Tag Archive | giraffecall: mini

Giraffe Mini-Call Three: 7 Deadly Sins

Today’s Giraffe Call Theme is 7 Deadly Sins

The Call for Prompts is now Open, and will remain so for about an hour!

The call is “closed,” but the first commenter each in DW and LJ after this point can sneak in a prompt! (after me on LJ, after Clare on DW)

Leave one or many prompts, and I will write (over the next week) at least one microfic (150-500 words) to each prompter (prompts may be combined)

Prompts can be related to one of my extant settings (See my landing page-landing page) or they can be for something completely different.

Prompting is free! But Donations are always welcome.

For each $5 you donate, I will write an additional 500 words to the prompt(s) of your choice.

If I get two new prompters or one new donator, I will write a setting piece (setting chosen by poll) explaining something about the prompts.

Because this is a mini-Call, there will be mini-perks!

* For every $15 donated, one prompter chosen at random will get an extra fic written – Got to two!
* For every $30 donated, one random prompter will get a 500-word continuation. – Got to one!

* Every-$60 level open for suggestions!!

Incentives will carry over the three mini-calls in January.


Words
500 $5.00 USD
750 $7.50 USD
1000 $10.00 USD
1250 $12.50 USD
1500 $15.00 USD
1750 $17.50 USD
2000 $20.00 USD

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/454952.html. You can comment here or there.

Mini Giraffe Call 2: Transitons

Today’s Giraffe Call Theme is Transitions

The Call for Prompts is now CLOSED!

Leave one or many prompts, and I will write (over the next week) at least one microfic (150-500 words) to each prompter (prompts may be combined)

Prompts can be related to one of my extant settings (See my landing page-landing page) or they can be for something completely different.

Prompting is free! But Donations are always welcome.

For each $5 you donate, I will write an additional 500 words to the prompt(s) of your choice.

If I get two new prompters or one new donator, I will write a setting piece (setting chosen by poll) explaining something about the prompts.

Because this is a mini-Call, there will be mini-perks!

* For every $15 donated, one prompter chosen at random will get an extra fic written –
* For every $30 donated, one random prompter will get a 500-word continuation.
* Every-$60 level open for suggestions!!

Incentives will carry over the three mini-calls in January.


Words
500 $5.00 USD
750 $7.50 USD
1000 $10.00 USD
1250 $12.50 USD
1500 $15.00 USD
1750 $17.50 USD
2000 $20.00 USD

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/452571.html. You can comment here or there.

Mini Giraffe Call 1: The Weather

Today’s Giraffe Call Theme is The Weather

The Call for Prompts is now CLOSED!

Leave one or many prompts, and I will write (over the next week) at least one microfic (150-500 words) to each prompter (prompts may be combined)

Prompts can be related to one of my extant settings (See my landing page-landing page) or they can be for something completely different.

Prompting is free! But Donations are always welcome.

For each $5 you donate, I will write an additional 500 words to the prompt(s) of your choice.

If I get two new prompters or one new donator, I will write a setting piece (setting chosen by poll) explaining something about the prompts.

Because this is a mini-Call, there will be mini-perks!

* For every $15 donated, one prompter chosen at random will get an extra fic written –
* For every $30 donated, one random prompter will get a 500-word continuation.
* Every-$60 level open for suggestions!!

Incentives will carry over the three mini-calls in January.


Words
500 $5.00 USD
750 $7.50 USD
1000 $10.00 USD
1250 $12.50 USD
1500 $15.00 USD
1750 $17.50 USD
2000 $20.00 USD

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/450360.html. You can comment here or there.

The Empress who would be Goat-Wife, a story for the June Giraffe Call

For [personal profile] anke‘s continuation (won in the drawing in June) of The Goat-Bride.

This story is set in the early days of the Callennan life on Reiassan.

The book landed on the table with a meaty thump.

“This is not the way it will be.” The Emperor of the Callentate of North Reiassannon-land, Eszhettozh, son of Emanek, stared at his second eldest grand-daughter. “This is not the way it should be.”

“This is the way it has always been.” His grand-daughter stared back at him, her gaze as level, her voice as firm. She set her hand on the book of their people’s stories, as if to draw strength from the síra of a rock or tree.

“And this is not how it will be this time. You are my heir. Your mother and your sister and brother have died. You are the next child of my eldest daughter’s loins. This is the way it is.”

“Then allow my mother’s brother to inherit. I will go to the goats, to be their bride. Such is the way it has always been.”

The stared at each other, the grey-bearded Emperor and the long-braided young grand-daughter, alike in stubbornness, alike in calm.

This is the way it has always been, said the girl, knowing full well that the first Goat-Bride had argued, instead, this is the way it will be now.

This is the way the road goes now, said the Emperor, knowing full well that his throne had been built on tradition as well as on arms. And they glared at each other, knowing full well that both could not win.

“I will go to the goats.” []’s voice did not crack.

“Then who will be Empress in your stead? I will live long, but not even the mountains live forever.”

“My mother’s brother should be Emperor,” the stubborn girl repeated. “He is next in line.”

“The grandmothers will not stand for another male. They have declared it so.” Some forces even the Emperor of the Callentate must bow to, and the elder women of the Tribes (even if they were no longer Tribes) were a force the way the ocean and the rain and the mountains were forces. They could not be budged quickly, and to try was to waste energy better left on learning to traverse their whims.

The Emperor did not expect to find his own granddaughter such a stony force as well. “Your mother’s brother cannot become Emperor,” he repeated. “You are my heir, and cannot go to the goats.”

“I will be a Goat-wife. The gods have witnessed it.” [] did not stop her foot, but she nodded her head firmly. “The sword and the goat shall be my home and my family. Someone else must rule.”

“But you are my heir. You must take the throne.” Back and forth they would have kept going, neither more willing to bend than the rock they stood on, had not the youngest of the Emperor’s advisors stepped up.

“The Callentate has many children. Let the Emperor’s third child take the throne.”

“She is old,” dismissed the ancient man. “She will not rule long.”

“Then her third child, who is a girl. Let her rule.”

Emperor and grand-daughter goat-wife shared a look. “Your first child cannot inherit. Your first child’s first daughter cannot inherit. Let your third child’s third child take the throne.”

“So let it always be.” They had come to a place where they could smile, and they did so, like the sun lighting on the ocean.

And so it was, until the days came for change again. But that is a tale of another day.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/379267.html. You can comment here or there.

July Giraffe Call Summary

2012-07-14
Theme: Addergoole Summer Camp
9 stories written.
9 total prompters, 0 new
1 people donated a total of $20, 0 of which were new.
$0 of donations were left unclaimed.
Call: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/370598.html

At the Zoo (LJ) Ayla, Ioanna, and Yngvi
Long Summer (LJ) Kendra
Summer Camp (LJ) Finnegan and Efrosin
The Ropes (LJ) Rozen!
A cy’Linden Summer (LJ) Jamian and Manira
Seeing Ghosts (LJ) Finnegan
Monster Camp (LJ) Finnegan and Efrosin
Three Summers (LJ) Agatha, Acacia, and Shadrach (as kids)
SummerTime Memories (LJ) – Jamian and Ty

We reached $20, which means two people may choose a 500-word continuation. The Random Numbers Say it’s…

[personal profile] eseme
and
[personal profile] imaginaryfiend!

Please collect your 500 words at the service desk!

[personal profile] anke and [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith, please collect your 500 words from June as well!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/376619.html. You can comment here or there.

June Mini-Giraffe Call Summary

The June call was surprisingly popular for a mini-call!

2012-06-25
Theme: Reiassan
21 stories written.
10 total prompters, 0 new
5 people donated a total of $60, 0 of which were new.
$60 of donations were left unclaimed.

I have drawn six names from the random-number hat. The following people please collect a 500-word continuation on any of the stories from this call:
Kelkyag
Anke
YsabetWordsmith
ImaginaryFiend
DaHob
Rix_Scaedu

If you have donated and not already claimed your donation words, please leave a comment telling me what you would like!

And the Summary:
The Call On DW (LJ)

Earlier Eras
The Goat-Bride (LJ)
Contemplating the Gods (LJ)

Run for It (LJ)
Rest Between Runs (LJ), after Run for It

Change of Power (LJ)

“Modern” Era
Rin & Girey
(On the) Offensive (LJ)
Ch2: Strangers (LJ)
Hand-Shaking (LJ)
Wild Horses (LJ)
Mid-Rainy Festival (LJ)
Mid-Heat Festival (LJ)
Pride (LJ) Bithrain during the time of Rin & Girey
Rub a Coin (LJ)

Steam Era
Weaving a New Way (LJ)

Every Gift (LJ) (after Road Map)
Building the Wedding-House (LJ)
Neighbors (LJ)

East into Blue (LJ)Linkback, Prompting, & Donating incentive story!
Goat-Riders, Stone-Riders (LJ)

Goatless (LJ)
Dirigible (LJ), after Goatless

Meta
Callenian Poetry, an Excerpt (LJ)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/368735.html. You can comment here or there.

Weaving a new way, a story of Reiassan, just-pre-Steam!Callenia, for the Giraffe Call (@lilfluff)

For [personal profile] lilfluff‘s prompt.


In the era of Empress Eetanasaria; before the Emperor in which most of the Steam!Callenia stories are placed

“But what is it?” The head of the Textiles Guild stared at the contraption, keeping a good distance back, in case it bit, or exploded. Down in the ironworker’s corner of the city, things were prone to doing that.

Byornon smiled, and fingered the glass beads in his beard. “This, Sir, is my life’s work. I have spent every moment not dedicated to the Empress’s Army on this machine, and on the machines necessary to build this machine. I believe it will change your life forever, and mine as well.”

“But what is it?” The Guildhead stepped back a bit further. A machine made by one of The Empress’s engineers that could change his life… if it blew up, it was likely to be on purpose.

“Let me show you.” That didn’t reassure the Guildhead. “Better yet, let me show you and three of your best weavers.”

“My wife and daughters are my best weavers. I will not bring them to this… place.”

“Then I’ll show you, and you can then show your wife and daughters.” Byornon was undaunted. “Just take a couple more steps back, and I’ll get it heated up.”

The Guildhead was more than willing to step back. “But what is it?” he repeated.

“Oh!” Byornon tossed a handful of coal in a boiler, and three of the aether-filled red stones that powered some of the Empress’s great war machines. “It’s a loom.”

“But we already…” Byornon threw a large lever, and three smaller ones, and gears began clanking. A small brass shuttle began whirring up and down on a wire as the frame clicked from one side to another. “We already have…” The shuttle, which looked like nothing so much as it did a small weasel-kit, dragging a long tail behind itself, was setting up the warp. “We already have a loom,” the Guildhead wailed. His weavers were not going to be pleased.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/368605.html. You can comment here or there.

Rest between Runs, a story continuation for the June Giraffe Call

For [personal profile] ysabetwordsmith‘s prompt. Set in the same era as the Lyuda stories, after Run for It

The cabin had three things that Engot would have paid any amount of money for: a functioning stove, set into the wall; a pump inside a half-enclosed back porch, that still provided clean water, and a bed platform with the springs still mostly intact, in a room whose roof still worked. “It’s not the Imperial Palace…”

“It’s not either royal palace.” Krynia wrung her dripping cloak out and hung it near the fire. The long-gone tenants had taken almost everything, but the hooks were, like the stove and the pump, built into the building. “Which means we’re safe and comfortable, two things we would not be there.”

Engot smiled. “There’s no tub, but there’s a basin big enough water to heat. We can wash.”

“And I have some rope to repair the bed. This is almost cozy enough to call home.” Their outermost tunics and trews went the way of their cloaks, and the went about the preparations of an evening as if they had been doing this together for years.

“Will they come after you?” Kyrnia pulled a bar of soap from her bag, wrapped in oiled leather.

“Will they come after you?” Engot provided a soft piece of cloth, unfolded from the middle of his bedroll, and a horn comb. “May I…?” His hands hovered near the complex braids of her hair, her veil pushed back nearly to her neck.

“If I may. I don’t know. With luck, they won’t think it worth it.” She pulled four long pins from her hair to free the ends of the braids, and reached for the cord holding the end of his beard-braid.

“Same here.” He finger-combed her hair, slowly working it out into a damp, frizzy cloud. “Your hair is so curly. It’s not just the braids, either, is it?”

“No, it’s like that fresh from a swim, too.” She brushed out the long, braid-kinked curls of his beard and reached for his hair, touching her nose to his beard. “You smell different.”

He pushed her veil the rest of the way down, releasing the last of her curls. “You smell… lovely.” He plucked a few dried leaves from the underside of her hair and sniffed them. “Sage and mint. That’s a good idea.”

She took the comb he’d left neglected and began working it through his hair. Close-toothed for his people’s straight hair, it wouldn’t work so well on hers, but it smoothed through his and plucked out tangles and briars with ease. “I don’t think nettles do the same,” she teased.

“No, but maybe I could stick some sweet herbs to the nettles.” He hesitated, his hand on the back of her neck, where the weight of her veil and braids had sat.

She paused, as well, her hand stilling on the top of his back. “They might come for us.”

“Let them.” His smile nearly covered his own worry. “We’ll be ready.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/366836.html. You can comment here or there.

(on the) Offensive, a story of Rin & Girey for the June Giraffe Call

For [personal profile] kelkyag‘s prompt(s)

This story comes after:Meat of the Matter (LJ)
Bare Bones (LJ) [Beta]
Skeleton Key (LJ) [donor perk]
and Ambush {Donor Perk}: Girey had foiled an attempt to attack Rin and kidnap himself, at the sacrifice of the first escape plan he’s had that might actually work.

Chapter X: Offensive
Leaving the scene of battle is neither fleeing nor cowardly; it is simply gaining a better footing for the next attack

They rode for about an hour, until the moons were high and fat in the sky and the air was chill, and then Rin led them off to the side of the road, into a small cove half-roofed by rock. They were clearly not the first to camp here; the area had a fire pit, a stone basin collecting the runoff of a small rivulet, and a platform built up of rocks and sodded over, keeping the tent out of the lowest areas if the rain came.

“I hope you’re in no hurry to get to Lannamer.” Rin’s smile, in the pale moonlight, looked grim. Girey didn’t blame her; he was feeling irritated, grim, and tired himself.

“None at all.” Anything but, and she knew that. She had to know that, after what she’d overheard.

“Good.” She tossed him her goat’s reins as she dismounted. “Get them settled while I pitch the camp, would you?”

She hadn’t chained him to the saddle, presumably because they’d been running. He could flee now, easily. If he took her goat with him, she’d never be able to catch up.

He hesitated, holding both sets of reins. “What are you planning?”

She met his gaze evenly. “I’m planning on ambushing them, and explaining to them exactly why one doesn’t try to attack me in the middle of the night. I don’t like being threatened and snuck up upon.”

He paused, for one heartbeat and then another. “I don’t, either,” he admitted quietly. He led the goats to a convenient tie-off, and began stripping their tack.

In the bustle of getting camp set up, she paused, studying him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” If she didn’t, he wouldn’t have to think about why he’d done it.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/365630.html. You can comment here or there.

Contemplating the Gods, a story of Reiassan’s history for the Giraffe Call

For [personal profile] clare_dragonfly‘s prompt.

Set approx 750 years before the Rin & Girey novella


Ektatkya studied the holy book. The Tabersi had, she’d discovered, a lot of gods. Lots and lots of them, herds of them, packs of them. No wonder they needed so many priests. No person with a field and herd to attend to could keep track of all of these.

And they’d left so many of the Tabersi priests behind. The tribes had their own, of course, priests and god-chasers, gods (but not that many. Not enough to needs books, just enough for a statue here, a carving there, a token off a saddle somewhere else). But this was a new land, and they were no longer going to be the goat-tribes. They were no longer going to be a different people from the Tabersi.

For that to happen, both peoples had to change. And a place to start would be these books. She looked up at the Tabersi priest; he looked at her solemnly.

“Can it be done?”

“Of course it can be done. The question is, will you pay the price?”

“The price?” He was offended. Of course he was. The Tabersi’s god-chasers were not the same as the tribes’. They had Position. They had Status.

“Both will have to move. Your god-people must let someone else rule. Ours must learn to stand forward in the town, not at the back edge of the encampment.” The tribes-people who were here had been living in Tabersi cities and towns for generations, but they still acted like, thought like, nomads. That would need to change, too. This was not the warm pastureland of their home.

“Let someone else rule?” He nodded, slowly and reluctantly. “Yes. I see. To take a role that will not seem so strange to your people. And the gods?”

She would not rip pages out of a book. They had too few left. But she made the gesture as if to. “You need less. We need more. We take these, and make them less-and-more.” She flapped one hand negligently. “Make prayers a dirt-grubber can remember.”

“And still fancy enough for a money-counter?” The priest’s expression had changed. Ektatkya knew this one; it was that of someone seeing a challenge. “It will take time. But we can do it.”

“We must do it.” She nodded, but she was smiling as well. “The peace demands it.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/365239.html. You can comment here or there.