Working on a post tomorrow!
Naril
Member
Tinker, builder, hacker, thief
- Last Seen: 8 days ago
- Joined: 11 yrs ago
- Posts: 655 (0.17 / day)
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Username history
- Naril 11 yrs ago
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Status
Recent Statuses
6 yrs ago
To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the Devil his due.
7 yrs ago
And when you said hi, I forgot my dang name.
3
likes
9 yrs ago
Everything beautiful is math! Everything beautiful is a problem.
9 yrs ago
But whatever they offer you, don't feed the plants!
1
like
9 yrs ago
Do you like cyberpunk? Do you like stories? Do you like complicated characters, and conspiracies? Take a look! roleplayerguild.com/topics/1..
Bio
Hi! I'm Naril. I write, build things, and I'm incredibly busy, all the time. I'm probably older than you. I'm not interested in isekai, school settings, sandboxes, excessively grimdark settings, or invitation-only threads; I'm very picky about militaria, I don't care for A Song of Ice and Fire, Nation roleplay bores me to tears, most fandom doesn't really catch my attention, and though I prefer Advanced-level writing, I'm not going to help you write your book (Unless you feel like paying my day rate) - which almost certainly means I'm not here. Some day, maybe. Probably not, though!
I am interested in science fiction, cyberpunk, space operas, and stories of working together, uplift, and progress. You'll catch my attention with fantasy adventures in an interesting world, or with almost any modern fantasy. I have a soft spot for superhero stories, and you might find me in the occasional Star Wars or Star Trek fandom.
My standards are high for myself and mild for everyone else; I love writing dialogue and making you feel like you can taste the place I'm creating. I write in the style I like to read, which is the part I find fun. If you want an example of the authors I enjoy, look at Ann Leckie, Tamsyn Muir, N.K. Jemisin, Martha Wells, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman.
I am interested in science fiction, cyberpunk, space operas, and stories of working together, uplift, and progress. You'll catch my attention with fantasy adventures in an interesting world, or with almost any modern fantasy. I have a soft spot for superhero stories, and you might find me in the occasional Star Wars or Star Trek fandom.
My standards are high for myself and mild for everyone else; I love writing dialogue and making you feel like you can taste the place I'm creating. I write in the style I like to read, which is the part I find fun. If you want an example of the authors I enjoy, look at Ann Leckie, Tamsyn Muir, N.K. Jemisin, Martha Wells, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman.
Most Recent Posts
In
Boldly go where no one has gone before! A Star Trek-inspired RP!
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7 mos ago
Forum: Advanced Interest Checks
You've got my attention. I write good captains. :3
Her skin prickled while she walked with Alcander, leaving the body and Eleanor's examination behind. Something was happening, threads of power that nudged at her mind. Teajay's lips narrowed - that thing in Blythe, its exerted will laying like a weight on the universe while it pressed and pulled at someone else's mind. The thing's power sent shivers up Teajay's back, not out of fear, more like an unexpected winter's chill. She shook her head, and tried to pull herself out of the sensation. Things seemed...closer, lately, with the thing that called itself a demon, like its thoughts were brighter in Teajay's mind, but now wasn't the time to worry about Blythe and her passenger. She pushed the feeling away, but the moment she turned her attention from one set of supernatural feelers, another sent lightning-sharp crackles through her mind.
She felt it before she saw it, even before Alcander had finished shoving the dumpster away from the wall, like standing too close to a live wire. Teajay looked down, following the scrabbling of Al's boots, then the line of his attention.
Find the truth
The jolt in the back of her mind almost felt like a physical shove, and Teajay staggered, clamping her hand on the edge of the dumpster to keep her balance. She swallowed, her throat suddenly thick, her tongue unfamiliar and unwilling to form words. In her mind, she could feel...something, whirling around the length of sharp steel, like the memories she would feel when she was Outside, but something altogether more insistent.
Follow the lines
Teajay gasped and tried to form words, to ask Alcander for help. Nothing came out, her breath coming in sudden, sharp rasps. She lost her grip on the dumpster, fell to one knee on the cold asphalt. Her eyes swam - what was this? The words pounded against the inside of her skull, a command scraping the edges of her consciousness raw. Her hand moved, almost without her awareness, and in the skin of a second her fingers had wrapped around the dagger's hilt, pulling it toward herself, cradling it against her chest.
She stopped breathing, the ragged scraps of an indrawn breath spilling out of her in a ghostly wave.
One fist held the figure by the front of its jacket, already overbalanced on the edge of the rooftop. Behind their eyes, not malice, only a kind of satisfied determination. The other held something hard and sharp, the winter chill making the handle sharp against wind-chapped skin. So much had led to this, so many hours of study, so many dead ends and lost paths. But they had gotten this far, they would finally know secrets no mortal had ever even begun to understand.
Nobody had gotten this far, nobody had seen how the pieces truly fit. The centuries had burned down to this last nub of time, and they were the bright, final candle. The flame that would unlock a new world.
The tip bit through wool, through cotton. So close now...
The memory, the view playing across her eyes wavered for a moment, and Teajay seized what control she could. With a cry, she twisted at the waist and slammed her own wrist against the corner of the dumpster, hammering against it hard enough to make the whole thing ring like a deep bell. The dagger flew from her suddenly nerveless fingers, pinging across the asphalt with a scraping sound that rang more like glass than steel. For her part, Teajay fell back, catching herself with her arm and scrabbling backwards, toward the wall and away from the dagger. She pulled in air like a drowning woman, great gulps of the frigid, fetid alleyway coursing down her throat with each steam-engine breath. She kicked again, and felt something fold against her back, the moment strange enough to press the smallest bit of the panic away from her mind.
"Shit," Teajay managed after another few breaths, and looked behind her.
Cardboard on the ground. A few bottles, a blanket, a tarpaulin. Socks and a single shoe. And to each side, scrawled on the back of dumpsters and the brick of the building, the same phrase. Written in marker, in wax, in things that Teajay did not want to think about right now.
Follow the lines
Follow the lines
FOLLOW THE LINES
"I heard it," Teajay said, her tongue now under her own control, "The...I think it was the dagger," she swallowed again, "Or something about it. I couldn't turn away from it. I...what the fuck is going on?"
Another facet of the...vision? Dream? Commandment? floated through her mind, and she looked up at Alcander.
"The roof," Teajay said, trying and failing to get her feet under her, "Al, the roof. Something happened on the roof, we have to get up there, now!"
She felt it before she saw it, even before Alcander had finished shoving the dumpster away from the wall, like standing too close to a live wire. Teajay looked down, following the scrabbling of Al's boots, then the line of his attention.
Find the truth
The jolt in the back of her mind almost felt like a physical shove, and Teajay staggered, clamping her hand on the edge of the dumpster to keep her balance. She swallowed, her throat suddenly thick, her tongue unfamiliar and unwilling to form words. In her mind, she could feel...something, whirling around the length of sharp steel, like the memories she would feel when she was Outside, but something altogether more insistent.
Follow the lines
Teajay gasped and tried to form words, to ask Alcander for help. Nothing came out, her breath coming in sudden, sharp rasps. She lost her grip on the dumpster, fell to one knee on the cold asphalt. Her eyes swam - what was this? The words pounded against the inside of her skull, a command scraping the edges of her consciousness raw. Her hand moved, almost without her awareness, and in the skin of a second her fingers had wrapped around the dagger's hilt, pulling it toward herself, cradling it against her chest.
She stopped breathing, the ragged scraps of an indrawn breath spilling out of her in a ghostly wave.
One fist held the figure by the front of its jacket, already overbalanced on the edge of the rooftop. Behind their eyes, not malice, only a kind of satisfied determination. The other held something hard and sharp, the winter chill making the handle sharp against wind-chapped skin. So much had led to this, so many hours of study, so many dead ends and lost paths. But they had gotten this far, they would finally know secrets no mortal had ever even begun to understand.
Nobody had gotten this far, nobody had seen how the pieces truly fit. The centuries had burned down to this last nub of time, and they were the bright, final candle. The flame that would unlock a new world.
The tip bit through wool, through cotton. So close now...
The memory, the view playing across her eyes wavered for a moment, and Teajay seized what control she could. With a cry, she twisted at the waist and slammed her own wrist against the corner of the dumpster, hammering against it hard enough to make the whole thing ring like a deep bell. The dagger flew from her suddenly nerveless fingers, pinging across the asphalt with a scraping sound that rang more like glass than steel. For her part, Teajay fell back, catching herself with her arm and scrabbling backwards, toward the wall and away from the dagger. She pulled in air like a drowning woman, great gulps of the frigid, fetid alleyway coursing down her throat with each steam-engine breath. She kicked again, and felt something fold against her back, the moment strange enough to press the smallest bit of the panic away from her mind.
"Shit," Teajay managed after another few breaths, and looked behind her.
Cardboard on the ground. A few bottles, a blanket, a tarpaulin. Socks and a single shoe. And to each side, scrawled on the back of dumpsters and the brick of the building, the same phrase. Written in marker, in wax, in things that Teajay did not want to think about right now.
Follow the lines
Follow the lines
FOLLOW THE LINES
"I heard it," Teajay said, her tongue now under her own control, "The...I think it was the dagger," she swallowed again, "Or something about it. I couldn't turn away from it. I...what the fuck is going on?"
Another facet of the...vision? Dream? Commandment? floated through her mind, and she looked up at Alcander.
"The roof," Teajay said, trying and failing to get her feet under her, "Al, the roof. Something happened on the roof, we have to get up there, now!"
Post tomorrow for real, many apologies. Your patience is appreciated and I will endeavor to ensure it is no longer required.
By "tomorrow" I of course meant "a week from now."
What year is it again? I've come unstuck.
What year is it again? I've come unstuck.
Yes please! Apologies, work went mad for a little bit, but we're back down to earth. I'll have something up by tomorrow.
Okay, I'm back and my brain has recovered a little - I'm planning to write tomorrow!
I'm quite busy through Sunday afternoon, but I'll get writing after that!
Anything I should know about the dumpsters and remaining goo? I'm also happy to keep Making Shit Up. :3
Teajay felt her shoulders stiffen just before Blythe spoke. The...other being, the thing that made its home in Blythe's chest, had focused its attention on her; the thing that called itself a demon. Teajay liked Blythe, she really did, but it was so hard to get close to her. Not only because of the demon and its pull on Blythe's soul, but the rage, the pain, the fury that drove the woman radiated off her like heat from a forge. Every time Teajay thought about asking her out for a drink, she wondered if the cocktails would vaporize before they got to enjoy them. There were, of course, times for that sort of thing, that kind of fierce, furious potential, but...well. Not now, certainly.
She could hear the thing that shared Blythe's body, but Teajay couldn't understand it. The language was one she didn't speak, or perhaps it merely chose not to let itself be understood. The words arrived via something other than her ears, stripped of any meaning other than malice and a dark, distant desire. In that way, the demon wasn't really different from her DMs, but somehow it always seemed more immediate, more potentially dangerous. Teajay expected they would probably have some kind of reckoning, eventually - that's how that story goes, after all - and she honestly had no idea what would happen. If there were avenging angels, the red right hands of the Highest, Teajay wasn't one of them. She listened and she spoke, and that was that.
Wasn't it?
The distant rumbling of the thing in Blythe faded, and Teajay shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She blinked, and noticed Adri having arrived, her dark coat making her one more vaguely sinister figure in the increasingly busy alleyway. A cop, whether she left the force or not; her bearing stiff, proud, official. There were reasons that she came to join the spooky side rather than stuffing her truth down and staying on the force, but from what Teajay could tell, the job never left you.
"Blythe's got what we know," Teajay said, gesturing at the other woman with a thumb, "It's a little early yet. But you're right, camera footage isn't that hard to come by most of the time. You wanna take Blythe and go see if you can sweet-talk your way into the security offices for that building? See if that cam caught anything? This one feels weird enough that I'm guessing we probably shouldn't be alone."
Teajay pointed at Alcander, "And before you fall asleep on your feet, c'mon. If there's more of this stuff, let's see where it leads. Adri says there's some dumpsters up the alley with more of this stuff on it. Between the two of us, we can probably move 'em, see if there's something under or behind them."
She could hear the thing that shared Blythe's body, but Teajay couldn't understand it. The language was one she didn't speak, or perhaps it merely chose not to let itself be understood. The words arrived via something other than her ears, stripped of any meaning other than malice and a dark, distant desire. In that way, the demon wasn't really different from her DMs, but somehow it always seemed more immediate, more potentially dangerous. Teajay expected they would probably have some kind of reckoning, eventually - that's how that story goes, after all - and she honestly had no idea what would happen. If there were avenging angels, the red right hands of the Highest, Teajay wasn't one of them. She listened and she spoke, and that was that.
Wasn't it?
The distant rumbling of the thing in Blythe faded, and Teajay shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She blinked, and noticed Adri having arrived, her dark coat making her one more vaguely sinister figure in the increasingly busy alleyway. A cop, whether she left the force or not; her bearing stiff, proud, official. There were reasons that she came to join the spooky side rather than stuffing her truth down and staying on the force, but from what Teajay could tell, the job never left you.
"Blythe's got what we know," Teajay said, gesturing at the other woman with a thumb, "It's a little early yet. But you're right, camera footage isn't that hard to come by most of the time. You wanna take Blythe and go see if you can sweet-talk your way into the security offices for that building? See if that cam caught anything? This one feels weird enough that I'm guessing we probably shouldn't be alone."
Teajay pointed at Alcander, "And before you fall asleep on your feet, c'mon. If there's more of this stuff, let's see where it leads. Adri says there's some dumpsters up the alley with more of this stuff on it. Between the two of us, we can probably move 'em, see if there's something under or behind them."
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