| August, 2035<<< | All Entries | >>>October, 2035 |
It's been a good week. I did all the regular things, like classes and farming and cooking and singing and fiddling and riding bikes and hugging my friends and my family and looking at the clouds and stars and reading manga and reading stories to Tiny Squeak and sleepovers. It's not so hot now that it's SEPTEMBER, but we still did a lot of swimming and then sitting in the sunshine to dry off. It was all REALLY nice. I don't know if I CHANGED very much this week, except for what I learned in school, but it was a good week to have. There wasn't any existential dread AT ALL and there was LOTS of love.
In the Dreamlands, we got all the ships together after the storm ended. Flower-gram had VULTURE QUEEN JILL's position, and Fairy-mom had DAPPER CAPYBARA's, and Secret's mom had the mangrove's, and they all sat down and worked out where we needed to sail and they were RIGHT and we were all back together and had a little party. We found a big patch of seaweed and Race-teacher RECOGNIZED it, so we think we're getting really close! I want to meet all the Checkerboard Cats and see where they live and then go to visit the pengies and moosies and spidies and mastydons! I'm worried about Boogie and Chibi-Moosa and Lurking Lemon Spider and Jaunty Jonquil Spider and Thomas and Julia and CATTAIL, because they can't wake up out of the Dreamlands and then dream about the Northern Shores, but they say they know how to live their OWN lives. I think that means I worried TOO MUCH, so I'm trying to mind my own BUSINESS better.
We haven't gotten back to Mars yet, and when I asked some people who were in the Magic Dreaming Class, they haven't dreamed about Mars EITHER. They aren't used to having a dream adventure EVERY night, though, so it didn't worry them. They said they would like to visit on VULTURE QUEEN JILL and DAPPER CAPYBARA and the mangrove, so maybe they WILL.
I really hope everybody on Mars is OK! If there's a war, even people who aren't involved can get hurt, like Isaac and Spipipillagos! But I'm worried about even the Martians, because they're already a DYING PEOPLE and a war will make that WORSE. Please be OK, Martians! Make good decisions!
It's SEPTEMBER, so pretty soon I'm going to be 11 and Nico is going to be 16 and Tiny Squeak is going to be 1! LOTS of other people have their birthday on the AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, like Morning and Minmin and Elena and Sammy. I'm really excited because it's going to be Tiny Squeak's 1ST EVER birthday!
I need to think of a good PRESENT for her!
I had a really WILD and AMAZING dream this afternoon when I took a nap. It was an imaginary dream, but it FELT a little bit like a dream adventure, so maybe it wasn't ALL imaginary. That would be really cool!
Dragon-mom WOKE ME UP in the middle of the dream and made me set the table for dinner, so I don't remember all of it, but I think it was the FUTURE, because I was a grownup and so was Spin and I think we were MARRIED. Grownup Spin was REALLY pretty with his rainbow braid all the way down to his LEGS and his STRONG arms and his FIERCE eyebrows. I'm not going to tell people about that part, because they'll tease me.
We were in Starfall, but it was really DIFFERENT. The buildings were taller, but there weren't as many of them, so there was more room for parks and FARMS. I know it was Starfall, because of the round lake and the wind towers, but there was a dome on a new ISLAND in the middle of the lake, and bright lights turning around it like an old-time CLOCK. There were more domes around the edge of the city and I think there were 12 of them, but maybe there were 13 or 24. We were on the north side of the lake, so our farm could get lots of sun and grow HUGE pods with MOTORCYCLE ELECTROFLIERS in them. There were peach trees too, with lots of fruit, and inside, instead of regular stones, were CRYSTALS that were kind of like Lego and kind of like jigsaw pieces and had MAGIC written into them like Number-dad's earrings. I had to sing magic to the trees when I planted them, but then they could grow LOTS of crystals for us to send to the moon to be part of the STARSHIP. It was dark, and the moon was out, and it was covered with MAGIC CIRCLES with tall towers in the middles. It was really beautiful and kind of SCARY, because that's a LOT of magic.
We were eating ice cream and singing to the farm and talking to Hebichi on the phone, which was weirdly SLOW because they were on the MOON helping Rose-auncle-captain and Clover-auncle and the Exploration Club get the STARSHIP ready. Tiny Squeak, who was a grownup, came and got us to come to her MUM'S house, so we said goodbye to Hebichi and started walking. Not just the buildings were different in Future Starfall, the PEOPLE were different too! There were still lots of ultra-modern people with scales and tails and fancy colors and extra legs, but there were lots more people-cats and some of them were CHECKERBOARD, and there were sheepies and ellyphants with fancy trunks and DRAGONS and some people had pet DINOS. There were a lot of capybaras, too, and everybody was really NICE to them even if they weren't people. I think they had Friendship Magic like the capybaras we met at Sea Monster Cove, and helped everybody get along. There was a bus that I think had some MARTIANS in it, with special repulsor rays in the floor to help against the gravity, and there were SPIRITS going places, not just robots, and it was really AMAZING. I think there was lots of Dreamlands stuff in the Awake World, and probably lots of Awake stuff in the Dreamlands!
I tried to remember what Tiny Squeak's grownup name was, but I COULDN'T. I heard some people call her CREAMSICLE, but I think that was FLIRTING, because grownup Tiny Squeak was really pretty like VV-gram! She still had 3 orange paws and 1 orange ear and 1 orange tail but she had a really FANCY hat.
Then Spin and I got a phone call, because we weren't just farmers, we were ANTICORPORATIST FIGHTERS. There were people in North America and Southwest Asia and some other places who didn't like how people in Starfall and all over shared our plants for growing all different stuff so people didn't need to buy BASIC things, and let everybody who wanted learn magic, and didn't listen when they said ideas belonged to a corporation and other people couldn't use them, and like that. Lots of times they tried to mess up what we were doing, to scare us into thinking our way of life doesn't work, and they hurt lots of people, so somebody had to stop them.
Tiny Squeak said she would have her mum save our dinner and we ran back to our farm and got some electroflier bikes from the LAST crop and then carried them to the AIR STATION. The electrofliers weren't like motorcycles we have now, they were flat and shaped like fat letter Ys, and had SQUISHY stuff on top that made a seat that was just right for ANY rider. I think lots of seats were like that, because there were so many different kinds of people. The bikes were pretty heavy, but we were REALLY strong so we could carry them and RUN.
We didn't go in an airplane, it was more like an air TRAIN that got THROWN through the sky with repulsor rays. There were some other people in the train going to SOUTH AUSTRALIA or maybe NEW ZEALAND, so we talked to them like we were just going to visit some friends. We didn't say we were going on a MISSION, because we knew about OPERATIONAL SECURITY. That's where you don't let everybody know what you're doing, so the enemy has a harder time STOPPING you. There was a capybara with a jade necklace, and a centauriform ultra-modern person with a pet dragon that was like a storybook dragon with batty wings, and a checkerboard cat as big as me, that we mostly talked to. It was really nice, but I guess our OPSEC wasn't good enough, because there were 2 people who ate some candy without asking if anybody wanted some, that was REALLY rude and made us SUSPICIOUS, and then they pulled out GUNS and said they were going to STOP us!
1 of them picked up the capybara and put his gun to her head and said we shouldn't do anything or try to sing any magic or he'd KILL her, and his partner kept his gun on everybody else so they wouldn't make trouble. The pet dragon that was sitting on its person's shoulder hissed at him, so he SHOT it to show he meant business! I was a grownup, so I was sad, but that just showed us that they had to get CRUSHED.
The candy that the corporatists ate was really medicine to power up their PSIONICS, that's what they call the brain magic they use, so they could hold everybody FROZEN. I think they were waiting for their REINFORCEMENTS, but maybe they just wanted to make sure Spin and I couldn't get off in North Australia like we PLANNED. But I did INTERNAL singing to make the guns stop working, and Spin and the capybara and some of the other people helped by yelling at the corporatists to stop being so HORRIBLE. As soon as the guns made the beep that meant they didn't work, the capybara did a MIGHTY CHOMP that made that 1 stop concentrating on his magic and then Spin clobbered him before he could hurt her. The other 1 tried to make the door open so he could throw everybody out, but I sang the No Wicked Magic Here Song so it didn't work, and he got clobbered before he could get another weapon.
We thought about throwing THEM out, but the pet dragon that got shot was a ROBOT, so it wasn't dead. Instead we tied them up and everybody else said they would take them to get LOCKED UP in New Zealand, and Spin and I got our bikes and got the BACK door of the train to open, and we JUMPED OUT right into the wind that went a MASQUILLION km/hr!
That was when I got woken up, so I don't know if we got on our bikes without getting blown away or if we FOILED the plot or if there was any ROMANTIC kissing.
That was a lot of writing, but it was a really INTERESTING dream so I wanted to write it down before I FORGOT. I'm going to tell Spin about it, but I don't know if I'll say we were MARRIED. That's REALLY embarrassing.
In our family, we do lots of dream adventures, so IMAGINARY dreams aren't that exciting, but everybody said this was a pretty good one when I told them about it. I should tell Zora about it, because when she's a superhero, she's FUTURE GIRL. I should do a piracy on her CINNAMON CAKE too.
I think there was something else I wanted to write about this week, but now my brain is full of MAGIC FUTURE DREAM. I'm going to see if I can dream it MORE tonight, even though it hardly ever works that way.
I had more OCEAN dreams with everybody, not future dreams. We didn't get to any islands until the very END of the day, when we saw a bunch of land way off on the HORIZON. Maybe we're almost there!
I told Spin and Hebichi and everybody about my future dream and they thought it was REALLY GREAT. When I told them how Hebichi was on the Moon and they were even MORE like a dragon, everybody wanted to know what THEY were doing in the future. It was a short dream so I didn't have time to CHECK on people, but I wasn't sad about anybody, so they must have all been doing really COOL grownup stuff. When I said that, everybody started talking about what they want to be when they're grownups and that was really fun. Everybody wants to be MONSTER HUNTERS because they want to be as cool as VV-GRAM, but they want to be WIZARDS and EXPLORERS too. Jean and Bina want to be race car drivers or pilots, and when I took them to see the electroflier at Pocket Fox Manor, they both said the pocket foxies should call them as soon as there's an electroflier that can carry a KID. I don't think their PARENTS will be OK with that! Blond Dmitry and Spin both want to be zookeepers or veterinarians, but Spin wants to do it in the Dreamlands so he can take care of DINOS. Blond Dmitry likes dinos too, but he might want to do PALEONTOLOGY in the Awake World. Morning wants to be a MODEL and a PHOTOGRAPHER, because she wants to have the best pictures and be the PRETTIEST. Gobi wants to be a TEACHER but she wants to travel to every part of the world TOO. Everybody wants to go on the starship when it gets built, but maybe not the 1ST starship.
Hebichi asked if they were so much like a dragon they could blow FIRE, but I said I didn't know because they didn't melt their PHONE. I think they figured out that Spin and I were married in the dream, but they didn't say anything because they're a really GOOD friend and didn't want to embarrass me.
Seeing the pocket foxies reminded me that there were pocket foxy ROBOTS in my dream! I don't know if they were pocket foxies that got turned to robots or cyborgs, or if they were regular robots or drones that the foxies made in their IMAGE, but they were little and COOL.
WE MADE IT TO THE CHECKERBOARD CAT CONTINENT!
When we sailed toward the land we saw, big balls of LEAVES came to meet us, and that's how the checkerboard cats got to OUR continent, so we waved and yelled and signaled to them with FLAGS and they zoomed across the ocean and jumped on our ships and CHECKERBOARD CATS jumped out and wanted to know what we were doing here! Some of them were tiny like pocket foxies, but they had scary FLOWERS, and some were as big as MAA-UU so they had scary TEETH. Nico-captain and Fairy-mom talked to them really POLITE, though, and the rest of us sang the Let's All Be Friends Song and the capybaras did friendship magic for themselves and the gullies, and there wasn't any fighting. Then they got signaled that there were checkerboard cats coming HOME on DAPPER CAPYBARA and everything was OK.
The leader of the cats on VULTURE QUEEN JILL was named First Vulture Who Flew Down From The Red Mountain, so she liked our ship a lot. She's about as big as a capybara, and has medium-sized black and white checkers, and she's nice but all the other checkerboard cats did what she said RIGHT AWAY because she has that kind of VOICE. She carries a flower like a purple lily and we were all scared of it even though we didn't know what it does. Maybe it just had Be Scared Of Me magic, but maybe it had magic for turning people into EARWIGS.
The checkerboard cats liked the capybaras, because of friendship magic but also because they have animals called MARAS, that are like capybaras except they're littler and not as swimmy and have long legs so they're better at running. I think maybe maras don't have as POWERFUL friendship magic, but Vulture #1 talked about the maras her family has at home, and petted all the capybaras and said they're REALLY good. That made us a lot happier, because she was kind of scary when she first came out of the ball!
Vulture #1 and her cats helped us sail to the mainland, but we didn't get there before it was time for fighting class in the Awake World.
Everybody we talked to all day wanted to hear about the checkboard cats. I think it's because they could TELL that I wanted to talk about it, and then everybody else talked TOO. EVERYBODY agreed that the checkerboard cats must be pretty good if they like capybaras, and lots of them want to come see the checkerboard cats. Maybe it's time for another Magic Dreaming CLASS.
At farming, we wondered what the checkerboard cats grow. Race-teacher and Elephant Cat don't eat many veggies, but maybe the ones at HOME do, or maybe they need to grow food for their MARAS. We looked up what maras eat, and it's fruit and leaves, so SPINCH is probably good for them, and maybe GRAPES.
I was afraid we might have a MARS dream just when we were going to see Checkerland, but we didn't! We dreamed about sailing into a huge bay that was really an ESTUARY, that's like a really deep narrow bay with a river at the end, like LONDON has. It was all foresty and there were places that had trees all grown together around them so they looked like FORTS, and some islands that were just 1 big tree with trunks all around the edge. They had lots of cats in them doing regular stuff so I don't think they were really forts. Maybe they USED to be. When we were going the right way, most of the checker cats got back in the ball of leaves and zoomed away to REPORT, but Vulture #1 and the cat as big as Maa-uu stayed to GUIDE us. His name is Borgo The Monster Cat, but he's really nice.
The checker cats really liked how many different kinds of creatures we had in our expedition. They don't have any DINOS or ROBOTS in their country, but they have WALKING PLANTS, and maras and spidies and dolphins and TREE OCTOS. They don't always live all together like we do, though.
There were lots of ships like swimming TREES. They didn't have big leaf sails like the Sea Dog's mangrove, and their roots weren't squished into a hull shape, but I thought they were SIMILAR and I was RIGHT. The cats and octos and spidies on them waved really friendly, so we waved back, but we told the gullies not to bother them just IN CASE.
When we got to the city, it had a lot of parts that were like trees in the ocean like the mangrove, and more parts that went up onto the land with wooden roads and buildings that were trees and magic FLOWERS all over and walking trees carrying stuff like TRUCKS and all like that. They have really ADVANCED plant magic! Their city smelled really nice, too, and all the people looked happy. Even their pet maras looked happy. The city is really nice for cats of different SIZES, too, with big roads for Elephant Cat and Borgo to walk on, and little paths up high for the littler cats to walk on and be at the same LEVEL. There are little paths down low where smaller creatures can walk without getting STEPPED on, and lots of trees that grow FOOD so anybody can just take some. They have regular plants for the maras, and leaves that look like spinch but taste like BACON and spuds like HAM on the inside for cats, and fruits where the juice is like BLOOD for spidies, and like that. It's really NICE.
All of us visitors had to wait in their City Hall. It was really FANCY to show how great their city is, but it wasn't like the Queen's palace on Mars. Nelson-captain and Rose-auncle and VV-gram and the dragon twins talked to the Governing Council, that's the oldest and wisest people who want the TROUBLE of being in charge, and the rest of us sat and talked to a LOT of people. They were a little bit ANXIOUS because they didn't know us and were afraid we might want to have our great big DRAGONS and TRICERS take over their city, but after they heard about how Dragon-mayor chased away all the people who wouldn't share, they liked us more. I think Tiny Squeak HELPED by being really cute. The checker cats and tree octos and spidies and dolphins all have lots of kids of their own, so it wasn't like Mars, but Mlle. Squeak is still THE CUTEST.
When the DIPLOMACIES were done, we got to go all around the city and that's when we saw how nice it is. We saw great things like the Singing Valley, that's a really big AMPITHEATER where a masquillion cats can sing together, and the Waterfall Trees, that's a park where it's always cool and misty because of water pouring down from the tops of REALLY tall trees, and the Breaching Pond, which has lots of rocks and HOOPS and stuff for dolphins to SHOW OFF by jumping through. I think it's like a SKATE PARK for dolphins.
I think there was lots more we haven't gotten to see yet, because the checker cat city is as big as Dragon-mayor's city! I don't know why cities in the Dreamlands don't have names. Maybe their names are SECRET, or maybe somebody STOLE them. I asked the checker cats, but they said they don't know.
Last night, after the exploring dream, I woke up and then went back to sleep and dreamed I was a SAMMY-BEETLE. I was big and white and grey and shiny and I had HORNS to be like cat ears. I didn't have a tail, so I kept my rainbows on my ELYTRA, that's the covers for my WINGS. I crawled around and climbed up a tree to eat giant CHERRIES and then I flew into somebody's HAIR. I thought it was a giant, but really I was a regular-size beetle and it was JEANNE. She didn't squish me, she was really CAREFUL with me and took me home to live in a TERRARIUM. When I told her about the dream, she laughed and laughed and said that had to be my nickname FOREVER. I tickled her until she almost PEED, but it didn't help. Now everybody calls me SAMMY-BEETLE. I don't REALLY hate it, but I'd rather have a COOLER nickname.
We still haven't had any Mars dreams! I'm getting really WORRIED. I hope Isaac and Spipipillagos and the soft green Martians and the Bear-grams and everybody are OK. I had a really BAD idea, how maybe if everybody on Mars is DEAD there aren't any more Dreamlands there, but when I sent a letter to the Bear-grams asking how they're doing, they sent me pictures of their STUDENTS petting Parsnip and Galette, so I know everybody is alive on Awake Mars. That doesn't mean there isn't a WAR that killed everybody on Dream Mars, though!
We did have more Checker Cat dreams, and we found out some really INTERESTING things. When we went to the DOCKS, where our ships were, we saw a bunch of checker cats with really FANCY hats doing something to the mangrove. The Sea Dogs transformed into WOLF MONSTERS and RAN to protect their ship, but it was OK, the checker cat wizards were welcoming it back HOME. The Sea Dogs were really SURPRISED that their ship came all the way across the ocean from Checkerland, because they found it on an island by OUR continent. The checker cat HISTORIAN, her name is Pomp and Circumstance and she's as little as Momo-auncle and a masquillion years old, said the mangrove is from the WAR they had a long time ago. She thinks it lost the spirit that was in it and wandered around WILD until somebody found it. The Sea Dogs were still really SKETCHY about where they got it. They talked to Circumstance and the checker cat wizards for a really long time about whether to try putting another spirit in it or leave it like it was, so lots of us got BORED and went to pet some maras and watch the checker cat ships and see if there were any ICE CREAM stores.
There wasn't any ice cream, but there were POCKET WHALIES swimming around a really big ship tree! There was 1 pod of chachalots, like the 1 that shot at us, and they were really GROUCHY, but there was a pod of BLUE whales too. The boy blue whales came up to look at us, but the girls stayed back because they had CALVES. The blue whale calves were ALMOST as cute as Tiny Squeak! They were really SHY, though, so we couldn't play with them. They didn't know what to do when Annabelle blew KISSES to them, but they smiled at her and she fell RIGHT OVER from the cuteness.We hadn't heard about the pocket whalies before because they don't live in the city, they stay out to SEA most of the time. They're friends with the checker cats, though. They all have ROBOTS that LURK under the water and sometimes come up to look at people, but they wouldn't say how they got them. That's OK because it's really a SECRET, they aren't just not telling us to make us shriek. We'll get some pocket FOXIES to come visit them before they go back out to sea!
When we went back to the grownups to see if they wanted LUNCH yet, they were talking about the war where the mangrove lost its spirit, and how someone made a magic plague that killed all the BIRDS. I saw the city had only BATS, but I didn't know that's why. I got really WORRIED for Maz and Podge and all the gullies, but Shoe-auncle and Circumstance said it's OK now. Some people have pet birdies and they don't get sick, but the bats are taking up all the good NESTING spots so wild birds can't move in. It made me feel REALLY bad to think about all the birds on a whole CONTINENT getting so sick they died, and I had to hug Maz a whole bunch. When we went back to VULTURE QUEEN JILL, I gave Podge and the gullies extra treats because they don't like hugs.
All the explorers were REALLY happy to go all around the city on the walking tree BUS. We all were, because seeing Checkerland is why we went on the expedition! We ate veggies that were MEAT inside, and regular seafood, and talked to checker cats and tree octos and spidies and sometimes dolphins, and petted maras, and there was a party for visitors from across the ocean, that means US, so we got to DANCE with tree octos on our HEADS and listen to speeches about how much checker cats and regular cats want to be friends, and watch lots of cats FLIRT with our parents and grams and auncles and helped the spidies and tree octos laugh at how RIDICULOUS they were. That sentence was too long.
I was thinking about how I write a LOT about my dream adventures and not very much about my awake adventures. Maybe that's because I do a lot of the SAME things every day I'm awake, like go to school and go to classes and ride bikes and farm, but there are littler things that are different and nice about every day. They aren't BIG like going to a new PLANET or sailing across a whole OCEAN, but they make me happy. My awake life makes me just as happy as my dream life, and it usually doesn't make me as ANXIOUS, because there's not as much fighting or scary stuff.
I think we're going to the Northern Shores later this month and then my awake life and my dream life will be the same thing. Maybe that will help me know what to write.
We're still exploring Checkerland, so I don't know EXACTLY when we're going, but my BIRTHDAY is getting CLOSER. Maybe we'll be there on my birthday. I'll have Nico and Squeaky Pip and Max with me, but not Minmin or Morning or any of my other friends who have the same birthday, or all the other people who do. But I'll have Disco Moose and Penguin Max and Ricky and Pentameter and all the other Northern Shores people INSTEAD. It'll be sadder and happier at the same time.
Last night we dreamed about exploring the checker cat city a lot more, and I brought Jeanne and Blond Dmitry and Gobi and Bina with me so they could see it. They thought it was REALLY great. Bina said that everything we do with ELECTRICITY, the checker cats do with PLANTS, and she's right. They have glowing flowers for lights and walking trees for robots and warm branches for heaters and networks of MYCELIUM, that's like fungus roots, for writing to people far away. Maybe it's more like what Dragon-mayor's city does with electricity, because they don't have phones like we do, but it's still really good. I like how all the plants and fungi SMELL, too. The city smells like a GARDEN.
We got to see some BABY tree octos and they were really CUTE. When they're eggs and tiny larvae, they stay in little pools way up high in trees between the branches, but when they get bigger their parents carry them around in bags of water and put them in AQUARIUMS by where the grownup octos work or do all different kinds of stuff. That way the babies can see what the grownups do and there's always somebody there to HELP them. Jeanne was worried that it was too easy for SPILLS and the baby octos would DRY OUT, but really they can stay out of water for a long time. If a baby octo fell out somewhere and no grownups EVER came to help them, they would die, but all babies are like that. That's why EVERBODY has to take good care of them!
Boogie stole a bunch of LEGS from the spidies, but Spider Who Fell Out Of The Same Tree 3 Times caught her in an AMBUSH and made her give the legs BACK. Chibi Moosa said she did a really good job FOILING Boogie, and now they're friends. Chibi Moosa is good at being friends with spidies.
Simoun and Sahara were going around sniffing at everything, and some checker kittens thought that was RUDE and picked a FIGHT with them. That made me squack and I yelled for them not to do any VENOMOUS biting, and then the checker kittens wanted to know if wiggly-color cats, that's what they call us, have fangs like snakes. The twins posed really COOL and told them how they learned magic biting from Snake Fangs and magic SINGING from VV-gram. There was still some SPARRING, but not real fighting, so I'm glad I yelled. Sahara said the d'Yuggoth Sisters would have won for sure, but I don't know if that's right. Some of those checker kittens are REALLY big and fierce! I'm glad they're all friends now.
We had a fancy dinner with the SAILOR UNION because they were really interested in our ships that are made of LUMBER and move by WIND. Nelson-captain and the other weasels don't think it will catch on, because the checker sailors like their LIVING ships too much, but maybe the tree ships will get SAILS to help them move. Nelson-captain said he wants to get a living CLIPPER, but I think he'll change his mind when he gets back to DAPPER CAPYBARA. Just because his ship isn't alive doesn't mean he doesn't love her!
I decided my rule for writing in this journal is that I have to write about something important from my awake life EVERY DAY. If nothing really BIG happened, I can write about something that made me HAPPY. Making a rule for myself is called making a VOW, but I don't want to call it that because I might feel bad if I change my mind later. It's more of a GUIDELINE. That's what PIRATES say about rules.
Today's thing is that during school, Bina drew baby tree octos all over their SKIN. It was really cute, but they got SCOLDED by Momo-teacher for not paying attention and had to stop. During break, Morning asked why they did that and we all told her about the dream, and Bina drew some baby tree octos swinging on Morning's PENTAGONS. That was really cute too, until Morning and Bina realized they were drawing WAY UP on the INSIDE of her leg and got REALLY embarrassed and sat on opposite sides of the room. That was funny, and maybe it was cute too.
In the afternoon, we were at the pool, and Bina soaked up so much sun they fell ASLEEP. I snuck up on them and drew a baby tree octo on the back of their shoulder, with a really SOFT brush so they wouldn't wake up. 1 of the tentacles was kind of weird, but I think it turned out good! I used a really pretty reddish-pink color that looks nice on Bina's skin. Then I snuck away, but later Bina asked why I looked so SMUG. It was my turn to not tell somebody something! Somebody told them later, though, and they came and TICKLED me. I probably deserved it for drawing on them without asking, but it made them even CUTER.
Elephant Cat and Race-teacher weren't with us in the checker city, but we thought it was because they were visiting the people they used to know. They weren't, they were talking to JUDGES. When the checker cats came to our continent, they said it was because they wanted to know about Cat Day, but that was KIND OF a fib! They found out about Cat Day when they stole some SCRYING magic, that's magic for seeing what's happening at a different time or place, because there was a pretty big fight between cats who had different ideas about what judges should do. Most of the cats who came to our continent were EXILED so they wouldn't cause any more trouble. Elephant Cat and Race-teacher and a few of the others went with them because they didn't like how things were going, even though they weren't exiled. The tree octos and spidies and everybody who were there got exiled too, but there wasn't any Octo Day or Spidie Day to make them think they would be WELCOME across the ocean, so they went inland to different forests, and the dolphins went out to SEA.
The judges decided it was OK for Race-teacher and Elephant Cat to come back, and the others could come back if they promised to BEHAVE. After all that fighting and magic piracy and TRIALS, the judges ended up being most like what the exiled cats wanted anyway, so Race-teacher and Elephant Cat had REALLY complicated feelings. They have to think about what to do, but they brought their FAMILIES to meet us and that was really nice. It was weird too, because they haven't been together since my PARENTS were kittens, but I think they never stopped missing each other.
Elephant Cat's family is all HUGE like him, so the capybaras were NERVOUS, but they were really NICE and petted them and gave them fruit snacks like maras get. They were polite to us, because they didn't know us, but they said they were glad we were friends with Elephant Cat when he was far away from them. Race-teacher's family is mostly ESTRANGED from him, that means they aren't friends any more, because they were on a different side in the fight about judges, but his sister Wrassle-captain and her kittens and grandkittens love him and came to see his mysterious wiggle-colored friends. They were weird and nice too.
After that, we went to watch the dolphins and pocket whales playing at the Breaching Pond. The pocket foxies were there talking to the pocket whalies about their robots, but it was hard because the robots are kind of secret, and the whalies wanted to JUMP more than they wanted to talk. Sabertooth Fox-teacher did some GLIDING through the hoops with the whalies, so they liked her, but they were too busy playing to talk. Maybe they'll talk later.
The checker city is still really nice, but I don't know if it was a good dream adventure. We found out things about our friends they never told us, and it was weird meeting their families, and the pocket foxies got really FRUSTRATED with the whalies. Lots of us were kind of GROUCHY when we woke up.
I was grouchy for a lot of the day and didn't want to PARTICIPATE at school, but Zeb-teacher said he knew I could do a better job and then I felt like I HAD to. Then I ate a huge sandwich with AVOCADOS for lunch and felt better. The nice thing that happened today was that VV-gram and Flower-gram and Squeaky Pip came to see us at the farm. Everybody loved Tiny Squeak! She ran around all the plants sniffing the exciting VEGGIE smells and falling over and trying to eat some EGGPLANTS, and everybody said she's the CUTEST. She also got to be the DIRTIEST, so we had to take her back home and give her a BATH. She has a rubber duckie to chew on when she's getting a bath, and that's really cute TOO.
We all love you, Mlle. Squeaks!
I thought more about how Race-teacher and Elephant Cat didn't tell us they were EXILED. Maybe they SHOULD have, but I understand why they didn't. If they went all that way and we said they couldn't stay, their hearts would have BROKEN. They didn't LIE, either, they just didn't tell us everything that happened in their old country. I don't love them ANY less!
We got back to Dream Mars again! But it was REALLY BAD because there IS a war! The Martians who want everybody to share and the Martians who think only the Queen can keep Mars going are fighting a LOT, and the city at the end of the beanstalk is WRECKED and there are big holes in the palace and some of the Martians are DEAD. Garus and Horarak and Kantus and Sojatandan are all still alive, but they're in PRISON except Horakak, who is trying to get everybody to talk instead of fighting. We don't know about Solara-captain or anybody in the other towns. I hope they're OK. The aliens from Space Train got KICKED OUT and had to go back up the beanstalk.
We ALL felt REALLY bad, because the Martians lived for a REALLY long time and now some of them are dead because we told them they should be unhappy. I know we didn't make them do anything, they decided they would fight for their OWN lives to be better, but if we kept our MOUTHS closed, they would probably still be alive.
Flower-gram and Rose-auncle and Lilja-auncle tried to talk to Queen Kan-Nomel, but she wouldn't let them in and told them to get off her planet. I know why she said that, it's people she's known for 10000 years who are getting hurt and killed, but it isn't HER planet, it's EVERYBODY'S planet. Our grownups made all us kids and teenagers and PARENTS of kids take the beanstalk back up to Deimos, but the others stayed on Mars to help the Martians. That makes me feel really bad too, because it's DANGEROUS. I know they're monster hunters and wizards and they fought in the war against the mean dragons, but they can still get killed, and if they get killed in the Dreamlands, they might die FOR REAL.
The twins tried to hide so they could stay on Mars, but Rose-auncle CAUGHT them and put them on the beanstalk ship even though they cried. Clover and Zora didn't try to hide, but they yelled that they're grownups and should help the Martians be FREE. They got put on the ship too. Everybody who isn't a teenager yet cried, and I think Rei and Pixie and Zora cried too.
When we got to Deimos, we learned MORE bad things. Zobzob's mom got shot with a RAY GUN before they could leave Mars, and got hurt pretty BAD. She'll be OK, but she has a big hole in her shell that the doctor had to patch with METAL until it can grow back. She looks really FIERCE now, but Zobzob holds onto her a LOT because it's really scary when your PARENTS get hurt.
Isaac Mewton got hurt too. I SHRIEKED when I heard, but then he came running to hug me and he was MOSTLY OK. His tail got CUT OFF, though, so now he has a GOOPY GREEN tail that's helping his tail grow back. It's weird and kind of gross because you can see BONES and NERVES and stuff inside, but I'm REALLY glad Isaac is getting his tail back.
When I woke up, I ran into my parent's room and tried to hide under the covers with them, but Max and Dmitri and Humboldt were already there. I had to flop on TOP of everybody to cry on them and say NOBODY in my family is allowed to get killed. Pretty soon we were all there and our parents were SQUISHED. Then after breakfast we SWITCHED and hugged Nessie-auncle and Big Sam, and the cousins hugged our parents and EVERYBODY hugged Flower-gram and Lilja-auncle and Rose-auncle. Even Clover-auncle came to give people hugs, but then she had to run to class.
These dream adventures are making me really ANXIOUS. I don't want the Martians to be oppressed, but I don't want Big Sam or Nessie-auncle or Rose-auncle or Flower-gram or ANYBODY to die! I know we brought the IDEA of a revolution to the Martians, but they wanted to fight, so they shouldn't get MY FAMILY involved! I'm really glad at least MY parents aren't fighting, but Rei and Nico and Zora and Clover's parents ARE. I gave them a masquillion hugs and kisses, but I know it's not enough.
We wrote to the Mars-grams to see if they had any dreams about the Martians and the war, but they said they hadn't been doing much dreaming because SOMEBODY liked jumping on their faces in the middle of the night. They sent us a picture of Parsnip and Galette sleeping in a sunbeam and looking really INNOCENT so we would know who they meant. They said they would make the kitties sleep in a DIFFERENT room so they could try to see how the Martians are doing. If they go in the sinkhole, maybe they can check on the soft green Martians, and see if the war is hurting anybody outside of the palace city. Don't get hurt, Mars-grams!
I think WORRYING about Mars is the biggest thing that happened today. I had trouble CONCENTRATING in chorus and orchestra and got scolded. It was only a little bit, but it made me cry and then everybody was worried about ME. It made me feel bad because I'm not the one in DANGER.
Something that made me happier was when Humboldt and I went to Baby Play Group on the way back from orchestra to see if VV-gram and Mlle. Squeaks wanted to walk home with us, and Tiny Squeak was IMITATING the other babies. Some of them are really toddlers so they can TALK a little bit, and one went to her mom yelling "MAMAMAMAMA" so Tiny Squeak did the SAME thing and it was really ADORABLE. She doesn't know what she's saying yet, so when the other baby's mom said, "No, no, your mommy is over THERE", she ran to VV-gram singing the Bottle Song. All the babies who have the same kind of bottle started looking for the warm yummy MILK and their parents laughed and laughed. That was adorable TOO.
I know VV-gram is really POWERFUL and could help the Martians a lot, but I'm glad she's staying with her Tiny Squeak.
We dreamed about Space Train again. Lots of the other dreamers from Starfall were there too, and we flew around in the car that didn't have gravity and played flying games and it was pretty fun. After a while we noticed some of the aliens were looking at us really MAD, though. It was because they wanted to visit Mars and now they couldn't and they thought it was OUR fault. It KIND OF is, so we felt bad and left Space Train. I hugged Isaac and Spipipillagos and Zobzob and Glormulus a LOT, because I don't know when we can go back. Maybe after the war is over and people can go down the beanstalk again.
We asked Flower-gram what's happening on Mars, but she wouldn't tell us very much. She said she's working to keep people from getting hurt and help them stop fighting, but I think it isn't WORKING and that's why she wouldn't tell us how scary it is. Please be OK, Martian friends!
The Mars-grams wrote that they visited the sinkhole town and the Martians there didn't even know there WAS a war. That makes me feel better. There are a lot of Martians in the beanstalk city, but it isn't ALL of them, so there are some who aren't getting hurt or having to fight. That was a good thing, because 2 of the Mars-grams' STUDENTS snuck into the Dreamlands to see sinkhole town! That made the Mars-grams worry a lot, because it's a SKETCHY town, but the Martians are really NICE to kids and gave them fried noodles and fuzzy hats and DIDN'T give them ray guns. The kids were sad that they couldn't bring the hats out of the Dreamlands, but they brought the warm NOODLY feeling in their stomachs. I hope they do lots of dream adventures and make friends with all different Martians and it's really GREAT like our adventures on Dream Earth.
I didn't sleep very good because my dreams made me SAD, so I took a nap with Hebichi after magic singing class. It was too hot to snuggle, but our HEADS were together so we both dreamed that we were beetles. I was still a Sammy-Beetle, but Hebichi was a LITTLE DRAGON-BEETLE. They were light pink with green SHIMMERS, and they had a big horn that glowed orange like FIRE. We both wanted to eat a big blue flower, so we tried to knock each other over with our HORNS, because that's how beetles tussle. It was a tie, so when we got worn out, we SHARED the flower. We were just tussling for FUN, because were were friend-beetles. Then we were full of ENERGY and went buzzing around until we found some soft hair to land on, and a giant EAR. It was Jean's ear, so when we crawled into look at his brain, we was a lot of brain cows driving CARS. Some of them were piloting ELECTROFLIERS. It was like a city where they drove to restaurants to eat GRASS, and then there were trucks to take their poop to the FLOWERS, and offices where cows PLANNED what kind of flowers to grow, and some petting zoos where they could pet big fluffy brown and small yellow KITTIES. It was so silly they threw us out for LAUGHING too much!
Later we told Jeanne about the dream, and she squacked and put her hands over her ears and said it's RUDE to look in people's brains. We said we didn't see any of the really MUSHY stuff about Dmitri and LN, and then she chased us with a pool noodle while everybody laughed. I think it was an imaginary dream and we didn't REALLY see any of her thoughts, so I didn't feel bad.
Writing things every day takes a lot of time. Maybe I should just write the nice thing from the Awake World, and only write about dream adventures every WEEK. But I have lots of dream adventures, and I don't want to leave them out. I have to THINK about it, but first I have to go to BED.
Yesterday I forgot to write about how we practiced singing TOGETHER in Magic Singing Class. We made a CANDLEFLAME go up in the air and keep burning even without the candle and moved it around the room until we got OUT OF SYNC and it exploded. It was really NICE singing the same song as everybody else, especially when we got into the FLOW and forgot to worry about singing and forgot about being us and there was ONLY the song. I can do that singing on my own sometimes, but it's BETTER with other people.
Last night we dreamed about being in Dragon-mayor's city again. Our parents told Dragon-mayor about everything that happened in Checkerland, and he said he'd let all the checker cats know they could go HOME. Some of them got married and have friends and kittens here, but I think some ALWAYS missed their city and will go back. I hope they can be happy.
3 Orange Socks was visiting to help cats who aren't good with towns buy food and heaters and quilts and jars and all kinds of stuff they need for autumn and winter. He got lots of clowders to promise they would visit their neighbors to check on them, since people who went up to the Weather Predicting Mountain said it's going to be a HARD winter. That made me worry about Sky Kitten and her clowder, but last winter they did REALLY good, so I think even if it's colder and snowier they'll still be OK.
Lots of us are going to the Northern Shores NEXT WEEK, but Clover-auncle and the Exploration Club are FRETTING. They want to see their friends there, but they want to explore Checkerland too. I think it will be easier to explore Checkerland in October than to visit Penguin Palace in October, so they should put that off, but they're being WEIRD. I don't know what the people who are helping on Mars ar doing. If they want to keep going to Mars, they can't go to the Northern Shores. Then they won't be there for Tiny Squeak's BIRTHDAY. Nico's parents won't be there for HIS birthday. That makes me feel REALLY bad for him. It would be EASY for his parents to come to Northern Shores and not go to Mars for a little while, but what if the Martians NEED their help? I don't think dead Martians would be a good birthday present for Nico! I don't know what they should do. Maybe it's a time when all the choices are BAD and you have to find what hurts people LEAST. I really don't like that.
While we were in Dragon-mayor's city, I helped Simoun fix up some meerbots who got DINGED UP a little, and told the meerbots how the rigbots are doing REALLY good. That made them happy. Then I helped the twins and Ouma and Frillist try to find the person who sold them their Mars boat, but he was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. Maybe it's because the Dreamlands are mysterious, but maybe it's because he's SKETCHY. We looked at the repulsion ray projectors a lot, and we can't decide if they look like the machines on Mars or not. They KIND OF do, but maybe all repulsion projectors look like that. I think maybe they come from a part of Mars we didn't see. It felt like we travelled a lot and saw lots of stuff, but I worked it out and maybe we saw 1/1000 of 1% of Mars's area, and that's not counting caves above and below where we were. Planets are HUGE, and when you go inside them, they're EVEN BIGGER. There could be masquillions of towns and ruins and ancient artifacts and WEIRD creatures that we went right by and didn't even NOTICE.
Today's nice thing was playing VOLLEYBALL against Celtic Knots kids. Hebichi and Simoun and Sahara and Bina were all there with me and we won 2 out of 3 games. Good job, Purpleberry Ice Cream kids! It was really HOT out so we got the biggest size of milkshakes after the game. Sahara slurped hers too fast and got a FROZEN BRAIN and felt really DUMB, but she got lots of kisses on the nose to help her feel better.
We had more dreams in Dragon-mayor's city, so I went to my zoo and made sure everybody is still OK. They are, but the firebird made too big of a fire in their habitat and had to get squirted with a hose. That was last week and they're STILL mad about it. We got them a big metal TUB to make fires in, and it arrived today so I helped move it into the habitat. The firebird thinks it's really SKETCHY, but probably they'll warm up to it. When I said that, Zsuzsy made a terrible face at me so I knew it was a good pun.
This is Zsuzsy's last day at the zoo. On Monday she has to be at UNIVERSITY so she can start learning to be a real certified zookeeper. I'll miss her, but I'm glad she's going to keep taking care of animals. You can do it, Zsuzsy!
All the grownups who stayed on Mars are still alive, but they were with us on our own continent, so we don't know what's going on.
Today I went to drawing practice, and CLOVER was the model. She had a big FLOOFY dress so we could practice drawing clothes. It's really HARD, but I'm starting to understand how to do shading to show FOLDS without having to draw photorealistically. Clover is a good model because she knows how to HOLD STILL even when she's in a weird pose. Thank you for modeling for us, Clover-auncle!
Another nice thing that happened is Fairy-mom and Annabelle and Max made us BEAN PIZZA for dinner. That's stew with really BIG beans, and lots of tomato and sausage and oregano and CHEESE, and this time they added DUMPLINGS to be like the crust. The dumplings were a little bit MUSHY, but but it was still DELICIOUS.
After dinner, we went to MUSIC NIGHT at the neighborhood center. Some people played instruments and the rest of us sang along, and we didn't always do really good because we don't PRACTICE together, but we had FUN. Nessie-auncle is a really good FLAUTIST, that's somebody who plays the flute. Nico played a THEREMIN, that's an instrument that makes different noises depending on where your hands are in the ELECTRIC FIELD around it, that he built himself and lots of people thought that was cool even if it doesn't always go with other instruments. He says the next step is to compose more pieces for theremins, and Dragon-mom thought that was cool too.
I said maybe I would only write about dream adventures every week, but I wrote every DAY anyway. I'm lots better at writing now, so I don't have to stay up late every night like when I decided to stop writing every day. Maybe it's OK now.
I wrote about fun things that happened this week, but lots more things happened too. We got together with other families who like going to the Northern Shores to make our CHECKLISTS. We're going to leave on WEDNESDAY, that's in 3 days, so we have to pack really FAST. Flower-gram and Rose-auncle and Lilja-auncle and Nessie-auncle and Big Sam are helping us even thought they aren't going. That makes me happier and sadder BOTH.
Even though I'll miss the people who are staying her to do Mars dreams and equinox magic, I'm looking forward to seeing all the pengies and spidies and moosies who aren't on the Checker Expedition, and the wolves and mermaids and mastydons and everybody. I asked Cattail if he's excited and he pretended he wasn't, but I think really he IS. He learned "whatever" technique from Clover-auncle and other teenagers.
I did some bike racing, but I didn't place at all. I only wiped out a little, though. I did some skateboarding with Hebichi and Rei and Cara, and I'm getting better at using the Don't Die Song to do WILD things and not die. Rei and Cara use martial arts techniques to do things like go in a whole CIRCLE around the 1/2pipe even though it only goes STRAIGHT up at the edges. They can't do Flash Step like Zora, but maybe they will soon. You're doing great, guys!
We're getting to the end of the farm year. There are still some wintery vegetables, like root vegetables and gourds, to be harvested, but lots of it is already done and EATEN. It was a lot of food, but there were lots of people to eat it, so everybody only got a little bit. That's because it's a farm for FUN. If we had to grow enough veggies for our whole neighborhood, we'd need to take all the PARKS and a lot more places! I think we'll have some for THANKSGIVING, though.
Last night the twins and I snuck to MARS. We were in the cottage clearing looking up at Mars in the sky, and we wished we were there to help so POWERFULLY that we WHOOSHED through space just like in that old book! Maybe we accidentally used PLANET-JUMPING technique, but I don't know if that's a thing that can happen by ACCIDENT. Maybe it was just the Dreamlands being MYSTERIOUS. Whatever it was, we WHOOSHED into the sinkhole at the bottom of the crater near Noctis Labyrinthus and almost landed on the island with the SLIME MOLD but we SQUINCHED our brains SIDEWAYS and plopped right on the edge of the river. That was scary, but it was OK. Sahara and Simoun were REALLY excited to get to Mars on their OWN.
The Bear-grams' truck was there so we went looking for them, but we found lots of MARTIANS instead. They were nice because they know we're friends of Solara-captain, but they don't understand about kids, so they gave us GROWNUP juice. I didn't want to drink it because it smells WEIRD, but Sahara really did because she wants to be tough, and Simoun wants to be just as tough, and then they said I shouldn't have any because I'm a LITTLE kid. I know it wasn't a good decision, but I was MAD. We all drank at the same time and it was AWFUL. It made me feel like when the PARTY JELLY stung me, I guess that's how grownups want to be for grownup parties. Then Vasilisa-gram found us and made us pour the juice out and SCOLDED the Martians who gave it to us. They were really sorry!
We were a LITTLE BIT wobbly, but all of us tried to take the littlest drinks we could because it smelled so bad, so we weren't REALLY drunk. When a big blue Martian bumped into Sahara she roared at him and tried to FIGHT him, but she got SCRUFFED by a Bear-gram. I think that's pretty NORMAL for Sahara.
The Martians in the sinkhole town only knew about the war because the Bear-grams told them. They said that's why they moved way far away from the palace, so they wouldn't have to CARE what the Queen is doing. They do their SLIME MOLD farming and ARTIFACT mining and everything is really PEACEFUL. Sometimes they fight, but not for real. 1 soft green Martian said they have to keep in practice for when RED CATS attack, and Sahara got so embarrassed she hid behind Vasilisa-gram.
We ate slime mold pancakes with river fish and snuggled with our Bear-grams while they talked to the mayors about what to do if the fighting got that far out. It sounded SCARY, but everybody was really CALM about it. Maybe the Martians have seen wars before. The Bear-grams have.
I don't know if I like slime mold pancakes or not. They aren't slimy, they're made by drying the slime mold plants into powder that's like FLOUR, so they're like Earth pancakes, but they taste really GREEN. Maybe they're like ASPARAGUS pancakes. I thought about bringing some to Awake Earth, but I'm afraid my parents will SHRIEK if they know we went to Mars.
Today's happy thing was having little kids hold onto me when I was swimming, like they do with VV-gram and Rose-auncle. It was mostly kids of VV-gram's Elegant Siamese Friends, like Anastasia and Momiya. I was their PIRATE SHIP. I swam like the checker cat ships and we did pretend piracies on everybody with lots of splashing and shrieking and TICKLING. We stole the sparkly elastic from Anastasia's mom's braid and said it was JEWELS and everybody said the SAMMY-BEETLE is the best pirate ship EVER. Being a ship is better than being a beetle.
I wasn't sure before, but all the grownups who are on Mars to help the Martians are going to STAY there, so only my parents and VV-gram are taking us to the Northern Shores. It makes me feel really BAD for Zora and Nico and Rei. Zora already put off going to soldier training so she could do the Checkerland expedition with her parents, and now they're doing completely DIFFERENT dreams. She's brave because she's ALMOST a grownup, but I think that must be really hard. I don't want to make her talk about it, but I give her lots of hugs. I gave Nico lots of hugs too, because his parents are missing his BIRTHDAY, and Rei because she's going to miss her parents.
We worked on packing for the trip today. We have lots of CHECKLISTS because we have Fairy-mom, so we're almost ready already. It's weird because the grownups who are on Dream Mars are HERE in the Awake World. We all had dinner together at the Gram House. It was nachos and BURRITO BAR, that's where you make your own burrito with whatever you want in it, because Rei got to pick. It should have been happy, but everybody was thinking about MARS WAR. The twins got all the kids and teenagers in our family to have a SLEEPOVER at our house, and I think we're going to try to have a Mars dream.
Last night we had a Checkerland dream, and it was really nice. We went around the outside of the city on a walking tree like a BUS, to see the FARMS where they grow the walking trees and all kinds of SPECIAL plants, and the forests where tree octos and spidies live, and in the middle of the big flat fancy-colored farms, there were some mountains carved into really COOL buildings. They look like old-time churches made out of trees and faces and have STAINED GLASS in between, and I think that's where they keep their MAGIC. That's probably where Race-teacher's and Elephant Cat's friends stole the scrying magic from. There weren't any turning lights, but it reminded me of the dome in the middle of the lake in my FUTURE dream. That seems like it's IMPORTANT, but maybe that's just a feeling I have because it was a really cool dream.
Nelson-captain and his weasels and the sea dogs Shoe-auncle and Maa-uu and Explorobot and Boogie and Chibi Moosa and all the other Dreamlands people are going to stay in Checkerland, but us dreamers are going to the Northern Shores or Mars, so we had to say goodbye to the checker cats. We'll come back and visit them another time, I hope.
I feel really bad for Thomas and Julia and Chibi Moosa and Boogie and Lurking Lemon Spider and Jaunty Jonquil Spider, because we're going to their HOME but we don't know how to take them with us. Taking PEOPLE out of the Dreamlands is really HARD. They say they don't mind, and they'll go back with Nelson-captain and get home on the train when they get back to our continent, but I'd be really sad if I was stuck where I couldn't get home to see my family at all. Maybe that's because I'm a kid and they're grownups. I think I'll want to be with my family even when I'm a grownup, though. Even in the future dream, I was going to have dinner at VV-gram's house.
I can still see Big Sam and Lilja-auncle and everybody because they aren't going anywhere in the Awake World, but it still makes me feel bad to think about not dreaming with them. Dream adventures are really IMPORTANT.
I was right, we had a MARS DREAM last night. We went back to the sinkhole town, and this time it was ALL the d'Yuggoth kittens and all the cousins whooshing through space. We didn't land on the slime mold island this time either. Good job, guys!
We didn't drink any weird fungus juice either, but Zora THOUGHT about it. We drank water that tasted like Mars and ate green donuts and talked about how worried we are about people in Mars War and how much we're going to miss them at Northern Shores until Parsnip and Galette snuck in and POUNCED Zora. She squacked and fell off her stool and got SLURPED all over her face so everybody laughed at her, even her GRAMS. Then there was a lot of HUGGING and we told the Bear-grams all about what's going WRONG. They didn't help very much, because they think it's important to fight against OPPRESSORS. They love their grandkids and cousins a LOT, which helps a little bit. Humboldt gave them a beautiful seashell he found on the Northern Shores, so maybe they can dream about visiting there with us.
Then SABERTOOTH FOX appeared, with her ANCIENT MARTIAN ARTIFACT that she bought from a miner. She got a good deal because she said she would introduce Phabtorkwastel, that's the artifact miner, to Zora so they can FLIRT. Phab is a really BLUE Martian with 2 legs and 4 arms and 3 eyes and she had lots of WIGGLES and a pretty dress with FRINGE for being at the dance hall, so Zora thought that was OK. I think they did SNOGS, but the rest of us wanted to know about Sabertooth Fox's ARTIFACT. It was like a bug the size of an America ball, so Sabertooth Fox could get inside it, and instead of legs, it had 6 REPULSION PROJECTORS. That made the twins SQUACK and try to SHRINK so they could get inside too and Simoun talked to Sabertooth Fox REALLY excited about setting up controls for PAWS and using ENERGY FUNGUS to make the projectors work so she could go STRIDING around like a daddy longlegs. They rubbed their hands together really GLEEFUL. That all made me happier, and I think it helped everybody.
Max did a piracy on the fungus juice because it was BLUE and drank a whole BOWL and then she couldn't WALK. She could SING, but really BAD so all the Martians covered their ears and laughed at her. The Bear-grams put their faces in their hands, but Max was really HAPPY sitting on the couch and shrieking a song about eating blue stars. Some of the Martians sang with her, because they thought it was ridiculous.
Max had a HEADACHE when she woke up, but she thought it was WORTH IT to do a piracy on grownup juice and get to sing as LOUD as she wanted. We didn't tell our parents about that, but maybe the Bear-grams will RAT her OUT and we'll get in TROUBLE. Make better choices, Max!
Tomorrow we're going to the Northern Shores, so today we had to PACK UP A STORM. That sounds like we're putting clouds in a BOX. Maybe we can do that in the Dreamlands. Maybe Mars would like that, but maybe it wouldn't. Water is DANGEROUS to the slime molds. There are fish that like water, though. It's MYSTERIOUS.
Today we came to the Northern Shores, but we left a bunch of people BEHIND. Flower-gram and Rose-auncle and Lilja-auncle and Nessie-auncle and Big Sam are all staying in Starfall. They want to be able to have dream adventures on Mars, and they have to do the EQUINOCTIAL magic to keep our city safe. I think maybe the domed island and the CLOCK OF LIGHT in my future dream helped with that. I wonder if we'll build them. But that's a TANGENT. What I'm REALLY worried about is how they're far away and they don't get to see their pengie and spidie and moosie friends. We aren't even bringing Beethoven, because he wants to stay with his Lilja. He doesn't get to bark with the sealies, but he's not a person so he doesn't know about missing out on things. He can still be HAPPY.
We didn't bring any new people from Starfall or the Sheepie Place, but we got a bunch of dragons and a few MEERBOTS from Dragon-mayor's city. The meerbots wanted to try TRAVELING after they heard how much fun Explorobot and the Rigbots are having. They like it so far. I'm glad they're EXPANDING their HORIZONS.
I'm wrong, TINY SQUEAK is a new person from Starfall! She was born right after we got back from the Northern Shores last year, so although everybody here has HEARD about her, they haven't seen her except on the phone until NOW. They all LOVE her! The moosie and pengie parents want her to play with their kids, and the spidies made her a rainbow silk sweater, and even the sealies bring her fish. She can't eat the fish yet, but she can play with them until they make a STINKY mess. It's good thing we're outside where the fish pieces can go into the GRASS.
I'm KIND OF happy, because I'm seeing my friends, and it's been a whole YEAR. That doesn't make much difference for the grownups, but it's really NICE to see how the kids are GROWING. It's a little SCARY to see the old people getting older, though. Someday they're going to die like Aimée. I hope it isn't SOON. I gave Penguin Max and James a masquillion hugs and they gave me BEAKLES. Tomorrow we're going to go SWIMMING.
The trip on the train was cool. We went under the OCEAN even more than last year, and saw some SEA MONSTERS. The biggest one tried to eat the train tunnel, so we saw all its teeth and its weird TONGUE, but Number-dad and VV-gram and Clover-auncle sang the Unbreakable Song and the tunnel didn't even CREAK. I think it was OK even without the song, because the Mole-Wombat People make really GOOD tunnels, but it was scary! Tiny Squeak was asleep when that happened, because she was WORN OUT from squishing her face on the window to see everything zooming by.
Disco Moose is glad that Boogie is doing OK, but he made a really WEIRD face when he heard she's still stealing people's LEGS. All the other moosies laughed and laughed, and the spidies waved ALL their legs because Boogie isn't here to steal them. I'm glad they aren't worried about their friends.
We brought letters and hugs from the expedition people, so I think that made everybody feel better about the people in Checkerland. We brought PICTURES too, and got to tell lots of expedition STORIES. Everybody at the Northern Shores knows Nelson-captain and his weasels, so they liked hearing about the expedition. Max wants to do diplomacies with Checkerland, although he worried a lot when he heard about the plague that killed all the birds. All the penguins looked at Maz a lot to make sure she's OK and not sick! She posed really COOL because she knows she's a GREAT dino.
Cattail is REALLY happy to see the mastydons. I don't know if they got him from the Dreamlands like songcats, but they're his FAMILY and he likes getting snorfled all over with trunks and telling them his adventures with FOOT-TALKING and eating the SAME grass as them. That made me really happy to see, too. Then I got snorfled TOO because the grownup mastydons wanted to know about Cattail's FRIEND. It was really TICKLY.
We're only here for 1 week, so we're going to have to play really FIERCE to have enough fun.
Today was TALK LIKE A PIRATE Day but we were so busy with Northern Shores stuff we didn't remember about it until almost bedtime. ARRRRR!
I had a good sleep with Spin and Hebichi and Faun and Toka and Cattail and Maz and Jackie and Max and Charles and Charlie, that's the moose calves who are Max's PAJAMA friends. We had IMAGINARY dreams about chasing down yummy SPINCH plants that were running away from us, and kicking mean orcas in the NOSE, and making a giant SNOW CASTLE. I dreamed about a moose SNORFLING my FACE, but that was really happening when I woke up. Charlie, my nose isn't a plant!
The grownups did lots of helping all over, but us kids helped too. I got my cold water suit and Hebichi and Spin and I went with Penguin Max to check on the GENERATORS at the bottom of the ocean. They're in a kind of canyon so maybe they're BELOW the bottom of the ocean. There's a big FUNNEL at the end of the canyon to catch more current, so it was pretty scary. I almost got sucked in and PINNED on the safety grate, but I zoomed SIDEWAYS just in time. Good job, Samuel! The generators are doing really good and we just had to clean some algae off them. The Northern Shores will keep having electricity, until they get MAGIC PLANTS instead. We didn't know if the Checkerland magic plants would work, though, because the Northern Shores are lots colder and get less SUNLIGHT.
The Northern Shores spidies were really INTERESTED in the plants the Checkerland spidies had. When their SHIP is finished they might sail to Checkerland, although it's a really long way. If they sail from here, they won't even know what's on the way, but probably they'll sail to Dragon-mayor's city first and then they can follow the route that WE mapped out. That made me really PROUD even though I didn't do much of the work. I was on that expedition too!
The spidies are making their ship out of silk and GLOO. Gloo is what they call the special glue they invented from fish bones and pine sap and SECRET ingredients. I don't know if Ruffur or the pocket foxies helped them, but I know the spidies are REALLY smart. They sell big barrels of Gloo to get money, and they make silk sheets soaked in Gloo to make them HARD that are light and strong like the COMPOSITES we use in the Awake World. They sell those too, so they get a LOT of money for the Northern Shores. Good job, spidies!
Simoun wanted to buy some gloosilk panels for making MEERBOTS, but they're TOO EXPENSIVE even when Gooey Green Spider gave her a discount. The meerbots said they like being made out of METAL, but gloosilk would be lighter for SAILING robots so they don't need as many FLOTATION bags.
We did lots of other fun stuff today. We played with all the KID creatures and looked at the new caves the pengies dug down near the ocean and the new 2ND FLOOR on the Warm Maze and all the new SKATE PATHS, and skateboarded with Anthony and Catherine and Ricky and everybody. I'm too tired to write it all, but it was REALLY NICE. Now I'm going to go snuggle up with people I LOVE and try to be warm. I really like sleeping outside, but it's COLDER than when we usually visit, so we need EXTRA snuggling.
We had IMAGINARY dreams about Mars and monster fish and WARS. That made us wake up in the middle of the night and have to sit and talk about it for a while. Then we all went back to sleep and it was OK until WAFFLE O'CLOCK.
A bunch of giants came to visit today. They seemed a bit grouchy, but really they were FRIENDLY. The kid giants wanted to ride on the dragons, but they were so big that the dragons' BACKS got tired, so then the dragons inflated their big BALL and played a game with the giants until they were all WORN OUT. Then the moosies and sheepies did a piracy on the ball and played their OWN game with it and everybody else CHEERED for them.
Nessie-auncle and Big Sam aren't here, so Zora and Nico and Rei went to visit the wolves. The rest of us didn't go, because we weren't sure if the wolves would get UPSET that it was different visitors. Even CARA didn't go. When the cousins came back, they were embarrassed because the wolves said they should stay and have PUPPIES with them. Cara said Rei shouldn't have puppies with anyone except HER, and then Rei got so embarrassed they had to run away and hide. I think it's hard being a teenager.
Hebichi and Spin and our animal friends and I helped Humboldt and Clover-auncle and the pocket foxies work on the spidie ship. It's going to be a catamaran, that means it has 2 hulls, except it's built of gloosilk and it's for spidies and pengies and moosies, so it's a SPIDEMARAN. The pocket foxies and spidies and Ruffur are working on ELECTROSAILS, but they don't know if that will work. They might have to use REGULAR sails, like VULTURE QUEEN JILL. That would be OK.
After we had to stop bothering Gooey Green Spider so they could do really CAREFUL gluing, we went to help make a BBQ SEAFOOD FEAST. There was a whole PILE of shellfish that needed cleaning, and people who didn't have HANDS couldn't help much, but we worked REALLY hard and got ALMOST all of them done by grilling time. We saved the best shells to get used for ART, too.
It was a really GREAT feast and there were some SPEECHES that weren't too long, and TOASTS to people we love and people who weren't there, and Hebichi and I got to FIDDLE for people to dance. The giants danced really LOUD, but the dragons were pretty loud too. Everybody else had to go to the other side of the park to dance so they didn't get SQUISHED. Hebichi and I and the other people who were PLAYING stood in the middle and PLAYED UP A STORM. It wasn't GREAT because Hebichi and I practice together, and the trombone mooses and drum pengies and harp spidies practice together, but we haven't ALL played together very much before. It was fine for party dancing, though, and everybody said it was really FUN and asked for the songs they liked and threw FLOWERS at us. Good job, guys!
Lots of the grownups had too much SILLY JUICE, so us kids went into the Penguin Palace and had our own party WITHOUT silly juice. We teased Max about drinking the fungus juice on Mars, but that just made her sing really LOUD about eating blue stars. You're the weirdest, Max! We told stories about all the things we did, like the Bird Passage and the soft green Martians and Ricky riding down from the observatory hill without slowing down so he got all the way back to the palace without pushing and without wiping out. I shrieked a little bit when I heard about that, because that's REALLY fast. Don't DIE, Ricky! We tried to teach the northern kids the Don't Die Song, but they have a special technique they use that's like squinching your brain a special way. We tried to SWAP techniques, but then we fell asleep.
I had to finish this tomorrow.
We had dreams about going REALLY fast. I think that was Ricky's fault. When I said that, he laughed and laughed, so maybe I was RIGHT. We all skated to breakfast as fast as we COULD, but Ricky still won even though he's really young. I think I heard him squinching his brain to do Go Faster Magic. You're really great, Ricky! When you get older, you can be a SKATEBOARD WIZARD.
There were lots of PENGUINMOOTS today. That's where a bunch of pengies get in a circle and talk about something so they can make a DECISION. It's a new idea they got from some people who wrote letters to the spidies, but I think they like it a lot. There were 2 different penguinmoots about whether sealies and turtlies should go sailing on the spidemaran with their pengies, because the pengies love their animals friends, but are worried about how they would do in warmer water or without a shore to escape sharks and sea monsters and ORCAS. It's a hard decision and people might be unhappy either way, so it's really good that they're TALKING about it.
Then there had to be a moot about REAL orcas, because the LOOKOUTS saw some way out to see and the COAST GUARD spidies had to go out in one of their boats to make sure nothing bad happened. That looked really SCARY because the boat wasn't much bigger than an orca, and I don't know if Gloosilk is strong enough to keep orcas out! They came back OK, but the orcas said they were NICE and wanted to stay around here and eat only FISH. There was a lot of WORRY because everybody still remembers when Princess Judith got KILLED, but also people didn't want to say ALL orcas are bad just because SOME are. It's like how lots of people in my family don't like sharks because a shark ate Number-dad's foot, and that's not FAIR because sharks aren't MEAN. But if it's a TRICK, the orcas could hurt a lot of people and it would be REALLY BAD.
I said the orcas could hurt people but I meant they could EAT people. Penguin Max and Disco Moose knew that, but they went out to talk to the orcas anyway. There was another moot about who should go with them, because Number-dad and some of the dragons and lots of the grownups from Starfall wanted to go to keep Max and Disco Moose SAFE, but finally Max made people stop that and said nobody else should RISK themselves. If the orcas BETRAYED them, then Popular Periwinkle Spider would be Empress and she could declare war on the orcas.
I really didn't like that. I don't want Penguin Max and Disco Moose and the sailor spidies to be dead on my BIRTHDAY. I sat next to Number-dad on a hill and we tried to see all the way to where the MEETING was. All the people who wanted to go sat by us, and all the people who love Max and Disco Moose and the sailors sat by them, and we watched and watched until they came back. But they DID, and then there was the real moot about orcas. I tried to listen, but even though it was about scary stuff, it was BORING. Grownups are good at that. I went to sit with other kids and we got busy helping the ship spidies again, so we didn't hear that the Imperial Moot decided to let the orcas stay until DINNER. There was still a lot of talking about it. I felt really bad, because it could still turn into a WAR like on Mars.
Max was really excited that her birthday and mine and Nico's and TINY SQUEAK'S are tomorrow, and that helped me feel better. We ALL got excited, and couldn't go to sleep, except Tiny Squeak, so we went with Cally-auncle to the Observatory Hill and looked at the STARS. A bunch of spidies came with us, because they like stars and writing about them in Dancing Spider Glyphs and sitting in the DARK. It was a good STAR PARTY and now I feel lots better. Tomorrow I'm going to be 11 and Nico's going to be 17 and Max is going to be 8 and Tiny Squeak will be 1!
We saw Mars, but we didn't WHOOSH there even though Sahara and Simoun stared at it with all their MIGHT. I hope everybody there is OK!
I had to write a lot of yesterday's journal TODAY, because we fell asleep on the Observatory Hill and dreamed about DANCING IN THE STARS. Some STAR DRAGONS danced with us, and SPACE SPIDERS, and we danced on NEBULAE. Max tried to eat a blue star, but the dragons whirled like they wished she wouldn't, so she left it alone and whirled WITH them. That was really nice, Max!
Then we woke up and SHRIEKED because it's our BIRTHDAY! Nico was there too, but we had to ZOOM all the way back down to the palace to shriek with Tiny Squeak. Ricky got there 1st so he got to snuggle Squeaky Pip the MOST.
I was a little bit sad that all the other people like Morning and Minmin and Elena and Sammy weren't here too, but I was really HAPPY that lots of my family was here and all the pengies and spidies and moosies and mermaids and mastydons and EVERYBODY. My family who WEREN'T here called on the phone to tell us they're ALIVE and wish us HAPPY BIRTHDAY. It was a good birthday!
Work still had to get done, because WINTER is on the way, but lots of people took time off to DANCE with us and play DRAGONBALL with us and SWIM with us. Lots of people sang birthday songs to us, and Tiny Squeak sang with them. She didn't get the words right, but she can sing a TUNE, and I think she noticed when the song was different because it had different NAMES in it. Maybe soon she'll say people's names! You can do it, Mlle. Squeaks!
I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but Nico did, so Max and I went with him and a bunch of people to the docks to see the ORCAS. The GRAM orca of the pod told us she knows a LOT of orcas eat seals and otters and whales and don't check if they're people first, but she was raised BETTER than that and raised all her kids right too. Number-dad listened to her really careful with his MAGIC EARRINGS, and he thinks she really is nice. That made Penguin Max and Disco Moose and Popular Periwinkle Spider really happy. The Gram orca was scary because she has a HUGE mouth full of teeth, but I petted her nose and she DIDN'T eat me. She said happy birthday to me. I think MAYBE she's OK.
Then more people came to say happy birthday, although they didn't know that's why they came. It was TRUCK CATS, and they're our RELATIVES because they're Fairy-mom's cousins! They brought a lot of stuff the Northern Shores need, so they could trade it for Gloosilk and salted fish and pinecone sculptures, but they were happy to take a break to have a birthday party with us. They're all lots OLDER than me, but it was still really nice to meet new cousins!
The teenage truck cats were really NICE to Faun, so his head got big, but Dmitri said really they're trying to look good to PIXIE because they think she's DISHY. Pixie did a lot of flirts with them and I think Cara and Nico HELPED. Rei got really embarrassed and came to play with us because they think they aren't any good at flirting. I don't think that's right, because CARA is their sweetheart. She's really PRETTY and COOL and I don't think JUST ANYBODY could get her to be their sweetheart. I don't know if I understand how that works, though. I think teenagers have COMPLICATED hearts.
We didn't have as big of a feast today as yesterday, but we had lots of cake and ice cream and singing and presents. Nico got a masquillion kisses from the mermaids and Max got BUTTERFLY WINGS. They were pretend, but in the Dreamlands they were KIND OF real and she could flutter around just above the ground and CACKLE. The wings were RAINBOW and IRIDESCENT, not blue, so she didn't have to EAT herself. Tiny Squeak got some necklaces with big plastic shapes on them, so she can be fancy and learn her shapes and get stronger teeth all at the SAME time. I got a big GOLD ring that was a bracelet for a giant but goes around my NECK. It's heavy and weird, but makes me feel really COOL. We all got FLOWER CROWNS from the mastydons and moosies and little PINECONE CRITTERS from the spidies and pengies. It wasn't LOTS of presents, but that's OK. It was a really GREAT birthday anyway.
In the Awake World, in Starfall the EQUINOX is at 12:39, but the Dreamlands don't have a TIME ZONE. The equinox was right at sunset, so the day before it and the night after it are the SAME. Everybody who's a wizard sang a song to PROTECT the Northern Shores and I think it WORKED, but we used a lot of ENERGY so after that it was time for kids to have SLEEPOVER fun like watching shows and eating more sweets and talking about what we want to do in the next year and throwing toys for Tiny Squeak and falling ASLEEP. I'm staying awake to finish WRITING but now I'm going to sleep too.
Yesterday was SUNDAY but I didn't write about the week. Maybe I didn't need to because I wrote about every day AND about all our dreams. It was an up and down week, because we went on vacation to see our FRIENDS, but some of our FAMILY couldn't come because there's a WAR on Mars, but we learned how to WHOOSH to Mars. It was a COMPLICATED week!
Last night's imaginary dreams were about snuggling and KISSING. I think there were some SNOGGING dreams too, because Pixie and Nico and the teenage truck cats were NEARBY. We made terrible faces at them when we woke up but it didn't HELP so we did a piracy on the WAFFLES while they were talking about their snogs. It served them RIGHT!
The truck cats got their trucks all loaded up with the giants' help and drove away, because they have SCHEDULES to keep. We aren't leaving for 2 more days, though. We have lots of HELPING to do.
It was really COLD today, even though the sun was bright. It's after the equinox, so WINTER is getting close! We helped make sure the warm maze is WINDPROOF, and helped put up a tent over the ship so it won't get blown away or snowed on before it's FINISHED and carried a bunch of fish to and from the smokehouse until we smelled like an OCEAN FIRE. It was a lot of work, but I felt really happy to be helping my FRIENDS and Cattail did too. I think everybody did. I'm really HELPFUL now that I'm 11!
I said that to Fairy-mom and she laughed and ate my EAR. Maybe I was pretty helpful when I was 10, but I'm more NOW.
It didn't seem like we did a lot of stuff, but suddenly it was DINNERTIME. There wasn't a feast because everybody was TIRED, so we went and sat on the dock so we could talk to the mermaids, and the orcas came to talk to us too. Pentameter, that's the WHALE mermaid, was there even though a lot of the whale mermaids are off at OCEAN SCHOOL. Maybe it's because she already has lots of certificates, but maybe it was to keep an eye on the orcas. Orcas can kill regular whales by jumping on them over and over so they can't BREATHE and eventually they get so tired the orcas can eat them ALIVE. That makes me feel really bad to think about. They can't do that to Pentameter, though, because she has HANDS and TOOLS. The orcas were POLITE, so I didn't want them to get killed, but I'm glad they can't kill Pentameter and she can keep them from hurting anybody.
ROMEO AND JULIET was written in IAMBIC PENTAMETER, that's where there are 10 syllables on each line and they go soft-hard-soft-hard, like that. I talked about it with Pentameter the mermaid, and she had LOTS to say because she REALLY likes poetry. Zeb-auncle came to talk to her, because he knows a lot too, and pretty soon they were talking so ADVANCED I didn't know what to say. I tried to understand what they were talking about, but I COULDN'T. I felt bad because Zeb-auncle STOLE my conversation with Pentameter, but they were having lots of fun so I couldn't get mad. I went to talk to the DUCKIES and snorfle their soft tummies until I felt better. They were glad Pentameter was there too, because they know orcas hunt birds by LURKING under the water. I helped them tell all the YOUNG ducks to never land on the ocean, only in their marsh.
Everybody was WORN OUT from working all day, so we went to bed early. I'm done writing so I'm going to go snuggle up with people I LOVE and sleep.
When we DRIVE to the Dreamlands, we have our bodies and those are lots HARDER than our spirits, so things don't CHANGE as much. But the Dreamlands are ALWAYS mysterious, even when we think we're SAFE. That's why, after I had IMAGINARY dreams about being a beetle and climbing on trees and eating little fruits, I woke up and I was REALLY a beetle! I know it was real because it was lots different than imagining I was a bettle. I could see in every direction really BLURRY with my COMPOUND eyes, and smell things really great with my ANTENNAE and I was really STRONG. I couldn't talk, but I could DANCE when people were amazed that I was a grey and white beetle with rainbow ELYTRA and not a kitten. I was going to beetle around in the sunshine and see if there was anything to CARRY, but then Annabelle jumped on my back and started telling me where to go. She rode me right over to Penguin Max and helped him get up on my back, and then flittery Max fluttered next to us with her birthday wings and Disco Moose and Popular Periwinkle Spider walked beside us. I beetled really PROUD because it was an IMPERIAL PROCESSION. We went all over the Northern Shores so Penguin Max could check that everything was going JUST RIGHT to get ready for winter. All the pengies and moosies and spidies cheered up a STORM for him and showed him how good they were doing and got really HAPPY, and it was really nice.
Then clouds and a cold WIND came in off the sea, and I started going slower because I got really SLEEPY. I didn't feel cold, but I think I WAS, because beetles aren't WARM-BLOODED. Annabelle tried to get me to go faster, but I couldn't. The spidies knew what was going on, though, and carried me into the Warm Maze. I felt a lot better then, but when I went back out to do more procession, I was a CAT again! I couldn't see in every direction any more, so I had to look around a lot and people thought that was FUNNY. Penguin Max came over and beakled my head and said I was a really good IMPERIAL CONVEYANCE but now it was time for being inside and drinking warm TEA.
Hebichi gave me a lot of hugs, but I think they were SAD they didn't get to be a beetle with me. It's OK, there will be more beetling later! They helped me take warm tea around to all the people doing work and then we snuggled up between Spin and Cattail.
We're leaving tomorrow, so there was a little party tonight. Most of the giants went home today, because they have to get their village ready for winter too. They live up in the mountains, so it gets EVEN COLDER there. I think it's even colder than where Sky Kitten lives, because her clowder is up in the mountains but not as far NORTH. I'm glad they're big and round, so they're tough against the cold!
Hebichi and Spin and I tried to hug EVERY spidie and moosie and pengie, but I don't think we did. We got everybody whose name I know, though. It was a LOT of hugging! Jackie and Maz and Sonny all helped, and Cattail helped a LITTLE bit but mostly he's been spending time with the other mastydons. I told him it's REALLY OK if he wants to stay here with his family, but he says he wants to go back with me. He's just SOAKING UP the mastydonness while he's here. I really love Cattail, but I feel bad about keeping him away from the other mastydons. I THOUGHT about staying with him at the Northern Shores, but my parents said NO WAY.
It's still windy outside, and Natasha says it smells like FREEZING RAIN, so everybody's in the Great Hall of the palace tonight. It's like a sleepover with EVERYBODY.
I had imaginary dreams about being a beetle again, and this time I knew what it was LIKE, but when I woke up I was still a KITTEN. I think that's best for today.
We had to pack up all the things we're taking home, and all the people who were coming home with us, but that wasn't the same as the people who came north with us! 2 of the dragons, that's Dragon 53, Earrings Dragon, and Dragon 98, Spiky Back Dragon, decided to stay at the Northern Shores. We worried that they'd be too COLD because dragons are fiery, but they said they could stay inside and do CROSSWORD PUZZLES all winter if they had to. They don't think they will, though, because they're really TOUGH and good at making FIRES.
We had a bunch of DUCKIES on the train with us instead. The oldest gram-duckie said she's been migrating by train for more than 20 YEARS because her wing got crunched and she can't fly very far. At first, the other ducks thought that was REALLY WEIRD, but the gram-duckie kept riding the train instead of staying somewhere and DYING, and now everybody thinks it's normal. You're a HERO OF PROGRESS, Gram-duckie!
I wanted to write on the train, but everybody was there. Even when I hid behind Cattail, people could jump OVER him and even when he caught Toka with his trunk and threw them BACK, people could see my reflection in the windows and ask about my writing. I HAD to play cards with everybody and take a nap on Spin's lap and help groom all of Maz's feathers and all of Jackie's leaves and give my parents KISSES. Now we're home and I can write.
I write a lot about me and not about other people. I didn't write how the moosies like having dragons and giants visit because they think it's FUNNY when they aren't the biggest. I didn't write how my parents were really WORRIED when I was a beetle until I booped them with my antennae. I didn't write how the sheepies run all around and yelled at the giants to not eat them and made a trip to Picklefish Point to visit the duckies and cuddled all wooly around the pengies. I didn't write how Dmitri and Humboldt and Rei and Cara and Pixie went out to the marsh where the new valley joined the old river and explored around and made MAPS. I feel bad about not writing that stuff, but I don't know if I can write any more than I do.
Maybe I should write something about somebody else every day TOO. I have to think about that.
A nice thing that happened today was that Minmin, Morning, Gobi, Jean, Blond Dmitry, Sammy, and Elena all came to visit as soon as they heard we were back, and ran into the Gram House where we were hugging the grams and auncles to yell HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Tiny Squeak and the rest of us. Maybe Elena especially wanted to say it to Nico, because she gave him some BROWNIES she made too. Maybe she has a CRUSH on Nico because he's so pretty and nice. Tiny Squeak was pretty sleepy on the train back, but she PERKED UP when she got back into her OWN house, so she yelled back at everybody and tried to eat their FEET and it was REALLY cute. They brought cake and ice cream too, because they thought we might need some after the long train trip, and they were RIGHT. It was a good 2nd birthday party for all of us!
Flower-gram and Rose-auncle and Lilja-gram and Nessie-auncle and Big Sam are all OK and didn't die on Dream Mars and say things are going OK there. Now that I'm back in the Awake World, I want to try having a Mars dream to see.
I wanted to sleep IN, but we all got up and went to fighting class and then our parents made us omelets with WHATEVER we wanted and crispy bacon. There's no school today because the pocket foxies are still resting from the trip TOO, so we took naps in the sunshine and talked about the fun things we did and how cute the baby pengies and moosies were when they played with Mlle. Squeaks and like that. Lots of our friends who weren't on the trip came to hear our stories and tell us what they did last week and help us with ICE CREAM.
In the afternoon there was a LITTLE BIT of Magic Singing Class because Number-teacher and VV-teacher are still INDOLENT, that means they don't want to do any HARD WORK, from vacation. We practiced singing the Don't Die Song, because that's a good one for EVERYBODY to know, but then we talked about how the penguins do magic by squinching their brains the right way and then we talked about how cute Tiny Squeak is when she tries to sing with us and how she'll be a great Singing Wizard if she WANTS to. Maybe she'll want to be a Martial Arts Wizard or a Words Wizard or a pastry chef or an inventor or a model or an explorer. You can be ANYTHING, Squeaky Pip! Maybe you can be EVERYTHING. Maybe she'll draw magic circles on the Future Moon.
Last night we didn't have any Mars dreams OR Checkerland dreams. We told the dragons in Dragon-mayor's city how Earrings Dragon and Spiky Back Dragon were staying up north for the winter, but they already knew because dragons can use PHONES. I got a little bit embarrassed, but the dragons slurped my ears instead of saying I'm dumb, so it was OK. Jeanne already saw the pictures of the baby pengies and moosies, but we got to show them to LN and everybody. Lots of people said happy birthday to Max and me and some of them gave us SWEETS. When they said happy birthday to Nico, they gave him KISSES, and when they said happy birthday to Tiny Squeak, they gave her TICKLES. Max and I agreed we did the BEST.
We helped Simoun and Sahara and Ouma and Frillist and some other older kids look for the weird person who sold them the Mars boat, but he was still NOWHERE to be found. Maybe he flew away in a spaceship to sell people on Mars some EARTH things like trucks and Inverted Obverse shirts. Or maybe he's hiding because it was a HOT flying boat. That means he stole it from somebody else and sold it because he wanted money right away.
After we gave up, we went to my zoo to see all the animals. They're all doing really GOOD. It's hot, but they have shady places and lots of water, and the ones that need it have FANS. The firebirdie doesn't need one, because they like dancing in the hot SUNSHINE and singing a summery song.
The newest animals in the zoo are VISCACHAS. They look like rabbits but they're really cousins of CHINCHILLAS. They have mustachy faces that look kind of SAD, so I want to cuddle them and pet them, but they're WILD animals. After they live in the zoo for a while and get used to people, maybe they can come to the PETTING ZOO and be friends with visitors.
Meeting the viscachas made me want to snuggle Flim-Flam and Flip-Flop when I woke up. I'm REALLY glad they're Lilja-auncle's bunnies, and not wild RABBITS who have to get hunted by wolves like the ones at the Northern Shores.
Last night we dreamed about Checkerland and that was really NICE. All the other expedition people have been making lots of friends with checker cats and spidies and tree octos and bats and everybody. I feel bad for missing it, but I had important PENGIE-HUGGING to do. I got to sit in a park and get climbed on by BABY OCTOS while Number-Dad and Tiny Squeak did a sunshine nap together and VV-gram and Tansy-gram and some dragons talked to important people about diplomacy. Nelson-captain has been teaching the Checkerlanders how to sail boats with real SAILS, and they all think that's lots of FUN. Maa-uu and Explorobot have been looking at maps and encyclopedias to find good places to explore, because even though Checkerland has had people exploring all over for a LONG time, it's still the Dreamlands and there's always more MYSTERIES. I don't know if we'll get to do any exploring before we have to sail back to Dragon-mayor's city, but it's always good to be PREPARED.
Some of the Checkerland kids who like exploring are making their own CHAPTER of the Exploration Club. It might be hard to share their maps and logs until there's MAIL across the ocean, but they'll be exploring together in SPIRIT. Their names are Duckweed and Lilypad, those are tree octos, The Spider Who Braids Your Hair and The Spider Who Stole Your Credit Cards, those are spidies, and Cineraria, Ricarica, and Numis, those are checker cats. They don't have any dinos or meerbots, but they have a walking tree like a JEEP, and Duckweed and Lilypad have a pet bat named Chuckles who can go with them. Maybe they'll find more different people to join then when they explore. Hurray for the Exploration Club!
I still don't know if I want to join the Exploration Club. I know my zoo is OK if I go away for a while, but maybe I need to pay more attention to it after going on this expedition. I don't know if Spin and Hebichi want to join Exploration Club or make our OWN club. We could get Blond Dmitry and be the Firebirdie Fan Club.
Today the pocket foxies are done resting, so we had SCHOOL. Everybody was rowdy and the teachers had to BARK at us a lot. We felt bad, but it was really HARD to pay attention. Even the kids who didn't have a Dreamlands Vacation had a regular vacation so they want to PLAY instead of sitting still!
In the afternoon, we got to play because it was BIKE RACING time and our parents came to see. They usually don't, because it's a thing for KIDS, but they came this time and cheered REALLY loud. I got really EMBARRASSED because I felt like they were treating me like a little kid, but I know it's because they love me and want me to do really GOOD. Max didn't get embarrassed at ALL, because she's LIKE THAT.
I did some farming too. Some plants are still growing, so we have to weed around them, and harvest the ones that are DONE. It's really hot, so we had to drink a LOT of water and then jump in the pool afterwards. It was nice getting fresh VEGGIES for people, though.
I sat on Nessie-auncle and asked her lots about what's happening on Mars, but she wouldn't tell me very much. I'm scared that means it's REALLY BAD. I squished my face in her neck and cried a little bit, even when she said lots of Martians are OK and she and Big Sam and everybody are doing their best to help.. That means some Martians AREN'T. I'm scared that my friends on Mars got hurt. I want to help them but I don't know HOW. I felt bad for having PEACEFUL Checkerland dreams.
All of us kittens had a Mars dream and we didn't even have to do planet-jumping, we just dreamed about visiting the Bear-grams at the sinkhole town. The cousins were there too, and so were Beethoven and Flip-Flop and Flim-Flam. Bunnies can jump REALLY far on Mars. Galette and Parsnip got big and tried to chase them, but the bunnies got big too so it was a FAIR tussle. We drank regular juice because Woollan, that's the person who sells the most juice, said the big brown ones, that's the Bear-grams, would CRUSH her if she sold any more grownup juice to us. She's really big and strong, but Leon-gram is really big and strong TOO. If they fought, everything would get WRECKED.
Some new Martians came to visit, from the other end of the river where Kan-Nomel doesn't RULE. They're a little bit like the soft green Martians, but they're tougher-looking and more OPAQUE and their leaves have sharp black points at the ends and they have sharp black beaks so when they turn their heads every which way they look like OWLS. They look like desert plants and like pangolins and a little bit like MASTYDONS too. Cattail said they're weird because they don't have TRUNKS, but I think they're a LITTLE BIT alike.
The most exciting thing was that the new Martians had a KID. I think she's as grown up as Humboldt, and she's about the same size, and she acts really grownup and RESPONSIBLE because Martians don't know how to be kids. All the Martians in the town think she's REALLY great and give her whatever she wants, but all the visiting Martians try to stop them because they're ALL her parents and they read lots of books about raising kids. When she found out WE'RE kids, she shrieked and wanted us to TEACH her about kid stuff. Her grownups were a little ANXIOUS, but the Bear-grams told them how we're really nice and used to kids of all ages and when the Martians heard the Bear-grams raised 3 kids and helped with a masquillion grandkids, they took them back to Woollan's place and asked them ALL about kids. We ran off with Binzi and taught her IMPORTANT games like The Floor is Lava and Pretend Fighting and Hiding Under the Blankets and Teasing Sahara, and we had an INTERPLANETARY SLEEPOVER. Even the cousins and Cara helped. Binzi said she didn't have any interesting stories because her grownups never let her do anything exciting, but she liked all our stories and said we were really COOL and BRAVE. It was REALLY fun and when we woke up, we missed Binzi. I thought Humboldt missed her the most.
Later I was telling Hebichi and Gobi about the sleepover and they kept LOOKING at each other and when I wanted to know what it was, they said we had to ask Bina and they made me tell them everything Humboldt said AGAIN. Then they ALL looked at each other and I got so mad I POUNCED on Hebichi and ate their shoulder. Everybody LAUGHED at me, but they said we should have a sleepover so we could have a dream adventure and they they would tell me when they were sure. I don't know why people think it's so fun to not tell me things!
The twins' friends did the same thing to them, even when Sahara bit Ouma really hard. She didn't use magic biting, so Ouma didn't get hurt, but Sahara said she THOUGHT about it. Don't use venomous biting magic on your friends, Sahara! We put our HEADS together, but we couldn't figure it out.
All our parents said a sleepover was OK, so we're going to sleep out on the porch with ALL our friends and try to go to Mars without our parents finding out.
I think my parents tried to see what dream adventure we were all having, but we ESCAPED to the sinkhole town without them. We didn't escape TINY SQUEAK, though! It was OK because we were ALL there, so she never had to be by herself. All the Martians were surprised her mum wasn't with us, but Humboldt and Dmitri told them about BABYSITTING.
Binzi was really EXCITED to meet all our friends. She liked Maz and Sonny and Jackie too. She didn't think Sonny and Beethoven were the same SPECIES because dogs are all DIFFERENT. She played with them a lot, and swam with Blossom and Sprout and we all had LOTS of fun. Her grownups are really happy that she has other kids to play with!
Hebichi and Gobi and Bina all watched Humboldt and Binzi really SHARP, so I did too, and I figured out what they were watching for. They think Humboldt has a CRUSH on Binzi, and maybe they're RIGHT. I asked Humboldt when nobody else was listening, but he said he doesn't, he just thinks she's really nice and smart and COOL. Maybe that's true, but maybe he's not ADMITTING it. I don't know what I think about that. He's older than Dmitri, and he's really responsible and MATURE, but 14 isn't very grownup for a SONGCAT. Maybe it's WEIRD. It's OK if he's FRIENDS with Binzi because she's really nice, though!
I had all these thoughts when Dmitri started being sweethearts with Jean, but I don't have them figured out yet. Having older siblings is hard. They're showing me what it might be like for ME later, but sometimes it's stuff I DON'T want.
The weirdest thing about the dream was that Hebichi and I had to climb back down the mountain with giant bugs to get to the Awake World, and they were all TANGLED UP and fiddling on each other really WILD. Hebichi and I had OUR fiddles so we tried to play the same piece, and that made all the bugs stop and LOOK at us. That was scary, because there are LOTS of them, and they have MANDIBLES. They just wanted to teach us to play the music RIGHT, though. We tried, but it was REALLY hard and then we woke up.
I was all tangled up in a SNUGGLE with Hebichi, and we were MYSTIFIED about the bug music. We're going to practice it, though, because the bugs that guard the Dreamlands think it's important!
It's been a good week. We had vacation and resting from vacation and extra birthday wishes and VISCACHAS and new Mars friends and Checkerland friends and regular friends. It was hot all week, but now it's cooling off, so I think maybe summer is OVER. The trees will start turning beautiful colors and we'll have more WARM juice and blankets and HALLOWEEN and THANKSGIVING.
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