Archive | February 22, 2018

Spoils of War I: Surrender

Feb22

It was long past sunset when they heard the trumpet sound.  

Nikol didn’t let her guard down.  Just because the treaty had been signed didn’t mean the enemy would-

She spat out a Working as someone tried to hamstring her and kicked him in the face.  He must have good night vision – or, like her, know where everyone on the field was in a ten-foot radius.

She put her boot on his neck and spat out a couple more Workings, her blade poking into him where it would slip through his ribs and cut into his intestines if he got too rambunctious.  “Surrender,” she suggested.  Nobody else was moving.  She didn’t have to kill him.

The trumpet sounded again.  The man under her boot spat out something that was probably not a surrender.  “Prisoners of war go to the Mountain,” she told him, letting her blade break the skin.  “On the other hand, personal prisoners stay with their captors.”

“Not a prisoner,” he grunted.  He was not trying to get away, which was clever, but which also made her wonder what he was trying.   Continue reading →

Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-19-2

Feb22

Explorer Log 7-19-2

We landed on an area covered in the shortest flowers possible.  We’ve already nicknamed the planet Flora, even though Gerj has been pointing out that just means “plants” to anyone who listens.

The question we’ve got is, if there’s all this flora (you’re welcome, Gerj), where are the fauna?

We’ve found some insects – nothing that seems to like the taste of us, but one that gets in your face like nothing & another that stings – but nothing bigger than that, yet.

If there’s no animals on this planet, it’s going to be a long five years.

Planetary D21

We found animals!

The problem was, we’d thought they were flowers at first.

They are small, no bigger than the palm of my hand, and they are covered in fur whose patterns match the flowers they live in.

With that in mind, we’re going to do a more thorough exploration for fauna.

I’m a little bit worried what we might find right under our feet, to be honest.

Planetary D121

After observation that consisted of sitting very, very still for many hours, we’ve been able to identify five animal species.

Three of them have egg-based birth, one live birth, and one is something similar to a marsupial.

None of them appear to be flight-capable, although three live in the tree-flowers. None are bigger than my two hands together.

And one, a ground-dweller, makes the most lovely songs when it thinks it is alone.

I love this planet.

 

 

Tootplanet: Captain’s Log Sector 7, Subector 19

Feb22

Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 19-1

There were theories that the farther from Earth we went in any given section, the less likely we’d be to find habitable life.

Those theories aren’t holding true.

This planet would be warm for most humans, but were it not already inhabited by a lizard-like race of bipeds, it would be a very nice place to settle.

Their technology is fast approaching space-faring.  We sent down a greeting probe and took quite a few recordings of their transmissions.

It appears, if translations are correct, that they enjoy soap operas.

Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 19

I didn’t want to send down a team to this planet.

It’s not like me to let aesthetics get in the way of the mission, but this planet is lovely.

Flowers cover almost every cm of the surface – water flowers, land flowers, even what looks like flowered ground cover on the mountains.  They sway in meadows and make thick, flowered forest-like copses.

We did send down a team, with a suggestion to tread very carefully and, perhaps, bring the boss a bouquet on retrieval.

Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 19

We thought our lenses were broken when we first looked at this planet.

There are several civilizations growing up on this large planet – on the high side of what we’d consider livable – but I doubt they’ve encountered each other yet.

There is, among other things, a hundred-mile forest and a mountain range separating the two closest.

The trees are only 2m at the highest, and the sentient lifeforms range from 15-30cm.

We could settle on an empty continent, feel like giants against their fauna & flora, & never see the natives.

We moved on instead.

7.19.2

 

 

Light Stories for Patreon

Feb22


So, I was trying to beat a whole herd of tiny monsters on the 4theWords writing game, so I asked for a few prompts. Here are the words that stuck with the Light theme in some way.

💡

Regaining Light Powers

The world had been dark for weeks.

She hadn’t seen the dark since childhood.  The minute her powers began to assert themselves, she was surrounded with a world of brightness and color.  She saw sparkles between people who liked each other and could make the dreariest day light up like a summer noontime.

Then came the flu, and the sweats, and the days and nights of darkness.  She had recovered, the doctors said.  She was physically completely better.

But she hadn’t been able to see anything, had been as blind as she had been before her miraculous “recovery” at the age of eleven, since the flu first attacked her.

She moved awkwardly through the halls of her school, her stick once again sliding across the floor.  She hit someone’s foot, and then someone bumped into her.
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