#mini drabble regatta

[sisterdivinium]

Sometimes she wondered whether Beatrice knew.

Ava hadn't had the nerve to say anything when first she noticed Beatrice would wake earlier than her but let her rest, lying beside her with open eyes, sometimes since dawn. She hadn't been able to relinquish the simple pleasure of knowing Beatrice was there, merely breathing, as motionless as herself — floating in time, peaceful as their intensive training never allowed for.

The alarm sounded.

Ava shot up, mumbling, playing her part — letting Beatrice play hers.

She wondered if Beatrice knew; she wondered if she might ever tell her… And end the act altogether.

[sisterdivinium]

"… I've offended you."

"No! No, not at all, I just —" Jillian frowned. "Can you do that? Isn't it forbidden?"

Mother Superion raised an eyebrow.

"Kissing other women?"

"Yes! Or is that by any chance devoid of erotic connotations amongst nuns?"

"No, it isn't… Are you planning on telling on me to the Pope?"

"What? No! Why would I do that? I'm just confused. You took vows, didn't you?"

"I did, but it almost seems as if you had."

"… Did I irrevocably fuck this up?"

"Do you want…?"

"Yes. Yes, please, just shut me up."

And Suzanne obliged, kissing her again.

[sisterdivinium]

Mary knows Lilith: not the kind to confess anything unless it is to a priest.

But she sees Lilith betray herself in little glances, shows of aggression, as if that could impress her; Mary hears the words meant to provoke her, knowing what they actually mean (even if they anger her still). Lilith's love is unfair, Lilith's love is tyrannical; sometimes Mary wishes she could just be done with it.

Yet Lilith's love is precious and Mary understands how much when she sees it slip away, sliced in half by avarice, and all Mary can do is hold Lilith close.

[sisterdivinium]

It's Camila she runs to in the moments between.

She's no less devoted than the others, but the hop in her step and the irresistible charm of her smile never fail to remind Ava of her own lust for life. It's something in her posture, something in her eyes, in the way she says their motto that brings out her hope for this life more than whatever steadfast faith she has in the next.

With the others, she's the halo bearer; with Camila, she gets to be Ava — and maybe, she hopes, maybe Camila can lift her own veil, too.

[sisterdivinium]

A cold hand shoved her aside.

"What are you doing?"

Camila frowned, staring ashamedly at the floor.

"It's just for luck… My mother always gave me a little kiss—"

"Is she all you ever talk about?" Lilith snapped, herself looking away.

The younger nun shrank. There was nowhere for her to hide in that highly sanitised room of ArqTech's, so unlike the shadowy recesses of church and convent where she had dared let her fondness shyly, secretly flourish.

She took a step backwards.

But a cold hand caught her, now tantalisingly tame.

"… Stay. I could use the luck."

She smiled.

[sisterdivinium]

It's the scream, the heat, the sensation of her body squirming beneath her own while the knife goes in — Lilith can't quite get it out of her head.

It's her ragged breath, it's the way she moves against her, how they clash, how they touch, how the halo that should have been hers glows up brighter than ever she's seen it when Ava reaches her, slams into her, shreds her.

And Lilith hates her and Lilith loves her and she all but begs Ava to come with — but she resists and fights and Lilith only craves her more for it.

[sisterdivinium]

Shannon looked at her, trying to contain herself, but she laughed and shook her head, mirth and melancholy both making her blush, making her voice crack.

"I took vows, Mary."

Mary shrugged, smirking at her.

"I know. Why do you think I didn't?"

Shannon laughed again, looking around in search of any stern shadows that might drag them back to sparring.

"You're impossible."

"… Just me, then? And not us?"

Shannon turned serious.

"… I don't think we can go far."

"We don't need to," Mary pondered. "I'm already right beside you. I don't need to go anywhere."

Shannon kissed her cheek.

[sisterdivinium]

Soul sizzling with love, she goes down on her knees as always she does in prayer.

Suzanne's eyes are closed but she knows divinity sees her, blessing her despite her sins. She reaches in, her tongue drenched in adoration, lips hungry for a taste of heaven, hands trembling with fervour.

Sacred and secret, she intuits ascension as only a devotee can.

A hand pulls desperate at her hair, two; her plea does not go unanswered. She looks up at ecstasy when it breaks, half-afraid she'll be struck down by a jealous God…

But Jillian's bliss covers and soothes her instead.

[sisterdivinium]

And so ends the mini drabble regatta!

My thanks to everyone who read, liked or even left a little comment in the tags for these short attempts at different WN pairings <3

I want to hope that these humble offerings might inspire others to give other ships a chance, too, or to try their hand at drabbles in general. If I didn't please you with my interpretation of a given relationship, I am sorry; perhaps someone else will give it a go or maybe I'll do another one of these parties in the future and do better -- maybe you'll even consider joining me then.

For now, this blog returns to its regular schedule of doctor superion drabbles posted on Friday, at least until the end of the year. For early 2024, I want to have the next oneshot ready for publishing and I'll be focused on that until it happens. In the meantime, I'll be loitering around Tumblr as usual and sometimes on Dreamwidth as well :)

[sisterdivinium]

Reblogging as a reminder that this will go live tomorrow -- and that I'd be more than happy to see others take a shot at some drabbles for these pairings with me, if anyone is so inclined. It only costs 100 words to try! :)

I'll be posting a little drabble party starting on Dec 8th and ending on Dec 15th to try and explore some other relationships and dynamics between the characters of the show we love.

Here's the schedule if you want to keep up (or even post something of 100 words for the same pairing along with me!):

Dec 8th: Jillian/Suzanne

Dec 9th: Mary/Shannon

Dec 10th: Camila/Lilith

Dec 11th: Ava/Beatrice

Dec 12th: Ava/Lilith

Dec 13th: Ava/Camila

Dec 14th: Mary/Lilith

Dec 15th: Jillian/Suzanne

They will all be tagged "mini drabble regatta" since they deal with, well, ships :)

(yes, both Fridays are reserved for my traditional "doctor superion drabble Fridays", for those who are familiar with my blog -- I allow myself the liberty of giving my OTP emphasis :))

[sisterdivinium]

I'll be posting a little drabble party starting on Dec 8th and ending on Dec 15th to try and explore some other relationships and dynamics between the characters of the show we love.

Here's the schedule if you want to keep up (or even post something of 100 words for the same pairing along with me!):

Dec 8th: Jillian/Suzanne

Dec 9th: Mary/Shannon

Dec 10th: Camila/Lilith

Dec 11th: Ava/Beatrice

Dec 12th: Ava/Lilith

Dec 13th: Ava/Camila

Dec 14th: Mary/Lilith

Dec 15th: Jillian/Suzanne

They will all be tagged "mini drabble regatta" since they deal with, well, ships :)

(yes, both Fridays are reserved for my traditional "doctor superion drabble Fridays", for those who are familiar with my blog -- I allow myself the liberty of giving my OTP emphasis :))

[sisterdivinium]

Status: almost done, with just a few fics from the Commentfic Fest and the entirety of the doctor superion drabbles to go now.

I've been busy focusing only on organising this second archive and on writing the current fic (page 80!) so excuse my absence. At least now the long oneshots that were nowhere else have a second home in case anything should ever happen to AO3 or it just goes down for a couple of hours.

As an aside, the ship tag numbers are certainly... Something, lol.

Also because of this I've been debating myself over doing a second edition of the mini drabble regatta this year or not. I guess we'll see. The current manuscript will have to be done by then and after that I'll prioritise the VtM doctor superion AU revision and posting, but who knows...

AO3 was down for a second so I decided to create a secondary place to archive my WN fics (just in case) on Dreamwidth.

I'm still copying the stories and building the comm, fixing tags and whatnot, but they will all be available over there, in full -- including the longer ones and the handful of (non-doctor superion, true) drabbles I never archived on AO3. Just a PSA, I guess. Carry on!