This is what I have for the first one.. Any thoughts?
Once upon a time there was a maiden and a detective named Furudo Erika. She was quite intelligent, but quite cold as well; she only wanted to solve mysteries, and cared nothing for the people around her. One day, she heard about a very exciting series of murders taking place in a tall, isolated tower, and decided to journey there to see if she couldn't find the culprit.
The inhabitants of the tower were a varied and strange bunch, but they were kind, for the most part. However, Erika didn't care and didn't want anything to do with them. She complained that Saya made a mess, that Azure and Ivory tended to shed, that Prince was loud, Eve always deflected the conversation away from herself (making it difficult for Erika to profile her), and Swift tended to listen in at doors. (All these things were true, but they weren't very polite.) She only spoke with them to interrogate them about the murders, and was convinced that she could solve the mystery herself. She didn't even listen to their warnings about the strange Hair-Growing Disease that had been infecting the tower lately.
Sure enough, soon Erika began to find that her hair was growing at an astronomical rate, and had become so long that it was difficult for her to move around. She couldn't even move her head to cut enough of it off, and she refused to accept help. Instead, she ordered the other inhabitants of the tower to collect information about the latest murder, involving a cheerful boy named Pitch, and bring it to her, not even bothering to thank them. She was quite intelligent, as we have said before, so through deductive reasoning and analysis of everyone's alibis she was able to work out that the only person who could have murdered Pitch was Eve, who was marched out of the tower by police and thrown to the foxes.
However, she had not accounted for everything. Later that night, Prince tried to go out for some fresh air, only to discover that all the doors to the outside had been locked. He called the other inhabitants of the tower, except Erika, who was still trapped in her room by her heavy hair, and they quickly realized that there was still a murderer on the loose. Swift said he would go check up on Erika, and everyone else agreed to go look for more clues. They stuck together, because they felt it was important to rely on one another in these troubled times.
While they were checking the bathroom, they discovered that one of the hair-cutting knives in the rack (because everyone who had hair needed to cut it quite often) was missing. Swift's, in fact. Everyone looked at one another, and immediately realized what must be happening. They managed to get there just in time--Swift had raised the knife over his head to stab Erika in the heart, and Erika, again trapped by her hair, was powerless to resist.
Prince grabbed something off a tall shelf and hit Swift over the head. Ivory flew to fetch the police. Everyone else sat on Swift until the police came, and Erika looked around at all their faces and realized that the people she had scorned for so long had saved her. It was at that moment that she understood that being clever cannot always protect you, and that friendship is just as important as intelligence.
From that day forward, she was the kindest and fairest maiden in all the land as well as the smartest. And they all lived happily ever after.
Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION
Once upon a time there was a maiden and a detective named Furudo Erika. She was quite intelligent, but quite cold as well; she only wanted to solve mysteries, and cared nothing for the people around her. One day, she heard about a very exciting series of murders taking place in a tall, isolated tower, and decided to journey there to see if she couldn't find the culprit.
The inhabitants of the tower were a varied and strange bunch, but they were kind, for the most part. However, Erika didn't care and didn't want anything to do with them. She complained that Saya made a mess, that Azure and Ivory tended to shed, that Prince was loud, Eve always deflected the conversation away from herself (making it difficult for Erika to profile her), and Swift tended to listen in at doors. (All these things were true, but they weren't very polite.) She only spoke with them to interrogate them about the murders, and was convinced that she could solve the mystery herself. She didn't even listen to their warnings about the strange Hair-Growing Disease that had been infecting the tower lately.
Sure enough, soon Erika began to find that her hair was growing at an astronomical rate, and had become so long that it was difficult for her to move around. She couldn't even move her head to cut enough of it off, and she refused to accept help. Instead, she ordered the other inhabitants of the tower to collect information about the latest murder, involving a cheerful boy named Pitch, and bring it to her, not even bothering to thank them. She was quite intelligent, as we have said before, so through deductive reasoning and analysis of everyone's alibis she was able to work out that the only person who could have murdered Pitch was Eve, who was marched out of the tower by police and thrown to the foxes.
However, she had not accounted for everything. Later that night, Prince tried to go out for some fresh air, only to discover that all the doors to the outside had been locked. He called the other inhabitants of the tower, except Erika, who was still trapped in her room by her heavy hair, and they quickly realized that there was still a murderer on the loose. Swift said he would go check up on Erika, and everyone else agreed to go look for more clues. They stuck together, because they felt it was important to rely on one another in these troubled times.
While they were checking the bathroom, they discovered that one of the hair-cutting knives in the rack (because everyone who had hair needed to cut it quite often) was missing. Swift's, in fact. Everyone looked at one another, and immediately realized what must be happening. They managed to get there just in time--Swift had raised the knife over his head to stab Erika in the heart, and Erika, again trapped by her hair, was powerless to resist.
Prince grabbed something off a tall shelf and hit Swift over the head. Ivory flew to fetch the police. Everyone else sat on Swift until the police came, and Erika looked around at all their faces and realized that the people she had scorned for so long had saved her. It was at that moment that she understood that being clever cannot always protect you, and that friendship is just as important as intelligence.
From that day forward, she was the kindest and fairest maiden in all the land as well as the smartest. And they all lived happily ever after.