#233rd

5 people dead at Tulsa medical building, in the 233rd mass shooting of 2022 : NPR

Tulsa police and firefighters respond to a shooting at the Natalie Medical Building Wednesday. Ian Maule/AP hide caption toggle caption Ian Maule/AP Tulsa police and firefighters respond to a shooting at the Natalie Medical Building Wednesday. Ian Maule/AP Tulsa police confirmed that a shooter killed four people at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday. “Four innocents and…

They are all Gehn's children, forged by his pen in his image: lonely and frail. A kind of kinship. Written and illustrated for Mysterium 2016′s convention booklet.

Company to foreign shores

The book rests deep within Tay, in the roots of the great hive-tree.

Catherine grabbed it, out of stubborness and spite, as she made her way to the village to see her people off Riven before her home world's death. Or stubborness, spite and a desire to save, to hold onto as many ties as she could grasp when she could not stop the ground from slipping from under her feet. To take one last thing from Gehn when Gehn had taken her land from her, rocks and sea which existed long before he put the first squiggle of ink on a blank page, and had steered it toward a path of destruction. So she took his Age, which he called his 233rd and whose essence once echoed in her dreams, but too far away for her to catch a glimpse of a name, and carried it to safety. The way one would carry home a stray.

The Strangers Collection #2

I met this woman in less than 10 minutes. I don't know her name. I don't know who she is and where she's from, nor will I ever possibly know her story. She is completely a stranger, in its most rigid sense.  

So what's there to talk about this woman? ... Basically nothing.

...

It was the day I came back to London after my trip to Bath. As you usually see in a tourist trip, you tend to go early in the morning and come back late at night in order to use up the whole day sightseeing and not to waste the travel fares, very typical tourist travel no?

So yeah my coach arrived in some tube station in London (couldn't even remember which one now... oh wait, London Victoria! Coach station was there anyway) and I was deadly tired after walking the whole day and staying dreamily in coach for hours.

The end of the day, or the end of a trip was something weary and bored and I just wanted to go home early and have some sleep. 'Home sweet home', that was the feeling.

However, I realized my Oyster ran out of credits. So before actually getting train home, I need top-up my Oyster.

...

You see, London is the central of everything, that's why everyone visits here. That's why central tube stations are always crowded, even when it's near midnight.

And that was why there was such a long line in front of the Oyster machine that 'Home' was still so far away (drama intended lol). When I got there following the person in front, I felt like an endless waiting. Fatigue and frustration killed my patience I guess. Besides. It was late. At night. Alone. Common. Feminists =))

...

I didn't wait for too long. I didn't wait at all to be super precisely.   

But I didn't top up my Oyster either.

So here is the miracle:

In an instant, I felt someone lightly touched my shoulder in an attempt to call me out in such busy noisy station. I turned around and saw this woman.

The next moment happened too fast, and I was dreamy sleepy, instinctively acting out but couldn't really think or be fully conscious at all: I saw the women looking at me with a nice smile. She said something but I couldn't hear a thing. I just took something from her hand that I instinctively knew she wanted me to have it.

"It's for today only", she said while I was bringing it near to my short-sighted eyes to examine what it was.

"Oh thank you", I quickly looked up and said. "For today only", she repeated, smiled and quickly turned away, walking out of the station.

Everything had happened in less than the time you read what happened now I'm sure lol

Holding the Day-Travel Card she gave me, I smiled, leaving the waiting line and went back home smoothly! :)

...

That one 'Thank You' I gave her at that time was not enough at all to express my gratitude towards her.

It's true it was just a small act of kindness. But a small one at a very right time. Moreover, it was...

... hm... I don't know... but I just felt ... like saying 'wow, human', 'wow universal love', 'wow love's everywhere', etc nice warm feelings about human beings, love, kindness, life, the ... world lol 

...

So yeah, I don't know her name or her life.

...

What's there to talk about this woman?

-Nothing

What's there to remember about her?

Gehn's view, 233rd Age (scanned from From Myst to Riven: The Creations & Inspirations)