My Lovelies

Side Conversation
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1607
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 4:30 p.m]]


:: While the Cort adults and Doctor Elisabeth Finn have a much needed discussion, there's a very different conversation going on nearby. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::




A flamenco pink neon sign in the picture window read “Pink Pearls,” as a nervous young woman opened the door into the shop. The movement made her loose brown curls bounce across her face, covering it from the tip of her nose upward. At her collar, the curls seemed determined to slide between the blue chambray and her pale neck, but the weight seemed to keep them more firmly in place.

Inside, the shop was barely wide enough for a walkway and a nail station, though it was long enough for two work stations and the small counter and register fitted diagonally in the corner next to two bookshelves filled with products for sale.

The woman beside the register had sorrel skin and almond-shaped eyes. She waved toward the rear station, just as a middle-aged woman approached from the depth of the shop. “Arminda, your friend is here. Shall I set up, then put in headphones?”
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Information Interactions
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1361
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 4 p.m]]


:: Mercedes Hospital becomes the hidden epicenter of a seismic shift in the local culture, especially the truce between various “hats” and “capes”. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::




Yet another rap on the door brought a heavier, expectant feel with the crisp taps. Robert glanced at Maurwen, waiting for her nod. “Come in,” he offered.

An officer stepped in, offering a brisk smile to Maurwen. “The Captain suggested that I speak to the new witness, Miss. Unless you want to finish that story about the trip to whale watch?”

Maurwen shook her head, then turned to LaQuinta. “This is Eka Beja Hidayaputra. Yeah, that was a mouthful for me. He’s a good guy, and he’ll take things slow if you need to.”
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Regrouping
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1048
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 3 p.m]]


:: Mercedes Hospital becomes the hidden epicenter of a seismic shift in the local culture, especially the truce between various “hats” and “capes”. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::




Maurwen pushed away from the detritus of at least three meals, letting the fancy ergonomic chair exactly like all the others tucked around the large oval conference table roll her toward the expensively curtained floor to ceiling windows that seemed to glow with the afternoon sunlight, as if the energy had been trapped in the special glass instead of passing through it.
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Developments
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1686
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, just after noon]


:: Maurwen wakes in the Mercedes Hospital, frantic to alert others what happened to the twins. Things do not happen the way that she fears. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::



Lucien Short checked the woman’s vitals, then paused as the display changed even as he watched. One of her hands twitched.

He brightened, tucking his hands behind his back to resist the urge to fuss with her skin sensors or adjust her blanket, or any of a thousand other things that might also change the readings on the monitor.

She woke with a dull, nearly breathless groan. “I feel like something crawled down my throat and died. My body wants to throw up everything I’ve eaten since I started on solid foods.”
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The June 2025 Feathering the Nest prompt has been a delight to write. I hope that readers have enjoyed it as much as I have!
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Spring Forward
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 2 of 3
Word count (story only): 1310
[April 2017]


:: Jeanette Gomaz is spending time outdoors in her neighborhood on the south side of Mercedes. It becomes a bit of an adventure! This story combines three prompts, plus enthusiastic agreement from another reader: readera, siliconshaman, chanter1944 and callibr8, and thus will post over three days to give everyone a full story. All part of the Mercedes story arcs in the Polychrome Heroics universe, set in April of 2017. ::


Back to part one
On to part three




The walk to the “entrepreneurial park” was quick, even in the growing heat. Most of the block was taken up by a storage center, ending with the row of campers, trailers, and aging sun-beaten vehicles. Jeanette kept walking until she passed the bar height concrete table in the most visible corner in deep bas relief, reading the label Peppergrass Park as she approached it. The words swept along the front section of the round cylinder in deep, glossy green. There were no concrete chairs, but twelve people could stand around it without brushing shoulders. She walked past it, turning the corner toward the landscaped walkway that flowed between the four small buildings.

Jeanette walked past the building with a gray roof on the right side, which held a tech repair service called “Enduring Tech”. Another few steps led her past the black-roofed building on the right. Inside, the clinic with two exam rooms was already busy. Four people stepped out. The couple were in their early twenties, each holding the hand of a preschooler. The older of the two children wore a mesh burn sleeve and a grin around the traditional post-visit lollipop.
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Welcome to the Feathering the Nest prompt call for June of 2025!

It’s been a wild, weird, exhausting month, and I for one can use some plain old comfort fic while I take a little time to refresh my sanity.

That’s what this prompt call is all about. Reply to this post with an idea for a short story that you, the reader, would love to savor over a favorite beverage. Since it’s summer in the USA, my preference would be Jamaica, so I’d best get some steeping after posting this, so I can enjoy it while writing! So, participation is meant to be simple and easy: be as specific as one wishes, bearing in mind that I usually write gentle fiction (no sex, no violence, no swearing), but I warn for exceptions, and most of that is no worse than PG-13 in American ratings, even by implication.
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Searching, Searching
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1369
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017]


:: The search expands beyond the zoo into the park. The search from the kidnapper’s SUV also expands. Part of the Unfair Trades story arc in the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::



Peter Rybokov nodded as the zoo manager tapped her finger on the areas of the map confirmed to be empty, and the patrons were all collected at the outdoor cafe, currently being entertained by a staff member who made balloon animals, “binoculars” and “butterfly nets” to encourage the little ones to participate in the play safari.
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Unwilling Trip
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1231
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017]


:: The kidnappers’ plans seem well thought-out. Toddlers, however, can wreck the most carefully planned events. Part of the Unfair Trades story arc in the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::


:: Pay Special Attention: While the topic of stranger abduction is a hot button grooved into the psyche of everyone in the Western world over the age of five, the danger to the children is in the moment minimal, and in the long term, will not be swept under the rug. Play therapy, changes in routine and security, and so forth, can be incorporated without adding to the twins’ trauma, and will all help reduce the effects of the incident in different ways. ::




With nothing left in the balloons, Ladon tucked the wadded up strings and caps in his pants pocket as he pushed the stroller through the one-way gate into the wide sidewalk that faced what seemed to be an acre of paved, well-maintained parking lot. The two paths parallel to the sidewalk marked off a total of four rows of angled parking spaces, and lollipop trees, bland and commercially landscaped, sat in the islands at the ends of the rows. Each tree was protected by thick wrought iron grates, peeking through a round center less than a foot across, and several muddy tire tracks over the outer edge of the nearest grate revealed that some drivers were either impatient or inconsiderate.
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