Updates Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; bonus stories on Saturdays
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Universe-Hopping Story
Grand Parenting
This story takes place the third week of the Fifth Year of the Addergoole School, around the end of Book Three and the beginning of Book Four.
This story is part of a series of Universe-Hopping tales. You can follow the continuing saga at the Strange Little Band LiveJournal community.
This was going to be easy. No armed guards, no cameras, nothing but a bunch of women and children. They’d be in and out before they were even noticed.
D.J. sat in the park, enjoying the warm late-September sunlight and watching its grandchildren play. Anise, Ty’s lovely first girlfriend, was with her daughter, Mies, and Eryk, hovering over both of them with equal care. She was a good girl, and D.J. wouldn’t have minded having her as a daughter-in-law. Since Ty was, it seemed, decades from the desire to settle down (and could D.J. complain, all things considered?) it settled for having the girl around for the time being, sharing the raising of her daughter, and of Tya’s other children.
Ty was the only child out of its body that D.J. had raised itself, and it found, much to its surprise, that it was enjoying the role of grandparent. Privately, deep within its psyche, it had never expected to enjoy this parenting thing, only keeping Ty to protect the child from the hateful world outside (and because the child’s other parent was even less suited to the parenting business). But now that it was quickly becoming surrounded by grandchildren, its mindset had changed rather rapidly.
It dangled a toy above Siriana, smiling down at the pretty girl. Ty made such beautiful little children, clever and well-behaved. Maybe all of its grandchildren would turn out this lovely.
“Deej?” Anise’s voice was tight with worry, and it pulled D.J. out of a lovely grandparently trance. “There shouldn’t be company here, should there?”
“Company?” It sat up, looking around. “No-one can get through the wards without an invite from Regine, and she always tells us when someone is coming.”
“What are they doing here then?” Anise’s voice was still soft, not wanting to catch the kids’ attention. D.J. glanced at her, and followed her steady gaze across the park. There were none of the locals on the street, no-one except the two walking towards them – a stately older man in an expensive suit and a lithe woman with blue skin and, to match it, blue hair. “They’re not…” The girl was beginning to sound frightened, and D.J. didn’t blame her.
“Take Siriana and see if you can convince the kids to play in the labyrinth,” it told her softly, passing her the baby girl. Anise could sell snow to Eskimos; she could certainly convince two small children to make some mischief.
As she did her magic, moving casually away with the kids, D.J. muttered a Working as it tidied up Siriana’s diaper bag of toys. Anise’s unfinished question weighed heavily on its mind – if the interlopers were Nedetakaei who had managed to get past the school and Village wards, then its grandchildren were in danger. More than that – all the children here were in danger.
Her Working came back with confusing information. The man was… human? The woman was… well, not. But she didn’t appear to be Ellehemaei at all. Some sort of half-breed? They were still trying to determine every variation thereof – Regine would know. But it didn’t have time to get Regine. The intruders were heading directly towards the playground.
It stood, cracking a couple knuckles, not bothering to put its Mask up. “Hello,” it called cheerfully. “Did you lose your way?”
This story is part of a series of Universe-Hopping tales. You can follow the continuing saga at the Strange Little Band LiveJournal community, or read the rest of the stories on the authors' sites:
The Beginning - The Deep Underground, Heidi Cautrell
8-Track - 314 Crescent Manor, M. Jones
Uninvited, Strange Little Band, Nancy Bauer
The second part of this story will come next week.
Grand Parenting
This story takes place the third week of the Fifth Year of the Addergoole School, around the end of Book Three and the beginning of Book Four.
This story is part of a series of Universe-Hopping tales. You can follow the continuing saga at the Strange Little Band LiveJournal community.
This was going to be easy. No armed guards, no cameras, nothing but a bunch of women and children. They’d be in and out before they were even noticed.
D.J. sat in the park, enjoying the warm late-September sunlight and watching its grandchildren play. Anise, Ty’s lovely first girlfriend, was with her daughter, Mies, and Eryk, hovering over both of them with equal care. She was a good girl, and D.J. wouldn’t have minded having her as a daughter-in-law. Since Ty was, it seemed, decades from the desire to settle down (and could D.J. complain, all things considered?) it settled for having the girl around for the time being, sharing the raising of her daughter, and of Tya’s other children.
Ty was the only child out of its body that D.J. had raised itself, and it found, much to its surprise, that it was enjoying the role of grandparent. Privately, deep within its psyche, it had never expected to enjoy this parenting thing, only keeping Ty to protect the child from the hateful world outside (and because the child’s other parent was even less suited to the parenting business). But now that it was quickly becoming surrounded by grandchildren, its mindset had changed rather rapidly.
It dangled a toy above Siriana, smiling down at the pretty girl. Ty made such beautiful little children, clever and well-behaved. Maybe all of its grandchildren would turn out this lovely.
“Deej?” Anise’s voice was tight with worry, and it pulled D.J. out of a lovely grandparently trance. “There shouldn’t be company here, should there?”
“Company?” It sat up, looking around. “No-one can get through the wards without an invite from Regine, and she always tells us when someone is coming.”
“What are they doing here then?” Anise’s voice was still soft, not wanting to catch the kids’ attention. D.J. glanced at her, and followed her steady gaze across the park. There were none of the locals on the street, no-one except the two walking towards them – a stately older man in an expensive suit and a lithe woman with blue skin and, to match it, blue hair. “They’re not…” The girl was beginning to sound frightened, and D.J. didn’t blame her.
“Take Siriana and see if you can convince the kids to play in the labyrinth,” it told her softly, passing her the baby girl. Anise could sell snow to Eskimos; she could certainly convince two small children to make some mischief.
As she did her magic, moving casually away with the kids, D.J. muttered a Working as it tidied up Siriana’s diaper bag of toys. Anise’s unfinished question weighed heavily on its mind – if the interlopers were Nedetakaei who had managed to get past the school and Village wards, then its grandchildren were in danger. More than that – all the children here were in danger.
Her Working came back with confusing information. The man was… human? The woman was… well, not. But she didn’t appear to be Ellehemaei at all. Some sort of half-breed? They were still trying to determine every variation thereof – Regine would know. But it didn’t have time to get Regine. The intruders were heading directly towards the playground.
It stood, cracking a couple knuckles, not bothering to put its Mask up. “Hello,” it called cheerfully. “Did you lose your way?”
This story is part of a series of Universe-Hopping tales. You can follow the continuing saga at the Strange Little Band LiveJournal community, or read the rest of the stories on the authors' sites:
The Beginning - The Deep Underground, Heidi Cautrell
8-Track - 314 Crescent Manor, M. Jones
Uninvited, Strange Little Band, Nancy Bauer
The second part of this story will come next week.
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