Mapping

A ficlet of Fae Apoc and probably Addergoole East. 
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"What are you doing?"

Chlodovech looked up from his work to see a woman glaring at him.  "Surveying." Wasn't Amalasuintha supposed to be keeping people away?

"What for?"  The woman looked aggressive.  She was holding a pitchfork in a way that was clearly not ready to pitch any hay and her eyes were narrowed.

Chlodovech straightened up.  "It's a school project," he tried.  Truth, right? Truth was good? Useful?

"School project."  She narrowed her eyes even more.  "You're mapping my town for a school project."

"Well, technically, we're mapping all of former Pennsylvania.  It's going very slowly," he added ruefully. In part because of things like this.

read on…

Prompt Call! And it's a ~~Dangerous~~ one!

I've decided I want to do a prompt call!

Just for fun, to be honest, although I like tips, will write you more words for anything over $1 tipped, and have two current goals for said tips - a Wacom tablet for map-drawing and a day-long writing retreat.

The theme for this call is: The Third

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Hidden Mall 69: L-Space 📚

Abby shuddered.  We are in a horror movie.  "We - we really are.  Okay. This way, towards the security office, and let's hope that it's still there when we get there."  She started walking, pulling her friends closer and wishing idly that she had more hands.

Better not wish that when I'm going through a door, she mused, or I might end up with four arms or something.

They walked straight down the middle of the hall.  Nothing in front of them was moving or changing, but they could hear something shifting behind them.   When they reached an intersection, Olly toed the line of tile between the two halls. "Look. It's a slider.  The whole mall is like one of those puzzles."

"Shopping in here must have been a challenge," Abby mused.  "Imagine going in the changing room and coming out in a different store?"

"Heck, trying to find where your mom parked the car." Liv snorted. "Or  -- well, anything else. Where's the food court?"

read on…

Haunted House 48: Nice Guy

First: A story featuring a male keeper and a female Kept.
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They rode on for a while before Jasper broke the strange silence again – not with anything related to their previous conversation, but just to tell Mélanie more about what he’d found and who he’d spoken to while at the market.  After a few minutes, Mélanie realized that he was giving her notes on his business – the people that he knew to talk to, the ones that he avoided, the ways that he tried to drum up more business. She found herself snorting.

“Networking.  It’s the end of the world – as we know it – and you’re networking.”

read on…

Running in the Bear Empire 44: Tricks

First: Running in the Bear Empire🐻





The boulder jutted into the path, cutting it off until someone had carved their own path around it.  From the looks of the trees growing in and around it, it had fallen over a hundred years ago, but Deline could still see how the path had been warped.  It meant that until they came to the sharp edge of the stone, they couldn't see anything ahead of them.
Carrone stepped ahead of her and she let him, her slingshot ready.  He hissed and took a step back, an arrow flying over his shoulder.
Deline grabbed a handful of components from her hip pack and began a spell under her breath.  Just as she was starting to speak, a voice boomed from the far side of the boulder.

read on…

Hidden Mall 68: Sensible 🏷️

For a heart-stopping moment, Abby thought they were back home.

The mall looked normal.  It looked right.  The signs were in the right places, the stores looked normal; even the music sounded right.

“Where is everyone?” Liv whispered.

Abby turned slowly in a circle, moving all of her friends with her.  “Where is everyone?” she repeated.  There was – there was literally nobody around.

“No corpses,” ‘Via pointed out.  “That’s a plus.”

“No anyone,” Olly added.  “Not sure that’s a plus or a minus.”

read on…

Running in the Bear Empire 45: By The Numbers

First: Running in the Bear Empire🐻





"So there were fifty of them," Deline murmured.  They stood ready, weapons drawn, listening to the shouts and screams.  "How many do you think we've taken out?"
"Over half," he murmured back."  The shouting stopped; they fell silent.
Somewhere on the other side of the boulder there, a whole bunch of people were trying to kill them.  It should have probably frightened Deline. They'd already blooded her here, for one. She found she was smiling.  Carrone's traps were nasty and amazing. The spell-work she'd been pulling out of nowhere was exhilarating.

read on…

Haunted House 49: Housecleaning

First: A story featuring a male keeper and a female Kept.
🌳

The horses sped up as they got close to the gate.  This time, Mélanie could watch - the house, the horses, the creepy-looking gate, the whole thing.  She found she was smiling.

Jasper grinned at her in turn. "Not so frightening now, is it?"

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Thimbleful Thursday: Here and There

"But who are you?" The woman at the gate was staring at the interloper. "What is your name and what are you doing here?"

"What I am doing here, I have already told you." The woman popped up her umbrella as an unseasonable and unexpected rain began. "I am here to speak to Madam Thare Oliphant."

"The current mistress of the house is not Thare Oliphant, and hasn't been in two hundred and seventy-two years."

"You're remarkably well-informed for a gate guard."

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A sort of moody, grey-day blog post on memory

My grandma showed up in my dream the night before last.

She does that a lot, actually.

She's been gone for more than half my life, but she shows up in my dreams.

The worst is forgetting she's not there anymore.

read on…