Archive | February 2, 2012

Damn List, a story of Ahouva/#Addergoole Year Nine for… um.. myself.

Feb2

After Moving On (LJ

Content warning for more … post-trauma magical thinking. I really don’t know what to call it but Ahouva’s brain is not a fun place to be and she’s not very nice to herself.

Out the back door of the classroom, down a side hallway, if she turned left here she could make it to the place where they went outside for kaana lessons. She planned out her route, even as she examined Basalt’s orders – and not just the very few he made orders directly, but all the other things he said that didn’t force obedience, just tested it.

She didn’t have an direct rules about where she should be after class, but he had said “I’ll meet you after your class.” That could just be courtesy, but it was probably a test. Probably a test she was in the process of failing. Just because Calvin creeped her out. Bad girl.

Chastising herself: she knew better. She knew to do what she was told. If she did what she was told, Basalt would at least have less reason to be unhappy with her, to punish her. He hadn’t punished her yet, except these lists, but that just meant it would be horrid when he finally did.

She slowed down and, forcing her feet to keep going, turned around. She had to go back. It was the only chance she had at understanding what he wanted of her. It was her only chance of minimizing her punishm-

“Ow! You bastard!” Ahouva stopped inside the doorway again, trying to stay hidden and still listen. That was Calvin, wasn’t it?

“If you ever,” Basalt’s voice was low and menacing, a rumble like a volcano about to erupt, “say anything like that where Ahouva can hear you, I will break more than your nose, you pissant little piece of shit. You leave my Kept alone.”

“You can’t get away with this shit.”

“Watch me. Bring your useless little friends, and I’ll bring my friends, and we’ll see how that goes.” He was terrifying. She pressed herself against the doorway and tried to become invisible. “Get out of here. I don’t want her to have to deal with you.”

“I’m gonna…”

“Now now, you aren’t. Get out of here.” Ahouva heard someone walking away, hurrying away, what a wonderful idea. She should…

No, she shouldn’t. She made herself smile faintly as Basalt rounded the corner, and stopped, frowning.

Frowning. Frowning was bad. She took an involuntary step backwards. “I’m sorry?”

“I didn’t want you to hear that.” He wiped his hand on his jeans, leaving a wet streak on the black denim. Ahouva gulped, and stepped back again, cursing herself as Basalt’s frown deepened. “‘Who, I’m sorry. Believe me, I didn’t want you to hear that.”

“I believe you,” she answered dully.

“Oh, balls, honey, come here,” he grumbled, holding out a hand. Unwillingly, she reached out for his hand, putting her fingers over his fingers. “Ahouva, Calvin is a grade-A asshole. I don’t want him bothering you. What are you…?”

“This stupid list,” she muttered, scribbling in it. “It’s still after class and…”

He peered over her shoulder. “Oh. Well. Let’s go talk about that, okay?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/255729.html. You can comment here or there.

Ask the Characters 1: Kendra

Feb2

Kendra, a slim, mousy girl, complete with mouse ears and nose, walks into the room nervously, and settles into the big rocking chair, looking out at the gathered audience. Her hands smooth her blue skirt uncertainly.

“Um, hi?” Her voice is a tiny squeak. “Professor Pelletier said you wanted to ask me questions?”

Kendra is a character in the Addergoole web-serial.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/255364.html. You can comment here or there.

Ask-the-Characters Chat Session: Pick Characters

Feb2

The January Giraffe Call (and on LJ) has reached an unprecedented $241.31!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


SO!

Tell me what character of mine you want to ask questions of! I will post, over the next few days, a Q-and-A thread for at least the first four characters mentioned (first 2 each LJ & DW).

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/255177.html. You can comment here or there.

…and the children waved multicolored banners!… (Giraffe Update)

Feb2

The January Giraffe Call (and on LJ) has reached an unprecedented $241.31!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


This means we’ve reached the ask-the-characters Chat Session donation level!! (hrrm. Now I have to figure out how to do that! 🙂

It also means I get delicious cake (mm cake).

I’m writing like the wind, too, getting through prompts as quickly/reasonably as I can! We may have some backlog… O_O

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/254924.html. You can comment here or there.

Tea with /HER/, a completion

Feb2

After Tea with HER (beginning) (<a
href=”http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/381305.html”>LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation) (<a
href=”http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/382107.html”>LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 2) (<a
href=”http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/385348.html”>LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 3) (<a
href=”http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/387899.html”>LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 4) (<a
href=”http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/391025.html”>)
Tea with HER (continuation 5) (<a
href=”http://aldersprig.livejournal.com/393263.html”>LJ)

It took the Ice Queen a month to have time to see me; a time chosen, I was sure, to give me time to relax, to calm down, to grieve, and to get used to James’ presence. When I finally made it into her parlor for tea, I brought him with me. Leashed. Cuffed. Exactly as she’d left him on my doorstep, including the terrified look.

I’m not a monster. The terrified look was faked; it turned out my new slave could act.

But that was something I knew, and he knew, and the Countess did not, which pleased both of us, almost as much as the look on her face – a split second of un-hidden surprise – pleased us.

“Does your gift not please you, Baroness Treanna?” she asked, cool, chill, and possibly a little irritated.

“He’s raw, new, untrained.” He fell to his knees next to me, his hair falling in his face. “He hardly knows how he’s supposed to act. He can barely make a phone call without supervision.”

“These things are true, yes. I thought perhaps…” She frowned, and I smiled.

“It will be more interesting to work with you, your Ladyship, if you are not pre-anticipating my every move and thought.”

She blinked. “That is not something anyone has ever said to me before.”

“I thought it might not be. And – with Michael in my hands, or me in his, it was easy to know what I would do, no? But this one…” I nearly purred. I was pleased with myself. “This one, you have not trained to train me. I’m very pleased with my gift, Countess. Thank you.”

For the first time, she smiled a true smile, a genuine expression. “My pleasure, Treanna. I think you are right. Working with you will be interesting.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/254464.html. You can comment here or there.

Legacy

Feb2

This is, I think, [personal profile] lilfluff‘s fault.

The summer between years 31 & 32 of the Addergoole school

The boy with the unfortunate name of JohnWayne seemed to be settling in decently to Yoshi’s mom’s collar by the first time Yoshi visited home. At the very least, he wasn’t fidgeting, wasn’t hiding, and had learned to stay away from Uncle Howard and leave Gaheris alone.

He had, interestingly, far more a sense of curiosity than most of Mom’s Kept had displayed, displayed in part by the place that Yoshi had found him.

He also seemed to be lacking in common sense enough to pretend he’d just happened upon the hidden closet and hadn’t seen anything. Then again, Yoshi wasn’t sure he could blame him. After all, he’d found Mom’s trophy rack.

Yoshi had seen it before, of course. From the look on JohnWayne’s face, he hadn’t been expecting that.

“That…” He gulped, and tapped the saddle-leather collar hanging under the tidily-lettered “Pellinore.” “That’s my father’s name.”

Yoshi took another look at the kid – weird that they’d started out grown-ups and ended up kids, while Mom never seemed to change. He could see it, in the eyes, in the pointed ears. “I remember him,” he agreed. “He was a nice guy when he was here. Mad as hell about it for a while, though. Mom said he nearly blew up the car.”

That didn’t seem to help Johnny-boy any. He blanched, a trick with his complexion, and looked back at the rack. “All those names…?”

“Yeah. All Kept. Mom’s Kept.” He had his own trophy rack in the castle. Taking pity on the boy, he reached over and tapped the very first one. “That’s my dad’s name.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/254212.html. You can comment here or there.

From the moment they breathed our air, a story of Bug Invasion for the Giraffe Call

Feb2

For [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith‘s prompt.

Title adapted from the last bit of War of the Worlds.

Bug Invasion stories before this were:
Staying in the City (LJ)
Spooks vs. Bugs (DW)

The bugs weren’t winning.

This was confusing them to no end.

They were losing because of things they couldn’t understand – ghosts and faeries, monsters and spooks. They had no defense against things that did not exist on the material plane.

They were losing because of things they could understand – rebellion, tenacity, and ingenuity. They had lost to those before, Paula realized, but not so badly, not so quickly. They had never before been stopped like a wall before finishing their first sweep of a world.

They were losing because of things in the air – environmental pollutants, among others, smog and smoke and such – and in the water, most amusingly hormones and flushed pills, and this, they had no defense against. She asked her symbiote, ::has no other place you’ve invaded had such problems?:: but the symbiote was busy being upset by the suffering of the non-bonded and had no answer for her.

Those that bonded seemed to have a better time of it, which meant that the bugs left in their slowly-decreasing area were hurriedly kidnapping those they thought could take it and bonding, being less and less picky just to get in a body, just to survive.

…and then, and Paula had to giggle, even though it wasn’t funny, in their rush to get hosts, they didn’t ask important questions like “How do humans withstand this pollution?” or, more importantly, “are there humans that can’t handle it?”

It wasn’t funny, because the poor girl they got with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities just found her issues doubled by having a symbiote. It was, on the other hand, telling, because Paula got to watch what happened when a host rejected its bug. Which meant she knew it could happen.

Possibly more importantly, it meant the bugs knew it could happen.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/253905.html. You can comment here or there.

All the Love! Linnnnks!

Feb2

Read my story “The Wish Machine” (from the Aunt Family ‘verse) in this month’s EMG-Zine!

All the Addergoole Fanfic!!!!

[personal profile] clare_dragonfly wrote this story of Kayros and Vic.

[personal profile] kajones_writing created
these characters and then wrote
this story and
this story.

And
cluudle wrote this story set in the same general timeline as my current Boom ‘fics, staring Yoshi’s paternal half-brother Etienne.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/253667.html. You can comment here or there.