#nerdexploring

[bloodydzes]

Whoops, I'm at 8,456 words. Loradonna is meeting a representative of the small room right now.

Tal is also being formally adopted by Ouwasei, lacertian style. (she's already been adopted in the human system). They've gone to the edge of the Mangolin because the Walkers are keepers, of lacertian history and a safe means of escape if little Tala has to run. Ouwa is making sure they know who she is.

[bloodydzes]

Oooh, I think I've just figured out how to introduce my main antagonist to the small room. This is exciting. I'm pretty sure it will still make sense when I put into sentences. Probably.

[bloodydzes]

So i am over 7,000 words now and the housekeeping continues apace. It’s a fairly standard three act story and the draft of act one is nearly done. So far I am still liking telling the story in the past with journal entries carrying the details you need in the present. From act two things move fast so I need to be ready. It’s time to start making sure my trail is being lightly marked so people aren’t utterly confused. So, the people Loradonna works for were tricky to name. I jokingly called them The Consortium after A Town Called Eureka but that didn’t work for this story. We looked up similar words in other languages and camarilla came up. The origins of it relate to Small Room. I. Like. It. So that’s my lead in. The leader is The Door. There is one way in, one way out and it’s through them. They are very similar to the Upright Man in Krondor and I am so very comfortable with that. Now, these might not be in English when I write them properly. I will likely be creating words for these but now you know my inspiration. I am thrilled to introduce them. Lora meets them after her botched assassination of Tal. The box of heads laced with toxic talc and enchanted little animal toys with acid that got loose in the chaos of the talc explosion created havoc and serious injury which catches their attention. In her panic to cover it up she makes a deal.

I have also, theoretically, come up with the introduction of the island mages for young Tala. She’s going to the tea shop for the first time since her Mum died and the old dudes gambling, drinking tea and making dodgy deals upstairs have a story for the sad little girl. I almost want her and Loebos to be a thing but he’s known her since she was a young child and I can’t. They’d make an amazing couple but they already do make an amazing team and every grey path girl needs a connected uncle who can help her get in to trouble. The island mages aren’t a shady organisation like the small room. They generally operate indirectly and just want to exist and medal in affairs with no need for more power. They are nameless. The island needs a name though. I have no idea.

The Sorta Plan for the end of act one and start of act two straight from my notes:

Tal’s recovery – look for notes from scene on the roof, convo between Artem and Tal about revenge/vengeance.

First trip to tea house (needs name, possibly of a plant) and her meeting Loebos since her mum’s funeral

Fit in reaction of Loradonna to box of heads. She wasn’t there but hears about it. Not sure yet how i want her to respond. Prudence probably and fear of her summons.

Wants to keep training

Back to the ruin, break down and getting back in (find notes)

Books, experiments and clues, oh my

First hears about disappearing island (she ultimately becomes adept at displacement magic following this thread later

Journal entries following trail to her dad.

Ends with her finishing new disguise as she thinks about her first long term one for the college of magical sciences.

Act two begins with trip the tepui.

Should probably describe Tal. Dark hair, green/hazel eyes from dad, think Caucasian (chechnya, armenia, abazin, lezgin), full lips. Tal is around 1.8 m or 5’10/11″ i think. Haughty and a little brittle.

Tepui elves are not very tall. The tallest are around Tal’s height. Flatlands elves are taller. Her dad is around the same height. So they share eyes (maybe shape too) and height. Complexion, hair, facial features themselves from mom.

All her disguises have dark eyes like her mom. She’s not sure about her light ones because she correctly assumes they are like her dad’s.

Camarilla – little room, the door

[bloodydzes]

Love letter to The Blog aka Contemporary Romance

Hello, I should probably thank you first because if you had tried to change your mood instead of giving in to it and going to bed, I probably would not have given myself permission to surrender to my mood. A not so small part of that was me wishing I could go to bed too. But I wake up in quite a lot of pain. So I dread going to lay down. I cannot and do not get comfortable any more. Not without drugs. It's been a long time since I've felt like this. It also means I made protein bars. I will be honest and say your mood didn't bother me. Shit happens. It bothers me that you cannot be bothered looking after yourself. You will stress and overthink all kinds of stuff but making an effort to get your body the basic nutrition it needs does't EVER happen. Like ever. If you want to stay fit, sharp witted and enjoy the things you want to enjoy you might want to try forcing yourself to be healthy once in a while. I have to. Even when it sucks and I don't want to. It's not like I like protein powder, but I have no physical or mental energy to make a breakfast that has protein in it. So I made you a somewhat healthy snack you can even eat while driving. Please don't leave them in the car this time. If you don't like it, that's cool. It's a new recipe so it might be crap. Just let me know. You will probably make 1 minute for yourself tomorrow to check something news related during the day, eat it then. Unless it's gross...then bin it. The last thing I will say is that it has occurred to me that I am reliving a fear I've had before. I NEED to be healthy, fit, etc. it's become clear that to do this I need you to buy in and do it too or I'm going to have to go a head on my own. My own food plans, free time, weekends, evenings, who knows what...but I have to commit to something. I used to fear that if I kept my schedule and you kept yours we'd only really interact for a few hours a day. My physical and mental health have regressed to the point that I am getting closer to that call. My evenings and yours would co-exist, just not together. There would be the weekends obviously. I know the sense of helplessness and futility and apathy that accompanies a period of depression for me is starting to happen. It's not clinical, I just need to change something in the way I go about my day - finish stuff, get the house properly clean for the first time in weeks, go through my clothes, apply for jobs, do something besides work. That'd probably be good for you too. I don't want to lay down. But I have to try to sleep. Hell, we can both start by MAKING ME do my physio exercises. Something has to give for me now and I'd rather it was a bad habit or two than something important, like doing stuff with you. I am not going to bring this letter up. I will probably be embarrassed about it by morning. I will talk about it if you want to. This has been building for like 6-7 weeks but I have kept it as contained as possible. I should probably write to you more often. You are so damn distracting. In the best way. And I am in love with you. Love FG