Launch the Ship!

Accretion Disk holidays, Part 2


An excerpt from one of my WIPs for GYWO Bingo, a continuation of this worldbuilding excerpt. Still more or less worldbuilding.



Original work / No fandom

Rating: Gen

Wordcount: 521


The day when the Head Teacher noticed that Richa hid in the darkness one too many times was the day of Richa's downfall and the start of her losing battle with sleep. A student of the Eureka Academy does not hide in the dark, the Head Teacher announced. Our students are proud leaders. There is nothing that he or she should not be able to face, especially not the light!

On that day the workers came in and removed the blinds from the windows of Richa's bedroom. Far away, on the edge of the porthole, she could already see a sliver of faint glow. The Accretion Disk was returning. The black hole was still far away, though. Locked in an orbital dance, the black hole and the star at this point were like two partners reaching out towards each other longingly from two opposite ends of the stage. As the days go by, their fingertips will bridge that gap.

Until now Richa used to think that the glowing arc of the Accretion Disk was beautiful, as it promised that the black cosmic void outside the space habitat was not all empty and meaningless. Now it has become harbinger of scary things to come. It will grow brighter and thicker in the round arc of the porthole, until it fills it all.

Richa was terrified of that. She recalled the fairytales of old, the frightening things that came out at midnight, at the witching hour. No one had warned her that the scariest demons will be the ones of insomnia, and that they will come when the darkness of the night is taken from her.

The light, of course, was blameless: the blame lay squarely on Richa's inability to fall asleep with her bedroom flooded by the milky pallor. She didn't know how she would function during the three months of the Accretion Disk exposure.

The first month it was still a sliver, although one that widened infinitesimally every day. Richa was still able to find a corner of her bed where its rays could not reach. If only she managed to stay squeezed in by the wall, right under the window, the rays would pass over her head without hitting her eyes. She just needed to stay scrunched up in that one spot until she fell asleep! But, perversely, her body demanded to sprawl out in her bed like a starfish, otherwise sleep would not come.

If the Head Teacher, or any other staff or students found out that Richa had not slept at night, they would meet it with derision. What, the radiance of the Accretion Disk kept her awake while it was barely a faint streak in the sky? What kind of princess on a pea was she? What will happen when the Disk covers the whole sky?

Richa quickly learned not to say another word on the topic. Instead she tried to blindfold herself before sleep. That didn't help: her mind knew that a misty neon glow was seeping into the room, and that knowledge expanded and filled her whole head, leaving no room for slumber to enter.

(Working name: "Shadow Spell".)

GYWO Bingo fill for the prompt "blindfold".

Also submitted for the October 2026 WIP Week Day 1 - My Oldest WIP.



Fandom: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Characters: Gilbert Norrell, John Childermass

Ship: Gilbert Norrell x John Childermass (ambiguous whether it's an "&" or a "/" ; thus the "x")

Rating: Gen

Wordcount: 512

Childermass was taken aback by Norrell's request. To teach his master the spell of becoming a shadow? Put that way, it sounded simple, but its simplicity was deceptive. It's not that the magical procedure was convoluted - it was not; it's not that it required special knowledge Mr Norrell did not have - it did not. Its difficulty lay in an entirely different aspect. You could only learn that spell if you surrendered control. And *that* was something Childermass didn't think Norrell capable of doing.

"I will try my best, sir," he said, because he had an obligation to. Perhaps he could teach it more easily if he could put a blindfold over Norrell's eyes. But his master would never agree to even that small measure of giving up control.

"First you need to tell me what type of spell it is," said Norrell.

Childermass nodded, as he had anticipated the question. Of course Mr Norrell would need to know everything about any new endeavour that he would undertake. He could not leave anything to chance or any room for surprise.

Childermass took a vacant seat by the fireplace. There were still two chairs there, facing each other across the hearth, even though it had been two years since Jonathan Strange sat in the other one. Just like a student and a teacher used to sit in them before, so it will be now, except the teacher will have become a student.

"Are you asking what category does Sutton-Grove put it into?" Childermass asked.

"Precisely."

"Well, it is not in Sutton-Grove, but if it were, it would probably belong to dissolution spells."

"I thought so too," said Norrell. "That would be intuitive. When I saw you turn into shadow, it was as if you dissolved into the darkness. But then I read all I could find in my books about dissolution spells, and those passages made it *more* difficult for me to understand how you achieve it. So I am all the more curious to have you explain it."

Norrell got up, picked up a notebook from his desk, and returned. He opened the notebook. "Here is one such passage. This is from "A Fount of Arcane and Mundane" by Ashbourne, a sixteen century mago-historian. *'For what is the dissolution if not softening of a material substance so that another substance may easily pass through it, without affecting each other? It is a skilled magician that can dissolve material substances. But would even a greatest magician be so foolish as to cast a dissolution spell on himself? For how would he restore himself to a solid form? A dissolved man does not have a mouth to recite a spell, nor hands to weave it.'*"

Looking up at Childermass, Norrell said: "Ashbourne has a point, doesn't he? And he wasn't the only one wondering about self-dissolution. There were others. For example, Russinol said: 'do not dissolve thyself for thou will then stay dissolved'. Clearly, the greatest conundrum about self-dissolution is that one cannot come back into solid form. So I must ask you, Childermass, how do you do it? How do you *unbecome* a shadow after becoming one?"

Dear Yuletide author,


I'm so excited to see what you will write! Treats are very welcome too.


What I like:


- stories with a substantial plot or in-depth characterization. I especially like stories with a strong, distinct protagonist's inner voice, and lots of interiority.

- pseudo-documentary genre: articles from imaginary newspapers and magazines, scholarly papers, letters, course syllabuses, recipe prose, and everything in that spirit, as long as it tells a story.

- angst and humor, or even both in one.

- in-depth character study, in-depth worldbuilding, moral ambiguity, moral dilemmas, secrets and subterfuge.

- AU, but in the sense of "here is what would happen if a key part of the book's premise were different". I do not, however, like modern AUs as in coffeeshop / flowershop / automechanic / tattoo parlor.


DNWs:


- PWP

- heavily explicit (though M-rating or mild E-rating is OK)

- bodily waste or other extreme kinks

- making cheap fun of the characters (though critical portrayal is OK).

- "modern" or "mundane" AU - coffeeshop / flowershop / automechanic / tattoo parlor, etc. However, AU in the sense of "here is what would happen if a key part of the book's premise were different" is OK.

Below are my likes and prompt ideas for specific fandoms.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

For me, some of the most fascinating aspects of the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell world is how magic works. I'm interested in stories where magic plays a significant part. I love to see its inner workings. I am also intrigued by the process of distilling spells from ancient knowledge, the relics of which remain in folk tales, old books, songs, children's rhymes and such - just like Norrell and Strange did.

My favorite character is Norrell. If your fic includes him in a substantial way, all the better! But there are other characters and pairings that interest me just as well.

I have a detailed Dear Author letter specifically for JSAMN that I have used for JSAMN fic exchanges. It has lots of prompt ideas.

The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe

I am extremely captivated by the numinous atmosphere in this book series, and if you, dear author, can capture it, I would be most grateful.

This can be a purely worldbuilding story without any requested characters, if you so choose.

Here are some of the mysteries of the book that have particularly intrigued me and could serve as prompts:

- Origin of Dorcas - did she somehow time-travel to the canon era from distant past?

- Who is the Conciliator and what other powers does the Claw have?

- In Shadow & Claw, there are indications that this society used to be able to space-travel. What happened to that?

- Overall, how did the society lose its technological abilities and end up in its present, quasi-medieval state? I think that's a rich vein for a fic.

The Sparrow and Children of God - Mary Doria Russell

Though only The Sparrow was nominated, I'm fine if your fic is based on its sequel Children of God. I liked them both equally.

I would love a fic that takes us deeper into the minds of the members of the Jana'ata society, and the interactions between them and the human members of the expedition. Rakhat natives can be your OCs.

Aside from that really, anything that immerses me deeper into the life and the interpersonal drama of the crewmembers on the Rakhat planet would be welcome, whether or not the Rakhat natives are involved. But their involvement would be the cherry on the cake.

Translation State - Ann Leckie

Though my selected characters do not include Qven, I am absolutely fine if e is included in your fic. The nomination form limited me to four characters, and that's why I excluded e. It's not because I don't want to see e in the fic.

Here are some prompt ideas:

1. My favorite character is Translator Dlar, who I find numinous and absolutely fascinating. I would appreciate it if the fic featured him in a substantial role.

2. Ambassador Seimet Mianaai meeting the Presger.

At one point Dlar says that Ambassador Seimet Mianaai has seen the Presger. How did it happen? How was she able to see them, considering that Presger are a lifeform that transcends space itself? Ambassador Seimet's meeting with the Presger is, for me, one of the most interesting prompts from Translation State. If Translator Dlar played a role in it, that's even more interesting.

3. Beyond that, I am intrigued by Translator Dlar's relationship with Ambassador Seimet in a more general sense. It could be romantic, platonic, sexual or ambiguous. I am equally interested in a relationship (romantic, platonic, sexual or ambiguous) between Translator Dlar and Enae Athtur. It did not happen in the book, but it could have happened post-canon. And if it is a triad between Dlar, Enae and Seimet, all the better!


4. What happens to humans that enter the Presger side of the Central Treaty Administration Facility (does not have to feature any of my selected characters, though it can)

There is a bit in the book that says that those humans that enter the Presger side of the Central Treaty Administration Facility, even if they come out, are no longer considered human. Perhaps there is an implication that they might have merged with Presger Translators, even if outwardly they look the same, and thus can no longer be allowed into human society. Have any humans entered the Presger side of the Central Treaty Administration Facility? If so, what became of them? I would be interested in a fic about that.

Somewhat related - let's say a human wants to merge with a Presger Translator and comes to the Facility for that purpose. What happens? (The human can be an OC or any human character in the book.)

5. Any worldbuilding or backstory surrounding Presger or Presger Translators. In that case it does not have to feature any of my chosen characters.

For example, one of Reet's biological parents was a Presger Translator that had escaped the Central Treaty Administration Facility and lived among humans. It would be very interesting to read how that happened.

Radiant Star - Ann Leckie

Here are some prompt ideas:

- a story involving Jonr and his consoror building a life together post-canon. Can be romantic or platonic.

- anything about Savant Keemat. A potentially toxic ship with Hierarch Niranhin would be the icing on the cake! But Keemat intrigues me as a standalone character too, because, when he did not get the recognition and praise he craved, he started seeking "sainthood". So his character evolution is interesting to me.

- an in-depth portrayal of the Radiant Star religion and especially the role of Savants. Can, but does not have to, feature Hierarch Niranhin or Savant Keemat.