Work in progress Wednesday
Aug. 11th, 2010 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdUntitled lesbian fairy tale
It started the way these things always do. Mom and Dad, no birth-control, too many kids and not enough food. You know, classic fairy tale stuff. Only this time, it was me. Me and Anna and Lizzie, dumped in the woods while our parents decided they could actually feed the boys.
No, I'm being hard on the folks. It doesn't cover the tears or the kisses or the good-bye prayers. It doesn't talk about the part where I woke and overheard them talking about an offer one of the brothels in town had made for Anna, cold hard gold that would keep us comfortably for three years and more. It doesn't add in the part where Mother held me and told me to remember everything she'd taught me and take care of my big sisters. I promised I would.
So, we wandered for most of the day, mostly heading north, I think. I remember hearing that stuff about the moss is just a myth. But the part about go downhill to find water isn't, so we weren't going to die of thirst. The brook had cat-tails growing and I had my little knife. It was early enough that the birds hadn't gotten all the blackberries either, so we weren't going to starve, at least that first day.
It started the way these things always do. Mom and Dad, no birth-control, too many kids and not enough food. You know, classic fairy tale stuff. Only this time, it was me. Me and Anna and Lizzie, dumped in the woods while our parents decided they could actually feed the boys.
No, I'm being hard on the folks. It doesn't cover the tears or the kisses or the good-bye prayers. It doesn't talk about the part where I woke and overheard them talking about an offer one of the brothels in town had made for Anna, cold hard gold that would keep us comfortably for three years and more. It doesn't add in the part where Mother held me and told me to remember everything she'd taught me and take care of my big sisters. I promised I would.
So, we wandered for most of the day, mostly heading north, I think. I remember hearing that stuff about the moss is just a myth. But the part about go downhill to find water isn't, so we weren't going to die of thirst. The brook had cat-tails growing and I had my little knife. It was early enough that the birds hadn't gotten all the blackberries either, so we weren't going to starve, at least that first day.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
I am a down & out family man; husband and father of 3 girls & 2+ boys. We are destitute & near to starving. Before me are 3 choices...
1.) Keep my family together and watch us all slowly wither & die for lack of enough to eat & drink. I make no profit. I lose everyone.
2.) Send my 3 daughters into the wilderness with nothing but their wits and mom's prays to sustain them. Odds are they will die of exposure, poisoning (eating stuff they shouldn't), or wild animal attacks. I make no profit and I lose 3 of my kids; keep my wife (for so long as she can stand me & forgive me for making such a choice) and my boys.
3.) Sell 1 of my daughters to a brothel, where she will be kept alive & probably enjoy a higher standard of living than the rest of us (if they can afford to pay in gold, they gotta have a pretty posh establishment). I make a hefty profit that will keep my remaining family comfortable for 3+ years, during which time something will all but hafta turn around as far as me finding a job. I keep my wife, 2+ boys, and 2 out of 3 girls. I lose only 1.
Fathers across Asia & Africa have been making this difficult & devastating decision for centuries, and reportedly even up to present day. Almost universally they choose Option #3.
=-=-=-=-=
Suggest the girls just take it upon themselves to run away, after the one who overheard dad being propositioned by the brothel figures what's coming and thinks it better to take her sisters on her own & make a run for it, maybe to learn later, through the fairies, that dad turned the brothel boyz down flat. Odds are also, from my knowledge of fairy tales, that the fair folk might well know where there is gold to be found... if only some lucky girl might choose to go dig for it, since she proved so enjoyable as a lover. Makes for a possible happier ending--presuming the fairies even let their new love slave go once they've tasted her pleasures, as I also recall many fairies don't allow morals to leave their realm once they have trespassed into it. Perhaps a stroke of irony for your readers?
The one sister steals away with her sisters to avoid one of them being sold into sexual slavery for gold, only to end up herself being exchanged for a lump of gold to her sisters by a fairy lover as compensation for her being taken away. At least--unlike her sister would have had with the brothel--the main character is (maybe) given a choice in the matter.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 09:12 am (UTC)And there are no fairies involved, just giants.
no subject
I am a down & out family man; husband and father of 3 girls & 2+ boys. We are destitute & near to starving. Before me are 3 choices...
1.) Keep my family together and watch us all slowly wither & die for lack of enough to eat & drink. I make no profit. I lose everyone.
2.) Send my 3 daughters into the wilderness with nothing but their wits and mom's prays to sustain them. Odds are they will die of exposure, poisoning (eating stuff they shouldn't), or wild animal attacks. I make no profit and I lose 3 of my kids; keep my wife (for so long as she can stand me & forgive me for making such a choice) and my boys.
3.) Sell 1 of my daughters to a brothel, where she will be kept alive & probably enjoy a higher standard of living than the rest of us (if they can afford to pay in gold, they gotta have a pretty posh establishment). I make a hefty profit that will keep my remaining family comfortable for 3+ years, during which time something will all but hafta turn around as far as me finding a job. I keep my wife, 2+ boys, and 2 out of 3 girls. I lose only 1.
Why the Hell do I opt for Option #2?!?!
Fathers across Asia & Africa have been making this difficult & devastating decision for centuries, and reportedly even up to present day. Almost universally they choose Option #3.
=-=-=-=-=
Suggest the girls just take it upon themselves to run away, after the one who overheard dad being propositioned by the brothel figures what's coming and thinks it better to take her sisters on her own & make a run for it, maybe to learn later, through the fairies, that dad turned the brothel boyz down flat. Odds are also, from my knowledge of fairy tales, that the fair folk might well know where there is gold to be found... if only some lucky girl might choose to go dig for it, since she proved so enjoyable as a lover. Makes for a possible happier ending--presuming the fairies even let their new love slave go once they've tasted her pleasures, as I also recall many fairies don't allow morals to leave their realm once they have trespassed into it. Perhaps a stroke of irony for your readers?
The one sister steals away with her sisters to avoid one of them being sold into sexual slavery for gold, only to end up herself being exchanged for a lump of gold to her sisters by a fairy lover as compensation for her being taken away. At least--unlike her sister would have had with the brothel--the main character is (maybe) given a choice in the matter.