I was tired, it was late, I was sitting half-asleep in the back seat of a taxi, remembering strangely that wherever I go, you are with me, and so is he, and that as long as you both live the world will be beautiful to me.
– Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You
Welcome to my writing blog! I use this to post projects and writing exercises, collect writing resources, and generally dump writing-related thoughts.
Falls From Grace 'Verse
My big project right now is a prose retelling of a DND campaign my friends and I played a few years ago that I'm calling the Falls From Grace 'Verse. I'm still working on the core story, Like Morning Follows Night, but I hope to spin some further fanfiction from it eventually.
& More
I've had this blog for over a decade as I've clung to writing by my fingernails. I don't even know what's on here anymore. You'll find a number of unfinished NaNo projects and evidence of past and present fandoms. I'm hoping to dabble in Critical Role fic and some shorter form original stories soon, but we'll see.
Author’s Note: Started writing this (over a year ago), had a breakdown (several real life events), bon appetit (bon appetit). This chapter encompasses sessions 10-11 and features a very important guest! Diya was portrayed by @sunflowremoji as a guest player!
Summary: The party are temporarily left to their own devices in a strange town.
The party found the Careless Dandelion deep in town, far off from the tourists’ inns near the bridge. The Dandelion was little more than a two-story residence itself, with stables out back. The ground floor was a tavern, with a kitchen and bar, a hearth, and a few long, communal tables. A couple lone figures bent over bowls of stew, glancing up when the party of six traipsed in.
“Can I help you lot?” A plump duergar woman asked in what Hope was calling ‘tourist infernal’ — the infernal of home. The woman wore layers of tea towels that coalesced into a skirt under a housekeeper’s apron. Her gray hair was piled atop her head, and her matching beard was trim, coiled into twin braids. Her gray skin held a bluish tint. She wiped her hands on a bar towel.
“We’re hoping to acquire lodging,” Aravand said in his textbook Infernal. “Do you have rooms available?”
“I’ve got two goin’, five silver a night for the both,” she answered.
Xiao floated forward and produced the coin.
“Thank you kindly. There’s stew in the pot, help yourself,” she said, nodding to the cauldron over the hearth, then returned to her bar. The party helped themselves to the first warm meal they’d had in weeks.
“You lot adventurers?” A bright voice interrupted their meal. A young woman had joined them – a duergar, with blue-gray skin and a short, unkempt fringe of beard. Her white hair was in two braids, pulled forward over her shoulders. She had a bandolier of tubes strung across her torso, and a bow and quiver strapped to her back.
“I suppose we are,” Jugg answered. “And yourself?”
The duergar blushed. “Me? Well, kinda. I help out around town, but Mum won’t let me go further. I think she just needs my help here.”
“Your mother?” Aravand confirmed with a nod to the woman tending bar.
“Yeah, she owns the place. I’m Diya.”
“I am Aravand. Please thank your mother for her hospitality.”
Introductions circled the table, then Viper pounced. “What are those?” she asked, pointing at the bandolier.
“Oh! These… they’re my… projects?” Diya seemed unable to find the words she wanted.
“That’s so cool! Do they explode?”
Diya’s face brightened. “Yeah!”
“I wanna see!”
“Viper…” Aravand said in his ‘warning’ voice.
“It’s getting pretty late,” Hope stepped in quickly. “And we’re worn down from the road. But maybe we’ll see you around tomorrow, Diya?”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I’ll let you finish your dinners.”
“This stew is amazing,” Jugg said through her food.
“See you later!” Viper added, and Diya left the table.
After dinner, the party cleared their dishes, then trooped upstairs, exhausted. They paused at the landing.
“Who’s –” Hope started, interrupted by Xiao wordlessly gliding through a door.
“Guess the second room’s for the rest of us,” Hope muttered, and they all piled in, collapsing onto mattresses, cots, and bedrolls, glad to have a roof above and a dry floor below.
In the morning. Hope crossed the hall to wake Xiao but instead found a note.
I have gone further to restock supplies. I have taken the horses. I will be away one day. We will resume the journey when I return.
Hope showed the others, and they began to discuss what to do with a full day to themselves. They dressed and descended downstairs, following the scent of fresh bread.
They found Diya at the table, among the other boarders beginning their days. “Morning!” she said when she saw them. “Mum’s slammed with breakfast, let me help you out.” She led them to a buffet and passed out plates before shoveling food for each of them.
The meal had a slop-like quality, a texture that Hope would graciously call a scramble, except it was thoroughly gray. Hope trusted that last night’s stew was a better indicator of taste than its appearance. “Looks great,” she said with a smile.
“What is it?” Jug asked, genuine.
“It’s stirge eggs with mushroom, eggplant, and quippers. The eggs are fluffy and the quippers add a crunch. Perfect to start the day.”
They topped their plates of gray with a fresh baked bread roll, and sat to eat.
At the table, they continued their discussion about their day off. “I’m a free agent if you want someone to show you around,” Diya piped up.
Jugg decided she’d like to help in the inn’s kitchen. “Better you than me,” Diya grumbled. Aravand wanted to canvass the locals for information – primarily geographical and exographical. Hope, Lythrana, and Viper wanted a real day off.
“Hang with me!” Diya said. Then her eyes lit up. “I know exactly the place.” At the trio’s nods, she jumped up from the table. “Awesome! Hang on.” She disappeared into the kitchen. The others finished their meals and made plans to reconvene in the evening.
Diya reappeared as they cleared their dishes, and she led her three charges out into town.
The streets looked much the same as the previous night, but something about the light managed to evoke daytime. The tourists dwindled deeper in town, and most pedestrians were chromatic Dragonborn, scales in hues of deep blue, red, and green. A few kobolds and lizardfolk scamplered about, dressed in streetwear and light cloaks.
“Wait!” Viper cried, and darted across the street to a group of kobolds she seemed to recognize. When one of them retrieved an item from their bag and handed it to Viper, Hope realized these were the kobolds from the rest stop. Which meant Viper had just purchased a bomb.
Well. Good to know, at least?
Viper darted back to the party, and they carried on without comment, aside from a few pointed looks. Diya brought them to a barn. “I know the owners,” she siad, hefting the door aside. “It’s grazing season, so the barn’s empty for a couple of months. It’s a good place to test my… projects.”
The barn was tidy, well-kept and in-use. Empty animal stalls lined the walls before opening to a wide, empty space. Hay was strewn everywhere, and the back wall held a ladder leading up to a loft. The group wandered in, assessing the space.
“You test your inventions here?” Viper asked.
“Yep.”
“Like your explosives?”
“Yeah…”
“Can we see?” Viper asked with a grin.
“The owners might not like us blowing a hole in the wall,” Hope warned.
“It’s okay! It’s why they give me the space. As long as we stay at this end, it’ll be fine.” She pulled a vial from her bandolier. “This is my project right now. It explodes on contact. So, like, if I threw one at the ground right now, then– BOOM!” The others jumped. “But, um. That’s not helpful. So I’ve been thinking if I throw them at a target, they could detonate on impact, but I haven’t been able to test it out.”
“We could test it now!” Viper said, bouncing on her toes.
“We don’t… really have anything to throw it at…” Diya began.
“Could it be detonated by marksmanship?” Lythrana pondered. “For instance, if I shot it out of the air?”
“Oh! That could work!”
“Throwing knives would have a heftier punch, though,” Viper interjected.
“I’m getting an idea,” Diya said.
“About blowing stuff up?” Viper asked.
“We could make it a game! I’ll toss the vials and you guys shoot them out of the air! Or something.”
“We are all skilled at range,” Lythana pointed out. “We left our fighters at the inn.”
“Ooh, great!” Diya clapped her hands together. Hope shrugged and conjuried her longbow.
Diya lined them up against the animal stalls, facing the empty space. She pulled a bottle from her bag. “Want to make it a little more interesting?”
“What’s that?” Viper asked.
Hope missed the name of the liquor – something foreign that she definitely didn’t recognize – but understood Diya’s exclamation, “If you miss, you drink!”
“Yeah!” Viper crowed and Lythrana and Hope laughed.
“Sure.”
“Sounds fun.”
The vials were so small that only one of them could really hit each target, so the booze started flowing fast.
The explosions were impressive, but contained. Diya managed to take some notes in between “rounds,” staying sober the longest and functioning as referee. They quickly lost track of the score and collapsed onto the ground in giggles, staring into the dark vaulted ceiling of the vacant barn.
“Oh, that brought me back,” Lythrana sighed, nearly to herself.
“To what?” Hope asked.
A beat passed before Lythrana answered. “To my training. As a child. Games my— instructor played to hone my marksmanship.”
“Ooh, yeah, training games! Let’s play stalk and kill!” Viper said, propping herself on an elbow.
She was met with a mildly confused silence.
“Viper, honey,” Hope said, noticing her own slur. “What. Is stalk and kill?”
“You know, the kids’ game. Where the adult hides and then the kid has to track them down and attack.”
“Hide and seek?” Lythrana asked, incredulous.
“What? No, stalk and kill. It’s an assassin drill.”
Still lying on her back, Hope fumbled blindly for Viper’s hand. “Sweetheart, that is hide and seek.” She took Viper’s hand in hers and patted it absently.
Viper flopped back down and pulled her hand away.
“God, I bet you and Lyth were both so good at it,” Hope added, almost wistful.
“I was, yes,” Lythrana offered.
“You both remind me of my little sister. So much.” It took Hope a second to realize she’d spoken aloud.
“Your twin?” Viper asked.
Hope shook her head and felt it swim. “Our little sister.” Hope closed her eyes to let the room settle. “She’s a drow, too. She has your hair —“ she flopped a hand toward Viper, hitting her stomach, “and your eyes —“ her other hand flailed in Lythrana’s direction, striking an elbow. “She’s so freakin’ sneaky. She got tired of hide ’n’ seek ‘cause we could never find her.”
“How old is she?” Diya asked from somewhere above Hope’s head.
“Oh, gods, I don’t remember.” Hope giggled. “Twelve? Shit, is she thirteen? She was… I was… sixteen when she was born. I can’t… do math right now.”
The silence turned pensive. Hope felt Lythrana shift beside her. She cracked her eyes to find the drow sitting up, arms around her knees.
“You remind me of someone too,” they said, nearly a whisper. “Soft, like you —“ they nodded to Hope, “and sharp, like you,” they said to Viper.
“That’s sweet,” Hope said gently.
Something heavy hung in the air. Hope heard Viper very softly begin to ask, “Who—?” and instead spoke over her.
“Hey, what’d you get from those kobolds?” Hope asked Viper, as if just remembering.
“What? Nothing.”
“Viper…”
“Fine!” Viper sat up and pulled her bag closer. “I bought a bomb,” she muttered.
“A bomb?” Diya gasped. “Can I see it?” She was on her knees, moving toward Viper.
“Sure. Can you teach me how to use it?”
“Yeah!”
“Is that… a good idea right now?” Hope asked.
“I’m just looking,” Diya said, just as Viper said, “She knows what she’s doing!”
“Oh gods,” Hope muttered, edging away from them.
It was soon time to head back for dinner. The alcohol was fading, but they all swayed and giggled as they walked back.
Dinner resembled a shepherd’s pie, except for a strange blue sauce coloring the meat and vegetables inside the steaming mash. Jugg regaled them with the fascinating ingredients she’d learned about as she’d helped in the kitchen. When everyone mustered up the courage to try it, it was so good they wept. Jugg assured them she had the recipe, though she wasn’t sure she could execute it herself.
When tears had dried and plates were licked clean, Aravand shared what he had learned. The jailhouse where they’d woken was in the Capitol region, and they were now in the Dragon District, at its very outskirts. Regions of this district were concentric, centered on the volcano. The ruler of the district was Lord Chenlong. Aravand had quickly cut his losses regarding extra planar information, lest he come across insane.
As the evening carried on, the mood at the inn grew exuberant. Diya explained that one night a week, they made a spectacle of revelry, gambling, and sport. Tonight’s event was arm wrestling, and Diya had volunteered herself for a round. The party indulged in ale, loudly rooting for their new friend. All together, they passed a night of revelry before tumbling into bed.
ok i've actually had a couple of writing ideas in the past month, so I wanna post them to prove to myself that i can still have ideas. and maybe i'll even take steps toward writing them. we'll see.
• Vengeance of the Daughter: DCC fanfic actually writing out Signet's storyline; it felt exploitive in book two, but by book five I was actually invested – probably because Carl has extensively humanized the NPCs by that point. And there were some hints of 'past arcs' that we'd missed in the interlude and I wanna piece that puzzle together.
• Game Changer (HR) Book One: so I've confirmed I really don't like this kickoff of the series. It's possible it's only meant to set up book two's finale, but in that case, I'd want something so monumental to have a solid foundation. I wanna rewrite a version that leans into Stucky tropes so it meets my own standards of emotional gravitas.
• revisit my "born for a box" poem: i wrote a poem about my mother in college; i'd like to revisit it in the context of her sister
Faith had known its name before she summoned it, but hadn't wanted to jinx anything.
She reached toward her new companion, offering it her hand. Instead of sniffing with its draconic snout, the creature gripped her fingers in its own tiny, clawed hands.
"Hello," Faith said gently. The imp met her eyes, cocking its head to listen. "My name is Faith. Would you like to be friends?" Instead of answering, the imp dipped its nose and sniffed at her palm before suddenly clambering up her arm to her shoulder.
"Oh!" Faith did her best not to wriggle – the movements tickled. "Okay, hello, hi." She offered the creature another finger, which it again grasped. "How would you like if I called you Despair? Des for short."
The imp sniffed the air thoughtfully. "Yeah," it croaked. "S'good."
[Author's Note ↓]
s/o to past me for brainstorming Faith as pact of the chain, guess that's probably canon now lol
odd amount of prompts fitting with JUST Faith's familiar/pet/animal companion/etc lmao
and that's the prompt list done!! only took [counts] 7 months, but there we are. It's been 8 months since posting the last chapter. idk what that says but it's probably. something.
With a final blow of her greataxe, Jugg severed the cultist from existence. A silence settled as the team caught their breath. Clutching her wounded side, Hope stepped up behind Viper and placed a glowing hand on the younger woman's shoulder.
A strange, animalian sound came from a dark corner of the room, capturing everyone's attention.
"What was that?" Viper asked. Jugg and Aravand raised their blades again, and Lythrana held a finger to her lips.
Hope began to move toward the sound, Jugg protective at her back. Hope's dread grew as the noise – a soft, muffled grumbling – continued. A cluster of rocks in the corner shielded view, but peering over it, Hope found the creature.
A humanoid baby grunted as they attempted to extricate their limbs from a swaddling blanket. "Oh dear," Hope muttered.
[Author's Note↓]
A fully AU scene for this one. It's a fun trope to play with and can get some good character moments in there, but not so much in a drabble. Fun to think about though! I'm pocketing the concept for later.
Before Viper stood a hulking minotaur with gray skin and a flattened snout. His black, well-trimmed goatee matched his dark hair, slicked back between two curling horns.
And Viper happened to look precisely the same at the moment.
"Yeehaw?" Viper's brain scrambled to piece together the situation.
"Yeah, yeehaw. It's me."
After another beat, Viper recognized Lythrana's voice as the minotaur spoke. "What are you doing?" she hissed, her panic easily flipping to annoyance.
"Things went... bad. I needed a disguise and we knew this was safe since we helped you shove him in a closet."
Viper gave the Lythrana minotaur another once-over.
"...Fine," she huffed.
[Author's Note↓]
kinda hard to deal with this trope outside of superhero spaces, and i feel like i've played a lot with the twins' identities lately, so I went with Disguise Self; Viper has the Mask of Many Faces invocation and Lythrana has the spell.
Plenty of shenanigans ensued quite quickly (I mean. it's in chapter one lol) and we eventually needed a code word. Hence yeehaw. There is no context. We never nailed down what it meant. Outside of an identifier, I guess? I did not employ it great here, but we never really did. (It'll make canon appearance soon – a little bit after chapter 9.)
A tall, muscular drow woman stood at ease. Her white hair was plated down her back. She wore loose linen slacks and a tank top, her hands wrapped as if ready for a fight. Her lavender complexion was wan, her eyes blankly staring into middle distance.
Lythrana didn't visibly react, but the huge figure of writhing shadow cackled. "What would you do to have her back, hm? The illusion is the window, not the being. All I have to do is hand her over."
"Lyth," Hope whispered, voice as inaudible as she could make it. "Who is that?"
[Author's Note ↓]
Circling back to Day 23; [spoiler alert] Lyth's bodyguard died. At least as far as Lyth knows. The conceit of the entire campaign is the BBEG tempting each of them away from good and into service by offering them what they want most. [hint: it's super effective] We never got to Lyth's arc in the campaign, but I'm sure it would've been heartbreaking.
Aravand heard a scream and before the sound ended, he had flung open the door to his lady's chambers, sword drawn and stance ready.
His darkvision scanned the room for assailants, but found none. Her Majesty was sat in bed, a hand clutched to her chest.
"My lady, are you alright?" he asked. With a flick of her fingers, globes of dim light lit the room.
"Just a nightmare, I think," she answered, breathless.
Aravand sheathed his sword and crossed to her bedside.
"But are you –" he raised his hand as if to caress her cheek, but stopped short. "– Alright?" he whispered.
Her Majesty took his hand in hers and held it to her face. "I think so," she answered, eyes fluttering closed at his touch. "But I wouldn't mind if you checked under the bed," she added with a smile.
[Author's Note ↓]
Another backstory fill I was eager to dive into but then swerved on. I wasn't confident I could fill out the word count or hit the right mood for Rav's Trauma Night so I took the concept and spun it happy.
Rav's backstory is one of those that will show up in the main fic, if towards the end. So here's a teaser to keep you invested lol.
The argument between the five of them had come to a head, and a heavy silence fell as Aravand raised his blade to Hope's chin.
Faith sighed. The gig was up. A fleeting sadness passed through her as she realized the years apart had done their damage. Gone were the days she and her sister could play pranks by swapping places. She'd known that as soon as she gave her eye, but this was a different kind of loss. Even in Hope's body she couldn't fool Hope's friends for long.
"First of all: I had nothing to do with this," she began.
[Author's Note ↓]
I love this trope and I might play around with it later, but twins were the first obvious option. Hope and Faith are so identical that they were color-coded at the orphanage until they were adopted at age 9. (Hence the purple/pink themes.) But Faith kicked off the adventure when she accepted a warlock pact and lost her eye. She also later got a tattoo sleeve, so as adults, they're definitely not identical anymore. Body swapping was the perfect opportunity to play in the space where they COULD pass for each other once more.
Hope snapped to wakefulness painfully. Her chin had been resting on her chest, and her sharp movement to raise her head sent everything spinning.
"Where am I?" she asked aloud, even before taking in the room.
She flexed her hands, feeling ropes around her wrists. She was tied to the arms of the wooden chair she sat in. Through the leather of her boots, she felt the resistance of a concrete floor, and the ropes tying her to the legs of the chair as well.
The room was dark, but that wasn't an issue for her. In the low red light of her darkvision, she could see concrete walls in her periphery, but a wall of iron bars straight ahead.
Where was she? How did she get here? She had been with... who? As her brain circled panic, she fell into a single thought.
Where was Faith?
[Author's Note↓]
I am running out of steam with these but i would REALLY like to be done lol
This scene may or may not be relevant very soon. The plan in May was to make this an Aravand prompt fill, but I'm getting antsy about writing the next fic chapter so here's this instead. It definitely takes place circa chapter 8/9 but I haven't quite figured out how I'm gonna format it yet.
He'd been acting shady all day, so Viper tailed him. Sucks for him he trained her so good. He should've just told her the truth.
Degrin ducked around corners and stuck to shadows, tugging his hood further over his face and casting glances over his shoulder every few seconds. Viper was quite pleased with herself – she bet he'd be proud of her when she told him.
Finally, he ducked through a storm cellar door. Inching up on it, Viper peaked inside before following.
The door led to a vast basement, with plenty of shadows to engulf her. Still following Degrin, he led her to the central hall of the basement, full of figures in similar hooded cloaks.
This must be the main event. Viper settled into her hiding place to watch.
[Author's Note ↓]
I'm too lazy to fact-check Viper's mentor's name right now. Anyway welcome to Viper's backstory. Her dad figure-exposed the cult at the center of their thieves guild and her life subsequently blew up. I wanted to do the fun mid-blow-up bit, but I was getting stuck, so have this lead up instead.
A tall figure sliced through the brush, rapier glinting in the soft glow of moonlight. A slightly smaller figure followed behind, casting glances over their shoulder. Both wore heavy, hooded cloaks and stepped silently.
The taller sheathed her blade and reached backward for the other's hand. "We'll be okay," she whispered, afraid to disturb the stillness of the night.
The shorter grasped her hand and squeezed their own reassurance.
The pair began to search the trees for a place to stay the night. The taller selected one and drew her companion to it. "I'll take first watch," she said, before cradling her companion's face and kissing them on the forehead.
[Author's Note ↓]
Not exactly a typical fill, huh? lol
The gist of the scene is Lythrana (the shorter) and her bodyguard-turned-lover (the taller) fleeing from Lyth's parents. Since Lyth uses she/they pronouns, I thought keeping to 'they' would help clarify between two nameless/faceless figures.
Writing this, I realized I only have a vague recollection of Lyth's backstory, so I won't go into it. I might later, but we shall see.
Faith had never really wanted a pet growing up. Sure a jackal or a piccolo was cute, but having to feed it every day? Life happened when it happened, and Faith didn't want some helpless creature clinging to her every move.
So when her fealty came with a boon, the impling was not her first thought. But years on the road by herself had worn her down. She was tired and cold and – yes, fine – lonely. And this boon wasn't a pet, but a companion, one who could speak and fly and help her with spells. A friend.
A friend she had to feed every day. Hm. Maybe she could train it to hunt.
After the mind-numbing trial of evading the airlock chamber, they regrouped, taking in the room.
A laboratory-factory hybrid stretched before them. The room pulsed with a blue glow. Minecarts lined a wall, a set of rail tracks disappearing into a small tunnel. Tables with unique and complicated equipment dotted the room. The light came from a goo that was everywhere – the minecarts were full of the stuff, and bowls of it sat on the tables.
They carefully investigated. Hope found a glass tube, pointing at a glass plate of the goo. She peered through the tube, but just saw more of the electric blue. From the corner of her eye, she saw Viper reach a finger toward a small box of the stuff.
A minecart flew across the room, missing Viper by inches as she dodged incredibly. "What –" Other minecarts jumped their tracks, clattering ominously.
"What did you touch?" Aravand growled at Viper as he drew his blade.
[Author's Note ↓]
Wasn't a fan of this prompt – nothing from 'canon' naturally loaned itself to the concept. At one point we encountered the giant heart from Slay the Spire and that was one of our creepiest settings, so I went with that one. Happy Halloween, i guess
