#charmsmith

[writingsfromspace]

WIP intro: The middle-aged mages anthology

I had another unrelated idea that fits this universe but isn't a novel, so I guess it is! Officially! Anthology time!

Genre: Fantasy/romance(?) Setting: A modernesque world full of soft magic, used in wildly varying ways Contains: Powerful magic users dealing with silly human problems, Gender(TM), a fair bit of fucked-upness, two instances of [dark and broody x ray of sunshine] and counting Content warnings: Unhealthy relationship dynamics :)

Gender is a magical contruct (WT)

I used illegal shapeshifting magic to “turn” myself into a “woman” and get my straight(?) friend/crush to date me. AITA?

Eirian, councillor on the governmental Council of Mages, has had a crush on his dark (and broody) mage colleague (with a troublesome past) for years. The only problem? Octavius is, apparently, straight... so what's a shapeshifter to do?

The charmsmith

"If someone tries to start shit about how they can buy the same charm on the Waterway for a quarter of the price, just tell them mine work."

Only slightly desperate, Vittorio finds a job offer by the towns best charm-maker that is far too good to turn down: bed and board on top of "frankly I could get paid worse in this economy." At the artisan's hostility, Vittorio doubts he'll get the job - only to learn this is his standard reaction to people, and the exact reason he needs a shopkeep. Moving into his new room and job, Vittorio steals more and more peeks behind the mask.

The verdigris sphinx

"We've been so intimate. After all, what could be more intimate than holding someone’s beating heart in your hand?"

At great personal sacrifice, a great mage has imprisoned an immortal monster's destructive powers. However, it still finds ways to haunt him - until, it promises, it escapes. Mages live long lives... and an immortal has all the time in the world.

Untitled master thief story???

"She can walk through walls, you can shoot through them. You're a perfect match, don't you think?"

When a master thief steals from the wrong someone, an assassin is hired to kill her. If only there wasn't this pesky detective who, against all reason, is determined to bring the thief to court instead.

[This one's still very fresh and needs to incubate, so everything may change :D]

[writingsfromspace]

Calling the first draft of The Charmsmith finished! 🎉 This was my big side goal for the month, so no matter what happens at least I've got this lol. It comes in at 16,356 words - I've already written a few extra words for The Verdigris Sphinx but it has not yet acquired. A direction.

I think I'm going to start on the master thief story next >:)

Snippet! Vittorio and his friends discuss the charmsmith and how to break his curse. Spoiler warning I guess. All names are subject to change ^^;

English below.

»Der Kuss der wahren Liebe kann es nicht sein, das hat Vittorio ja schon ausprobiert.« »Was übrigens bei deinem Chef ziemlich unweise ist«, bemerkte Taumriel. Vittorio verdrehte die Augen. »Es ist… so ist es nicht.« »Wie alt ist der Typ eigentlich?« »… älter.« »Vittorio!« »Was? Ich steh auf ihn! Ich bin alt genug«, murmelte Vittorio. »Hat er eigentlich mal versucht, aus dem Haus zu gehen? Ich meine, was passiert dann?«, unterbrach Selene geschäftsmäßig, was Vittorio ziemlich recht war, weil er nämlich nicht wirklich wusste, wie er sich erklären sollte. »Weiß nicht«, gab er zu. »Ich kann ihn mal fragen.« »Vielleicht ist der Fluch ja längst gebrochen und er hat es nur nicht gemerkt«, kicherte Rinaldo. »Er meint, er würde es merken.« »Okay, schön, er meint auch, was mit einem jüngeren Angestellten anzufangen, also würde ich auf seine Meinung vielleicht gar nicht so viel geben.«

"It can't be the kiss of true love, Vittorio has already tried that." "Which is pretty unwise with your boss, by the way," Taumriel noted. Vittorio rolled his eyes. "It's... it's not like that." "How old is the guy, anyway?" "... older." "Vittorio!" "What? I'm into him! I'm old enough," Vittorio muttered. "Has he actually tried going out of the house at some point? I mean, what would happen?" Selene interrupted all businesslike, which was good with Vittorio, because he didn't really know how to explain himself. "Dunno," he admitted. "I can ask him." "Maybe the curse is long since broken and he just didn't notice," Rinaldo giggled. "He thinks he'd notice." "Okay, well, he also thinks he should get it on with a younger employee, so maybe I wouldn't care too much what he thinks."

[writingsfromspace]

Finally caught up to par after falling behind a bit early on!

Also uh. realized The Charmsmith is some sort of Beauty and the Beast retelling. Like, this man is cursed.