December 2011
6 posts
10 tags
Phantom
“Get out of here,” she snapped at the crow, who was doing his best to try and beg for a piece of her sandwich. Fortescue was having none of it. She was tired, hungry and cold. Not even the meager tea she’d managed to brew was warming her up.
The crow tilted his head at her, as if saying, You don’t really mean it. You’d love to give me a piece of your food.
“Go...
8 tags
Christmas
It wasn’t like Fortescue didn’t have somewhere to be. At least three invitations for Christmas had been extended towards her—four, if you counted one that had been more for politeness than anything else (she didn’t).
But she hated the holiday. Always had. She hated the way it presumed over the other religions, like it was somehow better for pretending that it hadn’t...
7 tags
Black Council
Wearily, she breathed in the smell of her mother’s antique bookstore. Linen covers made everything look like tall ghosts. Closing the door behind her (the bell jangled noisily), Fortescue cleared her throat loudly.
A cat crawled out from behind a bookcase—if it could be called a cat anymore, it was ratty, nearly blind and as thin as a wisp of smoke. She smiled.
“There you...
6 tags
Black Magus
“Daga, you fucking asshole,” she snarled.
“Fortescue.” Assent. “To what do I owe the honor?”
They were standing underneath an awning, under an amber sky, in a village that had once boasted big game hunters and tipsy tourists. Now there were skulking villagers and animals so malnourished that they looked ill.
“I’m here because a little birdie told...
7 tags
Avrid
Wind, fresh from the arctic circle, ruffled at her boots as she stood on the cliff. A spot where, only a year ago, she’d once decided to jump, but her knees had given out at the last moment. Now, Avrid stood on the cliff in a secret fume with the site; her composure set, her mind set.
She was going back to her father’s to stay for the winter. But really, she was going home. She cared...
4 tags
Shore
“Here,” he said, as he dug up the seashell.
“It’s cold!” she objected, holding her coat around herself firmly.
He smiled, pulling the large, spiny shell from the sand and scrutinizing it. It was perfect, just as he’d left it. He offered it to her.
She took it, pricked her finger on a spine, yelped, dropped it.
“Got you,” he said, pretending.
She...