Author Archives: ssbb-admin

19
Mar

Ultimate Illusion

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged ,

“Look, Briggs,” Shihaya says from inside the bridge, “I’m not asking for much.”

Kayla slows her steps, stopping just before the open door. With Romeo and the others away on their latest mission to acquire goddess-knows-what, they’ve been anchored two hundred feet up with nothing to do for three days. The prospect of anything’s happening, even if it’s Shihaya complaining, is too attractive to pass up.

“I mean, he says he loves me,” Shihaya says. “He says we’re destined to be together. And then he leaves me behind at every opportunity!” Her voice rises into a nasal whine. “‘Oh, Shnookums, you can come next time.’ But it never happens!”

19
Mar

Ravencloak

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged

“Lord of Winter,” said Lady Dagmar. She swept forward before Aesa could say a word, shifting her cloak into her brown hawk’s wings as she knelt in the feast hall. She spread them to their full length, so that all present could see them. This was custom for a Valkyrie captain in a strange feast hall. “We ask you to release a wind for us. Just to hold the winter a little longer. My Lord Bryngeror has endured the attention of her rivals for too long. We need a late winter to thwart them. The snow needn’t stop their attack, only delay it.”

The announcement caused a murmur among the attendants in the hall, all bundled up in furs to combat the cold of the hall. Aesa could imagine how it must have looked: a small flight of Valkyrie coming in the name of a small holding on the other side of the valley, speaking for the wife of a Jarl who had died two winters ago, and asking a god himself for aid.

“Remember, a god in exile is still a god,” Lady Dagmar had warned them, when they’d entered the hall. It had mostly been a warning to Aesa, who had been all too eager to shake the ice from her wings and rush ahead. Hodur had not been to Asgard in some time, not even to the selection tournaments in which he would be allowed to choose new Valkyrie, but even still he kept the winter winds in his stores, and in many ways the one god all people of the mountains believed in above all else.

19
Mar

And I got ready for the future to arrive

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged

She woke up.

The sun was out and the sky was bright, so she woke up. She lay there for a while, blinking at the ceiling, and thought about trying to go back to sleep. Then she got up. She put on her Army t-shirt and a pair of shorts and laced on her running shoes.

On her way to the door, she heard her mother yell behind her, “Helena! Aren’t you going to have any breakfast?”

“Later!” she yelled back and shut the door behind her, a little too hard.

19
Mar

Love Lights Up the Darkness

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged ,

That night, for the first time in a year or so, Chisato starts to cry while brushing her teeth.

She barely even realizes it until she hears her mom’s footsteps down the hall. She spits out her toothpaste and tries to wipe her face dry, but her eyes have already gone red and puffy, and she’s breathing in little sobs. It’s too obvious to hide it now.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Chisato? Are you all right? Did something happen?”

Chisato opens the door. “It’s nothing, mom,” she says, with her best embarrassed smile. “I… um… I’m under a lot of stress at school right now, and… well, it’s that time of the month for me, so…”

Her mom doesn’t respond, but her face says she doesn’t quite buy it.

19
Mar

Big Name Fan

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged ,

From: bailey.callendar@gmail.com
To: celladoor@gmail.com
Subject: interested in an interview?

Hello, there. My name is Bailey Callendar, and I’m a writer currently working for Magpie — we sort of fall under the “ladyblog” category, but we’re a bit more diverse than that. I’m working on a story right now about slash fiction, and I’m interested in interviewing a few of the more prominent and prolific authors. I promise this isn’t going to be a “oh, aren’t those girls so weird and cute with their little fan stories” sort of hit piece I’ve seen around; I want to get a good survey of the culture and open it up to our readers. Your name’s come up a lot with some of the people I’ve already been talking to, and I’d love to get your input. I’d just like to ask you a few things about your history with slash, your involvement in fandom, that sort of thing. Please let me know if you’re interested, and if not: happy writing!

19
Mar

In Attendance

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged

“If I didn’t know better,” said Ari, holding her arms out straight as Kesha poked at her with pins, “I’d think you were enjoying this.”

Kesha pulled some pins out from between her lips before replying. “I don’t get the opportunity to dress up like this enough,” she said, eyes shining.

Ari groaned. “I always thought that was a good thing.”

19
Mar

War Bonds

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged ,

It was the war’s fault that she was there, in dungarees and with all her wavy red hair tied back in a kerchief, her hands grubby in the crevices of her knuckles and palms, holding pneumatic tools she hadn’t known had existed two weeks before, wearing a gold locket with Tom’s picture in it the way his letters promised he kept what few pictures he had of her wedged in the crevices of the metal that held his bunk to the wall. The war was responsible for how the nails she’d always kept so nice were ragged at the tips and cuticles, and rimmed around and beneath with heavy black-brown grease; the war was why she came home to an empty house and cooked supper for one and jumped in the middle of the night at every unexplained noise and sometimes stayed awake until dawn, hugging Tom’s pillow to her chest and telling herself it was going to be all right.

She wouldn’t complain; she was a good girl who never complained. She just wanted God and the rest of the universe to be clear on the point of the matter of her suffering. She had done nothing wrong; it was the war.

19
Mar

嬰櫻 (Little Cherry Blossom)

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged ,

After a month’s absence, Lieutenant-General Liu was back again that evening to celebrate another major victory, but one thing had changed: he was no longer a Lieutenant-General, but a full-fledged General. Word of Liu Yang’s courage and intelligence on the battlefield quickly spread. When Ying-Ying wasn’t afraid for his life, she worried that he might begin to choose the fancier diner over their modest wineshop due to his newfound fame. Most of the high-ranking officers chose not to mingle with the juniors and soldiers at mealtime.

But luckily for Ying-Ying, General Liu was friends with a small group of his men from his own province. As he rose up the ranks, he remained close to them, and these soldiers continued to follow his lead. Ying-Ying considered them a less pretentious bunch than most of the men she encountered. They were young and old, sickly and strong, warriors and commanders – but they stuck together.

19
Mar

in monocromia

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang Special no. 7, Text | Tagged

When Lulu woke on the third day of the seventh month of her fifth year of being kept by the House, she stared at the white ceiling of her room, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Some half hour later, she was dragged from her dreams by the soft but insistent knocking of the hall’s attendant, who she snarled at before swinging her feet over the edge of her bed and donning the gauzy robe she favored whenever she wasn’t on official business. She had a showing later, but she’d be damned if she was going to strap herself into latex one instant sooner than she had to. The display screen on the wall opposite came softly to life in response to her movements; words scrolled up it, listing her tasks for the day, the weather (not that it made a great deal of difference), the names of her opponents. She gave it only a cursory glance before settling in with her breakfast and her book.

Two hours into it, the attendant returned and fetched her out of her reverie and into the cold, white present.

20
Feb

Touch Up

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang no. 35, Text | Tagged

by r_a_parker (mirrors http://s2b2.livejournal.com/205166.html) Love0

20
Feb

The Sad Blanket

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang no. 35, Text | Tagged ,

Alone in the command center Richard sat, his elbows braced against the shiny black roundtable, leaning forward into his clasped hands, resting his lips against his steepled index fingers. The machines around him buzzed and hummed, but he paid them no mind; he stared straight ahead at nothing, though even his expressionless face told its own story. He’d changed back into his civilian clothes, a shirt and slacks so expensive they looked cheap. His graphite-grey helmet lay on the table next to him, cracked up the left side, and a half-patched wound up his left cheek toward his ear told of where the helmet had been when it had suffered that damage. Alone, he waited, and he’d wait as long as he had to, impeccable and patient.

The heavy metal doors swooshed open (or at least they would, after foley got through with them), but Richard didn’t flinch, not even as Brandon stormed in, his own blond hair matted with blood. “What the hell was that?” shouted Brandon, bringing down his gloved fist on the metal railing. He was still in costume, though the star-spangled pattern up the sleeves was burned and torn in artful places, exposing his golden-tanned, muscled body beneath.

“Oh, good, you survived long enough to complain.” Richard moved nothing more than the muscles necessary for speech. This wasn’t amateur hour, not by any means, but even amongst professionals, Richard was a professional.

Brandon’s entire body was tense with fury and betrayal, his jaw set firm enough that it might have put his teeth in danger of shattering. “You knew the thrusters would fail. You set us up.”

“No,” said Richard, and now a cloud of real anger bubbled up through his ice-cool voice, “you were so intent on being a hero that you couldn’t wait for–”

“You set us up!” Taking powerful, echoing strides, Brandon walked around the empty comm station to the short set of steps that would take him from the center’s upper level of control stations to the sunken center where Richard sat. “You couldn’t stand knowing that your idea wouldn’t work, so you sabotaged the only way we AAAUGH!”

20
Feb

Evander Stream and the Attack of His Greatest Fan

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang no. 35, Text | Tagged

With one hand holding onto the brim of his iconic Homburg hat and the other clutching the precious stone orb, genealogist Mo Bentham races down the dark tunnel. The dark waves almost catching up on him consist of pitch black, venomous spiders. When he rounds the corner, an impossibly large spider web is found to cover the entrance to the cave.

“Seriously? If only the American army worked that swiftly…”

20
Feb

Behind the Scenes

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang no. 35, Text | Tagged ,

Really. The hyperbolic reaction may have been something like throwing the first thing he can grab across the room, preferably straight to his boyfriend. But Tyler’s not into theatrics so he only manages to blurt out, “You’re going to do what?” He stares at Kevin incredulously and hates the way Kevin’s acting so nonchalant about this—this preposterous idea.

“It’s just for publicity, Ty. You know how it is,” Kevin says with a shrug then lifts the mug filled with hot coffee to his lips like they’re in the middle of a simple discussion about the weather.

20
Feb

You’re Doing It Wrong

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang no. 35, Text | Tagged

INT. – RILEY’S APARTMENT – BATHROOM – NIGHT

Close-up on RILEY’s face as he leans in close to the mirror, applying mascara. Catchy pop music plays in the background. Slow pull back, so that we can see him pausing in his ministrations every now and then to bop along to the music, moving his shoulders and arms, mouthing along to the lyrics. He looks as though he’s in his 20s, with fine, almost feminine features, and short brown hair and multiple piercings in each ear: a variety of hoops and studs in his lobes, a cartilage piercing in one ear, and a bar in the other. Full-sleeve renderings of Aztec gods and other mythological imagery cover both his arms. Pull back farther, and we can see a tramp stamp of an infinity symbol in the small of his back. He’s dressed in a pair of dark red briefs.

20
Feb

Highjacked by the Truth

Posted by | Categories Bang*Bang no. 35, Text | Tagged

As the engine noise dies away, the sounds of the jungle close in around them. It’s been five hours since they left the last town, longer since they saw another vehicle. The red mud track stretches out in front of them like a streak of blood through the trees.

“Are you writing blog entries in your head again, man?” Nick asks.

Rowan drops his forehead down to the center of the steering wheel. The horn makes a sad little squeak and follows the engine into the afterlife. “Next time,” he says, into the dented plastic, “Kitty’s getting the rental car.”

Nick swings the camera toward the back seat to shoot their security consultant. Rowan found her in a bar in Cambodia, back when Highjacked by the Truth was just a blog with a cult following. She stops buffing her nails to aim her 9mm at the camera and tell Nick sweetly to go fuck himself.

“Hey,” Rowan says. “We’re not gonna get on cable like that, kids.”