Archive | March 27, 2012

Fred, a vignette of Tir na Cali Slave School for the March Giraffe Call

For illfluff‘s Prompt. After this vignette (lj)

Fred woke up strapped down in a hospital bed, with a nurse on one side and Jenny on the other side. Both were frowning at him. As signs went, it wasn’t the best.

He tried the restraints, not with any real force. He didn’t want to spook anyone. He really didn’t want to spook Jenny.

He worked his jaw, a bit surprised he wasn’t gagged. Then again, it hadn’t been his mouth that had gotten them in trouble.

“Fred,” Jenny said. Sobbed. “Fred, why…?”

“I…” he glanced at the nurse; she nodded.

“Go ahead, you’re not standing on protocol with me.”

“Thank you.” He reached his closer hand towards Jenny. “I’m sorry. He just got me so mad. He’s always making those stupid comments, you know…”

“He makes them to everyone. He thinks he’s better than the rest of us because he fights it. But Fred! They’re going to punish you for this. You know they are.”

“I know. I really tried not to. But… he just hit one button too many.”

“Your fighting skills are admirable.” That was from the doorway: Mr. Thurston, their home ec teacher. “But your lack of control is not. Steve backed up your story, by the way, which will mitigate your punishment. Thank you, Jennifer, back to your room now.” He hesitated, and added kindly, “I promise, if we send Fred away, we’ll give you a chance to say goodbye first.”

She swallowed another sob and fled, leaving Fred alone in the room with the teacher.

“And now the question remains,” Mr. Thurston continued, sitting down in the chair Jenny had vacated, “whether we send you away or not.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/310355.html. You can comment here or there.

Sum-sum-summary!

I must be feeling better…

I opened a Giraffe Call the weekend before last. It turned out to be a tiny one, probably because of the weird format of the call.

For that call, I have written:
Reiassan
Navigating Lannamer (LJ
Sun-on-the-Water (LJ)

Bug/Invasion
Voices (LJ)

The Aunt Family
The Princess and the Hunstsman (LJ)
Big Bad Witch (LJ)
Frog Pancakes (LJ)
Princesses (LJ)

Addergoole
Graduation Plans (LJ)
Yr9
Sequential Vignette (LJ) (Porter & Sylvia)
Trying (LJ) (Arundel/Sylvia Year 8)

Fae Apoc
Reality (LJ)
First Day of Work (LJ)

I have one drabble and about $25 of commissioned words left to write, and then I’ll open up the poll for the continuation and the setting piece.

I’m still cleaning up January and February! For January I wrote:
Dragons Next Door
Human Town (LJ)
An Understanding (LJ)

For February I wrote:
One-Off
Setting the Table (LJ)

Fae Apoc
Shit Keeps Coming (LJ)
Shit, Fan (LJ)
Yr9
Silent Song (LJ) [Porter]
Presently (LJ)
Meta: Poll
Giraffe Poll for February Continuation

And amazingly, stuff NOT for a giraffe Call:
One-off:
Bus Stop (LJ)
Dragons:
Hunting Junie III (LJ
Red Covers (LJ)
Aunt:
Boy Trouble (LJ) [Donor Perk]
Science!
Golden Egg? ()
Tir Na Cali
Chapter 18A (LJ)
Addergoole Yr9:
Pet Wolf (LJ) (Ciara)
Addergoole Yr 14:
Pain in the… (LJ)
Rin:
Packed Up, rewritten (LJ) [BEta]

Meta:
Alder by Post
Issue Three Available (LJ)
Alder by Post: Mailed (LJ)
Gardening (LJ)
(Life in the Country)LJ

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/310214.html. You can comment here or there.

Pain in the… a story of #Addergoole yr14 for @natalief

This is from natalief‘s request here. I confess, I didn’t actually answer any of the questions posed in the prompt, but I sort of laid down some foundation stones.

At first, Arianwen thought it was just another migraine.

Dr. Caitrin hadn’t been able to do much for her, any more than the doctors back home had. She’d frowned, run some tests, run some more tests, and sent Ari back to her room with some aspirin and a note for light PE activity on the bad days.

And this was a bad day. First the shit with Gillian in Lit, and then Januarius had followed her back to her room, making some noise about a dance or something. Like she wanted that noise. Like she wanted the flashing lights and people everywhere, up in her face, jostling her. He might as well have been asking her to dress up for a torture session.

This place didn’t understand the meaning of “introvert;” they didn’t understand the meaning of “spoons,” or what it meant to run out of them, and they seemed to think every problem could be solved with judicious application of beer, or possibly whiskey. Januarius had flat-out offered to cook her up some nice pain pills in his dorm room! His roommate, Azra, had been trying to get Ari to agree to a make-over.

It was enough to make a girl hide in her room and never come out, except when she tried that, Luke or Doug came knocking. Doug had, of all of them, been the most helpful, helping her figure out a program of light exercise that seemed to make the migraines last less long and come less often, and helping her come up with work-arounds for the dizziness and nausea. He seemed to have a lot of practice dealing with her symptoms, but he was even more close-mouthed than normal when she asked him why.

Just another oddity in this very odd school. And now this headache, this stabbing through her temples, the pressure in her sinuses, the nausea and spots in her vision. The spots that were dancing in some sort of pattern. That was new. Should she call the doctor? No, of course not, there was no phone.

If she passed out… the thought terrified her. She could hit her head. She could not wake up. They wouldn’t come in her room; it could be Monday before anyone noticed she was missing. By then…

She opened the door. If anyone messed with her, she’d mace them.

Januarius was standing outside her door, hand raised to knock. He frowned at her, suddenly looking worried. “Ari, we’re got to get you to the doctor.”

“Yes, please,” she gasped. The lights out here were horrid, causing stabbing pain right above her nose. She closed her eyes to rub them, and
v
e
r
y
s
l
o
w
l
y
f
e
l
l.

Every clock-tick seemed to last an eternity. Every heartbeat was at least a week apart. She could see the spaces between the seconds, for a brief flash of clarity. Then there was nothing but endless pain.

“I’ve got you,” Januarius whispered, and, blessedly, horribly, terrifyingly, she passed out.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/309947.html. You can comment here or there.

Presently, a story of #Addergoole Yr9 for the (February) Giraffe Call (@Rix_scaedu)

For [profile] rix_scaedu‘s commissioned prompt – more of “Birthday Present,” from the December Giraffe Call.

Addergoole has a landing page here

Noam has a sketch here.

He didn’t have any orders! There was nothing holding him from saying anything he wanted! Noam opened his mouth to tell Brenna exactly what he thought of “fun.”

Except, of course, as far as he knew, there wasn’t any way out of Belonging to someone except having them let you go. He closed his mouth again. Pissing her off was probably not what he wanted to do. He tugged at the ribbons a little more, though, just on principle.

Brenna’s face fell. “You don’t want to be here.”

Shit. “I didn’t say that.”

“You’re trying to get away.”

“I’m trying to get untied. Trying to get away would involve more backing towards the door and fumbling with the doorknob.” He gave her his best smile. “I’m not going to lie to you, this wasn’t my idea. Hera caught me in the halls. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think dating you would be a good idea.” Dating, please. Noam was pretty sure he could handle dating.

She touched his pectoral lightly, as if worried it would burn her. When it didn’t light on fire, she set her hand, palm-down, across his chest. “You never said anything.”

“Neither did you. I figured you weren’t interested.”

“Oh.” She looked down at their toes. At her Masked toes, he noted, even here in her bedroom, and his still in shoes. “Oh.”

He kept smiling at her. Smiling seemed good. Her touch seemed very good. “You know, if you let me go, we could date. I’d like that a lot.”

She frowned. “You’re just saying that so I’ll let you go.”

“Well, I’m hoping you’ll let me go, yeah, but I would like dating you, too.” Gods, please?

She bit her lip and shook her head. She hadn’t Masked her teeth. They were very very sharp. “Nobody stays around me long if they have a choice.”

She wasn’t going to let him go, was she? He might as well make the best of it. Noam smiled for her, hoping it wasn’t too fake-looking (Again. He was going to have to spend XP on charisma and bluffing). “Well, I’m yours.”

“You are,” she agreed. “For a while, at least. It’s not forever.”

“Well, if I had to be Owned by someone…” which he’d been doing such a good job of avoiding, thank you, “I’m glad it was you.” He gave the ribbon around his wrists a little tug. He could probably undo it now. Maybe he should wait and let her untie it instead. “What do you think about it?”

“I think…” She looked him over hesitantly, sidelong, uncertainly. “I think you’re mine?”

“Okay.” It was a starting point, at least. “And what do you want to do with me?”

She tugged on the ribbon around his neck. “Unwrap you…” Her shy look up at him was heart-rending. “If that’s okay?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/309630.html. You can comment here or there.