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Rohanna, her Second Year

Oct18

Twelfth in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond.

“And what will you do?”

Professor Fridmar was staring at her. Rohanna knew this was supposed to be unnerving, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything but a little amused.

“What, you mean ‘now that I’m free?'” She shrugged, and tried not to laugh at the professor. At her Mentor, even if she’d had to growl and grumble to get him to agree. He hadn’t liked her reasons. Neither had Dyfri. That was the point. “It’s not like Dyfri yanked the chain that much.”

“But the chain was there, nonetheless, and now it is gone. Dah, what will you do now that you are free?”

“Same thing I did while I was under the collar.” She didn’t understand what the big deal was. It was a collar. It was a few rules. And then it was gone. She’d been through that before a time or three.

“You are going to wander around seeing how many people you can annoy and how much effort it takes to do so?”

Rohanna felt a grin coming to her face. “Yes, that was part of the idea. Probably continue to sleep with cy’Linden, because that confuses everyone.”

“And your animals?”

Rohanna felt her expression soften. “You’ll let me keep helping, right?”

“And if I say, only if you stop sleeping with all of cy’Linden?”

“Then I say, you are giving me a rule and not a frown, and then I stop sleeping with some of cy’Linden.”

“And if I say, only if you come to my bed?”

She tilted her head. That was a new one. “I say, ‘well, Professor, I didn’t know you cared.'”

“And you do it?”

“With your promise.”

“Animals are a very important thing to you.” He said it like a fact, which it nearly was. Rohanna corrected him.

“The animals are the only thing.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/584248.html. You can comment here or there.

On This Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Kendra

Oct17

October 17, 2004
“It’s all right,” Kendra reassured the scared-looking boy – man, legally – in front of her. “I have a trust fund.”

It, in this case, was the little pink lines on the stick in front of her, which would bring her number of children to something between eight and 11, considering her luck.

And add that much more money to the “trust fund.” Regine liked babies. Luckily, so did Kendra.

October 17, 2012

There wasn’t supposed to be anyone out here. There weren’t supposed to be any threats like this within a hundred miles of this city.

But the human at her door had suddenly grown fangs and started spitting out Workings.

“Get inside.” She snapped it to her youngest child’s father, who was probably old enough to know better. “Falke. Get the youngers and get them under cover.”

She grabbed her walking stick – 6 feet of hawthorn, with the thorns still in the top foot – and blocked the door. “You’re not getting anywhere near my kids, you bastard.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/582744.html. You can comment here or there.

Orlaith: Her Second Year

Oct17

Eleventh in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond. Orlaith we’ve seen much later in her life, in the series with her son Hunter-Hale and her later Kept Adder.

(Ora tag here)
(Adder tag here)
(Hunter-Hale tag here)

September, Year 11 (2005) of the Addergoole School

If there was one thing her former Keeper had said to her that had stuck in Orlaith’s mind – and there had been far more than that, as Accalon was prone to talking quite a bit, and saying words like remember this while he did so – it was what he’d said about Silas.

Accalon saw things. He saw people’s futures, their worst, their best. Sometimes he saw what they wanted, or what could be done to change their path.

He’d seen the way Ora looked at Silas. Nobody else had really noticed, but Accalon, well, he saw things.

“That one. That boy you look at out of the corner of your eye.”

She’d felt guilty, but she hadn’t tried to deny it. “Silas.”

“Him.” His voice had shifted tone, into that odd sound he used when he was seeing some future somewhere. “He’s going to fall, far, Orlaith. He will fall into darkness and into evil. He will fall as far as any of Addergoole’s children has ever fallen, and, being an over-achiever, he will then fall further still.”

She’d tried to make some protest.

“Remember this. He will fall, and you will need to kill him. It will be your hand on the blade that ends his existence, Orlaith, or the world will fall instead.” His eyes had opened and he’d pinned her with a gaze. “Or.”

“Or?” It was either her nickname or another option. She grasped at it either way.

“Or you will bring him to the light. It will be a hard road – possibly harder than killing him – but you can do it. But you’ll need to be prepared.”

That was when her lessons had begun in earnest. And now… now her mission began. Accalon was gone. She was free, as free as any Addergoole student could be.

“So.” She had been talking to the table of students for a few minutes. Long enough to not be suspicious. “What do you think about Silas?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/581760.html. You can comment here or there.

On This Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Niassa

Oct16

October 16, 2004

College was weird.

The classes were alternately harder than anything at Addergoole and easier, her teachers were strange and at the same time more professional and less, and her classmates were so /young/ it hurt.

But Niassa had lost that argument, so through Intro to Psych she sat, dreaming of fighting dragons.

October 16, 2013

She couldn’t really fly with the things she’d gotten in lieu of wings.

But on the back of a dragon, a sword between its shoulderblades and a garrote around its neck… then, then Niassa was flying, higher and higher into the air.

She didn’t think about the fall, not yet. Not until it came.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/581356.html. You can comment here or there.

Cynara: Her Second Year

Oct15

Tenth in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond.

Cynara’s First Year Vignette is here.

Year 7 of the Addergoole School; September

Cya had spent most of the summer walking, hitch-hiking, wandering around. Her father had been meant to pick her up at the airport, but he hadn’t, so she’d decided to make a months-long trip of getting back to Addergoole.

It had taken the whole summer of that to clear out the empty spot in her chest, and even that hadn’t really worked. Dysmas was gone. He’d walked away with barely a second glance. Dysmas was gone. It hadn’t even surprised her when her father didn’t show up, after that.

She didn’t feel so achey anymore, but there was still this feeling as if there was something missing. She limped into school, ignoring Luke’s irritated growls. So she’d walked back. So what? So she’d managed to time it so she met a handsome new student at the airport. So what? It was generally considered cheat, she knew… but everyone at Addergoole cheated (And he really was quite handsome).

Dysmas was gone. The loss hit her all over again as she looked at the niche where he’d sometimes snacked on her, the halls where they’d had classes, the stairs down to his suite. He was gone.

She sat on the stairs until her breath came back. He’d been using her, of course. Using and manipulating. He’d been drinking her blood for a year. He’d treated her like an employee at the best of times.

And he was gone, and she missed him. She didn’t want to think about that one too much, and yet she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Cya!”

“Cya, honey! You made it!”

She looked up, only then realizing she’d been looking at her knees.

“We got the suite!”

Bearing down on her were… were Boom. Were Howard and Zita and Leofric. Smiling. All of them, smiling.

Were her crew.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/580245.html. You can comment here or there.

One Year Ago / Hello Tradition, a story of Addergoole Yr 12

Oct14

After Goodbye Tradition.
Beckett also has an appearance in Don’t Cry, Baby; Leithe also shows up in A New year, a New… Who?.

http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/407350.html

Beckett spent a week trying to pretend he wasn’t sulking, and another week trying hard to ignore the questions. None of them were polite. Some of them were just insulting.

“So, Mirella cut you free?”

“So, you couldn’t hack it as a Keptie?”

“So, you’re in the market now?”

So, so, so. No, no, no. Beckett didn’t feel free. He didn’t feel like he’d failed. He felt, more than anything… angry.

“I wish…” But life didn’t work that way.

“What do you wish? Maybe I can make it come true.”

He knew Leithe. He shared a couple classes with her; more importantly, Mirella had declared her utterly and completely off-limits. She was petite, lovely, and looked nothing at all like Mirella.

“I’m not sure.” Beckett shrugged. Pretty girls didn’t generally talk to him – part of why he’d been such a sucker for Mirella. “I wish she’d either never Kept me or never released me, I guess.”

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” She tilted her head and frowned at him. “When it breaks, the bond? It makes you feel like everything is going sideways.”

It did. Beckett nodded cautiously.

“And it makes you feel empty.”

“You’ve been Kept?” It was a stupid question, but he was good at those. Everyone was Kept eventually.

“I did my time. You got off easy, some people would say.”

“Being hers… it wasn’t bad.” He’d felt like he’d been worth something. “Not being anyone’s kind of sucks.”

“Well, there’s always the alternative.”

Beckett swallowed. Even HE could pick up what she was offering. But was that somewhere he wanted to be?

“Think about it?” Leithe tilted her head again. She was smiling; she had a pretty smile. “And if not that… well, come talk anyway. Having friends around here is helpful.”

“Friends.” Beckett swallowed. Friends, he could do. “Okay. Uh. Friends.”

Mirella had cut him free. For the first time, free didn’t feel like falling.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/579306.html. You can comment here or there.

Character Notes for Nano (for Shahin)

Oct10

Shahin Laskaris, sh’Chloe
16 years old
Female

Appearance:
Shahin has dark brown hair that is not quite as jet-black as she would like. Her skin is never-sees-the-sun pale, and powdered even paler; her features, despite her white skin, are the Lebanese of her father’s ancestry, especially her nose.

She’s short and slender, 5’4″ tall and with a very slight build. She tends toward goth fashion, especially EGL (Elegant Gothic Lolita); the black clothing and dark lipstick and eye makeup accentuate her pale skin. Her wrists are always covered.

She’s often referred to as a troubled child, or sometimes as just a trouble child. She revels in her role as a freak in her current public school, and much of her day-to-day clothing is designed to accentuate that. She doesn’t have many friends back in her public school, and is used to being alone, but does prefer having a few people around now and then.

Character arc notes”
Book one is about Shahin learning She’s Not All that, and that there are bigger freaks in the world than her. It’s about her learning that friends are a thing, for good and bad.

Book two is about her learning exactly how much there are bigger freaks, and how much she is Not All That, which should be very uncomfortable for her. She likes her facade. She understand how it works.

Template in this and previous post via Cluudle

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/577614.html. You can comment here or there.

On This Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Aviv

Oct10

October 10, 2004

“Do you ever get the sense that all this is futile?” Rod, Aviv’s house-mate, had the hunch-shouldered look that generally went along with depression or hangovers.

“School?” Aviv finished packing lunch.

“Everything.” It was accompanied by a dramatic hand-flail.

“No.” He couldn’t help smiling. “Maybe you should have gone into medicine, not Law.”

October 10, 2013

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

Aviv had his hand on someone’s artery, keeping them from bleeding out. He didn’t look up.

“I’m a doctor connected to the Red Cross, yes. Could you pass me that clamp?”

“You one of them.

Aviv had just enough to duck before the stick swung.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/576606.html. You can comment here or there.

Nyyrikki, Her First Year

Oct9

Ninth in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond. One more (maybe) and I move on to Year Two for them all

This is Nyyrikki’s first time in print; Ayuda is the daughter of canon-Original-Series character Joff and background character Liza. Pandora is Liza’s daughter with canon-Original-Series character Rafe.

Nyyrikki, Her First Year
Addergoole Year 21: September of 2015

She could tell her other classmates were primarily from wastelands. Things that were basic to her were startling to them – power, running water, fresh food.

She’d known people were still alive out there. A few people here and there, she’d been told. She’d seen the traders, talking about a couple other enclaves.

She’d really thought that’s where the rest of humanity – the parts that survived the fae wars – lived. In enclaves like hers, places where there was still a vestige of the modern world.

She’d been eleven years old when the gods came back; it stood to reason that her classmates had been about the same age. And they were looking around as if 2011 was the last time they’d seen an electric light.

After three days of trying to figure it out, Nyyrikki asked Ayuda. The slender blonde girl was in a lot of ‘Rikki’s classes, although she was clearly struggling with the material.

“What was it like, where you were?”

“After the Fae War, you mean?” Ayuda rubbed her arms. “We were living in Philly, Mom and I and my sister, and Mom’s… boyfriend. And the roof fell in. Pandora and I got out, and Mom… mom did, sort of?” Her voice raised up in a squeak. “After that, we were on the run for a few months. Then Pan and I woke up one day and Mom was gone.” Her shoulders twitched in something that was probably meant to be a shrug; it looked like a spasm. “That was pretty much what it was like.”

“Oh, oh…” There weren’t words.

“What about where you were?”

“Oh, it was a place.” She didn’t ask about people’s lives, after that, and she never talked about home. It just seemed disrespectful.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/576269.html. You can comment here or there.

On this Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Anatoliy

Oct7

October 7, 2004

“Sorry, no.”

It wasn’t the most interesting job in the world. There were probably a hundred more interesting jobs – including his daytime job. But his boss and the union didn’t care if he moonlighted.

“The girl said no, back off.”

And he got to protect people. Totally worth it.

October 7, 2013

“Keep calm. Everyone, stay calm, and keep moving.”

He’d gotten the call from Smitty last week. The week before, it had been Finn. And Vlad a month before that.

“Keep calm. Keep moving, calmly off the road and into the shelters, everyone.”

It had been Conrad’s call that did it.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/575976.html. You can comment here or there.