the deep moans round with many voices

As always, here is the link to the current ficathon. It's wound down for the year, but if you're looking for interesting prompts or just a bunch of intriguing tiny ficlets, you could do a lot worse than heading over for a bit. :)

Anyway, ficlets!

---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

( 26. ) For anonymous: Any, any, amethysts and garnets, written 1/8/18 (prompt choice courtesy of kalicofox) [AO3 version]

by her own petard (175 words)

In the first year on the meteor, Rose alchemized a pair of friendship rings -- each set with an amethyst and a deep red garnet, nestled together at the base of a filigree silver heart -- intending to give one to Dave in mocking return for the ironically terrible rap he'd written to commemorate her newly admitted crush on Kanaya.

It wasn't until she slipped her half of the set onto her right ring finger and saw the evidence of her connection to Dave (genetic, chosen, whatever) that she realized she'd made an error and stirred genuine emotion within her chest -- and she wasn't sure whether it would hurt worse to see Dave wear his ring ironically or wear it in full sincerity; infuriatingly, Rose couldn't bring herself to simply turn the rings back into grist, so she settled for hiding them in the center of a yarn skein while she tried to decide what to do with them, and who she wanted to become as a person.

The timeline ended before she brought herself to make a choice.

---------------
---------------

( 27. ) For anonymous: Any, any, the moon in hiding, written 1/8/18 (prompt choice courtesy of dreadlord-mr-son)

Ghost Moon Rising (150 words)

Note: This is set in the same world as There's Always a Catch, a short fic I wrote many years ago based on a dream I'd tried to hammer into a coherent story. That fic is an excerpt from about halfway through what I eventually settled on as the overarching plot; this is a stab at that plot's beginning. If I ever do write the book, it will probably be called "Solace in Darkness," because reasons. *wry*

-----

When Sorgerund and her companions used the Crown of Worlds to wrest the city and hinterlands of Solace from the fractured lands and stitch it into the fixed world, they left one gate cracked open behind them and a handful of warnings for their descendants, for contrary to aphorism, what people don't know can hurt them -- and so when the ghost moon rose on the Day of Reconciliation in the six-hundred-and-tenth year of stability, nobody worried much at first. Past waves of magic that washed across the debatable border and through the Intangible Gate had brought more good fortune than ill to the city, and much as the word "luck" is often taken to mean specifically good luck, the ghost moon had come to be considered a sign of serendipitous magic rather than simply magic strong enough to trip the founders' wards.

This proved to be a mistake.

---------------
---------------

( 28. ) For anonymous: Any, any, why spiders spin, written 1/8/18 (prompt choice courtesy of davisoer5) [AO3 version]

utility plus beauty (100 words exactly)

"Why do spiders spin webs?" Wilbur asked one long, hot summer afternoon, as he lounged on his side under the barn door. "I know it's to catch flies, but aren't there less complicated ways to do that?"

"There are, and some spiders use those -- there are spiders who jump and pounce on flies like cats do on mice, spiders who build trap doors underground and ambush beetles, and even spiders who fish in streams for minnows as well as insects," Charlotte said, "but for myself, I like the comforts of home and turning a basic bit of architecture into art."

---------------
---------------

( 29. ) For ama_ranth_827: Any, Any, She watched the sunset surrounded by the palpable, yet comforting silence. Her hands were shaking and her mind was blank, written 1/8/18 (prompt choice courtesy of violsva)

the sun, the moon, and the truth (100 words exactly)

Note: I suspect this is a fragment from the same story as Grass and Silence, which I WILL write properly one of these days. (That and "A Change of Season" are the two big Narnia fics on my to-do list... next year.)

-----

"I wanted to kill Rabadash," Susan said eventually, as the last rays of the sun faded behind the western horizon and the sky turned velvet dark, shading from deepest blue and violet at the rim to moon-drenched black at the zenith. "More than kill him -- tear him apart, scatter his bloody scraps in the desert to feed the jackals, dance on his bones until they shattered under my feet; what kind of person does that make me?"

"Human," Aslan said, and the comforting warmth of his breath stirred her tangled hair as he shifted close for her to lean on.

---------------
---------------

( 30. ) For anonymous: Any, any, why winter comes, written 1/9/18 (prompt choice courtesy of riana-one) [AO3 version]

the mournful kingdom of sand (125 words)

Note: A tiny glimpse into an AU in which the other sister won the battle in Charn. *evil grin* (I do not have time to write this plot bunny. YET.)

-----

"We thought her rule was a blessing at first -- endless summer sounds very pretty, after all, with warm sun, blue skies, and long, lazy afternoons -- but have you ever tried to stay awake for days and days on end?" Mr. Tumnus asked. As Lucy nodded, frowning, he continued, "Exactly so; you fall into a delirium because the body needs sleep, and so it is with seasons; the earth needs the cold, the dark, and the snow, for without them summer's garden quickly becomes a desert, and so it has been in Narnia for a hundred years -- a hundred years of summer and never a drop of rain. When Aslan returns to overthrow the General, he will bring the cool and damp of autumn, and release our suffering land at last into its slumber."

---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

And that is the last batch for this round! \o/