Teatime for the Bishop
(version 6.0)

Report Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2004
08:56 p.m.

Grumpy Elves Snippet

I hate it when I get ideas and blogger goes down, I have to put the html in by hand. Fie! Fitting that it's a Grumpy Elves Snippet, since that's the layout theme.

*********

Grown men weren't supposed to cry, especially on their birthdays. Miwoi bit his lip and was quietly thankful he was alone in his room. It really was for the best that he had opted to hide this particular present until the end. With everyone gleefully using his 600th birthday as another excuse to congratulate themselves that they were all still alive, the mood had been too merry to admit that he had recieved a present from Dida by courier that morning. She hadn't actually come. He hadn't really expected her to, but his family found the fact galling and he didn't want any fights. Heirs had too much to do to randomly drop everything and attend the parties of random childhood friends, he told himself. The end of the war didn't take away from her responsibilities, but rather added to them.

Dida's gift sat in his palm with heavy assurance, almost glowing in the dim light of sunset. Knowing who it was from he had half expected it to be a shrunken head or some other obscure thing, but what it turned out to be was something entirely wonderful. The layers of kerchief it had been wrapped in crinkled when he set them aside, and tucked under a fold was a hastily scrawled note.

"It must have cost a fortune." He mused aloud holding up the firm fruit in awe.

An orange.

An honest-to-goodness orange. The smell alone made his mouth water. Even having not even laid eyes on one for over a hundred years, the scent instantly reminded him of his childhood and of a long ago birthday where he and Dida had gorged upon the treats that had been available by the bushel. It was amazing how readily the memory of her laughter came to him as he had showed her the finer points of spitting the seeds as far as possible. They had made a contest of it until his mother had caught them both and had a fit.

Miwoi blinked, and felt suddenly old at how the fruit now easily fit in the palm of his hand. A century since he had last seen one, how long since he had tasted one?

He couldn't remember.

Between the war, and creating the underhill, and everything else that had filled the hectic years, it really hadn't been on his mind.

Spinning the round fruit he recalled the trick of it and dug in with his fingers at the base to peel back the rind. The smell of orange magnified as the soft peel broke. Tomorrow there'd be no hiding his guilt. Grinning at the thought of his brother's pleading faces, he set half of the perfectly bisected fruit aside for them and plucked the first wedge free from his share, memorizing it's shape and texture before popping it in his mouth.

The citrus sweetness hit him with enough force to make him watery eyed again, and feeling an idiot he sniffled slightly at how happy the flavor made him. Even chewing slowly, the morsel didn't last long and impulsively he nibbled another as he scrounged through his desk drawer for ink and a slip of paper.

A quick charm brought one of the ever-available messanger birds roosting near his window. It sulked a bit at the distance he asked for but fluttered off just the same. If Dida was still within the confines of the underhill, it would find her soon enough.

Eating a third piece on his way out of his room was pure selfishness, but he couldn't help it. He sucked the sticky juice from his fingers before rapping on his eldest brother's door. As expected the rest of his family was having an impromptu gathering, probably talking about him behind his back. He rolled his eyes as they all looked at him guiltily, knowing they meant well.

"Please, no birthday-blind-dates if you don't mind. I'm Third-born, I'm entitled to the freedom of marrying who I please, when I please, if you don't mind. You have Merrin if you want to make an alliance with someone." He smirked.

"oi!" His other brother protested his roll as 'sacrificial lamb' to family politics. With Gavi already happily married, Merrin was next in the line of fire. "We were doing nothing of the kind!"

Miwoi gave them his best 'doubtful scholar' look and then grinned, shutting the door with his shoulder as he concealed his treasures behind his back. "Well,what ever it was, you can all stop. I've brought something that ought to distract you nicely."

His eldest brother opened his mouth as if to speak, and then paused mid breath, blinking in surprise. "I smell... oranges?" Miwoi produced half the large fruit in each hand and held them out with a flourish.

"Oh my lord where did you get that!" His mother accepted her share of the bounty in amazement.

"I'll give you one guess." He grinned as he divided the rest among his brothers.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Saturday, June 5, 2004
07:48 a.m.

oh my lord that was early

Got woken up at 4am this morning by a gentleman from the Franklin Police tapping insistantly on my door. Luckily they were just information gathering so I had time to bleerily put in my pants and all before staggering to answer it. Turns out they were hoping I was some woman by the name of Lisa, who may or maynot have once lived in this apartment last year. After clarifying that I was sadly not, nor ever had been a Lisa, I staggered back to bed pants and all. Talk about a weird start to a saturday, especially when you've just gotten to bed around 2. Ugh.

Somehow this all lead to a dream this morning that Dick Dale (surf guitar legend) and myself were riding a pair of twin BMW sport motorcycles down a small town highway (like the sort you find between Austin and Houston if you don't take the interstate). He had a white one, I rode the metallic red. Despite the fact that I've never ridden a bike in my life, and Dick is in all likelihood at 67year old harley freak, we were doing pretty well until we stoped to get snacks and fuel at a gas station. While inside some thugs held us up until Dick surrendered his black leather jacket. Which I felt bad about, and then we got back on our bikes and it started to rain again... A very bizarre yet cool dream.

I blame the omlette I tried to make last night. I was wondering if that onion was still good....

-- Lunar

Report Date: Thursday, May 27, 2004
07:55 a.m.

Man, this 'select product integrator' gig is stressful as hell. The sad thing is it isn't the badly behaved software that's crazy making, it's the management. But so far so good, everyone has come to terms that I cant exist in two places at once, and the current job is actually quite interesting. I just need to get one thing working today and I'll feel well and truly justified. *sigh*

As Nanimango (thirty comic pages in 30 days) looms closer (next month) I am torn, I still haven't finished polishing my pages from last contest! I swear I only finished all thirty because I was laid off, but I don't think I worked all that long per-page, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and looking for work and all. So the question I guess is what the hell am I going to draw in June if I enter. Hmmmm

I could do more lil' elf-kid nonsense. They're pretty harmless. Wish I could draw geeky things, if I could I'd do something vaguely matrix or just generically scifi.

*thinks*

hey anyone got a short story they've been dying to see badly drawn by someone else? :-)

Maybe I should do the begining of 'goldilocks' it's full of random pretty in the woods. Beh, why am I such a masochist.

Twig! Help me think of 30 pages of fan comic for Diana's robotic boy toy!

-- Lunar

Report Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2004
06:48 a.m.

Random Redux

Random real-life things always get in the way. Should stick some of it over on the LJ for the alumni and all to giggle about, but even with travel and bank-hunting and other assorted mayhem in progress things still almost sort of kind of manage to get done.

I've finally started coloring more pages of my grumpy elves, namely pages 15-18 of the 'child's paradise' story from goodness... November. I'd like to finish the pages in time for, letsee NEXT NOVEMBER? but the odds don't look so good for that. :-) Anyway the entire colored-story thus far is HERE I think. Must remember to bookmark that URL.... sigh.

and in more important fangirl news, I've finally gotten around to writing the last 6 pages of Feather Flight 25, and stuck it up on FF.net and the usual places. I've even gotten 7 pages into Feather Flight 26 so there is hope that the next chapter may be up with in a week or two. THe other fics are languishing pathetically, which makes me feel bad because I have some sweet plot lined up for the GTO thing... and the FF7 thing... and the original thing... must get off duff and get back to writing!

I blame bitTorrent. :-D

-- Lunar

Report Date: Sunday, April 11, 2004
11:51 a.m.

Would you like a little chicken?

So. In honor of the roaster currently baking away (and smelling lovely) in my new apartment's oven, and due to Thorne's latest addition to Ann's Oekaki I've got chickens on the brain.

Since I don't seem to be getting around to writing Twig our infamous 'Raphael-get's-his-comeuppance' fic, I thought I'd draw an Oekaki for it, and to my surprise it came out really well... except that it wouldn't let me save! No saving! Nooooooooooo! I blame you, Ann. Not for any particular evil, of course. But my beautiful oekaki!

Luckily for us all, Alt-PrintScreen exists! So I give you my oekaki from yesterday (time to complete, 30 minutes).

"The Grumpies always get the last laugh"
(Because a plucking is so much less permanent, and so much more humilliating than and actual dismemberment.)

and just incase you don't believe me that it was an oekaki, follow the link to see the screencap, complete with save dialog and annoying applet error message. I swear the oekaki thing hates me, Ann. :-)

-- Lunar

Report Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2004
10:40 p.m.

Random Feather Flight humor

Kuja: Since I single-handedly defeated them the aliens have bestowed on me their highest honor.... I am now an ‘honorary Queen.’

Zidane: *howls with laughter*

Kuja: Shut up.

Zidane: You were already there.

Kuja: ...

Zidane: Even ALIENS realize you're a complete fruit

Kuja: Shut up.

Zidane: now why didn't *we* think of that...

Kuja: Shut up!

Zidane: I wonder if Garnet would mind...

Kuja: I should have destroyed you.

Zidane: You could have her spare tiara, she never wears it...

Kuja: Mrrrrr (POUNCE!)

-- Lunar

Report Date: Thursday, April 1, 2004
10:39 a.m.

funny as hell

Who will you be stuck with at end of time? by chi_a_baidh
Your name is
Your sex is	MaleFemaleUndecided
Your favorite color is	RedOrangeYellowGreenBluePurpleBlackWhiteOther
You are stuck there because	the penguins saved you
For _____ years	61
With
He/She will think you are	sexy
You will	kill yourself
Created with quill18's MemeGen 3.0!

-- Lunar

Report Date: Thursday, April 1, 2004
07:22 a.m.

I'm Baaaaaack

I woke up at 6am this morning to discover my DSL modem had magically acquired a server over night. There Is a santa claus after all! So Yeay here I am updating from home like a normal person (well, a normal person trying to spell at 7am after installing software, but whatever) I am celebrating by posting last night's drabble over on the closet It is of all things, a Val ramble (no Az) which may just make it a first. Go fig.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
05:12 p.m.

There's something in the closet...

New Isaac fic-bit in the closet. I should write a Martin POV companion piece...

-- Lunar

Report Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2004
04:24 p.m.

Lunar and I-can't-believe-it's-not-Flidget discuss child crime as dramatized by TV as opposed to reality. And yes, if you ask, I at least am an ignorant savage.

Lunar: have they found the killer yet on TV? (CSI:Miami)

Not-Flidget: yeah. some girl paid a bunch of weird little boys to bash her boyfriend's head in with a hammer

Lunar: ahahaha, I love those flocks of weird little boys. They're never around when I need them.

Not-Flidget: and they were all snarky about it, too

Lunar: how do you audition them? I mean really...

Not-Flidget: take away their hammers first.

Lunar: do you just walk up to random crowds of goths and ask who wants to become petty thugs for hire?

Not-Flidget: "No! No bashing till you're on the set!"

Lunar: "I'll give you 5 dollars if you go knock over a bank for me..."

Not-Flidget: Pretty much. you really think it would be that hard? HAHAH

Lunar: with my luck? I'd always find the snotty ones. The 'we're in it for the soul, man...' or 'we don't like your discriminatory views, man' or the ever classic, 'we actually collect stamps.'

Not-Flidget: they'll call you a 'narc' and throw their hello kitty arm bands at you?

Lunar:damnit, where are the hardened prepubescent thugs! Maybe If I import them from brazil... They're supposed to be extra thuggish in brazillian street gangs... but they probably charge more, since they have experience

Not-Flidget: HAHAHA

Lunar: and my spanish sucks

Not-Flidget: "I've murdered my entire family, lady. you're going to have to do better than a shiny quarter"

Lunar: "yo quiesiera un... um...." *searches dictionary*

Lunar: gang: "you want us to beat up a layer cake? Um... okay... but that's pretty weird."

Not-Flidget: HAHAHAHHA

Lunar: gang: "Rico, go find a nice cake and hit it with a bat for our confused but high-paying american friend... and bring back what's left, I'm hungry."

Not-Flidget: HAHAHAHAHAHA, I had to show that to flidget!

Lunar: gang: "remember to steal some milk too... and maybe a brownie. We can throw in a free brownie-mashing as a show of good faith."

Not-Flidget: stone cold brownie-mashing

-- Lunar

Report Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2004
11:54 a.m.

Strange dreams

So I collapse in bed last night after clocking in 12.5 hours at work setting up for this week's seminar and seemed to have a series of flat out goofy dreams. One where my new boss was critiquing my ability to erase things off white boards ('Missed a spot..'), one where I and twig were discussing eating donuts and I said I couldn't have any more sugar because I had to brush my teeth, which I then plucked out of my mouth enmasse and started scrubbing in the sink.

Woke up to find Maki snoozing on my toes at 5:45 this morning and Aramis trying to stuff his favorite milk-bottle cap/ toy under my knee. Resisted urge to thump him, and then got up to find three more bottle-caps had been lovingly buried next to me in bed while I slept. Little bastard.

I'm thinking this is his way of telling me he misses Twig. Maybe I'll bring him into the office afterall.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Friday, March 19, 2004
12:43 p.m.

I have to get back to entertaining myself

So being that I am without TV or internet at home, I thought yesterday I'd swing by Kmart and buy some basic essentials, like pillows for my sleeping bag, so I'm not bedding down on sweaters... a new pot to plant one of my bulbs... and a random 'suspense' novel to occupy those hours before I pass out.

Oh a whim I picked up this... hmm, we shall call it a novel for now, shall we? This novel, by Tami Hoag, in the store.

It promised lush Lousiana setting, suspenseful drama, and an intelligent heroine unraveling a family mystery. What I /got/ however, was a laughably cliched smut story about a normally functional/rational woman suddenly finding a 'man who awoke the primal woman in her' while sorting out a fairly contrived family crisis. Her paramour, the high point of the book (or the low, depending how you look at it), was (1) some guy she knew in highschool who went on to be (2) a wronged biology masters-cannidate droppout (3) who then became a black ops agent (4) who spent time as a prisoner of war (5) and returned home to retreat to a hermetic life in the Bayou (6) and preform Rambo style stunts with knife and gun defending his turf and down trodden neighbors from crooked cops(7) while at the same time conducting research into a local petrochemical company's illegal dumping schemes (8) And tame-ing some pet racoons (9) and keeping an immaculate anteBellum cottage deep in the swamp (10)where in, in his copious free time, he paints deeply insightful and artistic canvases in his attic.

I mean really, how is a woman not to fall for this super man? Oh wait, did I mention he was physically perfect, had a cajun accent, and apparently was a god in the sack?

If the author had crammed any more into this character, he'd have had to spawn a second head or something. It read like some sort of cliche drinking game.

The actual plot of the story wasn't all together bad, but I wish they had just marketed the damn thing as 'tawdry romance' rather than 'suspense' that way the purple prose would have felt a little less silly. As it was, I did finish it, but I felt bad about paying for it. If I had ffnet I could have gotten the exact same thing, featuring Heero & Relena or some other common Angstful Boy/ Good Girl pairing for free. Hehehee. I'll have to post a quick transcript of the first page for you all to see how goofy it is, but not today.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Thursday, March 18, 2004
02:55 p.m.

Lost in Translation

I admit, I really did want to know what the director was saying in that one scene in the movie. He just talked too damn fast for me to grab more than the jist. If you were stumped to now we can all move on feeling enlightened on the subject

-- Lunar

Report Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2004
02:48 p.m.

What'll it be, Chief?

So there's a new thingy over in the fic blog to celebrate my going away. The rest of the writing will have to wait until I have internet again. But at least I'm trying to work on that next Zack chapter and all that shit.

I'm off as of tomorrow morning on the first leg of my cross country haul. If I can make it to Memphis at the end of the first day, Twig and I will share a hotel room before parting company in grand style. She goes north to home, I'll cut across all of Tennessee and see if I can get another 10 hours under my belt on day 2. After that it's an easy jump to Annapolis, where mother will put up with my whining for a day or so, and then 7 hours to Boston area and hopefully my new home. *croses fingers*

Now all I have to do is throw the last of my shit out here at the apartment and try to figure out how to administer the tranquilizer pills to the felines tomorrow... This was so much easier with the last cat. I'd just hide the damn things in a wee bit o cheese... but these guys just don't like any treats! Well, they like mini marshmellows, but that's rather hit or miss... hmmm we'll have to see how it all works out.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Friday, March 5, 2004
01:41 a.m.

Dude, Finally got off my ass and updated. RoodAwakenings has all the fics up to date and ready to go, including the obligatory new Kuja chapter, slid all the Zack snips over, made sure there were actually links to the recent chapters of Snapshot, Arch of Waters and such.

Oh, I also updated to finally display all the lovely gift pics people have given me over the past months. Although I didn't add templates yet. I'll go back and add those later.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Friday, February 20, 2004
01:39 p.m.

Here's a little game of Square up your Squirrel

Some how, in the wake of all the job interviewing that's been going down in the hood, this one just seemed apropriate.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Saturday, February 14, 2004
02:23 p.m.

a happy valentie's to all...

I threw this silly little slash fic together for a contest that I don't think I should have entered in hindsight, I only know two of the other people in it and yeah, whatever. The writing was fun though, and what the hey, it forced me to do some original smut involving the word 'Zori' which is certainly something I'd never be inclined to do on my own. So yeah, if you're bored and in the mood for random gei involving japanese sandals, I give you Lucky Zori

-- Lunar

Report Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2004
10:28 a.m.

Full Throttle

Ok, this is sweet. Dreamhost has, in addition to making me giggle with it's newsletter for the month, done something pretty cool. Now I/Twig/Flidget can create and post the NEXT HOT DOWNLOAD or a webcomic or something, and not have to pay 100 dollars a month in bandwidth. Read below:

-- Lunar

Report Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2004
02:06 p.m.

Well I'll post it here because it's a wee bit more discrete than over on the LJ, but I've given notice at work today that I'm leaving as of the end of the month. I was going to go 'two weeks!' but then they got this puppy eyed look and I couldn't stay.

I can't blame them, this is (with me) a 4 man outfit, and upon getting home from the FAMILY-DEBACLE currently in progress in New England, I learned that their other codemonkey is also leaving for reasons of his own. So now they have to find 2 replacements ASAP. Yeah. I don't mind, I'm pricing out moving van lines starting tomorrow, and if they sing the song I want to hear, I won't have to lift a finger to get from point A to point B in March.

Well except for moving the felines. That will suck no matter how I do it. Must remember to talk to the vet in a week or two about tranquilizers... just enough to take the edge off and let Maki watch the world go by without constant commentary. Yeah. Wish me luck.

-- Lunar

Report Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2004
11:05 a.m.

Your guess is as good as mine?

A review for my kuja fic has perplexed me, so I'll open the arena to any takers. Any idea what the following critique means?

I don't recall mentioning anything about Zidane as a possible pairing, and I mentioned AU... maybe... I have no idea, I need to check it again at some point. Still, what is this about characterchoice? is this some new feature of ff net that I'm stupid about? I thought HP fanfics got canned there. Maybe I should just revise the description to say "Various Buff OCs x Kuja, Kuja x Alien Menace" and see who screams. *evil laughter*

-- Lunar

Report Date: Sunday, January 11, 2004
11:59 a.m.

So I was thinking I needed a change....

Testing, yo.

New layout. Just for fun. Just finished 4 more 'redone' pages of grumpy elves, the sizes are a little large so I may be going back to fix that later... I think I've been saving them in color when only grayscale is necessary... But as an afterthought for page 15 I did this layout, so it all worked out in the end. ^_^

Child's Paradise

More to come later... I think.

-- Lunar