#memory wip

[lesbianwords]

house of cards

for @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt fff322 "best case scenario"

Original fiction

Word count: 794

Summary: Bronwyn has a dream where her sister is still alive.

Warnings: deals pretty vaguely with a death in the family

**

Beca shuffles the deck of cards like she was born for it, and Bronwyn can only watch in awe. Since when has Beca known how to shuffle cards like this?

"Since you tried to learn it and gave up," Beca says immediately, cards still flying this way and that in a way that looks impossible. "Wanted to be better than you, obviously."

She deals the cards. Bronwyn's stack is much higher than Beca's for some reason, but Bronwyn doesn't even know the game they're playing. She's sure Beca will explain soon.

"You've always been better than me," Bronwyn admits, shrugging.

Beca's smile softens. There are leaves in her hair and dirt under her fingernails. Has she been gardening? Beca doesn't garden. She hates dirt.

"Only sometimes," Beca corrects her before Bronwyn can ask about the gardening. "I could never be a jeweller. Don't have the eye for it."

Bronwyn laughs. "Now that is not true. I could teach you sometime."

"Okay. Let me teach you the game first."

The card game is convoluted and unfamiliar. Beca's hands glide this way and that on the table as she explains, and Bronwyn is still lost on why her stack of cards is bigger than Beca's.

"…right, mom?" Beca finishes her explanation, gaze landing on Bronwyn's right.

Bronwyn looks over, and their mother is there. She's leaning back in her chair and smiling indulgently, a kind of amused tilt to her mouth. Bronwyn recognizes it from her childhood as the face mom would make whenever Beca and Bronwyn did almost anything together. Especially when they bickered over meaningless things or came up with their own stories.

"It's been a while since I played this game," mom admits. "But yes, I'm sure you explained the rules correctly."

Mom drapes her long hair over one shoulder and leans in, looking at Bronwyn. She's still smiling. "Youngest goes first."

Bronwyn is stuck under their mother's warm gaze for a moment before she remembers herself and flips the top card of her deck right side up, only to find it completely blank. Bronwyn stares at it in confusion.

Mom and Beca laugh.

"What? What's up with this deck?" Bronwyn turns the card over once again, but the other side has the same uninteresting pattern all the cards have in the back. Beca and mom keep chuckling, and eventually Bronwyn can't help but laugh along.

She wants ask again about the card, when there's a cup of tea placed in her free hand. She looks up and meets the smiling eyes of her father, who's holding a tray.

"Good game?" he asks brightly, offering identical cups to mom and Beca too.

Bronwyn investigates the cup. "Where did you get this tea set? And why are we using it now? Looks fancy."

Dad leans down to kiss the top of her head. "A beautiful tea set for a beautiful afternoon."

Now Bronwyn is laughing again. "Can't argue with that."

She goes to grab another card off her pile, which the rules must have said was okay. This card is also blank, save for two red lines crossing it. She holds it up to mom and Beca.

"Okay, what now?"

"Give that to me," Beca says, reaching across the table. When she has the first, completely blank card in her hand, she pours some of her tea on it.

Bronwyn stares in confusion, then frantically reaches out. "What are you doing, you'll damage the table!"

Mom pats her arm. "It's okay. Give me your other card."

Bronwyn does, only for mom to pour her tea on the crossed out card. "Okay, this is a weird game. I'm not feeling it."

"I'm not either," says mom, still pouring. The wooden table darkens and the card becomes immediately soggy.

Bronwyn grabs mom's wrist. Some of the hot tea splashes onto the back of her hand, and she hisses. "Mom, stop."

Mom meets her eyes. "I can't, Bronwyn, I can't."

Pain shoots through Bronwyn's other arm. When she looks over, she sees her dad, no longer smiling. He's on his knees next to her chair, squeezing her arm desperately.

"She's gone, Bronwyn, where did she go?"

Bronwyn frowns. "Who's gone?"

"Beca's gone, what did you do?"

"Me? What do you—" But when Bronwyn looks up, Beca's no longer sitting across from her. Bronwyn looks around the room, but it's suddenly too dark to see properly.

"Beca?" she calls out.

"Where did she go?" her parents both cry out, almost in unison.

Mom is grasping her hand now. "Why couldn't you just play the game?"

There's a cold, unreal feeling in her stomach. "I'm sorry, I really tried. Maybe she's in the kitchen?"

Her parents' cries drown her out. She tries to speak again, only—

Bronwyn jolts awake.

[healerqueen]

cozy dystopian series!! :D

This is a fun one! I actually have three dystopian works in the same universe, and I worked on two of them this week--even though I rarely work on the second one. My cozy dystopian series is a serial of short episodes featuring two sweet characters who support each other while the world falls apart a little bit. In this series, society is influenced by propaganda broadcasts and collective memory loss. When the main characters lose their memory, they team up to figure out their own identities and help the world. It's a little half-baked and hasn't quite solidified yet, since there are a lot of moving pieces, interesting events, and unusual themes. I haven't quite figured out how to make it all work. But I've outlined what I have so far. I like the story even though it sometimes seems silly. Thanks for the ask, @batrachised!

[lesbianwords]

Happy Blorbo Blursday, Vee. ~~ For any femslash pairing you have, What do they do when they miss one another? Is one more needy than the other/s? Sending grand creative energy and ☆☆ vibes ☆☆ your way. 🌈🌈🌈 - ✨ Enc

I love this question because aaria & tem are both just obsessed with being in each other's vicinity at all times. so whenever they need to be apart they both get very grumpy.

usually it's tem who needs to leave town for a few days and when that happens, aaria pretends she's unaffected. but her friends can obviously tell, so they spend as much time with her as possible! and aaria will also just try to focus on work to distract herself. tem will also try to focus on whatever it is she's doing (whether it's visiting family or doing something work related). she will also make note of a bunch of little things she wants to tell aaria about when she gets back, like about things she's seen or heard while away.

and when tem comes back home she spends like an hour just complaining about random little things she hates about traveling. and aaria will nod very solemnly and be like yes, traveling is horrible, you should never do it again. and that's how they say "i missed you" lmao

[lesbianwords]

Happy Blorbo Blursday, Vee. ~~ Between Tem and Aaria: Who is better at games? Does the loser take it graciously? Sending grand creative energy and ☆☆ vibes ☆☆ your way. 🌈🌈🌈 - ✨ Enc

hi enchant! i'm back to answering some of your questions hehe. neither of them is super competitive so they're pretty chill about playing games together. they're also pretty evenly matched in terms of skill. however tem strategizes more, whereas aaria is a bit more impatient and tends to just make moves without necessarily thinking for very long. tem wins a bit more often because of this but aaria also has her lucky streaks!

they're gracious about losing, although they're both very boastful about winning lmao

[lesbianwords]

late entry for my own event lol

oc dynamics week 2025 day 2: best friends / soft

characters: tem, vira, tove (tem's younger sibling, mentioned)

wc: 501

title: roots

the carving in tem's hands is solid, grounding. vira sits still on one of the stools in tem's shed, her stark white hair visible in the corner of tem's eye. tem tries not to look at her, knows that vira has the ability to carve her open.

"i am not making you talk about it," vira says. she sounds wary, but she is not fidgeting today. she is at ease here, with tem, and tem knows it. hates to ruin that with her mood.

"i am not making you," vira reiterates. "i would still like to hear what you have to say."

tem swallows around the lump in her throat. "tove is a brat."

vira nods. "okay. that is…fair, considering."

"tove just doesn't know the extent of it. they could never understand what it was like for me, with our mother." tem's fingers tighten into a fist. it lingers, that strange mix of fury and shame she associates with conversations around her mother. the feeling she has grown used to, and hates having to explain.

"maybe not." vira moves, finally, her hand plucking at her skirt absently. "just like you could never understand what it's like for them."

tem wants to snap, wants to say of course she understands, she's been there for all of tove's life, has seen everything. but tem bites it back, finally meeting vira's steady gaze.

it is rare for vira to challenge her in this way. they've always offered each other comfort, peace. the kind that cannot be found anywhere else.

but this gentle prying offers a kind of peace, too.

tem bites her lip and looks away, straightening her aching back. "i keep thinking i know how tove feels," she says. "but then they come out and say something i never could have predicted. and i do not know if they mean it or not. i haven't lived with them in so long, i'm starting to wonder if i even know them anymore."

"tove says whatever they want to you because there are no stakes," vira reminds gently. "tove knows they can always rely on you. that you'll always treat them the same. it's safe."

tem takes an unexpectedly shaky breath, turns her head farther from vira. she wants to hide from all of this. the thought of her family pricks at her skin in the best of times, and with every new iteration of this conflict the wounds reopen. all she can ever do is stop the bleeding.

"tem," vira says. she's stood up from the stool, now and approaches tem until she's standing right next to her, towering over where tem is sat on her own work bench. she lays a hand on tem's shoulder and squeezes. "this won't feel so bad tomorrow," vira says. "trust me."

tem knows it. and she does trust vira. so she nods, heaves a sigh, and continues her carving. she doesn't know what will become of it, but for now, the act of trying is enough.

[lesbianwords]

Happy STS, Vee. ~~ What’s the setting of Memory WIP and how does it impact the story? Or alternatively: Are there any scents you describe in the story? What are they? 🌈🌈🌈 - ✨ Enc

Hi Enchant!! you sent me some great questions last month and I've been feeling very uncreative but I'm easing myself back into it! I chose this question bc the others were too complex for my brain to handle rn lmao

the setting for memory wip is actually very very very vague at the moment because worldbuilding intimidates me. but one of the major things about the setting is the existence and taboo nature of curses.

aaria is a curse witch, meaning she can only cast curses and can't really do other magic/has very limited access to other magic. curses are seen as extremely dangerous in this world and even reading about them is said to bring bad energy into your life, so you can imagine how people view curse witches. not everyone sees it this way, but it's still the norm to think associating with curses at all is bad (and obviously it's reasonable to think that! curses are meant to hurt people after all). aaria herself is very interested in curses and studies them obsessively. she has also cast curses before. and, crucially, has a memory curse cast on her which is the plot of the story.

honestly I love the scent question as well, it could tie very well into the curse thing because I've just been thinking about what the experience of casting a curse would be like. and I think having a smell associated with that would be very cool.

[lesbianwords]

Sapphic September 2025 Day 2: Voyage | @sapphic-september | Original fiction | Word count: 618 | Warnings: implied past toxic relationship

A drabble of my OC Aaria starting a new chapter in her life after finally managing to leave her abusive (now ex) girlfriend by casting a memory loss curse on her. Yay!

**

Aaria's ears rang as her exhausted body slumped into a seat in the empty train compartment. She barely knew where she was headed, only that she had bought a ticket and jumped on the train as if someone was following her, as if there was anyone left to care about her whereabouts.

Her body still suffered from the aftereffects of the curse-casting. Nevemind the fact that her body was made for this, for bringing about pain and suffering. Bringing it upon someone she loved, or perhaps used to love, as if this was what it had all been building up to. The curse had drained her, so much so that for a moment, Aaria had wondered if she could withstand it at all. But of course, a Curse Witch need not worry about a curse taking too big of a toll. A day of rest at an inn had still not been enough to replenish her; it felt as if her own body was a corpse she was forced to drag around.

And yet, there was no guilt. There was barely relief, as she could hardly believe she had left Maren for good, and that Maren no longer knew who she was. That Maren would not follow her and beg for forgiveness. The memory curse was so complete that it would have carved out anything related to Aaria from the depths of Maren's mind. Only, their lives were so intertwined that Aaria knew she had not only carved out herself but a vital part of Maren, too.

And still, Aaria did not feel guilty.

In truth, she felt nothing. The dim, foggy landscape outside her window was a blatant reminder of the present: it was a cold, early morning, and Aaria was leaving. It should have brought comfort, but the profound ache in her bones overrode anything else she could possibly feel. The pain and the uncertainty of leaving this place also brought back memories of the times she had traveled with Maren. Nights spent in poorly constructed tents, lying on strangers' hard wooden floors, shivering in the cold with nothing but a single thin blanket to cover them both. Taking care of each other in the only way they knew how, digging their claws into each other until letting go seemed impossible.

Their shared past unfolded in Aaria's mind, and it was clear to her then that Maren was, had been, her entire life. Her new life, this severed existence Aaria was not sure she could ever enjoy, lay somewhere beyond. She had no choice but to stare straight into it and watch her new reality hurl toward her with alarming speed.

She jolted when a stranger entered the compartment, then disguised her reaction as shifting to find a more comfortable position. She leaned harder into the paneled wall beside the window and wondered if the stranger could see her weakened state.

The stranger reached up to slot a heavy bag into an overhead shelf and sat opposite Aaria, sighing. Aaria allowed herself a quick glance. The stranger was tall and soft-featured with hair that flopped over their eyes; their arms were loose by their sides, shoulders relaxed. Aaria could not tell if they were a man or a woman, though it hardly mattered. Maybe wherever she went next, seeing people like this would be commonplace. It was a pleasant thought.

The stranger immediately noticed her looking and brightened visibly.

"Hey! Where are you headed?"

Aaria summoned a polite smile. Away, she thought. She pictured Maren standing outside on the platform, long dark hair framing a tear-streaked face. Away from these memories.

A patch of sunlight appeared on the train compartment floor, warming her feet.

"Somewhere new."

[lesbianwords]

picrews used: ElenaA's windswept oc maker & Wervty's chime picrew