Sure, I could do work.
And, actually, I've done rather a lot of work today. But. I need a break, and my blog was calling my name. "Salli... Salli..."
Very disturbing, that. So, of course, I just had to start a nice, long post.
No, I haven't completely lost my hold on sanity. (I'm still hanging on by, oh, 0.5%!)
I cleaned my room this afternoon. This is exciting because it's still early enough in the semester that mildly messy disturbs me. It won't be long before it has to be actually messy to disturb me—and, besides complaing to my roommate, I won't actually do anything about it. But it's early days yet (and I have this lovely clear middle-of-the-room floor space that is so nice!), and I still have extra time to clean.
I also went to the library to start in on book-finding for my honors project. I came back with nine books, which I will have to lug back to the library as soon as I get a study carrel. Ah, well. I did not check out the five volume report of the South African Truth and Reconcilliation Commission, although I was delighted to find it. I figured I'd probably spend weeks getting my hands on a copy...
I'm also industriously trying to get things caught up at the Forest. (If I let it go much longer, we'll all be even busier, and never get things straightened out.) This task is made difficult by the fact that folks aren't really cooperating. ::grumble, grumble, grumble::
Oh, what the heck. What I really want to do is talk about this doll. I've been waiting for days and days. (Well, maybe not literally... but it feels like it!)
Angelina Vinchevi was having a perfectly nice day. Then, she got abducted by bandits. Twice. But don't feel sorry for Gina—it's the bandits I'd worry about!
...
I was going to leave it at that, but, darn it, Gina is so much fun!
"Lady Angelina" is a slightly unconvential member of the landed nobility in her kingdom. Her mother married a diplomat from out-Kingdom, and she spent the early part of her life traveling in interesting and exotic places. Then, her parents were killed in a random uprising, and she came to live with her maternal uncle, a Lord of the Manor type. Her cousins are much older than Gina, and she was entirely the darling of the family. She's not really the rebellious daughter type—she just has a slightly different take on propriety, and a penchant for getting into highly unlikely situations and coming out of them on top. She also inherited an unhealthy dose of her father's charm, and her mother's long, dark eyelashes. (The better to flutter at unsuspecting men.)
This particular expression takes place one rather nice morning in, um, some month. Gina has been wandering her uncle's estate, contemplating marriage. Should she marry the dashing young Lord Brennan (an up-and-coming officer who is young, handsome, and good-natured—even if he isn't really bright, poor dear), or cultured Baron Hendrik (okay, he could be her father—but he's all lined up to be the next Lord Chancellor, and Gina's intellectual match, besides)? Really, she isn't planning to run off and live in the woods, or any such nonsense. She could never be the dutiful little stay-at-home lady, but, being Gina, she wouldn't have to be.
About this time, Gina gets abdupted by the first group of bandits, and is much put out. This sort of thing is simply Not Done—lady's aren't abducted in their own gardens, barely a mile from home, in broad daylight! At this point, we get the doll. Note the steely grey eyes and angry stance. (She's standing on her toes to make herself look taller, being a rather diminuative person.)
These particular bandits are not from the area, and quite inept. Gina manages to persuade them to take her into the nearby woods, which
everyone knows is haunted, so
no one will come looking for her there. Of course, what they don't know is that it really
is highly dangerous to travel—Gina's mother was attuned to magic of the earth, and loved it there, but few outsiders survive long inside. While Gina has never been there personally, she is perfectly at home, as she rather expected to be. The bandits, however, are thoroughly spooked, and Gina escapes shortly after entering the wood.
Shortly afterwards, Gina meets the (completely unrelated) bandits who live
in the woods, and gets captured again. It just isn't fair!
