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Tourist Challenge #6: The Skarmouth Hotel

           I wake the next morning and there is not a part of me that does not ache: my head, my throat, my feet, my heart… It takes a very long time for me to drag myself out of bed, and I must look a mess, because when I come into the kitchen she gives me a grimace and a sympathetic look along with my coffee. Thankfully, she does not mention last night’s revels. Merely recalling them brings an embarrassed flush to my cheeks. I take a sip of the coffee, and try not to pull a face. I never did develop a taste for the strong, bitter stuff that Gwen has always favored.

           “Would you like to go get a decent cup of tea?” she asks over the rim of her own cup. “No need to spare my feelings,” she adds with a laugh as I open my mouth to say something kind about her coffee. “I suspect this isn’t quite what you’re used to back home.”

           I do not tell her that I am not sure that Tiperary Hill is home.

           “I would like that very much.”

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Challenge #3: The Beach

postcard from >>here<<

Dear Kvote,

My bed in the Skarmouth hotel is a bit on the stiff side and the blankets are heavy and warm, but it could never compare to the Waystone, of course. Last night, seemed like all the island was gathered in the local butcher shop, Graton’s, it’s where people sign up for the Scorpio Races. I’ve heard that the butcher’s wife is the most wanted woman in Thisby and I swear Kvote, every man was looking her way at one point or another last night. They also cheered for someone named Kendrick then they signed up, or it might’ve been Connolly. I couldn’t quite catch which. Now that they’re official, the riders are going to start training with their mounts down on the beaches. I don’t know what the rules on spectating are but I’m going to try and watch if I can. If capaill uise are everything I’ve heard they are it’ll be well worth seeing. I’ll let you know how it goes. - Kai

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Riding And Dying

I’d like to actually ride my goddamn horse, I think the next morning. Cosmo now has a full belly, and I feel less awful than I did yesterday. And so, it is time for me to tack him up and for us to start training, something that has been put on hold so badly that I’m worried it will hurt our chances.

Cosmo tolerates his new stall relatively well. He did pace in it all night – I can see that the shavings are disturbed and his manure is everywhere, a mess I will clean up when we return – but he’s calm while I saddle him. Ivan watches us and then follows us to the beach.

Ivan is so clearly not meant for Thisby that it’s laughable. He flinches when the chilled, salty wind blows in his face. He grimaces at the smell of Cosmo’s dirty stall. When we start working in the sand, Ivan stays up on the cliffs with a stopwatch, so that he doesn’t get eaten.

My spirits lift as Cosmo gallops down the sand. He pulls towards the sea, of course, they all do, but he has had a recent taste of being a wild animal again and he does not seem keen on repeating it. He splashes boldly through the water. The ocean sprays droplets that feel like ice against my breeches, and I laugh. Cosmo shakes his head when I ask him to slow.

There are other horses here, but for once, Cosmo doesn’t seem too worried. I keep him busy and do not let him go slower than a trot. He complies, but he’s so happy to be stretching out that I let him do it until he tires.

Capaill uisce have better stamina than land horses, so this tiring process takes a few hours. When we are done with our ride, Cosmo is breathing a little hard but is not gasping for air. I turn him toward the cliffs, to let Ivan know we are ready to go home.

Just behind us, two capaill get into a scuffle.

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Creative Challenge #5

@thescorpioracesfestival

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Sea Froth

Challenge 3: The Beach

Irene

The bakery smells of cinnamon. The spices came on the ships with the tourists, adding a brief splash of life to the salt and flour of Thisby.

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Ocean of color

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Finley & Ita

Challenge #3: The Beach

omg this took me forever wow. also thanks @everyone who helped me decide on names + grammar + everything else. (also his name was gonna be hank i swear but i kept thinking of hank hill when i wrote it so i had to stop lol) @thescorpioracesfestival 

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Tourist Challenge #4: Make a Friend

           When Gwen returns, she brings John Goveny with her. They are both pink-cheeked and laughing as they come through the door.

           “All right there, Lucy?” John asks, helping Gwen out of her coat before shrugging out of his own and hanging them on the hooks beside the door as though it is the most natural thing in the world.

           “Y-yes. Quite all right.”

           He flashes me a smile and then begins to go about making tea, moving around the cramped kitchen with ease. I watch, mystified. What in the world is John Goveny doing making tea in Gwen’s kitchen? Gwen places a bowl of sugar on the table and I see something flash on her hand.

           “Gwendolyn McAvoy, are you engaged?” The words burst from my mouth before I can think whether they may be impolite. She gives me a funny look.

           “Yes. This past summer.” She says this as though it’s something I should know.

           “I’m lucky she said yes.” John pecks her on the cheek as he sets a plate of biscuits on the table. “I was afraid I might be a bachelor the rest of my sorry life.” There is a smile in his voice, but the wince of pain is obvious in the lines on his face. I know the look of a man who has seen war, and John Goveny has seen far too much of it. He reaches in front of me to place a cup of tea on the table and I flinch. He steps back very slowly, looking apologetic, sympathetic perhaps? I busy myself selecting a biscuit to hide the aftermath of fear that I am sure is clear to them both. My hands shake.

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Past & Present

Kaya’s voice comes to me in my sleep on the third night. Her Thisby accent is soft as she says my name, over and over again.

“Lily,” she insists. In my dream, she’s trying to wake me, but she won’t touch me. She just speaks my name.

“Lily, Lily, Lily…”

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Salt And Ginger

The next morning finds me standing around in Ivan’s “yard,” while he tries to show off his new home and Harry glowers at him every step of the way.

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@thescorpioracesfestival Tourist Challenge 4: Make a Friend (or meeting someone and being very rude to them)

As always, shoutout to @colestclairs, the other half to this story

links to first, second, and third challenges

Also, track the tag “claire&rowan” if you want to see how our stories intertwine!

And without further ago…. 

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Challenge #4 for @thescorpioracesfestival! As always, a shout out to my favorite partner in crime, @puckconnolly, without whom Claire Dalton would not exist.

You can find Kate’s challenges here, and my first, second, and third challenges as well. 

If you’re really getting invested in the story, track #claire&rowan to see when Kate and I update!

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This afternoon looks like a Halloween evening, humans. Take care.

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Anne Sexton

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I MADE NOVEMBER CAKES (for the 865789th time)

@thescorpioracesfestival

last year was the first year that i made november cakes when my best friend came to visit me. it was great fun and i was introduced to these terribly wonderful pastries. since then i’ve made them at least 5 times and have made my own adjustments to the recipe, and i mess with it every single time i make them. here’s a list of things i changed this time:

an attempt to see what cutting the liquid back did to the dough, as i’ve always hated the consistency the dough comes out as and how impossible it is to roll later

no salt, mostly because i had no salt, i added a little extra sugar to the dough instead

MORE FLOUR IN THE MIX 

cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon. i’m the oprah of cinnamon additions. YOU GET CINNAMON *points at the dough* YOU GET CINNAMON!!!! *points at the filling* YOU GET CINNAMON!!!!!!!!!! *points at the glaze* CINNAMON FOR ALL!!! *sprinkles cinnamon on the rolls themselves before baking them*

no orange extract because you can barely taste it anyway and honestly orange and cinnamon don’t mix

so much flour when i roll them... i dust the flower off after they bake lmao but listen, that dough is a sticky bitch and rolling them is a NIGHTMARE

no regard for cutting sizes for the rolls, you can tell i always start off really generous and then realize ‘oh shit, i’m running out of dough to make 12′

less honey and brown sugar (i use dark brown sugar) in the glaze, used a different type of butter than usual because i wanted it out of my freezer. this made for a very buttery glaze that i wouldn’t mind having again

side note: making the glaze is terrifying, i fucking hate adding the cream (which i just use straight up whole cream that goes in coffee) to the boiling sugar/butter mixture 

almond extract instead of vanilla because, again, i didn’t have it. this didn’t change anything as far as i could tell

as always, my attempt was fun and TIME CONSUMING AS HELL but worth it. the people i’m sharing these with today better love me.