Stories from 2012
Jan. 21st, 2013 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
k_a_webbThis is mostly for the new friends I have on DW, but also for anyone who hasn't been following my writing account. Here are some of my favourite stories from 2012, all original fiction written by me.
The day had begun the same way Electra's days always began. Once she was out of bed and sitting at the table with her breakfast she went through the list of jobs she had to do. Most people came to her because she could repair creatures created with living clay, but there were a couple of orders for new creatures. Brendan had sent her another auction brochure, wanting to know her opinion on some of the creatures that were being sold, and Menolly was working on a new board that needed testing. As they were Electra’s siblings, and they were in business together, she knew she would make time for them, even though it took her away from the things she loved doing.
With her hair up in its usual bun, Electra wandered down the stairs to her studio, a cup of coffee in her hand and her mind focused on the horse she needed to fix. She glanced out of the window, smiling when she saw the rain, before going to change the sign. Normally Brendan dealt with the customers, because neither Electra or Menolly appreciated having to serve someone when they were in the middle of something, so Electra much preferred it to rain when he was busy visiting auctions. That way she had fewer people to deal with.
It wasn't until she walked past the window a second time that she noticed the rabbit. Electra stared at it, wondering who would have put a broken rabbit outside her window. Then it tapped on the window with its paw and she realised that it was a live creature. With her free hand she opened the window, unable to drag her eyes off the creature.
"Are you Electra?" it asked.
All she could do was nod.
"That's good. I've been looking for you for a while now and I'm glad I've finally found you."
Licking her lips, Electra tried to work out what she wanted to say. "Why have you been looking for me?" she asked finally.
The rabbit looked at her. "There are creatures who aren’t as lucky as those who end up here." It glanced over at the horse, which made a sound that made it seem as though it agreed with the rabbit, before looking back at her. "Some are brought to you for repair, if people know who you are or the man who works with you buys them from auction, but there are many who end up being thrown out. It doesn't matter that we are sentient once the clay that made us in fired. When we are broken people don't want us any longer."
"You want me to fix you."
"I'm not so bothered about me." It lifted a paw and stroked its damaged ear. "I can deal with having a broken ear and living out there isn't so bad, but I have friends who are damaged much worse than me. I look after them as best I can, but..." It sighed. "There's only so much I can do."
******************************************
Jason walked alone along the street, not paying attention to anything other than the voices he could hear. Some of the wishes were ones he would never even contemplate fulfilling, because they were selfish or they’d affect someone else adversely, but then there were others, more heartfelt, that tugged at his empathy. Not all wishes could be granted, so he spent much of his time learning about each person he wanted to help. That was what everyone with wish magic did. Every day they heard the voices of the many races of the web and made their choices about which wishes they could grant.
When Jason was a younger he had granted wishes that he probably shouldn’t have done, the way almost everyone with the ability had, because it was harder then to look at every wish dispassionately. All granted wishes were recorded, as were the effects, so he knew that none of the wishes had done any real damage to a person or timeline, as he could hear wishes from people who had lived hundreds of years before him. There were those who could also hear wishes from people in the future. That was why some said that they knew more about the web than the walkers did, but he wasn’t sure that was necessarily true. He would admit that they probably knew more about the people of the web than the walkers did.
Each wish that was granted had an effect on the web and sometimes it wasn’t possible to know what sort of an effect it would be until it happened. Jason had seen some innocuous wishes that seemed as though they couldn’t have any major effect turning one of the worlds upside down, while there were those that could have changed the worlds and didn’t do anything much at all. No matter how much research they did there was no way to be totally sure what would happen, so all they could do was guess and hope for the best.
There were rules about the wishes they could grant, but not everyone followed them, and there was no way to keep track of everyone with wish magic. Jason had first realised he had the ability when he was thirteen, which was the normal age for the races of Siaral to gain their power. He’d thought it was likely because his mother had wish magic and it had missed his older sister. It was something she was glad of, as she’d always wanted to be a unicorn breeder. If he’d wanted to keep his ability to himself it would have been easy enough to lie, because his power didn’t show outwardly, and he didn’t have to do anything to grant wishes.
Sighing, Jason told himself to stop thinking about the things he couldn’t change. When there were rules there were always going to be people who wanted to break them and people who were doing their best to stop those rules from being broken. He had always followed the rules they were given, knowing it was for the good of the web, even though there were times he could have broken them to help people who needed it.
*******************************
It looked innocuous, just another book on a shelf full of books, until someone opened it. Then… well, it wasn’t just a book. Not for everyone. Most people would pick it up, look inside to find that it was one of those hiding place books, and put it back on the shelf, because they didn’t need the other world. Others would pick it up and the portal would take them to the world on the other side of the portal. Luna had seen it happen, watching different people as they picked it up, interested to see who was chosen and who wasn’t. She didn’t have the courage to pick the book up herself.
One day it was gone. It was a Tuesday, just after Luna had finished her shift, and she’d stepped into the bookstore the same way she did three or four times a week to watch. She knew there had to be a reason it had moved, maybe someone had bought it because they really did need one of those hiding place books, or it was simply time for the book to move on, or there was always a chance that someone else had realised what it was and taken it away so no one else was dragged to another world. For the first time she wished she had picked the book up, not because she thought that she’d be one of those chosen, but just to see what it was that the majority of people saw.
Luna knew, if she hadn’t of accidentally witnessed someone being taken by the portal, she wouldn’t have known what the book did. She might have picked it up, just like everyone else. When she looked into it, like so many people before her, she would have seen a hiding place book, nothing more. There was no reason for it to take her to another world, although… She sighed. Sometimes she did wish for something more and that would be why the book wouldn’t chose her. If she wanted change in her life she was going to have to make that change, even though it was terrifying.
After one last look at the shelf where the book had been Luna made her way towards the door. She looked at the books as she passed, because there were times when she saw something different, something that caught her attention in the way that most books now didn’t. It, the book that caught her attention, was sitting on a shelf between two other paperbacks, and if anyone asked her she wouldn’t know what it was that really caught her attention. Maybe it was the colour, maybe it shimmered slightly, but there was definitely something. With one hand she picked it off the shelf, pulling her bag strap up with the other, before opening the book…
Moments later Luna found herself stood in a corridor that reminded her of the set of flats one of her old school friends had lived in and no book in her hand. Astonished, all she could do was mutter, “Bloody hell.”
************************************************
When Dawn rang Lewis she wasn’t actually expecting an answer, because they often avoided talking to each other. The whole thing was a little weird, really, but understandable at the same time. She could imagine, if she’d come across a family member dying and had the ability to save them, doing exactly the same thing. It was just getting used to having a grandfather who was permanently just three years older than her, who just happened to be her vampiric father. Normally it was her doing the avoiding. He was normally just busy all the time and now that he was working on the donor house she knew he would be even more busy.
So Lewis’ reply of, “It’s been a long time,” took her by surprise and her only answer, to begin with, was silence.
“Sorry,” Dawn said, finally. “I just…”
“You don’t need to explain.”
Dawn ran a hand through her hair. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
The answer to that question was even harder to work out. Dawn knew she needed help, and the only person she trusted to help her was Lewis, but she didn’t know how to ask. It felt like she only ever rang him when she needed his help, and she probably did, but that wasn’t the relationship she wanted to have with him. She just didn’t know how to change things.
“Things have been better.”
“How can I help?”
“I don’t know.” Dawn tapped her fingers on the table in front of her, trying to think. “I’m not even sure I want you to help.”
“Dawn, tell me what’s happened.”
It took her a moment to realise that Lewis couldn’t see her shaking her head. “It’s not something I want to talk about right now.” Dawn sighed. “I just want to be safe for a while.”
“Come to the donor house.”
“I…” She sighed again. “Living with a group of vampires, no matter how nice they are, isn’t something I think I can deal with right now.”
“You don’t have to live here. It would just be easier to work things out face to face, and I spend pretty much all my time at the house now, so it’s the best place for you to come. When you get here ring me and I’ll come down to get you. Okay?”
“I guess.” Dawn blinked away the tears she could feel threating to fall. “I want us to have a proper relationship, Lewis. It’s time I stopped acting like a child and dealt with my problems.”
“You needed time and I was happy to give it to you. If you really want us to work things out, then I’m open to the idea, but I don’t want you to feel like my help is something you have to pay for. You’re family.”
“Lewis…” Dawn stared into the mug of coffee. “Do you ever wish you’d made a different decision when you came across me?”
“No, never. Do you ever wish I’d made a different decision?”
“Yes, sometimes, when I’m feeling at my worst. Being a vampire was never my choice.”
******************************************************As he walked up to the front door of the donor house he reminded himself once again of his new name. It was one he’d borrowed from a book, because he thought it was a cool name, and he no longer wanted to be associated with the old one. He was a different vampire now that he was Kisten, so he was determined to change his life around. Breathing deeply he put one hand onto the door handle, knowing that once he stepped into the building there was no going back. Even though he was certain he wanted to change his life he hesitated, needing a couple more minutes to deal with what he was leaving behind, before he opened the door.
Stepping into the house was easier. Kisten hadn’t brought anything with him, because he knew the bringing anything would bring the residual energy of his old self, and he didn’t want that to affect him. The clothes he was wearing had been bought new before he’d stepped onto the train. Nothing was going to stop him from becoming the vampire he wanted to be. He did kind of miss the things he’d left behind, but he knew he could always buy them again if he really needed them. What he didn’t need were reminded of who he had been.
Kisten walked, feeling a little more comfortable, towards the reception desk. The only person in the large area was the receptionist, who smiled at him, revealing her fangs, before turning to her computer. “Good evening,” she said, tapping away at her keyboard. “Welcome to the donor house. May I take your name?”
There was a moment when Kisten almost gave her the wrong name, but finally he replied, “It’s Kisten.” He tried not to breath a sigh of relief. “Kisten Randall.”
“Vampire?”
“Yes.”
Nodding, she tapped the details into her computer. “Are you here to feed?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked up and smiled again. “That’s normal. A lot of vampires want to see what the house is like before they make any definite decisions about feeding.” As she picked up the phone she continued, “If you could sign in, a safety precaution we like all our visitors to comply with, I’ll get someone down to show you around. Would you prefer a male or a female vampire?”
Biting his lip, Kisten shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me.” He picked up the pen. “Is this something you do for all the vampires?”
“It’s something we do for all our new arrivals, because it gives someone a chance to get to know you while you learn about the house. We’re very careful with all our donors safety.”
Smiling for the first time since he entered the house, Kisten nodded, and scribbled his name into the sign in book, along with the date of his visit. He had to look at the clock on the wall to work out what time it was before he could also enter that. When he turned back to the receptionist she’d already put the phone down and was searching for something in the filing cabinet behind her.
********************************************Mackenzie checked to make sure she was alone before she reached up with her hand and grabbed hold of the chain. Only certain magic users were permitted to know of its existence, because it led to a safe place mostly inhabited by the thieves. She was lucky to be one of them, especially as she would never steal anyone’s magic, but instead she would help the people who couldn’t cope with blooming. It meant she had more magic than most of the thieves, she had to watch her back more than anyone else would, and if anyone ever found out who she really was…
Shaking her head Mackenzie put her foot on the first step, pushing all thoughts about her past out of her mind, because there were several telepaths who might be in the safe place when she entered. A couple of them she liked and trusted enough to talk to them about every day things, but she didn’t trust anyone enough to talk about who she had been before she bloomed. It didn’t matter if they liked her or not: if they found out the information would be all around the kingdom within a couple of hours and then she’d be in real trouble.
Once Mackenzie was in the safe place she headed straight for her room, because she didn’t really want to spend time with anyone. She didn’t want to be alone either, but it wasn’t as though she had any friends, and it was better to be alone than to have to deal with people she mostly didn’t like. Most of them were interested in one thing: power. It didn’t matter where they got it from as long as they had more of it than anyone else, which made everyone compete against each other, and, unfortunately, everyone wanted the amount of power Mackenzie had.
It wouldn’t happen, but they didn’t know that. None of them knew that one of the powers Mackenzie had gained when she’d bloomed was the ability to take someone else’s power without endangering herself. That was another one of those things she had to keep to herself, because there were some thieves who collected different abilities as well as power. She wasn’t the only one with the ability either, so she had to keep them safe as well as herself, because they weren’t as strong or as capable of using their powers as she was.
As she walked she nodded to a couple of people she thought, under different circumstances, she might like, picked up a bottle of something drinkable, and finally got the key to her room out of her top. Mackenzie kept it on a necklace, because if anyone thought they could steal it they would. It had taken her years to be able to afford even a small room of her own and she wasn’t going to let anyone steal it. Once she was in, with the door locked behind her, she kicked off her shoes. Sighing, she flumped onto her bed.
*****************************************
The day had begun the same way Electra's days always began. Once she was out of bed and sitting at the table with her breakfast she went through the list of jobs she had to do. Most people came to her because she could repair creatures created with living clay, but there were a couple of orders for new creatures. Brendan had sent her another auction brochure, wanting to know her opinion on some of the creatures that were being sold, and Menolly was working on a new board that needed testing. As they were Electra’s siblings, and they were in business together, she knew she would make time for them, even though it took her away from the things she loved doing.
With her hair up in its usual bun, Electra wandered down the stairs to her studio, a cup of coffee in her hand and her mind focused on the horse she needed to fix. She glanced out of the window, smiling when she saw the rain, before going to change the sign. Normally Brendan dealt with the customers, because neither Electra or Menolly appreciated having to serve someone when they were in the middle of something, so Electra much preferred it to rain when he was busy visiting auctions. That way she had fewer people to deal with.
It wasn't until she walked past the window a second time that she noticed the rabbit. Electra stared at it, wondering who would have put a broken rabbit outside her window. Then it tapped on the window with its paw and she realised that it was a live creature. With her free hand she opened the window, unable to drag her eyes off the creature.
"Are you Electra?" it asked.
All she could do was nod.
"That's good. I've been looking for you for a while now and I'm glad I've finally found you."
Licking her lips, Electra tried to work out what she wanted to say. "Why have you been looking for me?" she asked finally.
The rabbit looked at her. "There are creatures who aren’t as lucky as those who end up here." It glanced over at the horse, which made a sound that made it seem as though it agreed with the rabbit, before looking back at her. "Some are brought to you for repair, if people know who you are or the man who works with you buys them from auction, but there are many who end up being thrown out. It doesn't matter that we are sentient once the clay that made us in fired. When we are broken people don't want us any longer."
"You want me to fix you."
"I'm not so bothered about me." It lifted a paw and stroked its damaged ear. "I can deal with having a broken ear and living out there isn't so bad, but I have friends who are damaged much worse than me. I look after them as best I can, but..." It sighed. "There's only so much I can do."
******************************************
Jason walked alone along the street, not paying attention to anything other than the voices he could hear. Some of the wishes were ones he would never even contemplate fulfilling, because they were selfish or they’d affect someone else adversely, but then there were others, more heartfelt, that tugged at his empathy. Not all wishes could be granted, so he spent much of his time learning about each person he wanted to help. That was what everyone with wish magic did. Every day they heard the voices of the many races of the web and made their choices about which wishes they could grant.
When Jason was a younger he had granted wishes that he probably shouldn’t have done, the way almost everyone with the ability had, because it was harder then to look at every wish dispassionately. All granted wishes were recorded, as were the effects, so he knew that none of the wishes had done any real damage to a person or timeline, as he could hear wishes from people who had lived hundreds of years before him. There were those who could also hear wishes from people in the future. That was why some said that they knew more about the web than the walkers did, but he wasn’t sure that was necessarily true. He would admit that they probably knew more about the people of the web than the walkers did.
Each wish that was granted had an effect on the web and sometimes it wasn’t possible to know what sort of an effect it would be until it happened. Jason had seen some innocuous wishes that seemed as though they couldn’t have any major effect turning one of the worlds upside down, while there were those that could have changed the worlds and didn’t do anything much at all. No matter how much research they did there was no way to be totally sure what would happen, so all they could do was guess and hope for the best.
There were rules about the wishes they could grant, but not everyone followed them, and there was no way to keep track of everyone with wish magic. Jason had first realised he had the ability when he was thirteen, which was the normal age for the races of Siaral to gain their power. He’d thought it was likely because his mother had wish magic and it had missed his older sister. It was something she was glad of, as she’d always wanted to be a unicorn breeder. If he’d wanted to keep his ability to himself it would have been easy enough to lie, because his power didn’t show outwardly, and he didn’t have to do anything to grant wishes.
Sighing, Jason told himself to stop thinking about the things he couldn’t change. When there were rules there were always going to be people who wanted to break them and people who were doing their best to stop those rules from being broken. He had always followed the rules they were given, knowing it was for the good of the web, even though there were times he could have broken them to help people who needed it.
*******************************
It looked innocuous, just another book on a shelf full of books, until someone opened it. Then… well, it wasn’t just a book. Not for everyone. Most people would pick it up, look inside to find that it was one of those hiding place books, and put it back on the shelf, because they didn’t need the other world. Others would pick it up and the portal would take them to the world on the other side of the portal. Luna had seen it happen, watching different people as they picked it up, interested to see who was chosen and who wasn’t. She didn’t have the courage to pick the book up herself.
One day it was gone. It was a Tuesday, just after Luna had finished her shift, and she’d stepped into the bookstore the same way she did three or four times a week to watch. She knew there had to be a reason it had moved, maybe someone had bought it because they really did need one of those hiding place books, or it was simply time for the book to move on, or there was always a chance that someone else had realised what it was and taken it away so no one else was dragged to another world. For the first time she wished she had picked the book up, not because she thought that she’d be one of those chosen, but just to see what it was that the majority of people saw.
Luna knew, if she hadn’t of accidentally witnessed someone being taken by the portal, she wouldn’t have known what the book did. She might have picked it up, just like everyone else. When she looked into it, like so many people before her, she would have seen a hiding place book, nothing more. There was no reason for it to take her to another world, although… She sighed. Sometimes she did wish for something more and that would be why the book wouldn’t chose her. If she wanted change in her life she was going to have to make that change, even though it was terrifying.
After one last look at the shelf where the book had been Luna made her way towards the door. She looked at the books as she passed, because there were times when she saw something different, something that caught her attention in the way that most books now didn’t. It, the book that caught her attention, was sitting on a shelf between two other paperbacks, and if anyone asked her she wouldn’t know what it was that really caught her attention. Maybe it was the colour, maybe it shimmered slightly, but there was definitely something. With one hand she picked it off the shelf, pulling her bag strap up with the other, before opening the book…
Moments later Luna found herself stood in a corridor that reminded her of the set of flats one of her old school friends had lived in and no book in her hand. Astonished, all she could do was mutter, “Bloody hell.”
************************************************
When Dawn rang Lewis she wasn’t actually expecting an answer, because they often avoided talking to each other. The whole thing was a little weird, really, but understandable at the same time. She could imagine, if she’d come across a family member dying and had the ability to save them, doing exactly the same thing. It was just getting used to having a grandfather who was permanently just three years older than her, who just happened to be her vampiric father. Normally it was her doing the avoiding. He was normally just busy all the time and now that he was working on the donor house she knew he would be even more busy.
So Lewis’ reply of, “It’s been a long time,” took her by surprise and her only answer, to begin with, was silence.
“Sorry,” Dawn said, finally. “I just…”
“You don’t need to explain.”
Dawn ran a hand through her hair. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
The answer to that question was even harder to work out. Dawn knew she needed help, and the only person she trusted to help her was Lewis, but she didn’t know how to ask. It felt like she only ever rang him when she needed his help, and she probably did, but that wasn’t the relationship she wanted to have with him. She just didn’t know how to change things.
“Things have been better.”
“How can I help?”
“I don’t know.” Dawn tapped her fingers on the table in front of her, trying to think. “I’m not even sure I want you to help.”
“Dawn, tell me what’s happened.”
It took her a moment to realise that Lewis couldn’t see her shaking her head. “It’s not something I want to talk about right now.” Dawn sighed. “I just want to be safe for a while.”
“Come to the donor house.”
“I…” She sighed again. “Living with a group of vampires, no matter how nice they are, isn’t something I think I can deal with right now.”
“You don’t have to live here. It would just be easier to work things out face to face, and I spend pretty much all my time at the house now, so it’s the best place for you to come. When you get here ring me and I’ll come down to get you. Okay?”
“I guess.” Dawn blinked away the tears she could feel threating to fall. “I want us to have a proper relationship, Lewis. It’s time I stopped acting like a child and dealt with my problems.”
“You needed time and I was happy to give it to you. If you really want us to work things out, then I’m open to the idea, but I don’t want you to feel like my help is something you have to pay for. You’re family.”
“Lewis…” Dawn stared into the mug of coffee. “Do you ever wish you’d made a different decision when you came across me?”
“No, never. Do you ever wish I’d made a different decision?”
“Yes, sometimes, when I’m feeling at my worst. Being a vampire was never my choice.”
******************************************************
Stepping into the house was easier. Kisten hadn’t brought anything with him, because he knew the bringing anything would bring the residual energy of his old self, and he didn’t want that to affect him. The clothes he was wearing had been bought new before he’d stepped onto the train. Nothing was going to stop him from becoming the vampire he wanted to be. He did kind of miss the things he’d left behind, but he knew he could always buy them again if he really needed them. What he didn’t need were reminded of who he had been.
Kisten walked, feeling a little more comfortable, towards the reception desk. The only person in the large area was the receptionist, who smiled at him, revealing her fangs, before turning to her computer. “Good evening,” she said, tapping away at her keyboard. “Welcome to the donor house. May I take your name?”
There was a moment when Kisten almost gave her the wrong name, but finally he replied, “It’s Kisten.” He tried not to breath a sigh of relief. “Kisten Randall.”
“Vampire?”
“Yes.”
Nodding, she tapped the details into her computer. “Are you here to feed?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked up and smiled again. “That’s normal. A lot of vampires want to see what the house is like before they make any definite decisions about feeding.” As she picked up the phone she continued, “If you could sign in, a safety precaution we like all our visitors to comply with, I’ll get someone down to show you around. Would you prefer a male or a female vampire?”
Biting his lip, Kisten shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me.” He picked up the pen. “Is this something you do for all the vampires?”
“It’s something we do for all our new arrivals, because it gives someone a chance to get to know you while you learn about the house. We’re very careful with all our donors safety.”
Smiling for the first time since he entered the house, Kisten nodded, and scribbled his name into the sign in book, along with the date of his visit. He had to look at the clock on the wall to work out what time it was before he could also enter that. When he turned back to the receptionist she’d already put the phone down and was searching for something in the filing cabinet behind her.
********************************************
Shaking her head Mackenzie put her foot on the first step, pushing all thoughts about her past out of her mind, because there were several telepaths who might be in the safe place when she entered. A couple of them she liked and trusted enough to talk to them about every day things, but she didn’t trust anyone enough to talk about who she had been before she bloomed. It didn’t matter if they liked her or not: if they found out the information would be all around the kingdom within a couple of hours and then she’d be in real trouble.
Once Mackenzie was in the safe place she headed straight for her room, because she didn’t really want to spend time with anyone. She didn’t want to be alone either, but it wasn’t as though she had any friends, and it was better to be alone than to have to deal with people she mostly didn’t like. Most of them were interested in one thing: power. It didn’t matter where they got it from as long as they had more of it than anyone else, which made everyone compete against each other, and, unfortunately, everyone wanted the amount of power Mackenzie had.
It wouldn’t happen, but they didn’t know that. None of them knew that one of the powers Mackenzie had gained when she’d bloomed was the ability to take someone else’s power without endangering herself. That was another one of those things she had to keep to herself, because there were some thieves who collected different abilities as well as power. She wasn’t the only one with the ability either, so she had to keep them safe as well as herself, because they weren’t as strong or as capable of using their powers as she was.
As she walked she nodded to a couple of people she thought, under different circumstances, she might like, picked up a bottle of something drinkable, and finally got the key to her room out of her top. Mackenzie kept it on a necklace, because if anyone thought they could steal it they would. It had taken her years to be able to afford even a small room of her own and she wasn’t going to let anyone steal it. Once she was in, with the door locked behind her, she kicked off her shoes. Sighing, she flumped onto her bed.
*****************************************
It was hard to stop posting stories, because I really am happy with the work I did last year. If you want to see any more then check out the website: kajoneswriting.co.uk. I also have a Facebook fan page, Twitter account, and it's possible to follow my writing on your email using Jetpack.
