I went on a good long ways, still hearing Toby’s thoughts, till I reached the highway and figured I ought to turn back. I haven’t found a limit to my range once I have a connection to someone. The hard part is that I have no sense of distance or direction with it, really: if someone isn’t right by me it’s hard to make that first connection, as I discovered watching cars go by on the overpass, trying to listen. I couldn’t see the drivers and when I tried to connect with them, all I heard was static.
Posts Tagged Nother
[partim] Mitch.
Apr 10
[partim] Shotrox.
Apr 10
I got as close to the violated circle as I dared. Could anyone make it out after all? There was still a lot of magic there they hadn’t fed on yet, but it would take a lot to shake off one nightmare, let alone a swarm of them. The late arrivals stood around the place of power, watching on in horror. Were they losing family, friends, as the light diminished?
A wave of helplessness came over me—I might have been too close to the circle indeed—but I remembered, then, that I wasn’t too late—I still had my extra time.
I ran.
The nearest circle was a good way off to the north of town, far enough that most people from around here didn’t go—mostly folk from the countryside. It’d be most of an hour’s walk—but with my extra time, running fast as I could, I hoped to make it in ten minutes.
Hopefully there’d be at least someone who could hold on that long.
Now, our kind may be good runners, but I wasn’t in the best of shape, my trade not being a physically demanding one. So while I managed to charge through the forest without flagging, when I reached the fields beyond I was already starting to overheat, and I was really starting to hurt by the time I jumped the hedge on the border of the northern woods.
I made it over, but lost my footing, falling flat in the mud. I guess the rain had come to this end of town.
It felt good—the impact of falling over was nothing next to my aching muscles, but while it would have been nice to just rest there, the nightmares were devouring good maccans.
I pushed myself up against my body’s protests, and started running again, panting hard.
The light of the northern circle was already in view.
I ran into the place of power, yelling, “Sahamma, sahamma, sahai!†I collapsed again as I crossed the threshold. “Nightmares at the town circle.†I couldn’t say any more.
An older maccan got up and stood by me and started directing people.
Spent, I passed out.
[partim] Mori.
Apr 10
I held on to the kelvin tightly, even though its heat burned my paw. I had the allcure, after all, and the poor gryphon, now in tears, seemed to need help.
I wouldn’t let him go. “Here,†I said, offering him the panacea with my free paw. “You’ll be all right.â€
The gryphon looked up at me, still lost, still miserable. Of course.
“The translation doesn’t work down here, does it…? You don’t understand me at all.â€
Kelvins didn’t talk, but surely they listened… what did they understand? “Weĉjo ijen?†No reaction. “Samskrtam?†No reaction.
My paw was surely blistering from the kelvin’s heat, but on the bright side it didn’t have much feeling left.
“Munk,†I said, addressing the golem, “Is there anything nearby I can use to communicate with him?â€
Munk came near and put on big clay hand on my head and another on the kelvin’s.
And there was a thought in my head—it wasn’t spoken, just the memory of words I understood, though not in any language I knew: “He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.â€
You’ve seen the city of jasper, I thought.
The kelvin did not appear to have heard the thought.
“But this was promised to us,†I said, and this time the kelvin noticed. “Weren’t we told… ‘Never again will there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years—he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth—he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed?’â€
It pays to keep a local copy of some things.
“It’s not the promise of the city, where there’ll be no death, but it is a promise that we can fight it a good long time, barring the sudden accident…â€
I was rambling. I was fairly sure the kelvin’s heat was travelling up my arm; I was getting sweaty.
“Please, let me help you.†I offered the panacea again.
The kelvin disappeared.
All right.
I took the bowl—awkwardly, as my burned paw wouldn’t cooperate with holding it—and drank the liquid light till I felt the pain fully dissolve.
[WIP] Kaido no Yume.
Mar 1
Maro’s family didn’t normally get much in the way of visitors, so today was a special day, one of the kits having caught sight of the long, low canoe approaching the island.
Sometimes, they said, there would be many who arrived, to offer their trade and services, but today it was only a rather short alligator.
Though he wore a sort of beige robe that went down to his knees, he didn’t seem to be perturbed by my hosts’ nakedness as we greeted him on the shore.
“This is our man of justice,†Maro said. The alligator raised a hand in greeting. “And this is K’haiso, a traveler who has come to us.â€
The alligator lowered his hand. “A traveler from far off, it seems. You are not of any of the people of our islands. How did you come to Narya unregistered?â€
That I was an alien on this world, I had guessed; that I might be an illegal one, I had not considered. And of course the ‘man of justice’ would be concerned with this. “I didn’t—I came here unknowing, and I didn’t see how I came. Is it wrong for me to be here?â€
The gator registered surprise as I started speaking. He grabbed my arm even before I’d done speaking and pulled me away from the others, waving Maro back.
[scrap] Rouss.
Mar 1
Everyone I meet who keeps it secret, I ask them why. The reasons are always the same—fear of losing something, or more specifically losing someone. Family, friends, church, one’s job—those are the big ones.
And I don’t really understand any of those. Either people will understand—which you would expect at least from true family and friends—or they won’t, and reject you—but if they would reject you if they knew, how would not telling them help? At best it is a sustained lie of omission;—at worst it’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing, living among the pack, praying every day the disguise doesn’t fall off—you don’t need a life like that.
Those discussions usually end in fights, especially when I say hiding just legitimizes the idea that it’s something that has to be hidden, in their eyes.
And yes, I know it’s hypocritical—they’re human, I’m not, and they don’t know it and I can’t tell them. But it’s not because I’m afraid of losing them—I’m not even afraid of being hurt, as I know some are.
I don’t even know what it is, really. I guess I’m just a liar.
And sometimes they ask me—if they’re still talking to me after the first blowup—what my reason is.
I’m not concerned about my family; I can’t imagine them pushing me away. And friends, well… nothing to lose there, really. The job is certainly not an issue; as an actor, the stereotype half expects it.
And I’ve made my peace with God.
What gets me, I guess, is that I don’t feel sure. If I knew it, knew it for certain, I wouldn’t have any problem saying so—but I don’t know it, I don’t feel it deep down, I still have that part of me that wonders deep down if just maybe I haven’t met the right kind of person yet, maybe I could still end up choosing differently.
And that’s why I don’t tell people—not because I’d rather live a lie, but more because I’m afraid coming out might be one. The world around me would change, and I don’t think that I’d be able to change it back if I needed to.
So they’re afraid of losing others, and I’m afraid of losing myself.
Of course, they’re farther along than I am at this point; they’ve already worked through their denial phase, or so they tell me.
I try to imagine my future; either way frightens me.
And so the ones that stuck around after the fight give up here, and tell me I’m not ready.
And I’m left alone in my bed as always.
[partim] Mitch.
Feb 4
When I woke again, it was quiet in my head. I knew I hadn’t imagined it—I could still feel myself listening. There was just nothing to hear. Toby’s bed, at least, was empty; I didn’t know where everyone else might be.
I sat up in bed. Maybe I could find out?
I tried listening harder—
I started hearing what sounded like patches of white noise. I couldn’t really tell what that meant or how far away they might be. I figured I’d have to learn a lot about this ability.
Normal demihumans—at least, so I’m told—can generally reach somewhere around a mile’s radius telepathically, though at that distance it’s kind of like shouting and hearing far-off shouts. The comfortable range is rather smaller; communicating with your neighbors next door wouldn’t be a problem, assuming you were fortunate enough to have neighbors who were demihumans like yourself.
How far was I reaching? I had no reference point, and I could see I was flying blind. I got out of bed, got dressed, and thought about where to find people—the house seemed empty.
…of course, that was ridiculous, the house was never really empty. The body of a forty-foot giant was always in the basement. And I hadn’t reached him when I’d tried, so either I had no decent range or I was doing something wrong.
I ran down to the basement, sneaking in quietly so as not to disturb Toby’s poor body, and I listened.
What I heard was unmistakably the giant’s mind, a mixture of the large body’s dreams—they break my heart, even now—and the link coming in from his projected body.
I listened harder and I could see Toby’s viewpoint, walking through the supermarket with Rouss. But I knew that was his telepathy, not mine.
I focused on the giant’s mind and took a few steps back. I held the focus, and went upstairs and outside, still hearing it—and I kept going.
[scrap] Toby.
Feb 4
I took up most of the bench in the hallway as I sat studying, waiting for class to start—or at least, for the previous one to end.
Alithia sat next to me, deeper in the chemistry book than I was getting. Nobody else was waiting, though plenty of people were passing back and forth.
Just her being there made it hard enough to study, regardless of how badly the textbook explained valency.
Long brown hair over her shoulders, feet bare—sandals stowed in her satchel—comfortably rather than fashionably dressed—she takes life so naturally, the way she wants, and the world warps to fit her—in a way it never would for me.
I put the book down.
People started pouring out of the classroom. When the doorway had cleared, I nudged Alithia’s shoulder and got up to squeeze my way into the classroom, into one of the tiny chairs.
[partim] Shotrox.
Feb 4
Most of us don’t have enough friends to come together and create what we need—so every calends everyone who can comes together to help.
I sat in the circle near the center and focused on my need. It was the same as always—I needed more time.
I’ve always been afraid, since I was young, of not having enough time—life is short, and even a full sixty years wouldn’t be enough to create all the art I wanted.
So I started wishing for time, to fit more into the day. The way it works, I see things going slower, and get nearly twice as many hours in the day. I have to stop for sleep around midday, and I end up eating twice as much, but I can afford it. I sell a lot of art, and my skill keeps increasing with all the practice.
The magic usually runs out around the middle of the month, though. We can do a lot, but we’re not omnipotent. And there’s always more I want to bring into the world, so I keep coming back for more. Some desires are addictive, and this may be one of them, but I’m not hurting anyone.
The circle of light continued to brighten. Many come in covering their eyes, but I found inspiration in the illuminated air, and gazed into it as long as I could.
As the threshold of power was crossed, I saw the movements of the other maccans begin to slow.
Ah, sweet time. I lay back to look up at the sky.
It was absolutely dark, and it wasn’t the rain.
I leapt up immediately, yelling “Nightmare!â€, escaping the circle and making a good bit of distance before anyone else had a chance to react.
There was a terrible grinding noise as the darkness penetrated the light. There wouldn’t be any opportunity to go in and save anyone—it would already be too late.
[scrap] Mařa.
Dec 30
This one’s also a bit more rambly than I’m fond of…
I don’t like to generalize. It’s too easy to generalize—to say, I helped a lot of people—but then it stops being meaningful.
You help one person, concrete and specific, and that’s great… You help a lot of people, —well, it’s a lot, just one lot, no matter how many are in it; and it’s hard to be excited about an abstract category. Humans and demihumans alike have trouble with scale.
So I can’t talk to you about a lot of people. Even ‘one person’ is a bit abstract. I’ll talk to you about Jevin.
When we’d first met, it’d already been a horrible day for me…
[partim] Blake.
Dec 30
I grabbed Blake’s shoulder and hauled myself up on his back, gripping his long neck as he pushed it back against me.
His body was so soft, and so big—and still growing by the moment—I could feel him spreading out, slowly, between my legs.
He took off running, and I held on as tightly as I could as he ran downhill, spreading out his wings, which nearly filled the whole street.
“You’ve done this before?†I said.
“Don’t be ridiculous.â€
I felt his muscles readying under me and I gripped him tighter as he leaped into the air. The movement was impressive, but failed to catch air; he landed, carefully, and immediately took off again, with a grunt and a greater effort than before. This time, we soared.