Morwen > Recent Status Updates

“You’re coming too.”
“Really? Really? But I never get to go! Thank you! I won’t get shot anywhere strange.”

I didn’t know who it was. In fact, I didn’t know lots of things. But that would all change, come the following day. I would achieve enlightenment, and then, in celebration of this, Jane would have me eaten by a yateveo. But it wouldn’t be personal. It would be a precautionary.

“I’m supposed to be meeting Violet,” I murmured. “I’d better be off.”
“Glad you’re coming around to the idea,” he said. “She’s not half as bad as she appears.”
But instead of going to see Violet, which was what I’d implied, I went to hide in the broom closet, which was what I’d meant.
So that’s where I was when Violet was looking all over the village for me.

They left you, they left you. They saw you suffering on dollar-shop life-support, and they didn’t look back. They didn’t give a fuck about trying to save you. They left.
She said, “I don’t remember.”
He said, “I can’t forget.”

They kept saying cows watched sunsets. At that point I wished I’d used the fucking conspiracy theorists instead of the cows. Nobody would’ve cared if I’d turned people inside-out who think vaccines have nanites in them that mine cryptocurrency. But cows watch sunsets, man!

“Don’t sweat it, Red,” she said, doubtless reading the despondency in my face. “Few people see anything at all. Everything might look fine and dandy on the outside, but behind the closed door there’s a fire raging. Now, will you stop this from getting any worse?”

“Watch out for that one. The village will go all to Beige in a match pot when his mother retires. You and I are going to have to take care of him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take him out,” she said, “you and me. Together. Now that would be a first date to remember.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, hoping she was pulling my leg, “I never do death on a first date.”
She laughed. Delightfully so, in fact.

I think this attempt at funny censure tragically backfired 😂

I should have just told her to get knotted, but up-color girls seemed to have a tongue-tying effect on me. Besides, Violet was probably not the sort of person to accept a “get knotted”answer to anything she had set her heart on.

It's both eerie and endearing how the author can write the book from the eyes of a child-not-a-child. I can't even describe it

"The Outer Fringes have a greater purpose than you credit them. They are a receptacle for those who have done nothing against the Rules but are deemed ‘potentially problematical. ’ When it comes to Harmony, it’s far better to be safe than sorry. Counting chairs in the Outer Fringes is Reboot with a small r.”

Amnesia is her favorite past time isn't it 😂 how long till we get some Gideon action again though?

“Cam’s body is a temple. She’s the one who’s banned me from a life peddling poor-quality erotica. Says she doesn’t want our last gift to the universe to be tales of people mashing birthday cakes beneath their bottoms."

“You mean,” said the Apocryphal man, once I had explained that he had been ignored only because of an arcane rule, “I’ve been walking around the town naked all these years and people saw?”
“Pretty much. But since you don’t technically exist, there can’t be any embarrassment, either.”

"Hi, Not Fucking Dead," he said. "I'm Dad.”

😂😂😂
“She wants the D," I said. And: "The D stands for dead.”

She leaned forward. “You’ll do this for me, Red, because despite Constance, you’re in love with me.”
“Oh, sure,” I said in an unconvincing manner, “I’m on a half promise to an Oxblood, and I let myself fall for a Grey girl who not only despises me but is up for Reboot in under a week. Does that sound remotely sensible to you?”
“Love isn’t sensible, Red. I think that’s the point.”

She leaned forward. “You’ll do this for me, Red, because despite Constance, you’re in love with me.”
“Oh, sure,” I said in an unconvincing manner, “I’m on a half promise to an Oxblood, and I let myself fall for a Grey girl who not only despises me but is up for Reboot in under a week. Does that sound remotely sensible to you?”
“Love isn’t sensible, Red. I think that’s the point.”

“Do I look as though I’m interested?”
“Not really.”
“You’re right. The details of your hopeless quest to sacrifice your individuality on the altar of Chromatic betterment is about as exciting to me as pulling clodworms out of the juniors.”

“You have to say it like you mean it.”
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
And she punched me in the eye.
“Ow! That hurt. And how could that possibly demonstrate that it’s no big deal?”
“You might have something there,” she said thoughtfully. “It could have been a bit rude of me. But let’s face it, you are a bit pointless, and the world will certainly carry on spinning without you.”

“Okay, I’ll demonstrate. You threaten to kill me.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Come on, Red, don’t be such a baby.”
“All right: I’ll kill you.”
“You have to say it like you mean it.”
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
And she punched me in the eye.

She picked up on my nervousness and raised an eyebrow. “What are you so worried about?”
“The last time you smiled at me, I found myself under a yateveo.” She laughed. The sound was lovely—yet quite out of character. It would be like hearing a fish sneeze.
“Honestly,” she said, “are you going to drag that up every time we meet? So I threatened to kill you. What’s the big deal?”

😂
“This is yesterday’s accident,” he said, handing me another photo. “Look.”
The atmosphere of the shot was particularly strident. A shaft of light had shone in from one of the factory windows at precisely the right moment, backlighting the victim’s severed head agreeably.
“I like the framing,” I said, “especially the windows reflected in the pool of blood.”

About time we got her back! It was not the same!!

“THAT WAS THE CUE?” Your voice sounded humiliatingly high-pitched.

“Harry,” said Ianthe, thankfully also a trifle strangled, “when three people start kissing, it is always a cue. A cue to leave.”

You said, “I feel unwell.”

“Yes. Yes, me too,” she said heatedly, in unexpected accord. “That was disgusting, to say the least. Old people should be shot.”

Ortus Nigenad, Ortus The First, Gideon... 🤷🏻‍♀️ I know I'll feel like such an idiot when I eventually will reread... 😅 other than the fact I've been writing OTIS until now lol

“You’re quite handsome—I like your nose especially.”
“It was a birthday present.”
“What else of interest did they give you?”
I decided to change the subject as she was being a little too forward.

Still incredibily confused, but happy 😂😅

I have even less idea of what is going on... Is it the madness? WTF is Otis doing there? We'll see. I'd listen to this narrator reading grocery lists so I'm not bothered by the fact that I'll surely understand more when I'll someday reread 😅

“I’ll concede that her nose is definitely the cutest and most retroussé in the village,” said Tommo, “but as for pretty—so is a viper. If you tried to kiss either, you’d get bitten on the face.”

It was abundantly clear who had the upper hand. She oozed authority. But it wasn’t the sort of authority that comes from a fortuitous birth gift; she had something else—a sense of clear purpose and strength.