Amy's reply to my letter! Just to reiterate and make things clear.... I am posting Amy's letters on my blog, and she is posting mine on hers in an effort to try to get that real "letter" feel.
And if you're new and haven't read any of the story yet, you can find the beginning the the Letter Game page.
From: Miss Peggy Douglas To: Miss Joan MacTavish October the thirtieth, 1924 Dear Joan. I knew it! You took the hardest test and aced it. Really, my dear, must you show off? And me in such a dreary position? I do but jest... I am very proud of you. Congratulations! How grand to be a part of the Palace Guard! And it might just surprise you and turn out to be a very adventurous job. What with all the discontentment in parliament between the magicians and the philosophers. Trouble has been brewing for a while, my dear, and we both know that at some point, the King will have to step in. At any rate, I wish you all the best and hope you settle in quickly and without too much bother. It’s never easy being the new girl. Even if you are a Master Assassin now. In all events, it’s bound to be more exciting than working as a barista. Now, I’m not saying that I’m unhappy in my position. There are worse jobs than making coffee all day. But the longer I’m away from the University, the angrier I get. I mean, to go through three years of Uni, just to be kicked out right before my mid-point testing! It’s pretty hard to swallow. Not that I’d have been likely to pass any test with my Powers being so wonky, but I’d have liked to have had the chance. I find it strange that no one has taken the time to try and figure out why my Powers have gone all out of control. I mean, am I the only one that finds it strange? I can’t help but wonder if I hadn't waited for three years to go to Uni... if things would have turned out differently. But I couldn't very well have just left with Mum being so ill. I had to be there for her. And then Dad was so grief-stricken I was worried to leave him… Oh well, never mind. I’m trying to keep my chin up in all this and enjoy some of the advantages of this new life. Such as exploring the city. I loved growing up in the country and hope to settle in the country again someday, but to live in such a busy, colorful city is exciting, especially after all the rules at Uni. They were rather up-tight about keeping to the school grounds. It is fantastic to not have a curfew. The thing is, I’m already becoming bored with my job and my life! And that’s not good. You know me, I've always needed interesting things in my life, otherwise I seem to get in trouble. You remember that deadly-dull summer when I accidentally set the hay-stack on fire? Being bored makes me do unpredictable things. It makes me play with my Powers. To help with the boredom, I’ve started to do some rather serious people-watching. It helps pass the time and I enjoy it. I’ve taken to carrying around a small journal and I jot down things I find interesting or unusual. Or rude. Joan, I never realized before how many people are rude! I don’t like rude people. They make me want to put some discomfort spell on them. But I can’t. While I’m at work, I have to wear a protective bracelet so that my Powers don’t interfere with the coffee machines and such. The downside is that I can’t actually work my Powers at all while wearing the blasted thing! I never thought it would come to this point—make coffee and have no Powers. Hey-ho, I don’t mean to gripe and I will stop this second! Let’s see…there must be something fun to tell you about. Ah yes, Dad came by for a visit a few days ago. He is such a dear. He was in quite a hurry since he was on his way to a conference, but he wanted to make sure I was getting along aright. “Things aren’t too bad for you, are they, my goose?” he asked as he straightened his wire spectacles to look at me better. I assured him that I am quite well and will figure out a new plan for my life as soon as I can. He smiled and patted my head in his absent minded way and muttered something about the many defects of the educations system. He sighed deeply and plunged his hand into his coat pocket. “Ah, never mind” he said and he handed me a small parcel. He got me a lovely pocket-watch with a tiny compartment hidden in the back. I don’t know what I could hide in a compartment that small, but it is still a lovely watch. Dad said it was once used by a spy (Whose name I’ve forgotten) to smuggle messages across the border during the War. I don’t know where he got it. Dad’s always finding these sorts of things. Then he was off. He’s promised to visit again as soon as he can. He has been unusually busy for the past few months. I can’t help wondering what it could be that keeps a humble historian so on his toes. Before I go, I have a confession to make. I have been asking around and doing some research of my own about wands, and though I haven’t found out anything useful, I did find out that occasionally a person will experience something known as a Power-Shift. Have you ever heard about this? It seems that once in a very rare while, someone’s powers change, either for good or ill, but no one seems to know why. Isn’t that strange? And now I must go. Good luck on your new job. I hope you have adventures in abundance. Perhaps someone will try and steal the crown jewels. I know I should not wish for such things, but it would make things lively for you.
Because... it's been so long since my last post, right? *Smirk* Bet you guys didn't even notice I hadn't posted. =)
By the way, good news! Amy posted my letter on her blog, so if you haven't read it yet, you should check it out. I'm very 'cited and nervous. :)
So.... when I came up with the idea that my letter game character, Joan, was going to be a Master Assassin, the ideas of how she ought to look came flooding into my head. She was going to be on the short side of average height, very athletic, and a bit of a dry-humored smarty.
She sort of just... made herself up. She's that kind of character.
(By the way, she thinks Master Assassin is an utterly ridiculous title because everyone knows that Master Assassins haven't been used in years, so said title only means that she is a very talented martial artist...)
Just as an aside: my sister has the mother load of Prisma colored pencils.
The lovely Kellie is hosting a blog part for..... people who are feeling uninspired in the ways of blogging, and seeing as I have been feeling as such, have decided to join.
This ought to be jolly!!!!!!!
Gray Days to Glimmering Blog Party
1) What's your favorite thing to do when you've been feeling uninspired?
Oh this and that. Usually it helps to take a walk, read a few brilliant books, or watch a movie. I don't know... I guess watching/reading other people's awesomeness tends to get my creative juices flowing.
2) Tell us about a really great movie/show that you've just discovered.
Hmm, let me think. Rise of the Guardians and The Hobbit were incredible. SO much love, people! But lately we've been re-watching Doctor Who and even more recently, watching Leverage again.
Leverage is freaking awesome. It's kind of like a mashup of Robin Hood and Ocean's Eleven..... It's usually very clean.
But mostly, it's awesome because of this guy: Eliot Spencer. He's a fighter, and a musician, and a cook.... what's not to love?
3) What do you like to do to change your mood?
I read and pinterest a lot. *Grins unabashedly.*
4) Your favorite drink is currently...
Oh... you know. COOOFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! And TEA!
5) When you hear the word exuberant, what's the first word that comes to mind?
Amy. Don't ask why.
And my niece, Sammie.
And Daisy. Our beagle.
6) What made you smile last?
Eliot Spencer.
7) What five songs would make a playlist to describe your week?
Uhhmmm.
1.) Brave- Josh Groban
2.) The Rose- Andre Rieue (My sisters and I learned it in harmony like that. We sound that good. *cough* I wish. I hope. I think we could be. :) Okay. I'm just going to stop now. LOL.
3.) Safe and Sound- Taylor Swift.
4.) Lover of the Light- Mumford and Sons
5.) I Will Wait- Mumford and Sons.
8) What's at the top of your creative 'To-Do' list?
Drawing Percy Jackson. (He's pretty awesome) Just drawing more in general. And possibly make a Doctor Who themed doll set.
9) The last thing you crossed off the above list was...
I drew my character for the letter game.
10) Quickly - the first movie quote from the top of your head, please!
"Who are you?"
"No one of consequence."
"I must know."
"Get used to disappointment."
*nods* "Okay."
From the Princess Bride. (But seriously, if you didn't know that..... if you didn't know that. Just go rent it. Now.
11) The best thing about January is...
Eh.....
12) The worst thing about January is...
The cold. The snow. The end.
13) What's your #1 resolution for 2013?
I didn't really make resolutions. I don't know... be braver, I guess?
14) And lastly, share a quote or verse that you've found especially inspiring lately.
PREcisely.
And now I must awa' and write about Rose and Chris. (for some reason, watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, really put me in a writing mood.)
But that's not the epic news. Amy and I decided to do a a Letter Game between our blogs. Actually... we decided a long time ago, but we're both self-conscious about putting our writing out there for people to see. And so, *cough* we've sort of been putting it off.
Anyway, the gist of the game is that we will pick a character to 'become' and write letters to each other as that character. Cool, yeah?
The way we're going to do it is, when Amy writes a letter, I will post it on my blog, and when I write a letter, she will post it on hers, so that it seems like we actually receiving letters. (In actuality, we're just emailing. Hehehe.) And then the letters will be archived on the the letter game page on both blogs.
The setting is a 1920-ish time frame... with a mix of Steampunkery (yes, I know Steampunk is technically Victorian era, but we're doing it in the 20s.) And a touch of magic.
I’m sure by now you've heard a great deal about my ‘disgraceful’ situation. It isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds…well, maybe it is, but it’s not all my fault. As your friend I think you deserve to know the best of me.
Yes, I really did get thrown out of University. Well, the correct term is “Expelled” but it amounts to the same thing. I have been set up with the most tedious job at a coffee shop on Main Street. The good news is I get as much free coffee as I can hold. Anyway.
I’m not sure when things started going so wrong. I did so well for the first two years of Uni, pulling ahead at my classes and thoroughly enjoying myself. It was this last year when my Powers began to get out of hand and I earned the wrath of Professor Whitt. The whole situation is miserably unfair! I worked and worked at my Craft and for those first years I had such high hopes of being graduated into an important job. Now I have an unpromising future as a barista! And my Powers-I can’t understand it. No matter what I do, I can’t get a charm or spell to do what it should. Something terrible usually happens…if not terrible than extremely inconvenient. Take that last, fateful week at Uni.- though if we could take it then forget it as fast as possible that might be best- when the ‘simple’ spell I was to work took that nasty turn and suddenly the piano started on fire. It’s not like I did a fire charm! I was supposed to water the plants in the music room using the cloud control spell and the next thing I knew; fire was curling rather magnificently around the baby-grand.
Fire is so beautiful!
I admit I did just stare at it for a minute or two, maybe three, before I called for assistance, but that’s hardly proof that I deliberately started it.
The whole School Board was up in arms about it. The ‘investigation’ went on for almost a week. It turns out you never really know who your friends are until you’re being investigated. Not a single person there said a word in my defense. I was on my own. Apparently this last year over-rules all the progress and triumphs I had during the first two years.
I personally think that the teachers just didn’t like me. I know for a fact that Professor Whitt has held a grudge against me ever since he lost all his hair. I didn’t realize that that bottle was his shampoo, but he never believed me. That, coupled with a few other things, made him far less than pleased with me. But those other things weren’t really my fault. After all, who knew that that TNT was so touchy? And I did have a ‘Do not enter’ sign outside my room when the perfume went wrong. If they had minded that sign, then the dorms would not have smelled like rotten eggs. I really was sorry about turning the water purple. It was devilishly inconvenient not being able to bath until the teachers got that spell sorted out. And those few unfortunates who happened to be in the shower when that all went down and were stained purple a full two weeks-well. I did try to make it up to them.
Do you suppose that I might be one of those few people that actually need a wand? I brought this up with the Board, but they insist that if I never needed one before, I shouldn’t need one now. I wish I could find a way to get a wand and at least try my theory. If only they weren’t so heavily guarded by the Government.
I must say, this has been a very trying few weeks for me. My mood, though not as low as depressed, is still rather melancholy. I am in a fix and I don’t know how to get myself out of it.
On the brighter side, it is autumn and delightfully wet most days. Coats and scarves do much to lighten the load of life.
And my flat is cozy- Extremely small and fifteen stories up- (There is no lift so I do keep fit. Fifteen flights of stairs are quite a lot.) but cozy. It has the nicest little fireplace and it’s been so long since I’ve been able to play with fire! The wallpaper is a rather overwhelming brown plaid, but I’ve moved in all my books—Dad bought me a set of bookshelves just to show that he wasn’t angry with me. He’s a dear.—and what with the bookshelves, some art and some lovely red drapery, I’ve created a wonderful atmosphere. I was also allowed to take my desk from Uni. Apparently after I did that lock charm after my first year when Ronnie Morse kept trying to steal my work, it won’t open for anyone else and taking off the charm would cause the desk to collapse. I did that charm back in the day when my Powers where still well behaved.
I hope you aren’t too disappointed in my, Joan. I am at a bit of a loss at this point and intend to take a few weeks to settle in to my new life a little before I try to sort out…well, my life! It is such a bother!
You must write me back soon. I need all the cheering up I can get and I am dying of curiosity to know how yourplacement went. You have always been quite an overachiever and I know you probably took the hardest test. And Aced it, no doubt.
Take care of yourself, my dear. Though I really don’t have to worry too much about that, do I?
1.) I love little kids. They are the most amazing small things. I want lots if I ever get married.
2.) I'm not sure what kind of a niche I fit into as a blogger. My posts tend to be random and odd. (Which, judging from the title, I guess is to be expected...) I don't really get into the deep, well thought out posts--I enjoy reading them, but personally have the hardest time writing them. The closest I get is the one I did back in October.
But I don't do the well written kind either. I don't do 2000 word, pictureless novels every post. (because those take forever and honestly... I don't have time to write or read another essay-ish thing when my schoolwork has me doing that all day anyway.)
I post pictures of my drawings. Which, when I think about it, actually seems a bit presumptuous, like, "Here is my art! Love it!"
I don't keep to a strict schedule. I post whenever I feel like it, and if I'm in a rut.... sorry. I've tried posting in the ruts, and let's be honest, those posts tend to be a bit rubbish. :)
So it always surprises me when I get a new follower, and I just wanted to let you know that it really does make my day when I know that someone is interested enough in my ramblings and weirdness to want to read more. So thanks loads to all of you guys. You're awesome. =)
3.) My Pinterest addiction might be getting a wee bit out of hand. *blushes* I believe I shall give it up for Lent.
And OKAY! I just wasted several minutes on pinterest finding those.... see what I mean? Addiction.
4.) All the girl's names in my family end in A. Teresa, Maria, Katrina, Amanda, Isabella.... et cetera. There are ten girls. That's a lot of A's. This is the family picture for this year.... but it's missing two sisters. They're married. :)
5.) I cried over almost every Redwall book. I know it's corny, crying over animals like hares and mice and squirrels. But they were warrior hares, mice, and squirrels, and when they die, it sort of breaks your heart. (or at least it did for me.... Brian Jacques wrote them well and they're awesome books.)
The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series is also good, and a for a little older than Redwall. I miss Brian Jacques.
6.) This song is awesome and I love it.
And there you go. Another random, nonsensical post.
It's been a while because I still get so very, very nervous about posting my own work. (I know I shouldn't compare mine to other people's, but I can't help it, I do. And it's not generally a comparison in my favor. *smirk*)
This week's prompt is: Trust.
Word count: 118
“Rose,” Chris closed the back door and sat down beside her on the steps. “I talked to your dad like you asked. He said it wasn't his story to tell, and if I wanted to hear it, I’d need to have you explain." he hesitated, "Can't you tell me what happened?”
He waited for her to say something but she seemed to be looking at something far away in her memories. Finally he laid his hand over hers and whispered, “Trust me.”
It seemed that Rose suddenly let her walls down. He could almost see her taking them apart, brick by brick. When she was done, she sagged a little and sighed. “It’s my own fault.”
And there we go!
As an aside, I'm sort of in love with this song. It makes me ache inside a little bit. :)
It's been a while since I've done one of these hasn't it?
To be honest, I haven't been drawing much. Sometimes I try to draw and the pictures all turn out badly and disproportionate. Upon which I look with despair at the artwork in front of me and think, "I should give up. This is pointless. I'm not an illustrator. I'm not an artist."
But that's stupid of me. Sure, I'm not as good as other people, and sure, sometimes my drawings are pretty awful. But I love it and I'm going to keep going with it, even if I never become anything more than a blogger who posts pictures. :)
Captain Haddock says it brilliantly, I think. :)
So here. A doodle page I did when I was staying with my sister.
Now, here's the thing. ^ She was not supposed to turn out as River Song! I just wanted to do a sassy gunslinger. *cough* But I've been sort of over dosing on Doctor Who lately. And she just went from sassy, to curly haired, to a jean jacket and then I was like, "Heck. I'll just draw River."
Hehehehehehehehe! Too much DW? Prolly.
But I drew that without the use of a reference picture.
3.) When I was little there was a massive cardboard/poster/thing at the grocery store. I was dead certain that it was the devil. It terrified me to the point where I didn't go to the store until it was gone.
4.) Amy and Rory Pond are my favorite companions.
5.) I am going to SOOOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB when they have to go.
