Rules: drop the first line(s) of a work in progress and tag some people to spread the suffering fun. Tagged by @blackkatmagic, because Kat likes watching me suffer.
Dogma figures out pretty early on that no one is exactly sure what to do with him. It's easy to tell: the way they always glance away when they happen to look at him, or how they angle their stances away when they're let out in the common area for brief intervals. How eventually it's just the droids who take over delivering his food because no one seems to want to be close enough they have to acknowledge him at all.
He isn't sure he likes it, the itching under his skin that's got him constantly hyper vigilant to any possible threat, to any detail. That means he's constantly picking up all these cues, and over analyzing them, searching for some hint that he missed.
None of it is malicious, which is good, he supposes. It's more that they are all unsure what they should be mad at him about, and honestly half the time Dogma isn't sure himself.
Tagging @norcumii, @shih-coulda-had-it, @vaenire and @hollowandeceptivephilosophy, if y’all are interested.
You are too harsh with them, too cruel, the village says, to a man who had been a boy-made-adult at age six. Who outstripped and outranked those years above him at age twelve. Who had been born, raised, shaped into a weapon, and half-blindly crawled his way on hands and knees into a person somewhere along the way.
They are children still, they say to him, when his hands had already been soaked blood-red younger than they are now. When he had stopped trying to scrape the stubborn pieces of pink not-dirt from beneath his fingernails younger than they are now. When he had perfected a technique for assassination against one of the few precious people left to him younger than they are now.
You must teach them, the says village, while he never knew what it was like to be a child like them. While he can’t remember what it was like to be young like them. While he still struggles to understand what it means to be human like them.
Nurture them like growing things, says Gai, who ran after him when he was small, too small to know what he was running from. Give them strength, says Gai, who stood by him when he wanted no one, wanted to be alone because he was not strong enough to have and to lose. Hold them close, and show them you mean it, says Gai who was there. Who stayed when everyone else was lost.
Build them up, says Gai, who had painstakingly pasted the shattered pieces of him back together with love-like-gold.
Kakashi cradles against his chest the fragments of these small, entrusted lives he broke and whispers
Since @blackkatmagic went ahead and posted the first(?) part of her KakuHashi thing
Wherein I totally blabbed a plot idea at her and since I was gonna write it she didn’t want to steal it so I blabbed ANOTHER idea at her instead (which she then added awesome extra twisty bits to, which is fair, because she helped me with some twisty bits in mine)
I suppose I should reciprocate and toss down the first(?) bit of mine, as well.
Nalt Ficbit below the cut
Kakuzu had thought nothing of it when his brother had ascended to a position on Takigakure’s council. They had never been close to begin with, and there seemed little reason to interact more now, so it is with some surprise that he receives a summons from him to appear before the full gathered council, and their newly-appointed Kage.
His brother passes him a scroll, which he scans, briefly, eyes widening just a fraction, before he drops the scroll down onto the table with a flick of his wrist. It falls, and its contents unroll for all to see.
“What sort of mission is this?”
“An assassination”
He is certain this is a terrible idea. He is certain this is a terrible idea all the way through the blunt negotiations for a peace treaty, through the elaborate ceremony, and all the way up to when he is standing in front of “their” new bedroom, Senju Hashirama—beloved and powerful leader, founder of the first ninja village ever formed—at his side. Simply taking a few steps forward would be the easiest way to complete this mission; it is not the first time Kakuzu would use seduction to lower a target’s guard, and the Senju is easy enough on the eyes. And yet...
Standing at the threshold of their new bedroom, of their marriage bed, in formal robes stiff and unfamiliar, the doorway before him seems suddenly an insurmountable obstacle, and he cannot seem to will himself to take that first step.
Kakuzu jolts out of his thoughts when Hashirama laughs, and he feels a warm hand come down to rest on his shoulder.
“It’s been a long day, eh?” Hashirama lets out what must be an exaggerated yawn. “Good night, Kakuzu,” he says, and Kakuzu has barely opened his mouth to reply when Hashirama leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to his forehead. He then smiles and turns, disappearing further down the hallway. Kakuzu watches him go, mind blank with static and feeling oddly bereft.
He shakes his head. It is of no matter. He will simply make his first attempt to carry out his mission tomorrow
Romance novel prompts - light, gray and dark side of the force love triangle?
I have plotted and rewritten this blurb a million times, and I still want to just toss the whole thing and write it as an actual novel instead.
I love this prompt. It’s polyship and pining, two of my absolute very favorite things, and I still don’t feel as though I’ve done it any proper justice.
Love on the Smuggler’s Moon, a new novel by acclaimed romance author Quack Echler!
When the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War left Jedi Healer Lucieno Mondarr stranded in the Lowkoon district on the dark side of Nar Shaddaa, he simply accepted that the Force worked in ‘mysterious ways’, and settled down quietly to run free clinic. He would have never imagined that one day Sho Saal—the elder, Force-Sensitive Kel Dor neighbor Lucieno had been pining after—would show up at his door with a critically wounded human in his arms, reeking of the Dark side.Lucieno finds himself plunged headfirst into a whirlwind of complexities, from the mysterious burden that plagues Sho Saal and causes his expression to soften as he lays eyes on Sith Warlord Vyklas Xiton even as the Force radiates with the Kel Dor’s muted pain; to Vyklas’ repeated and somewhat concerning assertions that Lucieno is the angel of his dreams, and that should Lucieno simply follow him, Vyklas would show him pleasures beyond his humble Jedi imaginings.
It’s up to Lucieno to get to the bottom of it all. The reasons for Sho Saal’s decision to become a recluse and a loner, straddling both the Light and the Dark— the smothered hints of Light that clue Lucieno in on what, exactly, had led to the Vyklas’ spiraling downfall into the Dark Side of the Force… He is a healer, of minds and souls, as well as physical hurts, and Lucieno refuses to leave a job unfinished, even as he guards himself against the temptations of the Dark side.
Assuming SW — I’m sort of stretching this a bit to be ‘fake’ in the sense that its more a marriage of convenience, since I haven’t ever actually read a romance novel where anybody pretended to be married when they weren’t. At least not in the traditional “We’re both mutually pining idjits that are going undercover/spoofing my family/freudianexcuses and are falling in love more" sense — though I have read a handful of good fics on that principle, and I think there might be a romcom or two with that premise.Anyways, here we go!
——
An unreachable goal.
In a time long before the Old Republic, T’sill had the smarts, the means, the support, the power to become their system’s next ruler. The only thing they were missing was a spouse. Yet the ancient customs of their culture could not be ignored. If T’sill was to make a bid to end the senseless fighting of their people and take rulership of their home system, T’sill needed to find a marriage partner—and one that would be content to leave them to the actual work of ruling.
An unpayable debt.
The death of Kaz Martin’s father left xem in dire straits, trying to pay off xir father’s ignored debts. The greatest of those owed to T’sill, of house Parnthax. No great fan of humans, Kaz knows T’sill will not be one to forget or grant leniency to xir debts. But Kaz knows what T’sill craves more than anything, and since Kaz has no aspirations for ever ruling, xe knows that xe would make the perfect partner for T’sill’s plans to rule and unify the system… now all that remains is convincing T’sill of xir proposal.
An insurmountable task…
The marriage is all good on paper, and by ‘lowering’ themself to binding to a human, T’sill knows that they will gain some of the last vestiges of resistance to their proposed rule. But the hardest challenge is yet to come. T’sill and Kaz have exactly six months to prove that their marriage is not just a legal contract of convenience, but a truly spirit-blessed union. Sentient eyes may be easily fooled, but the spirit of souls is much harder to trick.
…though easier than one might think.
T’sill certainly wasn’t expecting themself to be amused and favoring of their brash human partner’s blunt forwardness and compassionate charms. Kaz wasn’t expecting to soften at the witness of T’sill’s precious, rare, honest smiles—much less the desire to earn them as often as possible.
After the marriage is confirmed by the Spirits, they can slowly part their separate ways…. If only it wasn’t all a sham…
Read The Spirit-crossed Stars by new and upcoming author Winona Spork.
The Orion Conundrum (Star Trek trashy romance blurb)
For @anundine, who wanted both a Klingon romance novel, and also A Vulcan rescuing and Orion slave trashy romance novel. Also, and I quote “you had me at threesome”. Figured I’d take the good old “quote and a blurb” tack with this one
And, as you can see... trashy star trek culture romance novel prompts are also acceptable...
The Orion Conundrum by renowned Federation novelist Karen Pakari.
“As an adherent to the Federation principles of freedom for all species, it was therefore only logical to obtain your freedom in the most expedient manner possible...”
Jerrar has heard a lot of things from masters in his life as an Orion slave, but the words of Kortak certainly beat them all for unbelievable... Except for the fact that the quiet, bookish Vulcan living on space station Deep Space Nine seems to mean them, showing absolutely no such interest in Jerrar at all. Which certainly makes it nigh impossible when Jerrar finds himself actually trying to woo his new Vulcan... housemate. As if things aren’t hard enough with the caterwauling Klingon next door, the one utterly undeterred by the increasingly larger furniture Jerrar keeps hurling at her—even if the tenacity is extremely flattering...
“...actually, I found the mandatory study of Klingon Opera at Starfleet Academy both enlightening and fascinating...”
The first time D’bral heard Kortak say those words, she knew that she was lost. Unfortunately, D’bral also knows she stands no chance winning the heart of the Vulcan living next door. Befriending Kortak’s new houseguest seems like a worthwhile compromise, and before she knows it, she’s fallen for the acerbic, distrustful Jerrar as well. At least that courtship appears to be going well, judging by the impressive size of the bureau Jerrar had thrown at her head last week.
“...to cling to the impossible is simply illogical...”
Kortak has resigned themself to the fact that attempting a courtship of the spirited and delightful D’bral would only be an exercise in futility; Klingon and Vulcan culture are simply too incompatible. They content themself with the prospect of a relatively peaceful, solitary life—unexpectedly interrupted by the introduction of a former Orion slave into their home and into their life. Jerrar’s company is a pleasing balm to a loneliness that Kortak works to convince themself they do not feel, but when D’bral begins to show interest in the Orion, Kortak only wishes for the happiness of them both.
Are these star-crossed lovers doomed to failure? Or does The Orion Conundrum have a perfectly logical solution?
For the Trashy Romance prompts. Amnesia romance. :D (one or both/all of the involved parties.)
Should Auld Romancing Be Forgot the second installment of the ‘Love Long Lost’ series from historical romance novelist Breeda Urooloo.
It is the year 3976 BBY. Togrutan Laara Brent’s peaceful life is about to take a turn for the exciting. When a night of stargazing out over the fields leads her to find a ship that has been shot out of the sky and plummeting out towards the far edges of the fields, Laara cannot help but chase after it to try and rescue whatever passengers might have survived. Ever since her own family found her seven years ago, in the shattered wreckage of a malfunctioning escape pod, Laara has dreamed of searching the stars, and finding out where she came from—and why there is such a gaping ache of longing in her chest. But the answers she finds from this ship are far from the ones she is expecting…
Mando’ad Patria Devolo comes to consciousness in the arms of a beautiful stranger who seems oddly familiar. Her memory was shaken up in the crash, but the facial markings and patterned montrals of her gorgeous savior seem to be pulsing in her subconscious memory as someone that Patria has sworn to find and defend at all costs. However, Patria’s current mission is of vital importance to the effort of the war brewing on the horizon. She was sent to find… something… to return to the high leaders of her clan, something unutterably precious… if only she could remember what or who it was.
Laara knows there is something familiar about this stranger Patria. Something that both fills her heart, so empty from longing all these years, but also shadows it with fear, and loss. Worse, as Patria slowly regains her memories, she seems to want to be more and more reticent to help Laara find hers. Both women know that the love blooming between them is not to be denied—but will it be able to hold up against the dark secrets locked away in both their memories? Find out in Should Auld Romancing Be Forgot!
