I know this passageway; I’ve seen it many times before:
In dreams, in my memories, in my quietest nightmares
It beckons, it terrifies: I’ve forgotten what lies through there.
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Posted on Patreon for Patrons-only, a story of Kailani, Regine, and Addergoole East:
August 2008
The school looked very much the same. That was, Kailani supposed, reasonable. It had not changed in the three years she’d been there; only her viewpoint had.
The halls were empty. There would be nobody here except teachers she recognized anyway, but she still found herself looking in the corners and niches, peeking into the classrooms. That’s where Rozen had grabbed her. That’s where she’d first met Taro. There was the dining hall, where she’d first found out she was in a school of faeries.
This was Director Regine’s office…
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This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/973936.html. You can comment here or there.
“Thalia? What are you doing?” Clio wiggled closer to the secret passage, whispering loudly. “It’s my turn.”
Her twin squeaked. “Coming!” Thalia shot out of the hole far faster than she’d gone in. “All yours. Enjoy.” She pressed the flashlight in Clio’s hand.
Well now, she had to go. Clio slipped through the tiny door, shining her light over the passage.
A face looked back at her. Clio swallowed her own squeak and continued moving the beam. Face after face… “Death masks…” Nothing terrifying.
Until her light settled on a face more like her own than even her twin’s visage.
written to Flash!Friday’s Warmup Wednesday prompt.
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The place was called Jenny’s, and it would always be called that.
In 1889, the widow Jenny macOwen had bought a small pub, not much more than a bar along one side and a row of tables along the other, renamed it Jenny’s, and begun doing rousing business among the rough trade and the half-breed mutts. When she’d grown tired of the business, she’d passed it along to her daughter Muirín.
When Muirín was ready for a change, Jenny came back for a few years – under the guise of a cousin, also named Jenny – until Muirín’s daughter Anna was ready to take over. And so it had gone, until Jae had taken over the bar from her “cousin Jenny”.
Along the way, it had expanded quite a bit. Grandma Jenny had started by buying the place upstairs and putting in a stairway; Grandma Muirín had knocked out the wall between Jenny’s and the failed restaurant next door. The place Jae had taken over was five times as big as the original Jenny’s, and had a chef, a dining room, and a black market trade in Ellehemaei goods and promises.
Jae knew the story by heart. She’d grown up sleeping in a wine crate behind the bar, learned her letters reading menus, and started to walk holding on to the dining room chairs. This bar had stood through two world wars and several police actions. Some johnny-come-lately Law-breaking dragon wasn’t going to change anything.
“Molly.” She gestured brusquely at one of the waitresses. “Go upstairs and ask if any of the Law can shift Force. Use those words exactly, okay? Tara,” she gestured at the other one. “Make sure everyone’s inside. This is going to get rough.”
There were monsters flying overhead, but the regulars were still sitting behind the bar, playing poker at the tables, upstairs making deals. Jae stood on the bar, for the best sense of the whole place, and began muttering Workings. “All right.” She nodded at the Ellehemaei coming down the stairs behind Molly. “What we’re going to do is put a force field around the whole block. That ought to do it.”
The place was Jenny’s, and it would always be called that.
Started reading LKH, designed a sub-setting. Here’s Jenny’s.
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This was not a great week for Edally writing for me. I kept thinking I’d get the second chapter in…. and it kept not happening
First line of Wednesday:
Taikie and Saydrie looked far more awake than Enrie felt.
Last line of today:
. “You keep losing track of the conversation.”
490 words and 1 chapterlet, bringing the total to 3757 words & 7 chapterlets!
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/972911.html. You can comment here or there.
Written to @DaHob’s commissioned continuation; part II of a longer story. This comes after Fox Hunt(Saturday) and The Hunt Continues (Wednesday) and Chase the Fox Part I (Wednesday – the following Saturday).
🦊
Wednesday
Hitchhiking had gotten old pretty quickly. George hadn’t thumbed a ride in years, not since his college days, and he found that all the things that had made it so unpleasant back in Maine were almost identical in California — the road splashing and the traffic noise, the hours you’d go by with nobody picking you up, the odd juts out of your way when you did get a ride, the talking. The endless uncomfortable chatter.
Add to it that in California, the chatter was likely to veer into topics he knew nothing about. Politics was a land mine. Even the weather could be tricky. And then there was his accent, which didn’t exactly sound Down Home Californian not matter how much time he’d spent scrubbing the salt water and lobster out of his vowels. Every ride was an exercise in tension, and the time spent watching for rides wasn’t much better.
After his third ride spent far too long asking prying questions about his marriage plans and potential children, George decided walking was the better plan. He could stay away from the road, he wouldn’t have to deal with prying questions, and he wouldn’t have to worry about the police having his picture, for any number of reasons including $517 Californian he’d stolen over the past few days. Continue reading
I’m redoing my cave, I might have mentioned.
And in doing so, I wanted to do something with the pile of very small (art-card size and up) flat art I’ve accumulated over the years.
I finally decided on picture ledges after a bit of googling, and, having done that, said to myself, “Hey, doesn’t Ana White have a pattern for that?”
Ana White has a pattern for everything. She’s this DIY guru who puts together easy-to-understand patterns for furniture. Much of what she does is knockoffs of high-end catalog stuff.
And she happens to have a Ten-Dollar Ledge plan!
So I’m gonna make three 32″ ledges!
My lumber cost me $15.51 after discount and tax, so I guess there’s been a bit of inflation. But still! Compared to the price of a single shelf anywhere…!
Now, of course, I’m gonna have more shelf than I have small art – so, where can I buy art* that fit in frames 6×8″ or smaller?
* Like, from independent crowdfunded artists, not posters.com or such.
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/972716.html. You can comment here or there.
(Iconic stories: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/971913.html )
If I were going to write a story (~1000-2000 words) in your favorite setting(s) as an introduction to the setting, what would it include?
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/972496.html. You can comment here or there.
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