We're back with more Sir Fumblies! The voter mentions Fumblies pieces having "fun humor" and I think we got that one here. Read up - then we can see which award this one won for Fumblies.

 
(Thanks to Joshua (Dash) for NPC work in both parts.)

Sir Fumblies had finally reached the edge of outskirts of the Ninja Village. Now that he was there he was leery of entering the settlement due to his uncertainty about where in the timeline he had been thrown too. After a quick moment he finally decided to find himself a place in a tree where he could get some intelligence without being in too obvious a spot. "Now that we are here lad can you get any clues on when we are?"

"Oh.. how strange." That was the ghost child's chilling reply.

"What is that?"

"There is a ninja walking nearby dressed in a style of clothing that hasn't been popular in the last 80 years or so. You can tell by the yellow onion around his neck. It was quite fashionable in the day, as I recall."

"So you are telling me that we are back before your grandparents were born? And wasn't the yellow onion the period closer to 90 years ago?" Fumblies looked around trying to see where this ninja was as he pondered on the best way out this situation. His timing question was one based on his schooling many years ago in Far Far Away Land.

"My grandparents might have been quite young in the day," the ghost answered. "And I think you're correct, actually; how did you know of the yellow onion, Sir?"

"Class project I had to do for school. One of my teachers gave me the choice; ninjas from that period or the origins of mimes. I picked the ninjas." Was Fumblies matter of fact response.

"Good choice, Sir!" That was the voice behind Fumblies and the ninja ghost.

Fumblies turned to look at the source of the voice and blinked. "How did you hear the conversation I was having in my head?"

"You were mumbling," the old fashioned ninja replied. "As we say in my time, 'Kwashi-yoshi yo.' It means, 'Hello!' It also means 'There's a fire,' though, so it's a little confusing."

"I see; so since you have seen me, how long has the the yellow onion been in popular symbol?" Fumblies asked in an attempt to get an idea of how far in the past he had been sent.

"Are we in the past?" the ghost asked the ninja, although the ninja clearly couldn't hear him.

So instead, he replied to Fumblies, smiling. "How long would you like it to have been in style?"

Fumblies just blinked in response as he took a moment to steady himself while he consulted with the ghost. "Are you getting any strange vibes off this guy? Or did we happening to meet the villiage idiot?"

But the other ninja cheerfully responded first. "Oh, silly me! You've been gone for months, haven't you Sir Fumblies? Welcome back. Will you be joining us tonight for our old-timey dress-up dinner party?"

Fumblies let out his breath as he looked the ninja over. "So how long has it been since I was in the Ninja Village? Also I don't see why I can't join your for a dinner if you can get me all caught up what I have been missed since I faced off against Kwadlin."

"Very well!" the ninja said, motioning for Fumblies (and by extension, the ghost ninja child) to join him on the walk to the village. "Would you like me to start with local gossip or the latest news on overly extravagant dress ninja party dinners?"

Fumblies moved out to join the ninja, his worry about destroying the past now gone. "Start with the gossip; we can cover dinner party news later."

That drew the curiosity of the child ghost in his shell. "You don't really plan to ask about dinner parties, do you?"

"Only if I am left with no other option, lad." This exchange took place while Fumblies waited for the ninja's gossip.

"Very good, sir."

The trio continued to the village, with the ninja mostly talking about the rumors of the rats and bats acting up and heroic adventurers being sent out by the Council to deal with them. The ninja also mentioned penguins on the Council of Loathing but that just got him distracted by a really fabulous penguin themed dinner party he'd been to only a month and a half ago.

"So what is the latest happening with the Space Bugbears?" Fumblies asked as they got closer to the village. As they trio moved closer Fumblies saw that the gate guard was as his post and would be within earshot in a couple of moments. In fact, Fumblies had noted the guard, upon seeing them, had already sent word into town.

As they drew closer, one of the guards came closer to Fumblies. "Sir Fumblies, it's been an era, Sir! You should speak to our village leaders immediately."

With that Fumblies turned to the old fashioned ninja and bowed. "I will catch up with you at the dinner party later. I should good find out what the leaders want."

"Okay." The suddenly less talkative ninja replied as he stormed off. Happily.

With that Fumblies made his way into the village to find the leadership where he hoped he could get a full update on what was going on. The fact that the Penguin Mafia still had a spot on the Council of Loathing was promising. Yet, until he found out what has going on with Kwadlin and the space Bugbears, Fumblies would hold out make assumptions on what was happening. The trek into to the village brought him by the eternally-burning burning hut where the Ninja Elder was waiting for him. Or waiting for someone, anyway.

"Fumblies, it is good to see you," the elder insisted. "I have had Blackeagle searching for you in Seaside Town. Did you run into them?"

"I see; good to hear that people have been looking for me. I have just come back up from southern Degrassi Knoll where the last thing I remember was a battle with Kwadlin and some of his minions."

"That was a while ago, I think," insisted the elder.

"So I have been told but who knows what happened with the space bugbears technology when it met Kwadlin's magic," Fumblies retorted with a slightly exasperated sigh. "Is there anything I need to know before I go get a good meal in preparation to head to Seaside Town?"

"You should ask for fresh bread," the elder demanded. "And the turkey rolls came in two days ago."

Fumblies just responded with a nod as he waited a moment for the elder to say something relevant.

"I have nothing relevant to add," the elder insisted.

"Where in Seaside would be a good place to find Blackeagle?"

"I'd probably look into the strange going ons going on around the Spookyraven mansion. It attracts adventurers."

With that Fumblies nodded then turned to head off towards the party hall to get a meal as he had been invited to the old timey ninja dinner.

"Have fun," demanded the village elder as Fumblies walked off.

I did the old timey ninja here too but Fumblies did the head ninja, hehe.

So like I was saying, this piece won an award! Specifically, it won the award for "Most humorous moment" for "the anticlimax of finding out that he and his ghost pal hadn't time traveled." (Well, he had travelled a few days or weeks forward, but basically, he hadn't.)

For some reason, Fumblies lets me open up with a type of humor that's different than my other pieces. (I did some of the NPC's here.) Either way, it works really well.

Lil tip: the voter said he can be a "sucker for anti-climaxes." Maybe we'll see more of those in AIL's future.

We're to the point where we will see more awards popping up as well. Next up, we get back to Sassy Snake's stories.