Archive | May 12, 2014

Lastborn, a very short story

May12

I asked for prompts to the theme of genesis. This is [personal profile] kelkyag‘s result.

Oshana liked children, or, as her family joked, she liked babies and the having of them. Mostly her oldest two – Jesh and Cory – handled the actual child-rearing parts, with aid from the next two down and so on.

She was one of those women who had a new baby every year, one of those mothers who liked to preside over her ranch of children. By the time Jesh and Cory were old enough to understand that their mother was unusual, they were still young enough to assume that she would go on with a baby a year forever.

When the war came, Oshana was, of course, pregnant. The birth was hard, hiding in a back room while the soldiers prowled the hospital. The child that was born was small, too soon, and very weak.

“Adam,” Oshana whispered. She passed the boy to Jesh. “The lastborn. The genesis.”

It would take them quite some time to understand what she meant.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/713082.html. You can comment here or there.

Filthy, a story(beginning)

May12

I asked for fun Addergoole-related prompts here; this riffed off of [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon‘s prompt.

Year 19 of the Addergoole School

“Look at you, you’re filthy.”

Antonia flinched. She was filthy; she hadn’t had a shower since the gods attacked, unless you counted rainstorms, and hadn’t had a bath in over a year, unless you counted dipping in creeks.

Her clothes were so grimy they stood on their own, but they had held up against weather and road damage, enough that she thought the dirt might be a layer of protection all on its own. Her hair, she’d finally chopped short as the summer came – with a knife, because that’s what she’d had.

They had run when the gods attacked her hometown, ten of them on a school trip. There had only been three when the terrifying winged man had found her; she didn’t know what he’d done with Mella or Steve, and she was scared to ask.

He’d dropped her here, in the halls of what appeared to be the plushest underground bunker ever, and taken off with barely a word. She’d been fighting him the whole time, but now, sitting here with her duffle bag and nothing else, she didn’t have anything to fight.

“You’ve been out in it this whole time, haven’t you?”

She peeked up. That was still the same voice. “Out in… the war?” she offered. “Yeah. I mean, not in the combat. But out there. You haven’t?”

He was clean. Clean the way she hadn’t seen anyone since the gods attacked; his hair fell in perfect red-orange curls around his ears, his skin looked brown, not because of sunburn or dirt, but just because it was his skin tone, and his pants even looked pressed.

Some small part of her mind thought he was also rather handsome, but she ignored that part; she was checking for weapons.

He could be carrying something in the pocket of the khakis, or under the madras-plaid shirt, but his hands were open and empty in front of him.

“I got lucky.” He shrugged, as if to apologize. “I was in a safe place when it hit, and then it wasn’t long before I was supposed to come here. So I never got the worst of it – but over half the students who actually make it here come in looking like you or worse. I’m Raleigh, by the way.”

“Tony… Antonia.” She held out a hand, and then looked at it. “Sorry, I’m filthy.”

“I noticed. Look, come with me. I’m gonna get you a bath, a nice warm meal, and some clean clothes, okay?”

It’s a trap. Her skin itched, reminding her how long it had been since rain, even. “I’ll take it.”

He grabbed the hand she’d offered and pulled her to her feet. “Awesome. My room’s this way.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/712762.html. You can comment here or there.

Sunday’s Dinner: very indicative of the Thorne household shopping

May12

Dinner Sunday was shrimp alfredo with pan-roasted asparagus on the side:

Asparagus and tomato from a local farmstand
Shrimp from the restaurant supply store
Pasta from the Bulk Store
Spices bought online
Alfredo and Parmesan from BJ’s Club
Wine from Six Mile Creek Vineyards, bought during the Cayuga Wine & Herb trail last weekend

And then a pecan quickbread from the same place we bought the tomato & asparagus for dessert (with cream cheese from BJ’s.) Just needed something from Wegmans to fill out our normal shopping. 😉

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/712510.html. You can comment here or there.

“Does this always smell like this,” the adventures of Lyn’s nose, weekend edition

May12

This weekend’s new smells were:

McDonald’s (their milkshakes don’t taste right if you can smell them, apparently)

and

Shrimp (raw)… I was actually worried because it smelled /so fishy/.

Asparagus, on the other hand, tastes a lot better when you can smell it~

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/712446.html. You can comment here or there.