Chugging away at WIPs

^^fingers hit some buttons as I started typing and I rolled with it :) Thanks for the tag, @memento-morri-writes!! As usual, I interpreted the word line like a total idiot. Bon appetit!

A line about the sun:

Quintus closes his eyes. In the sunlight, everything behind his lids is buttery warm.

A line about tears/crying:

Perhaps because they are moving towards a clear goal, or because the breaking dawn casts a soothing light, Quintus speaks for the first time. “It’s not your fault.” [Miriam's] gaze latches on to his, and her large, dark eyes fill with tears. “Or Andromeda’s. Or Camille’s.” Quintus doesn’t know what to do with her tears, so he ignores them. “It’s not even Nikolaos’s fault.”

A line where someone learns a lesson:

“What do the others use?” “Honey, sometimes oil,” Quintus listed off, on one hand. “Quills to cover the tips. Tongs of some sort to grasp the arrowhead. Knives to carve away the skin around it.” Nikolaos turns away and retches. “Stop,” he says. “Stop. I’ll find you some quills then, shall I?”

A line that surprised you when you wrote it:

“Do you know most people have twelve ribs on each side?” [Quintus] blusters. “Yet, inexplicably, some don’t. I’ve come across bodies with less, and bodies with more.”

Thanks to @the-inkwell-variable for the tag!

📝 Search for the given words in your story. If your story doesn't have a word, you can use a variation on it or a word with a similar meaning.

These are from Miles From Morning...

AWFUL BAD

He’s appealing in a bad-life-choices kind of way and I half want to piss him off just to get one of those fists in my face.

SUN

A cab passes close enough to light up the room for a couple of seconds, a blue-white flash of simulated sunlight to remind me how long it’s been since I saw the real thing without a window in the way.

LOST

We both stare straight ahead in some twisted kind of reverential grief until I break the silence with, “I’m sorry you lost someone.”

SMILE

Viande sighs. “You got to stop flirting with everyone who walks in here with a bunch of scars and wicked smile.”

Tagging @theeccentricraven, @thegreatobsesso, @touloser-lautrec and @writingrosesonneptune if you'd like to do it, with an open tag for anyone else who wants to join in.

The words so search your story for are crack, break, rip, and tear 💜

Reblogs, replies etc on my tag posts are always welcome, but if you're doing this tag yourself, please make your own post instead of using mine to start a reblog chain.

Thanks for these, @willtheweaver and @writernopal! <3 Here are the last lines I wrote today...

"Take off your pants," Nikolaos says, just for fun. "I ought to kill you," Quintus replies.

Thanks for tagging me, @wintersenwritings! My word is STAR

S: “Surely you must...know...something!” Tristan gasped as he clambered up the hill behind Crispin.

T: The servant’s hands clasped him roughly and she hurried them along at the pace of her distemper.

A: At the same time, the very wood of the floor, the casements of the doors and windows, the plaster and brick of the walls, creaked and moaned as if the room could hardly bear to contain the entity within it.

R: “Remove him at once. This is unseemly.” she said simply.

Tagging: @teriwrites, @theink-stainedfolk, @writingamongther0ses and

@leahnardo-da-veggie !

Today I'm playing with PIANO -- thank you for the tag, @artdecosupernova-writing!!!

P. “Peachy,” Sutton fired back. “And you?”

I. “If you left now,” Jacob said, calculating, “You’d get home at close to four in the morning.”

A. “Aw,” Jacob said sadly, and pulled out a pair of chopsticks to help the poor thing on its journey to the afterlife. The afterlife, meaning the trashcan.

N. “Now I feel like a baby,” Sutton muttered. “Throwing a fit over this.”

O. “Oh, no,” Michael said. “I’ve just heard stories.”

@queen-tashie and @oh-no-another-idea tagged me in a last line, while @abitscripturient tagged me to share six lines. So...

Dora hooked her fingers in and pulled. Despite all the dirt, it opened easily, revealing a ladder down, lit with floodlights.

"You were right," she said as Amarya beamed.

Nikolas laughed as he straightened up.

"You first, Boss."

Amarya grabbed the ladder and began to climb down.

The wonderful @pluttskutt tagged me in this one -- thank you!!! I've done Quintus and Miriam already, so you know that means it's Nikolaos's chance to shine ;)

Rules: find three images to summarize an OC.

Wow this was actually really difficult-- he's hard to quantify in just a few photos I guess!! Sorry, darling, this is a pale attempt.

This is an old tag from my dear @reneesbooks -- thank you!!! It's only been an outrageous amount of time since you tagged me, but look, I'm alive, despite my egregious writer's block and exhaustion :D Taking this time to work on some editing and also fill my tank up with lots of reading!

🧭Guidelines: post a torment of your blorbo and everyone cackle in glee all together! Then pass the tag to a few friends ;)

Quintus wakes up crying. Around him, their makeshift camp is still, the embers of the fire still smoldering beneath a blanket of ash. The sky is lightening at the horizon, but the remainder of the world is dark, empty of birdsong, of any signs of life. Quintus has one foot still in the dream, floundering. He glances around hurriedly, spotting Miriam curled up in a ball to his left, and then the lump that is Nikolaos’s body, on the right. Everything is fine, he tries to tell himself, lying back down, though the effort that takes is monumental. The night is still, quiet. He doesn’t know how many minutes pass. Each inhale is agonizing. Finally, he throws back his blankets, barely feeling the cold, and crawls across the packed dirt. Nikolaos is on his stomach, facedown, buried in blankets. Just like – just like – Quintus grabs at him, choking a little as he tries to tip Nikolaos’s bulky body over. He’s made heavier still with sleep, and the task isn’t easy, but Quintus is animated by something unholy and works frantically nonetheless. Nikolaos stirs, smacking halfheartedly at him. Quintus can’t believe it, can’t be sure it’s real, so he fusses, trying to get a hand on Nikolaos’s neck, to feel for his pulse – “What the devil is wrong with you?” Nikolaos hisses, propping himself up on one arm, glaring with one eye squinted open. Quintus finds the right spot, presses two fingers there and waits, trying to calm his own jittery nerves. He squeezes his eyes shut, listening, listening, and feels it; one two, one two, a rhythmic, constant beat. Relief streams through him, and he sits back on his heels. When he opens his eyes, Nikolaos is watching him anxiously, wide awake now.

transcript in ALT text

no, this is not the editing document. yes, it is being explored for editing purposes. i've successfully split this one into multiple chapters already and now im trying to figure out where to put this chapter, specifically, in relation to the rest of the POVs

I was tagged by @ls-daydreams to create HEART, @lamuradex to create START, @writingrosesonneptune to create OCEANS, and @oh-no-another-idea tagged me for FORBID.

H- He must have been new, because Blu would have remembered him- his appearance was hard to forget. White hair flowed to his shoulders, and his eyes were a dark brown, nearly black. He wore a red bowtie with a blue sweater vest and a purple cardigan, with a yellow headband pushing bangs out of his face. The colors should have been an eyesore, but somehow they looked good.

E- "Even then, you will be immortal. However, if we fail to complete one side of the pact…" The figure started clawing at itself, eyes scrunching up in distress. Pink and gold clashed, struggling to pull apart. The figure grew and grew until it collapsed. "We will be combined. Forced into one being forever. A horrifying monster." He clamped his hands down before the figure could rise. Sparks dotted around his fingers. "That is what happens if you don’t kill Baldar."

A- “And that brings us to the end of our class today! Don’t forget to submit your project proposals by next week! If you have any questions, feel free to drop by my office tomorrow!”

R- "Relax! This is simple. The best way, in my mind, is to stir up trouble and see what comes knocking." Seriously?! Siv had never purposefully caused trouble. Before she could point this out, he was barrelling on.

T- They caught sight of their wristwatch and hissed. The class had run past its usual time. They were running late!

S- Something about him made Blu uneasy.

T- The silence lingered as Siv considered this idea. No magic but just a mask. She finally sighed, pushing her bangs out of her face. "I'll try."

A- “Absolutely not,” she hissed, aiming the gun again. “There is no fucking way I’m going back in one of those stupid Jigsaw traps. I have already done stupid shit like that twice, and that’s enough.” She stepped back, reaching blindly back for the handle of the door. “So, pass.”

R- Ready to complain, she followed the hissed instruction when she saw a platoon of guards march by. They were so close she could smell the metal of their armor. There was the disturbing scent of copper mixed with it. They passed, but Kari kept his grip on her shoulder, keeping her in place.

T- The steam dissipated before he could feel it. Miks didn’t look down. Instead, he continued looking back and forth with a worried look, before pulling back inside. She didn’t pull away from the wall until she heard the bathroom door close. 

O- "Oh, she is such a delight, but I am sure you're used to hearing that!" His laughter was just a touch too loud and dragged on just a bit too long.

C- “Calm down, Melody, calm down,” Asshole whispered, holding her tight. He sounded weirdly teary as he held her tight. “Calm down and wait.” His voice was a rumble against her temples. “I know how you feel.” She furiously shook her head as she tried to run backup to Mother. She needed to...she needed to…needed to…

E- "Eagerton, remember this. You're dead. She looks at you and all she sees is rot and decay."

A- "And you stabbed me back, now we're even."

N- "No! No, because this-" Blu yanked their hand away from their arm to gesture to the apartment, to the very world without magic. "This is our home! Why would I bring that here?! I- are you crying?"

S- She was right about the “games” thing, but Melody hated that she was right. “I think she would be better to join our ranks.”

F- “Fuck you.” Melody whispered it, but a shuffle of feathers and the wide-eyed look from the thing with the feather cape suggested it had heard. She raised a brow. It looked away, raising a hand to its mouth.

O- “Oh, you must be Professor Venus!”

R- Runa motioned for him to step in front of her. He did. A swift kick to his back made him fall. He looked up to see Asta, hair tied back nearly as ever and dressed in a sweater dress, stare down at him. A phone was in one hand. She was twirling a pair of handcuffs in the other.

B- Blu took off out of the room and down the hall, trying their best to not shove into anyone.

I- "I'm glad you asked! My name is Virgo, and I..." The librarian spread his arms, allowing sparkles to gleam in the air as Talia gasped. "Am your fairy godmother!"

D- "Do you see her?" The brunette hissed. Riley nodded. "Great!" the girl groaned. They sat in silence, listening to its screeching. Finally, it was silent. He looked around before gesturing to the front door. The brunette and Mary Arden both nodded. He held up three fingers.

tagged by @thegreatobsesso, thank you! a bit from the Zeth fic i’m working on for kinktober for you today

[ID - a purple and black decorative divider]

“I can taste your desperation,” they say. The claws dig in, pricking a line of needle-sting pain along Zeth’rinn’s jaw. “You reek of need.” “Buy me dinner first,” Zeth’rinn says, because he has to. It’s the kind of thing Zeth’rinn Baenre says, even if Zeth’rinn Baenre is a hollow shell that no-one wants. Hollowclaw chuckles. Smoke eddies from their mouth in deep grey curls. “In this part of the forest, you are dinner.”

[ID - a purple and black decorative divider]

Sure thing! Thanks for the ask.

8. What is the first book you remember reading yourself?

One of those Encyclopedia Britannica or National Geographic books for kids; the ones with the transparent pages and glossy white covers. This one was about geology. (I remember flipping through a series of pages that showed the layers of the Earth's crust and going ":OOO".) I actually remember looking through this book before I knew how to read and thinking, "the next time I look at this book, I'm going to be able to read it." Lo and behold: I could!

9. When do you tend to read most?

I work a full-time job, so I read most in the evenings after I finish work, on the weekends, or on my lunch break. I frequently read during dinner also, especially when I get really into a book.

15. Recommend and review a book.

I gave a recommend & review over here. I'll do another one!

Everyone go read The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison) right now. If you have even a passing interest in political, character-driven fantasy, and protagonists who repeatedly choose kindness even when it would be easier to be cynical? This book is for you.

Maia, the youngest half-goblin son of the elf Emperor, lives in exile, so far removed from the imperial court and the line of succession that he may as well not be part of it. Except he very much is. As he is violently reminded when his father and three half-brothers are killed an an "accident," and he is named the next Emperor without warning. He's forced into a role he doesn't want, surrounded by people he doesn't trust, made to play political games he doesn't fully understand...and must do so knowing that the people who killed his family will likely come after him, too.

I love Maia. He's been through hell in several aspects; raised by a bitter guardian who abused him physically and verbally, repeatedly put down for being a half-goblin in an elves' world. And yet, though he's way out of his league and surrounded by prejudice, malice and active cruelty? He never loses his gentle heart, nor his ability to bring people together. Maia is so easy to like and even easier to cheer for. The author also put in WORK with the worldbuilding . The political layers are rich and real; Maia juggles person-to-person relationships, relationships between cities within his empire, and relationships his empire has with neighboring nations. It's a beautifully woven tapestry of connections. (Also, the way subtle magic and steampunk-y technology are incorporated is very, very cool.)

A fast-paced book this is not. It's a slow burn in pretty much every respect. Depending on your preferences, the language may also be a bit of a stumbling block (i.e. when speaking Elvish, characters use "we" instead of "I" in polite company and "I" only for those they know well). It takes a bit to adjust, though I thought it flowed very naturally once it clicked. This book gave me the confidence to take more linguistic risks in my own writing, too.

18. Do you like historical books? Which time period?

Sometimes! I love fantasy and scifi so much that if there isn't at least a hint of it, I have a hard time getting invested. There are time periods I find fascinating, though, and if you know me at all, you already know my answer for the one I like most haha. The turn of the Industrial Revolution! It was a period of dramatic upheaval; the fight for workers' rights, the sharp rise of exploitative capitalism, the redefining of "family" and "community," waves of social change that led to social reform, the commodification of things that really shouldn't be commodities (time, natural resources, etc.)...I could go on. And I do in my own books. Extensively.