Lily by the Kiwi

What up gang its been a BILLION years since I've posted. 

I've been in college and have had mental health issues like mad. WHOOP! But I still love my dolls and instagram is such a hard-to-look-at platform. So here I am.

 

The weather was GORGEOUS today and I just got back from a high school graduation party for one of my younger sibling's friends. I've talked to the same 8 people (my immediate family and my college roommates) for a year and a half, so I went just to have some novelty and socializing. There was yummy pizza and cookies, and I chatted with my old 8th grade english teacher and my elementary school librarian.

 

My family went off to another person's graduation party and I stayed home, one party is plenty for me. But the light was so nice outside, and the shadows were so bright, that I was suddnly struck by the urge to take doll pics again. Well, the urge is always there, but the energy and brainpower isn't. I'm on new meds now so I hope that this wanting-to-do-things streak will keep up.

 

Here's Lily in my favorite outfit for her under our big kiwi... tree? bush? Its a whole bunch of vines climbing up this pole by our deck, and it was pretty scrawny the first 3 years we had it, but now its branched out into this huge vine monster waving many arms and tendrils in the air. I love it.

Hope any of you still out there are enjoying the weather in your area. Monday is supposed to be 90. YEW!

Gwen

We're destroying things, as it turns out.

"All right girls, listen up! I have out first mission. We've been hired by a person named Mr. P to take down Portable 9, a storage facility for unusual artifacts. We're supposed to set off an electromagnetic pulse, which will permanently disable all of the computers and robot guards in the building, as well as everything else electronic in a ten mile radius. We won't bring our phones."

Andie slouched in her seat a little bit. "Robots aren't very easy to stab. Are we sure this is going to be fun?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Stabbing people is nowhere near as fun as you might think," She said. "Just think about it."

Andie thought about it. And then made a face. She decided not to think about it anymore, and instead asked Rylan, "What's the rest of the plan?"

Rylan scribbled on the whiteboard, pointing out where they would pick up the EMP, the weakest points of entry in Portable 9, alternate escape plans, and where they would rendezvous with Mr.P

[Camera sweeps out over grass plain. Characters stride purposefully to an unknown destination. Intense rock music plays.]

[Rock music fades to lighthearted banjo as it is realized that walking isn't anywhere near as intense as driving a car too fast while off to go do something illegal.]

Our heroes (or villains, depending on who you are) reached the EMP pickup spot in a comfortable count of time, with the next-preferred method of light jogging and fast walking, as the first-preferred method of transport- the telekinetically powered Radio Flyer wagon from last May- was nowhere to be found.

Exactly as promised by Mr. P, the item was prepared and ready for pickup, laying inconspicuously among bricks and rubble from a long-demolished play fortress from the big people.

Just as Andie scooped it up and put it in her backpack, Rylan began to realize that two girls in bright clothes, plus one in a cartoonish yellow sombrero would attract some attention. Here they were out in the open, a grass field on their right and thick bushes on their left, standing in a tight bunch, fiddling with backpacks and foreign objects. She frowned at her own bad planning, and that no one else had noticed it was bad planning.

Rylan looked over her shoulder.

An idea sparks

On Sunday afternoon, Rylan knocked on Lilly's door with a request.

"Get out of your pajamas and meet me and Andie under the fir tree. We're going on an adventure!"

Lilly looked up from her sketchbook, where she was attempting to draw a banana waging war on a small town. "What kind of adventure?"

"The the kind with lots of combat." Rylan replied conspiratorially. She then turned smartly and pranced down the hallway, imagining what sort of battles could be fought with three people and an unknown evil.

When Lilly made it outside in what was socially accepted as daytime clothes, she found her sister and her housemate under the fir tree discussing Cool and Creative Ways To Torture People, a topic explored so often that it got it's own capital letters. As of now, they were pondering leaving an artist in a room with a no-nonsense neat freak.

"Ah! Lilly!" Andie said, interrupting herself. "Have you brought a weapon or is that just a purse?" She said this in a way that clearly indicated she knew nothing about just how helpful a purse can be. Or perhaps she was just biased, because she fully understood just how helpful fanny packs and cargo pants could be.

"It is a purse. With a knife inside. And some snacks if this thing lasts too long. What's the sombrero for?" She said this in a way that clearly indicated that she knew nothing about just how helpful sombreros can be for fighting... whatever it was they would go fight. In fact, her tone may have also indicated that she did not believe sombreros were helpful at all. 

"Fear tactics." Andie replied with a truckload of self-assurance.

Lilly squinted at her.

"So. Lilly has a knife, I have a sword, and what do you have, Andie?"

"A BIG POINTY STICK!" She replied, a little louder than necessary.

She waited excitedly for her comrades to say that it looked like just a round-y piece of wood, and then pulled the top part off.

"LOOK AT THIS BABY! I FOUND IT IN GWEN'S CLAY BOX! You can use it for stabbing people, stabbing things, roasting marshmallows, crosshatching clay so you can stick two parts together and they won't come apart, dissecting dead things--" She stopped and gazed lovingly at it.

"Now, I see we all have sufficient weapons," Rylan said "All we need to decide is whether we want to save the world- or destroy it."

_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

ALRIGHTY, FELLAS!

Should they save the world or destroy it? A little bit of both perhaps? Who needs saving? Who needs destroying?

That is for YOU to answer! Put your ideas in the comments, and I will try my best to carry them out! I want to hear all your ideas. Even the least feasible. I have other dolls to work with and a willingness to create things.

Faded

No one in the doll house was meant to be a newscaster.

Good morning, doll world. We have some very exciting news for you today. Of course, it's exciting every day! We aren't dead! We ate cereal! Oxygen and water continue to be the two most mandatory things for survival! Today's excitement includes: 

• Yule is coming up on Monday and Christmas is coming up on Friday
• Andie laughs and blushes whenever Rylan says something funny, which is one more reaction than what happens when Rylan usually says something funny, and two more reactions than the normal response to other stimuli like small talk and kleenex boxes and macaroni.
• The light in the picture is fabulous.
• I'm pretty sure Gwen is going to see the new Star Wars some time soon.

mildly exciting things to do on an otherwise boring day

Ive lost all sense of organization I've ever had, as you may have noticed. I have all of these half baked ideas squished into posts laid out poorly and interrupting each other. That's kind of how I think, I suppose. Good luck following this one. I started out just taking pictures for a photostory, thinking "oh, I'll  do the words later." and a couple days after that I decided that attention bust be brought to the Japanese maple in my back yard, and a few other times I just went out with the camera after school and took pictures without any purpose.

Due to the order that the pictures uploaded in, it looks like we're starting out with the maple tree. I'll just pretend that taking pictures of trees counts as one of the mildly exciting things to do on an otherwise boring day so we have a bit of a theme going here. Maybe we can be organized! Fake it till you make it, I guess.

Tribute to Summer

Hallo, humans of the earth! I have started high school, so summer is pretty much over for me, but the weather outside is still saying "hang on, people! I have sunshine! And green grass! Don't give up yet, you still have some summer left!" So I went out and played in summer today, and my dolls went with me. Here are some of their favorite things that happened this summer:

In which we explore a cardboard box and outer space.

I got a purple wig on Etsy and put it on Andie

so very anxious. Going back to school is not going to be fun for her after a nice long summer of not having to interact with people.

, but that really did not work, so now Lilly has it and I took pictures for that too, and magical wig swaps, but I don't know if I was feeling unmotivated or uninspired, or if I just had really boring story ideas.

THE POINT IS.

the dolls found a cardboard box, painted it, and Lilly got to decorate it. This is her room, she has a purple wig, and I gave her freckles now.

That about brings us up to date except for the time when Rylan and Andie visited the fish pond and yelled at the goldfish.

Lilly holds a somewhat one-sided conversation with a troll.

preview:"We all lived in huts back then, and we would feed the cows wonderful smelling things yar... roses and chamomile and normal hay stuff, dry out the poos, and use them to fuel the fires in the winter. We didn't want to waste wood, because walking in the forest was a yar... lovely summer pastime, provided the great bears of the westnorth didn't come bumbling out from their mansions and decide they wanted you for an afternoon snack."

An encounter with dinosaurs

Today andie was having one of those days where doing chores is too hot and reading books is too boring and you don't really want to do anything but sit around eating otter pops. But just sitting there gives you ants in your pants. In a desperate attempt to amuse herself she wandered down to Rylan's room.

"RYLAN!"

the tomatoes are coming

So earlier this week Barrett's doll Saige came out to visit. She and lilly had been planning this elegant tea party and meeting of sorts for months. They made for fancy teas and matching cups and cute dresses and flowers, etc.etc.etc... 

Anyway, Saige arrived at the door at about 2 in the afternoon, and Lilly skipped over to the door and did an excelent job at showing proper manners, full of prim exuberance that plainly said "I want to be a princess, and I'd be darn good at it too." Saige, seeing how the game was to be played, replied to Lilly's chattering with an eloquent display of posh conduct.

Goggles Tatooine Ice ax Girl tells you a story in her own weird way

Good morning, everyone! Gwen couldn't be here, so for today's story I am standing is as the third person not-quite-omniscient-narrator. Actually, I'm talking in first person right now. Wait till I do third person! I can do funny voices if you like.

My name is Goggles Tatooine IceAxe Girl.

Only I don't know if im a girl. You can't really tell with Legos, can you? 

I seem to be wearing makeup and I am bald. I haven't got any idea what I'm doing here. 

But I will be getting paid, I know that much.

In which an improbable wagon ride occurs

We would all do well to remember that Doll World is one very different from our own, where the earth itself is of great proportion, while the inhabitants are smaller than we would consider average. It is a place with more peace and happiness than we would find possible on this earth, but also more evil creatures, such as the wicked bow fairy. It is a world where magic is conducted on a regular basis, where stories are written of bravery and quirkiness, and where anything is possible in front of the lens of a camera.

Rylan had finally managed to drag her housemates outside to enjoy the morning sunshine, and while wandering sleepily around the yard Lilly discovered a large red vehicle lying on it's side. She called the rest of the girls over. (Who were admiring the rose garden, which was just starting to bloom {It was really just Rylan doing the admiring- Andie and Kaya were sprawled on the grass trying to go back to sleep. Perhaps it was too early in the morning.})  The strangeness of the object, when they gathered around it, inspired further inspection.

Such investigations led to the conclusions that it was a kind of wagon, and that discovery caused the dire need to sit in it and perhaps ask the BFG to pull them around. Kaya sugested that they at least put the wagon right side up so the desire to sit in it could be satisfied.

So Lilly and Rylan got on one side and pushed...

And Kaya and Andie, who were braver, got on the other side and pulled. The reason for the bravery was that they were unafraid of being a little squished by the wagon if it happened to slip. More than bravery they needed patience to deal with Rylan constantly reminding them to stay clear of the wheels. Rylan was very worried about having to deal with squished bodies, and knowing that her friends were still sleepy and therefore less aware of their surroundings made her especially anxious.

But the wagon was righted without anyone being squished, punctured, scratched or maimed in any other way, so Rylan breathed a sigh of relief.

Now with all four wheels planted firmly on the ground, the fun could begin.

Andie jumped in with particular zeal, and wound up causing herself some problems, eventually having to turn and awkward somersault roll style of thing to get her butt facing the proper direction. 

Kaya's method of boarding was much more efficent, simply standing on the wheel

and hoisting herself up.

Then Lilly and Rylan clambered in.

"So how are we going to make this go?" asked Kaya. "It isn't much fun just sitting here after all"

It was more of a rhetorical question, so she was surprised when Lilly actually had an answer for her.

"Telekinesis." was the unexpected answer. "I read about it in a book once and decided to try it myself. Iv'e never tried anything this big before, so it might not work."

This sudden piece of information sparked mad interest in Lilly's fellow wagon riders.

"What? How come I never knew this? Are you kidding us?" Andie asked excitedly

"Seriously! When did this happen? Can we all move things with our minds?" Rylan said, hoping that she could now get Andie up in the morning without having to run upstairs and and yell or tickle her feet. (Andie is not a morning person)

Kaya just kind of looked sideways at Lilly, not sure whether to be skeptical or impressed.

Lilly decided she better explain a teensy weency bit before demonstrating.

"Remember a couple weeks back when you kept hearing things crash to the floor and I locked myself in my room with piles of books?"

"Yeah. I thought you were throwing a fangirl tantrum or something." andie said

"Nope. I was practicing"

"Well show us!" All of them shouted

So lilly squinched her face up in concentration and the other three girls felt the wagon wheels slowly start to turn.

Andie and Rylan gasped.

Kaya jumped up and looked down the side of the wagon, shouting "HOLY MOTHER OF NACHOS!!!"

Pleased with herself, Lilly asked the others to help, explaining that all they needed to do was imagine the wheels moving,. 

Rylan tried it. With her added willpower, the wagon began to move faster. Andie was looking around in confusion at her sister and best friend. "How are you doing that?"

"Shhh," Rylan replied "you're wrecking my concentration."

Now that Lilly, Kaya and Rylan had the hang of it (Andie was still trying desperately, but to no avail.) the ride was quite smooth, and they could look at the grass and daisies whizzing past on either side of the wagon.

They emerged from the shadows into the morning sunshine, where the third person omniscient narrator felt the need to make an obscure connection between dolls in direct sunlight and vampires. Here, instead of melting or turning to dust or whatever it is these newfangled vampires do, dolls morph from their cute selves onto overexposed, awkwardly shadowed monsters, who, fortunately, bring humans no harm except to the eyeballs, and even that is not permanent damage. The third person omniscient narrator's inexplicable musings aside, the quartet of pint sized thrill seekers are pleased with their ride so far.

That is, until they hit a misplaced brick in the yard.

The wagon stopped with a jolt, causing everyone to lurch backwards.

"What are we going to do now?" Andie asked, still a little miffed that she didn't have telekinesis, "are you going to levitate us?"

Kaya looked pointedly back at her cousin. "Looks like someone needs to learn how to steer."

"What? but I don't know how! I've been trying the whole ride, and I'm pretty sure it's not working."

Lilly got up and stepped into the back seat to give Andie a talking-to.

"Stop touching my face."

"No. Look at me. You can. Stop being so negative. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. The wagon is a part of you, just an extra limb. Can you see the wheels turning past the brick? Can you feel it?"

She went back to her seat. "Give it a try."

Andie closed her eyes and did as Lilly said.

Slowly, shakily,

the wheels turned on their axles

And made it past the brick.

Then the entire wagon crew cheered for Andie and her success, even though she was opposed to cheering and attention of any sort. She couldn't decide of it was uncomfortable or exhilarating, but was nonetheless pleased that she had managed to use telekinesis.

They mentally and physically drove the wagon for another few minutes back into the shade. It was then that Rylan called for them to stop because she wanted to pick some flowers.

"Look, there's daisies, sweet peas, and dandelions! Who wants to help me make a bouquet?" She asked.

This idea turned out to be rather popular, because riding in a bumpy metal wagon makes one's butt sore and a good stretching of the legs was needed.

So everyone jumped out gleefully, albeit a little stiffly.

When all feet were steadily on the earth, they dispersed.

Andie went after some daisies. "Look! These are taller than me!"

Kaya saw some sweet peas in the tall grass to the right of the wagon, so she skipped over there.

Rylan found a clover that hadn't quite reached it's full purple beauty yet,

and Lilly inspected some scotch broom, which was too tough to pull out, and it causes sneezing among third person omniscient narrators anyway, so she refrained from picking any. 

Soon everyone was back in the wagon with their freshly uprooted flora.

Kaya was especaially proud of her sweet peas.

It was quickly decided, though, that immediately going back home would be silly, and that absorbing some sunshine would be much more prudent.

Of course, turning around and returning home was imminent, especially since it was almost lunchtime.