Doin' my Best

🩷Wicked💚

She Sees Through Her (A gelphie-centric longfic)

Unsteady Ground (A gelphie-centric one-shot)

An Impasse (A gelphie-centric one-shot)

🐸Naruto🍥

Basking in the Glow of Glory (A Sannin-centric longfic)

Sorry to report that the next chapter of my ongoing Gelphie fic, She Sees Through Her, is delayed. For how long? Honestly not sure, but probably 2 weeks at the earliest 😅I dropped the ball a bit because I've been unwell and the UK was blasted with a horrendous heatwave that completely obliterated my bandwidth for concentration 🫠 UK heatwaves hit different, I swear.

ANYWAY, I'm just putting this out there to reassure my readers (who also check this page I guess??) that I've not abandoned it by any stretch of the imagination. Just need an extension 🥰

Thanks for sticking with me and for your truly lovely response to the previous chapter 💚🩷

See you soon,

TectonicDisaster02

Chapter 28: Longing is ready to roll 😎

Can't wait for you to read this one - defo a favourite chapter of mine. Lots of plot, lots of characters, LOTS of longing (hence the title)...And not long until the promised happy ending 💚🩷

Chapter 28 of my on-going Gelphie fic, She Sees Through Her, will be posted next Wednesday 💚🩷 For now, please enjoy this sneak peek! You can catch up here 😇 Appreciate the support! Working on some fanart too, so watch this space 👀

*Spoilers ahead if you've not caught up, of course*

From Chapter 28: Longing

Fliaan was, Elphaba had to admit, full to the brim with the peace and solace she had craved the night she left Oz.

Presently, she was quite literally doing nothing but listening to the birds. She tilted her head back, letting out a sigh. There was a chill in the air, being late January, and the garden she’d been attempting to cultivate over the handful of years was wilting from the cold. The poppies - Nessa’s poppies, as she referred to them as - were the only things still in bloom, bringing a splash of red and pink to the otherwise grey expanse that surrounded Gold’s Rest.

She and Fiyero had found it in the end, that fabled cottage belonging to Cecily Upland. It was tucked away in a quiet corner of Evervein, a cobbled town nestled in the heart of Fliaan, though it had been in a state of disrepair when they eventually arrived. It took two years of hard work to clean the place out and make sure the foundations were sound, but, as Elphaba had been pleasantly surprised to learn, the people of Evervein were more than happy to lend a hand. She and Fiyero stayed in the local inn while it was being mended, practically free of charge. They were both somewhat of a fascination to the Fliaanians - not only were they from Oz, a country they thought to be almost mythical, but she was green, and he was a living scarecrow. 

At first, Elphaba’s back was up. She didn’t like to be stared at or treated as a curiosity. It reminded her far too much of what she’d escaped. But the scrutiny came not from scorn - rather they were simply fascinated by her. It was helped by the fact so few of them had met Ozians before, so as far as they were concerned, everyone beyond the Deadly Desert might’ve been green or some other varied colour. Elphaba wasn’t about to correct them. For the first time in her life, the looks she was receiving were not those of fear. The Fliaanians practically embraced she and Fiyero as their own, not caring for skin colour or burlap flesh. Certainly, Fiyero’s ceaseless charm helped with that - he had his own fanclub within a month of arriving in Evervein - though she couldn’t help but wonder whether the locals were simply kinder than those she had grown up with. Green or not, it seemed like the Ozians were allergic to her presence even before they were taught to fear her thanks to Morrible’s smear campaign. Whether or not it was something entrenched within her old countrymen remained a mystery to Elphaba, but regardless, she cherished the unexpected hospitality of her new neighbours and tried not to bristle too much if she felt pairs of eyes watching her as she meandered around the market square. 

Truthfully, she was surprised that Gold’s Rest even existed. Pinning all her hopes on a wild tale from Cecily’s aggrandized lips was a risky thing. Even Fiyero said as much, when he finally caught up with her on her pilgrimage, and discovered her plan. But it was the only corner beyond Oz that Elphaba had heard of. Since the place had been standing empty and no one could actually locate its owner (Cecily’s alleged lover), there were no complaints when Elphaba and Fiyero decided to move in. You do it up, and it’s yours, the town Mayor had said. She was a stern but fair woman by the name of Glifina Dhomarel, and she, like most of Evervein’s residents, was rather taken with Fiyero. Honestly, Elphaba smirked to herself, he’s no better than a walking sack of straw, and he still has oodles of charisma. 

They’d spoken about it, his transformation. When they’d made the perilous journey across the desert and Elphaba actually had the time to process what had happened to him - her head was a mess since leaving - she’d felt nothing but guilt. She couldn’t help but remember what she’d inadvertently put Boq through, and how much pain he’d seemed to be in. Of course, Fiyero’s pain had been for another reason, given Avaric’s brutal treatment, and he’d assured her that he could not feel a thing during the ordeal.

But the man could not eat, drink, or sleep. While he could feel, it wasn’t the same as when he was entirely human. He had emotions. He still laughed at corny jokes, still got frustrated if something didn’t go his way, and still felt sad if he saw a crushed snail on the cobbled path that led up to their cottage. He could also feel pressure whenever Elphaba held his hand, or tapped him in the shoulder. But he had quite literally chopped a few of his fingers off doing some building work and hadn’t even noticed until one of the other villagers had let out an earsplitting shriek. Elphaba had sewn them back on, feeling slightly sick, and had to periodically restuff him with straw when he lost it through the shoddy job she’d done. He took it all in a wobbly stride, though. He even made light of it. 

‘You know what I miss most, even more than a nice whisky or a lovely romp?’ he would say cheerfully. ‘...Taking a massive dump.’

Elphaba would pull a face and mutter under her breath about how foul such a proclamation was, and he’d laugh it off or pat her on the back. He always thanked her for saving his life, and assured her that not being ‘enslaved’ to bodily needs was in fact quite freeing. 

Yet he still had nightmares. Though nightmares was the wrong word, since he technically never slept. But Elphaba would hear him crying out in the early hours, and when she would run to him, he would be clutching the back of his head where Avaric dealt the final blow. She would cradle him when that happened. He couldn’t cry, and yet he sobbed. 

Thank u for your support, firstly!! 🫶

Happy to🙂‍↕️ When I first started the fic, I was only going to cover the Shiz era, and have each chapter focus on one specific element of Elphaba or Glinda's respective childhoods. However, the more I wrote, the more it evolved, and I realised the story I wanted to tell went beyond Shiz. I'd had the first 15 chapters planned out before I even started, but when I realised the story was growing, I tweaked the plan and decided to firm up the world building and introduce OCs etc.!

Generally with each chapter, I write out the major plot points. Then I decide which POV would be best suited to telling that section (obviously it's easier when the girls are apart). I then write a more detailed structure in each POV - this looks like the ramblings of a madwoman if anyone ever saw my notebook 💀 - and start writing!

Naturally the chapters change and evolve the more I write, so I'm constantly going back and adding notes. When I'm happy with the draft, I send it off to my lovely beta readers, who help with typos and offer different perspectives 🥰

Since I started to focus on the world building aspects, I used aspects from Maguire's universe and what I remembered from Baum's original Oz novels (which I loved as a kid!) and incorporated more and more of their work into mine, especially with religions. I found that stuff so interesting that I ended up reading Wicked! So the fic suddenly became a mashup of the stage/movie verse, the OG verse, and Maguire's verse - with my own ideas and creative liberties of course.

Working on the next chapter as we speak and it's gonna be a good one (I hope) 🩷💚

Started this months ago and forgot about it 💀 It's been a hoot to pick up my pencil again 🥹

Extremely anxious about this chapter 😟 But I hope you all enjoy it. Chapter 27: Sacrifice is ready and waiting 🩷💚

For those still reading and interested, the next chapter of She Sees Through Her is delayed. Apologies - should be ready by next Weds.

I've started a new job and am also planning to move, so haven't had much time 🥺 But it's about two thirds finished so that's something!

I really appreciate your patience and support! 💚🩷