Archive | September 2015

The Invasion of the Kaa-Tah, a story for Patreon free for all to read

Sep24

The Invasion of the Kaa-Tah

The Kaa-tah arrived in early Spring, as the snow was melting. They came down in unsettled areas, their small landing craft hiding easily in forests, in deep grass, in rolling hills. They were picked up on radar, but even so, falling a few a day, all over the globe, it took the world’s authorities too long to recognize the invasion for what it was.

The Kaa-tah did not immediately engage local populations; instead, they put the robots and tools they had brought to good use, building structures, setting up small, isolated settlements and beginning to manufacture more tools, more advanced robots.

The first humans to discover Kaa-tah-ah settlements were gently rebuffed, sent away with a light smattering of weapons fire…

read on…

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/985037.html. You can comment here or there.

On Addergoole and teenage parenting – after school

Sep23

I was thinking this morning of Cya having to deal with a new teacher:

“I wanted to talk to you about this picture of his family Yoshi drew.”

Horns? Tails? Cya’s worried for a moment; humans get so bent out of shape about these things, thinking they’re symbols when they’re just the way the family looks.

But no. She looks over the picture. Yoshi’s probably not a budding Picasso, as much as she’d like him to be, but it’s a pretty good representation.

“Yeah, that’s about right. That’s Yoshi and his brother Viddie – it’s Viðrou, that’s an eth, don’t mark him off for a wrong D when it’s not, please – those are my friends Howard, Leo, and Zita – she really is that short. Leo is Viddie’s father, that’s why he’s over there next to Viddie, and then that’s Leo’s daughter Sigruko and Zita’s kids Amy, Ariel, and Brandy. That’s everyone.”

“But the assignment was to draw his family.“

Cya aims a look of patient disparagement at the teacher. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”
~

All over America, from ’99 through 2011, kids in their early twenties are struggling with the system.

Acacia leans in close to the teacher. Her voice is low and full of menace. “Do not ever ask about my child’s father in front of her again. That is not a conversation she needs to hear. Do you understand?”

~

Orlaith sighs at the paperwork. “No. Ce’Rilla, with an apostrophe. Hunter-Hale, with a hyphen. Samael, not Samuel, a-e-l. Seriously.”

~

Aelgifu has dealt with the whispers and the strange looks, but it’s the soccer mom that actually comes out and asks that brings it all to a head.

“How did two lesbians end up with four kids before you even graduated college? I mean, it’s not like you can get pregnant by accident.”

She waits a heartbeat, then another, to see if the woman realizes how stupid what she just says is. When the woman flushes and stammers out something starting with “I mean…”, Ayla smiles reassuringly.

“At least you didn’t ask the kids.” There’s menace in her words. “And as to how: Io had Cecily before we were dating. Look up ‘bisexual’ sometime. She had Al right after we started dating, but you know, these things happen, and we worked through it. I had Niobe because we wanted a baby together, a kid that was ours. And then I had Siggie by arrangement with a gay friend of mine – twins, and he kept one, I kept one. It’s really quite easy.”

She smiles brightly at the woman and waits for her to go away stammering, happy at the lies and the honesty she’s managed to pile up together.

~

Addergoole grads raising their chins and looking in the face of people who call them irresponsible for being teen parents.

Addergoole grads refusing to answer questions about “but where’s the father in all this?” or “how could a mother leave her child?”

Addergoole grads not bothering to explain the complicated family trees and just explaining “they’re my kids.”

Or “They’re our kids.” Even if they have no kids in common, two people coming together after school and raising all their children as a family.

Addergoole grads struggling to be family when all the world sees is kids.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/984436.html. You can comment here or there.

Date Night, a drabble of Summer/Stranded World for Eseme

Sep21

It was only Applebee’s, but they were on college student salaries, after all, the food was good enough, and they could take the bus.

Summer sat between Bishop and Mellie, but they’d gotten one of the small round bar tables, so everyone was, technically, between everyone else: best of all worlds.

As a rule, they weren’t that unusual: three college kids, out on a Saturday night. It wasn’t until Summer stole a small kiss from Mellie that anyone looked askance at them, and it wasn’t until Bishop responded by stealing his own kiss from Mellie that someone whispered to someone else at their table.

Summer didn’t mind the stares. She was nineteen, she wasn’t famous or looking for a Professional Job, and if people wanted to stare, it wouldn’t be likely to hurt her at all.

But Mellie, the stares made her uncomfortable. Summer stole another kiss and pressed a blessing into it. Nothing to see here.

If making your girlfriend comfortable wasn’t using your powers for good, she didn’t know what was.

Un-slump-me prompt call

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/984031.html. You can comment here or there.

Character building: Magnolia (a drabble)

Sep20

Near the end of year 5…

“You didn’t tell me!”

Mike sighed. Over the four years of school – the only four years she was supposed to be here! – Magnolia had gotten used to many of Mike’s sighs. This one, this one was new.

“I told you, Magnolia. I told you last year. I told you the year before. And Professor Pelletier and Professor Solomon told you, too.”

Magnolia leaned against the wall of Mike’s office and blew quiet raspberries. They had, she had to admit. Her classwork wasn’t up to par. She wasn’t paying enough attention in class and she wasn’t doing the homework at all. It was just…

“I didn’t think y’all meant it.” She wasn’t going to cry. That would be ridiculous. but she didn’t bother hiding the little wiggle of her bottom lip. “I mean, I took care of the graduation requirements. You helped… remember?”

She had the not-very-pleasurable pleasure of making Mike flinch. “The problem is, Magnolia, that’s never been the only graduation requirement…”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/983568.html. You can comment here or there.

Useful

Sep20

Set ~50 years after Addergoole: the Original Series, after the “Retirement” stories.

To her credit, his owner hadn’t said “make yourself useful.”

To his frustration, when she’d said “I want to make use of you,” it hadn’t been anything like what he’d had in mind.

Rozen looked at the class – all girls, all in their teens – and then back at Kailani. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“You’re close enough to full strength now.” She had her analytical voice on. She was, however, also smiling. “I’m sure you can handle teaching self-defense.”

“Self-defense. Right.” He looked at the girls. They looked back at him, as uncertain as he felt. “All right. I’ve got this,” he told Kai. “I won’t hurt ’em. You can… go do whatever you do. Dean.”

She hesitated. He saw the moment where she questioned her decision to leave him alone with teenage girls. He wanted to be offended – but he didn’t want her to get into the habit of thinking he was harmless, either.

Rozen turned his back on his owner and studied the girls. “All right. We’re going to start with you showing me what you’ve got. Don’t hold back. I’m hard to hurt.”

Un-slump-me prompt call

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/983446.html. You can comment here or there.

Character building: Eris (a drabble)

Sep20

Mid year five

They were whispering again. Eris held her glass out to Aviv and waited, patiently enough, while he filled it.

He raised his eyebrows at her, at the way her free hand was drumming on the counter. “Careful. That’s your seventh.”

Eris laughed, although there was no humor in it. “What’s going to happen if I drink too many? You gonna try to grab me?”

“I won’t.” There was never a time when Aviv didn’t look serious. Eris wondered if the tentacles that made up his mouth under his Mask could even make a smile. Today, he sounded serious, too. “But I wouldn’t assume someone else is as smart.”

Eris raised her eyebrows. “Smart? You saying I’m a bad catch?”

He saluted her with a drink, the closest he might ever come to that elusive smile. “I’m saying nobody with half a brain thinks that they’d survive putting a collar on you again. If you didn’t kill them – and you probably would – well, Joff and Rafe aren’t collared anymore. It would be a mess.” He leaned back and sipped his drink, or, at least, held his drink up near his lips and some of it vanished. “I might even get involved.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/983165.html. You can comment here or there.

Mentor-Student

Sep19

He’d tried “no,” “fuck no” and “no way in a billion fucking years.” Doug had tried everything he thought he’d work and a few things he’d known wouldn’t, but in the end, he’d lost anyway. His father had put his foot down, and Doug had found himself sitting in his own office, staring across his desk at a new student.

“I’m going to be your Mentor.”

She glared back at him and worked her mouth for a moment, like the whole idea tasted bad. “They told me. Thought we were supposed to get a choice.”

Doug swallowed most of a laugh. “Yeah, me too. Guess we blew that one.”

She raised her eyebrows, raised her bic, and lit up a tiny flame. “Rock on.”

Un-slump-me prompt call

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/983020.html. You can comment here or there.

Character building: Rand (a drabble)

Sep19

This story contains allusions to non-consensual everything


End of Year Five.

Rand didn’t go out to Maureen’s much, but the day the Second Cohort left, he found himself leaning on the fence with a bunch of other dads, trying to pick his kid out of the tumbling toddlers. She’d be blonde, probably. That didn’t narrow it down all that much. Maybe about, what, a year old now? How big were one-year-olds?

A hand slapped across his back. He didn’t need to turn to know who it was. He’d always know her touch.

“Cheer up, kiddo.” Acacia was laughing at him. She spent a lot of time laughing, she always had. “You’ve got two more years left. You’ll find someone who holds still long enough.”

Rand bristled. “It was just-“

“Or,” she continued, that way she had of talking right over him, “it’s not like you don’t know what to do to make them hold still. I thought we taught you that much, at least.”

And she was gone, leaving Rand staring off into the Village at her ponytail. Following after her, the way he always seemed to.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/982649.html. You can comment here or there.

A Wedding, a drabble

Sep19

Two of Arinyanka’s younger cousins were helping her dress, while a third and fourth stood behind her on a stool, braiding ribbons into her hair.

On the other side of the room, two more of her cousins were doing what they could with Girey’s hair and beard. He was reading, holding the ancient scroll carefully while layers were draped over and around him. There was no complaining. He hadn’t spoken, as a matter of fact, since she’d handed him the scroll.

He looked up. There were eight other people in the room with them, but he looked directly at her. “This isn’t in any of the Bitrani histories.”

Rin opened her mouth to answer, but he beat her to it. “It wouldn’t be. We – the priests removed so much as heresy.” He set the scroll down with the reverence it deserved; a cousin stepped in immediately to clasp bracelets on both Girey’s wrists.

He cleared his throat. “I -” He shifted to Bitrani and tried again. “I understand.” His gesture, short as it was, took in the finery he was wearing, the Bitrani royal colors a repeated note in clothing that was otherwise entirely Calenyena.

“You don’t mind?” It was a foolish question, but the Girey she was wedding this week was so different from the one she’d kidnapped. She found herself still expecting some complaint, some whining.

He smiled crookedly. “Of course I mind. But I was always going to go to a state marriage, before. And this… this is a state marriage all right. Just… gaudier.”

Rin chuckled quietly. “Don’t tell me that Bitrani get married in mud and dirt colors, too?”

“Mud and dirt,” he agreed solemnly, “and don’t forget dust.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for getting married in silk and finest linen, then.” Her shoulders settled and Rin found herself smiling. “Not even itchy army-issue wool.”

“I suppose I can live with it.” The cousins were looking at him strangely. Girey laughed, a short sound she still didn’t hear often. “For you.”

Anti-slump prompt call

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/982493.html. You can comment here or there.

Slump!

Sep18

I’m not entirely certain what happened – work stress, life stress, home improvement, summer, probably some combination – but I have been in a bit of a writing slump lately.

I am slowly clawing my way out of it, but I wanted to let everyone know that, indeed, I do still exist as more than a WordPress autoposter. <.<

I feel like doing character studies this week/end, 50-150 words of a given character in a plausible situation.

So:

Give me an extant character in any of my settings (or fanfic I’ve written) (if obscure, give me a link) and a plausible situation, something that ~could~ be canon.

I will write 50-150 words of said character in said situation.

See “character” under my tags for an entirely incomplete list. See Character Lists for characters from Aunt Family, Science! and Planners, as well as a partial list of “Named Male Characters with active personalities/speaking lines.”

Thank you for your aid in beating this slump!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/982240.html. You can comment here or there.