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  • #305

    Quintin couldn’t sleep.
    Now he was thinking, he had delayed it for too long.
    They all had been thinking of it, talking and glossing over it for so long. Some had dreamed of it, feared it, asked for it to bugger off. Lots of pains and struggles, but it had only been clever or not so clever ways to delay the unavoidable.

    Now, he had an urge to insert it. How come he had not thought of it before. All he had to do was insert it in his reality.
    Well, that would sure mean lots of changes, but after all, no pain no gain.
    Or no abundance.

    ABUNDANCE abun·dance [ ə-ˈbən-dəns ] “The ability to do what you need to do, when you need to do it”

    That’s how Pasha, a Russian friend of Dory had defined abundance — speaking of Dory, now Quintin was seeing how she was ahead of the herd, and a bit of a coal (slow) mine canary too. Quintin would have changed all the world’s dictionaries to have that new definition everywhere. What a task…

    Actually, that’s it! Quintin had feared the implications, as lots of people did.
    It would mean everything would be allowed. Everything would be true, even the most blatant contradictions would be harmoniously living side by side. Struggle would be needless, and all that would be needed to do would be to stop paddling upstream.
    What a mess it could be for salmons and control freaks as himself.

    Perhaps worse, it would change everything, even “past” events where everything would also be allowed, now.
    In-of-body travels (rather than the too classical “out-of-body”), meeting other selves appearing out of nowhere, talking with dead people, or sugarplum fairies, traveling instantaneously to meet Tchaikovsky and have him change his dying swan for a stuffed talking Mother Goose, flying, shape-shifting, manifesting objects out of thin air, the possibilities would be extraordinary… All in that physical reality where everyone was struggling to prove none of this was possible.
    But if everything would be allowed, then be it! And he would go and live in 23, Dragon Alley, Phœnix Ville, Sunnyvalley with Yann (and the others of course, if they wanted to) and do whatever they wanted to do.

    OK. That’s a deal then. Release the camouflages, open the watergates and leave the damn dams to beavers and loosers.

    Let’s insert the Shift, now.

    And let the fun continue, and worry wither away.

    ***

    Well, and what’s that Shift all about?

    Quintin’s friends Michaela and Elias had said about it :

    “You are also bored in the experiences that you have created to this point. You have experienced. You have created in the manner that you have designed previously. Now you choose to be creating in an expanded experience, allowing more of your awareness, more of an opening to consciousness, more of your own creativity and your own abilities, and you are discovering that your abilities are within physical focus limitless. You have merely limited yourselves as an element of your beliefs, but as you are also moving into acceptance of your beliefs, you are widening your awareness and you are allowing yourselves to view how many more abilities you hold and how very creative you are, and not creating your limitations with such severity. Those elements in your reality that have been thought to be impossible are not impossible!” 1

    #304

    Írtak was playing with the dragon twins in the carved woodstones field. It was mostly faced shaped petrified wood that had been carved surely when it was still wood. The faces were quite hypnotic and made him feel often sleepy, but with the dragons he was feeling all his senses enhanced and sharpened. :face-glasses:

    The dragons were growing fast, hatched only a few days ago, they were already bigger than his father… He knew from Malvina that they could take whatever form they wanted, but he’d always thought that their power were developing from nothing to … something… but apparently they were already fully aware. Their leather skin was glowing emerald green, blended with some purple pink shades, or was it the contrary. It was changing so quickly. He was wondering what they were eating, because he wasn’t the one who was giving them any food. And still they were so big.
    Did they have a “real” form? Whatever that meant.

    One of the dragon gave him a mischievous glance and before he could anticipate what would happen, he was facing a growling troll :yahoo_time_out:. The troll was running right to him, seemingly crushing with his heavy body all the fragile woodstoned faces.

    All his attention was on the troll and he didn’t hear the man coming.
    And now the troll was freezed running and jumping forever… Írtak’s head was like a big storm of boulders falling from the sky. Growling, drumbling apart…

    — You have strange games with your dragons.
    — …

    He was gaping at the man… his skin was bluish with pink also and sometimes a bit of yellow.

    — Who are you?
    — Don’t you recognize me? :face-grin:

    Írtak tried to remember something. had he ever met that man before?

    — Oh right, it’s our first meeting… from your point of view. I’d forgotten that. But you see, for me our first meeting is in your future.
    — …

    Írtak was still gaping at the man, this strange skin of him, it was so ambrulin, that color he’d already see somewhere… was it in a dream?
    The man looked at him, and he felt for a moment a warm fuzzy feeling in his body… not particularly located in any part of it… and he would have… no, it was even in the woodstoned faces around him… how could he feel that?

    — Your dragons are wanting to take part in the fun, the man smiled. I’m going to let them go, as I’m not staying either.
    — Who are you? managed Írtak.

    :yahoo_alien:

    — I’m your father…
    :yahoo_alien:
    HAHAHAHAHAH! No actually that’s a private joke… I’m Andrimiñ (AndruhMiiñ?) we’ll meet again in a few years of your time. Your dragons are really interesting then, and so are you.

    Saying that, the time began to flow again in the right direction, the troll was still running toward him, but he suddenly slowed down and stopped, shape shifting into a bluish boy, with a face so similar to Andrimiñ.

    — Where’s the funny man? he said.

    #303

    Becky woke up in a sweat. Her bedclothes were tangled and what remained of her pillow was on the floor. The room was full of downy feathers.

    Sheesh, said Becky, pushing sweaty strands of hair out of her eyes and reaching for her cigarettes.

    What a dream! Wow, I wonder what that witch did to deserve that! Becky couldn’t quite believe she’d had such a violently aggressive dream. All she could really remember was attacking a witch, and slapping her repeatedly, and punching her, screaming all the while DON’T…EVER….DO THAT AGAIN Wangwangawanga…… DON’T DO IT wangawanga… then the witch had turned into a goose, but still Becky kept punching her, causing the poor gooses feathers to fly everywhere, and all the while Becky kept shouting WANGAWANGAWANGA……

    I can’t believe I did that, even in a dream! Becky hated violence so much that she walked out of the room if a violent scene was showing on the television, and she loved witches and geese.

    That poor goose! Becky decided to go back into the dream, to smooth what was left of the gooses ruffled feathers, and apologize.

    She stubbed out her cigarette, and settled back against the pillows and closed her eyes. Now the goose was looking at her reproachfully, in between straightening her plumage, and huffing and tutting a bit.

    I’m awfully sorry about that! I don’t know why I did it. Becky hoped it was a forgiving kind of goose, and not a vengeful one.

    It matters not, I suppose, grumbled the goose, I must have created being slapped around by a sweaty madwoman, though gawd knows why.

    Were you a witch in another focus? Becky asked. Because I was angry with a witch initially, not a big white goose and I don’t know how I came to be pummeling you. Come to think of it, I don’t know why I was attacking the witch either. The witch did look unpleasant though, but you look nice enough….

    Well I don’t look very blimmen nice with my feathers in this state, dearie! And don’t remind me of that dratted witch focus, gawd, I was horrid. Not surprised you lashed out at that one!

    Becky started to relax. Things were looking promising. The goose was turning out to be rather sweet.

    But as you can see, continued the goose, I am not a witch, I am a big white goose now, a rather sweet one too, even if I do say so myself, so let’s hear no more about it.

    Becky smiled broadly at the goose. I appreciate that very much! Oh by the way…what’s your name?

    Angela, answered the goose, Angela Wing.

    REALLY? Becky said, rather rudely, and then caught herself and said: Angela! What a lovely name! Angela Wing, would you like to be in our play?

    #302
    F LoveF Love
    Participant

      Well I think I can answer that for you, said a small round green blobby creature, in response to Roselyn’s question. The creature had actually been sitting there all the time, however everyone had assumed it was some sort of exotic plant.

      Let me introduce myself, I am Frowdup, yes an unusual name I know. I am a long time and faithful friend to the dear little Fairy Princess, who is rather friendless at the moment owing to her extraordinarily antisocial behaviour , such as that which you see so sadly exhibited before you.

      Frowdup cleared his throat in an important and significant sort of way. I will try and relate this sad tale as succinctly and precisely as possible, he said.

      Our dear little Fairy Princess was the head Fairy Princess of the Hot Pink and Sky Blue bands of the North East Fairies from the Land of the Long White Cloud. Each Fairy Princess in her initiate years has a witch assigned to her, to help her develop her magical abilities. Our dear little Fairy Princess was designated one of the 13 Witches of Loathing, Whanga, from the far North of the North Island of the Land of the Long White Cloud.

      Dear Fairy Princess had her own cave which she took admirable pains to make sure was always fully stocked with sand. You know about the sand of course? I can see you are a woman of great stature, no offense intended, I mean I can see you are tremendously well versed in the ways of magic yourself, so you will know that some of the more basic ways of magic involve a symbolic representation of magical symbols, so to speak, such as sand and wands and whatnot sort of thingies. Really completely unnecessary, of course, as you will know, however for her, each grain of sand was the exact and precise equivalent of one wish, activated by a determined wave of her magic wand and the words abracadabra. Yes, I know, very primitive, but she is a very young initiate, although I will say she showed great potential had Whanga the Witch of Loathing not managed to convince her of her own lack of worth.

      Whanga was constantly and every single moment whispering in the ear of the Fairy Princess magic spells of self loathing. My young friend lacked the expertise to counteract these powerful spells and began to believe them. One day she was so sad at her own horridness that she could bear it no longer and put a spell on herself. This enabled her to curl up into a deep sleep of forgetfulness for a rather long time, enabling Whanga to easily procure said wand. In addition to this Whanga managed to obtain the source of the music which the Fairy Princess felt she required in order to help her to fly. When the dear little Fairy Princess awakened from her sleep, she was devastated by the loss of her wand and music, and still convinced of her own worthlessness you see this poor creature before you today.

      The poor creature had stopped sobbing and was glaring at Frowdup.

      #292
      TracyTracy
      Participant

        Becky, if the truth be told, was astonished at the lack of logical comprehension of the other script writers on her additions to the reality play. And not only that, they seem to have missed completely the Key Point of her recent addition to the unfolding saga. She sighed.

        She’d thought Tina might have cottoned on to it, she was always banging on about keys, and sand, but no, she was too obsessed with her ‘alien invasion’ to even notice. And what was ‘reverting back to her own true self’ all about? How ‘real’ was that? In all of Reality Becky had never known an ‘absolute true self’… Reality According To Becky was like… well, like sand….shifting, moving, changing, ever forming and reforming… why, a single grain of sand could even be in more than one place at the same time, shifting and forming and changing in many realities all at once…

        Becky sighed again. Whoever in all of reality would want to contain all the grains of reality sand inside the confines of one measly sandbox?

        #291
        F LoveF Love
        Participant

          Oh yes, it is all perfect, interjected Tina, in her new soft and gentle voice. Thank you so much for helping me to understand.

          AHAHAHAAHAH, laughed Becky, nearly snorting, Tina are you okay today?

          Well no actually, my head has been pounding for the last 24 hours. I think I have been taken over by those pesky aliens again. They tell me that the only way to get rid of them is to revert back to my own true self.

          Hope you do it soon muttered Becky, all this niceness is quite unnerving.

          #1447
          TracyTracy
          Participant

            :yahoo_alien: Oh is this wh :yahoo_confused: at the salmon was all about! Eric, the Elias quote you posted in the diary is exactly what I was wondering about yesterday! Interesting….. :world:

            #1309

            In reply to: Yuki’s Livrary

            ÉricÉric
            Keymaster

              October 12 th

              Lots of movements have been started, movements of expansion, and the joint efforts and ventures took off for new exciting potentials when the migration to the new “expanded sandbox” (as playfully expressed by Quintin) has been completed.
              Interestingly, it has been relatively painless and quick in both the find of the perfect “method”, and the perfect “tools”. In noticing how the feelings where acting as a compass that was telling him whether he was in the right direction or not, and in trusting them, Quintin has incorporated that tool without previous knowledge of its potential use. He just knew it was right.
              And so it is.

              October 16 th

              My dear friend Elias has expressed some time ago this, which may be interesting for the adventurers to read and see how it applies to them…

              “I expressed to you at our last meeting that some focuses continue each other as ‘sequels’ of books. … They are continuations, so to speak. Although they are not accomplished linearly, you may view them as continuing chapters of the same story. In this, they would be considered parallel focuses. You may view within your new game many focuses in which you have held experiences quite different to each other. Then you may also view some focuses that are seemingly related. You are engaged with all of the same characters within a continuation of the same play.” [Elias, #142]

              #280

              When Rudy the myna had come back crashing on the boat, it all became suddenly a huge uncontrollable chaos.
              The hovering menacing clouds that were looming in front of them were coming closer at a dreadful speed, and even more concerning were the rocks that were appearing everywhere now, that they had more and more trouble to avoid in betwixt the turmoils and eddies.

              So they had finally come to the Great Rift, Bådul was thinking. The back of the legendary water dragon that noone was known to have crossed.

              But Bådul knew better.
              He howled orders to get everybody ready at their posts, and felt reassured when he saw that Austor was maneuvering with dexterity and confidence through the rift.
              He ignored the crazy laugh of Razkÿ, the madman who was now shouting with a manic laughter “We all gonna diiie! AHAHAHAH! DIE! DIE!” Then winking at Bådul and laughing again.

              :fleuron: :fleuron:

              A few months earlier, Northern Åsgurdy

              A huge cloaked figure was riding in the middle of the deserts. The saurhse, a bit small for its rider, was getting tired, but the man wanted to move before the night came. Åsgurdy had a climate which made travels uneasy on land, and only on these bipedal saurians they named saurhses, could Åsgurdians easily travel on the burning hot sands by day. Then, they could gain the high plateaus of rock and ice, where the temperature was kept cold by the high chilly winds. But at night, the deserts would be chilly too, and the cold-blooded creature he was mounting would require a shelter.

              He knew that such a shelter wouldn’t be far away now.
              That region was mostly uncharted as it was fairly remote from all known cities, but that strange man he had met had said he was a traveler who knew were he could find something priceless.
              At that time, Badul had felt he had nothing to lose, and said to himself “when in doubt, go for the experience”.
              He had felt he could trust that man known to him only by a strange name, something like Gheorg.
              There had been nothing boastful about him, and he had been kind to him. He had been the only person in the World he had known to have given him back his dignity as a human being, and even more, to have given him a reason to live.
              He owed him a lot, and perhaps even more as he was now drawing closer to the cave… that same cave which was a mere cross on the torn map he had been drawing hastily before vanishing almost preternaturally, living him a bit of money and that map…

              ~~~

              Roselÿn had felt the urge to move somewhere else. This land didn’t resonate with her energy, and that of Rëgkvist, and of the few eggs the dragon had managed to lay, none had actually been able to hatch.
              It had affected her so much that she had even retreated from her sisters’ usual talks through the glubolíns.
              She needed to move on.

              ~~~

              When he entered the cave, Badul was disappointed. He could feel there had been someone living here quite recently, but it was like the cave was now abandoned. He hoped he could have found more answers, but now it was again like burning sand slipping through his fingers.

              In a fit of rage, he took a boulder as big as him and threw it across the cave with a roar.
              Something was brought down by his huge force further down into the cave and he heard it quite distinctly.

              He tied up the saurhse at the entrance of the cave, and entered it with determination, ducking through the tunnel too narrow for his big baby-faced frame. Then he found something glowing. At first, he thought it was some gold, but what kind of fool had been living here before and had been in such a haste to move as to forget gold?

              It was not gold. It was something like a broken shell. The broken bits were like a jigsaw puzzle and he wished he could make it one, as he was attracted by the strange radiance of the thing.

              :fleuron: :fleuron:

              Austor did not believe his eyes…
              They had crossed the Rift, all three of the ships.
              And it was nothing like the dark void they had nearly expected behind.

              It was an open sea, glistening in the sun, and all hope had come back through them all.

              #279

              Once Illi had realized she was dead and could ‘go’ anywhere she liked simply by creating the ‘place’ around her, she decided to take a long relaxing holiday on a deserted tropical island. She would float in the warm lagoon, feast on coconuts and pina coladas and mangoes, play with the dancing lemurs and build fantastic sand castles on the beaches. As she visualized it, it appeared as if by magic all around her…the sun warm on her head, the sand between her toes, the gentle breeze fragrant with exotic blooms and the sound of gossiping parrots filled her senses. She closed her eyes and flung her arms wide in appreciation for the physical joys she had recreated, breathed deeply and relaxed for the first time since she had died. Finally, she felt like she knew where she was, even if that ‘somewhere’ was as ‘nowhere’ as ‘anywhere’ else, just another ‘elsewhere’ really…..

              Illi stretched out on her back on the golden sand and squinted up at the cloudless deep blue sky. How nice, she thought, not to have any aches and pains, not to have to worry about shifting and those bloody belief systems, how simply lovely to just BE, with no perceived responsibilities, no interruptions…

              Just then out of the corner of her eye, Illi saw movement in the sky. Something was descending onto the island. Illi couldn’t make out what it was, and wished she had a pair of binoculars. Silly Illi, she said to herself, reaching for the binoculars that had appeared beside her. I keep forgetting I can create anything at all.

              Holy Moly! A great fat roly poly nun with a huge jolly grin was wafting down from the heavens, with an irridescent turquoise fairy in tow. They were landing on her island! We’ll see about that! Illi jumped to her feet and stomped off the beach and into the mangroves, sloshing angrily through the watery roots….. until she realized she could hover above the ground, which was a much easier way to travel.

              Hovering was much quieter too, and the jolly fat nun and the bluegreen fairy were quite unaware that Illi was peering at them from behind a peachy hibiscus bush. In fact, the blooms on the hibiscus had grown to a most ridiculous size, and Illi could hardly see past them. She hovered to the side a bit, and decided on impulse to make her presence known to the intruders.

              BOUH! :yahoo_skull:

              #1341
              TracyTracy
              Participant

                :yahoo_cow: :yahoo_kiss: :yahoo_billy: :yahoo_not_listening: :yahoo_bug: :yahoo_angel: :yahoo_party: :yahoo_call_me: :yahoo_pig: :yahoo_monkey: :yahoo_monkey: :yahoo_praying: :yahoo_nerd: :yahoo_waiting: :yahoo_peace_sign: :yahoo_cowboy: :face-monkey: :yahoo_cow: :yahoo_heehee: :yahoo_clown: :yahoo_chicken: :yahoo_alien: :yahoo_chatterbox: :yahoo_waiting: :yahoo_idk: :yahoo_phbbt: :yahoo_big_hug: :yahoo_big_grin: :face-kiss: :yahoo_thinking: :yahoo_tongue: :face-angel: :yahoo_alien: :yahoo_whistling:

                #278
                TracyTracy
                Participant

                  India Louise shivered in the draughty corridor and glanced furtively over her shoulder. Bill! she hissed into the keyhole. She tapped softly on the door again, afraid of waking Manon in the next room. It would be difficult enough to explain to Bill, let alone trying to explain to the nosy and rather batty cook.

                  She wrapped her dressing gown tightly round her, and felt the weighty key clunk against her thigh. Eugenia and India Louise had been playing ‘let’s pretend’ with the key that Grandad Wrick had thrown on the bonfire (that India found in the ashes the next day and thought would make a super present for Eugenia….. they both loved odd little gifts).

                  For days they’d been wandering around the many corridors and wings of the Wrick castle, and Eugenia’s ancient rambling Sandlebright Hall. On fine days they’d explored the grounds, the aviaries and stables and hay barns, the meadows and follies, the lodges and farm cottages, through the spinney to the river and the boathouse, and back through the rose arbours… imagining themselves in different times and places, as different people, making up stories and weaving the key into each little story…… the murder at the boathouse and the key to the mystery… the key to the kitchen and the affairs of the cook… the parrots and the key to the bird cage…… the key to the captains trunk in the attic…

                  Until they found the place where the key didn’t fit into the story…that is to say, the one place that should have needed a key, The Locked Room that only great grandad Wrick ever went in, was unlocked.

                  India Louise couldn’t wait to tell Bill all about it.

                  #277
                  F LoveF Love
                  Participant

                    You are very fat, said Chiara to Roselyn

                    And she laughed. Yes, I am

                    My Nana is fat, but not as fat as you.

                    Roselyn seemed to consider this for a moment, and then laughed again. Would you like to go on an adventure with me?

                    Chiara was not quite sure. An adventure sounded quite fun, however she had some beliefs you were not supposed to go off with strangers, however nice they may seem. But Roselyn did seem familiar to her.

                    Where would we go?

                    We would fly to Fairy Land, replied Roselyn

                    This offer was way too tempting for Chiara to decline

                    Oh yes!

                    Take my hand then, and close your eyes tightly.

                    Next thing they were flying through the air. Chiara loved the feeling of flying, she often went flying in her dreams. She giggled with delight as Roselyn, no longer seeming to be impeded by her fat body, effortlessly did flips and twirls in the air.

                    The colour of the world around them changed, the blue sky became all the shades of the rainbow. Down below, Chiara could see an island in the middle of the sea, which sparkled like broken glass in a kaleidoscope of shifting colours.

                    Roselyn guided them gently down to the island.

                    Chiara gazed around, speechless with wonder and delight and then nearly jumped out of her skin as a loud voice behind her shouted “BOUH!”

                    ******

                    NB: What is Fairy Land like? Well, if you like gigantic flowers, bright colours, and the possibility of unexpected magical happenings, you would probably quite enjoy it. There is loads of spontaneous singing and dancing which can be a little unnerving at first for the uninitiated. You have to be prepared to go with the flow in Fairy Land because the creatures that live there don’t have the same rules as those that come from the “real world” (whatever that is), and many of them tend to be quite mischievous.

                    #1308

                    In reply to: Yuki’s Livrary

                    ÉricÉric
                    Keymaster

                      September 24 th

                      Quintin remembered a snapshot of the notes that Dory had taken during her first trip to the Madagascan caves, a year ago.

                      Relevant extracts:

                      At one moment, I saw some hooded figure in the sideways tunnels… He vanished on the left, couldn’t follow him…
                      […] HE KNEW HIS WAY INSIDE !
                      When he vanished, I had the vision of something, […] like the layout of a labyrinth, of cave tunnels — that are all underground and the many entrances are all over the world… PORTALS
                      focus opening/doors ; time/space…
                      The central cavernous part is some kind of key center, where anyone can meet…

                      This has inspired Quintin to write some notes too.
                      He has the vision of these portals organized as clusters, like a tree, with branches and leaves… I will send him a more detailed image, but that may take him some time to digest!

                      September 26 th

                      The latest additions to the story have inspired Quintin. He had some inkling of how “essence” (or what is somewhat referred as “oversoul” ) and all the “focus” of essence (or lifetimes) interplay, and are not as separate as they sometimes seem to be.

                      Here would be what we will say to him, if he wants to listen:

                      « Now, terminology can become tricky as, for much time, you have been accustomed to be considering of your experience as the projection of that of an “essence”, somewhat separate from you, the lowly focus.
                      Of course, you pretend the contrary, and become quite nifty in brandishing sentences like “I am essence, and I create all of my reality”, which you are and do actually, but that you do not always believe and trust.
                      These terms of “essence” and “focus” were given to you as means for you to better understand the interplay of consciousness. In the beginning of the acquaintance with these new terminologies, you have felt them remotely blurry and unrelated to previous concepts, which was the intention. But now, you once again objectify your understanding in something too rigid at times, and that little story is giving you a hint of what your real power is.
                      And you begin to really experience it, and really pay attention.

                      « As was expressed many times, “essence” is no thing. It is an action.
                      The “essence” is each of you, that very portion of you that you feel when you slide your attention into the comment box.
                      In that, your purpose, you see, is only to experience, nothing more, nothing less.
                      And then time, as you know it, becomes irrelevant, you see. Your natural time is expressed through you and your explorations.
                      Notice how playfully, as essence (essence playing focus or focus playing essence), you let your natural time unfold, and at times find some strange weather pattern in your awareness that needs clarification. As essence, you playfully find the most perfect habits [shapes and clothings] to wrap around you, and continue your story.
                      Just as your dreams at night overlap and blend into each other.
                      Just as Rafaela created new focuses [Sam and Becky] to continue to play and make the story expand for all of the other focuses, Dory included.

                      « That “I” of you is ever present, and is reflected perfectly in others’ perceptions, as you are drawing them to you purposefully. Do not brush aside their adjuncts, for they are also you, having moved your pawns forward, so to speak, through their moves.

                      « Thus understand that the story is a continuous stream reflecting the essence that is you, and your travel through the various guises you borrow.
                      In that manner, it does not matter how much sense it makes in linear terms. Because, in a way, it can’t make sense in these linear terms.

                      « Let us explain this in other terms.
                      When you found difficulties in understanding the “scheme” so to speak, the figure that is drawn by the participants, it is because you apply the linear understanding of what such a scheme should be.
                      In that, you only perceive the “plot” as a succession of dots without a continuity, whereas the continuity is to be found in the other stories interwoven.
                      You are accustomed to stories where a single individual is enacting throughout the play, in a linear continuous fashion. The individual goes through many different actions, but is always the same in your perception.
                      Here, the tricky thing is to notice the continuity throughout the various habits [clothings] taken by the essence(s). It matters not that the essence takes that guise of say, a pirate sailing on high seas, just after having been an old crafty Lord in his windy castle. The underlying aspects of his exploration has been continuous and coherent: in this case, exploring and making sense of one’s exploration. It is just that a certain appearance has been perhaps more fitting to express certain aspects or qualities of essence, but the exploration has been one, throughout the entirety of the experience.

                      « We will let you ponder this, and we will continue our own story, writing about you… »

                      September 28 th

                      This sand symbol that Quintin has brought up seemed to have come from many directions at once. Each character has connected it, in various ways.
                      Armelle (Arona) to her magic, Rafaela (Becky) to her collecting customs, etc. etc.

                      Let us say that this symbol is not as innocent as it may seem. There are lots of associations with sand.
                      It is solid, yet fluid. In association with water, it can be used to build, and also to erode. It can shift into many forms, one of which is your glass, and your electronic components.
                      And most of all, it is, after your very oxygen, the most abundant constituent of your reality.
                      It is almost limitless in your understanding.
                      As is your magic.

                      This magical device we made Quintin see in a visualization is an analogy of your very action of creation as essences.
                      The sand which molds itself to make forms and shapes in three dimensions is in fact likened to your consciousness. Each grain of sand represents your links of consciousness that bind together to do your command.
                      The shapes are moved by your essences, in which you may see that the essence is no thing at all, but is a continuous stream of action, not separate from others’.

                      As Quintin said to Fiona, some individuals do differently when they create and shape their sands.
                      In analogy with the coloured sands, some people like Quintin enjoy using other people’s colours in shaping his own characters, while some others prefer to keep their own colours, to create a more definite sense of individuality. But they integrate the others’ movements and shapes nonetheless, regardless of how much they perceive it to be coming from them.

                      With that said, let us see how much more will appear from that sandbox…

                      September 30 th

                      The Wrick family tree as it is now (or “will be” drawn around the time of the twins in 2057).

                      The Secret Life of Margaret Wrick , a newspaper cut from 2033.

                      October 7 th

                      The dragon Naasir’s dream
                      A panorama illustrating the portals between the worlds created by each of the participants… But who is dreaming, really?

                      And an illustration of Chiara’s encounter with the glutton “dreggun” Buckberry

                      #79
                      ÉricÉric
                      Keymaster

                        These are excerpts from Yuki’s diary, explaining some of the details of the experiment called — Malvina’s story —.

                        Note: for the reader not familiar with all the names here is a quick reminder:

                        • Araili > Yann, Írtak, Sam, Jacob …
                        • Armelle > Fiona, Arona, Tina, Qixi …
                        • Rafaela > Dory, Illi, Becky, Rodney …
                        • Yuki > Quintin, Al, Janice …

                        September 12 th, 2007

                        Today, an experiment has been launched by Quintin. Time will tell if it will bear some fruit, but the idea sounds good.
                        Having people join in a story telling, and see what happens, what are the “lessons” one can draw from this…

                        Armelle, Rafaela and Araili are already on the starting-blocks, though Quintin is not quite aware yet.

                        I can hear some thoughts: Let’s say for the moment that there are no rules. We will see what prompts the desire for having rules…

                        September 13 th

                        Some of the people familiar with Janice and her friends’ adventures have already joined in with much enthusiasm.
                        This first comment seems very promising.

                        Right now, it feels easy and fun.

                        Quintin seems to think that everything is very straightforward.
                        The magical world with the cave in one part, separated from the “real” world. (Two Worlds, and he thinks that will be enough to content Rafaela, ahaha, how presumptuous)
                        The first he sees as a representation of what psychologists think of as “subconscious”, and the other being the conscious, physical part.

                        But of course, he thinks he knows better than that. He calls the first one “subjective” rather than subconscious, because it’s a translation of subjects which unfold in many related objects in the “objective” or physical world.
                        That’s a good point, though a bit distorted. It would be better to say Malvina’s World is a translation of the subjective, in the manner of a Heroic Dimension.
                        But the thing is, that he missed the point in thinking one World is more “real” than the other.
                        We’ll be having some fun soon…

                        First remark… The second comment of the story has been interrupted abruptly in the middle of a sentence. That is interesting. We will urge Quintin to leave it as it is, despite his feeling of it being awkward.
                        We will appeal to his imagination.
                        It seems he has heard the suggestion.

                        September 14 th

                        For the most part, the story starts to get much involvement. Lots of energies are being projected into it, and with every adjunct, each participant’s perception stretches to accommodate the changes and smooth out the bumps in their own sense of continuity.

                        But as I expected, some challenges seem to appear already.
                        Is it raining or not in that world?
                        The question seems simple, but it is very profound and Fiona seems to struggle a bit with it, as is Quintin. The question frame itself [“that World”] shows where the difficulty lies.

                        He seems to avoid the discrepancy and pretend that he has not seen it. Mmmm, avoiding the obstacles… that will very soon come right back in front of you dear Quintin, for Dory is quite playful.
                        At least Fiona has been challenging Dory for not paying attention… Armelle’s ineffable loving ruthlessness!
                        How will it unfold?
                        Rafaela seems to be delighting herself as though she’s preparing some mischief, but Dory struggles in the “back”…

                        September 15 th

                        Dory is indeed very playful and her imagination is unrestrained. I extend much appreciation to this focus of Rafaela, especially as Quintin has to stretch his imagination to make things “fit”.

                        Quintin is still avoiding the issues that appear sporadically and prefers to stay focused on his own perception of the story… Careful Quintin :face-smile:

                        Yann joins the fun —objectively, that is, for Araili has been present already since the very beginning.

                        September 16 th

                        Halcyons days…
                        My dear friend Archie is answering some of Quintin and Yann’s questions.
                        Something starts to dawn on Quintin. But his mind is on other matters.

                        He understands that the energies of the writers are melding in writing the story, but he still tends to think that they blend completely.

                        September 18 th

                        Quintin has been drawing some of the characters of the story. It’s interesting.
                        He had good insights, as Yann will tell him later that his clothes today were exactly the same as the colours he had drawn.

                        Characters drawn:

                        • Mavina, Leörmn the dragon and weaszchilla, Írtak, Huÿgens (and Fjutch), Arona and Illi (the gripshawk)
                        • Malika, Quintin, Yann, Fiona and Dory

                        Interestingly, Fiona resolves her issues in her cave.
                        Dory too, but she did not need the cave to do this.

                        September 21 st

                        For Quintin, the story seems to lose all common sense, as some characters move from World to World. You could have expected that Quintin!
                        And Dory pops in and out, in her mind, in her dream state, or in future timeline mixed with present or past one.
                        Quintin will soon realize that he himself is doing this constantly, though he does not register it.

                        But the worst thing for him is that there are bleedthroughs in between Worlds. The Reality Times newspaper was brilliant Rafaela, a perfect trigger for the beliefs that the Worlds are closed and impermeable to each other!

                        Archie has been answering new questions about that story and this had been quite interesting for all of the participants.
                        There is much for them to digest from the realization that each of them had been creating their own versions of the stories through their perceptions. And that they were each having their version of the story, drawing from each other’s input, like a conductor of an orchestra incorporating some instruments.

                        Of course, some things still matter, and one of the point of the story is also to discover these.

                        September 22 nd

                        Quintin has been drawing new characters.

                        Characters drawn:

                        • Båd Al’Guz (Bådul), BelleDora, Buckberry the dragon, the twin dragon eggs, Archibald the parrot, Sanso the Wanderer
                        • Illi Fergusson, another Illi that Quintin has tried to sneak in as a bait for Dory, with hints that she is disengaged (or “dead” in common vernacular) and merges with others of her focuses…
                        • Jacqueline Bleomelen (Nanny Gibbon), Lord Wrick, his great grand children the twins Cuthbert and India Louise, Manfred, William P. Jobsworth the painter

                        A new perception trick: Dory felt relieved upon seeing the moth feelers of BelleDora.
                        She had at first thought they were whiskers, which was not Quintin’s intent…

                        September 23 rd

                        Quintin seems to have connected to a map drawn by Lord Wrick, when the old Lord has started to document his great grand children travels.

                        Quintin had tried to put some annotations on this fragment, but he doesn’t yet completely understand that his perception of this World, though accurate, is only valid in this present moment, and may change at any time.

                        Up to now, here are the names he could find:

                        • North: the Icy Lands, and Dragon Cemeteries
                        • Center: Goldfindely, homeland of Arona, connected to the Warring Kingdoms of Lan’ork by the Isthmus of Ghört’s Hammer. The Isthmus of the Dragon Head seems to lead to Malvina’s cave and hideout. Mount Elok’ram is pointed as the highest place of the World yet discovered. Three main rivers are drawn: in the ancient myths of the people of this land, they represent the three Daughters of Ghört, weavers of men’s destinies: Tibreÿa, Uleÿa, and Snimeÿa. Snimeÿa cuts the thread of life, which is shown as the river leads after many meanders to the Marshes of Doom.
                        • Far East, North: the Land of Båd Al’Guz, Åsgurdy. A harsh mountainous land of islands and seas.
                          Both parts of the World seem to ignore each other till now, as they are separated by the Great Rift, which in the past has deterred many intrepid navigators.
                        • South: the Desert Lands. Illi’s birthplace, rarely explored by humans thus unaware of most of its marvels, gripshawks nomadic tribes included.

                        When he discussed Arona’s village with Fiona, Quintin had the vision of some dolphin-like creatures, but bright yellow. They are called golfindels and are mostly seen on the northern shores of Arona’s homeland, which is thus called Golfindely.

                        #268
                        F LoveF Love
                        Participant

                          Fiona had more or less given up on getting the pebbles from Yann, deciding they must have got lost in the post, so that evening when she happened to check the mailbox when walking past she was very surprised and delighted to see a package from him. It was way too late for the postie to have been, so she was intrigued as to how they had got there and where they had been all this time.

                          The three pebbles, well a couple of them were more like small rocks really and she was most impressed that Yann had sent them, were from the cave in Scotland he had visited a few months ago. Yann said the small one was from the cliff, the red one was one of the pebbles outside the cave and the grey one was from the stream inside the cave.

                          Fiona held each of them in her hand and got quite a strange feeling from them, and some interesting pictures came into her head…..

                          Yann had also sent a furry toy, a little scottish hairy cow. Apparently on his trip these hairy cows had reminded him of her. Fiona was a little perplexed by the seeming similarity but decided to believe it was a good thing. how quaint! she thought bless him :yahoo_big_hug:

                          #261

                          In searching for a sheet of paper to do some sketches of images going through his mind, Bill found an old poem he had started a long time ago, when he was feeling like he was completely transforming himself. He had not finished the poem, but had kept it all along…

                          It said:

                          I’ve been wandering through the valleys of death
                          Where time knows no ending and all is gray
                          And shadows seek nothing but oblivion itself
                          In mazes of mist, minds’ errands led astray…

                          Perhaps it was time to let go of useless things, Bill thought to himself.

                          He watched the paper slowly smoldering and shrinking and falling to black and white cinders into the hearth.

                          :fleuron:

                          Before going to sleep that night, Quintin had the sensation of Janice’s presence. He was surprised, because she was no longer the little girl he had seen at times, but she was a very pretty young woman, with dark wavy hair.

                          She had giggled at his surprise, telling him that yes, she was catching up with him…

                          :fleuron:

                          The City, year 2255 (%)

                          Today was Janice’s birthday, but not her birthday as the Ancients, two and half a century from her time, would have counted it. It was counted from the time of the conception, as the future parents in this time were fully aware of the agreements they would have with the soul they would decide to give birth to.

                          It was a reminder of this agreement between the parents and the child that was celebrated, and not the actual birth date.

                          Janice had felt Cyprus’ presence quite strongly, and she decided to let herself open to the subjective communication. She was conversing with her friend Qixi, and sent her some energy to let her know she would probably remove her attention for a few moments, knowing she would be accepting.

                          When she closed her eyes, she could immediately feel herself engulfed by the strong yet smooth energy of Cyprus; it was like being kissed by a swarm of blue sparkling butterflies.

                          Then she opened her eyes.

                          She was in an ancient classroom, with Cyprus focused as a teacher figure. Cyprus was seated behind her desk and came at once to great Janice.

                          — Good morning!
                          — Good morning Cyprus, you wanted to say something to me?
                          — In actuality, you wanted me to tell you something, answered Cyprus with a mysterious smile.
                          — Yes, I thought so. Is it about what I am choosing to do as an activity?
                          — Correct.
                          — You are aware that I want to be creating of worlds, and give them to people that would have commissioned them…
                          — Yes, I am aware. And you wanted me to highlight some misconceptions about that.
                          — Oh, misconceptions?
                          — Yes. As you know, with these worlds that you create, you have infinite potential of explorations. You also know that they are not independent from the rest, even when you take great care of encapsulating them in an energy field. And as such, they are not cut-off from yourself, as soon as you deliver them.
                          — It feels like a tremendous responsibility.
                          — It is, and it is not. The responsibility is to yourself, as always. But, I wanted you to be aware that you hold some responsibility, to examine your own injections into these worlds that you create, so that you can be neutralizing what is not desired, and not merely hiding it deeper inside the world itself.
                          — OK, I will do that…
                          — Ahaha, there is another thing, my dear.
                          — Oooh…
                          — You also wanted me to make sure you understood what I meant.
                          — Ahahaha, I see. Wiggling out won’t be as easy as I thought, Janice said with a smile. So, is it the reason for this classroom?
                          — Nothing is hidden from you, as always.

                          So Janice took a look at the sheet of paper on top of her own school desk.

                          — I’ll be around if you need me, reassured Cyprus.
                          — Thank you, said Janice

                          The paper was like a spot test, with a few questions on it.

                          :fleuron2:

                          Study on a Few Contradictory Beliefs

                          1. GUILT

                          a. An old lord has lost contact with his son, because of harsh things said in the past.

                          Write a short story about him realizing how guilt is not effective, and how past can be changed from the point of present by direct action.

                          b. Detail the main beliefs you can see associated with this action of guilt.

                          2. FEAR

                          a. A man chooses to be disengaging by drowning in a river. During his transition, he faces his fears, helped in that by a friendly spirit. The fears take the forms of a forest of trees, all similar, with branches and malicious roots extending to him. In his previous life, the man thought he was a fool, as an excuse to stand out of the numb crowd. But now he faces this crowd again, only to be able to go on his journey and let go.

                          Write a short paragraph about his journey. Place yourself from the perspective of both him and the friendly spirit guiding him through his fears, and see how he helps himself in realizing he does not need to push the fears away, and that they can disappear easily.

                          b. Detail the beliefs associated with his madness, that he needs to let go of in order to be crossing the forest, and go to the Bridge of Daffoldils that leads to his cave of Self.

                          DUPLICITY

                          In association with the last two examples, detail how duplicity (belief in good versus bad) is influencing of each of the actions, and can be neutralised by accepting self and trusting that you shall not betray yourself.

                          :fleuron:

                          Janice gave her paper to Cyprus, who took it and held it for a moment, evaluating the answers.

                          Cyprus then made it burst into a bluish dancing flame, and when the paper had disappeared, smiled at Janice lovingly.

                          #257

                          When Cuthbert came back to bed after having had his cup of cocoa, India Louise was awake too.

                          — I saw him too, she said to her brother.
                          — I don’t want to see him again, these books are scarey.
                          — It’s intriguing, I want to know more, India Louise said, egging on him.
                          — When I close my eyes, I got all these roots and webs crawling, it’s mad… I can’t…
                          — He has found a friend to help him cross the Dark Forest to the traveling portal.
                          — A friend?
                          — Yes, a friend. She’s special.
                          — Tell me more…
                          — She’s a white unicorn, only him can see her.
                          — Wow…
                          — She’s named Mirÿnda. She’s glowing white, and he hears her speak in his mind, she shows him the way through the forest…

                          :fleuron:

                          — Mirÿnda?! A fool in saffron robe gallivanting in the forest with a unicorn now? That’s all you could find?

                          Tina was taken aback…

                          — Well, I could have used a grizzly bear too, now I think of it… Al answered flippantly.
                          — Tsk tsk, replied Tina a bit annoyed. And why not a humpback whale, or an arctic lemming, or even… why, a leopard gecko for that matter?… And who’s that Mÿrinda anyway?

                          :fleuron:

                          — I don’t know any Amanda, Fiona said to Quintin that night. Don’t really know many of Michaela & Elias’ students. She’s Yann friend, right?

                          Quintin had answered distractedly, as he was engrossed by his last painting…

                          Later that night, he couldn’t find sleep, as the dragon he was painting was still expanding his web of roots and branches in his mind’s eye. He opened his computer to see that Malika was online.

                          She told him something that night, something Quintin found abysmally profound and perplexing about his dragon…

                          Dragons can shape shift, into anything they want to. There are several doorways/portals that they use for travel into this dimension. Malika said
                          — Yes, said Quintin, this drawing has something to do with these portals initially, but I struggle a bit to represent them…
                          Yes, so you can just depict it to be flowing, liquid-like energy in the center, when the portal is active.
                          There are some that are being shone to me on the bottom of the ocean floor.
                          What is being shown to me, is a dragon with a tail much like a mermaid, and hands with webs, big yellow eyes…

                          Wow he had thought, she can really see.

                          :fleuron:

                          Jadra, guided by Mirÿnda, had been moving quite easily through the Dark Forest. Of course, he wouldn’t have dared touch the holy creature, and so he was walking hesitantly behind, taking care of where his bare feet were touching the ground.

                          The Dark Forest was bordering the Marshes of Doom, and at times the limits between the two were almost indiscernible. It was said that every foul, err… fool… damn,…

                          — Will you stop being so buffoonish! raved Tina again.
                          — Perhaps I should let someone else continue then? said Albert.
                          — Well, that’s entertaining, replied Becky mechanically.
                          — OK. I’ll jump in, said Samuel, with a wide grin.

                          It was said that every full moon, the Mighty Shrimp would come from the shores of the Southern Seas and haunt the Marshes in search for souls to be turned into krill, so that he could be the WALRUS (Wrathful Almighty Lord Ruler of Undersea Souls).

                          Well, at least, that’s what Jadra had heard in his youth, when you tend to believe everything… So he was weary of the hiki-hiki sounds in the night that might have been the dreaded call of the Mighty Shrimp.

                          :fleuron:

                          Quintin was having a strange dream. He was a huge whale, along with another one he knew was Yann, swimming powerfully in the vast ocean, passing by strange creatures that could have been mermaids or improbable fishes, when his gaze was attracted by a stream of glittering particles of light.

                          The lights were enticing, he would have said even “mouth-watering”, had he not had the baleens full of water already…

                          :fleuron:

                          Salome was moving through layers of consciousness, something humans focused in physical dimensions would have found difficult to grasp, as it was nothing that could be easily conceptualized. She was, as best as she could put, like a huge cloud of lightness coalescing into a form, when she decided to project her aspect.

                          Taking form into a dimension required no effort in actuality, the consensus reality created by all the essences focused into the reality making quite a strong pull. She only needed to move her attention to what she wanted to manifest. Altering her reality slowly around her, to move closer to the desired effect.

                          She was not only traveling through time and space, but also through multitudinous layers of dimensions unnoticed to many humans —in fact, she was not really moving, but that was a convenient way of telling things for humans…

                          She said “humans”, because she was fond of this particular dimension, where she’d had lots of experiences.

                          When moving through the dimensions, it had her projected focus of attention constantly and naturally adapt its form to the psychological environment.

                          Here, she had just moved through a honey-drops dimension, where focuses were drops of golden honey-like substance, and as she moved through it, her own aspect had changed to that of a sand-glass shaped drop of honey.

                          This was great fun for her to see the ease with which she could focus into this infinite variety of adventures, but for now, her pull was to some more complex physical dimensions.

                          She started to move again, de-focusing, past the lazy honey drops.

                          The honey drops were now shape-shifting to a whole immense field of snake-like strings of light, and they all started to converge to a direction. She knew the feeling. She followed the strong pull.

                          #246

                          Huÿgens was not much of a cat person.

                          He liked his dogs because they were solid, loyal companions, and he could count on them to take care of his herd of langoats.

                          Langoats were a kind of three-eyed manic woolly and horned creatures, with a big sensing tongue, attracted to every new sound, or scent, or colour, or texture… well almost anything new that came before their eyes (when said eyes were not covered by thick layers of wool that is). And as their memory was short too, all kinds of things were always new to them.

                          That was why the dogs were extremely useful in channeling their movements; not that the langoats would have hurt themselves, because they were very able to provide for themselves, and jump from the top of a cliff without suffering much injuries. But they could very well loose all notion of their physicality and pop in and out of the fabric of time and space.

                          When they came back, because they always did magically come back, even after months of wandering, they would at times be reconfigured into another creature, and that would be pointless applying too much effort in trying to bring them back to their previous form, because it was said, in relation to their stubbornness that once a langoat, always a langoat

                          Huÿgens had already lost some, especially during the shearing season.

                          And he had found himself back once with a cumbersome hippoliphant, and a bouncy shulimeek instead of two langoats.

                          Anyway, langoats wool was a very precious asset, highly sought after, as it could very easily bind with magical spells. Most of the clothes made for royalties were actually made with langoat wool, and it was also said that some enchanters had used langoat wool to make magical tapestries that would shapeshift, and reveal things to their owners.

                          So losing a langoat was not small concern for Huÿgens, and he had to be careful during the shearing season to leave some mops of hair to cover the three eyes of the beasts, so as to curb their insatiable thirst for discoveries.

                          But these days, Huÿgens had been very concerned about his herding dog Fjutch. Fjutch was a fluffy black dog he had found when it was still a puppy. He had trained it to become the head of his pack of dogs, when he had noticed the old rheumatic Thöm was taking the puppy under its wing —because the old faithful dog was knowing that it would depart and would reconfigure into a new form, but would not allow that to happen, not before he could have found a reliable companionship for his beloved master Huÿgens.

                          The healing properties of the langoat milk seemed to had done wonders once again, and Fjutch dis-ease was probably just a false alarm, but it had reminded Huÿgens how much he appreciated his dogs, every one of them, every day he was with them.

                          As for the cats… Illi, that was her name, had decided to come back to the cave, and he was showing her the way to the place where he had found her. He had asked BelleDora to pack a few things for her. He could not give Illi the beverage she was referring to as “coffee”, as that plant was not found in their region, but in compensation, he gave her a gourd of langoat milk, because she seemed like she would probably need some.

                          When he left her near the hole, he had some tears in his eyes when Illi hugged Fjutch very tenderly, as if the dog was reminding her of something dear. Illi after a moment hesitation, where she was like speaking to herself and not knowing what to do, finally hugged Huÿgens too, thanking him for everything he had done.

                          And off she was… free and unfettered as a gripshawk

                          ***

                          When Illi had finished arguing with Illi about having her hug the big man, while this was not manners of her kind, she sighed as she saw that the opening she had first thought was here (yeah, because I fell in there! she said), her senses where telling her that it was now closed…

                          How quaint said Illi for herself.
                          — Well, as a matter of fact, it reminds me of something, said Illi F. There was that delicious gentleman, John Lubbock who said “What we see depends mainly on what we look for” and somehow it seems perfect.
                          — I don’t know any Grubbeck, grumbled Illi, a bit irritated that the hole, which was there before, wouldn’t be here, now she needed it.
                          — Lubbock was such a nice person, said Illi dreamily… Perhaps I could just try to have a peek inside the cave, if you let me.
                          — What?! Do again your wizzy wooey thing and I’ll strangle you! Don’t know how I would do it, but I’ll do it!
                          — Oh, you are so sluggishly gloomy! That was just to help you…
                          — Mmm, sorry for that, I was a bit upset, said Illi. What could you do?
                          — Just focus on the inside, and carry us both inside… But actually you would have to leave your body here, and we’ll probably see other things that do not belong to this place, but heck! that should be fun, Illi F said grinning widely.

                          They were interrupted by some munching sounds and ruffling heavy breath.

                          — What the bejeezus is that?! hissed Illi the cat (who didn’t even know how she knew so funny sounding words as bejeezus)
                          — Can’t you see? That’s obviously a dragon eating some bushes… How strange… replied Illi F airily.
                          — A WHAT? I HATE DRAGONS!
                          — Ahahah, relax, I was just pulling your leg.
                          — That’s not funny.
                          — Well he has funny colours by the way. Pinkish purple I wouldn’t dare to wear in London streets.
                          — That’s REALLY NOT FUNNY!
                          — Why so? You can’t see it anyway…
                          — And what if he sees me? Dragons are vicious creatures.
                          — He’s too busy eating these funny berries, and will probably collapse of exhaustion once he’s full.
                          — A chance! A vegetarian dragon!
                          — OK. Shall we try to find an entrance in the cave with my method, or do we ask the dragon? He looks well-mannered by the way.
                          — Oh, by the eyeballs of the Mighty Shrimp, you tell me…
                          — No, you choose.
                          — No, you.
                          — You…
                          — Ooooh, bugger off…

                          #245

                          Captain Bone was packing his trunk. The boat was leaving at noon from the quayside of the fishing village, and the captain was nearly ready to say goodbye to the Sharples family. He’s been happy staying with the Sharples and their unruly brood, but he was a man of the sea, and the salty breezes and rollings waves and promise of new adventures was beckoning.

                          The sea mist rolled over the cluster of cottages as it often did in the early mornings, mingling with the aroma of coffee and freshly toasted crumpets. Captain Bone remembered other morning mists from other shores, warm ones laced with cinnamon and cloves, and chilly ones pungent with fishy smells and squalking gulls…… bright sunny mornings with long golden shadows and the endless half light of arctic northern ones.

                          The captain closed his trunk without checking to see if he’d remembered everything. Whatever he needed on his journey, he knew he would find. Whatever he left behind, he knew the Sharples would keep safe until his return.

                          ***

                          Manolo the vet helped the captain onto the boat.

                          ¡Hasta la vista, hombre! ¡Buen viaje! Long Tom Bone winked and smiled. As soon as he’d set foot on the boat, he sighed a huge sigh of relief, and all the aches and worries of living on dry land drifted away.

                          The Sharples family passed the tissues round. It was going to seem strange for awhile without the captain.

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