Tin Man: Quick, Painless and Easy (11/?)
Title: Surety
Series: Quick, Painless and Easy
Author: Vashti (tvashti)
Fandom: Tin Man
Character(s): Azkadellia
Rating: PG
Summary: No one understands what she's doing, but if it makes Azkadellia happy...
Length: ~900 words
tm_challenge Prompt: perplex (circa 2009)
Disclaimer: Only the words are mine, and that’s probably up for philosophical debate.Series title inspired by the song of the same name by Ivy.
Dedication: To anyone who still thinks this is worth reading! I love you all!
Notes: Written for 2009's Big Prompt Table seasonal challenge at tm_challenge. If you want to follow along, my prompt table is here. Although if you do, that is some serious dedication on your part, dude, and I feel honored.
§§§
Surety
The first egg seemed to come from of nowhere. Azkadellia’s guards reacted swiftly. Lieutenant Tayborne, tall, broad shouldered and, at the moment, darker of look than skin, stepped in front of her. Her other two guards had stepped forward on the platform as they did a visual sweep of the courtyard. Their stoic expressions had become hard
Azkadellia placed a hand on Lt. Tayborne’s shoulder. He scarcely glanced back. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. We’ll find whoever did this.”
“No you won’t. Leave them be.”
“Your Highness-“
“So long as it’s only food, I don’t mind. I wore these clothes with a purpose.”
He did turn then, giving her ill-fitting outfit-one of DG’s less than successful attempts at transformative magic-a brief once over. “Be that as it may-“
“Be that as it may, I will not have this person prosecuted. Or even manhandled.”
“There may be more, Your Highness.”
The gravitas of Lt. Tayborne’s voice, even more pronounced than that of DG’s Tin Man, didn’t scare her. “I expect so. And I expect more to come. You will allow them.”
“Your-“
“You will allow them. And you will not guard my person so closely.”
“Now Princess-“
Azkadellia didn’t know what kept him from completing his sentence. He’d cut himself off. But he did move from standing in front of her. More reluctantly, he bid the two other guardsmen to return.
Only then did she go back to her work on the dais. The dais had been set up in the center of a raised platform in Central City’s main public courtyard. A low, ornamental wall surrounded the courtyard, but any passer by could easily see her.
The second egg came half an hour later. Like the first, it didn’t reach her person, though it did startle her as had the first. Azkadellia could see her guards tensing in her peripheral vision, but they didn’t move closer, nor did they go after the egg-thrower.
Something heavy and wet go her squarely between her shoulder blades not too long after that. She couldn’t help the way her shoulders pulled in close, nearly to her ears, as if that would protect her. It was a strange, warm feeling as it soaked her misshapen dress, sliding down the murkily colored fabric. Purposefully releasing the tension in her shoulders, she asked Lt. Tayborne what had hit her.
“A large tomato, Your Highness.”
It landed at her feet with a wet plop that she felt through the wood of the dais.
Azkadellia nodded. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
“What do you want me to do if it’s a hard food thrown at you?”
Azkadellia turned to look at the head of her personal security detail. “Pardon me?”
“You said that so long as they’re only throwing food at you to let it pass. But not everything thrown has to be soft,” he said with clipped efficiency, looking her squarely in the eye.
She returned his gaze. “Then I suppose you’ll have to warn me to duck. I imagine, however, that most of the things thrown at me will be soft,” she said as she turned back to her work. “And quite rotten.”
Silence pressed around them broken by the buzz of summer insects and the distant hum of Central City beyond the wooden horse-barriers set up outside the perimeter of the courtyard. Azkadellia knew that she should have let Lt. Tayborne and the others apprehend her attackers, if only because they were trespassing. Her work on the dais was only a small portion of the preparations being made for the end of season festivities to come, though she was virtually alone on this first day. Luckily, not much had been set up in the public space yet, beyond the enormous platform. If the intruders caused damage to anything more than her person it was easily-
Azkadellia turned suddenly. “You will tell me to duck if you notice something painful and not merely embarrassing, won’t you?”
Tayborne nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”
She bobbed her head.
***
“Azkadellia! Darling!” The Queen stopped them as they came into the palace through the rear entrance near the stables. While Azkadellia’s party numbered only four, including herself, her mother was being followed by a train of guardsmen and groomsmen, with pages in their various forms twining about underfoot. “Whatever have you been doing?”
“Working on my project, Mom. Hello Cecily,” she added, bending forward to scratch the head of a small “terrier” scrabbling at her knees.
“Is your project in the nursery with the most rambunctious of the 4 annual olds?”
Straightening, Azkadellia hid her chuckle behind her hand.
“And your guardsmen…” The three men remained at attention, paying more mind to the area around their charge than the charge or their Queen.
“Don’t worry, Mom. They are just as they should be. As am I. I must go in to change-“
“Oh, I do say so.”
“-before dinner. You’ll forgive me for not kissing you?”
The Queen nodded as she watched her daughter leave looking more content than she had in a long time. Sighing, she snapped for her pages who sniffing at the things that had fallen from her daughter’s dress. “Come away from that. You don’t know where it has been. Before it was on my darling’s dress, I mean.”
Fin[ite]
AN2: This is the last story from the 2 year old supply. I admit to having other stories in the hopper, but I make no promises for how long this streak will last (hopefully to the very end ;)
Series: Quick, Painless and Easy
Author: Vashti (tvashti)
Fandom: Tin Man
Character(s): Azkadellia
Rating: PG
Summary: No one understands what she's doing, but if it makes Azkadellia happy...
Length: ~900 words
tm_challenge Prompt: perplex (circa 2009)
Disclaimer: Only the words are mine, and that’s probably up for philosophical debate.Series title inspired by the song of the same name by Ivy.
Dedication: To anyone who still thinks this is worth reading! I love you all!
Notes: Written for 2009's Big Prompt Table seasonal challenge at tm_challenge. If you want to follow along, my prompt table is here. Although if you do, that is some serious dedication on your part, dude, and I feel honored.
§§§
Surety
The first egg seemed to come from of nowhere. Azkadellia’s guards reacted swiftly. Lieutenant Tayborne, tall, broad shouldered and, at the moment, darker of look than skin, stepped in front of her. Her other two guards had stepped forward on the platform as they did a visual sweep of the courtyard. Their stoic expressions had become hard
Azkadellia placed a hand on Lt. Tayborne’s shoulder. He scarcely glanced back. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. We’ll find whoever did this.”
“No you won’t. Leave them be.”
“Your Highness-“
“So long as it’s only food, I don’t mind. I wore these clothes with a purpose.”
He did turn then, giving her ill-fitting outfit-one of DG’s less than successful attempts at transformative magic-a brief once over. “Be that as it may-“
“Be that as it may, I will not have this person prosecuted. Or even manhandled.”
“There may be more, Your Highness.”
The gravitas of Lt. Tayborne’s voice, even more pronounced than that of DG’s Tin Man, didn’t scare her. “I expect so. And I expect more to come. You will allow them.”
“Your-“
“You will allow them. And you will not guard my person so closely.”
“Now Princess-“
Azkadellia didn’t know what kept him from completing his sentence. He’d cut himself off. But he did move from standing in front of her. More reluctantly, he bid the two other guardsmen to return.
Only then did she go back to her work on the dais. The dais had been set up in the center of a raised platform in Central City’s main public courtyard. A low, ornamental wall surrounded the courtyard, but any passer by could easily see her.
The second egg came half an hour later. Like the first, it didn’t reach her person, though it did startle her as had the first. Azkadellia could see her guards tensing in her peripheral vision, but they didn’t move closer, nor did they go after the egg-thrower.
Something heavy and wet go her squarely between her shoulder blades not too long after that. She couldn’t help the way her shoulders pulled in close, nearly to her ears, as if that would protect her. It was a strange, warm feeling as it soaked her misshapen dress, sliding down the murkily colored fabric. Purposefully releasing the tension in her shoulders, she asked Lt. Tayborne what had hit her.
“A large tomato, Your Highness.”
It landed at her feet with a wet plop that she felt through the wood of the dais.
Azkadellia nodded. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
“What do you want me to do if it’s a hard food thrown at you?”
Azkadellia turned to look at the head of her personal security detail. “Pardon me?”
“You said that so long as they’re only throwing food at you to let it pass. But not everything thrown has to be soft,” he said with clipped efficiency, looking her squarely in the eye.
She returned his gaze. “Then I suppose you’ll have to warn me to duck. I imagine, however, that most of the things thrown at me will be soft,” she said as she turned back to her work. “And quite rotten.”
Silence pressed around them broken by the buzz of summer insects and the distant hum of Central City beyond the wooden horse-barriers set up outside the perimeter of the courtyard. Azkadellia knew that she should have let Lt. Tayborne and the others apprehend her attackers, if only because they were trespassing. Her work on the dais was only a small portion of the preparations being made for the end of season festivities to come, though she was virtually alone on this first day. Luckily, not much had been set up in the public space yet, beyond the enormous platform. If the intruders caused damage to anything more than her person it was easily-
Azkadellia turned suddenly. “You will tell me to duck if you notice something painful and not merely embarrassing, won’t you?”
Tayborne nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”
She bobbed her head.
***
“Azkadellia! Darling!” The Queen stopped them as they came into the palace through the rear entrance near the stables. While Azkadellia’s party numbered only four, including herself, her mother was being followed by a train of guardsmen and groomsmen, with pages in their various forms twining about underfoot. “Whatever have you been doing?”
“Working on my project, Mom. Hello Cecily,” she added, bending forward to scratch the head of a small “terrier” scrabbling at her knees.
“Is your project in the nursery with the most rambunctious of the 4 annual olds?”
Straightening, Azkadellia hid her chuckle behind her hand.
“And your guardsmen…” The three men remained at attention, paying more mind to the area around their charge than the charge or their Queen.
“Don’t worry, Mom. They are just as they should be. As am I. I must go in to change-“
“Oh, I do say so.”
“-before dinner. You’ll forgive me for not kissing you?”
The Queen nodded as she watched her daughter leave looking more content than she had in a long time. Sighing, she snapped for her pages who sniffing at the things that had fallen from her daughter’s dress. “Come away from that. You don’t know where it has been. Before it was on my darling’s dress, I mean.”
Fin[ite]
AN2: This is the last story from the 2 year old supply. I admit to having other stories in the hopper, but I make no promises for how long this streak will last (hopefully to the very end ;)