Katzaniel

I liked it, but I had roughly the same idea as Peredhil. I can't help but think that it would be better if you turned the whle thing upside down in the last stanza by switching two lines: im cold my heart is frozen over and it burns me im cold my mind cant think clearly and i am lost im cold the words come out so scrambled and you are confused im dead there is no warmth to heal me i am so cold

Shanna was even more disoriented than before, with the illusions and mindbending going on around her. But when she heard a scream and saw Alric injured, she used the tree to raise and steady herself, took quick bearings, and sprinted to him. He seemed to be swooning a little, which helped as she tore a strip from his shirt and wound it tightly around his leg, to minimize bleeding. By then there were two of the assassins approaching, so she began to drag Alric further from the fight, hoping against hope that someone else would be able to take them down before she was forced to fight them, alone and with only her dagger.

Welcome! Hate to split the votes like this, but I just loved #3. Of course, they are all good, and you should really be the one to decide. I would like to add, though, that even if you have permission for the last one, you shouldn't use it because most of us would think immediately of Big Pointy One's character, Mr. Bunny, and you'd want something that makes us think of you. Other considerations: * You could rotate between any number of them, whenever you get tired of the current sig. * If you cropped one of them slightly, you could use it as an avatar, thereby getting in two of your pieces.

Yay! Congratulations, you deserve it. (Gwaihir, you're so funny...)

Shanna wakes up to the cries of the Marasloth, fumbling around in the dark for a moment before realizing that something is happening, and forcing herself awake fully. Realizing that the camp is under attack, she reaches for the knife that Finnius had given her, and an arrow barely misses her, though she notes that it was on the right track before she moved. Obviously these people had accurate aim, and inactivity would be a good way to die. Holding the knife uncomfortably, Shanna jumps forward, finding herself unexpectedly face to face with an attacker. The figure lashes out and in shock, she manages to block his blow. She thrusts wildly and only her unpredictability keeps her alive past a few minutes, but then even that is unable to stop a well-aimed strike at her hand. A fragmented part of her brain reports that the injury is slight, but the rest of her mind screams pain and she drops her knife, reeling backward. She runs into something, a tree she thinks, but then the tree moves and intercepts, driving off her opponent and disappearing into the fight before she can identify who of their party saved her life this time. Shanna grabs at the knife, ignoring the pain that shoots up her arm. She is confused and disoriented, and the only thing that she knows, which repeats itself in her mind endlessly, is that she's useless and will probably die soon. She stumbles against something, a real tree this time, and slumps, dimly watching the fight but not mustering the courage or even strength to rise.

Your comma is backwards. I will be interviewing you eventually, Xaious, I just want to make sure you realize that that won't be for a while yet. Capiche?

I enjoyed it, but I found that the line "To the beasts of my mind, it is a zoo." tripped me up, interupting the otherwise smooth flow.

I think the "lies" part must be referring to the "no one cares" part. I hereby wish that it will be as happy as it can be, given whatever it is that seems to be making you depressed. Cheers!

I have to disagree there. Probably most are retarded. And an even greater percentage of vice principals are retarded. But I'm gonna stick up for the cool principal my high school had. I wish they could all be like him. Congratulations on being "free".

"Okatu Idol" is an abbreviation of "Okatu Convention"? *wails because no one is making any sense* *pauses to give Appy some tea* I think that may have been Alaeha?

m) What's a party? 3. I am: a) Red Green c) Yellow d) Blue e) Purple f) Orange g) Boring old Flesh 4. I wear: a) A robe Pants c) The most expensive thing around d) My fur e) My scales f) Nothing

For my Quill-Quest, I am planning on making up a quick-reference list of the main characters by member name. There are far too many here for me to do everyone, at least for the quest, so my plan is three phases, (or Waves because it sounds cooler), which will bring me up to having all the Quill-Bearers. Of course, there'll probably be at least one more Promotion before I finish, thus extending my list midway through, but that can't be helped. This is interactive in that hopefully everyone will cooperate with me and let me interview them. I don't plan to post it by rank, since those change, but I do plan to conduct the interviews by rank. That being said Wave One is now starting. I need to find the following people (don't be surprised if you also get a PM): Jechum, Peredhil, Gwaihir, Wyvern, Zool, Ozymandias the Elder, Gyrfalcon, Yui-chan, Quincunx, Orlan, Zadown, Madoka, Snypiuer, Boaz, Melba, Arawn I've been told that Wyvern knows Melba best, so if you don't mind, Wyvern, I'll interview you about her too. This is only going to be main/recurring characters for now, and the limit on that will be up to each of you. I'm hoping that most of you have only one, though there are a few notable exceptions. When I get to BPO, for example, I think he has seven? Anyway, please decide on the characters you want done, and then we'll set up interviews here. I'd like to have most of them done on weekends, and preferably via mIRC. For now I'd just like a general idea what times are best for people, whether weekends will do and whether it has to be right away or a month from now, that sort of thing. We'll get into nitty gritty time details once I get an idea of the big picture. Thank you for cooperating! (For those who plan on cooperating... )

Okatu Idol? What is happening to the world?! ...I hate the whole Idol idea, not the Okatu idea. Just thought I should clarify. And I hope the two of you have fun!

Welcome, Blain. I really enjoyed the piece. I am actually happy to be a female in the somewhere-below-beautiful category. Rejoice, women of the world, if you are one of 95% who are there, for it means that somewhat less than 95% of men are looking at you. I wasn't reading the piece originally with editting / feedback in mind, so there won't be very much, but I did have trouble with a few sentences... most of them in this paragraph: I kept getting caught in the sentences here and reading them the wrong way, then having to backtrack to get the right meaning. I'm not even quite sure how to articulate what I mean, but I'll use the last sentence, where the alternate path is most obvious (which means I can find it upon a second reading ) to show you. Original: I'm just asking that you wait until they actually do something besides look before you glare. Still a little odd: I'm just asking that you wait to glare until they actually do something besides look. Better? I'm just asking for you to delay glaring until they actually do something other than looking. I think my difficulty is in the number of verbs that you're trying to use, maybe. Anyway, I'm glad your "sources" brought you here, I will look forward to reading more of your stuff, and trying to be more useful than this!

Well, I should probably start something just so that there's someting there... but basically it will go on if I can get a mod to agree to Ayshela's (good) suggestions. I may have to begin bugging someone.

Ah yes, and a deadline.. Let's make that the last day of this month, May 31st. Give or take a day, I believe that's a Monday, so the judging (courtesy of me ) will probably be announced by the next weekend.

This contest is simple. (At least to describe). You are an orange, going about the process of being an orange. Someone comes into the room you're in and recites your choice of any one of the six poems from the Citrus Crooner contest. Roleplay their actions but more importantly your reactions. I will make a thread in the Conservatory, please either post it in there or post a link to it in there. Anyone can participate but only members of the AVV guild can win. Apply if you want to be eligible to win. Good luck all! PS. I will judge, and the winner will get the title of Citrus Sympathizer.

"No, Cambronne, away!" Katzaniel the tiger turns in circles as quickly as she can to shake off the dratted creature. "Bad time you choose, what a day... Can please you not - HEY!" The large tiger pads forward as quickly as she can and then turns back to give Cambronne a fierce warning glare. He doesn't seem to mind, but at the very least he doesn't follow yet. What does a cat like that want with a tiger anyway? Katzaniel didn't care what anyone said, when it came down to considering this piddly creature, size did matter. And that annoying Random_Pen_Mage_03! He'd certainly helped.. a lot more than he'd been asked to do. She wondered vaguely if the talking ability would last beyond the party. Small matter, she'd never use it again if she could help it. Right now the important thing was to find Celes.

OOC: I was worried that my prop requests had been the cause of this lull, but looks to be not so. If anyone finds themselves with long-lasting writer's block because of some request of mine, don't be afraid to say so, I'd rather that I had to retract something than that the thread died. Having said that, my own creativity with regards to this seems to have returned, so I too will be making a long-due post. And it seems about time that Vlad and I started working toward each other. Onward, then! IC: In the morning the young woman awoke refreshed and ready to begin her journey. Looking through her bag for the stone that would help her find this man Trey, she came across the bag of newt-eyes and wondered briefly why they didn't come in the convenient form of a ring or brooch. It would be the best way to keep one on her person, in case the backpack got lost or stolen. In the meantime, she cut herself a slender branch from the hedge and tied it around her waist, afixing to it the sack of little eyes. This would suffice until the next town she could find. That first task done, she returned to locating the rock. The stone was smooth and flat, with a niche neatly placed along its side, like a slice of rock. Inbi traced the edge once and found it strangely comforting. She nodded to herself and tossed it in the air. When it landed, the niche pointed to the hedge maze. That pointed out the first and most obvious problem with the stone. It showed only the direction of the man, not the direction in which she must go to reach the man. Since it seemed unlikely that he was actually in the house within the maze, Inbi decided to walk a way along the hedge and try again, to gauge how much the angle of her destination changed. She guessed that she would have to go all the way around the maze, and the thought displeased her, but nothing else was to be done. The young thief spent the next half day trudging alongside the overgrown hedge before tossing the stone again into the air. The action proved to her that Trey was indeed far beyond the maze, and so after eating a little food, Inbi continued on her way. Within another few hours, Inbi was able to turn around the corner and begin progress along the next side of the huge rectangle. When she did, she saw in the distance a shape a little way apart from the maze. Curious. As the girl got closer, she began to distinguish that the shape was actually another hedge, grown in a little enclosure not three paces wide and not much taller than herself. Approaching it, could see no way to get inside of it, and loping easily around it she found no hints of any kind. Still not wanting to rely on her magic, Inbi first tried prying it apart with her hands, then cutting it with her dagger. This one seemed to be made of much stronger wood for it budged not an inch. At that point the young woman froze a doorframe shape into the hedge, making sure the ice was well formed and firm before setting fire to the inner section. She as well should not have wasted her time and energy, for the wood did not burn, only blacken mockingly. One more trick up her sleeve, Inbi steeled herself for a difficult and very likely futile manouever. Nevertheless, she felt that whatever was inside the close-packed hedge must yield a great clue in her puzzle. So the girl knelt, knees close to her chest and palms carefully placed on either side of each foot. Then she caused a jet of ice to propel her forward, aiming painstakingly at a location about a foot below the top of the hedge. Shooting forward, balancing precariously on two streams of ice, Inbi reached the hedge and scrabbled quickly onto the top without noticing right away that there was indeed an opening. When she found her balance, she looked around and discovered that the hedge was nothing more than four walls, and perched atop one of them she could see clearly what lay in between. It confused her all the more, for it was unclear why anyone would go to the trouble of protecting or even hiding this object. Below her in the grass inside the hedge lay the form of a doll, well worn and missing both its head and left foot. Nevertheless, Inbi felt that it would not do to leave it here, for it had to be a large part of the mystery. Climbing down as carefully as she could, she picked up the doll and studied it. It was the shape of a little girl, as most dolls were, knitted carefully together and though dirty it had clearly had an owner who had cared for it. Its pink dress was ripped but mended, the missing leg had been gently sewn up, and it seemed to have had its stuffing replaced at least once. Strangely, though, the head seemed to have been recently torn off for the neck showed no sign of patching and some stuffing had already fallen out. Feeling like she had fewer answers than before, Inbi placed the doll in her pack and used the same trick as before to gain the top of the wall a second time. Seeing nothing else to do but continue her journey, the young woman hopped back down, threw the stone to be sure of her bearings, and walked onward. Edit: A couple spelling mistakes corrected and an extensive description of the doll added.

Flash back, to a time just before everything Wyvern just did... Along with a wide variety of different creates waiting in line sat a tiger. Some of the members looked confused, not recognizing the creature, but the more astute in the crowd noticed that the pattern of stripes on its hindquarters matched those of Katzaniel, and were therefore not surprised when upon reaching the head of the queue, the great cat became a tigertaur. This was her customary form, but those that knew her also knew that she could take the shape of any type of cat, with nearly any plausible characteristics. Melba simply cocked her head, waiting for the entry fee. Katzaniel, her upper body decorated as usual like the ancient male witch doctor whose body had magically been combined with her own during a long ago duel, melding almost seamlessly into the body of a tiger, tapped her spear on the ground and began to recite. "Bless the kitty cat "He is white and sprawled out flat "Splayed toes are all that." The poem sounded odd in the masculine voice of the witch doctor, but the personality of the original tiger was by far the dominant one in this body, and those that knew her did not think twice about it. Melba did. "Thank you. But that's only half your price - I'll need some underthings as well." "Well, I don't have any of those. How about a haiku about some instead?" "Given your unique situation, that might suffice. Let's hear it." Katzaniel paused to think, and a few miscellaneous members were processed before she returned to stand in front of the woman again. "Fresh and clean they shine "This beautiful pair of mine "Underwear so fine." Melba raised a brow, but let the tigertaur pass. About to enter the party, Katzaniel was getting pretty excited about what might be in there. Aside from the frogs, which she was stoutly managing to ignore, this should be a lot of fun. She spotted Wyvern and went to chat. "Oh! You can't come in here like that." he almost shrieked. "Whyever not?" "Well..." Wyvern looked slightly embarrassed for a moment. "Due to some experience beyond anyone's control, Finnius is terribly afraid of witch doctors." "What did you do to him?" queried Katzaniel, suspicions raised. "None of your... I mean, nothing at all!" The tigertaur decided not to press the matter. "But I can't talk if I'm in any of my other forms. They're all just cats." "Perhaps if you can avoid Finnius?" "I've never even met him. How would I know who to..." Katzaniel stopped speaking as a little blue man came up to them, saying, "Hey, Wyvern, did you know that..." then happened to glance at Katzaniel, let out a little scream, and fainted. "Erm... well, obviously that's not going to work anyway. Look, I don't care what you do about it, you can't be in that form. I can't kick Finnius out, he's already threatening to sue me." She scrutinized the almost-dragon for a moment, not sure what to say. Just then a man detached himself from his position of leaning against the wall, and wandered over. "Do you need me to get rid of her for you, Wyvern? I wouldn't trust you to be able to handle a housecat." The almost-dragon looked at the man and his eyes lit up. "Why, Miscellaneous_Pen_Mage_03, you could do something about letting her talk while in housecat form!" "So that you can handle her yourself?" the man chuckled. "If he could do that, it would certainly work," mused Katzaniel at almost the same time. "Well no, she's got the shapeshifting part covered. You just need to give her the ability to talk." "She talks fine!" grinned Miscellaneous_Pen_Mage_03. "Not when I'm not in this form," explained Katzaniel needlessly, "and he won't allow me in like this." The tigertaur glared at the almost-dragon, but he failed to notice. "Alright, Wyvern, but you owe me one." Katzaniel changed herself back to the tiger, and Miscellaneous_Pen_Mage_03 cast the spell, colours sparking everywhere for a moment before narrowing in on her. "By the way," said the man when it was done. "I heard your rhyming haikus, and I liked them." Laughing loudly, he turned and left them. "I'd like to thank you "For your service, now you're through... "Why's this a haiku??" The tiger looked rather confused at herself. Miscellaneous_Pen_Mage_03 looked over his shoulder at the pair, grinning more widely now. "Have fun at the party!"

I liked it, as with everything of yours that I have so far found, but it just didn't seem quite right. I guess the best way to describe what I mean is by saying that it felt too precise for freeverse. The long lines and compact style (as in fitting everything neatly where it belongs) led up to expecting rhythm and rhyme, (despite the disclaimer), and it never comes. Perhaps that could be solved by rhyming just the last two lines of each section? Or by varying the line length, systematically if you wish but not so constant at any rate. I find myself liking these lines very much, but mainly because they rhyme: Then the pattern doesn't continue and it detracts from the rest. I hate to counsel you to remove the rhyme, but unless you decide to add a few others into it, I can't help but think it would be for the best. Ehh... what do I know about poetry, anyway?

Nonononononono! What I said was I'm not playing this one. I'm way too far behind on the other stuff I have to do around here. Sorry. ...Also, you guys should really wait for Ozy. He's come a couple of days too late for like the last three games. I sent him a PM about it and I know he wanted to play this one, so don't be cruel!

*I* just want to clarify that Jaquie did none of those things for which she was accused. Most of all she really was blind, or else she wouldn't have such a bitter person, and that was certainly not just acting. Do the wolves feel bad? I was the *only* innocent victim here....

I'm not sure if I have as much to say as you'd like to hear, but since no one else has commented I will try. I felt strong, raw emotion throughout the piece. I wanted to read it right through to the end, but I did find that it was a little slow starting out. I've never focussed much on physical descriptions in my writing, so it could just be my own uncaring attitude toward description, but I didn't get sucked in until the second paragraph. I personally think it would be stronger if it started right in with "On the top of my left forearm crisscross thin, pearly white scars. When I look at them..." I like the style, with you giving statements like, "People always tell me I am too trusting..." and then expanding with your own opinions. I found the sentence "...the best excuse I had was to join running start." confusing. I'm not sure what you meant. Is "running start" a club? Anyway, that's about all I can think of. I did like it. And I hope this is helpful.

I love that you both spell it grey. Spread the word, okay? As for your newest post, Yui: Ack! What's gonna happen?! Need more.... Oh, you wanted feedback? Hm. "...to his conversation through the evening..." I would suggest "...throughout..." And "...lulling her towards sleep." should be "...toward..." Yeah, that's it, sorry...