update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/motes/007b.md

@@ -34,14 +34,37 @@ Quelling her shame, she straightened herself up as best she could, deciding not
 
 "I came as soon as– oh, Beholden..." Her cocladist's shoulder slumped as she trailed off, putting a halt to her pacing so that she could wrap the skunk up in a hug. "Are you okay, my dear?"
 
-Despite the stinging of new tears in her eyes, she nodded. "Or, well, not particularly, but I am here. How did you know that Motes was overflowing?"
+Despite the stinging of new tears in her eyes, she nodded. "Not particularly, but I am here. How did you know that Motes was overflowing?"
 
 A Finger Pointing hesitated frowned, and pulled a letter from her pocket, handing it over to the skunk. "This. I did not *know* that Dot was overflowing until I got here and saw her door shut tight. I was not at all surprised when you told me."
 
-As Beholden read through the letter, her lips curled up into a snarl, and she could feel a low growl build in her chest. "'I expect better'!" she cried, stamping her foot. "Jesus *fucking* Christ. 'Grounded in reality' indeed."
+As Beholden read through the letter, her lips curled up into a snarl, and she could feel a low growl build in her chest. "'I expect better'!" she muttered darkly, stamping her foot. "Jesus *fucking* Christ. 'Grounded in reality' indeed."
 
-Smiling humorlessly, 
+Smiling humorlessly, she nodded toward the letter. "I am assuming that this mention of a letter is what took Motes down."
+
+"Took her down?" Beholden cried, then quickly tamped down the flare of anger, returning the letter to her partner. "She was covered in blood when I checked on her. Someone must have hit her hard enough to give her a bloody nose. She was all scraped up."
+
+A Finger Pointing stiffened for a long few seconds, then nodded. "Did you get her cleaned up?"
+
+"Yeah, I brought her to enough to get her to fork into her PJs, but she is out hard right now in bed."
+
+She sighed, shoulders slumping. "Thank you, my love. I had assumed the last bit, at least, and have left her be. I did not wish to add to her stress at the moment."
+
+Beholden nodded. "What do we do?"
+
+"Protect our own," came the immediate answer. "Protect ourselves. Protect our Dot."
+
+And so they did. They circled around each other, brought Dry Grass into the fold as officially as they saw fit, providing her with a house. They set up a gentle watch on Motes, set up alerts throughout the house for when her door opened from the inside, for when the bar or kitchen were entered by her. They sought out Slow Hours for a meeting seeking her premonitions, such as they were. They sought out Sasha for a meeting to confirm that there were no existential threats. They sought out Waking World for a meeting to get a better sense of Hammered Silver's intentions.
+
+All the while, Beholden did her best to remain calm, or to at least tamp down expressions of overwhelming emotions. There were walks. Many walks. Many excuses to step away to the auditorium or to get fresh air or stretch her legs.
+
+She went always alone on her walks, pacing out along the deer trails or walking the loop of the neighborhood time and again, poking her way among the seats and catwalks of the auditorium.
+(( A walk with Dry Grass to calm down the next morning after their meeting ))
+
+(( Confusion and coming to terms with Motes in the family ))
+
+(( Caring for A Finger Pointing ))  
+(((( Pointillist sighs wistfully. "She has recorded me doing all sorts of things in my day-to-day as well. There is a recording of my heartfelt laughter turning to dire sobbing after a really rough day. She chopped it into little slivers of half-recognizable samples and haunted an entire album with it like the world's longest "Chihuahua or Muffin" slideshow." ))))
+
+(( The origin of struggling with emotions, tamping down grief in order to work with sound, ever AwDae's thing ))
 
-<!--
-Pointillist sighs wistfully. "She has recorded me doing all sorts of things in my day-to-day as well. There is a recording of my heartfelt laughter turning to dire sobbing after a really rough day. She chopped it into little slivers of half-recognizable samples and haunted an entire album with it like the world's longest "Chihuahua or Muffin" slideshow."
--->

writing/post-self/motes/index.md

@@ -29,5 +29,6 @@ Story about Hammered Silver losing her shit and cutting out the fifth stanza for
 * [O] [E: A letter from Hammered Silver](005) --- The letter; going for a walk as big Motes; staying that way for a week; pulled aside by Beholden to talk about it; A Finger Pointing is out for Some Reason; talking with Sarah.
 * [O] [D': Flashback to the past](006) --- The origins of Motes told; some anecdotes (including Slow Hours's prophecy).
 * [O] [C': A Finger Pointing and Hammered Silver](007) --- A Finger Pointing gets a letter, too; discussing what to do about it; risk assessment with Waking World and Sasha; message to Hammered Silver.
+* [ ] [?: Beholden](007b) --- Beholden muses on the past, family, and anger.
 * [O] [B': Hunting for a new way forward](008) --- Big Motes for a bit; not going to stop playing or stop being Little Motes, just wants to know how to deal with the pain; talking with Sarah.
 * [O] [A': Outro](009) --- About the future of Motes.