1091 All In The Family.

Well, my little world is still all fucked up. I never did manage to find time to write anything for the fantasy story from Monday, and I am officially one page behind schedule for the comic itself. I still have my buffer of course, but I like to keep ahead of it for any complete disasters that might happen. I don’t know what that would actually entail, since I tend to work right through disasters anyway, but I don’t fancy being caught off guard. Inviting disaster by being unprepared is not on my to do list.

I haven’t had much time to play Animal Crossing obviously. I don’t even know how you’re supposed to visit other towns at this point, which is a shame since I’ve added a few friends for once. Animal Crossing seems to be a game that a wider audience plays. I guess all the fans have been hoping this would be the title that Nintendo finally opened the doors with regarding internet connectivity. That remains to be seen.

I did manage to pen a little more fiction for you guys. It’s not much but it’s something. Hope you enjoy:

The three friends decided that it would be better to spend another night in the woods, rather than wander into the underground temple that afternoon. Julius didn’t protest for several reasons. He was starstruck for a start, plus the temple seemed to radiate unpleasant energies more strongly the closer to evening that it got. He would have been outvoted anyway, so there wouldn’t have been much point in protesting in any case. The other two obeyed Alina’s slightest command, although it seemed to be out of loyalty rather than mindless consideration for her rank. She had an aura of confidence that made you want to trust her. It wasn’t arrogant, or ostentatious, like Regalius, but somehow candid. At the same time you knew it would be unwise to cross her too. She was every bit a leader.
Julius didn’t do much talking that afternoon. The trend continued into the evening. He didn’t like the sound of the temple at all. The first exploratory team never reported back, and they seemed to have been trusted comrades. This was unfortunate on a variety of levels that he didn’t care to ponder. Niona had found a very detailed map however and Julius spent several hours of daylight listening to them talk while memorizing as much of it as he could. It was complex, a lot of places to hide triggers. Not only did he not intend to meet the same fate as the first team but he desperately wanted to impress these people. Two of them in particular…

That night Niona displayed the same cavalier attitude toward propriety that she had the night before, as did Regalius. Although Julius noted that he only stole furtive glances at Niona while she acted as if she was the only creature on earth. The pair of them pranced around mostly naked right up till the bedrolls came out. In contrast, Alina changed into whatever it was she wore to sleep in the safe confines of her long cloak. If she’d changed at all it was almost impossible to tell. As night closed in around them Regalius played a soothing tune that carried all around the little valley. Niona assured Julius that there wouldn’t be any need for a watch, but he decided to stay up for a while just the same. The idea of a magical song being the only thing between him and a knife in the dark was not quite enough. He had to admit that the disquieting aura of the temple seemed to have been pushed away however. After a few laps around the clearing he settled down at Dew Beam’s roots and kept his ears open. The only thing that disturbed him from that point on was the sound of Niona crawling under Alina’s blanket and the resigned protestations she put forth before Niona snuggled in good and tight.