#kiwi mouse crack

[magma-mouse]

"Calling out my mun for being gone so long and having barely any updated art of me, how dare she"

[princess-of-the-corner]

Toontown Corporate Clash Recap: Toontown Central Tour

Welcome to Toontown Central! This Neighborhood serves as Toontown’s capital.

Aside from the Gag Shop (Staffed by Clerk Clark the blue dog and Clerk Clara the red rabbit), Trolley, Toon HQ, Pet Shop (staffed by Poppy the orange rabbit, Pappy the blue horse, Peppy the red mouse), and Clothing Store (staffed by Tammy the rabbit with a tan head, green arms, and sienna legs) housed in every Playground, Toontown Central Playground also has Toontown Schoolhouse (staffed by Professor Pete), Toontown Library (staffed by Librarian Larry, a maroon cat), Toontown Bank (staffed by Banker Bob, a maroon horse in glasses), and Toon Hall (I’ve already introduced you to the 3 Toons who work here).

Next to Toontown Schoolhouse is a doorway to the basement, which is connected to a set of gear sigils. If you approach the sigils, you’ll receive a message that your Toon can hear Cog noises coming from below the building, and thus decides not to go down there.

Toontown Central Playground is also home to the Restoration Station, a stand staffed by Paletti Swatch. Paletti Swatch sells Toons Redraws and Renames. A Redraw lets you redesign your Toon, up to and including their species. The first redraw is free, but any later ones will cost 10,000 Jellybeans. Additionally, there’s a 7 day cool down between redraws. Renames let you change your Toon’s name. Again, first one is free, but there’s ALSO a 10,000 Jellybean fee to later renames, and you also have to wait 30 days before you can get a second one.

You might’ve noticed that I didn’t mention Paletti’s species or color. That’s because Paletti Swatch’s design is randomly generated every time you load into Toontown Central playground, AND their appearance is Client Side. The only consistent element of their appearance is that they always wear a tie-dyed shirt with either rainbow shorts or a rainbow skirt.

Aside from Paletti, you can also find Freddy by the gazebo in the center of the Playground, itself near the fishing pond. Freddy is a light blue rabbit, and also the Playground’s local fisherman. Just talk to him to sell your fish for Jellybeans. On the edges of the playground, you can find 3 more NPC’s just out in the open:

Bay T. Tester: A black cat in red clothes and green glasses, he gives out a limited-event Sidetask that is exclusive to the game’s beta.

Travis the Trash Cat: An orange cat who lives in a trashcan, an NPC designed after the orange cat in the game’s delete button.

Tumbles: A black kiwi and “tacky tourist” who’s part of an ongoing sideplot. You can find him by Toon Hall.

Toontown Central Playground has four tunnels that each lead to different streets.

All four streets have a Gag N’ Go halfway through.

Gag N’ Gos are special Gag Trucks staffed by Reid Stock, a light green koala. all of her Gags are home grown, so they’re twice as expensive as the Gags in the Gag Shop. The “Buy one, Get one Free!” sign in front of the Gag ‘N Go is referring to how if YOU buy one Gag, Reid will get one free. She might be doing this out of the goodness of her heart, but she also has to support her elderly parents and is breaking her back to grow these gags.

Aside from that, the streets have the following buildings:

Loopy Lane:

Seltzer Bottles and Cans (run by a blue dog named Sid Seltzer)

Vanishing Cream (run by an invisible duck known as Nona Seeya)

Used Firecrackers (run by a blue horse named Smokey Joe)

The Meatball Shoppe (run by a turquoise horse named Papa Stahl)

An Unnamed Shop Designated by a Shirt with a Hole Burned Through it (run by a blue racoon named Sam Stain)

Visible Ink (run by a green rabbit named Inky Ivon)

The Kaboomery (run by a yellow mouse with pyromania by the name of Shorty Fuse)

Sidesplitter’s Mending (run by a green pig named Sasha Sidesplitter)

Crack Up Auto Repair (run by a citrine cat named Lucy Tires)

Suction Cups and Saucers (run by a cream koala named Clovinia Cling)

Jest for Laughs (run by a yellow rabbit named Jester Chester)

Soup and Crack Ups (run by a red cat named Sally Spittake)

Bottled Cans (run by a blue cat named Weird Warren)

Cast-Iron Kites (run by a red rabbit named Rick rockhead).

Kooky Cineplex (which has no shopkeeper)

Laughter Hours Café (run by a citrine horse named Tee Hee)

Chortle Café (run by a periwinkle horse named Charlie Chortle)

Toontown Post Office (run by a green dog named Postmaster Pete)

Blue Glue Direct 2 You (run by an unlucky maroon mouse named Sticky Lou)

Spaghetti and Goofballs (run by a yellow rabbit known as Chef Knucklehead)

Wiseacre’s Noisemakers (run by a citrine mouse by the name of Will Wiseacre)

Movie Multiplex (no shopkeeper)

14 Karat Goldfish (run by a maroon duck known as Sharky Jones)

News for the Amused (run by an aqua pig by the name of Paige Arthur)

Punchline Place:

Sofa Whoopee Cushions (run by a coral duck by the name of Nancy Gas)

Inflatable Wrecking Balls (run by a purple rabbit known as Big Bruce)

The Karnival Kid (vacant)

Dr. Pulyurleg, Chiropractor (Dr. Pulyurleg is a yellow cat)

Toontown Mess Hall (run by a yellow rabbit named Chef E.Z. Bake)

Barely Palatable Pasta (run by a pink bat named Crunchy Alfredo)

Hardy Harr Seminars (run by a pink mouse named Dr. Sensitive)

The Punch Line Gym (run by a tan mouse named Franz Neckvein)

Toontown Theater (empty)

Funny Bone Emergency Room (run by a lavender cat named Nurse Nancy)

Phony Baloney (run by a slate blue dog named Tony Maroni)

Zippy’s Zingers (Zippy is a sea green dog)

The Flying Pie (run by a tan horse named Ned Slinger)

Professor Wiggle’s House of Giggles (Professor Wiggle is a red cat)

Rubber Chicken Sandwiches (run by a slate blue cat named Chewy Morsel)

Punchline Movie Palace (vacant)

Sundae Funnies Ice Cream (run by a green cat named Cindy Sprinkles)

Silly Street:

Impractical Jokes (run by a slate blue dog named T.P. Rolle)

All Smiles Tooth Repair (run by a green koala named Dentist Daniel)

Hogwash and Dry (run by a lime kangaroo named Sir Babbles a Lot)

One-Liner Miners (run by a tan cat named Canary Coalmine)

Toontown Sign Factory (run by a sea green dog named Bill Board)

Jumping Beans (run by a beige turkey named Dancing Diego)

All Fun and Games Shop (run by a citrine dog named Lazy Hal)

Tickle Machines (run by a citrine rabbit named Feather Duster)

Dr. Tom Foolery (run by a royal book duck named Dr. Foolery)

Toontown Cinerama (empty)

Dr. I.M. Euphoric (run by a blue horse named Dr. Euphoric)

The Merry Mimes (run by a red beaver named Silent Simone, who never speaks)

Weird Beard’s Disguise Shop (run by a cat with a brown head, orange body, and coral legs by the name of Sneezy Kitty)

Silly Stunts (run by a sea green duck known as Rollo the Amazing)

All That Razz (run by a brown duck named Roz Berry)

Soup Forks (run by a pink duck known as Dan Dribbles)

Paper Airplanes (run by a purple rabbit named Patty Papercut)

Laughing Gas Station (run by a blue cat known as Sal Snicker)

Mary’s Go Around Travel Company (Mary is a red horse)

Happy Hooligans Pub (run by a lime rabbit named Bruiser McDougal)

House of Bad Pies (run by a brown rabbit named Ma Putrid): Its sign also has the slogan “SORRY, WE’RE OPEN” written on it.

Jesse’s Joke Repair (run by a royal blue mouse named Jesse Jester)

Daffy Taffy (run by a maroon duck named Daffy Don)

The Happy Times (run by a cream cat named Happy Heikyung)

The Laughin’ Place (run by a lime horse named Honey Haha)

Clown Class (run by a sienna horse named Professor Binky)

Laughing Lessons (run by a maroon dog named Professor Guffaw)

Funny Money Savings and Loan (run by a periwinkle duck named Woody Nickel)

Used Clown Cars (run by a citrine duck named Loony Louis)

Tee-Hee Tea Shop (run by a slate blue cat named Madame Chuckle)

Frank’s Pranks (run by a maroon rabbit named Frank Furter)

Toontown Playhouse (vacant)

Monkey Tricks (run by a lime monkey named Harry Ape)

Joy Buzzers to the World (run by a periwinkle rabbit named Joy Buzzer)

Muldoon’s Maroon Balloons (Muldoon is a red dog)

Canned Bottles (run by a maroon cat named Spamonia Biggles)

Wacky Way:

Wacky Way Wonderworld (run by a yellow rabbit named Wacky Wally)

Gagsoline Oil Refineries (locked tight, you can’t currently enter)

Toon Mobile (run by a sienna cat named Louise Connection)

Slip and Slide (run by a sienna dog named Rancid Robert)

Wacky Way-ving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man (run by a cream rabbit named Al Hare-ington)

A Gaggle of Gags (run by a slate blue duck named Good Ol’ Honkin’ Sally)

Pies are Squared (run by a periwinkle cat named P.I. Multiply)

Dogs of Wisdom Bookstore (run by a blue dog named Bookworm Bork)

The Circuit Breaker (run by a yellow monkey named Professor Proton)

Recessed Is In Session (run by a black bear named B.R. Bea)

Lying Birthday Cakes (run by a lime rabbit named Chef Foolery)

Topsy Turvey Tailors (run by a pink mouse named R.E. Versed)

The Laughing Fit (run by a yellow kiwi named Louis Laffon)

The Mehvie Theater (vacant)

Green Eggs and Spam (run by a green pig named Spam Iam)

The Building Beside Me is Lying to you (run by an orange monkey named Pants on Fire)

No, the Building Beside Me is Telling the Truth (run by a slate blue monkey named Liar Liar)

The exclusive fish species in this neighborhood are as follows:

Weather Balloon Fish (Punchline Place)

Water Balloon Fish (Silly Street)

Red Balloon Fish (any Toontown Central Pond)

Circus Clown Fish (any Toontown Central Pond)

Toontown Central has two special nameplates. There’s a statue of a mouse riding a nonsapient horse (this is the Goofy and Pluto problem all over again), and if you use the “Yeehaw” speedchat phrase next to it, you’ll get Toontown Central’s first nameplate. In Toon Hall, there’s a banana peel on a pedestal. Click on it, you get a banana-themed nameplate.

Okay, I hope this was more manageable, and next time, we’re going over the Cogs.

-

The wordplay on the names is fucking fantastic 10/10.

[the-witchs-archives]

[MINI ARC 1 - Hydration is Key]

[From the pov of Kiwi]

"Seaweed? What's up?"

I was outside the apartment complex of the sanctuary, still within its safe grounds as I was snacking on some jellies, my foot tapping the ground to the beat of a song I heard long ago. I hadn't even noticed her coming out here, she was like a mouse.. if a mouse were able to take out a cookie with a shovel.

My foot soon came to a stop as I shifted my position to my knees, quickly noticing how I was lopsided... trying to depend on my missing arm once again. Really, it felt like it was still here, always been on my body despite losing my arm.. how long ago? I've already forgotten the time since, though I bet if I asked my mom, she'd know.

"Well, you're out here in the middle of the night, isn't that odd?"

"Maybe. I'm more than used to it, I'd spend so many nights under the moon with my bro-... I really shouldn't talk so much, huh?"

"I don't mind it, though I'm not very chatty with most people.. I'm just giving you an exception, along with the anon cookies who ask us stuff."

I laugh slightly, my free hand moving up to my mouth to cover it up, but I can see a small smile crack on her face. She usually doesn't shift her expression often, but seeing a smile always brought me more joy than those who never smiled at all.

"Well, what are you out here for besides me? Do you like being out here as well in the dark?"

"Well, where I came from, you didn't get much of a choice. We'd have to use torches as they let the area fall apart, no matter our attempts to fix the architecture.. Not having to carry a light constantly feels a little better."

"Bet that was uncomfortable after a while, huh?"

"Yes, it was uncomfortable. Hold it for too long, and you'd feel like you were drying out.. which also ties into a question I've had about you."

[From the pov of Seaweed]

It was unusual for me to be out here with him especially since i've developed anxiety whenever someone is out there alone with me, a fear of being hunted or chased, one that's usually associated with another entity... but not this time, being asked about my past life did not feel great.

"I've noticed that you rarely drink water, what is up with that?"

"Well... uh.."

Was this cookie neglecting his basic needs? I know that in one file it mentioned him being related to one of these entities, but not a sea one.

"You should drink lots of water, don't be like me, water is important for you despite it being such a deadly substance."

Now I don't know why I mentioned the Unknown... our home, our birthplace, our... resting place, oh how I miss the soothing cries of the entity.

[From the pov of Kiwi]

I felt it at first, the slight sweatiness your palms get when you know when you've been caught, but the second feeling was that tightness, wanting to lie but also tell the truth. Why did I even have to lie? I trust Seaweed, I truly do.. but I feel like answering would also be something for me to learn about myself. I couldn't just leave them unanswered though.

"I.. I don't exactly.. have much of a reason for drinking water. I don't really get thirsty, and when I do, I don't need much before I'm satisfied. I'm not trying to seem like I'm neglecting myself- I mean.. Heh, who am I kidding? That's how I lost.. y'know, the arm."

I rolled on a tangent, the words coming out before I shut myself up again. It felt good to get the words out, but at the same time, who knows who else could be listening? Maybe it was just getting to my head.

"What do you mean? I'm not asking about that last part, I mean 'why do you not have a reason for drinking water?' It's important whether you think it is or not."

"I'm telling the truth here, I don't feel thirsty often. I can drink a cup and be fine for.. weeks, depending on how much. Is that not normal?"

I had been like this my whole life, but only now did Seaweed point it out. I really don't drink much water, but everyone else drinks more than me. Everyone but Seaweed, I don't think I've seen her drink anything since we all met here.

what did this mean about me? I know my mother talked of her husband, how he was always near the sea... She wanted to bring me to him before, but then this mess happened. What DID this mean about me?

[From the POV of Seaweed]

Now I'm suspicious of this former biker, doesn't need to drink much but doesn't share the identifiable traits of a seaborn, I suppose it's time I go for the question.

"Do you prefer the shining prismatic sun or the soothing darkness of the abyss?"

If he answers depending on his type, I can get him here and now.

"I like the sun. it's how I was baked, after all! It's why I prefer being outside, day or night. Especially.. Wait, why did you ask this?"

[school-in-london]

20221126 SCHOOL IN LONDON

■DJ: 遠藤孝行

Junior Parker / Tomorrow Never Knows

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross / (You Made It Feel Like) Home

Radiohead / The Numbers

HYUKOH / New born

Arctic Monkeys / There’d Better Be A Mirrorball

Wings / Let 'Em In

The Backseat Lovers / Growing/Dying

Pixies / All I Think About Now

I Saw You Yesterday / So Slowly

Glows / Pull

Spoon / My Babe

Modest Mouse / Float On

NewDad / ILY2

Yellow Days / Treat You Right

■DJ: タイラダイスケ

The Smile / The Smoke

Video Age / Blushing

坂本慎太郎 / ある日のこと

Khruangbin / Time (You and I)

Los Bitchos / Tripping at a Party

The Slits / Newtown

MICHELLE / TALKING TO MYSELF

The Go! Team / Cookie Scene

Beats International / Echo Chamber (※Spotify無し)

Little Simz / Speed

Remi Wolf / Guerrilla

Dante Elephante / Las Vegas

Easy Life / BEESWAX

Pearl Charles / Only for Tonight

Arlo Parks / Just Go

Travis Bretzer / Promises

Michael Seyer / Weekend at Santa Cruz

FUR / What I Am

Whitney / MEMORY

■DJ: 村田タケル

Cola / Fulton Park

Alvvays / Adult Diversion

Kiwi jr.  / Salary Man

Stella Donnelly / How Was Your Day

Horsegirl / World of Pots and Pans

Double Virgo / No Sweet

Enumclaw / Jimmy Neutron

Launder / Blue Collar

Alvvays / Not My Baby

Dehd / Loner

Veronica Falls / Waiting for Something to Happen

Weird Nightmare / Wrecked (feat. Bully)

Dry Cleaning / Gray Ashby

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / Young Adult Friction

Courting / Famous

Fontaines D.C. / Liberty Belle (Darklands Versions) (※SpotifyはDogrel version)

Thus Love / Crowd

Alvvays / Pressed

■DJ: 遠藤孝行

EKKSTACY / wish i was dead

YUNGBLUD / Tissues

The Cure / Close to Me

The 1975 / Give Yourself a Try

Diiv / Under the Sun

Sports Team / The Game

Gorillaz Feat. slowthai And Slaves / Momentary Bliss

Bloc Party / Traps

HMLTD / To The Door

Arctic Monkeys / This House Is a Circus

The Lounge Society / People Are Scary

The Coral / Who's Gonna Find Me

Mystery Jets / Greatest Hits

Shame / Fingers of Steel

The Cribs / You Were Always the One

■DJ: タイラダイスケ

The Crash / Lost In the Supermarket

The Jam / It's Too Bad

The Lemon Twigs / The One

Yard Act / The Overload

Mura Masa, Lil Uzi Vert, PinkPantheress & SHYGIRL / bbycakes

The Streets / Same Old Thing

Wu-Lu / Blame

KOFFEE / Lonely (※Spotify無し)

Horace Andy / Away With the Gun and Knife

Massive Attack / Safe From Harm

Primal Scream / Star

Big Thief / Forgotten Eyes

???

Steve Lacy / Bad Habit

Har Mar Superstar / Restless Leg

The Regrettes / I Dare You

Buzzcocks / Everybody's Happy Nowadays

The Smiths / This Charming Man

Nilüfer Yanya / the dealer

The 1975 / Happiness

■DJ: 村田タケル

Iceage / All The Junk On The Outskirts

The Smile / We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings

The Orielles / The Room

Squid / Pamphlets

Gilla Band / Bin Liner Fashion

Viagra Boys / Ain’t No Thief

Goat Girl / Sad Cowboy

Alvvays / Plimsoll Punks

The Lounge Society / Last Breath

Wet Leg / Chaise Longue (Vinyl Version)

Los Bitchos / I Enjoy It

Folly Group / I Raise You (The Price of Your Head)

Working Men's Club / Rapture

Talk Show / Leather

Gilla Band / Backwash

Crack Cloud / Drab Measure (Live Leak) (※Spotifyは通常音源)

Diiv / Doused

Highschool / New York, Paris and London

Alvvays / Pharmacist

Alvvays / Atop a Cake

~Ending~ Alvvays / Lottery Noises

[mandoalorian]

So I’m Canadian and it cracks me up thinking about torturing Max Lord by taking this man fishing on like a small tin boat or camping in the woods or something poor guy would probably show up looking ready to step onto a yacht

Fishing/camping with Maxwell Lord

Thank you for the request! Just a little drabble/headcanon for you. I hope that’s okay. This was super cute to write so I will most likely develop it into a fic one day. If that’s something you want to see let me know!

Warnings: family mention, food mention

Masterlist in bio/pinned!

Permanent: @supernaturalgirl @phoenixhalliwell @ah-callie @luvzoria @stardust-galaxies @wickedfrsgrl @goth-topic @nerdypinupcrystal @wonderfulfluffer @kiwi-the-first

Day one:

You and Max have been dating for a while and you finally want him to meet your parents. Your dad tells you he wants to do traditional father/son activities with Maxwell, to get to know him better.

You convince Maxwell to accompany you and your dad on a family camping trip, deep in the woods of the town you grew up in.

He doesn't know what to expect. He's never left the city. He shows up in his Louis Vuitton suit and designer tie and pocket square. He's wearing his sunglasses and his suitcase is filled to the brim with non essentials like styling mouse for his hair and an abundance of cashmere socks.

He thinks camping could be romantic. He likes seeing how excited you get, telling him about the midnight walks along the lakeside that you yearn for, and star gazing.

The second he steps out of the limo, he falls into a puddle of mud. He's horrified.

He's confused too. When you said camping, he imagined a you'd be together in a little shallay or cottage. Not the two person tent you and your dad were fixing up.

You wave him over, beaming, and he drags his ruined Armani shoes through the thick wet grass. Flies and bugs are buzzing around like crazy. He accidentally swallows a few and he wants to cry.

You wrap your arm around him and introduce him to your dad. Maxwell extends an arm to shake his hand but your dad opts for a pat on the back instead, making Maxwell jump.

"How are ya with fishing, kid?" your dad will ask him. He lies. Of course he lies. Maxwell Lord is a people pleaser and he wants to appease your dad out of all people. You shake your head when Maxwell tells your father that he's fished his whole life. Ridiculous.

What about when you and Maxwell go to collect wood for the campfire? Seeing the CEO have to collect sticks and tree branches was rather amusing.

He's complaining because he expected you'd all travel to the city for dinner; eat at a nice five star restaurant. He craved steak and potatoes. Instead, he was eating a cold can of baked beans.

Maxwell had to get up in the middle of the night to pee. He felt uncomfortable standing up in the middle of the wild, naked from the waist down. He missed his quilted toilet paper.

Walking back to the tent in the dark of night wasn't easy, but when he got back to the tent, he got lost. He was so sure that you were sleeping to the left, and your father was sleeping to the right. He was wrong.

Crawling to the left, he ended up laying next to your dad, wrapping his arm across his chest.

Day two:

Your father wasn't amused when he woke up. Maxwell was mortified. You couldn't stop laughing. You even snapped a picture of them both with your Polaroid camera.

Maxwell couldn't get his morning shower. He sadly squirted his cologne all over his body, slid into a clean suit and joined you and your father for breakfast.

Usually, Maxwell enjoyed full breakfasts made for kings. On this day, he shared a cereal bar with you.

He wanted to cry but he had to stay strong for you.

You know this is difficult for him and he's never done anything like this before so you make conscious effort to show him how loved he is, and how cared for. You play with his hair and pepper him with kisses.

He's certain you make it worth it.

Maxwell pulls his sunglasses down the curve of his nose when he examines the tin fishing boat waiting for the three of you in the lake. It's tiny. "Where's the yacht?" he whispers, leaning into you.

Poor Maxwell is anxious he'll sink the boat. His legs are wobbly and he would've fallen into the lake if it weren't for you grabbing him and sitting him down next to you.

Maxwell even drinks your dad's cheap, bitter beer. It's not whiskey or champagne but if it means he wins your dad's approval then it's worth it.

You fish for hours but he doesn't catch anything. Obviously: because he's never fished in his life. He feels embarrassed and ashamed.

At the end of the night, your father brings Maxwell to one side.

“I never expected my child to end up with someone like you. Someone rich and famous. But, you're alright. You're smart, and I can see you care about my family enough to accompany us on this camping trip, despite it not being to your acquired taste. Thank you for making my child happy.”

You and Maxwell are back at the tent preparing to go home and you thank him for coming with you on the camping trip.

"I'm not the macho man your father is. I don't know how to make a campfire or fish, but I hope you can still love me." he tells you.

"I'll love you forever, Maxwell Lord."

[millionfantasy]

Time with Toby (I): Meeting

The leaves crunching beneath her feet echoed throughout her ears. With a low sigh the woman brushes her stray light brown hairs out of her face mask and moves her hand to touch her short cutted hair. It helps having short hair for certain situations. 

Cracking her fingers she stops walking, “I know you’re there. Come out now. I am not in the mood for games of hide and seek.” she calls out in her thick English accent.

The sound of rustling in the tree above her was heard, then a low laugh. ‘Male.’ Emily thought to herself. 

“How did you know I was following you? I was being quiet,” a male voice questions. Emily believes he has a stutter or something of the sort, but she also heard some cracking of bones. Possibly. 

“You obviously were not quiet enough. Now come out,” she looks up and sees a figure in the tree. She raises an eyebrow, “You really do not want me to come after you.”

The male huffs, she could now see that his body sort of… ticked and twitched. That's what was making that cracking of bones sound.

“Oh now that sounds fun. I certainly have the time for a game of cat and mouse, though I’d rather be the cat…” he moves and actual features could now be made out.

He is wearing a face mask which is covering below his nose, similar in a way to the one worn by Hannibal Lecter along with a pair of orange steampunk-styled goggles.

“… and you can be my mouse,” the man looks down at her as he crouches on the tree branch holding onto a hatchet.

Emily took a deep breath and sighs pinching the bridge of her nose under her mask, “What the scampered fuck do you want?” she asks, moving her hand away from her face. 

“I have orders to kill anyone who steps foot in these woods,” he jumps out of the tree and attempts to kick the female in her stomach.

She saw this attack coming. Grabbing his foot with ease, she pushes him with it forcing him onto his back. She then turns around and walks away. 

The man got up unfazed and flung his hatchet at the female in front of him. 

There was a floosh sound then a thud. The hatchet lodging itself in the tree near Emily’s head. 

Her eye twitched under the mask she is wearing and her lip curled in vexation, ‘You have to be kidding me,’ she thinks to herself as she fixes the mask on her face. Turning to the laughing man she sends a glare that he can’t even see, “Who are you?” she asks as she crosses her arms, tapping her right foot and staring at the guy.

He smirks under the mask, “Names Toby, why do you want to know though?” he looks at her, eyes full of amusement, “You wanna know the name of your killer or something?” he asks smugly.  

Emily shakes her, “No, just wanted to know the name of the idiot who obviously wants to die, so it wouldn’t bother me later.” she shrugs. 

Toby stares at her tilting his head, “Uhm what?” he looks confused, “The guy that you killed? You mean me?” he points at his chest.

Emily wants to facepalm. She really does, but she restrains herself from doing so. Instead she simply gave him a single nod of her head.

“Ah, okay. Well this will be fun. More fun than I thought it would be to kill you,” he states before walking closer to his opponent, ready for her this time. He threw a quick jab at Emily’s face with a closed fist which Emily flawlessly dodges but his other fist dug itself into her side. 

‘Hard and heavy hitter, as well as quick,’ Emily made mental notes to herself so she could make better adjustments to her attacks on this man, ‘Toby’ she reminds herself of his name. She drives her right foot into Toby’s left side since his right fist was the one that had landed an actual hit, leaving his left side open for the taking in the process. Once her leg made contact with his body her left hand shot out and decked him clean in the right cheek.

Toby stumbled from the impact but otherwise was unperturbed, concerning Emily for a split second but she overall kept her composure standing her ground, weaving through Toby’s advances. She lands many good hits onto this man but he doesn’t even wince, this was troublesome. 

While dodging Toby’s attacks, Emily sends another fist into his face and receives a punch to her own, knocking her mask off.

Toby stopped moving and stared at Emily’s face, “Wait. You’re a female?!” he walked over placing his hand on her flat chest and gave it a squeeze. “Holy shit! Where are your boobs!”

Emily knocks him in the face once more kicking him away from her body. Her face feels a bit hot now but it does not stop her from focusing on her opponent, although at the moment he seems to be perplexed about his discovery. While he is busy getting his mind fucked Emily leans down and picks up her mask and places it back on her face. She really has to kill him fast now before he runs off to blab about her. So she reaches for her weapons on her back, two clock handled swords that strongly resemble the minute and hour hand of a clock, and hold onto them ready to end this guy’s life. 

Toby sees that she is equipped to end his existence and he runs to get his hatchet out of the tree. “Okay listen. I know I probably should not have said that… or uh… touch you,” he placed his hatchet into the latch on his hip,” So I’ll tell you what. I will let you walk away with your life if you could just tell me your name,” he pulled his mouth guard off showing his smirk and his decayed cheek making Emily grimace. 

She stays quiet though and stares at Toby. He no longer seems to want to fight her but she has no choice but to finish him off. She never leaves a witness. 

Stepping closer to Toby, Emily positions her weapons in a way to prepare herself to kill him quickly. Upon seeing this Toby sighs and backs up. “Don’t worry, mystery woman. I’ll find out your name,” he saluted to her, “Until then,” he then climbed back up into a tree. 

Irritated, Emily runs to the tree he climbed up on but let out a groan seeing that he was gone. She sighs and puts her weapons away making her way home. 

Weeks pass by and Emily is no longer worried about Toby in fact he’s been visiting her often and at first she had tried to kill him but he kind of grew on her. She is, however, annoyed that she allowed him into her life. 

At this second she’s sharpening her weapons and creating new ones for the hell of it. That was until she heard someone at her door. Getting up with a gun in hand she opened it up immediately pointing that gun at the person at the door. 

Kiwi holds her hands up. “Whoa, just me Miss Emily,” she pointed at a tree, “And Mister Tobias is here to see you again,” she walks inside after Emily allows her to then looks at the tree seeing Toby waving at her excitedly.

Emily rolls her eyes then looks at him then motions for Toby to come inside with a head nod. He walks over only tripping once this time and is holding poorly picked weeds, “These flowers are for you,” he smiles as he hands them over to her. 

Emily looks at them with a raised brow then hands them to Kiwi, “Put those in the trash bin please,” Emily told Kiwi and watches as her companion throws them away then she looks back at Toby, “Those were not flowers. They were weeds…” she looks at the rejected look on Toby’s face and feels bad, “But… Thank you for the thought I suppose,” she moves her body allowing Toby inside.

He looks at Emily and smiles again, “Oh sorry. I just thought they were pretty and they reminded me of you,” he shrugs and walks inside looking around, “You changed things up again. There are now more than one chair at your table,” he teases Emily and Kiwi laughs a bit at Toby’s observation but Emily doesn’t even crack a smile making Toby feel a bit awkward, “So uhm, Em… We’ve been talking to each other for a couple of weeks now and I was wondering if you would like to have a date or something here?” he asks her. 

Emily stares at him, “A date? As in you’re romantically interested in me,” it was indeed a question, but it sounds more like an accusation. It made her heart flutter for sure though and it made her feel something she has never felt before, an actual romantic connection between another person and it worries her. 

“Yes. I am romantically interested in you and I know you are romantically interested in me because who isn’t,” he smirked at her wiggling his split brow, “Now just say that you agree,” he looked slightly down at Emily folding his arms across his body waiting, “If I say no will you continue to bother me about this?” she asks him, crossing her own arms across her body.

“Yes. I will keep on asking until you agree to have a date with me,” he smiles at her this time, a sweet admittingly cute smile.

“Alright, just one bloody date and that is it,” she sighs and looks at Kiwi, “Can you leave for the rest of the day and night?” She actually asked, she didn't want to send Kiwi out if she didn’t have a place to go.

“Yeah, I had plans anyways,” she quickly said, she was excited that Emily and Toby were finally going to have a date. She has been wanting them to be a couple since she saw the two of them together. With that, Kiwi walks out the house and leaves. 

Toby looks at Emily, “So I’ll make dinner for us,” he walks into the kitchen and looks around but Emily stops him.“No, I will be cooking. You nearly burned my house down the last time you were in my kitchen. Now go sit down at the table and wait,” she ordered Toby and he swiftly sat at the table listening to Emily’s command. 

As Emily cooks she thinks about herself with Toby and she smiles to herself. She may seem like she hates being around this person, but she actually really enjoys Tobias’ company and she wants to keep him around. He brings a type of excitement and a really good feeling to her heart and stomach that she’s never had before and she loved it. She also loved being an asshole to him too. His reactions were always different and the way that his twitches and tics made him talk was honestly cute to her and she liked it. So at this second she decides to entertain this date idea for him, for now.

[azvolrien]

Iceland - Day 8

Last entry!

Our last full day in Iceland was an eventful but fairly relaxed one, with a few different stops and an early start, but an early finish to go with it. We set off from the hotel at 8.30 and backtracked a little along yesterday’s road for the first few stops of the day. The first was Deildartunguhver, the biggest hot spring in Europe. Though what you can see of the colour-stained rock and constantly bubbling water is impressive, it’s actually difficult to take photos of: the spring emits such huge quantities of steam that you have to wait patiently for the clouds to subside before your camera can make anything out, and that’s after the spring has been harnessed to supply hot water to the nearby towns of Borgarnes and Akranes as well as a greenhouse at the site.

           We then moved on to the final waterfalls of the tour: Hraunfossar (‘Lava Waterfalls’) and Barnafoss (‘Children’s Waterfall’), two very different falls that can nevertheless be considered together, as they are right next to each other. Hraunfossar is the first you come to, and consists of a gentle series of trickles that appear to spring directly from the lava rock beneath a bank of lush greenery. Barnafoss, almost immediately upstream, has a drastically contrasting character as a swift, furious boil of water through a narrow gorge of sharp rock that would probably claim the lives of all but the most experienced/lucky white-water kayakers. It gets its name from a story (entirely possible, but unproven) that two children, playing on a rock arch over the river, fell in and were swept away while everyone else was at church. Their bereaved mother then supposedly had the arch destroyed to prevent such a tragedy happening again. The moral of this story is to never leave children unsupervised near a waterfall.

           After the waterfalls came the tiny hamlet of Reykholt, whose main claim to fame is that it was the home of Icelandic historian Snorri Sturlusson. It now contains an odd-looking church whose undercroft houses an exhibition about Snorri’s life and a small bookshop of volumes on Icelandic history, folklore and similar themes. Also very tangential themes, such as several different compilations of essays about Game of Thrones. I bought an illustrated book of legendary/folkloric Icelandic monsters, which includes some familiar like the water horse and the sea serpent and some that are downright weird, such as the King of the Bears and the mouse-whale.

           After a half-hour stop in Borgarnes for an early lunch, we travelled to the last official stop of our tour and the third part of the so-called Golden Circle after Gullfoss and the Geysir area: Þingvellir National Park, where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s efforts to tear the island in two are most dramatically evident. While the rift was also visible up at Dettifoss, here it is far more clearly so. Fissures crack the land here, pushing ridges of broken rock up like the roots of Yggdrasil forcing their way through a pavement, while the biggest fissure of all forms a long row of cliffs of a similar height to the dolerite sill of Salisbury Crags at home. Other fissures have flooded into deep pools of beautifully clear water, popular with divers (who are common enough to merit their own ‘divers crossing’ road sign) and home to waterfowl and isolated populations of fish. The Icelandic flag flies over it all in honour of its place as the original site of the Alþing, Iceland’s ancient parliament established in 930.

           With Þingvellir behind us, we returned to the Hotel Reykjavik Natura where we started, and the tour group went our separate ways at about 3.30. I didn’t really want to spend the rest of the day in the hotel, however, and so dropped my stuff in the room (almost identical to the last one here, just mirrored) and set off on foot for a wander and an early dinner in central Reykjavik. Both the maps in my guidebook and online were a little out of date due to construction works, but I managed to navigate past some building sites and through quiet residential streets by following the spire of Hallgrímskirkja, which towers over the city atop a hill and can be seen from almost anywhere in Reykjavik. I took some better pictures of the church, not being constrained by a moving bus this time, and had a look inside. The interior of Iceland’s biggest church is plain, a high, austere space of grey stone with no stained glass to liven it up, but it does have a truly magnificent pipe organ looming over the nave, easily as big as the one in St Giles’.

           The streets around Hallgrímskirkja are, in a word, touristy. There are even more souvenir shops than there are on the Royal Mile, with all manner of gifts for sale from cheap keyrings to high-end knitwear and jewellery, as well as many little cafés and restaurants. I bought a couple of pin badges and one last t-shirt and had a plate spaghetti in a little Italian place, and returned to the hotel to pack up and have a final quiet evening in Iceland.

           Patronising Kiwi and riding accident aside, I think I may have a new favourite holiday. Iceland is a fascinating, beautiful place, with a history and landscape like something out of the better class of fantasy novel, and while there were things we missed that I would have liked to see (such as whale-watching) we managed to pack in so much else that things missed out barely even register. The language, too, is fascinating. It’s a little like Welsh; not in that the languages themselves are similar, which they aren’t, but in how they both appear tongue-manglingly baffling to an English-speaker at first while, once you know the alphabet, actually being spelt exactly as they sound. The Nordic links to Scotland are also there for the observant listener to notice: Þingvellir and Dingwall share the same root, both meaning ‘Assembly Fields’, while the ‘Reykja’ in ‘Reykjavik’ is not so far from Edinburgh’s old nickname of Auld Reekie, both meaning ‘smoky’.

           While I doubt I will do the complete tour in one go again, I definitely want to come back to Iceland one day to pick up on what I missed this time; perhaps spend some more time in Reykjavik and visit some more museums, as well as finally getting on that whale-watching trip. Seeing the Northern Lights would also be good, but you don’t have to come to Iceland for those.

           Now I just need to visit Sweden and Finland and I’ll have been to all the Nordic countries. There are a lot of interesting places in the world that I’d like to see one day, but I think my heart will always belong in the North.

[shcganai]

@magma-mouse replied to your post “     Did someone mention NPCs??”

Kiwi just cracks her knuckles XD

     “Don’t make me call the police.”

[mpischasingstories]

Repentance

Fandom: Critical Role

Rating: T, for violence and minor swearing

Word Count: 3,415

Author’s Notes: The backstory (or start of it) for a Paladin I’ve created for Matt’s word of Tal’Dorei.  I lay no claim to Jorinn Village, or know if that’s how the Shadewatch works.  But all characters are mine.  Also, this was written for NaNoWriMo, so there may be some mistakes.

*~*~*

When a shadowy cloak whisked outside the window, Marta flinched.  The Shadewatch.  She held her breath as they stood there, the clinking of coins marking the seconds they stood there.  Finally, the clinking stopped, and Marta watched the cloaks float away.  Her chest collapsed in relief, and she continued making dinner.  The money she had earned had been enough.

She looked at her father, collapsed at the table, a pile of drool gathering around his cheek.  If only he could earn the money needed.  He could, if he wasn’t a half orc.  But he refused to work for the Shadewatch, and no one else would hire him because of his half-blood status.

Once the pot sat boiling on the hearth, Marta sat at the table herself, undressing and redressing her calloused knuckles.  As she did, she kept an eye on the corner of the room, where a sword sat, collecting dust. As usual, nothing happened.  Dust continued to swirl around it.  She still didn’t trust it.

The door slammed open. “Marta!  Marta!  I need your help!”

Marta smiled at the ten year old that opened the door.  Zephra, her younger sister.  “What do you need?”

“Keyser has my mouse!” she pouted.

Marta sighed.  She wasn’t in the mood for another fist fight. She had gone through five today just to earn the money for the shadewatch.  “And Keyser won’t give it back?”

“No.  He said that you have to beat him in a fight before he’ll give him back.  He doesn’t believe that you can beat him.”

Marta sighed, looking at the stew.  She looked back to her father, still asleep on the table.  He would be fine, and the stew had a couple of hours to cook.  She supposed it would be alright if she left for a moment.  “Let’s go,”

Zephra took her by the hand and led her through twisted allyways until they reached the ring, just outside Jorenn Village.  A ring made with black bricks from old ruins, this was where the kids came to fight. And standing in the center of the ring was the half elf bully, Keyser.

He gave a crooked smile, dangling a screeching mouse from its tail in front of him.  “Oh, look how nice big sister is, coming to save the day. Doubt she can do it though.  Brute strength cannot beat speed and dexterity.”

Marta could feel her upper lip curl up in disgust.  “Whoever said that my skill was in brute strength?  Or are you just pulling that from my bloodline?”

“Bloodline is everything. Why do you think we live here?” Keyser smirked.  “However, I’ve been hearing that you’ve been earning quite a bit of money fighting.  Enough so that you’re covering your drunk dad’s ass and can pay the shadewatch.”

He knew nothing of their situation.  Obviously. “And what does that have to do with you?”

“I simply don’t like that someone with orcish heritage is doing so well.  So, I’m going to put you in your place.”  As Keyser said that, one of his friends walked up to him with a cage, and Keyser dropped the mouse inside it.  “I’m going to make it so that you can’t fight for at least two weeks. Hopefully longer.  I’d love to see you get in trouble with the Shadewatch, especially…”

Marta stepped into the ring, immediately getting into a fighting stance.  “It won’t happen.  And I will fight you to prove it.”

Keyser’s smile grew deeper. “Oh, you want….”

“Yes,” she replied, keeping her face straight.  “That is completely irrelevant.”

He shrugged, walking forward.  “Well, if that’s the case then…”

Marta saw through his first attack.  Too easy. A couple of fake punches that led up to an uppercut.  She leaned back, and used the inertia pulling her back to kick him backwards.  He stumbled back a little, gritting his teeth. She walked up to him, staying in a defensive pose.  He threw a few more punches, which, for the most part, were easily deflected, as she continued walking forwards.

Finally, he got a hit on her cheek.  Her neck cracked as it whipped around, but she turned back, smiling.  She raised her fist above his head, and he instinctually raided both arms up to block her.

Leaving his chest open, Marta punched him in the sternum.

Gasping, eyes opening wide, he stumbled and tripped over the ashen brick, falling out of the circle.

“If I used all brute strength, I wouldn’t have been able to trick you over the edge like that.” Marta snarled, kicking his feet over the ring before stepping out herself.  A few of the younger kids, also having been bullied by Keyser, clapped, but were quickly silenced as Keyser’s group of friends glared at them.  “The mouse?” she asked the friend with the cage calmly.

“You don’t get it.  You didn’t win.” He said, shakily.

Marta sighed.  “Oh my hell.  Seriously?  I won. And you know that.”

“Nope.  Not getting it back.”

           She glared at him before going to throw a punch.  He whimpered, dropping the cage, and she reached out and grabbed it. “Next time, I will punch you.”

           She ignored the kids, all huddled and whispering together.  “Come on Zephra, let’s go.”

           Zephra took a hold of Marta’s hand, and the group of kids started following them back in the village.  One by one, they filtered into the streets of Jorin, until it was just Marta and Zephra in front of their humble door.  “Zephra, you need to hold on to Kiwi better.” Marta sighed, handing the cage to Zephra. “I can’t be saving her from the bullies all the time.  I need my strength for other things.”

           “I know, but I can’t fight Keyser.” She pouted.

           “But I bet you can outsmart him.” Marta replied.  “He may have elven blood in him, but that doesn’t mean that he’s smart.”

           Zephra giggled as she opened the door.  “Dad!  You’re awake!”

           Marta peered in.  Sure enough, he was awake, standing over the pot and stirring it.  “Ah, you’re back,” he said, smiling.

           Marta smiled back, and any anger in regards to him not being the provider melted away.  “Hi dad,”

           “I haven’t been out too long, have I?”

           “Only a couple of days.” Marta replied, walking in.  Zephra had already ran in and was clinging onto the massive man.

           “Marta just rescued Kiwi!” she exclaimed, holding the cage up for their father to see.

           “Rescued Kiwi?  What kind of trouble did Kiwi get into?”

           “Keyser took her.”

           Father’s lower lip curled. “That bastard can’t keep his nose in his own business, can he?”

           “Like father, like son.” Marta replied, taking over stirring.

           “Is there any meat in it?”

           Marta shook her head.  “I haven’t had time to do any hunting.  I’ve just been trying to earn money.”

           Her father sighed, wrapping his arm around her and kissing her forehead.  “I wish I could provide for this family the way you do.”

           Marta smiled.  “You help by gathering food.”

           He nodded.  “I got the hint.” He walked back to the table and picked up a crossbow sitting on a chair. “I’ll be back soon.  I’ll just bring home a couple of rabbits.”

           “Thanks dad,”

           He smiled as he walked to the front door.  “Of course.  Try to keep your brother here if he comes home.  It would be nice to have a family dinner for once.”

           Marta’s face fell and she nodded.  “Of course.”

           “I know you don’t approve of his choices, nor do I.  But we still need to let him know that we love him.”

           She gave a deep breath and nodded.  “Of course father.”

           “I’ll be back,” And with that, he was gone.

           She sighed, and over the next hour, she stirred the stew, making sure none of the precious food was burned against the pot.  Zephra played with Kiwi on the table, the mouse scampering from clasping hands.  Marta kept looking at the sword, but it continued to stay still.

           Two months ago Coiffer had brought it home.  Marta had wrapped her hand around it to move while cleaning, and, the sword… it talked to her.  Told her to kill the mayor.  Terrified, she had chased Zephra out of the home and the two of them had spent the afternoon out in the fields, not coming home until after dark.  Since then, she had left the sword alone.  Hoping that maybe, if she would ignore it, it would go away.

           But, of course, that was a childish thought.  The sword wouldn’t just disappear.  But she was terrified to get rid of it herself.

           After a moment, she tasted the stew.  Not bad. Needed some herbs.

           “I’ll be right back Zephra.  Can you stir the stew?”

           Zephra nodded her excitement and took the spoon from Marta.  Marta then went to the window that opened to a narrow allyway and slipped out.  Wood creaked under her large form as she slid out the window and onto a narrow platform. To her left, were stairs falling apart, and she traversed the familiar steps to reach the top of the floors, which led to a small rooftop garden.

           This garden was Marta’s hidden gem and brightest joy.  The back half of the roof was a flattened building, and she had spent most of her childhood building up her little garden of forest herbs. And now, with the Shadewatch taking so much of her hard earned money, her little hidden garden helped keep her family fed.

           And thank goodness it was hidden too, or else she would be taxed for the garden. And possibly punished for hiding it.

           But she always worried.  There was one member of the Shadewatch that knew about it.  And she wasn’t sure how long his loyalty would stay with her.

           She gathered what herbs she wanted and started heading down the stairs when she heard the door open.  She froze in place for a moment.  It was too soon for her father to be home.

           “Coiffer!” Zephra called out in glee.

           Marta let out a breath.  Just Coiffer. Hopefully.

           She continued to walk down the stairs and peeked in the window.  Coiffer looked and smiled at her.  “So, what’s for dinner?”

           “I don’t know.  Depends on if you’re my brother or a shadow of my brother.” She replied, stepping back into her home.  “So far, I’m guessing the shadow of my brother.”

           His smile fell.  “Now, really? Just because I’m still wearing my Shadewatch cloak?”

           “No, because you haven’t been the same since you left for the Shadewatch.  And obviously, they still don’t trust you.  I’m still paying homages to them.  And I’m the one paying for them.  Not you.”  She reached for a knife and started chopping up her herbs on the table.  “And why is that?  Why am I paying for the homages when you’re making at least 25 gold a day?”

           He looked down.  “I promise, I’m saving up for something good.  Something important.”

           Marta sighed, and continued to focus on her labor.  “No one knows of the garden, right?”

           “Of course not.  I would never tell anyone of that.”

           Marta chose to not vocalize her distrust in him.  “Why did you come home tonight early?  Usually you like to go out and drink with your new friends now.”

           “I… I was hoping to take my sword to them.”

           “Well, father was hoping that you would stay for dinner, so I suppose neither of you will get what you desire.”

           “Oh, come on Marta….”

           “Do you even realize what that sword is?” Marta spat.  She looked at Zephra.  “Zephra, up to the garden, now.”

           “But….”

           “Now,”

           Zephra huffed, but scooped up Kiwi and trudged up the stairs.

           Marta listened, waiting to hear Zephra’s steps disappear before she talked. “That sword, it talks.”

           Coiffer’s eyes shifted.  “Yeah, I know.”

           “Then why the hell do you want it?!” Marta hissed.  “I just picked it up to clean one day, and it told me to kill the mayor!  It wants me to kill someone!  The only other source of power that can somewhat keep your little perverted band in check!”

           “Marta, the Shadewatch isn’t perverted…”

           “Oh really?  Why then does the Shadewatch possibly need to go to Gatshadow?  What threat can possibly be down there that he Shadewatch needs to protect us from?  Why in the world do we need to pay the Shadewatch 50 gold a week?  Money half of the people in this town don’t even see in a month?  You can’t possibly tell me that you are now thinking that the Shadewatch isn’t the evil organization you think it is?”

           Coiffer shifted on his feet.  “It’s not what you think it is…. Can I please just have the sword?”

           “Is that all you care about now?  Is showing off your talking sword to your asshole friends?”        

           “Come on Marta….”

           “Don’t!” she screamed.  “Don’t even try Coiffer!”

           His lips snarled apart, and he pulled the mace from his belt under the midnight cloak of the Shadewatch.  “Give it to me!  Give it to me NOW!”

           Herbs and knife long forgotten, Marta acted on instinct.  She grabbed the sword.  “THEN YOU’LL HAVE TO FIGHT IT FROM ME!”

           Go ahead, kill him.  I feel it.  You have the strength to carry me.  Help me bring justice to Tal’Dorei.

           She flinched, which was her mistake.

           Stars flew and the ringing was loud.  She could feel the blood trickle down from her forhead, where Coiffer had hit her.

           She stared at him, eyes watering over.

           “What happened to you?” she whispered.

           He stood there, shaking himself.  “I don’t want to be this way with you,” he whispered back.  “But I don’t’ know what other way to be.”

           He raised his mace again, but this time she blocked it with the sword.  “Coiffer, please stop!”

           But he kept attacking, again and again.  “I tried!  Okay! I tried to help provide for the family! You always did it on your own! And I wanted to help!  But I wasn’t like you!  So I joined the Shadewatch so that I could be good!  So that I could help!  And you.  Won’t. TAKE IT!”

           Again and again, she parried his blows.  But this couldn’t stay this way.  She couldn’t fight him off forever.  She wasn’t an expert in swords, but she had to try.

           She tried thrusting forward.  Missed, and he hit her on the side.

           She went back to defending.  Again and again, she parried off blows, but each time it left her weaker than the attack before.

           She had to try one more time.

           She yelled, pulling her arm back and then thrusting the sword forward.

           It sank in.  But not in Coiffer.

           Coiffer had side stepped, and the sword sank into her fathers stomach.

           Marta immediately let go of the sword, gasping.  “Father!” she cried.

           His eyes widened, and he collapsed.  He didn’t move.

           Coiffer looked at Marta.  “What have you DONE?!” he screamed.

           “I didn’t mean to!  It’s your fault!  You picked a fight with me!” Marta screamed back.

           “You’ve given into your orcish blood, haven’t you?” he hissed.

           “There’s hardly enough to give into!  I was defending myself from you!”

           “This is going to finish.  Now.  I’m grabbing the Shadewatch.  I’m taking Zephra.  You cannot be fit to take care of her if you killed our father.”

           Marta did the only thing she could do.  She curled her fist up and knocked him in the head.  It was enough.  He hit the table and slumped into unconsciousness.

           Tenderly, she flipped him over, breath shaky.  Had she just killed another member of her family?

           His eyes were closed.  No, she had not.

           But she needed to leave.  And she couldn’t leave Zephra in Coiffer’s hands.  Zephra would never survive with the Shadewatch.

           Carefully, she went over to her father, and took his crossbow and quiver, equipping it on herself before she covered the fire that was cooking the stew. Once the embers were gone, she climbed out the window and closed the curtain.  Zephra didn’t need to see that.  

           “Zephra?” Marta whispered.

           Zephra’s face poked out above the stairs.  “Marta?  What’s happening?  Is father really dead?”

           So she had heard it all.  “It was an accident.  I was defending myself from Coiffer.”

           She hopped onto the stairs and quickly made her way down them.  “Is Coiffer okay?”

           Marta nodded, wiping away Zephra’s tears.  “He’s fine.  He’s just asleep for now.”

           “Let’s go.  I don’t want you getting in trouble with the Shadewatch.  Is there anywhere we can run away to?”

           Marta nodded.  “We’ll have to be careful, but we can go to Westruun.  That should be far enough away that the Shadewatch won’t look for me.”

           “It’s not fair.  You were trying to protect yourself, but because Coiffer is a member of the Shadewatch, you would have all the blame.  Even though he attacked you.  I saw that. I came back down because you were so loud.”

           “When did you head back up?”

           “When you first tried to attack back.”

           Marta nodded, then looked up at the sky.  Dusk was coming, it would be dark soon.  “Let’s go.  We can at least make it to some of the ruins a few miles out tonight.”

           The two carefully picked their way to the edge of Jorenn Village, Zephra first going by the market to buy some bread with the little bit of gold that Marta had left, and silently made their way through the forest.

           It was probably Midnight by the time they reached some old ruins and they felt safe enough to stop.  The full moon gleamed through bare trees, and Marta was able to put together a pile of leaves for Zephra to fall asleep in.  

           Now that Zephra was nestles in leaves in a corner of a barely-there building, Marta gathered her own pile of leaved a few feet away and lit a small fire. She was far from tired from the day’s events.  As she warmed her hands, she looked around her.  

           There, among the leaves she had gathered to keep her fire going, was a small glimmer of gold.

           Curious, she dug through them and found a little idol.  Gold flames covered the feet of a dark woman with wings, and a ruby was held between the wings.

           There was a little voice in the back of her head.  A voice not belonging to her, or to the sword that she left behind. It was a soft, kind voice.  The voice of a knowing woman.

           Find repentance and redemption through me.  I will help you.  I will be in Westruun.

           “What… what is your name?” Marta whispered.

           You will know me as Everlight.  Now sleep, I promise no one will find you.

           And as the night went on, Marta’s eyes grew heavy, and by the time her fire extinguished, she was asleep.

[oneweekoneband]

you can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky

This is how it had to start, right? With repentance? Harry Styles spent his entire adolescence running from one side of a stadium stage to the other, dimpled and grinning, shaking his curls, asking girls to be quiet because there wasn’t any louder he could ask them to scream. 

“Watching Harry spit water and touch his hair makes me want to be a better person,” Rob Sheffield wrote in a review of One Direction’s 2015 tour stop at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, and the Direction’s fans nodded fervent yeses, whispered a chorus of amen. One Direction was the most famous boy band in the world and everyone agreed Harry was its rock star, Timberlake but talented (don’t get me started on “talented”), beautiful and gracious and charismatic, bound and destined for serious, long-term, well-earned fame. Real fame. Not that fleeting fake adolescent girl-powered stuff.

So the release of his first solo single was Harry’s moment, and the first thing he did with it was apologize: for leaving, for needing to be on his own. (Just stop your crying / it’s a sign of the times. / Welcome to the final show / hope you’re wearing your best clothes.) He wrote a ballad that swoops and soars, that promises all of the howling, enormous emotion that One Direction slipped into perfectly crafted three-minute pop songs was not being packed away but instead let loose, a bolt of lighting giving way, finally, to the promise of a real storm.

But, and, or, because: you can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky. You look pretty good down here / but you ain’t really good. Listening to this song for the first time in my headphones at four am, up early on my way to the airport, it seemed like a gesture towards his past, a mournful suggestion that he didn’t know how to feel about the status he’d been raised to, the mountains of adulation he’d received, and whether it could ever stand in for actual love.

Having listened to the album, though, I tend to think that he’s also apologizing: for Carolina and Kiwi and Only Angel, for where he knows he’s about to take you, for where he’s not entirely sure you’re going to follow. This song isn’t exactly about not being sure you deserve to be a rock star; it’s also about knowing that you’re a rock star, and not being sure that anyone can love you for it they way they loved you for being young and gorgeous, a beautiful and blessed child.

Harry Styles is about addiction and withdrawal, obsession and abjection, objectification and loneliness. It sounds like the soundtrack to my own fucked up twenties, the long years I spent confusing the power of my cravings with power, period. Harry spends the album alternatively on his knees for women who aren’t giving him what he wants and dismissing the ones who are— just let me know I’ll be on the floor / hoping you’ll come around he sings on Meet Me in the Hallway, before writing off Kiwi’s hard candy as a cokehead, try-hard faker: Holland tunnel for a nose / it’s always backed up, the lyric goes, and later she goes home to a cactus / she wears a black dress / and she is an actress.

So before he let us hear any of that he opened with it’s a sign of the times, this cracked-open apocalypse scream of a song: its admission of bad behavior and its obsession with escape. We’ve got to get away / we’ve got to get away / oh we’ve got to get away. I don’t think Harry’s ever heard Modest Mouse but Isaac Brock asks the relevant question here: where do you run when what you’re running from / is yourself?

[magma-mouse]

@melemeleguardian​

“Not A ghost, my Mun jsut got sucked into Twisted wonderland Hell !”

[writinggeisha]

Why is color in writing so important?

Pablo Picasso said that “Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” Picasso was an artist who evoked emotion with colorful pigments. As a writer, you can do the same with colorful words.

Note the different pictures painted by the following two paragraphs.

Ned gazed at the calypso-orange horizon. A lapis-blue speck sparkled above it in the deepening violet of a new night sky—Planet Vorton, home.

Ned gaped at the corpse-grey horizon. A mold-blue speck festered above it in the deepening black of a smoggy night sky—Planet Vorton, home.

Same number of words, different colors, with complementing adjectives and verbs. One paragraph emanates optimism, the other gloom.

Compound adjectives sometimes require hyphens.

According to The Chicago Manual of Style, if a compound adjective appears before a noun, it should be hyphenated.

Compare the following examples:

Tristan wore an eye-catching purple tie. Tristan’s purple tie was eye catching.

Wendi modeled a melon-pink dress. Wendi’s dress was melon pink.

Accent colors with adjectives.

Here’s a list over one hundred adjectives from thousands you could choose to produce more vivid descriptions of the colors in your writing.

A Accented, achromatic, ashen, ashy, atomic

B Blazing, bleached, bleak, blinding, blotchy, bold, brash, bright, brilliant, burnt

C Chromatic, classic, clean, cold, complementing, contrasting, cool, coordinating, creamy, crisp

D Dark, dayglow, dazzling, deep, delicate, digital, dim, dirty, drab, dreary, dull, dusty

E Earthy, electric, energetic, eye-catching

F Faded, faint, festive, fiery, flashy, flattering, fluorescent, frosty, full-toned

G Gaudy, glistening, glittering, glossy, glowing

H Harsh, hazy, hot

I Icy, illuminated, incandescent, intense, iridescent

K Knockout

L Lambent, light, loud, luminous, lusterless, lustrous

M Majestic, matte, medium, mellow, milky, monochromatic, muddy, murky, muted

N Natural, neon, neutral

O Opalescent, opaque

P Pale, pastel, patchy, pearly, perfect, picturesque, plain, primary, pure

R Radiant, reflective, rich, royal, ruddy, rustic

S Satiny, saturated, shaded, sheer, shining, shiny, shocking, showy, smoky, soft, solid, somber, soothing, sooty, sparkling, stained, streaked, streaky, striking, strong, subdued, subtle, sunny, swirling

T Tacky, tinged, tinted, tonal, toned, traditional, translucent, transparent

U Undiluted, uneven, uniform

V Vibrant, vivid

W Wan, warm, washed-out, waxen, wild

Enhance multicolored objects with adjectives such as these.

B Bicolor, blended, braided

C Cataclysmic-colored, checkered, compound, contrasting, crisscrossed

D Dappled, disparate, dotted, dusted

F Flecked, freckled, fused

I Intermixed, interwoven

J Jumbled

L Lined

K Kaleidoscopic

M Many-hued, marbled, mingled, mixed, motley, mottled, multicolored, multihued

P Particolored, patterned, peppered, piebald, pied, polychromatic, prismatic, psychedelic

S Salted, speckled, splotched, stippled

T Two-tone, tricolor

V Varied, variegated, veined

Nouns provide more opportunities to add color and detail.

A Accent

B Bleach, brightness, brilliance

C Chroma, clarity, CMYK, coating, color wheel, colorant, coloration, cover

D Deposit, depth, diffusion, dimension, dispersion, dye

F Film, finish, flicker, fluorescence

G Glare, glaze, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, gradation

H Henna, highlight, hint, hue

I Incandescence, intensity, iridescence

L Lacquer, layer, lightness, lowlight, luminosity, luster

M Monotone

N Nuance

O Opacity, opalescence

P Paint, Pantone, patina, peroxide, pigment, pigmentation, polish, prism, purity

R Radiance, rainbow, RGB, residue, rinse

S Sample, saturation, seam, shade, sheen, shimmer, shine, smidgeon, sparkle, spectrum, stain, stratum, streak, stripe, suggestion, surface, swatch

T Tattoo, tester, tier, tincture, tinge, tint, tone, touch, trace, twinkle

U Undertone

V Varnish, vein, veneer

Find more writing tips in

The Writer’s Lexicon and The Writer’s Lexicon Volume II

.

Available in both digital and print editions. –

Perhaps these verbs will provide inspiration.

Colors can blend, clash, or enhance. They might revitalize, fade, or overlap. Choose carefully to provide the nuance you need in your writing.

A Accent, accentuate, appear, attract

B Balance, bathe, bespatter, blanch, blare, blaze, blench, bleach, blend, blotch, brighten, brush, burn

C Captivate, clash, color, combine, complement, conflict, contrast, coordinate, crayon

D Darken, daub, draw, decolorize, decorate, deepen, dot, draw, dye

E Embellish, emit, enhance, enliven

F Fade, flare, flash, flatter, fleck

G Glare, glaze, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glow

H Harmonize, heighten, highlight

I Illuminate, infuse, intensify

J Jar

L Light, lighten

M Match, meld, merge, mingle, mix

O Outline, overlap

P Paint, permeate, pervade, plaster

R Radiate, revitalize

S Saturate, seal, shade, shine, sketch, smear, sparkle, splash, splatter, spray, spread, stain, suffuse

T Tinge, tint

V Varnish

W Wash

Invent colors.

Your ingenuity is the only limit with invented colors. Consider a few examples.

Yolanda sashayed toward me, hips swiveling in a seduction-red skirt that complemented her bad-baby-black lipstick.

Either Yolanda intends to ravish our narrator, or he hopes she’s a bad girl with seduction on her mind.

Bruise-blue eyes stared out through glasses crisscrossed with cracks. Matching lumps burgeoned from Marco’s chin and cheeks.

Readers will make the connection between bruise-blue and the lumps, imagining someone who has been beaten or injured.

Find color ideas by googling phrases such as “things that are green” or “things that look blue.”

And now, a kaleidoscope of colors.

Some of the following lists contain invented colors. Many are based on objects we encounter in our environment. You can use almost any noun to create an adjective that will resonate with readers.

For the next several years, Trump blond or Hillary blonde will produce instant mental images.

Science fiction might use deep-space black, quasar blue, or starburst yellow.

An environmentalist could choose colors such as oil-slick black, smog grey, or acid-rain yellow.

Choose or invent colors that intensify your writing.

You can use many of these words as is, or precede the color they represent to produce a compound adjective. Rather than anthracite, for example, you might prefer anthracite black.

Black Anger black, anthracite, bat black, boot black, cat black, cave black, cavity black, charcoal, coal black, crow black, deep-space black, ebony, evil black, funeral black, grease black, ink, jade black, jet, leather black, licorice, metal black, midnight, mildew black, mold black, night black, obsidian, oil-slick black, onyx, pitch black, raven, sable, shadow black, shoe-polish black, silhouette black, smoky, sooty, spider black, tar black, tire black, tuxedo black, uber black, velvet black

Blond/Blonde Although blond can be used for either males or females, I and many writers prefer blond to describe males and blonde to describe females. Likewise with gender-identified pets and animals.

Why?

Blond was adopted into English from French, and the French language uses gender-specific descriptors.

Compound adjectives in the following list are spelled with the feminine form.

Almond-crème blonde, amber, apple-cider blonde, apricot, ash blonde, banana-bread blonde, blanched, bleached, bombshell, bottle blonde, brassy, bronze, brown-sugar blonde, butter blonde, butternut, butterscotch, caramel, chamomile blonde, champagne, chardonnay blonde, corn blonde, diamond blonde, dirty blonde, dishwater blonde, electric blonde, flaxen, French-fry blonde, frosted blonde, gilded blonde, ginger, ginger-ale blonde, ginger spice, golden, goldenrod, Hillary blonde, honey blonde, honey-butter blonde, honeysuckle blonde, hot-toffee blonde, macadamia blonde, mushroom blonde, neon blonde, peroxide blonde, platinum, sand blonde, straw blonde, strawberry blonde, sunflower blonde, sun-kissed blonde, sunset blonde, tarnished-gold blonde, Trump blond/e, trumpet blonde, vanilla-malt blonde, vintage gold, wheat blonde

Blue Admiral blue, Aegean blue, agate blue, arctic blue, azure, baby blue, berry blue, blue-jay blue, blue-jeans blue, bluebell blue, blueberry blue, blueberry-juice blue, bluebird blue, blue-jay blue, brook blue, bruise blue, cadet blue, cerulean, china-blue, cobalt, cornflower blue, crystal blue, denim blue, electric blue, forget-me-not blue, galaxy glue, gunmetal blue, ice blue, indigo, ink blue, jellyfish blue, lagoon blue, lake blue, lapis blue, laser blue, lilac blue, lobelia blue, mold blue, moon blue, navy, ocean blue, quasar blue, river blue, robin-egg blue, sapphire blue, sky blue, star blue, steel-blue, swimming-pool blue, teal, toilet-water blue, toothpaste blue, ultramarine

Brown Acorn brown, almond brown, amber, auburn, autumn brown, Bambi brown, beige, brandy brown, brick brown, bronze, brunet, buckeye brown, camel brown, caramel, carob brown, cedar brown, champagne brown, chestnut, chipmunk brown, chocolate brown, cinnamon, cider brown, clay brown, coffee brown, cognac brown, cookie brown, copper, cork brown, desert sand, drab brown, dun brown, ecru, espresso brown, fawn brown, football brown, freckle brown, ginger, gingerbread brown, golden brown, hazel, hickory brown, honey brown, infrabeige, kiwi brown, lion brown, loam brown, mahogany, maroon, merlot brown, mocha, mouse brown, mud brown, muddy brown, nut brown, oak brown, orange brown, peanut brown, pecan brown, pekoe brown, penny brown, pigskin brown, pretzel brown, rosewood, russet, rust, sandstone brown, seal brown, sepia, sienna, spice brown, syrup brown, taffy, tan, taupe, tawny brown, teddy-bear brown, topaz brown, tortilla brown, tourmaline brown, umber, walnut, wheat brown, whiskey brown, wood brown

Green Apple green, army green, artichoke green, asparagus green, avocado green, barf green, basil green, blue green, bottle green, bright green, cabbage green, camouflage green, cat’s-eye green, celery green, chartreuse, clover green, crocodile green, crystal-marble green, cyan, electric green, elf green, emerald, fern green, frog green, grape green, grass green, hypergreen, jade, jasper green, jelly green, juniper, kale green, khaki green, kiwi green, leaf green, LED green, olive, leprechaun green, lettuce green, lime, lizard green, loden, mildew green, mint, moss green, neon green, ocean green, parsley green, pea green, pea-soup green, peacock green, pear green, Perrier-bottle green, pickle green, pine green, puke green, sage, sea green, seafoam green, seasick green, seaweed green, seedling green, shamrock green, snot green, spinach green, spring green, sprout green, spruce green, tea green, teal, toad green, velvet green, viridian, watermelon green, yellow green

Grey/Gray Alien grey, aluminum grey, anchor grey, ash grey, battleship grey, bottle grey, boulder grey, carbon grey, cement grey, charcoal grey, cloud grey, coin grey, corpse grey, crater grey, death grey, dove grey, elephant grey, exhaust grey, fling grey, flint grey, fog grey, fossil grey, fungus grey, ginger grey, granite grey, graphite, gravel grey, gruel grey, gum grey, gunmetal grey, hippo grey, hoary grey, ice grey, iron grey, knife grey, lead grey, mercury grey, meteor grey, mummy grey, nail grey, nickel, otter grey, pebble grey, pepper grey, pewter, pigeon grey, porpoise grey, porridge grey, rat grey, salt-and-pepper, seal grey, shadow grey, shark grey, shovel grey, silver, slate, sleet grey, slug grey, slush grey, smog grey, smoke, steel grey, stone grey, storm grey, stormy grey, stormy-sea grey, sword grey, tabby grey, tank grey, tweed grey, wax grey, wolf grey

Orange Apricot orange, burnt orange, butternut orange, calypso orange, candlelight orange, cantaloupe orange, caramelized orange, carrot orange, cayenne orange, cheddar orange, cheese-cracker orange, Chinese-lantern orange, cider orange, citrus orange, clementine orange, coral orange, crayon orange, curry orange, fire orange, flame orange, goldfish orange, mac-and-cheese orange, mango-tango orange, mandarin orange, marigold orange, marmalade orange, monarch orange, nacho orange, nasturtium orange, naval orange, papaya orange, peach orange, peach-butter orange, peach-sorbet orange, popsicle orange, pumpkin orange, safety-vest orange, salamander orange, salmon orange, sherbet orange, shrimp orange, starfish orange, sunset orange, sweet-potato orange, tangelo orange, tangerine orange, terra cotta, tiger orange, traffic orange, yam orange

Pink Amaranth, azalea pink, baby pink, ballet-slipper pink, blush, bright pink, bubblegum pink, cantaloupe pink, carnation pink, cerise, champagne pink, cherry-rose pink, coral, cotton-candy pink, crepe pink, cupid pink, cyclamen pink, damask, flamingo pink, fuchsia, geranium pink, grapefruit pink, lemonade pink, magenta, mandarin pink, mango pink, melon pink, old-rose pink, oleander pink, parfait pink, pastel pink, peach, peach-blossom pink, peony pink, piggy pink, piglet pink, pomegranate pink, prom pink, punch pink, raspberry-smoothie pink, rose, rosewood pink, rouge pink, salmon pink, seashell pink, sherbet pink, shocking pink, strawberry pink, swine pink, taffy pink, watermelon pink, Zinfandel pink

Purple Amethyst purple, amparo purple, boysenberry purple, burgundy purple, Byzantium purple, clover purple, concord purple, coneflower purple, cyclamen purple, eggplant purple, fig purple, gentian purple, gooseberry purple, grape purple, heather, heliotrope, hyacinth purple, indigo, iris purple, jam purple, kazoo purple, lavender, lilac, lollipop purple, lotus purple, magenta, mauve, mulberry purple, onion purple, opal purple, orchid purple, periwinkle purple, petunia purple, pillow purple, plum, posy purple, primrose purple, raisin purple, regalia purple, rhubarb purple, royal purple, sage-flower purple, sangria purple, sugar-plum purple, tanzanite purple, Tyrian purple, violet, wild-berry purple, wine purple, wisteria purple

Red Apple red, auburn, beet red, berry red, blaze red, blood red, blush red, brick red, burgundy red, candy red, candy-apple red, candy-cane red, carrot red, cherry red, cherry-soda red, Christmas red, cinnamon-candy red, communist red, copper red, coral red, crab-apple red, cranberry red, crimson, currant red, fire red, fire-engine red, fire-hydrant red, flame red, flaming red, garnet red, ginger red, heart red, henna, holly-berry red, jam red, ketchup red, lady-bug red, LED red, licorice red, lipstick red, lobster red, maple-leaf red, merlot red, mulberry red, neon red, pepper red, pomegranate red, poppy red, radish red, raspberry red, roan, rose, rouge, ruby, Russian red, rust, rusty, Santa-suit red, scarlet, sorrel, stoplight red, strawberry red, sunburn red, titian, tomato red, tulip red, Valentine red, wanton red, watermelon red, wine red

White Alabaster, angel white, ash white, blizzard white, bone white, bread-dough white, cake white, cameo white, chalk, chaste white, chiffon white, china white, clamshell white, cloud white, coconut white, cornstarch white, cream, crème, dumpling white, eggshell white, fizz white, foam white, fog white, frost white, gardenia white, ghost white, goose-down white, heron white, hospital white, KKK white, ivory, lace white, lather white, lily white, linen white, lotus white, milk white, mist white, moonstone white, noodle white, paper white, parchment white, pearl white, phantom white, picket white, platinum white, polar white, porcelain white, powder white, rice white, salt white, Samoyed white, sheet white, skeleton white, snowflake white, specter white, starch white, sugar white, talc white, vellum white, virgin white, wedding-veil white, winter white, wonton white

Yellow Acid-rain yellow, autumn yellow, banana yellow, bourbon yellow, bumblebee yellow, butter yellow, buttercup yellow, butterscotch yellow, cadmium, canary yellow, chick yellow, corn yellow, custard yellow, daffodil yellow, daisy yellow, dandelion yellow, Dijon yellow, duckling yellow, egg-yolk yellow, flaxen, ginger yellow, gold, goldenrod, grapefruit yellow, hardhat yellow, honey yellow, jaundice yellow, lemon, macaroni yellow, maize, mustard, omelet yellow, pencil yellow, pineapple yellow, plantain yellow, poppy yellow, rubber-ducky yellow, saffron, sawdust yellow, school-bus yellow, scrambled-egg yellow, starburst yellow, sticky-note yellow, straw yellow, sulfur yellow, sun yellow, sunflower yellow, sweetcorn yellow, tallow yellow, taxi yellow, turmeric yellow, wasp yellow, whisky yellow, yield-sign yellow

[cloudybookash-blog]

Today’s ‘haul’:

Frankie (issue July-August 2017)

An artsy fun book that I have a yearly subscription to. The content is okay, I’m mainly in it to shred the mag with scissors - and using the cutouts to scrap book and shit.

Ice Station by Matthew Reilly:

I’ve read Reilly before and he happens to write in such a way that’s both intriguing and easy to read. This book is about a crack team from the US Marines shipping out to a remote ice station in Antartica after the scientists there find something buried deep within the ice. ‘Something made of METAL’. 

Picked up @ TopNotch. 

Maddigan’s Fantasia by Margaret Mahy:

The boss herself. If you’re not from NZ you may not know who this is, but just trust me - all kiwi youth know and admire this woman for raising us with her works. This particular book follows 12 year-old Garland Maddigan as three mysterious strangers joins her mothers travelling troupe - Maddigan’s Fantasia, bringing sinister strangers with them. ‘I don’t know if the world counts as the world any more, not since the wars of the Destruction... we’re the leftover people going between the leftover places. I do know that nothing I write is certain. The words swim around the page like fish, and alter if someone changes the past.’ With the promise of time travel and circuses, I look forward to reading this book.

Also, picked up @ TopNotch.

Nightmare Academy by Dean Lorey:

A reread of an old book. I read and fell in love with this book when I was barely in my teens. It was new back then, but of course being raised the way I was the monsters on the covers resembled to much sorcery for my strict parents to allow me to continue the series. Now, older and with more independence I find this series discontinued almost everywhere. The series follows Charlie Benjamin. A boy kept away from it all by over bearing parents, and maybe for good reason because - ‘Your parents lied. There ARE monsters under your bed. Things DO go bump in the night. But don’t worry. At the Nightmare Academy... WE BUMP BACK.’ Looking forward to this reread.

Thanks again to @ TopNotch for this one two.

And lastly, A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E. By Penny Dolan:

About a boy, called Mouse, taken from his home  and thrust into a world that breathes terror and fear. Supposedly, if the blurb is to be believed - this is an evoking tale filled to the brim with adventure.

Shout-out to the local library from coming through with this one.

[wayneooverton]

10 things I learned while living with the birds in Fiordland

Ever dreamed of living off-the-grid in a mountain hut? Do you have a soft spot for rare native birds? Read on to discover 10 insights gained by Crystal Brindle, a field ranger who spent the summer living in the remote mountains of New Zealand’s largest national park and the voice and photographer behind In Pursuit of the Wild.

If you’ve spent a decent amount of time above treeline in the mountains of the South Island of New Zealand you might be familiar with the rock wren.

Otherwise, you likely have no idea what these little guys are. No worries.

The rock wren is a small bird that is found nowhere else except New Zealand. And not only is it limited to New Zealand, but specifically the South Island. And even then you won’t find them just anywhere.

Rock wren only live above where the trees stop: in rough and seemingly inhospitable alpine landscapes of boulders, scrub, cliffs, and snow.

They are also very endangered.

Photo by Jamie McAulay

Because of their solid affinity for the high country, the rock wren is New Zealand’s only true alpine bird.

Yes, there are other iconic birds of the mountains, including the kea, but even the kea uses the forest for habitat whereas the rock wren spends its entire life-cycle above treeline, never venturing down into the shelter of the forest, not even in winter.

So, what’s so special about these little birds and the places they live? And, what did I learn spending a summer living in the mountains to get to know them?

On the Search for Rock Wren in the Lord River Valley

I spent this past summer living high in the wild mountains of Fiordland living in a remote hut working as a ranger for the Department of Conservation monitoring rock wren. Away from the hustle and bustle of every day life, and often only with these little creatures for company, I had nothing but time for reflection and profound life lessons.

1. Life in a harsh landscape is ruled by balance

When you live in the mountains you can’t help but adapt to the rhythm of life driven by sunrise, sunset, and of course, the weather.

There’s nothing to distract you, nothing to insulate you from the real and immediate drivers of life processes. The yin and yang of rest and effort, sun and storm feeds an underlying current of balance in the natural world.

I was swept up in this balance and found that my activities were governed by the same forces as every other living thing. When the weather was fine, I went hard with the sun through long work hours spent climbing hills to take advantage of summer daylight.

Rock wren were busy feeding all day to make the most of the abundant insects and warm temperatures. Flowers opened to attract all the pollinators they could.

When wet days finally came it seemed as though everything took a deep breath.

Overworked streams were refreshed with new water, and rock wren traveled out from their nests only when they had to and conserved energy where they could. Leaves collected water like drinking glasses. My research partner and I worked shorter days outside and had more time to rest under shelter.

If the balance was exceeded in either direction, it was noticed.

Too much dry weather would create a mountain of data entry work to catch up on, the water tank ran dry, and pools appeared stagnant and murky.

While on the flip side, too much cold and moisture, especially snow (even in summer) would trap us in the hut, with the strong worry that if it persisted, the rock wren nests could fail.

2. The best way to find a rock wren nest is with a handful of feathers

It’s true. The best way to find a rock wren’s nest, once the bird is spotted, is to offer it some feathers.

This is because when rock wren build their nests in early spring, they’re after soft, plush material to line the inside and keep the eggs and later chicks toasty warm. Feathers are their favorite lining to use and they gather them up anywhere they can find them and bring them back to the nest.

Finding a rock wren’s nest is the first step to figuring out what it is up to and to monitor these endangered species.

Is it in the early stages of nest building, are there eggs in the nest, are there chicks, or have they fledged? Once we find a nest we can go back to it day in and day out and check up on the birds to see how they’re doing. This is important to determine whether or not the adult birds are successful in breeding or if they fail to figure out why.

So, if you want to know where a bird’s nest is, presenting it with a feather or two will often help you locate the nest.

Once the feathers are in the bird’s beak, it usually stops what it’s doing and heads straight for home.

You’ll be surprised how far they can travel. Many times I watched a rock wren become a tiny speck through my binoculars as it hopped away and flew back to its nest, white fluffy feathers held high in its tiny beak, easy to spot amid the boulders.

3. Living in a backcountry hut has its ups and downs

For those of you unfamiliar with our incredible backcountry hut system in New Zealand, there is a vast network of almost 1000 huts that offer shelter and a place to stay while out hiking or exploring the vast national parks here. Most are fairly basic with bunks with mats, a long drop toilet outside and maybe a fire inside. You bring in everything you need and take it out with you.

Ah, the simple life. Living in a standard 12-bunk DOC hut for an entire season is an interesting and memorable experience to say the least, and our hut was a far cry from the lush huts available on the Milford Track.

I loved stepping out of the door and into a world-class landscape day in and day out.

The twisted and lichen-hung silver beech forest that crept in on three sides, the expansive view of tussock-clad hills through the window, and the lake only a minute’s walk downhill were all special highlights of calling Lake Roe Hut home for the summer.

Lake Roe hut is located deep in Fiordland on the notorious Dusky Track, often lauded as New Zealand’s most difficult tramps, though luckily since we were working we flew in by helicopter with all the gear.

But, of course, there were challenges equal to the rewards of living in this remote place. Living for 10 days out of every 14 in the same hut means that you really can’t help but accumulate a lot of stuff.

When my coworker and I had the place to ourselves we lavishly spread out in comfort – taking over the bench, the only table, a corner in each bunk platform. However, as Lake Roe Hut is open to the public we sometimes found ourselves tight on space, attempting to cook and work around a hut full of people.

At the worst of times one could be doing the dishes in lukewarm pond scum filled water (yuk) while swatting biting sandflies, or running to the long-drop toilet in the dark and pouring rain, or taping up an inch-wide crack in the wall to avoid seeing a mouse run back and forth beside one’s head when trying to fall asleep.

But, overall, these inconveniences and headaches were small compared to the overwhelming awesomeness of actually living a primitive life in the mountains.

4. Rock wren are tenacious, capable, and well-suited to living in their challenging habitat

The rock wren is tough.

Simple as that. Like a miniature mountaineer it hops and flies up nearly vertical rock faces bringing food, feathers, tussock, or lichen to and from the nest no matter what the weather throws at it. How does it do it?! The 10 cm long bird weighs only 15 – 20 grams and yet inhabits a mountain landscape that is huge on any scale.

After a summer of getting to know these birds, observing them daily, and living where they live I can attest to the unexpected strength of such a tiny bird and its integration into the special ecosystem of alpine Fiordland.

However, rock wren now face new challenges that can throw them off-balance. 

A recent decline of rock wren has been recognized and the species’ conservation status officially changed from vulnerable to endangered in 2016.

It’s been suggested that introduced predators are responsible for the decline as stoats and mice have been caught preying on eggs and nestlings. The data I collected this summer was for research investigating the link between predator control and breeding success of the rock wren.

Photo by Grant Maslowski

5. Rock wren don’t live in easy places to reach

Rock wren like to live in places that are difficult for humans to access.

The same head-high thick scrub, car-sized boulders and hidden holes that make travel through rock wren habitat so difficult for a person, make it ideal for the birds. If you want to find them you have to spend your time here – sometimes crawling or often falling through the intricate landscape of the alpine kiwi wilderness.

And they certainly don’t make any tracks for us, we just have to figure out how to get there.

Over the course of the summer, I traveled across all manner of difficult terrain from jagged boulderfields to slippery tussock and thick scrub (dense vegetation that holds a lovely reputation among trampers across New Zealand for its ease to move through *sarcasm, pure sarcasm).

Pictured: Kerry Weston, Louise McLaughlin

Its dense, tangled, and matted form poses a barrier that must be pushed through to access rock wren nests time and time again shredding your clothing and testing the patience of even the hardiest individuals.

But the thing is, the little guys love this stuff!

Scrub provides shelter and food while boulders and steep bluffs provide perfect shelves and cracks for nest-building. If it’s rock wren you’re after, moving through this landscape is just part of the job.

6. The best water in the world is found in Fiordland

The Fiordland landscape is made from and made of water.

Fiordland is damp and defined by water – receiving more than 7 meters of rain a year with an average of 200 days of rain annually, it makes it one of the wettest places in the world. And here the water is pure and clean.

From thirst-quenching crisp streams to endless pools to choose from for a swim, Lake Roe and its surrounding terrain is defined by water more than any other element.

I relished the refreshment of lying on my stomach, eye level with a stream, and sticking my face in the water for a long, cool drink on a hot summer’s day. Fresh, clean, straight-from-the-source water is one of my favorite things about being in the mountains of New Zealand. It is a luxury that is easy to indulge in Fiordland.

I experienced the primal feeling time and time again of dipping beneath cool water on a hot sunny day under the rocky face of Tamatea Peak: the powerful warmth of sun on my back in contrast to the refreshing water around me.

And at night, floating on my back in the middle of Lake Laffy, letting everything go, I saw cloud lifting from Lake Bright in a tendril toward the moon as kea called from their roosts in the cliffs above.

This experience, much like an immersion in the still, reflective water of the lake after a warm, muddy, hill-climbing run feels like life the way it is supposed to be: simple, visibly present, and engaging.

7. The most incredible alpine flowers can be found where you least expect them

Hidden stream-side native foxgloves, vivacious Mount Cook buttercups growing in spite of gravity on the steepest bluffs, hybrid snow marguerites: an intriguing shade of creamy yellow against a hillside of green can dominate the wild Fiordland landscape.

How do these beautiful plants manage to survive above the treeline in such a harsh environment?

Cut-leaved buttercups defy gravity on the highest peaks in an otherwise rock-dominated landscape, and my personal favorite, the delicate but impressive gentians that bloom in late summer in the high places.

These alpine flower gardens defy expectation and add a welcome splash of beauty to the summer scene and bring simple joy when living up here.

8. Young rock wren might be a little bit ugly before they have feathers but once they’re fledged they’re incredibly adorable!

When embarking on the delicate process of sticking a flexible “Giraffe Cam” inspection camera in a rock wren nest in order to monitor it, my coworker and I discovered that very young rock wren are pink, featherless, and all-around pretty unexpected looking!

Lucky for them, this isn’t how they turn out. The little chicks soon start pinning feathers and by the time they leave the nest they are adorable fluffy fledglings.

So cute!

9. You can expect snow at any time in the Fiordland mountains

I learned this lesson on the very first shift of the season.

A few days of sunshine helped my coworker and I settle into a routine of nest searching that was then quickly shattered by a dump of snowfall. The places we had visited only the day before were now off-limits due to avalanche risk from the snow-laden slopes above the nesting bluffs. The snow continued to fall until it was knee-deep around the hut.

We became effectively stuck inside, unable to travel far in the snow. A jaunt that normally took under 10 minutes to reach Lake Roe now took over 30. It just wasn’t feasible to get any fieldwork done so we scooted within inches of the hut fireplace and entered data into the laptop until we managed to grab a miraculous flight out in the smallest of weather windows.

We were able to leave, but the rock wren had to stick it out and survive. And, surprisingly, they did! We didn’t lose a single nest to this snowfall event, a true testament to the adaptability and hardiness of this small bird.

10. Working in this landscape is just as impressive as you might expect and a privilege

Each day I was surprised anew by the drama of my surroundings.

When I first arrived everything was brand new and I was filled with euphoria at finally arriving in a place I had longed to work in for years. This feeling turned into steady appreciation as I came to know and love every contour of this landscape.

I still think back often to that first arrival when I was struck in awe of Fiordland’s beauty. I was wedged in the very outermost corner of the passenger seat of the helicopter and felt that I could almost reach out and touch the passing cliffs and forest.

Cloud opened, cloud closed, a view here, a glimpse there: we passed valley after valley of idyllic reflective pools surrounded by the most jagged peaks I had ever seen and multiple-tiered waterfalls dropping from snowy glaciers to deep and perfect pools hidden in silver beech forest.

I remember thinking that I didn’t even know mountains rose that sharply or that cliffs could be that steep or that rivers could snake their way through such magical rock-strewn valleys.

But, it was true. Fiordland is the place where a blend of fantastical reality is possible and from that first journey into Lake Roe I knew that after years of waiting it had been worth every moment to finally arrive.

Through studying the intricate details of this alpine world I became more acquainted with what I love about spending time enveloped in these mountains that capture my attention like none other and living alongside these hardy and persistent birds revealed lessons not only of rock wren but also about myself. After a summer in the wild, I left a more connected mountain enthusiast and more educated student of the natural world.

Have you heard of the rock wren?

The post 10 things I learned while living with the birds in Fiordland appeared first on Young Adventuress.

from Young Adventuress https://ift.tt/2Led4Bp

[mierdaquehagoduranteelmes-blog]

 MARZO 2017

JUEGOS The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 10/10 Bound - 4/10 Sega Master System

ANIMES 1a Temp. Arakawa Under the Bridge - 6/10

MÚSICA Ed Sheeran - Divide - 3/10 Calle 13 - Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo - 8/10 Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book - 7/10 FKJ - French Kiwi Juice - 9/10

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)

Anunciaron este juego en 2015 si no me equivoco y la saga de Zelda es mi favorita de todos los tiempos, así que el hype era muy pero que muy alto. No me importaron los retrasos la verdad, como más tiempo le dedicaran mejor quedaría. Cuando vi el primer gameplay de la E3 del año pasado, aunque suene muy friki, mi corazón se aceleró y sentí nervios, jamás me había pasado antes. Luego ya con el tiempo me tranquilice y intenté bajar el hype porque si el juego no cumplía las expectativas el chasco que me llevaría sería enorme.

Pero no ha sido así, este juego es una pasada. Voy a empezar por lo negativo para quitármelo de encima: los bajones de fps que da a veces, aunque son pasables se notan y molestan un poco, incluso con algunos enemigos el juego se colapsa, pero pocas veces así que tampoco es un impedimento. Lo de conseguir trajes con amiibo me parece fatal, pero bueno tampoco son imprescindibles. Los tiempos de carga molestan un poco, aunque se suavizan con los consejos. Demasiados Kologs!!

Es un juego maravilloso, a mi no me suelen gustar tanto los mundo abierto pero es que se han lucido. Cada rincón está muy bien tratado y dan ganas de explorar el mapa al 100%, que por cierto, es enorme. Que voy a decir más, es un juego que me ha dejado sin palabras y le he dedicado más de 140 horas. Hacía mucho tiempo, por no decir que nunca antes me había pasado, que un juego me enganchaba tanto como para estar más de 8 horas al día jugando. Sé que suena enfermizo y quizás lo es un poco, pero es que el juego te transporta a otro mundo de una forma que ningún otro juego consigue.

Quizás sea por la jugabilidad, por los sonidos y música, por la comodidad, o por mil otras cosas, pero pienso que es un juego rozando la línea de la perfección. La historia no es nada nuevo e impresionante pero expande el universo Zelda, el debate de que no es un Zelda para mi es ilógico. Zelda siempre ha estado innovándose a si mismo desde sus inicios, que de este paso adelante es muy lógico. Además para mi conserva sus raíces y la esencia.

Bound (PS4)

Me esperaba bastante más de este videojuego, pensaba que me encontraría algo como Journey y sí, es un viaje más artístico que no de jugabilidad como el mencionado pero intenta ir un poco más allá y para mi la caga. Los gráficos personalmente no me atraen y me he aburrido jugando. La historia me parece demasiado obvia desde casi el inicio y por eso se me ha hecho tan pesado. No todo son cosas malas, la verdad es que los movimientos del personaje son muy bonitos, pero al final terminan siendo repetitivos y es que la jugabilidad no da para hacer nada. No lo recomiendo.

Sega Master System (OpenEmu)

Sega... Digamos que yo soy muy nintendero y siempre lo he sido, aún así me gusta probar todo lo otro y también me considero un poco de Sony por su parte más plataformera y experimental. ¿Dónde quiero llegar? Que tenía curiosidad por ver los juegos del que fue el principal competidor de Nintendo. He de decir que nunca me ha gustado Sonic, ni de pequeño, encuentro el diseño muy feo y los juegos me parecen poco cuidados. Básicamente es lo que me han parecido los juegos de la Master System, o juegos poco cuidados o réplicas de grandes éxitos de la NES pero con jugabilidad pésima. Yo lo siento, lo he intentado dejando mi alma nintendera a un lado pero no ha sido posible, Sega definitivamente no me gusta. Los 100 juegos que he probado han sido:

Aladdin

Alex Kidd in Miracle World

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World

Alex Kidd: High-Tech World

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars

Alien 3

Alien Syndrome

Animitsu Hime

Asterix

Asterix and the Great Rescue

Asterix and the Secret Mission

Astro Warrior

Ayrton Sennas’s Super Monaco GP II

Baku Baku Animal

Batman Returns

Bonanza Bros

Bram Stroker’s Dracula

Bubble Bobble

Buggy Run

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Choplifter

Chuck Rock II: Sun of Chuck

Cloud Master

Columns

Deran: The Jungle Fighter

Desert Strike

Dynamite Duke

Fantasy Zone

Fantasy Zone II

The Flash

Forgotten Worlds

Gain Ground

Galaxy Force

Gauntlet

Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Golden Axe

Golden Axe Warrior

Golvellius

The Incredible Hulk

James Pond 2

Kenseiden

Klax

Krusty’s Fun House

Kung Fu Kid

Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Laser Ghost

Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Lemmings

The Lion King

Lord of the Sword

The Lucky Dime Caper

Marble Madness

Master of Darkness

Masters of Combat

Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

Micro Machines

Miracle Warriors

Mortal Kombat II

The new Zealand Story

Ninja Gaiden

Operation Wolf

OutRun

Pac-Mania

Penguin Land

Phantasy Star

Populous

Power Strike II

Psycho Fox

Putt & Putter

R-Type

Rainbow Islands

Rescue Mission

Road Rush

Robocop vs. Terminator

Sagaia

Secret Command

Sensible Soccer

Shinobi

Solomon no Kagi

Sonic Chaos

Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Space Harrier

SpellCaster

StarWars

Streets of Rage II

Submarine Attack

Taz-mania

The terminator

Ultima IV: Out of the Avatar

Wimbledon

Wonder Boy

Wonder Boy II: The Dragon’s Trap

Wonder Boy in Monster Land

Wonder Boy in Monster World

World Class Leader Board

X-Men: Mojón World

Ys: The vanished Omens

Zillion II: The Tri Formation

Quizás haya sido muy duro con la Master System pero pienso que en comparación con la NES se queda muy pero que muy floja y sus juegos no han envejecido igual de bien. Hay mucha juego mierder por aquí, supongo que al no poner un filtro como Nintendo hizo es lo que tiene.

Arakawa Under the Bridge (1a Temporada)

Hacía meses que no miraba anime y me apetecía algo a lo Mawaru Penguindrum (mi anime favorito), es decir, algo original y raro. Distinto, como lo que caracteriza y me gusta lo que hacen los japoneses. 

Arakawa Under the Bridge tiene en común la cantante del opening, sé que es una relación estúpida pero es que me gusta mucho. Es una comedia sátira, simple pero que más o menos funciona. No me he reído a carcajadas, casi no me he reído básicamente pero sí que tiene sus momentos. Los personajes son carismáticos y están muy locos. Me ha recordado un poco a Bobobo, solo un poco, la genialidad de humor de esa serie es insuperable.

Divide (Ed Sheeran)

Me esperaba mucho más después de X y de Shape of You... No me ha gustado, hay demasiadas canciones lentas e intimas para mi gusto y las otras no son tan buenas. Además pone algunas con estilos muy obvios que no salen de ahí, yo me entiendo. La canción dedicada a Barcelona es un pecado mortal, deberíamos quemarlo al sol qual guiri irlandés.

Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo (Calle 13)

Después de unos meses sin cansarme de escuchar Entren Los Que Quieran me decidí a escuchar este, y me gusta bastante. No tanto porque se les va un poco con canciones como la del esquizofrénico, que da mucho mal rollo. Aún así la energía de Calle 13 es genial y transmiten muchísimas cosas con una sola canción. Las letras siguen siendo bestiales.

Coloring Book (Chance The Rapper)

Lo tenía en una lista con la canción de Angels ya que me encanta. Cuando vi que su álbum ganó un Grammy me entró la curiosidad. El CD está bien, Hip-Hop más modernillo. Poco más tengo por decir, no es que lo haya escuchado muchas veces, pero de momento se queda en mi librería.

French Kiwi Juice (FKJ)

A FKJ lo tengo fichado desde hace mucho tiempo ya que gracias a su remix de Fly descubrí a una de mis artistas favoritas, June Marieezy. Casualmente es su novia y canta en varias canciones de este CD así que encantado. Es un crack y realmente es un CD con mucha alma. Creo que tiene un gran futuro por delante, sus impros son increíbles.

Y esto es todo, ha sido un mes flojo, entre los exámenes de la uni y que quería disfrutar al 100% del Zelda no he tenido mucho tiempo para otras cosas. También he tenido que ponerme al día de las series que voy siguiendo, claro que las pondré cuando termine la temporada para poder opinar de esta entera. He vuelto a ver anime y creo que me veré algunos más, además acaba de empezar Shingeki no Kyojin, la segunda temporada, y esta si que no puede fallar. Breath of the Wild te echaré de menos...

[shcganai]

magma-mouse replied to your post “Kiwi sitting on Chis's bed in acute cat panties, cat ears and a cat...”

"I dunno, Mew don't like it?" She flipped onto her side, using the cat puns like a dork " I think its purrrfect"

     He started cracking up and flopped down next to her. “Noooo, not cat puns! They’re my only weakness!”