Archive | October 2013

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.

On this Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Anatoliy

Oct7

October 7, 2004

“Sorry, no.”

It wasn’t the most interesting job in the world. There were probably a hundred more interesting jobs – including his daytime job. But his boss and the union didn’t care if he moonlighted.

“The girl said no, back off.”

And he got to protect people. Totally worth it.

October 7, 2013

“Keep calm. Everyone, stay calm, and keep moving.”

He’d gotten the call from Smitty last week. The week before, it had been Finn. And Vlad a month before that.

“Keep calm. Keep moving, calmly off the road and into the shelters, everyone.”

It had been Conrad’s call that did it.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/575976.html. You can comment here or there.

A Week of Settings – Day Two: Blizzarded

Oct4

Walk into the snow and keep walking, don’t turn around and don’t look for landmarks.

If it doesn’t kill you, this might step you into a strange world, where fauns sometimes pop up and goblins take payment in tech.

And if you keep walking…?

Well, if you keep walking, who knows where you’ll end up.

Blizzarded is a setting that started from a random freewrite, and is based primarily in one story. It counts, probably, as fantasy.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/575738.html. You can comment here or there.

One Year Ago / The Cup Part III

Oct4

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

Pellinore has appeared in June Again,, Boom, amd Visit From School, and was referenced in Legacy, where JohnWayne showed up.

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


Year 32 of the Addergoole School – at The Ranch
15 years after the beginning of the end of the world; late 2026

Cynara knew she had a reputation for always expecting everything; she liked that reputation, and her habit of preparing for everything made it an easy one to maintain.

She’d planned for Pellinore showing up; she had plans for “former Kept at the door” and plans for “parent of my current Kept showing up” and juxtaposing them hadn’t been hard.

The Grail. That she didn’t have a plan for. General Contingency Plan Three would have to do.

“All right.” She cleared a place on the kitchen table. “Come on, Pellinore. Give me what you’ve got, and we’ll go from there. JohnWayne, go get the maps.”

“…all of them?”

“Ha, no. Get me a blank map of the region, likewise one of the country, one of the continent, and one of the world.” She still thought of it as the country. She wondered if she’d ever stop. “You know where they are, right?”

“Top drawer of the map case.” The boy darted off, leaving Cya and Pellinore to share a glance.

“Was I ever that young?” He pitched his voice quiet; sometimes in the last couple decades he’d learned tact.

“We all were. Notes?”

“Coming.” He dumped his Backpack on a kitchen chair and pulled out a ziplock-bag-encased spiral notebook. “There’s a lot of contradictory rumors and whispers, and lot of ‘if you ask the elder Grigori so-and-so,’ but a lot of the old ones…”

“Yeah. Either died or went into hiding during the war. It’s a place to start, at least.” She held out her hand for the notebook.

It had been a generation since she Kept him. They both paused, just for a heartbeat, and then he obeyed the unspoken command.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/575363.html. You can comment here or there.

On this Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Jamian

Oct3

October 3, 2004

“Give me… four years.” Arnbjorg and Jaya were studiously avoiding each other’s glances, holding their mocha lattes and watching the steam. “Four years, until I’m done with school. I know, the extra year…”

“I can wait for another year. Especially with the kids.”

“I’ll know by then.”

“I hope so.”

October 3, 2013

“Xandro, we have to go.” Jamian handed another duffle to his oldest child. “Here, Dom. Food, clothes.”

“Dadimom…”

“Jame’…”

Dom and Xandro’s objections rode over each other; they both stopped; Jamian sighed. He tried again. “Xandro. Bathroom. Dom. Food. It’s not safe anymore.”

It might not ever be safe again.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/574971.html. You can comment here or there.

I really am Writing, mark one:

Oct3

“…He needs someone to protect him.”

“And you think that that should be me?”

“I think it probably shouldn’t be me. And you need someone who isn’t me.”

“You don’t get to decide what I need anymore.”

From Kuro_Neko’s commissioned continuation of the Ceinwen-and-Thorburn-in-Year10 story

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/574506.html. You can comment here or there.