after a long pause in the combat department we find you putting up your dukes again how do you feel about that
i'm glad i've still got the dukes for putting up as needed
but isn't the real test in the delivery
yes and thanks for your reminder
there's that way they press the backs of one another's gloves together and also touch heads as a sign of respect and good sportsmanship
even though it's not sport
you've often commented on
and there's frequently not much respect involved at all but don't get me started look i'm still mourning the Death of Shab
...
i think i see her i still step gingerly so as not to upset her and strangely often speak to her as well right baby? hi hi hi hi whatcha doin? lala lalala lalalalala
mmm mmhmm
so having to prep and gird once again for institutional thuckfuggery may feel harsh but it may also get my proteins and enzymes whatever at more optimum levels break through the fatigue of grief
do you mean LaLa
ya of course Shab was her prototype but he'll not die soon
or ever really
correct now there's one with the battle fatigue and the heavy weight of the ages weighing on his empty saddle and the backbone that cannot withstand more pressure
but if it breaks he'll still not die
correct
he wouldn't heal entirely from that but it doesn't matter because he just changes the rules from any point that suits his evolving if disfiguring corporeal state. He updates our expectations rather than depending doggedly on ancient texts for example
he accommodates his disability into a relic of the Divine Unknowing and increases follower hits
right but we're not just talking about courtesy accommodations he can change the foundational principals upon which he and all of us have always operated under and from there down through to instruction manuals and daily shiv novenas
one difficult deity can shake the entire pantheon
they say this power does not necessarily spring from good judgment or measured action
in his case yes that's obvious they say it is a random power
they say it is a dangerous power
they say it is a hypnotic power
they say it is a power among powers
they say he is powerful with or without power
they say he owes no one an explanation of his powers
they say the word power is insufficiently representative of this level of power
they say it is a power leaked across boundaries by his ancestors
they say it is a power he somehow inherits from his descendants who do not yet live
they say that power herself envies his particularly intense force of power
they say that even a deity will starve on power alone but what more does he have besides power yet he does not starve
they say it is an unsettling power a power too great for a single source
they say it is a power that laughs at attempts to describe its power
they say it is a power that has compassion for individuals though may be fickle at the same rate as anyone
they say it is a power that is impossible to contain exploit manage distract destroy
they say it is a power greater than language itself which is already greater than explosives
they say it is a power to which the only option is surrender
they say it is a power so powerful as to be indifferent to obedience
they say it is a power that sensing flattery will turn away so furiously as to cause the sycophant to implode
they say it is a power for whom supernatural physical mystical judicial administrative people black and girl power are not mutually exclusive but rather just a few of the categories available to the holder of this all-encompassing power
Phyllis [trans.]