[Yeladim]

Here are those other two stories-


Egg On Your Face

And while it is known that many female species will kill their mates and feed off them to help develop their eggs, the Preying Mantis being the most famous, certain species of spiders have been found in the Amazon to lay their eggs into their mates so the newborn have a ready source of nutrition when they hatch.


I first heard that in my second year at St. Vitas' High School for boys. Of course it wasn't the school work I was interested in. Next door to our school held my interest. Georgiana's Finishing School for girls was located just across the street and in a school full of wild young men, there was nothing our boring professors could teach us that would gain our attention beyond the rudements needed to graduate. How I wish I had paid more attention for I did not remember that lesson until this morning. Far too late to be of much help to me.





Story #3 - The Jester





It shocked her, the sound. It was so loud out of the speaker just above her head. "Hehehehehe," came the maniacal scream/laugh and then, "wipeout." The drums gave her a headache, or was it the beer. Didn't matter, the party was dead and so was she. She could hardly wait for her ride to get back so they could leave. Maybe if I close my eyes, she thought, I might get some relief.



"Do you want to get lucky?" The voice pierced steady sound and brought her back. Even with the loud music he didn't sound like he was screaming. But she wanted to go home, not get picked up. And that pickup line was a complete train wreck. Opening her eyes she looked at him. Strange looking man, pale skin, almost white. Black hair, almost like it was painted. Odd features. A jutting nose that didn't jut, almost two dimentional. But she wanted to go home.



"I'm just waiting for my ride," she yelled. "I'm not interested."



"I didn't ask if you wanted sex, I just asked if you wanted to get lucky?" And he looked at her, as if she was an open book or a blank page waiting to be written on. She was speechless. He thrust his had into hers, "I'm Robert Zimmer. You look like you have a headache and more important, you need some luck."



She pulled her hand out of his. "You are very presumptuous. I am not interested in you or anything you have. Now leave me a lone." And with that she stood, found her friend and left the bar.



In the car, speeding home, friend at the wheel. What a bizare night. It started by trying to break out of her morose self pity but the bar was like a morgue, the music was 50 years older than what is hip, and the liquor was too much. The two girls talked about the day but she wasn't interested. She drifted through the conversation, zombie-like, staring out the window.



What was that?



It was that guy, from the bar, standing on the side of the road. But it couldn't because he was already miles behind. "Did you see something?"



"See what?"



"A guy. No, nothing I guess, I just must be ready for a long sleep."



Then, something burst onto the road, tires squealed, brakes locked, the car flipped, once. Twice. Then landed on the roof, crushing the two occupants. So this is how it ends she thought to herself.



"It didn't have to," she heard. It was his voice. What did he say? "It didn't have to ... end this way. If only you had taken a bit of luck."

[Lawtan]

Thank you, Yeladim. Now, if anyone is still around, I'll tell my story in 3 posts, as I tend to.

Gather around, young Trislings, as I tell you the tale of knightly Janet and her dame Tamlane...

There once, on the Nene river, lived the family of Earl Murray, and their child, Tamlane. Tamelane was ever a curious child, and would wander into the nearby woods, wherein he walked on a strange circle of smooth cobblestones. "Mum, come see, for I stood on stone three!" the barely-walking babe would exclaim, without praise or recognition.

One day, the child's antics around the woods stopped. He grew quiet and reserved. When asked what was wrong, the child would simply shake his head. Concerned, the mother called in a wise midwife, who said, "Fix him a stew laid in the eggshells of a chicken. If it pleases his mind, he will be brought back from his kind."

Confused, but trusting the crone who herself had seen to Tamlane's birth, the mother set about a fine stew. With a tip=tap and a crack, she emptied the egg of its golden meal, and filled the half-shell with brown broth. To her surprise, Tamlane...was wrinkled and staring at the thing as if it were a god-given miracle. The weathered child stood and exclaimed, "I have seen the acorn before the oak, but I never saw the likes of this!" a molassas-like fog spilled in from an open window-pane, and the child seemed to be swallowed by it. The mother, in shock, screamed for the guards and Earl, to no avail.

[Lawtan]

It is unknown how young Tamlane was raised, or that he still lived, for that matter. However, his loss would neither bar trade nor coin, and it came that the forests of Caterhaugh were sold to the Earl of March, whose daughter's name was Janet.

Now, when the Earl's people went to trade through the woods, they were met by an elfin man garbed in armor of shadowy gray. While he would stop the merchant, or the maid, he said ne'er more than,

"O, I forbid you sirs,
And you maidens a'fair, that wear gowd on your hair,
To come or gae by Carterhaugh,
For young Tamlane is here.
There's nane that mae gae by Carterhaugh
But they leave me a wad,
Either gift your rings, or mantles,
Or else your maidenhead."

The merchants would pass and pay a toll. The maidens were left behind. And yet, Janet loved the woods, and kilted-on her green mantel. Her yellow hair was braided so as not to snare, and with a sack of food and jewels, walked off to the forests of Caterhaugh.

Within the forest, she heard the shriek of an arrow hunting its prey. Treading inward revealed a lovely patch of rosebushes, from which she plucked some flowers. Ne'er did she notice his silent figure, until Tamlane spoke to her;

"Lady, thou's defy mae.
Why pluck thou the rose, fair Janet,
And why breaks thou the ward?
Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh
Withoutten my written word?"

Said Janet then;

"The center of Carterhaugh,
Tamlane, it is my aim,
My daddie gave it me;
And I'll come and gang by Carterhaugh."

[Lawtan]

The remaining terms between the two, the elfin knight and stubborn maid, only the winds of Caterhaugh would know. Time works oddly in Sidhe-lands, as does love and the mind. Perhaps, young Tamlane and Janet won one another's hearts by the character of each other. Perhaps, some fell magic or otherworldly treasure bewitched young Janet and the elfin knight to love one another.

It is known they became intimately known to one another, as within months of Janet's return, she had to adjust her gown over a growing babe. The knights and ladies, fearing the reaction of the Earl of March, demanded to know - from who was the child got.

Four-and-twenty ladies and men stood with Janet's father. Some men in rustic cajoled, "Alas, for fare Janet, but we'll be blamed on it." To them she scowled and silenced to the quick, and before the Earl kneeled.

"And ever alas, my sweet Janet, I fear thou art with chile," he said.

"If that I grow with chile, father, no man here bear the blame. There's ne'er a laird about your court that shall get our land's name. If my love were an earthly knight, instead of an elfin grey, I would still not give my true-love for any lord ye hold here. The steed that my true-love rides on is lighter than the wind, with siller he is shod before, and with a burning gowd behind it."

The Earl sent young Janet off to return this suitable suitor, and off she went to Caterhaugh, to find her dear Tamlane.

[Lawtan]

Wearing again her green mantle, Janet returned to the forest. She ran into the rose-clearing, and waited for the man. Spotting a pair of roses entwined, she plucked it for her love. With a rapid twist behind her came her darling Tamlane.

Janet, to him did say, "O, tell me, Tamlane, by the dying oak and holy cross, why wouds't thou not come with me?"

On a day, a cauld, cauld day,
I, a chile, circled the stones,
An from the stones I fell;
The Queen o Fairies she caught me,
In yon green hill to dwell as guardian-sidhe.

While pleasant is this fairy wood,
I've an eerie tale to tell,
Now, at the end of seven years
We pay a tithe - a fae - to hell;
I am fair and full o' flesh
And, bound, I'm feared it next be myself.

"Oh, dear Tamlane, what must I do, to avert your coming fate?"

"Tis the night of Halloween, my lady,
The morn is Hallowday;
To win me, win me, an ye will,
For weel I wat ye may.

At the mirk and midnight hour
The fairy folk will ride,
And they that wad their true love win,
At Miles Cross their maun bide.

Let pass the steed of black, lady,
And syne let pass the brown,
But quickly run to the milk-white steed,
An pull his rider down.

For I ride the milk-white steed,
And ay nearest the town;
Because I was an earthly chile
They gift me that renown.

My right hand will be gold,
My left hand will be bare,
Cockt up shall my bonnet be,
And cambd down shall be my hair;

They'll turn me in your arms, lady,
Into an esk and adder; bear and hot coal,
But hold me fast, and fear me not,
I am your bairn's father.

And those the tokens I gift thee,
Nae doubt there I'll be."

And so Janet in her mantle green, waited by Miles Cross. A fog of shades rose from the dew. In the 11th hour, bridles in the distance rang. Lights from fires in hollowed-out turnips glowed through grinning cuts on the sides of four horses. Upon each horse was a figure of myth. The First, a black horse, it's rider headless and armed with a lash of human bone, lead the others. Next, on a brown horse a woman cloaked in grey tattered rags. In the rear rode two white horses. One carried a voluptuous fairy, wearing silver and white over her bosom, and a crown of gold. The other bore a knight with one hand golden, and the other bare.

As a protective snake, Janet snatched the knight down from his steed, and held him down as the other horsemen circled. With a crack of the whip - a spinal column - Tamlane grew cold in Janet's arms, before shifting into a venomless hissing adder. Janet held tighter to her love. With the earsplitting wail of the grey woman, Tamlane grew into a bear - almost too large to hold down. With a feat of great strength, Janet kept him down. With the jingle of the Fae Queen's jewelry, Tamlane became hot as a coal. Holding on, Janet pushed both of them into the dewy grass, and Tamlane cooled. He shifted into his normal form, as the Queen's silver bracelet cracked. The grey woman cried out, "He's won, he's won amongst us all!"

The Fae Queen grimly replied to both the exhausted form of Janet and Tamlane, and to her entourage;

She that has borrowed young Tamlane
Has gotten a stately groom,
She's taken away my bonniest knight,
Left nothing in his room.

But had I known, Tamlane, Tamlane,
A lady would borrow thee,
I'd have ta'en out thy two grey eyne,
Put in two eyes of wood.

Had I but known, Tamlane, Tamlane,
Before we came from home,
I'd have ta'en out thy heart o' flesh,
Put in a heart of stone.

Had I but had the wit yestreen
That I have got to-day,
I'd paid the Fiend seven times his tithe
Ere you'd been won away."

The three fae slipped away, and Janet returned home with her Tamlane.

The End

Notes: I apologize beforehand for any creative liberties taken. They were almost purely for the purpose of making sense of conflicting accounts about the folk tale, for the sake of including the parts of the ballad, Tamlane, or for better communicating the mythological world this is set in.

[Gallagher]

I'm a little late, but I wanted to show y'all the final result!

First, a look at the paint job we did LINK. The edge of every single plate was painted in glow in the dark, so you could see the entire outline of every wing straight through the night.

MORE LINK the whole rig together here. It was stupidly light, like it didn't bother me at all, and it was just bendy enough not to damage the plates too badly even when they did bang against walls or people.

ALL TOGETHER NOW the outfit with it was super easy and really warm, even with an exposed arm and feets. Two sheets, a couple zip ties, and gold tape for my waist and to help keep it together. My peeps there are a witch and Thor, obv.

[Espy]

That looks pretty damn sick.

[Yeladim]

Wow, Gallagher, that is so inventive and it looks great. The three of you must have been a terrific hit.

[Lawtan]

*Claps for Gallagher*

Adding to the first page...

[Gallagher]

It was fantastic. People loved going behind me when we went through the Village of the Dead and the Field of Screams because I just lit up all the dark twisty places! Oh, and the Haunted Hay Ride was great because when everything went pitch black, my mask was the only thing glowing (I can't sit down while wearing the wings).

The best best BEST part, though, was waiting in lines for it all, because every now and then... I hear, "Oh look at the angel!" So I turn slowly, blank stare, head tilt, and they freak the frick out when they see the mask. It was so great.

[Coda]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

[Lawtan]

...All I got was that someone killed Death. I think it's mad at being killed.

[Espy]

Originally Posted by Coda

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

That entire sentence looks familiar. I blame a certain friend of mine.

[Lawtan]

Translation: In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.


"That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die."

Yeah, all hail Cthulhu, Shub-Niggurath, and Lovecraft's lot, whose all-devouring insanity obviously inspired some of the posts above.

[Coda]

Originally Posted by Lawtan

Translation: In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.


"That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die."

Yeah, all hail Cthulhu, Shub-Niggurath, and Lovecraft's lot, whose all-devouring insanity obviously inspired some of the posts above.

You were the one who said the spambot looked like a chant to Cthulhu.

[Lawtan]

I know xD