Wolf @ angelsGuignol

My Lady,

I write you to beg a boon of you. I have done what I can to set the evacuation of Almachadta in motion. I beg of you, lady–give what aid you can to my people, when they arrive in our refuge. I fear they shall be the worse for wear.

A young man named Izaak, who should have been my protege, will be helping spearhead the evacuation efforts; so shall Salme’s adoptive father, Badri. Coordinate with them if you can. I have told them to come with as many supplies as they can manage, but I do not know how much they shall be able to bring. Be wary, also, of the corrupted fruit that I am sure now spreads like wildfire across my world–burn it on sight, if any comes through the path. But be gentler, I pray, with those it may have affected, if you can.

I realize I have no right to ask such aid of you–but whatever debt I must pay for your assistance, I pay gladly, sight unseen. These people…they are my meaning, and my purpose. My love. I would bow and burn a thousand times to keep even one of them safe from the horror that is to come. Please, o Queen…please, Jae. Help them, if you can.

-Wolf

wolf. hero of almachadta, if i’m not mistaken.

you have every right to ask these things of me. you gained the right to demand that i act as a queen would act when i claimed the title of Scorpion Queen of the Beast. and you and i want the same thing, here. you and yours have opened up a door i’ve been beating my head against longer than i care to admit. i’ll do everything in my power for your people.

aurelius, it sounds like, is going to be opening up a more convenient Kinder, Gentler Path in or near Queenstown. i already know caion’s busting his ass in samudra, and i’m looking forward to working with him, and with your izaak, and with badri, even if the six of you (seven, now, or so i hear) aren’t there yourselves.

i want what you want, here, wolf. more than i have the words to say.

we’ll beat this, or we’ll go down fighting, but either way, we’ll all do it together.

i promise.

-Jae

Thank you, Jae, for your kindness. You are correct, of course. Forgive me, it…despite everything, it feels like I have done so little for my people. I have been away, adventuring, and nothing of what we have found or achieved seems to have brought us closer to stopping this.

But you are right, as well, that what we have achieved–what we can save–is not nothing. I must cling to that. I am right glad to have you by our side, O Queen.

who started dismissing the work that you and your clan is doing as ‘being away, adventuring’? i will feed them to a brontosaurus

anyways you wont know what of the things you’ve stumbled into will help until you’re looking backwards at them and they line up the right way and you go, oh shit, that’s why that was important

i know that sounds kinda crazy to say but it’s the kinda crazy that’s true

and in the meantime, BECAUSE of what you found, we’re already doing a hell of a lot more than we’ve– than i’ve– ever been able to before. told that to salme too, will tell it to you, will keep repeating it until i’m blue in the face.

slowly remembering how to be the angel of hope again i guess, feel like this is y’alls fault

Well, I will gladly take some small credit for that.

You’re right, of course. We could be in total ignorance, as my world was so many times before, heading towards our doom and not even realizing it. Almachadta may end in fire once more…but my Teacher (I cannot write it any other way, since Mu) once said…”home is not a place. It is people.” We will save as many of the people as we can. The rest can be rebuilt.

…you know, that makes me wonder. When Almachadta is reborn after a cycle…where do all the people come from? The mask is held safe in the shrine, but everyone dies…

…so how are there more people?

man if salme asked me this and i played hard to get with the answer shes gonna kick my ass, isnt she

i dont THINK she did though. anyways if she does ill deserve it

i can only answer for what happens on the beast. idk if things work the same way on almachadta and samudra but i -assume- they do.

the beast starts back up, each time, with people already there. some out in the Reach, some closer to where Queenstown tends to end up. they… already know each other, they have histories with each other, although the histories don’t really go back very far and get incoherent after a generation and it’s. better not to push them on that topic! as i discovered once.

they’re always different people. it’s always different, every time. but like… you see it enough times and there’s broad rough patterns you pick out? theres always a Reach, they always love the stars. even if i stood back and did absolutely nothing, some things would play out along roughly similar paths, im pretty sure.

not like it’s ever been like me to stand back and do absolutely nothing

They’re already…there? And they have memories? I…what? How?

Gods above and below. That raises so many questions…

doesn’t it, though? -something- happens in the flux that i’ve never been able to catch. lost a couple of bodies trying to stick around and get a handle on exactly what’s happening.

I am…unfortunately curious. If you lose a body, how do you get it back?

rebuilding from scratch every time baybeeee, it’s a huge pain in the ass

(my throne is full of magic bullshit that lets me get away with some shit)