#jade shaw

[afoolandathief]

Last line tag

I've been off of tag games for a while, so this is going back a bit (and apologies if I missed anyone). Tagged by @faytelumos, @andromedaexists, @blind-the-winds, and @winterandwords

Tagging, if you'd like, @notwritinganyflufftoday, @thatndginger, @jezifster, and @chauceryfairytales

Have some Jade and Caz arguing in Something Wicked (TWs for language, mentions of needles and fangs, and eating people:

“He’s fuckin’ weird, Mraz,” Brooks said. “Like you and your friend here. Can you talk to him?” “Text me the details,” Caz said. He tilted where his hat ought to be if he wasn’t in hospital scrubs and grinned. “Now I’d suggest you leave, officer, if you don’t want to bear witness to any more crimes.” Brooks’ mouth came up in a reluctant half-smile. He patted Caz’s arm before getting back in his car. Jade was staring something worse than daggers at him. Those fucking hospital needles or something. “You’ll text him?” she asked. “Yeah, I know how to text, Shaw,” he said. He lifted Aravich off the stretcher. “Can we please get out of here now?” “Fuck you. When did you and Brooks exchange numbers?” “I gave him my business card,” Caz said. “It’s a burner phone, anyway.” “It’s still really fucking stupid,” Jade said. “And you’re not eating him in my truck.” That was pretty fucking rich, coming from the woman who carpeted her truck with empty energy drink cans and power bar wrappers. He huffed out of his nose and buried his fangs into Aravich’s neck. Guy tasted like IV fluid and statins.

[afoolandathief]

Countdown to NaNo: Part 1/? — WIP Intro

Jade Shaw, a witch and one of the few seers left in the world, has been using her ability at Las Vegas’s casinos for years, but lately even that hasn’t been enough to pay the bills.

So she doesn’t object when vampire and former hit-man Casimir Mraz offers her a deal.

Caz says he only wants to kill and drain the blood of people with no chance for redemption, and asks Jade to determine for him whether the city’s worst of the worst will re-offend.

But things go sideways when a cop catches Jade and Caz dumping a body, and blackmails them into helping solve an unsolvable case. Soon, the two are dealing with werewolves, Fae, and several of Caz’s exes.

WIP: Something Wicked

Status: Draft 3.5 (rewrite)

NaNo profile: afoolandathief

NaNoWriMo 2022 Goal: Your classic fifty-thou

WIP taglist: (ask to be +/-): @author-a-holmes, @avian-writes, @captain-kraken, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @digital-chance, @diphthongsfordays, @drippingmoon, @ellierenae, @enchanted-lightning-aes, @faelanvance, @fearofahumanplanet, @flowerprose, @frankiestfrank, @houndmouthed, @joaniejustwokeup, @leiwritess-moved, @mjayatlas, @outpost51, @purplezebraproductions, @rhymingteelookatme, @somealienquill, @thegreatobsesso, @thelaughingstag, @vylequinnewriting, @writing-is-a-martial-art

[afoolandathief]

Countdown to NaNo, Part 2/4: Character Intro — Jade Shaw

Image by @artbyeloquent

Name: Jade Elizabeth Shaw

Alias(es): The Seer of the Southwest

Age: 26

Occupation: PhD student, amateur poker player, vampire dietician

A witch and one of the few remaining seers, Jade can calculate someone's outcome down to the exact percentage point. She uses this to win poker games in Las Vegas' casinos, but her actual goal is to get her PhD in applied mathematics. A grown-up emo kid, animal lover and people hater, and quite possibly the herald of the end of the world.

Song vibes: Take Me to Churck (MILCK), Na Na Na (My Chemical Romance), A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me" (Fall Out Boy), I Was A Teenage Anarchist (Against Me!), Ignorance (Paramore), Jinx (Green Day), The Best Thing (We Are The In Crowd)

Post 1/4

WIP: Something Wicked

Status: Draft 3.5 (rewrite)

NaNo profile: afoolandathief

NaNoWriMo 2022 Goal: Maybe 50K? we'll see

WIP taglist: (ask to be +/-): @author-a-holmes, @avian-writes, @captain-kraken, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @digital-chance, @diphthongsfordays, @drippingmoon, @ellierenae, @enchanted-lightning-aes, @faelanvance, @fearofahumanplanet, @flowerprose, @frankiestfrank, @houndmouthed, @joaniejustwokeup, @leiwritess-moved, @mjayatlas, @outpost51, @purplezebraproductions, @rhymingteelookatme, @somealienquill, @thegreatobsesso, @thelaughingstag, @vylequinnewriting, @writing-is-a-martial-art

[afoolandathief]

Happy STS! I might be bearing my own secrets a little here, but oh well! Your characters are playing a dating game, which archetype are they going for? (ie: the arrogant one, the cold one, the childhood friend, the older man, the shy one, the flirt, etc)

"Old man."

"What?"

Caz looked down at Jade. He was leaning over her and her laptop as she moved the cursor over the dating sim's options.

"I said, I wanna try and bag the silver fox," he went on.

Jade raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is this, like, you relating to someone your actual age?"

"Oh, that's hilarious, Shaw. Look at me, I'm splitting my sides laughing," Caz said drily. "Now, would you just click on him?"

Jade moved her mouse over the cartoon, gray-haired man. A dialogue option came up as the man sneered from her laptop screen.

"Ooh, he's mean too?" Caz leaned far too close to Jade. "Ya know, I don't usually go for guys like him."

"That's what I thought," Jade said. She leaned back in her chair, relieving herself of being in direct line with a vampire's breath. "So, why did you pick him, then?"

Caz leaned over the laptop, using the keyboard arrows to select a line of dialogue.

"Well, I mean, I usually like guys I could break in half," he said. "Sort of the opposite with women. But he was the only option that seemed — I don't know, stern? I always like someone who doesn't take any shit."

He swore in Romanian and stabbed at the keyboard.

"Câcat, how do I pick this thing?"

"Enter key," Jade said. She leaned over the keyboard and showed him.

"Thanks, Shaw," Caz said. "Hey, you've played this before, right? Who'd you pick?"

"It's not important," Jade said.

"Oh, well, if it's not important."

He moved the cursor across the computer screen. Jade shot forward as the phrase "Are you sure you want to quit?" blazed in front of her in bright red letters.

"What are you doing?"

"You can find old versions of the game under 'Saved,' right?"

"Oh, now you're suddenly an expert on P.C. games?"

Jade went for the mouse, but Caz was faster. She tried to think of a spell that interrupted Bluetooth signals, but it was too late. The screen loaded a scene at a nightclub featuring a pale, dark-haired man in a ruffled shirt. One earring dangled from his ear as the animation moved his fanged mouth open and closed. A line of dialogue about only going out at night appeared.

"Holy shit," Caz breathed.

He stumbled back from the laptop with his hands clasped over his mouth. He breathed. He giggled. Then he burst into obnoxious, high-pitched laughter.

"Jesus. Fucking. Christ," he gasped.

"Shut up!"

"Does Violet know about this?"

"I played this before I dated Violet," Jade said, shutting the laptop screen just as the cartoon man lifted his red-filled wine glass. "Not that it matters. It's just a game."

"Yeah, sorry, but," Caz took a breath and wiped his eyes. "It's just funny whenever someone has a thing for vampires. Like, come on, Shaw. You know we're objectively terrible to date."

Jade cradled her head in her hands.

"It wasn't about him being a vampire," she said.

Caz leaned back against her kitchen table. Her cats had wandered over and were sniffing him curiously.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Look, he was the only option that seemed — a little fruity, okay?" Jade said. "I just prefer guys who are also queer. You know how it's easier, sometimes, when someone else is bi?"

"Trust me, Shaw, I'm well aware of that," Caz said.

He opened the laptop and stared at the screen.

"Yeah, I've definitely gone home with that guy," he said.

He shut the laptop and backed away from the table.

"Well, this has been — weird," he said. "I'll, uh, see you when I have to kill someone again, I guess."

"Wait, I thought you wanted to play this?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, that type AB I had earlier isn't sitting right," he said, patting his stomach. "Trust me, it's not gonna be pretty."

He nearly tripped over Ada and Lovelace as he grabbed his hat and jacket.

"Do you need a ride?" Jade asked.

"Nah, I'll just grow wings and fly," Caz said. "Or just — run really fast. Yeah. Used to do that all the time. Before cameras, but — yeah, it'll be fine."

The entire trailer shook as he slammed the door behind him.

~

Caz fell through the door of his apartment. He loosened his collar and took another deep breath. His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest.

"It's fine," he said, taking his phone out to send a text. "I'll be fine. Just need to get this out of my system."

"We really need to stop meeting like this."

Caz whirled around to find the tiny Norse god he'd run into at the bar standing in his living room.

"How'd you get here so fast?"

"I ripped a hole in time and space, dear," Loki flipped a frizzy strand of red hair out of their face and flashed that oddly scarred smile. "Now, what's the matter?"

Caz reached in his cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka and two glasses.

"Just needed some meaningless sex, is all."

Loki clasped their chest dramatically.

"My dear, sweet draugr, I have a wives and family!"

"Vampire, not a draugr," Caz said. "And you're polyamorous."

"Yes, but you're not," Loki said. They strolled up to his kitchen counter and swiped one of the glasses. "We both know you're far too possessive to keep dating a married god. Now, what's actually wrong?"

Caz took a long swallow of vodka.

"I just got this image in my head of my best friend and work associate pegging me," he said. "And it all started because we tried playing this computer game. One where you have to pick someone to date."

"What were the options?" Loki asked.

Caz told them. Loki tapped a set of painted nails to their chin.

"Well, that's an obvious choice," they said. "Old man, of course."

[afoolandathief]

Last line tag

Thank you @blind-the-winds for the tag!

Make a new post and post the latest line in your WIP & tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like)

Tagging, if you'd like, @nanashi23, @kaiusvnoir, @hottubraccoon, @winterandwords and @fearofahumanplanet

From the last dregs of what I worked on in Something Wicked (TWs for language and some mentions of organs and bloodsucking):

“I wasn’t expecting you to suggest something like this,” he said, as he floated down to the pavement. They were in a concrete-and-brick alcove, the view of them from the rest of the lot blocked by a dumpster.

“Going after assholes?” Jade raised an eyebrow.

“Taking a risk like this,” Caz said. “Though to be honest, it’s been the most fun I’ve had in decades.”

“Are you talking about running from a giantess or eating the rich?”

He smirked and shoved the stretcher forward. Rich assholes did usually taste better than poor assholes.

“Caz?” Jade asked. “Have you ever eaten a heart before? Like a human heart?”

“Uh,” he began, not sure what the right answer was. “Sure, Shaw. But this guy’s old ticker isn’t worth the trouble.”

He rapped his knuckle against the man’s chest.

“Why, you know anyone with a decent heart to rip out?” he asked.

[afoolandathief]

He's just the boy everyone wants to dance with

And she's just the girl who took too many chances

art by @artbyeloquent

fun fact. the only reason this song is on the playlist is because of the music video (and bc Jade would totally listen to this)

[afoolandathief]

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

What's an element from your planning, research or worldbuilding that you're particularly excited about or obsessed with?

Share a snippet that shows it, if you'd like to 💜

Hey Winter! A belated happy STS!

OOookaaAAyyy, let me share this excerpt, because I am kind of proud of my worldbuilding surrounding magic in Something Wicked and also I adore Jade:

Jade had always been good with numbers. Since she was young she found it easy to pick apart a problem and put it back together. It was a skill that loaned itself well to magic, which was really just a manipulation of time  — speeding up the natural processes and selecting an outcome. She liked that magic followed the laws of physics. A witch’s magic was lent from the surrounding plants, animals or elements. It was returned back with the spell. Nothing created, nothing destroyed. Jade didn’t like owing anyone anything, not even the universe. And while others focused on memorization alone, Jade broke down the spells and built them back stronger, weaving them into a new form. Jade had always been good with numbers. What she excelled at were the most complex of equations. She had always been good at calculating an outcome. In the casinos, even if all the possibilities weren’t laid out before her with the smallest brush against the dealer’s hand, Jade could easily break down her chances in a game. Which was good, because her student debt was astronomical in size.

[afoolandathief]

“Jade, only one of us here is -” “Caz, if you remind me how strong or fast or immortal you are, I swear to god -” His face twisted into a bitter frown. “Fine,” he said. “Guess the sun’s gone now. What a lovely, goddamned evening to be an errand boy.”

He's such a bitch