afinepricklypear

[afinepricklypear]

Do you celebrate the Fourth of July?

hi. not usually. this year i did because my sister invited me to my niece's first fireworks show. it reminded me that i don't really care for fireworks. they're loud and i get bored watching them and start thinking about all the people and animals that get scared because fireworks trigger their traumas and that makes me sad.

do you celebrate?

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 25: Research

Shortly after midnight, Kincaid turned in and a few minutes later started snoring. Kevin slipped out of bed and crossed the room to where Kincaid left his bags. He kept one eye on Kincaid, as he unzipped the main compartment of Kincaid’s duffle. Inside there were clothes, to be expected. Kevin carefully poked through the basic solid colored cotton t-shirts, button-ups, and trousers, each neatly…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 24: After Party

DRAFT: 1 Lenny woke to a sudden shock of cold. He was laying on his belly in a pile of dusty pillows and blankets which he’d dumped on the floor of the clock tower storeroom late at night. Or early morning. Same difference. He hugged a pillow, rubbed his face into it, an effort to clear away the chill. It smelled of mildew and hundred-year-old dust. Water dripped down his cheeks from the back of…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 23: A New Day

DRAFT: 1 Gary stared up at the flat anxiously, his palms damp with sweat. He kept wiping them on his jeans. He wondered how many other people from school would be there. Bertie said it would be a small get-together, but small was a relative term, and Bertie struck Gary as the type that thought forty or so people met the definition. He wanted to ease into friendships, not be thrown to the wolves…

[afinepricklypear]

“Your evolution isn’t up for revision.”

—

byte_03v // found in the ashcode // memory override

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 22: The White Rabbit

DRAFT: 1 Ryan and his friends found a pool in one of the offshoot rooms with less people in it. Ryan finished the last of the two black bottles, cradling his head in his hands. There were lounge chairs around the pool and he was seated at the foot of one. Whatever was in the bottles tasted fresh and clear but was definitely not water. He felt more sober. At least, the world had stopped spinning.…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 21: Chasing Demons

DRAFT: 1 Warnings: Mention of past abuse and sexual assault of a minor. Mick, Lenore, and Nina returned from their winding journey to the bathroom after a quick stop at the refreshment tables. They found Dante ecstatically chatting with some guy in a regency costume. The guy’s hand rested on Dante’s hip. Mick grabbed Dante’s shoulder, turned him around. “Where’s Ryan?” “Excuse you,” Dante…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 20: Hat Madder Mansion

Lenore put the finishing touches on Ryan’s costume and turned him towards a mirror. They were at her apartment before the party. She’d made costumes for all of them and insisted on doing their hair and make-up. She put Dante in black and red leather, red tulle jacket, and red high heels, a sexy take on the Knave of Hearts. She transformed Mick into the Walrus with a professor vibe, sweater vest…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 19: Checking In

DRAFT: 1 Kevin fixed a twin daggered glare at Kincaid. Kincaid valiantly ignored him, as he accepted the card keys and signed some paperwork for the hotel clerk. “Do you need help with any bags?” the clerk asked. “No, thank you, sir. This is all we have,” Kincaid answered with a bright smile, indicating the backpack slung over his shoulder, and the duffle bags he and Kevin were carrying. The…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 18: Of Magic, Mystery, and Greek Parties

DRAFT: 1 Deirdre went through her classes that day in a daze. She absently wrote down the teacher’s lectures verbatim in her notebook without much thought. After her last class she went to Wild Wonder, even though she didn’t have a shift. “Hello, my starlight,” Esmie greeted with a broad, glossy smile. She came from the backroom carrying a box. Deirdre put her bookbag behind the front counter…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 17: Taste of Home

Some bossa nova music station played while Alonso drove Lenny and himself to the morgue. They’d landed in Rochester not long ago. Lenny had slept on the flight. There would be a few hours before the annual event that was Lenny’s main purpose for being in town, so Alonso had booked them a meeting in that time gap related to Lenny’s additional assignment. Alonso tapped his fingers on the steering…

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 16: Traces of the Past

DRAFT: 1 Warning: Mentions self-inflicted death and drug use. The Agency only paid for “economy” car rentals, which put Kevin and Kincaid in a tiny red Toyota Yaris. Shiny and polished, its interior drenched in the smell of chemical cleaners. They tossed their bags in the trunk and Kincaid took the driver’s seat. “You’re striking me as the controlling type that always needs to drive,” Kevin…

[afinepricklypear]

One day I'll be dead and so will you, it's the natural course of things, and all that will remain of us is 1s and 0s, just bits riding an electrical current.

I wonder, does that make these moments matter more or less while we live them. Should we embrace them fully while we can or treat them only as they'll be one day, motes of dust on the wind.

[afinepricklypear]

And here I am 100k words, about 50% done, only 6 POV characters, 3 primary plotlines of import, and getting feedback to cut characters/storylines because it's "too complicated".

Like, no, not doing that, but also, this is the first book of a long series, it hasn't even begun to get complicated.

over 103,000 words written and i’m still only about 60% through book 3…… that’s what i get for being a representative of the thicc book committee

it might also have something to do with the fact that i have nine main characters, tons of important side characters and plots, and lore that runs deeper than a rabbit hole but idk

[afinepricklypear]

Chapter 15: Cosmic Joke

DRAFT: 1 Jacob didn’t think things could get worse after being jettisoned from the dorms on, what really amounted to, a technicality. But just when the situation seemed to be improving, between meeting Tobias and Janice, the universe turned around and swiftly kicked Jacob in the balls. Par the course of Jacob’s life. Walking through the townhouse’s front door to that painstakingly familiar…

[afinepricklypear]

The biggest wall you have to climb is the one you build in your mind: Never let your mind talk you out of your dreams, trick you into giving up. Never let your mind become the greatest obstacle to success. To get your mind on the right track, the rest will follow.

— Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

[afinepricklypear]

Drabble on the Fears of Growing Old and Obsolete

Is there a time when we should retire our voice and let the young guard take over? Perhaps, perhaps, I ponder these:

Am I too old to understand life at a higher level, or to touch on relatable topics with a community whose language has drastically evolved beyond my own? Have I become stagnant? Is there less room in my mind to learn more? Are your doors wider open? Is your horizon broader? Are you able to bear the next twist of the ratchet while I crumble from the torque of all the previous turns I've endured?

Have I traveled as far as I can, left alone in the dust as you continue from here, this point I've carried you to all this time? And you, onward, with the next generation to come when you inevitably reach your limit, bundled tight under your arm – can I even begin to fathom the landscapes they will roam?

Am I done seeing far, my vision dimming, narrowing from an age-induced myopia? Have I become the giant crushed under your feet as you peer farther still – steady on my shoulders and my back breaking under your growing weight?

One day you'll be a giant too. Even screaming from the depths of my lungs, I am beneath you now, and I fear my voice will never reach.

Would you know how to listen to me even if you could hear?