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Pushing the Feeling of the Space into the Background
I take a sip from my travel mug as I make my way up the stairs to the third story of the campus building. I’m not particularly looking forward to this presentation, but such is life. The stairwell goes from the lobby all the way up to the eighth floor. The other stairwell reaches the roof, but the maintenance staff often keep the roof door open which serves to make their lives slightly easier and makes me not like walking up those stairs. One of the few advantages of the clas
J. Joseph
3 days ago8 min read
Gregory's First Supervised Assignment
This test is going to be easier than most, I can’t help but think. These people, they’re friendly enough, but more to the point, they aren’t gullible. Which means, all it took was not trying to get anything for them to let me in. Not so much that they trust me with their secrets, of course, but enough that they’ve shown me where to look. And when. I drift quietly through the empty streets of the small town, heading to Nikos’s house. Nikos Oikonomou is by no means anyone impo
J. Joseph
Oct 168 min read
Renalt Continues his Composition after the Rescues
Renalt and Felazo, with the aid of Azugari, map out a path through the archipelago, avoiding the monster’s hunting ground, to gather up as many survivors as they could muster. The stalking scion and the shielding sister join their crewmates in setting off on their voyage. After the Ekzokia has left the cavern, on that initial leg out to a tidal sandbar that the ebbings would have pulled a large portion of the second sunken ship towards, the dwarfish demon summoner of the pira
J. Joseph
Oct 98 min read
Mistrust
The Lone Wolf slowly docks in Portus Conversorum. A smaller port, mostly for smugglers and merchants. And, of course, one of their most frequent selling places. Over the comms speakers, Captain Leslie Thomas’s voice is crisp and clear. “Everybody. This is a restocking port call, not a vacation. While yer free to leave and visit the freeport, return before station-night. We be setting out in thirteen hours. Over’n’out.” Alicia presses her own comm unit, linked to her assault
J. Joseph
Oct 28 min read
Investigating a Missing Recruitment Team
I’m not a fan of campgrounds like this. Some people might like the peace and quiet, but there are too many people for that. One family, which means feeling the barrage of text messages. In and out with no regularity, and not enough other noise to silence them. Fortunately for me, the actual job Bossman sent me on probably won’t take place here. One of our recruitment teams went for an interview with a likely empath, and haven’t reported back in. I suspect something happened t
J. Joseph
Sep 258 min read
Therese Working on Her Thesis
I’m about halfway through my irish coffee at this, my fourth favorite bar in the area, when something surprising enters through the door. One of my advisees, and not the one who I told to meet me. Mister Najjar seems calm as he walks in, trying to put on an air of familiarity even though he does not drink so that he can scan across the bar. Spotting me, he walks over and sits down across from me. I take a sip of my drink. I don’t try to hide my surprise, but I don’t emphasize
J. Joseph
Sep 188 min read
Pleasant Conversations with a Pair of Captives
Denlo, with the help of Alessari and Sister Hilan, brings the unconscious prisoners into the belowdecks. Settling the pair on beds, Den perches across from them. He doesn’t like wearing the masked helmet on the ship, it gets a bit warm and sweaty wearing that much leather, but he does not want them to see him as a person. He wants them to understand, when they wake up, that he is merely another force of nature. He notices the pair are still milling about. “I have this. Help
J. Joseph
Sep 118 min read
Luncheon
Frank exits his bathroom, the last wisps of moisture leaving his skin. Across his body his faint scars, barely visible to his acute eyes, no longer ache. They burn. Even moreso with what he can feel is about to happen. Even in its state of deep hibernation, his other side can tell that they are on the precipice of a great war. And, without asking permission, it was starting to ready him for the battle’s arrival. Splayed across his bed is the suit he’d chosen before running t
J. Joseph
Sep 48 min read
Notes on an Adrenaline-Filled Night
I keep my head up, watching the ceiling as I pass the mailboxes, keeping a solid distance. More than an arms length is fine for most things. My building is mostly grad students and service workers, but hopefully this early in the year means they won’t be out this late into the night. I breathe, in and out. My hope is futile. There seem to be a few people waiting by the elevator. They know each other, and one is visibly drunk, which means the others are likely drunk as well. S
J. Joseph
Aug 288 min read
Magister Ahmad Preparing His New Office
The Illusive Study offices are exactly as I imagined back in my apprenticehood. While the Shanghai Villa is rarely overfunding their magisters, that’s because their funding is focused on the Villa itself, expanding their already massive first and second hand sources as well as expanding their physical campus to accommodate an expansion of the student body that likely won’t come if we don’t change some policies soon. But that’s why we’re doing this. Because of the expansions,
J. Joseph
Aug 218 min read
Felazo Ambushes an Attempted Ambush
The walk is relatively uneventful as they carry their rowboat back to the ship. Coming along the end of the path, where the cavern lets out onto the island, Den furrows his brow and holds up a hand. Everyone stops. Felazo notices the noble scion has her bow drawn, an arrow waiting on its string. Slowly the three of them shuffle the boat to the side of the path, setting it down and having the prisoners hide behind it. Felazo nods, smiles a wicked grin, and pulls out his book.
J. Joseph
Aug 149 min read
Counciling
I have been running full tilt too long. I need a bit of time to myself. I begin my morning routine. Getting out of my room, I walk down the hall and out of my fortress-mansion. Then, it’s time to walk. Every morning, when my world doesn’t need me, I take an hour to walk the streets of town. My body wants me to run, to burn off the energy, to lean on my other half, but that’s just another remnant of my past trying to control me. It’s hard to stop a habit entirely, so when I aw
J. Joseph
Aug 78 min read
Refueling Our Cruise Ship
Fourteen days. All it took. I heard stories of some cities where it was a matter of hours before the chaos set in, but by now, everywhere has fallen into the fray. More importantly new order is starting to arise independently. Petty dictators and overcomplicated republics, both doomed to collapse under their own problems, but new order none the less. Slowly and haphazardly, but it is a start. I look out over the waters, at the small flag flying above our next port of call. Ta
J. Joseph
Jul 318 min read
An Overwhelming Feeling and Concerning Conversation
I breathe in deeply. Hold. and breathe out, taking longer on the exhale than the inhale. Eyes unfocused staring at my dormroom’s wall. In. Hold. Out. The feelings of the horny, stressed, and angry college freshmen start subsiding. Being washed away in the exhale, like a sandcastle in the tide. This is the best I can do. Well, this and taking my insomnia meds. By unfocusing my eyes and emptying my head, I can let the feelings from all the shows wash over and past me, effective
J. Joseph
Jul 248 min read
Watching from the Edge of an Afterparty
The end of the week, and I finally head to one of the Intern afterparties at the Principle Mysticists Convention. I heard from Magister Parades and Kenneth about how much fun these parties could be, if you found your own ways to enjoy them. But quite frankly, they seem like basically any sort of party I could go to back home. Sure, the variety of people is a lot bigger, and there are way more languages being used casually, but the feeling of the party is essentially the same
J. Joseph
Jul 178 min read
Awakening on a Clay Beach
Alessari ud Tise’el feels groggy as she stirs from a forced sleep. Something weird happened. She was focused, in the middle of them being ambushed, when everything started to slow. Looking around, she’s no longer in that field of a valley, but now on some kind of beach. No, not just some kind of beach. The shore of the island that the temple is on. So they haven’t left yet. Her crew are around, Ren and Felazo treating some minor wounds. As well as two others, tied up. And scr
J. Joseph
Jul 108 min read
Information
The alarm sounds. The same one every time at the same time, at least according to Albert’s other half. It’s important to maintain a consistent sleep schedule while moving through space. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to keep track of passed time. Sitting up, he swipes off his alarm from the touchscreen beside his bed as he stands. Walking over to his personal treadmill in the corner, he starts the wakeup protocol and climbs on. Then, he begins to jog. As he jogs, his NPC st
J. Joseph
Jul 38 min read
Echoing Concerns before a Work Event
Sitting in front of the large mirror in my coworkers’ apartment, I lean close trying to keep my makeup as precise as I can. Fortunately, sitting still doesn’t cause too much trouble. The barrel that is my body I emptied in the hall, as I trailed behind Quinn. Well, mostly emptied. After the collapse, I’ve been trying to teach myself a bit better endurance. Not sure it’d help at the bottom of an elevator shaft, but it might delay things. And for the most part that just means a
J. Joseph
Jun 268 min read
Jase's Rooftop Smoking Break with an Old Friend
As I make it to the roof of the office, something seems odd. Tingly. A familiar feeling, but one I haven’t felt in a couple years. I let the door close behind me before I say, “So, who’re you here to kill, Therese?” From the shadows beside the door’s housing, my college friend walks out, holding a brown paper bag. “Rude,” she jokes with a straight face, “I rarely need to kill anyone these days.” I can’t help but laugh. For all her many, many faults, she can be quite funny i
J. Joseph
Jun 198 min read
A Hastily Concocted Ambush in the Hills
Sister Hilan follows the rest of her crew up the rope, but not before taking one last look around the strange temple. It has brought up some questions, but not the heart of the one. No more insight into the change. Why magic itself shattered. The books Felazo found may well bring more knowledge on that time, but it seems as though this place was not expecting whatever happened. She shakes her head, and begins to climb up the rope. As I reach the top, Felazo is waiting by the
J. Joseph
Jun 129 min read
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