Now she understands that his use of the slur is deliberate. A dehumanizing word for someone who has been made into a thing.
It was the oldest of tricks, to sow dissension between groups that had common interests. Good for deflecting attention from greater mischief, too.
You keep thinking about Alabaster, too, though. Is this grief? You hated him, loved him, missed him for years, made yourself forget him, found him again, loved him again, killed him. The grief does not feel like what you feel about Uche, or Corundum, or Innon; those are rents in your soul that still seep blood. The loss of Alabaster is simply... a thinning of who you are.
Home is people,” she says to Asael, softly. Asael blinks. “Home is what you take with you, not what you leave behind.” Heresmith.
The alternative is to demand the impossible. It isn’t right, they whisper, weep, shout; what has been done to them is not right. They are not inferior. They do not deserve it. And so it is the society that must change. There can be peace this way, too, but not before conflict.
I don’t bother to explain that just because something is horrible does not make it any less true.
What the Leaving proved was that the Earth could sustain billions, if we simply shared resources and responsibilities in a sensible way. What it couldn’t sustain was a handful of hateful, self-important parasites, preying upon and paralyzing everyone else. As soon as those people left, the paralysis ended.
But what is important is that you know it was not all terrible. There was peace in long stretches, between each crisis. A chance to cool and solidify before the grind resumed.
Her eyes are shockingly black – shocking not because black eyes are particularly rare, but because she’s wearing smoky gray eyeshadow and dark eyeliner to accentuate them further. Makeup, while the world is ending.
The way I see it, a stranger feels like a stranger; a friend feels like a friend. Simple.
This understanding floats on the surface of Jija’s mind for the rest of the day after Renthree leaves. The truth is beneath the surface, a Leviathan waiting to uncurl, but the waters of his thoughts are placid for now. Denial is powerful.
Take a nautilus shell; cut it cross section. Gently elevate its swirling, chambered tiers as they approach the tight-bound center, culminating at last in a pinnacle on which we all stood. Note its asymmetrical order, its chaotic repetition, the grace of its linkages. Contemplate the ephemerality of its existence. Such is the beauty that is mortal life.
There is no word for such a catastrophe. It would liquefy the surface of the planet, vaporizing the oceans and sterilizing everything from the mantle up. The world, for us and any possible creature that might ever evolve in the future to hurt the Earth, would end. The Earth itself would be fine, however.
It is horrifyingly obvious now that getting more attention isn’t necessarily favoritism.
But this is what it means to be civilized – doing what her betters say she should, for the ostensible good of all.
Every season is the Season for us. The apocalypse that never ends. They could’ve chosen a different kind of equality. We could’ve all been safe and comfortable together, surviving together, but they didn’t want that. Now nobody gets to be safe. Maybe that’s what it will take for them to finally realize things have to change.
Her heart breaks in this moment. Another small, quiet tragedy, amid so many others.
A commandment,” the man says, spreading his arms, “is set in stone.” Imagine that his face aches from smiling. He’s been smiling for hours: teeth clenched, lips drawn back, eyes crinkled so the crow’s feet show. There is an art to smiling in a way that others will believe. It is always important to include the eyes; otherwise, people will know you hate.
He pretends to be less special than he is, because the world has punished him for loving himself.
Then you say, “I want the world to be better.” I have never regretted more my inability to leap into the air and whoop for joy. Instead, I transit to you, with one hand proffered. “Then let’s go make it better.” You look amused. It’s you. It’s truly you. “Just like that?” “It might take some time.” “I don’t think I’m very patient.” But you take my hand. Don’t be patient. Don’t ever be. This is the way a new world begins. “Neither am I,” I say. “So let’s get to it.