Tag: queer

Original Fiction, The Tiered Tower

The Man in the Runic Kerchief

Mertiya (AdmirableMonster)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Moderate Violence

Summary: A deal goes wrong on the yellow tier. We are introduced to a kitsune prince and his terrifying lover.

Short Tail tried to stand a little straighter as she entered the conference room at the end of the line. She did not want to make any mistakes on her first day of duty, particularly not as a guard of the illustrious Leopard family. She was still unsure as to how she, Short Tail, the runt of the parade, had made it this far, and she damn well didn’t want to disappoint, even if she was only serving as the guard for the youngest son, Leopard Paw, and according to all her squad mates, today’s meeting barely counted as guard work at all.

“Final meeting with the kitsune prince?” Sharp Fangs had smirked. “I think you’ll be fine.”

All the same, Short Tail was curious. There weren’t many kitsune on the yellow tier, and Bee of the Wolf family was one of the only ones coming from princely blood.

When they entered, he didn’t look like anything special. Seated at the head of the table and sprawling a little, feet up, he looked like any other troll prince, his dark hair gathered in small, beaded braids close to his head. There was something strange about the wide set of his eyes and the glitter of yellow in the depths of his irises, but Short Tail would never have noticed if she hadn’t already known. Far more striking—and simultaneously surprising—was his companion.

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City of Storms, Original Fiction

The Ghost-Queller

Mertiya (AdmirableMonster)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Blood and violence, dark themes, mild internalized homophobia

Summary: When Feithlyn moves from her tiny village to the big city to study veterinary medicine, she’s expecting some things to change. She is not expecting to become embroiled in a ghostly murder mystery, at the center of which stands an enigmatic figure known only as the ghost-queller. As Feithlyn’s world expands, she fights to keep her footing–and her life.

The bird cocked its head and tapped on the glass.

“Stop that! Shoo!” It wasn’t that Feithlyn didn’t like crows, it was just that the last few times she had turned her back, this one had managed to open the window and sneak inside, dropping feathers everywhere for her to clean up. Crows did not belong in a café, and if the owner found out, Feithlyn feared for her employment, which meant fearing for her tiny one-room apartment, which meant fearing she would have to complete her veterinary degree while homeless. Which sounded difficult.

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Original Fiction, Post-apocalyptic New Mexico

A Love Like Water

Mertiya (AdmirableMonster)

Summary: Sheriff Solshemshesh and his sheriff-in-training Lekni try to stop a rash of violent deaths in the little desert town of Saplapelanka.

Rating: Teen and up

Warnings: Some violence

Notes: Genders: male, female, trine (third gender), quine (genderfluid).

Kimah was setting and the sun rising as Lekni set off at an exasperated trot southwards of Saplapelanka.  Someday, she thought, people would stop being idiots.  And someday, she would stop being the sheriff’s errand-runner and instead be able to delegate someone else to go lead those idiots back to the town.

She spotted the group before she’d gone three miles, squatting embarrassedly half-naked around a large campfire in the lee of a sand dune.  Lekni waved tiredly as she arrived.  “I did warn you,” she said irritably to the first of their group, a merchant named Peltlin, if she was remembering correctly. 

They scowled at her.  “The woman sounded like she knew what she was talkin’ about,” they muttered sulkily.

“Well, I’ve brought you shoes, blankets, and horses.  Courtesy of Sheriff Solshemshesh.  So you’ll be able to get back to town easily.”  She received a highly ungracious grunt that might have been a thanks and rolled her eyes.  “Do you need me to lead you back?”

“We’ll be fine,” Peltlin muttered.  A young woman patted their arm gently and gave Lekni a sudden smile.  “Don’t bother about my parent,” she said.  “They’re just frustrated at getting fooled.  Thank you for helpin’ us.”

Lekni felt her cheeks warm, like a fool.  “Let me know if there’s anythin’ else,” she mumbled, turning her horse back towards Saplapelanka.

She had plenty of time on the way back to curse the person who kept running this stupid con.  She could, she supposed, also have cursed Shem for constantly making her deal with it, but that seemed less fair.  After all, he was trying to train her to take his place someday, so she should be the one dealing with the routine annoyances.  And it wasn’t like he knew this was going to be happening.

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Augury Series, Original Fiction

Augury of Water

Mertiya (AdmirableMonster)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Vicious fantasy violence, disease, drowning

Summary:  While Énna prepares to negotiate a treaty with the Aerie, Ryder tries to solve a set of mysterious drownings in the southern part of Bridehive.

A/N: Art by Zomburai.

Auguries Series

          I blinked my eyes open into watery sunlight, yawning and stretching, and reaching out blindly for Énna. My questing hand found a warm place between otherwise empty sheets, and I grumbled sadly beneath my breath. Gone again, and the sun was barely over the windowsill. He’d been working too hard, but then it wasn’t so surprising. In just a few weeks, the Monarch of the Aerie would be traveling to Bridehive to sign our treaty, and in the meantime, we were all trying to rebuild our hometown from the mess the Khar had made of it.

I was at loose ends. I’d been ordered to rest in the aftermath of my head injury, and it turned out I was not very good at it. I kept trying to sneak out and go to the library, at least, but the teachers were very serious that they meant mental rest, as well as physical. The headaches had faded almost five days ago, and at this point I was ready to stab something, just so that I could have a reason to do the purification rite. It would be better than lying in bed and staring at the ceiling.

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Original Fiction

Poison in the Blood

Mertiya (AdmirableMonster)

Rating: Teen and up

Warnings: Blood-drinking, disturbing imagery, general psychological/cosmic horror themes

Summary: A vampire receives an unusual invitation to reconnect with an old friend.

A/N: With thanks to Cyrus Eosphoros, lontradiction, and Zomburai.

For Camille

            I’ve been a vampire for about five years now. The whole thing happened when I was in my second year of uni, and it was a bit of a sordid tale, honestly. Blah blah, ex girlfriend, turned out to be a vampire, she turned me without my consent, I broke up with her, because, I mean, who does that, right?

Being a vampire is fine, don’t get me wrong. I mean, you tend to want to take a night job, because you’re draggy as hell during the day, and there’s the inevitable problem of finding a blood bank or getting really ridiculously good at catching pigeons, but all things considered, it’s not so bad. I certainly don’t mind the eternal youth aspect, although I’m lucky in that I never looked particularly young for my age, or I suspect by now I’d be getting really irritated. But I mean you have to ask. You can’t turn someone into a vampire without bloody well asking, Kate fucking McKay. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t. There was once—I got awfully close, I admit to that, and I thought I really would have to turn her without getting her consent, because the alternative—well, I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s really what the story is about. Not about Kate McKay and how she turned me, or our inevitable horrible breakup, or the part where she got staked two years later by some overeager first-years. Most of the story’s not even about me. It’s about my friend Evelyn Laura Montague the book worm and her Book.

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