#my published word count this year is horrendous because it includes like 50 hundred word drabbles and 3 poems

[mostmagical]

writing year in review

one excerpt from each month of the year. tagged by @bittersweetresilience. hehe. I can post this now that I shared pitfall.

I THOUGHT I filled every month using my drabbles, despite my two mass effect playthroughs-sized gap, but I forgot May. which is, yeah. yeah. the month I played ME3 for the first time. head in my hands.

01 JANUARY

Consequences of Dating Blindly (Miraculous Ladybug - 4,078 words)

A chorus of giggles broke her concentration, drawing her eyes to a gaggle of girls a couple tables over. They were whispering excitedly and pointing in the direction of the same mop of blond hair, all with cell phones raised. A sudden wave of heat ran up Marinette’s spine as she realized they were ogling him. She wasn’t surprised that girls were looking at him. Chat Noir was the cutest, most handsomest boy in the world, so of course they would. But that was her cutest and most handsomest boy in the world.

02 FEBRUARY

tear-stained (Miraculous Ladybug - 100 words)

Marinette shot up from her bed with her heart in her throat. Bile threatened to make its way up, up, and out, but she pushed it down against the klaxon blaring in her head.

03 MARCH

magical (Miraculous Ladybug - 100 words) my favorite drabble btw

Her throat grew tight as she realized where they were standing. Their rooftop. It was shielded well from the street, providing asylum, but it drained poorly due to the raised gutters. Chat Noir was always apologizing, always covering it with torn blankets and tarps. She never cared, of course. He was there, and they were together, and they were safe.

04 APRIL

Can I Just Kiss You (Miraculous Ladybug - 4,218 words)

The liquid in his delicate cocktail glass was dyed pinker by the spotlight he stood under, so she couldn’t tell if he was actually drinking anything as passion fruit-flavored as the color, or if it was just straight liquor. Her breath caught as he removed his hand from the water-beaded surface, lifting it to adjust the thick-rimmed specs he wore and reminding her of the sparkling green eyes she’d spied earlier. Blond hair. Green eyes.  She wondered if it was some cosmic joke that this always happened to her. Even the cat ears were suspect, but she was trying her best not to acknowledge that.

05 MAY

*loud sobbing*

06 JUNE

Bridges (Miraculous Ladybug - 430 words)

Adrien glanced over his shoulder only briefly, quickly turning his gaze back to the skyline. “I like watching the moonrise,” he answered, shrugging. “I usually– well, I usually don’t have the opportunity to see it from down here.” Félix cast a slow step closer. “Moonrise?” he repeated. “Not the sunset?” The corner of Adrien’s lip twitched in secret humor. “I’ve become a bit of a night person.”

07 JULY

crescendo (Miraculous Ladybug - 100 words)

Chat Noir’s laughter reaches crescendo as Ladybug reaches the end of the block. It echoes off the walls and traces the smile on her face.

08 AUGUST

Get A Little Lonely (Miraculous Ladybug - 2,422 words) technically... this was a zine piece posted on the 1st... so I did not write any of it in August... but shhh

Adrien had once gone on a hike in the French Alps with his mother and Nathalie—before the illness had riddled Maman bedridden. He had marveled at the way Nathalie had used nothing but a compass and a map to chart their course as they went, carefully noting landmarks and any elevation. He had watched with curious eyes, hanging onto every word as she’d explained how she did it. Watching Loveybug fall apart felt like trekking over that terrain with a broken compass. Everything was uncharted territory. Cat Walker hoped he could figure out how to cover it.

09 SEPTEMBER

Heartbeating (Mass Effect Trilogy - 3,600 words)

She fit into Garrus’s angles like a puzzle piece, twisting and turning until they lined up, just right. Maybe the edges had to be folded over a little, but they always fit, eventually. “You know, you humans are bonier than you look,” Garrus commented, wincing as her elbow pressed against an unarmored hip. A smile curled her lips. “Just trying to make you feel more at home,” she teased, a playful lilt to her tone as she finally found her previous position against his chest.

10 OCTOBER

waiting room (Mass Effect Trilogy - 6,565 words. to be cont.)

Shepard watches Kahlee’s rounded fingernails trace over the grooves in the book’s cover. They’re neat. Clean. No trace of dried blood in the nail beds like she knows her own do. The leather must be well-loved, soundlessly absorbing every scratch.

11 NOVEMBER

can't breathe (Mass Effect Trilogy - 629 words)

“Garrus!” he thinks he hears, somewhere over the ringing in his ears It’s hope, he knows—but he shouldn’t have let himself hope He didn’t deserve to get that second chance Why, when they can’t? His lungs’d filled with hope, now he can’t breathe

12 DECEMBER

pitfall (Mass Effect Trilogy - 805 words)

“Wish you’d stop looking,” Garrus sighs, but she can’t stop; she never could. His eyes ask the words he still won’t: Please, Shepard, doesn’t it hurt? Of course it hurts; that’s the point. She’s earned each and every prick, for every unit’s soul she couldn’t save, and for EDI, lain in an imaginary crypt.

if you opened my read more and you're reading this right now, 🫵 you're tagged. gotcha.