Cult, a story for my Real World Prompts

Oct11

To Wystie’s prompt: ~A cult~

Nancy hadn’t, really, meant to start a cult.

It had started innocently enough, after all: she’d been lonely in her new city, so she’d made a list of things she could do and liked doing. Then she’d put together four of the least weird, and put out an ad on craigslist.

They’d met in her apartment, at first. It wasn’t the best idea, but the thin walls in her complex and her nosy neighbors, usually flaws, meant that any screams would be quickly noticed.

Three people showed up to the first meeting, seven to the second. By the third meeting, she’d rented them a room in a local church for their meetings; by the seventh meeting, she had to move them to an old storefront a couple blocks away.

Word got out, not just from the cragislist ad but from word-of-mouth; her original core of people told more people, who told more people, and soon she was charging $20 at the door just to cover the price of punch and pizza, rent and supplies.

She hadn’t realized she had a cult until she had to appoint people to guide groups of new recruits. Those first three attendees were her choices, of course, Maxine, Erica, and Terrance.

That’s when stuff sort of took a left turn. Maxine was fine, dealing with people who were mainly interested in the crafts and the cooking. Erica took the people who liked the old-fashioned stuff and got them building a library of resources. But Terrance, Terrance found all the people who really, really wanted to belong to something.

When Helen showed up and they had uniforms, she knew something had gone horribly wrong.

When they put the Grand Poobah hat on her head, however, she questioned the wrong part of the equation. After all, it had been her idea, right?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/578545.html. You can comment here or there.

Getting Ahead of Myself: Character notes for Steam!Reiassan – Enarēnarē

Oct11

Enarēnarē
(eh-NAH-ree-NAH-ree)
Still need a better way to indicate sounds.
15 years old.
Female

Enarēnarē wears her hair long, as is common for most Calenyna, even in this day and age. She keeps it, normally, in a series of six braids, although she will go with far more elaborate arrangements in formal situations.

Her skin is a mid-brown, lighter than Tīrrēkkē but a bit browner than (third unnamed character). Her hair is a medium chestnut brown, and her eyes are bright green, a mutation that showed up in the Calenyena royal family four generations back.

Her nose is longer and narrower than the Calenyena norm; she has a nose closer to the Bitrani stereotype (A roman nose). This look – lighter than the Calenyena norm, with mid-brown hair – is becoming more and more common in the Calenyena royal family, to the point where it’s now considered “the royal look.”

She’s a couple inches taller than Tīrrēkkē, 5’9″ tall (or she will be; I think they’re both 2-3 inches shorter than that at this point), although, again, primarily long-torso, not long-legged. She’s a little further into puberty than her friend, and her body is beginning to develop a bit more curve. Still broad-hipped and broad-shouldered. She has, for her family and ethnicity, amazingly full lips.

She spent the first five years of her life down in the far south; her parents were on a mission to deal with some of the rebel elements down by the Southern coast. They were called back to the capital for a few years, and then they moved to the Arran Cities (West Coast). Thus, Enarēnarē has spent much of her life travelling. She thinks she’s more worldly than she is, and has a bad habit of lording it over people. However, her formal schooling has suffered a bit.

She’s cynical, in a way that doesn’t suit her. She’s had to deal with
situations above her age, and it’s colored her views on the world. She’s also something like 79th in line for the throne, and this makes her even more tired/cynical about things. She’s the Bad Kid. She’s going to need to learn the value of formal schooling, and learn not to lord her other knowledge over others.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/578061.html. You can comment here or there.

Getting Ahead of Myself: Magic notes for Steam!Reiassan

Oct10

Magic in Steam!Reiassan

In the Steam Era of Reiassan, the sira-flinging of ancient days is long past.

Scientists – really, proto-scientists – study what they often call aether, the flow of power through the world. There is far less wild sira in the steam era; the aether itself is harder to come by in its non-mined form.

However, the students at the school will learn about the manipulation of the aether. They will study old magical artifacts – and that is one thing about Reiassan, it’s lousy with magical items. And the items often know they are Magical Items.

This balance between Old Magic and New Science will be both a character issue and a plot issue as the students work their way through school.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/577863.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.

Getting Ahead of Myself: Character notes for Steam!Reiassan – Tīrrēkkē

Oct10

Note to self: Need a better way of showing long vowels, that can be done with high ascii.

Tīrrēkkē (TyrTire-reek-key)
Age: mid-teens
Female.

Appearance:
Tīrrēkkē has long black hair which she wears, generally, in a relatively simple double-plait. Her skin is a warm olive color, close to this http://humanae.tumblr.com/post/60074057787. Her eyes are so dark a brown as to appear black.

She has a short nose with a bit of an upturn, a very pointed chin, and a high forehead – in short, she looks ethnically like the epitome of the Calenyena. In keeping with that, she’s broad-shouldered, wide-hipped, but not all that tall – five foot 7, most of the length in her torso, not her legs.

History: Her father and mother are high-ranking engineers in His(check) Majesty’s Army; they met while planning out a new road system for Lanamer. She grew up affluent, and took the qualifying tests early for higher education. Her parents assume she, too, will be an engineer; at the moment, so does she.

Personality: Tīrrēkkē is scholarly, not so much shy as uncertain of herself in new social situations. In each new school, she found herself with a couple close friends, but she’s been moved up in level so many times, and many of her friends were scholarship sorts. That makes her a bit uncertain about many things about the world. She’s inquisitive, and likes to know how things work; her adventurousness has always been balanced by her desire to be a good student.

Character Arc notes: Tīrrēkkē needs to find herself. She needs to learn what she’s good at, and where she’s going with it. She also has a lot of understanding about people and the world to go through, and she needs to find an outlset for her uncertain and burgeoning idealism.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/577532.html. You can comment here or there.

Sport, a story of Tir na Cali

Oct10

After Sport

Leopold’s new owner’s name was Caoilinn, as if her parents had tried to give her as Irish a name as possible, in hopes of doing something about that hair and those eyes. Caoilinn ni Caradian O Istvia, the Baroness of Lone Pine, “call me Kay when we’re alone.”

“And when we’re in public?” He hadn’t really expected her to take him in public. She didn’t have that “indulging in trivialities” sort of face, and he was, by his very nature, a triviality and a frippery.

“Is this a test?” She’d smiled at him, and he’d hoped she was amused. “In public, call me as you would any other Baroness. ‘Your Ladyship,’ or, if you’re feeling brave, ‘my lady.'”

“Brave, my lady?” Leopold knew better. His position was tenuous at best, and shaky under any circumstances. She’d read his pedigree; she knew what he was. She couldn’t be planning on keeping a sport around, not with her own tenuous position, even if Lone Pine was not a highly contested Barony. But he couldn’t stop himself from testing the waters.

“It usually suggests a level of intimacy.”

“I belong to you, Lady Caoilinn.” Leopold had bowed, because he wasn’t sure what else to do. “Whatever you wish of me is what I will give.”

She’d said nothing more at the time, and that was at the beginning of a three-hour drive. Now, while they were nearing the end (or so he hoped), she finally spoke. “Even with a Baroness that’s a sport?”

“My lady?” Leopold had, he was mortified to realize, drifted off. He didn’t know quite what she meant. “I know I’m a sport, mistress.”

“I wasn’t talking about you, Leopold. You’re willing to suggest – or to have – a level of intimacy with a sport of a Baroness?”

I’m a sport, too. But that didn’t seem to be the right answer. Leopold glanced over at her, at the angry line of her lips, and tried for honesty.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/577200.html. You can comment here or there.

The Cup Part IV

Oct10


After The Cup and The Cup, Part II, and The Cup Part III, in that Order

The maps had been studied, and then studied some more. They had transcribed all of Pellinore’s notes onto places on the map; John-Wayne had had some surprising insights. She forgot, sometimes, that her Kept were usually very bright young men. It was the young, really, especially now that they were younger than her sons.

The bags had been packed, the wagon loaded with everything they might need (within reason. She was learning to pack within reason; that was an interesting lesson), and the crew had been informed where she was going (as much as she knew) and how long she expected to be gone. She’d kissed Gaheris and Howard and hugged everyone else, and now she stood on the front of the wagon, and pulled.

Her power had evolved over the years, from age and experience and near-constant use. Asking it simply, Where is the elder Grigori called The Archive was almost an insult to its nuance.

But that’s what she asked, because that was what she needed at the moment. The Hawthorn Cup itself could not be found with magic, or, at least, not without more information. Her first three tries had found them… well, hawthorn cups. Not quite the same thing at all.

Her power came back with an answer, of course. North. North and Up.

Up? North first, the northern pull was stronger. “We go that way.” She pointed the direction, and Pellinore guided the team of horses down the road.

“What if the Grigori doesn’t want to talk to us?” John-Wayne was far less into this quest than his father; no big surprise there.

“Then we ask very nicely.” Cynara smiled, and noticed that both of the men shuddered.

Well, she supposed, they had reason to know her.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/576944.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.

One Year Ago / Fuze Surprise

Oct8

One year ago today…. well, I wasn’t writing, or at least not posting anything, so I went back a few more days.

Captain Fuze has appeared in a couple stories, including this one and one on an Alder by Post.

http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/402721.html

Captain Fuze had seen any number of things on any number of planets.

It was, after all, her job to shepherd the scientists, both to get them across the reaches of space and to keep them alive on the planets. So she went where the science was; she went where the interest was; she went where the anomalies were. And she – as well as seven others who could control the crews required for the so-called bounce ships – had been doing so for subjective decades.

She never ceased to be surprised. She never ceased to be startled and a little irritated at the scientists’ naivete and helplessness; she never ceased to be amazed at their brilliance, at the leaps they made that she could not, in 1000 years, have made; she never ceased to be awed and a bit worried at the way they made contact with other races, especially the linguists.

Today, this-subjective-day on her personal time line and the day labelled landfall-plus-seven Targus, the Captain was once again startled.

They knew there were-or-had-been natives; there were buildings, vehicles, and things that they thought were probably weapons, although they could have been scientific instruments (the line was often very thin). But in all of their scans and six days of hands-on research, they were missing two things: a written language, considered vital to the development of culture; and any natives. They hadn’t even found a single native-remain.

The scientists were doing their best, but they were notably distressed and depressed. Talking to natives was not only the most accurate way to gain certain information, it was the most fun, or so the lead linguist had told Captain Fuze.

They’re going to be thrilled by this, Fuze thought, when in front of her eyes one of the buildings unfolded and blinked sleepy window-eyes at them.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/576101.html. You can comment here or there.