Sunday, September 3^rd, 2006
Poe Cottage, Whateley Academy

I was trying to concentrate on calming down when I became aware of the girl next to me. She looked to be about 12 years old and was staring at me and I was starting to become a bit nervous. She seemed to be paying a lot of attention to my hair. Our eyes met and suddenly she dropped her eyes.

“Sorry.”

“What, you’ve never seen hair that looked like this before?”

She squirmed a little and peeked up at me through her hair. “Um, no, not really. I mean, not in real life.”

I started to get a little more nervous. Maybe she just knew about anime and possibly Tenchi and was just curious or maybe she was part of something more sinister. Of course, maybe it was just because I had been living in a basement for several weeks and was just being paranoid.

“How do you do it? It’s really cool! I saw you in the station, and I thought you’d just used a ton of mousse or something. It’s almost like ...”

Maybe she was trying to find out if I was the escapee from Colorado. Some people were still looking for me. If I encouraged her maybe I could find out more. “What? Go ahead, I’ve heard it all.”

“Well, it’s like anime hair. Only real life. You know, animation, uh, Japanese cartoons?”

I just stared at her. Maybe she was just interested in anime.

A Whateley Academy Story

Jade 2 – Away from Home

By Babs Yerunkle

5: The Dunwich Furor

En route August 31, Thursday

By the second full day on the train, it was less of an adventure. She would have preferred taking a sleeper car, but they were so much more expensive. Her travel allowance didn’t cover it, and she didn’t have the money herself to make up the difference. Instead, she stayed in hotels near the train depot. It had sounded like a good idea when she started out, but Pittsburgh had firmly destroyed that idea.

Having Jinn (as a person) on the train would have cost an extra ticket, but Jade made sure that everywhere else she went, her big sister Jinn went with her. Two girls were far safer than one alone. If worse came to worst, they planned that Jinn would do whatever was necessary while Jade ran for it.

The second night, they stayed in a cheap hotel, a half-mile from famous Penn Station. Penn Station had been a bit of a disappointment, looking more like a 1920’s brick office building than a bustling hive of commerce. Despite hoofing it a half mile to find a cheaper hotel, she was still set back a hundred bucks. And the neighborhood had seen better days – about six decades ago. Jade had been concerned enough to grab food at a convenience store and run back to her room to eat it there. Just a cheap pre-made sandwich and a coke, but it was filling enough for the night.

A Whateley Academy Tale

Unexpected Consequences

 By Starwolf

Disclaimer: Some of these stories will have references to and great similarities to the Manga and Anime revolving around Tenchi Muyo! This is part of the story and I apologize in advance if someone is upset by this. We are not making a profit on this and I hope that anyone seeing this will realize that this is a totally different story. Copyrights to Tenchi belong to A.I.C. and Pioneer LDC. I’m not sure how this fits in but VIZ is also making a comic about the further adventures of the crew done by Hitoshi Okuda. I can recommend all of these if you like Anime and don’t know about them yet.

 Also, this is a work of fiction and any resemblance to anyone is possibly a total coincidence. If not...we probably know who you are. Be afraid, be very afraid!

Starwolf.^_^.

I

Colorado: March 2, 2006
INTO THE SUNSET

The lowering, red, Fall sun slanted into the small bus station, making it difficult to focus on the bus that was the final leg of my trip to my new life. This bus was the shuttle that would take me to my new school, the Whateley Academy, and if my parents were right, I would also begin a new life free from the complications of my previous life. Not that I had anything to be guilty of. I think, maybe, it was more so I could start my new life free of everyone else and their outdated expectations. They’re right, I know that, but I still have a hard time not feeling a little uncomfortable about their method of solving the problem.

Have you ever noticed how bus stations always smell and sound the same. It wasn’t helping my mood in the least. That combination of diesel, disinfectant, and a smell that means change and separations. Muted conversations and noises, occasionally interrupted by announcements and buses, and in this case, trains, coming and going. It can be exciting, but for me it was just depressing. This was an adventure waiting to happen, whether I wanted it to happen or not.

I’d always expected to have adventures one day. But, they were always comfortably in the future and I would always be prepared for them. Reading about them could give me a sense of the excitement without the fear of loneliness and failure that comes with the real thing. If things got too intense I could always put it down and go get a cool drink or something to eat. I wouldn’t have to worry about the butterflies just throwing it all back up. All I wanted to do now was take any other bus away from here. Run away to some other less threatening place, maybe even home.

Just walk away.