Stranger in a Strange Land

The Duel

2009-05-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

It was a hot day with no wind. The sun was high in the sky and burning with an angry intensity. The dirt patch saw no movement but for an obnoxious blackbird. It stood there, looking around and clearly trying to figure out what the heck was going on. In the grass sat Aislyn, Kenayde, Luella, Merrik, and Laidley. Elas was helping Jaryn get ready, and Tasarin was helping Noah. The time had come to settle the score. But I am getting ahead of myself.

After the whole elastic episode, I had some serious damage control to do. I found the whole thing rather amusing, and something both Aislyn and Noah had set themselves up for. So quite frankly, I was looking forward to this little duel. Everyone else, however, did not share my point of view. Most everyone. Merrik and Laidley are always up for some violence, but were sorely disappointed when they found out what the weapons of choice would be.

"What the crap, man?" Aislyn was in my face the next morning before I even had a chance to open my eyes.

"Go away."

She grabbed an eyelid and yanked up, sending me into shrieks of pain and annoyance. "Did you encourage him?"

"I may have." I flicked at her and rubbed my now sore eye. "Don't go blaming this on me, okay? You're the one sitting all snuggly with Noah. What happened to hating him?"

"First of all, we were not all snuggly. Second, we were planning something for you and didn't want you to be a big fat eavesdropper. Third...I'm over it."

"Clearly. Wait, what? Planning something for me?"

"Yeah, but now I don't want to even tell you about it, let alone give it to you." She stalked off on a huff. Later Noah approached me and I prepared myself for another tongue lashing.

"Listen, sorry about the whole getting shot thing. I didn't think Jaryn would take anything that far."

Noah held up his hand. "Please, I can understand and appreciate his jealousy. I'm certain I would have reacted in the same manner were our roles reversed." I looked at him and he smirked. "Perhaps not in the exact same way. But really, I cannot begrudge him his feelings."

"I get that you and Ace were working on something, but dude, really? You have to know how that looked."

"I honestly didn't think anything of it. I was enjoying sending the time with Aislyn, getting to know her, and really just thankful she was becoming a friend instead of an enemy."

"Well...I guess all I can suggest is that you try and talk to Jaryn and put the kibosh on this whole duel thing. I'll mediate if you want me to."

But Noah shook his head. "No. This is a matter of honor. I'll go through with it."

"Noah...you're amazing. Why can't you be real and a heck of a lot taller?"

He winked at me. "Married, remember?"

"Yeah, but she ain't here." I shook my head. "I can't believe I am hitting on an imaginary six-inch-tall winged man. Have I no scruples?"

So the time of the duel came, and it was the talk of the town. Aislyn tried to talk some sense into Jaryn, but he was having none of it. Sitting as spectators, everyone appeared to be holding their breath. Elas and Tasarin eventually joined the crowd, telling that the competitors were ready. They stepped onto the dirt patch. The blackbird looked at one and then the other. It squacked and felw into the sky, and Luella burst into tears.

"Isn't there another way?"

The boys looked at each other with silent determination. Jaryn's fingers wiggled at his side. Noah's eyes narrowed. They stared hard, and they stared long. Noah flinched and Jaryn wheeled around to reach behind him. Noah did the same, pulling out a pink rubber duckie but it was too late. Jaryn already had his yellow rubber duckie in hand and had squeezed. The stream of water shot across the dirt, shot from the duckie's plastic bills to hit Noah straight in the chest. He stumbled, dropped the pink duckie, and sank to his knees, shock on his face.

"You...you shot me." And then he collapsed.

Jaryn looked on the fallen angel coldly. "Sorry, mate. Just the way it has to be."

Merrik and Laidley looked at each other, bored. They were the first to leave. Luella and Tasarin went to help Noah up while Kenayde gathered his duckie. Aislyn, however, stayed behind. Her expression was one of impatience.

"You're an idiot."

Jaryn balked. "What? I was fighting for you!"

"Which is what makes you an idiot! There's nothing to fight for! I don't want Noah! IDIOT!"

And then Jaryn did something really stupid. His knee jerk reaction was to squeeze his duckie and shoot Aislyn. All of us froze when she was hit, and stood dripping with water. Her green eyes narrowed with anger. She pushed sopping hair from her face. Jaryn looked scared. "Oh! Uh...bad duckie!" But Aislyn wasn't having it.

Grabbing Noah's duckie from Kenayde, she shot back at hit Jaryn in the face. He yelped and covered his eyes as another squirt came. Before he could properly defend himself, Aislyn knocked his feet out from under him and had the bill of the pink duckie pressed to his jugular. "Let's get one thing straight right now. I belong to no one. Got it?"

"Got it," he wibbled.

"But I choose to be with you." She pulled the duckie back a bit. "So stop being an idiot."

"But...I'm only an idiot for you."

And I knew he had her. As much as she hated this very public show of his affection for her, Aislyn couldn't help but melt a little at that. She sighed, knowing she was defeated, and stepped back to drop the duckie completely.

"Get up." She held out a hand and helped Jaryn to his feet. "Come on, let's go find you some dry clothes."

As they walked away, arm in arm, I saw Jaryn glance at Noah behind Aislyn's back. I was expecting a glare, or a victorious snarl at least. What I saw was a thumbs up and a goofy grin. Noah nodded between Luella and Tasarin, then shrugged at me. "You little pain! That was all a setup?"

He watched the couple disappearing inside and grinned. "Aislyn was feeling a little bit like old news with all of us coming back as we did. Jaryn wanted to show her she really meant something to him."

"So you two worked this whole thing out? I don't know whether to be shocked or impressed."

"Don't worry. Jaryn and I get along quite well. In fact, this isn't the only thing we've recently collaborated on."

Oh dear. This does not sound promising.

Jealousy

2009-05-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

I gotta say, I am very much enjoying the new faces around here. Not that they are new characters, but sort of reincarnations of the ones I love. It's almost like they have more confidence in themselves. Although, to every good, there has to be a little bad. Life would be too perfect if things were always roses and champagne. Which leads me to me little conversation with Jaryn last night. We've finished "The Shack" and are now reading "Windhaven." They all seem to like this one better because it's sci-fi/fantasy and makes them think a little less. Heaven forbid a character that has to question their belief system. As everyone scattered, Jaryn lingered behind. I set the book aside and pulled out my homework for small group. Noticing him sitting on my lamp, I gave him a second glance. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah, fine. Just thought I might read ahead if you don't mind. I'm curious to see if she steals the wings or not."

"Yeah, sure. But wouldn't that kind of defeat the purpose of storytime? I have plenty of other books you can read."

"Oh, okay. That's cool." He nodded, but didn't really move to check out my book shelves.

"Jaryn, what's up? You're acting kinda weird."

"What? No, I'm good."

"Really?" I put my study book down and looked fully at him. There was a certain look of depression about him that I had never seen before in his entire life. All six months of it. "What's going on with you? Are you rethinking your look? Goatee not all it's cracked up to be? The itching driving you crazy?"

"No, nothing. It's fine. I'm just looking for something to read."

I pursed my lips, studying him for a moment. When he apparently had nothing else to say, I shrugged and went back to my work. "Okay. Have a good night."

Still he just sat there. I would probably have been a little creeped out if he were watching me, but he was just staring. At nothing. When I thought he might fall asleep there, his dam finally burst. "Why did you have to bring him here?"

I sighed, inwardly of course, realizing it was potentially going to be a long night. "Who?"

"Noah."

I'm sure my expression gave away my confusion. "What are you talking about? I thought you guys were cool. You and Kenayde were the first to befriend him when he was with The Others."

He jumped up, pointing at me. "Ah ha! See? There it is! You say that like he isn't still part of them."

"Well, he's kinda not. I mean...he went away and came back like most of you did. And now he fits in with you guys. He's in the book now."

"I know!" His eyebrows were practically disappearing into his hairline. "You made him one of us!"

"Whoa, whoa whoa! So now we're back at them and us? Dude! What is going on."

He glared at me, saying nothing. After a moment, he looked pointedly away. I followed his gaze and saw what else he was glaring over. Over by the far wall, under a picture of a starry sky full of magical faeries, sat Aislyn and Noah in rather close proximity. Now I understood. "See?" he asked darkly.

"They're just...talking." Though even from where I was sitting, they looked like they were sitting a little too close for comfort. "So why don't you go over there and squeeze between them?"

"Because that's all they've been doing since he came back. They're like best friends or something."

Or something. "Jaryn, she's your woman! Are you really just going to sit idly by and watch another man steal her away?"

"It's the wings," he lamented. "What girl wouldn't love wings?"

"Get a hold of yourself, man!" I pointed the squirt bottle I use for the cats at him. He cowered for a moment before dissolving into tears. He practically curled himself into the fetal position. "You're a Scotsman, are you not?"

"Yes," he wept.

"Then get your kilted butt over there and fight for her!"

"Do you really think I should do that?"

"How would something like this be settled in the book?"

The dismay gave way to a light of hope in his expression. "Bloodshed."

"Okay, how about we take it down a notch?"

"A duel?" he asked.

"There ya go."

"With a fight to the death?"

"Okay, no. No one is going to die or...bleed. That's all I need is blood on my nice leopard print rug. How about..." My mind was scrambling for a good and definitive competition. "A water war!"

He looked at me doubtfully. "A water war?"

"Yeah, you leave the details up to me. You just go let Noah know he's peeing on the wrong tree. Except...leave the tree peeing thing out. Aislyn might get really offended and that's not a battle I'm prepared for tonight."

Jaryn got up, straightened himself out, and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Are you using this?" he asked, picking up a little plastic "Ouchless" elastic.

"Uh, no. Knock yourself out." He hopped down, and I was happy to go back to my homework. It was late, I was tired, and would likely have an early morning. All was peaceful until I heard a distinct rushing of air by my ear, and then an "Owwww!" I sat up, looking around in confusion. I saw Aislyn on her feet and Noah doubled over in pain. A quick look around had me finding Jaryn standing triumphantly on my headboard. "Jaryn!"

He ignored me completely, chest all puffed out and everything. "Tomorrow, bird. We will have a duel. At sunset!" And with a maniacal little laugh, he was gone from the room.

"What the heck was that?" Aislyn bent over Noah who was mumbling "Am I bleeding? I think I'm bleeding!"

All I could do was try my hardest not to laugh, and go back to my homework. It was about loving thy neighbor as thyself. Hmm. Maybe I should be reading to them from my bible study instead of a fantasy novel.

There and Back Again

2009-05-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been some time since the disappearance of my characters. I've seen nothing of them, not a hair, not a footprint, not even a note. So, in order to prevent my last three remaining kids from running away, I've decided to...keep them close.

"Explain to me again, why we're doing this." Aislyn sat with her arms crossed, staring with contempt at an almost-three-year-old from atop my shoulder.

"I already told you. None of you three are leaving my sight. I refuse to have you all abandon me."

"We don't plan on going anywhere," said Tasarin. I looked around, trying to find where his voice was coming from and found him hiding underneath an empty coffee container being used as a snare drum.

"What are you...get out of there."

He obliged with a frown, but ended up rather thankful when a green "drumstick" pencil came down pretty hard on top of the container. "Yikes!"

"Where's Lu?" Aislyn pointed to the right and I followed her direction. Luella was wading through grass that came up over head head, searching the ground for acorn caps.

"I never signed on to be a babysitter," Aislyn complained. "In fact, I am going on strike until you stop holding us hostage."

"Yeah, because you write the book, not me, right?"

"And I quote: 'I don't write any of this stuff, the characters do it all for me.' End quote."

"...touche."

Her glare turned into a smug smile. "So just create new characters. You've proved time and time again that it's not really that difficult."

"I can't just make up new characters! I have eight chapters written already! You can't just get a whole new cast in the middle of a movie." She did have a point with my ability to make up new kids, but I was kind of shocked with this suggestion. "How can you tell me to replace Jaryn? Your sister?"

She shrugged, unfeeling. "They left me, too, you now. Not just you."

Tasarin was now holding several acorn caps for Luella. With Aislyn's statement, both he and Luella looked up at me. "She's right you know," he told me evenly. "They left all of us."

"So that makes it okay to turn the book on it's head? No, I don't think so. Do you have any idea how bad of a lynching I'd get? Someone would shank me in a dark ally if I did that."

"That would make an interesting story."

"Thanks, Tas. See if I give you any action in the book now."

Luella, silent and more content with observing, suddenly dropped all the caps she was holding. Her pudgy little face was turned up the hill, so the rest of us followed her gaze. "What is that?" she asked softly.

"I don't know." I had to shield my eyes against the light. It was like the sun had risen over the hilltop in the middle of the day. Figures moved as silhouettes and I blinked, seeing several small bodies. The blinding light flickered and died. Tiny faces, familiar but different to me, turned at once toward the source of their light. I saw Jaryn thump the flashlight he was holding on the bottom, lose his balance, and fall. He, along with his flashlight, came rolling down the hill toward me. "What the...?" I scooped him up. "Jaryn?" My eyes went then to everyone else, and I realized how much they had changed. Kenayde, Merrik, Laidley, Elas. And in the middle of them was an angel-faced boy with wings. "Noah!"

He grinned. "That's not really my name anymore, but I'll let you call me that."

"Holy crap, you guys! You look great!"

Kenayde came rushing down the hill at me, throwing herself at my ankle for an embrace. "We're sorry we didn't tell you we were leaving. But we needed the time to change."

"Dude, you guys are like little butterflies. This is amazing." I looked at Jaryn, still in my hand. "What about you? You're still in modern clothes."

Jaryn rubbed the scruff on his chin. "I never cared about the clothes. It was the goatee I wanted."

I nodded, grinning. Looking at the others, I was amazed. Kenayde finally looked like a princess. Noah was still my angel, but somehow fit in better with his new shaggy haired look. Merrik looked deadly instead of pimp-like, Laidley looked evil as all get out, and Elas looked...well, pretty hot for a six inch tall cartoon chibi doll. "I'm like...wow, I don't even know what to say. Laidley...you scare the crap outta me, I gotta say."

Laidley grinned proudly. At least I think he was grinning. It was hard to tell. Luella was beside him now, poking at him as though trying to decide whether this was really her brother. "Stop it!"

"Did you really think we'd left you?"

"No," Aislyn scoffed. Tasarin and I met each other's bemused gaze. "She was the one freaking out."

"Yeah, Aislyn was perfectly calm. In fact, she was so chill that she was trying to figure out how to replace you."

Jaryn's mouth dropped open, clearly wounded. "There's loyalty for ya!" Aislyn said nothing but glared at Tasarin.

"Listen you guys. I'm wicked glad you're back, and I totally love your new looks, but I kinda have to get back to work here."

They all looked at my charge and gave a unified "Ah." Merrik looked at me with big, question filled eyes. "My sheep?"

"Missed you greatly." He was clearly relieved. "How about you all go get reacquainted with each other. We'll party later."

I'm not really sure if I believed they would all leave me like that. I don't know what I thought they were doing, but now I have to update their profiles with their new looks. Here's hoping these new dolls don't come with new attitudes. Guess we'll find out.

Disappearing Act

2009-05-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

It's been fairly quiet around here for awhile. I'd even go so far as saying it's been boring. There's been no conflict, no...nothing. So I've been trying to figure out what to do to try and liven things up a bit. Jaryn is always good for causing trouble so naturally, he was the first one I sought out. And when I couldn't find him, I looked for Elas. Not finding him, I figured they were off somewhere together and would have better luck with Merrik. Of course he was nowhere to be found and as I soon discovered, only Aislyn, Tasarin, and Luella were around. "So guys, where is everyone?"

Aislyn shrugged, not bothering to look up from the Poker game she and the other three were playing. ""Dunno. Haven't seen 'em for a couple days."

"Days?" This concerned me some. "Seriously, days? What the heck? Why didn't anyone tell me?" They live in my imaginations. Lord knows how vast and...epic it is. "Any idea what happened to them?"

"Maybe they got the Swine Flu."

"H1N1, Luella," Tasarin corrected, laying down his cards in a fold. "It offends the pigs when you call it a swine flu."

"Sorry, piggies."

She looked over to where the sheep were and I saw little pink pigs mixed in with them. And all the sheep were wearing masks.

"So really, no idea? No one said anything. Are you all slowly quitting on me or something?

"Yeah, because if Jaryn left, I'd still be here." She watched as Luella laid her cards down like she was playing Rummy, but then looked at me. "Besides, Noah doesn't count as someone quitting on you. He was one of The Others, remember?"

"You know, Ace, someday..." She looked at me blankly. "Just...someday, okay?

"Um...yeah, okay." She gave me a weird look and gathered up all the cards. "How about we play Go Fish, Lu?"

Tasarin stood up and crossed his arms, coming to stand with me. "You know, I've had a question for you for a good long while and never get any blog time to ask."

"The web is your stage. Ask away."

"Why do I not have Suule? He is my unicorn, after all."

The answer seems rather obvious to me, but apparently not to anyone else. "Well, he's a unicorn, Tas. He can't talk to anyone, can't communicate. What would he do here?" Purposefully, the smarmy little elf look at the pigs and the mask wearing sheep. I frowned. "Good point."

"It's cool," he shrugged. "I was just wondering."

"So you want us to form a search party or something?"

I shook my head. "No. Just...I don't know. Let me know if you see anyone? Even Kenayde is gone?" All three chibi heads bobbed. "Weird. I mean, that's weird right?" Again, bobbing heads.

So now I am down to three characters when I started out with -what?- thirteen? What the heck is eating my muses? This can't be a good thing. I mean, when this invisible nemesis is out of characters, what will it eat next?

The Soft Goodbye

2009-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I've been trying really hard to focus on finishing this chapter, I swear I have been. But without my notebook for half the week, and then crazy random demanding life moments getting in the way, it hasn't been the best week for my muses. It's been a little off in my brain, as well. They know I've been really bummed about Noah leaving, and also other things so they've been quiet. I don't really hear a peep out of them at all during the day lately, but we still gather together for "storytime" at night. Right before bed is when I do my devotionals and read a chapter of The Shack. Last night as I was reading, everyone was there except for Kenayde.

After the chapter was done and everyone was turning in for the night, I pulled Aislyn aside before she could scurry off. "Hey. Where was Kenayde tonight? She never misses this."

She shuffled her feet and looked around. "Who? Oh, Kenayde...yeah, well...she, uh...you know....I don't...um...what were we talking about?"

I looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Your sister. You know, the short blonde with big blue eyes. She kinda looks like you. Ringing any bells?"

"Oh, Nadie! Yeah, right. She wasn't...feeling well tonight. Just a little over tired, you know."

"Is she not sleeping well?"

"No, not really." Her voice had gotten quiet. "She's been trying to find Noah for you. Knows you're all hung up on losing him and thinks you're not writing because you miss him."

If I didn't think Kenayde was the sweetest character ever before, I did then. "Are you serious?" Aislyn only nodded. "Well where is she now? Can you take me to her?"

"Yeah. But if she asks, you threatened me with marshmallow peeps."

"Threatened with?"

"Yeah," she shuddered. "I hate those things."

As it turned out, Kenayde was not hard to find. When we found her she was reading something, and as soon as she saw us coming, shoved it under her butt. "Hey there, little sleuth. We missed you tonight."

"Sorry," she apologized brightly. Aislyn gave her a look. You know, one of those looks siblings can use to communicate with out words. Because of this, Kenayde sagged slightly and blinked. Excessively. "I was just too tired tonight."

"Uh huh," I said, not buying it at all, even when she forced a yawn. "Wanna tell me what's really going on? You're the one I always count on to tell me the truth. Don't make me rethink that trust I have in you."

Kenayde looked again at Aislyn. The older sister nodded and the other frowned as she returned her eyes to me. "I was looking for Noah, which I suspect you knew because of what you called me." She sighed. "I thought if I found him and brought him back, you'd start writing again."

"It's not because I don't want to write, girls. Seriously. I have ideas. It's just been a lack of time."

"And not because you lost Noah?"

"Listen, I'm sad Noah's gone. I'm sad all of The Others are gone. But really, they didn't help the muses for the book at all. If anything, they took from it."

The two shared a look again, and finally Kenayde produced what she'd been hiding. "I found this the other day."

Taking it, I saw it was a letter. From Noah. It said he was leaving and he would not be coming back. I could see both Aislyn and Kenayde watching me carefully, so I kept a stiff upper lip. And lower lip. "Well, at least we know he wasn't eaten by some random vampiric sheep or something."

"Really?" Aislyn questioned with skepticism. "You're not, like, gonna cry or anything?"

"What? No. Seriously, it's cool. I just wanted to make sure he was okay, you know." They both nodded slowly, like they weren't sure of they could believe me or not. "Really, it's fine. So you can both stop worrying, and I can get back to work. Actually, Kenayde, I still owe you a new face so I'll get to that soon. Can you both just go to bed now and we can move on with life in the morning?"

Kenayde jumped up and snuggled me. "Okay. Goodnight!"

I left them and headed back for my own bed. I kept the note. And yes, I was sad. I hate goodbyes, especially when I'm not there to participate.

Aislyn's Survey

2009-04-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

When people smoke around you, does it make you cough? if they're like standing next to me or making a goal out of irritating me.

Would you rather name your child Michelle or Monica? michelle.

Do you know anyone who works at McDonald's? I do not know of this McDonald's. MacDonald is the smitty, and I do know who works for him.

Is it warm out enough to go out in a T-shirt where you live? Um...maybe would be a safe answer here.

Would you rather be able to teleport or be invisible? teleport!

If someone offered you a million dollars to move to the opposite end of the earth, would you? I like my homeland, thanks.

What do you do when you have an itch you can't scratch? complain.

What is your mom's and dad's favorite TV show? They don't watch TV. They probably don;t even know what it is. Heck, I shouldn't know what it is!

How did you get your hair the way it was today? Di's imagination.

Have you ever felt like you lost a a part of yourself? yes.

Who is your best friend's favorite relative? She's an orphan with no siblings. Want me to ask her, or do you want to ask her yourself to see how fast she cries?

Would you rather marry Batman or Superman? Batman gives me creepy mental images, so I'll go with the second choice.

Have you ever suspected your mom or dad of having an affair? No.

Do you think buying second hand clothes is gross? Thankfully I don't have to worry about that.

When's the last time you wished your day would just be over already? Um...it's been awhile.

If you found out the last person you kissed was moving to a different country, how would you feel? Pretty upset.

Who has the biggest eyes you know? Kenayde. Especially when she wants something.

Name something you know about algebra. *shifty eyes*

Does it gross you out when your parents kiss? No, I think it's beautiful and sweet.

Do you have a playlist made on Youtube? You-what? That sounds rather invasive.

Do you like dollar stores? Um...

What's the last thing you bought from one? nada

Are your eyes hazel? no.

Do you know anyone with hazel eyes? yes.

Are most of your books from Chapters, Coles, etc or used book stores? Most of my books are from Diana. XD

Do you like those big headbands with flowers Blair on Gossip Girl wears? Sounds rather gaudy to me.

How many people saw your last kiss? i don't know.

When you younger and misbehaved, what did your parents threaten you with? Loss of privileges.

Who has the biggest ego you know? Jaryn

Do you think it's weird how babies are made? No?

Has the last person you hugged ever seen you in only underwear? no.

If you walk by a mirror, will you check yourself out in it? depends on my mood.

Have you seen The Strangers? Which ones? I live with quite a few.

Have you ever lost a friend over the opposite sex? Almost, but no.

Describe your appearence right now. White dress, hair down, tired eyes.

Are you comfortable in a short skirt? NO!

Do you and your family go on a vacation every year? Vacation is a memory and not something I've had the luxury of for a very long time.

When you were going out with your last ex and you had the chance to date your celebrity crush, would you have left your bf/gf for them? I...don't understand the question. In fact, it kind of made my head spin.

Does your house have an alarm? *falls over laughing* Yes

What about your car? No car

Who was your most romantic moment with? Jaryn

Who does your most embarrassing moment involve? Not sure. Could be a few different people.

Does your dad swear? No. My father is a gentleman.

Do you sweat easily? I stay cool under pressure.

If your last kiss asked you on a date, what would you say? Since we are betrothed, I'd say yes.

When you like someone, do you picture what your children will look like? I have, yes.

What's one memory you wish would just vanish? The crate in my room.

---

Does everything happen for a reason? My sister seems to believe it does.

What is your biggest headache lately? headaches.

What color is your bedroom? Black and gold? I can't remember. Maybe I should reread that chapter. >_>

Do you consider yourself to be a nice person? i guess. if you catch me in the right mood.

Have you ever pierced your own body part or that of someone else? no.

What's one car you will never buy? Um, a car?

Do you cry in front of your friends? I don't cry at all if I can avoid it at all.

Would you die to save the life of someone you dearly love? Yes.

Do you have any married friends? yes.

Do you like thunderstorms? yes.

What was your first job? Princess

What was the last thing you typed before this survey? This is my first time typing.

Who was your last IM to? i don't use that.

Favorite word lately? nothing in particular.

What's the strangest thing that's happened to you in the past week? Hanging out with The Others when we burned The Shack.

You have a crush, don't you? Always

Who? If you haven't figured that out by now...

Do you talk a lot? I have my moments.

Name ONE trait you hate in a person. Stubbornness. Because it clashes with my own stubbornness.

Favorite writing utensil? Quill and ink.

When's the last time you made someone cry? i don't know.

Do you like the rain? yes.

Who was the last person you talked to in person? Jaryn

What are your plans for the weekend? Ask my human.

What do you cook the best? I don't cook. It's a good thing, trust me.

What kind of books do you like to read? The kinds that Di reads. We're reading The Shack right now, which is a little ironic. It makes me uncomfortable at times because I don't know where I stand as far as my faith in any higher power goes, but it's not bad.

If you win the lottery, what would you like to do? Don't know. Give it away to charity.

If you don't like a person, how do you show it? I am not quiet about it, but I will be civil. Unless they need to be disposed of. Then I take great pleasure in showing off my combat skills.

How long have you known your best friend? Since I was five years old.

What are you listening to? Silence

What was the last thing you laughed at? something Luella said to me.

What do you wish you were doing right now? Sleeping.

What musical instrument do you wish you could play? Bagpipes

What's the funniest experience you ever had at your job? Don't know.

If you could speak any language, which language would you speak? Maybe one of the Eastern languages.

What fingers did you use to answer this… RIGHT NOW? the ones on my hands.

Lost

2009-04-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'd be lying if I said that life wasn't great these past few days. That's not to say that life in my strange land has been just as blissful. Two nights ago when we burned The Shack, I was informed that The Others were leaving. Although my first thought was that Aislyn threatened them, I was actually witness to a nice little send off from my Oceana crew as The Other went off the find greener pastures. Or mushier brains. Noah hadn't been present at the fire and I still hadn't see him up to that point. I was a little worried and talk to Kemayde and Tasarin about it after everyone had gone.

"Guys, I haven't seen him since before the fire. Do you think he just...left?" I was already having a hard time accepting all my other rp characters were leaving, but to have one just up and go without saying goodbye? Especially my little Noah? I don't think I'm mentally stable enough to be able to handle that.

"He doesn't seem the type to do that," Tasarin comforted.

"But it's weird though, right? Kenayde, you've been spending more time with him than anyone else here. Did he say anything to you?"

She shook her head. "No. But I agree with Tas. Noah's too nice to not say goodbye." She seemed to be saying that to ease my fears, but also for herself. I realized then that they'd become rather good friends, and she was wondering the same thing I was.

"Can't you just, you know, think about him and know where he is? Or will him back here or something?"

"It doesn't work like that. You guys totally have wills of your own, which sometimes frustrates the crap outta me I'll have you know. Jaryn was supposed to be you, Tas, but he refused to let me write him that way."

Tasarin blinked at me. "For real? Then who was I supposed to be?"

"You weren't supposed to be at all. The way I have envisioned Jaryn was a combination of who he is now, and who you are. So really, you have his stubbornness to thank for even being alive right now.

He looked sideways, as though Jaryn would be right there. "Huh."

"What about me?"

"Sorry babe, you are who you were always meant to be. Maybe even a little sweeter."

She smiled at me, completely happy with my answer. "That's okay. I like me and glad I didn't change anything."

"So getting back to Noah..."

"Oh, right." Tasarin frowned and looked around. "Maybe he left a trail of feathers or something.

Both Kenayde and I looked at him like he was nuts. "His feathers aren't like cat hair. They don't just shed and stay wherever he has been. And I'm pretty sure he wouldn't need to leave a trail to help him find his way back. Especially with his own feathers."

"I was just trying to help."

Kenayde frowned and stood up. "I'll go ask the others if they've seen him." She started off but then paused and doubled back, a hesitant expression on her face. "Um...since everyone else here has a face now, does this mean I get a new one finally?"

"Can we focus on finding Noah first, please?"

"Right." She nodded. "Right, of course."

"I'm still going to go look for that trail of feathers."

Okay, so apparently I am putting out a Missing Character report. If anyone sees a blonde shaggy haired boy with angel wings and blue eyes, let me know.

Night of the Dancing Flame

2009-04-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well tonight was a night of changes. Aislyn finally took initiative and told everyone that tonight they would burn The Shack. I was at dinner with friends and hardly noticed at all until I got home and had time to just let my brain turn to mush. It was at that point that I realized things were eerily quiet. Okay, maybe eerily is a bit drastic. It was like the kind of silence that comes over a group when they are lost in thoughts only a fire can draw from a person. I found everyone gathered around the burning building so, donning a sweater, I joined them.

It was quiet for awhile, the only sounds being the crackling of wood when sparks were spit into the air. Knowing myself as I did, I decided to look around at the faces of my many characters before I let myself get lost in the flames. My Oceana crew seemed pensive, even the ever-lofty Luella. There was a certain amount of sadness that hung around them that was almost tangible. With The Others, there were looks of resignation, almost a sense of giving up. Even from Jocelin, who usually liked a good fire. Not entirely sure what was going on, I turned to Laidley, the person closest to ask a loaded question. "What did I miss?"

"A lot." He didn't bother to take his eyes off the burning building.

"Wanna fill me in?"

Jaryn sighed as if this were a laborious task set before him. "Aislyn decided we needed to burn the shack to put those poor unused creatures out of their misery. She asked Jocelin for help to start to fire..."

I blinked. "She asked Jocelin?" That was huge. The tiny redhead may have been a fire mutant and all it would take was a little flick of her wrist to set the shack on fire, but Aislyn controlled her own kind of flame. "What's that about?" I wanted to know.

"It was a show of good faith."

Good faith? "I'm sorry, good faith for what?"

Jaryn finally looked at me, his expression half unreadable from the odd shadows cast on his face, the other vacant of any discernible expression. "That they stay away." He saw me opening my mouth, confusion on my face, and nodded. "Don't freak out. We had another Campfire earlier."

"Wha...without me? Dude, you can't have Campfire without the Scout Leader...or...whatever...would be the NCIS equivalent. Anyway, what? What do you mean, stay away?"

Jaryn turned back to the fire. "It was actually Patrick's idea."

I looked around for Patrick and saw him standing by Kitty and Irish, completely lost in the flames. Putting my lips together, a I gave a short whistle that I so could not do in real life and caught his attention. After motioning for him to come over and join us, I frowned up at him. "What's all this crap about staying away?"

Sitting on the other side of me, Patrick nodded. "Yeah, we had a talk later. All of us...Others." He said it like it was a bad taste in his mouth. "We decided to go on vacation for awhile. Maybe permanently."

"What? Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, really. It was just a mutual decision. We all decided you need to focus more on your book and not us."

"Is this because I haven't been paying much attention to you guys? Because I'll work on that."

"No." Patrick's smile was serene and genuine. "It's cool. We all think it would be better this way. We'll still be around, just not so...prominent."

Suddenly I felt very sad. I knew what it was like to abandon a character, but to have a character abandon me? That was a terrible feeling. "Pat, I'm really sorry."

"I know." He still had the calm smile even though I felt like I was breaking up with seven different boyfriends at once. All my rp kids were leaving me. "We're going to head out after the fire."

"And we have a lot of work to do, starting tomorrow. There are plot lines that need to be better fleshed out and you know the more you write, the more characters will be birthed here."

I nodded, still feeling the sadness of knowing my brain would be...well, less full than usual in the morning. "I'll miss you guys," I said to Patrick. "Stop in now and then to say hi at least, yeah?"

"Of course." Reaching around me, I witnessed something I never thought I would. He extended a hand to Jaryn, which was taken and shaken as in true friendship. Oceana versus The Others. Except no longer. In the morning, there would only be ashes left where the shack had been. And even less of my Others.

"Alright, guys. Well...goodnight." I got up then, refusing to say goodbye. But as I walked away, I know Kenayde was watching me. Being the sensitive one of the group, I knew later she'd come check on me, maybe even make a little bed on my bedside table. I turned around once to wave and got returning gestures from Patrick, Jocelin, Rogue, Kitty, and Irish. Fischer saluted in a sarcastic sort of way, and Xander just kind of gave an odd, detached nod. It was then that I noticed Noah wasn't there. But suddenly, I was a little too tired to care all that much.

Bite it. Sideways.

2009-04-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how quiet it is around here when a new chapter is posted. I would expect for everyone to be crazy loud and rambunctious, excited about what's going to happen next. But this always happens. I post the chapter, and it's like everyone gets all introspective or something. They all have to think about their actions they've taken in said chapter and mull over how they will be effected by these actions. So with things unbelievably quiet on the Oceana front, I decided to check in with my Others. They don't get a lot of time anymore, not nearly as much as they used to. Especially those who aren't in games at the moment.

I found Kitty and Irish together, bonding over the their common love of dance. No one else was around so I thought I'd say hey. "Hola, ladies. How's it?"

Irish looked at me loftily, foot still up on her barre. "We were just discussing the differences between contemporary dance and lyrical."

"Fascinating."

"I am more of a fan of contemporary because it ads in elements of all other dances. Lyrical is somewhat more limited."

I shrugged. "I just like to dance." They both looked at me with a pittying smile, like it was all so over my head. Probably was. Like I know anything about dancing. I just move when I'm told,
where and when. "So anyway, Irish, how's things at The Field?

Irish rolled her eyes, finally dropping her foot to the ground. "Okay, I guess. Slower than I'd like and not as meaty. But whatever. It's something."

"I know. I'm still shopping around, promise. Games just aren't up to our standard of quality anymore."

"It's really quite sad."

"I know."

Kitty frowned, doing a grand plie. "At least you're in a game."

I sighed, watching her. "I know, I know. Don't get your hopes up though, Kit Kat. I don't see myself throwing you or Rogue in anywhere soon. Not unless it's a super amazing game and...I don't know what else."

She was too nice to really say what she wanted, I could tell. She just nodded and went back to her stretching.

"So...any thought as to what was discussed at campfire?"

"The television thing's not so big a deal," shrugged Irish. "Kenayde has been sneaking over here to watch it for awhile now and none of the rest of her crew seems to care much about it. So that hasn't changed. And we've always gone where we wanted without regard to who would be offended or anything."

"So basically, nothing has changed."

Kitty shook her head. "Oh no, things have changed. We insult Xander a lot more."

"And how's he taking that?"

"This morning he told me to bite it. Sideways." The smirk she wore told me it hardly phased her. "I was tempted to actually bite him." The smirk turned into a grin and I was once again reminded who she got most of her training from.

"Yeah, that would have been the last thing I needed. So listen, I'm going to be doing some things around here to force you all to actually be in each other's space. Just, you know, fair warning."

Both girls looked at me warily, but it was Irish who spoke. "What does that mean?"

I shrugged. "I don;t know. We'll see. But we're having a bonfire soon."

"The Shack?" Kitty asked with wide eyes. "Fischer said something about it but I didn't think he was serious."

"Oh yeah. He was serious."

"Hey, where's Noah by the way?"

"He's...got a project. Don't worry about him."

I got some narrowed eyes turned at me but I wandered off before anyone could question me. The next week or so was going to be interesting.

The Shack

2009-04-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

It's a rare thing when I seek out help from one of my kids. In fact, I don't know that I've ever really done it before. However, since Noah has become the angel on my shoulder, we've been spending a lot of time together and he's kind of become my conscience. I always knew he was a good kid, trying to follow his heart as well as staying true to his Christian beliefs. For some reason, I just never really saw the heart of him. Since he's afraid to leave me now for fear of lynching...or plucking of feathers... we've had many long chats and I've decided he is the best character I have ever created. I haven't told him this, let alone any of the others. But it's a truth I needed to share here.

Writing this morning had me searching for another character. I know, after the recent influx of new chibis that a new character seems a little unnecessary. But they're like bugs. No real names or face, and most of them have faded away anyway. This character needed to be solid and real. She needed a real face and a real name. And so I started asking Noah's advice. His advice? We go to...The Shack.

Now there's recently been a book published with the exact same title. It's been on my shelf for a little while, and without knowing what the book was about at all, they decided it would be the name of the storage unit I have for characters that were created but never used. I was a little worried about going there.

"Honestly, Noah, I haven't been to The Shack for a long time now and I'm a kinda afraid of what might be behind those doors. You leave the untamed alone for awhile and they tend to get a little...hungry."

Noah waved his hand dismissively. "Come on. What are you afraid of?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You've never seen the inside of that place. It's a lot bigger than it looks on the outside, and it's a lot...darker. I wasn't always a fluff writer, you know."

"I've read your battle scenes. I know. But really, what is there to be afraid of? Come on. We'll go together."

Sweet tiny Noah. My angel and my protector. So we made our way over toward The Shack, and I started to feel eyes at our backs. "I think we're being followed," I whispered.

"We are," agreed Noah. "An angel on your shoulder must always come with a devil."

Turning to peek, I see Fischer strolling casually behind us, smoking as I have told him before is not allowed, looking as though he hadn't a care in the world. He took a drag of his cigarette, then blew the smoke out with a grin at me. "Hey there, darlin'."

"Can I help you?"

"Just thought I'd take a walk. Breathe a little fresh mornin' air."

"I'm sure that goes well with the cigarette."

He smiled. "Breakfast of champions. So where are you and Wings headed?"

"To a place no man or heavily used character has ever gone before."

"Sounds like fun. Mind if I tag along?"

Like I had anything to say about it. Fischer was famous for doing what he wanted, when he wanted. And I'm sure he was missing Ribbon. She'd be a cute chibi, alas, she does not belong to me.

"So what're we lookin' for since we're obviously heading to The Shack of Doom."

"A new character," Noah answered, eying Fischer as the older man perched himself on my other shoulder. He was used to Fischer and could tolerate the man, even if he didn't care for him in the least.

"Won't that give Blondie a reason to holler." It wasn't a question so much as an amused statement. Fischer did like him some chaos.

So we reached The Shack and my hand was at the knob when the silence was torn apart by a, "WAAAAAIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Out of nowhere, Jaryn comes streaking across the grass and throws himself in front of the door. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO DO?!"

Noah and I kind of have the same confused and shocked looks on our faces, Fischer is just smug. "Dude, Jaryn. What's the deal?"

I had never seen Jaryn's eyes so big and filled with fear. Not even after he ate the last chocolate cupcake and Aislyn was in one of her moods. "If you open this door, you will unleash horrors that no one is prepared to face."

"Dramatic much? Jaryn, it's no big deal. I'm going in for one character. That's all."

He didn't say anything, just looked past me with the same terrified expression. Of course this made me turn around to see what he was staring at. On the hill behind us, with a sunset for her backdrop, was Aislyn. In full armor. Sword and all.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"I will go in," she told us as she marched over to where we all stood.

"Aislyn, it's no big deal. You guys are blowing this seriously out of proportion. This is insane."

She looked up at me, green eyes narrowed beneath her helmet. "Perhaps we are the only ones taking this seriously enough. You..." Here she pointed her sword at me. "...are the insane one." Lowering her sword, she looked at Jaryn and nodded. "Open the door."

This was way more dramatic than I ever expected. The look on Jaryn's face was grim, but he finally moved, pulling open the door as he did. With a deep breath of determination, Aislyn moved inside and swung the door shut behind her. There was silence for a moment, then sounds of a clear struggle and a scream of indignation that could only have come from Aislyn. I heard Noah mutter a prayer while Fischer made himself more comfortable. Jaryn glared at me as though I'd just condemned Aislyn to her death. When it seemed like the tension would break us all, the door swung open, and Aislyn came out. Her helmet was off and her sword drooping. She looked at me in confusion.

"They...they're just sitting around watching Days of Our Lives."

This was surprising, if not amusing. I'd expected all the time locked up in the forgotten would make them crazy. Not the opposite.

"They're just a bunch of pansies. How disappointing."

"But we heard a struggle," Noah said with concern, "and a scream."

Aislyn shook her head, clearly let down. "I couldn't get my helmet off."

"Well that was very...anti-climatic. And I still don't have a character."

"You don't want one of them." She sounded so let down that I almost felt bad for her. "Trust me. They'd die before the chapter was even finished."

Well that was no good. "Well what the heck? Guys, I need a new girl. This is non negotiable."

"Well," hedged Jaryn, "why don't we all get together and create her." His looked pointedly at Fischer. "I mean all of us from the book."

I raised an eyebrow. "You'd really want to do that? Aislyn?"

Aislyn tossed her sword down so she could shrug before resting her hands on her hips. "Might as well. If your so bent on having a new chick, we might as well have some input." She looked at me. "Can I just make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"Burn that shack." She looked at it once and shuddered. "I may have nightmares for the rest of my life."

Campfire

2009-04-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

I had to wait until the roommate was gone to hold Campfire. It's...a little awkward with her here for various reasons. Plus she and Jaryn have this weird energy...anyway. So I called everyone to come sit in the valley, myself included, and amused myself with the parallels between this blog and what is going on in my book at the moment. Oceana crew sat to one side, The Others sat to....well...the other side. Now, I should at least mention by name who makes up The Others since I don't yet have faces for any of them but Noah. We have Irish, Kitty, Rogue, Jocelin, Xander, Patrick, and Fischer. Some people may or may not be familiar with these people and wondering why some are here while others are not. Like Ophelia or Genesis. They decided to just die. Sad, but sometimes muses die.

So to the left all huddled together sat The Others and to the right, Oceana crew. Some people were glaring. Some weren't even paying attention. Some were eating Jaryn.

"What? I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry. Anyway, so everyone knows why we're here, right?"

Luella raised her hand. She always raises her hand. "Why is this called Campfire if we don't even have an actual campfire?"

"It's a phrase, Lu. It just means to come together for a discussion."

"Then why don't you just say that?"

"Because I have a slight obsession with NCIS, alright? I'm not the one on trial here!"

"I didn't realize anyone was on trial," Laidley say with a smirk.

I point at him. Sternly. "You...zip it." All of The Others seem bored and I have a whiff of smoke so my attention is immediately on one person in particular. "Fischer, put it out."

"Put what out?" he asks innocently.

"Your flaming ego. What do you think I'm talking about? This is a no smoking brain. Today anyway." He mutters and puts it out, and I remind him to pick up the butts or the sheep will eat them. This thought seems to amuse him but a sharp look from Merrik has him thinking better of disregarding my request that he clean up after himself. "So as I was asking before. We all know why we're here, right?"

"Because we don't get along," answers Merrik darkly, still looking at Fischer. Huh. Looks like some rivalry going there for top bad guy. Of course, Fischer has no real body yet and Merrik is dressed like...well, we all know what he's dressed like.

"Correct. And quite frankly, I'm tired of listening to you all griping about everyone else. It's childish."

Irish bites her lip. "Um, but we are only six inches tall."

"New girl. Cram it." By this point I am pacing, as I tend to do all the time. All the chibi faces are watching me go back and forth, back and forth until Aislyn's eyes turn into little x_x and she falls over. I stop pacing and sigh. "Look, I can't make you all get along, but I can lay some rules down so that's what I'm going to do. First rule: the television does not belong expressly to The Others." Kenayde gives a little cheer. "Rule number two: there is no electrified, sonic sound, super freakified fence. You all are allowed to go wherever you choose."

"So in other words," pipes up Xander, (great. I knew he'd have some golden nugget or two,)
"we're free to squat where we want so long as we make nice puppy dog eyes to each other and pee on ourselves whenever a pretty girl walks by with a wave and a smile."

Everyone looks at him and I'm sure my expression reads disgusted. "Um...yeah, something like that. Without the peeing thing, though." Really? What was that?

"Realistically," says Elas, "you can't just throw a bunch of characters together that are so different and expect them to get along."

"I'm not asking you all to be best friends. It would just be nice if all the bickering and the warring would stop."

"War?" Suddenly I have the interest of Rogue, Jocelin, Fischer, Laidley, Merrik, and Aislyn.

"No, not war!" I rescind quickly. "No war!" I look helplessly to Noah, who always has the innate ability to bring peace to chaos. He nods and stands.

"How about this? Why don't we just go about our lives without the set purpose of irritating or ignoring other people. We are supposed to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves."

"Don't care," replies Xander. "Won't tomorrow either."

Noah looks at the much older man with a frown darkening his sweet face. "You don't care?" he asks, as though it is impossible to even fathom. "You would care if people started treating you the way you treat them."

"Let them," Xander encourages. "At least then I'll know I'm stuck inside this imagination with people who have some semblance of intelligence."

"Intelligence?" Now Kitty is getting into it. "It hardly takes intelligence to insult people."

Luella raises her hand with a blissfully brainless expression on her face. "All those in favor of insulting Xander say Aye!"

The echo of the word bouncing around the insides of my cranium will be giving me a headache well into next week. After the vote was taken, everyone decided they had better things to do and dispersed, leaving only Kenayde and Noah in my company. I pinch my nose and sigh. "That wasn't quite how I wanted things to work."

Kenayde lays a sympathetic hand on my arm. "It's okay. It will all work out in the end." Having said her bit of encouragement, she turns back to her side of my brain and also disappears.

"You can go now, too, Noah. Don't worry."

But the frown is still there on his little cherub face. "But...where do I go?" And then...he wibbles. As if his eyes weren't ridiculously big as it was already. They fill with emotion and the only thing I can think to do is pick him up and put him on my shoulder.

"You stick with me, buddy." I try not to let him hear me sniffle. "You'll be my own personal angel on my shoulder."

He snuggled me then. Well...my ear, anyway.

So much for bringing peace of mind. It seems like all I've succeeded in doing was making things worse.

Danger

2009-04-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

I hate being sick. Colds are no fun. Cold medication is great, though, when it knocks you out for the night. Except then you wake up and think you're hallucinating. Or, at least that's what I felt like this morning when I opened my eyes to see Aislyn staring at me with a look full of hatred. Man, and I though her sister had glaring issues "Jeeze, Aislyn. You can't do that to a person. Especially some one who is not a morning person."

"We have a problem," she spat at me.

"Really? Because I'm good. I think you have a problem. So why don't you be the good little queen you are and run off and solve it?"

She gave me the evil eye, and I'm not too proud to say that it scared me. She may be only six inches tall, but she can be very convincing if she gives certain looks.

"What?" I whined, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep.

"Wanna tell me what the heck all these new people are doing here? And why in the world that winged freak is over on our side of your brain?"

Okay, she's got my attention. I reluctantly wake myself up a bit more and realize there is chaos in the life of my kids. And a lot more faces than I could recognize or name. "Uh...where did they come from? Who are they?"

"MY QUESTION EXACTLY!!"

"Easy, man. You'll pop a vessel or something." I sigh, trying to sort out everything. Did they come from my dreams last night? And she's right. I see Noah standing with my Oceana crew and they seem pretty relaxed about it. Well, all except for Queenie here. "I don't know, Ace.
Seriously. I couldn't tell you..." But then I realize I could tell her. It was all because I watched all those videos for that new Aion game. I got so inspired for the next scene in my book just from watching them that dozens of new chibis were spawed. "Oh...dude...Ace, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Fix it!" She points at Noah and I can see that he is her main issue. He is, after all, one of The Others.

"Alright, I'll handle this." Making my way over to the group, I'm mentally picking things up that have been cast aside out of carelessness, such as sheep, bits of fences, mugs of ale.

Jaryn blinks, watching a table turn itself right side up. "Dude...that was, like, a total Jedi moment." He looks at me with a smug expression. "I see she turned her wrath on you."

"Someone needs to slip her some Xanax or something." I look at Noah, all happy and sitting between Kenayde and Tasarin, shooting the breeze and watching all the new people walking around. "Noah. What are you doing over here?"

"My lines have been blurred. Besides, they kicked me out."

I blink and think of Lost. If The Others had a member they didn't want there anymore they'd most likely kill him, not send him into enemy territory. Unless, of course, they were counting on Aislyn's wrath. "Right...well...okay." Honestly, I'm at a loss and kind of transfixed by all the chibis I don't know. A lot of them seem to be flying, which is interesting. "We need a Campfire."

Merrik raises an eyebrow under his pimp hat. "Campfire? With us and Them?"

"Yes. Come on, guys. This place is big enough for all of you. Trust me. You don't even know how much more is out there in the spaces of my brain that you haven't even seen!" Luella claps and I have the urge to just pat her little head. What stops me is Aislyn's approach, still as fowl as before. "Really? You're going to act like this and not be the bigger person?"

Jaryn snorts softly and Aislyn turns her glare upon him.

"I'm in favor of the Campfire," says Kenayde, shooting her hand up. I smile gratefully at her, a gesture which she returns before looking around. "All else in favor?" When everyone but Aislyn raises her hand, she grins and returns her attention to me. "Campfire it is then."

"Forgive me for asking," Noah interjects, "but how is it anyone of you even know what Campfire is? You don't even have a television over here."

"It's called a plothole." Elas grins, and it's actually a frightening thing to see since he never smiles that widely. "She knows what Campfire is via NCIS, and so we do, too."

"Right," I hedge, feeling weirded out by the thought they they all know all my useless television trivia. "So then....later today, yeah? And in the meantime wanna clean up this mess? No wonder I'm having a hard time concentrating on anything."

"Aw, but I like it better when you do the cleaning. All moving things with your mind and stuff. Like I said - Jedi moment. I want another one of those."

I look at him sternly. "Jaryn. You will clean up this mess." He actually wibbles slightly before getting up and setting to the cleaning.

Tasarin smirks. "And there it is."

Comfort from the Strangest Place

2009-04-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was not a good day for me, meaning it was not a great day for the kids in my head. My turmoil is their turmoil and when I'm upset, they tend to do one of two things: freak out and get upset with each other for no good reason at all, or try to make me feel better. I think yesterday, they were a little afraid of me. This morning less so, but still enough so that they decided to vote on a representative and send him or her to raise the white flag. It was a little surprising to see Elas popping up to sit quietly beside me as I typed what I wrote yesterday. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, he smiled, and went patiently back to waiting until I was done.

"And to what do I owe this delightfully surprising visit?"

"I was just dropping by to say hi. See how the chapter's coming."

"Uh huh. You're one of the worst liars I know, Elas. Seriously, what's up? If you've come to complain about your blue hair you can forget it. Not really easy to find a Medieval dollmaker, let alone one that lets you put dragon scales on a person."

"No!" He reached up to touch the blue spikes of his hair. "I actually kind of like this. You should give me blue hair in the book, too."

"Yeah?" I'm actually kind of surprised at this. Not many people would volunteer to have blue hair. Well...besides me. "So who sent you to complain, then? Tasarin? Merrik?"

Elas shakes his little blue head. "No, Tas likes looking likes looking like he came straight out of the Matrix. He even likes how you changed his hair and since no one has read this new chapter yet and doesn't even know him, thinks you should keep it like that instead of what you wrote here already."

Now I'm confused and a little bit nervous. If he didn't have something to complain about, what was this niceness for? Not that my kids are never nice to me, they just don't set out to do it on a daily basis. "Oookay...."

"And Merrik....well, he kinda enjoys looking like a pimp. But doesn't want you to change book!him."

"Okay, so what's going on?"

He purses his lips and glances over his shoulder. I see several pairs of eyes peering over the edge of my desk at me. Yes, they've decided since they can have their own blog, they can run rampant in my apartment as well. "We were just wondering if, um, you were all right. Like, if you were going to have a mental breakdown or something and we should vacate the premises."

"What? No! Listen, guys...come on out. I'm not going to eat you or anything." I wait until everyone is sitting down, looking like a bunch of little kids waiting for storytime in Kindergarten. "I'm glad you're all worried about me in your own selfish ways, but I'm not cracking up. Really. You're fine. I'm fine. Life is peaches and cream."

Luella raises her hand. "I like strawberries and cream better."

"Fine...Luella...strawberries and cream. Whatever. It's all good is what I mean."

"Does that mean you're going to start writing more fluff?" Jaryn waggles his eyebrows. "My fandom is waiting and it's been nearly a week since I've had any panties tossed at me.

"....."

Jaryn blinks and looks around. "What? It freaked me out at first, but now I rather enjoy it."

Maybe I made the wrong character the pimp.

What a Wonderful World

2009-04-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

I woke up to find Kenayde pouting this morning, sulking a ways away from everyone with her back toward them and the whole nine yards. Normally I wouldn't say anything because, like people, made up characters even have their moments. Except...it's Kenayde. She's somewhat fragile and I tend to worry about her more than others.

"What's up, buddy?"

She didn't look at me so much as glare at me. "Nothing."

"Really? Because I often shun the rest of the world and stare daggers at people when nothing's wrong. Weird. I didn't know we were so alike."

"I'm upset."

"I see. Care to elaborate?"

Again with the glare, like she shouldn't have to explain anything I should know exactly what was going on. "I'm upset with you."

This actually comes as a surprise. I didn't write this morning because I woke up late. But that wouldn't be enough to make her all ticked off this way. "Okay...what did I do?"

Her eyes turn to the characters behind her, focusing particularly on Aislyn. "You made her doll last night."

"You didn't want your sister to have a doll. Sweetheart, you know she's the main character in the book, right?" Suddenly I'm worried that in her delusional fourteen-year-old mind, she believes herself the main focus. Don't all teenagers think that way as it is?

"She's prettier than I am!!!"

Wow...wasn't expecting that one. Okay, so looking at Kenayde's profile and then Aislyn's...I did kinda make her a lot closer to what I picture her. Or, well, as close as I could get in doll form anyway. She even kinda looks period, even if it's not medieval.
"Kenayde...you're not supposed to be the type to focus on the outer beauty, remember?"

"Well I am when it's my outer beauty. I look like...like...a dishrag compared to her!"

I look again at Aislyn and there does seem to be a bit of a glow about her. Kenayde...not so much. "So what do you want me to do? Ugly her up for you? That's not very nice."

She's still pouting, but at least this subsides long enough to show she's really thinking about a solution. "You don;t have to make her ugly. You could just, you know, make me cuter."

"Cuter in general, or cuter than your sister?"

Now she smirks. "Whatever."

"So you basically just want a do-over."

"Yes, please."

I purse my lips. I don't particularly want to remake her, but I know if I don't it'll be her and Laidley competing for Best Dramatic Performance. "Fine, but I have one condition. Let me make everyone else, first. At least you have a face. They don't."

Her eyes narrow, like she had been expecting more or something. Finally she jumps up, the customary smile back on her face. "Deal!" She scampers off to go back and play with everyone else, and my gaze lingers on Aislyn. She really is quite pretty and it wasn't fair of me to make them so different. Guess I'll have to get working on everyone else so she can have a new face.

Who the heck is THAT?!

2009-04-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

So I found this doll maker online a loooong time ago and decided to use it to try and give my kids some faces. Granted, it's not exactly chibi but it will do. At least I thought it would.

I've decided that Kenayde is my favorite mind!character. She's sweet and always looking out for everyone. A little gullible at times but who isn't? I finished typing up what I wrote yesterday, it's following some new information that book!Kenayde isn't happy with, thusly making mind!Kenayde a little less than thrilled. Anyway, she was trying to convince me that if I rewrote things such a way, there would still be the proper amount of angst but there would still be a happy ending.

"It doesn't have to be so, you know, dramatic, does it? I mean...everyone really does love a happy ending. No one reads a book and says, "Man, I hope this ending SUCKS and everyone dies."

I'm only half listening to her at this point, well on my doll-making journey already. So I do the whole smile and nod thing just to appease.

"All I'm saying is that..." She stops mid-sentence, getting a good look at my finished product, "who the heck is THAT?!"

I smile, all proud like. "Kenayde. Meet yourself."

She peers closely at the screen, eyes narrowed and brows drawn together. "But...she looks nothing like me. Except for the blue eyes and the cute expression and all. Look at her clothes!"

"Sorry, but I had a hard time finding Medieval Dollmaker. I dressed you modern. Like how I think you would dress if you were..." I'm hesitant to say "one of the Others," so I rethink my answer. "Like if you were a regular friend of mine or something."

It takes a good few minutes before she looks away from the computer and back at me. "She is cute."

"Right?"

I can tell she's fighting against liking the idea now. There's even a small smile on her pudgy little face. "Let's make one for Laidley!"

I laugh because, what else can I do. "What is your obsession lately with Laidley?"

"Not an obsession," she argues. "He's depressed. Maybe this will cheer him up."

"He kills people for a living. What do you want him to do? Light fireworks and do jumping jacks all day?"

She's ignoring me now, completely taking over the doll making process. Poor doll!Laidley goes through so many outfit changes (though the one she settles on is pretty hot) hair styles, expressions. Finally she's happy with her work and calls for Laidley. The Prince of ~~Emo~~ Darkness ambles his way over and looks at Kenayde. She's jumping around like a poodle on crack by this point. "Look at what I made for you!"

Laidley kinda looks at it, looks at the name above it, then looks at me. I shrug because, let's face it, I'm really not even needed in this conversation.

"Yeah..." he mumbles eventually. "Uh...thanks."

Kenayde sighs in exasperation. "It's you! Like, a modern you. If you were one of Di's friends. Or her boyfriend. You could be her boyfriend!"

"Hold up, yo." Now I DO have to say something. "I already have enough imaginary boyfriends. Another one is not needed at this time, but thanks. I'll keep your application on file for thirty days. Just in case."

"I don't really get it." Again, he looks at me and I have the urge to tape the sides of his mouth up.

"I wanted to give you guys faces so I'm making dolls."

"Oh." His world is unaffected. "Cool." With nothing more to say, he goes back to evil plotting and leaves Kenayde all sad.

"Jerk," she mutters. She stomps on the save button and goes her own way. More than likely, she's going to crawl through the fence to go spend time with the Others. I'm glad she's breaching the borders and all, but seriously. This is not going to end well.

Breaking the Girl

2009-04-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was getting ready for the day, Kenayde randomly asked me, "You know your boyfriend hosted the Kid's Choice Awards?"

"This is completely out of the blue. You realize this, yes? "Her question is innocent and off-handed, not at all mocking in the way it would be if it had come from Aislyn or even Jaryn. They both find my crush on Dwayne Johnson rather amusing. "How were you watching TV, anyway?"

She sheepishly turns her gaze away from me, down toward the other side of the field.

"Kenayde! You watched their television? Do you know how wrong that is? You shouldn't even know what television is!"

"I'm sorry! But I was bored and they were all watching it..." She's obviously sorry she's done it, but only because she's afraid of what Aislyn would say if she caught her. "I know we're not supposed to talk to them, but...they're nice." She does this funny little twitch thing that makes me nervous. "Most of them, anyway."

Despite all my pups being in this magical field somewhere, they've somehow divided themselves into groups like on Lost. It's the Oceana crew (as opposed to Oceanic) against...The Others. Dun Dun Dun. The others make up all my RP characters from games past. Not so far as Mary-Kate, or Boone and Jack when I played them. Not even anyone from the Inn. But my X-kids. Muties versus Medieval. It's a mind divided and Aislyn has said time and time again that they just couldn't live together. You know how a person says they are two minds about something? Yeah, think I got them beat.

"The boy with the wings seems nice."

"Noah is nice to everyone. Don't let him fool you. And that's beside the point. Are you not getting enough attention from your sister or something? You're asking for a smack down."

She frowns and says nothing. One day a war is going to break out. I'm not looking forward to the headache spawned from it.

On a random note...I need to make them some faces. it's so much easier to tell who is talking when that way.

Some Hearts

2009-04-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

So I was getting my coffee this morning, grumbling to myself because I didn't want to write my standard three pages (I skipped yesterday, too!) when I hear Kenayde's little voice in my head.

"What re you going to do about Laidley?"

I picture them all in this gorgeous grassy field. With every character I have ever created. Now do you understand why it's a field. There are sheep, and fences, and trees in the distance. It's really quite nice. So Kenayde hops down from the fence (have I mentioned they're all chibis?) in her pretty little Elizabethan gown, holding a stalk of wheat (WTH?) and asks me about Laidley, of all people.

"I'm sorry...what?"

"What are you going to do about Laidley?" she asks me again, blue eyes big as saucers. Typical Kenayde, always worried about everyone and everything. But...Laidley?

Um...how do you mean?

"Well," she swings her little wheat stalk around thoughtfully, "he needs a girl."

"What does Laidely need? Laidley is just fine the way he is and needs nothing."

Great. The mighty prince is now tuned in and has vested interest in a conversation between myself and one of his so-called-enemies. And he's speaking in third person.

Nothing. Go back to your evil plotting.

"Can't," he sulks, actually crossing his arms and pouting. "Merrik is playing with the sheep again."

O_O

Chibi!Merrik is sitting in the grass with cotton ball sheep around him and he's...smiling? Like a psycho. What is wrong with you people?

"DON'T JUDGE ME!"

OKAY! Seriously. I rue the day I ever decided to let you guys move in here. Hear that? I RUE it!

"Oh snap, she's using the big words." Jaryn ducks away before I send a mental bolt of lightening to smite him.

I'm not sure where Kenayde is going with this whole "Laidley needs a girl" thing. I know she's all about love and the sappy stuff in life...but, and correct me if I'm wrong, aren't you supposed to wish bad things for your enemy and not want to hook him up? We'll see where this goes. I'm sure this won't be the end of it.

Intro

2009-04-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Diana. I'm kind of a nut job, and a writer to boot. Though I'm fairly certain it comes with the territory.

Anyway, what you've stumbled across happens to be a journal of conversations between my characters and myself. This is something I have had for a long long time (the conversations, not the blog) and never thought about putting them in a place someone could read them. Well, not until I stumbled across The Secret Life of Dolls by Cleolinda. Her stories are amazingly funny and inspiring for a crazy person such as myself. So I am, in no way shape or form, trying to copy this brilliant lady. She just inspired me to own up to my lunacy.