The 'Welcome back DarkKnight' pun war reunion extraordinaire

[Solana]

The Battle Board had been silent and abandoned for so long that the dust bunnies were up to their 13th generation. Rumors had already begun to circulate about it being haunted. The cleaning bill alone would have probably been everyone's rent check for a year.

Unless there was a Water Guardian nearby who adored both pun wars and playing with water.

After welcoming DarkKnight back, Aryn had zipped to the kitchen to make up a feast while Solana had zoomed to the Battle Board with a few barrels of cleanser. Within a few hours, and nearly tapped of all of her, Aryn's, and Eziban's magic, the doors were reopened to show a Battle Board in the prime of its life.

The special area set off for pun wars had been lit with lanterns, and Aryn had made enough popcorn and Eziban enough drinks to keep even this group fed and full of energy. The Calderas took their seats as Solana stepped first into the arena.

Solana- Welcome back to the Battle Board, dear fellow Shriners! What better way to welcome back an old friend than making sure none of us has gotten rusty in this finest of contests? My suggestion for a theme is 'Geography'! Does this sound like a Taipei war anyone else would like to continue?

[Ambrienne]

A war like that could be a real butte. And yes, I mean that how it's actually pronounced and not what it looks like. Because, you know, it seems like so many people will just Rushmore through school without stopping to learn anything. Even though we should NEVER stop learning.

[Solana]

Ah, I knew I could count on you. Wonderful.

Yeah, Iran through my bachelor's program in three years thanks to AP and post-secondary, but am reviewing for my next lab animal technician certification. I also have training tomorrow in more rodent health topics.

Me- Yay, we got to learn about (medical thing not in the reviewing) and about stem cell repairs in spinal trauma! I'm such a dork.

Coworker friend- Yeah, I was going to say, "Solana, you're a nerd."

Me- Of course.

[Ambrienne]

Must fight urge to recommend that you meet the Romance MD: Always On Call heroine so that you can try to outdo each other in the field of medical nerdery in an Arcticulate fashion. Wait. I just failed to keep quiet. Oops. Sometimes I'm boulder than is wise.

::looks suspiciously at the shadows beyond the lanterns::

So... exactly what kind of things have been haunting this board anyway?

[Solana]

Thanks, I'll have to Czech it out. I was just telling my favorite researcher yesterday that being a science nerd means not being satisfied with knowing everything out there, we have to uncover new knowledge!

I hadn't thought that far about ghosts, to be honest. Maybe some of Zero's souls come there to hang out in between battles?

[Ambrienne]

As a shortcut, just look for the Love 365 app (I got it in the Kindle store). Obviously, the MD stories are not the only ones on there. Iraqed my eyeballs one night when I invested my time on an unlimited 24 hour reading ticket on that sucker. That and I've had a monthly pass on there for a little over half a year now (both kinds), so I can give you opinions on most every title on there. The MD title and Metro PD title are definitely my two favorites.
Seriously, all the Metro characters are hilarious (even the self-admitted pervert) no matter which character's route you're on. The witty banter between characters on both titles is comedy gold.

So what kind of music should we play to soothe these bodiless beings? Is it too on the nose for it to be soul music or should we go with jazz in general? Just no opera. If we do that, you might as well drape this place in blue and call it the Velvet room. And I don't think either of us is willing to dress up as Igor no matter what the geyser offering.

[DarkKnight]

::strides into arena, shrouded in something intimidating-looking::

So...who's ready to beg for Marseilles?

[Solana]

Welcome to the fray!

I think there's Norway that one type of music would soothe all, but I've become very enamored of Balinese music. One of my goals during my trip was to attend a dance performance with live music, and there was a lovely one at the Pura Taman Saraswati in Ubud. Something like this?



If we wanted to scare them off, perhaps the out-of-tune Lyton village song? Or the Numa Numa dance?

[Ambrienne]

Very nice. Kind of reminds me She's Autumn in Space or Meet Me There. Only yours is definitely more water themed; I would have gotten that vibe even without the name/pic. And because looking up She and getting the correct one is practically impossible (have gone through this rigamarole before when trying to see if they put anything new out), try looking up the album Coloris and from there it'll be easier to Rome around until you hear the right one.

And... I'd rather beg for Marseilles than have Argentina cry for me. ...Why does Argentina cry for whoever it is, anyway?

[Solana]

(Checks it out.) Ooh, that 'Autumn in Space' is very cool, with some funky instrumentals. I'll have to check out more of it. Thanks.

Most of my music has either a fast or Oslo rhythm, and a good chunk of it is instrumental. (Years of orchestra, I think.) Another of my favorites is a Finnish artist, Antti Martikainen, who's done some splendid symphonic metal works. I'll be using at least two of his pieces on my next story's soundtrack, and I'll share the one that I've described as 'half dance, half fight song'. His Avalon albums have some great ones, and I adore his 'Hymn of the High Seas' duo for picturing Solana as a pirate captain.

[Ambrienne]

I had a nice reply. The board ate it due to an error. Utahk about annoying. ...Would you believe the pun was the same? Honest, it was. I am not channeling Maxwell Smart or anything.

I liked that piece, too. For some reason, it made me think of a metal clad leprechaun and other fair folk. Yes, I know how... wrong that seems, but the metal must not be iron, hm? Blame the Irish portion of my heritage.

[DarkKnight]

It certainly sounds nicer to listen to than my cousin's Touba recital last year...

[Solana]

Oh, this place can be a real Turkey sometimes. (And not just with us.)

I'll share a tidbit about the scene that is coming with that song. (DarkKnight, you already know. ) There will be a bouncer involved who is patterned after an amazing customer at second bookstore.

I was at the register, and the powers that be decided to place the expensive albums near the front of the store. Just a nice little jog to the doors. One guy grabbed a reusable shopping bag, crammed it with albums, and made a run for it.

We weren't supposed to chase shoplifters. (Not that that always stopped me.) A manager and friend watched to try and get information.

Another customer had a better idea. He set down his books and chased after the guy. Picture Michael Clarke Duncan chasing after Chris Rock. A Little Chris Rock. He caught up to him, took away the bag, and gave him a blistering lecture about how stupid shoplifting was and how, "That's why they don't like people like us shopping in their stores!" He came back in, gave the bag to the manager, picked up his books, and rejoined the line like nothing happened.

The manager told me to give him the membership discount. I thought we should have given him the employee one.

[Ambrienne]

I can tell that there were days when you were hard pressed to keep a Seville tongue in your head. ...It occurs to me that the phrase is a rather odd one. Where is said tongue if you aren't keeping it in your head? Do you swap it out for a different one when no one's looking? Just don't keep it in a Tupperware container like that one weirdo in the Mentalist.

[Solana]

I was just watching that show not long ago. Very cathartic at times, when Jane would say things you'd wanna say in that situation, but he certainly got Sucre-punched a lot and sat in jail other times. (I'm not sure how many times Lisbon punched him.)

Did you ever see the book, How to Be a Mentalist? My brother and sister-in-law got me into the show, and that sister-in-law studied psychology, so I picked it up for a gift one year for her.