Piper

Pretty name! And I hope she starts sleeping more soon so you can get more sleep too. XD Best of luck to you and your boyfriend!

Yes, do please come for a visit!

Ahahahaha, wow. That's great. XD

First, I know I gave SOMEBODY a ferret, I just forget who. Second, you forget I'm OCD and to see the sig say Senator of Genesis would bug me terribly.

...I was trying to forget about the ferret.

Haha, thanks, guys. Well, that's encouraging... Hahaha.

It was kind of out of nowhere, but I got what screenshots I could. :3 I think the people there are Nickcali, Aralo, Ismene, Korthos (?), Elora, Chaunce, and Azrael.

OH MY GOD, it's a Calli! How have you been?

I'm in the process of moving into a new garage apartment, so that's why I've been away and will continue to be for a while yet. We have to be out of here before the first, which we should be able to do easily enough... then we have to get the internet shut off here and turned on over there, so I won't be around for a little while.

MURRY CRIMMUS

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj306/b...per_smokin2.jpg A somewhat older picture I was just now able to color. ...I want her clothes. :C But yeah, this is what I imagine her wearing most of the time. (I have a bit of an obsession with the Victorian era, if you couldn't tell.) http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj306/b...per_luvvins.jpg And that's a stupid doodle I did the other day between classes when I should have been studying for finals. I am snugglin' a disgruntled rat! :3 That is all.

After the RP last night, and in light of recent events... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As she went about straightening the house, Piper found herself returning to the covered windows more frequently. Barely peeling back the curtains with one finger, she would peer out into the yard, into the apple and peach trees, into the surrounding woods, looking for something. Each time, she found nothing. Inside the house, she searched for any barely detectable sign that something might be amiss, out of place, or otherwise disturbed from the way she usually kept things. She took note of such trivial observations in daily life, being somewhat paranoid, but her suspicions were apparently unfounded. Everything looked to be in order. Either no one had broken in, or if they did, the intruders were at least as attentive as she was to small details, which she knew was entirely possible. She walked out of the study and to the front doors, making sure they were safely locked, not that it would make much difference if someone were intent on getting inside. However, that didn't mean she had to make the process any easier for prospective intruders. Her sense of hearing was the one she relied on most often, and she hoped her ever-listening ears would pick up any sounds a person might make while trying to break in or sneaking around the house. Piper took hold of the banister and plodded up the wooden staircase as it creaked and groaned beneath her leather boots, providing further assurance that it would be difficult for a person to enter unnoticed. At the top of the stairs, she reached the kitchen and dining area. She bustled about the pantry for a moment, seeming displeased with whatever food she found, until she pulled a bunch of fresh white grapes from a bowl on the counter. She popped one into her mouth and, from the corner of her eye, noticed the moody parrot named Miss Violet eyeing the fruit hungrily from atop her perch by the stairs. Never caring much for birds, Piper had acquired Miss Violet from an elderly lady who could no longer care for the grumpy parrot; creatures in need were Piper's weakness. She plucked one grape from the bunch and cautiously extended her hand to Miss Violet, who snatched the morsel away with a low squawk. The bird held the grape in the dextrous claws of her right foot, rending its juicy flesh with her strong, curved beak. She made quiet, grumbly sounds of approval as she went to work on it, keeping her dilated grey eyes fixed on Piper all the while. "Damn bird," Piper muttered as she rounded the corner and headed up another flight of squeaky stairs, her words muffled by a mouthful of grapes. She opened the door to the bedroom, then closed and locked it behind her. All the windows in here were covered, too; she had made sure of that. She looked around, taking note of the little wooden stool that stood in front of the vanity across the room. Picking it up under one arm, she carried it in front of the window and set it down, taking a seat where she could see outside. The view from here was nearly perfect. If she were careful enough, she could peek out to survey her surroundings without being easily seen by anyone who might be lurking outside. She pulled the curtain back a bit and looked out with worried eyes, finding nothing ususual but still feeling the residual ache of anxiety in her stomach. She finished the last of the grapes and carelessly tossed the collective stem onto the wooden floor. Fidgeting nervously, she checked the window a second and third time, seeming dissatisfied despite having no apparent reason to worry. In truth, she was terribly distressed. Lily's candid discussion of death the previous night had left Piper unsettled and fearful of losing her best and only friend. Lately, it seemed as though everything were closing in entirely too fast, leaving few options for escape. She expected this to happen eventually, but one can never be completely ready for such a thing. She felt pulled in several different directions, unsure of which path would be the best to take. She wanted to follow after Lily, though she wasn't sure what good that would do other than to alleviate her own worries, and it wasn't worth the risk. If they were both found by Lily's opponents, there would be little hope left for them. Not only that, but if the Guardians found Piper running with her, she would likely have to face severe consequences that would make her unable to help Lily. Then Charlie wanted Piper to try to convince Lily to turn herself in to the Guardians for her own sake. Piper saw this as the best option, except that the Royal Guard would want her turned over to them, and her execution would soon follow. However, if Lily continued to run on her own, any number of things could happen to her. Her enemies or the Royal Guard could find and kill her, or she could die from her wounds. Suddenly, Piper winced in pain and looked down at her upper arms. While pondering the options and possible outcomes, she had unconsciously clawed them to the point that they now bled slightly in places. She cursed under her breath and held up her claws, examining the blood caked under them and smeared on her fingertips. She paused, and in an instant, her pupils shrank to tiny dots in her green eyes that now focused on an invisible point before her. A hundred broken images flooded her mind like shards of glass crashing upon the ground, shattered and disjointed, barely recognizable even to her - innumerable pieces of an unsolved puzzle. Indiscernible fragments of words, screams, laughter, and other sounds assailed her ears, piercing them until it felt as though they drilled into the innermost parts of her brain. "Turn it down!" she screamed, grabbing the sides of her head. She slammed herself up against the wall beside her, throwing the stool off-balance and tumbling to the floor in a heap. A loud, anguished groan escaped her as she sat up, drawing her legs up close to her torso. Presently, she took the note Lily had dropped in her pocket and looked at it, examining the writing style at length. "It must get rid of this, orTheywillfindit - Theywillknow!" With that, she tore the paper with her teeth, swallowing it in ripped sections. "Now for some preparations, precautions to be made," her voice trailed off as she jumped up and hurried down both flights of stairs to the study on the first floor. She rummaged through a few things until she found what she was looking for. With a wry half-smile, she tucked it away down her shirt, concealing it in the cloth wrappings she often bound her chest with. "Just in case," she reassured herself, now speaking in a normal voice. Her tone turned to an unusually gleeful one, and she smiled as she headed outside for the stable. "No snow? Perfect! It shall have Its ride after all!"

Thanks, guys... the cardiologist said it may or may not have been a heart attack... so we'll see.

It appears that my mom had a heart attack sometime earlier this month. She was going to the doctor for an unrelated surgery and when they did her EKG, it came back showing she'd had a heart attack. They did two more just to be sure. She said she remembers the day it happened because she experienced some pain and tightness in her chest, and she's had palpitations at night. So she'll be seeing a cardiologist tomorrow, and hopefully they can get some things taken care of and give her the okay to go through the other surgery. She seems to be fine, but I know her cholesterol is terrible. Please keep her in your thoughts, or your prayers, if you do it that way. Thank you.

Congrats! :3

Happy boithday!

y thx u. Woo, 21, now I can do all the things I have no interest in doing, like go to clubs and buy nasty nasty beer! YEEEEUH!

(See, told you I'd put something up. This one was written mostly because it makes me chuckle. They've been doing a lot of joking around while hiding out, so I wanted to show some of that in addition to the serious stuff.) Piper sat on the wooden floor beside Lily at their makeshift underground sanctuary, leaning back against the old staircase. She looked over at her friend, who was wrapped from shoulder to waist in bandages stained with blood - both her own and that of at least one other person, most likely. "I'd offer you another shroud," she said, "but it's in my house, and that's all locked and boarded up." "It probably isn't anymore," Lily reminded her. "Well... true... but the point is, I don't want to go there." Piper stopped and thought for a moment, then grinned broadly, remembering the terribly gaudy, lacy abomination she had worn as a disguise a few days prior. "I could give you my lovely dress!" "Hades no!" Lily said, horrified. "But it suits you!" "Great, now I'm half wishing they had finished me off." "What! You'd be adorably frilly. Then no one could bear to hurt you. In fact, it would probably melt them where they stand," Piper concluded with a smirk. Lily stared blankly for a moment. "I can't kill it with my brain fast enough." Piper frowned. "You never like my ideas." "Well, to be blunt, that's because you think like a girl," Lily admitted, grinning. "But no, see, the cute would destroy them. Destruction is manly, right?" "Not by cuteness." "Oh, well, drat. Perhaps you could call down lightning from the heavens and smite them down in one massive strike," Piper said, wiggling her fingers in the air for effect. "If I were a mage, that'd be nice," Lily speculated. "Well, no, you'd have to find favor with the gods first... which... well..." Piper eyed Lily up and down, indicating that there was a clear problem with this. "Which one of them likes killing?" the spy inquired. "I'm pretty sure he likes me." "I don't know. I don't even think I know all of the ones there are," Piper hummed to herself, touching a finger to her mouth in thought. "Surely one likes to kill things... with lightning... and manliness." She paused, then muttered softly, "...and puppies." "I doubt that there's a god that smites with puppies." Piper snapped her fingers, feigning disappointment with a serious expression on her face. "Then you, my friend, are out of luck." "Oh, of course, indeed," Lily concurred in jest. Piper had been trying to keep conversation lighthearted as best as she could, but she had to ask, "Are you still doing alright?" "I wouldn't say alright. I'm still alive, obviously, and not going down the other path." "That's what I meant, I guess." Lily chuckled dryly at that. "I think," she stopped for a second, stumbling over her words. "I think I may need to take a nap." Piper nodded. "Alright." She turned to find Lily already fast asleep. She shook her head, giving the slightest crooked smile. She knew Lily must have been tired after the trip they'd made earlier. Her friend's condition worried her; she had to be weak, and she knew all the walking must have taken a toll on her body. At least she was doing relatively well, Piper thought. Ever since Lily had first been wounded, Piper had been terrified that she might not recover. She tried her best to push the thought from her mind, but couldn't seem to shake it. She wondered from time to time what the Guardians would do to her if they found out she had been secretive in assisting Lily. She had broken laws in the process, deliberately lied to a praetorian, and helped in the mutilation of a corpse, even if she didn't take a direct part in it. However, she decided it didn't matter in the end anyway. If her purpose was to uphold honor, she had done so according to her own standards and morals. To her, it was far more honorable to help a person she cared for than to watch her die from the sidelines for the sake of upholding the law. Laws were trivial; she knew she couldn't live with herself if Lily had died and she didn't at least try to do what she could to help. The legal way would be dangerous for several people, she judged. At least this way, only she and Lily were involved, as far as she could tell. The consequences of her actions were of little concern to Piper. Years of isolation had made her incredibly loyal to those few people she deeply cared for - and indeed she did consider Lily to be her best and only true friend, aside from Thom. As she thought to herself, she watched the unassuming espionage agent sleep and wondered why she even liked Lily at all in the first place. Aside from the fact that she was a spy and an assassin, Lily was also mentally unstable, unapproachable, condescending, and frustrating in general, but she had gone out of her way to help Piper on more than one occasion. Piper found her interesting and strangely likeable, in a way. She appreciated Lily's brutal honesty, even if she could be harsh at times, and found her to be a welcome break from the monotony she often saw in other people. She imagined Lily liked her too, at least to a certain extent; otherwise she wouldn't tolerate her for such extended periods of time - not of her own volition, anyway. Well, at least she didn't dislike her, Piper thought. That was better than nothing. She grumbled quietly in frustration as she stood with some effort, brushing dirt from her hooded robe. She turned and looked down at Lily as she slept, giving an exasperated sigh as she pulled the robe off over her head. It was night now, and dark outside; she could get around without it for the time being. She quietly flapped the robe in the air and it billowed out, lightly falling over Lily like a blanket as Piper knelt down beside her. She tried to tuck it as close to Lily's body as she could without actually touching her, afraid that waking her would mean a swift punch to her nose. Once she was satisfied that the cool air would be kept out, Piper inched away as silently as possible, her eyes fixed on Lily's face for any hint that she had been disturbed. Piper could very clearly imagine the feeling of her friend's fist impacting her face, and she grimaced anxiously, teeth bared, until she was safely out of the feisty spy's reach. She breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up the staff she had set on the floor earlier that night, using it to help pull herself to her feet. She took a step toward the door, then turned back. "I told you to get better already, you terrible little woman," she scolded under her breath, not meaning to verbalize her thoughts. Her ears dropped low in an instant as she covered her mouth in terror, hoping she wasn't too loud. She watched Lily for a minute and when she didn't move, Piper backed through the huge gap in the wall so slowly that she barely seemed to move. When her boot slipped over a rock and made the smallest muffled sound, Piper's ears perked up and she frantically scrambled away to her mount, cursing in her head all the while about the drawbacks of having a paranoid assassin for a friend...

I DO NOT WASTE MY TIME ON SUCH PALTRY AND TRIVIAL AFFAIRS AS EVERQUEST, SIR!!!!!!!!!!11!1!

THAT IS JUST A FRONT He's probably some form of mutated snowman that's not really made of snow at all...

Just in case you've ever wondered what your responsible and dedicated senators do at 3:30 AM... Locked those down right where they were in the senate headquarters behind Gale... That image kind of creeps me out. I mean, imagine walking into an office to find a snowman in a pink scarf sitting behind the desk, barbecuing a skinned goat carcass by the light of a giant candle adorned with a ridiculously huge purple bow. He has a perpetual knowing smile and his coal eyes never blink...! There is also a map on the wall behind him, so clearly he is plotting world domination. ...I must be tired. Bedtime!

NOW WHO'S THE NOOB, NOOB?!

You get a free cloak, then...! Right?

The chill in the air had been growing more bold lately as autumn began to set in. Piper rolled the sleeves of her loose-fitting white shirt down over her wrists and gripped her arms tightly, rubbing them rapidly for warmth. The green ivy-print vest she wore did little to help in the way of keeping out the cold, even when buttoned. She briefly surveyed her meticulously-manicured garden, squinting in the lantern-lit darkness before turning around and pushing open the wooden door to her home. The chimes that were fastened to the door clanged together lightly as she entered, breaking the silence of the otherwise quiet house. She wasted no time in locking and bolting the doors shut, looking around anxiously as though not even the iron bolts could ease her worries. She awkwardly kicked off one boot and stumbled while trying to remove the other, leaning against the wall for support to keep from falling over. Piper walked toward the warm fireplace, in front of which was a large collection of pillows tossed together in a messy pile on the hardwood floor. She eased her way into a crouching position and winced, placing a hand on the small of her aching back before finally lowering herself down onto the cushioned pile. She stretched and wiggled her clawed toes in front of the crackling fire, then drew her legs up close to her body as she lay back onto the pillows, pulling a small cinnamon-red one up under her head. Piper cautiously reached into her pants-pocket and produced the dagger her "friend" had so lovingly hurled at her earlier that evening at Galehaven Tavern. She nervously flipped it around in her hands, the flickering firelight reflecting off the polished metal in varying warm hues of yellow and orange. Pinching the tip of the blade between her thumb and first two fingers, she raised the small weapon above her and carelessly allowed it to dangle there, lightly swinging it back and forth as she stared up at the bottom of the pommel, which now hovered directly over her face. Suddenly, something fell loose and hit her square between the eyes. "Ahg! Damn it!" she exclaimed in pain as she threw the dagger aside, instinctively sitting erect and rubbing the bridge of her sore nose. She intently scoured the lit radius around the fireplace in search of the blunt object that had fallen on her. Cocking her head to the left inquisitively, she picked up a small dark object from between two pillows - the entire handle of the dagger. She ran her clawed fingers over it, tilting it every which way until she noticed something peculiar; it was hollowed out on the inside. She lifted it to eye level and peered in, seeing what appeared to be a small scrap of parchment flattened against the inner wall of the handle where the blade would normally be inserted. She gingerly plucked it out with the tip of one claw and unfolded it, straining to read the handwriting in the dim light. "Located the last Eriskyne. Eliminate, plant Royal Guard regalia." The young woman's brow furrowed in thought, and her intelligent green eyes quickly darted from side to side, barely noticeably, as she began to make connections in her mind. She touched a finger to her chin, tapping it there until a wry half-smile crept across her lips. "That clever little imp!" she declared aloud, sounding half-amused. She shook her head a few times in disbelief and pushed herself up off the pillows, her gaze still fixed on the note as she walked back toward the doorway. She deftly unlocked the doors and pulled back the bolts before returning to the fireplace. Sitting back down on the pillows, Piper set the note aside and stuck a hand between her shirt and her vest, digging around until she found a small bag of herbs that had been hidden there. She then pulled a small wooden pipe from her pants-pocket and set about packing it with the herbs. She sprinkled generous pinches of it into the pipe's bowl and gently patted it down with a finger, then raised it to her mouth and held it there with her teeth. Picking up the note and leaning forward with her arm outstretched, she held the parchment above the fire until it barely caught flame. She held it up to her pipe until it lit, gave a few test puffs, then tossed the burning message into the fire. She watched, mesmerized, as the embers seared the parchment. Small holes would appear from black blotches and open steadily wider until flames slithered up through them, dancing and crackling, sending a winding stream of smoke swirling upward. She watched until the note was completely consumed by the fire, leaving only a few unassuming ashes in its stead. Her bright eyes mirrored the flickering fire as she casually inhaled from the pipe that hung loosely from her lips. Smoke escaped her nose and mouth, clouding her face as she mused aloud, "At least no one can accuse me of keeping dull company!"

Awww... well, we remember it anyway!