What can I say?

Rachel, it's been so wonderful having the opportunity to get to know you through the blog. We've all had a great time with this I'm sure. And we'll miss you. I love how you were honest with us about how you felt and what you wanted instead of just ditching us in the dust. It's an admirable quality that a lot of people don't have.  And it's been difficult as of later for all of us to keep up with the blog, we all have so much going on in our lives at the moment.

Here's to a year and a half of awesome with you!

Of course we'll keep in touch, after that long a time how can we not? We are the Sisterhood of Nerdfighteria even if we aren't posting. I feel we should still have that connection.

You haven't forgotten to be awesome.


(why does this feel like an obituary? please don't treat this like an obituary)

BA

-Sarah K

Super Quick Post

I don't have internet at home at the moment, so I'm just making a quick post on my lunch break at work.

The only real update I have since last week is that I moved into my new apartment over the weekend. Unfortunately the day I moved was pretty much the muggiest day in the history of mugginess, so it felt like twice as much work as it actually was, but everything's all moved and now all I have to do is unpack.

I really like my new place a lot, and I kind of like moving because it's a good excuse to de-clutter and re-arrange and it just feels good to have a bit of a fresh start. My roommate hasn't moved in yet (which might be a good thing, since I kind of have boxes of stuff all over the kitchen floor at the moment), but I can't wait to live with my best friend again.

Well, like I said, this is just a short fast post, so that's it. Hope everyone has a splendiferous week!

Tried to write this last night, fell asleep

Not writing a story post because so much has happened that I wanted to tell you guys about it.  This is scattered with subjects.

Last Monday some anonymous deviant gave me a Premium Membership for a year. I was incredibly surprised, thought they had made a mistake, spent hours trying to figure out who on Earth would think I deserved such a thing because I'm not all that great or even consistent in uploading art. I thought it might have been one of my old teachers because I know he's still pissed at me for not taking higher level art in school.

 Then I figured the best course of action would probably be to upload more because they probably didn't give it to me so I could ponder about it for the whole year.

Next, my entire family came over. My aunt and uncle and cousins who live in London, cousins from California, New York, my grandparents, everyone but my dad's side of the family was there so it was huge. I had a graduation party and they all crowded the patio along with the less than ten people I had invited. Sometimes I wonder if it was actually my mom's party. And it probably is more her party because she's sending her first kid off to college. She completely went overboard on the decorations and balloons. AND GIANT CAKE. Of which more than half remains.

I wonder about the morality of letting small children inhale helium. But then again I can't talk because I also inhaled helium and don't want my voice to ever be that high again.

Pushed all infinity of my little cousins on the giant buoy swing we have in the back yard, I swear I pulled a muscle because all they wanted was "HIGHER! HIGHER!" I was dripping sweat by the time I had given them each a turn. They didn't want anyone but me to push them. They then decided that they should give me a turn on the swing and push me all together. I was so scared that I would hurt them because I had so much more weight than they did and I would slam them into the tree.

Once it got dark we broke out the glow sticks, my friend, Justin, turned himself into a stick figure in the dark with them. It was great. We then played clue, awfully, and walked about two miles to the bay where we saw none of the Perseid shower.

It was fantastic.

This week I'm quitting my job at the bookstore because I absolutely cannot stand working for Tim. He's rude and can't keep track of my pay, can't remember when he wants me to work, changes his mind about it all the time. And just UGH. I want to work somewhere where I can be sure about getting paid, have some control over my hours and actually know that those are indeed my hours. I also have to pack for college next weekend and I would like to spend some more time with my cousins and volunteer at the mspca.

Finally I've been busy going to the doctor again. She wants me to go back to Children's in Boston to see a specialist because my symptoms of when I was really sick are coming back again. I feel like such a hypochondriac because the first illness to always pop into my mind is cancer even when I know it isn't and yet I still get worked up about it.

At least I've seen someone and made and appointment for it, it would be far better than once at school trying to work up the courage to see a doctor I don't know and even if I do go, try and explain all everything to them and have them understand that it isn't just a bug.

So that's been everything that's happened so far. It's been a little crazy with fun and anxiety. I totally left out being assaulted by drunk guys at the drive-in with friends or having an anxiety attack in the pouring rain after a no-damage car accident and the nice state trooper who calmed me down.  That would have made this thing a novel.

DFTBA
have a great end of the summer. :D

Stuff and Things

Since it worked out that I was the last one to do a story post, I didn't want to do another one, so I'm just taking a free week this week. The rest of y'all can do whatever you want. :)

(Also, I wasn't sure if we were going to do Sarah's suggestion of listing off options for directions the story could take; if anyone wants that just let me know and I'll add some on my last post.)

It's actually been a while since our last free week, so I guess I do have some stuff to talk about. I finally started working. I got a job at the local community college working in their Employee Relations office, which deals with employee grievances, student complaints against employees, and bargaining with unions. I'm kind of disappointed about the whole thing, really. From what we talked about at the interview, they said it would be part photocopying/filing, part database work, and part research. I've been there slightly more than half the total time I'm hired for and so far it's been all photocopying/filing. I know that it makes sense to hire students to do that stuff, and I don't mind doing some of it, but after four straight weeks it's getting pretty old, and I'm upset that they misrepresented what the job was when they were hiring me. On the bright side, though, at least I'm getting paid, and have something to put on my resume, and have new people to be references. Not to mention a reason to leave the house on a regular basis.

Speaking of house, I'm going to be moving very soon, probably this weekend coming up. I'm reeeeeally excited about it. This is mostly because I'll be moving back in with my best friend/former roommate, who I've missed a lot this past year that we didn't live together, even though we did still hang out fairly regularly. Partly it's also because I don't really like two of the three people I currently live with, so I'm looking forward to getting away from them. It's not like we hate each other or anything, they just have some habits that I'm not crazy about... like slamming doors, or taking my food, or having their loud drunk friends over at 3 am, or not checking with the rest of the house before inviting someone to stay with us for two weeks. So, yeah, it will be nice to get out of here. Though I'm not really looking forward to the actual packing and moving and unpacking.

About a month ago now I volunteered at the Jazz Festival, which was so much fun. It's my favourite festival in the city, all the music is always so good and I love getting to be a part of it. Not to mention getting to see the shows for free in exchange for doing something as simple as selling tickets or emptying garbage cans. The two highlights of the festival for me were Mike Essoudry's Mash Potato Mashers, who put on a heck of a show, and Besh o droM, whose show ended up being the most massive dance party.

There was something else on my mental list of topics to discuss, but I seem to have forgotten what it was, so I guess I'm gonna wrap up there. Hope the rest of you are doing well!

Books and the Basics

“Oh no, no, of course not,” Mintten quickly assured her. “We’re just using fusion as an energy source. You see, you use a bit of magic to get it started, and then the fusion reaction carries on and produces large quantities of magical energy that we can syphon off into other spells. Kind of like you humans and your… electersea.”

“Electricity,” Claire corrected. She looked to Iggy and asked “is this true? The fusion’s just for energy?” Even though he wasn’t nearly as agreeable as Mintten, she still trusted him more. Maybe because she’d met him first, or he was just too stubborn and grumpy to be a good liar, or because she felt like Mintten’s explanation was just a little too convenient.

“Look, never you mind about that,” said Iggy. “There’s no way I’m letting you get involved with it. Letting an untrained magician like you have access to that kind of power? That’s one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard.”

Claire noticed that he hadn’t confirmed or denied what Mintten had said, and decided she would try to look into this on her own if she got the chance. “Okay, so if I’m not going to be helping with this, what will I do?”

“I think the best plan is for me to give you what training I can, and we’ll do some research to see what we might be able to come up with. Alright?”

Claire started to respond before realizing that this was directed at Mintten. The two dwarves stared each other down for a moment. Mintten broke first. “Fine. But I expect you to get her trained as fast as possible.”

“Very well. Come along, Claire, we’d best get at it, then.”

“Goodbye Claire,” said Mintten. “I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.”

“No doubt. Goodbye!”

She followed Iggy away. Just as they reached the entrance, Mintenn called after them “Oh, and Ignatius?”

Claire’s companion paused and turned back for a moment. “Yes?”

“I think it’s best if we keep this just between us for now, don’t you agree?”

Claire tried without success to read the facial expressions that passed between the two cousins during the moment of silence before Iggy responded, “Yes. Of course.”

Then he hurried away, out of the little room and back across the crowded work hall to the tunnels. Claire followed after him, trying desperately not to trip over any dwarves or their work. “So our first order of business is to get to the library,” Iggy explained as he led her down one of the tunnels. “We can set the librarians to doing research into human magic for us while we’re getting you trained in the basics.”

“But didn’t you just agree not to tell anyone about what I can do?”

“Yes, well, I don’t have to tell them that part. Don’t you worry.”

The library was not nearly as big as Claire had expected it to be; she had imagined vast caverns filled with shelf after shelf of ancient tomes. Instead, Iggy led her into a smaller chamber, slightly smaller than her house. At a desk by the doorway sat two elderly dwarves, both looking like they were more asleep than awake. They startled as Iggy and Claire approached, and stared wide-eyed at the human visitor.

Iggy cleared his throat until the pair shifted their attention to him. “Oh! Master Montgomery, forgive me,” exclaimed one of them, standing up and bowing to him. “What can I do for you?”

“I need anything you can find on human magic. I was spellcasting out in the woods when this fool came along and ruined all my hard work. I’m hoping there will be some sort of human spell I might be able to modify in order to undo what harm she’s done.”

“Yes, of course, sir, I’ll get right to work. I’ll let you know as soon as we’re done.”

“Thank you.” Iggy turned and walked away, ignoring the bowing that carried on as he left. Claire followed him out, slightly bemused by the interaction.

“You really are important around here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, well. I suppose. The Grand Chief Warlock is due a certain amount of respect.”

“You didn’t act as though you really appreciated that respect.”

“From that fuddy-duddy? I’ll appreciate it when they find what we need.”

“Well surely that shouldn’t take too long,” Claire mused. “There aren’t many books in that library, are there?”

 “We have two libraries here. The other is much larger, and contains all of the books on building, science, and the so-called ‘practical spells.’ The one we were just at is only for history and the more obscure magical arts. I’m afraid these topics have fallen out of favour; these days they are mainly of interest to warlocks like myself.”

Just then, he turned down another tunnel which led to a small chamber. “Here we are!” He sealed the heavy stone door behind them, and Claire felt as though the weight of the whole mountain where pressing in on them. She looked around. Against one wall was a small desk with books and scrolls stacked neatly on it, and a sort of cabinet with many small drawers. The rest of the room was bare.

“Where is here, exactly?”

“This is my study,” Iggy explained. “It’s where I come to practice magic and work on spells. It’s not too close to anything else, in case anything goes wrong, and there is a thick layer of rock on all sides, to absorb the magic safely. Now. Are you ready to begin training?”

Over the next few hours, Claire started to learn magic. Some of it was the theoretical basis: Ignatius explained about magic energy and how it could be concentrated by the mind and released through the words and movements. The first real magic she learned was more about not using magic; Iggy taught her a spell that would essentially put a stopper on her magic until she spoke the words that took it off. Once she had mastered that, they moved on to a spell that would prevent souls from returning to the world after they’d died. Claire really didn’t see how this was ever going to be useful, but Iggy said it was very important in all the ancient human magic he’d studied. Since it was one of the few human spells that he knew, she just went along with it, figuring it was better than not learning any magic.

Before she had completely mastered this spell, however, Claire started to lose her focus. Eventually even Iggy agreed that perhaps it would be best if they took a break to eat, and led her to the great hall where most of the dwarves ate together. The dwarves might call it great, but to Claire it looked a lot like a high school cafeteria, except carved out of stone and with long wooden tables. Even the food was the same suspicious looking slop, though Claire was pleased to find that it tasted much better.

They took a seat with three dwarves, relations of Iggy’s, who he introduced as Lucinda, Hansofer, and Percadence, all of whom worked with Mintten in the workshop they’d visited that morning. They were all very curious about Claire, and hoped to be the ones to spread the gossip on her to their fellow workers, but she was equally curious about what information she might be able to get from them.

Different Magics

"Hi Claire," Mintten said with a broad grin. Apparently not all dwarves felt the same as Ignacious about humans. "You're here to help?"

"Sure," replied Claire. "What can I do? I'm not very strong, I don't have a trade, and I haven't practiced magic."

"Well, if worst comes to worst we could always have you get the stuff on the highest shelves for us, but I have something else in mind for you," Mintten explained as he began walking with Claire into an alcove she had to duck to fit into, with Iggy slightly behind them and grimacing disapprovingly at his jest about height differences. These two certainly were different from each other.

The room they found themselves in was an organized mess; papers and files were stacked neatly, often with a top paper with a note scribbled on top denoting what the stack contained, but the entire room was filled with these neat papers. Claire moved carefully to avoid knocking any over, and Mintten quickly moved papers off a bench to accommodate her.

"Here you go, that should ease the strain of bending your neck. You're going to be in here for awhile. You see, our magic is a highly precise matter; the way the words are pronounced, the hand movements, and even where the eye is looking and the mind wanders all matter. A slight difference in any of those areas can create a very different result, and as such we have teams that map out exactly what the spellcaster should do, then have someone train them in each part separately to make sure they can complete their task when the time comes."

"Oh, I think I get it. You mean like -" here Claire pretended to hold a wand in her hand, and did a random squiggly gesture "-expelliarmus!" and a pile of ink pens on the other side of the room exploded in all directions. All three stared at the new splot of ink with eyes bulged.

Slowly, Iggy and Mintten turned back to Claire, who was now staring at her hand as she turned it around. "I, er... was that a strong wind or something?" she said hopefully.

"No, that certainly was not! Where did you learn that?!" Iggy exclaimed.

"I... it was a human book, it was just pretend! Just a silly story about kids that end up being wizards..." here Claire trailed off, staring distrustfully at her hand.

"Come, give the girl a break," Mintten said soothingly. "I remember when you first discovered your magic, Nacious, you started crying when you accidentally set your favorite toy on fire even though you'd even seen my parents do magic." Turning to Claire, he continued. "Discovering that you have magic is unsettling at a very young age, it must be very strange now that you're older. It's nothing to fear, a small percentage of humans still possess it but even most of them don't realize it."

Sitting down on the bench, Claire leaned her head back into the cool cave wall and closed her eyes, without even saying anything to the dwarves. She just needed to process for a couple of minutes. Ignacious and Mintten seemed to understand, and turned to a set of plans in the opposite end of the room, murmuring quietly except when an occasional comment like, "oh don't be stupid, the illithium would unbalance the fusion reaction" could be heard by Claire.

After a few minutes - or atleast it felt like a few, but Claire couldn't be sure if she'd fallen asleep - Claire opened her eyes. Her head was clearer, and she was sure about what she was going to do. She would try to get some magical training from Iggy, and she would help the dwarves to fix whatever she'd messed up. For now, past that didn't matter; this was certainly a life altering moment, but dwelling on that right now wouldn't be helpful.

"Ok," Claire said firmly, loudly enough that the dwarves looked over at her. "Let's get the elephant out of the room. I have magic. Can you train me?" and here she looked at Iggy, who looked slightly sheepish but mostly defensive.

"That's beyond my expertise. Your magic is much different than mine, and from my study of history and ancient humans I can only teach you a few small things, like how to make sure nothing happens accidentally."

Taking a deep breath, her plan already derailing, Claire continued. "Ok. That would be helpful. Now, where are those dwarves you want me to help with spells?"

"Whoa, whoa, let's back up here." Mintten warned, taking a step toward her. "First of all, we don't know what making those motions and saying those words would do in human magic, so that's already out the window. Secondly, and most obviously, you're magic! You won't be back here behind a desk, I'll be putting you right up front to build the - "

"Mintten!" Iggy hissed."

"Be quiet, cousin," Mintten said sternly. These two did not mix well. "This is a magical human. We can use any edge we can get against the Gnomicon."

"The Gnomicon? Who's that?" Claire asked.

"Gnomes, pixies, and dwarves have never gotten along," Iggy explained. "We lived in a tense peace for many years, but about 175 suns ago the pixies and gnomes teamed up and have been making our lives difficult."

"But I overheard you guys talking about fusion reactions. Please tell me you aren't making a weapon?"

Not Story

I feel far too over whelmed by the thought of trying to continue the story, I'm sorry. It's really great and you guys are such brilliant writers. But I read it through today and had no idea where I could with it. There were probably endless directions to in but I had no idea where to go.
I really like Iggy and I really like when Claire calls him Iggy, it makes me giggle.

I really want to join in in this theme but I just feel like my creative power is more in drawing and illustrating than in writing. Perhaps if we're still doing this next week I'll attempt a comic like part of the story, if I give myself the time to do it. It could be interesting.

I apologise for this being such a lame post. Hopefully next week I'll have something better.