#wip: nnsei

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i remember seeing a post the other day/week that was something abt a joke abt accidentally having recurring themes throughout different works you've made, something "whoops, this is about grief again" and at the time i was like haha yeah been there, but didn't really stop to think much about what themes reoccur in my works. now tho im sitting down to work on jaiw au a bit and i realized it's about grief again.

nnsei is also about grief. bentley is also about grief. waldosia is also about grief. isr: afters is also about grief. timekeeper kiddos is sort of about grief.

they're all about grief in different forms for different reasons, but goddamn if i don't have a lot of stories about people holding onto grief like their life depends on it. because doesn't moving on feel like forgetting?

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in more of an attempt to explain brin:

she grew up w/ aeliane. they weren’t very close, but they are the same age, neighbours, + from a close-knit, fairly religious community.

the snippet i wrote about her (the sacrifice of brinelle somer) (based on bdg's "lay all your love on me" vampird cover) takes place when she & aeliane are about 17.

brin was turned by a vampire against her will and is being offered up to zola as a blood sacrifice to purge pestilence (vampirism) from the community. she ends up giving in to killing all of the clergy members present except aeliane's father, who is leading the ceremony, and then running away. she somehow finds herself in aeliane's backyard, and that's all i got so far but im having fun w/ it.

it um. doesn't present the most flattering view of religion? but uh. it still needs polish. it's not indicative of my views of religion or anything. (seriously)

the religious undertone (and then overtone) popped off w/ this one bc "lay all your love on me" really has a hymn vibe + i got strong the-echo-of-choir’s-voices-floating-up-through-cathedral-stain-glass-windows imagery.

also idk what it is about nnsei but i've been popping off w/ noveais colour theory <3

idk how to explain brin, but i drew this after barely drawing for months :)

brin's like, yet another background character i've decided to thrust into the spotlight? her existence is due to a writing exercise where i wrote snippets based on bdg's abba covers, and her purpose now is to serve as a vessel to explore zolaen religion in noveia. and noveais colour theory!

(red symbolizes repentence, asking forgiveness, and rebirth. white symbolizes pestilence and death.)

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félix & victoire snippet bc i've been thinking about them

Close Quarters

   Félix was trembling with every cold breath as Victoire valiantly tried to unlock the rusted elevator grate that had swung shut behind them. The only way to go was down, if the elevator worked, and there was no operator to get them there, no one to let them out. It was them, a locked grate with metal twisted into elegant shapes, haunting in their decrepit state, and a very long drop. Félix was going to be sick. The small size of the enclosed cobwebbed space did the nausea roiling in his stomach no favours either. 

   "Um, Victoire?" Félix asked carefully after another quiet string of cussing interrupted Victoire's banging on the grate. "Vic?" He said again, louder. 

   Victoire's attention snapped back to Félix as he turned fully away from the gate. "Yeah?" 

   There was really very little space in the elevator, Félix noted again as Victoire faced him, body less than a foot from his. He also noted how difficult it became to focus on terror of the drop and how they were definitely going to die when Victoire's eyes in dim light of their lanterns made his stomach flip in entirely new ways. The flicker of the lantern flame left just enough of a shine in his eyes while his pupils were still blown wide to see in the lack of light, and— 

   "Félix, are you okay? What is it?" Victoire was now stepping closer, those same eyes filled with concern as Félix stood there getting lost in thoughts he definitely shouldn't be having over someone who rejected him last week, and wow, Félix had gotten himself stuck in an elevator with the worst possible person, hadn't he? He was supposed to be squishing those feelings. How could he do that when Victoire was close enough to study the soft lines of eyes? Or the light caught along his nose and cheekbones in a way that made Félix's whole chest bloom with fuzzy warmth and longing? 

   "Félix?" Victoire asked again, softly, voice small. With a sinking feeling, Félix realized he sounded scared. 

   "I– Um, uh–" Félix said, completely failing to craft a complete sentence when his brain was full of Victoire, Victoire, Victoire. "I'm fine," he managed, voice betraying him with a squeak. (Curséd teenage voice! There was nothing fine and cool and chill about the way it gave him away. Félix was going to melt into the floor and never come back.) 

   Victoire stared at him with those brown eyes, luminous in the lantern's glow, like he didn't believe him one bit. Félix cleared his throat and tried again. 

   "Maybe you shouldn't keep hitting the door?" he asked. "What if the elevator dislodges and we fall?" 

   Victoire's face went stiff, and Félix's stomach tied itself into knots. Slowly, Victoire's hands found their way into his own hair and pulled. 

   "I didn't even think about that." His quiet voice was strangled. Seeing the realization sink in, Félix felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. 

[shrunkupthejams]

victoire & félix

victoire being the one who thinks he's hard to love, and félix loving him like breathing

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hey! it's been a hot minute and my writeblr intro could use some refreshing, so here we are!!

my name is achilles! im 18, and im a hobby writer. im in university right now, but i still try to make time to write when inspiration strikes! just here to share my stories, have fun and goof around! my target audience is always, first and foremost, myself.

my favourite things to write are high fantasy and world building!! mostly, my stories all take place in the same universe, an archipelago on a planet named dirt. in my works, i like exploring trauma, sappy fluff, and unconventional relationships.

when it comes to storytelling formats, i'm most often just holding handfulls of writing snippets and hoping for the best while i piece them together. i tend towards short stories, or short story collections, though most of my works will probably become novels or novel series. (im just a bit allergic to structure.) (though, i think i might just hate chapters.)

i also dabble, just a little and very self-indulgently, in fanfiction! inspiration for fanfiction tends to strike me very randomly (in frequency and in content), though i do have a few small finished fanfics! fanfiction is actually what got me into writing, way back in middle achool. it's all very much an exercise in cringe and heartfelt silliness for me.

with my wips, i tend to bounce rapidly all over the place and not get much done for it, but here's what i've been working on! some old (since middle school!!), some new!! (for my sanity and the sake of the length of this post, none of my fanfic wips will be included in this list.) (however, i refuse to exclude any of my original wips, so buckle up!! there are a LOT.)

working title: camilla marie & co.

the gist: what starts as a sort of chosen-one magic school shenanigans becomes a wild goose chase around the archipelago of dirt when camilla is taken by the knights of the capita. a high-fantasy coming of age story about chosen family, fate, and figuring out who you are in the face of adversity and others' expectations.

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working title: double a batteries

the gist: an accident that leads to kesh discovering they have superpowers turns their life upside down. a sci-fi/fantasy story that explores morality and familial obligations.

related aus: the adventures of jet astriak, jaiw au

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working title: isr: afters

the gist: two childhood friends, moriah and charo, reunite years later after becoming affiliated with the same magical gang. explores parental issues, with a healthy helping of childhood friends to lovers, organized crime, and vague religious trauma.

related aus: moriah & the greasters, cutiepete future au

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working title: shielda x dlade

the gist: follows the relationship between shielda, a reluctant chosen one, and her friend sabine as her newfound status moves her up through the ranks of iroma's military. explores intimacy and the line between right and wrong.

related aus: théqet & ardain, apartment neighbours modern au

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working title: seeing ghosts

the gist: when rea moves to calderine city to finish her practicum, she isn't really looking to make any friends or connections, not even with her very sweet new roommate, madden. but when she begins to be physically haunted by ghosts of her past, she is forced to learn to trust and rely on the people in her life, madden included. a fun little exploration in being haunted by your past (physically), self-sufficiency borne of trauma, and intrusive thoughts, maybe.

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working title: nnsei

the gist: existing on the fringes of the teenage academy population in their own ways, victoire, félix and aeliane all have their own problems in addition to clawing their way through their last year of school. victoire won't stop exploring the catacoumbs below the academy, even at the risk of his own health and safety; aeliane is still grappling with the trauma of her mother drinking herself to death; and félix, well, félix won't ever tell his friends what's going on behind that ever-present smile, but rumour has it his sister was offered up as a blood sacrifice in a solar cleansing ritual a few years ago. and in addition to all that, there might just be something sinister going on behind the closed doors of the academy, especially if the monsters stirring in the catacoumbs are anything to go by.

related aus: the sacrifice of brinelle somer

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working title: of sea jewels and great lords

the gist: after being tasked to find a group of missing villagers, geo finds themself responsible for imprisoning chad, a lackluster, troublemaking magician beneath a mountain. the trouble is a) finding such an uninhabited mountain, and b) travelling with said troublemaking magician. the trouble is also a third secret thing: the choice between duty and love once geo finds themself falling for chad against all odds.

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working title: as cherry wine

the gist: rosy is killed the night before she is due to return from her bride's pilgrimage to marry leisel. she awakes as a vampire and is forced to reconcile with her new identity and eventually, to reconcile her relationship with her former fiancée, who still believes her dead.

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working title: waldosia

the gist: after seven years at sea, wallie fischer, the last person shia wants to see ever again, returns to their hometown and all the things he left behind with a warning for shia of an imminent threat to their smuggling outfit and loved ones. shia is forced to work with wallie against the threat, but they can't seem to let the past rest, especially given they had been wallie's fiancé before his abrupt departure seven years before.

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working title: bentley

the gist: how bentley met her wife, and how her loss led bentley's descent into madness and misfortune. (could probably be considered an au off of waldosia)

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working title: giselle & darius

the gist: not long after her marriage to darius, the vampire king, giselle decides she must get her hands on the crown, through any means necessary. *any* means. (could be considered au of [REDACTED] <- literally the only thing i will ever fuss abt spoilers for lol)

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working title: timekeeper kiddos

the gist: the life and times of oaken and her friends, beginning with their discovery of a door between worlds that takes of the appearance of pvp battle arena, where they take on the roles of otherworldly deities called 'timekeepers'. when the lines between reality and the arena begin to blur and people begin to get hurt, they're forced to figure out how to send the timekeepers back to their own reality. beyond that, the web that connects these six friends, and chaz, flows them through adulthood, as they go their separate ways.

related aus: jungho at psu au

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working title: jmg

the gist: when enki and akira fight to help sora and his siblings escape their abusive and negligent father, they're surprised to learn sora has been dead the entire time.

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working title: cymothoa exigua/modern au

the gist: a tragedy about socio-economic and individual power, gender roles, and self-censorship; leaving behind the rigid expectations of a conditional parental love, only to leave yourself behind in the pursuit of romantic love. despite getting out of the negligent household of his childhood with several of his siblings in tow, zenith fails to escape the patterns of his parents, repeating his mother's sacrifice of individuality for love.

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[shrunkupthejams]

*gives character a stuttering problem* haha yes YES

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Heads Up Seven Up

thanks for the tag, @aohendo !!

(this is the thing where you post seven lines, yeah? yeah we're rolling w/ that)

anyway have some nnsei bc yk, they're on the brain.

   "Vic-" Aeliane started, and it came out strangled. "Ugh! Why can't you just follow the rules?" She threw up her hands before clenching them back into tight, controlled fists at her sides. "You- you- I don't want you to get hurt!" 

   And she looked furious about it. Her knuckles were white, fists held tight like she was afraid of what she might do if she let go. Victoire was too stunned to break the shaky hold Aeliane had on this conversation.

tagging: @multi-lefaiye @albatris @aschlindartroom @shineywrites

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um right, going to sleep, im totally doing that.. anyway, nnsei brainrot grabbed me by the throat, so here's a snippet w/ colour symbolism that i forgot i had

The tall chalk walls of the Academy were sickly as Aeliane looked upon them with fresh eyes. Over the years of operation, the school's walls had faded to a fitting white: the colour of death. The rain-damp soil below contrasted deeply with its rich, dark hues—those hid their own share of secrets, as lethal as the walls above. 

     She was glad she was out. (She was glad it was over.) 

     Looking back at the towering Academy as it shrunk into the mountain behind it with distance, it felt like it all should have been so obvious; corruption written on its colourless walls. 

wip stuff taglist: @multi-lefaiye :)

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[ID: A digitally coloured sketch of Aeliane's family, titled "La Famille Daviau-St. Pierre".

Aeliane has long orange hair pulled into half pig tails with red ribbons and thick bangs. Her skin is light and her eyes are a warm light brown. She's facing forward and looking off to the right.

Aeliane's mother, Raoule is slightly below Aeliane on the right. Raoule has thin layered blonde hair streaked with silver that stops past her shoulders. She has paler skin than Aeliane. Her bright green eyes are looking left and forward, and she seems unimpressed.

Aeliane's younger brother, Louis is directly below her. Louis has freckled brown skin and brown eyes that look to the left. His hair is medium-brown cloud of tight curls around his head. Unlike the rest of his family, he wears a small smile. His face is softer and younger too.

Aeliane's father, Maxence is slightly below Aeliane on the left, opposite of Raoule and facing to the left. Maxence has dark brown hair speckled with gray and pulled back into two large afro-buns. A small braid with gold beads frames the edge of his face and is pulled back into the buns. Maxence has the same light brown eyes as Aeliane, and his skin is darker and less freckled than Louis's. A golden symbol of Zola hangs from his ear in an earring. End ID.]

i filled two pages of my sketchbook yesterday for the first time in forever!! and since aeliane is on the brain, i wanted to draw her family.

also i assigned the suits (♤♡◇♧) on a whim without much thought, like no thought, but they actually work???

naming the family members was especially fun *rubs hands together gleefully and giggles*. i love sifting through names on behind the name ♡ i already had most of louis's name, but naming the parents + knowing how to properly pronounce the french names i gave them all brought me joy

i don't totally have solid thoughts about their family dynamic yet, but raoule isn't a good mother when the story is taking place + that's all i know for sure. and that louis is, like, the heart. he's more forgiving than aeliane. more optimistic?

btw these turned out like surprisingly good for me not having drawn much at all in months??? like so many months. and in pen too! the 12 pack of gel pens i bought from the dollar store is exquisite 👌

almost forgot, here are their full names:

♤ Aeliane Arielle Daviau St. Pierre (she/her)

♡ Louis Renaud Daviau St. Pierre (he/him)

◇ Maxence Isidore Daviau St. Pierre (he/him)

♧ Raoule Méline Daviau St. Pierre (she/her)

[shrunkupthejams]

listening to my nnsei playlist and going "who? is this for???" every time a song plays

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hi! this snippet is yet unfinished, but i've been aching to share some writing. so here's a snippet that's nnsei-adjacent, inspired by brian david gilbert's vampire cover of "lay all your love on me"

Lay All Your Blood On Me

The choir’s angelic madrigals floated above them, lifting to the heavens as Brin kneeled before the prior. For his part, Prior Maxence had the grace to look uncomfortable about the proceedings. His face was contorted with the swallowed emotions of one failing to reconcile his beliefs with the orders of his goddess. If there was one thought that Brin hoped afflicted the prior, it was: What if my daughter were the one before me? 

Brin knew the prior’s daughter; she had grown up with Aeliane. They hadn't been close, but it was hard to negate a tie to someone you had been neighbours with your entire life. They had been playmates for as long as Brin could remember. Being so much more outgoing than Aeliane, it would've been hard for Brin not to adopt her into her circle of friends. Aeliane might not have been the friend type, but Brin had known her at least as well as she knew her cousins. Now that Aeliane was in boarding school… Well. 

As she looked up at the tall stained-glass windows above the altar, the red light of the setting sun streaming through them and painting the cathedral like blood, Brin supposed that death wouldn’t be so useless if it forced Prior Maxence to question the faith which he held onto so dearly. 

And what a morose thought that was, to consider bowing her head to the necessitated evil of her own death. If the death was the price for something which had not been her fault, Brin thought that perhaps the creature that had marred her humanity had been justified in its bottomless rage and hunger. Her tongue passed over the unfamiliar points of her new fangs, the hungry, inhuman part of her nagging her mind with a baser instinct which coiled like a half-starved snake beneath her ribs, waiting to strike. She wondered how freeing it would be to get a taste of their blood before she was forced into the next world. (If there was an afterlife for the likes of her. If her Awakening hadn’t robbed her of that, too.) 

Would her violent hunger vindicate their goddess’s orders? To rip them from this world rather than leave them to kiss the feet of a cruel deity would be an act of kindness. Though Brin supposed feeding on the clergy would only cement her inhumanity in their eyes with a vehemence. Perhaps killing them all would be too generous. 

Maxence would live, Brin decided. It was unnegotiable. The skies above and the ground below knew his children needed all the support they could get after the bloody tragedy four summers before. It would be fitting that blood followed this family. Besides, Brin couldn’t do that to Aeliane, even if they had never really been good friends. 

---

Brin was running and trying not to look back, but she did and begged the question: Does it make you a bad person to bad things to bad people to save yourself from being hurt? That new, inhuman hunger whispered, yes, with an intensity that frightened Brin. 

Before she knew it, she was in someone's backyard, tripping into a patch of cabbage. She cursed and hissed as she struggled to get up, her dress entangled in the chickenwire fence around the garden. 

Light flooded the yard from the house behind her, silhouetting her against the dark garden. Brin felt a heart squeeze with fear, and she was almost giddy with it until she turned and saw that it was Aeliane in the bright doorway. If she could, she would've gone pale to see her there. 

"Brin? What the fuck?" Brin didn't think the accusatory tone she heard was imagined. 

Shit. 

Brin could feel Aeliane's heart squeeze again as she scrutinized Brin from the doorway. "Is that— a sacrïé-chaussette?" The small fear in Aeliane's voice betrayed her angry front. 

[shrunkupthejams]

i wrote ~1600 words tonight 😊

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Aeliane: *experiences one negative emotion*

Aeliane: *clenches hands hard enough to break whatever she's holding*

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listening like "okay why the FUCK?? is this one on here??? did I do this??" *pays attention to lyrics* "oh yeah nvm i remember why yeah this checks out"

listening to my nnsei playlist and going "who? is this for???" every time a song plays