Gaming and Knitting...and other stuff.

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:29:22 GMT

Debbie Stoller's coming out with a new Stitch and Bitch!

Son of Stitch and Bitch

November 22nd.

crossposted everywhere cuz it's dang exciting.

Stitch n Bitch at GenCon

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:33:53 GMT

For anyone attending the upcoming GenCon, there's a group planning a knitting get-together during the con. Planners are organizing on indyknit. I won't be able to make it, but some of you might.

Random Thought

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:40:42 GMT

2 Vampire Stakes + Sand Paper = Size 17 Knitting Needles

Intro Post

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:39:38 GMT

I believe it was ivo_shandor I met briefly at Origins. He was knitting a wicked cool Gryfindor tabi sock during one of my husband's games. Of course I had to visit to see the knitting action (much to my husband's dismay LOL). Anyway, he told me about the community and here I am.

I think this picture sums up a lot of my knitting. The "love" fingerless glove is part of the "dice love" pair. That is a knit d4, and a couple of reversible doubleknit dice bags are peeking in the picture (the green and white "go play" logo and a "burning wheel" in the background).

comic books?

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:42:51 GMT

So, if you're reading, whatcha readin?

I'm heavy into Marvel, particurlarly X-Men (First Class and Endangered Species amoung that), Amazing Spiderman (Back in BLACK!!!), Anita Blake (yeah, yeah, read books - on my checklist), MIghty Avengers, Gunslinger Born (Squee pretty art love you Jae Lee), Blade, and Omega Flight. And because Joss Whedon owns my soul, I'm also reading a lot of Dark Horse- Buffy Season Eight!

What floats your boat, comic fiends?

First post.

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:29:40 GMT

The popular Japanese RPG Final Fantasy VIII has a certain, um, character with a certain outfit that has never been knit before. And I mean knit... and finished.

UNTIL NOW!!

I give you my completely hand-knit Rinoa Heartilly duster, soon to be blocked and otherwise topped off with a pair of armwarmers until I get the numb feeling out of my fingers.

Whoo!

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:12:02 GMT

Hey guys! My summer dice bag is going to be in the 2008 Pattern a Day calendar!!

HURRAH FOR GAMER GEEK KNITTERS!

For your viewing pleasure. Tina! pt 4

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:48:59 GMT

Last part, you can breathe a sigh of relief now. *G*

TINA’S DIARY
HANDS OFF! (and this means you!!!)

Hi Diary!!

I’m really sorry it’s taken so long for me to write, diary. A lot’s been going on!! Lemme tell you about it. . .

Llwelyn woke me up and gave me breakfast [it was oatmeal. It tasted okay, Diary, but since I’m not really a big fan of oatmeal. . .] and asked me if I was okay. Well, since I did feel better, I told her that I was, then I told her I’d leave once I was done with breakfast. I mean, no use me taking up space when they might need it for something else, right? While I’m eating I see Jamison come in, he goes over to talk to King Randy. When he’s done talking to Randy he comes over to talk to me. Sigh!! You think he likes me, Diary??

Ooops!! I’m letting myself get distracted. Sorry!! Anyway, he tells me that he’s going to go look for Corwin. I think that that might be a little hard for him to do, since he doesn’t even know where to start, so I offer to take him to where I sensed Corwin last. I finished up my breakfast, then told Jamison that I was going to go to my room. Jamison invited me to his, and since I really didn’t have anything to do I went with him. When we got there I noticed that a gouge was taken out of his door. . .bet whoever does the castle repairwork is gonna be totally cheezed! Anyway, Jamison tells me that it’s knife damage. Eww. . . Jamison told me that it was knife damage when I pointed it out to him, I asked him if someone tried eating his door [but Diary, they’d have to be really hungry for that! Couldn’t they have just gone to the kitchen to get some food? Wood wouldn’t taste very good, I would think.], and he said, “No, knife damage.” I told him that that was pretty creepy, the thought of someone running up and down the corridors stabbing doors that didn’t do anything to them. Jamison just looked at me funny, shook his head and sighed. We went inside.

I kinda look around the room, and ask Jamison what we’re going to do. He said, “Read, do martial arts, have sex.” Okay. . .so Jamison was being a little weird. I told him that I can’t do martial arts [I really can’t, Diary, but I might like to learn someday. It sure looks cool in the movies!!], so I asked him what he had to read. He told me that all the books were in the library, so he said that the only thing left to do was have sex. Well, I wasn’t about to do anything like THAT, Daddy told me that was bad. So I ignored what Jamison said, going over to his bed. I sat on it and bounced up and down a little bit [it was pretty bouncy! Almost as good as my bed!], and Jamison sat down next to me and put his arm around me. I’ve seen movies, Diary, I know what’s gonna happen next!! Next he’ll wanna kiss, the. . . Well, I got out of there fast, went to my room, locked a door, sat on the floor and hyperventilated for a minute.

Well, after I’m done with Major Panic Mode, I figure I should do something with my day. So I get myself cleaned up and change clothes, then go to see Malador to check to make sure he was doing okay. I mean, Maddie would get mad at me or something if she thought I was ignoring her cousin. Wouldn’t she? Anyway, while I’m there talking to Malador, Jamison walks in. Thinking that he might try to kiss me or something, I put Malador’s bed between me and Jamison, but he just went to talk to King Randy. He said something about a portal to King Randy [okay! so I was listening in a little.] and Randy leaves, shouting for the guards.

Jamison looks my way—uh-oh, he’s spotted me—and comes over to talk to me. Anyway, Jamison, Malador and me have a conversation [not that I remember what it was about, or anything. I was too worried wondering if he was gonna try to kiss me or something.], then he leaves to go find out about the portal. I admit it, I was curious, so I followed him. Anyway, I caught up with Jamison outside, Randy looked like he was really mad with Jamison. Why? Jamison’s not mean or anything, why would Randy be yelling at him? Did Jamison do something bad? I go up and say hi to Randy, then ask what’s going on. So Jamison explained that he saw a portal or something and thought that it might be an attack on Amber, so he warned Randy about it. But it was only a false alarm, it was only Bjorik leaving. Anyway, Randy leaves, and Jamison and end up talking about shadows. I really didn’t understand a whole lot of what Jamison was telling, me, but he seemed to think that it was okay to kill one of these ‘shadows’. Does that mean that shadows are bad, Diary?

Anyway, Jamison takes me to see something called a ‘Pattern’. It was all bright and stuff, but sure enough, it was a pattern on the floor. Jamison said that that was what Amberites used to walk through ‘shadow’. Anyway, while we were down in the castle’s basement [well, it was like a basement!! We had to walk down a lot of stairs to get to the Pattern!], Jamison asked me why I didn’t want to have sex. I told him that Daddy said that sex is bad, and that I shouldn’t do it. Jamison told me that it was only bad if I had sex with Daddy, ‘cause then it was something called incest, otherwise, it was fine. I thought about it a minute [more hard stuff!!], then said, “Oh! Okay,” So anyway, we went back upstairs, and I went up to the library to look up the word incest. Sure enough, Diary, Jamison was right!! Sex is only bad if you have it with your family, and since Jamison and I aren’t family really, I can do whatever I want with him!!

Well, next I went looking for Fiona. Oh, didn’t I tell you?? One of the times I was in the infirmary she came up with a syringe and stuck me with it. She took some of my blood and left! Didn’t even tell me what she wanted my blood for!! Rude! So I went to look for the Vampire Elder in the infirmary. No joy there. I saw Lwellyn was still there, [doesn’t she *ever* take a break??], and I asked her about the Vampire Elder. She said she had no idea where Fiona was, she hadn’t seen her. Well, I was annoyed by then, so I went to my room to look for El Vampira with the Lotus. Well, I think I found her, but then I got clobbered by something, felt familiar, tho, like when I got popped when I was trying to find that necklace for Jamison.

Well, I thought that it might be better if I gave up [at least ‘til the headache went away!], so I went to Jamison’s room to talk to him. Well, he was there. . .and we…well…uh….wehadsexDiaryokay!!! Just don’t tell anyone!! Promise??

So anyway, I hung around the castle for three days, ‘til Malador was released from the infirmary, then we went to the embassy in the city. Well, they still haven’t gotten any good decorators Diary, their rooms still look yucky!! Anyway, I get to talking to Malador and I told him that I’d like to see if I could learn how to do anything else with the Lotus [he always winces when I call it the Lotus, Diary, I wonder why. Is he in pain?], so he takes me to his home!

He calls where he lives Chaos, Diary, and man is it ever!! I don’t even think I can really describe to you what it looks like, it’s so weird. We ended up on this plateau with rocks floating around all over the place [like little floaty plateaus all their own], and he lead me through this area that looked like that scene out of Labyrinth, y’know, at the end? When Sara goes to confront Jareth and the stairs go every which way and stuff?? Anyway, we end up in this room with no walls, or ceiling, but has stairs going from the floor at all sides. Malador asked me what I wanted to learn about the Lotus. I just shrugged and said I wanted to see if I could learn how to do anything else with it. Well, I didn’t really know if there was anything left for me to learn! I did think I needed to learn it better though.

Malador got that exasperated look on his face [yeah, the one I’m always seeing. Doesn’t anyone like me?], and waved his fingers. The next thing I know, he’s questioning me again, only I’m not the one answering!! I could sorta hear the conversation, but it wasn’t me talking!! I wonder, Diary, am I possessed?? Like Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters?? Gee, I hope not Diary, I really don’t want to turn into one of those ugly dogs!! Bleck.

Anyway, when I could finally make myself move and speak again, Malador took me down to this just HUGE pit, where the Lotus is. We were greeted by some ugly demon-looking hunchbacked dude [his skin was kinda grey. Yuck. How dull!!] Well, I don’t remember hunchie’s name, so I’ll just call him Riff. Anyway, Riff asked me what we wanted, and I told him I wanted to learn more about the Lotus. He winced too, then looked at Malador and asked me if I were all right. Well, that was certainly nice of him to ask!! Malador told him that despite appearances, I could be useful. Well, that was nice to say too!!

So, I stayed with Riff for awhile. Most of it was so boring though!! I walked the Lotus several times, but I don’t remember anything about that, except starting on the path. I ended up doing the same things over and over a lot, but Riff says it was to make sure that I could do it automatically, and under stress and stuff. Stuff like bringing up the Lotus sight to look for things, pulling things to me, stuff like that.

When Riff thought that I was doing well enough, he took me back to the room with no walls, to Malador. Riff told Malador that I’d learned everything I could, and left. Malador asked me what I’d like to do next, so I told him I really ought to go home, since I hadn’t been there in awhile. I hope Maddie didn’t get in trouble if my folks came home and found out I was gone!! So Malador gives me a card with his picture on it, “just in case I need his help”, he said. The card of him is different than the ones I got from Daddy’s dresser. Those have a unicorn on the back of them, this one has a coiled serpent. I tried tracing it, but it was really hard to follow, so I gave up.

Anyway, I look for my house, find it, and pull myself there. I end up on the driveway that goes to the front of the house, so I walk up to the front door and walk in. A maid I didn’t know came up to me with this look on her face, like I didn’t belong in my own house or something! Anyway, the upstart had the nerve to ask me who I was, and what I thought I was doing just walking in. I told her that I was Tina, and that I lived here! She gave me another funny look, like I was nuts or something, and told me to wait for her while she went to get the mistress.

Well, I don’t have to listen to the servants, it’s the other way around!! So I went upstairs to my room, using the back staircase that’s in the kitchen. As I went through the kitchen, one of the maids there asked me what I was doing. I ignored her, I didn’t have to answer if I didn’t want to! When I got up to my room tho Diary, I found out something weird. My room was different!! My bed wasn’t there, none of my stuff was there, and when I looked in the closets even those were empty!! I went out into the hall to check there, to see if anything was different, and I heard voices. One of them was Mommy!! She said something about the police, was something going on? Anyway, Mommy and that snot came down the hall, and when they saw me the snot had the NERVE to scold me for not staying where I told her to!! I ignore her, and give Mommy a BIG hug!!

This is where it gets strange, Diary. Mommy shoved me away, asking me if this was some sick joke. I told her no, it isn’t funny, and where was my stuff!! Everything was gone from my room! Then I asked her where Daddy was. She said that she didn’t know who I thought my Daddy was, but her husband was out of town on business. I asked her why she wasn’t with him, since she always goes on trips with Daddy. She just acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about, and ordered me out of her house!

I ignored her, I went back into the room that’s supposed to be mine, locked the door, and sat down to use the Lotus to check and see if I’d somehow messed up. No, it seemed like the right place. I thought a minute [Ow! Thinking hurts, you know!], then I thought that maybe Mommy’s mind had been tampered with, or something. Hey, you DO see that sort of stuff in the movies! Since I had to actually be looking at Mom to tell that, I opened the door [she was pounding on it, making a LOT of noise. And she always scolded me for being noisy!] and she started demanding that I leave at once! I ignore her [I know I shouldn’t have done that, Diary, but if she was possessed or something she wouldn’t get mad at me about it later.] and scan her, but I don’t see any sign that she’s been brainwashed. I then think of Maddie, maybe she knows what’s going on, and go into my room to look for her. But when I go to shut the door Mom sticks her foot in the way. I didn’t want to do it, Diary, and I’m gonna get in major trouble for it later, but I kinda slammed the door shut on her foot. Not hard enough to BREAK anything, but hard enough that she moved her foot.

I locked the door again, and sat down and concentrated on Maddie. I looked and looked and looked, but I couldn’t find her. I was sorta aware of noise in the background, but I was too busy concentrating on looking for Maddie. I just couldn’t find her, and I heard some kind of noise at the door, but by the time I came all the way back, a police officer had me handcuffed. I try to use the Lotus to get away, but I can’t really use it while I’m handcuffed. The police take me down to the car and shoved me in the back [I knocked my head!! Creeps!! Daddy finds out how they treated me, he’s gonna be MAD!!] and drove off.

As I’m sitting there trying to think of a way to get away from these dweebs, I thought of maybe using the Lotus to pick the handcuff lock. It works! I get one hand free, and sneak out my deck of cards. Remembering that Jamison said I had to ask someone to pull me through, and I wanted to get out of that car FAST, I decided to risk looking through the deck. I waited ‘til the next time the cop checked on me, then I started thumbing through my cards. As I finally found the one that had the picture of the Castle Amber and started concentrating on it, the cop looks back and sees what I’m doing. The dweeb shouts at me, wanting to know what I’m doing, but by the time the dorks get the car stopped and get the back door open to grab me, I’m faiding out. I said “Bye-bye!” as I disappeared!! Hah hah!!! I really WISH I could have seen their faces after I disappeared!! I bet it would have been hysterical!!

Anyway, I appear in the grand hall in Castle Amber. I put my cards back into their box, and put the box back into my backpack where it belongs, and looked up to see a few guards and servants. I don’t recognize any of them. Great, just like it was back home!! I was starting to get REALLY upset at this point Diary, let me tell you! No one knew who I was anymore! Well, I saw the guards drawing their swords, so I changed to my Chaos form [think Moldiver, Diary, with spikes coming out of my elbows and stuff. I look way cool!], just in case. Well, they didn’t like that, I guess, ‘cause they attacked me!!

I did something very bad, Diary. I fought ‘em. I hurt ‘em. I might have even killed some, I don’t really remember yet. Daddy’s gonna be disappointed.

Anyway, I see Benedict coming down the stairs, but I remembered that he choked me the last time I saw him, so I don’t know that I trust him very well. I see Jamison behind him, coming down the stairs, though. I thought I could jump over Benedict, and I did, but while I was up there he threw his sword up into the air, and it sliced me good. When I landed I lost my footing and fell over, and of course landed on my hurt side!

I just kinda laid there on the floor, I said, “Oww. That hurt.” Jamison stared at me and said, “That’s what you get for attacking an Elder Amberite.” I saw the look on his face, Diary, he didn’t know who I was either!! I told him. “You don’t remember me either, do you?? No-one knows me anymore!” He said, “No, I don’t. Who are you?” I said, “Tina.” He said, “You can’t be Tina, she’s shorter, with softer skin, and a mole right. . .” “Jamison!” I interrupted. “You weren’t supposed to tell anybody that!” I was so TOTALLY embarrassed!! He looked at me kinda funny, and said, “Tina?” I figured that I should probably show him, just to give him proof I guess, and shifted back to human form. When I did, tho, the pain got worse, I started bleeding kinda bad, and I passed out on the floor.

When I woke up I was in one of those gurneys the Elder Amberites were in, strapped in. Some guard or something standing there saw me, and left, probably to go get someone. I hurt pretty good, too. Anyway, I thought I’d see if I could use the Lotus to maybe get free or something, but by the time I got it called up King Randy and Vialle showed up. Randy was mad, he was getting all hostile and stuff, asking me questions. He pulled out Daddy’s deck of cards—he’s got my cards, Diary—and ask me where I got them. I told him the truth, that I got them from Daddy’s dresser. He asked me who my Daddy was; I told him. He said something about me being raised in ‘shadow’, I told him I guess I was, that’s what Jamison called it anyway.

Anyway, Vialle pulled Randy aside, and argued with him a bit. I couldn’t hear tho. Randy left, then Vialle came back and asked me what had happened. So I told her everything, tho she told me one to “Breathe, child.” But I was breathing, Diary!! Otherwise I’d be dead!! Anyway, after I was done, she kinda nodded to herself, went over and got a syringe from a cabinet and filled it. Neat trick for a blind lady! Anyway, she gave me the shot, and I was such a happy girl after that!! I smiled at Vialle really big when she told me to stay here, then she left.

cross-posted to my journal

For your viewing pleasure. Tina! pt 3

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:46:22 GMT

on to the next part!

TINA’S DIARY
HANDS OFF! (and this means you!!!)

Dear Diary,

Hiya! Yep, back again, and BOY do I have stuff to tell you!!

While I was eating breakfast in the creepy mansion, Jamison left to go feed his dad and the other guys (Jamison keeps referring to them as the Elders.), then comes back and eats breakfast too. Then he acted really weird—he got this blank look on his face, and when I got up and waved a hand in front of his face he didn’t react at all, like I wasn’t even there! And I even said “Yoo hoo! You in there Jamison!” to him! Then he left the room, and when he came back he asked me if I could do him a favor. Like, a girl would have to be crazy to say no to that cutie! ; D So I tell him sure, then he takes me to the library, and asks me if I can find a family heirloom. He told me that it was a red jewel on a gold chain, and it would be glowing. So I sit down, and search the mansion really carefully for what Jamison wanted me to look for. I didn’t want to miss it and make him mad at me or something.

Anyway, I didn’t find anything on the upper floors, although I did discover that using my Lotus sight makes it A LOT easier to look behind things (I used it to look behind the rack the icky wine was in. . .), I’ll have to remember that the next time I drop an earring behind my dresser!! I keep looking through the wine room, then went to one of the rooms we’d found the Elders in (hey, didn’t Kiss have an album called the Elder? Hmmm. . .), the one that had the bald guy and the lady with green hair. I found something that smacked me pretty good, it HURT!! I drew away pretty fast, and I had the WORST headache!! Ugh! I told Jamison where I’d found it, and that my head hurt. So he carried me upstairs to the room I’d slept in last night (wasn’t that so SWEET?? Sigh), and told me to get some rest.

I went into the room, but thought that if whatever it was had hurt me, it could hurt Jamison, so I thought I’d better go down too, just in case. I waited until I was sure that I wouldn’t run into him, or he wouldn’t see me, since I didn’t want him to get mad at me ‘cause I didn’t listen to him (like daddy does. . .) when he told me to go to sleep. Anyway, I heard someone talking in the wine room, so I stopped until I didn’t hear them anymore, then started down the stairs. The first couple of ‘em creaked, so I just jumped off the stairs to the floor, since I wanted to be quiet. I made a thump when I landed, and Jamison said, “Come on in, Tina.” Sigh. I was so embarrassed I could just DIE!! Oh well, at least he didn’t sound mad or anything.

So anyway, I went in like he said (he was in the room where we found his dad), with my head down, saying that I was trying to be quiet. Jamison told me that “For a novice you did quite well.” He gave me a compliment!! Hee hee!! ISN’T THAT GREAT!! SIGH!! Anyway, Maeryn was in the room with Jamison (huh, wonder what THAT’S all about?? He doesn’t really seem to like her much. . .), and she rolled her eyes. Jamison starts looking at the walls, and Maeryn asked me if I thought that he was looking in the right place. I shrugged and told her I didn’t know, mostly ‘cause I really didn’t. So I went up to Jamison and asked him what he was looking for. He leaned over and whispered to me that he didn’t want Maeryn to know what he was looking for, ‘cause he didn’t want her to know where the powersource was. I said, “Okay, I’ll help!”, and started staring at the walls. Maeryn got mad, and said something about knowing when she wasn’t wanted, then stomped off. Hee hee. Daddy says that you shouldn’t throw temper tantrums, ‘cause they never get you anything, but I guess she was kinda mad. Oh well, Jamison doesn’t trust her, so he has to have a good reason not to, right?

We went to the other room, and I pointed out to Jamison the wall with the bench next to it was where I thought what hit me was at. I told him that I could try narrowing down the area to look in, if he wanted to. He asked me if I still had the headache, I told him no, even though I did. It wasn’t too bad, so it wasn’t going to hurt anything if I looked, and it WAS to help Jamison. . . Anyway, I used my Lotus sight again, and narrowed the area down, and of course got clobbered by whatever-it-was again. Another MAJOR headache for me, this is worse than trying to do math!! I wish I’d’ve thought to get some aspirin!! Sigh. Jamison went to check it out, and found what he’d described to me (looked like a necklace with a REAL big ruby or something on it! Well, the jewel was red, anyway. . .), and he put the necklace on and started walking around the room. It was the weirdest thing, Diary, the jewel glowed, and was pulsing, y’know, kinda like a strobe light, only not as regular. Anyway, it went from pulsing unevenly to matching the throb of my headache. It was WEIRD! Anyway, I pointed that out to Jamison, and he took off the necklace and put it in a pocket where it wouldn’t be noticed.

We heard a noise outside, but before we left, I told Jamison that he really shouldn’t put the necklace on again, ‘cause it might hurt him. Well, it could, it DID hurt me! Jamison told me that it wouldn’t hurt him, that it just reacted to the Lotus. I said, “It doesn’t like the Lotus?” He shook his head and said no, then asked me not to mention to anyone that he had the necklace. I said okay, and we left the room. We saw Maeryn piling things up in the wine room, and there was a stinky smell in the air that made me think of the time Daddy and I went camping, and he lit that lamp. . .um, did he call it a kerosene lamp? Don’t remember for sure. . . Anyway, Jamison and Maeryn start talking to each other, but I didn’t really pay much attention, since they weren’t talking about me. Besides, they kept insulting each other.

They finally get done arguing, then we go upstairs to see Bjorik dragging bodies out of the mansion. Jamison and Maeryn helped him, I just watched. NO WAY I was touching any gross, DEAD body if I didn’t have to!! Once all the ICKY bodies were out, they set fire to ‘em. Maeryn runs off, and Jamison went to go talk to his dad. With nothing better to do, I thought I’d go check on the other Elders. Since it was almost lunchtime, I thought they might be hungry. Anyway Martin (the bald guy) was still unconscious, so he didn’t want anything. Lwellyn (she’s the lady with the green hair) wanted a salad, and Flora wanted some make-up. So I got Lwellyn a salad, Flora some make-up and a comb and brush (even though she didn’t ask for one, I knew she’d probably need it. . .), then decide that I ought to take a nap, since my head still hurt.

When I woke up I went and checked on the Elders again, only this time I stopped and asked Jamison’s daddy Caine if he was hungry, since I bet that Jamison probably didn’t think to ask, since he seems to be thinking about so much other stuff. A brain can only hold so many thoughts at once, you know, I know that for a fact!! He did want lunch, so I found what he was looking for (it took awhile), and left him to eat his lunch. When I checked on Lwellyn, she asked me if I could go get some more of those bottles like the one they currently had hooked up to Martin. I looked at it, and noticed that it was the same kind of bottle that I’d seen downstairs, looked at the symbol on it (it was an eagle! Cool!), and went down to the wine racks and looked ‘til I found some. While I was looking, I found one that had Malador’s symbol on it! I grabbed two bottles for Martin, and took Malador’s bottle up too, and showed it to Lwellyn. She seemed kinda surprised, and said something about why would they be using the blood of a Chaosian too. Don’t ask me, Diary, I don’t know either! I told her that maybe Maeryn would know (since she WAS the one that described on of the guys that had kidnapped her. . .), then left her to go check on Flora. She didn’t need anything, but kept asking me about her captors. I told her that I didn’t know anything, but that maybe Maeryn could tell her something.

Once I was finished with that, I thought I’d look for Jamison, just ‘cause I was bored, and he was someone to talk to. No, Diary, it’s not ‘cause he’s cute! Okay, maybe it was, so sue me! Anyway, I found Bjorik outside, there was a kinda sweet smell in the air, and when I asked him what the smell was he told me it was the burning bodies. EWWW!!!! GROSS!!!! I went back inside REALLY quick, Diary, I’m telling you! I went up to my room, and use my Lotus sight to find Jamison, and something clobbered me just like when I was looking for the necklace! Well, okay, it didn’t give me a headache, but still. . . I thought Jamison was in trouble, so I tried pulling myself to him. No luck. So anyway, I ran out of the mansion, towards where Jamison was. I saw a fox-looking THING running towards me, so I moved out of the way REALLY QUICK and kept on going! It snarled at me, and when I saw that it was FOLLOWING me, I started changing shape to protect myself. It then told me that it was Jamison, and it was then that I remembered when Jamison turned into the fox-thing before, back when we were in the kitchen at Castle Amber right after the party. Man, was I embarrassed!

He told me that he was hunting a deer when he was attacked (he missed the deer too, he said), and it was in the mansion, and that he needed to go get whatever attacked him. I asked him what had attacked him, and when he described what it was, I knew that it was me searching for him!! Which only made me even MORE embarrassed!! Sigh. Jamison’s not going to like me at all, now! Anyway, since it was my fault that he’d lost the deer, and I didn’t want him to be mad at me or anything, I asked him if he wanted me to bring the deer to him. He shrugged, and said sure, only I wasn’t really thinking when I did it! I found the deer easy enough, but when I pulled it towards me it was really mad or something, ‘cause it KICKED ME!! Ouch! Knocked me to the ground, and it took me a minute to get my breath back, so I didn’t really see when Jamison killed it. Good thing, too! Gross!!

Anyway, once I could breath again (hey, now I can say I’ve been kicked by a deer! Cool!), I got up and lifted my shirt to make sure I didn’t get hurt too bad. Just some small cuts, kinda like cat scratches, and the beginnings of big UGLY bruises!! No bikinis for me until THOSE go away!! Jamison must have seen my bra, ‘cause he asked me if my panties matched. I told him, “of course they do, want to see?” He shrugged, and said “Sure!” with a big grin. So I turned around, unfastened my shorts, pulled ‘em down far enough so that he could see my panties, and bent over to give him a good view of them to prove it. He said that we should probably be getting the deer back to the mansion, so I pulled my shorts back up, and we were off. We get back to the mansion, and Jamison takes care of the deer, putting some of it on a spit to roast it, and taking the rest into the mansion kitchen to cook it there. The kitchen-cooked deer is what we had for dinner—it was good! Maeryn was acting a little weird; when dinner was done, she took a bunch of glasses and jars upstairs with her back to her room. I wasn’t really that sleepy, since I’d taken a nap, I helped Bjorik and Jamison turn the deer spit.

Nothing much really happened the next day, we ate the deer and basically just sat around, Jamison said we needed the rest since we were going to try to get out tomorrow.

We left the next morning (bright and early again, what IS it with these people always wanting to get up so EARLY?!?!?), I got another stretcher for Martin (since he was still out), since Maeryn had dumped kerosene on the one we had used to bring him up to his room, and as we left Jamison set the mansion on fire. He said something about not wanting the people who had kidnapped the Elders to be able to use it. Remind me to never get Jamison mad at me, Diary, I don’t want him burning MY house down! Anyway, we walked through town, or what was left of it, since it had burned to the ground too. I started singing “Happy Trails”, until Maeryn told me to stop, or she would be very annoyed. I stopped singing (out loud anyway, but I quit after awhile, it’s not as much fun not being able to sing out loud!), and we kept walking. We got to trudge through the storm (again), but we reached the other side of the mountains with nothing else happening. When we got out of the storms, Jamison pulled out a deck of cards, and I told him that his deck looked just like mine, and asked him where he’d gotten his. He said the library at Castle Amber, and asked me where I’d gotten mine, and I told him my Daddy’s dresser. He also asked me if Daddy’s picture was in the deck, and I told him that I didn’t think so, I’d have to look again. He told me that I should look later when I get the chance, and pulled one of the cards from the deck and stared at it. The next thing I know, we’re back in Castle Amber! Cool! Wonder how Jamison did that??

Jamison shouts for servants, and they appear. Once they see the Elders, they start running about, taking the Elders away. Since I was back at the castle, I asked one of the servants if there was a library. He told me where it was, so I went there. I had to find a dictionary to see what honorary meant!

The library was HUGE, there were books EVERYWHERE!! Wow. I started looking at the books, finally found a dictionary in English (there was a lot of books written in languages I didn’t know. Yet.). I took the dictionary (it was one of those HUGE Webster’s dictionaries!), and sat at a table. I kept looking for the word, but since I didn’t know how it was spelled. . . Jamison came in, and asked me what I was doing, I told him that I was trying to look up what honorary meant, and he found it for me. Wasn’t that nice? Now I know what being an honorary member of Jamison’s family means!

Jamison asked me if I’d had a chance yet to check my deck—he called ‘em trumps—for Daddy’s, or my Mom’s, picture. I said nope, so I went ahead and looked through them. No, neither one of my parents were there, but I asked him why there was pictures of the Elders that we’d found in it (well, except for Martin. . .), then he told me that I could use the cards to talk with whoever was on the picture. I said, “Like a telephone?” He said, “Yes, like a phone.” I asked how I was supposed to do that, and he told me to concentrate on the card (MORE concentrating! Why does all this stuff have to be so HARD?), and I could talk to them. I tried it with Caine’s card, but when I concentrated the card got COLD! It freaked me out, so I dropped it really quick! Jamison asked me what was wrong, and I told him, and he told me that they were SUPPOSED to get cold! Oh. Anyway, he said that I really shouldn’t disturb the Elders that we rescued, since they needed their rest, so he picked one for me to try. I recognized it as King Randy. . .er, Random, Jamison said. . .the guy I’d met at the party. The blind lady’s husband. I tried the card, but it didn’t get cold or anything, I told Jamison that it didn’t work, the card must be broken.

I thought that it would be important that King Randy should know that his phone was broken, so I used my Lotus sight to look for him. It took a LONG time, but I finally found him, only I couldn’t talk to him, ‘cause that’s not part of what I can do with the Lotus. Since I’d tried to pull myself to someone twice already, I didn’t think it would work, so I grabbed ahold of Randy and pulled him to me. Diary, you should have seen the look on Jamison’s face when King Randy appeared, it was PRICELESS!! He looked SO shocked, kinda just gaped with his mouth open a minute, then started shouting for servants. They appear, then Jamison asks me if I can do that with the other missing Elders. I shrugged, and said I didn’t know for sure, but I could try. He sorted through my deck, picking out the missing ones. I thought that I should try for Malador next (besides, HIS picture’s not in my deck!), since Maddie won’t be as mad at me if I can find her cousin.

I reach out and find him, and pull him through too. Jamison kinda wheels him out of the way and I try again, this time for Benedict. I got him; when he came through he was out like a light, and it looked like this ugly, greenish arm had been sewn onto his arm (kinda like a Frankenstein thing. EWWW!!), and it grabbed me all by itself and started choking me! Jamison came up, said “Sorry, uncle” to Benedict, then chopped the groddy arm off. But it was STILL choking me! I couldn’t breathe and stuff! Scary! Jamison pried off the arm, by breaking all the fingers.

Once I feel better, I’m ready to try again. Bjorik had shown up, and when he heard me talk (I sounded just AWFUL, Diary! All raspy and stuff.) he said he knew what would make me feel better. He went over to a bar that had liquor and stuff, and poured me a glass. Jamison objected to it; he said I was only sixteen, and not used to alcohol. Bjorik responded by saying that it would make me feel better. Jamison took the glass from Bjorik, poured a MUCH smaller amount into a different glass, and let me drink it. It burned like HECK when I did, but it really did make me feel better.

I try to call up the Lotus, but there was so much noise I couldn’t concentrate, so I asked Jamison if he could maybe get the servants and everyone quiet or something. He sends just about everyone else out, then just as it got quiet enough to concentrate Maeryn and Jonothan (he must have FINALLY gotten a fashion consultant, ‘cause he was dressed MUCH better!) come bursting into the room. Maeryn was demanding to know what happened to Benedict. I told her that I pulled him here, and then he started choking me. She said “YOU cut his arm off?” I said, “No, he was CHOKING me!” She seemed really upset, and when Jamison told her that HE was the one who cut Benedict’s arm off, she got REALLY MAD at him! Seemed that Benedict is her daddy! Well, I guess I’d get mad if someone did that to MY daddy too! She challenged Jamison to a duel the next day, Jamison accepted, then told her that someone had grafted another arm to Benedict’s stump, and THEY were the ones she should be mad at, then threw her the arm in a sack. The bag wiggled a bit, and she dropped it. She and Jonothan left then.

Well, since it was FINALLY quiet enough for me to try for another one of the Elders I tried Gerard next. I pulled someone through, but it wasn’t the right one. The fake Gerard wanted to know where he was, and Jamison said that he’d explain everything, then left with him. So the next time I looked for Gerard, I made sure to look for one on a TABLE, since that’s how I’d found all the other ones. By the time Jamison came back—he was alone, I didn’t think at the time to ask him where he’d left that other Gerard—I’d found him, and pulled him through. He was the right one, this time!

I tried for the others, and got Blaize, then Julian, then Fiona. Servants took everyone out as I found ‘em, fortunately, since the library would have gotten AWFULLY crowded if they hadn’t! I saved Corwin for last, since he wasn’t at the party I hadn’t even seen him, so all I had was the picture on his trump card to go by, and I knew that he’d probably take the longest to find. I was right! It took simply FOREVER before I found him, and when I did, something came between the two of us, and it felt like it hit me right in the gut. Well, that was it, Diary, I doubled over, hurled all over the floor, then passed right out!

When I woke up, I heard a lot of voices. I thought that I’d better keep my eyes closed, and fake like I’m still asleep, so I wouldn’t bother anybody. My stomach had other ideas, though, ‘cause I ralphed all over the floor. A servant came over, and muttered something about being given some warning as he cleaned up, then Jamison appeared. He asked me what happened, so I told him about finding Corwin only to get hit by something. He told me to get some rest, and I WAS tired, so I went back to sleep.

cross-posted to my journal

For your viewing pleasure! Tina! pt 2

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:43:09 GMT

And part two of the diary....[four parts total, you can run screaming now...LOL]

TINA’S DIARY
HANDS OFF! (and this means you!!!)

Dear Diary,

Got woke up WAY too early again! Bjorik was yelling at the Viking dudes, which woke me up. Rude, huh? Anyway, I got up, and grabbed another change of clothes, though the first shirt was too small (teach me, huh Diary? Maddie DID say that I had to concentrate! But concentrating is SO hard! I’d rather be shopping at the Mall!!), so I tried again and got one that fit. It was a T-shirt, with a brocaded rose on it! WAY cool! Wonder if I could find one at the Mall when I get home? Anyway, I got dressed, then packed up all of my stuff back in the backpack (they dried just fine, fortunately. If I’d messed up Daddy’s cards, especially since he doesn’t even know I have ‘em, I’d be grounded for FOREVER!!!). My stomach growled (and pretty loud, too!!), so I pulled a bag of pretzels to me. Deciding to see what was up with everyone else, I left my little cubbyhole. Jamison was awake (well, with Bjorik yelling at everyone, it’s no wonder!), so I offered him some of my pretzels. He said he’d only take a few (and did), then was about to tell me something about Bjorik when Bjorik came tromping down the stairs saying that no-one was upstairs. Jamison told me to stay here (like I was going to get into trouble or anything upstairs, since no-one was there. . .) then he went up with Bjorik to scope things out. I was bored, the Viking dudes looked hungry, so I offered them some of my pretzels. They seemed to really like ‘em, since by the time Bjorik showed up we’d gone halfway through the bag!

Anyway, Bjorik comes stomping down the stairs (again!! Can’t he ever be quiet??), and told us that Jamison thinks that someone’s set a trap for us. That sounded pretty bad, Diary, since traps are what they use to catch wild animals, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be caught in one! Anyway, everyone went upstairs, Bjorik hands me out a window to Jamison (that was REALLY scary, Diary!), then Bjorik and the Viking dudes come out behind us. We go across a few buildings, then Jamison breaks into one, and swings into a room (wow, kinda like those old Zorro flicks! Jamison is SO cool!!! Sigh.). Bjorik picks me up and hands me down to Jamison (what am I anyway, Diary, a sack of flour? Don’t answer that.), then the others come over behind me. We go downstairs to find another empty shop (gosh, where was everybody at, anyway? How can a girl shop when there’s no-one wait on her??), Jamison said it was an apothecary, or something.

Bjorik and Jamison start talking about how to make an explosion (why would they want to do that, anyway?), which made me think of one 4th of July when Daddy got cherry bombs, so while they’re buys talking I went upstairs and got some cherry bombs and a lighter. I went back downstairs, and gave them to Jamison with a huge grin. He started to ask me where I’d gotten them, then shook his head and said “Never mind.” Wonder why he said that?

Bjorik and Jamison started talking about how to get out, I almost told them to just walk out the front door, but they sounded serious, so I thought it’d be better if I just left them alone. Sometimes guys get mad when you point out the obvious to them. Anyway, Jamison left for a little bit, saying that he was going to check out the cherry bombs to see if they worked. I don’t know why, I wouldn’t get any duds, but I guess he just wanted to make sure. When he came back he said that they didn’t work, then gave me back the lighter and said, “Thank you.” Of course, I said “You’re welcome.” He kinda gave me that same annoyed look that Daddy does sometimes, and said that the lighter was empty. Ooops. Anyway, I told him I’d try to do better next time. He said that since I was family, that he’d forgive me. Of course, I said “I don’t know why you keep saying that, we’re not related!”. He then told me that he’d had a private meeting with Queen Vielle, where he made me an honorary member of his family, and since I wasn’t family yet I hadn’t been invited. Sounded reasonable to me, so I said “OK!” with a big grin. Now all I have to do is find out what honorary means. . .

Anyway, Bjorik and Jamison sent the Viking dudes outside, as a distraction, they said, then we leave the building from a different way. Townguys outside saw us (they were all hanging outside. Must have been some kind of weird party or something. . .), then started saying “Here. . .they’re here. . .” Looked like something out of those icky zombie movies! Anyway, they head for us, and Bjorik gives me a dagger. Jamison and Bjorik start attacking the town zombies, and there’s blood and guts and stuff, and it was so icky that I just stood there and couldn’t move. . . I think Jamison yelled something, I don’t really remember much, Bjorik grabbed me and picked me up, then he moved me to Jamison, then Jamison carried me, then I got hurt, and I don’t remember anything after that. . . .

I woke up in a tunnel, looked down at myself, and I looked strange!! Not to mention the fact that my clothes were pretty much gone. Eeek!! Maddie said I could turn into anything I wanted to (okay, almost anything. . .), so I guess that’s what happened. . .anyway, I turned back into myself (what a relief!), but I was pretty much naked, and TOTALLY dirty!! I hoped that no cute guys would see me like this, I’d be SO embarrassed!! I thought that maybe I should try to get to Jamison, only when I tried to pull myself to him it didn’t work. Oh well. It was dark, so I pulled one of those big square flashlights so I could see. Checked, my backpack was still there (whew!), so I started walking down the tunnel I was in. It was so gross and smelly! I keep walking until I find a ladder, then climb it to find I’m in town. Uh oh. I DID remember that Bjorik and Jamison wanted to get to that creepy mansion we saw, so I headed for that, making sure to stay hidden. I didn’t want the town zombies to find me, and I REALLY didn’t want anyone to see me this messy!! Totally bogus!

I get to the creepy place without anyone spotting me (thank goodness!!), only I can’t get the doors open, so I go around the building ‘til I find a broken window. It has a dead body in it, and I try to get the dead body out (that was just SO ICKY!!! EWWW!!! I TOUCHED A DEAD BODY!!! EWWW!!), but it’s stuck. I end up climbing over it (EWWW EWWWW EWWWWW!!!) and through the window to get in. I see a set of double doors open, but leave those alone for the moment, since they led into a hall. Found another door, and looked around to find a room with a water pump. YES!! I pump some water, pull me some AWFUL smelling soap, but I didn’t care, ‘cause I wanted to get CLEAN!!! And wash up. I then pull myself some fresh clothes (just stuck with getting exactly what I was wearing before), and get dressed.

Once I was done getting cleaned up, I went back to those double doors, I saw bodies EVERYWHERE!! Found a way down where I didn’t have to crawl across bodies (EWWW!!!), and ended up in a basement. The first room I was in had a wine rack, so I tried the wine. It must’ve been bad or something, ‘cause it tasted salty, and was kinda thick. Find a hallway, and two doors. One’s open with lights inside, the other’s dark. I peek inside the lit one, and see two people looking at something on a table, only I can’t tell who they are ‘cause of the light. When they started to head out of the room, I ran for the other one. I’d just shut the door when a voice said, “Hey, Little Girl,” I turned to look, and it was the late lady from the party, and I heard Jamison’s voice outside the door asking if it was me. I told him yeah, and he and Bjorik came into the room, and I shined my flashlight into his face. He asked me where I’d gotten it, I told him I didn’t know (I don’t know where I pull things from Diary, unless I try to pull something of mine from my house. . .), he asked me if I could get some more, and I said that I could, then he left the room. I noticed other tables in the room, checked ‘em out, and found out that the people on them were locked on, including the late lady (she’s Maeryn). I thought that while I was getting the flashlight, maybe I could get some keys to try on the locks, so I left to go back where the icky wine was. As I went through the hall, Jamison was pacing up and down it, and didn’t notice me. Thought that was kinda weird, but then Daddy usually paced when he was trying to think of something, so I left him alone. Went into the icky wine room, grabbed some more of those square flashlights for Bjorik and Jamison, and a bunch of keys, then a bag to put the keys in. The bag was WAY too big, but I didn’t want to take the time to find a smaller one. I was getting kinda tired, anyway.

Walked back into the hall, Jamison had quit pacing, and I gave him the flashlight, then the keys. He seemed kinda surprised about the keys, I wonder why? Don’t you use keys to unlock a lock?? We tried the keys, none of them worked. Bummer!! Jamison tries picking the locks, and has no luck. I went back into the hall, got more keys, but none of them worked either! Maeryn described one of the guys that she’d seen, I went back into the hall and thought of him, and tried to pull keys from him. I did it, but none of those keys worked either! This was getting really frustrating!! Anyway, the guy Jamison keeps calling Father called me over to him, then suggested that I use my insight to look inside the lock so I can find a key that matched. Since he seemed to know what he was talking about, I did, and pulled another set of keys. I was so tired, I didn’t think to go out into the hall, Maddie’s gonna be really mad when she finds out, since she told me that I wasn’t to let anyone see what I can do. . .we won’t tell her about my umbrella either, will we Diary? Those keys worked!! YES!! So anyway, we unlocked everyone, then Jamison told me to keep an eye on the elder Amberites while he and Bjorik went into town. He looked really mad, so I didn’t say anything, even though I wanted to tell him not to go ‘cause of the town zombies.

Maeryn went upstairs to find clothes for herself and the rest of the guys, since they were all naked. I kept an eye on them, just like Jamison asked, giving them water and stuff. They were in two separate rooms, and I tried pulling the two from one room into the other one so I wouldn’t have to run back and forth, only it didn’t work. Guess I was too tired. .. Anyway, one was shaved bald, and out like a light. One of the girls had green hair! Cool! Maybe I should dye my hair too. . . Maeryn came back down with clothes, then told me that she was going to leave to try to find a way out. When Jamison and Bjorik came back, I told Jamison what Maeryn had told me, then Jamison and Bjorik moved the others upstairs. I found an empty bed, and I totally crashed, I didn’t even get undressed!

When I woke up the next morning, I got a change of clothes, and a pair of boots that actually fit right, then I went and cleaned up. I got dressed, and went to find Jamison. He was in the kitchen trying to find stuff for breakfast, so I offered to get stuff for him. Since he’d already seen me do my thing last night, I went ahead and just pulled stuff right in front of him. Since his dad knows what I can do, I thought it would be okay, anyway. I tried for a Happy Meal first, only it was only lukewarm, so it was kinda icky. It came with a cool Barbie figurine though, so she went in my backpack. So I pulled a big platter of scrambled eggs, then some orange juice (y’know, the kind in those glass quart jars), and milk and apple juice, then I brought in a HUGE biscuit! Yum! That wouldn’t work very well for the others though, so I tried for a BIG platter of biscuits, and got them, then got a big platter of hash browns. Then I fixed me a plate and made a TOTAL pig out of myself! But I was hungry, Diary, ‘specially since I’d only had pretzels the day before!

cross-posted to my journal

For your amusement....Tina! pt 1

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:38:40 GMT

Okay, I was looking through my gaming folder this morning, and came across the diary I did for one of my RP characters, a cute little air-headed girl named Tina. So, I thought, "what the heck?" and decided to post it....

Some background....

This was a Chronicles of Amber game, Tina was what was considered "lost in Shadow", that is she was raised not knowing she was related to either a chaosian or an amberite [player-wise I didn't want to know either, it's easier that way when you're playing someone who doesn't. Unfortunately the game didn't last long enough for me to find out...LOL] In Tina's diary, the Lotus = the Logrus [the Chaosian's version of the pattern. From the descriptions I've read, kind of think about a multi-tentacled blob that can be used to reach across dimensions and grab stuff for the wielder. The "Maddie" that keeps getting mentioned was someone placed to watch Tina, I think, and posing as a maid in her household.

For those *not* in the know, to be *extremely* simplistic, Shadow is essentially alternate dimensions, Chaos and Amber are the polar opposites [and yes, they're places] and the template that Shadows are based on. [for what it's worth, Earth is considered a Shadow too. LOL] The Pattern and the Logrus are used by Amberites and Chaosians respectively, and can be used to go from one Shadow to another, as well as to Chaos and Amber. Chaosians are shapeshifters, since the Logrus is essentially highly unstable, so you have to be a shapeshifter to keep up with the changes when initially walking it [basically Pattern and Logrus are patterns on the floor that one walks, and has the power when they're finished].

Now that I've totally confused you I'm sure...on with the diary!! LOL

TINA’S DIARY
HANDS OFF! (and this means you!!!)

Dear Diary!

How’s it going? Okay here, I suppose. Maddie told me today that she wants me to meet a cousin of hers, Mandor or Malador, or something. She says that he’s going to take me to someplace I’ve never been. I hope it’s as cool as the Lotus was (you remember me telling you about the Lotus, don’t you Diary? Oh well.), otherwise this trip is going to be dullsville. ‘specially since I don’t know this Malador guy or anything. Well, gotta go, I have to get dressed up an’ everything, apparently Malador is taking me to a fancy dinner or something. YAWN!!

Wow, Diary, here I am in a BIG, HUGE CASTLE!! Really!! Malador says that this is, umm, Castle Amber, I think. While we’re waiting for dinner I thought I’d catch you up on what’s been going on.

Malador showed up, he seems nice enough, and once he thought I was ready took me to a city. Told me the name, but I don’t remember for sure. Maybe it was Amber too. Not too original, huh? Guess the guys who built the city and stuff didn’t have much in the way of imagination. . . Anyway, I didn’t realize we were in a city at first, we pretty much traveled the same way I went to see the Lotus, so there’s not a lot to tell. Hard to put into words, really, everything goes by before you really register it’s there. Anyway, we end up in this room, and if it was any indication of their decorators, they SUCK!!! The room was SO boring!! Daddy’s ditzy blond secretary could decorate better than that!!

Malador leaves, I guess to let someone know we were there; these guys need servants in a MAJOR way, there wasn’t anyone at all to greet us! SO uncool! Anyway, I wait for him to get back (it took him FOREVER!! But I was good, Diary, really I was. . .), and when we got back we left. We rode in an enclosed carriage, with curtains and everything, WAY neato! I scoped the town as we went through, and noticed something weird. No cars or trains or buses or anything. Everyone was riding horses or walking. ‘course Daddy has said that there are some places in England that don’t use cars or anything (how weird is that?), so maybe that’s where we are. Saw some kids who just HAD to be poor, they were playing in the street, and they were so DIRTY!! Not to mention their AWFUL fashion statements!! Ugh!! You wouldn’t have liked it much, Diary, I think.

We leave town, and all I see is forest (BORING!) on the side I’m looking out, so I tried the other one, so I got to see the Castle as we got to it. Anyway, we got shown to our rooms (I’m going to HAVE to talk to one of Daddy’s decorators, these guys need some MAJOR help!) so we could freshen up for dinner. Ooops, there’s Malador at the door now, I’ve gotta go. More later!!

THIS SUCKS!! THIS REALLY TRULY SUCKS!! MADDIE’S GOING TO BE SO MAD AT ME, I’M NOT KIDDING!!

Okay, Diary, maybe I should start at the beginning. Malador and I went downstairs, where everyone was waiting to get into the banquet room. Met this guy who HAD to be royalty, ‘cause he was wearing a circlet, and he introduced me to his blind wife Vialle. Anyway, they FINALLY opened the banquet room, and we found our seats (it was cool, everyone had their own symbols on the back of the chairs; well, at least mine had that pink rose thing that I like so much!), and they started dinner. They were serving wine, and I was going to be a good girl, Diary, and not drink any, since Daddy says I’m not old enough, but Malador said it was okay, so I drank it, but I really shouldn’t have. . . Anyway, this girl came in late and took her seat, and we were into the umm, third course I think, when this guy dressed like something out of a circus (I have only one word; TACKY!!! That guy SO needs a fashion consultant!) comes waltzing in, disrupting everything. He kept stopping and talking to guys on the way to his seat, I guess that he was trying to be friendly. IMHO, Diary, I don’t think his folks raised him very well. So rude!

Anyway, during the main course, some guy named Mr. Belvidere (can you IMAGINE, Diary? Poor guy, I sure wouldn’t want the last name of Belvidere!) stands to make a toast to the guys at the head table. To King Randy, or something like that. This guy sounded really snooty, Diary, if he acted like that growing up I’ll bet the kids made all kinds of fun of him!! Anyway, Belvy makes the toast to King Randy, then proceeds to tell the others that the wine was poisoned!! See!! I’ll listen to Daddy in the future, I swear, Diary!! Anyway, this guy at the head table jumps up with a knife and fork in his hands (what was he going to do, Diary, have Belvy for dessert??), and passes out on the floor. Don’t remember much after that, Diary, that’s when I passed out myself.

I’m glad I didn’t have a mirror when I woke up, Diary, I must have looked a mess!! Oh well, at least I didn’t land on my plate! All the guys at the head table were gone, except for the blind lady (some guy was trying to wake her up), and when I checked Malador was gone too!! After yelling for him for a few minutes, and him not showing up (RUDE! First he brings me to a place that I’ve never been, surrounded by people I’ve never met, and then LEAVES me! When Daddy gets home and finds out like this I’ll probably be grounded from going to the Mall for A WHOLE WEEK!!), I got up and looked outside, and noticed that there weren’t any guards. This cute guy comes and asks me what’s wrong, and I tell him Malador is gone, and ask him where the servants are, since I haven’t seen any.

CUTIE must have needed a drink, or was still hungry or something, ‘cause he went looking for the servants. While he was gone, the girl that arrived late and Mr. Tacky started talking about how cute he was, and fruit, and what they’d like to do with Cutie, so I left! (Daddy doesn’t want me to do THAT sort of thing either! And they were just TALKING about it! Eww!!) Anyway, I found Cutie, he was in the kitchen, I guess, he’d found Mr. Belvidere all tied up and said something about shape-shifters. Well, I responded by showing him that I could shape-shift too, then he showed me that HE could shape-shift, so I had to show him that I could do my whole body too (I’d just done my hand the first time).

Cutie said that we should go back to the banquet room, and he kept asking me who my father was. He looked kinda annoyed when I just kept saying Daddy. Well, what does he expect, he DID ask!! Anyway, just before we got to the banquet room, I told Cutie that the others were talking about him and Mangos, since I thought he should know that they’re so crude. He looked at me kinda funny when I told him that.

Dear Diary,

Yep, here I am again! Hee hee. Okay, here’s what’s happened so far. . .

Cutie had a servant show me to my room. Fortunately I looked in the wardrobe, ‘cause there wasn’t any clothes to be had! I asked the servant if there was someplace that I could go shopping to get some, she said no (imagine that, no mall or anything! I’d go CRAZY!!!!), that people who stayed in the castle usually brought their own clothes. I was very good Diary, and not rude, ‘cause I almost told her that when I left home I wasn’t planning on staying the night! Anyway, she asked me what I would need, and I told her that something to sleep in would be a good start. She told me to make a list of the things that I might be needing, and she would see what she could do. I wrote down a few things, then thought I’d try to get some of my clothes myself.

I sat down in the middle of the floor, thinking hard about what I wanted, just like Maddie showed me, and tried to pull them towards me. And it worked!! Maddie’s going to be so proud! If she doesn’t kill me first for losing her cousin. I hope she won’t be too mad. . .

Anyway, I hung my dresses up in the wardrobe, and the servant showed up with a nightgown and a pair of underwear. Diary, this has GOT to be the plainest thing I’ve ever seen!! I was good though, I only made a few faces, thanked her, and gave her my list. As soon as she was gone, I sat down on the floor and tried for my underwear. No Plain Jane underwear for me!!! Anyway, I did okay that time, only I brought my whole drawer!! At least I got my underwear inside of it too (although when Maddie comes to clean up, she’s probably going to wonder where it’s gone. . .), so I changed clothes and went to bed.

A servant woke me up by knocking on my door, so I forced myself out of bed. I mean, who in their right mind gets up at dawn anyway?? I thought I’d better get some stuff out, since Cutie had said something about looking for the missing people, so I sat down on the floor and pulled my backpack to me, then tried for that cute shorts set that Daddy gave me for my birthday last month. It took three tries, but I finally got it. I got my tennis shoes too, then got dressed. When the servant woke me up, she said something about them serving breakfast in the dining hall or something like that (I had to ask a servant for directions; he just went ahead and took me there), so I went for breakfast. Cutie was talking to another guy, who had books all over the place. Said his name was Bill Roth Attorney, so I asked him if attorney was his last name, and he told me it was what he did. I then asked him if someone was in trouble. I watch TV Diary, I know that whenever you need a lawyer, it’s usually ‘cause you’re in trouble. Mr. Roth kinda laughed, and said that he hoped not.

Cutie FINALLY introduced himself; his name’s Jamison. A servant asked me what I wanted for breakfast, I told them biscuits and gravy and orange juice, and as that one left, another one brought Jamison his food. Diary, I know that guys can eat a lot, but it looked like Jamison was practically eating a whole farm’s worth!! He’s gonna pack on the pounds big time if he keeps eating like that!! Anyway, I saw the hash browns on his plate, and realized I forgot to ask for some for me, so when the servant came back with my drink I asked for some of those, too. I asked Jamison if he was really going to eat all that, and he gave me a funny look and said, “Of course, cousin, you should make sure you eat plenty too.” I don’t know why Jamison keeps calling me cousin, since I’ve never met him before, I’m sure we’re not related!!

Anyway, this other guy comes in, (I think he was at the party last night, but I don’t remember for sure. . .), introduces himself as Bjorik. Bjorik and Jamison start talking, and Jamison tells him that his father is Caine, then Bjorik says his is Gerard. When Bjorik asks me who my daddy was, I told him “Daddy”, then Jamison said that I apparently didn’t know who my daddy was. That’s not true! I grew up my whole life with my daddy, of course I know who he is! Anyway, Bjorik and Jamison start talking about the trip, then Bjorik asks if he can bring along some companions. He goes on to explain that where he comes from, his people think he’s the son of a god, and his followers think that they’re in Valhalla. I asked him which god was his dad, and he told me Thor. Diary, you should have seen it! I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair! Poor guy, I mean, his daddy likes to wear dresses!! Snicker.

Anyway, Bjorik says that he’s gotta get his guys and everything ready to go, so he leaves. A few minutes later, Mr Tacky comes waltzing through the door. Jamison asks Mr Tacky his name, and he responds with Jonathan (he still needs a fashion consultant, though. . .), and asks him who his parent is. Mr. Tacky doesn’t respond, and Jamison starts rattling off names that I’ve never heard (well, except for Caine and Gerard), and Mr. Tacky reacts to Fiona. He called her a bitch, and I told him that you’re not supposed to say words like that. Anyway, he and Jamison talked a little more; I ignored him, I finished my breakfast. Jamison finishes up his, then tells me that we need to get going to the stables. As we’re leaving, I tell Mr Tacky “Hope to see you again. . .not!” Guess I was probably a little rude, but then so was he.

Jamison and I went down to the stables, I realize that I’m dressed all wrong for riding horses, and go off to find a tack room. I pull myself a pair of jeans, a blue jean jacket, and a pair of riding boots. I leave my tank top on, put on everything else, and pack the tennis shoes and shorts into my backpack with my cards. Anyway, when I come back to where Jamison is, Bjorik’s there, and a LOT of Viking-looking guys! We head off, and I get kinda bored, so I start singing “Happy Trails”. The Viking dudes must’ve liked it or something, ‘cause they started singing too!! Anyway, it starts to drizzle, then to rain a little harder. I didn’t really want to get wet, so I pulled my umbrella to me, you know, the clear plastic one with the little Tweetie Birds all over it?? Anyway, I don’t think the Viking guys liked it much, they started grumbling, and Bjorik looked back, and when he saw my umbrella he asked me where I had gotten it. I told him I’d gotten it from home (I didn’t lie, Diary, that IS where it came from!! Well, at least before I bought it at the mall. . .), and he told me that I really shouldn’t do it again, ‘cause the Viking dudes don’t like magic. I told him I wouldn’t.

It starts raining harder, and for a minute it was raining fish and frogs!! Eww!! I’m telling the truth Diary, really! Anyway, I scream (of course, wouldn’t you have?), the Viking dudes start making hand signs and getting their weapons ready (I guess they don’t like frogs and fish either.). The rain turns into a nasty storm. We got off the horses and let them go, then tied ourselves together with rope that happened to be around the bend of the trail we were following (that was lucky, huh?), and continue on. The storm gets so bad that we can’t see very well. There were a lot of lightning strikes, it was really noisy!! Anyway, we lost a Viking dude when he got struck by lightning, and by the time we found a creepy looking village we were down to eight Viking dudes.

By the time we got to the creepy village, it was dark, the only way we were seeing was ‘cause of the lightning, and we spotted a place and went inside. It turned out to be a weaver’s shop (though his stuff wasn’t very good. . .), and Jamison arranged to have us stay in the shop overnight with the owner. He also asked the owner if he could partition off an area with blankets or something so I’ll have my own private space (wasn’t that just so SWEET of him?? Sigh), and the owner guy did. I pulled myself a nightgown (it was yucky, Diary, but I was too tired to try for something better), pulled out my cards and laid them all out to make sure they dried okay, laid my wet clothes out to dry too, and went to sleep.

cross-posted to my own journal

The coolest knitting pressie ever:

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:32:09 GMT

I must gloat, because I can.
We put a limit on x-mas pressie spending this year as a way of weaning ourselves off the holiday and commercialism.
so we had a limit of £50.00 each.
I got the best x-mas gift though.

I am the proud owner of over 500 knitting needles in various sizes and the number keeps growing as people from the care home next door die and I seem to get the old needles. So I needed storage for them because I was sick of rummaging around in a cardboard box looking for me needles. Some of these are really nice vintage needles.
Anyway;
I got this:

Click on the icon to get the full picture.
And no that is not the full 500+ I only have half in there.

(x-posted to brit_knits, mizzadamz& punk_knitters)
EDIT-> can be found Here

hello

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:42:50 GMT

gaming and knitting! HUZZAH! I love to knit and I love to game. I DnD, I love board games like Powergrid, and Betrayal at house on hill, card games are great, I've played both Dnd minis and star wars minis and im not sure how I feel about those, and I love video games. I love knitting an crochet, I also sew. I am going to school for fashion design, and let me tell you, not enough gamers, they all take themselves too seriously, they don't want to create, they want to be the next channel or whoever they love. uh, ok, my intro turned into a rant, sorry. ^-^

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 23:05:44 GMT

Alright ladies, I need some suggestions for yarn shops in Vacouver and south of Vancouver. My Canadian boyfriend has decided I shall go with him to his mother land and I made him promise that we'd visit game shops and yarn shops.

Who can help me out?

I have a knitting question

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:50:18 GMT

Where can I get a yarn baller and How do I use it? I discovered that I prefer balls of yarn instead of the pull skeins due to knots I get. Where can I find a good one?

knit theory

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:57:14 GMT

I found this article very fascinating.

http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-06/features/knit-theory/

New Member and a Request

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 15:15:58 GMT

Even though I have been watching the group, I hadn’t decided to join it for whatever reason, until today.

I am working on a simple campaign and I have decided to follow the advice of Johnn Four of Roleplaying Tips and I am writing a newsletter for the campaign.

Instead of just writing something almost dry, I am adding gossip, rumors and legends as well. As part of these not-quite-accurate reports, I am looking for phrases about various monsters that may or may not be accurate… You know as friends would tell each other to show off or whatever.

To make an example: Let’s assume that for game purposes, Vampires are not averted by garlic, crosses and running water. However, because Thunderhill the Dwarf happened to have been eating garlic and running past running water and a cross at the time the vampire stopped chasing him (incidently, the reason would have been it was a mere hour until dawn and he had to return to his location) and ran away, Thunderhill assumes it was the Garlic or the Cross or the running water or all three that frightened the vamp away and he starts telling everyone this revealing information. Starting a rumor that eventually gets people killed because they think they are protected.

I want something like that! Anyone have any ideas for Ogres, Kobolds, gnolls, and other monsters killable by a party of players at first level making about a party of CR 3 or so?

Oh yeah, might also tell you. This is DND v.3.5 in case that helps any… which I don’t think it will matter.

Thanks for any comments with suggestions or quotes I can use!

[Go Knitting! Go Gaming! Woohoo!!!!]

Mon, 29 May 2006 00:09:22 GMT

just in case you've never seen it... I can relate...

Maytilda, DOA

Fri, 26 May 2006 08:47:00 GMT

Well, it had to happen eventually. We were hogging space on someone else's account, for Asheron's Call, and they finally have to let them go.

So, I went in and did some rearranging and was a big old tourista and took pics of my char and our houses and such. heh Whoever ends up with our houses are in for a BIG surprise, not the least of which is in mine. [when you purchase a house, if the previous owner left stuff in there, it's still there for you.] AC had something that was essentially monetary notes. the highest being 250,000 [I *believe* that's what it's worth, it's MMD...heh And yes, they did use Roman numerals to number the denominations], and in my house chest there's....130 of them. Oh yes, whoever ends up with my house is *so* not going to have money problems for a bit. hehheh

I should go back and get at least one pic of the hubby's char too.....heh

[also posted to my journal. ^_^]

What our take on it?

Thu, 18 May 2006 19:52:55 GMT

Alright, so...

The Wii. What's everyone's opinions on this?

I personally, am interested. Or, was highly interested and then less interested because their marketing ploy with this one seems annoying low-balled. I was very interested in a new controller. As a person with small hands, I can't even hold onto the original X-box controller and still be able to reach all the buttons. So a controller meant for everyone, that's already wireless, sounds like a great idea to me. Games, I'm "eh" about. I have a childhood connection to Nitendo, if they come out with any storyline mario game or mario parties, I'll buy those and try to find some other interesting titles. I'm a tad weird in my game tastes anyway. Marketing ploy...that's annoying. They're specifically marketing the games to women and "other non-gamers." What makes women non-gamers, in the first place? We are the fastest growing group of video game players on the market at this point. I hate it when game groups specifically say "We're trying to get women to play video games" because- drumroll please- we already do play video games. And then, the games that they are specifically making seem so stereotypically middle-school-girl-antics based that I just want to beat people over the head with a system. Think Nitendogs with more bows. I mean, come on, some times a girl just wants to shoot stuff, and blow up buildings. Wanna market games towards women? Make your female protaganists a body shape that could actually stand up in Earth's gravity.

*End Rant*

Sorry, got a bit carried away. Please, input your opinions. Inquiring mind wants to know. :)

Saturday Still Life

Sun, 07 May 2006 11:02:58 GMT

Here's a still-life that sums up my Saturday nights - a pair of socks (well, one and a cuff) perched atop a stack of gaming books. When the game gets slow, I knit.

I gotta start knitting simpler stuff at gaming though, combat starts and I havta frog a couple of rounds for messing up the pattern. Maybe another level or two I'll get that second action so I can knit and attack in the same round.

Pattern: Sixth Sense, current project in the Sox Sox Knitalong
Yarn: Tip-Toe Sock Yarn by ColorJoy, color Seaside

crossposted to starsongky

A sheepish hello...

Fri, 05 May 2006 21:32:45 GMT

um...
Can boys play too? Or is this a girls-only club?

If folks are curious, I've got geek knitting cred a-plenty.

For the record, I heard about you all on Cast-On and it took me this long to find (since I din't think to try an underscore in the name).

Why didn't I think of this??

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:25:40 GMT

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard your ad on a knitting podcast. So incredulous was I that I promptly FORGOT the name and had to go poking around in a couple of the knitting communities picking other peoples brains (mmmm, brains.)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has thought of the idea of combining two of my fave activities. Now I can tell my guy sitting at his desk next to me that he can now stop giving me that odd look, I'm not alone! I was starting to notice that knitting was taking away from my gaming, and my gaming was taking me away from my knitting, and then one day it dawned on me that it doesn't have to! These days, I'm mostly playing WoW... so now those 'empty' times are used up: long flight to Gadgetzan = several rounds on a sock; trying to get a group together for an instance = plenty-o-time to knit; 'delivery-type' quests = put me on auto-run and nudge the directions with my needle as I knit!

I wonder if I could start a "knitting" guild in game and actually get members? ;)

Hello

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 16:23:03 GMT

I'm new and I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Stonewife1 and I have recently begun knitting while gaming. I find it smooths out those times while I am waiting for my turn to roll dice or roleplay. Some of the games I like are DnD, D20 Swashbuckler (7th sea---->D20), Cthulu, GURPS, RIFTS and Munchkin.

New Member :D

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 08:20:35 GMT

Hey everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself.

I'm an Animal Biology major, and a major knitting geek. Like, I check 5 different communities 10 times a day. I also took a spinning class at school so I could have more yarn... XD

If I'm not knitting or in class, I'm playing Guild Wars. I'm so excited I found this community!:D

<3