…or, Fork All Y’all
Before we left his room, Iason opened up what I’d taken to be the closet door. It did lead into a closet, of sorts, if the term still applies when it runs the length of the adjoining room and extends almost half as far back. As large as it was, it was crowded.
He had a varied style, with plenty of forest greens and browns, some outfits with silver highlights, and a lot in black. His tastes ran to the swashbuckling. He had almost as many hats as Marlot, and more boots than I had shirts. The only empty space was in front of a set of full-length mirrors, with light emanating from the space in front of them.
On the other side of the dressing chamber was another door, which led to a bathroom. The bathroom was cramped compared to the closet, and sparsely decorated.
It was common in elven architecture for the bathroom to be hidden away like this, and to be less fancy. Some humans couldn’t picture the ethereal, beautiful elves doing anything as mundane and mortal as taking a dump. The elves weren’t fond of that mental image, either.
“This is a shared chamber when the connecting room is in use,” Iason said, going over to the other door and checking the bolt. “When that is the case, you must make sure you always lock this door as soon as you are inside, and you always lock my door behind you when you leave. There is no one in there at the present. That will change once the snows fall, but even when the room is supposed to be deserted, I do not want you to be alone in here unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“I don’t usually go to the bathroom just for shits and giggles,” I said.
“If you won’t be serious about this, I’ll get you a bucket,” he said. “Bring your axe, too.”
“You think I’m going to get attacked in your bathroom?” I asked.
“It is a place of vulnerability,” he said. “I know you have spent time among elves, Iamie, but middlings are a culture apart. We aren’t children, but we are not permitted to be adults. So, we invent games to fill the years until we are allowed to pass into society. We have bets and duels, we plot intrigues.”
“And you rape each others’ boyfriends?”
“It does not happen often, but it does happen, and I seem to have attracted more enemies than most, somehow.”
“Somehow,” I repeated, rolling my eyes.
“They are bitter over my hunting prowess, my superior endowments, my refusal to bend before others,” he said. “Those who cannot have me in bed or defeat me in battle may target you instead. Any man who harms you in any way will, of course, swiftly meet his end, but I would rather it not come to that in the first place.”
“Remind me again why we didn’t just stick with my place?” I asked him.
“Because you would not give me a key to it,” he said.
“Does that mean I get a key to your room?”
“That hardly seems fair,” he said. “But, come. Unless you have need of the facilities first, I will take you to the larder.”
“I thought you were going to introduce me to some girls,” I said.
“One does not simply walk into the ladies’ quarters,” Iason said. “We are likely to encounter some in the dining room at this time of day, and in any event, it will be good for you to know where the food is kept, if you really do have no interest in the stables.”
“I really do,” I said.
“A pity,” he said. “It would make things so much simpler, you know.”
“For who?”
“For both of us,” he said. “The stables are warded and guarded, and you would be very well cared for.”
“I’m still going to pass,” I said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me a minute, I do kind of have to go.”
After I finished, we went downstairs and outside. As large as they were, the trees were widely spaced, though their spreading canopies were big and thick enough that raindrops probably never hit the ground in the village-grove. We headed towards the middle, where a four-story twisting wooden tower stood in the center of a large clearing. It had a flat top, and rope bridges connected it to the lower treehouses in the nearest trees.
“It was once a tree,” Iason said, gesturing towards the irregularly-shaped tower. “The first lodge of Treehome was built in the branches. A magical blight struck and killed it. The wood had no life left to be renewed, but it was not physically damaged. The thickest part of the trunk was fashioned into the building you see before you, while the branches and upper parts were harvested for crafting.”
I gave a low whistle. The immense trees, known as elven heartwoods, were rare to begin with, and were never cut down. Elves used magic to maintain their health and protect them from the elements. They hardly ever even needed so much as a limb removed, and to remove one unnecessarily was like sacrilege. Because of this, heartwood was one of the most expensive substances for statues and carvings.
“Yes, that,” Iason said. “Of course, the families who owned the lodge at that point became immensely wealthy.”
I’d needled him enough about Petros, so I didn’t belabor the point by asking who he meant.
I hadn’t seen anything like a no smoking sign, but I figured I’d be polite and get that need out of my system before we headed indoors. However, the familiar bulge was missing from my pocket.
“Where are my cigarettes?” I asked.
“Wherever you left them, I expect,” Iason said.
“That would be in my pocket,” I said.
“No, I quite sure you had them out in the glade,” he said.
“The one where you transformed me?” I asked. He nodded, and I punched him in the shoulder. “You dick! Why didn’t you get them?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I had no hands,” I said. “And because somebody sent me running off through the woods.”
“Excuses, excuses,” Iason said. “It’s hardly my job to keep track of your things. You should be grateful I managed to hold onto your pants.”
“This isn’t going to make me quit, you know,” I said. “It’s just going to make me pissy and irritable all night.”
“I’ll let you know when I notice the change,” Iason said, draping an arm over me.
The tower entrance was huge. It was part of a tunnel cut all the way through the trunk of the tree-tower. There were portcullises recessed into the ceiling by the openings, and a spiral staircase in the middle.
“The bottom of the tree was left mostly solid,” Iason said. “For security and stability. Almost the whole of the tower is open to all guests. If a door is unlocked, you may go through it.”
The spiral stairs were narrow and they had no rail. Iason’s assistance felt less unnecessary than usual. The staircase came out in a large open chamber with low oak tables and reclining couches, lit by dancing lights hovering around the ceiling. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all made of solid heartwood. I revised my estimate of the Petros’s family’s wealth way upwards when I realized that it wasn’t just the wood from the top of the tree that they’d have been able to sell off.
Also, Iason had been true to his word: there were women present.
A little over half of them might have been mistaken for boys by inattentive humans. Those were the ones that I actually had a shot with. The other ones, the ones in the pretty, flowing dresses with the gauzy half-veils over their lower faces? They were pretty much saying “Fuck off, boys.”
At earlier points in elven history, it had been expected of elven women to cover their mouths in public with heavy scarves. Now the standards had relaxed, and mouth-covering had become a badge of youth, and a way for older women to signal that they were uninterested or unavailable to men. It was possible that some women from more ancient generations wore them out of a sense of modesty, but they probably wouldn’t favor the see-through fabrics that were now popular.
Elven culture traditionally recognized every orifice as inherently sexual. Remember Iason’s comment about my mouth? Some elves really thought that way. The reason men had never covered their mouths was complicated. Part of it was the sense that they could take care of themselves, and that in a literal sense they could give as well as they got.
Sexist? Yeah. Double standards were alive and well all over. By not wearing a veil, a girl was saying, in essence, “penis goes here”. She was also emulating the appearance of men, which was seen as a key to luring a middling male away from the childhood habits of boy sex.
That was why, as eye-catching as the gowns were, it was the flat-chested girls in riding breeches who interested me the most.
Though, my eyes couldn’t help drifting to the figure who seemed to be at the center of the group. She wore a gown with a multi-layered fringed hem in shades of lavender and purple, with a lavender vest over it and a purple double-crescent pendant around her neck. Her lips were colored purple as well, beneath her lavender veil.
Her heavily lidded eyes turned towards us as we came up through the floor, and one by one the other girls fell silent and looked our way, as well.
“Iason Manbitch,” she said. “And you brought a little bitchling. Well, well, well. Is it true what I heard?”
“What have you heard?” Iason asked.
“That you tricked him into putting on that ratty old bracelet that’s been rattling around your hope chest?”
“He didn’t have to trick me,” I lied, holding my wrist up. As annoying as Iason could be, I already didn’t like this girl.
“You see, Ursula?” Iason said. “And far from being ‘ratty’, it is everything I claimed it to be. But of course, you already know that, because the only way you could know of this is if one of your sycophantic little honey eaters was witness to my arrival.”
“I am honestly shocked,” she said. She didn’t sound shocked. She sounded bored. She snapped her fingers. “Muriel. Grapes.”
Another girl, dressed in a long red dress and wearing a fully opaque scarf over her mouth, scurried forward with a plate full of grapes. She stood, holding the heavy silver plate at waist height next to the reclining Ursula.
“You met Ursula’s cousin by the canal, Iamie,” Iason said to me.
“So, tell me, bitchling,” Ursula said. “Is it true what they’re saying? About the girl in Harlowe?”
“Where else are girls likely to hang out?” I asked Iason. I wasn’t about to answer to “bitchling”, even if she was talking about a subject I found interesting.
“Human hearing,” Ursula said. “I asked you a question, bitchling. Dionne says they let a drow priestess in this year, black as soot, with tits like a cow’s and oozing milk. Do you know if that’s true?”
So she wasn’t talking about the (maybe) demon girl. A drow girl was just as interesting, though if anything, even less likely. I wondered if she’d actually heard a mangled rumor about Kira. My curiosity almost got the better of me, but I held back from asking.
“There is an observation platform built up from the branches of one of the taller trees,” Iason said. “If you’d like, we could go there after I’ve shown you to the stores. If there isn’t anybody there, it will at least give you a nice view of the river valley.”
“Don’t you dare ignore me, humanbloods,” Ursula said.
“That sounds nice,” I said.
“That’s it!” Ursula said. “Somebody get me the bitchling’s balls.”
Immediately, weapons came out from behind backs and inside the folds of the flowing gowns. They were mostly small blades, both daggers and short swords, but there were a lot of them and they all looked fancy enough to be elaborately enchanted.
They were also mostly held by the girlier girls, but there were more than enough of them to be a problem.
My hand hovered around my axe. I wouldn’t have liked the odds if we’d been facing a room full of human women my own age. These were elves, and they could easily have decades of experience on me.
They seemed hesitant to approach, though. Some of them even shifted back visibly when Iason took a step forward.
“Stand back, Manbitch,” she said. “Your little friend’s going to give me a pair of earrings, and then give the healing center something to talk about for ages.”
“You know I cannot permit that,” Iason said. “Even if the injury is temporary, the insult would linger too long to be tolerated.”
“Then stop us, if you can,” Ursula said. She didn’t seem to notice or care that her cronies didn’t share her bravado. “We have the advantage in numbers.”
She said “us” and “we”, but she hadn’t so much as sat up, to say nothing of drawing a weapon.
“You do,” Iason said. “In the interest of keeping things sporting, will you permit me to arm myself first?”
“Sporting?”
“Interesting, then,” Iason said.
“Very well,” Ursula said.
Iason reached over to the table and picked up a fork. He hefted it in his hand like he was testing its weight, then held it by the end of the handle, like it was a dagger.
“Any time you are ready, ladies,” he said, pushing the brim of his hat up with his other hand.
The gang of dress-wearing girls looked at each other, and then at their would-be queen, and then at Iason. They broke and scattered.
“Muriel! Kill him!” Ursula shrieked.
I didn’t catch what happened next, but the grapes, the platter, and the serving girl were all on the floor. She had a fork buried in her thigh. Iason was straightening up. The straight girls all around the room were trying very hard to look like they weren’t paying attention.
“You useless lot of boychasers!” Ursula yelled. “My family built this hall. You could show some gratitude and help me!”
At least one of the straight girls, a blonde with a pixie-bob cut dressed in buckskins, had to stifle a laugh at this outburst. I caught her gaze as she turned her face away from Ursula. The twinkling lights reflected off her eyes, making them sparkle. Her masculine clothes couldn’t hide the femininity in her face, but she didn’t need to look like a boy to appeal to me.
“That is the third attempt you’ve made upon my person or possessions since the summer ended,” Iason said to Ursula. “You are in danger of becoming tedious.”
“You think you’re so tough, now that you’re on the skirmish team,” Ursula said.
“Judging by the scene that just unfolded, it’s not how tough I think I am that is the issue,” Iason said.
“I’d fight you myself, if you would submit to an honest duel,” she said.
“In other words, if you had something to gain,” Iason said.
They sounded like they were going to be at it for a while, and since I didn’t have anything to say to Ursula, I decided to go introduce myself to the buckskin wearing girl.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m—”
“Iamos,” she finished. “I heard. I was watching from the walkway when you came up from the canal.”
“Good hearing,” I said. “But really, I’m Jamie.”
“Alli,” she said. “You made a beautiful hart.”
“Uh, thanks.”
“So, I guess you aren’t like him,” she said, nodding towards Iason.
“In what way?”
“In the way that you’re talking to me,” she said. “Unless you missed the fact that I’m a woman?”
“No, I can tell,” I said. “I’ve spent a lot of time around elves. I’m part elf, on my mother’s side.”
“Oh, really?”
“You don’t have to believe me,” I said.
“No, if you say so, I’m sure it’s true,” she said. She didn’t sound convinced. “You are a bowman?”
“I’m a Bowman,” I said. “That’s my last name. I don’t actually know how to use a bow.”
“Oh.”
“Come, Iamie!” Iason snapped, grabbing my hand. “The stench of rotten womanhood is overwhelming me.”
“Uh, bye,” I said to Alli as Iason dragged me towards a door.
“I will show you where the food is kept, and then we are leaving to search for friendlier company,” he said
“So the men here want my ass and the women want my balls,” I said. “This isn’t exactly a nice place, is it?”
“We elves are a great many things, dear Iamie, but ‘nice’ does not number among them,” Iason said. “Middlings are effectively a law unto ourselves, as all oaths are removed and all debts are forgiven when we reach one hundred. So long as no unhealable injury results, our actions against each other rarely result in greater consequences.”
“What is it with Ursula and you?”
“Many women hate me, but not as Ursula does,” he said. “Part of it is family rivalry, part of it is her irrational dislike of my views on women, but her hostility has greatly increased in the past year.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I may, at some point during that time, have relieved myself in her bed.”
“Iason, that’s nasty,” I said. “That’s beyond nasty. Are you serious?”
“Yes,” he said. “Perhaps it was unreasonable, but she provoked me beyond the point of reason.”
I shook my head.
“I just can’t believe you’d do that,” I said.
“In my defense, I was careful not to wake her,” he said.
Uh. Well, that’s something. I’m sorry if this comes up as just spam from me, but on my screen (I’ve refreshed it many times) my second comment I made didn’t come up, and my third did. If it’s not there, than said missing second comment is briefly outlined as follows :
Belated as in I was kind of late in the comment line to mention that people so rudely correcting what few errors you had lacked any constructive criticism, an apology, or a “here, this is how it’s spelled.:)” I only thought of it as rude.
Oh man do I understand now why Stef absolutely refuses to go to Treeholme!
@Nikolai AE has asked us to point out possible errors in her postings, as this allows her to correct them, especially when it is one of her few major errors, such as a missing paragraph. I make my error posts simple so that it is easy to spot and skip over that part for other readers. I try to keep any criticism constructive, and I reserve my ‘good chapter’ posts for the exceptional ones, since I feel it has more meaning if I only say it when I really fell it. Others feel they should always remind her that she does well, because, with few exceptions, even her occasional bad chapter is entertaining. Before you get upset about that, no artist always puts out their best; which chapters are her best and worst is a debate that could last a very long time. AE doesn’t change her works just to make one person happy, but she has occasionally reworded something when our posts made her realize that we were gettting confused.
@52 Kitty Surprise Yeah.. Steff isn’t /full/ elf, so would be regarded as a ‘man blood’, possibly moreso than Iason (I don’t know what their respective elf vs. human makeup is), and then on top of it, ‘he’ dresses up as a girl… It’s obviously much more common for girls to dress up as guys.. so the comparison made earlier of Steff coming across as the big hairy guy in a dress sounds pretty accurate.
This does make me wonder how much elven blood someone has to have to even be allowed in Treeholme. Jamie has elven blood, though he doesn’t usually flaunt it and the elves don’t recognize it at all. Iason is obviously very close to being full elf. Steff I think is half.. and if she had a ‘normal’ perspective for her heritage, would she be accepted in Treeholme or merely looked at as a human?
@48 Nickolai I understand what you’re saying about people just pointing out errors… and I’m not sure if you’re talking about everyone in general, or if certain people came across as rude to you while others didn’t, but I figure it’s better to point out simple spelling mistakes without a lot of fanfare. I LOVE, love love love, to write, and I know that it’s easy to skip over simple mistakes in one’s writing because your mind auto-corrects stuff a lot. I /hate/ when I’m reading a published book and I find typos. In my mind, I figure it’s /published/ so it should have had a lot of preparation before it hits the printers, and when I find more than one or two typos, it’s annoying. Either way, I figure, she posts this on the internet for us to read, and later she compiles it into books. We’re just helping to ensure little mistakes don’t go into the book. OBVIOUSLY AE knows how to spell the words she’s being corrected on and it’s just because she’s typing so fast and missed it when she went over it at the end. As long as the person isn’t calling her something negative for the mistake, and is merely pointing it out, I think it’s not rude. But then again, I think that’s criticism most people have to get used to if they let other people look at their stuff. The least of AE’s concerns are spell-checking people.. I also suspect she’s got some tough skin. ^_^
>.> It appears I’ve let my fingers run away on the keyboard with my thoughts again.
@54 pixiekhatt I may be misinterpreting here, since what I am about to say is based on an offhand comment made in story, but Iason made a comment early on about there being ONE half-elf who lived in Harlowe instead of Treehome. I got the impression that elven bloods who don’t live in Treehome are pretty rare unless they don’t have much elf in them. Steff has issues with elves beyond the ‘hairy guy in a dress’ image, although I could see her desire to dress effeminately yet still sleep with men as being culturally confusing for the elves. One of those issues that we know of is her dislike of her father.
Love the stories!
As for corrections, I’m surprised nobody mentioned the one visible even before clicking the link to load the episode (because it’s in the alternate title).
“All You All” should be contracted into “All Y’all”, not “All Ya’ll”.
Okay, not really surprised. About 95% of people I’ve seen discuss this over the years didn’t understand that.
@Naruki:
Hmm… I’ll bow to your wisdom (especially since my friend Google says you’re right), but that just looks wrong to me. I guess because “way up north” in Nebraska I only encounter it in already informal settings, my mind parses it as a contraction of the already-informal “ya” and “all”, not “you” and “all.”
It is most unlikely Iason’s anti-female attitude has much to do with any female we have seen, or with any female at all. While we do not have that much evidence, it seems his attitude is not shared by the other male elves who have presumably faced the same culture.
Iason is a college star. Callahan is a pro, and apparently a star as a pro as well. Iason is barely good enough to give her a serious workout.
@pixiekhatt :
First of all, hi. Secondly, I can understand that AE has asked for corrections, but I am a nice person at heart. I may be narcissistic at times, but I don’t consider myself mean. I don’t really act all that rude, so it really comes off as offensive to *me* when I read/hear/see something that might not be hostile, or rude at all, yet still seems somewhat… offensive. Yes, I know I used that word already. D: But whenever I am in even the slightest of situations in which an error is made, I either ignore it, or politely point out the flaw. Maybe it’s just the way I am, I don’t really know. I’m not asking everyone to like, stop correcting AE’s very few errors, I’m merely expressing my opinion. And… uh. Have fun.
@Alexandra Erin :
Ohmaigawdhi. My name is Nikolai del Rosia, and I’m a huge fan of all your work. But Tales of MU and More Tales of MU seem to be my favorites. I’m an author myself, and I love to write fantasy murder mysteries. I haven’t had the guts to bring them out into public, or anything like that, but I can honestly say I’m impressed. My biggest question would have to be : How’d you muster the courage to write this online? Were you ever, like… afraid of negative criticism? I know I am, which is why I don’t dare make a website of my own to post my stories.
@Everyone :
I’m so sorry about my confusion in comments in #50-51, I’m not very good at blogging, e-mails, or anything even distantly related to the internet. So, uh, I hope you can ignore a ‘noob’s’ idiocy right there. Sorry once again.
Signe— TYPED in her own hand, The Gloriously Not-So-Magnificient Nikolai (Nikki) del Rosia
“I really do,” I said.
From context, – I think you meant him to say “I really don’t” perhaps?
And this one I’ll just mention, although I do realize it might just be because that’s what Jamie would say (it’s a commonly made mistake).
“For who?”
since “for” is a preposition, the pronoun should be in the dative case, technically, so it would properly be “For whom”?
But modern speakers often treat “whom” as a word only to use when you’re being “hoity-toity” (even so far as to use it in the nominative case to try to cause that impression). But I just thought I’d point it out, as Jamie might be the sort that says it correctly – especially if he was being sarcastic?
“Elven culture traditionally recognized every orifice as inherently sexually.”
one word or the other could take the “-ly” but not both, so:
“Elven culture traditionally recognized every orifice as inherently sexual.”
or, with a small change in verb:
“Elven culture traditionally regarded every orifice sexually.”
hope I’m not being too nitpicky, but I figure, I can point them out, and then you can decide if you agree it needs changing
Clearly Jason and Ursula are destined for each other.
@ kerinbot 61:
Indeed so.
Despite the virulence of their interaction, Iason DID actually deign to speak to her. It seems she’s a ‘people’ in his mind, despite his…er…incendiary relationship with her.
Perhaps this is the elven equivalent of the little boys tugging on the little girl’s braids.
AE–I’ve had to work on “correcting” my contraction as well. I have always written ya’ll (as in ya all) instead of y’all (you all) and I grew up in Oklahoma & Kansas. So I guess it’s not just way up in Nebraska…Maybe it’s the line of states through the middle…
Some commentors seem to be assuming that the individuals and customs that were are seeing are elven, but from Iason’s comments, it sounds like a pretty significant portion of the individuals are mixed blood and the customs are accordingly different. Not that these aren’t elven at all, just that this isn’t an elven setting like Dee’s home is and these aren’t individuals how are Elf-elves, like Dee and Ariandne. It seems like there could be pretty big differences between the culture of a race that is primarily around itself and only itself and the culture of the same race when mixed with other races, either actively or passively.
@64
These are Middlings, ‘adolescent’ elves. I don’t know where you’re getting that these are mostly half-elves, from what I can gather Iason and Jaime are the only ones present with a speck of non-elf blood between them.
My apologies. On first read, my brain interpreted “middlings” as relating to their ancestors, not their age. My second point, while reduced by this mistake, still partially stands — we’re not seeing how grown-up elves act in strictly elven communities. A child acts differently from a teen acts differently from an adult and they all act differently if they’re from an area where they’re exposed to people unlike themselves (as opposed to not being exposed to such individuals). Maybe it’s overly cautious, but I can’t help but feel that the way the characters in Treehome act may not be generalizable to the larger elven population.
Betwyn: I think the reason so many people contract it that way is that it’s normally only spoken. And spoken by the kind of people not exactly famous for their great grammatical prowess, to boot.
I had the benefit of hearing the uncontracted form a good bit when I was knee high to a grasshopper, and that helped when I first started writing it down. I think the uncontracted form has fallen into desuetude.
@ Nickolai:
Now that everyone knows where you’re coming from, and vice versa, I just thought I’d sketch out some wider background to the problems that you mentioned. I’d like to be able to add “and set your mind at rest” to this, but I’d be a lying goat if I did.
Unless AE has some sort of divine protection, this comments section will be receiving lots of flame posts that we, the readers, fortunately never get to see because she moderates them out of existence. They will tend to be insulting, abusive, badly spelled, ungrammatical and often written ALL IN CAPS. There may even be the odd pretend legal threat. Some will be from people who are genuinely enraged by ToMU and all it contains (along with many other things they have encountered in this world), and are trying to let everyone know how they feel. Some will be griefers and trolls, just trying to upset people for fun. They are all, unfortunately, part of the internet, and cannot be eliminated. Website owners just have to deal with them as best they can. I know of at least one artist who eventually closed down their site, having been worn down by the constant, caustic comments and emails. At the end of the day, you have to have a thick skin.
Actually, that goes for just about any professional creative. A friend of mine made his entire living from the mid-70s to the mid-80s from graphic design, stage design and backdrop painting. It was mostly him, as a skilled professional, providing professional services to private businesses. However, he says he still needed to cultivate a thick skin, and still a few clients managed to poke holes through it.
It is a wicked world we live in, to be sure. I’m sorry I can’t say anything more optimistic. Treasure the positive comments and keep the ‘delete’ button close to hand. Either that, or configure your site so that there’s no comments and no email address visible (apart from the one on WHOIS).
By the way, you appear to have a feature in common with Julian May. >:=)> If your writing is as good as hers, I’d be interested to see it!
Cheers, and stout heart to you!
Esteis (27) reminded me of the curse ‘hartless hind’.
Nikolai (46 & 48) I believe AE has said in the past that it’s ok to post corrections. I don’t think posting corrections is in and of itself rude. There are some people who could be rude while they are doing it, but, at least for me, it’s an attempt to make the story better and easier to read.
(59) We were all a noob (or should I say newb) at one time. It’s not a big deal. AE has comment moderation on, so maybe that’s what caused the problem.
“my friend Google”, AE, you’re hilarious. I love Google, too. I knew the right ‘y’all’ (I think that might be because of Jeff Foxworthy or one of the ‘Blue Collar’ guys) but didn’t notice your mistake in the title. *shrugs* GO, GO GOOGLE!
AE has stated in the past that pointing out possible errors are welcomed, as long as done respectfully. If anything, we provide a free, voluntary line-edit/spellcheck service. As MU is posted as written, sometimes after a long night of intense story composition, what AE webpublishes here is a lot closer to ‘first draft’status* than most published works are. Given the fluid nature of online publishing, she can post up the next installment, go get some well-deserved sleep, and check the comments the next morning for any snafus that crept in. By the time publication to the Dead Tree Edition comes up, it’s almost guaranteed that all the flaws will be buffed out. And this includes those hard-to-find ‘correctly spelled, but the wrong word’ errors, and ‘context shows you meant don’t when you said do’ mistakes, and so forth.
And, if nothing else, it gives the fans one more way to feel engaged, and included in the community of MU.
*(though i’m sure it usually goes through drafts before being posted. Either that or AE /IS/ just full of M@d Skillz and really CAN be this awesome off the cuff and straight out of the box. The truth is probably somewhere halfway between, tho
)