Story Time! Karina reads form Live and Let Fly

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Vern Takes on a Jehovah Witness

This happened to me in my second year in the Mundane world, when I was still getting annoying comments like, "Are you sure that...creature...didn't eat my cat?" and parents who either protected their daughters from me, or just watched closely to see if I was interested.  Folks didn't know me well, and there were times I used that to my advantage.

..and it wasn't even Halloween

I was at my friend Rosa's house.  Rosa and her family were some of my first friends.  They believed Father when he said I wasn't the spawn of the devil, and I helped them out with a few things.  And Rosa fed me chili.  Before I got my fire back, it was as close to firebreathing as I could get.

One afternoon as the chili pot was going and I was again explaining to the toddler that I am not a scaled pony for her pleasure, the doorbell rang. JJ, the eldest peeked out the window.

"Mami!" JJ called, "It's the Jethova witnesses."

If there's anything worse than a telemarketer interrupting dinner, it's a Jehovah Witness interrupting the cooking--especially when it's my dinner that's cooking.  I told Rosa to let me handle it, pulled myself to full height at the door and let JJ open it.

They didn't even let the door open before they started their spiel.  "My friend, have you heard the Good--erk!"

Yeah, crimson and black scaled, fangs, 20-foot wing span.  So what if I was a fourth of my regular size?  I still had it.


"Oh, look.  Delivery."  I added just a hint of menace to go with the drool.  I live for these moments, I really do.

They were out of the yard and down the block before their Watchtower hit the porch.

Vern takes some personality tests

One of the Costa kids is doing a project and asked a bunch of us to take some personality tests to see how close the computer comes to the real image. In particular, Matthew has asked some of us Faerie. Here's my results from The World's Shortest Personality Quiz:

Your Personality Profile

You are sexy, powerful, and bold. You're full of passion and energy... Sometimes this passion has a dark side. You feel most alive when you're seducing someone. You never fail to get someone's attention. Quick minded, you're also quick to lose your temper!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

"Sexy," huh? Interesting result for an androgynous creature. My temperament: (Note that I did not answer one of the questions.)

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

Myers-Briggs has me here:

You Are An INTP

The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can. Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge. Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat. A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. In love, you are an easy person to fall for. But not an easy person to stay in love with. Although you are quite flexible, you often come off as aloof or argumentative. At work, you are both a logical and creative thinker. You are great at solving problems. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor. How you see yourself: Creative, fair, and tough-minded When other people don't get you, they see you as: arrogant, cold, and robotic

What's Your Personality Type?

Of course, if this were a short answer test, here's what I'd say:

1. You tend to:
• Act first - then think about what you did
• Think first and then act
• I think so fast, there's not much difference.
2. It's Friday night and your friend just canceled on you. You:
• Spend some quiet time alone instead
• Find new friends to hang out with
3. You are more likely to say that:
• Other people motivate and inspire you
• You tend to find your motivation an inspiration from within
• I AM inspiration.

4. You prefer to interact:
• In all sorts of social situations
• In one-on-one situations
• Doesn't matter as long as we all realize who's on top of the food chain here.
5. You are:
• Hard to read
• Easy to get to know
• Beyond human understanding, really, but I'll come down to your level.
6. You have:
• A ton of friends, aquaintances, and people you know
• A few people who are very dear to you
7. What would make you more nervous?
• A one on one job interview
• A group job interview
• I don't get nervous.
8. You ideal Saturday night is:
• Stimulating
• Peaceful--"Stimulating" usually means trouble and annoyance, in my experience
9. Your friend is annoying you. You:
• Let them know--sometimes with my teeth.
• Keep it to yourself
10. At a party you:
• Approach a group of strangers
• Wait to be approached
• Depends on my mission.  Ideally, you should come to me; but human fear necessitates my approaching you
11. You think more about:
• The present
• The future
• What I have to do in the present to work off the geas of St. George so I can enjoy my future.
12. When faced with a problem, what do you use to solve it?
• Creativity and new ideas
• Common sense and a step by step approach
• Dragon intelligence, which is common to my kind but creative to yours.
13. You are more likely to remember:
• Someone's face
• Someone's name
• Someone's smell.
14. You would describe your style as:
• Matter of fact
• Enthusiastic
15. When deciding on something important, you:
• Look at every fact possible
• Go with your gut
• I'm a dragon--I already have the wisdom of the ages, knowedge of eternity. I already know the facts.
16. You rather work on something that is:
• Familiar and tested
• Novel and new--when you're immortal, you value novelty
17. The best way to get something done is through:
• Inspiration
• Hard work
• Both. Stupid question
18. You would rather study
• How something is put together
• A new philosophy or religion
• Anything.
19. When explaining something difficult to understand, you:
• Give as many details as possible
• Use metaphors and analogies
• Depends on the person and the species.
20. Driving home from work or school, you:
• Vary your route, just for fun
• Almost always take the same route
• Can you imagine me driving?
21. Your decisions are more likely to be rooted in:
• Emotions and feelings
• Facts and logic
• What's in it for me.
22. You would rather be:
• A lawyer
• A teacher
• A predator
23. When making a decision in a group, you:
• Are able to reach a decision without consulting others--like I need to consult others
• Prefer to decide on something everyone is comfortable with
24. You think conflict is:
• Hard for you to deal with
• A normal part of relationships
• What happens in the moments before I eat the person annoying me
25. In an argument, someone can win you over if they present their case:
• Reasonably
• Sincerely
26. When it comes to people's birthdays, you:
• Always forget them
• Remember and celebrate them
• Wonder what the big deal is
27. You tend to:
• Hold people to high standards
• Give people the benefit of the doubt
• Wonder how they taste
28. You would rather be:
• Accomplished
• Appreciated
• Left alone
29. Two of your close friends are fighting. You would approach each of them:
• Truthfully
• Diplomatically
30. What do you value more?
• Logic, justice and fairness
• Empathy, harmony and forgiving
31. You have a big trip coming up. You:
• Take several days to prepare and pack
• Do everything at the last minute
• Like I need to pack
32. You are the type of person who:
• Has a gazillion windows open on your computer
• Tends to focus on one task at a time
• Since the dragon brain is wired differently, I can do both.
33. You've got a big project for work coming up. You:
• Get it done whenever you feel like it
• Get it done as soon as possible--or people die
34. You:
• Think every decision out carefully
• Make decisions on the fly--because I can
35. Do you prefer:
• Rules and structure
• Breaking all the rules
• Rules?  Dragon's don't need no stinkin' rules.
36. If someone's in charge:
• Whatever. You don't care.--unless they have something I want
• You tend to listen to them.
37. When it comes down to it, life is:
• Very complicated
• Very simple
38. You tend to:
• Adapt well to change
• Resist change
• Am stuck with change thanks to St. George
39. Your desk is:
• A total mess
• Organized
• Not for you to judge.
40. In your opinion, the best parties and dates are:
• Spontaneous
• Planned
• Done by others

The Next DragonEye, PI Magazine is out!

In this issue:

*  An Interview with a Dragon
*  The Next Chapter of Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem Continues
* A DragonEye, PI novel and a new story!

*  Faerie Facts:  Interdimnet

Click here to see it.

Scavenger Hunt

Last contest of the Live and Let Fly Book Tour!  This one is for the big prize--two free books, and a bunch of other fun stuff.  You'll need to have read the book or check out these fun stops on the Live and Let Fly book tour!  Fill out the survey between now and may 25th!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

World Gathering, Episode 19: It's a Wrap--Load up the Bus!

I sat in the front portico of the hotel and watched as Grace got everyone loaded. Like any conventioneer, the Faerie were tired but happy and a little wistful that the World Gathering had ended. I could see the bags looked heavier--probably full of plastic drek from Fantasyland. A few folks wore T-shirts; I didn't think they made them in pixie size. Theirs all bore Tinkerbell striking a most unchildish pose. I snorted. Figures.

I spied Siegfried by a pillar getting one last kiss from his Nordic lady.  Meanwhile, Cambridge Ramada was giving Brunhilde a small leather case. I heard her exclaim, "My own pedicure set!" and she enveloped him in a hug, squashing his face in her ample bosom. I don't think he minded until he started suffocating. She released him with a hasty, "Oh, sorry, ja?"

Galinda and Galendor exited the hotel and came over to see me. Galinda gave me a hug. Galendor was more stand-offish. Neither he nor Gozon was pleased that we had not only confiscated the found bull, but convinced the brownies that its proper place was with the Faerie Vatican until the House Eternal Winds started playing nice. I figure another fifteen or twenty years of negotiations, and all will be well again. That's a flash in the pan to an Elf, but it doesn't mean they have to like it.

Fine by me; I wasn't especially interested in getting hugged by an Elf, anyway. I seldom got hugged before St. George's spell; even now, I don't especially appreciate being treated like a large plushy. Not my image, if you know what I mean. I'd make an exception for a Faerie Princess--but her Consort Elf? Even I get to have standards.

"It seems we again owe you a debt of gratitude; isn't that right, Galendor?"

Did I detect an archness in her voice? She'd come a long way since she was a damsel in distress needing my rescue.

Galendor nodded. "My beloved speaks truly, for verily, were it not for you, O Great and Wise Dragon who once flew the fields of Caraparavalenciana, striking awe and fear into the hearts of its mortal inhabitants..."

By the time he'd finished the Elvish equivalent of a grudging, "Yeah. Couldn't have done it without you" and they bid me goodbye and headed to their limo, the bus was loaded.

Grace exchanged a last hug with Shirley and walked over to me. "Ready?"

I nodded to her, then tossed my head in a "good-bye" to Shirley and the other conventioneers we'd be leaving behind. I frowned thoughtfully.

"What?"

"Just wondering."

Her gaze grew suspicious. "About...?"

My frown turned into a grin worthy of any imp. "Just what other fine Mensa we're going to get into next."

I launched myself in the air and had taken my station on the roof of the bus before she could shriek.

If you like the story, the book is even better!

More antics, more mystery, new ending. Order from Amazon. 

(c) Karina Fabian.  World Gathering first appeared in serial in The Prairie Dawg

World Gathering, Episode 18: Lost and Found

Shirley walked into the security office, a defeated look on her face. She sighed. "Well, that's all the rooms occupied by Mensans in the hotel. We're down to searching the conference rooms now."

I growled. After Coyote's confession, the audience decided to get in on the game and arranged search parties to scour the hotel. In the meantime, Grace and I had retired to the office to make some calls. The shifts had just changed, and I was explaining to Officer Gary what was up.

"So Brunhilde had been hiding the bull in her breastplate, but negotiated with Cambridge to borrow it. He put it in his briefcase--"

"Why did she give it to him now?" Gary asked.

"She said she kept feeling 'tickles,' and thought the brownies might have been searching her. Probably her imagination. They'd have taken it from her. My theory is that since Gozon entrusted her with it, and she entrusted Cambridge, there wasn't enough disorder to trip their radar. However, when Coyote stole the briefcase, neither were where they belonged, so they acted."

"So they cleaned it and put it back where it belonged? Where's that?"

I tossed my head. The whole situation had gone from annoying to absurd. "You never know with brownies, which is why they make bad housekeepers. Grace put in calls to her order to check with the Faerie Vatican and the churches where the bull had been held, and I asked my contacts to do the same for your Vatican, just in case. Gozon and Galendor are both having their people search likely places in Elf lands. In the meantime, we're searching the hotel. For all we know, they may have decided the most logical place is nearby, where all the concerned parties can work things out."

Shirley snorted. "Gozon and Galendor were arguing in the lobby last I saw. They're being polite, but I don't think they'll work anything out without a negotiator."

A negotiator? I looked at Grace, saw she had the same idea.

"It can't be that easy," Grace said.

"You never know with brownies. Come on!" We headed out the door.

"Hold on. I'll drive you."  Gary snatched up his keys, walkie-talkie and Taser and followed. He got us a cart and we piled in. I gave him our room number.

"You didn't check your room?" he asked.

"We were getting to it! We didn't think it a likely spot, until what Shirley said about negotiators."

Grace explained. "The Church has a longstanding role of negotiating between warring parties, and I'm the nearest representative. However, if it's not in our room, we may want to see if there are any priests in the hotel, then call the local clergy."

Gary's walkie talkie went off. He groaned. "Sorry, guys. Disturbance in the Con Café. Gotta detour and drop me off."

He turned us around. Soon we heard the clattering of pans and a French voice shouting, "No! Bad Doggie!" The door banged open and a large grey coyote, gravy dripping from his chin, tore out of the café. A flying ladle barely missed him. A couple of Mensans screamed and flattened themselves against the walls as he ran past.

I leapt out of the cart and had tackled Coyote before he'd gone halfway down the hall. He turned with a snarl, saw my fangs were bigger, and whined.

"Don't change form until we find your clothes," I warned. I noticed he'd slipped the police anklet that was part of his probation, but the silver bracelet Grace had bespelled to keep him from escaping had transformed into a collar. I got off him, hooked my tail through it and led him back to Gary.

"I think someone just broke parole." I almost sang it. I live for moments like this. "Grace, Shirley, go check the room. I'll help Gary escort this dog to the pound."

Coyote whimpered.

It didn't take long to find his clothes, and soon, he was human, handcuffed and enduring the verbal abuse of Jean Pierre d'Pasimmonierre as he demanded he be charged for crimes against all France and the BAC. When Coyote tried to protest that he was only looking for the bull, Jean Pierre screamed, "That was fish, you bad doggie" and started to beat him about the head with his chef's hat. Beautiful. The only thing that could top the day was Grace's call.

"It was in the room safe," she said. "Cleaned, restored and beautiful."

I laughed. "Tell Shirley: I know it sounds redundant, but she's a genius."

If you like the story, the book is even better!

More antics, more mystery, new ending. Order from Amazon. 

(c) Karina Fabian.  World Gathering first appeared in serial in The Prairie Dawg