#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 100: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus

#Wss366 Red (maroon) #TimeTravelAuthors 05/17. Sleep habits/schedule

There was no time left to discuss my mask with Emily because a servant had arrived and was gesturing for me to follow.

The inside of the house was cool and dim, carrying the faint scent of cedar and lamp oil. The furniture was sturdy and well-crafted rather than ostentatious. A painted icon of the Virgin Mary hung in a corner with a small oil lamp burning beneath it, all in the Eastern style.

Some of my anxiety eased. I doubted they would have in-depth knowledge of the Western style, especially how a Copt might practice it. My foreign appearance would help hide any mistakes I made.

The scholar standing beside our host reinforced this impression.

Our host was a stout, gray-haired man wearing maroon robes over a pale tunic. Though he no longer carried a weapon, there was still caution in his eyes.

The scholar wore layered dark-blue robes; the edges faded from years of use. A small silver cross rested against his chest when he moved, and his gray-flecked beard forked neatly at the end. He looked nothing like the clean-shaven Latin priests I had seen in paintings.

He studied me with open suspicion before politely translating our host’s greeting.

“Welcome to the house of the Delphinas. You have come at an unfortunate hour, but we will honor you as best we are able, holy one.”

I bowed, offered a silent prayer toward the icon, and crossed myself in what I hoped was a convincing imitation of a wandering pilgrim. Three fingers for the Trinity. Left to right or right to left? Muscle memory took over. Better wrong than hesitant.

“The girl is watching from above,” Emily said. Her words blurred with the scholar’s next statement.

“We have prepared a room for you to rest and refresh yourself before dinner.”

While, as a ghost, I didn’t need to sleep, the break to discuss the situation with Emily would be welcome.

“May God bless you for your charity,” I said as I followed the scholar upstairs.

#TootFic #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Okiku (Airisu POV): Post 37
#Wss366 Yellow #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever

I hadn’t been able to get her to give up the plan of rescuing Okiku-san, but I convinced her to stay away from Lookback Ridge and the presence there. Instead, she drew a magic circle and the required runes in her garden.

On the chosen night, the full moon shone brightly over the neat rows of herbs in her yard. The plants gave off a faint purplish light that I associated with magical energy. The faint scent of shiso, rosemary, and mugwort hung in the air.

As the hour of the ox arrived, Sumika cast yarrow stalks, said the time was favorable, and stepped out into the moonlight. She began chanting and slowly danced backward, widdershins around the chalked lines. I perched on her shoulder, remaining quiet. Now wasn’t the time for me to be clever.

Gradually, a fog arose, first hiding the garden plants, then the stars, and lastly the house. Only the moon remained, casting a diffuse, silvery light. While all this was happening, the circle began to sparkle, giving off a violet radiance. The mist sang back to us in a woman’s voice. As the singing grew louder, a #yellow flickering glow, like a fire, appeared off to one side.

The voice abruptly ceased singing and spoke. “So he has sent someone after all. Welcome, sister. Join me by my fire where it is warm. We have much to discuss, and my time is short.”

#TootFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri #Folklore #NMFic #TimeTravel

#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 99: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus

#Wss366 Cocktail #TimeTravelAuthors 05/13. Wednesday POST-SIZED snippet (optional word: peace)

While I waited for a servant to lead me inside, I consulted with Emily. The thought of an authentic local meal thrilled me, as did the idea that I could get someone to guide us to St. George’s Shrine later. That was if I could carry off this masquerade. The fact that my host and I didn’t speak the same language worked in my favor; while that I knew nothing about the Coptic faith ran against it. I could only hope that the scholar was as unfamiliar with their dogma as I was.

As if sensing my thoughts, Emily asked, “Do you think you can carry this off?”

“Yeah, I’m conversant with medieval Christian mysticism. I can always whip up a #cocktail of French and German metaphysical nonsense. That should work unless they’re familiar with Coptic beliefs. That’s what this robe is, Coptic. I’m more worried about what will happen when they find out I’m a woman. I have no idea how they’ll react to a holy matron instead of a holy man. It’s a rather chauvinistic era.”

“Aren’t they all?” The bitterness in her tone was clear.

I had to agree. Heaven knows there were still people who wanted to repeal a woman’s right to vote in my time. It never stopped. However, there were more pressing issues for me currently.

“I’ve got it, a mask and a holy vow,” I said.

I manifested a porcelain mask similar to the one Countess Bathory had used.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Frightening. It’s too fancy. You want something more sacred and less sepulcher. Think humble poverty.”

“More of gravy and less of sepulcher,” I muttered. It was a joke that left Emily puzzling.

The Dickens reference may have gone over her head, but the image of the three Christmas ghosts spurred my imagination.

I reformed the mask into a crude wooden representation of Tiny Tim, a #peaceful but haunted smile on his face, combined with a crown of thorns.

Emily sighed and said, “It’ll do.”

#TootFic #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Okiku (Airisu POV): Post 36
#Wss366 purple #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever

I never did figure out a way to tell her this was a bad idea. The allure of a romantic adventure was too strong to overcome with mere words.

Besides, there were some good reasons to cast the spell. It would be interesting. Mistress would be happy. Watching a real-life yuri romance bloom would be entertaining. Disaster lesbian romances were such a fun trope, and Sumika was the epitome of a disaster lesbian. More practically, I supposed all witches had their allies, and Dōken-shin wasn’t the worst. He certainly wasn’t Mephistopheles or a soul-eating shinigami. At least I hoped not.

Preparation took time. She purchased an Edo-style #purple silk kimono, antibiotics (my suggestion), and a map of Himeji Castle. Money was harder to come by. We bought strings of worn Ming cash coins, but a dealer sorting through them dismissed many as modern copies or inappropriate for the era. We made up the difference with small pieces of cut silver. My estimation of Sumika increased. She was still a bubblehead, but she thought through the process, listened to my advice, and spared no effort in preparing.

Then, after she obtained a week off work, we were ready to go.

Edo Japan, here we come!

#TootFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri #Folklore #NMFic #TimeTravel

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Okiku (Airisu POV): Post 35
#Wss366 Film #TimeTravelAuthors 05/11. Do your characters ever undo anything?

“I'm not in love with her,” Mistress finally said. “I don’t know her. She has been dead for how many years?”

“My pardon, you are not in love, and you are not blushing.”

I hurried to answer her question from memory rather than give her time to continue protesting. "Banchō Sarayashiki is an Edo-era story, so it's been about two or three hundred years."

“And how is that supposed to work? I’m not getting involved in necromancy. I’ve watched enough horror #films to know these things never work out in the mortals’ favor.”

She fingered the wound where I had stabbed her, probably remembering how the kami had almost trapped her before. “Besides, I doubt it’s smart to accept favors from Dōken-shin.”

“Getting cold feet, little lady?” It was my contrariness coming through. She was actually wise not to involve herself with Arakawa Dōken.

While I tried to figure out how to steady my perch, i.e., take back the comment, she studied the spell.

“Oh, I get it now!” she said. “This will allow us to go back in time, and we can save her.”

“Time travel,” I thought. “That would be exciting. Still, what about time paradoxes?”

“Like a romance novel!” she said, clapping her hands.

That last statement worried me.

#TootFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri #Folklore #NMFic #TimeTravel

#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 98: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus

#Wss366 gloss #TimeTravelAuthors 05/9. Saturday excerpt (optional word: hide/hidden)

Emily soon joined me in the courtyard. After the turbulent street filled with crowds, vendors, and beggars, the citrus-scented space was peaceful or should have been, if it hadn’t been for the cry of a young female voice, saying, “Oh… makaristos Agios Ilarionas… éna tháuma…”

I followed the sound and saw a girl of about ten wearing a white dress that matched the flowers dangling near her face. Her bright eyes and #glossy black hair were barely visible through the second-floor’s vines, where she #hid.

She continued, “Pappoú. “Pappoú. éna tháuma.”

“We’re in the soup now,” Emily said.

As we watched, a gray-haired man armed with a stout cudgel joined her. The girl spoke rapidly to him, gesticulating wildly.

After shooing her out of sight, he called down to us, “Pois eisai?”

I held my hands in the air and said in French, “We’re friends. We mean you no harm.”

The man’s face screwed up, puzzled, and then he shouted into the house. Another man appeared. I guessed he was a scholar from his somber black robes and lean countenance.

The two men spoke while Emily and I conferred. “What should we do?” I asked. “Time-trip to our meeting with the monk?” By “monk,” I meant our former guide.

“Wait,” she replied. “There’s a pattern of things going sideways when we do that.”

It was true. Twice now, tripping had put us in life-threatening positions. First, there’d been the meteor impact, and then there was the less-than-friendly reception we’d just experienced. It didn’t always happen, but it occurred enough to make one wary.

“Who are you?” the scholar called down in accented French.

“I am Bijou, a traveling pilgrim,” I said, bowing. “I mean you no harm. My only wish is to bless your house.”

Out of sight, I heard the girl say, “Pappoú. éna tháuma.”

“She says you performed a miracle, passing through a solid wall.” The man said, making a sign against the evil eye.

“It was God’s blessing upon a humble mendicant. I was seeking St. George’s shrine when outlaws tried to stop me. God is great, and many are his miracles.”

The two men conferred again, and while they did so, Emily addressed me. “Lying it on rather thick there aren’t you?”

“Better than being mistaken for a sorcerer,” I said, crossing myself as if uttering a prayer. “Besides, this is an age of wonders.”

Their conference over, the scholar called to me, “Holy one, would you bless our house by partaking a humble meal with us?”

“It would be my honor,” I said. Luck had finally smiled on me.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Okiku (Airisu POV): Post 34
#Wss366 Bash

Sumika switched on a desk lamp to see the writing in the grimoire. “It’s a spell to… Ah… As far as I can tell, it’s about reuniting severed threads of karma.”

I hopped over to the book and tried to read it. The words and letters squirmed on the page. I made out some Buddhist phrases, but that was about it. Clearly, reading was going to be a struggle. Too bad. I would miss that.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“It mentions Kakuriyo, the spirit land.”

“You don’t need to explain the word. Go on.”

“It talks about breaking barriers and fulfilling ancient promises. Got it! In the dream, you said someone was coming for Okiku. Does this spell allow us to rescue her?”

I cocked my head and peered at her. It was the first intelligent thing this woman had said. Maybe she was trainable after all.

“I was just going to say that,” I crowed.

Mulling over what I knew, I chortled phrases in my throat: “Bullrushes intertwined; uniting severed karmic threads; wishes and dreams.”

I saw a pattern and burst out, “Sumika’s got a girlfriend. A mushy, crushy girlfriend.”

Mistress raised the book as if she were about to #bash me with it, and I took off for the shelf again, screaming, “Oggily, puggily, pie. Your blush is as bright as the summer sky.”

And it was. Her cheeks had flushed a brilliant crimson. If I’d still been human, I would have said she was cute. Ah, heck, even as a crow, I thought she was adorable, all flustered.

“I don’t know Okiku-san. How could I be in love with her?”

“A denial; how maidenly,” I said. “You were wishing for love, weren’t you? Dōken-shin promised to give you what you wished for, and this is the answer. As for knowing her, you don’t now, but you did, and you will. Mistress’s got a crush.”

Sumika glared up at me, but didn’t argue.

“Karma was a bitch,” I thought.

#Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial #SlowBurn #Yuri #Folklore #NMFic