#1 – Bluebell

Character #1: Bluebell!!

Age: 10 years

“Hey BluuueBARF!” Bell winced and sped up to a trot. Every day this week, the twin brothers that lived down the street had followed her to her lair, shouting insults all the way up the rocky path. She clenched her slingshot a bit tighter and chanced a glance over her shoulder. With grim satisfaction she noticed that they kept their distance.

Scared-y cats! She thought. She’d gotten frustrated the day before and shown off her sharpshooter skills. Apparently marbles hurt more than they let on.

“HEY BARFY!!! Where you going!?” Thing One shouted.

“Going to play by yourself again, Miss Crazypants?” Thing Two chimed in. Bell swung around with a marble already in place, but before she could loose, a titanic roar rent the air. Without hesitation, she faced the monster, blocking its path to the tasty twins. Today, she faced a 20-foot Cyclops, its bulbous eye rolling madly in its socket.

“Not so fast, ugly!” She screamed and sprinted towards it, peppering its lumpy face with marbles. She heard peals of laughter behind her but ignored the boys. One day they’ll thank me. She dove behind a boulder and loosed a few more well-placed shots. The monster groaned and stumbled towards her. She dashed from behind the rock at the last possible moment; in a stroke of good luck, it stubbed its toe on the bounder and crashed to the ground.

“Watch out! It can still bite!” Bell yelled to the boys, who had succumbed to their fit of laughter and were sitting in the dirt, their eyes streaming. As Bell lurched in front of the Cyclops, she felt tiny snakes unraveling themselves from her hair. Its gigantic eye swiveled up to meet her triumphant brown gaze, and in an instant, the ferocious creature turned to stone. She waited for her serpents to recoil before turning to the twins, a grin plastered on her small face. It faltered when she realized that they were still laughing.

“Don’t…worry. Um, you’re safe from the Cyclops.” Her assurance was met with whoops of mirth. The twins could barely breath, they were laughing so hard. “You’re welcome.” She grumbled and slouched off, their gasping words of crazy and nutcase ringing in her ears.

I based Bell off of me as a kid, with just a tad bit more crazy mixed in. She looks nothing like I did, but I used to go play on the mountain thing by my house for HOURS by myself, just imagining entire universes around me. I’m sure plenty of people thought I was just as nuts as she is. I mostly played Sailor Moon and Wolves though.

Damn, I just barely made it today. It’s 11:55PM Mountain Time. Considering I had school and work though, I’m not too bummed. ONWARD

(Thanks to fantasystock on Deviantart for the awesome parchment texture!)