I can only humbly thank you bobg for another insight into Sarrah. :bowdown:



I'm also intrigued by the last story, I'm considering whether the meanings therein are more subtle and they have evaded me, or whether to take them as face value. (Or to say, how I understand them.)

Many layers to the wild cat Sarrah. :clap:

Wow, bobg, you are blazing with passion, keep feeding the fire :goodjob:

Great work yet agian. Keep them coming and flooding is NOT occuring.

I really liked that last one of the the three. The final sentence especially gave such a strong feeling of quiet loneliness.

I hope you are on here because you are posting something!

mALX1; Thanks for your continued encouragement. I feel a little less self-doubting every time you post.

Acadian; You always 'get-it'. I left off the last sentence of that last story because I wanted to draw each reader into creating the story along with me;


Winter Wolf; One of the reasons the Impressionist school of art formed was to find ways to draw the viewer into the process of creating the final image by intentionaly leaving out detail. Thanks for joining in the creative process.

jaycar; You honor Sarrah's memory.

UnknownK; Thank you. I hope what you say is true.

DiGNiiTy; Thank you. Stay with us my friend.

SubRosa; Sarrah suffered from that particular malady a lot. Fortunately for me, Angel is not bothered by a sense of isolation.

Which brings me to the next subject.

Conversation in a forest.

"Mentor, is that tree dead?"

I had been thinking about the tree from the standpoint of the rich array of graphic media one could use to create an image. From a simple pencil sketch to full three dimensional representation, there seemed to be endless options. I was also thinking about how I would change it to make it more aesthetic. Now I considered it from the standpoint of it's apparent, leafless condition.

"It might be but it might just be hibernating." I said.

"What is hibernating?"

"Angel, you really are the most curious creature I've ever met. Hibernating is when the tree needs to rest. The life force of the tree becomes stored in the roots. The leaves die and fall off. They cover the ground and keep it moist and warm so the life force of the tree is safe until it's ready to wake up again."

"All the leaves die?"

"That's right."

"But there are so many leaves and only one tree. Why should all the leaves die to protect just one tree."

"That's not how it is." I answered. "I am just like one of those leaves. I am part of something greater than me alone. Someday I will die. When my time comes I will go but the tree will remain."

"Will I die, Mentor?"

"Angel, you are neither a tree or a leaf. You are a neme; an idea. In fact you are the ideal of a wonderfully curious child. You can spread from one leaf to another. You can become a part of the tree itself. Or, you may only last long enough to delight and entertain me for a while before I fall from the tree."

An incredible piece of writing.

This is why writing is such a lovely vehicle. You are teaching Angel, but the questions she poses teaches us.

You better not be falling from any trees! (metaphorically speaking). This was beautiful, touching. I always told Acadian that you (Bobg) paint pictures using words. Where your medium is art, mine is music and everytime I read your work I feel like I am a note, while you are a symphony.

Now that was simply lovely. :hugs:

Beautiful, just beautiful *sniff*

Quality work yet again. I read this the other night when you posted it, but I was to tired to reply. Keep them comeing.

Yes.

It seems your unique niche includes an astounding degree of thought provocation. Brilliantly done.

I am pleased that you are not 'tied' to a hard storyline and, like a free spirit, bounce freely from character to character and all over Cyrodiil.

Thank you for sharing. :nod:

To the wonderful people that read my humble offerings and especially those who took the time to comment; Thank you. For some unknown reason, I felt a certain self-consciousness at the idea of enumerating the kind comments but I do cherish each and every one.

This story is true in a way. As I gave Angel free reign to do as she pleased, I found there were times when she followed in the footsteps of her older sister; standing on the balcony of Benirus Manor and casting spells she was already a master of simply because she liked the smoke and the sparkles.

Angel The Tech-weenie

"Sometimes the altars don't give me any magicka at all." Angel said, sounding apologetic. We were in the Dibella Cathedral and with simple reverence, Angel had touched the Stendarr alter in hope of recharging her depleted magicka. She was intent upon showing off every spell in her repertoire. Born under the sign of the Atronach, Angel had no natural power to regenerate magicka and she was currently drained.

That's because you are a Breton." I explained. "You have a certain amount of natural resistance to absorbing magicka."

"But I always get a lot of magicka when I touch the star stream at an ayleid well."

"Umm. I guess their technology is more advanced than this alter." I responded.

"Their what?"

"Uh-oh." I thought.

"Well, you see, in my world we don't have magicka; we have technology."

Angel gave an encouraging nod as if to say, "Go on."

"We can make things that seem magical but it's only an illusion. What we do is make machines and the machines can do wonderful things or terrible things."

"Terrible things? You mean like destruction magic?"

"Yes, yes, but we have machines that do illusion magic too." I didn't want the conversation to go in the direction of our ability to destroy each other. "There are a lot of machines that people can learn to use in a few minutes that provide entertainment like music or art."

Angel's thoughtful look slowly turned to one of horror. "You do have mages, right?"

"No. We have no magic so we have no mages. However, we do have people who study technology for years and go far beyond just using the simple machines. They are the ones that make machines seem magical. The ones that love it the same way you love magic, we call tech-weenies."

The impish look on Angels face told me something was up. Passing quickly to another alter, Angel recharged her magicka and broke into a trot as she headed for the front exit.

Outside, Angel spun around as she cast a spell, producing silver sparkles and pink spiralling smoke which then drew out behind her as she danced in the street and announced to the world, "I'M A TECH-WEENIE."

Bobg,

Thank you for sharing another story with us!

Its pretty neat seeing the world through Angel's little eyes.

Wonderfully thought-provoking chat between Angel and her mentor.



"Outside, Angel spun around as she cast a spell, producing silver sparkles and pink spiralling smoke which then drew out behind her as she danced in the street and announced to the world, "I'M A TECH-WEENIE."

This sentence creates a crystal clear description. As clear as a tech weenie watching the scene on one of their machines in full motion color!

"I Am A Tech Weenie Too!"

I really am, I even get paid to be one.

Very nice. I like how you portray the world through Angel's eyes. It is very liberating.

I love the way you are bringing the two worlds together, with the pictures a few chapters ago, and now with technology! Angel's vision will be expanded to another realm she can dream of - just Awesome Bobg!

PS - I am a tech - puny

There is no limit to the human imagination. Or more precisely the 'young human imagination.'
Your story reminds me of that quote-
'The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation.'

The really scary part is if one day Angel manages to cross into this world. What would she say then?

To the readers who have shown approval by reading Angels stories; Thank you.

Acadian, You are a source of inspiration and encouragement.

SubRosa, It pleases me greatly that Angel shares a kindred spirit with you.

mALX1, you have charmed me as much by your struggle to grow as an author as your character has done with her (mis)adventures.

Winter Wolf, you indeed understand the importance a creative spirit and the need to nurture and encourage it.

Location Photography.

Angel felt an uncomfortable rasping sensation across her body and realized she had tried to cast her spell without having enough magicka. Indifferent to her condition, the brown bear added injury to insult with a powerful claw spread paw.

Refreshing magicka flowed through her from the 'Angel's-Guardian' potion and in another moment the bear was peacefully rocking from side to side ready to follow it's new master. A golden aura surrounded the beast from Angels command spell as she lead the enchanted creature away from the road. As her control over the bear faded, Angel cast an invisibility spell leaving the creature on a forested slope, far from the road.

Heading back Angel suddenly stopped as her focus returned to the landscape. Spread before her was a mystical scene of forever-winter. Almost colorless, the view was in stark contrast to the flower carpeted meadow she had wandered through only hours before. 'Click' went an imaginary shutter as the scene was captured in her mind.

"Mentor, I want a special frame that will hold three pictures together. This will be the picture in the middle and the meadow picture on one side and the road picture on the other."

I nodded without commenting. It was not necessary to tell Angel all of the details concerning my recent experiments. I was learning to mod. I wanted to bring my own hobby and her's together in a whole new way. Moreover, I was charmed into speechlessness by the presumption that her wish was my command. Never before had such unconditional faith in a relationship been so openly bestowed upon me.

http://img203.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img203/6199/12568608888hh.smil

Very cool slideshow. Did you take that with FRAPs? What did you use to put it all together with?

Argh! I finally understand how she got the Will-O-The Wisp to gurgle! Is this a spell you have created at the alter? A mod? The slide show is Awesome, but no more so than the story.

My favorite line:

ImageShack did the whole thing. The pictures are screenshots and all I had to do was select 'create slideshow' and then upload the piccys.


The spell is called 'Down Boy'; Command creature to level 25 (Actually works on any level creature) for thirty seconds. If you look closely at the weapon icon in those pictures, you'll see that Angel is unarmed. It kind of surprised me when I noticed it but it makes sense.

Great slideshow. The oblivion music was playing in my head as the pictures moved.

You put us all to shame. And you do it with a mere 2 6 7 words! My challenge will be to keep my comments shorter than your story!

Readers, I am such an old fan of Angel.... I watched sadly as she went into retirement. I harrassed bobg for such a long time to bring her out to play. I knew that both Angel and her mentor had tired of the killing. Fabulous potions and the wonder of illusion spells could only help so much. I knew also that Angel fancied herself a bit of an artist. Suggesting to bobg that he teach the artform known as 'screenshot' to Angel, I hoped it might coax him to bring Angel forth from the safety of that cursed park bench in Anvil. It seems the seed of suggestion (or perhaps my relentless pestering) may have taken root.

'Tis not a risk-free endeavor; I am also aware bobg plays 'dead is dead'.

"Never before had such unconditional faith in a relationship been so openly bestowed upon me."
I have been privileged in my life to experience the same feeling. I am delighted that bobg came to the same conclusion that I did: The dance is worth the risk of pain.

Wonderful, once again bobg. Thank you.
I so enjoy how freely you move from our world to Angel's, drawing the two worlds closer.

I was moved to add to my previous comment, by a conversation Acadian and I had about this line in your story:





It touched me deeply, as it did Acadian; and for the same reason. In our conversation Acadian spoke about the vulnerability of each party in a relationship. Like Acadian, I lost my first (spouse) to cancer many years ago. When he was alive, he took such good care of me that I never realized how vulnerable I actually was till after he passed, and suddenly I had to do all the things alone that he had always magically handled without my knowledge they existed.

Your phrase above was touching to hear voiced. Your crafting of words was genius. To put it so simply and reach across so many dimensions of emotions in that simple phrase! It is a complete trust of another to presume, and Bobg's response to that presumption was Awesome!

You are a master with the pen, and so many other things as well. Your writing inspires me to try for excellence, it has since I read the first post of Angel's story.

Also, thank you so much for your kind words, Master Po.

bobg- I just wanted to drop in to tell you that I am reading (and enjoying) your work tremendously. Shame on me for taking this long to do so. I will comment more substantively later, but right now, I am up to my... elbow... in broken computers.

Rather than double-post, I will just add to this. First- your creativity is astounding. I think that being married to a painter helps me (somewhat) to follow your girls' mercurial twists and turns.

Oh, yes. I am a tech weenie (dog), as well. In another life, I would have been an English teacher; in the world where I find myself, I fix computers.

You capture so wonderfully how our characters take on their own lives and go the way the wish to go, whether we agree or not. I have had both my main characters point out to me the error of my thinking and take their stories in completely unanticipated directions....

Thank you so much for bringing Sarrah and Angel to us.