Title: A Falcon of Summer
Author: Lawkeeper
Rating: T
Language: English
Length: 440k words
Status: Ongoing
Link: A Falcon of Summer work
Chapter 66 Headaches and Family
Summary: At Riverrun in the one night before marching off to war with Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn sires a son with Lysa Tully. Jasper Arryn is an untested green boy, a lord of summer, but when the king who sits on the Iron Throne commands him to hand over his wards, history repeats itself. As High as Honor!
Chapter Summary: Cersei is Cersei and is the most rational actor ever. Tommen has to take a break from the war to deal with his lovely mother. Garlan uncovers a conspiracy. And Edmure is a good man in the Kingswood and adopts a feral wolf
If your want a fic where the OC is a flawed guy like the rest of the asoiaf characters and things change from the canon line very quickly this is your story. If you want some interesting plot point changes. Heres some spoilers. Joffrey is exiled from the realm at the Trident. Melisandre believes Robert is the chosen one. Not Stannis. No War for the Five Kings. Different war is launched. Jon Snow gets a white cloak instead of a black.
Another chapter down in theory I only have 17 left(Technically 19, but being the silly guy I am I already finished two chapters out of order. One is a battle chapter which was a blast to write.) My goal is to try to finish this fic by the end of the year. Probably a fools hope (I'm just as bad as George I guess XD) I do wish sometimes I had help for this and someone could split the workload. I'd be very happy if that ever happened, but I suppose thats unlikely by this point. I just have to keep chugging along until I get to the end. I can see the end, but we still have several miles to go. Assuming every chapter is on average 5K I still have 95K of unwritten materials as a conservative estimate likely more like in the 115-120K range given most chapters are at least 6K in words.

Title: A Falcon of Summer
Author: Lawkeeper
Rating: T
Language: English
Length: 440k words
Status: Ongoing
Link: A Falcon of Summer work
Chapter 66 Headaches and Family
Summary: At Riverrun in the one night before marching off to war with Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn sires a son with Lysa Tully. Jasper Arryn is an untested green boy, a lord of summer, but when the king who sits on the Iron Throne commands him to hand over his wards, history repeats itself. As High as Honor!
Chapter Summary: Cersei is Cersei and is the most rational actor ever. Tommen has to take a break from the war to deal with his lovely mother. Garlan uncovers a conspiracy. And Edmure is a good man in the Kingswood and adopts a feral wolf
If your want a fic where the OC is a flawed guy like the rest of the asoiaf characters and things change from the canon line very quickly this is your story. If you want some interesting plot point changes. Heres some spoilers. Joffrey is exiled from the realm at the Trident. Melisandre believes Robert is the chosen one. Not Stannis. No War for the Five Kings. Different war is launched. Jon Snow gets a white cloak instead of a black.
Another chapter down in theory I only have 17 left(Technically 19, but being the silly guy I am I already finished two chapters out of order. One is a battle chapter which was a blast to write.) My goal is to try to finish this fic by the end of the year. Proably a fools hope (I'm just as bad as George I guess XD) I do wish sometimes I had help for this and someone could split the workload. I'd be very happy if that ever happened, but I suppose thats unlikely by this point. I just have to keep chugging along until I get to the end. I can see the end, but we still have several miles to go. Assuming every chapter is on average 5K I still have 95K of unwritten materials as a conservative estimate likely more like in the 115-120K range given most chapters are at least 6K in words.

If you want something very relaxing and fun please do give a try to 'Hatarakanai Futari(The jobless siblings)'
It a slice of life about a Neet brother and sister who goes about their daily life with their friend and parent while helping them and having fun.
Here's summery:

A slice-of-life story about two siblings, both jobless shut-ins. Haruko is a teenage girl who shares with her brother a love of laying around the house in sweats, watching television and playing video games. Her brother has a few friends, but Haruko has a lot of problems with social anxiety. The two of them pass their days happily playing together, though their mother worries about how she's going to get Haruko to shape up enough to find a husband.

But this summary doesn't do the justice there is alot going on, its chapter based(usually less the 3 to 5 page per chapter) with no actual story to progress but characters do have some development.
Also, there is no ecchi content that might be inappropriate although there are quite a few poop jokes.
Here Mangadex link: https://mangadex.org/manga/52d4ad1e-d02c-4fef-81d6-1e758e699d31/hatarakanai-futari

Hi so I read the manga but as we know it stops at chapter 18.2, I’m not much of a reader for novels, I was wondering if there’s summaries I can read though? Or YouTube videos with summaries per volume similar to the classroom of the elite ones?

i write summaries of the side story for tumblr but i'd love to see more redditors interested in the side story so i'm reposting them here with edits for readability :) please check out this for information on where to read the side story!
LHH had used ORV to check on his companions a few chapters ago, but kimcom's constant thinking of KDJ had forced him over to view them as well. Last chapter had yjh reminiscing about a memory from during his time in space:
While he's resting in another world, Biyoo tells him to imagine a life without the scenarios, which he can't do well. After some conversation (Biyoo: "maybe in another life you wouldn't be unemployed. i feel sorry for captain.") He hears a boy's voice in the distance and immediately gets up and runs to grab his shoulder. As he reaches the boy, a gruff boy grabs his arm, while a small girl moves to protect the boy. He apologizes and lets go.
Watching the three walk off, he starts to think. That boy who sounds like Kim Dokja, the gruff boy with a strikingly similar aura to himself, and the small girl with a mole on her cheek... he knows they couldn't really be who he's thinking of. Even so, somewhere out there, a story like that might just exist.
+ my translation of the above scene:

The voices of young children were heard from the bottom of the streamlet. One girl shouted "Let's go to the PC bang!", and another boy frowned. And a pale, slender boy headlocked the frowning boy.
"Ah! Let's go!"
The moment Yoo Joonghyuk heard the boy's voice, he suddenly rose from his seat.
[Captain?]
Yoo Joonghyuk began to descend the hillside. His slow-moving legs gradually began to quicken. Yoo Joonghyuk ran to the boy and grasped the boy's shoulder, forgetting his lack of breath.
The boy looked back at him with a frown.
"Who are you?"
"What is it, ahjussi?"
A blunt-looking boy grabbed Yoo Joonghyuk's arm, and a small girl who stood in front of the boy as if to protect him scowled at Yoo Joonghyuk.
Yoo Joonghyuk quickly let go.
"I'm sorry. I was mistaken."
The children went back on their way, grumbling weakly.
Looking at their backs, unfamiliar yet somehow familiar, Yoo Joonghyuk suddenly started to imagine like that.
「Maybe that boy.」
Isn't it that, similarly to Biyoo, that boy is a reborn Kim Dokja, finally forgetting all the tregedies after reincarnating?
Yoo Joonghyuk eyed the boy and the girl next to him. A blunt-looking boy with an oddly similar atmosphere to him, and a girl with a beauty mark like Han Sooyoung.
Of course, the kids were not Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung. Even though he knew that, Yoo Joonghyuk kept experiencing strange feelings.
What if, somewhere in the universe, there really was such a story?
The voice of the lowly smiling Biyoo reached his ears.
[See. I told you, even Captain has a story that he imagines.]

After this, he senses LHH watching him, which scares the shit out of LHH and he switches to someone else.
Now, he finds himself possessing the kkoma KDJ that kimcom has been taking care of. He can see Cha Yerin and Ji Eunyu struggling in the carriage while he's passed out, but as he tries to deactivate ORV, there's an error... he watches them for a while, listening to their thoughts.. and while watching them, he loses confidence in his plan to change the 41st round. What happens to kimcom after the 41st round is changed?
Yoo Joonghyuk walks in then, shouting Kim Dokja's name. YSA tries to ask what's going on, and YJH just keeps repeating that Kim Dokja was here. And then he sees the kkoma KDJ. He immediately sprints over with [Red Phoenix Shunpo] and grabs him. lhh is frantically trying to release orv while yjh glares at him. kimcom tries to explain that it's not really kdj, and points at the screen showing LHH.
But then they notice that he's passed out. And knowing the skill that KDJ uses when he passes out... kimcom gather around LHH. a silence sweeps over the group. and they all come to a conclusion.
"Let's lock him up."
LHH panics.
"Should we buy a cage for now?""Does the 'Dokkaebi Bag' have that?""Why don't you ask Bihyung?""What about a leash too?""What kind of dog is ahjussi?"
ORV is still erroring out. He can't cancel his skill. Yoo Joonghyuk is STILL holding him, and staring at him with a strange gaze. He starts to think he'll really be locked up.
YSA finally decides to calm everything down and tells the group to stop playing jokes.
LSH, walking in with an animal cage: We were joking?
He's asked a question, but in his current form he can't talk. A system is set: He'll blink once for 'yes', and twice for 'no'. Each person will ask one question, and Lee Gilyoung goes first.
"Dokja hyung... it's you, right?"
The most important question to them. Is he Kim Dokja?
He blinks. Three times.
It's true, and not true. He is Kim Dokja, but he is also not Kim Dokja. Each member of kimcom accepts that response in their own way. LSH then warns that LHH's condition is off. ORV's condition is unstable. It's only natural that it would be, as crossing worldlines is normally impossible. Yoosung pleads for him to stay. She knows he has a place to go back to, that he has people who need him. But them, too... She chokes up and can't continue. But as he's acting as the Demon King of Salvation right now, his incarnation's voice was clear.
「We need ahjussi too.」
By Lee Seolhwa's estimate, LHH has around 5 minutes left. Everyone steps back, letting Shin Yoosung ask the last question. She asks why he came here. it's a question he can't answer. YSA hugs Shin Yoosung and rephrases the question.
"Did you miss us?"
Shin Yoosung looks up then. Maybe this was the question she really wanted to ask. Lee Hakhyun decides to think as Kim Dokja.
He looks at . Shin Yoosung, Lee Gilyoung, Yoo Sangah, Lee Jihye, Yoo Joonghyuk... and even Han Sooyoung, who wasn't there. He wanted to remember their faces. Like taking a picture, he slowly blinks once.
Tears well up in Shin Yoosung's eyes, and the rest of the group have similar reactions. Yoo Joonghyuk is still looking at him with that same strange gaze. YSA moves close to him, and whispers something that only he could hear.
"We know. Dokja-ssi isn't the 'Kim Dokja' we remember."
"Even so, we still think Dokja-ssi is Dokja-ssi. No one can deny that."
Yoo Sangah then moves back, and speaks again in a voice everyone can hear.
She says that he can stay here, if he wants. They can provide the probability for it. And they can help the 41st round. The rest of them start to speak up, and as they talk, the story of begins to speak.
Lee Hakhyun can see the space between the lines. The side of that was never shown. Several from kimcom were not here. And yet they didn't blame him. They were saying it was fine for him to stay on top of the lines they had created. Is his own story really that important? Maybe Han Sooyoung was right when she said he wasn't qualified to write the 41st round. It already has an ending, and it can't be changed. He could spend the rest of his life here, for Kim Dokja's Company's sake, who would be comforted just by him being here—
On the screen, he hears the voice of the 41st Yoo Joonghyuk.
Even as Lee Hakhyun is here, the 41st round's Yoo Joonghyuk continues to forward forward. Toward the end of a story that would end in failure.
Seeing him, he finally understood why Kim Dokja had not stayed in the 1863rd round.
Shin Yoosung desperately asks if he would stay. bBut all he sees is darkness, as she has covered his eyes. She tells him not to answer.
In the darkness, He hears yoo joonghyuk's voice.
"Listen, Kim Dokja.""Regardless of the story you want, we will continue to create the ending we want. And you cannot stop us."
With a spark, ORV starts to release. LGY helps the crying SYS as YSA thanks him for coming. Seeing kimcom, he's convinced yet again.
Kim Dokja would have wanted to come back to them no matter what.
So why didn't he? What forced him to leave the people he loved most?
As his conscious fades, he hears a voice.
【Do you really want to know?】
He could instinctively feel it. He knows the owner of that voice.
【Even if that truth could ruin you forever?】

It's finally Friday, so it's time for the Long Deadline Profile Exchange
HOW IT WORKS: This is a subreddit event where everyone posts their AO3 (or FFN) profile with some information about the kind of fics they write. Then, the other participants will look through their profiles, read a one-shot or chapter by the author, and then leave a comment on one of their works. (A kudos would be nice too!)
DEADLINE FOR ENTRY is Sunday 9th June at 5PM BST/WEST (UTC+1)
DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION is Saturday 15th June at 5PM BST/WEST (UTC+1)
What Are the Rules?
Post your profile link and a short summary of the kind of stories that one might find there (fandom, genre, rating, etc.). Please spoiler anything triggering or NSFW.
Once you enter, you will have to review at least 4 stories/chapters from 4 different profiles (one from each). Please include in your submission "Reviewed 0/4" so we can keep track.
Your reviews should be thoughtful. The writer should be able to tell that you read the story. Say what you like about the story. Was something funny? Did something touch you? Make you want to throat punch one of their characters? TELL THEM ABOUT IT! At least 50 words/3 sentences per review. ConCrit and/or stating you are "fandom blind" or "from Reddit" are opt-in only. After you've left a comment, reply to their post on here to let them know.
I would like to continue to challenge folks to read at least one person who is new to them as possible.
If you enter the exchange, DO NOT delete your entry. You must complete the required reviews for the exchange. Please talk to the mods if something comes up and you have concerns about doing something timely.
But above all, have fun and happy reading and reviewing!

It's been just under a week since the movie auction supplemental was released. We're now approaching the new weekend releases, and since I like data crunching I thought I'd do a summary/update on the progress so far.
Standings-wise Eric is in the lead at the moment, just ahead of Geoff. They've been close all week, down to as little as $300k separating their totals. Andrew's Garfield pick has netted him a comfortable 3rd place so far, we'll have to see how it fares over the weekend, and if The Watchers draws in the moviegoers. Nick's picks have had a decent ROI so far considering he's only spent 5 points, but they haven't brought in the big bucks. He also has a long wait ahead until his next releases. As for Gavin...well $15 is something at least.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die releases today, so that'll hopefully help Gavin start catching up some before his big pick next weekend, Inside Out 2. Also releasing today is Andrew's The Watchers. The previous horror film on the list (The Strangers: Chapter 1) has had a decent showing so far, we'll have to see if that has satiated the horror fans or if they'll come out again this weekend to watch the new release.
Other interesting notes so far:

• Geoff has both the best ROI (IF) and the worst ROI (Ezra) so far.
• Geoff also had one of his picks delayed. The Fire Inside has been pushed until December 25th.
• The domestic gross of Haikyuu! is only about 5% of the total worldwide, the other's vary between 45% and 90%
• The average ROI is about $3.9 millon per point, and the total domestic gross is just under a quarter billion dollars so far.

So what do we think? Will Bad Boys have a better release than Furiosa and give Gavin a chance? Will IF continue to pull in viewers to help Geoff gain 1st place? Will The Watchers have as high a ROI as The Strangers and give Andrew the boost needed to reach the top?
I hope everybody has a nice weekend, maybe some of you'll check out the new releases. (Though I secretly hope Bad Boys gets delayed at the last minute just because it's funny to see Gavin's total of $15).
If you want to check the numbers yourself, the spreadsheet is here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LoDwppVer-abg4Ehuksgq4LIwbXdFZrAnvIFOB8_nZk/edit?usp=sharing
EDIT: The Untitled New Line horror movie Geoff picked seems to have disappeared from the release lists. The link I had for it now leads to The Watchers. It's possible the story that David Chase & Terrence Winter are making a horror film for New Line was conflated with the release schedule for The Watchers. When I made the spreadsheet The Watchers release was marked as limited, it has now changed to wide.

AKA Volume/Book 2, Part 5, Chapter 17

Historical Threads: 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 No post in 2023* 2024 …
* No posts until 2023-06-08, Book 8 Ch 18 (2.5.18)
Summary courtesy of u/zhukov17: Anatole prepares to set off to take Natasha, but not before a toast by Dolokhov and lengthy speech from Anatole ruminating about life. When Anatole gets to the Dmitrievna house for Natasha, he’s met at the door by her very large footman Gavrilo. They know the plan and are demanding that Anatole come in and admit to his plot. After shouting for Anatole, Dolokhov gets involved in a minor struggle, but breaks free and is able to spring Anatole before they lock him into the compound.
In 2018, u/tomius explained why everyone sat before Anatole left. u/Honest_Ad_2157 made an observation about the aristocracy and this custom way back in Book 1 Chapter 5 in 2024, when commenting on how the aristocracy didn’t seem…Russian.
Wikipedia has a persuasive explanation of why Russians used to smash glasses, and it stems from a misunderstanding.
This chapter is covered in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 by “The Abduction” (Youtube soundtrack) (Apple Music, Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Links

1. Today's Podcast
2. Ander Louis translation of War & Peace
3. Medium Article by Denton

Discussion Prompts

1. Anatole seems to be taking his forthcoming eloping scheme somewhat seriously in this chapter. Do you think this is all posturing?
2. The big warm coat being prepared for the runaway Natasha is a genius move. They also have a servant acting as a mole inside the house. Does Dolokhov have experience in these matters? Because he is a total pro at this stuff it would seem.
3. The plot to steal Natasha away is foiled at the last second by Marya Dmitrievna's house servants. How do you think Natasha will react to this? What about when her father finds out? Or her mother back in Petersburg?

Final line of today's chapter:
... “Dolokhov bundled the porter away with a last desperate shove, grabbed Anatole, heaved him out through the gate and ran off him back to the sledge”

Title: Fire and Fury Author: AbandonedBy (me) Rating: Mature Language: English Length: 18.2k+ Status: Ongoing Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54727114/chapters/143513752 Summary: After his death, Robert is sent back to the time of his birth, but, as a girl. Years later, Robetha Baratheon is betrothed to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, when she discovers the existence of a new Prince, by the name of Maekar. But there are far more mysteries to this prince than those which meet the eye.

Title: Fire and Fury Author: AbandonedBy (me) Rating: Mature Language: English Length: 18.2k+ Status: Ongoing Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54727114/chapters/143513752 Summary: After his death, Robert is sent back to the time of his birth, but, as a girl. Years later, Robetha Baratheon is betrothed to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, when she discovers the existence of a new Prince, by the name of Maekar. But there are far more mysteries to this prince than those which meet the eye.

All Chapters of Alien-Nation
First Chapter of Alien-Nation Previous Chapter [Next]

Better Nate than Lever

The hallway had deep-settled dust diffusing the flashlights, spare a couple sets of bootprints, and a few lines where someone had been dragged on their heels.
Depths-damned officers can't count, the sergeant noted. Five sets of prints in, two sets out. Assuming she'd carried one of the wounded and dragged the other, that still left someone inside.
"Got a heat signature, third floor." Goshen really hadn't wanted to be found, it seemed. And so up the flights of small stairs they went in silence, rifles at the ready until they arrived at the threshold of the abandoned building's room.
"Clear the room, watch the corners, this piece of shit may have had helpers."
There was a faint sound. The kind that tugged at every woman's heart. A whimpering male cry. The Marines' rifles all wavered, flashlights in the dusty warehouse showing how unsettled they were. Worse when the translator kicked on: Help.
They fell into formation outside the door adjacent to the crime scene, and then flooded into the room, screaming orders. It was only a half second until they forgot all discipline, because all eyes fixated on the boy in the middle of the room, bound to a chair and barely conscious. Red blood spackled on the floor and dripped onto the boy's shirt.
"Shit." the rookie was frozen to the spot, unable to move.
"Tacs, get the medical crew up here. Kick that sick bitch Goshen out of the medievac to make room if you have to. We're not leaving him here until Penn decides to send another."
"One was already on its way, just in case."
"Well tell them to hurry. Link our comms to their pads so they know where we are."
The sergeant took point and crouched next to the boy, and he flinched back. Everything about this was wrong, and evil. At least there weren't any traps wired to him, and it bothered her that she'd even have to check. But a year's service in Delaware hadn't left her a fool, though it pained her to see him whimper when she touched him gently to check for wires. Just what did she do to him? From the bleeding and swelling, it seemed there was no shortage of them.
"All clear," she announced. "Tell the crew he's awake and alert, just in a lot of pain. Shelms, have you got painkillers?" Shelms tapped her bag, before the Sergeant cut in. "No, I mean stuff that'll work on a human, obviously!"
The pod medic shrugged helplessly.
"Alright, you're gonna be okay," she muttered.
"Help..." he was moaning the word in trade shil' now, over and over. Somehow, that just made it worse.
"Hey, hey, it's going to be alright," she tried to comfort him, though her next words were ones she knew he didn't want to hear. "We're gonna have to move you, though." She stood and unlocked the restraints. "I'm going to cut him free and get him ready for pickup. Hold him upright."
Visions of violent retribution echoed through her mind with every gentle step she took, and she didn't even know the boy's name. Such was the way of the galaxy.

Across the Stars

Natalie felt she must have drifted off, though she couldn't say for how long.
She whispered 'I love you,' but still felt a burning anxiety in her, a desperation building she'd never felt before.
Words alone wouldn't be enough to confess the confusing but powerful feelings stirring inside. She had to do more than talk, she had to act. Shuffling around on the bed, she pulled back just enough to give him a quick kiss on the forehead. He stirred slightly, before murmuring something softly, then tucked his face into the crook of her neck, hot breath from full pink lips making her want to squirm. Forcing herself to stay still just so he could rest was torture, but for him, she could endure, until at last the need passed.
She couldn't say how long they stayed like that, bound in intimacy, her mind empty but for a million fleeting thoughts that never fully materialized, and yet every second was blissful. Every worry was dashed against the impenetrable shield that was the bond shared between them, any intrusion guarded against by Morsh and that door, until at last he stirred and yawned, parched lips dragging over her shoulder and making her squirm.
Natalie reluctantly let go as he came up for air, blinking awake and looking up at her in momentary confusion before the weight of the world settled back on his shoulders, and his face turned focused.
"Hey," Natalie whispered, both hoping to interrupt, and also that he was done being worried. Her voice had come out an awkward rasp and she wished for just an instant that she could have stayed as cool as she'd felt just a moment before.
"Uh, hey," he managed back. "Sorry, I must have passed out."
Natalie just nodded, trying to swallow with a dry mouth.
"For how long?" He yawned, trying to sit up and separate. Natalie reluctantly let him go, and sat up straight in the bed, noting with some pride that he at least looked less exhausted.
"I don't know. Not long?"
"My head..." he muttered, gazing around the room at various things, then dragging a hand up to rub at a temple with a thumb. "It doesn't hurt as bad. I feel a lot better." A moment's silence passed between them. "You're real, right?"
She laughed. "Yes, we talked about this. Remember?" Only a heartbeat's pause was enough to send her worrying that he might not, before he nodded slightly, his forehead touching her shoulder again and making her ache to put his head back there. As it was, he seemed happy to be using her forearm as a pillow.
"Right. Sorry, just checking." Her mirth disappeared when his troubled expression deepened. "I suppose we have a lot to talk about, don't we?"   Here goes everything. "I'm so sorry for running away." She just belted the words out.
He blinked at her in surprise and the suspense hung. "It's okay," he managed. "I'm sorry, too. I mean, I think I'm sorry."
At least she wasn't the only one who hadn't prepared for what to actually say when the moment came.
Another awkward silence stretched time.
"How did you get the shirt?" Would Elias be upset at her answer? No, there was no time for lies. She had to tell him.
"I broke into your house. I'm sorry. Your parents said I could go inside, you see and-"
"-They're okay?" He interrupted.
At least she could offer him some good news. More tidbits flew out of her in rapid-fire.
"They left during the fighting, and they're up in Chester. When I found them, and didn't find you with them, I was afraid you had died in the fighting."
His eyes grew distant, and for a moment she worried he'd drifted off to sleep again despite his eyes still being wide open, until he sucked in a deep breath and shuffled in place and met her gaze again. "It was close." She hadn't quite seen him say anything that way before, but then again, what sort of things had he seen down there? It was bad enough watching it from orbit. Some veterans didn't come back as they were, she could just hope that Elias was still the same boy she fell in love with.
"It looked close," she commented.
"You were watching?"
"From the auxiliary bridge of the destroyer, until they started throwing orbitals."
He nodded mutely, the beginnings of facial hair tickling her arm. "I guess with the fire and dust... that must have obscured things for miles."
He didn't say anything else for a few seconds, and Natalie wasn't sure what she could even say. His eyes started sweeping the room and he squinted as he looked up at the light fixture. "There's no one here but us," she promised. "Noblewomen prize their privacy. The interior is *always *trying to find anything we do that's wrong."
"Sometimes for good reasons," he muttered darkly.
"Sometimes. But hey, sometimes those reasons aren't so bad, and end up saving your sausage." She hoped she'd gotten the saying right, but his confused expression told her she hadn't. Or maybe he just didn't know what she was talking about. "Remember how you told me what you thought we were doing wasn't that bad? And how there were some really, really big trees in the woods around your little fortress? Those were some of Mom's Special ones, I'm like, really sure. She was pretty unhappy about that, and looked like she was ready to start chewing on neosteel."
His bright eyes widened, and then he gave a slow nod. Natalie knew they were now both doomed if she was wrong about there being any devices in the room, but couldn't bring herself to care. She was too happy at seeing his expression, and at having gotten the human idiom correct. He focused a bit, and then shuffled around in the bed.
"The sentries did capture a civilian worker snooping around Camp Death. She wouldn't say why she was wandering around alone in the woods with really unusual equipment. We couldn't figure it out, and she wouldn't help us."
'Camp Death' had to be their name for the fortress that he'd been fighting from. "I overheard something about that. I guess Mom couldn't tell them where the worker disappeared without the soldiers investigating stumbling over her forbidden science project, and she couldn't exactly check it out herself. I mean, without sending Morsh or something, and that would have been a really big problem."
"Then that was a Near Miss."
"The contractor hit something?"
Elias's face turned into one of utter confusion. "No? She didn't? What are you talking about?"
"Wait, then what's a 'near miss'? Almost went unmarried? A nearby unmarried woman?"
A smile cracked through his exterior and he shuffled and strained up to situate himself upright, before putting a hand on the top of her head, playfully toying with her hair and then leaning in for a quick kiss on her cheek, right through the rogue strands of hair he'd pushed into rebellion from the loose bun. "What?" She asked, confused, only for him to start laughing. "I asked you if 'Nearly missed' meant 'almost missed, but didn't' but you said 'no' and now I don't-?" She tried to voice her confusion, except she had the distinct feeling he wasn't listening.
He kept on laughing until he ran out of breath, and then played with her hair again for another second. He sucked in a deep breath and rose slightly from the bed, as if admiring and evaluating his crude handiwork at having made her look ridiculously unkempt before lying back down, apparently satisfied with his efforts.
"You're so curious about those little idiosyncrasies in our language. No one else would know to put something like that into my head, and it isn't something I would have considered. Just, it's definitely you."
"Oh." It was a little upsetting that he hadn't believed her a moment ago, when she'd told him everything in front of him was all real. How long had he lived this way, telling everyone one thing, while privately holding onto his own suspicions? It had to be exhausting.
"Well, as opposed to what my mind would tell me is you, if I wasn't really here, you know?" She just stared. What was he talking about? "Okay. So, we're alone." He took a deep breath, his eyes flitting around the room one final time. "I'm sorry that I hid that I was Emperor from you."
"That's-" she wanted to say 'okay,' and wished for a moment instead of daydreaming she'd thought of something to say when this inevitably came up. "It is what it is."
"It is." He echoed, nodding along sagely.
At least that human saying made sense, even if it tended to lead to these awkward silences, where they ended up looking at each other.
Now what?
"Who else knows?" She blurted out. The selfish question that had sprung to mind was one that had burned at her since she'd fled home, and could no longer be contained.
"I can't tell you who without putting them and you in danger." He looked genuinely sad to say it, at least. "Well, except Larry. He knew, and he's gone." He seemed to grow quieter, as if he wasn't quite sure what to do. The suddenly vulnerable boy looked down at his hand, and then up at her, and his expression seemed lost. "I-"
She watched his bravado break apart, and he shuddered as his words failed him, like a power core that lost connection or a signal that cut out, he just stopped dead. She reached out to touch him, but the moment she did, he twitched.
"I'm sorry-" she backed off immediately, only to find him shaking his head slightly.
"It's okay. Thanks, even. It's just that, I can't even mourn, you know? There's always too much going on. I appreciate it, though. I see the temptation to sink into your arms again, and just let the world pass me by. Let everything fall where it may. I just can't, though."
She let the moment pass before remembering what they'd been talking about. "You shouldn't rush the recovery. You can take as long as you need."
He shook his head in disagreement, but didn't say 'why.' Even now, she felt locked on the outside. "We'll see, but I don't think I'm going to process that right now, mid-conversation," he smiled without joy, in that grim sort of way he always did.
"Well, then if you can't tell me who else knows, can you at least tell me who doesn't?" Just how many people knew before she did? Where did she fall in line?
"My parents, for one. I mean, wait, the shirt- did they see it?" Now he seemed anxious, flitting between different emotions like a boy unsure of what to wear for his Debut might try on outfits. He was probably just overwhelmed, unsure how to react.
"As far as I know they're still up somewhere in Chester. I don't think anyone else even knows where they are." She had weighed telling Amilita their whereabouts, but didn't want to complicate matters. "I thought it might have been evidence, so I brought it with me. Do you want them here?"
"No, I don't." He looked distant. "Frankly, my mother would try and make excuses, and my father...I don't know. It would stress the family, let's put it that way." He looked at her bag again, and then shook his head. "Good thinking," he complimented. "I was exhausted, not thinking clearly at all. I think I might have been concussed, or at least I was at the time."
"You're all better now, though?" She wanted to ask about how his eyes had sparked at the mention of the nearby rundown town, but decided it was less important and tucked a few of the rogue strands behind her ear.
He flexed a hand, and then pulled a forearm up from under the sheets and tried flexing his forearm. "I'm feeling better, at least. I don't know if I actually am a hundred-percent, though." He yawned and then began picking the sleep out of his eyes and flicking it into the sheet, then blinking until his eyes were fully wide, pushing away from the wonderful position he'd been in. She immediately missed the weight of his head and the warmth of his breath. "At least, I feel better. We'll see how that goes when I'm up and moving around. By the end of..." he trailed off as his mind wandered into more recent events. "Where's Goshen? What happened to her? And Nate?"
"Wait, 'Nate'? As in Nate from school? He was in the insurgency with you?"
"He was being interrogated. But like, if you're asking whether he was in the rebellion?" Elias shook his head slowly in a way that humans usually meant 'no,' but then shrugged. "I don't know? Maybe? We all worked to keep each others' identities secret from anyone outside their own cell. Remember Jordan?"
"No?"
"The kid you tackled at the track party."
"Oh! Yeah, him!"
"He was in it."
"He is?" Wait. "Was?"
Elias let the sentence hang meaningfully, before repeating: "Was."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I thought you two hated each other?"
He let out a heavy sigh, and his eyes went unfocused, before shaking his head, though he might've just been scratching an itch on his face with the pillow for all she knew. "There's time for all that later. We need to focus on what's happening right now."
"Right. Uh, for Nate...well, we passed another couple of medievacs, that were coming from here, so they probably brought them both here. I know the military likes to take care of their own, but...well, she's probably here, too, after how hard Amilita says she hit her."
"Then Goshen's here, at the hospital? I mean, I am in a hospital, right?" He glanced around, craning his neck and then turning it into a stretch.
"Why?"
"Natalie, the military knows. Or at least I think Goshen does. I was certain she was acting as part of a larger military operation, and she was leading some small unit to keep everything clandestine and under-wraps."
"What? Why would she do that? Wouldn't capturing Emperor be a big deal to her career?" Not to mention the reward, either.
"It would have been a huge scandal if it got out they got their asses kicked by a human boy. If I went to trial, especially as Elias Sampson, it would have been even messier after they pinned the medal to me. It'd implicate nobility, the military, the plans to put me forward...honestly, there's no shortage of interested parties that would be embarrassed if the story got out."
"I can't see Goshen agreeing to stay quiet, though. They have to have promised her something."
"Maybe they said they'd pave her way forward for a promotion in exchange for silence, and pay her out the reward anyway. Then they shoot her when she's done, just to make sure it doesn't get out."
"They'd really do that?" Did the dark world of power really flow that way, or had he seen too many holodramas? Maybe boys really were just better at drama, intrigue, and social plots, and that was how Emperor always stayed one step ahead of any effort to trap him.
"I mean it makes sense. If I die as Elias, I'd be just one more dead person. They might even blame the insurgency. But think about the outcome: Emperor stays dead, meaning Azraea didn't die for nothing. Goshen's losses are an embarrassment, but now she's not their problem to suffer anymore. So what worries me is that maybe they'll just try something more direct."
Whoever told Goshen might tell Amilita, and then what? Natalie didn't want to think for too long about that- except she found the flaw. "Wouldn't they tell Amilita?"
"Would she believe them? Whatever they said was enough for Goshen."
"If these people are real, they started on Goshen for a reason. Amilita probably wouldn't cooperate, she handed me a laspistol, after all."
"Oh, that's in my bag, too."
"Thank you," he said. "That may come in handy."
"But really, I don't think anyone told Goshen anything. Otherwise, wouldn't the interior have done it themselves?"
Elias paused, and then took a moment. "I suppose you make a good point. One I didn't consider. Why rely on Goshen at all? Goshen probably came up with it on her own. That's still a problem, though. She might still blab what she knows, or thinks she knows."
"No one is going to believe a boy-basher like Goshen. That's why she acted alone." He didn't seem convinced, but did let her keep going. "Nothing for us to worry about."
"No. You're missing the point." He seemed hellbent on making himself stressed out.
"What? Did I miss something?"
"Maybe Goshen doesn't have friends- or would-be-backstabbers in high places, but you're wrong to think that she's harmless. If Goshen goes to some kind of a tribunal or trial, and starts laying out whatever evidence led her to me, then other people might notice those same connections and arrive at the same conclusions. People who aren't crazy and discredited. I'm almost certain that if they start asking questions, my answers will not be good enough."
Natalie almost asked about the 'almost,' he'd left in, but she was raised better than to question a victim of boy-bashing.
"So far, she hasn't said anything to anyone else, right? That means there's still time for me-" he tried to push himself out of the bed, and instead let out a pained groan as he tried to shuffle past Natalie. "Jesus. I'm not sure what the ambulance techs and doctors did, but I'm still sore everywhere. Hold on." He clenched his teeth and threw the bedsheet back off, and tried to push himself over her and out of the bed again.
"Sit down!" Natalie urged, pushing him lightly. "Please," she added at the challenge he seemed to take her words as, until he finally seemed to think the better of continuing to strain himself. His eyes challenging her, he finally stopped trying to crawl his way past.
"Why?" He asked, cocking his head in that peculiar human way. "Look, Natalie, like I just explained- if I don't take out Goshen, then-" and she decided she'd finally had enough. There was a time for ladylike behavior, and there was a time for being forthright and blunt, as Elias so often was.
"Don't you know by now that you can count on me? You never call for help. Ever. I didn't know why *until I realized that you'd been left behind in Delaware by your own parents. You don't count on others, because you don't think help is ever coming. You don't think things will ever get better unless *you do something about it. You don't want to be let down, because of what it'll mean. That you're unloved, and unwanted. So you never give anyone the chance. I'm here to tell you though that it's okay. You don't have to keep fighting alone forever."
He seemed stunned by her outburst, for all of a second, and then closed his eyes. He didn't try to say anything for several seconds, and instead seemed to almost start gathering energy and momentum, as if fighting to contain something that wanted desperately to burst free from deep within. He was almost quaking as it broke through thresholds.
"Elias?"
Like the cap of a volcano rumbling until it blasted off with a thunderclap, he rounded on her, eyes shooting wide open as he couldn't hold it back anymore. "You know why I don't?" He finally snapped, his voice harsh as a whip. "Why do I, as Elias, never bother asking, and even turn people down even when they've offered to help me?"
The question was rhetorical, but Natalie wasn't going to just stand there and let herself be yelled at. She'd been through too much to put up with it. "I can guess!"
He hadn't expected that but his anger was unresolved. "Then... then go ahead! Guess!"
She took in a breath, forcing herself to calm down. "It's because even though your parents are here in Pennsylvania too, they're still not here." She expected to be slapped, and braced herself for a blow that never came.
He clenched his jaw in fury, and he finally jerked his head to the side, looking toward the window overlooking the city, one far larger and grander than Wilmington.
"I'm not wrong, am I?" She asked, breaking the sudden silence.
"You're not entirely wrong," he ground the words out, and she sensed all of that built up energy fizzling out. All those emotions wafting off him could still spark, but it could either blow up or just immolate him. So she kept quiet and watched him work through his words and defuse himself. "They're not here. I doubt they even know I'm here, to be fair. But even if I asked, what would they even do for me, right now? What could they even do?"
Natalie wasn't sure. Keep him company? Wasn't that normal to find comfort in? She'd been left to fend for herself, and she'd been scared to be left there alone, and that was just a bad flu or something. Before she could think to ask if their presence would at least be a comfort to him, he answered his own question.
"I think they'd stick around out of obligation, but there's nothing I'd ask them to do- hell, they'd just get in the way of our talking. But all that aside, I'd feel guilty for disrupting their lives for every moment they'd be here, anyway. They'd eventually leave, just further confirmation of what I already know." He shook his head.
"What do you mean?"
He stopped shaking his head to let it hang as he practically deflated from the depth of the sigh he let out. The last gasp of the tension he'd let burst out from underneath left him, until he looked almost hollow."If I ask my Father for something, he'll check first with my Mother before daring to follow through. Doesn't matter what it is, because I'm pretty sure now that she never wanted me to succeed at all, not unless it's in a way she approves of. She's practically doing it to make a point- no help until I shape up. She's been looking to punish me for not living up to whatever standard she imagines, and so the answer is almost always 'no'. In her eyes, I didn't turn out right somehow, even though when compared to Jacqueline I don't do half the things wrong that she- and yet- but then I- "
He started to choke off his sentences, then taking several deep, rasping breaths. She'd never seen Elias act this way. He was almost out of control of his emotions. The resentment, pain, and whatever else he had kept buried had finally bullied its way out and burst, until it threatened to run down from his eyes. It was ugly to see, but she still let him talk. At least when he had finally sparked on those emotions, it was just the dregs and wisps, rather than that initial outburst. Too small to become a conflagration, until his words came to a convulsing stop, like one of those primitive engines they used for their cars breaking down.
"Elias?" She wanted to give him a hug, and instead held his hand as if it was made of the thinnest, most delicate crystalline ice.
Slowly, his breathing steadied out.
"Sorry. Let's just not talk about her. I guess there's just no point in asking them for anything."
"But you can ask me. I'm not them."
He fixed her with a tired smile, one that she eventually understood as 'she just doesn't get it.' She hated seeing that face- and wanted to pry, wanted to dig until she did understand. "Thanks for saying so. Sorry I kind of blew up at you. Family  and trust are sore subjects for me at the moment."
The level of neglect was terrifying to Natalie. Her dad Brynmor had gone through his whole life being doted on by all his sisters, and later on by his many wives, even though with his business he earned more than all of them combined. A rarity, but none of it slowed his wives in their affection and impulse to protect and provide for him. The tendency went beyond something taught. So hearing all this felt wrong to her. This twisting in her gut at hearing this wasn't just another culture shock, it went beyond that.
"You know I'm not them, right?" She had to keep poking at the topic. She'd defused him slightly, even if he was worn out. Natalie needed him to know she was on his side more than she needed air.
He looked back from the window, slowly, and leaned back into the reclining bed.
"For the longest time, I just thought everything between people was transactional. I worried that if I didn't know what the other person was getting out of it, then I was either overlooking something, unknowingly putting myself in their debt, or else they were being stupid. Larry- that guy I just told you about? He told me that people who love each other help each other just because." That one of the members of the resistance had such a positive impact on him was strange to her. Everyone had wondered if the insurgency had turned Elias against her, or what terrible lessons they imparted on each other to take up arms and fight an unwinnable war. She'd never thought about what else they might talk about or discuss.
"Even with me?" Was all she could think to ask.
"Yes, even with you, I was always looking for what someone else wanted in return, and I'd try to find something else to pre-empt what I thought they wanted. Like the perfume thing, for help with the bike thing. And I'm sorry, I know you wouldn't have done anything like, too awful, but at the time that's really how I saw the world."
"You were free to say 'no'. I wasn't going to ask anything else if you did- except maybe more lessons on Earth cultures and history which we were already doing anyway. I really just wanted to get to know you better, and getting to talk more about Earth while we waited for the next grav-car to leave the base seemed really nice."
"And it was! I loved doing that with you, Natalie. But all the money I was making made me feel like I was just further in debt to you, so I started spending it quickly on things that I didn't have, but needed. Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, skincare products, and clothing. Other things, too. Stuff like...well, you know, things I could use in the other part of my life."
Oh great, so I directly funded the rebellion. If he'd meant to make her feel better, he hadn't.
"After what Larry told me though, I started to let go of that feeling of nervousness I had around you and let you actually start helping me. Maybe at some point in my life or another it actually was 'smart' of me to reject the random offers of help from strangers and shil'vati I didn't know, but it was still weird to me that anyone would offer to do things for me that my own family wouldn't. And I guess I'm sorry I didn't trust you at first."
Some part of her heart melted at being told that he did trust her, now. At least, that's what she thought he was getting at. "I had thought it really weird, the way you'd decline, and then take the help- and then go right back to declining it. I gave you that ride home, remember? From the track party. And when you got hit with the car?"
"I always thought whenever anyone offered to help, it was only out of some social ritual. You know, when people ask how you're doing, they just want to hear 'okay,' and not actually get a real understanding of your situation. They ask if you need help, but they're not prepared to step in and actually help, and they're not actually going to. So you're supposed to just say 'no, I'm good, I'm fine,' and keep on doing whatever you were already doing and hope it works out."
"But you actually wanted someone to help?"
"Why wish for something that isn't real? Asking people for help would be answered with a 'no,' and people offering to help weren't actually willing to. So why bother wanting what will never come? It made me resourceful, but...yeah, hard to take you up on your offers. I was...yeah, I guess I was a bit scared." There was that hangup of boys here, to admit to being afraid, again.
"Scared of me?"
"No, just that if I ever actually asked, I'd just be showing you helplessness- and wouldn't be trusted to handle myself after that. I'd need a bodyguard, an escort. To you, to everyone, I was this boy who could handle himself, and that was neat to you all. Useful, maybe even. Who I was in your eyes mattered a lot to me- and I'm not used to caring what other people think of me. I mean, remember how I would walk down the hall with my nose in a book, and how I dressed and looked? I didn't care how weird I looked to other people. Suddenly, though, I cared a lot."
Natalie felt those words rattle around in her own soul. How often had she felt that way? Afraid, lost, but not even able to ask for help because of who she was? A noblewoman was supposed to be the one people looked to for help, and if she was lost then what good was she to anyone? Just being friendly hadn't worked, all the other girls at Braxis had turned competitive and guarded toward each other- and her. She felt stuck trying to piece things together herself until Masarie's unexpected call- and as much as she was helping Masarie with her vision, Masarie had also helped Natalie piece together what was really going on, and understand what she had to do.
"I can relate to that, at least a bit," she muttered.
"I kept having this thought: 'Maybe my Mother's right to try and punish me'. Good people don't do the kinds of things that I did. The concept of the soul, and whether mine was something other people could see and sense. Yet I also would do those things I did all over again, because they were the right things to do. The people who mattered to me and helped guide me were happy that I was doing them, and that I was leading. They valued me because of it, and so I couldn't just walk away. I often wondered about that, you know. If there was some other, more peaceful way that I'd missed to resolve things. Maybe telling Amilita or whoever about Ministriva's relative, trying to go to the police or interior, or security forces with what we had figured out. I could have gone streaking across the base and begged for help. But every time, it felt like I was leaving everything up to the chance that they'd understand and help me, rather than the certainty of taking action, and so I- I-"
Elias shook his head, slowly at first, then faster until Natalie couldn't stand to see the frantic motions and leaned forward, putting a hand on his face, feeling the warmth. He wavered, as if he'd made himself dizzy. She still stayed quiet, her hands still frozen where they'd raised to help. What did she even do in this situation?
"I'm sorry," she finally offered, hoping the words helped. "I still love you," she added.
"I know," he said sadly. "And I- I love you too. When you ran away I guess I felt like I didn't deserve what I'd had. Like I *was *as bad as everyone says. It doesn't help that when I did point out the mind-wiping, supposedly it's banned now. At least, in Delaware. It beats having to kill my own family to stop the practice. But that just kind of means that maybe all of it was unnecessary, and I just did it because I wanted to kill, like Vendetta." He looked so lost and afraid, she never imagined he carried these kinds of inner doubts.
Here was baring his soul, and all she could think to try was remembering a good time she'd shared with him. She had to come out and tell him the truth. "We don't think you're bad. At least, a lot of people don't. Remember the video game?" She tried on a smile for him. "Remember, you were playing- well, Emperor?" She chuckled.
He looked back to the window and she noticed he seemed suddenly very flushed and red in the face. "Not just 'bad.' I could have settled for that, but no, they think I'm some kind of a sex icon," he mumbled darkly. "They don't see me, or what I'm fighting for. So, really, what was it all for? I mean, I got everyone killed, and what do I have to show for it? A pile of bodies, but no real changes. Azraea will be replaced."
"They don't see you as Elias," she admitted. "But some of them at least understand that you're fighting for something more than yourself. You knew Myrrah, meaning you knew Masarie too, right?"
"She and I only really talked a couple times."
"Well, you certainly left an impression. She called me when I was alone in my room. I was...considering the revelation you were Emperor, and how I felt about all that." She barely managed to keep from calling it 'moping'. Moping was undignified, after all. "And you know what? She had a lot to say to me about you that was really interesting."
"Wait, does Masarie know?"
"No," Natalie laughed. "Nothing like that. We talked about what your goals- Emperor's goals had to be- I mean, you can't possibly hope to kill every Shil'vati. Not if you let her go, and I knew not if you had protected me, too. And you're aware, as Elias, of just how many planets we have, and how many people. So you're not really our enemy as a people, are you? And you're telling everyone what's going on here- and some of them are *listening. With Ministriva, with the mind-wiper, with *everything. And the conversation helped me to see what I had to do, and why you were doing it, and that's why I'm here now, you know? I'm here to tell you that it's okay that you're Emperor."
He was quiet for a few moments. He let out a sigh, shuddering, and then came out. "You're sure?" And then winced, almost as if he'd dashed his chances, giving her a second chance to reconsider.
"What, do you think I'm going to say 'actually, you know what, it's not okay'?" she laughed, hoping to raise his spirits. "It wasn't a small or easy choice. I mean, I'm not celebrating, you know? I don't approve of everything you've done. I just understand why you're Emperor, and what you're trying to do. And I guess I support it. Not just because I love you, but also because I see where you're coming from."
"You understand?" He asked dubiously. "Really?"
"I think I do. In a way that only someone who really knows both sides of you can. The books- you made such a big deal out of rescuing them. You showed me around the state with the omni-pad. What you said over dinner on the rooftop in D.C. with that fat creep, even though it was rude to our host- those were things that mattered to you, and are why you're doing this."
"You think it's about a museum? Or the Odyssey in particular? Or whether or not the books people read are old and dusty?"
"No! No no no, it's about human history, culture, and achievements. What I said was all part of that, but not even close to the entirety. Monuments. Statues. The language itself, and the things your people achieved before we came. There's so much more to it. You told me once: You have to have a past to understand yourself. You have to forge your own identity if you want to have a future. I think... I think you felt like all of it was being taken away. Twisted and warped, you know? To serve someone else. No past, so you don't understand yourselves, and you're more ready to believe whatever we tell you that you are. That way, when we say you're all sex addict boys who do..."
That topic was easy to discuss in her head when it wasn't in front of a boy. Of all the times to get flustered, afraid of what he'd think, or how he'd react. Now isn't the time to be flustered!
"...all the things that our imaginations say you can, you'll believe us. And then you'll be nothing more than that, because we trivialized everything else. Maybe that's convenient to some woman out there somewhere, but not me, and it certainly isn't who you are. You have to carve out your own future, your own life."
"We're meant to be more than what they imagine us to be."
"You are, and you can be. There are dead civilizations that we have discovered the ruins of as we've explored the galaxy, and added the names of their races and empires to our language to mean 'more advanced than we can understand.' We've since shot far past them technologically. If we found them now and added them to our dictionary, what would the word mean?" She shook her head. "I think in our paranoia and fear of you hurting yourself, we intervened, and we never should have, at least not the way we did and have been doing. And it's not too late to change the course. And if I can be a part of changing that course, then I will. I'll do anything."
A few moment's passed. She hoped she was right. She hoped against hope that he heard her, that he wouldn't just laugh at her and tell her she was stupid, and that he was some kind of madman, out to kill them all. No, even that she could live with, she decided. She'd hate herself, but would take it as a lesson.
She'd expected some kind of outpouring of relief, but instead he just seemed to be waiting for her to say something. "You want in, then? You don't think you'll have any regrets?" He seemed less defeated, at least. Some of his energy was back. That could only be a good thing, right?
"I don't think so?" Natalie asked. "If I do, that's just life isn't it?"
He shuffled slightly closer.
"Then where's Goshen?"
Special Thanks to Tumbleman, Miku, and CatsinTrenchcoats for helping with this. I hope the flow of action/details isn't too screwed up.

Chapter Summary:

Amilita and Morsh square off in the hallway. Elias gets comforted by Natalie
BuyMeACoffee for the Author

Review exchange for fluffy or funny fics!
Rules:
- Fic or chapter you post must contain fluff or humor (preferably not dark humor for this day).
- Post a link to your fic/s, along with the fandom and a brief summary.
- If you post a fic here you must review at least one other submitted fic.
- When you review someone else's fic, please comment under it to let them know.
You must comment on at least one other fic posted in this thread. When you review someone else's fic, please comment under it to let them know.
The deadline for entries is 72 hours after the time this post is posted. After the deadline closes, you have another 48 hours to finish your reviews. You, of course, don't have to wait for the deadline to review if you see something you like before that.
If you fail to review by the deadline, a reminder will be given, after which you will have another 24 hours to review.
If you fail to do so a reminder will be given, after which you will have another 24 hours to review. Repeated failure to do your fair share may result in a temporary ban. No concrit, unless the author states that it is ok, or is posting in a thread where it states concrit is allowed.
For reviews: For all daily threads posted by automod: fictions over 1000 words, minimum of 30 words on your review. For fictions under 1000 words, 20 words will suffice. Quoted parts do not count as part of your review. For user posted threads the thread starter can state their own requirement and if one if not stated the above rules will be in action.
- Be fair - ex: if you post a 5000 word fic, try to review something of similar length, or several fics equaling similar length.

Barron, Laird. The Croning. pp. 1 - 48. Night Shade Books (2012). My paperback version of The Croning is the 2013 Night Shade edition.
Read-Along/The Croning Spoiler Note
This and following write ups for Laird Barron’s novel The Croning are intended for first time readers as well as seasoned Barron fans. As such, the write ups will not include spoilers from later chapters or The Croning in total. Please refrain from forward-looking spoilers in the comments section of these articles.
Chapters Summary:
The Surgeon General warns that contact with Rumpelstiltskin, corrupt Mexican Federales, and The Great Dark can be hazardous for your health and memory.
Chapter One:
In the first chapter of The Croning, Barron immediately drops us into one of his Antiquity worlds, which in this case is a grimdark perversion of a children’s fairy tale. We are introduced to The Spy, who is the son of Miller. He is the half-brother and apparent lover of his half-sister, The Queen. The Spy has been tasked with learning the identity of a creepy Dwarf, who has blackmailed The Queen over her newborn child…. and so The Spy toils.
We learn of The Spy’s and The Dwarf’s reputations early in Chapter One. The Spy is described as having “a ruthless nature and innate talents for subterfuge and skull-duggery”; early in his investigation into The Dwarf he bloodily beats and then murders the merchant Theopolis by dropping him into a river in a bag weighted with stones.
The Dwarf is described in more sinister, otherworldly terms: “[e]veryone knew of the Dwarf, but not his name or whence he came. He was a shadow flicking in and out of reality… those who spoke of meeting The Dwarf made the sign against the evil eye and spat, or clutched their crucifixes”. The Queen describes him as an “imp of Hell”, and others suggest he consorts with “worms and the Lord of the Worms.”
To uncover the identity of The Dwarf, The Spy travels through a dark and ruinous landscape. He questions villagers and locates a temple, and eventually a decrepit castle.
At the temple, as The Spy explores deep within its recesses, he discovers a crude ziggurat, with a broken ring symbol created from human bones. The Spy also meets an odd woman who portends ominous tidings. She explains the temple is “The House of Old Leech” and that “all flesh is food of the god.” Upon questioning she describes herself as a “traveler” not a “priestess.” She warns The Spy to abandon his investigation. “Go back, go back. There are frightful things. The stables never prepared you for this.”
After this encounter, The Spy meets a Peddler, who shares a destination in visiting the aforementioned castle, Castle Mock. The Spy and The Peddler meet the castle’s spine-chilling habitants, the “doddering shell” of Count Mock, and his daughters Irina and Yvonne. This encounter raises The Spy’s suspicions, and as he remains in the castle overnight, he discovers a hidden area of the castle and “the croning” ritual the odd woman mentioned to him earlier. A savvy reader might make a connection between the croning ritual and the title of this book. The croning is a ghastly spectacle. The odd woman from the temple is lashed to a rock and mutilated, by daggers, tearing, and rending, by Yvonne and Irina, The Dwarf, and the aforementioned Limbless Ones. The Spy escapes from his vantage of this horrific scene but not before madness sets in, “[his] perceptions bent and buckled inward and smote him senseless.”
After his escape from witnessing the carnage of the croning, The Spy confers with The Peddler. The Peddler discovers The Spy’s true identity (spy for The Queen, and the son of Miller) and confessed he learned of The Spy’s many moons prior by The Dwarf, who gave him a message to relay: “There are frightful things, Groom. Time is a ring. My name won’t save you or your sister. We who crawl in the dark love you.” Later that evening, The Spy is taken or kidnapped (with only bloody footprints as evidence of his departure). The Peddler does provide The Dwarf’s name to The Queen, but we learn their mission was unsuccessful. “Knowing his name didn’t save The Queen or anyone else.”
Chapter Two:
In the second chapter of The Croning, the focus shifts from the world of Antiquity to Mexico, 1958. We are introduced to Donald Miller “the first time [he] almost died.” Don has forgotten the events of Mexico, but his body and blood remember, “as does the black sap of his subconscious.”
Don is on vacation with his wife Michelle, in Mexico City. Her colleague Louis Plimpton pulled the strings for their luxurious trip. The couple eats gourmet food, takes tours of the city, and engages in playful bondage sex. Don has been worried about the intensity of his wife’s research, when just afterwards she received a work-related call and disappears. Thus begins Don’s odyssey to find her in Mexico City’s grimiest corners.
In his frantic state, Don connects with a university head of security, who refers him to a group of corrupt Mexican Federales (Ramirez and Kinder, and eventually Clubbo and Günter). Don recognizes the error in relying on their “help” during his booze-addled and hallucinatory experience with them. After an episode at a seedy bar (and the likelihood that Don has been drugged by the agents), Ramirez explains that his ancestors “danced to the [celestial] music of the old black gods”; more references are made to hailing “Old Leech” in this timeline.
Don believes the Federales will take him to locate Michelle, but instead they take him to the Cave of the Ancients. It becomes apparent to Don he is intended to be a blood sacrifice to their dark gods. The Federales strip, don demon animal masks, and sing a dreadful song in preparation for Don’s sacrifice. Someone or something intervenes. Don is able to glance at “the wondrous sight of Ramirez levitating as if a puppet jerked off his feet by a string, then flying in reverse into the greater darkness of the cavern. He shrieked piteously and flailed with the torch and vanished.” Don cannot see the other Federals but he hears their screams and we can assume they befell similar fates. Don is left alone on the slab in a pitch dark cave, and he hears a whisper. “Let the dark blind you on the inside, Don. There are frightful things.”
Don (barely) survives his ordeal in Mexico. Michelle describes her absence to him as a simple misunderstanding. As time passes, he remembers “nothing of his escape from the cave” and has only vague recollections of his time in Mexico City. His wife never speaks of the incident again.
Chapter Two Point Five:
In the third chapter of The Croning (an interlude, intentionally titled Chapter Two Point Five), we are taken to Wenatchee in the year 1980 and introduced to Agents Crane and Barton. They have just presided over the untimely demise by suicide of Louis Plimpton, Michelle’s well-connected colleague. Plimpton was a Person of Interest to the agents.
Agent Crane is more deeply impacted by this event. He mentioned to Agent Barton that he had trouble making out Plimpton’s last words. After the suicide, in his hotel room, Plimpton’s last words come to Crane during a terrifying euphoria of night terrors and memories from life crashing into him from all angles: “They Who Wait love you, Tommy.”
Connections to the Barronverse:
The two stories of Barron’s that I most connected with in these first three chapters are his novella The Light Is The Darkness (2012) and “The Broadsword”, from Occultation and Other Stories (2010).
I chose The Light Is The Darkness largely because Don’s experiences with the corrupt Federales remind me a lot of Conrad Navarro’s experiences and relationship with corrupt CIA operatives.
I read Barron’s stories largely in publication order (Man With No Name snuck in there out of order, luckily it is in its own universe), and “The Broadsword” was one of the first Barron stories I read in which he just puts his cards on the table. The hideous glory of his Old Leech mythology, in plain view, is just as or more horrifying than many of his more cryptic or elusive stories.
There are a ton of other connections to Barron’s work thus far, but I will avoid including the usual resources to his work for first time readers.
Questions/Discussions:

1. As these three chapters occur over disparate timelines and in differing worlds, do you feel the introduction to The Croning has the makings of a vast, global conspiracy? Are global conspiracies already a Barronism in your mind at this point in his catalog?
   
2. Other Barronisms I noted and referenced are corrupt government entities, time being a “ring” (think “Bulldozer” from The Imago Sequence and Other Stories), and the Children of Old Leech’s messaging (I noted this in my write up of “—30–“ earlier in this Read-Along). What other Barronisms and Barron themes have you noticed in The Croning so far?
   
3. One of my all-time favorite Barron scenes is in Chapter Two, in which the Federales attempt to sacrifice Don and someone or something intervenes (I experienced a bout of insomnia when I started The Croning, and this scene? Holy shit.) My theory is that Old Leech himself intervened, rather than any of his Children (the ones we continue to encounter in these stories). Who or what do you think saved Don and “pulled” the Federales’ “strings”?
   
4. How do you feel the protagonists of The Croning (The Spy and Donald Miller) compare to other protagonists in Barron’s body of work so far? How are they similar, or different? Do they remind you of any of his characters in particular? Please remember to be mindful of spoilers in the comments (if you are someone who knows what happens to either character!)
   

Lastly, shout out and thank you to our (very benevolent) overseer Greg Greene. He made 85 edits (!) to this article, and I made 84/85 of those changes. Greg continues to do the work of the old black gods here.
The art in this article is credited online to an Anatolii Leoshko. I image searched for “Children of Old Leech”, not sure if he intended to draw a Limbless One or just a badass worm.

"The Yoga of Knowledge" - Sankhya Yoga

Do your part, but don't get attached to the outcome

Imagine you're working on a massive project at work. You've poured your heart and soul into it, but the pressure to succeed is immense. Chapter 2 tells you to give your best effort, act with skill and focus (like Arjuna, the skilled archer). However, it goes beyond just physical action.

Detaching from outcomes is liberating

By letting go of attachment, you're not being passive. You're approaching life with a sense of equanimity, like a balanced scale. This doesn't mean you don't care. It just means you find peace in the present moment, focusing on the action itself, rather than the future reward.

Buddhi Yoga: The Yoga of the Intellect

This chapter introduces Buddhi Yoga, which translates to "Yoga of the Intellect." It emphasizes using your intellect (Buddhi) to discern your true Self (Atman) from the temporary body and its desires. This discernment helps you detach from outcomes and focus on fulfilling your duties (Swadharma) with the right mindset.

Deep Concepts:

• Self-Realization: Buddhi Yoga guides you towards understanding the true Self, the permanent and unchanging essence beyond the temporary body and its achievements.
• Focus on Work: Here, focus isn't just about physical action, but also about the mental approach to your duties. You perform them with dedication and skill, for the sake of the work itself, not for personal gain.
• Equanimity: Cultivating mental calmness (Samatva) is key. Don't get discouraged by setbacks or overjoyed by successes. Remain steady and composed in the face of life's ups and downs, using your intellect to navigate life's situations.

Modern Application:

Think of a student stressed about grades. Chapter 2, through Buddhi Yoga, would advise them to use their intellect to understand that their worth isn't defined by grades. They should focus on learning and understanding the subject matter (Swadharma) with passion and dedication. This shift in focus, fueled by Buddhi Yoga, brings a sense of fulfillment and purpose to the act of learning itself, regardless of the outcome (grades).

The Path to Liberation:

The additional verses from Chapter 2 complement this path:

• Transcending Desires: When you find satisfaction in self-realization through Buddhi Yoga, you let go of selfish desires and transcend the allure of worldly rewards.
• Stoicism and Wisdom: A true sage remains unfazed by pleasure or pain, free from attachment, fear, and anger. They possess steady wisdom.
• Controlling the Mind: Our desires stem from attachment to sensory pleasures. By controlling the mind and using the senses without attachment, we find peace and inner freedom.
• Peace and Divine Grace: With a tranquil mind free from attachments, you can experience a deeper connection to something greater than yourself.

This is a lifelong practice. Detachment and using your intellect for self-realization take time and effort. But by following the wisdom of Chapter 2, particularly Buddhi Yoga, you can approach life with more peace, purpose, resilience, and ultimately, move closer to self-realization.
In the part 2 and 3, we will discuss some deep verses of Chapter 2 and their key teachings related to modern world.
Please comment your reply about the above Key Teachings if you found helpful.
Radhe Radhe!

How ridiculous would it be if the true identity of the railway gun "Schemata" is actually just a massive firework cannon built for the oasis sand festival? What if the superweapon that everyone fears could upset the power balance of Kivotos if fallen in the wrong hands is actually just a prop built for a school festival?
Hear me out. All the way back in the prologue, Hoshino and Yume were discussing about this "amazing thing" buried underneath the Great Oasis in Abydos.
\"Look look, Hoshino-chan!\" \"Apparently, the past student council buried something amazing underneath the Great Oasis!\"
Apparently, this amazing thing is in fact some kind of fireworks made with rare materials that "when stimulated, generate plasma sparks that color the sky". Yume goes on to say that it was built for the festival, but for whatever reasons it didn't work, and so they discarded it into the lake.
It's so expensive, that just 100g of the materials used in the fireworks can sell for 1 million yen. Yume goes on to explain that this sort of extravagance was pretty much normal of the student council at the time, which was so wealthy that they used gymnastic mats made out of feathers. Wouldn't it then, be equally ridiculous and extravagant, to build a massive railway cannon to shoot these fireworks into the sky?
In the conversation with the butler, we hear that the railway gun was never finished and the engine never got turned on, and it has been abandoned ever since somewhere in the Abydos desert. Sounds like the same thing that happened to the fireworks. According to the butler, due to the secrecy of the project, there are no surviving records, so because of that maybe people started misinterpreting the firework cannon as this dangerous railway artillery weapon capable of mass destruction.
\"Butler-san, do you know where the railway gun is?\" \"No, I'm very sorry. We couldn't figure that out. Because the plan itself was top secret, we could not find any contemporary documents...\"
I don't even want to call it a theory because it's all just wild speculation that will probably turn out to be off the mark. But if this is actually true, then maybe the reason Yume signed that contract and ventured into the desert alone was because she wanted to cheer up Hoshino with fireworks.
PS. I heavily recommend reading this great summary of the chapter here by u/Hardsciota if you haven't already.

The syllabus states that students are expected to attend classes and I used to include 10% for attendance. I got so many emails that someone was going to be late or leave early or miss a class and this made me feel like a hall monitor.
When I was a student in the early-mid 2000s I didn't have many undergrad or any graduate course that gave marks for attendance. I felt that as an adult learner I was paying for two things, learning and a degree. I felt that each course had certain requirements to pass, some of which could be done without attending every class. Each course also had a different professor, some who were fascinating and I couldn't get enough time with and some who literally read a script of a summary of the chapters/articles we were reading, which did nothing for me.
Last year our faculty increased enrolment by 25%. My choices were to stop teaching or try something new. This year I stopped including marks for attendance. People know what they need to get their grades and those who attend class are going to get much higher grades because of what we discuss in class, which is intentional on my part. People also judge the value level I am to them and can decide if they want to discuss and ask me questions. There are always 30-40% who are eager for all our discussions and are taking notes, 30-40% who are regularly engaged and 20-30% who barely engage.
Since removing marks for attendance, I get less emails and I don't feel as though I need to track everyone. I have one less mark to assess, so grading ends earlier. I enjoy connecting with engaged students and will even stay late to chat with them as part of mentorship, which is an important value to professional me. I guess I'm wondering if my new way of approaching this is wrong. I don't have a lot of contact with other professors so I'm not sure what is "normal". Also, I'm just hoping y'all will tell me that this is a fantastic approach because I don't want to go back to being a hall monitor:)

Welcome to the Weekly Fic Showcase!
This is a place for you to post ALL fics. Both yours and ones you find that are worth sharing.
Rule Changes - Trial
We are trialling some changes in the Weekly Fic Showcase. These changes are intended to make the WFS post easier to browse for readers and to ensure a consistent standard. These are as follows:

• Submissions will need to be consolidated into one comment.
  
• There will be a limit of three fics/links included in the comment, which includes both fics and recs.
  
• Additional info, including chapter summaries, snippets, author's notes, etc, will now be limited to 300 words or less.
  
• Please use wordcounter.net to check the length of your additional info. Going forward, over 300 words in wordcounter.net will be removed.
  
• Users are responsible for making sure their comments abide by the rules. If you update a comment after it has been removed, please let the mod know so that they can reapprove the comment.
  

Please label and separate "My Fics" from "My Recs."
Formatting Example:
My Fics Fandom - Rating - (Mandatory for fics rated Mature or Explicit) Title - Genre - Off-site link for ease of reading. AO3 or FFN encouraged - Summary -
Anything else you’d like to say to promote this fic. This is your chance to sell it to the community, get excited! However, if sharing an excerpt, a reminder that NSFW plaintext will be removed. Please host NSFW excerpts on an external site and link with a warning.
My Recs Fandom - Rating - (etc)
New here? Check out our posting rules.
Want to support authors from the subreddit? Here's our AO3 showcase of fics written for various different prompts and challenges on the subreddit. Curious about the past? Here's the AO3 collection.
Links to previous weeks.

Hello, I've been working on a manga series called the Legacy of Combat for quite some time, but I've hit a bit of a wall when it comes to trying to support it myself.
I realized the previous campaign might've been asking for too much, so I've started a new one. This campaign is just for the first page of the next chapter.
The Goal amount is $20. The link is below.
Summary
A young boy named Aniro was abandoned in a village by his father. The chief took pity on him and entrusted her husband to not only look after the village, but to raise the orphan as well while she looks for the father. Many years have passed, but the chief has not returned. Refusing to lose faith in the previous chief by seeking out his father, Aniro makes it his goal to become a warrior able to defend himself while he searches for his mother instead.
https://preview.redd.it/iwhadiu9q35d1.png?width=1116&format=png&auto=webp&s=5baff3b456b697b873b642955e68a9ed0d6e6cc4
Manga Link:
https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the-legacy-of-combat/list?title_no=831428
Anime Opening Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2PwR9VtO98
Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelegacyofcombat/the-legacy-of-combat-just-1-page-of-chapter-10?ref=user_menu