update from sparkleup

writing/ata.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-%title ATA
+%title A Time Approaching
 :writing:
 
 Backronym this :P *A Time Approaching*?
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Also, I've been having some weird thoughts about the loss of innocence after wat
 
 Stigmata and Miasmata: Marks appear on *everyone's* bodies somewhere, intricate and fuliginous, sometimes shifting. It's as if they do not exist; appear to eyes, in photos, etc, but only when viewed by people, not electronics. Scans show that they are being seen and recognized by people, but even attempting to register the input in retinas fails. No one knows what they mean; it is apparently up to us to figure out what they are.
 
-Traumata and Dogmata: It becomes divisive, but mostly among older generations. A small portion apparently have theirs on the inside somewhere, as proven by autopsy, but they nonetheless attempt to declare themselves somehow more pure. Various other divisions begin to form, based on shape, whether to celebrate or hide, etc.
+Traumata and Dogmata: It becomes divisive, but mostly among older generations. A small portion apparently have theirs on the inside, as visible by xrays, but they nonetheless attempt to declare themselves somehow more pure. Various other divisions begin to form, based on shape, whether to celebrate or hide, etc.
 
 (unsure from here on out, it feels dangerously close to preachy)
 
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ Melismata: To whom does the future belong? Certainly not to you. It belongs to u
 ## Characters
 
 * Informal relationship triad, each an outsider in their own way:
-    * AJ - cottagecore enby millennial - they/them - angular/graceful "tribal" stigmata flank-neck-arm
+    * AJ - cottagecore enby millennial - they/them - harsh geometries and graceful arcs of stigmata flank-neck-arm
     * Yves - studious male late gen-x/early millennial - he/him - floral stigmata neck up to jaw
     * Isaac - American anarchist/homesteader mid milennial - they/them - stigmata internal (initially drawn by separatism)
 
@@ -58,3 +58,23 @@ Melismata: To whom does the future belong? Certainly not to you. It belongs to u
 * Schemata
 * Anathemata
 * Melismata
+
+## Stigmata
+
+"Yves! Yves!"
+
+And that's how it began. It began with a shout. It began with a yell. It began with a name and with panic and with, in short order, a mad scramble to the bathroom.
+
+With such panic, Yves felt acutely aware of the layout of the house. The living room, so packed with books, was cozy and warm-lit by sun, and the kitchen, filled with the scent of tea and reheated leftovers, was comfortably messy and warm-lit by the oven. The kitchen was also a single step down from the living room. Some architect's joke, perhaps, or some design element poorly understood by those who actually had to live with it.
+
+And then a single step *up* to the entryway.
+
+And then a single step *down* to the hallway which led to the bathroom.
+
+Yves knocked his toe against the step from kitchen to entryway, and the dash from there to bathroom was less graceful than the rest.
+
+AJ stood before the vanity mirror, wide-eyed. Stood, gripping the edge of the vanity, white-knuckled. Stood and stared at the steam-clouded mirror, fresh from the shower. Their skin, always a comfortable, warm olive, had been burnished into bronze by the heat of the water.
+
+The way in which they relinquished their grip on the edge of the vanity and turned looked tightly controlled, anxiety kept from them by sheer force of will. It set Yves own nerves on edge, and he balled his fists up.
+
+There it was. Night black. Blacker. Fuliginous. Beyond soot: it ate light. An utter p-