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.

The hidden city and introductions

Claire found herself being led down some steeper ground that opened up into a tunnel. The edges of the tunnel opening were fortified with stone pillars, which had intricate etchings carved along them in some masterful designs of nature, mountains and depictions of strong-armed dwarves, one holding a staff and the other a hammer. Both of them wore circlets the staff wielder's was bolder and more drastic in appearance than that of the dwarf holding the hammer.

"This is our road." Ignatius explained as they got closer. "Not all of it is underground, I know many of you humans have tendency to fear the dark, especially the females of your kind."

Claire bristled at this comment made by the dwarf. "You know that's awfully rude a comment to make to someone you just met, Iggy, and extremely misogynistic."

"Well excuse me," Ignatius replied sarcastically, "Forgive me for misunderstanding, there's no need for fancy words, you're still far too unlike our women." Ignatius started to jump up ahead now, putting Claire in the dust as the entered the tunnel or road as Ignatius called it. "And don't call me Iggy!"

The tunnel was dark and Claire stumbled to keep up with Ignatius who moved quite fast for having such little legs. She started to fumble in her satchel for her light, she never had an opportunity to use it, but her dad always used to make her carry one around. Claire had just grasped it when light flared up ahead of her. Ignatius had lit an orb of bluish green flame in his hand.

"You may find my comment insulting, but there is the fact that humans can't see in the dark like we can." He said, hinting at apparently he had no problem in the dark and this light was just his own mercy towards Claire. Adjusting to the light and observing the stone walls around her, Claire decided to ask some questions relevant to the situation.

"So, Igg-Ignatius," She corrected not wanting to annoy him while she was asking for information. "What kind of spell were you trying to cast on that boulder?"

"It was the beginning of some alchemical and transfiguration spells I needed to use."

"So why crack it?"

"I needed to know just what type of rock it was and if it was compatible with our overall goal."

"Which is?" Claire prompted.

"Classified." Ignatius finished.

Okay, that was awkward. Claire thought to herself as they now walked in silence down the tunnel. Weren't you supposed to be able to tell what kind of rock something was just by looking at it? Maybe there were some properties she couldn't see because she wasn't a dwarf, or magical, or maybe geology was a lot more complicated than she thought.

The tunnel began to swoop upward after a little while longer of silent walking, and soon the glow of daylight began to filter in and the Ignatius' spell-light was no longer necessary for her to find her way. The "road" really did look like a road now, well road to a dwarf, cobbled pathway to a human. The land looked more like they were nearing inhabited area and Claire noticed that they were much closer to the base of the mountains then they had been previously.

"The road goes under terrain that would be more difficult or time consuming to pass through topically." Ignatius offered when he found her staring at the scenery.

Claire just let out an "oh" in response to that, the whole thing was still sinking in but with more effect now that she was just walking around in a dwarf-made structure with an actual dwarf and then another question popped into her brain.

"Hey, Iggy, I know I offered to help fix what I messed up, but what exactly can I do to help fix it?" She slipped up on the name and was hoping he wouldn't mind. She was really fond of her nickname for Ignatius and wanted him to let her use it.

"Well I'm not precisely sure," He ignored the name, "The rock that's compatible with our purpose is rare and cant be contaminated once the spell sequence, or ritual is the proper term for it, starts. I'm not sure that particular boulder can be fixed. But I'm sure we can find something for you to do."

They continued walking and they started seeing sparse stone huts and what looked to be taverns, they were all quite small compared to Claire's versions of houses and restaurant, but that was to be expected with people so much smaller than her, their scale would be smaller, if only a little bit, than hers. Claire even started noticing other dwarves, though not many.

"Where is everyone?" She finally asked as they started getting deeper into the town/city. The base of the mountain was coming into view and she could vaguely see that something large was carved into it, almost like a building that was part of the mountain itself. Actually, it looked like that was just it.

"They're all volunteerin' at the manor, that's where our headquarters is."

Headquarters? This must be a major thing I'm involved in then. That must be what was carved out of the mountain side. How has no one noticed any of this? Do they use magic to hide it?

"I want to introduce you to Mintten, he's our Grand Chief Mason of the Turnip Clan, my cousin."

"No long and over glorious name to add to his title?" Claire teased him.

"He does not take part in our tradition..." Ignatius grumbled under his breath. Claire could not help but giggle, obviously this trait of Mintten's bothered him deeply.

And within minutes they had come before the intricately carve mountainside where there was a definite bustle of life and shouts. Plenty of them stopped short to see the giant human entering with their Grand Chief Warlock and Claire almost stopped short just because of the crowd of people she was likely to trip over.

"Come along," Ignatius huffed impatiently. He led Claire through the crowd and up to the main entrance way where another dwarf, dressed much more like a skilled worker and had muscled arms and a broad chest compared to Ignatius' ornate hat and burlap clothes had just sent away some dwarves with orders.

"This is Mintten," Ignatius said shortly, "Mintten, this is..." Ignatius fumbled a bit.

"Claire," She offered realizing she had never introduced herself.

"This is Claire,"

Diplomacy and Dwarven Problems

"A spell?" Claire murmured. That certainly explained the strangeness of the whole situation. A warm boulder split in half by a tiny, ridiculous looking dwarf certainly sounded more like magic than any other rational explanation.

"Ugh, humans," Ignatious said with a roll of the eyes. "Just because you have forgotten the easy way to get things done doesn't mean the rest of us have!" Despite his stature, he seemed to be able to constantly be looking down at Claire. 

"I came here to read and have some quiet time, I only came over to investigate when I heard the crack." Crouching down to be closer to his height, Claire continued. "So what was this spell for anyway?"

"It doesn't matter anyway now, it's ruined!" Ignatious snapped. "You humans are always too curious for your own good!" 

Tired of his condescension, Claire lifted him up by his collar - gently, despite her annoyance - and brought him to eye level with her. "You may have magic, but I have other things I can use. Let me help you fix this," she said in her most diplomatic tone.

Crossing his arms, Ignatious let out a sigh. "Fiiiine. Since it's already ruined, it's not like you can make it worse anyway. But first. Put. Me. Down."

After being returned to solid ground, Ignatious took a moment to readjust his clothes and bright hat, then began walking in the opposite direction from where Claire had come. "Here, it's easier just to show you."

"Great!" Claire exclaimed, leaping up to follow him. Books and relaxation were all well and good, but how often would someone ever get to help a magical dwarf? This rivaled some of her favorite fantasy stories, and she would not be letting this chance escape her easily. "I'll do my best to help you, I know we'll make a great team, Iggy. Can I call you Iggy?"

Looking back at her beaming face, Ignatious raised an eyebrow. "No. Hurry up."

"Sure thing, Iggy!" Claire giggled as she caught up to him. Her smile turned into open mouthed awe as she took in the scene.

"Wow." 

Story Part 2!

Claire was immediately snapped awake by the noise. She froze, perched on the boulder, listening for more noises. After a few moments passed in silence, she slid to the ground as quietly as she could and swung her satchel over her shoulder. She retrieved her book from where at had slipped out of her grasp and tucked it back into the bag. Checking to make sure she had gathered everything, she cautiously headed in the direction that the noise had come from.

Picking her way carefully through the undergrowth, Claire soon found the source of the noise. There, straight ahead of her, was a boulder, at least twice the size of the one she'd just been sitting on. This one, however, was split in two. She could tell from the way the colour and texture of the sides that had split were different from the outer surfaces that it must have just happened.

Well, that wasn't normal. Enormous boulders didn't just split in half of their own accord. She glanced around the area, searching for a cause, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She approached the boulder to examine it more closely. It was a clean break, there were no other fragments of the boulder lying on the ground nearby. She reached out a hand to touch the broken surface. It was rough, and warm to the touch, as though it had soaked in so much warmth that the energy caused it to break. Surely that didn't happen, did it?

No sooner had she touched the boulder than there was a terrible shriek from behind her. "What are you doing? You've ruined it, you've ruined everything!" someone wailed.

Claire stood up, startled, and whirled around to face her scolder. She didn't see anyone, but then she noticed something hurrying toward her through the underbrush. For a moment she thought it was some sort of animal, maybe a rabbit or a porcupine, but when it stopped in front of her she realized it was a very small person. He  came no higher than her knees, and was dressed in ratty clothes that looked like they were made from a burlap sack. His scraggly black beard hung almost to the ground, and perched on top of his head was the most ornate and ridiculous purple hat Claire had ever seen.

She stared at him in shock, opening and closing her mouth a few times as he continued to harangue her about whatever it was that she'd ruined, before finally managing to interrupt. "I'm sorry, but who are you? And--what are you?"

The little fellow broke off his tirade, cleared his throat, and primly announced "I am Ignatius Theodore Montgomery the Third, Grand Chief Warlock of the Turnip Clan."

"...Turnip Clan?"

"The most ancient and noble clan of dwarves these parts have ever seen."

"Dwarves. As in 'Snow White and the Seven'?"

"Yes, I suppose that's how you humans think of it. You foolish creatures are always getting things like that mixed up. Not to mention traipsing through the woods ruining perfectly good spells!"

Collaborative Story Time?

Okay, I think we're doing story time this week?

I've spent a week trying to think about what I wanted to write and I still can't decide. Time to wing it. I'm leaving the ultimate genre and plot choice to the Katie and I'll just make a setting and one character. Don't want to decide the whole story and take out the option. Also I don't write very often so I'm sorry if this reads like bad fanfiction. I'm better at illustrating things.

The sun had just started to break the overcast of the past two days over a small town situated near the base of a rocky range of mountains. The flatter land before the base was mostly forested with occasional lakes. There were four main roads heading in and out of the town twisting along the lakes and cutting through the mountains.

Closer to the mountains on the outer most edges of the town where the houses of the neighborhoods had no need for fences as the trees gave them ample privacy, Claire, stepped out her back door to the wooded back yard and began pushing her way through bushes and off her property boundaries into the forest. She wore tennis shoes and worn jeans and a light long sleeve shirt, clothes she didn't mind tearing on branches and rocks. She also carried with her a brown satchel containing a book, a journal, a flashlight and a small folding knife her father had given her for her birthday as a child when they went on a camping trip together in the mountains, it was the most useful gift anyone had ever given her and thus she always kept it with her.

Claire was headed for a specific destination in the woods. She had only discovered it about two weeks ago when she was helping her neighbor look for a lost cat. But it had quickly become her favorite destination. The walk there was about half an hour through close-knit trees, uneven ground and a small ravine, Claire usually got a scrape or two going there and back, maybe she'd knock her knee into a vine covered boulder. Despite the bruise she may pay, having her private space in the woods seemed worth it.

It was only when the sky was nearly empty of the clouds that she finally arrived there.

It was a clearing, something not uncommon, but to Claire this one was different. The pillar-like trees toward over the clearing in a near perfect circle, not to big nor too small as speckled light of green and yellow filtered through the tall canopy above. There were three boulders sticking out of the ground in Claire's clearing. She chose the boulder closest to the edge of the clearing, it was slightly damp from the drizzle earlier in the morning, the clouds were gone now and the boulder was drying, not completely dry, but enough that she didn't worry about getting her jeans too wet.

Today what Claire wanted the most was just some peace and quiet to herself. There was a lot of stress lately with bills and work and just being able to live life. And for one day she just didn't want to think about it, Claire didn't want to think at all. And so as she sat on her boulder in the new found sunlight she pulled from her satchel her book. Mindless reading outside was the best way to get your mind off of things weren't they?

It was only when she was lulled into a light doze from reading that she heard a violent and shuddering crack from amid the trees outside her clearing.

And a few notes more

Since my handwriting is awful, I thought I'd type out my nerdfighter notes for easier reading :)

(For An Abundance of Katherines)
My guess is that if you're still reading this, you're the sort of person that likes math and silly jokes. The author, John Green, and his brother Hank have a whole community built around being nerdy and liking this sort of thing, so you should check it out by Googling "nerdfighters" (we're nerds that fight against things that suck, not people who fight nerds. Just making sure.) No matter what your favorite subject or hobby is, there's a group there that would love to squee over it with you.
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!

(For the end of TFIOS)
I know, this book is heart wrenching but funny but OH GOD SO SAD. Still want more? Try visiting onlyifyoufinishedtfios.tumblr.com (password is the last word in the acknowledgements). While you're there, you might notice that there's a lot of us that like to talk about these books and hang out with each other. We're called Nerdfighters, and if you wanna meet some awesome people trying to reduce worldsuck, you should come visit us at nerdfighters.com and we'll all cry again talking about this book :)

(for any book)
Oh hey there! You appear to be reading, or at least flipping through a John Green book. Lucky for you, John Green isn't just an author - he and his brother made a community on the Internet that's all about trying to make the world a better place in small and large ways, love being ourselves, and valuing logic and reason. If that sounds like the sort of thing you want to be a part of, come visit us at nerdfighters.com!

I'll send you the physical copies early next week, Sarah, to get your books all note filled :)

Notes, Nerdfighter Style

I whipped up a few Nerdfighter notes earlier this evening... some of them I just put John Green quotes on, which might seem lazy, but I just felt like they summed up what Nerdifghteria was all about so well.

And the backs of the first three: