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Hidden Mall 81: Surely You’re Not Serious? I Am, and Don’t Call me Shirley (I’m Abseil)

Sep2

“Attention mall Shoppers!  Our Sidewalk Sale starts at the Burlington Coat Factory wing and continues down to the Sears wing.  Hurry over to get the best sales!” The intercom continued to cheerfully advertise a sale to its “shoppers.”

A few of the people behind Abby-and-Vic jumped or shifted uncomfortably.  One of the ones with a gun aimed it at the intercom but didn’t fire. 

“You heard the – mall.”  Abby found she was grinning.  Why was she grinning? This was mad.  It was insane.  “There’s a sale going on.  Come on, ladies.” She turned and headed for the Burlington Coat Factory wing.  Continue reading →

Post-Scarcity Mystery

Aug31

This story started after a binge-listen of Isaac Arthur’s Science & Futurism videos. With Post-Scar City, it’s one of those I-might-continue sorts of things.

~*~

The coffee shop was Teri’s favorite part of the arcology, and that was saying something. 

It had a prime location, by some ways of looking at things – it overlooked one of the farm quadrants, so it had sunlight for most of the day through its broad windows.  Looking that way, you could almost forget you were hundreds of feet above ground. You could almost forget that out the front door was a hallway and a slidewalk that would take you where you wanted to go, instead of a road. 

That wasn’t really why Teri liked it, nor that the barista who worked there most weekdays had stunningly blue eyes and a generous smile, nor the adorable foam art that always seemed inspired by something “outside” in the fields. 

There was this corner table that looked out over the field but was half-hidden by the cream-and-sugar station, and, sitting there, Teri could decide how much people was a good amount for the day.  And, sitting there, tablet and stylus and coffee and scone, Teri could spend hours floating, drawing whatever came to mind, and go back to Residential Ring Three with something done that sparked that amazing feeling of I did something good today. 

The bright smile and the way the blue-eyed barista would sometimes wink helped, too.  Continue reading →

Running in the Bear Empire 54: This Means W-

Aug30

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous: 53: the Swan
Next:55: Coming Home
🐻

Deline was trying to pretend that she wasn’t tense, and she wasn’t doing that good of a job. 

She walked by Carrone and near Ranger Learone, wishing for the casual conversation they’d had the day before.  The rain had held off while they camped, at least, but now, with the capital city looming on the horizon like a monster peeking out through the Bear Mountains, the rain, too, was looming.  It suited her mood, and the tenseness in Carrone’s shoulders, and the worry on the Ranger’s face and in the set of Lord Eigeran’s pace, stomping as if he could kick away his concern.  Continue reading →

Spoils of War 17 – The Doors

Aug28

First: Spoils of War I: Surrender

The door.  The door.  Nikol slipped out of bed – Aran wasn’t there anymore; of course he wasn’t there anymore, the door had just closed – and peered out the window.  There he was, walking down the street. Walking, which was odd. She’d imagined if he was going to run away, he’d take a horse. And one, no, both cats were following him, but he didn’t seem to notice them at all.

She ran down the stairs and slipped out the side door, hurrying to follow him. He was moving deliberately, not slowly, but not running. Where was he going?

The remnants of her nightmare stuck with her, making his movement seem sinister. If he was running away, she was going to feel rather stupid about following him. Hadn’t she more or less said that she’d let him get it out of his system? And then she was trailing him like she didn’t trust him.

But it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, it was that her dream was still screaming in the back of her mind and something seemed off, wrong.   Continue reading →

Hidden Mall 80: Abbies

Aug26

There were people in the mall.  That was the weirdest part; this mall had been empty as long as they’d been using it as a base.  From the sounds of things, it had always been empty. 

But right now there were nearly thirty people standing in front of the central fountain – well, one of them was sitting, looking definitely unconscious.  Four were unidentifiable in white suits much like the mall with the robots had provided. A bunch looked ragged and dirty, too thin and too hungry. Some of them had satyr hooves and one of them was definitely a centaur.  Abby heard Liv whimper and wondered if she was whimpering about the centaur or something else. 

To the right, a handful were dressed like SWAT, face masks down and weapons pointed at Abby.  And then, in the middle, were seven different Kevins, all of them in chains.  Continue reading →

Hidden Mall 79: Roar

Aug19

EVERY MALL HAS ITS OWN POWERS.  EVEN A NORMAL MALL LIKE THIS ONE HAS SOME MAGIC TO IT.

“So a mall could give someone the power to mind-control someone else?”

IF SOMEONE IMAGINED IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA FOR A MALL, THEN YES. ANY MALL SOMEONE IMAGINED CAN EXIST.

Abby swallowed. “I really, really want to say nobody would say that was a good idea for a mall to be able to control your mind, but shit, Shit, I can think of so many ways that might happen.  People wanting to stop violence, so they start with ‘the mall doesn’t allow violent thoughts.'” Continue reading →

Post-Scar City – a beginning

Aug17

So: I had something on my fiction list titled post-scarcity, and LilFluff, in his… Fluffiness, called for Post-Scar City. 

Technically, it’s a Post-Scar University, with some influence from The 100 and AM Harte’s Above Ground.

This is an introductory chapter.  Don’t know what I’ll do with it after this, but it does seem to, well, introduce things.

🏫

Adeline pressed up close to the screen that showed their descent, wedging between two taller people that she didn’t know while still trying not to lose her hold on Geordi’s hand.  “It looks… green.  Really green.”

“I’ve never seen so much green,” one of the tall people agreed.  She peeked up, but she didn’t recognize their faces, either.  They were tall, and blue-eyed, with dark hair, and both of them looked the same.  They must have either come from one of the other Habitats, or from the other side of Lazarus Habitat. “It doesn’t —  It can’t– where are the scars?”

“There ought to be scars.”  Geordi’s right hand moved in the signs he used to talk most of the time.  “There ought to be — black, grey.”

She twitched her free hand in the same method.  “It looks like a hydro suite.  Or the sort of things that they show on vids of Before Times.”

Geordi had implants, had since he was ten, but they’d met in the creche, and when it came down to it, he’d always be more comfortable with sign than with spoken language. Continue reading →

Running in the Bear Empire 53: the Swan

Aug16

First: Running in the Bear Empire
Previous:52: Tales
Next: 54: This Means W-
🐻

“A good day, mmm?”  Carrone took a long drink and then responded to Ranger Learone’s pointed tale with his own story, something about a swan who had decided to follow a man around, until eventually, the man brought the swan home. The swan would attack him — of course, it was a swan —but it wouldn’t leave, either, so he fed it and let it follow him around, until eventually people started calling the swan his wife.  Continue reading →