Archives

Was That There…?

Jul24

I asked for something fun to write here; this is to the 4th prompt, from KissofJudas (“Was that door originally there?”)

The team had been lost for days.

They didn’t get lost. They’d been hired not to get lost; they’d been hand-picked not to get lost. They’d all specialized, in their own way, in not getting lost.

And they’d gotten more lost than they’d ever been before.

It was this place, this labyrinthine old stone stack, like Lovecraft’s hotel meets an archaeologist’s nightmare.

Alexa’s hand brushed a doorknob, and it tingled. She stared at it.

They’d been over this stretch of hallway three times already – at least she thought they had. “Was this door originally here?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/755536.html. You can comment here or there.

February is World Building Month. Day Thirty: Facets of Dusk

Mar12

[personal profile] piratekitten declared February world-building month.
And now it is March and I am finishing up the questions!
The question post is here
The eighteenth question comes from [personal profile] clare_dragonfly and is for Facets of Dusk
Who discovered the portal thingies? How did it start out?

In the universe the team calls Prime, in our era, Alexa discovered the Doors by accident.

She was – or had been – dating Aerich, and they got into yet another fight, as they were prone to doing. She stormed out of his study and into his library, through a door that was older than the family house in which he lived.

[Aerich’s family consist of a long and esteemed lineage of scholarly mages who discovered the Doors centuries ago, but had never figured out how to make them properly function. As only a few people in any given billion have the ability, nobody in Aerich’s family, nor their associates, had ever managed to spark the doors. Alexa did.]

She traveled from universe to universe for three years; there was a murder investigation back on Earth Prime, and she was officially declared missing: presumed dead.

While Aerich was being charged with her murder, Alexa was discovering by trial and error how the Doors work and how to find them. They do not always lead to the same place multiple times in a row and, unlike a Stargate, they don’t come with a coordinate system. Each universe has several, although the specific number varies with world.

When she returned – not into Aerich’s family library, but into a storeroom in the basement of a famous university – she was immediately snagged by a shadow branch of the U.S. Government, working with an unwilling but competent Aerich and several of his associates.

Once they determined that Alexa could, indeed, open the Doors, they put together an exploration team, and the Facets team was born.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/691062.html. You can comment here or there.

Wrong Door, a story of Facets of Dusk for the Giraffe Call

Mar1

Written to slinkslowdown‘s prompt to the January Giraffe call; they prompted with their OC, Ashe.

Facets of Dusk has a landing page here; a team of explorers are searching out new worlds via inter-dimensional Doors that only one person seems to have the ability to open.

When they open their doors on the wrong world…

“What… what is that thing?”

Cole stared at the… thing. Creature. It looked a bit like a dog, a bit like a wolf, if you ignored the radioactive-yellow eyes and paw pads.

And mouth, you couldn’t forget the mouth. Because the thing was opening its mouth at them, and, oh, my, it was terrifyingly yellow.

“I believe.” Aerich coughed faintly, “that it is safe to assume that it is a demon-canine hybrid.”

“That’s your safe assumption?” Cole took two steps backwards and drew his gun.

“…and that it may be sentient. As such, it might recognize….”

It was too late; the beast was already leaping. Cole shoved Aerich behind him, made sure the mage was in front of their Door-opener, and drew a cudgel from it sheath, all in the second it took the thing to jump.

“Ashe!” Aerich coughed the word out as the beast landed, teeth almost making it to Cole’s throat. “Its – his – name is Ashe. And this is his territory.”

The demon-dog paused, one paw lifted, ready to slice Cole’s face open. It was entirely unclear whether he spoke or used telepathy, but mine came across clear as day.

“Yours,” Cole agreed. He holstered the fun. “We were just leaving.”

“Good.” Ashe grinned at them, or, at least, his mouth opened and he showed a bunch of teeth. “Stay gone.”

Alexa had gotten the Door open again. “Leaving?”

“Leaving,” Cole agreed. They backed slowly through the door. “Mark this one on the do-not-visit-if-we-can-help-it.”

“Good idea.” The demon-dog’s laugh followed them back through the dimensions.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/684666.html. You can comment here or there.

G for the Gate, a story of Facets of Dusk for the Giraffe Call

May9

Another take on [profile] cluudle‘s prompt. I didn’t want to start another Facets story when I have so many hanging out there, but this just called to me.

“That. Looks ominous.”

The team stared up at the gate.

“It looks beautiful.”

It had to be at least a hundred feet tall at its apex.

“It seems rather expensive.”

It was either made out of solid gold – unlikely – or gilded over the entire edifice.

“It seems rather gaudy.”

The whole thing had been sculpted or molded with flourishes, pineapples,
arches, and scrolls. There was not more than a six-inch span of straight line anywhere in the entire structure.

“Not to mention shiny.”

There were cabochons set into the gold, mostly yellow stones, reflecting light even more brightly than the metal did.

“And imposing.”

It was, after all, a gate. The doors were not solid, but they were made of some sort of woven mesh. The largest holes through the mesh were the size of Alexa’s fist, the smallest not wide enough to allow a hair through. The gate was set into an equally-shiny but black-silver fence, every bit as tall and every bit as impassible.

“Not to mention impossible.” Peter’s instruments did not seem to like the thing.

“Well.” They stepped up to the gate, studying it. Glaring at it. Contemplating it, as were their wonts. Cole cleared his throat. “I say we knock.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/530014.html. You can comment here or there.

Changing, a continuation of Facets of Dusk for the Giraffe Call (@Lilfluff)

Apr4

Afer Thick, after Deep in the Autumn Air, after Cloaked. To [personal profile] lilfluff‘s prompt

“Change us.” Xenia hid a twitch in an adjustment of her absurd cloak. How anyone could shoot in this, she didn’t know. (How Aerich knew she had a title she really, really didn’t know. She’d pry that out of him later. In private.) “I do not wish to be changed.”

“Sometimes such things happen despite our will.” If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought that he sounded sympathetic.

“Would you say that’s something changing us?” Cole was pointing along the road with his staff.

What they’d thought was a small village around the base of the castle was, well, a small village around the base of the castle. But now that they were closer, they could see that the town didn’t suit the genre of the world they’d stepped into.

“Is that a saloon?”

“Complete with saloon girls.”

“Is that a knight?”

“Complete with shining armour.”

The team shared a glance. “There’s a wild west town.” Cole sounded tired. Xenia didn’t blame him.

“Surrounding a medieval-style castle.” Josie sounded worried. Xenia didn’t blame her, either.

“Are we on a movie set?” Alexa stepped forward. “This doesn’t seem thin enough for a movie set.”

“Most worlds with movies don’t have this much magic.” Aerich always had to contradict Alexa. Xenia wished they’d get back to fucking and stop all the arguing.

“So.” Peter stepped forward. Good, solid, boring, reliable Peter. “So what we have is either a very strange world, or a slip between worlds. Perhaps a Door that someone else opened?”

“I’d say it bears investigating.” Xenia stepped up next to him. “Come on, Cole. Lead on, Fearless Leader.”

“You guys are nuts.” Still, Cole stepped back to the front of the group.

“That’s why you hired us.” It felt good to be nuts. It felt good to be actually exploring.

The air might be thick with magic, but Xenia was full with adventure.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/506303.html. You can comment here or there.

Thick, a continuation of Facets of Dusk for the Giraffe Call (@Rix_scaedu)

Apr3

After Deep in the Autumn Air, after Cloaked. rix_Scaedu‘s commissioned continuation.

“The air is thick with magic.”

Josie had been singing, skipping down the dusty road. Suddenly, she stopped, turned three sixty, and then turned around again until she was looking at Aerich.

Aerich harrumphed. The woman insisted on assuming kinship with him.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Do the Aseteshin Rote, widdershins.”

“Counterclockwise.” He corrected her reflexively. “Wait, how do you know of the Aseteshin Rote? And why would I do it widdershins?”

“Because the moons hang in the wrong side of the sky, here.” Her placid, cheerful smile ignored the fact that she’d only answered half his question. “Do it. You’ll see.”

Aerich grumbled, because the woman had a way of doing that to him that irritated him more than anything in the world, except possibly Alexa.

And then, because she was actually an expert in her field, albeit a crazy one and one who couldn’t keep her head out of the clouds with an anvil tied to her feet, Aerich did the Aseteshin Rote. Counterclockwise.

This particular rote was, he’d thought, known only to his family. Aseteshin was a family word, at least, penned in family chronicles; he had only ever seen the rote drawn in those same tomes.

“A moment, if you would, Cole.” He’d finally unbent to first names, because the rest of the team was merciless when he didn’t.

“This is your sort of world. Do your oogy-boogy stuff.” Cole leaned against a walking stick – where he’d gotten that, Aerich didn’t want to know – and waited.

The dust of the road would do. Aerich squatted down and drew out a circle in the dirt, and then, from memory, sketched in the symbols of the Rote.

“The air,” he allowed after a moment, “is thick with magic. Thicker than any place I have ever read of. It’s not as if it is coming from a single source; it’s as if it’s another element in the atmosphere.”

“They’re breathing magic?” Peter looked less than impressed. “They’re certainly breathing something.” His infernal gadgets beeped along under his cloak.

Aerich didn’t deign to answer. Instead, he looked at Josie. He did not like to admit weakness, but it was only fair to acknowledge when she acted reasonably. “You were right.” He braced for a mindless piece of fluff.

“Thank you.” She pointed at one of the symbols of the Rote. “If you reverse that, I think you can determine the source.”

“If you are so wise in rotes-“

“Why do I do things my way? You said it yourself. Some people are born to the arcane methods of thaumaturgy, and some are merely dabblers in the art.”

“That is not what I-“

“She’s got you word for word, Aerich.” Cole sounded far too amused. “Besides, she covers areas you don’t, and you get the things she can’t. Specialization.”

“Specialization.” Aerich swept the rote away carefully. “As Ms. Carlyle indicated, there is a high concentration of magic in the atmosphere. It may affect our instruments, Dr. Hill. It may affect your weapons, Sergeant Hampton, Lady Hart. It will almost certainly affect our minds.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/505085.html. You can comment here or there.

Deep in the Autumn Air

Apr1

To [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon‘s Prompt (here ).

After Cloaked.

The wind was blowing, just chill enough to make the wearing of cloaks pleasant. The sun was shining thinly through the clouds; although it was only a couple hours past noon, two moons hung low on the horizon already.

Cole was singing. Where he’d gotten the lute, Josie didn’t know; where he’d been hiding that singing voice, she didn’t know either. And she certainly didn’t know where he’d gotten the lyrics to the song he was crooning.

“Her eyes were sky-blue, her skin porcelain-fair.
Flowed free her magic, natural as her hair.”

Josie had once like to thing things like that. Like “Her magic flowed as free and natural as her hair.”

“Hey!” She thunked Cole in the back with her satchel.

“Hey, I’m no poet.” He turned and winked at her. “But the party needs a bard.”

“Here, give me that.” She took the lute from him and played a few chords.

“Three fair ladies went a-walking, deep in the autumn air.
Three dour lords walked a-side them, deep in the country fair.”

“Dour?” Aerich glowered at Josie, which just made her laugh and sing some more.

“Through the hills and through the valleys, into the worlds beyond,
through the stories and in the mysteries, o’er vale and pond.”

“Oh, come on, Josie. Vale and Pond?” Xenia laughed – but Josie didn’t mind. There was something about the air here. Something about the magic hanging suspended like pollen in the thick autumn air.

Like magic flowing as natural and free as Josie’s hair.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/503842.html. You can comment here or there.

Cloaked

Mar25

For [personal profile] rix_scaedu‘s prompt. Facets of Dusk has a landing page here.

The Door was hard to push, this time; Alexa held the doorknob open while she, Cole, and Xenia shoved it until it opened enough to let them through.

Once through, it was easy enough to see what had happened: rubble had fallen on the other side, obstructing the door. Most of the building had fallen, actually, leaving a single wall, braced and supported with scrap wood.

“Ruins?” Josie picked up a stone, and frowned. “No…”

“No.” Steven’s instruments were beeping. “No, this is fresh damage. Nothing here has been sitting for more than a couple years.”

“Put that away.” Cole dropped his gun in a side pocket and pulled out a knife instead. “Xen…”

“Got it. What’s up?”

In the center of this, Alexa and Aerich shared a look. The team did this, sometimes. They would wait until their skills were needed.

“How do you know you’re in a cyberpunk world?”

“Too much tech. Like that place with the blond you liked…”

“That’s real specific.”

“The one with the implants.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“There’s no tech here.” The lean really-not-an-assassin, really, looked around. Alexa had already made the connection. She grabbed her cloak out of her pack and nudged Aerich to do the same.

“Exactly. And how do you know when you’re in a sword and sorcery universe?”

“Cole, I’m not a goddamned student.”

“No tech.” Alexa stepped forward. “Dragon-claw marks on the stone. No wires anywhere. And that’s a castle in the distance.”

“What does that make us, then?” Josie, noting Alexa’s cloak, was doning her own.

They didn’t need to see Aerich’s face to know he was smiling. It showed in his voice. “Well, I do believe we’re the adventuring party of mysterious strangers.”

 

Originally posted here.

Into the Doorway, a beginning for Facets of Dusk

Jan16

To Rix_Scaedu‘s prompt.

Facets of Dusk has a landing page here

This is the beginning of their first mission, so comes before almost everything.

They had their assignment.

They had several assignments. There was the primary mission and two spoken secondary missions. There were their individual assignments, overt and covert. And there were a couple that did not come from their nominal leaders.

They had their gear.

Alexa had her Diplomat Clothes, wrinkle-resistant, fast-drying, and professional-looking in almost any environment.

Cole had his weapons. All of them. He had basic survival gear and a full uniform with no insignia anywhere. And he had weapons.

Josie had her backpacking gear and an apothacary’s worth of herbal… things. Nobody knew what they were for, but they were light.

Peter had his instruments, and then some more instruments, and a large pad of paper. Nobody knew what they were all for, and some of them were heavy, but Peter carried them all.

Xenia had her weapons, her climbing gear, her survival gear, and her weapons. She weighed every single item, and discarded anything that would weigh her down.

Aerich, as far as they could tell, planned on going forth with an expensive suit, a stunning chin, and monumental arrogance. Very few of these weighed anything, at least.

They had their team.

Xenia shared a look with Cole. Both of them looked at Peter; Xenia’s lip curled. Cole glanced at Aerich, his hand resting on his gun. Aerich’s lip curled at Josie. Josie’s nose wrinkled at Xenia. Xenia looked sidelong at Alexa. And Alexa was giving Peter the stinkeye.

They had their door.

Alexa. It all came down to Aleandra Bianchi. Cole stepped up to one side of her, Xenia to the other. This ought to be a military operation. It ought to be an exploratory mission. Instead, it all hinged on a former diplomat with a barely-tested ability to open doors into other worlds.

Peter ran his instruments over the doorway – deep in the archives of the university, well-camouflaged by opening, mundanely, to a supply room full of microfiche. Three of his instruments screamed at him every time they got near. It was definitely The Door.

They had their orders. Alexa opened the Door. Six mavericks stepped into the doorway.

A team would step out.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/452614.html. You can comment here or there.

The Stars, a story of Facets of Dusk for the Giraffe Call

Jan15

For cluudle‘s prompt.

This comes after Gender Play, here.

Facets of Dusk has a landing page here

“I can’t see the stars.” Alexa clutched Xenia’s hand. Alex. Today, she was he was Alex, and she-he-Alex was Xenia’s companion.

And her companion had the jitters. Xenia glanced up into the night sky. This world was dark at night, the only luminescence allowed thin strips along the sidewalks. Blackout curtains covered every window.

And tonight, there were no stars out at all. “That can’t be good.” She sniffed the air. The air was crisp, traffic being limited in daytime and, of course, totally missing at night. Somewhere, someone was burning a roast. A hot dog vendor – or this world’s equivalent – must be right around the corner.

And over it all, the smell of ozone and the suggestion of something very, very larger. “Lex, we need to get inside. Now.”

“We’re still three blocks from the party.”

“We should be close to the Tyen Tunnel our contact told us about.”

“But we were going to get some fresh air.”

Either Alex-a was playing her role too well, or she’d just gotten a little too used to being the one in the front of the charge. “Go… Goram fuck it, Alex, if you don’t get in that building right now, I am going to turn your ass a beautiful shade of purple when we get home.”

Alex-a meeped, and moved. “Xen…”

“Complain later, move now.”

Down the street, she could hear the hot dog vendor cheering. “Tell him who’s boss, sister.” She shoved Alex-a through the revolving door to the tunnel entrance as the skies opened op and the rain poured down.

“Turn my ass purple?” Alex-a muttered.

“Stay in character, and I won’t.” They watched the rain come down, washing the streets clean. More than washing; it looked like it was etching the pavement. No wonder there haven’t been many people out. “Well. That’s why your stars are missing.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/451560.html. You can comment here or there.