#because i wasn't sure it would go or fit in the proper main narrative

[aparticularbandit]

The real question is where the line is on Scarlet and Wendy mother-daughter style bonding. Because I have a thought for a potential thing that I think fits, all things considered, but idk how well it will go.

To be fair, I also thought this about the America/Wendy ship soooooooo.

ALSO I have something planned for Part Five that I'm super looking forward to and want to get into writing but can't because it isn't time yet and I'm not there but UGH I wanna write it.

#musings #bandit writes fic #wanda america fic #i originally thought maybe i'd do it as a spin-off #because i wasn't sure it would go or fit in the proper main narrative #but i think it's actually the completion of the arc that wanda - scarlet - is going on #part three made her deal with the her most harmed by her actions (and also its consequences) #(part three deals with the wanda she wanted to be) #part four is making her deal with her younger self #(part four deals with accepting herself and her magic and i guess her grief) #(part four actually really deals with her self-hatred - accepting wendy and loving wendy as avenue of doing so with herself) #part five then needs to deal with the scarlet witch and who she became under the influence of the darkhold #(part five should deal with forgiving herself and allowing for her own redemption) #(wong called her an avenger in part three and ash called her one in part four) #(part five should be scarlet getting to the point where she can call herself one) #(and the best way to show this growth is through bringing in someone we've already seen before) #(or a variant of but haven't seen the 616!version of yet) #(and i'm SO looking forward to that) #(...and also when this person gets introduced i plan to switch to second person for reasons that will make sense when we get there #AND I MISS WRITING SECOND PERSON STUFF SO MUCH) #feel free to guess who it is in the comments

[omgfloofy]

State of the Fic: dal segno al coda

For the month of August, I made it my goal to hit 200k words across all three parts of dal segno al coda, the two preview fics, and the "Meanwhile, Elsewhere..." side stories to go alongside it.

I pulled it off yesterday! Yet I somehow feel like there's so much to do still. It's crazy. You'd think with 200k words, that there would be a lot done, but I mapped out all the chapters in a spreadsheet so I can have an 'at a glance' look at my progress, and I still have so much to write.

I'm thankful to having outlined the whole story already, though. So I know where I'm going with everything.

If you had a chance to read it, We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming is the first of two preview stories for the whole fic. This takes place very late in the story, and there are a ton of references to events across all three parts of dal segno al coda in it.

I have a lot of progress done with Date Night, the next of the preview shorts. Where as We Interrupt is a bit intense, I hope that Date Night is just more fun and fluff, since it's stuff that couldn't be put into the main story and fit the narrative. Date Night should also be the first time the formatting and storytelling methods of the main story should be in play, whereas We Interrupt was more like something you'd read in the Meanwhile, Elsewhere... sidestories.

Nevertheless, I have an idea of where I stand on things. I might slow down a little just to get a breather on things before November, because I'd like to throw dal segno al coda back into NaNoWriMo again this year and see where I end up after that 50k push is done.

A sample from part 2 with Noctis and Luna is below the cut. This is, of course, unfinished and may change in the editing process, as always.

One of my favorite things of writing this has been Luna. Looking at stuff with her in Kingsglaive and in Dawn of the Future made me realize that she's a bundle of trouble wrapped in fanciful clothing, and tied off with a bow of prim and proper behavior. It's a LOT of fun to play with in some scenes, and what's even more delightful, is that Noctis was absolutely not been prepared to come face-first with some of these moments.

I also can't unsee the "Barbie Mugshot" meme now with Noctis and Luna because of this scene.

I'll let you all try and figure out why they were arrested in the first place and where they are for it, though. :D

--------

Noctis knew they were being held long enough for their identities to be figured out. He settled down on the bench and set his head in his hands. They were important enough that if anyone figured out who they were - which was possible with a little bit of work - everything about this plan would fall apart.

"Are you okay, Noctis?" Luna's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked up without any correction to his terrible, slouched posture.

Noctis lied, "Yeah. I'm fine." Whether she believed it or not, Luna simply set a hand on his back. He found that the gesture was surprisingly soothing, somehow.

Eventually, the silence between the two was broken as Luna couldn't contain her laughter. "I... have never had a mugshot taken before."

This got Noctis to sit up suddenly and he looked at her with his head tilted. "...you wanted to get a mugshot taken?"

"No, not really." Luna leaned back against the wall. She was seated next to Noctis on the bench. "It was just kind of..." A pause. "Neat?" She gave him a faint smile.

"Neat." Noctis repeated. He wasn't quite sure how to take this.

She rolled her eyes a touch and shrugged. "It is not every day that someone like us is arrested." A pause. "Like a normal person." Luna somehow sounded excited at this.

"Normal people don't get arrested," Noct complained. He might have even sounded like he was whining. Somehow, something in either his response or tone was funny enough to get another laugh from Luna. All he could do was give her a side-eye for it.

Clearly, she didn't care. "They certainly do," As Luna stood up, she patted Noct's head lightly before she walked to the bars. She clamped her hands onto them and tried to peek around the corner from them.

"A few years ago," Noctis didn't have a chance to say anything before she continued. "I read this book called The Message of the Haunted Bridge where the heroine, Faye, got a little too close to the secret, but the villain actually had a connection to the police. So to keep her out of the way long enough for his dastardly plan to kick off, he had them arrest her."

Luna turned around and leaned against the bars, still grinning. "I feel a little like her at this moment."

Noctis sat up, finally. "Except there is no villain with a dastardly plan. We just got caught somewhere we shouldn't have been."

"Doing," Luna added with a finger point. "Heroic deeds."

She was so confident with her response that Noctis just tilted his head back and bumped it against the wall. He couldn't believe he was hearing this. However, at the same time, he remembered reading her messages in the journal, about how lonely she was and that there was little to do outside of her duties as Oracle while she was in her golden cage.

He may have been a little confused at all of this, but at the same time, he couldn't help but find it adorable.

When Noctis mentally tuned back in, he realized that Luna was now talking about how Faye escaped her cell. With a sigh, he pushed himself up off the bench. She shouldn't keep talking like this when someone could come in at any point and catch them.

In fact, as Noctis walked up to Luna, she had already pulled a hair pin free from her braid. She quickly bent it until it broke into two pieces and then started to reshape one of the halves.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to pick the lock and get us out of here."

Noctis tilted his head. "You're going to what?" He wasn't sure he heard that right.

Luna didn't seem bothered by this at all. "Ravus taught me how when we were little."

"He taught you how to pick a lock." Noctis repeated, incredulously.

"He certainly did." Luna didn't look up as she answered, and instead jammed the half of the pin into the lock.

#ffxv fanfic #my fics #fic progress #dal segno al coda stuff #noctis lucis caelum #lunafreya nox fleuret