tjs_whatnot | Work in Progress Wednesday!

I finished and posted last week's WIP on AO3. And even got a couple of kudos. :)

I've started fics for two more prompts in a line on my

fluffbingo card. One isn't ready for show yet, but I've posted part of a first draft of the other one on my journal:

Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

This is also a first meeting fic, same fandom and same pairing, but a different and much sillier take on it. Not sure exactly where I'll go with the story - I don't know if I'll write out the eventual romance or just keep it hinted at. I'm leaning toward the latter. It's for the prompt: Close.

GO YOU!

I got a fluff bingo card for the first round and didn't come close to making a bingo. Got wrapped up in a bunch of long stories. That's always what happens with me.

Thanks. :)

Posting FTW!! Congrats and good luck on your newest story!

Thank you. :)

D'aww! That was a fun read! Thanks for sharing.

♥

Thank you! I'm glad it's working so far and that you enjoyed it. :)

Well, it's officially no longer a WIP. My Age Gap Exchange fic is done and posted. HURRAH! Didn't think I'd get it done in time, but finished with a few days to spare.

Now onto smutswap. Original fic. At 6.8k, it's mostly done (the smut's finished, whew). This is actually a different smutswap than the last one I posted. That one was too plot heavy and smut-light. So I started it over, and I think I'm happy with it. Here's a bit of the not-smut:

"To ensure a peaceful future between the Imperium and the Confederation, the representing delegations have agreed that Fleet Admiral Merryl Corrik will be given in legal and binding marriage to Lord Commander Arris Gyreth. Any issue from this marriage will be subject to the laws of the Imperium."

Merryl had been warned that his career in the military might end with the peace talks, that he might be forced into retirement. The Confederation had lost the war, despite everything that Merryl had tried to do with the aging fleet he'd been given; the lack of resources and modern technology had doomed his best efforts. He'd hoped that if he would be forced into retirement, he'd at least be allowed to find a quiet planet, far from the frontier, and put down some roots. Maybe find an Alpha and finally raise a family.

He hadn't expected to be given to the Imperium like some kind of war prize.

Merryl glances across the table at his counterpart and thinks that Arris looks far too good for his age. Even the patch over one eye only increases his attractiveness and Merryl is curious how he'd lost it. He also wonders if Arris remembers him from their Academy days. The hadn't had much to do with each other academically – Arris had been strictly Command track, the lucky born thirteenth child of the Empress would be no less. Even if one could have disregarded his family connections, Arris had been the perfect officer candidate – brilliant, handsome, gregarious, the quintessential Alpha Prime - no, Imperial Alpha Prime. Merryl had been on the Engineering track with a secondary in Command, and had none of Arris' advantages political or social. Even his friends had described him as scrappy, a fighter, more likely to throw a punch than to let an insult pass. And there had been insults a-plenty directed at an Omega from Confederation territory.

Despite their different academic tracks, he and Arris had somehow forged a friendship of sorts, one born out of biological imperative and an odd kind of gallantry. But that had been over thirty years ago, and in the intervening decades, Merryl had finally learned to control his temper. His tongue, however, still often runs away from him.

"Do you consent to this binding?" The negotiator, a neutral third party, is looking at Merryl when she asks the question.

"Consent? As if I have a choice?" The entire Confederation delegation glares at him; if the six sets of eyeballs were laser beams, he'd be a pile of smoking ash right now. But Merryl doesn't care; after all, it had been their incompetence led to this moment.

"You always have a choice." Arris speaks, his voice low and commanding.

Ohhhhh! I like it! And I bet the smutty parts are DELICIOUS!

And w00t for posting your Age Gap! GO YOU!!

♥

I haven't been writing much this week. All of my stories are either not holding my interest, or I don't know where to go next. Or both.

Here's a teeny bit more from the Riker fic. They need to kiss already.

They walked back arm-in-arm, braced against the cold. Deanna collapsed in bed as soon as they arrived back at the hotel, and Will nudged her. "Hey. You're going to be really mad if you fall asleep without brushing your teeth."

Her only response was a grunt. Will rolled his eyes and pulled her boots off. He eyed her pants and hesitated. Deanna hated sleeping in her clothes. On the other hand, she hadn't given him permission to undress her, and they weren't in the sort of relationship where he could just assume those things. Or were they? It seemed fuzzy lately. Like they were on the cusp of...something.

He shook his head. He was being too Human in his thinking. Deanna had no problem with nudity, her own or others, and would be more upset if he left her to sleep in her pants than if he saw her underwear.

She cracked an eye while he was unbuttoning her pants.

"I was just--"

She canted her hips so that he could pull them down over her butt. "Thanks."

She pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor, and her bra followed. It had been a while since he'd seen her like this. Time had left its mark. She was heavier. There were stretch marks on her thighs that he didn't remember. He had seen a lot of women naked, in situations sexual and not. Some of them had been very, very beautiful. Maybe, objectively, prettier than her. But there was something about the sight of Deanna Troi that made the breath catch in his throat, made his fingers itch to touch her.

Oh, this is lovely and wonderful Soft without being twee or mawkish.

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you!

How lovely. I hope you find more joy in your writing soonest!!

Thanks!

LOVE!LOVE!LOVE!

I sooooo feel you on the writing difficulties. It's the WORST!

Here's to both our slumps ending right fuckin' NOW!

♥

LOVE!LOVE!LOVE!

:D

Here's to both our slumps ending right fuckin' NOW!

Yes please!

Wait, it's already Wednesday? Yikes.

Here's a little more of Like Stone which is officially my story for

wipbigbang (It's an AtS/BtVS story about 20 years post series so...set right around now)

Hers was the first funeral I'd ever attended. I hadn't known how much I still loved Cordy until they put her in the ground. At the wake, I wept most of the night over beers with Dad. It was the first time, after telling him to fuck off to hell for what he had done to me, that I had spoken to Dad for any length of time outside what was needed for work. Neither of us could summon up the forced cheeriness that goes with wakes. No, the two Irishmen bawled like babies, closer to each other that night than ever before or since. Buffy and her sister couldn't make it to the funeral. They got snowed in in Cleveland.
I've since met Buffy but never Dawn. Buffy and Faith paid me infrequent visits to enlist my brute strength as necessary. I didn't fight demons full time but if they needed me, I was theirs, especially Faith. Once they got me into something so apocalyptic, I had to break the rule about not working with Angel. Buffy had come to me more than once to plead Angel's case but I wasn't ready to forgive him. I guess I'm a mean little bastard with a big grudge.

Ohhhhh, me likee!

Keep going! More! More!!

♥

thank you!

Hey, happy birthday! *husg you*

No excerpt this week but hopefully next week!

Oh, d'awww! Thank you!

♥

*moans*

This was supposed to be an epilogue of three interactions - THREE! Now it's about 4K and I am only halfway through the sorting out process.

WTF!

Everyone stared at Peter Parker whose hand was raised. He lowered it slowly. "Uh, actually I just wanted to ask a question. Only I just remembered that I'm not in school and I don't-- Uh. And all I wanted to ask was what was happening with all the stones since we probably don't want to leave them lying around for someone to just pick up..."

Jane got to her feet. "Okay, so, we may have a bigger problem than that, because..."

Planting her feet, she closed her eyes and held her hands out a little to the side, like a preacher giving a blessing to a crowd. A bright red mist hazed around her, infusing her with an aura that seemed to pulse with what Maria realised was a heartbeat.

Jane's eyes opened, and although her irises were still hazel, Maria had the feeling there was something deeper and more dangerous lurking in them. "I seem to have...connected with the Aether." With a blink of her eyes, the trees around them turned bright blue, from trunks to twigs to leaves, and a wind rustled their branches, causing blue leaves to fall around them. A moment later, the trees turned back to their usual brown and green - but the blue leaves were still around them on the ground.

"So that makes four stones on Earth," Barnes noted. "It's getting a little crowded around here..."

Okay, this is very cool!

It's terrifying from this end. I'm just at the last scene (swear to God, it's gotta be) and there's a few odds and ends to tie up, but mostly the emotional plot.

Oh, interesting!

I like awkward Peter forgetting that he's not in school anymore. :)

Peter is a teenager among adults. He's still a bit gawky and geeky, but with a good heart. And I like making him a touch awkward.

Haha! Is this the same story? Clearly it just wants to be an EPIC and never end!

But, epilogue! That's awesome! That means a end is in sight, yes?

GO YOU!!

♥

Loved it by the way. ♥

Just over 75K...

I am at the final scene. I have tied off most odds and ends, and am now closing everything up in terms of feelings.

And then I have to go back and checking all the places where I put "MORE HERE" in because I didn't have the wherewithal to write the scene at the time. Oh, and make sure that any references I've put into the story later are actually referring to things that I put in the text earlier, and not just into my story notes...

Oy.

So, I somehow missed Wednesday altogether. Oh, there it is, in the rearview mirror. Huh. Okie, dokie. Still working on my HP AU of Goblet of Fire called 'Child of Fire, Child of Ice.'

Snippet from the latest chapter: "A shape rose up before him, towering dark and formidable at the end of a long straight path. Harry kept his head bent, his eyes on the ground. He didn't want to see. He'd skirt around the thing, right or left, one way or the other, and leave it behind, unrecognized. Heart thumping in his chest, blood rushing, he knew he only had to pick a path and he could reach the other side, reach the limited safety of the maze, where others waited to help him.

Breathing hard, Harry knew the choice was coming. Right. Left. Right or left. Pick a side. Choose. Make a decision. He couldn't see around the thing – wouldn't look up to try to peer around it. Sounds didn't help. The graveyard was filled with sounds slinking along the ground or buzzing in his ears. The slide of scales across stone. High-pitched laughter. Murmured incantations. Behind him, Harry heard the crack of Apparition. In the far distance, the cheer of a crowd.

His feet stopped just as the edge of the shape came into his sight-line. A square-cut stone weathered by years of sun and rain and snow, it crouched before him, sunk down into the soft earth on one side. Above it, built on the square plinth carved with names and dates, rose an image. He wouldn't look up at it, stare into its glowing red eyes, watch the lipless mouth curl up into a snarl as it cursed him. Harry reached for his wand but his pocket was empty. "

lol, it is so easy to miss Wednesday. Late in the week and still too early for the weekend.

Good luck with your HP AU!

Wednesdays are sneaky bastards!

But this, this was delightful! I loved the metaphor of choice and decision that ran urgent but not rushed throughout this snippet. Palpable and omnipresent.

♥

GO YOU!

I'm doing canon review because I've mucked up an important part of my timeline for a fic. Hopefully this will also mean words this weekend because I barely wrote when I was away.

I'll be doing some RL bits to try to get organised for hosting my first dyslexia drop in session on the 18th.

Ahhh, mucking up canon is the WORST! Good luck.

And also, good luck with your drop in session! Can't wait to hear how it went!

♥

More from the single non-exchange project that I could post WIP about.

Mayura flicked open her fans and assumed an aggressive stance. Chat Noir growled and she readied herself to fight.

"This certainly doesn't seem like a fair fight, now does it?" Mayura said. The purple portal appeared behind her, and the blue knight backed into it, keeping both of them in front of her until she disappeared from sight.

Chat Noir relaxed a little bit, smiling. So did she.

She would curse herself later for that lapse in vigilance as a feather flew out from the portal of darkness, stabbing itself into Chat Noir's chest.

"That'll even things up," the blue knight's voice said from the portal. "Have fun killing your partner, Ladybug!" she said, laughing as the portal disappeared.

Chat Noir dropped to his knees. The feather dissolved into a black ink racing across his body. She rushed to help him, but he waved her away.

"No!" he said. "I can feel darkness rushing in. Get away!"

"I'm not leaving you," she said. "We can fight this together."

He shook his head. "I'm becoming an akuma," he said. "Run!"

"No. Fight it!" she said. "You're stronger than anyone I know, Chat Noir. You can beat this! Don't give in!"

He shook his head. "Get out of here while you can, Ladybug! If you're still here, I'm going to try to kill you."

She opened her mouth to reply, but he screamed in pain as the ink consumed him, writhing around him, and then launched itself off of Chat Noir, forming an inky puddle not far away from them.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I feel like a part of my heart is missing," he replied. "It hurts."

W0w. This is super intriguing!

Great job!

♥

Work in Progress Wednesday!

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