muses-of-ideen

[muses-of-ideen]

Continued From Here

@aresite

"Yeah, at least for as long as we can at least. He'll totally catch up eventually, but I'd like to push back that lecture for as long as possible." She didn't so much mind the punishment, but the lecture was her real reason for continuing to run. "Let's see... as far as places to go... any recommendations? There's only a few towns I know any kind of well, and this ain't one."

[muses-of-ideen]

OOC:

So, I was going to try to get replies out before this, but that's clearly not happening. Anyways, I'm going to be leaving on a trip for 2 weeks, after which I'll be moving to a new city in a different part of the country, so consider this a hiatus announcement. For the time being, I only owe replies here, and I plan to work on them on my phone while I'm on vacation, but if I don't get to them before then, I'll probably be back sometime in the new year. The timing of the move is horrendous, but I got a federal job working for NARA, so it's hard to pass up.

[muses-of-ideen]

"Oh, have I not mentioned him before? Or maybe I just never told you his name. So, remember when I bought that bracelet from you way back when? That's who it was for. He's my fiancé, but he's also technically in charge of my safety per my mom, which he takes waaaaay too seriously. I mean, for real, how does he think I got along before we met? Who is he dating? Me or my mother?" Kaya rolled her eyes.

"Like, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it if he'd treat me going out like a date, but he's so uptight and doesn't let me have any fun. So I sneak out whenever I feel like getting some fresh air." This came with the added perk of getting his attention. "So, like, if he catches up to us, he may seem kinda scary and, like, super mega pissed off, but he's not a bad guy, I promise." i.e. Pls don't throw knives at my boyfriend. "But, like, we should probably keep moving? Man has the senses of a hawk, I swear. He catches up so fast, and I just snuck out again, so I don't want a lecture yet."

Erya paused and turned to look around at Kayla. “That makes two of us, sister!” She laughed, “If I didn’t have to earn a living, Mestipen would never let me out of his sight! But, that would totally make life super boring…”

She paused for a second, and then her expression changed. Erya put her hands on her hips with a pointed look, “Wait- Who’s Koshon? Is he someone we should look out for? Because if you’ve got someone after you or some employer controlling you I am pretty proficient in throwing knives.”

[muses-of-ideen]

"Uhhhh... oh, y'know..." Kayla triled off. "I'm not really allowed out out, when you see me, I've been sneaking away when I don't have any work to do. I've just been busy... and Koshon's been more anal about his job than usual..." She hadn't been able to successfully sneak out in what felt like forever. She'd shrivel up without water, sure, but she was damn near close to shiveling up anyways.

"But yeah! It's been a while! How've you been? We totally need to get up to something. I haven't been out in ages, I need to have some fun before Mr. Uptight Bodyguard finds me and harpoons me back home."

Erya didn’t seem to notice the little subterfuge Kayla pulled as she was too busy hurrying away from the ‘scene of the crime’. She gleefully grabbed Kayla by the wrist and pulled her after her between two more stalls and down a rather dark and damp alleyway. The alley was slightly slanted in the middle with a 'drainage ditch’ in the center where the water collected and the walls on either side of them were heavily water-stained. It wasn’t a very long alley and on the other side Erya could see the hustle and bustle of people walking along. Once they made it into that crowd she was 'certain’ they could slip away unnoticed.

Erya released Kayla and turned back to look at her, “Been awhile! Where’ve you been hiding?” She laughed.

[muses-of-ideen]

"Great," Shiela replied with a grin. She set the bottle and the cups on the table and pulled up a chair, not caring about how loudly the woods of the chair and floor were as they scraped against one another. The floor was already a horrifically scuffed mess anyways. She poured them both a hefty shot glass and served Bowen his. "Bottoms up!" She held up her glass for a clink before knocking it back. The taste sent shivers up her spine and down every nerve in her body and made her ears morph back into her animal form's. She managed to hold in her tail and claws, but they nearly shifted too. It tasted like a fiery swamp and rancid honey. And 200 proof alcohol.

"Oh man, that is an awful batch," she cackled, quickly pouring another glass. "Not to mention you could dress wounds with this stuff. How's it treating you?"

Bowen raised an eyebrow at first, not entirely expecting Shiela to stay. Yet… she didn’t have anything she needed to do and her place was being looked after, a raised eyebrow turned into a brief widening of both eyes when she locked the door, confirming her answer. “Ah, alright!” Wait, this meant she was staying here tonight? Of course he had no issues with that at all, he just wished the butterflies in his stomach would calm down for just a damn minute. And speaking of, the answer to his plight was met with a single word. Booze. Alcohol was a strange thing to Bowen, even though he had seen his friends drink plenty of times. As much as he wasn’t normally one to indulge in it, it really seemed like the best course of action to loosen himself up.

Oh boy, that stuff looks so much like a blackout prescription, yet, a small cup like that, just take it carefully and there shouldn’t be any problems.

“Sometimes the worse it tastes, the stronger it is.” He finally remarked, a smile coming to him again. “Why not, let’s have a crack at it.”

Yeah, this is definitely going to help him for sure. Just… don’t have too much!

[muses-of-ideen]

"Powers that be tried that with me a while ago. Didn't work out very well for them," Nassim replied with an almost sadistic chuckle. Although, admittedly, his boyfriend had equally as much to do with how that went down. "Yes, because then I can judge you for that too. You get an incorporeal body, and I get to laugh at how you can't touch anything. Everyone wins."

Kale flashes Nassim a cheesy grin. "Don't worry! if the powers-that-be have their way, I'll be taken off the mortal census in no time." A hand is placed to his chin. "Aww-- Ya want me to come back and haunt ya? Yer so sweet!"

[muses-of-ideen]

"Yeah, and I reserve the right to judge you until said death for said whining and complaining," Nassim replied. "Maybe even after. I'm flexible on that."

"I'm in fact NOT being very brave about it and will whine and complain until I die. As is my right."

[muses-of-ideen]

OOC:

Okay, I am caught up here, finally, and I have four days off! In a row! Unless I get called in because that's what being a substitute is. So like this for a starter with one of the kids, feel free to specify, and I'll get to it. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things (especially because job interviews are starting to come in and they make me very nervous.)

[muses-of-ideen]

tetsuwan-atom​:

“Ooooh, that’s a thought, there’s always more to see outside the city, at least from my experience anyway.” Bowen replied, smiling again. “I’ll let you know about that one tomorrow.” There was more to this world than just the one town and he did wish to see more. Assignments that weren’t dangerous or emergencies always brought out the curiosity in him, even if, well, this wasn’t exactly an assignment. Not every Operator had that kind of wanderlust, which made it surprising how those people even stayed in that kind of job.

“Heh, no need to worry about that, I don’t do a whole lot in times like this.” Especially without net access. Just read some stats on the IDND and then consider some shut eye. “Makes sense with where we’re going and all.” That way he could experience the sunrise, for one. A curious eyebrow raised at Shiela’s question regarding sticking around. He was used to crashing in places like this on his own, but… “Well… I wouldn’t want to hold you up if there’s anything you need to do but… I’ll definitely appreciate your company if you wanted to stay.”

Oh man he sounded sappy then, didn’t he? Cheeks darkened for a moment as he felt the slightest bit of embarrassment from the answer he gave her.

“Hmmmm... wonder what I should do,” she teased for a moment.  She had no intentions of leaving now though.  She brought her hand back and leaned against the door, crossing her arms.  “Well, might as well give ya somethin’ ta do, since you don’t have much else ta do in this world.  Nothin’ in perticular I need ta do either.  My place has someone to look after it.  I’m gone a fair bit after all, it’ll survive a night.  And I can look for a job after our fun in the morning.”  She pushed the bolt through the latch to lock the door for the night and walked back into the room.  “Now lessee where the man keeps his booze.  I can replace what we drink within reason, so might as well keep the fun going a bit, right?  Alcohol makes everything better... in the right amount.”  She walked over to a cabinet near the counter that counted for a kitchen and started going through the top shelf.  She pulled out two small cups and a bottle of something that looked like hangover fuel.  

“Feelin’ adventurous?  Man’s a sailor, so it probably tastes awful, but I bet it’s plenty effective!”

[muses-of-ideen]

((Apologies for the silence, apparently I have more burnout from my degree than I anticipated. Regardless, I have been working on things, most recent of which is a map for the continent of Angora, where most of the stories here take place. Thanks to Shells who showed this map maker to me a couple days ago, I finally was able to complete it after 18 years of my brain simply not being adequate enough for the job.))

There are 3 versions:

A height map with the nation labels

A biome map with both the nation labels and hatched areas detailing the location of Lostlorn Lands

And a relief map of the national borders with hatched areas for the Lostlorn Lands

The random red dot in Eules is a lava pool. I probably could have gotten rid of it, but heck that, I love lava.

Also, for clarification, this is the map before the events of the Lostlorn Land trilogy (which is the earliest of the stories that take place on Angora). Later eras see a fair amount of border and nationality changes, and, during the course of the trilogy, Síd and Umbra have divided the land of Eules.

[muses-of-ideen]

@aresite​ Continued from here

Kayla nearly fell over backward trying to avoid the person who almost barrelled into her.  She blinked several times before recognizing it was Erya, but the sounds of an angry pursuer took a bit longer to process.  Long enough, in fact, that by the time she understood what was going on, she’d already been dragged halfway down the street.  

“Huh?!  What?!  Huh?!?!”  Kayla stared at the bouncing purse for several moments before her brain finally pieced together what was going on.  She gave a wry chuckle as the pieces fell into place.  “Yeah, sure,” she replied with a grin.  “I’ve got a bit of a headstart today anyways.  I should be good for a drink.”  Kayla was terribly clumsy footwork-wise though.  Running was not her strong suit, let alone dancing.  Part of being part-fish.  “In return, I’ll see what I can do about your tail.”  As they walked, Kayla lightly sang a song- a song to hide, a song to conceal, a song to make the stones, brick, and wood think of them as their own, and her necklace pulsated to the beat, forcing the world around them to resonate with her tune.  It probably wasn’t perfect, but it’d buy them a couple minutes at the very least.  

[muses-of-ideen]

OOC:

-SLAMS HANDS DOWN-

FINALLY FINISHED! AFTER JUST OVER THREE YEARS, I AM FINALLY DONE WITH MY FIRST MLIS (Master's of Library and Information Science). I've never considered myself a workaholic or particularly ambitious, but man, getting a graduate degree really forces it out if you have it. I don't technically graduate until 5/5, but I have everything handed in, and I'm basically set to graduate, so I can finally rest. I'm still a bit salty about what that Scripting Languages class did to my GPA, but 3.95 isn't the worst. I just wanted to try graduating with a 4.0 because it actually seemed like I might be able to. Anyways, for those who stuck with my sporadic activity, thanks. I kept letting people convince me to take on more and more work, and it left very little time for my actual hobbies.

BUT I AM DONE!!!

Next is job hunting, but hopefully I'll be able to recover before starting a full-time position.

[muses-of-ideen]

aresite​:

Erya had no idea how to respond to this without outing herself as a homeless nomad that was hounded from city to city her entire life. If she could think of a witty comeback for that she would say it… but her mind went blank.

“Uhh… sure?“ Was all she could think of, and yes - this she was ashamed of.

“Ugh, well fine.  If you don’t want to play in the snow, then what else are we supposed to do?”

[muses-of-ideen]

aresite​: 

That would be hard since she lived in the back of a wagon

“Ugh, how about we just skip to the sitting by the fire part?“ 

“Ugggggghhhhh...  No sense of adventure in this one...”. Yeah, she said it.  No, she’s not ashamed.

[muses-of-ideen]

aresite​:

“Yeah but we’re human so we’re cold! I’m not made for the cold! I’m made for tanning under the warm sun!“  Was she being overly dramatic? Yes. But she was cold and snow meant she had to wear shoes and shoes were not something she usually enjoyed wearing… they were constrictive on her feet and pinched her toes!

“Okay, okay, but snow means we can have a snowball fight ‘n stuff.  You just gotta run back inside and sit by the fire before you freeze is all.  Then you can go back out!  It’s easy, see?”

[muses-of-ideen]

aresite​:

“Yeah well, aren’t fish like… cold blooded and like freeze in the cold so there.“ 

“I mean... well you’rewrong, but you’re not wrong.  Cold-blooded, yes.  Freeze, no.”  Oceans are cold places after all.  “Still better suited to handling cold than humans.”  Although Kayla was technically half-human, so she was a warm-blooded fish, which made her especially good at it.

[muses-of-ideen]

OOC:

I’m off for the weekend, so like for a starter, and I’ll get to it over the weekend.  Please specify a character, if interested, otherwise the selection will be random.