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Landing Page: Fae Apoc–> Addergoole

Addergoole is a school in the faerie apocalypse universe, as well as a subsetting and the name of the web-serial set there. Teenagers sent away to boarding school learn that, not only is the school not what they expected, but neither they nor their parents are either. Fifty years later, they struggle to continue existing in the post-apoc world that wants nothing to do with their ilk.

Stories span several generations and over 50 years of students in the school.

The Addergoole Wiki currently defunct.
Doomsday

Addergoole Stories include:
Before the School:

Family Legacy (Dreamwidth), Set long before the serial.
Breeding Plan (LJ), late 70’s
What They Needed (LJ) Ambrus, 1984
Three Summers (LJ) Agatha, Shadrach, Acacia before school

Years One through Five:
Let Nothing Ye Dismay (LJ) (Christas, Year 1)
Hell Night Years 1,4,7 (LJ)
Not Everyone Makes it Out (LJ) – early on
Plans, to @dahob’s prompt asking how Regine sees her students.
Sunday Night Content (LJ)
Sunday Night Worries (LJ)
Agatha after School, Baram at Thanksgiving (LJ)
Dunk (LJ) – Jamian
Summertime Memories (LJ) Jamian and Ty

Ayla, Ioanna, and Yngvi talk about the school
Gender-funk (LJ) – Shiva and Niki discuss her bisexuality
Uh-Oh (LJ) – Wren’s human brother, outside the school
Family ties (LJ) – Regine discusses her family tree
Night Terrors (LJ)- Yngvi’s nightmares.
Standoff (LJ) – Jamian, Aviv

Joff Gets a Pony (LJ Link), Year 6

Goodbye for Now (LJ), Yngvi, Year 9
On the Set (LJ Link), meta, filming the AG movie.
Love and Bindings and Shoes, Earrings, Boi are Addergoole stories set later than the serial, available in Tales for the Sugar Cat
Secrets and Going out are stories with serial characters outside of the school, as is
Bowen, Expanded (LJ)
Picking Grapes (LJ) (Shiva & Niki)

Adjusting (LJ) Phelen out of Addergoole

3rd Cohort 10-year-reunion
Reunion (LJ)
Welcome to Addergoole (LJ)

So. (LJ) Between Years 28 & 29 – Yngvi & a son

Poaching, an Addergoole story set before the serial, is available in Other Sides

Year Seven:
Leaving the School (LJ) Phelen, end of Yr7
Year Eight:
Always wanted a Pony (LJ)
52 to 52: (LJ) Damaris & Gregori
Going Out (LJ) Doug

Year Nine:
a rough timeline (LJ)
Belated Rescue (LJ)
Pissing Away Time, Addergoole yr 9
Pissing into the Wind
Friendly (LJ)

Discussion:
What Basalt Looks Like and what Ceinwen & Thorburn’s changes are (LJ)
Timeline (LJ)
Appearance notes on Timora (LJ)

Years Ten through Thirteen:
They Were Over (LJ) (Forrester, Nilam)
Doug Gets a Hug (LJ)
Goodbye Tradition (LJ)
Don’t Cry Baby

Year Fourteen:
Pain in the… (LJ)
A Family Matter (LJ)
Problem-Solving (LJ)

Years Fifteen through Seventeen:
Signs of Love (LJ)
Shades (LJ)
Laziness as an Art Form (LJ)
Laziness X4 (LJ)

Years 21, 23, and forward:
Yr 21
Generations (LJ) and
Revelations (LJ)
Bananas (LJ)
Nephew-Nieces and Other Family (LJ)
Cabbage Patch (LJ)

Yr 23
White Knights? (LJ)
Isi, Waiting, and No More Waiting

Yr ?
Mo-o-om
Truth, Beauty (LJ)
The Leftover Gift (LJ)
Peace, Quiet, and the Null (LJ) to [personal profile] inventrix‘s prompt (year ??)
Together/Again (LJ) Yin and Yang

Yr 25
Transfer of Power (LJ) Morganna and Mangrove

Yr 27
The Boom Kids
And Then (LJ)

Yr 30
Love (LJ) – Luke is in love
Looking (LJ) – Mike is Jealous, wants love

Boom and Cynara:
June Again (LJ)
Wild Horses (LJ)
The Cup (LJ)
Separation Anxiety (LJ) Boom!/RP timeline/ Cynara
Parting Advice, and Mother Bears (LJ)
Mother-Son Bonding (LJ)
Kept du Jour (LJ)
“Are we killing this one?” (LJ)
Meeting the Family (LJ) (a chat log)
Roleplay Log (Cya/Cabal, posted by cluudle)
Cleaning Up (LJ), One month later
Two Vignettes of Cya (LJ)
Vacation (LJ) – Boom, Cya and sons
three Cya-Bois (LJ a series of Vignettes for #Addergoole/Boom-Apoc
In the Tub (LJ)
Visit From School (LJ) – Pellinore, earlier
The Cup (LJ) Pellinore and JohnWayne
cluudle wrote this story set in the same general timeline as my current Boom ‘fics, staring Yoshi’s paternal half-brother Etienne.
Legacy (LJ) – several years later

The Apoc, with Addergoole Characters
Mission to Paris (LJ)

Derailed (LJ) (Luke, Fridmar, et al)
Derailed 2 (LJ)

Handwritten: Leaving (LJ) (Kai/Conrad in the apoc)

Post-apoc, with the Addergoole Characters:
Through the Woods and Learning to Live, a 2-part story of faeapoc through human eyes – Available in Tales for the Sugar Cat
Devil Deals (LJ Link) (just before Through the Woods)
Devil’s in the Details (LJ Link) (Just after Devil Deals)
Road Trip (LJ Link) (soon after the Devil Stories)

Finding Comfort (Lj), Some time after the Devil Stories.
Scared (LJ) – after “Finding Comfort”

You’d better watch out, you’d better not… (LJ) to [personal profile] lilfluff‘s prompt, set in the post-apoc of Addergoole, with former students.
Throw out a Line (LJ) [personal profile] jjhunter‘s prompt, after “You’d Better Watch Out”

Dinnertime, Jamian, Melchior, and Jamian’s daughter Dagny

Present (LJ) – Mike gets a gift

Random:
(No Year, no Name, or neither Listed)
These Walls Can Talk (LJ)
Begin Again (LJ)

52 to 52:
Descriptions, short stories, and character Q&A sessions leading up to Addergoole: Year 9
Meta!
Words (LJ)
Ask the Author Anything! (LJ)
What Is Addergoole? (LJ)

Ship my Characters!
Ship my Characters (LJ)

Ask them Anything:
Belfreja (LJ)
Brydan (LJ)
Ciara and Amadeus (LJ)
Miryam (LJ)
Jovanna and Arnbjorg (LJ)
Garfunkle (LJ)
Cynara
Noam
Reid Solomon & DJ
43 to go: Jeremiah and Lolly (LJ)
45 to Go: Timora (LJ)
46 to Go: Porter (LJ)
47 to go: Wylie (LJ)
Jamian (LJ)

Character Interaction Meme! (LJ)
3 & 13 fall down a hole: non-canon
4and 5 brainstorming for a project (sort of): CANON
Getting Lost in the Library – potentially canon
5 and 7 are steal food from the kitchens.
6 and 12 discover they have something unexpected in common
Morning After – Probably not Canon (end of year 8)
11 and 14 (“Um, we didn’t just… I mean, that’s kosher, right?”)

Three Vignettes of Addergoole Year 9 characters (LJ)

Descriptions
Garfunkle (LJ)
Miryam (LJ)

Character Development Meme
Ahouva, Ciara, Jovanna (LJ)
Garfunkle, Belfreja, and Kay (LJ)
Ceinwen, Garfunkle, and Kheper (LJ)
Wylie, Timora, Noam (LJ)

Memes and Descriptions
The Character Development Meme is following Conrad:
Question 1 (LJ)
Question 2 (LJ)
Questions 3 &4 (LJ)

The Love Meme
Morrigan/Reid, Luke/Regine, Linden/Luke (LJ) Love Meme
Autumn/Weylan, Audrey/Sage, Taro/Kailani (LJ) – Love Meme 2
Porter/Arundel, Rozen/Kai, Rin/Girey (LJ) – Love Meme 3
Junie/Jin, Carrot/Angua, Regine/Ambrus (LJ) – Love Meme 4
Baram/Rozen, Ib/Baram, Fridmar/Delaney (LJ) Love Meme 5
Love Meme Continuation (LJ) – Baram/Annie

That Guy/That Gal Thursdays
Akaterina (LJ)
Thorburn (LJ)
Miryam (LJ)
Nilam (LJ)
Ellen (LJ)
Cody (LJ)

Way Back Wednesdays
Leaving Town (LJ) – DJ

AU Addergoole
Halloween 1988 (LJ) – non-canon
…Haven’t You People Ever Heard of Closing the God-Damned Door… (LJ) non-canon
In Any Verse (LJ) 2 AU stories of Ty & Jamian
The Dark AU
(LJ) Twin Study
The List (LJ)

Fiction by Others

Cluudle has written a Yr6 Fic.
Forgetfullness

[personal profile] clare_dragonfly wrote this story of Kayros and Vic.
[personal profile] kajones_writing created
these characters and then wrote
this story and
this story.

[personal profile] kc_obrien has written a fic in Yr9, too (LJ Link)
There is a reading of “Heartstone” here.

The following series were written back and forth with K Orion Fray:

Luke and Mystral, Part One
this piece by Rion.
Arm Twisting (LJ)
Conditions (Rion)
History (LJ)
Eager Student (Rion)
Not Being Stupid(LJ)
Words Spoken (Rion)
Foundations (LJ)

Luke and Mystral, Part Two
(Some unlisted as of yet)
Some Nights (LJ)
Storm Front
Hunting Hawk (LJ)
Planning the Strirke,
Partnership (LJ)
X Marks the spot,
…Ninja…(LJ)
Old School,
Impasse (LJ)
Revival
Bad Kids (LJ)
Thunder,
Bloodless (LJ)

A brief glossary of prefixes:
cy’ – Student of, in a cy’ree (Student-group)

sh’ – Child of (shenera)

oro’ – Belongs to

ia’ – in a mutual belonging with

du’ – “I am Named-“

sa’- Honored-person-called-

jae’ – junior-person-called-

aeosthena – a stud horse; a genetically strong sire who has/will father(ed) many children

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/182783.html. You can comment here or there. comment count unavailable

Twin Study, an AU!Addergoole Second Gen

For wyld_dandelyon‘s prompt.

This is non-canon, set sometime after the apoc, well into the second gen of Addergoole

“Identical twins are nature’s clones, if you’ll forgive the whimsy.” Regine held a stethoscope to Ted’s chest.

“I don’t really want to forgive anything.” Ted pulled against the restraints holding her in the chair. “My parents…!”

“Shh. Almost done here, and then you can go back to your classes.”

“What’s this all about? Where’s Bill?”

She’d never know what her father had been thinking when he’d named them that. Then again, the guy in the chair next to her was Kirk, which was fine, but turned out his twin was named Picard.

“Your twin is completely safe and fine. She will attend Addergoole when you have finished your four years here.”

“So you’re going to keep us apart for eight years? What the hell?”

“It’s much easier to determine the effects of stressors when you have a control.”

“A control…”

It was Fili, on the other side of her, who figured it out. “Woah. You’re not… that’s sick. That’s Nazi Sick.”

“Godwin’s Law,” Ted warned reflexively.

“Godwin can suck it. She’s using our twins as a control group. How do you even use someone as a control group? I mean, things happen to people, right?”

“Not… like… comatose people.” Homer’s voice was quiet. “Dr. Regine… what did you do with Sampson?”

“Your twins are perfectly safe. You will meet them again when your four years in Addergoole are over. And now, of course, I must remove the memories of this conversation from you.”

“What about our parents?” Fili’s voice was small. “How can they be all right with this?”

“They can’t.” Ted sagged against her bonds. “But she’s already said she’s going to remove our memories…”

“You are all very smart children. I approve. Now hold still for another moment…”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/438905.html. You can comment here or there.

Together/Again

For [personal profile] rix_scaedu‘s prompt. Blame/credit to @dahob for the names and Changes of the twins.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

"It’s not that I don’t like you…"

"And I like you, too. It’s just…"

"Yeah." They liked each other, they just couldn’t live together without blowing things up. They’d been trying since they first came to Addergoole. They weren’t getting any better at it.

"The kids?"

"I’ll take Yang. You take Yin. They’re young, they’ll adapt."

Thirteen Years Later

"Bye, mom." Yang kissed his mother on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, all right?"

"That’s my line. You… behave yourself. No mischief you can’t cover up."

"You know I’m a good kid." Yang gave her his best innocent look. "Sweet and harmless."

"I know you are. Go on, sunshine. Shower at least once a week and don’t trust everyone you meet."

She worried about her boy, all alone in this place.

"Check your knives, and keep that spear under your bed." He kissed his daughter on her cheek and patted her head. "Don’t let any boy past your doorway unless he’s willing to promise you he means no harm, and if they give you trouble, tell them they have to meet me before they can get any further with you."

"Da-a-a-d." Yin checked her knives anyway, and gave her father a tight hug. "Don’t go fighting monsters without me, all right?"

"I’ll be safe, sweetie. You do the same." He slipped a palm-knife of bone into her coat pocket. "Don’t borrow anything you can’t pay back right away and don’t lend anything you can’t afford to lose."

"Don’t put your back to someone you don’t know." She patted his hand. "I’ll be fine, dad. Take care."

"You too. Go on, midnight baby."

He worried about his girl, all alone in this place.

"And don’t forget who you are…" Yang muttered his mother’s favorite advice. "As if I…"

"…could forget something like that. Don’t trust anyone I don’t know. How am I …"

"…ever going to meet anyone if I don’t…"

"…trust…"

"YOU!!!"

Bags went flying. The two tackled each other, mirrors save for gender, while their luggage launched across the hallway.

"I thought…"

"…we’d lost we…"

"forever."

On the other side of the school, as the echos of the reunited twins reached their ears, she looked at him. A wistful, amused sigh escaped her lips. "Sometimes Regine knows what she’s doing, after all."

"And sometimes we don’t."
 

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/436981.html. You can comment here or there.

Sister Trouble

This is to @DaHob’s request for something involving Joff and Ivette in school. This takes place in Year 7 of the Addergoole School, in some poor unsuspecting college.

“Man, your sister….” Nathan shook his head. “I don’t know how you live with her, man. If she was my sister…”

Joff could feel the waves of lust coming off of Nathan. He looked away, hiding a smirk with a mumble about “Man, s’my sister.” His sister, the succubus.

Because his sister (and housemate, in the apartment he’d insisted they get) was who she was, he did ask, curiously, “you haven’t?”

He found the way Nathan flushed – and his nervous expression – to be very interesting. What was Ivette up to? “What? No, man, I mean… I know she’s saving herself for marriage.”

“She’s what?” Joff sprayed his beer, and then had to hastily adjust Nathan’s emotions before the bigger kid could freak out. “Sorry. I mean,” he concocted a lie hastily, “she’s mentioned that before, but I didn’t think she’d go through with it. At home, sure, but here, you know, college, all these handsome guys around…”

Aaaand now Nathan thought he was gay. Well, a lot of the small-town types couldn’t tell “gay” from “pansexual” anyway, and it wasn’t like Joff wasn’t sleeping with Oliver and Mark from Nathan’s fraternity (and Alice and Amy from the sister sorority. Letting him and his sister loose on a college campus might have been Regine’s worst mistake yet).

Nathan’s funny colors didn’t seem to be ack, gay funny colors, though. They were still lust colors. Interesting lust colors.

“Look.” Joff stood up. “I gotta study for tomorrow’s class. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll have a talk with Ivette, okay?” He patted Nathan’s shoulder, and watched how the boy’s emotions swirled. He should go out drinking more.

No, he should study more. He had promised Zeke he was going to try a real career, something he really wanted to do.

“You’ll talk to her? For me?”

“She can’t stick to this ‘saving herself’ thing forever. I know my sister.”

In more ways than I ought to. He dodged before Nathan could drunk-hug him, and headed home, wondering what the hell Ivette was up to.

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/441413.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/436420.html. You can comment here or there.

Littermate

For [personal profile] imaginaryfiend‘s prompt; before/after A Couple Helping Hands

Cúmhaí was in Addergoole.

Begley had known she was coming. It’s how it happened, or so everyone told him.

But he’d been here a year, where nobody knew he was The Midget (well, okay, he was still far too short, but in Addergoole, you learned not to judge too much based on size, or the four-foot-tall girl ate your shins.) And after that, it was one thing to know your giant sister would be showing up, and another thing to have her there, sneering and stupid and getting into trouble.

Begley sighed. She wouldn’t talk to him, of course. She wouldn’t really even look at him. She was a miserable pain in the tail, but she was his sister, and if anyone was going to kick the snottiness out of her, it was going to be him.

And it was Hell Night. Hell Night when everyone wanted to beat on everyone. Begley had done his time under the collar. It hadn’t been horrid, but it wasn’t what he wanted for his sister (even if it would teach her a thing or two)

And there was his sister, fighting against The Thing. Losing against The Thing. In a fair fight, Cúmhaí was a wildcat… wild… dog, he supposed, but there was nothing fair about this, and she didn’t know what she was up against.

“Let… her… GO.” No fucking creep was going to Keep his sister. Certainly not THIS fucking creep. He dodged danced, distracted, slipped, slid, and, when he had The Thing all turned sideways… bit.

A mouthful of The Things’s Things was not what Begley wanted, but it was what he needed right now. The scream told him he’d hit the right spot.

The flying through the air told him he hadn’t hit him hard enough.

Coming to in his sister’s arms told him he must have done something right.

Next: Strange Favors

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/436097.html. You can comment here or there.

A couple helping hands

For [personal profile] kay_brooke‘s prompt. Set in Addergoole in a later year; @Inventrix’s lovely random AG-character generator gave me Cumhai and Begley, and the rest was easy.

“What. The. Hell?” Cúmhaí darted through the halls, bouncing off of walls that weren’t the right shape or size anymore.

She could smell the shapes of the halls, that was the thing, and, one, being able to smell walls pretty much freaked her out, and, two, they weren’t the same shape as they’d looked yesterday.

Also, her ears hurt, for a much larger value of “ear” than she was used to.

And she thought the floors might be moving.

“Oh, look, a pupp… bir… puppy bird. Come here, pup.” The floor was moving, moving because someone was thudding towards her with the biggest feet she’d ever seen on a human being.

Then again, this place seemed to defy the definition of “human being” she was used to.

“Back up,” she snarled. “Back up and leave me alone.”

“Fraid I can’t do that, little pup. Not today.”

“Stop calling me pup!” He was a lot bigger than her, and he was blocking the hall. And the hall was moving, which was totally unfair.

“Coo!”

And, to top things off, there was her obnoxious little-older-brother Begley, ducking in between Cúmhaí and the giant. “Coo, I’ve got this one.”

“Oh, bork off, Beagle.” He sort of looked beagle-y today, more than her midget brother ever had before, ears and all. She landed a punch on the giant’s nose and started running.

“Coo!”

But she was gone. She’d had one blessed year at home, one quiet year without her obnoxious older brother. And then she’d gotten sent here, here, and that was all his fault too. And now he was even trying to “protect” her. He’d always been trying to protect her, and It had always been ridiculous.

And now the halls were twisting and bending, and her inner ear was trying to turn itself inside out. Puppy bird. Puppy bird? What kind of stupid nickname was puppy bird?

Her nose hurt.

“Oh, hello.”

The voice came out of nowhere, as did the hands that suddenly wrapped their way around Cúmhaí’s throat, cutting off her air, and grabbed for her hair, pulling her head back, and grabbed for her… tail? tail?… forcing her backwards into an arch. “Aren’t you lovely?”

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe. She could’t move. There were too many hands. Hands everywhere.

Much to her humiliation, Cúmhaí realized she was panicking. She couldn’t move. Every time she tried an attack, another hand grabbed her, blocked her, bent her further backwards. And she was seeing stars.

“Let her go!”

Shit, not the Beagle again. Not that.

“She’s mine, little pup. She’s going to be doing what I say pretty soon, aren’t you, pretty birdie?”

“Ack.”

“See?” The invisible hands bent her a little further backwards. She felt as if her spine was breaking. “And she’s going to be mine, and be good. Because if she’s not, I’ll break her back and leave her for the giant.”

Fuck. Fuck. She struggled in earnest this time, only to get pulled even further back on herself.

“Let her… GO.” She heard the impact, but couldn’t see a damn thing. Her captor was laughing, of course he was. Everyone laughed at the Beagle. Laughing, laughing… and suddenly, the laughing turned to screaming.

“I’ll get you, you midget piece of shit.” From ten hands on her, she felt only four. Four she could deal with. She began fighting in earnest, pulling herself back on herself.

She had just gotten free when she heard a yelp, like a sad puppy being thrown.

Next: Littermate (LJ)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/435439.html. You can comment here or there.

Nephew-Nieces and Other Family

To [personal profile] clare_dragonfly‘s prompt.

Addergoole has a landing page here.

If you would like to see this family tree, I can oblige.


First day of school, Year 21 of the Addergoole School

“Bye, Mom.” Dom and Carey kissed their mom-dad’s cheeks, patted its shoulders, and fled into the school before they could be burdened with any more excessive advise. “We’ll be fine!”

It was Carey who called it over a shoulder, because Carey was in charge of reassuring that parent; Dom got to reassure their other biological parent, when Ty visited.

“Free at last.” Dom’s quip fell a little weakly as they stared at the door – a thick steel door in short cement wall that seemed to come out of the ground.

“Do you think Mom-dad…?”

“Worries too much? Yeah. Loads.” Dom made its voice sound firm, no matter how shaky it was feeling. “Look, we’re gonna be fine.”

“Of course you are!” A lush girl patted them both on the back. “Aren’t you two pretty? And you’re going to do just fine; I’ll watch after you. I’m Adorlee, by the by.”

“Dominique sh’Tya.” Dom held out a hand, which conveniently meant turning around and moving out of the new arrival’s grasp. “This is my twin, Cary sh’Jaya.”

“Your twin… by a different mother?” Her pretty brow furrowed. Dom sighed. They’d figured, maybe, here in Addergoole, it wouldn’t confuse people so much.

“Both our parents are…”

“Wait, did you say Tya? Oh, darnit all! That makes you my nephews.”

“Nieces.” Carey had opinions about gender. They were different from Dom’s opinions.

“Nephew-nieces. Are you one of Mi – Professor VanderLinden’s?”

“Oh, now don’t make it sound like such a thing… but yes.” The pretty girl – Adorlee? – Adorlee pouted at them. “Well, at least let me show you around.”

“Or me.” The voice was different. Angrier. Colder. The face was different – older, since it had been over a decade. But Dom recognized a brother.

“Eryk!” Carey and Dom left the overbearing Adorlee in the dust to surround their half-brother in hugs. “You can show us around.”

Carey had opinions on a lot of things. Incestuous family tree or not, Dom hoped Eryk-is-an-acceptable-boyfriend wasn’t one of them.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/434674.html. You can comment here or there.

Looking, a continuation drabble of Addergoole @kissofjudas

After Love. Approx. year 30 of the Addergoole School.

Shira had turned down the first four people Mike had brought to her.

Two of them had been older students, the other two late late entries into Regine’s breeding project – with the war making a mess of their lives, Regine had started bringing in whatever new blood she could find, and Mike was happily helping her repopulate the world. One of the students had been male, the other female; one of the Project ones had been female, the other hermaphroditic.

And Shira had said – later and in private – “No. Good try, but no.”

And Luke was still obnoxiously in love, and even more obnoxiously entirely oblivious to that fact.

“Professor?”

Mike glanced up at the voice. There was unsurprisingly, a student standing there. Skylla. Mike taught her, of course, in a Literature class – American Lit, this semester – where she was quiet unless prompted but eloquent and off-beat when questioned. She was also, so far, a scruffy tomboy who hadn’t yet decided what she would be as an adult. No the sort Mike normally pursued. He’d assumed she’d end up Laurel’s or Doug’s, or possibly Sang Ki’s.

But she was standing in his doorway, radiating concern and need so badly that Mike didn’t need to focus on his empathy to understand it.

“Come on, Skylla. How can I help you?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/432991.html. You can comment here or there.

Love, a drabble of Mike VanderLinden for @kissofJudas

Approx. year 30 of the Addergoole School, a Friday-night staff party. Just about 10 years before the Myst/Luke drabbles. Yes, Luke is slow.

“Luke’s in love.” Mike stared at her drink. “I hate when he’s in love.” Her drink was, inexplicably, empty.

“You have such a wide data set to know that from?” Shira Pelletier poured Mike another drink.

“Yes.” She chugged the drink, and sulked at its emptiness again. “He’s been in love three times before, and each time it’s sucked.”

“Even when it was your daughter?” This time, Shira filled the glass with a clear liquid. Mike sniffed it: water.

“Even when it’s my daughter.” Mike flopped backwards onto the couch, her head in Shira’s lap. Shira petted nicely. It was a pity sh really didn’t want anything to do with Mike. The Daeva couldn’t figure that one out. Wasn’t she pretty enough?

“Well, Mike, I think you need a distraction. Because if the last time is any indication, it’s going to take Luke at least a decade to figure this one out.”

“I’m going to need a lot of distractions.”

“Or one persistent one. You could fall in love too, you know.”

Mike peeked up at Shira, but she wasn’t talking about herself. “Anyone in mind?”

“Nobody yet. But bring them to me, when you find them, and I’ll tell you if you’re on the right track.”

“You’re going to screen my dates?” Yes, she was serious. Smiling at him, but smiling with that just-watch-me sort of expression.

“Not your dates, Meckil. Not your bed buddies. But the one you should fall in love with? Yes, I will screen them.”

“What if there isn’t anyone?”

“Oh, Mike. You have to start looking before you can decide you’re not going to find anyone.”

“Yes, ma’am.” What else was there to say?

next (and on LJ)

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Moving Forward, a continuation of Wren/Nydia for the October Giraffe Call

This is to [personal profile] rix_scaedu‘s commissioned continuation of
Love and Hospitality,
Graduation Plans,
and
Good Bones.

“No, I don’t think you understand.” Wren leaned forward over the table and tried not to pound on the table. Ladies do not throw tantrums in public. Ladies smile, and find out all their enemies’ weaknesses. Phelen had been full of good lessons. Massive control, but lots of good lessons. “We are not looking for someone who wants a nanny. We are not looking for someone who wants a mommy. We have our own children.”

“Look, if I’m going to top someone as a lifestyle, I expect them to cook and clean for me. I expect my subs to do as I tell them. That’s not being childish; that’s just the way I do things.”

He was slick as a snake and twice as scaly, although he was on the list as Faded. Nydia had gone silent next to Wren, and she understood the urge. She pursed her lips at the man.

“Then we are not interested.”

“You won’t find anyone else as skilled in this sort of thing as I am.”

Something about the way he argued made her want to argue back. “But it doesn’t matter how good of a plumber you are when we’re looking for an electrician.”

“If you truly knew what you wanted, you wouldn’t be in the market for a dom.” He reached over the table and touched Wren’s hand. She moved her hand away before he could press down.

“If you touch me without my permission ever again, I will ruin you faster than you can say ‘creepy old man.’ This interview is over. Thank you for your time.”

He stared at her. She wondered if anyone had ever said no to him before. She didn’t have time to baby him thorough this, though; Nydia was twitching next to her. “Good luck in your future endeavors.” She wasn’t very good at being authoritative, but she managed now, for the sake of the team. “Nydia. Come.”

It took her friend until they were in the car to realize what had happened. “Did you just…”

“You were frozen. He creeped you out?”

“Snake.” She curled up around her knees in the passenger seat. “If you hadn’t been there…”

“Hey, that’s why we’re a team. Come on, let’s go home. We’ve only got one more place to look at, and that’s not for another three hours.” And only two more people on Lady Maureen’s list. She didn’t want to have to write home and ask for another list. She wasn’t sure that would go over well.

There was a dead rabbit – no, a very well-tanned rabbit skin, head and all – and two jewelry boxes waiting in front of Wren & Nydia’s door. Not collars, she prayed, but Nydia was already opening one.

Not collars. Tennis bracelets, diamond tennis bracelets. Wren stared at the piece in surprise. “It’s your colors.”

“Bet the other one had brown stones. Rabbit skin?”

“Hey. It’s not a dead bird.” That probably would have freaked her out more. “Nyd… do you think it’s safe to bring the kids here?”

“Thresholds. Speaking of…” She unlocked the door and pushed Wren through.

“Only works on fae.” Wren grabbed Nydia’s arm and pulled her through anyway.

“Yeah, well, deadbolts and a steel door work pretty well on humans. Rabbit skin this time. He’s learning.”

“Why do you say he?” Wren closed the door and looked at the gifts.

“It’s just such a guy thing to do. So, where do we stand on our standings?” Nydia set the rabbit fur on a bookshelf, draping it over some piece of statuary she’d brought with her. “The buildings. That one next to the old factory?”

“That’s the best option so far. But I’m not sure about the other one, either. The one in the mall?” Wren stuck the brown tennis bracelet in her room. Where would she wear something like that?
“Meh. Too mall-y.” It was always a bit surprising when Nydia had opinions. “But at least we have options there.”

“The redhead…” Wren offered it up weakly, knowing it wasn’t going to work.

“The redhead was boring. Come on, the orders he came up with…”

“Were as bad as the creep today, I know.” She sat down in the big, comfy armchair. “I don’t know. I’m beginning to feel like Lady Maureen set us up for failure with these guys.”

“Why would she do that?”

“For a lesson, maybe? Or maybe she really likes one of the last two guys.” She glanced at her notes. “I’m not sure about that one. They’re likable-looking, but so was the snake today.”

“She doesn’t seem like she’d get something like that wrong. And she agreed with our plan.”

“That doesn’t mean that she thinks it will succeed.” The idea was beginning to sound more and more reasonable. Lady Maureen had wanted them to learn something. Maybe Maureen and DJ had gone in on it together. They could find a building that was almost perfect, and that would work out. But to find a boy who would be what they wanted – take them in hand without being overbearing, accept their collar without mooching, and be able to deal with their children without issue – that was beginning to seem impossible.

The phone ring cut across her moping like lightning through a grey sky. She scrambled for it, but Nydia picked it up first.

“Hello? Oh, yes. Yes, tomorrow at three, right. What? Ah, here, why don’t you talk to Wren?” Frowning, she passed the phone over.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Miss Watson? This is Erwin Landero; I have an appointment with yourself and Miss Chatelle tomorrow at three? The Lady Maureen made the arrangements.”

“Yes.” She flipped open her appointment book. “Yes, we’re meeting at the Moon Beans Café.”

“I was hoping I could stop by today? I have a small pamphlet I’ve written up, and if you and Miss Chatelle had a chance to read it before we met, it would be wonderful.”

“Well, we won’t divulge our home address, but if you’d like to meet briefly at the Starbucks on the corner of Juniper and Clove, we could be there in forty-five minutes.”

“Thank you very much, and I understand the precautions. I’ll see you there. Juniper and Clove in forty-five minutes.”

“That’s interesting.” She hung up the phone and reached for her coat. “This one will either be a complete scum, or perfect.”
“So we’re taking the long way around the block, then?”

“I think we could use a little walk. And there’s that place on the corner we’ve been thinking about.”

She opened the door while Nydia got her coat. There, bending over to put something on their doormat, was the leanest, most feline-looking man she’d ever seen with a human face. He glanced up at her, dropped the thing – more chocolates – yelped, and ran away.

Wren could swear she saw him go halfway up the wall when he turned the corner.

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