#wip: aool

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

All of our Lives

[ID: A banner showing two children walking hand in hand away from the reader through a forest of barren young trees. The title All of our Lives is written across in a pale yellow to bright blue gradient. All other images are decorative dividers with a row of blue flowers. End ID]

Every time darkness reached for her with the lingering promise that her pain could be over, she let his voice and touch cradle her. The pain was worth it, if only she could stay with him a moment longer, could let his embrace displace one more memory of endless hours alone under the earth.

📖 Synopsis

How far are they willing to go to finally be free?

As children, Ross and Irina were inseparable—rich and poor, nerd and dreamer, the disabled youngest son and the maid’s daughter ordered to assist him with his daily tasks. Now that they are grown up, his hopes of moving out and taking her away from his cold-hearted parents are shattered when she is arrested after killing his brother.

Half a year later, he is kidnapped for a ransom he knows won't be paid, and in the derelict building where the bandits leave him to die, he discovers a terrified, emaciated figure. Irina is alive; barely. Months of isolation and abuse have changed her, but Ross refuses to lose her again. If that means staying by her side while she embarks on a bloody path of revenge, so be it.

📖 About

Genre: Whump I mean uh, cozy dark fantasy

POV: Third person past tense, dual POV

Wordcount: 120k

Status: contemplating more beta readers

Content Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence and rape, captivity, starvation and isolation, self-harm, forced to watch, infection, field surgery, childhood abuse and ableism, sexual coercion, various gruesome murders (they're the bad guys)

Vibes: a cold, dark dungeon cell / chosen family / “please don’t kill her” / loneliness / a tin box filled with fruit cake / revenge / “i’m sorry” / hands desperately reaching for the other / a bowl full of oats / scars and trauma / “please stay” / unexpected kindness / bloody chains / “as long as we have each other”

Moodboard | Picrew

And some custom artwork, containing spoilers as well as violence <3

Home at last | So close yet so far | It's not her blood | Done with this shit

📖 Cast

Irina Vaughn

When she was five, her mother took the position as a rich family's maid, and Irina became the de-facto caretaker for their disabled son. At only one year apart, they quickly became best friends, too.

Ross DeWitt

Hoping to finally prove his worth to his family, Ross tried so hard to graduate with honors—only for his life to fall apart at the last moment. What good is a degree if the person he wanted to spend his life with is dead?

Lichen

While they have a big heart, everyone who comes looking for their services as a herbalist needs to make it past their gruff exterior and eccentric behavior. They enjoy life as a hermit, liking plants more than people.

📖 Tags & More

So far, I have been dumping everything into the tag: #wip: aool

When it's done, it will be released in (free) ebook format. I hope to be finished with the draft at the end of the year and aim for a release in the first half of 2025.

Because I won't put it on Tumblr, I don't have a tag list, but you can tell me if you want to be notified upon release :)

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

[ID: Six images arranged in a mood board. 1) A dark and dirty, derelict dungeon cell with a small window near the ceiling. 2) Three old, massive iron keys on a keyring, lying on folded linen. 3) A barred door made from massive wood planks with fittings for an equally massive latch. 4) Closeup of a person holding an iron chain in dirty hands. 5) Closeup of hands tight together with a massive iron chain wrapped around the wrists. 6) A dark, derelict vault, lit by small beacons of firelight. End ID]

Medieval dungeon whump aesthetic for anonymous

[bangtan-madi]

WIP Folder Tag, tagged by @dreamcatcherjiah 💕

— rules: post the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. then let people send asks with the title that most intrigues/interests them and you’ll post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

I'm kinda sad to report that I don't have a ton in my WIPs right now. Haven't been motivated to write lately 🙈 Here's what I do have, including outlines...

over again

546DWY -- Thirteen: Day 499

YOTR -- Outro

AOOL -- Nine:

violent delights

Overture for Nagoya

Depths

twenty-seven | jungkook

Two are original projects and the rest are bts. Guess which is which 😌

Tagging @kooala @taetaespeaches @joonni @hobicomeholla29 @softlyjiminie @chemicalpink @moon-write @seok-jinnies @cultleaderyoongi @minloop (I know some of you are on writing hiatus, so absolutely no pressure 💕)

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Once again I mourn the lack of a healer in this story.

Can't break shit. Can't dislocate shit. Can't lose too much blood. Can't just give her a kidney infection without a plan b.

Like, come on, I just wanna have some fun :/

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Bullet Point Tag

I was tagged by @willtheweaver for this :D

And I'll tag, if you feel like doing it: @cc-writes-stuff and @writingphoenix and an open tag!

This one's for All of our Lives:

Aw they're so cute

She's dead

No, she's not

Ow

Oh gods, now she's dead

Thank the gods, she's not

… or?

Well THOSE are really dead

More ow

Oats

Murder (stabby edition)

I'm sure NOW she's dead

Spoiler, she's not

Super duper ow

More oats

More murder (poison edition)

Even more murder (accident edition)

A bit ow

The kids fight

No murder

Is he dead???

The kids make up

Oats, but with flavor

The real whump is trying to find a job and affordable housing

Also, the panic attacks

The End

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Dialogue Tag

In the decade between xmas and the new year, I was tagged by @winterandwords and since I'm currently editing All of our lives, I'm gonna grab some dialogue from the chapter I am at.

“How do you feel?” “I killed Greer.” “Okay.” That was not what— fuck. He needed to be more awake for this kind of talk. He pushed himself up. “Okay. Why? No. Wait. Can we get breakfast first? At least some tea.”

Priorities!

I want some tea now.

I'm tagging, only if you feel like doing it, uhhhh.... let's see who's around. Perhaps @quietly-by-myself and @whumpinthepot and an open tag!

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Six Sentence Sunday

I was tagged by @oh-no-another-idea <3

I finished another post-AooL bonus chapter, so let's grab "six" sentences from there.

 “Doesn’t mean I can’t look. She had pretty nice…” He cleared his throat. “Uhm.” “Cabbages?” Irina offered, muffled by the pillow. Her voice was still husky, but there was an undertone of amusement behind it. “Yeah. Cabbages.” Ross grinned. “Not that I’m picky. Cabbages. Zucchinis. Lettu— ow.” He pushed the pillow off his face. “Rude.”

Not really six, but who cares :p When half of the "sentences" are 1 word, that's boring. At least it's actually on a Sunday, so that's 50% cleared!

I'm gonna tag, if you feel like doing it, @sarandipitywrites and @winterandwords and an open tag :)

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Word Find Tag

I was tagged by @winterandwords a while ago *cough* but here we go. Those are from All of our Lives, because what else would I be using.

My words are call, fall, tall, and small

Call

“I need to clean her up, but first, I need to wash my hands and…” They peered down their front. Blood splatters adorned their sweater, and even though they had rolled up their sleeves, they were soaked with blood. “The rest of me. I’ll grab one of those shirts for myself, if that’s all right. Can you watch over her for a moment longer? Call for me if anything changes, okay? I’ll be quick.”

Fall

Something glinted in the grass. When Ross probed the ground with his stick, he found a coin, half buried in the soil. Not any coin—a gold coin. He pondered how to pick it up. His knees were wobbly in a way that had nothing to do with his condition, and he didn’t like the idea of letting go of his stick and risking a fall face-first into a decaying body.

Tall

Outside, fog blanketed the city and drowned out all color. Irina buried her nose deeper in her scarf. Neither of them spoke much as they followed the streets into the city center, even the sound of his crutch on the pavement somehow muffled by the weather. The roads became wider, the houses taller and more expensive looking, until they found themselves at the address he had noted down.

Small

Thanks, I have 96 occurences, I think I need to do an editing pass here. This one for example? I don't think we need it.

Ross wiped at his eyes. Outside, everything was still quiet, so he grabbed the backpack and pried open the clasps. A pile of fabric greeted him, various pieces of clothing filling the space between boxes, bottles, and books. As he sorted through the things, he realized that Irina had brought so much more than the small pills that helped his muscles relax.

I'm gonna gently tag @the-inkwell-variable and @tragicheirs and an open tag.

If you feel like doing it, your words are

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

WIP Acrostic Tag

I was tagged by @winterandwords with the word HOPING <3

📝 Share a sentence from your WIP that starts with each letter in the word given to you by the person who tagged you.

Man, those are HARD. Do you know how often H and I appear in a 122k word draft? 😆 But! Now I decided to pick all of them as quotes from Lichen, because I love Lichen.

Those all are from All of our Lives.

H

“Her kidneys don’t look too great, either, but she needs those, you know.”

O

“Open it. Dip your finger into the powder and put it on her gums. Be careful that she doesn’t bite your finger off, and try not to swallow any yourself.”

P

“People keep calling me a healer, but I’m not. I do not have life magic.”

I

“I’m sorry to say, kid. But your family sucks.”

N

“Nettles, blueberries, walnuts, and that only with an hour or two of looking. It’s a good forest.”

G

“Gods know what made your parents come to me for whatever they thought I could do for you.”

Aaand I am gonna tag, if you feel like doing it: Lichen-enjoyer @sarandipitywrites and @the-inkwell-variable and whoever else might feel like doing it (open tag).

And your word is MONDAY (because I hate that the weekend is over 😭)

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

[ID: White text over a very dark picture of a woman sleeping. The text reads: He turned around one last time, watching her tiny frame buried under layers and layers of blankets. His heart felt like it was breaking in half as he pulled the door closed behind him, not knowing whether she would still be alive when he came back. End ID]

She better be²

WIP Intro

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Word Find Tag

I was tagged by @charlesjosephwrites <3

My words are young, broken, feeling, and rise, and I will find them in All of our Lives, which is my current project.

Young

The young woman lay on the floor with her head on a pile of dirty, threadbare blankets and stared at the low stone ceiling. In the dim light falling through a lone slit in the massive walls, she couldn’t make out any details, but by now, she could tell from the sound of dripping water alone whether the bucket was full enough to offer her a sip.

Broken

Metal scraped over stone as she pulled her legs closer, curling up against the iron bars. She pressed on the bruise on her arm again, buying herself a moment of time in which, by some miracle, he didn’t hate her yet. Broken fingernails left little semicircles on her skin. She watched them fade before she opened her mouth.

Feeling

Irina wiped her sweaty hand on her pants before she drew the knife, grasping the hilt tightly. She had to be quick, she knew she had to be, but her legs felt like lead. Breathing. She had to keep breathing. Airy curtains surrounded Mel’s bed, feeling like spiderwebs on Irina’s skin as she pushed past them.

Rise

Today, the drops came steadily, and she wasn’t thirsty yet. She was hungry, though, and there was nothing she could do about that. The last of her stale bread, she had eaten the previous day, and the five polished pebbles lined neatly against the wall told her that the sun would have to rise two more times before Mel returned.

I'm gonna tag very softly: @writingmoth, @oh-no-another-idea and @aalinaaaaaa (and an open tag, if anyone else wants to)

If you wanna do it, your words are detail, time, quick, and return

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[ID: White text over a grayscale image of a hand holding a tiny stone. The text reads: She picked it up and rubbed her thumb over it; a stone like any other, and yet one she wasn’t familiar with yet. Something different. Something new. She traced every crevice, every edge, wondering if she would live long enough to memorize them. End ID]

Things start out looking rather bleak

Turns out I really missed doing those :D

WIP Intro

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[ID: A banner showing two children walking hand in hand away from the reader through a forest of barren young trees. The title All of our Lives is written across in a pale yellow to bright blue gradient. End ID]

Looking for a Beta Reader

with Cerebral Palsy

I hesitate to call it a sensitivity reader. I'm not looking to see whether all the violence and despair is necessary — I assure you, it is — but to see whether I got the char right.

Ross is a ~20 year old guy with cerebral palsy, living in a non-modern fantasy setting where he has to come to terms with the fact that his family is a bag of dicks and his best friend, who he thought was dead, has been held captive and abused for months. Born rich and privileged, he has a lot to learn while the two are on the run.

In whump-terms, he's the caretaker (he gets hurt, too), and in ao3-terms, the content warnings consist mostly of graphic depictions of violence and rape/noncon, though I feel inclined to add a warning for emergency field surgery as well (not too graphic - the pov doesn't look at it).

I'm of course willing to answer any questions or concerns about the content, but to make it clear, the target audience is whump enjoyers, and a few chapters might need a deceased pigeon sticker.

The WIP intro with the blurb, additional info and full warnings is here. I'm looking for feedback by end of March the latest, so I can get everything ready in April.

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The Kids

Ross and Irina from All of our Lives, happy and free and safe, perhaps next spring in the park near their home :)

They both like to spend lots of time outside. Irina will watch the blossoms and clouds and soak up all the colors, and Ross will probably watch a bug... or her. Sometimes he still can't believe he has his little Ivy back.

Breezy's post here, picrew link here.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Irina Vaughn

“I want to kill her.”

[ID: A portrait made in the game guild wars 2, showing a young woman with very pale skin, dark brown eyes, and thin, dull, medium-to-dark brown hair that touches her shoulders. She is wearing a plain linen shirt. End ID]

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Happy STS! Simple question today, what songs are on your WIP's playlist? Do any of your WIPs "share" a song?

Happy STS! :D

For All of our Lives, the songs are:

Too soon - Orden Ogan

Unbroken - Beyond the Black

Follow you down - Aviators

Wings of twilight - Arion

Rise against the world - Fallen Sanctuary

Melancholy Angel - Visions of Atlantis

Always will be - Hammerfall

You are the reason - Calum Scott & Leona Lewis

Stay a little while - Amaranthe

All other playlists, as far as they exist, are linked in their respective WIP intros, for example for Till Death, which is my favorite one. So far, no WIPs share songs, but that's on purpose—though I once stole a song from a different list and used it for another, snatching Lullaby for Glass Shards.

I usually mix songs that I listen to anyway with going on a hunt by lyrics, as I am completely unable to go by vibes. Does nothing for me.