The Chronicles of Narnia 2: A Journal And His Boy

[Mick]

This journal is not eligible for prizes in the current event. It was created for fun.​

Greetings TBT! It's been just over two years since I posted anything journal related. I think it's time to change that though, because I have so many pretty screenshots to share with you.

It's a new year. Last year, around this time, I tried to get back into the journal thing. Clearly, this year's attempt has gone better than the last, because you actually get to see something this time. Have a seat, enjoy the show!

I'll have to include a little bit of a warning, though: Some of the images in the upcoming journal entries are fairly recent but others are really, really old. You might end up seeing some outfits that I am not sure even exist anymore. I went looking through the wardrobe to see if I still had them but I just ended up on the other side, yikes.

Let's stay on Narnia instead, and enjoy the flora and fauna it has to offer.

We need more of this. And I do have more! Which is why I am announcing: The villager appreciation project - in which we will look at my favourite screenshots of the Narnia residents. Some have already left. Some have never been seen in my journal before. All are absolutely precious.

I will see you (hopefully) soon...

 

[Mick]

As announced in the last post: Welcome to this series where we try to work through my huge stockpile of images! It's very simple. I'll be posting an entry to this journal for each of my villagers because they deserve it.

And let's start with a post for Hornsby! I first ran into him on my sister's island and immediately knew I had found myself a new favourite villager. I don't know why I like him so much, I guess it's the big silly eyes.

I was ecstatic when, by pure chance, he turned up in my campsite a few days later. Of course I was going to invite the fuzzy blue rhino to my island. The unfortunate thing was that his house was... Well, terrible is an understatement, he kept literal trash in his home:

So I gifted him a lot of items. You have no idea how long it took for Hornsby to put them where I thought those should go. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, from the last screenshot you can clearly see he isn't great at decorating... But eventually we got it to look like this:

And then after a long, long time, Nook finally allowed us to help our villagers change their walls and floors. I let Hornsby keep all his existing furniture, and just made it a little more... Cosy? Lively? I think that worked well:

I remember that after inviting him, there were three lazy villagers on Narnia. This was far too much. So much talk about bugs... But Paolo and Bones have left over time, and now he's the only one. Our resident silly lazy boy!

Real calm indeed. Here he is stopping mid-exercise to smell the flowers. That's a rhino that has his priorities in order: No need for training if you're already a tank.

He says the weirdest things and I love him for it. I'll grant him the title of being the number one dreamer on our island. This has been a post for Hornsby! Consider him appreciated.

 

[Mick]

Day two! And let's talk about Ursala. After fellow island founder Tammy left, there was a long period on my island where I had no sisterly companions around. I eventually met Ursala in the campsite, and quickly convinced her to stick around!

Our first image is a memory of some cooking lessons over at her place. Apparently Ursala takes her kitchen very seriously. And hey, I have a question. Does the cooking happen on the workbench or in the sink?

I don't think she was impressed with my cooking skills. I'd honestly have been surprised if she had been. Still, I didn't expect her to be this harsh about it. And behind my back, as well...

Yep!
She means well, she just likes asking very reasonable questions about whatever she observes. I don't know why I'm outside at 3am, Ursala, and you're probably right about my sleeping habits. But I was diving, you see, as you do in early December, and... Fine, I'll go to bed!

(I actually did feel judged to the point of going to sleep soon after this, if you were wondering. Anyway,) I see her dancing more than anyone else on the island and I have no idea why - Does pointing out people's flaws simply fill her with joy? It's an interesting hobby for an interesting bear.

Don't worry, we actually get along just fine. I'll end this entry with a photo of us admiring the fish in the pond near Eloise's house. Or is she just staring into the distance, judging silently? I can never tell. I appreciate her nonetheless for providing all the bearental guidance that Narnia may ever need!

 

[Mick]

Lyman was on Narnia from the very start, along with Tammy. Unlike Tammy though, Lyman is still around to this very day. He started with a bare house with just a few green wooden furniture things... Until I sent him on a short holiday at one point just to get him a nicer house. This was before Nook let us improve villager interiors, obviously.

And now his house is more like this! Nice and green. Since he's sort of obsessed with dinosaurs and how strong those must have been, I moved his house close to the museum while we were at it.

Living right next to it, he actually visits there quite often, and his visits aren't even limited to the fossil section!

That's wha- Uh, moving on. Lyman likes to act tough but as you could maybe guess by the stuffed giraffe in his toybox, he's a big softy. More than once I've seen him break the act over small things. Like when I gave him a pet fish! Was he blinded by our friendship? Or was it really that pretty?

I guess he just isn't the brightest villager on the island, as even the sandcastle on the beach seemed to leave him questioning reality. It's just a sculpture, Lyman. There is no magic involved and a fairy princess will not show up if you stare long enough... But by all means, take some pictures to process it later. <3

Will he ever figure out these secrets of the universe? I don't know. Ponder away though, dude. It's better than when you talk about your exercise routines - although we appreciate you either way.

 

[Mick]

Of course Narnia needs its very own lion king. Like many of Narnia's villagers, Leopold's first visit was through the campsite too! Aside from the decision to dye his mane green, I think he's a wise old fellow - brimming with life experience, and always on the lookout for things that are out of place, keeping the island safe for everyone.

Correction: turns out he was just looking for bugs. And he found one! Here he is studying a moth, like a true gentleman of the sciences. I'd invite him to apply at Narsa, but it turns out he already has a job...

...As a teacher, who would have guessed? The big rumour on the island has always been that that skeleton in the corner is actually left over from a day when he was particularly hungry.

Come to think of it, maybe his bug watching endeavours were all subject research for his teachings? I don't know, I skipped his classes.

The thing I noticed most about Leopold was that he was usually out island late at night, when all the other villagers were asleep. Wise move, Leopold, just look at all that peace and quiet - and I've always appreciated the company while running around the island at night!

 

[Mick]

Halfway there! I will probably start switching up these posts soon because I found a huge stash of good looking, non-villager related photos. Anyway that's not at all relevant to the topic of this post, here's Flora!

Flora was invited to my island when she was moving from someone else's, and she's been here for a long time now. The island representative on her previous island gave her a lot of clothing and I do enjoy seeing her in her different outfits, she even has a crown like a true queen:

Although she takes that role a little too seriously sometimes.

Flora currently lives in the very southeast corner of the island, right next to the beaches where she has her very own bit of tropical paradise:

When she's not near her house, she usually stands out a lot against the very green island but I always liked that her colour and her energy are equal in intensity. She brings some much needed vibrancy to the island.

 

[Mick]

Here's something I only realised as I was writing this post: all the nicest images I prepared of Fauna are of her sitting down. There's not much I can do about that at this point, except warn you that if you were reading this hoping to see her standing up, you'll leave disappointed.

They're nice images, though. She's quite photogenic.

Fauna moved from Hogwarts to Narnia (what a move!) after I invited her thinking that being able to say we have both Flora and Fauna on the island would be funny. Actually, I still think that's funny.

She's also the closest thing to a faun that I could find, which is a plus as it fits the Narnia theme, and she blends in nicely with the more forested parts of the island. She has her own pumpkin patch, although she seems to sleep on the job a lot. Oops, we woke her up!

Although she doesn't have a particularly unique personality, her contribution of normalcy is very much appreciated. She's quite nice to talk to.

Maybe I should change up her house a little and give her a library/book club to share with Aurora; they both seem to be into that sort of thing. Or maybe I should give her a treadmill so she can stop sitting around? Ah, probably not. :)

 

[Mick]

Day seven! They're going by so fast. Today we'll be looking at Aurora, the very first villager to move in after our island was founded. I don't know why a penguin would put up with living in such a warm climate for this long, but she's nice to have around!

As mentioned briefly in the last entry, Aurora is a huge book addict, exactly like Fauna. She even has a set of reading glasses which I see her wear occasionally. It's so cute, she almost looks like she belongs in a fairy tale herself:

Usually cheerful, she seems to spread joy wherever she can. More than once have I seen her cheerfully singing along to the radio in the town square, regardless of the weather or time of day.

In addition to books and singing, entomology seems to be yet another hobby of hers. She likes to inspect all the corners of the island with her magnifying glass, though the flowers in front of her house get the most attention. I wonder what's hidden in there?

Looks like she's having less luck with the fish today. Don't let it get to your head, Aurora, you can't be good at everything... Thankfully there's plenty of food on the island. You don't have to catch your own.

 

[Mick]

I uh, took a little break. That turned into a slightly longer break. Oops?

When you can't quite catch that fish all by yourself, well... Aurora isn't the only penguin on the island! You bring in some help! Although he wasn't one of the first on the island, Roald has also been here for quite a while, and I would say these two penguins make the perfect pair.

While most houses on Narnia are spread across all corners of the island, Aurora and Roald live very close to each other. Apparently they're not just good friends, but good neighbours, too! Roald's house is on the right, in case the colour coordination didn't give it away.

Although I'm usually not a fan of indoor spaces decorated to look like the outside I quite like Roald's house, with its polar seas ice theme and its centrepiece ice cream. I also like how he never refuses to host a quick midnight snack break.

I am not entirely sure whether Roald also genuinely likes singing or whether he is just pretending to enjoy it too for Aurora's sake. I will definitely let you know if their duet ever happens though.

For how much Roald likes to brag about his workout routine and how many laps he can run, I sometimes, somehow feel like I barely see him around on the island. Maybe he knows of secret spots that I have yet to discover. Or maybe he is a morning person and we just have conflicting schedules? That'd explain a lot.

I always enjoy it when I do spot him though! There's just something about those big black eyes that I really appreciate, haha. <3 I think this is another one of those villagers I'd like to keep around forever...

Because we couldn't possible leave Aurora behind all alone!

 

[Mick]

Sometimes, I take important island decisions on curiosity driven impulses alone, just to keep Isabelle on her toes. Here's an example: I'd never lived with a crocodile before, and there was one in the campsite, and we had space for another resident - Well, meet Del!

The thing I appreciate most about Del is... How he absolutely fooled me for months. You see, he is not a crocodile. He is a crocodile-shaped robot. Which is honestly even cooler! Round of applause for his very convincing act; It took me far too long to realise why the inside of his house looked so mechanical and that his markings are not tattoos.

Observation: Del likes to sit under trees a lot. I suspect this is because robots need breaks too, and he is programmed to park himself out of the way. I am unsure how to test this hypothesis. I will therefore conclude that it cannot be disproven and has to be true.

He did this while we were moving his house too. You'd think that a robot would just pick up the entire house, drop it in the new spot, and then call it a day. Apparently not, he just decided to stop, find a tree, and sit down right in the middle of moving.

Okay now he's being a little creepy. Aurora is one of the sweetest animals on the island, surely she would welcome him with open arms if only he knocked on the door? Does he really prefer to just watch?

Don't worry about it too much. You see, Ursala has taken it upon herself to bring some sweet revenge to our robotic friend. Now everything is balanced again, right? Surely this whole situation will not result in any Narnia drama.

 

[Mick]

Ooh, we did it! This tenth journal entry (the final one in this series!) will be dedicated to Eloise, the most stylish elephant I have ever seen. Just look at her show off her bow at the island entrance:

Although while writing this I did realise that despite being so stylish, she is wearing the same clothes in most of these images. Maybe I should help her pick some more fancy outfits at some point.

Eloise has been around on Narnia for a long time, at least since the Viking age. Clearly technology has advanced a lot since she moved in! Having had her around for so long mostly means I have a lot of photos of her. I hope this entry won't end up being too long.

Here's a slightly more recent shot for comparison! The island around her may have evolved but she hasn't changed a bit. She now lives near to northwest corner of the island, and has her own relaxing little spot to hang out near her pond.

Inside her house, she likes to put her two right... hands? to good use, regularly showing off her impeccable crafting skills.

She's also an excellent cook, so her house makes a good refuge after you've been kicked out of dismissed from Ursala's cooking class. I asked if she could really fit an entire elephant dinner in that tiny pan but apparently she's on a diet. Seemed like a sensitive subject, oops.

When she's not crafting or cooking, her singing voice attracts audiences as big as famous KK's performances:

In addition to being good at apparently everything, she is also very well-spoken. So the thing I love most about Eloise is her catchphrase - the contrast to the rest of her sentences makes it the best kind of silly to me, toooot!

To anyone who may have looked at all ten of these entries: A big thank you for putting up with the rambling! This is definitely not the end of the journal. I will be back soon! :)