Well, really, writer go brrr but you get the point.
Hi! I'm Oatmeal Raisin Owl! I do things. I write. I am a person. I relate to being perceived.
I think.
This is an introduction post. I'm supposed to put things about myself, right? Okay.
- Am girl. (She/her)
- Am adult.
- Am private person.
- Things I like: Bleach, Yu-Gi-Oh! (To a *degree*), writing stuff when I'm not burnt out, making characters, and not talking about myself because these things are hard to do.
This blog is for my writing-stuff. For me to talk about my writing, my characters, my headcanons (or canons for my original work), and other things. Maybe short stories that aren't full-length novella/novels.
Current works so far:
- BLEACH: SHATTER the Ghosts of Your Past Vol I: AO3 | Google Drive | Proton Drive
For the small number of people keeping up with me (I appreciate you!), I'm still working on SHATTER the Ghosts of Your Past! Volume II is coming along fairly pleasantly, and I don't feel burnt out like I did at the end of the first Volume. At least, not yet.
My current plans and progress:
SHATTER Volume II word count: ~38k words so far.
Current Chapter being worked on: Chapter Twenty-Four
From the length so far, it appears that SHATTER will actually be a trilogy. I also have plans to give Volume I a new edit pass to clean up errors left due to burnout, fix the formatting to make it a little more readable and less abusive of italics and bold, and other things. This will likely be at the same time as when I begin editing Volume II.
I actually like how Volume II is coming along a little bit better than Volume I.
Hey Oatmeal! Will Bambietta get her Vollständig Zofiel back at some point in your fanfic? I always wanted to see her fighting and using it. Since she currently has the Poppies, I thought the scientist who gave them their Schrifts could return Bambietta’s Vollständig. Will the other Bambies also recover their Vollständigs eventually? It’s me, ExpressionOk from Reddit
I can't really answer this one *directly* without spoiling, as I'm still working on the story! ^^; But: Kinlesse's Doppelte Seele essentially functions the same as one of Yhwach's soul fragments, including the ability to unlock Vollständig. Part of Bambietta's resurrection was receiving the Doppelte Seele, and the other Bambies *will* be interacting with the Poppies, Bambietta, and Leonise Kinlesse in the future!
A little teaser for SHATTER Volume II, which is in the works. I'll probably do more original stuff once I've finished SHATTER.
NOTE: You should read Volume I first for full context! Currently, the most edited version is on AO3. You can also find novel versions on my Google Drive and Proton Drive.
----
Interlude
Lost My Way, This Bloody Day
A WANDENREICH-AFFILIATED ORPHANAGE
SOME YEARS BEFORE THE WAR
“MAMA JUNI, WHAT’S THAT?” A young Bambietta Basterbine, a mere five years old, pointed up to the top of a living room shelf. The item she was pointing at was a ceramic vase; it looked like it had been painted with golden cracks. Next to her was the four-year-old Poupinette Pantrelle, whose eyes followed Bambietta’s tiny, slender pointer finger.
“It is a vase, Bambi!” Poupinette chirped, tilting her head to one side in mild confusion. Juniper Saint John, however, looked up from her book, and then smiled as Bambietta huffed and crossed her arms.
“I know that, dummy!” Bambietta grumbled at her adopted little sister, then scrunched her nose. “I mean… why’s it look so funny?”
“Bambi, be nice,” Juniper tutted softly with a sweet, reproving smile as she bookmarked and closed her book. She stood up, then walked over to the shelf, carefully grabbing the vase.
“Poppi is right. It’s a vase,” Juniper said as she knelt down to the two girls’ level, showing them the vase up close with a gentle smile. “A very special vase. It was broken once.”
Poupinette stared at the vase; she’d never heard that part before. The four-year-old followed her friend’s facial expression, scrunching her nose as she spoke.
“How is that special?” she asked. Broken things weren’t special, were they? How could a broken thing be special? “It’s just broken.”
Juniper smiled like she’d read Poupinette’s thoughts.
“That is exactly why it is special. It was broken, then put back together with gold.”
As Juniper said that, the two children were immediately awed. Poupinette’s jaw had gone slack, and Bambietta’s eyes had widened in wonder; she was staring at the cracks of golden lacquer.
“It’s called kintsugi,” Juniper said softly.
“Kintsugi?” Bambietta asked.
“Yes,” Juniper answered cheerfully. “It’s not special just because it’s broken. It’s special because breaking it did not end its story. It doesn’t hide the cracks; it wears them with pride and fills them with gold. The cracks are just one part of the story.”
≡
THE GREAT SPIRIT KING PROTECTION WAR
FIRST INVASION
ONE YEAR AGO
THE STREETS OF THE SEIREITEI were soaked in blood. Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, lay dead, his body obliterated. The Soul Reapers were demoralized.
The Soldat had been called from the shadows, flooding the streets with war. The Sternritter had already slaughtered thousands; the Soldat had decimated the remaining hopes of the Soul Society.
Through the streets, a frightened unseated officer ran as fast as he could, his breath coming in small, terrified huffs. Behind him, a group of five Soldat were running with confidence. They were playing with him.
“G-get away from me!” He shouted, but they did not care to listen. Finally, one of the shorter ones took off into a burst of Seelenschritt, slamming her foot into his back. The Soul Reaper slammed into the ground, sliding across it.
“Did you think you could outrun us, abruti?!” the Soldat girl said. Poupinette Pantrelle slowly stalked up to the man, manifesting her white-blue Heilig Bogen. She aimed a blue Heilig Pfil at the Soul Reaper as he crawled forward.
“N-ngh…”
His ribs had been broken. Under her mask, Poupinette frowned as the others caught up. Pain made her uncomfortable. She fired her arrow into his skull, ending his life as the blood puddle spread, pooling across the ground…
≡
ORPHANAGE
SOME YEARS BEFORE THE WAR
“MAMA, WHAT IS THE KING LIKE?” Bambietta asked as she and Poupinette sat next to Juniper on the couch. Juniper paused; her face turned to a gentle frown as she put her book down.
She sighed.
“The King… he is complicated,” she said softly. “A complicated man with complicated thoughts.”
It was a question she had expected, yet she had not found an easy answer for the children when they asked. Discussing Yhwach was never easy. He was a god, a figure of fear. A man who ruled his children with an iron fist.
“Why?” Poupinette asked, and Juniper shook her head.
“One day, you’ll know,” Juniper replied, but deep down, she hoped that wasn’t true. She hoped, deep down, that she had just lied to the two girls that were now taking up her sides, snuggling up against her like small kittens. “If you ever meet him, you’ll understand.”
But I hope you won’t…
≡
SOUL SOCIETY
FIRST INVASION
… CALLIOPE CROSSHATCH CAME UP behind Poupinette as the tawny-haired girl frowned. Poupinette could sense it nearby; Bambietta’s Reiatsu, flaring and wild as she hammered and bombed Captain Sajin Komamura. At the time, Poupinette had ignored the bad feeling the battle had given her.
Though she regretted it, there was nothing she could have done to aid Bambietta and prevent what would happen a mere few days later.
“Let’s go. There’s more small fry around,” Calliope said flatly, and Poupinette felt her temple twitch. “Don’t let them have a moment to regroup.”
“Stop telling me what to do, salope!” Poupinette snapped; she pushed aside her prior discomfort with the Soul Reaper’s pain, as he was now dead, and dramatically stuck her finger up in the air, planting a hand on her hip. “The Great and Powerful Poupinette goes where she pleases!”
“It is the truth.” Poupinette replied with a dramatic hand on her chest. Roxanne scowled beneath her mask.
“Eet iz embarrassing!” Roxanne snapped back, mocking Poupinette’s French accent. Poupinette growled.
“I mean, prolly not as embarrassing as your body count, Roxxy,” Marianne interrupted fluidly, taking a neat potshot at Roxanne.
“Shuddup, Mary! I’m not a skank!”
“Hey, bro. Glass houses n’ all that,” Marianne shrugged at Roxanne’s annoyed posture as Calliope sighed.
“Soul Reapers. We should be killing Soul Reapers,” Calliope said. “Unless we want the brass breathing down our necks. Let’s go, hussies.”
Before the group could begin moving again, however, a shout echoed down the street.
“There’s a group of ‘em! Stand your ground, get ‘em!” a Soul Reaper man shouted; he was backed by at least a few dozen other Soul Reapers, but the girls looked unfazed. The Soul Reapers raised their swords and began their charge.
Tactless, Calliope thought to herself.
“You shouldn’t underestimate us just because we’re Soldat,” Calliope said as she shot the man up front right between the eyes. The arrow penetrated his skull, dropping him dead instantly. “You Soul Reapers haven’t trained a day in your lives.”
≡
ORPHANAGE
SOME YEARS BEFORE THE WAR
JUNIPER KISSED BAMBIETTA’S HEAD; the girl murmured a meaningless little babble, nuzzling against Juniper’s chest and tightening her grip on Juniper’s sweater. She and Poupinette were both starting to fall asleep. Juniper’s eyes turned momentarily to the kintsugi vase at the top of the shelf, then back to the two children. They were wearing thick pajamas, but also coats with fur-lined hoods.
She eventually stood, situating the two girls on the couch. Then, she opened the front door, being greeted with a blast of frigid winter air. That was fine; winter was a little cooler this year, but that didn’t change tradition.
Out on the front porch, with the canopy down and covering the inside from the gently falling snow, was a large, vintage coach-built pram; a Marmet Queen that was larger than a regular stroller and older than Juniper was. It had been almost two years since she’d used it for walking a child; it now had a more stationary purpose. She’d even gone as far as to remove the wheels, keeping it stable and in place; she’d lined the bottom with a thick pad of wool and sheepskin.
Juniper went back inside, scooping up the sleeping Poupinette and bringing her out onto the porch; she situated the four-year-old into the pram, laying her down on the soft cushion and bundling her up halfway in the nap blanket. Then, she went back inside and scooped up Bambietta, putting her in the pram next to Poupinette and bundling her in as well. As she bundled them, she hummed a small, joyful little tune.
Almost instantly, the sleeping girls nestled together, and Poupinette tucked her head against Bambietta, who immediately latched on to the slightly smaller girl. Once Juniper situated them, she sighed.
It was amusing to Juniper how both girls still fit in the pram. It was just large enough for the two girls to curl up together in, just cozy enough to keep their heat locked in.
They slept better outside, even in the winter, and it was a common Quincy practice to have children sleep outside. Fresh air was good for them, and it was also easier for them to absorb what little ambient Reishi the World of the Living had. She spent a little longer making sure they were warm and bundled, then went back inside and grabbed their stuffed animals - Bambietta’s doggy, Poupinette’s spider - and placed them in with the children.
Then, she snapped on the storm cover, keeping the two little ones sheltered completely with only their faces exposed to the air. Her thoughts drifted back to earlier.
I hope you never have to enter the shadows, or see the palace within. I hope you never meet the King. I hope you never get caught up in his plans.
≡
SOUL SOCIETY
FIRST INVASION
THE MORALE OF THE SOUL REAPERS had broken once again, just as quickly as it had regrouped. Marianne broke a Soul Reaper man’s neck, letting him drop to the ground in a heap.
Calliope blew a hole through a man with Heizen.
“Bro. You like, cored that dude like an apple, bro,” Marianne said as she watched Calliope’s victim take two steps forward… then fall flat on his face, dead.
Tiffany had beaten three of the Soul Reapers to death. Roxanne had put arrows in a dozen others.
Poupinette had killed several others on top of that. The body count of the Soul Reapers was rising, and for them, it was looking more and more hopeless as even the mere foot soldiers were decimating their numbers.
The remaining few Soul Reapers backed away, dropping their Zanpakutō to the ground and turning around. Then, they ran.
“Alright, let’s finish this up!” Roxanne said, aiming her bow. Poupinette nodded.
“En fin! The grand finale on this little show, non?” she chirped. “Some wind.”
Calliope, Marianne, and Tiffany manifested their bows, and the five lined up, aiming as the Soul Reapers fled… and firing. The technique they used, Licht Wind, fired tens of thousands of Heilig Pfil in mere moments. With five Quincy firing at once, there was no hope of escape for an unseated Soul Reaper.
In a split second, it was over; the Soul Reapers were peppered with arrows, and fresh blood dripped into the cracks of the stone streets.
≡
ORPHANAGE
SOME YEARS BEFORE THE WAR
JUNIPER TURNED ON THE baby monitor, leaving it on the porch table next to the pram with the sleeping children, then shut the canopy. As she turned to go back inside, she took one last look at the pram. She heard a soft sigh from Bambietta - a soft, contented sigh - followed by small, sleepy noises as Poupinette shifted a little more. The noise settled as quickly as it started, leveling out into the soft, happy breathing of comfortable rest. The cool, fresh air deepened their sleep.
Juniper was an orphanage head. However, when it came to Poupinette and Bambietta, she had grown attached - much to her shame. She had already made up her mind: these two were hers. They were her children, her babies, and she had resolved that they would see adulthood under the light of a blue sky.
The two of you deserve better…
As she shut the door, her eyes drifted back to the vase, and she hoped for a future that would not come to pass. She hoped for a bright future that, unbeknownst to her, her beloved children would never get. She hoped their fates would be the opposite of what they would become. She hoped against all hope that the two little Quincy would never meet their King.
Ever re-read your own writing and you're like... ah, those are my bad habits. Honestly, I love bad habits in writing. There's so much of the personality of an author that comes out with bad habits. Little things like an overuse of em dashes or ellipses, or the insane urge to italicize everything.
Anyway, I love looking at the quirks that authors bring, even without knowing it, because its just a little bit of that person on the page for all of us to see.
The italics button is on the verge of filing charges with how much I abuse it. I'm trying to fix that habit but the urge to indicate 'the character is emphasizing *this*' is just very strong.
Since the fic is now fully up on AO3, here are some details about the 'Poppies', the Soldat girls from the fic:
Poupinette Pantrelle - Birthday: March 14th. Height: 4’11
(150 cm). Weight: 87 pounds. Blood type: B+. Favorite Food: Éclairs
and Birthday Cake Ice Cream, but she very rarely eats either one.
● Poupinette has had several pet spiders in her life. Her
last one was a bold jumper that she named Saint
Jean-Luc Von Webbington V. He was very shy and
violently hated crickets (he would kill them without
eating them, but would happily eat any other insect.)
She bawled when he passed.
● Her hair is tawny orange, not tawny brown.
● She gets extremely flustered when she sees Tiffany
working out, mostly because of Tiffany’s abs.
● She has the opposite number of letters to Bambietta’s
name (Poupinette - 10 letters, Pantrelle - 9 letters.)
● Roxanne has the most money in the group, and
despite her best effort, she often ends up buying
various things for Poupinette or letting Poupinette
spend her money on whatever new knick-knack she’s
found. Calliope has gone as far as to say Roxanne
spoils her.
● Roxanne dislikes people who are immensely stuck-up more than any other type of people.
● Tiffany has a soft spot for trashy romance novels.
Some of her favorites get so explicit they’d make Lisa
blush - despite her modesty, she is actually very
kinky.
● She likes to fuss over her groupmates. It takes a lot to make her lose her temper.
