Posted by Ty975 3 years ago Report

Ah, nice meditation you got here -u-

Posted by 4ofSwords 3 years ago Report

Thanks!

Posted by Sehnsucht 3 years ago Report

If I weren't already possessed of a tongue fetish, this story might have had power to grant me one.

How very specific: a linguistic lingual story. Double-tongued! (An old motif of yours and Samish's.)

Gorgeously written. I'm positively giddy!

Posted by 4ofSwords 3 years ago Report

Thanks! Some concepts for me are, I suppose, inevitable. But I was quite proud about avoiding the cunning linguist pun. ;)

Posted by Astronommy 3 years ago Report

Thank you for producing a yet another modern classic in under ten thousand words! And on behalf of the reading population of this planet -- sorry about the modest response it's gotten so far, not to belittle my fellow commenters!

A superb expansion on the Queen Becky Literary Universe, especially the way the chosen timeframe gives weight and urgency to the Director's failing resolve to cling to his duties; the way the story's viewpoint mechnism works, Queen Becky more or less provided him the outline for his own passing the torch moment. The imagined interior of the Directorial glass-walled loft atop the Tower has by now become as engrained in my mind as the bridge of the USS Enterprise.

The genius of the story is not in its framing, splendid and cunning though it is, but in the beautiful (albeit arranged) marriage of the titular Sacrifice's lifelong vocation and the physicality of her interaction with the Queen; the imagery that concept enabled, how a linguist's focus on the mechanics of enunciation were made to highlight the awe and peril projected by the proximity to the Queen's mouth -- that feat of conceptual engineering is just dizzying.

There is also this electrifying dissonance of what interest one takes in another, and it was giddily delightful watching the two get closer to getting what they desire. Well, desire for one, and a more complicated potpourri of dread, desire, closure and resignation for the other, anyway. It is amazing how you'd been able to plausibly convert Beca's agonizing rejection of her situation into a grateful acceptance -- or I suppose the credit should go to Queen Becky for having propery identified the gaping keyhole of academic obsession in that reticent padlock, and for crafting that perfect, pangram-engraved key for the task, although of course that wouldn't have worked without the rest of the conversation, and other insidious stratagems.

The conversation flow is entrancing, as usual, the boldness of dealing with such awkward angles and poses and the maddening rigging of the Nut, and the linguisitic research... Suffice it to say that I've only been able to find three mentions of that Sonnet Pangrammatique across all of the Internet, with one being this story on this site. Where did you find it? Some private college linguistic paper peer review group based in the suburbs of Lyons? In a crumbling manuscript in the attic of the Library of Congress? In any case, the profound impact it was shown to have on Beca upon hearing that being recited with the Queen's divine breath for all the world to see was exceedingly well-justified. It's bizarre craftsmanship overkills like this that have always been attributed to those pursuing art in its purest, most exalted form.

Lastly, I just wanted to acknowledge the utterly miserable experience the Beca had, waiting for eleven hours after a day's worth of humiliating treatment at the hands of the Reserve personnel (getting to bite that Liason must have been a poor compensation), only to then have her sense of purpose and self-determination get stripped from her while enduring the saliva-enhanced cold air torture; one bright woman's doomed quest to escape her destiny ending in a bittersweet defeat. Queen Becky did more than any predator character would in this situation to offset that torture with her attention, rough therapy and later royal gifts, all without denying her own playfully carniverous pleasure, but most of the first part of the story (especially contextualized by reading the latter part) served as a chilling reminder to the kind of routine horrors that the Reserve facilitates.

Great work, and thank you for sharing!

Posted by 4ofSwords 3 years ago Report

> sorry about the modest response it's gotten so far, not to belittle my fellow commenters!

Oh, not at all. It was a gift story, so as long as the person it was intended for enjoyed it, then it has met my goal for it! Anything beyond that is gravy.

If I write another story in this setting - which is very uncertain, as I think this year's Nanowrimo attempt will be outside of kink, and I'm trying to push more into things that my family could read someday - I have a plot in mind that deals directly with the Directors' hand-off, even though it's been touched on multiple times already. There's an element to this world that I've teased at but would like to explore a bit more, and that would be a good framing device for such an explanation.

The Enterprise bridge is not so far off! Just imagine it with 70's wood paneling and linoleum flooring. ;)

The 'Sonnet Pangrammatique' came up a few pages into an archived thread on international phonetic pangrams; I was quite distraught I could not find more, and not one in Portuguese. There are a number of them in English, and arguably there's a good reason there, since English pronunciation is so dicey as to make such a thing useful. I'd been hoping to feature them more extensively and work them into the conversation more casually, but as it stands I think they fill their role well enough. I really should provide credit for them where it's due (lest anyone come to the highly erroneous conclusion that I could claim credit for their composition). Perhaps I'll put that into a footnote when I weave in corrections to the issues you pointed out elsewhere (and thank you for that!)

(Incidentally, 'sliver of silver' is quite possibly a darling that should have been killed, but it was very much intentional and doted upon in the context of this story. ;) )

Though the story was written to provide some distance from Beca and make her protests and fighting come across as annoying or just not playing along with the way things work, I'm glad some of her POV came across as empathetic. 'Snackrifices' like Beca don't usually make for good subjects for this kind of story unless it goes full horror, but in my mind they'd be more common than I let on.

Posted by Astronommy 3 years ago Report

Your friend is very lucky to be getting gifts like this! I am less inconsolable at the fickle character of fame knowing there is a targeted grateful audience for this little bottled lightning!

Thank you for detailing your archeological process! It was as involved as I'd imagined, but no less impressive for it. I don't think proper crediting is necessary, strictly speaking, unless you'd like to also credit every single pangram in here -- the gist of those quotes (spoken by a very special locutor) being a linguistic geek's ambrosia is made clear in the text, and the heighened importance of the Sonnet is obvious because of the space it takes, if for no other reason; the obscurity adds the right amount of mystery, and I've enjoyed trying to find any mention of that quote out there, for what it's worth.

AT this point I need to append to the previous comment my appreciation for Beca's academic language, whether it's talking back to her graceful tormenter, or gushing about her field of study, which, while is casually dismissed and interrupted by the Queen, is both very endearing in its earnestness, and authentic to what a real scholar would could build their life around.

The sliver of silver hangup was a joke, like the complusory pun-shaming that must be performed regardless of how fun the pun actually was; I'm in no position whatsoever to chide others for using sly or gawdy wording, as my own taste in literary styles has always been purple junk food with a side of self-awareness.

That the story was keeping Beca at an emotional distance, by the way of the mechanical narrative framing and just in general, is clear, and it works, I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

Your description of a retroified starship bridge gave me cravings for a series that is essentially Cousteau's Odyssey in space, with the characters spending more than half of their screen time strumming old guitars and talking about their back pain and discussing relationships or families back home, and the rest would be fussing with the equipment and ogling giant space squids, while every surface of their spaceship environment is covered in chrome and plywood and mahogany and velveteen carpeting and linoleum. But then I guess that's just Star Trek: The Original Series I'm picturing, huh.

Looking forwards to that non-kink NaNoWriMo project! But also to any more Reserverse standalones, as long as they don't step on the toes of your quixotic attempt to gentrify your literary legacy before your family is allowed to sample it!

Posted by 4ofSwords 3 years ago Report

> Cousteau's Odyssey in space

Oh, man, that would be amazing. Star Trek with the tone of 2001. The sort of show you could put on in the background just for the mood, without really worrying about fistfights breaking out, and treat it like a screen saver or a digital fireplace/fishtank. Popular characters moving across the screen, going about their business in very scientific fashion, to a classical symphonic soundtrack. And absolutely decorated to the T by the 70s.

Something like this channel, but with a minimal voiceover, and more leisure suits: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchmidtOcean

One of the hardest parts about the non-kink project is figuring out where to post it! I have already posted bits of it here in the past (Merilyn and the Velvet lift, etc.), but I don't think it would make sense to post the entire story here.

Posted by Astronommy 3 years ago Report

Thank you for suggesting that marine research channel, it looks lovely! Cinematic fireplace fishtanks are in high demand lately, between all the ASMR and streaming channels, and something more technologically-involved and outgoing sounds like a winner!

It'd slipped my mind that when I was stating my eagerness for the new project that it likely wouldn't find a home here, so I wish it to do well, and would be grateful to receive an update on where it can be found if you would need an extra set of eyes to examine it!

Posted by 4ofSwords 3 years ago Report

Thanks very much to Umhuebr and Astronommy for the corrections they pointed out! I really appreciate it when people take their time to offer that kind of feedback as well, and give me the opportunity to fix mistakes I didn't catch (or didn't even know I needed to catch!) :D

Posted by Sauvegarde 1 year ago Report

Very nice. I didn't expect the Rosetta stone angle, but it's great to explore it for once.

I wonder how they prepared Queen Becky for Halloween. Did she allow a team of make-up artists to doll her up without eating them?

Posted by 4ofSwords 1 year ago Report

Excellent question, and the answer is... that is under negotiation. The general rule is that once someone is in the Reserve, there is no guarantee, and Queen Becky makes no promises that limit her moment-by-moment choices.

I would say what is most common is that single-use items are prepared with instructions, but there have been discussions surrounding special events where her sacrifices are given job-training, so someone who is destined to pass through her lips anyway might get a few hours drill-time with a giant eyeliner and mascara first.

Posted by IceCreamStand 7 months ago Report

This is absolutely sublime. Beautiful work!

Posted by 4ofSwords 7 months ago Report

Thank you!