outraged (OPEN)

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{njord floros*}
featuring--! --! ---! ---!
Another mission, the powers have called me away
Another time to carry the colors again
My motivation, an oath I’ve sworn to defend
To win the honor of coming back home again
No explanation will matter after we begin
Unlock the dark destroyer that’s buried within
My true vocation and now my unfortunate friend
You will discover a war you’re unable to win

How could this have happened? Those mindless beings were now a part of the rider’s pact and the Queen had locked herself away in the greats trees known as her castle. The dragons and their riders had betrayed us once again, they were worthless… They deserved to die. All of them! After many days of riding from his home to the city of the great queen, I had managed to make it in mere minutes of her announcing the hideous truth. The queen was no longer queen, her son was the King… With the sickness taken from him, he was well again. That was a wondering thing, but what was not wonderful was that the disgusting human… Malandra Ramakrishna was the child’s advisor. Though I was not much older than the new king, I was still young and this made me beyond angry. All the city was in a uproar! The Floros family was only myself and my sister, but the forest only knew where she might be! Probably in Luthivira where it had been told that the ex-queen was. How could she do this to her people! It was something was just outrages!

The city had been quiet and I had taken resident into one of the old trees of my family that was like a villa compared to the mansion in my home. Looking over the city from the high balcony of the tree, I watched the few people move around and the guards at the castle. I wanted to stay near in case that disgusting bitch tried to start something. I would not allow my Nation to be ruin by this disgusting woman. But, my door was also open for anyone to come in, so I kept my ear out for anyone who might want to visit.

I’ll have you know, that I’ve become
Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable

’word count three. zero. zero.
’tagged none has come
’song Indestructible--! Disturbed
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[Lisenet]

[You are going back and forth between first and third person in your post, I believe. Or perhaps I’m reading it wrong. ]

Linweylan

”Now is a most inopportune time for you to be leaving the city, don’t you think?” I demanded of my father as he slid a handful of bruised apples into a saddle bag for his horse. With Dellanir gone, Evander king, and the human woman at his side to guide him. But how had she even gotten there? I couldn’t remember. ”Every citizen out there is looking to the Councilmembers to comfort them, surely you should be the one to do that!”

My father fixed me with a cool, even gaze. “The city’s residents do not require comfort, they are not children.”

But I am, I wanted to moan.

“And besides, who do you think will be the best at reassuring concerned citizens?” he continued calmly. “Me? Reassurance is hardly, as you have pointed out, my strong suit.”

”They want something stable,” I insisted, following him out the door. ”You know most of them only listen to me because you’ve told them to. And you only do that because you want me to be comfortable with it.”

“And here we are, back to comfort,” he sighed as he buckled the bag to the back of his saddle. “Someone must go after your aunt, as you well know, and that person might as well be me. No one else is thrashing at the bit for the job, which I already believe is an effort wasted.”

”Then why go at all?” I demanded, fists on hips. I didn’t cut a very striking figure, being slender of stature, and with gold hair tickling all the way down to my calves. At least I never let it drag on the ground.

He mounted up and I adjusted his stirrup for him, still scowling. He leaned over to peer down at me. “Because it is still the right thing to do, and it will reassure the residents to see that we are doing something.” Straightening, he added, “I hope it will reassure you to see us putting effort into maintaining a semblance of order. I do not plan to be gone longer than a month.” I backed away so he could start off. Just before he did so, he remembered, “Go see Njord when he returns—I thought he might—and see if that dagger we received belongs to him.” He galloped off.

The dagger in question was a fine thing. It might have been part of a matched pair once; I wouldn’t know. But the gems set in the hilt were almost resonant with their rich hues, reflecting perfectly the light of the midday sun. As my father regularly received shipments both from Ilirea—containing books and other valuables our people had managed to regain—and from elsewhere in the human lands—often elven possessions that had somehow made their way into human hands—it wasn’t strange that he’d received this fine blade. The engraved initials below the largest gem, however, made us wonder to whom it might belong. Few carried the same initials so we had been asking around. The last person to ask also happened to be one of those whom I would, ideally, have preferred to avoid. Njord and his sister were….calamitous. Njord at least never looked as though he wished to take a bite out of my face, though. I did prefer him to his sister.

I took up the dagger—minus its sheath, which had not come with it—and carried it loosely in hand toward the Floros manor. I knew already that he’d entered the city only an hour ago. As luck would have it—though good or bad I didn’t know—he was in, his finely wrought door ajar in a neutral welcome to any who came by. I knocked on the doorframe as I entered and paused just inside the door. ”Njord,” I greeted. ”My father said you may return today. I hope your journey was well?” I knew he wasn’t much one for small-talk, but I took a minor solace in the consistency of it all. I avoided irritating him with further tedium by then reaching the causation for my visit. I held the dagger out by the blade. ”We received this as part of a general shipment from the coast. Is it yours?” Our guess was that it had been his father’s, somehow lost when he fell in Ilirea, then plundered through to the city where it had shipped from.

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{njord floros*}
featuring--! --! ---! ---!
Another mission, the powers have called me away
Another time to carry the colors again
My motivation, an oath I’ve sworn to defend
To win the honor of coming back home again
No explanation will matter after we begin
Unlock the dark destroyer that’s buried within
My true vocation and now my unfortunate friend
You will discover a war you’re unable to win

The trees whispered of some of the people leaving, everyone could know when someone was leaving. Now that the queen was gone, they did not report to just one person it seemed. They were confused and heartbroken to see their Queen gone, yet glad that the… King was well… But, the human witch, she caused just as much confusion among the trees and they… feared her, in a way… What had seen done to our home? What had she done to command respect from the forest that she didn’t deserve. It pissed me off greater than anything I could think of. Why was she here?! How did she manage to get here? The questions were rumbling through my mind even as people left the city.

Some of the elven people were not happy, the trees let everyone know this. As I stood outside my home on a small balcony, I watched the street as people moved about. Even though they tried to be as normal as possible, there was nothing normal. My only hope was that the king would one day see that Malandra needed to be gone and if I had to be the one to finally tell him that, I would… Rubbing the back of my neck, it felt like my muscles were wary from battle, as if my stress was getting the better of me… As I tried to relax, hoping this might help my own home to relax, I noticed it did little. ”What are we going to do?”

[/color] I said loudly, though to myself as I went back into the tree that was my home and manor. Even though it was merely a large tree with a main floor and the bed chambers up higher, it was still considered a manor. It was large, with large rooms and about four trees grown into one.

Stepping off the stairs, the sound of something tapping at my door alerted me to the presence of someone coming into my home. Turning around the stairs’ side, I saw her standing there. It was one of the councilmen’s daughter, someone who oversaw the city when her father was away… And her father was the Queen’s brother. Why had he not gotten the throne? Why give it to a child? It was outrages in his opinion and it pushed his tension further.

”Njord.” I nodded in greeting towards her with a simple, elegant bow. She was royalty, the respect I gave her was genuine. ”My father said you may return today. I hope your journey was well?” With a simple shrug, I leaned against the wall of my home. ”Could have gone better. It was long and tiring, but it was nothing compared to the horrors I heard when I got here.”[/color] I said to her, knowing she possible felt the same way. Mind you, I did like that the young king was well, but everything else… Why did this have to happen? What had caused and allowed it to happen?

”We received this as part of a general shipment from the coast. Is it yours?” Taking the blade from the woman I examined it. The blade held age, but the sharpness had not dulled over the time it had been away. Examining it further, I noted the seal that was deep within’ the gem that held hundreds of years of magic. ”This blade was passed down from to my father many years ago… He died during the blue divide… I am glad to have it back.”[/color] As tradition held, I touched the gem and sent a small wave of energy into the gem, allowing it to get a fresh pool to add to the growing amount. One day, the Gem would be given to another… Not once had energy been taken from the blade and I could feel the energy of my ancestors pooled in there. ”I thank you, I didn’t see hope of seeing this blade again.”[/color][/blockquote][/blockquote]

I’ll have you know, that I’ve become
Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable

’word count 0.658
’tagged none has come
’song Indestructible--! Disturbed
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lisenet]

”This blade as passed down to my father….” I nodded, having expected as much. ”I am glad to have found its owner, then. It came to us from Teirm, where a nobleman had it in a collection.” The other fine weapons—none as fine as this one, of course—had all been either human or of the urgralgra, though, so our operative had not seen need to take them as well. They did not belong to us.

”I don’t believe I ever expressed my sympathies for your family’s loss. My father is….difficult at times, but still I would be very stricken to lose either him or my mother. I am glad that you and your sister have done better than I expect I would have.” I touched my fingertips together where my hands hung before me, mulling over and abusing my own thoughts as though if I ground over them often enough, they would become fine enough for me to understand. I still did not understand, even after so many hours of contemplation. I had never bothered to look into the intricacies woven throughout and within my own family and their hierarchy, I had always looked instead to that of my city, as my father had taught me to do so. Always looking ahead, I had never thought to look behind me. Always attentive to the sky above, I had never thought to watch the ground below.

”Do you have any idea how she got here?” I asked abruptly. Njord traveled more than I, perhaps he had heard something I had not, or had not attended to. Humans did not enter our cities. How had she? ”I didn’t have the chance to ask my father before he left. He’s gone to reason with Dellanir, but….he said it was unlikely that she would listen to him. I know she never has before.” When did we allow humans to have such an influence over us? When had the line of succession—historically always decided by those best suited, not those next in blood—become malleable, no longer the decision of the people? When had our ways become so similar to those of the humans?

And what did the human who was changing them want with us?

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{njord floros*}
featuring--! --! ---! ---!
Another mission, the powers have called me away
Another time to carry the colors again
My motivation, an oath I’ve sworn to defend
To win the honor of coming back home again
No explanation will matter after we begin
Unlock the dark destroyer that’s buried within
My true vocation and now my unfortunate friend
You will discover a war you’re unable to win

“I am glad to have found its owner, then. It came to us from Teirm, where a nobleman had it in a collection.” I wrinkled my nose at the thought of it being in human hands. My father had died many years ago during that blasted war and now these humans had their fingers on our dagger? It was beyond angering, but I couldn’t hold my anger… They were mindless idiots…

“I don’t believe I ever expressed my sympathies for your family’s loss. My father is….difficult at times, but still I would be very stricken to lose either him or my mother. I am glad that you and your sister have done better than I expect I would have.” Looking up at the woman I nodded my thanks towards her. ”It was difficult, but we pushed through it. Besides, we had things to keep us busy.”

[/color] A death was a death… It was bound to happen to some of us and I wasn’t going to weep over it. My father was a hard man, we were a legacy that had to continue going and when my sister was born, the legacy became something more… It was going to be larger and I would be the one to make sure it continued. Looking up at the woman before me, I wondered what else she wanted with me. The woman helped run the city, she had to be here for more of the reason then bring me back my father’s own dagger.

“Do you have any idea how she got here?” If she was speaking of that human scum, I felt my heart race and blood boil. I had half a mind to go and kill the woman now, but the Queen had placed her in charge. ”No, but I am sure we will find out soon enough… The bitch has no place in this land, she is nothing more than human scum and I hold no loyalty in her, only the King.”[/color] I said it harshly and it was truth. The humans might be part of the riders, but I held no respect for the creatures or anyone who helped them. Oh sure, the riders saw something, but the riders had become less concerned about their own race, they had to love something. Why not the mindless humans? ”I didn’t have the chance to ask my father before he left. He’s gone to reason with Dellanir, but….he said it was unlikely that she would listen to him. I know she never has before.”

I nodded and then looked over my shoulder as I thought of something. ”Well, there is nothing we can do presently… Why don’t you come in, sit down… I was about to have some lunch anyway.”[/color] [/blockquote][/blockquote]

I’ll have you know, that I’ve become
Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable

’word count 0.458
’tagged none has come
’song Indestructible--! Disturbed
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lisenet]

I knew he must have gotten over his parents’ death years ago, but sadness like that never truly went away. I wondered how the humans managed it, losing each other all the time. But perhaps spending less time with life allowed them to part with it more easily. Perhaps we wouldn’t consider death so frightening if we didn’t take our own long lives for granted. It was little surprise that the humans often believed we couldn’t be killed. It wasn’t as if age reached out and took us whenever it cared to, as it seemed to with them.

I did wish that Njord, and all the others who believed similarly, could see the humans with less prejudice. They were like children, really. Dangerous, uncultured children, but did that make their lives any less valuable? If we likened them to our own shining young ones, their lives should be even more precious. Unfortunately, as I was well aware, our people prided all things beautiful, and it was the rare human who didn’t appear dirty and unkempt by our standards. But they had their uses, didn’t they? We could only offer up a bare handful of our own youth every year for the Riders, and so few were chosen. The humans bred more quickly and their young matured much faster than ours. We provided the intellect and they provided the numbers.

If only others could see it that way. Perhaps if I had lost loved ones to their unwashed hands I would feel the same prejudice, but as I hadn’t, I couldn’t know.

A tiny smile touched the corner of my mouth when I saw how he regarded the blade after hearing it had been kept in human possession. ”I cleaned it before bringing it over,” I told him. ”I did an excellent job. Father has me maintain his blades.” Because he knew very well that I couldn’t hate something I understood, and having spent decades bending over his weapons, learning the different oils and polishes to use with what kinds of metal and what kind to use around inset gems or wires, I understood blades very well. Perhaps not how to use them, but their composition at least.

”Well, there is nothing we can do presently…. Sit down….” I don’t know if he noticed my shoulders sliding forward the tiniest bit. My father spoke highly of Njord, as did many others. With my mother waiting for me to find my own understanding, and all other elders expecting me to have my father’s answers, there were few whom I could go to for my questions. And in this matter, I hardly knew enough to even know what to ask. Perhaps it was foolish of me to assume this man I barely knew to have the answers no one else would give me, but either way it was soothing to spend time in the company of someone my own age. ”Thank you.” I crossed to the table and sank into a chair. Although I knew the sensation was entirely in my own imagination, my muscles felt stiff doing so. I never sat at home, I always had something to do for myself or for others. I stood and ran about so often perhaps I’d forgotten what sitting was for. But he wouldn’t sit until I did, and eating standing up would only reinforce his idea that I was peculiar, if he thought as so many others did.

We are such an intelligent people, but our inherent strength in nearly all we do has caused us to forget that there is a difference between those who are soft and those who are weak.

{Sorry to put this one back on your list so soon, I had muse. }

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{njord floros*}
featuring--! --! ---! ---!
Another mission, the powers have called me away
Another time to carry the colors again
My motivation, an oath I’ve sworn to defend
To win the honor of coming back home again
No explanation will matter after we begin
Unlock the dark destroyer that’s buried within
My true vocation and now my unfortunate friend
You will discover a war you’re unable to win

As I looked at the dagger, the memory of my father and mother came to my mind easily. Though I did not know why, my heart was pulled at, my thoughts running rapidly through the images I saw when we prepared for the war against those human scum. Watching as my father prepared each blade with careful thought and care. It was something I had taken from him, as all my weapons were well managed and taken care of. Having him gone was something I had had a hard time understanding, but our family seemed to have a tradition of either leaving and never being seen again or dying… It seemed to always happened… I did not know why, but it happened and it seemed my sister and I were going to be the next generation to either continue or break that tradition. I had no plans on disappearing or dying, so it seemed that tradition would end… With me…

The thought of my sister’s plans for the battle was much different though and it bothered me. Being a twin, it scared me how we were so much different. How she enjoyed interaction with those pathetic humans and those traitors and their rats. It was disgusting! Yet, I could not cut her from my life. Living far away was an easy option. As I thought about her interest in the humans, I tried to push past it. There was no point in thinking on it for so long… No point at all. ”I cleaned it before bringing it over.” Her voice came over his ears as he pulled himself from his deepened thoughts. My eyes looked over my shoulder at her. ”I did an excellent job. Father has me maintain his blades.” I could agree with her, it was very clean and very maintained. I did not care much for the human scum who had it all this time, but it was at least not destroyed. ”Yes, very well cleaned. I think you for that.”

[/color] As I removed my hand from the blade I turned back fully to my guest, looking at her for a moment.

As we moved towards my dining hall, I stuck my head into the kitchen to ask a elven woman to bring the lunch out. Most of the servants had been around my family for many generations and they were like family all the same. Oh sure, they were paid family, but they had known me as a child and I would never ask them to leave and never been rude towards them. My sister enjoyed asking the women help her dress and even ask them to party with her during one of her dress up moods. The servants enjoyed this and they always had a smile on their face after such an encounter with my sister. As she got to the table, her thanking voice was easily herd and I nodded toward her. ”You are welcome.”[/color] As I sat down, my body sinking into the chair and my body relaxing, I watched her become slightly stiff. Maybe it was just me, but I did not say anything about it. ”So, what other business do you have today? Anything I can do to help? The forest itself is in a strange mood, probably brought on by the many moods of the people… I have had to keep calm myself in order to calm my home.”[/color] The large tree… Well, trees he called his home were as tense as ever. Never had he felt a tree so tense except for when the queen had been attacked by something… Humans probably.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

I’ll have you know, that I’ve become
Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable

’word count 0.603
’tagged none has come
’song Indestructible--! Disturbed
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lisenet]

”So, what other business do you have today?”

I resisted the urge to rub my brows and instead plucked at a few loose strands of my hair, sighing instead. ”One of the smiths was searching for more of the ore that the Riders force their blades from, and his magic upset that of another man’s garden when he passed over it. The garden can’t be easily fixed and he won’t trust anyone else to do it for him, so I’ve got to find a way for the two of them not to eviscerate each other over their own obstinacy. A few rightful possession disagreements. Plans for extending the queens’ garden. Not counting fending off questions that none of us have the answers to.” A tiny smile cracked my lips. ”If you’ve any future plans to become a gardener, that could solve half of the irritations.” Gladly I would turn over all the decision-making my father routinely left me with if I thought both that he wanted it and that he could do a better job than I. While I may struggle wielding the power I don’t want, I have gotten notably better at doing so without letting others push me over and use me to bridge the puddle they don’t want any part in themselves.

”I wonder how you would deal with the first issue, though,” I mused then, picking at a plate of fruit one of Njord’s people had just left. ”Is the smith at fault for casting his magic carelessly, or the gardener for failing to protect his work from the unintentional touch of others?” Admittedly, I thought both of them had been careless, but I had to find a way to tell them so without saying it as such. Grown men did not appreciate having a girl barely into her adulthood—royal status notwithstanding—informing them that they were wrong when they had come to her for help, which neither of them had wanted to do anyway. Grown men should not need an arbitrator. But sometimes men—and women too—forgot that just because there was a ‘higher power’ who could make the decision for them didn’t remove them from the responsibility of solving their own quibbles.

Idly, I turned an early strawberry over in my fingers, admiring the perfect dimple of light and shadow surrounding each seed. I wondered if the strawberry’s flesh would be enough to sustain on seed as it grew into its adolescence. Not enough to bloom, I didn’t think, but if the berry didn’t rot…. Humming a faint song, I held the red fruit softly at my fingertips and watched a single seed thread tiny roots through its mother and stretch a slender green throat up from the red skin. It was unfortunate that I could not spend more of my time doing this, watching the sprout’s long body thicken into a strong, woody stem and unfurl sweet-scented leaves. Soon the strawberry was entirely gone, consumed by the spidery mass of smooth and soft roots cupped in my palm. I smiled again, the weariness brought on by my own people alleviated by my plants, and gently set the growth aside. I could plant it in my own garden when I left, or leave it for his if Njord wanted it. It was his strawberry.

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{njord floros*}
featuring--! --! ---! ---!
Another mission, the powers have called me away
Another time to carry the colors again
My motivation, an oath I’ve sworn to defend
To win the honor of coming back home again
No explanation will matter after we begin
Unlock the dark destroyer that’s buried within
My true vocation and now my unfortunate friend
You will discover a war you’re unable to win

Maybe that had been the wrong question for myself to ask the woman in charge of this city. I found myself smiling as she plucked some hair from her head and began playing with them. Why would smile at her discomfort? Call me a slightly messed up guy, I knew she was busy and I didn’t see her asking for a hell of a lot of help either. ”One of the smiths was searching for more of the ore that the Riders force their blades from, and his magic upset that of another man’s garden when he passed over it. The garden can’t be easily fixed and he won’t trust anyone else to do it for him, so I’ve got to find a way for the two of them not to eviscerate each other over their own obstinacy. A few rightful possession disagreements. Plans for extending the queens’ garden. Not counting fending off questions that none of us have the answers to.” Giving a nod towards the woman, I looked at the food that has come out and I began to easily pick at it little by little. ”If you’ve any future plans to become a gardener, that could solve half of the irritations.” I chuckled at the woman and shook my head. ”No, I don’t plan to, but if my sister comes into town within’ the next hours; which is doubtful, I will send her your way.”

[/color]

”I wonder how you would deal with the first issue, though.” I took a bite of the food and wondered what else she was going to say. ”Is the smith at fault for casting his magic carelessly, or the gardener for failing to protect his work from the unintentional touch of others?” I put down my fork and thought on that for a moment. What could I say to that? Crossing his fingers together, he thought about it for a moment. ”Well, it seems to me, that neither are at complete fault. They both made an honest mistake and were both doing their work. My idea would be, to ask the gardener who he would trust to help him rebuild his garden and if there is the stone in the ground that the smith needs, then maybe what would it take to allow the smith to remove the stone and use it.”[/color] Maybe I saw it differently than she did and the other two did, but people had to be a bit more tough skinned in my honest and blunt opinion. Njord disliked the riders and those worthless beings that they rode through the skies, but the one thing that the great smith needed was that metal and it was important. The woman that made the ancient blades was beyond into her work, I was surprised she was still in Ellesméra. Why was she not with those traitors?

As I watched her play with the strawberry, I remembered how young she still was. Was I much older? Barely, but I was mature, more so than most who were my age. I had seen war and I had seen death. As I watched the berry bloom into a plant, I smiled slightly. It was a way most of my gardeners worked to grow the plants, singing to the beautiful plants. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

I’ll have you know, that I’ve become
Indestructible
Determination that is incorruptible
From the other side, a terror to behold
Annihilation will be unavoidable

’word count 0.547
’tagged none has come
’song Indestructible--! Disturbed
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lisenet]

I chuckled at his response. ”That sounds perfectly reasonable to me—I’ll suggest it to them next time they come calling.” They will probably be waiting at our house, hoping my father is back but knowing better, before I even managed to return. Why couldn’t grown men solve their own problems without bickering like children? Why did the people who felt the most like children have to solve the problems of the adults? Perhaps common sense grew from the ground and could only be seen by those closer to it. If so, perhaps I ought to order them chopped off at the knees and left in the middle of a lake to solve their petty problems where they wouldn’t harry anybody else with them.

”I don’t know why I’m being pestered with this, but some people also have expressed concerns that Gilderien may not be able to guard the entire border as well as he thinks. They want to take soldiers off patrols and out of training so they can establish watches around the city line, but I’m afraid doing so will not only offend Gilderien but will weaken our forces in other areas.” I balanced a lopsided strawberry on the tip of my finger by its narrow end more because it distracted me enough that I didn’t get angry, as I often, tiredly did when thinking about the many things I either wished or thought weren’t my responsibility.

Responsibility was one of those things that altered people in only a limited number of ways: some people saw it as a mountain being built on their spine and went brittle; some saw it as the mountain that had been built beneath them and soared; still others saw it as the mountain being built around them and grew ever quieter, certain that none of the yammering beasts on the outside could even hear them, and those were the beasts they were supposed to command. The chance to sit down and speak to someone I hardly knew, who had nothing to do with my reluctantly inherited work, and spending time that was no longer mine to spend was the sort of selfishly snatched relief that I so rarely had, and had grown to covet. I would speak only to frogs for the rest of my life if I thought they would never ask me to solve any problem more complicated than where to store their dead ladybugs or any problem more petty than whether or not male ladybugs ought to be called ‘sir’. These sorts of rather directionless conversations were all, I suspected, that kept what reticent sanity I had left still tucked safely somewhere in my skull. Thank goodness we elves still had not found ways to prolong ourselves too far without sleep, or I would have absolutely no refuges left at all.

The deep crimson strawberry—darker than all the others—wobbled on my fingertip so I leaned it gingerly onto another, balancing it just a little bit off on its side. The strange hobbies I tended to accrue in my odd moments of peace were also a large part of my lingering interest in remaining in civilized society rather than traipsing off to live with the frogs and other woodland creatures.

Sorry for the wait.