111angel3

[111angel3]

This is the wrong season to be talking about it, but literally no adaptation of Christmas Carol will ever top this one stage adaptation I saw in 2018, and it’s 100% because of the first scene of the play

Almost every Christmas Carol starts with the same scene: Christmas Eve, the day before Scrooge is visited by the three ghosts. This is the same scene that the rest of the audience - including myself - is expecting to see

The house lights go out. The stage is dark

A boy is singing: “God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay…”

The sound of wind whistles through the dark of the theater.

“Remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from Satan’s power…”

The boy pauses. The wind picks up. Somewhere in the audience, a child sounds upset

“…When we had gone astray. Oh tidings…”

The boy’s voice fades away. The wind howls

A church bell rings

The stage lights come on. Fog is floating across the stage. A deacon, two gentlemen, and Scrooge stand in the fog like islands in a sea

Between them is a coffin

The wind howls. It makes the word, “Ebenezer,” in a voice that shakes the floor

The deacon says: “Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of our departed Jacob Marley…”

“Ebenezer,” says the wind

Scrooge whips around at the sound. Fog coils around his feet

Nobody else on stage hears his name

“…We therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth-”

“Earth,” says the wind

“-ashes to ashes-”

“Ashes,” says the wind

“-and dust to dust”

“Dust” says the wind

“In the certain hope of eternal life through our Lord Christ; who shall change-”

“Change” says the wind

“-our vile body-”

“Change” says the wind

“-that it may be like unto His glorious body-”

“Change” says the wind

A church bell rings. Children are crying in the audience

One by one, the parishioners exit the stage. Scrooge is left alone with the coffin

He says a few words - laughs at his mishearing voices on the wind - and turns to leave

A church bell rings

Scrooge pauses - and turns to look at the coffin

Lights flash. The coffin lid slams open, and the ghost of Jacob Marley, horrible, pale, and screeching, leaps out of the coffin, hands reaching out to Scrooge and howling - 

“SAVE YOURSELF!”

Lights flash and the stage goes dark. Children are screaming. Parents are screaming. I’m screaming

The rest of the production was gorgeous, but I still maintain that the first scene was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen attached to any adaptation of Christmas Carol

[111angel3]

"So you collect ghosts?"

"Not intentionally. Ghosts are just drawn to me. I'm a ghost sponge. A ghost magnet. When I'm hired to check out a haunted house, I walk in and take all the ghosts with me when I leave. And if it turns out there's a demon the ghosts eat 'em. It's a very efficient system."

"...Say that last part again."

"The ghosts eat the demons. Like a pack of hyenas taking down a wildebeest. I've seen the ghost of a 90-year-old Ukrainian babushka tear apart a demon with her teeth."

[111angel3]

So. Today in class we assigned Macbeth roles to students to read. When I asked the class who wants to be Lady Macbeth, a young man raised his hand. I kind of stared at him like “Lady Macbeth,” and he nodded like “I know what I’m about ma’am.” So then the student who ended up as Macbeth raised his hand and said “HE’S THE ONE, HE’S MY WIFE!” So I said “yeah sure why not,” and the entire class period they were blowing kisses to each other and winking at each other, and every now and then Macbeth would say “I’m the luckiest man on Earth” and Lady Macbeth would put a hand to his chest, and be like “BABE!”.

I just stared at them, knowing that they CLEARLY have never read ‘Macbeth’ before, so… all this lovey dovey… I don’t know if I have the heart to tell them the truth.

[111angel3]

Arcadian Inquisition: Special Thanks

I want to say a special thanks to everyone for your readership of this series for the last 4 years. Some of you have followed the story of Ash and River from the very beginning, some of you joined much more recently, but to everyone who joined on this journey, I do want to say, genuinely, thank you. It's been four years, on and off. So much has changed in my life. I mean...almost everything has changed. To give you some concept. When I started this story, I was almost done with my Bachelor's Degree in History, and living in northern Humboldt, the land of forests that inspired the world of Arcadia. Fast forward - I finished my Bachelor's, started and finished my MA, started and finished my teaching credential, moved four times... I met and became mentor to several amazing young people, most notably the hyperactive and passionate @quantumized-insanity and the brilliant, artistic, and empathic @writing-with-olive. You guys are the River to my Ash - warming my emotionally repressed heart and constantly driving me to be better. I also want to thank the eternally brilliant and empathic @canyouhearthelight for all her hard work in beta reading. Without her hard work, and her help, this could not have been half as good as it was. Thank you so much, friend, for both this and everything else. I also want to thank my partner, @fuschiaghosts, for all the snuggles and cuddles she has offered as this was being written. Like many who tried to get into the series, the angst was not for her, but she was supportive of the endeavor nonetheless, and she has made my life infinitely better by being in it. I would also like to thank @lavcircuts for her work in the Root Confederacy. I look forward to what you create, friend. Also @steelbladessong, for your theorycrafting, @1978sah and @angel113 for your comments. Also holy FUCK I cannot forget @generalperfectionbread for the absolute FEAT of beating the previous speed-reading record after joining 120 chapters in and reading the entire thing in a week - or Angel113 of topping that at the same pace starting from chapter 137. Gaia. Damn. Also to @dierotenixe for your reblogs every week, and to everyone else who has participated in this story, through art, comments, likes, and reblogs. Oh and whoever submitted the ship list - I never caught you but your humor is top tier. I also want to thank someone else whose impact on my life and writing is profound. I have no idea how that story will end, but I hope you're okay. I don't regret meeting you, and I still care. If you're reading this, you know who you are. Finally, I need to dedicate this story threefold: First, to the Earth we live on and the importance of restoring balance to nature and living in harmony with it. We cannot continue living separately from nature or we will die. Second, I would like to dedicate this book series to the indigenous people of the world and acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of it was written whilst I was living on unceded Wiyot land, with a good chunk of Journeyer written while I was living on unceded Mechoopda territory instead. And like a small fraction of Apprentice towards the tail end of that book written in Chuckchansi territory, actually. (Like I said I moved around a lot while writing this) We can and should return land to those who rightfully hold sovereignty over it. Finally, I would like to dedicate this to those who find family in unconventional places and the idea that love in all forms conquers everything, that all of us are worthy of it. If you are reading this, somewhere, you have family/tribe and someone does or will care about you.

Baelpenrose

[111angel3]

URGENT: 🚨🚨EARN IT ACT IS BACK IN THE SENATE 🚨🚨 TUMBLR’S NSFW BAN HITTING THE ENTIRE INTERNET THIS SUMMER 2023

April 28, 2023

I’m so sorry for the long post but please please please pay attention and spread this

What is the EARN IT Act?

The EARN IT Act (s. 1207) has been roundly condemned by nearly every major LGBTQ+ advocacy and human rights organization in the country.

This is the third time the Senate has been trying to force this through, and I talked about it last year. It is a bill that claims "protects children and victims against CSAM" by creating an unelected and politically appointed national commission of law enforcement specialists to dictate "best practices" that websites all across the nation will be forced to follow. (Keep in mind, most websites in the world are created in the US, so this has global ramifications). These "best practices" would include killing encryption so that any law enforcement can scan and see every single message, dm, photo, cloud storage, data, and any website you have every so much as glanced at. Contrary to popular belief, no they actually can't already do that. These "best practices" also create new laws for "removing CSAM" online, leading to mass censorship of non-CSAM content like what happened to tumblr. Keep in mind that groups like NCOSE, an anti-LGBT hate group, will be allowed on this commission. If websites don't follow these best practices, they lose their Section 230 protections, leading to mass censorship either way.

Section 230 is foundational to modern online communications. It's the entire reason social media exists. It grants legal protection to users and websites, and says that websites aren't responsible for what users upload online unless it's criminal. Without Section 230, websites are at the mercy of whatever bullshit regulatory laws any and every US state passes. Imagine if Texas and Florida were allowed to say what you can and can't publish and access online. That is what will happen if EARN IT passes. (For context, Trump wanted to get rid of Section 230 because he knew it would lead to mass govt surveillance and censorship of minorities online.)

This is really not a drill. Anyone who makes or consume anything “adult” and LGBT online has to be prepared to fight Sen. Blumenthal’s EARN IT Act, brought back from the grave by a bipartisan consensus to destroy Section 230. If this bill passes, we’re going to see most, if not all, adult content and accounts removed from mainstream platforms. This will include anything related to LGBT content, including SFW fanfiction, for example. Youtube, Twitter, Reddit, Tiktok, Tumblr, all of them will be completely gutted of anything related to LGBT content, abortion healthcare, resources for victims of any type of abuse, etc. It is a right-wing fascists wet dream, which is why NCOSE is behind this bill and why another name for this bill is named in reference to NCOSE.

NCOSE used to be named Morality in Media, and has rebranded into an "anti-trafficking" organization. They are a hate group that has made millions off of being "against trafficking" while helping almost no victims and pushing for homophobic laws globally. They have successfully pushing the idea that any form of sexual expression, including talking about HEALTH, leads to sex trafficking. That's how SESTA passed. Their goal is to eliminate all sex, anything gay, and everything that goes against their idea of ‘God’ from the internet and hyper disney-fy and sanitize it. This is a highly coordinated attack on multiple fronts.

The EARN IT Act will lead to mass online censorship and surveillance. Platforms will be forced to scan their users’ communications and censor all sex-related content, including sex education, literally anything lgbt, transgender or non-binary education and support systems, aything related to abortion, and sex worker communication according to the ACLU. All this in the name of “protecting kids” and “fighting CSAM”, both of which the bill does nothing of the sort. In fact it makes fighting CSEM even harder.

EARN IT will open the way for politicians to define the category of “pornography" as they — or the lobbies that fund them — please. The same way that right-wing groups have successfully banned books about race and LGBT, are banning trans people from existing, all under the guise of protecting children from "grooming and exploitation", is how they will successfully censor the internet.

As long as state legislatures can tie in "fighting CSAM" to their bullshit laws, they can use EARN IT to censor and surveill whatever they want.

This is already a nightmare enough. But the bill also DESTROYS ENCRYPTION, you know, the thing protecting literally anyone or any govt entity from going into your private messages and emails and anything on your devices and spying on you.

This bill is going to finish what FOSTA/SESTA started. And that should terrify you.

Senator Blumenthal (Same guy who said ‘Facebook should ban finsta’) pushed this bill all of 2020, literally every activist (There were more than half a million signatures on this site opposing this act!) pushed hard to stop this bill. Now he brings it back, doesn’t show the text of the bill until hours later, and it’s WORSE. Instead of fixing literally anything in the bill that might actually protect kids online, Bluemnthal is hoping to fast track this and shove it through, hoping to get little media attention other than propaganda of “protecting kids” to support this shitty legislation that will harm kids. Blumental doesn't care about protecting anyone, and only wants his name in headlines.

It will make CSAM much much worse.

One of the many reasons this bill is so dangerous: It totally misunderstands how Section 230 works, and in doing so (as with FOSTA) it is likely to make the very real problem of CSAM worse, not better. Section 230 gives companies the flexibility to try different approaches to dealing with various content moderation challenges. It allows for greater and greater experimentation and adjustments as they learn what works – without fear of liability for any “failure.” Removing Section 230 protections does the opposite. It says if you do anything, you may face crippling legal liability. This actually makes companies less willing to do anything that involves trying to seek out, take down, and report CSAM because of the greatly increased liability that comes with admitting that there is CSAM on your platform to search for and deal with. This liability would allow anyone for any reason to sue any platform they want, suing smaller ones out of existence. Look at what is happening right now with book bans across the nation with far right groups. This is going to happen to the internet if this bill passes.

(Remember, the state department released a report in December 2021 recommending that the government crack down on “obscenity” as hard the Reagan Administration did. If this bill passes, it could easily go way beyond shit red states are currently trying. It is a goldmine for the fascist right that is currently in the middle of banning every book that talks about race and sexuality across the US.)

The reason these bills keep showing up is because there is this false lie spread by organizations like NCOSE that platforms do nothing about CSEM online. However, platforms are already liable for child sexual exploitation under federal law. Tech companies sent more than 45 million+ instances of CSAM to the DOJ in 2019 alone, most of which they declined to investigate. This shows that platforms are actually doing everything in their power already to stop CSEM by following already existing laws. The Earn It Act includes zero resources for proven investigation or prevention programs. If Senator Bluementhal actually cared about protecting youth, why wouldn’t he include anything to actually protect them in his shitty horrible bill? EARN IT is actually likely to make prosecuting child molesters more difficult since evidence collected this way likely violates the Fourth Amendment and would be inadmissible in court.

I don’t know why so many Senators are eager to cosponsor the “make child pornography worse” bill, but here we are.

HOW TO FIGHT BACK

EARN IT Act was introduced just two weeks ago and is already being fast-tracked. It will be marked up the week of May 1st and head to the Senate floor immediately after. If there is no loud and consistent opposition, it will be law by JUNE! Most bills never go to markup, so this means they are putting pressure to move this through. There are already 20 co-sponsors, a fifth of the entire Senate. This is an uphill battle and it is very much all hands on deck.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES.

This website takes you to your Senator / House members contact info. EMAIL, MESSAGE, SEND LETTERS, CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL. Calling is the BEST way to get a message through. Get your family and friends to send calls too. This is literally the end of free speech online.

(202) 224-3121 connects you to the congressional hotline. Here is a call script if you don't know what to say. Call them every day. Even on the weekends, leaving voicemails are fine.

2. Sign these petitions!

Link to Petition 1

Link to Petition 2

3. SPREAD THE WORD ONLINE

If you have any social media, spread this online. One of the best ways we fought back against this last year was MASSIVE spread online. Tiktok, reddit, twitter, discord, whatever means you have at least mention it. We could see most social media die out by this fall if we don't fight back.

Here is a linktree with more information on this bill including a masterpost of articles, the links to petitions, and the call script.

DISCORD LINK IF YOU WANT TO HELP FIGHT IT

TLDR: The EARN IT Act will lead to online censorship of any and all adult & lgbt content across the entire internet, open the floodgates to mass surveillance the likes which we haven’t seen before, lead to much more CSEM being distributed online, and destroy encryption. Call 202-224-3121 to connect to your house and senate representative and tell them to VOTE NO on this bill that does not protect anyone and harms everyone.

[111angel3]

My friend's kid gave me pinkeye and I have been on a particularly fuckt up sleep schedule about it and dreamed an entire Italian Opera on the themes of heaven and hell and the power of love and recognition of the self in other and the tragedy of loving the idea of something rather than the thing itself and the dream ended with the phrase "-And then it was banned EVERYWHERE."

[111angel3]

You run a dog daycare, and many of the dogs are…not ordinary. Cerberos with the three heads, Fenrir the massive wolf. the Black Hound… Their owners are equally bad at hiding their identities but it’s fine, since the doggies are all well behaved.

[111angel3]

master wordsmith, you always create such beautiful chapters that touch you in some way!

Arcadian Inquisition 153: Looking Forward

@canyouhearthelight and @writing-with-olive helped seal this one into absolute perfection, with perfect pacing and voice to make this one truly special. Mark and Tara consider their paths in life moving forward, and the Fletcher-Pamelas get news that will change their lives.

Tara

I was reading an article in one of the papers for school, a demand that each week we tried to keep up with the events of the world - not just in the Covenant but around the Continent. For our foreign affairs one, I had found one that struck me as interesting - there was apparently an update around the border disagreements with the Plains Federation. I knew the Stewardship of Foreign Affairs had been in talks with the Federation’s diplomats for months but I didn’t know much about what agreement we were having with them - I just knew Dad was nervous about it. But the article said we were apparently officially recognizing the independence of Northern Wilderrun.

“The Arcadian Covenant and Plains Federation have met with local and regional leaders of the breakaway state, full of dissatisfied citizens of both nations, who have long insisted that their interests do not align with the Federation or the Covenant, and who have demanded independence from both and self-determination. After months of heavy debate, it has been agreed that both major powers will recognize the independence of the new nation, which has been organized under the name of the United Mountain Republic. The new nation is organizing along mostly democratic lines, with heavy representation for its native tribes as well as ex-Arcadians and ex-Federation citizens. 

At time of writing, it is unclear what this will mean for the balance of power on the Continent, but it is believed by Foreign Affairs Stewardship sources that it will significantly reduce tensions along the border with the Plains Federation and overall strengthen diplomatic ties with them. Both powers have signed treaties with the new nation to respect the results of the United Mountain Republic’s inaugural elections. The new country has thus far accepted trade deals but is not accepting anything else from either of its former territorial claimants at this time, though it has signed extradition treaties with both the Covenant and with every Federation member state except the Kingdom of God.” 

I read the article several times to make sure I understood it, then took it to Mom and Dad, to make sure I understood. “Just so I’m sure I understand this, the United Mountain Republic wants to trade, but they don’t want anything else from either of us, because that might seem like they’re too influenced by one side or the other, right?”

Dad nodded. “Yep. That and they probably want to prove to themselves that they can set up in their own right. Without anything else helping.”

I thought about something. “So, what do the extradition treaties mean?”

“Basically, if you commit a crime in the Covenant or the Federation, the UMR will send you back if you try to flee there - unless the crime was in the Kingdom of God, in which case it will be strictly optional for the UMR to do so.”

I nodded. “That’s…so Samara would still be welcome in the UMR if she’d arrived there, but someone who committed murder who just happened to be doing it in the Kingdom of God would still be sent back?”

“Yes, basically the same rule we have, actually.”

I nodded. “So why was this so hard to negotiate for so long?”

“Partly because we didn’t want to stand down and relinquish territory given that Randaynia existed, and that that region, if not guaranteed or capable, could be a breeding ground for Nihilon camps. Partly that the Federation had similar concerns, plus they border New England, and they were worried about looking weak by ceding territory to anyone. With the new peace treaties there, and Randaynia extinguished, plus the joint operations that actually wiped out the last Nihilon bands up there, it looks like we’re finally ready to just..let it go…”

I nodded. “Hm. So, does this mean your job is going to be safer now, Dad? Less patrols, less risk of war?”

Dad paused. “I mean, I’m probably still on border patrols with the Kingdom of God, but there’s less chance of conflict with the Federation. And it wouldn’t shock me if the new United Mountain Republic is going to want to enforce some kind of enforced neutral zone between us and the Kingdom as a way of flexing, which would be good for diplomacy on every front as well as helping them establish military credibility. Probably let the politicians sort it out, but…probably, yeah, would make me safer.”

I sagged with relief as I finished my homework. “That’s a relief. I light a lot of incense every time you go on a long range patrol. And I know I got a sister because of you and the Guard…but I really don’t want to lose my Dad because some angry Canaanite gets lucky with a gun.”

Dad reached out and stroked my hair back, and I almost cried for a moment. “Hey, hey. I’m not going anywhere, sweetie. I lived this long. But yeah, looks like Arcadia’s wars are finally winding down. My next “away from home” deployment, if you can believe it, is going to be to Reclamation - just as an Embassy guard. Apparently that new All Continental Nations embassy finally got built. That should be about as dangerous as it gets for me. Unless one of the Imperials trips and pokes me with a bayonet while we’re both just standing guard, nothing bad happens.”

I blinked. “When’s your next deployment?”

“Oh, not for a couple of months, sweetie, it’s a ways off. And it won’t be a hard hitch.” I suddenly felt a rush of anxiety, and I hugged Dad really hard. He held me back, rocking me slowly. 

“Sshhhh. It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re okay.”

“I know it’s your job. I know it’s…I know you signed up. And I know I spent a long time being someone who looked after herself, but I really, really like having a dad. Please don’t stay gone too long.”

Dad held me a little longer. “I won’t. I’ll be back. And I’m not leaving for a while yet.” He took a breath. “It’s okay, Tara. You’re okay. You’re safe. Nothing’s ever going to change that.”

I took a breath, and finally let go. Finishing my homework wasn’t hard - but as I did it, and looked at another assignment, one about where I wanted to look at my two weeks internship…

I kept looking at the Stewardship of Foreign Affairs. Not just because of my dad but because looking at the way the continent worked, really trying to figure out what all the implications were, it…I wanted that. I wanted to be part of that. Making a more peaceful continent and one that made more sense.

Mark

I was in a hard shoving match with my opponent - might have been a practice game but it was still getting pretty ferocious - and suddenly saw a chance. I kicked the ball, just slightly, as Andy came up on the right, then suddenly threw myself, hard, to the left and came up in a shoulder roll, catching the ball with my stick as Andy passed it back to me. I threw it back to him, watching as he dribbled it and twirling my stick intimidatingly at the third team’s scorer who was trying to close on Renae to get at our goal…just as Andy got his shot in and a ball was tossed into the center of the ring.

Then the coach blew the whistle and I slumped with disappointment. “Scorch! Out of time already.” I took my helmet off and began sagging a bit, then Renae thumped my shoulder. “So, Mark, we’re coming up on the last game of the season - and honestly, getting pretty close to the last game we get in school. Aside from the occasional hobby game, we don’t have that many games left. Better make the last one perfect, right?”

I grinned, but felt a little flare of nerves underneath. “Planning on it.”

She caught the look on my face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Uh…” I glanced around. “I’ve…I’ve been nervous about that. I’m okay at school, but there’s not a lot I’m really…great at? Like none of the Stewardship Services really excite me, and I don’t know about a lot of the guilds. I just…I guess I don’t feel like there’s all that much I can…”

Andy came up and rapped me on the back with the stick, fortunately the jackets kept it from stinging too much. “Aren’t you the guy who made that insane river trout roast your family brought for the Feast of Summersdawn?”

“No. Tara actually grilled the fish. I’m the one who squeezed the blackberries for the cordial, but that doesn’t take a lot of…”

Renae screamed. “YOU MADE THAT SCORCHING CORDIAL!?”

“Was it that bad?”

“No, you idiot it was amazing! Gaia, Mark, what did you put in it?”

“Uh…honey, blackberries, bit of water, obviously, few gooseberries that I put in to give it a bit of a tang, heated it for a while to blend it all together and get the honey flowing, then once it was all blended I chilled it in the river water for a bit to get it nice and cold. Wanted it to be good.”

Andy blinked. “Uh. Mark. My uncle isn’t…okay. So, you know how my uncle runs the Crests Claim?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, you never stop bragging about how we should all three go on a date there sometime, it’s like the fanciest restaurant in Crests and your uncle would love to have us…”

“Right, yes and we should, but ALSO now because he’s been looking for someone who knows how to brew stuff. If you’re willing to take an apprenticeship with him for that, and that’s something you actually like, he may well actually be willing to hire you on.”

I blinked. “Isn’t it a family business?”

Andy shrugged, then held out a hand and wobbled it. “So-so. Family, friends of family. People who his loved ones are dating that he likes. Bear in mind one of the best waiters in the place is my cousin’s ex who my uncle really liked - after they broke up and my cousin left to go get Initiated into the Communion Circle off in…Frostreach, or somewhere, he kept paying her ex-girlfriend to stick around the place.”

I laughed. “Alright then. Please don’t leave me to join the Druids.” 

“Wasn’t gonna. I was probably going to stick with something a little closer. Looking into the builder’s guild myself. Like woodworking.”

“Might be able to help you - my grandfather is a Mentor-Rank woodworker, though I don’t know if he’s retired or not, I’d have to write to him. What about you, Renae, what were your plans?”

She shrugged. “I was actually planning on running for one of the local offices, but if that didn’t work out I figured on going into the Stewardship Administratia.”

I tried to imagine Renae - brilliant, beautiful, athletic, driven Renae - in an Administratia office and my mind broke for a minute. Then I started actually thinking about it and I realized that with how driven she was, how sincere she was…

She could actually go a really long way there.

“I hope to see you at the top of it someday, Ren.”

She gave me a kiss. “Thanks, Mark.”

[111angel3]

IN A DISTANT and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part . . .

See . . .

"GNU Sir Terry Pratchett" - L-Space Wiki / Ursula K. LeGuin / "Terry Pratchett" - Wikipedia / "GNU" - Urban Dictionary / Going Postal by Terry Pratchett / Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett / Brandon Sanderson / Paul Kidby / The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

[111angel3]

A little splash of colour

Sometimes I just need to colour without having to worry about if I'm going to ruin something ive spent hours drawing, so adult colouring books are my go to when I need a little stress relief or when i cant sleep. (will be adding names of the books later and their artists)

[111angel3]

Neith

Simbas sister neith, who's ever so sweet and funny and adores her adopted brother beyond words

[111angel3]

such a fantastic chapter always love your work!!! and my cats called Neith, similar to the Yndrani's name nieth lol

Under Avandra's Eyes XCI: The Broken Seal

The team escapes from the tower with their new companions, facing down horror and the ever rising sense of dread. Once clear, they face what comes next, and get to know Malzan and Nieth. Baldor's age shows itself, and his magic immunity is abused. A huge thanks to @canyouhearthelight whose beta-reading kept things tense, and to everyone who has been reading along. This chapter is dedicated to anyone feeling their age in the face of...well, everything happening recently.

Baldor

The strange, flickering mist writhed at the bottom of the stairs like a living thing, and Baldor did not need Iris’s power to know that something malevolent beyond human comprehension moved within. Marcus shouted a warning - Baldor couldn’t see anything, but Marcus swore he could Sense something moving ahead. Suddenly the Yndrani woman, Nieth, cast something - some sort of dust - out ahead of them in a thin cloud and something was briefly visible, something that moved more strangely than a common daemon and whose form begged madness - and worse, other things swirled in that strange herbal dust, things whose strange patterns of disturbing said dust indicated similar movement, as though they had both tentacled limbs and hard joints. 

Malzan stepped forward with his massive ax and struck a savage blow against whatever the strange form was, now that it was even somewhat visible, before Marcus could step ahead. It was dubious that any magic was forged into that blade, nor was it made chased with silver and cold iron, but driven by the undeniable power of those massive arms and the sheer fury of the Chimmaerian swinging it, the ax bit deep and whatever creature moved screamed - perhaps it was not daemonic but merely mutated by the horrors of the hateful place they now sprinted through. Something else lunged forward and slammed into Marcus, who roared in hatred, even as some alien blood splattered him, swinging his swords back and forth, drawing more blood, howling rage and hatred, even as Thomas drove his knives into the creature’s back and Baldor seized whatever that strange, barely revealed form was - and felt himself struggling against something that felt, beneath the hand, as though it was made of snakes and bony joints, like…

In the not-quite-visible presence he grappled with felt strong, angry, and it tore into him with talons that felt like living smoke, burning his flesh with their grip, but as the Paladin got his hands into whatever passed for its unseen flesh, looking at the moving twitches in the herbal dust and strange smoke that gave hints at the unseen face, he heaved, throwing it down the stairs and into the waiting mist, even as the thing began an eerie keening, and then it started screaming, the scent of burning flesh and hair filling the air as they fled further up the stairs.

Then the mist took on the consistency of smoke and began rising faster, as though animated by a terrible intelligence, suddenly refusing to fill the rooms they passed, simply pursuing them as they fled up the Lost Tower. Iris panted out something about a broken seal, and Baldor cast desperately about for something to try to close the stairwell off behind them - anything to delay that cursed fog. 

Iris gestured up as they passed the chamber they’d come in through - they’d jammed the front door shut and possibly jammed it too profoundly to escape. The others began racing up the stairs, and Baldor was beginning to see spots at the edge of his vision. Marcus grabbed him and pulled, and before long Iris was doing the same. Fear overcame him then - not the fear of death, not at whatever horror was in the smoky entity down, rapidly closing the gap between them and itself, but that his aging body might be what actually got his son and daughter in law killed. 

Iris’s eyes darted wildly between Marcus, Baldor, and the mist. “That stuff…the thing that’s been watching us the whole time. It’s here. IT’s in the smoke.” 

Baldor wouldn’t have had to be told. Even without Iris’s power he could feel a seething malevolence rolling off of it - not any gift of his, at a guess, but the sheer ability of whatever it was to project it, similar to Abbadon’s mantle, one did not have to have magic to know that was undeniably evil beyond the mortal pale. He forced himself up the stairs, Liza and Thomas moving as well, and Liza suddenly looked back and saw them struggling, then looked to the hulking man that they had rescued - and raised an eyebrow. “We rescued you. Whatever comes of this, whatever power Vixen may claim, Baldor is the only one who she could have done actually nothing to, ever, and he needs help, HELP US!” 

Baldor glanced around. Malzan grabbed him by the shoulders, opposite Marcus, and began bodily hauling the great knight, the massive Chimmerean snarling slightly, the stairs proving no challenge for the three men together, letting Iris past them as they staggered up, the lighter ranger bounding up the steps with the bard, the thief and the herbalist. The traps had already been shattered, and where they hadn’t Thomas made short, frantic work of them, Iris swearing once as something descended from the ceiling, something with wings and strange worms extending from its form before it was shot into the wall and collapsed. Nieth scooped up two of the worms as quickly as she could with gloved hands, placing them into a small vial, smiling with an unsettling grin that made Baldor nervous before the thought vanished from his mind.

Something roared with undeniable malevolence behind him and he heard Marcus roaring back in challenge, even as Malzan pulled ahead. Baldor tightened his grip on Marcus’s shoulder and shook his head, once. “Boy, come.” 

They burst into another antechamber, one covered in treasures - ones he did not trust, ones obviously cursed, and for a moment Thomas looked at the jewels with undisguised greed before laughing and shaking his head. Then he grabbed six of the most priceless jewels and hurled a piece of rubble at a diamond on what Baldor would have sworn was the most obviously trapped podium as the nimble thief jumped up the stairs.

The smoke reached the treasure room just as hidden ports blazed to life and began gouting some sort of hateful alchemic fire, the nozzles still prepared after over two thousand years, a testament to dwarven engineering. Thomas gave a nasty little smirk. “Dwarves and their traps.”

The smoke flinched back from the flames, stalling for only a moment, then began pushing through the fire, snuffing it out as it had the torches in the desert - whatever this entity was, Baldor knew it would not be long stopped by clever fire. 

Baldor was still reeling from the heat, trying to stagger up the stairs, and they came to an open port - a horrid storm swirling outside. Malzan pulled a rope from his belt and a brutal looking climbing spike and nodded to Baldor with his hammer, as though signalling that the other man should drive the spike into the rock, and Baldor nodded - the Chimmaerian held the spike stock-still as Baldor drove the spike deep into the stone and Thomas desperately knotted the rope into it, tying his own rope to the end of Malzan’s.

Malzan was the first out the window, seemingly to test the weight of the rope, and when it held his weight, Iris, then Liza, then Neith, then Marcus. Thomas and Baldor were the last two out - deliberately staying further from the rope than the others as the smoke got closer, ensuring everyone else got clear.

Then Baldor was shoving Thomas onto the rope before he knew what he was doing and Thomas was swearing at him. “Thief. I’m old enough. Maybe that Daemon kills me, maybe it doesn’t. It’ll definitely kill you. Go to your wife and kid. Marcus’ll make it now either way. Go.” 

Thomas looked at him and nodded. “I’m sorry I ever had any doubts about you, Sir Knight.” 

It was the only time Thomas had ever given him his title.

Then Thomas was dropping down the tower and the smoke hit Baldor, and…he was coughing, surrounded by that mad malevolence, hearing the screams, but…

Not much else? 

He couldn’t breathe. He heard, for just a moment, the soft sobs of his wife, from years before, and the desperate vomiting of his long-dead son, and had the knight been able to draw breath for it he’d have raised the Hammer of Torin and demanded the hateful thing in the smoke bring it’s malice to him and face him directly if it would dare use his wife and child’s voices to taunt him.

“A Paladin alone in darkness. They all wind up alone in the end. Your son wanders perilous close to his precipice. The others have succumbed at least once before already - each. But your son will be the first to truly fall. Will you be the one to slay him?”

Baldor shook his head and grabbed the rope. A daemon’s voice offered him nothing. Whatever this was….

He vaulted out the window, gripping the rope and pushing it, holding it as hard as he could, his knees aching and his already bleeding hands aching with each rappel, until he hit the unforgiving scorched sands below, and nothing had ever been sweeter than the pain of that cursed black dust searing his lungs, away from that hateful fog.

Iris’s voice sounded behind him. “We broke a seal that shouldn’t have been - no one else has tread in that tower for two thousand years. No one else ever will. But I think we got what we came for.” 

Baldor turned to their two new companions, and forced himself to his feet. They were still in the Blasted lands. No rest for the wicked or the righteous. 

“My name is Baldor Torin. My son Marcus, my daughter in law, Iris. The one with the knives is Thomas Grey, renowned thief and adventurer, and the nimble one is Liza, a bard who handles it any time we speak with powerful people. We were sent by Vixen.”

The Yndrani spoke, her voice light. “Nieth. I’m an herbalist. My companion is Malzan, a Chimaerian warrior. We are grateful for your aid - and sorry to hear someone else is caught in the witch’s machinations. Which of you was snared?”

Liza waved, the group of them moving to a slight overhang. “Me. And not to be too nasty, but we were told you were an herbalist. Any way we could get medical treatment for our wounds while we catch our breath before anything else happens?”

Neith nodded, pulling some foul smelling salve from her pouches and beginning work on Liza first, then on Thomas, and Malzan, and Marcus. Iris was least badly wounded, and before she began working on Baldor, she gave him a shrewd question. “This salve had rituals worked into it - much time and enchanted material. If there is some enchantment you are using to have survived that curse we saw you withstand twice in a row, you should tell me now - I will be very aggravated and tempted to mix in poisons if I waste this on someone who it will not affect.”

Baldor chuckled. “No magic.” She gave him a cold stare.

“No, really. Paladin. My faith and…dedication to my ideals, I suppose. I’m a living anathema to chaos. Magic can’t help or hurt me.”

Nieth started snickering. “Oh…oh I am sure Vixen loved you. Essentially a living wound in her ability to play hell with others’ fates. No willingness to make bargains, no ability to curse you or work magic - that is amazing. No, just for the thought of the rage she must have felt, I want to see you live long and well.” She withdrew the salve and pulled something else out. “This is nowhere near as fast, nor as powerful - but it works on herbals alone, and there is no magic here but that of nature and knowledge, none drawn from Chaos or faith. It can affect your wounds, in other words, though more slowly than the other would have if it could have served at all, you understand.” 

“In other words, slow but sure way without magic is the only way to treat me and that’s what this is?”

A quiet bark of laughter. “In so many words.” She carefully applied the newer poultice to his hands, and he sucked in a breath at the stinging as she bound it, then let her apply it to his other wounds. Then she gave him something else. “Here. The others will be more rapidly healed by their medicine, they will have no pain to ignore soon. This will dull your senses slightly but truth be known this will affect you little - if what you say is true we rely on the others more than we do you for eyes and senses.” 

He took it in and felt the pain flow away - very slightly. “Thank you.” 

She shrugged. “Malzan has no use for it. Chimaerian physiology is remarkable in how quickly it can metabolize just healing, but it basically doesn’t take in anything meant to reduce pain.”

Baldor shrugged as he stood - Marcus and Malzan were already staring at each other, square on, in the universal body language of young men about to do something stupid. “No. Whatever this is you deal with it when we’re not in hell.” 

Marcus looked over looking abashed, and Nieth glanced over to Liza. “What did you do to get in debt with Vixen?”

“Needed medicine. You?”

“Wanted to help my sister. The favor she demanded got me exiled from my village but I found other things I could do. Ran into Malzan along the way.”

Baldor growled. “Sounds like…”

Before he could finish his thoughts about the witch, Iris gave a small gasp and Marcus cursed. “Something moving. Lots of things. Coming this way. We gotta move.”

[111angel3]

The Miys, Ch. 230

So, I have been reliably informed by @mike-ks-66502-blog that “The Miys” has broken containment: they found my story through FB!??? What the… for realsies? (Also, will respond to your ask soon, just kind of processing that information)

Thankfully it was a screenshot someone shared with Noah hilariously mis-translating Terran slang.

Highly distinguished new readers this week also include @111angel3, who not only took on the speedrun of the story, but commented on doggone near every single chapter; along with @krashingallalong, who last I checked was on chapter 216 and still going. Yes, Krash, I do read my comments ;) I’ll get that link fixed.

New readers this week are: @niavirrivain, @miniaturehumanman, @janelss, @earth-man-head, @barn-in-the-desert. Hey y’all!

Thanks, as always, go to @baelpenrose for beta reading and helping me get through the sticky spots.  Additional extra special thanks to whichever mad people are recommending my story out there. Y’all are awesome, I seriously hope you know that.

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[111angel3]

[111angel3]

Fate and Mercy and Dead Girls

Summary: Sometimes, when things go very wrong, the Chosen One gets a wish. That’s where Danielle comes in. (Tagged with Blood, violence, child death)

————–

Danielle is cursed.

This battlefield is nice. It’s early afternoon and the breeze that comes from the forest to the east is sweet. The fighting has only just begun and the scent of blood is still hovering at the edge of her senses. It hasn’t erased the taste of the dead girl’s last meal – bread sweetened with honey – yet. She’s used to storm clouds the size of mountains roiling overhead, the electric sting of lightning against her skin, the crash of blades against armor and arrows against shields. The sun is warm and honey-sweet against her cheek and there’s no fighting going on right now. There’s only the low murmur of voices from all around and some muffled sobbing.

If she weren’t waking up in the body of a dead girl, she’d call it picnic weather.

Time to pay attention.

“—Chosen One is dead,” a man says. His voice matches the weather more than the situation. Calm. Even. Gentle. A wave lapping at the shore before the tsunami. She can feel his aura undulating through the ground, dark and demanding. Demon King? Mad Emperor? Dark Lord? One of those types. He projects his words over the renewed sobbing. “Do you see your folly now, honorable knights? The wasted months of defiance? You were never going to defeat my army even with years and seven fabled soldiers at your mercy rather than the one. Here, the day of your final rebellion, your Hero lies dead after only one volley.”

Hero. Danielle is cursed, she shouldn’t be feeling pity for anyone but herself. But there it is, the familiar bile in the back of her throat, the prickling of her eyes, the tightening in her chest. This dead girl was their Hero. They made her their Chosen One. From the feel of it, they didn’t school in her magic or train her in swordsmanship. Her muscles are burning from death, yes, but also from overexertion.

What do you want? Danielle asks. All of the right systems are under her control now. The ground is cold against her back, the girl’s tiny curls a tickle against her face. The air is sweet underneath the scent of a dying blow and she can hear the conversations around her clearly. The Dark Lord is still gloating, giving the knights their time to mourn and his own forces time to ready the next attack. Sweetheart, what do you want?

The girl’s soul shudders. I-I’m not dead?

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[111angel3]

Microstory

The demon looked around. There was a summoning sigil drawn in the ruddy sand, but nobody… It shifted its perception to the spiritual plane. Ah. A dust devil. “Why hast thou-” “A battery.” “A battery?” The demon looked around. “What need for a battery on Mars?” “For our friend.”

[111angel3]

What I say: “I’m touch-starved.”

What you think I mean: “I need a hug.”

What I truly mean: “I need someone to platonically lie across me with their full weight, crushing my body and providing deep pressure until my errant soul is reabsorbed into my flesh. Also, a hug would be nice.”