[**Image:** Blue dawn touches the canyon walls of North Mountain. The city rises with the canyon, a cosmopolitan mix of jacals, longhouses, adobe pueblos, and vaguely maritime facades couched seamlessly in the red rock. A velk vessel raises its great head over the walls, calcified neck catching the light. Sinuk the pilot climbs up its ribs to do a little maintenance, but stops to take in the view.]

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happy gregorian calendar day. every year i wait until about 40 minutes to midnight and draw my girl Sinuk in a frenzy, then drop the pen at midnight. ritual ward against a deterministic universe and/or not ending the year on a high note.

this one technically took longer than 40 minutes, but it also proceeded at a snail’s pace because I was at a party. c'est la vie. it's what she would want.