Subtle Interference
After the evening meal, the attendees slowly meandered off to their various quarters or went about to enjoy the evening in the forest. Shanku bid Katari goodnight and went off to find her family. The first she found was poor Hilael, still having his ears jabbered off by Ina.
"Hallo, there!" Shanku said cheerily as she came up to them. "Lovely night, no?"
Hilael glowered at her.
"Quite!" Ina replied. "This is the most fun I've had. Who'd have thought those grumpy ol' Eor would have such silly bards?"
Shanku engaged Ina in conversation about the evening's performances as Hilael slowly and carefully positioned his sister between him and his avid follower. When the air became decidedly chillier, Ina finally dismissed herself and left for her nest.
"I thought she'd never leave," Hilael huffed.
"You weren't kiddin' when you said she hung around you a lot," Shanku giggled.
"I'm being hunted," Hilael grumbled. "And now I'm not sure if she's just overly friendly or wanting to be the first to write down that poultice Innugati showed me for the yamaer's venom."
"How'd she find out about that?" Shanku asked.
"Apparently Piram talked to some people about it and word eventually got to her about the 'miracle' healer," Hilael sighed. "As if I'm going to be able to talk about how I did it. The last thing I need are cries of 'witchcraft'."
"Nope," Shanku shook her head. "Not any time soon. Not until they get a bit more comfortable with fae."
"It is very annoying. A lot of those plants have been forbidden for a long time for who-knows-what reason. What if they also work on snake bites? How much useful knowledge has gone to waste for baseless fears?" Hilael growled.
"Probably not entirely baseless," Shanku replied curiously. "Somebody probably used it the wrong way and then we all got punished for it."
"I'll never understand why the innocent get punished for the sins of another," Hilael said flatly. Shanku shrugged. She could somewhat explain it, but she didn't understand it either. They made their way back together to their parents.
Notes & Commentary
July 20, 2017, Thursday
Subtle Interference
What else are sisters for? 
One thing's for sure, I'm definitely heavily reconsidering how to handle the sequel. I'm barely getting time to knock out these little illustrations. Doing a full comic page is just a fantasy now. Kind of torn on the sequel too. If I can finish on time, it'll be completed December 2019. Ten years doing this story, and then with Shanku being around since 2004, that's fifteen years of Shanku sassiness. But at the same time, I'm really gonna miss her if I let her rest and pursue a different project. Time will tell...
In other news, I've taken over my husband's old smartphone. It's a Huawei. If you've never heard of it, well, that's probably why. 
I call it my "pocket ereader". It's about all it's good for. I've got a spare 16GB Micro SDHC card lying around to put in it, so, um, yeah. Lots of books on it now. My whole 2GB+ / 1500+ books library. Found an app called Moon Reader and I like it fairly well so long as I turn the wifi off before using it. Stupid popups. Aside from books, the other features actually are useful for little quick stuff. Alarm clock, calendar, calculator, notes, lowgrade camera (2 megapixels, bleh), "pocket portfolio" with some artwork, internet (if there is wifi), and all that. I may someday go out and get a smartphone just for those features. But not for phone calls. Smartphones make horrible, horrible phones.
Annnnnd today Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, hung himself. Two months after Audioslave's Chris Cornell did the same thing. 'Tis a shame. He had several kids and such a lovely voice. Deaths tend to come in threes, so, anybody wanna place bets on the next one? It seems alternative rock from the '90s and 2000s is the favorite right now.
...I'mma go binge on Bauhaus, Voltaire, Evanescence, Seether, KoRn, and other such bands, and get in touch with my inner goth before shutting down Fi for a while. Near-miss #3 was entirely too close to home. Bloody hell, this generation is so screwed up, and I'm getting fed up with trying to keep some of it duct taped together. I am not a damn "millenial". I'm Gen Y. As in, Gen "Y the hell am I having to talk another person out of suicide again?"
Characters - Shanku Ravenwing - Hilael - Innugati - Ina -
Tags - Just Another Day -
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