Archive | August 2012

On Creeps and unwelcome touching: my 2 cents

I’ve been surfing through the Don’t-be-a-creep stuff recently, and one thing that comes up over and over again is unwelcome touch.

Thinking about this: in a gaming or con atmosphere, I’ve never (in my admittedly-bad memory) felt I couldn’t say “don’t touch me,” although I recall some negative reactions when I did so – because I’m a very tactile person as was often touching other people

Sideline: Have you noticed people tend to take “you did x with Y” to mean “you should do x with Me?” Very irritating.

My problem with unwelcome touch has almost always been in the workplace, where the reaction to telling people you don’t like being touched (I don’t, by strangers. I like touching my friends) is almost always hurt-offended-negative or, on rarer occasion, hurt-belittling. (I got him in trouble for that and other comments. It says something about our society that the two times I’ve done that, I felt really guilty).

How do you deal with touch in public/work situations? Why do people think it’s okay?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/386923.html. You can comment here or there.

Giraffe Call Upcoming!

I have been taking suggestions for this year’s Giraffe Call series – the Rabbit Safari.

The call will begin this Saturday, August 18th.

Current topic suggestions include:
Storms and droughts. x2
Lost or forgotten things. x3 Note: I have done “Lost and Found” once before
Fight ALL the oppressions!
Fuzzy? x3
Skins and furs
Legacies and fate
adventures and quests, possibly with furred people. X3

(x2 count things that people have said “Yes, that!” to)

What would YOU like the call to be about?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/386603.html. You can comment here or there.

Leaving the School, a drabble of Addergoole Year 7, for @Kissofjudas

Addergoole, end of year 7.

Trigger warning: Pregnancy discussed & shown.

Phelen walked the halls of Addergoole alone.

He didn’t need to be alone; Shiva’s legacy in Addergoole was a close-knit crew that got along well with others, filling in for his own gaps in social networking.

But this was his last day as a Student in Addergoole, and it felt fitting to spend a moment here the way he’d first arrived – alone, no matter how many people were around him, wrapped in his trench-coat.

Alone. A Seventh Cohort, no longer skittering around nervous because they were new, but skittering and nervous nonetheless, slid past him. He was leaking shadows again, wasn’t he?

He pulled himself together. Leaving Addergoole was, as his Mentor liked to say, not only an ending, but a beginning. The school had grown comfortable for him (Having Kept had grown very comfortable for him). College, an apartment without his Crew, the greater world outside of the school – he’d never admit it to anyone, but he was as nervous about that as he had been about coming to Addergoole in the first place.

Considering how much worse, and better, than Addergoole had ended up being, he thought it was a perfectly justifiable concern. Four years ago, also, he hadn’t had three children to be concerned with.

“Phelen.” Kendra would have more than that to be concerned with, the way she was going. The heavily-pregnant mouse-girl nodded at him; she had another year to go, but looked as pensive as he felt.

If things had gone differently, she might have been his. He gave her his best not-a-creep smile. “Kendra. Number four, is it?”

“It is.” She held her hands protectively over her stomach. He might have to work on the not-a-creep thing. “Good luck, out there. Are you taking any of yours?”

“Not now, at least.” He wasn’t sure he could handle the real world and kids. “Their mothers all seem fairly attached.” In a year or two, he might try to talk Manira out of that. But not today.

“Good luck anyway.” Her smile was playful; he wondered when she’d learned that again. “I hear it’s a jungle out there.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/386513.html. You can comment here or there.

Character Development Meme: Miryam, Llew, Nilam, Aeowyn

52 22 Days To 52 Weeks

For the 52 days leading up to the 52 weeks of Addergoole: Year 9, I will be posting something Addergoole-related every day.

Today: parts of a character development meme!

Miryam

12.) How is your character with technology? Super savvy, or way behind the times? Letters or email?
Miryam has a decent middle-of-the-way comfort zone with technology. She uses e-mail but can write letters; Addergoole’s field of slowing-down-communication encourages letter writing and she probably does send letters home. She has a computer and uses it, although she would need tech support if anything went majorly wrong. She can use all the basic home appliances, and doesn’t have a problem programming anything programmable, but prefers to let someone else handle

Llew
13) What does your character’s bed look like when he/she wakes up? Are the covers off on one side of the bed, are they all curled around a pillow, sprawled everywhere? In what position might they sleep?

Given his choice, Llew sleeps diagonally across the bed, in a rather still position that takes up the entire bed, or most of it. The covers, when he wakes are folded down halfway as he gets up, but long training by his mother means that he then folds them back up to the top.

He prefers to sleep with just a sheet and, in winter, a light blanket, so there’s not much to tidy anyway.

Nilam
14.) How does your character react to temperature changes such as extreme heat and cold?

Nilam does not like the heat. He prefers the world a comfortable sixty-six degrees; Addergoole is already a little warm for him. Much about seventy-two F and he begins getting very uncomfortable; summertime finds him inside, hibernating, hiding from the heat.

He’s not a big fan of winter, either; the snow and damp and cold make him miserable. He’s really a bit of a delicate flower, wilting or breaking depending on the extreme.

Æowyn
15.) Is your character an early morning bird or a night owl?
Æowyn is definitely a night sort. Mornings are not her thing, and she wakes up grumpy and unpleasant until she’s had breakfast, a shower, and at least half an hour of silence.

Nights are where she shines, and she often stays up late, going to bed in the wee hours of the night. She does her best thinking then, and often completes her homework this way.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/386053.html. You can comment here or there.

Alder By Post Update

[personal profile] eseme, [personal profile] rix_scaedu, [personal profile] inventrix, [personal profile] kelkyag, [personal profile] becka_sutton, Mom & Dad, and [personal profile] inventrix, I have mailed your JUNE Alder by Post.

[personal profile] lilfluff, [personal profile] anke, @Dahob, would you like copies gratis?

Anyone else want a copy? I still have editions of all but the first issue available as well; buying in bulk saves me postage & paypal fees and thus saves you, too 🙂

Issue One’s story is an Aunt Family Story take-off from the Gifts Giraffe Call Prompt on Glitter
Issue Two’s story is from Dragons Next Door, a bit of background on pixies & Tiny Folk.
Issue Three story is a setting-less piece called The Bramble Wife.
Issue Four’s story, from the Spring Cleaning Call, is a storm-based piece of Stranded fic.
Issue Five is a piece set in the Science! ‘verse on New Worlds
Issue Six, out of the Reiassan mini-call, is fittingly a piece of Callennan myth.

Alder by Post
1 Issue, US $2.00 USD
I Issue, non-US $2.50 USD
1 year, US $20.00 USD
1 year, non-US $25.00 USD
2 Issues, US $3.50 USD
2 Issues, Non-US $4.50 USD
3 Issues, US $5.00 USD
3 issues, Non-US $6.00 USD
4 Issues, US $6.50 USD
4 Issues, Non-US $7.50 USD

~

Also! Because I am behind, subscribers are entitled to another bonus card. What sort of thing would you like to see?

~

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/385809.html. You can comment here or there.

Countdown to Addergoole: Ciara and Amadeus

52 23 Days To 52 Weeks

For the 52 days leading up to the 52 weeks of Addergoole: Year 9, I will be posting something Addergoole-related (almost) every day.

Today I bring you Ciara and Amadeus

Ciara is a clever and tough young lady, a tiny go-getter whose Change leaves her marbled and elven; Amadeus is a large wolfish guy twice her size, a predator by nature and inclination.

Ciara came to Addergoole thinking that is was a finishing school; Amadeus, in his fourth year of the school, knows exactly what it is. They’re both in over their heads, because neither saw the other one coming.

They have appeared in :
Wolf at the Door (LJ)
Wolf in the Circle (LJ)
Ciara: Wolf in the Hand
Pet Wolf (LJ) (Ciara)

And today, you can ask them anything.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/385664.html. You can comment here or there.

Countdown to Addergoole 9: Vocabulary

52 24 Days To 52 Weeks

For the 52 days leading up to the 52 weeks of Addergoole: Year 9, I will be posting something Addergoole-related (almost) every day.

I have recorded some Ellehemaei vocabulary.

The Lexicon posted here is recorded there. In addition, some other Old Tongue words:

the prefixes –
sh’ – child of (the Mother)
cy’ – student of (the Mentor)
du’ – Named (“I am Called”)
sa’ – Named (as an honorific)
jae’ – Named (as a diminutive)
see these used in this story
ia’ – Belonging With (a mutual belonging)
oro’ – Belonging to (your Owner)

Tesshebaei – the Old Tongue word for the Grigori, those who guide
Garrubanaei – the Old Tongue word for the Mara, those who protect

Idu a’Iduþin – the Old Tongue (“To Know all there is to know”)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/385375.html. You can comment here or there.

Countdown to Addergoole Year 9: A so-far summary

I’m posting something about Addergoole (almost) every day leading up to the first day of my new serial! Here is a summary so far:

Meta!
Words (LJ)
Ask the Author Anything! (LJ)
What Is Addergoole? (LJ)

Ask them Anything:
Belfreja (LJ)
Brydan (LJ)
Miryam (LJ)
Garfunkle (LJ)
Cynara
Noam
Reid Solomon & DJ
43 to go: Jeremiah and Lolly (LJ)
45 to Go: Timora (LJ)
46 to Go: Porter (LJ)
47 to go: Wylie (LJ)
(LJ)

Character Interaction Meme! (LJ)
3 & 13 fall down a hole: non-canon
4and 5 brainstorming for a project (sort of): CANON
Getting Lost in the Library – potentially canon
5 and 7 are steal food from the kitchens.
6 and 12 discover they have something unexpected in common
Morning After – Probably not Canon (end of year 8)
11 and 14 (“Um, we didn’t just… I mean, that’s kosher, right?”)

Three Vignettes of Addergoole Year 9 characters (LJ)

Descriptions
Garfunkle (LJ)

Character Development Meme
Ahouva, Ciara, Jovanna (LJ)
Garfunkle, Belfreja, and Kay (LJ)
Ceinwen, Garfunkle, and Kheper (LJ)
Wylie, Timora, Noam (LJ)

Please feel free to go back an ask questions in any of the “ask” posts!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/385079.html. You can comment here or there.

Kittens, bugs, guests, and storms

We have a wasp problem we’re working on correcting, as [personal profile] eseme learned when she was visiting (Sorry, Es!!).

Not only has Eseme (and T) been stung, but now Oli has learned to his displeasure what happens when you bother a wasp (ow, mom, dad, my face feels funny).

He’s fine… He had a day of swollen face and sadness, and now he’s back to normal, and I, too, know what happens.

The kittens have also learned that they don’t like storms, at least not rocking-loud-flash-bang ones like last night. They were watching it from the bathroom window for a bit, but then it got too loud for them.

Having kittens is more fun than I thought it would be. It’s neat watching their personalities develop. I still miss my Draker and Gats, but I’m getting fond of my babies, too

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/384980.html. You can comment here or there.

Countdown to Addergoole Yr9: Belfreja

52 27 Days To 52 Weeks

For the 52 days leading up to the 52 weeks of Addergoole: Year 9, I will be posting something Addergoole-related (almost) every day.

This evening I present: Belfreja!
And a prototype of my Cast Page Character Summaries for perusal and suggestion:

Belfreja is a sweet, gorgeous woman, Masked or Unmasked; her Change gives her the ram horns that are both her parents’ legacy.

This tall, broad-shouldered girl, her Viking ancestors clear in her appearance, has a fondness for foreign languages, foreign food, and classic everything.

She has appeared in the story Mission to Paris, which is set several years after Addergoole Year 9.

I offer her up to your questions today!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/384702.html. You can comment here or there.