Gabriel Gadfly writes some lovely crowdfunded poetry.
He’s having a fund drive right now; stop by and check it out.
Archives
All Green Dots – Flash fiction from prompt
Flash Fiction from daHob’s prompt: I’m a computer geek. Green means ‘good’! In Test Driven Development, you are done with the code when it passes all the unit tests. Each test gets a green dot (as opposed to a red one). So, “all green dots” at 256 words….
Sequel to Evolution
Alae and Eka waited together in the tiny room known, as archaically as Alae was Queen, as the Green Room (some wit had painted a line of tiny green trees all around the room). The ceremony took time to plan (even though it happened every twenty cycles), more time to set up, and several eternities on the day of. And through all of it, Alae, who was normally just another denizen of the ship, was sequestered and guarded like some exec’s concubine
She’d paced until Eka snarled, fiddled with her feather cape until she risked ruining it, and settled in to lotus, finally, envisioning her greenhouse plans for the next five cycles.
“Green dots,” Eka declared, as Alae got to her next batch of carrots. She opened her eyes; Eka was staring at the status meter, a row of red lights that were slowly turning green. “They’re nearly ready for you.” She stood, the beads in her hair clacking, and hurried over to Alae. “Are you all set, me love?” Behind her, another light turned green, and another one. “You mussed your cloak again, didn’t you? How is it that you can’t ever sit still?” Her slender fingers smoothed Alae’s feathers; her lover’s nervous fussing calmed her the way no meditation or medication ever could.
Four more lights went green. They were near to securing the space. She tried not to think about their failure to secure, last time, even as Eka’s fingers brushed the scar.
“All green dots, Your Majesty,” Eka murmured. “Knock ‘em dead.”
Religion in Reiassan – Callenia, to be specific – @inventrix @shutsumon
Talking about colours with TyBarbary yesterday made me ponder more the tricolour religion of the two main nations of Reiassan.
I “know” more about how the Callanthe worship than how the Bitrani do, so this is the way of the Three the way the Callanthe observe it.
(Bridges and Relics, the latter $10/$22 sponsored and the former $10 if Relics’ goal is reached, cover bits of the religion throughout, including their Green Men and Women).
Magic and Faith are intertwined in Reiassan. The people worship three deities, to balance their three-season world, and have three paths of magic (although very few people who work magic follow just one path):
* The blue, Tienebrah, the sea, the sky, the air, change, the cold season. Mindfulness.
* The red, Veignevar, blood, fire, violence, death, the hot season. Strength.
* The green, Reiassannon, life, plants, earth, healing, growth. Fertility.
Notes on holidays, from a chat with Eseme spurred by something she posted in eseme_games (I meant to make it a meme but I forgot):
Eseme: I assume red/hot, blue/cold, green/rainy?
But that’s how I would do it
Aldersprig: yes 😉 Summer for war, winter for thinking, spring for growing
Eseme: nods Makes sense, and also works color-wise
So, holidays.celebrations/festivals that fit
have you already thought any of the three up?
Aldersprig: not really, braindead ;-D
Eseme: Well, for summer you could have war games.
Contests (which I know has been done, see Changeling) but it makes sense
and can be adapted to include religious ritual involving the winners (and if you want to be bloody, the losers)
Aldersprig: (contests does make sense. And they’re warry people)
Eseme: If you need inspiration, look into what the Mayans did to losers of their soccer games…
Aldersprig Yeah, I was thinking something like that
Eseme: It makes sense for a war-themed holiday. And war gods are not friendly. You could probably also incorporate fire in there, and weapon-smithing
Aldersprig: Yay fire!
Eseme: grins
You do have the option of cremating the losers
Or possibly less toxic bonfires…
Eseme Cold for thinking. Hrm. And the blue was also water, yes? Sea-brides and such?
Aldersprig: water, the mind, the sky
Eseme: And cold/winter.
Does the continent get snow? Or, at least, do the two countries get much snow?
Aldersprig: yes. the continent’s climate is like the western portion of the ussr
So Callenia gets more snow, Bithrain less
Eseme: They may have different winter holidays, simply based on weather. Probably with similar roots
Hrm. Most winter holidays in this world are about fighting back against the cold and the dark
few celebrate it
Aldersprig: I liked the Dr. who take on it; halfway through the dark
Eseme: grins
so yeah, contemplating. It would be a quiet holiday. A real contrast to summer
Aldersprig: nods Study. Theory. a mental holiday
Eseme: Not sure how water fits in. Possibly meditation bowls?
ocean in a glass?
Aldersprig: oooh, yes. bottle ships
Eseme: Cool! Possibly Labyrinths?
And if it is a mental holiday, possibly a sharing of scholarship – lectures, or publication?
Aldersprig innovations. inventions
Eseme: it’s well after harvest, so people would be able to travel to share learning, so long as there is not too much snow
Aldersprig: That leaves spring for baby-making
Eseme: And planting crops
Aldersprig: fertilities
Eseme: I think you don’t need much help brainstorming that one!
You can rip a lot off of Beltane
Aldersprig: 😀
and Oestra… Easter
Eseme: Possibly combine elements of both. Definitely planting the fields, fertilizing them, and weddings or couplings
Girey Description for Icon
http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Law508/Roman%20Law/RomanJurists.htm
Girey has a Roman-eqsue face, with sandy blonde hair cut short and military and beard trimmed short. He’s broad-shouldered, prefers duller colours (likely dressed in sage green http://www.staceyssimplestuff.com/sage-Green-Fabric.jpg), and generally has a sullen/sulky expression.
While he has the face of the guy in the statue, he’s young, maybe 17 or 20; old enough to be bearded but that’s about it.
His shirt is nearly identical to Rin’s, except it buttons across the left shoulder, not the right.
Free Icon Day
Speaking of djinni, he’s doing another free icon day already!!
I picked Shiva from Addergoole as my first icon. Who should I pick for my second one, if it gets there?
Also? Go get your own icons, they rock.
New Icon!
djinni‘s wonderful work!
This is Autumn, and now I suppose I should write more about her, shouldn’t I? 🙂
Short Story: Recruiting – Daughters of Clio – #DofC – #weblit
Daughters of Clio is the prompt-a-week group of Trix, Clare, Tara, and I.
Last week the prompt was Clare’s choice to pick a person, and she picked “The First and Fifth.”
This is sort of Shustsumon’s fault, because she mentioned it sounded like a Dr. Who fanfic title.
Recruiting
The first and fifth Miss Draper of Albany, NY studied the probationary sixth of their line.
“She fits the qualifications,” Miss Draper Five said, more than a little defensively. “She’s overqualified in over half the categories.”
“And choosing your successor is, of course, your purview.” Miss Draper the First carried prim and proper as if she was the one who was stylish, and everyone else just horribly out of fashion; the Fifth had never been able to rid herself of the urge to tug her skirt further over her knees and put a hat on. Now she was also fighting the urge to go put a hat on the girl who, with any luck, would be the Sixth. “But she’s so very…” The First’s gesture seemed to include all sorts of words without ever being so rude as to say them.
“Modern,” the Fifth countered. “Which isn’t always a bad thing, you know.”
“Of course not. Modernity has its place… but is that place in the house of Miss Draper?”
“I bring your attention to the Third. Think of what she did.”
“Well, yes, she was very instrumental in some changes that we really wanted to see… but she also did so while remaining within the strictures of the culture she lived in.”
“It’s two thousand eleven Anno Domini. I wouldn’t say anything she is doing qualifies as outside the strictures of her culture. She could have seventeen piercings and still be not that far outside of the strictures.”
“But would she fit into, say, her mother’s world?”
“That can be taught. And I have a year to teach her.”
“Why are you so set on this one, Eloise?”
“I like her,” the Fifth answered, ignoring the breach in protocol. “And you should have seen her at the cocktail party last weekend; the way she handled two drunken congressmen and a state senator was brilliant. She has a way with people, and that’s the thing we can’t teach.”
“Ah. There is that. And she has the look, doesn’t she? If you discount the… clothing. But is she already too well known? You mentioned congressmen?”
“She’s a waitress with a catering company.”
“Aah, so invisible. Very good, Eloise. Miss Draper.”
“Thank you, Miss Draper.” In theory, the current Miss Draper outranked those who had come before her; she had the final say on all business decisions, and no-one would contradict her on more personal choices, either. But the first of the line had never truly let go of the reins, stepping back from the role only when the passage of time demanded it. Eloise might outrank Second through Fourth, but, theory aside, the First was still in charge.
“So, this girl. If you truly believe she’s the one, I suppose you ought to bring her in. I do hope you can teach her some manners, however, before you introduce her to the public. We don’t want another mess like Third, do we?
Fifth hadn’t been born yet when Third had begun making a mess. “No, ma’am. I don’t think she’ll be a mess at all.” And even Third had maintained the Draper name and fortune, albeit in a bit bawdier fashion than First might like. “Would you like to meet her now, then?”
“I think that can wait.” First’s smile as she tapped Fifth’s hand was a sharp thing, with all the genuineness of margarine on plastic toast. “I look forward to seeing what you do with her, dear.”
Prompt Poll (as opposed to a late one) #weblit
Fishbowl Time
ysabetwordsmith is having her fishbowl today!
The theme is Urban Fantasy
Some of the prompts I left included:
Suburban, or sub-urban, fantasy (either the burbs, which are much neglected except in built-the-burb-on-the-graveyard, or subterranean(*) urban fantasy)
(*) which wants to be sub-terrarium, which makes me think of the locker creatures in Men in Black II, and a universe in the bottom of a terrarium.
The results of the divinations in Tumble the Nuts
My favorite sort of urban shaman uses painted designs, on skin and as graffiti.
Urban werewolves, yes, technodawgz.
High-rise fantasy, not just down-on-the-street grit but up-in-the-corporate-office magic: what if the fortune-500 CEO is a shaman?
—
Pittsburgh. This city was so full of stone churches stained black by soot (we almost died, too, but that was the con).
Atlanta, where the hobos all had NYC accents.
Rochester, my hometown, haunted by the ghost of George Eastman, who founded Kodak and invented disposable cameras, where Billy the Kid and Susan B. Anthony are buried one hill away from each other (Fredrick Douglass gets front-row seating by the main street) http://www.fomh.org/ It’s a rust-belt city where they say you can develop film in our river and the WPA-era library literally sits atop said river.
The streets, and I’m babbling, because I miss my hometown, are laid out on old cowpaths. If you look at an old map of the city, you could easily believe that it’s laid on occult symbols, the way they say DC was.
And, of course, the Erie Canal http://www.eriecanal.org/ runs through it, and, a few miles away, the old locks (from the original route) are still visible, little stone arches over fetid puddles of water.
Needed: Prompt theme ideas
I’m looking for ideas for future prompt-call themes.
Past themes have been alphabetical: Beginning with A, beginning with B (that got a lot of very strange replies and a lot of boobs) or whatever came to mind: the outdoors; erotic, exotic & exogenetic; ways and/or means; and the green.
I’m not really sure what gets people interested, since the response is rather random. Any suggestions?
(The next call for prompts will be sometime next week)