#but I do vibe with the descriptions of the characters

[imawholeassmood]

Read Between the Lines

read it on ao3

Lena reads the review, rubs her temples a few times, then reads it again. There is no way Super_Girl has rated this book five stars and then wrote multiple paragraphs waxing poetic about how fantastic it was. Lena already submitted her own one-star review which included her breakdown of the writing, the characters, and the plot, of which this book had none.

For months, Lena has been seeing Super_Girl reviews pop up on the same books Lena recently finished. She wondered at this point if Super_Girl might be doing this on purpose – reading the same books just so she could rate the book the opposite of whatever Lena did. At first, it was simple - “Loved it!” or “Couldn’t get into this one,” but as of late, the reviews had gotten longer and more descriptive.

Lena herself always used the same formula for reviewing books: overall star rating with a breakdown of her thoughts on the characters, the plot, and the writing. Books, like most things in life, are easy to rate when you understand the evaluation system. Books follow formulas and rules for a reason – it’s what makes them good. A romance novel, for instance, requires a “happily ever after.” Without it, it cannot be considered a romance, and it certainly wouldn’t be a good one.

So, as Lena reads the latest review by Super_Girl, Lena can’t help but leave a comment. Maybe this person simply needs an education on the book rating system.

“What criteria do you use when rating a book?”

It’s a good starting place for this conversation. Lena has amassed quite the following with people interested in her book reviews and the last thing she wants to do is stir up internet drama to damage her good reputation. She knows how easy it is for people to take something out of context.

The reply comes almost immediately.

“Vibes!”

Lena blinks a few times, then closes the browser and leaves her laptop for the night.

**

Super_Girl does it again with another five-star rating for a book that made Lena seriously consider contacting the literary award agencies to complain about their selection. The book sounded like it was AI generated and had zero plot. And the characters? Don’t even get her started.

“How can you consider this a masterpiece?” she writes under the review. “There is zero substance in this book. It’s just a bunch of flowery words that mean nothing and make no sense. If this is your idea of romance, then I’d hate to be your girlfriend.”

Her phone rings and Lena spends the next hour talking with her assistant, Jess, about the priorities for the week and when they can finalize some presentations. Later, as she lays in bed scrolling on her phone, Lena thinks to check her goodreads account. There, under her latest comment, is a reply from Super_Girl.

“Amidst the turmoil of the crumbling world around them, two people take the time to write love letters to each other. What’s more romantic than that?

I want to meet you in every place I have loved.

I want to be in contact with you.

Swoon.”

Speaking of taking things out of context.

While Lena can see Super_Girl’s point, that’s not enough to change her mind about the book. Especially not in the context of it being a sci-fi fantasy that relegated war to a backdrop in much the same way Hollywood did with Pearl Harbor. Don’t get her started. She types out a response before closing the webpage and going to sleep.

“Relationships develop over time. Even if I agreed with your assessment, this book still lacked any real narrative and there’s zero reason to believe these two people would fall in love. They don’t know anything about each other except that they can write a decent letter.”

**

Oh, no, Lena thinks. Her latest read has her questioning her entire belief system about books. She liked the book. Not because it had a great plot. Not because she was rooting for the characters. She liked the book because…it gave her good vibes. She genuinely had a good time reading it, despite it being a complete shitshow. This never happened to her before.

She opens her goodreads page to leave her review and finds that Super_Girl hasn’t read this one yet. She feels the slightest pang of disappointment but pushes through to her review. At the end of her standard format, she adds a new category: vibes.

It takes a few days, and Lena finds herself checking her account every few hours. She’s sitting at her desk and scrolling on her phone when she gets a notification that Super_Girl commented on her review.

“Vibes?!?! I’m SUPER proud of you! And we agree the characters were awful and the plot was weak, but it was well-written.”

She doesn’t even realize she’s smiling until Jess comments about it.

“Oh, nothing,” she says and waves her hand. “Just a literary rival.”

Jess looks at her. “You’re smiling because of…a rival?”

Is that what they were? The word didn’t really feel like a good fit, but Lena goes with it.

“Agreed with me on a point. Can we please stay focused?”

And they do. Lena and Jess go over the latest reports and prepare for an upcoming meeting with one of their international partners. Lena doesn’t think about Super_Girl again until she’s lying in bed and that damn smile creeps backs onto her face.

**

Her next review is not a good one. It makes Lena question the romance genre as a whole. Has the world become so used to being treated like garbage, people can’t even tell the difference between healthy and toxic love?

She’s barely hit submit when Super_Girl comments on her review.

“They were flirting the whole time!”

Lena is still sour enough she doesn’t bother to hold back on her response.

“Flirting where? Being in each other’s orbit is not flirting. Why can’t people just say, ‘I like you and I’d like to go on a date with you?’ instead of whatever BS was happening in this book. Honestly, I’m worried for your love life if you think this is a healthy way to approach communication.”

Super_Girl goes silent for a long while after that.

Lena worries something may have happened and questions whether she should reach out. They haven’t gone this long without a reciprocal review since they started this little dance of theirs almost a year ago. She finds herself rereading their reviews and wondering about who Super_Girl might be behind the screen name. There’s no profile photo, no personal information at all. Just a single word.

Golly.

Lena smiles at that. In fact, she smiles at everything Super_Girl has written. While they may not agree on books, Lena can’t deny that whoever is behind the reviews is a wordsmith who comes across as the sweetest human on the planet.

It surprises her when she receives a notification that she has been selected to read a new release ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review. Lena doesn’t usually agree because she doesn’t want to give people any reason to think her reviews are biased or influenced in any way. She’s about to deny the request, but the cover art depicts two women, one blonde, the other brunette, and Lena never turns down a sapphic story. She accepts the request without another thought.

**

When Lena finishes The Write Stuff, she starts it over and reads it again, cover to cover. The writing, the pacing, and the storytelling are superb. It’s as if the author has studied every article about how a romance novel should be written. The characters are so well written, she has clear images of who each of these women are. She understands their desires, their fears, and their motives. Not only does she care about these people as a couple, but she also cares about them individually in a way she hasn’t cared about a character in a long time. As for the plot itself? It’s perfectly cheesy and still somehow realistic enough to be believable that it could happen in real life.

Lena hasn’t felt this…satisfied by a book since well, since she can’t remember.

So, that’s exactly what she writes in her review.

“I especially loved this line:

I would rewrite history if it meant a chance for a happy future with you.”

When she’s done, she looks up the author and finds that she’s written one other book.

Lena doesn’t recall reading it, but when she clicks on the title, she finds her review posted with a few hundred likes and several dozen comments. One star and zero positive things to say about it. Lena can’t help but think how far the author has come from this first book to the most recent one. It’s an impressive improvement, and Lena Luthor isn’t easily impressed.

Supergirl leaves a comment on her review a few days later.

“It looks like the author has been paying attention to your feedback.”

**

The following week, Lena is staring at the meeting invitation with furrowed brows and a healthy dose of confusion. She presses the call button on the speaker on her desk.

“Yes, Miss Luthor?” Jess says.

“Jess, why do I have a meeting with Supergirl on my calendar?”

Jess is quiet for a moment. She’s quiet so long, in fact, that Lena’s door opens and a blond woman with thick-rimmed glasses wearing chinos and a tucked-in button down steps just inside. She has a nervous smile and fidgets with her glasses.

Lena recognizes her from the photo bio she still has pulled up on her web browser and stands to greet her.

“Miss Danvers,” she says, “please, come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Kara Danvers, author of The Write Stuff, who Lena has been internet stalking for the past week shifts in the doorway. Lena comes around the front of her desk. They stare at each other in silence for a moment before Lena hears a faint “go” from Jess in the reception area. That makes Kara shake out of her stupor.

She brings her hand out from behind her back and holds her arm at full length with a bouquet of…plumerias. Lena can’t believe what she’s seeing. Her favorite flowers which represent love and new beginnings are being offered to her by this stunning woman who wrote one of her favorite books of the year. Lena looks from the flowers back to Kara’s face.

“I like you, Lena Reads” Kara says, “and I would like to go on a date with you.”

[thunderandsage]

my comprehensive star trek fic recs

(starting note: a lot of the following works contain heavy and/or uncomfortable themes, which is my preference when reading fanfiction, so just be aware of that. a lot of them are also, uh, rated E, so yea. i have no excuse for that one.)

(contains: mostly AOS with smatterings of SNW, DS9 and TOS)

EPICS/LONGER WORKS:

Don't Stop Believing (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 205,901 words, a Spock-character-study slash novel-length-epic, features Spock/Pike heavily near the beginning, explores the loss and pain after y'know losing your mother and your planet, slow-burn Spirk but GOD the slow-burn is so good, not a straightforward story as characters are capable of both advancing and regressing but this complexity makes the story more delicious, includes homoerotic piano duets)

You Don’t Have To (Say Yes) (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 192,321 words, HEED THE WARNINGS, starts out as “let’s make Tarsus IV even worse” but evolves into love letter for friendship and chosen family, characters so good you want to start chewing on the metaphorical pages, Kirk as bright-sunshine-character-with-the-horrors-in-his-past who’s messed up but god he’s trying, passages in this fic permanently rewired my brain)

War Games (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 108,882 words, necessary to read You’ll Get There In The End first, very sharp and cohesive prose and plot, the romance here is pretty unconventional and “unromantic” almost but it honestly works really well, uhh main warning is that this deals with politics analogous with real-world loss of rights so it’s uncomfortably relatable but if you’re fine with that it’s a really interesting read, intrigue and action, sorta-telepath!Kirk and good Vulcan OCs)

K’diwa: A Steamy Novel of Interspecies Romance, by Jim Kirk (Spirk AOS, rated technically E but it’s more M i feel, finished at 103,984 words, accidental romance writer Jim Kirk, Kirk-was-adopted-by-Vulcans, Academy Era, far on the feel-good and indulgent side of fic if you’re into that)

The Door (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 77,118 words, per the description "and alternative STID thing" with one of the most distinctive and sweet/sharp love stories, smut does feature very heavily but so does literature and messy emotions, contains my favorite version of THAT scene from STID, makes you want to annotate passages and look for parallels like in fucking english lit class again)

For the Gladness of You (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 51,055 words, non-linear narrative, Spock and Kirk both have Issues(tm), definitely a thornier read where problems don’t have clear solutions and people are messy and don’t always make good decisions, more cynical but still so good)

EPISODIC/SMALLER STORIES:

The 1,000 Hour Sleep (Spirk SNW, rated M, finished at 27,227 words, basically Jim is a secret agent for Starfleet who's treated as expendable by Command but still gets adopted by the SNW crew, good balance of action/angst and romance/pining)

This Trailer Park Is a Shithole But Goddammit, It’s Home (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 23,446 words, trailer park AU, Jim Kirk’s dubious adventures in growing weed and trying to avoid the law, the crackiest adaptation of st2009 you’ll ever read)

Something Smart to Do (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 21,322 words, how many times will Spock and Kirk get fake-married for missions before they admit they’re in love? the answer is too damn much)

How to Inefficiently Acquire a Human Male in 98.6 Earth Days (Spirk AOS, rated T, finished at 30,391 words, Academy Era, Spock tries to ward off Jim's attempts at friendship but receives advice that does... not do that, romcom vibes, meddling Gaila)

Big Me (But It’s You I Fell Into) (Spirk AOS, rated M, finished at 38,728 words, i am entirely indifferent towards golf but this fic still slaps, feat. an oblivious jim, a low-stress but still very fun read)

knives in the water (McSpirk AOS, rated E, finished at 18,618 words, dark, mafia au, smut and violence, featuring McCoy’s sexual frustration and steadily eroding moral compass)

FEMSLASH:

encrusted gem-stuff / / of the mist (T'pura SNW, rated T, finished at 41,862 words, pon farr but it’s lesbians, beautiful psychedelic and almost surreal writing style that i want to inject into my bloodstream)

Unspoken (T’pura AOS, rated M, finished at 29,201 words, lovely AOS Uhura depiction with lots of linguistics and character depth, the path to true love is convoluted and thorny but they get there, eventually)

i cannot paint / what then i was (Kiradax DS9, rated T, finished at 15,462 words, brief Jadzia/Lenara Kahn, read if you like greek classics references, bi disaster Jadzia and gorgeous lesbian pining)

A Hermeneutics of Ass-Fucking (Christine Chapel/T’pring SNW, rated M, finished at 5,954 words, an enjoyable cocktail of Vulcan intellectualism, crack and lesbian horniness)

Matchmaker of Mars (T’pura TOS, rated T, finished at 2,749 words, T’Pring and Uhura as 1930s scifi writers with a grudge against Campbell)

“BITE-SIZED”:

there's no such thing as a bad idea (Spock & Bones AOS, rated T, finished at 5,114 words, giving "teenage girls talk about their crushes at a sleepover" except it's two emotionally constipated middle-ish-aged men who are drunk)

And Then I Let It Go (Spirk AOS, rated E, finished at 10,632 words, post-Beyond getting together including fake identities and agricultural work)

Any Way You Want It (Spirk AOS, rated T, finished at 12,031 words, Spock gets offered a promotion and Jim wants to be supportive, misunderstanding ensue, slightly cracky)

Watershed Moments (Kirk & Mcoy AOS, rated N/A, finished at 9,455 words, based on that Parks and Rec episode with snake juice but it’s Chekov’s tribble juice here, everyone’s super wasted here and it’s glorious, crack)

Big Damn Heroes (Chekov/Sulu AOS, rated E, finished at 6,821 words, Chekov character study in a "live fast, die young" type of Starfleet life, honestly just read anything by waldorph ever, swashbuckling vibes)

what is love? (no really) (Aromantic Spirk AOS, finished at 7,534 words, read if you like disaster!Kirk and/or have a grudge against Valentine's Day, cracky)

Hallmark Moment (Here in the Morning Remix) (Joanna McCoy AOS, rated G, finished at 3,312 words, bittersweet character study, read if you want to feel a little sad and contemplative)

the five-year mission (Kirk & McCoy AOS, rated M, finished at 11,106 words, dark post-STID that sees what with Starfleet's militarization and colonialist undertones... y'know that's not far from the mirrorverse...)

A Monument to All Your Sins (Spirk AOS, rated T, finished at 9,629 words, post-STID where Kirk is ordered to retake the Kobayashi Maru, soft established relationships and musings about the nature of sacrifice/duty)

UNFINISHED:

K’oh-nar (Spirk TOS, rated T, unfinished at 320,000 words currently, PLEASE heed the "mental breakdown" tag as it centers around severe psychically-inflicted trauma, featuring Spock’s TOS canonical self-loathing, it’s tagged hurt/comfort but the plot’s still on the “hurt,”read if you want to be stabbed by a hundred knives)

Unbody Me and Take Me Home (Spirk AOS, rated N/A, unfinished at 27,416 words but updating, domestic fluff but there's a ghost, slowburn for both the romance and the horror)

[leoneedincorrectquotes]

Rinku, excitedly: Heeyy!! Saki: Hey, someone's excited. Shiho, deadpan: Yeah, and it's making me sick.

[egophiliac]

well we got kr siz, who is wolf boy diend, not a combination i saw coming... unless he's a cat boy 'cuz he could be a cat burgular

ooooh, yeah, a cat would make sense with the claws too! I think it is supposed to either be cat or wolf, dogs don't tend to get the claw theming like that. 🤔 honestly, Diend is SO opposite from anyone I had speculated on for the furryboy that it is hilarious and I genuinely love this surprising new direction for him. they made (half of) W a catboy, why not Diend too?

(Siz seems pretty far removed from Daiki as a character, but I would kind of love it if he was also a thief, just...in the background. it never actually comes up in the story, he just occasionally leaps in through a window covered in jewels and this is never remarked upon once.)

[frankenfossil]

you're never going to be the most popular magical girl when your colour is orange

cassidy from sleepless domain

[dyke-in-crisis]

so theres this alien soap opera *twirls hair*

commissions

[blujaydoodles]

It was a strange figure—like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child’s proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white; and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.

“Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?” asked Scrooge.

“I am!”

[emily-mooon]

SCOTT PILGRIM CHARACTERS AS ALVVAYS SONGS PT 2: KIM PINE + BELINDA SAYS

I’ll egress to inverness with nothing in my pocket/ Belinda says that heaven is a place on earth/ Well so is hell

Song

<-PREV NEXT ->

[fruityfroggy]

ASGKJKUYFG TYSM @anonymocha FOR GIVING ME A DIRECTION TO GO WITH MY RAMBLINGS<3

Anyways…oh Verdigris, I’ve come up with so many extra bits and pieces to her lore in the past month or so and I didn’t really get to talk about her in the first place, so I’m glad that someone’s interested (this is gonna be so long, I can feel it)

First things first, we’ll get the big thing out of the way: her arcane skill. Kind of a big part of her story is how she is a “plant whisperer”, which means that she’s able to hear the voices of plants and therefore communicate with them. This made her form a prominent sense of empathy for plants, as they are unheard by everyone except her.

(Now, a lot of the things I’ll mention about Verdigris will make a lot more sense)

So a fun little fact is that plants have a “way of speaking” that sounds more poetic than your normal speech, since they’re just describing things based off of what they know from nature. And because of her arcane skill, Verdigris does talk like them a little (which just comes off as being poetic/dramatic). Another thing that comes with this “way of speaking” are “Titles of the Plants”, which is the thing that you remind the plants of, that they therefore refer to you by (Vertin is “The Wandering Wind”, Sonetto is “The Shade in Daylight”, etc).

Why am I mentioning this? Well but of course it’s for yuri reasons! Because this is the perfect way for Verdigris to subtly and sapphic-ly pine for a certain arcanist by the title: Ray of Sun (and who this refers to is not disclosed). She mentions this “Ray of Sun” quite frequently in her diary, which I’d imagine could be one of those pages of text you can find between stages, as well as in her intimacy voiceline (which I haven’t written, but we can imagine, okay).

Anywho…when it comes to interacting with other arcanists, Verdigris is very much the most likeable out of my three ocs here (she’s just a cinnamon roll, not toxic or hard to communicate with). So she gets along with basically everyone in the suitcase. Chaotic or calm, she’s patient enough to talk to them. Tho she’s the closest with Lilya I’d say, since they’re bonding over a shared language/heritage and shut up, it’s adorable. Especially since Verdigris didn’t have anyone to speak Russian to for a long time (she lived in Spain, that’s why) and Russian was her mother’s language (she never got to meet her, so it holds special significance to her (things are getting angsty haha)). This problem was the whole reason she created her own critters actually. But hey, now she has someone and the vibes are good again.

As for their dynamic, it’s obvious that they have a “balancing each other out” situation, and I like to call it “Lilya and her designated driver” as a joke. But truthfully, Verdigris is surprisingly down with most of her shenanigans and no one understands why. Lilya kinda just wants to show Verdigris all the “fun stuff” she usually does, and she just goes along with it while some of the other arcanists watch them in horror (they’re just having a good time tho). When Verdigris is busy, Lilya would go visit her workshop to see what she’s doing like: "What you making, Verdie?:]" (she finds it interesting).

Considering what she does, I feel like Verdigris would probably be crossing paths with Medpoc kinda often as well (hehe). Verdigris just isn’t super affected by Medpoc’s hostility, and still treats them very well after getting yelled at. Once they warm up to her tho, she kinda becomes their emotional support (aka the person they rant to while she hands them a cookie or smth), and they’d pass out together while working across from each other, since neither of them remember to sleep (or do anything else).

I also think that she could help Shamane repair and/or upgrade his mechanical arm (since that’s kinda her specialty), and in turn gain a new father figure. Shamane would definitely like her Dendrogues and greet them when he sees them hopping around as well.

Some honourable mentions are the other calm healers (Dikke and Tooth Fairy). Dikke would grow fond of Verdigris for how fair and thoughtful is, but she'd tell her to not be so tolerant of everything. As for her and Tooth Fairy’s situation, they actually have pretty similar vibes, so they’d probably do some somewhat questionable things together that aren’t so questionable if they’re doing it, like baking together (there’s definitely no tooth fairies in the muffins they’re making, don’t question the taste of plums) and going out into the forest to look for teeth.

Oh right! Verdigris also has a small interaction with Pristine after implanting the new heart she made for her, since Pristine’s original heart (crystal) is the thing that makes her body possessable to Arcana (there’s some context from this post that is needed to understand what I’m talking about). This is a big plot point in Pristine’s story, so guess who’s growing attached to Verdigris. Yeah, she kinda just follows her around whenever she sees her from there on out, maybe even tugs on her sleeve saying “Where art thou headed to? Let me go with thee!” (Welcome to motherhood, Verdigris!)

[cboffshore]

think I might do some fic writing work tomorrow and I need y'all's help

[spiritcc]

finished all canon holmes and it's very easy to conclude that to date absolutely no adaptation came close to replicating the vibe of the stories

[crystal-clear-crystalline]

[ ID: A drawing of three characters drawn from the collar bone up. The first character is a girl with short light brown hair, green eyes and pale skin. She has a cocky expression on herface. The second character is a boy with dark skin, freckles, black hair styled in locs, dark brown eyes and wearing big rectangular glasses. He has a joyful expression on his face. The last character is a boy with a light tan, black slicked back hair, black eyes and blue and silver piercings. He has a smug expression on his face. They're all drawn in front of a dark grey background. /. End ID ]

I had an idea for a short story with these OCS so I wanted to draw them up again to see how their faces would turn up. Plus it's been years since I've drawn them! I also used them to try to render my art in a pastel/crayon-like style since their story is fairytale-based and those things kinda go hand in hand. Also wanted to try something a fun with colors and I didn't really think that through lol

I used to render my art in a similar way like this (though more paint-like then pastel-like) so this was nice to come back to.

[cruelsister-moved2]

usually i kind of hate when a piece of art feels indulgent sorry #earthmoon BUT i hate how often i hear the take that all description in writing needs to serve the Grand Unified Purpose of the work and you can tell its dumb because imagine watching an animated film and saying they shouldnt bother to put any detail in the backgrounds because its not important to the plot or theme 🤔 like it can be one stylistic approach especially in short fiction & can description and details feel pointless and unearned sure but the idea it should only rain if ur character is sad is goofy af and the idea that every element of the world should revolve around ur character and their narrative its giving western individualism

[regallibellbright]

So I’m rereading Borders of Infinity now for fic research, this is totally what I’m calling it, I am not just giving a random fictional character an enjoyment of a Vorkosigan book because I like it, I can justify this thematically, ANYWAY.

I am hoping to appreciate Labyrinth more on this reread than I did awkwardly reading the short stories in chronological order rather than all at once before Brothers in Arms the first time, which served the latter two and the books I was reading in between pretty poorly but especially Labyrinth. I love Taura, I look forward to Taura, and of course both “get imprisoned by a Jacksonian crimelord, fall in love with the genetically-enhanced wolf girl he keeps in the basement, and then severely damage his business while you escape with her” and “get sent to a POW camp to find one hero to rally an army against the Cetagandan Empire around, find the old plan won’t work, start a cult and use your own charisma to organize the prisoners so that you can stage a flawless, ordered prison break liberating the ENTIRE CAMP to serve as an army, and do all this after being thrown in there stark naked” are among the most Miles Vorkosigan things the man has ever committed.

But.

But.

I don’t think anything will ever manage to displace The Mountains of Mourning and its comparative calm as my absolute favorite of the three. It’s grounded, it’s sad, the closure is just perfect in what Miles can’t do for justice here and what he can, and the times Miles addresses Raina are just lovely prose. It reminds you exactly why he’s always off on these harebrained schemes with something to prove, and the placement of it in the framing story shows he uses it to remind HIMSELF that as well. I love it. I love it even more on reread knowing its callback in Memory and the way he makes a lasting difference there, and the way Silvy Vale and the Csuriks leave an impact on him. It’s just so good.

[swordoaths]

I know I have not been here, and I do apologize. <3 IRL things have really worn me down and made me hide in reading and fanfic writing where I can.

But I'm coming on here to say that I've been reading the ACOTAR series for the first time (yes, I know, I'm late and it IS odd I haven't read a fae book series but here we are), and I really just wanted to say that I was heavily invested in the Suriel to the point where I was like getting nudged to write here again and maybe even add the Suriel whom Feyre talks to....

And then chapter 60 of ACOWAR happened and I'm distraught.

[theroseempress]

Wrote something for my current WIP and liked it a lot, so here it is! Fair warning, this is in fact quite long. (the only reason I'm not posting this in my website instead is because it's actually a section of another thing I haven't finished writing, and I'm not sure if I want it up there yet)

hey @wackus-bonkus-maximus this has nothing to do with MLB so I dunno if you're interested, but I'm quite pleased with how it came out so if you wanna read this I certainly will not object.

~

The day everything finally fell apart started like any other morning. When thinking back on it, Rani couldn’t help marveling at it. Wake up, eat some of the dreadfully bland bread provided by her landlady, (she had the money to buy better food, in theory at least, but it was free, and if she wasn’t wasting money on how things tasted, there was that much more to send back to her brothers.

And sure, maybe she had eaten less food recently than was entirely healthy, but medical school in a different country was expensive, and so was keeping her other two brothers fed and comfortable. Besides, being small was useful for making unnoticed entrances and exits, so it was fine, really) read the brown envelope that had appeared on her dresser, and leave to find today’s target.

Today’s target was a young man, according to the envelope, he was five foot nine, had strawberry blonde hair, light skin, usually wore a chain earring in his left ear, and was called Bricriu.

(Not much to know about a person, but really, even having the name in there was unusual for a target. The only other information in the envelope was the area he frequented, in the Markets)

Rani both despised and was grateful for the Markets- both because of how crowded and noisy they were- the latter opinion being because it was much easier to tail someone unnoticed when in a crowd, and the former since the same thing made it easier to lose a target.

Either way, Rani’s job wasn’t to gripe, it was to remove her target and then disappear in one way or another, so she shrugged her worn jacket tighter around her shoulders and set off down the street.

It was a cold morning, clouds blanketing the sky as they so often did over the ventral months in Solace. The chainmail Rani wore between her undershirt and thin tunic sucked up the biting air with vigor, the latticed metal icy against her skin even through the layer of cloth. Rani ignored it, instead staring down at her boots (the one piece of clothing she frequently bought new versions of instead of letting them run into the ground) as they carried her across grey cobblestones and around the remaining puddles from last night’s rain. It wasn’t a long walk to the Markets, though as she got closer the amount of mechorses and carriages the young woman had to dodge increased significantly.

Finally reaching one of the unofficial guard posts, Rani halted for a moment to study the seemingly lazy (Rani had to admit, she would have been convinced if she hadn’t seen how fast the guards could move when provoked, there was a reason they were where they were) young man leaning against the wall with his hands tucked into his coat pockets, grey eyes drifting lazily over the people meandering through the bottleneck between two buildings and into a market. Rani, who knew he wouldn’t see her as any threat, but still wasn’t one to take chances, waited until a carriage was blocking his line of sight to her and then slipped into the crowds on the other side of the ‘gate.’

It didn’t take her long to find her target, slipping through the bustling colours and noise of the Market like the shadow she was slowly becoming.

He was stepping out of a building, the sign swinging above his head bearing the same words tucked into Rani’s pocket on a carefully folded piece of paper.

‘The Howling Hound’ proclaimed the sign, creaking back and forth on rusty hooks, and for a moment Rani’s upbringing raised its head and sent a crackle of tension down her spine.

But it was only a moment,and Rani was pushing away her Talin superstitions and darting after the blonde man before she’d even fully processed the words her relatives would have instantly taken as a sign to give up right then and there.

The man strode down the cobbled road like he belonged there, head high and shoulders relaxed, coat unbuttoned despite the wind tugging at his sandy hair, moving with the kind of ease and light Rani had seen on a number of other people (and resented, people like that always got their way, almost as if they really did bring light with them, never trapped in the shadows like her, everyone eager to help them)

Rani slipped after him, ignoring how the wind nipped at her face even through the scarf pulled up around her nose and mouth and silently tailing the tap-tap-tap of his polished boots on the uneven stones below.

Finally, several wind-bitten moments of weaving through the cacophony of noise and colours that was the Markets, Rani’s target turned off into an alley. Rani followed, halting crouched behind a stack of crates and ignoring the frigid slush-water soaking from the cobbles into the right knee of her trousers.

The alley was empty, the only occupants Rani, her target, and a lone dark-feathered bird dozing on a jutting windowsill.

Rani let the cold metal of two of her daggers slip from her sleeves to her palms, slender fingers wrapping around the worn hilts. A pause to steady herself and check they were both hidden from sight, and then she was pouncing forwards with a silence so well-practiced it was almost an afterthought. One, two, three strides across the stones, avoiding a puddle that would have caused a splash, and now she was in range and both hands went up, daggers slicing through the cloudy day.

In the years that followed, Rani went through those moments time and time again, searching for what she’d done wrong, what part of the motion was sloppy, casual, loose.

(did she step too hard, move too slow, did her chainmail rustle, did light glint off the daggers, was she just not good enough)

She still didn’t know.

(she’d moved the same as always, as fast as always, she’d practiced and there was no way her mail would make a noise loud enough to alert him, it was cloudy and there was no light to hit the polished metal and she still wasn’t good enough)

Just before silvered metal met her target’s unprotected throat, the man moved.

He spun, leaning back, bright blue eyes a splash of unexpected colour against the grey skies, grey bricks, grey stones, grey coat, sandy hair dancing just around the edges of his face as if it didn’t dare to get in his way, and then Rani’s daggers were just barely barely one inch too slow touching his throat and grey wasn’t broken by red and-

-And he was smiling, blue eyes now sparkling, and Rani, still caught in the middle of her pounce, realized too late that maybe the kind of light this man carried was instead the kind that tore through shadows like her instead.

He was almost casual, one hand coming up and knocking Rani’s wrists into each-other at just the right angle for a jolt of pain to tear through her numb fingers. The following motion was involuntary, and Rani barely realized she’d let go until her daggers her defense protection safety were on the stones with a sharp ringing and spray of water droplets from the puddle they’d landed in. Rani moved on instinct, still-stinging hands going to the top of her boots and fumbling against icy buckles- damn it why hadn’t she loosened the straps earlier, stupid stupid stupid- for stiff leather, but the man in front of her- not her target now- took the opening before she realized it was there.

Rani’s back slammed up against the alley wall, rough stones digging into her spine and air huffing out of her lungs in a white cloud.

Across the alley, the crow took flight, disappearing with a rustle of feathers and a squawk.

The golden man- Rani’s mind darted back to the paper; Bricriu- didn’t look away from Rani, pale blue eyes studying her face with an almost detached curiosity.

A line of biting cold flared against Rani’s throat, and the realization that Bricriu had a long dagger resting there kicked her awareness into action too late. Both of her wrists were somehow trapped behind her against the wall, Bricriu too close and the blade’s edge too firmly against her skin for her to do anything about it.

A long moment passed, dampness soaking out of the bricks and into Rani’s tunic. Bricriu seemed content to wait, studying her face as if he was watching a particularly spectacular sunrise.

Several more minutes passed, Rani pinned in place both by the dagger at her throat and Bricriu’s piercing gaze, and then her chainmail started to become almost unbearably cold even through her shirt.

Rani shivered, and the motion seemed to break Bricriu out of whatever he’d been thinking about. Smiling, the young man tilted his head.

“Well, I wonder what you’re doing here?”

Rani stayed silent, wrists starting to ache from being pressed into the wall. Bricriu seemed unfazed by her unresponsiveness, continuing to talk as his gaze drifted down her.

“Stabbing people isn’t very polite, you know.” he scolded, almost as if he was talking to a child. “Might get stabbed back as well, I suppose. Lucky for you, I’m curious.”

Pausing, Bricriu leaned over a little and reached into Rani’s pocket, pulling the folded paper out and grinning at her.

“What’s this?”

Rani bit back the urge to lunge at him and tear the paper away. Bricriu seemed to sense her line of thought, cold metal pressing a little harder to her throat. Casually. unfolding the paper despite only having one hand available, Bricriu finally looked away from Rani.

A million thoughts and plans of action rushed through Rani’s head in that moment- he’s distracted rush him move get your daggers attack run away fight hide escape attack- but before she could put any of them into action, the paper was crumpling in Bricriu’s fist and his pale blue gaze was back on Rani.

“An assassin, huh?”

She stayed silent, another wave of shuddering breaking over her as a light drizzle began to soak through her already damp tunic. Bricriu tucked the paper into his coat pocket, eyes staying fixed on Rani’s throughout the motion.

Another long pause followed, Bricriu staring absently at the wall beside Rani’s head, Rani’s shivering escalating to the point that she couldn’t hide it any longer. She’d just determined to try and break away despite the lost feeling in her hands, when Bricriu blinked, straightening.

“Righto, little assassin, you’re coming with me.” he smiled, and maybe this time some of Rani’s shivering wasn’t because of the cold.

~

Fun fact Talin (the nation Rani's from) find dogs unlucky and howling dogs especially unlucky.

Was that sign foreshadowing or not? hmmm

i mean. it is entirely possible that bricriu's gonna give her lots of money and help her with problems!

You never know!