Teats on a Bull

The Search for Bubbles

Shall We Play a Game?

Hero’s Journal Bubbles Fan FICTION

This is a work of fiction.  It is entirely a product of my imagination.  Well, other than the people. The places are mostly real. However, the circumstanced are entirely FICTIONAL.  And time is an illusion.

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Before we start … this was all Cheyenne.  I just put some words around her ideas.

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Nick and Kyle looked at each other and then at Ryan.

“Should we show them?” Nick asked. Both Ryan and Kyle shrugged.

“They could be testers,” Kyle suggested.

“Testers of what?” Mirjam asked excitedly.

“Go ahead,” Zach chimed in.

Nick leaned over and pulled a long flat-ish rectangular box out of a bag.

“That looks like a Monopoly box,” LL said. “Are we playing Monopoly IMA edition?”

“Close,” Nick replied as he open the box. “It’s Istoria: The Board Game.”

A collective “Oooo” went up from the Bubbles Raiders.

“Wait a minute. Is THAT Bubbles?”

John, Kyle, Nick, Ryan and Zack just laughed.  “We’ll never tell,” said Ryan.

Tacie looked over the top of her glasses at them.  “Yet,” added Kyle with a grin.

‘Let’s play,” Angela said. “Maybe we can help work out any kinks.”

“This is just a prototype,” John said. “Ryan is still working on all the graphics.”

Skye, looked at the board Nick had pulled out of the box and asked, “Is that the map that MistyBee drew for you?”

Ryan nodded. “We had her modify it for the game.”

“It looks amazing,” Cheyenne said tracing her finger over the Wildwoods. “Oooo and it had texture too.”

Nick pulled the tokens out of the box and laid them on the table. “Those are so cute!” Mirjam gushed as she picked up one of the tiny pewter figurines.

“I love the Climbers!” Tacie said picking up one of the other figures.

The figurines were passed around as Kyle, Nick and Zach explained the rules of the game.

“I have an idea.” Tasty suggested. “Since there are too many of us, why don’t we split into teams. That way you guys can help lead us gals through the game.  I’ll sit out and watch and take notes on what things go right, what might need to be modified, and what really needs to be changed. And why.”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Kyle asked.

“Nope.” Tacie, waving a dismissive hand. “That will give each player a coach. And you can let me know what happened and what you think should have happened as the game goes along.  I brought my notebook,” she said holding up a Companion Journal.

The dice were rolled, play order was established and Zach said, “Let the games begin.”

Shortly after the game start, room service arrived with snacks and sodas. Angela shrugged and said “I thought we might need something to snack on.”

On her next turn, Cheyenne drew a card and read it aloud. “You didn’t journal yesterday. Loose a turn to catch up on your goal.” Everyone laughed.  The next card drawn by Skye read “you finished your first act, move ahead 3 spaces.”

As the game continued, there was much laughter and discussion of game play.  There were suggestions for graphics and ideas to enhance game play.

As a game came to a close the last section read, “You finished your journal 1^st. You win.”

“Oh!” said LL. “I don’t think that’s right. This isn’t about finishing a journal. It’s about finishing a quest.”

“I was just going to say that,” Cheyenne said nodding.

“I agree too,” Skye chimed in.

“It will probably take most of us more than 1 journal to finish our quests.” Angela stated.  Everyone nodded in agreement.

“You could change it to “Yew finished your quest 1st.” Cheyenne suggested.

“Celebrate with the next quester to finish,” LL added.  Everyone nodded some more.

As the game ended, everyone was a little sad.  Fun was had and much progress was made on the game, but it also meant that their time together was ending.  Soon the Bubbles Raider would be flying home with their newfound knowledge of what Bubbles really was.

Or was this another decoy?

The Search for Bubbles

Wait! Bubbles is where?

Hero’s Journal Bubbles Fan FICTION

This is a work of fiction.  It is entirely a product of my imagination.  Well, other than the people. The places are mostly real. However, the circumstanced are entirely FICTIONAL.  And time is an illusion.

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The Bubbles Raiders hugged and said good-bye. Bubbles had been found and it was time to go their separate ways.

When they tuned into Free Journal Friday, they giggle to themselves.  Their FJF had been Tuesday.  When Bubbles came up. they waited to see what Nick would spill, because everyone know Nick can’t hold his beans.  Smiling devilishly Kyle said they wouldn’t spill what Bubbles was, but it was in Michigan.

Wait! What?! KYLE!!!! MICHIGAN!!  The DM’s and texts started “Michigan?!” “Kyle?” “OMG” “Crap” “What is in Michigan?” “Road Trip” The Bubbles they had found had been a decoy!

An emergency Discord meeting was called, bucket lists were adjusted, and plans were made.  The Bubbles Raiders were off to Michigan.

LL texted the group from the plane, just before she had to turn her phone off, “K, N & Z just got on the plane!”  Eeeeep! They were headed to Michigan too!

The Bubbles Raiders had agreed to meet at the Courtyard in Detroit.  LL texted when she landed “Angela & I are going to follow the Lads to see where they go.”   Angela texted back that Mirjam was still in the air and wouldn’t be landing for another hour. Tacie texted that she had rented the conference room so that could spread out and plan comfortably. Skye & Cheyenne sent thumbs up. Illisa & Melissa laughingly texted they still had bail money ready.

“OMG!” LL texted after about 30 minutes.  “They just pulled into the Courtyard!”

This gave Tacie and idea. She hopped the Shock Yellow ZL1 she had rented and headed to Saneki Electronics for spy equipment.  She couldn’t come to the home of the American Muscle car and not rent one.  This had just gotten easier.  Opening up the ZL1, Tacie realized the car was limited and top speed was out of the question.  “Damn” she cursed to herself.  After buying the spy equipment she texted the group “Meet me in conference room 1A, I have an idea.”

When the group met, Tacie laid out the revised plan.  Because the Lads were all here, all they had to do was bug the room and then “loan” it to the Lads.  “Hopefully they will do all their planning in here and we can just sit back and listen.” Tacie explained.

The Bubbles Raiders agreed.  Cables were run, cameras where placed, microphones were hidden.  It was time to test the set up.  Angela. Cheyenne & Mirjam went up to the new suite that had been rented to start the test.  Everything worked like a charm from the outset.  Tacie went to the front desk and asked them to tell Kyle, Nick & Zach that conference room 1A was now theirs.

Everyone gathered in the suite as a perplexed Kyle, Nick and Zach walked into the conference room.  “Hey! This is going to work,” Kyle said.  Laptops, papers and journals were spread out on the conference room table.

“What time is Ryan supposed to be here?” Zach asked looking at this watch.

“4” Nick replied.

“Where are we going for dinner?” Zach asked.

“Ryan has a place in mind.” Nick said.

“Oh no no no no no!” was the collective response from the Bubbles Raiders.  The HJ Lads needed to plan in the room.

Cheyenne did a quick search and found a Chinese place that would deliver.  Food was ordered for both groups to be delivered at 5:00.  Skye threw on the headphones and started listening as the Lads started talking.  Watching from the suite, the Raiders saw Ryan join the group.

Skye pull off the headphone and shushed the Raiders. “They just started talking about Bubbles.”

“So where, like, do you think we should hold this?” Nick asked.

Perplexed looks were exchanged by the Raiders. “Hold what?” asked Mirjam.  Everyone shrugged.

“How about the geographical center of the continuous US?” suggested Zach.  “It’s at 39°50′N 98°35′W”

“No way!” Kyle said.  “There is literally, like, nothing around.”  The Lads continued to bounce ideas around.

“How many people want to come again?” Nick asked Kyle. The Raiders giggled and all raised their hands.

“So far we have 237 interested.” Kyle replied after consulting the Facebook poll.

“Wait!” Mirjam peered at one of the computer screens.  “That’s the Facebook poll for the HeroCon! They are actually planning to do it! HeroCon is Bubbles?!”

Just then, John walked into the conference room. “Sorry I’m late. Stupid flight was delayed. What did I miss?”

“Not much.  We are still, like, trying to come up with a location.” Nick said.

“You’ll need a place with some inexpensive hotels and also some place that has some sightseeing.” Ryan said.

“Vegas would be fun.” Zach suggested.  They all nodded, but ended up deciding against it.

“How about Kirkland?” Kyle finally suggested.

“Kirkland?” Nick asked.

“Yeah.  Hear me out.  It’s home for us, so if we need to get something it’s not, like going to be that far away. There are plenty of hotels and conference centers and there’s enough site seeing if anyone wants to do that.”

Nick looked thoughtful. “We could run a bus into Seattle for a trip.”

Zach, John & Ryan nodded in agreement.

“And we could have small group tours of our offices.  I know there are people who, like, want to see our set up.” Kyle continued.

“Bedrooms are off limited, though,” Zach added.  They all nodded in agreement.

“So now, like, we need Ryan to draw us up a HeroCon – is that what we are calling it? – logo.” Nick said. “And we need to put together ideas for a registration bag.  I wish we could talk to Angela.”

With that there was a knock on the Raiders door. It was the Chinese.  “You soooooo have to take that to them,” Cheyenne said.

“I’m going with you!” said Mirjam.

‘We’ll all go,” stated LL.  “But Angela goes in first.”

The Raiders grabbed the bags of food and trooped down to the conference room.  Skye knocked.

Looking confused Kyle asked, “are we expecting someone else?”  Everyone shrugged and shook their heads no.

Nick walked to the door and opened it. “I heard you needed me,” Angela said.  “I brought Chinese and friends.”  The Raiders stepped into the room stunning the Lads.

“We can keep a secret,” LL said.

“Let’s plan!” Tacie said.  “And eat.  We brought Chinese.”

Reading the bag, “that’s one of the best places,” Ryan said.  “How did you get them to deliver?”

Tacie just smiled. “Magic.”

And so that my dear friends is what Bubbles is.

Or is it?