Clare-Dragonfly

badly_knitted posted a fill for a really old prompt of mine at ! Fighting Temptation is a nice little character piece about Pete and his relationship with Myka, as partners and friends. Go read it!

Title: Sneaking Off
World: The Moonsisters
Word count: 220
Rating: PG-13 for hot makeouts and language
Prompt: Thimbleful Thursday: mind your Ps and Qs


“Come on, Angel,” Hector whispered, his lips fluttery by her ear, making a shiver run down her spine. “No one will miss us.”

She felt her cheeks warm—she managed to have dark skin that still showed a blush—but let him take her hand anyway. After all, he was her boyfriend.

She sent a quick mental wave to Charlotte as he led her away so she would know she was safe; Angel was just sneaking off with her man.

They went around the side of the school and to the back. Angel wrinkled her nose as they passed the smokers’ corner, but he continued, to a more secluded spot behind the storage shed.

Once away from prying eyes, he pressed her against the wall, his mouth hot and luscious on hers, his hands sliding up the front of her shirt. Angel gasped, but relaxed into the embrace, letting herself enjoy his attentions.

Until from Angel’s right, where no one had been a moment ago, they heard a throat clear.

Angel’s eyes flew open as Hector dropped his hands. She turned and saw Maureen standing there, smiling.
“You should behave, shouldn’t you?” Maureen whispered. “Someone might hear.”

“What the fuck, bitch?” Hector took an angry step toward Maureen, but she stepped back—hadn’t a fence been there?—and was gone.

Title: The Witches' Solution
World: other
Word count: 2,978
Rating: PG
Prompt: allbingo apocalypse theme: magical solution; rainbowfic Antique Brass 16, You guys sound excited! Did I solve it?!; Hills of Iowa 1, We walk in the world of safe people and at night we walk into our houses and burn.
Notes: This took a weird turn near the end that I did not expect. I guess that's what I get for not planning out the actual solution ahead of time!


The first house to go up in flames belonged, not to the president or to his family, or to the vice president or to one of the cabinet members, but to a minor functionary no one believed had anything to do with the scandal.

But his house still burned, and it burned hot and fast, with no time for him or his wife or children to escape. He and his family burned; only the dog made it out.

Immediately, most people assumed arson. The fire marshal promised what the president demanded: a full and thorough investigation. Their preliminary findings did not indicate human agency in the fire, but it had burned so precisely that it was difficult for anyone to believe it had been an accident.( Read more... )

75. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy - ***
76. Winds of Change by Mercedes Lackey (reread) - ****
77. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent - ***
78. The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo - *****
79. Saga, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan - ***
80. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (reread) - *****
81. Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe - ****
82. Bound by Blood and Sand by Becky Allen - ***

At the beginning of 2017, I declared it the Year of Finishing Series. I listed six series that I had read some of and wanted to finish--I also discovered another in the middle of the year that I'd forgotten I wanted to finish. Of those seven, I finished four. I'm reading the second to last of the Hannibal series and the Vorkosigan series at the moment, actually, but I didn't even make any progress on the Robin Hobb books. I should have set myself a way to check in on a more frequent basis--if I'd just worked to read a few books from the series I wanted to finish each month, I would have had no problem finishing series, but I didn't really bother.

I also did Game of Books in 2017. I'm pleased to say that I totally blew away my goal there! I set my monthly goal at 25, and there was only one month (March) when I didn't reach that. I had originally set the yearly goal at 250, then bumped it up to 300 after a couple of months. I actually managed over 400 points. I don't know if Game of Books specifically was motivating me (it helped that I went back to my early downloads a lot for ebooks), but it was fun.

I'm not making any reading goals for 2018 (I'm not really making goals at all). I fully expect having and caring for a baby to take up a huge amount of time and brainpower, and I don't want to feel bad about not reading enough books--or about counting short children's books toward a total.

This looks like more reading than it is. A lot of these books are quite short. But I did finish a lot of books in October and most of them were fantastic!

57. Uprooted by Naomi Novik - *****
58. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany (reread) - ***
59. The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente - ****
60. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling (reread) - *****
61. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - *****
62. Quidditch Through the Ages by J. K. Rowling (reread) - *****
63. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (reread) - *****
64. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (reread) - *****
65. Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker - ***
66. Retro Demonology by Jana Oliver - ***
67. Short Stories from Hogwarts: Power, Politics, and Pesky Poltergeists by J. K. Rowling - *****
68. Short Stories from Hogwarts: Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Hobbies by J. K. Rowling - *****

(Seriously, if you like fantasy and haven't read Uprooted, you should get your hands on it. I absolutely loved it--it might be one of my new favorites.)

Also, happy NaNoWriMo, everyone!

Title: Queen of the Hill
World: Ursulan
Word count: 440
Rating: G
Prompt: Thimbleful Thursday: king of the hill
Notes: Here's a fun little story about Gwanwyn (Gawain), Grainne (Gaheris), and Agravain as kids. I'm thinking Gwanwyn is about eleven here.


Gwanwyn was the oldest, the biggest, and the strongest, but Agravain still tried to be the winner of all their games. This was unfortunate, because it meant she had to keep beating him, and he hated to be beaten.

But how could he win? He was three years younger than she was, still two inches shorter though he’d started to grow faster in the last year, and his arm was probably half as wide around as hers was, despite the fact that he just kept trying to wrestle her.( Read more... )

I was sure I had posted my August books already, but apparently not! I was on vacation with family at the beginning of September... so I guess I got distracted by my cute nephews. Oops.

AUGUST
45. Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn - ***
46. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - ***
47. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer - ****
48. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - ****
49. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer - ****
50. Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes - ***
51. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (reread) - *****
52. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold - *****

SEPTEMBER
53. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova - ****
54. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (reread) - *****
55. MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood - ***
56. Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon - ***

29. Fairest by Marissa Meyer - *****
30. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer - ****
31. Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells - *****
32. The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente - *****
33. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (reread) - *****
34. The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales by Angela Carter - ****
35. The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler (reread) - ****
36. Instant Mom by Nia Vardalos - *****
37. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold - *****

June was a really excellent reading month! I also finally finished one of the series in my list from the beginning of the year, made progress on another, and have the last book in one of the others out from the library now.

It was the night before the term was to begin before I finally began to hear voices in the hall. They all seemed to arrive at once, chattering girls' voices sliding past my door, accompanied by the tap-tap of patent shoes and the scrape of heavy luggage being dragged.

I pulled the door ajar and peeked out to see them, all dressed in the same nondescript khaki-and-white uniform as I was, though theirs were in better shape and some may have been tailored. They ran up and down the hall, helping each other with their luggage, opening and closing doors. They must have all arrived at once. This was no coincidence. I was the only one who had reached the school early, accompanied by my parents, because I could not make my own arrangements with Father Housman without their support.

Three days alone had been just enough time to get used to the creaky, old wooden building. Now I would have to get used to it filled with dozens of other girls.

In the time I'd stood in the doorway staring at them, they'd had time to take notice of me. There were stares and whispers. I couldn't be surprised. I was something new, something strange.

A girl stopped, dropping her trunk with a thump in front of the door next to mine. She stared openly at me, a wide smile--there was something hungry, predatory, about it--spreading across her face. "You're the new scholarship girl, aren't you?"

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