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Description

In the crumbling old manor in the middle of the forest there was a library, but as near as Socket could tell, any room with books in it was a library--and so, to it, Keryn's house (as it thought of the place) was nothing but a maze of libraries. Every room was heavy with collected volumes in various states of repair, lovingly organized or waiting in heaps to be catalogued, from the decaying entrance to the bottle-strewn cellar. The library itself seemed a hallowed place even by Socket's standards, and so it avoided that room unless it was feeling particularly in need of breaking some sort of taboo, in which case it generally had a good time rolling stink into the pages of the largest atlases it could find.

It was immune to Keryn's hints--or more than hints, when feeling especially peeved--that she'd rather it not visit. It dropped by regularly to watch the way the manor changed under her care, to watch the way empty shelves filled with her acquisitions, to float from room to room on the pages of an open encyclopedia, magic carpet style, letting out a noise of pleasure when it recognized some insect or fungus from its own boundary. "Look," it would say, following in Keryn's irritated wake and planting its paw on a page of Bleeding Tooth, "it's me."

It brought her gifts occasionally, but given its limited scope for acquisitions these tended to be looted from hikers and cabins and thus were a pile of trail guides and several dog-eared copies of Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, a book which to Socket lacked any interest at all given that it had no pictures save for the one of the bear on the cover, which it quite enjoyed, especially when several of them were lined up together so that it could march back and forth in front of them, pretending it was intimidating a party of surprised ursines.

Sunset was a favored time for a visit, as Socket enjoyed the way the sun streamed through the West-facing windows in the main wing, casting rectangles of gold across the battered carpet that it liked to chase as they spread across the floor and then vanished, swallowed up by nighttime. After dark there were more compelling pursuits on its own turf, and when it gallumphed off into the night back into the trees it failed to notice, behind it, Keryn heaving a sigh of relief and gently lifting a book misplaced by its play to nestle it reverently back into place.

===

I wanted to practice perspective since I only just now got off my butt to learn how and got overambitious and decided to try a surreal weird three-point perspective for the first time. I don't know if this was the correct venue for it and there's definitely some wonky parts that need help, but I feel really OK with this given that I wouldn't have thought of attempting it even a couple of months ago. Ith paid me to finish this so thanks for the motivation ;D

AP for me: 84

10 (shaded illo)

+8 (400 words)

+20 (scenic bg)

+10 (other esk)

+20 (esk interaction)

+1 (enchantment)

+5 (full body)

+10 (monthly prompt - friends and companions, sorry Keryn, it thinks you're a friend)

AP for Ith: 84

10 (shaded illo)

+8 (400 words)

+20 (scenic bg)

+10 (other esk)

+20 (esk interaction)

+1 (enchantment)

+5 (full body)
+10 (monthly prompt)

GP for Socket: 18

4 (shaded)

+4 (400 words)

+2 (full body)

+1 (enchantment)

+6 (scenic bg)

+1 (monthly prompt)

GP for Keryn: 17

4 (shaded)

+4 (400 words)

+2 (full body)

+6 (scenic bg)
+1 (monthly prompt)

Description

In the crumbling old manor in the middle of the forest there was a library, but as near as Socket could tell, any room with books in it was a library--and so, to it, Keryn's house (as it thought of the place) was nothing but a maze of libraries. Every room was heavy with collected volumes in various states of repair, lovingly organized or waiting in heaps to be catalogued, from the decaying entrance to the bottle-strewn cellar. The library itself seemed a hallowed place even by Socket's standards, and so it avoided that room unless it was feeling particularly in need of breaking some sort of taboo, in which case it generally had a good time rolling stink into the pages of the largest atlases it could find.

It was immune to Keryn's hints--or more than hints, when feeling especially peeved--that she'd rather it not visit. It dropped by regularly to watch the way the manor changed under her care, to watch the way empty shelves filled with her acquisitions, to float from room to room on the pages of an open encyclopedia, magic carpet style, letting out a noise of pleasure when it recognized some insect or fungus from its own boundary. "Look," it would say, following in Keryn's irritated wake and planting its paw on a page of Bleeding Tooth, "it's me."

It brought her gifts occasionally, but given its limited scope for acquisitions these tended to be looted from hikers and cabins and thus were a pile of trail guides and several dog-eared copies of Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, a book which to Socket lacked any interest at all given that it had no pictures save for the one of the bear on the cover, which it quite enjoyed, especially when several of them were lined up together so that it could march back and forth in front of them, pretending it was intimidating a party of surprised ursines.

Sunset was a favored time for a visit, as Socket enjoyed the way the sun streamed through the West-facing windows in the main wing, casting rectangles of gold across the battered carpet that it liked to chase as they spread across the floor and then vanished, swallowed up by nighttime. After dark there were more compelling pursuits on its own turf, and when it gallumphed off into the night back into the trees it failed to notice, behind it, Keryn heaving a sigh of relief and gently lifting a book misplaced by its play to nestle it reverently back into place.

===

I wanted to practice perspective since I only just now got off my butt to learn how and got overambitious and decided to try a surreal weird three-point perspective for the first time. I don't know if this was the correct venue for it and there's definitely some wonky parts that need help, but I feel really OK with this given that I wouldn't have thought of attempting it even a couple of months ago. Ith paid me to finish this so thanks for the motivation ;D

AP for me: 84

10 (shaded illo)

+8 (400 words)

+20 (scenic bg)

+10 (other esk)

+20 (esk interaction)

+1 (enchantment)

+5 (full body)

+10 (monthly prompt - friends and companions, sorry Keryn, it thinks you're a friend)

AP for Ith: 84

10 (shaded illo)

+8 (400 words)

+20 (scenic bg)

+10 (other esk)

+20 (esk interaction)

+1 (enchantment)

+5 (full body)
+10 (monthly prompt)

GP for Socket: 18

4 (shaded)

+4 (400 words)

+2 (full body)

+1 (enchantment)

+6 (scenic bg)

+1 (monthly prompt)

GP for Keryn: 17

4 (shaded)

+4 (400 words)

+2 (full body)

+6 (scenic bg)
+1 (monthly prompt)