Just another day...
I feel I should post something for International Pixel-Stained Techno Peasant day, and also thank Howard H. for that lovely phrase. Even if he meant it differently than it's being used, I mean, who else could coin such a fun phrase like that? He's just cool, that's what. Howard, I heart you. Even when you're grumpy. :)
It's also apparently Talk Like Shakespeare day. So "Gah!" and "Botheration!" I'm pretty sure he must have said those two words upon occasion.
Here's a snippet of a little fairy-smash-up thing I've been toying with, presented here for you, just for IPSTP day! Shakey doesn't have a lot to do with it, but if he weren't dead I'm sure he'd care lots. Enjoy!
You know how everyone paints step-mothers and step-sisters as evil and conniving jealous creatures who try to take over and ruin the lives of the non-step child? Mine weren't like that, exactly. The real problem was with the gnomes. The king of the gnomes bade my father remarry or he'd take back the land we lived and worked on.
"Widowers make poor farmers," he'd proclaim, tiny gnarled fists on tiny gnarled hips, lips pursed like we'd fed him crabapples instead of our best cheese. Granted, with just me to run the house and dairy, and Da the sheep, things were slipping. But two winters past had taken my mother and both baby brothers and left us only each other. We were grim company at best.
The king of the gnomes - Adelbert, we called him, but I think his real name was longer and involved creating dirt from thin air - was tired of our grim faces and grimmer sheep and very grim indeed cheeses. Luckily there was a fad on for grim cheese just then, or we'd have had no money at all instead of just very little. But Adelbert king of the gnomes wanted better rent.
The gnomes owned much of the farmland in the valley from way back to before anybody was bothering to remember anything. Many vegetable farms were gnome run, but gnomes have no patience for livestock. Although they really, really love cheese.