Family and Cocoa, a story of the Aunt Family for the Giraffe CAll

For kelkyag's prompt

"There's something to be said for being an orphan." Beryl stared into her cocoa mug; cocoa, by all that's sacred, please, not tea. "Or being raised by wolves."

"I hear you." Evangaline stared at her own mug - coffee, for much the same reason the Beryl was drinking cocoa. The whole family to come to to complain, and her niece had come to the Aunt. "They can be a bit of a double-edged sword."

"They have another edge?" She rubbed her knuckles with her thumbs; Eva found herself wincing in empathy.
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Mapping, a story for the Giraffe Call

Another one where I'm not sure where it wants to go, um, but I'll post it anyway.

"Here's the space-view surveys of the planet. Here's the original plans for the first three settlements. Here's the builders' notes. Here's the town records."

If they had been working in paper, Orchid would have been dumping papers into Cauli's arms. As it was, he was shifting files from his data tablet to hers with wide sweeps of his fingers. "And here's the notes from the second survey team and everything they pulled up. Is that going to be enough?"

Cauli, with heroic effort, did not laugh at the little bureaucrat. "More than enough. But I need to get down there, too, you know."

"You've only got two weeks while we're in orbit here." This was the seventh time Orchid had told her this. It was the thirtieth time she'd heard him say it altogether. She wasn't the only expert visiting the colony.
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Where'd That Come From, a story of Addergoole Yr?? for the Giraffe Call

To eseme's prompt

There were things Vina had been expecting from school. Lots of things - tough classes, having to make friends again, being isolated in the middle of nowhere.

This was not in the book.

She looked - he looked - what did you even do with that? Vina - if the name could even still fit - looked under the sheets again. Then she-he-whatever let the sheets drop and facepalmed.

Leg pain had woken Vina up several times in the night, but Vina had a lanky body that had never stopped growing, and pain in the night was nothing new. This morning... this morning the leg pain might be explained (the legs were sticking out of the bottom of the bed now) but everything else was just more confusing.
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