Cats Around the Corner

It's coming up on that time again, so of course I went with the only possible animals to represent nine months:

and more rainbows, OBVIOUSLY

Snow Mother

Yesterday the daycare gave me a piece of artwork Neeps had done:

Splashy Splash Splash

"Very nice, son," I said.  "Very minimalist.  I like it."

And immediately my mind began to whirl with how I could add to.  So tonight I sat down and did just that:

Fluffy!

It was a lot of fun- I look forward to when he's making more deliberate, purposeful marks, and the stories and drawings we'll do together throughout his life.

Bath Sketch

A boy and his duck

Sparkled So Green

Hey, remember this piece?  Well I started actually working on it.  Behold!

Not much to look at just yet.

Greeeeeeen! (and a little blue)

Now I let it percolate for a while, as I decide how I want to illustrate the seal, and whether or not I want to embroider any part of it.

Severan Prays for Guidance

It can be inconvenient when your deity disagrees with your decision.

I'm leaving this town as soon as I resupply, Severan thought irritably as she knelt in the small ash grove, doing her best to ignore the drunken Drow staring curiously at her.  There's no place for me here.  It's full of thieves and bullies and- and drunkards and what is that wizard doing topside, anyway?  She pushed the thought- all of the thoughts- from her mind.  She needed to pray, to get the the taste of the so-called "Adventurer's Guild" out of her mouth: it didn't matter why the dark elf was wandering.  Severan herself had been- well, not wandering, for she'd been following the star- but she'd been traveling for over three months, and was certainly far from her own home.  And how here she was in the port of Ashmount, and suddenly the pull had vanished.  She needed guidance.  She needed reassurance.  She needed her goddess.

Severan inhaled deeply, then exhaled all of her discomfort and frustration.  Breathed in the silence of the trees, breathed out all distraction.  Focused her consciousness on keeping the breathing pattern, and left the rest of her mind open to Sh'lan's will.

It came fast- far faster than it ever had before, and with far less ambiguity, pouring over her like a waterfall.

This is where she was meant to be.

Severan felt a pit in her stomach.

Surely not.  Stay here?  I all but laughed in the most powerful man in town's face when he offered me a place with his filthy little 'organization'!

But the surety remained, and with it the knowledge that she must return to the Guild.

Are you certain? Severan asked, but of course there was no response.  She sighed heavily, and stood, rubbing the scar on her face ruefully.

"That's it?  No... lights or birds or anything?" said the Drow, clearly surprised.

"That's it," she said.  "If you'll excuse me, I have something I must attend to."

Rainbow Leaves

Purdy

Reverse Course

Think of one dramatic event from your life and write the event backwards.

I sleep.  He tucks me into bed, saying he'll join me soon.  She leaves, promising to be back if we need anything.  They take me home.  I'm glad he wasn't alone.  My husband is there, and my best friend.  I do wake up.  The lights are very bright in the OR, but I don't notice them for long before the darkness returns.  He kisses me.  She brings him to me.  Someone tries to tell me I can't- the other nurse, tone brooking no argument, says she'll find him herself.  I want to see my husband, I plead.  I might not wake up.  I have to sign forms saying I understand I might not wake up. Someone draws him away, to wait for me in the recovery room.  The kind EMT wheels me down corridor after corridor, my husband walking beside me.  They have to take me in for surgery.  We've just pumped a lot of very cold fluid into you.  You will be, he says.  The EMT asks if I'm cold, but I'm not.  I know she will come, so he doesn't have to be alone.  I tell him to update to my boss, and tell my best friend.  I'm okay.  It's okay, I say, voice thready.  I smile.  I open my eyes, and it's my husband.  I can feel the love radiating from the hand, and I think, what a compassionate nurse.  I turn my face to the touch, nuzzling into it.  Things start to come back, but I am so lonely- and then a warm hand touches my bare shoulder, just where it meets the neck.  I am at peace.  Everything is fading, and I think, at least they know I love them.  Textures of rough cloth and smooth cold metal against my naked skin, the slither of tubing, the pierce of many needles.  It's dark- but there is movement in the darkness.  Maybe not entirely lost, tho'- I think I hear my husband screaming at them to do something.  I slump over, consciousness fleeing.  She passes me paperwork to fill out.  I tell the disinterested nurse that I am hemorrhaging.  We make it to the head of the line.  I am feeling weaker.  It seems so unfair to me, to have to wait in line at an emergency room, but I don't want to make trouble.  We have to wait in line.  He wheels me in while my husband parks the car.  We pull up to patient-unloading, and an orderly asks me if I want a wheelchair: I do.  We go, and I text my boss to tell him I may or may not be in tomorrow.  My husband returns home, and I tell him we need to go to the hospital.  I call the nurse-line: they tell me to get to the emergency room.  I'm regretting sending him to the store.  I'm bleeding more- and maybe it's not nothing.  I tell him to go ahead and go to the store.  My husband is worried, but I tell him it's probably nothing; it's not at all uncommon to have bleeding after a miscarriage.  I am bleeding.