Kate Rookery
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katerookery.bsky.social
Kate Rookery
@katerookery.bsky.social
190 followers 37 following 410 posts
[ she / her | coming soon to a screen near you ]
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katerookery.bsky.social
Further to our bookish trip to Queensland, we went to the Abbey Museum after a recommendation from a friend and found several interesting titles. The history of the place is absolutely wild and a little bizarre, but the museum itself and the current exhibits are genuinely wonderful. 💙�
A group of books laid out on a light-coloured hardwood floor in an asymmetrical arrangement. The books are largely dark-coloured, with medieval illustrations, paintings and stained glass imagery. The titles include: Glorious Glass: Stained glass in the Abbey Museum Collection Unexpected Treasures: Highlights from the Abbey Museum Inspired Images: The Art of Faiths The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women and the Secret Lives of Single Medieval Women by Rosalie Gilbert
November 13, 2025 at 11:04 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Our book haul from the trip up the coast for the Sunshine Coast Fiction Festival last week. 💙📚

We went to support a friend, but found a lot of really interesting things to read along the way. We also bought books for our niblings (not pictured here because we already handed most of them off).
An array of books laid out across a light-coloured hardwood floor in a colourful almost mosaic pattern. Books include: Love at Hell No Anthology Meet Me in Berlin by Samantha L. Valentine Burn by Keri Arthur Robin and Night Walker by Rose Harvey Worthless: A Seven Deadly Signs Story by Bernard and Tish Sivad Death of Angels: Pneumonic plague outbreak in Mayborough by Nerida E. Marshall Tooth Decay with a Side of Fae by Victoria Rocus The Onionologist by M. J. Parfitt Back in the Saddle by Cynthia Terelst Curses & Cold Brew and Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist by Ali K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison Within the Space of a Second by Elise Helliwell Being My Own Witness: Speaking out to be heard by Violet Budd The Rise of Witches and the Fall of Witches by M. L. Jewell Where There's a Will and A Stable Daddy by Anna Sparrows You're so Dead to Me and A Dead and Stormy Night by Steffanie Holmes Psychosis Diagnosis by Nikki Minty Harbingers of Ragnarok: Berserker by Dragyn Jane The Rising (Book 1) by Shannon Figallo
November 13, 2025 at 12:47 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Bought these before we went away and didn't get around to sharing. Meant to buy Vagabond (it sold out in all my locals), and found the other two while I was at it.

Many thanks to King's Comics and Galaxy/Abbey's books in the Sydney CBD for always having the goods.
Three books laid on a light-coloured hardwood floor in a triangular configuration. The book in the top left is "Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees" by Patrick Horvath and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. The cover is a soft, cartoon watercolour scene of a forest clearing from above. A bear drags a bloody sack across the ground, with a shovel in her opposite hand. The book to the top right is "Graveyards: A History of Living with the Dead" by Roger Luckhurst. The cover is cloth-bound in lime green with black text and an engraving-style image of a figure in a coffin-like box. Thames and Hudson's branding mark is in the bottom left corner. The bottom book is "Vagabond" by Tim Curry. The cover has a black and white photo of him seated on wooden planking, with a misty landscape behind him. His hair is windswept about his face, and he wears dark clothing with a contrasting, billowing knit scarf. A red circle on the cover reads "Rich and exhuberent. Tim Curry, one feels, has seen it all - Michael Palin"
November 12, 2025 at 11:56 PM
katerookery.bsky.social
Home from the Sunshine Coast Fiction Festival and have manymany pictures to share of the books (and other goods) purchased, but for now, behold the beautiful horse that was my neighbour for a week.
A photograph of a relaxed cremello horse standing with his hindquarters to the camera in a wood-fenced paddock against a backdrop of dense Australian forest. The edge of a light-coloured building is visible to the left of the frame. The paddock is green with fresh grass, and the horse stands over a pile of hay and straw with his head bent slightly towards the ground.
November 12, 2025 at 12:22 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Went to a handmade market and got some fun goodies. The tiara maker does a bunch of fancier designs, but I've always been a sucker for this particular bat charm people use. The ring is from a friend of a friend's brand and I have a couple of her other pieces. Her designs are always so unique!
A photograph of two pieces of jewellery on top of an undyed cloth bag. The bag is printed with the words "The Queen of Quartz" with a small crown over the Q in 'queen'. An elongated triangle-shaped signet ring nestles in a white foam holder inside a small black box on the bag. It has a triangle of sapphires in different shades of blue in the uppermost corner. The lid of the box has a white sticker with a stylised logo of "MF" in the centre. A tiara is leaned on top of the ring box, decorated with a silver bat charm and wire-wrapped blue crystals.
October 12, 2025 at 9:39 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 11: #FantasyIndiesSpooktober
Snippet Saturday! A little more of Oana and Ittaura for today.

#WIP #RookeryWriting
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter Fifteen The Serifex" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white. The body text reads: “So you’re Kynweyrdi.” A sheet of scrap paper on the book between them sketched the relationships between several kingdoms in Oana’s hand—a crude map of words and squiggled rough borders. Ittaura rested one finger on the line of text indicating Kynwer’s name near the bottom of the page. “Which means you had to cross half a continent, an ocean, and then three more kingdoms to get here.” “Well. Technially, yes. Prince Atto recruited me from one of the Eastern Towers when I was seeking a new position, so I really only crossed Vallare, a sliver of Alamanre, and Elyani at the time.” Oana pointed the more or less straight line west she travelled across the continent, and Ittaura withdrew her own hand. “I haven’t been to Kynweyr in nearly fifteen years, now.” “Is it true that Kynweyrdi midwives are all witches? I heard that Queen Elmrea—” “Ittaura, I’ve told you more times than I can count that there is no such thing as a witch.” Oana looked at the younger woman, torn between bemusement and frustration. More often than not, these conversations veered into the same topic, and she couldn’t tell if Ittaura was forgetting, or simply determined to believe in witches.
October 11, 2025 at 2:48 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
I wore one of my favourite dresses this weekend, and received many compliments along the way. But the best was a bloke who nearly tripped over himself upon seeing my spider bracelet.

"To be honest, I was more scared of you, because who's this woman with a huge spider on her arm like it's nothing."
A photograph from the photographer's perspective, looking down at her own feet. She's seated with her legs stretched ahead of her, the toes of her shoes touching. She wears blue, rose-patterned stockings and a blue and white rose-patterned dress with a ruffled hem and tulle overlay. She rests her left hand on her lap, a dragonscale wedding band visible on her ring finger. She sports a navy blue cuff of lace with a star charm on her wrist, with a large, realistically stylised, tarantula-shaped bracelet on top.
October 6, 2025 at 2:03 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Same picture as far as I'm concerned.
A photograph of a black tanto, wakizashi and katana daisho set on a katana kake display rack. A black, wrinkled backdrop is used to hide the background for the photo.
October 6, 2025 at 1:34 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 6: #FantasyIndiesSpooktober
The are many monsters in the WIP.

As per Oana: vampires are real, ghosts are harmless, werewolves are misunderstood, dragons are dead, and witches don't exist.

There's also a bit of folklore in the North about creatures called dream bears ...
#WIP #RookeryWriting
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter Twelve The Boy" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white, while #WIPSnips #Trap is on the right. The body text reads (with the word 'trap' highlighted in light purple): "Safe, huh. So why do you people sleep in boxes of all things? Damnedest habit.” Tii Galean suddenly handed the boy his boots while he appraised the shut-bed as if he hadn’t properly looked one over before. He seemed to be examining the ventilation openings at the top, the plank walls, the hinged doors and all. The boy hugged his boots to his chest, realising he had to answer the man’s query before he could ask his own. “Because of the cold. And I guess mostly the dream bears—” “See, the cold I can understand, it gets nice and snug inside at night, but what’s a dream bear? That what you people call nightmares or something?” “No, it’s like—um.” The boy frowned. His cheeks felt hot and he thought the man must be once again judging him and his people for being so ‘weird’ and ‘superstitious’. He wasn’t sure what the latter word meant, exactly, but it was somehow bad, and backwards, and dangerous. Neither of the Southerners liked the Superstitious North. “They’re beor’salnja. Dream bears. They’re like monsters that trap you in your sleep and eat your dreams until you die. They can’t get inside a shut-bed for some reason. I dunno.” “Huh, that so. I’m amazed you can sleep at all, with something like that put in your head so young.” The man shifted his gaze from examining the shut-bed to looking pityingly at the boy. “C’mon, then. Hurry up.”
October 6, 2025 at 1:27 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 4: #FantasyIndiesSpooktober
Resharing a previous #WIPSnips snippet because it's my birthday and I'm choosing to be lazy today. Happy Birthday, self!

This is from the scene where the Priestess first encounters the Southern "Merchants" and their apprentice.

#RookeryWriting #WIP
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter One The Priestess" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white, while #WIPSnips #Adventure is on the right. The body text reads (with 'standing' highlighted in light purple): “Lost our way, like. Lost our nag. Fell flat on its ugly face two days ago mid-pull and ain’t no one been by since. ‘Til you.” The standing man was too loud by half—his voice would have reached her at more than twice the distance with ease. Every word snapped out as if he were too impatient to speak to give each sound its due. By contrast, the crouching man stayed silent, his gaze not on her but the solid mare following obediently at her shoulder. He left his more garrulous companion to do the talking while his flat stare ran over the muscular animal from poll to tail. As soon as the black-swathed figure had dismounted, the shorter man’s hand eased away from the sword hilt, and a slimy sort of smile spread across his unshaven, ruddy face. “We’d be obliged if you’d sell us yours. Pay a fortune. Get you to the nearest city before we continue on our way, too.”
October 4, 2025 at 2:52 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
This month's pinned post, once again care of @lvrussell.bsky.social and @chesneyinfalt.bsky.social! Thank you for hosting these monthly prompt participations!
A graphic with a spooky, Halloween background of white cobwebs on a dark field. Red drips like blood from the top of the image, while white ghosts haunt either margin. Green, zombie-like hands reach from the lower portion of the graphic, and a smiling jack-o-lantern decorates the background of the text field in the centre. Text reads in the top centre: #FantasyIndiesSpooktober The body text is divided into two columns. The left column reads: 1. Introduce yourself & WIP 2. Do you/your characters like scary things? 3. Free Friday or share something you are proud of 4. Saturday Snippet 5. What are your characters afraid of? 6. Monsters in WIP 7. Villain's goals 8. Spooky month book recs 9. Favourite paranormal creatures 10. Free Friday or explain your WIP with emojis/gifs 11. Saturday Snippet 12. What do your MC and villain think of each other? 13. Spooky Shelfie 14. Villain's henchmen and/or followers 15. What would you/your characters wear to a Halloween ball? Right column reads: 16. Tricks and/or treats in WIP 17. Free Friday or share a photo of autumn decorations 18. Saturday Snippet 19. Scary moment in WIP 20. Morally grey character(s) 21. Scary movie/TV show recs 22. Creepy poem or flash fiction 23. Who would your characters dress up as for Halloween? 24. Free Friday or share your Halloween plans 25. Saturday Snippet 26. How would your MC react to a haunted house? 27. Goosebumps or Point Horror? 28. Guilt or regret in WIP 29. MC's worst nightmare 30. Is your MC brave? 31. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Text at the bottom centre reads: Hosts: @ChesneyInfalt and @L.V.Russell/@l.v.russell_author
October 1, 2025 at 12:38 PM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 27: #FantasyIndiesSeptember
Another snippet from the untitled prequel this time, because I'm mulling over some changes in the larger WIP structure.

Our poor shepherd is beyond terrified of the person he's meant to be ask for help.

#WIP #RookeryWriting
(Reposting because used the wrong draft)
A graphic of a white text field on a blue-grey background. Decorative text at the top reads "Untitled Work in Progress" on the left, and "Chapter One The Shepherd" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white. The body text reads: The climb from the road was the steepest grade he’d yet encountered, but the shepherd held his seat admirably for a novice. The grey sometimes paused to gather his haunches beneath him to overcome dips and sharp inclines in the track, and during those moments, the man clung to his mane with gritted teeth as Predjyr’s head groom had instructed him to do. Compared to the time spent on the Queen’s Highway, his journey out of the valley and into the trees was short. Before he knew it, he was blinking into the bright open air of a wide clearing, and the sturdy gelding came to a gentle stop. Some part of him, a very large part of him, wanted to turn around on the spot and go home. He could claim she refused to come, or that she turned him away without caring. He could say she wasn’t even in residence when he arrived, and nobody would be the wiser! He swallowed his fear as best he could, and swung his leg over the horse’s back to dismount. As soon as his feet touched the ground, his knees and ankles buckled like sacks of wet grain, weakened by their unaccustomed use in the saddle. He clung to the horse’s neck and one stirrup, and despite his trembling, the animal stood patiently. He didn’t stir even a hoof in protest while the ragged shepherd recovered the use of his wits and his limbs. “All right. We’re all right.” The man pressed his forehead into the grey neck, eyes closed and heart hammering. He stood there a while longer, his cold, wet face mashed into hot, damp horsehair. “Just a little dizzy. Just the heat. Nothing to do with … with where we are. Just the heat.”
September 27, 2025 at 3:06 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 20: #FantasyIndiesSeptember
I realised that out of all the snippets I've shared so far, I've yet to include any of the book's framing. The story is being written, in-world, by a scribe assigned to translate and modernise an expansive but boring collection of personal diaries.
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Prologue The Tower Scribe" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white The body text reads: It took the scribe a few moments to slide into to the grip of the flowing script, crawling from left to right like entangling serpents, and a few moments longer to surrender to the stiff style of speech the writer employed. There were many books older than this specimen in the Tower—many that they’d personally handled in their career already—but very few were written in this particular dialect, so they repeatedly scanned a few lines before finding a rhythm in their reading. Though excited to delve into the secrets of the tome, the scribe soon found their anticipation becoming confusion, and before long dejection. The book was not in fact some recently unearthed and thrilling treatise on the hidden secrets of serifex arrays, but instead someone’s very boring, very ordinary, very domestic diary. There was even a list of what the author had eaten for each meal of the day, and what time they had gone to bed the night before. The scribe sighed their disappointment, leaned back from the book and pressed their spectacles to sit more firmly on the bridge of their nose with one ink-stained forefinger. “I see you find it just as dull and dusty as my last victim did.” The scribe nearly leapt out of their robes at the low voice from the doorway.
September 20, 2025 at 3:54 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 19: #FantasyIndiesSeptember
I lost my other girl to cancer earlier this year, so my Dandi-pants is the primary menace in the house now. She's still learning how to navigate the furniture to reach my desk so she can more effectively pester me for attention at all times, but she'll figure it out.
A long-haired torbie and white cat with a very orange face and green eyes sits on a grey blanket on a sofa. A screaming goldfish plushie and a plushie of Isabelle from Animal Crossing wearing an Animal Crossing cap are behind her on the seat.
September 19, 2025 at 2:43 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
So when I say I'm going to be annoying about this, I mean that the original game is one of my all-time favourite otome games. I made a spreadsheet for tracking the routes instead of finding a guide to 100% it, and a small section of the sheet looks like this ... so ...
A spreadsheet in alternating blues. Text entries with a + are bold and red. Columns headers read: Answer, Response, Follow-up Answer, Response, Follow-up Answer, Response, Follow-up Answer, Response. Text in the spreadsheet relates to gameplay in Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds. Entries largely nonsensical without knowing the game. Rows 3-4 read: Find a way to escape. No Reaction Followe-up Answers: Stay Put: Okita+ / Sanan? Run for it: Hijikata+ / Iba? Rows 5-7: Attempt to explain my situation. No Reaction Follow-up Answers: Decided to tell them why I'd come to Kyoto: Saito+ / Leads to Nagakura? Decided to tell them I wasn't a boy: Heisuke+ Gave up: Harada+ Rows 8-9: Stay put: Kondou Arrives Follow-up Answers: I could… / Kondou says he'll speak with Hijikata / Leads to Hijikata, possibly Iba Wow… / No Reaction / Sanan? Rows 10-11: Talk to Someone: Encounter Saito and Okita Follow-up Answers: It's to test my skills: Okita+ I just can't get myself to do it: Saito+ Rows 12-13: Search the Compound: Encounter Harada, Nagakura and Heisuke Follow-up Answers: Sure, when I get the chance someday / Heisuke+ No, I can't / Harada+ Leads to Nagakura? Rows 14-17: Ask to Help: No Reaction / Leads to later interaction by group; not sure with whom / Heisuke / Sanan? Quietly Return to Your Room: No Reaction / Harada, Nagakura? Rows 18-19 (in dark pink): Thanks. / Harada+ … Rows 20-21: Worried. / Heisuke+ Happy. CG Scene Row 22: Stay Behind: Okita comes to talk to you Rows 23-24: Accompany Hijikata: No Reaction; Meet Iba Follow-up Answers: Apologize / Iba+; Leads to interaction later Explain / Leads to Hijikata Rows 25-26: Join Rounds: Join Nagakura, Harada and Todou for their rounds; Meet Souma Follow-up Answers: Actually, I'm a page / Souma+ No, I'm not Rows 27-28: Go to Fushimi: Join Saito at Terada Inn; meet "Saitani"/Sakamoto Ryouma Follow-up Answers: Are you sure? I would appreciate it. / Leads to Saito Oh, no thank you. / Sakamoto+ And I've run out of characters
September 16, 2025 at 12:08 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
No new pics, where are you at mentally
A screenshot from Sailor Moon Crystal of Hino Rei on a bus. She has been drawn almost impossibly badly, with her facial features too small and too "low" on her head. She touches her face as if receiving a psychic vision of the future.
September 11, 2025 at 3:40 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
I've done a lot of snippets recently of the more-developed novel I'm working on, but this opening for the first chapter of the prequel really caught the attention of two of my test readers last month.

#WednesdayWIPs #WIP #RookeryWriting #AmWriting
A graphic of a white text field on a blue-grey background. Decorative text at the top reads "Untitled Work in Progress" on the left, and "Chapter One The Shepherd" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white. The body text reads: The shepherd knew that he was dying. Oh, it wasn’t the ride that was killing him, that was just added wretchedness. He mopped his cheeks and brow with his kerchief and, for the three hundred, forty-sixth time, he cursed his misery to Nelira in the heavens. Or perhaps it was now the three hundred, forty-eighth time? He had at some point lost track of the number of curses he heaped onto his unhappiness, and that became another curse in itself. At the start of the journey, he had turned his tongue to curse the short lot he’d pulled from the bundle presented to the crowd. That curse had soon twisted in his mouth to curse the grey horse he’d been loaned by the innkeeper for this journey. Before long, that curse had slithered back into his throat and become apologies to the fine and patient beast, before shifting again to curse his own greenness in the saddle. By the time he reached curse three hundred, forty-eight—or nine?—he had lost coherent thought about what to attribute his misery to and had simply taken to cursing the misery. The sun beat down onto his head in spite of his hat, and he knew his cheeks beneath its brim would by now be wan and clammy. He had slept poorly for months, lost his appetite and vigour, and had realised only days before this one that death was coming for him soon. His wife had gone the same way only the year before, just before summer began, and he must be nursing whatever ailment had sent her searching for a rope to end it. Their elder son had been the one to find her in the shearing shed, dangling from a rafter in her bare feet.
September 3, 2025 at 9:14 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Post a random picture or else everything will go bad in September:
A screenshot from a Japanese roach-killing ad, in which a mother and her child excitedly watch a yukionna (a usually malevolent snow spirit from Japanese folklore) in a white kimono blast a roach to death with her frigid breath in their living room. The yukionna has adopted a frankly badass horse stance to kill the roach.
September 1, 2025 at 6:19 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
September's pinned prompts!
Thank you again to @chesneyinfalt.bsky.social and @lvrussell.bsky.social hosting #FantasyIndiesSeptember.
A graphic with writer's paraphernalia scattered across a yellow-cream background, including quills, stamps, typewriters, and books. White text reads #FatansyIndiesSeptember in a mustard yellow box at the top. White text in a mustard coloured box is separated into two columns. The first column reads: 1. Introduce yourself & WIP 2. How do you choose your next read? 3. Education in WIP 4. Character hobbies 5. Free Friday or share some of your favourite fandoms 6. Saturday Snippet 7. Something in your WIP that surprised you 8. Would/does your MC like school? 9. What magic or superhuman powers would you and your MC choose to have? 10. Does your MC covet knowledge or power? 11. Do you know what your next WIP will be? 12. Free Friday or books that remind you of autumn 13. Saturday Snippet 14. Your favourite books 15. Where would your MC like to visit? The second column reads: 16. Marketing advice 17. Your autumn TBR 18. Power-hungry character in WIP 19. Free Friday or share pet photos 20. Saturday Snippet 21. Pass on some author wisdom! 22. What type of book would your MC(s) write? 23. What grammar rule catches you out? 24. Interesting fact(s) from your WIP’s world’s history 25. What would be MC’s favourite subject in school? 26. Free Friday or share something you’re looking forward to 27. Saturday Snippet 28. What stage is your WIP in? 29. Are you/MC an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert? 30. Monthly Wrap Up Text at the bottom in another mustard coloured box reads: Hosts: @ChesneyInfalt & @L.V.Russell/@l.v.russell_author
September 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Day 30: #FantasyIndiesAugust
Got a little behind with recent events, so here's my final #WIP #snippet for the month. The boy is fond of animals as a rule, but the ancient gelding the men use to pull their sled becomes a source of particular comfort for him.

#RookeryWriting
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter Four The Boy" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white The body text reads: "I was gonna call you Brownie, but I’m gonna to call you Tii Velvet instead.” One morning the boy confessed his decision to the horse in a tiny voice that only the animal could hear. He knew the gelding understood about as much Quithsali as he did whatever bleating language his captors spoke together, but he thought maybe the horse grasped his tone. His da had said animals can hear your intentions towards them and always spoke to the horses he was shoeing in a deep murmur. The boy couldn’t mimic his da’s far more mature and resonant tones, so he kept his voice light and cheerful for the old animal instead, as if the horse was the one who spent each night crying in his sleep. “Da says velvet’s a fancy fabric, and it feels like horse lips, and rich people make their party clothes from it. That’s funny, isn’t it? Making clothes that feel like horse lips on purpose.” The boy rubbed his hand against the gelding’s bewhiskered muzzle gently, and quite suddenly realised how much he missed his da and mam and all his siblings in Vangaven. He blinked back his tears and hugged the horse’s face more tightly. The gelding was always tolerant of the boy’s clinging, and seemed to relish any kindness he received. He huffed gently through his nose against the boy’s chest a few times.
August 31, 2025 at 4:27 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Today's #WIPSnips for #Broad shows the gap of understanding between being eight and being an adult. Why is lying funny? The boy surely doesn't know.
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter Four The Boy" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white, while #WIPSnips #Broad is on the right. The body text reads (with 'broad' highlighted in light purple): "Vilke. Think it means sweat or piss or something—look, told ‘em we were merchants. Gotta act like merchants at least a little bit.” Tii Galean sighed. “Shit job you did of it. Not knowing prices, forgetting where the ribbons was from.” Lolling now on his pile of blankets, Tii Mardus rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You saved my skin there—how’d you remember it? You never pay attention to the manifests they give us.” “I didn’t.” “Say again?” “I said ‘I didn’t’. I don’t know where the rutting ribbons came from. I made something up.” Tii Galean paused in front of the pile of loose hay where he was about to throw his own sheepskin and stared at the other man. Tii Mardus, for once, was smiling a broad and cheeky grin full of crooked, stained teeth—it was larger than the smile the night he’d caught Tii Galean out on his song, made wider perhaps for the vilke. They both gave over to laughter at precisely the same time and left the boy once again uncertain as to why—was a lie so simple that funny?
August 29, 2025 at 5:20 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Today's #WIPSnips entry for #Stand is from very near the beginning of the tale, when the Priestess first encounters two rough-shod men and their new 'apprentice' on the road.

#WIP #RookeryWriting
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter One The Priestess" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white, while #WIPSnips #Adventure is on the right. The body text reads (with 'standing' highlighted in light purple): “Lost our way, like. Lost our nag. Fell flat on its ugly face two days ago mid-pull and ain’t no one been by since. ‘Til you.” The standing man was too loud by half—his voice would have reached her at more than twice the distance with ease. Every word snapped out as if he were too impatient to speak to give each sound its due. By contrast, the crouching man stayed silent, his gaze not on her but the solid mare following obediently at her shoulder. He left his more garrulous companion to do the talking while his flat stare ran over the muscular animal from poll to tail. As soon as the black-swathed figure had dismounted, the shorter man’s hand eased away from the sword hilt, and a slimy sort of smile spread across his unshaven, ruddy face. “We’d be obliged if you’d sell us yours. Pay a fortune. Get you to the nearest city before we continue on our way, too.”
August 27, 2025 at 9:02 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
Today's entry for #WIPSnips and #Adventure shows that not all is terror for the boy at the Mother's Embrace Inn. He encounters a pair of other children and for a little while, gets to pretend things are normal again.
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter Fourteen The Boy" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white, while #WIPSnips #Adventure is on the right. The body text reads (with 'adventure' highlighted in light purple): Ollie looked askance at Emmie, the elder questioning the younger for consent to say yes, but she was too busy admiring Courage to notice. Her agreement was immediate, and the three children joined together in playing without having to bother with much discussion of rules or sharing. They traded Courage back and forth as ideas came to them, and took turns winding and throwing Ollie’s new top when they weren’t the one sending the horse on long adventures. Emmie alternated between narrating Courage’s deeds of bravery and derring-do, and explaining why they’d moved to Fairpass from their home in Bragfall further west. She didn’t ask any questions of the boy, and was perfectly happy to fill any silences with impromptu stories of Courage defeating bandits all by himself, and trampling bad-guys with impunity and silver horseshoes. Ollie didn’t say much at all, but sometimes inserted clarifications in Emmie’s storytelling, or corrected her exaggerations and fibs when he thought she went too far. “We didn’t see a witch in camp, Emmie. It was an owl.”
August 26, 2025 at 10:12 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
I was in the middle of getting really frustrated about something trivial, but then this notification popped up. So now I'm just laughing. 😂
Thank you, @chiitan-usa.bsky.social

でも何で？馬好きか？
A screenshot of a Bluesky notification, with white text on a dark blue background. A heart icon and the user icon for chiitan are in the top left. Text reads: 🏳️‍⚧️I'm chiitan☺️Japanese crazy mascot🏳️‍🌈 liked your post - now As for the boy, after being taken from his home, he tells his secrets to the men's decrepit old horse for a while to comfort himself. He'll have someone to trust with his secrets again eventually, but for now it's better for him to keep them to himself.
August 25, 2025 at 4:09 AM
katerookery.bsky.social
For #WIPSnips #Same, the Priestess goes out to check on the livery's staff during the ongoing blizzard in Fairpass. Tying into today's #FantasyIndiesAugust a bit, by choosing a passage with quite a few Quithsali names in it.

#WIP #RookeryWriting
A graphic of a white text field on a purple background. Decorative text at the top reads "Moonlight in Her Eyes" on the left, and "Chapter Thirteen The Priestess" on the right. A crescent moon frames the text to the right, while the bluesky handle @katerookery.bsky.social is beneath the text on the left in white, while #WIPSnips #Same is on the right. The body text reads (with the word 'same' highlighted in light purple): “Aye, well.” The old man squinted as if he could ill-remember the roster he’d planned, but Amaressa knew from years of long acquaintance that he was delaying only for his own entertainment. He held up a gnarled hand to count the boys on his fingers. “They’ll be up shortly for their oats, and I reckon I’ll have them out with you from the hour of the hare. I think first pair is Haedjyr and Olef.” “When shall I return them to you?” “Oh, not me.” Grae shook his head, flapped the same hand in a vague direction beyond her. “Send them straight to the kitchen at the hour of the mare for their middays. Going to send all the lads over after they’ve been out in the yard from today on—a bit of a treat not to have to eat my cooking after all the snow and what not. Young Tasche’s idea. Knows I’m not much good for anything but making up the hacks’ mash. Next pair’ll be out soon after that and we’ll see how they fare.” “Mmmmn—Lilje entreated me to bring this to you. Perhaps another of her sister’s considerations.” Amaressa produced the ceramic flask from within her robes and handed it over to the livery keeper. He accepted the parcel with a firm grip that defied the arthritic bend of his knuckles, and tucked it into the crook of one elbow with an appreciative grin behind his beard. “Bless those lasses. I somehow always burn the stuff. Tastes like mildewed potato if I make it.” He laughed, shuffling to a nearby table. “Care to share a mug before you return to battle with the great, white beastie?”
August 24, 2025 at 8:05 AM