impromptu city lights with inks and ashes on them

[delight]

Finally I am actually posting to this community! -- with stuff I wrote on a tiny pad of paper while working and wrote by hand. What are lunchbreaks for if not posting stories?


Title: city lights
Challenge/Prompt: #53, Darkness
Original Fiction or Fanfiction: Original
Characters/Pairings: Casey and Wilson (mentions of Kevin)
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Kevin, who is only talked about, is distractionary's.
Summary: There are still lights on outside at 3am.

Outside, everything was still alive.

It was different from places she had lived before; Long Island wasn't ever quiet, but it didn't stay awake like this. Coming here wasn't just about security, that he could afford to parent her disease, that he wanted her and not the state's bribe and bounty, that he'd been in foster care too and understood. Not even just his love for birds, she thought as she slipped a Saltine to the conure on her shoulder.

Here, she wasn't alone, even when the skies were dark.

And as the sun rose, she finally fell asleep.

---

Title: Impromptu
Challenge/Prompt: #46, Mistake
Original Fiction or Fanfiction: Original
Characters/Pairings: Lee (Ryan/Lee)
Rating: G
Warnings: Consensual adult/teenage relationship; one is 16 and the other 28.
Disclaimer: Ryan is also distractionary's.
Summary: Lee's been wrong a lot.

This, she knew, was wrong.

And she'd always been mostly sure of a few things being wrong, and generally been wrong about them: her mother was dead. Wrong. She was delusional. Wrong. Magic wasn't real. Very, very wrong.

But Lee was certain, completely, that where she was right then was wrong. The salamander in her hair hissed silent disapproval as she ignored it to twine her fingers with the older man's, rest her head on his shoulder -- this man who was a professor but not her professor, dignified and intelligent and nothing like those jerks her age --

It may have been wrong, but it was no mistake.

---

Title: ink & ashes
Challenge/Prompt: #44, Home
Original Fiction or Fanfiction: Original
Characters/Pairings: Nostariel (but actually about her parents)
Rating: G
Warnings: None unless grieving is not your thing.
Disclaimer: I bet you are not surprised to know that the father in question is also distractionary's and all other characters are mine.
Summary: Grief itself can gather dust.

The old house was like a shrine -- or, to be more honest, some of it was. All the places where her father still resided, the places he still allowed himself to be, were well-used, but their old bedroom was the same as it had been, her mother's study untouched, papers and clothing and jewels from decades past still left right where they had been, waiting for that next morning that would never come, for the lady of the house, who was dead, to use them.

She loved her old home, loved her father's land, loved the safety the place provided emotionally -- and she loved her father, but sometimes the way he left everything just so as if that would bring her mother back drove her mad.

Tentatively, Nostariel lifted the fountain pen off her mother's desk, where it had been set down before dinner, fifteen minutes at most before her death, and settled it back in its holder.

Comments

[lovepeaceohana]

Title: city lights

I enjoyed this, although admittedly I felt a little lost. Lines like that he could afford to parent her disease, that he wanted her and not the state's bribe and bounty feel powerful, and make me want to learn more about these characters and their situation.

Title: Impromptu

This is a tough one for me because of the age difference thing. I appreciate that it was written from the young woman's point of view, though, because part of my problem with stories like these (dub?-con by way of statutory) is the typical lack of agency manifested by these women. You've done a good job of putting this particular reader at ease simply by demonstrating that this is her choice, and indicating that it isn't uninformed.

Title: ink & ashes

My favourite of the three; it feels very poignant and - heavy? expectant? - there's something about it that suggests a tipping point, a breakthrough. It's very evocative. I like it :3

[delight]

I am ridiculously happy to explain the situations if you actually want to know about them; I squeal stupidly whenever anyone shows interest. Internet journaling sites never seem to be much about the original fiction, and I do a bad job of giving other people feedback (despite usually loving things and at least saying that!) so this comment made me ridiculously excited to have gotten.

Since all my characters are from shared worlds I generally write things for myself and the people who already know them, meaning they're not self-contained and therefore ... people are going to end up lost. Uh. This is the first time I've posted writing non-privately in over a year.

The disease in question is congenital erythropoetic porphyria, which is really expensive to live with and treat -- the POV character is a fifteen-year-old girl in foster care, and the man in question is a big-name investment banker who also grew up in the system. He's richer than Midas, as they say, and so they were a good match in that area. She's used to getting foster parents who want the state's money and then let her get sicker.

As for the second: she initiated the entire thing. Lee recognized early on that she really didn't like high school guys, and this college professor she met at work was pretty nice to her, even gave her a ride home once in a pretty bad storm, and so she started making moves on him; he's been pretty reticent and concerned for legality and mental state and whatnot, and she's unrelenting. Not forcing herself on him, but she could tell he was receptive and is cultivating that and constantly telling him he's not taking advantage of her, she wants to be with him and she wouldn't know how he felt if she hadn't made how she felt clear ...

... and as far as the last one goes, it is potentially a setup for the woman's ghost to start hanging out a lot, and potentially a setup for a giant family feud, and as he isn't my character I'm not sure what's going to happen! Which is the best part of sharing everything. Sometimes there are still major surprises.

[lovepeaceohana]

That sounds awesome! ... ALL of it! But admittedly I'm particularly fond of the porphyria plot, for which I blame my belated interest in House. Thanks so much for sharing!