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It was another dream about SHIPS last night. I'm really worried about what's happening on MARS but even though Sahara and Simoun and I ALL tried to guide Momo-auncle's thoughts there, she was still on VULTURE QUEEN JILL with us. It was a nice day of sailing, though, and Momo-auncle helped Nico-captain and Dmitri with NAVIGATION so we could put the islands we passed in the right places on the map. We calculate from the stars at night, but during the day we use DEAD RECKONING, which is just keeping track of how fast we go and how long and what direction. Usually by the end of the day, we lost track because we don't know everything EXACTLY, so we have to use the stars to see how far off we are, and then go back and adjust the maps. It still isn't exactly right, but you can almost always see islands ahead and behind from the top of the mast, so people using these maps won't get LOST. Someday maybe real cartographers will come and take better measurements and we'll have GREAT maps, but right now we have pretty GOOD maps.
Flower-gram is our grownup for VULTURE QUEEN JILL right now, and everybody likes that because she's nice and pretty and round and soft for hugging, but we had to laugh at her anyway. She was standing at the very PROW of the ship, and it was almost sunset so the sun was really ORANGE to go with her orange hair, and the wind was really strong from the port beam so her hair went WHOOSH even though there's a lot of it, and she looked REALLY beautiful and cool, but a strong wind makes big WAVES so a bunch of water splashed Flower-gram right in the FACE and made her shriek! She made a really indignant face like the ocean BETRAYED her, and it was REALLY funny. All the capybaras snorfled her knees to make her feel better. You're the best, capybaras! Even if you secretly did capybara-laughs because it was so funny.
Hebichi and Spin and Jean and Dmitri and I did some bike races, and I came in 1st out of all of us! I was only 4th of EVERYBODY, but I still felt really PROUD. Good job, Samuel's legs!
I forgot to ask Ubiquitous Bob-auncle about the Bob Cabal.
It was a really FRUSTRATING week because we never got back to Mars! It was mostly sailing and 1 day of being back in Dragon-mayor's city. He was really glad to hear that Flower-gram told the Mars Queen lots of stories about SHARING, but he worried about the minions too. He was really glad to hear that the expedition dragons are doing good, and that we met some nice snailies. Maybe someday he'll send a DIPLOMACY to Snaily-Bob, if he can find someone who's a boy and a girl at the same time to carry it.
Sahara and Simoun were the MOST frustrated, but our parents SAT on them to keep them from causing trouble.
All the people who didn't come on the expedition are doing good, although they wish it wasn't so HOT. The swimming pools are REALLY busy! Hebichi liked going swimming and they look really pretty with water on their scales, but they got EMBARRASSED looking at pretty people in swimsuits. We hugged them a lot and said they'll be pretty like that soon, but I don't know if it helped. Especially not when Zsuzsy came to swim and looked the PRETTIEST and everybody's eyes popped right OUT.
My zoo is still doing really good. All the animals and people are happy and full of WATER and the new shirts are really POPULAR. The one with Wembley surrounded by capybaras is selling the best, even though we don't really let the capybaras into Wembley's habitat so it's MADE UP. Lots of people love Wembley and EVERYBODY loves capybaras!
I don't know if the zoo capybaras understood when I told them how the expedition capybaras are healthy and BELOVED, but they booped me with their noses and smiled, so maybe they DID. I got a lot of capybara snuggles and it made me HAPPY about my zoo.
On the expedition, we saw a lot more cliffy islands with birds, and some SHOALS that looked like where islands got too skinny and COLLAPSED. There were ocean lizards and seals living there, which made me happy. I like birds, but I felt a little sad that other kids of animals couldn't live in those islands, so it was nice to see them. They weren't people, so maybe they didn't understand why we waved at them so much, but they yelled back and Tiny Squeak barked like the seals.
Last night, we started seeing a lot of islands way off to starboard so even from the crown's nest they were just little SPOTS on the horizon. We looked and looked, and Nico-captain says he thinks they might be parts of a bigger island or continent. We're going to get together with the other ships and decide whether we want to go check it out. The last big island had the snailies, so I think we WILL.
Everything is going really good in the Awake World. The people from the Magic Dreaming Class were sad that they couldn't get back to Mars, but liked going to Dragon-mayor's city and the really nice ZOO next to it. They came back with zoo shirts and zoo hats and pictures of Wembley and bunnies and the firebird and capybaras and EVERYBODY.
We had a game night and played lots of games about old-time adventures with swords and magic. It was our THEME for the night. All the games were different, though. I played 2 different games where we were the adventurers and had to work TOGETHER to fight the monsters and explore the dungeon and defeat the BOSS monster, a game where we were the CABALS of the city and got adventurers to go do things for us, a game where we were adventurers trying to have a PARTY after getting back from an adventure, and a game where we were the MONSTERS trying to protect our dungeon. We won all the COOPERATIVE games and I think I helped a lot. I didn't do as good at the COMPETITIVE games, but they were fun anyway.
We flew kites some more, but NOBODY got to ride on them, not even pocket foxies. We went sailing on the lake too, so our friends who aren't on the Checkerboard Cat Expedition could learn more sailing. We got in TROUBLE when we sailed where some other boats were having a RACE, but we were really SORRY and bought them ice cream, so nobody was mad. Jeanne said ice cream is really POWERFUL like that, and we all laughed, but she was RIGHT.
I ate a lot of ice cream this week, so I must be really powerful TOO.
I forgot to ask Bob-auncle about the Bob Cabal every day! Samuel's brain, why can't you remember better? Do you need more ice cream?
My brain said it DOES so I snuck into the kitchen and got a LITTLE bowl of ice cream. We're not SUPPOSED to do that, because we might eat too many SWEETS, but I haven't eaten too much today and I'm RESPONSIBLE. And SNEAKY.
The ships got together for a MEETING and we talked about the land we saw way off to starboard. That's SSW of us. Race-teacher and Elephant Cat don't think it's their continent, so it's not part of our expedition, but the explorers said it's not TOO far out of the way, and maybe there will be snailies or other people to say nihao to, so Nelson-captain decided we should go explore it!
While we were talking, Flower-gram and Clover-auncle sat together on the rail. They don't look the SAME, but they both have orange hair and freckles and white tops and blue shorts and curly TAILS, so they looked really PRETTY together and everybody who likes drawing had to stop and SKETCH them. Even Number-dad did! It was kind of funny, but really NICE to be drawing all together. Max is getting lots better at drawing, but sometimes she draws things WEIRD and says it's her ARTISTIC VISION.
Clarence, Miffia, Belle, and Gullie-Bob got their name bracelets, so now they're really part of the CREW. Welcome aboard, guys!
I remembered to find Bob-auncle and ask him about the Bob Cabal and look at him really FIERCE, but he's a teacher and kids can't INTIMIDATE him so it didn't work. He said Gullie-Bob and Snaily-Bob are really nice Dreamlands creatures and jumped on my head and made me go to the Pocket Fox Manor so he could work on the really COOL machine they're building. It's going to fly with ELECTRICITY and they think other people will be able to build electrofliers too! That's REALLY great because most of the pocket foxies' inventions since they came to live in Starfall have been things only they could make. I think only the robot skin they invented for Lilja-auncle's helpobot Hans and the magnetic steam turbine make sense to people who aren't pocket foxies. Those are really GREAT inventions, but I know the pocket foxies think it's really FRUSTRATING that they can't explain to other engineers.
When I got back, I realized Bob-auncle OUTWITTED me and I felt really DUMB, but electrofliers are REALLY cool. I told Simoun and she was really excited TOO. You've defeated me this time, Ubiquitous Bob, but I'll be back!
We finally made it back to Mars! I was thinking about the new big island and how it would be really great if it had SEAL mermaids when I fell asleep, because Jean showed me a manga about selkies, but I didn't end up anywhere with an ocean. I dreamed about a HUGE CAVERN full of crystal STALAGMITES that shone REALLY bright to help plants grow. It was a FARM and the Martians were showing us how they grew lots of weird plants that were KIND OF like gourds and beans and strawberries and giant eggplants but the leaves were all RED. They grew the plants together so they snuggled around each other and that made Jackie happy. I was worried they wouldn't like farms, but maybe it's like Heather-auncle and Ethical Agriculture Institute, or maybe red plants are too weird, or maybe plants are just really ferocious to each other. The Martians looked at Jackie a lot, but they looked at Sunny and Maz and Cattail kind of weird too. We're all ALIENS to them.
I thought my big sisters would be SHRIEKING because they got to Mars again, but although they were excited, it was like they already got their SHRIEKING out of the way and had more QUESTIONS. Maybe it's because they're getting more MATURE, but maybe it's because they had more dreaming than I did.
Momo-auncle was there with us, riding in a STURDY BOX in my bag so she could see what was going on without getting SQUISHED. She really wanted to see how the queen behaved, but we were already TRAVELING, so she had to see how the regular Martians were doing. She came out of her box to do a lot of low-gravity JUMPS too. She really liked being on Mars. I hope she doesn't make all the pocket foxies move to Mars to be teachers at the Bear-grams' school!
There were CANALS, but they were underground, not where Earth telescopes could see them. It still made us really happy, because we could SAIL on Mars. We were going to NOCTIS LABYRINTHUS, where the Bear-grams live, and it was a really BIG expedition with a MASQUILLION Martians and lots of boats. Isaac Mewton came with us, and so did Spipipillagos and their family because they're good swimmers and really BRAVE, but the others didn't because we aren't visiting THEIR grams and the Martians said it could be pretty DANGEROUS. I have complicated feelings about that, because we agreed to do something that's IMPORTANT and SCARY but we weren't dreaming when we made that decision! I asked all the grownups if they decided for us, but they said they didn't do it CONSCIOUSLY. This is making me really worried about the Dreamlands. I thought it was a place like the Awake World but more exciting, but now I don't know if it's even a place. Maybe it's really just IMAGINARY and we make it up new every time we fall asleep!
I thought about the Dreamlands some more, and we can bring things out of them to the Awake World, but maybe we're making the things with MAGIC and just THINK we're bringing them, and DESTROYING them with magic when we take things to the Dreamlands.
I got more EXISTENTIAL DREAD. I don't want all my dream adventures and my dream friends like Cattail and Sky Kitten and everybody to be IMAGINARY.
All my siblings and Fairy-mom and Number-dad and VV-gram and Rose-auncle and Clover-auncle came from the Dreamlands. I don't want them to be imaginary either!
I don't want to be imaginary.
I felt REALLY bad and didn't know who to talk to. Everybody I know goes to the Dreamlands, even if they didn't come from the Dreamlands to BEGIN with, so maybe we're ALL imaginary now. I can't go to a grownup I don't know and say I need help because I'm scared I'm IMAGINARY. They would think my brain is BROKEN. I hid in the treehouse thought about what to do. Then I remembered HANK-TEACHER who taught the bowling class. He hasn't been in any of the Magic Dreaming classes, and he's really SENSIBLE. I found him teaching more kids bowling at the athletic center and when he was done we went for a walk and I talked to him about my EXISTENTIAL DREAD and why I can't talk to my PARENTS or GRAMS or AUNCLES.
Hank-teacher is a really good listener, even though I don't know if he understood EVERYTHING I tried to tell him. I cried a little bit, because it was really scary, but he gave me big hugs and petted my head. Then he asked if I was scared I'm not REAL, and I was, so he BOOPED my NOSE. I knew what he meant, so I tried to explain about being made from magic, but Hank-teacher said he was made from BIOLOGY and he was still real. Then he took me back home and told my parents, "This kitten has a bad case of the existential dreads from TOO MUCH MAGIC NONSENSE."
There was a lot of crying because I felt really bad that my PARENTS felt really bad that I didn't go to them. I tried to explain, but it sounded really MEAN so I ran and hid under the bottom shelf and cried some more. Then Fairy-mom and Number-dad and Dragon-mom crawled in there with me and hugged me and said they love me and did all the PARENT things. It didn't help very much, and I still felt like I made really BAD choices. Then they said I'm PRECOCIOUS and most magic dreamers don't get this existential dread until they're TEENAGERS and they were really SORRY that they didn't see I was getting to that point. They washed my ears until I felt better. Then I could feel better because I like feeling bad for being TOO smart better than for being not smart ENOUGH, even though that's RIDICULOUS.
After I LAUGHED at myself, we talked about how the Dreamlands work. Dmitri and Humboldt snuggled in with us to talk too, and the twins will hear about it when they come home. We talked about how nobody can be sure ANYTHING is real and you have to GO WITH IT, and how things can be made out of different stuff and still be the same REAL thing because they're the same IDEA. Then we talked about how the Dreamlands aren't LINEAR, so you can go into them at different ANGLES and end up in a different situation without DECIDING to change to that situation. It's still YOU going into the Dreamlands with your OWN mind, though, so you won't end up in somebody ELSE'S situation until you go with them. That makes the Dreamlands seem less real than an Awake World, but they're just more COMPLEX so you see lots of different stuff. When you come to the Awake World, it's linear so you always have to come in the SAME way and see mostly the same stuff that only changes NATURALLY with TIME.
I promised my parents I would talk to them if I had more WORRIES, and not bother people who aren't related to me, even though Hank-teacher was REALLY nice. I felt DUMB for not realizing grown-up magic dreamers already thought of this and did all the worrying and figured it OUT.
I'm going to make some COOKIES for Hank-teacher because he was so nice. He didn't have to help me, but he DID.
It's INTERPLANETARY CAT DAY. That's a really GREAT day for kittens with rainbow tails to get SNUGGLES from their families and friends! I hope Sky Kitten is doing good! It's a good day for all kinds of cats to get LOVE and TREATS too. Simoun and Humboldt helped me make breakfast to serve to our parents IN BED so they could be really cozy. Then when I went out, all day people wished me a HAPPY CAT DAY and I got really HAPPY.
It's INTERPLANETARY Cat Day because there are cats on Mars and the Moon and some asteroids and different places in the Solar System. That made me think about cats on Mars and the Mars Dreamlands. I don't know if there were Dreamlands on Mars before cats got there. I know some wizards went there EARLY ON, but I don't know if they did magic dreaming. That hasn't been really COMMON outside our family. I think the first 2 were Corollary-teacher and Oliphant-teacher, who did magic WRITING. I should read their book again. I haven't seen any cats in the Mars Dreamlands yet, but maybe they're where the modern people are and we'll see them SOON.
I hope someday it can be INTERSTELLAR Cat Day, because that would be AWESOME. Max might eat the BLUE stars, though.
The Bear-grams sent us a letter for Interplanetary Cat Day, with pictures of THEIR cats! They have two housekittens named Galette and Parsnip and they're REALLY cute. It made us all really happy to see kittens trying to eat Big Sam's parents' FEET. Maybe that will make it easier to visit them in their dreams.
Mars has different calendars than Earth, because the years and days are different, but important days still get counted on the Earth calendar. The Mars year is ALMOST 2 Earth years, and it would be really sad to wait that long for a new Interplanetary Cat Day or Thanksgiving. Once more people live on Mars, that might change. Maybe they'll have 2 of every special day, 1 in Mars summer and 1 in Mars WINTER. It would still get really CONFUSING because it isn't EXACTLY 2 Earth years in a Mars year, and then other planets will all be different too.
Toka wanted a party for Interplanetary Cat Day, but they're too little to organize a party on their own, and their dads are too busy, so they just invited our family to dinner and then we had to invite them to OUR house because their house isn't big enough. We have a lot of HUGE cats! Theo and Cleo and Mlle. Floofypaws came too, and they were a LITTLE BIT worried about how our house smells, but they know all of us so it was OK. We had TUNA and warm rice and spinch and pumpkin and all kinds of things that are good for housecats to eat, so we could SHARE, but the servings for songcats and ultra-modern people had extra SEASONING. It was all really good and our house was full of SNUGGLES and PURRS.
I'm writing this tomorrow, because Toka held on to me so much I couldn't write. I love you too, Toka!
We did more MARS dreams. Maybe that's the part of the Dreamlands we were in because the Bear-grams sent us that letter, or maybe the twins learned SPECIAL TECHNIQUES, but probably it's because Zora wanted to do FLIRTS with the pretty Martians. Zora, you're such a Zora!
We sailed on the underground canals and they were really pretty, but kind of SPOOKY because it was so dark outside our lights. Sometimes the walls of the cave were right there, but sometimes we went through big caves and we could see more glowing rocks or maybe glowing FUNGI way over there. Sahara and Simoun and the explorers wanted to get off and explore, but the Martian boats go so fast they would have a hard time catching up. I think Dmitri and Humboldt and Clover are getting FRUSTRATED because they have to pass up so many places to explore, but Rose-auncle says it builds CHARACTER to stay focused on the current mission. That's what grownups say when something is no fun but you have to do it anyway. They might be right, but that doesn't make it fun!
We stopped at 2 different towns to give the Martians there LETTERS and NEWSPAPERS from the palace town. Solara-captain said that's something all boats have to do, so the Martians stay IN TOUCH and know what the Queen wants them to do and everything. Momo-auncle said that's an important thing to do, even if it's a queen telling them to do it. She gets along really good with Solara-captain, maybe because they aren't a princess.
The 1st town was tall green Martians with 4 arms and 2 legs except sometimes the really OLD ones had 3 legs or 5 arms. They invited us to lunch and we had a masquillion kinds of mushrooms and some stuff like spinch blood jello. It was WEIRD but kind of yummy. Then we got their boxes of mail and kept going. The 2nd town was on GIANT stalagmites in a big lake, and on bridges between them and it went WAY UP. They had weird lake fish for dinner, but it had too many eyes and smelled bitter like spoiled milk, so we had to be sorry about not eating it. Even the twins wouldn't eat it, although I could tell it hurt their SOULS to turn down Mars food! Spipipillagos and their family ate it, though, because it smelled like the fish from their planet, and then they went swimming and caught some extra fish to make up for how much they ate. That's the POLITE thing to do on their planet, because they still mostly hunt for fish instead of farming, even in the cities. 1 fish they caught was bigger than Elephant Cat! The Martians in that city had 10 legs and no arms, but they had long tentacle tongues for doing stuff. They had 4 eyes too, so they could watch all around even while working on something.
There hasn't been anything scary YET, but we're going into WILDER places so there might be lake monsters even bigger than that fish, or land monsters, or mysterious ancient ARTIFACTS.
Isaac is doing really good, but even though he practiced walking lots on the Space Train, a whole day of gravity still makes him really TIRED. Max decided she's in charge of making sure Isaac's bed is really soft and has lots of fluffy PILLOWS every night. She's adorable!
Momo-auncle has been watching the Martians to see if they're OPPRESSED, but sometimes she has to hide from BIG FISH or Martians that want to know if she's a SNACK. Pocket foxies aren't for eating by ANYBODY on Mars! When she got to see what was going on, she thought the Martians aren't oppressed a LOT, but it would still be better if the Queen listened to the stories about Dragon-mayor and changed things like he did. When we get back to the palace, we'll have to talk to the Queen about that a lot!
I can't say we had ship dreams because that's AMBIGUOUS. That's when a sentence can mean different things, because the Checkerboard Cat Continent Expedition and the Mars-Gram Expedition are both sailing. Maybe the Mars-Gram Noctis Labyrinthus Expedition is really on BOATS, though, because I wouldn't want to take them on an ocean or even a lake that's big enough to have waves. Sailing is lots easier when there's no weather, but motorboats aren't as fun as sailboats.
The twins don't know what to think about the Martians riding in boats that SAIL instead of FLYING boats like the one they have. The boat motors use REPULSION RAYS to push the water back through tubes, so we think the Martians COULD build boats that walk on rays but don't because flying isn't great underground. Frillist and Ouma said maybe their boat is from an EARLIER AGE, when Martians still went on the surface and it wasn't all giant SLIME MOLDS and stuff. When we get back to our REGULAR dreams, Sahara and Simoun are going to find the person who sold them that boat and ask a LOT of questions about whether it's really a Mars boat. I hope they don't bite them!
I don't know why, but my fingers like writing LOTS lately. Maybe it's because outside in the Awake World is TOO HOT and my closet has AIR CONDITIONING.
An old book I was reading used "in the closet" to mean that you have a secret that other people would think was bad in those days, like kissing boys when you're a boy, or being a boy when everybody thinks you're a girl because you had a VULVA when you were born, and "coming out (of the closet)" to mean telling everybody your TRUTH. That seems really weird now when we know all different kinds of people are OK, but it could be a REALLY big deal in the old days. I'm glad I live now, but maybe I'll be even more glad to live in the future when people are EVEN NICER.
Samuel's fingers, why don't you write about the Checkerboard Expedition instead of going on TANGENTS? A tanget is when a line stops circling and goes away straight, but it means talking or writing about something else than what you're SUPPOSED to too.
Maybe when people read this journal later, they'll wonder why I'm writing about words when there are dictionaries, but it helps ME learn the words and it's MY journal. Maybe when I'm grown up I won't do it as much because I'll know so many words. I think there might be more words than I can learn in 100 years, though!
Now I'm making my fingers write about the new islands we explored. You can do it, fingers! If you do a really good job, maybe I'll let you TICKLE somebody!
We sailed over closer to the land we saw on the horizon, and it was really a LOT of little cliffy islands pretty close together, but when we got close enough we could see there was more land past that. We thought maybe there was something as big as Snaily Island so we really wanted to go find out, but there were a lot of REEFS and SHOALS so it wasn't safe for VULTURE QUEEN JILL and DAPPER CAPYBARA to go between the islands. The Sea Dogs' mangrove could do it, because it's bottom can MOVE, but Nelson asked them nicely to stay together with us. We sailed along that archipelago and the birds yelled at Podge's flock and Tiny Squeak yelled at the birds and it was really nice sailing. That took more than a whole day, but late the next day we came to a PASSAGE. There was a place 2km wide that didn't have any islands at all and went all the way to the big island, which was about 20km, and the water was DEEPER there. Clover-auncle and Momo-auncle and Explorobot and Dmitri and Charleston, that's Nelson-captain's NAVIGATOR, were drawing the map as we went, and they said it looked like there used to be islands there, but somebody GOT RID of them, and maybe DREDGED where they used to be to make it safe to sail. The Dreamlands are MYSTERIOUS, though, so maybe there's just a gap in the islands, and it looks deeper because a giant CATFISH MONSTER swims back and forth there.
When people talked about sea monsters, the weasels started sailing more CAREFUL. They like scaring people with sea monster stories, but monsters are scary to them too!
We didn't find any monsters, but there were more and MORE birds the closer we got to the big island, until there were so many flying around the ships and yelling and pooping everywhere and perching on the rigging and STARING at us that even our captains got worried. We were getting DOLDRUMS, too, so it was hard to sail further. We tried talking to the birds, but they didn't talk back, they just did bird yelling. We had to have the mangrove TOW us back out of the passage and then we got all the ships together and talked for a long time about what was going on.
Some people thought it was the birds' land and they didn't want us there. If that's true, then we shouldn't go there, but the birds didn't SAY it. Flower-gram and some of the other grownup wizards thought the birds were doing WIND MAGIC to keep us from sailing any further, and that's LIKE saying don't go there. Some people thought there was somebody on the land making the birds keep people away, because when Shoe-auncle climbed to the crow's nest on DAPPER CAPYBARA and used his magic telescope, he thought he saw BUILDINGS there. Some people thought the land was CURSED and the birds were trying to protect us. Rose-auncle and the sheepies thought maybe the land isn't really here right now, it's just RESTING until it goes somewhere else, so it isn't any good for exploring now. That seems really weird, so maybe it's right, because the Dreamlands are MYSTERIOUS.
I said everybody thought different things, but they still think them because maybe nobody changed their mind. It was a lot of talking and not much deciding. Nelson-captain and lots of our grownups know how to be DECISIVE, but this isn't something we need to HURRY about, so it's OK to talk about it for a while.
At school, we did a PLAY. It was a SHORT version of ROMEO AND JULIET for KIDS. That means all the jokes about snogging were taken out and there wasn't any kissing and we did fighting with POOL NOODLES. I was Mercutio, so I got KILLED by Tybalt, that was Morning. Hebichi was the Prince. Bina was Benvolio and Gobi was Romeo and Minmin was Juliet and Ace was the nurse and Jonny was Juliet's mom. I felt a little bit bad about everybody DYING but mostly it was fun to die really DRAMATIC. I hid a plastic bag of red syrup in my costume, so when I got stabbed in the performance, there was a whole LAKE of fake blood and everybody laughed. Morning fell over in the blood when Gobi killed her so she could be dramatic too.
All our families came to see the performance so I was ANXIOUS about people seeing me but I remembered all my lines and didn't mess up with the syrup. We did it outside in the PARK, so the syrup got soaked up by the grass. After the play was done, Gobi and Minmin gave a little SPEECH about how lots of people think ROMEO AND JULIET is about TRUE LOVE but really it was written to be about how if teenagers are DUMB and don't listen to their parents everything will be TERRIBLE, and now we know it's about how teenagers shouldn't get married because their brains aren't DONE. We got a STANDING OVATION, that's when everyone claps so hard they can't sit down, because our families are really NICE. It made us all really HAPPY and PROUD even though we could have done a better job.
I had lots of fun, but I don't know if I want to do more plays. I got really ANXIOUS before the performance. I have to think about it.
Hank-teacher liked the peanut butter choco cookies I made for him. He said I can always talk to him, but he can't always help when it's MAGIC stuff or CAT stuff. He's a really nice grownup.
It was an up-and-down week. The play was really GOOD, but existential dread was really BAD.
I still worry a LITTLE BIT about magic dreaming and things that happen when I'm not dreaming and things being DIFFERENT when I go back, but now I know that's not because anything is wrong. It's just DIFFERENT than the Awake World.
The twins hoped for Mars dreams and crossed ALL their fingers and toes, but we had Checkerboard dreams anyway.
We tried to sail into the Bird Passage again, with lots of TACKING so we could go into the wind, but the birds yelled at us a LOT and the wind got so WILD we had to furl our sails and couldn't go any further. We were all really FRUSTRATED, but Bird Land isn't part of our expedition so we left it behind. We kept the islands in view, in case there was a better passage, but there wasn't, and after a while we were past all of that. I think it took 2 days, but when I thought about it, maybe it was only 1. It was OK that time is WEIRD in the Dreamlands, even though it makes me wonder how NAVIGATION works, since that uses clocks! I think it's because the time that clocks and STARS count is more linear than the time PEOPLE live through.
I didn't know until TODAY because we were busy with sailing and birds and stuff, but Pierce got all his teeth out in his Awake World! He had an AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER so his own body tried to get rid of his teeth and he had to go to the vet to get them taken out. I felt really bad for him, but I think he's OK. He still has teeth in the Dreamlands, and in the Awake World, he has nice soft food to eat and now he can eat it because his mouth doesn't HURT. He doesn't need to pull LINES in the Awake World! If he did, Nameko would do it for him, because she's really good at that.
Somebody called me Samuel Q. Sammy-Beetle today, so Jean had to get a lot of TICKLING. It made him roll on his back, and Tiny Squeak TODDLED over and jumped on his tummy and tried to eat his BELLYBUTTON. He gave her a bunch of petting and called her SQUEAKY PIP, so I had to stop making him wiggle so much. They were really cute! I think Jean is going to be a really GOOD dad someday.
The pocket foxies have been testing a little electroflier in their back yard. It's big enough that they could ride in it, but they're testing it UNCREWED first to make sure it's safe. It looks a little bit like a helicopter with no tail, but the rotor has 3 wide blades and it's stuck to the fuselage like wings and doesn't turn. When it flies, it goes MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM and smells like OZONE, but it doesn't glow. I thought it might, because of the electricity. All the pocket foxies are REALLY excited by it, even when it goes ZAP and falls down and they have to fix it. They like machines that work really cool, but they like machines that need lots of FIXING too. Maybe that's why Momo-auncle went to Mars to see if the minions are being oppressed, because she wants to FIX it. I don't know if it's OK to fix PEOPLE, but it's probably OK to help them fix THEMSELVES. That's what COUNSELORS do.
I REALLY want an electroflier-motorcycle, but I don't know how long it will take to build one that can carry a whole SAMUEL. I'll keep looking for an ornithopter.
It's been a good week, but maybe that's because I don't have very much existential DREAD. Maybe it's really more like a MEDIUM week. I WIPED OUT on my bike when I was racing and got lots of SCRAPES, but that's not scary. Simoun helped me put medicine on all of them and I'm OK. I didn't race after that, but I cheered for Max and she WON against all the kids her age! GOOOO MAX!
Our vegetables at the farm are doing really good and we're harvesting LOTS and sharing it with everybody in the neighborhood. I got a lot of the little BLUE tomatos for Max, but I got the GOLDEN ones for Dragon-mom because she likes them, and a lot of spinch for Lilja-auncle and like that. Summer veggies are REALLY yummy!
Friday was Black Cat Appreciation Day, so I appreciated HALF of Humboldt and ALL of Mlle. Floofypaws, and wrote a LETTER of appreciation to Luna-auncle.
I forget to write about it, but Magic Singing Class has been really good. We're learning songs for helping people make GOOD decisions, but we're learning how to THINK about magic too. Stev is really good with that, so he helps Number-teacher a lot. Morgan and Simone are getting good at singing, but they aren't SONGCATS. I'm really proud of how good I'm getting, but I try not to get any HUBRIS.
Rose-auncle watched the new MEGALOMACHY show with us. It was really INTERESTING because it's about how the Lotus-eaters made their OWN Dreamland so they could hide from the Minotaur Princess. They worried about it KIND OF like I did and that made me feel better because it wasn't just ME being too anxious.
Clover-auncle was CROSS after we couldn't get to Bird Land, because she wants to explore and she COULDN'T. She was really GROUCHY and yelled at people a lot and made Toka CRY and got in a big ARGUMENT with Rose-auncle. Nessie-auncle and Big Sam had to SCOLD her. Then she felt really BAD and hid in her apartment. Nessie says it's hard being a teenager. I'm worried Sahara and Simoun are going to be like that when they're teenagers, but Rose-auncle says they aren't as BITEY as Clover was when she was that age. I'm glad, because the twins know MAGIC VENOM BITING. It would be REALLY BAD if they got mad and bit somebody!
We sailed a lot more across some deep water, and that made Clover-auncle feel better, because there wasn't anyplace she wanted to explore and COULDN'T. She was really sorry to Toka and her mom and everybody, and worked really HARD on helping sail DAPPER CAPYBARA. Everybody still loves you, Clover! Please set a good example for Sahara and Simoun!
There was a REALLY BIG storm, but the water was deep so it was safe to RUN BEFORE the wind, and it only lasted from brunchtime until the middle of the night. It was REALLY exciting, but nobody got hurt and the ships were OK and even Squeaky Pip didn't get too scared. It doesn't make as good of a STORY as a storm that shipwrecks people on a mysterious island, but we would all be REALLY sad if VULTURE QUEEN JILL and DAPPER CAPYBARA and the mangrove got wrecked! I'm OK with it being a boring story if we get to keep our beloved SHIPS.
Nelson-captain thinks it's a little bit weird that we have so many archipelagos and deeps between them, but the Dreamlands are MYSTERIOUS and don't have to be like Awake World geology. Race-teacher and Elephant Cat say the WIND is starting to smell right, so maybe there won't be very many more islands before we get to their continent. I like the islands, but I really want to see a whole continent full of checkerboard cats!
We had some more Mars-Gram Expedition dreams too. We got to NOCTIS LABYRINTHUS, and that was really GREAT, but some parts on the way were really SCARY and SAD.
We heard lots of ROARS that the Martians said were from big CARNIVORE fish, but they weren't too loud or scary until we almost got to the next town. Then there was a HUGE roar and we could hear Martians SCREAMING. Zora and Clover-auncle and Nessie-auncle and Flower-gram and my parents used Running On Anything Technique to zoom ahead of the boats and find out what was happening, because they're MONSTER-HUNTERS and they SAVE people. We still had Shoe-auncle and VV-gram and Nico and all the explorers, and that was really GOOD because before we got out of the tunnel, a GIANT monster fish charged at us. It had a mouth like a crocodile and stripy SPIKES and TOO MANY eyes. It reminded me of Faun's Wrong Whale costume, because it was really a MONSTER and not just big and hungry. It was bigger than our whole boat! That was REALLY scary, but I couldn't let it hurt my family or my friends or anybody, so I did the Monster-Defeating Roar as LOUD as I could. Shoe-auncle and everybody ROARED too and the monster fish fell over BACKWARDS. The Monster-Defeating Roar isn't as good as the Monster-Defeating QUACK yet, but it's pretty STRONG. We ran to roar at the fish again if it came back, but it was CUNNING. It went under the boat and came up at the STERN. The Martians there stabbed it with their spears and Sahara and Simoun using MAGIC biting, but it was TOO BIG and climbed onto the boat and almost CAPSIZED us!
Big Sam yelled "Clear" and the twins and Frillist TACKLED the Martians out of the way and Big Sam EXPLODED the monster fish with a rocket launcher.
The monster fish was too big to die from 1 rocket, but it fell off the boat before we capsized and later we saw it floating DEAD because Sahara and Simoun used the Magic VENOM Biting they learned from Snake Fangs. I felt a little bit sorry for it, but I'm glad they kept it from hurting anybody else. It's kind of SCARY to know my sisters are that good at MURDERS, but it's okay if they get bitey with MONSTERS.
The fight seemed like it took a while, but really it was over really QUICK. When Big Sam blew up the monster fish, Max and Annabelle were just jumping on Tiny Squeak to PROTECT her so VV-gram could fight, and Nico was in the middle of getting the RAY GUN he bought on Barbados. VV-gram yelled at the twins for getting so CLOSE to a monster, but the twins yelled back that they had to HELP the Martians and the Martians, I think it was Notar and Hor-En, said the twins were really BRAVE and FIERCE and they were the ones who killed the monster. Then everybody who went ahead came back and our parents SHRIEKED and hugged Sahara and Simoun LOTS and scolded them a LITTLE BIT and said next time they should help protect Tiny Squeak and let grownups fight. The twins SULKED, but they knew they were REALLY brave.
Isaac and Spipipillagos and their family all shrieked a lot, because they aren't used to fighting. The long crabs opened their MANDIBLES really wide for biting a big fish, but mostly they climbed on Spipipillagos to protect them like my little sisters did with Tiny Squeak. That was a good thing to do! Isaac shrieked even more because there isn't very much fighting on Space Train, but he was getting out his LASER. That was good too! Tiny Squeak cried and cried because it was so loud and everybody smelled SCARY, but her mum cuddled her and she calmed down right away because she doesn't understand about monsters that want to EAT her yet.
We went ahead to the town where the monster fish was rampaging before Number-Dad ROARED it away, and it was really sad because 5 of the soft green Martians there were DEAD. The monster fish tried to smash the LIGHTHOUSE and the lightkeeper and their family got squished by falling walls. Our grownups were REALLY sorry for not getting there faster, but the Martians weren't mad at them. They were glad we killed the monster fish so it wouldn't come back, and they threw a party for us, but it was a sad party because it was a FUNERAL too.
Martians live a REALLY long time but they're really BAD at having kids. That SOUNDS like it should balance out, but it means that every time a Martian dies, they get closer to going EXTINCT. They're a DYING people. That makes me feel really bad for them. It makes everybody feel really bad for them, but I think VV-gram and Nessie-auncle have some IDEAS. They talked to Solak-mayor and Darandorava-mayor a lot. Maybe they're going to get UTERINE REPLICATORS from Awake Mars, but maybe they're going to use magic. I asked, but they wouldn't tell me, because grownups never tell me anything! When I was done being MAD, I decided maybe it was because they didn't want to talk about things that might not work. I understand that.
The Martians were worried about the venom from the fish getting into the water or poisoning scavengers that ate it, but Simoun said Snake Fangs uses that technique for hunting, so the venom isn't dangerous to eat and it breaks down pretty quick. I'm glad we didn't poison their lake!
The soft green Martians were really impressed by how Simoun and Sahara killed the monster fish, so they asked them to stay and be their PROTECTORS, but our parents said NO WAY. Then they asked if Mlle. Squeaks could live with them and be their protector when she grows up in a few decades. They said everybody in the town would love her like parents, and they would give her everything she needed and never be mean to her, but VV-gram still said NO WAY. She loves Tiny Squeak too much to EVER let her be adopted! She felt bad for the Martians, though, and said that she would see if any GROWNUP cats wanted to come help them. I think she plans to help them have their OWN kids to grow up into mighty protectors, though.
The soft green Martians were the cutest of all the different ones we've seen, so we all felt bad about not being able to help them, but we already have people to protect against monsters! It was really sad when we waved goodbye and kept sailing.
The village is at the edge of a HUGE lake, and the lighthouse is there so boats can FIND the river toward the beanstalk town. We were going in the other direction, though, and there wasn't any lighthouse there. We sailed out to the middle of the lake, and then we WAITED until a little light showed way far away. We sailed toward it and it got brighter and brighter and it was a weird color and then we could tell it was DAYLIGHT. That tunnel took us to a HUGE sinkhole that was open to the SKY. I think it was as big as our lake, that's 10km! There was a town dug into the cliff, so the Martians could live underground and it wouldn't be so scary, and a big island in the middle where they FARMED. They grew a weird plant that was really fat and didn't have leaves, like ice plant, and they could only work on the farm during the day because at night all the plants COMBINED into a SLIME MOLD like we saw aboveground! The slime mold couldn't go in the water, so it had to stay on the island, and when daylight came, it spread back out into plants. I felt a little bad for it, but Number-dad and Dragon-mom sang a bunch of magic songs and found out that it's only as smart as a regular bug.
Solara-captain delivered all the mail, and especially told the mayors about what happened to the soft green Martians, and the mayors said they would send some people right away to help rebuild the lighthouse and fight off any monsters. I heard Dragon-mom talking with Solara-captain about how she was worried that Komak-mayor and Axaxa-mayor and Naid-mayor might send people who oppressed the lighthouse village, and I got ANXIOUS, but Solara-captain said the soft green Martians are TOUGHER than you think, and part of her job is checking to make sure the towns are staying peaceful. That made me feel better, because Solara-captain is really brave and nice and smart.
Everybody in the town was nice to us and we had another party because even Martians who live so far away from the palace they see the SKY like parties. It was like the palace party because there are all different kinds of Martians there, soft green ones and green ones with 10 legs and long tongues and tall purple ones like Horarak and even some red and purple centauriform ones like the Queen. They liked hearing about different planets and space trains and fighting monster fish and lots of them did flirts with Zora. She was kind of BLUE inside after seeing the dead Martians in the lighthouse, but that cheered her up. She's such a Zora, but I'm glad she's feeling better.
Some of the Martians tried to give Sahara and Simoun GROWNUP JUICE to celebrate how fierce they were, but Number-dad said NO WAY. They had to drink regular juice. Mostly that's weird green juice from the farm that tastes like WHEATGRASS smoothies. It's crunchy like watermelon juice, so I like it.
The first night, after Number-dad and Dragon-mom went out to check if it was OK to keep the slime mold locked up, we heard a HORN at the top of the cliff and there were HEADLIGHTS because somebody was driving a TRUCK. We all yelled and waved LIGHTS and sang the Let's All Be Friends Song REALLY loud and the truck parked above the down and let down a long rope ladder so the BEAR-GRAMS could climb down. It took a long time because the cliffs are about 500 or 400m tall and we got REALLY impatient, but then the Bear-grams jumped down from pretty high and Big Sam and Nessie-auncle and the cousins CAUGHT them and fell over and everybody piled on them and we were REALLY HAPPY. We sang the We Missed You Bear-grams Song and the We Love You Bear-grams Song and the You're Doing Really Good Song and there were a masquillion hugs and we got to meet the kitties Galette and Parsnip because they hid in the truck when the Bear-grams dreamed about driving to a crater WITHOUT them.
Before, the Bear-grams dreamed about Mars being like in the Awake World, where you have to wear a special SUIT to go out of town and drive in a ROVER that's airtight and everything, but today they dreamed about driving a truck like they had on Earth, so they knew they were coming to SEE us. They didn't know about Isaac or the long crabs or the MARTIANS, so we did a masquillion INTRODUCTIONS and told them all our stories, and they told us even more of their stories and told the Martians about Awake Mars. The Martians thought that was really WEIRD, but they think bear-people are really GREAT because of Big Sam, and cats are really great because of the twins, so they were happy to meet dream visitors.
Everybody was glad to see the Bear-grams, but Big Sam and Nico and Rei were so happy they CRIED. Lots of people cried, but those 3 hardly ever do, so it made me cry even more! It was a party with BIG FEELINGS.
In the middle of the night, there were really gross SQUISHY noises from the top of the cliff, because a slime mold was trying to EAT the truck, but by the time somebody got up there to check it had wandered off because the truck wasn't yummy. I'm glad the Bear-grams didn't have to walk back.
In the morning, the Bear-grams gave everybody kisses and climbed back up to their truck and drove away, but now that they know about magic dreaming, maybe they'll come back.
Our Mars Expedition was 1000% SUCCESSFUL!
We went over to Pocket Fox Manor to see the electroflier and they were flying it all around the yard and it only crashed and caught on fire ONCE. You can do it, pocket foxies!
Dmitri was too busy reading, so I snuck up on him and ate 1 of his strawberries and 2 of his ears and he squacked really INDIGNANT. It was funny!
I'm done writing now. This was TOO MUCH WRITING. I probably forgot lots of stuff, but I'll write it LATER.
We had some more Mars dreams, but they weren't as exciting. We stayed in the sinkhole town for another day because we were tired from staying up ALL NIGHT. Dreaming about being tired is kind of weird, but it happens more than you think! Then we went back to the palace city carrying more mail. The soft green Martians in the lighthouse town are OK and the fighters from sinkhole town are being really nice to them. Everybody in stalagmite town and the other towns was doing really good too.
Clover and Rose-auncle wanted to get off the boat and EXPLORE, so Sahara and Simoun and the Exploration Club wanted to go too. They had to ask a lot, but their parents said OK when we got back to the farms with the glowing stalagmites. I wanted to go, but I was too scared of meeting something like the monster fish WITHOUT Big Sam's rocket launcher so I stayed on the boat. Later I felt really BAD, because that wasn't a brave decision. Isaac said he was glad I stayed with him, though. He thought about going, but even though his legs are getting STRONGER, he still can't walk as much as the explorers and he didn't want to slow them down. We agreed that we'll do some exploration LATER. Mars is a whole PLANET so there's always going to be more to explore!
We got SAMPLES of the slime mold plants from the sinkhole farm and the mushrooms and gourds and beans and berries and eggplants, that aren't really those but are LIKE them, from the other farms, and brought them back to the Awake World. I don't think they would grow right on Earth, because we have too much WATER, but maybe we can make them in stores. The crunchy green juice is really YUMMY and probably doesn't turn into slime molds in your stomach!
Nessie-auncle and Flower-gram and Big Sam are working on getting samples from the Martians, because they live for a REALLY long time, even longer than songcats, and it would be really good if we could figure out how to live that long. The samples they got from other monsters and dream creatures are a lot of what made ultra-modern people work, that's why Zora is Prototype, so I think this will be good. They think that even though we know queens are NO GOOD, the Martians like Kan-Nomel being their queen and helping them make decisions, so we should ask her before getting samples.
Glormulus and Zobzob and their families were glad to see us. When they heard about the COOL stuff we saw, they wished they had come with us, but then they heard about the MONSTER FISH and were glad they stayed at the beanstalk city! They showed us all the nice places they found in the city, and some of them were nice for songcats and not just for ALIENS.
I helped Isaac STUDY all the Martian stuff, like their light crystals and their geoelectric generators and especially their REPULSION RAYS. I didn't understand it as much as he did, but I helped him as much as I could. I think Simoun would be better, but she was EXPLORING, and he didn't want help from GROWNUPS, he wanted to do it HIMSELF. He's a really great SCIENCE KITTEN!
I got samples of the Martian stuff for Simoun and for Ruffur. I don't know if it will work in Ruffur's Awake World, but it doesn't hurt very much to try!
I had a short dream on VULTURE QUEEN JILL, but it was mostly about sailing on the open ocean and sitting in the sun with Maa-uu and getting Gullie-Bob to dance for fish bits. I think we'll all have more Checkerboard Expedition dreams soon.
I didn't think of it before, but maybe the soft green Martians are related to the green plants that turn into giant slime molds. They have FACES and ARMS and everything, and don't turn into plants even in sunshine, but they seem KIND OF similar. If we get samples, we'll know.
Another thing I forgot to write about is the Bear-grams meeting TINY SQUEAK for the 1st time. It was REALLY cute! Tiny Squeak was a little scared of them because they're so TALL, but they have 3 kids of their own and a masquillion kids, so they know how to be friends with babies. They sat down and played with Tiny Squeak and told her how GREAT she is and clapped when she did good walking, and she sat down and clapped TOO. Then she climbed in Vasilisa-Gram's lap and sang the Bottle Song until she got yummy milk.
Walking is EASIER on Mars because gravity is lots SLOWER. Even when Squeaky Pip steps on something that moves, she has lots of time to put her foot somewhere else instead of falling down. Then she wakes up and gravity is REGULAR again, so she doesn't forget how to walk on EARTH. She's getting really good at walking and running and now she's working on JUMPING. You can do it, Mlle. Squeaks!
Squeaky Pip did a PIRACY on Galette, but I think it's because she LET her. Galette and Parsnip are still kittens, but they've been on Mars for their WHOLE lives, so they're good at jumping around in that gravity. Tiny Squeak carried Galette into Leon-gram's lap and tried to WASH her but didn't do a very good job. It was FUNNY, but everything little kittens do is ADORABLE.
It's INTERPLANETARY DOG DAY. Hurray for Beethoven and Sunny and Bruno and Beezer and the Sea Dogs and every really good dog everywhere! That's all of them, because dogs are REALLY great.
The pocket foxies' electroflier doesn't crash at ALL now and it can fly really GOOD. They let me try the controller and I got it to go in circles and chase Bob-auncle and look in the windows just like a regular drone. I started to chase a crow but Zeb-auncle said we shouldn't teach the crows that electrofliers are fun to play with. I think it's too late because they already know about drones.
Some grownups came to watch and they flew the drone around too and checked how it doesn't crash into things and looked inside it and everything. They're deciding if electrofliers are SAFE to fly around the city, so the pocket foxies were REALLY polite.
Bob-auncle says the next step after making sure this tiny electroflier works is building one that's big enough to carry a fusion generator so it can fly for YEARS. I REALLY want one!
We had another Mars dream and Momo-auncle was there to talk to the Queen so they had a MEETING while everybody else walked around the city and bought cool Martian things and Zora did MORE flirts.
The fighty Martians wanted the twins to teach them Magic Venom Biting, but Fairy-mom said NO WAY. They have to ask Snake Fang if they're good enough at it to teach other people. They had a big argument, because the twins said Snake Fangs just INVENTED the technique and didn't get a certificate from anybody, but Fairy-mom said then Snake Fangs is the person who can give out certificates. I hope he doesn't get any HUBRIS.
The twins went to lots of Martian fighting classes, but they didn't get any special techniques. They got PRACTICE, though, and that's important. All of my family went, so we could get practice TOO. Isaac TRIED, but he isn't a good fighter in GRAVITY. You'll get better if you keep trying, Isaac!
We had some ocean dreams too. There were a lot of storms, so we had to keep our sails FURLED a lot, and sometimes the masts got so electric they GLOWED. That's called SAINT ELMO'S FIRE. It's really spooky! Sometimes it means the ship is about to get struck by LIGHTNING, but all our ships had lightning rods so it didn't hurt anybody. It was really LOUD and BRIGHT, though!
I thought it wasn't like before, when we had storms in the Dreamlands and the Awake World at the same time, but Ruffur said HIS Awake World had thunderstorms. We go through the Dreamlands to get there, but the Awake World where Tansy's Sheep Place is is just as real as the one where Starfall is!
That reminds me about how we usually go into the Dreamlands in TRUCKS this month, but we're on an expedition in a different part of the Dreamlands now and if we came in PERSON, we might not get back to the Checkerboard Expedition afterwards. PROBABLY we would, but we might miss finding the Checkerboard Cat Continent and everything! It's because we got a late start, and the ocean is WIDER than we thought. Race-teacher and Elephant Cat think the expedition is getting CLOSE, though, so we told everybody at Penguin Palace that we'll come NEXT month. We all hope it isn't the month after that, because October at the Northern Shores is really COLD.
I worried that Cattail might be sad to not visit the other mastydons, but he REALLY likes being a sailor with Zig-Zag and everybody.
We did lots of stuff in the Awake World this week too. We all went to school and classes and the POOL because it was really HOT and played VOLLEYBALL and I went to the park with the waterfall with Hebichi and Morning and Spin and Gobi and everybody a bunch of times. Gobi did CANNONBALLS from the top of the waterfall until she messed up and hit her head on a rock so hard it BROKE. That made her dizzy so she stopped but she wouldn't let us take her to a NURSE. She was afraid grownups would stop her from doing WILD things. We were going to take her to a nurse ANYWAY, but she said she felt better and she could spin around and around and AROUND without falling over so she wasn't dizzy any more until she STOPPED. We all had to spin too, so it was a dizzy afternoon.
Humboldt and Fairy-mom and I made BLUE LASAGNA with tomatoes and onions and garlic from the farm. Everybody liked it a lot, especially Max. Store veggies taste just as good, but it's not the same as getting FRESH vegetables from the farm. They make me HAPPIER.
There was a dance party with kids at my level and Humboldt's level in school. I didn't want to go because I thought it would be too much FLIRTING, but Simoun and Sahara and Dmitri and Humboldt wanted to go so Dragon-mom said she would take care of the music, and she's really good at that, and Hebichi and Spin wanted to go, so I went too, and it was KIND OF fun. Lots of kids did flirts, and lots of kids got really embarrassed because of CRUSHES, but lots of kids DANCED and that was fun. Fairy-mom asked everybody what music kids like now, so it was all good music. I didn't know about The Incomparable XYZZYs before, and now I really like them! I'm listening to their album Bird Gods Of The Hollow Earth to help me write this. I'm glad I went.
Faun played more with his other friends for a while, but now he plays with me and Hebichi and everybody a lot again. That's really nice.
I did a BIG stretch and Toka said, "Sammle, your tummy is REALLY long. I'm gonna MEASURE it!" and they DID. My tummy is 7 TICKLES long! But when I was getting tickled, my tail CLOBBERED Cleo and she cussed at me and ran up on top of the toy shelves, so we had to be REALLY sorry to her and apologize with GREEN CRUNCHIES to get her to come down and sit on my head. Everybody said I had the most STYLISH hat!
Now the album is done, so I'm going out to the treehouse to sleep in the WIND.
New HUMMINGBIRD CASTLE came out today. I thought it was going to be really SPOOKY, but it wasn't! The kids in the story did REGULAR stuff like going to school and trying to talk to people they had crushes on and running away and HIDING because they were so embarrassed about saying things they thought were dumb. There was ALMOST a weird hand in 1 panel, but then the wind blew it away because it was a LEAF. I don't know what's happening. It's MYSTERIOUS.
I hope none of my friends get any crushes, because I don't want them to feel bad like that. I would be really SAD if somebody I love ran away from me like that!
I thought about it and maybe SOMETIMES I run away when I get too embarrassed or feel really bad. Now I'm worried that makes people who love me sad. I need to make better choices!
We had more Mars dreams. The Queen had another big PARTY, and all my family came, and all the aliens who came down from Space Train with us, and a bunch MORE aliens that came down while we were on our expedition. The people from the last Magic Dreaming Class came too, even though we didn't help them, and that was really great, and some pocket-foxies, and then Tansy-auncle and Ruffur and a bunch of sheepies and people from THAT Awake World came! The Martians were really happy to have so many new people! But the biggest surprise was that the BEAR-GRAMS came! They know the way to Dream Mars now! I think maybe Parsnip and Galette help, but that's OK. They're good cats who really LOVE their people.
Zobzob and Isaac and Simoun and Ruffur and all the foxies and a bunch of the ultra-modern people who are ENGINEERS and SCIENTISTS talked to the Martians who find and fix old machines a LOT, because they want to know about repulsion rays and light crystals and everything the Martians have, even though it's in the Dreamlands. They were happy to tell the Martians about all the stuff we have too, but I think they had trouble because the Martians only know how to USE the old machines, they don't know how they work inside. Maybe they need to make a SCHOOL. The pocket foxies are really good TEACHERS and Isaac Mewton knows a lot about gravity and rainbows. I think the repulsion rays are like that, but I didn't understand when Isaac explained it to me. I don't know if he understands it either, because he waved his hands a LOT. People do that when they can't explain good.
Lots of people were glad to see the Bear-grams, because they knew them from before they moved to Mars. It made me really happy that they could see their FRIENDS again.
I was a LITTLE worried about the sheepies and duckies and goaters visiting the Martians, but they threw spicy bread at them and then everything was OK. You aren't supposed to give ducks bread, but they only ate a little and it was OK. The Martians were really friendly to all the new weird creatures and danced with them and asked them about their planets and everything. That made me really happy TOO.
All the Starfall people, even the pocket foxies, talked to the Martians about how nice it is in Starfall where nobody is a QUEEN and NOBODY can boss ANYBODY around and everybody works TOGETHER. I don't know if the Martians who get to eat nice food liked that, but the Martians who have to carry the food LISTENED. I think all the soft green Martians listened. Maybe they're the best at being like us. I hope there isn't a WAR, but I hope the Martians stop OPPRESSING each other.
Tiny Squeak got lots of LOVE because the Martians really LIKE babies, and everybody else likes cute KITTENS. She did lots of walking and tried dancing like everybody else and drank some juice and soup and got PETTED and TICKLED and CUDDLED. She got STEPPED ON too, when she ran where people were dancing, but she didn't get hurt because everybody is LIGHT. Hurray for our SQUEAKY PIP!
I'm going to stop writing now and reread all of HUMMINGBIRD CASTLE and maybe do an ICE CREAM PIRACY.
We had ocean dreams the last two nights, so I'm a LITTLE worried about what's happening on Mars. I hope all the Martians and everybody are OK and there isn't any FIGHTING. Maybe tomorrow I'll find somebody from the Magic Dreaming Class and ask if they're still going to Mars.
We sailed more over the open ocean and it was still stormy, so we couldn't see the other ships very much and we got blown FAR APART so we couldn't see each other between the storms, but nobody got hurt and the ships didn't get damaged. We got SOGGY on watch, and then COZY belowdecks with FRIENDS, and I think the people on DAPPER CAPYBARA and the mangrove did the same. Maa-uu and Flower-gram think the storms are ALMOST over, and then we'll have to get the ships back together. People from all the ships can meet in the Awake World and talk about navigation, so it's almost like having phones and radios.
I FELT like I dreamed that I dreamed about visiting Dragon-mayor's city, but I think really I woke up a LITTLE bit and fell back asleep with a new dream. It would be really great if I could do dream adventures when I was already in the Dreamlands, though. I could carry things to different places and help Nelson-captain stay in touch with Dragon-mayor and HELP people a lot!
I didn't see many people because it was TOO HOT and everybody was inside, but Truffle's mom was there so we sat in the shade of Aimée's tree and sang the We Remember Aimée Song and talked about ACTING. Dramabun was in ROMEO AND JULIET too! She was in an acting class for kids and they did 1 performance for all their families and it was a lot like ours but without the SPEECH at the end. Dramabun was Paris and Romeo's dad and she gave the opening speech about Verona and it was funny because lots of the kids were my age so they didn't want to have any KISSING in their play and they did the big fight scene at the beginning with THUMB wrestling and the costumes weren't very fancy and it sounds like it was REALLY fun. It made me want to do more plays!
Some dragons came to sit in the park, so I told them about the expedition and how their friends are all doing really GOOD even though there are storms, and that made them really happy. They gave me dragon-kisses and we sang the Dragon Friendship Song together and then we got ICE CREAM together. Truffle's mom was glad to hear that Truffle and Nameko and Pierce are all doing good too.
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