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Roots, a story of Rin & Girey for the May Giraffe Call

May17

For [personal profile] clare_dragonfly‘s prompt.

Reiasson has a landing page here And a wiki here.

Rin opened up one of the oldest books in the library. “How good is your Old Bitrani?”

“Wouldn’t you mean Old Callennan?” Girey leaned over her shoulder, studying the old, creaky parchment. “Unless you’ve been raiding our libraries.”

“I’m sure we have. But the thing is, when you go back this far, a good number of our record books are in Bitrani. Well, in Tabersi.”

Behind her, he went very still. “Say that again?”

“Tabersi. She glanced over her shoulder at his face, which, for once in his life, revealed nothing at all. “You’ve heard the word before,” she hazarded.

“Only in the heretical texts.” His voice was very careful. He didn’t want to call her a heretic, not again, she guessed. Unusually wise of him.

“Mm. It’s not a common word in Callenia, either. Not so much heretical, here, as the stains behind the tent walls.”

“Stains behind…?”

“Hidden secrets. The things you want to cover up.”

“But you, what, brushed the tent wall aside?”

“Not I. I’m no scholar. But a friend of mine in University was. And for her thesis, she researched our first Emperor.”

“And found…” There was a great deal of tension in his body, and his voice was tight. Did he already know some of this?”

She read from the book instead of answering, translating it into Bitrani. “It is here, on this tenth day of summer in the fifth year since landfall, that the independent cities of Lannamer, Aneksundon, and Terrekya declare their sovereignty and their nationhood, separate from and free of Tabersi rule and law. Let it be known that Eszhettozh, son of Emanek, claims rulership of this newly formed nation, and will be known henceforth as Emperor of the Callentate of North Reiassannon-land.”

Girey, behind her, nodded slowly. “Callentate. It means ‘tribe-leaders,’ I think. It’s older than Old Bitrani. Heh.”

“Indeed.” She closed the book, smiling. “Our nation began as a rebel state of tribe leaders.”

“And now you rule the whole continent.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/342141.html. You can comment here or there.

Multiverse pairings for fun: Luke and the Ice Queen

May17

From this meme; Luke is from Addergoole, The Ice Queen from Tea with HER in Tír na Cali.

“You are… not who I was expecting.” The woman at the table looked her visitor up and down, a small, cool, smile on her face.

Luke was unfazed. He’d been friends with Regine and Mike for a long time; neither Ice Queen acts nor lechery bothered him anymore. “I hope you weren’t expecting me. If you were, there’d be gunmen behind the curtains there.”

“I was expecting a gift from one of my Baronesses.” She showed no fear at the threat. “I wouldn’t want to harm a gift out of hand, would I?”

“Then you were expecting me.” He smirked. “Good. I’m going to enjoy this, Countess.” He stepped into the room and unsheathed his blade. “I like killing monsters.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/341620.html. You can comment here or there.

C.A.K.E., a superheroes story for the May Giraffe Call (@Rix_Scaedu)

May15

For Rix_Scaedu‘s second prompt. After Creation Story and When the Storm Came.

Names from Fourteen Minutes and Seventh Sanctum, human name from @Anke

“…and the rest was cake.” Fusefauna leaned back in her chair, making an expression they had learned to interpret as a smile.

“C.A.K.E, she means.” Chloroshining had never really gotten over being paternal over his daughter, which, at the moment…

“Which sounds exactly the same, spoken, unless you’re being an asshole.” Switchphase glared over his wife’s head at his alien father-in-law. “Seriously, Chlor. Give her a break.”

“Do not presume to tell me how to…”

“Father. #’$hi*sth.” Fusefauna clicked out the short Thundesitioni admonition. “Daniel, please.”

Modificationnaut listened to the three of them and silently vowed to never marry. “So C.A.K.E?” he prompted. “It’s an interesting acronym.”

“It is a very arrogant acronym,” Fusefauna allowed, “but it was the seventies, and we were very arrogant at the time. This was of course before the explosion of altered beings, when there were only a handful of us on the planet. It stands for Combined Altered Kyrie Elite.”

“Combined…” It didn’t take Modificationnaut long to piece that together. “The altered gods, more or less.”

“Lords.” It was almost nice to know Chloroshining was an ass to everyone, not just his daughter. “The Amalgamated Lords of the Altered Genome… but that was too arrogant even for us.”

“And now… it’s just the three of you?”

“The two of us. Switchphase belongs to another group.” He seemed very firm on that one. “Yes. The others retired, as much as one can do that, or died, or went off-planet.”

“And we are left.” Fusefauna click-churred a Thundesitioni laugh. “To be our C.A.K.E., just us two.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/340552.html. You can comment here or there.

May Giraffe Call with Extra Second Prompt Winner!

May14

My May Giraffe Call is open (and on LJ). The theme is Origins and Creations.

For every $25 donated, I will choose at random a prompter and write an additional prompt for them.

We are $9 from the $50 level!

For the $25 level, the winner is [personal profile] becka_sutton!!

I am still taking prompts!


Donate below

Art by Djinni!
I also take payment by Dwolla

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/340339.html. You can comment here or there.

Being First, a story for the May Giraffe Call (@shutsumon)

May14

For [profile] shutsumon‘s prompt

This, ah, came out a bit odd. Sorry!

Ayam was lonely.

Lonely, that was a new word. Ayam had made it up, sounding out things until it found something that worked. Lonely, the feeling of being alone in the world.

There were the others, of course. The long-limbed creatures from who Ayam had been born certainly thought of it as one of theirs. But Ayam could not talk with them, could not share ideas with them. Ayam needed a companion.

The going was hard. Ayam first tried taking a baby from the creatures when newborn and raising it, talking to it, trying to teach it. Whatever had happened in Ayam’s case, however, didn’t hold true. The stolen babies could not learn to do more than parrot speech, and that awkwardly.

Lightning? Lightning was an early memory of Ayam’s, but when exposed to the bright flashing shockiness, the children – or the older creatures, Ayam tried everything – only ran away, or died, or sat there twitching for several days before dying. And Ayam was still alone, and still lonely.

Ayam made up writing, to scratch out everything h’ was feeling, to scratch out all of its experiments. And then Ayam had to create paper and ink, because the rocks h’ drew on were not easy to carry around. And then a way to put the paper together into books, long tubes wrapped in hide. And then came tanning, to make the hides last longer. Ayam was keeping busy, slowly busy, but Ayam was still, at its core, so very lonely.

And then, into the valley where Ayam had retreated when the creatures grew too loud, another creature walked. This one had fur that was pink-streaked, in a way Ayam had never seen before. It stood upright, the way Ayam had learned how to. And it was carrying in its paws a pile of tools, which Ayam had never seen any creature but itself use.

And foremost in that pile of tools was a spear. Ayam, muttering to itself, began to create a new word. Oh, Shit.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/339882.html. You can comment here or there.

Sick Kitty

May14

My Draker has a fever. :-/ We took him to the vet’s on Saturday, and they said his kidneys are fine, his heart is fine. They gave him fluids and gave us an appetite stimulant and an if-this-is-an-infection drug.

But he’s not eating barely at all, barely drinking… so we’re going to take him back to the vet’s to let them take care of him until he gets better.

People, I’m worried. I’m beside myself with worry. I know the vets will take good care of my cat… but I’m terrified it won’t be enough.

Keep him in your thoughts, please. :-/

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/339622.html. You can comment here or there.

Creation Story, a story for the May Giraffe Call

May12

For Ysabetwordsmith‘s Prompt.

Names from Seventh Sanctum, except Richard, which @Dahob picked.

“So, yeah, err, yes. I was in the laboratory, working on a way to collect the etheric resonances, when my generator blew up, exploded, sending the volatile chemicals into a mess, into a steamy miasma that seeped into my blood. When I awoke, after a good deal of time in a hospital, not only had the steam mixture changed me, but it had embedded parts of my machines, of my laboratory, into my skin.” Richard scratched at the line of gears running up his arms, all part of his costume, turning in a pattern that looked as if it did something, looked as it it ran the braces attached to his shoulders.

“Oh, come on, Modificationnaut,” Cryphage rolled her eyes. “Last week you said you were bitten by a radioactive automaton.”

“Well, I was. But that was later, while I was healing from the visit in the hospital.” It was hard to keep it all straight. It was hard to balance the persona and the lies. Fighting crime was easier than having a superhero persona people would believe.

“I bet you’re really…” Ultrablasphemer took a long toke, giggling around the smoke. Richard, now the Modificationnaut, held his breath. What if the crazy little shit had guessed it? “Really an Alien. Like Fusefauna and her dad.”

Richard laughed. “Man, do I look like an alien?”

“You look like a body-mod junkie.” Cryphage poked – carefully – at Richard’s gears. “Like a body-mod junkie with a spark. Are you an android?”

“Cryphage!” He laughed, because they weren’t close, but it was tense, because god-below help him if they figured it out. “Man, you’ve seen me. Do I look like an android?”

“You do have a set of gears…”

“Decorative.”

“They are pretty,” she allowed. “So what’s with the every-shifting origins story? We’re your team, Mod, we’re your friends. You don’t have to lie to us. I mean, come on, you know my thing.”

“Yeah…” Richard thought fast. Cryphage had been the result of some experimental brain surgery. Ultrablasphemer had tripped so hard he’d turned his body inside-out; when he’d gotten straightened out, he’s been able to see people’s deepest fears – and their most cherished beliefs.

“The lab part is true,” he lied, as unwillingly as he could make it sound. “I was studying the ether – you know, Ultra sees it. The dream-world, the mind-scape. And I had almost gotten there, almost gotten there…”

And his mutant power had finally awoken, and blown up the entire lap in a fit of technokinetics. But they’d kick him out, the police would stop working with him, they’d force him into a camp if they knew. Supers were one thing, mutants an entirely different fish. So he shrugged, and, feeling stupid, muttered, “so I plugged my brain into the ethersphere. And when I came to…”

He’d become a superhero. Better than being a number. He grinned at his friends, not minding if they thought he was stupid. At least they didn’t think he was a mutant.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/338152.html. You can comment here or there.

May Giraffe Call: Origins and Creations (Call of Nature)

May12

The call for prompts is now OPEN!

I am now taking prompts on the theme of Origins and Creation Leave one or many prompts, and I will write (over the next month) at least one microfic (150-500 words) to each prompter (prompts may be combined)

Prompts can be related to one of my extant settings (See my landing page) or they can be for something completely different.

Prompting is free! But Donations are always welcome.

If you have donated, I will write to one extra prompt of yours.

In addition, for each $5 you donate, I will write an additional 500 words to the prompt(s) of your choice.

If I get two new prompters or one new donator, I will write a setting piece (setting chosen by poll).

For every $25 donated, I will choose at random a prompter to write to a second prompt.

At $30 in donations, T & I will get take-out! reached!

At $40 in donations, I will post an additional 1000-2000-word fic on the subject of the audience’s choice. reached!

At $50, anyone who donated $7.50 or more will have a copy of “Alder by Post” mailed to them if they wish

At $70, I will write two extra 500-word continuations – chosen by prompters picked by random number generator

At $100, I will write three extra 500-word continuations – chosen by prompters picked by random number generator

At $105, T & I will buy ourselves a reel mower!

At $130, I will record a podcast of an audience-choice story and post it for everyone to read.

If I reach $200, I will hold a mid-month Call on a single setting of the readers’ choice. Everyone who tipped will get wordcount-and-a-half

This is the Call of Nature, Mark 1, Because I am saving up for: (1) Yard stuff, and then (2) Bathroom fixtures. 😉

For more information on Giraffe Calls, see the landing page.


Donate below

Art by Djinni!
I also take payment by Dwolla

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/337249.html. You can comment here or there.