ⵌ THE BITTERSWEET WILDS ⋮ FIRST LOOK ᝰ.ᐟ
⤷ introduction : heya guys it's cynn, as you know i've been working on my new supernatural au, and i haven't exactly told yall about it yet, but i will now. and let it be known its NOWHERE NEAR finished nor will be in the next few weeks, months, or anything (though i do work on it alot). i just figured i should stop edging yall with it and actually give a full semi-introduction. and show you everything i've been working on !
⤷ the synopsis : (roughly the synopsis at least lolz) the story is centered around 8 people, and they're all the main characters, including sam and dean. the story follows a canon-divergent point of view of sam and dean before the events of season 1 where sam and dean are both 19, and just shy of a year apart instead of 4 years (i changed the ages) for story purposes. set in 2011, which is a year that's the perfect cross between the advancements of technology of the cellphone and real-life based communication that i found perfect for the plot. the story follows a pre-stanford era sam and dean that are in a bout of frustration at their father, john. sam and dean are both fed up with this endless yellow eyes hunt, and supernatural hunting in general. and this is where the story diverges from canon, right at the beginning, before sam makes the leap to head off to stanford. and instead, he enters in some totally silly raffle he sees on TV, of a prep school way out from spn's start in lawrence, kansas. this city, called riverview, located miles out from the original winchester home, home to a gated community by the name of princeford.
⤷ the community : now, the community is much more than that, its a complete code switch from the outside area of riverview, a lakeside city with a population of approx. 50,000. but princeford behaves more like a mini-city, or a village of the very best that live and thrive. and not just anyone can move in there. there's specific requirements, and more of, the community has to accept you. it sometimes seems like its a living, breathing thing. taking in families and assimilating them into the way of life that's inside princeford. no one typically leaves except for traveling reasons, and it serves as a home base for all of the elite and the favored and rich. princeford has a community full of members of aprox 6,000, sometimes more and sometimes less. but for those who wish to get in have to go through a specific community, and its run by a special group, called the legacies. a group of old money, rich-down-to-the-bone families that are the descendants of the creators of the princeford community. and even though princeford is already respected and envied by all those who wish to be accepted into its impervious walls, the legacies are a whole different breed of opulence and luxury.
⤷ the legacies : the legacies are based on the founders of the princeford community, that are commonly coined as the six, as other community members like to call them. the legacies sit high, even atop the privileged princeford gated community, all six live atop the hills, as its nicknamed. the hill that started it all, jewel hill, because each family shines like diamonds and precious stones. the one that the ancient descendants of the six families : the clements', the ashford's, the lockhart's, the wessex's, the sinclair's, and the lawson's.
the six legacies have been intertwined in drama, intense loyalty, and luxury since diapers. and each legacy generation are somehow vowed and promised to be a close-knight friend group from birth. and as they go along their privileged lives, reaching some basis of adulthood. now, have to complete a rite of passage that's been done by the last near-century of their bloodlines. complete prep school: specifically, ridgeview prepatory school. a touchstone for every young adult, to mold them into figureheads and spitfire's in their college days. it serves as a bridge between high school and college to help students prepare for their futures. and most of all, get some semblance of freedom from their overbearing parents. this school is a boarding school, where students stay near-year-round. with rigorous study habits, extracurricular activities, staying at the top of the school hiearchy, maintaining perfect academic status, as well as navigating the world and being thrust into sort-of superpowered fame, thanks to their parents, with all of this, its sure to create some drama and chaos, even amongst the most high ranking and respected students. and to them, legacy and reputation is everything.
⤷ meet "the six" : the six term is coined from the fact there's six families, six legacies, and six boys and girls to this iron-firm grip of their bond, with that being said, lets go over them!
aurora ashford : irish/white: waist length dark auburn hair, 5'8, ivy green eyes, roles: co-head cheerleader of the ridgeview's diva darling's cheer/dance team with tara lockhart, equestrian rider, model-on-the-downlow, alleged little miss perfect, the beauty and the brawn
aurora is an absolute spitfire, one of the key figures that holds this group together. no doubt a nepo baby, her family runs a modelling and talent agency that she's been part of countless of times. so she's got a bit of clout, but she's an all around party girl when she wants to be, and a busy woman. she's always on top of every event for the group and herself. never misses a chance to party hard and up her reputation. after all, it's everything. and despite her full plate, aurora is an amazing equestrian rider on the school's equestrian team, lovingly called the river sticks. its the school's unusually popular sport team, and the favorite. and of course taking after her parents, she's got those modelling genes, and her beautiful dark auburn hair and ivy green eyes, with a few stray freckles across her nose when it gets too sunny outside.
alfie sinclair : 19, white: shaggy dirty-blonde hair (brown at roots) 6'3, blue eyes, roles: QB for ridgeview's panther's, top equestrian rider, cute-but-deadly attitude, himbo attitude
alfie is an absolute trickster, he's coined as the baby of the group. even if he's nearly the tallest, alfie is on the school's beloved second-running sport team, the football team as head QB, and also rides with the river sticks. he's highly protective of the girls, and also his legacy. the sinclair's are always known to be sporty as well as flirty. and alfie lives up to that, with his dad overseeing the sports sector of the school, overlooking all sports and managing funding. alfie is a heartbreaker, even if he's sweet on some. alfie has a lean build, with blonde hair, and sea-stricken blue eyes.
delphine clements : 19, latina, 5'10, hazel eyes, 3c curly black waist length hair, roles: equestrian rider, micro-celeb, d1 music taste/dj, could-not-care-less attitude
delphine is the school's very own "black-sheep girl". yes, even the best of the best have one. delphine detests the whole legacy thing most times, but tries to make the best of it. delphine for sure can't catch a break on or off the equestrian track, it seems as she was destined for fame. delphine's parents own a jewlery buisness, which she often models for them (as well as partnering up with aurora's parents). often leaves her with a micro-celeb status on her own. especially with her "devil may care" attitude and her interpersonal life everyone seems to want a piece of. despite not really caring for the whole legacy life and all the mess that comes with it. she wouldn't give it up for anything. despite being quiet and reserved, the general public, those in princeford, riverview and beyond try to box her in as some mysterious entity everyone thinks they have the code to crack, even though they don't. delphine attracts attention wherever she goes, thanks to her last name she carries like a burden and her wistful looks. her beautiful raven black curly hair, caramel colored skin, and hazel brown eyes.
noelle lawson : 19, filipino, 5'7, hazel eyes, wispy black waist-length hair roles: equestrian rider, fashionista, designer, gossip mod, top intellect, journalistic-at-times.
noelle is a girl that wears many hats, including co-running the cheerleading team with aurora, a fashionista by day, and her mom's assistant manager of the fashion department of her line. as well as a champion equestrian rider and making sure the legacies stay in-the-know on the latest fashion trends. noelle lawson is not an easy girl to please, but when shes with her girls, everything is just peachy. she's one of the glues that holds the legacies together, what with her top intellect and her up to date fashion from her mother, amy lawson, which runs lawson fashion corp, or LFC, noelle is going in her footsteps of being a cunning buisness woman by studying the history of fashion, marketing, tinkering with her own designs, as well as being head and/or part of the magazine ‘The Gleaming - the top elites children's get their latest news’ not to be confused with the gossip web site ridgeriverwhispers.com
scott wessex : 19, 6'0, white: tanned skin, shaggy dark brown hair, blue eyes, roles: equestrian rider, the muscle, legacy playboy, status symbol, dreamboy
scotty, as he's called, is the the six's #1 showboy. he's everything the rumors say, he won't deny it. he's messy, he's flashy, and brash. most of the other legacies don't usually flaunt their wealth in such a way. but he for sure does to make up for the rest of them. scotty's a grade a suave nightmare, a spitfire, but he keeps it undercover for the most part. he believes legacy was written in the pages for all of them, believing in destiny and all that crap isn't really his thing. but when it's like this? being at the height of it all? Oh yeah, he's 100% taking it. scotty's spitfire personality reflects in his looks, wide shoulders and absolute dreamboat features he definitely abuses on the daily, dark brown shaggy hair and blue eyes
tara lockhart : 19, black: coily shoulder length hair, dark skin, brown eyes, 5'9, roles: equestrian rider, legacy socialite, co-head cheerleader designated popular girl, excellent on image and reputation tips
the brains of the operation, with all of her parents connections, what to the legacy commitie her mom runs, and her dad being the head of ridgeview prepatory school, the world is their oyster, and everyone better get ready for them to take a bite. tara lockhart is an absolute sweetheart, but don’t confuse those doe eyes for naive. she’s quick to have loyalty to the legacies. And in her family, reputation and legacy is everything. like most legacies, tara enjoys being part of this group, it is an honor and a blessing in many people’s eyes after all. but underneath it all, tara also is like her mother, a socialite. and each person plays their roles in this friend group. and tara 100% fills hers. like her mom, shes destined to be a socialite, to be friendly and ever adored. But people dont get what they want most times, so its always good to be a little cunning. at ridgeview she studies sociology, project management and marketing. even being an all-buisness true-to-her-form popular girl, tara still stuns with her talents and drive, as well as her looks, her soft, round face with melanin skin, deep brown eyes and curly black hair.
⤷ the plot/storyline : the plot (as talked about in the synopsis) follows a classic young adult/new adult formula that's focused on coming of age and the inside scoop of the lives of the legacies, the mystery of who's running the infamous gossip blog hosted at the website ridgeriverwhispers.com. and more importantly why are they running it, and where are they getting their info from? the plot will follow the individual lives of, aurora, alfie, dean, delphine, noelle, sam, scott and tara, as their individual journies come together at ridgeview prepatory school, discovering more about "the six's" lives. as well as well this path will lead them, and uncovering age-old mysteries that threaten all they've once known.
⤷ the themes: the themes are fairly simple, and it won't be as lore heavy as other projects im working on. the themes will mainly switch around: coming of age, mystery, romance, self-discovery, the importance of platonic and romantic bonds. and what the lives of those that live inside princeford really look like.
⤷ author's acknowledgments and notes: with ALLLLL of that being said, i appreciate if you read until the end. i lowkey have been trying my absolute best to get something out about this au because you guys are literally so excited and hype me up 24/7 about it and i wanna keep yall fed! With that being said, as in my rules this will be a 16+ project, and much like young adult/new adult books it's basically on par with things like: the summer i turned pretty, the inheritance games, to all the boys i loved before, and things like that (theme wise and rating wise). I honestly want to keep it medium on the lore and story building. Again i don't know what that means for you guys but i am the LORE QUEEN i love lore i love backstory and making 29378373 plots.
But for my standards it'll probably be pretty tame and easy to follow/understand since it'll be sorta kinda running on an episodic schedule, when I do get cracking on this it'll probably be released fairly frequently (i hope). WITH THAT BEING SAID, this is an au (alternate universe) canon-divergent, which also means that the interpretations of sam and dean are from MY lens. and im not about to try to bend over backwards to appease canon readers. they'll be warnings on every single part about this (if i remember). so just keep that in mind. ALSO, with this being an au, its not the type of thing that will have headcanons or that sort of thing, it's a series. Im not sure how long it will be yet but for sure within the 30/40 chapters ballpark (im aiming for it, at least). so keep that in mind. my word count goal is 100K-150K for this project. Also its not really a buildable idea that others are free to use so...keep that in mind.
ONE LAST THING, tysm for you guys helping me build this idea/project, i literally couldn't have done it without you, obviously special thanks to @cynskywalker, @sturnspup, and @miss-sturn for always encouraging me and helping me in the early writing process.
ⓘ contains 16+ themes ©crystalcider 2025. i am the creator of the au and i do not give permission for copying, inspo or other writer's contributions. thank you !!
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