I have been tagged by: @virshiral, @mythals-whore, and @cute-ellyna, and love to you all. Mwah!
But I'm not doing this as a poll, because my general process is go where the winds of fate and functional ability take me.
But. The current projects are, for the curious:
the chainmail.
Knife’s Edge, a multichapter thing for Inquisitor Week.
A thing for Queer Solas Inky Week (I kinda sort prepped one in advance of the announcement in the hopes it would fit some prompt, but I got another one too, and we'll see how many others leap to the mind. And I'm wrong, I got two on the jump and one in holding. I don't even know how many WIPs I have for that apparently. I got too excited. Incarnadine and Imago are the real WIPs, Beyond the Sunset is the mostly done-ish one.)
Obession, which is the adventures of Kitty (of the wonderful item Kitty's Collar) part 2, also with Love. There has been a brawl. Chaos ensues.
Thinkin' about how that Arlathvhen went after Trespasser.
And I'm publishing A Sinking Star, but that's written already, I just have to keep chugging along posting it, and I posted another chapter yesterday because I gotta get that wrapped up before Inquisitor Week (and definitely before Queer Solas and Inky Week.
And I'm puzzling out a wasp nest theme hairstick, but that's not really Dragon Age, but I hope it will be lovely.
"Fugitive Lex Luthor has been apprehended tonight in Washington State. Authorities suspect he was attempting to hitchhike across the Canadian Border when his would-be drivers delivered him to authorities instead. More at 11--"
Elizabeth turned the radio off, plunging the kitchen into silence. She, Lena, Kara, and Lillian all sat around the kitchen table, hands wrapped around steaming mugs of tea.
"Less than twelve hours, and he's hitchhiking?" Kara mused. "His cronies must not have been very loyal."
"They didn't believe in him anymore," Lena said quietly, her voice little more than a croak. "Nobody does."
In the scant hours since she'd awoken from her spell, Lena had regained little of her strength. Dark circles bruise the skin beneath her eyes, which themselves are bloodshot and haggard. She blinks heavily, like the effort to keep them open is almost too great.
She's said nothing about whatever spell she'd cast, a spell that required the power of three women and almost killed Lena in the process. None of them know what she intended to happen, and none of them are brave enough to ask.
"And money only stretches so far when your assets have been seized," Lillian adds, glancing at her phone. "I've just been notified that the authorities have also learned of several off shore dummy companies Lex had set up for slush funds. It seems they're taking a closer look at his accounting than they cared to before."
Lena nods, but doesn't seem surprised. She only looks up from her mug when Kara reaches over and gently grasps her wrist.
"The important thing," Kara says, "is that you're safe."
Pale lips pull into a tired, but true smile. "Yeah," Lena confirms. "I am."
At that, Lillian rises to her feet, tall and elegant as ever. "I should be going. The authorities will likely be wanting to speak with me regarding Lex's escape." She gazes solemnly at Lena. "I'll make sure they never know why Lex was here."
Lena offers a thin smile. "Thank you."
Lillian gives a final nod, before turning and heading towards the door. Just before she disappears from sight, Lena calls out.
"Mother."
Lillian stops, her head snapping around in surprise. Lena gives her a nod of her own. "Thank you."
Her mother pauses, seemingly unable to respond. Then, "You're welcome," she says. After a moment's hesitation, she continues. "I would... like to visit. When the dust settles."
Lena considers the request for a moment, her only visible reaction being the slight flicker of her gaze towards Elizabeth, who says nothing. If Lena wishes to repair her relationship with Lillian, it would be a decision she makes herself.
In the end, Lena lets her head tilt. "You know where we are."
Kara watches as something sparks in Lillian's gaze, there only for a moment before Lillian sweeps from the room. Moments later an engine starts, and then the crunch of gravel confirms that Lillian has left.
Lena releases a slow breath, and when Kara glances at her, she sees Lena's shoulders sag. "Lena--"
"Let's go," Elizabeth interjects on her own. She plucks the mug from Lena's fingers and places it on the counter. "Time for bed."
"Mom..." Lena whines, but Elizabeth is having none of it.
Lizzie tsks. "You just crafted a spell that knocked you cold for twelve hours. You might have been unconscious, but you weren't resting. You need to sleep. Now go, before I have Kara carry you."
Green eyes snap to Kara, who stretches out her arms with a grin and an inviting waggle of her eyebrows. Lena snorts. "Hard pass on the delivery."
Still, their efforts are successful when Lena falls asleep nearly the moment her head hits the pillow. She doesn't even stir when Maisie and Duke rub against her before settling in for naps of their own. Kara returns to the kitchen with Lizzie, finally asking question they couldn't answer before.
"What happened?" Kara all but hisses.
Elizabeth shrugs. "I'm not sure. Something has definitely changed. The news..."
"I know, right? It was so..." Perfunctory. Not at all the salacious grab for views Kara expected it would be. "And his men turned on him? Left him to fend for himself?"
"If they weren't the ones who turned him in themselves." Elizabeth frowns. "It's possible... Lena may have caused a shift."
Kara frowns. "What do you mean?"
"Magic is... it works in many ways. In some cases, it's possible to alter a person's perception. Such as a glamor, or illusion. Not quite mind control, but... just a little nudge of the senses, a push to the processing centers of the mind..."
"You mean... she nudged people's perception of Lex? To see him as a villain? Is that even possible? On a national, global scale?"
Elizabeth shrugs. "It would explain the amount of power she used," she replies. "But she wouldn't have to nudge every mind on the planet. It's more likely she focused the shift on Lex himself. Like a sort of permanent glamor."
Kara blinks. The second option seems far simpler, and therefore more likely, but the possibility still chills her.
"She said he was gone for good. That he wouldn't hurt anyone anymore."
"If she cast him from her mind, with enough conviction and the amount of power she had-- it would have been immutable. If she gives him no more than a passing thought, then neither will the rest of the world."
---
Lizzie's words sit heavy on Kara's mind in the hours that follow. She moves to the back porch, tea mug in hand, and stares at the cot still erected there, low and close to the earth. There's nothing about it to suggest what had just occurred, no signs in the grass that Lena may have wrought a spell strong enough to alter the fabric of reality.
Kara has seen many things. She's never witnessed anything like this. Faced with such unknown territory, she finds herself unnerved by it all. She trusts Lena, trusts Elizabeth, but this... this is something that ought to be impossible.
For years Kara has believed herself the strongest being on Earth. Now, she's not so sure the title belongs to her.
Seeking comfort, Kara returns to the house, and quietly moves to stand in Lena's doorway. Her friend appears to be deep in sleep, but soon enough she seems to sense Kara's presence, and green eyes blink open to gaze at her.
"Hey..."
"You're supposed to be resting," Kara tells her, leaning on the doorframe with a smile.
Lena's shoulder shrugs. Her arms are wrapped around Miss Pizzly, a hint that her ribs are bothering her. But she doesn't mention it, and Kara lets it go.
When Lena outstretches one hand, Kara pushes off the door jamb to close the distance, taking Lena's hand to stand at her bedside.
"What's bothering you?" Lena asks quietly.
"I'm not sure," Kara replies honestly. "I'm not know what happened today, except that you're at the heart of it. I... guess I'm worried for you."
"I'm okay," Lena reassures her. Her hand tightens around Kara's. "Just... tired. Tired, but good. Better than."
"How so?"
"I feel weightless. Like I might float away."
Without the weight of Lex on her shoulders, Kara supposes Lena wouldn't feel any other way. But she says nothing. Lena hasn't mentioned him, and if Lizzie is right, if Lena has cast him from her mind... Kara doesn't want to put him back in.
"Stay?" Lena asks.
At that, Kara smiles. "Of course."
She moves to sit in a nearby chair, but Lena tightens her grip on their joined hands, tugging Kara back.
"Don't be stupid."
Their fingers remain interlocked as Lena guides her across the bed, shifting until Kara settles in behind her. Their hands drape across Lena's waist, loose and comfortable.
Kara sighs, burying her nose in Lena's thick, dark hair. The tension of the day bleeds away, until Kara feels sleep tugging at her as well. As she begins fades away, her mind fills with a single thought.
“He tries not to think of that summer, the summer where he and Casey had been on the cusp of starting something, only stalling because, well, it’d been pretty terrifying to admit that you were f***ing nuts for your stepsister and she was pretty crazy for you too; and they'd arrived in London on good terms and getting along, which had prompted Nora to gush about brothers and sisters caring for each other.”
When asked, Derek will call this That F***king Awful Summer. Casey will call him dramatic and roll her eyes at him, but that’s because they got through it. But going through it: the fights, the silence, the insults, and then the talk, talk, talking, and the burn, burn, burning, and the wait, wait, waiting… That… That really was awful.
