#wip: ersatz king

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

WIP Wednesday

I know I've missed the last couple but honestly all I've been working on in my free time is the secret project, which (for reasons I feel like should be fairly obvious) I'm trying not to share in WIP Wednesday posts lol. But anyway I've also now started on Chapter 13 of Soldier, Poet, King, so here's a brief moment of A-Qing and Jin Guangyao talking about Xue Yang that I made myself laugh with a little bit

--//--

“Told you he’s feral,” young A-Qing mutters under her breath, sounding mutinous around the chak-chak-chak of chomping on her ever-present bubblegum.

“Yes dear we know he is, and something tells me that cracking open the brain of an interdimensional lovecraftian nightmare so he could try slurping the contents out like a slushee, metaphorically speaking, hasn’t improved things very much,” he replies and feels oddly vindicated when she snorts a laugh into the back of her hand.

A-Qing is…unexpected. He’d heard her calling for Xue Yang to come upstairs that night he and Nie Huaisang had gone to see him at The Cockpit, though of course that evening he hadn’t known precisely who she was or why she felt she had the right to boss Xue Yang around. Finding out that she’s the once-wayward-child-turned-protegé of the Immortals (and that her ethics are significantly more dubious than her benefactors’) had been..a surprise, to put it mildly. Not that he thinks that Xiao Xingchen and Song Zichen aren’t perfectly capable guardians, of course, but rather he’s surprised that two distinguished gentlemen such as themselves seem very fond of collecting people who could be reasonably compared to scrungly alley cats and ignoring all their mange and fleas in favor of cooing over how sweet and brilliant they are.

And they are (brilliant, at least, though not any given definition of  sweet to anyone except their ‘daozhangs’), but the contrasts at play in their little fucked up family of four are still a bit of a mystery to Jin Guangyao.

It had been A-Qing, apparently, who had hacked the CCTV and the ‘dome’s video feeds long enough to broadcast Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixun’s deaths straight to the communications tower, and as such Nie Mingjue has instructed that she give their security team an extremely thorough rundown of every breach in their defenses that she had exploited. Jin Guangyao still desperately wishes someone had thought to record Nie Mingjue’s reaction when the girl, -- standing no taller than his abs and thoroughly uncaring of the danger she was putting herself in -- had laughed in his face, popped her bubblegum, and told him that it had taken no longer than an hour that afternoon to get her hands on everything digital in the ‘dome, not just their camera feeds. He hasn’t seen his lover turn that shade of red in a very long time, nor ever seen him so clearly tempted to shout at someone younger than half his age.

Anyway — she’d taken a shine to Jin Guangyao within minutes of Lan Xichen ushering everyone into the ‘dome to avoid further scrutiny by the press, easily picking him out as the adult in the room besides her beloved daozhangs who would be most likely to indulge her quasi-legal and morally gray brand of ethics. So now here she sits, tinkering around with something Wei Wuxian had given her to turn into a signal jammer for anyone outside the ‘dome not on their frequencies, and Jin Guangyao has found himself on ersatz babysitting duty.

(She is also, according to Xiao Xingchen, worried about Xue Yang’s health and wouldn’t be able to focus well working somewhere she can’t keep an eye on his condition; an assessment which Jin Guangyao very politely and very secretly thinks is a load of horseshit.)

[missdulcerosea]

king and lionheart

taglist (please ask to be added or removed!): @mordredfuckingpendragon​ @gringolet​ @cukibola​ @kouvei-matarra​

warning(s): mild violence and gore.

i. 

It starts with Gareth. His older brothers have learned to adapt - they blend in in blues, greens and gray. Keep your heads down, listen to Mother’s every word, listen to your king. But Gareth is young and has yet to learn.

And he suffers for it.

Gawaine shields him. He is the sun of their family, setting every night so the moon can rise without struggle. But sometimes he is too late, and comes across Gareth curled up in a corner of the castle, fingers pressing at the faint bruises at his knuckles or hastily scrubbing away the blood so that no one knows that Mother didn’t like him crying too loudly or saying the wrong thing. They all know but they try and hide it - he is still learning how to fade like his brothers, even though he is red.

Gawaine sets too late. He finds Gareth too long after he should, when Gareth is clutching hold of his eye - it is the magic. Gareth said the wrong thing again and Mother didn’t like that, even though he insisted that he was getting along fine with her, that in fact he tired of her coddling him too close this time. Though he’s tied the bandages around where she hit him, they are tattered and clumsy and he can barely hold them in place. He cries, even as Gawaine runs over and throws his arms around him.

They don’t say a word, because they all know Gareth is the red that runs through. And they know that it won’t be the same after this.

“How - how - she said she loved me - that she - that she’d never hurt me - and - and-”

“It’s okay,” Gawaine says, letting Gareth crumble in his arms. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

He’s lying. They both know he is. But the lies are all they’ve got.

Gareth is the first of them. He burns brightest, he is the flame that must be extinguished. 

Gawaine knows that Camelot is crumbling away. It is but a gilded kingdom, and they are the walking corpses that populate it - decaying, decaying, decaying. If, perhaps, he’d arrived a little sooner maybe Gareth would at least get a bittersweet ending (they are all dying, so anything more than that is impossible), where Gawaine sees him off before he is gone, and he gets to hear the last words his second youngest brother - the one who he’d failed to keep completely safe - would ever say.

If he’d arrived sooner.

But when he arrives the flames are dying. Corpses are strewn around on the ground, and Gareth lies staring up with an empty eye at the sky. 

Again, he’s too late. The facade begins to crack (if it hadn’t begun already).

ii.

Mother warns them to stay far away from the woods unless they are hunting, but for Gaheris it looks like he doesn’t have to blend in. He fades the most, and thought Gawaine lets him know otherwise he lets himself go invisible. Though the words may leave him bloodied and wounded he keeps his lips sealed shut, like Mother told him. It is different when they are in the woods - he stands out, always racing ahead of his brothers, always the one who runs back saying he’d seen a unicorn there, he really had.

And Gawaine thinks about that a lot. Because if his brother fades away forever, how will he be able to know what goes on - what could be wrong? Though he keeps reaching for Gaheris’ hand, he only grasps at empty air.

“You had a nightmare, didn’t you?” 

Gaheris stares up at his brother. He swallows thickly. 

“You were tossing ‘n turning in your sleep - you weren’t saying a thing, but I could tell.”

“Well, I’m alright now.” Gareth speaks quickly. “Go back to sleep, I don’t want to keep you up-”

“You’re not alright.”

He’s lying through his teeth, even though he tries to frantically rub - no, scratch, because he will hurt himself if it means people don’t end up hurting him - away the tears that stain his face. His eyes are rimmed with dark circles and he shivers beneath the thin blanket in their tent. They’d found a wyrm guarding a tree of golden apple and though they’d managed to take it down it was only after they had several of the knights with them devoured by the flames it spat out.

“I’m staying with you. Gaheris, you have to tell me or Agravaine about these things. You’re hurting. I just want you and everyone else to be happy.”

Gaheris nods. He has nothing. He is the gray of their family - not even a color, because he does not want to be noticed. And again he’s lying, because he will fade farther away from them again till he’s just a phantasm, an afterimage.

Gawaine pulls Gaheris close. “I’ll stay with you till you stop having nightmares. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Gaheris does not go with Gareth, his twin. Gawaine finds him with an arrow poking out through his chest, gulping in one desperate breath after another. He’s dragged himself away from the mess of dust-tinted red on the ground, where he sits against a tree where the woods begin. He’s fading.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Gaheris mumbles. “You have to go. You have to go on.”

“Not without saying goodbye.”

He holds Gaheris’ hand till the warmth begins to fade. Another brother that’s left behind as an afterimage, another brother of his gone.

The part that makes him the most numb, Gawaine realizes, is that Gaheris still told him to leave him be, to let him fade. Even though it was the end.

iii.

They’re sent to Camelot once the truce is made official. They see the envelope sealed with a lump of red wax and are sent on a boat to Camelot. The water laps at the boat, the skies above are a dull gray. Gareth and Gaheris are still so very young, and though they have felt pain no one as young as them should feel they bounce around on the boat, waiting for the stars to poke through the sky and for the high towers of Camelot to appear on the horizon. Gawaine, too, thinks that now that Mother is sending them away they will be different. They will be heroes. They will be free.

Agravaine stays the same.

He squints past the setting sun. The wind presses his hair against his face and distorts his vision, but still he leans over the deck of the rocking boat to stare at home - by now it is but a dot far away on the horizon.

Gawaine is their sun. The other brothers are the planets, and Agravaine doesn’t want to fall out of alignment.

“What’s the matter?”

Agravaine lets out a hushed sigh. “I don’t know. There’s a part of me glad to be so far away from Mother. But at the same time some of the things she said and did - she said she loved us, and now that Father’s gone and this king of England who we barely know’s the only person we have left-”

“I understand.”

“You say that. But do you really understand?”

The gravitational pull shifts. Gawaine falters in his words. “Maybe I don’t.”

“Damn him. Or at least damn Uther for ruining our grandmother’s life and ruining our mother’s. She says she’s happy, especially with the new baby, but I don’t think she is. And at the same time I kind of want her to be unhappy because of the times she beat me, even if she was just angry and I was in trouble.”

“I don’t know what to do or say about any of that. Because for me it is different.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Just having you listen is enough.”

He’s seen Mother rub off on Agravaine. It is how he snaps at his brothers, the cold blue of his eyes (like ice - glittering but with no warmth or life to them), how he says that he can say things because he is angry or sad. But Agravaine is his brother, and Gawaine does not want him to go through the world like this. He will be his brother’s shield, even if his brother spits venom, because he knows that one day the ice will melt and the sun shall shine through.

Agravaine does not go gently. He reaches the end still spitting forth venom, determined to draw blood and infect Lancelot with all that he has been infected with.

And Gawaine goes with him, because Agravaine is one of the only brothers he has left - he tells Agravaine to get out now, better to live in exile than to be killed. There is no convincing Mordred of anything other than tearing the kingdom apart now, only letting Agravaine escapes. If it comes to the sun setting once and for all so that the moon can rise, then Gawaine will let that happen.

“Go.” Gawaine will have no regrets in saying this. He knows that much.

Agravaine stares back at him. “What do you-”

“Go!” Gawaine shouts. “I don’t want you gone. I already lost two brothers. I don’t want to have another one dead and gone, too.”

Lancelot lets him go, and turns to Gawaine. They both knew Agravaine would lose - he does not have what Lancelot and Gawaine do. Lancelot lets him go because then he will get to call him a coward, a snivelling, pathetic coward just like the rest of his brothers.

“I’ll fight you in my brother’s name. Because I know it’s all your fault. It’s all your fault they’re gone.”

iv. 

“Am I good enough?”

Mordred is very, very young. His hair is ash-white, from Mother’s meddling with magic and using him as a test subject. He stares up at Gawaine with drooping brown eyes - Arthur’s eyes, Gawaine knows, the eyes of Mordred’s father. A father who promises to be everything their mother was not. 

“At parrying your blows, I mean,” Mordred adds. “‘Cause I know I’m not as good as you-”

“Don’t say that.” Gawaine shakes his head. “You’ve still got a long way to go. You’ve got a lot to learn.”

“Thanks for teaching me.”

Gawaine smiles. “Of course. It’s what brothers do.”

While Agravaine is cold as ice, Mordred burns bright - if he is not careful, his flames will disintegrate all he comes close to. There’s no monster, just a boy Gawaine needs to keep his eye on. Like he has always done with the rest of the family. It is no different for his newest, youngest brother.

Mordred shatters.

He is wounded and bleeds, and decides to wound Camelot in return for all that he has been through. Gawaine thinks it isn’t right, for though Camelot may be gilded there are still remnants of the true gold glittering underneath. Mordred thinks he needs to break everything, and rebuild from the ashes.

Mordred of Orkney - Mordred Pendragon, whoever he is, a stranger - is not dead.

But with all that has been said and done, he might as well be.

[thearchangelwrites]

mer’s active wips

K&N: The Book of Lionel 

You can find the introduction here, but it’s also important to note that The Book of Lionel is the first in a four book series - Knights and Novellas. This includes The Book of Lionel, The Book of Eoin, The Book of Aniela and The Book of Pandara. 

Resembling the Stars

I’ve actually never done an introduction for Resembling the Stars. It does, however, have a section on my WIP page. If there’s an interest in me posting an introductory post for RtS, I definitely will. Resembling the Stars is the first in a duology, the second part of which is called Lost in the Universe and it centers around Rafael (the main character of Resembling the Stars)’s boss, Nathaniel Sebastian Harrington. The series in whole is called In the way of Celestial Bodies. 

Letters to Emma 

Letters to Emma isn’t a book, but rather a short story, and you can find the introduction here. It’s epistolary and intentionally off-putting, as well as already entirely planned. 

GoH: Hyacinth Rising 

The Glory of Hyacinth! Hyacinth Rising is the first book in a five book series (The Glory of Hyacinth), which also has a counterpart duology called The Web of Laceleaf, which serves as a prequel and gives a backstory for the main character Ellie’s Aunt Jillian. Hyacinth Rising is an urban fantasy mystery-adventure during which Aunt Jillian is missing, and you can find the official introduction here and the comic sans powerpoint presentation here. 

Wild Bones

Set in the same universe as Knights and Novellas - a world called Ambipacia - Wild Bones is the lesbian high fantasy revolution story you’ve been waiting for. There’s a mild, tepid introduction post right here, but if there’s hunger for a fleshed out intro, I will certainly provide. 

Innocuum: A Series of Snapshots

Realistic fiction that is meant to hurt, you can find the introduction to Innocuum here. It’s from the point of view of Harley Austin, a trans guy with a chip on his shoulder and a past that he doesn’t really talk about. The only other character that features in nearly every chapter is Thomas Sparks, his newfound best friend and confusing love interest. 

The Town That Takes Everything 

You can find the official introduction for TTTTE right here, and the comic sans powerpoint presentation right here. It’s an angst garbage fire featuring ghosts, themes of lost youth and the Gays, so it’s exactly up my alley. 

There’s Something Out There

One of my two dalliances into the land of science fiction, There’s Something Out There is an alien discovery roadtrip story that has an introduction right here. 

The Ersatz Girl 

The second of our science fiction picks! An unnamed narrator has been weaving stories for their entire life - but they’re only just now figuring that out. The children of the city’s poor were turned into power packs for their creativity, and the main character is among them. They’ve been living stories since they were three years old, nothing real, nothing with anyone outside of their head, but the world is starting to break. The characters are breaking out. The narrator doesn’t know if they want out, though, not when the love of their life is someone that only lives inside their head. There is no introduction for this yet, but there could be if asked for!

Izzy Fahey and the Village of Doors 

A fourteen book series following young Izzy Fahey, this series has it all. It has magical creatures, it has different universes, it has historical fiction, found family, familial love, sibling bonds, romantic love and loss, maturation and growing up. An introduction to this series has not happened thus far, but it can be arranged. 

Fundamentals

Fundamentals is, at best, complicated. With seven POV characters, it’s intentionally confusing, frustrating, and strange. It’s a heist story. The “main” character is Barra MacKenna, whose species isn’t revealed until most of his story is told, Mikhailo “Hail” Rahama, a vampire, Jay Juarez, a werewolf, Saxon Warner, a Shellycoat, Kai Paoa, a witch, Mariana Meridan, a sylph, and Jiro Sasaki, a kitsune. No intro has happened for the supernatural heist story, but if y’all want one, sure. 

retellings, or the tales that haven't been told

A book of short stories, retellings is a collection of gay versions of all of your favorite stories, and some stories that fit the vibe but are completely original. An orphan falls in love with a werewolf. Cinderella finds herself charmed by a faerie. Rapunzel stays in her tower waiting for the Black Lady of Bradley Woods. The Snow Maiden falls for the Spring Beauty. The Wizard King’s heart is stolen by a clever peasant. Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga keep each other safe. Queen Zurline of Wood Nymphs and her many meetings with the Fae. Jack Frost is courted by the spirit of Summer. If anyone wants a real intro to this, I’ll make one.  

Don’t Write The Ending; 

An epistolary novel centered around Mina Angliotti, the keyboardist of a small time band in the town of Mount Airy, North Carolina, the letters are penned by Jess Callahan, the drummer for the same band that’s in love with her. When the band was in a car accident and Mina went into a coma, Jess started writing letters to cope. If an intro to this is wanted, I’ll make one. 

Harlequin Series: Western Alphabetical 

So, Harlequin is looking for LGBT works. Ya boi can write a western. The first book in the series (which are all unrelated) is called An Ace-High Angelica, in which one cowgirl with a speckled past and a bit of an attitude problem meets the sheriff's daughter and has to choose between her life and her love. An introduction could be a thing if people want that? 

Tag Lists: (ask to be added to any or all if my writing strikes your fancy!)

@wildswrites, @jostenwrites, @dearjjuliet, @fantasy-shadows, @words-in-the-sky, @milkyway-writes, @eastwrites, @asoftplxcetoland, @ditzysworld, @brookswriting, @drowsy-quill, @innocencewrites, @the-writers-bookshelf, @elusiveink, @writeherewaiting, @ecritblr, @7chee, @bookupastorm, @the-starlight-writer, @viragosouls, @aphronysus, @semblanche, @landfillmp3, @ladywithalamp, @if-only-we-could-read-it, @pulcherri, @hellsigns,  @lucky-mae-mcwrites, @starheartofficial, @birdquils, @basicallyawfulwriting, @adayforducks, @drabbleitout, @draculinawrites, @kcjenkinsoffical, @dogwrites, @sydspeaksandwrites, @ajbrooks-writes (sorry if i missed anyone!!)

[schattengerissen]

Writing Questionnaire

Thanks to @dafan7711 for the tag!

Short stories, novels, or poems?

Usually novels or novellas, with occasional short stories

What genre do you prefer reading?

Mostly fantasy and adventure, with forays into horror, science fiction, and crime/detective novels.

What genre do you prefer writing?

Fantasy—sometimes dark, sometimes comedic, often a mix of the two.

Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person?

I’m a mix of the two. I generally will plan a framework, including what plot beats I want to hit, but once I’ve got that in place, I go where the story and characters take me, even if some of those places are unexpected.

What music do you listen to while writing?

To some extent it depends on what I’m writing. One band that’s often my go-to (because unlike some of my other favourites, I don’t often get distracted by the lyrics) is Fields of the Nephilim, particularly the albums Elysium and Mourning Sun. Other frequent choices are Corvus Corax’s Cantus Buranus albums, ASP, Wardruna, and Empyrium.

Fave books/movies?

More than I could possibly list. Patrick Rothfuss, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and Kate Ellis are a few favourite authors. Movies – also more than I could possibly list. Everything from It Happened One Night to Mad Max: Fury Road.

Any current WIPs?

For fanfic I’m working on the (probably very) long follow-up to Hidden, in my Dragon Age series featuring Dorian/Kai Trevelyan. Also have a follow-up to A Night on the Town from the same series in the early stages.

I’ve also written an original novel that’s in final edits, and am working on its sequel.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

Black. Jeans, t-shirt, boots. Hoodie or coat depending on the weather, but always black.

Create a character description for yourself:

The mysterious power behind the throne. All the black clothing makes it easy to blend into the shadows there.

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

I may incorporate facets or quirks of people I’ve known, but I never incorporate specific individuals. I prefer to make relatable, well-rounded characters that are their own person.

Are you kill-happy with characters?

No. If there’s a death that is essential to the plot, I won’t shy away from it, but I don’t do gratuitous killing just for shock value, or to add ersatz realism by ensuring the reader reaches maximum states of depression.

Coffee or tea while writing?

Coffee. Black.

Slow or fast writer?

Somewhere in between for the most part. Sometimes the words come in dribs and drabs, but when inspiration hits I can do several thousand words in a night.

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

Any- and everything can provide inspiration. Books and movies, sure, but also anything from running errands, an overheard snippet of conversation, or a figurine on a shelf in my office can be a source.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

It depends on the circumstances around being put there. Do I get to have magic? Do I get a choice in my abilities and situation, or are we talking being transplanted as I am here?

Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche?

Favourite: The story ends happily.

Least favourite: Orphaned Chosen One of humble origins who’s really a princess/prince

Fave scenes to write?

Dialogue. It’s usually the first thing I write for any scene (then have to go back and fill in the details after).

Most productive time of day for writing?

Nights.

Reason for writing?

I love it. I’ve always been a reader and writer. For some years my job and other factors took up too much time to do any writing, but Dragon Age inspired me to get back into it, and since then I’ve been writing virtually every day. This past year I’ve branched out into original novels as well. Regardless of how well that goes, I’ll continue to write.

I’ll tag anyone who wants to play.

[quietborderline]

I was tagged by @satashiiwrites for this WIP game!

Not tagging anyone as I think Satashii got you already and/or I have otherwise seen you do this game fairly recently but, as always, if you see this and want to take part please say I tagged you and do so! <3

RULES: Post the names of all the files in your WIP list, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send an ask with the title that most intrigues them and post a little snippet or tell them something about it. And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I'm not listing literally ALL my WIPs this time, but here are the ones I definitely hope to continue/share/finish at some point in the future:

Mass Effect/Andromeda - Manifest Destiny Series

All Exits Look The Same Sleeping With Ghosts Fools Can Be Kings* Not Enough To Say I'm Sorry Not Yet Lost All Our Graces The Resolution Wishing Well Keep It Together A Siren In The Night A Starless Heaven We Will Take No Blame Farther Two Points For Honesty See This Burden Through Ruby Falls Take Me Back To The Start The Only Exception Soulmates Never Die Supremacy Untitled Finale Fic

Mass Effect/Andromeda - Ersatz Series

Ersatz Stars To Fill My Dreams Standing Under These Stars Beg For What's Already Ours

Mass Effect/Andromeda - Misc Other Fics

A Song To Come Home To An Ocean For A Mountainside BXT Bullet With Butterfly Wings There's Always Trouble In Paradise

Final Fantasy VII

Depuis Le Début A Drug That's Hard To Find