Kairaloi - Organized Chaos

"I'm not lying, Reed," Lorrie said firmly. "I saw his lips move. He spoke."

"Then let's see if he'll do it again?" Reed, the redheaded man, said jovially. Leaning down, he grasped Dunn beneath his arms and hoisted him out of the water.

Steadying Dunn on his feet, Reed grabbed his sleeves and waved unresisting arms at the woman as he said in a weird voice. "I'm coming to get you, Lorrie!"

Dunn snatched one arm free of the swordsman. "Do you mind?" He may have been weak and shaky, but this was too much. He scowled at the man over his shoulder.

Reed withdrew with an abruptness that left Dunn unbalanced.

Stumbling backward, Dunn landed on the pavers. That would probably bruise as well. Looking up at the three, he scowled. "Is this how people act here? Screaming and being rude?" Reed had backed away some distance, hand on his sword. The dark-haired man had partially drawn his, Lorrie hiding behind him.

Dunn shivered, teeth chattering and ruining what little dignity he had left.

The door to the building abruptly banged open. "What are you three doing to my son?" a woman shouted.

"Your Majesty." Reed hastily bowed, slapping his fist to his chest. "He spoke!"

"Sir Owen, do you think me a fool?" The woman was dressed in muted colors, but the fabric was thick and looked soft. For that matter, Dunn realized that his own clothes were made of material he'd never seen before. He fondled the end of his coat.

"Your Majesty," Reed bowed lower, "Please, ask him yourself."

"I will strip you of your commission!" the woman shouted, standing nearly on top of Dunn now. When she moved, he noticed two men had come out of the building behind her. A tall man with shoulder-length silver hair and an older man with a thick, well-trimmed beard. Both were dressed well. The woman was now stabbing her finger in Reed’s face. “I have heard nothing but bad things about you. Now I find you harassing my son? Unacceptable!”

Sighing and more than a little annoyed at the noise, Dunn grabbed her arm, tugging as firmly as he could. She stumbled, choked on her words, and slowly twisted her eyes down toward him.

He stared back at her. "Could you quit shrieking? I did speak to them, though I don't understand why that's such a big deal." Fully expecting more screaming, he released her hand and waited.

Suddenly dropping to her knees as if she'd had them stolen, she stared at him, tears overflowing her eyes. "Solace?" Her hands crept up. Dunn looked between them and her face nervously until she cupped his cheeks. "Solace, my son, did you… what did you just say?"

Concerned, he leaned away slightly. "Why are you crying?" Had he been too abrasive? Who was Solace?

Her fingers tightened. Suddenly, she sprung, landing on top of him. "You did speak! My baby! My son!" She burst into sobs. He stared at the sky, then Reed, as he was closest. Unfortunately, Reed made no move to help. He just looked uncomfortable and pale.

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I know most people on here don't like to go to the gym because you're all gay nerds. I like to go to the gym. For the purpose of understanding this post please try to imagine that you, too, enjoy going to the gym so that you can empathize with my point here.

Anyway, so imagine you are going to the gym. You're pumped about the concept of getting some muscle on you. Plus, the gym has this "lift weights every day!" challenge with a feasible plan to slowly and safely increase the amount of weight you can lift by the end of the month. Cool!

So anyway you go there, and you're having a good time. But then you notice something. Some people are coming in with these guys in shirts that say LIFT FOR HIRE. You're curious, and you notice over time that some people are actually paying these guys to come in and do the lifting challenge for them.

"Huh," you say to your mega hot, muscled gym buddy. "That's so weird. What's in it for the people paying these guys?"

"Dunno," says your friend, mid bicep curl.

"Um, actually!" says the gym owner. "Some people are disabled, so the only way they can lift weights it to pay LIFT FOR HIRE, inc."

"But wait," you say. "They still aren't lifting the weights though? Paying someone else to lift for you doesn't mean you've lifted the weights."

The gym owner gasps. "How could you SAY that?"

"Because... it's true?" you say. "Uh, if you pay guys to lift your weights, that's probably really good for the guys you are paying. But it's not going to develop your ability to lift at all. Your muscles aren't going to grow, you're just going to lose money and get no results."

"That's ABLEIST," they say. "How DARE you! Some people are LITERALLY paralyzed, did you think of that?"

"Well, yeah, some people are, and that means definitionally they can't lift weights," you explain. "And paying someone else doesn't change that. Maybe if they wanted to like, move something in their house it would make total sense to hire these guys! But if you hire them to do your workout you get nothing, because the purpose of a workout is personal development. I'm not morally condemning people who do it, but it seems like a waste of money when this event is, again, about improving one's personal abilities."

"This is absolutely DISGUSTING, CLASSIST rhetoric!" the gym owner roars, and then turns to one of the LIFT FOR HIRE guys, "Pay no attention this disgusting person, dear sponsor, we support your business and we totally want you to keep funding our gym!"

"Sponsor?" says your hot muscled friend who was way too busy actually doing their workout and getting gains to engage in dumb discourse. "Oh, now it makes sense."

"Shut up, you don't understand our love!" says the gym owner, before sloppily making out with a LIFT FOR HIRE guy in front of you.

Anyway, that's what learning about the whole AI nanowrimo controversy was like for me.

So I kinda hate doing this but.... Artist husband is doing coms for folks. Because our car decided to be expensive to fix. He's made some awesome stuff including the covers for my novel. He can also make logos and will help make ebook covers and such. Shoot us an email if you are interested. Thanks.

Chapter 15 of Soulless Prince has posted!

~~~~ Floritan burst to his feet. "You will not be considering that thing equally!" he shouted, stabbing a finger at Solace.

Slightly irritated at being called 'that thing' Solace considered throwing something at him.

Charlotte slapped the table hard enough to bounce their dishes. "Solace is the rightfully born prince of this kingdom."

"He's soulless!" another woman shouted.

“He’s an imposter!” someone else accused.

"Soulless. I keep getting called that, but I don’t particularly agree with that assessment,” Solace said, though his voice was drowned out by the cacophony of shouting now filling the room. Gwain heard, though, and looked at Solace with a hint of sympathy as if getting drowned out by other people was a common occurrence for him.

The blonde at the other end of the table bent forward and slowly sank back into her seat. She was laughing so hard that her face had turned bright red. The dark-haired young man next to her turned with an admonishment, but she wasn't listening.

Read Soulless Prince :: Chapter 15

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