Tymely News
Work In Progress #12: She Seeks Peace #4 (September 30-October 4)
She Seeks Peace is volume 4 of Ashen Blades.
You can read a short description of She Seeks Peace to learn more or you can read short summaries of each day's writing on Mastodon
Here's links to the rest of my blog entries on She Seeks Peace, in chronological order:
Part 2: Tossed on the Wind
At some point, I went back and added a heading for part one between the prologue and chapter one, titled 'Untethered'. I continued that trend by inserting the beginning of part two between chapters 10 and 11, allowing Moonshot to serve as the climax of the first part.
These part titles allude to a balloon, which I'll continue to reference in further parts. Part three will probably be 'Losing Buoyancy' or 'Coming Down', and part four will be 'Grounded'. Part four will be short compared to the rest, largely consisting of just the climax.
Having had a little inspiration for a chapter naming theme for part two, chapter 11 was renamed from 'Unthinking Concern' to 'No Peace…'
The intent is to use a series of short chapters describing where the Hunter is seeking peace, each named like so '…in/on/doing X', with X being her location or activity. Between each such chapter, there will be a chapter detailing a flashback to her earliest days with Simmons.
Chapter 12: …in Paradise
The Hunter arrives at a deserted tropical island, which is a beautiful, peaceful place, allowing her to settle in for some deep, emotional thought. She thinks back on her first case with Simmons.
Meanwhile, a shark demon spots her swimming to the island and approaches from downwind, so she can't smell him…
Chapter 13: Simmons
This chapter centers around introducing Simmons to the story, at the very start of the first case he and the Hunter ever worked together.
He sits in Reggie's old office, feeling like he's wearing another man's drawers (in more modern terms, that would be underwear).
Another detective agency has taken Reggie's caseload, to give Simmons the chance to ease into the work.
He reviews a case file given to him by the other agency, one they selected to show him the ropes, which is the bread and butter of detective agencies: a client needs proof of their unfaithful spouse's infidelity.
After reviewing the file, he decides a little photographic evidence would be just the thing, so Simmons asks the Hunter if Reggie had a camera. She leads him to a filing cabinet with one tucked inside, including film that's ready to use.
Simmons likes the look of the Robot II, a German-made camera that was first made in 1938, which makes it an unusual specimen in 1942 New York, but its nature as a clockwork device that can take photos in rapid succession made it perfect for detective work and too hard to resist putting in the novel.
He takes it into the bathroom and loads some film in the dark.
With the camera loaded, he winds it and steps out, aims at the Hunter and requests, "Say 'cheese'."
Quite naturally, she flips him off, since she can't say the word.
He apologizes and tries again, "Can I get a smile?"
She gives him a terrible rictus of a grin, as a mockery of his request. Knowing he won't get her real cooperation, because he annoyed her, he snaps the shot.
Chapter 14: …Underground
The Hunter is approached from behind by the shark demon, but the wind changes and she smells him coming before he can attack, which may or may not have been her mother manipulating random chance. She cuts him in half and, her peace lost, she gets back into the water, swimming down, for the dark depths.
In the next scene, she's in Carlsbad Cavern, stepping from one shadow to another, to avoid tourists.
The Hunter uses the natural cave entrance to enter, bothered by the smell of bird crap, since they gather there.
She shadow-steps to avoid the tourists and go deeper, surprised by the reverential hush of the people, mentally comparing the cave to a sacred place.
She does a little sight-seeing, then goes deeper, to find a dark place to think, reflecting on her first real adventure with Simmons.
Chapter 15: Private Eye
Simmons and the Hunter lurk on a rooftop, peering through a window into an apartment.
The Hunter is bored, because she doesn't care that much about the case, and is just there to make sure Simmons survives, in case of trouble.
Simmons snaps photos of their client's cheating husband and the other woman, his face turning red as they enter the bedroom.
Having obtained more than enough evidence for their client to pursue a divorce, Simmons stops taking pictures.
The Hunter points at his red face, asking, "A?"
Simmons puzzles out that she's asking him why his face is red and he follows up by asking if she knows what the people they've been following were doing.
She shakes her head and Simmons carefully embarks on the subject of the birds and bees, feeling a stinging embarrassment like no other in his life.
He concludes Reggie was a coward to not address the subject, considering the nature of their work.
Simmons is bothered by the sudden realization of responsibilities that Reggie dodged and accepts his role with the Hunter going forward will be more like a father figure than a mere friend.
Chapter 16: Reentry
Wrath slams into the ground after orbiting the Earth and moon for weeks. He howls with rage at maximum volume, literally turning the forest around him into kindling with his voice. The sound is so loud, it echoes over the whole Earth (much like some nukes and meteor strikes), but only Lara is able to comprehend the words, who decides to go into hiding.
Wrath summons Sogliun and puts a bounty on Lara's head, because he wants her as dead as possible. He also places a bounty on the Hunter's head, because he wants her captured and delivered to his fortified position in the Australian Outback.
Originally, the chapter ended like so:
Last of all, he pays Sogliun to track down Lust again.
In the mean time, Wrath is headed for Australia, to make arrangement for the wedding.
He's got to find a justice of the peace to force into pronouncing them married, threaten a caterer into providing food, invite guests and find a wedding dress that will fit his intended, which will be a pain, because she's only 5'1" and rather slender.
However, on Friday, I cut that portion to use in a later chapter and instead, Wrath sent Sogliun back to Hell with a single punch, while Solgiun made himself more physical.
The cut portion will become a part of Chapter 19, on Monday.
Chapter 17: …in the Desert
The Hunter's thoughts are interrupted by the Earth Spirit waking and noticing she has three of its kin trapped in her mind. The cave itself starts to quake.
In retrospect, she realizes going deep underground wasn't the smartest of choices, so she shadow-steps away, reappearing at airline altitude above Cairo, Egypt, at night.
She's nearly sucked into the jet engine of a passing airliner and flies to lower altitude, struck by the similarities and differences between New York City and Cairo.
The nighttime photos of Cairo I used for research material were stunning, to say the least, especially the orbital shots taken form the ISS. It surprised me, but the Nile was lit up like a Christmas tree.
Originally, the Hunter located the great pyramid by its dark silhouette against the stars, setting down on top of it, but then I remembered the pyramids are lit at night, so I looked up some photos on the internet and just fixed the text.
The Hunter settles in for some serious thought and can't help but grieve as she looks back on the bittersweet memories of Simmons, who was her best friend.
She's once more struck by the awful realization she may never see him again, because she has no idea when or even if she'll ever die.
Ironically, her own potential immortality has been twisted into her greatest weakness, likely to leave her with countless emotional scars.
Her mind drifts to the past, carried by memory.
Chapter 18: Confrontation
I think this scene about sums things up for the start of this chapter:
Mrs. Turner politely shook the hand of Simmons as she sat opposite him and started the conversation, “You said over the phone you’ve completed your investigation.”
“I have,” Simmons sighed, “but you’re not going to like it.” He opened the envelope that contained the photos he’d taken and set the first on the desk, in front of his client.
Mrs. Turner squirmed with discomfort in her seat and shook her head, “Maybe they’re just old friends? My husband can be a very affectionate man, after all.”
Simmons silently produced the next photo, which the disbelieving woman accepted with a grimace and a bit of embarrassed blushing, saying, “Well, that is…some very passionate kissing, but I’m sure Kyle would never…”
“I’m afraid he would.” Simmons shook his head and slid another photo over.
Their client’s brow furrowed as she looked on it and lied to herself again, “Well, at least they’re not completely naked. I think we might be able to work things out…” She spoke doubtfully.
Simmons hung his head and slid over the last of the four photos he’d selected for the discussion, the one the Hunter knew he didn’t want to use.
Mrs. Turner’s face went bright red as she turned the photo one way, then another, with horror, before Simmons supplied, “You’ve got it upside-down.”
The soon-to-be-divorced-and-former Mrs. Turner turned the photo the right way up and understanding of the scene she looked upon finally settled in, obviously shattering her illusions. She quivered with rage.
After the “birds and the bees” talk from Simmons, the Hunter finally grasped why married people got so angry when looking at pictures of their spouse in bed with someone else. The in-bed thing that he’d called – what was it? Oh right, sex – was supposed to be special, only to be shared between married couples, so when someone did that with another, it was a huge betrayal.
“I’m going to kill him!” Mrs. Turner stood and headed for the door.
The Hunter blocks the way and redirects Mrs. Turner back to her seat for a discussion of payment, then Simmons asks:
“Do you need us with you when you confront your husband and demand a divorce? Will you be safe? Would you like us to find you a safe place to stay, that’s out of your husband’s reach? I’d rather not leave you on your own with this, but I’m sure we can work out some kind of payment plan if money is an issue.”
She finally breaks down, cries and asks, "What should I do?"
Simmons reassures her they'll be there for her.
In the next scene, weeks have passed and the three of them are heading for the woman's old apartment, so she can personally deliver the divorce paperwork, because she wants to face her husband one last time.
The Hunter smells demon inside and Simmons gets their client to go home.
The Hunter bursts into the apartment and confronts two demons, including one in Mr. Turner's skin and the other in the skin of the other woman.
Simmons shuts the door and lets her work, but the room is oddly silent (muffling magic). After thirty seconds, she opens the door and invites him in. The demons are dead and evaporating, as they tend to do.
Simmons is about to call for a clean-up team, but the Hunter snaps her fingers, turning the two corpses into the kind of short-lived shadow creature that was demonstrated in the opening scene of the first book, her standard approach to dealing with situations requiring clean-up.
This scene puts a little more detail into this process, somewhat showing that the Hunter's shadow creatures can be fairly solid, but they need the leftover essence of a dead demon to give them shape and memories, though a hard strike will still disperse them, because they're nothing more than solidified smoke and shadow matter.
The female shadow creature begins cleaning up, while the male signs the divorce paperwork (it retains some knowledge, though the lights aren't all on, upstairs).
Simmons thinks they're creepy and possibly undead, even though he's quite far off-base.
They leave and head out to get a meal, because Simmons is hungry.
Chapter 19: Confluence of Sin
Pride/Vogerath's right hand man, Ulmoch, walks the streets of Castigation City and considers recent events.
Pride has become persona non grata in Hell, because no one wants to be near him, since he's being hunted by the Thaumavore, who has been extremely indiscriminate about how he kills his target, wiping out whole neighborhoods of demons to reach Pride.
Pride's plans are all on the back burner and he's mostly abandoned Hell, in favor of Earth. Therefore, Ulmoch has little assigned work, so he's taken to bounty hunting.
He heads for a business named 'Dead or Deader' in the Wrath district, which is a place where bounties are posted.
Sogliun is seen there, but not named, talking with the office manager, though he soon departs.
T?he office manager hangs a new poster, displaying the bounty on Lara's head, which is now 300 souls.
The next bounty he posts is for the Hunter, very specifically wanted captured and delivered to the Outback of Australia, at a price of 1000 souls.
Tags: writing, work-in-progress, ashen-blades