You peer out of the window with a frown. "Hey, Jess...?"

"Yeah?" Jess looks up from a few small jars filled with dried herbs.

"Do you have bushstalkers out here or... or something?" You lean forward, pressing your head against the glass of her kitchen window to look to the left and right of the house. "I swear there's something out there..."

Elan snorted quietly. "Don't go all swamp-crazy on us now, Tiiris."

"It's probably just some critter, Tiiris." Jess shook her head. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"But I was..." You glance over at her, then back out the window. You could have sworn...

Jess shrugs lightly and tugs on Elan's arm. "Here, help me get the oven going. Tiiris, can you stir the pot while we're gone? Make sure it gets nice and mixed up before it gets tender."

"Can't you adjutant do this?" You ask, eyeing the drone hovering over the burner.

"Yeah, but I want you to do it." Jess glanced between the two of you and smiled as she guided Elan out the door. "We'll only be a second."

You turn and pluck a wooden spoon out of the jar on Jess' counter and sink it into the thick mix of vegetables, stirring it with a small grunt of effort. Once you have them swirling, you glance up at the window again and frown. Even if it was just a forest, you knew you had felt... something.

Carefully, you reach out with your senses, gently respiring a fraction of the Abyss' energy as you reach out to the trees. Was it just your imagination? You peer into the increasing gloom of the sky, seeing nothing but the faint outlines of the tree branches, their aged trunks stripped of bark and exposing their rings as faint ripples in the darkness...

The contrasting pattern was striking, almost seeming to glow out of the gloom in definite shapes. One appeared almost like it was a serpent, striped in black and glowing white, coiling around the trunk of the tree nearest to you. Living in it's rings. As it's rings.

Then, it carefully slithered forward, the glow of it's body rippling up the trunk and coiling around one of the branches, sending it aglow in white. The only suggestion of it's coiled body was in thin gaps that sliced across the otherwise white branch. You stare for a few seconds before blinking and shaking your head, focusing again to see it... was still there.

>Get Jess and point it out to her directly.
>Go out and take a closer look.
>Any chance LT knows something? Xol is your resident expert on bizarre shit, but he's underwater...
>You're obviously just seeing things.
>[Write-In]

I have become painfully familiar with the meaning behind the phrase 'so cold I can't think', and have resolved that wherever I live next, I will have a regular fireplace or wood burning stove like I did growing up. I've had power back for about a week, two weeks now, but it's like all creative and mental momentum I had going was totally destroyed.

>>4679041
>>Get Jess and point it out to her directly.

>>4679044
welcome back from the dead bentus

>>4679041
>>Get Jess and point it out to her directly.

>>4679044
I have diesel generators to power heating where I live maybe you can try that

>>4679041
>>Go out and take a closer look.

>>4679041
>Go out and take a closer look.
Not quite as sexy as a normal dryad but okay.

>>4679041
>Go out and take a closer look.
This cannot bite us in the arse in any way whatsoever, no siree.
But do this AFTER THE VEG IS DONE! We don't want to let them burn or cook badly because we ran off in the middle of cooking.

Also welcome back, you had me spooped. Glad to hear you're either not a popsicle or animated icy hands wrote this post.

>Go out and take a closer look.
Writing.

>>4679956
I mean... how would you know if I was?

>>4679512
Yeah, I might look into it. Problem is I don't have a dedicated inverter, so I might have to invest into one of those- or maybe just a decent batter for the electrical component of my heater.

I can't believe Bentus is fucking dead

>>4683346
Thankfully of the 'I just haven't had enough time to write recently' manner than freezing in the dark manner.

Was it just an afterimage? An imprint of someone else's power gone wrong? The minor manifestations you had been told about? No, nobody had mentioned the possibility of creating an entire creature like this...

You keep stirring absentmindedly for a few seconds, then turn to Jess' adjutant. "Could you handle this for a moment?"

"Absolutely." It transmitted, floating upwards and carefully grabbing the spoon out of your fingers without much of a thought.

You raise your eyebrow slightly at it's possessiveness of the kitchen before shaking your head and quietly pulling open Jess' side door. Crossing the edge of the orange light spilling out of Jess' cabin, you focus on the trees again. You sweep the branches again, unable to pick out exactly which branch you had been looking at before- until you see that same white glow wrapped around one of the branches above your head.

Now that you were looking at it from below, you were able to see that it truly had no depth at all. Instead of a serpent wrapped around the branch, you could see that the serpent was almost like a living image, merely printed onto the surface of the smooth, stripped wood. It uncoiled slightly as you drew closer, appearing to uncoil from the branch as the tight coil of it's body unwound, spreading out across the branch, the image of it's head on the underside growing bigger to suggest it growing closer to you.

>Reach your arm out to it.
>Try to reach out one of your 'other' arms. The ones that you can feel when you respirate deeply.
>Shy away from it.
>Stand still and don't disturb it.
>[Write-In]

>>4685151
>>Stand still and don't disturb it.

>>4685151
>Stand still and don't disturb it.

>>4685151
>>Try to reach out one of your 'other' arms. The ones that you can feel when you respirate deeply.

>>4685151
>>Stand still and don't disturb it.
snek? xol manifestation?

>>4685151
>>Try to reach out one of your 'other' arms. The ones that you can feel when you respirate deeply.

>>4685151
>Try to reach out one of your 'other' arms. The ones that you can feel when you respirate deeply.
snek must have boop

No time to start tonight, so we'll let the vote hang for a day.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Alright, tie- so, rolling off with 1 for standing still, 2 for reaching out.

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>>4687544

>>4687544
boop

>>4688037
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQaDq01M-O4

Your fingers twitch slightly, and you take a deep breath, first with your outer lungs- and then with your inner ones. The sensation of different limbs and organs fills you, tracing out from your core and radiating towards the extremities of your... other body. Arms ran parallel to each other, nestled up against hard, softly rotating shapes and ridges that gently expanded and contracted against each other.

Steeling yourself, you take a breath and silently try to will one of the arms to move. It responds - to your relief - but the movement is sluggish, as if you were halfway to being asleep. Moving it is almost an exertion that you have to concentrate on, biting back the fatigue with steady breath as you stretch it out towards the serpent, your own arm unconsciously lifting up as if to follow it. You see it stretch over your shoulder as a faint shadow that sticks out within your mind- only visible because it's highlighted by the fading orange color of the clouds behind it.

Reaching all the way above your head, you hover nervously a few feet away from the branch, watching the serpent's outline against the grain. It's head pulled back slightly as you held your hand out, the living image seeming strange and flimsy against the rest of the world around it.

You shiver at the feeling of wood softly rubbing against your skin- no, not your skin. It was your body, but hard and rough and ridged, feeling more like armor or bone than your own flesh. Whatever was sliding against it had grain and was hard like wood, but felt bizarrely softer than the surface of your spectral arm, making you shiver strangely as the snake slid across it. Dappled patterns of scales and wood grain danced across the shadow of your arm, the serpent briefly adhering to it's surface as it crossed you. It's head stretched outwards as it pushed forward onto the branch directly next to you, using your arm as a convenient bridge to cross between trees.

It's tail whips across your vision before sliding across the air and adhering to the surface of the tree next to you, sliding up and across the bark before disappearing from view. You stand there, arms outstretched still, eyes wide and unsure of what you just experienced. Slowly, you bring your... third arm into view, staring as the shadowy outline with wide eyes before letting it drop. You weren't sure if it would dissolve or... vanish on it's own- or if it had simply always been there.

>Try to follow it up- into the trees.
>Move further into the trees to see if there is anything else like it.
>Turn back.
>[Write-In]

>>4691731
>>Move further into the trees to see if there is anything else like it.

>>4691731
>Move further into the trees to see if there is anything else like it.

>>4691731
>>Turn back.

>>4691731
>>Turn back.

>>4691731
>Try to follow it up- into the trees.
don't flee from the boppings snek

>>4691731
>Move further into the trees to see if there is anything else like it.
Snek located. Birb is next? Or woodchonk?
Very great spirit beasts, much respec.

>Move further into the trees to see if there is anything else like it.
Writing.

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post more Tiiris

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>>4695293

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You take a deep breath and slowly creep through the underbrush, moving carefully to avoid catching your foot on a loose root in the darkness. You hold your gaze skyward for a few moments, hoping to catch a glimpse of the serpent moving on the branches above. A small flicker of light floats past your vision- a tiny creature, maybe a bug that wriggles and fidgets through the air. You spot another one nearly as big as your thumb, crawling on the branch next to you on several thick and ungainly legs.

More of them begin to loom out of you, rising into your vision like bioluminescent kelp beginning to glow in a dark room. Trains of small cubes spun end over end, clicking forward step by step. Tiny worms wriggled through the air, diverting in a stream around tree limbs and yourself, while small mites crawled inside the rotted moss on one of the trees. Like the serpent before them, they were... oddly flat. Like they were only projections on the world around them, instead of existing fully in three dimensions.

Moving without thinking, you reach out with your actual hands to touch one of the flying worms, only for it to slip through your fingers like it was sand, it's body simply sliding right around your outstretched hand and continuing to float into the sky. You didn't even feel a thing.

There weren't many of them larger than a single segment of your finger. Fewer still that approached the size of your little finger. But you had just seen that serpent earlier, which meant bigger ones had to exist...

>Try to catch one.
>Sit down and wait to see what they're doing.
>[Write-In]

>>4697177
>Sit down and wait to see what they're doing.

>>4697177
>>Sit down and wait to see what they're doing.

>>4697177
>Try to catch one

>>4697177
>>Sit down and wait to see what they're doing.

>>4697177
>Sit down and wait to see what they're doing.
Iunno what those herbs were Jess was throwing in the pot but they must be the good shit because we are TRIPPING

>Sit down and wait to see what they're doing.
Writing.

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The smoothed trunk of one of the trees gently collides with your back, and you allow yourself to slide down onto a bumpy seat of exposed roots. You stare upwards at the slow march of insects and tiny mites up into the canopy. A cloud of creatures with bodies so small you couldn't even see them, but with massive wings the size of your hand flitted around your hand. You didn't feel any sort of wind from it's wings despite their size, but occasionally when one bumped up against you, you swore you could feel it... on your other...

"You can see them, huh?"

You start at the voice from behind you. Turning, you see Jess leaning over you, one hand gently braced against the tree you were sitting against.

"I, ah..." You slowly look back over your shoulder. "...what are they?"

"I don't know." Jess looked up. "Spirits? Some kind of Abyss-spawned creature? Magical insects?" She stepped over the roots of the tree and sat down next to you, giving you a shakey smile.

"What do they do, though?"

Reaching up, she gently rapped against the tree trunk. "These trees- they develop this gap between their bark and the trunk as they age. Eventually, it all rots off and falls away. I think that's what attracts them."

"A little bit of death to bring the Abyss in..." You say slowly. "I thought... there was no such thing as ghosts, though?"

"Eh, I've never met a ghost." Jess shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. "At least... I don't think so. These seem more like... carrion feeders. Or something."

"Or something." You close your eyes and sigh. "Why is it the more I learn, the less I feel like anyone knows anything about the Abyss?"

"Eh, I'm sure that's pretty normal." Jess replied. "'Anyone who knows anything knows they know nothing', or however that saying goes. Most people I know can't see them. Not even other Valkans, although whether they can't or they just don't notice is beyond me."

"That or we're high as fuck..." You mumble to yourself.

"Entirely possible." Jess admits.

You breath out slowly, eyeing the scene that's before you.

>"Hey, what do you think about us? About us being Valkans?"
>"You said 'most people you know'. Is there someone else who knows more?"
>"I have this... other body I can feel through. Do you have one, too?"
>[Write-In]

>>4702960
>"I have this... other body I can feel through. Do you have one, too?"

>>4702960
>>"You said 'most people you know'. Is there someone else who knows more?"

>>4702960
>"That or we're high as fuck..." You mumble to yourself.
>"Entirely possible." Jess admits.
JESS WHAT DID YOU PUT IN THE SOUP

>"I have this... other body I can feel through. Do you have one, too?"
Seems like she's flying blind in most of this stuff just like we are. It kind of makes sense. Wasn't she like five or so when the end of the war stranded her parents here?

>>4702960
>>"I have this... other body I can feel through. Do you have one, too?"

>>4702960
>>"I have this... other body I can feel through. Do you have one, too?"
I want whatever Jess plants in her garden

>"I have this... other body I can feel through. Do you have one, too?"
Writing.

Gonna be one day later than I thought, got distracted practicing my elite smut skills.

>>4708749
Writing smut or practicing it?

>>4708895
As much as I would like to be practicing it, that was difficult enough to do from a mountain before the pandemic. I just got distracted with a side project, is all.

>>4708749
COADE smut when

>tfw no valkan smut yet

"I have this... other body I can feel through. I don't know how to explain it..." You trail off. "Like it's connected to me through the same... tether I respirate through. Like, the lungs that I feel moving don't really belong to me, but are actually a part of this... other... body..." You bite your lip and think for a moment before turning to look at Jess. "Do you have one, too?"

"Maybe." Jess mumbled, finding an exposed root to use as a seat. "I'm really not sure. It's like something at the back of my mind, that I just barely feel. Sometimes, I swear I can feel limbs that aren't mine, touch things that aren't really there. But it's always faint- and I never know if it's me or something else..."

You purse your lips. "I have this weird feeling that none of the Valkans would know, either. Nobody has brought up the idea of a second body or whatever to me so far."

"I guess it would be a bit naive to assume that we uncovered all the secrets of the Abyss..." Jess sighed. "I just- I wish I had an idea. Or... or something." She reached up, letting several of the creatures part around her hand like it was nothing. "According to what I know, just being on a planet with life should drive out anything to do with the Abyss."

"Guess not." You sigh. "You wouldn't happen to know any non-Valkan Abyss users, would you?"

Jess breathed out. "Hah. No. I don't think Tagarans really have Abyss users."

Your mind flashes back to Angie and Pavel. "Right."

"Besides, even if they did, I'm not sure they'd know any more than your average hedge mage." Jess continued. "Unless they happen to be into psychedelics."

>"Jess... do you know anything about Shadows?"
>"My mother seemed pretty alarmed by the second body thing. Said it was bypassing my implants."
>Say nothing.
>[Write-In]

>>4710485
>Say nothing.
"Dead" people should probably stay "dead" until we get their blessing to talk about them.

>>4710485
>>"My mother seemed pretty alarmed by the second body thing. Said it was bypassing my implants."

>>4710485
>Say nothing.
I doubt Jess knows more abut the abyss than mom

>>4710485
>>Say nothing.

>>4710485
>>"Jess... do you know anything about Shadows?"

>>4710485
>>Say nothing.

>Say nothing.
Writing.

I can't believe Bentus is fucking dead

>>4715653
Does Bentus have more lives than a cat?

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>>4715825
I am boundless.

Important work stuff have to delay another day again blah blah needing to eat food sucks.

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You frown to yourself, pursing your lips. Should you tell her about Wander, and the other things you'd learned from your mother? Ultimately, you fall silent, merely staring up at the rising cloud of life - or was it death? - stirring around you.

Jess stares up as well, too distracted by the show above to notice your expression. Her forehead was creased in thought, her fingers absently rubbing together as if she was rolling something between her fingers.

"Auvartii?" A voice floated over to you. It took you a second to realize that it wasn't an actual voice, but a transmission from a voice you didn't recognize. You instinctively look over your shoulder and behind Jess, knowing somehow that was the direction of the signal.

"Erasmus?" Jess turned to look the same direction as you, before getting to her feet with a grunt. "Over here."

You glance over at Jess with uncertainty before getting to your feet yourself, stealing one last look at a line of spectral moss seemingly detaching from the ground to float into the sky on trails of shimmering thread. Turning back, you saw Jess sharing a hug with another woman, who pulled back and caught sight of you. "And is this one of your new friends?" She reached back, tucking a wayward strand of dark hair behind her ear before smiling at you.

"Ah, yeah. Erasmus, this is Tiiris." Jess gestured towards you. "The one inside is Elan."

"Uh, hello." You smile awkwardly, giving a little wave back.

"Call me Reiss." She smiled. Unlike Jess, she looked almost like a regular Tagaran. She wore her dark hair long and loose, letting it pool around a loose hoodie and jeans, versus Jess' more outdoorsy tank top and shorts. Her face had no freckles or overtly Valkan markings that you could see, but the skin around her eyes faintly pulsed with an outline of circuitry as she looked you over, and a small data-tag was imposed over your vision of her.

"Reiss..." You nod, unsure of why she would give a different name to you. Did she not realize you could hear their conversation? Whatever her reasons, Reiss extended no hand in greeting, leaving you unsure of what to do next. You swallow, then turn to Jess. "Uh... is this your friend who might be able to help..."

"Oh, yeah." Jess nodded. "Unlike me, she has something of a social life."

"I'm a scary necromancer." Reiss' face stretched with a grin as she raised her hands, waggling her fingers in the air. "I have connections in all sorts of cults." She grabbed at her hoodie and gently fluffed it, letting out a long sigh. "Can we get inside, though? I walked all the way here and I'm sick of the cold."

Jess rolled her eyes slightly, reaching out to gently bump Reiss towards the side door.

>>4718377
Reiss turned around with a shamless shrug, and as she did so, she raised one of her hands to give a half-wave at LT's lurking form with an air of familiarity, before grabbing at the screen door and tugging it open. "I said 'hi' to your warskin on the way in." She smiled over her shoulder at you. "It seems kind."

"Thanks..." You answer awkwardly. "Um..."

>"Wait, are you actually a necromancer?"
>"Is your name Erasmus or Reiss?"
>"So... can you help it?"
>"Jess, just how many Valkans do you actually know?"
>[Write-In]

>>4718378
>"So... can you help it?"

>>4718378
>>"Wait, are you actually a necromancer?"

>>4718378
>>"Wait, are you actually a necromancer?"

>>4718378
>>"Is your name Erasmus or Reiss?"
new fren? are all valkans girls?

>>4719000
They can be whatever you want, but most of the ones we have met are.

>>4718378
>"Is your name Erasmus or Reiss?"

>>4718378
>"Is your name Erasmus or Reiss?"
I can't fully appreciate the cute busty necromancer until I know the cultural and historical reasons for Valkans using multiple names, god damn it!

>>4719020
did all the men commit sudoku during the invasion

>>4719477
Legitimately, it just has more to do with who you've been talking to. There are plenty of men there, just not any you've happened to interact with yet.

>>4718378
>>"Wait, are you actually a necromancer?"

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Okay, so split between Necromancer or Reiss. We'll do a coinflip.

Archived:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4679040/

New thread with update: >>4726165

God, only seven updates in a month. I'm slipping hard.

>>4726173
>I'm slipping hard.
back to writing mines slave *whip*