Inside a Tin Can

The wind wispers, its voices slowly pealing back the darkness which had enveloped me. At first, there was nothing, only those voices again, calling to me softly, their soundless words touching the soft fur of my ears like gentile fingers. Soothing me, comforting me. And then the world broke apart again, and pain seared through every inch of my body, and I lost the voices in an agonized scream, though I know no sound left my throat. Every inch of my hide felt scoured, every bit of fur seemed to scream in pain against the harsh grit of the wind. And mingled with the pain was an aching dullness of clotted over cuts and scratches, and the bitter smell of blood caked with earth was all I knew.
Hours passed, perhaps a day, perhaps two, and then at last the world begain to become coherant again. Still the smell, now with the added stench of decaying blood layered over it, and still the pain, but my mind could now block out those feelings. I curled in on myself and focused, and called up all my strength to stand. One hoof tried to slide out from under me, but I found at last my feet beneath me, touching earth. Fighting away a wave of nausia, I called the spirits, and felt the wave of healing flow through my flesh. Wounds which were caked with dirt expelled their filth and healed, fur returned where it had been seared away, and I felt my head begin to clear at last.
The Barrens. I had crossed them before, heading to Duotar and to Ogrimar, and I had though nothing of them. The roads had been easy beneith my hooves, the land passing me by as I ran. Now I knew different. I had through Duotar a hell, until I had truly come to know The Barrens. Centaurs, with their poisoned spears. Raptors with claws as big as my horns. Wild plainstriders whoes kick could break ribs. And so many other foul creatures without count. Some, I reminded myself, had their places in nature, while others were simply struggling to survive against the odds. But not what had done this to me.
I had never seen a night elf before, only heard of them in stories from the elders. Wild and beautiful, creatures of the deep forests, born to the hunt just as the Tauren were. I had thought them like me, perhaps, dispite the fact they sided with the Aliance, and not the Horde. How wrong I had been.
I remembered the savegry of the attack, and yet at the same time the beauty of the attacker. Silver hair, skin the color of silverleaf blossoms, and those wild burning eyes. The great paws of her wild cat mount as they slashed at me, her wicked blade cutting into my flesh as I tried to run. I had been no match for her, none at all. I had only survived because of her haste - she left to slay others once I fell to the ground, bleeding and broken but not dead. I crawled into a ditch and lay down beneith the thornbushes, knowing only that death might be welcome.
But I had lived, and now I understood. The fight between Horde and Aliance was one of fury and blood, not of reason. I would fight when my time came. And I would do it proudly.

Oooo

Just broke my multi-year long McDonalds fast.
Quarter Pounder with cheese and onions, and a large fry. Mmmm. I can feel the chemicals surging through my system already.
I can hardly beleive I just ate it ... nor how damned good it taisted. I swear they put crack in those burgers, because I'm already wanting another one. God. *cries*

Weekend in Review

Ok, had an ok weekend. Went to one day of Anime Weekend Atlanta - saturday, so had a bit of fun. We had three day passes but didnt know that alot of stuff was friday, and didnt really enjoy saturday enough to make it worth going back on sunday. We did snag some cool loot in the dealers room though, including a really awesome plushie of the stuffed lion from bleach (a gift from Erik to me), and the little frog from naruto (my gift to Erik). So we now both have plushies of our favorite anime cuteness characters. (Embarasing side note - I'm 24 and spent the night curled up with my new lion plush because it felt sooo comfortable to sleep with. Who says its too late to have a good childhood.) We also got Erik a really awesome Kohana crest messenger bag, quite possibly the niftiest thing I've ever seen. He loves it, and we used it most of the day after we got it to carry our stuff.
Sat in on the costume contest, which was seriously awesome just for the shear scale of some of the costumes. There were several very amazing Angel Sanctuary entries, and one incredible Naruto group entry which had most of the cast. The overall winner though was one of the most awesome things I've ever seen - three characters from Katamari with an actually katamari ball and lots of the little things you can roll up. One of the best costuming jobs ive EVER seen. Was disapointed that the Catuar who won the Dragon Con cosplay contest wasnt there, but there were allot of other good entries there as well. One youth entry of note was the Faceless from Spirited away, complete with moving mouth. I was sad it didnt get a prize, because it was very well done.
However, as a whole, the con wasnt all that good, and really, needed a better scheduling job. Too much good stuff was on opposite while there were big gaps with nothing going on. Did get to see the fan video that the american voice of Edward from FMA did, which was Funny as fuck. If you get a chance to go to a con that is showing it, track down Full Metal Fantasy. He got most of his fellow voice actors from the FMA american cast to work with him, and they all made costumes of their characters for the film. HAH. Fandom comes full circle.

Sunday was interesting. Spent most of the day feeling kinda hung over, but got to see two very awesome things - Final Fantasy VII: Last Order, and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Yes, both subtitled. And they both rock. Last Order is a prequil which fills in some story points from 7 for Advent Children. And Advent Children ... *Fangirl SQUEEE* AMAZING. I kept forgetting I was watching CG, it was THAT well done. And to see all my old friends from FF7 brought to life like that, was amazing. I especially liked that Cait Sith was riding Red XIII instead of his fortune bot. And Cid was amazingly well done. Spent a few moments trying to decide which Bahamute was summoned. *geek* But soooo amazing. I really really want a remake of 7 now. *cries* With the new Advent Children story as a final chapter added to the game. It really added alot to the story, I thought. And Aries. SQUEE. ANd the bike. SQUEE. And Sephi! SQUEEEEEE. And his younger brothers! SQUEEEE. *has yaoi incest moment* SQUEEEEEEEE. Ok, happy fan girl.

Oh boy.

A few sips of Clan MacGregor and my brain goes weird on me. I need to drink - more than I have been and get the tollerance back up so I can go do a night of gray goose and ice again at Manuals.

Excuse me, this is floating in my brain and I have to get it out:
I like good scotch and I cannot lie,
and you other drinkers cannot deny
that when the bottle pops open with a little tiny hiss...

Oh god I did NOT just filk Sir Mix a Lot.

Thats it, im going to finish getting drunk and go pass out. My ice is melting in my Clan MacGregor.

ARRRR!!!! Its Driven me Nuts!

So a pirate walks into a bar with a ships wheel shoved down his pants. Bartender says "Excuse me sir, is that a steering wheel in your pants?"
The pirate says "Arrr, it be driven me nuts!"

Spirit Speaker

The dust has settled into the sweat on my cannons, matting the short brown fur which terminates above the hard black surface of my hoves. Red dust. This land is so different from my home, so strange, yet here I stand, my hooves planted in its earth, and I can still hear the voices speaking to me.
In the wind, they are calling my name, in the small pools of bitter water they sing softly, even in the waves of heat on the horizon they dance, beckoning me forwards. From the time I had sense enough as a calf to know what words were, I have heard them. Spirit Speaker, they said, and there was a Path for me to walk.
Another stone bites painfully into the soft bottom of one of my feet, sending pain shooting through my leg again and I stumble, catching myself on my walking stick. The corium is bruised deeply, but I cannot stop, cannot rest for any longer than it takes me to drink from a brakish pool or to grab a thorny mouthfull of plant from a passing shrub. Those voices will not stop until I reach my goal. I grunt with pain, bear the weight onto my stick, and keep walking. A dust devil gibbers at me insanely as it whirls by.
I miss my home. I miss the green fields of Mulgore, where the wind was sweet with Peaceblossom and cedar, and the dust was soft and brown. Where there were no sharp stones in the soil, and where the grass was sweet to the taist. And where other Tauren roam, where the kodo are hunted, where life is good and green. Home. Village. Family. Elders. Not here, searching for some mad troll and his mountian shrine.
But this is my path. I have to find him. The village Shaman told me when I was a calf that one day I must do this, I grew up knowing one day I would cross The Barrens and enter this land of Orcs and Trolls and find my way to the Troll Shaman and his shrine here.
Another scorpion looms out of the rocks in front of me, and it is all I can do to smash its brains in with the end of my staff before it stings me. They are huge creatures, the size of small dogs, big enough even a Kodo could die from their stings. Worse even than the Rapters which haunt the rocks and box canoyons or the crocodiles in the river which bounded this red hell. Durotar. Hell.
But the voices in the hot wind wisper in my ears when the flies are not buzzing in them. Shaman. Young Shaman. The Fire calls you. The Earth speaks to you. The Wind wispers to you. The Water dances for you. Follow us, we will show you the way. And I do. I follow their voices, empty and calling, to the foot of the mountians. My hooves are bleeding, and I have had no water for a day. My fur is the color of the dried clotted blood on my hooves, though it is a deep glossy black beneith the dust. But here is the marker stone, and the narrow path. Leading up.
Climb. The wind wispers to me. We will hold you up.
Climb. The earth comforts me. I am beneith your hooves.
I wrap my thick fingers around the first outcroping of rock and pull myself up. I start the climb. And the spirits wisper to me. Shaman.

Random

Going to sleep now. Got a few little fics roving around in a herd in my head like small wordy antelope. You would think as long as I've been a fan of Stargate I would have been writing fic for it before now. Never gave it much thought till today really. A few others roving around too - I think one of them may be a Warcraft fic because it looks suspiciously like a Tauren. Maybe Ill work on one of them tomorrow. Not sure which one yet though.
Last nights dreams are still bugging me, but I still cant put a finger on why they are being so annoying.
Oh yeah, got Comand And Conquer Generals and Zero Hour today. Lots of fun. Suicide bomb trucks should really not be that much fun to use. *is a sick sick puppy*

Dreams

I had a very strange and elaborate series of dreams last night which left me feeling very strange when I woke up to discover that i had slept nearly two hours later than I intended to. Something about these dreams was either important, or very compelling.

The dreams began with an X-fileish sort of format, with Mulder investigating something with somehow left him in charge of several teenagers / older kids at a very large sci-fi convention. At this convention (which seemed to be in a costal city, since I remember something to do with a warf near the hotel) Mulder met a woman dressed in black leather scale armor, tall and very lean (nearly skelletal), with long black hair. Romantic infatuation resulted, with her seemingly very smitten by Mulder to her own amazement. Yet every attempt by her to wrangle Mulder into bed was met with frustration. Finally after one particularly frustrating attempt, foiled mostly due to sexual shyness and awkwardness, she vanished.
At this point in the dream, the sceen shifted away from the convention and into the town as a whole. For some reason, Mulder and the group were camping in a rather rundown campground in their rental car. There was an odd interlude here about one of the kids having to fight off a dog, and being bitten minorly on the arm in the process.
The woman shows back up the next day, moving stiffly and in pain. One of the kids with some medical knowledge takes a look at her and discovers that under her armor she is covered with bruises, bone bruises, and possibly has three or four cracked ribs. It looks as though someone has systematicly beaten the hell out of her. She, of course, refuses to talk about it until much later in the day. Mulder at last gets her to explain what happend - she has been sent to kill him and has been punished for her failure to do so yet. In fact, she doesnt want to kill him because she has fallen in love with him. But, because the person who wants him dead wolnt give up, she comes up with a way to have Mulder fake his assasination at her hands, so that they can both escape.
I dont remember the details, but something goes wrong and she is killed in the process, but Mulder successfully convinces whoever it is who is trying to kill him that he has been killed. Heartbroken, he sets out to get revenge on the person who caused her death, and who wanted him dead. And of course, in the process Mulder goes off half cocked and attacks the guy (a rich fat fucker) in the street, thus blowing the cover that he was dead.

The story then shifts to myself and another person investigating a strange temple somewhere in Asia. The temple is built of bones, and at its base inside there is a strange glass box with displays different things as you look at it from different distances. At first the displays are warnings, skulls and bones and what not, until at last they vanish in layers to reveal the face of a dragon with glowing red eyes. These eyes seem to fill anyone who looks at them with dread enough to make them want to leave Right Then. But I pushed forward, and discovered that beyond the eyes there were even more things displayed. Namely, displays which predicted earthquakes, and contained further puzzles to reveal what the box actually was. Beyond the dragons eyes and the earthquakes, there was an image of a creature which promised enlightenment, and spoke directly to me when I saw it. Too, the eyes of the dragon were actually the eyes of the man who created the box, and there was an image of him with the same glowing orange eyes. And a moth with a star of pure energy on its wings. And burried within all of these images was text, containing information and hidden puzzles. And even how the box was made.
Suddenly, Im on a plane, trying to get all the images ive taken of the box and its contents uploaded from this device which looks like a telescope/night vision scope onto my laptop, but I cannot find the connector. Suddenly, the big fat rich guy who wanted Mulder dead sits down next to me, and watches a movie of Mulder attacking him, while looking at a file folder which is filled with the print out versions of all the images in the box. While he is distracted by watching Mulder attack him, I grab the contents of the folder and sneak away.
The last thing I remember is sitting down somewhere else on the plane, reading the documents, and discovering that all of this has something to do with Mulder, but not sure what, and that somehow these copies of the documents are the very images I took, but havent gotten off my device yet.

And that was when I finally woke up for the last time around 12:30.

Template Changes

In lew of doing things I should be doing, I've been working on a new template for my blog. If you see the site randomly seem to flicker between this site and a new one, dont wory, its just me working on it.

Thus far, ive learned that CSS and PHP includes dont seem to like each other all that much. Working to fix this before the thing goes live, so I can still keep quotes as an on page but separate blog.

Post Dragon Con Quickie

I'm going to hell. I watched a movie with crusifix bukkake in it. I'm SO going to hell.
More later, when I'm not dead.

Leaving Online

Ok guys, its Dragon COn time. I'm leaving my AIM online, but I wolnt be back till Monday evening. Take care everyone, be safe, and keep the look out going.

*waves*
(wish me luck)

Obligatory NO/Katrina Post

I've been sitting here watching the devistation in New Orleans and surounding areas, and noticing my own reaction to the situation. On the one hand, most people are in shock, lost in the horror of what is happening. I'm sitting here watching in a sort of bemused disgust as I see my theories of humanity and civilization confirmed one after another.

Dont kind yourselves folks, civilization is a very pretty and very very thin venier over the cheapest possible particle board of animal instinct and behavior. It takes very little for it to warp and peal away, revealing the horrible nastiness that is human instinct. If you dont beleive me, watch what is happening now.

The unfortunate thing is that the average modern civilized western human has no idea how to deal with the insticts which will try to keep them alive in a situation like this. A very few of us, those with some sort of survival training or really any personal training in diciplin and self support, know what to do. The rest are too confused in their signals of what needs are, what survival entails, and what is actually important in everyday life. People loot nikies because its what they think they need - what they have been conditioned to think they need. Grocery stores have been emptied because people dont know what food is useful in a situation like this. They hoard to keep others from taking things they dont know if they will need or not because they simply do not know (or at least will not stop and think long enough) if they actually need the item to survive. The latter is a very strong instinct in primates, unfortunately. We will befoul resources to keep other tribes from having them (chimpanzees do the same thing).

A few lucky folks know what to do, and are doing very well. Interdictor and crew are hold up in a web hosting company which they own/run and have had totally uninterupted service throughout. These folks are doing very well, and have provided a news source for many of us. I wish them the best. They have done well because they knew what to do, had a plan, and have focused on the essentials of keeping their place secure and operational. Hopefully they will not make the standard zombie survivor mistake of letting unknown people into the situation with them.

In truth, I know that one day very soon I may wake up and have no power, no internet, no TV, and none of the blanket coverage of law and order. I have a fairly good idea of what will be happening if that happens, and how to deal with it. I have a few useful skills for survival, and know a great deal about both urban and wilderness survival skills. I have a good layer of body fat, so will not starve before I can find a place with food and shelter. I know how to purify water contaminated with damned near anything. I know what to eat and what not to eat. I know, and hope, that I am very well prepared were something like this to happen where I live.

I cannot but wonder at this, and know that I was right. Damn it, I hate being right.