Archive | December 26, 2014

In Which Amrit is Amazingly Eloquent

Dec26

First: A beginning of a story which obnoxiously cuts off just before the description,
Previous: Amrit Continues, including a description this time.
Fae Apoc, approx. now

Fineus the Whoremonger. Amrit gave it a few minutes of honest consideration. Would a whoremonger keep his slaves locked up around the clock? Would a – what was she, anyway? Beekeeper? What did a beekeeper need with a slave?

He couldn’t manage more than “Uh oo” with the gag they had on him, but he was getting very good at making his meaning known. She smiled, seeming to take that, somehow, as a yes.

“Good, good.” His hands were still shackled behind his back; she grabbed the short chain between them and pushed, leaving Amrit with the choices of stumble-and-fall or walk forward.

She couldn’t leave him chained up forever. And when she unlocked the chains, he’d be able to get away. Maybe exact a little revenge, maybe just run. And never ever sleep out in the open again.

She still had a car that ran; that was interesting. It would have been a piece of crap back before the collapse – a station wagon that was about thirty percent rust, with back doors a different color than the blue of the car body – but if it ran, it was gold now. No use asking where she got the gas – stolen, bartered, or just plain magicked it out of thin air. It didn’t matter. If she had a car, Amrit could steal it when he left. It would make leaving all that much quicker, and when the car ran out of gas, he could hoof it just fine.

“Watch your head. There.” She police-officer’d him into the back seat and buckled a seatbelt over his lap and shoulders. Inside, the car looked in far better shape. “Okay, and, since you don’t know your manners yet – “

Before Amrit could do anything – not that there was much he could do – a thick hood came down over his face. It smelled heavily of spices – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, like a pumpkin pie – and, more importantly, it entirely blocked out light.

She fastened it firmly around his throat. “You should still be able to breath just fine. Grunt if you’re okay.”

“Uh Oo!”

“Very good. Now, try to relax. It’s a bit of a long drive.”

next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/885728.html

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Cleaning House, a continuation of Unicorn/Factory

Dec26

After The Grey Line (lj), Productive, The Governors (LJ), and Right & Wrong

Unicorn Factory has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

The Guilian story may contain references to “going down to the river” but no direct unicorn-on-human violence.

Santha had been sorting through Antheri’s papers for a week already, and, from the looks of her careful notes, she had at least two weeks to go. From the looks of things, even if Antheri had been completely right about everything, he had also been a) completely insane, and b) willing to do whatever it took to appease the monsters he believed the Governors to be, up to and including murder.

Guilian had not been idle while his new assistant – that was, Santha, and to the sewers with anyone who felt that was inappropriate – worked on Antheri’s paperwork. The Factory and the Town and thus the areas around the Factory and the Town had been under Antheri’s care for far too long; there were more tangles to straighten out than there were hours in Guilian’s days.

Today, he was staring at the output from the Factory, and working on a way to build in what should have been there from the beginning – some sort of filter on the waste. He had already worked out where the coriander everywhere was coming from, and, after a series of long and heated arguments, allowed cilantro plants to be set in pots around the perimeter of the town wall only. It would slow down the unicorn incursions without hurting either the unicorn-pregnant or the beasts (if they were indeed beasts) themselves.

But the coriander was not the only output, and the factory waste currently spewed directly into the river. Thus, the Administrator was standing in hip boots with the foreman of the plant, staring at the grey-black water.

“We need an engineer.”

“An engineer, sir?” The foreman was a steady man, but slow. “What for? We just need to get a bit of space here for a filter set-up.”

Guilian counted to ten silently. “And where are we going to get the space?”

The foreman looked at him as if he were the slow one. “I figured we’d just divert the river three feet that way.” He pointed away from the Factory. “We’ve already got the races in upstream, for power. We can just change their aim a bit, and drop rock here above the river level.”

This time, when Guilian counted to ten, it was to keep himself from sounding stupid again. “Brilliant. Get some workers on that, then.” One more problem solved. If he didn’t get any new problems by dusk, he’d actually be ahead.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/872575.html. You can comment here or there.

A Week in Alder

Dec26

Feedback Requested
Crafty Of Writing: Things to Work On?
Which Icon Should I Commission

Landing Pages/Prompts Asked for
Unicorn/Factory Landing Page Updated – taking prompts
Vas’ World Landing Page Updated – taking prompts

Signal Boosting
Rix-Scaedu’s Prompt Call
itsamellama has opened Icon Day Six!

My Serials
Jumping Rings: A Story of the Circled Plain Chapter Thirteen (Choose)

Stories
Strange Things & Stranger, a story of Fairy Town
Solstice

Lyn IRL
Meeting People!!

Addergoole Stories
Changes in Policy
Two peeks at Doug, Addergoole years 1/14
Free & Clear (Delaney long after Ag)
Addergoole – Amrit
A beginning of a story which obnoxiously cuts off just before the description
Amrit Continues
Addergoole – Doomsday
Science & Getting Schooled (More Luke at Doomsday)

December Meme
Day 17: The Cats!
Day 19: Knitting
Day 21: Christmas Plans
Day 22: Comfort Food
Day 23: Apoc

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/872354.html. You can comment here or there.

Crafty Of Writing: Things to Work On?

Dec26

So I’ve been thinking about doing a series of posts, looking up tips on specific areas of writing & gathering them here, commenting on them, and trying them.

Those of you who are writers, are there particular areas you’d like to see me cover?

I know one thing *I* need to work on is dialogue tags, for instance. When I reread conversations I’ve written, even I have trouble figuring out who said what.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/872084.html. You can comment here or there.

December Meme – Day Twenty-Three – Apocalypse!

Dec26

The Meme

Today’s prompt is from @dahob – Why do you like apocalypses so much?

Heheheheheee.

So, I chewed on this a bit, and it came down to two major things: why I like dystopian settings, and why I like space colony stories.

I swear this is all related!

So, dystopian settings. I looove dystopian settings, although I have to admit that that’s 50% lazy writing. That is: if the setting is the bad guy, then it’s man vs. the environment, and the innate bad guys are mostly working within a bad setting.

Tír na Cali’s a perfect example of that: “Yes, I own you, but I can’t exactly free you. The Californian government will never let you go home, and, even if they did, the Americans would lock you up and pick your brain for every scrap of information about our country. So you’re stuck with me and my only options are keep you or sell you.”

Of course, in Addergoole, the reason for the uber-dystopia is right there, in the school, a living breathing person. Um. Poor thinking on my part there. O_o

“Man against his environment.” That’s my favorite style of story, of the classic three taught in English classes (Man v. self, other man, environment), and that really covers the “space colony” story part of this, too: I love the idea of carving out a new world, a new home, against massive odds. I love making something from scraps, from whatever’s left over. And with space colonies and post-apoc both, you walk into it with some “modern” tech, and some idea of how modern tech should work.

Except cargo cults, of course. But I still need to write one of those.

So why do I like apocalypses so much? Because I get to write people struggling against their environment, and persevering.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/871496.html. You can comment here or there.

December Meme Day Twenty-Two: comfort food

Dec26

The Meme

Today’s prompt is from [personal profile] lilfluff: Comfort foods

Mmm Comfort food.

I’m one of those people that has to not work to eat all their feelings… and I also tend to want to feed everyone else. “You’re sad? Here, have food. Angry? Food. Happy? Celebratory food!”

But when I really need comforting… when I’m sick, it’s broff (broth) if I’m really sick, or chicken soup if I’m just a bit sick.

I like this risotto that T. cooks, too – it’s got just a bit too much cheese in it, and sweet onions, and it’s creamy and starchy. If I’m feeling ambitious, it’s mac n’ cheese, although cauliflower and cheese works okay with the thick cheese sauce we use.

I mean… really, anything familiar is going to be good. Sometimes the comfort food I want is enchiladas Thorne, made with rice & lentils and taco sauce. Sometimes it’s pizza, bought from the take-out place down the street. And sometimes it’s chocolate chip cookies, with the recipe I’ve got memorized. It’s mostly starches, really. I like starches when I want comfort food. <.< Starches and fat.

And then there was that once, when I was feeling lousy, when I found the recipe my mom used when I was sick – vanilla custard – and made it myself. ‘Cause as much as I like being taken care of, I’m a grown-up now, and sometimes you just gotta make your own comfort.

What about you? What’s your favorite comfort food?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/871348.html. You can comment here or there.