My goal is to have 25 stories outlined so I have some room to change my mind if something isn’t talking to me.
In addition, I have 3 days earmarked for Patreon and 2 days for a story-for-submission.
We’ll see how far 50,000/30 days takes me!
One more poll coming up, but this is what I have outlined (for a very short version of outlining that’s about 250 words each) so far: Continue reading
First: A New World
Previous: Myths
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The potion was sweeter than she remembered it, and for a moment, Kael worried that she’d made a mistake with an ingredient. Impossible. It might have been a thousand years, but to her mind, it had been barely more than a nap. She could no more have forgotten the ingredients than she could have forgotten her own name.
Her eyes cleared and she went for the note, glad she’d thought to put it away before the tourists showed up.
The letters shimmered and twisted until they were legible and understandable.
Lady Kaelingrade,
I do not know what potion you wrought, but you wrought it well indeed. The entire tower slept for quite some time.
Under the words, she seemed to read: I wish you’d warned us. There were people I would have liked to say goodbye to.
This note can only be read by you, but as a precaution, I wrote it in the script I first found a hundred-plus years ago, when I returned. You’ve shown signs of stirring, lately, and I think it might finally be time for you to awaken.
Finally. You were closer to the smoke, of course. That’s why you slept so much longer. But I could have used you, so many times, since we came to this strange place you delivered us unto.
I have set things up to give you a place to learn about the world before you decide what you must do. Do not mistake me: I and the others are still loyal to you. But a man can not stay in one place, these days, and pretend to be his own uncle, or simply never age and claim to be one of the Great Ones. Belief is too thin and people are too willing to mob someone, looking for secrets that are not mine to share.
I am still loyal. I am still loyal. I am still loyal.
I will return. I hope, if you have awakened and gone out into the world by then, that you leave me sign in the same method, or another similar method. Until then, beware others you meet who seem like you.
You’re not going to be strong enough, not yet. You need me. You’ve always needed me.
Kael blinked. She was reading – was reading three lines into each line: the letters, which she could not read herself, the meaning of the words, and the meaning behind the words. What had Joaon – no. Something in the potion had been a little bit off.
She was going to have to find a way to grow and collect her own ingredients again. She was going to have to find staff again. And Joaon, who had always been more than staff.
He’d been back a hundred years. Some part of her bristled. He could have woken her! He could have – he’d lived for 100 years? Without her?
Well, he’d always been more than staff, more than an apprentice. The potion for long life was not all that difficult a one, if you knew where to get the ingredients.
How did you take an apprentice, these days?
No, the matter at hand. She looked back down to the letter.
The set-up I’ve created for you will restrict you a bit, I’m afraid, but it provides you with cover while you get used to the world. These people are foreigners, or we would have called them that in our time.
You have no idea how hard it was for me to adjust, without that, how hard it was for all of us, and I hope you never do know. It is our job to make your life easier, after all. It has always been our job..
She blinked twice, and realized she was blinking away tears. “Joaon… oh, Joaon.”
I assume you understand how it is that I am still alive, a hundred years after coming to this place. I have always been very attentive. And you had already kept me alive long past my allotted time.
This is more than that. I had grandchildren, once. Now I may, somewhere, have descendants. Do I dare to try the potion that would tell me? And if my line has died out…
Do be careful: there are ingredients today with similar names to the reagents of our day that do something completely different. I have attempted to stock the stores with only those things that you will recognize, but sometimes those I put “in charge” of the tower have their own wishes.
How they can manage not to believe in proper potion work, while standing in your Tower, I will never know.
I hope I see you again soon.
I hope I see you again.
Your loyal servant,
I am still loyal. I am still loyal. I am still loyal.
Joaon of the Red Rushes
First – Previous – Landing Page – Next
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“Ctirad. Come on, kitten, come back to me.” The voice was gentle. Ctirad blinked. He had – he had dozed a bit, hadn’t he? He’d floated on the praise. He cleared his throat and miawed carefully, a question, an indication that he was aware, what does my master want of me?
“That’s a good kitten. Are you ready to be a boy, a person for me again?”
Was he ready? No. He started to shake his head and then looked up at his master’s face. Was there a right answer?
“Answer honestly, Ctirad.”
He shook his head no, swallowing a little lump of worry. He’d almost done the wrong thing. He’d almost been bad. He made a small noise he couldn’t quite control, deep in the back of his throat.
“It’s all right, kitten. You’re being a very good boy, and I’m happy with you. Come over to my couch, and you can be a good boy while I watch the news and handle some paperwork, all right?”
That was good. He nodded a little bit, just enough to indicate his understanding, and slunk over to the couch as Timaios led him, tugged along by the leash. If he could have purred, he would have. His master was pleased with him, and his master liked him being a cat.
He curled up on the couch where Timaios indicated, his head on his master’s lap, and settled in comfortably. Timaios pulled over a lap desk and worked with his right hand on a laptop while the news played in the background. His left hand trailed over Ctirad’s back and hair, his neck, back down his spine, and up again.
“Will you show me what you look like without your Mask?” he asked lazily after a while.
Ctirad looked up at him. Was this a test? No. No, his expression was curious and that was it. Was it an order? No. It was – he was just checking? Ctirad shook his head, barely moving it.
“Ah, not yet then? That’s all right. You’re a good kitty anyway.”
Ctirad set his head back down and snuggled in. It was all right. He didn’t know why it was all right, or how, but it was all right. He’d be okay.
He floated in and out of a content drowse, basking in sensations that he hadn’t yet gotten used to: the way his Owner’s hands felt touching him, when he had pleased his Owner and would not be punished. The way praise felt when it didn’t come with insults or blows or little knives and orders hidden in the praise. The way if felt to relax in the presence of another person.
“…demolition paused today at the McCurdy building downtown when a group of protesters chained themselves to the historical monument.”
Ctirad leaned up and blinked at the news. “Mirrrrp?” The McCurdy Building?
“What is it, kitten?”
Ctirad made a soft noise and ducked his head. Shit. He was being a kitten now. He wasn’t supposed to be paying attention to the news. He was a good kitten, and good kittens didn’t speak. He licked his lips and purred quietly, a rumble in the back of his throat. I’m a good kitten. You like your kitten still, right?
“You’re not in trouble. You’re a good boy, Ctirad.” Timaios’ hand settled gently at the back of Ctirad’s neck. “I need my good kitten to tell me what got his attention all of a sudden, all right?”
Ctirad nodded slowly, barely moving, wanting to press back into the hand for reassurance.
The fingers closed around the sides of his neck. “Good boy. Speak.”
Ctirad licked his lips. “The McCurdy Building. Ermenrich, he talked about that building a lot. There’s supposed to be something – something inside it, I think, or under it. We went in there once and he paced around a lot, but then he ordered me to forget most of it.”
“…That’s pretty shitty, but that’s good. Tell me, Ctirad, how would you feel about having someone find those memories you were ordered to forget?”
“Um. From the feel of things, sir, they’d be there for a long time.”
“But would you mind?”
“I’d like my mind back. Sir. I mean.” He ducked his head and looked at the couch, frozen. Shit. He’d let himself get far too comfortable here, and there he was, saying things no good Kept ought to say.
Timaios’ hand was in his hair. He didn’t move, didn’t lean towards the touch, couldn’t speak. Couldn’t apologize.
“I think you should have your mind back, Ctirad. I think it never should have been taken from you. You may speak at will now.”
Ctirad didn’t move. “Sir? My mind belongs to you.”
“That, well, that is a matter of some argument. Yes, it does, we’ll go with that for the moment. But it pleases me to give it to you, because I have found that it does not work well to alter someone’s mind. At best, you can rarely do what you were intending. And at worst, you can seriously damage your target. So: It is perfectly fine to want your mind back. This is a good want, and one that I endorse.”
“Not gonna get used to that,” Ctirad muttered.
“Get used to what? To being encouraged to have wants? It can take some time, I imagine.”
“But that and still not being bad, not being spoiled. Gonna be tricky.” He could have moved enough to look up. He decided it was best not to. “Sir.”
“Mmm. Maybe I want you spoiled, hrrm, did you think of that?”
He was pretty sure Timaios was teasing. He wasn’t, however, certain. “Sir?” This time he peeked up.
His owner was smiling at him. “I want you to want things, and I want you to express those wants to me. If you would like your mind back, that is a good thing. And I will have it done.”
Have it done. It finally sank in that Timaios wasn’t talking about doing it himself. “Sir?”
“Timaios,” he corrected gently.
“Timaios? Who?”
“Oh, yes. That is important, isn’t it, when they’re going to be in your mind. Sal? My driver? Nobody I employ has only one skill, you see.”
“Sal.” He tasted the idea and nodded slowly. “I would not mind Sal finding my memories. I feel like a lot of them are gone.” He shifted position, suddenly uncomfortable. “I shouldn’t – I shouldn’t have let him do that. I shouldn’t have-”
“Easy, easy. You couldn’t have stopped him. And as for the rest, you were tricked fully and thoroughly, set up for it far too well. It would almost impress me, that Ermenrich had planned that much, if he hadn’t done something so reprehensible with it.”
“Ermenrich is good at planning. The problem is only that his plans are sometimes too much. And he’s not always good at working around surprise elements.” Ctirad ducked his head. Something still felt wrong about criticizing his former owner, and something felt strange about praising him.
“That’s a good assessment. Thank you. So – do you think you’re up to having Sal look at you tonight, or would you rather wait?”
“It’s going to take a while to get used to that.” He was hedging. He knew it; he was fairly sure Timaios would know it, but he couldn’t bring himself to come up with an answer.
“I know. But I’m going to keep doing it. Shall I give you a little more time to come back from the kitten, first?”
“Please? Maybe if I-” Damnit. He ducked his head and waited.
“Sit up, that’s a good idea. Yes, come on. It might be good to give yourself a little physical space, but you don’t have to.”
Ctirad sat up, moving a half a hand-width from Timaios, and pulled his legs up into a tailor’s seat, one knee barely bumping against his owner. He closed his eyes for a moment and found some peace inside of him.
Quietness. He had forgotten how much he missed quietness. The TV was going, yes, but there was nothing he had to do and no feelings of disappointment pressing on him. “I think-” he offered after a moment, “I think I can handle Sal now, if it would please you, sir.”
“Some day, you are going to manage to say my name casually. All right, I’ll call for Sal.” There was the sound of a phone being picked up. “Danny, send Sal up, if you would, and some finger foods. We may be burning calories tonight.”
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First – Previous – Landing Page – Next
Want more?
The last Finish It! before NanoWrimo: Tilden, from This Story
Ce’Rilla sh’Orlaith by Accalon and Vidrou sh’Cynara by Leofric, Tilden’s parents
Cya Red Doomsday and Leofric Lightning Blade, two of Tilden’s Grandparents. All icons by Djinni.
It had been two weeks.
Tilden had repeated, calmly but insistently, “you should let me go.” Every night. Every time Laufeia ordered him to do something unpleasant – and Laufeia had a taste for rather unpleasant things. Every time she ordered him naked. “You should let me go.”
Eleri, whose own Kept had walked into the collar willingly and who had not nearly the taste for cruelty as her friend, found herself in a bit of a tight spot. She could advise Laufeia to release Tilden – but every time she did, Laufeia got a little nastier, a little angrier. She didn’t just take it out on Tilden, either, but on Eleri and on Caetano and on their third crew-mate, Manlius, who took it all in without seeming to notice or care. Then again, Manlius took in everything. Only at dawn did you get a sense for how stressed he’d been, as the “sun rose” in his room with intense heat or nothing at all. Continue reading
Here’s another bonus, spurred on but not really related to a line from a Popular Mechanics article I read last night: (paraphrase) “AI is going to make the Industrial Revolution look small.”
🤖
Autumn knew better than to grab the strands of the world too much around HAllowe’en.
Everything was thinner at that time, more responsive, more willing to bend and twist and open.
But the Strand looked so tempting. It was this line of connection, this connection that went — nowhere? It trailed off into a space in mid-air, looking as if it turned into wires at the end.
So she followed it, drawing the look of the wires on to her arm in watercolor, little circuit-board designs that appeared to her mind’s’ eye.
She stepped through a thin space in the air and found herself on a silvery road, the buildings rising up around her on left and right, stretching above her, making it a tunnel of mirrors and glass.
Oops. She tied off a marker so she could find her way home and followed the wires of the Strand, trailing along through wires upon wires upon wires.
She turned a corner into another tunnel and found herself face to face with someone doing the same thing as she was.
Someone? Not quite. But not quite something, either, a metallic-and-plastic figure wearing a knit hat of red-orange-and-green and a swirling dress that matched.
The Strand from Autumn went straight to this figure. She stopped. She stared. The figure stopped and stared.
There were a few other people on the road — mostly human-seeming, some only humanoid-seeming. From the corner of her eye, Autumn could see all of them connected by tenuous strands.
“You are—” The figure frowned. The expression was cartoony, plastic eyebrows moving and lips turning downward.
“You’re…” Autumn shook her head and bowed. “I’m Autumn Roundtree.”
“I am ATMN-1985. I am called Autumn.” The figure raised an eyebrow at AUtumn. “You do not belong here. Your only connection here is me.”
Autumn took a moment to study ATMN. “You’re —”
She was connected all over the place, as much as Autumn was, back home, as much as her mother was.
“An autonomous Intelligence designed to understand connections between beings.” The smile was broad and surprisingly genuine-seeming. “Your counterpart.”
“Amazing.”
Autumn felt a tug on her, and ATMN made a noise of concern.
“Your connection is thinning. You cannot stay, you need to go where you came from. Or—”
“Or,” Autumn agrees solemnly. “It was nice to meet you, ATMN. Perhaps I will see you again.”
ATMN curtseyed. “I would like that. I would like this new connection to last.”
Autumn hurried back as her connection to her own world tugged and throbbed by turns. She followed the thinning line back to where she’d started and pushed through the thin space in the world. Her ears popped, her head rushed, and, for a moment, she lost consciousness.
She came to leaning against the old maple tree in her mother’s back yard, leaves crunching as they fell down upon her.
“Nothing but a pack of cards,” she muttered. She knew better than to reach for Strands around Hallowe’en. It always left you with too many questions.
First: A New World
Previous: Carrenonna
⚗️
“That is… a very good question. But I suppose the answer lies in the fact that Kaelingrade is said to have disappeared, isn’t she? Whereas Carrenonna-” She trailed off, hoping someone knew.
“Kaelingrade vanished without a trace, tower and all, in a cold spring one day during the Aterpian Wars,” read the father. “What are – oh, those were some of the wars before we landed, weren’t they? Skirmishes?”
Kael raised her eyebrows at the man. “Skirmishes? You are talking about battles when thousands on thousands of people died.”
“But they didn’t have real technology here, did they? Before we, I mean, before colonists came. That was a long time ago, but I know there wasn’t anything like modern warfare.”
“Oh, come on, Dad.” The older daughter rolled her eyes. “Just because we can drop bombs and blow up entire cities now doesn’t mean that we’re superior or something. And besides, they had magic back then, real magic, didn’t they?”
“Aria, what did we say about-” Continue reading
This is a weird one. Today’s Patreon Sum-up involves three stories I wrote, not to prompts, but because they appeared to me. All crossovers of one sort or another.
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“Get us someplace with medical care!” Simon shouted.
“Someplace with advanced technomagical medical care.” Aerich’s aristocratic snarl sounded panicked.
“Someplace they’re not going to shoot at us.” Cole’s voice was calm. But Cole, who had Josie in his arms, also sounded serious.
I blame this on my current marathon re-read of the Sandman comics.
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On Halloween, 2011, when the walls between worlds were thinner than they had ever been, the woman called The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (because her Mentor had been fond of Robert Heinlein, in his day and in her day) left her kids with her sister, as per their arrangement, and slipped out between those world-barriers.
Okay, I guess the theme is really talking to me this month.
Here’s another bonus, spurred on but not really related to a line from a Popular Mechanics article I read last night: (paraphrase) “AI is going to make the Industrial Revolution look small.”
🤖
Autumn knew better than to grab the strands of the world too much around Hallowe’en.
Everything was thinner at that time, more responsive, more willing to bend and twist and open.
Our router gave up the ghost last week, leaving us with considerably less interwebs than we are used to, and, due to an Amazon misunderstanding (did you know Prime ever meant not-quick-shipping? We didn’t!), this situation persisted through the weekend.
I (re-)read all of the Sandman graphic novels and Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice.
I also started thinking about the time before we had two computers, and the time when we didn’t spend so much time on the internet that having one connection was a hardship. Continue reading