Archives

Arm-twisting, an answering drabble of Addergoole @kissofjudas

Dec5

Addergoole, year 39-ish. Luca Hunting-Hawk, Mike Linden-Blossom (VanderLinden). In response to this Addergoole fic by Rion.

Backstory: across several other stories, Mystral, a second-generation student in Addergoole, asked Luke to father her second child. He agreed, and has been visiting the daughter (his first daughter!), Chavva, regularly ever since.

The world ended around Year 17 of Addergoole (2011, June, is when it began), in something Luke refers to here as the Fae War.

Luke and Mike are both teachers at the Addergoole school, and 2 of the co-founders.

“You should build her a house.”

That was further out of left field than most things Mike said, but Luke – who was packing to visit Mystral and Chavva – knew what his oldest and most obnoxious friend was talking about.

“She has a home.”

“You’re in love with her.”

“What’s that have to do with the price of tea in China?” He did not want that wound poked at, thank you, most especially not by Mike.

“Is it still there? China, I mean.”

“In a manner of speaking.” China had gotten hit – not harder, but differently – by the Fae Wars that had nearly destroyed their planet. “They lost more people than we did in the cities, but their farms don’t look much different.” And if Mike could be distracted long enough…

“You should take me there sometime. But you should build her a house, too.”

“Mike. I fathered her daughter. That’s not…”

“Listen, Bird-Brain, I’ve known every time you’ve ever been in love. Every. Time.” Even Luke could hear the edge in his oldest friend’s voice. “And you are in love, mister.”

“She’s a child.”

“She’s not. If she was, you wouldn’t have fathered Chavva on her.”

“I have grandchildren older than her! Great-grandchildren older than her!”

“And I’m more than twice your age. Get your head out of your ass.”

Luke glared at Mike. “So what if I love her? She’s never given any indication of anything like that.”

“Have you?”

“Of course not. That’s not what she asked me for.”

“Dead gods’ nuts, Luca. If you don’t ask the girl, I’m going to.”

“…fine. Stay away from her. I’ll talk to her.” And be rejected, just to soothe Mike’s pride.

She beat him to it.

His wings flared as she talked. He wanted to pull her close to him and protect her. Take care of her. He wanted to tell her what was in his heart.

You’re just not ready. Wil had chided him more than once. You’re not ready for an adult love, and I am. Never mind that she was younger than him.

You never say anything. Ké had been angry at him already, but that had been the end.

Say something! Mike’s voice was louder than even his daughter’s.

“I want to build you a house.” He blurted it out, feeling more like a two-year-old than someone with nearly three centuries under his belt. “A big house. Strong.” His wings flared, and he pulled them back close to his back, wondering how, exactly, he could be such an idiot.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/425693.html. You can comment here or there.

In Any ‘Verse

Jan5

For TheLadyisUgly’s prompt. This is set in the two AU’s of the Addergoole ‘verse, whose landing page is here on DW & here on LJ.

Tya/Jamian
Jamian hadn’t been at his new school for more than a week when the pretty strawberry-blonde upperclassman cornered him.

“So,” she demanded, with a cheerful smile of perfect teeth, “are you going to ask me on a date?”

“I…” suspecting a prank, Jamian looked around for the girl’s other friends. She hung out with a tough crowd of dangerous-looking seniors and juniors, some of whom looked like the sort that would enjoy pushing the new kid around, or getting a laugh at his expense. Seeing no-one else around, he hazarded “was I supposed to?”

“Well, duh,” she smirked. “If you wanted a chance to talk to me outside of school.”

“Ah.” Not feeling any more clear about things, he offered, hesitantly, “would you like to go out for dinner sometime? I hear the restaurant down on Main and Schmidt is pretty cool.”

“D’Angelo’s?” She looked surprised. “That’s a really nice place, yeah. This Friday?”

“Just you and me, right?” Feeling a little braver, he added, “I can’t afford all of your friends, too.”

“Just you and me, handsome,” she assured him. “Pick me up at my mother’s at eight?”

“Sure…” His stepfather would let him borrow the car for proof he wasn’t really gay. “Uh… where?”

She smiled slowly at him, a teasing thing he was already in love with. “If you really want it, you’ll find out.”

Ty/Jaya
“You’ve been here a month, and the only people that know your name are the ones who pay attention in your classes.”

“I’m sorry?” Jaya hadn’t even noticed there was someone in the student lounge; she had been cutting through on the way to her study hall. She turned around to search out the speaker, and found him looking up at her from an armchair.

“You should be.” He grinned up at her, offering her a hand languidly. “I’m Ty. I’m a senior here.”

“Jaya… freshman.” She didn’t quite squeak it out.

“Jaya. That’s a lovely name. Why so shy, Jaya?”

“I, uh…” Brilliant. “People generally aren’t all that nice when you’re the new kid. And I’ve been the new kid a lot.”

“Well, I’m always nice, and so are my friends. Sit with us at lunch today, instead of hiding in the corner?”

He didn’t make it sound so much like a request as a royal demand. She should have been offended, told him whatfor. But he really was the first person who’d bothered asking her name since she got here. “I’d like that,” she told him shyly. “Um, right in the middle, right?” Out where everyone could see them.

“Right in the middle,” he grinned. “Advantages to being a senior – or to being friends with one.”

And that was definitely a suggestion. “I see,” she agreed carefully. “I’ll see you there.”

“I look forward to it,” he purred.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/221457.html. You can comment here or there.