clare_dragonfly | Entries tagged with fiction: sponsor this!

Title: The Test
Word count: 396
Rating: PG-13
Prompt:

whatawaytoburn's: Blood is the only proof. and Count your miles from the lightning. (yup, I used both!)
Notes: I very actively tried to make this not Arthurian, especially since I'm rereading The Mists of Avalon right now.

The storm had muddied the battle, both literally and figuratively. But it was over now. The enemy had fled, they had won the day, but Thomas’ father lay dead.

To his surprise, he found himself mildly sorrowful to find the king had died. He had never liked his father; he was an unregarded, unacknowledged bastard, and had had to fight for everything that should have been his due, from the clothes on his back to the sword in his hand. But the king had been universally regarded as a good, fair man, and the country would miss him.

But now was not the time for sorrow. Now was the time—the only time he would get—for action.( Read more... )

Title: Magic Dough
Word count: 420
Rating: G
Prompt:

sweet_sparrow's: Herb dragons! (i.e. little live dragons made of herbs. Ideally, anyway.)
Notes: I'm pretty sure that real herbs would make terrible dough and not stick together, but these are obviously magic herbs.

“But we want to go with you!” Lara complained, running after her mother. The “we” referred, of course, to her and her best friend Sherri, and not to her big brother Kevin, who had been assigned to watch her and Sherri. She knew from experience that Kevin would refuse to play with them.

“Sorry, sweetie,” said her mother, lifting her up and seating her on the kitchen table. “You wouldn’t really like it, I promise. It would be very boring.”

“But there are horses!” Lara cried.( Read more... )

Title: Harvest Day
Word count: 1020
Rating: G
Prompt:

aldersprig's: Rampion and The neatest thing I figured out when we started growing our own herbs is WHY parsley and sage are Thanksgiving herbs - they're still alive, even in a good of snow.
Notes: I didn't call it Thanksgiving because this is the Wasteland, and while their culture is very much like ours it isn't exactly the same (hence the weird names). Apparently, rampion has an edible, turnip-like root. Who knew? This piece may or may not have more to it.

It was Harvest Day, and Vulai was determined to celebrate.

Even if the harvest didn’t happen at the same time anymore. Even if there was nothing to harvest. She still had a calendar, though it was one she’d made herself (the last mass-produced calendar she’d been able to find had been three years ago); she knew the date, whatever the weather was doing. Today, close to the end of November, when once the trees might have been brown and red and the skies grey but closed, was a holiday once beloved by the entire nation. Vulai, at least, still loved it.( Read more... )

Title: Clan Doctor
Word count: 813 (total: 3,238)
Rating: PG
Prompt:

kayim's: anything post-apocalyptic in which a doctor character is having to rely on herbs as medicine. ... make the character one who isn't actually a doctor - just kind of thrown into the role...
Notes: This is incomplete, obviously, since I barely reached a mention of the herbs!

Asraidh woke up with a start. There was something—but even in her sleep-addled state, coming out of a dream in which she was back in her old house and her sister was making her pancakes, she recognized it quickly. It was a cough, and it didn’t sound like a good one. It was coming from her left, which meant it was one of three people: Yenul, Kaesh, or Adhe.

Nothing in the sound told her who it was. It was only a cold feeling in her gut that told her it was Kaesh. At eight years old she was the youngest member of their little clan. She was Asraidh’s niece—the daughter of her dead sister.( Read more... )

Title: A Sea Garden
Word count: 390
Rating: PG-13
Prompt:

pippin's: Mermaids grow herbs in the corpses of the drowned.
Notes: This mermaid appears to be one of the elder sisters from "The Little Mermaid." More of this story is available to be sponsored!

Ayda was seventeen when the idea first came to her. She and her sisters—all but the youngest—had gone up to the surface, only the five of them with no guards, as was their prerogative now that they were old enough. They could see the surface roiling, the wind and the rain whipping it up, and when they came close enough, the bright flashes of light striking the water. This was their favorite time: the storms on the sea.( Read more... )

Title: Steam Therapy
Word count: 341
Rating: G
Prompt:

wyld_dandelyon's: Melissa (also known as Lemon Balm) and Mint with Rose Petals.
Notes: I've never had this tea (in fact I don't think I've ever had tea with rose petals in it) so I sort of guessed what it would look, smell, and taste like. Also, I should get a tea icon!

“Sit down.”

Felicia usually argued with her mother’s dictates before, almost inevitably, complying with them. But when she used this voice—her nurse voice—there was no dissent. Felicia sat.( Read more... )

Title: A Conversation of Thought & Mind
Word count: 463
Rating: G
Prompt:

ysabetwordsmith's: I would like a ficlet featuring two characters holding a conversation with all the dialog in the language of flowers.
Notes: Yay! The first Garden of Prose prompted piece! ::does a little dance:: This story is incomplete, but I know how it's going to go (the hardest part is keeping track of all the flowers I want to use); more can be posted for additional donations (from anyone!) of $1/~100 words.

Pansy stalked out into the garden. It was empty, just as she’d hoped. It was too late in the year for much to be blooming, but too early for the gardeners to have cleared out all the dead vegetation. It had rained that morning, and threatened to do so again, so most of the plants looked either dead and black or the glistening green of poison. It suited Pansy’s mood. She paid no attention as her skirts draggled through puddles; she was moving too fast to notice the chill in the air. She just wanted to be alone.( Read more... )

Golden eyes. A sorceress. But she didn’t have time to judge. It was nearly nightfall, and if this woman could get her to safety, she would have to follow.

Yes, this is all I have written for 3WW this week. I know how the story starts, and sort of what happens after this, but at the moment, this is all I have... and it has all three words.

Daughters of Clio is a weekly prompt group I started with Lyn, Tara, and 'Trix. Technically this week is my prompt, so I don't have to write for it, but I felt like it anyway. The prompt is "the cave in the hill by the water."

Daro grabbed her hand. "Come on! I found it last year, it's really cool!"

Gerda allowed herself to be dragged along--Daro's hand was warm and strong, and she liked the way it nearly enveloped hers--but she wouldn't go without protest. "We're supposed to be watching the carts! We can't just leave!"( Read more... )

Yeah, this was totally going to go somewhere, but... I got bored. Let me know if you're interested in more!