Archive | August 2011

Lovely Little Abstracts (Signal Boost) for Curtains!

EllenMillion is holding a free abstracts day!

Tuesday, August 9th (says Ellen): “I will paint to prompts for as long as I have energy on Tuesday, August 9, doing tip incentives first, people who helped spread the word next (be sure to tell me if you link to the project!), and first-come, first-served after that. These will be abstract ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches) paintings, acrylics on canvas sheet.”

Tip incentives start at $2 and work up to $25, along with tip threshholds.

Ellen did a lovely “growth” painting for me for Christmas; I can’t wait to find it a proper home in OUR new home.

Tips are towards curtains for her baby-to-be’s nursery; since she lives in Alaska, baby needs blackout curtains for to block the midnight sun.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/97573.html. You can comment here or there.

Gilding the Lily – Kink Bingo – Lady Alouetta’s Garden

[community profile] kink_bingo – N-2 – Dressup – from my card.

Faerie Apocalypse setting – Landing Page Here or here; Lady Alouetta’s Garden sub-setting but I believe it stands alone.

“Stand.”

Julie’d learned by now to do what she was told, so she stood, but she didn’t bother to hide her surprise. She didn’t expect to see the Lady of the House – her kidnapper, her captor, her owner, although, to be fair, someone else had done the original kidnapping – here in the barracks, and it was supposed to be her night off the clock. She’d been reading, a small book of history filched from the library the Garden kept, like everything else, as a showpiece; she didn’t bother trying to hide it. If Lady Alouetta wanted to know, she’d know. She seemed to have eyes everywhere.

The Lady, at the moment, didn’t seem to care. She stripped off Julie’s cotton pajamas with quick efficiency, and sniffed at her shoulder and neck. “Good, you’re clean. Go rinse yourself down quickly – take no more than two minutes.”

She was back, shivering but cleaner and damper, one and a half minutes later, only now moving from “react” mode to wondering what the Lady wanted of her, so quickly, so randomly, and so urgently she’d come herself instead of sending the dresser, Mrs. Snips, to take care of matters.

The Lady pressed into her hands something not much different from the PJ’s she’d been wearing – a thin camisole and short bloomers, both trimmed with rows of soft lace. The cotton was yellow, the lace white, the ribbons a far brighter yellow. “Tonight, you are Jonquil,” the Lady declared. “And the gentleman in question likes dressing. He is not a big fan of conversation; you will speak when he tells you to speak, move as he positions you, and remember to smile.” With that, she slapped Julie’s ass hard enough to leave a mark. “Dress, and hurry to the Drawing Room. Vite, vite, girl.”

She vite’d, sliding on the tiny slippers and letting the Lady do something to her hair that looked far fancier than the allowed time should have made possible, and jogged across the lawn – gracefully, the Flowers in Lady Alouetta’s garden were always graceful – to the Drawing Room.

There, a dark-haired man sat in the large leather wing chair, staring out the window. A neat pile of clothes sat across the improbably large chaise lounge; the man himself was wearing knee breeches and nothing else. He had the body for it; the sort of trim, muscular trim she’d expect to see on another Flower, not on a patron; his tanned chest had just a bit of hair, and his muscular back had none.

He stood as she entered. “You’re late,” he scolded, in a voice to match the body, deep and rumbling, and a flutter of his hand that made her swallow a giggle. The Lady had told her not to speak, so she dropped a low curtsey instead.

“We’ll have to hurry,” he continued, as if she hadn’t said or done anything at all. “Come here, straighten up, in front of the mirror, that’s it. Smile.”

Julie, pushed and tugged into position in front of the antique standing mirror, smiled. It was what she thought of as her Garden smile, pretty and sincere and empty. It seemed to please the Patron.

“Good, good, stay.” He tugged her chemise straight, tch’ing softly. “Yellow, really? It doesn’t suit you. I have some blue over here…” Off went the yellow he’d just smoothed, and on went the blue, with no pause to caress or grope or even notice her high-set breasts or her smoothly-trimmed mons.

Julie-Jonquil swallowed the part of her that wanted to gape at him in incredulity, and stood where she’d been put. His hand slid down her back, smoothing the new chemise, almost a caress. “That’s better. Matches your eyes. Spread your legs a little bit for me.” He pushed his hands between her thighs to spread her, showing her where he wanted her; a firm, friendly touch but not getting near the split crotch of her bloomers. “Now brace.”

“Brace” was something every Flower in the Garden knew, although in this pose, with her pants still on, split crotch or no… oh. She swallowed an embarrassed chuckle as he wrapped a Victorian corset around her and began lacing it, and then swallowed a whimper as he pulled the laces tight.

“Just a bit tighter, hold on. There.” He patted her stay-encased back. “Lovely. You’re going to be the belle of the ball.”

Belle of the ball? She searched his face in the mirror: determined, focused, not really seeing her, just the lacings he was tying unbearably tightly. Her eyes trailed down lower; he was erect, bulging in the thin breeches. Whatever his story, he liked it quite a bit.

“Gloves now. Hand.” She’d been told not to move unless he positioned her, so she held still, and got smacked across her bare shoulders for her efforts. “Hand, I said. Tch, here, I’ll do it.” He grabbed her hand and held it out straight so he could slide the fine leather, elbow-length glove on and button it up. The fingers, Julie noticed, with a tiny hint of panic surging through her scene-calm, were sewn together. She’d have had more use of her hands in mittens than in these.

“And the other hand.” Now, he was smiling, and it wasn’t the nice sort of smile. This was the kind of guy she’d run away from, if she had the choice. If she had anywhere to run. “There you go. Stockings now.” He pushed a chair up behind her knees and pushed down on her shoulders until she sat, then knelt at her feet to work the silk stockings up first one leg, then the other. One hand lingered high on her thigh, his face just inches from the bareness between her legs. He smirked up at her, meeting her eyes for a moment. Amused. More than amused, sadistically pleased. It was going to be a long night.

He patted her knee and stood, the moment gone. “Stand,” he ordered, while pulling her up. “Yes. And the petticoat comes next…”

He’d left her arms sticking out in front of her; now he bent her elbows, folding her hands over the hard front of the corset so he could pull the fluffy white thing over her. Fluffy, but tight; the bottom of the skirt gave her almost no room to move. And, she noted, there was a slit down the back of it. Was he going to take her, or no?

“Gorgeous. You’re really taking shape, dollie,” he smiled, and pressed a wooden kiss to her lips. “The dress and the boots, and you’re ready to go.”

Go where? Julie licked her lips, wondering if she dared break her assigned role enough to say something. Lady Alouetta would be angry… the thought quieted her. The Lady angry was terrifying; this guy was merely creepy.

The dress was blue, too, tight against the corset, buttened so high up her neck and so stiffly that her chin was forced up, so tight around her knees and calves that she could barely stand. The boots, last, had ridiculously high heels, forcing her en point. He patted her back again. “There,” he murmured. “How do you feel? Speak,” he added, when she didn’t answer.

She licked her lips, not sure she could actually speak. “Helpless,” she tried. It came out thin and reedy.

“Good,” he smiled, that unpleasant, dangerous smile. “That’s how I want you.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/97177.html. You can comment here or there.

30 Days Second Semester: 9, Mourning Lost Gods, Fae-Apoc, Apoc Era

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt “9) prompt: mourning dead gods.”

Fae Apoc, in the time of the apoc.


December, 2011

They fell from the sky, one, then another, then another. I watched on the roof, silently standing vigil. I had been there, with twenty or so of my fellow just-plain-humans, since the battle began. Yesterday, I think it was, though by then it could have been two or three days. We ate, we drank, we caught what sleep we could, and we watched the creatures destroy what was left of our city.

Jason and Mandy had shotguns, and Carrie had a bokken; we could keep our building free of them, or at least chase them off. But we weren’t there, really, to fight them. We’d already learned that that took a mob, fire, iron, rowan, and a willingness to lose three-quarters of your people to death or severe injury to take down one of those. We had the first four, but no longer (there had been five hundred of us, a while ago) had the last and most important factor. So we watched, and if we could still believe in a loving god, we prayed.

And they fell. We couldn’t tell, from our vantage, which of the monsters claimed to be on our side, and which were the invaders. They shifted shapes, they twisted forms, and they twisted the world, smashing into buildings. Knocking out what was left of our power grid. Destroying parks and gardens it had taken a century to grow.

We buried their dead, when we were sure they were dead, and cried, not for them, but for the time when we’d believed in benevolent, distant deities.

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/714468.html

The List:
1a) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/96954.html. You can comment here or there.

“The Way Things Flow” Fully Sponsored!

HERE (or on LJ)

Last Friday (and on LJ) I opened up the Winter story “The Way Things Flow” (open to a better title) for sponsorship.

Thanks to Rix_Scadeau and the_vulture, the story is now completely available for reading here (or on LJ).

This is part 1 of a three-part story; stay tuned for opportunities to fund the rest.

Thanks to everyone for their support! I’m getting closer and closer to that giraffe carpet!

Edited to add:The next story/section, at 1645 words, is available from now ’till next Friday, 8/12/11, for $15; microfund in $1 increments.



This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/96602.html. You can comment here or there.

Winter: The Way Things Flow (FULLY Sponsored)

Last week, I opened up this story for sponsorship.

Rix_Scadeau has sponsored part of the story (Approximately 46%), and so I will post the sponsored part here.

Yes, even though that ends in the middle of a sentence.

The remaining story can be sponsored for $5.45 until Saturday, at which point it rises to normal price. 🙂

There were times when Winter thought his mother had chosen to have him first, to be there for the girls when their father was gone.

It wasn’t a possibility he ever talked about; Mom, who would know, he’d never ask. Other people would either think he was crazy for at least three facets of that thought, and the ones who wouldn’t, well, were either just as close to the situation as he was, or would have reactions to it he wouldn’t find comfortable.

Pre-planned or not, he had been the father figure to his sisters since he was seven years old and now, as an adult with his “daughters” grown up and out of the house, he found the habits hard to put aside. His nature, the way the strands of the world reacted to him, was either created by that situation or exacerbated it, and either way seemed to solidify it.

He walked down the street, using one hand as he went to slowly comb smooth some small tangles in the strands of the world. The traffic unsnarled. The panicked stockbroker calmed. The off-tune singer found the proper notes. Order, in Winter’s world, wasn’t something to be shunned. It was the way things went, the way things ought to be.

He stroked the strands a little more intently as he passed a young mother with two crying children, and then had to shift his focus more clearly into the solid as the older child darted out towards traffic. Handling other people’s children as always a risk, but in this case, there was no choice. He crouched and caught the kid with one arm across the chest, lifting – him? Her? – her up and depositing her facing her nervous mother.

“Woah,” he said, in that jovial tone that seemed to work with girls that size. “Careful, there.” He nodded at the mother cautiously. She was a tangle of stress and emotions, a chaotic stew over-flavored with distress.

She nodded back, an exhausted gesture that barely took him in. “Thank you, sir.” No wedding band on the hand reaching for the child, but a vanishing callus where one had sat. Bags under her eyes. He took a chance, spurred on by the knots twisting in her.

“Winter.” He offered her his hand. “Winter Roundtree.”

He saw the moment she actually noticed him, the raised eyebrow as she took in his appearance: the tailored suit, the hair that might as well be white, the manicured hands. He smiled and gave his pat response. “One-eighth Cherokee on my father’s side.” Which, while it had nothing to do with the name, was both true and gave the appearance of an explanation.

“Aah. Well, thank you, Mr. Roundtree, for grabbing Mila here for me. She knows better than to run out into traffic; I don’t know what got into her.” That last bit was for the child as much as it was for him.

If offering…


…a name was taking a chance, pulling out his card was tantamount to jumping off a cliff to try to catch a passing boat. But he did it anyway, pulled by a need to not let this boat get away. “One of my co-workers has kids about the same age as yours. She tells me the Ice Capades going on right now is quite good; they have a show Friday and another one Saturday..?” He left the absence of an invitation hanging in the air with the card.

She took the card, glancing curiously at his job title. “Law clerk. Hunh. I’ll give you a call Thursday either way.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” He nodded politely, smiled at the children, and combed a little extra calm into their strands once his back was turned.

He liked the law library. His sisters liked to twit him about it sometimes, and his mother despaired, her oldest child, a law clerk (normal parents might complain about jobs like itinerant painter, but hippies and women like Ernesta Roundtree worried their sons would grow up to be clerks and lawyers), but law was, at its purest, about humanity instilling order upon itself. And at its purest was how Winter worked hard to keep it.

In the library, too, his affinity for order (some said obsession, but those were people who didn’t understand him) fit right in. It was meditative, relaxing, to live in a place where everything was supposed to be smooth, perfect, and level. Whatever his mother might say, Winter found work restful.

He re-shelved another book, leveling its spine with the rest of the row, and was checking his list for his next task when his cell phone chimed softly. The number came up with an unfamiliar name, Marina Kuziemska. He stared at it for a moment; people he didn’t know didn’t often call him. Marina?

The woman with the two children had said she’d call on Thursday. That had been Tuesday, and this was only noon on Wednesday. Living with his sisters, two of whom tangled the universe by their very nature, had taught Winter how to deal with chaos, but his lip still curled a little in frustration before he answered the call.

“This is Winter RoundTree.” It could still be a wrong number.

“Winter? This is Marina Kuziemska. The, ah, the mother of the girl who ran into traffic?” She sounded rushed and nervous, so he took care to make his voice warm as he replied.

“I remember you, Marina.” Although he hadn’t been expecting her call until tomorrow, he had been thinking of her, pondering the tangles around her and how they could be smoothed out.

“Oh, good. I was worried! Well, ah, Henry and Mila and I discussed it, and if the offer’s still open, we’d love your company for the Ice Capades this Friday. The kids could use some fun.”

So could she, from the sounds of it. “Wonderful.” She probably wouldn’t take well to him offering to pick her up. “We could meet at the Metro stop right across the street from the Arena? I can be there at seven oh five.”

“Great! We’ll see you then. And, ah, Mr. Roundtree?” She was back to sounding nervous again; had he distressed her inadvertently?

“Yes?”

“Thank you for saving my daughter’s life.”

Oh. Well. That sort of statement required a considered response. He nodded to the phone, knowing she couldn’t see it. “Think nothing of it.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/96275.html. You can comment here or there.

Prevention v Cure, Year 9 Penstemon

This is a short story in response to rix_scadeau‘s commission: Penstemon giving birth, after this story(LJ) and this one (LJ Link)

Penstemon is Rix’s character; for more on her read her fanfic adventures, starting here.

Icon by djinni on Rix’s request, duplicated here for LJ users (sooo many less icon slots than DW…

Luke hated having pregnant students in his class.

He hated having girls in his class – he wasn’t his son, to collect the young woman warriors – but there was nothing to be done for it and, besides, some of the young amazons were far stronger than their male counterparts.

But the pregnant girls were harder to work around, harder to include, and everything in his being wanted to protect them and wrap them in blankets and padding (four children of his own by three mothers had not come close to breaking him of this habit, anymore than eight years as a teacher at Addergoole). Just as bad were the badly-Kept ones; no matter how much rot they cleaned out of the school, there always seemed to be some new monster popping up to torment their Kept. Luke was almost glad for the stupid ones, the overboard ones; those they could catch and stop before their victims were too broken.

He had one in his class he thought likely to turn into that sort of moron, two he wasn’t sure where they were going, and one pregnant girl. Penstemon. His wings flared just thinking about her; heavily pregnant, carrying twins from the Nedetakaei rapist she’d killed, and still every bit as fierce (and, his tapes told him, as protective and hearth-mother) as she had been in her first year here.

He had her walking laps, and had herded the possibly-a-moron to keep an eye on her. This close to term, she could pop at any minute; he just hoped she decided to do it in Shira’s class or Laurel’s, not his.

“Uh. Sir?” That was the maybe-moron. Basalt. What were these people thinking, naming their sons “rock?” Especially “airy rock.” Currently, the rock in question was panicking. “Sir, she says…”

“It’s time.” Penny’s voice was far louder and far firmer than her cy’ree-mate’s voice; she was clenching the boy’s bicep hard enough to leave marks. Her feet were skidding a bit on the floor…

“Shit,” Luke muttered. He looked around his classroom, suddenly missing the Thorne Girls, and took assessment. “Willow, you’re in charge. If anyone acts out, you have my permission to do your worst short of killing them.” That ought to give them pause, at least. “Basalt, time to show you have as much muscle as you think you do. Pick her up and come this way.”

“But sir…!” the boy complained.

Penny seconded him. “Sir, that’s really not necessary.”

“Penstemon,” he grumbled, “there are times in your life where you really should shut up and let the menfolk be protective.” He ignored the momentary twinge; he’d said much the same thing to Will, once. And the girl deserved her own man, some day. “Basalt, if your objection is ‘she’s wet,’ suck it up and pick her up.”

“Sir, why can’t you?” He was, it turned out, not without practice at picking girls up, or at least he made it look rehearsed; Luke had a suspicion Penny was helping him out, maybe with a Working.

“Because I told you to. Brace yourself, kid, she’s going to have a…”

Uuuuuunh!

“…contraction.” Penny had gripped down on Basalt’s arm and shoulder with a hold that should have broken the kid’s bones.

Must have been more than lack of creativity to that name; he barely flinched. “Damn,” did escape his lips, though it was quiet, and followed quickly with “beg your pardon, ma’am. Miss. Ow.”

“Get moving then,” Luke snapped, to avoid laughing. He wasn’t sure which was more amusing, the look of outrage on Penny’s face or the nerves on the much-bigger Basalt’s.

They got her to Caitrin’s quickly – good planning more than good speed, as the doctor’s office was right next to the gym – and settled just as quickly into the maternity suite. “You stay with her,” Luke said firmly. “It’ll be good for you.”

“I… Aistrigh Tlacatl agkale…into… petros Eperu,” he gasped out. “Damn, woman, here, it’s okay.” He shifted, facing her, his face softening. “That’s got to hurt like hell.”

Satisfied, Luke nodded at the two of them and left. He hated dealing with pregnancy.

Want to commission your own story? Read how here!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/96234.html. You can comment here or there.

30 Days Second Semester: 8, Going In, Misc Apoc

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt “8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called ‘The Long, Dirty Afterwards.'”

Actually random apoc. In re. wordcount, the actual “excerpt” is 250 words. 😉
.


They had defeated the alien invasion and won back their planet.

…Now all they had to do is clean up the mess.

The All-Counter* read clean on all immediate threats to life and mostly clean on the long-term threats. Becker’s ears and nose told him the ship was most likely empty of slightly-less immediate threats as well, but he still moved in like clearing a building, shooter at the ready and taking one room at a time, his team behind him guarding his flank.

The Rat† ships stank; you never got over the smell, the way you could acclimate to horse shit or even things like capsaicin. It set your teeth on edge and made some people’s extremities go numb; Hazmat gear dulled the effects, but blocked line of sight. A lot of otherwise brave contractors wouldn’t go near the Ratties, so that left the salvage to people like Becker’s team, who used masks and gloves and a lot of scented soap.

The corridors gleamed dully under his headlamp; to the left, a couple of their triangular status lights shone in its eerie purple black-light. “There’s still trickle power,” he called. “Watch for traps.” It had surprised no one that the Rats boobie-trapped their ships, but almost every cleanup team he knew had either lost a man or a limb to one of the nasty contraptions. Realizing these things were always on, you could almost feel sorry for the Rats. Almost‡‡.

“Bee, I’ve got something over here!” Thijs’ voice was thin and high and worried-sounding.

“Shit!” Ny’s voice followed fast on Thijs.’ “Bee, you’ve got to see this. I think it’s alive.”

* The All-Counter had begun life as a Geiger counter, but by the time the scavenge teams were done modifying it, it counted just about everything, including some things new to the planet since the invasion.

† The creatures only bore a superficial resemblance to rats, really. But the nickname had stuck.

‡‡ There was, after all, what remained of Dallas and Zurich, among other places, to remember.

The List:
1a) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/95238.html. You can comment here or there.

Meeks Art!

(Okay, so, yes, I really like [personal profile] meeks art!)

Meeks has illustrated (and on LJ) the feather-blessed series of stories by [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon!

While you’re looking at her art, check out her post of icons; she selects a random commenter each week to get a free icon!

And of course, I should mention the art she’s done for me; since it’s been a Rinny couple of weeks:

Rin contemplates the valley, detail

http://meeks.dreamwidth.org/1534.html / http://meeksp.livejournal.com/13723.html

ALSO!

She is be re-launching her call for prompts (LJ link), annnd:
“As an added incentive, if I get prompts from two new participants before next Monday, I’ll let you all vote on a sketch from the archives to get another round of work!”

I am NOT a new participant, but YOU COULD BE!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/94949.html. You can comment here or there.

30 Days Second Semester: 5, The Water Knot, Stranded World (Summer)

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt “5) write a story using an imaginary color.”

Stranded World, Summer & Winter, some time before she goes off to school. Landing page here and on LJ

I think Summer and Spring are very close in age. Does anyone remember her hair color?.

“Tell me what you see.”

“The water, the boat. The sky, and fish out in the distance.” Summer kicked her feet in the water. “Splashes.”

Her brother smiled indulgently at her, with that warning note in the cant of his eyebrow that said she should stop messing around soon. Stupid Spring, using up all the messing around. She obediently stared back out at the lake.

“The water moves the way it should. The strands are mostly blue, but there are a few lines of green, and some tangles of darker green. Algae blooms? And there’s sort of an… indiburple splotch there,” she pointed at a twisted triple-braid of color. “Someone did that on purpose; the strands don’t line up in celtic knots by themselves.”

“‘Indiburple?’” Her perfectly-orderly brother wrinkled his nose at her. “‘Indiburple?’” he repeated, incredulously.

“Yeah, indiburple. You know, that dark midnight color with too much red in it to be blue or indigo, and just a hint of absinthe and snow in the flavor?”

“Indiburple.” He shook his head. “You sense more colors than any of the rest of us, anyway; if you want to make up imaginary colors, I suppose that’s your right. Tell me about this celtic knot.”

“It’s not imaginary,” she retorted. Winter could be unbearable sometimes, holding his few years’ advantage over them. “It’s just not in the visual spectrum.”

That, as she knew it would, made him pause. He was always startled when she talked science, especially about the Strands. “All right,” he allowed. “It’s an indiburple knot.”

The List:
1a) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/90593.html. You can comment here or there.