I had looked near and far for a ride--but unfortunately, most of my friends had classes, work, and other lame excuses. *sigh* So I dejectedly walked back to my room on Friday, March 13th. "I'll never get to Momocon," I said to myself. Suddenly, I heard a loud flapping sound from above and looked up. I managed to duck out of the way just in time.

A giant winged cat came down to the ground and turned to stare at me. He resembled a housecat more than anything else--although obviously a much larger version than the more commonly seen ones--and his wings had the same striped, golden appearance as the rest of his fur. I carefully walked up to him after a moment. He lowered himself to the ground and I walked to his side. He watched me, but showed no sign of hostility. "Do you want me to ride you?" He purred. I thought for a moment. "Will you take me to Momocon?" He purred even louder and I smiled. "Alright, then." I climbed onto his back and he straightened up. He tensed, kneading the ground--I winced as the dirt flew around him--and crouched just the tiniest bit before leaping into the air and flapping his great wings.

The feeling of flying was exhilarating--but it didn't take long for me to realize that we were going in the wrong direction. "No! This is the wrong way! We're going north!" He simply purred at me--I could feel the vibrations traveling through his body--and continued moving. I sat there in distress. Finally we landed. I looked around. "Where--where are we?" I slid off of his back and he rolled over, baring his stomach. I scratched him absent-mindedly while continuing to look around--not only was it dark, but the area seemed fairly abandoned. I started to walk away a little--the cat had flopped back onto his side and appeared to be sleeping, so I decided to explore the area. I looked around for an hour or so--it was abandoned. There were buildings and cars, but there was no one to be seen. I walked back to the cat and scratched him behind the ears. He twitched one eye open, then went back to sleep. I sighed and snuggled up with him. "Maybe we'll be going tomorrow," I thought to myself.

I was awakened the next morning by the feeling of the cat rolling away from me. He stretched, arching his back, then crouched down again. "Finally!" I thought, climbing back on top of him. He launched into his flight again--and we turned around, flying south. I smiled. This time, we were definitely going in the proper direction. "Do you have any fish?" I wasn't sure if he was speaking, or if I was just hearing the words in my head--or maybe I was going crazy. "Sorry?" I said out loud. "Fish?" The voice was impatient now. "No, I'm afraid that I don't." "Mmm; pork chops?" "N--No." "Chicken?" "Nope." A sigh. "At least you must have turkey." "No, I don't have that, either." We paused in the flight. "Do you have anything to feed me?" "I don't think so." "Well!" We suddenly took a dive--we'd been up in the clouds and now we were falling--I screamed--and he came to a graceful landing in front of my room. He sat down and I slid off of his back, hitting the ground less gracefully than he had. He yawned, dug into the earth, and launched off into the sky again. "Now how am I going to get there?" I yelled.

"I can drive you." I turned around. There was an odd-looking man in a bright green car, leaning out of the window to stare at me. I could see that he wasn't wearing anything that would be called "normal" on the campus. "Are you going to the convention?" I asked him. "Yes," he said, smiling. "Great!" "Just hop in." I climbed into the other side of the car and he started to drive. He was only going about 15, but he'd probably pick up speed eventually.

He drove along slowly for a while before it struck me. "The convention's in Georgia." "Yes." "And--no offense--but you're driving rather slowly." "Why, yes. I am." "How're we going to get there before it ends?" "Oh, we've got plenty of time! It doesn't even start for a year!" "A year?" "Yes. Momocon 2010." "I wanted to go to the '09 con!" I unbuckled my seatbelt and prepared to get out of the car. "Oh?" He looked over at me. "Very well. Hold on tightly, then." He pressed the gas pedal and we sped up---

*insert bad sci-fi time-warp-color-blur here*

"Wha? Where are we?" I got out of the car and looked around. "We're in 1909," he answered me. "And I believe that this is Georgia." "No!" I raged. "I wanted to go to the 2009 convention!" He raised his eyebrows. "Oh." He looked at the gas meter, then smiled. "What?" "We're out of gas. We'll be here for a while, I'm afraid." I gave a little groan and sat down on the ground. Some time passed by--many people came by and gave us strange looks; the driver smiled and tipped his dark green hat to them. Finally, a woman wearing an outfit looking suspiciously Lolita for this time period and place showed up. "Hello, darling!" They embraced, kissing each other on opposite cheeks. "You seem to be in trouble," she said, looking at us both. "But look what I have!" She pulled out a giant gas can, pulled out the top, and started to toss the liquid all over the car. I jerked up, startled. "What're you--" "We'll be back in no time!"

"You're both crazy!" They exchanged gentle smiles. "If we're crazy, how come you're the one in 1909 with us?" he asked. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, then just shook my head. "Come on. Let's go." I got back into the car--because it didn't smell like gasoline, and what did I really have to lose--and didn't say anything until they lit a match. I started to scream as the world seemed to turn into a fireball--and we were back on the street. He looked at his watch and shook his head. "We're two days too late," he said. "Tsk. Well, I'm afraid that you've missed the convention, miss." I saw that the woman who had showed up to help us was in the back seat--she leaned forward to pat me on the shoulder. "Tough luck," she said. "But we're back at your residence! You should be fine," he said. "But can't we just go back and--" "Back in time?" He looked up at me as I got out of the car. "Don't be absurd. Perhaps we'll see you next year!" "But--" Before I could ask more questions, they had gone.

Monday, March 16th. It really was two days too late. So I missed the convention, and I would love a female shirt if I get chosen, please.
Really? Just that I live in Michigan, have no car, and my friends were unavailable. Also, I'm broke.

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