#I really should write a continuation to this scene where Bix is like

[imogenkol]

— IF PEACE IS AN OPTION

pairing: Imogen Kol (oc) x Bix Caleen rating: Mature words: 1k warnings: light allusions to intimacy summary: local evil woman has been Domesticated™️ and doesn’t realize it, but she’s okay with that.

notes: this is an oldie I spruced up because I wanted to post something soft and fluffy for Valentine’s Week. Enjoy a brief view of what a normal life could be like for them!

The apartment was quiet. While traffic outside had picked up, the constant hum and buzz of speeders were muffled by the thick transparisteel windows, allowing for a peaceful atmosphere in the grey glow of a stormy dawn. Gentle rain patter broke through the monotony of artificial sounds and caused Imogen to stir in bed. 

As her eyes blinked open, she took note of her lover’s arm draped loosely over her waist and smiled at the warmth of her embrace. No matter how many times Imogen woke up like this, it still filled her with a deep gratification she struggled to describe – one she did not know she needed and could no longer see herself without.

After a few prolonged moments waiting for her senses to come into full focus, Imogen carefully moved Bix’s arm aside, though a huge part of her loathed to do so. If she were a lazier individual, she would simply stay right where she was and slip back into slumber. But routine beckoned her toward a new day.  

The bounty hunter pulled herself out of bed and stretched. Some of her more troublesome joints made satisfying pops and she glanced over her shoulder to check if the noise broke through the other woman’s unconscious state. Luckily, it seemed to go unnoticed and she went to wash up. 

One thing Imogen missed about spending most of her downtime on her ship was the refresher. The apartment’s was sufficient, but her converted pleasure yacht still had a certain amount of luxury Imogen had grown a special appreciation for. Including polished chromium walls and a waterfall shower head with water that always flowed at the perfect temperature.

This inferior one would do, she supposed. For now. 

Cool air greeted her skin when she eventually stepped back out of the refresher. Imogen had taken her time, but Bix still lay fast asleep exactly as she had left her. Her eyes lingered on the seemingly comatose mechanic while she gathered her clothes and dressed herself, wondering if she would awaken on her own any time soon. Fog lined the windows near the bed, ironically appearing like a wall of frost against the now torrent of rain outside, and the heat that pooled into the small space must have made her more lethargic.

Imogen did have to admit that one of the best sights she ever witnessed was Bix Caleen sleeping soundly. Ever since Ferrix, her slumber has been a fretful thing more often than not. The mechanic would curl in on herself and twitch restlessly as nightmares twisted her soft features. Imogen hated nights like that when even her comfort did little to discourage her beloved's demons. It was a rare sight to witness her in a truly peaceful slumber, though it was gradually becoming more frequent as time carried on.

The very last thing Imogen wanted to do was disturb such an occurrence, but Bix had overslept at this point. Imogen had moved all over the apartment without so much as a stir from the woman in bed. She had half a mind to admit defeat — it’s not as if they had any pressing matters on this particular day, but she knew Bix wouldn't be pleased about wasting too much daylight.

As carefully as she could, Imogen crawled back into bed beside Bix. Her gaze shifted all over her unburdened features, silently counting the stray beauty marks and tracing the shape of her lips. Imogen smiled fondly to herself and leaned in to press a delicate kiss right between Bix's eyebrows. Then she kissed the bridge of her nose. The corner of her mouth.

By the time Imogen reached her lips, Bix inhaled deeply and instinctively returned the affection. Her hand clumsily reached up and a light chuckle escaped Imogen in between their kisses as Bix assertively pulled the bounty hunter on top of her. The warmth of the mechanic's body seeped into Imogen's cool skin and she felt herself relax against her, banishing any sense of urgency to part her lips and invite a richer indulgence.

Imogen's amusement grew when she felt Bix's free hand work its way underneath her shirt to caress up the curve of her spine. "I only meant to wake you."

"I'm awake," Bix muttered, wrapping her legs around Imogen's hips.

"Yes, and now I feel far less inclined to surrender you to the day."

"Then don't. Keep me all to yourself."

Those words filled Imogen with a contentment so sweet that a broad grin made her cheeks hurt. "And so I shall."

As she nuzzled against Bix's neck to lay gentle kisses down the path of her pulse, Imogen found herself feeling rather sentimental.

She wondered what it would be like to have this every morning – to be utterly free of all that made her empty inside. Peace was never a concept within her reach, she accepted that long ago, yet there were many things Imogen previously believed to be unattainable. Like the woman beneath her that had seen her darkness and loved her anyway. 

“Would you like a cup of caf, darling?” Imogen asked in a sultry tone, peppering more kisses across her lover’s chest. “I was about to put a pot on.”

“In a minute,” Bix responded distractedly, humming as she ran her fingers through Imogen’s hair. 

Imogen laughed again – well, more of an amused exhale that turned into a low, soft song at the back of her throat and in her chest, but it was a sound closer to a laugh than any other living being was privy to. She found it charming that her continued contact was more of a priority than the warm, decadent drink Bix had an insatiable craving for most days, especially on cold mornings such as these. It filled Imogen with pride to hold a higher space than that comfort. 

“I love your laugh,” Bix rasped, still half-asleep, and pulled Imogen back up to meet her lips again. 

“And I adore the sound of your voice after a full night of rest,” she responded against her lover’s mouth, greedily soaking up the unconditional affection. 

Perhaps if Imogen fought hard enough, there may be a life truly worth living after everything was said and done. There was only one way to find out.

tag list (ask to be added or removed!): @socially-awkward-skeleton @neonshrike @inafieldofdaisies @voidika @faithchel @adelaidedrubman @simonxriley @tommyarashikage @buggknife @aceghosts @carlosoliveiraa @risingsh0t @unholymilf @thedeadthree @cassietrn @jackiesarch @d-esmond @loriane-elmuerto @shellibisshe @katsigian @captastra @simplegenius042 @theelderhazelnut @g0dspeeed @strangefable @statichvm @jacobseed @cptcassian @euryalex @auricfog @confidentandgood @e-the-village-cryptid @floradellamorte @minaharkers @elligatorrex

[notasapleasure]

WIP ask meme

@stripedroseandsketchpads tagged me in this. And oh my god. If you think there are Too Many Words in the fic I publish, you should see my poor notes app. Here is a sneak peek of its contents. I haven't edited for brevity/those I'm actively working on, these are just all the unfinished files I could find. Some I don't intend to do any more with, others I'd really like to pick up again. The only ones being actively worked on right now are the Andor Saga AU and the first one on the list for Andor.

I put ALL the Lymond I could find in mainly for @oughtaagh who has been leaving the most lovely comments on my Lymond fics that I have totally failed to respond to. I'm sorry! I will cycle back round to Lymond one day, it's inevitable <3

Tagging uh.... @distressednoise, @r0b0tb0y, @faceofpoe, @donnaimmaculata, @batri-jopa, @elwenyere, @notabuddhist and anyone else who wants to say I tagged them! Also sorry if you'd already been tagged, I'm not keeping up with the dash very well at the moment!

Anyway please send me asks/comments/cease and desist orders about these. xxx

ANDOR

C: We decided we were thirsty, and you wanted to go to Cavo's. As yet untitled Brassian alternative scene - what if instead of a great collaborative cover story this was a great collaborative fuck? Almost(?) finished?

Saga AU pt 2. This actually does have a working title of 'The Bear and the Berserk' but this doc is just a short bullet point list of plot things for a specific part of the fic.

Cassian pov. It's a Cassian pov chapter! For...drumroll...the first chapter of the Saga AU pt 2! The rest is going to be back to Brasso FPN. The file actually includes a rough first draft of chapter 2, as well.

"You're up early this morning," Bix says lightly. A follow-up chapter to Only Ever Just One Night started back when I had epic plans for continuing this, bringing in Cinta and Vel and Luthen, whumping the hell out of Brasso, and having Cassian rescue him. This is just one scene of awkward conversation with tea though.

Oh god it developed Plot. Related to the previous chapter - a bullet-pointed list of things that might have happened in this fic I Wil Not Write (not least as I'd rather just see what happens in S2 first anyway).

AND THEN WE DANCED

It was a sunny day in Batumi... Patchy few paragraphs of the next chapter of Inchoate.

Plannnnns (again). Plans for how Inchoate would/will continue.

THE LYMOND CHRONICLES

Canon-verse/other AUs

Multiple pieces of follow-up to The next man with a ladder, Danny/Jerott post-canon: It was dark when they rode into the port town... [Chapter 3, basically done, plus most of Chapter 4 but it devolves into broken paragraphs at the end]. "I'm going to the other bed," Danny said in a voice like someone was standing on his throat... [??? there's loads of this written! This is the file where they Get Down To It] Stitch the scenes together [a few paragraphs in which I hoped to make a logical leap from Chapter 4 to fucking, but seemingly never quite got there].

Lymondar saga draft. Actually two files of the abortive first effort at writing a saga AU. I was trying much harder to write in saga style and playing with lacunae in a way that was fun for me but exceedingly nerdy. I think I found the idea more fun than the execution, too.

St Seb. Remember ages ago when I was writing a post-canon 'Jerott gets shot full of arrows and has to admit his feelings because he thinks he's gonna die' fic? This is the file! Some bullet points and some text, some of which I even posted as Sunday sixes way back when iirc.

Fait prosperer qui n'est à croire vain. Fuck me, there's LOADS of this. Pawn in Frankincense/Ringed Castle AU where Marthe steals Lymond's ride with Kiaya Khatun and persuades her they should take over Russia together. Meanwhile Francis is left with Jerott. Hahaha. It kept getting longer because Francis kept trying to escape and I kept finding ways to drag him back, but the 'and now kiss!!' with the two of them behaving in character was just not coming easily.

Francis Crawford's Holistic Inquisition Agency. I wrote this??? One chapter of a Lymond/Dirk Gently AU, where Francis is obviously Dirk and Jerott is a furious/bemused Todd.

She tried every instrument, she redrew every chart. A few short chapters, never finished, of Marthe wrestling with her role in canon and her fate as assigned by La Dame. A couple more paragraphs of a similar sort of thing in Volos.

Malta. Half-arsed few paragraphs of wondering how Jerott would cope with meeting a fellow Knight being imprisoned for sodomy.

Band AU (my 1980s rock band AU for the series, see also @theartistknownaslymond)

Au of an Au. What if, after the Battle of the Bands at Solway, Jerott went to stay at the Edinburgh townhouse for a while and he and Francis got to collaborating in the shed? There's quite a lot of this and it's quite fluffy.

Out out out! The band celebrate Thatcher's downfall. Happy epilogues for everyone! However it's an epic task trying to do all the characters justice, so I was trying to write it as vignettes to match each song on the playlist. Six-ish are written. And earlier draft with plan for characters intercting is in Ding dong the witch is dead.

Jerott/Marthe - four times it just about worked, one time it really didn't. What it says on the tin? aka you just know Jerott has said 'Francis' instead of Marthe at least once when he comes. Only the beginning of the first time exists in this chapter, but I think I explored the idea elsewhere, whenever I dig up that file...

DWTH missing scene. Jerott/OC missing scene from Don't wake the house. Not finished, probably not going to be finished. I think I have enough Jerott smut on the go.

Workshop. Patchy draft of pre-canon Jerott and GRM 'therapy' session in which GRM learns about Francis Crawford and what a hold he has on the boy he thought of as his own plaything. GRM doesn't like sharing.

F/P. Draft of a fluffy kiss prompt someone (@erinaceina? @notfromcold?) sent for Francis/Philippa. Post-canon pregnant Philippa and worried Francis written when it was too hot in summer. It's probably complete enough to post tbh! hmu if you want it posting.

Jerott behaving badly (again). Somehow this ended up in the 'comfortember' section of the notepad, which...no? Maybe it was intended to be originally, but it grew a life of its own. Post-canon, post split-up with the OC, pre-getting together with Danny. Joining the mile high club and regretting it, then ending up crashing at Joleta's (who he meets coincidentally at the airport, NOT who he's screwing in the airplane loo!!). It's meant to end up cathartic, but didn't get finished :') I'm actually really pleased with what I have - post-canon Joleta is so much fun to write!

Somewhere (Google Drive?? an actual Word doc??) there is also loads and loads and LOADS of Pawn in Frankincense band AU around Baron Morgan's place (the Aga Morat), featuring fucked-up Francis/Morgan, fucked up Marthe/Kiaya, fucked up Francis/Kiaya, and bewildered cold turkey Jerott. There's also some Jerott/Marthe from later on.

Other

Crossover. A sequel to my ATWD fic I will shake mountains, where Merab and Irakli encounter celebrity diners in the restaurant they work in: respected musician Francis Crawford and friends take the boys for a drink and share queer/artistic inspiration/history with them. There's quite a lot written but I couldn't quite manage to finish it off.

St Mary's. Another ATWD/Lymond crossover, placing Merab and Irakli among the mercenaries of St Mary's. Mostly bullet points.

3m. Furious that there was no fic for the film Three Months I decided to jot down a scene I wanted to see afterwards. I wrote four lines and cannot remember what my plan was at all.