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‘Rightmost’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:34:55.8)

Bombi noticed the scratches she’d left in the clouds with her left hand were deeper than those of her right. In her panic that suggested she feared the left pathway. Hesitation would only bring her closer to not going at all, to staying with the cloudfeet, to laughing and dancing until she starved and they rolled her off the side like a sack of garbage.

She threw herself forward onto the rightmost windy way. Its surface proved extremely slick, immediately wetting the front of her clothes as the packed clouds had not. It bent under her weight, but did not break, angle steepening. Bombi passed straight through the next bank. An entire mountain range was suddenly there, gaping before her, yawning with a mighty airy sound. Continue reading →

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‘Leftmost’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:34:55.8)

Bombi noticed the scratches she’d left in the clouds with her left hand were deeper than those of her right.  In her panic that suggested she was already more committed to the left pathway.  Hesitation would only bring her closer to not going at all, to staying with the cloudfeet, laughing and dancing until she starved and they rolled her off the side like a sack of garbage. Continue reading →

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‘Wreck Everything’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:53:46.2)

She might never have another moment like this, with a bastion of authority frozen at her fingertips.  Here was proof of the rigidity of every rule that had forced her to live as a creature of the background.  Even with her dramatically arched metal eyebrows and stern expression, Champion Iuda still looked complacent. Continue reading →

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‘Desk Throne’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:53:46.2)

“Too rigid to rule!” Bombi screamed at the faces of the Win State while they couldn’t scream back. “Everything has to be one way doesn’t it? And it’s your one way because you’re part of the one way! Damn you!” She wanted to keep screaming, wanted that more than anything, a chance to burn out loud after suppressing herself for so long, but there wasn’t time.

She crawled up onto the desk, abandoning her bag of stolen goods to the floor so she could put a foot on each of the throne’s armrests and turn around, Iuda’s head between her legs. Then Bombi let herself drop, going as flat as she could, slipping behind Iuda’s back and forcing her forward. She kicked, toppling the woman from her throne and sending her rigid body rolling over the desk. Iuda disappeared over the side just as Bombi placed both hands on the rests, just as the cut scene ended. Continue reading →

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‘World Bottom’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:32:46.7)

Before Bombi’s mind caught up she was already in the air.  Her feet passed straight through the grassy patch while it was simply a patch.  It didn’t feel like water, dirt, or even a light breeze.  The ground just didn’t exist beyond what her eyes saw.  Nothingness opened up underneath, an endless expanse of white space, causing her to yelp and flail for purchase. Continue reading →

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‘Orchard’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:10:32:46.7)

Bombi practically glided forward, right past the flickering grass patch.  She moved into the tinkertree orchard, only stopping when her nose filled with the smell of wood chips, apples, glass, and machine oil.  It certainly was an interesting combination.  She turned to ask Morphib what he thought of it, but he was clearly enthralled by something else entirely. Continue reading →

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‘Shut Mouth’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:12:58:08.7)

“I’m pretty sure I heard several lies,” she offered.

“That’s… something,” Chagrinn said with a slight head tilt.  “You definitely can’t rely on this crowd to tell you the truth.  They are the competition after all.  No matter.  It’s time I prepare you for your first boss encounter.  Walk with me.”  Chagrinn took her by the shoulder and walked her around the glade, which he kept referring to as ‘the arena’. Continue reading →

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‘Swallowing Mesa’ Stratagem

(17:3:22:12:58:08.7)

“I did hear about something,” she whispered to Chagrinn, eyes darting back and forth.  She leaned in, wanting it to feel like a precious secret, something barely alive passing between soft hands, but he did not reciprocate. Continue reading →

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‘Sisters’ Stratagem

(17:3:28:5:08:54.8)

“I will help you,” Bombi said, surprising herself.  It must have been the raw desperation on Twixit’s face that convinced her.  Yes, she had been part of the Win State, but she paid her recompense in suffering.  What good is punishing the wicked if I can’t also help the deserving?  Twixit was down there in the bottom of the world with her, flouting the rules she used to live by; she lived only to be restored.  “I really don’t know how.” Continue reading →