@The Promise: Like most good Nasperge stories, what this story doesn't say is as important, or perhaps far more important, than what it does. There are some very intriguing questions here. What is the Promise? And was it made to Moira before she touched the mirror, or to Moira's reflection afterward? What was it he was trying to learn, and why is it of interest to Moira's reflection? And, of course, is it even Moira's reflection?!? Her name, after all, never appears in the story. Is there something deeper going on here? Nasperge, notoriously, keeps most of his secrets to himself, and I can't help but feel this is one of them. The secret to a good magic trick is to show the audience one thing while, in fact, something else entirely is going on. Are we, the readers, in Nasperge's audience here?
Hmm.
Thanks for posting this thought-provoking piece, Orcish!
Today was spent with family, so I don't have a new story for this week's TNSC. But, rather than post nothing, I'd like to re-share this little holiday piece from a few years back.
Best wishes to you all!
The Present
It was beginning to snow in earnest as Beryl summoned a tiny, flickering flame between her cupped hands. The day until that point had been punctuated with little more than flurries -- just enough to frost the roof of Lys's cottage, and to dust the surrounding woods, so that the green-and-white world looked like a gingerbread landscape sprinkled with a thin layer of powdered sugar. But, now that night had fallen, the heavens had well and truly opened, shaking-out heavy, wet snowflakes that shimmered in the moonlit sky.
As it fell, the snow collected in the white fur hood of Aloise's parka, and it sparkled like tiny diamonds where it got caught in her bangs and eyelashes.
Beryl closed her eye, and she sighed. Aloise was so beautiful. Everything was so beautiful.
"You were right," Beryl said, as she reopened her good, green eye. "I'm glad that we're doing this outside."
"I hope you don't feel like I was disrespecting your traditions," Aloise said, as she dipped the wicks of two dozen small, red candles into the flame that flickered between Beryl's hands. "It just seems so unnecessary to me, to cut down a beautiful tree, just for one night of the year. Better to bring the celebration to the tree, than the tree to the celebration."
Once Aloise had finished lighting the candles, Beryl extinguished her little flame. The two women placed the flickering candles inside little brass lanterns, which they hung from the fragrant boughs of a long-needled fir with short lengths of twine. The air all around the tree was redolent with the smell of winter -- crisp, and evergreen -- and the falling snow glittered and danced in the candlelight.
"What else do we do?" Aloise asked.
"We need one more light," Beryl said. "This one goes on the very top of the tree."
A broad, beaming smile appeared on Aloise's face as she summoned a floating orb of pure, white light. With a wave of her hand, she guided the glowing orb to the very top of the snow-dusted fir, where it flickered and pulsed like a miniature star.
"How's that?" Aloise asked, with a twinkle in her blue eyes.
"That's perfect," Beryl said. "Just perfect."
For a moment, the two women simply stood side-by-side, and just enjoyed the tree, and the lights, and the falling snow. More than that, though, they enjoyed sharing the moment in each other's company.
In the darkness, each found the other's hand, and their fingers intertwined.
"What happens next?" Aloise asked.
"Well," Beryl said, "traditionally, we'd give each other presents."
Aloise turned to look at Beryl, and her wind-cherried cheeks turned an even darker red.
"Beryl, you have to tell me these things in advance!" she said, looking aghast. "I don't have a present to give you!"
Beryl blushed in reply, and she shook her head.
"Aloise, this is my present," she said. She squeezed Aloise's hand. "Every moment I spend with you is my present."
Aloise sighed, and she gave her head a playful, exasperated shake. But then she smiled back, and she leaned forward.
"I suppose that will do," she said, and she kissed Beryl softly on the lips.
"It's the best present I've ever gotten," Beryl whispered in reply, before returning Aloise's kiss.
"Happy solstice, Beryl."
"Happy solstice, Aloise."
Beneath the gently-flickering light and the softly-falling snow, the two women embraced.
"I'm still getting you a real present tomorrow," Aloise said, and smiled.
Beryl smiled back.
"I knew you would," she said. "I'll get you something, too. But that's for tomorrow. For now, let's enjoy tonight."
"Yes," Aloise said. "Let's."
So that was what they did.
_________________
"And remember, I'm pullin' for ya, 'cause we're all in this together." - Red Green
So, having given this a lot of thought over the past couple weeks, I've come to the decision that Tuesday Night Story Club is going on indefinite hiatus. There were a couple of factors which fed into that choice.
First of all, from a purely practical perspective, TNSC used to be synced-up with my work schedule, since Tuesdays I was out of the office, and I could use that time to write. But my schedule has become significantly less predictable of late, and I don't have that consistent block of writing time anymore, which has thrown a bit of a spanner into the works.
But, beyond that, from a less tangible perspective, as the holidays came and went, and the new year sort of crept upon me, I found that I just couldn't seem to gin myself up to write each Tuesday the way I did for the better part of last year. And I think those two developments are actually related. For a while, there, at the end, I think the desire to never miss a Tuesday was what was keeping me going, and, haven fallen off that horse, I found it to be much, much harder to get back on than I'd anticipated. More than that, though, I sort of came to realize that TNSC was something which I sort of concocted for myself last year because it addressed a very specific problem I was having at the time, and, standing on the cusp of 2018, it sort of felt like an experiment which had run its course. It's a new year, and I think I want to try some new things.
I'm not sure just what they are, yet, but I'm hoping they'll be as much fun as TNSC was.
Anyway, I want to say thank you again to everyone who came along with this ride for me, and the fact that so many people read these little spur-of-the-moment stories and seemed to enjoy them has never once ceased to amaze me. And, while it's not my intention to put any of these pieces into the Archive, what I think I will do in the next few weeks is at least group them into a couple of posts in a separate thread, so that they're easy to find without having to wade through this whole thread. It'll be a kind of "here's what OL wrote in 2017" retrospective.
And I'm not planning to just abandon some of the unfinished serials here. I very much intend to complete "Red Sky" sooner or later, for one, and it'll be nice to be able to play with some of the ideas which surfaced here in a less-restrictive format.
But that's all a very long way of saying thanks again for reading, and all the kind words, and I hope you all enjoyed TNSC, because I know that I did.
_________________
"And remember, I'm pullin' for ya, 'cause we're all in this together." - Red Green
So, having given this a lot of thought over the past couple weeks, I've come to the decision that Tuesday Night Story Club is going on indefinite hiatus. There were a couple of factors which fed into that choice.
Perfectly understandable! Thank you for so many weeks of really good stories!
Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 802 Location: Homestuck rehab center
Identity: Inertially male
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/him
I understand completely. It's been great to have this incredibly regular (for my perspective, at least) production in the last year, I'm glad it worked out well for you, and I look forward to your next piece of awesome. Thank you!
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