It's the Great Pumpkin Tommy! (Tommy)

[shizoo]

Merton had spent long excruciating minutes trying to impress the females he had met. . each second feeling like it was actually lasting a million eons. Eventually, he had jabbered, twitched & babbled to the point where even he hadn't remembered the thread of the conversation, & shortly thereafter had fled the scene-berating himself both mentally & aloud at his lack of finesse.
The mercurial little tom had spent the rest of the evening scavenging junk & building a rudimentary ghost detector. Merton had wires, old metal strips, plastic, batteries, old shoes & other colorful things all patched together in a pattern only he could discern.
He lugged everything out to the old field, an area where he had had one of his intuitive leaps earlier.
There had to be paranormal activity here somewhere! he thought.
The tom had a battered metal strainer on his head, while he tinkered swore & exclaimed happily into the night, putting bits & pieces together.
Eventually he settled on an old blanket he had brought along-to wait & see, watching his little dial on the meter he had created. Soon, his eyes grew heavy & after a valiant effort to stay awake, he fell fast asleep, his strainer knocked askew & his meter clutched in one paw.

[X2]

Thomas recalled how he wound up searching the forest in the evening, looking for his wayward best-friend. After Merton had began his endearing, yet inane bumbling, he had jetted out of the conversation and the junkyard so fast, he had been gone within a blink of an eye. Of course, Tommy had nearly ditched the two queens without a seconds thought. But he did stay long enough to try and smooth over any ruffled opinions and egos. His friend had been really into the dark queen and Tommy had wanted her to have a positive outlook on Merton. Anything to help his buddy score. By the time he had left the two queens without a proper goodbye, he had lost sight of Merton. Eventually, he had caught the dark-ginger's scent and thus brought him to the forest.

...Still searching.

Happily, his search paid off. He found an opening, and as he moved inward and closer to the scent, a ball of fur with shiny metal surrounding it came into his view. A few feet away, Tommy couldn't help but to smile down at Merton. The tom was sleeping soundly, curled up, with a paw still clutching on to one of his gizmo's. It was almost...cute. And perfect. Backing up a few feet, Tommy ran a paw through his mane, his lips curling into a playful expression, and his eyes pierced onto his friend. With his tail swaying slowly from side to side, he ran to Merton. Lifting off, he pounced onto Merton, with a shriek meant to be terrifying released from the back of his throat.

((Let the fun begin.))

[shizoo]

Merton snorted waking quickly-his mind already jumping into high gear. "A ghost!1 who what eeeps!?!"
Merton had tried to leap to his feet only to be thwarted by the larger playful tom leaping on top of him. Chaos & bits of stuff started to rain & tumble everywhere as the two toms tussled.
After a few minutes though, Merton realized it wasn't a ghost who was attempting to do. . something to him, it was his buddy playing.
he let out a high pitched "Tommy!!" & tussled back enthusiastically, shedding parts left & right until they were wrestling on top of the old blanket together. Finally out of breath from giggling & the rough play, Merton collapsed on top of Tommy, squeaking. "Uncle!!"

[X2]

Thomas grinned as laughter bubbled to the surface of his throat, as Merton screeched out upon waking. It was so easy to startle the jittery tom, and Tommy seemed to be one of the ones to constantly spook him. Whether intentional or not. He began to raise his paws up in defense to calm the dark-ginger tom, but Merton tackled him and Tommy fell backwards with an 'oomph'.

They tussled, but it never got out of hand. Tommy was good enough and knew Merton enough to keep Merton from seriously harming him or himself. But when Merton squeaked out his name, he couldn't help but grin down at his best friend. "Yeah bud-" His words were cut off when, once again, Merton jumped at him and began to play. Tommy rolled them over onto the blanket and the two began to wrestle. Tommy was smiling and laughing during the whole ordeal.

The continued their play fighting, until Merton collapsed on top of him. Tommy naturally had his paws on Merton's sides, supporting his weight. However, he frowned. "You never told me you had an uncle." His mind swarmed about why Merton had come out here in the first place. Something about ghost hunting. Tommy believed, anyway. His head moved upward and he looked beyond him, the rest of the world upside down from his perspective. "Don't tell me you just saw your dead uncle."

[shizoo]

Merton wheezed out more giggles as Tommy held onto him. He wasn't in the best physical shape, unlike his buddy. "I. . don't have an uncle. . I don't think."
Merton stopped a moment to tote up in his head all the relatives he knew about. It was a depressingly short list. He was also pretty sure that any still around had written him off as a lost cause anyway. So what or who was Tommy referring to? Maybe Tommy had lost an Uncle? Merton's ready sympathy welled up. Poor Tommy! Hiding his pain at losing a beloved uncle like that!!
Merton swiftly started putting his ghost detector back together. "Don't worry buddy, we'll find your Uncle so you can say goodbye!" the little tom said, fiddling with his dials. Then he put a metal strainer on Tommy's head. "Now just think of your uncle & we will see if we can draw him out."

[X2]

Tommy had been slow on the uptake, and had to go over what Merton had said in the first place. Had he heard right? Merton didn't have an uncle? He was about to speak up, to tell Merton he had misheard him (wouldn't have been the first time) and that it was a simple misunderstanding. However, Merton had already taken what he wanted from his words and ran with them. Merton seemed so sympathetic and determined to search for an dead uncle that wasn't, that Tommy didn't have the heart to correct the tiny mistake. Besides, he was going to look at tromping through the supposedly haunted forest with his best friend beside him as an adventure. How long had it been since their last big adventure?


"Umm..." Thomas was beginning to rethink that correction when Merton placed the odd looking hat upon his head. "Do I really have to wear this, Mert?" It no doubt looked ridiculous upon his head. "I mean, is it really necessary?"

[shizoo]

Merton nodded & attached wires & a battery pack to the odd contraption on Tommy's head. "Yes, because it's your uncle we're looking for." He gave Tommy a sympathetic smile (though it looked more like a grimace ). The odd little tom fiddled with the dial & a soft whine could be heard from the hat. It also started emitting small sparks & crackling.
"There perfect. Now just think about your uncle & we'll head down this way." Taking out a small box, he started tapping it & began wandering away from Tommy down a dark path leading into the woods.

[X2]

Tommy had started to nod at Merton, on instinct. However it wasn't long before doubt began to creep in. His lips twitched until they were pulled into a frown. Then he began to hear some weird hum coming from the contraption on his head. "Ummm Merton?" He swallowed, as he looked up at the brim of the metal strainer. "Is it suppose to be making that no- His voice cut off into a pained gasp. He had felt lightheaded and had almost fallen to his knees. Getting a grip, he narrowed his eyes at the hat he was wearing and took it off before it could zap him again. "Hold on there, Mert." His paw didn't hesitate to curve around Merton's arm. "I think I'll survive not catching a glimpse of a dead uncle. Which is more then I can say for your....gizmo."

[Moonstruck]

[[if this is not replied to within a week the thread will be declare DEAD]]

[shizoo]

Merton gave the other tom a beatific smile & a sweeping head rub against his arm. "Don't worry Tommy, I have the scent now. . " The younger male began to sweep forward waving his little electronic box back & forth as he moved. The discarded 'hat' began to smoke & sizzle in the grass causing an ominous orange glow to spread to the dry grass.
Oblivious, Merton wandered on talking to himself & muttering instructions to Tommy that weren't very clear.
Happily the little tom stopped as he looked at his widget & began muttering excitedly & suddenly dove disappearing between a couple of piles of unidentifiable metal objects & then the night became ominously still. . .

[X2]

Tommy was too preoccupied to hear or notice what Merton was doing. He was too busy staring at the 'hat' in terror.
As if the smoke wasn't bad enough, but the sound of the sizzle had Tommy's mouth gaping open like a fish. Tommy forced himself to look away before he could notice the orange glow catch onto the dry grass underneath. He was focused on one thought: That could have been his head sizzling!

"That was on my head, Merton. MY head! You almost flambéed my head." Thomas had thumped his chest to further prove his point and his indignant stance, to empty space. "Mert?" Tommy called out, his head moving from side to side as he searched for the errant tom. "Merton?" Tommy cocked his head to the side and sniffed. If he didn't know Merton's scent inside and out, he wouldn't have caught it through the strong smell of the smoke lofting through the air. Tommy began to walk forward as he followed the scent. Praying he didn't have to once again pull the tom out of trouble.

[shizoo]

Merton's face was intent on his gauge. He didn't even hear Tommy complaining behind him or notice the smoldering grass. Excitedly, he played with the machine trying to adjust it. He watched the colors dance as it began to beep. It was working!! It was registering a large presence somewhere nearby.
The excitable tom, assuming he was about to have proof of supernatural forces at work in the Junkyard went even further into the loosely stacked pile of Junk, completely unaware that he was being tracked by something more than just Tommy. . .unerringly he began to walk into danger, completely oblivious to it.

[X2]

Thomas looked left to right, with still no sign of Merton. The younger and smaller tom couldn't have gotten far, so Tommy could only assume that Merton was ignore him for something more interesting. Something technical that would probably have put Tommy to sleep. Somehow, for some inexpiable reason, he felt like he needed to find Merton...now! He continued to walk in the direction he hoped Merton had gone. "Come on Merton. It isn't funny anymore. Where'd you go?"

[X2]

((If this thread isn't replied to within a week, it will be declared DEAD.))

[X2]

[[DEAD]]