Morwen’s Reviews > Red Side Story > Status Update

This was even better than the first

‘I don’t know. I think we are more capable and adaptable than we think, and that we have a greater purpose, perhaps something that requires varying skills and an ability to function on one’s own without training.’

Shit.
Sophie Lapis-Lazuli had been a no-show.

As a parting question she asked me if I’d seen Oscar Greengrass as he’d missed the team Penny-Farthing event. I said I hadn’t seen him since yesterday and we said goodbye.

‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ said the one-year-old in the dry monotone they used until their personality emerged.

Ah!! The fingernail barcodes! And that's why they made a rule against wearing gloves! 💡

For the first time since I was nine, I felt uneasy about swans. The swan was following us, and I thought about what my mother had said about gloves making us invisible. It didn’t make sense, but it would, in time.

The creature was thirty-eight feet and seven inches nose to tail, was scaly and already half-absorbed into the Perpetulite.
[...]
Writings from the pre-Epiphanic era spoke of ‘millions of lives being lost on the roads’, so it was a fair assumption the Previous fed their roads daily with human sacrifice.

‘What is her type?’
‘We don’t know. She’s never shown the slightest bit of interest in anyone until you. Has she tried to kill you?’
‘Yes, but I think if she’d wanted to she would have done so.’
‘I think it means she likes you.’
‘Not killing me makes you think she likes me?’
‘It’s a big deal,’ said Belinda, ‘and she talks about you at home.’
‘Really? What does she say?’
‘About how she’s not going to kill you.’

She was my own age, had eyes that sparkled with steely determination and was possessed of the most charming retroussé nose, something which no one ever mentioned unless they wanted a punch in the eye. She was the person who had opened my eyes to the iniquities of our society, was the reason I was facing the Green Room and had tried to kill me twice. Despite all that, I was hopelessly in love with her.

I'm saving this line 😂

‘I wish you the best of luck,’ said Mr Celandine without any interest at all. ‘If there is any way at all I can assist in this effort, please keep it to yourself.’