#BAatT WIP

[bookwyrm214]

Where in the World is Bookwyrm214? (8/18 Progress Report)

I got through typing the first 688 words of Rhapsody in Reverie chapter 16: Caught in a Landslide today, and I wanted to let y’all know what’s going on in Book-land, since I know it's been over two weeks since my last fic update.

Rest assured, now that I’ve started the typing phase for 16 it’ll be fully typed tonight, beta-read ASAP, and hopefully posted tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, 17 won’t be too far behind, and 18 will be up on Sunday according to the original schedule.

I’m going to try and put the rest of this under a read more bc it’s pretty long, but this is what’s up with my life and my planned content moving forward!

I’ve been working through the stress of going back to long distance with the honeybee (he moved back to college last week), my job finished off for the season last Friday (I spent the afternoon sleeping the length of a shift), I was dungeon master for about half of Friday’s session (though I gave the reigns back to the honeybee pretty quick, I have the writing part down, but the execution isn’t there yet), I played for myself and a friend who couldn’t make it in my Saturday dnd session and helped my other friend through her first session, gave my best friend shit about cancelling his Sunday dnd session to prep for his not-yet-girlfriend to visit while being supportive and encouraging about meeting her, and prepping to move back to college myself at the end of the month.

I’ve been trying to get used to the new laptop’s keyboard, which is a big one for why ch16 is so late. I had to finish transferring everything to my new laptop so my little sister could use the old one for online elementary school, which was a bear to do and tool for-flipping-ever (I ended up having to get an external hard drive for my photos, since I’m really bad about deleting the blurry ones after birding trips and they wouldn’t fit on my flash drives to move them off)

I have, however, had a very productive couple weeks! It’s just mostly offline and draft work, so it’s not visible progress.

Writing-wise I’ve made great progress! I’ve got:

• 688 words typed of RiR chapter 16 (1.5 pages of the 11-page rough draft)

• Brainstorming for chapters 17 and 18 of RiR, so that when I get 16 up I can jump right into the last couple chapters.

•My Fugo-centric post-RiR work (Deep in the Dark) got a lot of attention last night and this morning, with most of the beginning outlined.

•15.5 of RiR, aka the sexy chapter (Body's Aching all the Time) is handwritten, but typing/editing is going to take awhile since I'm not quite happy with it & the honeybee doesn't want to beta-read smut, so I’m just going to be extra careful with a fine-tooth comb on that one.

•Post RiR giomis (Here Comes the Rain Again) has a rough summary of the first few chapters.

•A fairytale AU Sheila E/Trish work (A Girl in Trouble is a Temporary Thing) now has a very detailed outline & will likely be my next typed/posted work, since it’s a cut and dry one-off and wont spiral into chaos like the RiR universe has.

•My pre-canon Bruabba fic (Come Out and Play) has a chapter typed and three handwritten with a possible fifth in planning, and its follow up fic (No Light, No Light) has four chapters outlined, and for those I have a couple pages of OC stand/user planning done too. (It was supposed to be a one chapter smut and now it’s become a sprawling edgy feelings two-part fiasco, and I need to rework a lot of the timeline/planning for it I think. I retroactively decided to have it set in the RiR-verse and I need to edit it so it’s compliant)

•My fix-it post-canon everyone lives Bruabba AU (Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology) has gotten some love by running it by the honeybee and fleshing out parts of the rough outline.

•Fugio fantasy AU which doesn’t have a working title yet is also in the mix, while it was technically the second concept I came up with for Jojo’s fanfiction it’s been shelved for no particular reason.

And that's just my writing!

When it comes to my art I have a lot of ideas and goals:

•Mermaid Bucci gang series:

--> To go with Mer-Mista and Mer-Narancia, I did Mer-Bucciarati which I may redraw the head/face of since I don’t feel like it meets my quality standards.

--> I want to finish up the Sticky Fingers jellyfish to go with mer-bucci + the Sex Pistols fish + Aerosmith (i think I concept-ed that as a shark?)

--> I want to continue that series to include Abba, Trish, Fugo, and Giorno, plus their stands!

• I want to ink and color my PHD redesign, getting it out of my planning notebook and onto actual art paper.

• I want to draw Deep Sea & Fandango, I have reference images but I want to make true concept art since I’ve gotten a lot of feedback interested in Georgia.

• I want to draw Scaramouche & Margaritaville, for similar reasons to Fandango and Deep Sea, since I’ve pulled reference art already and I want to finalize their designs/ possibly make a stand-stats sheet.

• I want to draw my original stands from DitD, one of which (K.Y.E.) I have sketches in my notebook, plus pulling reference art/making a concept sheet for my COaP/NLNL stands. (I can’t really name any of these bc spoilers, but I’m really excited for K.Y.E. and it’s user, the honeybee really loves that one!)

If you’ve stuck through reading this so far, thank you! This is a fairly comprehensive summary of my fan-works right now, so hopefully all of these see the light of day sooner rather than later! I appreciate the support I’ve received thus far, and I look forward to sharing all this stuff with y’all in the future!

#progress report #jjba #book writes #book draws #Hopefully the read more and all the links work properly #back to writing now! #rhapsody in reverie #Time for my incomprehensible tags for my WIPs so I can actually find stuff in my archive #RiR WIP #DitD WIP #BAatT WIP #HCtRA WIP #AGiT (iaTT) WIP #COaP/NLNL WIP #COaP WIP #NLNL WIP #RWMM WIP

[swaps55]

For your WIP list: How about White Noise?

Oooh. This is an odd one. Before Andromeda came out, I started doodling a “what if the AI approached Kaidan Alenko?” story. I didn’t finish it before the game dropped, and then never came back to it. I now have plans to cannibalize parts of it for my next fic, but here’s a (lengthy) snippet that isn’t one of those useful bits. Pardon the rough prose - I was really rusty at the time. 

~

Kaidan should feel a twinge of guilt. Being overdue with a mission debrief, even for something as useless as the Hammerhead field tests, isn’t exactly characteristic. Something the Admiral had been sure to point out. But it is useless. The Hammerhead is a waste of time. It all feels like a waste of time, ever since-

Even thinking the word 'Alchera' makes his chest tighten in a way he’d rather it didn’t. Almost two years later and he still fights the urge to brush ash off his shoulder plates, to force himself to turn around and go back instead of get into that pod.

In the corner of his eye blooms the phantom glow of a drive core going up, and followed by the same cold punch in his gut that knocks the breath from his lungs as hard now as it did then. He wipes his mouth with one hand, raises the other to signal the waiter for a beer.

“Lieutenant Alenko?”

Kaidan jumps, looks up and sees the N7 logo emblazoned on a breastplate of black armor. His heart stops. 

“Mind if I sit?”

It takes a moment for the blood to stop rushing through Kaidan's ears. It’s not Shepard. Of course it’s not Shepard; Shepard’s dead. This man is older, maybe by a couple of decades, face craggy and riven in a way that reminds Kaidan a little of Admiral Hackett. The only resemblance he has to the Savior of the Citadel is the grim set of his jaw, a soldier’s exoskeleton of starched posture and that keen sense of awareness that makes it clear he knows where every exit is and how to take as many down as he can on his way out.  

Kaidan must have acknowledged the man, who looks maddeningly familiar now that he's processing things with a little more sanity, because he sits down across the table. Stiff. Formal. None of Shepard's languid movement. Shepard has an absurd way of just flowing into a space, even with that starched soldier's posture.

Had. You'd think he'd be used that by now.

 The waiter brings the beer, turns to the N7 soldier to take his order, but gets waved off.  

“I was hoping you could spare a few minutes of your time,” he says, voice like gravel. Kaidan wonders if a piercing stare is a prerequisite for the N program.  

“Sir,” Kaidan says, because he’s still not entirely sure if he’s said anything yet.

Nothing shifts in the N7’s expression. It’s like looking at a boulder. Kaidan really wants to take a pull from the beer, but leaves it untouched.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on your career. Eden Prime. Virmire. Battle of the Citadel. I’ve been curious to see what you were capable of outside Shepard’s shadow.”

Kaidan flinches. He tells himself that the N7 didn’t see it, but it’s a lie. If he’s anything like Shepard, he not only saw it, but has already figured out how to use it as an advantage. The bastard.

He’s not sure if he’s referring to the N7 or to Shepard, decides not to try and figure it out.

“I was beginning to think I wouldn’t get a chance to see it before departure, but I just read the mission reports from Aite. Nasty job. But you got it done. I’m impressed.”

Fucking Hammerhead. Fucking Cerberus. Fucking Gavin Archer. Fucking Hammerhead.

Something clicks in Kaidan’s brain. He sits up a little straighter, like someone just splashed cold water in his face. “You’re Alec Ryder,” he says, unable to keep a little bit of wonder from creeping into his voice.

Ryder nods, the movement crisp. Sharp. His shoulders tighten so subtly that a moment ago Kaidan would have missed it. But he’s paying attention now. He thinks about saluting, or Shaking Ryder’s hand. Both seem stupid. He settles for a respectful nod. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”  

Kaidan thinks about asking him the same questions he probably gets asked by every single person who meets him. What was it like being on the first team through Charon? What’s Grissom like in person? How does it feel to be a hero? But his own experiences as of late push the questions aide. His answers to those kinds of questions feel disappointing; he can’t imagine Ryder’s are any different. You have a job and you do it. No matter what the cost. No matter who you lose. In the end you don’t feel like a hero so much as you just feel…tired. 

Ryder’s gaze doesn’t falter, not for a moment, but something about it seems a little more at ease.

Ryder pushes a datapad across the table to him. It’s encrypted. High level encryption that even Tali might have had to pause for a few to crack it open. Kaidan picks it up. The display shows only a simple blue and white logo featuring a long, sleek ship and the words Andromeda Initiative. He glances back to Ryder, who is watching him carefully.

“I’m not familiar with the Andromeda Initiative."

“You’re not supposed to be,” Ryder replies. “It’s not an Alliance project. Civilian run. Do you know Jien Garsen?”

Kaidan racks his brain. “I’ve heard the name, but not much more than that.”

Ryder gives no sign whether this surprises or disappoints him or none of the above. “This datapad will give you the mission details. For your eyes only. Understood, soldier?”

Kaidan nods, more from reflex than intention. He's willing to bet Ryder doesn't hear ‘no’ from many people. Another thing he probably has in common with Shepard.

“What’s the mission?” Kaidan asks, shoving thoughts of Shepard abruptly from his mind. White noise. It’s just white noise.

“Andromeda.”

For a moment Kaidan thinks Ryder is just repeating the name of the initiative. But then it sinks home a little bit. His eyes widen. “Wait. You’re going to Andromeda?”

“Colonization effort," Ryder replies, expression still stoic. "It’s been in the works for ten years. The datapad will give you the details. But we need people. People like you. Tough. Skilled. Resourceful. And I won’t lie, the Alliance training will be a big help.”

“You’re taking humanity to Andromeda.”

 “Not just humanity. Asari. Turians. Salarians. This project is huge, Alenko.”

Kaidan inhales. This time he does take a pull from his beer. Ryder offers him the encryption key to the datapad. Waits patiently until Kaidan uses it. Patience is something he and Shepard do not share.

Stop thinking about Shepard in the present tense.

Ryder doesn’t say a word as Kaidan flips through the contents of the datapad. The schematics. The mission statement. There’s Alliance hands in this, civilian project or no. The propaganda has a lot in common with the Alliance recruitment tactics that got him on his feet after BAaTT.

The beer is gone when Kaidan finally looks back up, a second one well on its way. “This is impressive,” he admits. “But I’m not sure why you came to me.”

“We need people like you.”

Kaidan laughs, but it sounds nervous. Flustered. “I’m flattered, but I have a job. I can’t walk away from the Alliance.”

“Can’t you?”

The question hangs like a noose. A sudden urge to flip the table and walk away grabs hold, and it’s only a deliberate sip of his beer that keeps him in his seat. “I’m an Alliance soldier,” he replies, voice quiet. Shepard would recognize it for the thin ice it was. Shepard isn't here.

“An Alliance soldier who knows about the Reaper threat but can’t do anything about it,” Ryder says. “An Alliance soldier who watched as his commanding officer’s legacy was manipulated into political propaganda while his crew was silenced. An Alliance soldier who wants to make a difference.”

But can’t. The unspoken words hover like a thick fog and refuse to dissipate. Kaidan looks back to the datapad. Anything to escape that goddamned stare.

“Talk to Garsen,” Ryder urges. “Listen to what she has to say. The Reapers are coming. You believe it. I believe it. If we can pull this off, we might still be able to save ourselves. But we need people like you to do it.”

Ryder’s chair scuffs against the floor plates, armor joints creaking as he gets to his feet. Kaidan doesn’t look up, and no farewell is offered. When he’s sure he’s alone, he puts his head in his hands, eyes squeezed shut, willing the crowds in the restaurant and the corridors of the Presidium to fade into white noise.

#ljanderson #mememe #meme replies #snippet #thank you!! #ljandersen