Seedless Milk March 15, 2020

So, if anything, I’ve gotten more into Neopets since my last post about it. Still don’t have my own account, but as soon as we have the NP to make Desert Lutari Cammy happen, I’ll be making one. Been reading more lore, poking around Jellyneo more, trying to absorb it all so I’m set to start making OCs. Really, that’s why I’m into it. The OC potential. The creativity. Oh, and the fantasy worlds. Fantasy worlds help~

In the meantime, I finished Blumaroo Cammy’s petpage. That’s right, in Neopets, every pet automatically gets a dedicated home page that you can edit with real HTML and CSS and everything. It’s fairly dated HTML and CSS, and some of it’s intentionally limited for safety reasons (though not quite sensically–why can I not use RGBA colors? >_>), but it’s proper HTML and CSS nonetheless.

You’ll need an account to see it, but here he is. If you don’t have an account, I’ve copied over his bio over here for posterity. I really like how it came out, rust and real life weirdness considered. Caby called it “the best petpage I ever did see, honestly” and that made me all fuzzy, heee.

Plus, tables! Any page with a table is a good page, I can assure you.

Good evening.

…I’m sure it’s evening somewhere in Neopia, yes? Then good evening to them. My name is mariteaux, and I’m a Blumaroo now residing in the Kingdom of Brightvale with my one and only, my Gnorbu love, my Caby~

I’m sure you’re wondering what brought a Roo Island native to Brightvale. I’ve wondered that myself. Blumaroos are too simple and fun-loving for an esteemed place of knowledge like Brightvale, surely! And that’s where we differ.

My fun’s always been about discovery, adventure, knowledge of far-off lands, everything from the architecture of the Lost Desert to the agility and grace of the Nimmo’s dance. This is what fueled my interest in books—escapism, the thought of being somewhere other than where I really was…

…on Roo Island, for many, many years.

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I never fit in on Roo Island. It’s a lovely place to visit, don’t get me wrong! But only if you’re visiting, I’m afraid. As much as I enjoy a few rounds of Crisis Courier, I couldn’t make my life on games alone. I felt it empty there. I wanted more.

My inspiration to leave came as I wandered the art gallery one day, somewhere over by the Zafaras. It hit me as I peeked that I’d never actually seen one in person, nor Usuls, nor Unis, nor Ixis. If I’d gone this far without seeing something as simple as all the species of pets, what else didn’t I know about? What else hadn’t I seen? What was I missing?

I took it as a sign that the next book I brought home, a guide to Neopia, had a Zafara on it. With the day’s neopoints in hand, I bought my ticket for the ferry and boarded. It was the last day I’d spend in Roo Island. So far, anyway.

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On that ferry, I thought long about where I was ultimately off to. Certainly, it couldn’t just be “somewhere that isn’t Roo Island”, could it? My first choice was to act on a desire to see the magic and grand architecture of the Lost Desert cities, but I knew I wasn’t ready for it. Deserts are dangerous things.

I spent much of that ferry ride staring at the scratchy, detailed illustrations in my book on the place, feeling it maddeningly just out of reach. Nevertheless, I instead set my sights on the sister kingdoms of Meridell and Brightvale.

It’d prove to be the most important choice I’ve ever made.

After a long trek around Neopia Central, partly through which, I was accompanied by a very old, dim Yurble who tried to sell me on the benefits of “milk with the seeds removed” (“it goes good with omelettes!”), I arrived in Brightvale. As for why I picked it, of the two kingdoms, Brightvale seemed to have more to offer me. All those books, all that knowledge, all the adventure…

I wasn’t expecting love of all things to be what I found. I’d only stopped to ask that cloud Gnorbu for directions to the potionery, but she seemed keen on accompanying me to it…and I grew keen on staying with her. Oh, how I could wax about her fluffy mane, the way she laughs, the way she speaks of the world, so natural and vibrant…but ahem.

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One day, I told Caby about my interest in the Lost Desert and how I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle it in my naive condition. In response, she grabbed my book and picked out one of the illustrations from it. It was a brown Lutari in a hood, golden bands on his wrists and a beetle-shaped fastener to match. “Gotta be like him,” she said to me.

I assume she meant how he was prepared for the sandstorms and dry heat, but at that moment, I had the strongest urge to quite literally become that Lutari. His slender build, his confidence, his size especially, it was all perfect.

My goal now is to save up for a Morphing Potion and become a Desert Lutari. Strange goal? Perhaps. But given my fresh start, a fresh form to occupy wouldn’t go amiss, I reckon…

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And I hear you ask with a slight scowl: Are you sure you’re not a Brightvale native? You sure love hearing yourself talk…

And I really should’ve been, shouldn’t I?

(Writing these blog posts has become weirdly cumbersome lately. All good, getting back to work. I’ll have more to say soon enough.)

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