i actually made decent chapter 16 progress the past couple of days so! posting a bit of that today as motivation to keep that energy going into the new year. the passage here is from immediately after the ceremony to return the pales administrative district to the grand duchy, during the car ride to the outdoor cultural festival to celebrate.
rizia fic, vina/axel, vina/manus, pre-vina/axel/manus, 680 words, no warnings needed, sfw. a snippet above the readmore, the rest below <3
Vina brushed a kiss across Manus' lips and turned back to Axel, resting her hand lightly on his cheek as he wrapped his arm around her.
"You did it, love," she said softly. "Pales is one country again."
He laughed under his breath and kissed her. "I'd love to take full credit for pulling this off," he said wryly, "but it wouldn't have been possible without you."
She fumbled for Manus' hand behind her as she stroked her thumb slowly over her husband's cheekbone, buying herself a moment to find the right words. "I'd say yes again without hesitation," she said after a few seconds. "Love…"
"I know." His warm, dry palm covered the back of her hand, pressing it firmly into his cheek for a heartbeat before gathering it in a gentle hold to bring her knuckles to his lips. "I'm in a mood. It's not your fault."
"If you want to stop things here," she said carefully, "and call off the reunification process to maintain Pales' sovereignty, I'll support you in that."
The tired affection in his eyes made her throat ache. He kissed her knuckles again and pulled her against him more firmly, sighing as he did.
"This is doesn't leave the car, Speaker Sazon," he told Manus, his breath warm her hairline as he spoke.
"My lips are sealed, Your Grace," Manus said sincerely.
"The thought of breaking negotiations…" He pressed his lips to her temple. "It's tempting. But while your offer of support means the world to me, beautiful, we'd just be kicking the problem down the road to our children. And in the meantime—"
"In the meantime, Lespia has a chip on its shoulder from Pales cutting ties in favor of Rizia, and they have membership in the ATO now," Manus cut in quietly.
Axel nodded. "And Valgsland just across the channel with its membership in United Contana. I hate to say it, but the writing has been on the wall for years now. Rizia is our best bet if we want to avoid the superpowers staging a revolution in Pales." His lips curved into a smile where they met her skin, and he added, "Besides, it would be a shame for all our hard work preparing our negotiating team to go to waste."
"Then…"
"It struck me," he said, and broke off to kiss her temple again. "It struck me just how much had to happen for today to be possible. For it to be me and not my brother, for Greater Pales to be returned, for so much of Pales to have been taken to begin with—"
Vina squeezed Manus' hand, releasing it at his firm squeeze back. She turned to fully embrace her husband, a thread of anxiety unknotting in her chest as his arms wrapped around her without hesitation.
"What can I do for you, love?" she breathed in his ear. "Tell me, please."
"Just let me hold you tonight." His answer was just as quiet. He inhaled slowly, letting it out in a carefully measured exhale, and added, almost inaudibly, "Just…hold me tonight."
"Always." She kissed the soft skin by his ear as his arms tightened around her. "Always, my Axel."
Her husband held her close for a long moment, breathing slowly, then kissed her cheek and relaxed his embrace. He shot Manus an apologetic glance as she sat back against the seat.
"I thought I'd be in a better mood for this when we asked you to join us," he told him with a faint smile.
"No, I understand." Manus shook his head. "Something this monumental isn't ever easy, even if it is worth celebrating."
The corners of Axel's smile deepened, and he tipped his head in agreement. "Exactly."
"And—" Manus slipped his arm behind Vina, reaching out to clasp Axel's shoulder. "And I'd support Vina saying yes again, for what it's worth. Without hesitation."
Axel looked back at him for several wordless seconds before laughing quietly, his eyes warm. "I'd agree to our arrangement again. For what that's worth."
tagging @vice-president-galade @mxanigel @jaeheydaris @statichvm @lordcaptains @mathlann @xoshepard @imogenkol @florbelles @henbased @andordean @dangerousdan-dan @tkwritesdumbassassins @fourraccoonsinacoat @kuwdora @fassina @captastra @nowandthane @cassandra-pentughasst and anyone else who has something they want to share!
🔪 which project challenged you more than you expected?
🛠 is there anything you're hoping to improve on in the coming year?
📂 what's still in your wip folder?
Please!
which project challenged you more than you expected?
i don't think it's "more than i expected" but it is the project that's challenged me the most, and unsurprisingly it's (once again) three to a marriage. since i'm writing vina's story, which runs parallel but mostly offscreen to canon events, there's a lot of worldbuilding that needs to be done that was largely glossed over in the canon storyline you play in the game as her father, romus. cobbling together a nurist wedding ceremony that was both sufficiently different from your typical church wedding but also grounded enough in familiar ceremonial beats to read well was a doozy. and working out all of the political issues between rizia and pales from the palesian side, including the upcoming chapter of officially handing back the pales administrative district, is another thing that happened offscreen that would have been significant. there's a whole lot of really crunchy political stuff i've got to build out of scraps and this isn't remotely my area of expertise but it's an extremely fun challenge.
is there anything you're hoping to improve on in the coming year?
i think i'd like to improve my ability to stay consistent with daily progress. i used to do a daily word count to celebrate getting even like. forty words written. but i fell off doing that months ago and i think that screwed me over with that inability to get fifteen done for so long.
💬 what dialogue are you most proud of?
💭 what description(s) are you most proud of?
what description(s) are you most proud of?
since i dropped the full first page of chapter nine on towhee here i will give you the description of the moment axel and manus first meet bc i do love that so much.
There were few museum-goers at this hour, to Vina's relief. Only a handful strolled through the atrium, and the Golden Guards' forbidding presence kept a large bubble of space around them. Despite the lack of crowding, though, she was barely able to enjoy the small indoor garden as they took the left-hand path toward the Valgish masters exhibit.
The first room was as beautiful—and poignant—as ever. The gallery of eighteenth century maritime art and seascapes was always an emotional one to visit. But her eyes went straight past Dawn off the Coast of Afort's delicate pink sky and soft waves to light upon a lean, black-haired figure in a sober charcoal suit standing before Summer Storm in the Valgos Channel, his hands clasped behind his back as he studied the dark, churning sea intently.
She squeezed Axel's arm reflexively as Manus turned around, his hands falling to his sides as he did. He stared across the empty gallery for a moment, his face unreadable, one hand reaching up to tug at a lapel before returning to his side. As close as they stood, Vina could feel the brush of Axel's fingers against her ribs as he lightly touched his waistcoat pocket, just for a second.
By some unspoken agreement, they met in the middle of the gallery floor. She drank in the sight of him, still clutching Axel's arm to find the strength to keep her expression polite. His throat bobbed as he stared back, fingers twitching at his side. A quietly cleared throat swiftly refocused them.
"Your Highness," Manus said, bowing shallowly. A pause so brief she thought she might have imagined it followed, and then, "Your Grace."
what dialogue are you most proud of?
i'm sticking this whole thing under a readmore because it's pretty lengthy, but honestly this is as short as i can make this passage lmao. i love all of it. from the first scene of my most recently posted chapter:
His eyes were soft as he gazed at her. "'Back home here'. You say it so naturally already."
"I'm your duchess before you'll be my king consort," she said. She trailed her fingertips down the planes of his cheek to the strong edge of his jaw, along the side of his throat and around to the neatly knotted tie at its base. "Which I hope won't happen anytime soon. But your people are mine, love. You're my home."
The kiss he gave her in answer stole her breath. She melted into it, sliding her hand around to the back of his head as he tightened his embrace.
"My apologies to Manus," he murmured when their lips parted, "but I had to give you mine first."
"I'm sure he'll forgive you." She ran her nails lightly through his short hair and smiled at the quiet sound it drew from him. "My Axel."
"Your Axel," he said fondly. He leaned back to settle deeper into the cushions, laughing as she hiked up her skirt to clamber inelegantly over his legs to face him. "Your favorite seat, as well."
"If my husband didn't like having me here, he wouldn't look so delighted whenever I am." She leaned in for a kiss that was readily returned. "We're putting my office to good use already."
"International relations," Axel agreed. He rested his hands on her hips with a light squeeze. "Strengthening diplomatic ties. Passing on gifts from an elected representative of the Rizian government to the Grand Duchess of Pales—"
"That sounds suspiciously like bribery."
"Does Her Grace not want his kiss?"
"I didn't say that." Vina reached out to brush the wayward lock of hair over his forehead back as his bright grin softened into a tiny, intimate curve of his lips. Her stomach fluttered at the look in his eyes. "My love. Do you have something for me?"
His left hand fell away from her hip. Gold glinted in the corner of her eye as he reached up to cup her cheek and draw her face down to his.
"Your lover sent you this," he murmured, and he kissed her breathless a second time.
For the writing year in review ask: 💡📌💬💭 and of course 💞 (ily)
what's a fun idea you had that you didn't have time to get to?
you and i have been talking on and off about the guestage timestamp since like. chapter what. chapter...six? i think. like half the year lmao. and considering how often i bring up vina's unexpected extended stay in pales in the main story you'd think i'd have at least outlined that one! but no. it remains a fun thing that i have Not Gotten To Yet.
did you learn anything about yourself as a writer this year?
it's something i've been slowly moving toward since last year as i've stuck to niche corners of smaller fandoms, but yeah :-) i thrive in a fandom where "three people and a corn chip" is literally the fandom at its most active. forget the whole "your fandom can be three people and a corn chip" within a larger fandom. i mean literally. and the majority of the year it's just been two people and a corn chip! (and our beloved campfire friend chewing on their niara wip. and all the friends who let me lovingly drag them into the game for a brief stay or took a fandom blind plunge on ttam <3 i love you all) but seriously, the smaller the fandom the less stress there is about running into some sort of fandom discourse on your dash any given day, the less there's ever any self imposed or externally imposed pressure to measure yourself against other writers for your ship, the less you get in your head about comparative engagement. if you're writing for a microfandom and you stay in a microfandom it's because you love it to a quite possibly unhinged degree. and i can't say that doesn't describe me.
(i put these two under a readmore since they're whole passages lmao)
what dialogue are you most proud of?
it's so hard to choose!! but since i have another ask for both of these from ani to show off favorite bits i think i have to go with this passage from the chapter five balcony conversation here since i just posted what's essentially the balcony conversation reprised last week!
He leaned against the railing on the downwind side, fishing his cigarette case and lighter from his pocket as he did. Vina leaned against the other corner and watched him as he took his time with it, opening the case and selecting a cigarette and lighting it with more care and attention than the task warranted.
He took a long drag and blew the smoke away from her as he tucked the case and lighter away again, then another. Vina waited in silence, anxiety starting to creep up on her once more.
"This would be easier," he said after a quarter of his cigarette was gone, "if I actually was the man the tabloids write about."
"Duke Dashing?" she asked quietly.
He glanced at her with a wry smile. "Duke Dashing."
"Axel…" She trailed off, unsure what to say.
"Don't get me wrong, it's better than what they used to print about me when I was still just the wayward younger brother living it up on the family fortune," he said. "My councilors' P.R. campaign to clean up my image after Njolma abdicated worked a minor miracle. But."
Vina kept silent, sensing he wasn't finished.
"It would be easier," he said again after taking another drag. "That…" he gestured with his cigarette out into the darkness. "Sensationalized version of me would just tell you no, honestly. And wouldn't have spent the past two weeks going back and forth about it, either."
Nerves, she realized, the surprise of it almost a physical blow to her chest. He was nervous.
"Axel," she said softly, her throat tight, "if that's what you want to say, I'll accept it."
"Would you be happy?" he asked her. He cut her off with the hand holding the cigarette before she could reply. "Not content, Vina. Would you be happy, if I said no?"
"I…" she bit her lip. "Eventually."
He nodded, as if he'd expected that answer.
what description(s) are you most proud of?
this one was actually a very easy choice: the opening...first page or so...to chapter nine, as vina and axel's motorcade enters terador after driving through the surrounding municipalities.
Vina studied Axel's profile as their motorcade crossed the city limits into Terador. His face was hard to read, as it had been frequently the past few days, his thoughts turned inward, or perhaps somewhere far from where they were. She reached across the seat to thread her fingers through his and received a brief, reassuring squeeze in return.
He'd tell her when he was ready. She knew him well enough not to doubt that.
She hadn't been out here in years. The emptiness surprised her anew as they had driven through the outer municipalities. Empty farmsteads, shuttered stores, too-quiet residential neighborhoods. Axel had done nothing but press his lips together at the sight.
The city proper showed signs of revitalization efforts almost as soon as they entered it as the road smoothed out beneath them. The motorcade was supposed to travel through all the newly rebuilt and renovated districts on its way to the Terador Cultural Center downtown where her distant cousin Cecilia awaited them for a PR-friendly tour.
A bright flash of red and blue in a window had Vina turning her head, but the store slid by before she could focus on it.
"Hm?" Axel looked her way and raised his eyebrows.
"I thought I saw Pales' flag in a store window," she said softly.
The distant look in his eyes didn't quite leave as he gave her a small smile. "It wouldn't surprise me."
The city was still a quarter Palesian, she recalled suddenly. Cecilia's predecessor had offered generous incentives to Rizians to move here after the Reclamation War ended, and the number of her countrymen living in the city and surrounding municipalities had tripled since then.
And yet it seemed half a ghost town, despite the best efforts of the Administrative District's governors over the years.
Pales' tricolor flag came into view again, folded and fitted into a wooden frame and nestled in the corner of a store window. She glanced back at Axel to see if he'd noticed and found him looking out his window, the corner of his mouth edging slightly upward as he looked at a corner bistro. Its cheerful awning and umbrellas were the exact shade of blue and red as the Palesian flag.
The diners seated at the outdoor tables turned in their chairs to watch the motorcade pass, following it with intense stares until they drove out of view. Vina would have been hard pressed to describe their expressions, but seeing them set teeth nibbling at her stomach with a guilt she didn't think was hers.
"That didn't surprise you either," she noted. She kept her voice quiet.
"No," he said, matching her volume. He met her eyes, abruptly wholly present, and her throat tightened at the emotion there. "No, it doesn't."
what's the first thing you wrote/posted this year?
farewell at departure gate 3, my first fic for the suzerain fandom and thus far the only one for the main game. i wanted to give evelyn vectern the closure and sendoff she deserved after being relegated to a tragic background character for the majority of the game, too quiet and colorless to be worthy of the sympathy that such a broad swath of the fandom gives her husband. i set it in a world state where petr commits suicide after resigning in disgrace, and it's just a short scene from evelyn's point of view after selling off petr's "gentleman's club" to fund her world tour while dealing with the decidedly mixed emotions of saying goodbye to her oldest friends.
what are you hoping to write in the coming year?
in general i'm just looking forward to writing more of three to a marriage! i'm two thirds done with the main story and i have a whole pile of side stories to get to after it. specifically i'm excited about...chapter sixteen. and chapter eighteen. and chapter twenty-two. and the honeymoon missing scene. and the summer of 1961 timestamp. and the spring 1970 timestamp. and--
what's a fun idea you had that you didn't have time to get to?
i got sent some excellent kiss prompts that i'm sitting on for now. adri sent me one (a kiss to prove a point) that i immediately started chewing on. i have it outlined but not written, so it lives in my head for now.
brag about any project you want to! tell us why we should be reading it RIGHT NOW!!!
you know it's going to be three to a marriage so thank you for the opening <3 okay. listen. i know that pitching a multichapter wip that's 65k words posted out of a projected 110ishk words in a microfandom so small that i am the only one writing for the dlc is a rather monumental task. but. i'm rolling up my sleeves for it.
i'm up to my ears writing about geopolitics and arranged marriage and soft power and negotiating an open marriage and the delicate balance of familiarity and deference within the immediate royal family and clandestine relationships and falling in love with someone new while being deeply in love with a longtime lover and ridiculously sweet inside jokes and political banter as flirting and the wheels of progress as monarchies give way to democracy and queer m/f ships slowly merging into a queer m/m/f ship and everyone is so in love it hurts a little.
and also my writing is. good. like actually i will pat myself on the back a little i am a damn good writer. so if any of that sounds like fun? i promise you it will be.
three to a marriage: chapter fifteen
suzerain: rizia dlc
vina/axel, vina/manus, eventual vina/axel/manus
rated m, no archive warnings apply
as always, archive locked for my comfort and everyone else's mild inconvenience
fic update tags for @jaeheydaris @statichvm @vice-president-galade @mxanigel @mathlann @lordcaptains @andordean @dangerousdan-dan @thecyrulik @zirrah-writes @time-adrift @ziskandra @spindleweedss @nowandthane @schoute @fassina @imogenkol @kuwdora @tkwritesdumbassassins @captastra. let me know if you want off the update list (or on).
tagged by @tkwritesdumbassassins for all of the above (thank you for thinking of me!) so you're getting a messy draft with my last line(s) written on a wednesday. it's been a very slow writing week on account of the whole. cold-that-haha-actually-no-that's-bronchitis-you've-got-there-you-caught-two-respiratory-illnesses. thing. BUT I PERSIST. have some more chapter fifteen phone call with the throuple. a little above the readmore, the rest below <3
"Thank me in person the next time we're in Porte Drazon," Axel deflected with a smile.
"You can count on it." He paused again, his breath crackling faintly in the receiver, before continuing with uncharacteristic hesitance. "Vina and I can take you to our favorite restaurant on the Zpana—I can take the two of you out, that is—"
"We're still a we, love," Vina interrupted softly. She caught Axel's eyes over the phone and raised her eyebrows in a silent prompt. "Always."
He held out his hand in an equally wordless gesture, and she passed the receiver to him as Manus murmured his agreement. Her husband set the receiver to his opposite ear and pulled her close, stroking her hair back with a gentle hand as she rested her head in the newly freed space on his shoulder.
"Manus." Axel spoke quietly, a hint of laughter in his voice. "We've been home for about twenty minutes. Calling you was one of the first things we did."
Manus' answer was an indistinct hum. Vina turned her head to watch Axel's face as he listened.
"Tiptoeing around the language when we're talking about the practicalities is—" He broke off to listen with a smile. An unexpectedly affectionate note colored his one word answer. "Politicians."
Vina brushed a kiss across his cheek as Manus replied, the trembling corners of her lips fighting to contain the sudden rush of emotion. Axel's shoulder shook beneath her with his laughter.
"I'll be straightforward, if you won't," Axel said after a moment. "I didn't discover a newfound love for Wruhecism and marital fidelity on our honeymoon." He laughed at Manus' interruption. "Even if the beaches had been overrun by roving packs of wiscerers—"
Manus' laughter was loud enough for Vina to hear clearly, and she giggled into Axel's shoulder. "Tell him what you told me, love," she said softly.
tag back to my tagger <3 and tags forward to @jaeheydaris @statichvm @vice-president-galade @mxanigel @mathlann @lordcaptains @fassina @florbelles @captastra @imogenkol @fourraccoonsinacoat @andordean @dangerousdan-dan @nowandthane @spindleweedss @ziskandra and anyone else who has something they want to share!
