You step closer to the sphere, reach out with one hand, and [[touch]]--

Maybe you thought a plane had crashed out back, or a tree had fallen. But this is a dark sphere, riddled with markings you can't make sense of.\n\nAlready, the snow is collecting in the sphere's crevices. If you [[do nothing]], it will soon become a frozen white lump out back. Or, you could [[call someone]].

There's a bottle of lighter fluid and matches on the porch near the grill. You could [[set the seedling on fire|fire]] and burn it away.\n\nOr... you could [[let it grow]]. But things will get out of control fast if you do that.

It's not really a leaf, but it's not a stem or a vine, either. As you watch, it reaches higher and higher, becoming less and less translucent.\n\n[[You have to do something.|do something]]

The sphere's outer shell splits open to reveal an uneven mass, taller than you are, mottled brown and more brown. \n\nBefore your eyes, the mass cracks open. The earth moves beneath your feet as a single translucent white... [[leaf]]? pushes up out of the top of the... [[seed]], it must be. Underneath, you can see some sort of [[root]] driving through the remains of the sphere and the snow into the earth.

(function () {\n "use strict";\n version.extensions['soundMacros'] = {\n major: 1,\n minor: 1,\n revision: 2\n };\n var p = macros['playsound'] = {\n soundtracks: {},\n handler: function (a, b, c, d) {\n var loop = function (m) {\n if (m.loop == undefined) {\n m.loopfn = function () {\n this.play();\n };\n m.addEventListener('ended', m.loopfn, 0);\n } else m.loop = true;\n m.play();\n };\n var s = eval(d.fullArgs());\n if (s) {\n s = s.toString();\n var m = this.soundtracks[s.slice(0, s.lastIndexOf("."))];\n if (m) {\n if (b == "playsound") {\n m.play();\n } else if (b == "loopsound") {\n loop(m);\n } else if (b == "pausesound") {\n m.pause();\n } else if (b == "unloopsound") {\n if (m.loop != undefined) {\n m.loop = false;\n } else if (m.loopfn) {\n m.removeEventListener('ended', m.loopfn);\n delete m.loopfn;\n }\n } else if (b == "stopsound") {\n m.pause();\n m.currentTime = 0;\n } else if (b == "fadeoutsound" || b == "fadeinsound") {\n if (m.interval) clearInterval(m.interval);\n if (b == "fadeinsound") {\n if (m.currentTime>0) return;\n m.volume = 0;\n loop(m);\n } else {\n if (!m.currentTime) return;\n m.play();\n }\n var v = m.volume;\n m.interval = setInterval(function () {\n v = Math.min(1, Math.max(0, v + 0.005 * (b == "fadeinsound" ? 1 : -1)));\n m.volume = Math.easeInOut(v);\n if (v == 0 || v == 1) clearInterval(m.interval);\n if (v == 0) {\n m.pause();\n m.currentTime = 0;\n m.volume = 1;\n }\n }, 10);\n }\n }\n }\n }\n }\n macros['fadeinsound'] = p;\n macros['fadeoutsound'] = p;\n macros['unloopsound'] = p;\n macros['loopsound'] = p;\n macros['pausesound'] = p;\n macros['stopsound'] = p;\n macros['stopallsound'] = {\n handler: function () {\n var s = macros.playsound.soundtracks;\n for (var j in s) {\n if (s.hasOwnProperty(j)) {\n s[j].pause();\n if (s[j].currentTime) {\n s[j].currentTime = 0;\n }\n }\n }\n }\n }\n var div = document.getElementById("storeArea").firstChild;\n var fe = ["ogg", "mp3", "wav", "webm"];\n while (div) {\n var b = String.fromCharCode(92);\n var q = '"';\n var re = "['" + q + "]([^" + q + "']*?)" + b + ".(ogg|mp3|wav|webm)['" + q + "]";\n k(new RegExp(re, "gi"));\n div = div.nextSibling;\n }\n\n function k(c, e) {\n do {\n var d = c.exec(div.innerHTML);\n if (d) {\n var a = new Audio();\n if (a.canPlayType) {\n for (var i = -1; i < fe.length; i += 1) {\n if (i >= 0) d[2] = fe[i];\n if (a.canPlayType("audio/" + d[2])) break;\n }\n if (i < fe.length) {\n a.setAttribute("src", d[1] + "." + d[2]);\n a.interval = null;\n macros.playsound.soundtracks[d[1]] = a;\n } else console.log("Browser can't play '" + d[1] + "'");\n }\n }\n } while (d);\n }\n}());

It's the hardest thing you've ever done. Something within you fights every step you take back to the porch, and does its best to keep you from striking the match. The lighter fluid catches easily, and for a moment the base of the plant is engulfed in flame.\n\nBut the fire putters out, and the seedling still grows, despite its scars. It is here, and it intends to stay.\n\n[[restart|begin]] | [[about]] | [[twitter|https://twitter.com/calariene]]

Whatever this thing is, it's taken root. You can feel the earth moving beneath you as the roots dig deeper.\n\n[[You have to do something.|do something]]

You've never seen anything like this before. How will you learn more about it if you kill it?\n\nYou retreat back inside, safely out of the snow and cold, and watch the seedling grow.\n\n[[restart|begin]] | [[about]] | [[twitter|https://twitter.com/calariene]]

You're sitting in your living room with your feet up and your boots propped up in front of the fireplace when you hear a crash from your backyard.\n\nIt's hard to tell -- the snow's still coming down pretty hard -- but one of your cherry trees is down and just beyond it is a dark shape.\n\n[[...What the hell?|boots on]]

What can you do, anyway? The whole neighborhood's under three feet of snow and you don't have anything capable of shifting that sphere. It'll just have to stay there until the weather clears up. Then you can figure out what to do about it.\n\n...[[No|nope]].

''Quickening''\n\nby [[j. marie|https://twitter.com/calariene]] | [[about]]\n\n(this story has music in it!)\n[[begin|begin]]

@import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Pontano+Sans);\n\nhtml {\n width: 100%;\n\n /* Vertical colour gradient */\n background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #E0F0FF, #F0F8FF);\n background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #E0F0FF, #F0F8FF);\n background-attachment: fixed;\n\n /* Fallback colour */\n background-color: #E0F0FF;\n\n /* Vertical centering */\n height: 100%;\n display: table;\n}\nbody {\n /* Remove default styles */\nfont-family: 'Pontano Sans', sans-serif; \n font-size: 100%;\n background-color: transparent;\n margin: 0;\n\n /* Vertical centering */\n height:100%;\n display:table-cell;\n vertical-align: middle;\n}\n#passages {\n border-left: 0px;\n margin: 0;\n /* Keep a gap at the top and bottom of the page,\n when the text is longer than the window's height. */\n padding: 5% 0;\n}\n\n.passage {\n /* Passage width */\n width: 60%;\n /* Horizontal centering */\n margin: 0 auto;\n\n /* Text formatting */\n color: black;\n font-size: 100%;\n text-align:center;\n}\n\n/* No sidebar */\n#sidebar {\n display:none;\n}\n\n/* Links */\na.internalLink, a.externalLink {\n color: cornflowerblue;\n}\na.internalLink:hover, a.externalLink:hover {\n color: lightskyblue;\n text-decoration: none;\n}\n\n/* Shrink the page when viewed on devices with a low screen width */\n@media screen and (max-width: 960px) {\n .passage { font-size: 90%; width: 70%; }\n}\n@media screen and (max-width: 840px) {\n .passage { font-size: 87.5%; width: 80%; }\n}\n@media screen and (max-width: 720px) {\n .passage { font-size: 75%; width: 90%; }\n}

It's not much more than a husk now; it clings loosely to the base of the plant (?) it birthed.\n\n[[You have to do something.|do something]]

This is just a little story I wrote after listening to Caelyn Sandel's album [["Tundra."|https://soundcloud.com/caelyn-sandel-inurashii/sets/tundra]]\n\nMusic: "Borealis" by [[Caelyn Sandel|http://www.inurashii.xyz]]\n\n[[<- back|previous()]]

Quickening

This is clearly way over your head. It's probably over the police's heads, too, but at least it wouldn't be your problem anymore. \n\n...[[No|nope]].

j. marie

<<loopsound "borealis.mp3">>You put your boots back on and head out the door, stomping through the snow out back. You only hear the snow and your own breathing, which [[catches]]--

[[You can't do that.|closer]]