WIP Themes Bingo Tag Game

Thanks for another fun prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial !

Happy New Year!

This is another random snippet inspired by the prompt.

Cold Winters Night

The falling snow turned to slush around midday and had continued pelting down in an endless onslaught well into the evening. Annexed from the other houses and nestled between two towering warehouses, a pair of windows glowed brightly with an inviting warmth that seemed to cut through the howling wind. Inside, the fire burned brightly, keeping the week's soup and most of the bar toasty. It helped that Zora had finally invested in some proper insulation over the summer months, but what good did it do her if there were no customers filling the tables?

Usually, around this time, the bar would be packed with workers, just back from the mines, drinking and carrying on about whatever petty squabbles that had grabbed their attention this week. Today, it seemed that the slush was enough of a deterrent to send them all scurrying back to whatever holes they called home. Even the corner closest to the fire was completely empty. If the weather continued to get worse, and this became a trend, she might have to take Ruth up on her offer to go to the country for a bit. It would be nice to see the kids again, even if she’d end up suffering another lecture about starting her own family, and Prior had been asking to borrow the bar for storage anyway.

Just as she was convincing herself that the trip would be a good choice, Zora’s solitude was interrupted by the little bell above the main door ringing. A dripping figure draped in a brown sack stepped through her door, tracking in a mess of ice. The shivering child who barely stood three feet tall struggled to close the thick oak door before turning to the counter and tottering forward. From the boney limbs poking out from under her ragged clothes, the child looked to be a beggar, but Zora hadn’t heard word of any kids on the streets lately.

When the child finally made it to the bar, Zora watched in silence as the scruffy child pulled herself slowly onto one of the bar stools and shoved a bag across the counter towards her. As the torn burlap scraped forwards, the twine strap holding it closed came loose, spilling shining gold coins between them. The child looked from the coin up to Zora with a determined expression that didn’t belong on such a young face.

“I want you to be my father.”

Zora briefly wondered if her years of drinking had finally resulted in hallucinations but quickly decided that the child was just confused. Turning away from the child, Zora grabbed a clean bowl and filled it with soup. Her appearance had always been on the masculine side, sure, but usually flirtatious drunks were the only ones to mistake her for a man. Maybe Prior wasn’t completely off basis with how much she’d let herself go.

“Eat up kid.”

Setting the soup down, Zora watched the child’s eyes light up.

“Thanks Dad!”

After gulping down the soup like a starving animal, the child gave her a big smile and offered up the clean bowl. Zora chuckled and accepted it, filling the bowl once more, much to the child’s delight. She wasn’t sure what this father business was all about, but there was nothing else going on tonight, and it wouldn’t hurt to figure out what the kid was doing with so much gold.

Crumbling

@flashfictionfridayofficial

This story is a little portion of a side story for Bloodmage that I've recently started working on.

Warning: The picture at the end depicts blood and injury.

The door was already wide open when Aariv arrived. At one time he would have found that to be strange, but in this day and age who thought to close doors properly anymore? Whatever the case he didn’t have time to be picky right now, he needed to stow himself somewhere until the danger had passed. There was no way he was going to be found out after running for so long.

Stepping into the unfamiliar place, a frown creased his brow, there was no sign that this place had belonged to someone, no individuality. Crumbling walls stared back at him, almost in a reflection of whatever counted as his soul these days. The uncanny feeling sent shivers down his spine as he carefully pulled the door to. There was always the chance it was another trap so Aariv left himself an escape route open, and tried to keep his mind as sharp as his exhaustion would allow.

Room after room he was met with a growing sense of anxiety, no place should be this dilapidated and soulsess, not if there was someone living there. It wasn’t until he reached the last room along his path that Aariv felt his fear melt into oblivion. A fireplace sat in the center of the room, a half burnt log resting behind the grating.

Stepping forward, Aariv felt heat radiating from the empty hearth, a smile slowly spreading over his cold face. It seemed that his luck had for once pulled through and he’d chosen a favorable vessel. With the man’s soul absent he could easily inhabit without much worry. There was no possession quite so simple as when a creature had lost their spark.

“Dr. Field! You need to get back to work, Dr. Are you listening?”

Flexing his fingers, Aariv attempted to adjust to the situation. A nurse stood over him with poorly concealed irritation evident on her face. Smiling, Aariv stood and nodded his acknowledgment, which seemed to somewhat placate her. Once she scurried out of the unfamiliar room, Aariv took some time to assess his new body. He could handle being a Doctor, it was his specialty, after all. Still, a small frown tugged at the corner of his lips as Aariv looked into a nearby mirror, brushing back his disheveled hair while taking note of the obvious signs of exhaustion. No wonder the man’s body had been abandoned. He was falling apart inside and out.

one year of #FFF 🎉🎉🎉

so with this week's entry, i have participated in flash fiction friday for a whole year now, keeping up a streak of 52 :D and because i'm lowkey proud of that and also just love FFF a lot, i will yap a litte.

what is flash fiction friday?

FFF is a fun little event where the very cool people over at @flashfictionfridayofficial post a new prompt every friday at noon cet, then you have 24h to fill that prompt, and over the next week they will rb it to that official account and it gets put into a showcase post.

why is that so cool and why should you join?

for so many reasons!

first of all, the whole community (as in, the people usually participating, as well as "the bosses") is extremely nice and sweet and welcoming, and full of amazing writers. and it is alway such a varied mix of works! there's fanfics of various fandoms, ranging from more "popular" things to very niche, there's original works, both with people having their own ocverses/bigger works as well as just great little disconnected short stories, there's poetry, there's everything.

for me personally, the whole process is just very good and has so many perks: - one prompt a week, so there's a habit going on. even if i don't get my ass up for writing much all week, i can do a short friday bit, which means there's the accomplishmentTM as well as just keeping the writing muscle moving, so to speak - only a day time, so you can't overthink it too much, just hammer something out without fiddling with it forever (good for people with perfectionism-brainworms) - it feels kinda low stakes, but in a good way - that gives me the freedom to just try shit out. experimenting with style or pov, writing stuff i normally probably wouldn't (i did a random Saints Row fic because i was playing that at the time and the prompt fit so well - would have never written for that otherwise), or just producing random bits and backstory lore for my ocs (like, for example, fiona went from "has a name, died sometime in the past" to #fiona tag)

and of course, the rb comments on the official account are always SO NICE and SO ENCOURAGING and just... knowing that at least one person will read your stuff and comment positively on it - yea, that helps, lame as it sounds.

anyway, that's why y'all should join me and write :D

now what?

now on to the second year... :D no but seriously, i plan to keep the streak up. BUT ALSO over the next few day i will reblog some of this year's bits, with added author's commentary, just because i can. they're gonna be tagged #fff recap.

shoutout

as mentioned above, there's so many cool and talented people in that whole community, special mention of some of them - go read their things! (and i'm probably forgetting half)

@ineedaplacetostay @ruvastuon @aalinaaaaaa @zorilleerrant @ark-inkweaving @drowning-in-cacophony @hd-literature @starlightfireflies

the whole list

(incoming) special fff recap commentary is marked with "#!"

#252 spill the tea: what's a chicken? (fnv)

#253 pushing up daisies: pushing up daisies (fnv)

#254 horizon line: just one more step (fnv) #!

#255 in the heart: doing the right thing (fnv)

#256 muted colors: un-muting the colors (fnv)

#257 count the days: 4261 days (ocverse: daria) #!

#258 milky way dreams: mojave night sky (fnv)

#259 house of cards: wildcards (fnv)

#260 fear is a sickness: how to live your life without breathing (ocverse: july)

#261 maybe one more: nuka cola quantum (fnv)

#262 run far and fast: he runs and he runs and he runs (ocverse: gabriel)

#263 in the meadows: accidental baby acquisition (fnv) #!

#264 counting clocks: six damn clocks (ocverse: mika) #!

#265 galaxies away: this is my human costume (ocverse: el & quinn)

#266 great expectations: no one sleeps when i'm awake (ocverse: mika & aaron)

#267 gifted violets: viola sororia (ocverse: july & daria)

#268 fractured forms: picking up the pieces (ocverse: gabriel & kat)

#269 living weapon: can't win them all (fnv)

#270 lights and sirens: can you feel my bass (ocverse: valerie, annabelle & eli)

#271 tantrum entrance: pastry bribery (ocverse: mika & gabriel)

#272 change in tone: and let me sing forevermore (ocverse: aaron & mika)

#273 invisible guest: and there are days like this, too (ocverse: daria & fiona) #!

#274 empty house: the hills have eyebots (fnv: courier mags) #!

#275 full moon frenzy: low ebb tide and high full moon (ocverse: fiona)

#276 dark and stormy night: drift, drift away, into now (ocverse: fiona)

#277 silver sparks: jury rigging (fnv)

#278 singing in the candlelight: ever-drifting smoke (ocverse: fiona)

#279 warm hands: that familiar smell (ocverse: mika & gabriel)

#280 seek for insight: well, just you wait (ocverse: el & quinn)

#281 ripple effect: ripples (ocverse: july & daria)

#282 out of love: the el-question (ocverse: el & quinn)

#283 calling, calling home: mommy issues (ocverse: fia) #!

#284 noticing small things: all those little details (ocverse: mika & gabriel) #!

#285 how it begins: loud lights (ocverse: helena)

#286 anything could happen: any way the wind blows (ocverse: july, mika & aaron)

#287 i can’t stand it: good taste and where to buy it (ocverse: mika & quinn)

#288 loud lie, quiet truth: hard-hitting confessions (ocverse: mika & aaron)

#289 blinding gaze: first impressions (ocverse: fia & helena)

#290 midnight distractions: midnight creature feature (ocverse: mika & gabriel)

#291 stuff of legends: celestial love triangle (ocverse: fia & helena)

#292 paper promises: dear daria (ocverse: daria & fiona)

#293 unbridled rage: burn it down, baby, burn it down (saints row) #!

#294 cursed trio: what's in the cards (ocverse: daria & fiona)

#295 help not wanted: lonesome road (fnv)

#296 before the party's over: men of few words (fnv)

#297 like a weed: the legend of the courier (fnv)

#298 hidden chemistry: mmm... mentats. (fnv) #!

#299 stranger than fiction: something's missing (misc) #!

#300 let me go: shadow-maker (ocverse: daria & fiona)

#301 what happened here: the trouble with eyebots (fnv: courier mags)

#302 talk to me: foreboding silence (ocverse: mika & gabriel)

#303 out of the box: chess pieces (ocverse: fia & helena)

stats

ocverse: 33 fallout: 17 other: 2

Heyyy, I forgot to ask bc I got busy but what’s Absolute Zero and The King and His Fairy about? (Wip game) !

No problem! Thanks for the ask :)

Absolute Zero

The story takes place in a world governed by spirits. Once every 500 years two groups of spirits wage war to see who has control over the world for the next cycle, and who will be locked away in the spirit realm. To maintain pride and prevent unnecessary blood shed of spirits they use human vessels who combat in their place. After loosing for more than 3 consecutive cycles, the dark spirits devise a plan and use human servants to work towards creating perfect vessels for them. The cult that forms from that plan steals people and turns them into potential vessels. The main plot follows a failed vessel with a water attribute who finds himself under the thumb of a crazed spirit who was forced to replace one of the original light spirits. To prevent being sealed, the crazed spirit tasks him with finding the other vessels and protecting them so that the spirit is not sealed away.

I've started this story over 6 times now, but I'm never happy with how it flows, so unfortunately I don't have a snippet for it yet :(

The King and his Fairy

Summary: After an event called the awakening gives Warframes more sentience and autonomy they struggle to adapt to the new way of life and their interpersonal dynamics. Titania comes back from a mission and comes to Oberon for a bit of healing. Just a short little one shot story between Titania and Oberon from Warframe that takes place in a slightly altered world. (It's mostly finished I just need to edit it and get it posted but it's a bit sappy and i've been putting it off)

Thanks again for the ask, I love being able to talk about my stories. :)

Callisto- a current representative of one of the United cryptids self-government.

Unwanted Summons

***Chrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiissssssssss***

Margaret struggled to open her eyes, let alone lift her head from the countertop. She'd somehow managed to make it out of the shower and to the kitchen without killing herself, a miracle in and of itself.

Still, deep down, she had hoped to at least be semi-finctional before interacting with anyone from work today, but with the coffee machine still sputtering away, it seemed that she had used all of her luck safely reaching her current resting place.

They could just hang up? Sometimes, they did when trying to call her before she came in.

***Chrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiissssssssss***

...

***Chrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiisssssssssss****

*Tsk*

Looking towards her clock, Margeret frowned. It was only ten forty-eight. Why was he calling her so early?

"Hello."

Without the jumpstart from her usual dose of caffeine, her tolerance was about as presant as her father, but John knew the risk of calling her when she wasn't on the clock.

"Is this Mrs. Margret Moore?"

Straitening into an upright position in an instant, her mind began to run wild after registering that she didn't recognize the monitone voice.

"What do you want?"

Pacing over to the dripping machine, Margaret poured as much as was ready into her mug and shoved the pot vaguely back in place to fill more.

While the voice may have been enough to temporarily scare her awake, that rush would only take her so far. She'd learned her lesson the last time she had fallen asleep on the phone, and it was still too fresh in her mind for her to repeat.

"You are to report to Station Seventeen within the next hour to identify one John Moore. If you do not comply, an officer will be deployed to escort you to the station in accordance with the compliance act."

Margaret opened her mouth to respond when the call was unceremoniously cut off.

"Blast it."

Station Seventeen was fifty minutes away from her apartment, but with traffic picking up soon, it was a toss-up if she could make it before they sent someone to get her.

Pocketing her phone, Margaret made a dash for her car, still holding the mug firmly in her other hand.

For the wip file ask game

I'm intrigued by three (well actually more but I narrowed it down some lol)

What can you share about them?

Coral Crown Adjacent

The King and His Fairy

Shadows of the Past

Thanks for the Ask :)

Coral Crown Adjacent is the spin off for a story that I only had in the planning phase. Somehow it ended up getting more attention than the main plot...

Summary: A low level guard (Former assassin trainee) is unexpectedly given a promotion to a higher position and sent to be the bodyguard of the kings advisor/regent to spy on him. The king is on a very powerful drug called ambrosia that allow him to communicate with spirits and one in particular has possessed him and is trying to manipulate the kingdom but the advisor is getting in the way. The guard is trying to do his job while doing his best to survive.

I haven't really worked on it all that much, but going back into the document this little snippet was fun :)

Callen had always kept his hair clean and tidy with the time and finances he had but the glossy texture of his hair after being cleaned with the expensive oils scared him. The general smell of the city which he thought had been permanently ingrained in his skin was appallingly absent, replaced now with a slightly floral smell that he couldn't put his finger on.

The King and his Fairy

Summary: After an event called the awakening gives Warframes more sentience and autonomy they struggle to adapt to the new way of life and their interpersonal dynamics. Titania comes back from a mission and comes to Oberon for a bit of healing. Just a short little one shot story between Titania and Oberon from Warframe that takes place in a slightly altered world.

Snippet:

A familiar buzzing sound echoed through his room as Oberon reluctantly looked up from the book he had finally managed to start reading. His ears flicked in minor irritation at the interruption, he had just been getting to the interesting part too.  "Love, what can I do for you?" The buzzing stopped for a moment before a small fairy crashed into his face showering him with kisses. So she was in one of those moods then. Discarding his book, Oberon uncrossed his legs and braced himself for impact as his fairy changed to her full size.  "I didn't think you'd find me this time my deer." He snorted in irritation at the name as she began giggling in triumph. He felt his ears flattening back at the comment and he hummed disapproving of the attack. 

Finally to my little monster: Shadows of the Past. This is a Valorant AU long fic with Bloodborne inspiration for the tone and setting. The Bloodborne tone really started to shine through in the later chapters, but even early on it was prominent.

Summary: Cypher has failed to protect what he treasures the most, but his hope that the hunters will honor their cruel contract keeps him going. So he struggles alone, a shell of his former self, until an unexpected twist in fate sparks the dying embers of hope in his heart.

I made the mistake of not fully editing this piece before I started posting it, so what was planned to be an eleven chapter fan fic written to commemorate my first year of writing fan fiction is now 13 chapters long and about 2/3rds of the way finished. Here's a little excerpt from chapter 3

“We’ve arrived.” The exclamation was said with a level of grandiose that was unbefitting of both the place and time. She seemed to have sensed his hesitation and tried to offer him some comfort.  “Hey, don’t worry, like I said, it's just a simple interrogation just tell us what you know and then we can part ways like this never happened.” The words were sweet, but they didn’t mask the faint smell of blood seeping out from the cracks of the door. The interrogation room then, it seemed this was where the mask came off, though hopefully not in the literal sense this time. 

Extra, while looking for a snippet to share I found this note that I wrote for myself back in November and burst out laughing.

Flipping need to make sure that I go back and do some pre writing every week because the later half of this story isn't even half written. It's really just sad.

Just wanted to pop in and say I like your art, and your oc Margaret! No pressure but I'd love to see more of her. 😊

Thank you so much! Sorry for the late response, I'm not great with this app, so I just found this message 😭. I'm really glad you like my art since I'm a bit over critical with my own work. I struggle with my motivation and anxiety about posting things, so I really appreciate your encouragement! I look forward to seeing your work as well!

Thanks for the tag, @seastarblue

Three facts about me

1. I have broken my wrist before

2. I love fantasy stories (but I'm good with most genres if the story interests me)

3. My favorite color is blue

Tagging in (no pressure)

@renasdoodles

@kuebiko-writing

@davycoquette

+open tag

Ah shit, I was gone for another ten days or so... Woops...

I finished editing during that time and am now currently taking a vacation from writing.

I should be doing some tag games now... Hehe...

God, why am I so bad at being active???

Prompt from @flashfictionfridayofficial

Well, I haven’t touched this story in years, but it was fun to get back to.

Summary: In the universe of a certain author who likes switching stories, there was born a character who was sickly. His entire purpose was to be one of the faceless beings that was saved by a hero’s benevolence. Not even his own family noticed him outside of the story, and he lived most of his early miserable life trying to figure out what was going on. One day he finds a crack in the universe left by conflicting story ideas, peering inside he learns that he is part of a fictional world and decides to take advantage of the illogical nature of things to propel his life forward.

Abandoned

Nihil stretched out a clawed hand and did his best interpretation of a yawn.

It was early morning and he had work to get to before the horrid sun rose and decided once more that he was to have an unlucky day. Damn author favoring the day time so much, if it weren’t for the implications of working at night, and the stories that went along with it, he would have been turned into a night owl.

No, the pre-dawn mornings were special in that none of the little pest’s were out and about causing mischief yet. They were all sleeping or training their fingers to the bone. Sure it might be impressive the diligence that they had, but even covered in sweat and bleeding they would become stronger than any being had the right to with three times their training, no matter how sloppy their technique.

Stepping down to the kitchen, Nihil began preparing something simple to eat when he heard the sound of a sword swinging powerfully outside the window. Raising his attention he mimicked a frown, the knight was no longer bond by the author’s methods yet still she trained like this, there were better ways, ways that both of them were quite familiar with at this point. Still it showed a dedication that he supposed was admirable. Changing his plans, Nihil began mixing up some hot cake batter and quickly flipped the dial igniting the stove top.

He continued to absently watch her training as he cooked until her expression suddenly shifted turning to him. He’d finally been caught. It sent a trill of excitement through him as he reveled in the feeling of being recognized in something so simple as the plain clothes he was wearing.

“Morning Nihil, did you sleep well?”

A smile bloomed on her face as the knight stepped through the open door to the kitchen. To even remember his name… He mimicked a smile back at her and raised a pile of hot cakes towards her direction.

“Seems there was another break in at Facility B, but other than that I slept fairly well. Tell me you at least let yourself get some sleep?”

She had the bad habit of using all the tricks for the wrong reasons, and while Nihil was familiar with the desire to improve his understanding of this messed up world no matter the cost to his health, there was just no true replacement for sleep long term.

The knight shrugged and accepted the hotcakes adding on some berries and syrup for good measure. She skipped the butter again, but he didn’t blame her, after the recent shortages he barely used any on his own breakfast.

Deactivating the stove, he prepared his own hot cakes and quickly followed her lead to the table where they both ate in happy silence.

Looking at his companion from time to time with a mimicked grin, Nihil didn’t feel as bad about the years of research that had been burnt to ash during the night. With all the knowledge and power he’d gained over the years, Nihil couldn’t have wished for such a simple thing as eating breakfast with someone he was comfortable around until he’d met the Knight. It brought him some comfort that at least not everything that that blasted author mucked up was completely rotten.