Prairie bluebell egger color
Turtle Island: The Original Name for North America
2023.06.06 22:24 JoshAsdvgi Turtle Island: The Original Name for North America
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] Turtle Island: The Original Name for North America The name Turtle Island comes from the Aboriginal Creation story Turtle Island was renamed North America after a Spanish explorer, Amerigo Vespucci The Anishinaabek are one of the most widespread nations of the Aboriginal People of Turtle Island. There are Anishinaabek people living from The Canadian Sub-arctic across Turtle Island into Mexico. Many Native nations say that they are Anishinabek such as the Ojibway also called Chippewa, the Odawa, the Potawatomie, The Algonquins in Ontario's North-East and others. There is many nations similar to the Anishinaabek such as the Algonquin related people in the East Coast, the Arapaho nation and the Tsitsistas nation, also known as Cheyenne in the Prairies, and the Yurok nation on the West Coast. The Anishinaabek language is a widely accepted aboriginal language in Turtle Island. The word Niiji is an Anishinaabek word originally used by the Ojibway and Cree to mean friend. Lately Aboriginal People of Turtle Island often use the term Niiji to address each other and themselves equivalent to the meaning of the word Indian. The word Indian originates in one version from Spanish and in another version again from Spaniards calling Turtle Island Natives people from India, Indians. The term Niiji very clearly defines the person as an aboriginal from Turtle Island other than Inuit. When used today, the term Indian could refer to a person from India or to a person of any aboriginal nationality on any of the continents with populations that lead lifestyles similar to those of the aboriginal people on Turtle Island. Similar to the term Indians referring to Turtle Island aboriginal people, the aboriginal people in the Arctic were called Eskimos. The term Eskimo is not a term that the aboriginal people of the Arctic called themselves but rather a term used by Europeans that originated from the Cree language calling people raw meat eaters. Due to the term Eskimo not being a term the aboriginal people in the Arctic introduced, the term Eskimo was replaced by what the aboriginal people in the Arctic call themselves, which is the word Inuit. Inuk means man in the language of the aboriginal people of the Arctic and Inuit means men in their language. Their language is called Inuktitut. The word Niiji has already replaced the term Indian in many cases among Native youth and elders and it could completely replace the term Indian just like the word Eskimo was replaced by name Inuit. Every Native nation in Turtle Island has it's distinct language and name. The name Niiji doesn't replace the names of nations; it replaces the wider term Indian that covers all Native nations and at the same time clearly refers to to the aboriginal people of Turtle Island and excludes any other aboriginal nation also referred to as Indians. In Europe, Asia and Africa there are numerous nations with all of them acknowledging to be Europeans, Asians or Africans. Natives in Turtle Island that address themselves as Niiji, call themselves Niijis regardless of the nation they are from, just like Europeans, Asians and Africans call themselves Europeans, Asians and Africans. People often talk about an Indian language and ignore the fact that just like there is no one single language spoken by all Europeans, there is no one single language spoken by all aboriginal people of Turtle Island. The name Niiji makes it clear that there is not one language spoken by aboriginal people of Turtle Island due to the fact that, there is no such thing as a language called Niiji. Just like there is not just one language in any of the continents, there is no just one language among the aboriginal people of Turtle Island. The aboriginal people of Turtle Island have chosen to refer to their continent by the original name for it which is Turtle Island. They have chosen the flag with the four colors: white, yellow, red and black to be the general flag representing all aboriginal people of Turtle Island and in some cases also the non-aboriginals on Turtle Island. They have chosen a general symbol of the Medicine Wheel with the four colors, as the insignia of Turtle Island. The Turtle Island aboriginal people's use of the name Niiji to address themselves is only natural. |
2023.06.06 21:28 JoshAsdvgi The Origin of the Prairie Rose
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] The Origin of the Prairie Rose Lakota Sioux Long, long ago, when the world was young and people had not come out yet, no flowers bloomed on the prairie. Only grasses and dull, greenish gray shrubs grew there. Earth felt very sad because her robe lacked brightness and beauty. "I have many beautiful flowers in my heart," Earth said to herself. " I wish they were on my robe. Blue flowers like the clear sky in fair weather, white flowers like the snow of winter, brilliant yellow ones like the sun at midday, pink ones like the dawn of a spring day--all these are in my heart. I am sad when I look on my dull robe, all gray and brown." A sweet little pink flower heard Earth's sad talking. "Do not be sad, Mother Earth. I will go upon your robe and beautify it." So the little pink flower came up from the heart of the Earth Mother to beautify the prairies. But when the Wind Demon saw her, he growled, "I will not have that pretty flower on my playground." He rushed at her, shouting and roaring, and blew out her life. But her spirit returned to the heart of Mother Earth. When other flowers gained courage to go forth, one after another, Wind Demon killed them also. And their spirits returned to the heart of Mother Earth. At last Prairie Rose offered to go. "Yes, sweet child," said Earth Mother, "I will let you go. You are so lovely and your breath so fragrant that surely the Wind Demon will be charmed by you. Surely he will let you stay on the prairie." So Prairie Rose made the long journey up through the dark ground and came out on the drab prairie. As she went, Mother Earth said in her heart, "Oh, I do hope that Wind Demon will let her live." When Wind Demon saw her, he rushed toward her, shouting: "She is pretty, but I will not allow her on my playground. I will blow out her life." So he rushed on, roaring and drawing his breath in strong gusts. As he came closer, he caught the fragrance of Prairie Rose. "Oh--how sweet!" he said to himself. "I do not have it in my heart to blow out the life of such a beautiful maiden with so sweet a breath. She must stay here with me. I must make my voice gentle, and I must sing sweet songs. I must not frighten her away with my awful noise." So Wind Demon changed. He became quiet. He sent gentle breezes over the prairie grasses. He whispered and hummed little songs of gladness. He was no longer a demon. Then other flowers came up from the heart of the Earth Mother, up through the dark ground. They made her robe, the prairie, bright and joyous. Even Wind came to love the blossoms growing among the grasses of the prairie. And so the robe of Mother Earth became beautiful because of the loveliness, the sweetness, and the courage of the Prairie Rose. Sometimes Wind forgets his gentle songs and becomes loud and noise. But his loudness does not last long. And he does not harm a person whose robe is the color of Prairie Rose. |
2023.06.06 20:51 Rand0mness4 NoP: To Dream of Clear Skies
Nature of Predators is created by u/SpacePaladin15, whom was willing to let his horde of fans write fanfiction.
I'd like to give my thanks to u/SavingsSyllabub7788, the creator of Death of a Monster, and one of my favorite birbs. for giving me an odd bit of inspiration, and the discord at large for shaping this story with theories and random discussions. This one shot didn't even conceptually exist last week.
Also referenced u/Acceptable_Egg5560's Nature of a Giant in this one.
Tell me how you feel about this story. I'm content with where it ends, but others' insight always helps me figure out my flaws.
.*~*.
Memory Transcription Subject: Barkim, forsaken krakotl veteran.
Date: December 20, 2136
.~*~.
I came before Captain Sovlin and Captain Kalsim. I remember watching Kalsim train. I doubt he remembers me. My career made me into a captain pretty fast. Faster than most. I had repelled five Arxur raids while in control of the bridge. My crew were brave enough to trust me and my insane methods. Letting a colony world fall was unacceptable in my eyes. We were the vigilant, always ready to warp in ten minutes or less. The federation as whole didn't seem to understand how much value a few extra minutes bought for the settlers meant. Even if I had to order a retreat, tens of thousands would survive because they managed to find a place to weather the raid while the Arxur were distracted.
I was a hero.
Rumbling laughter and howls make my slow trod falter, and I look though a window into the recreational room. There's several humans at a table holding scraps of paper and barking in a jovial mood. They're not masked, and my feathers ruffle looking at them. A flicker of movement on the table catches my eye, and I finally spot the Dossur in their midst, almost completely hidden in a bunker of coins.
A Dossur beating an entire group of pack predators by himself. I never would've believed it, but I'm still not surprised it would be Alvin of all people.
That little runt was the only reason I've managed to hold onto my sanity for so long. He was braver than I, and he brought me back even when I was at my worst, again and again and again. He was the first to run to our predatory saviors back at the facility. And he was the last to leave, running back into the fighting and leading a human doctor to me to stop the stray bullet from taking me into Inatala's grace.
I left him to his card game, faintly overhearing one of the humans complain about being a several years running Texas Holdem champion. Alvin's response sounded very much like him, asking if he wanted to bet the actual crown next to add to his growing wealth.
Eventually I found myself in front of a door. Inside was a small room. One wall contained a wooden desk carved with enough craftsmanship to rival old Krakotl wood carvers. The desk was cluttered with cylinders and writing apparatuses, and a primitive writing board resting on the wall above it displayed several print outs of various people. Relatives. Descendants. People that had enough empathy in them to take back the few lucky souls that still had people they could trust. The computer underneath it was not active, but if it where I'd imagine there would be encrypted communication logs trying to reconnect with those few love ones. Plans to reunite them. Promises to protect them under this faction's umbrella.
It was strange, that this group of humans wasn't desired by the rest of their kind. They take more direct, brutal action than their leaders, but they act to save lives.
On the opposite wall was a locker. Inside were several firearms of Human make, and multiple emergency atmospheric suits. Many were for human use, but some were Federation standard. A pair of boots and engineering equipment rested on the floor before it, scuffed and well worn. There's a strange logo of an orange planet on the back of a jacket hanging from a hook nearby, and an even stranger article of cloth called an 'arm band.' The arm band has a large tree sewn into it, flanked by two prey animals and a river. The human I'm visiting was part of that arm band group, named after a tree of all things.
You couldn't get me to harbor a guess as to why they'd name themselves after a tree.
The far wall was rather simple. A faded green paint coat, covered in various anti-predator posters. One was of a human in a blue space suit, the visor open and revealing an endless pit of teeth. Another depicting a feral, over-proportioned human salivating over a dressed, screaming krakotl on a dinner plate. A third poster depicted some venlil collared and chained in place, stuck in some multi-colored wrapping that went up its legs halfway.
There was a mirror beside the posters, and I winced at the terrible shape I was in. I'd abused myself too much after I was freed. Even after stopping, I was still recovering. Looking past the mirror, there is a large banner of a green Terran letter. A few paper photos are plastered around it of smiling humans in strange places, and my eye always lingers over those photos despite the many times I've seen them. Earth looked lovely. I wished Kalsim had called off his mission.
Feeling like an intruder, I turned my attention to the last part of the wall. A set of black out curtains were flush with it, concealing a human roost built into the structure itself. If I was lucky, she would be there.
"Hope?"
Come on, you're better than a chicken.
Carefully, I lifted the curtain. "Hope?"
There she was. The one human I wasn't bothered by on this station. I can hear the music playing now that the curtain is out of the way, and the thick visor over her eyes tells me she's watching a video or simulation of some kind. I hesitate, watching her in her own world. What fur she does have is short and remarkably dense, and she has such a unique coloration that I would swear she was one of a kind if she hadn't mentioned having family. A tan complexion, painted over by splotches and stripes of white and violets that humans can't see with their own eyes. Her face is relaxed, mouth slightly open in wonder.
The human that helped staunch my bleeding, and gently broke the news to me of everything that had happened while I was locked up. The same one that kept me from pulling myself apart immediately after, and tried to find a way to keep me busy as my whole world went up in flames. A stern, capable person that could make decisions under pressure and wanted to save lives. While not a leader, I could see it in her. She had mettle.
She was completely exposed. Had I been the old me and not the one that woke up in a PD cell after a Sillis conference, I might've followed Kalsim's path. A talon in the right spot, and humans die fast.
"Hope?" Even raising my voice, she didn't hear me right in front of her. "Hope!"
As much as I respected her, coming this far in my state was exhausting. I, being a former fleet captain, hero, and outstanding Federation officer, decidedly acted like a child in that moment and pecked her.
"AAAAAAAH!"
"AIIIIIIIIIEEEEE"
I let out the most undignified shriek in my life and fell over backwards, landing on my tail feathers and sending a jolt up my spine. I forgot that since Hope was human, by extension she could be loud. Really, really, unfathomably loud.
There was a blur of limbs and Hope was sitting up, visor wielded as a bludgeon. She made eye contact with me, and I realized all my remaining feathers had poofed up.
"Blu!" She scolded, face curling in frustration. "What in the matter is- Blu?! You're not in your room?"
Shock, this time. I felt some shame in how low my standards had fallen, and smoothed down my feathers properly. My poor heart was already recovering and I stood, puffing out my chest.
"I... I wanted to go for a walk. See what you humans could do with a dated station like this."
"You're in my room."
"That appears to be the case." I pushed a ball of dust across the floor with a talon and regarded it absently, turning my head and keeping an eye on Hope. "It needs cleaning."
With speed I was anticipating, she hurled a pillow at me. I caught the assault and rerouted it, catching her in the face. She leaned back and laughed, a noise that calmed what was left of my quaking heart as I hopped forward. She offered a hand that I accepted, and she helped pull me onto the edge of the bed.
"You offered to show me your skies." I began, feeling uncertain. "Is that possible?"
"Yeah," she said. "Here-"
Grace put a hand on my chest and pushed down. A profound sense of horror washed over me as my back hit the soft bedding. She wouldn't- no. She can't- is it even- when have I last- Inatala please-
I realized with a start that Hope leaned past me, grabbing her pad. She plugged an odd attachment into it and fastened it to the wall by her head, and flopped over beside me. My immediate terror faded into embarrassment, and my face warmed at my own stupidity as she pulled the curtain closed. It became dark, and I felt her shift slightly until the ceiling above us started to slowly glow. Her pad booted up and began to project an image up there, and I felt my initial problems fade as a blue sky opened up before us.
"Oh wow." I breathed, realizing it was a video as a plane flew overhead. I forgot myself for a moment, looking up into an alien sky as clouds blew by at a lazy pace. The jet stream slowly lost its uniformity and stretched out, facing away as other clouds replaced it. I could hear wind and alien birds chirping, and for a long moment I was there. I was really there.
Storm clouds, massive weather fronts, all began drifting by. There was a dull rumble of thunder. I started as a bird flew very close overhead.
"What was that?"
"Woodpecker. Some can get pretty big back home. Not as big as you, Blu."
"Is it really this serene? Where was this taken?"
"My backyard. There was a massive hill out back. I used to lay there for hours when I was younger. Lived at the edge of a village. The only noise back there was the odd combustion engine or farming drone. Sometimes someone firing off a gun or listening to music loudly."
"You lived in the countryside? You're a pilot!"
Hope chuckled softly. "Surprise! There's some pretty sharp people that don't live in the cities, Blu. Especially us humans. My father could repair any farm equipment you threw at him going back a hundred years. Of course, I also have an uncle that thinks the Queen of England doesn't exist, so it probably levels out." She finished, sighing and reaching up. She swiped her finger across the ceiling and suddenly the skies changed.
They were orange now. More clouds. I felt a familiar pang in my chest thinking of a Nishtal sunset, but I kept quiet as the skies gradually changed. I was surprised to see such a vibrant shade of orange, then a sharp streak of violet bleed into it. There was red as well. A lot of red.
"Why red?"
"Oh, that. Massive forest fire in Canada. That's a country above mine. The smoke changed the colors for a little while. It made for a nice view."
That it did. I got lost in the footage, and started losing track of time. Only the occasional creak of the bedding kept me from forgetting where I really was. Hope seemed content watching the skies, and it dawned on me how close I was to her.
I'm acclimating well. Maybe I'll be like Alvin in no time.
When the skies slowly turned to night I was amazed at the stars that came out. Constellations I was unfamiliar with, patterns and swirls of light that could never be seen from a Federation city. I heard Hope inhale and reach out, changing the scene before it could linger anymore. "How about a time lapse. I've got some good ones."
"I don't know what that is."
"Really? Someone sets up a camera in a nice spot and records hours or days of footage. They take everything they've documented and then speed it up to a couple minutes." Hope starts a new video. I'm taken back by it, how a cloud bank flows around a mountain pass like water. It looks like a stream, where the clouds shift with each wind current change, flowing back and forth as minutes are turned into seconds.
It's stunning. Hope switches to another one, and another. I'm struck dumb with wonder, baffled at how not one other creature out of the hundreds of species thought to do anything similar over the course of the Federation. Massive mountain tops, where humans blur through trails like plasma. Prairies with storm cells moving in, lighting and rain sweeping through and giving it new light as the terrain is rapidly drenched. A large road where thousands of human vehicles streak by and leave brief paint trails in their wake.
"Thank you, Hope."
She nods, an odd gesture of acknowledgement, before changing the video back to a more slow paced skyline. After several minutes of silence, I feel a weight forming in my chest. Slowly, my wonder begins to crumble.
"How many confidants were you able to find? For the others?"
Hope shifted to look at me, turning her head and making my feathers tingle slightly at how close her face was to me. She looked back up at the sky. "Seven."
"There were forty that wanted to leave as quickly as they could. What happens to them?"
"We're letting them go. Even if they don't want anything to do with predators, they're going to find out avoiding my species is pretty hard. We're going to give them access to the network anyways, in case they want our help down the road."
"And the rest of us?"
"I'm helping the ones that want to go back to a somewhat normal life find that. There's several planets they can go to, and countless colonies. They'll be placed close to the support network in case there's trouble and they need to come back, or need financial assistance or help integrating."
Hope had mentioned something about 'shelters being a safe place' for us break outs, but had never elaborated on that.
"And what about the others that want to stay?" I noticed Hope scowl at the skies, her face forlorn.
"The ones that want to stay and help us fight are welcome to. It's not all dangerous- being part of the network isn't as risky. Helping the ones that wanted to go back to living, or finding others that got lost or fell through the cracks. It... it feels wrong asking anyone we rescued to fight and die for us. We don't want clouded judgement and people thinking they owe us that. But, there are a lot wanting to join our ranks in more aggressive operations. We're making them combat ready, teaching them how we wage wars so that they don't turn into their overseers."
I lay there for a long moment, staring at the open skies above us. "What about me?" I asked quietly.
"You're not excluded from those choices, Blu."
"You read my file. You know who I was. What I would've done if I didn't end up in that place. You'd really just let me go?"
"If you wanted to go, then yes."
The simple way in which she states it confused me. Like such a choice wouldn't cause issues or risks.
"But, we've been thinking about a better choice for you."
Oh?
"The Mazics are turning into the next Paltan Combine. Their newest influx of refugees were the released Krakotl."
My chest tightens. Nishtal is no more, razed to the bedrock and dead. We had been abandoned by our neighbors, our home slaughtered well before our true nature was revealed. And in the same year, the Federation deploys over forty thousand ships to take back a world that left behind their rule. Billions of loyal citizens captured and destined for a bloody fate were worth less than billions that seceded peacefully.
And then the humans brokered a deal with the Arxur and saved their souls. This was yet another time they did the impossible.
"We were thinking they could use a strong anchor to roost against. Someone that they might remember. A leader that they can trust."
I turned my head to directly face Hope, but she was still looking at the skies.
"I... they hate you humans."
"They do."
"I can't try and lead them, and sell out anyone that still doesn't believe in the UN's cause. I can't betray them." I chirped, dread worming into my gut.
"We wouldn't expect you too. We don't want you too. Blu-" Hope turned her gaze on me, her voice sincere. "We want them to find the right path. They deserve peace and security. They don't deserve to live in fear and rot with hatred. We don't... my group does not want yours to suffer over what your government did, even if the masses supported it at the time. We think you can lead them to a better future, where this hell can have a chance to heal and fade."
She looked back up at the artificial sky above us. "You don't even have to talk to us again if you choose this. If you do your best to ensure your species can coexist with mine, that would be more than we could ever hope to see happen."
"You think that's possible? That I could get that far? It seems so far away."
Hope bared her teeth in a smile. "You're more than capable. You love your people with everything you have, Blu. They'll see that. They'll believe in you. When you stand firm for your people, they'll follow you, too. We'll help where we can- peacefully. This can happen, I know it."
I found myself looking up at Earth's sky once again, apprehensive above this new burden. There was no way I would turn this down. If the Wolverines thought it was possible, then it was possible. A future where my people were both free in body and spirit was one I would fight for until my weary body gave out.
"How do we start?"
submitted by Rand0mness4 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
I'd like to give my thanks to u/SavingsSyllabub7788, the creator of Death of a Monster, and one of my favorite birbs. for giving me an odd bit of inspiration, and the discord at large for shaping this story with theories and random discussions. This one shot didn't even conceptually exist last week.
Also referenced u/Acceptable_Egg5560's Nature of a Giant in this one.
Tell me how you feel about this story. I'm content with where it ends, but others' insight always helps me figure out my flaws.
.*~*.
Memory Transcription Subject: Barkim, forsaken krakotl veteran.
Date: December 20, 2136
.~*~.
I came before Captain Sovlin and Captain Kalsim. I remember watching Kalsim train. I doubt he remembers me. My career made me into a captain pretty fast. Faster than most. I had repelled five Arxur raids while in control of the bridge. My crew were brave enough to trust me and my insane methods. Letting a colony world fall was unacceptable in my eyes. We were the vigilant, always ready to warp in ten minutes or less. The federation as whole didn't seem to understand how much value a few extra minutes bought for the settlers meant. Even if I had to order a retreat, tens of thousands would survive because they managed to find a place to weather the raid while the Arxur were distracted.
I was a hero.
Rumbling laughter and howls make my slow trod falter, and I look though a window into the recreational room. There's several humans at a table holding scraps of paper and barking in a jovial mood. They're not masked, and my feathers ruffle looking at them. A flicker of movement on the table catches my eye, and I finally spot the Dossur in their midst, almost completely hidden in a bunker of coins.
A Dossur beating an entire group of pack predators by himself. I never would've believed it, but I'm still not surprised it would be Alvin of all people.
That little runt was the only reason I've managed to hold onto my sanity for so long. He was braver than I, and he brought me back even when I was at my worst, again and again and again. He was the first to run to our predatory saviors back at the facility. And he was the last to leave, running back into the fighting and leading a human doctor to me to stop the stray bullet from taking me into Inatala's grace.
I left him to his card game, faintly overhearing one of the humans complain about being a several years running Texas Holdem champion. Alvin's response sounded very much like him, asking if he wanted to bet the actual crown next to add to his growing wealth.
Eventually I found myself in front of a door. Inside was a small room. One wall contained a wooden desk carved with enough craftsmanship to rival old Krakotl wood carvers. The desk was cluttered with cylinders and writing apparatuses, and a primitive writing board resting on the wall above it displayed several print outs of various people. Relatives. Descendants. People that had enough empathy in them to take back the few lucky souls that still had people they could trust. The computer underneath it was not active, but if it where I'd imagine there would be encrypted communication logs trying to reconnect with those few love ones. Plans to reunite them. Promises to protect them under this faction's umbrella.
It was strange, that this group of humans wasn't desired by the rest of their kind. They take more direct, brutal action than their leaders, but they act to save lives.
On the opposite wall was a locker. Inside were several firearms of Human make, and multiple emergency atmospheric suits. Many were for human use, but some were Federation standard. A pair of boots and engineering equipment rested on the floor before it, scuffed and well worn. There's a strange logo of an orange planet on the back of a jacket hanging from a hook nearby, and an even stranger article of cloth called an 'arm band.' The arm band has a large tree sewn into it, flanked by two prey animals and a river. The human I'm visiting was part of that arm band group, named after a tree of all things.
You couldn't get me to harbor a guess as to why they'd name themselves after a tree.
The far wall was rather simple. A faded green paint coat, covered in various anti-predator posters. One was of a human in a blue space suit, the visor open and revealing an endless pit of teeth. Another depicting a feral, over-proportioned human salivating over a dressed, screaming krakotl on a dinner plate. A third poster depicted some venlil collared and chained in place, stuck in some multi-colored wrapping that went up its legs halfway.
There was a mirror beside the posters, and I winced at the terrible shape I was in. I'd abused myself too much after I was freed. Even after stopping, I was still recovering. Looking past the mirror, there is a large banner of a green Terran letter. A few paper photos are plastered around it of smiling humans in strange places, and my eye always lingers over those photos despite the many times I've seen them. Earth looked lovely. I wished Kalsim had called off his mission.
Feeling like an intruder, I turned my attention to the last part of the wall. A set of black out curtains were flush with it, concealing a human roost built into the structure itself. If I was lucky, she would be there.
"Hope?"
Come on, you're better than a chicken.
Carefully, I lifted the curtain. "Hope?"
There she was. The one human I wasn't bothered by on this station. I can hear the music playing now that the curtain is out of the way, and the thick visor over her eyes tells me she's watching a video or simulation of some kind. I hesitate, watching her in her own world. What fur she does have is short and remarkably dense, and she has such a unique coloration that I would swear she was one of a kind if she hadn't mentioned having family. A tan complexion, painted over by splotches and stripes of white and violets that humans can't see with their own eyes. Her face is relaxed, mouth slightly open in wonder.
The human that helped staunch my bleeding, and gently broke the news to me of everything that had happened while I was locked up. The same one that kept me from pulling myself apart immediately after, and tried to find a way to keep me busy as my whole world went up in flames. A stern, capable person that could make decisions under pressure and wanted to save lives. While not a leader, I could see it in her. She had mettle.
She was completely exposed. Had I been the old me and not the one that woke up in a PD cell after a Sillis conference, I might've followed Kalsim's path. A talon in the right spot, and humans die fast.
"Hope?" Even raising my voice, she didn't hear me right in front of her. "Hope!"
As much as I respected her, coming this far in my state was exhausting. I, being a former fleet captain, hero, and outstanding Federation officer, decidedly acted like a child in that moment and pecked her.
"AAAAAAAH!"
"AIIIIIIIIIEEEEE"
I let out the most undignified shriek in my life and fell over backwards, landing on my tail feathers and sending a jolt up my spine. I forgot that since Hope was human, by extension she could be loud. Really, really, unfathomably loud.
There was a blur of limbs and Hope was sitting up, visor wielded as a bludgeon. She made eye contact with me, and I realized all my remaining feathers had poofed up.
"Blu!" She scolded, face curling in frustration. "What in the matter is- Blu?! You're not in your room?"
Shock, this time. I felt some shame in how low my standards had fallen, and smoothed down my feathers properly. My poor heart was already recovering and I stood, puffing out my chest.
"I... I wanted to go for a walk. See what you humans could do with a dated station like this."
"You're in my room."
"That appears to be the case." I pushed a ball of dust across the floor with a talon and regarded it absently, turning my head and keeping an eye on Hope. "It needs cleaning."
With speed I was anticipating, she hurled a pillow at me. I caught the assault and rerouted it, catching her in the face. She leaned back and laughed, a noise that calmed what was left of my quaking heart as I hopped forward. She offered a hand that I accepted, and she helped pull me onto the edge of the bed.
"You offered to show me your skies." I began, feeling uncertain. "Is that possible?"
"Yeah," she said. "Here-"
Grace put a hand on my chest and pushed down. A profound sense of horror washed over me as my back hit the soft bedding. She wouldn't- no. She can't- is it even- when have I last- Inatala please-
I realized with a start that Hope leaned past me, grabbing her pad. She plugged an odd attachment into it and fastened it to the wall by her head, and flopped over beside me. My immediate terror faded into embarrassment, and my face warmed at my own stupidity as she pulled the curtain closed. It became dark, and I felt her shift slightly until the ceiling above us started to slowly glow. Her pad booted up and began to project an image up there, and I felt my initial problems fade as a blue sky opened up before us.
"Oh wow." I breathed, realizing it was a video as a plane flew overhead. I forgot myself for a moment, looking up into an alien sky as clouds blew by at a lazy pace. The jet stream slowly lost its uniformity and stretched out, facing away as other clouds replaced it. I could hear wind and alien birds chirping, and for a long moment I was there. I was really there.
Storm clouds, massive weather fronts, all began drifting by. There was a dull rumble of thunder. I started as a bird flew very close overhead.
"What was that?"
"Woodpecker. Some can get pretty big back home. Not as big as you, Blu."
"Is it really this serene? Where was this taken?"
"My backyard. There was a massive hill out back. I used to lay there for hours when I was younger. Lived at the edge of a village. The only noise back there was the odd combustion engine or farming drone. Sometimes someone firing off a gun or listening to music loudly."
"You lived in the countryside? You're a pilot!"
Hope chuckled softly. "Surprise! There's some pretty sharp people that don't live in the cities, Blu. Especially us humans. My father could repair any farm equipment you threw at him going back a hundred years. Of course, I also have an uncle that thinks the Queen of England doesn't exist, so it probably levels out." She finished, sighing and reaching up. She swiped her finger across the ceiling and suddenly the skies changed.
They were orange now. More clouds. I felt a familiar pang in my chest thinking of a Nishtal sunset, but I kept quiet as the skies gradually changed. I was surprised to see such a vibrant shade of orange, then a sharp streak of violet bleed into it. There was red as well. A lot of red.
"Why red?"
"Oh, that. Massive forest fire in Canada. That's a country above mine. The smoke changed the colors for a little while. It made for a nice view."
That it did. I got lost in the footage, and started losing track of time. Only the occasional creak of the bedding kept me from forgetting where I really was. Hope seemed content watching the skies, and it dawned on me how close I was to her.
I'm acclimating well. Maybe I'll be like Alvin in no time.
When the skies slowly turned to night I was amazed at the stars that came out. Constellations I was unfamiliar with, patterns and swirls of light that could never be seen from a Federation city. I heard Hope inhale and reach out, changing the scene before it could linger anymore. "How about a time lapse. I've got some good ones."
"I don't know what that is."
"Really? Someone sets up a camera in a nice spot and records hours or days of footage. They take everything they've documented and then speed it up to a couple minutes." Hope starts a new video. I'm taken back by it, how a cloud bank flows around a mountain pass like water. It looks like a stream, where the clouds shift with each wind current change, flowing back and forth as minutes are turned into seconds.
It's stunning. Hope switches to another one, and another. I'm struck dumb with wonder, baffled at how not one other creature out of the hundreds of species thought to do anything similar over the course of the Federation. Massive mountain tops, where humans blur through trails like plasma. Prairies with storm cells moving in, lighting and rain sweeping through and giving it new light as the terrain is rapidly drenched. A large road where thousands of human vehicles streak by and leave brief paint trails in their wake.
"Thank you, Hope."
She nods, an odd gesture of acknowledgement, before changing the video back to a more slow paced skyline. After several minutes of silence, I feel a weight forming in my chest. Slowly, my wonder begins to crumble.
"How many confidants were you able to find? For the others?"
Hope shifted to look at me, turning her head and making my feathers tingle slightly at how close her face was to me. She looked back up at the sky. "Seven."
"There were forty that wanted to leave as quickly as they could. What happens to them?"
"We're letting them go. Even if they don't want anything to do with predators, they're going to find out avoiding my species is pretty hard. We're going to give them access to the network anyways, in case they want our help down the road."
"And the rest of us?"
"I'm helping the ones that want to go back to a somewhat normal life find that. There's several planets they can go to, and countless colonies. They'll be placed close to the support network in case there's trouble and they need to come back, or need financial assistance or help integrating."
Hope had mentioned something about 'shelters being a safe place' for us break outs, but had never elaborated on that.
"And what about the others that want to stay?" I noticed Hope scowl at the skies, her face forlorn.
"The ones that want to stay and help us fight are welcome to. It's not all dangerous- being part of the network isn't as risky. Helping the ones that wanted to go back to living, or finding others that got lost or fell through the cracks. It... it feels wrong asking anyone we rescued to fight and die for us. We don't want clouded judgement and people thinking they owe us that. But, there are a lot wanting to join our ranks in more aggressive operations. We're making them combat ready, teaching them how we wage wars so that they don't turn into their overseers."
I lay there for a long moment, staring at the open skies above us. "What about me?" I asked quietly.
"You're not excluded from those choices, Blu."
"You read my file. You know who I was. What I would've done if I didn't end up in that place. You'd really just let me go?"
"If you wanted to go, then yes."
The simple way in which she states it confused me. Like such a choice wouldn't cause issues or risks.
"But, we've been thinking about a better choice for you."
Oh?
"The Mazics are turning into the next Paltan Combine. Their newest influx of refugees were the released Krakotl."
My chest tightens. Nishtal is no more, razed to the bedrock and dead. We had been abandoned by our neighbors, our home slaughtered well before our true nature was revealed. And in the same year, the Federation deploys over forty thousand ships to take back a world that left behind their rule. Billions of loyal citizens captured and destined for a bloody fate were worth less than billions that seceded peacefully.
And then the humans brokered a deal with the Arxur and saved their souls. This was yet another time they did the impossible.
"We were thinking they could use a strong anchor to roost against. Someone that they might remember. A leader that they can trust."
I turned my head to directly face Hope, but she was still looking at the skies.
"I... they hate you humans."
"They do."
"I can't try and lead them, and sell out anyone that still doesn't believe in the UN's cause. I can't betray them." I chirped, dread worming into my gut.
"We wouldn't expect you too. We don't want you too. Blu-" Hope turned her gaze on me, her voice sincere. "We want them to find the right path. They deserve peace and security. They don't deserve to live in fear and rot with hatred. We don't... my group does not want yours to suffer over what your government did, even if the masses supported it at the time. We think you can lead them to a better future, where this hell can have a chance to heal and fade."
She looked back up at the artificial sky above us. "You don't even have to talk to us again if you choose this. If you do your best to ensure your species can coexist with mine, that would be more than we could ever hope to see happen."
"You think that's possible? That I could get that far? It seems so far away."
Hope bared her teeth in a smile. "You're more than capable. You love your people with everything you have, Blu. They'll see that. They'll believe in you. When you stand firm for your people, they'll follow you, too. We'll help where we can- peacefully. This can happen, I know it."
I found myself looking up at Earth's sky once again, apprehensive above this new burden. There was no way I would turn this down. If the Wolverines thought it was possible, then it was possible. A future where my people were both free in body and spirit was one I would fight for until my weary body gave out.
"How do we start?"
2023.06.05 20:09 nervouspetfriend Window trim repair / repainting suggestions needed
 | Ok, one year in two being a home owner, and we're starting some EXTERIOR projects! Windows are up first, and I need help. submitted by nervouspetfriend to centuryhomes [link] [comments] First step will be removing old paint. I've ordered a Speedheater Cobra infrared paint remover (and I got their detail kit bundle of scrapers); I've done a bit of YouTube research for what removing the paint will be like, but anybody has a favorite tutorial for this process that they'd like to share, I am all ears (and eyes). Secondly, I would like help with window trim color selection. Which components of my windows should I be highlighting with different colors? This is a 1908 American Foursquare (with very little detailing to provide a particular architectural style; I feel like this house was kept very minimal in a response to the victorian opulence, but also wasn't yet on board with Craftsman / Prairie style detailing, and is almost minimalist as a result. In my (lay person!) opinion). Right now, all of the trim is either white, unpainted altogether, or some parts still have a green paint that I'm pretty sure predates the white trim paint job. I would really like to add some more color to the house, but I don't really know how to design my color choices. Eventually I'll be painting the front porch (as well as adding lattice underneath the porch, which I'll also paint to match the color scheme) -- right now, I only need to make decisions about my window trim, but I don't want to have a grneral plan for the whole house before getting started. |
2023.06.04 17:03 BeeHive83 Is Gomez a dude? The grey/brown.
 | I have had my suspicions about Gomez from early on how she acted in the brooder. I purchased her as a young chick labeled pullet. She is looking HE to me. Prairie blue bell egger. Approximately 18 weeks old. Also, that’s not her crowing lol. I have not heard a crow from her yet. submitted by BeeHive83 to chickens [link] [comments] |
2023.06.04 08:16 lyndsay0413 ???the fuck
 | submitted by lyndsay0413 to h3h3productions [link] [comments] |
2023.06.04 01:29 JoshAsdvgi The Life and Death of Sweet Medicine
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] The Life and Death of Sweet Medicine A long time ago the people had no laws, no rules of behavior- they hardly knew enough to survive. And they did shameful things out of ignorance, because they didn't understand how to live. There was one man among them who had a natural sense of what was right. He and his wife were good, hard- working people, a family to be proud of. The knew how to feel ashamed, and this feeling kept them from doing wrong. Their only child was a daughter, beautiful and modest, who had reached the age when girls begin to think about husbands and making a family. One night a man's voice spoke to her in a dream. "You are handsome and strong, modest and young. Therefore Sweet Root will visit you." Dismissing it as just a dream, the girl went cheerfully about her chores the next day. On the following night, however, she heard the voice again: "Sweet Root is coming- woman's medicine which makes a mother's milk flow. Sweet Root is coming as a man comes courting." The girl puzzled over the words when she awoke, but in the end shrugged her shoulders. People can't control their dreams, she thought, and the idea of a visit from a medicine root didn't make any sense. On the third night the dream recurred, and this time it was so real that a figure seemed to be standing beside the buffalo robe she slept on. He was talking to her, telling her: "Sweet Root is coming; he is very near. Soon he will be with you." On the fourth night she heard the same voice and saw the same figure. Disturbed, she told her mother about it the next morning. "There must be something in it," she said. "It's so real and the voice is so much like a man's voice." "No, its just a dream," her mother said. "It doesn't mean anything." But from that time on, the girl felt different. Something was stirring, growing within her, and after a few months, her condition became obvious: she was going to have a baby. She told her parents that no man had touched her, and they believed her. But others would not be likely to, and the girl hid her condition. When she felt the birth pangs coming on, she went out into the prairie far from the camp and built herself a brush shelter. Doing everything herself, she gave birth to a baby boy. She dried the baby, wrapped him in soft moss, and left him there in the wickiup, for in her village a baby without a father would be scorned and treated badly. Praying that someone would find him, she went sadly home to her parents. At about the same time, an old woman was out searching the prairie for wild turnips, which she dug up with an animal's shoulder blade. She heard crying, and following the sound, came to the wickiup. She was overjoyed to find the baby, as she had never had one of her own. All around the brush shelter grew the sweet root which makes a mother's milk flow; so she named the boy Sweet Medicine. She took him home to her shabby tipi even though she had nothing to offer him but love. In the tipi next to the old woman's lived a young mother who was nursing a small child, and she agreed to nurse Sweet Medicine also. He grew faster and learned faster than ordinary children and was weaned in no time. When he was only ten yearas old, he had already grown-up wisdom and hunting skill far in advance of his age. But because he had no family and lived at the edge of the camp in a poor tipi, no one paid any attention to Sweet Medicine's exceptional powers. That year there was a drought, very little game, and much hunger in the village. "Grandmother," he told her, "find me an old buffalo hide- any dried out, chewed up scrap with holes in it will do." The woman searched among the refuse piles and found a wrinkled, brittle piece that the starving dogs had been chewing on. When she brought it to Sweet Medicine, he told her, "Take this to the stream outside the camp, wash it in the flowing water, make it pliable, scrape it clean. " After she had done this Sweet Medicine took a willow wand and bent it into a hoop, which he colored with sacred red earth paint. He cut the buffalo hide into one long string and wove it back and forth over the hoop, making a kind of net with an opening in the center. Then he cut four wild cherry sticks, sharpened them to a point, and hardened them in the hearth fire. The next morning he said: "Grandmother, come with me. We're going to play the hoop-and-stick game." He took the hoop and the cherry-wood sticks and walked into the middle of the camp circle. "Grandmother, roll this hoop for me," he said. She rolled the hoop along the ground and Sweet Medicine hurled his pointed sticks through the center of it, hitting the right spot every time. Soon alot of people, men and women, boys and girls, came to watch the strange new game. Then Sweet Medicine cried: "Grandmother, let me hit it once more and make the hoop turn into a fat buffalo calf!" Again he threw his stick like a dart, again the stick went through the center of the hoop, and as it did so the hoop turned into a fat, yellow buffalo calf. The stick had pierced its heart, and the calf fell down dead. "Now you people will have plenty to eat," said Sweet Medicine. "Come and butcher this calf." The people gathered and roasted chunks of tender calf meat over their fires. And no matter how many pieces of flesh they cut from the calf's body, it was never picked clean. However much they ate, there was always more. So the people had their fill, and that was the end of the famine. It was also the first hoop-and-stick game played among the Cheyenne. This sacred game has much power attached to it, and it is still being played. A boy's first kill is an important happening in his life, something he will always remember. After killing his first buffalo a boy will be honored by his father, who may hold a feast for him and give him a man's name. There would be no such feast for Sweet Medicine, all the same, he was very happy when he killed a fat, yellow calf on his first hunt. He was skinning and butchering it when he was approached by an elderly man, a chief too old to do much hunting, but still harsh and commanding. "This is just the kind of hide I have been looking for," said the chief. "I will take it." "You can't have a boy's first hide." said Sweet Medicine. "Surely you must know this. But you are welcome to half of the meat, because I honor old age." The chief took the meat but grabbed the hide too, and began to walk off with it. Sweet Medicine took hold of one end, and they started a tug-of-war. The chief used his riding whip on Sweet Medicine, shouting: "How dare a poor nothing boy defy a chief?" As he whipped Sweet Medicine again and again across the face, the boy's fighting spirit was aroused. He grabbed a big buffalo leg bone and hit the old man over the head. Some say Sweet Medicine killed that chief, others say the old man just fell down stunned. But in the village the people were angry that a mere boy had dared to fight the old chief. Some said, "Lets whip him," others said, "Lets kill him." After he had returned to the old woman's lodge, Sweet Medicine sensed what was going on. He said: "Grandmother, some young men of the warrior societies will come here to kill me for having stood up for myself." He thanked her for her kindness to him and then fled from the village. Later when the young warriors came, they were so angry to find the boy gone that they pulled down the lodge and set fire to it. The following morning someone saw Sweet Medicine, dressed as a Fox warrior, standing on a hill overlooking the village. His enemies set out in pursuit, but he was always just out of their reach and they finally retired exhausted. The next morning he appeared as an Elk warrior, carrying a crooked coupstick wrapped in otter skin. Again, they tried to catch him and kill him, and again he evaded them. They resumed their futile chase on the third morning, when he wore the red face paint and feathers of a Red Shield warrior, and on the fourth, when he dressed like a Dog soldier and shook a small red rattle tied with buffalo hair at his pursuers. On the fifth day he appeared in the full regalia of a Cheyenne chief. That made the village warriors angrier than ever, but they still couldn't catch him, and after that they saw him no more. Wandering alone over the prairie, the boy heard a voice calling, leading him to a beautiful dark-forested land of many hills. Standing apart from the others was a single mountain shaped like a huge tipi: the sacred mountain called Bear Butte. Sweet Medicine found a secret opening which has since been closed (or perhaps is visible to him alone) and entered the mountain. It was hollow inside like a tipi, forming a sarcred lodge filled with people who looked like ordinary men and women, but were really powerful spirits. "Grandson, come in, we have been expecting you,"the holy people said, and when Sweet Medicine took his seat, they began teaching him the Cheyenne way to live so that he could return to the people and give them this knowledge. First of all, the spirits gave him the sacred four arrows, saying, "This is the great gift we are handing you. With these wonderful arrows, the tribe will prosper. Two arrows are for war and two are for hunting. But there is much, much more to the four arrows. They have great powers. They contain rules by which men ought to live." The spirit people taught Sweet Medicine how to pray to the arrows, how to keep them, how to renew them. They taught him the wise laws of the forty-four chiefs. They taught him how to set up rules for the warrior societies. They taught him how women should be honored. They taught him the many useful things by which people could live, survive, and prosper, things that people had not yet learned at that time. Finally they taught him how to make a special tipi in which the sacred arrows were to be kept. Sweet Medicine listened respectfully and learned well, and finally an old spirit man burned incense of sweet grass to purify both Sweet Medicine and the sacred arrow bundle. Then the Cheyenne boy put the holy bundle on his back and began the long journey home to his people. During his absence there had been a famine in the land. The buffalo had gone into hiding, for they were angry that the people did not know how to live and were behaving badly. When Sweet Medicine arrived at the village, he found a group of tired and listless children, their ribs sticking out, who were playing with little buffalo figures they had made out of mud. Sweet Medicine immediately changed the figures into large chunks of juicy buffalo meat and fat. "Now there's enough for you to eat," he told the young ones, "with plenty left over for your parents and grandparents. Take the meat, fat, and tongues into the village, and tell two good young hunters to come out in the morning to meet me." Though the children carried the message and two young hunters went out and looked everywhere for Sweet Medicine the next day, all they saw was a big eagle circling above them. They tried again on the second and third days with no success, but on the fourth morning they found Sweet Medicine standing on top of a hill overlooking the village. He told the two: "I have come bringing a wonderful gift from the Creator which the spirits inside the great medicine mountain have sent you. Tell the people to set up a big lodge in the center of the camp circle. Cover its floor with sage, and purify it with burning sweet grass. Tell everyone to go inside the tipi and stay there, no one must see me approaching." When at last all was made ready, Sweet Medicine walked slowly toward the village and four times called out: "People of the Cheyenne, with a great power I am approaching. Be joyful. The sacred arrows I am bringing." He entered the tipi with the sacred arrow bundle and said: "You have not yet learned the right way to live. That is why the Ones above were angry and the buffalo went into hiding." The two young hunters lit the fire, and Sweet Medicine filled a deer-bone pipe with sacred tobacco. All night through, he taught the people what the spirits inside the holy mountain had taught him. These teachings established the way of the Tsistsistas, the true Cheyenne nation. Toward the morning, Sweet Medicine sang four sacred songs. After each song he smoked the pipe, and its holy breath ascended through the smoke hole up into the sky, up to the great mystery. At daybreak, as the sun rose and the people emerged from the sacred arrow lodge, they found the prairie around them covered with buffalo. The spirits were no longer angry. The famine was over. For many nights to come, Sweet Medicine instructed the people in the sacred laws. He lived among the Cheyenne for a long time and made them into a proud tribe respected throughout the plains. Four lives the Creator had given him, but even Sweet Medicine was not immortal. Only the rocks and the mountains are forever. When he grew old and feeble and felt that the end of his appointed time was near, he directed the people to carry him to a place near the sacred Bear Butte. There they made a small hut for him out of cottonwood branches and cedar lodge poles covered with bark and leaves. They spread its floor with sage, flat cedar leaves, and fragrant grass. It was a good lodge to die in, and when they placed him before it, he addressed the people for the last time: "I have seen in my mind that some time after I am dead...and may the time be long...light-skinned bearded men will arrive with sticks spitting fire. They will conquer the land and drive you before them. They will kill the animals who give you their flesh that you may live, and they will bring strange animals for you to ride and eat. They will introduce war and evil, strange sickness and death. They will try and make you forget Maheo, the Creator, and the things I have taught you, and will impose their own alien, evil ways. They will take your land little by little, until there is nothing left for you. I do not like to tell you this, but you must know. You must be strong when that bad time comes, you men, and particularly you women, because much depends on you, because you are the perpetuators of life and if you weaken, the Cheyenne will cease to be. Now I have said all there is to say. Then Sweet Medicine went into his hut to die. |
2023.06.03 23:45 kitsune_surprise Broody chicken
I have a prairie bluebell that is broody. I've tried closing the coop door so she can't get back in when she's in the run, picked her up out of the box and put her in the run so she would eat, let her walk around outside the run, and tried to have wind blown on her vent. I can't put fertilized eggs under her as my city only allows 6 chicks. I thought about separating her from the flock but I'm not sure how or what that would do. Any advice is welcomed.
submitted by kitsune_surprise to chickens [link] [comments]
2023.06.03 19:33 Responsible-Bed-7481 Paparazzi
 | Paparazzi: submitted by Responsible-Bed-7481 to cocktails [link] [comments] 1.5 oz Gin (Prairie) .5 oz Pasubio .5 oz Fernet .75 oz Acidic Blueberry Syrup* Shake and Strain in Collins Glass with Tarragon Ice Cubes*. Top with Soda, Straw, and Garnish with Fresh Mint and Blueberry Pick. This drink is from my menu last summer and was a big hit with industry folks (Fernet, go figure). Refreshing, medicinal, and slightly herbal. Acidic Blueberry Syrup •In blender, combine 6 oz of fresh blueberries, 2 cups Simple (1:1), and 2 cups Rich Demerara (2:1). •Blend thoroughly and fine strain. •Add 5g Citric Acid for every 100g of syrup. Whisk to incorporate. Tarragon Ice •Infuse ~15 large sprigs of Tarragon in 2 qts boiling water, for 20 mins. •Strain, add Pea Flower Extract for color, and freeze into cubes. |
2023.06.03 11:13 lightsightbite My last speech into the void about Sky
After playing consistently for about 3 years, I've decided to quit completely.
Disclaimers:
I downloaded Sky because at the start of the pandemic I felt extremely isolated and lonely. I saw the game and decided, why not? It looks like such a cute game.
I immediately fell in love with it when I met a fellow moth at the isle temple. We adventured through prairie and most of forest together. We were confused, but having a blast finding spirits and WL together.
Even when that friend never came back, I met more and more people along the way. Everyone was eager to help, vet or moth. I've even made great friends through the game. It was exactly what I needed to feel a bit more connected again.
Even after doing Eden, when there wasn't much else left to do, I stuck around because I loved hanging out with friends and strangers. Whether it be going on CRs, sneaking into OOBs, or just spamming emotes at each other.
I never really cared much for collecting cosmetics, but I did work hard to grab the ones I liked.
My friend and I used to take turns ubering for a full CR to make sure we had enough candles for whatever we wanted. The geyser and grandma being added later on was truly a blessing!
Burnout was no stranger, but even then I'd log in for a bit for dailies and then proceed to just sit around somewhere. If not to socialize, then to just listen to the music and other Skykids walking by.
I enjoyed almost every season too.
Rhythm will always have a special space for me since I started then (although I never got the owl hair as I barely knew what was going on haha).
Sanctuary, Dreams, Little Prince, Flight, Abyss, and Aurora will always be something I'm glad I got to experience. The areas, the cosmetics, the story!! They just absolutely hit it out of the park for me.
Prophecy was also fun, but I still get war flashbacks of when we had to do them the first time around and the shortcuts weren't known yet.
The others like Enchantment, Assembly, Performance, Shattering, Remembrance, and Passage, were alright. The features they may have added to the game were definitely fun, but the seasons themselves, like storywise, cosmetics, areas or quests, felt like they dragged, and doing them felt more like a game task than something I actually wanted to do.
Days of Events were fun ways to mix up the monotony as well! Specially since we've been having bigger and bigger events recently.
The downs
I definitely tried my best to stay off any Sky social media, even the official discord. While yes, the community in game has never been perfect. There has always been a few rude players, and people who glitch past the vault doors have been a thing since long long ago. But the Sky community on socmed felt ten times worse.
It's either a lot of people complaining, or a lot of people telling others they can't complain and should just be grateful instead. And it just never ends, it was always so tiring to see.
IAP pricing's also something that often disappointed me. Not to dox myself, but the exchange rate for my country is 1usd = 50+ home currency. So you can imagine just how painful a lot of the prices were.
I always chose carefully what I'd actually buy, sometimes even depending on giveaways generous players hold. And while yes, they're just cosmetics and I can definitely live without them, there were some that I really wanted to get but couldn't due to their price.
The TLP asteroid cape I will forever mourn. My (deceased) mom used to read me that story when I was younger, so the asteroid map was special to me. I even created two alts to hoard some cape spells haha.
The mischief cat reminded me of my (also deceased) cat, but again I sadly couldn't afford it at that time.
There were probably other examples, but I think these two were the stand outs for me. I just wish the pricing was more fair for different places, but I do see how that's hard to implement as people can take advantage of it. Nevertheless, for the sake of current and future players, I hope TGC finds a solution to it.
Next of, I admit I'm not a huge fan of the new crowd/mega server update. I absolutely loved it for Aurora, but with the new ways it's implemented, days of color, Passage quests, and the upcoming aviary, it just does the exact opposite of what it's supposed to for me. I don't feel connected at all. I feel lonelier than ever because I just see shapes running past me who I can't even interact with much. I even have trouble finding the few 7 people in my server to play with them.
It also feels a bit overstimulating. Too much unnecessary movement, too much noise. It was fitting for a concert, not so much everywhere else. A lot of places I would have loved to relax in, like the new rainbow OOB and the Passage area were ruined for me because it's just so overcrowded for no reason.
I do understand it's a work in progress as the feature is relatively new. So I hope TGC will be able to refine it further so all players would be able to enjoy the way they want to enjoy.
Famous last words
Sky isn't perfect, but it has steadily been improving through the years. I hope the game and the community continue to grow!
Fly safe, Skykids!
Thank you, Sky, for being my safe space for a little while.
submitted by lightsightbite to SkyGame [link] [comments]
Disclaimers:
- This isn't a rant on what "made" me quit Sky. Nothing made me quit. This is just a bunch of my thoughts that I wanted to get out for closure from something that was a constant for me.
- I just decided to post it here because maybe some parts of it can be used as feedback as well.
- Obviously text heavy.
I downloaded Sky because at the start of the pandemic I felt extremely isolated and lonely. I saw the game and decided, why not? It looks like such a cute game.
I immediately fell in love with it when I met a fellow moth at the isle temple. We adventured through prairie and most of forest together. We were confused, but having a blast finding spirits and WL together.
Even when that friend never came back, I met more and more people along the way. Everyone was eager to help, vet or moth. I've even made great friends through the game. It was exactly what I needed to feel a bit more connected again.
Even after doing Eden, when there wasn't much else left to do, I stuck around because I loved hanging out with friends and strangers. Whether it be going on CRs, sneaking into OOBs, or just spamming emotes at each other.
I never really cared much for collecting cosmetics, but I did work hard to grab the ones I liked.
My friend and I used to take turns ubering for a full CR to make sure we had enough candles for whatever we wanted. The geyser and grandma being added later on was truly a blessing!
Burnout was no stranger, but even then I'd log in for a bit for dailies and then proceed to just sit around somewhere. If not to socialize, then to just listen to the music and other Skykids walking by.
I enjoyed almost every season too.
Rhythm will always have a special space for me since I started then (although I never got the owl hair as I barely knew what was going on haha).
Sanctuary, Dreams, Little Prince, Flight, Abyss, and Aurora will always be something I'm glad I got to experience. The areas, the cosmetics, the story!! They just absolutely hit it out of the park for me.
Prophecy was also fun, but I still get war flashbacks of when we had to do them the first time around and the shortcuts weren't known yet.
The others like Enchantment, Assembly, Performance, Shattering, Remembrance, and Passage, were alright. The features they may have added to the game were definitely fun, but the seasons themselves, like storywise, cosmetics, areas or quests, felt like they dragged, and doing them felt more like a game task than something I actually wanted to do.
Days of Events were fun ways to mix up the monotony as well! Specially since we've been having bigger and bigger events recently.
The downs
I definitely tried my best to stay off any Sky social media, even the official discord. While yes, the community in game has never been perfect. There has always been a few rude players, and people who glitch past the vault doors have been a thing since long long ago. But the Sky community on socmed felt ten times worse.
It's either a lot of people complaining, or a lot of people telling others they can't complain and should just be grateful instead. And it just never ends, it was always so tiring to see.
IAP pricing's also something that often disappointed me. Not to dox myself, but the exchange rate for my country is 1usd = 50+ home currency. So you can imagine just how painful a lot of the prices were.
I always chose carefully what I'd actually buy, sometimes even depending on giveaways generous players hold. And while yes, they're just cosmetics and I can definitely live without them, there were some that I really wanted to get but couldn't due to their price.
The TLP asteroid cape I will forever mourn. My (deceased) mom used to read me that story when I was younger, so the asteroid map was special to me. I even created two alts to hoard some cape spells haha.
The mischief cat reminded me of my (also deceased) cat, but again I sadly couldn't afford it at that time.
There were probably other examples, but I think these two were the stand outs for me. I just wish the pricing was more fair for different places, but I do see how that's hard to implement as people can take advantage of it. Nevertheless, for the sake of current and future players, I hope TGC finds a solution to it.
Next of, I admit I'm not a huge fan of the new crowd/mega server update. I absolutely loved it for Aurora, but with the new ways it's implemented, days of color, Passage quests, and the upcoming aviary, it just does the exact opposite of what it's supposed to for me. I don't feel connected at all. I feel lonelier than ever because I just see shapes running past me who I can't even interact with much. I even have trouble finding the few 7 people in my server to play with them.
It also feels a bit overstimulating. Too much unnecessary movement, too much noise. It was fitting for a concert, not so much everywhere else. A lot of places I would have loved to relax in, like the new rainbow OOB and the Passage area were ruined for me because it's just so overcrowded for no reason.
I do understand it's a work in progress as the feature is relatively new. So I hope TGC will be able to refine it further so all players would be able to enjoy the way they want to enjoy.
Famous last words
Sky isn't perfect, but it has steadily been improving through the years. I hope the game and the community continue to grow!
Fly safe, Skykids!
Thank you, Sky, for being my safe space for a little while.
2023.06.03 09:36 elyrod Today's Tickets (3rd june) - Days of Rainbow 2023 🌈💫
 | submitted by elyrod to SkyGame [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 16:01 FlipDaly Just hatched!
This is a repost sub. Original posts by beanygurl007 in chickens and BackYardChickens
Feb 9 2023
Click through for image of balls of fluff
Just hatched!
March 23 2023
Click through for short video of cuteness
Hello 👋
From the comments:
Jcspball13 1 point 1 month ago
I’m super new to this; do you leave them in there until all eggs hatch? Or take them out as they hatch?
beanygurl007
I don't wait til they all hatch because it could span 2 to 3 days and having the hatched chicks bump and turn the eggs around makes it difficult for ones still to hatch. I wait til theres a few that are dry and fluffy and if there isn't a open crack in eggs. Only then I quickly take them out to put under the chick heater plate. By the way, these are barnyard mix of many varieties, brahma, astralorpe, rir, Easter Eggers, welsummer, naked neck, leghorn, bard rock, Orpingtons and so many others. The colors of the chicks are vary nice. They seem to be a hardy bunch. Hatching chicks is how I ended up with so many. Don't need to go buy chicks and they stay healthier .
Same day: Hello 👋 -updated video out of incubator
March 25, 2023
Video: 1 week old
March 30, 2023
Hatched my first naked neck. Seems pretty sweet
Turken beauty
G'day
April 5 2023
Growing backyard mixed chicks
April 9 2023
Chicks loving the new area. Clean fresh grass to eat.
April 19 2023
Turken 1 month
April 25 2023
Is the grey one Orpington?
April 28 2023
https://www.reddit.com/chickens/comments/131yz7n/hello/
May 12 2023
First Taste of Watermelon
If I had to keep just two, which ones to keep?
May 28
To trap a predator ...
May 31
❤️ the grey Orpingtons
submitted by FlipDaly to bestofpositiveupdates [link] [comments]
Feb 9 2023
Click through for image of balls of fluff
Just hatched!
March 23 2023
Click through for short video of cuteness
Hello 👋
From the comments:
Jcspball13 1 point 1 month ago
I’m super new to this; do you leave them in there until all eggs hatch? Or take them out as they hatch?
beanygurl007
I don't wait til they all hatch because it could span 2 to 3 days and having the hatched chicks bump and turn the eggs around makes it difficult for ones still to hatch. I wait til theres a few that are dry and fluffy and if there isn't a open crack in eggs. Only then I quickly take them out to put under the chick heater plate. By the way, these are barnyard mix of many varieties, brahma, astralorpe, rir, Easter Eggers, welsummer, naked neck, leghorn, bard rock, Orpingtons and so many others. The colors of the chicks are vary nice. They seem to be a hardy bunch. Hatching chicks is how I ended up with so many. Don't need to go buy chicks and they stay healthier .
Same day: Hello 👋 -updated video out of incubator
March 25, 2023
Video: 1 week old
March 30, 2023
Hatched my first naked neck. Seems pretty sweet
Turken beauty
G'day
April 5 2023
Growing backyard mixed chicks
April 9 2023
Chicks loving the new area. Clean fresh grass to eat.
April 19 2023
Turken 1 month
April 25 2023
Is the grey one Orpington?
April 28 2023
https://www.reddit.com/chickens/comments/131yz7n/hello/
May 12 2023
First Taste of Watermelon
If I had to keep just two, which ones to keep?
May 28
To trap a predator ...
May 31
❤️ the grey Orpingtons
2023.06.01 18:33 perappsvenicali like Celine Dion's "Where Does My Heart Beat Now?"
"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" Hint: A competition winner with dark hair
I can think of younger days when living for my life
What might have been your favorite year of childhood? What was your aspiration during that year?
Was everything a man could want to do.
What is one example of a manly aspiration/ambition?
I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow.
Were you depressed then? Are you happier now? What kind of sorrow have you experienced or witnessed that you would like to help others overcome?
And how can you mend a broken heart?
Do you think you a complete piece of chocolate can help to heal? How about adding more male merchandise at ethnic fashion stores like around the Town Square? Adding more ethnic/Rated-G music to the repertoire within those stores?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How about an umbrella or a roof? Or praying that it doesn't rain? What is your favorite umbrella design and color of roof tiles?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
Do you pray for eclipses? Do you pray for the night to come, whether it is a new moon or not?
What makes the world go round?
Gravity. Tectonics. Magnetic/hematite/lava interior The tidal programming, related to sun, moon, water cycle, atmospheric pressure, air quality. Orientation of other planets and celestial objects, eg comets (c) Dr. Diana Hallare. (R)
How can you mend a this broken man?
Orthopedics. Cardiology. Medicine based on systems. Allowing having but not possessing more trustworthy friends. Discouraging discrimination based on education/skills levels. Encouraging dreaming by communication eg conference and Shark Tank and by REM eg at night, like a car needs to rest too on a road trip or on Instacart rounds.
How can a loser ever win?
As Whoopi Goldberg said, you might need a (low-fat) milk-based drink... to lose weight and win fitness. Sometimes in golf you might think you're losing numbers to win. Last night, I gave up my contaminated bags, even a new one and much content to save my life and save the world. I danced without at least two bags, to encourage fitness/health in society; I lost some sleep because I was woken up by interesting guards in white but I gained more miles on a pedometer. I had the opportunity to see a beautiful red jacket, reminiscent of what I would wear at church, where I read the Bible aloud. Upon seeing that jacket on the rack, I gasped. Then the alarm rang.
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.
Prescriptions:
Do you like the Carpenters' "Top of the World" song? What is your favorite leaf color? What is your favorite tree?
And misty memories of days gone by
Do you like Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were"? Would her career as a professor inspire you to teach which university class? How many students would you prefer to be the limit for that class? Do you also like Lionel Richie's "Hello"?
We could never see tomorrow, no one said a word about the sorrow.
What do you hope tomorrow to have/bring? What word can you describe about sorrow?
And how can you mend a broken heart?
Prescription: Would you talk (about dreams, plans, and issues) to an LPCC or more than one member of the Association of "Black" Therapists, eg MFTs? Teletherapy? Group therapy similar to AA or WRAP? Would you have a preference of race if you have a personal registered dietitian?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
Get a water park ion the roof? Or a roof garden like with Reese Witherspoon? (c) Dr. Diana Hlalare (R)
How can you stop the sun from shining?
Why do you want to stop it from shining? Do you want greenery on the mountains? Do you want no more rainforests? Do you want no more grass/hay for the sheep, horses, goats, zebras, giraffes, deer, oryxes, gazelles, antelopes, prairie dogs, cows, bulls? What would the mole in Thumbelina look forward to? What would the groundhog or bears hibernating in the cave look forward to? Is it easy to fly a kite at night like Benjamin Franklin did? What do you think about the Color Run? What do you think about biking at night? Would all our solar farms like of the MGM and Corcoran go to waste? Do you want another Ice Age? Should painted masterpieces be dried only with hair dryers?
What makes the world go round?
It is round shaped at least due to its rotations and revolutions. I remember in class, when you make egg soup and keep stirring it - or even if you stir Rainbiw/Nido/Klim milk, roundish clumps form. The solar system revolves around the sun.
How can you mend this broken man?
Do you like Chris Daughtry's and Amy Adams' "Broken"? Do you like CARE Channel? Do you like reading Better Homes and Gardens? How about the Superfan book (someone self-published)? How about books by Nick Vujicic - doesn't have to b e in Spanish?
How can a loser ever win?
Once upon a time, I lost a pingpong championship (Forrest Gump is still a champ) to my college best friend and a cool pianist who said he ducked into the oven when he heard gunshots outside his family member's home. But I remember well how I surprised myself too as I caught the ball mid-air above my head like a baseball player.
Another time, time was running out. Everyone else who were seated seemed to have left. I seemed to have lost time, but not been lost in time. I finished 20 recipes/list of 20 cookables for vegetable medley - frozen or canned. My handwriting I hope was ok. I hope the cleanup crew smiled. I seemed to have won a tiny bit of more paper to write about another international conference, at least once with 40,000 people... I may have won a tiny bit of paper because I forgot to check out like at the Disney hotel.
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.
It does not take only one person to heal your broken heart or to bring you back on course eg after a TIA or another incident. It does not mean you need 20 girlfriends in succession, 1 by 1, to heal you. But for instance, if you're a survivor of a crash, it takes the tow driver, the policeman, ambulance and firemen as needed, people with cellphones even if you already have your own to get through the night and beyond. It takes Uber, Lyft, Supershuttle, Greencab, the city transit, or your friends to get you back to your workplace and home if they are at least 30 minutes apart by Mustang.
submitted by perappsvenicali to u/perappsvenicali [link] [comments]
I can think of younger days when living for my life
What might have been your favorite year of childhood? What was your aspiration during that year?
Was everything a man could want to do.
What is one example of a manly aspiration/ambition?
I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow.
Were you depressed then? Are you happier now? What kind of sorrow have you experienced or witnessed that you would like to help others overcome?
And how can you mend a broken heart?
Do you think you a complete piece of chocolate can help to heal? How about adding more male merchandise at ethnic fashion stores like around the Town Square? Adding more ethnic/Rated-G music to the repertoire within those stores?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How about an umbrella or a roof? Or praying that it doesn't rain? What is your favorite umbrella design and color of roof tiles?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
Do you pray for eclipses? Do you pray for the night to come, whether it is a new moon or not?
What makes the world go round?
Gravity. Tectonics. Magnetic/hematite/lava interior The tidal programming, related to sun, moon, water cycle, atmospheric pressure, air quality. Orientation of other planets and celestial objects, eg comets (c) Dr. Diana Hallare. (R)
How can you mend a this broken man?
Orthopedics. Cardiology. Medicine based on systems. Allowing having but not possessing more trustworthy friends. Discouraging discrimination based on education/skills levels. Encouraging dreaming by communication eg conference and Shark Tank and by REM eg at night, like a car needs to rest too on a road trip or on Instacart rounds.
How can a loser ever win?
As Whoopi Goldberg said, you might need a (low-fat) milk-based drink... to lose weight and win fitness. Sometimes in golf you might think you're losing numbers to win. Last night, I gave up my contaminated bags, even a new one and much content to save my life and save the world. I danced without at least two bags, to encourage fitness/health in society; I lost some sleep because I was woken up by interesting guards in white but I gained more miles on a pedometer. I had the opportunity to see a beautiful red jacket, reminiscent of what I would wear at church, where I read the Bible aloud. Upon seeing that jacket on the rack, I gasped. Then the alarm rang.
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.
Prescriptions:
- If you don't want to waste the rest of your 6 month subscription to something like Tinder, maybe prescribe one of your songs per member you encounter on that site. You can ask about one word on the song that made them feel better.
- Do you have a CPAP/AED/Wonderful orange?
- Find out your favorite flavors of Gatorade.
- Check if you'd enjoy Luke's Lightning Chips from Grocery Outlet.
- If you would make a quilt or pillowcase in class eg after a ride or two with the St George Express, what design would you have? Would you need special laundry settings if your masterpiece is at least 1 year old?
Do you like the Carpenters' "Top of the World" song? What is your favorite leaf color? What is your favorite tree?
And misty memories of days gone by
Do you like Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were"? Would her career as a professor inspire you to teach which university class? How many students would you prefer to be the limit for that class? Do you also like Lionel Richie's "Hello"?
We could never see tomorrow, no one said a word about the sorrow.
What do you hope tomorrow to have/bring? What word can you describe about sorrow?
And how can you mend a broken heart?
Prescription: Would you talk (about dreams, plans, and issues) to an LPCC or more than one member of the Association of "Black" Therapists, eg MFTs? Teletherapy? Group therapy similar to AA or WRAP? Would you have a preference of race if you have a personal registered dietitian?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
Get a water park ion the roof? Or a roof garden like with Reese Witherspoon? (c) Dr. Diana Hlalare (R)
How can you stop the sun from shining?
Why do you want to stop it from shining? Do you want greenery on the mountains? Do you want no more rainforests? Do you want no more grass/hay for the sheep, horses, goats, zebras, giraffes, deer, oryxes, gazelles, antelopes, prairie dogs, cows, bulls? What would the mole in Thumbelina look forward to? What would the groundhog or bears hibernating in the cave look forward to? Is it easy to fly a kite at night like Benjamin Franklin did? What do you think about the Color Run? What do you think about biking at night? Would all our solar farms like of the MGM and Corcoran go to waste? Do you want another Ice Age? Should painted masterpieces be dried only with hair dryers?
What makes the world go round?
It is round shaped at least due to its rotations and revolutions. I remember in class, when you make egg soup and keep stirring it - or even if you stir Rainbiw/Nido/Klim milk, roundish clumps form. The solar system revolves around the sun.
How can you mend this broken man?
Do you like Chris Daughtry's and Amy Adams' "Broken"? Do you like CARE Channel? Do you like reading Better Homes and Gardens? How about the Superfan book (someone self-published)? How about books by Nick Vujicic - doesn't have to b e in Spanish?
How can a loser ever win?
Once upon a time, I lost a pingpong championship (Forrest Gump is still a champ) to my college best friend and a cool pianist who said he ducked into the oven when he heard gunshots outside his family member's home. But I remember well how I surprised myself too as I caught the ball mid-air above my head like a baseball player.
Another time, time was running out. Everyone else who were seated seemed to have left. I seemed to have lost time, but not been lost in time. I finished 20 recipes/list of 20 cookables for vegetable medley - frozen or canned. My handwriting I hope was ok. I hope the cleanup crew smiled. I seemed to have won a tiny bit of more paper to write about another international conference, at least once with 40,000 people... I may have won a tiny bit of paper because I forgot to check out like at the Disney hotel.
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.
It does not take only one person to heal your broken heart or to bring you back on course eg after a TIA or another incident. It does not mean you need 20 girlfriends in succession, 1 by 1, to heal you. But for instance, if you're a survivor of a crash, it takes the tow driver, the policeman, ambulance and firemen as needed, people with cellphones even if you already have your own to get through the night and beyond. It takes Uber, Lyft, Supershuttle, Greencab, the city transit, or your friends to get you back to your workplace and home if they are at least 30 minutes apart by Mustang.
2023.06.01 07:19 pond3ros3 Looking for advice, reassurance, tips, stories, whatever! re: raising chicks with a broody hen
Hello! I’ve found and read quite a few of the threads on here about chicks or hatching eggs + a broody hen, but thought I’d post my own situation in case anyone has any particular stories/tips/corrections they’d like to share. I’d really appreciate it!
I’ve had my (highly melodramatic) Penedesenca broody for about two weeks or so. Every effort to break her broodiness has failed. So, this evening, sort of on an impulse, I got 7 new chicks (between 2-5 days old, a mix of easter eggers, prairie bluebells, sapphire splash, and wyandotte; existing flock is 8 hens, for reference) and switched out her eggs for the seven babies once it got dark. It’s been about an hour or so and no trouble so far (of course, it’s nighttime, tomorrow will be the real test). Before introducing the chicks I built Lila (the broody) a 2’h x 4’w x 2’d fully enclosed and secure box out in the main (also very secure) run and transported her existing nest box and (non-fertile) eggs out there along with her grumpy self.
Anyway, though I’ve had many, many, many chickens, this is my first time attempting to brood chicks ‘au natural.’ I was wondering if anyone has any advice or whatever, particularly in regards to:
(1) Penedesencas as broodies & mamas; (2) Number of chicks, time spent being broody, etc etc; (3) Contingency plans (or not) for rejected chicks or a mean mama; (4) Timing and tactics in introducing hen-raised chicks to the rest of the flock; (5) Just general anecdotes!
I’ve historically had a lot of trouble integrating new flock members (usually pullets between 6 and 12 weeks old), which is a huge part of why letting Lila raise these appealed to me. Any tips or anything would be much appreciated! Thanks!
submitted by pond3ros3 to BackYardChickens [link] [comments]
I’ve had my (highly melodramatic) Penedesenca broody for about two weeks or so. Every effort to break her broodiness has failed. So, this evening, sort of on an impulse, I got 7 new chicks (between 2-5 days old, a mix of easter eggers, prairie bluebells, sapphire splash, and wyandotte; existing flock is 8 hens, for reference) and switched out her eggs for the seven babies once it got dark. It’s been about an hour or so and no trouble so far (of course, it’s nighttime, tomorrow will be the real test). Before introducing the chicks I built Lila (the broody) a 2’h x 4’w x 2’d fully enclosed and secure box out in the main (also very secure) run and transported her existing nest box and (non-fertile) eggs out there along with her grumpy self.
Anyway, though I’ve had many, many, many chickens, this is my first time attempting to brood chicks ‘au natural.’ I was wondering if anyone has any advice or whatever, particularly in regards to:
(1) Penedesencas as broodies & mamas; (2) Number of chicks, time spent being broody, etc etc; (3) Contingency plans (or not) for rejected chicks or a mean mama; (4) Timing and tactics in introducing hen-raised chicks to the rest of the flock; (5) Just general anecdotes!
I’ve historically had a lot of trouble integrating new flock members (usually pullets between 6 and 12 weeks old), which is a huge part of why letting Lila raise these appealed to me. Any tips or anything would be much appreciated! Thanks!
2023.06.01 03:45 Soalai Every Old Tour Performance Ranked (Fearless through Reputation)
Disclaimer: This is an old post. I wrote it in March but it was never approved until now.
In preparation for Eras' opening night, I went back and watched every previous tour in full, either the official DVDs, or other full filmed versions if the DVD was unavailable or incomplete. Then I tried to rank all the performances.
This is not a ranking of the song itself but rather the presentation, staging, originality, etc. Surprise songs from the same tour will all count as one. Would love to know your favorites, and how you think Eras stacks up!
91. Speak Now World Tour – Fearless / Hey, Soul Sister / I'm Yours
The start of this tour's acoustic set, where she sat under a tree, strumming the ukulele. Points for the outfit, but I think this was an inferior arrangement of this particular song.
90. Red Tour – Treacherous
Weird choices were made here. Why was she wearing a tutu and dancing ballet for one of her most serious, adult songs? Why was this the main set closer? I think this would have worked better during the acoustic set, then she could close with Everything Has Changed or something. Still hard to complain about the song itself, though. The fog machines suited it.
89. Fearless Tour – Our Song
Cute, but she mostly just stood in one place and there was some awkward butt shaking in the middle.
88. Fearless Tour – White Horse
Part of the acoustic set. It followed Tim McGraw, but I think two songs that slow wasn't a good pacing choice and this one just doesn't fill an arena the way Tim McGraw does.
87. Red Tour – Stay Stay Stay / Ho Hey
I'm surprised this was part of the set. She did it basically how you'd expect, bopping around, kinda campy. I like how she had a moment goofing around with Amos.
86. Red Tour – Holy Ground
This song is made for a stadium setting, but I really think she should have been playing the guitar during it, or somehow done more. The way it was, it just sounded like noise. The dancers dressed like sirens did liven it up, but were also kinda cartoony.
85. 1989 World Tour – I Wish You Would
Basically the same performance she already did like three times before in the show. The real MVP was that one dancer in the back who did a flip off the chin-up bar.
84. Fearless Tour – Teardrops On My Guitar
I like how they turned the big screens into bookshelves, to continue the imagery of both high school and fairy tales. However, the singing didn't sound great here.
83. Speak Now World Tour – Fifteen
Sounded fuller than the Fearless tour version, but I think the giant princess gown didn't really suit the song. (Some shows also had her performing Ours in this spot.)
82. Fearless Tour – Fifteen
The first more intimate performance in this tour. She was seated and you can tell from the look in her eyes that the song made her feel nostalgic. Some videos of this have a teal dress and some have yellow; I prefer the teal.
81. Speak Now World Tour – Surprise Covers
A variety of covers on the guitar, during her acoustic set. She showed her versatility here as she did everything from classics to modern hits.
80. Fearless Tour – Hey Stephen
The one where she snuck around the hallways and popped out on the other side of the stadium. Great for the nosebleeds.
79. Red Tour – State Of Grace
She started off behind a red curtain, her silhouette singing the opening lines. (Unfortunately, the videos I watched had her struggling a lot with her earpiece and singing totally off-key for the first verse, but I know that wouldn't have happened every night.) A decent rock banger to open the show, if a little repetitive.
78. Red Tour – I Almost Do
The first of this tour's acoustic performances on the B stage. Nothing terrible but nothing remarkable either. It was about the lyrics and emotions, not the theatrics.
77. Red Tour – Begin Again
Staged the same way as I Almost Do, which was an appropriate way to do this song, but I can't help but think it would have worked better closer to the end.
76. 1989 World Tour – Bad Blood
It was fine, but by this point in the concert, I'm tired of the same kind of performance again.
75. Fearless Tour – Tell Me Why
Typical energetic angry Tay performance. She made some weird movements but that silver dress was everything.
74. Speak Now World Tour – The Story Of Us
Similar to Tell Me Why above from the previous tour.
73. Speak Now World Tour – Last Kiss
This version was a tad faster than the studio version, and the vocal delivery wasn't quite as sad; the sighs and the faint quiver in her voice that people love so much weren't really there. Still a nice rendition. The crowd was sobbing.
72. 1989 World Tour – Love Story
A nice synth arrangement that wisely went in a different direction than the older tours. By this point, both she and the audience had outgrown the princess gowns. However, I was kinda waiting for something more to happen, like fireworks or something.
71. Fearless Tour (2009 only) – Change
A faithful adaptation of this song, and a good choice for the main set closer.
70. 1989 World Tour – Welcome To New York
That was a lot of dancers! A decent opener, flashy and just '80s enough.
69. Red Tour – You Belong With Me
A sort of girl group throwback, with Taylor and the backup singers in matching red dresses and gloves. It was OK, and a good choice to perform one of her smash hits years later, but quite removed from the teenage angst this song came from.
68. 1989 World Tour – New Romantics
Similar to Welcome To New York which preceded it, this one worked early in the set almost as well as it works to close the deluxe album. Love her blue eyeshadow.
67. Speak Now World Tour – Mine
Pretty straightforward, but the red guitar is a nice touch. (Was she already dropping hints at Red?)
66. Red Tour – Sparks Fly
On a hanging platform that slowly moved around the arena, while the screens in back showed actual sparks. It was cool, but I'm not sure it was the best idea to limit her movement for arguably the loudest, most energetic song in her catalog at the time.
65. 1989 World Tour – I Knew You Were Trouble
The rock version. A bit slow and heavy but I appreciate her doing something new with the song.
64. 1989 World Tour – This Love
Could have been part of the acoustic set, but instead she upped the electronic and bass sounds and added fireworks. A nice breather before the last few songs.
63. Reputation Stadium Tour – End Game
Solid, but didn't stand out among the shenanigans of the other songs early in the show.
62. Red Tour – Everything Has Changed (with Ed Sheeran)
This one had a laid back feel that matches the song, but the raised platform and fans waving their lights gave it a little something extra. Ed sounded great. I kinda respect that he made no attempt to dress to the aesthetic.
61. Fearless Tour (2009 only) – I'm Only Me When I'm With You (with Kellie Pickler and Gloriana)
A very energetic country number with all the opening performers, the first of a two-song finale.
60. Speak Now World Tour – Surprise Guest Songs
She didn't have one at every show of this tour, but they were all pretty fun, with a mix of genres. The crowd, of course, loved them. It's really amazing to see how many friendships and connections she made in the industry, even early on.
59. Red Tour – Surprise Guest Songs
See above. Every one of these videos I found, Taylor had a different outfit, which is impressive.
58. Speak Now World Tour – You Belong With Me
She walked from the B stage back to the main stage, hugging and shaking hands with fans along the way. It's clear from including this song that, though Speak Now was a more adult album than Fearless, she knew most of her fans were still teenagers and still needed these songs about high school.
57. Fearless Tour – You Belong With Me
Her vocals weren't strong in the clips that I watched, but the costume was iconic.
56. Fearless Tour – The Way I Loved You
Sometimes done in the silveblack dress and sometimes in the purple. The way she moved between the two halves of the stage was pretty on-the-nose for the song, but I love how she featured Grant the guitarist. Hair Force One for the win! Also, it was a crime that they left this off the Journey to Fearless DVD.
55. Red Tour – The Lucky One
Taylor was dressed like a retro Hollywood starlet, and the dancers were paparazzi with cameras or screaming fans. A very literal presentation of this song which probably helped it stick in people's minds more.
54. Reputation Stadium Tour – Style / Love Story / You Belong With Me
I think Style was a weird choice to mash up with these two songs, but it worked well enough as a showcase for the band, many of whom had been with her over a decade by this point.
53. 1989 World Tour – Blank Space
She said her goal here was to recreate the music video, but I'm not sure this really conveyed the message of the song; she should have interacted with the dancers more to achieve that effect. Still a very entertaining performance, though.
52. 1989 World Tour – All You Had To Do Was Stay
The cherry on top: columns of blue smoke shot out every time the distorted voice squeaked "stay!" Not sure what was up with that chair, though.
51. Red Tour – 22
A big party, just as this song should be. I'm sure that, when seeing it live, the energy would have been off the charts. The choreography was impressive, more than we usually see from her.
50. Fearless Tour – Picture To Burn
The screens were on fire, so it's exactly how you'd expect her to stage this song. The guitar slayed.
49. Reputation Stadium Tour – Blank Space
I think the red bodysuit, gyrating choreography, and multiple Taylors on the back screen actually better conveyed the "character" she's playing in the song. Like she's this femme fatale with multiple personalities.
48. 1989 World Tour – Clean
Now here's a song that could have used some fake rain, somehow. Even so, the images on the big screen were quite lovely.
47. Speak Now World Tour – Mean
I think it was a good choice to keep this one simple. Just that porch-shaped mini stage with her band beside her. The song itself is a whole mood, so it didn't need a lot of theatrics.
46. Red Tour – Mean
Basically the same as the Speak Now performance, just with a different outfit and shaped stage.
45. Reputation Stadium Tour – Call It What You Want
Not as big a song as most of this album, but a nice warm moment before the crazy finale. I do dig the purple dress, and how the dancer she danced with was a redhead (not unlike a certain British actor).
44. Fearless Tour – Tim McGraw
Making this slow dance into exactly what it was meant to be: a swaying sing-along, everyone's phones or lighters in the air. She walked through the crowd to hug the fans.
43. Speak Now World Tour – Dear John
For the first couple verses, she just sat on the arch/bridge thing, and I kinda wondered if anything else was going to happen. Then I said "holy shit!" as the fireworks exploded up everywhere. We know she may never perform this one again, so I have serious FOMO that I did not see this show back then.
42. Speak Now World Tour – Speak Now
First time she wore the distinct purple Speak Now dress, possibly the outfit of the era. The crowd were singing along like crazy. The scenery definitely brought the song to life even if it normally isn't the most energetic from the era. She walked through the crowd shaking hands while the wedding guests tossed the bouquet around, wearing the most late 2000s/early 2010s party dresses imaginable.
41. Fearless Tour – Forever & Always
Boy was she pissed at a certain Jonas back then. Red dress, red microphone, red couch, red text on the back screen saying "They shouldn't do bad things." The notes in head voice sound kinda weak, but she nailed the high note with the microphone lean. Insane stumbling down the stairs and throwing herself all over the stage. Very extra.
40. Speak Now World Tour – Better Than Revenge
Reminiscent of the Forever & Always performance, but her vocals were better here. Grant and Paul got a guitar solo (or duet, I guess).
39. Reputation Stadium Tour – Getaway Car
Sonically, all but identical to the studio version. The "Why She Disappeared" poem beforehand and the desert visuals onscreen complemented it and helped turn it into more of a story.
38. Reputation Stadium Tour – King Of My Heart
The huge drums were a great touch. You can see how happy she was, which didn't always come across with just a superficial listen to the Rep album tracks.
37. Fearless Tour – Fearless
One of my favorite songs sounded even better live. Her smile, stomping and spinning around, totally captured the spirit of the song. Bonus points for adding in the name of the city each night.
36. Fearless Tour – You're Not Sorry / What Goes Around…Comes Around
First appearance of the piano head flip. These two songs worked decently mashed up, but I wonder how it would have been if she stayed at the piano the whole time.
35. 1989 World Tour – I Know Places
The moving doors were pretty cool.
34. 1989 World Tour – Surprise Songs
The raised walkway and whole stadium lit up blue was an excellent way to do the acoustic set. Props to her for not sitting down the way she did on the other tours, that had to take stamina. (In my heart, the sing-along of You Are In Love from the DVD is the "canon" performance here because it was part of the album.)
33. 1989 World Tour – Style
Probably the most effective use of the catwalk, given how it perfectly fit the lyrics. The dancers were brave for roller skating on it.
32. Reputation Stadium Tour – Bad Blood / Should've Said No
Another snake, this time a skeletal one transporting her to the upper stage. These songs worked very well mashed up; just listen how the crowd went nuts at that first banjo lick.
31. Reputation Stadium Tour – Dress
Another huge improvement from the studio version. It wasn't as high pitched, therefore more listenable. The sheets waving around everywhere were a nice subtle way to remind us what this song was about, in case people were too distracted by the pretty lights and synths to listen to the lyrics.
30. 1989 World Tour – Enchanted / Wildest Dreams
By this point, the piano mash-ups while wearing a long gown were getting kind of predictable. However, this was a great choice of mash-up and I dig whatever shape that piano was supposed to be.
29. Speak Now World Tour – Long Live
Another song that's tailor-made for a stadium just the way it is. The sparkly silver guitar was perfect.
28. Red Tour – Red
Now this is how you do a rock number. She had the sparkly red guitar and the dancers were waving giant red sheets all around.
27. Fearless Tour – Love Story
Once again, iconic. Ball gowns twirling until she changed into a white wedding dress, which def looked more like a prom dress. The backgrounds on the screen were low-res by today's standards, but this is what a lot of people still think of when they think of Taylor Swift.
26. Red Tour – Love Story
Similar to the Fearless tour version, with different costumes. The vocals weren't good in the video I watched, but we know she can do it. I especially like the moment where she grabbed her dance partner and ran across the stage with him – "escape this town for a little while."
25. Reputation Stadium Tour – Gorgeous
Classy move to use this song to introduce the dancers and backup singers. Also those cats in the Netflix recording – were they on the screens at the actual tour?!
24. Reputation Stadium Tour – Delicate
Finally bringing some color, as well as this era's version of the floating cage. The song is more romantic than what came before, but the gold tendrils wrapping around were still reminiscent of snakes.
23. Reputation Stadium Tour – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together / This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
An all-out romp to close the show.
22. Reputation Stadium Tour – Surprise Songs
Your feelings about this will probably depend on the individual song, especially if you saw the tour live. The videos I've seen were all great, showcasing how her vocals and guitar skills improve with every tour. Also, probably the last time we'll ever hear the 5-minute ATW live.
21. 1989 World Tour – Shake It Off
Basically the only way to do this song. I dig the royal blue.
20. Speak Now World Tour – Our Song
A definite improvement from the Fearless tour version. The prairie dress, the braid, dueting with Caitlin the fiddle player, and much more movement around the stage.
19. Speak Now World Tour – Sparks Fly
DROP EVERYTHING NOW! Excellent choice to start with this instead of Mine. The dress legit looked like it's sewn out of fireworks.
18. Red Tour – All Too Well
No frills, just Taylor at a red piano and this magnificent song swelling until it filled the whole arena. Her voice was quite raw and emotional here.
17. 1989 World Tour – Surprise Guest Songs
A major feature of this tour, done at every show.
16. Reputation Stadium Tour – Shake It Off (with Charli XCX and Camila Cabello)
As well done as the 1989 Tour version was, this one was a step up. I love the snakes bopping around. The message of this song worked just as well with the themes of Rep.
15. Reputation Stadium Tour – Dancing With Our Hands Tied
(Or So It Goes, in some performances.) Arguably the finest of all her acoustic sets. Beautiful stripped-down renditions of songs that I overlooked at first on the album. Some people say DWOHT is her most romantic song, and you can see why here. I also love the green get-up, which was still reminiscent of the snake motif but had its own flavor.
14. 1989 World Tour – Out Of the Woods
The forceful yet stuttering choreography really served the anxious nature of the song. The paper airplanes whizzing back and forth were a nice touch. Also the perfect spot in the show to put it – very climactic.
13. Red Tour – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
The finale where she brought the whole damn circus, literally. Sing it, clowns.
12. Reputation Stadium Tour – …Ready For It?
The old Taylor was dead.
11. Speak Now World Tour – Enchanted
They nailed the costume and the scenery yet again. She sang it better here than on the studio recording.
10. Speak Now World Tour – Haunted
Excellent transition here, as the Enchanted forest turned dark blue and the giant bell appeared. Speaking of the bell, her smacking it (but not really) may be the most dramatic thing to happen in any Taylor Swift live performance. Her dress was even tattered at the bottom. I'm here for all of it.
9. 1989 World Tour – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
When Taylor became the rock goddess we always knew she was.
8. Speak Now World Tour – Back To December / Apologize
Beautiful presentation of this song. Full string orchestra here (I think?). Really leaned into the winter imagery with the light blue gown, white piano, and snowflakes falling in the background.
8. Reputation Stadium Tour – Don't Blame Me
She swore she doesn't love the drama, but this performance would suggest otherwise.
7. Reputation Stadium Tour – I Did Something Bad
A strong performance with lots of pyro, but it really elevated at the bridge, where the dancers lifted Taylor up and she leaned back into the pillar of fire on the screen. "Light me up," indeed.
6. Speak Now World Tour – Love Story
An improvement over the Fearless version in every respect. She swooped over the crowd on a floating balcony, while pairs of dancers in period dress spun on trapezes hanging from the ceiling.
5. Fearless Tour – Should've Said No
THE RAIN MACHINE! With the words in it! I think this spoke for itself. She literally killed it.
4. 1989 World Tour – How You Get the Girl
Another rain performance, but this time with neon umbrellas and a unique glow-in-the-dark bubblegum dress. She didn't need to do all this for such a deep cut, but she did. Underrated.
3. Reputation Stadium Tour – Look What You Made Me Do
The superior version of this song (addendum: until Eras, that is.) The black-and-gold snake robe, the "tilted stage," and of course Karyn the massive inflatable snake. Helped many people appreciate and understand what was once a very polarizing song, myself included.
2. Reputation Stadium Tour – Long Live / New Year's Day
A gorgeous piano mash-up that went right to the heart. In my opinion, Long Live belongs on every tour, and the line "hold on to spinning around" flowed perfectly into "hold onto the memories." Beyond that, this was the moment that freed her from the bad-girl big-reputation persona she had presented for most of the show. It was human and vulnerable. Just look at the joy on her face as she gazed out at the audience. We stan a queen.
1. Red Tour – I Knew You Were Trouble
Perhaps not as iconic as the circus number, but sure as hell should be. Started with the fiddle player going absolutely insane, on a sparkly red fiddle no less! Followed by Taylor and all the dancers acting out some sort of masquerade ball, eventually tearing off her poofy white gown to reveal a sexy black and gold romper. An electrifying dubstep Phantom of the Opera.
Thank you for reading all this!
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In preparation for Eras' opening night, I went back and watched every previous tour in full, either the official DVDs, or other full filmed versions if the DVD was unavailable or incomplete. Then I tried to rank all the performances.
This is not a ranking of the song itself but rather the presentation, staging, originality, etc. Surprise songs from the same tour will all count as one. Would love to know your favorites, and how you think Eras stacks up!
91. Speak Now World Tour – Fearless / Hey, Soul Sister / I'm Yours
The start of this tour's acoustic set, where she sat under a tree, strumming the ukulele. Points for the outfit, but I think this was an inferior arrangement of this particular song.
90. Red Tour – Treacherous
Weird choices were made here. Why was she wearing a tutu and dancing ballet for one of her most serious, adult songs? Why was this the main set closer? I think this would have worked better during the acoustic set, then she could close with Everything Has Changed or something. Still hard to complain about the song itself, though. The fog machines suited it.
89. Fearless Tour – Our Song
Cute, but she mostly just stood in one place and there was some awkward butt shaking in the middle.
88. Fearless Tour – White Horse
Part of the acoustic set. It followed Tim McGraw, but I think two songs that slow wasn't a good pacing choice and this one just doesn't fill an arena the way Tim McGraw does.
87. Red Tour – Stay Stay Stay / Ho Hey
I'm surprised this was part of the set. She did it basically how you'd expect, bopping around, kinda campy. I like how she had a moment goofing around with Amos.
86. Red Tour – Holy Ground
This song is made for a stadium setting, but I really think she should have been playing the guitar during it, or somehow done more. The way it was, it just sounded like noise. The dancers dressed like sirens did liven it up, but were also kinda cartoony.
85. 1989 World Tour – I Wish You Would
Basically the same performance she already did like three times before in the show. The real MVP was that one dancer in the back who did a flip off the chin-up bar.
84. Fearless Tour – Teardrops On My Guitar
I like how they turned the big screens into bookshelves, to continue the imagery of both high school and fairy tales. However, the singing didn't sound great here.
83. Speak Now World Tour – Fifteen
Sounded fuller than the Fearless tour version, but I think the giant princess gown didn't really suit the song. (Some shows also had her performing Ours in this spot.)
82. Fearless Tour – Fifteen
The first more intimate performance in this tour. She was seated and you can tell from the look in her eyes that the song made her feel nostalgic. Some videos of this have a teal dress and some have yellow; I prefer the teal.
81. Speak Now World Tour – Surprise Covers
A variety of covers on the guitar, during her acoustic set. She showed her versatility here as she did everything from classics to modern hits.
80. Fearless Tour – Hey Stephen
The one where she snuck around the hallways and popped out on the other side of the stadium. Great for the nosebleeds.
79. Red Tour – State Of Grace
She started off behind a red curtain, her silhouette singing the opening lines. (Unfortunately, the videos I watched had her struggling a lot with her earpiece and singing totally off-key for the first verse, but I know that wouldn't have happened every night.) A decent rock banger to open the show, if a little repetitive.
78. Red Tour – I Almost Do
The first of this tour's acoustic performances on the B stage. Nothing terrible but nothing remarkable either. It was about the lyrics and emotions, not the theatrics.
77. Red Tour – Begin Again
Staged the same way as I Almost Do, which was an appropriate way to do this song, but I can't help but think it would have worked better closer to the end.
76. 1989 World Tour – Bad Blood
It was fine, but by this point in the concert, I'm tired of the same kind of performance again.
75. Fearless Tour – Tell Me Why
Typical energetic angry Tay performance. She made some weird movements but that silver dress was everything.
74. Speak Now World Tour – The Story Of Us
Similar to Tell Me Why above from the previous tour.
73. Speak Now World Tour – Last Kiss
This version was a tad faster than the studio version, and the vocal delivery wasn't quite as sad; the sighs and the faint quiver in her voice that people love so much weren't really there. Still a nice rendition. The crowd was sobbing.
72. 1989 World Tour – Love Story
A nice synth arrangement that wisely went in a different direction than the older tours. By this point, both she and the audience had outgrown the princess gowns. However, I was kinda waiting for something more to happen, like fireworks or something.
71. Fearless Tour (2009 only) – Change
A faithful adaptation of this song, and a good choice for the main set closer.
70. 1989 World Tour – Welcome To New York
That was a lot of dancers! A decent opener, flashy and just '80s enough.
69. Red Tour – You Belong With Me
A sort of girl group throwback, with Taylor and the backup singers in matching red dresses and gloves. It was OK, and a good choice to perform one of her smash hits years later, but quite removed from the teenage angst this song came from.
68. 1989 World Tour – New Romantics
Similar to Welcome To New York which preceded it, this one worked early in the set almost as well as it works to close the deluxe album. Love her blue eyeshadow.
67. Speak Now World Tour – Mine
Pretty straightforward, but the red guitar is a nice touch. (Was she already dropping hints at Red?)
66. Red Tour – Sparks Fly
On a hanging platform that slowly moved around the arena, while the screens in back showed actual sparks. It was cool, but I'm not sure it was the best idea to limit her movement for arguably the loudest, most energetic song in her catalog at the time.
65. 1989 World Tour – I Knew You Were Trouble
The rock version. A bit slow and heavy but I appreciate her doing something new with the song.
64. 1989 World Tour – This Love
Could have been part of the acoustic set, but instead she upped the electronic and bass sounds and added fireworks. A nice breather before the last few songs.
63. Reputation Stadium Tour – End Game
Solid, but didn't stand out among the shenanigans of the other songs early in the show.
62. Red Tour – Everything Has Changed (with Ed Sheeran)
This one had a laid back feel that matches the song, but the raised platform and fans waving their lights gave it a little something extra. Ed sounded great. I kinda respect that he made no attempt to dress to the aesthetic.
61. Fearless Tour (2009 only) – I'm Only Me When I'm With You (with Kellie Pickler and Gloriana)
A very energetic country number with all the opening performers, the first of a two-song finale.
60. Speak Now World Tour – Surprise Guest Songs
She didn't have one at every show of this tour, but they were all pretty fun, with a mix of genres. The crowd, of course, loved them. It's really amazing to see how many friendships and connections she made in the industry, even early on.
59. Red Tour – Surprise Guest Songs
See above. Every one of these videos I found, Taylor had a different outfit, which is impressive.
58. Speak Now World Tour – You Belong With Me
She walked from the B stage back to the main stage, hugging and shaking hands with fans along the way. It's clear from including this song that, though Speak Now was a more adult album than Fearless, she knew most of her fans were still teenagers and still needed these songs about high school.
57. Fearless Tour – You Belong With Me
Her vocals weren't strong in the clips that I watched, but the costume was iconic.
56. Fearless Tour – The Way I Loved You
Sometimes done in the silveblack dress and sometimes in the purple. The way she moved between the two halves of the stage was pretty on-the-nose for the song, but I love how she featured Grant the guitarist. Hair Force One for the win! Also, it was a crime that they left this off the Journey to Fearless DVD.
55. Red Tour – The Lucky One
Taylor was dressed like a retro Hollywood starlet, and the dancers were paparazzi with cameras or screaming fans. A very literal presentation of this song which probably helped it stick in people's minds more.
54. Reputation Stadium Tour – Style / Love Story / You Belong With Me
I think Style was a weird choice to mash up with these two songs, but it worked well enough as a showcase for the band, many of whom had been with her over a decade by this point.
53. 1989 World Tour – Blank Space
She said her goal here was to recreate the music video, but I'm not sure this really conveyed the message of the song; she should have interacted with the dancers more to achieve that effect. Still a very entertaining performance, though.
52. 1989 World Tour – All You Had To Do Was Stay
The cherry on top: columns of blue smoke shot out every time the distorted voice squeaked "stay!" Not sure what was up with that chair, though.
51. Red Tour – 22
A big party, just as this song should be. I'm sure that, when seeing it live, the energy would have been off the charts. The choreography was impressive, more than we usually see from her.
50. Fearless Tour – Picture To Burn
The screens were on fire, so it's exactly how you'd expect her to stage this song. The guitar slayed.
49. Reputation Stadium Tour – Blank Space
I think the red bodysuit, gyrating choreography, and multiple Taylors on the back screen actually better conveyed the "character" she's playing in the song. Like she's this femme fatale with multiple personalities.
48. 1989 World Tour – Clean
Now here's a song that could have used some fake rain, somehow. Even so, the images on the big screen were quite lovely.
47. Speak Now World Tour – Mean
I think it was a good choice to keep this one simple. Just that porch-shaped mini stage with her band beside her. The song itself is a whole mood, so it didn't need a lot of theatrics.
46. Red Tour – Mean
Basically the same as the Speak Now performance, just with a different outfit and shaped stage.
45. Reputation Stadium Tour – Call It What You Want
Not as big a song as most of this album, but a nice warm moment before the crazy finale. I do dig the purple dress, and how the dancer she danced with was a redhead (not unlike a certain British actor).
44. Fearless Tour – Tim McGraw
Making this slow dance into exactly what it was meant to be: a swaying sing-along, everyone's phones or lighters in the air. She walked through the crowd to hug the fans.
43. Speak Now World Tour – Dear John
For the first couple verses, she just sat on the arch/bridge thing, and I kinda wondered if anything else was going to happen. Then I said "holy shit!" as the fireworks exploded up everywhere. We know she may never perform this one again, so I have serious FOMO that I did not see this show back then.
42. Speak Now World Tour – Speak Now
First time she wore the distinct purple Speak Now dress, possibly the outfit of the era. The crowd were singing along like crazy. The scenery definitely brought the song to life even if it normally isn't the most energetic from the era. She walked through the crowd shaking hands while the wedding guests tossed the bouquet around, wearing the most late 2000s/early 2010s party dresses imaginable.
41. Fearless Tour – Forever & Always
Boy was she pissed at a certain Jonas back then. Red dress, red microphone, red couch, red text on the back screen saying "They shouldn't do bad things." The notes in head voice sound kinda weak, but she nailed the high note with the microphone lean. Insane stumbling down the stairs and throwing herself all over the stage. Very extra.
40. Speak Now World Tour – Better Than Revenge
Reminiscent of the Forever & Always performance, but her vocals were better here. Grant and Paul got a guitar solo (or duet, I guess).
39. Reputation Stadium Tour – Getaway Car
Sonically, all but identical to the studio version. The "Why She Disappeared" poem beforehand and the desert visuals onscreen complemented it and helped turn it into more of a story.
38. Reputation Stadium Tour – King Of My Heart
The huge drums were a great touch. You can see how happy she was, which didn't always come across with just a superficial listen to the Rep album tracks.
37. Fearless Tour – Fearless
One of my favorite songs sounded even better live. Her smile, stomping and spinning around, totally captured the spirit of the song. Bonus points for adding in the name of the city each night.
36. Fearless Tour – You're Not Sorry / What Goes Around…Comes Around
First appearance of the piano head flip. These two songs worked decently mashed up, but I wonder how it would have been if she stayed at the piano the whole time.
35. 1989 World Tour – I Know Places
The moving doors were pretty cool.
34. 1989 World Tour – Surprise Songs
The raised walkway and whole stadium lit up blue was an excellent way to do the acoustic set. Props to her for not sitting down the way she did on the other tours, that had to take stamina. (In my heart, the sing-along of You Are In Love from the DVD is the "canon" performance here because it was part of the album.)
33. 1989 World Tour – Style
Probably the most effective use of the catwalk, given how it perfectly fit the lyrics. The dancers were brave for roller skating on it.
32. Reputation Stadium Tour – Bad Blood / Should've Said No
Another snake, this time a skeletal one transporting her to the upper stage. These songs worked very well mashed up; just listen how the crowd went nuts at that first banjo lick.
31. Reputation Stadium Tour – Dress
Another huge improvement from the studio version. It wasn't as high pitched, therefore more listenable. The sheets waving around everywhere were a nice subtle way to remind us what this song was about, in case people were too distracted by the pretty lights and synths to listen to the lyrics.
30. 1989 World Tour – Enchanted / Wildest Dreams
By this point, the piano mash-ups while wearing a long gown were getting kind of predictable. However, this was a great choice of mash-up and I dig whatever shape that piano was supposed to be.
29. Speak Now World Tour – Long Live
Another song that's tailor-made for a stadium just the way it is. The sparkly silver guitar was perfect.
28. Red Tour – Red
Now this is how you do a rock number. She had the sparkly red guitar and the dancers were waving giant red sheets all around.
27. Fearless Tour – Love Story
Once again, iconic. Ball gowns twirling until she changed into a white wedding dress, which def looked more like a prom dress. The backgrounds on the screen were low-res by today's standards, but this is what a lot of people still think of when they think of Taylor Swift.
26. Red Tour – Love Story
Similar to the Fearless tour version, with different costumes. The vocals weren't good in the video I watched, but we know she can do it. I especially like the moment where she grabbed her dance partner and ran across the stage with him – "escape this town for a little while."
25. Reputation Stadium Tour – Gorgeous
Classy move to use this song to introduce the dancers and backup singers. Also those cats in the Netflix recording – were they on the screens at the actual tour?!
24. Reputation Stadium Tour – Delicate
Finally bringing some color, as well as this era's version of the floating cage. The song is more romantic than what came before, but the gold tendrils wrapping around were still reminiscent of snakes.
23. Reputation Stadium Tour – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together / This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
An all-out romp to close the show.
22. Reputation Stadium Tour – Surprise Songs
Your feelings about this will probably depend on the individual song, especially if you saw the tour live. The videos I've seen were all great, showcasing how her vocals and guitar skills improve with every tour. Also, probably the last time we'll ever hear the 5-minute ATW live.
21. 1989 World Tour – Shake It Off
Basically the only way to do this song. I dig the royal blue.
20. Speak Now World Tour – Our Song
A definite improvement from the Fearless tour version. The prairie dress, the braid, dueting with Caitlin the fiddle player, and much more movement around the stage.
19. Speak Now World Tour – Sparks Fly
DROP EVERYTHING NOW! Excellent choice to start with this instead of Mine. The dress legit looked like it's sewn out of fireworks.
18. Red Tour – All Too Well
No frills, just Taylor at a red piano and this magnificent song swelling until it filled the whole arena. Her voice was quite raw and emotional here.
17. 1989 World Tour – Surprise Guest Songs
A major feature of this tour, done at every show.
16. Reputation Stadium Tour – Shake It Off (with Charli XCX and Camila Cabello)
As well done as the 1989 Tour version was, this one was a step up. I love the snakes bopping around. The message of this song worked just as well with the themes of Rep.
15. Reputation Stadium Tour – Dancing With Our Hands Tied
(Or So It Goes, in some performances.) Arguably the finest of all her acoustic sets. Beautiful stripped-down renditions of songs that I overlooked at first on the album. Some people say DWOHT is her most romantic song, and you can see why here. I also love the green get-up, which was still reminiscent of the snake motif but had its own flavor.
14. 1989 World Tour – Out Of the Woods
The forceful yet stuttering choreography really served the anxious nature of the song. The paper airplanes whizzing back and forth were a nice touch. Also the perfect spot in the show to put it – very climactic.
13. Red Tour – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
The finale where she brought the whole damn circus, literally. Sing it, clowns.
12. Reputation Stadium Tour – …Ready For It?
The old Taylor was dead.
11. Speak Now World Tour – Enchanted
They nailed the costume and the scenery yet again. She sang it better here than on the studio recording.
10. Speak Now World Tour – Haunted
Excellent transition here, as the Enchanted forest turned dark blue and the giant bell appeared. Speaking of the bell, her smacking it (but not really) may be the most dramatic thing to happen in any Taylor Swift live performance. Her dress was even tattered at the bottom. I'm here for all of it.
9. 1989 World Tour – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
When Taylor became the rock goddess we always knew she was.
8. Speak Now World Tour – Back To December / Apologize
Beautiful presentation of this song. Full string orchestra here (I think?). Really leaned into the winter imagery with the light blue gown, white piano, and snowflakes falling in the background.
8. Reputation Stadium Tour – Don't Blame Me
She swore she doesn't love the drama, but this performance would suggest otherwise.
7. Reputation Stadium Tour – I Did Something Bad
A strong performance with lots of pyro, but it really elevated at the bridge, where the dancers lifted Taylor up and she leaned back into the pillar of fire on the screen. "Light me up," indeed.
6. Speak Now World Tour – Love Story
An improvement over the Fearless version in every respect. She swooped over the crowd on a floating balcony, while pairs of dancers in period dress spun on trapezes hanging from the ceiling.
5. Fearless Tour – Should've Said No
THE RAIN MACHINE! With the words in it! I think this spoke for itself. She literally killed it.
4. 1989 World Tour – How You Get the Girl
Another rain performance, but this time with neon umbrellas and a unique glow-in-the-dark bubblegum dress. She didn't need to do all this for such a deep cut, but she did. Underrated.
3. Reputation Stadium Tour – Look What You Made Me Do
The superior version of this song (addendum: until Eras, that is.) The black-and-gold snake robe, the "tilted stage," and of course Karyn the massive inflatable snake. Helped many people appreciate and understand what was once a very polarizing song, myself included.
2. Reputation Stadium Tour – Long Live / New Year's Day
A gorgeous piano mash-up that went right to the heart. In my opinion, Long Live belongs on every tour, and the line "hold on to spinning around" flowed perfectly into "hold onto the memories." Beyond that, this was the moment that freed her from the bad-girl big-reputation persona she had presented for most of the show. It was human and vulnerable. Just look at the joy on her face as she gazed out at the audience. We stan a queen.
1. Red Tour – I Knew You Were Trouble
Perhaps not as iconic as the circus number, but sure as hell should be. Started with the fiddle player going absolutely insane, on a sparkly red fiddle no less! Followed by Taylor and all the dancers acting out some sort of masquerade ball, eventually tearing off her poofy white gown to reveal a sexy black and gold romper. An electrifying dubstep Phantom of the Opera.
Thank you for reading all this!
2023.06.01 02:14 Animanga-Journalist I need dreamie ideas for a wild west island 🌵🏜
That’s it! Just need ideas. Color pallete is red/orange/yellow since I’m going for like a canyon cowboy vibe, but as close to cowboy/farm/cactus/gold rush/prairie as possible please!
submitted by Animanga-Journalist to AnimalCrossing [link] [comments]
2023.06.01 02:08 Locke7768 The beginning of a YA novel incorporating Astral/Star Jelly
Hi Leon and Sasha,
I miss you guys so much. I hope that you are safe in Moscow. I think of you often. I hope that you and your mom (grandparents and Irina/Phil) are okay.
I hope you mom reads this to you. I hope that it helps you go to sleep. I will write more and post it for you to read.
Astral or Star Jelly is a real event/substance that has been found in all areas of the earth (please Wikipedia it). My friend performed a DNA analysis on a sample of Star Jelly, and the results were amazing. His group concluded that the sample mostly had mitochondrial-like DNA, but it was very different from anything reported (much longer and having possible different base pairs).
Astral/Star Jelly is often found after meteorite showers or other astral events. I found some when I was young (heavy Northern Lights and Meteor Shower event). I crafted the first chapter of a potential novel. Please give feedback. I am switching to google docs, so soon I will have links to my works.
Yes, Charlotte edited the chapter. She kept saying to keep it simple and direct. We hope to see you in Turkey this summer.
Chapter 1
The Byproduct of Gods
with revisions by your favorite daughter
📷
Her owners had held her for so many lifetimes that the stream, which flowed, near her family’s hut was gone. The trees that provided fuel, housing, and food were missing, replaced by a prairie. After all the years of the concept of returning home keeping her going, she did not feel safe. There were no people near her village, and it took her days to unearth signs of her youth. She discovered the land that she had first walked on only because the mountain and stones did not move. As she cleaned the Blue Volga granite idol of her parents’ deity, she felt nothing. The blue-green face of the god looked sad to her. He also was no longer safe. His followers were dead and his power forgotten.
Her first owner was a traveler. They moved with each new moon. Her master felt safe but she failed to understand that her entourage plodded along a predictable path. After many decades, a tale of a demon woman who did not age traveled the same circuit. Finally, a village attacked the demon. Her second owner was the daughter of the woman who bought her. The daughter decided to build a fortress and to rule her fief. Her third owner was the daughter’s son who had grown tired of never gaining his birthright. His guilt and myopic greed caused him to sell her to an alchemist. From that point on, she was an item for trade or barter.
Her final master failed to return home. She remained in his caravan for a week, performing her duties. When she had eaten all the food, she felt justified using her knowledge to destroy her metal shackles. It took her five days to dissolve her bindings with her jellies.
She thought of the places that she had felt safe. Those havens were all underground. A magician made her live in the passages beneath Kyiv when he was being hunted. The tunnels funneled the 15 rivers of the city and protected inhabitants from invaders or punishing ruling forces. For twenty years, she had lived in the coquina catacombs of Odessa. A man who thought he was a seer was convinced that his power had attracted the attention of dragons and demons. No one could approach the lair unseen.
After a week of searching the now unfamiliar area, the woman began to carve her home from the soil of her childhood. She spent fifty years making her home safe. Only she would know the paths and twists of her underground world. Only she would know where the escape exits emerged into the surrounding world.
Eventually, her home attracted others. The woman could have chased them away, but she felt a need to observe people. When the fourth generations of villagers were aging to the grave, there was no hiding the fact that she had not died. The villagers erected a semi-circular wall around the entrance to the woman’s cave. The wall grew and the woman did not protest the separation.
Generations later, people whispered that the villagers maintained the defenses of their community to keep the woman away from the town’s children at night. In the tavern, each generation of gallant males would boast that they would be the one to remove the blight of the woman from the town. When she inevitably outlasted them, she would attend the funeral of the most vocal warrior from each age group.
Daily the woman would remove more soil from her dugout. The community would search her discarded diggings for possible minerals or stones. They did not share any discoveries with the woman. During times of blight or famine, the locals would collect her soil and remove it from the community.
People would peer around the wall to scan the woman’s home. As the village grew, a leader placed two chairs at endpoints of the semi-circle barrier. During full moons, periods of strife, festivals, and other social events, menacing men sat in the chairs. Infrequently, people tried to enter the woman’s home. Aside from the guards, it was the more distraught people of the village who visited her.. The most recent person to enter the woman’s home was a grieving widow. Her grief made her seek the woman to find answers about her loss. Three mornings later, the villagers found the widow in the public square with drapes of herbs, flowers, and crafts around her limbs. The people thought the widow was dead or mindless from torture. When the widow awoke, she went to her house and began the chores for the day. When pressed about the woman’s abode, the widow would state that the home was loved, clean, and well maintained.
On the spring day when the widow was about to remarry, she was again discovered in the square coated with ropes of herbs, flowers, and idols. The woman disappeared for a decade after the wedding, but the widow brought her newborns to the opening of the earthwork to declare their names into the sunken space.
The aging hamlet relaxed when the woman was away. There was a sense of freedom in the people. They did not fear the retribution of the woman for their actions, and parents could not correct their children with threats of giving them to the woman. At times, the leaders of the people would consider filling in the woman’s hovel, but shovels and spades would split if used to cover the opening of the woman’s home. One regretful man tried using a mule and cart to dump rocks into the fastness. The stones crushed the man after his own tram flipped over on him.
Although the townsfolk feared and despised the woman, she had free reign in the village. As an indicator that she was amongst the people, the woman would adorn her head with a dark purple scarf. No other members of the village would wear that color. They looked for it whenever the woman shopped at the market. The woman paid with old and foreign coins, but the merchants welcomed the precious metals they were composed of. During the dark days of winter, the people collected the woman’s tender and deposited it into a lead box. The villagers had a belief that the more people touched the woman’s currency, the longer the winter would be.
After the community fortified against the woman, religious leaders organized efforts to erect carved idols and large wagon-wheel hexes aimed at her home. Each generation attempted to counter the woman with the current symbols of spiritual protection. The largest structure in the village was now a church, and the threshold of the church was oriented to face the woman’s home.
The woman was home when Alyona began her schooling in the church. She had learned the fundamentals of math, reading, and writing. She knew that her coursework would end soon. The village expected girls to be useful to a limit. Her mother walked her only surviving child to school along a path that would prevent their shadow from falling close to the woman’s realm. The villagers performed this ritual after someone claimed that the woman had controlled their behavior by stealing their shadow.
Alyona was daydreaming during school of a life away from the village when the woman touched her. Alyona had spent the morning in the woods collecting mushrooms and other edibles. Her findings made for great, free additions to their usually simple meals. . On days that Alyona returned with a bounty, they shared the extras with neighbors. It was a wager that these people would remember the gift and provide Alyona’s home with food during lean days.
The person gripping Alyona twirled her body so that she faced the opposite direction. Alyona assumed the culprit was another student or a young assistant at the church. It could have been a boy attempting to bully her to get her attention. She lowered her right hand, preparing to use the back to slap the violator. Alyona’s willingness to confront her accoster left when she saw the face of the woman under her purple scarf. Alyona knew she should look away from the woman, but her eyes locked with the woman’s gaze. All the stories the Alyona heard about the town ghoul stated that the woman was so old that her skeleton was all that was left of her body. The woman’s youthful face surprised Alyona. There were no lines or furrows on the woman’s forehead. If anything, Alyona would have stated that the woman’s face glowed.
I can smell it on your hands. The woman placed Alyona’s fingers under her nose. The force of the drawn air startled Alyona. She thought that the woman had pulled the top layer of skin off her index finger. Alyona’s toes curled when the woman sampled her hand. Across a church aisle, one of the priests was herding schoolchildren. He spotted the two of them. His face darkened at the sight of their contact.
WHAT IS ON YOUR HANDS, ALYONA? The priest shouted over the children.
Nothing, Sir. The woman’s tongue darted over the tip of Alyona’s index finger. I was harvesting in the woods before class.
You touched more than growths and nuts this morning, Singleton Child of the Crying Matron. The woman chewed on her thumbnail.
Alyona did not like her mother being referred to in that way, but the eyes of the woman immobilized her. How could she react forcefully to a person who was savoring her hand?
She is mine today, priest. The woman held out her other hand to the shepherd of the church. I will pay her mother for occupying her child for the day, and she will be returned unsoiled and whole.
The priest brought a gurgle of protest up but was shut down quickly.
My tunnels are beneath your place of worship and the bedchambers of Mistress Blake, The women stomped on the ground, and I know all of what has occurred within your walls.
Alyona realized that she was screaming when her throat began to sear. She expected that the woman’s hole would be dark, but the home glowed. There were mirrors and reflective glasses positioned throughout the house to harness sun rays from many holes and entrances in the surface of the residence. Therefore, Alyona was able to see herself yelling on fifty surfaces.
Hush child. The woman touched her mouth. Do not be afraid of the manner in which I inspected you. It is a show for the people. I only want to talk about your morning, and then I will let you go with a full belly and money to buy many toys.
Alyona felt her utterances dwindle down to a wheeze that slipped out her lips.
You have the scent on your fingers, girl. The woman was now examining Alyona’s left hand. It is on both hands, so you must have found a huge source.
A source? Alyona wanted to look at her hands but she maintained her attention on the woman.
Sit. The woman pointed to a well-padded chair. Sit and I will return with small pies and honey.
Alyona hovered over the seat. She wanted to be strong and to stand, but then she smelt the pies. The chair was very soft. There were no pins, claws, or spines in the cushion like she feared.
Alyona. The voice of the woman wove through the tunnels of the underground network. Alyona felt her name circle around her. She had never been afraid of her name before. Alyona Pistan…daughter of Fiva and the missing soldier.
Alyona closed her fist and felt the pain of her nails digging into her palms.
Fiva lives off the salary that the Duke must pay for your father’s military service. Your mother knows that the Duke no longer wants to pay this burden.
Alyona wanted to speak but her throat stung from screaming.
Your father’s name is Bay. He earned this title because he would not stop speaking when he was a baby. Like a horse that always had an opinion, your father would squawk at everyone before he knew words. The voice was now coming directly towards Alyona. My first gift to you and Fiva is the information that your father lives. There was a pause in the woman’s words. An enemy does not enslave him; he is lost with the simpleton that led him away. One day a map will lead him home, child.
The woman emerged from a cutout with a basket laden with pies, a pot of honey, wooden utensils, and slices of ham. In her other hand, she held a bucket of colored water.
We will eat together. The woman placed the basket on Alyona’s lap and retrieved two cups. After you accept the first pie, I will tell you an important secret of mine.
I do not think I want to know any of your secrets Starly-Gradda.
The woman laughed and placed the small wooden spoon into the pie directly in front of Alyona.
Elder-grandmother, you call me. The woman dunked a cup into the water and held it in her left hand. I think that term is the nicest thing a child has called me in a lifetime.
Alyona brought the food to her lips. She smelt the mint, berries, and kasha. Gently she laid the pie onto her tongue. She did not chew; she only let it rest in her mouth. She expected that the food would burn or numb her. The taste was full and made her wish to spit the substance out because it was too good to be real.
Ah, she eats. The woman clapped her hands. I was your age when I saw my first god being born.
Alyona choked on the pie.
I was sitting by a riverbank when the god entered our place. The woman drank from her cup. It was a bright yellow fish with shiny scales. I saw it come from nothing to being here.
The woman snapped her fingers and Alyona swallowed her food.
No one prayed for its existence. No one was singing for it to bring salvation. The woman made circles with her hands in front of Alyona. As far as I know, simple fish do not worship gods, but a god came for the fish of that river.
The woman tapped Alyona’s hand to take another bite of pie.
It floated there. The woman held up her hands. Here I am…a young maiden…thinking a god or demon turned itself into this creature to seduce or corrupt me. Again, a chuckle came from the woman. No other god cared about this special fish. I think it was floating only because it did not realize that a fish should swim in water.
Alyona grabbed a slice of ham. It had been two months since she had meat that was not paste.
Eventually, the golden fish fell into the water and swam away. The woman pulled back her hood and revealed her full face to Alyona. I tried to follow it, but it swam away from shore, and I lost sight of it.
Alyona cleared her throat and licked her lips.
Girl, if you want a drink, just take it. The woman filled Alyona’s cup and handed it to her. The ham is not that salty, but I think your sore throat would improve if you drank.
Alyona sipped the water. It did not taste bitter. It did not smell foul. In fact, the water’s taste was a mixture of apples, roses, and plums.
I told my mother, and she whispered to my father that they needed to trade me into marriage now, before I became soft in the head. I did not want to marry at my age, so I told her that I would go find proof of my shiny golden fish. The woman used a toothpick to dollop out a portion of honey. There was nothing in the water when I returned. I waded in the cool stream. I put my head under the surface and looked at the rocks for the golden shimmer. I found nothing.
Alyona ate the ham.
I was weeping on the spot that I saw the god be born. My heart was full of dread. I started to believe that the shiny golden god was not real. I was so sad that I was quickly accepting that I would be married to an old man so that he would tolerate my problems. The woman tapped her top lip. I felt that my mother had no love for me. I thought that if the golden fish were my mother, it would love me just because that is what should be.
Alyona selected another pie. This pie contained spices and mashed nuts.
Your mother loves you. I listen to all the words spoken in this village. If a parent lacks love for their child, I correct them or have them leave. The woman did not form a fist. She turned her hand into a claw, the conviction in her words hanging in the air until she relaxed it. As all hope was gone, I put my hand down in the grass, and felt the substance.
The woman held her hand flat towards Alyona.
It was clear. It was squishy like the rendered bones of stock animals. It had a pleasant smell, but I was scared to taste it. The woman cupped her hands. I gathered this glob. I used the front of my dress to carry the material. When I believed that the last speck was contained in my clothing, I ran to my parents.
Alyona had felt something similar in the forest that morning.
My mother accused me of only finding the discarded waste of an animal. She threatened to smear it over my face. The woman moved the honey pot closer to Alyona. My father took me to the village shaman, and he looked at the material. They scraped the material off my clothes, but not around my breasts. The shaman thought it was bone waste from an owl, the eggs of a species of frog, a shell-less egg from a dying bird, a mushroom that was usually underground, or the spit of an evil spirit.
Alyona’s eyes widened.
Of course, something as amazing as what we found would be considered evil. The woman waved her hand. I have discovered many bundles and I have never seen the substance created by an evil thing.
No? Alonya asked, breaking her food-induced silence.
No, child. The woman touched the tip of Alyona’s nose. It is not to say that evil people and things are not interested in the substance, but the creation of it does not come from evil.
Alyona resumed consuming the luxurious treats.
The morning after I saw the god being born, people started to fall sick. The woman sighed. My mother blamed the god substance. It was hard for the village not to turn on me after my mother told them it was my fault. The woman’s shoulders lowered. I had not slept that night, and I did not clean after my discovery. They put me in a crate that only had three holes. My father fed me and still cared for me.
Alyona did not know how to react but to nod at the woman.
When my elder brother was close to death from the illness, my mother brought him to my crate. She told me that I would have to watch my brother die because I was an evil liar who unleashed a demon on the community. I could see him wither in pain from the openings in my prison. The woman moved a third pie in front of Alyona. The night my mother told me that my brother would die, my father talked to me. It was an act of rebellion against my mother, but he asked me if I knew what had happened. I cried to him about how this was not something I did. I pleaded with my dad that I would never make my brother suffer, and that the day watching him had crushed my will to live.
The woman tore a slice of ham into pieces and placed pieces of the meat on the floor of her keep.
My father and I wept. He told me that I was likely to die because of the sickness. The woman tapped the tray. Not that I was sick… or was likely to get sick, but because it would seem as justice to the people. I knew his words were true, but I could not think of anything else to say.
The third pie was berry and egg meringue. Alyona did not know that pies like this one existed.
I entered the crate in the dress I wore when I saw the god be born. The truth is that I only had that dress and a wedding dress. My mother kept the dress I would’ve worn to my wedding in a box near her bed. A cat approached the pieces of ham. My grandfather had given me the wedding dress when he died, but she took it from me. My father used what he received from his father to buy me the only special clothes I would have in my life. My father loved me, Alyona, just like yours.
The cat touched Alyona’s leg. It startled her, and she confirmed that the cat was not black.
We talked about the jelly I had found. My father told me that he had tried to burn it, thinking it was an odd piece of animal fat. The substance did not burn. My father then tried to crush it out of existence, but the material was soft, but not easily destroyed. The woman touched the center of her chest. My father’s words made me remember that there was still some of the jelly on my dress. I touched where they did not scrape, and there was a patch of the substance. I pinched the substance and it coated my fingers. It felt warm, but not hot.
Alyona was glad that the cat had returned to the ham.
My father grew angry. He was arguing with the air that if he were a real man, he would protect his daughter and revive his son. He was a good father. The woman showed Alyona a closed smile. He was crying because he knew he could do nothing. I was sore and battered from being in the crate. I felt so greasy and disgusting. I thought I was no longer the same girl that wandered in the meadows.
The woman offered to refill Alyona’s water cup.
For some reason, I brought the fingers I had used to touch the smear of the jelly that was on my dress to my mouth. The taste was tangy, but not foul. It was better than the food that my father had inserted into the holes in my crate. I sucked on it. With both hands, the woman rattled the basket. I felt so much better. It was amazing. I could not see it, but I felt my dry, cracked lips heal. My mind became clear. I knew what I had to do.
Alyona stopped eating to listen to the woman.
I asked my father to place my brother’s mouth in front of the biggest hole of my crate. He thought I was mad. He accused me of confessing that I pledged my soul to demons, but I told him that I felt different after praying to our god. The woman looked directly at Alyona. I rubbed my fingers on the same spot of my dress, and I placed them into my brother’s mouth. He was so weak that he did not respond to this action. I moved my fingers along his gums, his teeth, I even touched his tongue.
Alyona spoke to the woman. Was he healed right away?
The woman chuckled.
I like you Alyona, but you have the impatience of a child. The woman touched Alyona’s chin. It was not a sudden reversal, but he did not die. People died that night, but my brother lived. More importantly, he was the only person to get even slightly better. He was not running in the fields, talking to everyone better, but he was no longer crying in pain. His eyes were no longer looking like they would burst. Moreover, my father stopped crying for us.
I am glad. Alyona looked at the half-eaten pie. She wanted more of it, but she thought it would be rude to return to eating.
It was another day, another four deaths, before my father told the shaman that he thought I could heal the sick. They pulled me from the crate and inspected me. The women called for me to be stoned. The men wanted me burned. The shaman asked how my brother was alive, and how I was still in good health. The woman tapped her right temple. I knew I had to lie. I knew that I could not tell the truth. I had to convince these scared people that I was not dangerous.
The woman shuffled the half pie back to Alyona.
I fell in front of the shaman and shouted, ‘The Green Man came to me.’ I do not think you know the Green Man, child, but he was the god of the people before Christ came to the land. The woman pointed to a drawing of a large tree man. It matters not what god I said talked to me. I yelled that I knew that I did something wicked, but our god had forgiven me, and I was now able to cure the sickness that was killing the village.
Alyona returned to eating the pie.
They whipped me and bound me. I feared that they would burn my dress, so I yelled that the Green Man said that if I were to heal the village, I would need to be as I was when he forgave and blessed me. The woman opened her hands so that Alyona could see her palms. The oldest people would pray in this manner. They tied my legs together and only allowed my right arm to be free. However, that was all I needed to start to heal the people of my life.
Alyona finished her meal.
I would say our prayers; tell the people who were watching that the Green Man wanted everyone to close their eyes so that his healing ray could hit the person. The woman pulled her head backwards with a laugh. During this time, I would pull some of the jelly off my dress and stick the substance in the person’s mouth.
The woman laughed deeply.
What? Alyona asked.
I did not know that so many of my fellow villagers were missing teeth. Children of the people that always had food, had damaged and missing teeth. I was trapped and bored, so my mind began to guess how many disgusting teeth injuries each person would have.
Alyona shivered.
I thought the teeth were bad, but then it got worse. The woman looked upwards. It was on the third day of my healing that it happened for the first time. It was night, and the shaman had decided to blind me with a rag during the healing. Someone’s parents said that they did not want me to steal the soul of their child while I healed them. I placed my finger into a very small mouth, and everything was different. I did not feel a tingle from treating a person with the substance. I sang our songs to Green Man and rubbed jelly over my right fingers. I had planned to give the infant as much of the stuff as I could. The woman covered her eyes. The tiny body jumped, but there was still no response.
Why? Alyona wanted to know.
The baby was dead. I did not know if the god-gift could bring life back to a person. I was scared that if I did not return this child alive to their parents, I would be killed. The woman bobbed her head to the ceiling of her cave home. I kept doing it for a long time. I replenished the coating of my fingers four times, but still there was no living response. I finally shouted into the air. I faked arguing with the Green Man. I begged him to give me the infant. I spoke words that no one had ever heard in an odd voice that I thought would sound like the Green Man. This battle went on for minutes until I asked if whoever brought this child to me would allow the Green Man to have the special child live with him. I am not sure if the parents knew that their baby had died. I am uncertain if the parents wanted me to do something that I thought was evil, but a male voice eventually responded that it would be an honor if his young son joined the hunters of the Green Man.
Alyona gasped.
I spoke in my fake Green Man’s voice that the parents of his new hunter would be honored with a new child by the next spring. I informed the parents that they would find gifts for the next year. The woman rocked her head so that she was looking at the floor. They brought me five more dead people to heal, but no more deceased children. I did not make a fuss over the dead adults. I stated that the Green Man blamed the family for their death. If they truly believed in the power of the Green Man, they would have brought their loved ones to me before the sickness took them.
Alyona nodded her head.
On the fifth day, my fingers were raw. My nails felt like they were growing too fast. I guess I was healing and benefiting from the jelly, but I was placing the same fingers into people’s mouths most of the day. The worst problem was that my dress was getting dry. The woman traced her lips with her right index finger. I think my father was watching me. I think he saw me searching desperately on my dress for any of the substance. I believe this because he brought me fresh peas to eat that night. In the third pea he gave me, the pod was full of the jelly.
Did your village love you for healing everyone after those days? Alyona smiled at the woman.
No. The woman patted the girl’s forehead. They kept me in the crate. There was no joy for me after I found the jelly.
You saved them.
The woman breathed deeply.
I said that the Green Man had used me to save them. I was nothing but a tarnished girl who may have the power to harm or make people ill. The woman turned her head to the side.
Did your father and brother free you from the crate? Alyona looked hopefully at the woman.
No child, the town folk dispatched the shaman with me in that wooden prison out into the world to purge the town of my evil. He threatened to kill me daily. He attempted to abandon me at every opportunity. The woman cupped her hand in front of Alyona. When I sensed a second source of the god jelly, he was able to sell me to a person.
No! Alyona did not know if it was a spell, but she was extending her hand towards the woman.
The sum was so great that my parents and brother lived well. The woman clapped each hand separately. That was after the shaman took his share of my bounty and spent more money on food, drink, and women on the trip home.
That’s…..
That is life, my special girl. The woman grabbed her hand and they stood up. The woman led the pair through tunnels and caverns. Eventually, the woman pulled her through a blanket of vines that concealed an exit to her labyrinth.
Your forest, Alyona. The woman gestured to the glade Alyona crossed to enter the woods.
Alyona pulled her hand away from the woman and pulled her hair back.
I am not sure what you want me to find. Alyona looked up to the woman. She received a smile.
I have never told anyone this before, the woman stuck her tongue out to Alyona, when I first touched the jelly, I felt that there were ants under my skin. It was the power of the jelly moving through me. It was such an odd feeling that I thought it was a sign of madness.
Alyona lowered her head. I felt something like that. I thought it was worms latching onto me from the peat.
That is the place, little one. Take me there.
Alyona was about to step forward when the woman asked her another question.
What color was the substance you touched today?
It was not one color, ma’am. Alyona moved her hand down to her legs. She brushed unseen but felt passengers from her body. I grabbed it first because I thought it was rose root. My mother could turn the flower into medicine to sell or trade. Alyona knelt and touched the ground. Except that the flower was so low to the ground and it was not the red or yellow flower I normally pick. They were violet with orange centers.
They did not feel like flowers.
No. Alyona pulled her hand away from the ground. They stuck to me like honey.
submitted by Locke7768 to StoriesforLeon [link] [comments]
I miss you guys so much. I hope that you are safe in Moscow. I think of you often. I hope that you and your mom (grandparents and Irina/Phil) are okay.
I hope you mom reads this to you. I hope that it helps you go to sleep. I will write more and post it for you to read.
Astral or Star Jelly is a real event/substance that has been found in all areas of the earth (please Wikipedia it). My friend performed a DNA analysis on a sample of Star Jelly, and the results were amazing. His group concluded that the sample mostly had mitochondrial-like DNA, but it was very different from anything reported (much longer and having possible different base pairs).
Astral/Star Jelly is often found after meteorite showers or other astral events. I found some when I was young (heavy Northern Lights and Meteor Shower event). I crafted the first chapter of a potential novel. Please give feedback. I am switching to google docs, so soon I will have links to my works.
Yes, Charlotte edited the chapter. She kept saying to keep it simple and direct. We hope to see you in Turkey this summer.
Chapter 1
The Byproduct of Gods
with revisions by your favorite daughter
📷
Her owners had held her for so many lifetimes that the stream, which flowed, near her family’s hut was gone. The trees that provided fuel, housing, and food were missing, replaced by a prairie. After all the years of the concept of returning home keeping her going, she did not feel safe. There were no people near her village, and it took her days to unearth signs of her youth. She discovered the land that she had first walked on only because the mountain and stones did not move. As she cleaned the Blue Volga granite idol of her parents’ deity, she felt nothing. The blue-green face of the god looked sad to her. He also was no longer safe. His followers were dead and his power forgotten.
Her first owner was a traveler. They moved with each new moon. Her master felt safe but she failed to understand that her entourage plodded along a predictable path. After many decades, a tale of a demon woman who did not age traveled the same circuit. Finally, a village attacked the demon. Her second owner was the daughter of the woman who bought her. The daughter decided to build a fortress and to rule her fief. Her third owner was the daughter’s son who had grown tired of never gaining his birthright. His guilt and myopic greed caused him to sell her to an alchemist. From that point on, she was an item for trade or barter.
Her final master failed to return home. She remained in his caravan for a week, performing her duties. When she had eaten all the food, she felt justified using her knowledge to destroy her metal shackles. It took her five days to dissolve her bindings with her jellies.
She thought of the places that she had felt safe. Those havens were all underground. A magician made her live in the passages beneath Kyiv when he was being hunted. The tunnels funneled the 15 rivers of the city and protected inhabitants from invaders or punishing ruling forces. For twenty years, she had lived in the coquina catacombs of Odessa. A man who thought he was a seer was convinced that his power had attracted the attention of dragons and demons. No one could approach the lair unseen.
After a week of searching the now unfamiliar area, the woman began to carve her home from the soil of her childhood. She spent fifty years making her home safe. Only she would know the paths and twists of her underground world. Only she would know where the escape exits emerged into the surrounding world.
Eventually, her home attracted others. The woman could have chased them away, but she felt a need to observe people. When the fourth generations of villagers were aging to the grave, there was no hiding the fact that she had not died. The villagers erected a semi-circular wall around the entrance to the woman’s cave. The wall grew and the woman did not protest the separation.
Generations later, people whispered that the villagers maintained the defenses of their community to keep the woman away from the town’s children at night. In the tavern, each generation of gallant males would boast that they would be the one to remove the blight of the woman from the town. When she inevitably outlasted them, she would attend the funeral of the most vocal warrior from each age group.
Daily the woman would remove more soil from her dugout. The community would search her discarded diggings for possible minerals or stones. They did not share any discoveries with the woman. During times of blight or famine, the locals would collect her soil and remove it from the community.
People would peer around the wall to scan the woman’s home. As the village grew, a leader placed two chairs at endpoints of the semi-circle barrier. During full moons, periods of strife, festivals, and other social events, menacing men sat in the chairs. Infrequently, people tried to enter the woman’s home. Aside from the guards, it was the more distraught people of the village who visited her.. The most recent person to enter the woman’s home was a grieving widow. Her grief made her seek the woman to find answers about her loss. Three mornings later, the villagers found the widow in the public square with drapes of herbs, flowers, and crafts around her limbs. The people thought the widow was dead or mindless from torture. When the widow awoke, she went to her house and began the chores for the day. When pressed about the woman’s abode, the widow would state that the home was loved, clean, and well maintained.
On the spring day when the widow was about to remarry, she was again discovered in the square coated with ropes of herbs, flowers, and idols. The woman disappeared for a decade after the wedding, but the widow brought her newborns to the opening of the earthwork to declare their names into the sunken space.
The aging hamlet relaxed when the woman was away. There was a sense of freedom in the people. They did not fear the retribution of the woman for their actions, and parents could not correct their children with threats of giving them to the woman. At times, the leaders of the people would consider filling in the woman’s hovel, but shovels and spades would split if used to cover the opening of the woman’s home. One regretful man tried using a mule and cart to dump rocks into the fastness. The stones crushed the man after his own tram flipped over on him.
Although the townsfolk feared and despised the woman, she had free reign in the village. As an indicator that she was amongst the people, the woman would adorn her head with a dark purple scarf. No other members of the village would wear that color. They looked for it whenever the woman shopped at the market. The woman paid with old and foreign coins, but the merchants welcomed the precious metals they were composed of. During the dark days of winter, the people collected the woman’s tender and deposited it into a lead box. The villagers had a belief that the more people touched the woman’s currency, the longer the winter would be.
After the community fortified against the woman, religious leaders organized efforts to erect carved idols and large wagon-wheel hexes aimed at her home. Each generation attempted to counter the woman with the current symbols of spiritual protection. The largest structure in the village was now a church, and the threshold of the church was oriented to face the woman’s home.
The woman was home when Alyona began her schooling in the church. She had learned the fundamentals of math, reading, and writing. She knew that her coursework would end soon. The village expected girls to be useful to a limit. Her mother walked her only surviving child to school along a path that would prevent their shadow from falling close to the woman’s realm. The villagers performed this ritual after someone claimed that the woman had controlled their behavior by stealing their shadow.
Alyona was daydreaming during school of a life away from the village when the woman touched her. Alyona had spent the morning in the woods collecting mushrooms and other edibles. Her findings made for great, free additions to their usually simple meals. . On days that Alyona returned with a bounty, they shared the extras with neighbors. It was a wager that these people would remember the gift and provide Alyona’s home with food during lean days.
The person gripping Alyona twirled her body so that she faced the opposite direction. Alyona assumed the culprit was another student or a young assistant at the church. It could have been a boy attempting to bully her to get her attention. She lowered her right hand, preparing to use the back to slap the violator. Alyona’s willingness to confront her accoster left when she saw the face of the woman under her purple scarf. Alyona knew she should look away from the woman, but her eyes locked with the woman’s gaze. All the stories the Alyona heard about the town ghoul stated that the woman was so old that her skeleton was all that was left of her body. The woman’s youthful face surprised Alyona. There were no lines or furrows on the woman’s forehead. If anything, Alyona would have stated that the woman’s face glowed.
I can smell it on your hands. The woman placed Alyona’s fingers under her nose. The force of the drawn air startled Alyona. She thought that the woman had pulled the top layer of skin off her index finger. Alyona’s toes curled when the woman sampled her hand. Across a church aisle, one of the priests was herding schoolchildren. He spotted the two of them. His face darkened at the sight of their contact.
WHAT IS ON YOUR HANDS, ALYONA? The priest shouted over the children.
Nothing, Sir. The woman’s tongue darted over the tip of Alyona’s index finger. I was harvesting in the woods before class.
You touched more than growths and nuts this morning, Singleton Child of the Crying Matron. The woman chewed on her thumbnail.
Alyona did not like her mother being referred to in that way, but the eyes of the woman immobilized her. How could she react forcefully to a person who was savoring her hand?
She is mine today, priest. The woman held out her other hand to the shepherd of the church. I will pay her mother for occupying her child for the day, and she will be returned unsoiled and whole.
The priest brought a gurgle of protest up but was shut down quickly.
My tunnels are beneath your place of worship and the bedchambers of Mistress Blake, The women stomped on the ground, and I know all of what has occurred within your walls.
Alyona realized that she was screaming when her throat began to sear. She expected that the woman’s hole would be dark, but the home glowed. There were mirrors and reflective glasses positioned throughout the house to harness sun rays from many holes and entrances in the surface of the residence. Therefore, Alyona was able to see herself yelling on fifty surfaces.
Hush child. The woman touched her mouth. Do not be afraid of the manner in which I inspected you. It is a show for the people. I only want to talk about your morning, and then I will let you go with a full belly and money to buy many toys.
Alyona felt her utterances dwindle down to a wheeze that slipped out her lips.
You have the scent on your fingers, girl. The woman was now examining Alyona’s left hand. It is on both hands, so you must have found a huge source.
A source? Alyona wanted to look at her hands but she maintained her attention on the woman.
Sit. The woman pointed to a well-padded chair. Sit and I will return with small pies and honey.
Alyona hovered over the seat. She wanted to be strong and to stand, but then she smelt the pies. The chair was very soft. There were no pins, claws, or spines in the cushion like she feared.
Alyona. The voice of the woman wove through the tunnels of the underground network. Alyona felt her name circle around her. She had never been afraid of her name before. Alyona Pistan…daughter of Fiva and the missing soldier.
Alyona closed her fist and felt the pain of her nails digging into her palms.
Fiva lives off the salary that the Duke must pay for your father’s military service. Your mother knows that the Duke no longer wants to pay this burden.
Alyona wanted to speak but her throat stung from screaming.
Your father’s name is Bay. He earned this title because he would not stop speaking when he was a baby. Like a horse that always had an opinion, your father would squawk at everyone before he knew words. The voice was now coming directly towards Alyona. My first gift to you and Fiva is the information that your father lives. There was a pause in the woman’s words. An enemy does not enslave him; he is lost with the simpleton that led him away. One day a map will lead him home, child.
The woman emerged from a cutout with a basket laden with pies, a pot of honey, wooden utensils, and slices of ham. In her other hand, she held a bucket of colored water.
We will eat together. The woman placed the basket on Alyona’s lap and retrieved two cups. After you accept the first pie, I will tell you an important secret of mine.
I do not think I want to know any of your secrets Starly-Gradda.
The woman laughed and placed the small wooden spoon into the pie directly in front of Alyona.
Elder-grandmother, you call me. The woman dunked a cup into the water and held it in her left hand. I think that term is the nicest thing a child has called me in a lifetime.
Alyona brought the food to her lips. She smelt the mint, berries, and kasha. Gently she laid the pie onto her tongue. She did not chew; she only let it rest in her mouth. She expected that the food would burn or numb her. The taste was full and made her wish to spit the substance out because it was too good to be real.
Ah, she eats. The woman clapped her hands. I was your age when I saw my first god being born.
Alyona choked on the pie.
I was sitting by a riverbank when the god entered our place. The woman drank from her cup. It was a bright yellow fish with shiny scales. I saw it come from nothing to being here.
The woman snapped her fingers and Alyona swallowed her food.
No one prayed for its existence. No one was singing for it to bring salvation. The woman made circles with her hands in front of Alyona. As far as I know, simple fish do not worship gods, but a god came for the fish of that river.
The woman tapped Alyona’s hand to take another bite of pie.
It floated there. The woman held up her hands. Here I am…a young maiden…thinking a god or demon turned itself into this creature to seduce or corrupt me. Again, a chuckle came from the woman. No other god cared about this special fish. I think it was floating only because it did not realize that a fish should swim in water.
Alyona grabbed a slice of ham. It had been two months since she had meat that was not paste.
Eventually, the golden fish fell into the water and swam away. The woman pulled back her hood and revealed her full face to Alyona. I tried to follow it, but it swam away from shore, and I lost sight of it.
Alyona cleared her throat and licked her lips.
Girl, if you want a drink, just take it. The woman filled Alyona’s cup and handed it to her. The ham is not that salty, but I think your sore throat would improve if you drank.
Alyona sipped the water. It did not taste bitter. It did not smell foul. In fact, the water’s taste was a mixture of apples, roses, and plums.
I told my mother, and she whispered to my father that they needed to trade me into marriage now, before I became soft in the head. I did not want to marry at my age, so I told her that I would go find proof of my shiny golden fish. The woman used a toothpick to dollop out a portion of honey. There was nothing in the water when I returned. I waded in the cool stream. I put my head under the surface and looked at the rocks for the golden shimmer. I found nothing.
Alyona ate the ham.
I was weeping on the spot that I saw the god be born. My heart was full of dread. I started to believe that the shiny golden god was not real. I was so sad that I was quickly accepting that I would be married to an old man so that he would tolerate my problems. The woman tapped her top lip. I felt that my mother had no love for me. I thought that if the golden fish were my mother, it would love me just because that is what should be.
Alyona selected another pie. This pie contained spices and mashed nuts.
Your mother loves you. I listen to all the words spoken in this village. If a parent lacks love for their child, I correct them or have them leave. The woman did not form a fist. She turned her hand into a claw, the conviction in her words hanging in the air until she relaxed it. As all hope was gone, I put my hand down in the grass, and felt the substance.
The woman held her hand flat towards Alyona.
It was clear. It was squishy like the rendered bones of stock animals. It had a pleasant smell, but I was scared to taste it. The woman cupped her hands. I gathered this glob. I used the front of my dress to carry the material. When I believed that the last speck was contained in my clothing, I ran to my parents.
Alyona had felt something similar in the forest that morning.
My mother accused me of only finding the discarded waste of an animal. She threatened to smear it over my face. The woman moved the honey pot closer to Alyona. My father took me to the village shaman, and he looked at the material. They scraped the material off my clothes, but not around my breasts. The shaman thought it was bone waste from an owl, the eggs of a species of frog, a shell-less egg from a dying bird, a mushroom that was usually underground, or the spit of an evil spirit.
Alyona’s eyes widened.
Of course, something as amazing as what we found would be considered evil. The woman waved her hand. I have discovered many bundles and I have never seen the substance created by an evil thing.
No? Alonya asked, breaking her food-induced silence.
No, child. The woman touched the tip of Alyona’s nose. It is not to say that evil people and things are not interested in the substance, but the creation of it does not come from evil.
Alyona resumed consuming the luxurious treats.
The morning after I saw the god being born, people started to fall sick. The woman sighed. My mother blamed the god substance. It was hard for the village not to turn on me after my mother told them it was my fault. The woman’s shoulders lowered. I had not slept that night, and I did not clean after my discovery. They put me in a crate that only had three holes. My father fed me and still cared for me.
Alyona did not know how to react but to nod at the woman.
When my elder brother was close to death from the illness, my mother brought him to my crate. She told me that I would have to watch my brother die because I was an evil liar who unleashed a demon on the community. I could see him wither in pain from the openings in my prison. The woman moved a third pie in front of Alyona. The night my mother told me that my brother would die, my father talked to me. It was an act of rebellion against my mother, but he asked me if I knew what had happened. I cried to him about how this was not something I did. I pleaded with my dad that I would never make my brother suffer, and that the day watching him had crushed my will to live.
The woman tore a slice of ham into pieces and placed pieces of the meat on the floor of her keep.
My father and I wept. He told me that I was likely to die because of the sickness. The woman tapped the tray. Not that I was sick… or was likely to get sick, but because it would seem as justice to the people. I knew his words were true, but I could not think of anything else to say.
The third pie was berry and egg meringue. Alyona did not know that pies like this one existed.
I entered the crate in the dress I wore when I saw the god be born. The truth is that I only had that dress and a wedding dress. My mother kept the dress I would’ve worn to my wedding in a box near her bed. A cat approached the pieces of ham. My grandfather had given me the wedding dress when he died, but she took it from me. My father used what he received from his father to buy me the only special clothes I would have in my life. My father loved me, Alyona, just like yours.
The cat touched Alyona’s leg. It startled her, and she confirmed that the cat was not black.
We talked about the jelly I had found. My father told me that he had tried to burn it, thinking it was an odd piece of animal fat. The substance did not burn. My father then tried to crush it out of existence, but the material was soft, but not easily destroyed. The woman touched the center of her chest. My father’s words made me remember that there was still some of the jelly on my dress. I touched where they did not scrape, and there was a patch of the substance. I pinched the substance and it coated my fingers. It felt warm, but not hot.
Alyona was glad that the cat had returned to the ham.
My father grew angry. He was arguing with the air that if he were a real man, he would protect his daughter and revive his son. He was a good father. The woman showed Alyona a closed smile. He was crying because he knew he could do nothing. I was sore and battered from being in the crate. I felt so greasy and disgusting. I thought I was no longer the same girl that wandered in the meadows.
The woman offered to refill Alyona’s water cup.
For some reason, I brought the fingers I had used to touch the smear of the jelly that was on my dress to my mouth. The taste was tangy, but not foul. It was better than the food that my father had inserted into the holes in my crate. I sucked on it. With both hands, the woman rattled the basket. I felt so much better. It was amazing. I could not see it, but I felt my dry, cracked lips heal. My mind became clear. I knew what I had to do.
Alyona stopped eating to listen to the woman.
I asked my father to place my brother’s mouth in front of the biggest hole of my crate. He thought I was mad. He accused me of confessing that I pledged my soul to demons, but I told him that I felt different after praying to our god. The woman looked directly at Alyona. I rubbed my fingers on the same spot of my dress, and I placed them into my brother’s mouth. He was so weak that he did not respond to this action. I moved my fingers along his gums, his teeth, I even touched his tongue.
Alyona spoke to the woman. Was he healed right away?
The woman chuckled.
I like you Alyona, but you have the impatience of a child. The woman touched Alyona’s chin. It was not a sudden reversal, but he did not die. People died that night, but my brother lived. More importantly, he was the only person to get even slightly better. He was not running in the fields, talking to everyone better, but he was no longer crying in pain. His eyes were no longer looking like they would burst. Moreover, my father stopped crying for us.
I am glad. Alyona looked at the half-eaten pie. She wanted more of it, but she thought it would be rude to return to eating.
It was another day, another four deaths, before my father told the shaman that he thought I could heal the sick. They pulled me from the crate and inspected me. The women called for me to be stoned. The men wanted me burned. The shaman asked how my brother was alive, and how I was still in good health. The woman tapped her right temple. I knew I had to lie. I knew that I could not tell the truth. I had to convince these scared people that I was not dangerous.
The woman shuffled the half pie back to Alyona.
I fell in front of the shaman and shouted, ‘The Green Man came to me.’ I do not think you know the Green Man, child, but he was the god of the people before Christ came to the land. The woman pointed to a drawing of a large tree man. It matters not what god I said talked to me. I yelled that I knew that I did something wicked, but our god had forgiven me, and I was now able to cure the sickness that was killing the village.
Alyona returned to eating the pie.
They whipped me and bound me. I feared that they would burn my dress, so I yelled that the Green Man said that if I were to heal the village, I would need to be as I was when he forgave and blessed me. The woman opened her hands so that Alyona could see her palms. The oldest people would pray in this manner. They tied my legs together and only allowed my right arm to be free. However, that was all I needed to start to heal the people of my life.
Alyona finished her meal.
I would say our prayers; tell the people who were watching that the Green Man wanted everyone to close their eyes so that his healing ray could hit the person. The woman pulled her head backwards with a laugh. During this time, I would pull some of the jelly off my dress and stick the substance in the person’s mouth.
The woman laughed deeply.
What? Alyona asked.
I did not know that so many of my fellow villagers were missing teeth. Children of the people that always had food, had damaged and missing teeth. I was trapped and bored, so my mind began to guess how many disgusting teeth injuries each person would have.
Alyona shivered.
I thought the teeth were bad, but then it got worse. The woman looked upwards. It was on the third day of my healing that it happened for the first time. It was night, and the shaman had decided to blind me with a rag during the healing. Someone’s parents said that they did not want me to steal the soul of their child while I healed them. I placed my finger into a very small mouth, and everything was different. I did not feel a tingle from treating a person with the substance. I sang our songs to Green Man and rubbed jelly over my right fingers. I had planned to give the infant as much of the stuff as I could. The woman covered her eyes. The tiny body jumped, but there was still no response.
Why? Alyona wanted to know.
The baby was dead. I did not know if the god-gift could bring life back to a person. I was scared that if I did not return this child alive to their parents, I would be killed. The woman bobbed her head to the ceiling of her cave home. I kept doing it for a long time. I replenished the coating of my fingers four times, but still there was no living response. I finally shouted into the air. I faked arguing with the Green Man. I begged him to give me the infant. I spoke words that no one had ever heard in an odd voice that I thought would sound like the Green Man. This battle went on for minutes until I asked if whoever brought this child to me would allow the Green Man to have the special child live with him. I am not sure if the parents knew that their baby had died. I am uncertain if the parents wanted me to do something that I thought was evil, but a male voice eventually responded that it would be an honor if his young son joined the hunters of the Green Man.
Alyona gasped.
I spoke in my fake Green Man’s voice that the parents of his new hunter would be honored with a new child by the next spring. I informed the parents that they would find gifts for the next year. The woman rocked her head so that she was looking at the floor. They brought me five more dead people to heal, but no more deceased children. I did not make a fuss over the dead adults. I stated that the Green Man blamed the family for their death. If they truly believed in the power of the Green Man, they would have brought their loved ones to me before the sickness took them.
Alyona nodded her head.
On the fifth day, my fingers were raw. My nails felt like they were growing too fast. I guess I was healing and benefiting from the jelly, but I was placing the same fingers into people’s mouths most of the day. The worst problem was that my dress was getting dry. The woman traced her lips with her right index finger. I think my father was watching me. I think he saw me searching desperately on my dress for any of the substance. I believe this because he brought me fresh peas to eat that night. In the third pea he gave me, the pod was full of the jelly.
Did your village love you for healing everyone after those days? Alyona smiled at the woman.
No. The woman patted the girl’s forehead. They kept me in the crate. There was no joy for me after I found the jelly.
You saved them.
The woman breathed deeply.
I said that the Green Man had used me to save them. I was nothing but a tarnished girl who may have the power to harm or make people ill. The woman turned her head to the side.
Did your father and brother free you from the crate? Alyona looked hopefully at the woman.
No child, the town folk dispatched the shaman with me in that wooden prison out into the world to purge the town of my evil. He threatened to kill me daily. He attempted to abandon me at every opportunity. The woman cupped her hand in front of Alyona. When I sensed a second source of the god jelly, he was able to sell me to a person.
No! Alyona did not know if it was a spell, but she was extending her hand towards the woman.
The sum was so great that my parents and brother lived well. The woman clapped each hand separately. That was after the shaman took his share of my bounty and spent more money on food, drink, and women on the trip home.
That’s…..
That is life, my special girl. The woman grabbed her hand and they stood up. The woman led the pair through tunnels and caverns. Eventually, the woman pulled her through a blanket of vines that concealed an exit to her labyrinth.
Your forest, Alyona. The woman gestured to the glade Alyona crossed to enter the woods.
Alyona pulled her hand away from the woman and pulled her hair back.
I am not sure what you want me to find. Alyona looked up to the woman. She received a smile.
I have never told anyone this before, the woman stuck her tongue out to Alyona, when I first touched the jelly, I felt that there were ants under my skin. It was the power of the jelly moving through me. It was such an odd feeling that I thought it was a sign of madness.
Alyona lowered her head. I felt something like that. I thought it was worms latching onto me from the peat.
That is the place, little one. Take me there.
Alyona was about to step forward when the woman asked her another question.
What color was the substance you touched today?
It was not one color, ma’am. Alyona moved her hand down to her legs. She brushed unseen but felt passengers from her body. I grabbed it first because I thought it was rose root. My mother could turn the flower into medicine to sell or trade. Alyona knelt and touched the ground. Except that the flower was so low to the ground and it was not the red or yellow flower I normally pick. They were violet with orange centers.
They did not feel like flowers.
No. Alyona pulled her hand away from the ground. They stuck to me like honey.
2023.06.01 01:57 Locke7768 New YA Fantasy novel examining Astral or Star Jelly
Astral or Star Jelly is a real event/substance that has been found in all areas of the earth (please Wikipedia it). My friend performed a DNA analysis on a sample of Star Jelly, and the results were amazing. His group concluded that the sample mostly had mitochondrial-like DNA, but it was very different from anything reported (much longer and having possible different base pairs).
Astral/Star Jelly is often found after meteorite showers or other astral events. I found some when I was young (heavy Northern Lights and Meteor Shower event). I crafted the first chapter of a potential novel. Please give feedback. I am switching to google docs, so soon I will have links to my works.
Chapter 1
The Byproduct of Gods
Her owners had held her for so many lifetimes that the stream, which flowed, near her family’s hut was gone. The trees that provided fuel, housing, and food were missing, replaced by a prairie. After all the years of the concept of returning home keeping her going, she did not feel safe. There were no people near her village, and it took her days to unearth signs of her youth. She discovered the land that she had first walked on only because the mountain and stones did not move. As she cleaned the Blue Volga granite idol of her parents’ deity, she felt nothing. The blue-green face of the god looked sad to her. He also was no longer safe. His followers were dead and his power forgotten.
Her first owner was a traveler. They moved with each new moon. Her master felt safe but she failed to understand that her entourage plodded along a predictable path. After many decades, a tale of a demon woman who did not age traveled the same circuit. Finally, a village attacked the demon. Her second owner was the daughter of the woman who bought her. The daughter decided to build a fortress and to rule her fief. Her third owner was the daughter’s son who had grown tired of never gaining his birthright. His guilt and myopic greed caused him to sell her to an alchemist. From that point on, she was an item for trade or barter.
Her final master failed to return home. She remained in his caravan for a week, performing her duties. When she had eaten all the food, she felt justified using her knowledge to destroy her metal shackles. It took her five days to dissolve her bindings with her jellies.
She thought of the places that she had felt safe. Those havens were all underground. A magician made her live in the passages beneath Kyiv when he was being hunted. The tunnels funneled the 15 rivers of the city and protected inhabitants from invaders or punishing ruling forces. For twenty years, she had lived in the coquina catacombs of Odessa. A man who thought he was a seer was convinced that his power had attracted the attention of dragons and demons. No one could approach the lair unseen.
After a week of searching the now unfamiliar area, the woman began to carve her home from the soil of her childhood. She spent fifty years making her home safe. Only she would know the paths and twists of her underground world. Only she would know where the escape exits emerged into the surrounding world.
Eventually, her home attracted others. The woman could have chased them away, but she felt a need to observe people. When the fourth generations of villagers were aging to the grave, there was no hiding the fact that she had not died. The villagers erected a semi-circular wall around the entrance to the woman’s cave. The wall grew and the woman did not protest the separation.
Generations later, people whispered that the villagers maintained the defenses of their community to keep the woman away from the town’s children at night. In the tavern, each generation of gallant males would boast that they would be the one to remove the blight of the woman from the town. When she inevitably outlasted them, she would attend the funeral of the most vocal warrior from each age group.
Daily the woman would remove more soil from her dugout. The community would search her discarded diggings for possible minerals or stones. They did not share any discoveries with the woman. During times of blight or famine, the locals would collect her soil and remove it from the community.
People would peer around the wall to scan the woman’s home. As the village grew, a leader placed two chairs at endpoints of the semi-circle barrier. During full moons, periods of strife, festivals, and other social events, menacing men sat in the chairs. Infrequently, people tried to enter the woman’s home. Aside from the guards, it was the more distraught people of the village who visited her.. The most recent person to enter the woman’s home was a grieving widow. Her grief made her seek the woman to find answers about her loss. Three mornings later, the villagers found the widow in the public square with drapes of herbs, flowers, and crafts around her limbs. The people thought the widow was dead or mindless from torture. When the widow awoke, she went to her house and began the chores for the day. When pressed about the woman’s abode, the widow would state that the home was loved, clean, and well maintained.
On the spring day when the widow was about to remarry, she was again discovered in the square coated with ropes of herbs, flowers, and idols. The woman disappeared for a decade after the wedding, but the widow brought her newborns to the opening of the earthwork to declare their names into the sunken space.
The aging hamlet relaxed when the woman was away. There was a sense of freedom in the people. They did not fear the retribution of the woman for their actions, and parents could not correct their children with threats of giving them to the woman. At times, the leaders of the people would consider filling in the woman’s hovel, but shovels and spades would split if used to cover the opening of the woman’s home. One regretful man tried using a mule and cart to dump rocks into the fastness. The stones crushed the man after his own tram flipped over on him.
Although the townsfolk feared and despised the woman, she had free reign in the village. As an indicator that she was amongst the people, the woman would adorn her head with a dark purple scarf. No other members of the village would wear that color. They looked for it whenever the woman shopped at the market. The woman paid with old and foreign coins, but the merchants welcomed the precious metals they were composed of. During the dark days of winter, the people collected the woman’s tender and deposited it into a lead box. The villagers had a belief that the more people touched the woman’s currency, the longer the winter would be.
After the community fortified against the woman, religious leaders organized efforts to erect carved idols and large wagon-wheel hexes aimed at her home. Each generation attempted to counter the woman with the current symbols of spiritual protection. The largest structure in the village was now a church, and the threshold of the church was oriented to face the woman’s home.
The woman was home when Alyona began her schooling in the church. She had learned the fundamentals of math, reading, and writing. She knew that her coursework would end soon. The village expected girls to be useful to a limit. Her mother walked her only surviving child to school along a path that would prevent their shadow from falling close to the woman’s realm. The villagers performed this ritual after someone claimed that the woman had controlled their behavior by stealing their shadow.
Alyona was daydreaming during school of a life away from the village when the woman touched her. Alyona had spent the morning in the woods collecting mushrooms and other edibles. Her findings made for great, free additions to their usually simple meals. . On days that Alyona returned with a bounty, they shared the extras with neighbors. It was a wager that these people would remember the gift and provide Alyona’s home with food during lean days.
The person gripping Alyona twirled her body so that she faced the opposite direction. Alyona assumed the culprit was another student or a young assistant at the church. It could have been a boy attempting to bully her to get her attention. She lowered her right hand, preparing to use the back to slap the violator. Alyona’s willingness to confront her accoster left when she saw the face of the woman under her purple scarf. Alyona knew she should look away from the woman, but her eyes locked with the woman’s gaze. All the stories the Alyona heard about the town ghoul stated that the woman was so old that her skeleton was all that was left of her body. The woman’s youthful face surprised Alyona. There were no lines or furrows on the woman’s forehead. If anything, Alyona would have stated that the woman’s face glowed.
I can smell it on your hands. The woman placed Alyona’s fingers under her nose. The force of the drawn air startled Alyona. She thought that the woman had pulled the top layer of skin off her index finger. Alyona’s toes curled when the woman sampled her hand. Across a church aisle, one of the priests was herding schoolchildren. He spotted the two of them. His face darkened at the sight of their contact.
WHAT IS ON YOUR HANDS, ALYONA? The priest shouted over the children.
Nothing, Sir. The woman’s tongue darted over the tip of Alyona’s index finger. I was harvesting in the woods before class.
You touched more than growths and nuts this morning, Singleton Child of the Crying Matron. The woman chewed on her thumbnail.
Alyona did not like her mother being referred to in that way, but the eyes of the woman immobilized her. How could she react forcefully to a person who was savoring her hand?
She is mine today, priest. The woman held out her other hand to the shepherd of the church. I will pay her mother for occupying her child for the day, and she will be returned unsoiled and whole.
The priest brought a gurgle of protest up but was shut down quickly.
My tunnels are beneath your place of worship and the bedchambers of Mistress Blake, The women stomped on the ground, and I know all of what has occurred within your walls.
Alyona realized that she was screaming when her throat began to sear. She expected that the woman’s hole would be dark, but the home glowed. There were mirrors and reflective glasses positioned throughout the house to harness sun rays from many holes and entrances in the surface of the residence. Therefore, Alyona was able to see herself yelling on fifty surfaces.
Hush child. The woman touched her mouth. Do not be afraid of the manner in which I inspected you. It is a show for the people. I only want to talk about your morning, and then I will let you go with a full belly and money to buy many toys.
Alyona felt her utterances dwindle down to a wheeze that slipped out her lips.
You have the scent on your fingers, girl. The woman was now examining Alyona’s left hand. It is on both hands, so you must have found a huge source.
A source? Alyona wanted to look at her hands but she maintained her attention on the woman.
Sit. The woman pointed to a well-padded chair. Sit and I will return with small pies and honey.
Alyona hovered over the seat. She wanted to be strong and to stand, but then she smelt the pies. The chair was very soft. There were no pins, claws, or spines in the cushion like she feared.
Alyona. The voice of the woman wove through the tunnels of the underground network. Alyona felt her name circle around her. She had never been afraid of her name before. Alyona Pistan…daughter of Fiva and the missing soldier.
Alyona closed her fist and felt the pain of her nails digging into her palms.
Fiva lives off the salary that the Duke must pay for your father’s military service. Your mother knows that the Duke no longer wants to pay this burden.
Alyona wanted to speak but her throat stung from screaming.
Your father’s name is Bay. He earned this title because he would not stop speaking when he was a baby. Like a horse that always had an opinion, your father would squawk at everyone before he knew words. The voice was now coming directly towards Alyona. My first gift to you and Fiva is the information that your father lives. There was a pause in the woman’s words. An enemy does not enslave him; he is lost with the simpleton that led him away. One day a map will lead him home, child.
The woman emerged from a cutout with a basket laden with pies, a pot of honey, wooden utensils, and slices of ham. In her other hand, she held a bucket of colored water.
We will eat together. The woman placed the basket on Alyona’s lap and retrieved two cups. After you accept the first pie, I will tell you an important secret of mine.
I do not think I want to know any of your secrets Starly-Gradda.
The woman laughed and placed the small wooden spoon into the pie directly in front of Alyona.
Elder-grandmother, you call me. The woman dunked a cup into the water and held it in her left hand. I think that term is the nicest thing a child has called me in a lifetime.
Alyona brought the food to her lips. She smelt the mint, berries, and kasha. Gently she laid the pie onto her tongue. She did not chew; she only let it rest in her mouth. She expected that the food would burn or numb her. The taste was full and made her wish to spit the substance out because it was too good to be real.
Ah, she eats. The woman clapped her hands. I was your age when I saw my first god being born.
Alyona choked on the pie.
I was sitting by a riverbank when the god entered our place. The woman drank from her cup. It was a bright yellow fish with shiny scales. I saw it come from nothing to being here.
The woman snapped her fingers and Alyona swallowed her food.
No one prayed for its existence. No one was singing for it to bring salvation. The woman made circles with her hands in front of Alyona. As far as I know, simple fish do not worship gods, but a god came for the fish of that river.
The woman tapped Alyona’s hand to take another bite of pie.
It floated there. The woman held up her hands. Here I am…a young maiden…thinking a god or demon turned itself into this creature to seduce or corrupt me. Again, a chuckle came from the woman. No other god cared about this special fish. I think it was floating only because it did not realize that a fish should swim in water.
Alyona grabbed a slice of ham. It had been two months since she had meat that was not paste.
Eventually, the golden fish fell into the water and swam away. The woman pulled back her hood and revealed her full face to Alyona. I tried to follow it, but it swam away from shore, and I lost sight of it.
Alyona cleared her throat and licked her lips.
Girl, if you want a drink, just take it. The woman filled Alyona’s cup and handed it to her. The ham is not that salty, but I think your sore throat would improve if you drank.
Alyona sipped the water. It did not taste bitter. It did not smell foul. In fact, the water’s taste was a mixture of apples, roses, and plums.
I told my mother, and she whispered to my father that they needed to trade me into marriage now, before I became soft in the head. I did not want to marry at my age, so I told her that I would go find proof of my shiny golden fish. The woman used a toothpick to dollop out a portion of honey. There was nothing in the water when I returned. I waded in the cool stream. I put my head under the surface and looked at the rocks for the golden shimmer. I found nothing.
Alyona ate the ham.
I was weeping on the spot that I saw the god be born. My heart was full of dread. I started to believe that the shiny golden god was not real. I was so sad that I was quickly accepting that I would be married to an old man so that he would tolerate my problems. The woman tapped her top lip. I felt that my mother had no love for me. I thought that if the golden fish were my mother, it would love me just because that is what should be.
Alyona selected another pie. This pie contained spices and mashed nuts.
Your mother loves you. I listen to all the words spoken in this village. If a parent lacks love for their child, I correct them or have them leave. The woman did not form a fist. She turned her hand into a claw, the conviction in her words hanging in the air until she relaxed it. As all hope was gone, I put my hand down in the grass, and felt the substance.
The woman held her hand flat towards Alyona.
It was clear. It was squishy like the rendered bones of stock animals. It had a pleasant smell, but I was scared to taste it. The woman cupped her hands. I gathered this glob. I used the front of my dress to carry the material. When I believed that the last speck was contained in my clothing, I ran to my parents.
Alyona had felt something similar in the forest that morning.
My mother accused me of only finding the discarded waste of an animal. She threatened to smear it over my face. The woman moved the honey pot closer to Alyona. My father took me to the village shaman, and he looked at the material. They scraped the material off my clothes, but not around my breasts. The shaman thought it was bone waste from an owl, the eggs of a species of frog, a shell-less egg from a dying bird, a mushroom that was usually underground, or the spit of an evil spirit.
Alyona’s eyes widened.
Of course, something as amazing as what we found would be considered evil. The woman waved her hand. I have discovered many bundles and I have never seen the substance created by an evil thing.
No? Alonya asked, breaking her food-induced silence.
No, child. The woman touched the tip of Alyona’s nose. It is not to say that evil people and things are not interested in the substance, but the creation of it does not come from evil.
Alyona resumed consuming the luxurious treats.
The morning after I saw the god being born, people started to fall sick. The woman sighed. My mother blamed the god substance. It was hard for the village not to turn on me after my mother told them it was my fault. The woman’s shoulders lowered. I had not slept that night, and I did not clean after my discovery. They put me in a crate that only had three holes. My father fed me and still cared for me.
Alyona did not know how to react but to nod at the woman.
When my elder brother was close to death from the illness, my mother brought him to my crate. She told me that I would have to watch my brother die because I was an evil liar who unleashed a demon on the community. I could see him wither in pain from the openings in my prison. The woman moved a third pie in front of Alyona. The night my mother told me that my brother would die, my father talked to me. It was an act of rebellion against my mother, but he asked me if I knew what had happened. I cried to him about how this was not something I did. I pleaded with my dad that I would never make my brother suffer, and that the day watching him had crushed my will to live.
The woman tore a slice of ham into pieces and placed pieces of the meat on the floor of her keep.
My father and I wept. He told me that I was likely to die because of the sickness. The woman tapped the tray. Not that I was sick… or was likely to get sick, but because it would seem as justice to the people. I knew his words were true, but I could not think of anything else to say.
The third pie was berry and egg meringue. Alyona did not know that pies like this one existed.
I entered the crate in the dress I wore when I saw the god be born. The truth is that I only had that dress and a wedding dress. My mother kept the dress I would’ve worn to my wedding in a box near her bed. A cat approached the pieces of ham. My grandfather had given me the wedding dress when he died, but she took it from me. My father used what he received from his father to buy me the only special clothes I would have in my life. My father loved me, Alyona, just like yours.
The cat touched Alyona’s leg. It startled her, and she confirmed that the cat was not black.
We talked about the jelly I had found. My father told me that he had tried to burn it, thinking it was an odd piece of animal fat. The substance did not burn. My father then tried to crush it out of existence, but the material was soft, but not easily destroyed. The woman touched the center of her chest. My father’s words made me remember that there was still some of the jelly on my dress. I touched where they did not scrape, and there was a patch of the substance. I pinched the substance and it coated my fingers. It felt warm, but not hot.
Alyona was glad that the cat had returned to the ham.
My father grew angry. He was arguing with the air that if he were a real man, he would protect his daughter and revive his son. He was a good father. The woman showed Alyona a closed smile. He was crying because he knew he could do nothing. I was sore and battered from being in the crate. I felt so greasy and disgusting. I thought I was no longer the same girl that wandered in the meadows.
The woman offered to refill Alyona’s water cup.
For some reason, I brought the fingers I had used to touch the smear of the jelly that was on my dress to my mouth. The taste was tangy, but not foul. It was better than the food that my father had inserted into the holes in my crate. I sucked on it. With both hands, the woman rattled the basket. I felt so much better. It was amazing. I could not see it, but I felt my dry, cracked lips heal. My mind became clear. I knew what I had to do.
Alyona stopped eating to listen to the woman.
I asked my father to place my brother’s mouth in front of the biggest hole of my crate. He thought I was mad. He accused me of confessing that I pledged my soul to demons, but I told him that I felt different after praying to our god. The woman looked directly at Alyona. I rubbed my fingers on the same spot of my dress, and I placed them into my brother’s mouth. He was so weak that he did not respond to this action. I moved my fingers along his gums, his teeth, I even touched his tongue.
Alyona spoke to the woman. Was he healed right away?
The woman chuckled.
I like you Alyona, but you have the impatience of a child. The woman touched Alyona’s chin. It was not a sudden reversal, but he did not die. People died that night, but my brother lived. More importantly, he was the only person to get even slightly better. He was not running in the fields, talking to everyone better, but he was no longer crying in pain. His eyes were no longer looking like they would burst. Moreover, my father stopped crying for us.
I am glad. Alyona looked at the half-eaten pie. She wanted more of it, but she thought it would be rude to return to eating.
It was another day, another four deaths, before my father told the shaman that he thought I could heal the sick. They pulled me from the crate and inspected me. The women called for me to be stoned. The men wanted me burned. The shaman asked how my brother was alive, and how I was still in good health. The woman tapped her right temple. I knew I had to lie. I knew that I could not tell the truth. I had to convince these scared people that I was not dangerous.
The woman shuffled the half pie back to Alyona.
I fell in front of the shaman and shouted, ‘The Green Man came to me.’ I do not think you know the Green Man, child, but he was the god of the people before Christ came to the land. The woman pointed to a drawing of a large tree man. It matters not what god I said talked to me. I yelled that I knew that I did something wicked, but our god had forgiven me, and I was now able to cure the sickness that was killing the village.
Alyona returned to eating the pie.
They whipped me and bound me. I feared that they would burn my dress, so I yelled that the Green Man said that if I were to heal the village, I would need to be as I was when he forgave and blessed me. The woman opened her hands so that Alyona could see her palms. The oldest people would pray in this manner. They tied my legs together and only allowed my right arm to be free. However, that was all I needed to start to heal the people of my life.
Alyona finished her meal.
I would say our prayers; tell the people who were watching that the Green Man wanted everyone to close their eyes so that his healing ray could hit the person. The woman pulled her head backwards with a laugh. During this time, I would pull some of the jelly off my dress and stick the substance in the person’s mouth.
The woman laughed deeply.
What? Alyona asked.
I did not know that so many of my fellow villagers were missing teeth. Children of the people that always had food, had damaged and missing teeth. I was trapped and bored, so my mind began to guess how many disgusting teeth injuries each person would have.
Alyona shivered.
I thought the teeth were bad, but then it got worse. The woman looked upwards. It was on the third day of my healing that it happened for the first time. It was night, and the shaman had decided to blind me with a rag during the healing. Someone’s parents said that they did not want me to steal the soul of their child while I healed them. I placed my finger into a very small mouth, and everything was different. I did not feel a tingle from treating a person with the substance. I sang our songs to Green Man and rubbed jelly over my right fingers. I had planned to give the infant as much of the stuff as I could. The woman covered her eyes. The tiny body jumped, but there was still no response.
Why? Alyona wanted to know.
The baby was dead. I did not know if the god-gift could bring life back to a person. I was scared that if I did not return this child alive to their parents, I would be killed. The woman bobbed her head to the ceiling of her cave home. I kept doing it for a long time. I replenished the coating of my fingers four times, but still there was no living response. I finally shouted into the air. I faked arguing with the Green Man. I begged him to give me the infant. I spoke words that no one had ever heard in an odd voice that I thought would sound like the Green Man. This battle went on for minutes until I asked if whoever brought this child to me would allow the Green Man to have the special child live with him. I am not sure if the parents knew that their baby had died. I am uncertain if the parents wanted me to do something that I thought was evil, but a male voice eventually responded that it would be an honor if his young son joined the hunters of the Green Man.
Alyona gasped.
I spoke in my fake Green Man’s voice that the parents of his new hunter would be honored with a new child by the next spring. I informed the parents that they would find gifts for the next year. The woman rocked her head so that she was looking at the floor. They brought me five more dead people to heal, but no more deceased children. I did not make a fuss over the dead adults. I stated that the Green Man blamed the family for their death. If they truly believed in the power of the Green Man, they would have brought their loved ones to me before the sickness took them.
Alyona nodded her head.
On the fifth day, my fingers were raw. My nails felt like they were growing too fast. I guess I was healing and benefiting from the jelly, but I was placing the same fingers into people’s mouths most of the day. The worst problem was that my dress was getting dry. The woman traced her lips with her right index finger. I think my father was watching me. I think he saw me searching desperately on my dress for any of the substance. I believe this because he brought me fresh peas to eat that night. In the third pea he gave me, the pod was full of the jelly.
Did your village love you for healing everyone after those days? Alyona smiled at the woman.
No. The woman patted the girl’s forehead. They kept me in the crate. There was no joy for me after I found the jelly.
You saved them.
The woman breathed deeply.
I said that the Green Man had used me to save them. I was nothing but a tarnished girl who may have the power to harm or make people ill. The woman turned her head to the side.
Did your father and brother free you from the crate? Alyona looked hopefully at the woman.
No child, the town folk dispatched the shaman with me in that wooden prison out into the world to purge the town of my evil. He threatened to kill me daily. He attempted to abandon me at every opportunity. The woman cupped her hand in front of Alyona. When I sensed a second source of the god jelly, he was able to sell me to a person.
No! Alyona did not know if it was a spell, but she was extending her hand towards the woman.
The sum was so great that my parents and brother lived well. The woman clapped each hand separately. That was after the shaman took his share of my bounty and spent more money on food, drink, and women on the trip home.
That’s…..
That is life, my special girl. The woman grabbed her hand and they stood up. The woman led the pair through tunnels and caverns. Eventually, the woman pulled her through a blanket of vines that concealed an exit to her labyrinth.
Your forest, Alyona. The woman gestured to the glade Alyona crossed to enter the woods.
Alyona pulled her hand away from the woman and pulled her hair back.
I am not sure what you want me to find. Alyona looked up to the woman. She received a smile.
I have never told anyone this before, the woman stuck her tongue out to Alyona, when I first touched the jelly, I felt that there were ants under my skin. It was the power of the jelly moving through me. It was such an odd feeling that I thought it was a sign of madness.
Alyona lowered her head. I felt something like that. I thought it was worms latching onto me from the peat.
That is the place, little one. Take me there.
Alyona was about to step forward when the woman asked her another question.
What color was the substance you touched today?
It was not one color, ma’am. Alyona moved her hand down to her legs. She brushed unseen but felt passengers from her body. I grabbed it first because I thought it was rose root. My mother could turn the flower into medicine to sell or trade. Alyona knelt and touched the ground. Except that the flower was so low to the ground and it was not the red or yellow flower I normally pick. They were violet with orange centers.
They did not feel like flowers.
No. Alyona pulled her hand away from the ground. They stuck to me like honey.
submitted by Locke7768 to fantasywriters [link] [comments]
Astral/Star Jelly is often found after meteorite showers or other astral events. I found some when I was young (heavy Northern Lights and Meteor Shower event). I crafted the first chapter of a potential novel. Please give feedback. I am switching to google docs, so soon I will have links to my works.
Chapter 1
The Byproduct of Gods
Her owners had held her for so many lifetimes that the stream, which flowed, near her family’s hut was gone. The trees that provided fuel, housing, and food were missing, replaced by a prairie. After all the years of the concept of returning home keeping her going, she did not feel safe. There were no people near her village, and it took her days to unearth signs of her youth. She discovered the land that she had first walked on only because the mountain and stones did not move. As she cleaned the Blue Volga granite idol of her parents’ deity, she felt nothing. The blue-green face of the god looked sad to her. He also was no longer safe. His followers were dead and his power forgotten.
Her first owner was a traveler. They moved with each new moon. Her master felt safe but she failed to understand that her entourage plodded along a predictable path. After many decades, a tale of a demon woman who did not age traveled the same circuit. Finally, a village attacked the demon. Her second owner was the daughter of the woman who bought her. The daughter decided to build a fortress and to rule her fief. Her third owner was the daughter’s son who had grown tired of never gaining his birthright. His guilt and myopic greed caused him to sell her to an alchemist. From that point on, she was an item for trade or barter.
Her final master failed to return home. She remained in his caravan for a week, performing her duties. When she had eaten all the food, she felt justified using her knowledge to destroy her metal shackles. It took her five days to dissolve her bindings with her jellies.
She thought of the places that she had felt safe. Those havens were all underground. A magician made her live in the passages beneath Kyiv when he was being hunted. The tunnels funneled the 15 rivers of the city and protected inhabitants from invaders or punishing ruling forces. For twenty years, she had lived in the coquina catacombs of Odessa. A man who thought he was a seer was convinced that his power had attracted the attention of dragons and demons. No one could approach the lair unseen.
After a week of searching the now unfamiliar area, the woman began to carve her home from the soil of her childhood. She spent fifty years making her home safe. Only she would know the paths and twists of her underground world. Only she would know where the escape exits emerged into the surrounding world.
Eventually, her home attracted others. The woman could have chased them away, but she felt a need to observe people. When the fourth generations of villagers were aging to the grave, there was no hiding the fact that she had not died. The villagers erected a semi-circular wall around the entrance to the woman’s cave. The wall grew and the woman did not protest the separation.
Generations later, people whispered that the villagers maintained the defenses of their community to keep the woman away from the town’s children at night. In the tavern, each generation of gallant males would boast that they would be the one to remove the blight of the woman from the town. When she inevitably outlasted them, she would attend the funeral of the most vocal warrior from each age group.
Daily the woman would remove more soil from her dugout. The community would search her discarded diggings for possible minerals or stones. They did not share any discoveries with the woman. During times of blight or famine, the locals would collect her soil and remove it from the community.
People would peer around the wall to scan the woman’s home. As the village grew, a leader placed two chairs at endpoints of the semi-circle barrier. During full moons, periods of strife, festivals, and other social events, menacing men sat in the chairs. Infrequently, people tried to enter the woman’s home. Aside from the guards, it was the more distraught people of the village who visited her.. The most recent person to enter the woman’s home was a grieving widow. Her grief made her seek the woman to find answers about her loss. Three mornings later, the villagers found the widow in the public square with drapes of herbs, flowers, and crafts around her limbs. The people thought the widow was dead or mindless from torture. When the widow awoke, she went to her house and began the chores for the day. When pressed about the woman’s abode, the widow would state that the home was loved, clean, and well maintained.
On the spring day when the widow was about to remarry, she was again discovered in the square coated with ropes of herbs, flowers, and idols. The woman disappeared for a decade after the wedding, but the widow brought her newborns to the opening of the earthwork to declare their names into the sunken space.
The aging hamlet relaxed when the woman was away. There was a sense of freedom in the people. They did not fear the retribution of the woman for their actions, and parents could not correct their children with threats of giving them to the woman. At times, the leaders of the people would consider filling in the woman’s hovel, but shovels and spades would split if used to cover the opening of the woman’s home. One regretful man tried using a mule and cart to dump rocks into the fastness. The stones crushed the man after his own tram flipped over on him.
Although the townsfolk feared and despised the woman, she had free reign in the village. As an indicator that she was amongst the people, the woman would adorn her head with a dark purple scarf. No other members of the village would wear that color. They looked for it whenever the woman shopped at the market. The woman paid with old and foreign coins, but the merchants welcomed the precious metals they were composed of. During the dark days of winter, the people collected the woman’s tender and deposited it into a lead box. The villagers had a belief that the more people touched the woman’s currency, the longer the winter would be.
After the community fortified against the woman, religious leaders organized efforts to erect carved idols and large wagon-wheel hexes aimed at her home. Each generation attempted to counter the woman with the current symbols of spiritual protection. The largest structure in the village was now a church, and the threshold of the church was oriented to face the woman’s home.
The woman was home when Alyona began her schooling in the church. She had learned the fundamentals of math, reading, and writing. She knew that her coursework would end soon. The village expected girls to be useful to a limit. Her mother walked her only surviving child to school along a path that would prevent their shadow from falling close to the woman’s realm. The villagers performed this ritual after someone claimed that the woman had controlled their behavior by stealing their shadow.
Alyona was daydreaming during school of a life away from the village when the woman touched her. Alyona had spent the morning in the woods collecting mushrooms and other edibles. Her findings made for great, free additions to their usually simple meals. . On days that Alyona returned with a bounty, they shared the extras with neighbors. It was a wager that these people would remember the gift and provide Alyona’s home with food during lean days.
The person gripping Alyona twirled her body so that she faced the opposite direction. Alyona assumed the culprit was another student or a young assistant at the church. It could have been a boy attempting to bully her to get her attention. She lowered her right hand, preparing to use the back to slap the violator. Alyona’s willingness to confront her accoster left when she saw the face of the woman under her purple scarf. Alyona knew she should look away from the woman, but her eyes locked with the woman’s gaze. All the stories the Alyona heard about the town ghoul stated that the woman was so old that her skeleton was all that was left of her body. The woman’s youthful face surprised Alyona. There were no lines or furrows on the woman’s forehead. If anything, Alyona would have stated that the woman’s face glowed.
I can smell it on your hands. The woman placed Alyona’s fingers under her nose. The force of the drawn air startled Alyona. She thought that the woman had pulled the top layer of skin off her index finger. Alyona’s toes curled when the woman sampled her hand. Across a church aisle, one of the priests was herding schoolchildren. He spotted the two of them. His face darkened at the sight of their contact.
WHAT IS ON YOUR HANDS, ALYONA? The priest shouted over the children.
Nothing, Sir. The woman’s tongue darted over the tip of Alyona’s index finger. I was harvesting in the woods before class.
You touched more than growths and nuts this morning, Singleton Child of the Crying Matron. The woman chewed on her thumbnail.
Alyona did not like her mother being referred to in that way, but the eyes of the woman immobilized her. How could she react forcefully to a person who was savoring her hand?
She is mine today, priest. The woman held out her other hand to the shepherd of the church. I will pay her mother for occupying her child for the day, and she will be returned unsoiled and whole.
The priest brought a gurgle of protest up but was shut down quickly.
My tunnels are beneath your place of worship and the bedchambers of Mistress Blake, The women stomped on the ground, and I know all of what has occurred within your walls.
Alyona realized that she was screaming when her throat began to sear. She expected that the woman’s hole would be dark, but the home glowed. There were mirrors and reflective glasses positioned throughout the house to harness sun rays from many holes and entrances in the surface of the residence. Therefore, Alyona was able to see herself yelling on fifty surfaces.
Hush child. The woman touched her mouth. Do not be afraid of the manner in which I inspected you. It is a show for the people. I only want to talk about your morning, and then I will let you go with a full belly and money to buy many toys.
Alyona felt her utterances dwindle down to a wheeze that slipped out her lips.
You have the scent on your fingers, girl. The woman was now examining Alyona’s left hand. It is on both hands, so you must have found a huge source.
A source? Alyona wanted to look at her hands but she maintained her attention on the woman.
Sit. The woman pointed to a well-padded chair. Sit and I will return with small pies and honey.
Alyona hovered over the seat. She wanted to be strong and to stand, but then she smelt the pies. The chair was very soft. There were no pins, claws, or spines in the cushion like she feared.
Alyona. The voice of the woman wove through the tunnels of the underground network. Alyona felt her name circle around her. She had never been afraid of her name before. Alyona Pistan…daughter of Fiva and the missing soldier.
Alyona closed her fist and felt the pain of her nails digging into her palms.
Fiva lives off the salary that the Duke must pay for your father’s military service. Your mother knows that the Duke no longer wants to pay this burden.
Alyona wanted to speak but her throat stung from screaming.
Your father’s name is Bay. He earned this title because he would not stop speaking when he was a baby. Like a horse that always had an opinion, your father would squawk at everyone before he knew words. The voice was now coming directly towards Alyona. My first gift to you and Fiva is the information that your father lives. There was a pause in the woman’s words. An enemy does not enslave him; he is lost with the simpleton that led him away. One day a map will lead him home, child.
The woman emerged from a cutout with a basket laden with pies, a pot of honey, wooden utensils, and slices of ham. In her other hand, she held a bucket of colored water.
We will eat together. The woman placed the basket on Alyona’s lap and retrieved two cups. After you accept the first pie, I will tell you an important secret of mine.
I do not think I want to know any of your secrets Starly-Gradda.
The woman laughed and placed the small wooden spoon into the pie directly in front of Alyona.
Elder-grandmother, you call me. The woman dunked a cup into the water and held it in her left hand. I think that term is the nicest thing a child has called me in a lifetime.
Alyona brought the food to her lips. She smelt the mint, berries, and kasha. Gently she laid the pie onto her tongue. She did not chew; she only let it rest in her mouth. She expected that the food would burn or numb her. The taste was full and made her wish to spit the substance out because it was too good to be real.
Ah, she eats. The woman clapped her hands. I was your age when I saw my first god being born.
Alyona choked on the pie.
I was sitting by a riverbank when the god entered our place. The woman drank from her cup. It was a bright yellow fish with shiny scales. I saw it come from nothing to being here.
The woman snapped her fingers and Alyona swallowed her food.
No one prayed for its existence. No one was singing for it to bring salvation. The woman made circles with her hands in front of Alyona. As far as I know, simple fish do not worship gods, but a god came for the fish of that river.
The woman tapped Alyona’s hand to take another bite of pie.
It floated there. The woman held up her hands. Here I am…a young maiden…thinking a god or demon turned itself into this creature to seduce or corrupt me. Again, a chuckle came from the woman. No other god cared about this special fish. I think it was floating only because it did not realize that a fish should swim in water.
Alyona grabbed a slice of ham. It had been two months since she had meat that was not paste.
Eventually, the golden fish fell into the water and swam away. The woman pulled back her hood and revealed her full face to Alyona. I tried to follow it, but it swam away from shore, and I lost sight of it.
Alyona cleared her throat and licked her lips.
Girl, if you want a drink, just take it. The woman filled Alyona’s cup and handed it to her. The ham is not that salty, but I think your sore throat would improve if you drank.
Alyona sipped the water. It did not taste bitter. It did not smell foul. In fact, the water’s taste was a mixture of apples, roses, and plums.
I told my mother, and she whispered to my father that they needed to trade me into marriage now, before I became soft in the head. I did not want to marry at my age, so I told her that I would go find proof of my shiny golden fish. The woman used a toothpick to dollop out a portion of honey. There was nothing in the water when I returned. I waded in the cool stream. I put my head under the surface and looked at the rocks for the golden shimmer. I found nothing.
Alyona ate the ham.
I was weeping on the spot that I saw the god be born. My heart was full of dread. I started to believe that the shiny golden god was not real. I was so sad that I was quickly accepting that I would be married to an old man so that he would tolerate my problems. The woman tapped her top lip. I felt that my mother had no love for me. I thought that if the golden fish were my mother, it would love me just because that is what should be.
Alyona selected another pie. This pie contained spices and mashed nuts.
Your mother loves you. I listen to all the words spoken in this village. If a parent lacks love for their child, I correct them or have them leave. The woman did not form a fist. She turned her hand into a claw, the conviction in her words hanging in the air until she relaxed it. As all hope was gone, I put my hand down in the grass, and felt the substance.
The woman held her hand flat towards Alyona.
It was clear. It was squishy like the rendered bones of stock animals. It had a pleasant smell, but I was scared to taste it. The woman cupped her hands. I gathered this glob. I used the front of my dress to carry the material. When I believed that the last speck was contained in my clothing, I ran to my parents.
Alyona had felt something similar in the forest that morning.
My mother accused me of only finding the discarded waste of an animal. She threatened to smear it over my face. The woman moved the honey pot closer to Alyona. My father took me to the village shaman, and he looked at the material. They scraped the material off my clothes, but not around my breasts. The shaman thought it was bone waste from an owl, the eggs of a species of frog, a shell-less egg from a dying bird, a mushroom that was usually underground, or the spit of an evil spirit.
Alyona’s eyes widened.
Of course, something as amazing as what we found would be considered evil. The woman waved her hand. I have discovered many bundles and I have never seen the substance created by an evil thing.
No? Alonya asked, breaking her food-induced silence.
No, child. The woman touched the tip of Alyona’s nose. It is not to say that evil people and things are not interested in the substance, but the creation of it does not come from evil.
Alyona resumed consuming the luxurious treats.
The morning after I saw the god being born, people started to fall sick. The woman sighed. My mother blamed the god substance. It was hard for the village not to turn on me after my mother told them it was my fault. The woman’s shoulders lowered. I had not slept that night, and I did not clean after my discovery. They put me in a crate that only had three holes. My father fed me and still cared for me.
Alyona did not know how to react but to nod at the woman.
When my elder brother was close to death from the illness, my mother brought him to my crate. She told me that I would have to watch my brother die because I was an evil liar who unleashed a demon on the community. I could see him wither in pain from the openings in my prison. The woman moved a third pie in front of Alyona. The night my mother told me that my brother would die, my father talked to me. It was an act of rebellion against my mother, but he asked me if I knew what had happened. I cried to him about how this was not something I did. I pleaded with my dad that I would never make my brother suffer, and that the day watching him had crushed my will to live.
The woman tore a slice of ham into pieces and placed pieces of the meat on the floor of her keep.
My father and I wept. He told me that I was likely to die because of the sickness. The woman tapped the tray. Not that I was sick… or was likely to get sick, but because it would seem as justice to the people. I knew his words were true, but I could not think of anything else to say.
The third pie was berry and egg meringue. Alyona did not know that pies like this one existed.
I entered the crate in the dress I wore when I saw the god be born. The truth is that I only had that dress and a wedding dress. My mother kept the dress I would’ve worn to my wedding in a box near her bed. A cat approached the pieces of ham. My grandfather had given me the wedding dress when he died, but she took it from me. My father used what he received from his father to buy me the only special clothes I would have in my life. My father loved me, Alyona, just like yours.
The cat touched Alyona’s leg. It startled her, and she confirmed that the cat was not black.
We talked about the jelly I had found. My father told me that he had tried to burn it, thinking it was an odd piece of animal fat. The substance did not burn. My father then tried to crush it out of existence, but the material was soft, but not easily destroyed. The woman touched the center of her chest. My father’s words made me remember that there was still some of the jelly on my dress. I touched where they did not scrape, and there was a patch of the substance. I pinched the substance and it coated my fingers. It felt warm, but not hot.
Alyona was glad that the cat had returned to the ham.
My father grew angry. He was arguing with the air that if he were a real man, he would protect his daughter and revive his son. He was a good father. The woman showed Alyona a closed smile. He was crying because he knew he could do nothing. I was sore and battered from being in the crate. I felt so greasy and disgusting. I thought I was no longer the same girl that wandered in the meadows.
The woman offered to refill Alyona’s water cup.
For some reason, I brought the fingers I had used to touch the smear of the jelly that was on my dress to my mouth. The taste was tangy, but not foul. It was better than the food that my father had inserted into the holes in my crate. I sucked on it. With both hands, the woman rattled the basket. I felt so much better. It was amazing. I could not see it, but I felt my dry, cracked lips heal. My mind became clear. I knew what I had to do.
Alyona stopped eating to listen to the woman.
I asked my father to place my brother’s mouth in front of the biggest hole of my crate. He thought I was mad. He accused me of confessing that I pledged my soul to demons, but I told him that I felt different after praying to our god. The woman looked directly at Alyona. I rubbed my fingers on the same spot of my dress, and I placed them into my brother’s mouth. He was so weak that he did not respond to this action. I moved my fingers along his gums, his teeth, I even touched his tongue.
Alyona spoke to the woman. Was he healed right away?
The woman chuckled.
I like you Alyona, but you have the impatience of a child. The woman touched Alyona’s chin. It was not a sudden reversal, but he did not die. People died that night, but my brother lived. More importantly, he was the only person to get even slightly better. He was not running in the fields, talking to everyone better, but he was no longer crying in pain. His eyes were no longer looking like they would burst. Moreover, my father stopped crying for us.
I am glad. Alyona looked at the half-eaten pie. She wanted more of it, but she thought it would be rude to return to eating.
It was another day, another four deaths, before my father told the shaman that he thought I could heal the sick. They pulled me from the crate and inspected me. The women called for me to be stoned. The men wanted me burned. The shaman asked how my brother was alive, and how I was still in good health. The woman tapped her right temple. I knew I had to lie. I knew that I could not tell the truth. I had to convince these scared people that I was not dangerous.
The woman shuffled the half pie back to Alyona.
I fell in front of the shaman and shouted, ‘The Green Man came to me.’ I do not think you know the Green Man, child, but he was the god of the people before Christ came to the land. The woman pointed to a drawing of a large tree man. It matters not what god I said talked to me. I yelled that I knew that I did something wicked, but our god had forgiven me, and I was now able to cure the sickness that was killing the village.
Alyona returned to eating the pie.
They whipped me and bound me. I feared that they would burn my dress, so I yelled that the Green Man said that if I were to heal the village, I would need to be as I was when he forgave and blessed me. The woman opened her hands so that Alyona could see her palms. The oldest people would pray in this manner. They tied my legs together and only allowed my right arm to be free. However, that was all I needed to start to heal the people of my life.
Alyona finished her meal.
I would say our prayers; tell the people who were watching that the Green Man wanted everyone to close their eyes so that his healing ray could hit the person. The woman pulled her head backwards with a laugh. During this time, I would pull some of the jelly off my dress and stick the substance in the person’s mouth.
The woman laughed deeply.
What? Alyona asked.
I did not know that so many of my fellow villagers were missing teeth. Children of the people that always had food, had damaged and missing teeth. I was trapped and bored, so my mind began to guess how many disgusting teeth injuries each person would have.
Alyona shivered.
I thought the teeth were bad, but then it got worse. The woman looked upwards. It was on the third day of my healing that it happened for the first time. It was night, and the shaman had decided to blind me with a rag during the healing. Someone’s parents said that they did not want me to steal the soul of their child while I healed them. I placed my finger into a very small mouth, and everything was different. I did not feel a tingle from treating a person with the substance. I sang our songs to Green Man and rubbed jelly over my right fingers. I had planned to give the infant as much of the stuff as I could. The woman covered her eyes. The tiny body jumped, but there was still no response.
Why? Alyona wanted to know.
The baby was dead. I did not know if the god-gift could bring life back to a person. I was scared that if I did not return this child alive to their parents, I would be killed. The woman bobbed her head to the ceiling of her cave home. I kept doing it for a long time. I replenished the coating of my fingers four times, but still there was no living response. I finally shouted into the air. I faked arguing with the Green Man. I begged him to give me the infant. I spoke words that no one had ever heard in an odd voice that I thought would sound like the Green Man. This battle went on for minutes until I asked if whoever brought this child to me would allow the Green Man to have the special child live with him. I am not sure if the parents knew that their baby had died. I am uncertain if the parents wanted me to do something that I thought was evil, but a male voice eventually responded that it would be an honor if his young son joined the hunters of the Green Man.
Alyona gasped.
I spoke in my fake Green Man’s voice that the parents of his new hunter would be honored with a new child by the next spring. I informed the parents that they would find gifts for the next year. The woman rocked her head so that she was looking at the floor. They brought me five more dead people to heal, but no more deceased children. I did not make a fuss over the dead adults. I stated that the Green Man blamed the family for their death. If they truly believed in the power of the Green Man, they would have brought their loved ones to me before the sickness took them.
Alyona nodded her head.
On the fifth day, my fingers were raw. My nails felt like they were growing too fast. I guess I was healing and benefiting from the jelly, but I was placing the same fingers into people’s mouths most of the day. The worst problem was that my dress was getting dry. The woman traced her lips with her right index finger. I think my father was watching me. I think he saw me searching desperately on my dress for any of the substance. I believe this because he brought me fresh peas to eat that night. In the third pea he gave me, the pod was full of the jelly.
Did your village love you for healing everyone after those days? Alyona smiled at the woman.
No. The woman patted the girl’s forehead. They kept me in the crate. There was no joy for me after I found the jelly.
You saved them.
The woman breathed deeply.
I said that the Green Man had used me to save them. I was nothing but a tarnished girl who may have the power to harm or make people ill. The woman turned her head to the side.
Did your father and brother free you from the crate? Alyona looked hopefully at the woman.
No child, the town folk dispatched the shaman with me in that wooden prison out into the world to purge the town of my evil. He threatened to kill me daily. He attempted to abandon me at every opportunity. The woman cupped her hand in front of Alyona. When I sensed a second source of the god jelly, he was able to sell me to a person.
No! Alyona did not know if it was a spell, but she was extending her hand towards the woman.
The sum was so great that my parents and brother lived well. The woman clapped each hand separately. That was after the shaman took his share of my bounty and spent more money on food, drink, and women on the trip home.
That’s…..
That is life, my special girl. The woman grabbed her hand and they stood up. The woman led the pair through tunnels and caverns. Eventually, the woman pulled her through a blanket of vines that concealed an exit to her labyrinth.
Your forest, Alyona. The woman gestured to the glade Alyona crossed to enter the woods.
Alyona pulled her hand away from the woman and pulled her hair back.
I am not sure what you want me to find. Alyona looked up to the woman. She received a smile.
I have never told anyone this before, the woman stuck her tongue out to Alyona, when I first touched the jelly, I felt that there were ants under my skin. It was the power of the jelly moving through me. It was such an odd feeling that I thought it was a sign of madness.
Alyona lowered her head. I felt something like that. I thought it was worms latching onto me from the peat.
That is the place, little one. Take me there.
Alyona was about to step forward when the woman asked her another question.
What color was the substance you touched today?
It was not one color, ma’am. Alyona moved her hand down to her legs. She brushed unseen but felt passengers from her body. I grabbed it first because I thought it was rose root. My mother could turn the flower into medicine to sell or trade. Alyona knelt and touched the ground. Except that the flower was so low to the ground and it was not the red or yellow flower I normally pick. They were violet with orange centers.
They did not feel like flowers.
No. Alyona pulled her hand away from the ground. They stuck to me like honey.
2023.05.31 22:48 AlmoustBlue It's really, finally happening
 | submitted by AlmoustBlue to Sardonicast [link] [comments] |
2023.05.31 21:53 thatskymirian There is a new patch update for Sky: 🌈 Days of Color 🎵 Days of Music ✨ Other improvements [May 31, 2023 - 0.21.5]
(See the Known Issues post for 0.21.5 here.)
Shared by TGC on all major communication. Check out their tweet here:
Greetings, Adventurers! In our latest update, prepare to head into the remaining Season of Passage quests, plus two colorful and musical events. We also introduce a feature to make it easier to get new in-game currency items during events, a new way to create music, plus another round of bug fixes.
The lesson of each Seasonal Quest is best experienced when completed with groups of other players, but all of these passages can be completed independently if desired. Except for the first quest, all quests are held at set intervals every 15 minutes.
Be sure to unlock expressions and exchange Seasonal Candles for any cosmetics you want from the Seasonal Spirits before the Season ends at 23:59 on June 25th (all times PDT, UTC -7). Content can be enjoyed by all players who have progressed to at least Hidden Forest.
Players with a Season Pass will also have the opportunity to unlock all items from the Seasonal Spirits and the Ultimate Gifts available through the Season of Passage Guide.
Event currencies can be exchanged for new IGC cosmetics or event-related spells. They can be found in the main area where the event is played, or in some cases, alongside the event’s themed daily quests, so you won’t need to go out of your way to add this currency to your inventory. In the levels, event currencies vary in appearance to fit the theme of their event. In your inventory, they'll appear as a ticket icon with a symbol on it that will be related to its specific event.
The basics:
Be sure to check out our blog post and FAQ page for more info!
Two event guide Spirits greet a double rainbow in Home that offers Light to collect. Talk to them for the option of teleporting to where the main festivities will be held: an area high above Daylight Prairie, expanded specially for the occasion.
During the first eight days of the event, colorful platforms will gradually become available one-by-one. Charge them with the aid of other players, and once enough people have gathered to charge each platform, receive a reward of Light—or, once all eight platforms are charged, something even more lofty and brilliant. A nearby closet and magical spell-lending geyser can help if you need to make a quick cape change.
As you explore the event area and complete themed Daily Quests, keep an eye out for small iridescent, bubble-like spheres. These are the special event-themed currency you can use to unlock this year’s new IGC Days of Color cosmetic. Players can collect 8 every day during the event—and on days with themed Daily Quests, up to 12 each day! Explore a bit more on the weekends and you might find an extra bubble or two…
Note: The total number of event currency intended to be available during the event is affected by a bug. To offset that bug, we’ll add 8 event currency to the inventory of all players who log in during Days of Color. The only thing you need to do to receive this is to log into the game.
This year we’re proud to share that we’ll once again be supporting The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. The Trevor Project’s programs include crisis services, education, peer support for people around the world, and other efforts to ensure young people can have the chance to thrive no matter who they are. You can read about our 2022 campaign with the Trevor Project here.
2023 Days of Color Campaign Items
The cosmetics below will be offered for sale or in exchange for in-game currency. They can be found from the event guide Spirits, or from the in-game shop. (Please note that these are not campaign items.)
A Jam Station in Harmony Hall allows you to easily create music of your own. This new feature lets you dabble out tunes for solos, duets, or even four-part ensembles with an interface that makes it simple to loop them together and adjust as you go along.
A group of four Spirits from the Seasons of Gratitude and Rhythm will also arrive for the occasion, each one offering an instrument to unlock. New music sheets have been added to the music sheet challenges, which will also give each Sky kid an extra boost of Light if they sit down to try their hand at one, no minimum skill level needed!
Two new instruments will be added to Harmony Hall's lineup: a saxophone for event currency, and a violin as an IAP added during the second half of Days of Music.
With the brand new event currency feature, we’re still working to make sure the final balance for everything will be in order—we’ll share those details on our News page closer to the start of the event, so stay tuned!
These event items can be found at the counter (or Spirit standing nearby it) in Harmony Hall:
As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback, and encourage you to join the community discussion on our official Discord server at discord.gg/thatskygame!
Reminder I’m not TGC staff, just reposting their announcements :D
submitted by thatskymirian to SkyGame [link] [comments]
Good news, Sky kids! 📣Patch notes transcript:
We have a new patch update for Sky:
🌈 Days of Color
🎵 Days of Music
✨ Other improvements
See the patch notes for more 📬 bit.ly/SkyPatch0215
The Final Lessons of Season of Passage Lie Ahead
The second half of Season of Passage is here! The final Seasonal Quests approach, with new lessons awaiting. As you progress through the quests, don’t forget to check in with the Passage Guide in Isle of Dawn. Not only will you be able to receive hearts and unlock masks, you may even find a prop you can use to share a game of footbag with other players.The lesson of each Seasonal Quest is best experienced when completed with groups of other players, but all of these passages can be completed independently if desired. Except for the first quest, all quests are held at set intervals every 15 minutes.
Be sure to unlock expressions and exchange Seasonal Candles for any cosmetics you want from the Seasonal Spirits before the Season ends at 23:59 on June 25th (all times PDT, UTC -7). Content can be enjoyed by all players who have progressed to at least Hidden Forest.
Players with a Season Pass will also have the opportunity to unlock all items from the Seasonal Spirits and the Ultimate Gifts available through the Season of Passage Guide.
Introducing Event Currency
As you may have read in our recent blog post, in this update we’re introducing event currencies, a new category of currency to make it easier to get new in-game currency (IGC) event cosmetics. The aim is to make it easier to unlock new IGC event items simply by playing most of an event, without feeling pressure to save up Candles or Hearts in advance.Event currencies can be exchanged for new IGC cosmetics or event-related spells. They can be found in the main area where the event is played, or in some cases, alongside the event’s themed daily quests, so you won’t need to go out of your way to add this currency to your inventory. In the levels, event currencies vary in appearance to fit the theme of their event. In your inventory, they'll appear as a ticket icon with a symbol on it that will be related to its specific event.
The basics:
- The currency for a specific event is available only while that event is being held.
- Currencies won’t carry over from one event to another, but enough are available during an event to unlock this year’s new IGC cosmetics.
- You won’t need to get all the event currency available every single day to unlock new event items.
- Currencies are placed in set locations each day, and their location in an event will rotate.
- At the end of an event, unused event currencies do not convert to Candles or anything else.
- From one event to another, there may be a different total number of event currency available each day.
Be sure to check out our blog post and FAQ page for more info!
Rainbows Return in Days of Color
The most colorful time of Sky’s year is about to begin. From 00:00 June 1st until 23:59 June 14th, join in a celebration of the diversity that makes our shared world so vibrant. This year’s update further builds on the core themes that have been the focus of the event since its debut in 2020 as Days of Rainbow, celebrating diversity, hope, and above all making the world inside and outside of Sky more inclusive for everyone.Two event guide Spirits greet a double rainbow in Home that offers Light to collect. Talk to them for the option of teleporting to where the main festivities will be held: an area high above Daylight Prairie, expanded specially for the occasion.
During the first eight days of the event, colorful platforms will gradually become available one-by-one. Charge them with the aid of other players, and once enough people have gathered to charge each platform, receive a reward of Light—or, once all eight platforms are charged, something even more lofty and brilliant. A nearby closet and magical spell-lending geyser can help if you need to make a quick cape change.
As you explore the event area and complete themed Daily Quests, keep an eye out for small iridescent, bubble-like spheres. These are the special event-themed currency you can use to unlock this year’s new IGC Days of Color cosmetic. Players can collect 8 every day during the event—and on days with themed Daily Quests, up to 12 each day! Explore a bit more on the weekends and you might find an extra bubble or two…
Note: The total number of event currency intended to be available during the event is affected by a bug. To offset that bug, we’ll add 8 event currency to the inventory of all players who log in during Days of Color. The only thing you need to do to receive this is to log into the game.
This year we’re proud to share that we’ll once again be supporting The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. The Trevor Project’s programs include crisis services, education, peer support for people around the world, and other efforts to ensure young people can have the chance to thrive no matter who they are. You can read about our 2022 campaign with the Trevor Project here.
2023 Days of Color Campaign Items
- Dark Rainbow Pack $9.99 (all prices USD)
- As a token of gratitude in return, 40 regular Candles are included with the purchase of this campaign pack
- $5.00: Days of Color 2023 campaign
- $3.00: platform fees
- $1.99: development
- Rainbow Pack flower hair accessory: $19.99 (returning item)
- As a token of gratitude in return, 75 regular Candles are included with the purchase of this campaign pack
- $10.00: Days of Color 2023 campaign
- $6.00: platform fees
- $3.99: development
- Double Rainbow Pack flower hair accessory: $9.99 (returning item)
- As a token of gratitude in return, 40 regular Candles are included with the purchase of this campaign pack
- $5.00: Days of Color 2023 campaign
- $3.00: platform fees
- $1.99: development
The cosmetics below will be offered for sale or in exchange for in-game currency. They can be found from the event guide Spirits, or from the in-game shop. (Please note that these are not campaign items.)
- New This Year—Dark Rainbow Cape: 104 Days of Color currency
- This is earned through our brand new event currency
- Rainbow Cape: 175 Candles
- Rainbow Trousers: 95 Candles
- Rainbow Braid Accessory: 20 Hearts
- New This Year—Dark Rainbow Tunic: $14.99
- Rainbow Earring: $2.99
- Rainbow Headphones: $9.99
- Rainbow Hat: $9.99
Melodies and Harmonies in Days of Music
New songs are about to ring out to introduce a cozy event! From 00:00 June 26th until 23:59 July 9, Harmony Hall in the Valley of Triumph is hosting Days of Music, a laid back gathering for players of any (or even no) music experience.A Jam Station in Harmony Hall allows you to easily create music of your own. This new feature lets you dabble out tunes for solos, duets, or even four-part ensembles with an interface that makes it simple to loop them together and adjust as you go along.
A group of four Spirits from the Seasons of Gratitude and Rhythm will also arrive for the occasion, each one offering an instrument to unlock. New music sheets have been added to the music sheet challenges, which will also give each Sky kid an extra boost of Light if they sit down to try their hand at one, no minimum skill level needed!
Two new instruments will be added to Harmony Hall's lineup: a saxophone for event currency, and a violin as an IAP added during the second half of Days of Music.
With the brand new event currency feature, we’re still working to make sure the final balance for everything will be in order—we’ll share those details on our News page closer to the start of the event, so stay tuned!
These event items can be found at the counter (or Spirit standing nearby it) in Harmony Hall:
- Music sheet: 5 Candles
- Harmony Hairpin: 50 Candles (returning item)
- Event currency items: stay tuned for details when the event approaches!
- Marching Band Hat
- Saxophone
- Planned to be available from July 7—Triumph Violin: $19.99
- Please note that our recent development server accident may cause a delay in the violin’s release.
- The violin will continue to be available after the event as well.
More Updates
- A lot of features that have been added to Sky are directly based on player feedback—expanding the Friendship Constellation, in-game translation, even being able to interact with Spirits with hugs and high fives (as just a few examples). The latest addition based on player requests: Huggable plushie props. Go forth and show love to your stuffed crab anywhere you go!
Developer Note: Many players love taking their plushie friends around Sky, so we added new ways to play with them! Plushies can now be picked up, hugged, and more. This is our first crack at the plushies and we plan on tinkering with them some more as we see players interact with them. Keep an eye out for more plushie updates in the future!
- A monument has been added to the Starlight Desert area of Vault of Knowledge in honor of a late beloved coworker, and others to whom we’ve had to say goodbye. “In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so, it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night.”
Improvements and Bug Fixes in this update include:
Highlights:
- Various improvements to reduce players being separate from their friends when meditating to go to the seasonal area of Isle of Dawn or to join the Seasonal Quests.
- Changes to make it easier for friends to teleport to a player in Festival Tech mode.
- In Festival Tech mode, a player's own avatar will not be obscured from view by avatars from the crowd.
- When standing near a player using the Do Not Disturb spell, the spell's icon appears above their head.
- Updated music sheet rotations in Harmony Hall.
Want to know more about some other fixes in this patch? Find further details below!
Season- The Overactive Overachiever's hair no longer has a gap when worn with the chibi mask.
- Adjusted the alignment of the Tumbling Troublemaker's earrings.
- Fixed Isle of Dawn Temple music playing instead of seasonal music in that level's seasonal area.
- Update for timer text visibility in second Seasonal Quest.
- Adjustments to ultimate mask to reduce clipping with various hairstyles.
- [PlayStation] Savior achievement reliably granted.
- [iOS, Android, Huawei] Added the option for players on mobile devices to link their Sky account to a Steam account.
- Honking is very important, but not so important that it should interrupt Sky kids’ movement. So now, Sky kids no longer stop rolling, skipping, and doing any other traversal emote to stand up straight when they honk.
- Friends and others should correctly see the stance a player is using, and that stance should no longer reset to default when going between areas or restarting the game.
- Trial of Water opening cutscene is skippable.
- Friendship should raise you up, not pull you down, so we fixed the bug causing a player to sink underground if they accepted a friendship request or unlocked a friendship interaction while being carried by piggyback.
- Similarly, a player leading a friend by handhold won’t sink below the terrain when the person they're holding hands with dives deep underwater.
- When two Spirits are standing close to each other and a player opens one of their Friendship Trees and then selects the other Spirit, the display correctly switches to the Friendship Tree of the selected Spirit.
- Player will not leave edit mode if they tap outside of the keyboard when naming a Shared Space.
- When recording Shared Memories, chatting will pause the recording while the avatar is standing still. Chat is disabled during a recording when swimming, flying, or otherwise moving.
- Music sheets stop playing when you equip a new prop.
- Spirits in Harmony Hall now use their instruments properly during a jam session.
- Removed the mysterious invisible lead boots bug that made players walk underwater in one of the waterfall ponds in Sanctuary.
- Friendship menu now closes automatically when two friends swim away from each other.
- Duration of Kizuna AI STAR Pin effect updated from three seconds to 1 minute.
- Fixed a bug causing avatars that were sitting or lying down to stand up when using an emote.
- When a group of players is handholding or using piggyback, the players following in the chain will automatically attempt to join the Shared Space the group's leader is in.
- Even though red notification dots that never ever ever ever go away are surely the most beloved thing that could appear in a menu, we have ultimately decided that the red dot for new inbox messages should not wear out its welcome. Thus, that red dot now disappears after reading the message.
- Fix to reduce flickering lighting on capes in bright environments.
- Reduced the sound effects radius of instruments being played by other players.
- Fixed a bug causing pillars and other objects in front of the first gate in Forest to be unusually dark or oddly lit.
- Fixed clipping issues with Nature sunglasses and Sanctuary sunglasses masks.
- Instrument no longer misplaced during the Hairtousle Teen's Spirit memory sequence, better suited to entertain us.
- When two friends follow each other in the AURORA concert, doing so no longer leads to visual corruptions in cutscenes or transitions.
- Fixed some missing and discolored polygons here and there, like behind the stage in the Village of Dreams Theater area and the Daylight Prairie Village area.
- Fixed some gaps and pits that could trap players in Eden, plus some other clipping issues with the terrain.
- Small fixes for visual effects affecting capes, with small changes such as gold diamonds on the Thoughtful Director's cape appearing metallic, and improvements to the visual recharge effect on the Season of Shattering Ultimate Light Cape.
As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback, and encourage you to join the community discussion on our official Discord server at discord.gg/thatskygame!
2023.05.31 20:42 rageofthegods It's really, finally happening
| | submitted by rageofthegods to blankies [link] [comments] |
2023.05.31 10:18 JoshAsdvgi The Dream Horse
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] Kids Story (( BedTime Story's )) The Dream Horse Billy woke up from his Saturday nap with a big smile on his freckled face. His short sleeved checkered shirt and blue-jeans were just like Cowboy Candys' on the TV. He went into the kitchen for a drink. "Hi, Mom. May I have a glass of milk?" He asked. "You certainly may . Why are you so happy?" asked his mother. "I saw my dream horse during my nap and he told me he's gonna take me for a ride when I go to sleep tonight." Billy couldn't stop smiling about his new friend. "Your dream horse? When did you first see this? Besides, I thought you felt too big for naps." Mrs. Brown was surprised by the sudden change. "My new friend at school, Jose, told me all about naps. He's living here with his family for a year. They're from Spain. In his country eveybody takes naps in the afternoon. I think they call it a siesta." Billy was so proud that he could speak in a new language. Try as he might, Billy couldn't wait for night. He kept asking what time it was. "If I put on my sunglasses will it be time to go to sleep?" he asked. "No." laughed his mother. "The night won't come any faster. Tell me more about your dream horse. What color is he?" "He's a palmo-mino!" answered Billy proudly. "You mean a pal-o-min-o, don't you?" she corrected him, lovingly. Palomino (pal-oh-MEE-no) is a coat color in horses, a gold coat with a white mane and tail. "Yes. He's a palomino. That's his name! I'll call him Pal." Billy played outside with his sister Sue, but he kept one eye on the sun. When his father came home Billy was happy to see him. Dad's arrival also meant that it wouldn't be long before supper, and then time for bed. "Hi, Dad!" he shouted. "It will be time for bed soon." Billy's Dad hoisted his son into the air for a hug. "Why so eager to go to bed, Billy?" his Dad asked, puzzled. "You didn't get in trouble did you?" Mr. Brown was a tall man who wore a business suit to work everyday. He put Billy down and picked up Sue. "Hello, Suzy sugar, how are you?" "I'm okay, Daddy, but Billy wants to meet his dreamhorse in his sleep. " She brushed her blonde curls out of her face as she talked. "Can I have a dreamhorse, too?" "You sure can, honey." He said. As they walked hand in hand to the house they were met by Mrs. Brown at the door. He greeted her with a kiss. "Hi, dear. It sounds like you've had quite a day." As the children ran into the kitchen he asked, "What's this about a dreamhorse for Billy? Sue says she wants one too." Mrs. Brown laughed. "Billy took a nap and he dreamed about a horse, a gold and white horse," she said. "He says it will take him for a ride when he goes to sleep tonight." Mr. Brown just shook his head and smiled. "Kids. What an imagination." Supper came and went. Stories were read and finally it was time for bed. As Billy's mother tucked him in, he looked up and said, "Mommy, what do you want me to bring you from my ride with Pal tonight?" Mrs. Brown thought for a moment before speaking. "I'd like a feather." "OK! Pal and I will bring you a feather, and one for Sue and Daddy, too." He kissed his Mom goodnight and pulled the covers up under his chin. Billy thought he would toss and turn for hours but within minutes after his light was turned off he was sound asleep. Suddenly there was a gentle nudging at his left elbow. Billy rolled over onto his side. The insistent nudging continued until finally he first opened one eye, then another. A big brown eye was looking back at him. "Pal!" shouted Billy, excitedly, suddenly wide awake. "You did come. I was afraid you wouldn't make it." He quickly sat up and kicked the covers off. "Hop on Billy," said Pal, "We're going for a ride. We have a lot to see and do tonight!" Billy gave a quick bounce on the mattress and flung himself onto Pal's back. Threading his fingers through Pal's shimmering white mane, he held on as tight as he could. Pal wheeled and then gracefully leaped through Billy's open window. Off the two of them flew, into the night. Billy watched the scenery change from the lush green mountains of his home state, to become flat farm country. Below, the checkerboard fields, now rich with crops, quickly gave way to rocky mountains and a drier climate. "Where are we?" Billy asked. "We are about to visit a time when the land was as free as the people who lived here," replied Pal. "Some of my friends will join us for our journey." Just as Pal finished speaking a band of Indians rode towards them. "Hello Pal, my good friend," said the leader of these horsemen. "And who is this?" he asked Pal. "This is Billy," replied Pal. "He is a friend who wants to go with us on our ride." "Then he is welcome," came the Indian's reply. No one found it strange that the Palomino horse spoke, because in dreams everything is possible. "Who is this?" Billy whispered to the golden Palomino horse. Pal pawed at the ground as he made the introduction. "This is Thunder-Who-Walks, said Pal. " He is the Spirit Chief of all the Indian nations. Each one of the braves who ride with him here represents a tribe which roamed this land for many years before the coming of the white man." "Many of those tribes are no more, Billy. The Chief has agreed to let you ride with them tonight so that they can show you their land, and tell you of their people." With that, they were off. They rode through valleys, splashed across streams and silently filed past long empty villages carved into the sides of red mountains. They traveled on and on, past cold campfires and barren canyons, past prairies where bleached bones of buffalo glowed softly in the moonlight. Finally they came to a small rise. There, the Chief raised his hand, signaling the band to pause. He gestured towards the wide expanse of land which stretched for miles before them. "This land is great like the people who once crossed it, Billy. A sea of buffalo once roamed those vast prairies. Now they are gone forever, and so are many of my people." "Gone forever?" asked Billy, casting a worried glance at Pal. Pal nodded. "The Indians were driven from their land, Billy. Some were even driven from this life." The Chief looked so very sad as Pal said this, that a tear began to trickle down Billy's own cheek. A brave from the back of the group came riding forward. He leaned over and laid a comforting hand on Billy's shoulder. "Do not cry, little one. Change is part of all our being. My people lived here for many moons, even before Chief Thunder-Who-Walks' people came. Change happens to all the tribes of the earth. It happened to our tribes, and it shall happen to yours. We agreed to let you ride with us tonight so we could share with you a special knowledge. Look at this land young Billy, and think of what has happened to our people. Teach the people of your time to first respect one other, and then to respect the land." Billy nodded his understanding. With one last look at the wide prairies below them, they turned and began their journey back. They cantered through the valleys, and into the deep green forests. They forded shallow streams, and swam deep rivers. At last, on a dusty plain, they came upon a set of railroad tracks. There they stopped. None of Billy's companions would cross the tracks. Chief Thunder slipped down from the back of his sturdy Paint and walked over to where Billy sat astride the golden Palomino. Pointing at the railroad track the Chief said, "This is the path of the Iron Horse, Billy. It brought much change to our land and to our people. We will not cross this path, so here is where we will part ways. Remember the lessons you learned with us tonight. Use the knowledge wisely." Impulsively, Billy slid down off of Pal and stood next to the Chief. He raised his arms. The surprised Chief knealt down on one knee so that Billy could give him a hug. "Goodbye, young Billy," he said. Then, reaching up into to his feathered headdress, Chief Thunder-Who-Walks removed three eagle feathers and handed them to Billy. "How did you know I wanted to bring back the feathers?" asked Billy in surprise. The Chief just smiled and shook his head. "Never forget, Billy," he said softly. "Never forget." The morning sun began to filter softly through Billy's open window. He reached up and rubbed his eyes. For a moment he wasn't sure where he was. Then all of a sudden he sat up. He was home again. "Mom, Dad, Sue ... I'm home!" he shouted. Within minutes everyone was in his room asking if he had seen his dream horse. "Where did you go and what did you do?" asked Sue. Billy told them everything that had happened. He told them about the ride across the country, and about Pal, the beautiful golden palomino horse, and about the Indian tribes who were no more, and about his friend the wise Chief. "And the Chief gave me three feathers so that I would never ever forget. That's a feather for each of you. But where did I put them?" Billy had been rooting through the bed covers but he couldn't find the feathers. "There were three of them, one for each of you," he said, beginning to worry that he had lost them on the journey home. "It was a dream, son," said Billy's Dad. "That's right, sweetheart," said Billy's Mom. "It was a dream, honey." "What's this?," inquired Sue curiously, grabbing hold of a shimmering strand of coarse white hair that was sticking out from beneath Billy's pillow. She gave it a quick tug but it seemed to be attached to something. She tugged again and something else came into view. "There's a feather under your pillow, Billy!," she shouted. Billy pulled out the first feather, then a second, and a third, all tangled together in a few long white strands of hair. "That's from Pal's mane!" said Billy excitedly." And these are the feathers the Chief gave me!" Mr. and Mrs. Brown looked into each others eyes and then back at the feathers and the strand of horse hair clutched tightly in Billy' hand. Billy's Dad scratched his head and his Mom raised her eyebrows in surprise. Billy's face was beaming with joy. He glanced down at his treasures. "Thanks Pal," he whispered to his dream horse. As his parents and sister were still pondering over the feathers and strands of Pal's mane, Billy glanced towards the open window. In the distance he could see a lone eagle as it soared gracefully through the bright blue morning sky. "And thank you, Chief Thunder-Who-Walks," he said softly. "I'll never forget." "I promise." |