Autumn in Ashland

 By this time school is in full swing for both souls. And while the younger soul was dedicating her time to her studies in high school and other things this is a tale of the older soul. In the North country where Leroux's fairy godmother was pursuing higher education the leaves put on their fall best and the air turned crisp.

There was that distinctive vibe in the air that only Autumn can bring. And By Autumn I mean of course the season and not Ingreedo'a roommate's sister. School was going well and old soul was learning many things. Such as philosophical thoughts on love, how to make aspirin and Wisconsin can get a bit cold.

  All the while she was sentimentally missing home and people there and hoping that people would visit.There is a lovely large lake freeloading whales can swim in.

 As for things going on old soul had a job as a work-study job as a library desk clerk and was learning time management. She even went trick or treating with friends for Halloween. The weather up North is strange indeed. While the mountains had snow the lake town had sun. While the mountain had sun, the lake town had foggy mist.

As the year winds on old soul is kept busy by college social life and studies. Looking forward to Christmas break to bring tales and treats home. Until then enduring the cold and wishing for a green sweater. Also wishing people would fulfill their skyping obligations. For the enjoyment of people back home pictures on the right is an autumn leaf covered by frost. Thus ending old soul's attempt to be a hippie who doesn't wear shoes (unless its to the cafeteria or chemistry lab cuz apparently shoes are required there).

"Oh Loki, was Wisconsin that bad?"

Chapter Ten: In which the story of creation is told, only better.

As luck would have it, the quest to expel boredom from the original kingdom was not going so well. Summer turned to Autumn and as time passed, YoungSoul began to day-dream, as YoungSouls often do. She dreamed she had magical powers, such as the ability to do fancy origami and meet friendly lions.

After a while even those daydreams were not enough, so YoungSoul began to recount a tale so treacherous, so wild, so insane that it would have seemed to most that she was just making shit up. It went a little like this:


Once upon a time, some 19 years ago, a girl named Ingreedo was born in a faraway kingdom. The Kingdom didn't really notice, because her parents weren't noble, they were just nice everyday folk, so Ingreedo felt as though nobody respected her. Because of this, she often went around with her pants around her knees. Take that, townspeople!

As Ingreedo grew she aquired two sidekicks by the names of JoJo and Asterisk Alcatraz. They were the kind of people who often got in the way and made Ingreedo want to set things on fire, but at the end of the day she had to love them, kinda like you have to love your brother or sister. Anyway, Ingreedo and her sidekicks got into a bunch of dastardly deeds, such as Bombing Pearl Harbor and Assassinating JFK and just generally being mean. But as they all grew older, they did some nice things too, like sweeping the floor, so it worked out pretty nicely and everyone still thought the Alcatraz kids would get into Heaven.

While all this was going on, Ingreedo was living a double life! At home she was sweet and kind, but at school she was quite the troublemaker.  The events that took place during this time period are top secret and therefore cannot be revealed, but let's just say Carmel Apples can be pretty fun so long as you're creative. And creative she was, seeing as she spent so long in various art schools around the kingdom.

*cough, cough*

Pine Forest Kid.

Fast forward a few years and Ingreedo was sad. She was very sad. Like, REALLY sad. Like, more sad than the time she got thwarted in her attempts to win the Space Race. And she would've gotten away with it too, if it  weren't for those meddling Russians! Sadly, this hatred of the Russian people eventually led to a rather odd love-hate relationship with a Russian fugitive by the name of Hugo.
But anyway, she was really sad.


She wondered what she was doing with her life. She wondered why no one loved or respected her enough. She wondered why there was no YoungSoul to match her ElderSoul. Why didn't she get a circle of life? She was better than a silly old lion king, after all.

Then one day, just as Ingreedo was at the end of her rope; ready to leave the evil world behind; on a day when not evil burning puppies or hypnotizing penguins would have cheered her up, she met a strange child named Leroux.

Leroux was crazy.

But she was a YoungSoul and she was the best Ingreedo was going to get. YoungSouls were hard to find in those days, because it was before China started mass-producing them. She took YoungSoul as her own and together they did many crazy things like loving a Spanish man with a wife and kids and jumping out of cars in the snow because Jay-See, a frustrating dictator hell-bent on taking over the kingdom, was being an ass.

Over the next year and a half, the Souls became braver and better, eventually embarking on a quest to expel evil from the kingdom.

And they all lived happily ever after. (Yeah right...Shows how much you know about Penguins!)

The beginning. 

Camping for Credit

 Now it came to pass, as these things often do, that the older of the two souls, I, had to begin a journey of my own off the the world of college ( like Andy from Toy Story). However unlike Andy I did not need to find a little girl to take care of my friends as I hope they can do that for themselves. Anyway, the school I now attend is located in the mysterious land of Northern Wisconsin. The school is a unique place with many unique features. One of them being that orientation consists of a 5 day outdoor trip. The one I went on was a backpacking trip on the lovely North woods Trail.

 Wandering amongst the forest one meets interesting people and becomes thoroughly convinced that fairies and elves might actually exist in such wonderful places. One thing I wish didn't exist is mosquitoes. Being from a land where such wicked creatures are a rare sighting being eaten alive was a new, albeit unpleasant, experience.

 Now being so far away from home I now and then get a feeling of homesickness. Or that could possibly be the euphoria from lots of air. There's so much of it down here at this elevation! While I miss all those back home I look forward to many a new adventure of which to tell them when I visit come Christmas time. And during such a time I must find a way to procure Leroux's green coat. Because surprise, surprise, Northern Wisconsin gets cold.

 And the treasure was home all along..........



haha yeah right.

Chapter Eight: In which there are Knives

Our brave souls realized they had become rather secluded over the past few adventures, so one fine day they invited two other souls, Maty (henceforth known as Thing One)  and LauraLion (Thing Two) to join them. The four scurried through the wild forest on what was supposed to be a light hike. However, before they knew it, evil things started to occur! The trees started talking and they twisted their branches to and from in an attempt to capture the brave souls! It seemed the end was near...

Just as the darkness closed upon them, Thing One remembered something.

"Look at this!" said Thing one, "Look here, Look at me!

I'm carrying weapons, let's destroy this damn tree!"

He pulled out some big, silver knives and passed them around. 

The souls tried first to coax the tree into submission, but the tree would not hear of it. You know how stubborn trees are these days. I blame it on capitalism. Anyways, it was finally decided that the knives were the only possible option, so the souls all began to fight!

At first the attempts were no more than pitiful excuses, but finally, Young Soul made a good move and dealt 30 points of damage!

 

The evil tree realized that he might need some backup, so he called the Angry Forest God to give him a helping hand. The Forest God called his minions (known to most as grass and random shit on ground) to steal the weapons from the souls. After each attack, the minions would scurry 'round and steal the knives. This greatly discouraged the souls because good weapons are hard to find.  (see what i did there? It's funny because...)

Seriously, it was a bitch. Those minions get shit done. 

After much searching, the weapons were found and the battle continued.Thing Two had some trouble but in the end she got in a good stab as well, dealing 20 more points of damage while ElderSoul got in a good 25 by using her mind tricks. Thing One went crazy and started attacking the Evil Tree with all his might, dealing the final 25 damage points. And then he did it again, just to be sure. The Tree crumpled to the ground and the rest of the forest bowed down to the noble souls.

After their adventure the group tramped into town for drinks and hoes, like usual.

Practicing Poi Patiently

On one rainy day we decided to jump on the band wagon and attempt to learn how to spin poi. Being poor we made our own from thick socks and other secret materials. Which if reveled  would unravel space and time.
Any-who we got some basic moves down but either there was something we were missing or the universe had ordained this to be a challenge. Damn universe. Oh and if someone goes "well it would have been easier if you used these materials or bought some poi" my answer is well if you are so rich maybe you should have made a donation. Not all of us have money to throw around willy nilly. We will once the farm is up and running but until then we have to make do with what we have.

Chapter Six: Looking for Adventure and Finding Spider God

 Now when the youngest soul had returned it was decided to journey outdoors in search of mischief and mayhem. But where to go? The two could not yet travel to Brazil and Leroux was no longer welcome in Monaco after certain events which are too numerous and too full of tomfoolery to recount here.

Therefore after much deliberation as well as consulting their horoscopes, soothsayers and the stock market (Leroux had some investments in Bulgarian whale racing), the pair decided on a place full of magic and wonder.

 Yes the magical land of West Fork in Oak Creek Canyon.

Full of magical creatures and such.......or so they were told.

 While there were no fairies and elves to be found, there was a pretty creek. And a very pretty creek it was. Refreshing too considering the day was hot and the souls found a nice place to eat saltines and watch little fish swim. Ingreedo had been forgetful as they sometimes are and forgot to pack a snack. But lucky for her that Leroux had learned what to pack for journeys. There was much rejoicing.

 As probably mentioned before, the day was hot. So journey through the creek itself was essential for the journey back. Those Transcendentalists didn't have anything on the souls because whilst they were enjoying a sun shower and thanking the powers that be for a break from the heat they came across proof of the divine.

For low and behold up high in the trees they spied a spider's web. Proof that Spider God provides to those in need......or has a vacation home in Oak Creek.


As the day wore on the two went their separate ways until adventure called again.

Portland Calling

Now, right about the time of our last adventure, it was discovered that the younger of the souls had a bit of trouble functioning without the Elder Soul. So she packed up a kidnapsack and boarded this terrible contraption called an "Airplane" for a bit of self discovery and soul searching in the town of Portland. It was kind of like her Mecca, if you will, except without the religion or worship. Just the pilgrimage, really. Actually, it wasn't like Mecca at all. It was more like a treasure hunt. The narrator of this story is a fucking idiot.

Anywho, after thanking the Airplane Gods and the Claustrophobia Goddesses for not sending too much evil her way, as well as remembering that the sun was not likely to explode anytime soon, YoungSoul headed off to find herself. And more importantly, her treasure. But first, she found this woman:

YoungSoul decided she needed to broaden her knowledge so she took a trip to Reed College, where classes are small and tuition is large. It was a beautiful place, with rivers for sea-voyages and barely any suicides!

The hero also decided she wanted revenge for all the wrong-doers she had faced during various perils, so she went on a quest to find the ever-so-famous VooDoo Donuts. Turns out, other folk had liked VooDoo Donuts before it was cool to like VooDoo Donuts, so YoungSoul decided to return at a later midnight hour, even though it meant dealing with a drunk guy who thought she was pretty. YoungSoul appreciated that very much. 

  

On her journey YoungSoul met many important people, such as a wondrous blond man (this wondrous <---> ) and her real father, pictured far right. Sill she looked on for her treasure. If it wasn't revenge, or food, or family, or love, what could it be???

 

Like always, she had a majestic sweater to protect and serve her. Like a bodyguard, but green.

 

She traveled to waterfalls and across mighty bridges to a foreign land known as Wah-Shing-Tun. The name is derived from a Native American tribe who used to inhabit the area, called the May-Kshi-Tup clan. Here she made contact with her other life by phoning a friend, all the while listening closely for the sound of a foghorn to guide her home. Foghorns you say? Yes, foghorns.But still no treasure.

After more trecks into the unknown. YoungSoul finally realized she had known where the treasure was all along. It was back home, right where she had started.

No, i'm kidding. That's bullshit.