Wednesday, June 23, 2010

MR fanfic (MPOV) Chapter 44

Jazz and I walked back to the bookstore in silence, both of us obviously thinking about different things. I was still trying to process what the Voice had told me and if it was just a bunch of lies that I would be stupid to believe or if he really was some kind of super-mutant who wanted to help me. I didn't know what Jazz what thinking about, but I assumed it had something to do with whatever had happened up on the roof after I had left.

When we came to the bookstore, we began to quietly round up the others. I heard Nudge's voice near the children's books and walked over there as Jazz went over to the romance novels to get Kalie. I poked my head around a corner and saw Nudge sitting on a bench with Gazzy, Angel, Thing 1, and Thing 2 sitting cross-legged in front of her. She had a picture book in her hands with the pictures facing out towards the others, making it so she had to read upside-down. She was doing a pretty good job at it, though.

"'If I ran the zoo,' said young Gerald McGrew, 'I'd make a few changes, that's just what I'd do.'" I glanced at the other's faces while Nudge read. They all looked so young. Gazzy's eyes were glued to the pictures and his mouth was hanging open a little. Angel had a small smile on her face as her wide eyes looked over the words and the pictures. Thing 1 and Thing 2 just sat there, looking mesmerized by it all. A smile crossed my lips as Nudge continued to read. It was the cutest little picture I had ever seen, and I kind of wished it could have just gone on like that forever. But, alas, even the most beautiful things must come to an end... Like the fleeting sunset and--okay, forget the mushy metaphors. You get the idea.

I walked over to them, trying to be as quiet as possible. Nudge glanced up in the middle of a sentence and blushed. "Oh, hi, Max..." she said slowly. The others turned to look at me and their smiles disappeared.

"Hey, guys," I said softly. "Whatcha' readin'?" Nudge turned back to the book and I could tell she was embarrassed, even though I didn't know why.

"'If I Ran the Zoo', but Dr. Suess." Gazzy supplied quickly. "Can we finish the story? Please?" he asked, his eyes begging. I sighed.

"I dunno... Aren't you hungry?" I asked, remembering that we hadn't had breakfast yet today. Gazzy thought for a moment then replied.

"Yeah, but I want to hear the rest of the story." he finally answered. I raised an eyebrow. I have to admit that I hadn't been expecting that...

"Okay, I guess if you want to hear it that badly..." I said with a shrug. Their faces lit up again and they all turned back to the story.

"Thanks, Max!" Gazzy called as I walked away from them, towards the mystery section to find Fang.

"Hey," he said when I got there. He didn't even look up from the book in his hands.

"Hey," I mumbled in reply. I stopped next to him and looked over all of the books. "Did you see the younger kids over there?" I asked him.

"Yeah," Fang said simply. I gave him a look.

"Didn't you think they were cute?" I prodded as he continued to look at his book.

"Yeah,"

"And that's all you have to say?" I asked, getting a little annoyed by the one syllable responses. He thought for a minute.

"Yeah." he said as he closed the book. I expected to see a smile on his face, telling me that he was joking, but there wasn't one. His face looked as serious as usual, and I could tell there was something on his mind. I sighed and figured that if he wanted to talk to me about it, he would...eventually.

"So, where's Iggy?" I asked.

"I think he was over by the graphic novels. Ya know, a bookstore is probably his least favorite place to be..." Fang replied in a full sentence this time.

"I know, but I didn't think we'd be here for that long..." I replied softly.

"He can't even read braille." Fang mumbled and I rolled my eyes.

"I get it, Fang, you both want to leave. I told the kids we could stay for them to finish their story, though, so you're both gonna have to deal for a little longer." I said, getting a little irritated. This day hadn't been going so well for me.

"Fine, then," Fang snapped, closing his book and pushing it back into the shelf. "I'm gonna go find Iggy." he mumbled then brushed past me without the slightest care. I stared ahead with a look of disbelief on my face. What was up with people today?

Thursday, June 17, 2010

New Blog Layout!

So, what do you guys think? As you can see, I've totally changed the layout of my blog. New background, new fonts, new side for the sidebar, all that jazz. I've added a few new things and removed a few things, too. Let me know what you think!



P.S. I was thinking of Reesie as I added the "Search This Blog" thing down at the very bottom of the screen... Enjoy it, Reesie.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

MR Fanfic (MPOV) Chapter 43

Jazz glanced up at me and raised an eyebrow. "I thought we had determined that Jeb was the Voice but then he wasn't?" she said as more of a question than a statement.

"Yeah, but did you ever think about who the Voice really was?" I pressed, trying to get her to see the point.

"Um...kinda...but I never got that far with it..." she responded slowly.

"Well, apparently, he's a mutant." I said with a small smile. She looked at me, confused.

"How do you know?"

"Because I just got done talking with him." I said, my smile growing. The look of shock on her face was brilliant. I wish you could have seen it. Her mouth dropped open to form this big "O" and her eyes practically popped out of her head. It was the best shocked face I had ever seen.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Tell me!!" she said excitedly. I told her about our conversation and the questions he had answered. She listened, wide-eyed and hanging on every word. When I had finished, her brow creased and she thought for a minute before saying anything.

"What did you say his name was, again?" she asked. I thought it was odd that she would ask me what his name was, since I thought there were much better questions to ask.

"N1C01_43," I replied, making sure I could get it right. "Why do you ask?" I glanced over at her and saw that she was writing down the combination of letters and numbers on the top of the roof with a piece of charcoal.

"Where did you get that?" I asked. She shrugged.

"You'd be amazed as to what people leave on old roof tops." she replied simply. I raised an eyebrow as she finished writing 'N1C01_43' on the roof. She thought for a minute then wrote another 'N' beneath the first one.

"What are you doing?" I really had no clue what was going through her brain, but it had something to do with his name.

"Do you know what leet speak is?" she asked, turning to face me.

"Um, no," I replied, really baffled. I wondered if it was some sort of language where you could swear and get away with it.

"Leet speak is this type of chat that some people use online. It's kind of like text talk, only they replace the majority of the letters in the alphabet with symbols and numbers. Like, instead of spelling 'leet' like L-E-E-T, they spell it L-Three-Three-T." Jazz explained. I gave her my signature "What?" look. She shrugged and looked back at her writing.

"So, how would you spell 'Max' in leet speak?" I asked suddenly.

"Leet speak is not something I'm fluent in, but I'm guessing it might involve the number four and some slashes or something." Jazz replied absentmindedly. She suddenly wrote the letter "I" underneath her number one then put the letter "C" after that. She then made an "O".

"'Nico'?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not done yet, okay?" she said, writing an "L" underneath the "1_". Next, she wrote an "A", then finished off her word with an "E". I tilted my head, looking at the two words. I kind of got how some of them would work, but leet speak wasn't a language I was going to start using any time soon.

"Nicolae..." I mumbled, saying the name out loud. "N1C01_43..." I contemplated the two combinations side-by-side and decided that Jazz was pretty smart. "Nicolae is a pretty cool name." I said, nodding at Jazz. She shrugged, and even though her face was turned from me, I knew she was smiling.

"So, are you going to call him Nicolae or the Voice?" Jazz asked as she sat up to look at me.

"I dunno, I've gotten so used to just the Voice that he'll probably stay that in my brain." I replied with a shrug of my own.

"Well, I think I'm gonna call him Nicolae. It makes him seem more...real, ya know?" she said with a small smile. I thought for a moment.

"If you say so," I replied simply then stood up. "Come on, let's head back to the others." Jazz stood up beside me and I began walking towards the box poking up out of the roof that lead to the stairs. When I got there, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Jazz staring down at the words she had drawn on the roof. "Are you coming?" I called to her. Her head snapped up and she jumped a bit, acting as if I had surprised her.

"Oh, yeah, I'm coming," she said as she began walking towards me. I opened the door then walked down the stairs. After reaching the bottom floor of the building, I walked to the door and waited for Jazz. I'm pretty sure I stood there for a good five minutes before she was by my side. So, the question that lingered in my brain as we left was... What was she doing up there for five minutes?

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The Colored Version and the Winners!

First... The winner!! In my hand is the envelope holding the name of the winner of the "Guess Those People" contest! *holds up envelope* Now, the winner is... *drum roll* *dramatic pause* 

*opens envelope*

*gasp!*

I don't believe it (actually, I do believe it)! We have a tie! The first person to answer correctly was Liv--I mean, Anonymous! Congrats, Anonymous, you've won yourself FIVE MII POINTS*!! The next winner is only because I'm feeling generous. My Friendly Stalker, even though you cheated, you at least tried, so I'm giving you two and a half Mii points. Congrats, Stalker. Now, our third winner is Booklover181! Booklover181, you've won five Mii points! Congratulations, one and all, and thanks for playing! Be sure to tune in next time and you too could win big! Take us away, Bill!

*theme music plays and audience cheers as the show comes to a close*

Okay, now that that's done... Onto the real fun! Here's the colored version! 

This, my friends, is history. It's my first time ever coloring a hand-drawn picture on the computer. The shading is kind of iffy in parts, but I really like them.

Tucker looks stinkin' adorable, as does Danny (although I think he looks a bit young...). I tried to draw Tucker with an expression kind of like Sam's, but I thought it just didn't look right on him. So he got a big happy smile instead. =P (But did I mention he looks stinkin' adorable??) Oh, and I want Sam's skirt. And leggings. And boots. And ponytail. Okay, I basically want her outfit...just with a longer shirt. =P (My dad saw Sam and he was like "She has a bellybutton." and I was like "Yes, yes she does." and my brother said something along the lines of "Everyone has a bellybutton..." and my dad went on to say something like "But you're such a modest girl..." and I said "Dad, that's the outfit she wears in the show." and then he's like "Oh, okay." =P I love my father. =) ) 

The outlining was tedious, but not that hard, and coloring was super easy (Ya know, after I figured out the right color...) It was really hard to get the right shades for Tucker's clothes and skin. You really wouldn't think it's that hard, but brown is really hard to find. O.o The other colors were all fairly easy to find, though. Then came the background... >.<>

Lots of thanks to my brother for his help with this. He's the one that does the coloring on the computer, so he told me how to do it and stuff. Plus he was very helpful with the shading, so thanks to him for that as well. =)

Okay, well, I've rambled on for long enough about this. Now you must comment and tell me what you like and what could use improvement. But be gentle, I really do like this...




*Mii points are not remembered or counted by Mii Maker and are not valid for exchange for any legal tender. Mii points are also not valid in the state of Utah. Sorry, Utah.