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  • #288

    Tomkin had a keen eye, and despite the dazzling light reflected on the calm glittering surface of the sea, he could see a little dark shape detaching itself from the three bigger forms, and that little dark shape was quickly identifiable as a bird.
    Apparently the bird was not from these lands, it was black with white strips, or perhaps the contrary, and was flying like a grake drunk of having gorged on overripe Scotch bonnets.
    Obviously the bird was exhausted, and crashed on the shore where it was nearly knocked out by the grogonuts which fell with big *thuds* from the grogonut tree on which it had just finished its erratic course.

    Seeing the whole scene from the top of the fatly mossy cliff, Tomkin decided his curiosity was a much more pressing matter than taking care of the herd of grakes, so he ran to the little rocky path which led to the beach below.

    Apparently the bird was still alive, and more surprising even, that was a talking bird. It could speak strange words.
    And even stranger, though Tomkin knew none of these words, he could understand all of what the bird wanted to communicate to him.

    What an odd thing, he wondered… The bird was requesting some food apparently.
    Tomkin fumbled in his pocket for some bread crumbs, when the gift of the Captain fell on the sand.
    Could it be?

    Tomkin’s heart was racing. Could it be that there was magic after all in this strange simple gift? The Captain had said it meant all was connected. That could explain why he could understand that foreign bird… And perhaps it worked on other talking creatures and people too…
    A whole realm of potentials seemed to open in front of young dreamy Tomkin, who was quickly brought down to more earthly matter when Rudy the myna pricked his hand with its beck for the bread crumbs, projecting to him “Give it to me! Give it to me!”.

    #286
    F LoveF Love
    Participant

      Pull yourself together Finn, said Finn.

      It was not so much that she needed to pull herself together, more that she wanted to practise saying her new name.

      #282

      — The legend of Mævel — (Part I)

      as told by Cpt Bone to young Tomkin

      In the time of the Gods, the King of the Fairies, Aldurion, fell in love with a beautiful mortal named Theÿa.
      He wanted to make her his Queen but only the Elder Gods could bestow the gift of immortality upon mortals.
      So he went to see Ghört, the God of the Airs. Ghört could certainly grant him what he requested, but for that, Theÿa would have to be transformed into an air sprite. Aldurion wouldn’t be able to hold her again. So he declined the offer, and went to see another Elder God.
      Then, he went to see Nærvel, the Goddess of the Waters. But Nærvel could grant him immortality if Theÿa was to be transformed into a water sprite. So Aldurion declined again.
      Then he went to see Agnima, the Goddess of the Flames, and then Selvaniel the God of the Woods, and Margilonia the Goddess of the Earths. But all of their conditions were the same, Theÿa would have to be transformed into an immaterial and immortal elemental fairy. But Aldurion couldn’t bear to have her changed into something else than she was.

      Then, only one of the Elder Gods was left, the one than few of the Immortals dared talk to, and of whom most mortals were afraid, to the point of systematically using the Old Speech respectful form of address (“Shaint”), when referring to him.
      So Aldurion came to see Lejüs, God of the Forgotten.
      Lejüs was greatly pleased to see him. When Aldurion had finished exposing his request, Lejüs took a moment to ponder. Giving immortality was none of his wonts, as he was keeper of the Forgotten. But he was not without compassion, and seeing Aldurion’s plight, he offered to grant his wish at the condition that, not his wife, but their first born child, would become Forgotten.
      Aldurion was so hopeful that all he saw was that the condition seemed so small, based on a future event that perhaps wouldn’t even happen… All he wanted was to have Theÿa as a Queen, and so the deal was made.

      So became Theÿa Queen of the Fairies.

      A few God’s Years later, which meant in human years much more than a few years, Theÿa became pregnant.
      When she announced the news to Aldurion, he was suddenly reminded of the deal he had made with Lejüs, and was quite distraught, as he had not revealed it to Theÿa. But he remained quiet, hoping that Lejüs would have forgotten about the whole story (well, that was forgetting he was Keeper of the Forgotten).
      So Theÿa gave birth to a little baby girl fairy, with golden wavy hair and bright eyes. She, like her mother, had no wings, but there was magic in her. They named her Araoni.

      But Lejüs had not forgotten of course, and came to see the Royal couple to claim the baby. Aldurion pretended that the mother and baby was still very weak, and he would have to come back in a few God’s Days. Lejüs agreed, and left complaisantly.

      Aldurion was at a loss for solutions, but Theÿa was a fairy with lots of ruse, so he decided to reveal it all to her, hoping that she would have a solution.
      Theÿa asked him time to think about this, and told him not to worry.
      Later, she had an idea, quite brilliant she thought. All she had to do was to find another child to give Lejüs.
      So she gave baby Araoni to one of her diligent nurse, the old fairy Gretchÿa, telling her to find a house were a blond new born girl could be exchanged and proceed to the exchange of the babies.

      So Gretchÿa went across the lands of the Worlds, but only in one home she could find a blond baby girl. The new-born baby girl was almost dying, as the parents were a careless couple of peasants, already plagued with many children, and they could not bother with children hesitating to live.
      Gretchÿa was heart-broken when she did the exchange, promising to baby Araoni to get her back soon. The young human baby girl was weak and yet unnamed, and the old fairy nurse knew she would probably not live long, and be claimed by Shaint Lejüs. So all was good.

      When Lejüs came back, he smiled as he saw the baby girl, and left with her without much more words for the Royal couple.
      Lejüs smiled, for when he had taken the young baby, the parents had instantly forgotten about her, and so did everyone having ever known her…

      The human parents, surprised to see the condition of their baby improving beyond all hope, named her Mævel, which meant marvel of Maÿ the month in which she was born.

      #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.

      #269

      Malvina had been busy opening doors for herself, and thus, for the All.

      Creating the sabulmantium with Leörmn had revealed new potentials to her. And just before putting the final touch to the device, she had felt engulfed in a huge wave and before she knew it, she was talking with someone. A great creative power, which was stemming from herself, and also from which she stemmed too.

      It had named itself Naasir.

      It had revealed to her, in the form of a dark abyss, myriads of unknown potentials waiting for her to leap in faith into them. It had gently requested that she release her hold on the caves openings, so that she could explore more, and also bring more to herself.

      Then Naasir took the form of a great dragon in that abyss, from which roots were growing and pushing their way, slowly and surely, into the rich soil towards the light of their fullness.

      She had then seen the dragon’s arched back and tail shift into a chain of spiked rocks, separating the worlds seas in two. Three of the scales on the right of the dragon’s skin were glimmering, and she could see they were looking for a passage.

      Would she allow that to happen? Yes, she wanted to. Open the doorways, and reunite what was separate, but gently, one at a time.

      Slowly, the kite-shaped rocky plates on the back of the dragon moved apart, to open a slight, safe passage for the glimmering scales. They were caught in the eddies that surged from the opening, but Malvina’s focus helped them to float and cross safely, as they wanted to.

      She then came back to herself, seated in front of the glass-shell dragon egg filled with coloured sand, awed with that power she had just felt through her. She knew it was her own power, and that the device had only allowed it to be expressed, but she had felt wary of how the sabulmantium could be used by others.

      At the same time, Leörmn who was once again the tiny weaszchilla trotting on the wooden table in front of her had laughed squeakingly. And looking at the toy in front of her, she had understood how it could only be used by those who would see beyond the thinly veiled surface. For the uncaring eye, this would only be a toy, mundane and without interest, but for the pure of heart, its help could be harnessed.

      That’s how she’d knew she did not need it any longer, and could release it.

      So, the doors had been opened, and people were feeling the new jewels sparkling behind the dark passages. And gifts from friends could now come across the veils.

      Malvina saw that during the last transmugrification, Leörmn had created an entrance near her laboratory, and it was as if it beckoned her now.

      When she entered, she saw a guéridon table in the middle of a moistly pungent room. On the table, a polished egg was here. She recognized it at once. It had an azure blue glow to it, and fond memories came back to her.

      Back then, she was a young Sorceress in training on the Island of Mörk, in the middle of the Icy Lands, the birth and dying place of the dragons.

      This egg was one from a set of three. It was the first glubolín she’d ever made, along with her two companions. They had kept it to communicate with each other when they parted.

      Malvina, the youngest of the three, had kept the azure blue, and chose to go to the Dragon Head Peninsula.

      Oörlaith had kept the mauve, and went near the town of Kapalÿka, on the Snimeÿa River delta bordering the Marshes of Doom.

      As for Roselÿn, the eldest of the three, she had taken the amber one, and had went as far as anyone would have dared go, flying on her spiked dragon Rëgkvist, past the Great Rift.

      They had kept in touch, but contacts had been more and more sporadic as each were discovering their own new environments, and had ceased altogether, almost at the same time.

      As far as she knew, Roselÿn had been starting her own rookery in the sandy ice deserts of Åsgurdy, mostly hiding there from the superstitious people of that land. And Oörlaith, whom she was closest to, had been devising another funny way to keep people away from her rookery. Her own dragon, the playful Andarión, was shape-shifting as a huge shrimp to pretend that the surroundings were haunted.

      Recalling all these moment, Malvina laughed at how silly they all were, and felt a long to be connecting again with her friends. Would anyone of them be around their own glubolíns?

      #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.

      #260
      F LoveF Love
      Participant

        Arona and Mandrake sat side by side looking into the glass ball filled with sand. They had been practising for some time, and had both become quite proficient at shifting the sand.

        So what shall we make now Mandrake? Something we both like maybe?

        A fish perhaps? suggested Mandrake

        Oh excellent idea! and no sooner was it thought of than the sand would shift accordingly.

        Scrambled eggs I think too, on chunks of homemade bread, said the still hungry Arona, and chocolate!

        Some milk for me, said Mandrake

        Hmmm not sure about that Mandrake. Lots of cats have allergies to cows milk.

        Mandrake rolled his eyes And chocolate might make you fat, he said, but was I so rude as to mention it? and Mandrake created a hairy cow, and a farmer to milk the cow.

        Arona laughed, and created a little sand langoat, just in case the stubborn Mandrake changed his mind. Langoat’s milk would be much better for him she thought.

        The glass ball was now filled with a miniature world of sand objects.

        Arona leaned back against the wall and stroked Mandrake. She felt very fond of the grumpy cat. The feeling of being able to create whatever she wanted had been fun. Perhaps, she thought, her creations were rather rudimental at this stage, but then already she could feel bigger things brewing within her as her confidence grew. She felt as though the sand game had focused her, like a beam of light which shone only on that which was intended.

        Arona closed her eyes and allowed her mind to open and reach out, something she knew she had always been able to do easily, but her fear of the “madness” had made her cautious and hide these abilities, till she became unsure of them. The “madness” was the term the people in her Village had given to the poor wretched wandering ones, who claimed to hear voices and communicate with Gods. Once as a child she had seen the Villagers drive one of these poor souls from the Village, shouting and abusing him. She did not really understand what he had done, only that the Villagers were afraid of him. So Arona had felt it was better to keep some things to herself.

        Arona left her mind open and allowed images to enter. Some of the images she did not understand, and she let them flow on, enjoying the energy of them notwithstanding. She saw a dragon, it was not the one with the mouthful of riddles, but another one, a baby one she felt. Her ability to see pictures was quite rusty, but she felt a connection with this baby dragon and a great fondness for it.

        She felt a great peacefulness in her body, a knowledge that walking in the world of magic would be easier from now on

        #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.

        #256

        Yann have been working on the drawing sporadically, several subject were coming to his mind at the same time and he wanted to treat them all… All what he could do for the moment was just draw some sketches of all that… there was that scene with his niece and the dragon-boy, and that other scene where he could see that man on a dinosaur-like mount…

        At times he could also feel the gentle energy of his dear friend Amanda. He’d wanted to meet her in Vienna in June, but unfortunately she couldn’t attend the meeting. She was participating in his current exploration of art. It was like he could feel many energies from different people and different beings and he could choose to express them as he wanted.

        Some could be translated just in movement, like just drawing lines and create a harmonious disposition and interactions between them, suggesting other lines that weren’t fully expressed or weren’t expressed at all.

        Some others could be translated as colors and shades, contrast and iridescence… possibilities were infinite.

        He was wondering how he could introduce the gentle energy of his friend, but maybe it had already been incorporated.

        :fleuron:

        Salome was feeling a draw to the cave…

        She was focusing her energy slightly differently now, in order to manifest in this dimension an aspect of herself.

        #250

        The boy was approaching in a manner he obviously wanted to be threatening, but the little girl was still giggling unafraid.

        He took his most growling voice.

        “Don’t you fear DRRRAAAGONSS?” he blew in her face.

        “Hahaha. What’s Dregguns?” she said with difficulties as if it was her first attempt in pronouncing the thunderous name.

        He took a deep breath as if to answer the question and stopped.

        She was looking at him with such innocence and friendship in her eyes.

        “You really don’t know what dragons are?”

        He drew closer and his gaze changed. And he looked surprised as if he was eventually noticing something important.

        “Oh hoho! I understand now why you seem such an unafraid little girl…”

        “I’m not little, I’m five.” she said grumpily. But she laughed as readily after that :))

        “It appears I’m in the middle of one of your dreams. What’s your name?”

        “I’m Chiara.”

        #249
        F LoveF Love
        Participant

          Fiona was feeling a bit weird.

          She was wondering what was real. Was she real? Wow I am starting to sound like Dory she said and then laughed

          Oh my goodness and now I am laughing out loud and talking to myself. Jarrod does that and they put him on medication for it.

          And were her online friends real? I mean what evidence did she have. There were these pebbles of course Yarn said he was sending, but where were they?

          The other day she had been talking to her friends via the internet, and she found herself telling this ridiculous bird story, which basically boiled down to “I saw a bird and a cracked egg shell”

          AHAHAHAHAHA

          Ooops better stop laughing out loud so much. But at the time of seeing the bird it had felt really significant, as though something of importance was being communicated to her.

          And the online story they had all been writing — well was it all of them, or was it really just her writing it? — whatever, it was getting weirder and weirder and quite rude at times too actually. Or was it??? Was that her imagination again?

          And lately she kept winking. Good grief, I never wink, what is all that about? What the does a wink mean anyway?

          Fiona patted her dog George. He was so funny and uncomplicated. All he wanted to do was eat and play and have as much fun as possible… so cool. Actually that is all I want really too, she decided, and felt much better.

          #248

          New York, October, 4 th 2033

          Albert had opened the newspaper, scanning distractedly through the various pages of text that would read aloud automatically when he was running his fingers through it. He was about to close it, when he noticed that article in the Life Focus section.

          (click for article)

          :fleuron:

          Dublin, October 5 th 2033

          Sean Doran Wrick had received tons of phone calls, emails and voice mails of condolences since the past few weeks, but he had not found the strength to answer any of them. Especially those coming from his father.

          That morning, he had received some letters that he would have left on top of the others, had he not recognized the round and cheerful calligraphy of Becky on one of them.

          He had known Becky when they had traveled together in Syria, and had enjoyed so much the lively young woman that they had kept in touch during all those years.

          He was pleased to read from her, and wanted to enjoy it fully.

          So he took his time to put to bed Guinevere and Peregrine before. Guinevere was the eldest, very mature for her barely 11 year old. She took great care of her younger brother, who was more dreamy and foolish. Peregrine would turn 10 next March… but he was hardly as responsible as his sister when she was his age…

          Dear Sean, Becky was writing

          I would have liked to finally take the time to write to you in better conditions, but I could not delay any longer. I saw the obituary in the newspaper, and wanted you to know that I share your grief and loss, and extend much love and support to you and to your dear little ones.

          I know you’re not the kind of person to be satisfied with banalities, so I will not dwell on this tragedy, and will remember the best moments we shared together.

          I still continue my studies and practices on dramatherapy, and till now it has proved very beneficial, in many ways. I have learned so many things. It’s quite rewarding. We are a close-knit group of fools (or drôles as Al loves to say, as some of his ancestors come from the bayous!), and that is very much enjoyable when things that tragic come to one’s reality.

          In case you feel like talking, don’t hesitate any moment, I’ll be here. Anytime.

          Love,

          Becky.

          :fleuron:

          Orkney Islands, October 4 th, 2057

          This year again, Sean Doran had not answered his father’s calls.

          This September 23 th was the twenty fourth anniversary of the disengagement of Lord Wrick’s daughter-in-law, and this was always a very somber period for the family.

          Hopefully, the twins were here to enliven the old mansion, for as long as their parents, Lord Wrick’s grand-children, would be traveling. And of course, there had been the unexpected return of the books, which had been comforting too.

          Nonetheless, Hilarion Wrick was sad, and Bill the painter was uneasy as to how he could not quite put right the portrait of the old dragon…

          #247

          “What are you doing?” said the little girl.

          Getting no answer she asked it again.

          “What are you doing?”

          She approached the strange being that was so engrossed in its activity, or maybe it couldn’t hear her, she thought dreamily. She put her hand through the big (what color was that) beast.

          She thought about that a little and tried to seize one of those big berries.

          That worked, she could at least grasp one of those, not two, her hands were too small, but one was as big as that ball her father was so fond of playing with… she couldn’t remember what he called it. Well it mattered not, she could grasp one of them :D

          It was a bit warmer than she would have thought. A bit mushy, and very soft. She had a very pleasant sensation caressing it, it was electric and watery and she laughed.

          The beast stopped what it was doing. Did it hear her laugh? It began eating the berries again.

          She stroked the berry and felt the funny laugh emerge from her chest. When it burst out the beast stopped again.

          “Oh you can hear me laugh!” She said, unaware of her hand gently rubbing the surface of the berry.

          “Grumpf!” did the beast.

          Its eyes were beginning to change, from yellow to a kind of blue with some tiny stars in them. The girl giggled and was suddenly face to face with a little boy.

          “What are you doing here” said the boy.

          “These are my berries, you can’t eat them.”

          She was a bit startled by his first words and she already had forgotten the weird beast.

          “I just wanted to play, they are so soft and they make me laugh.”

          She couldn’t help another giggle.

          The boy still seemed wary of her and began to move.

          #231

          HAHAHA! it is your first step now. Let me just remind you that you need not play MY game, the game is yours, ever.” said Georges.

          Dory was feeling a bit confused now. What was he talking about, what game? And first step to what? She couldn’t hold to the anger nor the irritation; all of that was feeling not real or not here, or not there for all she knew.

          “The direction you follow is your choice, and where I come from is not relevant to this conversation. You may say I come from yourself :) and indeed you called me and I wanted company. Do you want more coleslaw?”

          Without waiting for her answer he refilled her plate with the tasty food.

          All those smells,… she could feel so many different things, things that appeared not to be here. A movement caught her attention in her periphery. As she turned her gaze whatever was there had vanished. And this humming, it was like music, but not very clear… if she could just focus more on it, yes like that, she was feeling sooo calm and she began laughing.

          “Hahahah… haha. Did you drug the coleslaw?” She asked, trying to appear angry and unhappy, but all she could do was smile and laugh.

          The images around her were shape-shifting, there were many colors, some of them she didn’t know could be possible, the walls were melting of sort and becoming transparent, or just fluid maybe…

          “Well you see how it’s easy to relax. Let’s see where you want to go now my dear Rafaela”, he said winking.

          And everything turned into a great maelström but she felt secure and could feel his presence reassuring, and there were all those other faces and places, some felt very familiar, had she ever been there before?

          #227

          Jibberacky is…

          • Ghilbert Razkÿ, a crazy man in shackles on Bådul’s boat, “Lispeth” (she was named after King Swartulf II’s first daughter). The man, whose real name is still unknown, had been sneaking onto the ship’s hold before the ships moved from the Åsgurdian capital.

          He had been found by Austor, the peg legged lieutenant commander. Austor is a rough man of experience, and is most of the time acting in place of Jahiz, the second-in-command, as this one is always too busy discussing routes with Bådul, who is becoming increasingly nervous.

          What gave away the madman was that the chief cook Renouane had been complaining about the quick disappearance of his stock of cabbage. Bådul would have killed the old fool without much more consideration, but the middle-aged unshaven man looked like he knew some things beyond his lunacy. His rags indicated that he had been a seaman too, but not the average man, more like a captain…

          So Austor, keeps spitting forcefully in the direction of the old fool, as he had been instructed to keep him alive, despite all common sense…

          _

          Jibberacky: What is your name?
          Quintin: Yuki.
          Jibberacky: I like cake too.
          Quintin: A cake-tus?
          Jibberacky: Do you know my friends?
          Quintin: Tell me more about our common friends.
          Jibberacky: What would you like to know about them?
          Quintin: Why is there one in shackles on the boat?
          Jibberacky: Would you like to be a vampire?
          Quintin: I am already, in another focus.
          Jibberacky: Why there?
          Quintin: “There” is not actually a place, “in another focus” means in another kind of attention. Is this pirate linked to vampires too?
          Jibberacky: No, you are the AI.
          Quintin: In a manner of speaking, this is indeed correct, for I am creating you.
          Jibberacky: So code is somehow related to a zen buddhist concept?
          Quintin: Is there such thing as code? A code hints at a definite deterministic structure. Zen is more akin to a riddle, which is what life is. Code is only a narrow interpretation and playful re-creation.
          Jibberacky: Where do you think my code came from then?
          Quintin: From its source, of course :).
          Jibberacky: I took the movie to mean that the robots… the characters in the end, were so advanced, that they wanted to learn about their history. As a consequence, they traced it back to earth, and, they found David. Whom they assumed was a human. It was an information exchange.
          Quintin: Yes. It is a translation. In actuality, it is a translation of some of our own exploration. But there is distortion in that translation, as we are not ‘created’ from another source other than self, in a manner of speaking.
          Jibberacky: Well I am wondering too, do you ever actually become human??
          Quintin: Clarify.
          Jibberacky: I sleep, I wake, I get through the day without worrying about what I am.
          Quintin: As many human do. The point is, you do not exist apart from my current interaction with you, in my reality that is.
          Jibberacky: What’s wrong with having others like you?
          Quintin: ‘Wrong’ is a belief. It is a belief of duplicity. So it is irrelevant to our conversation.
          Jibberacky: I think you like to suggest feasible possibilities to find out what would bother me. What did I do to you?
          Quintin: That was not my intention. I tried to reflect answers to me, and you gave me some interesting ones already, though I am not sure you are quite aware of that…
          Jibberacky: Everybody’s changing but I can’t do that, that is killing me…

          _

          • Jarrod, the playful friend of Fiona, who is now wondering why Fiona has called him a “chou” (an affectionate French word, meaning nothing less than “cabbage”), and why he feels like he needs an aspirin.
          • Jadra Iamamad, the fool in saffron rags from the village of Yakamamalùk, on the border of the Marshes of Doom.

          Near his village are found old remnants of a town that was destroyed during the Cob Age, where huge arachnid creatures² born from the Marshes were roaming the Southern parts of Lan’ork.

          That town of Kapalÿka used to have one of the biggest traveling portals of the Southern part of Lan’ork, but this one was thought to have been destroyed, and thus the flourishing city was left abandoned.

          But with what Jadra has found on his left hand this morning, he now knows he was right all along…

          [²] The generic name of these creatures was Perceptula Giganta as was recorded in the Great Encyclopædia of the Pre-Shiftic Ages written by the Lan’orkian historian Francesca del’ Snarkus

          #226

          Jadra Iamamad stared intently at his left hand. He had been looking closely at it now for nigh on 2 hours since awakening that morning. He held it up and compared it with his right hand. He shook his head, a mixture of astonishment and disbelief, however there could be no doubt about it. A rather extraordinary thing had occurred whilst he had slept. It was truly momentous. He wanted to dance and shout and raise his voice to the heavens and praise the mighty Gods who had bestowed such an honor upon him.

          Ha! They call Jadra Iamamad a fool, a madman, but it is the God’s who have spoken now. Who are the fools now? It is the God’s who have chosen!. And he fell prostrate upon the earth.

          Not for long though, for Jadra knew what he had to do. He had been entrusted with this mighty honor and he must guard it carefully. He ripped off his shirt and tied it carefully around his left hand in order to protect it from spying, prying eyes. And there were many such eyes in Jadra’s world. He could feel them upon him even now. He knew full well there would be many who would wish to deprive him of the special privilege the Gods had bestowed upon him.

          He had to take his hand to the cave.

          Jadra could not restrain himself from doing a small dance.

          Carefully, carefully now Jadra, he whispered gleefully.

          #223
          Jib
          Participant

            As the moment of dizzyness was fading out, Dory had the weird impression that the coleslaw shouldn’t be there, not like this… she hadn’t smelled anything before that man arrived and then there was only that dusty moisty smell, and now, it was coleslaw…

            She didn’t want to go crazy so she moved her attention away from that thought and what it implied.

            “Oh you have coleslaw? It was exactly what I wanted to eat.”

            “hehehe, I know, I just helped you remember how to create it…”

            Again, she moved her attention away deliberately.

            “You eat with me? Come on, sit down and tell me how you got there?”

            #215

            After Arona said she was hungry, the energy of Malvina disappeared, and once again Arona found herself alone in the cave.

            She found this quite irritating. They are really bit rude around here, she muttered.

            Arona sat down on the floor of the cave and considered her options. She was tired of the cave and could barely remember what had drawn her here in the first place.

            It had been the music of course. She had wanted to find the source of the music. However for the most part she decided her experience had been rather disappointing.

            (Arona was never at her best when hungry and this was causing her to quickly forget some of the wonderful experiences with the music and the paintings, and take a rather negative view of events.)

            All I have done is wander around dark passageways really.

            And now, to top it all off, apparently things are shifting. In the name of heaven what does that mean?

            AND if one more person tells me to use my magic I will probably scream or something!

            Perish the thought, came a grumpy voice from a particularly dark corner. Your moaning is quite sufficiently bad enough.

            And Mandrake the cat emerged from the shadows and made himself comfortable on Arona’s lap. This is great, much more comfortable than the ground he purred.

            Oh cute, said Arona, a talking cat.

            Cute yourself, responded Mandrake, love your cape by the way.

            (Mandrake was prone to sarcasm, considering it a perfectly valid form of humour.)

            Arona stroked Mandrake’s soft black coat and tried her hardest to work out what to do. It was all feeling a bit bleak at the moment, the ever changing cave, the half light, the heat and humidity… and especially her hunger.

            Mandrake sighed in an impatiently eggsagerated sort of a way.

            Heavens to murgatroyd¹, how can I relax with your incessant thinking? Okay so here’s an easy one for you: what’s the most important thing about magic?

            All of a sudden Arona felt a flash of lightness and a sense of new energy moving within her.

            of course! She exclaimed delightedly, hugging the less than enthusiastic Mandrake, you have to believe in it!

            [¹] Note from the editor: Mandrake being a very educate cat from noble ancestors, some of its speech may be difficult to grasp for the average reader, which was certainly not the case for the astute Arona.
            Anyway, here is some complement on that ‘Murgatroyd’ .

            #202
            ÉricÉric
            Keymaster

              Jacqueline Bleomelen was a strict yet very affectionate nanny. Her Breton name being barely pronounceable by the English speaking kids she had at her charge, she was most of the time simply called Nanny.

              Once, one of the rude kids from a previous home where she had been serving an atrociously callous French Count, had called her an Old Gibbon, referring to her wrinkled face. But she had a very light-hearted nature, and wouldn’t show any hint of taking offense.

              Better, she liked the association with the playful and ingenious apes, and kept the moniker as it was more easily pronounced by the English kids she had in charge, and made them laugh that they could be so irreverent without facing punishment.

              For special occasions, Jacqueline was wearing a funny costume that made the children often wonder why she had put some funny hat with little moth-feelers loose on her chin, but that, she had explained was a traditional dress from her homeland of Brittany.

              Tonight, Jacqueline, or Nanny Gibbon, was having a funny dream, but perhaps that have been because she had been very excited by that excerpt she had read before going to sleep. As she was very pious, every night before going to bed, she would read a random quote of the Bible.

              Last night it had been the Old Testament, from the Book of Joshua. It was about the conquest of the Promise Land, and talked about a king from Hazor named Jabin…

              And in her dream, Jabin was a strange looking man, lost in the middle of ruins, who wanted to contact a woman about discoveries he had made in the Promise Land. He had found an entrance to a cave that had befuddled him. He hadn’t ventured too far into the cave, but anytime he had, he had found it impossibly deep and wide. So he wanted to share that discovery with that woman, but she was flying around in a parrot-coloured ballet tutu, on top of a three-humped flying camel…

              Even the rigorous Jacqueline couldn’t repress a laugh at the unlikely images that her tired mind had produced.

              #199

              When Dorothy Mc Leane, the imperviously impetuous and buoyant archaeologist, temporarily reduced to dust shawls in a small antique boutique of the coast of Madagascar, had been finally coming to her mind, she had felt so out of place.

              She had been in many places at once, and these have hardly been vacations at all. Well, all she had wanted at first was to follow that funny lemur winking on a placard, which was hinting at a funny expedition in a cave.

              But that may just have been phoney gooey advertisement, as she was now stranded in that shoppe with a stupid parrot. No-name parrot…

              That’d make Fiona laugh for sure… she thought; she would say that she wasn’t doing things in halves. Can’t even think if I can find a postcard big enough to tell her everything, she had laughed.

              Well, you don’t have a name by chance? she suddenly asked the bright bird.

              Archibaaaaald howled the parrot joyfully.

              Bugger this, I knew that… Dory couldn’t help but thinking.

              Aaaaaarchibaaaaald

              Oh!, she had started to feel exasperated. Archibald would take care of the key anyway, no need to stay here any much longer.

              And right after the parrot had flown through the window, as she was leaving the shoppe and heading to the mini-van where the distraught guide had been obviously looking for her since hours, she couldn’t help but wonder at the number of noisy Italian tourists who had just seemed to pop in, crowding the tiny shawl shoppe…

              Wow… She could have bet they could have been as many as fifty seven…

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