for this week's @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt!

Word count: 442

—

Of foxes and men, a story told in fabric.

Fericiolo arced his arm in delicate circles, weaving unfathomable lengths of thread through the black fabric. It had a heavy thickness to it, befitting, he supposed, for the patron it had to serve.

His latest efforts earmarked the upper chest, a series of figures in flowing, pastel tunics clamouring over something, the way they did in the grand paintings which lined the walls. A stark contrast against the material’s darkness, and indeed the gold loops and buttons descending the seam.

Light waned from the windows. Fericiolo tied up the next head, sighing as he sank onto the stool. The vast expanse of material stared back at him. The more he stared, the more it taunted him with gaps.

The embroiderer rotated his wrists. Entwining his fingers in stretch, he reached one hand into a canister of cream, rubbing it over the calloused underside. His palms inherited the drought of his soul, seeking moisture, joy, novelty.

The paintings stared at him without end.

Long, manicured fingers yanked the piece from the floor.

A tiny gasp slipped Fericiolo’s lips as he craned his weary neck, his dark eyes meeting the shifty, golden gaze of his patron.

“Councillor Melaushe, good afternoon.”

His heart pounded, sinking with the characteristic frown marring his patron’s gold-touched pale face. “As to you, Ferici.”

A narrowing of the eyes, prodding of fingers against the upper chest of a coat many times longer than Fericiolo’s entire being. “Here, unstitch this bit, it needs more colour.”

He scrambled as his superior ditched the coat to the floor, airy lavender silks flowing with his departure.

Fericiolo made a noise through gritted teeth.

That night, before court, he poured water into a bowl, squeezing droplets of a crystal fruit’s juice into it. The solution turned a silvery-gray, swirling as liquid smoke.

He unspooled reams of golden thread, allowing them to steep in it.

Months and years of work culminated to this. A coat not adapted through magic, but handwoven by the resident Silkweaver, with him the sole embroiderer.

Corrections here, corrections there, a list of complaints longer than the bloody High Councillor was tall.

The fox had to excoriate the coop at some point.

Upon noon’s rising, he sat upon the stool again, unspooling golden thread.

The other artists gathered to flip the coat around, so he could focus on the coattails. One fox sat poised on the end of each tail, a gap for golden filigree.

There, with the golden thread, he embroidered his intentions, visible not to those of broader sight.

Befallen he who consumes the coop, a spiral to gloom and misery.

—

General taglist (ask/comment/message me if you'd like to be added or subtracted): @mr-orion @the-ellia-west @guessillcallitart @thereadingfoz @glassstardust22124 @original-writing @honeybewrites @ashirisu @drowsy-quill @oliolioxenfreewrites @theglitchywriterboi @seastarblue @gioiaalbanoart @rae-butter @corinneglass @thelaughingstag

This is amazing writing. I love the descriptions of Fericiolo's work. While I do not know much about the craft, it does a good job of letting the reader in vision the process.

Some people find it hard to describe tasks that may seem normal, the process of breaking down the process into words is rough even for myself and yet, you mastered it.

Good job!

2/22 | 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐲 | 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄

He felt like a five course meal to her.

“Jzola bog,” she hissed. Her helmet slid down. It was the skull of the beasts which attacked them at the temple.

She swung, their blades screaming against one another. They were separate for an instant before she kicked and Quinn stumbled back. He caught himself on the elevator door, one half of his body hanging over the ledge. A thousands moans erupted from the elevator shaft, so wild and intense that they matched that of a hundred screams, a hundred war cries.

Grunting, Quinn pulled himself back in. His blade shrunk into a small dagger. Their proximity shrunk, and he began trading hits with her, each of their blades just narrowly dodging the other’s throat, their arms, their eyes.

By the time he finally got a glimpse of Heather he was panting, and her eyes were blazing, seeking him too.

The moment slowed.

He had to get to her. He had to.

A blade sought Heather.

This is a great action scene.

Most action scenes are written either in a very fast pace to have it be more tense but typically that tension doesn't come off across depending on the person's writing style.

With your writing, it comes off with a medium pace, and that allows you to give a little more detail about the characters, their emotions, and how they are fighting another.

The personification with the blades is also another nice touch. With the blades screaming & Quinn's blade seeking Heather. Adds another level to the writing that is very genius and unique.

People who were spoiled as children (or are spoiled children) are usually depicted as unpleasant monsters who insist on getting their way always, and for sure they exist but I’ve also met a lot of spoiled people, children or adults, who were super nice and generous because they were brought up with the knowledge that if they let someone else have something or give away one of their possessions they’d just get another one and that carries over into adulthood where they might not get another one but they still don’t feel the same attachment to material things.

So in my experience whether spoiled people are unpleasant have more to do with the values instilled in them by their parents as well as their general personality. I know one boy who won’t give anyone anything despite his parents giving him everything he wants and another who will hand you his entire birthday cake if you ask because he trusts that you’ll share it with him and if not his mom will get him another.

So nice spoiled people in fiction like Carlotte from Princess and The Frog aren’t unrealistic but they are probably a lot less satisfying for a lot of people.

It's also that people who grew up low income aren't humble if they get rich. I have been seeing that trope generally, and it kinda pisses me off as someone who grew up low income.

But back to your talking point. Yes, the way people are raised doesn't impact how they behave fully. It can impact some of it, but not every rich person is spoiled, snobbish, and evil. Not every poor person is humble, down to earth, and nice (the evil and nice parts depend on the type of story).

It sucks that it's been a trope so long that people consider it unrealistic when in the world anyone can be whoever. There are people who try to be better people outta spite, out of love, and other reasons.

I think it's personally another thing that gets overlooked. Not everyone is a nice person because they are a good person initially. Some are terrible people who had someone see good in them, some want to be better than a person they hate and vow to do better, some see pain and suffering and want to make things better for some people.

I think when we write, we really, especially with these details, we sometimes overlook what can really make a great character. Sure, it can be that it just doesn't fit into a story, but it's still cool to flesh out the main characters (or a character you are going to kill).

It just makes them such an interesting character if you want people to fully get to know the main cast of a story. It's not always needed to flesh out, but it can really change how the reader sees your character.

I have been WRESTLING with writers block this past week. I mean, I must have stared blankly at my damn laptop screen for like 24 hours combined and wrote about 6 words. Today I thought "fuck it" and decided to try writing with pen and paper again like I'm sat at the back of my highschool geography class co-writing fanfic with my sister and I just WROTE THE WHOLE ASS CHAPTER THATS BEEN BOTHERING ME THIS ENTIRE TIME?????

Science side of Tumblr explain this sorcery

Motivation just hits like a truck sometimes. You never see it coming or don't care that it comes, it just happens.

I would suggest with writing block to either read a book when you usually write or do some prompts to keep the habit of writing and possibly help keep your skills sharp. (Idk if this actually works. I just do it. Other people have their own trick)

New excerpt in honor of LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE's 13th completion anniversary! 🖤🌙

Intro post | Previous excerpt | Playlist

PS - Stay tuned for some long-awaited querying updates soon. 👀

I sat in awe for like 10 minutes with that last line.

I have no clue who these characters are, I have no idea about the setting. But I felt so shocked and impacted that I was sitting for 10 minutes silently.

This was really good. With the small excerpt, it does it's job perfectly and sets up the reader for a cliffhanger (or at least confusion & shock and awe). The pace is decent, not sure if you are trying to have it be a slow pace but I say it's a perfect medium.

You did a great job and should feel proud of this and your writing. I would love to read more or be added to a tag list if you have one.

🥺 Thank you so much! This is really lovely feedback and confirms that this part of the story is doing exactly what I want it to do. Yes, it's supposed to read as a very confusing hook or cliffhanger, haha.

A fun fact about this scene (and the overall sequence it's part of, which comes up later in the story), if you're interested: I wrote it when I was seventeen (nearly sixteen years ago now) and it's one of very few scenes still in the novel that has changed very little, other than minor and prose-level edits, in subsequent versions of the story. As such, it is very dear to me. I am indeed very proud of it!

I don't currently have a taglist, unfortunately (I don't know if I'd be able to maintain it properly, lol), but I've been asked multiple times at this point so I'm trying to figure out a way to keep up a consistent taglist for this project specifically, so if/when that happens I'll add you to it for sure. Until then, if you want to check out more snippets/excerpts or just see more about the WIP, feel free to go into my #libaw and/or #snippet tags. :)

No problem. It feels nice to make another writers' day, and I will definitely start reading more of libaw!

“If I get married then you won’t have someone to take your anger out on.”

“I’ll find someone else.” She sighed and reached behind her back to tie her corset but before she could even do anything, he rushed to help her. “But you’ll come crawling back to me, I am sure.”

Mathéo tightened her corset quite unexpectedly, resulting in a small moan escaping her lips as she tilted slightly forward from the force. “Will I?” Manon couldn’t see him but she was sure there was a smirk on his lips. “You’re nothing more than a quick fuck.”

“So are you, but the carriage that will carry you and the rest of the guards to the guillotine will be quicker.”

~French Revolution, Chapter 1~

(Author: me)

I would have uploaded something from the Prologue but it's smut so.... I chose not to. BUT! They're enemies to lovers...

VIVA THE REVOLU- oh an enemies to lovers.

This is amazing and I love the historical accuracy from what I'm seeing with the corset. I'm surprised this doesn't have more notes.

The dynamic between the two is amazing and I think your dialogue is extremely good.

Keep the good work up!

Hahaha it's still viva the revolution!! This is the first actual criticism I've gotten in something I've written so thank you so much!!! I really appreciate it

No problem. Hopefully, I will not be the last person to give some criticism. But I'll definitely keep reading it and responding.

Intro time!

My name is Cat (she/her and aroace) and while I've been on tumblr for a couple of years now, jumping from fandom to fandom and writing fanfic, I decided to make this blog to focus on original work.

I write fantasy, sci-fi, and a little bit of horror and I love mixing genres like there's no tomorrow. My absolute favorite things are found family, robots, and time travel, and I am a firm believer that platonic relationships can be just as fierce and important as romantic ones. Most of my novels are set within a shared universe I call the Starfish Saga and that's my main focus, though I do have quite a few exciting projects outside that.

I have so so many WIPs but the ones I'm currently focused on include these (all titles are placeholders for the time being):

(* marks WIPs set in the Starfish Saga)

I'll be gradually posting WIP intros for these over the coming weeks so stay tuned! And if anyone wants to be added to a taglist, let me know by commenting on the WIP's intro post or shoot me a DM, specifying which WIP you'd like to be added to.

I also love getting asks and participating in tag games and just general chatting about WIPs if anyone is so inclined.

That's it for now. If you're interested in my other blogs, you can find me at @that-vibe-i-cant-explain (for multi-fandom shenanigans) or at @redstarsarc (my Pirates of the Caribbean blog).

Anyway, hello! It's nice to be here XD

That's a lot of wips. From the information pages, they all look interesting.

I want to know what is your favorite wip and if you could tell a little more about it.

I would love to read them all, but I have the attention span of an orange cat & I don't have enough time to read all of them.

What I should say is, oh no, that's such a difficult question, I love them all (which is true), but actually that's an easy question. It's Project Paladin.

It's technically a sequel to Project Guardian and is set to be a 12 book series, featuring two major 6 book arcs. In the first, average teen Chelsea Seaver ends up on a cosmic quest to save her parents who have been kidnapped, but she ends up way in over her head when it turns out that a powerful Syndicate is involved and the person who hired them to kidnap her parents has plans to make poor Chelsea's life miserable. Anyway, it's a big, dangerous galaxy out there so Chelsea agrees to become a Paladin and learn magic from a man named Shay, who's the protagonist of Project Guardian. The second half of the series, which is a lot less fleshed out than the first half right now, deals with furthering her Paladin studies in preparation for the rise of the Archons, a handful of eldritch beings whose awakening would be Very Bad(tm) for the universe.

Of course, along the way Chelsea gets to have some fun, very Doctor Who-esque adventures with a cast of characters who will become like a family to her. They include a mischievous teen whose carefree attitude masks a secret; a pair of warriors raised to safeguard an ancient, living machine; a doctor who was abducted by aliens as a child; a synthetic being who catalogues the knowledge held on the library world of Planet Archive; the man (immortal? remains to be seen) who shares a soul with said world; and of course, Shay Finnegan, the last Paladin who is still haunted by the events of Project Guardian.

I'm currently in the middle of drafting book 3, which is the spookiest installment yet and the first major turning point for the series. I'm very excited about it XD

That's so fucking cool. If you ever publish it, I will be one of people to buy it.

It's so interesting and creative. I need to figure out how fellow writers come up with cool ideas.

I do like that it takes place in a galaxy because that gives a large setting and can allow for so many wacky adventures. I can't wait to read!

Thank you for responding!

Mother, mother,

Why do your opinions matter?

Your disappointment strikes me to the bone,

When I fail you or do something you cannot condone.

I've told myself over and over,

That I've stopped caring a long time ago,

But then I lay in my bed and become sober,

Because deep down I already know,

That your opinions do matter,

My sweet, violent, two-faced mother.

What is with Tumblr making me cry today.

This poetry hit hard, like a pile of bricks. I don't want to go too personal as, this isn't about me; the feeling of never being able to condone your parent when they wrong you or just be wrong in general. However the disappointment they have in you hurts.

You really feel them when you get older the wanting to right their wrongs but eventually not caring. A lot of parents don't know how much it hurts, especially when they wrong you.

You done a fantastic job with this poem. You are an amazing poet.

New excerpt in honor of LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE's 13th completion anniversary! 🖤🌙

Intro post | Previous excerpt | Playlist

PS - Stay tuned for some long-awaited querying updates soon. 👀

I sat in awe for like 10 minutes with that last line.

I have no clue who these characters are, I have no idea about the setting. But I felt so shocked and impacted that I was sitting for 10 minutes silently.

This was really good. With the small excerpt, it does it's job perfectly and sets up the reader for a cliffhanger (or at least confusion & shock and awe). The pace is decent, not sure if you are trying to have it be a slow pace but I say it's a perfect medium.

You did a great job and should feel proud of this and your writing. I would love to read more or be added to a tag list if you have one.

a love so pure

I said I wouldn't cry today.

Holy fuck this got me.

I don't think I got much other to say other than this hit right in the heart.

Good job, it's beautiful.

did a thing!

Coffeelock'd [itch.io]

This is a demo / proof of concept, showing off the warlock and patron creation. Future chapters TBA

It's clunky but it's there and I'm excited to finish it out at a less crazy pace

First of all, this is creative as hell. I want to know about its development.

Second, this is fucking amazing. I know you would have to write out every possible outcome for every choice that you could have, even if it is just slight changes. But it's so creative and enjoyable.

We need more interactive fiction!

I haven't gotten far enough, but I couldn't help coming back and gushing over it. It's well done, I love it, and I will probably be playing it during school somehow.

I'll probably also reblog this on my main account to spread it even more because I just love it so much. It deserves more than what this sideblog can give it.

Intro time!

My name is Cat (she/her and aroace) and while I've been on tumblr for a couple of years now, jumping from fandom to fandom and writing fanfic, I decided to make this blog to focus on original work.

I write fantasy, sci-fi, and a little bit of horror and I love mixing genres like there's no tomorrow. My absolute favorite things are found family, robots, and time travel, and I am a firm believer that platonic relationships can be just as fierce and important as romantic ones. Most of my novels are set within a shared universe I call the Starfish Saga and that's my main focus, though I do have quite a few exciting projects outside that.

I have so so many WIPs but the ones I'm currently focused on include these (all titles are placeholders for the time being):

(* marks WIPs set in the Starfish Saga)

I'll be gradually posting WIP intros for these over the coming weeks so stay tuned! And if anyone wants to be added to a taglist, let me know by commenting on the WIP's intro post or shoot me a DM, specifying which WIP you'd like to be added to.

I also love getting asks and participating in tag games and just general chatting about WIPs if anyone is so inclined.

That's it for now. If you're interested in my other blogs, you can find me at @that-vibe-i-cant-explain (for multi-fandom shenanigans) or at @redstarsarc (my Pirates of the Caribbean blog).

Anyway, hello! It's nice to be here XD

That's a lot of wips. From the information pages, they all look interesting.

I want to know what is your favorite wip and if you could tell a little more about it.

I would love to read them all, but I have the attention span of an orange cat & I don't have enough time to read all of them.

“If I get married then you won’t have someone to take your anger out on.”

“I’ll find someone else.” She sighed and reached behind her back to tie her corset but before she could even do anything, he rushed to help her. “But you’ll come crawling back to me, I am sure.”

Mathéo tightened her corset quite unexpectedly, resulting in a small moan escaping her lips as she tilted slightly forward from the force. “Will I?” Manon couldn’t see him but she was sure there was a smirk on his lips. “You’re nothing more than a quick fuck.”

“So are you, but the carriage that will carry you and the rest of the guards to the guillotine will be quicker.”

~French Revolution, Chapter 1~

(Author: me)

I would have uploaded something from the Prologue but it's smut so.... I chose not to. BUT! They're enemies to lovers...

VIVA THE REVOLU- oh an enemies to lovers.

This is amazing and I love the historical accuracy from what I'm seeing with the corset. I'm surprised this doesn't have more notes.

The dynamic between the two is amazing and I think your dialogue is extremely good.

Keep the good work up!

Roll of the Dice

Rattle, rattle, clunk.

Once again, the dice, once shaped like knucklebones, clattered on the table. Once again, Hermes scanned the results and groaned. Once again, it was nothing but gibberish.

The tension in this is amazing.

It's like really good. The build-up is also executed perfectly with the pace. The idea that something is wrong is felt throughout, but it isn't aware until the very ending when the character realizes it.

And, of course, Zeus had something to do with it. (I'm not a big pjo person but ik my mythology)

Keep up the good work.