Investigating the Past

So, after a little discussion today, Pizzy and I totally decided it'd be fun to go back to Southshore and take a look at the Ashbringer thing! So we teleported over there, hopped a dragon, and BAMF! There we were 7 years ago. Cool, huh? We went to the inn where I had seen these guys chatting before and we hid behind a couple kegs. It's really good that we're gnomes and not something like a Tauren or whatever.

Anyway, we totally got there just in time. Right as we found our hiding spots, Highlord Mograine and the gang totally started chatting. he busted out this evil looking crystal, and they zapped some holy energy into it, and it turned from an evil crystal into a good one! And then it totally healed Mograine's hand, even! How sweet is that?

As soon as the conversation was over, we hightailed it outside to the docks so we could sit and make sense of it all. We tried to think of if there were any more gems hidden in Blackrock Mountain that could be similar to the one that he found. There were the gems for the seal of ascension, of course, but Vael didn't do anything wacky to them to make them useful, so obviously they're not an otherworldly source of evil. There's Father Flame, but it's kind of large and burny and not so much small and voidy. And it's totally been for-EVER since I explored Blackwing Lair, so I can't really remember if there was anything gemmy in there.

Then Pizmo thought there might be something in the Depths of Blackrock, and we both remembered that there was this thing called the Heart of the Mountain! There's this goblin guy who wanted it, but he didn't say why he wanted it, only that the dwarves didn't want to sell it to him. And it occurred to me that I totally knew how to make something called the Smoking Heart of the Mountain, which I would suppose to be similar. We debated about which of the two would be better.

But you know what, I didn't even KNOW if we should be looking for a gem. I mean, it was one thing when we were thinking of a void thinger just like they used to make the Ashbringer, but just any old gem? I don't even know if it would work. So Pizzy started talking about a modified potion injector, which seemed like a good idea. He's so clever. We got a little bit distracted discussing ideas for a contingency plan if we were unable to save the arm, but I think we have a good plan. I'm gonna go get the gem and he's gonna build the injector. Together, we'll come up with the best plans ever known to gnomekind!

Then things got a little more serious. He told me he'd received my letter (the writing of which was pretty much the hardest thing I've ever hard to do). He let me know that no matter what horrid things had happened to me in my past, he'd still love me. And if Tiggs ever came back, he would make sure he suffered for what he did. It was amazing to see him so angry and determined... for me. He was so passionate when he described how he'd be my protector and avenger if ever given the chance. And I just felt like my heart was totally going to explode out of my chest. He's AMAZING. I'm such an incredibly, totally lucky woman.

Different brands of seriosity

So, after we went and dumped a bunch of demonic gems in a fel-infused volcano, Pizzy and I went back to Allerian Stronghold to relax a little bit. And talk. We've only been dating for 7 months or so, but I've been so panicked this week about the possibility of being pregnant, I figured we better talk about the future together - see if we even HAVE a future together.

I mean, I'm a lot more knowledgeable and careful than most women, and I'm fortunate that my cycle's been like clockwork, but this month has shown that nothing is foolproof, as much as I'd like to think it is. I don't think Pizzy's the type to run out on me with a baby... but I didn't think Zandramas was either. As much as I'd like to think that I'm totally a liberated woman and stuff, the reality is that I can't really work while I'm pregnant or having a nursling. Not my ordinary line of work, anyways. And if there were complications....

Anyway, yeah, so this is why most people get married before sleeping together, or at least around the time they start sleeping together. No one's gonna help track down the father of a bastard child, but a married, divorced, or widowed man can be held responsible for his offspring. And if he dies, then we're taken care of. I'm SO. VERY. GLAD. that Zandramas and I had been married when he died, because the inheritance is helping to pay for child care right now so I can go out and earn a living.

ANYWAYS! So. I was REALLY nervous about bringing up marriage and everything, because Pizmo has been totally freaked out about any kind of marriage talk - even at the mention of the word his eyes bug out like he's been zapped with jumper cables or something. But I managed to bring it up, and of course he was all kinds of worried. He's like, what if I won't be a good husband and it fails and then you'd be so sad? And I'm like, dude, you're an amazing boyfriend, and being a husband is like being a boyfriend except we live together, you know? And then he's like, what if living together is a total disaster?

Then he suggested we find a soothsayer or something to predict whether we'd be a successful married couple. Come ON, who does that, seriously? Not a gnome, that's for sure. So I'm like, look, we jus twork things out as they come up. I think we'll be FINE without a soothsayer or whatever. And then he brought up Wynni, which makes sense, I guess. He wanted to know how we'd deal with decisions about raising her or whatnot, and whether he'd be considered her father.

Then he asked about her natural father. He's DEAD. He's like, ar eyou sure, and I'm like, yes, I buried Zandramas myself, GOSH. But then he reminded me about Zanny not REALLY being her biological father. And something inside me just kind of snapped. The idea of HIM - Wynni's REAL father - even being remotely involved... My mind told me that is was silly and wouldn't ever happen, but my heart was off and running at a million miles an hour. I felt TERRIFIED, and like my chest was closing in on me.

Pizzy was so gentle - he just held me and rocked me back and forth, talked to me gently to try to understand what was going on and to try to calm me down. I was hardly even aware he was there - I just felt like I couldn't breathe, and I was trying desperately to convince myself that there was no way in the nether that Tiggs could ever, ever find me.

And then the narcolepsy took me. You won't find me being grateful for my disability very often, but I don't think Pizmo or I have ever been more thankful for it than today. I don't know how long I slept, but when I woke up the panic was gone. My chest and head were still aching, but that's probably because of the quick breathing. And I felt absolutely MORTIFIED that he had seen me like that. I mean, I've been nothing but strong and brave when I've been with him - I've never let ANYONE see me have a panic attack like that (at least not in the last 2 years). I figured he'd think I was totally crazy or something.

But he didn't. He just hugged me and told me that it was OK to be afraid, and that whatever else I might be, I'm still a woman, and I'm allowed to have emotions and such. He promised to listen to whatever I wanted to tell him, and he'd hold me right there to help me feel safe. He wanted me to tell him what happened, but I just COULDN'T. I can't talk about it - every time I even try, it's like I'm living it all over again. He thought maybe he just wasn't very good at being comforting, but it's a real block - I've never told anyone what happened.

He told me a story about how he had found an item that was of vital importance to the Horde. He had spent a lot of time fighting the Horde on the battlegrounds of Alterac and Arathi, and had hoped his renown on the field of battle would encourage leaders to listen to him when he came bearing a message of importance. They totally didn't, though - they just laughed at him and beat him up. He had such stories about how he snuck into Orgrimmar and yelled at all the orcs and they couldn't catch him because he was so small and quick!

The stories didn't REALLY relate directly to what I was freaking out about, but they were important to him because he had never shared them with anyone before. And, well, it really did calm me down a bit, talking about something else. I told him that I would write him a letter sharing my ordeal, and that seemed good enough for him. He told me he wanted me to feel comfortable telling him anything at all, that I shouldn't be afraid to talk about the scary stuff.

So then, I had the stupid idea to mention that maybe there was a 1 in 3 chance that I could be pregnant. Which, you know, is a 2 in 3 chance that I'm NOT! And I tried to stop myself before it came out but it did anyways and he freaked out and I knew I shouldn't have said anything until I KNEW for SURE what's going on. When he saw me panicking he tried to tell me that everything was fine, but I know it's not. And then he had to go, so I can't even get this resolved. URGH. Go me. I think I might have just ruined everything this month.

Demonic gems are serious business

OK, so, I couldn't get the nanny to come early this morning, so I had Wynni for just a little bit until she showed up. Pizzy had something really important he wanted to show me, so he was a little disconcerted by her presence. But he is SO GOOD with her. He showed her how to feed copper bolts to her little mechanical squirrel I built her, and she just thought that was the coolest thing EVER. I know what I'll be making in the workshop the next several weeks.

Anyway, Naliina showed up and I handed Wynni off to her, and after greeting me properly he led me into one of the Aldor laboratories. There was this totally bizarre THING sitting on the table. It looked like an upside down lamp or something. The bulb of it was filled with all these weird swirling fel energies, and it was being supported by this gauntlet that had gems sticking out of it, and it looked like the energies were being siphoned into the gems.

Pizzy explained to me that Branwynne (a friend of his and a gal I met a waaaaaaaaaay long time ago) came into his workshop. She had this crazy mechanical glove on her that was helping to contain some kind of demonic infection - the device was pumping out the fel energies into the gems, but it wasn't really well made, so eventually it caused the device to fail. So, Pizzy made her a new one, better than the last one, and was charged with the dangerous responsibility of disposing of the gook that had accumulated. He built this globey contraption around it to contain it for the time being, but now THAT was failing, so we had to figure out some way to totally get rid of it.

Then he told me that he had been asked to build a device that not only sucked out fel energies, but injected holy energies, so the infection could be cured for good. I told him it kind of sounded like the Ashbringer - it started off as an icky void stone, but all the holy guys shot energy into it and it became this amazing thing of light that even healed Mograine's hand. He totally had missed that on his visits to Old Hillsbrad, so we resolved to investigate that sometime. Now, though, we had to get rid of the gems before they started leaking! I suggested we just pitch them in the lava in Shadowmoon Valley, because really, what's a little more fel energy in that place anyways? So, feeling very much like the bracelet gnome the humans joked about, we headed to the Hand of Gul'Dan so we could be sure it melted well.
Originally, we started off on foot and let my voidwalker carry them - Pizzy figured a demon carrying demonic things would probably be the safest way to go. Well, that worked as we walked through Terokkar Forest, but when we reached the border of Shadowmoon Valley, we were totally ambushed by infernals! Pizzy and I were OK, but my voidwalker was totally toast. So much for good demonic help these days! I thought about bringing him back, but we figured we were close enough that we could just fly. So, we rigged up a way for my soul bag to hang from one of the skis of Pizmo's flying machine, and we took off for the volcano.

We got up there, and Pizzy tried to just fling the whole bag in. ACK! He was unsuccessful, thankfully, so I was able to pull out my soulshards and dumped the gems into the lava - saving the bag. (That thing was expensive.) Those gems totally melted into the ooze like chocolate on a fire!

So, I guess now we go back to figuring out what to do about the original problem, that of neutralizing Branny's infection. I hope we can garner some good ideas from our trip back in time.

DEAD PHOENIX

So, after Kael TOTALLY cheated us out of our first victory a month ago, we decided to go back and stick it to that big bird of his. And we TOTALLY DID! This is one crispy chicken whose spark has gone out!
Now that his fiery turkey is dead, Kael is probably shaking in his booties, because he is the ONLY ONE LEFT we haven't punted! ON NOTICE, BABY!

Oh SNAP.

Um, yeah. So. According to my temperature charting, I pretty much ovulated the day, like, RIGHT after the Faire. That would explain my... vigor... the other day. It also means that there's a pretty good chance I could be pregnant. Like, right now. OK, it's 1 in 3, but those are still pretty severe odds. Maybe I'm wrong and screwed up my temperatures. Maybe Pizmo's really as sterile as he seems to think he is. Maybe I just plain got lucky. I don't know. But holy CRAP. I should know better.

I was with Pizzy on the elf island, helping out the Shattered Sun and all, and I apologized to him for my behavior. I mean, forcing him to break a pact we had made? He was horribly confused by it all, and who can blame him? Though he DID admit it was rather exciting to see me so amorous. And he said when we make love, it's like... caught up in the moment, and there's no Pizmo and Duerma separately, just together as one. Isn't that beautiful? His little bursts of poeticness are touching and unexpected. He never ceases to surprise and delight me.

Darkmoon Faire

OK, so, today Pizzy and I totally decided to go to the Darkmoon Faire, cause it was just outside Shattrath this month! We started off by blasting ourselves out of the cannon, went on to examine the bizarre animals they had on display, and had a fantastic tonk battle that I think I lost. We had really hoped that maybe the band would play but I guess that was totally last season or something. Oh well. Oooh, and we got a bunch of the junk food like funnel cake and candy bars and slushies. Mmmmm.

Pizzy was acting really weird the whole time, though. He was taking great pains not to touch me, and he kept looking away from me, and I'm like, oh my gosh, have I totally done something wrong? And he was like, no, just interested in the faire! and kept examining the stuff you could buy with tickets and stuff. I mean, it was fun looking at the attractions and stuff to buy and absurdities or whatever, but that doesn't mean he should treat me like I'm a leper or whatever, right?
So, we sat down to eat our treats - I totally got a brain freeze from the slushie - and we talked about our weekends and such. I told him about how my army's totally gonna kill a phoenix this week and how bummed I was that some other warlock got his awesome hat before I did. In the meantime, he was building little creatures out of his funnel cake. We talked about gems and how he's trying to get in good with the Shattered Sun guys so he can learn all the best new recipes, and maybe I looked at him funny but all of a sudden he was more interested in the cake creatures. What-EVER. So we totally played with those a bit, building infernals and arakkoa and heroes, all of whom met their DOOM in a very tasty manner.

Then we talked more about my army and its goals, and then... I sort of seduced him. I know, after last week, it's totally wacky, right? I seriously don't know what came over me. But it seemed fair that I should be able to break a pact that was made on my behalf... right? Or am I a totally horrible person? I have no idea. I guess we'll see how this all plays out.