Sunday Banshee
Nov. 22nd, 2009 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lavandarlizard2So, I'm having some browser issues... I use both IE and Firefox, except that Firefox has been acting like a rabid two-year old lately and sometimes it seems to rub off on IE. >.< It seems to have some issues of its own with LJ, so posting or commenting has become kind of a crapshoot. I be a cranky lizard, as a result. =p
But here is a bit more Banshee (I hope) in any case. This may be as holiday-ish as I can manage; we'll see. ^___^
BFB - Part 102 - Good Vamp Hunting
I’d had some second thoughts about porting into town; I asked Enrique and Inazuma if they wouldn’t mind meeting us at 1900 at the steakhouse.
“That will be fine,” said Enrique. “We will do some shopping.” Inazuma beamed and I got the strong feeling that something permanent was in the offing. They’ve been doing the Magical Creature equivalent of dating for a few months.
They vanished with a wave, and Ctik sighed. “I do so wish I could travel that way. So convenient.”
“Me too,” I agreed wistfully. “I’m working on it, but my porting is just… Weird.” I led him toward the archway and through the parking lot. “That reminds me, Ctik; how do vampires travel? I’ll assume that Human fiction doesn’t necessarily know.”
“We have great speed, of course, and great strength as well as enhanced senses; those things are all true. We don’t turn into bats or wolves, though,” he smiled. “That is creative license. I can levitate, but it isn’t the same as true flying; certainly it won’t take me anywhere any faster than I could run. We are very good at camouflage, of course. Like lizards,” he smirked.
That conjured up all manner of humorous thoughts, but I kept them to myself for now.
“Do you know how to drive?”
“A cart, a pair or a four-in-hand?”
“Um…” I waved my hand at the mostly-empty parking lot. “A car? Automobile.”
“Oh. Ah. No… actually I do not have that skill.” He gave me an apologetic shrug. “I never saw a point to it… at home.”
I opened the passenger door of Heero’s car and ushered Ctik in. He looked quite surprised. When I slid under the wheel, he blinked at me.
“Is this yours?”
“Not even!” I laughed. “It belongs to Heero; for when he can’t or won’t fly. He taught me to drive last year and I’m allowed to use it whenever I like.” I started the engine and fastened my seatbelt. “I get a real kick out of it; I can totally understand why Humans get so attached to their cars.”
“Mmmm… It smells like cowhide,” he said, inhaling deeply. “I could live on this.”
“Then I’m happy to oblige. Do you have a cell phone?”
“No. I have never needed one. At home… well,” he shook his head slightly. “I am not ‘at home’ any longer.”
Great; now I’d made him unhappy.
“Ctik, I made a list of things we need to talk about. The first thing is to get you a cell phone and the second thing is to ask if you’re mad at Gisela and the kids.”
“Mad?” He looked confused. “I have no reason to be angry with them; they had no control over Miles.
“That’s what I thought, but Gisela is concerned. She’s been blaming herself for not seeing through Miles’ crap.”
“Oh no! She must not do that! I have no animosity toward Gisela or the children! I- I love them!” he cried.
Perfect. “Then we will get you a cell phone and you can tell her than yourself. I don’t think she’ll believe it from me.”
“Indeed I must,” he muttered distractedly. “I did not even think about her reaction to all this. She must think I am an ungrateful fool!”
“She doesn’t, Ctik; really she doesn’t.” I hadn’t wanted to upset him like this; just clarify the situation. “We’ll get you a phone and you can either call her tonight or you can use my phone to call her. I don’t know if new phones come with charged batteries…” Damn, there was another of those unplanned-for side tracks.
I patted his knee, gaining his attention. “I’m going to see her tomorrow,” I began and he lit up. “I talked to her today, about your stuff at the house.”
He looked confused for a moment. “My… ‘stuff’?”
“Your furniture; personal things. Gisela said you have a suite in the house…?”
“Oh. Yes, I have – had – a portion of the upper floor as a sitting room… My library…”
I flexed my hands on the steering wheel. “I had the idea – or maybe Inazuma had it; not really sure now – that even if I haven’t found a place for you to live yet, that it would probably be good to at least move your possessions into storage, so that we know they’re safe in the meantime. Gisela is looking for a place herself and she said she’d be more than happy to help with that. One of my coworkers, Trowa Barton, is of a Clan that runs a house-moving business. They have the moving vans and a storage warehouse and they work for both the Magical and the Human communities. We’ve arranged a meeting with a representative for tomorrow and I’m going to have all of your stuff stored for the time being. Is that okay?” I asked cautiously.
“I confess…” he began slowly. “I had not even thought of my possessions. Of course, there are things that mean a great deal to me; heirlooms, paintings, some pieces of furniture… I would be sad to lose those things, as I am sad to see my home becoming… an amusement park… but regardless of their sentimental value, they are still just ‘things’. I value more my family.” He paused, then added, “Except Miles.”
That made me laugh out loud and Ctik chuckled along with me.
“I’m glad to hear it! We’re going to do a walk-through with the Pumas and get everything set up and have all your stuff put into storage. The Clanhold is about six hours’ drive from here, so it’ll be simpler to put your hands on everything when we find you a place.”
“That will be wonderful. How is that going, by the way? Should I modify my wants?”
I didn’t particularly look forward to telling him that I hadn’t found anything yet; hadn’t even come close, but I did it anyway.
“No luck so far,” I sighed. “I’m going to talk to the Magical estate agents tomorrow also. Nothing in the Human listings has been even remotely suitable.”
“I don’t need anything palatial,” he said softly, rather wistfully even. “Just… not too close to other dwellings. And with room for a crypt. Somewhere… safe,” he sighed.
I hadn’t really noticed how worn he looked. Not in the same way as a Human or Magical Creature would look tired, but thin; stretched, if that makes any sense. He might be sleeping in a safe place now, but he clearly wasn’t resting. I really needed to step up the search and also find an interim solution, just in case it took longer.
“Ctik, do you need to… um… feed?”
He smirked at me and I felt the pull of his charm. I’ll bet he didn’t need to force himself on anyone; those hazel eyes were pretty compelling all on their own. Not to mention that he was a rather attractive man. No wonder a Wizard had been “fond” of him.
“After you and Heero left me last night, I was able to make some arrangements. The management of the restaurant was quite happy to put aside a supply of blood for me for a small consideration. Animal blood isn’t quite the same as human blood, but it is certainly sustaining. And the bartender at a small tavern down the road was very willing to offer… um… dessert?” He grinned at me. “You see, I am not totally helpless. I have never been in such a cheerfully mixed community before; it is enlightening as well as energizing,” he said brightly. “I understand that Lord Q cannot allow me to stay here, but I will ask if I may visit from time to time.”
In a weird way, that relieved my mind; that he would want to spend time here, even if he couldn’t live here. Teal says I have some sort of clan-building instinct, wanting to gather people around me. He finds it amusing. I think he forgets sometimes, that I was not a wanderer by choice, but by necessity.
But here is a bit more Banshee (I hope) in any case. This may be as holiday-ish as I can manage; we'll see. ^___^
BFB - Part 102 - Good Vamp Hunting
I’d had some second thoughts about porting into town; I asked Enrique and Inazuma if they wouldn’t mind meeting us at 1900 at the steakhouse.
“That will be fine,” said Enrique. “We will do some shopping.” Inazuma beamed and I got the strong feeling that something permanent was in the offing. They’ve been doing the Magical Creature equivalent of dating for a few months.
They vanished with a wave, and Ctik sighed. “I do so wish I could travel that way. So convenient.”
“Me too,” I agreed wistfully. “I’m working on it, but my porting is just… Weird.” I led him toward the archway and through the parking lot. “That reminds me, Ctik; how do vampires travel? I’ll assume that Human fiction doesn’t necessarily know.”
“We have great speed, of course, and great strength as well as enhanced senses; those things are all true. We don’t turn into bats or wolves, though,” he smiled. “That is creative license. I can levitate, but it isn’t the same as true flying; certainly it won’t take me anywhere any faster than I could run. We are very good at camouflage, of course. Like lizards,” he smirked.
That conjured up all manner of humorous thoughts, but I kept them to myself for now.
“Do you know how to drive?”
“A cart, a pair or a four-in-hand?”
“Um…” I waved my hand at the mostly-empty parking lot. “A car? Automobile.”
“Oh. Ah. No… actually I do not have that skill.” He gave me an apologetic shrug. “I never saw a point to it… at home.”
I opened the passenger door of Heero’s car and ushered Ctik in. He looked quite surprised. When I slid under the wheel, he blinked at me.
“Is this yours?”
“Not even!” I laughed. “It belongs to Heero; for when he can’t or won’t fly. He taught me to drive last year and I’m allowed to use it whenever I like.” I started the engine and fastened my seatbelt. “I get a real kick out of it; I can totally understand why Humans get so attached to their cars.”
“Mmmm… It smells like cowhide,” he said, inhaling deeply. “I could live on this.”
“Then I’m happy to oblige. Do you have a cell phone?”
“No. I have never needed one. At home… well,” he shook his head slightly. “I am not ‘at home’ any longer.”
Great; now I’d made him unhappy.
“Ctik, I made a list of things we need to talk about. The first thing is to get you a cell phone and the second thing is to ask if you’re mad at Gisela and the kids.”
“Mad?” He looked confused. “I have no reason to be angry with them; they had no control over Miles.
“That’s what I thought, but Gisela is concerned. She’s been blaming herself for not seeing through Miles’ crap.”
“Oh no! She must not do that! I have no animosity toward Gisela or the children! I- I love them!” he cried.
Perfect. “Then we will get you a cell phone and you can tell her than yourself. I don’t think she’ll believe it from me.”
“Indeed I must,” he muttered distractedly. “I did not even think about her reaction to all this. She must think I am an ungrateful fool!”
“She doesn’t, Ctik; really she doesn’t.” I hadn’t wanted to upset him like this; just clarify the situation. “We’ll get you a phone and you can either call her tonight or you can use my phone to call her. I don’t know if new phones come with charged batteries…” Damn, there was another of those unplanned-for side tracks.
I patted his knee, gaining his attention. “I’m going to see her tomorrow,” I began and he lit up. “I talked to her today, about your stuff at the house.”
He looked confused for a moment. “My… ‘stuff’?”
“Your furniture; personal things. Gisela said you have a suite in the house…?”
“Oh. Yes, I have – had – a portion of the upper floor as a sitting room… My library…”
I flexed my hands on the steering wheel. “I had the idea – or maybe Inazuma had it; not really sure now – that even if I haven’t found a place for you to live yet, that it would probably be good to at least move your possessions into storage, so that we know they’re safe in the meantime. Gisela is looking for a place herself and she said she’d be more than happy to help with that. One of my coworkers, Trowa Barton, is of a Clan that runs a house-moving business. They have the moving vans and a storage warehouse and they work for both the Magical and the Human communities. We’ve arranged a meeting with a representative for tomorrow and I’m going to have all of your stuff stored for the time being. Is that okay?” I asked cautiously.
“I confess…” he began slowly. “I had not even thought of my possessions. Of course, there are things that mean a great deal to me; heirlooms, paintings, some pieces of furniture… I would be sad to lose those things, as I am sad to see my home becoming… an amusement park… but regardless of their sentimental value, they are still just ‘things’. I value more my family.” He paused, then added, “Except Miles.”
That made me laugh out loud and Ctik chuckled along with me.
“I’m glad to hear it! We’re going to do a walk-through with the Pumas and get everything set up and have all your stuff put into storage. The Clanhold is about six hours’ drive from here, so it’ll be simpler to put your hands on everything when we find you a place.”
“That will be wonderful. How is that going, by the way? Should I modify my wants?”
I didn’t particularly look forward to telling him that I hadn’t found anything yet; hadn’t even come close, but I did it anyway.
“No luck so far,” I sighed. “I’m going to talk to the Magical estate agents tomorrow also. Nothing in the Human listings has been even remotely suitable.”
“I don’t need anything palatial,” he said softly, rather wistfully even. “Just… not too close to other dwellings. And with room for a crypt. Somewhere… safe,” he sighed.
I hadn’t really noticed how worn he looked. Not in the same way as a Human or Magical Creature would look tired, but thin; stretched, if that makes any sense. He might be sleeping in a safe place now, but he clearly wasn’t resting. I really needed to step up the search and also find an interim solution, just in case it took longer.
“Ctik, do you need to… um… feed?”
He smirked at me and I felt the pull of his charm. I’ll bet he didn’t need to force himself on anyone; those hazel eyes were pretty compelling all on their own. Not to mention that he was a rather attractive man. No wonder a Wizard had been “fond” of him.
“After you and Heero left me last night, I was able to make some arrangements. The management of the restaurant was quite happy to put aside a supply of blood for me for a small consideration. Animal blood isn’t quite the same as human blood, but it is certainly sustaining. And the bartender at a small tavern down the road was very willing to offer… um… dessert?” He grinned at me. “You see, I am not totally helpless. I have never been in such a cheerfully mixed community before; it is enlightening as well as energizing,” he said brightly. “I understand that Lord Q cannot allow me to stay here, but I will ask if I may visit from time to time.”
In a weird way, that relieved my mind; that he would want to spend time here, even if he couldn’t live here. Teal says I have some sort of clan-building instinct, wanting to gather people around me. He finds it amusing. I think he forgets sometimes, that I was not a wanderer by choice, but by necessity.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 04:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 04:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 04:28 pm (UTC)*hugs*
*offers hamster sacrifice to the comp gods for you*
no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 04:14 am (UTC)The computer gods are about to get themselves sacrificed if this keeps up. *grrr*
no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 08:44 pm (UTC)More on topic-ally...
Maybe you should give Google's Chrome a try? It's not perfect by any means, but it's light weight and pretty easy to use/abuse. I gave it a try when my firefox was acting up (and rubbing off on IE! hmmm...) and haven't looked back since. It takes a little getting used to, but you have no idea how many times I've said "I wonder if I can...." and tried something and it worked :D (like dragging tabs "off" off the main window and dropping them to open up a whole new window... then dragging a tag from the first window to the second window.... ^^)
Anyway, might give it a shot, if both of your other browsers are misbehaving. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 09:10 pm (UTC)Seriously, I'll offer you my AIM name if you need any 'minor' tech support, or questions :) I dunno how tech savvy you are... but Chrome has it's own, built in chrome specific task manager.. so you can go and look and go "oh! this tab is eating up lots of memory. I'll tell it to stop" ... or.. oh.. I could go on about it, but it pleases me as a program XD most of the people I've recommended it like it also.
and if nothing else, you'd have a back up browser installed for when FF and IE get dumb. ;)
of course... uninstalling FF and reinstalling may help too...
but I've only had a few hiccups with chrome ever... (1 - tabs crash sometimes. It's okay. just hit refresh and it'll try again and the rest of your browser will be fine. 2 - On a few occasions, the whole browser has spazzed out. this is really really rare.. and it generally remembers everything I had open... and gives me the choice to reload all of the tabs... 3 - once, right after I first installed.... FF and Chrome both wigged out and I lost all of my bookmarks. only happened once and to both of them at the same time. I dunno what happened...)
Only thing to really keep in mind... is that google chrome keeps track of things. It's history remembers every page you visit until you tell it not to remember any more. it saves it all in a folder, in files labeled, for example, "History Index 2009-10" (a 13 MB file, for me) or just "History" (nearly 30 MB).. I have nearly 400 MB of cached data. ... end result is I have an 800 MB chrome folder. Now, when I got and delete my history and clear my cache (very easy to do) this number drops to... hm.. about 300, in total... only 150 of which is in the caching folder. Half of it is in the "Thumbnails-journal" file..... hm.
but I think I'm rambling on now and I see your eyes glazing over. it's okay. :) Just remember to clear your cache and history now and then and all is good. :D
no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 06:08 pm (UTC)And the Google toolbar... I really need that. Is it from Mozilla? Cuz that's where it sends me to find it... O_O Yeah, terminally clueless lizard, here.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 09:25 pm (UTC)let's see...
You have 2 icons in the upper right hand corner: One of them is a piece of paper, the other is a wrench (or sailor moon's wand, whatever ;) ) The page is for fiddling with the current website--copy, cut, paste, find, print, save, etc. The wrench offers new tab, new window, full screen, bookmarks, options, about, help, etc.
If it says you imported your bookmarks, make sure that "always show bookmark bar" has a check next to it... and check out the bookmark manager.. it may be that your imported bookmarks are hiding slightly... but failing that, go to IE or FF, and manually export your bookmarks to a file on your desktop and manually import them (again, with the wrench icon)... I think that they default get imported into a single 'imported' folder somewhere, but I'm not positive.
Oh, wait, crap. you said they aren't ALL there... what's missing? Are they duplicate bookmarks? (ie, if you liked www.yarnandstring.com... and had it bookmarked into your yarn folder... and a string folder.. it might only import it once...
ahem. I fail are reading comprehension, derf derf.
poke around a little, it can't hurt too badly... I don't think. :)
well.. as for the toolbar, it depends on what you need it to do. the address bar at the top of the window, I believe, defaults to a search box when you don't type a valid URL. a Google search, of course... but, non google toolbar comes from google, not Mozilla (mozilla are the firefox people)... and the toolbar is not available for chrome users... but I'd assume that that would be because most of the fuctionality is already built in... tell me what you seek and I'll see what I can do. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 01:58 am (UTC)If I come up with coherent questions, I'll ask. Thanks! ^___^
no subject
Date: 2009-11-29 08:55 pm (UTC)As for IE... I really don't know what's up with the weirdities are, but I'll back up your quarter that it's IE's fault.
Y'know.. it's stuff like this that makes me want to use some external website to keep track of my bookmarks.
Oh! my email: hayashi@levin_yahoo.com
Only, switch the @ and the _ :D
good luck. :D oh and when all else fails? consider reformatting. if youre having issues past that.. it may be time.....
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 04:25 am (UTC)I had a complete rebuild done in April and the tech did a clean-up this time, so I should be good till next April. I hope. >.<
Thank you for the email; I haz saved it, just in case. ^____^ I am working on bookmarks and so far Chrome is behaving. The new, it always confuses me. ^___~
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:38 am (UTC)I wonder how you've determined that it's your browsers that are giving you trouble? Do you access your email through your browsers or something like Outlook? Probably browser, I suppose. Do you have any other way of connecting to the net? IM, perhaps? And is it reliable? I just wonder if it's your browsers, or your internet connection.
DSL or cable? The last time I had problems surfing the web, it was right after the great windstorm of last month or so, and after calling service out, it turned out some wires had gotten loose some 200m or so down the line from my place. This was relatively easy to diagnose since my phone service was also down. The time before that, my modem died. In both cases, my connection was intermittent. My modem light liked to blink red.
Alternatively, my father repeatedly had trouble getting into his online banking site with firefox, but not IE, which was pretty odd since it was because firefox couldn't resolve the DNS for the site, but both firefox and IE should use the same routing tables. In any case, this was resolved by directing his internet traffic through a router, rather than plugging the computer directly into the computer.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 05:46 pm (UTC)I have Cox and they swear there's no problem they can find. It all started after that huge Microsoft update right after 7 launched, so, much as I try not to confuse correlation with causation, I do wonder if something in that is bitch-slapping the browsers. O.o
The techs couldn't find anything, but since they *are* techs, I assume they don't just accept updates, and the guy did say they were waiting for things to shake out... =_= I've pretty much resolved to just not stress over it. I can't fix whatever it is, so maybe it'll resolve itself, or I'll save up some pennies and have the whole thing wiped again.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 04:23 am (UTC)Duo's clan accumulation just keeps getting more and more bizarre! ^o^ Poor Heero... :D
no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 05:54 pm (UTC)The rental office is clueless about any of that; they just tell you to call your provider. It could be something in the cable lines, since the inside wiring is 25 years old, but the guy did check it and said he wasn't showing anything. He even said he'd love to find something, because then he'd have an excuse to rewire. ^___^ I guess the way it was done originally in these buildings offends him. I have outlets in the living room and my bedroom, but the main is the one in my bedroom. O.o WTF?!
I'm just gonna live with it for now and then let the techs wipe the whole thing again. *sigh*
I think Heero's finally getting the idea that Duo's a collector - of people. But he's so stupid in love, that he'll deal. If I could post pics in comments, I'd post the face-palming Gundam. ^____^
no subject
Date: 2009-11-28 12:22 pm (UTC)