WIPs Sneak Peaks!!
I am about to post my weekly writing chronicle and I have so many little WIPs that I will be mentioning that I realized I need a separate post to share them...
NOTE: Instead of trying to invent a brand-new OC every time inspiration strikes, I've just been letting different versions of Cassandra wander into each story...and honestly? It's been ridiculously fun. It feels much more natural and freeing, and I've ended up with a whole notebook full of little moments I'd love to turn into full stories someday.
Here are four sneak peaks (I have so many more...but I had to keep it readable LMAO)
✦ Sneak Peak #1 - Ikevamp Theo (My personal favorite)
She looked up at him. "When why carry it?
"Because," Theo replied, visiblly irritated, "you'll drop it while becoming distracted by a puddle."
"I do not get distracted by puddles."
Theo gave her a look. "You once stopped in the middle of the road because one reflected the moon."
"It was beautiful," she defended.
"It was water."
"Theo, it contained the moon!" she exclaimed as if that explained everything.
"It contained horse urine."
Cassandra stared at him.
Behind Theo, Sebastian looked down with suspicious concentration. She turned slowly toward him. "Was that true, Sebastian."
Sebastian cleared his throat. "I did not conduct a chemical analysis."
✦ Sneak Peak #2 - Ikevamp Jean
The pressed flower was a lily.
Jean recognized it before Arthur removed the glass. His body went still, blue eyes fixed upon the flattened white petals.
Cassandra remembered the garden. Not the grand field of lilies beyond the city. A single flower beside the mansion wall, bent after heavy rain. Jean had knelt in wet earth to lift it.
“You thought it was dying,” Cassandra said.
Jean nodded. “It had broken.”
“You carried it inside in both hands.”
“It was still alive.”
Theo glanced at the flower. “Not anymore.”
Vincent touched his sleeve. “Theo.”
“What? It’s pressed.”
Jean looked untroubled by the remark. “It lived for six more days.”
Cassandra smiled. “We put it in water beside the library window.”
Jean’s gaze lowered to the flower. “You read to it.”
“I read near it.”
“You turned the vase toward the book.”
“So it would not feel excluded.”
Isaac looked pained. “Plants cannot follow narratives.”
Dazai leaned toward him. “Perhaps that explains their serenity.”
Jean ignored them. “When it began to fade,” he said, each word quiet and careful, “Cassandra placed it in the book she had been reading.”
Cassandra looked at the pressed lily. “Why did you keep it, Jean?”
His expression became solemn. “Because it was not ugly when it died.”
The words entered the room softly. Cassandra’s breath caught.
Jean touched the edge of the velvet with one gloved finger. “You said fading did not erase what the flower had been.”
She remembered. She had been speaking about the lily.
He had not.
✦ Sneak Peak #3 - Ikevamp Mozart, Arthur, Leonardo
Mozart glared at [Arthur]. "Leave."
"No."
Mozart closed his eyes. Cassandra recoginzed the breath he drew. Slow. Controlled. The breath of a man attempting to remembe that murder would produce paperwork and Comte would undoubtedly wish to discuss his feelings afterward.
When he opened his eyes again, they returned to the flowers. He finished arranging them in silence.
The room had grown strangely attentive. Sebastian remained near the sideboard. Leonardo watched through half-lidded eyes.
rthur wore the expression of a scientist observing a highly volitile experiment from what he believed was a safe distance. "You cannot truly be angry. It was a compliment."
"I'll show you a compliment," Mozart snapped.
Leonardo rubbed his jaw. "Doesn't make sense."
"I know," Arthur grinned. "But I am eager to see where it goes."
Mozart reached the end of the table.
Arthur stood. Not because he was frightened. Only because Mozart had picked up the fruit knife.
Cassandra moved between them.
The knife was not especially dangerous. It was dull, narrow, and primarily used for peeling apples.
That did not mean Mozart could not make a point with it.
She looked up at him. "You cannot stab Arthur with a fruit knife."
"I am not going to stab him."
Arthur glanced at the knife. "Reassuring."
Mozart did not look away from her. "I am going to cut his cravat."
Arthur's hand flew to his throat. "Now, see here!"
Cassandra blinked.
Mozart's eyes remained cold. "It's ugly."
Arthur's mouth fell open. "My cravat?"
"It has been offending me for twenty minutes."
Leonardo rose from his chair, stretching with feline laziness. He crossed the room and examined Arthur's cravate at close range.
Arthur endured this with growing alarm.
Leonardo leaned closer. "Hmm."
"What?" Arthur demanded.
Leonardo stepped back. "Mozart may be right."
Arthur looked betrayed. "Et tu, old chap?"
"I don't speak British."
"That was Latin."
Leonardo tipped his head. "Then why did you say it in a British accent?"
✦ Sneak Peak #4 - IkePri Silvio
The butterfly circled once above Silvio's pale hair. Then, with all the serenity of a creature that has caused no trouble whatsoever, settled upon his shoulder.
Cassandra's whole face softened. "There you are."
"This?" Silvio said with irritation. "Ya nearly knocked me into a hedge over a bug?"
"It is not merely a bug."
"It's got six legs and no money. Sounds like a bug to me."
Without warning, Cassandra lifted her hand.
Silvio's expression changed instantly. The mockery vanished from it, replaced by a flash of startled wariness.
"Oi."
Cassandra stopped before touching him. Her gloved finger huvered in the air near his shoulder. "I won't hurt it," she assured him.
"I ain't worried about the damn butterfly." His gaze dropped to her hovering hand.
The butterfly shifted. Cassandra's breath caught. "If I move away, it may fly off."
"And that'd be a tragedy?"
"Yes."
The answer came so simply that Silvio stared at her. Not because she contradicted him, but because she meant it.
The loss of one butterfly, one timy blue wingbeat in a garden bursting with flowers, would honestly grieve her.
His eyes narroed, studying her with sharper interest. "You're strange."
"I have been told."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"It usually isn't."
The corner of his mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. More the beginning of one, caught and strangled before it could embarrass him.
Cassandra turned her attention back to the butterfly. "I can remove me glove," she said. "It may prefer skin."
Silvio gave a short, incredulous laugh. "You ask permission after barging into me and stickin' your hand near my face? Ya got some nerve, lady."
...
Then she raised one bare finger toward his shoulder. "Come along," she murmered. "You have caused quite enough trouble for one afternoon."
Silvio's gazed fixed upon her face. "Talkin' to yourself?"
"To the butterfly."
"Yah, that makes it less weird."
Be sure to let me know which you would want to read first, if any!
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