drawring

Haha, I bet you thought I didn't do that drawing thing anymore. But actually, I do.

I wanted a sketch of Memoria with her new scars. I like it. Unfortunately, she's about to do something horrible in this chapter. Stupid, stupid, Memoria. Don't do it, you bum! Ah, she's not listening to me. What else is new.

(As a point of interest, the phrase "Don't do it, you bum" is kind of a joke in my family because when my mom was watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and saw the part where Anakin and Padme get married at the end, she yelled at the screen, "Don't do it, you bums!" Basically, my mom is awesome.)

This was more or less my costume for the last day of the OYAN workshop. I dressed up as Andra in disguise as a masked reveler, and no, that's not confusing at all. Actually, she was disguised for the Festival delle Mascherare, which is a hardcore party I invented where everybody dances in the streets and wears masks and gets extremely drunk. Not these two, though. They're busy hunting wabbits. Or villains. Whichever. That spiky thing in the background is the dome and six spires of the Sanctorium. At least, it's supposed to be.

Oh, have an excerpt. That would probably be easiest.

     He cocked his head, still walking backwards through the throng. “But the Barone doesn’t hate you.”

     “Messina? He’s biased,” I said, and distangled my cloak from Nath’s brown hands. It was too hot for a cloak, but how else was I supposed to hide my brace? “He and my mother were lovers once. Before he wed the Baronessa, obviously.”

     “She doesn’t seem the type to tolerate an affair on her husband’s part.” Nath fell into step beside me. “Blesteme, he was almost your father.”

     “Which would have been preferable. At least Messina hasn’t killed anyone famous.”

     “Well,” said Nath, “you’d have come out different, I suspect. And I like you this way. Even with that hideous leg of yours. And you, ser, will be taking your hand out of my pocket.”

The cutpurse, wearing a comically grotesque pig mask, withdrew his hand. “You are very perceptive, mio signore. My apologies.”

     Nath snorted with derision. “I’m Rumeni, man. Check your mark’s skin before you strike. Off with you.”

     “Nath,” I hissed, watching the cutpurse slink back into the swirling crowd, “we do not endorse thieving.”

     He shrugged, and I caught the flash of his white teeth beneath his mask. “Just honest advice.”

     We resumed our slow progression towards the edge of the square. Dancers spun past us, mouths gaping in gleeful howls, masked faces thrown back with delight. I kept my gaze on my boots, avoiding eye contact whenever possible. “Is there even anything in your pockets?”

     “No. The poor fool would have discovered as much, had I let him root around in there a few moments more.”

     I squashed my laughter. “You’re a terribly nice person. I would have just broken his hand, I think.”
     “You wouldn’t have noticed,” he said with a smug grin. “Do you still have your charm?”

     I felt for the pouch under my loose man’s shirt. “Yes.”

     “Keep checking. The chain would fetch a pretty price.” Taking my hands, he twirled me past a clump of tittering maidens wearing gape-necked gowns and delicate masks of black lace that hid little more than their eye sockets. As I stepped out of the twirl, my cloak tangled around my leg brace, throwing me into a stumble. Nath caught my arm and maneuvered me upright. I felt like a clomping idiot.

That's Chapter Four, peeps. I am now in the thick of Chapter Five, and serious crap is about to go down. Fun fact: Andra and Nath are two of the very few characters that got to keep their names from the first draft. Mirano kept his as well. I think that's it. Everyone and everything else got renamed. Andra also lost her future-vision powers, along with her gypsy charm. Instead, she now has a little cloth pouch around her neck that contains a curl of her mother's hair. And instead of Fable calcifying the Leondreans, he experiments on them in a hidden lab-thing. I decided to go in the direction of less magicky, more sciency, plus the whole Italian influence and all that. Took out the dragons, which hurt me just a little, because Auburnium was an old buddy of mine. Ah well, he exists in my brain!

Which reminds me, I just watched Cold Blood, the ninth episode in the fifth series of Doctor Who, and the ending very nearly killed me. Yep, I've pretty much given up on going in order. Guess I'll do Eleven first, then Ten. In any case (SPOILER SIREN HONK HONK HONK):

I want Rory back.

(END SPOILER.)

There was wretched weeping, I assure you. But there has also been much hysterical laughter. See, this is why I love Doctor Who:

Amy: If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun-
Doctor: *covers Amy's mouth* Stop talking, brain thinking, hush.
Rory: It's the school thing I don't understand-
Doctor: *covers Rory's mouth* Stop talking, brain thinking, hush.
Guido: I say we take the fight to them-
Doctor: A-a-ah!
Guido: What?
Doctor: Ah! *nods at Rory*
Rory: ... *covers Guido's mouth*

Commander Kip
"Look at this. Got my spaceship, got my boys... my work here is done." *flounces into TARDIS* "Um, we are NOT 'her boys.'" "Yeah... we are." "Yeah, we are."
Normal is overrated!