Archive | April 30, 2012

Derailed, Part 3

Apr30

After Part One and Part Two

He barely had time to duck before she hit him with her purse.

Luke ducked and rolled, coming up on his feet on the other side of the aisle, and missed another woman’s purse-swing by a bare inch. “Damnit, ladies,” he muttered, but they were hearing no reason. He ducked a third purse, and grabbed the man tackling him as gently as he could, even as he muttered the strongest, quickest “sit calmly” Working he could come up with.

As he fled the zombie-stares of the first car, he worried he might have gone too far. It would wear off soon – he hoped. He wasn’t all that good at emotion-control.

He had almost lost the thread of his search Working in the meantime. Where was she, where was she… there. Two cars away, he was fairly certain. And here he was faced with…

“Shit.” The gunfire started the moment he opened the car door, one bullet managing to graze his arm before he shouted up a shield. Guns! Damnit, he knew better than to be taken by surprise by these people! He was being clumsy.

No time to beat himself over it now. He plowed forward, using sheer force Workings to push people out of the way. Even if they were shooting him, they were probably normal humans, and he didn’t want to kill them if he didn’t have to. They could, after all, be their enemy’s puppets.

“Abatu kwxe,” gasped out one of the fallen gunmen. Luke whirled, just in time to see the man – woman, actually – pointing a gun at him. A gun with a wooden bayonet.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/329781.html. You can comment here or there.

Welcome to Addergoole

Apr30

For Friendly Anon’s Prompt.

Addergoole has a landing page here.

Directly after Reunion (LJ)

I’ve been trying to write more discrete stories and less trailing-off scenes but this bit refuses to go that way, sorry!

In the end, it was Aelgifu who cleared her throat. “You’re a bit early.” She gentled her voice as much as she could, knowing that behind her, Io and Callie were trying not to panic, and not to scream. “School doesn’t start until September.”

The boy squirmed. She could remember Ib – the nightmare in the back of the dances, the he-always-seemed-so-normal creep in the halls. She could remember Callie’s nightmares. This boy had none of that. He was just a kid, not that much older than their kids. “I know,” he admitted weakly. The small group – it had just gotten bigger, again, Ivette and Joffe from one direction, Kendra and… Uberto? from the other. Worry about that later. – the whole group was staring at him. “What?” If the boy squirmed any more, he’d come out of his skin.

“I’ll be back,” she murmured to Io. She moved forward, putting body-language distance between the growing crowd and herself, putting herself on the same side of the invisible line as the boy. “You look rather like someone we used to know.” She kept her voice both quiet and non-confrontational, and kept walking, encouraging him to walk with her with a hip-turn and a warm smile. “Can I buy you something from the soda machine?”

“What? Uh, no, thanks, I have some cash.” He pulled a few bills out of his pocket. “So, uh, that’s why everyone’s staring? Mom said I had some brothers I’d never met… I’m Vilmar, by the way.” He had the Addergoole-wince at his name down already.

“Aelgifu.” She shook his offered hand. “So you’re here early…?” It was easier than answering his question, at the moment.

“Yeah, uh. My mom.” He frowned, rolling his shoulders forward. “She’s got plans for the summer…?” He sounded as if he was trying it out, to see how it would work. Ayla chose to pretend to believe him, and countered with a cheerful lie of her own.

“Well, I’m sure the Director won’t mind you showing up early. We’re here for the ten-year-reunion,” she added.

Vilmar’s glance, first at her, and then at the other women there. Women who, she realized, had almost universally Masked as their teenaged selves. His grin was nothing like his possibly-brother and entirely like a teenaged boy. “Hunh. I might like this school.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/329723.html. You can comment here or there.

Free Icon Day, Call for Prompts, and PSA (@rix_Scaedu)

Apr30

rix-scaedu‘s Prompt Call will be closing in approx. 24 hours.

Read “Inappropriate Use Of A Time Machine,” then go leave her a prompt!

Djinni‘s Icon Day 22 is still open, and ~$100 from the tip incentive where everyone gets a dinosaur icon! Go get an icon! Tip and get two!

That being said – I’m horribly behind on both friends lists, so if I didn’t comment on something you want me to read (I’m looking at you, Clare and Rix, specifically), poke me about it, please.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/329340.html. You can comment here or there.