John had been over the campsite a dozen times, and each time he combed the grounds he came away knowing less about it, being less sure of what he seeing, and less certain about anything except that he didn’t have the first clue how to trace the beast that had been responsible for the attacks.
Here and there he thought he saw signs of bodies being dragged, but no sign of what had done the dragging.
He was getting nowhere, and somehow losing ground while he did it. What he needed, he realized, was a new approach… a different perspective.
A fresh set of eyes.
Well, there was no shortage of eyes in the park, and whose eyes would be fresher than a child? He left the copse and headed across the grounds to a more crowded part of the park, approaching a small boy with an airplane on a string.
“Excuse me,” John said to him. “Would you like to play a game with me?”
The boy looked up at John, who was clad — as was his custom when it was above freezing — in black jeans cut off to shorts, and nothing else. His chest and arms bore red marks from where he’d pushed heedlessly through scratchy branches. These were nothing compared to the wounds on his back, though of course the boy couldn’t see those.
“Okay,” the boy said.
“Imagine you are in a jungle,” John said. “You need to trace a beast which attacked your camp and took your friends in the middle of the night, but the beast left no tracks. What would you do?”
“Look for blood.”
“There is no blood.”
“Maybe somebody left a trail of breadcrumbs?”
“Birds ate them,” John said. “There are no signs of any kind to follow.”
“Oh,” the boy said. He scrunched up his face in thought for a while and then he said, “I guess it wouldn’t matter where you looked, then.”
“No,” John said. “I guess it wouldn’t.”
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We’re three for three, guys. Thanks for your support.
Whoooooooo!!
I want to toss my word of encouragement for Tribe. I first started reading your writing when I followed an ad at Something Positive that led to Tribe. I really enjoyed this one, and when I had caught up I started reading Tales of MU.
I had encountered MU before that, but the first time I read the first chapter, didn’t really get hooked, and wandered off. What kept me reading the second time was fact that I enjoyed Tribe so much, MU had to be worth reading further.
It didn’t take long before I was spending sleepless nights reading chapter after chapter of MU instead of doing my research…
I know this is posted from a Treo, so typos are to be expected. But I just thought I’d point out one I saw:
“being less sure of what he seeing” — pretty sure there needs to be a “was” in there
I started out as MU reader and just discovered Tribe last night. And read the whole thing. I love it!
I dont remember what I started with, but I read all of both Tribe and Void Dogs in one night, read Three Seas and Star Harbor The next time. MU I dont read so much. I started, wasn’t hooked. Kept reading, since I loved these so much and the basic premise seemed good. But I just couldnt get into it and I stopped after couple chapters. I tried again a week or so later, but still couldn’t keep reading.
Yay for Tribe! I’m sad I didn’t read it sooner. I’ve been an MU fan for a while and I’m glad a friend poked me into reading this one too
Great world and I look forward to reading more about Michael. I hope he is the/a protagonist.
Thank you for updating Tribe through your difficulties!
nooooooooo
omg i am so addicted. i love your writing style! i got hooked on MU first but this is so much more my style. I love not having to skim through standard SSC style kinkier=better and poly=superior moralising to get to the actual story.
I’m sorry if it reads that way to you, bella, but if merely portraying polyamory in a context besides “ZOMG THE EVIL SLUTS ARE WRECKING HOMES!” == moralizing, I can’t really do anything about that.
It’s not as though the relationships in MU are airbrushed or glorified.
…I have to say, I’m curious about where the child’s comment will lead. John2 goes poking around somewhere entirely random? John2 taps John1? Something entirely different?
Typo: “perspetive” is missing its c.
I also think I should mention, I am enjoying Tribes quite a lot, but I still have a link in my signature at various forums pointing to MU rather than Tribes. Why? Because I feel that the first chapter in MU gives enough to hook a dubious newcomer, whereas iirc it took me until chapter 3 of Tribes to be ridiculously hooked. Just keep in mind, even though there may be less links to Tribe, that doesn’t necessarily mean less interest!
I guess that came across a bit harsh Alexandra…it just seems that way because Mack came to college wanting a boyfriend and instead gets a girlfriend, a boyfriend, and a Steff-friend, and adjusts to polyamory almost instantly. And poor monogamous Ian is more or less trying to convince himself to be comfortable with something that really bothered him at first (Mack dating Steff) and his feelings always seem to be considered irrelevant at best, selfish at worst, and the only limit that is seen as something to respect rather than overcome is the one about Mack’s schoolwork.
Anyway this is the tribe page not the MU page…so I’ll leave it alone, I just wanted to explain where I’m coming from.
And bravo to you for being such a good writer that you can get me addicted to a story that I would likely never read if written by someone else. For all the head-smacking that the MU plot inspires, the style of it always leads to jaw dropping awe.
Yeah, well, I probably came across a bit defensive.
Anyway I’m not going to manage an update tonight as I managed to bang the hell out of several parts of me including my dominant wrist due to unexpected!new kitty. See TOMU for details.
I’ll do tomorrow and try for five again next week though.