borborygmus

I need Sharder help if possible figuring out some tough stuff, if anyone is willing to help me out. Some background for what is going on - on Monday I suffered a catastrophic house fire. It caught fire while I was at work in the middle of doing surgery while my best friend & life partner (and vet nurse) was running anesthesia. The structure was completely destroyed - this is what remains https://bloomingtonian.com/2020/03/09/house-burns-on-w-mallory-road/ Our five dogs, our cat and everything that I ever owned in my life as well as everything that my partner ever owned were all lost in the fire. We are devastated. The losses are unimaginable. Some things can never be replaced, our animals are the worst of it all. We had a 3 year old moggy cat, a 1.5 year old Lab-mutt, an 8 month old Malamute-mutt and 3 dachshund puppies only 4-6 months old all of whom were trapped in the house. Other things like the heirloom violin passed down in my family through the maternal line are also not possible to replace even with equivalent value. We have lost our childhood stuffed animals, our documents of identification and financial records, diplomas, photograph albums, our textbooks and school notes, literally everything is ashes. Our lives are gone. They burned away in less than 30 minutes. Insurance covers our lost belongings at replacement value and wants us to list the things that we have lost and value them. For some things that are harder to value such as antiques we have to have some kind of third party appraisal. We have to figure out the contents and value of our library books and try to list them, some we will never have any idea about such as the collection of old roleplaying game manuals, out of print novels, &c. The entire task is massively overwhelming and painful as at each turn we are realizing more that we have lost and can never find again. Part of our library that we had and treasured was first edition copies of basically everything Brandon has ever written, except for Elantris which we were not early enough to the party to get on first edition - we had had all his Cosmere works signed, although we did not pursue signings for the other works, and had also a copy of the Name of the Wind signed by Brandon and Way of Kings signed by Patrick Rothfuss. We had all the leatherbound books that are no longer available on his store. We each had a Cosmere pin and a Hoid card from GenCon 50. The last two hold only emotional value and not monetary value, but the others all held considerable value and all of them would be hard or impossible to replace now. We don't know how to value them for insurance. We don't know how to get replacements for any of them. We are lost on this and the whole task is overwhelming, I hoped that 17th Sharders might help us in trying to figure out an appraisal value and guide us in finding these things (or sell to us if you need extra pocket money although I can't imagine anyone selling these once they had them). Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and consider this - and if you can help us out we are extremely grateful.

Tamzin, I think maybe you're just hanging around the wrong girls. There are a lot of women who enjoy Brandon Sanderson's works, as well as fantasy in general. I am one of them, and I know quite a few others - in fact just at a guess I would say the population of 17S itself is at least half female. I don't know for sure, because I never really felt the need to check.

I'm de-lurking in order to welcome you cause you're special. Welcome to 17S! And yeah, Alloy of Law...then Warbreaker...then Way of Kings! xD

Hm. I'm not going to try to make a clever comment. xD I just want a shot at one of the prizes, so BOOM!

Easy answer: Yellow. I like fixing things, and that's what I'm learning to do anyways. I don't like the colour and it looks awful on me, but I think I'm stuck with it. xD

I feel your pain, fiveAM. I live in CA too, and I also can't make it to either signing.

But there are more male NPC-Inquisitors beyond the PCs. The female Inquisitors get more screen-time, but that artificially enhances their presence. I also suspect that women in the Ministry in general are not common; most of the Obligators are male.

She has Phyra now. Previously, another member was playing Phyra, but after he disappeared from the board some important plots with Phyra were left hanging. Primarily, Mikhail needed to be murdered! So Kchan took her over to carry them through to completion - hence, Phyra 2.0. I like that thread too.

Colette is seriously vile. Heh. She kind of scares me a little.

Um...eheh...um...well, definitely not all at Marisha and Nerid... ^__^;; I have evil things planned for other characters too...But there's definitely some more trouble headed their way. And thanks again! I keep meaning to draw some of them, but I get sidetracked every time I sit down. I mean to draw other peoples' characters, too; I have a whole lineup of sketches that I really need to work on. Nerid would totally love your keyboard harmony teacher and her accordion. He still needs the chance to dance a polka, though I'm not sure if he'll get it. Maybe next cycle...

True, but Lex and Emilia still aren't as long as Willem is. I'm pretty sure I've got the record with 10629 words.

Thank you! It's really cool to know that someone's following our characters. They're so much fun to write and plot for (and we have many, many, many things plotted. Bwahaha. Mostly evil things. ) Marisha is very glad to have some support. xD I'm really happy you like her! And Nerid and Sanna too. You'd be welcome to come join us, time constraints or no, I hope you will consider it! You might have the shortest post, Comatose, but I've still got the longest application! HA.

A smile of amusement touched Nasir's face as Bix uttered a familiar question. The Seelvah plainly had Kiki's measure; Nasir couldn't count how many people had noticed that over the time he had been with Kiki. He had come to simply take it as a given by now; all of them were in and out of some kind of trouble nearly constantly. A supposed Ohnyrek prophecy was almost the logical next step when you looked at the pattern. They would find a way. He needed to remind Kiki of that. "Peace be upon you, Bix," he said, rising to bow to the Seelvah.

That...did not sound good, even if Kiki had not clarified that it definitely wasn't. Nasir had never studied the Leyht closely - Kiki herself had begun his real teaching in channeling, and she did not go much into the theory of it - but he was certain that there should not be any darkness in it. It must have been Krh'rhl's Wrongness that Kiki was sensing...but the Earthshell was telling them so little. The door flew open, though, breaking him off before he could answer her, and Nasir's eyes flicked to the incoming Seelva with a careful assessment. Kiki and Harran both knew him, clearly; she addressed him by name...

Nasir was alert to all of the others in the room - he, at least, had not forgotten that Sayuri was there, and was watching her for any sign of a threat even more closely than he watched the Earthshell, although he did not appear to be paying her any special notice. Yet his attention was also on Kiki, as she closed her eyes, her face evening out into an expression of quiet peace. Someone else might have thought that she was simply making an overt display of boredom, but Nasir knew that Kiki was doing something. When her eyes snapped open, he knew before she said anything that something was very wrong. Attuned as he was to her emotions, he could read the traces of upset and alarm in her face. At that moment, everything else faded into nonimportance; he was peripherally aware of what they were saying, but it was shoved aside. "What is wrong, akhayyatun?" he answered in his own language, his voice calm and reassuring. Nasir reached out his hand to rest it lightly on her shoulder. "What did you feel?"

Emeralis, this was an awesome snippet xD made me laugh

I finally edited my tag...sorry. I have had three exams this week, in emerging/exotic disease, bacteriology, and oncology. D:

It's surprisingly easy to get integrated into the storyline. Yeah, a lot of stuff is going on all over the place, but usually your character is only going to be aware of a small part of it, and you'll learn as you go along right along with your character. Everyone loves plotting (join us on AIM and you'll see!) and we welcome new people. Don't be intimidated!

This Earthshell really did not seem to fit the norms of what Nasir had heard of his people. He was easily startled and shy, but he seemed more willing to communicate - indeed, almost to seek it out, even going so far as to joke. Nasir half-smiled as Krh'rhl tried to hide the evidence of his mistake under the rug, like a guilty child. It was not going to work, unfortunately. The walls already gave him away. "Is there anything you do know, that you can share with us?" he asked, taking a seat near the Earthshell. "Solutions are easier when you know the problem. If you can tell me the story of the last time this happened..."

Woo a post! Sorry again for taking so long. I'm dealing with a chronic lack of imagination at the moment, and my ability to put words together is rusty.

Nasir had kept quiet for the most part during their passage through the city. Particularly after the Earthshell, Krh'hrl, had made his unexpected display, melting and burrowing into the street beneath them. Their group had drawn attention at that point, and though they were in a better area of town, these people were still on edge. Kiki's channeling might have calmed them, but nonetheless Nasir had kept two wary eyes out all the way to the palace, and still continued once they were in. This was the second time he had been here, though he had not had the opportunity to see all of the palace on that occasion, either. No one seemed to recognize Kiki from her last visit, and they were shown into a private room - interestingly enough, the same room that contained the mysterious Academ from earlier. Kiki did not speak to her, and as a result Nasir did not either, though he glanced at her curiously. What did a mathematician have to do with a supposed Ohnyrek prophecy, he wondered again? Where was she from? It was possible that they might be working with her, as part of the investigation, or at least that Kiki and Harran might. He had been thinking about what the Earthshell had said. They were part of the solution to what it called the Wrongness. Was that one and the same with what the broken, cryptic sentences of the Ohnyrek had hinted at? Nasir had never believed in prophecy, and he was not about to start now. However, the Earthshell and his kind might well have heard of it themselves, and come up with this idea of the Wrongness from it. As if summoned by that thought, the Earthshell appeared in the doorway to the room. It came directly towards them, and then knelt down to place something glittering-bright in front of Kierra, retreating with a bow. As Kierra picked it up, Nasir looked in curiously to see what it was that the Earthshell had chosen to give her. It was perhaps the most elaborate note of apology that Nasir had ever seen, a beautifully-shaped gemstone with a few words in Xanethi carved into it. The Earthshell itself had backed away into a corner of the room, and Kiki thanked it from a distance; Nasir watched it for a few moments, then chose to approach, slowly and carefully. The Earthshell was easily frightened, and he did not want to startle it again. "Peace be upon you,Krh'hrl," he said softly, without coming too close. Earthshells were known for the sensitivity of their hearing, and it would hear him clearly from this distance. He did not want to come closer unless invited, and invade the rock-creature's space. "May I ask you what you meant when you spoke of a solution, and of the Wrongness?"

Iiiiiii really want this. ENTER ME! xD

Nasir had seen an Earthshell a total of once before, in all his time spent traveling in Alteiryn. He recognized the creature quite easily, of course, though he was slightly startled to see it standing there in front of them. If a person of living stone could be said to look upset, the Earthshell certainly did. Nearly everyone in the tavern was staring at it, with varying degrees of circumspection. He wondered if that was the problem. They were notoriously shy. Why would it have come into the city, then? Had word somehow reached even the Earthshells? They did not communicate much with Xanethi, and he highly doubted that the Tolveran government would try to send word to them about the strange prophecy. "Peace be upon you," he greeted it, his voice sounding oddly lower than usual; part of the disguise that Kiki had woven for him. Nasir bowed gracefully, right hand touching his heart

Nasir looked up from closing the fastenings on his own tunic. He was considerably less well-dressed than Kiki, of course, but still rather more elegant than he usually appeared. Tamir, accompanying the Lady Kierra Vhaskar, could not look like a common traveler. "Pink hair? Certainly." He paused briefly, then added, in a perfectly serious tone, "Perhaps I might arrange it into a crest, as well; like that of a helmet. I saw a young man wearing his that way. I could add a good six inches to my height."

Nasir’s eyes flicked over the common room, without much more than what appeared a casual glance, but he had noted the position and a rough estimate of the threat of each man and woman there. It was nothing but ingrained habit; they were, in all likelihood, safe from any attack here in an upscale inn. Still, it was a good habit to have, particularly when going anywhere with Kierra Vhaskar. If trouble didn’t look for her, she got bored and looked for it. More commonly, however, she did not have to expend any effort to land them all in the shorabat. The short, almond-eyed woman was unusual; he did not recognize what people she came from. Somewhere in Alteiryn, certainly, but not somewhere he knew of. He gave her a second glance, still brief, and found her looking back at him with those odd, very pale blue eyes. She was speaking to a middle-aged nobleman, but was not attending to the bargaining; she was more interested in the three of them. That was not necessarily suspicious. After all, they were an odd group; two Vhaskari, one of them an armed woman, and a Masran traveling together. In return, Nasir felt free to study her for a moment. He did not doubt that many people did look at such a unusual individual. Kiki and Harran were engaged in their own conversation, but as Nasir looked away, he kept his ears alert to listen to what the newcomer had to say to Sayuri Tenaho, Master of Mathematics. He easily recognized the man as a messenger of the Crown Prince, and in a matter of seconds the woman had gained in significance. A former Academ, and now an accountant? Strange. Even stranger was the fact that they wanted a mathematician to analyze the Ohnyrek’s ‘prophecy.’ He missed the last part of their conversation as Kiki led them up the stairs; he did not want to lag behind and let Master Tenaho know that he had been eavesdropping. It was a foregone conclusion that she would go to the palace regardless; an Academ did not refuse an order from the Crown Prince of Tolvera. Nasir had not been the only one to observe her; Kiki asked about them as soon as they were in private. “I noticed,” he replied. “She also noticed us. Do you know anything about a Sayuri Tenaho? She is – or was - an Academ at the Tolveran University, studying mathematics. Apparently she is of considerable renown.”