takeroot | noctium inbox

pictures i was present for are fair game! we are taking a fun trip down memory lane together. it's ok if some of that trip was made in the same car

other pictures i've already seen are also fair game, as long as they're good enough to warrant a second pass

[Please send her all of your best pics and fondest memories, roomie. She has no ulterior motives whatsoever for requesting this content.]

i will go first! for your consideration...

[She sends not one picture, but two: The first is a selfie that was clearly taken outside at night, featuring a swimsuit-clad Nyskie and a red-headed woman holding a stolen sign. The second features Nyskie sticking the sign on the wall of an extremely fancy-looking public washroom.]

this fun sign that I rehomed to a nice wedding venue in filia! with some help of course

Your enthusiasm for repetition is appreciated! And you know, I think I was in that restroom at some point during all of those strangers' weddings.

[Was he drunk and also lost? Maybe so! But what an experience.]

In that case, please appreciate the following.

[Only one picture from him, and it is actually a picture of a photograph, although the photograph is, at least, of Constantin. He's sort of... cool guy crouching in a tide pool and poking at a pretty starfish while giving the camera a Look.]

I was set loose with a "disposable" camera back on the beach, but I had to preserve the printed photographs, of course.

[So: cool pic of a photograph on a table... it's fun...]

i hope it was after we hung the sign in it. it would be just sad if no one got to appreciate our hard work

[Before the venue employees caught wise and took the sign down, that is. Which is probably what happened after not too terribly long.]

ooh, that's a good picture of you! who took it?

did you get pinched by a crab? that was my tidepool experience

I do believe it was! Or else having a vague memory of a restroom would be even stranger.

And! I don't remember, some local who was not particularly invested in my oceanic adventures. I was not pinched by any crabs, luckily.

that's good. i didn't know there were crabs that lived in conch shells, but! there are. and one pinched me on the ear 🐚🦀😔

[Lesson learned: watch out for conch crabs.]

also, the last time i was in primavera, i went to a cafe that was full of cats! i didn't know that was a thing that existed

[She sends him a picture of a lanky grey kitten swatting at a cat toy, which is being held by someone who is mostly out of the shot. The kitten is the star of this photo.]

And you didn't take a picture to remember its criminal pincers by?

[For shame... imagine the WARNING: CRAB images that could be stuck to their fridge this very moment.

Anyway, that's a cat! In a... cat place? Huh!]

I also didn't know such places existed! A vast improvement over the cafes that waste all of their time on coffee. How can I compete with a room full of cats?

well, when it pinched my ear, I dropped it and it fell back into the tidepool. i did bring home a conch that DIDN'T have a crab in it though

[It's not quite as good joke material, but the shell is still a nice souvenir.]

surely you're not going to be outdone this easily? dig deep! your starfish picture was very good. i think the fact that it was a picture of a physical picture is worth extra points

but we can visit the cat cafe ourselves sometime! they serve non-coffee drinks there too, which is good because i still can't stand the stuff

I suppose that is something. What terrifying craft do you intend to make out of it?

[Of course, "terrifying" is meant affectionately, in this context. How many googly eyes will this conch have soon, Nyskie? How many??]

I will look forward to this cat cafe outing, but for now... You have already seen the picture of Nikolai and I at the beach, so perhaps this one.

[It's Matt's magic selfie, taken on Constantin's phone, notable for how Matt looks like a normal person and Connie looks like a fuzzy eldritch blob on a human neck because he moved at the last second and ruined it. Or did he?]

[How did you know, Constantin... She didn't even mention crafts. Yet.]

maybe i will make it into a fun crab, in honour of the one that got away

[How many eyes do crabs have? It's eight, right? Like spiders? Anyway, this photo...]

ooooooh, very nice. this looks like... the blackout? who's that next to you?

If it pinches my ears while I sleep, I am going to be very cross.

It is the blackout indeed! And that is Matt, who is some kind of a witch or some such, you would like him. You could do all sorts of fun little tricks together. He actually made the device levitate for this picture!

[Teach him some wacky clown magic... he'll probably be into it.....]

[Nyskie does not actually know how to make a pipe-cleaner crab capable of pinching anyone's ears, but that would be a stellar gag for sure. Maybe puppeteering magic is something she should look into learning.]

how very resourceful of him! that would explain the angle of the picture, though not why it looks like your face is making a break for it

how do you know he's a witch? has he done lots of witchy things with you?

[Well good news, Constantin happens to know this witchy fella to talk it out with.]

There was an atrociously long timer! I was distracted.

He mentioned spellwork the first time we met. Something about shields? It was for my mattress during the big move.

oh, a moving day friend! see, even if we moved in the least efficient way possible, it was clearly still a huge success in the end

i got some good pictures from it, too

[She sends over a candid shot of Constantin clambering into the rented moving truck with Nikolai—one of many pictures she took over the course of their move, to commemorate the experience.]

It was certainly a day to remember, yes. The resounding success of the variety bagels was very encouraging.

[And so he bought bagels forevermore... Anyway: oh, this picture is goofy, but in the best possible way?]

You are going to make me sentimental for a truck! Did you know he spent the entire journey talking about the radio, while the radio was on? I was beside myself!

[And here is another picture from Moving Day, which seems to have been the most significant thing either of them have done so far, huh. It's a picture of Nyskie holding a frisbee aloft, ready to break every rule of Lawn Bowling (With Frisbee).]

[In all seriousness, moving to this place marked the first time that either of them had ever actually owned their own house! What could be more significant?]

how much is there even to say about a radio? it plays sounds

[Spoken like someone who was not subjected to an entire drive's worth of having radios explained to them in painstaking detail.]

i am going to let you in on a secret about this day

that maybe is not such a secret

but i definitely used my amethyst to cheat a little with the frisbee, SEVERAL times

Perhaps dear Nikolai should go on the radio about it, kill two birds with one stone.

I will tell no one of your dastardly schemes! Where did the frisbee wind up in the end, anyway?

i think it might still be up on the neighbours' roof

you'd think they would have tossed it back over to our yard by now, but i guess the neighbours don't climb up on their own roof very much?

[Kind of boring of them, but if retrieving the frisbee is ever of real importance, she could technically just float up there and go find it.]

we should have a party like that again though. it was really fun!

and clearly our good vibes sign worked, because we never had to resort to using it for its secondary purpose

[That is, as a blunt object.]

[Is this the roof that is soon to become Nikolai's roof. They will have to ask him to get it.]

I am very pleased I did not have to hit anyone with the sign, yes. Imagine if it was left with a dent.

For our next party, two preliminary guidelines:

1. A proper party without the strenuous labor
2. A spare frisbee in case the new frisbee we must now purchase somehow winds up on a rooftop that is not our own

those are good guidelines. one moving adventure was enough for me

speaking of parties, i do have this pic from a birthday party i was at a while ago

[She sends a selfie that shows her peeking in from the edge of the frame, wearing a silly looking party hat. In the background, standing in an ordinary looking apartment, is a lanky young man dressed in sunglasses and a full tuxedo.]

you remember that weird picture of our moving ad? this is the guy that made it!

Oh, the one who was insulting about "internet safety," as if that is a real thing.

[Constantin has definitely never invited any weirdos to their house from the internet... never happened.]

The hat suits you!

i think so too! i'd never encountered that birthday tradition before, but birthday hats are going to be a feature of my birthday party for sure

and yeah, he can be a little sassy! he's a bit of a weird guy

[As if that wasn't abundantly clear from the deep-fried advertisement alone.]

he's also the one who gave me lil micah. right after i met him, too! he didn't even know about my collection yet

[Who just randomly gives new friends taxidermy animals as a gift? This guy, apparently.]

That certainly does have implications, I suppose, but if he is your friend now, then it was a nice gesture.

[It's not creepy at all, retroactively!! Great taxidermy bonding.]

I have a vitally important question about the hats: Do we design our own?

Edited 2021-08-07 19:44 (UTC)

absolutely we design our own! that would make the party so much better, don't you think?

if you are going to wear a silly hat, it might as well be a custom made silly hat

plus i mean it's just a paper cone, so even someone who hated crafts could glue on some random stuff and be done in a couple minutes

And is designing the hats part of the party? I did once go out with Nikolai to do art, and it was quite fun!

["Art" here is the ceramic ballerina and not at all matching, comically large ceramic ice cream sundae he painted almost competently and brought home once upon a time. That art.]

it should definitely be part of the party! but it doesn't have to be a big event. people could just do it as they arrive

that is assuming we're all here when my birthday rolls around, but if anyone around here has made progress toward getting any of us back home, i sure haven't heard about it! so i feel like it's pretty good odds i'll be able to get at least one birthday party in

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject