAN BE SEEN IN THIS FIGURE!" chimed the man as he removed the cover, showing a map with a large circle encompassing the majority of the town center.

A baby was noticed to be crying.
"Can you please lower your voice? You're hurting my baby's ears," commented a mother from the middle of the hall.

"THIS IS MY NORMAL SPEAKING VOICE!" chimed the man again, "SO PLEASE REMOVE THE BABY FROM THIS HALL BECAUSE HIS CRYING IS MAKING IT HARD FOR ME TO HEAR MYSELF! PRETTY-TREES-R-US WERE QUITE ANNOYED AT THE AMOUNT OF TREES THAT WERE USED TO CREATE THIS MUCH PAPER, SO WE CAME IN TO INVESTIGATE THE SOURCE OF THE SUCH PAPER. THE HIGH LOCATION OF THE CONFETTI HAS BEEN ASSUMED TO BE THE SOURCE, WHICH IS LOCATED APPROXIMATELY HERE," said von Snobbish as he used his pointer to smack against the map. "ACCORDING TO THE TOWN PLANNING BOARD, THIS IS THE RELATIVE LOCATION OF THE AGE 233 BAR, A LOCAL ECCENTRIC DRINKING ESTABLISHMENT THAT HAS EXISTED IN THIS TOWN FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS,"

"HEY! We're not crazy!" cried CK.

The people in the hall all turned around and stared at the (now complete) forumite group.

"I SEE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BAR ARE PRESENT! NOW, DO YOU CARE TO EXPLAIN TO US ON HOW ALL OF THIS PAPER CAME INTO YOUR POSSESSION?" shouted/said von Snobbish.

The forumites look at each other. No one, it appears, actually has an answer to that question...

Suddenly there is a whoosh and a blur and an object swoops down from the sky, fwooshing through the entry way and landing with a flourish in the center of the meeting hall.

Tora then trips over her broom as she attempts to dismount, and lands in a heap on the floor. Marae and CK hasten to help her to her feet.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" she says breathlessly, as she quickly speaks the charm to restore her letter opener from a broom to its normal (and more portable) form:

Tazer flight, Tazer quite!

"Why are you sorry?" asks Marae, looking at her friend. "That is, other than the fact that you're in a sorry state..."

Tora tidies her hair and brushes herself off. "Better?"

"Much."

They are interrupted by a booming voioce from the loudspeakers: "WILL THE MEETING PLEASE COME TO ORDER?!!!"

"Oh, sure! I'd like a double cheeseburger and a double chocolate milkshake--" Tora begins; the remainder of her order is drowned out by a lengthy groan from the loudspeakers.

"THE ORDERING PHASE IS OVER! WE ARE NOW TAKING UP--"

"The tax!" calls out someone from the floor.

"THE CHAIR RECOGNIZES THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY. WE ARE NOT TAKING UP THE TAX; THAT'S NEW BUSINESS."

"Why don't we take up the carpet?" comes yet another voice. "We're discussing town beautification, and that mangy old carpeting certainly is an eyesore."

"THE CHAIR RECOGNIZES THE VICE PRESIDENT IN CHARGE OF INTERIOR DECORATION AND VISUAL QUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE. YOU HAVE A POINT..."

"I still say we need to take up the tax!!!" bellows the Comptroller, feeling very much like she's losing comptrol. I mean control.

"She's right, you gotta take up the tacks before you can take up the carpet!" says the Vice President in Charge of Interior Decoration and Visual Quality in the Workplace, who feels a thrill of importance every time he thinks of his splendidly long title.

"Marae, I just found out about this town meeting," Tora explains quickly, while the meeting dissolves briefly into a mixture of laughs and groans, punctuated by a few blank stares. "What's going on?"

"They think the bar is the source of the confetti problem, and they plan to do us in, I think," Marae replies.

"Oh, they can't do that! Not now that business is booming! Well, chukah-chukah-chukah-ing, actually..."

"Chukah-chukah-chukah-ing?" Speedy asks.

"Yeah. The paper maker makes that noise."

"The... paper maker." Marae blinks

"Yeah... I special ordered it from Green House Recycling Emporium... they specialize in resource reclamation products, and I figured if ever we had a resource to reclaim, it was all that confetti..."

"Reclaim? Confetti?" Urdu's attention has been pulled from his ravenous anticipation of the delivery of his Mexican pizza, and is now riveted on the newly arrived forumite.

"Yes. Got the signs up yesterday... We have regular paper, printer paper, contruction paper... in red, blue, green, purple, brown, black, yellow, white, of course, pink, and multicolored. Don't seem to be able to do orange yet, but we're hoping to have that fixed well before Halloween..."

Suddenly, there was a loud boom and confetti began raining from the sky.

"It's an attack!!!" Speedy screamed.

"Do you think it's Tunnel People?" Toz asked.

"Tunnel People keep away from Town in general," Kari replied, "and when we do go, we have to get permission from The Counsil."

"Why?"

"Long story."

"Ok! Who else would want to wage a confetti war?"

As a wave of confetti entered in through a nearby window, a small surfboard could be seen with a tiny brown rider.
"Hey, what's surfing in?" asked Mara.
"Uh oh..." Urdu commented.
"What," Speedy asked in a flat tone.
"It's a Martian potato," Urdu replied.
"Since when do Martians grow potatoes? I thought chocolate was their main source of economic income?" asked Mara from Mysthillarium experience.
"I need more coffee..." Speedy said flatly.
"At the rate this is going, this meeting will NEVER be over with," Toz moaned.

Tora muttered something that noone caught over the shouting of outraged meeting attendees, and changed her Tazer into a vaccuum cleaner.

"Don't worry, I got this! Keep going with the meeting by all means." Vvvrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

And the meeting kept going and going and going, going longer than it took for Tora to vacuum up all of the confetti that came in with the surfing potato, longer than what it took to complete the order that Marae declared at the beginning of the meeting, and much longer than it took for people to FINISH eating what they had ordered.

During this length of time, so many different topics arose such as where did the confetti come from, where should it go, how soon will it all be cleaned up, who will pay for it, when did potatoes begin to surf, why the potato was dancing on top of von Snobbish's head, and how to best catch a potato before it decided to mash up the overhead projector. Of course, the tunnel people stated their opinions and began their arguments due to the fact that some people suggested that the tunnel people were the root of the problem, they should clean it up, and put it in their tunnels. Someone even suggested at one point for there to be a duel between one of the town and one of the tunnel, but this somehow escalated to a duel between von Snobbish and the potato that somehow stole his toupee.

The forumites looked at each other all confused and without thought. This meeting was going no where and no one had told Tora where she could put the full vacuum bag now that she was done with it. Speedy groaned as she held her head.

"I know Speedy, this is taking MUCH longer than I had originally anticipated!" Marae exclaimed.
"Maybe it would be best if we snuck out of here?" asked Mara, "but some of you would have to run since Blue can only take so many people..."
"But running away doesn't resolve anything!" cried Toz.
"Hey, it's worked for us before," CK stated, considering how he has a lot of MH experience but not as much as Mara.
"Anyone got a ball? We can play fetch," suggested Cat.
"Right, play fetch in the middle of a chaotic meeting? What wonderful sense that is!" cried 1000 Posts.
"Or you could just chase the potato," Urdu suggested.
"That works!" cried Cat, and he ran off.
"What? Oh geez... no! Cat! Great idea Urdu!" chimed both Unlucky 13 and 1000 Posts, and they ran off after their other self.
Urdu "Maybe it might eliminate one distraction if we did that?"
"Is there coffee around?" moaned Speedy, "my head is killing me again from all of this noise,"
"Check the other side of the room, but don't get caught in the crossfire," Sora said.
"What? They're playing crossfire? I love that game!" CK chimed, thinking of how fast he could shoot those metal balls out at the stars on the board.
Sora "Huh?"
"Childhood memory, don't bother, but for crying out loud, can't they just all shut up a moment and just work together? Why does it froddin' matter where the stupid paper came from anyways? All that matters is how we get rid of it!" Speedy moaned again, this time with a more agitated tone.
"AHA!" Tora shouted.
"Ow! My ear..." moaned Toz.
"Sorry, but I have it! I have my construction paper factory, well start up, going on at the Bar, recycling the confetti! It could be the new town industry until all of this paper is gone..." Tora said, "the bar can be the makeshift space for now since it's the epicenter and all..."
"Great, now go and tell it to them and see if they will EVER listen to you," moaned Speedy as she thumbed the front panel, who looked lost.