#winter's wips

[wintrwinchestr]

happy 1 year anniversary, strangers :)

thank you for coming on this journey with me. it's been slow and steady, but i've loved working on this story so much. thank you to those of you who stick around and continue to support me :)

i've been working on what i've been calling "the ruby chapter", where i tell you about her time with joel, from beginning to end. here is a snippet from that :)

(tw: throwing up)

“That’s it, get it all out. You’re okay, honey…” The man soothed. One little butterfly seemed to have survived the upheaval, and it fluttered around in Ruby’s stomach at how the man spoke to her with so much care in his voice. She felt like shit and probably looked even worse, and yet he touched her so softly, held her hair so gently, even while she was spitting pink-tinted saliva onto the mulch. “There you go… That feel better? You think you can stand up, walk a little bit?” Ruby whimpered a half-hearted agreement, and used the support of one of the man’s large hands to straighten out her spine. She should have taken more care to stand herself up, but she’d wanted her humiliation to end so badly, she’d done it all in too abrupt of a movement. She stumbled backwards as her vision began to darken, and collapsed into his arms once again, her weak and dehydrated body betraying her just as she’d done to it all night. Ruby’s head lolled limply against the man’s flannel-clad bicep, her eyelids fluttering shut as she slumped into him. “Nuh uh. Wake up, sweetheart, c’mon,” the man encouraged, a panicked edge to his voice. He roughly shook her shoulders and tapped her cheeks, but she didn’t come to. “Can I take you somewhere? Can you tell me where you live, baby? I can’t just leave ya here, you gotta give me somethin’... Shit.” Ruby felt halfway between sleep and wake, aware enough to register some of what was happening to her, but not enough to be able to do anything about it. She thought she might have been free falling again, loosely understanding that she was no longer supporting her own weight, but unsure why she hadn’t hit the ground yet. When she felt her feet begin to bob in the air in time to some unheard rhythm, she realized that her legs had been swung over the crooks of the man’s elbows, and that he was carrying her somewhere. In her near-unconscious state, she couldn’t tell which direction he was taking her in, and couldn’t force the muscles around her lips to move in order to protest her own abduction.  She must have been carried for several blocks before Ruby felt the man maneuver her body into a sitting position, the backs of her thighs sticking against a leathery material as he adjusted her legs. He strapped something tightly across her body, her arms resting limply at her sides while he threaded the belt underneath them. She felt the man’s head accidentally bump into her own leaden one in his haste, and he might have kissed her on the temple afterwards where their skulls had collided, but she couldn’t be sure. When Ruby heard the telltale click of metal into plastic and the rumble of an engine, she understood that the man had put her in his car, had begun to steer it out of town toward some unknown destination. Her dulled senses couldn’t register anything else after that, no matter how loud the voice in her head was screaming at her to say something, open your eyes, don’t let him take you. “You’ll be okay, sweetheart. You’re with me, you’re mine now,” is the last thing she remembered hearing before the rest of her consciousness slipped away, plunging her into darkness.

[wintrwinchestr]

word wip game/wip weekend :)

rules: share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of your assigned word.

thank you @galway-girlatwork for tagging me!! it’s been a while since i’ve shared any writing, i was excited to be tagged in this :) i hope you enjoy a few snippets below from what i’m affectionately calling for now “the ruby chapter”. i haven’t decided yet if i want to release the whole thing as one long chapter or if i want to split it up. either way, i want to finish writing it first before releasing any of it. below are just some of the 15k+ words i have so far. my word was ANGST.

And she didn’t feel quite as guilty about it as she normally would have, because it wasn’t a complete lie. Janie, Holly, and Willa were going on a roadtrip together before they each started their respective first semesters, they just hadn’t invited Ruby along to join them. She’d overheard the three of them discussing their plans on the last day of school, and when Janie had asked, “Do you think we should invite Ruby?” she’d heard Holly snicker, and reply, “Are you kidding? No, she doesn’t know how to have any fun. And it’s not like Mommy and Daddy would ever let her go, anyway.” Willa had practically fallen out of her chair at that, she was laughing so hard. Janie was at least a little more considerate of the purpose of a study hall, clapping her hand over her mouth in a poor attempt to muffle her giggling.

—

“Nuh uh, no. I don’t care if my fuckin’ spine splits in half, I ain’t ever gonna let you carry your own bag. Let’s get one thing straight right now.” Joel’s tone was firm, but Ruby knew that he meant well. He must have noticed the little pout she wore at his words, and ambled over to where she was still standing beside the truck, her arms folded in front of her stomach. He dropped his own worn, canvas backpack onto the pavement, but didn’t dare let Ruby’s paisley print bag touch the ground. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth at how juxtaposed the two things were—Joel’s tanned, sun-spotted skin and earth-toned flannel, fighting a losing battle for masculinity against the pink and yellow swirling pattern of her bag strapped across his chest.

—

“Georgia, huh? Wouldn’t be my first choice of a Southern state, but you got it, sweetheart,” Joel had agreed, and then they left Ruby’s little midwestern town behind, driving until it was nothing more than a cloud of dust in the rearview mirror. It hadn’t taken much time at all before Ruby was officially able to say, “This is the furthest I’ve ever been from home.” She resisted the urge to make the same joke every time they passed another mile marker, opting to giggle quietly to herself every time she thought it, instead.

—

Silence hung heavy in the air between the two of them as Ruby processed his request. She had no reason to believe that Joel was anything other than kind, but what was he trying to ask of her? This man was a stranger to her. A stranger who’d taken care of her, who had given her a place to rest and recover where other men surely would’ve taken advantage of her, but a stranger nonetheless. Joel hadn’t stepped any closer to her, hadn’t reached into his back pocket or put his hands on her since he walked over to the door. This wasn’t the behavior of someone who meant her harm, but still—come with him where?

—

There it was again—tug, tug. It only felt natural, in Ruby’s mind, that she should place a kiss on Joel’s spidering crow’s feet and grab hold of his hand as they strolled, just like any other couple in their vicinity. Her fingertips twitched, longing to feel Joel’s warm, calloused fingers threaded through her own, protesting that she wouldn’t let them embrace. It would be so easy to reach for him, Joel’s hand swinging loosely at his side, with its ruddy knuckles and scattering of pale scars and freckles. He would probably accept her advance, Ruby knew, if all the other ways he’d touched her so far had been any indication.

i’m not really on this site anymore other than to post, not sure who to tag :( just gonna tag a couple pals, share stuff if you got it :) your word is LIGHT!! (bc look for the light? idk)

@joelstummy @beardedjoel @justagalwhowrites @polaroidpascal and anyone else!!

[wintrwinchestr]

wip wednesday

heyyy, how yall doin… i’ve been working on something that im excited about and excited to share when im done :) it’s going to be another 2 part mini series, i plan on finishing both parts at once but posting them separately, maybe a week apart at the most. we’re looking at probably around 12k-15k for both parts together. despite what you read below, this will be a very dark joel!! i will be sure to tag both parts boldly and appropriately.

here’s a hefty snippet of our intro to this joel:

“You need a ride, sweetheart?” A man asks in a gravelly voice, and you can still hardly make out what he looks like. Based on the southern accent you pick up on, he doesn’t sound like he’s from around here.

“N-no, thank you. I’m okay,” you respond shakily, taking a nervous step back from the stranger and his rusted pickup.

“You sure? Looked like you were cryin’ over here, like you might be lost or somethin’.”

“‘M not lost, I know where I’m going.”

“Oh yeah? Where’s that?”

Shit.

You take a guess.

“Um… the motel down the road,” you reply, tilting your head in the direction you had been walking in.

“There ain’t a motel down there, sweetheart. Ain’t nothin’ in either direction for miles, ‘s all just farmland out here. Reckon you’ve already figured that out, though.”

You pause, unsure of what your next move should be. He knows you’re lying, knows you’re alone with no fucking idea where you are or where you’re going. You could run, but even that shitty truck of his could catch up to you in a matter of seconds. You take another step back, swiveling your head around to look up and down the road as you try to figure your best way out of this.

“Just lemme give you a ride somewhere, darlin’. There’s a diner just off the exit, ‘bout twenty miles up ahead. Could take you that far, at least, get you somethin’ to eat” he offers. A warm meal does sound pretty good right now, and you suppose you aren’t exactly in a position to refuse his help.

You think on it for a second. “What’s it called? The diner.”

The stranger huffs. “Moody’s.”

“What do they have?” you challenge.

“It’s a fuckin’ diner off the side of the freeway, darlin’. They got greasy food and black coffee, ‘s about all you need.”

You don’t say anything.

Then, after a beat—“They got some kinda sloppy mess they call the Thunder Burger. ‘S got onion rings and shit on it. Ain’t half bad.”

You have to admit, he’s passing your pop quiz with flying colors. His answers have been too quick, too specific for him to be lying to you. There’s a pretty solid chance this diner does exist, and that he’s been there before. The man hasn’t said anything that’s indicated he wants anything more to do with you than to offer you a ride and some dinner. He’s probably just somebody’s harmless grandfather, anyway, judging by his motheaten flannel and gray-stricken beard you can see now that you’ve approached his truck a few paces closer.

“Okay,” you concede, your stomach growling loudly as the man leans over the bench seat to pop open the passenger side door for you. You shrug off your backpack and climb into the cabin, clicking your seatbelt into place as you situate yourself on the cracked leather seat.

[wintrwinchestr]

wip wednesday

joel and babydoll have been giving me a bit of a hard time recently, but i've been chipping away at the final part of their story despite their stubbornness :) here's just a little bit:

Just like Joel had told you he would, he doesn’t allow you to do a single thing for yourself as he completes the rest of your morning routine, holding your chin securely in the dip between his thumb and forefinger as he brushes your teeth and tips a cloudy glass of water into your mouth for you to rinse out the minty paste with. He cradles the base of your skull with one hand, using the other to scrub the sleep from your eyes and the oils from your cheeks with a damp washcloth, even rubbing some of your moisturizer into your skin afterward. And with your face now clean of last night’s dried tears, Joel gets to work on your hair next, pulling the top half of it into two small ponytails and tying each of them off neatly with the ribbons he’d chosen. You’re surprised at the delicate movements his hands are capable of despite their size, despite the damage they’ve caused. He’s clearly had some practice with this, but you try not to think about it too hard, hoping that his skill had just come from time spent with Tommy’s daughter. The alternative makes your stomach churn.

Once Joel deems his doll pretty and presentable, he leads you out of the bathroom and has you sit on the edge of the bed, kneeling before you with some protest from his aching joints. He slips your lace-trimmed socks over your feet, one at a time, followed by the same canvas sneakers you were wearing when you had first met him. The sight of them brings you a little comfort, somehow, the discolored laces and smudged rubber soles making up just about the only familiar things you have in your possession anymore. Joel is slowly becoming familiar to you again, beginning to settle back into a version of himself that you recognize, but he won’t ever be quite the same as he was that day. And neither will you.

[wintrwinchestr]

last line tag game

thank u for tagging me @beefrobeefcal @evolnoomym!!

rules: in a new post, share the last line you wrote or drew, and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like)

i don’t really have any writing wips right now, but what i do have is a very special commission in progress!! here is a very zoomed in part of the rough sketch <3 guess who 👀

zero pressure tags for @justagalwhowrites @beardedjoel @joelsdagger sry if you’ve been tagged already!! <3

[wintrwinchestr]

alright besties listen up tk&ts chapter 3 coming this week!! here’s where she’s sitting right now. i still have to do my proofreading/editing and the like so i don’t have an exact date yet, if not tomorrow i’ll aim for wednesday 😁

thank you for sticking with me, i hope you enjoy this one!! they just keep getting longer 😭

[wintrwinchestr]

happy monday, here's a tk&ts ch 3 snippet

it's what you all deserve for sticking with me and showing me so much grace and patience and support. i hope you're still looking forward to what's coming next for these two. trust me when i say i'm always thinking about them, sometimes they scare me and challenge me but i like getting inside their heads and building them up as characters. ch 3 looking to be about the length of last chapter, give or take :)

anyway, here's a little taste of what happens post-reader's little surprise performance 👀

“Nah, go ahead. You wanna do this right now, we’ll do it right now. What’d you say, baby? C’mon.” Joel’s movement forces you backward until the base of your spine hits the edge of the vanity table in the room. You wince at the impact and the sound of the door slamming shut, and then he’s bracing both of his hands on either side of your hips, caging you in. Joel’s hot breath ghosts against your face as his eyes seem to glow a fiery shade you’ve never seen before. “Say it again.” You swallow hard, nervous eyes flitting around his face, unsure of the safest place to land, or if there even is one. “Called you a coward…” you admit softly, voice trembling. “Yeah? I’m a fuckin’ coward? What else, hm? Why don’t you use your big girl words and say to my face what you really wanted to say about me out there instead o’ that bullshit lil’ poem you wrote.” He’s just being mean now, lashing out because you hit him where it hurts. But god fucking dammit, there’s something about the way he’s standing over you, how he’s using his size to intimidate you and how the smell of his cologne mingles with the fading aroma of his last cigarette, that begins to cloud your judgment. You can’t help the way a dampness begins to bloom between your thighs as a result of his demeaning words and close proximity. You figure you don’t have much of a reason to hold anything back anymore, already having pissed him off by threatening his ego twice in one night. “I hate you,” you rasp, which is pretty much what the lyrics of your song boil down to. You do hate him, for saying all the right things and touching you all the right ways to make you think he wanted the two of you to be something, only to throw your naivety in your face, tell you that you’re acting like a child when he’s the one who tried to give up and walk out when something became more complicated than he can handle. “Yeah, I bet you do. Think you can do better than that, though, huh? Sure had plenty to say earlier, don’t get all shy on me now, sweetheart.” He spits the pet name at you like it’s an insult, coated in the venom dripping from his sharp canines. “Fuck you,” you snap, eyes welling up and threatening to spill over despite yourself. Joel spins you around as soon as the words leave your lips, pinning your wrists behind your back with just one of his hands, using the other one to grip your jaw and make you face your own reflection in the vanity mirror. You shut your eyes tightly, not wanting to confront what he’s reduced you to, and he allows you to keep them that way for now.

[wintrwinchestr]

wip... thursday

i know i had said i would try to post chapter 2 of tk&ts this month, i'm still trying to make that happen but i can't promise anything :( but it is very close to being done!! i promise i've been working on it, but my real life job has been pretty busy and high stress recently and i've found it hard to use my brain each night.

please accept another snippet in the meantime <3

“Good girl… So beautiful, baby, you know that?” he praises softly, tucking a stray lock of hair behind your ear before lightly rubbing his thumb across your pouty bottom lip. He presses it downward against the pillowy skin, and pushes the digit inside with ease when your mouth parts so eagerly. You close your lips around him and swirl your tongue along the calloused skin a few times, and he looks like he wants to eat you alive as he watches you fall apart for him so easily. Joel pulls his thumb from your mouth, dragging it down your spit-slick lip so that it bounces back into place when his finger leaves your skin. He wears a satisfied grin at the way he has you completely at his mercy now, looking up at him with your glazed-over doll eyes. They scan back and forth between his glowing amber ones, awaiting your next instruction. “Gave you a compliment. What do you say, babygirl, hm?” “Thank you, Da– unh…” The word starts to come out before you can catch it in time, shove it back into his cage. Your face runs hot, embarrassed at your slip-up. “‘S okay, sweetheart. You can call me that, if you wanna, say it real pretty for me. Don’t got it tattooed on me for nothin’,” Joel soothes, still-wet thumb rubbing across your cheekbone in placating strokes. “C’mon, finish your sentence, baby.” “Th– thank you, Daddy,” you repeat, so lost in this saccharine headspace he’s coaxed out of you that you don’t even feel ashamed anymore. “There we go… c’mere, baby. Lemme feel you.” He uncrosses his legs, returning them to their trademark spread so that he can pull you into his lap and situate you into straddling his hips. The position makes your dress ride up so far that your panties are exposed to him, soaked-through gusset and all. His fingers make to tease the wet spot there, but change course to pay attention to something else first instead. Something scrawled in uneven black linework, peeking out from underneath white silk. He pushes the hemline of your dress further up your bare thigh to fully unveil the shoddy little illustration, tracing around it with a roughened finger.