This is a work of non-ficly-tion. Like a tenant who finds the locks changed on his return to the house he lived in for years, I came back to Ficly and couldn't get in. Last contribution, nine months ago. A gay pirate scene with a massive innuendo.

I blu…

Sun up, tools down for the day, it was a good time for a walk through the oaks. A learned man might sink down with a book, but a man of little learning who needs to settle his thoughts must leave that job to nature.

He took a leak against a tree. The st…

She wasn't the prettiest girl that he knew, or even the kindest. She plied her razor tongue on the "stick insects" and "puffed up princesses" that he had crushed on and asked out and been dumped by. But she had a sharp and hard morality that left her appa…

Aery Bergun was a soaring construction braced against two sides of a narrow canyon. An arch constructed out of huge lumber spars spanned and supported the width of the Aery, which looked more and more precarious as the Silver Skies made its approach.

I…

It was the captain.

"Captain. What a pleasant surprise."

"Quite so. There is a communication for you, monsieur. My communications officer tells me that it is addressed to your good self."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Monsieur."

"Yes?"

"You are not going t…

The Silver Skies was surprisingly spacious, for a clipper. Wooden crates lined two cargo bays in the side of the ship, while a larger stern bay housed two launches and the larger items of cargo.

"The captain would like to apologise for the mess," the f…

Ryle handed the reins to the head butler, nodding, and we rolled off the coach at the next available turning. The evening was well advanced, and it was a simple matter to merge into the deepening shadows.

The Silver Skies was hardly a difficult ship to…

It's the strangest thing.

My dog, a little Pekingese cross I got about a month ago, isn't eating. I've tried everything to get him to eat, but nothing I try works. Dry food, wet food, he just turns up his nose. In the last three weeks, I've bought over $…

There was shouting behind us, and the sound of hooves on cobbles.

Ryle held a hand to the window. Two fingers. Pause. Five fingers. Five fingers.

Two horsemen. Kill them. Ten seconds to shot window.

I knelt down in the coach, loading the rifle with …

"Excuse me, little boy." Tommy jumped at the sound. He thought he was alone in the backyard. He turned around, seeing a large, heavy set old man behind him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," the old man said, smiling.

Tommy looked over his shou…

Cerian was silent while the coach spun silently towards the dock structures. She was pale and expressionless, and watched me carefully as I wiped off the knife.

"So this is who you are, now."

I sensed the many layers to this not-quite-statement, and hes…

The coach receded into the night. Heartbeat slowing from its frantic pace, I suddenly felt the weariness of the day settle onto my shoulders at last. I had been granted a reprieve at Master Lorenz's knock, and no more.

It's a silly dream, I told myself…

We were stopped at the huge dockyards where wooden crates lay waiting to leave on outbound airships. Three men, wearing the royal hawk on their jackets. One respectfully bowed as Cerian lowered the window.

"We're sorry to trouble you, ma'am, but there ha…

"Illy, at the airship docks there is a clipper by the name of Silver Skies. Captain Jerem is taking a package to some friends of mine in the Raventops, and leaves very soon."

I nodded, frowning. The only friend she had out there would have to be the de…

"It's only a scratch." She says, and she stumbles. We both know that's not true, since we both are aware of what a head wound can do.

She inspects him, and I know she's trying to find any claw marks or bites that punctured skin. If the mutants came into …

"It's only a scratch." Mia waved it off although she knew she had gotten hit hard with the metal bars as they had swung into place over the doors. But she had more important matters to deal with at the moment than herself.

She stumbed towards the figure …

I take quick stock of the doors, making sure the bolts and bars are in place. It seems secure enough although the mutants are actually howling on the other side now. I'm not sure if that's from pain or disappointment.

I look around the room and notice pe…

"On my count, slam the doors shut. We will need every bit of strength we have to seal the doors."

"This is crazy." Bel whispered, her eyes locked on the pack of mutants.

"Trust me." Mia glanced at Bel who nodded back.

"Albert, Scott, Richard. I need he…

Faster than I could react, she pulled something from her apron and pushed it into my hands.

"Please, stay safe. I couldn't... if you..."

This wasn't what I had expected. Still trying to catch up to the present, I looked down at the object she had given …

The head butler coughed meaningfully. My sister glanced up, and rose without a sound.

"I will thank our guest for his company, and we will attend to your situation shortly. In the meantime, Charles, would you put together some provisions for these two? S…

The sky is amazing. So many stars. A view you will never see living your whole life in a city. I must be a hundred kilometres or more from the nearest town of any size. The night of the new moon, too, means a view that too few people in this world ever ge…

They're getting closer. I hear them in the alleys and in the shadows that are getting longer. They're bolder in the city. Not as scared of the light although it blazes on their sensitive skin. I didn't even have to worry about them back home, there weren…

Lust and infatuation

Hidden songs

Hugs hold too long

Dripping honey voices

Electric smiles

3 AM texts

Who cares what's next?

Silence

Secrets

Senses

Sullen

Complexities

Personalities

History

Warnings

Belated answers

Doubts like cancer

Sleepless nig…

Burn me down to nothing-

Singed beneath the atmosphere,

Stars frozen under blackness.

& from bare, shattered body, I'll believe:

"This isn't all of it."

I noticed a minute hesitation from Grace. Curious, I made eye contact.

There it was again - a blink, a crack in the normally flawless armour of the Janse-Lomberg household service. And again, as she looked away quickly. Too quickly.

"Cerian," I said, sl…