{"id":804,"date":"2014-01-21T12:22:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T17:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeezjosie.com\/blog\/?p=804"},"modified":"2014-01-17T18:07:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T23:07:20","slug":"nothing-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jeezjosie.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/nothing-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing, Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

      Today\u2019s snippet, titled \u201cNothing, Anymore\u201d, is a piece I wrote about a PC in Mark’s Evil Pathfinder Campaign.
\n      Be forewarned, there are mature themes and naughty language below.
\n– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –
\n      \tA black spirit, thick and oily and malevolent, rose from the corpse like smoke.
\n      \tIt bore his shape, it moved as he did – lithe and tightly wound. It turned back toward the four of them in that last instant before it vanished into the void.
\n      \tNyx was sure he wore that wry smile as he departed. The one, she realized now, she had grown fond of. And then it was over. He was gone.
\n      \t\u201cWhat the fuck just happened?\u201d
\n      \tHefe\u2019s outburst echoed her own thoughts perfectly. Though they had reached Ip at last, everything had gone wrong today. Those hideous black oozes had stalled their progress, nearly killed them, and then eaten every last bit of material from Celisse\u2019s body – including much of her beautiful dark flesh.
\n      \t\u201cThat damned deck,\u201d Adelind growled.
\n      \tNyx clutched the cards close to her chest, possessively. \u201cThey wanted to draw!\u201d
\n      \t\u201cYou didn\u2019t have to let them.\u201d
\n      \tCarefully, she slid them into their little bag and then tucked the whole thing back into her bag. It was true, she did not have to let them, but so was the curse of the deck. If someone wanted to draw, it wanted<\/em> them to draw. It was almost magnetic.
\n      \tCelisse had had nothing to lose; everything she brought with her into the depths of the fort on their quest to enter Ip had been melted into that horrid inky ooze creature. It was natural – once Geshan suggested it – that she take a card. She had nothing left to lose.
\n      \tExcept, of course, for her freedom\u2026 which she lost, presumably, in the same was Hefe had done. Sucked into the ground and sealed away in a prison somewhere. Gone, just like that.
\n      \tBut Nyx had hesitated when Quick Bill wanted to draw. The gambler\u2019s spirit in him was strong and there was no way to deny him. The cards – the wanted to be drawn. He should have stopped at one. The card had had some negative effect on him, though they could not tell exactly what it was. Then he drew a second card and in the next heartbeat, the dreadwraith had appeared.
\n      \t\u201cLet\u2019s get out of here. We\u2019ll go back to that one chamber, I can teleport the four of us out. We can regroup and resupply.\u201d
\n      \t\u201cFind a smarter son of a bitch.\u201d
\n      \t\u201cYes.\u201d Adelind\u2019s voice was colder even than normal and Nyx wondered if she too, had found a tiny soft spot in her heart for the ruffian. One look at Geshan told her that the hin would miss him as much as she. I\u2019ll let you do me if you survive, had been her battle cry, trying to get Quick Bill to fight harder, to win the battle. Nyx had immediately thought, ew, then kindly offered to let him touch her breasts if he lived.
\n      \tHe hadn\u2019t, so she had not been forced to renege on the offer.
\n      \t\u201cI\u2019m gonna miss him,\u201d Nyx said, preparing to cast a spell of invisibilty over herself and Adelind so that they would not be visible if there was something waiting for them in the hide-out where Geshan was pretty sure she could land them. \u201cYou know?\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/center><\/p>\n

      \tShe lay on her belly, ankles crossed in the air, and sipped from a goblet of wine. Humming in the breeze, Nyx rubbed a thin nub of charcoal across the page. There was no image on her mind, she just loved to draw and after the whirlwind of teleportation and shopping for gear and praying to all the Old Ones that the Sarenraens had not discovered their identities yet – she needed nothing more than to relax with her wine and her art.
\n      \t\u201cAlmost done,\u201d Nikodemos called from the other room. \u201cDid you save the chain, at least?\u201d
\n      \t\u201cNo,\u201d she sighed. \u201cI told you, Dae, the whole thing was stripped from me by the damned deck.\u201d
\n      \tStalking into the bedroom they shared, Nikodemos flopped down beside her and swept the wine from her hand. He took a swallow and tossed the pendant onto the parchment.
\n      \t\u201cWell, you can buy a mundane chain, Nyx, I\u2019m not wasting my time on that when I could be- Ooh! Who\u2019s that handsome devil?\u201d
\n      \tNyx glanced down at the page and frowned.
\n      \t\u201cNikoleta Argyrios, you minx! Who is he? Did you finally find someone to fuck you for real?\u201d
\n      \tShe elbowed him sharply. \u201cFinding someone was never<\/em> a problem, like, seriously.\u201d
\n      \tHe lifted his brows, pursed his lips, and nodded. \u201cShe speaks it true.\u201d
\n      \t\u201cMm-hmm.\u201d
\n      \tThere was a moment of silence; Nikodemos watching her with his hawk-like gaze, Nyx pointedly ignoring his tacit inquiries. Idly, she smudged her finger over a hard line, admiring her work. It really was quite a remarkable likeness, though Nyx was sure that she had sketched him somewhat more attractive than he had been.
\n      \t\u201cSo, who is he?\u201d
\n      \t\u201cNo one,\u201d she snatched back the wine and tipped back the last swallow. \u201cHe\u2019s no one anymore.\u201d
\n      \tDae stroked her hair, pulling her head against his shoulder. \u201cSorry, sweetling. I wouldn\u2019t have joked if I knew.\u201d
\n      \t\u201cIts like, totally all right, Dae. I just think, you know, like – I\u2019m going to miss him. Other than you, and maybe Gershan, I think he might have been my only friend.\u201d
\n      \tWith a chuckle, he nodded. \u201cPeople like us don\u2019t have many friends, Nyx. Just people we\u2019ve used, and people we haven\u2019t used yet.\u201d
\n      \tNyx nodded, reaching for the pendant he had enchanted for her – a perfect replica of the one she had worn for ages. Her fingertips slid lightly over the silver, still warm with the magic he had imbued in it, and she closed her eyes. Behind her lids she saw only darkness, only the cool, soothing emptiness of the void.
\n      \t…and the cards.
\n      \tHer fingers itched.
\n– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –
\n\"Signed,
\nNote: Image is “Sketch 1” by (tsunei) from SXC.hu<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Today\u2019s snippet, titled \u201cNothing, Anymore\u201d, is a piece I wrote about a PC in Mark’s Evil Pathfinder Campaign.       Be forewarned, there are mature themes and naughty language below. – \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –       A black spirit, thick and oily and… <\/p>\n

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