#neele

[33franzi]

[onwesterlywinds]

PROMPT #18: [EXTRA CREDIT]

"Aster."

Neele did not even need to raise their voice for her to hear them. Her head turned and the subtle parting of her lips, the flourish of her brown hair in the torchlight, was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. Aster spotted Neele only a moment later but did not move from where she stood, did not stall the hand that beckoned the quarriers toward safety.

If there was any hope of them making it out alive, Neele would have to leave for the southern entrance at once.

Instead, they forged through the crushing river of people and took Aster by the waist, held her as they had never held her before, in full view of the Undercity and the newest of its dangers.

"Go," she pleaded with them. Neele had never known her to cry before, not once - a strange thing, they had always thought, for one who felt and loved so deeply. And she did not cry now, though the dim light would have obscured her tears for anyone but Neele.

"I will," they said. "But I had to say goodbye. To both the Asters."

There was no guarantee she would make it out of the Undercity alive, let alone the city - but Aster had expressed only the day before that she meant to go to Ul'dah, to raise the child in her womb without fear of the mad king. This would be the last they saw of each other in any circumstance, for the duty of the Kalmia bound Neele to remain.

They had already left their sigil with Élodie for safekeeping, or whatever the closest thing to safekeeping was in the Undercity.

Aster went up on her tiptoes and kissed Neele in full. For the last time, she ran her hands all over their shoulders, then down across their chest and all their weapons to their hips. Neele savored every moment, even as the clank of magitek emerged from further south. Aster did not break away until the last of the miners ran down the passage, but once the flood of people had reached its end, Aster stepped back from Neele and joined her people without a single backward glance.

Neele drew their greatsword and breathed in deep. The air was heavy with the dust of disturbed bedrock and tasted of ceruleum.

When the first four Garleans emerged in the tunnel, Neele extinguished the torch against the ground and greeted them with a cascade of steel.

[onwesterlywinds]

PROMPT #27: Benthos

This piece is set in roughly the year 1544 of the Sixth Astral Era - thirty-three years before Hydaelyn’s present-day, and thirteen years before Ala Mhigo’s fall.

It’s also set a couple weeks after Where Flood Waters Ran, and references events from that chapter.

"Things don't come out of the river. The only reason that armor did was because those scavengers decided to test their luck on Flood Day."

Neele had regretted speaking those words into being from the moment they'd said them. Sure enough, the site of the next Quorum was soon determined. Neele had had to double-check with Aster, to make sure their anxieties weren't simply getting the better of them - but no, Aster hadn't understood it either. By all accounts, they really were meant to meet at the bottom of the black water.

Their confusion only faded the moment they realized just how much the river's flow had subsided. They arrived at the canal landing to find that the current, usually more than enough to carry someone off in seconds, had receded to almost nothing. The stone steps leading into the waterway twelve fulms below lay damp but perfectly exposed, beckoning Neele to walk to a metal door set into the side of the smooth cliff face.

The Undercity always did like to have its jokes.

Neele arrived to discover the scene mostly as they had predicted it would be, as it had been at each Quorum they had attended. They had been to many other Quorums throughout their time as keeper of the Kalmia Sigil, and they had attended many even before their predecessor had passed on his sigil to them. Most of the lords - the ones who'd survived and maintained their guardianship throughout that time - tended to keep to similar spots in their various meeting places, most always with their seconds, if they had one, close by. If the Undercity's denizens were creatures of habit, then those who ruled over them were the most habitual of all.

Neele's arrival increased their number to eight, including Aster and Dagmar. There were fewer and fewer of them nowadays, and even fewer still who bothered to show up to the Quorum. Someone had placed a chair for Diadra at the center of the room, exactly where she'd liked it - a show of benevolence and grandiosity and provocation all at once - and of course it sat empty. The last Neele had heard, she was still in Ala Ghiri for her recovery, still pulling some strings for her Marigold territory but mostly camped out in the back of an arak bar. A quick skim of the room similarly revealed no sign of Elza meandering opposite the door as she so often did - “the better to keep an eye on everyone,” she’d said once.

"Evening, Palm," Neele said to Seax in greeting as they passed her. Anywhere else, they would have greeted her with her name, but speaking the given names of sigil-bearers at a Quorum had always seemed to invite misfortune, and there was more than enough of that going around. "Thanks, by the way, for taking care of the interlopers up by yours."

Seax inclined her head with her usual sly grin. "My pleasure."

Neele took up their own usual spot beside Wilma of the Eulalia Sigil - a woman with whom they rarely interacted outside of the Quorum, but who had proven herself more than once to be a cool head and stalwart presence. Better to stand beside her than Aster and Dagmar, and potentially find themself and their allies surrounded if blades were drawn. "I presume we aren't getting started without Lily," they said.

"He's not coming." The voice was from Haidar of the Stock Sigil, leaning against the furthest wall. Neele had not seen him there at first. In his hand was a scrap of parchment. "He left this," Haidar said. "It says he's preoccupied with other plans for this Quorum, and that he'll meet us at the next."

Neele took the paper and read it themself - a skill their predecessor had insisted they learn, and one that they were grateful for nearly every day. Sure enough, Blackram's message said no more and no less than that.

Melissa, whose given name Neele did not know, let out a snort. "What other plans?"

"Maybe snapping up our storehouses while we're all gathered here like rats in a leaky barrel," quipped Seax.

Dagmar shushed Seax, causing her haughty expression to curdle into one of disdain.

"What else is there for us here, then?" said Haidar. "I've no quarrel with most of you-" He notably did not look in the corner where Anemone lurked in silence. "-but I need assurances from Bl- Lily that he'll keep Marigold's surface routes clear. I've lost my best runners to knives in the dark, possibly worse."

"'Worse'?" Aster echoed.

"Aye, worse. Yunus' girl was there - said she saw revenants."

"Yunus' girl jumps at her own reflection," Melissa shot back.

Haidar turned on him, but Neele stepped forth before the Quorum could dissolve any further into arguments. "Dagmar and I will look into it," they said. Dagmar nodded her assent from nearer to the door. "Revenants does seem to be a likely case. Given the crusader that came out of the canal at this very junction two weeks past."

Most of the others shifted in discomfort at the mention of it - the idea that so many, most of them children, would have died were it not for Marco and his friend. Seax breathed out heavily, still pouting to herself.

"That's it, then?" said Wilma. "Let's disband, then, before the river comes back."

"I've one more item."

It was Anemone, speaking up at last as always; Neele still couldn't place whether it was out of a misplaced desire for theatrics or feeling stifled by the other voices in the room. She let her words hang in the air for a moment longer, then spoke directly to Neele. "Hélène, of the Fiels. A spider in her web."

"I don't do killings," Neele replied at once. Especially not on behalf of lords who can't keep their own in line.

But Anemone shook her head. "You misunderstand me. Hélène has promised half her treasury to anyone who gives her Marco's head."

The proclamation of bounties was nothing new for Quorums, and yet this one sapped all the air out of the room as surely as though the black water had submerged the room all at once. Aster let out an uncomfortable groan and began to massage the bridge of her nose.

"And his friend?" Melissa demanded.

"Which one?"

"You know the one."

Anemone paused, wetting her lips for a moment as she chose her words carefully. "There's no mention of him in the bounty. But I trust we all know what happens if anything befalls him." She pressed on, rather than leave them all lingering on that thought. "The reason I specified is because Hélène wants her dear little protégée back in the web; she's fallen in with Marco of late."

Wilma muttered something that undeniably contained the words "mother like that."

"She's not to be harmed, either," Anemone continued. "I even imagine there'd be a little bonus for anyone who delivers her back to the Profondeurs." She shrugged. "Something to chew on, at least."

Something to chew on, indeed: setting up the murder of a child to drive a boy into Blackram's arms and a girl into a lifetime of misery. Neele could only imagine what their predecessor might have said at the mere thought of it.

Without another word, they left the room and the empty canal.

[deathofcodes]

[airborn64]

Vegan Oreo Cupcake Rezept I Justafewthings.de

[deathofcodes]

[deathofcodes]

(via NEELE - F O U R - INSTITUT FUER ZUKUNFT by Institut fuer Zukunft)

[xxy-dd]

Neele - Groove Podcast 104

Verzweifeln, rauchen, alles verwerfen und neu anfangen: Neele steckt viel Energie und Herzblut in ihre Mixe. So auch für ihren Beitrag zum Groove-Podcast.

Neele will was bewegen und das nicht nur auf dem Floor, sondern auch hinter den Kulissen. Seit Jahren setzt sich die Bookerin des Conne Island als Teil des DJ-Kollektivs Girlz Edit nun proaktiv für mehr Gleichberechtigung hinter den Decks und darüber hinaus ein und hat auch schon beim nächsten großen Ding ihre Finger mit im Spiel: Das Featuring Females* Project bringt sich den Mai über mit einer Filmvorführung, mehreren Paneldiskussion und natürlich Clubnächten in die Diskussion ein und liefert dabei genauso viel Stoff zum Tanzen. Neeles Beitrag für unseren Groove-Podcast macht’s vor: Von deepem House geht es über scharfkantigen Electro hin in Richtung Hardcore Continuum. Zeigt sich mal wieder: Mehr Abwechslung hinter den Decks ist in jeder Hinsicht besser.