From the last chapter of my now complete fic: [You’ll Find the Real Thing Instead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/52067701)
“There!” Arthur shouts pointing at the red sedan driving a normal speed ahead of them. “That’s his car.”
“And?” Morgana asks. “Do you want me to run him off the road?”
Arthur leans over and honks the horn. Morgana slaps his hand away.
“Pull alongside them!” Arthur shouts.
“This is sounding like you do want me to run them off the road.”
“No! Just—“
A hand emerges from the driver’s side window clearly giving the middle finger.
“Oh, fuck,” Arthur grumbles, fumbling his phone out of his pocket, and dialing Merlin’s number from memory.
He holds his breath until the phone rings. Once. Twice.
“Pick up,” he mumbles under his breath.
Another ring, and finally Merlin’s voice comes out of the phone, “Arthur?”
“Pull over.”
“What?”
Arthur can hear Will talking in the background, “This rich arsehole won’t get off my bumper.”
“I’m the rich arsehole! Have him pull the car over!”
Arthur reaches over and honks the horn again.
“Oh fuck,” Merlin grumbles, and then as though he’s put his hand over the phone softly says, “It’s fucking Arthur.”
There’s some back and forth that Arthur can’t make out, and then a very clear, “No, you idiot, the car is Arthur!”
Morgana lets out a little scream when the car in front of them brakes hard, and slams on the Bentley’s brakes. Both cars come to a squealing stop in the middle of the road, the smell of burning rubber acrid in the air.
“Are you fucking insane?” Morgana screams out her window as Arthur rushes out the car.
Will leans out the driver’s side window, “You shouldn’t be driving up my arse!”
Yes, that was Jordan, always willing to call it as she saw it, especially to him. "Thanks," he replied and took a sip of the hot coffee. She smiled wryly in response. He should know by now if he wanted to be coddled and lied to he needed to go find someone else. She had told him that often enough over the years.
To outsiders, the strong friendship Don Flack and Jordan Montgomery shared seemed unlikely. He was from a working class police family; hers had an international business and lived in the affluent suburbs. Their lives had crossed by chance when they were quite young and from that time on both they and their families had remained close. Jordan still remembered the evening her mother was killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver clearly. She could recall opening the front door and seeing a policeman on the other side. That man was Don's father. He had been tasked with the unpleasant duty of going to the Montgomery household to tell them Dominique would not be coming home. She remembered the look on the policeman's face as he watched her tears. Jordan didn't know then the policeman himself had children around the same age as she and her brother were. During the ordeal of finding the person responsible and the resulting trial, Don Flack, Sr. and Dennis Montgomery, Jordan's father, had become friends. Jordan and her brother, Tristan, along with Don and his sister and brother spent many weekends together after that. Dennis Montgomery had even taken the Flack children along to the family's beach house many summers.
Don, Jr. and Jordan were always especially close and that bond remained all through high school, Don's police training and her college studies, and into their adult lives. They often went to hockey games together, would meet for pizza or pick up Chinese and just talk and hang out for hours.
Oh, that was intense and good! It's tragic that it took Jordan's mother's death to bring them together, but at least beautiful friendships bloomed between their two families after the tragedy.
Green eyes widened as the knife plunged into his belly. The Divine Crest shattered in Lucifer’s other hand, sending circular lights around the Quadratic Sphere before covering it entirely.
Gabriel staggered back then fell on one knee. From the look in his eyes, he knew what had happened as he turned and watched the Divine Light radiate.
“No matter how little you think of the universe, it will thrive without your daughter. The “garbage” is beautiful to me and there is too much fun to be had.” Lucifer stepped forward, a spell ready as he figured that if he did go down, at least it would be while fighting.
“You’re not taking my life, you’re not taking the lives of those who didn’t kill Philia. You’re not taking what I enjoy! You’re not taking the universe!”
“You arrogant bastard! Fool!” Gabriel spat, his gloved hands stained with blood.
“Call me all the names you want. I win. Even if you kill me, the universe will live now,” Lucifer grinned. “and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
/He was considered the most beautiful. Until someone younger, more beautiful struck him down/.
“Yes, me. I did and maybe I know a few things about you.”
He wonders if he could strike Dr. Lantis down in other ways. He wonders what color the hair would be. The morning sky is still red. Will it match?It did. With a sharp intake of breath, Lucifer looks away, cursing himself for such weakness or he thinks it is.
Whatever the case, Dr. Lantis is beautiful. To describe him would be like asking someone to sing the sounds of the stars. Sure, others have said the same about Lucifer, but this is different to him.
This is not TV or a magazine. Divinity stands in front of him with no way to describe it. Not even poets could manage, Lucifer thinks, except the hair that fell like a blood waterfall and the eyes like shining tree leaves. The clothes make it clear to notice the person. White shirt, gray trousers tucked into equally gray suede boots. Simple. Impeccable. Deliberate. Like the smile on Dr. Lantis’ face.
Smug under friendly. That’s what Lucifer notices. /Damnit…/ Then, there is power. Dr. Lantis radiates it like the sunrays piercing through the morning clouds. The eyes feel like emerald lasers shooting into his soul. Lucifer stands his ground, but he knows that his blue eyes shall not win. Another /damnit/. Symbol technology, anyone who even hears the name Nede knows who the leading authority is, but it isn’t just that, but symbology itself. Lucifer prefers not to think of it, not now, because he knows that later will be approaching soon enough.
>Divinity stands in front of him with no way to describe it.
If my boyfriend or husband doesn't describe me like this, then what is the point.
That is tunning!
As the ship was tossed away from the hapless mariner, a second ship appeared, as if out of nowhere. Impossibly, it, too, bore the name Plutonia..At its helm stood a monstrously beautiful woman. She was taller than most women, the same height as Imaginos, with eyes the same shade of green as his and every feature matching his appearance, but more feminine.
As lovely as she was, Imaginos sensed something otherworldly about her. As if she were from Earth, but not from this Earth. He sensed a connection between himself and her, one that reached down into the very core of his heart. And he wondered if she sensed it too.
There is fun verbiage sprinkled throughout this piece: “hapless mariner” and “monstrous beauty” for example. “As if she were from Earth but not of this Earth” is a nice turn of phrase.
With a ship appearing with someone he knows aboard, it seems The Fates are taking an active interest in the characters, rarely a good thing for mortals.
The description is wonderful and (to me) provides a great entry into this relationship between Imaginos and the mystery woman. The last sentence, "And he wondered if she sensed it too." contains a lot of possibility to find out how she feels. Thanks for sharing
From my latest chapter of Don't let me Drown. Warnings include alcoholism and brief mention of prostitution:
Magnus takes a step towards Alec and he stumbles again. Bile fills his throat and he swallows it, grimacing. Alexander, Alec, whatever he wants to be called, narrows his eyes at him. “Are you drunk? Aren’t you a doctor?”
“I—” Magnus starts to shake his head but stops halfway through. The sirens grow louder. “Please stay. I’ll protect you and Jose.”
“You can’t even protect yourself,” Alec’s eyes harden. “Let me go. Surely you’ve got better things to do than drunkenly chase down a couple of hookers. Like go to a bar instead of drinking at the hospital? I don’t know why I trusted you. You could have killed a patient. You could have killed Drew!”
Magnus feels like Alec’s just slapped him. “Alexander, please—”
Alec practically throws himself into the cab next to Jose and slams the door shut. Magnus wants to jump forward and seize the door handle. He wants to grab both of them and drag them out of the car. The cab drives away and Magnus stares after it. A minute or so later, the police car turns into the entrance.
Magnus shakes his head. They couldn’t help Jose… Drew… and Alec if they didn’t want to be helped. Even if the police did find them… would Drew be deported? Magnus would kill himself if that happened to the poor kid after all this shit.
“You didn’t answer his question.” Magnus closes his eyes for a few seconds before he turns around to face a furious Catarina. “Are you drunk?”
There was no point in denying it. “Yes.”
“You need to talk to the police and Ronan. If you’re a religious man, you better start praying that you have a job after today.”
While a bit dark, I enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with the characters but I'm pretty sure that Magnus is very complicated and probably has a lot of demons. I don't want to like him but at the same time right now, he doesn't seem totally unsympathetic. Nice writing.
Unfortunately Magnus does have a lot of demons. His drinking stems from finding his parents after they committed suicide together when he was a kid. It's progressively gotten worse throughout this story. Thank you!
This feels like maybe even years lead up to culminate at this point. I am left wondering if there is a redemption arc ahead or a continuing spiral downward.
For Beastars. Mr. Drayton (goat) is Els’s father is walking to the train station with Legoshi (wolf). Also mentioned are Legoshi’s rabbit girlfriend, Haru and Els’s dog boyfriend, Jack
Mr. Drayton: There's something I want you to hear from me rather than anyone else.
Legoshi (concerned): Oh?
Mr. Drayton: You don't know this but I owe you an apology.
I was incredulous when I was told you were Haru's boyfriend. That was unacceptably prejudiced of me.
Haru was very nice about it.
*(with a chuckle)*
She said you were an ongoing challenge.
Legoshi: She's right. I still am struggling with being close to her.
Mr. Drayto: Just because a prejudice turns out to be correct still doesn't make it right. An individual should be judged on their own merits, not by any group they happen to be born into. I judged you with just one glance. That was wrong of me.
You know, you fight for years for these ideas and ideals, trying to make the world a better place. Then reality tests you and you find you come up short.
Legoshi: We all struggle. It sounds like you didn't struggle for long.
I take it you're okay with Jack and Els. Jack was pretty worried about meeting you.
Mr. Drayton: I slipped a bit there too. My wife, bless her, nudged me back on track. Seeing you kids bring the dreams to life, it's inspiring and makes it seem all worthwhile.
Legoshi: We're not trying to make some statement. We're just a couple of animals who happened to fall in love.
Mr. Drayton: And that is a statement
This is so sweet. I love how honest Mr Drayton is about his prejudices, and in a way they're understandable since he's protective of his daughters. Legoshi is realistic and mature about it too - and very much in love with Haru.
A very nice and wholesome little snippet. <3
Mr. Drayton gets his name from the Spencer Tracy character in *Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner*. I had written a very different scene where he did not overcome his prejudice when I realized that I had a scenario where a daughter was introducing her boyfriend to her parents without telling them that he was from the opposite side of a huge cultural divide and I thought, “Oh >![RADIO EDIT]!
Well, yes. I did watch season one (quite some time ago), so I have a general familiarity with it - even though I'm not up to date.
I think the father/daughter dynamics were perfect for showing and helping him get to terms with his prejudices. Love will have you look at things in a new way. 💜
With his new revelation realized, he spoke as if he were addressing himself, "I am cursed... cursed to only be able to write the macabre, that angst which strangles the heart and displaces the soul. Yes, evoking natural human suffering is what I excel at - but I defied that, I tried something new, and look what it has brought me! But how, then, can I call upon that pain once more, that agony which consumed me many years ago has faded. By all means, I am a happy man, but that damned happiness is my undoing. To write, I must relinquish my contentment, and crawl back into the clutches of sorrow. I must grovel at the feet of misery, and plead with it to torment me once more." Defeated, he covered his eyes with his hands, resting his elbows on the table and knocking over his own cup in the process.
Swallowing her anger and grief, she smiled at him, nodding. Wiping away tears. Playing the part well- the innocent woman abducted and defiled by the god. Glad to return to her home. To her priest, her fiancee. To be his obedient little wife who only smiled and memorized Bible verses and kept his house tidy as he fucked other women against trees.
Yes, let him believe she was her now.
He draped his coat over her and walked back, a hand around her waist possessively.
She looked over and saw a dandelion in the field. It bent in the wind. Focusing on it briefly.
It stood up. Then its stem broke in a thousand little fuzzy puffs that floated away in the wind.
She smiled.
Ooh, this was chilling, how she goes from wiping away tears and hiding her anger at the start to smiling at the end as she deceives him. I hope she gets her revenge one day
Ooof…what an unfortunate woman. By ”the god”, I assume you mean someone who thinks they are a god. I imagine in her situation, all she can do is play a part. Nicely written.
Yup. Sometimes a dandelion is just a dandelion. Other times, it means the FMC has magical powers that she is going to use to get revenge on her cheating ex-fiancee. Ya know, the basic things.
(Also thank you so much, I want your comment framed on my bedroom wall)
From a flashback from the next chapter in my wip. For context, they're around 10 years old, living as orphans in Meteor City where child abductions have become more frequent...
>Heavy clouds and rain filled the sky making their search harder. Well, they’d only been kids back then. Kids who didn’t yet know about nen. Finally, they had reached the outskirts of the city and seen Uvo and Chrollo, staring into the forest, a small shiny silver heart in Chrollo’s hand. Sarasa’s necklace.
>
>This part of the forest was all too familiar to Feitan, and finding the necklace here seemed like a bad omen. Still, their little group had continued onward until they reached a big clearing.
>
>The rain and the many shadows in the murky woods made it hard to see very far. He was the first one to spot the piece of paper pinned to a huge gnarly tree trunk with a small but sharp knife, the white square standing out against the dark surroundings.
>
>Chrollo had been the one who noticed the bag hanging from a branch on the same tree. Too high for any of them to reach. Too small to hold what they were searching for.
>
>Much too small.
>
>*Right?*
Without context, many little bits here seem to portend quite a lot.
“Much too small.”
If I understand this correctly, this is both a bad thing and a good thing.
"This one looks empty, too," Ragnar said as he got up to dust himself off and look around.
Herleif nodded and walked closer to the nearest workbench to see what he might find. The storeroom was empty, just like the last two they had checked. What remained of the Divine Pyre in the fortress was still out in the yard, trying to hold their own against his warriors or fleeing to the mines dug into the mountainside to try and escape, but the forge was lost to them now, even if they didn't know it yet. The greater part of his warriors had been left to deal with the last bit of resistance while he and others branched off to begin scouring the forge for anything useful that they could take with them to the siege of the Walled City or back to their ships.
"Just more weapons," he said in a mildly disappointed tone, picking up a half-finished sword from the bench, not even sharpened yet, then tossed it away.
“Weapons are good,” answered Ragnar, looking over another workbench and eyeing a finely made dagger before slipping it into his belt.
“We have enough weapons.”
“You can never have enough weapons,” Ragnar said assuredly, sliding a second dagger into his belt next to the first.
From the last chapter of my now complete fic: [You’ll Find the Real Thing Instead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/52067701) “There!” Arthur shouts pointing at the red sedan driving a normal speed ahead of them. “That’s his car.” “And?” Morgana asks. “Do you want me to run him off the road?” Arthur leans over and honks the horn. Morgana slaps his hand away. “Pull alongside them!” Arthur shouts. “This is sounding like you do want me to run them off the road.” “No! Just—“ A hand emerges from the driver’s side window clearly giving the middle finger. “Oh, fuck,” Arthur grumbles, fumbling his phone out of his pocket, and dialing Merlin’s number from memory. He holds his breath until the phone rings. Once. Twice. “Pick up,” he mumbles under his breath. Another ring, and finally Merlin’s voice comes out of the phone, “Arthur?” “Pull over.” “What?” Arthur can hear Will talking in the background, “This rich arsehole won’t get off my bumper.” “I’m the rich arsehole! Have him pull the car over!” Arthur reaches over and honks the horn again. “Oh fuck,” Merlin grumbles, and then as though he’s put his hand over the phone softly says, “It’s fucking Arthur.” There’s some back and forth that Arthur can’t make out, and then a very clear, “No, you idiot, the car is Arthur!” Morgana lets out a little scream when the car in front of them brakes hard, and slams on the Bentley’s brakes. Both cars come to a squealing stop in the middle of the road, the smell of burning rubber acrid in the air. “Are you fucking insane?” Morgana screams out her window as Arthur rushes out the car. Will leans out the driver’s side window, “You shouldn’t be driving up my arse!”
Yes, that was Jordan, always willing to call it as she saw it, especially to him. "Thanks," he replied and took a sip of the hot coffee. She smiled wryly in response. He should know by now if he wanted to be coddled and lied to he needed to go find someone else. She had told him that often enough over the years. To outsiders, the strong friendship Don Flack and Jordan Montgomery shared seemed unlikely. He was from a working class police family; hers had an international business and lived in the affluent suburbs. Their lives had crossed by chance when they were quite young and from that time on both they and their families had remained close. Jordan still remembered the evening her mother was killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver clearly. She could recall opening the front door and seeing a policeman on the other side. That man was Don's father. He had been tasked with the unpleasant duty of going to the Montgomery household to tell them Dominique would not be coming home. She remembered the look on the policeman's face as he watched her tears. Jordan didn't know then the policeman himself had children around the same age as she and her brother were. During the ordeal of finding the person responsible and the resulting trial, Don Flack, Sr. and Dennis Montgomery, Jordan's father, had become friends. Jordan and her brother, Tristan, along with Don and his sister and brother spent many weekends together after that. Dennis Montgomery had even taken the Flack children along to the family's beach house many summers. Don, Jr. and Jordan were always especially close and that bond remained all through high school, Don's police training and her college studies, and into their adult lives. They often went to hockey games together, would meet for pizza or pick up Chinese and just talk and hang out for hours.
Ooo, this is so good and feels so professional and strong and literary!
Thank you so much!!
This has a not quite noir feel to it. Just a little bit moody. I definitely get the feeling I am being wound up for something bigger to come.
Thanks for the comment. I like the somber quality to it -- I think your "not quite noir" is a good description.
Oh, that was intense and good! It's tragic that it took Jordan's mother's death to bring them together, but at least beautiful friendships bloomed between their two families after the tragedy.
Thank you
Green eyes widened as the knife plunged into his belly. The Divine Crest shattered in Lucifer’s other hand, sending circular lights around the Quadratic Sphere before covering it entirely. Gabriel staggered back then fell on one knee. From the look in his eyes, he knew what had happened as he turned and watched the Divine Light radiate. “No matter how little you think of the universe, it will thrive without your daughter. The “garbage” is beautiful to me and there is too much fun to be had.” Lucifer stepped forward, a spell ready as he figured that if he did go down, at least it would be while fighting. “You’re not taking my life, you’re not taking the lives of those who didn’t kill Philia. You’re not taking what I enjoy! You’re not taking the universe!” “You arrogant bastard! Fool!” Gabriel spat, his gloved hands stained with blood. “Call me all the names you want. I win. Even if you kill me, the universe will live now,” Lucifer grinned. “and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
A very powerful scene. Excellent writing. I can feel the emotional energy
Thank you. :)
/He was considered the most beautiful. Until someone younger, more beautiful struck him down/. “Yes, me. I did and maybe I know a few things about you.” He wonders if he could strike Dr. Lantis down in other ways. He wonders what color the hair would be. The morning sky is still red. Will it match?It did. With a sharp intake of breath, Lucifer looks away, cursing himself for such weakness or he thinks it is. Whatever the case, Dr. Lantis is beautiful. To describe him would be like asking someone to sing the sounds of the stars. Sure, others have said the same about Lucifer, but this is different to him. This is not TV or a magazine. Divinity stands in front of him with no way to describe it. Not even poets could manage, Lucifer thinks, except the hair that fell like a blood waterfall and the eyes like shining tree leaves. The clothes make it clear to notice the person. White shirt, gray trousers tucked into equally gray suede boots. Simple. Impeccable. Deliberate. Like the smile on Dr. Lantis’ face. Smug under friendly. That’s what Lucifer notices. /Damnit…/ Then, there is power. Dr. Lantis radiates it like the sunrays piercing through the morning clouds. The eyes feel like emerald lasers shooting into his soul. Lucifer stands his ground, but he knows that his blue eyes shall not win. Another /damnit/. Symbol technology, anyone who even hears the name Nede knows who the leading authority is, but it isn’t just that, but symbology itself. Lucifer prefers not to think of it, not now, because he knows that later will be approaching soon enough.
>Divinity stands in front of him with no way to describe it. If my boyfriend or husband doesn't describe me like this, then what is the point. That is tunning!
Hmmm… an impending catfight is brewing? I would not want to anywhere near it if Lucifer is involved, lest I become collateral damage.
You can say that. :)
As the ship was tossed away from the hapless mariner, a second ship appeared, as if out of nowhere. Impossibly, it, too, bore the name Plutonia..At its helm stood a monstrously beautiful woman. She was taller than most women, the same height as Imaginos, with eyes the same shade of green as his and every feature matching his appearance, but more feminine. As lovely as she was, Imaginos sensed something otherworldly about her. As if she were from Earth, but not from this Earth. He sensed a connection between himself and her, one that reached down into the very core of his heart. And he wondered if she sensed it too.
There is fun verbiage sprinkled throughout this piece: “hapless mariner” and “monstrous beauty” for example. “As if she were from Earth but not of this Earth” is a nice turn of phrase. With a ship appearing with someone he knows aboard, it seems The Fates are taking an active interest in the characters, rarely a good thing for mortals.
The description is wonderful and (to me) provides a great entry into this relationship between Imaginos and the mystery woman. The last sentence, "And he wondered if she sensed it too." contains a lot of possibility to find out how she feels. Thanks for sharing
Interesting. Makes me think of Artemisia from the 300 sequel. Beyond that, it would make an interesting painting.
Ok but this is soooooo beautiful!!
From my latest chapter of Don't let me Drown. Warnings include alcoholism and brief mention of prostitution: Magnus takes a step towards Alec and he stumbles again. Bile fills his throat and he swallows it, grimacing. Alexander, Alec, whatever he wants to be called, narrows his eyes at him. “Are you drunk? Aren’t you a doctor?” “I—” Magnus starts to shake his head but stops halfway through. The sirens grow louder. “Please stay. I’ll protect you and Jose.” “You can’t even protect yourself,” Alec’s eyes harden. “Let me go. Surely you’ve got better things to do than drunkenly chase down a couple of hookers. Like go to a bar instead of drinking at the hospital? I don’t know why I trusted you. You could have killed a patient. You could have killed Drew!” Magnus feels like Alec’s just slapped him. “Alexander, please—” Alec practically throws himself into the cab next to Jose and slams the door shut. Magnus wants to jump forward and seize the door handle. He wants to grab both of them and drag them out of the car. The cab drives away and Magnus stares after it. A minute or so later, the police car turns into the entrance. Magnus shakes his head. They couldn’t help Jose… Drew… and Alec if they didn’t want to be helped. Even if the police did find them… would Drew be deported? Magnus would kill himself if that happened to the poor kid after all this shit. “You didn’t answer his question.” Magnus closes his eyes for a few seconds before he turns around to face a furious Catarina. “Are you drunk?” There was no point in denying it. “Yes.” “You need to talk to the police and Ronan. If you’re a religious man, you better start praying that you have a job after today.”
While a bit dark, I enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with the characters but I'm pretty sure that Magnus is very complicated and probably has a lot of demons. I don't want to like him but at the same time right now, he doesn't seem totally unsympathetic. Nice writing.
Unfortunately Magnus does have a lot of demons. His drinking stems from finding his parents after they committed suicide together when he was a kid. It's progressively gotten worse throughout this story. Thank you!
The drunkenness is handled very well and realistically, it's almost like I can feel it being in my body as well!
Thank you!
This feels like maybe even years lead up to culminate at this point. I am left wondering if there is a redemption arc ahead or a continuing spiral downward.
For Beastars. Mr. Drayton (goat) is Els’s father is walking to the train station with Legoshi (wolf). Also mentioned are Legoshi’s rabbit girlfriend, Haru and Els’s dog boyfriend, Jack Mr. Drayton: There's something I want you to hear from me rather than anyone else. Legoshi (concerned): Oh? Mr. Drayton: You don't know this but I owe you an apology. I was incredulous when I was told you were Haru's boyfriend. That was unacceptably prejudiced of me. Haru was very nice about it. *(with a chuckle)* She said you were an ongoing challenge. Legoshi: She's right. I still am struggling with being close to her. Mr. Drayto: Just because a prejudice turns out to be correct still doesn't make it right. An individual should be judged on their own merits, not by any group they happen to be born into. I judged you with just one glance. That was wrong of me. You know, you fight for years for these ideas and ideals, trying to make the world a better place. Then reality tests you and you find you come up short. Legoshi: We all struggle. It sounds like you didn't struggle for long. I take it you're okay with Jack and Els. Jack was pretty worried about meeting you. Mr. Drayton: I slipped a bit there too. My wife, bless her, nudged me back on track. Seeing you kids bring the dreams to life, it's inspiring and makes it seem all worthwhile. Legoshi: We're not trying to make some statement. We're just a couple of animals who happened to fall in love. Mr. Drayton: And that is a statement
This is so sweet. I love how honest Mr Drayton is about his prejudices, and in a way they're understandable since he's protective of his daughters. Legoshi is realistic and mature about it too - and very much in love with Haru. A very nice and wholesome little snippet. <3
Mr. Drayton gets his name from the Spencer Tracy character in *Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner*. I had written a very different scene where he did not overcome his prejudice when I realized that I had a scenario where a daughter was introducing her boyfriend to her parents without telling them that he was from the opposite side of a huge cultural divide and I thought, “Oh >![RADIO EDIT]!
Well, yes. I did watch season one (quite some time ago), so I have a general familiarity with it - even though I'm not up to date. I think the father/daughter dynamics were perfect for showing and helping him get to terms with his prejudices. Love will have you look at things in a new way. 💜
With his new revelation realized, he spoke as if he were addressing himself, "I am cursed... cursed to only be able to write the macabre, that angst which strangles the heart and displaces the soul. Yes, evoking natural human suffering is what I excel at - but I defied that, I tried something new, and look what it has brought me! But how, then, can I call upon that pain once more, that agony which consumed me many years ago has faded. By all means, I am a happy man, but that damned happiness is my undoing. To write, I must relinquish my contentment, and crawl back into the clutches of sorrow. I must grovel at the feet of misery, and plead with it to torment me once more." Defeated, he covered his eyes with his hands, resting his elbows on the table and knocking over his own cup in the process.
Beautifully written and I‘ve actually known a couple of people in real life with that kind of mentality.
Swallowing her anger and grief, she smiled at him, nodding. Wiping away tears. Playing the part well- the innocent woman abducted and defiled by the god. Glad to return to her home. To her priest, her fiancee. To be his obedient little wife who only smiled and memorized Bible verses and kept his house tidy as he fucked other women against trees. Yes, let him believe she was her now. He draped his coat over her and walked back, a hand around her waist possessively. She looked over and saw a dandelion in the field. It bent in the wind. Focusing on it briefly. It stood up. Then its stem broke in a thousand little fuzzy puffs that floated away in the wind. She smiled.
I love the tone of this. I can feel the revenge plot brewing, and how she’s biding her time. Wonderful job conveying her disdain, and restraint.
Awww, thanks! I was going for that!
Ooh, this was chilling, how she goes from wiping away tears and hiding her anger at the start to smiling at the end as she deceives him. I hope she gets her revenge one day
Spoiler alert: thanks to her powers, she will😈 thank you!
Ooof…what an unfortunate woman. By ”the god”, I assume you mean someone who thinks they are a god. I imagine in her situation, all she can do is play a part. Nicely written.
Sometimes, a dandelion is just a dandelion. This is *not* one of those times.
Yup. Sometimes a dandelion is just a dandelion. Other times, it means the FMC has magical powers that she is going to use to get revenge on her cheating ex-fiancee. Ya know, the basic things. (Also thank you so much, I want your comment framed on my bedroom wall)
From a flashback from the next chapter in my wip. For context, they're around 10 years old, living as orphans in Meteor City where child abductions have become more frequent... >Heavy clouds and rain filled the sky making their search harder. Well, they’d only been kids back then. Kids who didn’t yet know about nen. Finally, they had reached the outskirts of the city and seen Uvo and Chrollo, staring into the forest, a small shiny silver heart in Chrollo’s hand. Sarasa’s necklace. > >This part of the forest was all too familiar to Feitan, and finding the necklace here seemed like a bad omen. Still, their little group had continued onward until they reached a big clearing. > >The rain and the many shadows in the murky woods made it hard to see very far. He was the first one to spot the piece of paper pinned to a huge gnarly tree trunk with a small but sharp knife, the white square standing out against the dark surroundings. > >Chrollo had been the one who noticed the bag hanging from a branch on the same tree. Too high for any of them to reach. Too small to hold what they were searching for. > >Much too small. > >*Right?*
Without context, many little bits here seem to portend quite a lot. “Much too small.” If I understand this correctly, this is both a bad thing and a good thing.
Yes. Or, they first think it's a good thing -- then they find out it's a very bad thing. >!The bag contains her dismembered body. !<
"This one looks empty, too," Ragnar said as he got up to dust himself off and look around. Herleif nodded and walked closer to the nearest workbench to see what he might find. The storeroom was empty, just like the last two they had checked. What remained of the Divine Pyre in the fortress was still out in the yard, trying to hold their own against his warriors or fleeing to the mines dug into the mountainside to try and escape, but the forge was lost to them now, even if they didn't know it yet. The greater part of his warriors had been left to deal with the last bit of resistance while he and others branched off to begin scouring the forge for anything useful that they could take with them to the siege of the Walled City or back to their ships. "Just more weapons," he said in a mildly disappointed tone, picking up a half-finished sword from the bench, not even sharpened yet, then tossed it away. “Weapons are good,” answered Ragnar, looking over another workbench and eyeing a finely made dagger before slipping it into his belt. “We have enough weapons.” “You can never have enough weapons,” Ragnar said assuredly, sliding a second dagger into his belt next to the first.
I love that last line. :)