Space Marine and Dragonwrangler Bar & Grill

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hillaryjacques

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Tifferbugz

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Good morning, all! Finally went to the doctor for the cough I've had the last month, and got meds for sinus infection and bronchitis. Seriously, I feel like they gave me All The Meds. So if anyone needed any, my bad. :Shrug:

Guest posts that I needed to get done tonight are done. I have moar to write, tomorrow, though. Special thanks to Tifferz for helping me with the blurb.

In annoying news, there's something scratching around in one of the walls of my house. Guess I need to call an exterminator. :( I like critters, but I don't want them in my walls.

Night all!

Anytime. :)

And my mind went straight to horror when you mentioned things skittering about in your walls. But, I'm guessing it's just normal critters, not people-eating critters. :D

Weird week is weird. I woke this morning and my face hurts significantly less. Antibiotics seem to be doing their job.

Also, I've had all these job woes, right? If any of you remember, I interviewed for a full time position with the company I'm at right now back at the beginning of August. I never heard anything & in the system the job status became "On Hold" so I figured that I would never hear anything.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from the hiring manager offering me the position. I formally accepted this morning. I have to receive some paperwork, get a background check, etc. And of course, schedule my transition from one area to the other. I'm pretty excited! My commute will cut in half and a bunch of other things. It almost feels like it fell into my lap at just the right time.

Yay for antibiotics and double yay for the new job! :D Congrats!!

Gais....

My book is on GoodReads. :gone:

I'm actually kinda terrified now.

Oh you're at that fun "it's real" phase, which is awesome yet induces much nausea and worry. When I hit the end of that phase, I'll let you know so you can pinpoint down a timeline for yourself. ;)
 

aliwood

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As the Cantina Turns - Thanksmibble - part 1

Ande slammed a shoulder into the cantina door, knocking it into the wall with a loud crash. The noise echoed back and forth across the otherwise silent room, a tumbleweed rolled past,

“Gais! Gais!” She called,

“Gais! Gais!” Her voice echoed off the far wall. The place was deserted. Ande ran to the bar and hit the alarm button, fumbling through the detritus on the shelves underneath for the emergency directions. Almost immediately Cantinas began pouring in through the door, the teleporter ding-ding-dinged as it spat out person after person and within a few minutes Ande was surrounded by a posse of writers, dressed in all manner of clothing and several of them out of breath.

“What's wrong? What's the emergency?” They asked, looking around and wide-eyed in panic.

“Is this it?” Asked Ande, “only eight of us? Where is everyone?”

“Thanksgiving,” said Eye, sauntering in with a large book tucked under one arm dodging nimbly around the door as it continued to ricochet back and forth on it's hinges, “they've all gone home, so it's just us.”

“You took your time,” Psycho rounded on Eye, “where were you when the alarm went off?”

“In the library,” said Eye, “I figured that you folks always manage to sort things out by yourselves so there wasn't much point in hurrying. So what was the problem this time?”

“We don't know,” said Max, “Ande hasn't told us yet.”

They turned to look at Ande who was busy flicking through the emergency manual. She came to a dead stop and then held up a piece of paper that read “Don't panic”

“Great, just the advice I need,” she said.

“Would you tell us what's going on please? I was just about to make a cup of tea,” said Ali, kettle in hand.

“Great idea, count me in,” said Sian, handing over an empty mug.

“Listen,” said Ande, “this is important. I was just down in Tech Support and I overheard someone talking.”

10s looked puzzled,

“Hold it, I thought you were American, why aren't you home for Thanksgiving?”

Ande rolled her eyes, her shoulders slumped and she sat down heavily on a bar-stool, flattening the Smibble that was sleeping on it. She mumbled into a tequila that had appeared in her magic re-fillable glass,

“I do Tech Support, I never get holidays,” A tear ran down one cheek and splashed on the bar.

“What did you hear though?” Asked Debio.

Ande wiped her face,

“Oh that. Yeah. I overheard a couple of the guys talking and apparently there's some sort of scheme to take over the cantina during Thanksgiving.”

“What for? This place is dump,” Angel said, pointing to the recycling pile next to the fireplace where several itinerant smibbles were nibbling at a Danielle Steele novel.

Ande took a swig of tequila and continued,

“They've heard about the E-Z-Freeze. According to what they were saying they think that the cantina is easy pickings during Thanksgiving, so they're threatening to liberate the contents.”

“What?” The assembled cantinas were outraged.

“What are we going to do? We have to defend ourselves,” several of them cried. They began milling around, collecting weapons and trying to organise each other into commando gear and camouflage. There were harpoons and greasepaint everywhere.

“Hold it. Hold it,” Ali shouted to make herself heard above the chaos. “We can't just rush about like this, we need a plan.”

“Yeah,” said 10s, “A plan. I like your thinking.”

Max, nodded, “A plan sounds like a great idea.”

“What did you have in mind?” Asked Eye who hadn't moved except to crack open the book he was carrying, he peered out over the top of the page.

“From what I remember of Cobra's training, the first thing we should do is have a cup of tea,” said Ali.



A few minutes later the few remaining cantinas, now changed into combat uniforms, were seated around a couple of desks drinking mugs of assorted beverages. Eye had taken charge and they were trying to formulate a plan. Ande went over the conversation she had heard in Tech Support once more.

“So, we are going to be boarded by some unknown part of the forum and they want the contents of the E-Z-Freeze,” said Eye.

“That's about it,” Ande replied.

“How are they getting here?” Asked Sian.

“Excellent question,” said Eye, “what are the possible ways in?”

Angel consulted the cantina map,

“Well, they can't use the teleporters, they're set to recognise cantina members only. That means they can only come in via the corridor from the main forum, or up the ladder from the SFF part of the forum across the moat.

“By land or by sea then”, said Eye, making a note.

“We need to find out where they are coming from though, any ideas?” asked 10s. Ande shook her head,

“Not really, the guys I heard talking tend to hang around in the comedy cabaret, and I think one of them is going out with someone from romance. Also, I need to get back to Tech Support before I'm missed,” said Ande.

Eye nodded, “Thanks for your help Ande. Let's get to work people. We need to check Ande's leads, any volunteers?” He looked around.

“I seem to have the perfect name for it,” said 10s, “but I can't do it by myself.”

“I'll help,” said Sian.

“Me too,” offered Max.

“And me,” said Debio

“Ali?” Asked Eye, Ali had her hand in the air.

“Don't we need a defence squad too, in case of attack?”

Eye nodded, “Good point, the rest of us will stay here and get some defences together. 10s, what's your plan?”

10s looked to a forum map Sian had drawn for her and traced a line with her pen,

“We'll go to the comedy cabaret first as that's nearest, to check that out. Most of them will be away for Thanksgiving as well so odd behaviour will be obvious.”

“Rather than de rigour you mean,” said Max, setting his mug down on the table and flipping a coaster into the air.

“Then if we don't find anything there, it's down to romance and see what they're up to. We should be back within an hour.”

“I just don't see romance being the kind of place to pull off something like this,” said Ali, “I mean they're so predictable.”

“Maybe they've gone short recently,” said Angel.

“Don't forget to take towels, it'll be hot and sweaty in romance,” said Eye.

“On it,” said Debio, repacking kit bags.



Eye ordered them into action. 10s left with her small party as the other cantinas began to organise defences. Within half an hour, smibbles were busy enlarging the moat and barbed wire had been placed all around the bar. Psycho had built a stockade out of books from the cantina library and everyone had been issued with stun grenades. Eye was going through a last minute check, the large book still tucked under one arm.

“Everything organised?” Eye asked Ali,

“Yep,” she replied, “I've got enough tea and biscuits organised here to outlast the longest siege.”

“You only have to last thirty minutes now,” Eye ticked off an item on the checklist and moved on to where Angel was loading smibbles into the smibble cannons.

“Any problems?” Asked Eye.

“No,” said Angel, “the ammunition seems to be multiplying nicely.” He pointed to a pile of smibbles that was slowly and gradually increasing.

“Nice work with that genetic splicing,” said Eye, moving on to Psycho who was hunkered down behind a stockade of books that guarded the E-Z-Freeze entrance with a pile of romance novels and a notepad.

“Don't be afraid to deploy more books as you see fit,” Eye reminded her,

“I will, and I'm just fitting in some research. Any chance I can use that big tome under your arm?”

“No, sorry,” said Eye, “Sun-Tzu and I are going to win this war. We may be outnumbered, but we have strategy.” Eye returned to a chair by the door and the cantinas settled down to wait, turning pages and scribbling notes.


Then the lights went out.



Previous AtCTs
TJ's AtCT list
 
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jallenecs

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Given your setting, I'd say that's appropriate regardless of his orientation. So definitely not a gay cliche if that's what your after.

Remember, it was the Roaring 20s for a reason.

:D

This is what I was hoping, and like you, I was thinking of the Roaring Twenties, the Bentley Boys, the Algonquin Round Table, and the Lost Generation. Mostly the Bentley Boys: a bunch of idle rich young men who spend their time and money racing cars, racing yachts, flying planes, climbing mountains, traveling and doing shit that's going get them killed. Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse.

Plus so much of the contemporary fantasy stuff (and steampunk and dieselpunk) is in the hardboiled level: working class, hardscrabble, etc. I wanted something a little different, something with more of a jetset flavor.

As one of my friends says, "I'm poor in real life; why would I want to be poor in my fantasy life?"

And I recently read an article talking about the appeal of James Bond, particularly the books, which came out when Britain (and to a lesser extent America) was just starting to come out of rationing and the privations of WWII. Obviously my character is not going to get it on with Pussy Galore, but he's still going to get the rest: the cool locations, the terrific food, the action, the admiration and respect.

I want to tap into all of that.

Is my thinking completely off on this? Would the character be more appealing if he were less jetset, a little more working class?
 

aliwood

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Is my thinking completely off on this? Would the character be more appealing if he were less jetset, a little more working class?

Would James Bond be more appealing if he were like that?

No chance. The idea you've got is a good one, stick with it.

If i want working class people i can walk outside and find them*. Give me escapism and a suave sophisticated man that's totally unobtainable.



* there's a line in the film The Commitments that goes:

Jimmy Rabbitte: You're working class aren't yers?
Outspan: We would be if we had jobs Jimmy.
 

Fenika

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Epic AtCTs! The crushing of the sleeping smibble though! Oh the humanity! The loss of innocent lives in war!

I lol'ed ;)


TGIF. Today I managed various employees with various issues and I am glad I have the weekend off.
 

Shoestring

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Ande slammed a shoulder into the cantina door, knocking it into the wall with a loud crash. The noise echoed back and forth across the otherwise silent room, a tumbleweed rolled past,

<snip>

Is it too late to be included in part 2, if that's not all too forward of me to ask? I have no plans this Thanksgiving, so spending it fending off the Romanceers sounds splendid. :D
 

Kricket

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I love your entire idea Junely. It sounds great.

ION, we've been at this for six hours and still nothing in the potty. I still have hope though. :)
 

jallenecs

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I love your entire idea Junely. It sounds great.

ION, we've been at this for six hours and still nothing in the potty. I still have hope though. :)

Thanks, guys. And I've decided he looks a lot like Montgomery Clift, mostly because I think Montgomery Clift is frocking gorgeous!

And keep the faith on the potty training thing. Two of my children learned it in three days. Two of my children took six months. It happens when it happens.
 

Reservoir Angel

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Would anyone be interested in part-time work as my 2nd brain? Your responsibilities will include keeping track of all the various ideas for stories I have, filtering out the terrible ones and keeping the remaining ones neatly filed and organised by genre and audience.

There's no pay and no benefits. Anyone up for it?

:D
 

jallenecs

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My daughter failed her second hearing screening this week. This most likely means that there's a visit to a hearing specialist in the near future.

Trust the specialist. He'll be able to help.

And DON"T BLAME YOURSELF! Sometimes this just happens. I should know.
 

slcboston

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Plus so much of the contemporary fantasy stuff (and steampunk and dieselpunk) is in the hardboiled level: working class, hardscrabble, etc. I wanted something a little different, something with more of a jetset flavor.

Wasn't Nero Wolfe in the 20's? he was hardly poor, as I recall. Ditto for the Thin Man series. Nick and Nora were decidedly jet-set.

:D
 

amergina

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My daughter failed her second hearing screening this week. This most likely means that there's a visit to a hearing specialist in the near future.

:Hug2: But at least you know and she'll get the help she needs. :)
 
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Shoestring

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Trust the specialist. He'll be able to help.

And DON"T BLAME YOURSELF! Sometimes this just happens. I should know.

:Hugs: But at least you know and she'll get the help she needs. :)

Thanks guys. :) It would explain why her speech has been so delayed. She just turned four and my 2 year old son is catching up with her in terms of understandability.

:Hug2:, everyone. Thanks. ^^
 

Reservoir Angel

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:Hug2:, everyone. Thanks. ^^
I didn't give hugs at the time, so I'll give a retroactive hugging session now.

:Hug2::Hug2::Hug2::Hug2::Hug2:

IO, less important and far more trivial N: Which game should I eliminate from my Christmas list? Dishonored or Assassin's Creed 3?
 

Shoestring

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I didn't give hugs at the time, so I'll give a retroactive hugging session now.

:Hug2::Hug2::Hug2::Hug2::Hug2:

IO, less important and far more trivial N: Which game should I eliminate from my Christmas list? Dishonored or Assassin's Creed 3?

My hugs travel through space and time.

And I'd recommend against Assassin's Creed 3, but mostly because I couldn't play the game for more than 5 minutes before giving up on it (Revelations, it was, not 3). It gave me a headache and the controls were too much for me. I've never played Dishonored though, so I can't say anything about that.
 

jallenecs

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Thanks guys. :) It would explain why her speech has been so delayed. She just turned four and my 2 year old son is catching up with her in terms of understandability.

:Hug2:, everyone. Thanks. ^^

The speech thing is how we knew my baby girl had issues. She never did the pre-speech babbling, and at four she wasn't speaking. Her condition isn't correctable, but MOST OF THE TIME, it's something simple and treatable, with drainage tubes or something similar, so don't worry. My baby girl is the exception, not the rule. So don't fret, okay?
 

Shoestring

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The speech thing is how we knew my baby girl had issues. She never did the pre-speech babbling, and at four she wasn't speaking. Her condition isn't correctable, but MOST OF THE TIME, it's something simple and treatable, with drainage tubes or something similar, so don't worry. My baby girl is the exception, not the rule. So don't fret, okay?

I'm actually finding myself remarkably calm about the whole thing. I think it's because I've been suspecting a hearing issue for a long time, so it won't be much of a shock for my suspicions to be confirmed. She can obviously hear to some degree, which makes it a lot easier as well; I just hope that a specialist can give me a better idea of what she can and can't hear.

My Mom, on the other hand, has been in a weird panic mode ever since I told her she failed the first hearing test, so I don't know how she's going to react when I tell her about this one.

Thanks Junely :D
 
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