…or, Mack On Her Ass
Thaumatology came and went without giving me a single reason for being there, other than saving a few points on my grade. My brain was rotting out of my skull by the end of the ninety minutes. I was out of my seat in a flash when the period ended, anxious to get out into the open air and do something.
Out at Hauldhagen Field, a lot of the skirmishers and other experienced fighters hadn’t waited for class to begin to box their weapons and get to sparring. I went ahead and got my weapon mocked so I’d be ready, but sat back and just watched what the fighters were doing. After a minute, murmurs from the newbie side caught my attention. I turned around to see the girl they called Mack—the demon girl of Harlowe, the girl at the center of the drama that had sent Barley packing—wandering onto the field. She hadn’t been present the week before. Had she transferred in, or just blown off two days’ worth of classes?
She looked dazed as hell, no pun intended, and mousier than ever. She was way out of her depth. She was watching a couple of the advanced girls sparring with an axe and a mace, and her eyes were on the weapons. Her hand had gone to the knife on her belt, but not to the hilt. It was like she was trying to cover it up with her hand. I wondered if she knew she was doing that.
She looked overwhelmed. Completely out of place. If I could have made myself forget that she was a half-demon and that she’d screwed Barley over to impress her friends, I might have run over to play hero.
Even knowing her heritage, I couldn’t see any malice in her. Ignoring that knowledge, I could see her being easy prey for a clique of bullying dykes. Taking it into account, I had to wonder if she was really being manipulated, or if she was doing it herself. Barley’s reading of her being desperate for love and attention didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t a monster.
Callahan showed up, and the Harlowe girl’s reaction to seeing her looked to be about the same as mine had been. It would be so easy to empathize with her. Her grubby t-shirt and her permanent slouch didn’t do her any favors, but it made her less intimidating.
Was it possible that was all a pose?
“Anybody seen Johnson?” Callahan asked, looking up from her roster. If she was taking roll, that meant she knew everybody in the huge class by sight. That was impressive. “Fuckin’ Johnson,” she said, when nobody said anything, then whispered something like “Kill that faggot,” under her breath.
That was when the name clicked: Johnson, Steff—the obnoxious half-elf. He was from Harlowe. That raised some interesting questions. Was he skipping because he knew Mack would be there?
Regardless, Callahan’s homophobia (or athanophobia, or whatever it was) was starting to get on my nerves.
She looked at Mack without much interest, then looked at her again. Her eyes scanned the sheet on her clipboard and then narrowed a little. She did a very discreet double-take.
“New girl. Mackenzie?” she said.
Mack sneered a little, but she hid it quickly. I think Callahan noticed it anyway.
“I’d prefer ‘Ms. Blaise’,” she said, stepping forwards. “I was raised human.”
Maybe the stunned bunny look had been an act. This girl had big adamantine balls, the kind that came from knowing she could knock the head off even a seasoned fighter with a single punch. If Callahan hadn’t called her “new girl”, I would have bet money she’d just blown off the previous sessions.
“Fine, then,” Callahan said, unimpressed. “You ready to wow us today, Blaise?”
“Ms. Blaise, if you please,” Mack said.
Adamantine balls.
“Look, I’ll call you Daisy the Magic Rocking Horse if that’s what you want, but I expect you to earn it. I’ve already extended you a line of credit, but don’t push your luck,” Callahan said. I wondered how much information the school gave her about her students’ backgrounds. She was tough, but would she really push back that hard if she knew she was addressing a demon?
“It’s a rule,” Ms. Blaise said. Her eyes were full of contempt. Her voice was mostly calm, but there was an excited quaver in it. She looked tense. There was a small tremor in her hands. Several other students stepped back. I stood my ground, but braced myself for the very real possibility that I was about to see a demonblood flip her shit.
“Rule number one in life is that the people who have the weapons are the ones who get to pick which rules get enforced,” Callahan said. More evidence that she didn’t know exactly what she was facing.
“Oh, I’ve got a weapon,” Mack said. For somebody who didn’t know what she was, it would have been easy to miss the subtle undercurrent of menace there.
Of course she had a weapon. Her whole body was a weapon. Preternatural strength. Nails that could double as rending claws. Teeth that could shred flesh and shatter bone. The fire of hell itself.
Homophobe or not, I prayed that Callahan had the ability to back up her bluster against more than a couple of unprepared humans. She obviously hadn’t caught on yet. Her eyes went to the bronze-handled hunting knife on Ms. Blaise’s belt. It was an ugly, unremarkable looking weapon, done in an obvious and poor imitation of the elven style. I couldn’t imagine why anybody would bother to enchant it. Of course, she would only be carrying it as a formality. Whatever the rules said, Ms. Blaise would hardly require an enchanted weapon.
“Great,” Callahan said. “Come at me with it.”
“What?” Mack said. This wasn’t the response she’d been expecting, obviously.
“Draw your knife and come after me,” Callahan said. “Attack me.”
“But, but it’s not a mockery, it’s a real knife,” Mack stammered. Maybe Callahan was cagier than she looked. The professor had just changed the game. Instead of the demonblood goading her into a fistfight, she was challenging the student to draw her weapon. Chances were a demonblood would be far better-versed in using her hands and teeth.
“Should I care?” Callahan said, fluttering her surprisingly long eyelashes. There was something off-putting about her corded body, something vaguely wrong about the set of her shoulders, but she had a pretty face. “Am I supposed to care that you have a live blade? Is there some reason I should find that fact to be significant?”
“Are you insane?” Mack yelled, her voice cracking with indignation. She literally could not believe that Callahan was standing up to her.
I was losing more respect for “Ms. Blaise” and gaining it for Callahan. I didn’t like bullies. I know that’s not an original stand. Who does like bullies? But I hated the way she’d slouched into the class, made herself the center of attention, and tried to intimidate the professor into doing things her way. She’d be used to human teachers and classmates shitting themselves when she looked at them funny. She wouldn’t even have to make a direct threat. It would be enough to give anybody a case of “big fish, small pond” syndrome hopped up on giant strength.
“No, I’m serious,” Callahan said, cool as can be. “Is there a reason I should care that you have a knife?”
The Ms. didn’t care for that one bit.
“Well, for one thing it’s a fucking knife and I could kill you with it,” she said. “For another thing, it’s a fucking knife and I could kill you with it!”
“Really?” Callahan asked. Now she looked like she was trying to keep from laughing, as the demonblood’s tantrum continued to build. “Are you sure about that?”
“Am I sure that it’s a knife?”
“That you could kill me with it,” Callahan said. She put her clipboard off to the side, where it hovered in the air. “Because I’m not sure you could, even with that knife.” Now I was starting to wonder if she was insane. Challenging a demon to unarmed combat? “In fact, I don’t think you could do so with my personal blade, a long sword so loaded with enchantments my grandkids will be paying it off.”
She drew the weapon—a nice piece with a basket hilt and a long blade with gold filigree—and held it out pommel-first.
“Here, take this and swing it at me,” she said when her angry pupil didn’t react.
“What?” Mack asked.
“Don’t speak Pax?” Callahan said. “Take this and swing it at me.”
“You’re not serious,” she said, looking at the weapon like she thought it would bite her. Maybe it would. Callahan had said it was enchanted up the wazoo.
“Deadly,” Callahan said.
Mack stepped forward, her hand reaching out for the weapon. She froze, then looked at the teacher’s face.
“You really are serious?” she asked. She didn’t seem to have registered Callahan’s fist going up and back.
“I am,” Callahan said, punching her in the nose. I heard the crunch. “You’re not.”
It was the most impossible, paradoxical thing I’d ever seen. Callahan and Mack were of a similar height. Though Callahan was bulkier, she seemed to be a mostly-human mutt. Yet Mack, by all accounts half-demon, was down on the ground screaming her head off and Callahan was standing her ground.
“You punched me!” Mack yelled. The fact that she wasn’t bleeding implied her heritage hadn’t been exaggerated.
“Yeah, yeah, go cry, emo kid,” Callahan said, turning her back on her, sheathing her sword and grabbing her clipboard.
Mack blubbered something that sounded like “I’m not crying.”
Callahan waved a hand dismissively.
“Whatever, go to the healing center if—Johnson!” she said, looking up suddenly. I followed her gaze and saw Steff skipping across the field. “You’re late!”
“Aw, sorry, Coach,” Steff said, slouching his head low while giving her a big ol’ shit-eating aw-shucks grin. “I’m just trying to move slow enough for your poor, human eyes to follow.” His eyes flicked down to where Mack was still sitting sprawled on the ground, apparently digging for sympathy that didn’t seem to be coming. “Shit, Mack, what happened?” he asked her.
“I punched her in the face,” Callahan said.
Steff snorted.
“Better not do that too much or she’ll get to like it,” Steff said, rolling his eyes and smirking. “Are you okay, honey?” he said to Mack in a fluttery, girlish sing-song voice. He didn’t think much of her, either, it seemed.
“If she likes getting the shit knocked out of her, I think she’s in the right place,” Callahan said. “Though it’s kind of hard to imagine a place where she wouldn’t. Do something with her, will you? I can’t have crying kids in my class. They unbalance my fucking chi.”
Steff gave the crying Mack a sidelong glance, then dropped his voice low, beckoned to Callahan and said, “Look, Jillian.” I couldn’t make out the rest, but Jillian? Elven arrogance shouldn’t have surprised me at that point, but he either hadn’t processed the fact that he was talking to somebody who had suckerpunched a demon or he didn’t care.
“You’re telling me?” Callahan said. “I didn’t say get rid of her, but at least make her stop crying.”
They exchanged a bit more of what I guessed was “friendly banter” for them. Steff fit surprisingly well into the warrior jock culture, for somebody who identified as queer. Then he led Mack, still griping and moaning, away from the field. I didn’t envy him getting stuck with her. I still couldn’t quite get a bead on her, but I was less sure I wanted to. I felt bad for Barley getting screwed over, but she was better off with Mack out of her life.
“Class started five minutes ago, so I’m guessing everybody has their weapons mocked,” Callahan said, looking around the field. A bunch of people started moving towards the tables where the boxes were. “All you people, next time you aren’t ready when class begins, you’re spending it unarmed. ”
That was one thing I could say for sure about Ms. Mack Blaise: she was a grade A dumbass for picking a fight with Callahan.
Cross-Reference TOMU Chapter 85: Mixed Melee
No disrespect intended whatsoever, but I have been wondering…
So is ToMU going to be a weekly thing now, or is this part of the story bogging down more than usual, or what? It still says “New Chapters Tuesday-Friday” at the top but that hasn’t been the case lately…
I just want to know when to expect more!
I don’t mean any offense here but o feel that you are missing somewhat the argument of being transgender. While of course there are variations, the general bent is the dissasociation of physical and mental gender, and in cases like Ms Johnson, the idea that they do not have to correspond, either partially or entirely. Thus to base the gender you apply to each individual solely on what is between their legs could be construed as ignoring – or even attacking their beliefs, depending on how strongly they feel. My general attitude at work, when I consider someone to be of ambiguous gender is to avoid using explicit gender pronouns, until it has been clarified. Good way to start? Hi, my name’s Emily and welcome. Could I take yours please? So unless it’s Charlie, Sam or something equally ambiguous – question answered. Unfortunately for Jamie, Steff is ambiguous in elven vernacular. On the other hand, he got fake tits shoved in his face during his visit to the prism stand at the freshers squash!
@ beappleby — I think MToMU might be dead. The updates for ToMU have been spotty and I think AE is having issues keeping up with just that.
It’s not too surprising. Creative writing is hard and the idea that someone would be able to basically write 2 short stories a day forever is a bit unrealistic. Even 1 story is a day forever is not realistic.
I was also wondering when there might be another update to More. I haven’t seen an announcement about a problem with the story, so I’m very curious. Not trying to be pushy, I’m very happy for updates whenever we can get them, but if it would be possible to have an update ABOUT the updates… well, I’d love you forever!
Another week without updates? Perhaps this needs to be reclassified as a “non-going story”.
@beappleby – I’m wondering the same thing, but it’s not really like she signed a contract to have these things out quickly. I believe she said, at one point, there’s alot of things in need of metaphoric “House Cleaning” at the moment so she’s likely a bit busy.
I’m going to add my voice to those wondering what’s happened to MoreMU. It’s not that I mind that it hasn’t been updated frequently for a couple of weeks (well, I mind because I miss the story, but I understand that things happen), but I mind that there has been no announcement to the effect of “MoreMU will now be updated on such-and-such a schedule” or anything of the sort. As a reader, I find it frustrating to check a website daily, expecting updates–as beappleby said, the page still says New Chapters Tuesday through Friday–and finding none. Plz to be explaining?
Like others have said, no disrespect intended or anything, just odd that no announcement has been made about MTOMU taking a hiatus or anything. I was actually to the point where MTOMU was holding my attention better than TOMU so I hope it’s going to be continued.
“Sadness surrounds us, doesn’t it Err?”
In her defense, she did put up a message on the update clippy saying MToMU was going on hiatus until some literal and metaphoric house cleaning was taken care of. We all know how aggravating drama can be, so let’s just be happy she;s keeping ToMU updated. -_-*
We know that if a half-demon gets hungry then they become amoral killing machines. That’s not because people treat them badly, it’s because they’re dangerous predators and the enemy of mankind.
10 days without an update? Seriously?
AE please do not forget about More MU. It’s far too awesome to keep neglecting like this!!
@100 Well, I’m probably going to start sounding like Steff here, but if I can steal an analogy from Nietzche, The eagle hunting a lamb is only evil from the lamb’s point of view.
For the eagle, it’s just doing what comes naturally. Likewise, a wolf isn’t evil for hunting deer. Morality is something us humans made up as protection for ourselves against those stronger. Yes, she’s a killing machine, so is any predator. The only time we care about saying a predator is ‘evil’ is when we’re scared of them hunting us.
Concerning the updates, I’m guessing Erin hit a continuity issue, and is trying to sort that out. It is really nice seeing that people aren’t just cursing and screaming their heads off about updates, but are asking politely, compared to some other online fiction I read, this has the best audience.
Haha, you’re right 102. Notice I never called a half-demon evil, though they’d certainly fit many people in the land of MU’s definition as such. I did say that they were dangerous, which is an objective fact, and the enemy of man, just as the eagle is the enemy of the lamb. And Mack did become amoral. A wolf doesn’t prey upon those it loves, but Mack was ready to kill Ian and Two for no better reason than that she was hungry.
Well, amoral and evil do seem to go together in my mind just because of how they relate to our ideas of right and wrong. And as for the love thing… Well, I guess we have to ask how much capability a predator has for love. Wolves might not be the best example though. After thinking about this, the demonic side of half demons seem very like a shark to me. Cold blooded, constantly on the prowl for food, and they just don’t have the capability for something like love. Plus the whole blood-triggered feeding frenzy thing. When Mack Goes into demon mode, I’d guess she’s like the shark. Things like love and friends have no basis in her mind. Just the basic hunger/pleasure/pain responses. So I guess that brings up philosophical questions, like does morality apply to demons? A shark is what it is, we don’t expect it to be human. When it smells blood and goes into a frenzy, that’s just part of being a shark, it can’t help it. Even with the intelligence difference, if love and caring, and even respect for life, simply don’t exist in one’s nature, then does human morality apply to them?
I think this dichotomy of mack’s existence is really the interesting part of the story. Her human half has a human soul, and all that implies, but when her demonic half takes over, none of that applies. Should be fun to see where it goes and if she can get more control over her other half.
“Honey you know that kid that occasionally looses it and tries to eat you? Maybe you shouldn’t PLAY with her anymore?”
Yes indeed, I’m using amoral in a literal sense “the absence of morality.” I wouldn’t apply human morality to a demon, but that goes both ways. It isn’t a human, I don’t expect it to act like a human. It’s my enemy and I can kill it with a clean conscience. But then again if I went and killed Mack, I’d not only be killing my enemy, but somebody who is a human as well. That makes things interesting.
need MToMU fix ….please
Oberoten said…
“Honey you know that kid that occasionally looses it and tries to eat you? Maybe you shouldn’t PLAY with her anymore?”
LOL ^_^ yes, good point.
Plz to be updating? I’m starting to get the shakes from missing my Violet fix.
So is MToM dead? I don’t mind that much because I only liked it as a view into the main story, but let me know. I did like Violet and would not mind if she appeared in the main ToM.
Not even an explanation? Really?
Re: People being afraid of half demons:
I love dogs. Dogs are awesome, intelligentish (mostly), fun to be around. I am a dog person. However, when I’m face to face with an annoyed (not even pissed off, just irritated) dog, I get nervous. Because while dogs are awesome, mostly intelligentish, and fun to be around, they also have strong jaws and sharp pointy teeth. My point being it’s okay to have a negative first impression if it’s a potentially dangerous situation. It just means Mack’s gonna have to be extra cuddley and friendly and helpful and polite and considerate an– *chokes*
It’s not fair, I know. We know Mack better than all those meanie secondary characters. But this chapter helped me realize that we’re inside Mack’s head in ToMU, and that what she’s projecting on the outside isn’t always what she’s feeling on the inside. Now if only SHE could realize it…
WERE IS the new chapter i want please!!!!!!
Hooray! The two week mark of no updates =/
You stopped writing?????
At least give us a REASON why you aren’t updating, please?
Has this been abandoned..?
Dude…
Can you please post a notice or an explanation or something as to the future of MoarMu?
Have I missed anything about the next more MU update? I’m trying to hard to be patient!!
Anyone know when a new chapter will be up? I’m not trying to sound annoying or impatient, but I’m just curious, seeing as there’s been no official notice or anything regarding the absence of MOARMU, and TOMU seems to be doing just fine.
Thanks, and I apologize if I sound annoying, impatient, whiny, or at all like a dinosaur. Because no one wants that.
Happy Halloween, folks.
So, i have a question – is MoreMu on official hiatus, or is AE just not feeling well?
If so, AE, hope you feel better soon! If there is an official “resume date” where should i look for it?
thanks!
MoreMU will be coming back next week, so sayeth AE in the comments thread for one of the ToMU chapters. Apparently, life kicks her ass, and she needed to straighten some stuff out. Totally understandable.
Actually, the demon:eagle thing does not compute b/c eagles aren’t selective in what they eat – they eat meat. Demons, in this universe, need human blood/meat specifically to survive. That actually DOES make them the enemy of humankind.
I, too, would like to see more More MU!
I must admit, however, my reason is probably not one that most people expect – I want to see more because of that blasted dragon tattoo. I’m looking forward to when it wakes up! (I have this odd fascination with all the neat odds and ends in ToMU. The pocket mirrors, the enchanted day-to-day goods, the neat toys…)
@113 the main idea was relative morality in a predator/prey relationship
Not making an exact analogy
Relative “evilness” in a predator-prey may be one thing, but based on what Dee, Steff, and Grandma were saying about religion and Neutral-aligned deities, it stands to reason that Mack is also Evil-aligned.
I love how my explaination of the hiatus was totally ignored three times. -_-*
Umm…
I understand the whole life problems thing, but not posting on this chapter or the homepage to explain is kind of upsetting to me as a reader. Also, its been weeks, and I think if you hit the month mark you’ll lose a good portion of the so far patient audience…Please just address this yourself so we know when to check back?
Well that’s the philosophical question. What is evil? Morality is very relative. Some people think sex is evil, others think it’s great and natural. Killing people and eating them is also seen as evil by some people, but in other cultures, cannibalism was an acceptable part of life. Mack might be ‘naturally’ evil according to the dominant deities, but that’s when it goes back to my analogy. A shark isn’t evil for acting like a shark, even though it’s nature is in opposition to our own. A demon is also merely acting in accordance with it’s nature yet we assign this label of inherent badness to it’s behavior, even though that behavior is exactly the same as that of a shark. Why is the uncontrollable bloodlust of a demon evil when the bloodlust of a shark is not? Or to bring it into the MU universe, is it really right to say that Mack is inherently evil aligned because of her eating-people issues when mermaids apparently don’t get the same stigma? I doubt the mermaids would have problems praying, even though they have a similar eating-people frenzy thing going on. it seems very arbitrary…
“Evil” implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.
Animals and other creatures incapable of moral action are neutral rather than good or evil. Even deadly vipers and tigers that eat people are neutral because they lack the capacity for morally right or wrong behavior.
People like Mack and Two may not have the same freedom of alignment as others, but IMO as long as they are sentient they can’t claim incompetence.
Let me be very very blunt.
I like this story more than ToMU.
If you can only update one story, please let it be this one at least half the time.
=)
I agree with Mendori. I’m going to add in that, as much as I appreciate you keeping your promise to those that donate, I would much rather have MToMU stories than bonus stories for ToMU. Sure, the bonus stories give us nice insights on the characters, but I’m kinda dying for a storyline update here.
As for the Good-Evil debate… You all forget that Mack is a (somewhat at the least) intelligent beeing. Being true to your nature is not an excuse if you have a mind and a conscience. Or we’d ALL adore mass-murderers as long as they are wrong in the head enough to consider their killing to be RIGHT.
Umm, to address that last point, not all mass-murderers think that their actions are right. If they did, they be considered psycopaths. And psychopathy is a clinical disorder which (in the united states and canada, at least) absolves one of criminal guilt. Although that doesn’t address the matter of good/evil, I think it /is/ pertinenet.
Mack’s human side has a concious, but demons, and her demon side don’t.
And as far as law goes, someone is only guilty if they know what they did was wrong. If not, we say they’re insane, incompetent, and send them off to a mental hospital.
hurting, killing, and oppressing are only bad in certain situations, in other contexts, they can all be considered good, or at least, necessary. If demons lack the capacity for human morality, then how can we blame them more than a shark?
Mack isn’t the best example for most of this just because she does have more freedom of choice due to her dual heritage.
Well, actually, when her demon side takes over, she doesn’t have freedom of choice.
It’s like someone with Multiple Personality Disorder. One personality is not responsible (legally or otherwise) for the actions of another.
I thought this was getting updates? Guess not.
Haha Tunod
The dragon tattoo is one of the things I am looking forward to too!