Mole

Avalia

_{T I M E : One Week After Human Arrival
L O C A T I O N : Seaside Park, Port10
I N T E R A C T I O N S : @JJ Doe, @Conscripts , @Lava Alckon
T A G S : @JJ Doe , @Conscripts , @Lava Alckon
E Q U I P M E N T :}

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The sunlight sparkled through surrounding trees’ leaves, offering some hope through the park tree lining. Several plants glistened and glowed in their beauty, but the tragedy was still echoing throughout the day.

They had made it to Riverport just that morning. Rowan thought a change in scenery was necessary. The open air and sea would be soothing, and moving away from Riverbloom, although not far away, was probably safer in case the enemy returned.

“Sister, it shall be alright,” Rowan assured Aurora. He had many thoughts about the subject. Perhaps, if they had trained harder and been more alert. Perhaps, if they had travelled an alternate road. Perhaps, if they had stayed in the town. Rowan battled these thoughts and more.

Alas, his mind rested in Zara’s farewell dessert. It was such gestures as these, like a stroke of luck — a feather black pen on silk paper, that his dear sister’s wisdom made its elegance known. And yet, to see her mourn.

Words failed him.

Without request or much thought, Aurora could not keep her eyes dry. There was a dark shadow that clouded where Zara’s brilliant light once shown. The sound of her voice was a dead echo, invisible to even the wind. How could something so precious be lost so easily?

“I can still smell her blood.” The words fell from her lips and trembled all the same. Even in the new city, days away from Zara’s murder, the smell of her corpse haunted the air.

“She shall be missed,” Rowan assured Aurora. If to keep his own morale from breaking as he selflessly cared for his sister, he coldly mourned how easy Zara was in comparison to their new human counterpart.

“But all is not lost,” he quickly added, concealing as much hesitation as he could from his younger sister. He looked towards Barrock. The gentle giant’s appearance had come at the perfect time. Having assistance with his distraught sister and the human Vasco was something only good fortune could have brought him. Although, it pained him to think this way, one way or another as he tried not to reminisce on how much more compliant Zara had been.

Vasco looked like some house pet had dragged him out of an unknown shabby hiding spot. Worse than his appearance when he first arrived in Avalia. Aurora had insisted on a public bathhouse visit for them, first thing. And yet, as Rowan resized up the human for the hundredth time, Vasco seemed to have remastered the ragged look of someone who had been screwing around all night.

“Friend,” Rowan spoke to Barrock. “You watched Vasco all last night as promised?” The elf felt a pain of guilt asking this of the ogre. There was no reason to assume a lack of trust, and in all, he had to admit at sometime, that he had slipped emotionally.

His sister could have very well been taken along with Zara. Of course, he no doubt was thankful she had been spared. And yet, she thought nothing of herself. It was not as if they could infinitely summon new humans for their bidding, like disposable pawns, and yet, to know his sister’s limits was driving a sharp pain inside of him. On one hand, he wished she had stayed behind; on the other, her insight was ultimately a demand.

Rowan’s hand patted his sister’s back, the best he could. She was sitting by a tree, just as she had been when the Dark Elf had taken them by surprise. Why she did this to herself, he could not fathom. If anything he could understand, the light she might have seen of Zara had also vanished from his own sister’s blind eyes.

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Banned for sporadically placed Easter holiday advertisements.

Book Quotes

@The Elvenqueen, thank you for sharing. It’s tragic and painful and beautiful, the love of a mother for her offspring, being taken from her. 😭

Book Quotes

"Everybody out here already knows there's only so many versions of the same twisted man. You see him in every vacant lot and doorway, every town and city. Just blink and there he is, out here on the hunt. Offering you a ride around the corner, same seat Mommy sits in. Ain't that great?" She told Naum.

The Fathers say you can listen a soul into existence.

Then she said, "I don't knit or sew, with yarn or thread, but maybe Im creative, like them. I knit my thoughts together on paper. I have a rule, from when I was little. Every day I write some-thing. Something about the people who come in and out of my life and about the things that happen. Someday I'm gonna sew them all together in a book. And Father, I do remember who I am, and where I'm from, and I do know what you mean by that. You're not talking about the old neighborhood or the old country, things like that that fade away. That's not where we're going, ultimately. It's just sometimes I forget, or maybe you're right, maybe it is too much stuff, stuff around us makes it hard to keep it in mind."

"Always been something out here trying to make you forget who you really are, your true self. Where you're really from. And where you're really going, ya know, ultimately, I mean. I think we forget all that. Maybe we've been distracted by how much stuff we have, the stuff that becomes stuff we have to deal with."

"How much we have." She almost laughed but stopped herself out of pity for the priest.

He wasn't sure Elisa understood, but he knew he had to find a kind, non-accusatory way to plant the seed of her deeper remembering.

— Stephen Sinari, Big in Heaven

What Are You Listening To?

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Banned for making a good point.

Word association Game!

Ajar

Book Quotes

Such a fuss over a broken alarm. Housewives sure must be starved for conversation, her husband said in bewilderment. That’s just it, the woman answered with a laugh.

— Maki Kashimada, Love at Six Thousand Degrees

What shows/movies are you watching?

Your Place or Mine (2023)

My favorite movie in middle school was 13 Going on 30 (2004) — flash forward to: heartthrob Mark Ruffalo playing the antagonist in Poor Things (2023) — which is completely off topic, but I can’t help mentioning because I find it amusing. The reason I mentioned this is because after I watched United States of Leland (2013) in high school, I stopped paying attention to mainstream films.

So, why was I watching something like Your Place or Mine? It’s just the way the universe was made. I was in a public establishment. I didn’t even recognize Ashton Kutcher at first. The movie was playing with no sound, and I had to read the subtitles.

I liked the premise being of a naive, neurotic single-mother with her misfit son. I liked that she had an overbearing and cynical bestie looking out for her best interest, complimented with a cup of coffee. I liked that her neighbor was lingering around trying and failing to get her undying love, all while she obliviously attempted to simply keep afloat. (Honestly, I think it took the movie to put things into context for me.) I loved that her to-be love interest goes through failing grandiose efforts to parent her son. I liked that he had that male touch many single-moms (often tragically) can’t seem to offer.

The movie got a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, but The United States of Leland got a whopping 34%. The single-mother still lingering in me can’t help but recommend My Place or Yours. It had iconic, cute, and silly light-hearted moments, and of course, you know, the movie circumvents around characters with a love for literature. So, if you want to veg out and watch Ashton Kutcher run around with more make-up than Queen Elizabeth. Here’s your chance.

Post a random fact about yourself.

I like walking barefoot in rivers.