Morwen’s Reviews > Shades of Grey > Status Update
Morwen
is 17% done
Jane had just arrived with the scones. Both Yewberry and Turquoise looked vaguely worried, and recoiled a little as she approached. I realized then that Jane’s enmity was universal. She didn’t just hate me; she hated everyone higher up. This meant her dislike of me wasn’t personal, which allowed me at least a meager slice of delusive hope—something to build on, at any rate.
— 9 hours, 8 min ago
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Morwen’s Previous Updates
Morwen
is 19% done
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.
— 7 minutes ago
Morwen
is 16% done
“Were you listening to a word I said?”
“I kind of switched off when you drew breath.”
— 20 hours, 50 min ago
“I kind of switched off when you drew breath.”
Morwen
is 16% done
“Since you are new here, it would be only fair to warn you of Mrs. Lapis Lazuli.”
“Yes?”
“Yes. Despite her honeyed words and faux generosity, she’s a thieving, Rot-dodging congenital liar whose contribution to the village would be much improved if she were soap.”
“You don’t like her?”
“What a suggestion!” replied the Widow deMauve in a shocked tone. “She is one of my closest and dearest friends.”
— Mar 13, 2026 01:47PM
“Yes?”
“Yes. Despite her honeyed words and faux generosity, she’s a thieving, Rot-dodging congenital liar whose contribution to the village would be much improved if she were soap.”
“You don’t like her?”
“What a suggestion!” replied the Widow deMauve in a shocked tone. “She is one of my closest and dearest friends.”
Morwen
is 15% done
“You wouldn’t really kill me, would you?”
“No.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Not here. Too many witnesses.”
I must have looked shocked, for she allowed herself a wry smile at my expense.
“Joke, right?” I said.
“Right.”
But it wasn’t, as it turned out.
— Mar 13, 2026 01:41PM
“No.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Not here. Too many witnesses.”
I must have looked shocked, for she allowed herself a wry smile at my expense.
“Joke, right?” I said.
“Right.”
But it wasn’t, as it turned out.
Morwen
is 9% done
There was a fear—enthusiastically stoked by other Chromaticologists, I believe—that if you annoy a swatchman, he’d flash you a peek of 332-26-85, which dropped an instantaneous hemorrhoid. Doing so was strictly forbidden, of course, but the perception of a threat was eight times as good as a real one.
— Mar 12, 2026 03:51PM
Morwen
is 8% done
They were sometimes very odd indeed: The banning of the number that lay between 72 and 74 was a case in point, and no one had ever fully explained why it was forbidden to count sheep, make any new spoons or use acronyms. But they were the Rules—and presumably for some very good reason, although what that might be was not entirely obvious.
— Mar 12, 2026 04:25AM
Morwen
is 8% done
Travis looked around for a moment, reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver swatch case. He snapped open the compact, took a deep gaze at the color hidden inside, then said, “Lime?”
I hadn’t green-peeked for months. Dad was quite strict about it, because he thought lime could lead to harder colors, but was realistic.
“As soon as you’ve taken your Ishihara, you can look at whatever you beigeing well please.”
— Mar 12, 2026 04:15AM
I hadn’t green-peeked for months. Dad was quite strict about it, because he thought lime could lead to harder colors, but was realistic.
“As soon as you’ve taken your Ishihara, you can look at whatever you beigeing well please.”
Morwen
is 7% done
No one could cheat the Colorman and the color test. What you got was what you were, forever. Your life, career and social standing decided right there and then, and all worrisome life uncertainties eradicated forever. In return, you simply accepted your position within the Colortocracy, and assiduously followed the Rulebook.
Your life was mapped. And all in the time it takes to bake a tray of scones.
— Mar 12, 2026 02:26AM
Your life was mapped. And all in the time it takes to bake a tray of scones.
Morwen
is 7% done
Acceptable rules of conduct were suspended when it came to the spoon shortage. The deficit had gotten so bad that prices were all but unaffordable, and dynastic spoon succession had become a matter of considerable interest. Good table manners, one of the eight pillars upon which the Collective was built, had been relaxed to allow tea to be stirred—shockingly—with the handle of a fork.
— Mar 12, 2026 02:20AM
Morwen
is 2% done
“The Outer Fringes have a reputation for being unsociably dynamic,” he said after giving my question some thought, “and some consider that eventfulness may lead to progressive thought, with all the attendant risks that might bring to the Stasis.”
— Mar 11, 2026 02:17PM
