I write a lot. Some of this is because I like writing drabbles and short fic; 250 words isn't that hard to pop off.

Much of my writing is in established settings; those that don't have landing pages will soon.

These include:

Stranded World (LJ Link), modern fantasy seen through the eyes of 4 siblings who work the webs of the world, each in their own way.
Reiassan (LJ Link), high fantasy in a world just recovering from centuries of battle.
Tir na Cali (LJ Link); technically modern fantasy, alternate-history timeline, primarily lifestyle-kink erotica.
Faerie Apocalypse (LJ Link), a dystopic modern and post-modern fantasy/apoc world. Faeries and gods live among us, disguised as humans, their culture underground.
Vas' World (LJ Link): the team was sent to explore the planet for colonization. They could never have guessed what they'd find.
Dragons Next Door (LJ Link)is a fun high-fantasy-in-the-burbs setting with a few good-with-ketchup crunchy dark bits.
(without landing pages so far:)
Facets of Dusk (LJ Link) is a mystery waiting to be revealed; come along for the show!
The Planners (LJ Link): When the Apocalypse came, they were prepared. Very Prepared.
Unicorn/Factory (LJ) of the costs of progress.
The Aunt Family (LJ) - a mysterious family with some very strange magical artifacts.
Space Accountant (LJ) All Genique wanted was a nice vacation.
Shadow Rebellion (LJ) It all started with the shadows moving...

All of my writing here is crowdfunded and crowdsourced; comments and suggestions keep the gears spinning and donations keep the power on.
My Donor landing page is here (and on LJ); you can tip (tips go in a general pool to sponsor longer stories, voted on monthly), sponsor an already-written story, or commission a story to be written.

Once a month I open up a call for prompts; the Giraffe Call's landing page is here and on LJ.

I hosted a 30-days of flash fiction meme: its landing page is here (LJ Link)

I have been published:
An Electric Tragedy
Addergoole, my ongoing webserial
Tales for the Sugar Cat, my ebook

Wikis of setting information currently exist in various stages of completion:
Addergoole
Addergoole Year Nine
Reiassan
Faerie Apoc

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/64348.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: landing page, summary
Current Mood: accomplished

Warnings on this snippet: Implied abuse, implied rape, death threats, mind control.

In the series with:
Separation Anxiety (LJ) Boom!/RP timeline/ Cynara
Parting Advice, and Mother Bears (LJ)
Mother-Son Bonding (LJ)
Kept du Jour/a> (LJ) in the Boom!/RP timeline. I believe this is part three of four four of five five of MANY.






( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/249280.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: verse: addergoole

For The inventrix's commissioned prompt, a continuation of Scrounging for History (LJ), Part 1 of... probably 7.5

Fae Apoc has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

"Let's explore a little before we get the whole company," Dor urged. "Maybe not a lot, but let's at least tell them what we're looking at."

"Besides," Amalie added, then paused, hummed for a moment, and said again, her voice a half-octave lower and more reasonable sounding, "besides, Karida, maybe there are food supplies here, if it's a settlement?"

Their logic was sound, and the older members of the company wouldn't accuse Dor of being flighty, a dreamer, the way they liked to with Karida. "All right," she agreed. "I think we can look a little bit further before we go back. But if we run into anything dangerous..."

"We know the drill, Kara." Dor rolled his eyes, and followed her around the corner of the building. "Do you think anyone's still living there? Or anything?"

"We've never seen a city this intact. It's hard to tell." That was the safe answer. Inside, she was trying not to bounce up and down: a city! We found a real city! And there's a real sky-trapper, two of them! This will be The Story! This will be My Story! Reluctantly, as Amalie hummed behind her, she amended Our Story.

The next building had the bottom parts of its walls intact, as well as a full foundation, and part of a floor. Karida spent a moment staring at it, at the sheered-off nature of the structure, tracing the line down. "There really were dragons," she murmured, "or something huge. They knocked off," she drew a line in the air with her hand.( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/248884.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: faeapoc, verse: faeapoc: postapoc

For @daHob's prompt, in continuation of:
Tea with HER (beginning) (LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation) (LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 2) (LJ)

Tir na Cali has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

I really wanted to send him back.

I was in no mood to play. I had been mourning my mother for a week, for three years before that bracing for her death, and I was exhausted and staring at the Barony that was now mine, trying to figure out what I was doing with my life.

"Go home," I told him, not really meaning it.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/248765.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: tirnacali

For flofx"'s prompt, with information from this site.

Very likely in the "Fairy Town" setting of many of today's stories.

Possibly proof that I should stop writing before 11:30

They were building a new church, which caused quite a bit of consternation in the City.

Not for the faith, which was as welcome as any other. Not for the construction, not in itself. Buildings were sometimes built, even in the legacy parts of town.

The problem was, they were doing it, as the saying goes, right, and thus they were doing it in such a way as to worry just about everyone.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/248486.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: verse: fairytown, verse: misc: urban
Current Mood: sleepy

After
Separation Anxiety (LJ) Boom!/RP timeline/ Cynara
Parting Advice, and Mother Bears (LJ) and
Mother-Son Bonding (LJ). in the Boom!/RP timeline. I believe this is part three of four four of five.

---

In a crew with my Keeper this year... Cya's smile didn't falter. "I don't mind at all. Hop in, Pan. I'm Cynara du'Red Doomsday, Yoshi's mother."

The boy - if he wasn't a relative of Leofric's, she'd eat her hat - looked a little startled, but he got into the back seat of the car, letting Yoshi load his luggage. Double mistake, but then again, most kids hadn't been raised by Boom.

"Doomsday?" he asked, as she got back into the driver's seat, Yoshi riding shotgun. "Yoshi, man, you didn't tell me your mom was in Boom."
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/248193.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: verse: addergoole
Current Mood: awake

For ellenmillion's prompt

I think this is in the same setting as Loaves (LJ), which, then, I think is in the same setting as Strange Neighbors (LJ) and the Fairy Road (here on LJ) and thus The Beggars (LJ).

This, ah, wasn't *supposed* to be creepy... eep. Sorry?

In June, every June, for a week (the same week every year, whatever Sunday-through-Saturday had the 21st in it), the City went on vacation. The whole city. Everything shut down. The busses didn't run. Trash wasn't picked up. The radio stations played "best of." The libraries and parks were on skeleton staff, getting time-and-a-half. Even the police and firemen were down to minimum numbers, but that was okay. Crime didn't happen during The Holiday. If it did, the goblins dealt with it.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/247755.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: fairytown, verse: misc: urban
Current Mood: creative

For skjam's prompt

I think this is in the same setting as Loaves (LJ), which, then, I think is in the same setting as Strange Neighbors (LJ) and the Fairy Road (here on LJ)

"I've just realized...I haven't seen any homeless people or beggars on the street for at least a month. Where did they all go?"

The words where hardly out of Andrew's mouth when he regretted them. His partner, Cary, was eying him strangely.

"What do you mean, Andy?" he asked, cautiously, Andrew thought. Like there was a secret he wasn't supposed to know. There were a lot of those in the City Police Force. Too many. ( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/247353.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: fairytown, verse: misc: urban

The Poll Results are In! The polls are open! (Similar to "the King is dead/Long live the king!")

Next Saturday-Sunday the 4th & 5th of February, I will host my Mini-Giraffe call for the Aunt Family Setting. I will, during that time, do two livewriting sessions.

I have listed the times below in GMT and my time-zone, EST - when, if you are interested in watching me write, would be good for you?


Poll #1814693 Livewriting! What times are best for you?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

What times, the 4th & 5th of February, would be best for you for me to livewrite?

Manually xposted from http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/247240.html

Tags: giraffecall: advance, giraffecall: poll, poll, verse: theauntfamily
Current Mood: amused

For @Theladyisugly's commissioned prompt from the December Call.

Yngvi and Sigurd are characters in Addergoole (Sigurd only shows up, so far, in the Halloween story Tricked, as an 8-year-old</a>.

Addergoole has a landing page here and on LJ</i>.

“So.”

“So.”

Yngvi looked over his son – his only son, and likely to remain that way, and also, although he tried not to think about it too much, his nephew – and tried not to curl his lip.

They’d done a very good job of keeping in touch, up to a point. And then school had happened, the way it did, and the sweet teenaged boy he’d known had, like so many before and after him, vanished.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/246906.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: donor, giraffecall, verse: addergoole, verse: faeapoc: addergoole

Faerie Apocalypse

Although an apocalypse and a half feature strongly in the timeline of the fae-apoc setting, most of the stories are set either well before or well after the event.

A dark urban fantasy series, Faerie Apocalypse is set in the modern world. The Ellehemaei fae, halfbreed bastards of beings from another plane who left more than two millennia ago, live hidden among the humans; many have faded into humanity, exhibiting nothing more than a rare psychic quirk, while their more powerful cousins hide their inhumanity behind glamours called Masks. A dark underworld of faerie and human trafficking underlies much of the setting.

The apocalypse, brought on by a return of the prodigal gods, leaves the world’s population, governments, infrastructure, and technology devastated, its humans struggling to survive, its fae in hiding from the unforgiving remnants of humanity.

Pre-Modern-era Stories include:
Coming of Age (LJ Link) is in the early pre-history of the setting
Meckil woke... takes place in the 1400's

Addergoole is a school in the faerie apocalypse universe, as well as a subsetting and the name of the web-serial set there. Teenagers sent away to boarding school learn that, not only is the school not what they expected, but neither they nor their parents are either. Fifty years later, they struggle to continue existing in the post-apoc world that wants nothing to do with their ilk. The Addergoole landing page is here (LJ).

Stories in modern fae apoc include:
Switch, a story of revenge
Constraint, a story of need
Whisky Lullaby (working title), a novella of fighting the monsters
Wings, an incomplete story of transformation
Collateral Damage, an accidental kidnapping
Walking with Him, about branding yourself, and Names.
With Wings! a friendly abduction
Escape (from an abduction)
Enlightenment (LJ)
Up Shit Creek (LJ), to rix_scaedu's prompt
Extraction Team (LJ)

The Black House
Yaminah's power has gotten her into something. How deep is she getting in?

Posession/Marking (LJ)
Drugs/Aphrodisiacs (LJ)
Virginity/Celibacy (LJ)
Wet/Messy/Dirty, Vehicular (LJ)
Sense Dep, PhoneSex (LJ)
Tentacles, Humiliation> (Lj)
Washing & Service (LJ)
Exposition (LJ)
Introduction (LJ)
Bridge (LJ)
Orientation (LJ)


Lady Alouetta’s Garden
The Lady Alouetta subsetting explores a high-class bordello, Lady Alouetta’s Garden, its proprietress, the Lady herself, and the Flowers who belong to the Lady and work for her. Human and faerie trafficking feature strongly in this setting, but the main theme is one of perseverance and survival.

Stories include:
Walled Flowers
Slipping the Trellis

Flattery
Learning Curves
Curriculum
In Her Song

THE APOCALYPSE
Stories during the apoc include:
Leaving Town (LJ), continued/expanded here (LJ)
'Ware Fairy Gifts (LJ) Tom looked at the knife the girl had given him...
Warning Buzz (LJ)


Internment Camp:
Discovery Channel, another way to not be the monsters, and Invisibles, half a sequel
The Pay Was Good, from another POV (LJ Link)
and Budding (LJ), from the same guard at the camp.

Inventrix wrote a description of a character in "Budding" here.


Stories in post-apoc fae apoc include:
Slideshow, just before the apoc.
Denial, a story of the apocalypse
Through the Snow, also during the apoc
Hey you kids get off my lawn: dealing with obnoxious demigods
First Planting (LJ Link)
Keeping the Gods
Building
Two by Two, a story of survival
Being Alone, a prequel to Two by Two
Tally Raid, a story of not being the monsters
Little White Horses, when the fight is bigger than human or fae - Meek's sketch reminds me of this piece
(LJ Link)
Myrrh (LJ)

Long past the apoc:
Scrounging for History (LJ)

Inventrix has written a series of stories set in this verse, as well



Art by Meeks

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/23040.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: landing page, verse: faeapoc, verse: faeapoc: addergoole, yr9

To Anonymous' commissioned prompt, a continuation of this story (and on LJ).

Addergoole has a landing page here and on LJ.


Flying, Arundel was learning, was hard work, and exhausting. Even though Mr. Hawk told him that it wasn't all in the muscles - "If you were doing this all with physical strength, you'd never get off the ground. Your flight is as much a part of your magic as, well, whatever you innate power is going to be," - there was certainly a lot of something going on with his body, moving these new, strange, massive wings, keeping himself going.

And, of course, there was the falling. He wasn't, he discovered, frightened of falling, but it hurt, and he liked to avoid the pain, not in the least because it made Sylvia tut-tut at him, which made him wriggle in uncomfortable ways and made Porter glower and sulk.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/246592.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: donor, giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: addergoole, verse: faeapoc, verse: faeapoc: addergoole, yr9

After Separation Anxiety (LJ) Parting Advice, and Mother Bears (LJ), in the Boom!/RP timeline. I believe this is part three of four.




Yoshi was waiting in the Village when Cya came to get him. Driving separately was a waste of gas, especially with the world falling to pieces, but she liked the time alone with her son; she’d freed Ankara on the way and enjoyed the rare quiet of the rest of the drive.

She Found her son with no trouble, leaning against a fence by Maureen’s where she’d Found more than a few of her yearly Kept. Her heart twisted in her chest a little, until she saw the boy he was standing next to, a tall strawberry blond with long, narrow antlers, which made an entirely different set of twists start happening.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/246296.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: verse: addergoole

For moon_fox's prompt

Probably goes with Strange Neighbors (LJ) [After the Fairy Road (here on LJ)]</i>

It was the hottest summer on record. It may have been the hottest summer ever. The sidewalk was melting. The roads were sticky. Even the devout were wearing bikinis, and you don't want to know what the sinners were wearing. Fry an egg? You could cook a roast on the hood of the car.

And our air conditioner was on the fritz. We had six so-called adults, two cats, three rats (the domestic sort), and one small child in a four-bedroom house, we had eaten all the popsicles, and our air conditioner was spitting out lukewarm air.

So Jordan and I went on a quest.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/246121.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: misc: urban

After Three-Way, the Duet.
3-Way originally posted here and on LJ,
continued here (LJ)
and then here (LJ
and then
Here (Duet) and Here on LJ
And the "Preferences" (LJ) and
"9 Things I Hate About You" (LJ)

For cluudle, for being awesome.

Content warning: this relationship borders on emotionally abusive.


( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/245865.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: character: ceinwen, perk: donor, verse: faeapoc, verse: faeapoc: addergoole, yr9
Current Mood: amused

For @daHob's prompt, in continuation of :
Tea with HER (continuation 2) (LJ)Tea with HER (continuation) (LJ) and Saturday's Tea with HER (beginning) (LJ)

Tir na Cali has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

---

I bid him a quiet, respectful, tearful goodbye, and sold him to the best broker in town, demanding - and getting - promises about his well-being and the type of place to which they'd sell him. He'd do well. He was so very well...trained.

I was angry at the Ice Queen all over again after that - for being right. For winning, again. For being my Countess. For calling for me when my mother was dying. But I went. She was my liege, and she'd been right.

The conversation was tense, unhappy, and stressed for the first half hour, until she set down her cup and stared at me. "Let's stop beating around the bush. You sold Michael, and it makes you miserable."
( Read more... )

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: tirnacali
Current Mood: mischievous

For rix_scaedu's prompt


"What we need," Katydid declared, "is a place to eat."

Jorge looked over at her dubiously. "Like a dining room table? 'did, I'm sure you've noticed, but this is a shanty."

"No, no." Her gesture took in the small jury-rigged building. "This is a place to sleep and not freeze. We need a place to eat."

"Okay, you're repeating yourself. Have you gone to the clinic recently?"

"No," she frowned. "They make my brain buzz. This place, Jorge, this shanty-town, Hoover-ville, cardboard city - we need a place to eat."

"We're all starving, yeah, Katydid. I know that. We ALL know that, 'did."
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/245336.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: misc: urban

After "I said, Further Exploration reVEALS," (no xpost), clare_dragonfly's reward for feedback here.

Vas World has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

"Answers would be nice," Paz muttered petulantly. "This place gives me the creeps."

"How did you ever end up in the Corps?" Malia slipped through the door and swept the beam of her flashlight over the room - not a library, as she'd hoped, but some sort of office, in more disarray than anything they'd found yet.

"Really good test scores. And I can hit a bullseye at 500 yards, which squeaked me by the psych."

"...Our psych eval needs evaluating." She picked the smallest desk and sat down, carefully, in the chair.

"Well, what about you, Miss Loves-Everything?"

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/245072.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: vas

...I wake up to fic-in-my-box!

See the stories she's written to prompts, then go leave a prompt!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/244962.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: artist: rix, signal boost

FIRST
rix_scaedu is holding a call for prompts. Prompting is free; tipping gets more wordies.


and ALSO
lilfluff has written an Addergoole fic, the sequel to
Rabbit Hole!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/244492.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: artist: lilfluff, artist: rix, signal boost

anke is asking: "Does anybody (besides me) have and art or writing related projects scheduled for February?"

Go tell her; I know several of you do!

http://crowdfunding.livejournal.com/391177.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/243979.html. You can comment there.

Tags: crowdfunding, signal boost

From the poll for continuation story from December's Giraffe Call; a bonus because the main story ran short.

A continuation of "Tell me a Story," (LJ)

The Aunt Family has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ.

Long after her friend and her brothers had run off to play another game, Lily slunk back into the room. Rosaria, who had been expecting something of the sort, crocheted patiently on her seventh afghan this year. They had, after all, a very large family; this one was going to Florida. Even Florida, she'd been told, eventually had cold days, and any grand-niece or nephew could use a little piece of handcrafted love.

Speaking of needing love... "What is it, Lily?" she asked gently.

"I liked the story you made for Cady," she started hesitantly. Lily was not normally a shy child, which made Rosaria a little worried.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/243750.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: character: rosaria, giraffecall, giraffecall: perk, verse: theauntfamily
Current Mood: pleased

For anke's prompt(s)

After the Fairy Road (here on LJ) from the last Giraffe Call.</i>

The park in the middle of the city had always been creepy, but, in its heyday, it had also been beautiful. Children had, once, played there, and the overgrowth that filled up its four quadrants had once been tamed, with tiny footpaths wriggling through like snakes. Now, only the desperate or rushed used the main roads, and only the fairies could find the foot-paths.

The apartment building on Milton, overlooking the park, had also seen better days. In its heyday, it had been a fine luxury building, and the suite size and facade still showed that. The rooms were large, the building was passably well-upkept, but the rich neighborhoods had moved North, leaving the Stanton Arms behind.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/243615.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: fairytown, verse: misc: urban

Looking at the Mid-month mini-giraffe-call poll (LJ), right now, it appears that the 4th-5th of February is the clear winner.

Would people be interested in watching me livewrite for some period of time during that call?

The "which 'verse?" section right now appears to be settled on Aunt Family, by a 2-point lead over Reiassan or Dragons next door. I'll close that on Friday, just because it's already swung twice.

In the meantime, looking further ahead, I posted "Pretty Icons," (LJ) a discussion on possible February Giraffe Themes based on dhamphir's free icons (Hey, that's how I picked October's Call!).

The theme I suggested was "wine and roses:" it seems wide enough to allow for entirely non-romance-based prompts while still being a bit seasonal (Mind you, the call will be on the 18th, so a little late anyway). What do people think of this? Too close to the dreaded holiday?

Edited to add: Bribery! Give me feedback and I will write you 100 words on the setting of your choice!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/243306.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: feedback

For @daHob's prompt, in continuation of Sunday's installement: Tea with HER (continuation) (LJ) and Saturday's Tea with HER (beginning) (LJ)

Tir na Cali has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

---

"I know this, Treanna, because, believe it or not, I was nineteen once, myself. And when this happens... come to me again, and we will talk." She sipped her tea, her eyes smirking at me. "I'll enjoy it."

I sold him, of course.

I didn't want to. I was entirely in love with him, a little more gone than was reasonable. And selling him without him ever getting him to love me was admitting defeat.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/242800.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: tirnacali

This is the new-donoerperk from the December Giraffe Call, a setting piece on Stranded World

Strand-Workers and Strand-Working Organizations

by Ernesta Roundtree

It has been said - indeed, it was the way I was taught, and my late husband as well - that Strand-weaving is by nature a solitary occupation, and that those who can see and twist the Strands of life and existence do so on their own.

And, of course, there are many walks of life for which this is true, and many who can see or move Strands who spend their entire life doing so alone: if they are lucky, they are taught, and if they are wise, they teach another, but the time in between is spent alone, working small, single-person effects, having small and often selfish results.

But there is nothing inherently isolationist about the craft itself, and, while the organizations that exist today are nothing compared to the great Leagues and lodges, those that exist do great good (or, in some sad cases, great evil) within their spheres.

I will say nothing about the Order of the Linked Circles except that they exist, that that is not the name that they call themselves, and that they are very secretive. One of my children has met one person who claims to be of this Order, but I myself never have.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/242595.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: papersofstranded, verse: stranded
Current Mood: accomplished

To Anonymous' commissioned prompt, a continuation of this story (and on LJ).

Addergoole has a landing page here and on LJ.


Porter stared at the strange girl who had so tidily taken control of their lives – Arundel’s more than his, certainly, but still. Then it hit him. “Right. Come on, Arun.” He dropped to his knees and got a shoulder under his friend’s arm. “Stand up, that’s it.”

“Ow,” Arundel complained weakly.

“Yeah, I know. Those look like they’re gonna hurt worse than a tail and my ears did. But you gotta stand up.”

“Stand up,” Sylvia echoed, and with a muffled whimper, Arundel made it to his feet. “That’s better.” She slid herself under his other arm. “Porter and I will get you there. I’ll take care of you.” She opened her door and they edged, carefully, through it. “Do you know any combat magic, tiger?”
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/242420.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: addergoole, verse: faeapoc: addergoole, yr8, yr9

First, a pretty Icon. Thank you, @inventrix!!

Second, guys, we MADE FIRE!! We finally got the wood-burning stove installed and MADE FIRE! There was some smoke and some mess but then fire happened! (the seam on the pipe popped but we got it put back together).

Remembering how to start a fire is, it seems, like riding a bike. You let the memory muscles take over and it works.

And, while our house is not at all set up to be entirely heated by the stove (It's on the high end of a slightly-sloping downstairs, for one), it certainly helped, and we have lots of scrap wood & half a freecycled ruined barn and grapevine galore to burn, and that's a lot cheaper (i.e. free) than heating oil/kerosene, which are stupid expensive.

Window is almost done. Next... painting the utility room (woo). :-) And the accessory parts of the bedroom.

Signals to Boost!

The Kickstarter is up for Plunge Magazine. Guys, I want to write for this magazine! Help make it happen?

rix_scaedu wrote me a lovely erotic story , because she's an awesome friend.

clare_dragonfly had an awesome Garden of Prosey! Read all the stories!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/241977.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: personal: house, signal boost

The Giraffe Call is closed (and on LJ), but if you only left one or two prompts, please feel free to go add another 1 or 2.

Since the last update, I've posted several requests-for-feedback:
What do you want to know about my Settings? (LJ) (Stranded, Reiassan, Dragons)
Mid-month mini-giraffe-call poll (LJ) (what & When?)
Pretty Icons (LJ) discussion on possible February Giraffe Themes

I've posted three pieces from the last call:( Read more... )

Two non-Giraffe pieces (in payment for an icon from @inventrix):( Read more... )

And seven more Giraffe Pieces:( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/241891.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: summary, summary

After Separation Anxiety (LJ), in the Boom! roleplay timeline.

They'd managed benign small talk while they packed, and while they drove, Viddie and Ankara pestering each other in the back seat while Cya and Yoshi tried to pretend there was nothing to be uncomfortable about. They were nearly at the school's wards when she managed to say anything at all.

"There's things..."

"I know, Mom. Every adult in the ranch and half of your Kept over the last decade have tried to tell me. Including the rabbit." He sighed impatiently. "It's not like I'm going in blind and without back up. I'm practically the last of the Brood to go."

"Hardly," Viddie complained from the back seat. "There's me, and Ruki, and Kitten, and..."
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/241581.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: verse: addergoole

For cluudle's prompt

Addergoole has a landing page here and on LJ

This story requires, I think, some background to really understand.

Her father was scolding Falk again.

Regine could hear every word through the library wall. If she moved to the other side of the library, she wouldn't have to hear them anymore, and would be able to focus on her studies. She was fascinated with this book, with the whole series of them her father had found and brought for her and Falk, one at a time, plying them with scholarly works the way some girls' parents brought them toys or clothing.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/241305.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: addergoole, verse: faeapoc: addergoole

For The inventrix's prompt

Fae Apoc has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

"I don't know what we're looking for," Amalie complained, as they made their way over the rocky terrain. They'd left the wagons, with the rest of the company, on the last smooth place they'd found, the old road still standing, the encroached trees making it a deep, dark tunnel.

"Same thing as always," Dor answered, as he always did. "Food. Livestock someone let wander. Plants we can eat. A lot of this area was settled and then abandoned, when the bandits moved in. Come on, Ama, you know this."

"But why is it always us?"
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/241018.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: faeapoc, verse: faeapoc: postapoc
Current Mood: happy

pretty icons... Someone tell me not to make the February Giraffe Call theme "wine and roses" or some such drivel.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/240656.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall: theme, icon

So Anonymous knows I'm working on their commissions from the December call. ;-)


Porter stared at the strange girl who had so tidily taken control of their lives – Arundel’s more than his, certainly, but still. Then it hit him. “Right. Come on, Arun.” He dropped to his knees and got a shoulder under his friend’s arm. “Stand up, that’s it.”

“Ow,” Arundel complained weakly.

“Yeah, I know. Those look like they’re gonna hurt worse than a tail and my ears did. But you gotta stand up.”

“Stand up,” Sylvia echoed, and with a muffled whimper, Arundel made it to his feet. “That’s better.” She slid herself under his other arm.

---

Flying, Arundel was learning, was hard work, and exhausting. Even though Mr. Hawk told him that it wasn't all in the muscles - "If you were doing this all with physical strength, you'd never get off the ground. Your flight is as much a part of your magic as, well, whatever you innate power is going to be," - there was certainly a lot of something going on with his body, moving these new, strange, massive wings, keeping himself going.

And, of course, there was the falling. He wasn't, he discovered, frightened of falling, but it hurt, and he liked to avoid the pain...

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/240572.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: donor, giraffecall: result, verse: addergoole, verse: faeapoc: addergoole, yr9

Week before Last:
Rin/Girey - Goal-1000, actual - 1359
Addergoole Bonus - Goal - 750, actual - 0
Calinovel - Goal-1000, actual -1002
Addergoole main - goal-750, actual -1051.5
Blog non-Giraffe goal-600, actual-400
Giraffe - goal - 4700, actual-6435
Short for submission - goal, actual-0
Total goal - 9600, actual - 10247.5

Last week:
Rin/Girey - Goal-700, actual - 340
Addergoole Bonus - Goal - 500, actual - 0
Calinovel - Goal-800, actual -691
Addergoole main - goal-750, actual -584
Blog non-Giraffe goal-0, actual-269
Giraffe - goal - 6250, actual-8732
Short for submission - goal 600, actual-803
Total goal - 9600, actual - 10247.5
Total goal - 9600, actual - 11419

Submissions 2012 goal 2, actual 2

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/240263.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: to-do, wordcount

This is the comment perk from the December Giraffe Call, a setting piece on Dragons next Door.

A Survey of Reproduction Methods

When humanity lived apart from the other sentient races of earth, and spent most of its time encountering creatures only on its particular branch of the evolutionary tree, the study of reproduction was a much simpler, more limited thing.

As the magical races, the hidden peoples, and the Secret Ones came out from the shadows and began interacting more and more frequently with humanity, in some situations living next door to them, shopping in the same places, and going to the same schools, human scientists became, as humans are wont to do, curious. Working with the scholars of many of the older races (once they discovered that many of these races had scholars, which took some time), the human leads at Johns Talbot University have begun this Survey of Reproduction Methods.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/239954.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: encyclopediadraonis, verse: dragonsnextdoor

Okay! So the next thing on my list of things to write this weekend is a setting piece.

Dragons next Door won the setting-piece poll (Dreamwidth) by a landslide, 7 to 4 vote each for the 2 runners-up.

So I'll be writting a page of Encyclopedia Draconica this evening.

And then a piece of Encyclopedia Stranded Or Reiassan.

What would you like to know about these settings?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/239831.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: question

For @daHob's prompt, in continuation of yesterday's installement: Tea with HER (beginning) (LJ)

Tir na Cali has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

In today's installment, our plucky protagonist and her slave get names!

---

"I should hope he does. I don't act with the intent of being forgotten."

I chewed on my lip, and then, immediately, stopped myself. That was a girl's habit, a childish trait. He'd helped me break myself of it - why was it coming up now? I could see in her eyes that she'd noticed, however, and judged me for it.

"You are, I'd agree, quite unforgettable." The audacious words were out of my mouth; again, my voice was working without having asked my common sense what I should do. That wasn't her power, was it? I struggled to recall, and couldn't. If so, what a masterful use!
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/239537.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: tirnacali

Because the January Giraffe Call (LJ) reached (exceeded!) the $201 level, I will hold a mid-month one-setting Giraffe Call.

Poll #1812833 I like Polls!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

For what setting should the mid-month mini-giraffecall be? (choose 3 max)

When should the mid-month mini-giraffecall be?

Manually xposted from - http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/239185.html

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: poll, poll

For flofx's prompt, with information from this site.

I do not know how to protect my church from this.

I have been protecting this land for centuries, since they buried me at the front gate of the church-yard. I have warned them of trouble, frightened off vandals, and, on more than one occasion, reminded the good people of the town that there were things beyond the mundane.

I was a lamb, once. Once long before this existence. I can remember, vaguely, the warmth of my mother, the green of the grass, the sweetness of milk. And then there was the dirt, and then this life, this non-life existence, protecting this land.

I was the first buried here, or at least, the first buried in the hallowed ground here. Others who came before me, animals and human, were chased off, pushed off, by the blessing of the land, only their physical remains staying to sweeten the ground and grow the daisies. But others came, human and animal, some lingering, some moving on quickly.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/238941.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: misc

For @DaHob's prompt, based on a Cali idea.

Tir na Cali has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

When the Countess called me in for tea, I didn't know what to think.

I knew why, of course. My mother was ailing, young as she was, and I was her heir. I would be the Countess's loyal Baroness soon enough, and I was (so I had been told a thousand times), young for the position. She needed to get the measure of me.

The problem was, I had the measure of her already. I had the feel of her hand and the chains she left on a mind - not in person, she wasn't the sort of liege to do that to her vassals - but in proxy, in the slave who was mine, who had once been hers. I had it in the brand on his hip that I couldn't avoid, every time I touched him, and the marks in his mind, the way that, even after she'd set him aside, he still loved her.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/238721.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: tirnacali

This is a story of my RP-in-Addergoole character, Cynara, some years after the apoc but not that many, sending her oldest son Yoshi off to Addergoole. She's shown up in (see landing page) a couple stories before.

"All right, Yoshi, is everything packed?" Cynara knew the question was stupid. Of course everything was packed. She'd taken care of the first run herself, and the third run, and let her oldest handle the middle stuff himself. Everything was in its place, and Yoshi was heading off to school like she had, so many-so few years ago.

"Everything's set, Mom." To his credit, he tried not to let her see him roll his eyes. "I hid the rowan like you said, left the steel where Luke can see it, and I have the throw-away knife for him to take off of me. I've got food for two weeks and clothes... for an entire school... for at least a week. Who wears this many clothes?"
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/238292.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: verse: addergoole

For kelkyag's prompt

Reiassan has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ; this is a story of Steam!Reiassan, far in the future of the Rin & Girey story


The city had been mapped before.

Everything on the continent had been mapped in one reign or another, the oceans around it charted, the flows of rivers, of aether, called sira now, even the ice movement diagrammed. But as the science grew, so did the methods of charting, mapping, and diagramming, and now, under the Emperor, the entire city of Lannamer was being mapped again.

They picked a corner to start from, drove a deep bronze pole into the ground, surrounded that with a stone compass rose, and settled the whole thing against flood, earthquake, and storm with judicious use of aetheric shifting and quite a bit of praying.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/237859.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, steamcallanthe

The Giraffe Call is Still Open (and on LJ)! It will stay open until this evening.

Also, if you have prompted but only left one or two prompts, please feel free to leave a couple more! We've gotten to the incentive levels where everyone gets at least 3 prompts written to, whether or not they tipped!

At $211, we are just $29 from reaching the next incentive level, where I will hold a chat session with characters! (At this level, I'll almost have paid off the carpet as well as the furnace bill!)

Claim your words! If you have donated to this call, or to any call, you can ask for $x100 words continuation on any story posted here!

Back to writing!

Linkback Incentive Story (and ON LJ)
Summary so far:( Read more... )




Donate below


This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/237788.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: summary

For lilfluff's Prompt, with thanks to @inventrix and fourteen minutes for the names.

The humans hadn't been the first to Landfall-Etrian, but they hadn't been latecomers, either.

The lush, Earth-like planet had been discovered in a prime location in a solar system not all that far, as galactic scales went, from Earth; the Fordante had discovered it (at the same time as the Ngedik, and totally ignoring the Exxonoth who were native to the planet).

(Actually, humans could be grateful to the Fordante and Ngedik, because without them "inviting" other races to "their" planet, the potentially-sentient status of the Exxonoth would have precluded their settlement. But that's another story).
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/237531.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: misc: space

For sarah_tv's prompt.

No matter how much they tormented him, Eilon insisted to the last that it had not been intentional. With no proof, no Law against it, and a seeming inability to force the truth out of him, the Jiminies had to let him go - but they held a grudge against the narrow-hipped dryad boy as long as their memory held out.

Luckily for Eilon, the length of a Jiminiy's memory was just barely longer than the next shiny thing, and that meant he only had to lay low (harder than you'd think for a dryad in the city; he spent most the time hiding in penthouse gardens) for a couple months. It did mean he missed Christmas, but that's what he got, I suppose, for messing with the Macy's Day Parade.

He shouldn't have been awake at all, really. Dryad, as I pointed out to him in the time, generally meant "dormant in the winter like a good tree." And, indeed, he got in more trouble in winter than any three boys or three hundred trees ought to.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/237223.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: misc: urban

To an anonymous prompt.

Vas' World has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ.

This comes some short time after Greetings ()


it had been with effort that Paz and Malia had slipped away from their "welcoming committee" who were, after five days, beginning to feel more like benign jailers. Vas was still doing the staring-slack-jawed thing he'd been doing since they encountered the purple girl, and the rest of the team were baby-sitting him, trying to get him to snap out of it. That left the uncomfortable pairing of Paz and Malia, who had in common that they thought Vas was a bit of a jerk, to handle the finding-an-escape route and generally doing the job they'd been sent here to do.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/237036.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, vas

From the poll for continuation story from December's Giraffe Call. This one ran short, so I will also write a bit of something to the runner-up.

This comes after:"Come to Bed" (LJ)
In Bed (LJ), after "Come to Bed" [Beta]
Morning After (LJ) [Access-list only]
Virginity/Celibacy (LJ), a drabble.

Reiassan has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ.

Arinya found the way her captive was gaping at her to be very strange. She’d known he’d have a reaction, of course, and even if he hadn’t been staring, the warmth of his hand on her hip was a clear giveaway.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/236734.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: perk, reiassan, rin

For skjam's prompt.

The Planners have a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

They had a plan when they moved in to the city.

Of course they did; they were the Planners. They had other names - the Seven Families, the Amalgamated Preparation Assembly, or just The Founders - but the one they called themselves, in their private meetings, was The Planners. And what they did was Prepare, Found, and, most of all, Plan.

They'd done this in several other cities already - move in, begin buying up unwanted, abandoned, cheap land in bad neighborhoods, empty warehouse space, anything they could get that was standing vacant. And then They would begin cleaning, stockpiling, restoring, and, in some cases, demolishing to make room for green space.
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/236525.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: planners

For anke's Prompt

The new hospital was going to be the best thing that had happened to the Cayuga Lake region in decades. Stuck in a hospital-dry zone, the state-of-the-art set of buildings would bring more jobs to the area, open up treatment options without having to drive two hours to the nearest bigger city, and, hopefuly, put the old I-wouldn't-send-my-dog-there hospital on the other side of the lake out of business. Georgie and Gene VanStatler were very proud of themselves for bringing it all together.

When they got the call, barely two days after the ground had first been broke, they didn't know what to expect. They had surveyed and studied all of the normal hazards of the region - there wasn't natural gas close to the surface. There were no records of Indian habitation right in this area, although the records were spotty. The bedrock had, in nearby constructions, proven to be far enough down. And it was not, unlike much in the area, a flood-prone zone.

"You've got to come down here," was all that Marty Townsend, the construction boss, would say. So down there they came, in the cold of early April, bundled up and muttering to each other the whole time about how it really couldn't be THAT bad.
( Read more... )

Author's note: Cayuga Lake is one of the Finger Lakes, in central New York State.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/236049.html. You can comment here or there.

Tags: giraffecall, giraffecall: result, verse: misc