Writing thread!

I used to write quite a bit when I was younger, though there is no finished story anywhere on my harddrive. These days I write mostly in my head, and don't put it down on paper, because I prefer it that way.

Most of the things I have written have been inspired by dreams I've had. At least three of my stories started out as dreams :P Random scenes to which I added characterization and then plots. I find characters much easier than plot.

Also, looking back (which I did for this thread) into one of my stories made me realise I wrote on of my main characters as autistic even before I was diagnosed myself :P The word autistic never comes up of course, but reading it now, she can't really be anything else.

 

Anyone wanna word war this evening?

 

What's a word war?

 

Writing race.

 

Oh! Never had one before. Sadly I am a slow writer and would probably lose.

 

I'd love to join, but I've got two homework to finish and one is proving difficult (and my brain has been noping out on them since Saturday)

 

I put a part of one of my stories in the spoiler tag. Please tell me what you think about it? :)

Spoiler: Story time!

She was petrified when the large black horse flew over her. She huddled on the ground with her hands over her head until she didn’t hear the sounds of hooves anymore. Then she got up, a huge grin adorning her face.

The great black horse trotted towards her and came to a stop right before her. She stroked her nose, and pulled an apple from her jacket pocket. The horse eagerly took it from her outstretched hand. She stroked the horses neck as the horse ate the apple. Afterwards she clipped the rope she was holding to the halter, and walked her to the gate.

,,Damn, girl. That was really something.” Aethon stood by the gate with his huge stallion.

,,I know, right. Ciara is learning.”

,,I still think you should change that name. I mean, come on, ‘little black one’. The mare is huge.” The goofy grin on his face let her know he didn’t mean it.

,,Well, I still think you should get that name of yours legally changed. Who spells Ethan with an AE and an O?” She grinned back at him before walking away to the field to let Ciara run with the other horses.

She watched Aethon work with Ahern for a while, and then went to check on Dexter, her other horse.

Today, she, like most of the crew, had a day off, and she intended to make the most of it. Not by lounging around the stables, but by improving her horsemanship. The crew didn’t think it needed improving, but she liked to think that a bond could always grow stronger. As it was her bond with Dexter was already pretty strong. He was her main horse, and she’d had him since he was a foal. He was extremely relaxed and dependable, and was always good for a cuddle when she needed one.

She called the horse over to her as she pulled a second apple out of her jacket. She liked to think he was coming for her, but she knew he liked the apple more. Grinning she stretched out her hand and Dexter eagerly took the apple. She jumped over the fence and cuddled him while he ate it.


A whinny and a yell startled them both. She jumped over the fence again and ran towards the ménage. When she got there Aethon was lying on his back, groaning, and Ahern stood in a corner. Opening the gate quietly she walked, or rather tiptoed towards Aethon.

,,What are you doing? Did you decide it was a great morning for a dive?” She could barely contain her laughter, as he opened his eyes and tried to form a coherent sentence.

,,Ha. Ha. Great joke. Could you help me up please?”

,,Not until you tell me what happened.”

,,OK. OK. He threw me off. He kept trying to avoid the trees. I can’t have him scared of anything, so I wanted to show him there was nothing to be scared off by making him go past there. He has to listen to me after all.”

Extending her hand, she said: ,,Dude, when are you ever going to learn? This horseback riding thing is a partnership, he’s not going to do anything just because you force him to.”

He grabbed her hand, and as she roughly pulled him up, he winced in pain. Suddenly she was concerned. ,,Okay, here’s what we, or rather you are going to do. You are going to get back on your horse, stay on this side of the menage, away from the trees and ride him. Don’t be overly pushy, just let it come naturally. Then you are going to hand the horse to me, and you will set in that chair over there,” she pointed towards the one lonely chair standing a long way away from the trees ,,and you are going to watch me ride Ahern. I will get him past the trees for you, and show him there’s nothing to be scared about.”

She brushed him off, and then went to get Ahern. Aethon mounted the big horse, feeling the muscles in his back strain. He had taken a big hit, this was going to wreak havoc on his back. They rode together for a good half hour before Mia ordered him off.

,,Now watch.” She said smugly as she mounted the horse with more grace than he would ever be able to manage, bad back or no bad back.

For ten minutes all she did was ride Ahern around the menage in ever varying figures. Aethon was getting antsy. She wasn’t doing anything except tiring the horse out. He didn’t notice that as she was making Ahern do the figures he was getting closer and closer to the trees, without jumping away scared. When she was as close as she could possibly get, she rode him in a large circle away from the trees, and then back again. When she was close again they stopped. The horse was completely relaxed. She did it a few more times before heading back to the gate.

Aethon was impressed, really, totally, incredibly impressed. He had seen Mia ride before, but now…

,,That was impressive,” he said as she climbed off. She was sweating, he noticed. Her brow was glistening, and there were large wet spots under her arms.

,,Thank you. I am going to take a shower. You are going to take care of your horse, and then you are going to take a bath before your back muscles tense up.”

,,Yes Mummy.” He said with the voice of a little kid.

She stuck her tongue out at him. ,,Well if you don’t listen you’re probably not going to feel good enough to go into town this afternoon.” And with that, she left.


Aethon didn’t know how he was going to manage climbing out of that bath. It had felt so good on his back, but he couldn’t very well stay in there all afternoon. He used his hands to push himself up a little bit, and immediately his back started protesting. Oh well, he thought, if I don’t get out of this bath, I won’t be able to go into town, and I wouldn’t want to miss that.

The town Aethon meant was a good fifteen kilometres away. It may not seem like much, but it was a lot when you didn’t have a car at all times. The only times they ever went into town was either to pick up supplies or on their days off, like today, but even then they usually weren’t with the whole group. However, things on the reservation had quieted down lately, and Demetrios was taking them all out to dinner, to celebrate the peace they had before the next group of tourists was to come along, and wreak havoc.

He managed to get some shorts on, but it forced his back so much he gave up on trying to get dressed and instead walked to the sleeping quarters stiffly. It took him some time, but he got there in the end, and found Mia reading a book on the sleeping bag next to his. An amused smile was on her lips as she watched him stumble into the room and then fall on his sleeping bag.

He groaned. ,,Never again.”

She chuckled. ,,You say that every time, and every time you manage to get him to throw you off.” She returned to her book, and he lay on stomach for what seemed an eternity, but was in reality just fifteen minutes. He turned to lie on his side, and let out a groan as he felt his back muscles protesting in pain at the movement. She chuckled once again.

,,Could you maybe give me a hand?” He asked, irritated by her obvious lack of compassion.

,,Not if you don’t change your tone of voice.” Her eyes never left the book.

He decided to change his tactics, there was no convincing her if she was that way, unless…

,,Pleeeeease?” The honey sweet tone of his voice was enough to make her look up from her book. He was staring at her with puppy dog eyes. She snapped her book shut sharply, knowing he wouldn’t leave her alone until he’d gotten what he wanted. Sighing she said: ,,fine, I will try to release some of the tension in your back. However, I will not do this every single time you fall of your horse.” He nodded in understanding as she sat up on her sleeping bag. She felt him relax at the touch of his hand. Grinning deviously she went to work.

,,OUCH. OUCH. OUCH.” He yelled out in pain as she worked her hands around his neck not-so-carefully removing the spots of tension.

,,You need to relax,” she told him, ,,these tension spots aren’t going to disappear with some light caressing, you know.” She worked her hands down to his shoulder blades and expertly removed tension spots there as well. He was still yelling ouch at random intervals.

,,Aethon fall of his horse again?” A string of people walked into the sleeping quarters they all shared. She nodded as she removed the last of the tension spots.

,,You might want to watch out with that.” A tall blonde guy remarked as he removed his wet T-shirt. ,,He might expect you to do that every time he falls of his horse.” Chuckling he removed his boots and pants as well.

,,Yeah,” another guy said, ,,and by the end of the month you wouldn’t have any hands left.” Winking at her he too started to undress. She looked at the clock.

,,Is it that late already? I have to go shower!” She jumped up and started to remove clothes as well. ,,You should get dressed Aethon. You should be able to move now, since I removed most of the tension spots.” He tried and found that he was indeed able to get up. ,,Thanks,” he said, moving to hug her. She expertly avoided his grip and dashed to her locker to get her towel and toiletries. She was out the door in a heartbeat.

,,Why do you always do that Aethon? You know she doesn’t like to be touched without warning.” The girl addressing him was drying her hair, she had obviously only just come out the shower.

,,It’s just a game Therese, relax. She knows I don’t mean it.” Somewhere deep inside he knew that wasn’t true though. He liked being close to her. He made his way to his locker and started getting dressed. He was forced to put on a dress shirt tonight instead of a T-shirt, since his last T-shirt was in the wash. When he was ready he straightened his sleeping bag and left the sleeping quarters, deciding to check on Ahern before they left.


When he got to the van most of the crew was standing around it, but not Mia. He looked around for her, and saw her coming out the main building with Demetrios. She wore a summer dress, and had her hair down. She looked pretty and he couldn’t take his eyes of her.

Demetrios unlocked the doors of the van and the other members of the crew started to get in. She caught him staring at her, and looked away, embarrassed.

,,I washed my hair and it dries better when it’s not tied up in a ponytail,” she said apologetically before getting in the front seat of the van next to Demetrios who was driving. He was caught off guard by the tone of her voice. She hadn’t realised he was looking at her because he found her pretty. Slightly annoyed he climbed into the last seat available to him. How could someone who knew so much about horses be so goddamn clueless about human interaction?

 

hi i just wrote a poem and i need people to tell me if it's any good or not please

Spoiler: Armspans Infinite and Silent

i.

arms spread forever outward, tremendous like birds, Afraid,
silent like fallen birds, necks snapped by foxes hungry in the cold
hungry like foxes gaunt in the empty of the spring that never came and will never be
faces in the water gulping thirsty around fish that swim on unperturbed and unknowing,
fish that never make it back up the wetless river to where they began
beginning again around beings now more rock than tree
arms spread outward like wings, fingertips pleading for an easier ending,

ii.

Bricks are scattered; they have tumbled
from every house and every wall
but nobody’s waited to watch them crumble;
there are no eyes to see them fall.

iii.

arms outstretched forever, unmoving amidst dead palaces and unquiet voices
that were never attached to a body or a thought
but simply sprang out of the silence to give words
to a void that never needed them to be heard
armless but endless and unbeginning

 

I am writing sisterly (well, sorta, one's nonbinary and the other is a girl just because she likes pissing people off) fluff between eldtrich living nightmares and it's hilarious. Especially since the younger one is the grumpiest little nightmare bby.

 

So I mentioned a while back that I was writing a Dolorosa<3Handmaid fic because someone here made me want to. Got the first bit of it typed up tonight because why the hell not? I will and have fucked up canon details but oh well it can be fixed I guess. Or maybe just stubbornly left as is because ARGFHNVB. That is more likely, honestly.

Spoiler: Dolomaid part 1

The first time they meet can hardly be called a meeting, at least by most standards. The Girl will look back on this as the first meeting, though. She doesn’t know this at the time, standing on the top of that hill. Only five sweeps into her life she has no reason to think this will be significant to her personally.


She is on yet another job. As always she’d arrived at least an hour earlier to make sure she got it done at the right moment. God knows what would happen if she didn’t get things done right, and so she continues to watch the scene below her intently.


A culling is going on, she sees. It’s not one of the quick and simple ones. No drone bursting in and tearing a troll to pieces before moving on to the next hive to clear out. The culling is one of those slow, agonizing ones reserved for traitors. She’s read about them in the books that He has let her have. Treason warrants public culling, and a torturous sort at that. Can’t let people think they can just get away with this, after all.


The Girl does not yet understand that, in a way, she’ll be the cause of all this. That the course of this brutal culture was orchestrated in part by her isn’t something she quite understands. What she does understand is that the sound of this culling is horrifying. She has seen death already. More than a few times actually, and she’s even been the cause of it. This is her first time witnessing torture, however. She watches him quickly madly as he hangs from the irons, shouting all the while. Shouting and screeching and cursing everyone and everything. It’s his own damned fault, but the sound is chilling.


On top of the howling there is the crowd. There is a multitude of onlookers beneath her and she turns to watch them. Maybe it’ll help block the sound out. Some of the people she sees seem to be grieving. They fall to their knees and shout protests. More than a few are wailing. One man breaks free from the crowd, rushing past a drone. He runs towards a guard, a club raised. Poised to fight or not he is shot down by the archeradicators before he makes it even halfway. As he falls to the floor to bleed out the Girl sees that his blood is a deep purple. Someone so high up risked death solely to protest the death of some mutant with strikingly red blood.


The rest of the crowd are driven instead by a vengeful glee it sounds like. She hears jeering and chanting. Why some even burst into laughter, one man going so far as to point at a weeping woman as he guffaws. A few even take the physically harassing the mourners. The archeradicators shoot one of these trolls down too. To keep order the Girl assumes and she frowns at that.


She sits down and pulls her knees to her chest. Authority pisses her off more than anything, save maybe the color green. Still she has a job to do so she tries to think on that. Her job is simple, very simple. Soon a man will try to stop someone and he’ll need to have a rock flung at his head. Easy enough.


Someone breaks from the crowd again, she spies. A lanky man in yellow tries to hold the person back, but he fails being pushed to the ground. It’s a woman, maybe, and she runs not for a drone by the man in the irons. A guard raises a bow to shoot her down like the others, but a giant of a man with arrow shaped horns holds a hand up; she won’t die here. Free to run the Woman only makes it about halfway before she falls to her knees. Not because she was shot or pulled down by someone, but simply out of upset it looks like. The Girl watches her and it seems strange really, and not at all like her books or what she’s seen. Curious and still frowning because of that god awful screaming she watches as the Woman hunches over. She pulls at her hair and clothes, and pounds at the dirt.


Interesting as that all is it doesn’t stop the pained howling. Frustrated the Girl clasps her hands over her ears and curses. Just make the fucking screaming stop. Please. Her wish is granted by the man with arrow shaped horns. Large great bow raised he looses an arrow at the condemned. The man in the iron is struck and he gives one last great swear. With that his kicking stops and the screaming too. Thank God.


The time is coming, the Girl knows. She stands in preparation and stretches. Being punctual is important, but she wishes that she didn’t have to wait around so long. Maybe she’ll get better at the time travel as she grows, she thinks as she shuffles about.


A terrific roar echoes forth from both sides of the crowd. Some are booing in disappointment and others are screaming their praises to the sky. As the corpse is taken two trolls walk out of the crowd. They head to the Woman and the one, the man in yellow from earlier, kneels down beside her. He puts an arm around her and the Woman pushes him off. The second troll from the crowd, a woman with impossibly bushy hair, drops to the ground and curls up.


The Woman pushes herself to her feet and walks off to the dead man. No one moves to stop her. Why would they? There’s no point where the bastard is dead. One of the guards points at her and seems to laugh though. Really why wouldn’t he when the Woman drops down and cradles the corpse in mourning? That’s just the trollish thing to do. Mock the weak.


“Stop dawdling,” a familiar and stern voice says. The Girl turns back and scowls up at the Other Her. God she becomes the most unpleasant bitch later in her life. Look at the Other Her glaring down at her like she’s a stupid kid. Annoying. The Other Her shrugs, “Whatever. Another will do it instead if you don’t.” That said she walks off, not giving the Girl a chance to answer back. Not that she wants to. Why would she when all she’ll get is another scolding and an exasperated rolling of the eyes?


Bitchy or not the Other Her has a point. The Girl has a job to do unless she feels like letting the Dead Hers start piling up. Cursing herself the Girl looks around for a suitable rock. They’re all stupid rocks but she has to pick the exact right one and God help her if she fucks that up. One looks just right and she picks it up with her telekinetics, praying that it’s the right one. Rock in hand, so to speak, she looks about for her target. She sees the Other Her walking into the crowd like a creepy weirdo. Whatever. There’s a job to do and there’s the job now. It’s the man in yellow chasing off after the bushy haired woman. She shoots the rock out at him with terrific speed. It hits him square on the head and he drops to the ground. Just like she needs.


Job down the Girl turns away from the scene, having to leave. There’s some more shouting about God knows what. She ignores it as she pulls out her music box and winds it up. Much as she’d like to “dawdle” the Other Her would probably just come back to bitch at her. It’s back to the manse to flip over another tea tray.

 

Okay, so here's the short story that was supposed to feel sisterly and turned out so very gay.

Spoiler: dramatis personae

Leah Liddell, a grumpy english teenager/living nightmare ghost. that second part is pretty new for her.
Eris: living nightmare ghost with a personality like flirty party girl, a drunk frat boy, an 'edgy' teen, and a cup of ax crazy got put in a blender. TOTALLY DOESN'T LIKE GIRLS
Mentioned characters are,
Doldrum "Dolly": Eris' best (and really only) friend, kinda a creepy emotionless girl, but harmless. Like everybody else, living nightmare
Puppet/Lewis "Pup": Leah's overprotective elder brother with a fucked up definition of sibling love. Fucked up her life, got killed, then came back as a nightmare to fuck her life up worse.
Treat: The control freak 'mother' of the various nightmares. She is very specific about what clothing is appropriate.
Trick: Treat's twin brother, he gives no fucks and really just wants to be left alone. Prone to 'hiring' his 'children' out to various eldtrich friends for odd jobs
Important Terms:
Alice: living nightmare ghosts formed by people "drowning in their dreams". In practice, that means dying while either obsessed with a specific nightmare/dream or consumed by it.

Okay, here's the actual story

Spoiler: Dress up

Leah took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She really, really did not want to ask Eris for help. Unfortunately, it was between her or Trick, and asking him would result in Leah being stuck helping his creepy friends for the next century at least. At least with Eris you weren’t going to get stuck helping a weird tree wreck film students’ projects.

The door creaked open, and Leah stepped into the depths of Eris’ room. The place was a wreck as usual. Piles of clothes and unidentifiable detritus littered the floor. One of the walls was apparently made of centipedes, and what could be seen of another underneath shredded wallpaper resembled rotting skin.

In the middle of all the chaos, on a ripped mattress on the floor, was Eris. What sounded like remixed Ke$ha was blaring from the headphones around her neck. She pulled herself into a sitting position and patted the spot next to her on the mattress. Leah grimaced and awkwardly picked her way towards it.

As she sat down, Eris grinned and said, “Sup, baby sis?” She reached over and ruffled Leah’s hair. Leah twitched and tried to reorganize her hair.

“I need you to do me a favor,” Leah said.

“Ooh, like what?” Eris leaned forward, looking interested, “Do I get to fuck some jackass’s head up for messing with you or something?”

“No! Nothing like that!” Leah waved her hands back and forth very quickly, and continued with, “I just need you to distract Lewis, so I can sneak off to a party tonight. Everybody else is out, so it shouldn’t be hard, right?”

“Hmm. Pup is pretty focused, ya know? Could be a challenge. So, if I do this, you’ve gotta do two things in return, kay baby sis?” Eris seemed enthusiastic, which was worrying to say the least.

Leah nodded, and said, “Fine. What do you want?”

“LiLi, you gotta learn to stop agreeing before you know what someone wants. Too bad for you. So, first thing. You have to go with me and Dolly next Girl’s Day Out.” Leah winced, but agreed. It could be worse. At least Doldrum would be there to keep everything from going too crazy. They might scare some people, but it probably wouldn’t result in mass hysteria and attempted exorcisms.

“And second, I get to pick your outfit for the party.”

“No, no no, that is not happening. Your taste in clothing is terrible.” There was no way in hell Leah was letting Eris pick clothing for her. All of Eris’ clothing was either torn to shreds or had so little fabric it might as well have been shreds.

“Yours is worse. All you wear are school uniforms and sweatshirts. Too bad about that party though. Guess you’re gunna have to deal with Pup and his bullshit for the rest of the night.”

That was a pretty persuasive argument. There was no one Leah wanted to avoid more than her brother right now. Ever, really. She sighed, and said, “Fine. Can I at least veto anything too... Hideous?”

“Nope. I’ll give ya some options though, don’t worry,” Eris said. She grinned, stretched, and hopped off the bed. She paused to think, and then darted to one of the many piles on the floor. It took her a few moments to rifle through it, but eventually she found what she was looking for and moved to the next pile. This repeated for a few minutes, before she was apparently satisfied.

“Kay, try this one on first, it’ll look great,” Eris said, brandishing a rather terrifyingly short and low cut red dress.

“Erm, are you sure? Because I’m not. At all,” Leah said doubtfully. She took the red monstrosity gingerly and examined it. With a sigh, she gave up and tried it on.

It was very short. The dress hit mid thigh on Leah, which meant on anyone else it probably broke decency laws no matter where. The neckline plunged straight down to her belly button, incidentally revealing the giant primordial nightmare-tar filled gash on her abdomen. The entire thing was rather tight, and it clung to the few curves she had.

Eris let out a wolf whistle, then fell of the bed laughing. She shook it off and said, “That looks fuckin adorable. We got like three more to try on though. Here, this one next!”

Leah winced and grabbed the next dress. She looked at it for a moment, and said, “No.”

“Aww, come one. It doesn’t even have too low of a neckline.”

Leah shook her head very seriously. Eris rolled her eyes, and said, “Seriously, just try it on. You never know! You could just realize, ‘Damn! This makes me look gorgeous!”

“It’s sheer, Eris. You can see through it,” Leah said, unhappily. Eris rolled her eyes again and said, “Just put the damn dress on.”

Leah groaned and pulled the new dress on. It was just as tight as the first one, and just as short. There was an odd turtleneck type collar, with a circular cut out that probably would have showed cleavage if anyone with boobs had worn it. In addition to all of that, the sides of the dress were sheer right to the hem.

“This is stupid. And impractical. How do I wear underwear with this?”

“You don’t, baby sis. You know that’s not a requirement, right? Especially now. You don’t even really have a physical body.”

“So?” Leah grumbled, “That’s so embarrassing.”

“Aww, you’re so cute.” cooed Eris, before saying, “Fine, next dress.”

“Ugh. I’m not cute,” Leah pouted. She took the next dress from Eris and sighed, “Really? It has fringe.”

“Yep, I know. Now, put it on!” Leah thought about protesting, but decided that, really, it wasn’t worth it. At least it was less revealing than the other ones. It was still way too hot pink and covered in fringe.

“Fucking hell, you’re too attractive! I’d be so jealous if I wasn’t even hotter.”

“That’s great, Eris. Are we almost done? I don’t really want to wear any of these.”

Eris grinned and said, “Yeah, one more. You’re so picky, sheesh. I hope you know I’m totally going to pick out you and Dolly’s clothes for Girl’s Day, cause you two have shit taste in clothing.”

Okay, that totally wasn’t true. Leah might have stuck to wearing school uniforms at all times, but they were comfy, formal enough that Treat thought they were acceptable if not preferable, and they didn’t need any accessories. Fine, maybe she wasn’t fashionable, but neither was Eris! Her clothes looked like they’d had a bad encounter with a paper shredder.

And maybe it was a bad idea to say all of that out loud, because it had apparently sent Eris into a laughing fit so bad she fell over. It took her a bit, but she finally recovered enough to shove the last dress at Leah. Right before falling right back in a massive fit of the giggles.

Glaring resentfully, Leah changed into the last dress. And was surprised to find it was actually pretty comfy. It was covered in sequins, but they were black like the rest of the dress. It was tight, but not tight enough that she couldn’t move if she had to. The spaghetti straps could have been a problem if she actually had breasts, but as it was they worked fine.

“Huh, it’s not awful,” Leah said, shocked. Eris looked up and grinned.

“You look great. Like, pretty. Here, gimme a sec. I’ve got some stuff that’ll go with it.” Eris walked over to the centipede wall and shoved through. Leah waited, really hoping Eris wasn’t grabbing anything too ridiculous.

Soon, Eris popped back out. She shook the centipedes off, and walked over to drop off the items she’d retrieved.

“Here, headband to make your hair look intentional, some bangles and a cute choker so you aren’t totally plain, but nothin’s competing with the sequins, and mega heels so you aren’t a total fucking midget like normal.”

Leah muttered some not-so-flattering things about Eris under her breath, but put the headband and bangles on. The choker was harder to get on. The latch was tiny and when she tried to attach it behind her neck it just wouldn’t open.

For a while, Eris was content to watch and laugh at Leah failing to put on a simple choker. Eventually, though, she got frustrated.

“For fuck’s sake- Ya know what? Just lemme put it on you, it’ll take like two damn seconds.”

Leah rolled her eyes, and grumbled out, “Fine, go for it.” Eris snatched the choker from her hands and stepped behind Leah. She put the choker around Leah’s neck and fiddled with the latch. Leah was uncomfortably aware of how close she was. It was taking all Leah had in her to not twitch and flinch away. Eris was very warm, which was honestly something Leah wouldn’t have expected. She was as dead as the rest of the Alices. Although, now that she thought about it, it explained the odd warmth that was basically the only impression Leah had from her time in between dying and grimdarking.

Even when the latch was clasped, Eris didn’t move back. She mumbled, “Your hair’s messy,” and reached up to rearrange the headband. It was weird, and uncomfortable, but for some reason it wasn’t intolerable.

Really, Leah had to admit she was probably a bit touch starved. She’d always been against contact from people she didn’t know, but after the whole accidental murder and discovery that the guy she considered her brother was in love with her, thing, she’d retreated even from people she liked. Adding her recent brutal death into the equation meant she hadn’t had any non-violent contact with people for months, at least.

Considering that Eris was partially responsible for said brutal death, it was weird how gentle she was being. Gentle and Eris were never words that belonged in the same sentence. If Leah ignored who exactly was petting her hair, it was actually kind of comforting. And that by itself definitely meant she needed to get out more.

“Hey, for someone who says she doesn’t like girls, you’re getting awfully flirty! Is my hair good? If so, step back. Personal space is very much a thing,” Leah said, acting more annoyed than she really felt. If being bitchy meant less confused feelings, that was what she was going to do.

“I’m not a lesbian!” Eris yelped, and backed up far more than she needed to. Leah rolled her eyes, but ruined it by asking, “Erm, are you sure I look okay? Not that I actually care about your opinion or anything.”

“Ugh, yes, you look totally hot, whatever you want me to say. Now, I’m gonna go distract your asshole brother so you can go out and party. Have fun and all that bullshit,” Eris grumbled. She walked out the door, and Leah was left by herself to prepare for her escape. And possibly to repress a whole lot of weird, uncomfortable thoughts.

 

@emythos I'm sorry but that last bit... I can't help but think of John and "I am not a homosexual!" and now I can't stop giggling.

 

That's the type of thing I was going for XD That, and her reaction is actually based off this ex-friend of mine, who's reaction to me asking "Is my skirt too short for (Notoriously Strict Teacher)'s class or will I be fine?" was to scream "I DON'T KNOW, I'M NOT A LESBIAN!!!!!" and then walk away very quickly.

 

DOLOMAID WILL NOT DIE DAMMIT. Another rough draft of the fic follows. Also these bits will be collected on ao3 after being edited somewhat. BEHOLD: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3996712/chapters/8975002

Spoiler: ROUGH YEAAAAH

They did not meet again for two sweeps. This was fine with the Girl, of course. She was used to seeing people once maybe twice. Truthfully the Woman had slipped from her mind entirely by the time of this, their second meeting.


She trudges along through the sands, having recently finished a job. The Woman is far from her mind and instead her mind is solely focused on not returning to the mansion. She’ll probably be beaten for it, especially if she arrives “late”. At the moment she doesn’t really care. Even a brief moment of freedom was worth it, punishment or no.


For about an hour her time alone is entirely worth it, she thinks. Theres no one to talk to and definitely no one to order her around. Even had she wanted company, which she somewhat wanted admittedly, there was no one on this damned planet with a drop of concern for a child. Certainly not a lowblood child. She’d just have to run if she ran into anyone alone; the likelihood of attempted murder or enslavement was simply too high. This came about because of her actions, she has finally learned. While the course of things is still unclear to her she better understands what this means, at least in concept.


The thought is somewhat troubling, and it’s souring her moment of freedom some. She kicks a rock that she spied. Watching it tumble down a dune she tries to think only on that one act of simple violence. Yes. Good. Much better than the overwhelming knowledge that even should she be able to run there wouldn’t be a moment to stop. What’s more the kicking is entirely of her own volition. Yes, it may be fated to happen but for the moment she doesn’t care. It still feels meaningful.


So caught up in this the Girl doesn’t notice that a troll was coming up behind her. No, instead of paying attention like she should be she gathers more rocks to violence. One she throws, another she kicks, and a third she nudges again and again until it tumbles down. This is stupid and dumb, but it’s amusing and that is all that counts until she hears, “Oh, hello there!”


The Girl’s eyes widen and she turns around to see an adult troll. Fully grown trolls are never a good thing to run into alone when things aren’t on your terms.The troll is a tall woman, lanky and thin, and she is dressed in a dress colored here and there with a dark green. Judging by Alternian fashion sense, of which there were few rules, she’d likely be a jade blood. That fact alone would have been weird enough to the Girl and anyone else, but there was something that blew that fact out of the water: in the Woman’s arms was a grub of a sickly red color. What kind of gross weirdo takes mutant grubs with them? Or grubs at all?


Friendly seeming or no, the Girl doesn’t feel like risking a scuffle. She turns back around and runs off, planning to head to back to the mansion. A fact that makes her swear. Everything was fine and fun, and it was supposed to stay that way. She ignores the call of, “You don’t have to run! And where is your lusus?” The Woman continues to protest this all, and the Girl guesses that she might follow which would be a bother. She won’t be caught though. She can’t be caught.


Not unless she’s a stupid idiot who trips over her own damned feet though, which she is. Ankle twisting the Girl sucks in a breath from the pain. Though she tries to catch herself she fails and over the edge of the sand dune she goes. The damnable Woman continues to cry out, God knows what it is right now. The Girl isn’t exactly paying attention as she rolls down the sand.


And then she finally comes to a pause. Everything hurts and this whole rebellion thing is officially no longer worth it. A beating and a scolding AND falling down a hill while some freak harrasses her. Said freak wasn’t letting up either, as the Girl sees. The Woman calls out that she’ll only be a moment and that, oh, she hopes you’re fine, sorry. Which adds to the Girl’s ever growing list of reasons to find this woman entirely sketchy. God, she hopes that she falls but the Woman does not. She comes close to it, stumbling on her way down but catching herself. The damnable woman hasn’t fallen over and the one possible delight of this situation is now dead. Sighing the Girl stands up, and begins brushing the sand off her skirt. Can’t be punished for dirty clothes on top of all this.

The Girl wrinkles her nose at all this, and she looks around her. At her feet is a rock, one of the ones she tossed she figures. Kneeling down she picks it up. Let the Woman come, she’ll show her. Then off to the manse it’ll be. Unfortunately.


Grub still in her arms the Woman closes the distance between them. The grub is hissing in upset and why wouldn’t it be. Cringing the Girl watches as the Woman tries to shush the thing up, as she should. Still the Woman is doing it not out of annoyance seemingly. There’s not a hint of exasperation to her. If anything she looks concerned, a fact which is added to the list.


“Sorry about that, again. I didn’t mean to scare you,” the Woman says to her as she nuzzles the grub. It seems mollified by this and finally ceases in its hissing. The thing does take a nip at the Woman’s cheek though. Good. Really, the Girl should just leave now. She definitely has the opportunity, but this whole display is intriguing. It’s just so counter to everything she knows about her kind. Granted it could just be some exceptionally convoluted ruse for thieving, who knows. That seemed by far the most likely thing at the moment. Bitten or no the Woman gives the grub a kiss on the head. Why the gesture outside of romance the Girl can’t guess. Unless it is romantic in which case the Girl really doesn’t want to know.


The Woman isn’t content to just stand there and continue with her charade from a distance. No, she makes her way closer to the Girl. She’s trying to nose her way about and check for injuries by the sound of her muttering. The Girl steps back and hisses at the Woman.


Frowning at the Girl the Woman takes the hint. She steps back and gives a huff of frustration. The moment doesn’t last long though, because the Woman’s face softens right back and she says, “Sorry about that. I just want to make sure that you’re not hurt. I’ll keep back if you honestly want.” No response is made. The Woman waits a moment before asking, “Can I check?”


“No.”


“Are you sure?”


“Yes.”


The Woman wrinkles her nose and shifts her hold on the grub a bit. “You’re not a very talkative child are you? Suspicious though, which is a good trait. Unfortunately,” she says.


“No and yes,” the Girl answers. She squeezes her rock firmly, a fact that the Woman seems to notice. That is a cause for concern. Most things on Alternia are causes for concern really because most anything can be and usually is a threat.


Threat or not the Woman doesn’t try to throttle the Girl for her insolence. No, she kneels down to get at eye level with her. A scolding doesn’t come like she expects it too. The Woman just asks, “Where’s your custodian?” It is a question the Girl refuses to answer, even though the answer is “I don’t have one.” The Woman isn’t daunted though, “Are they hiding? Maybe you’ve got a nice clever lusus hiding in the dunes? They can come out you know.” Her tone is strange. She lacks a business like terseness to her, and she’s not upset with the Girl. The Girl thinks it’s odd but she doesn’t say that. Instead she just glares.


The Woman’s smile falls a bit and the Girl tenses up instinctively. Now is when she gets attacked, surely. It was in every other situation. She steps back, trying to get enough distance to toss her rock without alerting the Woman to her intentions. No attack comes though. The Woman asks, “You’re not an orphan are you?” Most trolls would look uninterested at that, or even overjoyed. Easy kill or easy slave, either way. The Woman does not though. If anything she looks pained. Nothing of that seems right and so the Girl refuses to answer. What would there be to say anyway?


“If you are I’d be happy enough to take you along with me,” the Woman says. Slavery. To be expected the Girl thinks and she takes another step back. She has enough distance between herself and the Woman now. Good. “Please don’t misunderstand. I mean, it does sound very off and like I’m here to collect a slave. That’s honestly not my intention though. I already have this grub I’m acting like a sort of lusus to, so why not you as well?” the Woman says sincerely. How she can say that sincerely the Girl doesn’t understand.


Shocked as she is the Girl doesn’t have a reaction to it. Definitely not in words. She stops glaring at the Woman, if only because she’s so taken aback by this. What the fuck was this woman?


“I won’t force you, and I definitely can’t anyway. Still if you are alone, I’d rather you not be. Alternia’s not a safe place for children, and certainly not those without a custodian. I’d like to try my best to keep you out of trouble if I can,” the Woman says smiling widely, “Granted, this probably will get us into trouble won’t it?” The grub wriggles in her arms and bites her again. She winces and chides it for this. Without missing a beat she goes back to her mad rambling, “You don’t just run about with a grub, and definitely not a mutant after all. Still I can’t see just leaving you here alone. If you are an orphan that is.”


“No,” the Girl says and, seeing the coming retort, she adds, “I have a guardian.” It’s true really. Just not in the way the Woman probably expects.


The Woman stands up and says, “A run away then? I know how that goes. I ran away from my lusus when I was younger too. Or twice maybe?” She pauses to think on that a moment and shakes her head. “The number of times doesn’t really matter,” she says, “God, I can’t even remember exactly why I ran away now. I did though because I was fed up with my lusus and I wanted to see things before I ended up in the caverns. That was probably why I left, if I think about it. Not being able to just go places. I felt rather proud of myself, look at me a big girl off on my own. After a few hours though I realized that I made a mistake.” The Woman pauses again, as if to wait for a response from the Girl. As if she actually cares for her input. She doesn’t get any and so she continues, “Whatever your problems with your custodian are they can’t be that bad. Why don’t you try and go back to them? They probably miss you, you know?”


“Ok,” the Girl says, guessing that the Woman will want some sort of answer. If that will shut her then good. She’d have to go back but she didn’t want to. Really admitting to having a guardian was a mistake, because now the Girl’s mood is thoroughly soured. She does her best not to show it though.


“You know with those horns and that attitude of yours you remind me a bit of someone I know. A friend of mine, I guess. It’s kind of hard to tell with her,” the Woman says as she sits down. She gently sets the grub down in her lap, and looks down at it. Probably checking that it’s fine. Satisfied she pulls from her a sylladex a book. The Girl watches as she turns it over in her hands fondly. “It’s a nice book, really. God knows how many times I’ve read the thing. Not everyone has the taste for religious verse, but I always did. Something just seems right about the endless drone. Comforting and like an old friend, even if it does drag on a bit at times,” the Woman says. She purses her lips, probably thinking about something. What the Girl isn’t certain. Not until the Woman holds out the book towards the Girl.


The Girl raises a brow and looks at the book. She can guess that it’s supposed to be a gift, but the Girl doesn’t really understand that. It’s not that she hadn’t been given things. Certainly she had but they were never gifts. Just things she’d need or that He wanted her to have for whatever reason. The Woman says, “It’s a gift, silly. Just take this book and run on home, all right? Your lusus is probably more than willing to give you more than just books, after all.”


Oh. It’s a bribe. Figures. Still the Girl takes the book, act of faux charity or no, because she knows the Woman won’t shut up otherwise. Which is stupid now that she thinks of it. She could have just left anytime she wanted to. What’s done is done though. Book in hand and glaring at the woman she takes a step back. The Woman picks the grub back up and stands. As she brushes herself off the Girl makes a run for it. This time the Woman doesn’t seem to mind. There’s no calling after her or anything. It was just a bribe.


A suitable distance away the Girl slides behind a tree. Taking a breath she looks down at the book still in her hand. Bribe or not it’s something. It’s a book and not one of her history books that He gave her. Something that is hers in a weird sense. It will just be taken away, she knows, and so she tosses it down. The book isn’t hers, whatever she thinks. For the moment though it is and she picks it back up. It’ll be taken away but for the moment it’s hers to read. Dumb or not she stops to read a bit of it. This really isn’t her sort of thing at all, but at least it’s not a history book or one of those horrible books of traditional Alternian blueblood poetry. It’s something new and she sits down as she reads.


More stupid than wasting time on something she can’t keep is the fact that she takes it back to the manse with her. Clutching it protectively she sneaks on through the halls towards her room. He knows and she knows He knows but it’s the only chance she has really. Useless or not she may as well take it. She hides the book under her weird “bed” He forces her to sleep in. Recuperacoons do not go with the mansion’s decore, He says.


During tea that “night” He makes mention of the book, as well as how stupid she is for trying to hide it. Oddly, he lets her keep it. She doesn’t understand why, though she guesses it is probably some sort of stupid time thing. He seems to think the whole thing is rather funny so it has to be important. Whatever.

 

help I just accidentally another fanfic plot

 

Wriiiiiiters block. Been going on for months. i keep waiting a few weeks, adding one or two sentences, then shutting down and waiting another few weeks to add anything. Lack of progress is really annoying, both on the writing this/these particular stories front and on the overall skill level bit. And I'm so close to finishing one story, too. I feel like if I could just force it out then everything would go so much smoother. URGH.

 

Was the Alice thing inspired by Alice of Human Sacrifice @emythos ?

 

Actually, yes. Very vaguely, so if you want to connect each Alice to a bit of the song they won't match up perfectly (and really, trick and treat came from the song of same name more so), but it was an inspiration.
The title actually came from a lolita fashion forum where someone was complaining about the amount of Alice in Wonderland loli stuff there was.

 

That's what I've been doing, yeah. I've got my underground mecha boxing AU, sad alien is a sad alien (rainbow technicolor dreamgirl version), sad alien is a sad alien (shapeshifting lizard child version), sad girl is sad cause she's been surgically altered to be less of a fantasy minority race AU, colorful children exposed to virus engineered by a terrorist group to eradicate all humans by turning them into fantasy minority race AU, and so on and so forth. Lots of stuff to work on, nothing to say. For months. Annoying. The situation, I mean. Not you.