#anyway i hope the rest of the chapter conveys that caz is very much playing the hero in his head | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

afoolandathief · 2 years ago

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Day 5 of Nano

WIP: Something Wicked

Status: Rewriting

NaNo profile: afoolandathief

NaNoWriMo 2022 Goal: 250 words a day

Words written today: 803

NaNo WC total (not counting prior work): 1,633

Total WC for rewrite: 34,876

So I had to skip NaNo the last couple days as I helped planned and carried out a sort of protest (and it was amazing!!). But, given my goal of a light 250 words a day, I think I more than made up for it today. And I wrapped up Chapter 8 7 (I mixed these up), a chapter I went back and added after the fact, so I'm now at a total of 11 chapters into the rewrite, and I've already started Chapter 12 (speaking of which, if you're in the SW Discord, I updated the Discord draft finally)!

Excerpt and taglist below ↓

I'm going to include a longer excerpt from earlier in the chapter that I'm proud of, since I did wrap it up tonight.

TWs for wolves, body horror, food mention, death/murder mention, blood mention, drug mention, brief nudity, sex/sex work mention and mention of attempted sexual assault

The moon was setting below the horizon now, but Caz knew that wasn’t really what mattered. What mattered was the sliver of darkness at its edge, the moon turning her face away, her pull lessened if only slightly.

There was still plenty of light to see the massive wolf running across the stretch of desert toward him.

Caz moved in quick bursts as she approached, letting her get close enough to nip his heels before weaving back toward the parking lot until that stitch returned in his gut. She bent her head as if to play, her gray coat dazzling under the moonlight.

It wasn’t until they were at the edge of the lot, near that rotten-smelling dumpster, that she began to whine, then snap at him until he floated up and out of reach. She choked out a warning growl just before collapsing on the pavement, her limbs spasming and torso heaving.

Caz gritted his teeth hard enough to ruin several for good and waited. Waited through the atrophying muscles and reshaping bones. Waited through the skin-prickling hair loss. Waited until the whines and whistles became the coughs and moans of something all-too human. And then he dropped.

The first thought he had upon seeing Lila Brown was that he needed to feed her. It was the first thing he’d ever said to her the night they met, or maybe the second — no, the third. The first thing he’d asked was if this guy was bothering her. The second was if she wanted his truck once he’d finished draining him. He had crawled out its window after tilting it to the side with the sheer force of his attack, his stomach even fuller than it was now and his voice trembling from traces of amphetamines in the blood. She’d shaken her head. She couldn’t drive, he later found out, not that she’d want the very thing the guy had used to corner her in the hopes for free head.

The third thing he’d said to her was a reluctant command to follow him home to crash on his couch, not knowing how scared she’d been hearing that, thinking he was taking her for himself. So, it was the fourth thing he’d ever said to her, then — not the third. A demand the skinny wraith eat some scrambled eggs and toast at his kitchen table the following afternoon.

She was still skinny, even now, though her bare flesh was more wrinkled and looser in some parts. Her gray coat had given way to a mat of brown curls, though there were now some strands of glitter, as she so affectionately called it.

“Hey sweets,” he said, in a voice those newly-reformed ears could barely pick up.

Gonna add the taglist for this, since I met a chapter milestone:

Something Wicked taglist (ask to be +/-): @author-a-holmes, @avian-writes, @diphthongsfordays, @drippingmoon, @ellierenae, @faelanvance, @fearofahumanplanet, @flowerprose, @houndmouthed, @joaniejustwokeup, @leiwritess, @mjayatlas, @purplezebraproductions, @rhymingteelookatme, @somealienquill, @thegreatobsesso, @thelaughingstag, @vylequinne, @writing-is-a-martial-art

General taglist (ask to be +/-): @jezifster, @athena-anna-rose

#my writing #writeblr #nano 2022 #something wicked #caz mraz #lila brown #i get nervous writing a section like this dealing with a sensitive subject #like im not trying to be the dark gritty ooh edgy author #but trying to think what would happen if you're someone whose life is upended on the regular #anyway i hope the rest of the chapter conveys that caz is very much playing the hero in his head #lila and him ended up being pretty toxic even though they are both good people #like his need to save her and even if he wouldn't admit it control her to a degree #her aging past him is why most think it ended for them but no #and the idea of him turning over a new leaf gets turned on its head later in the story #and it's revealed why lila told him never to see her again

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afoolandathief · 2 years ago

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#anyway i hope the rest of the chapter conveys that caz is very much playing the hero in his head

Like I mean ...

“You happen to know a Stella Carrera?” he asked.

She crossed her arms and itched a God-awful-looking scar.

“Yeah. I think she came over from Hawaii to live with a sister or a cousin. Ended up getting turned instead,” she said. “I can’t remember if she joined the others in the desert this week. Some guy kept hitting her up right before. Some kind of get-rich-quick thing. But we all know how that ends.”

Caz nodded. He fought the ballooning urge to brag to Lila how it would be okay. That he and his witch were tracking down all the other predators in this city. That he’d keep her safe again.