Amusing Excerpt 2

Actual (or not) amusing (or not) excerpts from (or not from) minions' WIPs. If you have constructive criticism or unadulterated praise, feel free to comment.

Setup: Our protagonist, his invisible Dog, and a little girl who's also a bird, all on a train. Our protag, who's recently lost his name, has just noticed that a piece of the train's wall is trying hard to convince him not to look at it. (the italics are telepathic speech.)

Curious that a bit of wooden panelling should have an opinion.

Dog, is someone there?

Dog seemed to think there was. He could smell them.

Anyone we know?

Nobody I know. But I only know one Nobody.

He followed that sally up with a dog laugh.

"You can't hide from my Dog," I told the panelling. But it seemed to think it could. "We won't hurt you, anyway."

I could bite them. Like Jade.

Dog, what did I just say?

No answer. Unless he was sticking his tongue out at me and I couldn't tell.

If you were a masking bird, maybe the sudden arrival of an invisible Dog was enough to send you into hiding. But when someone offered you peaceful terms, you ought to show yourself.

I sat down next to Dog and concentrated. This person couldn't know me very well. Maybe I could force them to show themselves.

Then I wondered if that was kind. Maybe they really were frightened.

Or maybe they were sticking their tongue out at me. I couldn't tell.

"Come on, show yourself. I know you're there. Dog knows you're there, too."

"I won't," said a girl's voice. "And you can't make me."

I looked down at Dog, who may have been looking up at me. "A girl, Dog."

"You'll get bored before I do."

I lobbed the ball at the appropriate panel. "Catch!"

Flickering into view, the girl hurled the ball back at me. "You cheated!"

"We cheated," I told Dog. "And so we won."

--BuffySquirrel