Category: Stories

Bonfire Hearts and Fool Waters (Shard-verse)

Word count: 2151. Rating: all-ages

Summary: before Daisy Hart became Wild Heart, she was just a strawberry blonde in high school. And the Ginger Royals recruit from all red-heads…

Content notes: mild-ish verbal abuse from a parent, fatphobia, alcohol, implied underage drinking, realistic depiction of drowning (everybody’s okay), possible implied violence

Note: the gang’s name alternates freely between Ginger Queens, Ginger Kings, and Ginger Royals


Daisy wiped the water out of her eyes and pushed herself out of the pool.

“Hey Daisy, can we talk after we change?”

She glanced up – it was Lily Mills, who was the fastest swimmer in the class, had red hair that glowed like fire unlike Daisy’s pale strawberry blonde, and was a senior.

“S-sure!” Daisy was a sophomore and she’d taken swim and water safety instead of basic PE because she had thought she was already a good swimmer. Turns out she was only okay – too buoyant after a puberty boost that had turned her from round to curvy, undisciplined, and out of condition. And then she had almost no friends – her best friend ever had moved away last year after middle school, her second best friend had found cooler people to hang out with, and her other friends had so many others that Daisy was lost in the crowd. Which lately was kind of okay, because once she hit puberty her dad had changed from ignoring her to yelling at her. She looked too much like her mom, he said. Why didn’t he take care of herself? She was fat and stupid. And it was harder than ever to act like everything was okay, and school was harder, and she was just hanging on. So it would’ve been nice to have one class that she could ace.

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Writing – A Mouth Full of Ashes

This is the one I was talking about earlier, with Albert inspired by BaaingTree’s Alpert. But not as cool. This not a nice story. I’ve slightly edited and updated this from the previous version.

I wanted to create an alternative term to ‘golem’ since golems are Jewish and it felt culturely… icky to use in this story and I’ve heard complaints from Jewish folk about goyim stealing it. Feel free to steal this (fenndrell means mud-slave from fen + thrall). I’m hoping I got the Latin correct – feel free to let me know otherwise.

Words: 1755. Rated PG-13

Trigger warnings: slavery, major past torture of a fantasy / artificial being, past sexual abuse of a being unable to consent


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drawing of an action figure's shoulder

Writing – BJD (Puzzle-Verse)

Set at an undetermined time before Doll Eyes.

Word count: 404. Rating: PG. CN: mild injury (no blood or gore)


The screwdriver slipped from my fingers. This wasn’t working.

“Rowan!” I yelled toward my sister’s flat.

A shouted reply from the other flat. “Oy! Some of us are trying to sleep!”

I ground my teeth. The new tenant. A physician. Moved in two days ago. Kept mostly diurnal hours. I wasn’t sure why Ms. Harris thought he would work out. Bother. What time was it?

I glanced at the clock set to this time zone. Nearly eleven. The doctor would have gotten in an hour and a half ago, most likely and Rowan wouldn’t return to her flat until one. I’d just have to make do until then.

~~~

Ten till one. The smell of curry from the hallway – Rowan’s usual takeaway. I opened my door slightly. “Would you come in?” Her mouth twisted. “Please?”

She huffed slightly. She hated eating anywhere but home, but I wouldn’t ask unless it was important. She pushed the door open with her foot, her expression growing darker as she gazed around my flat. I found cleaning a distraction and rarely bothered.

“What is it?” she said irritably. She caught sight of my left arm and her tone changed. “Oh.”

I’d already laid out the tools on the kitchen table and she gingerly set her bag on the cleaned counters as I sat down. I’d scrubbed the kitchen, as well as I could considering. It’d given me something to do while I waited, as boring as the process was.

“What happened?” she asked as she leaned in to inspect. My arm hung limply, the shoulder slumped.

“I must have jarred it harder than I thought during the fight last night. The rotor’s frozen.”

She frowned, peering over her glasses. “The socket is corroded.”

“I’ll have it looked at.” She glanced up, eyebrows raised. Admittedly, I had the habit of forgetting things, but I’d filed this one as important. “Tomorrow. I’ve no desire to have it fail again.”

It took her only a minute to adjust. The time wasted waiting for her was irritating, but there just wasn’t a way for me to get to the back of my own frozen shoulder.

“I’m reconnecting the terminals now.” She closed the access panel and the skin melded, once again seamless. I bit my lip hard as sensation rushed back down my arm. It was nearly overwhelming but I allowed myself only a hissed breath as Rowan washed her hands.

I rose, flexing my hand to chase away the last of the pins and needles. “Thank you. Enjoy your dinner.”


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Cafuné (Shard-verse)

Cafuné (Brazilian Portueguese): The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.

Rated G. 872 Words. CW: mentions of being in the hospital, weight loss due to illness. Set in the morning after Gökotta


Delia woke to the smell of fresh coffee and dragged herself out of bed. Washing her face and running her fingers through her hair was enough to make her presentable enough to head for the living room. Quigley had said they’d come early, even though it wasn’t Wednesday, to celebrate Nathan being home. Nathan was sitting in the corner of the couch, Joel sprawled over the rest with his feet in Nathan’s lap, each with a book. She leaned down and kissed the top of Nathan’s head.

“Oh, hi!” Nathan tilted his head up and got another. “Our ghost is sneaking around again.”

She scoffed, petting his hair. “You were just distracted.”

“I heard her,” Joel said without looking up from his book. “Hi mom. Quigley’s going to make French toast if you want to tell them you’re up. They said they were starting the dusting.”

“You’re hungry then?”

“I’m a growing kid,” he said dispassionately.

“You can’t use that excuse that much longer.” She ruffled his hair on her way by and rolled her eyes at his fake grimace.

~ ~ ~

Delia couldn’t stop watching Nathan as they ate. It’d been almost three months since he’d been home. He’d lost weight and was even paler than normal. He’d tied his hair back like usual, but instead of it flowing down his back and shoulders like liquid gold, it lay lifeless where it didn’t stick out like dandelion fluff. He smoothed it unconsciously and irritation flickered over his face. She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Hey. Love you.”

He shrugged. “I’m a mess.”

“It’s fine.” He squeezed back before letting go to grab another piece of French toast before Joel ate it all. “I have to run into the office to take care of a couple of things that can’t wait. Anything you two want me to pick up while I’m out?”

“Can you stop at Action-Os for my comics?” Joel asked.

If you give me the money for them.” He rolled his eyes and stole a piece of bacon from her plate.

“Yeah, there’s a couple of things,” Nathan said. “If you don’t mind.”

“Of course not.”

“Thanks Del.”

~ ~ ~

He was napping when she got back, splayed out on the bed with his arm over his eyes. She smiled and set down the bag from the pharmacy in the bathroom before sitting down next to him. He made a soft sound and rolled over.

“Hey,” he mumbled.

“Hey handsome.” She ran her fingers through his hair and he leaned his forehead against her leg with a happy sigh. “Can I wash your hair?”

“I did it last night.”

“Mm. I got some different conditioner. For dry hair.” He made a face – he’d always had the opposite problem. “I haven’t gotten to play with your hair in ages and a couple of the nurses definitely wanted to keep you, you flirt.”

He turned and smiled up at her. “I can’t help it.”

“In the hospital and still a heartbreaker.” She poked him, gently, in the side. “How are you going to make it up to me?”

He propped himself up. “Apparently by letting you wash my hair.” He rubbed his eyes. “Well, at least I get to see a beautiful body.”

Delia scoffed. “Come on. Let’s get our beautiful bodies off the bed.”

Delia had insisted on a big fancy tub when they moved in and once again was glad for it. Getting into the tub involved more than the usual amount of kissing and groping. Finally Nathan leaned against the side and side. “I’m getting really tired of being tired,” he grumbled.

“You’ve gotten through a lot.”

“Yeah…”

She grabbed the shampoo. “Come here.”

He rouched out and snagged her foot with his. “Nope. Too tired.” She splashed him gently and came over.

~ ~ ~

He sighed happily as she massaged the lather through his hair. “That’s nice.”

She leaned over and kissed a suds-free patch of skin. “Lean back.” She caught his smirk. “And not onto my chest.”

“But I’m tired. I need a pillow.” But he obligated and helped rinse out his hair. He wiped his eyes as she reached for the conditioner. “This is much nicer than at the hospital.”

“You weren’t tempted by the cute nurses?” she teased.

“I didn’t see any as cute as you.”

She shook her head with a smile. “Liar.” Conditioner and leave-in conditoner later, his hair was feeling less like straw and more like its usual silk.

He looked at her with puppy dog eyes. “Braid my hair?”

“Of course.”

He pulled out the seat at the counter and sat as she found a com and hair band, the both of them in just towels around their waist. She was careful as she ran her fingers through his hair to ease out the tangles before follwing with the comb.

“How long are you planning on spoiling me?” he asked as she started to braid.

“I don’t know. How long are we planning on being married?” She was a fast braider and soon she was tying it off. “There you go. Come on, I’m getting cold.”

He pulled it forward and ran his hands over it. “Thanks, love.”


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Great-Uncle Bubba and the Magic Shop (fiction)

One of the ways Ursula Vernon deals with trolls on twitter is telling stories about her (fictional) Uncle Sven. (so far as I know these aren’t collected anywhere, which is a shame). I decided to follow her example, and this is the story that resulted.

While I used some bits of my actual family as very vague inspiration, everyone and everything in this story is fictional and probably wildly inaccurate to the supposed time period, whatever that is.

(CW: references to period racism – in that I say it exists and that people would use words that decent people don’t use these days, poverty, malnutrition, drunkenness, references to pre-antibiotics tuberculosis, illiteracy, corporal punishment at school)


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The White Knight #1 – Devotion

Content warnings for talk of police corruption, references to military service, chronic illness, hospitals, shooting (nothing graphic), blood and medical issues, prejudice against fictional people, talk of gangs, non-graphic violence, mentions of drug and alcohol addiction, misgendering (in the context of someone assuming the gender where it’s not known), mention of spiders and rats, smoking, and swearing.

Many thanks to LB Lee and KristyCat for sensitivity and beta-reading. Any mistakes are my own.

Please let me know if you see any typos or other mistakes. Thanks.


Shard City doesn’t love anybody, but I can’t help loving it. It has its bright spots but unless you stay in those small oases it turns into a very ugly place at night, The cops hardly try anymore – too many crimes, too many gangs. It’s funny how you get used to it. Used to watching out for the sun setting, for the alleys like open mouths, for the people with gleaming eyes and hidden weapons. I’m sick of it. And I mean to do something about it.

My name is Delia Tyelu. I’m the White Knight.

 

* * *

A family photo - a tall white, blond man in doing bunny ears to a shorter, chubbier white, blonde man, who is holding the hand of a short Asian woman. She has her arm around her teenage kid who has his arm around her shoulders.
Left to right: Leonard Burton, Nathan Burton, Delia Tyelu, and Joel Tyelu-Burton. Picture taken on Joel’s 19th birthday.

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