Meeting Arthur

It has been a bit, The Author forgot about her after one adventure… not that she minded, all this was kind of sudden. You probably have been wondering what she has been doing this whole time. Well, she has been picking up the pieces of the mirror that was broken when reality seemed to shatter. She is about to put the last piece in, nervously staring at the nearly complete mirror as she hears muffled grounds and yelling on the other end. She takes a deep breath…

“You need to make it home Sally, this might be your one shot…” She says to herself as she puts the shard in… the mirror, now united, begins to pull her in, she tries to hold steady but ends up being dragged in and bursting out… this is the second time this has happened on this adventure. She gets up and sees a lot of people in the same kind of position as her, some are toons, others machines, and… is that Mavrick? A black man at the desk, now clings to his seat, scared and surprised.

The room is quiet, still… and tense.

“Uhh… hi?” speaks The African American, confusion in his voice apparent.

Others look confused. A “where are we?” here, “Who are you” there. All of it being a big kerfuffle. Sally looks at the black guy, about as confused as everyone else. The man speaks up and says. “So… let me explain. I’m Arthur… uhh, I am an author who is trying to make a story to sell, a-and I was using you guys to try and pull that off.” Everyone was silent for a moment, and one with blue hair and claws speaks back to him. “Wait, we were being controlled by you so you can write a book toooo…” “Sell,” Arthur responds “I need my editor to like a story I got so-” Another speaks up, this one with green hair. “Were we going to go home when you were done? What’s gonna happen?” Arthur is getting nervous, and Sally tries to make a play “Hold o-”

“What’s happening back at our homes?” A buff robot asks “What are we missing out on?!” Arthur looks at him up and down “I-I-I dunno, I don’t know how this works!” “So you just broke… existence, not knowing how it worked?!” Maverick requests to know Arthur grips his chair, hands trembling. Sally goes again, “I’m sure we-”

“So, what?! We’re stuck here then?! We can’t go home, wherever that is now, and we are forced to be your slaves?!!” The clawed woman asks Arthur stuggles to get words out “N-N-No I-I… I…” Stay calm Sally, stay calm… “you know what, how about I slit your thoat and beagin eating you from the i-”

“Can ALL of you SHUT THE FUCK UP!!?” Sally screams, everyone looking at the now feral, enraged toon. “This man is doing his BEST to MAKE ENDS MEET, he is trying so HARD HE BROKE REALITY and MADE THE MULTIVERSE A MESS, probably to appease someone HE CAN’T APPEASE!!”

The Blue haired woman responds “Wha- How do you even know that? Do you know this guy”

“Oh puh-LEASE, If you were taken by a ringmaster and put into the spotlight with no context, then YOU already KNOW HE NEEDS YOU TO HELP HIM OUT!! WHY NOT GO BACK TO THE CIRCUS, CARNIE!!? People are gonna LOVE YOU THERE!!”

A white fox human goes next “Now now, no need to get upse-”

“UPSET HUH!!? Wow, who tipped you off GENIUS? Howsabout, instead of getting your NOSE into MY SHIT, you go MEDITATE IN THE CORNER!??”

She lashes out at everyone, the steampunk man, Maverick, the guy with the blue thing in his head… not the moldy looking guy though, she just points at him and says “And YOU… You’re in my boat, you're wonderful and deserve joy. AND YOU!! You Reality Breaking, Overstimmed, Alien-esque BASTARD!!” She rushes to Arthur tackling him as he screams… and hugs him. She holds him close and sits up. “I am going to help you” Sally now says in a motherly tone “If you have been doing this in a loop, you don’t deserve all this stress and burnout. I will help you… and if nobody wants to join, you can sod off.” The group surrounding them stares in silence… one small girl raising her hand “I’ll help!” and another, and another…

Work was hard the next few hours. Narratives, revisions, editing, brainstorming. It was good. Thankfully Arthur got his work done right on time. A final submission, and not even a few minutes go by when a notification comes up from the editor… about more edits when the book is due in a few minutes. Arthur visibly tenses before Sally puts her hand on his shoulder and begins doing some quick research… IP address, home address, work address… She steps away and makes her way to the bathroom “I’ll be back in a Jiffy.” she says before closing and locking the door…

Another few minutes pass before another email comes in with an all clear from the editor. Sally comes out of the bathroom with a flush, hands bruised as she puts her gloves back on. “Sally, what did you do?” Maverick asks. Sally responds with one thing

“I stopped being silly, just for a moment.”

You might be wondering what happened to our heroes and Arthur… they never left his side I’ll tell you that much…as for specifics….

Y’know… stories were made, life goes on.

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What, didn’t like that ending?

Go home kid, it’s late.