The fridge door was open, casting light across the kitchen tile. Zoey was bathed in it, kneeling upright in front of the sink, a carton of eggs in her hands. Elias watched as she picked one out from the bunch, examined it carefully. Turned it over inches from her face, the shell milky and translucent in the fridge light. Then, suddenly, she slammed the egg against the floor, and the motion steered Elias' vision toward the puddle around her knees--shell and white and yolk in a runny mess. She lifted her hand again--this time Elias noticed the slimy liquid oozing down her forearm with the movement--and picked up another egg, brought it close to her face.
“Zoey,” Elias said, although he immediately regretted it. He felt unsafe. Exposed. This is Zoey, he reminded himself, but he wasn’t sure of it.
She looked up at him, and he took an instinctive step backwards at the blankness of it.
“Hi,” she said.
Relief coursed through him like warmth, but it was thread through with the realization that even now she didn’t look at him. Her eyes were far away, unfocused.
“I’m not home right now,” Zoey said, “But if you want to leave a message, just start talking at the sound of the tone.”
“Zoey,” Elias said, more firmly, “It’s me.”
“Ok. Who is this really?” she said, and cast another egg down. The sound of it seemed too soft--a muted crumple, short and unceremonial. He didn’t know what else to say, how to bring her back from whatever this was. Zoey tilted her head, confused, and reached for another egg. They were out. Her eyes scanned the empty carton with what looked like faint surprise, then fear.
“What’s going on?” Elias asked, desperately, “What is this?“
“This is the hand,” Zoey said, “The hand that takes.”
There was a sick shock to it. A terrifying nonsense. But finally Elias recognized it--it wasn’t nonsense, it was O Superman. He wanted almost to laugh.
“This is the hand,“ Zoey repeated, “The hand that takes.”
Her voice wavered, thin and panicky. She looked like she would do something. Elias didn’t want to find out what.
He pushed the fear aside and crossed the room quickly, picked up her hand and clutched so that she stopped midsentence, “This is the--“
She blinked. Looked down at her hand clasped in Elias’ shaky own. Then, she gagged.
“What the fuck,” she said, “This is disgusting, what the fuck! E, what are we doing here?”
She pulled her hand from his grip and stood, examining the egg coating her arm, her knees, her bare feet. Elias’ breath was trembling, so he stood motionless as she turned on the tap and washed her arm off.
“What the fuck happened? Are those eggs? Did you fall? Why were you getting eggs in the middle of the night?“
“Zoey,” Elias said. He wasn’t sure, then, if he should say anything. Might it plunge her back there, whatever that place was where she went?
“What?” she asked, moving to wet a paper towel and clean her legs with it.
“It was you,” he settled on, “You broke them. I came in and found you breaking them. I don’t know why.“
She looked confused. Elias expected fear next, or distress, but she skipped to something more like defeat. She sighed.
“What’s going on?” Elias asked.
Zoey said, “Okay. It’s okay. I’m just… Look, I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t worry.“
“Zoey, what-?“
But she had already stepped away from the sink and looked down at the mess on the floor, and Elias saw in her eyes that she had gone. She scanned the sludge, quickly, pupils darting across it like fish, hands still soapy and dripping in front of her. Elias didn’t know if he should do something, or if he was supposed to leave her like this. He couldn’t go. Even though she didn’t look afraid anymore, or in pain. He couldn’t leave her.
She came back on her own this time, fast enough that Elias hadn’t had time to decide if he should sit or not.
“I’m sorry,” she said. It might’ve been about the eggs. Probably not.
“What’s going on?“ Elias said. He wanted to rush to her. The urge to soothe was nearly palpable, but he didn’t know if it was allowed, now.
Zoey slumped forward, leaning her elbows on the edge of the counter. She looked exhausted. Elias wondered how long she’d been out here, asleep but not sleeping.
“It’s a long story,” she said, “I’ll tell you in the morning.”
It was a question. A request.
“Are you okay?“ Elias asked.
“Yes,” she said, and looked back at him finally, “Yeah, I think so.”
He wanted to tell her he’d been terrified. That he needed more reassurance than that. He wanted to know she was safe. He felt worlds away from her, like he didn’t know her at all. Like they were strangers.
Zoey sighed again.
“Go back to sleep,” she said softly, “We’ll talk in the morning, okay? Try to get some rest.”
“Do you want help?” Elias asked, “Cleaning this up?“
He hoped she would say yes, but she just shook her head.
It’s absurd, she tells herself. She’s being hysterical, unreasonable. What kind of mother looks at her own children and feels fear seize the back of her neck?
Still, she sits up long after they’ve gone to sleep, the four of them, still in the same room, still communicating wordlessly in ways she cannot understand, and stitches rowan twigs and half-formed prayers into the linings of their coats with red thread and pricking fingers.
Still, months later, she finds herself waiting for them to come home.
(or, the children helen welcomes home are not the ones she sent away.)
OK but I do genuinely believe we need to push for something like this before it's too late - and not just in digital spaces. We should have the right to peace and quiet from advertising. There should be more limits on how much and where we get advertising because otherwise it'll just become a creep of more and more until every fucking public space is lit with several billboards blasting us with ads, and the walls between spaces lined with ads, and our commutes filled with ads, and local parks sponsored by corporations to offset the cost of local councils, and so on and on and on and on. No. I need quiet. I need spaces where ads cannot touch me.
Grenoble, France, in 2014 banned any new billboards and took down the city owned ones in a step towards de-advertizing public spaces. They swapped out the billboards with trees btw!
The city of Nantes in western France has recently banned most electronic billboards, dismantling 110 in one night. The municipality is also cutting digital advertising in shop windows and on the public transport system. It’s also banned all advertising near schools. Which is apart of Frances over all goal to reduce visual noise and light.
In 2009, Chennai, India prohibiting billboards, digital banners and placards in public spaces.
São Paulo Brazil created a law "Lei Cidade Limpa" (Portuguese for clean city law) in 2006
Several states, namely Maine, Vermont, Hawaii, and Alaska have banned Billboards and have been working on other electronic ad bans.
This article goes over what some other locations might look like without such advertising
So just know these kinda policies are possible! Whether your in Europe where the UN is working on anti-Ad legislation, in the US, or South America!
Actually you SHOULD make problematic content. You SHOULD explore dark or taboo topics. You SHOULD have a space where you can cope with your traumas or explore sensitive topics in a way that doesn't hurt anyone.
The equivalent of Antarctic research stations but in fantasy worlds like for example there’s an evil terrible region of rotting and nightmares but like nine miles from the edge there’s a very ugly little building optimistically called Observation Center 1 and it’s full of normal humans just vibing. for like 90% of the year they can’t leave because that’s Death Fog Season but it balances out because they can study the ghost migrations and also hear the whalesong-like calls of The Unspeakable Ones asking you to come outside for a game of checkers but thankfully the checkers set is kept locked up to slow down anyone that gets tempted
This sounds like a shitpost but people should be allowed to be horny. As in, sexuality is just part of life for most people and there’s no reason for consensual sexual behavior to be punished. A celebrity getting “caught” at a sex club shouldn’t be a scandal. No one should be fired for having a fetlife profile outside of work. Nudes getting leaked shouldn’t be career-ending. Denying and hiding (consensual) sexual interests doesn’t make anyone more professional, it just makes everyone more repressed. And sterilizing ourselves to be better work drones isn’t productive, it’s just creepy. I’d rather my surgeon get absolutely railed on camera and come to work in a good mood, frankly.
also this goes without saying but is also true of ppl who do sex work for used to do sex work. an accountant’s boss finding out that they used to do sex work shouldn’t be a career ender. a restaurant worker shouldn’t be fired bc they have an OnlyFans.
I know I have close to zero Tumblr fame, which I normally appreciate, but I would love it if this made it into the world and got fully backed. You can even pledge to get the digital content and send a real copy to a school in Africa or to a HBCU or community library of your choosing!
I'm high as fuck at medieval times and trying so hard to look normal. My friend pointed at a QR code and went "What is the meaning of this Rune..." and I almost threw up trying not to laugh
Found footage horror movie but instead of the monster attacking the crew it just steals the camera and the rest of the film is the crew chasing the monster to get the camera back
Sometimes explicit sex is thematically important to a story and sometimes it is not. Sometimes explicit bigotry is and sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes violence is necessary to deliver a stories tone and immerse yourself in the characters perspective correctly and sometimes it isn’t
The inclusion of taboo subjects in a work of art isn’t inherently there as indulgence for the author, even if it is displayed graphically and without censorship. However in the case that it is you have to remember to not find fault in the raw content itself but rather the creators handling of it. When consuming media critically you must always be aware of its creators, first and foremost. There is no analysis without analysis of the brain behind it, because unlike the real world fiction is a product of someone else’s will and cognition
Shadow Herald is available again, now on Itch.io (https: // gaily-novelry . itch . io / shadow-herald). Benefits of the new release;
Costs $1.99, less than a can of soda from a vending machine, because Am*zon isn’t eating a chunk of my profit this time.
You get both a PDF and an EPUB file, no DRM attached. Hell, you could print it out and scribble complaints over every page and I wouldn’t care. You own that book now. It’s yours.
Both versions still have the fun bonus glossary.
PDF still has the fancy schmancy florishes.
I fixed that one stupid typo that was bothering me like a grain of sand in a clam's craw.
So if you want to read about a dark messiah lesbian who Does Not Want To Be A Protagonist Please, a love interest who decides to put her brawling problem to work protecting her, and a thiefy baby fey with many issues, give it a whirl! I have a cat to feed.
and in between we garden @andinbetweenwegarden - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
