#julia the inkling | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

battyaboutbooksreviews · 1 month ago

Text

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in December 2024 🌈

Find these books and more here.

🌈 Good afternoon, my bookish bats! Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Happy reading!

❓What was the last queer book you read?

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Sugar-Coated Kisses - Echo Lark 🧡 Christmas at Watson Memorial - Clara Ann Simons 💛 Warm-Blooded - J Greene 💚 It Takes Three To Tango - Jem Wendel 💙 The Black Curse - N.A. Moore 💜 Heavenly Tyrant - Xiran Jay Zhao ❤️ Encrypted Hearts - E.V. Bancroft 🧡 Dangerous Devotion - Robin Jo Margaret 💛 Sew in Love - Rhea Fox 💙 Saint - Chani Lynn Feener 💜 Her Ladyship's Christmas Companion - Theresa Meiningen 🌈 A Sky of Emerald Stars - A.K. Mulford

❤️ Inked in Blood and Memory - Allison Ivy 🧡 The Key - Jo Morgan Sloan 💛 Home Between Homes - Flynn Woods 💚 A Kiss for the Holidays - C.S. Autumn 💙 Loving the Linebacker - Amaya Knight 💜 Close to Home - Allisa Bahney ❤️ Christmas Shelter - Eva Gonzay & Julia C. Brown 🧡 This Isn't Everything You Are - J. Marie Rundquist 💛 Keep It in the Dark - Justin Arnold 💙 Santa & His Elf - Bink Cummings 💜 On the Subject of Kittens and Mittens - Katie Silverwings 🌈 Winter's Whisper - M Bonneau

❤️ Boyfriends - refrainbow 🧡 Innis Harbor - Patricia Evans 💛 A Complementary Connection - Eskay Kabba 💚 Point of Sighs - Melissa Scott 💙 Bind You by Blood - Shepard DiStasio 💜 The Resurrectionist - A. Rae Dunlap ❤️ Fractured Dreamer - A.K. Adler 🧡 The Husky and His White Cat Shizun - Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou 💛 Becoming Disabled - Jan Doolittle Wilson 💙 A Caress of Water - Nico Silver 💜 How to Survive As a Villain 1 - Yi Yi Yi Yi 🌈 The Silent Concubine - Qiang Tang

❤️ Hadrian - Harlowe Savage 🧡 A Series of Rooms - A.J. Barlowe 💛 Inklings of Invisibility - S.L. Dove Cooper 💚 The Cobbler and His Elves - C.B. Wren 💙 A Nightclub for the Holidays - Arden Coutts 💜 Armor of Dusk - Jess Galaxie ❤️ Twisted Shadows - Allie Therin 🧡 A Deception of Courts - Ben Alderson 💛 Trial Run - Carsen Taite 💙 How to Flirt with a Witch - Tiana Warner 💜 Roughed Up - Kate Hawthorne 🌈 House of Crimson Curses - Ruby Roe

❤️ Sister Snake - Amanda Lee Koe 🧡 Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet - Samantha Allen 💛 The Rivals - Jane Pek 💚 Private Rites - Julia Armfield 💙 The Christmas Switch - Briar Prescott 💜 Ribbonwood - Ruby Landers ❤️ Shifting Lanes - Joanne Kwan 🧡 Twice-Spent Comet - Ziggy Schutz 💛 A Crush for the Holidays - E.L. Ough 💙 Resist - Lasairiona Lewis 💜 Free from Falling - E.L. Massey 🌈 The Legendary Master's Wife - Yin Ya

❤️ Tide Breaker's Curse - Ivy H. Marikova 🧡 Twist Her - Terri Ronald 💛 How to Fuck Like a Girl - Vera Blossom 💚 Dog Days of Christmas - Krystal Wolfgang & Kimberly Wolfgang 💙 Warmer, Colder - Alexia Onyx 💜 Salt in the Wind - Jenna Pine ❤️ What We Carry With Us - Joseff McKenneth Goodwin 🧡 Reinvention - Karol Yan 💛 Christmas Carols - Maxime Jaz 💙 I'm Not Your Pet - Fae Quin 💜 Something Extraordinary - Alexis Hall 🌈 I Might Be in Trouble - Daniel Aleman

❤️ Deck the Palms - Annabeth Albert 🧡 Don't Get It Twisted - Wren Taylor 💛 Ice & Sweet - Charlie Novak 💚 Speak EZ - Elle E. Ire 💙 The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish - Xue Shan Fei Hu 💜 Horns For Hell - Rafael Nicolás ❤️ Flamboyant Fictions - Ian Fleishman 🧡 Where the Heart Is - Jenni Simonis 💛 Sorry I Kissed Your Dad - Achilles King 💙 Merry Weihnachten - E.J. Noyes 💜 An Alpha for the Holidays - Emily Axon 🌈 The Blessed - Anne Shade

❤️ Our Sinful Love - Amy H. 🧡 Gambler's Conceit - Adara Wolf & R. Phoenix 💛 Fate and Flambe - Leena Metcalfe 💚 Figure You Out - Hannah Danielle & K.F. Starfell 💙 Amaranthine - Aricka Alexander 💜 Twisted Loyalties - Barbara J. Webb ❤️ Echoes of Us - Alex Cross 🧡 The Shadowbearer's Curse - Jasmyn Morning 💛 Too Many Beds - Various 💙 We Are the Beasts - Gigi Griffis 💜 Unspoken - N.N. Britt 🌈 Rainbows After Storms - Luka Kobachi

❤️ The Shutouts - Gabrielle Korn 🧡 Robin's Worlds - Rainie Oet & Mathias Ball 💛 What the Woods Took - Courtney Gould 💚 Rescue Me - N. Slater 💙 Seb & Ailin - Michele Notaro 💜 The International Love Story - Jonas Noelting ❤️ Waterlogged - Nance Sparks 🧡 The Guardians - Sheri Lewis Wohl 💛 The Changeling's Faerie Prince - K.D. Ellis 💙 Until at Dawn We Wake - Charlotte Dalwood 💜 How to Get a Life in Ten Dates - Jenny L. Howe 🌈 Hammajang Luck - Makana Yamamoto

❤️ The Rules of Royalty - Cale Dietrich 🧡 Tired of Waiting for Tomorrow - Allison K. Garcia 💛 One Last Run - Bryce Oakley 💚 Reckless Hearts - Jax Calder 💙 Christmissed - Blythe H. Warren 💜 How Could You - Ren Strapp ❤️ Blackened - Tyler Briggs 🧡 Gratification in Gluttony - Nik Knight 💛 The Mogul Meets Her Match - Julia Underwood 💙 How to Be Heard - Roxane Gay 💜 The Case of the Missing Maid - Rob Osler 🌈 Shades of Us - D.L. Sims

66 notes · View notes

total-karma · 3 months ago

Text

My interpretation of julia coming to terms with being a lesbian is that she's fine with it like she does not have even an inkling of internalised homophobia and is honestly glad she will never have to deal with men... she just HATES having feelings for anyone. she's SO in denial about her feelings for MK but it's not because MK is a girl it's purely because she thinks crushes are embarrassing.

60 notes · View notes

garciaasfluffypen · 2 months ago

Text

bright beginnings pt 12

pairing: single dad!joseph quinn x fem!reader wc: 1.3k warnings: none

it had been three days since you realized you were in love with your boss.

three days of complete and utter silence from him.

it wasn’t like joe, you realized, to hole himself up in his office and not talk to anyone on the staff. it was different, it was weird, and you hated it. all of the other girls knew something was wrong too, but nobody wanted to step forward and say anything. so you all just went about your days, saying your small hi’s whenever you saw him and hoped for the best. but you hated it. you hated every second of it, especially because the twins weren’t even here. according to the books, they were out of town for the week and it was sitting with everyone wrong. there was no way julia would take the twins willingly without joe being there to watch them. something was wrong.

and you were going to get to the bottom of it.

which was how you found yourself standing outside his office at 7pm after everyone had gone home, leaving yourself and joe to be the only ones left in the building. was this a stupid idea? maybe. could you get fired for it? probably. but you wanted- no, needed to make sure you didn’t fuck this up. sure, maybe you didn’t know what it was that you and joe had going on, but it was nice and comfortable and you didn’t want to lose it. ever. with a sigh, you swung open the door, standing in front of his desk as you stared down at him.

“you’re avoiding me.”

joe looked up over the rims of his glasses, a confused look in his eyes.

“you’re avoiding me and i want to know if i did something wrong and if i did i’m sorry but it doesn’t make sense that you’re not talking to me and-”

“whoa, hold on.” joe placed the file he was reading down. “what are you talking about?”

“you haven’t said a single word to me in three days.”

“julia took the kids on an unauthorized vacation, i’ve been back and forth with my lawyer.”

“it still doesn’t make sense as to why you’re not talking to me. what did i do?”

“absolutely nothing.” joe looked over to you. “is everything okay?”

“no.”

“are you… what do you need from me?”

everything. anything.

you simply shrugged. you couldn’t find the words to speak.

you flopped down into the chair next to his desk, your head falling into your hands. you had just made the biggest fool of yourself in front of your boss who you most definitely had fallen in love with, and he was sitting here acting like it was not a big deal. what even was happening? so many thoughts were rushing through your head but you couldn’t grasp onto a single one of them.

there was way too much going on in your brain right now and it wasn’t stopping. you could feel your heart starting to get faster and faster and suddenly everything hit you like a ton of bricks. the flirting, the glances from across the room, the night at the bar when everyone was hanging out and didn’t bat an eye at the fact your boss had shown up… they all knew. they all knew you had the hots for your boss and didn’t say shit about it. well, they could have said stuff behind your back, you weren’t really sure how they were handling the revelation. hell, you were hardly handling the revelation well. when the girls found out they’d probably shun you and make you go to therapy or something to get you to undo all your feelings. you probably shouldn’t have feelings for your boss, there was no way this was going to turn out well. you should have quit when you were ahead and had a chance to get out of there.

while all those thoughts were running through your head, joe had begun to recognize the signs of panic. he had an inkling you were starting to realize something was going on between you two, and hoped to any deity out there that it wasn’t a bad reaction but a “oh my god he actually likes me back” type of reaction. there were only so many levels of heartbreak joe could handle in one month, and he wasn’t sure he could handle losing you. he packed up all of his stuff as quickly as he possibly could, making sure to talk through what he was doing the whole time so you knew what was going on. he wasn’t sure if it was going to help you at all, but it had helped grace in the past so surely he had to try.

“let’s get you back to my place, yeah? make you some tea? calm you down? yeah, lets do that.”

he got you in the car and made it back to his house in about twenty minutes, and yes, he probably did break at least three laws trying to get you back in one piece. you had started to regulate your breathing now, but he could tell you were still freaking out a bit. he held out a supportive hand, which you took and gave a squeeze. a simple “thank you” without saying the words.

“i’m going to start talking, and you can tell me to shut up at any moment, yeah?” joe waited for you to nod. “i think we’ve both realized something is going on between us, and it’s time we talk about it. only good things, i promise.” he squeezed your hand. “because i feel them too. i’ve felt them from the moment i locked eyes with you, but i was too much of a pussy to say anything. i was scared that as your boss, you would think it was some sort of power struggle or me trying to take advantage of you. i’d never do that, promise.”

you turned to face him. “i never thought you would. i just…”

“you’re scared.”

“i am.”

“can i ask why?”

“well for starters, you’re fucking hot.” you chuckled. “and i’m just… me.”

“i’m going to table that conversation for later, since that’s not what we’re focusing on right now. let’s get one thing straight. i like you, y/n. i like you a lot.”

“i like you too.”

“and i don’t want you to feel like you need to say yes, because that’s not what i’m trying to do here. i’m not forcing you to make any decision right now.”

you smiled. “i appreciate that, a lot.”

“that being said, i don’t want this to change anything at work. i want you to know, if we do this… if we become an item, nothing’s going to change.”

“i figured it wouldn’t.” you shrugged. “you’re too nice to make it an issue.”

“is that…”

“that was a compliment. a weirdly worded one… but a compliment.” you scrunched your face up as you realized the wording you used. “all of that aside, you really didn’t have to help calm me down after i made a complete and utter fool of myself today.”

joe sighed. “no no, you had every right to freak out. i shouldn’t have not told you what was happening. that’s fully on me.”

“you’ve been dealing with a lot, joe.” you grabbed his hand. “julia’s got to be putting a lot of stress on you.”

“she is. a lot of it.” joe paused. “i don’t want you to think-”

“i never did.”

“i just need to know… for my own sanity. do you want this? want… us?”

“joe--”

holy shit. he liked you back. and you wanted- no, needed to fuck him right now.

#joseph quinn #joseph quinn fanfiction #joseph quinn imagine #joseph quinn x reader #joseph quinn rpf #an i (queue) of 187

35 notes · View notes

animalsalvationassociation · 2 months ago

Text

Character Refs:

Y/N & Fae (More Content Coming Soon)

The ASA

Villains (Main)

The Octonauts:

Captain Barnacles Kwazii Tweak Shellington Dashi Peso Professor Inkling

Vegimals:

Tunip/Tominnow Barrot/Pikato Halibeet/Codish Grouber/Perchkin Sharchini/Vegi-Bot

Octo-Agents:

Octo-Mamas Octo-Dads Paani/Min Bud/Tracker/Ryla/Selva Junior Octo-Agents

C.L.A.D.E.

(From the Show "Creature Cases")

Director Peggy Scratch

Sam

Kit

Other . . .

Main Oc's:

Emma Jade Professor Marin Kelp Freya Volpes Ranger Voyager Black Crow James (Jim) Lanagan Professor Cornelius Chaplin "Gastrell"

S.S.Jade:

Bandit Kona Harley Farrowstride Professor Amarus Boda Professor Atticus Flintsprit Slye Barracks Alannis Burrow

First Gen (Octonauts):

Captain/Professor Samara Jade Kelp Lieutenant Abigail Avery Doctor Trench Torrent Officer Cardamon Gupata Max Chaundri

Villain Organizations:

The Watcher

Professor Julias Copper

Black Ice Clan:

Black Tack Rolf VonBern Remus Bindle Pocket

The Jersey Gang:

Capone Redsurge Jimmy Rooks Johnny Treebasher

Other Oc's . . .

11 notes · View notes

afairmaiden · 2 months ago

Text

The Others (Part 6*)

For the Inklings Challenge (@inklings-challenge).

*Not a typo. Takes place two weeks after part 4, but I'm late enough as it is.

Sunday, November 13

I went to bed with every intention of getting up early (or as Ellen would say, at a reasonable hour) and finally joining the family for church. I wasn’t looking forward to it. My light sensitivity was growing worse by the day, and I felt a migraine coming on at the very thought of being around so many others for any length of time, but I thought if I kept my eyes shut and pretended to pray through most of the service, I might be able to endure it for a couple of hours without drawing too much attention to myself. It would be worth it to support Julia. But I woke up to find the sun already high and the house empty once again, except for the cat. There was a note on the bedside table.

Tried to wake you. Service starts at 9 but feel free to come late. Expect the hearing to start at 10:30.

I stared at the paper for a minute, then threw it aside and fell back into bed. I lay there for some time until I started feeling hungry, then slowly got dressed and made my way down to the kitchen. I was just looking through the cabinets to find something for breakfast when I heard a knock at the window and looked up to none other than Julia peering in.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as I opened the door. “I thought you’d be at the church. Weren’t they even going to let you speak?”

She gave a rueful smile and waved her hand dismissively.

“Not much point in that. Not when they’ve already made up their minds.”

She seemed to be taking it pretty well, but I felt my heart sink with hopelessness. She was the first—the only—normal person I'd met here, and now—what would happen to her?

I'd tried to get some details out of Sarah, but she hadn't been able to tell me much.

"What are they going to do?" I'd asked.

"There's going to be a trial."

"Yeah, I got that part. But what then?"

"Everyone's going to know," she had said, her eyes wide, as though that were the very worst thing in the world.

I had surmised that meant shunning, or possibly exile. Hardly the worst possible outcomes, but it still seemed terribly unfair.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Julia.

She looked out the window, to where her horse was tied to the fence. There was a long silence.

“I have to get out of here,” she said at last, then met my gaze. “They’re going to kick me out anyway. I might as well go on my own terms.”

“But where?”

She shrugged. “Maybe I'll go to the city. It's only a quick jaunt across the river.”

I stared.

“Or maybe not. But you know, there are other places out there, other people, who aren't— And anyway, anything would be better than this.”

For a moment I thought she would ask me to go with her, but she didn’t say anything.

“Is there anything I can do?”

She smiled again, a real smile, and gave me a fierce hug before whispering, “I’ll need some supplies. I grabbed what I could, but we didn’t have much in the house. I just need enough for a week or two.”

I looked out the window again, trying to gauge how much time we had. The next minute, we were in the basement, pulling things off the shelves. I felt the briefest twinge of guilt, but reasoned that Ellen would hardly miss a few things, and even if she did, she could hardly object to helping someone in need, especially when it was her fault Julia was in this mess to begin with.

In the end, she only took some bread and cheese, a small sack of potatoes, a few onions, a jar of cooking fat, and a box of preserves. After she had gone, I cleaned up and sat down in the living room to wait for Ellen and the children to return. It was almost noon before they finally arrived, all looking far more subdued than usual and saying little as they immediately set to work making lunch.

I was just helping David set the table when Ellen said to Elizabeth, “Run down and fetch some potatoes, would you?”

I found myself holding my breath as she made her way down, hoping she wouldn't notice the missing sack, and breathed a sigh of relief as I heard her turn back toward the stairs.

A moment later—

“Oh! We're out of salt.”

Ellen’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. The box is empty!”

“That can't be right.”

Ellen set down the pot she was holding and hurried down to see for herself. A minute later, she returned, a look of unmistakable worry on her face. I didn’t say anything and kept my eyes on the dishes. I could practically feel her staring at me.

“Was anyone here earlier?” she asked after a long silence.

“Julia stopped by briefly,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “She said she needed a few things. I didn’t think you’d mind. Just some bread and potatoes—”

“And about four pounds of salt,” she concluded flatly.

I was spared from having to answer by a well-timed knock at the door. Ellen quickly went out to see who it was, while the children immediately began whispering among themselves, and I continued to ignore them. It was a few minutes before Ellen returned.

“Well,” she said with forced cheerfulness, “that was Mr. Walther. He and his sister are taking a group down to the lighthouse tomorrow and wondered if you would care to join them.”

“Oh! Are they still going?” said Elizabeth. “I thought they might not—”

Ellen smiled. “He said they would hate to disappoint you all, and they supposed it would be a nice distraction from everything.”

Now Sarah said she'd hoped to finish her sewing tomorrow, and David said he was working on something as well, but James and Elizabeth were both excited to go and could talk of little else. No more was said about the salt that day.

Monday

Monday morning, I did wake up early, though I deliberately waited until they’d started breakfast before slipping into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. I was nearly done with my meal when there came a knock at the door and I heard Sam’s voice call out, “Morning all! Who’s ready for a field trip?”

James and Elizabeth jumped up at once and ran to the door. Ellen followed after them. I heard her exchange a few words with Sam, and then they both returned to the kitchen. He smiled and tipped his hat to me and greeted Sarah and David before saying, “I guess you’ve heard my sister and I are taking the children out today. We’ve got a fairly sizable group, so I was wondering if you might be interested in coming along as an extra chaperone.”

I didn’t particularly want to, especially after our last meeting, but I also couldn’t think of a good excuse to get out of it, and as the only alternative seemed to be helping Ellen bring in the latest delivery of firewood, a minute later I was awkwardly exchanging greetings with Jess while throwing on my coat and putting on my shoes. Ellen offered me a lunch basket and a bag.

“You shouldn’t need this, but you can’t be too prepared,” she said, glancing up at the sky doubtfully.

I couldn’t see any cause for concern when there were only a handful of wispy clouds in sight, and more than half the group had already taken their coats off, but Sam only nodded and said, “Of course. Can’t be too careful.”

Soon enough, we were off, three adults and sixteen children between the ages of seven and fourteen. The “lighthouse”, as they called it, was about a ten minute walk past the west field, a two-story brick building with a sort of steeple, built on a high foundation by a big river, with dense woods all around. The lighthouse keeper was waiting out front to greet us. He shook Sam's hand, tipped his hat to the children, and nodded politely to me, but seemed to pay particular attention to Jess. His sister also came out with a tray of refreshments, after which there was a brief tour, beginning with the grounds around the building and leading up to the light itself.

After the tour, the children were allowed to explore a bit, on the condition that they stay in groups of three or more, the younger ones with the older ones, and they keep well away from the river.

"Be sure to keep within sight of the building, come when you're called, and shout if there's any trouble," Sam said.

They all agreed, and soon they had fanned out in all directions, some going back inside, and some playing in the garden, while a few of the older ones headed into the woods to gather sticks for a fire. Jess sat with the lighthouse keeper on a bench by the front door, while his sister stood some distance away, keeping an eye on them and the children playing in the back, while Sam and I both wandered here and there, periodically checking in with everyone. About the third time we crossed paths, we started to walk together.

"I guess you're pretty well settled in by now," he said. "Got everything you needed in town last week?"

I nodded.

"Good. Figured you would. I know Ellen always thinks of all the details."

"Does she?" I muttered.

I hadn't meant to say that out loud, let alone loud enough for him to hear. I realized my mistake as he suddenly stopped walking and looked at me.

"What's the matter? Don't you like her?"

I could feel my patience wearing thin and just barely refrained from rolling my eyes.

"Of course I like her," I said quickly. "What's not to like? It's just...don't you think...the people around here—"

He gave me an odd look.

"It is pretty different out here, isn't it?" he asked after a minute, as casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

For the briefest moment, I'd hoped he might understand, that our shared background might mean something to him, but there was no denying that he was well and truly one of them now, with all the same aggravating sympathy and condescension, and the seemingly effortless, ever-present brilliance that felt like a mockery of all I'd dedicated my life to these past few months. And he didn't even know it.

“She—she left the children alone with me!” I finally blurted out.

He blinked in confusion. Then, rather than acknowledging this as an alarming sign of supreme negligence, he only shrugged.

“So? I reckon they’re old enough to mind themselves for a few hours. They were hardly in any danger.”

“I could have been a danger!”

He actually laughed. “Oh, please. I saw the state you were in that day. I was more worried about you than them. Fact is, if it really came down to it, you couldn’t have taken one of them in a fight, let alone all four.”

He remained entirely unbothered as I reiterated my concern about the risk of disease, practically rolling his eyes when I asked about the protocols for quarantining new arrivals.

“You got a bit roughed up and caught a chill running through the woods. It was hardly cause for a civil emergency. They brought you to the Halls' because they were close, and hardier than most, and they did keep to themselves for a few days. You know, we do try to avoid unnecessary risks, but there’s only so much anyone can do, and if doing our best and trying to help someone causes a plague to break out and kill us all, well, I suppose that's just God's will.”

That hardly inspired confidence.

“But really,” he added, “from what I remember, they would barely let sick people out of their rooms, let alone city limits. You were fine.”

We walked in silence for a few more minutes, turning our attention back to the children around us. It was some time before he spoke again.

“Did you hear Julia Thompson is gone?”

“I know.”

Of course he must have known that. Ellen must have told him everything. Ten to one they'd be calling for a new trial within the week.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where she went, would you?” he persisted.

“No.”

“Did you know she has a daughter?”

“What?”

Now I was the one to stop and stare.

“Her name is Isabella,” he said. “She’s twelve. That’s what kicked off this whole thing, you know. After the incident at the quilting party, a few of the ladies went to the Thompsons’ to have a chat with Mrs. Thompson, and they found Isabella alone, sick in bed. Doctor wouldn't comment on it of course, but anyone could see it was a shameful case of neglect, hardly the work of a few days. She’s at the doctor’s house now, where she’ll be staying until her father returns. I understand they would have asked Ellen to take her, but they supposed with everything else going on, she had enough on her plate. And now—”

He shook his head. “Look, I don't know what sort of sob story Mrs. Thompson was feeding you, but they were only hoping to get through to her, to bring her to her senses, not kill her, which is what's likely to happen if you go running off into the woods in mid-November.”

For a while I didn’t say anything.

“I guess you think it’s my fault for letting her go,” I said at last. “And I guess Ellen told you I gave her food.”

His brow furrowed in confusion, and then he shook his head.

“I can’t blame you for that,” he said quietly.

I stared at him.

“She was your friend. You thought she’d been wronged, and you wanted to help. That’s not it.”

“Then what?” I snapped.

“I guess I just don't understand why you're so determined to make excuses for her.”

Because I understood her. Because we were the same. Because—

Just then, one of the older boys waved Sam over to a spot overlooking the bank of the river, where a small group had gathered to look at something. I took the opportunity to slip away in the opposite direction, toward the treeline.

I had hoped for at least a few minutes alone, but sure enough I soon heard footsteps behind me, and turned to see Jess following.

"You'll have to excuse Sam," she said apologetically. "He's been under a lot of pressure since Dad died. I guess we all have."

I gave a noncommittal nod.

"Still," she continued, "the neighbors have been a big help, and it is a comfort to know he's not in pain anymore."

Of course that was all well and good, but I couldn’t help asking, “But didn’t you ever think of trying to go back?”

“Back?” she echoed.

“I mean, they might have been able to help him, in the city, if you’d just—”

She gave a sharp, humorless laugh.

“Why do you think he was in a wheelchair to begin with?”

I stared at her in shock. She returned my gaze with a look of disbelief.

“What, you didn’t think we left just for the fun of it?”

Now that she mentioned it, I didn't recall the exact reason behind their disappearance coming up in our last conversation, but of course I had assumed they’d gone willingly.

"I suppose we might have tried, if we'd known. Dad always said we were bound to run into trouble someday, but I don't think anyone ever expected—"

She paused.

“They’ve done this before, you know. More than once. Sending people out here to— They told Zane Benson they wanted him to map out the area. They told Victoria Alley to report on the deer population after a bad storm. They didn’t even bother with pleasantries for us, just gathered us up, threw us in a van, and dumped us in the middle of a clearing some ways northwest from here, said if we hated the city so much, we could try our luck in the wilderness.”

“Why would they do that?”

She shrugged.

“Why not? They don’t exactly have a high regard for human life. That said, I don’t doubt they have some purpose behind it, besides an easy way to get rid of troublemakers.”

She looked at the sky. I looked up as well, trying not to look like I believed her. Not for the first time, I had the distinct feeling of being watched.

“It’s been a dry summer you know. We manage alright out here, but I imagine things are a bit hard when you’ve got a city with a million people in it that can’t get water.”

I felt my jaw drop. “You’re implying they’re sending people to die in the wilderness as some sort of sacrifice?”

For a minute she said nothing, and then—

"How did you end up here, anyway?"

"I got lost."

She raised her eyebrows. "Lost?"

"I was taking a walk through the preserve, stepped a little off the trail and got turned around. Then it got dark and I tried to orient myself by the moon and just...kept walking. I figured I'd have to hit the fence at some point, but..."

I shrugged.

"And this was Sunday? The twenty-third?"

I nodded.

"Oh."

There was a long silence before she looked out toward the house. We'd been walking just inside the treeline and were now coming to the back garden, where a number of younger children were playing. We parted ways without another word, as she went to check on them, and I walked deeper into the woods.

I found that the further I went, the easier it was to breathe. Here, away from everything and everyone, I could almost imagine that the past few weeks had been only a weird dream. Maybe I had simply had a bad fall in the woods, and Zay and Nikki and the rest were out looking for me. Maybe—

I closed my eyes and tried to center myself, breathing in and out and sensing my surroundings, the way Gina had taught us in the very beginning. After a few minutes, I tried calling out.

Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone here me?

There was silence, but a different kind of silence than in town. I tried again, calling up every light thought I could think of, repeating the list of ideals I had always held dear.

Peace, safety, harmony.

I felt myself growing more and more relaxed.

Tolerance, acceptance, inclusion.

The wind began to blow.

Openness, authenticity, diversity.

I imagined myself as a full Lightbringer, a sworn defender of all light and truth, a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, and an instructor of the foolish.

We will not allow our lights to be dimmed.

The sky grew dark.

I opened my eyes to find that night had fallen without warning, and the winds had grown violent, freezing cold and wet and blinding with icy snow. On top of the wind was another sound I couldn't identify, a sort of howling, and then—

There were voices in the distance, their direction unclear.

"Inside! Inside! Let's go!"

Suddenly there was Jess's voice yelling my name, and the next moment, her hand grabbing hold of my arm and pulling me up and out of the woods.

Even less than fifty feet away, the building was barely visible in the storm, and yet when we finally reached the door and I looked back toward the woods, I could see a number of unmistakable black figures standing among the trees.

"What was that?" I gasped one Jess had finally pulled me inside.

"Freak blizzard," she panted. "They come up without warning sometimes."

"No, I mean—in the woods—didn't you see?"

"I can't see anything," she said, groping for the door to the stairs. "Oh! We should've lit the lamps already."

She opened it just in time to hear Sam calling roll.

"Jess!"

"We're here!" she shouted back.

We found everyone gathered in a large room at the top of the stairs. The lighthouse keeper offered us towels, blankets, and hot drinks, and directed us to sit and warm ourselves by the stove, where Jess joined his sister in comforting a few of the little ones who had started crying, and I was relieved to find James and Elizabeth among the rest.

"Alright, alright, now there's no need to fuss," Sam said. "These things happen sometimes, but the good news is that we're all safe here, and once the wind dies down a bit, Mr. Andrews will let your families know you're alright."

Everyone listened, and after a minute it seemed that it had grown quieter outside. Mr. Andrews nodded, took an odd sort of instrument out of a box,—"Bagpipes," Jess whispered in response to my inquiring look—and went up a second set of stairs, and a moment later we heard what sounded like two loud horn blasts, one short and one long, ring out directly overhead, followed by two short blasts that sounded like a question. There was a long pause, and then there came a response from further away, then another, and another, and another.

"All's well," he announced when he descended at last. "And the light's certainly doing its job now, though I pray no one's out on the water in this weather."

"Well now," said Sam, "I suppose we'll all be hungry, so why don't we have our dinner now, and then we'll have a few songs."

Now Jess, Miss Andrews, and a few of the older children went downstairs and returned with everyone's lunch boxes and baskets. Mr. Andrews offered a blessing and a prayer for protection from the storm, and we all sat down to eat as though we were having a picnic. James, Sarah, and I had butter and jam sandwiches, cheese, pears, and hardboiled eggs. When everyone was finished, Mr. Andrews brought out his bagpipes again.

I endured I Walk in Danger All the Way and A Mighty Fortress is our God well enough, but about halfway through Jesus Sinners Doth Receive, my light sensitivity, which had been lying dormant for most of the day, suddenly flared up again when the entire room seemed to be ablaze with unspeakable brilliance, and I quickly had to excuse myself.

I found my way down to the kitchen, then shut myself in the walk-in pantry, the only room without any windows. I don't know how long I sat there before I heard Jess calling.

"Bree?"

"Here."

"Are you alright?"

"Headache."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

There was an indistinct whisper, and then a moment later, she opened the pantry door, holding a lantern.

"Ah. One moment." She scanned the shelves and found a small bottle, took out what looked like a bunch of leaves, and handed them to me. "Chew on these. They'll help."

With that, she shut the pantry door, added some more wood to the stove, and went back upstairs.

About half an hour later, the sounds upstairs had died down and I felt safe enough to head back up. I found the lantern waiting for me on the table, and Sam waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"You alright?" he asked.

I nodded. I knew I should have been grateful for his concern—he was being nice—but I couldn't get past our earlier conversation. Apparently he couldn't either, because after a long pause, he sighed and leaned back against the staircase.

“Look,” he began, “I don’t know exactly what she told you, but the fact is, we’ve all heard her talk. There’s hardly a soul in town that hasn’t helped her out in one way or another, and none that wouldn’t have done more if they’d thought it would make any difference, but it was never enough for her.

“Now, my family came here with nothing. My father was badly hurt. He couldn’t get out of bed, let alone work, for months. Still, they welcomed us, taught us, gave us a place to live, food, clothes, everything. The people here—they’re more than just nice; by God’s grace, they’re good. And you may think that’s all nonsense, but they really believe it, and so do I. So you’ll excuse me if I get just a little bit heated when some whining, gossiping busybody goes around slandering some of the best people I know because they wouldn’t bow to her every whim.”

I couldn’t very well argue with that. All the same, I couldn’t help saying, “You’re not the only one who’s had a hard time, you know. She told me. She lost her parents, her brother—”

“Everyone’s lost someone,” he said shortly. “We lost our father, the children lost their mother, Miss Hall lost her fiance, and you don’t see any of us—”

We heard a small gasp and looked up to see Sarah at the head of the stairs, evidently too shocked to be concerned about being caught eavesdropping.

“Aunt Ellen was engaged?” she whispered.

“What, didn’t you know?” asked an older boy standing behind her.

“Of course they wouldn’t remember it,” a girl answered. “They were practically babies when it happened. I remember.”

“Now,” said Jess, “I’m not sure we should…”

But it seemed useless to say anything, because now all the children were listening with rapt attention.

The girl continued, “Aunt Ellen was engaged to Aunt Julia’s brother Matthew. What did you think all that fuss over the ring was about? It was her engagement ring.”

James addressed the first boy who had spoken.

“Is that why you call her Aunt too?”

“Of course. I thought you all knew that, but I guess I can see why she wouldn’t like to talk about it.”

Again, Jess looked like she wanted to step in, but Sam seemed to be almost amused by the whole thing, at least until Elizabeth asked a question.

“How did he die?”

He instantly grew sober and looked around at all the children waiting wide-eyed for his answer.

“Smoke inhalation,” he said at last. “The Stewarts’ house caught fire, and…Bethany was inside.”

In an instant, the room erupted with a sound that rivaled the storm still raging outside, with shouts of how dare she and it’s absolutely monstrous. A few of the girls started openly sobbing, and even Jess was wiping away tears.

Amidst the chaos, Sam caught my eye.

“You didn’t hear?” he said flatly. “Bethany Stewart was missing. Three weeks ago. For nearly four hours. Seems Mrs. Thompson was having a bad morning and decided to vent her frustration by telling Bethany it was her fault her brother died. Poor girl started crying and ran off into the woods. Of course her parents were furious. If anything had happened to her, it would have been murder. Praise God nothing did happen.”

My mind flashed back to what I had seen.

“Are there—are there animals out there?”

“Mostly deer, and some smaller animals. The bears and other large animals generally don’t come too close. But Bethany also has some…challenges that make it more dangerous for her to be out alone. Anyway, that was the second thing.”

The scene might have gone on longer, but Sam finally decided to put an end to it.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough now,” he called. “Come on, let’s get ready for bed.”

It took a while longer to get everyone settled down, but eventually the boys were settled in one room and the girls in another. I slipped downstairs once more on the pretense of checking the doors while they had their prayers, then came up again when I thought the coast was clear.

“Good night,” Sam said from the door of the boys’ room.

“Good night.”

“Oh, by the way,” he added with faint smile, “the city’s a hundred miles from here, and the twenty-third was a new moon.”

#inklingschallenge #team chesterton #genre: intrusive fantasy #theme: admonish #story: incomplete

4 notes · View notes

clannfearrunt · 2 years ago

Photo

cephalopods from *checks folder* uh oh! Four months ago

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #inkling #octoling #yeah.#Squid 2 the evolution of the squid #Cam Berry #Lily Aoi #Julia Joubin #Thresher Lagan #Conarts #i didnt post this right. i didnt

519 notes · View notes

ageofpiracyrp · 5 months ago

Text

PLOT DROP 35: YOU HAVE [redacted] VOICEMAIL MESSAGES

"Uh..." Hero looked over at Muffy with a concerned expression. "We just received another round of video messages," she told the vanneer with with a quieter voice than usual.

"Another one? Oh, but we haven't even watched the first eight yet," Muffy said, equally concerned. "Daphne said that Stella's on her way to help now, but we're at the point where I'm about to ask if we can pull on Laurie, Sky, Robin... anyone who might have an inkling of what to do."

In total, there were 26 messages. The first 20 came from The Bat Ray's crew. According to Seetha, who had been the most clear about the purpose of these messages, the intent was for Prosperity to pass these messages on to the crew members' loved ones. Apparently, the galx had been too lazy to allow for each of the crew members that wanted to send a message to pick their own emergency contact, so Julia had decided that Daphne was everyone's emergency contact to actually receive the messages. The messages that were in languages comprehensible to the Prosperity were largely sterile in content. Explaining that the trial date would be on September 28th. Telling family and friends how much they were missed. Noting how important the justice system was.

The strangest parts of the whole thing were that Leo's message was addressed to Makhaira Espionage. It wasn't warm and fuzzy- just the facts about what was happening.

As for Julia's message.... She said hi to Daphne and immediately started telling her kids how much she loved and missed them. Julia closed out the message by saying with a small smile, "Beck, I don't have anything nice to say, but I do miss you... somehow."

Before Hero had even finished parsing all of the messages, a highly encoded audio message came in from Makhaira split into five parts.

After that got decrypted, Daphne listed to that personally before directing the whole crew to listen.

September 7th. Meet me at the Frostbite Tavern on the outpost planet Harmony midday. Before then, tell me in the most encrypted message you can muster the name of any crew members who mentioned Julia's family members. There's a few cells on the Galx's prison planet that are more vulnerable than others. The messages that you received are relatively standard procedure if the captured have had good behavior, but we are still lucky to get those. My connections have one single contact on Void Point who was able to help us get this far. The plan is to get Mark and co out of prison by any means necessary. I have a ideas for plans based on what has worked in the past, but I need your thoughts on which we should go with- or if we need to do something different altogether. Mark needs to be able to walk around as an Espionage if we can manage it, so that limits our options. But we can make this happen. Bring that Kelly woman with you- you can send her right back to Kraysha afterward, but having her perspective will be important.

The last message came from Clause Mazrinon, of all people, begging for help with a delivery job to the outpost planet of Rymoreezin that he couldn't trust anyone else to do. No travel to Earth so nothing too risky but a job that coincidentally was in the same neck of the woods as Harmony. Not too close, but convenient enough.

This could work out.

Even if "Kelly" (aka Kenna) was going to have to come with them.

#character: kenna #character: mark espionage #character: leo #character: julia derringer #aop plot drop #character: clause mazrinon #character: makhaira espionage #character: hero wuff fen skrrn #character: daphne rux #character: muffy clayrtan

3 notes · View notes

larissa-the-scribe · 8 months ago

Note

I'd love to hear about First Meetings and The Witch in the Woods from that WIP ask game!!

Thanks for the ask! (from this ask game)

First Meetings:

Info:

The first part of the scene is actually already up on tumblr! You can find that >>here. It's (currently) the opening scene for Fallen Breath, a story about a Lawful Good(tm) detective and a probably insane sailor lady investigating the supernatural curse that's sweeping through Santa Juliana. The idea already existed but it got solidified and made A Thing by Inklings Challenge 2022.

So this scene would be the first time they met, and also the hook for the mystery (Julia has info and she wants Crispin's help because he's not affiliated with the Detective's Guild, unlike most private investigators).

Snippet (this is from the document, after the scene on tumblr):

The day drew to a close, the black darkness of night smothering everything until the streetlights struggled to stay alight. Further toward the middle of Santa Juliana, loud peals from the belltower marked the time. 1800hs. Crispin shrugged. Maybe she’d had to stay overnight in the hospital. Turning up the collar of his coat and shoving his hat over his mop of red-gold curls—wondering wistfully if maybe the darkness meant it’d be socially acceptable to not wear a hat—he went out to call a cab for Ms. Hallifax, then began locking up. It didn’t take long. For all that the monstrous and skeletal building of bronze and glass was large and sprawling, there weren’t many rooms and, consequently, not many doors. Most of them were on the second story, anyway, and there were only two stairways to that. Clicking the locking mechanism closed and shoving the fold-key into his pocket, he thought for the twentieth time that week that it was time he got to cleaning the multitude of windows. Sometimes he regretted not having thought about that when he bought the place. Maybe that had been why it was so cheap; either that or the fact that it was constantly falling apart.

The Witch in the Woods:

Info:

This is a slightly different kind of project, since it's an AU of my ocs, but also it's canon. It gets complicated but (spoilers) basically a thing happens where reality gets fragmented and as a result a bunch of AUs happen with different versions of and different storylines for the four core Rifters (Kathryn, Benn, Lyn, and Zo).

In this AU, the "Assassin AU," it takes place in a more medieval fantasy setting. Benn and Kathryn didn't come in and shut down the assassin program run by the government (well, its equivalent in this world), so Zo is never rescued out of that. Benn has disappeared, Kathryn is hiding in the woods because she's become bitter, and Lyn never gets friends who care about her and take care of her, so she's just fully letting the depression win.

The story for this timeline gets kickstarted when Zo is sent to assassinate Lyn (who, in every universe, knows far too much), and for the first time comes face to face with someone who *wants* him to kill them. This is too weird and intriguing and Wrong, so he refuses to kill her (to her frustration). Instead, he goes rogue and starts figuring out why she's supposed to be dead, dragging her along for the ride until she learns that life is worth living, and he learns to have a moral compass. They also meet Kathryn and Benn along the way :)

This scene takes place when Zo goes back to his "guild," expecting to find help after his clients double-crossed him, only to find out that, no, yeah, his guild also wants Lyn to be dead. His mentor tries to make it a lesson in "don't get attached to people--you're an assassin so you're supposed to be Smarter Than That," but Zo has gotten a Friend now and doesn't fall for it. They make it out, barely, but Lyn is mortally wounded, and they need help, now. So there's this borderline eldritch witch in the nearby woods that his guild has always feared and avoided, but like, he's left them, so, uh, maybe it could be a good idea to ask her for help.

Snippet:

“Go.” Lyn waved a weak hand at him. “I’ll be here when you get back.” He set his jaw, curling his fingers around one of his knives, and set out deeper into the woods. It was darker, more silent than ever, the tree trunks crowded closer, the roots more knobbed and scattered under foot, making walking more difficult and uncomfortable. But he wasn’t going far, anyway. He unsheathed the oak-wood dagger he’d swiped on his way out of the castle--polished, worn, carved with letters he couldn’t read. He knew what they said, though. It was the title of the person he was summoning, and he remembered it clearly; it had been the day Julian had told him to never go into the woods. Fitting, then, that it'd be one of the first places he went after cutting ties. On one hand, the fact that he had stolen a magic artifact from the castle meant that [people from the castle] would definitely be after him, but on the other, it wasn’t like they were going leave him or Lyn alone anyway. He hadn’t told Lyn what he was planning to do, and unease churned in his gut. No matter which legend held truth, this was probably a stupid move. It wasn’t like he had anything to offer in return, and he was the last person who’d be able to appeal to someone’s humanity. Not that he’d really tried yet, but there was also the doubt as to whether or not whatever was here was human. This was a fool’s hope, certainly. But desperation had certainly made a fool of him.

(and one more because I couldn't resist)

The girl tilted her head, cloak fluttering about her in a wind he didn’t feel. “And why do you think I will do what you ask? Last I heard, the rumors were that I was a monster.” “Because those aren’t the only legends, are they?” He hoped Lyn was right. “At least that’s what she believes. That the old tales of a being who traveled throughout the land, in this region specifically, and gave aid to those who needed it.” “Oh?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why is that me?” “I… don’t know exactly.” He bit back his growing frustration with an effort. “Something about the legends ceasing around the time you showed up here, or some of the characteristics being the same. It’s not really my area of expertise.” “No, it wouldn’t be,” she said thoughtfully. She didn't sound judgmental, but, considering her earlier vague remarks about “Castle people,” Zo felt his efforts to check his irritation failing rapidly. “So what are you going to do?” Zo asked. “Avoid history repeating itself,” she said. The cloak fluttered a little more, and she vanished.

#this got SO LONG I'm sorry asdfasd #I wasn't sure how to summarize the AU thing succinctly #thanks for the ask!#ask game #scribe answers #crispin o'callner #zo #tamaki nozomu #lyn #evelyn vordur #the santa juliana files #rifters series 3 #rifters au #assassin au

6 notes · View notes

the-hidden-writer · 2 years ago

Text

maestro sigma fic snippet (part 3)

So chapter 3 is already nearly 3000 words and is only about halfway done...

since i have exams over the next week or so i thought i’d post a sneak peek in the meantime

Chapter summary (wip): Siebren should have known his second chance wouldn’t last.

CW: mentions of blood

Like music drifting in the air (Invisible, but everywhere...)

Chapter 3: Siebren de Kuiper (sneak peek)

As the door slowly swung open, Julia noticed that though the piano lid was open, it was not being played.

Sitting on the stool that looked so tiny compared to him was Sander Visscher. He was facing the wall to her left and his back was hunched with his head hanging low. His silver hair was disheveled and the glasses had fallen off his face. Although he was still wearing his impeccable tuxedo, his white bowtie was undone and hung loosely around his neck, and it even looked like some of the top buttons on his shirt were undone. His posture made it seem like there was some invisible force weighing him down.

He looked… drained. He didn't seem to have noticed the door had been opened.

“...Are you okay, Mr Visscher?” Julia asked softly.

He acknowledged her with the subtlest of movements; a slight tilt of the head which was only enough so that his red eyes could meet hers, brimming with tears.

Now able to see his face, Julia saw the stream of blood running from his large nose.

She forced herself out of shock and into practical-mode.

“S-Sir, your face!” Her eyes quickly scanned the room for tissues, but to no avail. “Is there a first aid kit in here?”

It took him a few seconds to reply quietly, turning his head away from her again. “No.”

His voice sounded hoarse.

Julia started to panic even more and moved to leave. “Don’t worry, there’s one in the rehearsal room. I’ll just go get-”

“No!” Visscher repeated, a little louder, causing her to freeze in place.

“Just let me-”

“No.” He said again, more resigned this time.

“Uh… okay?” Julia wasn’t sure what to do. If the elderly man had landed on his head then he probably needed immediate medical attention, but then again his face didn’t look bruised at all. Maybe his nose had started bleeding from stress? Either way, the maestro didn’t look as if he was alright in the slightest. She couldn’t just leave him there. “Is there anything I can do to help? Anything at all?”

“No.”

Well, this was going great. He wasn’t talking to her but he wasn’t making her leave, either. Which was probably a good thing.

“The emergency services are here.” Julia said after a few minutes of awkward silence. “There are paramedics out front helping people right now, I can fetch someone for you if you want?”

No response. The man’s eyes were squeezed shut.

“The police are here too.” She continued. “They’re searching the hall to find out what happened. They think it was probably a terrorist attack with a graviton weapon-”

“No.” Visscher shook his head gently. “They won’t find anything.”

No..? “What do you mean? Do you know what happened?”

Julia silently prayed that Visscher wasn’t involved. There were another few minutes of tense silence.

“It’s my fault.” He said eventually, his voice cracking- causing a twinge in Julia’s heart. “I should have known better than to think I could live like this again.”

Now Julia was just confused. She shivered involuntarily as that inkling of fear traveled onto her skin. Something about this whole conversation was starting to feel off.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, unable to speak louder than a stage-whisper.

Visscher’s reply turned that inkling into downright terror.

“I did this. This is because of me.”

Before Julia had the chance to ask him to elaborate, she caught some movement through the corner of her eye. Some of the ornaments on the desk at the side of the room (a few model animals, a Newton’s cradle and a metronome) were floating in the air. She quickly turned back to Visscher, worried there was another attack, but the words fell away when she noticed his outstretched fingers.

Fingers pointed towards the desk. The desk where there were objects floating.

Every bone in Julia’s body told her to get out.

She didn’t move. “A-Are you doing that?”

Visscher said nothing, but he relaxed his hand and all the floating items clattered back onto the table. So… that was a new development.

#ugh here we go again with the tags #overwatch #fic #sigma #sigma overwatch #overwatch sigma #siebren de kuiper #maestro sigma #angst #ow sigma #reminder that sander visscher is a false identity #i didn't give him a new name lol

14 notes · View notes

assortedseaglass · 1 year ago

Note

For The Seamstress & The Sailor, questions 2, 3, 4, 9, & 10, please 💜

Thank you most lovely person! Got carried away with the answers...

2: What scene did you first put down?

The opening scene! I wanted to write a Tom fic for a while. But wasn’t sure who to pair him against. I’d also had an inkling to write about three sisters, and eventually one day they came together.

Really, the story is about Bess more than Tom, and so I wanted her world to feel fully fleshed out before I launched people into their relationship with each other. Having the sisters sitting on the front step with their neighbours, I wanted to portray every key player in the story from the outset!

It’s no surprise to anyone that has read anything by me that I love world building and a huge part of that is the characters.

3: What's your favorite line of narration?

I really enjoy writing how Bess and Tom see each other. They’ve known each other so long there’s an existing intimacy that is fun to write. And that doesn’t always mean it is loving. I enjoyed Bess’ perspective here;

His head was leant against the brick of the house, exposing the lean muscle of his neck. The cigarette in his mouth was barely lit, and he pursed his lips to puff it into life. Bess watched the smoke unfurl in the air and caught site of his shadow against the wall. Sharp, harsh and angular. He looked like a Roman statue. Not one of a great emperor, mind. One of those spoilt man-childs that fucked their way around Rome before dying of syphilis. Bess snorted and sat on the bench beside him.

I also like writing Tom because I find him quite hard to read. I’ve said it before but even though Tom is a brash character, EM plays his emotions with such subtlety it's fantastic. I like this observation of Bess from his view;

Bess sat beside him and he passed her his cigarette. She placed it between her lips, Tom watching as she did. He didn’t comment on her dress, though admired it all the same. Her rosy face glowed in the low afternoon light and the smoke she exhaled cast a shadow around the plump lines of her face. Her long eyelashes were bare, as was the rest of her face. Youth exuded from every pore but, as always, her eyes were dark and focused. Bess seemed to have lived a million lives before she was given this one.

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

Basically anything Dot says! She is so open emotionally she just says whatever she’s thinking and I love that.

My all-time favourite bit of dialogue, though, goes to Claudette. I wanted Tom to have this realisation that he loves Bess, and for that to come when he meets this woman very similar to her seemed like the perfect time. And just as Bess always seems to floor Tom with what she says, Claudette does the exact same thing.

“You must love her very much. To see her faults and love her as you do,”

“You what?” Tom spluttered as he made to sip the flagon of water. “I-what? I mean, Christ-”

“Falling in love is easy,” Claudette continued. “People do it all the time. But staying in love, that’s a choice. The more we know someone, the more we see their faults. To want them despite that, that’s real love.”

It also seemed to resonate with people, and that is always lovely when we put writing out there.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Were there! There were a few alternate ideas but mostly they went out the window pretty quickly because they didn’t make any sense!

The biggest change was that I was going to kill Fergal at the end of Volume I.

I made him an air raid siren with the intention that it would help his alcoholism, and that just as he had reformed himself he would be killed in the Manchester Blitz. However, the arc with Tom and Bess towards the end of Volume I is quite plot heavy, with Tom escaping occupied Europe, so I wanted to wait until Volume II.

My mum and I had a theory leading up to Word on Fire series 2 that Douglas would be killed in the blitz, then lo and behold Julia Brown revealed it was true! I grappled with killing both Douglas and Fergal, changing the story so that it was just Fergal who died, or keeping it in line with the canon of the show. I went with the canon because I think Douglas’ death is devastating to both Tom and Bess, and that is going to be interesting to explore.

I do miss him, though, and I really miss writing him. RIP Douglas <3

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

I’m cheating here and taking my answer from your amazing Interview with a Writer series which everyone should read!

My take on Tom is that he was a confident child, and took this confidence and started to act out after his mother died. He says what he thinks and doesn’t worry about the consequences. War wakes him up to is faults.

Bess, on the other hand, was not confident as a child, and only grew in confidence as an adult. She became sure of her place, whereas Tom started to question it. She rarely speaks her mind, only when she feels it is needed. War wakes her up to her strengths.

In that way they are different, but they have common ground too. Both are incredibly loyal, lost their mothers young and have things to prove. Tom, that’s he’s not just a petty criminal with no direction, Bess that she is worthy of a place despite her difference to her peers. Both of them also want to prove that there is more to the working class than what society expects of them.

I think those core elements that are similar, but the small differences that challenge each other, make them an ideal fit.

Fanfic Asks

#answered #tom bennett #moot moot

5 notes · View notes