Anywhere I Wander

Anywhere I Wander by Togi Kayako (土宜草子) first appeared in issue Issue 90 in 2021.

Summary

Ex-mercenary Lyss has carved out her own little corner of the wasteland with a group of like-minded folks and it’s flourishing. She’s all set to relax and celebrate an excellent harvest when a woman breaks into the compound, leaving Lyss to balance what she wants against keeping her heart safe.

F/F/F/F | 15,150 words

Author's Notes

This is actually my third attempt at a story for this issue. The other two grew out of control (which seems oddly appropriate for a sci-fi theme!) and were probably going to need to be well over 25,000 words if I was going to do them justice. I’m hoping one of them may yet see the light of day in December.

My initial idea for this included actual porn being projected onto the screen with the shadows over the top, but I scrapped that for a bunch of reasons. Thus, the projector is broken. :) The idea initially leaned more toward the smut, but then it caught feelings (and a sort of vague Wild West vibe) and here we are! Thanks to Emm and Sam for beta reading.

Bonus Trivia

• The compound (a former drive-in theater) is based on the Starlight Drive In from Fallout 4 and the title comes from a Fallout New Vegas quest. I was also considering “I Could Make You Care” because it’s a better quest, but I think this makes a better title.
• Despite this, the apocalypse is probably not the same as the Fallout universe’s. Massive climate change and some rampant, irresponsible genetic tinkering have happened on top of whatever other disasters there might’ve been.
• Dee’s scales, and probably a lot of other folks’ unusual skin/coloration patterns, probably run along Blaschko’s lines.
• The part-animal folks who use single-syllable names is stolen from an old NaNoWriMo project of mine, though it was fantasy rather than vaguely sci-fi. Everyone has longer names, but they’re considered very personal to share (and in the fantasy version, magically powerful as well)
• I left exactly how animal-featured these folks are ambiguous, so free free to imagine anywhere from “decorative animal touches” to “definitely a furry” however the spirit moves you.