Okaaaay. . . um . . . how do I say this . . .

Hi? I'm back? After six months? Without much of an explanation?

Yeah, I'm back, and in true awkward TJ fashion, this is the first "story" I update! :D Yay! (I'm trying to play Animal Crossing: New Leaf while I'm typing this XD I got a 3DS XL in the a couple months ago - really wanna get Shadow of Ronin, but I have to wait DX)

Anyhoo, I've had a nice six months to think and get inspiration, and I'm feeling a lot better about some things I had some trouble with. :) Happy-happy-happy.

And be sure to expect more stories - both new and updates - in the future! (Not the near future, unfortunately - I'm going away to Yosemite next week and, well. . . yeah. You can probably figure it out XD)

Anyway, here's a little bit of randomness I cooked up during my hiatus! It's weird, but I made a drawing to match it, so it works for me! :D (Unfortunately I haven't got it scanned in, but I hope to soon)

3. Four Types of Sleepers

There are many different ways people sleep, or more specifically, the way they dress when they sleep, which partially affects how they act if you abruptly awake them. Four of those ways are shown in the Ninja household, when Lloyd and Nya conveniently happen to be away, and Sensei Wu conveniently has to wake up his sleeping students in the middle of the night.

"Wake up! There's no time to lose!" Sensei Wu's yell aroused his peacefully sleeping students, who, yawning sleepily and all in all not enjoying this rude awakening, stumbled out of their bedrooms and into the hallway.

The first one to leave his room was Cole, who represents The Zombie Sleeper. Despite the fact that they are often the heaviest sleepers, Zombie Sleepers are usually the first ones up when awakened in a group of the four sleeping types I'm talkin' 'bout. A few of them, like Cole, happen to be sleepwalkers, which scare the heck out of you when you're sneaking down the hallway for a midnight bathroom break. They usually have extremely tangled bed hair, and have hand-me-down shirts and sweats for pajamas. They also often carry something from their bed, most of the time being a pillow they were trying to eat in their sleep, with them when they're called from their sleeping quarters.

"Ugh. . ." Cole groaned, stumbling out into the hallway and almost colliding into Zane. Zombie Sleepers also temporarily lose the ability to speak coherently, and can only groan and mumble for about five minutes after being forcefully waked.

Zane muttered something under his breath as he stooped down to pick up the book he had dropped, nearly dropping over himself in his tired state. Zane represents The Intellectual Sleeper. These are characterized in groups by often being the second types to answer a midnight wake-up call, the minute or so spent in bed used to groggily calculate how many hours of sleep they got and how this will affect their moods when they wake up again the next morning (if they're lucky enough to even fall back to sleep).

Intellectual Sleepers don't really care what they wear to sleep, so they're usually clad in simple, plain shirts and sweats, usually with slippers and a short bathrobe tied over their outfit when they awake. They also often emerge from their sleep holding whatever book they happened to have been reading before calling it a night. They tend to have bags under their eyes, but appear to be relatively alert. However, they do not really have the ability to think straight, and thus spit out less intelligent (or intelligible) speech than they do normally when they try to talk. (Not that they always speak English XD)

"Huh?" Cole pointed to Zane's book, still not quite past the stage of communicating in sleepy noises.

"Allegory Farm," Zane replied, almost dazed, pointing to the book. It was actually Animal Farm, but hey, his title also works. Kinda.

"What's going on?" Kai stumbled out of his bedroom, yawning loudly. Kai represents The Sports Sleeper, which happens to be one of the more alert sleepers. Sports Sleepers sleep light, which is confusing since they happen to be the third ones to wake up in groups. They are characterized by a lot of loud yawning and stretching of their limbs when they are awakened. They usually wear sports tank tops with loose running shorts and socks, which shows off their lean and/or muscular physique. They have the ability to speak normally almost a minute after they suddenly wake up, and do not show many facial signs of being sleepy.

Kai couldn't help smirking as Jay finally came out into the hallway, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and emitting small, dainty yawns. "And I wonder why you always look like an idiot in the morning," he smirked, thumbing at Jay's auburn hair, which was coiled tightly around curlers.

"I don't tell you how to do your hair, don't tell me how to do mine," Jay retorting snidely, flicking a grain of sleep in Kai's direction. Jay represents the sleeping type known as The Fancy Sleeper. Fancy Sleepers are usually the last ones to wake up in groups, trying to catch a few more minutes' "beauty sleep" before they're called a second time. Although this is not particularly common in Fancy Sleepers, a few, such as Jay, keep their hair curly or wavy by sleeping in curlers. They are also sometimes, but not often, characterized by wearing sleeping masks, long bathrobes, and silk pajamas. (Well, at least the wealthy, stereotypical ones do, anyway. Normal Fancy Sleepers usually just wear nice matching pajamas, without silly patterns or anything like that) Decently nice slippers are also a common accessory. They can speak coherently quite quickly after an abrupt awakening, but their sentences are often interrupted by quiet, delicate yawns, and they constantly rub at their eyes to remove offending crusts of sleep. They also happen to be the type that is the most cross at being awakened at an unholy hour.

"What is it, Sensei?" Jay asked irritably, ignoring Kai's sniggers as he absently loosened one of his curlers. "This better be important."

"Lloyd and Nya have gone missing!" Wu exclaimed.

"Ugh. . ." Cole muttered, facepalming.

"You forgot?" Zane stared blankly at Sensei Wu.

Sensei Wu may be a lot of things: a wise teacher, a boss dragonrider, and a rather poor businessman, but he is also a Forgetful Sleeper. These are not characterized by much, except that, while they are often wise and all-knowing during the day, they forget quite a lot if they happen to be awake at night. In Wu's case, he forgot―

"―Lloyd is visiting his parents, and Nya is putting in extra time at the Samurai X Cave," Kai reminded his sensei flatly.

"I can't believe my sleep was interrupted for a false alarm!" Jay complained. "Ugh! I'm going back to bed!" He stalked off down the hall and slammed his bedroom door behind him.

"Jay does not like losing sleep," Zane commented, a little stupidly. "I will follow his example and return to my room for more sleep." He too disappeared into his bedroom.

"Me too," Cole was able to spit out that one coherent sentence before he went back to bed.

Sensei Wu was left staring blankly off into space. Kai smiled ruefully. "C'mon, sensei, let's get you back to bed. And don't start sleepwalking again unless you want Jay to maul you."

Oh, yes. Some Forgetful Sleepers, like Zombie Sleepers, also happen to sleepwalk. Forgot to mention that. :)

What sleeping type are you? Are you a Zombie Sleeper, like Cole? An Intellectual Sleeper like Zane? A Sports Sleeper like Kai? A Fancy Sleeper like Jay? Or even a Forgetful Sleeper like Sensei Wu? You can mix and match the different sleeping types to fit yours if just the one doesn't match you.

For example, Lloyd is a Zombie Intellectual Sleeper, and Nya is a Fancy Sports Sleeper. Just so you know what types they are. XD