I have never felt more vindicated for judging someone based on their microwave habits in the staff room and coffee order than I do now, thanks to the recent news.

That necessary sass aside, I have started making little jumpers for the tressym kittens. I know that my timing could not be worse as they are both insistent upon just growing larger by the day and the weather is also turning warmer, but it has been good use of my leftover yarn from other projects. Strudel can be seen here, kindly modeling as only he can: ( Cut for images! )

Thank you, Blue, for teaching me to knit so such pictures can exist in the first place.

Hello.

I am very itchy and sad and grumpy and tired all over and I would like to stop scratching, please.






And my feathers are falling out.

I think this is a problem.

Ah-- Hello, good morning. I know that it is early for most, but well. I seem to have lost track of the hour.

A thought occurred to me in the night while I was trancing. It--well If you are unfamiliar, it is something that my variation of elves can do, wherein we do not have to sleep and instead go into a meditative trance and do exercises--it hardly matters, but I generally go over thoughts of whatever I am working on or Ca so my thoughts were lingering on this issue we have been going over regarding the portal beast since yesterday and--

I apologize, I did not actually finish my trance and am surviving on coffee and hope at the moment.

Anyway, I had a thought, specifically from the transmutation books that Prigany brought and a few specific runes that those idiots the culprits had tried to use and everything else surrounding the situation and, this might sound mad and I will need someone or a few someones to look over my work, but I am certain that they somehow managed to turn a waypoint crystal into the creature that we have been dealing with today and all of the portals and its glitching and disappearing are stemming from the fact that the magic of the waypoints just shouldn't be within something living and breathing like that.

As I said, I am humble enough to want someone to look over what led me to this conclusion as I have all of the work to show for it, but my humbleness ends at a point as I do have confidence here. There is nowhere for us to send the creature, as they were created and are truly from our Vallo. Perhaps this is something to confirm with them, if communication is at all possible?

But, ah--that is all. It feels as though this narrows our options.

[ooc - posted shortly after portal closed]

Well, a week has passed and I have no memory of it, so... I'm assuming people went somewhere again?

Is everyone okay?

There is a new portal opened in front of Morningside and it is swarmed. I was able to defeat several angry plants and defend most of the building but they are still coming through and I do not wish to burn everything to the ground.

Assistance requested.

Kir, you are to stay home. Do not argue with me.

I know we hate these fucking portals, but there better be one because there is not a chance in the hells that both my fiance and sister disappeared right in front of me and it can't be fixed.

Added later:

No place better to start a list.

Gilmore
Adaine
Kellach
Kara
Keith
Shiro
Atreus
Kratos
Orym
Chetney
Kit
Cayden
Eli
Kaitlyn
Ronan
Matthew
Lan Xichen
Temeraire
Violet S
Henry
Sydney
Katou
El

Listen, I know this is probably only interesting to me but did you all realize that the average bipedal takes over two hundred million steps in their lifetime? And that people actually track the number of steps they take every day? Some cool store clerk in the city was telling me all about it and they showed me this watch thing you wear on your arm that somehow knows what your feet are doing and how often. I bought four. I'm wearing every single one of them.

ALSO, new discoveries that make having legs literally the best ever:

Rollerblading (Am very bad at it. My butt hurts. It's amazing.)
Dancing (It's almost like having a fin but on land?? You just wiggle a lot and I love it.)
Climbing trees (See commentary on rollerblading)
Sitting on the floor (how did I never know you could sort of tie your legs in a knot??)
Being barefoot (Ummmmmm, why do we even wear shoes up here?)

Non-leg things I'm loving:
All of the art I can do up here that I couldn't do in Atlantis🥲

Uh Hello! Hi.

It looks like this odd power switching thing is pretty widespread so I'm assuming someone has my own abilities? I don't really know how to narrow that down, but I'm a wizard and oracle by trade, so--magic? Specifically magic that involves seeing the future and having visions in an oracle/psychic sort of way. But I wanted to ask a favor of whoever this person might be that if you have any visions can you write them down? They are usually fairly mundane, but I keep a journal of them for tracking purposes and so I can see if there is any correlation between them, make sure they came true, that sort of thing. They aren't always straightforward to interpret, so I've been collecting data over the years to get better. It is like a dream journal, except I don't really dream because I don't really sleep.

Anyway, I apologize. This is a lot of rambling.



Also I'm unsure whose abilities I now have, but the cats are really chatty in this house.

Next week will mark my arrival anniversary into Vallo and I believe that counts as one of the few dates where I am allowed to be sentimental "on main", as my once students used to say. (Note that the other dates include: my birthday, Caleb's birthday, the children's birthday, our wedding anniversary. Other random days must be forgiven, if I am not controlled at brunch and have one too many sips of a mimosa.)

And so, this has been a very tumultuously wonderful handful of years and I am grateful to the people who have given it such joy, both those that have since gone and everyone still here--and, most assuredly, those that will still stumble into Vallo in the future. I am a lucky elf.

Anyway, sentimentality over. Thank you for allowing the indulgence.

I am delivering a new podcast this evening that I am particularly proud of. Normally I would give hints as to the subject matter--magic, soup, book reviews, etc--so as to tempt people to listen, but I wish not to spoil anyone and also I have heard that lending some mystery could likewise tempt people to listen so this is a test. If no one listens, I will know it is a gamble best not taken again and simply be terrible sad. (This is a back up plan: if mystery does not work, perhaps guilt will.) (This is a joke, in case my brand of humor remains less than clear after all these years of attempting it.)

Uh What do you say when you are seeing if another world can see what you're writi

Hello, this is Orym of the Air Asha Beketh Squadron, Communications. I know that there is a lot going on around the ship and everything is confusing and bad, but there might be a bit of good news for you new folks.

With our comms back up, we almost immediately received a signal that was first theorized and then confirmed to be coming from your side of things. It's gotten stronger as we've drifted closer to the proximity of the assumed portal. Long story short, I've been told that they should be able to see this and you lot should be able to communicate with one another now.

So uh if anyone not currently on the V.A.L.L.O. could confirm that, that would be super helpful. I'm sure your people will be relieved to hear from you.

Um hey. I probably should have said this yesterday, but I just kind of woke up and I'm doing this quick before I get my phone confiscated.

Anyone else notice the big creature come out of the portal? It was kind of near the end and I might have been bleeding everywhere distracted, but I swear it looked like the one that created it in the first place.

And I hope everyone's doing okay. Yesterday was a lot.

((late tonight via a sending stone)

Talon to Eagle Eye, are you in, Eagle Eye?

Rebels + Vallo Outlander Arrivals

Okay this was all a lot today, but now that our [...] guests have been given the rundown, you all have your devices, we can answer some of your questions. I think we're all adjusting, so just bear with us. For some of us, it's been a long time since we've seen you. In some instances, if ever.

I'm also going to reiterate, please don't leave our location without bringing one of us with you. This isn't the Vallo you know and what we're dealing with is pretty shitty, so until we can figure out a larger plan, staying put is going to be safest. It's not just the Echoes. It's the people you think you know.

Alright, have your reunions and ask your questions.

This June will mark three years since we launched my podcast, which is a sentence that I would have never imagined stringing together four years ago, let alone knowing what many of those words meant. I have covered numerous magical and non-magical topics alike, as well as had several guests talk about their own brand of magic and overall it has been a good time and I am looking forward to continuing into 2024.

However, I am curious: does anyone who listens (or does not, but just has suggestions) have any specific magical topics or questions that they would like to hear a drow go on about for 45-60 minutes? And that said, do you have any non-magical topics that are not simply rooted in my soup preferences and fashion opinions? Because while I talk a lot about magic, it is a bit of a catch-all in that regard.

Very important business aside, after a lot of griping that my husband has to hear every night, I might just be having a minor success in the orchid department: ( Cut for image! )

ATTENTION ALL THOSE WHO HAVE COME ACROSS KITTENS WITH MOUTH TENTACLES!

Some of you might remember when I introduced my cat (Goose) about two years ago. Goose is an alien in the shape of a cat known as Flerken. All of the info on Thor's post is true of her species back home. Here in Vallo, Goose's more toxic elements - both the claws and more extreme uses of tentacles - have been dulled, presumably by whatever kind of magic Vallo likes to use to keep us here. I'm pretty confident the same will hold true for any of the kittens' toxic elements, too, and they should be ultimately harmless.

After rounding up the 39 begging for attention from Thor, I've picked out enough familiar patterns to say these ARE Goose's kittens. I don't know how many are here, but at last count, I'm seeing mention of 48 - that includes 39 from Thor, 4 from Atreus, 1 from Orym, 1 from Wanda, 1 from Darlington, and 2 from Ty. There could be up to 69 more running around Vallo.

If you've found one (or one has found you) and you feel comfortable holding onto them for the time being, great, but please drop a line here to let me know where you have them, just in case. If you don't feel comfortable, that's fine, too. Again, drop a line here, and I'll come by to pick them up. We have a safe space to keep them until we figure out what's going on.

Please don't attempt to kill them.

Would anyone care to see a family cat picture before the kittens started sprouting their wings? Now they are learning to fly and every picture of them is a blur.

( I assume everyone will answer ja. )

[FILTERED TO ESSEK]

Are you feeling a little better now that you have stuck your hands in moist soil?

Talon to Night

Kir to Essek and Caleb

Hello, I would like to present you with some observations, please.

1. You take excellent care of me not because you have to but because you really want to.
2. I try to take care of you too, even though I am a kid, but kids can do a lot and I worry about you when things are dangerous even though you are objectively the best wizards in Vallo.
3. You love me very much.
4. I love you very much.
5. We are a family.

My conclusion is that I would very much like for you two to adopt me and be my dads emotionally AND legally.





Okay! I'm going to school now! Can't wait to go! See you when I get back! But it might be awhile because you know I take it seriously! Bye!

I can't say that I'm upset to have been spared the recent winter holiday romance thing, partially because I'm concerned about what my alternative self would be (I'm assuming a harried college student that is home for the holidays visiting family and somehow ends up falling back in love with her school sweetheart, which oh boy) but mostly because I have made sure that all of the kittens got the most attention from me while everyone else in the house was gone so I would be top of the affection hierarchy.

😼

I have no regrets, even if my hands have all of these microcuts from kitten claws.

Dad

Are you mad at me?
Press A for yes
Press B for no

Mr. Essek

Hello, sir, I hope this finds you well. I am very sorry for locking you and my dad in the room. It was all my idea, it wasn't Kiri's, so if Kiri is in trouble she doesn't have to be.

Hello, if you're someone who explores Vallo a lot, if you find anything out of the ordinary near the following three locations, would you let me know? I'm continuing research on the portals from last month. Thank you.

[ATTACHED MAP BUT PRETEND IT'S VALLO & THE THREE X'S ARE COORDINATES OF WHERE THE THREE PORTALS WERE LOCATED]

TSC FILTER:

Jules, I think I found Blackthorn Hall? I haven't gone inside but it's on the very edge of the forest near the city, and it looks like when we explored it the first time? It's not as nice as when you and Emma made it so I wasn't sure and I didn't want to go inside without you.