The Real Power

Sep1

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt “24) prompt: founding fathers”

Planners ‘Verse, the beginning of the story.

October 1873
“It’s uncanny, Charlie, how you managed to pull everything out before the crash.” Ward Hudson sipped the Estes’ 30-year scotch and didn’t both to hide his frustrated envy.

“And damn kind of you to help us out,” Vince Howe added.

“Think nothing of it.” The thing was, with Charlie Estes, he probably meant it. “You two are savvy businessmen, I know you’ll be back on your feet in no time. Besides, I couldn’t leave your wives and children out in the cold, now could I? Especially not my sister.”

“Of course not,” Ward swigged more scotch.

In the drawing room, Charlie’s wife sat with her sister-in-law and best friend, sipping sherry and discussing the state of the world.

“You seem like you’re prepared for the Flood,” Jannie Howe commented, “and yet you were barely touched by the Panic.”

“Well, that’s the goal, isn’t it? Ward would have been fine if he’d listened to Ida, wouldn’t he have?”

“If he listened to anyone at all,” the frustrated woman agreed. “We would have been fine anyway, Jannie, but he was in such a panic… as if eating from our stores for a month would have killed him!”

Diana tch’d sympathetically. “And think of all the people who don’t have anything. There were riots downtown, did you know that?”

“I can’t blame them! Everything is falling apart.” Ida shook her head. “There ought to be someone to hold it all together.”

“Yes.” Diana looked towards the smoking room thoughtfully. “There ought to be.”

The Panic of 1873

The List:
1a) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ)
10) write a story set in three different time periods. (LJ)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written. (LJ)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows (LJ)
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip. (LJ)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ)
18) prompt: a step too far (LJ
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM. )LJ)
20) Write the end of the story ‘The Purple Bag. (LJ)
21) Roll a d20 twice. Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers. (LJ)
22) Prompt: White Knight (LJ)
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn (LJ)
24) prompt: founding fathers

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/123996.html. You can comment here or there.

Wednesday with momentum and “dry closing.”

Aug31

I am full of chocolate, as T. messaged me that he would like some chocolate. He was very unclear on what sort, just having, it seemed, a vague craving, so I took a walk and bought chocolate mousse, mocha mousse, two chocolate cookies, and beer.

(The beer is not chocolate).

Today’s home-buying adventure is “dry closing:” http://www.fhainfo.com/escrowclosing.htm

It is still unclear how this will delay the beginning of moving in. Or, rather, the beginning of cleaning-and-painting, which is what we plan on spending the weekend doing.

Today is the last day to fill out the donation perk poll: Dreamwidth or LJ. Tomorrow I will collate the results and begin writing! (right now “Spring Break” and “Three-Way” are tied).

[personal profile] meeks has done it again! She’s updated Diapering Dragons (LJ). Check out that wall! More work on Rin is next…

Links of the day: an odd word… and an odder goat.

Vocab:
mam·mon noun, often capitalized ˈma-mən

Definition of MAMMON
: material wealth or possessions especially as having a debasing influence “you cannot serve God and mammon — Matthew 6:24(Revised Standard Version)”

Origin of MAMMON
Middle English, from Late Latin mammona, from Greek mamōna, from Aramaic māmōnā riches

First Known Use: 15th century
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mammon

So, I go back to Addergoole, to some time in the past, and Mike VanderLinden.

Mike had known for months that things were going to go south with Judith, but the woman was so tight about her emotions, he couldn’t get her to say anything. It was when she walked into his studio and wrinkled her nose at him that he knew they could finally be done.

“Mammon,” she pronounced disdainfully.

“Yes, my love,” he grinned, lounging ostentatiously on the silk sheets, “but it’s what keeps a roof over your head.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/123864.html. You can comment here or there.

Leaving Town

Aug31

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt “23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn”
From dailyprompt: “highway” and “that awkward moment when…”

Set in Faerie Apocalypse.  You can find Nila also in Hey you Kids get off my lawn!

*~*

The city lay in ruins. Nila didn’t know when, if ever, Michael was coming home. Power had gone out a week ago, and the looters had come through the neighborhood like locusts. She’d held them off when she could, hid with the children when she knew she couldn’t, but it was time to leave.

She settled Susan in her Kevlar sling and from there into her car seat, and made sure Allan’s backpack was balanced and light enough, taking the far heavier pack for herself. She checked all of her weapons and both of Allan’s, stared for a while at the note to Michael, and led her children out of their home.

The highways were buckled and bent, twisted like a ribbon in ways that would be unbelievable, if you didn’t know that god-monsters walked the earth now. Nila took the back roads near there, keeping an eye on the gas gauge. If she’d planned this right – yes. The car ran out of gas just as they reached the edge of the worst devastation, past the mobs and the crazy people, past the banks of less fuel-efficient cars and the toll-takers.

She settled Susan on her back and held Allan’s hand with her left, and sited a path south. South, she’d heard, the devastation was less complete. South, the winter would be warmer and more survivable.

She focused on the path in front of her, on her children, and tried to ignore the ruins around them that had been home.

~

They had been walking now for three days. They had to take it slow; Allan was sturdy for his age, but he still tired easily, and Nila couldn’t carry him, not and Susan, too. The kids were taking it like champs, but she could tell, as the sun began to inch downwards, that it was time to stop.

She was focused on the children, ignoring her training in a way that would have horrified her former Mentor, ignoring the surroundings, when they rounded a bend in the long country road and found it blocked.

There was a long awkward moment when she stared at the man-creature and he stared back at them. “Creature” because he was clearly not entirely human, “man,” because the part of him that was looked like a boy in his mid-twenties. “Awkward…” because the thing was clearly trying to decide if they were a threat. Them, a twenty-two year old girl and her two young children. She took a long look over him, cataloguing his injuries, noting that he wasn’t Masking the things that marked him as inhuman – or perhaps no longer had the energy to?

His doglike ears canted in her direction, and she dropped her own Mask, letting him see the flower-like patterns that swirled across her skin, and the blue “petals” of her ears. “We just want to pass,” she told him carefully.

He stepped out of the way awkwardly. “I won’t stop you.” From the way he was swaying, he couldn’t if he wanted to.

Nila sighed, and set her pack down. “Swear you mean me and mine no harm.”

The List:
1a) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ)
10) write a story set in three different time periods. (LJ)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written. (LJ)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows (LJ)
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip. (LJ)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ)
18) prompt: a step too far (LJ
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM. )LJ)
20) Write the end of the story ‘The Purple Bag. (LJ)
21) Roll a d20 twice. Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers. (LJ)
22) Prompt: White Knight (LJ)
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn

30 Days Second Semester: 22, White Knights?

Aug31

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt “22) Prompt: White Knight

Fae Apoc, Addergoole, Year 23 (a generation after the story)

Audra never saw whose foot tripped her – she had been studying the paintings on the walls, her head, as her brother would say – in the clouds – but she noticed the boy who offered her a hand up. He was, she had to admit, rather handsome, even if the single black curl hanging in his face looked a little silly.

“Thank you,” she said, as he helped her to her feet, and then, because it seemed like thanks were kind of lame, she said the next thing that came to her head. “My mother told me all the white knights were dead.”

“They aren’t,” a voice from behind her rumbled. “But you have to know where to find them.”

The boy in front of her tensed, a frown coming across his face like a cloud. Audra turned, carefully, setting her back to the wall as she’d been taught, to see the other… rescuer?

“And where would I look for them?” she asked the pale-skinned tall boy with the prominent nose.

“Right here,” the first one insisted. “I’m Carrig, by the way.”

“Carrig,” the second one inserted warningly, “there’s something to be said for not misrepresenting yourself. Miss, I’m Chaney.”

“Audra,” she answered, feeling less and less rescued and more trapped between two dragons. “sh’Kailani,” she added, feeling petulant. See: the new student wasn’t entirely ignorant of the Laws.

“Pleased to meet you, Audra,” Chaney smiled. “Need help finding your room?”

She looked between the two of them uncertainly. “Yes?” she offered. It was going to be an interesting year.

The List:
1a) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words “It’s going down.” (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ)
10) write a story set in three different time periods. (LJ)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written. (LJ)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows (LJ)
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip. (LJ)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ)
18) prompt: a step too far (LJ
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM. )LJ)
20) Write the end of the story ‘The Purple Bag. (LJ)
21) Roll a d20 twice. Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers. (LJ)
22) Prompt: White Knight

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/123052.html. You can comment here or there.

Eeee pretty Art!

Aug31

Sooo..

Originally posted by [profile] amslizrah at $5 and $10 Commissions – Hello everyone! I'm offering super cheap commissions in a desperate attempt to raise money to replace my dying wacom tablet.

(they’re lovely; check them out!)

(Anddd I want a picture of someone, pref. someone from Addergoole I think, or otherwise not-totally-human. Ideas?)

And!

[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith‘s poetry fishbowl is next Tuesday (when I will probably not be online to signal boost); the theme is “pets and livestock.” (LJ Link).

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/122636.html. You can comment here or there.

Tuesday, With a Closing Date

Aug30

Hey, two dates is closer to a habit.

Important things:
* Irene left us a day of rain, that’s it.
* The earthquake shook my work building, just enough to notice it.

Tonight’s dinner was what’s-in-the-cupboard: pasta with tomato-and-sardine sauce
http://www.amazon.com/Roland-Sardines-Tomato-Sauce-5-5-Ounce/dp/B000UZXSZE/ref=sr_1_17?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1314747354&sr=1-17

We have a closing date on The House! Thursday at 3 EST!

Funky links of the day: One murphy bed, two murphy beds, and Fitocracy, which turns out to be pretty cool.

And vocab:in·vei·gle verb in-ˈvā-gəl sometimes -ˈvē-
in·vei·gledin·vei·gling

Definition of INVEIGLE
transitive verb
1 : to win over by wiles : entice
2 : to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle
— in·vei·gle·ment noun
— in·vei·gler noun
Origin of INVEIGLE
Anglo-French enveegler, aveogler, avogler to blind, hoodwink, from avogle, enveugle blind, from Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, lacking eyes
First Known Use: 1539
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inveigle

For this, I present Winter and Spring from Stranded World:

“Your hair looks really nice that way,” Winter’s littlest sister told him in her sweetest voice. “Brings out the blue in your eyes.”

He smirked down at her. “Thank you, Spring. But it will take more than that.”

“But I think it would look nice on me, too,” she said, saccharine dripping from her voice, “and I want to be just like my big brother.”

“You can’t inveigle this one out of me, sweetie,” he told her gently. “I’m sorry. It’s not my decision.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/122525.html. You can comment here or there.

Google-fu (of a sort)

Aug29

This (via [personal profile] haikujaguar) is pretty awesome:

“That any two things in the universe are connected can be demonstrated inductively by the magic of Google. It is not necessary that to be computationally tractable a process must be informationally encapsulated. Take any two words. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy uses “banana” and “mandolin” in an article on the Frame Problem. If you google it, you obtain 2,690,000 hits.”

(“Avatar mouse” is interesting.)

1000 years ago or so, there was a thing … I think “googlism”… where the trick was to find a phrase that had no google results…

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/121721.html. You can comment here or there.