ACE OF DIAMONDS, YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO HUNGER. The ravenous child of the ordinary, a mediocrity that clawed its way from unremarkable soil with fingernails bloody and ambition sharp as winter wind. There was no gilded inheritance waiting in the wings, no dynasty to claim. Only the endless, gnawing need to prove that you were destined for more.
Two autumns past, you tasted the golden honey of victory in SECRET SOCIETY'S TRIAL OF HEARTS and found it ash on your tongue. Because victory, you discovered, is not a destination but an addiction sweet as laudanum and hollow as church bells ringing over empty pews. They whisper that you have everything, but you feel like a hollow victor counting empty trophies in an empty room. What you have is not enough. What you deserve is more.
Now you circle this year's trial like a moth drawn to flame. This year, despite not being a player, you will find a way to cast yourself once more in its leading role, even if it demands becoming the villain of someone else's triumph.
DYNAMICS
THE LOGICIAN✦ RAW AND BRILLIANT, FOR HOW LONG?
YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE LOGICIAN. The way they are scratching at equations, as if the TRIAL were some grand theorem waiting to be solved. That maddening certainty that understanding equals control in their eyes... You wore that same belief once. You've been subtly sabotaging THE LOGICIAN's efforts. Not out of cruelty, but out of mercy. Perhaps if you draw close enough... You could forge an alliance with THE LOGICIAN: Mentor and student, architect and engineer. You could shape this battle like gods molding clay. Or you could do what you've always done best: Let them fall. Tear the rulebook to ribbons.
THE VIGILANTE ✦ YOU TASTE OF COPPER AND BROKEN PROMISE.
WHAT A DANCE: Recognition bleeding into contempt, contempt curdling into something... else. You've seen that look of anger before, felt its weight, related to it. THE VIGILANTE stands like an uncontrollable variable in your narrative. Or maybe the opposite. Could they become what you've always lacked — an extension of your will made flesh? You keep finding yourselves in the same rooms, circling the same prey, drawn into the same deadly spirals. They shattered your trust once already. Betrayed you. They called themselves ruthless. You'll show them ruthless.
THE WITNESS ✦ WHAT TERRIBLE SOFTNESS IN THOSE EYES.
SOMETIMES, YOU CATCH IT. Pity, crystalline and cutting. Then judgment follows in those eyes. Unspoken but deafening, it crawls beneath your skin and makes a home in your bones. You loathe it. This quiet certainty that they know better, that they see clearer, that they stand somehow above the wreckage of your choices. Their silence is its own language. It screams louder than any accusation. Do they know? The question haunts you, terrifies you.
very interested in hearing more about "the dog's teeth" for the wip folder game?
the dog's teeth, a forever WIP!!! i will get a version of this story out there one day, istg
it started from a flash fiction contest i mentioned before, where you get two prompts. mine were 'a dog walker' and 'the lucky number 7' and i had such a difficult time with these prompts. none of the ideas i came up with really stuck, and i was scribbling concepts over and over in my journal. and then i recalled one of the lines from dragon age origins: "like dogs, shianni."
so i created the character of a woman in an old western setting, who 'walks' the worst of men and treats them like 'the dogs they are.' the concept of her has since evolved, along with whether this is historical fiction or a weird western story, but the core theme is always centered on what does it look like when two victims have different views of what type of revenge will bring them closure.
i'm writing a version of this story in a contest i'm in right now, and hopefully a longer word range will benefit the concept.
Hello, can I request Rabbit Heart from the WIP Folder Game?
hello hello! and yes, one of my favorite WIPs!
So Rabbit Heart came to exist because of a flash fiction (story in 1k words or less) contest I was in, where you were provided two prompts: an occupation and a concept. The occupation didn't have to pertain to the main character, but must still be prevalent, and the concept had to be at the forefront throughout. My prompts were Landlord and Revenge. I went through multiple iterations of a type of landlord before I settled on one who leased farmland, and who ended up revoking the majority of said farmland from her renters and replacing them with drones (which was inspired by the setting you find in The Crane Husband). The main character, Caroline, is struggling with knowing the land she grew up on wasn't ever her family's to own, and harbors a lot of anger toward the landlord. It didn't place, and I still need to remove and replace one scene that's been noted as a weak point, but it's one of my sole literary pieces, and one I really love. Here's one of my favorite excerpts:
The hawk’s head flicks to Caroline, and Edith follows a moment later. “Hello, Caroline.” The last syllable falls soft—it comes out Carolyn, like linen slipping through fingers. As a child, Caroline loved the softness. Ten years on, she finds the insult. “See anything?”
RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!
thank you so much for the tag @the4rcanist! i truthfully don't have many fandom WIPs, and most of them are...vague ideas and writing strewn across multiple journals, so i'm also going to include some original works in the mix too!
Dragon Age, Emmrook fic- Emmrich pov with a Rook who was blighted before joining the Wardens.
Persona 5, Yusuke solo fic
Hero Companion story - following the aftermath of the final battle through the eyes of the one who was beside the hero from the beginning
Memory stone story - the few who can collect memories in stones, and what that means in the aftermath of war
Milk - horror involving goats and what we live with
These Mortal Coils - Medusa story inspired by Hesiod's version
A Blessed Life - a woman is given an impossible task to get back her daughter
By His Will - In order for development to commence on the marshland, the last property must be signed over.
The Dog’s Teeth - A young woman finds the last thing she needs in Sweet Sadie’s hands.
Rabbit Heart - How a young girl handles grief and the desire for revenge
i haven't really done a tag game like this before, so i am going to tag a couple of mutuals and people that i follow that i feel like have some WIPs, but honestly, pls don't feel pressured to do this at all!
@earthbloods @yugocar @theherocomplex @veilkeeper @high-dragon-bait @loquaciousquark and that's it i'm getting too nervous tagging more people
Would the writing of this go faster if I actually played the game myself? Probably. Will the gameplay videos I’ve already watched help me out? Hopefully. But I’m doing this, I WILL FINISH THIS
Store leftovers are now up for sale ! -> OVER HERE
Items will stay up till end of the month or until they sell out, so grab em' while you can! alot of things are quite low on stock at the moment so i can't guarantee anything 🌟 thank you in advance !
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