(no subject)

Today's been a weird mixture of ugh and cringe, and decent stuff. For one thing, I got to finish the knitting project I was working on, a small one, for a sample. But that was a vexing knitting project because I had to rip it out and start over somewhere in the neighborhood of four or five times, and then I skipped a row on the first repeat, and then I missed a stitch somewhere, knitted one when I shouldn't have or something, and at that point I declared fuckit, I have enough for a good sample, I'm finishing it off here. But still, that was productive and now all I have to do is wash and block and be done. And I had some decent dinner.

On the other hand yesterday I got home to find out the boy was on suspension again, as far as we can tell this time for doing his damn job. Literally, he has directives for each client and he followed that directive and doing something on that sheet is apparently what he got into trouble for. So cranky. So he's looking for jobs, and since he's in the medical field that's easier than it might be, but I'm still having bouts of massive financial insecurity. I bought $14 worth of groceries today for dinner and future meals and cringed at spending that much money. I'm making contingency plans, I've postponed subscription thingies and am contemplating canceling my hair appointment. And at the same time clinging to it because dammit ONE indulgence is going to stay. And it's not even that bad, we have savings and investments, it's entirely possible he'll be cleared, there are several other facilities including an entire hospital complex where he might get hired. I'm still freaking right the hell out.

Bleh, I don't know. I don't know what we're going to do, but we do have a safety net, including a familial one on both sides. And I have a steady job, and I'm picking up bits and pieces of overtime here and there, and. It's not that bad. I tell myself. It really isn't. It'll be okay.

In the meantime, writing. Writing, and getting work done, and doing all my jobs, and all of that. I have work to do, most of it doesn't even require an outlay of any money now that I have my school supplies and all the requisite software. I guess the first step in writing, too, is the next OC October post. One step at a time, bit by bit. We'll know one way or another by Monday, I think. So, writing.

If I can write with the cats climbing all over me. Oh, today's cat report, it definitely is Barton who's been harassing Little Bit, but we might have gotten him to ease up, or at least to the point where she'll come back around because all four of them (Little Bit, Barton, BatCat, and Cassius, not sure where Tasha's gone off to but she's sort of a few days every month cat) were there this morning. I got to pet Cassius, I remembered to put on my socks, even. But I didn't get to pet Little Bit. Aw.

OC October: Day 15 - Winter, Rack, and Petra

Day 15: Winter, Rack, and Petra
Winter, Rack, and Petra are the stars of a thing I'm currently working on. They're sort of a trio of a cabal of magic users in the Black Ice world, although cabal might be exaggerating because they're not organized in the least. They swear a lot, Rack's the only one who can cook any variety of the food out of the three of them although Winter's not bad, himself, and Petra lives off her boyfriend's cooking. Winter's extremely fussy about his house, Rack mostly lives at Winter's. Both Rack and Winter are in their late 60s or so, and Petra's just hit her 40s, though she still gets treated like the girl of the group because, well, over 20 years younger.

So, Winter. I can't remember what Winter's full name is, come to that, I'm sure I wrote it down in the draft of Gray Matters. If I weren't so distracted and exhausted right now I'd look it up. He's an older man, he's been doing a lot of small magic for decades, helping out with the police in collecting evidence, like a sort of independent lab tech. He's content to do that, lead workshops, form groups and help people on a small, minor scale. It augments his social security income and provides him with a more comfortable lifestyle than he would otherwise be able to afford, and it also gives him an excuse to look around into the limits of what he can do, both in terms of sheer power and in terms of creativity and versatility. He's got an eager mind to learn, enjoys reading and crossword puzzles and finding out new things, but he's also generally quiet and a homebody.

Rack is a Jewish magician, acting as a rabbi in many respects even if he doesn't have the formal training or title of one. He acts as counselor, as scholar of law, as advocate, among other things, for a number of people within and without the Tribe. He also argues incessantly with Winter, but that's sort of a matter of course. He's been a strong advocate for Jewish magicians both Qabbalistic and not, and he's also done a great deal of work and counseling and participating in local town halls quietly nudging people to more accept the different, not just the non-humans but also the magically active in the community. There are, of course, differences that he has a hard time accepting, but he's an advocate for a lot of people regardless of whether or not he accepts or understands various aspects of their nature. He's also cranky, stubborn, swears copiously, and is not always the most politic of advocates, either.

Petra is a woman with several problems, emotional lability being one symptom of them and likely an undiagnosed form of bipolar disorder. She also has a minor unspecified seizure disorder because it hasn't come up yet, because I'm not sure if it should or needs to come up in the story in which I'm writing this trio and because since I don't know if I need it yet I haven't done the research. The point being she has a physical/neurological disorder that incapacitates her periodically for certain times. She has a long-suffering boyfriend who has a more acceptable/normal job at a bank as a manager, and several dogs, large breed, who she's rescued and adopted and who have become sort of like her familiars. She would call them her animal friends. Well, she would also call them her familiars because it amuses her to play into that sometimes. She's three quarters Cherokee, was raised on one of the main reservations and moved up north more to get away from her overbearing family and be with her boyfriend, who'd gotten a job in a bigger bank, than any sense of detachment from her people. She continues the traditions as best she can.

All three of these guys were pretty much pulled together straight for this story, so if these backgrounds seem a little rushed it's because they are. I need to do some note-taking and some arranging for this to become more solid, but these are the rough sketches and eventually I'm sure they'll fill out some more. Also at least now I have some idea of where I need to do the research.