↠ the main protagonists of where foxes say goodnight, a sci-fi wip
Amarantha Patel has found herself in a strange situation. It began with her as a lonely university student in London suffering through the misery of a course she hated, wishing she could go home. Her only joy was found in the Natural History Museum, where she could go and imagine a different world. Then they find her. Suddenly Amarantha isn’t Amarantha anymore - she’s Fox Night, an agent of a society searching for the secrets of a prehistoric age. And now Amarantha is stuck in the Oxfordian Stage, trying to avoid being eaten, trampled to death or burned alive in forest fires. And now she’s met Carlos.
Carlos Hale clearly remembers the day he first saw a wolf from the top of Arthur’s Seat. It had been odd at the time, given that that records suggest the last wolf of Scotland was killed in the year 1680. Perhaps it was only a dog. But Carlos is pretty sure he’s seen it since, at least once since he become one himself. A wolf, that is. Working for the York-based Lupos, Carlos travels back in time to explore the past and gather information for those above. He never questioned his luck much, but when he meets Amarantha Patel in the forests of eras long lost, he can’t help but wonder why his superiors gave him a gun.
Wynn Xiao likes to think she’s doing this for the right reasons. Ever since the damning disappearance of Fox Dusk - the most recent in a painfully long list of losses - Wynn has been fighting as hard as she can to keep her agents alive. Lately this has meant making sure that Amarantha Patel’s light stays on, that her lifeline never gets cut. Wynn Xiao does not trust her boss, Lorne. He’s been keeping her in the dark about the truth behind the society, she’s sure of it, and now that she’s got some friends on the other side, it might be time to shed some light on the night shift at the Natural History Museum.
more; wip page | wip tag | recolouring psd by @pilipalette
tag list below (asking to be added/removed) ↴
↠ introducing a new time travel sci-fi wip by camilla !!
‘You’re talking nonsense,’ I say. ‘Complete and utter nonsense.’
He sighs dramatically, throwing his hands up in the air. ‘No, no, Amarantha, you misunderstand entirely. You’re thinking of time as linear, when I promise you it is anything but. Minutes, hours, days. It’s all just humanity’s way of making sense of their existence, their way of giving names to the forces of the universe they cannot hope to ever truly understand. The type of travel I speak of is not nearly as outlandish as you think.’
I shake my head. This man is clearly delusional.
‘Let me put it that way for you.’ He sits down opposite me, clasping his hands together and resting them on the smooth wood of the desk. The air feels very still, almost suffocating. His eyes shine with an almost terrifying energy. ‘What if I told you,’ he says in a lowered voice, ‘that everything - the past, the present, the future - is all happening at once? That it’s not so much knowing when to go, but where.’
Amarantha is offered an opportunity few are ever chosen for - the chance become a member of the secret society hidden within the walls of the Natural History Museum in inner-city London. With them, she will travel to times and places never seen by humankind before, see the history of the Earth before her eyes. She will no longer be Amarantha, your average university student struggling to make ends meet. She will be a fox.
There is more to the society than meets the eye, though. As Amarantha will soon discover, lost in the dangerous valleys and forests of a prehistoric age, her worth to the organisation she serves relies on her obedience. And Amarantha has never been one for doing as she’s told, especially if it involves sentencing another person to death. Trapped in the dark wonderland of the past and hunted by some of the most powerful forces in the world’s history, she will have to learn to survive against the odds if she can have any hope of returning home.
more; wip page | tag | psd template by the lovely @pilipalea | ask to be tagged !!
wip // where foxes say goodnight
chapter // prologue ( wynn xiao )
word count // 11O6
Wynn Xiao sat in darkness, staring at the screen before her. The list of candidates was embarrassing, frankly. None of them were possibilities. Being honest – as she always was – she had seen better prospects in the enclosures of London Zoo.
It was a cold night, and the icy air was creeping in through the walls of the ancient building and into Wynn’s laboratory. She was the only soul left in the museum except for night shift guards upstairs, and Lorne, who was never anywhere else. Thankfully, he didn’t care enough to bother her when she was trying to work. No, he just expected for everything to be done perfectly and placed on his desk by the time the sun was rising. This time, though, she had little to tell him other than that not one of the people on this list was an intelligent choice for a Fox. They wouldn’t last a day.
What had happened to Fox Dusk still weighed heavily on her conscience. The events of the previous month had been unfortunate, to say the least. Although Wynn was well aware that it had not been her fault, she felt guilty. So much the better, she thought rather bitterly, someone had to feel the blame for Lorne’s sake, anyway. He would never shed tears for a Fox, even if he was forced to end their life himself. Lorne cared only for the cause, not for the people who made the cause possible. And certainly not for her.
Wynn had been concerned about Fox Dusk for some time. She ought to have insisted on bringing them back ahead of schedule. When contact had been lost, she’d stayed awake for two days attempting to regain it. But the light stayed out and the line stayed dead, and eventually she’d been forced to accept that Fox Dusk was gone. She’d left the channel open, though, just in case.
She suddenly stood up, switching off the computer in front of her and approaching the main viewer on the other side of the laboratory. “Vulpes, screen on,” she said aloud. Her voice command was obeyed by the machine instantly, the dark lab lit up slightly by the wide screen that was attached to the stone wall. The Foxes symbol appeared on the screen in all its pale blue glory with the outline a fox with its narrowed eyes, and the cool female voice of the computer spoke.
“Welcome to the place where Foxes say goodnight,” it said.
“Yeah, I know,” she muttered, “I happen to come here all the time. Vulpes, show me current status of all Foxes in the field.”
The screen flickered to the status display. It divided into nine sections – a fox head-shaped symbol in each – with the status of the Foxes shown below. Fox Red, Fox Winter, Fox Rain, Fox North, Fox Tundra, Fox Neon, Fox Emerald, Fox Lily… and Fox Dusk. All of their signals were active, but for Dusk’s. Soon, their spot on the screen would be replaced by someone new, once Wynn tracked down a candidate capable of taking on the job. Someone young, hopefully, who could breathe life into the position. Fox Dusk was the first one they’d lost in a while, and it stung. They’d also been the first in the ninth Fox category and had been the one to choose its naming convention. Wynn wondered what the next Fox would choose to call themselves. Fox Day, perhaps. Fox Dawn would be a good choice, too. In the meantime, Fox Dusk would join the ranks of Fox Black, Fox Snow, Fox Gold and Fox Ruby on the ‘Missing, Presumed Dead’ list. Another failure, another life lost that Lorne would forget in a day.
If Wynn were honest – which she definitely was, brutally so and perhaps to a fault – there were only one real reason she still worked for Lorne. Someone had to be there to watch over the Foxes, where he would not. Someone had to fight for their cause, not Lorne’s. Otherwise, how many more Fox Dusks would there be – people lost to time with no chance of return? How many more replacements would she need to find to sate Lorne’s desires? Besides, who could walk away from this job? Wynn was far from Lorne’s greatest fan, but even she knew nothing could drag her away from her laboratory. This place was a miracle. It was heaven.
Wynn returned her attention to the other Foxes on the screen. Fox Red, the second of her following, was sleeping, her vitals showing a steady heartbeat and functioning mask. The other six Foxes showed the same satisfying status, and Wynn sighed with relief. It was rare for all eight Foxes to be out in the field at once. And dangerous, in Wynn’s opinion. Usually, she made sure at least two of three of them were present-side, but after Fox Dusk disappeared Lorne had insisted their work be done by the Foxes not currently engaged, until a replacement was found. Fox Neon and Fox Rain had been deployed well ahead of schedule. A part of Wynn had wanted to send someone back to Fox Dusk’s last known location, but she knew it was against every protocol the society followed – and for good reason. Those who were lost remained lost. It was the way of foxes, solitary to the very end.
“Vulpes, screen off,” she said, biting her lip. Wynn knew it was foolish to hope. Four losses before this one had taught her that Foxes die sometimes. They were never lied to about the dangers of their job in that sense. She could bear the grief. It was all she could do; that and find a new Fox to serve who would not fall so easily. In the meantime, Fox Dusk’s channel would remain open, and Wynn would keep an eye on it. No more losses, she promised herself, not if I can help it. The fox-shaped tattoo on her wrist glared up at her with slanted eyes – a reminder. Wynn Xiao was guardian of the Foxes. It fell to her to keep them safe.
Beyond the basement laboratory, outside in central London, it was a stormy night. Rain lashed against the windows of the Natural History Museum and a harsh wind blew, causing the trees surrounding it to creak and groan. A few streets away, a fox ran across the road and under a fence. The night was cold, but it kept moving – fur soaked with rain – down a deserted alleyway, breathing in the scents carried on the icy air. Despite the storm, it was a fox, and foxes need to eat.
god where foxes say goodnight would make such a good big budget tv show...
i can imagine the first episode intro now,, wynn xiao speeding through london to the tune of some epic retro bop like the wildly intelligent yet extremely irresponsible bamf she is
tagged by // delph ( @delphwrites ), thank you ♡
rules // list 10 words or phrases that have something to do with your wip, then tag 10 people to do the same!
wip // since I’ve done it for tsdosf, maybe where foxes say goodnight ?
ok after long deliberation i’m absolutely bumping valkrya up to NA/adult fantasy to join the second death of sorrow fair, and there’s a good chance cursed queen will follow. this is partially because the content of the books will be more mature, partially because the ages of the characters are too high for YA (they’re all in the sort of 19-25 range, so certainly not right for that category).
ultimately I think deus (where the characters are all 17 and it’s a more six of crows type situation) is the only one that will 100% for sure remain YA.
