Mad Dogs and Englishmen

So, I finally have a job. It's only one day per week, but at £60 a day it's not bad. Plus, the people there are great (bye bye stupid ignorant yobs, hello intelligent open minded goth girl). It's easy work, and much easier on the concience than data collecting. It's outside, but hey, at least I'll get a nice tan.

And what is this mysterious job?

Basically, I stand on the pavement and blow bubbles.

I am not joking.

No, I'm not working as special effects provider to 'The Prisoner', this is actually the entirety of my work.

It's on a stall in Camden Lock (one of my favourite places in London, so another plus), that sells bubble toys. Bubble guns, bubble swords (the kind that open and make huge bubbles), the lot. I demonstrate the merchandise.

All things considered, it could be far worse, but my feet are in agony from standing around all day. Plus, we had to stay behind an extra hour to pack up. Oh well.

At least my co-worker Anne is nice, we were talking earlier.

Me: So, do you do much reading? *thinks- probably not*
Anne: Oh yes, every day.
Me: Really? Me too. What do you like reading? *thinks- Either she's exaggerating, or what she reads is mainstream rubbish*
Anne: I really like Edgar Allen Poe.
Me: Wow, so do I! He's great! *scraps entire first impression and cements Anne's place on 'My friend' list)

After a nice talk about gay rights and rascism, all the time Anne showing herself to be completely open minded and possessed of a fun sense of humor, and I'm very, very happy. How wonderful to meet someone intelligent! She's more than ten years younger than most of my co-workers in telemarketing (she's 17) and possessed of more brains and sense than all of them put together.

All in all, quite a satisfactory day.

Razors pain you
Rivers are damp
Acid stains you
And drugs cause cramp.

Guns aren't lawful
Nooses give
Gas smells awful
You might as well live.

by Dorothy Parker

Been there, done that, burnt the bloody tee-shirt.

A low down on my life lately:

Still no job, which sucks bloody monkey balls, I can tell you.

Met Christopher Lee last week, and made an arse of myself asking for his autograph (he was not pleased). Unreal seeing the guy in real life.

Watched 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Braveheart' back to back yesterday, and came home at 4am. Fun.

Was given a fantastic Raistlin/Dalamar story by shadowvalkyrie yesterday, which is the first fanfiction I have yet seen set in my universe. If anyone else wants to do the same, feel free.

Met a very cool person called Flo on the way home today, and am think of taking up professional wrestling (note, Skull Bearer is actually serious).

And am reading a book called 'Confessions of a Flesh Eater', which I borrowed from waset, it's by David Madsen and I love it to death!

My prayers have been answered, it's raining at last. It's just started. I've been up all night writing chapter 11, even I finally heard the blessed sound of rain. Then I thought "Shit! The washing!"

So I clambered out on the balcony, at 4am, in my underwear, in a thunderstorm, to bring in the washing. Then I stood out a bit and thanked whatever Gods of Rain decided to bless us with this much-needed downpour.

Thank you, whoever you are.

Yesterday was the opera premier of Turandot, Olga and I went to an outdoor live screening. It was really good and I'm now writing an original story loosely based on the opera. Think a more sane version of Turandot with dark wizards in it (no, not Raistlin and Dalamar! I said original, anyway, it's het).

After that, we went to see another premier, Pirates of the Caribbean. No spoilers her but OMG OMG!!!! It was so brilliant! And the last scene! Kicked me straight out on my cinema seat!


Quick meme:

1. Have you ever had an addiction?

Does slash count? I tend to make my own addictions, for example I get cranky if I don't have several hours to daydream in.

2. Are you afraid of the dark?

I read Lovecraft, of course I'm afraid of the dark!

3. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Cookies and cream :D .

4. Have you ever been to the circus?

A few times, when i was younger I went to one that still have tigers and elephants.

5. What do you think of North Korea testing nuclear weapons?

I hate nuclear weapons, but as the west has several tons of the bloody things, I don't think we're in any position to judge.

Finished another assingment. An alien crash-lands in Aztec Mexico, sounds like fun. It was my friend Olga's idea, and we thought we'd collaberate on it.

I like the Aztecs, I think that people who looked forward to death as something to be enjoyed have the right idea.  This explains it better than I could.

I'm noting this here in order not to forget it.

For the last... well, since I decided that Enigma would not be the only fic I wrote, I've been worried about the whole Tarsis thing. I mean, The companions go to Tarsis because they think it's still a port town, but Dalamar's lived in Tarsis, so he'll know very well the sea's gone (come on, he lived in one of the old wreaks!).

At first I thought I'd just have them go through Tarsis in order to get to one of the port towns further south, it was a decent plan, if a bit Deux ex machina. But I've just had a better idea.

Let's say the others are planning to got to Tarsis for the same reasons as in canon, but Dalamar doesn't tell them that the sea's gone. Why? Perhaps Dalamar and Raistlin have reasons to go there. Such as the library. It would be a good way to increase group tension.

There are a few flaws with this plan, firstly, Dalamar hates Tarsis, and secondly the companions have talked to someone from Tarsis before (the merchant that revealed Dalamar's secret in Ice and Steel). Still, it's food for thought.

 

Skull Bearer

...I hate it when real life interferes, what with all the shit going down I can't concerntrate on Ivory and Ebony. The parental units blathering on about 'pulling my weight'. Must get a job, it'll shut them up and then I might be able to get back to scribbling.

I've still got a few ideas scrawled in my notebook, and this Tramd o' the Dark idea is still hovering around. Not sure what to do with it, set it during the Five Years, that's for sure. The great thing with Tramd is that while Raistlin and Dalamar will eventually mash him, he can come back again. Then have Dalamar kill him good after Legends, as per canon. Throws a little angst in here and there to keep things interesting.

Be happening near Silvanesti, perhaps while Phair Caron is gathering her army? Must not throw any dragons in yet, maybe have a few hints like in 'Brothers in Arms', but the Dragon Highlords aren't going to show their hand to our two mages just yet (it's a bit too late anyway, they're already suspicious).

Unsure how far to take this, at first I thought of having them run into a few of Dalamar's old aquanitances, Eflid was one, but then there's no point, and it'll diminish the impact of when they have to return to Silvanesti in Winter Night. Having the mages come across the army on it's way to Silvanesti might be a better idea. That way it'll give them both some perspective about the coming war, ie, think big. A possibility for slight angst there, after all, Silvanesti was once Dalamar's home and while he might be coming to terms with Tarsis, it's arguable whether he'll ever come to terms with his exile. It doesn't strike me as something anyone can truely get over.

A few points still to pick out, how they run into Tramd o' the Dark, and why he attacks them, or perhaps they attack him... *lightbulb clicks on over head* Bingo!

One on my ideas in my notebook was that Dalamar wanted to find something to heal Raistlin, this is a bit awkward for the human mage, because he knows very well that nothing can help him, but can't really explain this to Dalamar without telling him about Fistandantilus, something he absolutly refuses to even consider. Perhaps they hear rumors of the Tramd o' the Dark, a mage who suffered even more than Raistlin in the Test and who is constantly searching for some way to heal himself. Maybe Dalamar decides to meet this mage and convince him, one way or another, to share that knowlege in the hope that he might know something that would help Raistlin.

Entirely pointless as Raistlin knows but can't quite convince Dalamar.

Then... well, something happens for the situation to turn nasty, perhaps Raistlin and Dalamar find out something they're not supposed to, or Tramd lets slip where they're planning to attack, or both. ;)

Big fight, not sure how they best Tramd, maybe slip in a little to show that the spell in Engraven is more powerful than the previously thought? Must play down or it'll become obvious and the whole 'Summer Flame' twist will be spoilt. Perhaps throw in some hints that the power gap's starting to show?

Anyway Tramd, or rather his avatar, dies. A bit of a set back for our shape-shifting dwarf there. Sweet Nuitari it seems that everyone's stealing bodies nowadays! First Fistandantilus, and now him! Not too pleased with Raistlin and Dalamar, and adding insult to injury when they win the war. And when Tramd finally sees Dalamar again, it's all he can not to rip the Dark elf's throat out with his teeth.

Then take Dalamar's little adventure, throw in an alternate past, mix with plenty of angst, then serve.

At some point I have to get our two mages to run into lord Eflid at some point. I hate that pompous lunatic. Post Legends would be ideal.

Hats off to Nancy Varian Berberick, you wrote a great book, now requisition a new name, this one is bollocks to type.

It's wild to think that 'Dalamar the Dark' was the first Dragonalnce novel I read, then I moved onto fanfiction! Cue one baffled Skull Bearer. It was only after I was terminally addicted to Raistlin/Dalamar that I read Chronicles and the others, with might possibly explain a lot...

Although it didn't skew my opinions that much, Raistlin immediatly displaced Dalamar as my favourite character (Dalamar still takes second place).

 

All right, once again, this livejournal's great for bazooka-ing writer's block, that and System of a Down.

 

Skull Bearer.

Finally decided what to write to fit between Raistlin's Daughter and my still-unnamed version of Chronicles. If I tried to write down everyhting that happened to Raistlin and Dalamar in the five years they were wandering aroun the arse end of Ansalon I'd have a document longer than the ex-European Constitution, so I'm going to write snapshots of the five years; the fic I posted last will make a good starting point.

Now, bunnies... *whistles*.... Here bunny bunny bunny....

Not that there's much hurry really, since I still have to recieve and post the last few chapters of Engraven and send off Raistlin's Daughter to be beta read (I know Miqeal read it through, but two opinions are better than one), not to mention that some bunnies are bound to bite while I'm in France, I even bought a little notebook to welcome them in. On idea is to write my own version of 'Raistlin and the Knight of Somnalia (damn, I hate spelling that. Blah! Stupid place, the knights deserve it, I curse you with a typo!)', it's an idea, albeit one that needs a bit of developing. One things for sure, they're not heading off to Langtree.

And as for Hope's End... The Mad Baron kept the army from flattening it, Immolatus got killed by Kit, and the Gold Dragon eggs have been dragged off to hatch lots and lots of baby Draconians...aww....

As for my Ivory and Ebony bunny, it's sulking. It still wants to head off to Chronicles but it can't refute my argument that to skip five years is a massive gap (hint hint Wiess and Hickman). So, it's sulking.

I just need a decent name for this installment, and if anyone is reading this (this means you Chetwynd) I would be very happy for ideas. 'Five years, the abridged version' just hasn't got the right ring to it.

Of well, again, I'll have plenty of time while in France. At least my Dad doesn't give a damn about slash, you gotta love open minded parents.

 

Skull Bearer.

Whoa, when the bunnies bite, do they bite! I actually finished Engraven then and there! Now the chappies are off to Dalamar Nightson to get beta-read and my plot bunny will be happy because I can finally move onto Chronicles! It's all good!

Not a bad bunch of chapters, if I say so myself, hard work of course, but each one flowed into the other so it was like I was writing one long chapter rather than a bunch of little ones.

I especially liked the part where Raistlin rants at Dalamar to stop trying to protect him. A damn good few lines and one of those bits I'm going to carry with me as an example of my best work, with bits like "Do you feel Brave now, Ice and Steel chapter Death and Disaster, and the soon to be posted 'Raistlin's Daughter'.

In fact, I've actually put in a little lead on into the last chapter of Engraven, linking it to 'Raistlin's Daughter', although only mysefl and Chetwynd will be able to see it as such until I post the fic up.

I'll post the chapter up as soon as they've been beta-ed, no point subjecting people to my dreadful grammar.

 

Skull Bearer.

I hate writer's block, and I've just hit a huge boulder's worth of it for Engraven. The bunny wants to move on to Chronicles already. "Enough muddling around!" It's shouting (betwixs gnawing on my left leg), "Drop Engraven, put up 'Raistlin's daughter and let's get on with the ACTION!"

As much as I agree, I'm ready to tackle Chronicles, I want to finish Engraven. The problem is I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm not sure whether to make this a purely action-base story where Raistlin and Dalamar discover the spell and fry goblins, or whether to play up Dalamar's reaction to Raistlin's Test.

I was planning the second to begin with, but now I think I'll regelate that to subtext and work on the adventure aspects. Our two mages will be tackling Draconians and all sorts of comers in a few years, they'd better get some practice!

 

I'm still toying with the spell, it's either going to be a ray-type or a cone. Maybe it's flexible and you can use it either as a powerful blast of energy or as a weaker (but larger) spread. Yeah, that sounds cool.

Note: it's pure magic, so elemental res. doesn't count. Since Dragonalnce is a D&D style setting, I'd be better off writing it as a Player's Handbook spell.

And a name, my minds stuck on 'Chronal Blast', but Chronal doesn't fit since the spell has nothing to do with time. _____ Blast then. Actually, since Raistlin and Dalamar have no idea what it's called and what it really does, maybe, they'll call it Chronal Blast? That might work.

Got the history down though, it's one of the primal spells of Krynn, "Destruction". The Gods hid it away to keep it from prying mortal hands setting up all kinds of wards and things to keep people out. Only after first the Cataclysm and then the more localised explosion of Zhaman, the wards have become pretty damaged, but now the Gods are waiting for mortals to find them again (all except Takhisis, and she's been too busy), they haven't had the chance to renew the wards. So the doors are hanging open, so to speak, and they've just let in the worst possible pair of treasure hunters!

 The tablet the spell is scribed on (all Epic spells are on tablets, they wouldn't be 'Epic' otherwise ;) ) has also been pretty cracked, but is unfortuanantly still legible, the power of the spell had kept the incantation is one piece, but the description is pretty wreaked. Raistlin and Dalamar work out that it's some sort of damaging spell, but the power of it escapes them.

Still unsure how to fit in the Legends bit, maybe Raistlin hikes down there one day and learns a bit more about the spell, of course, the wards wouldn't have faded so much, but Raistlin's more than powerful enough to blast his way through. That would be brilliant! I could describe the damage in Engraven, and in my version of Legends I could write about how they got to that state! Gotta love the river of time!

 

Okay, enough spolier stuff here, the block had effecively been demolished, bring it on Bunny!

 

Skull Bearer.