Comments | named_by_rhyme: [Witches' Horses] Swallow's Tail

named_by_rhyme

[Witches' Horses] Swallow's Tail

Oct 23, 2008 17:51

Title: names
'Verse/characters: Swallow's Tail; Taarstad, Helena, Petrovich, Sascha
Prompt: 77A "steer by the stars"
Word Count: 865
Notes: after bright sharp shattering, before whoops. Includes some of no horses in Eljúdnir.

( silence stretched, time ticking out in distant bangs in the engineer's quarters and the cheep of a proximity alarm. )

petrovich, helena, herding the witches' horses, taarstad, sascha - swallow's tail, list a, swallow's tail

Comments 7

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taennyn October 24 2008, 00:57:16 UTC

"That's a name? It sounds like someone threw darts at random acronyms!"

coastal_physics October 24 2008, 05:25:54 UTC

this mentally works better than a lot of other horses stuff I've read. it pushes the 'horse' metaphor a little softer, and it comes across as 'these are names we've always used, but we recognise that this isn't really a horse.'

interestingly the same set of characters from a different POV really does push the horse thing too far.

taennyn October 24 2008, 17:22:49 UTC

You can't tell me a pair of foot soldiers wouldn't be convinced horses had personalities (probably ones that didn't like them much). But I do take your point and will keep an eye on the balance during the revision/expansion stage.

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taennyn October 24 2008, 17:14:41 UTC

He's a hostage, to be fair, and he promised no harm to their horse, not allegiance to them. But yeah. >.>

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taennyn October 24 2008, 18:00:20 UTC

Oh, yes, yes he would have.

Almost certainly before they dropped him off on whatever terem or planet they stopped at; they weren't planning to make him a permanent hostage (or addition to the crew).

He hadn't taken an exam, yet (his cousin helped him get in his previous place for a bit of extra practice so he'd get a higher mark on it), so he wouldn't be able to say 'I'm qualified in this other system, see, here's my proof--*card*'. And he really, really likes riding. So getting grounded somewhere would very probably mean months at best before he could find someone willing to let him ride, or he learned the language solidly enough to try to find and take the local exam for riders.

klgaffney October 28 2008, 23:30:03 UTC

his mother hated him? *grin* i like taarstad best, too. the riding bit was very nicely done. there was a real sense of what he was doing, how hungry he is for it, and how good, without having to come out and say it.

and the sascha vs captain thing (when it's not 1 against 2) woven thru the backgrounds continues to amuse.

billradish August 25 2009, 00:34:05 UTC

Mostly agreeing with K, here. <3 The senses of his need and how good he is at it really come through here, for me.