#oc laramie jonas

[littleperilstories]

Remember these poor boys?

I really do believe they deserve a better story than the one they got in Whumptober. (Unfortunately, I doubt they'll get one anytime soon.)

I also

really do believe

they deserve

an ending.

The Curiosity Collector: Masterpost

The Curiosity Collector

(Whumptober 2022)

Ash, a witch, is abducted by witch hunters. He finds himself in the clutches of the cruel human Douglas Heminworth, who keeps witches in his own personal "collection."

Will Laramie and Ivy, the two people who care about him most, be able to save him before it's too late?

Day 8 - head trauma, back from the dead

Day 9 - sleeping in shifts, tossing and turning

Day 18 - "just get it over with," treading water, "take my coat"

Day 1 - adverse effects, unconventional restraints, “this wasn’t supposed to happen”

Day 4 - hidden injury, waking up disoriented, can't pass out

Day 16 - mind control, paralytic drugs, "no one's coming"

Day 28 - anger born of worry, punching the wall, headache

Day 27 - muffled screams, stumbling, magical exhaustion

Day 21 - coughing up blood, "you're safe now," "take me instead"

[littleperilstories]

Whumptober 2022: #8 :: Everything Hurts and I'm Dying

Whumptober Masterpost Stomach Pain | Head Trauma | Back from the Dead Whumpee: Laramie Jonas

@whumptober-archive / @whumptober

CW: young whumpee (he’s alright!) head injury, blood, mention of death, potentially life-threatening injury

The Curiosity Collector

Masterlist | Next

You’ve brought me a dead boy. Why?

The sight of the boy’s head bleeding a sickening shade of bright red into the grass—his face a ghastly pale colour—

Ash stumbled backwards, his stomach churning. He wasn’t used to blood, to the sight of someone else’s life leaking out in a crimson ooze. Moments later, he found himself dropping to his knees, his wits returning, and his hands were yanking off his cloak. It was flecked with mud and damp along its hem, and he tried to keep the soiled edge away from the deep gash on the boy’s forehead. It was gruesome, stretching from his hairline, right through a dark eyebrow, cutting into his cheek. If he lived, he might have a scar, but he’d be lucky—whatever weapon had struck his face had missed his eye.

If he lived.

Ash rasped out a call to his family, his fingers clutching at the strange boy’s hands. They were cold. Bloodless.

Ivy stumbled into the clearing, her eyes widening as they fell on the dying boy. “Who—what—?”

“I don’t know.” Ash’s throat hurt. “I just found him like this.”

“Witch hunters,” he heard his mother hiss from the edge of the trees. An instant later, her tense, rigid form disappeared from the edge of Ash’s vision.

Don’t worry, he thought nonsensically to the boy in the grass. If they’re still around, she’ll find them. And make them pay for what they did to you.

His twin glanced over at him as if she could read his thoughts, hear the comforting words he sent down to the boy dying in the grass. For a moment, Ash panicked, wondering if she could. Then he remembered he was still clutched tightly to the boy’s hand.

The ring on the boy’s finger was pale, twisted strands of pearlescent stone. He was from another coven entirely. Ivy seemed to realize at the same time Ash did, and she looked around as if to seek more members of the stranger’s coven. But the woods were silent.

“We bring him back with us,” Ash’s father said, lifting the boy into his arms. Ash pressed the bloody cloak against the boy’s head again.

The limp arms that dangled in the air—so thin. Frail.

“Will he live?” Ash had to run to keep up with his father’s long strides.

“It doesn’t seem likely.”

Blood dripped into the grass as they ran. Ash started to feel dizzy. Why was the boy’s head still bleeding? Why wouldn’t it stop?

Ivy’s fingers twisted into his. “Are you all right?”

Ash nodded, the motion smooth and well-practiced, but he wasn’t sure he was being truthful.

When his father burst into the main square, the witches milling around all paused, eyes going round as they took in the sight of the battered, motionless body in his arms. The stares didn’t stop him. At the healer’s home, he jerked his head at Ash. Knock.

Before Ash could even rap his knuckles against the wood, the door flew open.

“Get in.”

The healer’s fingers were wrinkled prunes, pitted and purple-veined, but her eyes were clear. They narrowed at the sight of the boy.

“You’ve brought me a dead boy. Why?”

“My son found him,” Ash’s father explained, shifting under the dead weight—or perhaps beneath the heaviness of the healer’s gaze. “Can you…?”

With a sigh, the healer shoved her pillows off one of the rickety beds, and with a grateful sigh, Ash’s father laid the injured—dying—dead—boy down. The healer watched the blood seep into the sheets. She did not squawk as the stain of red mutated and spread.

“Please,” Ash said. He hadn’t planned to speak. The words were clunky on his tongue. What did he care if this boy from some other coven lived or died? “Can you save him?”

He couldn’t look the healer in the eye. If he did, she might wonder why he was so interested in the fate of this boy he’d never met before, and he didn’t know himself. So he kept his gaze on the boy’s chest, willing it to rise and fall. It didn’t move.

“Children, out.” The healer’s voice was flat, daring Ash and Ivy to disobey. “You—” She jerked her head at Ash’s father. “—stay and help me. Healing magic is unreliable at the best of times. With a reedy little child so close to death…” Her gaze skittered over Ash’s face, and it burned like the heart of a flame. He flinched. “…If he isn’t dead already…”

Ivy clutched Ash’s hand and tugged him out of the healer’s house.

“What coven do you think he’s from?” Her voice was even, the words carefully chosen. Ash knew she couldn’t read his thoughts, but she could read his face, and she knew what not to mention. Knew that if she brought up the way his blood had spilled like wine,  red like sickly diseased milk—the ghostly pallor of his face—or the likelihood that his soul was already gone from his brittle earthly body…

Ash shook his head in answer to her question, trying to shove the image of the boy’s face from his mind. He didn’t know what coven. Hadn’t recognized the ring.

“Do you think she’ll find them?”

It took Ash a moment to realize she meant their mother, not the healer. He swallowed and shrugged his shoulders. It didn’t seem likely that the witch hunters would have hung around. None of the human bastards ever dared to get close to the coven settlements. But defenceless witches alone in the woods…

“Why do you think he was alone? Where’s the rest of his—”

Ash stumbled away. He couldn’t listen to her anymore.

Hours, it seemed. Hours before their mother returned, hands unstained—no hunter blood spilled. She went to Ivy first, and Ash squeezed his eyes shut as if it could block out their whispers. Words bit into him from afraid. Upset. Worried. Dead.

His mother wrapped her arms around him after she was done with Ivy. “You’ll be all right, Ash.”

You. Not it. Not he.

Across the square, the door to the healer’s home creaked open, the sound splitting clear through the air. Ash trembled as his father stepped out. Alone. Blood was flecked across his clothes, sharp against the paleness of the cloth.

And he smiled.

[littleperilstories]

Ok listen, I have now THREE TIMES closed the tab with the ask game, and only remembered because on the other screen was your blog and like, why is it there, oh right *opens tab, gets distracted*

Anyway.

1 what was your writing-highlight this year? what made it special and how will you reflect on it next year?

5 what is your favourite book/story/poem you read this year?

10 which character(s) turned out differently from what you had planned? how so?

Thank you for the ask 💖 From this ask game.

1 what was your writing-highlight this year? what made it special and how will you reflect on it next year?

2022 has been WILD! My writing highlight was the sheer volume of how much I wrote. Like, I know word count is NOT the be-all-end-all of writing. But after many years of just....not...writing...much or even at all...this was the year where I really got into the habit of writing FREQUENTLY (almost every day).

Finished Book 1 (not whump)

Wrote all of Book 2 (not whump)

Got 50k into Book 3 (not whump) before gently laying that project to rest for my own sanity

Wrote 3 Whumptober stories

Rewrote Book 1 from the beginning for Nanowrimo

Turned one of those stories into the full-fledged narrative that's being posted now (The Prince of Thieves)

I'm so proud myself and SO grateful that I had the time and opportunity to engage in this hobby that brings me so much jpoy.

5 what is your favourite book/story/poem you read this year?

Possibly The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (I know I'm a little late to that party but GOD it was beautiful).

This is a book for young readers but Beatrice and Croc Harry by Lawrence Hill. What a sweet, compelling read that entertained my mind, heart, and soul!

10 which character(s) turned out differently from what you had planned? how so?

From The Curiosity Collector, Laramie Jonas didn't exactly turn out differently from what I'd planned; rather, I went in with no plan and let him write himself. I didn't know he was such an antisocial grump until I started writing his reunion with Ash as an adult.

In The Prince of Thieves, Bree Cooper was intended to be the main protagonist, but once Will popped into my head, he quickly took over. I was re-reading (and re-writing) the first Whumptober chapter that featured Bree (prompts from October 2, but probably written in early September!) and I think maybe the idea I was originally going for had her be a more skilled cat-burglar style thief? I'm not sure, I don't remember, but her interactions with Hatchett seemed to imply a much strong "catch me if you can" kind of past interaction. Revival Bree is more of an ordinary girl.

In my non-whump writing (stories fondly known as Books 1 through 3) my villain has undergone some ENORMOUS changes. First he was an uncle. Then there was an uncle and a brother. Now it's just a brother. Yeesh. AND AND AND I sorted out his villainous motivations this year. That was a good feeling!

Also for Books 1-3, two former POV characters got relegated to B-story characters with no POV chapters. Sorry dudes.

[littleperilstories]

A distraction you say? Here you go :D

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it? - for jamie

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying? - for bree

🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion? - for will

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people? - for laramie

💡 LIGHTBULB - is your oc a planner? do they write down every small detail or just wing it? - for ash

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact. - for ivy

From this ask game.

The Prince of Thieves

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it? - for jamie

OMG let's give Jamie a birthday! 💜

As I was opening up this draft, the month of September came to mind. For some reason, Jamie totally feels like an autumn baby. 🍂 We shall give him the birthday of September 8. This would make him a Virgo, if you are into astrology. (I'm not, but I did google which sign a September bday would be and it was shockingly accurate.)

Does he like celebrating? I doubt it. I'm certain he appreciates when the inner circle nudges him into celebrating, but he doesn't like to make a big deal of it.

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying? - for bree

LOL Bree lies all the time. Did this start in childhood, as she found ways to avoid setting off her dad's temper? Absolutely. Was she essentially lying through her engagement? In a way, maybe unconsciously at first but knowingly by the end. Will she lie to save herself or someone she cares about (you know, if there was someone she cared about)? Totally.

She's gotten pretty good at maintaining a poker face over the years, but watch for fidgety fingers. If she's picking at her nails or cuticles, even if she's looking you in the eye, she might be lying to your face.

🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion? - for will

So Will isn't exactly sensitive—he can take a lot of ribbing (he does have an older brother, after all). And generally, he's really quite goofy and good-natured. But heaven help you if you're not one of the chosen few who are allowed to tease him.

If you piss him him off, then, yep—instant explosion. And he's probably skipping a few levels of escalation, going from sass and insults straight to tackling. This got him into a lot of trouble when he was younger, especially when he was in school.

He's a little more, um, chill nowadays... Adulthood at least gave him a little more self-awareness of which fights he can win and which ones he cannot.

The Curiosity Collector

(thanks for giving Ash, Laramie, and Ivy some love!)

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people? - for laramie

Laramie does not want anyone else to see his soft, loving side. That part of him is reserved for Ash and Ash alone. After whatever trauma that I never wrote and didn't think through caused him to run away when he was a kid (which led him to immediately getting almost-killed by witch hunters), he has serious trust issues, and as a lone witch, he needs to seem tough—to be tough. What would everyone think if they knew how deeply he feels things? How he craves a soft touch as much as, if not more than, anyone else?

Also only for Ash to know: he absolutely fucking melts around baby animals in the forest. Like when a mama raccoon and her babies parade by in the forest, omfg. You'd never know he was the same guy who was ready to tear apart those witch hunters before Ash knocked him into the river.

Yeah I made that up on the spot so sue me it's cute

💡 LIGHTBULB - is your oc a planner? do they write down every small detail or just wing it? - for ash

Ash is totally a planner, for better or for worse. It means he usually thinks things through, but it also means he can be hesitant to explore new things.

He's definitely the kind of guy witch who wants to understand everything about an experience before he tries it, and he doesn't really like surprises. When Laramie enters his life again after ten years, it completely upends everything he thought his life would be. And that's good for him, because as we know, he's so much happier when he's spending time with Laramie.

Not that being a planner is at all useful once Douglas Heminworth enters the picture.

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact. - for ivy

Poor Ivy. All we learn about her in this story is that she's bossy, grumpy, and protective of her twin. She probably deserved more than my Whumptober brain.

As penance, I have prepared five facts!

She's a good singer! She knows it, too. But you probably won't hear her sing unless she really trusts you.

She's wayyyy stronger and a much better fighter than Ash, though this was kind of already known/canon.

She's a good cook but she hates doing it. She finds it tedious.

If she's safe, warm, and comfortable, Ivy can fall asleep anywhere.

She is not interested in having children, though she's never said that out loud to anyone, not even Ash. She's secretly terrified that it would be really poorly received in the coven.

[littleperilstories]

Whumptober 2022: #9 :: The Very Noisy Night

Whumptober Masterpost Sleeping in Shifts | Tossing and Turning | Caught in a Storm

Whumpee: Laramie Jonas

@whumptober-archive / @whumptober

CW: young whumpee (he’s alright!) head injury, blood, mention of death, potentially life-threatening injury

The Curiosity Collector

Previous | Masterlist | Next

Ash couldn’t take his eyes off the boy he’d found. He was alive—alive. The healer had wrapped a bandage around his head, pristinely white and still clean. Red still stained his skin, but nothing seeped through the pale cotton.

“You.” The healer pointed a finger at Ash’s face. “You’re the one who found him. Your father’s exhausted. Earn your keep and watch the boy.”

Her gaze flicked to Ivy. Ash didn’t need to look to know that she had planted herself behind him.

“I’m staying too.” She spoke clearly, stubbornly. Ash almost smiled.

“Fine. I don’t care. Don’t wake me up unless it seems he’s dying again.”

Ash couldn’t take his eyes off the boy he’d found. He was alive—alive. The healer had wrapped a bandage around his head, pristinely white and still clean. Red still stained his skin, but nothing seeped through the pale cotton. Whatever the healer had done must have worked to stem the bleeding.

On his shoulder, a hand squeezed gently. Ash looked up to find his father looking down at him, weary but patient. Perhaps even proud.

“You did a brave thing today, Ash. Trying to help him.”

Ash choked back the truth: I didn’t do anything. I yelled for help. I watched while you did the real helping.

“And it’s very kind of you to stay with him now.”

From across the room, the healer snarled, “I’m going to sleep now.”

A smile, tired though it was, cracked his father’s face. “I’m going home. Will you be all right until morning?” Ash nodded. He knew he should be tired. He was tired. But he knew he wouldn’t sleep. Couldn’t even if he wanted to.

“We’ve got each other,” Ivy said. “We’ll take turns resting.”

When his father was gone, and Ivy was curled up like a baby rabbit on the floor of the healer’s house, Ash revelled in the silence. Well—the quiet. The healer snored. Ivy could fall asleep in an instant, and her gentle breaths drifted through the air.

On the sickbed, the boy jerked in his sleep, whimpering softly.

Who are you? Part of Ash wished the boy would wake, so he could find out his name. Who he was, where he came from. Who had tried to kill him.

Moonlight gushed in through the window, spilling gracefully across the boy’s face. In the absence of orange candlelight, the bloodstains on his skin were less pronounced. It accentuated, though, the faint twitches of his lips. Betrayed the horrors that seemed to be playing out like a mummery behind the curtains of his eyes. Ash wrapped his arms around his knees, squeezing hard.

The night passed slowly, molasses from a jar. Ivy took over, and Ash pretended to sleep, tossing and turning on the hard floor. He didn’t want to close his eyes. If he did, he would only see blood watering the forest floor. If he did, the boy might wake, and Ash wouldn’t be awake for it.

They switched again, and just like before, Ivy fell asleep within moments of lying down.

The sky was only just starting to lighten, daylight only a dream on the horizon, when the boy’s eyes flew open. He gasped.

“You’re not dead,” Ash said. He wondered why he’d chosen those words. If their roles were reversed, and he was the one waking up miraculously after having his head split open, he wouldn’t be reassured by a stranger telling him he wasn’t a corpse. “They said—the healer said you—“

The boy’s throat bobbed as he sat up. His arms trembled beneath him as he struggled to hold himself up. “Where am I?” His voice was rough. Quiet. Perhaps he needed water. Perhaps he’d been screaming when the witch hunters tried to crack open his skull. Perhaps his voice always sounded like that.

Ash liked it. It made a shiver run down his spine. “Coven of the Moon.”

The boy blinked, and for a moment, Ash wondered if he was going to drift back into unconsciousness. But his silver eyes, tinted slightly blue in the darkness, stayed open. “Oh.”

���Did witch hunters try to kill you?”

Slowly, the boy nodded. He winced slightly, and one hand reached up to brush against the bandage on his head. His other arm buckled, and he fell back onto his elbows.

Ash twisted his fingers in his lap. “I’m Ash.” Anxiousness curdled in his belly. Why would the boy care? He was alone, far from his coven, back from the dead.

But the boy met his gaze, sorrow-flecked but lucid. “I’m Laramie.”

Laramie. A poetic name, a breath of wind through leaf-kissed branches.

“I’m glad you didn’t die,” Ash said.

Laramie’s gaze slipped to the window, moonlight draped over him like a veil. “Me too.”

[littleperilstories]

Whumptober 2022 Stories (Masterpost)

What to expect here: lots of peril, tears, characters getting tied up, gagged, and HECKIN' hurt, both male and female whumpees with primarily male whumpers. Creepy & intimate whumpers. Oh, and swears. Lots of those. 3 separate stories that each follow their own loose, vague continuities. // What not to expect here: Explicitly sexual content. Character death. Strict continuity or timelines for the 3 stories.

The Curiosity Collector

Ash, a witch, is abducted by witch hunters. He finds himself in the clutches of the cruel human Douglas Heminworth, who keeps witches in his own personal "collection."

Will Laramie and Ivy, the two people who care about him most, be able to save him before it's too late?

Day 8 - head trauma, back from the dead Day 9 - sleeping in shifts, tossing and turning Day 18 - "just get it over with," treading water, "take my coat" Day 1 - adverse effects, unconventional restraints, “this wasn’t supposed to happen” Day 4 - hidden injury, waking up disoriented, can't pass out Day 16 - mind control, paralytic drugs, "no one's coming" Day 28 - anger born of worry, punching the wall, headache Day 27 - muffled screams, stumbling, magical exhaustion Day 21 - coughing up blood, "you're safe now," "take me instead"

The Prince of Thieves

Check out the 'revived' version here!

In this Robin Hood-inspired story, Bree is arrested and thrown in prison with Will, a ringleader of the gang of thieves she's part of. Unfortunately, she has a tangled and messy past with the constable who'd happily see them both to the gallows...but not until he gets the information he desperately wants so he can arrest the others in the gang.

How far will Constable Baden Hatchett go to bust the rest of the ring? And how much can Bree and Will endure before they break?

Day 17 - stress positions, reluctant caretakerDay 29 - sleep deprivation, defiance, "better me than you"Day 14 - desperate measures, failed escape Day 2 - cornered, caged, confrontationDay 11 - sloppy bandages, self-done first aidDay 13 - "are you here to break me out?"Day 15 - lies, new scars, breathing through the painDay 24 - blood covered hands, "I don't want to do this anymore"Day 26 - separatedDay 20 - prisoner trade

Fen & Freddie

One fateful night, Freddie's world is turned upside-down when his best friend Fen is kidnapped by a superpowered ex-colleague of her older sister, Bridget, who has taken something precious from him. Kain Brockhurst will stop at nothing to punish Bridget for what she's done—even if it means hurting the person who means the most to her.

Will Brockhurst do the unthinkable to get back what he believes is rightfully his? Will Freddie ever have the chance to tell Fen what she means to him?

Day 3 - gun to temple, impaled, "say goodbye” Day 5 - running out of air, blood loss Day 6 - ransom video, “I’ve got a pulse,” screams from across the hall Day 7 - shaking hands, silent panic attack Day 12 - what could go wrong? Day 30 - manhandled, hair grabbing, “please don’t touch me” Day 10 - taser, whipping Day 19 - knees buckling, repeatedly passing out, head lolling Day 25 - duct tape, “you better start talking” Day 23 - forced to kneel, tied to a table, “hold them down” Day 22 - toxic Day 31 - comfort, bedside vigil, "you can rest now"

[littleperilstories]

The Curiosity Collector: Masterpost

The Curiosity Collector

(Whumptober 2022)

Ash, a witch, is abducted by witch hunters. He finds himself in the clutches of the cruel human Douglas Heminworth, who keeps witches in his own personal "collection."

Will Laramie and Ivy, the two people who care about him most, be able to save him before it's too late?

Day 8 - head trauma, back from the dead

Day 9 - sleeping in shifts, tossing and turning

Day 18 - "just get it over with," treading water, "take my coat"

Day 1 - adverse effects, unconventional restraints, “this wasn’t supposed to happen”

Day 4 - hidden injury, waking up disoriented, can't pass out

Day 16 - mind control, paralytic drugs, "no one's coming"

Day 28 - anger born of worry, punching the wall, headache

Day 27 - muffled screams, stumbling, magical exhaustion

Day 21 - coughing up blood, "you're safe now," "take me instead"

GRAND FINALE - part one | part two