Tiffany reached into her pocket and took out a Hostess cupcake. It was the yellow kind with the squiggly white-frosted line down the center. She gently unpacked and removed the plastic covering and then frowned when she saw it had been smushed from all the commotion.

"I don't want to go to Crazy Crazy Town." She said, taking a bite. "I'm afraid that people might live there. There isn't anything in this place that we've seen that's worth seeing. Everything is already crazy. What if there are monsters that live there? Or worse, what if it's a town of zombies or something?"

"Zombies aren't crazy, they just shuffle around and say 'brains'. And what if there's people at the briar patch too? Eggs don't just grow out of the ground, you know." Shawn saw that Penelope had some hesitation, and tried to zero in. "There might even be more dragons there. I think we shouldn't go there."

Delilah stamped the ground.

"Look. Everybody votes right now! Briar Patch? Or that other place."

"Crazy Crazy...tow..tow...tow..tow..tow... Town!" Ralph voted.

"Briar Egg Patch." Penelope voted. "So I can break stuff."

"Um....hold on, let me think about it." Bobby said, delaying. Ralph waddled over and whispered something in his ear.

"Crazy Town." Bobby voted.

That left just Tiffany, who was eating the last few bites of the Cup cake.

"I'm not voting until you and Shawn say that what the Tree told you was a lie. I didn't do what the Tree made everyone think that I did." She folded her arms in defiance.

Shawn gave her his best reassuring look. "Why would I believe a weird magic tree that puts stuff in people's heads. It coulda told me you were a three-headed purple dinosaur. I'm not going to believe a tree over you. If you say it's lying, I believe you." He was lying, of course, but it was a lie that hopefully would keep them moving.

Delilah shook her head and threw up her hands in frustration.

"The tree didn't tell me about you! It told me that we gotta find that instrument to get outta here."

She raised one hand. "So I'm voting for the briar patch."

"I don't know.." Tiffany doubted. She had moved from being worried about what people thought, to suddenly enjoying the spotlight and her newfound role as king-maker in the vote.

"The Briar Patch is probably fore-mipp-puh-pull." She analyzed, using a big word.

"But Crazy Crazy Town sounds psy-choloric-igal." She scratched her chin as if in deep thought.

"Tell you what. Why don't each of you present a case like you're in a court or on trial or something. And I'll pretend to be the judge. Who ever does the best job of convincing me, I'll go with." She suggested, drawing out the vote and savoring the moment. It was clear that Tiffany really didn't care about the argument itself but was more interested in her own role as judge and how good a person might 'look' when making their case.

OOC: Any player may roll Presence + Socialize

OOC: 22:06, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 3 successes using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,10(+8),7. Presence + Socialize (Striking Looks rolled separately).
22:06, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 7,5.  Striking Looks for Presence + Socialize.

Sorry! I thought I clicked post!

Delilah's eyes bugged out at Tiffany's suggestion. Her mouth opened and closed twice before she started shouting.

"We don't have tiiime! We gotta get back home before we're dead! For-ev-er! Let's just go!"

Delilah swept her arms towards the path leading to the briar patch.

Tiffany scratched her chin in mock thought as she considered Shawn's argument. But then when Delilah started talking about 'not having time' and refusing to play Tiffany's game, a frown appeared on her face.

"Crazy Crazy Town!" she shouted at Delilah's back. "Crazy Crazy Town! That's my vote. That's my vote unless you come back!" She said to Delilah.

However Tiffany was acting the kids knew that what Delilah said, had in fact been true to Bradford's words: Time was limited.

Regardless of how Tiffany made her decision, Shawn was going to run with it. "We voted, so let's go! We don't have much time - who knows what's happening to Bradford!" He grabbed Bobby's hand and started pulling him along the path, catching up with Ralph quickly.

Penelope stuck her tongue out at Shawn and Bobby before joining the other part of the road towards Delilah.

"Wait? We're not going to stick together?" Bobby asked, confused as he went with Shawn.

It was a question that suddenly descended upon everyone. Like a warning of sorts. A last ditch effort to see if the kids were really going to go their own way.

"We have to stick together, guys! Otherwise we'll never get out of here!" Shawn wasn't sure if he liked Penny, and Delilah was mean, but they needed all the help they could get in this situation!

"Then come on!" Delilah marched ahead. "If we don't find it in the patch, we can go back to Crazy Crazy Town!"

Bobby stopped. He looked at Delilah. Then he looked at Shawn. Then back to Delilah. Then back at Shawn. He waited to see what Shawn might say.

Shawn looked back and forth as well, then sighed as he conceded defeat. Ralph was too little and Bobby was too easily distracted, and Tiffany seemed to fall apart a lot. He couldn't just venture off without the two braver girls. Besides, they were the risk-takers, so hopefully whatever happened would happen to Delilah and Penny instead of the rest of them. "C'mon, I guess we're following Delilah. Though make sure you stay behind her, in case there's traps."

"Ugh.." Tiffany pouted and kicked the earth in defeat. Nevertheless, she followed heading up behind Shawn as they made their way forward.

The kids headed in the direction of the Briar Patch just as the sign had directed. This  road was made with cobblestones as opposed to the windy, dirt path they had previously followed.

The stones fit together like an over-sized jigsaw puzzle. They were cold and smooth underneath the kids' feet. Each little stone had a place among the others. It started to drizzle a little. Water from the light drizzle ran in between the cracks and crevices, forming tiny rushing rivers. The cobblestone made the kid's footfalls sound like clip-clopping hooves of a horse's echo through an alley.

But the sound wasn't the only thing that was out of place on this new road.

The landscape became every vivid color, every one of them as fresh as a new painting. The brilliant greens were lush and the sky lifted the eye in a way that drew attention to the strands of drifting white cloud. The sky was no longer an angry orange, but gave way to bright, vibrant blue. The few trees on the side of the road were deep with late spring foliage and the outgrown of fresh tulips could be seen in pink and yellow variety on the side of the cobblestone path.

Shawn was immediately suspicious of how nice the path now looked. He talked quietly to Bobby and Ralph. "Whatever you do, don't stray off the path, okay? And be ready to run." And, because he knew Bobby would immediately forget his warning, he grabbed Bobby's hand and held on tight.

Delilah beat the vote her own way, but she couldn't enjoy the victory. The drizzle forced her to squint as she walked. And once her hands got damp, it was harder to hold on to Mr. Clayton's case.

The path began to brighten and the sky became blue again. Delilah looked up to be sure of what she was seeing. The Egg Briar Patch wasn't going to be scary at all. It looked like Easter. She looked back to the rest of the kids and gave them a reassuring smile. Things were going to be alright. They would find the instrument and go home.

OOC: Shawn and Delilah Join Thread

Shawn, Delilah: The Egg Briar Patch...