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Portrait practise _fanart

Let it Snow When It's ColdThere was never enough snow or ice to please the mountain spirit. It rose up like a ravenous monster whenever the spring came, and submitted like a lamb when the winter reared its magnificent head. This mountain spirit had no name for itself, but it was affectionately known as "Foti" and "he" by the people who lived at its base and as near its peak as they could manage.

Most of them could only manage to reach a little way up the slope, no more than a two-day journey, but it did please Foti that they tried.

He suspected that they reached so in order to be close to him. During the windy nights, he could sense Let it Snow When It's Cold

Listening to HaBanot Nechama

Adjusting Gravity

Ozma rough concept

Late Christmas present

Decorating the Tree -lineart-

LS in a Nutshell

Like a Dazed Kitten

I Liked These Boots...

More fanart?

The Complete Package

The Writing on the Wall CH30With the spider gone, and the Hollow Man standing before me, I could see the difference between the two. The spider had been like a pet, almost. It had held parts of me in it. What the general had said shuddered through me, even as I backed away, scooting on my rear into a corner between two humming machines.

The Hollow Man did not harbour gratitude as the spider might have. Where the spider had hoped, and had some sort of... at least an illusion of fellow feeling, Hollow Man had nothing. His name had been given by an astute person.

Howling in a dry, cracked voice like icy smoke eking out of a frozen pipe, he advanced upon me. Each stThe Writing on the Wall CH30in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH29Heading out into that hallway again, without the cloak of borrowed darkness, was like walking naked into a rosebush. Fortunately, I wasn't in the lead. Kosmo took point, so to speak, and I had to deal with sharing a sort of place in line with Chrysander. He had latched onto me again, in a way that I was almost becoming accustomed to. Demetrius was last, taking up the rear with a sullen, but dutiful air.

They were all so much like soldiers that I found myself thinking of the general. The spider skittered about as if thinking about the man was like bringing up his name in front of an enemy. It felt so loud that I actually held a hand oveThe Writing on the Wall CH29in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH28What was not complicated, however, was knowing what I had to do. It was not going to be easy to accomplish, but I didn't have any trouble deciding what it was. In the vaguest form, anyway.

I pushed myself off of the table and brushed myself off, affecting far more composure and dignity than I actually felt. "Thank you," I said, unsure of what else I could say to Kosmo. He had known my father. I barely knew my father, but it sounded right, the way Kosmo had complained about him. Or maybe it didn't and he was just concocting some wicked ruse.

At that moment in time, hardly seemed to matter. He did not appear to hear me in any case. HeThe Writing on the Wall CH28in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH27The woman flapped out the collar of her white coat, as if coming so close to me gave her chills. "Very well. I was to inform you of such things in any case, Miss Idony." The way she pronounced my name made it sound like a curse. She turned, made a motion to Kosmo, and then turned back.

There was a crack of paper and suddenly I was no longer holding it. My bluff would not have gone well, it seemed. I pretended that whatever it was he had done, it was beneath my notice.

"As you can see, we have been working on a rather ambitious project," the woman said. She brushed past me, her collar still turned up, and I could see a name tag bearinThe Writing on the Wall CH27in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH26Call me sheltered, and I would hardly argue, but I knew a city when I saw one. "We're in the middle of the countryside!"

Chrysander, his mind still no doubt standing by the bloody linden tree, twisted to press his face against the window. He muttered a half-finished oath under his breath. "We are. I-I think."

"That can't be right." General Thornbehr leaned against the dashboard, squinting at the windscreen. That particular view was one with a city, albeit a blurred one. I could even make out the castle. "Don't be foolish."

"I'm not, look out the side windows."

"You're acting strange, even for you," Demetrius said, leaning against The Writing on the Wall CH26in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH25Returning to the suite of rooms first loaned to me when I had been made a reluctant guest of the Trevino mansion had something of the sense of a homecoming. The wardrobe and vanity saw about as much use in this second visit. I dressed quickly and then looked around the room. Perhaps I would have liked it better if Noni had been there with me. But she had her own place in that enormous house.

We weren't to stay long in any case.

I saw on the edge of the bed and lifted up the shirt to check on my wounds. "You've seen near as much attention as I have," I said to them. They looked rather worse than I did, but I could still see that in spiThe Writing on the Wall CH25in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH24As the dust settled, so did the heavy sensation in my stomach. Like chunks of biscuit dropping to the bottom of a glass of milk. I held a hand over my eyes, as if shielding them from the sun.

"That did not happen last time," I said. I wasn't sure if I was trying to be facetious and failing horribly, or if I was just so bewildered that I didn't know what I was saying.

In the end, it didn't matter. Chrysander reached over to lift an armful of debris from my knees, sweeping at it like a slobby student clearing his desk. I decided not to chide him for being overly familiar. "Dunderwyrms are... Blast it. Demetrius, was that normal? Or shThe Writing on the Wall CH24in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH23Both of my questions went unanswered. Chrysander seemed to have entered a kind of bounty hunter trance and pulled me cautiously along, his eyes sweeping the tunnel for further clues and pieces of the trail, and Demetrius, though he fell into deep thought, must not have had any ideas. Or he just didn't want to share them.

I considered repeating myself, then abandoned the idea as a foolish one. We had finally found something that was if not comfortable, than at least silence.

Then Chrysander stopped again. I followed him to the ground, kneeling right with him and examining the ground at least as closely. There were flecks of something, aThe Writing on the Wall CH23in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH22"We should get Noni. She'll throw a monumental mardy if you try to leave her out."

Demetrius shook his head vehemently. "It's better that she stays here. I'll leave a message with one of the butlers, he'll keep her here and safe."

"You don't know that it isn't safe where we're going," I pointed out.

"Don't I?"

Chrysander increased his pace to stand beside me. "Look, no matter the blasted hurry, you can take five minutes to go and talk to your fiancee about what you plan to do, make her bloody stay here, and then meet us back here." He put a hand on my shoulder. "I've got to find a handkerchief, and unless those red and brown marks aThe Writing on the Wall CH22in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH21"By rights, you should be arrested again," Dr Cordet said, her hand over mine. Her knuckles were white, and my fingers hurt, but it was almost a nice reminder that we had not died.

I laughed, rather unsteadily as I worked my fingers free, dazed after travelling via hasty sigil. It was the first one I had ever made. That thought kept on repeating in my head, so that I was barely aware that Dr Cordet was speaking at all. I had to focus to understand her words.

"As for myself, I have spent far too much time away from my own bed. I have to compile the data gained from our little excursion, which I believe I shall do in combination with a nThe Writing on the Wall CH21in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH20The light grew fast, but thankfully that was because Demetrius had helped me to stand and started walking toward it, taking long strides. He seemed excited to have a goal. Or perhaps that was just me. He could have been embarrassed by his faux pas and wanting to leave it behind, as if it were a physical landmark.

It would have been easier to convince myself of that if he had shown at least a bit of remorse over what he'd done, but that was not something to dwell on. He would never make sense to me, I decided, and that was that.

All thoughts of this nature dribbled out of my head like beads of wax down the sides of a distressed candlestiThe Writing on the Wall CH20in The Writing on the Wall

The Writing on the Wall CH19"That's impossible."

It didn't matter who said it, I wasn't listening terribly closely. All of my attention was on the Hollow Child and its lack of teeth. Hollow Man cried out somewhere. Like a caged animal. "Being used by..." That was the question they should have been asking. Who was using him?

Or perhaps I should have been asking myself why I cared. The other person inside me twitched, and I fell to my knees, retching. Oh, Dr Cordet, thank you so very much. Focusing or thinking, whatever it was she had told me to do, had not just woken up some connection. Nor a magnet pull either.

Someone held my hair back out of my face whileThe Writing on the Wall CH19in The Writing on the Wall

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