A Book of Rogues and Imposters

Title: collared
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Nicolai
Prompt: 029 "Birth"
Word Count: 400
Notes: follows Rush/a>. Still before the wars.
This is the hundredth, and the last for this set of prompts.


( The cavern was silent )

Title: crossroads
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; James, Jared
Prompt: 086 "Choices"
Word Count: 400
Rating: all ages
Notes: This is not the bit I meant to write to this prompt. I'd meant to write Sascha, in the space between wars. Instead I've got James, just before the midway point of the first war. Piece references Giovanni (called Gio. The second of the Six, and a storm-aligned mage), and Ciarshilen (called Cia, or Shile, depending. The original second of the Six, who died in the war previous to the modern ones. James never met her).
I first met James in other-than-name-alone here, as part of a meme response.



( 'Did she choose?' he asked, words quiet in the darkness. )

Title: names
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; (Arianhrod)
Prompt: 003 "Ends"
Word Count: 106
Rating: all ages
Notes: first war, out of narrative piece.


( There were no towers )

Title: fix
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; second Ian
Prompt: 072 "Fixed"
Word Count: 544
Rating: all ages
Notes: follows previous, the next night or so. I still don't have a name for her.


( Were you aware you'd blocked off something like eight parts in ten of what marks you as an active mage? )

Title: reinforcements
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Sean, the second Ian, Aodh
Prompt: 008 "Weeks"
Word Count: 1900
Rating: All ages
Notes: follows previous, references (metaphorically) this and this.
ETA: this is undergoing revision, as I found my initial sparkpoint notes and liked some of the imagery.


( Attempted calls, held closed with just a flicker of thought, started slowly )

Title: curiousity, insatiable
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Joshua, Hazel
Prompt: 099 'writer's choice' - Symbols
Word Count: 277
Rating: all ages; warning for baby!Hazel
Notes: Early in the first war; she's less than six.* By all appearances they're somewhere in the outskirts of the Trickwood, or on someone's estate that's secure enough that she can run a bit wild. His other appearance so far was here.
Randomly, this was sparked by contemplating permanent symbols, in the context of this culture, which resulted in the first line of this piece echoing in my head. >.>


( Name me this )

Title: so rises light
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Hernén, Belladonna
Prompt: 031 "Sunrise"
Word Count: 200
Rating: all ages
Notes: follows this, and concludes the sequence. Still Hernén's first winter in the proto-Trickwood.


( No one got very much sleep that night. )

Title: we who remain
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Hazel, Lin
Prompt: 051 "Water"
Word Count: 582
Notes: several hours after 'work', but the same day.


( Her scratches and bruises had been catalogued )

Title: cards down and shown
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Hazel, Aodh, Lin, Fintain
Prompt: 053 "Earth"
Word Count: 704, at least one more prompt to follow in the arc
Rating: (why am I even bothering with this?) PG
Notes: Lin resides with merditha, who I very much hope will tell me if I got something wrong. Chronologically speaking, this is the farthest forward prompt to date.


( She had a half-second's warning )

Title: pause for breath
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael
Prompt: 098 "writer's choice" - Trust
Word Count: 310
Rating: all ages
Notes: follows previous directly. (I thought this arc was going to hit seven prompts. This is 14 and counting. Gaaah.)


(  The apartment was now familiar enough-- )

Title: bleh
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael, Aodh
Prompt: 043 "Square"
Word Count: 588
Rating: all ages
Notes: follows previous directly.


( He woke feeling )

'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael
Prompt: 056 "Breakfast"
Word Count: 266
Rating: all ages
Notes: continues trend of one-after-the-other. This, the one previous and the one following will be edited to run together at some point.


( His stomach grumbled after a while )

Title: well.
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael, Ruadhan
Prompt: 064 "Fall"
Word Count: 427
Rating: PG
Notes: again with the direct progression.


( It didn't take long for the guitar to make an appearance )

Title: parent's child
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael, (Ruadhan)
Prompt: 006 "Hours"
Word Count: 350
Rating: PG
Notes: follows in the sequence established here.


( He spared a second )

Title: set up
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael
Prompt: 032 "Sunset"
Word Count: 647
Rating: G
Notes: follows this almost immediately.


(  After a long moment  )

Title: twilight
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Ruadhan
Prompt: 018 "Black"
Word Count: 117
Rating: G
Notes: very early stages of the first war; another experiment in first-person.


( Summer and the sun )

Title: sparks
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Aodh, Kickback
Prompt: 012 "Orange"
Word Count: 633
Rating: G
Notes: I kept thinking of a line Neil Gaiman wrote someplace--"and with the truth in mind/let me write lies" while working on this. After the second war by a few years. Larathia, please tell me if something sounds off? meheheheheee.



( Out, away--Elsewhere--had sounded like a fabulous idea. )

Title: oops?
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Sean, Aodh
Prompt: 081 "How?"
Word Count: 415
Rating: PG
Notes: Rose? That blond. I have no idea how Aodh managed to drag him off.


( The letter arrived with the afternoon's water-post )

Title: slip
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Évariste, (the Exile)
Prompt: 071 "Broken"
Word Count: 300
Rating: PG
Notes: long before the wars; the woman mentioned in the past tense was involved in a very early attempted coup (she was mostly involved/responsible for the ending thereof—she killed the person ringleading/responsible for the attempt. Unfortunately this meant the honestly responsible party could not be Asked about who else had been involved, and to what degree.) She ended up being banished from the home territories as a Gesture. The Sabaeys and the home world never heard from her again. Évariste, out on the very far edges of said territories, did.
First edit. Subject to sentence revision.
Also, first bit of writing since November of '06.



( Most of the time )

Title: willing
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Aodh
Prompt: 096 "Ritual"
Word Count: 562
Rating: PG for Roman-based sacrificial practices.
Notes: a folk tale, in a peculiar fashion. Un-tied to the main world. Sparked by the mental lines "One is not to burn down a cultural metropolis through judicious abuse of rituals associated with religious cults. . . Again. >.>"


( This year's sacrifices were harder to catch )

Title: four weeks
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Hernén, Belladonna
Prompt: 009 "Months"
Word Count: 367
Rating: G
Notes: Follows "Beginnings"; also, includes bribery, of a very peculiar sort. billradish is evil.


( It would have been a repeat of the first time they'd met )

Title: the past is laughing
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; the second Ian, Madeleine, Jasmine
Prompt: 045 "Moon"
Word Count: 458
Rating: PG
Notes: not too long before this.
klgaffney wanted more of Ian II. So. >.>


( it begins with a bird )

Title: in the wardrobe
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Conall, Hazel.
Prompt: 078 "Where?"
Word Count: 377
Rating: G
Notes: First war; she’s between three and four.



( The great black wolf )

Title: details
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael, Aodh
Prompt: 015 "Blue"
Word Count: 648
Rating: PG
Notes: continued from here; still several years after the wars.


( He let it go three days )

Title: bridge
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Isael, Aodh
Prompt: 079 "When?"
Word Count: 120
Rating: PG?
Notes: continues from here; post wars by several years.


( with tail end of previous piece attached )