#WIP: ITSOS

[pertinax--loculos]

12 Days of Writers Self Love - Day Five

Hoookay, for day and prompt number five, flower, we’re getting a little esoteric with the links to the prompts. 😅 But hey, that’s all in the spirit of it! So I thought of flowers, which led me to thinking of blossoms, which led me to thinking of things starting, which ended up with me picking this (spoileriffic!) scene from In the Shadows of Stars:

Zayra shrugged. “I don't really see what all the fuss is about. Apart from that trick with the console, I haven't seen you do anything all that impressive. And if you need a console to do anything, why's everyone so uneasy about you? I mean, sure, the Black Hats are good at their job. They stop the government being hacked, [etc etc]. But even they are just screen monkeys, sitting at their computers all day.” Sable sat back a little. There was an odd expression on his face; something that sat uncomfortably between amusement and disgust. When he spoke, his voice was low. "That's because the Black Hats the government have working for them are neutered. Collared. Choked. Your government hasn't seen a Black Hat off the leash for years." He sat forward again, the corner of his mouth turning up in a truly unpleasant smile. "Would you care to see a demonstration?" He flexed his fingers, and the lights went out. Zayra bolted upright, her hands on the table. Adrenaline coursed hot and fizzy through her chest, her heart suddenly pounding. "What the hell--" "C'mon, Lieutenant. I'm handcuffed to the table, what am I gonna do?" The viewscreen behind her flickered to life, bathing the room in an artificial glow of wheeling lights. Zayra spun, nearly falling over herself in the process. The screen was programmed to either display a rendition of the blank wall or to act as a window, nothing else. Certainly not the dim grey screen with multicoloured rolling text it was currently showing. "You know why they outlawed AI, right?" Sable said from behind her. Zayra desperately wanted to turn around to look at him, but she was transfixed by the screen, by the separate windows popping up and disappearing just as quickly, too fast for her to comprehend their purpose. "Why they drew the line at simple automation, why they refused to entertain the notion of a real, electronic intelligence? It's because they knew. They knew the power it would have. The whole world runs on electronics these days, on computers and machines and networks. Something that can not only access, but is an intrinsic part of every one of your systems? Imagine the things they could do." Zayra could hear the smile in his voice. On the screen, a window popped up that showed the corridor outside, the guards running from the viewing room. "They could deadbolt the door," Sable said. There was a thunk from the vicinity of the door. Zayra glanced towards it, wildly, looked back at the viewscreen to see a guard try the handle, then shove his shoulder against it. "Turn off the cameras." Another window, showing the feed from the cam in the interrogation room. A moment, and the feed blurred and then dropped, showing a black screen. "Hell, they could even... I dunno, release prisoners?"

So, this is a blast from the past, and also far and away my favourite scene I’ve written for ITSOS. That damned WIP is a bit of a frustration of mine, though -- I think I’m currently trying to cram far too many ideas into it, and the bits I really like hinge upon me essentially creating an entire legal system from the ground up. So it’s a bit of a white whale at the moment.

But! That said, I still love this scene. The entire thing is about 1600 words and tbh I would’ve put the whole thing here, but honestly it probably hits harder for me because I have context and you do not. (Sorry!) So there’s just this little excerpt where Sable starts to show off what he can do. I had fun writing it. I think it flows pretty well. So I like it, and that, after all, is the point of sharing all these excerpts. :D

[queen-of-stoneharts]

Why's Aida pissed off? Wrong answers only

[heterosexistly]

hii i remember seeing such a long time ago something about a buddie bodyguard fic? i almost sure it was you that posted the little snippet but then i stop seeing them on my dash and i though maybe the fic got posted and i miss it but i didn't seem to find itso i was just wondering if it was you lol no pressure of anything if it is still a wip

Hey! It was me that was posting snippets! you can check this tag to see all the other snippets. I'm so glad you liked it. I'm writing this fic with @eddiediazisascorpio who I wrote the divorce fic with but life is busy for them. So we have one chapter left, and if we never get back to it, I can release it just for you unfinished 😂

[dumbacery]

someone get this man some therapy

[hanaeru]

Boku no hero academia cosplay: Chisaki/Overhaul WIP

"You're all ill. Gotta cure the disease"

[firesign23]

Fanfic asks: 2, 8 & 16

You did a me, and sent me two asks! (This, uhh, is one of many reasons I usually send asks and prompts anon 😂😂)

1. If you’re an author, how many WIPs do you currently have? (Be honest!)

I answered that here, but in short it depends on how you define a WIP. The number ranges anywhere from 2 to ~15, and if we’re including “Have the basic idea and intentions to write”, ∞∞∞

2. What’s next on your ‘to-read’ list? (Fan fiction or otherwise)

@seaspiritwrites‘s With All Your Faults has been on my to-read list for ages, but I knew I’d want to get fully immersed in itso I’ve been waiting for completion. There’s only one chapter left, so... it won’t be the NEXT thing I read, but I’m really looking forward to it.

6. What’s the last thing you read that made you laugh?

Bagpipes. Fucking bagpipes.

8. Bed sharing or roommates AU?

Bedsharing! And as much as I love it played in the typical tropey way (pining! waking up entwined! succumbing to desires!), I love it even more when it gets subverted in some way. @whopooh has a Miss Fisher fic where There’s Only One Bed, and rather than let it be awkward, Phryne just calls a spade a spade and says something like “We’re adults. If we have sex, it’s because we chose to. Sharing this bed is not going to change that either way.” and I love it a lot. There is a good chance the next minigolf AU fic will have bedsharing, possibly more than one night’s worth, and it’s not romantic in the least. 

16. Describe your WIP that currently has the highest word count.

Former lovers/Idiots in love have to enter a poltically convenient marriage, reconciliation happens. Simple. Except the fic is more about forgiveness and growth and metaphorical infidelity and complex female relationships and identity and...

I should have known that any fic with an opening scene that includes  the line “She has found her place in this world” was going to be a goddamn monster when this world is a mess of misogyny and shit storywriting. Everyone in that story is figuring themselves and their relationships out, unaware they are doing it.

|Fanfic Asks|

[pertinax--loculos]

Unofficial WIP Intro

___RISK IT

So I have bad luck doing official-sorta WIP intros, but I want a little bit of accountability (and also to be a bit more active on here), so... here’s a brief dot-point overview of the one that’s currently consuming my brain:

inspired directly by spite (because of a book I read recently that annoyed the crap out of me)

bodyguard/protectee dynamic (ultimately friends-to-lovers, I think)

urban fantasy in a World Not Our Own But Close

magic system TBD, but the MC is Barren (aka, has no magic -- this is kinda a big deal)

incorporating bits and pieces from other WIPs I’ve played with, most significantly the arcane demon dog Shade (who is also a disobedient little shit)

seriously messed up characters who don’t want to process their trauma

murder mystery! Maybe! Sort of! Think urban fantasy fare with the characters investigating something. It kicks off the plot. It maybe is the plot. Who really knows?

magic havers vs have not (read: privileged vs others)

dual POV (in first person! Wish me luck separating their voices ahaha)

loyalty and codependency and love that leaves scars

...aaaand, cuz why the hell not, have a little snippet from the first scene under the cut:

Caden took half a step back. We got within arm’s reach of him just as the shadows solidified into a coherent form.

It looked like a dog, as much as a creature made out of shadows can look like anything. Tall, though, taller than any real example of its breed, which looked mostly like a dobermann. Its shoulders easily reached Caden’s waist. The tips of the pricked ears were level with his chin. The smouldering red eyes  bored into his neck. And the steely metallic fangs, revealed when it slowly opened its mouth, were just the right height to rip out his throat.

The shadow creature made a noise that sounded like a cross between metal in a garbage disposal and a chainsaw. Caden’s step backwards was quick enough that his ankle turned and Ilya had to catch his elbow to stop him sprawling on his ass.

“That’s…” Caden gave me a cursory glance before he fixed his horrified gaze on Ilya. “That’s a—”

“Shade,” Ilya said.

“Holy shit.” What little colour remained in Caden’s face drained. He slowly turned his face back towards the shadowy dog, adam’s apple bobbing in a deep swallow. “That’s a Shade.”

“No,” Ilya said. “Well, I mean, yes, it is, but I meant — Shade.”

The Shade — that Ilya ingenously named Shade — tilted its head. The wisps of shadow that made up its long and pain-in-the-ass tail began to swish back and forth.

Ilya cleared his throat and tried, with great and heavy gravity, “Shade.”

Shade bounced — all four feet off the ground, shoulders at the pinnacle, an expression of joy if I’ve ever seen one — and landed in a play bow. He made a sound similar to an unbalanced washing machine and then turned and bolted off down the alley.

[pertinax--loculos]

"for any ruffian of the sky your kingbird doesn't give a damn-- his royal warcry is I AM"

Status: drafting

POV: third limited, alternating

Genre: science fantasy

Themes/Tropes: found family | nature vs nurture | biological family | expectations, pressures, beliefs | the nature of humanity | the nature of belief | zealotry | acceptance

Synopsis: When Zayra accidentally ends up undercover with the crew of the notorious Duke, she knows this is the case that could make her career. That could give her the name she deserves within the Law Enforcement Agency. That could distance her from-- well, from all that.

And she assumes this crew has secrets.

Like the forbidden tech that the Duke's crew must be using. There's nothing publicly available that can let you disappear, for fuck's sake.

She passes their tests, she ingratiates herself, and she gathers intel. Forms theories. Scratches at the surface of their impenetrable walls, sends reports back to Keller and her team when those walls begin to fall.

Zayra knows this crew has secrets.

But she never fucking expected this.

Characters (more comprehensive intros to come): Zayra Ingram | Law Enforcement Officer, Lieutenant Caleb Keller | Law Enforcement Officer, Sergeant

Duke | ‘captain', leader, outlaw Garnet | grifter, mediator Fuchsia | mechanic, enforcer Cobalt | mechanic, tactics Sable | pilot, hacker

"your kingbird doesn't give a damn for murderers of high estate whose mongrel creed is Might Makes Right --his royal warcry is I AM"        -- e. e. cummings

[pertinax--loculos]

ITSOS: Some Notes on Worldbuilding

so I very purposely assigned this story the "science fantasy" genre, because from what I've read science fiction revolves around the actual science, and I'm just not that sciency. However, what I did not account for was the fuckton of research I'm going to have to do just to make things internally consistent. Fantasy, yes, but I'd like it to have some basis in loose 'fact'

take the planets/countries/colonies for example:

my idea is that in the Future (2500 or so?) the human race leaves Earth on a series of generational ships. These ships are huge, and although technology has been shared, are created largely by global superpowers. As such, one ship is from the USA, one is from China, one is a Saudi Arabia-United Arab Emirates alliance, etc.

I did not account for the fact that I'd have to research both global superpowers and current political alliances/affiliations

it's also set 500 years in the future so who the fuck knows what could've happened in the meantime

BUT I kinda want even that to make sense

THEN when they find the galaxy they end up settling in, they largely settle planets/continents with a specific ship

(obviously there is some crossover, and the Stone Road is much more an amalgamation of different heritages than the Inner Circle, but still)

this is a bit of a pain when describing appearances. First draft I'm probably just gonna use current-day terminology for heritage etc, ie Hispanic, Chinese, European

but there will be a time where I have to clarify where people come from and why others would identify them as coming from that place using appearance

which means I have to name all the planets and continents

and I researched how places have been named in the past but a lot of them come from native words

or words for landmarks

problem the first: this means I'd likely have to make up names for landmarks anyway

problem the second: there is no sign of alien life in this universe. Most people believe that sentient life hasn't managed to evolve outside of Earth, and the most they're ever going to find are single-celled organisms and the like

and those that still believe there are aliens out there are primarily seen as crazy conspiracy theorists

(which is kinda fair, given humankind has travelled huge, huge distances and colonised half a galaxy without any sign of nonhuman life)

speaking of colonising: the research re: habitable planets

essentially so far I have the idea that the Inner Circle is a series of moons orbiting a gas giant

(how many moons, exactly? Who knows! Certainly not the author, ahahah... ha. -.-)

then the Stone Road is a decent distance away, and is a series of smaller, rocky planets

originally my thought was it would be an asteroid belt

it still may be! And the entire civilisations living there cannot set foot outside their buildings because there is no atmosphere!

but the final word on that requires much more

(you guessed it)

research

anyway this has been fun

but I sincerely doubt many people have read this far anyway

if you have: welcome to my literal planning process! Stream of consciousness. Except it's normally handwritten because I prefer that for some reason

hopefully there are some ideas about the world that have come through and give you some idea of the sort of place the ITSOS guys hail from

it's getting clearer in my head but it is definitely still a work in progress

[pertinax--loculos]

here's your prompt:

"She came from the sea. She was dripping all over my carpet and she wasn't cold. She was smiling too like she can't believe it worked."

So here's my response to this prompt from the lovely @pe-ersona! Sorry it took me forever and a day. 😅 I did have to rework the prompt a little, and I'm not 100% happy with Fuchsia's characterisation here, but it's still fairly early days with this WIP, and I couldn't really work the prompt with my primary POV character. Still, this gives a little bit ofan overview of The Crew(TM) from my current WIP, In the Shadows of Stars, taking place before the WIP actually starts. ^_^

***

She came from the water. She was dripping all over Cobalt's floor and she wasn't cold. She was smiling, too, like she couldn't believe it had worked.

Cobalt heaved a sigh. "Fuchsia," he said, leaning back in his chair. "What the fuck."

Her grin got wider. "Naw, c'mon," she said, a little wheedling. "You have to admit that this idea was badass."

"I'm admitting nothing of the sort."

"Cobalt." Definite wheedling now, bordering on whiny. "Work with me here. Someone has to appreciate my genius."

Cobalt pressed his thumbs into the corners of his eyes, laced his fingers in front of his forehead. It had the added bonus of stopping him staring at the mess she was making in his room. "Why don't you go talk to Duke?"

The sound of movement made him drop his hands, just in time to see her flop onto his bed. He closed his eyes again.

"Duke's far too preoccupied with Sable's genius to bother with me," Fuchsia said. "Plus he has no idea what it takes to keep a ship like this running. He only ever takes notice when something goes wrong."

"Welcome to the glamorous life of a mechanic," Cobalt said dryly. "I thought that was a standard disclaimer when you signed up."

"Maybe on the Inner Circle. You get your start on the Stone Road, the only disclaimer you get is that the company isn't gonna pay your family if-when you suffer a fatal accident."

Cobalt arched an eyebrow. "That sounds illegal."

"Your privilege is showing," Fuchsia retorted, though she was grinning again.

Cobalt resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Couldn't you go brag to Garnet? I'm sure she'd hear you out."

"She probably would, but I'm not in the mood for saccharine platitudes. I wanna brag to someone who can truly appreciate it."

"And that someone is me?"

"Well, given the limited pool of people I'm pulling from currently, yes, yes it is."

Cobalt closed his eyes for another beat, but he was losing the fight against the smile threatening to break over his face. "Alright, alright. Let's go examine your genius."

Fuchsia bounced to her feet and bounded to the door, already nattering away about just how the hydrocooling was going to decrease their fuel usage. Cobalt followed her, trying not to drag his feet too obviously.

It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to not sigh at the damp, stained bedcover she'd left behind.

[pertinax--loculos]

Previews of some headers for the upcoming character intros.

Did I spend two hours today making these instead of writing? Yes. Do I regret it? Not a fucking whit.

[pertinax--loculos]

I am Back On My Bullshit (read: very very torn between two WIPs atm 😠).

In other news, I've probably written like 20k for ITSOS in the past two weeks, but it's all post-midpoint and the midpoint involves two hella large spoilers. Plus the aftermath involves the other major spoiler. So I cannot will not post any of it. 😠

Life is So Fun!! Arghghghgh

Upside: this is day two of a four-day weekend I managed to wrangle at work, so I may have some actual ~content~ to post by the end of it! (If I don't get strangled by this other WIP that's nudging me and/or I write more of ITSOS chronologically. Aka, don't get your hopes up ughghgh -.-)