Archive | January 12, 2014

Home Turf

Jan12

To [personal profile] rix_scaedu‘s prompt for here, my [community profile] dailyprompt prompt “doomed from the start.

Luke and Doug are characters from Addergoole, which in addition to the two webserials, has a landing page here.

Context for those not familiar with the universe: “Addergoole” is an underground boarding school for fae children in a dystopic modern-fantasy setting.

This is set in about year Nineteen of the Addergoole school; the war began at the end of Year Seventeen (2011) when the Departed Gods returned. There is a war on, a war that gives the overarching setting the name “Fae Apoc.”

Luke is the head of security (and PE teacher) for the school; Doug is his son, co-security, and combat teacher.

“Don’t they know there’s a war on?”

Doug’s father was irritable.

Doug’s father was always, as long as Doug could remember, irritable – angry, cranky, grumpy. Only one person in the world had succesfully noticed that the reason Doug seemed so grumpy all the time was at least fifty percent a flat imitation of his father (two people, but really, his mother didn’t count).

This was different. It had begun around year sixteen, and had just gotten worse over the last three years. Too many former cy’Luke had died in the war. Too many old friends of both of theirs, too, and too many students all around.

And now there was a team of nedetakai or returned gods attempting to slip through the eastern wards. They were slick, sure, but they were still trying to sneak around some of the best wards in the world – for no reason, as far as their intel could determine, except that the ward was there, and shiny.

Luke had his swords out, steel and rowan. He had his wings unfurled, and an expression on his face that Doug had rarely seen. He took to the air with a wordless snarl.

Doug took to the road by Harley. The look on his father’s face… he almost felt bad for the intruders.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/635124.html. You can comment here or there.

Hands-on-Knowledge, a Drabble of Dragons Next Door for the December Bingo Card

Jan12

This is to [personal profile] anke‘s prompt (on twitter) to my December OrigFic Bingo Card. This fills (for the second time) the “Knowledge” square.

Jin, Bianna, and the narrator (Aud) belong to the Dragons Next Door setting.

“There’s theoretical classes, of course.” Jin was talking fast. I tried not to smile; he liked to talk fast when he didn’t think his father was going to give him something. It worked on Sage, half because Sage didn’t notice it was happening, and then the other half because he noticed and was amused by it.

I was not Sage, but it amused me as well. I let him go on.

“There’s classes in everything, and Bianna’s already taking classes in the local college. And, being here, being so close to Smokey Knoll, you know that the college here is good in those things. But there’s all of those classes, and they only cover a small amount, and it’s all theory, you know, none of it is solid practice, and even the ones that do field work won’t let someone Bianna’s age – or mine – go on a field mission.”

“And you think I ought to know better than college professors?” I found it interesting that Bianna was simply listening. Her back was straight and she was watching me, not Jin. This was a girl to watch out for – or one to welcome into the family. Sage and I had been arguing that since we met her.

“I know you know better than the professors. The question is whether or not you’ll trust Bianna, not whether or not you’ll take a teenager on a field mission. After all, you’ve taken me and even Junie on trips.” He held up his hands. “I know it’s different. We’re your kids. You’ve been training us since we were born. but Bianna doesn’t have that. Her parents are human… as far as we can tell. She’d never even met a pixie until she came along with me on my birthday, much less a dragon. And the field is larger than you can handle on your own for a city, Mom, you’ve said it yourself, large and growing. You’ll need more than just me and Junie – if she wants to – and there’s going to be my time with the Tower.”

My boy knew how to talk. I nodded to Jin. Watch carefully, or welcome into the family. Possibly both. “And what does Bianna want?”

Bianna cleared her throat. “I want to learn, ma’am. I mean, I was considering social work for a career, but then Jin told me that the other races have almost no representation at all, and it occurred to me… maybe I could combine them. But I don’t know anything except what I’ve read in books.”

I knew everything the paperwork of a bureaucratic city could provide on Bianna, but that was not, by far, everything one could learn. “Perhaps we both could benefit from some hands-on learning.”

And if my son shot me a warning glance, well, that was his right. He was welcome to whatever relationships and loves he wanted, but when he introduced her to the family business… then it was time for some hands-on learning indeed.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/634766.html. You can comment here or there.