For anyone who is just now finding The Miys, here is a useful place to start from the beginning. I usually post updates on Tuesdays (although they may post earlier if I misread my calendar… it has happened). Also, you can find my story on Wattpad (<- that’s a link!), with minor cleaning changes and some consolidated chapters. You can leave feedback there on each chapter, and even line by line, if there is something I forgot about, changed later, or you just particularly like.
If you want to donate, I have a Ko-fi somewhat set up and I’m open to suggestions on incentives for anyone who has ideas (just not drawing, I’m a rubbish artist). You can find that here -> CanYouHearTheLight’s Ko-fi.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56 (this one is posted on my main blog in error)
Things are starting to return to normal on the Ark, and that means taking some things off Tyche’s plate!
Head’s up, this chapter has not been beta’d. I feel like I’ve been saying that entirely too much, recently, but between my work schedule changing drastically and some things going on with @parisconstantine, getting the stories to her in a timely manner and still being able to post on time hasn’t been the most feasible thing. Even then, her wifi situation is a bit sketchy. So, any errors, please feel free to let me know in the comments, and they are all my errors, none are her fault. She’s going to see this at the same time all of you do!
Nervously, I ran my fingers through my hair as I made my way to the Council Chamber. A part of me was hesitant about taking on a new assistant, no matter how necessary I knew it was. Conor and Maverick’s speculation the night before had helped me none whatsoever. Names had been tossed around, along with opinions if either had any knowledge of the person in question. This one was rude, but that one was a toady… Around and around. They had gotten me worked into an anxious mess by the time they started naming people who weren’t even being considered. I could barely sleep the night before, and now looked like a not-so-fresh zombie staggering quickly to my office.
When I finally got there, it was something of a reassurance that Simon looked almost as bad. Since leaving the Council and dumping his position on me, he had practically isolated himself from everyone on the ship. For the past three months, however, he had been filling in and helping me. It was more social interaction than he was used to, and the signs showed clearly on his face.
“You said my new assistant has been decided?” I asked as I walked over to the food console. “Did you eat recently?”
“Yes, and no but I’m fine,” he groaned as he leaned back and stretched his back.
I rolled my eyes hard enough that I hoped he could feel it, even though I was standing off to the side. “Bullshit. You better tell me if you like sweet or savory for breakfast, or you get whatever I pick.” I looked over my shoulder to see his face.
He yawned hugely before shrugging. “Just give me one of whatever you’re going to eat. I don’t care either way.”
“Biscuits and sausage gravy, it is.”
Once we were both settled with our food, I tried again. “So, you specifically asked me to come in today because the Council decided on my new assistant.”
Mouth full, he nodded before swallowing. “Yep. And before I tell you who it is, remember – I had no say in this, whatsoever. You vetted the list, and that constituted ‘our’ vote. Xiomara’s approval was her vote, so this was decided by Eino, Pranav, Grey, and Huynh essentially. It took forever, by the way, to reach a unanimous decision. Seventeen applicants? What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that there were nearly a hundred before Xiomara, Derek, Tyche, and I went through them.” I gave him a pointed look as I finished of my breakfast and took a long sip of tea.
“Fine, fine,” he waved off and paused briefly. “Before I tell you who it is, we need to discuss training and integration. You can’t just toss someone in to the deep end with something like this, Sophia.”
“I’m not an idiot, I know that. The plan is to have them shadow Tyche so they can get familiar with the routines, specifically mine, and gradually take over from there.”
“That won’t work,” he told me bluntly, before looking sheepish and trying a different approach. “There may be a… personality conflict?” Looking away, he scratched the back of his hand.
Simon was hiding something.
I pushed a little harder, eyes narrowed. “She already agreed to do it, for all the candidates.”
“All of them?”
“Well, yeah. She was there when I went through the files. Tyche manages work assignments, so she needed to have a head’s up of where to allocate more people. Especially considering some of the applicants – several were in essential functions.”
He tilted his head for a moment. “Yeah, some were shot down just because of that,” he conceded with a sigh. “It wasn’t that the Council had a problem with the applicant, more so with the best candidates for replacing them in their current roles.” He raised both hands in front of his face to fend of my coming protest. “Don’t get me wrong, Tyche chose the absolute best replacements for them, it’s not her fault that the options she had available were garbage. The Council is working on planning some vocational training to fix that, give us a better selection to fill those positions in the future. It was practically a miracle that I was available to fill in for you the past few months.”
I nodded. “That’s a good idea. Tyche wasn’t too happy with the people she had to select from, honestly.” That was a gross understatement. She had been fuming when it came to some of the positions she tried to find candidates to fill. There had been three applicants we had to reject, just because they were indispensable where they were, unfortunately. The only thing that mollified my conscience was the fact that everyone on board worked to fill time, gain skills, and pull our weight. None of us were paid, so becoming my assistant wasn’t exactly a promotion. It was just a different way to keep busy and help out.
Simon flicked a few files to my data pad. “These candidates were eliminated almost immediately. Two of them have a tendency to gossip, which means the Council wouldn’t be able to work on any projects without word getting out to the Ark. Things get twisted and turned around entirely too easily, so either person would be a damage control nightmare.” I just nodded in understanding. Derek had pointed out the gossiping tendencies, too, but hadn’t thought it was a large enough concern to eliminate anyone.
With a deep breath, my co-Councillor continued. “The rest in that group were eliminated due to either personal or personality conflicts with the rest of the Councillors or their administrators.” Glancing through the files, I was surprised at just how many there were – how did seven different people piss off the Council that badly? Definitely curious, I told myself.
“The last eight were all people in essential positions,” he admitted. I noticed he paused, yet again. It was unusual to say the least – Simon never grasped at his words. “Like I said before, we had to exclude a few of those, just because there was no good way to back fill their current roles. Not the way I would want this decided, but here is the winner.”
I flicked away my datapad without looking at the file. “Simon. Is something wrong?”
A pause. Ah-ha! There it was. “With the new administrator? Not at all, why?” He blinked at me innocently.
“I don’t mean that, I mean with you. You keep pausing before you say something, and it isn’t like you. It makes me feel like you are hiding something, and you know I don’t like that. I thought you were working on that.” I was pleading, and I knew it. But at the same time, I couldn’t take any more intrigue and secrets right now.
His fact showed clearly the conflict going on inside, before he finally slashed a hand in front of him as though cutting someone off. It was not a gesture he made, and was made even stranger by the fact that I hadn’t said anything in several minutes. With both hands, he gave his face a brisk rub before looking at me guiltily. “I know that, in the past, I was really bad about not watching what I said, and it upset or offended a lot of people. There were several situations I handled incredibly poorly, including when you first woke up. So I… may?... have been running everything I was going to say by Miys and having them advise me on more diplomatic ways to say it.” He covered his face again, this time in embarrassment.
“Simon.” I equal parts touched and horrified: touched that he was trying to hard, but horrified that he felt the need to do this, even as we approached a year after his resignation from the Council. “How long has this been going on?”
“Only since I started filling in for you on the Council,” he admitted. “I isolated myself – well, pretty much all the time, to be honest. After, you know?” He waved ambiguously, but I knew he was referring to the night he explained I would be replacing him. “And that didn’t really help in the end. The entire reason I was so rude to everyone is because I spent a year with no one but Miys, and they had no concept of Terran manners at the time. To a degree, I had to be blunt with them to accomplish anything, until there were more Terrans on the Ark. And even then, you know quite a bit of our cultural niceties aren’t exactly universal.”
I thought that over for a bit. “So, you convinced Noah to be your ad-hoc speech writer and feed you appropriate manners for certain situations?”
“Maybe? Yes. That’s pretty much what I did. And it’s been working, honestly!” He laughed, but it sounded a little bitter. “It’s a hard pill to swallow, knowing that someone so alien to what we know is better at being human than I am.”
“For what it’s worth, Noah is a living computer and not exactly Superman,” I advised, trying to be comforting. When Simon looked confused, I explained. “I used to study comic books. You know who Superman is, right?” He nodded, so I continued. “Believe it or not, he was a really divisive character. Sure, he was a hero, he was good, so on, so forth. Superhero stuff, in the beginning. But he was so perfect – handsome and strong, bulletproof, x-ray or heat vision, flight, and an absolute moral compass. Sounds great, right? Except for one detail, a tiny detail and yet a huge detail at the same time: this pinnacle of humanity wasn’t human. He wasn’t even one of our gods. He was a flat-out alien, from another planet. Sound familiar?” Simon glanced up before nodding with embarrassment. “You’re not alone, not by a long shot. Even comic book writers who were on the cusp of being the next big name would refuse to write for Superman, even if it meant stalling their career for a while.”
“I don’t hate Miys,” Simon objected.
“Oh, I know you don’t. But it’s very normal, very human to feel how you’re feeling about needing him to tell you what to say.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk. “Noah isn’t Superman. They are brilliant, and have access to so much data at once that they have an advantage in this. Add to that, Noah is sentient, not an actual computer, so they pass the Turing test every time without breaking a sweat. But have you tried just, doing it on your own? Pay attention to how people react, apologize if you upset them, and adjust your approach? You know, like every human ever has had to do?” I quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, dude.”
Simon glanced up at the ceiling again. “Hey, Miys. I know you heard all that.”
“Correct,” came the flat buzz. Noah sounded a bit miffed.
“I’m sorry, dude. I’ve probably been bleeding resentment all over you for months, and you never even said anything. That’s horrible of me. You’ve been a super good friend, but I think Sophia may have a point on this one.”
A humming whine. “Simon, Wisdom is accurate in her explanation. Beyond works of entertainment, Terrans have shown the same reaction to deities in the past. There is significant historical precedent, so I was prepared for the possibility of this. Also, I believe she is correct in regard to re-learning how to socialize with your people. Psychological studies indicate – “
“Thanks, Noah,” I interrupted. This sounded like something they could ramble about for a while. Whether they admitted it or not, Noah did get excited about Terran psychology. “And thank you, for helping Simon for so long. I know it couldn’t have been easy, on either of you. You’re a good friend.”
“A pleasure, Wisdom,” they buzzed happily before turning off the communication system.
“So, try it the hard way?” I asked Simon, smiling gently.
He slid low in his chair, covering his face again. “If I have to, yes. I can’t say I’ll do a great job, but I promise to try.” He peeked through his fingers. “Just… keep Tyche away from me for a bit? Until I get better at this? I really don’t want her yelling at me again.”
I chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Now, let’s see who she’s going to be training.” One issue resolved, I flicked my datapad back in front of me. My eyebrows rose when I saw who my new administrator was, though I was only mildly surprised. “And this person somehow has no personal conflicts with the Council? None?”
He shook his head with a grin, relieved the topic was changed. “Being a pest doesn’t mean they can’t work with him. And honestly, it worked in his favor here. If nothing else, he showed dedication and determination. Actually, the only person the Council was concerned he would have a conflict with is your sister.”
“And she included a letter of recommendation, if I remember right,” I muttered softly. Clearing my throat, I spoke up a bit. “Believe it or not, she actually advocated for him when the file passed inspection. So did Xiomara.”
“Better find those books, Sophia,” Simon leaned back and shook his head. “I think you have some crow to eat. Hope you didn’t burn them yet.”
Hey have a good day! When will you be adding the submitted characters to the story?
Before the contest finished, I had already written chapter 36. So the earliest the new characters will show up in the story is chapter 37.
I know this feels like a really long wait, and I'm considering doing double updates so the winners don't have to go so long before seeing what happens with those characters. The only thing preventing that at the moment is the monumental amount of stuff going on in the real world that had prevented me from writing in the past several weeks: I'm genuinely worried that if I start double posting I will run out of story before I get to write chapter 37!
Reviewed, edited, and uploaded 5 chapters of “The Miys” as 3 chapters over on Wattpad
Finished my Destiel Secret Santa finally. It took 4 attempts and a lot of second thoughts
Wrote the next 2 chapters of “The Miys” for Tumblr, both of which are really good lengths for a combined total of nearly 5k words in the two-part Winter Holiday special
So, as most you may know, “The Miys” was always intended to be a working title, one that I use on my local storage to discern between different projects. There is literally “The Miys”, “The Shalt Kri’i”, “HP Fanfic”, “Destiel Secret Santa for [Redacted]”, “Sabriel Secret Santa for [Redacted]”, and “Novel of Fail” (that one isn’t going so hot, as you can probably guess from the title).
Should I keep the title “The Miys”, or go with what I intended to be the title eventually: Can You Hear the Light (If you read the story, that actually makes perfect sense)?
I’m also open to suggestions for better titles, but this is another something that directly impacts you as readers, so I want you to have a say in it. Inbox me, or comment on the post below. If all I get are likes and reblogs, I’ll just assume the name change is approved by you all and go forward with it.
Thank you all for everything you do! Especially all the newer followers who leave me amazing love bombs in my notifications. Nothing makes my day like waking up to 20+ likes in my inbox!
First and Foremost: At this time, I have no intention of leaving Tumblr. Nothing I post is particularly NSFW, nothing has been flagged to my knowledge. Unless Tumblr goes offline or bans my account, I intend to keep posting on here.
Okay, so I’ve backed up all of The Miys to my computer, just in case something on here changes. For anyone interested, in addition to working on Chapter 16, I will be cross posting 2-4 chapters per week on Wattpad until I’m caught up.
To find me on Wattpad: areasontobreathe (that’s my main account on here, and it has actually existed as a reader account on Wattpad longer than this blog has existed on Tumblr)
I also have a Twitter (@ReasonBreathe), but it isn’t currently very active, so if you find me on there, please don’t judge me!
With all the changes going on with Tumblr, I am considering cross-posting my writing on another platform. Currently I am leaning toward Wattpad, for 2 reasons: 1) I already have an account on their as I support several writers who use that platform, and 2) as a user, I know it isn't bad from an end use perspective for most normal users. The free version (what I have) does have ads, but they are actually pretty unobtrusive from a user perspective.
I'm not planning to leave Tumblr, as under the current terms I shouldn't be impacted (hopefully). But I really don't think what is going on is fair to artists: I could literally write 9000 words of incredibly explicit smut, post it, and be fine, but if someone posts a female-looking nipple, they are flagged? It isn't right, and isn't fair to my fellow content creators.
However, this decision is mostly dependent on you. As my fans/followers, I want to know what you think.
Please leave a comment or send a message with what platform you think would work best, or even if you would follow me to another platform. I'm only planning to cross post for the time being, but this is also going to be a contingency plan for my work - I don't want to lose this! And I don't want to lose YOU.
If you've read this far, as contrary as this sounds, please do not like this post. I just want words on this one: Should I cross post, and what platform would you prefer?
