First And Last Line(s) Tag

First and Last line(s) tag

Thank you for the tag @fuyugomori !! Your lines were fantastic

These are from the short story I keep talking about which I finally finished last night. It’ll be going up soon

First Line

She groaned softly, extracting her leg and stretching it out in front of her. Victor-Hecate, or as she typically called them, Vaytch, had fallen asleep with twenty-five minutes left in the movie and was now drooling a little onto Tora's pajama shirt.

Last Line

Everything was going to be okay.

Tagging (no pressure): @writing-is-a-martial-art @did-i-do-this-write @wannabeauthorzofija @pagesofcursive and anyone else who wants to

Last line tag

Thank you @47crayons for leaving an open tag

I have been working on this short story for a while (the aftermath of this post) it features VH and @pagesofcursive 's Tora

She desperately pulled it out, letting it flop down and bounce against the side of the couch. She bit back a scream of frustration. Holding only the sleeve, she lifted his arm and tucked it into his side, her fingertips briefly brushing the back of their hand. She flinched away immediately, wincing as her movement roughly jostled their seemingly peaceful form. 

Suffice to say Tora is panicking a little

And i will leave this as an open tag in the hopes that someone in a similar position to me has an excuse to share their writing

The Aftermath of Brownies

A/N: I would recommend reading this post first, since it inspired me to rewrite this piece, but if you don't, here's the breakdown.

Victor-Hecate had trouble sleeping due to being touch starved because of their powers for six years, so their queerplatontic partner, Tora, baked lactose free brownies with him and watched a movie together until VH fell asleep

Also! A million thanks to my amazing friend @pagesofcursive for editing and inspiring this piece.

Warnings: brief mention of death (because it's Tae, and they can't be there without it) and let me know if there's anything I missed

Summary: Victor-Hecate can feel people's death when he touches people, but their partner, Tora doesn't affect them as much in short term. What happens when they fall asleep on her?

Tora finished the movie alone, brownie stuck in her teeth, leg numb underneath her, a sleeping person on her shoulder, and a hand tangled in her own. She groaned softly, extracting her leg and stretching it out in front of her. Victor-Hecate, or, as she typically called them, Vaytch, had fallen asleep with twenty-five minutes left in the movie and was now drooling a little onto Tora's pajama shirt. She didn't mind. It was worth it to make sure he got sleep, something he struggled with often but was working to fix. Starving herself of physical contact for six years had taken a toll on Vaytch, leaving them jittery, stressed, and exhausted from sleepless nights. Tora often snuck up on them playfully to make both of them laugh, but sometimes they startled even when that wasn't Tora's intention.

With a sigh, she flicked off the TV, tossing the remote remorselessly onto the table with a clatter that echoed around the house. Gently, after laying eyes on Vaytch's softly snoring form and making her typical split-second decisions, Tora lifted them off her shoulder and deposited their head into her lap. Her curls tickled her legs, clad in pajama shorts. Tora sprung a ringlet or two around her finger before gazing mournfully at a book at the other arm of the couch. Wonder was a book heavily recommended (read: forced) to her by the other two of her dynamic trio- her partner, Vaytch, and Lynn. Her fingers tapped frantic rhythms on the couch for what felt like half an hour but must have only been a few moments before that distraction wasn't enough. She twisted a strand of her cropped hair over and over, tugging at it until that patch of her scalp held a dull ache. Tora drew in the short fur of the couch, keeping her movements small to ensure Vaytch wouldn't be disturbed. She needed sleep. Desperately. Tora couldn't afford to wake them. But her mind skittered around, frustration building at being trapped, even if by her own means and an adorable cage. Still, she couldn't move. She wouldn't move. She shouldn't move for selfish reasons. 

However, glancing at the clock to see only seven minutes had passed since the end of the movie, she gave up. Leaning and stretching, trying and failing not to shift the sleeping head in her lap, she snagged the book. Triumphantly, Tora returned to her spot on the couch, only to find Vaytch's head lolling off of it at an extremely uncomfortable angle. They didn’t stir. Strange. Maybe he was more tired than she thought. Mentally shrugging, she gingerly lifted their head back into her lap, smoothing some stray curls back into place. She stroked their cheek apologetically, barely feeling his breath on her hand. 

Wait. 

Freezing in place, Tora pricked up her ears, trying to hear her partner’s snoring. It was generally pretty consistent, she’d learned from her own sleepless nights spent with them, but now there was eerie silence. Cold panic shot through her. What was going on? The fuzz of the couch made quiet, vague ripping noises as she dragged her fingers in short bursts rapidly along it. Critical information tickled the back of her brain. Tora always forgot the important things when they were necessary. Desperately, she tried to pursue the swiftly fading memory as it slipped from her fingers like water through a sieve.

To shake the unease resting like a dead weight in her chest, Tora picked up her book again with a small grimace, hoping that by distracting herself, the wild thought would return from the overgrown, chaotic mass of her mind and come into clarity. Absently, she appreciated the weight in her lap, pushing her fingers through ringlets. Vaytch never stayed this long on her, generally taking breaks now and then. It was a nice change. Tora sighed and laid back, soaking in her presence, his warmth, simply enjoying their company. She was so glad they had found each other, that Vaytch could touch another person without hurting. Numb was better than hurt in Tora's experience. It truly was lucky that Tora just made her numb; nothing bad came from it. She paused in her rippling through of book pages - the sound was nice - as a revelation struck. 

Vaytch had never spent this much time on her because periodically they pushed away. She pushed away from Tora's touch, saying they needed to take a break. They took time to recuperate, saying he felt lightheaded after too long, that the emptiness echoed in her bones. How long was too long? The question shook Tora as she frantically wracked her brain again. Twenty minutes? Her eyes darted around the room, checking for the time. 

It had been sixteen minutes since she last checked the clock. Spending precious time slipping up with the simple addition, she finally figured it had been about ten minutes short of an hour since Vaytch fell asleep. Easily over an hour since they took a break. 

She gripped their wrist, feeling for a pulse. Nothing. Wait, wait... there! Vaytch's pulse was still there, albeit agonizingly slow. 

Tora extricated herself from underneath the sleeping form, simultaneously trying to get out as fast as possible while still being delicate with Vaytch. She slid onto the floor while tossing the book away, catching herself with a hand on the cold floor. Was Vaytch's arm at an odd angle? Hesitantly, Tora adjusted it, keeping her hand away from bare skin. Now it looked worse, and she let out a curse. Tora desperately pulled Vaytch's arm out, letting it flop down and bounce against the side of the couch. She bit back a scream of frustration. Holding only the long sleeve so as to not touch Vaytch's skin, Tora lifted his arm and tucked it into his side, her fingertips briefly brushing the back of their hand. She flinched away immediately, wincing as her movement roughly jostled their seemingly peaceful form.

Switching from biting the inside of her cheek to her lip, Tora sat crisscrossed in front of the couch. Seconds crawled by as aches grew on her hunched back and furrowed brows. "Vaytch." Her voice was soft, scratchy from lack of use. Her throat rasped as she coughed to clear it. "Vaytch." Tora cringed at the desperation in her voice. Forgetting the more extreme movements that had yielded no result, Tora gently shook their shoulder, willing for them to wake up, to open his eyes and spite her fading hope. "You have to wake up now. This really isn't funny." Tears sprung to her eyes, and she raised her voice to combat the sob building in her throat. She was almost shouting, "Tae, you're not touching me anymore," Tora almost shouted. "You're fine. If you're not fine, Vi will kill me." She laughed weakly, incredulously at the situation she put Vaytch in. It was Tora's fault she was passed out, not waking up, heartbeat slow, too still to be considered normal. "Your brother probably would too." This was all Tora's fault. How could she let this happen? She ran her fingers hard through her hair, leaving her scalp stinging. "Ple-ase," Tora begged. She gripped her own arm tightly but could barely feel it. "You can't leave me. You were just starting to- to get better. I was never supposed to hurt you. Why-" She bit back a sob. How awful would it be for Vaytch if he woke up, probably in pain, to see Tora crying pathetically on the floor?

Itching for something to do as panic still clawed at her, Tora heaved herself to her feet. Shaking her legs awake, she walked a lap around the coffee table. She washed and dried the brownie pan - taking longer than she should as she got sidetracked filling up the dish soap, then the hand soap in the kitchen and bathroom - before returning to sit in front of her partner.

After switching her seated position three times, she finally settled. Somewhat. Rocking side to side slightly, her thumb and pinky vibrated back and forth on her knee. It had been - Tora glanced at the clock - eight minutes since she'd stepped away. The beautiful sound of Vaytch's snoring had begun to return, which was music to Tora's ears. "Vaytch," she whispered to herself. She strangled the urge to stroke their cheek comfortingly, worrying it would halt their recovery. "Vaytch, please." Tora was louder this time as she zeroed in on his sleeping form, willing her to wake up. 

Miraculously, after two more painfully slow minutes of Tora's constant shifting, Vaytch's eyelids flickered. Tora leaned forward in anticipation, almost falling on top of them but catching herself just in time. She released a huff of air, not realizing she'd been holding her breath. Tora swayed, lightheaded, and threw her hand out to stabilize herself, rattling the coffee table in the process. The sound reverberated around the room as she cringed, her chin tilted down.

"Babe?" 

Tora's head snapped up, almost giving herself whiplash. Vaytch's eyelids were still semi-stuck together as they blearily tried to focus on her. "Thank goodness you're awake!" The words came out in a louder than intended, slurred together rush.

His expression was baffled, a fold in the sofa imprinted on their cheek. "What?"

"Well, you weren't waking up, and I was so worried, and I called your name, and you were still asleep, and it's all my fault and-"

Vaytch reached out and stilled Tora's wildly gesturing hands, propping themself up on an elbow. Their eyebrows were pushed together in such a way that Tora wished she could push them apart, the way she always did when they were stressed. "What are you talking about? Are you okay?"

Tora gulped and fruitlessly tried to gather her thoughts together in a coherent way. "I'm fine now," she said, her voice full of relief. "You just fell asleep on top of me, and you lay there for too long so you weren't snoring anymore, and your heartbeat was slow, and you didn't react when I shook you, and then I remembered that you'd never stayed on me that long 'cause you said even numb would get too much, so I was really worried, but then-" Tora broke off, finally taking a deep, shuddering breath. "Then you finally woke up. Are you feeling okay??" she asked, offering Vaytch a hopefully comforting smile.

"Now that you mention it, I am kind of sore," Vaytch said. "Almost like everything fell asleep." Wrinkling her nose adorably, they released Tora's hands and sat up, rubbing their legs. He held out a hand and, once Tora accepted it, pulled her onto the couch beside her and placed the clasped hands between them. They rubbed the back of her hand with a thumb comfortingly. "It's very sweet that you were worried about me. But I'm okay now. Really," they said reassuringly in response to Tora's disbelieving expression. "I've been through worse, so it'll be fine. Seriously," they said with a snort, "you should have seen what happened when I met Juni and Bella."

Tora chuckled weakly as she remembered hearing about that. Sensing Tora's skepticism at their well-being, Vaytch held out her arms. Not needing another invitation, Tora launched herself into their embrace, knocking him backward, taking care to avoid any skin-to-skin contact. Vaytch squeaked as she squeezed. Tora felt overcome with gratefulness that he was still there to hug her back. She smiled into their shoulder, finally relaxed after half an hour of worry. Vaytch was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

@fuyugomori I found another!! Our answers are so similar

How I Write

Thanks for the tag @lunewell!

present tense or past tense | first person or third person | double spaced or single spaced or 1.5 spaced | action or emotion | similes or metaphors | OCs or existing characters | fluff or angst (don’t make me choose) | music or white noise | character or plot | make them cry or make them laugh | tea or coffee | happy ending or bittersweet ending | morning or night | comic sans or times new roman (I mean recently I’ve really liked garamond-)

Tagging: @annoyingwritingtrash @books-andbiscuits @apocalypsewriters @zmlorenz @vellichor-virgo @wannabeauthorzofija​ @lumierezi @weirdfishy​

a kingdom betrayed - enter moss!

happy camp nano everyone!! i started off the month strong by writing moss' introduction scene! (and also added in a jail break, because surprisingly enough it ties a few things together). i'll probably post a longer excerpt of this scene another day :)

“You guys must be new here.”

Helen startled, head jerking up to see the same thief from before lounging on a bench across from them. A grin danced on their face.

“You!” Cory snapped, surging to her feet.

“Most people know to avoid Valet,” the thief continued, ignoring Cory. “But you walked right up to him.”

“I thought he might have information we needed,” Helen admitted with a shrug.

“That was your first mistake.” The thief stretched out, arching their back with a sigh. They looked pretty at home in the small cell. “Valet rarely knows anything of value, and on the rare occasion he does, he’d never share it with the likes of you. You’re better off coming to someone like me.”

“And who are you, exactly?” Helen asked, raising an eyebrow. Cory was still standing, looking very much like she wanted to punch the thief in the mouth. Helen placed a hand on her forearm, in what hopefully was a soothing gesture.

The thief leaned forward, hand outstretched. Both Helen and Cory eyed it warily. “The name’s Moss Penbrook! I’m -”

“A thief?” Cory guessed, forgoing tact and going right for the throat.

Amusement flickered in Moss’ eyes. “I was going to say bard, actually. Stealing’s just a hobby.”

akb tag list (ask to be added/taken off): @bronwennjames @twentythreecrows @writeblrfantasy @chishiio @nikkywrites @drippingmoon @forthesanityofsome @amberskywrites @ashen-crest @47crayons @notwritinganyflufftoday @hellishhin @oh-no-another-idea @charlesjosephwrites @apocalypsewriters @writing-is-a-martial-art @sagasofazeria @thelaughingstag

Seeing all these ace writers clinging to the possibility of other ace writers and talking about feeling alone and not knowing any other ace people just makes my heart go out to you all 💜

I just want to give you all a huge hug/handshake/high five/whatever you're comfortable with and agressively love you into believing you're not alone and that all aspecs are awesome and amazing and the world needs your stories 🖤⚪💜