The Answer is No, a vignette

Mar18

This takes place sometime during the “sign-up” phase of the Addergoole project – ~mid-to-late 1970’s. It was written in response to [personal profile] clare_dragonfly‘s comment here.

Addergoole has a landing page here

“Take part in a Grigori breeding project? What are you, nuts?”

Regine had been anticipating responses like that; it was one reason (although not in any way close to her primary reason – they were her crew, and the closest thing to friends she had) that her team consisted of not just a Grigori, but a Mara and a Daeva as well.

She had not truly been anticipating the next rejection she received.

“Wait, you’re trying to breed more half-breeds? Why would you do that?”

“The term half-breed is certainly problematic, but it’s the term most commonly in use right now…”

“Forget terminology!” The man talking to her was… scruffy. He was the closest thing to a hobo Regine had ever seen in an Ellehemaei, and he had a body odor that was hard to ignore. “I’m talking about the way these kids’ll be treated!”

“They’ll have a full, extensive education with well-qualified professors and Mentors. They’ll receive every benefit a full-blooded child could hope for…”

“Except that they’ll be half-breeds. You might not know what it’s like, lady, with your perfect Grigori everything, but most of the full-blooded true Ellehemaei out there, they hate my kind.”

He had not dropped his Mask; now he did, revealing what Regine already knew, shaggy doglike ears and a jawline shaped more like a muzzle. “No, thank you. If I’m going to sire any kids, I’ll either do it with humans so human the kid’ll never Change, or if I find a fae that will have me, with purebloods so the kid’ll have a better chance than his dad.”

“But…”

“The answer is no, madam. I’d rather starve.”

Regine was left staring at his tail as he left. She was fairly certain he would not have listened nor consented even if she had managed to get out her last sentence.

But I’m trying to change the view of half-breeds in society.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/694764.html. You can comment here or there.

The Collar Job, Part XI

Mar17

Part I (and on LJ)

Part II (and on LJ)

Part III (and on LJ)

Part IV (and on LJ)

Part V (and on LJ)

Part VI (and on LJ)

Part VII (and on LJ)

Part VIII (and on LJ)

Part IX (and on LJ)

Part X (and on LJ)

This is … what happens when you let me watch an entire season of Leverage in a week and a half. *cough* Tír na Cali/Leverage fanfiction crossover.

It’s written in an experimental style for me, and, well, it’s fanfic, so pls. be kind.

(this appears to be at least a two-parter at this point, in terms of TV episodes.)

Fade in from commercial.

“They’re going to do something stupid.” Eliot is holding Lady Anastasia’s cell phone and looking – affectionately frustrated. She, in turn, looks a little bemused.

“These friends of yours…”

“Team. They’re my team.”

“Special forces?” Her shoulders tense, just a little bit.

“No. Different sort of team.” He looks up at her, clearly weighing what he’s going to say. “We being overheard?”

“Not as long as the phone is off. My apartment is bug-free, at least.”

Eliot looks at the phone, turns it off, and hands it over to Anastasia. His movements are very careful, slow, and deliberate; even so, hers are every bit as cautious as she takes the phone from him and backs – backs – towards the other side of her room.

Eliot tracks her movement. “I’m not going to attack you.” It’s more of a grumble than would really be reassuring, but it gets her attention.

“I didn’t live this long turning my back on warriors.”

“Look, I -” His hands go to the collar around his neck. There’s a twitch that seems to move his entire body. “Look, your Ladyship, I belong to you. Yeah? That’s how it works?”

“That’s how it works.” She is watching him like a rabbit watching a snake. “That doesn’t mean you won’t snap my neck.”

“You’re going to have to turn your back on me eventually. It’s either that or put me back in chains.”

“If you’re as good as I think you are, chains would just irritate you.”

“Enough chains might slow me down.”

“They might. But that would bring its own problems.”

Eliot doesn’t say anything for a minute. His jaw is working but no sound is coming out.

“Tie me up.”

~

“All right, I’ve got them. This isn’t going to be easy, Nate-”

“It’s never easy. When it’s easy, then everything goes wrong. What do you have?”

“Relax, would you? Look, we’re all stressed about Eliot.” Hardison’s voice is sharper than the words would suggest.

They are sitting around their suite – Nate and Hardison, alone – Nate looking through piles of papers and Hardison manipulating computer networks through a bank of monitors that look entirely out of place.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” There is a glass next to Nate’s elbow; it is empty. He looks at it, looks at the bottle of whisky, and looks back at Hardison. “What do you have?”

“All right, so this family has three sisters, right? Alessia, Anastasia, and Adalia. Pretty common for Tír na Crazy here, except, one, none of them are twins – “

“That’s uncommon?”

“Man, where you been? They have all the twins, the more royal, the more twin. And secondly, there used to be seven of them.”

Cut to commercial.

Next: Deleted Scene – http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/700461.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/694293.html. You can comment here or there.

March Is Women’s History Month – day two: Kailani as a Tween

Mar16

March is Women’s History Month, and so for March I’m doing vignettes about or questions regarding any of my female characters, one/day from the 10th-31st.

The prompt post is here; please add more prompts 😉

This one comes from [personal profile] clare_dragonfly, who asked for Kailani as a tween.

Kailani is one of the three main characters in Addergoole, which also has a landing page here. (Stay tuned for the entirely-new rewrite of Book One of Addergoole, coming soon!)

“His name is Gibbous Moon Over the Lake, but we call him Moonlake.”

The instructor was an earthy woman – brown hair, browned skin, and a smell like loam – a friend of Kailani’s mother who called herself Stormshadow.

That was unimportant. What was important was that she was holding the bridle of a horse. A horse.

“He’s a very calm boy, but watch his ears. They’ll tell you if he’s upset, or interested in something, or spooked.” Stormshadow patted Moonlake’s head. “And his tail – you can hear it flicking back and forth.”

“Like cats.” Kai put her hand over her mouth, feeling her cheeks heating up already. “I mean…” She released her hand, “with the ears and the tail, not the same language, I mean, obviously, one’s a small carnivore-predator and the other one’s a large herbivore-grazer. But they both move their ears for emotions, and their tails. And here?” She touched the horse’s shoulders gently.

“Very good. Yes, they don’t use the same body language as cats, but if you’ve taught yourself to read feline body language with any rate of success, you should be able to handle horses with little problem. Of course, you’ll be on his back, which is different from cats, I’m sure.”

Kailani giggled. “It’s a little different, yes. But I really get to ride him? He won’t mind?”

“He won’t mind. Moonlake is a nice boy, and he likes being able to spend time with people. Here’s one more trick. You can offer him treats, but you have to be careful to keep your thumbs out of the way. Like this.”

Stormshadow wasn’t watching Moonlake; she was watching the young girl with the frizzy hair who was clearly falling in love. “No charge,” she told Moonchild, Kailani’s mother. “In another year, this girl is going to be working at my stable nonstop just to be around the horses.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/694127.html. You can comment here or there.

Just Realized… (Giraffe Call Perks)

Mar15

…that I had both a new prompter and a new donor for this last Giraffe Call!

That means you-all get TWO new pieces of setting information, which, of course, after FebCreate may not be the most startling thing, but um… these are longer?

So!

What setting would you like to know more about?

And what would you like to know?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/693863.html. You can comment here or there.

The Collar Job, Part X

Mar14

Part I (and on LJ)

Part II (and on LJ)

Part III (and on LJ)

Part IV (and on LJ)

Part V (and on LJ)

Part VI (and on LJ)

Part VII (and on LJ)

Part VIII (and on LJ)

Part IX (and on LJ)

This is … what happens when you let me watch an entire season of Leverage in a week and a half. *cough* Tír na Cali/Leverage fanfiction crossover.

It’s written in an experimental style for me, and, well, it’s fanfic, so pls. be kind.

(There are a lot of commercials. It’s being played on one of those syndicated-show channels, I suppose, TNT or Spike or something.)

Fade in from commercial. Eliot’s face is twisted, something like hope combined with conflict.

“But you can’t tell anyone.” Anastasia’s voice is very quiet, and very serious. “You tell anyone, you might get us both killed.”

It takes Eliot a moment to find his voice. When he speaks, his voice is a bit rough. “You really think someone’s going to kill you, don’t you?”

“What do they say? ‘It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you?’ Yes.” Anastasia nods. “I know that at least three of my relatives and one non-rel- non-close-relation would like me dead, and two of them are actively working on it.”

“Lady, what did you do?“

Anastasia’s smile is grim. “I get in the way.”

Eliot nods. He understands getting in the way. “So.” He coughs. “A month.”

“Yes.” She nods slowly. “That’s long enough to satisfy Alessia that you’re not going to go rogue and kill me, short enough that you might not actually go rogue and kill me.”

Eliot takes it in, and nods. “All right.” He looks at the phone, thinks about it for a moment, and dials.

In a suite somewhere else in California, Nate picks up his phone, checks, and speaks very carefully. “This is Nathan Ford.”

“Nate. This is Eliot. I’ve only got three minutes, don’t ask stupid questions.”

“Are you safe?” Nathan mouths “Eliot” to Hardisson, who shifts his typing to another keyboard.

“Right now? I think so. Look… don’t come after me, all right? Lady Anastasia-” He puts emphasis on her name. Nearby, the Lady in question has settled into a chair to listen. “She’s not like her sister, Lady Alessia. I can handle things here until I can find an exit.”

Nathan is scribbling down names. “Do you know how you got taken?”

“Tranq dart.” Eliot sounds disgusted. “They’ve got some good drugs here. Seriously, Nate, don’t try to come in. The Californian security is too tight, and you don’t have me with you. You’ll get caught.”

Nate shares a look with Sohpie. “Eliot – are you being listened to?”

Eliot glances at Anastasia. “I’m wearing a fucking slave collar, Nate, what do you think?”

“I think it’s likely you’re being monitored. So, do you want us to come for you?”

“No!” Eliot’s growl is in full force. “Fuckit, Nate… no.”

“All right, Eliot. I trust you. Listen – take care of yourself.”

“We miss you, Eliot!” Parker leans over Nate to call it into the phone. Nate hangs up the phone and looks over his crew.

“Lady Alessia. Lady Anastasia. Find out everything you can.”

Eliot hangs up the phone. “They’re going to do something stupid.”

Cut to commercial.

Part XI – http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/694293.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/693756.html. You can comment here or there.

Food Log, 3/14

Mar14

Coffee, as per normal
shovelling – 7ish minutes of hard work
(I have a very short driveway)
Cookie
Cheerios, 1/4 cup
egg salad w/ tomato and lettuce
Coco multigrain pop cake, x3

protein shake – protein powder, water, and Milk

Butternut Soup
w/ tofu
Side Salad w/ sunflower seeds
Biscuits (Alton Brown’s recipe)

Wii, half-hour

This is the lowest-points day I’ve managed in just about forever. And sooo filling.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/693281.html. You can comment here or there.

March Is Women’s History Month – day one: Shahin as a Tween

Mar13

March is Women’s History Month, and so for March I’m doing vignettes about or questions regarding any of my female characters, one/day from the 10th-31st.

The prompt post is here; please add more prompts 😉

This one comes from [personal profile] clare_dragonfly, who asked for Shahin as a tween.

Shahin is one of the three main characters in Addergoole, which also has a landing page here. (Stay tuned for the entirely-new rewrite of Book One of Addergoole, coming soon!)

“Who are you?”

The new boy, Shahin decided, was rude.

“Shahin Laskaris.” She raised her chin and stared at the stranger. “And who are you?

“Steve Talbot.” He grinned like he was proud of himself for being Steve Talbot. Shahin raised her eyebrows, unimpressed.

“Pleased to meet you, I’m sure.” She was still working on the delivery of that line. Teachers chuckled at it, but her fellow classmates –

“What, you had to think about it?”

– were less cultured, she supposed. “Time will tell.”

“Yeah, while I’m getting a pretty firm opinion of you already. Why are you so stuck-up?”

Stuck-up? “I am not!” Whoops. She glared at the new boy, only to find him grinning back at her.

“There you go. Look, it’s fine to be fancy and formal but you have to unwind once in a while too, you know? Come skateboarding with me.”

“Come… what?” She took a step backwards and watched him. She didn’t think he was joking. But nobody had ever offered anything like that. “Not now.”

“No, I don’t think skipping my first day of school is a good idea. But what about after school?”

“Your parental figure won’t mind?”

“Nah, what about yours?”

“Mine won’t notice.” She looked down at her outfit, mostly to point it out to him. She’d spent a lot of time picking it out – little heels, the tallest her aunt would let her buy, and a cute ruffled plaid skirt. She looked like something out of an anime, which was the idea. She didn’t, though, look like she could go skateboarding.

“I can lend you sneakers, I’ve got small feet.” He didn’t seem to ever stop smiling. Shahin found it fascinating. “Say yes?”

“If I must.” And she found she was smiling, too.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/693095.html. You can comment here or there.

February is World Building Month. Day Thirty-One: Fae Apoc

Mar13

[personal profile] piratekitten has declared February world-building month.

Every day in February, I answered question about any one of my settings.

The question post is here.

The fourth question comes from an offline friend and is for the Faerie Apocalypse

What does the world look like in the year 2150?

The short answer is: I don’t know yet. I’ve only specced out in any detail at all through about fifty years after the apoc.

What I know:

Starting from a noncimated population of about 31,000,000 at the end of 2012, the American population did not grow for at least a generation (say, until 2035) – disease, starvation, contaminated water and food sources, and a lack of expected medical supplies, as well as remaining returned gods, isolationism, small territory wars, and monsters spawned by the Collapse conspired to keep the population very low, actually trickling down a bit more to around 29 million people.

By 2050, the population was beginning to grow again:
33 million in 2050, 57 million by 2080. By that rate, it’s safe to assume that, by 2150, the population of what had been the United States might get to be around 120,000,000 or a little over 1/3 of what it is IRL today.

140 years is a long time in terms of oral history and predjudice; the first generation of humans after the war almost universally hated fae; even those who had experienced positive relationships with specific fae didn’t like all Ellehemaei. There were maybe “a few good apples” in an otherwise rotten bunch.

And predatory Ellehemaei did not help that impression: especially directly after the war, there were more than a few fae who set up their own little nation-states – some not so little. There were humans who did the same, of course, but the fae “cheated,” using magic and their innate durability and longevity to hold positions of strength over “lesser” humans.

In general, by 2060, there are some humans who believe that fae are all right, maybe less than 25% of the whole population. By 2150, the numbers have shifted in the other direction, and nearly 75% of the population believes, if not that Ellehemaei the equals of humans, at least that they should be allowed to co-exist. And many in both eras know they can be useful (“just get someone who can make the collaring stick and use it!”)

By 2060, Addergoole and Addergoole East were already having a strong influence on the world around them: their graduates became teachers, mayors, despots, doctors, city-builders. By 2150, two creations of Addergoole grads are also shaping the world: a teaching hospital and Doomsday Academy, both formed around 2060.

~

This is a bit all over the place, back to government for a moment. In 2060, the remains of the United States is governed in primarily settlement-based city-states, with as little contact with other settlements as possible, save by those who wander, either to sell goods or offer services. By 2150, many of those settlements have begun to coalesce into small countries; there are 6 major-geographic-area nations and at least 25 smaller ones, many of who battle over land on a semi-regular basis.

The world will never again be what it was before the Collapse, but what it could become is still wide open.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/692874.html. You can comment here or there.

Food Log, in which snowed in and can’t go to gym (whoops)

Mar13

But still not a bad day.

3/12/2014

Coffee
Cheerios
egg salad w/ tomato and lettuce
Coco multigrain pop cake, x3
Soup w/ egg – broth, dehydrated veggies, two handfuls of spinach, and an eg.
(munching)
2.5 crescent rolls (the low-fat pillsbury kind)
Butternut Soup
w/ tofu
Carob-Olive Oil Chocolate chip cookies

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/692581.html. You can comment here or there.

Biting the Foot, a drabble of Dragons next Door for the Random Bingo Card

Mar12

To [personal profile] kelkyag‘s prompt to my other bingo call.

This fills the square “Biting the Foot,” and references the dragons’ pet Tay-tay, described here

Some people’s neighbors had dogs.

Some people had people for neighbors, or at least humans.

Carl didn’t know why his wife had insisted on moving to Smokey Knoll, or why they’d bought the house across from the dragons (except that the only other humans lived nearby), but he knew that the dragons had a pet, an erbiss, a blue-green dog-lizard thing.

And the erbiss had grabbed on to the foot of Carl’s friend Don, and would not let go or be removed.

And the damn human neighbors were laughing.

“They can sense malice, you know.”

Some people had human neighbors.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/692399.html. You can comment here or there.