She forced herself to take a bite and swallow it mostly whole.
"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]
Gaius ignored his food. "So. Tell me why I saw an entire farmhouse flattened and a crushed grove of trees on the way here," D'Ara said casually. Gaius looked up. "Trolls," he said. "If you can believe it."
"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’s jaw locked and her throat constricted. It took her several moments to force herself to continue eating.
(Tonight’s edition of male privilege my coworkers will never comprehend is I just had to go take a piss while we — 4 dudes I’ve known slightly over 2 weeks and I — were at dinner and I had to spend a solid 2 minutes trying to decide if my gut was accurate enough on all of them to trust leaving my drink unattended)(I’m like 99% sure on all of them that it would be fine and yet I still finished my beer before I came. Time will tell if I continue sipping on my water when I go back or if bygones shall be bygones)
"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]
(Oh yikes Wait has someone tried to drug your drink before????)
Gaius glanced at her. "Trolls?" D'Ara poured herself some mead. "Trolls haven't existed for centuries, if ever. You said so yourself." "That was then. This is now." He poured himself a glass as well. "You saw the house, several of us have seen the trolls themselves and sightings are getting more and more frequent."
"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… at least if they have tried, they weren’t successful. But that’s because I’m always exceedingly careful with my drinks. I got sexually assaulted when I was 20 — so before I started drinking in public — and I was 100% sober, it was like 8 pm in a busy well-lit area, and I was with two of my dude friends. (I am pretty sure I would have gotten raped that night without my dude friends — they literally pried the guy off me and then physically stayed between us until I was safe). But like if a fucker assaulted me in a well-lit public location I’m terrified of what might happen in a bar sort of setting where there is more risk for it) (And when I put it like that I always second guess myself about whether it can really be considered SA proper. But like he — a total stranger — started casually chatting with me and I used to be friendly so I didn’t think anything of it, especially since like nothing would happen when I’m in a group in a well-lit area, right????— and the guy decided to give me a ‘hug’ and I felt awkward so I gave the tiniest pat on his back and then tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let me go. So I give it another second and tried to pull away again but he wouldn’t let me go still. And then he slid his hand down my lower back and grabbed my ass and pulled our hips close enough together that I could feel his boner and I panicked and fought hard enough I could get my arms between our chests which were also pressed together in an attempt to shove off, but he just tightened his grasp on the arm he still had wrapped around my shoulder and tightly pinned my arms between us so I couldn’t move. Like at all. I was royally fucked. And at that point my guy friends glanced over — this whole thing happened in probably 20 seconds or so, I don’t fault them at all for not seeing it in time to stop it — and saw me struggling to get away so one of them got their shoulder between us and shoved the guy away from me and when the dude saw I was with a guy finally let me go. So like… I was fully clothed. He never tried to take my clothes off or slip his hands underneath them. So… is that real SA? Idk. But it kind of feels like it. And I cried a lot afterwards for like a week after that and now assume the absolute worst or every single man I meet until he proves himself trustworthy. Like they are absolutely guilty until proven innocent in my book) (But I did drink my water when I got back to the table last night so ig that means my coworkers all are well on their way into my trust lol)
Ky glanced at the mead longingly, then decided to pour herself some berry juice instead. Best not push her luck and piss Gaius off, even though she was pretty sure the mead was improving the situation. She felt a little better after every bit she drank.
She cut into her chicken and took a deep breath then shoved it in her mouth and dutifully chewed as fast as she could. Gotta get rid of it fast.
"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]
(That is SA. He touched you aggressively without consent so that is most definitely what that was. I'm so sorry that happened, Shady; that sounds fucking terrifying. It's good these fellas seem okay; hopefully nothing like that ever happens again.)
She shook her head. "That can't be good. At all. What do they want?" "We believe the gods may be waking up," Gaius replied. "Trolls are notoriously sensitive to magic, so it makes sense that they'd be roaming about as the atmosphere changes."
"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
(Thank you <3 it really shook me up. Up to that point I’d been like Pff fucking try me asshole and thought I could take care of myself. That made me realize that I can actually very easily be overpowered by a large man and there’s Jack shit I could do about it. Then a few weeks after that I had a guy try to kidnap me at a rest stop. I went through a period of extreme hatred of men lol but thankfully things have improved since then. And I don’t have much trouble with men, especially now that I’ve gained weight and cut my hair. Thank fuck. I never want to go through it again)
Ky pushed a potato across her plate, wishing they’d find something else to talk about.
"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]
(Butchness is my best defense; not sure how I'd fare without it)
"Have they killed anyone yet?" Tomhas looked down at his plate; he'd been eating rapidly but once the troll talk started he had gone quiet and stopped shoveling food into his mouth. "A few," Gaius replied noncommittally. "Mostly livestock."
"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
(MeN dOnT lIkE gIrLs WhO— Good. Awesome. Pls give me more tips so I can take them lol)
Ky glanced at Tomhas then back at her plate. She felt ill.
"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]
(One day we will all reach our ideal form but it's just a potato with a can of pepper spray taped to us)
"Any chance of them coming down South?" "Unlikely."
"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
(Lmao yes pls) (I’ve been looking at top surgery with such envy in my heart. Imagine.)
Ky glanced at Gaius. Were they really going to pretend like they hadn’t already had a troll stare her in the eyes?
"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]
(That would be amazing! I'm pretty happy with my body at the moment but I definitely don't like people looking at my chest)
"Well, let's hope that works out for you lot, then." D'Ara sipped at her mead. "Trolls are a nasty business, from what I've heard." "Indeed they are." Gaius glanced around the table.
"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
(I’m glad to hear that <3 I go through cycles of not minding them (aka not remembering them) and cycles of desperately wanting them gone. I am in the field this week and they are absurdly inconvenient when in the field so chop chop)
Ky accidentally made eye contact and quickly glanced away.
"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]
"So how's business in the South?" "Busy," D'Ara replied. "More and more settlements are popping up; we keep having to change our routes. I've appealed to the Governor and to the Warden both, but they've waved their hands and said they'll do something trivial like send a public message or something equally useless. We're losing land we've been on for thousands of years."
"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
(Haha yeahhhh and I’ve got DD and guess what isn’t designed with boobs in mind? Literally ever piece of field gear imaginable lol it’s all cut for men so I just gotta get too big ones and deal with the extra length lol)(oh well I get by and it’s still nicer to be in the field than the office so I’ll take it)
Ky cringed sympathetically. Governors were the worst.
"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]
