Thrown Dragon's Hoard

Update on life

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:43:41 GMT

Life sucks. Really, it does. Hit a bit of a financial snag because of Steamcon (if you REALLY wanna know, ask me somewhere NOT ON LJ), had my uncles bail me out. ;-; Seriously, iluguys. I cannot express how much the fact you were willing to help me out means to me, especially when it took me the entire day to get up the guts to call you. Had housemate issues that have hopefully been smoothed over, and have something that I'm mulling over. Final decision will be made on that last one when payday comes. Burned my finger while making myself dinner, and work was HELLISHLY busy. DS was out of battery and I'd forgotten my charger at home, and it was FREEZING OUT. @.x; Bad day was bad. Surprised I haven't broken down crying.
Last night, I ended up staying at Pete's. For those of you who aren't aware, October 28th was my Mom's birthday. Divine keep her soul safe until it is time for her to return. It's hard to believe it's been 8 months since the fire. I suppose time flies when you're just trying to struggle forward from day to day. Her Battle Spoon has been located! >[ Thomas, liar that he is, had it STASHED IN HIS ROOM. Mike managed to keep him from sneaking off with it. Thomas has NO claim to the Spoon. Mom got it before him, and it is one of those things he would never truly understand...and it is one of the few things I'll have left of her. I've got some photo albums too...
I won't be spending Samhain alone. I'll be with friends, probably enjoying some tasty booze and crying my heart out or partying happily. I think it depends. I'm not really sure just yet. I do know I'll be blasting some Abney Park music at some point that night. Maybe play some clips from the Steamcon Abney Park show for Mom. I know she'd been looking forward to seeing it. I know she would have enjoyed it.
Steamcon itself was AMAZING. I ended up getting pulled for Con Merchandise. XD Was all sorts of fun, but next year I'll be on Reg. Xd; Methinks I'll be a better fit there, since I'll have people I'll know helping keep me sane while we keep Pete sane. Turnout for Steamcon was FAR beyond what was expected! WE sold out of Day Passes! And the numbers we have ALREADY for pre-reg and patrons....-whistle- DAMN. It's awesome to see the idea and genre so loved! Hoping to get the rest of the Merchant Airship Numen crew up next year! (Including my little sister, Kim!) >.>; Also need to FINISH typing up info for the MAS Numen...
And...;-; I'll likely get to see Kim first weekend of December, for Yule Feast! -huggles her- I MISS MY BABY SISTERS! It's a bummer when your sister calls you because her life sucks and you can't scoop her up (figuratively, since she's TALLER THAN ME) and give her a giant hug and chocolate mocha chip ice cream with a package of Pocky on the side. I'm not entirely sure what's in store for me Yule Feast, other than playing Maiden again...But I'll find out when the time comes.
I'm thinking of starting experimenting with making Steampunk accessories, and definitely going to start trying to do some Steampunk art. 8] And for the love of all that is holy....@.x; NO MORE GRAPHICS. Seriously....other than Pete and Reagan and certain other people...I'm putting a HOLD on doing graphic work. My life is just too hectic at the moment for me to keep a steady schedule to crank out graphics. Button backlog is NOT fun.
Well, I'm going to flee for now. Food needs put away and I'm running out of things to say. So...ilu all! And see ya!

@.x; Ugh

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:06:07 GMT

I need to post more. >.>; Seriously.
I moved a couple months ago to Lacey, and am doing well there. 8] Living with two people I've known since middle school. I posted a new picture to my deviantArt for the first time since the fire. I'm happy with it, especially since it was my first time drawing a toddler. @.x; >w<
I'm going to Steamcon 0 (hopefully with my girlfriend! Will find out next paycheck~), and Norwescon 33. Debating if I want to apply for Artists' Alley at MEW...definitely thinking about it. <3

Maybe the future....

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:47:48 GMT

This is copy+pasted from crazedcamel

On Friday morning, a fire broke out at the family home of two of my long time students, their mother, also a close friend died from smoke inhalation.

These kids have lost everything, and the community has come together in a spectacular fashion.

The younger two's teacher from the Hilltop Artist in Residence program has set up a fund at Wells Fargo to help the girls out. It has its own Facebook page(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54467317615&ref=nf) for those who have accounts there. Fro those who do not, here is the information:

Donations can be made to:
Wells Fargo (Any branch of Wells Fargo)
Svancara Children Benefit Memorial Fund
Account Number 5917369182
(You will need the account number until about Wednesday 2/4/09, then you should be able to request the account by name)

Articles on the fire can be found:
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime/2009/02/27/firefighters_rescue_three_from_burning_h
http://www.komonews.com/news/40425857.html
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_022709WAB-tacoma-house-fire-LJ.b2e9c98.html
http://www.kirotv.com/news/18809265/detail.html

We are currently working on the funeral arrangements pending release from the ME's office. As of today, we've not been able to enter the home to assess for salvage, since it still considered a crime scene.

The girls are doing well, and have had clothing replaced.

Please pass out far and wide.

Death in the Family

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:00:36 GMT

Hey everyone. I have some really bad news. My house caught on fire this morning, and has not only likely destroyed practically everything we own....
But I no longer have a mother. My mother, Judith Ann Alexandria Abson, age 43, died on the scene. She, a housemate, and I got stuck upstairs. The housemate and I were in a room with a window that opened...my mother got caught in one of the back rooms. My family and I are still in shock and such, and things...haven't quite sunk in. We all have places to stay, and I am likely to be online sporadically...My laptop probably did not survive the fire with me. (I'm hoping at least the harddrive is salvagable.
I will post more later.

Fanfic (Jak and Daxter) - Nearly

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:06:02 GMT

Title: Nearly
Fandom: Jak and Daxter (Jak II)
Rating: M (For Safety)
Pairing: None
Warnings: Dark, non-sexual themes.
Chapter: 1/???
Notes: This is a story I'm not entirely sure why I started. I just...started typing until the muse let me go. Of course...she's not done with me yet, but I have no idea how long this story is to be. It's an exploration in many things really...My ability to write a story in first person, my ability to step into writing for a character who is scarred on the inside but has stitched up the broken pieces as best she could, my ability to write about something without directly writing about it...Talullah's story doesn't seem to be a pleasant one, far as I can tell...and I doubt it's going to get better, because she's eventually going to have to face her nightmares. Survivor's Guilt will also play a big role in this story later on...hence, the title.
Preview: When I got home that night...that's when I broke down crying. I had no idea the slummers had it THAT bad. I decided, then and there, I was going to do something about it.

Sometimes I can't escape the nightmares, no matter how tired I make myself. Sometimes, I can still hear the screams and the crying and the silence. Not the good sort of silence. The dead silence, the silence that comes when someone can't scream anymore. In a way, the screams were good. They reminded me another still lived. They reminded me I wouldn't become like them...so long as THEY kept screaming and staying alive.

Maybe...I should start from the beginning. I'm sure you're rather confused as to what I'm babbling about. Sorry...it's old habit. The people of Spargus are rather used to me by now.

My name is Talullah Adair. I was born in Haven City, in the Port district. My mother worked the docks, and my father was a KG. They...were good parents. My father was a good-hearted man, if a little stern...he never hit me or my mother, and sometimes would indulge in my games of tag. My mother was strong and independent. There was little 'softness' on her frame from being a dock worker...but I remember she held me as if I was the most delicate thing in the world. She was kind and gentle...and her smile was the most brilliant, infectious thing in the universe! Our life wasn't great, but it was full of love and laughter. My parents weren't the sort to let things get them down. After all...the slummers had it worse.

I remember the first time I followed my father into the slums. I think it was the first time I cried for someone besides myself or my parents. I was ten, and I saw a girl my age scrounging through the garbage. She was so thin and hungry looking, and patches of discolored skin showed her body had long forgotten how to properly process eco. I snuck away from my father, the lunch I had packed in hand, and gave it to her. She looked at me with wide green eyes, and then her face melted into a smile of thanks and relief and hope.

When I got home that night...that's when I broke down crying. I had no idea the slummers had it THAT bad. I decided, then and there, I was going to do something about it.

When I was twelve, I could pilot a zoomer like nobody's business. And so my mother's boss hired me to run packages to clients. I made some decent money for my family, and it gave me an excuse to go through the slums. I made sure a new person every day got a full meal. I knew which people were real slummers and which weren't. It was in the way they walked, the way their eyes flickered to the shadows in fear and their body shook from mistreatment or one sort or another. I bought the food with some of the money I earned. My parents were none the wiser.

When I was thirteen, almost fourteen...tragedy happened. One of the few peaceful places left in Haven was decimated and I lost my father. It's called Dead Town now. I went there once, after the Baron's orders sealed its fate...I could feel the ghosts of the people who died there. That was the first time I had cried in fear, rather than sorrow or pain.

For a month, I had no idea what to do. The Baron was willing to sacrifice his own goons! Was willing to kill innocent people and watch! My fear had dissolved into anger and hate. That was when Samos found me. He'd started a resistance group called the 'Underground', and people like me were needed. People who could pass undetected, people the KG wouldn't suspect. And the KG knew who my mother and I were. They knew we'd been fed the same yakkow shit that my father had died heroicly protecting the city. Of course...my mother and I pretended to believe it...and both of us joined the Underground. My mother was an informant, I was a delivery girl.

We kept our 'day jobs' easy enough. When I was sixteen, however...my mother just vanished. I cried until I was out of tears. We'd been planning for if one of us disappeared. Rather than stay in the house, I packed my few things of value and sentiment and moved into the bunks of the Underground. Samos put me in Torn's care, despite the fact I insisted I was old enough to care for myself. I resented Torn at first, because I'd been used to taking orders from Samos. But eventually...I grew to respect him, and he became something of a second father. He reminded me very much of my father...

It didn't last though. A year later, I got caught on a delivery run to Krew, and I was tossed into prison. The special part of it. I was processed, and then left to wonder what was going on. I could hear scream after scream...Eventually my cell mate, a rather sweet girl named Orb, was taken, and I never heard from her again. And I found out what was going on, after two months of being there. Each 'special' prisoner was slated to be the next experiment in the 'Dark Warrior Program'. When I heard some of the horrors that had happened...four of the other prisoners and I lead a nightly prayer, despite the fact we had never been very religious. But we felt we needed every bit of hope we could muster.

Precursors, hear our prayers
Keep us safe from our fears
Let your light surround us
And chase from us the darkness
Let us wake tomorrow and see we are all still here.

Every morning, we checked to see who was still with us. Most of us had done nothing wrong at all. Those who had...we still cared for them. In our minds, no one deserved to turn into a true monster. After two years, two hundred dwindled down to twenty. Twenty of us remained...In that time, we had one boy who stayed with us for only two weeks. I remember him clearest of all.

Strong and silent and full of light. The others flocked to him like crocadogs to a food dish. There were eighty of us at that time. He had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen, and I'd only seen one person with skin darker than his...Krew's new heavy, Sig. But sadly...he was taken from us. I prayed every night that he would resist...that despite the screams, he was still alive and unbroken. It is not often you see such light in someone...the sort of light that makes you want to cradle the child in your arms and protect them, no matter the cost.

When we were only twenty...we were exiled. We were ripped from our cells, tired and hungry and shabby, and herded onto a transport. From there, we were shoved out into the Wastelands. The last thing I remember of that was scorching heat, walking, and finally blackness and a respite from the intense heat.

And when I awoke, I was being tended to by strange, thin people with their face and skin painted white. I suddenly remembered my companions, and panicked. It took the strange people about an hour to calm me. And then...they took me to the others who had survived. We had gone from twenty to ten. I remember the ten of us sinking into a strange amorphous group hug, full of relief and sorrow and hope. We were alive. And we were together.

The strange people explained our situation. We had been rescued by Spargus, and owed our lives to its people. We would be tested, and our lives put to good use. The ten of us proved ourselves in the arena after we recovered. We proved ourselves three times. And we proved useful outside the arena as well. I learned to drive a car and became one of the best artifact runners. I also learned to shoot with deadly accuracy from a great distance. The king of Spargus, Damas, was given no reason to regret saving us...except one thing.

Three nights after our last arena battle...we had the nightmares. Nightmares of pain and blood and screams. Nightmares where our fallen friends reached out at us with boney, dark eco-stained claws. One nightmare I had was the blue-eyed boy tearing me to pieces as an ashen monster. I thank the Precursors I have never had it again. The ten of us came to make sure we were too tired to dream. We would work ourselves to the bone, then collapse into bed.

I am now twenty-one. And I still hear the screams some nights, when I can't work myself enough. I hope, one day...the screams will stop, and we can rest in peace again.

Here we go again!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:57:47 GMT

YES!!!!!!!! Obama is in office, and hopefully he'll start making the changes our country needs to get back up and in the game. I'm looking forward to seeing where things will go. This was my first presidential election that I could vote in...and I voted. Xd; Had to go halfway across town to turn my ballot in, but I did it!

To everyone else who voted in the USA...you all are awesome. Even if we weren't 'on the same side', we still exercised our rights together on this day that comes only once every four years. To all the other first-time voters, be it because you recently came of age, became a citizen, or just decided you were tired of sitting on the sidelines...welcome to the world. I'm still grinning like a madwoman off and on. To have voted, win or lose, just makes you feel...I dunno...really, really good. Like something just clicked into place that was out of whack for so long. It feels like I really am an American citizen now.

And damn am I proud to be one. I'd regale you all with my slightly off-key singing (my voice has been wonky the last few days), but my mic is on the fritz. So I'll just quote it...
"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free."
Freedom is what we just exercised today, my fellow American voters. And akrei lamei, does it feel good.

In other news, I've opened chibi and headshot commissions at my deviantArt, in hopes of getting some help with a rather unexpected bill that popped up. >.<; It's only going to be there for six months...But there's people I've made commitments to regarding Sakuracon, and this new bill sucks the funds for that. So please...help me out? http://throwndragon.deviantart.com

Life in General

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:55:06 GMT

Well then....here goes.

I haven't posted here in a long time...and I'm kinda sorry for it. Xd; Life, ya know? Well....I'm not in a kitchen anymore! No more dishwashing for a living for Poi!
I currently work for a parking company (those of you who know me IRL already know which one), and I actually like my job for the most part. Been there for almost 4 months now, and things are good. Better pay, more hours, less physical and mental drain, and fewer stupid people. I'm currently getting money squirreled away for Sakuracon, and I'm hoping to hit Otakon this time as well! >3 Beware East Coasters....the Thrown Dragon is comin'.

My relationship with my girlfriend has changed a bit...For one thing, there's a boy in the equation now. So instead of a two-some...it's a three-some. For another thing....Aa dammit, my family needs a bigger place. I'm not entirely sure I have the credit to be able to get an apartment on my own (let alone the money), and my brother-by-choice needs to find a job when he gets home before anything else. So....Xd; There's this lovely dilemma of there's currently seven people in the house. Add in my brother, that's eight. And then my girlfriend and boyfriend moving in would make it ten. See the space issue? <.<; We either a) need a bigger place....or b) I need to find a way to get an apartment with at least two bedrooms. As I said....Aa dammit.

My Mom FINALLY got her settlement for the accident two, almost three, years ago, so we're not quite hurting for money now. Dad's in school again to get his degree as a Chef. I'm going to be joining him Winter Quarter as a Pastry Chef, if all goes well. Mmmm...Cookies~

Art-wise....8D; Commission me? I'm VERY open, and though I have a good job...extra cash is always good to help ensure I get to Sakuracon without....Issues. So....If you're interested, info can be found in my new deviantArt journal! http://throwndragon.deviantart.com

Life Paths

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:05:01 GMT

Okay...I'm at a crossroads. After I gain my degree as a pastry chef, I don't know what to do. I can go two ways, the way I see it. I can stay in Washington and search for the perfect location for the bakery/cosplay cafe I want to run/own with my middle sister. Or I can move to LA, Dallas or Houston, still open the place...but pursue voice acting at the same time. Yes, neither path involves me drawing for a living. And it never will. I love art far too much. It will never be my 'job'...
But anyways...I'm not sure which way to go. I would love to stay in the state, close to family and friends here...But the problem is, my family will be moving to Arizona in a few years (can't really get more specific, it's still a ways away financially), Kim (my middle sister) is planning for Stanford in Cali, and my friends...Well, most of my friends here in Washington don't talk to me anymore, or we talk rarely because of life and schedule conflicts. And...Washington is just getting to be too cold and stifling for me. I love the greenery...but once again...I'M COLD 90% OF THE DAMN TIME!
But I'm also...scared. Of moving, of finding a job before I move, of having a place to stay, of...well, making the wrong choice. There's a song that I want to follow: "Into the Rush" by Aly and AJ.

I want to live as close to my own terms as I can get...but it's hard, ya know? My family is important to me, for all our arguing and bitching at one another. And...I'm not sure if I'm ready to be on my own. I'm a strong girl, but I've been told I'm not ready, despite the fact I KNOW I'm ready at times. And it's not that pompus, childish 'IWANTOUTOFTHEHOUSE' I'm ready...
But I know I can't handle a place on my own. If I do move to another state, I will make sure I'm living with someone else...share an apartment, ya know?

So...-sigh- This journal entry has just raised more questions in my head...
Well...I'm planning on trying for Anime Expo this year, and if so, I'll most likely be in that area for 5-7 days. That'll help determine if I want to move or not.

Merciful Blessings!

Sakuracon and Registration

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:14:53 GMT

I am NEVER doing registration at a convention EVER again. This was the day open to only pre-reg, and we still processed somewhere over 5000 people. And we had to deal with much, much stupidity. And I'm coming down with something, so I'm struggling to keep my happy, perky face up while I'm trying not to hack a lung out on the person's badge. And tomorrow begins the normal registration. Which means LOTS of stupidity.

Where am I doing this? SAKURACON. In Seattle, Washington.

Why? Because I was insane and broke. But I still wanted to go. Yay me. ;_;

But...there are good things about it. I get to be nerdy and hyper and glompy. I get to dress in my gorgeous clothes I normally wouldn't wear. I get to meet Vic Mignogna. I get to meet two artists I absolutely adore. I get to get AWAY from my house and my parents and the 'hood' I live in.

Life is good.

Of course...It would have been had Nyoko been able to come up...but her mother was being picky and wouldn't let her. So....I'm going down to WV instead in two weeks for Tekkoshocon.

And I plan as cosplaying as Real!Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. -cheer- Go me!

Well...this is Poi signing off. Mercy be with you.

Yay! New Journal!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:54:23 GMT

BWAHAHA! Poi has a new journal! -gigglecackle-
XD Okay...that was my ramble. -skitters off-