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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

(I have not the foggiest idea where we are, so Mist is just jumping on in. )

Another morning had dawned. Mist, despite still having her doubts about what this whole gathering was about, was excited for the new day. With her sword at her side and her helmet again on her head, she had many a plan whirling through her mind. There were so many intriguing people here whom she had not yet had the chance to talk to, and some had such an air of mystery around them! Besides, it had been far too long since she had last had a good caper. There were no battles going on in the immediate vicinity, were there? No, no. No one to go to Valhalla now... the rest of the Valkyries could certainly manage in her absence, anyway. But a Valkyrie can only go for just so long without a bout of mischief and mystery! Mist made a flying sweep through the dining hall, eating a piece of toast and a couple strawberries and narrowly missing bumping into Eliza.

When she exited the room, she noticed the Headless Horseman over by one of the windows. The room was fairly empty, so she made her way over to him. "Lovely morning, is it not, sir?" She took a deep breath of the fresh, cold air, closing her eyes as she did so.

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Banner from Nellie

Evening all but floated down the sweeping staircase, looking forward to the new day. She was not exactly certain what the time was, but then the time of day had never concerned her much. Days could pass her by like a breeze and it would not seem much of an odd occurrence. She could hear voices coming from the dining room, so she headed in that direction. The Headless Horseman and Mist were over by the windows, and she waved merrily. “Good morning!”
She helped herself to a tall glass of orange juice. “I haven’t yet explored the mansion properly. I must say I’m rather interested as to whether there’s any woodland surrounding this property. I haven’t had a good walk in days.”

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

Upon hearing a cheery "Good morning" from behind her, Mist opened her eyes and spun around. "Good morning," she said softly, her voice full of friendliness and energy. Stretching her arms out by her sides, she threw back her head for a moment. Then, she knew what she wanted to do. Company was good most of the time, so company she would have now! She glided over towards Evening, still smiling. "I haven't done any exploring yet, either." She leaned against the wall next to Evening, observing her face. "Although I have had quite the walk within the past few days," she added ruefully. "I came here through some woods, but I don't very well know where they start and end."

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Banner from Nellie

Evening smiled as Mist approached her, and she set down her glass of orange juice on the table. “Start and end?” she said, her expression vibrant. “The real key of exploration is not of the start nor the end, but the middle. That’s what interests me.” She seemed captivated by the topic, not so much of her own words, for she was not at all an arrogant person, but of the real matter in hand: walking, exploring. Wandering. “To be alone for days on end, not knowing really how far you’ve gone. In the chill or the sun…” she shook her head, and a few curls of bright hair bounced. “That is the very essence of adventuring, my dear!”
She reached for a chocolate biscuit. “Now…” she considered. “I shall have to go for a proper long walk sometime whilst I’m here. But first, how about seeing if this place has a garden?”
Her features were radiant with friendliness and invitation.

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

Mist shrugged. "You speak well, and rightly, I suppose," she replied. "You could say that all the adventuring I've been through recently has somewhat cooled the spark of adventure in me! In fact, I still have to learn why I'm here, and how I'm here..." She laughed lightly, though slight concern showed in her face. "Yet, Odin must have known what he was doing when he sent me here. I only wish he would have sent me with a spare change of clothes!" She winked at her new companion, and tugged on her light blue sash.

"That sounds like a very good plan," Mist said. "Surely there must be a garden around here somewhere, although..." - she lowered her voice to a whisper - "I don't know how well-kept it would be, seeing how the rest of this place is. It has quite the air of desertion about it."

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Banner from Nellie

Evening listened with a kind smile. “An adventure is an adventure,” she said, and patted her gently on the shoulder. “I suppose you’ll have to be content for now! I’ve never been anywhere like this before. So I suppose for both of us this is unusual.”
She resisted the urge to finish the entire packet of biscuits, and left them on the table.
Leaning in to catch Mist’s conspiratorial whisper, she gave a small laugh. “Oh dear! I suppose if we were to find a garden it might have an air of wild beauty about it, if it is indeed ill-kept. But if it is just plain ugly, that I cannot abide. We would have to do something about it.”

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

"Very unusual!" Mist said, laughing again.
"Hopefully there'll at least be a rose bush, then I will be happy," she said with a nod. "If not, then it will be subject to my harshest criticism! Or perhaps not," she teased. "Although I've always been a great admirer of gardens, I've never been a good judge of them. Gardens just aren't in my line of work, and so I don't often get to spend too much time in them."

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Banner from Nellie

"I would love to join your little rendez-vous mr Horseman" Sparkle smiled sweetly. She left the chocolate cookies be and joined him at the window.
"Ooh.. I do have a thing for gardens and mysterious, gayly, Headless strangers.." she sighed and threw an eye-batting look somewhere above his high collar.

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O children, lift up your voice, lift up your voice,
Children, rejoice, rejoice..



It doesn't matter you don't believe in God, He believes in you.

Holly heard The Horseman's invitation, and, gabbing a biscuit from the dining room, went out to join him. "I like to explore. May I join your adventuring party?" She munched on her biscuit, mmm... buttery flakey goodness with apricot preserves in the middle...

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Married Artemis Fowl on July 16, 2007
[!+^$%=#?&]
The Seemingly Nice But Actually Really Nasty Nazgul
School ate my life. *sigh*

[Lovely post Lydia - and welcome to the party ]


"Nobody knows where my Johnny has gone, Judy left the same time. Why was he holding her hand - when he's supposed to be mine."

A humming with occasional lyrics attatched to it emerged from the overgrown garden. Soon the entire figure, ducking under heavy branches and dodging thicket that waved its thorny arms around almost as if it had been alive ... or well, alive in the evil, flesh-ripping, meat-eating sense usually found in horror movies behind gloomy, old mansions like... well, like this particular one, if you must know!

"It's my part and I cry if I want to, cry if I want to.
You would cry too if it happened tooo youuuuu."

Dusting off some cobwebs and windfall fruit, Eä made her way to the house bright smiling and with a healthy colour in her cheeks, indicating hours spent outside in the crisp autumn weather.
With a sack on her back, her appearance rather led the thought to the merry dwarves from Snowwhite... or the Hunchback of Notre Dame ... or Santa... depending on the viewer's childhood orientation.

"Who wants to make chestnut animals?"
Tossing the sack on the huge oaken table in the dining hall, Eä proudly revealed her catch. A bunch of brown, soft, shiny chestnuts danced and rolled merrily across the table.

"Chestnut animals is always a hit. It's really fun to make them.. and we can roast the rest!
Now we just need some matches..."

She looked about in the room as if expecting an army of match-people to have shown up in the meantime.

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>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Oblivious to the electrical air caused by unspoken words and quick glances exchanged by certain guests in the room, Eä gathered the chestnuts on the table, carefully selecting the biggest and ... roundest!

"No, I believe we are a rather exclusive group of individuals, us, who know the ancient art of chestnut animaling."
Eä offered the Horseman a rather lenient glance though mischief glinted playfully in her grey-green eyes.

"But I will reveal a secret or two, my dear Algernon, if only you provide me with some matches."

Twirling around, she grabbed a scarf for dramatic effect wrapping it loosely around her face so only the eyes remained visible. Darkening her voice and bowing her head, her hands drawing intricate patterns in the air. Her gypsy-parody was complete.

"Mysteries will unfold, ancient wisdom will be spoken again, mountains will shake and the earth turn in the fiery pits.
It is time for chestnut animals!

Are you ready, my friend?"

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>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

Sparkle frowned upon Eä's act, not entirely aqcuinted with the ritual she was performing. Taking a few steps back when the Horseman presented the matches, she after all did want stains on her sparkling dress, she watched with curiosity.

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O children, lift up your voice, lift up your voice,
Children, rejoice, rejoice..



It doesn't matter you don't believe in God, He believes in you.

"Very good my dear Horseman."

She relieved herself from the scarf and draped it around the shoulders instead. Noticing the Horseman's discomfort with her highly developed female intuition (well, I'm not quite sure Eä can claim a more sensible intuition than other females - or certain males - but the author, the puppet mistress, felt like saying it!), she patted Algernon on his shoulder - closer to his elbow than his.. well, neck.

"Have a seat, my friend."
Eä gestured to a chair next to her, and emptied the matches on the table next to the small pile of selected chestnuts.

"Okay, so the whole idea and very simple concept is that you pick out the most beautiful, big, soft, round chestnut. That is the body of your animal. And then you poke the matches into the fruit for legs and you can attatch another one as head.
Look, you can also be creative and make... ehh...molecules!

Eä smiled brightly and held up a dislocated figure made up of chestnuts and matches.

"Now let's see what you can do!"

Looking up she noticed the sparkle from.. Sparkle*!

"Pray come over and join us."

She frowned.

"I would say 'the more the merrier' because this indeed is a pastime for more than a couple but that must be the most overabused phrase in the entire universe..."

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>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara