Gwaihir

Happy Birthday

Meanwhile, while the showy man in red was entering, a small man in black was also turning up the driveway. His neck was drawn in so that his head was almost on top of his shoulders and his back slumped, but his eyes looked alert enough as he turned this way and that looking at everything. This place looked very large and he feared that far too many people would come for him to ever feel comfortable. Never mind that even if only one other person had come he would still have felt alarmed at the crowd. His ears caught the sound of the Barclay the loud entering and the small shy man almost jumped. Quickly, he walked around to the back door. His eyes were big and scared, but he seemed to feel that he had to enter, so he opened the door. His attire was made up of hemmed black dress pants and a grey shirt with a rather shabby black hat and as soon as the shy fellow was inside he ducked into a corner, clearly trying hide. It was unlucky for him that a friendly woman came up to him "So, hello, and what is your name?" With a loud high pitched squeak he fled under the table, but Eeek was a good enough name for him anyway.

the best sign of metaphorical impending doom

Mafia's good. I'm in

It surprised no one that Gwaihir was too spacey to remember anything that happened around him so it was fortunate when he was handed a note that informed him of what had gone on inside. Standing in the edge of the spotlight, Gwaihir was in the center of the semi-circle, acting as the Vice-Loremaster in Ozymandias' absence. To either side of him, the Elders quietly murmured among themselves as they waited. The membership were mostly quietly talking to one another, with the exception of Lady Celes Crusader, who bounced up and down impatiently. A growing wail with muffled words was heard approaching the chamber, and the door finally burst open, with Guido and Nuncio carrying Ayshela between them, her feet several inches above the ground and a blur of running motion reminiscent of the Road Runner of Looney Tune fame. Behind her, Elrohir limped with the wry expression of an Elf sent to get a Quill Bearer and encountering an accidental reflexive knee to the groin. In full voice like a streaming steam whistle, Ayshela could now be heard. "Nononononononononooooo! I-don't-wanna-be-promoted-in-fronta-everybody-a-nice-little-corner-and-I'll-be-fine-and-it's-really-no-bother- and-I'm-sorry-I-didn't-mean-to-be-a-member-its-okay-I'll-just-be-going-home-now-I'm-sorry-I-kneed-you-could-you-put-me-down-now-really-I-won't-run-nonononono!" The sound cut off with a knife-edge suddeness that made the resulting silence echo loudly as she realized there were all those eyes looking at her. Her legs slowly ran down and stopped. After a moment of sheer terror on her face, a blinding smile which clearly said, "Don't hurt me!" spread across her face. Just then, Peredhil walked in (and a wary distance from those knees!) "Hello everyone. May I present the newest Troubador of the Pen?" Lady Celes cheered, and was quickly hushed. Gwaihir and the Elders still looked nonplussed as the Pigs lowered her to the floor. Peredhil gently took Ayshela's limp hand and led her forward. Holding out his Ancient hand, he reminded them with his eyes. Tearing their gaze from Ayshela, they Voted - and Ayshela's Member Quill formed in his hand. He turned and kissed her forehead and quietly murmured, "Really, this isn't how things are normally done, but from my hand to yours, from this, My Pen to you, my love and your Membership. I wish I could say I was giving your membership to you, but it would be a lie - you so very clearly earned it." And the cheering began as everyone lined up to congratulate, hug, and welcome the newest Member, who stood with teary smile thanking them - and squeezing Peredhil's hand in a grip of steel. He returned it securely, not going anywhere as she got her well deserved moment of glory...

"Ayshela!" Gwai calls in a loud voice that tries to sound official. "Hereby, by the powers vested in me I declare to you, to all of The Pen is Mightier than the Sword and to sundry, that because of your constant writing effort, because of your cheerful helping and critiquing and because of your incredible Quill Quest that is so much enjoyed that it continues on to this day, I do order that from this time onward all should no longer know you as a Quill Bearer, but as a full Troubador." OOC: Congratulations!

the same questions of guilt that others mention would bother me too, but if I were not to feel guilty then I think I would acquire enough of a fortune to make all my nearest and dearest as rich as they want.

I can (and would like to) do a little show piece, but I don't think we'll just have to ignore the fact that Gwai is busy doing other things at the same time that he's doing a poem thing.

Lol, what an awesome piece. Cynicism humour and a lot of truth all in one smooth reading poem.

Gwai chewed his finger as he watched the girl walking towards the wall. He wondered if she knew how beautiful she was. She wasn't snotty either, she was pretty in way that suggested she felt uncomfortable. He admired her from afar, as he always did...But then it occured to him--this was a ball, maybe this was a chance to at least ask her to dance. He chewed on his finger a moment more before he walked up to her. It didn't even occur to him that he couldn't dance at all or that it was a bit strange to approach a person from the back, he just did it; that was Gwaihir. Oh no! She was walking away! He hurried up and stumbled after her, tripping on Celes and he ran at the girl who was walking towards the door. She turned around and saw him "“Hello, I don’t believe we have formerly met. I am Zariah, Lady of the Crows.” Gwaihir blushed deeply "Umm no, I mean I'm ....I'm Wig...I'm Gwaihir of something....I'm not sure what. But! Oh, this isn't going how I meant for it to. It wasn't going quite the way Zariah might have wanted it to either. She was quite unsure enough of herself as it was without this blundering elf to make her more uncomfortable. She wasn't sure whether to run away or burst out laughing and as she tried to do neither the effort made her more uncomfortable yet. Gwaihir started speaking, I mean umm, you're beautiful and I'd love to dance with you. May I? Dancing had begun to sound easier than this conversation and at least this rather strange elf (or were all elves like this?) was polite. Zariah nodded and allowed Gwaihir to lead her to the middle of the room. She was certainly the less clumsy of the two, but she was the only one who worried about it or even noticed that they managed to step on two seperate pairs just as they made their way to the dance floor. Gwaihir looked into her eyes and at first he was inspired as he very rarely was. Apparently he had been trained in dancing at some point and he spun her around the room with a ease and smoothness that no one would have ever ever expected from him. Zariah had been rather scared of this dance, but the strangely dressed elf seemed to be far exceeding all her imaginings. He was even making her feel graceful. Such luck could not go on long. And sure enough it didn't. As they waltzed past the refreshment table, Gwaihir spread his arm in a big gesture...and knocked the cake off the table. He didn't even notice and smoothly pushed Zariah right into it. Just in time she saw what he was guiding her into and stopped rather step into it. Gwaihir did not notice and stepped ahead, right onto her her dress. She fell backwards and Gwaihir tried to save her, but he only made it worse. The two of them went sliding across the floor with Zariah on her back sliding in the cake and Gwaihir, still holding onto Zariah stumbled next to her for a moment before he fell on top of her and added more momentum to the slide. As he helped her up, even the elf knew enough to be incredibly embarassed. He looked into her eyes and said earnestly "I am SOOO sorry!" Gwaihir didn't even notice the ruined cake on the floor, he saw this girl who was probably totally furious at him and he wanted to help.

I got some entries Btw, even a small comment in the WW will often make people feel helped, and then we can try to grow from there. Everyone should try it once or so--it's fun .

Well, I was going to post every entry here, but there were complications and some got shy and didn't want to be posted, etcera etcera, so I think I'll just post the answers of the one best entry here. The summaries are not included, because the author requested that they not be. PROMPTS 1. X A poem about the dangers of extinction 2. X A piece about the little people and the big people 3. X A story about being trapped 4. X A poem about the lowering of a zipper 5. X A poem spoken by a miner 6. X A piece about inner beauty and the way it clashes with human greed 7. X A piece about the nearly lost 8. X A poem about being a shadow 9. X An un-commented on piece which includes a growing blooming light 10. X A metaphor between urban pollution and inner confusion 11. X An interesting halted story about elves ANSWERS 1. “No Title” by Mira 2. “Adam’s Angel” by Ayshela 3. “Kinda like a Twilight Zone episode” by Kasmandre 4. “New Boots” by Salinye 5. “preliminary and untitled” by Cyril Darkcloud 6. “Crystal Grove” by Psimon 7. “Nearly Lost” by Rahsash Geldich 8. “Who’s that Girl” by Elvida 9. “Trader” by Psimon 10. “Morality” by Salinye 11. “…been…so…long” by Valdar and Astralis And so congratulations to.... Merelas! You deeply deserve it. It's very clear how much effort you put into this and you did a good job. I feel proud to award you Chrissiania's Jewel. (For a description of it, read Annael's Quill Quest post

I can't think of any excuse for making such a very stupid post that was that incorrect, so I won't try. Sorry!

First Contact with the Wiggly Cabbages "Few people have even noticed the Wiggly Cabbages, since they live in out of the way places and tend to hide themselves in protection spells, but to date a few people have now spoken with them. However, it is certain that the first one was a rather strange elf named Gwaihir. Given here is one of the most common tales about that first meeting. Gwaihir was somewhat frustrated that day as he walked into the woods, because yet another lady had yelled at him for his manners, well and for bumping into her. But it's not as if he didn't pick up her packages for her after she dropped them and even tried to clean the spilt milk off her dress. He hadn't even torn her dress when he tried to clean it...like last time, so why did she yank it away from him and call him a wretched pervert and an idiot? But the woods were beautiful and there nothing ever went wrong for him. He could safely admire the flowers without worries, because the trees always warned him before he could crash into them. It was hard to talk to flowers; they were always a bit too flighty to hold one idea throughout a sentence, but they were very poetic, so he always tried. There was a new flower off to the south they told him, so he wandered that way. It wasn't his usual area, but new friends are always good. Then he heard something very odd. It seemed rather like a plant version of a...of a radio station! Now, since the Wiggly Cabbages didn't know Gwaihir they certainly woudln't have dropped their protection spells for him, so it's rather a mystery how he ever got through. The favourite explanation though, is that Gwaihir managed to waltz through the spells, because he just didn't notice them. He was so oblivious, in fact, that they had no effect! Regardless, we may be sure that Gwaihir did get through and once he saw the beautiful Wiggly Cabbages he was spellbound. Once he had found them, it was easy for the plant loving elf to get a young one to speak to him. Young Wiggly Cabbages are always happy to find a new friend.

Annael! I hereby strip you of your quill bearer rank and make you a Troubador. Congratulations! It was well earned and I enjoyed reading your Quest [apologies for the typo, thanks to Regel and Salinye for pointing it out]

She just called you a potential member, in other words she hopes you become one. Hello, I'm Gwai, I tend to bumble around here. Welcome!

*Gwaihir tries to tiptoe lightly as he comes in to listen* This is interesting

That was an awesome story . Btw, Pered, this wasn't the contest, this was a quill quest to pick and describe an item from the elder treasurebox that would then be awarded to the winner of the contest, which btw, isn't a quiz . Creativity will be rewarded.

Usually when a person enters a room with many loud noises others assume that they are trying to make their entrance noticed. Those who knew him did not assume this with Gwaihir. As he entered the room a score of lights made tinkling smashign noises--as he crashed into them. *rip* one of the llight cords fell down as an elf got stuck in it. *crash* a fine china bowl that had been decorating the mantle fell down *gulp, click click click* Ayshela hurried to rescue Gwaihir, before he made any more attempts to extricate himself. "I'm so sorry" his face looked so worried that the stressed hostess had no choice but to forgive the space cadet. As he bumbled in, Gwaihir was quite the sight in such a formal room. It was clear that he had attempted to be dressed up--He was wearing a suit jacket and what had probably been slacks, but there the resemblance to propriety ended. The suit jacket was covered in so many paints stains of all colours that it was clear someone had used it as a painting frock for a while and the slacks were snipped so that one leg was cut off at the knee. One lady gave Gwaihir quite a horrified look. He grinned sheepishly--I was going to cut these off for shorts, but then I remembered that I didn't have any other nice pants to wear to this. She didn't look very molllified, but it's not as if he noticed. Gwaihir just wandered on, noting "This is great!"

nice one, this is fun

You Annael have requested that a Quill Quest be given to thee, so hereby I ...ok I'll quit speaking like that now. Annael, your quill quest is to go the large and mysterious Elder Treasurebox and pull out an item. Describe it in detail, tell us about its properties, get creative and when you're done it will be awarded to the winner of the above Contest.

Awesome! congrats

*thump* long after everyone else had already passed by and written their name on the sheet one last person found it. 'What? I must have missed this!' Gwaihir realized. 'Well, I do remember it. I guess I just forgot to sign up...' He sighs and re-rumples his hair with a chuckle. 'Oh well, I may as well do it now, I guess.' Anyone who was watching might wonder if it was possible for even a seeress to read the handwriting of that hand

The challenge part one: Below is a list of references to different pieces in the writer’s workshop. It’s an interesting place and it’s always fun to watch awesome pieces develop there. See how many of the below pieces you can find and PM me your findings when you’re done. I’ll post them all at the end of the contest, because this is also an exercise in creativity. You don’t have to find the poem I was thinking of. In fact, I encourage you to find a piece that isn’t the one I was thinking of, and just make it fit. I warn you, these will not all be on the first page, so you may want to go down to the bottom and change the “from” pulldown to the ‘from the beginning’, because I did when I made these up. The due date is in two weeks from today, which is the October 26th. Note that I’m am not sure how easy or hard these will be, so if multiple people find a reference for every poem before the due date I’ll post more. I apologize before hand if I seem to be giving a bad summary of anyone’s piece. I might have been thinking of a different piece than yours or I might really have just messed up. Either way, if I displease any authors I apologize. A poem about the dangers of extinction A piece about the little people and the big people A story about being trapped A poem about the lowering of a zipper A poem spoken by a miner A piece about inner beauty and the way it clashes with human greed A piece about the nearly lost A poem about being a shadow An un-commented on piece which includes a growing blooming light A metaphor between urban pollution and inner confusion An interesting halted story about elves The Challenge part two Pick any piece in the writer’s workshop and put some attention into it. Do some analysis and post at least one suggestion for the author. I’m not going to compare analyses when I’m deciding winners, but you must do one of these to qualify. The Prize This is all just for fun, but there is a prize. I will award a unique item from the Elder Treasurebox, found in the highest reaches of the tower, and give it, with some description to the person who finds the highest number of the above references. After that the role-playing is up to you. Use your item, role-play with it. Have some fun!; [edited to fix dates, thank you James]

I would not have thought one could write a serious beautiful somewhat sad poem to all those people who vanish whether slowly or quickly. I'm glad I was wrong.