Hoot Hoot!

Hello readers,
I'm sorry to keep you all waiting on this story. Life sort of snuck up on me during these past few weeks. Here's a quick update on how things are going: First of all, my small coding project sort of turned into a kickstarter project called Text Based RPG, learn to code launched by Scamper and myself. It's almost over though, with only 8 days left. It seems that it may or may not get funded, which is actually okay with us either way, as it would mean more work if it did get funded. But we'll see! It's been fun, but rather time consuming. I spend some of my time North-ish working on a shed type dwelling for my father (a barn owl). We finally got the shingles placed on and it is mostly water tight now! We have also been working at getting scamper all packed up, he got a job closer to my area of the forest, so he will be moving to a rented tree just across the park from me! For the festive holiday of Halloween, we undertook a partial Harry Potter Marathon, and I tried my hand at sewing a basic cape design for this. It's a black cape, but with the proper clasp and some paint I may be able to turn it into a hobbit-type cape. We'll see. Just last weekend, we made a pilgrimage to the southern forests to visit family to celebrate a birthday. *Whew* I may get some down time this weekend to sleep, but in the meantime I've been hyped up on cookies and sugar! *Silly Rabbits*. My December looks rather busy-ish as well, I plan to start a cutting-board project to make some cutting boards out of Maple, Hickory, Oak, and Walnut for Christmas Presents!

I shall try to post small clips of my continuing storyline here as time allows. If anyone is interesting in stepping in for a few posts, I will gladly take them up on it! I have a few outline bits written out, but I've left it very open on purpose so don't feel constrained to any outline. :) Happy November Everyone!

~Hoot Owl~

Hoot Owl Diary Part 4

Hoot and hello! There is a large storm brewing, so I suggest tea and a good book for this weekend. I have a small snippet of our continuing tale for you. I hope you enjoy!

Nick and Francine (with some difficulty) boarded the train towards the canals. Usually there was a long line, but being a police officer had its perks. They badged their way on the next train North. During most of the ride, they sat in companiable silence. That was something Nick appreciated about the elephant. She was always happy to talk, but generally could tell when Nick wanted to be left alone and wouldn’t pester him. They wound their way through the main city, then alongside Tundratown, where the passengers could adjust their thermostats to compensate for the frigid air. Nick and Judy often cranked the thermostat on their trips, but this time he didn’t mind. The cold sharpened his senses, and besides, Francine didn’t need the warm air. As they traveled, Nick looked through the case file. It was as Francine had said: a couple of missing young beavers, male and female, had disappeared. They weren’t related, so possibly a teen couple running away? The family had filed the report 2 days ago, and the beavers had been missing a total of 3 days. Longer than a quick elope then.

Nick broke the silence. “We need to check hotels and the cameras” he mused. “It’s unlikely they would still be missing if this was just a stunt they pulled, but you never know.” Francine quirked an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t we be better off starting by interviewing the family, and anyone on the street who may have seen which direction they went?”

“Not if we want any answers. The canal district folk won’t talk to outsiders. That’s just the way it is. Besides, Camera’s don’t lie.” Francine nodded at his advice. She had never been this way before, and trusted the fox t know what he was talking about. The train was now passing through the Rainforest District, and through it’s impressive waterfall. As a youngling, she would often open the window and stick her trunk out to drink from the waterfall as they passed under it. Now that she was an officer, she found she often had to downplay her quirky nature.

Interruption

Good Day my fellow readers,
I though perhaps you may be interested in why my posts have been taking a little longer than usual. I confess I have been working on a side project that has been eating up some of my spare time. This project though, is mostly done! Hooray! What is it you ask?

Mwahaha!

I present to you: A text-based version of Pokemon, written in Batch computer code!
This program is a basic text file, that when run as a .bat file, will use the command prompt window to allow you to relive pokemon blue/red! It's very basic, but fun all the same.

The code is rather long, so instead of pasting it here, I will happily email it to anyone who wants to try it out!

-Shaggy-

Hoot Owl Diary Part 3

*Hoot Hoot*
Thank you so much for your patience dear listeners. I have part 3 for you, and we shall read a little longer today to make up for last week. I hope you enjoy my little owlets!

*BeepBeepBeep* Nick felt like he had only just closed his eyes. He shut off the alarm and stared at the celling.  As much as he didn’t want to, he needed to go in for work. Work helped keep his mind off Judy’s disappearance and gave him something to do. After a few moments he got up and began to get dressed for the day. As he was straightening his uniform in the mirror, his eyes caught something glinting in the open drawer. His sunglasses. He hadn’t worn them in weeks. Nick picked them up and looked at them. “I learned two things that day…The first was to never let anyone know they got to me…” He could hear himself saying these words to Judy Hopps so long ago. The sunglasses had been the secret to his success. Eyes will often give away true feelings or intentions. The mirrored sunglasses kept anyone from getting too close. He put them on, somehow comforted by their presence. Then, he walked out the door.

One good thing about this apartment, he reflected to himself, it was a short walk to work. He crossed the street and passed by the elephant ice cream shop. Just then, a moving shape caught his eye. He quickly turned, but whoever it was had vanished around the corner. He could have sworn someone was following him, no, waiting for him? He shook his head and walked into the 1^st Precinct Police Station.

The Bull Pen was loud and noisy, as usual. He walked in and looked around. Francine the elephant was sitting on the left, in her usual spot. Nick sighed. He didn’t really feel like talking with her quite yet, so he seated himself in the back. Just then, the chief walked in.

“Alright, settle down. This has been a quiet summer, but now that it’s over, we have some cases that need assigning. Let’s see.” He squinted at his list. “Reports of some traffic light drag racing in Sahara square. Weaslton is back to his old tricks, selling pirated movies on street corners.” He flipped through his notes. “And we have some reports out of the Canal District.” Something about the way he said that made Nick’s neck hairs prickle. He and Judy had only been there once during their 3 years on the force, and it appeared to be a dead end. They were running interviews for an updated tram system and track repairs. It was well known that the Canal folk mostly kept to themselves, but the interviews had just been…well, off. Most animals wouldn’t even talk to them, and those that did were either gruff and brisk, or furtive. “Wilde!” Nick snapped out of his reverie. “Yes chief?” “You and Francine take a look into these claims. More than likely a couple of frightened little beavers running away from home.” “Yessir.” Nick wished he had been paying more attention. “Very well” Bogo boomed. “You have your assignments. Get to it!” Nick and Francine picked up their case file and left. Francine began glancing at their file. “A couple of runaway beavers. You don’t usually hear about this sort of thing in the Canals. It’s usually so quiet…” Her voice trailed off. “It’s not unheard of, she continued. However, they will probably be back by supper.” Nick followed her out, still lost in his own thoughts. Missing animals? It may be the lead he needed to find Judy. Then again, he chided himself. He shouldn’t get his hopes up. As they were leaving the precinct, he thought he saw another flash of gray. He wondered who it might be, but decided not to point it out to Francine. If someone was following him, he could deal with it on his own.

Hoot Owl Diary part 2

Back again, my dear readers? As it turns out, the little owlets were curious what happened next as I'm sure you all are, so I decided to continue this little narrative. *hoot!* I didn't get as far as I planned today, but I'll have more for you next week. Gather around the fire, and enjoy!

Nick slept fitfully, visions of the past coming back to haunt him. The summer months had been quiet, unusually so. Criminals were abiding by the laws, traffic incidents were at an all time low, even repeat offenders like Weasleton weren't causing much trouble. The precinct decided to reward its officers with 3 day weekends until the end of summer. Nick was quite content to spend these days lounging around, and exploring the new shopping center. Judy on the other hand, couldn’t sit still. She persuaded him to begin looking through cold cases at the precinct looking for new leads. After a few weekends of this, Nick was getting bored. He just didn’t see the point of sitting in the basement for hours looking through case files from 5 years back. That last weekend, he planned a lake picnic excursion for the two of them to get some fresh air. Judy said she would meet him there at 1:00, she just had something to check up on. 1:00 came and went. At 1:30, he decided to give her a call. No answer. He called again, a little anxious. Still no answer, but he thought he heard her ringtone in the distance. Curious, he hiked along the trail until he came to a cliff. The scene was so clear, Nick doubted he would ever forget it. The sun was shining on the lake. Judy’s backpack propped against the tree near a ledge. The ledge was partially eroded, and looked like it had just fallen in. Judy’s phone was in the water, partially floating and still ringing. A small snap of a twig in the distance.

He woke sweating and shaking. The same dream every night. Nick cursed under his breath and looked at the clock. 4:09. He sat up, placing his head in his paws trying to calm his breathing. He had lived so long burying his emotions and now he awoke shaking every night. Judy had meant a lot more to him than he had ever let on. While he tried to compose himself, Nick reflected back on that day.

He had called in backup the moment he saw the cell phone. They had searched until sundown, with no luck. The search party was out again the next day, and the next. A week later, Chief Bogo called off the search. There was no more evidence,  nothing to point to what had happened. Judy had evidently dropped by the precinct on the way over, but there was nothing to indicate what she was doing, or what she may have found. Her death, no, disappearance he corrected himself, was ruled accidental. He wiped the last of his tears, resolving once again to keep at it until he found her. With those last thoughts, he rolled over, to catch a few more hours of sleep before roll call at 7:15.