Alder's Grove

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "29) (from Lilifluff) Randomly pick a number between 1 and 28 (Random.Org) . Re-write that prompt as a Spaghetti Western or Melodrama."

I got 19, and am writing a continuation to #19, though it seems I can't write either Spaghetti Western or Melodrama.

She rode into town like a whirlwind, a mad mink of a girl with fire in her eyes and capture on her mind. She had a tongue smooth as silk and her lies were like a lasso, ropin’ me in.

I shoulda seen her coming, I suppose, but what can a man do when she blinks at him like that with big doe eyes and whispers her magic sweet as honey? No spider ever wove a web so neatly as she did, there in that parking lot. And I, damn fool I am, walked right into it.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "27) write a story using only one period. Bonus: write the story using only one /ending punctuation at all."

From dailyprompt: "not a cloud in sight" and "set events in motion."

Planners 'verse.

There was not a cloud in sight that Sunday, nothing looming on the horizon, nothing at all to suggest that the consortium that called itself the Planners had set events in motion that would change, not only the world, but the future of the universe (this may, of course, be a little bit exaggerated, but at the time of the upheaval, it certainly seemed as if everything in the universe was changing – history was changing, the way banking happened was changing, government was changing, the structure of power in the known world was changing - all in all, it was an unstable and unpleasant time of change, and it was all due to the Planners and their infernal, internal, inheritable planning); the future of society hung in the balance, swinging on one comma in the Planners’ ledger, because that is all that any of us were to those people, commas, balances on a spreadsheet, numbers of acceptable losses (look at the way they planned out for this apocalypse, after all: so much food set aside for each city, so much medicine, put aside, even admitting “we expect an attrition rate of ten to thirty percent,” as if admitting it bald-faced like that makes it better, somehow; it was clear from the very beginning that they intended to set themselves up as the sole power left on the planet, and that only setting aside so much food for the rest of the world was part of their plan – and it worked.



The List:
1a) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ)
10) write a story set in three different time periods. (LJ)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written. (LJ)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows (LJ)
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip. (LJ)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ)
18) prompt: a step too far (LJ
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM. )LJ)
20) Write the end of the story 'The Purple Bag. (LJ)
21) Roll a d20 twice. Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers. (LJ)
22) Prompt: White Knight (LJ)
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn (LJ)
24) prompt: founding fathers (LJ)
25) write a story set in a library LJ
26) Prompt: Elemental LJ
27) write a story using only one period.

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "25) write a story set in a library."

Stranded World (LJ), Autumn

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The weather was brutal, and the festival had been more-or-less cancelled. Autumn had still shown up, still set up her booth, but once she lost two pieces to the wind-blown rain, she gave up and closed up shop. Nobody was coming out in this weather, anyway.

There wasn’t much in the small town to do – a café, three churches, and a Chinese-take-out-place – so she headed for the library, ducking in just as the rain began coming down in buckets. She stood dripping in the lobby for a moment, not wanting to endampen the books.

“Oh, you poor dear!” A woman in her middle-second-century or so that had to be the librarian bustled out with a towel, wrapping it around Autumn’s shoulders. “Are you here with the festival? That poor, silly farce of a festival?” She moved her free hand surreptitiously in a pattern that, to a layperson, would probably just look like nervous hand-fluttering.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn"
From dailyprompt: "highway" and "that awkward moment when..."

Faerie Apocalypse (LJ Link, after (LJ)

The city lay in ruins. Nila didn’t know when, if ever, Michael was coming home. Power had gone out a week ago, and the looters had come through the neighborhood like locusts. She’d held them off when she could, hid with the children when she knew she couldn’t, but it was time to leave.

She settled Susan in her Kevlar sling and from there into her car seat, and made sure Allan’s backpack was balanced and light enough, taking the far heavier pack for herself. She checked all of her weapons and both of Allan’s, stared for a while at the note to Michael, and led her children out of their home.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "19) write a story in which something goes BOOM."

Also for the Abduction Prompts: here

Cya/Cynara is a RP character from the Addergoole roleplay. Her Wiki page is here This takes place sometime post-year-9 but before-the-apoc.

June again. Cynara packed the boys off to school, called the younger’s father to remind him to pick them up afterward, then spent a good couple hours helping Hroderich move into his own apartment. He was a good kid, got along well with her sons, but, well, like his brothers, wasn’t really into girls.

Once she had him tucked in, with one last you-were-a-good-Kept hug and a now-be-a-good-man punch in the arm, she double-checked her packing and started driving.

It was a ten-hour-drive from Hroderich’s new place to the Village outside of Addergoole. Cya found it meditative, a way of spring-cleaning her brain of the cobwebs and trailed her most recent Kept had left, of sweeping out the dust of former loves and lovers. She slept at a motel halfway there – the old lady winked at her. Didn’t know what she was up to, but after four years of this trip, recognized her. Cya smiled back at her, left her the tray of cookies, and slept.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "17) write an uncomfortable story."

Faerie Apocalypse (LJ Link), Addergoole Year Nine, the day after "Say Yes." (LJ).


Thorburn seemed jittery and uncomfortable on Wednesday, as if somehow he’d been the one to get the wrong end of Tuesday night. It grated on Ceinwen, set her teeth on edge. What right did he have to play the victim?

“I still hate you, you know,” she informed him, since he wouldn’t let her leave the room.

“Stop saying that,” he snapped, without looking away from his homework.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter"

Tir Na Cali, in the Harem sub-setting - landing page here (and on LJ).

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Bettie was very proud of her inventory. She kept each piece in pristine condition, clean, oiled, free of defect, hung in its proper spot, ready for her hand, or that of the Lady or Lord that called for it.

There was, she mused, not that much difference between her and the harem-keepers. They all kept their inventories ready; they all served the same niche. And they all, in the end, worked on the same slaves.

She laid out her floggers and restraints. The Lady Ursula had called for some supplies this evening; she wanted to be certain everything was perfect.

Mink oil came first. The best floggers and whips were made of leather, firm enough to hurt, but giving enough not to break the skin. They needed to be cared for (and sometimes, even so, blood needed to be cleaned off as well), oiled, smoothed, made supple. They needed to be as good as they could be.

She worked the oil into her favorite three floggers. Stephan made the best noises with the heaviest flogger, so she worked that one up first. Perhaps the Lady would have another choice, maybe the delicate one more likely to leave welts but easier to swing. She oiled that one, too, and then moved on to the restraints.

The leather needed oiling, the buckles a bit of buffing. They took a lot of wear, but, with care, would long out-last their wearers. Bettie was very proud of her inventory, and, she thought, took better care of it than the harem-keepers did of theirs.


The List:
1a) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ)
10) write a story set in three different time periods. (LJ)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written. (LJ)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows (LJ)
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter

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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "12) prompt: sweet iced tea."

This is more of the Reid/Cali crossover fanfic, directly after the last piece.

The stories before this:
Never Been Caught (and on LJ): First written, last in sequence.

Shots Fired (and on LJ): First in sequence

"Well, Crap, Where am I?" (and on LJ), after "Shots Fired" and before the story below.

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“Excuse me,” their captive croaked. “Could I have some water?”( Read more... )

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "10) write a story set in three different time periods"

Tír na Cali - landing page here (and on LJ).

Author's note: the Cali royalty trace their lineage back through three clever pioneers (Istvia, Imogen, and Gwydion) to so-called witches who came over from Ireland to settle the west coast of North America.

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Ireland, 1685

The witch looked over the table at her cousin, a pretty young thing that, until now, everyone had assumed was just daft. The girl was floating the dishes in the air, all of the dishes, weaving them in and out in a series of loops that looked like a Maypole dance.

The witch stood, pondering her dim-witted cousin, and nodded at her brother. ::James, Alice’s son with the lovely eyes,:: she murmured into his head. :: He'll make a good groom. He’s always thought she was fetching.:: And he could lift more than a man ought to, and carry it for nearly ever.

Sacramento,California 1849
Istvia and Imogen studied each other over a game of chess, although both were minding Imogen’s youngest daughter, playing patty-cake with the dark-haired boy Istvia used as a fetch-and-carry page.

“She’s already showing signs,” Imogen murmured under her breath. “She has a bear that follows her everywhere, even if she forgets to pick him up. It upsets the help.”

Istvia, who already knew this, nodded sagely. “He,” she tilted her head at the boy, still feet short of his adult height, “gets things off tall shelves.”

“Mmm. Worth a try, then.”

Hillsboro, Oregon, 2011
Catherine ni Johanna ó Imogen studied her teenaged niece. The girl was playing checkers with a slave boy, a handsome teenager who, like many of the slaves on Catherine’s estate, bore a striking resemblance to Catherine’s family. This one, however, though he had the eyes and the nose, was a good head taller than the free men in the bloodline, and, on brief observation, rather more clever, too.

Catherine had carefully discouraged her niece’s friendship with the boy, disapproving in an over-the-top way only teenagers believed. With luck, there’d be a child before Yule.




The List:
1a) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ Link)
1b) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ Link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station.
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]
4) prompt: one for the road
5) write a story using an imaginary color
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ Link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ Link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called “The Long, Dirty Afterwards” (LJ)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ)
10) write a story set in three different time periods

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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called 'The Long, Dirty Afterwards.'"

Actually random apoc. In re. wordcount, the actual "excerpt" is 250 words. ;-)
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They had defeated the alien invasion and won back their planet.

…Now all they had to do is clean up the mess.

The All-Counter* read clean on all immediate threats to life and mostly clean on the long-term threats. Becker’s ears and nose told him the ship was most likely empty of slightly-less immediate threats as well, but he still moved in like clearing a building, shooter at the ready and taking one room at a time, his team behind him guarding his flank.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "5) write a story using an imaginary color."

Stranded World, Summer & Winter, some time before she goes off to school. Landing page here and on LJ

I think Summer and Spring are very close in age. Does anyone remember her hair color?.

“Tell me what you see.”

“The water, the boat. The sky, and fish out in the distance.” Summer kicked her feet in the water. “Splashes.”

Her brother smiled indulgently at her, with that warning note in the cant of his eyebrow that said she should stop messing around soon. Stupid Spring, using up all the messing around. She obediently stared back out at the lake.

“The water moves the way it should. The strands are mostly blue, but there are a few lines of green, and some tangles of darker green. Algae blooms? And there’s sort of an… indiburple splotch there,” she pointed at a twisted triple-braid of color. “Someone did that on purpose; the strands don’t line up in celtic knots by themselves.”( Read more... )

For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "4) prompt: one for the road"

Stranded World, Autumn. Landing page here and on LJ.


“…roll your leg over, roll your leg over. Roll your leg over, it’s better… that… way.”

The pub sing had gone from bawdy to maudlin and now had settled back into a maudlin sort of bawdy, the last of them shutting down the bar with increasingly silly lyrics, remembered or made up on the spot, to an old favorite.

“If all the young ladies were big wooden stairs,” belted out Tiny Janice. The tourists were gone, and even most of the regulars. By tomorrow, the Shire would be an empty cluster of wooden pavilions, its denizens scattered to the four winds. “They’d go up mine, and I’d go up theirs.” A transient fellowship, they laughed like old friends with strangers they might never see again.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "2) write a scene that takes place in a train station."

This seems to go with Missing (LJ Link).

The skies weren’t safe. They hadn’t been for so long, there were adults now who couldn’t imagine airplanes.

The trains weren’t always safe, either, but a one in forty chance of death was still better than a three in four chance. And, while we didn’t need to travel, they did. They needed to reach the few places where they could still punch through the sky.

I held her against me, tracing the small of her back, trying not to see the train pulling into the station. The steam trains had come back, along with so many other things we’d thought we’d left behind, forgotten, or lost.
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For the 30 Days Meme Second Semester, for the prompt "1) the story starts with the words 'It's going down.'"

Vas' World has a landing page (LJ Link)

"It's going down." Vas watched the wicker cage slowly descend the cliff, shaking his head.

"Of course it's going down," Suki laughed. "It's an elevator. What did you expect it to do? Swing back and forth wildly?"

"It's not an elevator," he grumbled, never mind the horse-creatures that could probably overhear him. "It's a wicker basket and a pulley system."

"Sounds like an elevator to me. And it sounds a lot safer than the path there... besides, it's holding two horses and Malia, and it's doing just fine. It can hold our weight."
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