D&D Dungeon Tiles (Pt. 3): The Castle Frame and Pit Trap

Now that I had most of the Castle Tiles ready for painting, 

it was time to work on the Castle Frame and Pit Trap Tile.

 

(Not sure what I’m talking about? 

Check out the beginning of my new series. I’ll wait.)

 

First up, the Castle Floor Frame. This is a 12”x 12” Wilton cake board with a 6”x 6” square cut out of the center. I trimmed and beveled the edges, both the inside and outside borders. Then I found the center point, top and bottom. Just like with the inner tiles, I measured 1” to each side of the center point and connected the lines top and bottom. I then drew lines every 2” on each side of the center row. I rotated the frame to the unmarked side and 

repeated the process until I had an even, centered grid.

Because the center goes through a row of squares instead of between them, this put the outside edge at 1” from the next row over. This means that the row on the inside edge of the frame is made up of full squares and the outside edge is 1”x 2” rectangles (square cut lengthwise) 

with a 1”x 1” block in each outside corner.

 

Here’s a picture of the frame with and tile so you can see how they line up:

Just like with the tiles, I used a paintbrush to brush the bottom side of the foam squares with Matte Mod Podge and placed them on frame, keeping a couple of heavy bottles nearby to hold pieces in place if they started to lift.

The Pit Trap was similarly challenging. I decided that a 1” border would look best. Since this was for my final 6”x 6” castle tile, I cut 2 foam squares in half and cut a 1”x 1” block out of one corner of 4 more squares (I used them for the outside corners on the frame). This gave me 4 1”x 2” rectangles and 4 “L” shaped corner pieces. I now had a tile border (that lined up with the frame) 

with an empty square in the middle.

But how to make spears that won’t poke out above the foam border? 

3 words: Dimensional Fabric Paint.

Yup. That stuff. 

It’s really important to use a bottle with the tip for this, a brush is going to make it significantly harder. I use this far more often than most people would expect, and only rarely on fabric. This time, I freehanded a grid with alternating rows of 4 and 3 spear points with approximately ½” of vertical space between the rows. Then I made little Hershey kiss shapes with the fabric paint on each spear point. As they dried, the tips flattened out a bit, so I occasionally added new tips to the spikes to keep them pointy.

 

Once my tiles had dried, I repeated the texture and details from the last post.  The frame and pit trap got a quick and dirty stone finish by balling up some aluminum foil and pressing it into the foam to create a slate or travertine texture. I used the craft knife to trim any foam that was too close or didn’t leave enough of a grout line to line up nicely. Then I ran a ball point pen along the grout lines to gently bevel the edges of the foam. 

I also used the craft knife to give a deeper bevel to the foam on the edges. 

After everything was dry, I painted a coat of the 

Black Magic Craft Foam Sealer and let them dry overnight.
  

Now, I did make one more tile for the Castle Set: a Wooden Tavern Floor. 

I cut 1/2" strips of foam into 1", 2" and 4" lengths and arranged them to give a subtle 2" grid to the floor joins. Before I glued the strips on, I added wood grain by running a wire pet brush (because I had it on hand) in one direction along the top and sides of each board. I used an upholstery tack to put in nail holes at the ends of each board (you can totally use a toothpick, I just liked that the tacks have square tips). I also leaned into the gouges and snags from cutting the foam. About half of the boards I used were underside up 

to give the floor a more worn feel.

On to paint!
 
Elroy and I looked at the castle tiles and he decided they looked like slate, so I chose a selection of grey and cream acrylic craft paints and got to work. 

I started with a base coat of a dark grey (somewhere between slate and charcoal) and overbrushed (like dry brushing, but with slightly more paint on the brush) the foam with a medium grey. This will become the dominant tone for the stone. The next coat was a dry brush of a light grey, followed by an even lighter dry brush coat of ivory. I used a similar process for the wood floor, just in varying shades of brown instead of black.

 
Then it was time for the detail painting.

Slate tends to have more oxidized, rust colored patches mixed in on large tiles. So, I thinned a mix of red and dark brown with some water and brushed it on sections that were fairly flat, or just needed an accent. I did not use this on every tile (I followed the same loose ‘less than half’ guideline from the worn tiles), and I don’t think I covered more than 1/4 - 1/3 

of the surface of the tiles I did put it on.

The Pit Trap needed to look deeper than it was, so I painted the recess with a coat of a dark charcoal grey. I originally added more red to the rust wash and layered a few puddles around the points to simulate old dried blood. Elroy liked it, but I was worried that it wouldn’t show up once the piece was sealed. So I found a dark red and thinned it just a tiny bit and carefully splattered it (with a very small, stiff bristled brush) into the pit. I wiped off any drops that landed on the foam edges and let it dry. I used some old, nearly dry silver Rub ‘N’ Buff (a metallic, pigmented wax) on the points so they would look like metal. 

Once all the pieces were finished and dry it was time for a black wash to tone down the colors, settle into the crevices and pick out the details.

I made a quick blackwash using warm water with a drop of dish soap and a combination of black, dark brown, dark grey and dark purple paints. The variety of paint colors made the wash less of a true black, and more of a very dark grey. The wash got brushed over everything in the set 

and I let the pieces dry overnight.

After the wash dried, I added a few more splatters of thinned red to the Pit and recoated the points with Rub ‘N’ Buff. 

Then I sealed all the pieces with 2 to 3 coats of Spray Polyurethane 

(specifically the Minwax Fast-Drying, because it doesn’t melt foam). 

This stuff:

A quick note. The spray poly really brought up grey and brown tones on all the pieces, changing the overall colors of the pieces. If you decide to make your own set, don’t be surprised if the final color is not what you were expecting.

Now came the next challenge . . . resin.
 

Next up: Adventures in Resin

 

D&D Dungeon Tiles (Pt. 2): Building the Castle

The first set of Dungeon Tiles I decided to tackle were 
the Castle/ Dungeon Frame and Inserts.

 (Not sure what I’m talking about? Check out my last post. I’ll wait.) 

Elroy and I came up with 6 insert variations for the Castle Frame: 
Basic Stone Floor, Worn Stone Floor, Authentic Battle Damage™ Stone Floor, Water Pool, Acid Pool and Pit Trap. 

When I drew up the first grid, I made the squares 1”x 1” 

(because that is the scale that Black Magic Crafts uses for his D&D terrain). 

And then I showed it to Elroy . . .

He was worried that a grid at that scale 
(even though it is scaled to match the miniatures for the game) 
would have too much information per square 

to be a good fit for his type of gameplay.

So, I re-drew the grid at a 2”x 2” scale and started cutting my foam trays. 

I used a craft knife and cutting mat to cut the curved lip off the tray, 

and my 1 yd metal ruler to cut the center pieces into 2” strips, 

and those strips into 2” squares. 
I found that as I went on, the bottom edge of the foam would get little burrs, where the blade would snag on a small strip of foam and pull it along like a hangnail (later, I learned that cutting with a small sawing motion helps keep this from happening). So, I just made sure to trim those edges and keep them in mind when I started arranging my tiles. 

Before I started gluing, I used a pen and my ruler to put my 2” grid on the bare side of the tiles and frame. If you decide to make these DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! No matter how well you measure, not every foam square will be perfectly even, and I found that my cake boards were not perfect 12”x 12” squares. On side was just slightly (like less than 1/8^th of an inch) under. 
I also used the craft knife to trim and bevel the edges on the tiles and frame, making sure to check that all of the tiles fit 

with some wiggle room in the frame. If they are too snug, 

it’s really hard to switch the tiles out without lifting up the whole piece. 

To keep the rows as even as possible and make sure the grout lines would line up no matter which insert was used, I started with the insert tiles. I wanted each tile to have 9 squares (like a tic tac toe board), so I found the center point on the top and bottom sides, measured 1” to either side and connected my points top and bottom. This gave me a 2” distance between the lines that was centered on the tile. Then I rotated the tiles to the unmarked side 

and repeated the process. 

Voila! The center square is perfectly centered.  

Time to Assemble! (Cue Avengers music . . . oh no, just me? Gotcha.)

I used a paintbrush to brush the bottom side of the foam squares with Matte Mod Podge and placed them on the tiles 

(I plan to cover the Frame and Pit Trap in the next post because they had a bit of extra math involved in the foam placement). 

I ran into a small issue as I got to work. Although the top of the foam trays was smooth, the underside had a brand imprint that made the undersides uneven once they’d been cut. I ended up keeping a couple of heavy bottles nearby to hold pieces in place if they started to lift.

Once my tiles had dried (usually less than an hour), I went back and started adding texture and details.  All of the tiles got a quick and dirty stone finish by balling up some aluminum foil and pressing it into the foam to create a slate or travertine texture. I used the craft knife to trim any foam that was too close or didn’t leave enough of a grout line to line up nicely. Then I ran a ball point pen along the grout lines to gently bevel the edges of the foam. I also used the craft knife to bevel the outside edges of each tile. This gave them a nicer, more even edge and kept them from sticking in the frame.

For the Worn Stone Floor, I drew in small, jagged cracks with the pen and used the tip of the craft knife to gouge and slice out small chunks of a few of the tiles (I think 4 out of 9 squares got minimal damage), as though the broken stones were simply left in place instead of being replaced, making this section of floor feel worn, shabby and maybe a little bit grimy.  

I exaggerated this on the Authentic Battle Damage™ tile. I gouged much larger cracks into the foam, removed corners on some tiles and used the pen to extend the gouges with branching cracks. I tried to radiate the cracks out as though they were showing impact points that traveled from one square to the rest. Every square had at least some damage on this tile, giving it an abandoned castle/ ruins feel. 

Here's the same tile after I added some bits of craft moss and tea from a cheap tea bag.

For the Acid and Water tiles, I drew in the general shapes I wanted the pools to have and then I experimented with a couple of techniques to get the shapes.

I sacrificed one of my trays as a tester for the melting agents (dollar store clear nail polish and dollar store acetone nail polish remover) and later used the same tray to make sure the resin was foam safe. The reaction that melts the foam takes a few minutes, and the foam is really thin, 

so taking too much off was a real concern. 

The Acid tile had 2 pools of acid separated by a narrow strip of land that players would have to traverse to get across the board. I wanted a more violent looking, corrosive type of finish so I grabbed some dollar store clear nail polish and brushed it on just inside my outlines. I kept working farther into the pools and then went back over some of the areas that weren’t as deep as I wanted with a second coat before the first coat had dried. I left plenty of small projections and bumps to give the resin some additional details.

The Water tile consisted of 1 large central pool that took up most of the playable surface. I wanted it to look like the water had slowly worn down the floor, with smoother transitions and gentler edges. I brushed on the acetone (use an old brush you don’t care about if you do this, the acetone will strip the glue holding in the bristles. I had to throw the brush out after I finished), again starting at the edges and working my way in. The acetone causes a more extreme melt and took the tile down to bare board in a number of places but it leaves smoother, more rounded edges. 

Once I was happy with all the tiles, I painted a coat of the Black Magic Craft Foam Sealer, which is just Matte Mod Podge with black craft paint added.

Funny story, after I mixed my batch it bubbled up like a volcano. I know my Mod Podge was a couple of years old and has a strong vinegar smell, so maybe my craft paint was just basic enough to get a reaction. 

(Heh, heh basic. Like I’m the only one who appreciates science puns.) 

I let the tiles dry overnight. I’ll cover the techniques I used 

for painting and sealing in the next post.

 

 

Next up: The Castle Frame and Pit Trap 

D&D Dungeon Tiles: My Quarantine Crafting Experiment - a Series

 Ok, time for a show of hands . . . who here decided to try a new craft during Quarantine in 2020?

Yup. Me, too.

Now, while the on-trend craft was growing sourdough starters and making bread I went another way.

Since Hunny and I usually spend spring and summer cosplaying at local Cons and attending Renaissance Faires, COVID-19 meant that all of our events were cancelled.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this was a comparatively minor problem, especially considering the loss of life and hardships that so many have suffered. 

But it was still disappointing.

I now had all this extra crafting time to fill and costuming for the future simply hurt too much. I ended up finding crafting inspiration in a Black Magic Crafts video about crafting D&D Dungeon Tiles. The portability and frugality of this particular video gave me an idea.

A terrible, wonderful idea. Sorry. Sorry, that’s the Grinch.

Over the last couple of years, Elroy (who just turned 16, for those who have been keeping track) has gotten very into Dungeons & Dragons. He has multiple groups he plays with and thoroughly enjoys ruining Player lives as a DM (Dungeon Master). I often collaborate with him in setting up story elements, plot devices and evil DM tactics.

So, Elroy and I put our heads together.

I had a set of 12”x 12” Wilton Cake Boards that I had purchased a few years ago, intending to use them as a cheap and dirty photography reflector (I nixed the idea later as impractical). They come 5 to a package, are made of non-corrugated, sturdy chipboard and only have the silver paper on one side. 

We decided that as useful as the original reversible tiles are, making them more modular would ultimately be the better option. Instead of just making 4 or 6 of the reversible tiles, we came up with a system of terrain frames and inner tiles that could be swapped out for more gameplay options.

After much discussion, Elroy gave me a list of the types of terrain that he would find useful and some additional specialty tiles to explore in the future. He chose Castle/ Dungeon blocks, Desert and Grassy Field/ Dirt Road. Those would become the outer frames. I would cut 6”x 6” squares out of the center of each frame and the 2 remaining cake boards would be cut into quarters.

So, 5 cake boards gave me 3 terrain frames and 11 interchangeable 6”x 6” tiles. I could work with that.

On my next grocery run, I checked out the cheap foam plates from the video. 

While I was sure they would work fine, I thought the amount of foam lost to round edges when I planned mostly square pieces made me decide on rectangular foam trays instead. These ended up costing less than a dollar for a package of 30. 

I already had most of the other materials, so I picked one of the tiles and started drawing a grid.

It was time to get started.

 

Next up: Building the Castle

Lightsaber Earring Tutorial

Ok, so I know that most of us need 

something fun and easy as a distraction right now. 

Normally I would wait until closer to May the 4th for a post like this, 

but with the need for people to flatten the curve 

and social distancing . . . 

I think a few of us might be in need of a project.

So I present to you: 

How to make your own lightsaber earrings, a tutorial

First, the supplies:

Per pair of earrings, you will need:

• Basic wire/ jewelry skills 
• Assorted Pliers & jewelry tools (I used Round Nosed pliers and Wire Cutters, you could also use Flat Nosed pliers) 
• 2 Long headpins (1 ½ - 2 in)
• 2 smooth roundel beads in preferred metal finish
• 2 long-ish, large bore metal spacer beads (mine are roughly 3/8in long, with filigree designs) The hole must be large enough to fit over the tube beads so that the blade can be inset in the hilt.
• Tube beads, the longer the better, in your preferred blade color as well as some smaller ones to fill the spacer. I needed at least 2 to 3 for each blade, plus another 1 – 2 shorter ones inside the spacer.
• Your preferred earring wire (or bale, if you want a pendant instead)
• Christmas Light Beads; these are a colored plastic bulb in a black “rubber” socket which is important, because we only need the socket piece for these.

Step 1:

• Slide 1 roundel onto the headpin. Make sure you check that the hole in the roundel won’t slip over the head of the headpin. Add 1 or 2 shorter tube beads (just long enough to almost fill the spacer bead) and your longer tube beads to make up the blade. Leave about 1/4in of the wire to make the loop at the top (to attach the ear wire).

Step 2:

• Remove the rubber cap from the Christmas Light beads. I had to cut the flange off of mine, regular nippers or wire cutters work fine for this. This also allowed me to trim them to the right length for my earrings.

Step 3:

• Slide spacer bead onto headpin. The bottom hole should slide over the tube beads to stand on the roundel bead. Add the cut rubber cap. It should sit nicely on top of the spacer. I chose not to glue these pieces together because gravity keeps them nicely in place. Use your Round Nosed pliers to bend the tip of the headpin into a small loop.

Step 3:

• Slide spacer bead onto headpin. The bottom hole should slide over the tube beads to stand on the roundel bead. Add the cut rubber cap. It should sit nicely on top of the spacer. I chose not to glue these pieces together because gravity keeps them nicely in place. Use your Round Nosed pliers to bend the tip of the headpin into a small loop.

And here is the finished earring:

Don’t be afraid to mix and match your colors. 

Classic lightsabers tended to be blue, green or red, 

but you can pick any color you’d like. 

I even made Hunny a set in purple.

Enjoy, and may the force be with us all. - Vixi

Flushed, Chapter 9: The Final Sanction

Flushed

I have finally finished my first multi-chapter fanfic. Thanks for staying with me for this one. I promise, I do have other things to write about (so long as I can keep the plot bunnies at bay). 

And, on to the final chapter.

Chapter 9: The Final Sanction

“Rose! Rose, where are you? Rose” Jamie pushed his way through the crowded sidewalk toward the large, damaged flat screen telly playing the final game of the World Cup in the middle of Rat London. His head bobbed above the crowd as he jumped, trying to scan the crowd for Rose and her family. Spotting Pete’s wheelchair and full body cast, he quickly changed directions and headed closer to the water.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jamie saw movement reflecting off the plastic window of one of the shops lining the street. Turning to follow it, he saw Rose tied up and dangling from a length of twine hanging from one of the upper pipes.

Thinking quickly, Jamie grabbed the latex glove balloon tied to a nearby food cart and a discarded handheld motorized fan. The balloon lifted him above the crowd and he used the fan to propel it toward Rose.

Within moments, Jamie had reached Rose and pulled her into his arms. While they were busy untying the twine, a mechanical lift rose on the other side of a nearby platform, revealing Rassilon, the Master and a large group of their subordinates.

“Get them!” Rassilon roared. Sec and Thay scurried to find a way to bring down the balloon before handing the Master a staple gun and backing away. The Master laughed in unholy glee as he rapidly shot staples at the yellow glove. A cheer ran through the assembled frogs as staples punctured the balloon, sending it careening around the pipe Rose had been tied to and flipping Rose and Jamie into the air.

They landed with a crash in the center of the platform, right at the webbed feet of Rassilon himself. Sec and Thay raced forward, pulling Rose and Jamie upright and blocking their path to the lift.

Rassilon strode forward, red robes billowing behind him. He glared at the Master, who was giggling madly, and quickly ascended the lift to a console covered with flashing buttons. The cable Rose had commandeered as a belt had been restored to its place on the panel and was crackling with electricity.

“And now, behold my genius! Prepare to witness the Final Sanction!” Rassilon slammed his slimy, green hand on a large red button, causing it to light up and the flood gate doors to creep open. “Watch as all the filthy lower life forms are flushed away! We toads will reclaim our place as the most powerful species in the sewers!”

Jamie met Rose’s eyes in horror. “My family’s down there!” Rose gasped, panicked.

“I promise, Rose. I won’t let that happen. We will stop him. Your family will be fine.” Jamie whispered in Rose’s ear, looking pointedly over his shoulder at the large tank of liquid nitrogen that Rassilon had hooked into his ice maker. Darting forward, Rose grabbed the hose, pulling it from the tank and pointed the spray at the frogs who were rushing to recapture the two rats. The liquid nitrogen froze the frogs in place, allowing Rose to drop the hose and make a run for the pipes.

Rassilon followed Rose onto the pipe, using his tongue to swing himself past Rose and block her escape.  She scampered back toward the platform only to be caught around the waist and wrenched back to Rassilon, still wrapped in coils of his tongue. He lifted her above his head and shouted out of the side of his mouth, “Master, grab the Doctor! He must not stop the Final Sanction! Where are my idiot minions? Sec! Thay! Protect the Master Cable!”

As the Master closed in on Jamie, he grabbed the incredulous frog by his waist. Jamie squeezed forcefully, causing the Master’s tongue to wrap around the pipe above Rose.

“Please let this work” Jamie muttered under his breath and jumped off the platform, swinging across the space. He grabbed Rose, using the momentum of the swing to pull her out of Rassilon’s slimy restraints.

“I have just one thing to say to you, Rassilon” Jamie shouted as they swung past the outraged toad. “See ya!”

Keeping one arm around Rose, Jamie let go of the Master. The two rats dropped to the pipe, causing it to crack at Rassilon’s feet, freezing his robe to the metal surface. The Master was propelled onto a junction in the pipe where his tongue wrapped him securely in place and froze onto the cold pipe.

Jamie jumped to his feet, loudly taunting Rassilon. “Look at you Mr. Thick! Mr. Thickety, thick, thick. From Thick-Town, Thick-sylvannia! I’ve never met anyone as thick as you!”

Enraged, Rassilon stomped forward, tugging the hem of his robe free. The pipe cracked further as he moved closer to Jamie, lining up his shot.

The distant sound of flushing echoed through the sewer. Rose turned horrified brown eyes to Jamie. Her voice cracked as she whispered “We’re too late.”

___________

In the crowd below, Pete Tyler turned away from the game, distracted by the noise of rushing water echoing over the shouts of “Go England!”

“Wave!” he yelled at the crowd, only to have the assembled fans do the wave across the sidewalk. “No! Wave!” he yelled again, this time accompanied by the roaring water.

A rat in a ‘the end is near’ sandwich board pointed at the approaching wave, yelling “I told you!” repeatedly.

“Shut it, Clive!” Captain Jack shouted back. “You’re not helping! We need to get everyone out of here!”

Jackie plunked a frightened Tony onto Pete’s lap and grabbed the back of the wheelchair, intending to push her family through the crowd and to safety, but the crush was too thick for the panicked group to move. Jackie wrapped her arms around her son and husband, determined to keep her family together, wave or no wave.

___________

Jamie danced to the side, lining his body up with the still moving, geared mechanism on top of the floodgate door. He ducked just in time as Rassilon’s tongue shot over Jamie’s head and into the gears, catapulting Rassilon back onto the pipe cracking it in half and flinging him onto the same pipe junction as the Master.

Jamie grabbed Rose’s paw, yelling “Run!” Once they reached the platform, he turned back watching the broken pipe fall lower and begin to pour liquid nitrogen into the air. “I hope this works,” he muttered as the wave hurtled down the tunnel.

Gallons of liquid nitrogen splashed onto the surface of the wave, freezing the water solid. The ice spread up the crest of the wave, stopping it in place just as it began to break over the Rat London sidewalk and the terrified crowd.

Shaking and laughing in relief, Jackie pointed to Rose and Jamie up on the platform. “They’ve saved us!”

Not to be outdone, Captain Jack Harkness shouted: “the Doctor and Rose saved the city!”

The crowd of rats celebrated, picking up the chant of “Doc-tor! Doc-tor!”

Rose turned to Jamie, pointing to the crowd. “You’re a hero. You saved everyone.”

“We saved everyone,” Jamie corrected. “Stuff of legends, that’s us.” Running a paw behind his ear, Jamie looked down shyly before meeting Rose’s eyes. “So, when you set off with the Bad Wolf II,” he started hesitantly. “Do you think you might need a first mate?”

“Come here, you!” Rose giggled pulling him into a hug. “How long you gonna stay with me?”

Jamie pulled back to look in her eyes before leaning forward and whispering “Forever” just before meeting her lips with his own.

___________

Jamie gazed out over Rat London contemplatively. Safe and sound after the World Cup and Rassilon’s madness.

“I still can’t believe England lost. I really thought we had it this time” Rose said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. He leaned into her embrace, sighing. “You ready to set off?” she asked quietly, giving him one more squeeze before heading to the wheelhouse to get them underway.

“Oh, you’re stuck with me,” he replied, grinning at her and pulling up the anchor.

“Stuck with you? That’s not so bad. Better hang on Doctor,” Rose teased. Jamie grabbed her paw in his as she opened the throttle and gunned the Bad Wolf II down the nearest sewer tunnel. “Let’s see how far this baby can take us!” echoed off the walls as the Bad Wolf II and her crew set off on a new adventure.  

Chap 1 Chap 2 Chap 3 Chap 4 Chap 5 Chap 6 Chap 7 Chap 8

Flushed - Chapter 8: The Oncoming Storm

Flushed

Ok, so I think there will only be 1 or 2 chapters left of this story. I promise I do have other things to share, not just fanfiction. Here we go.

Chapter 8: The Oncoming Storm

“There you are, Blondie . . .” Rose whipped her head toward the sinister voice and backed away from the frog as he stepped out of the shadows.

“I’ve been looking for you. Rassilon wants a word. Please, fight back. He didn’t say he wanted you undamaged.” The Master nodded and a pair of webbed green hands closed over Rose’s arms, holding her in place as she twisted and struggled. His unhinged laughter echoed off the sewer walls as he watched more and more of his brethren pile on top of the blonde rat before finally pinning her down and knocking her unconscious.

“Nice catch, Toclafane. Let’s take the baggage to Rassilon before she wakes up.”

Rose was lifted and thrown over the shoulder of the largest of the frogs. As they retreated down the tunnel, the Master’s giggles slowly faded with their footsteps.

___________

Jamie followed the sound of Mickey’s shouting to the den. The spotless white sofa now had black grease and orange cheese dust ground into the leather in a wide halo around the interloper. Mickey looked at him warily, waiting to see how Jamie would react now that Rose had left.

With a deep sigh, Jamie climbed onto the sofa next to Mickey and held out his hand for one of the snacks. Mickey handed him the bottle of hard cider once he’d finished chewing.

“I’d go easy on the drinks, Mate” Mickey cautioned. “Too much and you’ll never make it to half time. You’ll miss the match.”

Jamie started putting together the events of the last couple of days. Unhappy with how the puzzle was coming together, he asked Mickey “So, this a big game then? Lot of people watching today?”

Mickey looked at Jamie in disbelief before slowly answering him. “Where you been, Mate? This is the World Cup. All of London is watching right now. The whole world’s watching.”

“Oh. This is not good. This is very not good.” Jamie started pacing across the sofa cushion, tugging at the fur at the back of his head. “This is two suitcases and a bus ride from good.”

“What’s got in your knickers? What’re you on about?”

“Mickety, Mick, Mickey! Don’t you see? Half Time! Rassilon buggared the system. When everyone in the city uses the loo at half time, it’ll cause a tidal wave! Rat London will be washed away.” Jamie’s pacing came to a halt as a terrible thought occurred to him. “Rose went back there! She’ll be washed out, too! Her whole family is down there! I have to stop Rassilon!”

Seeing Mickey’s blank expression, Jamie tugged him off the sofa and back down the hall to the bathroom. Pulling them both up to stand on the toilet seat, Jamie turned to Mickey.

“There’s a little girl that lives here. Reinette. Will you promise to take care of her? Cheer her up when she’s upset? Be there for her when she has nightmares about being attacked by clockwork men?”

Knowing a good thing when he heard it, Mickey quickly agreed. 

Jamie nodded to him before jumping into the bowl as Mickey pulled the lever.

Chap 1 Chap 2 Chap 3 Chap 4 Chap 5 Chap 6 Chap 7 Chap 9

Flushed: Chapter 7 - Home Again

Flushed

So, I decided to flex my very limited Photoshop skills, and I made a banner for this story. (It took me a week to figure each aspect out, too.) Here it is!

And without further ado . . .

Chapter 7: Home Again

“Oooff!” Rose and Jamie tumbled across the floor. Rose sprawled inelegantly across Jamie for a moment before rolling away laughing uproariously.

“You alright?” Jamie asked as he climbed to his feet, looking concerned as Rose continued giggling madly. Rose took a few deep breaths before managing to reign in her snickers.

“It’s nothing. You take me to the nicest places, is all” she teased before accepting his hand up and looking around. “Where are we?”

“This would be the upstairs guest room” he replied, turning away from the open window to gesture to the hall. “The master suite is just down the hall. That’s where all the jewels are kept.” He kept up a rambling commentary of the features of the house as they walked down the hall.

Rose smiled in amusement at his stories of grand misadventures and scandal connected to seemingly every decorative painting or vase.  They scaled the dresser and Jamie quickly lifted the lid of the wooden jewelry box.

Rose’s eyes glistened with unshed tears seeing so much wealth so casually discarded inside the box. Each piece could bring enough to feed her family for a year, and here it all was, just jumbled up together in a careless tangle. She suddenly felt very small; as though she and everyone she knew were running in pointless circles while those up above lived a life of ease and plenty.

Jamie leaned toward her, breaking Rose out of her contemplation and placing the daimond he had pooped out of an earring in her paw.

“The lady of the house won’t even notice it’s gone” he stated quietly. “That white point star is bigger than the one that broke. It’s probably worth twice what that one would have been if it was real.”

He stuck his hand back inside the box, pulling a pendant with a large rectangular sapphire off its chain and handing it to Rose. “And this one, I think, should just bout cover the Bad Wolf mark two.” 

Finally meeting her eyes, he let out a small nervous breath before continuing, “I really am sorry about the Bad Wolf. And, thank you. For helping me. For bringing me home. I just . . . I’m so glad I met you.”

Rose smiled and reached out for his paw. Interlocking their fingers, she pulled him back into the hallway. “So, which one’s your room?”

“Ah . . . you don’t want to see my room. It’s boring. It’s almost tea time. Let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll make us something, shall I?” Jamie pulled Rose down the hallway a bit faster, hoping to distract her long enough to pass Reinette’s open door without her noticing his cage under the window.

“Who lives there?” Rose pulled away to get a better look at the elaborate cage in what looked like a child’s room.

“Ahh. Well. Ah, that is my apartment. I like to have my own space. Get away from the comings and goings. The hustle and bustle, you know.” His rambling explanation trailed off at the heartbreak on her face.

“It’s just you, isn’t it? How long have you been alone, without any other rats? Without any family?”

“There’s only been me. For such a long time now,” Jamie sighed. “I mean, Reinette is lovely. She takes care of everything I need, really. But . . .”

“But you’re lonely” Rose finished. “Why didn’t you say? Why didn’t you tell me you were a pet? You don’t have to stay here. You could come back with me.”

“I can’t. I have responsibilities. Reinette depends on me. She’d be heartbroken if I wasn’t here when they return. And, I don’t have anyone down there either. I’d still be alone.”

“There’s me. I mean, I thought we were . . . I guess I got it wrong,” Rose dropped her paw back to her side.

Jamie opened his mouth, the words heavy on his tongue when a noisy shape in a football jersey barged into the room.

“Hey, you’re back” Mickey shouted. “Thought I was well rid of you.”

“Oh Rose, let me introduce you to . . . my brother. Rickey.”

“Hey Micks,” Rose waved at the darker rat. “How’s your Gran?”

“Rosie! Fancy seeing you up here. Your dad doin’ ok? Gran wants you to come round. She misses you.” Mickey glanced at Jamie before bursting into gales of laughter. “Your brother! Who would believe that, Mate? You’re not near handsome enough to be my brother.” He turned to Rose, elbowing her gently in the side and throwing his arm across her shoulders before stage whispering “You think I should tell him you used to be my girl? Oh, what a lark. I ain’t laughed like that in years.”

Rose shrugged Mickey’s arm off and stepped away from them. “I can’t stay. I have to go back. Jamie, you could come with me.” At the slight, despondent shake of his head, she turned to go.

“Rose,” Jamie gasped as she turned the corner and disappeared down the hall. A heavy weight settled in the pit of his stomach when he realized she was really gone. Even Mickey had wandered back to the telly to watch the game.

Jamie looked around at the room he had lived so long in. What had felt comfortable, extravagant even, just yesterday now felt claustrophobic. How could his world have changed so drastically in just the few short hours he’d spent in her company? He knew one thing for sure. His world had never been lonelier, now that she was gone.   

Chap 1 Chap 2 Chap 3 Chap 4 Chap 5 Chap 6 Chap 8 Chap 9