I'm right here, but I posted last. I think. I'm too lazy to open another tab to check:

I'm in a spectacular mood right now, even though yesterday at school because I don't have wi-fi at home for my iPad, I downloaded three separate international copyright/intellectual property law pdfs, and I'm making notes on about seventy-five pages of tiresome laws with big words. It's wonderfully interesting. Blame Cory Doctorow and his free audio books and I think I'm going to donate because Little Brother was so bloody good and I've read it at least 10 times and his ideas about Creative Commons Copyright Licenses. Also, blame Woodie Guthrie, who wrote "This Land is Your Land." Again, blame Cory Doctorow for giving me this quote. "This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period
of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be
mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it.
Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."

I love this kind of stuff.

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So, anywhoozle, I don't want to go practice my piano and I've got Christmas pageant rehearsal at 2 and after eight years of doing it, I get one line. But I'm drawing this pretty awesome totally random picture. It's got immortal sheep and the stick figure army led by the blue man, and a tree growing on top of a mansion and a crazy bird with an anti alien tin foil hat, and a bear dinosaur. It's pretty awesome. And there's pizza after the pagaent tomorrow. And after that it's JAM and I get to throw dodgeballs and use my awesome ninja skills.

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I'm in a good mood.

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I'm not going to post.

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Random thought from Endey, or me: I'm reading a book, I'm reading a book, don't you ever interrupt me while I'm reading a book.

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Another random thought from Endey: Die, dragons!!!

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Piano time.

RE copyrights: I think I've heard that someone owns the rights to Happy Birthday. How many times is that sung without permission? Also, did you know that someone owns rights to I'm a Little Teapot? We found that out when we used it in Babybug several years ago.

Admin

Somebody copyrighted I'm a Little Teapot???? WHAT???? That's like copyrighting...The Itsy-Bitsy Spider! Or... I don't know. It's kinda hard to come with a comparison like that.

I started reading ACTA (anti-counterfeiting trade agreement) and looking some more stuff about it, and I'm not liking what I'm reading.

I had an idea for a novel, which I have about every hour, that was where people started copyrighting everything, even ideas. Futuristic, of course. So, this raises the question, can you copyright people? Copyright the idea of copyrighting people? Copyrighting the idea of the idea of copyrighting people? Could you copyright copyrights? Hm... that looks like a short story or possible scribbling story to me. Blame Cory Doctorow. Awesome guy, and awesome books.

Enough about copyrights.

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The following isn't actually a post or anything, but it's part of the story.

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Endey: A Recurring Memory

He wakes to smoke. Thick, black smoke. It's unlike any kind that he's ever seen. This is no woodfire of any kind. He would know. What's going on?

Ketira wakes up across the room. He had insisted on getting his own room, but he hadn't wanted the tiny one. It was too small for him, and too small for Lizta and Ketira together. Lizta had taken it instead. She was fiercely independent. Ketira hadn't minded staying with her big brother. Much easier to put enormous spiders found who-knows-where in his bed. After a while, he hadn't minded. They'd reached a deal. Ketira got to learn everything that Endey was learning, even though blacksmithing wasn't considered a girl's trade. Endey taught her while their father was busy elsewhere. Even at eleven, Ketira had obvious skill with burning metal.

"What's going on?" She is coughing already.

His mind spins. Had one of Father's fires gone wild? Not possible. This wasn't that kind of fire.

A roar sounded from outside, and someone screams. His heart leaps. Lizta? No, it's not her. Lizta runs into their room. "It's got mum," she says, coughing.

He finally lurches out of his bed and steadies her. "What?" he asks, trying to keep his voice calm.

"It's got mum," Lizta repeats.

Ketira is out of her bed. "What's got mum?" Her voice is rock hard.

"The dragon."

As if on cue, the thing outside roars. Distantly, he is aware that its roars have become words that he can understand. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!" it screams.

Ketira's fists clench. "Come on then," she says, "we've got to go say mother, then." She's running out the door before he can stop her. Lizta follows her. He runs after them, trying to yell stop.

It's too late.

There is no sign of his mother. Ketira screams as the dragon sprays her with fire.

He turns and runs, leaving Lizta behind, his mind filled with nothing but fear.

Endey runs.

Randomish message from Endey, but it's kind of weird, this is what he would say, if he knew that Deren was trying to kill him, but he doesn't, but this is what he would say:

Gah!! Why do people keep trying to kill me??!!!

I couldn't think of anything useful so I just kind of wrote stuff... yeah. Random fact: Apparently, the word "rhinoceros" came from the Latin word for unicorn.

@Deren: I loved the Lord of the Rings reference! I was laughing so hard that Annie seemed seriously concerned for my health. You should look up "Gollum cat" on Google, there are SO MANY funny/stupid pictures. :) BTW, I know the whole mysterious voice thing is supposed to be suspenseful, but seeing as we kind of all need to know what's happening, do you think you could just give us a hint or something?Thanks.

Elyana-

There he goes again. Deren, that is. He's staring at Adela with the queerest expression on his face, as if someone just dropped a block of ice down his shirt while he was busy looking at a supernova in the depths of space, all the while listening to an annoying children's song in the background. It's really a very unique expression. Something about it really unnerves me, as if... almost as if I've seen it before.

"Deren, stop it," says Adela, but he doesn't seem to hear. Being the caring, gentle soul that she is, she goes over and pokes him sharply in the arm. He starts.

"Oh, sorry," he says, almost guiltily. "Just thinking about stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" I demand, annoyed.

"Just stuff."

I sigh. This is the third time this week that Deren has zoned out on us. What the fewmets is going on with him? Suddenly, my thoughts are interrupted by a warning call from Xell, Trenn, and Xandela.

Move! they scream in Draconian. That much I can understand. Without hesitating, Deren, Adela, and I all scramble away from the spot where we've been standing, and Aleakim drops down from the sky, flapping her wings desperately. She lands in a heap on the grass.

"Aleakim!" gasps Adela. All three of us run over to help her. She's scraped and bruised all over, but otherwise okay.

"What were you doing!?" I ask. Aleakim can fly a lot better now, and hasn't crashed in weeks.

"I was trying to flip," she says with a moan. "Guess I should have waited a while, huh?" 

I can't help laughing. Neither can Deren or Adela.

"I didn't teach Trenn to flip until he was five!" says Deren. Aleakim tries to look offended, but she's smiling too. Suddenly, there's a rustle in the bushes. I whip around, only to see the rest of our group emerge from the trees. 

"Finally!" says Adela. "You guys are back from... what was it you were doing again?"

"More fighting practice," says Kerra with a groan. "My legs hurt like Hades."

"Oh, stop complaining," says Endey. "It's not that bad." Kerra is about to make a cutting remark when I notice the dragons. They all have their ears pricked up and their muscles tense, like they're preparing for something.

"Can somebody find out why the dragons are acting so weirdly?" I ask. Draco says something in Draconian, and Ferr responds. She gulps.

"Someone's coming," she says grimly. "Someone who smells like seaweed and sounds like a knight."

"Gee, I wonder who that could be," says Endey caustically. Corbinian looks confused.

"Who?" he asks. "Seriously, what are you guys talking about?"

"It's our old friend," says Aleakim, "Sir Twitterton."

-----

So yeah, I just figured it would be nice if we could get the gem back from him. I guess it wouldn't be good to have all three of the Daggers yet, so... maybe we have to get something from Malum? After we kill him, of course. (And if Malum's female, please correct me. I don't remember.)

hello

Guess who I am! I'm part of this thread.

OK, so, my invisibility makes its appearance (or should I say disappearance) now. :)

Aleakim--

We all tense up, ready to fight Twitterton should he emerge from the trees. Corbinian still looks slightly confused, but he looks ready to fight too. The only thing I'm worried about is who he'll be fighting. I still don't trust that guy, what with him poisoning me with an arrow to the chest. I nudge Adela, who's standing next to me, and flap my wings once, silently, then point to myself, then point straight up in the air. Translation: I'm going to fly up there and see what the fewmets is going on. She nods. I start to fly up above the treeline to see what's happening, but as I get about five feet above the ground Draco and Endey simutaneously grab each of my ankles. I come back down, seeing their nervous expressions. Endey mimes shooting a bow and arrow. I nod to say I understand; flying up where I could see everything would also mean being clearly visible and easily attacked.

At that instant, Twitterton crashes noisily (and obviously drunk) through the bushes, followed by a bunch of other knights in the same state. There's probably about a dozen, and though they are slow and clumsy in their drunken state, they are heavily armed and Twitterton looks very angry. I grin recklessly. This is going to be fun.

The battle begins. Corbinian backs up away from us, and for a moment I think he's trying to run and is going to leave us, but then he pulls out his crossbow. He loads an arrow (no doubtedly poisoned) and yells at Draco to duck. She does, just in time for the arrow to miss her head and hit the shoulder of the knight she had been fighting.

Kerra and Elyana are some ways away, facing it off with three knights. Adela is running to them to even the score. Anex is using a dagger (that I've been letting him borrow, so that all of us would have weapons) to fight a knight who staggers with every step. Deren is facing off with Twitterton, who looks even redder than my wings.

Endey is a furious tornado in the middle of everything, slicing away at anything in his path.

I fight a knight who looks to be about my grandfather's age, which is amazing since knights are so unintelligent and rarely live past their mid-thirties. Though he's old and drunk, he is relatively skilled with a sword and much more agile than I would have expected. All of us fight as hard as we can, trying to diminish the number of knights in any way possible.

Then a small yelp of pain comes from Corbinian. I smirk, thinking whatever superficial wound he has serves him right. I finish off the knight I'm fighting, then turn to see what's wrong. I can feel my face blanch as I see Corbinian's blood running over the grass. A strange tickling sensation goes through me as I see him. A spear sticks out from his arm, obviously in there really good. Not a fatal wound, but one that must be very painful and will take a lot of time to heal. I'm too shocked to move, and I reach my hand up to cover my mouth as Anex runs to Corbinian and wrenches the spear out none-too-gently. The remaining few knights have fled, taking the distraction as an excuse to get the heck out of there. Cowards. As I look around, I notice something. Endey is searching the skies for something.

"Maybe she flew off?" Endey says doubtfully.

"Who? One of the dragons?" I ask him. He startles and gasps, looking around him. He doesn't seem to see me. I roll my eyes, then realize that everyone else is looking around, too. Everyone looks as puzzled as Endey. I wave my hands in front of my face, then jump up and down, flailing dramatically. Still, no one seemed to have any idea I was there.

"Umm, hello?" I said. Kerra, who had been wandering about randomly (looking for me, apparently) now turned so she was vaguely facing toward my general direction.

"Lea, where the heck are you?" She said, sounding exasperated.

"I'm right here!!" I scream. "Are you guys blind or something?" Kerra wanders towards me, arms outstretched. She touches my arm, and immediately everyone gasps. Kerra's gaze finds my eyes.

"What the...?" she mutters. She takes her hand off my arm. Her eyes widen.

"What is it?" I ask.

"You're invisible." she mutters. She reaches out and touches my arm again. "I can see you when I touch you."

"You turn invisible too when you touch Aleakim!" Endey tells her. At that moment, the same weird tingling sensation from before goes down my spine. Everyone's eyes seem to focus on me.

"Am I visible again?" I ask. Draco nods.

"So that's what the daggers did." Elyana says slowly. "I was wondering what would happen next. They always do something to you, seemingly. this took a while longer than the wings, though, so maye it was a delayed reaction." She reaches out as if to touch my arm. I glare at her.

"Just because I can apparently turn invisible involountarily," I say coldly, "does not mean that we can start an invisible hug-fest."

Malum is male, almost twenty feet long, and a blue color that I'm too lazy to look up.

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Endey Pracea

Now Aleakim's invisible. Great. Just great. And does nobody except me notice how much bloody pain Corbinian is in? That spear wound... not good.

And then he collapsed, just. like. that. Blood loss. Anex is an idiot. By wrenching the spear out, he just caused more damage. Well, can't really blame him. Corbinian did just shoot Aleakim with a crossbow a few days ago.

I grabbed my pack as Anex grabbed his. I had a feeling that I knew more about wounds from weapons then he did. After all, they're not that much different from dragon claw wounds.

I drew out my dragon scale box, the one that I'd managed to keep hidden for this long. Oh well. The rest of them would just have to deal. When I opened it, and drew out my small supply of herbs and medicines, across the clearing, Xandela perked up. Drake it. I ignored that, pretending I didn't have a box made from rare dragon scales.

Anex was already bending over Corbinian, whose face was white with pain as he clutched his arm. I grabbed some of the rarest stuff in the world, a mixture of Zorweed and Telfire, and managed to yank open Corbinian's mouth and shove a tiny bit in. A tiny bit is all that's needed. Almost immediately, Corbinian's breathing smoothed out, he closed his eyes, and went limp.

Anex stared at me. "Where in the name of drakes did you get that? That stuff is so rare, it's nonexistent. Even I don't have any."

I glared at him. "That's my business."

I looked at Corbinian's arm. It was his left one, and he was a righty. That was some good news, at least. The spear had entered on his forearm, right where the muscle that connects to the shoulder is. Shoot. He could lose the of use his entire arm, depending on how the spear had twisted around.

"There wasn't enough hold for the spear to stand straight," Anex murmered.

"So it fell and twisted around," I finished, "and you just made it worse when you yanked it out." At least he looked a little bit guilty.

I sat back on my heels. "I don't have enough for this. We're going to have use some of yours. Mine's just enough for me to stagger to the nearest town and get to a healer."

Anex nodded. "What do you have?"

"Not enough."

He seemed ready to take my word for that. "Okay then, I've got enough yeser for..."

Then we proceeded with the grisly process of figuring out exactly how to heal Corbinian. And then we did it. Needless to say, after we were done, we needed water to wash off all the blood on our hands. And then we needed another bucket of water. And another.

Aleakim actually looked concerned. "The verdict? And why is he still unconcious?"

Anex stood up. "It ripped the muscle up quite a bit, and pierced a tendon but luckily didn't tear it. He'll be able to use it, but it's going to take a while. He's unconcious, which is a good thing, because he should have been screaming swears at us the entire time. A lot more painful than I first thought."

I sat back, trying to keep the dragon scale box out of sight. It was no use. Ferr lumbered over and began snarling in Draconian, but I couldn't hear him from my position. Draco began to glare at me, as did Adela. "Explain, Endeyrory," Draco finally said icily.

"Explain what?"

Kerra had managed to figure out some things. "What is that box?"

I glared at all of them. "Yes, it is a dragon scale box, and yes, it is made from the scales on the dragon's lower back, and yes, it does contain the scales of nearly twenty dragons. Yes, it is mine, and you can say all you want, but that doesn't change anything. It's my box, and it's the only box that I have that won't break no matter what. It's mine." Adela began swearing at me extravagantly.

I got quite a lot of ferocious looks for that. I stood up, picked it up, and threw it in my bag. "Grow up," I said and stalked off, walking past the two knights I had killed. Six more still alive, including Twitterton, some probably mortally injured. Behind me, Deren whispered something that I couldn't catch.

I'm a dragon slayer. We're going on this quest thing to slay a dragon. They all really need to grow up. It's what I am, okay? And after this is all over, I'm going to go back to killing dragons.