Wyvern

Wyvern strides into the Cabaret Room and winks towards Canid, grinning as he adds three more live rabbits to Peredhil's "healthy rabbit cake" cause. Placing 17 carrot candles on top of the living concoction, the overgrown lizard warns Canid that she'll have to blow them out before the bunnies have a chance to devour them... The greedy lizard then whips out a card on which "Happy Birthday" has been written in big, fuzzy letters and happily hands it to the birthday wolf, noting that tickets to the next showing of "Night of the Lupus" are inside... Happy Birthday Canid! :-)

Wyvern enters the Cabaret Room and carefully places his "Happy Birthday" on top of the ever-expanding pile of kind wishes. Taking out a small giftwrapped object, Wyvern offers Falcon2K1 the Almost Dragonic Brand Reply Raven Bird Call Whistle™ he holds and demonstrates it's uses by blowing on it, only to accidently attract several ostriches and flamingos...

Wyvern finally arrives at the corridor leading to the Pen's official Sheep Samurai Dojo, panting and gasping for breath as Racouol comes rolling to a gentle stop beside him. After yawning for a bit, the Bearer of Deep Pockets suddenly realizes that he's stopped moving, and takes the opportunity to whip out a frying pan with his free hand while glaring at Wyvern menacingly. Noticing Racouol's rage, Wyvern gulps and quickly tries to run away, only to be pulled back by Racouol who uses the handcuff chains to his advantage and reels the overgrown lizard towards him. Pointing the frying pan directly at the reptilian Elder's face, Racouol growls: "Wyvern... I didn't sign the damn contract! Now get me out of these handcuffs before I have to turn your face into an Almost Dragonic omlette..." "W-w-wait!" responds Wyvern quickly "They'll hear you! Sh-sh-shhhh..." "Who...? The sheep? Oh, I'm certain they'd mean us no harm..." Wyvern whistles innocently for a moment, then frowns and points to a sign directly above him that reads: Absolutely No Wyverns Beyond This Point. As punishment for the unhonorable act of illegaly selling previously owned samurai sheep products, Wyvern will be severely hooved should he be caught in the area. Racouol sighs and shakes his head as he reads the sign, then suddenly brightens up and exclaims: "So what! That doesn't apply to me... in fact, it should teach you never to handcuff me again!" Wyvern continues frowning and points to another smaller sign hooked on the wall directly above Racouol's head, which reads: Wyverns companions will also be properly punished... Should the ally be a Lord of Nightmares, he will be hooved. Should the ally be a Father of Darkness, he will be severely hooved. Should the ally be a Golden Lord, he will be put to the test by being asked to sing several sheep baaaaallads... Should he not sing well, he will be sentenced to 10 years of continual hooving and will have to give sheep baths for the rest of his life. Should the ally be Racouol... ... ... don't even go there... "Crap..." growls Racouol before suddenly jumping along with Wyvern as the doors to the dojo slowly creak open. Wyvern frantically looks for a place to hide and rapidly decides to jump into Racouol's left pocket, causing the Lord of Nightmares' left hand to sink into the pocket along with him. Racouol stutters for a moment and forces a calm grin as two sheep stroll from out of the double doors, both of them dressed in their combat wool and weilding "Anti-Wyvern Kendo Training Swords." After baaaing to each other for a few minutes, the sheep begin wandering towards the jittery Lord of Nightmares, and come to a halt directly in front of him. They then simulteously baaa as one points a hoof towards Racouol's pants while the other holds up a search warrant...

A nice character background, Lord of the Gay, though it's marred by grammatical errors and a few abrupt changes of pace... While I know you're not a big fan of grammar, there are certain moments in the story where the grammatical errors render the plotline somewhat confusing to the reader. A good example of this would be near the beginning of the story, where it is noted that " On that fateful day Talen stood beside Nicolaus Faile was wedded to Margaery Cormyere in the same courtyard where they first met." This sentence left me confused about who was married, and it wasn't until later in the story that I realized it was Nicolaus. I would highly recommend going back through the story and editting for grammar. There were also a few moments in the story where I felt that the dramatic shifts in plot were somewhat abrupt, a good example of this being when it switches from Colbey's advice to three years later in the bedchamber of Nicolaus. In that sense, I feel that if this story were expanded a bit it could be better. Never the less, it was an interesting and entertaining character background overall...

I'll add my compliments to those of Gwaihir and Salinye in praise of Blade Dance... I think that both the poem and the image connected to it are strikingly beautiful. As always, Yui, your elaborate uses of meter and form as well as your fluid imagery render the piece incredibly vivid. Though the entire poem is excellent, my favorite part was probably the third stanza... Once again, great poem Yui... you never cease to amaze me. Mad skillz yo! ;-)

Being a big fan of form, I really love the interesting structure of this piece. The form of the poem seems to compliment the imagery, giving life to the image of the single droplet by toning the words and lines down to their bare minimums. The seperation of the line "Soul of Life" is also effective, as in giving it it's own seperate stanza it seperates the thought and renders it more important. Nice poem Justin. :-)

I also thought that the image of the stained glass was a very effective one... The themes of illusion vs. reality and despair are both conveyed in an interesting and captivating manner. In addition, the poem flows well... Good work! :-)

I voted with the fourth option since I'm uncertain what a pencil/pen is... My guess would be that it's a new kind of pencil that you can transform into a pen, or perhaps a pen that carries liquid lead instead of ink and has an eraser... or maybe "pencil/pen" is an icon for a pencil banging a pen over the head with some spare wood shavings... ;-) Wyvern quickly notes that he should steal the blueprint to pencil/pens and fabricate his own Almost Dragonic variety (complete with faulty erasers and leaky liquid lead cartridges) before getting bashed over the head with several pieces of Cabaret Room furniture for his senseless humor...

"Calm down will ya, there was no harm done." cooes Wyvern as he tightly clutches the forged contract and attempts to remove Racouol's fingers from Murdock's scaly throat. "After all, according to the contract, there shouldn't be any harm for at least 3 and a half more minutes!" Racouol stops strangling Murdock momentarily in order to turn towards Wyvern, and growls: "Now wait a minute... you know very well that I didn't sign any contr-" "Where's the kitchen?! I'm starving here!" interrupts the now-breathing Murdock. "It's time to fufill your side of the bargain, Wyvern!" "Hold on sec..." mutters Racouol "... I didn't sign-" "And that I will, my dragonic friend!" interrupts Wyvern in a sinister tone. "The kitchen you're searching for is directly across the hall... in fact, you can see it from here!" Having said this, Wyvern points a scaly finger directly outside the room towards an adjacent chamber where numerous dishes are clearly being served. Racouol slaps his forehead and curses as Murdock ignores his mistake and chooses to obey his appetite, quickly dashing across the hall to get some grub. Wyvern cackles sinisterly and turns towards Racouol, eyeing the frying-pan wielding wonder evilly... "Just a minute..." exclaims Racouol. "I swear, I didn't si-" "Don't forget about the parts on the contract where you have to bear the inconvenience of having a zoo swarming around in your pockets..." interrupts Wyvern while laughing "...not to mention the responsibility of taking care of my taxes when we get back!" "T-t-taxes?! I didn't sign the frickin-" "Too late now!" hisses Wyvern, noticing that the 3 and a half minutes before harm are up. Quickly whipping out a pair of handcuffs, Wyvern rapidly attaches one cuff to his right wrist and the other to Racouol's left wrist. The Lord of Nightmares' jaw drops open as Wyvern quickly casts a "Summon Roller Skates" spell, which causes two very unfashionable looking skates to appear where Racouol's new pair of 1000$ shoes had once been. Wyvern lets out a signature evil laugh as he dashes out of the room, Racouol having no choice but to follow, rolling uncontrolably behind him... Passing by Vlad in his wild dash, Wyvern points towards Racouol rolling after him and exclaims: "I found a holding facility, now I'm gonna go and search for a few animals! You can come along if you'd like, though we might cover more ground if we searched for animals seperatly...! With that, Wyvern lets out another gale of evil laughter and sets off in the direction of Madoka's sleeping quarters, Racouol still rolling along behind him...

Wyvern continues dashing forward in the hopes of reaching O'Harpy's lair, thoroughly exhausting himself in the process... Suddenly, the overgrown lizard notices that he's not gaining any ground, and decides to pick up his pace... Pushing himself into a sprint and gritting his teeth in the process, the reptilian Elder's eyes widen as he notices that he still isn't moving an inch from his initial position. Collapsing to the ground from exhaustion and sobbing uncontrollably at the unfairness of the laws of nature and movement, the lizard suddenly notices that his lack of movement is due to Damon Inferel holding him by the tail, and sighs in relief... After listening to the succubus' speech, he responds: "Certainly... feel free to bring along as many pets as you'd like! In fact, the more the merrier! As I said before, though, it's currently the job of you and Vlad to procure said pets. I'm sort of searching for a holding space big enough for a small Pen zoo... Catch and bag the kitty, and you can feel free to paint it any color you want! If you can't, I'll help ya with it later..." Damon frowns slightly and nods, letting go of Wyvern's tail and turning towards Katzaniel sinisterly. Wyvern is about to use this opportunity to begin truly heading towards Scarlett O'Harpy's sleeping quarters when suddenly, another tantalizing holding option becomes available... "Hey Wyvern can you come here a moment?" calls the voice of Racouol from a nearby room. Instantly recognizing the voice of the legendary Bearer of Deep Pockets, Wyvern rubs his scaly claws together in anticipation and immediatly dashes towards the source of the sound. Entering into one of the Pen's many housing quarters, the overgrown lizard enthusiastically greets both Racouol and Murdock before gleefully hissing: "You called, sirs?" "Yeah, hiya Wyv..." responds Racouol "... I was wondering if you might know the way to the Pen's kitchen. This place is so big, and I'm kinda lost..." "I sssee..." mutters Wyvern while scratching his scaly chin in mock contemplation "I could certainly show you the way to the Pen's kitchen, though it wouldn't be easy... I'd want something in return." Racouol grumbles to himself and rolls his eyes. "I should've known... well, I s'pose I could spare a geld or two-" "Not geld." interrupts Wyvern. Both Racouol and Murdock stare at Wyvern bewildered for a moment, cleaning out their ears with Q-tips before the lizard continues: "Instead, I want your aid in a little scheme of mine... I need a place to hold a bunch of Pen animals, and your Deep pockets would be perfect for the job..." Having said this, the lizard takes out an enormous contract written in extremely small handwriting and a quill, handing them to Racouol and Murdock as the two associates exchange concerned glances. "The faster you sign this thing, the faster you'll be eating edible rectangular things in the kitchen!" exclaims Wyvern with a wink.

Wyvern swiftly dashes into the Cabaret Room from one of his many schemes, brushing numerous leaflets of sales propaganda from his tunic as he bows before Deg and exclaims: "A belated Happy Birthday to you, Degenero Angelus!" Wyvern briefly points and notes that Deggy's wingspan may have grown another inch before being rudely interrupted by an angry mob of rabid unsatisfied Almost Dragonic Product consumers, who proceed to chase the lizard out of the room...

I recently read what's been written in this tale so far... Overall, I find the quality of writing and range of vocabulary excellent, though the storyline thus far is not particularly exciting. From a technical standpoint, the writing is consistantly excellent, as is the level of detail that has been incorporated in painting the settings and backgrounds of the characters. The dialogue of the characters, in particular, struck me as brilliant... it really added to the medieval mood of the piece. Having said this, not too much has happened in the tale as of yet, and thus it's difficult to judge it at this point... These first posts read like an introduction to me, establishing the rolls of certain characters which I'm certain will develope as the tale moves onward. My one complaint would be that, despite the initial feud between Caradoc and Quain, there seems to be a certain lack of conflict throughout... This caused the story to drag for me at certain points, though the afformentioned initial conflict continues to loom ominously in the background. Perhaps if the inner conflict and feelings of revenge experienced by Caradoc were more vividly depicted in his emotions and actions, it would make for a more fastpaced read. Anyhow, these are just my thoughts... :-) I look forward to reading more when it comes out, and am particularly looking forward to seeing developments between Caradoc and Mathilde (currently my favorite character), as well as seeing that bastard Quain get his just dues... ;-p

This was an incredibly vivid story... As is typical of your writing, Peredhil, the story evokes true emotional reactions from the reader throughout. When the father was discomforted by the son's empty room, I too felt genuinely discomforted. It took me a certain courage to read through the scene where the son first punctured himself... the mixture pf anguish and exaltation was evoked so vividly that reading was almost painfull in itself. I could also truly feel the conflict between the cyclone of inner turmoil and the father's emotional shield. As Jechum pointed out, the mixture of fantasy and reality was also very effective. It gave the piece a certain disturbing realism... That must have been quite a dream. I found the religious elements of the piece both interesting and thought provoking. The notion of demons being related to ice rather than fire, in particular, was intriguing. I thought that the ending was comic yet thoroughly disturbing. I'm happy to see that your overwhelming workload hasn't stifled your ever-kindeling flames of creativity, and definitely look forward to reading any more pieces that may appear in the future.

Wyvern hisses in wonder at the new artifact, briefly examining it with a magnifying lens to see how much the fabric of the tissue might be worth. Tucking the Fake Tear Tissue safely into his inventory, the overgrown lizard thanks Sorciere wherever she may be and swiftly exits from the room...

*Snickers gleefully* I figure Melba might give off a finite good impression every now and then... After all, she does occasionally beat Wyvern down with the Anti-Wyvern Mallet... ;p Wyvern thanks Immortalgrace for her blessing, keeping it in mind as he exits...

The anime film watching spree continues... The other day, I finally rented and watched Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away..." On the animation and set piece side of things, I'd say that "Spirited Away" is better then "Princess Mononoke..." The originality of the character designs and environments were at times stunning. However, I also feel that the plot and character development were quite weak and corny, particularly when compared to "Mononoke." It just seems like the writers of the screenplay took a bunch of old fairy tales (i.e The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and especially Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market) and threw them together in a completely jumbled and haphazard manner. The plot seemed way too rushed at times, and basically focussed on getting in as much excellent animation as possible. Overall, I didn't like it nearly as much as "Princess Mononoke..." but perhaps it's just not my type of anime. Bottom line is that it has stunning animation, but a weak and completely forgettable plot. On a side note, I can see Studio Ghibli hitting it big with childrens dolls in Japan after seeing this... ;p

Wyvern shakes his head dizzily as he slowly regains his composure, desperatly trying to get his surroundings to stop spinning around him as he slowly stands on his feet. Suddenly hearing the sound of a clinking geld as it falls on the ground, the overgrown lizard quickly races after it as it rolls across the floor and ends up chasing it into the Pen's central garbage disposal chute due to his lack of vision... Both Vlad and Damon cringe as Wyvern let's out a terrified scream which eventually fades into a faint echo as he falls down the chute. The two Pen members wait in silence as they hear several screams and crashes echo throughout various halls of the Pen, until eventually Wyvern once again races down the stairs from which he had originally came (minus the tripping). The lizard is no longer wearing a ski mask, but now has an old piece of pie smeared on his forehead and the bones of a fish stuck on one of his horns. Clutching Vlad's geld piece happily in his right claw, the reptilian Elder joyfully speaks up and hisses: "Vlllllaaaaad! Just the vampire and self-proclaimed devout follower I was looking for! Sucked on any good veins lately...? Listen, I need ya to help me with this little project I'm doing..." Vlad raises a brow and frowns, muttering: "Will this "project" bring up questionable issues and put my current Pen status in jeopardy, by any chance...?" Wyvern whistles innocently and twiddles his scaly fingers a bit before responding: "No! No, not really... Cross my non-existant heart and hope that Melba dies! This time, the plan is 100% guaranteed to work... I've ironed out all of the flaws! Besides, all you need to do is steal a couple of Pen animals for me... Of course, afterwards you may need to travel a couple thousand miles with me and sail on a ship made entirely out of pretzles for a few years... But eh, what's it to a vampire right?!" Vlad continues frowning and slowly nods to this statement as Wyvern turns towards Damon Inferel and exclaims: "Damon, this is no time for finger painting! Besides, if you're going to finger paint, be sure to use Almost Dragonic Brand Finger Paints, which now come in three beautiful colors: ACCEPTED stamp red, Pen ink black, and booze vomit green! They're made of only the finest of materials... *coughs* Anyhow, I suppose that since you've decided to mark Vlad's face with your blood, it's only natural that you should be included in this little scheme too..." Having said this, the reptilian Elder turns back to Vlad and hisses: "Vlad... if you help me with this scheme, and cooperate with Damon in the hopes of converting her to the cause of mischievous devout followers, I'll give you that title of 'Appointed Head Devout Follower of the Patron Saint of Parties' that you wanted." Wyvern smiles a broad grin of razor sharp teeth before glancing in both directions and sinisterly whispering: "Listen... I'm going to try to procure the Bag of Random Yet Handy Items from O'Harpy while she's still dozing. You two should try and steal a few Pen animals in the meantime... Rememer to be cautious when you do so, since we don't want to be found out too soon. We'll meet back up at the Cabaret Room at 11:30 hours.. 'til then, good luck!" Hving said this, Wyvern begins heading towards Scarlett O'Harpy's sleeping quarters but is suddenly interrupted by a confused Damon Inferel, who exclaims: "Wait a minute, what are we going to put the animals in if we don't have the Bag yet? And how exactly did I become a part of this scheme?!" Wyvern nods and considers Damon's first question for a moment, choosing to ignore the second in the hopes that Vlad will properly persuade her. The lizard then digs through his tunic and hands both Vlad and Damon a set of Almost Dragonic Brand paper bags, ignoring the fact that they have several holes in them and won't be able to hold animals as he dashes away laughing greedily.

Wyvern quickly dashes into the Cabaret Room of the Pen and immediatly sets about getting to work on his elaborate schemes... Rapidly removing the Crow Feather of Reliability from a pocket in his tunic and using it as a quill pen, the inconsiderate lizard scrawls the following words on the nearest available wall: "Want Free Parties All Day Every Day? Reach for the nearest crystal ball and call 1-900-WYVERNOWNSYOURGELD!* Ask about the Quest for the Arch of Ezoob! *Note: Wyvern 1-900 numbers are best reached using Almost Dragonic Brand crystal balls and incantation services... now available with 20% less static!" Wyvern adds a few flourishes to his writing, sketching a cute little drawing of an almost dragonic stick figure holding a large bag marked with a dollar sign next to the word "Ezoob." Satisfied with his artistic masterpiece, the greedy Elder hisses his plans in the hopes of relaying them to Canid and Katzaniel: "First thing we need to do is gather Pen animals along with a decent map of the area surrounding the Pen and a bag of holding... we'll start with one of Nyyark's crows, then go for one of Madoka's sheep, then play it by ear from that point onward... A human will also be needed, not to mention some bodyguards and manual labor people. Be warned, Zool's chicken and Peredhil's guinea pigs will not be easily catchable... though Scarlett O'Harpy's Bag may prove to be even more of a problem. That is... unless we already have a bag of holding...?" Wyvern turns hopefully towards where he thinks Canid and Katzaniel are only to notice that neither of his potential allies had followed him to the Cabaret Room... The lizard grumbles numerous curses under his breath, noting that it wasn't surprising since all of the venerable Pen members had become accustomed to shunning Wyv's ideas with an unnatural vigor. With his luck, the two of them were probably snitching his plans to a responsible Elder at this very moment... Deciding that he should get to work despite currently lacking any helping hands, Wyvern quickly pulls an Almost Dragonic Brand ski mask over his face and cackles evilly at the thought of stealing Pen artifacts. Though the ski mask didn't hide the lizard's identity in the slightest, Wyv always loved to use product placement whenever he could. Letting out another of his signature evil laughs, the greedy Elder rushes out of the Cabaret Room and proceeds to tumble down a flight of stairs due to his "ski mask" not having any eye sockets...

Oss-bay... hy-way re-aay e-way peaking-say n-iay ig-pay atin-lay gain-aay? What the hell are you talking about?! Stop speaking gibberish... We aren't taking any highways, we're going by foot, remember?! Jesus! Get with the program! B-but boss, I thought you said we were supposed to communicate through pig latin...? We are!!! Now shut the hell up and put on this pig snout disguise. Two oinks means "yes", three oinks and a snort means "no." Remember, this is pig latin, so the oink translations are a bit more complicated than they normally would be... Gotcha... *snort* No, you fool! I said three oinks THEN a snort for "no!" Uuuhm... actually boss, I was just kinda clearing out my nose. I have allergies you know...? Oh... I see... that's a disgusting habit. Here, have a tissue and don't do that again or you're fired. Hmmm... uhhh... boss... this isn't a tissue, this is a map of the Pen headquarters. I believe we're supposed to use it to break into Wyvern's office without sounding any alarms... Ridiculous! Lemme see that... ... ... ... hmmmm... you're right, it is kind of a map isn't it? Yes sir! That's "oink oink" sir from now on! C'mon, let's get moving... that Wyvern's a sly lizard, we should go and catch him off guard before it's too late. Wait, shhhhh... I think I hear someone coming. Remember the code! Yes sir! ... ... ... ... Oink oink? Oink oink oink *snort* That does it!!! You snorted again! You're FIRED! B-b-b-but boss, you said...! I said that if you snorted again, you'd be fired! It's a filthy habit! Now get out of here and let me do my job! B-b-b-but... the code, and you said... ahhhh screw it! I would've quit anyway! I might be the one that snorts, but you're definitely the one that lives up to your name, Clueless! I'll have you know I'm not clueless in reality... I just happen to not have any clues at the moment. I left a clue in my other pants... Hey, where do you think you're going?! Oh... that's right, I fired you... Well, all the better, I can handle this mission by myself! Just as soon as a clean my nose out with this tissue... errrr... wait a minute, this is a map. Crap... Wyvern is oblivious to the failed mission of Inspector I. M. Clueless as he cheerfully sips some booze and stamps Aardvark's original application ACCEPTED. CC:-Oay Xcellent-eay pplication-aay, Ardvark-aay... efinitely-day CCEPTED-Aay! Elcome-way o-tay he-tay ighty-May en-Pay! 've-Iay reatly-gay njoyed-eay he-tay tories-say ou've-yay osted-pay t-aay he-tay en-Pay hus-tay ar-fay, nd-aay ook-lay orward-fay o-tay eading-ray ore-may. Pologies-aay or-fay akin-tay a eek-way o-tay espond-ray o-tay his-tay pp-aay... E-bay ure-say o-tay ither-eay ost-pay ou're-yay mail-e-ay ddress-aay n-iay his-tay hread-tay r-oay ail-may e-may t-aay litwack90@hotmail.com-eay o-say I an-cay end-say ou-yay ome-say dditional-aay en-Pay nfo-iay.

Wyvern quickly rushes into the Office, balancing a large pile of tissue boxes marked with extraordinarily high price tags in his scaly arms and winking towards the large crowd of weeping individuals in the room. Setting the boxes onto his overflowing office desktop, the overgrown lizard watches in dismay as the numerous tissues sink into the seemingly bottomless ocean of paperwork located there, resting only a few seconds above ground before becoming completely submerged. Cursing to himself and grumbling that he should have brought tissue lifejackets (the opposite of paper weights), the greedy Elder swiftly approaches Peredhil and nudges the Ancient Polite Bard a few times, wondering if he might be able to prostitute his comforting hugs to gain a few bucks. Receiving a polite shake of a head as a response, the lizard nods in understanding, having anticipated this sort of reply but wanting to give the offer a shot never the less... Abandoning his thoughts of making profits off of people's tears, Wyvern quickly resorts to the next best thing... Grabbing a hidden camera from the left pocket of his tunic, the lizard quickly proceeds to take numerous photos of Melba crying in the hopes of adding them to his "Pictures of Melba in Anguish" scrapbook. The reptilian Elder rapidly sets up an entire professional photo shoot booth around Melba before taking several snapshots of her distress from all angles, unfortunatly forgetting to remove the lens cap of the camera as he does so... not that it would really matter if he had removed it, since Melba had discovered his ploy and had stifled her tears in response... After wasting an entire roll of film, Wyvern considers using another when suddenly, Wrenwind lightly pokes him on the shoulder and directs his attention to Sorciere, who was still patiently waiting for a response to her application. Nodding to this, the lizard quickly wanders over to his desk and rummages through the paperwork until he finds Sorciere's application, briefly bowing to the patient applicant before attentively reading over her story. After having finished this, Wyv turns to Sorciere with sad tears in his eyes and sobs to himself a bit before hissing: "Excellently written, Sorciere... *sniff* ...such a sad tale..." Smallscale Mind Games raises a brow at the Elder of Initiates and mutters: "Strange Wyv... I haven't known you to be one who cries over other peoples misfortunes..." Wyvern stamps Sorciere's application ACCEPTED before turning towards Smallscale Mind Games with a trembling scaly lip and exclaiming: "Who's sobbing about other people's problems?! *sob* I'm crying since a girl that was capable of bringing stories to life and rendering people colorblind passed away before I was aware! Think of all the schemes I could have executed! Heck, I could have even brought great fictional schemers from stories to life to help me!" The entire crowd turns to Wyvern and sighs once again at his egoistic story misinterpretations before abandonning the lizard to his paperwork... ;-) OOC: On a more serious note... That was an excellent application story, Sorciere, and is certainly ACCEPTED. Welcome to the Mighty Pen! My apologies for the lengthy wait in responding... Be sure to either post your e-mail address in this thread or mail me at elitwack90@hotmail.com so that I can send you some additional Pen info. Once again, welcome!

Wyvern sips some booze at his desk and lifts Immortalgrace's application from an enormous pile of unfinished paperwork that rests there, avidly reading over the applicant's poem while drinking from his Endless Decanter. Having carefully read over the poem, the overgrown lizard nods sagely and belches a few flames before responding: "Indeed... you seem to have captured both the infinite and the fleeting quite nicely in this poem. Most appropriate, since both are present in the Pen..." Having said this, Wyvern begins counting with his claws and hisses: "The infinite: booze from the Endless Decanter, Random Yet Handy Items from the Bag of Random Yet Handy Items, wit from Zool, waiting periods for Pen applicants, personas of Tzim, muses, charm from Orlan, Valdar's ear signals, creative freedom, power from Cioden Darkeye... and there's my debt as well, of course..." Wyvern pauses for an instant, giving a short moment of silence for his debt before continuing... "Then there's the finite too: good impressions of Melba, logical Pen debates, my bank account, writers blocks, love of money-grubbing purple fuzzies, merit of emoticons, limitations, time before Scarlett O Harpy labels you as dinner, etc., etc." Having listed these things, Wyvern stamps ImmortalGrace's application ACCEPTED and notes that he admires her for her immortal grace... though he's perhaps a bit envious being only a mortal disgrace himself... ;p OOC: An ACCEPTED application, ImmortalGrace, welcome to the Mighty Pen! I'll be sure to send you some additional Pen info ASAP... Thank you for your patience in waiting for my response!

Wyvern watches in amusement from his desk as the monkeys go into acapella freestyles, quickly fumbling around his chair for a video camera in the hopes of taping the entire shenanigan. The lizard was certain that if he managed to capture footage of the act, he'd be able to sell it to MTV for loads of money... After all, the monkeys possessed a vocabulary far beyond that of the typical commercially successfull M.C, and also had a much more mature demeanor... Imagining the thousand monkeys releasing an album entitled "Pea Nuts" and going triple platinum, Wyvern curses at his lack of a camcorder and suddenly notices that Silly the Orangutan/Elder Dwarf had also arrived at the scene, and was breakdancing to the rhythm... Reluctantly abandoning his idea of taping the monkeys and selling them as the next rap phenomenon due to his lack of recording equipment, Wyvern grumbles and snatches Nobody of Consequence's story from the large pile of unanswered Pen applications that rests before him, briefly ignoring the monkey freestyles in order to read over the amusing story a few times. Grinning and sighing in relief, Wyvern gleefully hisses: "Heeheehee... those dumb humans have done it again! Evoking the anger of vegetables, sheesh, how dumb can those warm blooded mammals get?!" Wyvern's words of false comfort are suddenly interrupted as the door to the Recruiter's Office slowly creaks open and the monkey freestyles suddenly go silent. Standing at the doorway is a potatoe wearing a brown bandana, which signified that he was a member of the elite potatoe gang "Spuds." Hopping into the room, the potatoe is accompanied by an English potatoe interpreter, who translates the potatoes words for all to hear: "I ain't french so I ain't gonna fry My hundreds of eyes see a buncha wise guys Wyvern claims innocent, but his words are invalid Cus guess who ate the leftover potatoe salad!" With that, the interpreter points a finger at Wyvern and the potatoe strikes a macho pose. The reptilian Elder frowns and twiddles his fingers, a bead of sweat dripping from his brow as he realizes he's been found out. Wyv is about to speak up when suddenly, a leftover junkfood bag enters into the room. The English interpreter turns towards the new participant before quickly translating the bag's words: "Don't forget about me, the name's junkfood I feel the need to speak about how Wyvern eats me too Not just in small quantities but enormous proportions The lizard's guilty of causing junkfood market distortions!" Wyvern stutters nervously, thinking of some excuse to respond with and wincing at the angry words of the two freestyling foods. Fortunatly, the lizard is saved as the potatoe suddenly realizes that the junkfood bag is one for potatoe chips, and angrily pounces upon it in an attempt to kill it and avenge his brethren. As the two leftovers battle and the interpreter demands his pay from both of them, Wyvern happily stamps Nobody of Consequence's application ACCEPTED. OOC: An excellently written and very funny application, Nobody of Consequence... definitely ACCEPTED! Welcome to the Mighty Pen! Be sure to either post your e-mail address here or mail me at elitwack90@hotmail.com so that I can send you some additional info... Apologies for the wait, and welcome once again!

Wyvern is trampled as Waterlily races over him and out of the kitchen exit... The giant plant shuffles down a corridor and eventually out of the Pen's front entrance, searching for tasty breakfast fungi growing on food in trash cans of nearby alleyways... Within the Pen's kitchen, Wyvern recovers himself and regains his composure, once again staring greedily at Canid and her invisible Sack of Strange Edibles. Quickly brushing aside the dream memory of a certain wolf in bunny's clothing from his head, the sinister lizard slyly approaches Canid one step at a time, interested in both the sack she carries and in her being a wolf for his mission. Besides, the lizard was also hungry and craved something edible, and those rectangular things Canid was putting in the fridge didn't look bad at all. Mmmm... edible rectangular things... Deciding that Canid wouldn't join or aid him in his quest without a bit of persuasion first, Wyvern clears his throat and nonchalantly prepares a bit of flattery: "Why Canid, errrr.... your fur... it looks good! Did you cut it?" Canid frowns and glares at Wyvern, angrily growling in response: "No. I'd never cut my fur... The poor sheep that have their fur cut each year are treated like slaves by the farmers. Cutting fur from animals should be outlawed..." "Ah, I see..." interrupts Wyvern, seeing he already blew his attempts at flattery but pushing on never the less "... well... today, the fur looks... errrr... particularllllllyyy... feral! Yeah, that's it!" Canid sighs and rubs her forehead, growling: "For the record: no, I won't give you any geld donations Wyvern... I stopped giving them to you around a year ago. Now stop this gibberish..." Wyvern whimpers and swiftly dislodges the parchment from his ear, lifting it in front of Canid's face. "It's not all about geld, see?!" exclaims the lizard in a whiny voice, pointing at his sloppy handwriting in an excited manner. Canid skims over the plan for an instant in horrified wonder before her reading is interrupted by the sound of a trash can toppling over and the screeching of a terrified cat. Katzaniel suddenly races into the Pen's kitchen in her tigertaur form, her hair in total disarray. Angrily pointing down the hall to the front door of the Pen from her position at the central kitchen's exit, she exclaims: "Since when does the Pen garbageman bear the ressemblance of an enormous, tentacle-weilding plant?!" Raising a brow at the half-human/half-tiger, Wyvern brushes aside another leftover dream memory of a tigertaur acting as a lawn statue for his mansion before noting that Katzaniel would be a valuable asset to his quest, having the ability to morph into a cat. "Will you be joining me in my quest too?!" exclaims Wyvern, pointing at Katzaniel "It must be... I'm on a roll! I promise there'll be mountains of raw rabbit guts in the land of Ezoob, along with all of the catnip imaginable! C'mon you two, let's go discuss a few things over in the Cabaret Room..." As Wyvern departs towards the Cabaret Room, Katzaniel turns to Canid and mutters: "What's all this about, then...?" Canid shrugs and mutters back: "I'm not sure... I haven't exactly been well informed myself..."

"Racouol!?!?" Wyvern swiftly hides several dusty bootleg copies of "the Racouolettes" as fond memories of "Attack of the Cheerleaders", "Gyrfalcon the Movie", "A Day by the Pool" and many other classic threads are revived in his almost dragonic memory. Turning to the legendary frying pan-weilding bearer of deep pockets, Wyvern gives him a scaly handshake reminscent of those in Brotherhood of the Night before hissing numerous warm greetings and welcoming him back. The lizard then waits until the Lord of Nightmares' back is turned before tripling the price of Almost Dragonic Brand Earmuffs™ in the hopes of making profits should the famous Lord decide to sing... OOC: Welcome Racouol, great to see you here! Help yourself to booze from the Endless Decanter, and be sure to check the Recruiter's Office as Pered said.

Wyvern lifts his scaly feet from his desk and lightly plucks DL Snake's application from a large pile of papers that rests before him, picking his fangs with a spare quill as he reads over the amusing poem several times. After having finished it, the lizard belches a few flames and sets the application aside, muttering: "Ah yessss... coffee. The drink is certainly not too poor for my taste... though then again, my taste buds have become adapted to an unnatural level of poorness." The overgrown lizard shifts in his seat and takes a sip of booze, raising the Endless Decanter towards DL Snake and hissing: "I mussst admit, though, that I switched from coffee to booze a while back... Booze gets you feeling just as rowdy, and costs far less for me. Besides... I had to quit drinking coffee since Melba continuously tried spiking my coffee mug with a variety of tranquilizers." Suddenly, an angry Melba barges into the office wearing a volleyball outfit and carrying several empty coffee mugs. Glaring furiously at Wyvern, the Almost Secretary fills one of the mugs with tranquilizer pills and tosses it into the air, immediatly leaping up after it and spiking it at Wyv. The lizard manages to quickly dodge the mug and laughs victoriously, only to be hit in the face with a jar of coffee beans. Grumbling curses and rubbing his aching visage, he points a finger at Melba and mumbles: "As you can see, she still spikes them..." Suddenly noticing that he now holds a free jar of coffee beans, the greedy lizard flashes an evil grin towards DL Snake and mutters: "If you'd still like some more coffee, I can offer it to you now! Since you're new to the guild and all, I'll even charge it to you at half price! Only 2 geld per coffee bean!" DL Snake raises a brow and rubs his ears in disbelief at the insanely high price. Noticing that his offer didn't settle in too well, the reptilian Elder of Initiates quickly stamps DL Snake's application ACCEPTED before being hit on the head by a small coffee table used by Melba as a projectile... ;-) OOC: An ACCEPTED application DL Snake, welcome to the Mighty Pen! Be sure to either post your e-mail address here or mail me at elitwack90@hotmail.com so that I can send you some additional Pen info...