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  • #1174

    Balbina had had a quite difficult week. Feeling cold, having trouble to find sleep, not even speaking of being unable to do the kind of out-of-body travel she had managed to do last time.
    She was almost starting to doubt she could redo it again.

    Of course, the relocation at her son’s cottage was a source of much change in her habits, and although he wasn’t at home most of time, she wasn’t really feeling like she was ‘at home’. Strangest thing really, as for the time she was at the hospice she wasn’t feeling as much an alien as in this cottage. At least, at the hospice, she was in a sort of neutral environment, some place where she wasn’t undesirable (would it be asking for too much to actually be desirable at her age?). Here, the environment wasn’t neutral at all; everywhere everything reminded her of her son: his books, the posters, even the dust on the coffee table was almost looking as though it was his own.

    So she had to adjust. Contort her energy to fit —to crumple herself!— into this place, as it would be likely she would spend quite some time here. She wasn’t asking for much really, as she wasn’t able to move from the bed he’d had installed in the spare room. Ghastly room, with a creepy wallpaper from a has-been era of the past days, year 2000 or close she’d guess, gaudy as it was… oriented to the south, with hardly bearable heat during the day. She would have loved to see the coast on the north, but instead, the only window was showing her the shade of the trees, and that ominous alligator-green mountain just behind.

    If she couldn’t project in her dreams as she managed to do before, she would soon either die of boredom or of heat. She wasn’t too sure which one would be the most painless and efficient.

    She pushed the button to have her bed roll a little closer to the window; once straightened up a bit, she was able to see the passageway to the mountain. She couldn’t explain why she didn’t like this mountain; it was quite beautiful; perhaps she feared to be lost and abandoned. All the more since she could feel so much presence in this environment. Unseen presence, and trickster ones too.

    She was tired, and yawned so much her tense jaw’s muscles ached.

    On the emerald path to the forest, a moving teal wisp of light caught her attention. Funny plays of light at this hour of the day. But the wisp was persistent, and it started to move towards her.

    “Good day Balbina!”

    The crazy rabbit was back again. And… she was sleeping? In or out?

    “In or out, smell my foot, it’s your choice, and matters not
    but be quick, and come forth, for Anita and her folks this wicked way come!”

    “The tune is set, the tunnel is close
    Of playfulness you’ll need a hefty dose”

    #1146

    “Oh My God” exclaimed Bea. “I had a dream about the DOOR!”

    “Oh, well done! The question is, did you remember it?” asked Leonora.

    “As a matter of fact, Leo, I did!” replied Bea with a happy smile. “As a matter of fact, although I’m not too sure how factual matter really is, but anyway, I did remember the dream, and I wrote it all down.”

    “Gosh, up early this morning, weren’t you?” asked Leo, who was sipping coffee at the kitchen table and watching the sun come up over the mountains through the open door.

    “Oh I didn’t write it down this morning, silly! I wrote it all down last week.”

    Leo placed her cup on the table and rubbed her eyes, frowning. “Wait a minute, let me get this straight…..”

    Bea laughed ~ she was in rather a jolly mood, despite the early hour. “I had the dream last week, Leo, but I only just realized this morning that the dream was about THE DOOR

    “So what did you learn about the door, then?”

    Bea frowned. “Well I’m not really sure. But it seemed so significant because it was that scary door, you know, the dreams I’ve been having for years about that door in that bedroom that’s too scary to get near, never mind go through….would you like to read it? Maybe you can interpret it for me.”

    “If I must” sighed Leonora “You better pour me another cup of coffee then and pass me those cigarettes.”

    Leonora read from Bea’s Dream Journal:

    I was sorting winter clothes out on an upstairs landing of a cottagey gabled house,
    and decided to use the upstairs bedroom instead of the downstairs one.
    The bedroom was a recurring dream one, gabled attic with dormer windows kind of room.
    Then I saw the door and remembered this was the door I was always too terrified
    in dreams to open; it was so scary that I always wanted to use this bedroom
    but never could because of that terrifying door and whatever lay beyond it.

    “Didn’t you do a waking dream and go through that door?” Leonora asked. “Oh, yes here is is…”

    Remembering that I had done a waking dream and gone beyond the door once,
    I marched up to the door, flung it open and strode through.
    Suddenly an almost overpowering fear and dread stopped me in my tracks
    but I carried on anyway.

    “Oh, bloody well done, Bea! Good for you, girl!” Leonora could be a bit waspish at times, but she was a kind old soul underneath.

     It was a bit like a old slightly shabby but once grand hotel foyer, high ceilings
    (not the same as when I went through in the waking dream, which was then rows
    of closed doors on either side).  The foyer opened out on the left into a large old
    fashioned restaurant dining room, with one person over on the far side sitting at
    a table.  I carried on straight ahead through opaque etched glass double doors
    onto an upstairs outdoor terrace.  There was a city scene below.  On the left
    was a shallow ornately shaped ornamental pool.

    “Reminds me a bit of our trip to Barcelona, this does, eh” Leo commented.

    “Yeah, I’m sure that had something to do with the gargoyle imagery” replied Bea.

    A woman squeezed past me holding a small thick book and I knew she was
    going to jump off the terrace which was several storeys up.  She collapsed into
    the pool, writhing backwards, baring a flat white breast and dropping the book.

    “Flat breast, hahah Bea, that weren’t you then, obviously, was it!”

    Bea chuckled. “Not bloody likely! I reckon that bit slipped in the dream because I can’t find a comfortable bra lately”

    “You and me both” replied Leo. She continued reading from the journal.

    I picked up the book, and somehow ended up with two books, which seemed like guide books. I couldn’t hold onto the two books with the creature in my hand, which was weird, like a very heavy small furry grey reptile, or gargoyle.

    “Maybe it was a baby dragon?”

    “Don’t say that!” retorted Bea, who had a horror of dragons. “The thought did cross my mind too, though” she admitted.

    I was holding it with one hand round its middle and the fat grey belly of it
    was bulging out under my fingers.  It was unbelievably heavy for such a small creature
    and I didn't want to hold it, so I passed it to a boy. (Twice I was holding the creature,
    and twice I passed it to the boy, but I can't recall the other time)
    Back inside the building, I followed the boy down a big wide staircase that
    curved round to the right at a landing below.  I started to fall down the stairs and
    knew it was because of the book that I was holding that the woman had been holding
    when she collapsed into the pool, so I threw the book down the stairs to save myself,
    and felt the tumbling down from the books perspective, although I stayed in
    the same place, clutching the banister.

    “Well I am amazed that you remembered so much, Bea! Going through the doors and finding the books reminds me of Jane’s Library you know”. Leo was starting to go into an altered state.

    “Are you going into an altered state, Leo?” asked Bea. “Are you channeling Juani Ramirez again?”

    “The creature, the gargoyle, was representing ‘a different species of awareness, of consciousness’” continued Leonora, as Bea hastily started taking notes. Leo wouldn’t remember what she’d said while she was channeling Juani, so it was essential that Bea record what was said.

    “The weight was a marker to help you recall the creature, as well as being symbolic of denseness”

    Bea couldn’t help making a snirking noise. Dense eh, she said under her breath.

    “The door” continued Leonora “Is a signpost, a marker.”

    Just then the phone rang, snapping Leonora out of the trance. Bea picked up the telephone, but there was nobody there.

    “Pffft” said Bea.

    “More coffee?”

    #1120

    Sometimes I wonder… said Yurick as he watched the strange headline in the news:

    Ike set to bypass Keys

    #1114

    Inside the cave, the presence of Leormn, though not completely gone, had diminished strongly. Most of the creatures inside the cave were thriving on his presence and his continuous reshaping of the corridors or the chambers. His presence was fading out gradually, and some of the more sensitive creatures were beginning to feel a discomfort, a kind of emptiness or a sensation of cold.

    Malvina was not alarmed yet, it was a good thing he had allowed himself that little escapade. In a subtle way, he was reconciling some aspects of himself that he had been unaware of yet, and it was also a surprise to Malvina that the gates would reopen in that particular time frame, to the long lost sister of the Duane. Her awareness of what her dragon was doing was dim, and it had been so since the door had shut after the passage of Arona. This young girl had more than one trick up her mouldy cloak, and though she was unaware of most of them, she had an innate sense of using them wittingly.

    Malvina smiled at the thought that she was quite similar to the girl when she was young… a long time ago.

    But for now, she had other processes to set in motion. She focused on herself and adjusted her energy to match the signature of her friends Georges and Salome. It didn’t took long. Their presence was quite strong. As they were busy at the moment, she decided to go for a walk and meet them on her way.

    :fleuron:

    Georges and Salome were in the pool chamber that Leormn had kindly created for them inside the cave. It was continuously provided in hot water by a spring located on the ceiling and several families of glukenitch had furnished the place with the perfect amount of light…

    Georges was following her progression from a ledge made of a rock similar to granite. He’d always been fascinated by her way of expressing her grace and technical mastery in any domain. When they had met, she couldn’t swim… and she wouldn’t. It’d been years later, when she had got rid of her wariness of water that she had considered the idea.
    Now she was as comfortable inside and outside water, as well as in many different environments.

    Being continuously connected, their energy field mingled in such an intimate way, he could easily turn his attention on her physical sensations; all the tiniest movements of the water upon her skin and also all of the adjustments she was making to her body inside and outside to improve the efficiency of her movements.

    He dived off his observation point to play with her.
    Alerted by his movement, she went deeper into the pool. He knew that she hadn’t modified her body to the point of incorporating gills, because it was usually difficult for her to get rid of them afterward. She had a soft spot for apnea, though and she was quite able of staying under water for lengthy amount of time.

    Still focused on his swimming, he began to redirect certain aspects of his body consciousness. Some were unnecessary for his purpose, so he got rid of them; and he needed to give some other qualities to his skin. It took him a few seconds to shape-shift and he focused on his new physical senses to indicate him where she was.

    When she realized what Georges was doing, she resisted the impulse to go to the surface.
    What is he up to? she thought. When he’s in the process of shape-shifting his attention is so oriented inside that I can’t usually get any impression about his new shape, but

    A flash of light illuminated the water around him, and the rhythm of the blinking cells of his new skin was creating a time related pattern with an hypnotic effect. Salome was feeling drowsy and she had to maintain her attention on herself or she’d better get back to the surface soon. If she wanted to play with him now, she would have to change form too.

    #1111
    AvatarJib
    Participant

      With the winter coming so fast (no more season you see), Dory was busy tidying her patio waiting for the next plane to Long Pong.
      All the dusty trinkets and the artworks she had brought back from her different excavations; she had to put them into some shelter, just in case. Last week the temperature had plummeted so quickly. She had to take the warm clothes out of the closets and realized she also had to change some of them in the process. Some unfriendly moth had eaten the wool of her favorite sweater…
      She was feeling dull and empty. Almost like she had no more purpose. Doing that cleaning and tidying was a way of distracting herself from that impression, she knew it would pass.
      Since the departure of her friends, Yann and Yurick, she had felt a bit lonely, even with Dan being present.
      She lacked a new excavation project, one that would fill in her blood with excitement and passion.

      An odd thought made her shudder. For a moment she had considered the idea of having a baby.

      — “No!”
      Really, she should find something worthy of her unlimited energy and not something that would chain her in habits and force her attention outside of her. Though, she seemed quite short of energy lately… However, it was not the time, not the place… and merely not the life for it.

      She wondered : what were her friends doing?
      Yann and Yurick were most probably preparing their new book, and Finn had told her last time that she was on the verge of adopting a baby Orangatun“she would need spare jungle in her garden”, she chuckled at the sudden vision of Finn gardening her jungle… Well at least it would give her a good distraction.

      She stopped her tidying and came back inside the house. Where was the wireless phone again? Apparently everything was a mess… she’d have to rethink the “no” she had given Dan last time he had asked her if she needed a butler.

      Oh! under her former favorite sweater, of course! She took the phone and composed Finn’s number. Maybe she would extend her trip from Long Pong to New Zealand…

      #1098
      TracyTracy
      Participant

        BREATHE, Finnley, just BREATHE” whispered Rudiah, the upstairs parlour maid. “Just agree with him, it’s easier. It will pass when the drugs wear off. BREATHE……”

        #1052

        Playing hide-and-seek in the corridors, Irtak and the twin dragons were running and laughing.
        Passing in front of an oddly thoughtful Leormn, they stopped and looked at what he was contemplating.

        “What a nice door” said Heckle.
        “Nice and softly painted for sure” said Jeckle.

        “It’s funny” said Irtak. “I like funny things, and this one is very funny :-? it looks like you could go through it easily.”

        #2153

        In reply to: The Story So Far

        ÉricÉric
        Keymaster

          The Crystal Skulls So Far… :crystal-skull:

          The crystal skulls first appeared in the Far West saga, where it’s hinted that around the 1850s, some crystal skulls are found/smuggled by Aldous McGaughran. Their origin is not told.

          It seems that (at least) one of his crystal skulls are passed down to Claudio in Spain through his grand-father’s acquaintance of Cillian Mc Gaughran (one of Wrick’s ancestors) — ref.
          That skull is auctioned and a lady in salmon (the fake viscountess who is in reality an agent of the Mad Baron) gets it. This skull finishes its trip in the Baron’s lair (at around our time ~2007)… The Baron’s mansion will become (in the 2030s?) the home of the twins, and Wrick family.

          Some of the crystal skulls are also found in the past (1950s?) around the mysterious figure of Mrs Chesterhope who is already hunting for them in (Brunei?) sultanate, using Georges to do so.
          Later (around 2008) she locates one on the island of Tikfijikoo, and she sends a gang of magpies to find them, but their efforts are thwarted and she needs to get there in person (and motorcycle).

          The Confregation is an organization which seems to know some things about them and are the origin of the one lent to the Dr Bronkelhampton on Tikfijikoo (retrieved from Crusaders a long time ago).

          Beattie and Leonora Fletcher, a couple of batty Brit ladies seems to have found some of them too , and have a network of their own…

          Later (2030s?), near the Indian Ocean, one is found by Gayesh’s family too

          #1045

          Anita knew there was not much time, although there was the perfect amount of time.

          She had seen in her meditation a secret passageway, a cave under a pool and two people going there, guided by some inner knowledge. All she had to do was to convince her parents to go there with her.
          And perhaps they’ll be able to come back in their own time in 2038, and not in this past configuration thirty years too early.

          “Dad… Dad…”
          “Mmmm… What sweetie? Where are the others?”
          “Not far. Dad, wake up mum, and come with me, I’ll show you…”

          #1040
          Avatar1da
          Participant

            7:33:59 AM 8-19-08 ∞1da Geolocation Time.

            days of sleeping slip by. the light on the peaks soft, golden in the cool dawn. a shiver. the water would be cold but thirst is a motivating factor. movement would mean warmth. birds flitting from branch to branch…

            stones to perch on. river jade at my finger tips. the babble of a quickly flowing stream. scooping with one hand to drink from a clear pool, the musky scent of cedar and low water.

            across the wide stream, a river. actually. no. the amount of water between a stream and a river. a young buck, head bent low also drinking. antlers. how are years marked again? two prongs on each side. is that two years after reaching mating age? or four. no matter. eyes latch across rapidly flowing water. we watch each other. both still, both quiet. both recognizing in each other another survival being of dreams.

            dream memory extending into long ago. no. longer than that. the rules to colonizing a planet. simple universal rules. one band of survival beings with a limited number of nuclear families from any survival being group that wishes to expand into livable planets. set down in one place – with nothing. no food. no implements. not even clothes. if they survive they colonize. if not. well. the universe is full of tried and failed experimentation. The pulse of all that is drawn into a black hole. drawn in and back out through tunnels of light that are trapped within the black hole…

            the fact that more than one form of survival being can attempt to colonize one planet at any given time is both an advantage and a disadvantage. they become resource for each other as well as competition – resource and competition, as is all that is within and upon the planet.

            still that cave, that First Cave. on the tip of the continent in the southern hemisphere… blue ocean view… a beginning that is long ago. how long ago? 160,000 planet years? 200,000 thousand planet years? late arrivals as we are, this is where our colonization is now. Digging to find those memories and what is left of that initial arrival…

            walking up this valley on the other side of a continent, an ocean away from First Cave… funny how time advances forward and backward in both directions – in all directions – and remains the same. This now is the same now as that now and remains the same in both directions as it passes around each of us.

            the sun trickling across the tips of trees lower and lower into the valley. another half an hour and it will be in my face.

            might as well eat breakfast while I walk. thimble berries, currents, oh! yarrow. i could make tea. – if I made fire. If I had fire… or i could make yarrow tea because i have sun. . .

            at peace within because i know i am returning to the High Portal Cave on the mountain, near the timberline. the central entrance, near the ancient pine. The safe harbor of the High Portal Cave, the entrance to a multitude of passageways, interconnecting chambers and stunning connecting points that open beyond this time and beyond this continent – before and after this continent. probably, through the right passage way opening beyond this planet. I don’t know that, it makes sense that it does. I believe I will find out in my memory or in my future. i remember some of these things and places. not all of them. i remember entering, finding the stone trough of water with the wooden drinking bowl on the damp ledge. i remember passageways that lead to incredible places and times. why return now? without knowing i know. this is the way it is because this is the way it will become.

            warm sun on my chest. warm from walking. birds, quiet as i approach, resume their constant foraging as i pass. along the shore the constant sound of the river stream like the white noise of the universe, beautiful and ever present so that if i am not mindful i no longer hear it.

            a walking stick. ok, a broken branch caught between boulders. still green enough to be strong, almost as thick as my forearm with little taper and altho it is not straight, it is a head taller than i am – perfect. a walking stick. a walking staff. i work it loose from the rocks. strange markings… the hand of an intelligent being – a gift then.

            do images become visible on these pages or only the thoughts and sights from within my mind, i wonder. i try to remember not to believe all that i think… if i wonder… then do i attempt to find out? yes, often enough, yes. and why is short hair exciting, new, a sign of adventuring? changes. oh. perhaps. or perhaps it’s a way of changing breath. I smile. I walk on.

            #1038
            TracyTracy
            Participant

              Serendib Facility, Sri Lanka ~ (2035)

              Becky had forgotten all about her new babies now that she had the handsome and charming Gayesh in her sights. During the hot lazy days at the facility while Gayesh was working, she passed her time idly, swimming in the pool, dozing on the terrace, or randomly roaming around the Internet. Sometimes she checked Secondary Clone Becky’s blog all about bringing up triplets and coping with difficult husbands but soon got bored with such mundane affairs. Occasionally she worked on the Reality Play, and often sent reminders to Tina about the Facility , hoping that she would decide to join her.

              Perhaps I could entice her over here with the promise of a menage à trois with the delectable Gayesh, Becky mused, rather wickedly. I’m not sure I want to write about that in the Reality Play though, she thought, perhaps I could add it to my old journals, and then send Tina a link.

              #1023
              Avatar1da
              Participant

                4:21:44 PM 8-8-08 1da Geolocation Time.

                sometimes the flow climbs a mountain.

                pause. step. quick step. pause again. step. upstream another step. the stones solid, smooth, settled beneath my feet with the timeless passing of water. the path of gravity. the rising of a mountain. a rapid, considered, going on pace. sand between the stones. the moments of time. light on the rippling waters flickering. the air transparent, timeless, crisp, cool.

                knowing i’ve passed this way before, i pass again for the first time.

                it’s good to be back. returning. beginning.

                knowing my destination. the cave far above beneath the ancient pine. the boulder near the rough and gnarled trunk, slick and smooth. so hard the sense is of softness gliding with my fingers over the iridescent surface. soft to sit upon, to watch the valley far below extending forever into the distance. soft to recline upon, arcing my back. the warmth of the day in the stone, lingering far into the night to heat my bones. …knowing my destination, i take the next step into all that is new.

                sitting near the water. deep transparent pools of green/blue. the setting red sun. a shelter beneath driftwood high on the bank. a myrtle tree draping a blanket of scent over me, opening my soul. with each breath. i watch the light fading into the words echoing through my skull… life is hard… the song…

                Life is hard
                Anyway you cut it
                Life is sweet,
                Like a berry from a tree
                Life is temptation, baby,
                Every single day
                Life is hard

                Life is funny,
                I dont mean ha-ha
                It‘s not always sunny,
                When it needs to be
                Life is frightening,
                Nothing lasts forever
                Life is hard

                My time
                Is next to nothing
                My time
                Falls on you, yeah
                Everything
                Is in motion
                Life is hard

                Life is precious,
                No matter how you see it
                Life is crazy,
                Like yellow fishes in the street
                Life is lonely
                When you‘re not with me
                Life is hard

                Gentlemen
                Is that you story?
                Hanging religion
                From a tree, yeah
                My time
                Is next to nothing
                Life is hard

                My time
                Is next to nothing
                My time
                Falls on you, yeah
                Everything
                Is in motion
                Life is hard

                My time
                Falls on you, yeah
                Life is hard
                Life is hard

                – J. Mellencamp – while on the planet earth.

                ok. life is also beautiful. – 1da

                it’s a cruel crazy beautiful world – J. Clegg – also while on the planet earth.

                stars flickering in the fading twilight. the silence of a light breeze as pine boughs begin to whisper. the ache of tall trees swaying in the night with a moan like countless masts on the tall ships of a planet. blink. and i sleep.

                #1010

                She was squatting on the sand beach, near the now calm ocean. The light was so dim that she barely could see the devastation, shards of coconut and palm trees spread on the shore, but the sound of the ocean was soothing.

                Aaah she had hold that pee for too long.

                “MAaaAVIS!” That suave authoritative voice must have been Sha’s.
                “COooOMING!” Tsk. One can’t have a pee alone…

                While she was readjusting her two pieces bath suit, ready to come back to the improvised discotheque, her attention was caught by something on the beach. A fire?
                She squinted her little beady eyes to discard any of the hallucinatory visions that sometimes she had.

                “MA-VIS!”
                BLODDY COMIN’!” a hint of exasperation. “Mrs Sharon Stone, you ain’t the queen here” she thought. “I can go look for adventure meself, if I want to”.
                Besides, the fire didn’t seem to be too far away.

                :fleuron:

                With the darkness that made very difficult their progress, Akita had made them stop near the shore, where they would see any trouble coming and had ordered the small troop to collect twigs and bits of wood to light a fire.
                The parents were still in a bit of a shock, and were staying with a blank gaze, looking with an air of wildness at the soothing sound of the waves. Anita was playing nearby, drawing things in the sand, muttering words to herself.
                That was a good thing that Claude was there. Unlike the others, he seemed quite strong, and the adventure didn’t seem to have left him short of resources.
                He had been on the island before, and had said they had to avoid the constructions, which were all owned by the same people.
                For all that mattered, Akita wanted to get to the authorities as soon as possible, but he had to compromise: they would settle close enough to have a check around and see if it would be safe to go there.

                In a minute, Claude had been roaming through the woods and had gathered a pile of wood. That guy was pretty amazing, Akita was thinking. Odd that he had retained his supernatural strength… At least, Akita had imagined that the guy’s strength was the result of the spider exposure, but now he started to doubt it. He had been sketchy to say the least around the circumstances of his presence.
                As far as he himself was concerned, Akita wished he had retained somewhere his connection to Kay, wherever his spirit dog was. What the creature had said? That veils were thicker, but not impermeable… Or something around that.

                I think they’re still hanging around

                What? What did you say? But Anita didn’t answer. Perhaps his tired mind was imagining things.

                With all that rain soaked wood, it would be difficult to get anything but smoke.

                I’ve got a lighter Claude handed him an expensive ziraf that flashed moon reflection in his eyes.

                Let’s get started then.

                :fleuron:

                What now?

                A roaring sound of a flying thing startled Mavis, passing over her head.

                Mmm… this island’s getting too crowded, me think. Must be another of Vessie’s guests… That gal sure’s got how to use her sex-apple.”

                #1006

                Bea sighed loudly, and dragged a tissue across her sweaty face. Leonora obviously hadn’t heard her, so Bea sighed loudly again.

                What’s up with you now? asked Leo, who wasn’t really paying attention to Bea’s incessant whining.

                Oh I dunno, I just don’t know what I want to do, Bea grumbled. My head’s in a fog. I’ve got hundreds of ideas, but I don’t want to do any of them badly enough to even think about starting anything. So then I try to sort a few thing out, you know, so I can bloody find things again, and I just end up with a big pile of bloody miscellaneous. It’s the bane of my life, all the miscellaneous stuff that defies categorizing. I should have been called Miss A. Laneous. I start to sort things out and then I get sidetracked; I never finish any sorting out, I just end up with more and more miscellaneous….her voice trailed off miserably.

                Leo swiveled round in the computer chair, took off her glasses and glared at Bea. Bea, you know you always find what you need by trusting that you’ll find what you need when you need to find it. You’ve told me that time and time again. You’ve droned on and on about that, how you love finding ‘just the thing’ and ‘by accident’ and now you’re sitting there moaning and groaning because for some inexplicable reason ~ Leonora rolled her eyes ~ you think that having things neatly ordered would be a better way.

                Well, it would be nice to be able to find what I’m looking for, Leo, Bea retorted.

                Well if you found what you were looking for right away, you silly cow, you wouldn’t find all those other magical bloody surprises by friggen accident, now would you?

                There’s no need to be rude, Bea said sniffily.

                Now it was Leo’s turn to sigh. Why don’t you bugger off outside and find something to appreciate, you grumpy old bat. “Oh! look at this, Bea!” Leo exclaimed, “Look what I just found by accident!”

                Leo swiveled the computer screen round so that her friend could see.

                Illi sat up and surveyed her surroundings. The sky was a deep azure blue, the sun was making twinkling stars on the waters of the lagoon, a warm gentle breeze rustled the coconut palm leaves, and birds sang and twittered in the foliage. It was indeed idyllic, and Illi decided to simply enjoy it, while her new ideas formed into a reality.

                Illi was enjoying a new found freedom in her contentment, in not pushing her energy in frustration, and meandered happily around the island taking mental snapshots of a thousand delightful and marvelous wonders, appreciating even the smallest most insignificant things. Time lost all sense of meaning: there were deep velvet indigo skies full of sequins, and there were abstract multicoloured sunrises and sunsets; there were cottonwool clouds in cartoon shapes suspended on a canvas of blue. It mattered not the day or night; there was no longer a sense of time passing, just a glorious collage of appreciation and beauty.”

                Bea read the excerpt reluctantly, and harumphed.

                Oh for Gut’s sake, Bea! Leo was getting exasperated. Try appreciating miscellaneous floundering fog then.

                #998
                ÉricÉric
                Keymaster

                  “Okay,” Al started.
                  “At the essence of I Ching, is the notion that everything is mutable, and changes. Everything changes, except the law that says that everything changes.
                  “In many ways, the I Ching is like a book where the pages numbering change every time you start to read it. Not unlike our story composition.”

                  “I get that,” answered Tina, interested by what would come out.

                  “So,” Al continued, always disagreeably pondering, Tina would say. “usually, when people are drawing to read from the I Ching, they have six numbers that give an hexagram. And these numbers are carrying into them their potential change, which usually gives another hexagram to read.”
                  “In our stories, the entries have a fixed identity, which is given by the system; this is our starting point. For your comments, this is ’4-191-328’.
                  “But as everything evolves, our entries are given an order in the book; this order is changeable, and that’s what I will use for the second hexagram; in your case it’s ’2-151-223’.”
                  “If you say so…” Tina sighed, a bit lost.
                  “Oh, I’m inventing the rules as we speak,” Al said trying to reassure her somewhat.
                  “I don’t know if that makes me feel better” she said.

                  “Okay. Now, I need to create the hexagrams; hexagrams are defined by six straight or broken lines; zero or one, binary system. Here, Chinese usually use the convention that odd is straight, and even is broken… Ahaha, doesn’t seem to make sense, but odd is male, unbalanced into action, and is associated with single, straight things. Broken is paired, complete in reflection, unbalanced in passivity.”

                  “And I wonder when we actually start to hear something that makes sense?” whispered Tina, a bit crossly.

                  “Okay, the thing I see, is that I have trouble making one hexagram with seven numbers, ahaha”, Al laughed a bit embarrassed.

                  “Oh, then no point in wiggling like that” said Tina very sweetly, “Scrap any bit that bothers you”.

                  “Okay, anyway we can go deeper into them afterwards if needed; I’ll scrap the first number rather than the last, because you see, 2 and 4 are both even, and thus there is no mutation here.”

                  Original Mutation
                  8 ╌ 3 —
                  2 ╌ 2 ╌
                  3 — 2 ╌
                  1 — 1 —
                  9 — 5 —
                  1 — 1 —
                  4 ╌ 2 ╌

                  “So here we are, if we scrap the bottom one, we get…”

                  #977
                  ÉricÉric
                  Keymaster

                    Well, shall we scratch all the glukenitches droppings first?, asked Leormn in winking dismay. You know, before we put the new wallpaper?

                    A few seconds passed in silence. Naaah, just kidding. Have some paint please.

                    And * pof * a few buckets of shiny flower-scented paintings pots appeared in front of Arona, with some nice brushes dipped in them.

                    #936

                    California, 1849

                    Almost five months… Five whole months they’d been traveling all around the place at a very slow pace.
                    Twilight was enjoying every instant of being in the middle of that strange moving cohort.

                    She had been inspired to write daily. Not much at the beginning, but it was all “in the dedication and intent that marvel would shine through”, as Felix, the Otter man had been saying to her.

                    In truth, she wasn’t really expecting marvels, but marvels had come to her more than once.
                    At times, she even felt compelled to write about it to Jo and Elroy, her dear brothers. Of course, she’d been writing with a clockwork regularity, posting sometimes more than a few letters at each of their settling near a new town, all the way from Texas, to Colorado, Utah, Nevada and finally California. She wasn’t even sure the actual letters were reaching them, but she more than once felt like her thoughts had reached them throughout the distance, and her dreams would confirm her into these intuitions.
                    That trip was hard, harder than she would have guessed, with all the heat, dust and chaotic dirt trails, but the company and fellowship was always uplifting, and a joy of each instant.
                    Even the war between America and Mexico that made travel even more perilous was over after two years, and things all around seemed to settle down more peacefully as if to reflect that truce.

                    And now, looking at all of what she had gathered, she was amazed at these marvels she had collected, those nuggets of their lives, each moment seemingly so fleeting and trite, and yet, as they were put together, all marvelously interwoven.
                    Though she mostly loved passionate real-life stories, she had to admit she had a soft spot (or let it be said, an un-common spot) for one of her most delirious story.
                    She had been inspired to write something about giant ants after she’d been amazed at seeing huge ant hills during their trip in the deserts. There was this mad quack who was trying to extract some sort of honey from giant ants to make a powerful drug, and and she had added lots of her friends from the show inside this story. Herself was a delightful jet-black haired beauty with an impossible name and diverse and frustrated love interests, spying on the mad quack… She even started to dream about that story at times…

                    She loved that gentle slipping into abundant nutness…

                    Now that they were arrived in San Francisco, she was considering settling there for a while, sharing her time between writing and dancing. Time would tell.

                    #930

                    Tikfijikoo was in sight, washed by strong winds and pouring rain.
                    Hopefully, the major part of cyclone Ycart has passed.
                    A faint smile briefly illuminated Mahiliki’s face at the thought of soon being reunited with his love.

                    #928

                    Passing through the security cordon of the giant spiders had been relatively easy, thanks to the indications telepathically passed down to them by the Snoot .
                    With Anita on her back, Yurmaela the gruffoon had come back to the borgulm tree where Claude had been left to watch. After a moment of surprise at the unexpected apparition, he didn’t take long to decide whether he wanted to stay or not and had jumped on the broad back with the little smiling girl who was grabbing on the coarse hair of the beast.

                    Keep you energies and your attention close to us, said Yurmaela Just like Akayli is doing with your parents, Anu. Though they have plenty of eyes, the giant spiders mostly rely on their energy perception, and they won’t see you if you stay within our energy field.

                    A few minutes later, they were all standing in front of the growirling wortex, partially masked by the bark of the huge babul tree, which was standing out with its massive appearance. Flames of what seemed to be dark floating matter were pulsating very slowly, enhancing the thumping sound of their hearts.

                    Ready to come back home sweet Anu? Akayli said fondly to the little girl?
                    Yes, it was so much fun you all came to play with me… I’d want you to stay with me.
                    What do you say? asked Claude They ain’t coming?
                    This reality had a special design which allowed us to project very easily here said Yurmaela very softly in that reality of you, and Anita and Akita; as for now, the barrier in that reality is thicker than it is here.
                    But we are always present around Anu, you know that said Akayli kneeling down to wrap his spotted furry arms around the little girl
                    Yes I know she was smiling And I miss my parents too
                    So let’s go, the wortex will close any moment now

                    #927

                    Funny, thought Yurick.
                    A little bit earlier he had been distracted out of a sentence by an eerie outline of New Zealand islands on the front of a shop in a nearby street, which had reminded him of their friend Finn.

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                    But now his attention was unexpectedly caught as he was passing by the bank’s corporate logo in the other side of the street.
                    That creature looks oddly familiar

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