#it would've been neat to see little words written inside! ;)

[britishchick09]

clarissa received a letter... with nothing written on it! ;)

[lunaetis]

@tragidies asked :

there's a letter for eula when she arrives at the favonius headquarters, marked only with her name and the seal of the yashiro commission were one to look close enough. the letter, in perfectly neat handwriting, reads:

my dearest eula,

spring has just come to mondstadt, hasn't it ?? the temperatures in inazuma are rising as well, enough that the sakura trees might be in bloom in time for the spring festival season. the sakura trees in full bloom is a lovely sight, but not so lovely as your smiling face. wish that i could steal you away to show it to you, but festival season keeps us busier than ever. i hope this letter is enough to make you smile, at least until we meet again.

with all my love, kamisato ayato

attached to the letter is a few pressed sakura blossoms, carefully preserved against the stationary.

unprompted. || always accepting

─「エウルア」─  upon her returning from the most recent MISSION, checking into the ordo favonius headquarter to deliver her report, the lawrence heir was immediately greeted by a single letter placed upon the desk of her room. there was NO ADDRESS, only the elegant writing of her name and a specific seal that set her heart pounding like nothing else.

                gloved digits carefully unfolded the letter, just the sight of his handwriting was enough to have dual-colored hues mellow incredibly so. the EXHAUSTION and any little injuries she might attain from the expedition itself instantly vanished. it was as if she could hear the sound of his voice so close to her ears as she read it. the words, written so tenderly that affection was dripping from every letters inked into the paper itself. the SPINDRIFT KNIGHT felt the ice inside her heart simply melted away.

                the sight of him among the falling sakura petals would've been like a scene straight out of a painting, she was sure.

                the SAKURA BLOSSOMS attached to the letter had those dual-colored hues light up almost excitedly, almost like a child seeing something cute and beautiful. fingertips picked them up and held it against the warm sunlight, watching the translucent petals almost glimmered with the light itself.

                " so beautiful. " her heart was skipping a beat, not just from the gifts but from the way it was BEATING SO LOUD in that sense of yearn towards the person who wrote the letter, towards someone who was her her heart and soul. they both had their own responsibilities to handle, but that wouldn't stop either of them from having their hearts connected through letters and words exchanged.

                she wanted to see him.

                quietly, she brought one of them to her lips, a tender peck pressed to the item and eyes closed, hearing the sound of her HEARTBEAT echoing in her ears. for now, this would have to do, until they would see each other again.

[throwawaywhumper]

Write me a Novel Challenge: Silence is Golden

Day 3: tied up/concussion/darkness

Day 4: hostility/locked away/doused

Content: Creepy Whumper, Whumper with Powers, Mention of pills

<- prev || next ->

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"Lucky, lucky, lucky..."

The words echoed in their head, the last words he remembered hearing from Sebastian before he passed out in the backseat of some car. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and groaning. His head was throbbing but he felt...warm? Comfortable, even. He looked around to his surprise to find he had been laid in bed, a nice, cushy bed. Probably more comfortable than anything he had at home, it would be so little effort to just fall back asleep...no. No he needed to stay awake, needed to be aware of his surroundings.

He wasn't sure if he was expecting a dungeon, a prison cell or some sort of bunker, but definitely not this. The room was nicely decorated, dark red walls and furniture placed about with a dark oak finish. It almost reminded of him of a chocolate bar, dark chocolate with raspberry filling...no. Now was not the time to get distracted. Most importantly, he saw a door. A door that sat slightly ajar, just enough for light to spill in from the hallway. A way out?

Whumpee threw off the covers on his bed, prepared to get up and take off only to notice a metal cuff locked firmly around his ankle. He groaned, following the chain with his eyes to the foot of the bed. He tugged at it experimentally, but it was no use. Not like it mattered, there was no way getting out of here would be that easy. He looked to his side, hoping for a key or a tool, anything only to find something unexpected by his bedside. Sitting on the nightstand, a vase with a bouquet of red and white roses, a little stuffed pig, a small opaque bottle with a white cap, and a little card with the word Lucky written in neat cursive on the front.

"Lucky, huh?" Whumpee mumbled to themself, reaching over and opening the card. The handwriting on the inside was just as neat as the outside, he would've thought it was typed had it not been for the fanciful calligraphy used to sign the end.

"Dear Lucky, I hope you enjoy the accommodations you've been provided. If you're reading this, you've woken and I can imagine you're quite confused. A few things to note: the small, rotund fellow on the nightstand is all yours. You may find it comforting to hold him at night, he's quite delightful. Another recommendation for your nighttime activities, lies in that bottle. I strongly recommend taking one of those pills each night before you go to sleep. When you run out, they will be refilled. Upon your waking, I will be notified and I will come to see you at my earliest convenience and clear up many questions that you may have.

See you soon! - Sebastian"

"What a load of shit..." Lucky mumbled, tossing the card off to the side. As it fluttered to the ground, he caught a glance of movement out of the corner of his eye, just outside the door. Was he being watched?

"Hey! Hey asshole, get back here!!" Lucky called out. In a fit of passion, he tried to run towards the door only to fall flat on his face. He felt his ankle twist at an uncomfortable ankle, wrenching a cry from his lips.

"Well if I had known you liked the floor more than the bed, I'd have gotten you a futon or something." That same voice from before, from last night at the theater, came from the other side of the door, now pushing his way in with a playful grin.

Lucky rolled their body, trying to catch a glimpse of their captor but only succeeded in agitating their ankle further. "Fuck! Fuck...and fuck you too, actually." He grumbled.

"No need to be so hostile. Here, let me help." Sebastian rolled his eyes, strolling over and pulling Lucky back onto the bed, ignoring their flailing arms and attempts to fight them back. "You've barely just got here and you've already hurt yourself, not a great start."

"I don't need your help." Lucky shifted as far away from them as he could, but found he couldn't move very far as the man had now taken a seat on the edge of the bed. "What I need, is for you to let me go from wherever the hell we are. Now."

"Actually, you're going to be relying on me for a lot of things. So if you would just be quiet for a second and let me explain-"

"I'm not going to be relying on you for shit!" Lucky interrupted. "I want my phone back, I want to be driven back to the theater, and I want-mmf?!?"

Sebastian lashed out, covering his mouth with a gloved hand and smacking his head hard back against the headrest. "I said, be quiet. If you can't figure it out on your own, then I guess I'll help you."

Lucky struggled under their grip, trying to pull their grasp away, but it was no use. He felt something slither between his lips amidst his struggle and, to his surprise, Sebastian suddenly let go.

"You fucking freak, what's wrong with you??" Lucky yelled.

Or rather, that's what he would've yelled.

He found his tongue stilled in his mouth, despite his efforts to speak. Hell, his mouth wouldn't even open. What the hell did he do? Lucky glared, with as much anger as he could muster, but Sebastian only smiled.

"That is much, much better." Sebastian hummed, "Gives us a moment to chat properly now, hm? There's a lot to discuss."

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Tag List: @whumpsday, @whatwasmyprevioususername

[kaydear]

Hello, lovely!

First, I would like to say that your modern au is one of the most well written and impactful pieces of fiction I have ever read--and I'm including published works. You are incredibly talented!

Second, every character's voice is so spot on; everyone feels so organic and authentic! Voice is something that I tend to struggle with in my own writing and I was hoping maybe you'd be willing to share some tips for how you tackle it? No pressure though, I know you're busy:)

Have a wonderful week!!

AHHHHHH ANON!!!! You're too too sweet and I saw this message right before going to class, I was screaming inside the entire time XD

And oh man, I don't know how helpful my advice would be 😅 Especially because I don't know whether you mean dialogue-voice or prose-voice, but here's some thoughts on both:

You used the words "organic" and "authentic" and I think a big thing I do when I'm writing, sometimes, is read the dialogue for the characters out loud-- if I can make it roll off the tongue like something *I* might say, I call it good. Sometimes stuff that reads nicely on the page might sound clunky when said out loud. Especially now that I'm roommateless I pace around my apartment muttering dialogue to myself like a weirdo XD

One thing I do to try and keep each character's voice "sounding like them" is rewatch episodes and pay attention to their dialogue's cadence? If that makes sense? There's a pattern to words that is distinct for each character. Sure, their voices are a little different (despite being all voiced by one dude, lol), but they don't talk like each other.

Tech obviously has the Received Pronunciation, but he also has longer sentences, larger words (but not too much). He sometimes doesn't use contractions, but not all the time because that comes off way too stiff. Crosshair and Hunter both talk in pretty short sentences, and Wrecker's more like to just bust out with whatever's on his mind. Like if I took away the dialogue tags for a scene, the goal is to have each sentence clear who's speaking from sentence length, structure, and word choice.

Like, in 'introductions,' Wrecker says that the color for the attic room was nice, but not the one he would've chosen. Hunter says this kind-of throwaway line: “The grey you liked at the store would’ve been too dark.”

If it was Tech speaking, he might say "Your preferred shade wouldn't have reflected natural light well enough. The room would be too dark."

And if it was Crosshair, he might say "Please. Your first choice was too dark."

Hunter is to the point and functional, Tech justifies his judgement with the underlying science, Crosshair dismisses Wrecker's opinion, etcetera. I'll admit sometimes it's hard to write the difference between Echo and Hunter.

As much as I love to hate the phrase "kill your darlings," I find myself most satisfied with my writing when I take a step back and admit no, X character wouldn't say that, or at least they wouldn't say it like that. Sometimes the shiny, witty, good sentence is the wrong one for the character.

Now prose-voice is super fun for me. Especially Wrecker ('visitations' is one of my faves I've done because of that) and Crosshair in 'introductions.' The batch is, admittedly, a pretty big cast of characters (to me anyways), so narrowing in on one character's perspective is what I prefer because it keeps things a little cleaner than needing to do an omniscient voice that sees into every head. Hunter can't read Crosshair's mind, he just sees him frowning and goes from there (read: whinges about it). Especially because something I think that's neat for readers with swapping POVs is that you're in on what's going on with the characters in a way they might not notice: you've been in Crosshair's head, so you know how he's feeling, even if Hunter isn't on the same page.

I say that Wrecker's POV is really fun because he's the most emotionally intelligent one in the Batch, so his thoughts flow pretty openly around how he's feeling, how he thinks other characters are feeling, and so on. See this bit of his perspective from early in 'introductions':

With a disgusted snarl, Wrecker marched around Crosshair for the front door. Screw Crosshair, he didn’t need him anyway. It was almost like he wanted the kid to get stuck with Nala Se, a punishment Wrecker wouldn’t wish on anyone, his own flesh and blood especially. Fucking Crosshair, Wrecker groused to himself as he shoved his feet into shoes and grabbed his coat and the keys to the truck. He’d show him — he didn’t need Crosshair’s help, anyway, and when the kid was here Crosshair’d regret not helping to make her room look nice and welcoming. Still fuming, he slammed the front door shut behind him, hard enough to rattle the glass, and marched out to the truck.

So this is all in prose-- it's his POV, and it's not all explicitly his internal dialogue. I think that the lines "Screw Crosshair" and "Fucking Crosshair" are really the only bits that are his precise internal dialogue (note: lol). But even with it all not being overt dialogue of him speaking to himself, it all sounds like him, because this is how he talks, and therefore how he thinks; outright about his feelings, keen on the emotional situation he (and Crosshair) are in.

Contrast this bit of Tech's POV from the same chapter:

One part of Tech wanted to indulge her in this one request. Where was the harm? She said she wanted to go— logically, he should let her go, take her back to their home and busy himself quizzing her on the wish list he’d begun online with toys appropriate to her age group. The other part of him, the part of him making him twist his upper lip up in displeasure, didn’t want to concede a single thing to Nala Se— didn’t want to help contribute in his complaisance to the wounded, bruised look in Omega’s eye.

If Wrecker was in this same situation, I wouldn't write this the same way; Tech is clinical, even about his own emotions, can recognize that he has two contradictory desires that are influencing his actions, all from a distance, all cool and calm. And again, like with Wrecker, it's not all internal dialogue, but it kind of is-- asking himself outright "Where was the harm? She said she wanted to go," is very Tech. If someone, say, asked him later why he did as she asked and left (if he did that), he would probably reply like "What's the harm? She said she wanted to go. I took her at her word." And complaisance is a Tech word, not a Wrecker word.

For fun, here's that bit of Tech rewritten as if Wrecker was in his place:

At her simple request, Wrecker melted immediately, only to pull himself up short with hesitation. Sure, he didn't doubt that Omega would be happier, feel safer, if they didn't linger in the shadow of their mother's awful house--but if this AZI guy was like his Lula, he knew the heartbreak he'd feel, leaving it behind. He took in a steadying breath. Okay. He'd go, he decided, although the thought made something cold drop down his spine. He was older now, bigger, he could do this--

See, both of them are having the same line of thought: they want to do what's best for Omega's emotional wellbeing, but are influenced by their own trauma that's getting brought back up being so close to Nala Se's house, influencing their decision-making. Tech is afraid of contributing to Omega's pain by taking Nala Se's "side" giving her the win, while Wrecker relates enough to having a comfort item that although it's painful for him, he's ready to go and do his best to grab AZI for Omega without much debate. Tech thinks about it logically, debating with himself, while Wrecker thinks about it emotionally and doesn't dither. The plot of that bit of 'introductions' would be the same-- Omega with one of her brothers, they decide to go get AZI despite her protests, and so on with the scene. The difference is in their voices.

Anyways, this went on really long, and I'm not sure if I gave any real advice/tips 😅 I like writing modern AUs, and I have pretty high standards for myself, especially when it comes to voices and dialogue. Having the one-shots was especially good, kind of like POV-practice (although admittedly it's mostly Hunter and Crosshair's POVs there, lol). Experience is a big factor! Getting in mileage with a set of characters definitely contributes to a sharper sense of what works and what doesn't.

Anyways anyways, this ask was so sweet I'm gonna go lay down on the floor and think about it for the next 5 hours.