Hellsborough Exposed

yellow-wagtails wag their tails to draw prey close — the bioluminescent tip-pulse is barely perceptible in daylight, vivid in murk, and the creature positions itself at exactly the distance that reads as curious rather than alarming. Less noted: the wag frequency is a headcount. One pulse per two seconds means alone; faster means not. Twelve beats per minute, twelve wagtails nearby. Field note: the pulse is visible through closed eyelids. I discovered this by accident and have since declined further experiments.

Of all the creatures in the wisewood, the Lonik is the only one not attempting to kill you — which is less reassuring than it sounds. It is harmless, herbivorous, and hare-sized, and it has a reliable talent for leading the curious observer along unmarked paths until the path no longer exists. Van found a dead specimen between the second and third marker stones and examined it with the mild interest of a man who had found a moderately unusual stone. He didn't mention that the eyes had no whites. I wrote it down.

Visibility in Hellsborough tops out at ten paces on a clear day, which is not as clear as it sounds. The murk is oily, clinging, cold-damp — the sort of fog that outlasts any reasonable weather event and sticks to your coat for the rest of the week. It is not entirely natural: the nascenti-built humidity plants across the Dark Peak are maintenance infrastructure, keeping it dense for the benefit of xin, Exacids, clowns, and half a dozen other denizen races who depend on it. The Syncarids and Morivarids swimming through it are not a rumour. They are simply hard to see, which, from their perspective, is the entire arrangement.

Béanies is not a Farantees brand. It has never been a Farantees brand, despite Farantees owning it outright for decades. According to the hivemind, Beryl Bean — grandmother of the original Nana Farantee — opened the first rooter breadcake shop in 78.rooter-gnawtard, and her granddaughter decreed the branding should be maintained in perpetuity as tribute. The hivemind volunteered this information unprompted. The answer was, apparently, sponsored by Faranteeeeeees.