Communion

I have known what it is
to see with your eyes
to be in your flesh
to feel...

Now we must refrain

I will remember

Trancetruth

Who can I talk to?

Who can I tell the things I'd need to tell for it to make sense?

Who would I listen to?

Auntie Ellie's out among the outworkers. I could find her, maybe. She helped me with Maia. Helped me catch: left me to tear. She works with people who want medicine, or clan news, or who've lost their way and need to know they can come back. My concerns have been... more spiritual. We don't seem to have much medicine for those.

Hey, I don't seem to hear the voices any more, or feel their presence. I miss them.

I can so see that going well.

I'm... involved with an outsider. With him I found the trance state, and the erendati, strongly... and maybe the whispers of the ancestors.

How could I find that with him and not with kin?

Is it all just biochemistry?

Do I care?

When I was a child it was real.

Jonny

Is back. I had an alert that he was on comms.

Sent him a message. Calm. Civil. Clear, I hope.

He cannot give me answers. Asking would just hurt us more.

Introductions

Not the most propitious of meetings. Not, I think, how we'd hoped it would be. But done now. A warm hall on a cold night. Cousins from the clan unpacking the kites. Auntie Gytha as the sole auntie at Waimaru that night to greet him and question him. Poor man.

But Jacob got through. Even stayed the night. Strange having him in the unit that Jonny helped build, looking up at the stars through the glass in the gables. But, as he said, he'd spent the day with Jonny's daughter: this was nothing to that.

Strange being with Jacob in my real body, the one that smells right to Maia but is not prepared for him. I'm still not comfortable in it with more than gentle touch.

The next day Jacob played his pipes and I danced with Maia, sweeping her in arcs and circles.

Kites

The Matar branch of the Culture Revival Movement has been pushing the idea of a regular multi-day festival around this time, with kites and food and such. Thought it was as good a reason as any to grab some people and take a break from the wars.

Flew kites and had a picnic on Matar. Mostly 1st-shift and kin. Found an island with beaches and good wind. A pleasant outing, although Camille was true to form and caused a few tense moments.

It was interesting to see the different ways we scrambled to try to help. Even though most of our efforts weren't needed, it's good to know we have... diversity. Back-ups. If-not-this-then-this.

I dropped by home beforehand and picked up Kerem, along with Maako and Maia and food. Kerem made her kite dance. She also heated the food and was generally useful around people she didn't yet know. I owe her so much. She didn't catch at the gathering, and she's sad about that. I know she'd like a daughter. Maia's heavy feeding didn't help her chances, and to cap it all, Maia's now teething.

I'm looking for some special gifts for Kerem.

Bespoke

When have I had anything else so personally designed and made for me? My new set of marks, last month. Before that? Clothes built to biometrics, of course, but they're still generic, and the fit and work are not to the same level.

Dance costumes, maybe? Some of the clothes the aunts made for me? But mostly we wore whatever would fit, and it was made generic for that, too.

I find myself eager to see how this turns out.

I need some new clothes: replacements and stock for new bases. Perhaps something similar would work for those.

Resounding

We all record.

Each word and action logged when in our pods. Outside them, too: the constant buffer from the implants, logging every impulse and sensation.

Apart from combat logs for training, I hadn't thought to play them back.

Or share them.

So that's what it feels like for you when I...

Scheme

Andreas had a blueprint to sell.

It's not all that much difference, seen rationally, but it's all mine: the materials and the making.

I want to call it Sheath: the little black dress; the scabbard.

That would also translate to handing him a large and spiky condom.

Just how Re-Aw am I feeling?

Scabbard

Bright-tipped blade,
Cool path tracing:
Tightly sheathed

Heroes

I saw Kalta Amorto dance Silba'a. Saw it with my own eyes, after all these years. I'm sketching out my own version. Must book somewhere to practice.

Debes isn't dead.

Jake... I have no words. My flesh sings him yes!

Notification

Dear Auntie Mara,

Yes, you were right that I had someone on my mind through the gathering.

Could you please enter the following in the clan register?

"Matariki Rain Atamahara has, as pera, Jacob Gottii Avenar."

I'll try to bring him to meet you soon.

Yours,
Mata

Fame

...of a sort.

It's not like Re-Awakened actually uses its boardroom for any other sort of business.

Oh well; here go the announcements.