#i've never written fanfic before so this was v intimidating

[chastillon]

Capri Valentines Ficlet

For @coffeedrgn87! Featuring some slight snarky Laurent and Damen taking them somewhere special. Happy Valentines Day! :) 

@caprivalentine <3 

“I’ve always wanted to kiss you blindfolded” 

Laurent’s cheeks heated while Damen pulled away. 

“And how long have you harbored that particular wish?” 

They were standing in an unremarkable field outside Marlas, and Laurent had been thoroughly sequestered for the afternoon. He had tried interrogating Damen about his sudden desire to take in the nature of the region. Questions rolled off his back and concerns shrugged away as though the demands of their new capital, and nascent kingdom, could be dismissed for an excursion. It was no miracle Laurent had a gap in his schedule. One was forcibly demanded by a particularly commanding king. It was also no miracle that Laurent let his stubborn protests melt away - for all his bluster, he could never say no to that dimple. He still made a show of grousing about their trip until they slowed to a halt in the field. 

It was early summer, and a golden afternoon swallowed the grasses and trees. Damen’s thumb brushed the line of Laurent’s lower lip while he mouthed at his ear. 

“Let me think. When was the last time I saw you blindfolded?” 

“It’s hardly a regular occurrence.” 

“More’s the pity.” 

Damen punctuated himself with a brief kiss to the cheek. One large, warm hand brushed the length of Laurent’s forearm until their fingers were tangled and he was being tugged onwards. 

“You don’t happen to have a Vaskian clan hidden somewhere in the trees? Should I start running?” 

“I’d only catch you again.” 

Damen was leading, so he couldn’t see Laurent smile. 

“Watch your step.” 

Field grass began to transition into soft moss and knobby roots that Damen deftly led them around. Bird cry echoed from above. 

There had been no time in the past few months for a day like this. They had barely left the fortress at Marlas while planning, negotiating, and reforming their kingdoms together. Daily Laurent was accosted by opinionated councilmen and diplomats exercising their right to be a nuisance. Exploring the surrounding wilderness hardly ranked high in Laurent’s priorities. As it happened, the season had just turned from shy spring into a lush, full summer. 

Laurent marked the passage of time - he hadn’t yet known Damen a year, but within months they would pass that milestone. 

An acorn dropped somewhere ahead as Damen led them around more roots. Eventually they veered to the left and a sudden wash of sunlight struck Laurent’s skin. 

“I’m starting to think you didn’t really need to blindfold me for this long.” 

“Maybe, but you love theatrics. Doesn’t it all add to the intrigue?” Plus there’s the distinct benefit of you seeing me in one, Laurent thought.

Damen slowed them to a halt, then moved behind Laurent to remove the silk slip from his eyes. They were standing in a small clearing ringed by saplings and bathed in sunshine. In the center, two feather cushions were arranged upon the ground. They were deep green and set atop the type of threadbare blanket servants used as tablecloths. A thick tome of poetry rested beside them. 

Laurent felt strong arms wind around his waist and someone nosing against his cheek. 

“Happy birthday,” Damen murmured. 

Laurent stood motionless as he struggled to compute the setup. Despite himself, a feeling of awe swept through his body and his heart kicked itself sore. 

“I - nobody knows when my birthday is.” He hadn’t let anyone know, and it had passed unobserved since Auguste died. It wasn’t self-pity. His uncle never celebrated him, and he was content to pass the day in peaceful reclusion. 

Damen dropped a soft kiss to his temple. 

“Well, I have means. And I’m on good terms with a physician who knows you fairly well.” 

Laurent angled his head to look up at his companion for the first time. There was an impossibility in front of him. The only blessed, unforeseen force of nature that could have altered the course of his life so drastically within one year. Not for the first time, his heart felt a vice of love. Their noses bumped. 

“What do you think?” Damen whispered. 

Laurent turned around completely and wrapped himself in the embrace. 

“The theatrics were a good touch.” I think I want to spend the rest of my birthdays with you, like this. Hiding away from politics and reading a good book. Laurent stepped back and smiled. 

“Thank you.” 

[heartofstanding]

right back at you: 8 and 11 for the fanfic asks ♥

8. Is there a story idea in your mental vault that you’ve never been brave enough to try writing? Is this the year? Can you tell us about it?

I've had ideas for two stories that I guess would be called family sagas or multi-generational mysteries (similar to Kate Morton's novels, but ones I'd actually love), which would transpose the late Plantagenets onto a more modern setting (probably not dating back further than the Victorian era), like Susan Howatch's novels. One would centre on Alice Perrers, Eleanor Cobham and probably Elizabeth Woodville, drawing on the parallels between their lives and setting them up to investigate the mystery of each other's lives and falls. The other idea (which I've had multiple iterations of) would focus on a queer line of descent from Edward II to Richard II to Henry V.

There are various reasons why I'm not writing them but the main one is the sheer scope. The amount of research I'd do - firstly to nail the characters and events, then to nail the new setting. The amount of plotting and character development and family trees I'd need to produce to keep everything straight. And just the imagined sheer bloody length of the finished book. It's just... really intimidating to even thinking of the time and effort involved. But I love to think about them.

11. Would you like to try any new fanfic genres or tropes this year?

I'd like to get unabashedly weirder and hornier in my writing (the WIP I'm currently working on suggests I might be off to a good start). Which isn't really a genre or a trope and I have written weird and horny things before. There are things I've been playing with writing for a time that I've not posted before - a mystery-story-with-trauma-plot for Richard Courtenay, a mummy issues fic centred on Philippa of England, a story about canon period Hal figuring out his sexuality. But I've got some things already written for these stories so they're not new to me.

One thing that would be new to me is if I write a fic about Joan of Navarre and Philippa going on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral against the backdrop of the Percy rebellion in 1403. My first roadtrip fic, my first pilgrimage fic (it's totally a genre, just ask Chaucer) and my first stepmother-stepdaughter bonding fic!

fanfic asks for the new year | ask box

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

oh rays get ready for many questions :)))

L, M, R, V, Y for the fanfic authour asks!

Fanfic author asks

L. favourite fic of yours?

Going to cheat a little here as I'm also doing an honorable mention

Under the Snowfall: one of the first I wrote for here and is one of the few I feel like everything just came together while writing it. I rarely had to stop and rethink about what I just wrote, I just felt like it was good the way it was and flowed on from whatever sentence I wrote before. Of course there's always a way to make a fic better, but maybe because of the memories I have with writing this one and the memories of the positive reaction it got, I choose to just keep the way it it.

Honorable mention - It's Been a While: this one took so much time to write, it just kept getting bigger and bigger. I had moments where I just thought 'Just wrap it up here! How much more do you want to add?!' When I tried to however it never sat right with me and I kept going. In the end, I'm really glad I did. I read back through it a few days ago and thought it came together pretty well in the end and realised how much I had to write about Momo coming to terms with everything that happened. It made me think of other ways I could do this in fics in the future. I may come back one day and make a few edits to it, but in the meantime I'm going to leave it as is. M. least favourite fic of yours?

Forward: it's one of the fics I've been tempted to completely rewrite but when I go to do it, I get a little intimidated by it. I have SO MANY ideas about how the reconciliation between Toshiro and Momo would go down, and I just don't know where to start XD I liked it at the time but reading back over it I found myself thinking 'I should have written that part differently' and 'what was I thinking with that part?!' I actually have a few fics that I feel this way about none of them get as strong reaction out of me as this one.

R. link your favourite fic of all-time.

This is a hard one as I don't really have one favourite of all time and I don't read as much fanfic as I used, so I'm linking the ones that influenced my writing and/or that I still love and come back to read:

Beautiful Lie by Unbelieveableanimefreak - I feel like this one is almost legendary in the fandom, I remember there being a lot of buzz around it. It's centered on Toshiro believing he killed Momo and slowly losing his sanity over it, when in reality she's alive and needs to help return him back to his former self. This Dimonddust Rebellion but much darker and centered Toshiro running away because of what happened during the Fake Karakura Town arc. It's chock full of angst, a few crazy twists, and going to the extremes in showing how dark Toshiro can get, but thankfully has a happy ending. I haven't gone back and read it in years so not sure I like as much but it definitely let an impression on me.

Toro Nagahi by Enchantable - this one too had a lot of buzz around it. It was written during a time where no one had any idea where BLEACH's plot was going to go, so the writer basically just went right ahead and made their own epic plot about Aizen's next plan. In this case Aizen won the Winter War and is planning to kill the Royal Family (it's funny looking back now that we know more lore around this); Momo seems to have joined his side and Gin struggles to protect Rangiku when she gets captured and brought in. Loved this one back then and I think I'll give this one a re-read soon to see if I still do now.

Kaleidoscope by der kapitan - it's a Ginran collection of one shots, and boy did I love it back when I was reading it! It starts at the beginning of Gin and Rangiku's lives and goes from there. I don't love Ginran as much as I used to, but I still go back to this one every now and then.

On the Frozen Plain by writing bunny - it features platonic rather than romantic hitsuhina. It's focused on Toshiro and his journey to becoming the Tenth Division's captain. I still adore this one, it's got some soft moment between Toshiro and Momo and made me realise how Toshiro might have felt when Momo and he were growing apart.

More recent faves include:

Away Away by @bleachbleachbleach - it made me realise the possibilities of world-building in BLEACH, and the fic in general just an amazing read.

A Cacophony of Stillness by @visionen-im-spiegel - there's something about this one that's memorizing. Each part always makes me feel at peace when I read it and I feel like it conveys a lot about the bond between Toshiro and Momo.

V. post the last sentence you wrote.

"I watched her go to the Academy, thinking she’d never come back and that I’d never go to her.”

Y. what is the title of your current wip?

At the Root of it All (VERY slow progress on this one...one day I'll finish it!)

Thanks for sending these in! :D