#Monthology

[marlynnofmany]

Urban Fantasy Microfiction

Airhoof steered through traffic with the ease of long practice, adjusting the shape of her seat with a thought. It obligingly gave her more back support, yellow sand shifting quietly, while she focused on the road. A couple smaller vehicles up ahead were edging into her lane. She could have slowed or honked, but instead she checked that the central aisle of her sandworm bus was clear. It didn’t take much of a turn of her head to be sure; a minotaur’s range of vision was to be respected. One of the many reasons she was the best at her job.

When she was certain that no passengers were in the way, she instructed the sandworm to narrow, bringing the seats closer to each other and letting the bus pass without so much as grazing a fender. None of the passengers commented.

Airhoof widened the bus again when the road was clear, just in time to glide to a halt at the next bus stop. Right on time.

Passengers walked down the newly restored aisle and out to the sidewalk. Some even said polite goodbyes.

Then a new passenger got on, and he wasn’t polite.

“This bus is falling apart! Look at that! You should offer free rides to make up for the inconvenience.” The mysterious figure in the cloak held up a handful of speckled grains, which had theoretically come off when he grasped the railing.

In response, Airhoof stood and stared him down, fists on hips and muscular arms flexing. The little man was still on the top step, and significantly shorter. The face he was trying to hide under his hood looked like he was only now beginning to realize this.

“That sand is the wrong color to come from my bus,” Airhoof declared. “Apologize and pay the fare or get kicked to the curb.” She adopted a battle stance while more than one passenger murmured in excitement.

Disappointingly, the troublemaker dropped the sand with a barely audible comment about wanting to walk anyway. He stepped back off the bus without any new hoofprints in his chest.

“Smart choice,” Airhoof told him. With a flick of her wrist, she undulated the steps to fling his impostor sand at him.

While the jerk exclaimed and flinched away, Airhoof closed the doors and sat back down. There were no other passengers waiting to board.

“Everybody in your seats; we’re taking off,” she announced. It wasn’t really necessary, since she could see that the well-behaved passengers were ready, but it was only polite. As befitted the best bus driver in the City.

Her bus accelerated away from the curb in a hiss of sand, leaving the troublemaker to brush his cloak clean and regret trying to lie to a minotaur.

~~~

Happy day seven of February Fiction Fight! This is a snippet from one of my characters destined for a very cool anthology that got stalled before making it off the ground. I live in hope that it will happen someday. In the meantime, this is Airhoof! She's great.

[devonellington]

Tues. March 15, 2022: Don't Get All Stabby On Me

Tues. March 15, 2022: Don’t Get All Stabby On Me

Image courtesy of Thomas B via pixabay.com Tuesday, March 15, 2022 Waxing Moon Cloudy and cold If you’re familiar with Julius Caesar and The Ides of March, you’ll get the reference. The March mid-month check-in post is over on the GDR site. Anyway, on Thursday, I got some work done in the morning. I then did the rounds of the library, picking up my birthday cake, post office, liquor store.…

[marlynnofmany]

I’ll be writing a story about minotaurs soon, for the urban fantasy MonThology, and I am sorely tempted to find a way to include that pun.

There's a labyrinth. In the middle of it, a minotaur is making waffles.

[devonellington]

Wed. July 6, 2022: Of Typing and Glitching

Wed. July 6, 2022: Of Typing and Glitching

image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska via pixabay.com Wednesday, July 6, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde Rainy and humid Yesterday was interesting, and kind of all over the place. I wrote the first draft of the one-act play. It’s not long, but it still takes a specific kind of energy, so my psyche kept saying, “You put in a full day, right? I mean, you wrote an entire…

[devonellington]

Tues. July 5, 2022: New Week, New Play

Tues. July 5, 2022: New Week, New Play

image courtesy of Kohji Asakawa Tuesday, July 5, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto. Saturn, Neptune Retrograde Cloudy and pleasant Why, yes, I started the week by writing a full draft of a new one-act play this morning. Friday morning, I got the review and invoice out. I was paid my month-end fee by the biggest client. I got some information on something for which I want to apply in autumn. Sent a…

[devonellington]

Fri. June 17, 2022: Project Juggling

Fri. June 17, 2022: Project Juggling

image courtesy of Theodore Moise via pixabay.com Friday, June 17, 2022 Waning Moon Pluto & Saturn Retrograde Cloudy, foggy, humid Meditation was fine yesterday, and Charlotte really enjoyed it, too. Managed to get through some email after breakfast, get out and LOI, and get some other admin work done. Wrote and submitted my book review; got another assignment. Freelance Chat was…

[devonellington]

Fri. June 10, 2022: At The Desk

Fri. June 10, 2022: At The Desk

image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.com Friday, June 10, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto and Saturn Retrograde Cloudy/sunny and pleasant Boy, did it rain yesterday! We needed it, and hey, no more pollen on the car. But there were intense bands of it. Meditation was good, and Charlotte was right there with me. Got some admin work done. Did a library run to drop off/pick up books. The…

[devonellington]

Tues. June 7, 2022: When You Break The Important Bowl

Tues. June 7, 2022: When You Break The Important Bowl

image courtesy of Chuttersnap via Unsplash.com Tuesday, June 6, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto and Saturn Retrograde Partly sunny and warm Talk about a weekend that was all over the place. Mercury went direct on Friday, thank goodness, so there was a huge burden lifted. Don’t talk to me about the shadows of the retrograde; we’d spend far too much time in trouble if we had to tack on two extra weeks…

[devonellington]

Fri. June 3, 2022: Re-charging Through Art

Fri. June 3, 2022: Re-charging Through Art

image courtesy of Uwe Baumann via pixabay.com Friday, June 3, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto Retrograde Mercury DIRECT Cloudy and cool I’d hoped for a productive day yesterday, and fell far, far short of my own expectations. I had trouble settling in to meditation, mostly because Charlotte was crawling all over me, and over the desk. But we got there. After meditation, I made French toast for…

[devonellington]

Tues. May 31, 2022: Finally, A Good Writing Day

Tues. May 31, 2022: Finally, A Good Writing Day

image courtesy of Markus Winkler via pixabay.com Tuesday, May 31, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto and Mercury Retrograde Hazy and hot We were out of the house before 9 AM on Friday, headed down to Pittsfield. Got some great book deals at their lobby sale, and had a closer look around the Atheneum itself. Again, lots of great reading and working spaces. They even have musical instruments to check…

[devonellington]

Thurs. May 26, 2022: When The Day Evaporates

Thurs. May 26, 2022: When The Day Evaporates

image courtesy of Christoph via pixabay.com Thursday, May 26, 2022 Waning Moon Pluto and Mercury Retrograde Partly sunny/cloudy and pleasant There’s a garden update on Gratitude and Growth here. As I mentioned yesterday, while I was at the laundromat, I did 26 pages of the multi-colored draft on CAST IRON MURDER. Yeah, that will take some time, to clean up the sloppy language. I’m keeping…

[devonellington]

Tues. May 24, 2022: Writing, Reading, Research

Tues. May 24, 2022: Writing, Reading, Research

omage courtesy of congerdesign via pixabay.com Tuesday, May 24, 2022 Waning Moon Pluto and Mercury Retrograde Partly sunny and cool Friday wound up being a lovely day. It was sunny and warm. I started at the library to drop off and pick up books (there were 10 waiting for me). I headed over to Williamstown, looking for the Historical Museum, and couldn’t find it. I did find the public…

[devonellington]

Fri. May 6, 2022: In the Midst of Creativity, Loss

Fri. May 6, 2022: In the Midst of Creativity, Loss

image courtesy of strikers via pixabay.com Friday, May 6, 2022 Waxing Moon Pluto Retrograde Cloudy and mild Yesterday was a bit of a rollercoaster. It was a beautiful spring day here in the mountains. Just gorgeous. Charlotte sat with me for the regular Zoom meditation group, I got some admin work done. I need to spend some time over on Ello this week; I’ve been lax about that. I pitched…

[devonellington]

Fri. April 29, 2022: Extricating from Tracfone's Harassment

Fri. April 29, 2022: Extricating from Tracfone’s Harassment

image courtesy of Alexander Andrews via Unsplash.com Friday, April 29, 2022 Dark Moon Pluto Retrograde Sunny and cold The Retrogrades are starting, and Pluto goes retrograde today, and stays direct until October 8. Pluto’s retrograde works to reveal what’s hidden and force us to face fears, causing long-lasting transformations. Tomorrow is Beltane Eve with a new moon and a solar eclipse, so…

[devonellington]

Wed. April 6, 2022: Room For the Writing I Love

Wed. April 6, 2022: Room For the Writing I Love

image courtesy of Adina Voicu via pixabay.com Wednesday, April 6, 2022 Waxing Moon Cloudy/Rainy/Chilly It was supposed to rain yesterday. Instead it was sunny, so people ran around enjoying it! I did a large grocery shop in the morning, to get us set up for the next couple of weeks. I also bought a pot of multi-colored pansies and a bunch of lavender tulips. Flowers for spring. I love…

[devonellington]

Wed. March 30, 2022: This & That

Wed. March 30, 2022: This & That

image courtesy of Bongkarn Thankyakij via pixabay.com Wednesday, March 30, 2022 Day Before Dark Moon Partly cloudy and milder I spend a good portion of each day fussing over the seedlings. It’s a little much, but I enjoy it. It was too cold to put them out on the porch yesterday, even with the sun. Hopefully, it will be warm enough today. Once I got the laundry back and settled yesterday, I…