#the audacity gambit

[bzedan]

A new bit of The Audacity Gambit is up! Emily meets everyone at the coffee shop and learns about eBay. Read it here!

Bored and restless, Emily started cleaning her room while she waited for school to let out. She was surprised at how much detritus a person could accumulate in the short span of a childhood. Most things held little more than hollow twinges of nostalgia for her, which was even more surprising, as she’d last held them in her hands only a month before. She’d sorted out a couple bags of toys and clothes in good enough condition to donate and was picking faded posters off the wall when her alarm went off at three. She grabbed a notebook, threw it and a pen in her backpack with the envelope of the king’s money, then headed to the coffee shop. Dawn was with the group this time, homework on the table. Emily smiled at the pair she and Tank made. Where he was all hair-in-eyes surfer affecting a punk toughness, Dawn emanated the slicked-back ponytail competency of perfect grades and varsity sports. Emily still felt awkward around the group, but the happy swiftness with which Ian grabbed a chair for her helped somewhat. “Wow, you do look exactly the same.” Dawn raised a perfect eyebrow as she gave Emily a once-over. “Only, I guess, shorter.” “Still older than you, though.” Emily grinned. “Just not by as much.”

[bzedan]

Another story from the world of The Audacity Gambit. This one focuses on Michael, who has everything sorted. Mostly.

Michael had a schedule and he took great pleasure out of sticking to it. He got up a little before seven, matching the start of the workday in other time zones, and drank his coffee while answering emails. He liked starting his day by diving directly into work. Around nine, he’d shower and make breakfast, often sharing it with Ian, who more or less got up around then. He’d then take a leisurely hour tending the grounds of the Royal Oak trailer court. The work he’d done over the years to fill in bare patches of grass with clover and other low maintenance ground cover made it easier. By noon he was back at work, either photographing things and writing up descriptions or packing them up for shipping. By about four, emails and message notifications from the multiple sites he sold through had picked up their clip and he’d have a late lunch—supper, really, according to Ian’s sister Hannah, who said the actual definition of dinner was the big meal at the end of the day, so if it wasn’t lunch and wasn’t dinner it was supper—while answering customers.

From the world of The Audacity Gambit: Michael • B.Zedan

As I'm spinning my wheels deciding what to do now that The Audacity Gambit has finished its run, please enjoy a short story from the same wo

[bzedan]

The Audacity Gambit may be over but the stories keep coming. This week is a short story set in the same world, focusing on Ian both god's perfect idiot and a being of light chaos.

Ian did his best to have no regrets. For example, he’d decided not to go to college or trade school, something all the other Court kids had done. Even Michael had gone and gotten a nice, two-year business school degree and Hannah was spending her gap year deciding which university to attend. With the assets their parents had set aside before fucking off into the Sidhe they’d had their pick of schools, so everyone figured they might as well take advantage of the opportunity. For Ian though, the idea of faking his way through another two-to-four or more years of school sounded like a hell selected just for him. And he didn’t regret it. Not really, once he picked up the emotion and looked at it objectively.

From the world of The Audacity Gambit: Ian • B.Zedan

As I'm spinning my wheels deciding what to do now that The Audacity Gambit has finished its run, please enjoy a short story from the same wo

[bzedan]

It's the end of The Audacity Gambit! There will be some extra stories following this, set in the same world, but for now...

Read it here!

Emily jogged to their trailer. In her room, she dropped her backpack next to the lumpy bags of things she’d outgrown. The ache of worry growing beneath her ribs settled as she buckled on her knife belt. There was a glimmer of guilt. She still hadn’t cleaned it. Not that it really mattered; it wasn’t as if it was some named blade that had saved her life in a fairy book. Though it had become a sword again when she confronted the court. Emily wondered where it got the magic to do that. On a hunch, she checked the envelope of cash. Her mouth went dry and she tried to swallow as she counted the bills a second time. The amount she’d given Michael had been replenished. Checking the tobacco pouch, she couldn’t tell if the level was the same as when she’d arrived or not. With a deep breath, she replaced the envelope of money in her backpack and decided that right now was a very good time not to think about it.

[bzedan]

New bit of The Audacity Gambit! We are nearing the end of the game, and Emily finds a loophole. Read it here!

Janice drank her coffee in gulps as she got ready for work. “I have some vacation time due. I can take it right away and then if it all works out, I’ll never have to go back.” Restrained joy gave her voice a lilt. “You’ll just leave without giving notice?” Emily was startled: her aunt had strict rules of responsibility and running out on a job broke several of them. “Hon, this world doesn’t matter to me. All that mattered was raising you. Now you’re good and raised and I can go back to living for myself. It’s something lots of people do once their kids are grown up.” Emily made a non-committal noise in her throat and sipped her coffee. Her aunt gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Things will work out. The rest of the court is too worried to risk jeopardising their chances of going back. They’ll figure out what to do with the children.” Patting her pockets to check for keys, Janice stopped at the door as though she had something to add. She shook her head and sighed. “Love you, kid.” The door shut softly, leaving Emily alone.

[bzedan]

A new installment of The Audacity Gambit! Janice and Emily have a Car Chat (TM). Then Emily Has Some Words with the Court.. Read it here!

The car pulled smoothly onto the road and they drove in silence. When she saw that they weren’t going directly back to the court, Emily relaxed, sinking more comfortably into the seat. “I missed going on drives.” “It is one of the wonders of the mundane world.” Janice grinned crookedly. “Do you think you’re going to go back?” Emily watched the bright lines of the road glowing in the beginning dusk. “Probably. The Sidhe is bigger than just that kingdom, so I never have to see any of these people again. Becky says she’s going to stay at the Institute; I might stay with her awhile, try to get my bearings again before heading off.” Janice glanced at her quiet niece and dragged hard on her cigarette. When she spoke again, her tone was apologetic. “I’ve spent far more of my life there than here.” She swallowed, hands tight on the wheel. “I don’t want to die, Emily. I wasn’t always a queen, you know. I had my own adventures before all that.”

[bzedan]

I forgot to mention last week that there was a new Audacity Gambit post, and we're going to be cool about it and pretend today is last week and tomorrow is not? Yes. Anyway, Emily confronts the past, which is now a teenager. Read it here!

Knots of teenagers wandered past, laughing and shoving each other on their way home from school. Emily felt like she was seeing double. How many months ago had she walked home from the high school down the road? Three or four to her. Dozens and dozens more to the world. Children’s laughter caught her ear and Emily pushed away from the tree, startled. That’s why the court felt so empty. There had always been kids too young for daycare or preschool playing in the grass, their cries and laughter spilling through windows. How old would they be now? Mathilde had been nearly two, so now she’d be just starting seventh grade. She’d certainly lost all the baby teeth that had come in to gape crookedly the last time Emily had seen her. She reeled back against the tree as she realised the oldest would be only a year younger than she was now. He’d be starting their last year of high school.

[bzedan]

Man, this is the last update for The Audacity Gambit (for now?) but it's been fun. Read it here.

Winter stood in the cold, dead field and took a deep breath. They could feel the deep roots of the grasses that were waiting for Winter to move on so they could get to the business of growing and seeding. But even now they weren’t dead. The cold was hardly the death many made it out to be. A false dichotomy of warmth and cold, life and death. When Winter had first taken the job, their hand forced to save another from the ice crown, they’d been full of ideas of what they could change Winter to be. The entire Sidhe felt outdated, stale, old, biased. They’d be the young blood that reinvigorated it all.

From the world of The Audacity Gambit: The Winter • B.Zedan

As I’m spinning my wheels deciding what to do now that The Audacity Gambit has finished its run, please enjoy a short story from the same wo