He lowered his voice. "Northern skald, lose ten sons to cruel tricky lover. They all turn to stone statues far, far north and she not get them back. Go mad with grief, kill lover and gods give her stone fingers as punishment. She mostly stone now but move like person, bashes heads in and hangs skulls on her back. Slow, very slow but once she see you, you not getting away. Keeps coming until you run no more and then you end up on her back with your fingers tied in her hair. Not good at all."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"She traveling. Always moving. Well, sometimes sleeping. Body so heavy after so long. Very old. But always angry and hurting, so she kill."
(Picture an ancient topless woman with cracked stony features, thin as a stick with long hanging hair, dragging what is essentially a slug-shaped lower body that used to be her legs behind her. Cracked teeth, a sort of shell of skulls tied with sinews on her back, fingerbones hanging from her hair)
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Is she close, too?” Ky asked, uneasily eyeing the woods again. At this rate, she wasn’t so sure that staying in the North was less of a risk than trying her luck in the South with the assassins and all.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"No. I smell her coming if she close. She far away somewhere else. She not bother you, not bother anyone enough for peoples to think she real, yes?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Ky hesitated, body relaxing ever so slightly. “That’s true.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Most things you thinking of, nobody think real now. So no worry for you." He didn't sound very sure of himself just then as he looked back over his shoulder. "Just not go outside in long night. These past couple years things are strange, everybody stirring and trees waking up."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“The trees?” Ky asked incredulously, looking at the forest around them suspiciously. What next? Was the snow sentient too?
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Not like that," he said with a rough chuckle. "But they waking up. Starting to feel like old time. Strange for us."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"How so?" Ky bunched up her coats and finally sat down again, deciding to trust Rönn to protect her. Or at the very least to warn her to get inside.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I..." He thought for a moment. "Hard to say. Land feel different. Everything feel different. Things changing. Almost..." He shook his head. "We find out soon enough. I go talk to some others maybe, see if they want talk to me. But most important I keep Zander safe, so that first. Whatever happening, it not happening for some time yet."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Ky felt like he was packing entirely too many things to focus on in these statements he kept making. But it reminded her that she needed to call him off, based on what he said earlier. "Well, you can't go with Zander if you are going to get hurt if you do."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Not know if I getting hurt," he pointed out. "Not really care; I live far too long anyway. Maybe one day I go all the way crazy like Stone Mother. If I live, I live, if I die, I die. I find way to get you message if that happen."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"No," she said firmly, furrowing her brow at him. What was with all these men, trying to kill themselves on her behalf? "You can't go die because of me. That's not okay. Besides -- what's the point in that? If you do, then you won't be protecting Zander then, anyway. So you'll both be getting hurt for no reason."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I go protect Zander for you," he insisted. "I see him to border, maybe I stick hand over border just to be sure, but I keep him safe like I promise. No arguement."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
