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0 comments on "FIC: Morning Song"

Title: Morning Song
Author: Harper Kingsley
Character: Neil Halsted, the Guy in 2D, Ben Hodgins
Note: Fill for Shower Buddies prompt

Neil “before Zod” Halsted was 32 years old, single, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He lived in an old apartment building that had been renovated several times over the years, going from The Shining-chic to something a bit more classic comfort. All he cared was that his apartment–apartment 2C–was a rent controlled two bedroom, two bathroom palace that he was going to live in until he died. They would have to pry the door keys out of his cold, wrinkled hands as they hauled him out on a stretcher, because he was not leaving otherwise.

He had a fabulous apartment in the city, and his neighbors were great. He’d never met them, and that was what made them great. He’d never had to complain to anyone about noise or cockroaches or mysterious leaks, and no one had ever had to complain about him.

His life wasn’t perfect, but it was good. He lived close enough to where he worked that he didn’t have to rush around in the morning, and there were plenty of restaurants and grocery stores within walking distance. There was even a bus stop on the street out front of his building, so on wet days he didn’t have to tramp very far in the rain if he had to get somewhere on the other side of the city.

His job wasn’t what he’d dreamed of when he’d put himself through college, but it gave him a nice enough paycheck. With the money he saved on rent, he was able to turn the second bedroom into the walk-in closet he’d wanted ever since he saw episodes of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and “MTV’s Cribs” as a teen. He was able to add to his wardrobe each month and still grow his savings account.

He had everything that he needed and a bit extra. He was even able to help out his parents when they needed it. Things were going good in his life.

And part of what made things pleasant was his morning shower. Where he stripped and stepped into the large stall and shared a song with the man whose shower was on the other side of the wall.

It had freaked him out the first time it happened. One minute he was singing alone, the next he was in chorus with the guy from 2D–who had a particularly pleasant baritone singing voice. And then it was kind of cool.

It became part of his routine. In the mornings as he lathered up, he’d sing along with his neighbor–songs he never would have shared with anyone else.

It was romantic, but in a nonsexual way. This was his singing buddy. This was his beautiful friend whose face he never wanted to see.

How horrible was that?

But he’d been hurt before. He’d fallen out of love with plenty of people when he got to see how they truly lived.

His step-sister had delighted in taking all of the magic out of his world when he’d been twelve years old. It was the one stark memory of his childhood that he maintained: that monstrous figure looming over him, spitting out poisoned words that burned into his brain. He’d thought she’d been demonically possessed.

Always so quiet and still, she’d leaped out of her chair and begun screaming out answers to every question he’d interrupted her with all night. Bulging eyes and raging mouth; he’d been completely terrified. And ever since then, his every bogeyman-moment was tied to that fear. (He wished he hadn’t posted his worst fear in his profile. It would have been better if he’d made something up.)

He couldn’t handle it if his singing buddy was horrible to look at. Not for any mean reason, but because he’d built up a fantasy in his head and he didn’t want to find out that the guy was the opposite of everything he’d expected. [B1-1] It would ruin the one good thing that he had.

Things hadn’t been going that great in his work life of late, ever since Ben Hodgins had joined the company. His happiness levels had gone way down. So there was something uplifting about starting each day with a song.

It felt good. It got him energized on even the most blah of days.

Starting the morning off with a song enabled him to keep his mind focused on work and not on how horrible his coworkers were. They were related to the owners, so he had to put up with their laziness and frequent absences while he did all the work. [B1-2] And if he didn’t start each day off with a cheery tune, he would have probably lost his shit dealing with them and all their baggage.

Having a shower singing buddy was a bright spot to his every day, one that he never wanted to lose. So even when he was feeling curious about the guy in 2D, he went out of his way to not run into him. Because if he lost the magic of his morning song, there was a good chance that he’d quickly lose his job as well. And without his job, he wouldn’t be able to pay his rent, which meant losing his fabulous apartment and having to move back in with his parents.

Neil was grateful that the guy in 2D had entered his life. But he never wanted to meet him and ruin the magic of what they had.

=The End=

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good at Amazon
0 comments on "[Andromeda] Remember that time a whole human world is transformed into Magog?"

Remember that time a whole human world is transformed into Magog? The crew of the Andromeda Ascendant are racing around, trying to stop the infection/impregnation of the colony. And they fail.

Those people died, but were reborn as a litter of Magog.

Yet due to events that took place and Rev’s presence there to calm the change, the Magog that are born are self-aware. Like every other Magog, they have the memories of their human host. But unlike the others, they also have the compassion and empathy of their hosts.

I don’t know if it’s a change in the body chemistry of the hosts — calming hormones that smooth the change — or if he taught them after they were born, but Rev started a change in the way a whole group of Magog think.

He’s the Magog version of Jesus. They create a religion around him and continue to carry the message of humanity down through the generations. [Tok’ra]

*

The Magog birthed from the people of the World felt that they were the original person transformed. They had all of the memories; the feelings; the loves, lusts, and hates of the original person.

They had been transformed into hideous beasts with disgusting hungers, but they were still themselves down where it counted. In the soul.

Sally and O’Kelley had been in love from the first moment they met. She’d looked at him and thought: He’s kind of goofy, but he’s sweet. I think that I could love him. He’d looked at her and thought: This is the girl I’m going to marry. And both of their visions had come true.

They had a cozy cottage encircled by floral greenery and all of the sweetness of nature. They married and had a couple of kids, Dante and Thora. They had a great life together and they fell more and more in love with each other the longer they were together.

Their lives were the kind of perfect that modern people refuse to believe in. Nobody could trust that everything would stay so idyllic. There’s no surprise that things would fall apart.

The Magog Worldship passed through their solar system. Every planet was seeded with infestation pods. Inluding their world.

There are times when Sally can still remember the terror of being mauled by a hairy brown beast. All she’d seen was eyes and teeth A quicksilver flash of sharp white while angry yellow eyes glared into her.

And then there were the days of terror when her impregnation was confirmed. She had seven Magog growing in her guts, gnawing on her organs. It would take three days for them to fully mature and burst out of her body.

She wandered around in a daze along with the other infected. There was no stopping a Magog birth. And as their peoples’ religion forbade suicide or kin-murder, once most of their population was infected it was decided to let things happen as they would.

They watched the ships full of the Lucky Ones fly off into the stars. They sent along their last messages for loved ones on other planets, then they settled down to wait.

It was painful.

Sharp, tearing, agony. Transcendental lapse, synaptic resonance. Hormones flooding, rushing, and filling. Synapsis darkening and going black.

It was beautiful.

She was born with her eyes open and her mind filled with the memories of Sally. She loved O’Kelley and their two children, Dante and Thora. She’d spent each day falling more and more in love with O’Kelley and the life they had. She’d been reborn in a new body, with a new sense of vision and smell. She was lither, faster, stronger than she’d ever been allowed to be.

She was Sally Jenkins.

But O’Kelley… When he’d had a human body he’d gotten desperate and tried to rid himself of his infection. Some of the Magog had died.

When his rebirth happened, there were only two O’Kelleys, and one of them was sickly. He barely lived for half a day. There was only one O’Kelley left. Sally vowed that she would have him.
But she had six sisters that thought they were Sally Jenkins too. They all wanted to take O’Kelley — her husband — away from her and each other (she’d never been good at sharing).

She had no choice.

It was a fight to the death. And she won.

She was Sally. She lived in a cozy cottage with her husband O’Kelley and their two children, Dante and Thora. They had no other family left onworld.

*

The ways of their lives had changed, but not the hows and the whys. They loved each other and lusted after the people they’d once been.

Small Gods at Amazon
0 comments on "CAKE: The Time of Her Life [TTHL] 01"

CAKE: The Time of Her Life [TTHL]
Author: Harper Kingsley
Tags: Dahl Quinzant, serial
Summary: Drabbles strung together in the Cakeverse. Shifting POVs and styles.
*

I am a constant hand washer. To the point that people have begun to make jokes.

Seriously, I wash my hands because I know where my hands have been. I’m always cleaning up after messy people. And sometimes there’s not a pair of gloves handy.

* * *

The strangest thing about Dahl Quinzant was her obsession with vinyl gloves and cleanliness. She had a well-known obsession with washing her hands.

Books had been written about her hand washing obsession and various interests in hygiene. Psychologists and commentators produced hundreds of vlog entries about it.

* * *

One of the first jobs she was able to get after her breakdown was transcribing videos and creating blog posts for a popular vlogger. With a single blog editor account she was able to submit content for the admin to publish. And once a month she got that desperately needed $1000.

It had taken a while, but she’d finally been able to afford a Life Manager. It was a program that worked naturally with Dragon and other transcription programs. And it put her life into desperately needed order.

She spoke commands to her LM, and it created her daily schedule. It was able to add things to her schedule, but could not remove them without her voice and touch commands. So there were always fresh options popping up, custom-built to her profile specs.

Once she had a Life Manager, she didn’t have to be so afraid all the time. There was always a guiding voice offering her options and possessing a near-human personality and responsiveness. Even knowing LeM was nothing more than algorithms strung together, she began to like speaking with him. So much so that even after she was able to afford an actual human manager, she still used LeM for her personal notes.

He spoke to her manager when she was having a No Contact day. When the very thought of having to talk to an actual person made her want to scream. In those times the only people she wanted around her were her family, and she found herself being snappish with them.

It was during No Contact times that LeM truly shone. He suggested and sent emails and smoothed ruffled feathers. He kept her moving when she would have happily curled up in a ball on her bed and given up. He was her rock when she felt like falling down. Without him her life would have unfurled like a thread caught on the nail of her mental health. By the time she’d realize what was going on, it would be too late to fix any problems.

But LeM kept her on track. He protected her when she didn’t have the wherewithal to take care of herself. It was because of him that no one knew how messed up in the head she was.

* * *

Throughout the latter half of her life, Dahl Quinzant was never without her aide LeM. She had the LeM program installed into the Personal Doll she bought in 2089 and every one after it.

There has been some question as to the mental state of the actress. A known introvert that battled weight issues, Dahl had been known to suffer verbal outbursts at various times in her life. There were rumors that Dahl had suffered some form of physical assault in her youth that resulted in her personality disorders. [These statements have not been verified and there has been some question as to their veracity. Use at your own risk.]

TBC…

* * *

I do offer simple editing services. $1 per ms page ($4 for 1000 words). SPaG check (spelling, punctuation, and grammar), general continuity. Bonuses are happily accepted and requests are seriously considered.
*Works through: GoogleDocs, LiveJournal, email.
*Contact me via email, Twitter, Patreon, LiveJournal.

All Systems Red at Amazon
2 comments on "CDandHBFH 05 [Caspian Dukes and Vereint Georges]"

Title: Caspian Dukes and His Best Friend’s Husband
Author: Harper Kingsley
World: Heroes & Villains
Frame set: Allies & Enemies, “Good Times”
Characters: Caspian Dukes, Vereint Georges, Warrick Tobias, Melissa Kim
Pairings: Vereint Georges/Warrick Tobias
Genre: friendship, superhero, meta
Summary: Vereint and Caspian go see a movie together.

“I’ll have to remember that,” Caspian said.

“Lock it, put it in your pocket. Now we’ve gotta run if we want to make it on time.” Vereint lifted the shopping bags out of the cart with one hand and caught Caspian’s sleeve with the other. “Come on.”

Caspian followed him out onto the street. The movie theater was only a few blocks from the store.

* * *

They were nearly alone in the theater. It was nice not to be packed tight with a bunch of strangers. They were able to enjoy the movie as though they were alone.

“That was a great movie,” Vereint said as they left. He dropped his cup in the garbage with a slosh of melty ice. He shook the last few pieces of popcorn into his mouth before crumpling the bag and throwing it away.

“This was a good idea,” Caspian said agreeably.

“Let’s go pick up that stuff and take a taxi home,” Vereint said. “Unless there’s something else you want to do?”

Caspian shrugged. “I’m good. Maybe we should bring something back for Warrick and the kid?”

Vereint thought. There were some bananas at home and plenty of chocolate sauce. “We could stop off for some ice cream. Banana splits sound really good.”

“Score!” Caspian grinned.

They walked to the locker Vereint had rented. They’d had a good time and Vereint felt like the night had been a success.

Which was when the man with the gun stepped out of the alley. He wore a ballcap low over his eyes and had pulled his scarf up over the lower half of his face. “Gimme all your money,” he growled.

“Really?” Caspian asked.

Vereint looked around. They were the only ones in this corner of the street. He saw a group of laughing people disappear into a restaurant, a slender girl reaching out to touch a Chinese lantern in passing. They were alone with the wannabe mugger.

If they had been two different people this would have been a terrifying situation.

“I said, gimme all your money,” the mugger barked aggressively.

“Do you know who I am?” Caspian asked.

“I don’t give a fuck,” the mugger said. “Give me the money or I start blasting.”

Caspian stepped in front of Vereint, a rather gentlemanly action. “Look, no one wants to get shot tonight, but no one wants to hand over their wallet either. At the same time, I don’t think you would like what would happen if you pulled that trigger.”

“Oh yeah, what are you going to do?” the mugger asked. His finger tightened on the trigger.

Caspian was remarkably graceful as he lunged forward, his hand slapping the mugger’s arm with a deceptive lightness that resulted in the loud crack! of the ulna breaking. Caspian kept moving forward, his right leg twisting around the would-be mugger’s to bring him down to the ground.

The man screamed and clutched his broken arm, which flopped limply. Vereint took one look before grimacing and averting his eyes. That arm looked disturbingly gross.

“You’re hurting me! You’re hurting me!” the man screamed, wriggling in Caspian’s firm grip. “Fuck you, man. You’re hurting me!”

“You tried to shoot me,” Caspian said. “You’re lucky all you got was a broken arm.”

“Fuck you! Fuck you!”

“Real nice,” Caspian said, holding the guy with one hands while pulling his phone out of his pocket with the other. “Good thing there’s no kids around or I might have to break your other arm. Now quiet down before I get testy and really hurt you.”

“You can’t do this to me. I have rights.”

“Shut up.” Caspian held the phone to his ear. “Yeah, hi, hello, this is Caspian Dukes and I’ve got a downed mugger near the corner of Lotus and Sprout Street. Can you come pick him up? Ha, yeah. Thanks.”

Caspian stuck his phone back in his pocket and smirked at the would-be mugger. “And that’s that. Someone will be by to pick you up shortly.” He lightly flicked the back of the man’s head when he started cursing in response.

Vereint glanced at his watch. “About how long is this going to be?”

“They said it would be about eight or ten minutes,” Caspian said. “I usually have priority, but this is just a mugger, not a supervillain. I don’t think they’re going to show up with lights blazing.”

“Right.” Vereint hooked his thumb down the street. “I’m going to go to the locker. That way we can leave as soon as they pick this guy up. That okay with you?”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” Caspian said.

“Okay. Then I’ll be over there,” Vereint said. “Don’t leave without me.”

Caspian waved at him. He was completely comfortably crouching next to the supine mugger. Never mind that he was in civilian clothes, he looked ready to burst into action at any moment. It brought a nostalgic smile to Vereint’s lips–back when he’d been a superhero fanboy, pictures of Caspian Dukes had been on his collectible list. To get a picture of Caspian dressed like a normal guy hovering over a baddie would have blown teenaged Vereint’s mind. He would have framed the print and hung it on his bedroom wall.

Even though he was an adult, there was a part of him that would always be a product of that boy’s life. And Caspian had been one of young-Vereint’s heroes.

TBC…

*

Check out “Allies & Enemies” at: All Romance Ebooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookStrand, Goodreads, iTunes, Kobo, Less Than Three Press, Smashwords. — superhero, urban fantasy, mm, drama. Darkstar x Blue Ice.

*

And for your enjoyment:

“2NE1: Can’t Nobody”