Blogging Bommarillu: Part One

Hi, people! Now that NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close (and I'm nowhere near 50k words...but I'm still finishing my novel, just not on time. :( ), I'm going to start blogging again. And I'm going to blog this one Telugu movie that I watched on Saturday (in parts, because I'm too lazy to blog the whole thing all at once). Want to know what it was about? Well, then, CONTINUE READING!
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Translation: A dollhouse (Wikipedia for the win!)
Better Translation: You can let go of my hand now, Dad. [It's symbolic, I swear!]
The movie starts off with a scene of a dad holding his one?-year-old child's hand as the child tries to walk. The narrator talks about how this is the first father-son conflict/rift. He doesn't really explain how, though. He just says, "The kid wants to walk. That's cool. The dad wants to makes sure the child doesn't fall, so he holds the kid's hand. That's fine, too. But when the dad continues holding the child's hand for twenty-four years, then we have a problem." (See! I told you the title was symbolic!)
Cut to a road in Andra Pradesh, India. The narrator, the main character named Siddharth (Siddhu), is telling bad things about dads to this one old guy who is probably also a dad. That doesn't make a lot of sense. It seems to be most logical to rant about dads to your best friends who aren't dads yet but who have dads, so they can understand his predicament. That's like ranting to your teacher about teachers:


Student: Teachers suck so bad! I mean, I tell a teacher that I have two million other tests that one day and he still schedules his test on that day! And sometimes, they don't even teach well! Plus, they're boring! And they smell like old people. But of course, you wouldn't understand. You're a teacher yourself.
Teacher: Exactly. So why are you telling me this, again?

By the way, Siddhu isn't drunk. He's saying this with a sober mind...I think. Maybe. Or it is possible that he boozed right before the camera started rolling.

He goes on to say that his dad gives him way too much, and of course the random old guy is confused and thinks of Siddhu as an ungrateful little brat. But Sid explains. Apparently, his dad doesn't let him choose his own clothes, play carom board all by himself (his dad always tells him how to pocket a "puck")...basically, poor Sid's not allowed to do anything by himself, period. But he swears that he will choose his wife and his career, if nothing else.
The next day, Siddhu is woken up by Satti, the good servant. I like Satti. Maybe he is a superhero! He tossed his scarf over his neck rather heroically. His superhero name would be... "Satti, the Good Servant."

He then walks into the kitchen to hear his mother singing a Telugu song. He tells her that she would be awesome as a singer, which of course his mother denies.
The family eats. The domineering dad asks him if he wants to work in the office today. Sid says that he wants to wait three more months, which pisses his Domineering Dad off because Sid has been delaying office work for a year now to complete his computer engineering degree (yes, kids, it's true. India does produce more engineers than snake charmers.). Siddhu had some excuse for delaying office work for three months, but it's clear (to us viewers, anyway) that he just wants to be able to choose his own job and that he doesn't intend to work in the office. And then, his dad tells him that the family has chosen a prospective wife for him and that he is to meet this wife today.
Wait, what?
Sid hasn't been told anything about his family's six-month process choosing a wife for him. But the way I've always understood Indian arranged marriages, the boy advertises himself on the newspapers, with degrees, jobs, income, et cetera, and girls send in their biodata (which is their height, weight, photos, degrees, jobs, income, skills, et cetera) for the boy to pick about ten brides-to-be. (That's how my dad did it, anyway.) Then, the boy goes with his family to meet all the girls who he handpicked and interviews them (yes, I do mean what I said! He interviews them!) to see if they'd be a good match. The whole process is pretty ridiculous, in my opinion. The boy is looking for a marriage partner, not an employee for crying out loud!
I can just imagine a sample poster:

Now Hiring!

A good Indian wife needed.

Must have a degree of some sort (M.B.B.S. [medical degree] or B.Tech (or B.S.?) [computer engineering degree]) Also, must have good family of same caste. Must have good cooking skills. Must be able to care for children well. Must be good-looking, too.

My qualifications: an engineering degree, income 1 lakh (10,000) rupees per month [I hope that's a high enough number], steady job, might even work in America!, super handsome

So, Siddhu is supposed to be able to choose his wife. His family can't just choose his marriage partner without his consent!
Anyhow, Siddhu is dragged to his wife-to-be's house to see if he likes the wife his family has chosen for him. He doesn't really have an excuse not to like said girl--he's not in love with anyone else--so there isn't much of a point in asking him. Domineering Dad isn't willing to let the two talk in private--"we're really open here!"--but he relents and the two go into a room. Siddhu tries to get the girl to talk, but every sentence she says starts with "Daddy told me" or "Daddy says." This girl is a real bore. I feel sorry for Siddhu. Since the girl's name isn't mentioned at this point in the movie, I'm going to call her Daddy-Told-Me. 

Daddy-Told-Me is going to have problems later in life if she goes on like this, though.

Fifty years later...

Daddy-Told-Me: Daddy told me that I shouldn't eat until I starve and join him in heaven.

Sid: I hate to break this to you...but your dad's dead.

Daddy-Told-Me: So?

Sid: So...he can't really tell you what to do...

Daddy-Told-Me: But he told me to! I saw him! I swear by my daddy!

Sid:...Are you feeling okay?

Daddy-Told-Me: Stop looking at me like that! I'M NOT CRAZY! THE VOICES IN MY HEAD TOLD ME SO! AND SO DID DADDY!

Life sure isn't looking up for Siddhu.

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So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Want to throw tomatoes at it? Please give me your feedback! 

I Am Not Dead. Yet.

Do not fear, my loyal followers. I am still alive! JUNIOR YEAR HAS NOT KILLED ME! IT MAY HAVE ROBBED ME OF WHAT PITIFUL EXCUSE OF A LIFE I HAD, BUT IT HAS NOT KILLED ME.

Erm...scratch that. It seems that the weight of all my classes has crushed me...

So, yeah. I've been working on NaNoWriMo (which I'm really behind on...). But I am (I mean, was) not dead. 

My computer is infuriating me. It keeps lagging like crazy...well, now it's not as bad, but before it took five minutes to get a clip art on Word. (Okay, fine, I'm exaggerating a bit. But it took a long time.)

Actually, it is quite sick and may die. It's lagging so terribly that I've moved to the family computer. Thankfully, my NaNoWriMo novel is a Google Document. What foresight I had! *pats self on back*

Oh, my poor, poor computer. I really do feel for it, and would you please ignore the fact that my arms are resting on it as I type on this home computer.

Poor, poor laptop. But that's not stopping me from using it as my armrest.
Don't you love my shading on my picture? IT'S SO EPIC!
Moving on...
In band, we're playing middle school level music for some reason. It may or may not have to do with the fact that our concert is in two weeks and we just got our music. Plus, we're going to Disneyland tomorrow! HOORAY!
I also have another picture that I drew on a certain science teacher's board, but it was considered too violent. Plus, it's a perversion of one of the most beloved American ideals. Well, I thought it was funny, especially the way that the outfit of the girl was patriotic because she was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt splattered with red blood.
A note of warning: THIS IS NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHS.
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Are you still here? You can still back out, you know.


























































































































































































































































Are you sure you want to see this? DO YOU HAVE THE GUTS???







































































































































































































































































































































































































































Huh? Oh, hi. I didn't realize you were still here. 














































































































































































































































YOU AGAIN? Fine, fine. Here it is...the link, anyway.

Have an awesome day! :)

Oh, yes, and HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY, ADI! :)

My NaNoWriMo Novel

As some of you may know, I'm writing a novel for NaNoWriMo. The working title is Cursed, and unless I can come up with a better title, I'll probably stick to that.
So...I need characters. Please go to my blog for the novel and suggest a character!
Here's the synopsis I wrote on my novel. I wrote this in five minutes, mind you, so it's not very good:
Anita seems like your average fifteen-year-old girl, and she is, except for one thing: she is cursed. Her parents tried to steal the Anvil of Crisstareenaywebdermotti, the Goddess of Health, due to the reward offered to them by Anilokalmosia, the Goddess of Seduction, Hypnotism, and Deceit, so Anita was Cursed by being named a name close to the Chosen Mortal Name of Anilokalmosia. Because of her parents' misdeed, her life is hell. Her already horrible life takes a turn for the worst when the Everyone is Special group, an anti-Cursed and anti-Blessed--the term for those lucky children blessed with the CMN of a good goddess due to their parents' piety--group, is revived, and she and some other Cursed and Blessed are captured. When she escapes with some friends, she realizes that the only way she can stop the EIS is by somehow stopping the gods' unfair punishment and reward system. Will Anita be able to stop the EIS? Or will the EIS return to dominance once again?
Wow, this post seems short. So, I'll put some random doodles/pictures that I made of characters from my book!

This may or may not have happened.

And the slight Scooby-Doo reference was absolutely necessary.

This is Jennifer, a very Cursed One indeed. She is quite evil, as you can see.

That is all for now, and possibly for this whole month. 

Guess the Age!

I'm really sorry that I haven't been posting anything lately. I'M WORKING ON MY NEXT PART OF THE WIS! Of course, if you want me to post what I have right now, I'll oblige. I don't mind doing that, and it would make me feel more productive.
So, to seem productive to fill the dearth of posts for you wonderful readers, this post will have pictures of me when I was younger (I absolutely refuse to post any current pictures!) like in Jessica's baby pictures post.
And to make this different from Jessica's post and more than just younger-self pictures, you have to guess how old I was in each of these pictures! Oh yeah, and there are also only four. (There are only three younger-self pictures on my computer.) And they're not in chronological order (for obvious reasons).
The age-guessing is also partially to verify that I did not look older than my age in my younger self pictures, unlike what my sister claims. (She believes that I was a third-grader in the picture that I had taken as a SIX-YEAR-OLD! That's not one of the pictures here, by the way.)
As a bonus, you can also guess which one of these pictures is my library card picture. That shouldn't be too hard...but do not refer to age in guessing this! (I really need to update my library card picture...)
So, onto the guessing!

Ah, I remember that pair of yellow overalls. I really liked overalls back then. And they are why I will always depict my younger self in my drawings on Paint in overalls, even though I didn't get overalls until I was...well, I won't say since that will give you a hint. 

This picture was smaller, so I enlarged it, hence the blurriness. The black and white makes me feel old. Ah well.

AWWWWWWW...don't I look adorable? And so freaking smart...I'm reading a book! 

I'm such a narcissist. But...THEY'RE TRUE, AREN'T THEY? 

I look way better here than I do now, that's for certain. 

Oh, the days when I had bangs. I didn't like them, and neither did my mother, but in retrospect (I love that word), I think bangs looked pretty okay on me. I didn't like Winnie the Pooh that much, but I was apparently okay with wearing Pooh apparel. I wasn't watching Barney, either, though I stopped pretty late--at the age of eight. (That's supposed to be a hint!) And OOH! The picture's so clear!!!

So, that just about sums up this post in which half of it are pictures. What a horrifically lame post. But I'll make it up to you with my epic WIS #3.2!

Guess away!

WIS #3 PART ONE: A Coffin Maker's Tale

Hello all! Yeah, I couldn't think of a good title for this one, hence the weird title that ended up being the title. I think it was because of the heat. I didn't need a fan before because the summer weather was awesome! But now[at the time I thought up the title], the weather decided to turn up the heat. IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH, DANGIT! I SHOULD GET SOME NICE WEATHER...BUT NOOOO. IT'S SO UNFAIR!
*cough* Speaking of unfair things, I have to memorize all the presidents and I'll get tested on them on the first day of school! Having tests on the first day of school is an unspeakable crime (or it should be)! And--I'm done being querulous. Sorry about that. *grins sheepishly*
Now, onto what's going on now, in September, as opposed to August when I wrote the other paragraphs of the intro: School has started. It has started. And I am a junior. A JUNIOR!!! I am anticipating a lot of work and a lot of stress this year. Heck, it's only been two days into the school year and I'm feeling the stress (sort of)! I am worried about this year because of my AP classes, AP US History most of all (if A's start at 85%, the class has to be hard; why else would the requirement for an A be so low?! Plus, I think I failed the President's Test...) and...well, it's junior year!!! Junior year is stressful! So, why am I saying all of this? Um, to be honest, I don't really know...Oh, right! I'm going to be updating less often than usual (or what was supposed to be usual). I'll try to update once a week, but I really don't know if I can.
And, oh gosh, it's been FOREVER since I last updated. So, to get something posted, I'll post a part of my WIS. YES, IT'S TAKEN ME THIS LONG TO DO SO LITTLE! SOWWY! So, onto the next WIS (er, part of one, anyway)!
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"We have been deceived."
Science Nerdess, Feathers, Amarantha, Zella, Ellie, Emily, and Hannah looked up at the source of the voice. It was the great goddess Scadoosh, the goddess of white magic who had rewarded them for helping Ellie by allowing her to exact her revenge on her alleged murderer (emphasis on "alleged"), Scott.
"What do you mean?" asked Amarantha.
"In my avid support of Ellie and her daughters, I have failed to do what is most important in evaluating a crime: asking the accused for their story! It is most terrible that I have accused Scott of doing a crime he may not have committed!"
"But he did kill her!" exclaimed Emily.
"I was stabbed in the back of my neck," mused Ellie.
"But how can we hear Scott's story?!" asked Feathers. "He's gone, now."
"That's simple enough," said a familiar voice.
"SCOTT?" gasped the cave inhabitants.
"Yes, it's me. Uh, should I start telling my side of the situation now?" he asked Scadoosh. She nodded. "Just go ahead," she said.
"Okay, here goes..."
...
Rewind to three years ago.
Scott was suffering financially. Not enough people were dying, and since he was a coffin maker, this hurt his business. He was relatively well off, but he wanted more. Money was his second love. He would have married it, too, if his first love hadn't entered his life. More on that later.

(The green rectangle on Scott's shirt is a dollar bill. It could be a one dollar bill or a hundred dollar bill--who knows?)

Ever since Scott was a little boy, he had realized the power of money. With money he could buy toys, games, books, DVDs, video games, popularity, votes, and overall power. He could run for president and have an advantage if he could buy more advertisements to sway the ingenuous public. All throughout elementary school, he had learned that "Sharing is caring" and "Love makes the world go 'round." Ha! Stuff and nonsense. Sure, sharing was okay, but he didn't benefit from it, so why bother? And wasn't sharing Communism? And Communism is bad! So, sharing is bad! And love making the world go 'round was just wishful thinking by poor people. 

Money continued being his primary love in his life...until he met Ellie. It wasn't a tale of "love at first sight" (that type of love Scott found superficial) but rather "love through multiple meetings." The "meetings" were classes at high school. (Everyone was only high school educated in the kingdom.) She had ended up being his lab partner in science class. At first, he had been annoyed by her good-ness, but later he loved it. She didn't love him back, though.

(The dark and black and thick arrow stabbing Scott shows that Ellie's words stabbed Scott's heart.)

But Scott refused to give up.  And finally they got married. But he knew Ellie didn't love him...but he still loved her. And money. But mostly Ellie.

Soon, they had one lovely daughter and another on the way. One day, Emily stayed at home because she was sick and Ellie sat and read a book on the couch. Scott was making coffins outside. Suddenly, he heard strange noises upstairs.

Scott quickly rushed upstairs to comfort his ailing daughter. (He did have fatherly instincts.) But when he reached her room, she was silent. I guess she's okay, thought Scott. So he went downstairs. But what he saw shocked him beyond belief...

(Ellie is sitting on the couch, being stabbed BY HER OWN DAUGHTER. Yikes!)

Scott tried to stop her, but it was too late. When Emily saw him, she fled, and Ellie had already died. Scott's feeling of shock soon wore off and was replaced by anger. He wanted revenge. 

Scott prepared soup for Emily, but mixed in a, eherm, special ingredient. "Rat poison. It kills rats, so it should work on Emily," snorted Scott. Then he fed her the soup, and Emily died.
Scott gave Ellie a decent burial. He made the best coffin he had ever made, and he didn't charge her parents anything, though they did pay him for making such an ornate coffin, even though he had politely refused. After the burial of Ellie (and the cremation of Emily), everything seemed to have returned to normal. But Scott had changed into a bitter man.
...
Back to the present.
"That's...terrible!" gasped Science Nerdess. "How could Emily do such a thing?"
"I know!" exclaimed Amarantha. "That...there aren't words to describe this...event!" Everyone spoke at once, except Ellie, Hannah and Emily.
"Mom, you don't...believe him, do you? How could I ever do such a thing?" said Emily, laughing nervously.
"I don't know, Emily, I just don't know..." sighed Ellie. "Was this story validated, Goddess Scadoosh?"
"Yes, it was, by the Great Goddess of Wisdom, Sheilsophinacaneia. She's the one who noted that I never considered Scott's story, and, after hearing his story, confirmed that it was true."
Everyone stared at Emily, and Emily started to get nervous. "Well...well...um..." Then, she turned to Ellie. "But, Mom, I--"
"You have lost the right to call me that anymore!" snapped Ellie.
Then Emily lost it. "Okay, fine! You've won this battle; I admit it! I killed my mother! But it was to get rid of my father, and we all know he's evil! So, if he got pinned for murdering his wife, he'd be thrown in jail and--aw, forget it. You guys wouldn't understand."
"You're right. We don't," said Feathers.
"But you'll lose in the long run!" And, with that, Emily threw a pouch at Scadoosh, and the pouch turned into a cage that the Great Goddess could not get out of. Everyone gasped.
"You never did anything to my father!" yelled Emily, accusingly. "So, I have given my loyalty to someone else now!"
"Anilokalmosia?!" gasped Scadoosh, reading off of a cage bar. "The Goddess of Seduction and Evil Music?"
"Yes! At least she'll do something about my father!" And Emily disappeared.
"We have to help you!" exclaimed Feathers. "Where does Anilo stay, anyway?"
"Hang on, there...this cage is made of metal. But Anilo isn't in charge of metal, at least according to the religious books," said Zella.
"Jenisifiodincneiwa! The goddess of war and death! But if Anilo and Jenisify are allying, then..." Scadoosh trailed off, but everyone knew what she was suggesting.
"We have to do something," said Science Nerdess. "Do you know where Anilo might be?"
"Well, I have a slightly outdated map," said Scadoosh, handing a yellowed map. "Gods and goddesses aren't allowed to really keep tabs on where other gods and goddesses are at, but this map should give a general idea of where Anilo lives..."
"We'll take that," said Ellie. "And thank you, Scadoosh, for supporting us. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to repay you!"
"Oh, you don't have to--" Scadoosh was interrupted by Hannah. "Yes, we do! You did so much fow us, Gweat Goddess!"
Scadoosh smiled. "You're adorable, Hannah, you know that? So, if you guys really want to do this, you should be off about now, I think!"
And so the group set off. They encountered Maddie and Priya, the elves from Renadiyet, and told them everything. The elf-children agreed to join them on their mission to rescue a goddess and punish Emily for not only killing her mother, but also incriminating her father.
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So, what do you guys think? Stay tuned for the next part!

WIS #3 Sneak Peek

As you all probably know, a WIS is a Weekly Illustrated Story. This week's WIS will reveal who Ellie's real murderer is (hint: It wasn't Scott) and a particular goddess will be captured! Can Science Nerdess, Feathers, Zella, Amarantha, Priya, Maddie, and the ghosts (and other people who may join) save the goddess and avenge Ellie's murder and Scott's mis-accusation? You will find out the answer to this question...uh...soon, hopefully. *grins innocuously*
And here is a random picture.

The giant woman is a goddess, but not a very nice one! Methinks Science Nerdess words the situation very nicely, don't you? (And those tiny circles are humans/elves/ghosts.)

That is all I shall reveal at the moment. I do have a basic idea of what will be going on and I'm excited to write it for you, my dear readers!

Good night! (It's night as of now where I live.)

"I'm Sixteen Years Old! I'm Not A Child!"

The title was taken from a movie that I don't particularly like but don't particularly hate, either. See if you can guess it!
The title is true, but I've never had to say it to anyone in particular. I'M SIXTEEN!
I don't feel sixteen, though. I think it's because of my sixteenth birthday party.
My nonexistent sixteenth birthday party.
That's right. I didn't celebrate my sixteenth birthday! That was to show that I am mature enough to be able to turn a year older without needing childish celebrations. Cake? Pizza? Parties? Pah! who needs them?! Childishness, I tell you.

What the--? That...was not me! At all! WHY ARE YOU DOUBTING ME?...Okay, fine, it was.

First of all, my birthday was during Ramadan, and my family doesn't celebrate birthdays that fall in that holy month. Secondly, it hadn't even been forty days since my grandmother passed away, so no one was really in the mood to celebrate my becoming one year closer to death. Sure, we're not supposed to cry until forty days after a loved one's death, but celebrating something...seems wrong, don't you think?

So, what I did on my birthday was SAT prepping, fasting, and having a normal day in general (except for the fasting part). But my parents wanted to do something to recognize that it was my birthday. Even for the two years that my sister's birthday fell in the month of Ramadan, she still got a cake. So I got a pie! Two pies, actually. My sister didn't like that. She doesn't like pies.

But I only ate half a pie slice. It turns out that having six cookies and 30-ish chips isn't such a great way to break your fast if you wish to preserve your appetite. Plus, it's definitely not mature. *looks haughtily* I, uh, didn't have experience being a sixteen-year-old, that's all. Yeah, that's it. No experience. *cough* So, anyway, my mom asked me if I wanted one roti or two. I normally eat two, so I, being foolish, asked for two. By the end of that dinner, I was very full. And then I tried to down a piece of the pecan pie. But by the time I got halfway, I wanted to barf. 

Not fun at all. And throughout my eating of the pie slice, I prayed to God to please keep my dinner down. Ugh...

Well, looking at green-faced people makes me sick (sorry, aliens who are green) so here's a picture of dinobots crushing the TREADMILL OF DOOM from my "I Love Not Being in P.E.!" post.

"Hey, look, Treadmill of Doom, here are Barney and Baby Bop coming to meet you! Why are you so scared? They love you! They want to hug you! What's that? They look different? They got a makeover, silly! Now don't act all scared of them...you'we huwting theiw feewings! Uh-oh, you've made them mad!" CRUNCH! 

Poor Treadmill of Doom! It looks so scared. I almost feel sorry for it.

I shouldn't have discussed pie. I'm hungry now.

WIS #2: The Return of the Greedy Knight's Ghost

Hello, all! I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING AWOL...again! I was in Houston for the International Space Settlement Design Competition, and my school WON!!! YAYYYYYYYY! AND I GOT MY BRACES OFF! PLUS IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! So, in honor of my birthday, I bring to you my next WIS! Consider this a gift from me to you on my birthday--wait, something's not right here. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around...*scratches head*
Anyway, for those of you who do not know, a WIS is a Weekly Illustrated Story. Today's story is a continuation of the last WIS. Scott's ghost has returned!
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It was an ordinary day in Science Nerdess's cave. Science Nerdess, Feathers, Amarantha, and Zella were enjoying themselves. "I love days like this," sighed Zella. "Days when we can just kick back, relax, and do absolutely nothing."
"Isn't it just great?" grinned Feathers.
"Ahhhhh," said Science Nerdess.
"Um, you guys, I have a really bad feeling..." warned Amarantha.
"About what?" asked Science Nerdess.
"I dunno," said Amarantha. "But something bad's going to happen. I can feel it."
"Oh, Amar, you're just being paranoid!" laughed Feathers. "What could go wrong?" Whoosh! All of a sudden, the four felt a draft. "I shouldn't have said that, right?" asked Feathers.
"I believe so," agreed Science Nerdess.
"Oh dear," said Feathers.
"AUUUUUGGGGHHH OMIGOD IT'S A GHOST!!!" Zella shrieked. Everyone else stared at what Zella was pointing to. It was indeed a ghost, a ghost of --
"Scott? B-b-but...you're supposed to be dead!" gasped Amarantha.

(He's not supposed to have legs. I know.)

"Well, I am here...to seek my revenge!" yelled the ghost of Scott, the coffin maker. "AND I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!" The foursome gasped in unison as Scott whipped out his blade, and Scott proceeded to try and stab Science Nerdess. He drove the sword into her heart and then...
Nothing.
Science Nerdess was still alive. Not a drop of blood leaked out. "Uhhh, can someone explain what just happened?" asked Feathers.
"Of course!" exclaimed Science Nerdess. "He's using a ghost sword, so it, like other ghostly objects and, well, ghosts in general, passed right through me because it's not solid!"
"FINE THEN!" yelled Scott, exasperated. "I'll use a real sword!" But there wasn't a real sword around. "Well," sputtered Scott,"I'll just...annoy you?"
So, in that short while, Scott was upgraded on the foursome's Mental Threat List from "Eliminated" to "Major Threat" and then downgraded to "Minor Threat/Annoyance."  But being annoyed is never fun, so Science Nerdess asked Zella, "Do you know how to get rid of ghosts?"
Zella checked her spell book. "Oh, there's a spell for that! But it's got weird ingredients that I don't have!"
"Oh no!" sighed Feathers.
"Let's hear them," said Amarantha.
Zella read the ingredients:

"Oh, why do spell books have to be so...so equivocal about their ingredients?!" said Science Nerdess.

"I guess we'd better get a move on if we're going to get rid of Scott..." noted Amarantha.

"YOU'LL NEVER GET RID OF ME!!! NEV--" Scott was then encased in a glass cylinder that he couldn't seem to get out of. "It's a Temporary Ghost-Holding Container," explained Zella. "It won't work after 24 hours, though. And now, we'll all need disguises!"

"I can disguise as a bird," said Feathers.

"I can be a lizard," said Science Nerdess.

"I can disguise as a normal, non-magic bearing 20-year-old," said Zella.
"And I...will be a non-talking horse!" said Amarantha.
"Okay, we're set. Let's go!" said Zella.

Meanwhile, at Av Ruj High, Priya walked over to the cafeteria. But she stopped and looked around worriedly. All clear. She continued to advance toward the eating hall. 

"Hey, look! Here comes the shorty!" sneered Gary the bully. His posse laughed as Gary singlehandedly pinned Priya against the wall. "Let me go! Leave me alone!" But Priya knew her cries were in vain. It was at times like this when Priya wondered where the H E double hockey sticks the teachers were when stuff like this happened. "I think that money is a little heavy for you, shrimp," remarked Gary, fishing Priya's lunch money out of her pocket. How childish. You'd think they'd have advanced from stealing lunch money after graduating from elementary school, but NOOOO. Still, Priya was glad that Gary stole her lunch money as opposed to stealing her hat. Her hat was very important to her.

Gary dropped Priya with a thud. "Time to find other shrimps to fry," smirked Gary, and he and his posse went away. Priya sighed and slunk off to the cafeteria where she saw her friend Maddie waiting for her. "Hi Priya!" said Maddie, cheerfully.

"Hey."

"Did Gary and his gang get to your lunch money again?"

"Yup."

"Here, I bought an extra lunch for you!" Maddie gestured at the lunch. Priya grinned. Maddie was so thoughtful. "I'm glad I didn't run into those guys today. Yesterday was a nightmare," remarked Maddie. Maddie had been locked into her locker for an hour before the janitor got her out. Priya wished she could have been at school to help Maddie, but she had been sick. 

Finally half-an-hour passed, and lunch ended. Priya and Maddie walked back to school.

...

Maddie and Priya were walking home three hours later. "I hope we get home before--" Priya was interrupted by Gary the bully. "Do you shrimps need me to help you carry some of your stuff?" He pointed at Maddie's hat. "How about that hat?" He reached for it, and Maddie held her hat down with her hands. Priya then kicked Gary in his, uh...groin. "YOU LITTLE...OOOH,YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!," yelled a reddened Gary. 

"Hey, pick on someone your own size, you bully!" Gary, Priya, and Maddie  turned towards the voice and saw that it came from a female human on a horse with a purple lizard and a red sparrow and a peculiar container. "Oh, yeah? What are ya gonna do if I don't, huh?" said Gary. All of a sudden, the sparrow turned into a phoenix and the lizard turned into a dragon, and the lady turned into a witch. Gary gasped. "OH MY...IT'S A DRAGON AND A PHOENIX AND A WITCH!!! MOMMYYYY!" He ran all the way home.

"Thank you! That hat is very important to me," said Maddie, after everyone introduced themselves.

"But what's so important about a hat?" asked Amarantha.

"Well, it..." Priya lowered her voice. "It disguises us. Makes us look human, albeit short humans."

"So...what are you really?" asked Zella, whispering as well.

"We're elves, from Renadiyet--Elflandia in English."

"But, doesn't Renadiyet have schools of its own?" asked Feathers.

"Well, yes, but the school districts have a paucity of money," said Maddie.

"Eh?" asked Amarantha.

"You know...budget cuts! So only Elfish and Magics can be taught there. So all the elf students go to human schools. One to three elfs go to each human school that's nearby so that we're not conspicuous." Maddie sighed. "I miss having school in Renadiyet. The humans are so mean."

"Well, humans can be mean," admitted Science Nerdess.

"Hey! I'd like to think that I'm not mean," objected Zella.

"But, uh, you don't count," stammered Maddie.

"I'm still human..."

"But don't humans treat you like you're different, even though you're human?"

"Humans who don't have magical abilities, yes."

"Yeah. So I meant humans without magical abilities. Yeah, um, exactly. SOOO...why are you guys here? Dragons, witches, phoenixes and talking horses aren't all that common in this part of the human land."

"We have to collect items for a spell to get rid of that ghost." Feathers pointed to the jar with Scott in it. "And we need 'a flower as light as the lightest day.'"

"How about the Olyreatixsoliz? It's Elfish for 'light flower.' Not only is it light in color, but it also glows in the dark! You can use it as a flashlight," suggested Priya. "We can take you there!"

"That would be wonderful!" said Zella. "Would you?"

"Of course!" grinned Priya, and the now sextet ventured off to Renadiyet.

...

"HALT!" The sextet were stopped by muscular guardselves. "Non-elves may not enter! Send the non-elves to the place of the Beast!"

Zella gasped. "Not the Beast!"

"What's the Beast?" asked Feathers and Science Nerdess at the same time.

"It's a terrifying creature that eats everything in its path!" Feathers and Science Nerdess gulped. 

"No! They're with us!" Priya stepped in from of Feathers, Science Nerdess, Zella, and Amarantha. The guardself sighed. "Drat, I wanted to feed someone to the beast. Maybe some other day..." The guards grumbled and walked away. 

"Phew, that was close! I thought we were goners!" breathed Science Nerdess.

"Well, you're safe now," grinned Priya. 

"Thank you!" said a grateful Feathers.

"D'aw, it was the least we could do. Now let's go!" Maddie ran, and the rest of the sextet followed. Maddie stopped at a meadow full of yellow and white flowers. "How many do you need?" asked Maddie. There was no answer. Everyone was too busy gawking at the beautiful flowers.

(Okay, they don't look fantastic...but just use your imagination, okay? Okay. Moving on...)

"We need just one," said Zella, breaking the silence. "Would there happen to be a feather as dark as the darkest night?"

"I just remembered something!" grinned Feathers. "If you shine one of those...O-lee-ree-a-thingies on a phoenix's feather, it turns completely black!" She plucked out a feather and squeezed the Olyreatixsoliz, which then glowed with a bright white light. The feather darkened. "Our second ingredient," Feathers declared.

"Well, that was convenient," remarked Zella, slipping the feather and the flower into her pocket.

"Unfortunately, the next ingredient isn't going to be so easy to come across," remarked Science Nerdess, worriedly clutching a map. "We're going to be confronted by a troll, who guards the volcano full of lava, the hot liquid we seek!"

"Since we don't have anything to do, can we come with you?" asked Priya. "Pleeeeease?"

Science Nerdess, Amarantha, Feathers, and Zella looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," said Feathers. "We'd love to have you!"

And so the sextet ventured off to the troll's volcano. And when they got there, the troll jumped right up and said, "You can't cross this bridge across the volcano or get the lava...unless you answer a riddle!"

"Awww, do we have to?" asked Amarantha, before anyone could shush her.

"Ya know what? I don't really feel like asking a riddle today. You can grab as much lava as you like!" 

"Wow! That's...great, and awful generous of you, Mr. Troll," remarked Amarantha. But suddenly, the troll pushed her in! "OOPS. Heh heh," snickered the troll as he walked away.

Zella pinned the troll down as Priya and Maddie punched him and Feathers swooped down to catch her. The volcano then started to rumble. "Oh gosh, where's Feathers?!!" exclaimed somebody.

"SHE'S IN THE VOLCANO!!!"

"Save yourselves!" yelled Feathers. "Save yourselves!" And the volcano exploded and sent everyone running/flying.

(Not drawn to scale)

The volcano finally settled and Science Nerdess collected some of the lava. "Oh, I feel so horrible!" sighed Amarantha. "Had I not complained about the troll's challenge, Feathers wouldn't have had to sacrifice her life for mine! OH, I'M SO SELFISH!!!" And she sobbed. Everyone else mourned the loss of Feathers and comforted Amarantha. "It wasn't your fault," said Science Nerdess. "It's because of troll. How do such evil monsters exist?!" She sighed. "Feathers was a great creature."

"Alas, yes," agreed Zella. "She was very noble and brave." Even Priya and Maddie, who barely knew Feathers, shed some tears. "She was so kind!" exclaimed Priya.

"Huh. This isn't quite watching my own funeral, but it's pretty close. It's nice to know that I have friends who care."

"FEATHERS???" Everyone turned around to see Feathers, looking like herself except, well, younger. "Yup, it's me," she grinned. "That volcano explosion takes care of my spontaneous combustion problem for another 1000 years." Amarantha jumped onto Feathers and everyone else followed suit, hugging and laughing and crying, all at once.

"Okay, guys, it's time to get the final ingredient," said Feathers. "What was it, again?"

"'A powerful specter to mix them all together' apparently," said Zella. "But what powerful specter would help us kill a fellow ghost?!"

"Well, ghosts are already dead...so we wouldn't be killing him, really..." volunteered Amarantha. 

"AHAHAHAHAHA! It's not going to be so easy eliminating me, is it now?" jeered Scott.

"Shaddup, Scott," said Feathers. "But let's go to the graveyard. Maybe if we beg enough..." And the sextet went off to the local graveyard. "It's creepy here," shuddered Priya.

"Well, it's a graveyard. I'd be worried if it wasn't creepy," remarked Zella. "Anyway, let's find us a powerful ghost."

(She's bored, not angry.)

Everyone turned to face the ghost. "Well, um..." stammered Science Nerdess.

"What makes you think we want the services of the ghost? Maybe we just want to...talk to her?" said Zella, somewhat defiantly.

"Yeah, what she said," agreed Feathers.

"Hah! As if any of you would care to talk to a ghost!" scoffed the ghost. "All you care about is yourselves! Particularly you, a pitiful human!" She pointed at Zella.

"Well, there have been a lot of anti-human-species-ism around here, and I have to say, we're not all like that!" yelled Zella.

"Uh, guys..." started Amarantha.

"So, if that's the case, what would you want to talk to a powerful ghost about?" asked the ghost.

"Okay, fine, yeah, we wanted something," admitted Zella.

"My point exactly!" exclaimed the ghost.

"Guys?" asked Amarantha.

"So, uh...would you know a powerful ghost?" asked Priya hopefully.

"Yes, but why should I tell you? You all are just selfish, selfish mortals!" exclaimed the ghost.

"I think you're being a hypocrite," said Feathers, quietly. "You were a mortal once, you know. And you should know that not all mortals are bad."

"True," said the ghost. "But most are bad." Feathers saw that there was no point in arguing with the ghost, so she instead asked, "What's your name?"

"None of your beeswax," said the ghost. Science Nerdess looked at the tombstone the ghost was sitting on, and said, "Is your name Emily?"

"Yeah. Quite a boring name, if I do say so myself..." remarked the ghost.

"Emily...that sounds familiar..." remarked Amarantha.

"Emily?!" gasped Scott from the container. Emily looked confused for a moment. "DAD?!" she asked.

"Crud," cursed Zella, reflecting the thoughts of the rest of the sextet.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Amarantha.

"Who killed him?" asked Emily. No one dared answer. "WHO?"

"Um...technically, I did, because I created a bomb and disguised it as gold to...kill him..." said Science Nerdess.

"But we all helped!" yelled Feathers. "I helped heal Science Nerdess..."

"And I tried to cast spells to eliminate him..." continued Zella.

"And I ditched Scott and informed everybody!" said Amarantha. "And I bit his hand!"

"And I...uh, didn't do anything. I didn't know them then," said Priya.

"Me, neither," said Maddie.

"So, what you're saying is...you killed my dad?" asked Emily, testily.

"MWAHAHAHA, I KNEW I'D BE AVENGED! YOU'LL ALL BE SORRY!" yelled Scott, as he attempted to do a victory dance.

"How can I thank you???" grinned Emily. "No, I'm serious," she added, when everyone looked confused. "Oh, right. MOOOOOOM!" Another ghost came in with a toddler clinging on to her hand. "Look, Mom, there's Dad's ghost in that container, and these guys killed him!" exclaimed Emily.

"Ellie?" asked Scott.

"Hello, Scott," said the ghost. "Yes, it is me, your wife, who you ruthlessly killed." 

"Whoa, this is getting interesting..." remarked Feathers.

"Oh yeah, Scott did kill Ellie! I didn't see it because I was at the stables, being tended to by the stable boy," remarked Amarantha.

"Yes, he killed me, while I was pregnant with Hannah!" Ellie gestured at the toddler ghost who was holding her hand.

"Hi! I'm Hannah, and I'm thwee yeaws old!" said the little ghost, smiling.

"Waiiiit...how could you give birth to a three-year-old?" asked Science Nerdess. "I thought ghosts didn't age...?"

"Well, ghosts over the age of 13 can choose whether to age or not. But ghosts under the age of 13 at the time of their death have to age, and they stop at age 13," explained Ellie.

"Yeah. Just like how I'm not going to grow anymore now that I'm 13," added Emily.

"Anyway, going on with the story," continued Ellie. "I never wanted to marry Scott, but my parents were suffering financially, so they asked me to marry Scott because his business was lucrative. I despised coffin makers--and still do--but I agreed. I married Scott, even though I knew of his greed. But I never realized the extent of his greed until it was too late...

"It was three years ago. I was, as I mentioned, pregnant, and Emily was sick and missed school."

"I wish I had gone, even though I was sick," interrupted Emily. "Sorry for interrupting, Mom," she added, quickly.

"That's all right, dear," smiled Ellie. "Scott wasn't earning as much because not so many people died. We still had plenty of money, though, for the whole family and even for the incoming member." She smiled at Hannah. "Well, it wasn't enough for Scott, though, apparently. So, while I was sitting on the sofa, reading a book--and it was a good book, too--Scott...Scott killed me. He stabbed me on the back of the neck! Later he killed Emily. I'm not sure how. Emily, would you mind explaining...?"

"Sure. I mean no. I mean...I'll explain," said Emily. "Well, I was sick that day. So I was in bed. My dad came up to my room to bring me soup. I drank it, gratefully. But it was poisoned."

Everyone gasped. "That's terrible! How could Scott sink so low?" asked Science Nerdess. "I mean, I knew he was bad, but that...that's unthinkable! Unspeakable!"

"Well, that's what he did," said Ellie. "And he made my parents pay for the coffins and burial service. That's when they realized how terrible Scott was. But by then it was too late, too late." She sobbed. Hannah bawled upon seeing her mom's sadness. Emily shed a tear. Priya sniffled and Maddie cried. Feathers cried and collected her tears in a bottle for future use. Zella looked forlorn, and Science Nerdess blew her nose. Amarantha borrowed the handkerchief from Science Nerdess and wiped her tears.

"I'm eternally grateful to all of you," said Ellie. "However can I thank you?"

"Well...we do need a powerful specter to help us with this spell to eliminate Scott's ghost..." said Science Nerdess.

"I'm a powerful ghost, thanks to the great goddess Scadoosh," said Ellie. "Upon hearing of my tragic death, she granted me powers. I'll help you. Besides, I'd love to exact revenge on Scott!"

"NO, ELLIE, YOU WOULDN'T!" cried Scott.

"Yes, Scott, I would, and I will," answered Ellie. So everyone went back to Science Nerdess's cave, and Zella put all the ingredients in her cauldron. Ellie used her powers to zap the ingredients into a mixture, and Zella recited the incantation, "Hum, drum, frogs and toads. I do desire to eliminate this ghost!" She pointed at Scott. Suddenly, the potion hit Scott's container and broke the glass into a million pieces.

And Scott was gone. Cheers broke out. 

Suddenly, an intense light shone in the cave. The light was emanating from a woman in robes.

 

"IT'S THE GREAT GODDESS SCADOOSH!" exclaimed Feathers, and everybody bowed.

"Oh, no, that's not necessary," chuckled Scadoosh, as she gestured for everyone to rise. "I just want to thank everyone who helped Ellie and her children with their plea. So, I give Science Nerdess the power of an icedrake as well as a firedrake's. [Fire drakes blow fire; ice drakes have water powers and can blow ice.] Feathers shall be rid of her spontaneous combustion problem and both she and Science Nerdess have more forms of disguise. Science Nerdess can disguise as any reptile, and Feathers can disguise as any bird." And a light fell upon Science Nerdess and Feathers and enveloped them. When they emerged, Science Nerdess had blue and red patches. Feathers looked the same.

Scadoosh continued. "Zella, you shall get more spells and you aren't limited to potion spells anymore. And I grant you a better wand. Ah, and I grant immortality to all of you. As for Priya and Maddie, your magic will be enhanced and you can disguise as taller humans to avoid being picked on. And Amarantha, you shall become a unicorn as opposed to just a talking horse." A light enveloped the sextet and then disappeared. "Thank you," breathed Priya and Feathers, at the same time.

"No, thank you," said Scadoosh, and she disappeared.

"Well, I guess it's time to go," said Ellie. "It's been nice knowing you all."

"Awww, do we have to go? The gwaveyawd is cweepy!" said Hannah, sadly.

"You can stay with us!" grinned Feathers.

"Of course," said Amarantha, Science Nerdess, and Zella.

"Oh, you guys are too nice!" said Emily. "I'm sorry about all the mean things I said about mortals before. You guys are great!"

"We all have our own prejudices," said Science Nerdess. "It's okay."

"It's time for us to go back," remarked Priya, "before our parents get worried." So everyone headed out to Renadiyet, but they saw UFOs!

"We are going to take over this planet!" exclaimed an alien. "And no one can stop us!"

"You can't do that!" exclaimed Priya. "We can rule ourselves!"

"Yeah!" agreed Science Nerdess. "Go away, unless you come in peace!"

"Wait, what? That isn't what I heard..." said the alien.

"Yeah, we thought you wanted us to take over the planet!" said another alien. "That's what every other planet we conquered wanted us to do, anyway..." No one could detect sarcasm in their voices, but no one wanted to take chances. "Yeah, right," scoffed Emily. "Next, you'll be saying that you didn't want to take over the planets in the first place!"

"That is true," said another alien, apparently unable to detect the sarcasm in Emily's voice. "We never wanted to take them over, but, alas! we were forced to!"

"Are you guys being sarcastic?" asked Amarantha.

"If we were, we'd be raising our sarcasm hands," shrugged the second alien. "Come on, Obb, let's go. We're not needed here." And the aliens contacted the other UFOs. "Call off the operation! We're leaving!" They hopped into their UFOs and left.

"That was weird," said Feathers. And everyone continued going to Renadiyet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A big thank you goes out to Feathers, Scott, Zella, Amarantha, Priya, Maddie, Ellie, Hannah, Emily and Bruce for being in my WIS! 

So, what do you guys think? And what suggestions do you have for my next WIS? Do you have any presents for my birthday? *looks hopefully*