#the painting is going to be a gift for terra obviously
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Danger of the Deep
AKA: I can’t write a quick, few line caption to save my life Part 1/8. Based off of the first picture of THIS POST where Aqua is posed all sexy but also looking like she wants to eat someone
Part 2/? of Mermaid AU that needs a name
Timeline-wise this takes place long after the plot that may or may not ever happen because this is just a casual exchange of out of sequence fun mermay snippets. @shaky-mayhemm have a surprise Naminé and some interesting questions raised about Ventus. We hadn’t discussed Ventus yet but I am confident the shared brain is in the same place. These are now things that are happening. I incorporated your language barrier headcanon so now we say Roxas is a rebel who hung out around human ships enough to learn language pre-AU canon. Enjoy my word vomit. Read more for length
Naminé knew she should count herself fortunate. Perhaps, she should even feel honored. Aqua didn't come out of the water for just anyone, even now, verging a year after The Kingdom Below--an imperfect translation of the mercity's true name, Naminé was sure, but one that had stuck after Riku had told his rambling story and one that none of the merfolk, including their blue haired young leader who typically found every occasion she could for objections, protested--had become more open secret than legend amongst half the seaside town of Destiny. The young artist didn't feel lucky though. She felt like she had swallowed a live eel that was slowly making it's way down her throat, however, as the mermaid regarded her with eyes adapted to hunting underwater, too wide and too bright to pass for human, that were still one of the merfolk's more humanlike features.
The queen was beautiful, no doubt, despite her scales and other oddities. They all were breathtaking in their own ways. Naminé saw at once why the crew of the Dawnfire had fallen in love. The greater mystery was how they forced themselves to come back to land. That didn't mean, however, that Naminé wasn't at least a little unnerved by the rulers of the sea. Personally, she would have preferred to admire them from afar, catching a flash of a fin in the distance she could sigh dreamily at, wondering how it felt to cut through the water, fast and free. She hadn't voiced that preference though, at least not in so many words. She had sputtered concerns that she wasn't the one to come to for a royal portrait, no matter how unorthodox the kingdom or ruler, and she'd asked if it was safe, but she hadn't made it clear that it wasn't only the safety of the mermaid posing on land that she was worried about. So here she was, propelled by curiosity and her inability to say no, standing in the sand, trying to capture the balance between seductive beauty, the unsettling other, and the danger of a predator.
"Do you need another bucket of water poured over you?" Naminé asked, peering around her easel more obviously than the quick darts of eye she had been doing previously, speaking slowly so Aqua could read her lips. She failed at keeping eye contact before the merqueen even answered. Did all merfolk not blink or was it just a quirk of Aqua's?
Aqua let out the short chirp Naminé had already learned meant no. The blonde girl repeated the noise under her breath, further committing the intonation to memory. She had a feeling she would be practicing imitating the dolphin-like noises of the merfolks' native tongue in her room that night. Ventus had warned her that the queen wouldn't speak English to her. She'd wondered aloud why the rest of Aqua's people hadn't taught her yet. Ventus had smiled, shook his head, and corrected her gently. Aqua knew English. She simply refused to speak it. According to Ventus, Terra was becoming quite fluent in mermish under his tutelage however, which begged a question Ventus refused to answer. How did he know mermish so well in the first place, well enough he'd taught Riku even before he started teaching Terra, when he'd been the last to meet the creatures of the deep?
"Alright then. Tell me when you do." Naminé found speaking loudly enough she could be sure the air didn't steal her words before they reached Aqua difficult. It was silly. Aqua was fully beached and may even need help to return to the water if the tide didn't shift again before she was done posing for Naminé , but the artist was helpless against visions of what her tail could do (moving with enough speed and force that if it hit you it could temporarily paralyze you, containing enough muscular power it could snap bones easily, yet demonstrating enough dexterity near the fin that it could wield tools and weapons) and of a flash of pointed shark's teeth that Naminé wasn't sure if she'd imagined or not that forced her to think in turn of those blue eyes full of life turning empty like a shark's as well. Naminé swallowed her baseless fear and the imaginary eel, and painted in lines indicating the delicate gold chains that Aqua wore twined around her wrists, her tail, and anywhere Kairi and Xion could convince her to drape them. Naminé had heard that story multiple times from multiple sources, how gifts given to the younger mermaid princesses inevitably found their way to decorating Aqua and making her look "queenly."
"Calm." The single word almost made Naminé drop her brush. "You are..." It was clear Aqua wasn't used to using her throat to form human words. Though her enunciation was careful and clear, there was a hesitance and strain evident. Blue brows furrowed and Naminé could almost see Aqua sorting through vocabulary in her mind. "...Part of my school."
"School?" Naminé repeated dumbly, meaning coming to her a moment later, a swarm of colorful fish swimming in formation through her mind's eye.
"You were taken too?"
The fragmented question brought Naminé back to a time she'd rather forget. A lightless brig on a ship that never was. She'd known Xemnas had other "guests" while she was there. Demyx was innocently chatty and Xigbar, Marluxia, and Larxene all pointedly, manipulatingly so. She hadn't found out all the details though until her rescue (accidental rescue, she'd never been who they were there for) by the crew of the Dawnfire.
Namine nodded, but didn't go into the detail Aqua may not have cared about of the how and why and ransoms never paid.
"That will never happen again." Aqua's eyes did darken like a shark's but Namine's visions were changing. The vengeful queen of the sea dragging Marluxia down a trench where light never shone, tail squeezing the life from him before the pressure could. "You are Terra's and you are mine."
"Thank you. " Namine had trouble with her voice again, for much different reasons than before. She'd pour all she had into the portrait of the noble warrior matron of the seas.
#kingdom hearts#aqua#namine#mermaid au that needs a name#snippets#the painting is going to be a gift for terra obviously#one day i'll write terrqua#promise and a threat#mermaid au stories
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re:union (kataang week 2021) DAY SEVEN
prompt: the sea and the sky
re:union
chapter seven: reunions
rating: T
words: 2529
summary: "He had fought hard for this unity. Had spent countless hours in courtrooms and offices arguing with dignitaries and representatives about the benefits of a United Republic. He had spent long nights drafting up documents and looking over contracts. He had dreamed of finally seeing this day, finally seeing this unity. All he could see tonight though, was a yellow flower drifting around the crowded room on an intricately braided head of ochre hair."
read it on ao3
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chapter seven: reunions
By the time Aang had handled Councilman Zhu’s dumpling crisis, he had lost track of Katara.
“She went to get changed for the feast,” a familiar, though deeper than he remembered, voice sounded from behind him.
“Sokka!”
“Hey buddy! It’s good to see you.”
They squeezed each other in a bone-crushing hug. The first one, Aang realized, he had gotten since his return. Aang held on a little harder at the thought.
“Where’s Suki?”
“Getting ready with the rest of the warriors. They are playing a special part in the performance tonight.”
“Wow! I can’t wait to see that!”
“Heh—yeah, me too.” Sokka’s voice went somewhere dreamy. “But, uh, I think it’ll be hard to watch with your head buried in my shoulder like this…”
“Oh right! Sorry… just happy to see you.”
“I missed you too buddy.” Sokka squeezed Aang’s shoulder reassuringly. “Now, you should go get ready! Can’t have the guest of honor stinking up the place tonight.”
“Guest of honor…” Aang grumbled, rolling his eyes in exasperation at Zhu’s exuberance. Still, he broke away from Sokka, giving him a nod as he made his way towards the room’s egress.
“Oh, and Aang?” called Sokka from near the food tables where he was stealing an hor’s d'oeuvre from under a cloche. “She’s not seeing anybody, in case you were wondering.”
Aang stopped still, his ears burned, his head swam. He hadn’t realized how much the question was plaguing him until he had heard it vocalized. She’s still single. There’s still time. He had let her go once, had regretted it every day since. She’s still single. He had no idea if she still wanted him the way he wanted her. But she’s still single. He resolved to try and change that fact by the end of the night.
He opened his mouth to speak but only a low whine came out. He cleared his throat but ended up coughing around the words as he forced them out. “I—is that… is that so?”
“It is.” Sokka snorted.
“That’s uh… thanks Sokka!” Aang shouted in salutation as he rushed out the door, needing to hide his burning blush and, as everyone had insisted, finally get cleaned up.
⬭
He wore a new set of robes. The pants dyed a dark amber with northern saffron. The belt and sash a sunny terra-cotta color that complimented the blue of his tattoos.
He surveyed his face in the mirror, taking in the scruff along his jawline, the tan around his temples, the laugh lines near his lips. He hadn’t spent much time looking at himself over the past few years, hadn’t had a mirror at any of the temples. The only time he would look at his reflection was when shaving his head, and even then, the refraction of the water made it difficult to examine his countenance with any detail.
Aang had never much minded the way that he looked--hadn’t had much use for vanity when living with the monks, hadn’t had much time for insecurity when running from the fire nation, hadn’t had much need for self-consciousness when being loved by Katara--he’d always thought his face was friendly enough, his body was strong enough. Something about looking at himself now though, fully a man, strong and steady and serene in a way that he’d never seen himself before, made his chest swell with confidence.
“I look good, huh buddy?” He directed the question to Momo, who had joined him in his room after an afternoon spent swooping around Cranefish City in search, no doubt, of sweets from strangers.
In reply, the lemur flew over to perch on his shoulder, scratching through the stubble on Aang’s chin with a squawk.
“You really think she’ll like it?” He scratched Momo between the ears and produced a plum from the pocket of his pants.
Momo took the fruit eagerly between his paws and greedily gobbled it down.
“Aw buddy, you flatter me.”
“Well babe,” a feminine voice dripping with thinly veiled amusement sounded from behind him, “it looks like we’ve officially lost him.”
“You’d think so, but he’s been talking to the lemur like that for as long as I’ve known him.”
“So what you’re telling me is, he has always been insane?”
“Pretty much.”
Aang’s face was beet red (he had lost count, at this point, as to how many times this had happened today) as he spun on his heel to face the Firelord and Firelady, who were standing in his doorway in their formal robes and appraising him with mirth-filled expressions.
“Uh, hey guys… how, uh… how long have you been standing there?”
“Oh, long enough, hot stuff.” Mai shot him a wry smile with a raised eyebrow before turning and pecking her husband on the cheek quickly as she took her leave. “I’m going to go make sure the kids are ready. We leave in ten, boys.”
Once Mai was out of earshot, Zuko burst into laughter and walked over to throw an arm around Aang. “Anything you want to talk about there, Aang?”
“Yeah! Why is it that I don’t see any of you for three whole years, and the first thing anyone does is tease me.”
“That’s not true! The first thing I did was put you on babysitting duty.”
“You’re not funny, Zuko.”
“Hey! Now who’s teasing whom?”
Aang scowled. Zuko, trying to school his face into a slightly more serious expression, straightened up and stalked a few paces across the small room.
“I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice because Uncle isn’t here to do it for me.” Zuko pantomimed stroking his beard and affected a strong accent that, ultimately, sounded nothing like Iroh. “Follow your heart.”
“Follow my heart? That’s it? No tea metaphors? No floral imagery? You make a pretty rotten Iroh, Zuko.”
“Hey, I tried.” Zuko shrugged. “I don’t know, man. You’re still in love with Katara, right?”
Aang flushed but nodded his head, eyes fixed on the floor.
“Are you going to do something about it?”
Aang met Zuko’s eyes determinedly and nodded again.
“Good. You’d better.”
“Thanks Zuko.”
“Any time. By the way? I agree with Momo, the beard really suits you.” At that, Zuko strode out of the room, chuckling softly to himself.
⬭
“So, Sugar Queen,” Toph plopped herself on Katara’s bed with a huff, swinging her bare feet up to rest on the adjacent wall so she could still feel what was happening. “You seemed pretty cozy with our Prodigal Son back there. Locked that down yet?”
“Toph!” Katara spluttered, pulling her paintbrush away from her lips.
“That’s a no, then?”
“Wha--no, not a… he just got back! And I don’t even know if… it’s none of your business, anyway.”
“Right, right. So you guys haven’t talked about your feelings, like, at all, yet? What the heck was all that flirting on the beach then?”
“What flirting? We were just hanging out. As friends! Being friendly! We were friends before we were ever anything else, Toph. You know that!”
“Uh huh, uh huh. Good point, Katara. Your definition of ‘friendly’ has always been a little bit off when it comes to Aang…”
“Toph! I will kick you out.”
“No, you won’t. Want to know why?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“You know me so well, Sweetness. And you aren’t going to kick me out because I know you very well and if I’m not here in, oh, seven minutes when you inevitably start second guessing yourself, to give you one of my patented Toph Beifong pep talks, you are going to freak out.”
Katara grumbled something crass under her breath and scowled at Toph’s reflection in the mirror, but ultimately, she knew her friend was right, so she obliged the company while she finished putting on her makeup.
Katara rarely wore makeup. It hadn’t really been a custom among the women in the Southern Water Tribe growing up, and during the war there hadn’t been time to worry over such trivialities. Afterwards, though, she had been the victim of many a makeover by Ty Lee. Had been the guest at many formal galas that required a bit of dressing up. Had been gifted a set of Kyoshi warrior paints by Suki. Had spent an afternoon wandering around the market in Caldera hunting down the exact right shade of lipstick with Mai and learning everything that she could possibly hope to know about knife maintenance.
Aang had always gotten incredibly flustered around her when she wore makeup. That was, perhaps, her favorite part of the process.
It had been years since she had put any makeup on her face. Her face was different now. Her eyes crinkled a bit at the corners when she smiled, her cheeks were less plump, more defined, her lips were fuller—perhaps the lipstick made her lips look too full? Perhaps it wasn’t the same color that she had used that one night in Omashu when Aang had ended up wearing more of it than she had? Perhaps she should wear something pinker? Redder? What had Mai said about skin undertones?
“You look fine.”
“You really think so, Toph?”
“No idea.” Toph deadpanned. “But I’m sure that even if you look like an armadillo-hog, Aang will still forget his own name when he sees you. That is your goal with the facepaint, right?”
“Uh…”
“Of course it is, don’t try to lie to me, Sweetness. Listen, I know two things: that boy’s heartbeat has always only ever been impacted by you, and a lot of other men have also had hammering heartbeats when they talk to you. Wanna know what that tells me? You ain’t ugly. In fact, I assume you’re pretty hot. So, chin up, shoulders back, let’s go get you your man back.”
Katara spluttered and blushed. “Oh… uh, okay.”
“You don’t sound confident yet. You are still in love with him, right?”
“Yes.” She whispered.
“Obviously. Then get your pretty little butt out of here and go do something about it. Chop chop, girly!” Toph, still laying on Katara’s bed, started snapping at her while she squared her shoulders in the mirror and gave herself one more once over, nodding at her reflection and resolving to talk to Aang as soon as she had the chance.
“Right. Okay. I can do this. Thank you, Toph.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“Eh, yeah… I told Yugi to meet me here so we can head over together. Or wait… was it Satoru? Toklo? I don’t know, some guy is picking me up. Can’t show up to a stuffy formal function without someone to talk to all the boring people for me, now can I?”
“You do know all of your friends are going to be there tonight, right?”
“I said what I said.”
Katara rolled her eyes as she hurried past Toph and prepared to leave. “Whatever, just lock up when you leave, okay? Mrs. Shao is out tonight so I’m the last one in the house.”
⬭
The ballroom was lavishly decorated. The colors of all four nations draped around the room in every detail. Tapestries hung on the walls with the new seal of Republic City, flanked on either side by the insignias of the four nations. The tables were lined with dishes from across the world. The floral arrangements featured regional blooms from all over. In a ballroom in a government building in a sleepy corner of the Earth Kingdom continent, the entire world was united in one beautiful display.
He had fought hard for this unity. Had spent countless hours in courtrooms and offices arguing with dignitaries and representatives about the benefits of a United Republic. He had spent long nights drafting up documents and looking over contracts. He had dreamed of finally seeing this day, finally seeing this unity. All he could see tonight though, was a yellow flower drifting around the crowded room on an intricately braided head of ochre hair.
From his seat onstage next to Zuko, he watched her make her way around the room hugging and smiling and laughing and chatting. Her sleeveless blue dress was modern but carried traditional nods to her water tribe roots. Her lips were a dark cherry red. Her hair was braided. He had braided it. A yellow flower sat at her crown and winked sunshine at him whenever she turned her head. She was beautiful. Of course, he already knew that. But she was beautiful.
“Aang? Hello… Aang??”
“Huh, what?” Aang was drawn from his stupor when Zuko nudged him with his elbow.
“You’re up.”
“Oh.”
Zhu introduced him. He somehow made a speech. There was roaring applause. Her eyes were blue, her lips were red, the flower was yellow. She was blushing.
He took his seat next to Zuko. Her eyes were blue . There were performances. Her lips were red . Suki shot finger guns at him in greeting as she and her warriors took the stage. The flower was yellow. Music started up and the gathered crowd dispersed to make way for dancing. She was blushing.
“Excuse me.” He rushed off-stage and into the crowd, chasing a glimpse of yellow in ochre, a swish of blue chiffon. She was pushing her way through the crowd, too. Her eyes were blue. “Katara, I--”
“Dance with me?”
She was offering him a hand. The tsungi horn rang out a familiar song. He took it. “Of course.”
They knew this dance by muscle memory. It was as familiar as their own names, as each other’s name. He flew around her in swirls. She swam around him on waves. They were the sea and the sky and there could not be one without the other. He lifted her, she spun around him. He dipped her, she glowed. She was the sun and he was the moon. She illuminated his sky. He compelled her tides.
The music ended. They were breathing heavy, faces inches apart, hearts still hammering the now silent drum beat.
“Can we go somewhere?”
⬭
The sound of the party flooded the streets of Republic City. Everyone seemed in good spirits, bustling about in a dance as they went about their evening errands. The cicada-crickets sang along to the Tsungi horn. The air was hot, heavy with humidity. They watched the waves from a rooftop. Their hands were intertwined.
Out across the bay, the sea and the sky collided in a canvas of colors. The green and yellow and red and orange of twilight reflected on the water’s dusky blue blue blue. The colors blurred together, obscuring the horizon line, obscuring the separation between their two elements. Out here, there was no sea, no sky. No air, no water. No Aang, no Katara. Just them. Just together. Just finally.
They made promises to each other. They held on. They did not let go.
“Sweetie?”
“Hmm?”
“I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
He had to lean every so slightly down to kiss her.
Her hands in his hands.
Blue. Grey.
Sea. Sky.
Their city had a new name.
They were here.
They were home.
⬭
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It's done! It's done!
So sorry for the delay in posting this! I could've squeezed it out yesterday but didn't feel like doing so would wrap up all the things the way that I wanted to so I needed to take a bit more time on it and, obviously, this chapter grew to be quite a bit larger than the others.
I have had SO MUCH FUN participating in Kataang week this year and hope to do it again next year maybe? Also I /might/ have a little storm brewing for Maiko week so... be on the lookout for that at some point?
The love and support that I've gotten for this fic this week? OH MY GOD like wow it's been so lovely! Thank you all for reading.
And a million thanks to @foxy-knowledgeseeker for being an absolute angel and beta-ing this sucker for me. I'm gonna apologize for my choas just once more. (Sorry! Thank you!)
Bwah! Okay, time for a nap <3
@kataang-week
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six
#kataang week 2021#kataang#ao3#foxford writes words#avatar the last airbender#atla#katara#aang#zuko#sokka#mai#toph#momo#the sea and the sky#re:union
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FATE / ME one-shot
This week, it was not our usual grimdark sci-fi stuff we were playing. Gimlet’s player had first go at GM’ing and ran a session of some Mass Effect -flavored Fate for us. But first, the characters:
All the characters belong to a mercenary group Blue Suns.
Davrak Brux (or Rakki, for friends) is the leader of our little merry band of misfits. A Krogan who has lived to a very respectful age indeed, nearing thousand. He lives every day like it’s the last, because it quite well might. This mostly means picking fights.
Naal’Muram nar Neleya (or Naali, if you haven’t the time) is a Quarian on their traditional pilgrimage. Except they’re a bit too old to be still doing it. They’re apparently gathering information on jokes and children’s games to bring back home.
Nusek Drian (no nickname, thanks) is a Drell who’s mostly here for the money, got his mind on the business and sticky fingers. Unfortunately him being part of a less common race often draws attention to him, much to his eternal discomfort.
We meet up our heroes at the bar celebrating a gig gone well. Their free evening gets rudely interrupted by their boss, a Turian named Casbius Velidas, who tells them there’s a new gig that needs to be done, now.
Davrak curses that they only just sat down.
Naali complains about this not being in their labor agreement.
Casbius promises them triple pay, it’s that important.
Their rival gang Eclipse(?) is apparently getting a shipment of special weapons and the higher ups in Blue Suns want to know what these weapons are, so samples are in order.
Luckily the weapons have not yet been shipped, but are currently in a warehouse at an asari estate, and the daughter of the family, by the name of Penova Iessaala is having her birthday.
Casbius has managed to get the trio all invites, they need to dress their best, leave their armor and weapons with a Blue Suns accent working undercover at the house and get three words from Penova that will grant them access to the warehouse, those words being claw, fire and cobra.
Seems easy, right?
Casbius gives the orders and leaves the trio to plan.
Davrak complains about the Casbius, saying that if this kind of attitude continues, it’s the boss that’ll soon be booted out.
Naali is most concerned about what to get as a birthday present, as no one really knows how old the daughter is.
They decide on a rocking horse in the end (inspired by their human colleague Mauri).
Then it’s time to dress up, for a party.
Davrak’s get up includes an ill-fitting suit (on account of his Krogan physique), monocle, top hat and a bow tie.
Naali puts on a suit top-half, skirt bottom half (all on top of their robot suit, obviously) and also painted nails (or nail paint on top of their gloves) (translator’s note; the Finnish word for claw also means (finger)nail).
Nusek’s idea of dressing up includes putting on a dress shirt, a crumbled dress shirt, but dress shirt none the less.
Then it’s off to the party!
They meet up their Blue Suns contact outside the place, a young Krogan named Wreg who takes their weapons and Davrak’s and Nusek’s armor. Our heroes head to the party.
Davrak looks for any people he may know as he’s been around and indeed spots a fellow Krogan named Garlock.
He goes to greet him and orders him to get him some drink, which he does.
Naali has also grabbed a drink from somewhere and is slupring away.
Our heroes spot the birthday girl (on account of her giant birthday hat that’s totes a thing), talking with some other asari.
Our heroes approach and Naali hands over the rocking horse.
Penova turns out to be quite a snooty fella, but she does take the gift offered.
She questions if she even knows us, but we wave it off, yeah, yeah, old family friends and all that.
Now’s our change to get some key words.
Davrak points out Naali’s painted fingers and pretends to not know the word nail polish, thus getting the Penova to say claw (or nail på finska).
Naali complains about there not being any games here and offers to play some riddles with the Penova.
They go first, laying out a riddle with the fire as solution.
Unfortunately in addition of being snooty, Penova isn’t great at riddles, so Davrak has to give quite a lot hints to get her to say fire.
Penova seems quite done with the conversation, but hey we haven’t even introduced ourselves.
Davrak says his name and says he can be called Rakki (approx mangy dog) by friends, which Penova is not.
Naali says their name and points out that they totes have a theme going on, their nickname meaning arctic fox, and yeah this is Nusek, who’s known as the Cobra.
King Cobra, Nusek clarifies.
Apparently dog and arctic fox are acceptable nicknames but cobra gives Penova pause, so she clarifies if we mean the sort of snake living on Terra, cobra?
And thus we got all our words, and bid Penova good-bye.
Before we go to do our job, Davrak is of the opinion that we could do a bit of partying. Nusek isn’t that keen on it, but sure whatever.
Nusek slinks off and steals some asari jewelry.
Davrak finds some guardspeople and attempts to lie that he’s from a moving firm and has been hired to move the stuff from the warehouse, but it doesn’t really pan out.
Naali goes to hover by the dance floor and awkwardly waits for someone to ask them to dance.
Davrak tells them to go get someone, and Naali has their eye on a salarian named Ukart.
Obviously salarians aren’t that into flirting or whatever, but Naali manages to persuade him to a dance nonetheless.
Davrak goes and finds himself an asari matriarch named Nielde.
He flirts up a storm, being a veteran seducer and gets a dance from her.
At some point Casbius sends Davrak an impatient text, which Davrak ignores.
Nusek has settled at the edge of the dance floor and is approached by a Turian, who is quite intrigued by this strange Drell and attempts to get him to dance with her.
Nusek declines, awkwardly, as he is wont to do.
Davrak joins Nusek and Nusek asks if they should get Naali (who’s still dancing with the Salarian).
Davrak says he doesn’t care, he’s the one who persuaded Naali to go ask for a dance.
So it’s up to Nusek to go drag Naali away, which he does.
Naali drops Ukart their number and mimes ”call me” -motions as Nusek drags them away.
Upon joining the two, Naali dramatically complains to Davrak about how their new love is an arms’ merchant and they are doomed (like Romeo and Juliet, the two).
Davrak tells them that love’s often that way, ends up bad (like his three marriages).
Nusek pushes Davrak and Naali towards the actual job.
Our heroes recall their armor and weapons from Wreg and head into the warehouse complex.
They pass by a security room and overhear some workers’ talking about the CCTV going out.
Well that’s better for them, so our heroes decide to ignore this and continue on. On the hallway an asari in a lab coat runs towards them, in clear panic.
Apparently something has been let loose in the laboratory that’s attached to the loading dock.
Naali calms the woman down and Davrak orders her to go hide in the bathroom while we go check out what’s wrong.
The lab doors are ajar, and some kind of zombie-like creature that none of us recognize is attempting an escape.
It tries to grab Naali who just smacks it.
Inside the lab there are several more of these type of creatures.
Davrak rushes them as he is wont to do.
Naali uses some loose cables to electrocute the rest.
While Davrak and Naali high-five or whatever, Nusek actually examines the scene, spotting several spikes that some still have zombies on them (what’s that all about, who knows), some medicine that he nicks as well as the entrance to the warehouse leading to the loading dock.
One problem though, there’s company, and that company is robots (ie geths). One big guy and three little ones.
Davrak takes the big guy head-on.
Naali hacks into one of the little ones (dubbing them Tapani).
They also try to use one of the guns that the geths were carrying somewhere, but can’t figure it out.
Nusek attempts to shoot, but misses so uses his cloaking device to reposition himself (or bc he is so embarrased, whichever explanation is preferred).
Tapani takes care of one little one and Naali shoots down another.
Davrak suffers some hits from the big geth, but it’s not much worse for wear being the tough big boy that he is.
From the shadows Nusek finishes the big geth, though Davrak is not aware of it, taking all the glory for that.
The battle now over, Naali’s hack on Tapani stops, so Davrak has to smash the poor creature down.
Davrak calls boss to come pick us up, but apparently there’s someone in the loading dock.
We go take a peek and notice a bunch more geths loading up the weapons led by a turian Davrak knows to be known as Spectre, a man you don’t want to cross paths with.
Fortunately there’s few weapons back in the warehouse, so we’ll still get paid.
Once the Spectre leaves, Casbius comes to pick us up, but Davrak and Naali both ask to be dropped off at the party.
Epilogue time!
Nusek stays with Casbius and in an attempt to not get everyone fired, seduces the boss (as one does). It somehow works?? Also he goes to sell his stolen goods and rakes in quite a prize.
Naali loans Davrak’s expertise in a seduction attempt of Okart, which apparently works perfectly, as they score a date for the rest of the evening.
Once the pair is done with the dancing, they retreat to the birthday girl’s room to do some cuddling and talking.
Unfortunately at some point, they get caught as the birthday girl would like to retreat to bed and get thrown out.
But hey, that’s life.
Davrak returns to the party, and being the old dog that he is immediately goes to score drugs.
He attempts to also score with the asari lady Nielde, but unfortunately she is turned off by the drugs.
Frustrated that Naali is getting some, and he isn’t, Davrak starts a fight with the security.
He manages to down several guards before getting kicked out.
All in all, a good night?
And that’s all for that little adventure!
#nemo roleplays#long post#campaign tag: other#campaign tag: geth me some guns#<- courtesy of gm#me: so i wanna romance someone#gm: well there's quite a few options#me: that one#gm: you do realize that's a salarian and they don't do romance and stuff?#me: too late im already hitting on him#in my defense naali's not the smartest drop in the bucket :p#it would have been quite acceptable to say#that nothing will happen :P#altho idk if anything happened anyway#idk what the salarian felt about the cuddles#anyway great job on first ever game#it went very well!#now i know how all the players except erkka felt when we started 40k#excpet i also wasnt quite up on my 40k lore
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So, talking about my Novels a bit more....
Hey there its Vira!
Thought I would talk about my novels a bit more, just so you guys know what you all would be getting into.
So, lets talk about Novel 1.
The Rings of Gallilea: Sworn to Rebirth
(Aka: TROG/ TROGSTR)
So here are the main plot points of the novel:
It is the sacred duty of the Celestial Trinity (the Sun, Moon and Earth) to protect the life in their solar system from outside alien threats
An imperial speciest race known as the Cantillians dub Humans inferior to them, thus sparking a war between them the Celestial Trinity.
The nine planets ally themselves with the Celestial Trinity to protect themselves from a God-destroying weapon created by the Cantillians known as the Catalyst.
The Rings of Gallilea are formed in an attempt to protect the solar system.
The goddess of the moon utilizes their influence on humanity to create a re-birthing curse. As long as humanity shares legends of the gods they will not die.
During a battle with the Cantillian emperor (known as the Serpent) Earth is hit by the Catalyst, destroying his physical form.
One-by one the Rings of Gallilea and the Celestial Trinity fall.
Eventually it is only Mercury The god of knowledge, Moon, the goddess of magic and Pluto rhw God of Alchemy left
In order to save humanity, Moon forces Mercury to give her an "unforgettable" curse so she will retain her memories as a goddess.
Moon uses what is left of her magical power to trap the Cantillian emperor in a diffrent dimension, before she is killed.
Moon falls to earth taking on the form of a human infant.
She is found by the son of a former cult leader and raised moon aware of her godly identity.
Out of gratitude, moon grants her new father figure the "Power of The North Star" and shares a magical bond with him
Their mission now, is to locate the fallen Gods and prepare them for the fight against the looming Cantillian threat.
In summary:
The Rings of Gallilea is a magical Sifi adventure, with sub themes of romance, and drama. The message of The Rings of Gallilea is self-sacrifice, defying fate, humility and mercy along with second chances.
Lets meet our cast!
Luna Abyss- our female lead, Luna is the Goddess of the moon and Magic. Before what Luna refers to as "The Fall" she was regal, elegant and refined. Growing up on earth with her drunkard guardian Victor, and running from government officials who seem to pick up on Luna's signals wherever she goes changed her quite a bit. Luna uses her twin blades Artemis and Frigga to fight off the Cantillian forces sent by recon forces. Luna likes dancing to loud music at ungodly hours, getting fast food at midnight, dogs, and exploring places she probably shouldn't.
Terra Greenwood- Our male lead, Terra is the God of Earth, Nature and humanity. Terra grew up with his Grandma after his dad walked out on his drug-addicted mother. Terra is a member of the Apache Indians, and lives on a reservation in Greenville New Mexico. Terra, despite struggling with depression and minor anger issues, dreams of living a normal life. Getting a good education, a well paying job, taking his grandma and moving far away from Greenville....that Is until Luna shows up. Terra fights with his magic spear Gia, and can command Earth and Nature on a whim. While his abilities are still weak, with some training there is no doubt that Terra can return to his former Glory. Terra enjoys driving his old pickup truck down town, while listening to the hard rock radio station, helping his grandma take care of her garden, and hanging out with his best friends Mitchel and John.
Stella Brighton- our rich mean girl archetype. Stella is the goddess of the Sun. Stella grew up in her mother's mansion sheltered away from the middle and lower class, until one day she forms an unlikely friendship with Terra. An Unlikely friendship turns into an unlikely crush and an unlikely romance. That is until Stella's hopes and dreams are crushed when she discovers her mother and Stepfather have planned an arranged marriage for her. Stella breaks off her relationship with Terra and keeps her head held-high. Stella fights with her fiery bow, Apollo, and can spark a wildfire wherever she pleases. Stella enjoys shopping, traveling, taking selfies, and flaunting her status as Student Council President.
Mitchel James- the Nerd boy archetype, Mitchel is the God of Mercury, Knowledge and Communication (arguably revenge as well) As a young lad, Mitchel idolized his dad, who was in the military. Oftentimes it would be him and his mom while his dad was on deployment. Mitchel took a liking to computer science and technology, because thanks to that he was able to keep in touch with his dad even when he was far away. When Mitchel was 8 years old his dad died in active duty, and it wasn’t long until his mom took to a Sugar Baby lifestyle to try and provide for Mitchel without having to get a job. Mitchel is bullied at school for being the scrawny nerd boy, and takes revenge on his bullies by hacking into their computers and leaking their search history. After Luna rolls into town Mitchel's world is flipped upside down. Suddenly he isn’t armed with just brain-power but physical power. Mitchel fights in a way that is unique to the Rings of Gallilea. Mitchel can create Angels to fight as champions for him. He also uses a Chackram named Athena. Mitchel enjoys hacking into local security cameras to see whats up around town, exploring the dark web, arguing with radical political activists on-line.
John Kingsman- The play-boy Archetype, John is the God of Jupiter Kings, and lightning. John lives what is arguably the best life of anyone in the rings. His parents breed police dogs. Meaning his house is always full of puppies. John's dad is a former military officer, and both him and his mom are current police force members. John is the baby in his family, but is held to high standards. Be home before 7, get good grades, and take care of the dogs. John fights with his Claymore Sword, Odin, along with special abilities like lighting and psychological manipulation. John, obviously enjoys taking the dogs for walks, playing basketball, and going to the shooting range with his mom.
Hotaru Kawaguchi- The goth archetype, and Goddess of Saturn, Time and Death. Hotaru's parents immigrated to the United States after the death of Hotaru's older brother, Hikaru. They came here to give the intellectually gifted Hotaru better opportunities as she grew older. To help support her, the family opened a restaurant in the down town area that quickly became one of the most popular spots in town. Hotaru never really got over Hikaru's death, and took comfort in the macabre. Over summer, Hotaru picks up a second job to earn enough money to afford her dream car, working in an occult shop. She also finds herself involved in an unlikely summer romance. Aside from being able to freeze time and communicate with the dead, Hotaru fights with her staff, Hades, that can transform into a scythe. Hotaru loves books and quite sunny spaces, she likes painting, meditation, watching Elvira specials, and helping her mother and father learn better English.
Aries Vailakis- the Jock archetype, God of Mars and war. Just like Stella he too grew up with rich parents. His family comes a from proud Greek heritage, and own a chain of Mediterranean style restaurants. Aries is a star member of the football team, and is expected to take over the family business when he gets out of college. Most people think there isn't much to Aries other than food and football, sometimes Aries thinks that too. But being a competitive teenage god, can lead to some intense shenanigans. Especially when family, love and blackmail are involved. Aries fights with some seriously thick brass knuckles that spit fire. His brass knuckles can also transform into a large shield, Neiro. Aries likes cooking, working out, watching horror movies with his S/O, and very secretly likes looking at minimalist homes in the Greek countryside in homeowner's magazines.
June Smith, the flip Archetype, Goddess of Venus beauty, seduction and battle. June's mom divorced her dad to be with another man when she was young. Years later June would find out she died of cancer without telling her or her father. Needless to say June had a rough start in life. Given that her dad was the high school principal, she couldn't even act out and punch some nerd in the face. In the day light June masquerades as the nerdy turtleneck loving teacher's pet kinda girl. At night June flips ditching her turtle neck for something low cut and preferably leather. Sneaking out under the ruse of sleep or studying, June slips out to hang out on the edge of town with the local biker gang known as the Black Cat Bikers. Junes got the best of both worlds, her dad wrapped around her finger, and her legs wrapped around the back of her boys bikes. June fights with the sword Atalanta, and can change into any weapon June sees fit. June can also manipulate peoples hormones, making them fall for her or anyone. June will never admit it, but she likes wearing pink fluffy sweaters, she also loves getting fucking drunk, going out to see drag shows, sleeping in until noon, and playing with makeup.
Serena Paisley- The hippy archetype- Serena is the Goddess of Neptune, the ocean and family. Serena is the younger twin sister of Heath. Serena grew up close to her mother, who was somewhat of helicopter parent. Serena’s mother owns a brewing company, and is heavily involved in the Greenvile political scene. growing up in a spotlight Serena wanted to use her spotlight to encourage others to do good, and can often be found doing charity work. One big secret Serena has, is that she is a big fan of smoking weed. being a politicians daughter was a stressful job after all. Serena, can command any body of water and has great people skills. Her very loyal weapon is her trident, Namaka. Serena’s hobbies include Yoga, smoking weed, collecting crystals, playing the pan-flute, and thrift store shopping.
Heath Paisley- The rich boy archetype- Heath is the God of Uranus, Ice, Snow and Vengeance. Heath, is the polar opposite of his sister. He grew up chasing the affections of his long-distance father, who is an actor in Hollywood. Heath has a cold demeanor, and takes a some-what sadistic pleasure in controlling others. He is the student council president at the private school he and Serena attend, Hayden Heights Academy. Heath is secretly insecure about his sexuality, and is in denial about being attracted to men. Heath spends a majority of his time covering for his sisters ‘distasteful shenanigans” in student council meetings, or following in the footsteps of his politician mother. Heath has the power to control Ice, and cold temperatures, he can also force criminals to admit their deeds.Heath fights with twin sickles Poli’Ahu and Endymion.His hobbies include: casual business luncheons, bossing his underclassmen around, and he secretly likes it when his S/O leans over his shoulder while he is trying to work.
Romeo Barns- The rebel archetype- Romeo is the God of Pluto, Alchemy, and Transformation. Romeo has always felt like a social outcast, specifically because he discovered his godly powers at a young age. Romeo lives with his overly preachy preacher uncle, who believes in only one good god above. Romeo, being a sarcastic little shit, decides he needs to be everything his uncle isn't. Romeo sells weed for the Black Cat Biker Gang, his true "Family". Which is how a filthy little grunge rat like him became friends with Serena Paisley. Roemo's godly body grows organic blade-like structures which he can use to defend himself. His clawed-gauntlets, Thanatos and Cerberus add an extra punch. In his spare time Romeo can be seen around town riding his motorcycle. At night he is out spraying unique and vulgar messages on billboards. At school he likes to read the "boring unpopular books" like Catcher in The Rye and Lord of The Flies, and strumming along to his favorite songs on his base guitar
And thats just novel number 1! I'll make a second post about novel number 2 since this is already a quite lengthy post.
Let me know what you guys think, and if you wanna see more.
See ya later
- Vira!
#novel#novelist#writers#writing#writblr#author#sifi#fantasy#meet the characters#gods and goddesses#plot#magic#ocs#oc#oc fanfiction#oc facts
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On a photo of a not exactly human face I sculpted....
labratbren said: What do you do with them when they are done? Do you ever post pictures of the finished product?
Ah, well, um....short answer? Nothing.
Here’s the longer answer (VERY long)....
While I was always drawn to sculpting, I really didn’t sculpt growing up.
I mean, I tried to use clay I dug out of the ground, drying it in the sun, when I was tiny. Naturally it crumbled except for this lump of a head I still have. In Kindergarden the art teacher had his own kiln and let us use the scraps left over from the pots he had us make. I still have a loop armed alien and creature head I made, but he left with his kiln the next year. The dough art they had us make in second grade was gone by the next year, ‘cause this buggy and humid climate doesn’t agree with it. My parents gave me modling clay, but I hated it. I wanted something that would “stay”.
But everyone acted like sculpting was hard, so maybe I wasn’t missing out.
Then one day, when I was 19 or so, my hands got bored. Anyone would have laughed if I’d said I was bored right then. I had a book open to one side of me, a magazine on the other, as I went back and forth reading both. I was also listening to music AND watching the movie The Brothers Karamazov at the same time. I have this problem where I always feel like I should be doing more, and when I am doing something I get itchy to be doing something else. Like my brain isn’t fully occupied even if I’m really enjoying whatever. That day my hands needed something to do, and there was this block of clay left over from a project one of Pop’s projects (a river system display, I think) It was just sittin’ there on the porch so....
And it turned out sculpting was easy! I mean, maybe not art bit doodling around having fun making faces. Do NOT be intimidated by sculpting! It comes so much more easiy than trying to convert our 3D world into some 2D drawing. Seriously, try drawing a nose head on! But toss on any wedge on a sculpted face and you have a nose...
Ok, maybe I just am bad at drawing! But I really do wish more people would try sculpting.
Anyway, the clay was another dead end, but it did inspire me to hunt for something I could “make stay”. And that something was sculpey.
Whenever I was certain I would have the place completely to myself for a full hour I’d go stand out on the ramp behind the house and sculpt. It wasn’t too often, what with the house also being the office of the family business and my family being the sort of close one that did everything together. I couldn’t sculpt and be watched. All I needed was an our because I sculpted quickly. In an hour I’d have a little bust, rough as heck but with some detail I liked.
But then I ran out of places to put my busts in my already overstuffed bedroom. I solved this by just slicing the faces off and just baking them. I could glue magnets to them and line all the edges of my metal bookcases.
I did dabble in other things. I tried a full figure and made a few little stick figures. I sculpted something from Babylon 5 for my brother, mixed my box painting (I used to paint boxes when I had a table) with sculpting for a Discworld box for Mom, Easter bunnies for my parents, magnets for everyone, Christmas ornaments...
When she saw the Christmas tree ornaments my cousin Katharine, dollhouse collector, roped my into making her a doll. She had specific requirements for a 6″ tall Beast in what I gathered were Regency era clothes from her decription. In my ignorance I assumed the doll would have to have a jointed body, fabric clothes and furry fur, which kinda drove me nuts! But somehow I pulled it off! I sculpted a few more of those little dolls (no sewing on these!) as gifts for my parents and brother, as well as a bit of goofing around for myself (I liked my little Sleestack a couple decades late for little me). But that was that.
Then the weirdest darn thing happened: I was suddenly stricken with a full imaginative block!
I stopped sculpting. I stopped painting boxes. I stopped writing stories. Worst of all I stopped dreaming! I still remember how upsetting that was, this sense of loss. It was like having a part of me paralyzed.
It lasted years. Terrible years.
When my father became sick right after my irreparable rift with my brother, as I was facing the most terrible external loss of my life, something woke back up in me. Constant, vivid dreams, elaborate epics spiraling through night after night, images and stories that writing didn’t full satisfy the need to express. I started painting miniature boxes again. Box after box after box....
But no sculpting.
I dunno why I still didn’t sculpt. I just didn’t.
Then my father died.
Pop’s death was a devistating moment. My father. My best friend. When Pop was sick I told him he couldn’t die because I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to. There is a lot of truth in that. I love Mom dearly, but our brains work very differently. Pop might have been smarter, and his depth of knowledge was certainly mind blowing, but our mental wiring followed a similar eccentric pattern. That said, somewhere along the line my parents and I had become a sort of unit, functioning as one. Think one of those anime giant robots made of smaller ships, Voltron or something. Then imagine it functioning with the head section missing. Five years later we still feel that void.
So anyway, Pop was dead, the family business gone with him, and I was unemployed with no qualifications in a rural area with few job opportunities anyway. This was, and frankly still is, not a good situation. And my cousin Katharine thought she had a solution.
Katharine sent me a letter suggesting I make dolls. She’d shown the doll I’d made her to a dealer who said I had talent, and she sent me a copy of Art Doll Quarterly to show me that my “weird” stuff might have a market...
Honestly I felt inspired by this. I immediately seriously considered it. I’d work a bit bigger than 6″ scale, sculpt the clothes instead of the stress and tedium of sewing, and figure out a way to do ball joints. Because each thing would be unique (until I could teach myself mold making) and letting go of something I make is soooo hard for me, I decided to use the story of one of my painted boxes as inspiration. I’d make wolf people, which I figured would create enough sameness to help me let go, but enough variety to keep me from being bored. I quickly sketched out a reasonable design and got to work.
Obviously things didn’t turn out to be so simple. Sculpting ball joints by hand is fiddly to manage. It would need a bit of experimenting. I could do a head on day, casually. I could do the upper body, arms and waist joint with a lot of effort another day. A third day would be waist and legs. Fourth day was the hellish threading. I wasn’t set up for safely storing unbaked work in progress, so I had to do these marathon one sitting sculptings on the bodies. Then I’d rest up a few days and just sculpt a few heads.
The ball jointing drove me nuts. So I gave myself permission to not worry about wolfheads, but just sculpt whatever head happened. From the backlog of heads I’d just pick one to experiment with body making. In just a couple months I was making progress.
The first discouragement came with an art show. The county has a sort of art society and they were having a sculpture show. I was scared silly to show my work to anyone, since at that point it was 2014 and I wasn’t even on Tumblr. No one had seen them. Still, when I went to see about entering the lady there was encouraging. I was soooo nervous and tentatively hopeful when I went to the grand opening with Mom amd my cousin Shirley. I was soon deflated. No one seemed to notice my figures. My work was the odd one out anyway in a sea of found object sculptures, colored paper masks and ceramics abstractly suggesting the figural. Also, everyone there knew each other and so no one was talking to me. At one point I did this really sad thing of hovering near my figures in case anyone came near so I could sorta maybe get them to notice them....
When the show ended a few weeks later the lady very nicely said at least a couple school children had liked weird figures, ‘cause, you know, kids like that fantasy stuff. I definitely should sculpt a lot bigger and maybe use terra cotta instead....
Yeah. I felt my stuff was crap. I was crap. Why had I ever thought anyone would like my crap? Heck, I’d thought I’d at least find a club I could join, belonging, friends....
But, I kept at the doll making experimenting, crap or not. That winter it was too cold for much sculpting in my unheated house, but I could work on trying to figure out how to paint them....
Then life happened don’t ya know. At first I thought it was a temporary break while I dealt with crisis after another. I kept sculpting heads, strictly sculpting a head a day (still just an hour each)....until the spreading collapsed floor situation forced me to move the box I’d made for storing the bodiless heads out. And that was that for doll making.
Still, I kept sculpting. I went back to just the faces....
And that’s where I am now. I gave up sculpting every day, because I no longer have time. I watch a movie and sculpt. I bake the face and take pics I post on here. I wrap ‘em in tissue and put them in a storage container....
And that’s it.
I don’t do anything with them. I’m not entirely convinced there is any point anymore. My life isn’t going to include free time. Or tables to work on. It has been years after all, and it gets less and less likely I’ll make anything more than a few boxes full of chipped up sculpey faces for the nephews to find when I die. Well, unless they follow my brother’s advice and throw them out unopened! LOL
I sculpt just ‘cause I sculpt. I post pics of them on Tumblr, ‘cause Mom isn’t really all that interested in looking at them. They aren’t ever going to be anything, but I guess if I enjoy making them and someone out there likes looking at them that’s okay. They may be nothing, but that’s something.
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The Eternal Pursuit of Emptiness
There I stood on top of the butte, with the closest of my people, and we humbly looked out over the sprawling desert. The landscape was like pieces of thrown pottery in fantastic and misshapen forms - rich shades of terra cotta, crimson and rust, and obviously, tears couldn’t help but fall, blazing small trails through the dust on my face. I couldn’t believe how fortunate I was.
I was able to see this fraction of the kaleidoscope of nature.
To be away with some of my favorite humans while I got to safely leave my absolute dearest ones at home with their grandparents.
And I soaked in that dry west wind, whipping around us in warm gusts like ocean waves, leaves, and racing thoughts.
My favorite three:
1.) I call him my favorite. The man whose ring I wear, the father of my children, he yins my yang, tickles my brain and sometimes, when the timing is just right and we aren’t too tired, it isn’t too late or there isn’t something competing for our time on Netflix, we’ll occasionally play a round of some Chesterfield Rugby (PS - I just did a bit of a dive on some innuendos and my goodness. That is a really fun use of time. I can’t even write some of these but I am literally laughing right now. My mom reads this, you guys. And while I’ve [maybe?] worn her down a little on the curse words, I can’t go all in with the crass.
Okay, fine. Just one: Harpooning the salty longshoreman.
Fine, two: Nurtling. (I have no idea.)
But I also feel it is unfair to not share Taking Grandma to Applebee’s?
I’ve gotten off topic.
My other two loves on this trip are
2.) My best girlfriend who I have had the honor of watching go through some of the best and absolute saddest experiences that I have humbly witnessed a human endure. And she navigated it all, and continues to go through life with a steadiness, focus, and motivation that is inspiring, still and sparkling. She has helped me move apartments, paint new walls when we moved into our first house, and paint the baseboards of those same walls on her morning off when we were selling that same house. She is fiercely dependable, loyal, she is the best damn person to travel with as she is equal parts responsible, adventurous and is a Type-A likes to research and plan things kind of gal where I’m more of the Type-B, let’s just dive in and see how we land type. We once held hands and jumped off the neighbors high dive on their dock on a girls lake trip very late one night. We’ve been to countless shows together. Gotten tattoos together. She’s one of the first people to hold my babies after they have been born and I can always count on her to order dessert. Her closet is the kind people pine after and she makes the best damn chocolate chip cookie you’ve ever eaten. She’s also married to my third person.
3.) He is silly and kind and we have a podcast that we will some day launch, divulging our joint fascination with spooky things that make us light up and nervous laugh and open another beer as he tries to convince me that Yeti’s exist while I try to convince him to sing in church. We once started the idea of a band called “The Huggers and the Cryers” after drinking too much brandy on one of the very few New Years Eve’s that I was neither pregnant nor nursing a baby. Because he and I hug easily and love to cry.
And don’t worry, I was back at babying the following year. Did you think I was going to go over 2 years and not have another boy? (Spoiler alert - NOT ANY MORE!!! And like, really for real, real. Grateful for IUD’s (and Steve’s eventual vasectomy) and for the four hilarious, adorable, wild, curious, loving and messy pups that we have now.
But we have to stop.
It’s like animal print.
You have to find that fine balance between tasteful and too much. And unfortunately, a lot of times, a person doesn’t realize it is too much animal print, but everyone else does. This is my way of inviting an intervention if you see me starting to itch in the next few months. This is usually when we start Playing with the Box the Kid Came In (you guys, there are so damn many) so, you all have a responsibility, okay? Okay!
I have 100% gotten off topic.
Anyways.
The four of us did a smaller, summit hike on our last morning in Sedona this past month. (All of the couples of our closest tribe were invited to [crash] another couple’s 10-year anniversary trip. Three of us couples were able to swing it. And it was glorious. And very, very dry. And responsibly alcoholy.)
So I was sitting near the edge of this butte and allowed myself to absorb the moment and then a vision came to me. (Yes, God gives me visions at times. And I also hear God at others. And I know how this makes me sound, and I have also quit caring because I believe if you are blessed enough to experience gifts like these, then you should be brave enough to admit it.) And in my minds’ eye, I saw a big teardrop shape, that was beautifully empty.
Clear. Serene. Vacant.
And I exhaled and prayed and breathed deeply. I knew what God was telling me. That empty teardrop was empty of all worldly possessions and distractions, and in their absence, full and content. It was God in me. And I saw how I try to fill this tear drop with *all the things*; New siding, new shirts, new speakers and shoes, and magazines and schedules and technology and sports teams and equipment for sports teams and how these things pile on each other - at times inadvertently and other times compulsively and intentionally - and they become the main focus of my mind and my heart until they fill up and pile into this precious teardrop and the only part of the emptiness left is the space between all of the things.
The only part that is open and available for God, for contentment, or peace, is the space between.
The remainder.
And it is jagged and small and inconsistent.
Ironically, I try to complete my life with the things that I think make me happy, fulfilled and satisfied. Yet they are the exact things that end up taking away time, space and energy from the peace and contentment that is only truly felt when there is the empty space and quiet to focus on God.
So I exhaled and released it all.
And I felt these earthly desires disappear and dissipate as I reclaimed that space, my sacred emptiness, that is so important to me. That is so important to God. And it was so easy, there on top of the warm rocks, accompanied by cactuses and bushes and my people and vortexes.
It is not easy, however, to empty myself in real life.
I tend to equate emptiness with negativity.
Void of love, experience, calories, energy, connection.
But this spiritual cleansing is what I have needed for so long, and I forget to prioritize it. To protect it.
This is the emptiness that allows space for *just being*. Breathing. For feeling God’s presence and consequently, the lack of desire for all of the other things that I constantly seek to fill that emptiness.
A hollow holiness.
An exhale.
In church on Sunday our pastor spoke of spiritual vulnerability and the importance of confession.
Ho.ly. Shit.
Where does one start?
Selfishness - in my marriage, in my relationships, with my time, with my children, with our money, with friendships, with my food and drink even.
Materialism - wanting and focusing on all of the tangible, unimportant *things* of the world like new light fixtures, workout clothing, wall paper, throw pillows, hats, patio furniture, the perfect summer jean, the perfect front door mat, more peel and stick wallpaper, vacuums, planters, kids clothing, kids shoes, running shoes, house shoes, *let’s get some shoes*, drapes, ceiling fans, office chairs, boujee hand soaps, expensive skin care, swim suits & pianos.
Gossip - Why is this so tempting??? I really try not to. I don’t really think I do. Much. And gossip isn’t like what it was when we were in middle or high school. But how tempting is it when there is a conversation about the neighborhood happening and you have hot insider information on why there isn’t a sidewalk on the neighboring street? How does one just go about their day and not share this with the person ringing up their fro-yo? I did not. Yet. Likely.
Lack of faith - Why does God keep expecting me to use faith if we both know I have it and used it last year?
Hypocrisy - Vomit. Where do we begin? Ughhkckhgh.
I would rather listen to podcasts about murder than the bible or deepening my faith.
I focus way too much on my body and physical appearance.
I focus too much on how I want everybody to like me and if I feel like someone isn’t a Kiley-person, I obsess over it and get weird and needy and in my head and I shouldn’t really care if this person four rings out of my circle really cares about me and finds me kind, selfless and charming. But hopefully she thinks I’m a good dresser? *I AM ROLLING MY OWN EYES SO HARD RIGHT NOW*
I focus way too much on money and how we don’t have *enough-ish* even though we absolutely, 100% do have enough (non-ish) and will I ever be content and secure in this area?
I focus on what other people are doing with their time, money, lives and am left feeling jealous, angry and exhausted.
I focus on all of the things that take up residency in my teardrop, and I pray for God to take them away. For God to please forgive me for putting so much energy toward the unimportant instead of focusing the things God really wants for me:
Love.
Self Acceptance.
Peace.
Creativity.
Meaningful relationships.
Connection with the divine.
Connection with my children.
More God.
Less stuff.
Less stress.
Emptiness.
Contentment.
Enlightenment.
*Someone spent some time in the desert, can you tell?*
So I confess all of these things, yet again, to God, and to you all. And I pray that God will help me remember my desire for emptiness. To remember the importance, the value and treasure of emptying myself so I can fill it up with God’s love. With contentment. With peace.
So I can have extra time and energy to focus on the important things.
Like the eternal pursuit of emptiness.
Or for my husband and I to get to know each other better. In the biblical sense.
A terrifying and beautiful hike that sealed friendships in gold and red rock dust. We followed this 3-4 hour hike with breakfast and beers at a local, hole in the wall diner and it was my favorite meal of the entire weekend. And cheapest. I JUST REMEMBERED I HAVEN’T UNPACKED MY CRYSTALS YET!!!
Here’s my people. The hubs, and best friends Nicole & Brian. I don’t care if they don’t want their names shared. We have a constant google calendar invite to go to visit Big Sur every fall. We just keep putting it off but it makes me smile when I have to go to October in my calendar and book something.:) Some day.
I did yoga on the top of this thing like a gosh damn stereotypical basic B. But it was wonderful. But I also felt if I looked up during any balancing poses I would fall over, roll off the top and die. So I decided to look down a live. I’m a mom now so I make different decisions than I used to.
This is just an awesome photo of summer. This was a couple weekends ago. We live down the street from the guy who used to be our entertainment lawyer for our old band. Now we have playdates on Friday nights and order pizza and drink craft beefs and our kids play together. And it’s awesome.
And this is just Keps eating pizza while getting wet from the general mist of the hose and water fights going on around him. I love this photo so much.
Surfs up, friends.
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Garden Gnomes
By shirleytwofeathers
Origin: Teutonic
Emblem: Mushrooms, especially fly agaric or fly amanita
Plant: The presence of galbanum (freula galbaniflua) allegedly invites the protection of gnomes.
Iconography: The standard garden gnome depicts an older male with a long beard and peaked red hat. He wears a big belt over leggings, a blue tunic, and boots. Sometimes they wear gardeners’ aprons.
The name “gnome” stems from the Greek word “genomos” which means “earth dweller”. They are said to be one of the elemental spirits defined by Paracelsus, as representative of the Earth Element.
Gnomes are subterranean spirits now most associated with garden statuary. They resemble tiny people. Paracelsus described gnomes as two spans high. (A span is the width of an outstretched human hand,) Unlike dwarves or kobolds, gnomes are not mine or cave spirits but tend to live beneath human gardens. They have a reputation for emerging at night to do a little helpful garden work. Garden gnomes allegedly bring luck.
Gnomes tend to be quiet, private, taciturn spirits, but they respond well to gifts and offerings. They can be persuaded to become loyal allies, guardians, and helpers. Female gnomes may be especially taciturn; they are rarely depicted. However folklore indicates that their are entire gnome communities with male and female gnomes of all ages. Gnomes maintain good relationships with birds, rabbits, foxes, hedgehogs, and squirrels.
Originally, gnomes were thought to provide protection, especially of buried treasure and minerals in the ground. Gnomes were regarded as good luck charms by our ancestors and would often be found living in the rafters of barns where they would help watch over livestock. They are still used today.
Garden Gnomes vs “Actual” Gnomes
Modern garden gnomes are based on the legendary “Gnomes” of myth, mysticism, and fairy tales. Gnomes have historically been described as small (from a few inches to a foot or two in height) stout beings who live in Nature – usually underground. European magicians and other mystics considered gnomes the most common and important elemental spirits of the ‘Earth’ element (the other three classical elements being: ‘Water,’ ‘Fire,’ and ‘Air’).
Gnomes were said to wear conical hats and to be able to move through the earth itself as easily as we humans walk upon it, yet if any of these underground dwellers were caught out in the daylight it was said that the rays of the Sun turned them into stone.
Sometimes gnomes were said to have magical powers to protect or punish people – or to reward them with happiness. Gnomes are also said to be guardians of secret underground treasures – especially gold! Even in modern times gnomes are said by some –such as the highly influential mystic Rudolph Steiner – to be involved in the hidden processes of plant life. In fact many farms, including prize-winning wineries, follow principles based on these beliefs.
Garden Gnomes Today
More modern descriptions of gnomes usually emphasise their bright red pointed hats, solid coloured clothes, and the long white beard of the typical male. Though sightings of female gnomes are rarely reported, gnome women are generally thought to be beard-free.
The name ‘gnome’ is said to come from the Latin word ‘gnomus’ which is thought to possibly come from the Greek word ‘gnosis’ meaning “knowledge” (i.e. of hidden treasure), but is more likely rooted in the word ‘genomos’ meaning “earth dweller”
A garden gnome adds a bit of whimsy and a connection to the old world, where farmers believed the good luck charm could help their fields yield more produce and protect them from thieves, pests and other problems. They were also thought to help gardeners in the night, which we all could use!
The earliest gnome statuary was produced in Thuringia, Germany, in the early nineteenth century and was based on German folklore. Gnome statues potentially welcome and attract real gnomes, as well as Flower Fairies or other benevolent spirits. The earliest statues were carefully wrought, hand-painted terra-cotta and were exceptionally popular.
By the 1960’s, cheaper plastic and resin versions were mass-produced. The old terra-cotta ones are now extremely valuable and are family heirlooms. Garden gnome statues tend to evoke very visceral responses. Some people adore and collect them. Others loathe them so much that they feel justified destroying or removing other people’s property.
Gnomes are the subject of modern entertainment as well as old folktales. The animated children’s television show The World of David the Gnome was highly unusual in that it depicted both male and female gnomes. The gnomes in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series are garden pests, not helpers.
Some Handy Garden Gnome Trivia:
Gnomes are banned from the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show. We think that’s a crying shame, personally.
There are three categories of mass-produced gnomes: Worker gnomes, who always carry tools like fishing rods, shovels, or hammers; at-ease gnomes who typically carry a pipe and cultural gnomes who have a musical instrument in hand. Rock stars.
Gnomes have a life expectancy of 400 years.
Their main enemies? Mean humans who destroy the environment and trolls – obviously.
Male gnomes always wear red caps.
The world’s oldest garden gnome, called Lampy, has been living at Lamport Hall in the UK for 125 years and is worth a cool £2 million, or €2.4m!
In the 1980s, the Gnome Liberation Front stole gnomes and sent the owners photos of them from landmarks around the globe.
Gnomes are generally vegetarian and eat foods like nuts, mushrooms, peas, beans, potatoes, applesauce, fruit, berries, tubers, spices, vegetables, and preserves for dessert.
They like to drink mead dew made from fermented honey, fermented raspberries, and spiced gin as a nightcap.
Gnomes kiss by rubbing noses. They also use nose rubbing as a greeting equivalent to human handshaking.
Forest Gnomes:
There are gnomes that live in the forest in the Philippines. You can tell where they live if there’s a hill of dirt that’s a bit higher than everything else. And when you go by them, you’re supposed to be really, really respectful and say:
“Excuse me. I’m just walking by. I don’t mean any harm.”
Even if you’re not doing anything, or no one said anything, or you’re not sure. You’re just supposed to do it. If you don’t, there could be blow back as per the following:
“There was a story on the Philippines news channel, about a kid who had huge swollen lips. You could hardly see his eyes. He was speaking to reporters and he said that he was walking by the hills and his friend told him that you’re supposed to say sorry and he said, “No, I’m not. I don’t care. I don’t believe in that stuff.”
Then the next day he woke up with a tumour on his face. Not so much as a tumour, but as his lips were super swollen. It looked like someone blasted air into his lips. Like super Botox.”
Walking Gnomes
The following story is very interesting in the fact that this is one of the few stories from Mexico where inanimate objects, that are not haunted, come to life. The Mexican culture does not traditionally include creatures such as gnomes but instead, it consist of larger creatures and ghosts. This is because the country did not originally have gnomes until places, such as the United States introduced them to there.
“In Mexico they believe that garden gnomes come alive at night. The proof they have of it is that my grandma used to own gnomes and her neighbours used to own gnomes in Mexico. And the garden gnomes the next day would be found in different places and a lot of stuff was broken and sometimes my mom and her sister would wake up at night, and they would hear things, but when they looked outside, they would never see the gnomes there. So there’s that story that they become alive at night in Mexico.”
“Recently I was talking to one of my cousins who told that story to some friends whose parents were also from Mexico. And this friend told my cousin that he actually believes that story, because one night the garden gnomes were not where they had placed them. They found them inside the house one night in the house and they were rolling in the hallway. Since then, they got rid of the gnomes, or at least they tried to. They threw them away but the next day they were in the same place they had put them before.”
The Secret Lives of Garden Gnomes
From Neopets.com, here’s a story about what Gnomes do at night. I’m pretty sure this is a made up story, but I thought it was fun, and who knows? Maybe it isn’t altogether fictional. You be the judge:
The reason Garden Gnomes come alive at night is because they don’t want anyone to see them moving around. This is pretty practical, considering the fact that if any regular person saw them talking and moving, they’d want to put them in some sort of abnormality museum!
But what do garden gnomes do at night? Well, I was watching out my window at the gnomes in my garden one night, and I saw one, a Bruce gnome, have them all line up in a row as he paced back and forth in front of them, a small twig in his hand like he was the instructor of a military camp.
He was telling each gnome which direction to go in order to pick up free food. You see, garden gnomes thrive like ants. They all go off to find food that people may have dropped accidentally or on purpose, and sometimes they even venture into houses and borrow food with no intention of returning (also known as stealing, but they take such small portions most people never even notice).
After retrieving food they rush back to their home centre (which is usually a tunnel in the ground leading into a large, dug out room, since gnomes are not claustrophobic) and report to the leader, in this case the Bruce gnome. He then tallies their lot and tosses the foot morsel into another room in their tunnel, where they store their food. They act sort of like chipmunks, storing food and hunting for it, of course, gnomes are not carnivores though.
And, to their enormous pleasure, when they have collected a lot of food, they sit down at have a feast! Yes, a feast! It’s a feast of little sweets, candy peas, popcorn pieces, and sometimes even whole flower cakes (although they take more than one gnome to carry). But besides eating, what else do gnomes do? Well, I’m glad you asked.
You wouldn’t suspect this, but when they have leisure time, gnomes enjoy swimming. They are very pleased to find a Neogarden where someone owns a pond. They jump right in, clothes and all, and swim and dive around in the cool water for hours at a time. And when they want to dry off, they take a large leaf and wrap themselves up in it, drying off quickly.
Aside from swimming, gnomes also enjoy crafts. They may take green blades of grass and weave adorable little baskets or even blankets. They can also take pieces of bark off of trees and sticks and carve them with sharp stones into little sculptures. Gnomes are very talented in the artistic field, and if you see a stick carved into a Meepit, you know who did it.
Aside from swimming and crafts, another thing gnomes enjoy is sports. They might play their own version of soccer by kicking around a rounded stone, or even play basketball by throwing a rock into a hole. This not only provides exercise, but gives them lots of time together to just have fun.
But when they aren’t playing and having fun, what do they do? Throughout the whole day, they sleep, and at night they either have fun or look for food, so there’s only a little bit of time left for something else-note-taking! This is sort of like their education, which is actually an education of…what else? Neopets!
Note-taking is when gnomes grab their oversized pencils and paper, which they “borrow” from Neopets, then marching through the sleeping pet’s house and going to their bedroom, where they climb up on the bed and observe the neopet’s sleeping habits. They are trying to find out where Neopets came from. Maybe all Neopets evolved from Myncis!
Another sort of educational activity that gnomes practice is counting. It isn’t counting like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, though, no, no no! It’s counting in a different way. The gnomes version of counting may be why your plushies eye was missing when you woke up.
Gnomes will trample in when you are catching some Z’s (it seems all of their educational activities are while Neopets are slumbering) and then they will be assigned a number (by there leader, the Bruce gnome) and then they shall go “counting” which, in other words, is another type of stealing. They have to pick up ten, for example (or however many their number is) trinkets, like plushie eyes, toothpicks, or buttons, and bring them back to their tunnel, storing them in a safe place. What they do with them I do not know, but I suspect they might make furniture or something of the sort using what they found.
One last thing I found out is that gnomes are a fan of bright colours and patterns. In the early morning, I saw them getting ready for bed and they were wearing long pants and long sleeved shirt PJ’s of hot pink, bright purple, lime green, and sunny yellow colour. Some had stripes, some had polka dots, and some even had swirlies! Gnomes are very interesting, no?
Now you know what gnomes do when you aren’t looking, what their secret life is all about. If you look out your window at night, you might be able to see them moving and hear them talking in their high pitched voices. But be warned-if they see you watching them, well, I won’t go there…
Sources:
House and Garden
Encyclopedia of Spirits
Love To Know
Folklore USC
Just Say Gnome
https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/powers-that-be/garden-gnomes/
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Pants - Terra/Troth
Pairing: Terra/Troth
Fandom: The Adventure Zone: (K)Nights
Words: 590
Summary: Terra tries to flirt. Tries. Troth gets a gift. Of pants.
AO3
@taznights @tazfemslash
Troth stepped into Terra’s office. The walls were plain, and the only furniture was an austere desk and chair set and some beat up filing cabinets. It was far more Canis’ style than hers. “You said there was a problem?”
Terra sat at the desk, trying to look serious. Trying. She looked like a bad actor pretending to be serious, and she hid her smile between her steepled fingers. “Yes, there is a problem. A problem with...” she paused, partially for dramatic effect, partially to give her time to stifle a laugh. “Your pants.”
Troth looked down at them. If there was a problem, that might explain why Terra kept looking meaningfully at her crotch... but there was nothing obviously wrong? Sure, they were a little patchy, the hem had seen better days, and they were always kinda damp because of how often she had to wash them. But those weren’t really problems. “There’s nothing wrong with them.”
Terra gestured up and down at them. “There’s a lot wrong with them! Like, I get that you’re trying to fit in Underton, don’t want to seem to fancy or anything, but even in Underton we have normal pants.”
“These are normal pants.These are the sorts of pants I’ve always had.”
“Really? That sounds so--” Terra trailed off. “They’re just not good at being paints.”
“They’re structurally sound.” It felt silly to get defensive about pants, but they were good pants! Perfectly serviceable!
“The crotch and legs are contrasting colours.”
“Yeah, but they don’t have holes.”
Terra raised an eyebrow. “The crotch is more whipstitch than fabric by now. Plus, they’re always damp?”
“I’ve only got the one pair, so I have to keep washing it--”
Terra’s jaw dropped. “You only have one pair of pants?!”
“I mean, when you... kidnapped me, I didn’t exactly have another pair on me.”
Terra leaped up, and started rummaging through the desk drawers. “This has gone from your pants being bad, to you not having any--”
Troth held up a hand, but Terra raced on regardless. “--I do have a pair.”
“I think some of Canis’ old stuff will fit you.”
Troth was torn between the thought that she was about to be given a dead man’s clothes, and that Canis kept pants in a desk drawer. Maybe it was different outside the monastery, but she was pretty sure pants didn’t belong in desks? She wouldn’t be surprised if some of Terra’s. everywhereness was familial, but how did you even fit pants in a desk drawer--
Terra’s voice was muffled by the desk. “He’d probably want a cute girl to wear ‘em now anyway.”
Well, that couldn’t be right. “Pardon?”
Terra popped up. “Er, he’d probably want someone to wear ‘em anyways. Catch!” She threw a pair of black slacks at her, and Troth caught them one handed.
Terra applauded the catch. The clapping felt weirdly quiet coming from one person for such a minor thing. “Those are some nice, unpatched, single colour pants. They’re a sneakier colour too.”
The paused, staring at each other. Terra seemed to be waiting for something. Maybe waiting for Troth to put them on? But that’d mean taking off her current pants out here, so no, that couldn’t be what Terra expected...
They stood there for another thirty seconds.
“I should probably go see if these fit,” Troth said.
“Yeah, right, forgot about that.” Terra laughed nervously and donked her forehead with her hand.
Troth walked out the door.
“Come back for more if they fit you!” Terra called out. “Canis won’t be needing them!”
#the adventure zone#taz nights#troth#taz terra#for context i mean pants in the sense of outerwear#terra is not giving troth underwear#(yet)
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Mandi’s Board and Batten Study Makeover
.When we purchased our home last year, I knew the front room would be a perfect place to put a study. The little room was tucked away from the rest of the house and had a door to separate it from the hustle and bustle of family life. It was the perfect space to house our library with a cozy spot to get lost in a book. I’m happy to finally be able to share with you all of the design considerations for this space, as well as how easy it was to DIY an inexpensive board and batten wall treatment.
Style Considerations
I considered so many options for this room, as far as style, paint color, furniture selection, and arrangement goes. The look I finally settled on is a sort of mod take on a traditional masculine study. Think: mid-century cabin meets surf shack meets Gatsby’s mansion. That’s a logical combination of styles, right?
Next, after much deliberation, I settled on Benjamin Moore’s Oil Cloth as a wall color. It’s a medium-toned grayish green that takes on different hues depending on the time of day, but always to me as if it’s channeling a movie set from the ’50s. After deciding on a wall color, I chose this seasalt gray Burrard sofa from Article that had a subtle mid-century silhouette and slim arms to fit perfectly in the narrow room. The smoky quartz womb chair I chose from Rove Concepts obviously has mid-century styling and also closely matched the gray of the sofa. Both furniture colors offer very little contrast with the wall color, which was an intentional choice. I wanted the room to feel calm and unified, as our book collection is quite colorful and would add an element of visual chaos, particularly if paired with contrasting colors and patterns.
To lend some of the casual California mood that had been part of my style inspiration, I chose woven wood shades from blinds.com. The color I selected (Terra Oak) brings out the wood tones of the window and helps warm up the generally cool feeling from the grays and metals in this space. The art over the sofa is an original mid-century porcelain piece I purchased on Etsy, which alongside the globe floor lamp also adds to the “surf shack” vibe. The morroccan-style rug from Lulu & Georgia feels more bohemian, while the vintage coffee tables I got from my friend Susie in a swap add a modern take on the art deco Jay Gatsby look. (I always think of Jay and his uncut books when I think of a traditional study!)
Before & After
I’m afraid the “before” photo of this room isn’t a true before. The month we moved in, I ripped out all of the carpet on the first floor, and didn’t think to stop and take a before picture of this space first. Just imagine a shaggy brown carpet in here, which tied in nicely with the brown walls and oak trim. (Not sure “nicely” is the best word to describe it, but you get the gist!)
The study is somewhat narrow, and it became even more so when I added bookshelves* to one of the longer walls. I figured the room didn’t need to feel spacious, right? After all, we wanted a cozy study to house our library. Further enhancing the cozy vibes, I decided at the last minute to paint the ceiling too. I hadn’t been happy with the stark contrast of the medium-toned walls with a bright white ceiling. So we rolled Benjamin Moore’s Gray Horse onto the ceiling. Funny enough, the gray sort of reads as white in the daylight in context with the darker walls.
*The boxes on the floor in the before image are IKEA Billy Bookcases! They’re what we used as a base for our built-in bookcase—a DIY project which I’ll be sharing with you very soon!
Board and Batten Installation Process
Adding board and batten moulding really took this room makeover to the next level. I love the monochrome look of painting the walls, bookshelves, and trim all the same color. But the empty walls (without bookshelves) definitely needed something to bring it all together. I knew I wanted to add some type of applied moulding, but for a while I was stuck on the style. Finally, I decided that vertical board and batten would be an easy and inexpensive way to add texture, also in keeping with the mid-century cabin vibe I like so much.
I’ve created a board and batten wall treatment before in our bedroom, but using vertical strips only was much less work and significantly less expensive. This time around, I used pre-primed lattice moulding. Lattice moulding is very thin (about 1/8″), so it will add a textural element to the wall, but won’t stick out so far as to be an impediment for hanging art or to be a collector of dust. Getting pre-primed lattice moulding saved us lots of sanding (and the mess that goes along with sanding), but I have seen treated lattice moulding available at hardware stores for about $1 per 8′ strip. This take on a board and batten look ended up being a super affordable way to dress up a room!
Prepping the baseboards: If your baseboards have a curve on top that is thinner than 1/8″ at any point, you will need to address that before adding the board and batten strips. I had already removed my baseboards before beginning this project, so it wasn’t difficult for me to address this issue. I simply glued lattice strips to the back of my baseboards at the top and bottom so they would come out from the wall far enough to perfectly meet the batten strips. Then I primed and painted the baseboards before putting them up on the wall.
Step One: Before gluing up the strips, I calculated spacing between strips to be as close to 1′ as the wall width allowed. (One wall is a bit more than 1′, another wall is a bit less than 1′ between strips.) Then I took a scrap piece of lattice and marked where each long strip should be mounted. I did use a level when making the marks to make sure they weren’t drawn crookedly on the wall.
Step Two: Apply a bead of construction adhesive to the back of your board and batten strip and use a level when applying it to the previously marked spot on the wall. These strips are lightweight enough that construction adhesive should probably be enough to hold it in place, without the strips pulling away from the wall as the glue dries. However, I’m not one to take chances, so we also nailed them up after placing each strip. We used an air nailer for this, but a hammer and nails would do the trick just fine!
Step Four: After each board is in place and the glue has dried, apply paintable caulk to where the batten strips meet the wall. Caulk is a flexible filler which should not crack over time and will fill the gaps between the board and the wall nicely. I used my pinky to run along the line of caulk to remove the excess, then used a damp cloth to remove any extra smudges of caulk on the wall and batten strips. If you have nailed your boards into place, this is also the time to fill any nail holes with spackling.
Step Five: Paint! After everything was glued and all of the cracks were filled, my husband graciously taped off the walls for me. I added plastic sheeting to the windows and floor then spray painted this entire room! You can check my highlighted “study” story on my Instagram profile if you’d like to see more behind-the-scenes footage of this endeavor.
Let’s just say the spray painting job did not go super well. The process itself went smoothly, and I thought I had done an amazing job, until the next day when I noticed the sheen varied all around the room. I mentioned it to my dad and he said, “Yeah, spray painting is definitely an art. You have to hold your gun in the same direction evenly across the surface or the sheen will vary.” Ugh, would’ve been nice to know before I began! I was just worried about getting even coverage and avoiding drips. Oh well. I ended up hand brushing and rolling around the board and batten to give the room a final pristine coat of paint.
Creating a Workspace
Finding a desk that wasn’t too bulky for our small study was also quite a challenge. My husband works from home occasionally and needs a dedicated office space in the study to set up his laptop and make calls. He also is a mentor for some of his peers, so he needs a private room for confidential meetings, with comfortable seating and access to his library. I decided we could nix a desk with a file cabinet if he was happy with keeping file boxes on the bottom shelf of the bookcase, so then we could get this more minimal desk from Lulu & Georgia. The chair is a vintage find from a local favorite of mine in Canton, Ohio (Main St. Modern), and provides a comfortable place to sit and work for an extended period of time.
I’m so happy with how the library aspect of this room makeover turned out! I’ll be sharing this bookshelf DIY soon. Adding color to the wall that also encompassed the bookcases really helped make the contents of the bookshelves feel more unified. I don’t have the prettiest book collection of all time, but I did integrate several vintage books to the mix to add a more timeless feel. Most likely I won’t read many of those vintage ones, but who knows—maybe a 1950s book called A Career in Fashion may provide useful to me one day? While thrifting one day, I did stumble on an old copy of The Fountainhead, which I couldn’t resist, even though I already own a newer copy.
Now that this space is finally completed, I’m excited to set down the power tools and work at my summer reading list instead! Any favorites I should add to my list?
As always, I have included a link list to all of the materials I used in this room. Check it out below. Let me know if you have any questions! – Mandi
I worked with a few brands to gather some items for this space. Those items are noted with a c/o in the list below to signify that they are gifted “courtesy of” items.
Material Sources:
Wall color: c/o Benjamin Moore Oil Cloth
Blinds: c/o Blinds.com
Flooring: Lumber Liquidators
Rug: c/o Lulu & Georgia
Sofa: c/o Article
Floor Lamp: c/o Article
Table Lamp: vintage
Desk: c/o Lulu & Georgia
Desk chair: vintage from Main Street Modern in Canton, Ohio
Coffee Table: vintage
Lounge chair: c/o Rove Concepts
Glass side table: c/o Rove Concepts
Bluetooth speaker: Amazon
Gray marble vase on coffee table: 31 Bits
Art & accessories: all other acessories + art is vintage
Bookshelf Boxes: DIY (blog post coming soon!)
Credits: Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.
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Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but let’s be real: it’s stressful as hell. If you’re looking for something super easy, cheap but still says that you put thought into your gift, this post is for you! I gathered some things from Hobby Lobby and Target AKA the motherships and came up with a few easy DIY presents! I suggest looking up which sales are which days at Hobby Lobby because everything I purchased was half off that day!
1. Double Sided Painted Plant Holder!
This is one of my favorite DIY projects that I did! Initially, I just did one side with the eyes, but I felt like someone might want to show a different side or just have more to it. It’s extremely simple but it’s so cute and perfect for that person in your life that loves plants! I got this little terra-cotta pot for $1.99, the plant I put in is fake but you can obviously use something else, it was $2.99. The chalkboard paint can be found at any craft store, I got this one from Target for $2.49 and I used a chalkboard pen from Target that was $2.00. Totaling at $9.47. You can really make this your own, with any design of your choice!
2. Christmas Body Scrub
Body scrubs are allll the rage it seems. But, you walk into a store to buy them and they’re SO overpriced. I went with a Eucalyptus scrub and some green food coloring and called it Grinch scrub! There are a lot of things you could do with this one. You could make a candy cane scrub with red coloring and peppermint essential oil, a vanilla body scrub with vanilla extract or any kind of scrub! The jar I bought for this was $1.99, and I had all the rest of the ingredients already but you can use any oil for this and any salt or sugar that you have already to make it easy! This one comes out to about $6.
I used:
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 Teaspoons Coconut oil (room temp)
1 Teaspoon Coconut oil, melted
2 Drops Eucalyptus Essential oil
1 Drop Peppermint Essential oil
1 Tiny drop of green coloring (optional)
3. Christmas Cookies In a Jar!
How stinkin cute! I love to bake but hate to measure out all the stuff. I know this is a popular gift idea but I thought it was too cute not to put in here! This mason jar was $2.99 and I had all the other ingredients also but I will leave the recipe down here! I just did simple chocolate chip cookies but you can obviously put anything in there. Make sure to layer the white ingredients at the bottom so it doesn’t look like a hodgepodge of stuff. I made this tag from a print out online and some colored paper! **Make sure to add on the back what they’ll need.
In the jar:
2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups chocolate chips
What they’ll need:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter, softened
4. Minimal Christmas Wreath
I kept seeing these trending on pinterest and instagram and I wanted to make a simple decoration for my room and I loved how this turned out! All I did was take these fake plant stems found at Hobby Lobby (each was 2.99 on sale) and intertwine them with this wire (I found it for $3.00) I tied some raffia at the bottom and that’s it! This one totals at $8.98.
5. Bath Salts
Seriously how stinking cute is this jar?! I found this at Hobby Lobby for $2.00 and made my own bath salts to go in! Here’s what I used:
1 Cup epsom salt- $2.89
3 drops juniper berry essential oil
2 drops rosemary oil
1 drop lemon essential oil
1/2 cup sea salt
6. Wall Hangs
Okay, so I wish I could take credit for this one but my talented friend, Haillie made this one! There are several ways to go about a wall hang but its such a cute gift for the trendy girl in your life that needs a cute room decoration! She really has a keen eye for creativity and if you visit her IG page: @handmades_byhays you could get one yourself! DM her for any interest!!
7. Homemade Kahlua
My mom did this one year and everyone went NUTS. This is a super cute gift for the host of your Christmas gathering or your neighbor or whoever likes a good cordial! And yes there’s more raffia, if you couldn’t tell I really enjoy me some raffia…
Ingredients:
2 Cups water
1-1/2 Cups sugar
2 Tablespoons instant coffee
2 Cups vodka
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
So that is it for my DIY Christmas gifts! I’m not the craftiest person in the world and I managed to pull off some pretty cute gifts. Christmas doesn’t have to be about the most expensive gifts you can buy for each other or how much money you spent, I’m sure you’re all well aware of it but the stress we put on ourselves to outdo the past years and really go the extra mile for the people we love can be done a thousand other ways that don’t even require money. Thanks for reading, happy happy holidays !!
XOXO,
Hobby Lobby Enthusiast.
Processed with VSCO with f3 preset
Its A Very Merry DIY Christmas Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but let’s be real: it’s stressful as hell. If you’re looking for something super easy, cheap but still says that you put thought into your gift, this post is for you!
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