#the valira story

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Fantasy Names III

Aithne (f)

Elderic (m)

Minne (f)

Valira (f)

Isidor (m)

Marabella (f)

Albion (f/m)

Gloriana (f)

Sakura (f)

Wolfram (m)

Azahara (f)

Neizan (m)

Malasintha (f)

Sonora (f)

Zabel (m)

Rosamunde (f)

Jamilian (m)

Sybella (f)

Alamea (f)

Gael (m)

Tamar (f)

Kamilla (f)

Burr (m)

Alias (m)

Emmeline (f)

Kuno (m)

Rosella (f)

Maura (f)

Iker (m)

Hemma (f)

Disclaimer: You can, of course, use any name you like for any genre of story. Some of these names are from actual mythology, some of them I just liked as names in a fantasy story.

More names!

#fantasy names #writeblr #writing prompts #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #creative writing

[theladyragnell]

So @dollsome-does-tumblr did a thing based on this self-rec meme where you link a story of yours that best fits some words, and I am a follower, so I am going to do it as well and send some of my fics out into the universe! And I encourage other people to do it too, you never know who hasn’t read some of your work!

hug - Never Bitter and All Delicious (Les Mis, Enjolras/Grantaire): In which fairy godmothers grant wishes in different ways these days, and we get a peek at their workplace. I don’t think there’s actually that much hugging in this one but it just feels like a hug.

crown - The Dreams of an Impossible Princess (Agent Carter, Peggy/Angie): Absolutely ridiculous frothy self-aware Hallmark AU, where Angie is cast as the lead in a holiday romcom about the real-life lost princess of Vengia.

repulsed - All The Seeds Lie Below (The Campaign of Five Dragons, Valira/Haoti): A Pride & Prejudice AU for my first D&D campaign, which seems like precisely the kind of thing the word “repulsed” is meant for.

blood - beautiful and afraid of nothing (Les Mis, Cosette/Eponine(/Unnamed Man): Eponine and Cosette are grifters who seduce and violently murder asshole men. MIND THE WARNINGS.

flower - Raised Roots (Original Work, f/f): An original fantasy romance novella with cottagecore vibes, a pegasus farm, and a witch whose bees make very specific honey, thus the flower comparison.

clothing - The Second Hand Unwinds (Les Mis, Enjolras/Grantaire): Grantaire does the sewing for a time travel agency, and Enjolras wants to change the past.

god - Big Enough to Hold Your Love (Killjoys, Dutch/Johnny): A Cupid and Psyche AU with a traveling house and a thief and a goddess who wants to be known for herself and not her domain.

dance - You Dance Dreams (Les Mis, Enjolras/Grantaire): A 60k modern college AU where they put on an opera that’s a sequel to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Puck is a dancing role, with lots of dance and choreography and also pining.

music - Concerto for Two Violins (Merlin, Gwaine/Morgana with background Arthur/Merlin): Modern orchestra AU where Gwaine and Morgana are friends with benefits and Arthur and Merlin might be breaking up, but a new symphony might change some of that.

magic - The Future Soon (Merlin, Arthur/Merlin): Visions of the future that lead to attempts to spite destiny, plus fighting anti-magician discrimination.

kiss - Just Want Your Extra Time (And Your Kiss) (Vikings, Athelstan/Lagertha/Ragnar): 3k of almost nothing but kissing in a modern AU, with a kissing booth donation as an excuse.

ending - not afraid of all the reasons that I shouldn’t try (The Wild Swans/The Frog Prince, The Youngest Brother/Iron Henry): Two minor characters from their tales after the end of the story, starting their own.

Go forth and do likewise!

#about me #sometimes i write stories #tried to do a breadth of fandoms for fun #but these are all ones i'm proud of for one reason or another! #and many of them can be read with very minimal canon knowledge

[sasskarian]

OC ask: how do you feel about random folks reading writing smutty fics involving you?

[Isera and Ethelan Lavellan, Marian Hawke, Iviani Lavellan, Valira Surana, Sara Ryder, and Iolana Shepard sit behind a long table]

Marian: [Kicks her feet up on the table with a very smug grin] Sugar, I’ve been nekkid on the silver screen for millions. Nothing new to me.

Isera: [Slowly covers her eyes with her hand]

Iviani: [Squeaks and turns bright red]

Valira: I’m... more okay with it than I thought I would be? Interesting. 

Ethelan: Nothing not to love here. Nothing to hide.

Sara: I’m-- there’s-- I mean. The Initiative has its own zines, so... I guess it makes sense? Jaal might be weirded out but I’ve spent too much time on the extranet to feel that strongly.

Iolana: Kid, I’ve seen everything there supposedly is about me. [shrugs] Marry a turian, survive the apocalypse, become an admiral, a lot of stories get tossed around. Maybe a quarter of them are true. 

Marian: I’d be willing to trade stories. [Waggles her eyebrows]

Iolana: Hush, you shameless flirt. I get enough of that from Vega.

Marian: Aw. But I’ll even call you ma’am and everything!

#anotherdayforchaosfay

[sovinly]

Quil/Phi/Terry, soulmarks or soulbonds

(The OT3! \o/ Obviously, the only clear choice here is to borrow from @theladyragnell and True Colors (truly an AU to discuss at length)! CW: Mentions of past bodily harm, because, well, Phi’s background.)

Terry shouldn’t be a novelty, really, but he feels like one.He’s easy going when this place is full of ghosts, and wears the bright smearof Lanra’s friendly green across his bicep without flinching.

Phi is sure that Crestmaker would have had something to sayabout it, had he lived longer than a few days ago. But he’s dead, and most(most isn’t good enough) of hersiblings are not.

Fairpoint Hold isn’t unscathed, either, some stoneworkdamaged and wooden barracks half-charred in the fighting. Even if it’s a homefull of ghosts, it’s where they all know one another, so they’ll set out tomake it something better than it was.

Phi isn’t sure how she feels about it, when she’s avoidedcoming back here since she left at fourteen, but she’ll try for her siblings’sakes, and figure out what the hell she wants to do when the smell of smoke andiron has cleared away entirely.

She’s helping clear stone from the courtyard under thebright sunshine, and even she has to stop eventually. Her customary gloves arejust in the way, and she’s tucked them into her belt for after the day’s work.

Lanra and Terry are joking with one another as they do theirpart, and Phi is… fond. She’s glad her closest brother has such a good friend,and Terry is kind and friendly and not overbearing. Handsome, too, with hislight brown eyes and dark hair and ready smile and scattering of soulmarks.

He watches her sometimes, gentle and something more, and Phiis torn between running and waiting.

She sighs, and wipes the sweat from her brow. Undoes herhair from its tail to gather up all the escaped strands, and ties it up tighteragain.

“Here,” Terry says, and holds out a waterskin, smiling. “Finishit off before I go refill it?”

“Thanks,” Phi replies, unable to help smiling back, andreaches for it. Misjudges the distance, and fumbles her hold when she feelswarm skin brush her own.

There’s a deep amber smudge across her crooked ring andlittle finger, saturated deeper than most of the marks she still has. The lapisblue streaked over the back of Terry’s fingers is just as bright, deep as theocean.

“Oh,” says Phi, soft. She hadn’t thought she could leavesuch colors anymore. Hadn’t thought anyone could leave them on her. “Oh. I’msorry.”

“I’m not,” says Terry, steady. He looks down at his hand, athers, and up at her with a smile. “I’m glad.”

“Oh,” Phi repeats, stillstartled, but she feels warm, so warm as she smiles back, shy and unfathomably happy.

----

Quil hasn’t tried to touch any of her companions, yet,though she’s gotten very fond of them, these last few weeks. Of course, Quilhadn’t touched very many people beforeshe was Quil.

She has her mother’s lavender a pale wash over the end ofher tail, and Cordelia’s wrong-even-if-no-one-remembers ash grey on herfingertip. That’s all Quil needs.

Anyway, it doesn’t seem like any of her party are eager forcolors themselves. Kithri may be a whole canvas, covered in watercolors anddeep streaks of rainbow colors, bright as Torrin, but she’s very careful not totouch any of them on uncovered skin. Valira wears covering clothes anyway, butshe’s got cloth wrapped around her palms and wrists, and purses her lips whenanyone looks at the few marks that edge onto her face.

And Phi – well, Quil had heardof it happening, but it makes her squirm a little to see evidence of such abarbaric thing being done. Phi has a few dots of color here and there, and notall pale, glimpsed mostly under her armor, and a soulmate-bright amber on herright hand below her wedding bracelet. But Phi’s skin is also scattered withburns: her forearms and face dotted with rough, healed skin.

But they’re crossing the lava fields of the Nine Hells, andPhi impatiently tossed aside one of her gloves when it burned near through, andQuil is in such a panic that she’s not paying attention and slips.

Phi grabs her, hauls her back up, and there’s golden honeyyellow staining her palm, the brightest mark Quil’s left on anyone. Quil looks down at her forearm, whichis as blue as Phi’s bracelet, rich and deep on the red of Quil’s skin.

“Cordelia,” is all Quil can say, because she’s still soangry, so flustered, so desperate,and Phi, who she set on fire just afew hours or days ago, just nods, and follows her across the fields.

Phi finds Cordelia hiding in a temple, and brings her –silent and scared – back to Quil, and Quil uses all the force of her unsteadymagic to bring them back home and-

Cordelia isn’t there, nothing more than a cruel taunt of whatevergoes on in that rift. It’s not fair, it’s awful.

Arfil watches them both with momentarily-sharp eyes,silver-white streaked down his forehead and soulmark cerulean creased acrosshis palm.

Quil looks down at her wrist, and over to Phi’s hand, at thedeeply saturated colors that are still somehow there. That somehow carried overfrom that not-real world to here, and Quil bursts into angry, bereft tears.

Phi, reticent Phi who also got dragged through a portalnightmare, puts her hand on Quil’s shoulder, and doesn’t have anything to say. Somehow,even though it shouldn’t and can’t be enough, it’s the right thing to do, andQuil leans into her touch.

----

Phi had written so many letters, and so Terry half feelslike he knows her companions by the time they make their way to Fairpoint Hold,a cool but comfortable spring morning.

He’s certainly heard about Quil, who he’s inclined to befond of based on what Phi’s written and on account of her making Phi happy, butit’s still a bit of a shock to see her in person. To see her honey-gold on Phi’shand, and Phi’s lapis blue on Quil’s arm like a bracelet.

They look very easy with one another, with Valira and Kithritoo, even still fight-weary and road-bedraggled.

“I’m the husband,” Terry greets them, giving a respectful nodto Kithri and to Valira. “Welcome to Fairpoint. It’s a pleasure to meet you allat last.”

He offers his hand out to Quil, though he’s not of a mind tobe offended if she doesn’t want to take it right away.

She looks bright, with astute gold eyes and a thoughtfultilt of the chin, and lovely, with a cloud of dark hair crowned with the beesthat followed her around the world. It’s not hard to imagine her fighting adragon, the same way it’s not hard to imagine her in a quiet field ofwildflowers.

Phi is watching them both in her thoughtful, quiet way, butshe doesn’t seem as anxious about it as he might have thought – some of thatdragon-fighting confidence must have settled in her, too, and Terry is glad ofit.

“You too. We’ve heard a lot about you,” Quil says, andsmiles as she steps forward. She presses the back of her hand against his, andthere’s a flicker over her face – insecurity or uncertainty, and a fragile sortof hope or maybe want – but her touch is deliberate.

When she drops her hand, Terry can’t help but look downimmediately the same way Quil does, across from him.

Her honey-gold mark sits there as bright as sunshine, likethe palest stripes of color in the tigers’ eye set into his wedding bracelet.

His amber stands out just as starkly on the back of Quil’shand, and she smiles at it as one of her bees drifts down to inspect the newaddition to its perch.

“I’m going to be glad to get to know you,” Terry tells her,and would have meant it either way, but he really is very glad, and hopes tolearn the ways they’ll fit together too.

“I’d like that,” Quil says, and reaches for Phi’s hand withthe one not occupied by bees. Some of that worry lifts from her face; her smilewarms and settles on her face.

Terry can’t help but smile back, and of course there’s manyreunions to have and introductions to make, before they can even sit down toshare their whole story, let alone start catching up on what all of this means.

But Phi and Quil have helped to save the world, and thatmeans they have time and plenty to figure it out.

#sovin writes things #the campaign of five dragons #sovin's d&d problem #phi/quil/terry #soulmate au #thank you darling! <3 #samyazaz

[exquisitespook]

@just-a-lovely-succubus {xxx}

 She looked back towards the same window that the succubus was. Miyu was always told about them from her mother in traditional folklore, they always used to scare her. Just like in the stories, this woman was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, yet in the pit of her stomach she felt so uneasy around her.  This Valira character seemed so calming,. She didn’t know whether to trust her mind that was telling her to get this creature outside before something happens, or let her stay.

“Mmm fine, you can stay I guess. You’re still pretty fishy, but I’m not one to push people out into the rain though.”

#justalovelysuccubus #just-a-lovely-succubus #ic #rp #roleplay

[seymourslopes]

Andorra Ski Blog - Wednesday 16th January 2019.

Good morning all.

What to write today? A question I ask myself on a regular basis. Some days the words flow like our East Valira River in the spring thaw. Other days it's more like having had an overdose of mono-sodium glutamate - I'm parched! Today I'm in need of inspiration but not completely dry.

Regular readers of my blog know I read the local papers, to weed out little gems, but these contain little of interest to us at the moment. It is good to read though that the police are being really proactive in their fight against drugs in Andorra. Undercover surveillance in nightclubs, bars and suspected sales points has increased the number of arrests and more scrutiny at the borders has paid off as well. It's not a huge problem here, by the way, but unlike the UK, which seems to have an attitude of 'live and let live', Andorra is making a statement.

What's new Pussy Cat?

Still plenty to report. After 15 years of faithful service the gondola cabins on the Soldeu Gondola have been retired and replace by larger more spacious ones. Unlike the old ones these do not have external racks for skis - you take your skis in with you. This seems to aid loading/unloading and is taking stress out of the system. For those of you who suffer from vertigo a warning. One of the 51 new cabins has a see through floor! You'll maybe see some of the old cabins dotted around being used as outside smoking areas by hotels.

In the Pas de la Casa sector, one of the resorts’ most extreme ski lifts 'Pic Negre 2' will re-open after 20 years of inaction (fully serviced I'm sure). Its location means that only the most experienced skiers can access it. This legendary ski lift is being re-opened to take advantage of the freeride boom after substantial improvements to the Isards area (Pas). The objective is to give access to some of the most virgin territories of Pas de la Casa; an untapped area that will open when conditions allow for the enjoyment of the best natural powder snow.

Feedback.

A couple of friends ask "What is the origin of the phrase winner, winner, chicken dinner?". The exact origin is disputed but the most popular story is that the said dinner at a Las Vegas casino used to cost less than $2, about the same amount as a standard bet. So, if you won a bet, you could afford a chicken dinner!

Weather.

We're still expecting light snow tomorrow but down low it may be wet and sleety  depending on the temperature. Getting colder from Friday onwards with more snow Saturday and into next week.

'Trad night' aprés ski in the Harp tonight. From 5-7pm Mikey and Bruce will liven up the bar with the crowd expected to join in with all the old favourite boozing songs!

[www-xms-ro]

Lutz Meyer originally shared:

Andorra Vall nord, La Massana, autumn/tardor/herbst 2017

> La Massana parroquia, Vall nord, Andorra, Pyrenees, Europe

Visit the story: https://plus.google.com/photos/113546069103743767145/album/6487839462042688689

Autumn photos of La Massana parroquia, Vall nord, Andorra, Pyrenees, Europe

La Massana city is situated centered in Andorra, because it's "next valley neighbour" Encamp and capital Andorra la Vella including Escaldes-Engordany are very near via 2 tunnels. Access to Vall nord is possible too by foot wandering from Escaldes or from Rec del Sola on top of Andorra la Vella via "Cami Ral". This trail follows Riu Valira del nord trough the spectacular Sant Antoni canyon followed by a new path along Riu Valira del nord.

La Massana parroquia has big wintersports areas at Pal Caubella and Arinsal, and also spectacular nature offers with high mountain areas Comapedrosa & Seturia with a 4x4 connection to Pallars Sobira of Catalunya.

More La Massana local images at Flickr:

La Massana parroquia http://www.flickr.com/groups/massana/

La Massana city http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400massana/

Aldosa http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400aldosa/

Anyos http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400anyos/

Arinsal http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400arinsal/

Erts http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400erts/

Pal http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400pal/

Sispony http://www.flickr.com/groups/ad400sispony/

Ruta del Ferro at Ordino valley at Google+: https://plus.google.com/communities/110364915251745273348 or Ruta del Ferro at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/rutadelferro/

#LaMassana #Vallnord #Andorra #nature #Pyrenees

(c) all rights reserved. Photos by Lutz Meyer. Contact: lutz(at)lutz-meyer.com

https://plus.google.com/+XMediaStudioValentin/posts/F1y7PDpzuRz

#LaMassana #Vallnord #Andorra #nature #Pyrenees

[wikiweb-blog]

Green River Alarms Small Spanish Town

The Valira River in Spain turned bright emerald green Thursday, according to reports, causing concern amongst residents in the small town of Seu d’Urgell. Despite the shocking green color of the water, the town’s Mayor Albert Batalla assured citizens that the water was not toxic.In a , the mayor explained environmentalists were testing the water during an investigation on a nearby water bottling plant, The Local, a Spanish news site, . During the test, which was issued to determine whether or not the water was “safe for both people and the environment,” green dye was added to the water, resulting in… Read Full Story

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[theladyragnell]

Tag game from @flammablehat, thank you very much, darling!

Rules: List the first lines of the last ten (10) stories you published.   Look to see any patterns you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any. Then tag some friends.

And I’m just going to tag anyone who’s in the mood and is in the mood to analyze some of their own writing!

1. Johnny taps on the door pretty soon after everything quiets down. (all some children do is work, Killjoys, gen, 3k)

2. yo I’m in spain hear you are too hit me up if you want (if you could redirect my day, Ted Lasso, Roy/Jamie/Keeley, 11k)

3. “He loves her. The Marshal.” (Some Place Better Than Where You’ve Been, Leverage, Parker/Hardison/Eliot(& Team), 4k)

4. In the city of Tyne, there are two pots of spaghetti sauce simmering on stovetops. (a phenomenon no one can explain, The Campaign of Five Dragons, Valira/Haoti, 18k)

5. “We can’t really get married,” Parker says one night, and is really sorry she can’t see Hardison’s face in the dark, because he definitely drops something. (and we’ll take it slow, Leverage, Parker/Hardison/Eliot, 600)

6. “We need a dog.” (we would stay away from crowds, Leverage, Parker/Hardison/Eliot, 300)

7. She has, in the fifty years and more she has been building her position here, heard of the Fairy of the Border Tower. (waiting for the world to turn once more, Sleeping Beauty, gen, 3k)

8. Most days, Phi meets Quil at the ship’s rail in the morning, when the sailors on the night shift are yawning their way to their hammocks and the rest are eating in the galley, arguing over who is taking which post for the day, drinking weaker coffee the farther they get from any ports that have any to sell them. (You Feel Just Like the Sun, The Campaign of Five Dragons, Quil/Phi/Terry, 45k)

9. Calla left confusion in her wake. (what a tale my thoughts could tell, The Games We Played During the War, Calla/Valk, 6k)

10. Someday Dutch is going to buy a spaceship that likes her best. (Lead Me To Your Door, Killjoys, Dutch & John, 5k)

I definitely have some patterns! Four of these start with dialogue, which actually feels low to me, I feel like throwing the reader into the middle of a conversation is a technique I tend to use a lot (though I do tend to use it more in shorter stories, I think that happens in a lot of ficlet rounds when I do those).

Other than that, I enjoy declarative statements that make sense to the narrator if not to the reader and/or statements that quickly establish a status quo so that I can promptly mess with that status quo.

All of which are fairly common writing techniques for beginnings, I think, so probably nothing terribly special or unexpected, but it is very fun to go through and see what I’ve been starting stories with for the last while!

#shut up nell #replies and conversations #flammablehat

[theladyragnell]

Tell me what you love about your disaster children otp?

I think what first attracted me to them, when we made a joke and then I went “... oh no,” is that on the surface, they have nothing in common, but they’ve been tied together by this horrible thing that nobody else they know has been through, so there’s this deep kinship between them that could let them see other things they have in common.

And then, looking back on the actual canon, I realized how many times Valira reached out, trying to connect on those lines (Goodberry, talking about possession, talking about Yondalla saying he was noble), it was an interesting ship dynamic to think about, both of them seeing those commonalities but acting in very different ways about it!

So I guess, at heart, I love that even though I fondly refer to them as my disaster children, theirs is always a story about two deeply fucked up people finding a connection that helps them heal a little.

#sovinly #answered asks

[theladyragnell]

Night and Dance for the word prompts? And I would absolutely adore some five dragons stuff!!

(Set during canon, for once, but all you need to know is that they’re On A Quest and also half of them are Extremely Poorly Socialized and the other half are only slightly better.)

Phi can see on Quil and Valira’s faces that the second the fiddler in the corner of the inn’s common room strikes up a lively tune they’re ready to suggest leaving, even if they lose money on their rooms. Kithri rolls her eyes and clutches tight on her tankard of mead, an obvious sign she doesn’t want to dance with anyone, but she settles in to watch.

It’s been a while since Phi danced, but she likes it, the breathlessness and the movement and the joy. She may be an ocean away from her favorite dance partner, but she can still dance, and she offers Quil her hand before she can follow Kithri’s example. “Would you like to dance?”

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Quil hisses, making a gesture with her hands like a bloom of flame.

Valira may not want to dance herself, but she’ll always jump in to defend Quil from herself without a second’s hesitation. “And what magic would you be casting on the dance floor? If you want to dance, dance.”

“And if you don’t, I can always ask Lauren,” Phi says mildly, keeping an eye on the Jeno’s crew as they come to the dance floor in ones and twos, Captain Keene mirroring Kithri with his tankard firmly in hand.

Quil wavers visibly, and Phi feels a little sorry for asking, knowing how much Quil hates to say no to her friends, how much she hates to say no to Phi herself. After a moment, she opens her mouth to renege on the offer and go find Lauren after all, even if Lauren is eyeing up a young local sitting with his friends, and Quil speaks in a small voice. “I don’t know how.”

“That I can fix, if you like,” Phi says, and then looks out the window. It’s a cool night, but the inn is closer to the crossroads than to the town, and there’s nothing very close. “And if you’re embarrassed not to know, we can go outside. We can hear the music through the window.”

For a moment, she thinks Quil will say no, but then she straightens her shoulders, and it’s clear that suddenly, this dancing is a test she’s setting herself. “Then let’s go out and dance.”

Phi takes her at her word, and is a little surprised when Valira doesn’t follow. It’s even odds, Phi thinks, whether she’ll be dancing with someone when they come inside or whether she’ll be slipped away to their room, or even out the window and out of human form. Still, there are only so many victories she can expect outside of battle, and getting Quil to agree to at least trying to dance is an unexpected one.

Outside, the chill is worse, and Quil isn’t fond of those, so Phi doesn’t waste time showing her how to stand, showing her the basic steps of the cheerful jig coming from inside. It’s hard to remember the leader’s part for herself, and both of them stumble a few times, but after the second, they laugh about it, and Phi remembers what she was just discovering before her summons came, that sometimes failure doesn’t hurt anyone, just makes a better story for later.

“You can dance that inside and have no shame at all,” she says when the first piece is over. The steps aren’t so hard, and an inn this far away from a city probably won’t have much more than a jig or a march playing.

Quil tilts her head, and Phi can see well enough in the dark to know she’s smiling. “One more out here,” she requests, and Phi can’t say no to that.

There are so few nights of joy, on this quest, and Phi expects it to be ruined. But Quil gets the hang of the dances quickly, dances lightly and smiles while she does, and when Phi coaxes her inside, she dances with her again, and even Valira has been pulled into the dance by then, turning under some stranger’s arm, and Kithri and Keene are together, clinking their mugs companionably while they talk.

And Phi has Quil in her arms, and no urgency about letting her go, and a few thoughts about what she can write in her next letter to Terry.

#badass sunshine #answered asks

[theladyragnell]

Five Dragons OT3, puzzle! :)

Quil is a puzzle.

No, that isn’t fair, Terry knows that. Quil is a woman and a sorceress and one of the most powerful people in the world, along with his wife somehow, and she’s not something to be solved, not a challenge set.

Perhaps better to say, then, that Quil puzzles him, though the clarification in phrasing doesn’t make her puzzle him less.

Part of it is that Phi’s observations in her letters are coloring his, and he keeps looking for the Quil she described and only finding parts of her, the rest of it carefully shielded, or just changed now that she’s no longer in constant danger. He sees the shyness Phi mentioned, the aura of power that feels like a lightning storm about to come on around her. She looks like the little portraits sketched in the letters’ margins--he recognizes the tilt of her head, the angles of her eyebrows when she’s annoyed. But he doesn’t see her flashes of anger, her nights of nightmares, her surges of magic.

He doesn’t see it, though, because he thinks she may be avoiding him.

It’s a terribly self-centered thought, of course. Quil has every reason to need rest, to keep herself away from company, from anyone but her friends and companions. She has every reason to leave right away and go looking for her sister to try to help her, though Gary and Allan are making every book in the Hold available to her for research as long as she stays. And she is shy with everyone, but he sees her talking to Allan about spellwork, a little smile growing bigger on her face, with Len about the Hold’s beehives, with Ronan about her sister and Lanra about dinner. Every time he’s in a room, though, and there’s no buffer of Phi between them, she seems to have business elsewhere very quickly.

If he asks Phi about it, he’ll only distress her. Her letters were about all of her companions and her adventures besides, so he knows Kithri’s opinions on how to make the best fillings for pie and Valira’s observations about flying as a hawk, knows Arfil’s knotted hands and wise eyes and Haoti Ewhoza’s worn-away arrogance, but she talked about Quil most. It comes back, he thinks, to the portals, early on, the strong memories of their pasts, but it moved on from there, and it’s clear that Phi loves Quil very much, and that Quil must love her too, and it baffles him that she won’t let him reach out, when they have Phi in common.

His answer comes when Phi insists that her friends all come to spend a meal with just she and Terry, and it’s a shock how long it’s taken for it to be the five of them together, but it makes sense too, when they’ve all been trying to give Phi and Terry space to be reacquainted and when Phi’s brothers insist on seeing her on other nights. He’s glad to get to know Quil and Valira and Kithri better, and shamelessly uses his rights as host to sit Quil near him, so he can try to talk to her.

She does talk, but Kithri is talking about needing to travel to her lady soon, and Phi is encouraging them to tell stories, so Terry can’t give Quil pointed attention, and as often as not, her head is tilted to make a curtain between them.

After dinner, when they’re all moving around the suite, Valira having what looks like a serious conversation with Mrs. Whiskers, Kithri inspecting their wedding quilt and making approving noises, Terry catches sight of Phi and Quil standing together in a corner. Phi is smiling, gentle and pleased and patient, while Quil looks up at her, gesturing about something, more animated than he’s seen her yet, and maybe Phi doesn’t see it, but Phi doesn’t always realize what it looks like when people are in love with her, in his experience.

And then, like she feels him realizing it, Quil gives him a look of desperate shame and unhappiness, just a flicker of it, and Terry puts it together with Phi’s words about self-sacrifice and feels his heart ache a little with how fast it expands to give her more space in it.

Before Quil can try to flee, try to blame herself for feelings he has all the sympathy in the world for, Terry wanders over to them. “What are you talking about?”

“Quil has plans with Allan tomorrow,” says Phi, and there’s something so soft in her smile, and Terry really does need to get to know Quil better, because he won’t have Phi unhappy for the world. “Magical plans, apparently. And then Lanra’s taking her to town so she can buy a new dress.”

Terry smiles. “That sounds wonderful. Would you mind if I invite myself along, Quil? I need to get a few things in the village too, and I don’t know you well enough yet.”

“Oh,” says Quil, and there’s enough panic on her face that Phi sees it and her brows knit in distress, ready to save Quil from her unhappiness if she can. But the second Quil sees that Phi is worried, she puts a smile on her face (”She’s always brave for other people--the only thing she’s afraid of is herself,” Phi wrote once, and he feels that truth now). “Of course you can.”

“Good,” he says. “I want to know you.”

All he can hope is that she knows he’s telling the truth, and from the surprise in her eyes, he thinks maybe she’s beginning to have an inkling.

#someday i should write the immediate post-canon wrap-up stuff we're forever eliding over #it is a fun part of canon #the campaign of five dragons #samyazaz #answered asks

[theladyragnell]

Writing ask meme: 1, 6, 13, 34!

1. Tell us about your WIP!

I am writing in my D&D fandom again! Which, you know ... effectively means it is original work for like 99.9999% of the internet, but I am nothing if not extremely niche. And I am writing a Pride & Prejudice AU (for Valira/Haoti, the same ship I wrote the epic romance I wrote last year, for those of you following along at home)! It’s a lot of fun trying to blend the Regency-esque setting with the D&D mechanics and worlds and the plot of that campaign, and I’m writing at a pretty decent clip! And also on track to absolutely obliterate my previous fic-length record (though I shouldn’t get near my origfic record, thank goodness), since I’m past 30k and our heroine is maybe a thousand words from leaving for Mr. Collins’s house.

(Why do I do these things to myself, ten people are going to read this, but hopefully those ten people will really enjoy themselves.)

6. Favorite character you’ve written?

This one’s hard! I’m the kind of writer where whoever I’m writing currently is nearly always my favorite. Fic-wise, maybe Grantaire from Les Mis? I always had fun getting into his head. Origfic-wise ... the heroine of my NaNo 2018 novel, maybe? She was smart and a little ruthless and all politics, and I had a whole lot of fun figuring that story out. (And I really need to give that a proper edit. But then again I really need to give ALL my origfic a proper edit, this is why I haven’t taken the publishing world by storm yet, I love writing drafts and HATE editing.)

13. Describe your writing process

With fic especially, I don’t tend to plan. The P&P AU is a major exception, I have an extremely detailed outline for that one, but for the most part I just kind of have an idea for the vague concept, a few scenes I want to hit on the way, and a sort of knowledge of what I want the ending to be, and I write with that vague trajectory in mind. With longer projects, both fic and origfic, I do tend to acquire at least some form of outline, but only once I’m a ways into the story--I always feel like at the beginning there are a million options for how the story could go, and every choice and scene narrows that options down, and eventually I hit a tipping point that lets me figure out the rest of the story, which could be 25% in or 85% in.

I write in order, beginning to end, because if I went out of order I would only write the candybar scenes and nothing would ever get strung together.

With origfic, I spend some time getting to know the characters and the world first, but not too much. I generally don’t build everyone and everything from scratch before I start, but I have a few points to start from, things I definitely want in there, and let things grow organically from there.

I am a very chaotic writer, basically.

34. Unpopular writing thoughts/opinions?

Man, do I have any of those? I don’t know if I’d know what thoughts I have are unpopular! I have a lot of reading opinions, and fandom opinions, but writing ones are different, and I see mine echoed around a lot--I’m from the school of “you write a lot of crap before you write good stuff” and also the school of “you can edit anything but you have to write it first, don’t edit before it’s finished” (which is ironic considering I so rarely edit anything of mine), but those are fairly well-established schools.

Yeah, I have been staring at this question for like five minutes, I think that cop-out answer is what I have for you, at least at this hour of the night!

#pluckyredhead #answered asks

[theladyragnell]

if you're still doing the writer asks: 14, 22, 25?

14. What does it take for you to be ready to write a book? (i.e. do you research? outline? make a playlist or pinterest board? wing it?)

Not much, really! A sense of the characters (and their relationships) and worldbuilding, a few scenes I want to get to, a trope if that’s something I want to follow along with. I used to make a playlist before starting anything major, but my music library has been broken for like a year now (which is killer during this quarantine, let me tell you), so I don’t really do that anymore, alas.

22. Tell us about the books on your “to write” list

There are so many!

Fic: Most of the specific stuff I have in my head is D&D fic. I want to do the other half of what I call the “meet the parents” duology for Valira/Haoti, where Haoti gets to meet Valira’s shitty family, but I need a lot more emotional fortitude before I can take that on. There’s also a Quil/Phi/Terry based on a running joke we have that Quil’s wild magic surges get worse when she has a crush that I think would be a bunch of fun but also require Plotting so who knows when that will happen.

Origfic: Pull up a chair! I’ve got one superhero story I have been writing for literal years that I really do want to do more with someday (I’ve mentioned the lonely superhero around here before, it’s that one, I have literally not progressed in the long time since I mentioned her).

I’ve got two serieses I’m in the middle of writing (Why Am I Like This), one of which I’m more excited about continuing than the other--one Regency romance series I wrote the first one of last year, and one sci fi series I’m two deep in and still denying it’s a series except I have a bunch in mind for the third book.

And then there’s what’s probably my next origfic project, which I dearly hope is a novella instead of a novel, where a witch and a pegasus farmer fall in love. Because you know what? Sometimes you’ve got a brand and you may as well lean in.

And then 25 is the worldbuilding question and I’ve already answered it!

#anonymous #answered asks

[theladyragnell]

Writing ask meme: 4, 25, and 46! (and on your upcoming Valira/Haoti work I am SO EXCITED, I adore everything you write and have read "Trust the Light Towards Which You Wend Your Way" many times.) Have a lovely, lovely evening~

(Oh man, I am so happy there are people out there enjoying the D&D fics!!! Warms the cockles of my heart, I tell you. And I am hoping that motivation and speed and fate are all with me so I can post on May 4th, since I always like to post something for my birthday!)

4. Do you have any writing habits/rituals?

I try to write every day, habit-wise, and I start unhelpfully self-flagellating whenever it’s been more than a day or two. Usually, though not always, I wait till later in the evening, when anyone else around is in bed, because my creative brain tends to be on at night and because my creative brain tends to be on best when I’m alone. Often I’ll do 20-minute wars for an hour or two at a time, which tends to really up my wordcount when I can resist the siren call of the internet. Other than that, I don’t have much!

25. What’s your worldbuilding process like?

It tends to be pretty fluid, but in general, I start with one point that’s going to happen in the actual frame of the story, either plot- or character-related, and try to work from there. Like, say I have an idea for a sci fi story, and I don’t know anything else, but I know I want my main character to be a starship pilot’s apprentice. So that tells me a few things--there are apprenticeships in this world, and pilots are tradespeople. So then I start asking questions, usually yes or no ones to start. Are they prestigious tradespeople? Let’s say no, so that means maybe a lot of people can and do pilot starships, and that whether or not the labor they do is necessary, it’s not very visible to the average person. Are they transporting from a planet? Is it Earth? Let’s say yes and then no, and it builds out from there, and I ask myself questions until I have something cohesive.

I have also been teaching myself to ground my worldbuilding a lot more with some recent books where my primary questions to myself have been “what natural resources are available?” which started a whole plot with ice theft as a power grab, because I’m a nerd.

46. Past or present tense?

Extremely variable! To write, about 90% of my fic is in present and 90% of my origfic is in past, just because that’s kind of how the house styles go. I put my fic in the past mostly when it’s based on a book written in past tense and I’m not massively AUing, and I did it with a lot of canon-set Merlin fic back in the day for Reasons I guess? And then with origfic, the more fannish the tropes and such I use, the more likely it is to be in present, but that’s not a 100% thing either way. And for reading, I don’t really have a preference for origfic, but I do prefer my fanfic to be in the present.

#anonymous #answered asks

[theladyragnell]

Hello! I absolutely love all your D&D stories! I know you just posted a long fic about them, but if you're willing, maybe a ficlet with Valira/Haoti please? Thank you!

(Oh man welcome to the fandom! We are happy to have anyone who will join us for sure! You did not request a trope or AU, so I ended up doing the first scene of a Notting Hill AU involving a small town library rather than a big city bookstore.)

Thereis an extremely sketchy man wearing a hoodie and sunglasses prowlingthrough the shelves of thelibrary. He's not evenbrowsing, he keeps popping his head up, seeing Valira watching himwith mistrust, and ducking again, as well as staying away from thewindow. Phi has a shiftstarting in an hour, and Valira idly considers texting her to comeearly if she can, since Valira caneject thievesif she needs to, but Phi is much more efficient at it.

Thelast one came back the next day and apologized.

“Areyou hiding from the police for a crime you previously committed,”she finally asks, in the spirit of fairness, hand on her phone incase she does need to get Phi over,“or are you planning to commit a crime in here? Because honestly wedon't stock anything that's worth stealing unless you're very much inneed and have a desperate desire to read the fifth edition of AHistory of the Arcane, which hasmanaged to make it through five editions without remembering thatrangers can cast magic. In which case, first of all I can recommendyou a way better history of magic, and second of all wereally don't have the budget to be replacing books when people stealthem. Especiallythe ones about sex, if you were thinking about that.”

Aftera long second, the thief'shead pops up from behind the shelves he's currently lurking behind,staring at the history books. Behind the sunglasses, he looks faintlyincredulous. “You think I'm here to steal something?”

Valirafrowns at him. “I mean, you're dressed to be hard to identify on asecurity camera, you're wandering around ducking behind shelves, andyou don't seem to have any idea what you're looking for, which makesyou look a little more suspicious than my average patron.”Since her average patronis usually a bewildered passerby walking in for a brief browse or abewildered Arfil taking outall of their cookbooks oneday for no discernible reason and then three romance novels the nextwhile happily discussing all the recommendations he's seen for them.

Toher surprise, a smile breaks out on his face, though he still staysmostly behind the shelf. At least the smile breaks out on his mouth,and she has no discernible proof thus far that the rest of his faceexcept his nose exists. “That's why you've been staring at me.”

Thisman is by far her most baffling customer. “Why else would I bestaring at you?”

“That's—noreason, probably. I mean,” he continues, sounding injured, “I'mfairly good-looking.”

“Areyou? Because you're wearing a hoodie so I honestly can't tell.”

“Ah.”He shuffles his feet a little. “What would you recommend? In here?Since A History of the Arcaneis subpar.”

Valirastares at him. “In the whole library,what would I recommend? A lot of things. What do you like?”

Hepauses, mouth open, like that's a hard question. “It's been a whilesince I had time to read for pleasure,” he finally says. “Somethinghappy. What can you recommend me that's happy?”

That'senough to prompt a more intense consideration of him. They get theirfair share of people going through hard times. It'sa library, after all. If he looked more ragged, more desperate orbeaten-down and less just plain furtive, she would call Kithri, askwhen the next service at the soup kitchen is. This man, though, needssomething else. A book may atleast be a start.

“Let'slook around.” She hesitates. “Look—are you local? Because I canissue you a library card, or I can issue you a guest card that wehave for people on vacation, or I can take you to our sale room fullof dirty housewife paperbacks and find you something from there.”

Hehesitates, and finally says “How dirty are the paperbacks?”

Valiragrins.

*

Thestranger leaves with a discreet paper bag carrying two filthy volumesof elven erotica, one vanity press travel book on the historicalsites of Tyne, and a tattered copy of one of Valira's favoritechildhood books about flower fairies having adventures, and Valiradecides to consider her job done. He never took off his sunglasses orhis hoodie, but he stopped looking quite so terrified after the firstfew minutes, and when he finally left, hewas clearly fleeing from the sound of the back door opening, but heat least tried to flee with dignity.

“Anyoneinteresting in?” Phi asks when she shows up, dropping her coatbehind the table.

“Guyin a hoodie and sunglasses skulking around, I sent him with a fewbooks from the sale room.” She frowns at petty cash. “He paidfive gold for them and I think he even thought it was a reasonableprice.”

Phi'seyebrows go up. “Did you quote him that price?”

“No,he just kind of asked if it was enough to cover the bill, heard youcoming in the back, and ran away before I could give him back anychange.”

Phishakes her head. “Must be one of the movie people.”

Valirawrinkles her brow. “The who?”

“Doyou ever read the local newsletter?” Valira really should,considering Phi writes the library column for it, and Kithrisometimes chips in with appeals for the food pantry, and one of Phi'sbrothers is on the select board, but she shakes her head nonetheless.“They're filming a few signs from some big new movie in townbecause apparently our scenery is perfect. Probably he's involved inthat.”

Shetakes out her phone, searches something up, and shows Valira apicture from what seems to be a gossip website, blaring EWHOZAAND SEATH FILMING WAR PICTURE IN SMALL TOWN,with a picture of a supercilious man she thinks she recognizes fromgrocery store tabloid articles as being a director of prestigepictures who treats his actors like shit, standing with … right,that explains a lot.

“Probably,”she says, as neutral as she can, and when Phi goes to deal with areference question about someone who found a cursed helmet buried inhis back garden and wants to sell it, she looks him up on her phone.

Well.At least he's not a thief.

#sometimes i write stories #the campaign of five dragons #ponds have uses #damoselmaledisant #answered asks