charisstoma

FB3X Drabble Cascade #50 - Gold


Title: Golden Web (PG,were-spiders, family)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 400
Prompt: Gold
Thank you Meep for choosing the title since I couldn't.
Chapter 2 of the Were-spider series)




Reflected sunlight gleamed gold from the clerestory windows under the wide eaves and yes the Arachnos home was built into the hillside to take advantage of the natural insulation of the earth, in short another burrow but with pretty windows. Penn sat in the car and stared until Archie opened the car door and grinned at him.

“Be brave. Mom won’t eat you.”

Penn got quite the reverse feeling when a voice boomed out, “Not without catsup anyway,” and then laughed. “Your mother could eat anything with catsup on it.” He stuck his hand out, “Welcome. I’m this dangler from a string’s father, James Arthros. Took Millie’s last name, since all the kids were going to be were-spiders anyway. Seemed right, like correct labeling. You’ll probably want to do the same.”

Penn wheeled around to glare at Archie, “WHAT?”

Archie’s dad frowned at his son, “You did ask him to marry you, right?”

“Yes,” Archie sighed, “he’s having a problem with the idea of having kids.”

James grinned, “Oh, is that all? It’s alright son,” he addressed to Penn, “only one at a time. No problem at all though the sibling rivalry can get a bit hairy. Number of times I had to break up a biting scuffle and got bitten myself,” he shook his head. “Lived to tell the tale and there were some tails that got a wailing on after. Should have seen their little eyes when they realized how purring mad their mother was at them. They were afraid they’d killed me.” He shrugged, “venom isn’t lethal, sure stings though which some seem to like when frolicking in bed,” was said with a grin.

“Daaaaad.”

“James, Archie,” laughed a woman surely too young to be Archie's mom, “stop teasing our prospective son-in-law. He’ll find out the truth on his own.”

“Thank you.” Penn paused, “I think. Only one at a time?” he asked hesitantly.

“Usually,” was smiled back, “and the venom only paralyses for a short time especially when they’re young. Nothing to worry about ... if I get any grandkids from my children.” She took his arm leading him into the house, “Speaking of which I’ve put you both on the other side of the house so you can get working on that.” She giggled as she said it.

“Which room Mom?”

“Well we didn’t nee-eed two web rooms, so we put you in there.”

Archie smiled.

FB3X Drabble Cascade #49 - Weave


Title: A Proposal (PG, were-spider)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 500
Prompt: Weave
Not a sweet snuggle cause well there’s going to be sex involved.


“You do intend to let me go once you’ve shown me what you can turn into?” Penn asked trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

Archie smiled, “Maybe you won’t ask to be let go after I’m done with you.” He shrugged. “It could happen.” He tied the last knot, tucking in the end neatly.

“If you bite me will I become like you?” A person had to ask after all when dealing with paranormals who said they could change shape. “Or is that just when the moon is full?”

“Full moon has little to do with it. Now,” he tore off a bit of duct tape with his human appearing teeth, “once I get you back to my nest, I’ll take the tape off so don’t panic.”

Penn nodded his head, his eyes white in the moonlight, stretched wide in panic anyway over the makeshift gag.

Archie sighed, “Alright. Now don’t panic, remember.”

Penn watched in horror as his boyfriend lover changed, becoming roundish and then the legs started erupting.

Oh God. A were-spider. and then, two large wings unfolded and Penn stopped thinking past Flying were-spider.

Tenderly Penn was gathered up before Archie took to the air, held securely so as not to be dropped. The nest wasn’t too far out in the country. Far enough that if he screamed there was a good chance no one would hear. He was so screwed.

The house was one of those new age get back to nature things, made to fit into the environment and utilizing the ground’s natural capabilities for temperature control. It was mostly underground, almost a burrow.

Who am I kidding, it is a burrow even if he calls it a nest. Then a thought occurred. Please don’t let there be any of his kids at home. Kids would definitely mean he was dinner.

He felt a jerking as his pants were opened and the brush of fine hairs as his important bits were worked out into the air by … palps. Those are palps. He wiggled a little in protest and two of the legs reached forward to pin his shoulders to the bed? and a palp stroked up and down his belly.

Archie moved and the tape was pulled carefully off as he hovered above Penn.

“Please don’t eat me.”

There was a chuckling sound from a human appearing mouth. “Not even if my pedipalps are going to fuck you up the ass while I do? I want to suck you dry and when you’ve recovered, do it again and again. We’ve got all weekend before I take you to meet my folks.” He nodded, “If you want to.”

Penn looked into the two largest eyes, more than two was difficult, and considered. “If you bite me do I become a spider or dead?”

“Nope. I’m NOT going to eat you.”

“Alright.” Penn nodded, “ask me after you suck me dry the first time.”

Archie’s chelicerae pulled to the sides grinning, “Will do.”


Continues here with human version of Archie

FB3X Drabble Cascade #48 - Valentine


Title: The Building of Cupid’s Harem of Apprentices ( G, dub-con sort of)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 100
Prompt: Valentine

Santa's got elves. Cupid has to do things year round AND on one special day.

&&&&&

‘It’s just another day,’ he’d muttered in disgust. Later he’d wonder, ‘what if I hadn’t seen that Valentine’s Day window display of red and white lacy froufrou.’

He’d rolled his eyes at the guy in the costume getup of wings, which were pretty life-like actually, and minimalistic clothing complete with sash. That was right up until the git had pulled an arrow from his quiver and stabbed him.

It had hurt even if the arrow melted faster than a snowflake.
And the guy, he had just stood right in front of Keith smirking all the while, as Keith’s world reshaped.

FB3X Drabble Cascade #45 - Sinking


Title: The Waves of Technology (G, reality)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 200
Prompt: Sinking

She loved her job, REALLY, she reminded herself, but if the stupid IT department didn’t work out the kinks of their fixes that needed fixes she was going to throw something. One program wouldn’t work with Chrome and the other only worked with Chrome and the third … The notification that the virus scan had once again caught and quarantined the Bindo virus popped up on the screen.

With great care she tried to log into her work email and where it should have automatically connected and updated, instead it asked for her password… AGAIN, then notified her that the system had disconnected her … AGAIN. She had called the front office and been told that their email was working just fine. Advice was offered that she contact the Help Desk.

Growling as even accessing her email from an outside the work system was denied to her, she thought, ‘Fine. I WILL call the Help Desk and throw myself on their mercy.’

The growl increased as the number for the Help Desk did NOT connect and then she remembered, the lastest update of technology had linked the phone system to the internet system.

Angrily, she rebooted her computer.

THAT worked.

FB3X Drabble Cascade #43 - 'theatre'


Title: A Flight of Dragons (G)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 200
Prompt: theatre



In palest greys the tops of the spare clouds sailed, their bottoms only slightly darker and sometimes tinged with a hint of blue against the powder grey sky. It was a complexity of composition in its simplicity, to be enjoyed and treasured though you knew that you couldn’t hold onto it even in a painting. It was too big.

A pattern neared in a silvery grey more solid than the sky, a pointed chevron of four wheeling in sleek gracefulness that made the heart hurt in want as they passed by. It was a training mission was the first thought and then a second chevron appeared behind them and then a third becoming instead a homecoming. Yet four was a number that lacked a comfortable symmetry. One side in the pattern lacked a member it seemed and though each chevron was comprised of the same number to justify that pattern how could one not think that one of them had fallen from the sky they moved so gracefully through and its place left vacant as tribute to its valor.

They passed by again in their great circling but this time the lead chevron numbered three, one safe aground and home.

Title: Chance Fortunate
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 1226
Prompt: This grew from homicidal cat. As in ‘pet me, pet me, enough, attack.’


The news had spread in that way that news can even without the professional media being involved. There was a whispered possibility of rabies in town due to one single feline’s bite.

Phailin gave a snickered purr and wove his way through the moving waves of legs taking pleasure in the occasional brush of fur to skin and the gasps as the humans realized what had happened, how close a cat had been to their unprotected flesh. He was tempted to give a small nip to a leg in passing, nothing skin breaking, more a love bite, just to watch the panic that would ensue.

“Cat, get your furry butt over here,” carried over the noise of traffic and people paused, heads swiveling to locate the speaker and then anxiously down to the ground searching for what or rather who, if they really knew what was what, the words had been directed toward.

It was tempting to pretend that he didn’t understand human speech but the next sentence, “Do you really want me to bring this before the Council?” had him rethinking that approach. So he continued his casually innocent meandering through the sea of legs but angled his path to wash up into the alley where the stranger crouched.

“I should bring it up to the Council anyway for all the trouble this has caused. Don’t think there isn’t proof. You were caught on normal digital camera and there’s ‘Past Viewing’ footage that followed after your prank, for backup.” The man, though that was debatable as he didn’t smell totally human, from his seated on his heals crouch, looked down at Phailin severely. “You’ve got one of three options,” and his fingers ticked off, “I take you in and you are held in the Vet’s office to serve your time until it’s determined that you aren’t rabid to human standards. That could be risky if no one claims you quickly enough and they think you’re a stray. Cats have been quickly beheaded and their brains examined for the virus before.”

Phailin shivered. Humans could be unfeeling monsters.

“Or,” the second finger was counted, “you could be given into the care of a wizard in training to serve your time until you are of adult age and can choose if you want to have a continued partnership or to become a stray again. You and the wizard learn together. That is the better of the two because you’ll be educated and have some experience to apply to future employment as well as references if you behave and have wisely honed your talent.”

“Or,” the third finger came up, “you can take your chances explaining yourself to the Council and have them choose how to deal with you.”

Phailin had sat, tail curled around his paws attentively, his fur twitching periodically along the base of his spine. A good tongue swipe to recover his composure was called for as he considered his choices but the unknown quantity of the person listing those choices required careful watching. Not everyone could spot a familiar in cat-clothing and the man spoke with knowing authority that made him uneasy.

“You can change and speak if you’re able to do that, hopefully you transform people-clothed, or put your paw to my right knee for the Vet’s office, my left knee for the wizard option, or sit there and it’s the Council.”

Phailin sized up the man, figuring out which was right and which left on a person in front of and facing him, while trying to decide. It wouldn’t do to make a mistake, his future depended on the right choice. Of course there was always the run away option but the way things seemed to be going that only delayed the inevitable and placed a choice out of his control.

Stretching up his upper body, he took the better option, the one with a future and hoped that it really was the best one. Both his paws delicately touched down on the man’s left knee.

With a smiling nod the stranger reached down and gathered Phailin up, “Good choice.”

The speech, “Dershwin is a thoughtful young wizard. Always seems to get on well with the familiars at the school but he’s perhaps a bit unfortunate in his looks and his adoptive family doesn’t have much money for his upkeep away from home so he lives frugally on a scholarship. He shows promise. Treat him well, he’ll treat you well and there is always the school’s administration if he should start abusing you. Don’t think you’re out in the cold if things get rough,” had a matching one being given at another academic location.

“This is what he looks like in cat-clothing. Not a bad looking kitten at all. He’s seems mischievous but if Elert is right and he usually is, all he needs is a bit of care to direct his attention into productive activity instead of irresponsible young tomcat playfulness.”

Dershwin looked at the footage of the marble patterned black and grey cat, watching the graceful gliding of the sleek body through the legs of people in the crowd without getting stepped on. There was intelligence in the movements and attention to the detail of prediction where the feet would be in relation to his feline body. A smile slowly grew as he watched, “He’s beautiful.”

‘Alright, the man, who said to call him Elert, wasn’t too far off with his description of his wizard but there was a muted sort of alert kindness in the watching eyes that drew him and the smell was right or would be as soon as he’d been marked as his,’ Phailin thought from where he sat after Elert, had put him down. In a slow stroll over to his wizard, it was promising that Dershwin crouched down partially extending his hand with fingers slightly spread and curved down for him to sniff the backs of them. His nose touched almost by accident before he licked one knuckle tentatively and a warm glow started inside him at the smile that resulted. There was nothing more to do than mark-claim his wizard and so he did, brushing nose to jaw and on down his body against the crouching leg before circling sinuously back to the front and down Dershwin’s other side’s thigh.

“Thank you.” Who that was directed to was unclear but Phailin decided it was him. After all he was a cat familiar and as such superior. Standing his wizard looked down at him, “Let me show you where our rooms are …”

Elert and Kormier watch the two walk away companionably, Dershwin keeping up a one way conversation about himself about what he was studying.

“Looks like a favorable match.”

“I think so,” Elert nodded in agreement.

“That’s the fourth familiar stray you’ve successfully matched up so far this year. “

The smile directed at him was fond. “Well, it’s easy if you know what to look for, I found you didn’t I.”

The fondness of the smile was returned, “Indeed,” and even though in human form Kormier nuzzle rubbed his face against Elert’s. “Still it’s a good thing you’re doing, matching strays with wizards, even if you aren’t a wizard yourself.”

Shrugging, “Everyone deserves a chance to make themselves better. I found happiness, others should too,” earned Elert a human style kiss.

FB3X Drabble Cascade #42 – “Life, the Universe and Everything”


Title: Thy Brother's Work (G, cosmology)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 100
Prompt: “Life, the Universe and Everything”
Sorry only watched part of the BBC's rendition of this eons ago.


It was an interesting view. Thank God that no one looking up would know what they were seeing if they could see. The swirling patterns held so much promise, if he wanted to look closer. Maybe sometime when he was bored again, he thought.

But for now he had his brother to infuriate and to do that required some thought to do it just right. He took another sip of his green flavored drink and grimaced. Worst flavor ever created, he thought, and paused before pouring it down into the universe his brother had created, and smiled.

FB3X Drabble Cascade #37 - Cry


Title: To Have a Demon (PG, demon/human)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 300
Prompt: Cry
Set in the Demon Mine ‘verse

Half awake as he plodded one foot in front of the other through the village, his first reaction was to tense up at the sounds. The moaning spoke of someone in deep pain. Forcibly throwing off exhaustion and gathering whatever brain cells could be shaken awake, Matt tried to locate where the noises were coming from before realizing in what part of the village he was passing through.

Oh course. Freniel’s house. Freniel had returned recently from the human plane after a successful hunt. His human consort, Karl, was larger than ‘Niel’, which said something, and there’d been much joking about their courtship.

Matt glanced up at the window to see the window gaping. ‘Niel’ was boasting or was it Karl who was the boaster. Smothering a laugh behind a tightly clasped to mouth hand Matt took himself home, the rhythmic groaning following him. The slapping of flesh on flesh accompaniment said that someone was putting some real effort of percussive manipulation into eliciting those groans and was as stimulating to listener as it was to the receiving party.

Running home would raise eyebrows and probably smiles. Bikiel and Matt were still a fairly new couple themselves. Not as new as Freniel and Karl, but Matt had always insisted on the windows being closed and glared whenever he’d found the window sashes agape. So Matt hurried, matching his strides to the rising groans that were becoming urgent cries of more, harder, faster; following him.

Once home Matt called, “Kiel! Kiel, where are you?” slamming the door behind and making a rapid search for his prey.

“Ah, and here I thought you might be tired,” Kiel smiled.

“Niel was riding Karl.”

“Yes?”

“No.” Scandalized, “Niel was receiving.” Flapping his hands, “Now. Take me to bed. And the windows better stay Shut.”

FB3X Drabble Cascade #36 - Teach


Title: A Teaching Moment(PG, Magic)
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 100
Amazing. I type in fiction and my fingers choose their own keys, almost had a tag of fuckion.

Ben took a deep breath and let it out, warily sending a smile towards the assembly of professors. He would not lose it, not now, not in front of everyone, he’d keep his concentration centered. This was supposed to be a demonstration, a commix of their magical talents. If Matt would just take the test seriously and stop sending ‘those messages’ through their mental link.

An image flicked across his mind centered on Ben’s crotch, the burgeoning ridge delineated in hard precise detail.

Matt smirked, “See no need for nervousness,” walking back towards their room. Leering, “celebration is required though.”

FB3X Drabble Cascade #35 - Love



Title: It’s in the Poetry
Author: charisstoma (G)
Word count: 400
Prompt: Love

“Love to me is but a season*,” began the poem Theo read aloud in our reading group and my first inclination was to smile and nod until my mind applied them to my life.

In swirls of panic I asked, why did he pick that poem? Surely leaving the wet towel on the bathroom floor last night for him to find cold and damp under his bare feet in the dark this morning…

Or was it the toothpaste left lidless beside the sink, squeezed from the top? He’d growled. I’d heard him from my cozy nest of blankets.

It probably hadn’t helped that I’d forgotten to set up the coffee maker the night before. That was perhaps the worst of my offenses, for one can deal with anything if they’re smoothed over by fresh hot coffee early in the morning.

On the way home we stopped, me sullenly worried; it’s humiliating to have everyone hear that your lover questions the love between you. Theo wanted to buy some things and he was being secretive. I bought ice cream, a flavor Theo liked.

A cold hand crept into mine on the drive home.

“I’d wished that you’d talked to me about things and not tell it to the world first,” I said.

In a tone of outrage, “I didn’t! What are you talking about? You’re the one sulking like a child!”

“I’m not the one who declared to everyone that my love had cooled towards you, Theo.”

“It hasn’t? But you’ve been …” Theo paused.

I interrupted, “I didn’t mean to leave the towel on the floor or the top off the toothpaste and the tube squeezed from the top instead of the bottom. And I’m sorry about not setting up the coffee maker. I can’t promise it won’t happen again but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you still.”

“I was going to say forgetful, our anniversary, you forgot it. Yes those other things irritate me but not so much that I’d cease to love you. I may not like you very much from time to time but I’ll always love you.” Theo squeezed my hand.

“Then why did you choose that poem to read?”

“It’s short and spoke to me. I’ve plans though, things are going to change. Autumn was coming into our love and I won’t allow it.”

“How?” I grinned.

“Look in the bag,” and Theo smirked.



* http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-little-ditty-2/
A Little Ditty
O! love to me is but a season –
Seldom does it overstay,
And tho' I pain to seek a reason,
Like the dream, it fades away

To leave me once again in awe
Of how the heart can render raw
In loss of love; but then to soar

Atop anew! – and hail adieu!
To her who fled from chance I gave
To see us wed: Then on,
To court another fairer face –
And lose again in end of chase!

I curse the seasons evermore –
They tease me thro' their metaphor:
Starting fresh, their vigour young,
Yet oversoon, the ditty sung.

Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2011