#paurch

[cephalocrow]

ohhh my brain is rotting, anyways i love drawing Paul and Murch

[guardbo]

murch/paul doodle mural? paurch?

happy pride to them ONLY

[the-giant-prisoner]

Meanwhile, what's going on Valentine's mind?

Valentine huffed, watching the little boy go and fetch the water barrel after Valentine himself had kicked it away for the dozenth time. “I hope you know I’m not exactly about to grow civil just because you walked all the way down to visit at my level like no one else has bothered.”

...okay, perhaps Valentine was slightly touched by the gesture. But that didn’t mean he was about to grovel at this miniature messenger’s feet. In fact, Valentine felt a certain amount of smug satisfaction as the cat stomped over to retrieve the barrel which had sprung a leak. 

“Xche buche water.” The cat scowled, hefting the barrel upright. 

...wait.

Valentine paused, suddenly intensely invested in the mumblings of his guest. “What did you say?” 

The cat paid him no mind, focused on the task of rolling the barrel back into place, but Valentine’s mind was no longer focused on the possibly poisoned beverage. Had Valentine heard that correctly? 

“Hey- Hey!” Valentine raised his voice, making sure he caught the cat’s intention. The barrel-pusher jumped, startled into giving Valentine his full attention. Valentine narrowed his gaze, focusing on those miniscule facial features as he leaned forwards. “Can you understand me? You can, can’t you? Have you all been pulling my leg this entire time? Where am I? What did you do to me?” 

The little visitor, unfortunately, didn’t seem to comprehend a word Valentine said; or if he did, he hid it well as he took a nervous step back, ears flattening against the sides of his furry head. 

Valentine frowned, shaking his head at his own foolishness. The human prince swore he had heard the word ‘water’ in there, and yet as he tried to conjure up the memory he also remembered more of those gibberish consonants.

Wait… maybe that was the key to it all. With Valentine’s keen linguistics skills, perhaps the prince had subconsciously begun to pick up on translating key phrases! Yes, that must be it! There could be no other explanation.

Valentine cleared his throat, hoping he was onto something here. He pointed to the barrel, hoping context would be his aide if pronunciation was off. Valentine raised an eyebrow, hoping the tiny person would be smart enough to catch on to what was happening. Carefully, Valentine spoke, rolling his tongue around the unfamiliar sounds. “Coo ... Parchee?”

The cat’s eyes widened, looking to the barrel which still leaked onto the stone floor, then back at Valentine. After a long, pregnant pause, the little figure slowly gave a nod. “Haite, xche buche coo paurche.”

Coo Paurche. Water. Even listening for the gibberish this time, Valentine once again caught the translation with ease.

[atlanticcanada]

Future clouded for Sydney community devastated by Thanksgiving flooding

Nearly one year after the Thanksgiving Day flood that devastated a Sydney neighbourhood, the future of the community continues to remain uncertain. 

Not much has changed in the flood-zone area. Some homes are gone, but many remain boarded up and vacant.

Residents are wondering what's next.

“The insurance company told us if we ever to attempt to build on this lot again we would never receive insurance coverage, so literally the land is sitting there,” says resident Tom Penny. 

But Penny is still paying taxes on the land. He says the province has bought other nearby properties, but because his mother had full insurance coverage, their property wasn't eligible.

“People are worried. People are scared. People are interested in what their future is in this area and people are telling me they've been left in the dark for a year now, and they're not very happy about it,” says Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillor Ray Paurch. 

Paurch says property assessments plummeted for residents still living in their house.

“I really think if the province has bought the other sections of land here, (they) should also buy this lot as well,” says Paruch.

Paurch feels a decision on what needs to be done with the Sydney neighbourhood should be made now. But the local MLA says the province will not be entering that discussion until cleanup is completed at the end of October.

“Do these people not understand that it is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time?” asks  Paurch. “We've got to put our collective forces together, sit at the table with the people and the departments that can address this problem expeditiously as possible.”

There was discussion of making the area a no development zone shortly after the flood, but that hasn't happened and it's unclear if that decision will ever be made.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.

from CTV News - Atlantic http://ift.tt/2fkUQQO