I don't think I've ever written so many fills for previous iterations of the ficathon? (I mean, I have probably written more words -- for example, the time I wrote ten interconnected fills for ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
be_themoon that I then strung together into an 11K fic -- but not individual fills.)
Anyway! Here is the old ficathon post (still open for fills and comments! just not new prompts), and here is the new ficathon post (open for everything).
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( 37. ) Forsyrena_of_the_lake: Beauty and the Beast; wolves; whose woods these are I think I know, written 2/12/20
Dark and Deep (100 words)
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They are hungry, have been hungry for years; and yet the pack cannot split, grown children moving off to find their own territories, their own mates, as is the way of generations. Instead something stings their muzzles and burns their paws if they venture beyond the woods, muddles their senses until they circle back to the cold stone walls that no longer have a refuse pit to scavenge, traps them even as their prey dwindles and flees from the dark and cold growing under the trees.
These woods belong to death until the spell breaks or the final petal falls.
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( 38. ) Foreagleoftheninth: Any, any, "all I do anymore is hurt," written 2/12/20
Clarity of Sight and Word (150 words)
Fandom = The Magnus Archives. Contains implied plans for self-harm.
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"Let's untangle that a little," Melanie's therapist said: "Do you mean that you're in pain, that you hurt others, or that you've hurt yourself?"
"Both? Both is good," Melanie said reflexively, and then winced at how thin her voice sounded making that joke; "Um, it's a meme, ignore that; but yes, I did mean that both ways, that I'm in pain and I keep hurting others; even now that I'm not... that I don't feel pressured into anger and violence, I still carved those reactions into habits and it's too easy to fall back into them, and it's not like my work situation has stopped being terrible."
"I notice you said nothing about self-harm," her therapist noted in a careful tone, and Melanie pressed her lips together and tried to think how not to sound like an immediate danger to herself if she mentioned her new hope for true escape.
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( 39. ) Forsideways: Books of the Raksura, Stone/Azure, "if you start a war here today, you're not sleeping in my bower for the rest of the turn", written 2/14/20
In Love and War (150 words)
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"If I start a war?" Azure said, spines rising in affront; "Since when am I the undiplomatic one?"
"Oh, we're both undiplomatic, but apparently Cherish is head-over-talons for one of the younger Sky Copper queens and if you break that alliance over border hunting disputes and Zenith's general... everything... then he'll never forgive us," -- Azure snorted, to which Stone shrugged and corrected himself: "Yes, obviously that will only last a turn, but the point is the entire court will be miserable and I'll be staying in the consorts' bowers, not yours."
"Were we ever that young and overly dramatic?" Azure wondered, before snorting again and lowering her spines; "Yes, I know, you think I'm still overly dramatic, but I can at least promise to hold my temper for our son's sake -- possibly for other reasons as well," she added, and nipped the tendons in Stone's neck by way of demonstration.
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( 40. ) Forsideways: Books of the Raksura, Consolation & Kethel, what does it mean to make a home, written 2/14/20
Homeward Bound (190 words)
Nine sentences.
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"I think-- I think it's not only people and not only a place. It's having the same people in the same place, taking care of it, so that we know we belong there and it belongs to us, and we can pass it on to our children," Consolation said uncertainly, trying to make sense of the vague half-explanations the consort, her father, had given when she was still too young to fully understand.
"Hard to find a place we can all fit," Kethel said. "Hard to stay for long."
Yes, because nobody wanted Fell around, and if they took a place by force they'd have to spend all their time defending it instead of learning to live by some way other than endless raiding, some way that didn't exhaust all the local resources until they had to move on or die. Consolation snarled at the old, familiar frustrations, until the backwash of her emotions crashed down through the flight's link and she yanked her anger back so she didn't swamp the others.
"We'll find a way," she told her kethel. "A home is worth a fight. It has to be."
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( 41. ) Forsyrena_of_the_lake: Narnia/Enchanted Forest Chronicles crossover; any character; boundaries between worlds, written 2/14/20
Strike the Bell (885 words)
As you can see, this completely and utterly got away from me. *wry*
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( cut for length )
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( 42. ) For anonymous: any, any, fine print, written 2/15/20
Uninformed Consent (275 words)
Fandom = The Magnus Archives. Sentences = I gave up.
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"What annoys me is that I don't think the binding should work at all," Basira remarked idly to Martin. "I read the contract very carefully after I signed it. No matter how convoluted legal jargon can get, I'm certain there weren't any clauses that could be construed as, 'You can't unilaterally terminate your employment, attempts to stay away from the Institute make you sick, and if Elias Bouchard dies, you will too.' You could argue that I was verbally informed of all that so my signature implied consent, but none of the rest of you knew what you were getting into, so that doesn't really hold water."
"I'm pretty sure logic has nothing to do with it," Martin said, having had far more time to worry at the problem than was probably good for his mental health. "It's more down to fear -- the fear that you've overlooked something vital and now someone's revealed a bit of information that ruins your life. That's what the Eye does: awful knowledge revealed only when it's far too late to fix anything, you know?"
Basira hummed thoughtfully. "If our fear is what fuels the contract's effectiveness, what happens if we all stop being afraid?"
"I don't know. I don't think that's possible, not for all of us, all of the time, or even for all of us at the same time for just a minute," Martin said.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Daisy knows where to get hold of some powerful drugs," Basira said. "But we'll set that aside as a last resort. For now, I think stopping the Stranger from ending the world is more important."
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Now I will revise my little speech for tomorrow's Board Minute during the Sunday service, maybe do a couple other tiny chores, and then go to bed early. :)
be_themoon that I then strung together into an 11K fic -- but not individual fills.)Anyway! Here is the old ficathon post (still open for fills and comments! just not new prompts), and here is the new ficathon post (open for everything).
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---------------------------------------------
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( 37. ) For
syrena_of_the_lake: Beauty and the Beast; wolves; whose woods these are I think I know, written 2/12/20Dark and Deep (100 words)
-----
They are hungry, have been hungry for years; and yet the pack cannot split, grown children moving off to find their own territories, their own mates, as is the way of generations. Instead something stings their muzzles and burns their paws if they venture beyond the woods, muddles their senses until they circle back to the cold stone walls that no longer have a refuse pit to scavenge, traps them even as their prey dwindles and flees from the dark and cold growing under the trees.
These woods belong to death until the spell breaks or the final petal falls.
---------------
---------------
( 38. ) For
eagleoftheninth: Any, any, "all I do anymore is hurt," written 2/12/20Clarity of Sight and Word (150 words)
Fandom = The Magnus Archives. Contains implied plans for self-harm.
-----
"Let's untangle that a little," Melanie's therapist said: "Do you mean that you're in pain, that you hurt others, or that you've hurt yourself?"
"Both? Both is good," Melanie said reflexively, and then winced at how thin her voice sounded making that joke; "Um, it's a meme, ignore that; but yes, I did mean that both ways, that I'm in pain and I keep hurting others; even now that I'm not... that I don't feel pressured into anger and violence, I still carved those reactions into habits and it's too easy to fall back into them, and it's not like my work situation has stopped being terrible."
"I notice you said nothing about self-harm," her therapist noted in a careful tone, and Melanie pressed her lips together and tried to think how not to sound like an immediate danger to herself if she mentioned her new hope for true escape.
---------------
---------------
( 39. ) For
sideways: Books of the Raksura, Stone/Azure, "if you start a war here today, you're not sleeping in my bower for the rest of the turn", written 2/14/20In Love and War (150 words)
-----
"If I start a war?" Azure said, spines rising in affront; "Since when am I the undiplomatic one?"
"Oh, we're both undiplomatic, but apparently Cherish is head-over-talons for one of the younger Sky Copper queens and if you break that alliance over border hunting disputes and Zenith's general... everything... then he'll never forgive us," -- Azure snorted, to which Stone shrugged and corrected himself: "Yes, obviously that will only last a turn, but the point is the entire court will be miserable and I'll be staying in the consorts' bowers, not yours."
"Were we ever that young and overly dramatic?" Azure wondered, before snorting again and lowering her spines; "Yes, I know, you think I'm still overly dramatic, but I can at least promise to hold my temper for our son's sake -- possibly for other reasons as well," she added, and nipped the tendons in Stone's neck by way of demonstration.
---------------
---------------
( 40. ) For
sideways: Books of the Raksura, Consolation & Kethel, what does it mean to make a home, written 2/14/20Homeward Bound (190 words)
Nine sentences.
-----
"I think-- I think it's not only people and not only a place. It's having the same people in the same place, taking care of it, so that we know we belong there and it belongs to us, and we can pass it on to our children," Consolation said uncertainly, trying to make sense of the vague half-explanations the consort, her father, had given when she was still too young to fully understand.
"Hard to find a place we can all fit," Kethel said. "Hard to stay for long."
Yes, because nobody wanted Fell around, and if they took a place by force they'd have to spend all their time defending it instead of learning to live by some way other than endless raiding, some way that didn't exhaust all the local resources until they had to move on or die. Consolation snarled at the old, familiar frustrations, until the backwash of her emotions crashed down through the flight's link and she yanked her anger back so she didn't swamp the others.
"We'll find a way," she told her kethel. "A home is worth a fight. It has to be."
---------------
---------------
( 41. ) For
syrena_of_the_lake: Narnia/Enchanted Forest Chronicles crossover; any character; boundaries between worlds, written 2/14/20Strike the Bell (885 words)
As you can see, this completely and utterly got away from me. *wry*
-----
( cut for length )
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---------------
( 42. ) For anonymous: any, any, fine print, written 2/15/20
Uninformed Consent (275 words)
Fandom = The Magnus Archives. Sentences = I gave up.
-----
"What annoys me is that I don't think the binding should work at all," Basira remarked idly to Martin. "I read the contract very carefully after I signed it. No matter how convoluted legal jargon can get, I'm certain there weren't any clauses that could be construed as, 'You can't unilaterally terminate your employment, attempts to stay away from the Institute make you sick, and if Elias Bouchard dies, you will too.' You could argue that I was verbally informed of all that so my signature implied consent, but none of the rest of you knew what you were getting into, so that doesn't really hold water."
"I'm pretty sure logic has nothing to do with it," Martin said, having had far more time to worry at the problem than was probably good for his mental health. "It's more down to fear -- the fear that you've overlooked something vital and now someone's revealed a bit of information that ruins your life. That's what the Eye does: awful knowledge revealed only when it's far too late to fix anything, you know?"
Basira hummed thoughtfully. "If our fear is what fuels the contract's effectiveness, what happens if we all stop being afraid?"
"I don't know. I don't think that's possible, not for all of us, all of the time, or even for all of us at the same time for just a minute," Martin said.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Daisy knows where to get hold of some powerful drugs," Basira said. "But we'll set that aside as a last resort. For now, I think stopping the Stranger from ending the world is more important."
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Now I will revise my little speech for tomorrow's Board Minute during the Sunday service, maybe do a couple other tiny chores, and then go to bed early. :)
