Another Place at the Table

Sorry for the dearth of updates. I've been keeping mum because of Shady's absence. Didn't want to tip off that Dodgy weirdo about where she was, though apparently I needn't have bothered. He showed up all on his own. The guy makes my skin crawl, and I've never even met him. I don't like to pass judgement on people I don't know, but... well, I'm sure you guys have seen his blog by now. I refuse to sub to it. Shady lets me know if he's said anything relating to us. I don't have patience for "teh crazy." I'm kind of just glad there's one more person Not watching us at the moment.

Aside from the door to the pantry falling on Trina, everything's been quiet while Shady has been away and that, in and of itself, has made me nervous -not that anyone can get to us through my wards. I understand Trina's anxiety, but with the personal wards I made for everyone, there's no way into the house unless we bring someone in. I've been expanding our borders with more protective charms- lightly scored some of the nearer trees with protective runes and painted over them (will eventually get all of the ones in and near the house and all the way to the woods proper), planted another witches bottle out by the old posts to deter anyone curious about signs of traffic...

Shady and I were worried about Sunshine's reaction to her absence... would he disappear? attempt to follow her? become aggressive? To make a long story short, don't judge... but we got him doggy treats. Considering the things he's been known to eat (and I'm not even referring to Tzamain here), we figured freeze dried meat intended for dogs was at least more sanitary (and cheaper than beef jerky). So the first day Shady was gone, I made sure to stop him whenever I saw he was becoming anxious and give him a treat. It worked out better than I would have expected. I did take to keeping the second bag with me at all times though after I left the open one near the fireplace and it disappeared. I didn't yell at him, but from the self-satisfied grin, I know it was Sunshine and not a random raccoon or possum intruder.

Still, I've been worried about leaving the house for too long. Sunshine seems to have "imprinted" on us, even Trina though he still won't let her hug him. Ron's another story and I don't know what to say about him without sounding paranoid...

With Shady gone, I was very worried about Sunshine freaking out if I was gone too long. I've been able to run to the store, to the home depot, to the library (where I sneakily charge my phone) and be back within an hour or so. Late last night I made a run to Trenton, almost a three hour round trip. Sunshine was still up when I got back; I saw him lurking in the shadows outside the house, but he seemed content enough with my return. He ghosted into the trees, probably to hunt something meatier than my vegetarian cuisine. I wonder how he's going to react when Shady gets home.

So we have new addition to the family... Lullaby spent the night up on the second floor watching the stars while I worked on making her a charm so she can get around the wards on the house. Unfortunately I'm all out of tiny bottles, so I've had to improvise a little... folded all the ingredients into a bit of clay and pressed the compass rune into it before baking it in the ashes of the fireplace over night. It's small enough for her to carry around in her pocket.

Lullaby is so very thin... another person to feed up. :3 She's just a little smaller than me, but her messy pigtails and bangs make her seem even younger than 17. She's rather withdrawn too, which contributes to the impression that she is younger, a combination of natural reticence and embarrassment over the presence of Dollmaker in her body I think. Reading between the lines of her blog posts, I don't blame her for not wanting to get too close to us. It seems as though Dollmaker has kept Lullaby from getting close to anyone for a long time, and I can't quite dismiss the possibility that it was Dollmaker who took Lullaby's little cousin. So I worry about Trina most of all. I have a few ideas on what might be done to keep Dollmaker in check, but the problem is implementing my idea(s) without triggering one of her tantrums. I'm leery of even discussing the issue with Lullaby.