Writing stuff
Except from Chapter One of "Glass Lotus"
Excerpt from Chapter One of"Glass Lotus":
Years after the first Fae revealed themselves to the human world, ten years after most full Fae disappeared into a separate dimension, the population ratio had dropped significantly. The remaining Fae and their children were not considered a threat, except to the small pockets of humanity determined to retain their prejudices. Most half-Fae and partial Fae had small amounts of paranormal ability, just enough to affect small changes. Very few partial Fae were supernatural enough to rival full Fae. They stayed hidden, naturally for self preservation. Even in 2041, years after most of the racist crimes most had stopped, nobody knew who was Fae anymore. Most were relieved.
Amarantha stopped taking notes, massaged her face, and checked her purse for eye drops. A headache was forming quickly. She saved her document, shut down the tablet, returned the research to its file. Her left hand was shaking. She grabbed her cane, and walked as quickly as her limp allowed to the rest room just outside the library.
The eye drops caused an involuntary muscle shiver, but her eyes felt better immediately. She propped her elbows on the counter and stared into the mirror. The turquoise-gold eyes that stared back with the central heterochromia and the Fae glow, were watering and slightly bloodshot. Heritage didn’t mean much to invisible disabilities. Or visible. She steadied the quad cane against the wall and splashed water on her face; she quickly fixed the disturbed makeup.
Her fingers were already pressed against her temples. She sighed and told the mirror, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt much if I did it. Just a little.” The gold around her pupils began to spread and take over the turquoise. It wasn’t in her control this time. She felt various muscles on her left side begin to spasm; she knew it was worth it. She held her head and widened her eyes as her irises turned completely gold. A thin, deep turquoise ring burst around her pupil. Her skin lost all color. The entire left side of her body began to shake with spasticity. But as the neurotransmitters flooded her brain, she felt that growing migraine fall apart, fall away, crumble into sparkling bits of silvery dust. It was always silver light when pain left her.
She could barely see. Her dark brown hair, with its gold highlights, looked lighter with that darker gold. So much silver pushing out. But it began to gather up from her feet, all the way to the top of her head. Oh. Right. All the pain. It was temporary. But she almost always forgot that too much pushing would collect her aches and pains from all over. The problem was that the consequences would happen a few days later and fatigue would set it. But right now, it would be worth it.
The silver light became a whirlpool right above her head, and slowly vanished. Her eyes, skin, and hair returned to normal. Her left side trembled violently, and then it was over.
Amarantha fell forward against the counter, gasping. The chronic pain was gone. All of it. But vertigo, hypertonic spasticity, and fatigue was surging. It was fine, she told herself.
“It’s fine,” she told her reflection. Her powers pulled back in and her Fae appearance became human. Nobody had walked into the rest room. Even if someone had, they might not have paid much attention. Partial Fae were still known to apply powers in public, sometimes, slightly. A quarter Fae like Amarantha shouldn’t have strong abilities, but Amarantha wasn’t like any quarter Fae still in the human world.
She automatically thought of her grandmothers and tilted her head up, swallowing the lump in her throat. Pure Fae could be killed. Even at several hundred years old. It did take a long time. It took years. Not even pure Fae could fight supernatural viral infections.
The door opened. She sighed. But with her shields down, she realized the thought patterns, and smiled wearily. “Hi, Nora.”
“Hi, honey,” her housemate said. “You ready to leave? I’m off work early.” She walked into a stall.
“I’m ready,” Amarantha said. “The library let me off early, too. I guess the university is having a half-day?”
“Probably,” Nora said from the stall. “The entire IT crew was told to go home an hour ago. Oh, hang on! It’s a holiday. I still don’t think Fae Day should be a holiday.”
Right. Amarantha rolled her eyes. “Remember a couple of decades ago, with Columbus Day? They took so long to get rid of it. I understand the point of, you know, celebrating the day the Fae came, but not closing down for it.”
She turned around. The toilet flushed. Nora came out and walked to the sink to wash her hands. To Amarantha’s lingering psionic sight, Nora’s light brown was glowing. When they had met seven years ago, Nora had jokingly introduced herself as “Shakti’s daughter, since people constantly messed up Nora Sakvi”. Amarantha still liked to think her best friend had a Hindu goddess as an ancestor. Nora often joked that they each had Greek and Scandinavian goddess ancestors on their maternal sides, but since Amarantha also had Fae blood, Nora sometimes mused over it more intensely. She got quiet then. Amarantha knew she was still talking about genealogy reports with Damon, which Amarantha still blushed about. Mainly because she knew Damon was doing it for her.
“So, my dear Miss Rune,” Nora said, “how are you? I can tell you just psi drugged yourself. Pills not working?”
“I didn’t take any yet,” said Amarantha, gripping the cane. “They would have taken too long. I mimicked an opioid effect.”
Nora made a deep, sympathetic sound in the back of her throat. “Oh, darling.” She took her by the shoulders and kissed her intensely on the forehead, a soothing motion leftover from their sexual relationship that Nora knew calmed her friend’s nerves.
Amarantha immediately felt a wave of relaxation flow from her shoulders down. “Thank you. I’ll be okay. I’ll take my pills if I need them. You know I’ll be okay, right?”
Nora pulled back and quirked both eyebrows. “Hi. Neurobiology. Obviously you’ll be fine. What did we earn those degrees for, anyway?”
“Meeting guys and girls in bars with a pick-up line like “Hey, hottie, I’ve got an undergrad degree in neurobiology, want to show me your central nervous system’?”
“Ooh, that’s a new one! We should remember that.”
Giggling, they left the restroom and headed for an elevator. Amarantha pulled her shoulder bag closer to her torso with her left hand, deftly maneuvering her cane with her right hand. As the psionic opioid tonic flowed through her, she flexed her left hand, letting the spasticity release. Nora noticed and drew Amarantha’s head against her shoulder. “You tiny powerhouse. Have you eaten?”
Amarantha shook her head. Her friend smelled like sandalwood and orange blossom. She nuzzled Nora’s shoulder. Being five feet zero finally felt like an advantage when she could lean against shoulders like this. With sensory processing disorder, the sensation and smells of her dearest friend were heightened and she loved it; wanted to bathe in it.
“Do you want to call Damon and meet somewhere?” she asked.
“That sounds lovely. Have you told him you love him yet?”
Amarantha stopped short. “Nora! I- um. I’m not in love with him.”
“Dude. Yes, you are.” Nora rolled her eyes. “Remember, we all talk to each other. And I don’t need to be an empath, I can tell. You don’t need to be a telepath. Fuck it, if autism came with telempathy, it still wouldn’t matter for you. He’s still in love with you. Even when you and I were dating, he loved you. Did you know we almost went threesome?”
Amarantha shifted her purse to put her hand on her hip and grinned. “Even if I hadn’t known that would have been awesome. Why didn’t we?”
“Because he was in Brazil for six months.”
“Oh, right. I need to go back there and find out where my great-great paternal grandfather was born and how he met my great-great grandmother.” Amarantha chewed her lip. “Not the Fae one, the human one. Genetics are weird. Did you know that some Fae live on average as long as humans, just with insanely long telomeres? I wasn’t sure if my grandmothers were actually hundreds of years old or they just said they were for effect.” She resumed walking, almost skipping. “And I still don’t know exactly who in my family were Fae, since everything in my ancestry bounces from Greece to Latvia to Norway to Brazil, and the Fae have been hiding among humans for a thousand years.”
“You know,” Nora said, “The Fae’ emergence might not have been such a huge event if you think about it. Blood tests showed that so many humans had extremely diluted Fae blood to the point where nobody knows how long the Fae have been mingling. And none of the remaining full Fae said anything. Not even about long telomeres.”
“Does Damon really think his project will uncover anything?”
Nora shrugged. “Ask him.”
“Stop that.”
“Amarantha. Seriously. Talk to him.”
Amarantha sighed. “Okay. Okay! I Iove him. I, Amarantha Rune, quarter Fae extremely part-time librarian and disability insurance collector, am in love with Damon Drakko, quarter Fae information technology business manager extraordinaire. I don’t want to get married or have combined part Fae babies, but I love him and wish to have sex and romance with him.”
“Hah!”
“Shush, you. Now help me think of a good ‘I’m in love with my other very best friend’ gift for him. And let’s all meet for pizza.”
“Oh my god, I love you. That’s hilarious.”
"Does that mean we can have pizza?" Amarantha asked.
Nora tilted her head. "Mmmaybe. I had sandwiches for lunch."
Amarantha pouted. "I could arrange pepperoni into a heart on a pizza?"
"You temptress. Okay, pizza. We can meet him at the little family place around the corner from our house, the one with the silver sign."
Excerpt from Chapter One of"Glass Lotus":
Years after the first Fae revealed themselves to the human world, ten years after most full Fae disappeared into a separate dimension, the population ratio had dropped significantly. The remaining Fae and their children were not considered a threat, except to the small pockets of humanity determined to retain their prejudices. Most half-Fae and partial Fae had small amounts of paranormal ability, just enough to affect small changes. Very few partial Fae were supernatural enough to rival full Fae. They stayed hidden, naturally for self preservation. Even in 2041, years after most of the racist crimes most had stopped, nobody knew who was Fae anymore. Most were relieved.
Amarantha stopped taking notes, massaged her face, and checked her purse for eye drops. A headache was forming quickly. She saved her document, shut down the tablet, returned the research to its file. Her left hand was shaking. She grabbed her cane, and walked as quickly as her limp allowed to the rest room just outside the library.
The eye drops caused an involuntary muscle shiver, but her eyes felt better immediately. She propped her elbows on the counter and stared into the mirror. The turquoise-gold eyes that stared back with the central heterochromia and the Fae glow, were watering and slightly bloodshot. Heritage didn’t mean much to invisible disabilities. Or visible. She steadied the quad cane against the wall and splashed water on her face; she quickly fixed the disturbed makeup.
Her fingers were already pressed against her temples. She sighed and told the mirror, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt much if I did it. Just a little.” The gold around her pupils began to spread and take over the turquoise. It wasn’t in her control this time. She felt various muscles on her left side begin to spasm; she knew it was worth it. She held her head and widened her eyes as her irises turned completely gold. A thin, deep turquoise ring burst around her pupil. Her skin lost all color. The entire left side of her body began to shake with spasticity. But as the neurotransmitters flooded her brain, she felt that growing migraine fall apart, fall away, crumble into sparkling bits of silvery dust. It was always silver light when pain left her.
She could barely see. Her dark brown hair, with its gold highlights, looked lighter with that darker gold. So much silver pushing out. But it began to gather up from her feet, all the way to the top of her head. Oh. Right. All the pain. It was temporary. But she almost always forgot that too much pushing would collect her aches and pains from all over. The problem was that the consequences would happen a few days later and fatigue would set it. But right now, it would be worth it.
The silver light became a whirlpool right above her head, and slowly vanished. Her eyes, skin, and hair returned to normal. Her left side trembled violently, and then it was over.
Amarantha fell forward against the counter, gasping. The chronic pain was gone. All of it. But vertigo, hypertonic spasticity, and fatigue was surging. It was fine, she told herself.
“It’s fine,” she told her reflection. Her powers pulled back in and her Fae appearance became human. Nobody had walked into the rest room. Even if someone had, they might not have paid much attention. Partial Fae were still known to apply powers in public, sometimes, slightly. A quarter Fae like Amarantha shouldn’t have strong abilities, but Amarantha wasn’t like any quarter Fae still in the human world.
She automatically thought of her grandmothers and tilted her head up, swallowing the lump in her throat. Pure Fae could be killed. Even at several hundred years old. It did take a long time. It took years. Not even pure Fae could fight supernatural viral infections.
The door opened. She sighed. But with her shields down, she realized the thought patterns, and smiled wearily. “Hi, Nora.”
“Hi, honey,” her housemate said. “You ready to leave? I’m off work early.” She walked into a stall.
“I’m ready,” Amarantha said. “The library let me off early, too. I guess the university is having a half-day?”
“Probably,” Nora said from the stall. “The entire IT crew was told to go home an hour ago. Oh, hang on! It’s a holiday. I still don’t think Fae Day should be a holiday.”
Right. Amarantha rolled her eyes. “Remember a couple of decades ago, with Columbus Day? They took so long to get rid of it. I understand the point of, you know, celebrating the day the Fae came, but not closing down for it.”
She turned around. The toilet flushed. Nora came out and walked to the sink to wash her hands. To Amarantha’s lingering psionic sight, Nora’s light brown was glowing. When they had met seven years ago, Nora had jokingly introduced herself as “Shakti’s daughter, since people constantly messed up Nora Sakvi”. Amarantha still liked to think her best friend had a Hindu goddess as an ancestor. Nora often joked that they each had Greek and Scandinavian goddess ancestors on their maternal sides, but since Amarantha also had Fae blood, Nora sometimes mused over it more intensely. She got quiet then. Amarantha knew she was still talking about genealogy reports with Damon, which Amarantha still blushed about. Mainly because she knew Damon was doing it for her.
“So, my dear Miss Rune,” Nora said, “how are you? I can tell you just psi drugged yourself. Pills not working?”
“I didn’t take any yet,” said Amarantha, gripping the cane. “They would have taken too long. I mimicked an opioid effect.”
Nora made a deep, sympathetic sound in the back of her throat. “Oh, darling.” She took her by the shoulders and kissed her intensely on the forehead, a soothing motion leftover from their sexual relationship that Nora knew calmed her friend’s nerves.
Amarantha immediately felt a wave of relaxation flow from her shoulders down. “Thank you. I’ll be okay. I’ll take my pills if I need them. You know I’ll be okay, right?”
Nora pulled back and quirked both eyebrows. “Hi. Neurobiology. Obviously you’ll be fine. What did we earn those degrees for, anyway?”
“Meeting guys and girls in bars with a pick-up line like “Hey, hottie, I’ve got an undergrad degree in neurobiology, want to show me your central nervous system’?”
“Ooh, that’s a new one! We should remember that.”
Giggling, they left the restroom and headed for an elevator. Amarantha pulled her shoulder bag closer to her torso with her left hand, deftly maneuvering her cane with her right hand. As the psionic opioid tonic flowed through her, she flexed her left hand, letting the spasticity release. Nora noticed and drew Amarantha’s head against her shoulder. “You tiny powerhouse. Have you eaten?”
Amarantha shook her head. Her friend smelled like sandalwood and orange blossom. She nuzzled Nora’s shoulder. Being five feet zero finally felt like an advantage when she could lean against shoulders like this. With sensory processing disorder, the sensation and smells of her dearest friend were heightened and she loved it; wanted to bathe in it.
“Do you want to call Damon and meet somewhere?” she asked.
“That sounds lovely. Have you told him you love him yet?”
Amarantha stopped short. “Nora! I- um. I’m not in love with him.”
“Dude. Yes, you are.” Nora rolled her eyes. “Remember, we all talk to each other. And I don’t need to be an empath, I can tell. You don’t need to be a telepath. Fuck it, if autism came with telempathy, it still wouldn’t matter for you. He’s still in love with you. Even when you and I were dating, he loved you. Did you know we almost went threesome?”
Amarantha shifted her purse to put her hand on her hip and grinned. “Even if I hadn’t known that would have been awesome. Why didn’t we?”
“Because he was in Brazil for six months.”
“Oh, right. I need to go back there and find out where my great-great paternal grandfather was born and how he met my great-great grandmother.” Amarantha chewed her lip. “Not the Fae one, the human one. Genetics are weird. Did you know that some Fae live on average as long as humans, just with insanely long telomeres? I wasn’t sure if my grandmothers were actually hundreds of years old or they just said they were for effect.” She resumed walking, almost skipping. “And I still don’t know exactly who in my family were Fae, since everything in my ancestry bounces from Greece to Latvia to Norway to Brazil, and the Fae have been hiding among humans for a thousand years.”
“You know,” Nora said, “The Fae’ emergence might not have been such a huge event if you think about it. Blood tests showed that so many humans had extremely diluted Fae blood to the point where nobody knows how long the Fae have been mingling. And none of the remaining full Fae said anything. Not even about long telomeres.”
“Does Damon really think his project will uncover anything?”
Nora shrugged. “Ask him.”
“Stop that.”
“Amarantha. Seriously. Talk to him.”
Amarantha sighed. “Okay. Okay! I Iove him. I, Amarantha Rune, quarter Fae extremely part-time librarian and disability insurance collector, am in love with Damon Drakko, quarter Fae information technology business manager extraordinaire. I don’t want to get married or have combined part Fae babies, but I love him and wish to have sex and romance with him.”
“Hah!”
“Shush, you. Now help me think of a good ‘I’m in love with my other very best friend’ gift for him. And let’s all meet for pizza.”
“Oh my god, I love you. That’s hilarious.”
"Does that mean we can have pizza?" Amarantha asked.
Nora tilted her head. "Mmmaybe. I had sandwiches for lunch."
Amarantha pouted. "I could arrange pepperoni into a heart on a pizza?"
"You temptress. Okay, pizza. We can meet him at the little family place around the corner from our house, the one with the silver sign."