I've got a three day headache and it's all in my head

It's the 30th of March. One day before Ostara. And there's been a lot of...well.



Conversations like the one below.

[18:43] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) hugs you
[18:44] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I was just starting to pack things up for dinner. Though I don't know if I'm going to be in tonight--the pain of head and the head pain and did I mention the head? It's kind of distracting.

Which was followed soon by:

[18:43] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) smiles, tilting up her face for a kiss. Dinner's dragging its feet--or, well, his or her feet, depending on driver. I was going to go check on progress.
[18:46] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) will see how she feels, she may be taking the night off. The head is...bad. I feel like I should tuck a "Bridge out" sign behind one ear.

Yeah. It's been...it's been a day.


All of it, all the mysterious fatigue, the odd tremors, the patches of growing nerve damage...the headache that occasionally tries to kill me for funsies...it doesn't look great.

Though, I should say, anyone new pops up with a diagnosis of somatoform disorder, I'm just going to full-scale bite people.



At SOME POINT, which I'm hoping is today, but may need to be tomorrow--I'm putting out the rabbit monster from Ever Green. Even if it stays out after Ostara, because damn it, I bought it to put out, I AM GOING TO PUT IT OUT.

And...then decide on the rest of the night.

Time for Em to faw down again, maybe.



No, not really.


(And why yes, Noah Finnce's "3 Day Headache" was the song playing...very, very, *very* low as the background for writing this. Why do you ask?"

all the pieces and the wires all connected to you (part XXX)

(Continued from part XXIX.)

"Right," said Justine. "I'll bring you all in once I get there. Lina, please send any results via personal message to me." She disappeared in a swirl of light.

The Duchess nodded. "First, we need to make sure it actually is the book of Ose and Hiram, and not the Book of Hosea. Which is substantially different, but does mention Hiram..."

The priest stood silent, looking intent.

"...but if I remember correctly, it was part of the Apostolic writings," Emilly finished.

Lina nodded. "Accessing," she said. "Accessing...Book of Hosea also found."

"What about the Apostolic Constitutions? Specifically book...six? Eight? Is it six?"

"Accessing...Accessing all Memory Alpha archives..." Lina looked up, her eyes still unfocused. "Should I scan only human literature, or all races' literature in the archive?"

Emilly thought. "I would stay just with human writings. I think we're looking for something around the time of Solomon, I believe..."

"Accessing..."

"Hiram being either his chief architect or allied king, depending on the text."

Lina nodded. "Accessing...Book found. Inputting note."

"Send to Justine."

"Not all information that was in the book is in the archive, due to the fact that the only extant copy that was scannable was damaged...Sending," she ended, after a pause.

The Duchess sighed. "That's what I was afraid of. Separate researches have turned up an undamaged extant copy, sold at auction in 2015, which then went dark and has never been seen since."

"Copy on file is from 2235," Lina said.

The priest looked up. "Ah, Justine has asked for aid now. I'll go see how I can help."

Emilly nodded. "She'll likely call for us soon, or we can just go. I think the lab's as secure as we can make it."

"Would you like to make another inquiry?" Lina asked.

Emilly looked up. "Ah, there's the port. Possibly, but not right now." She disappeared in a swirl of light, shivered a bit on arrival, and shifted into fur. "All that talk of having to play human made me itchy, I think."

The priest just nodded. "The roots of fae can be lasting."

She nodded. "Indeed, especially in my case."

The brain in a jar sloshed slightly. "Hello! Please ask me anything!" Everyone ignored it.

Justine looked around as everyone coalesced in the library. "Welcome, everyone. Please, start looking through the books, anything that looks like it might reference Ose, or Hiram. Or...Nyarlethotep, the Queen of Sheba, the Queen of Heaven...Solomon..." Justine thought for a moment. "Bilqis," she finished.

The Duchess blinked. "Wait, we're pulling in the Nyarlathotep records?"

Justine shrugged. "I'm spitballing, Emilly. Grasping at anything." She grabbed a large tome off a nearby shelf, blowing the dust off the cover, and settled on a cushion in front of Fen to read.

The Duchess pondered. "I'm assuming this is just Nyarlathotep, not the rest of the elder things? Because one entire shelf here IS dedicated to Carcosa and the Yellow King."

"Ooh, my," said Lina.

The brain in a jar, now next to one of the bookcases, burbled. "I don't understand, sorry. What do you mean?"

Lina looked at the jar, then looked at the shelf Emilly stood before. "That's a lot of books..."

"Can you elaborate on that?" the voice from the jar asked.

Emilly shook her head. "Not now, brain."

Justine carted the brain to a far corner, out of hearing range.

Emilly pulled a few books from the shelf and settled on the opposite couch. She opened to the start of a chapter in one of them.

"And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences--of electricity and psychology--and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of a nightmare."

She looked up, frowning. "See, that's not helpful..."

Justine idly stroked Fen's leg as she read.

Emilly turned to another page.

"And through this revolting graveyard of the universe the muffled, maddening beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic, tenebrous ultimate gods--the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep."

The Duchess rolled her eyes. "HPL, come on, this is ridiculous. Fine, you don't like him."

Justine looked up. "Hmmm, I may have found something."

The Duchess set the book down, picking up another. "Oh, good, all I've found so far is hyperbole."
Justine looked up at the Nephilim, still standing. "Lina, can you run to the kitchen and bring some coffee?" Lina nodded and left at speed. She returned to her tome. "I think I need it..."

The priest looked puzzled.

Justine looked up at him. "Lina is our head cook, as well as chief of security. And she makes a mean espresso."

Emilly nodded, reading through another book. "And so far, she hasn't been eaten by the shrubbery."

The priest blinked. "What?"

Justine just nodded.

"Oh, speaking of," Emilly continued, "we had a Heliamphora pop up? So...be a bit careful."

Justine laughed. "I think we may have finally found a cook that is more than a match for the predatory flora around the grounds."

Fen nodded. "And she has learned the joy of focusing on protecting you."

Emilly nodded. "That also. But we'd pruned it back to just a few eyestalk plants, until that."

Justine tilted her head. "So what's dangerous about heliamphora?"

Emilly shrugged. "He seems fine, he just doesn't want his eye touched? Which I'm fine with. I'm not in the business of randomly poking eyes...But the literature does mention that if someone does, he has a chance of producing digestive acids, retracting the eye, and swallowing the offender." She looked up, staring at Justine. "So...try not to do that."

Justine paused in her reading to stare silently at Em for a moment. "Right. Got it."

"In this case, we do not WANT the eyes to have it," the priest murmured.

Justine giggled. "Nice one, Fen."

He smiled softly, stroking her hair. "You are very inspiring."

Justine knelt up, kissing Fen.

Distracted by the book, Emilly didn't notice. "Did Lina send you the damaged copy she tracked down in her archives?"

The priest shook his head. "No."

Justine shook her head. "No."

"Hmm..." Emilly flipped deeper into the book, pausing at a slightly thicker page of parchment. She traced a small sigil at the top, waiting until the letters reformed and settled.

"Ah, right. Here we are. The Book of Ose and Hiram.

'One day the heavenly beings building came to present themselves before Soloman and the builder, Hiram, and Ose, also, came among them...'"

She read for several paragraphs, ending with

"'Ose replied: Time is a flat circle, and it is what it is.'"

Justine sat up straight on the cushion. "I swear to God, I JUST READ THAT, and didn't...it just slid past my brain."

Emilly hmmed, peering at the last line."I think that was an editorial addition..."

"Life as a circle," the priest said softly. "Experience and reclamation..."

Emilly nodded. "Life and time both."

Fen slowly inhaled as she stared at the page again.

"I was more thinking of the 'it is what it is', bit," Emilly said.

Fen shrugged. "Perhaps both are true."

She looked up at the priest, slowly nodding.

Justine keyed in on the reference to the Leopard Demon. "So...we both agree who that is, right? That somehow...Hiro Prime was...is...in ancient Jerusalem with Solomon...Hiro is Ose?"

"No, I don't think so," Emilly began, then paused. "Wait..." She shuffled through the books she'd brought over to the couch, finally picking up a slim volume bounded in embossed red leather. She flipped through it until she reached the entry she wanted, scanning it quickly. "Ose!" she cried out. "Why didn't I connect that?"

Justine read the rest with a look of concentration. "The tomb...cohort...words are sounded...the true priestess..." Justine looked up at Emilly, mouthing "...gives of herself..."

Emilly, meanwhile, was reading. "The Great President of Hell, the giver of true answers, the inducer of illusions, the leopard king. Ose. Of course!"

Justine's mouth dropped open.

Emilly nodded, then frowned.

"Gods, I hope he doesn't want us to find the Ark...The only one I know of was in the Beth Temple in Caledon."

"We're...finding something, though, aren't we?" Justine asked.

Emilly nodded. "Pretty sure. Something containing Hiro."

"Like the Sphinx guards the dark secrets..."

The Duchess nodded. She picked up the previous book to compare information.

"Is there...are there...any holdings...can you think of any Gearhaven holdings that might be..."

But Emilly's gaze had dropped to the page she'd opened at random. "Justine...there's...more, now. On the page."

Justine blinked. "What?"

Emilly followed the new words with her finger.

"Hiram was confused, so he asked 'What shall I tell them if they ask of him?'

"'That he loves them, don't fear. The power is there, for those who know how to weld it. The mission is real. Don't trust the clown. Never trust the clown.' This was all Ose said to Hiram on this day. He departed, planning to bring more wisdom to the agent of the King."

She looked up slowly. "Well, that LAST is clear."

Justine's lower lip trembled, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh, Em..."

Emilly just nodded, breathing through it. "I know. But...there's hope. There's still hope."

Justine wiped her eyes, trying to focus on the page.

The priest stroked her hair gently.

"Think of Blondel searching Europe for Richard the Third...the Coeur de Lion..."

Emilly nodded. "Sort of. But with more time travel." She thought for a moment. "Unless...You know, he may have meant something else, Justine. Remember the ringleader at the circus? Maybe that's the Nyarlathotep connection..."

The priest nodded. "One to share in the future..." He smiled. "I'm still thinking about the search for Richard the Lion King."

Both Justine and Emilly nodded. "But this time out, it's a leopard king," Emilly said.

(Continued in part XXXI.)

you're the high that I can't give up (part XXIX)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXVIII.)

They'd been working in the orbital lab over Haven, unpacking equipment and installing it into the system for the next project: seeing if there was a way to detoxify Dragon Egg's snake meat for eventual consumption by humans or animals. Far be it for them to question the phrasing of the contract, as venomous creatures usually were not envenomed, themselves, but that was how it was written, so that's what they were going to set up to accomplish. The Duchess wasn't sure they'd succeed, but they were fairly sure that if nothing else, the Sphinx-Templar Syndicate might end up with a decent paralytic or systemic anaesthetic out of it.

In the lab were the Duchess, Justine, Lina, S-T's Nephilim head of security, and a priest Justine knew from the Night Court the Duchess had only met once before, when she'd inexplicably brought him in during the birthing. The conversation had drifted through various topics before settling on firearms, Justine having finally mastered the art of targeting, in order to get the snake bodies from Dragon's Egg to sample.

"It's one thing to identify a target," said the priest, "but harder far to avoid collateral damage."

Justine nodded. "True, Fen."

The Nephilim shrugged. "Not if the bullet is a special technomagical one."

Justine tilted her head. "Hmm."

"Though the damn thing cost a whole planet's worth of cash," Lina muttered afterwards, darkly.

Fen just nodded. "Magical ones are always the ideal...choice."

The Duchess looked up. "Problem with that, though, here," the Duchess said, working off a casing to add additional connectors.. "'Technically' magic doesn't exist on Haven."

Justine nodded. "Right."

Emilly nodded. "We had our wrists slapped on that one the first day."

Justine nodded in response. "We were nearly arrested! Thrown in irons!"

The Duchess turned, lifting the glass column of the gas spectrometer out of a packing crate, onto a side table, looking over. "That was later, wasn't it?"

The priest only smiled. "A lasting correction, I gather."

Lina shrugged, polishing her rifle. "I know a few technowizards, as well."

The Duchess nodded, slightly distracted, hooking up one of the panels, testing the readouts. "So do we," she murmured.

Lina looked up. "Cool."

Emilly shrugged this time. "But, the vagaries of place. Here, Hiro's not a leopard, and I'm not fae."

Lina looked interested. "Maybe they can figure me out, then."

Emilly shook her head. "We're both playing humans. And hoping we don't get caught."

Justine smiled. "You almost fake it convincingly, too."

The Duchess grinned at her. "I live in fear of iron bullets, but beyond that, yeah."

Fen smiled at her. "I think of you as fae, Duchess."

She smiled back. "Thank you, Fen."

"I wish I knew just what the hell I was," Lina said.

The Duchess nodded. She sympathized. Her genetic structure was odd enough, but then being raised away from both races who'd sired her, and that before being pulled through time and space because she was Sídhe-sided enough to help the Unseelie Court achieve...whatever...they wanted to at the time...She sighed. Her problem was not that she didn't know what she was, because that, she finally knew. Her problem was that she had never met anyone exactly like her for comparison. A Tengu father and a Kitsune mother was odd enough, but then being taken away by a Western ship's captain when her mother's village burned, and being told she was a cat often enough to decide she must be one....all of which was before she was pulled to the Winter Court and enchanted into Phouka form...it was enough to make anyone dizzy.

"That can be tricky," she finally murmured, moving to the stasis tank, to check that the feeds were properly connected.

Fen nodded. "That's a pretty human wondering."

Lina looked up. "I used to be a ship's AI."

Justine blinked. "A ship AI?"

Lina nodded. "A long time ago, that."

"That reminds me of a wonderful sci fi novel that I read long long ago," Fen said, lips quirking.

The Duchess half-shrugged, fitting another piece of equipment into place. "One reason you're so good with machines," she said. "You were the ship."

Lina nodded. "Yes. The USS Icarus." She looked down. "I miss those days."

Justine looked over. "Do you ever think of...shifting back? Doing that again?"

"It's natural that wonderings did increase," the priest said.

Lina just shrugged again. "Tried; no such luck. One of the Tenowish thinks it's because of what happened."

Emilly looked over. "What happened?"

The priest turned to face the Nephilim.

Lina didn't seem to notice. "We were dealing with an all-powerful alien force, and...long story short...they destroyed the whole Verse. As in, everything."

The Duchess looked over, blinking. Let that thought settle in. Huh. So, not this Verse. "Well, damn," she finally said.

Justine looked stunned. "Whoa. How did you escape? How did you end up here?"

The priest mused on 'all-powerful'. "That sounds almost godlike."

Lina nodded. "They were godlike. And...I didn't know after the explosion, or destruction, or...whatever...I found myself waking up in a huge vat of Klingon blood wine."

The Duchess blinked again. What?

Lina went on. "Naked, and in some pain. The first time I ever felt pain..."

"That must have been a shock," the Duchess murmured.

Lina nodded.

"An old Klingon saw me fall out of the sky and into the vat. He helped me out. Dried me off and gave me a robe. He was shocked that I understood every word he said to me."

"Good sort," the Duchess mused.

Fen nodded. "Pain is a part of being human. Emily Dickenson said 'pain has an element of blank to it'."

Justine heard a tiny ping, checking her wrist comm. She looked up. "Emilly...I think we need to get to the library in Gearhaven. Do you think you can put your hands on something called 'The Book of Ose and Hiram'?"

The Nephilim was still lost in thought. "At first he called me a demon, but then he saw my wings and horns, and was, well...tryin' to figger me out..."

The priest nodded again. "Obscuring past and future, it heightens the present moment."

Lina nodded. "Yeah. I was in shock."

Justine looked quizzically at Fen. "Pain has an element of...blank...to it?"

While the priest nodded, Emilly put down the digital scale, considering.

"I think so?" she finally said. "Might need to see if STAN's talking to us, or if he's still partially offline."

The penny dropped for Justine, and she turned to the Nephilim. "An entire vat of blood wine. I wonder if they still drank it after you'd been in it?"

The Duchess shrugged. "Why waste good blood wine?"

"I did just get a ping from STAN," Justine murmured.

Emilly nodded. "Right. So he's active, at least."

Lina just shook her head. "I'm not even going to tell what happened when they did that."

The priest looked up. "When they did what, Lina?"

"When they drank the wine," she answered."

The Duchess blinked. "Oh dear."

Justine widened her eyes. "Wh-wh-what happened??"

Lina shook her head. "Anywho, my story...not important," she muttered.

"Yes it is, Lina," Justine said, trying to reassure her.

The Duchess considered. "Well, she was in pain," she said. "The chances she was also wounded were high, considering skyfall. Do the math, a bunch of Klingons drank her blood with the wine."

Lina nodded. "Let's just say there's a group of Klingons who think I'm a goddess of blood wine, and want me to swim in more of the stuff."

Justine blinked. "Ooooh."

Emilly grinned. "That must have been...interesting."

Lina nodded. "They think it made it taste better. No, thank you."

The penny dropped again for Justine. "Ohhh!" she said.

Emilly just grinned. "They might be right."

Justine furrowed her brow, thinking. "They might..."

Emilly nodded. "I mean, come on, the Klingons are a race that gets drunk on sugar. Who knows what your blood did to the mix?"

Lina frowned. "Don't you two start, I am SO not doing that."

Justine just shuddered. "It can't make it taste worse, that's for dead certain. That [sh*t] is FOUL. NOT a fan."

The Duchess laughed. "Not to Klingons."

Lina agreed, meanwhile. "I know, I got a good mouthful falling into it."

Emilly nodded. "I bet."

Lina nodded again. "The old Klingon helped me out a lot. I never asked his name, due to, I think, I was in shock from it all. Bein' alive, and losing that...that was to me...all that I was, I mean..."

Emilly nodded sagely. "The mysterious benefactor."

"Hmm," said Justine. "There are a lot of Klingons in the Verse," she said.

Emilly nodded. "True."

Lina nodded, expression dark. "Why I avoid them."

"And a station," Justine continued. "I wonder if it might have records of a demon goddess that fell into a vat of blood wine, giving it magical properties?"

The Duchess shrugged. "Maybe."

"Even though that was another Verse, they're all connected..." She looked up then, narrowing her eyes at Justine. "Stop it."

Justine shrugged. "Okay, no more talk of finding your mysterious rescuer."

The priest tapped his lower lip in thought. "I remember a book called 'Angels'...It was beautifully illustrated with both good and bad angels...Perhaps you're in there."

"Well, as long as my pic's not in there, I'm happy," Lina groused.

"We'll keep you well clear, Lina. Don't you worry." Justine patted her shoulder.

"Thank you," Lina said.

The Duchess moved closer to Justine.

"So, the library in Gearhaven. Has books," Justine said. "You've been doing some research, digging through the archives, haven't you, Emilly?"

The Nephilim looked up. "Books?"

The Duchess nodded. "Yes, we should probably go look. And I have been trying."

"Which ones?" Lina asked.

"Okay, look," Justine said. "There's four of us, let's go have a look."

Emilly tilted her head, staring at Lina. "The Book of Ose had Hiram," she told her.

"Right," said Justine.

"And no," Emilly said. "I've heard of Hiram, but Ose...I know I've heard of Ose, I just can't remember where...But there's no saying it's not in the archives. though. Or that it hasn't shown up...recently..."

"Y'all up for a trip back down to Gearhaven?" Justine asked.

"Accessing," Lina said.

The Duchess looked between the Nephilim and the human.

Lina's eyes flared silver-white. "Copy found," she said, her voice distant. "What do you inquire?"
Justine leaned in, whispering to Lina. "The Book of Ose and Hiram," she said.

The priest joined them, placing a supportive hand on Justine's shoulder.

Lina's eyes shone, a growing trace of the mechanical in her vocal tones. "Copy found," she repeated. "Please state the nature of your inquiry."

(Continued in part XXX.)

new beginnings are the challenge, but you're not sure where to start (part I)

(Roleplay entry?? Maybe. Partially. But also pure sim bafflement.)



I'd been invited to a meditation class, but was told to arrive in fins. Which was odd, at first, because we were upstairs in Spirit House, in one of the teaching rooms, above the water.



And then we got to the water, and it was a lovely swim all in all, though I won't lie, I had more fun watching the two-legs trying to figure out tails.

That, and the fact that Justine decided to come as a lionfish mer. Kind of off brand, that's more me, really, but pretty nonetheless.

And then I went back to Gearhaven to check something, and...LAND SPIKE.



Seriously. Land spike. Through the floor of the music room. What?



So I switched to a form small enough to crawl under the foundation, if need be, and found...this. It wasn't just a land spike. Something had hollowed out the land around the spike, and that entire corner under the house was affected.



I'm dead serious, here. There are three people with rights to terraform on Gearhaven. Me, and I'm not doing it. Lady Justine, and she says she hasn't, and I still believe her. And the Duke.

And the Duke is missing.

So...what's going on?



I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. But, I did my best to level the land under the corner of the house...again...and then Lady Justine IMed, panicking. Something was wrong on the Gray Area.



So I shifted to a slightly larger form, and trooped off to the next disaster, because if it's not one thing, it's another...so, what on earth is it now?

(Answered in next entry.)

I'm walking on the spot to show that I'm alive

One more day, one more trip out to the mines to scavenge for various ores...



Something new has been added.

I knew about the snakes (haven't been bitten yet, so don't know how bad those are), and the spiders (I have been bitten by those, and they're pretty bad), and there's a couple cranky deer who do nothing more than bugle in my direction, plus a random wolf here and there. But...wild pigs. Those were new.



So I put the dilithium scan on hold, and let it approach. Would it rush me? Would I get gored by tusks? What was going to happen?



Apparently nothing. He just walked up, looked at me, nudged me once, and left. Well. Guess that's that.

On the other hand...



I'd seen the sand snakes, well camouflaged against Haven's normal dusty terrain. I'd seen the snow snakes, scarily well concealed in the drifts of Haven's winter. But this...this was new.



And what the hell. Bright green scales? Burning red, glowing eyes? No attempt at protective coloration, just bold as brass, hissing towards me.



I just froze, and watched as it wound around my ankles, snek, what in EVERY hell...and then slithered off. Presumably to wriggle through the chain-link and bite someone coming in on a transport ship. Great.

What's next? Rodents of Unusual Size?? This is ridiculous.

unimagined gifts are waiting

(Mostly roleplay.)

From another forum site:

[8:33 PM] Lxxxxxx: I have increased my penis compensation device.

Well, I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do...

In other news, something new has been added to Tannhauser Station:



Fairly sure the Duke's brought in a floating repair dock. Just in time to pull the ship with the malfunctioning FTL drive into a bay!



It looks like we can easily bring up the repair bots, too, because I'm fairly sure those are floating recharge stations along the sides.



Yes, I think this could be very worthwhile indeed.

And underneath--not the floating dock, but one of the pods nearby...I found this:



I'm used to reactor cores, but...what is this? If I didn't know better, I'd say it was some sort of tonally-based communications center, but...that can't be what it is, if it's embedded in the bottom of a pod, with power lines leading away to the rest of the station. Can it?

fire one more torpedo, baby, watch the kitchen sink

(Roleplay entry, a'course.)

It had been a normal day of checking in at Haven, unpacking some lab equipment in the new orbital lab above the moon, and I'd just flown down to the main town to check in with the store. And then...



What the HELL?!?

I didn't even know anything until Justine shrieked, because she'd heard something pound, HARD, against the back wall of the store. We checked the security feeds and found one of the snow snakes battering its head against the back wall to get in to us.



Which is when we both realized we didn't have our Anti-Arc ankle bracelets on. Apparently they are that voracious.



The only plus side? I think it got its head wedged between the corner of the transport crate and the back wall of the store.



And this is when I learned, again, that my little Derringer-strength palm pistol is USELESS because I'm still a crap shot.



In utter frustration, I pulled open the Preferences menu and pored over everything with a fine-tooth comb, and finally, I found something that might help--under the Mouselook sub-menu, there was a little tick box to allow crosshairs to be shown. Well...hell, that wasn't on already, I'd known that, I just hadn't known where to look before!



I ticked the box and crept closer, terrified, while the snake flailed in frustration trying to get free, and went into mouselook again. Missed with the first shot but the second shot--BANG!

I'd done it! I'd killed a snek!

I need gin.

you kinda scare me and I wanna let you

(Roleplay entry. We're back on the little desert moon of Haven!)

You ever have one of those conversations where you know it's going to go downhill from the second word?

[21:26] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): hi
[21:26] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): so i activated the singularity portal
[21:26] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): because

Oh, I'm not sure I want to know...

[21:26] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): well
[21:26] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): you'll see
[21:26] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh dear
[21:27] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): we shipped the wrong crate from Tannhauser
[21:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I can see that

Oh, this is the LAST thing we need, the UAP breathing down our necks because we brought new alien life to the little moon without a permit--

[21:27] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): so we need to get this out of here
[21:28] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): or shouuld we box it up
[21:28] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): and not say anything
[21:28] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): We do, yes. How?
[21:28] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): drop it off in one of the mines and run....
[21:28] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Hiro!
[21:29] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): We don't even know what this lifeform would DO if it escaped containment!

We really don't! We just barely got it in containment the first time, and lab staff is STILL trying to figure out if it was a result of the attempts to reach Carcosa, or pulling Tannhauser out of time to its current location.

[21:29] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): well i think it would be a lot like Innsmouth
[21:29] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Yeah....
[21:30] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): no one comes out here much right?
[21:30] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): : )
[21:30] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Apart from Crissi? And the Romulan??
[21:30] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): And the MINERS??

You know, Duke, the miners. Like me!

[21:31] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): oh the romulan
[21:31] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): forgot abouut him
[21:31] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I thought we liked him.
[21:31] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): we do...
[21:32] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): more than chrissy
[21:32] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): wait
[21:32] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods
[21:32] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): i know

And the LAST thing we need is more trouble with Crissi...

[21:32] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) peers at one of the readouts
[21:32] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): ok
[21:33] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): it is buried under her ship
[21:33] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): What is?
[21:33] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): the thing
[21:33] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): points
[21:34] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): That's...that could still get you in trouble
[21:34] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): yeah
[21:34] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): i should get it back on the ship
[21:35] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Probably best
[21:36] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): let me shut down the containment
[21:36] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Is that wise?
[21:37] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): smiles

It always worries me when he smiles like that.

[21:37] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): ok...
[21:37] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): need to leave a note to Justine and Deebs to not open this crate...

Oh, because THAT'S going to work...

[21:37] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods.
[21:37] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Yes.
[21:37] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): smiles

You fill me with dread, sir. What will you do NEXT??

every sailor trades comfort for glory, every lover trades hope for betrayal

Roleplay entry. Everything was fine until the FTL drive went offline...



I should probably explain something. When we're just hopping from the cold desert moon of Haven to one of the outlying mining colonies, even my little one-seater scout skiff can make it into space and back. It's hardly a long trip.



But this...the FTL drive isn't even necessary for short jumps like this, but something about it going out unbalanced the gyros. We're going to have to pull the whole thing into dock and go over it in sections. In the meantime, we had to get to the mining colony safely.



And we kept spinning and dipping in very uncomfortable ways.



I swear I left my stomach behind more than once.



And then we saw mountains through the screen...and they were approaching at speed.



And then we crashed.

It wasn't a destructive crash--it was more listing to the side, off the landing gear, crumpling one of the fins, and considering we were planning to pull it into dock anyway and go over it, straightening a fin is the least of our concerns!

there's no way to ring the alarm, so hold on until it's over

(Roleplay entry, if a basic one.)



Back again prospecting, and I think I'm finally getting decent at it. But...the snakes. They looooove following me around.



I thought it would be harder to pick them out in the camouflaged snow form, but...no, they're weirdly more obvious.

So far, barring attacks from Reavers and the occasional gang of bandits, Haven's main hazards are the toxic mushrooms, the spiders, the snakes, and the wolves. The wolves are easy--they're fairly territorial, so avoid the areas they're in and they generally won't exert themselves to attack. The spiders, while very annoying, are slow, so when I see one drifting from the web, I just run out of the way. The mushrooms have the capacity to be lethal, but it's not like they move around. So stay away from those patches, and I'm fine.

But the snakes. The snakes are irritatingly mobile.



I swear they're taunting me.

And I'm supposed to be protected. The little ankle bracelet I mentioned earlier? It's supposed to keep them away, or at least, that's what I was told. This is a strange definition of "will stay away", if so...



Another day, more ore tracking, and even more snakes. Whyyyy....



I decided I'd had it, pulled out my palm pistol, finally approved by the magistrates, and...missed with every single shot. Come on.

I need a better gun.



And if the snakes can laugh? This one is. I just know it.

lost in your current like a priceless wine

This is another case of losing the photos until recently, but I was invited to the odori by the High Priestess of the Companions' Guild a few weeks back. The more formal events always throw me a little--kimono is traditional, yes, but not geisha trappings, because I'm not one. The closest I feel I can come is oiran, traditionally equally well trained, but in different ways, and with a vastly different goal. And even there, I feel as if my makeup must be alluding to, not directly indicative of.

I don't know if other people fret over these things. I do.



We were led to a small room with a low table and zaisu chairs, and were asked to please sit, offered tea or sake as we chose, and spoke a few moments with the perfomer as the servers brought in the first course.

[13:26] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "While you enjoy your appetizer, please allow me to perform."
[13:26] Toshiha Magic: : おおきにぃ　(Thank you)

Our geisha performer, Ms. Magic, I am leaving named, because she does formal geisha and kabuki performances professionally in SL. She's very good.

[13:26] Bxxxxxx Gxxx turns to watch the geiko
[13:26] Bxxx 1xxxx knocks at the door
[13:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) smiles, picking up the chopsticks.
[13:27] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic) carefully walks to the stage and takes her place, preparing a dance fan.

She took the stage, and I still don't know if the recording we heard then was her, or was someone else? "Momiji no Hashi" means "bridge of autumn leaves", which was the song playing, so...

[13:28] Momiji no Hashi Singer: Near the bridge of maple leaves 紅葉の橋のたもとから

[13:28] Txxx Tx 统体 after pouring, passes Jx Dxxxo and Nxx Jxx their fresh tea with a bow of head

[13:28] Momiji no Hashi Singer: I rest a sleeve on the railing. 袖を垣根の言いずてに
[13:28] Momiji no Hashi Singer: For a moment, my ears hear a magpie ちょっと耳をばかささぎの
[13:29] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hello, [Axxxx]!
[13:29] Bxxx 1xxx bows respectfully "Greetings."
[13:29] Momiji no Hashi Singer: Upon the frost a sudden clarity of light, 霜もいつしか白々と

[13:29] Dr. Dxxx Vxx Axxxx enjoys Toshiha's graceful movements.

[13:29] Momiji no Hashi Singer: It accumulates deeply, piling up 積もるほどなお深くなる
[13:30] Momiji no Hashi Singer: My dancing hands surround the snow 雪をめぐらす舞の手や
[13:30] Momiji no Hashi Singer: Yoi yoi yoi yoi yoi yasa. ヨイヨイ、ヨイヨイ、ヨイヤサー

She drew the eye, her slim figure moving through patterns made traditional hundreds of years ago, and, if you count that this was loosely part of Firefly RP, thousands of years back, with her delicately spinning fans.

[13:31] Bxxxxxx Gxxx: Hello [Axxxx]!
[13:31] Vxxxxx Lxxxx leans against the pillar, listening to the familiar song
[13:31] Bxxx 1xxx: How is every one?
[13:31] Zxxx Axxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx knock at the door
[13:31] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hello, [Zxxx]!
[13:31] Bxxxxxx Gxxx applauds!
[13:31] Dr. Dxxx Vxx Axxxx nods politely to Alice. "No complaints. Yourself?"
[13:31] Bxxxxxx Gxxx: Thank you!
[13:31] Zxxx Axxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx: may i come in?
[13:31] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) claps politely
[13:31] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx claps for Toshiha.
[13:31] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: That was lovely!

She dipped, she turned, she hid her face coyly one moment, and spun the fans out to reveal it the next.

[13:31] Dr. Dxxx Vxx Axxxx: Of course, feel free to join us, [Zxxx].
[13:32] Mxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx claps enthusiastically as she motions to [Zxxx] with a nod
[13:32] Zxxx Axxxxxxxx Sxxxxxxxxx smiles and remove his gettas at the entry taking a seat
[13:32] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "Oideyasu, [Nxx Jxx] niisan!"
[13:32] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic) bows politely.
[13:32] Bxxx 1xxx: up right and breathing which is a good thing in our day and age

Especially this year.

[13:32] Vxxxxx Lxxxx clears the table of the old incense plate and takes it into the kitchen for a good clean
[13:32] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "Ookini! I hope you were all able to enjoy the feel of the season in that song."
[13:33] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Beautfully performed, and yes, very autumnal.
[13:33] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: That was beautiful
[13:33] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: i was actually hearing it from behind the door, it was very lovely Toshiha.
[13:33] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): "Hei, today is the last day I could perform it for the year, so, I am pleased to dance it one more time." She smiles to [Nxx Jxx], too.

Apparently, the fall dance is the Gion Odori; there's a spring version as well, the Miyako Odori, performed every year.

[14:39] Toshiha とし葉 (toshiha.magic): ((This song, will be played like the first one, on "Sounds", ookini!))
[14:39] Txxx Tx 统体 after grasping a cloth to pick up the urn of bathing water, staggers, pausing ever few steps, panting, in hauling it's weighty volume

[14:40] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The heart of the fan for you, a promise; 君に扇のナ 要の契り

This one was harder to figure out. Google Translate happily tells me it means either "Mysterious fan" or "Your fan mystery"; neither I think are accurate.

[14:40] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx starts nibbling away happily at her cake.

[14:40] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The snow's white background on the edge of the fan 雪の白地は扇の縁
[14:41] Beeflin Grut smiles radiantly at the poise of the dance
[14:41] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The flower decorated fan in Hanjo's bedroom. 班女が閨の花扇
[14:41] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: That leopard lily hairpiece in your sleeve その桧扇のかざしの袖に
[14:41] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: Lightly, lightly ひらり ひらり
[14:42] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The rich color of trees 木々の錦や
[14:42] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: are drawn in a picture with sakura-covered mountains 絵に画く山の桜花
[14:42] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: They fall, scattering, a soothing pleasure forever and ever 散らぬ嬉しさいつまでも
[14:43] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: A swirling of fans 扇車のくるり
[14:43] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: The ritual dance of ceremonial fans inviting prosperity 品よくまわれ末広かけて

[14:43] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx watches Toshiha's graceful movements while pacing herself with her cake so it doesn't disappear too quickly.

[14:43] Kimi ni Ougi Singer: With open tines, for eight-thousand years. ひらく八千代の手なれ草

At which point, she bowed deeply, the performance complete. We were all stunned for a few moments, then...

[14:44] Bxxxxxx Gxxx has temporarily completely forgotten his cake
[14:44] Bxxxxxx Gxxx applauds!
[14:44] Vxxxxx Lxxxx shouts: beautiful tones up to the bathroom!!
[14:44] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx applauds!!
[14:44] Fxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: wow!
[14:44] Kxxxxx Rxxxxxxx 金葉 applauds

Of course, SL being SL, couldn't have a dinner party break up without some technical glitch, but still, all in all, it was a brilliant performance, and I was honored and touched to be invited.