#ladyboots

The Miraculous Seven: Rose

Here's the next chapter in the Miraculous Western AU I've co-written with @uptoolateart, generously beta read by @raspberrycatapult and featuring various artists whose pieces are shared and acknowledged as they are released alongside the chapters! Written as part of the @mlbigbang.

Summary:

Guns, glitter, and getaways!

Now that the Miraculous Seven have banded together, they need to head back to the village! As the posse packs their widowmakers and poisons into a wagon that appears out of nowhere, horses get up to hijinx, muscles get to flexin', and a magician and his "assistant" get too cute for a blurb to effectively capture! Will they rise to the occasion, or will they eat gravel?

Read on, li'l dogies!

Preview:

“So, that’s the story of your mother,” Ladyboots said. “What about you, Kagami?”

“Oh.” Kagami frowned. “Did I not say? My mother was good with machines but not so much with children. Felix had seen us together at one point or another—our families ran in the same circles—and he kidnapped me one night.” She said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Everyone gaped at her.

“Kidnapped?” Alya echoed. “Does he keep you in chains at night? Does he let you go to the bathroom alone? Blink twice if you’re his captive!”

Kagami blinked six times, as if in bewilderment. “Yes, no, and yes. He climbed in through my window and landed right on my bed. I woke up and grabbed my sword from its scabbard, but…well, I still don’t know how he did it, but he made it disappear right out of my hands.”

“Disappear?” Luka echoed in obvious disbelief. 

“Mm-hm. In my shock, he threw me over his shoulder and leapt right out of the second-story window. We landed on a horse and took off.”

“Oh my God, y’all are so cool,” Alya said.

The Miraculous Seven, chapter seven—Cactus Noir

Here's the next chapter in the Miraculous Western AU I've co-written with @uptoolateart, generously beta read by @raspberrycatapult and various artists whose pieces are shared and acknowledged as they are released alongside the chapters! Written as part of the @mlbigbang.

Summary:

A flamboyant double, a stone-faced bladewoman, and a deadly production that make the audience squirm! Ladyboots leads the gang into a smoky den to recruit the conjurer Felix Fathom and his partner Kagami Tsurugi. But are these two more than a deck of cards and a pretty face? Cactus worries they won't survive the Black Widower's web, and that these miraculous seven have an appointment with the undertaker!

Preview:

Ladyboots pushed through the crowd so their group could get a better view. Maybe it was just her presence, but the audience gave way. Then, in the time it took to say cowboy cataclysm, Cactus and his companions were at the front.

On stage was a man who looked eerily familiar, dressed in an expensive-looking black suit, complete with a tailored coat. All of it was patterned in gold stars, suns, and crescent moons, even his lace-up waistcoat. His shirt was tied at the neck with a flamboyant bow, and on his head sat a very tall, black top hat that appeared to be made of silk.

As they watched, he took off his hat, revealing a crown of golden curls, also familiar. Cactus’s breath caught at the sight. It was uncanny.

“You could be twins,” Rose marvelled at his side.

His chest tightened. By golly, she was right.

On his other side, Ladyboots clapped him on the back. “He’s got your fashion sense for sure, Cactus!”

Chapter 3 Preview

Inside the saloon, Ladyboots put her hands on her hips, her coiled-up lasso flaring out as she spun to look at her three new companions—two out-of-towners, and whatever the hell Cactus Noir was. They were standing by the door like kiddies hiding behind their mama’s skirts, staring around the place with wide eyes.

Ladyboots arched an eyebrow. “Are y’all just gonna stand around like skunks in September, or are we gettin’ somethin’ to drink?”

Without waiting for the slowpokes, she marched forward, boots thudding loudly on the wooden floor of the saloon and spurs clinking, announcing her arrival.

Every head turned her way. They always did.

She locked eyes with the man behind the bar, blinking with pleasant surprise. It was Nat Kurtzberg, her favorite bartender in the region. He must have moved further west to pursue his artistic ambitions. Always insisting he needed the wide open space and inherent loneliness of the desert to get in “the zone”, yet always falling back in with people again.

Her kind of person.

Read at Ao3

Banner art by @kuromori4

Continuing the trend of unnecessary cover art, here is a fake cover for the @mlbigbang fic I've co-written with @uptoolateart,

The Miraculous Seven

Chapter two just went live on Ao3, and it features art by @jademoon2u!

Summary: Juleka and Rose arrive in the next town over to look for Luka, but meet two unexpected strangers first.

Preview:

Juleka shared a look with Rose. There was no point wasting time on this guy. There was no way in hell he was going to be able to help them with their problem. He had too many of his own. And if they weren’t careful, those problems would rub off on them like shit on a shoe.

Speaking of….

Rose held her nose. “Ugh! What’s that awful smell?”

Cactus glanced at his horse. “Oh, this’n’s Plagg. I smear camembert on’m so the coyotes git scurred away.” He delivered this in a suddenly different accent, a painful effort at sounding like a local.

“Camembert?” Rose echoed.

“It’s a type of cheese. My family always had it imported from….” He stopped there, going almost as red as the saloon.

He cleared his throat. “Say, now, pardners! I don’t s’pose I be reckonising either’a you twos either. Be you from afar?”

Was he a cowboy or a pirate? Did he even know?

“Yes,” Rose said slowly. “Actually, we were just on our way into the saloon, so if you don’t mind—”

“Fantastic!” Cactus cried, like they’d just made his whole year. “I was going in there, too!”

The bonuses for April 06, 2016 are:

Forest Primary, Ridgeback, Glimmer Gene.