#snowy wip

[todayis-snowy]

wip and artist avatar reveal guys xoxo

[zmwrites]

Writemas 2025: Day 4

Thank you to @agirlandherquill for doing this again!

WIP: Snowy WIP

Prompt(s): A frozen cottage. / The stars seemed to smile back. / “You’re standing too close there.”

Words: 435

Notes: Tooth rotting fluff with hint of a secret that might wreck everything.

Livia lay in the snow and stared at the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud, and the stars stretched from horizon to horizon in a dazzling array. She breathed the cold night air and tried to keep her lashes from freezing together. 

Matthias leaned over her, his face obscuring a constellation. “You okay?” 

She tossed a handful of loose snow at him. “You’re standing too close and you’re blocking my view.”

He snorted and joined her on the ground. “What are you looking at?”

“The stars. They’re beautiful and I haven’t appreciated them enough recently.”

He hummed and allowed them to sit in silence for a while. He was close enough to touch yet kept his hands folded on his stomach. “Ma is worried she offended you.”

“Your mother is the sweetest woman I’ve met in years. I don’t think she could offend me if she tried,” Livia replied. “No, I was just feeling homesick. Seeing you with Gemma and Isak and your mom reminded me of a less chaotic version of my family and I miss them.”

“You haven’t spoken much about them.”

“I know.” She swallowed. She didn’t want to tell him the truth; not yet. “It’s a complicated and sordid tale that I don’t even know where to begin telling.”

“Obviously not too sordid, or I can’t imagine you’d miss them as much as you do.”

“No, not too sordid.” Livia pushed herself up on an elbow so she was looking down at him. She used her mittened hand to brush some snow out of his hair.

“But you’re okay?” he asked again, catching her hand and holding it to his chest.

She nodded, then glanced back at the frozen cottage. It was the definition of picturesque: icicles hanging from the eaves, frost on the windows, snow lining the roof, and smoke curling from the chimney. Most importantly, there were no prying eyes peeking out from it.

Livia leaned over and stole a kiss, then another, not wanting to leave the warmth of his mouth. His bare fingers cupped her cheek.

“What was that for?”

“Am I not allowed to kiss you because I want to? I made sure your mom wasn’t looking.”

Concern flickered across his face. “Do you not want her to know?”

“I don’t want her to find out by catching us making out under the cover of darkness like teenagers.”

He laughed. “If she wasn’t traumatized by how she found out about Gemma and Isak, I don’t think anything we do can shock her.”

Livia raised a brow.

“That wasn’t a challenge.”

She giggled and kissed him again.

[snowy-bones]

A colored sneak peek at Finn before I start on his ref sheet!

[todayis-snowy]

violent transition from “teehee” to “immensely ominous glare”

[todayis-snowy]

drawing this *remembers I got censored on this hellsite for using that word*….distinguished gentleman again

[todayis-snowy]

[WIP]

mhin gets a normal non-eldritch cat cake for their bday, as a treat!

[zmwrites]

OC Kiss Week Day 2: First

WIP: Snowy WIP

Pairing: Livia x Matthias

CWs: just smooching

Words: 1,013

Notes: probably canon! I really like how this turned out so I might put it in the manuscript when I get to this point of the story

Livia and Matthias sat in the almost empty dining room. Only a few other people occupied tables around them and the bartender had extinguished the candles at the empty tables, leaving the room dim and shadowy. She didn’t mind—the indistinct lines of the space around them were cozy, in a pleasantly sleepy way. It reminded her of the end of parties back home, when the music had tapered off and the servants were cleaning up and she would giggle with her friends while waiting for their carriages.

“You should go to bed soon,” Matthias said, breaking the comfortable silence they’d settled into as they’d nursed their drinks.

“What about you?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “I figured I’d let you get comfortable first.”

“What a gentleman.”

There had only been two rooms available at the inn: one with a large bed, and one with two single beds. Gemma and Isak had taken the large bed, leaving the two singles to Livia and Matthias. It wasn’t a problem, Livia told herself. It wouldn’t be weird. They’d shared a room before, even if it had always been the four of them together. They were adults and the tension between them wouldn’t make sharing a room uncomfortable. It wasn’t like they were sharing a bed.

Matthias smiled softly. “I do my best.”

She tried to ignore the fluttering in her chest. Something about the juxtaposition between his rugged appearance—the calluses on his hands, the muscles under his clothes, the big scar that cut across his face and the smaller ones that littered his skin—and the soft way he looked at her made her higher reasoning stop functioning.

“We have a long day tomorrow. We really should turn in,” he said.

“I know. I just…” She didn’t want the evening to end, but she couldn’t say that aloud. It was so easy spending time with him. The conversation, the jokes, the clever back and forth; she didn’t have to try as hard as she did with the men she’d met at school and at court.

Of course, it helped that he had no idea who she was. She didn’t have to live up to the social expectations that came with her title. She could just exist with him, wholly and truthfully, and not worry about hiding the parts of herself that would be found unpalatable by the nobility she’d spent her life with. It was refreshing. It was freeing.

“You just what?”

Livia raised her eyes to his. They were on the same side of the table, tucked into a corner of the dining room and sitting far closer than necessary. She wasn’t sure how it had happened—they had a whole table and yet she was almost in his lap. Had she moved closer? Had he? 

“I just enjoy talking to you,” she admitted with a small smile. “It’s silly, but I feel like you actually listen to what I say.”

“Of course I listen to you. That’s how conversations work,” he replied.

She laughed. “Not where I come from. Most people just nod along when I speak and then bring up their own interests.”

“They’re missing out.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m serious,” he said, the side of his finger on her jaw to bring her eyes back to his. “I meet a lot of people while doing this job. Most of them are forgettable. Some of them are unbearable. But you’re the first person I’ve met in a long time who I want to keep talking to, even when I know damn well I should’ve gone to bed hours ago.”

She stared at him, lips slightly parted, searching for words but finding none. Even her mother’s endless lessons on politeness and manners were failing her. It’s rude to stare. Close your mouth. Say something in thanks. Say anything at all. Please, please, please, say something.

His gaze slid to her lips and he wavered towards her. There already wasn’t much space between them, so the small movement seemed bigger. Felt bigger. Her breathing stuttered, her heart raced, and her mind went completely blank. His finger was still on her jaw, turning her towards him, but he seemed frozen.

His hand dropped into his lap and a conflicted expression flickered across his face. “You should go to bed.”

She couldn’t bring herself to be upset—of course he couldn’t kiss her. From his perspective, she was a vulnerable damsel in distress he was rescuing. She hadn’t known him long, but it was obvious he wasn’t the type to take advantage of an unbalanced dynamic like that. She tamped down her disappointment.

Livia rose from her seat. “I need ten minutes to wash up, and then you’ll be welcome in the room.”

He nodded, his arms crossed in front of him on the table.

She only got about five steps away before she stopped. When had she become the type of woman who needed a man to kiss her first? She was not timid or shy. She wanted to kiss him, perceived power imbalance be damned.

She spun on her heel and strode back to the table and a confused Matthias.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

She managed a nod before her hands were on either side of his face and she was leaning into him. It was soft and sweet and over before she wanted it to be, but even the small taste sent a wave of comforting warmth through her. Maybe it was the cozy, poorly lit room, or the exhaustion in her bones, but it felt different than other first kisses. It felt like more. 

Matthias tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear but didn’t draw away. “What was that for?”

“Just because I wanted to,” she replied. She forced herself to open her eyes and step back, smiling faintly at his bewildered expression. “Goodnight, Matthias.”

“Goodnight, Liv.”

She walked away and tried to ignore the bubbling giddiness in her chest. She was supposed to be rescuing her family and saving her kingdom, not catching feelings for a smuggler. Then again, she’d always been good at multitasking.

[zmwrites]

Writemas 2024: Day 1

Thank you to @agirlandherquill for the prompts and for creating this event! I know I'm getting a late start, but it's the spirit that counts! (Right??)

WIP: Snowy WIP

Prompt(s): "We shouldn't be in here." + A brush of a finger

Words: 462

Notes: Set about 10 years before the beginning of the story, featuring our favourite married couple before they were even dating.

“We shouldn’t be in here,” Isak repeated, his voice tense in the darkness. His back was to her as she worked the tumblers in the safe’s lock by ear and feel. He insisted on watching the door despite her assurances that the homeowner—some rich merchant who’d made his money through dubious means—wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

Gemma rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be the heir to the greatest thief this side of the Vidin Mountains?”

“Greatest smuggler.”

“Ah. Completely different.”

“It is,” he replied. “I use threats of violence to get my way, not subterfuge and lockpicks.”

“Then this will be a good lesson in subtlety for you.” The last tumbler clicked into place and the safe sprung open. Gemma grinned victoriously.

He scoffed. “I don’t need lessons in subtlety.”

“No?” She rifled through the papers in the safe, using the slant of moonlight cutting through the curtains to read the headings. “Because even Matthias has noticed you checking out my ass, and he’s the least observant person I’ve ever met.”

“To be fair, most of the people you’ve met were piss drunk.”

“You don’t deny it?”

“Deny what?”

She paused to shoot him an annoyed look over her shoulder. 

He was already looking at her with an infuriating smirk. “Have you found it?”

“No, though you’re welcome to take over if you think you’d be faster,” she said with as much false sweetness as she could muster.

“Why would I do that?” he teased. “You’re doing great, sweetheart.”

Gemma bit her lip and prayed that the darkness hid the shiver that ran down her spine. His stupid voice did things to her that she wouldn’t admit under torture.

She flipped through a few more pages before she found what she was looking for: a contract with a local supplier that would prove the merchant’s collection of artwork and artefacts were fakes. Excellent fakes, but worthless. It would be more than enough for blackmail.

She opened Isak’s coat and tucked the folded contract into his inside pocket.

“I have to carry the incriminating evidence?”

“You’re a smuggler. You transport things,” she said, patting his chest. “I’m just a thief.”

He grinned, and the pad of his thumb skimmed her jaw. “You’ve never been ‘just’ anything, Gem.”

She tried not to smile back.

A door slammed above them, marking the return of their fraudster merchant. 

Isak followed the heavy steps across the ceiling. “I thought you said—”

“I may have exaggerated how long he’d be gone for,” she whispered.

“What?!”

“My uncle wouldn’t have let me do this if I’d told the truth!”

He stared at her, then shook his head and laughed. “Alright, what now?”

Gemma smiled again, fully smiled, and grabbed his hand to lead him in their escape.