this is my romance writing shop, so please, stick around and chat! if you'd like to be an affiliate, quote me on here! ; u;
the bribe slots: basically, those paying over 500mil for anything on here, or giving me an item that i'm questing. higher priority than others, and usually reserved for those requesting a fanfiction (as in, one over 6 chapters):
SLOT ONE : Rheijima // oc x the hobbit fanfiction // 1bil per chapter SLOT TWO : username // order // bribe SLOT THREE : username // order // bribe SLOT FOUR : username // order // bribe SLOT FIVE : username // order // bribe
and, the normal spots (which i do work on, it's not like i put it away):
SLOT ONE : Ulquikitty // oc x one piece oneshot SLOT TWO : Psycho Ice // prompted oc SLOT THREE : username // order SLOT FOUR : username // order SLOT FIVE : username // order
make sure to follow the gaia tos, as well as standard decency. while i will not write anything nsfw in the shop, you may send in a request in the pms so we can find a way to do so outside of gaia to abide to the rules. i will not do any nsfw oc work, only oneshots in fandoms that i am already familiar with. as per most of my options, if the pairing is on my otp list, you'll get the standard discount shown on my pricings. if not, additional rates still apply to you.
█░▸RULE № 2↷↷
no stealing my work, or causing a disturbance in my thread. while i may not have a blacklist, my report button works just fine. if you have a complaint/are butting heads with another user, bring it up with me and i'll take care of it. over plagiarizing; while i give you a choice as to whether i can post the fic i write onto a website, even if you choose no i still keep my eye out. while i cannot report you on here for things you do elsewhere, trust me, i'll employ the report feature over there as well.
█░▸RULE № 3↷↷
after i accept your order, i will not begin writing until you send in an initial trade. we'll need to finalize it, and then i'll get started on the fic. just note: no matter how you feel about the end result, you will never get your initial fee back. though, if after seeing a sample you don't like it, you will not have to pay the fee per word. this is so i'll still get money for my hard work (despite what you feel about it), and you won't have to pay full price. if you do end up liking it after seeing a sample, though, send in the trade, and after it's finalized, i'll quote you and post the end result. if it's multi-chaptered, it's the same routine, only per chapter.
hi! i'm lady vesuvius, and this is my writing shop!
let's see... i've been writing fanfiction for nearly five years, and regular stories for even longer! i wanted to start up this shop because i can't draw, and i like gold, so it all worked out.
i don't really want to get into me, so let's see what i can do for you!
what i do
[exclusively] romance
medeival au
rp bios (only things that don't have to be romance, request by quoting me)
disney/fairytale au
fluff, angst, humor... many sub-genres
oc x fandom character
what i don't do
non-romance
teenverse au
future au
epic fight scenes
nsfw things (see rule no. 1)
...
okay, so this is where i throw in my fandom and otp list! basically, these are the things that determine whether you get a discount, or get fees added on.
FANDOMS:
disney princess
thor
pirates of the caribbean
twilight
avatar: the last airbender
sherlock
kdrama (ask about specific ones)
peter pan
ouran highschool host club
the host
supernatural
avengers
how to train your dragon
kpop boy groups (pretty much all)
hannibal
hunger games
percy jackson
once upon a time
disney world/disney land
harry potter
*more to be added*
OTP LIST
dramione (draco and hermione) harry potter
hansla (hans and elsa) frozen
lokane (loki and jane foster) thor
hannigram (hannibal and will graham) hannibal
destiel (castiel and dean) supernatural
rumbelle (rumpilstilskin and belle) once upon a time
zutara (zuko and katara) avatar: the last airbender
sparrabeth (jack sparrow and elizabeth swann) pirates of the caribbean
johnlock (john watson and sherlock holmes) sherlock
kyouharu (kyouya and haruhi) ouran highschool host club
*more to be added*
◣⋯❧ONESHOT FANFIC ★ ★ ★ tabtabthe best option, in my opinion. it's a classic if you just feel like stopping by for a little fic, or grabbing one as a gift for a friend, or whatever you want to do. it's very easy to order, actually. you tell me a fandom and give me a prompt to follow. this has a 10,000,000 starting fee, and is 500 g per word. you can usually let me know of the rough word limit, so i can stay within your price range. nothing outrageous, though; i won't do less than 1,500 words, but no more than 5,000 words. if the fandom isn't on my list, you must pay an additional 2,000,000 g. if the pairing is on my otp list, you get 3,000,000 g off the initial cost, and it becomes 350 g per word. this also includes oc x fandom characters.
[align=center][size=30][quote="lady vesuvius"][color=#8EE8E8]i would like a [b][i]O N E S H O T F A N F I C ![/i][/b][/color][/quote][/size][/align]
[color=#957664][size=13][b]FANDOM:[/b] fandom here
[b]PAIRING:[/b] pairing here
[b]PROMPT:[/b] please don't be vague
[b]ADDITIONAL:[/b] any other information i may need
[b]CAN I POST THIS ON FF.NET?:[/b] yes or no, it doesn't matter, it's just to add to my collection and i'll reference you
[b]INITIAL COST / BRIBE:[/b] what's the initial? if a bribe, what are you paying?
[b]DUE DATE:[/b] please don't be unreasonable; i need a few days at the most
[b]USERNAME:[/b] here
[/size][/color]
◣⋯❧MULTIFIC ★ ★ ★ tabtabby multific, i mean a multi-chaptered fanfic with no more than 6 chapters. this is more expensive than the oneshots, but can be worth it if you want a minor fic to read every now and then, or gift to someone over time. it doesn't really matter to me. basically, no matter how many chapters you're planning to have, the initial fee is 30,000,000 g. each chapter you're planning on having is another 10,000,000 g, including the first chapter. the word count fee is 500 g per word. as long as every chapter is above 1,500 in word count, there really isn't a maximum word limit. unlike above, after i finish writing the chapter, i'll let you know of the cost and see if it's alright before sending it in. if it's a fandom not on my list, you need to pay an additional 20,000,000 g. if the pairing is on my otp list, you only need to pay 5,000,000 g per chapter, and the word count fee becomes 350 g per word.
[align=center][size=30][quote="lady vesuvius"][color=#8EE8E8]i would like a [b][i]M U L T I F I C ![/i][/b][/color][/quote][/size][/align]
[color=#957664][size=13][b]FANDOM:[/b] fandom here
[b]PAIRING:[/b] pairing here
[b]SUMMARY:[/b] please don't be vague
[b]NUMBER OF CHAPTERS:[/b] here
[b]CHAPTER PLOTS:[/b] i need you to tell me what you want to happen per chapter; you can be pretty vague, i just want to customize this fic to you
[b]CAN I POST THIS ON FF.NET?:[/b] yes or no, it doesn't matter, it's just to add to my collection and i'll reference you
[b]INITIAL COST / BRIBE:[/b] what's the initial along with chapters? if a bribe, what are you paying?
[b]DUE DATE:[/b] please don't be unreasonable; i need a few days per chapter
[b]USERNAME:[/b] here
[/size][/color]
◣⋯❧FANFICTION ★ ★ ★ tabtabthis is my most expensive item, but you get a full-blown multichapter fic from it, so if that's your cup of tea and you have money to spend, this is right for you! the initial fee is 100,000,000 g. every chapter, including the first one, is another 20,000,000 g. the word count is 450 g per word. if it's a fandom not on my list, you must pay an additional 50,000,000 g. if the pairing is on my otp list, you get 30,000,000 g off, and the word count drops to 250 g per word. this is usually drawn out, but if you're willing to stay and chat around the thread while i work, you might make a few friends and i can update you on the fic, so you can personalize it as much as possible!
[align=center][size=30][quote="lady vesuvius"][color=#8EE8E8]i would like a [b][i]F A N F I C T I O N ![/i][/b][/color][/quote][/size][/align]
[color=#957664][size=13][b]FANDOM:[/b] fandom here
[b]PAIRING:[/b] pairing here
[b]SUMMARY:[/b] please don't be vague
[b]NUMBER OF CHAPTERS:[/b] here
[b]CHAPTER PLOTS:[/b] i need you to tell me what you want to happen per chapter; you can be pretty vague, i just want to customize this fic to you
[b]CAN I POST THIS ON FF.NET?:[/b] yes or no, it doesn't matter, it's just to add to my collection and i'll reference you
[b]INITIAL COST / BRIBE:[/b] what's the initial, along with chapters? if a bribe, what are you paying?
[b]DUE DATE:[/b] please don't be unreasonable; i need a few days per chapter
[b]USERNAME:[/b] here
[/size][/color]
◣⋯❧PROMPTED OC ★ ★ ★ tabtabalright, out of the fics, and onto the oc characters! i will not write anything more than a oneshot, as i don't know your characters as well as you do, but i will be open to writing several different promptings of the same characters! the initial cost for this one is 15,000,000 g, along with a 500 g word count fee. there are no discounts for this one, nor additions, but the word count is pretty much anything between 1,500 words and 5,000 words. i'll need an in-depth account of the characters i'll be writing, any sample fics of them if possible, and a detailed prompt to follow as i'm not the biggest fan of freestyle writing for someone else. i'm not the biggest fan of oc writing, but i will try my best!
[align=center][size=30][quote="lady vesuvius"][color=#8EE8E8]i would like a [b][i]P R O M P T E D O C ![/i][/b][/color][/quote][/size][/align]
[color=#957664][size=13][b]PROMPT:[/b] try not to be too vague
[b]CHARACTERS:[/b] i need to know them here
[b]RELATIONSHIPS:[/b] pairings? brothers? enemies?
[b]OTHER FICS?:[/b] do you have any reference fics with these oc characters to link me to?
[b]INITIAL COST / BRIBE:[/b] what's the initial? if a bribe, what are you paying?
[b]DUE DATE:[/b] please don't be unreasonable; i need a few days, especially for oc
[b]USERNAME:[/b] here
[/size][/color]
◣⋯❧EDITING ★ ★ ★ tabtabthis is a pretty easy one. i love editing, and i have a bit of history of beta-reading on both fanfiction and fictionpress alike. this one is simple; there is no initial fee, and i charge 500 g per word of whatever you send in!
[align=center][size=30][quote="lady vesuvius"][color=#8EE8E8]i would like an [b][i]E D I T ![/i][/b][/color][/quote][/size][/align]
[color=#957664][size=13][b]WHAT IS IT?:[/b] i just need a small summary to get the right feel for editing
[b]WORD COUNT:[/b] how many words are there?
[b]COST:[/b] help me out and do the math
[b]USERNAME:[/b] here
[/size][/color]
from my pirates of the caribbean fic, the golden fleece:
...
“The ship is arriving!”
Cheers erupted around Port Royal, mainly those of tearful wives that were hoping dearly not to be widows. Young children were dancing and playing, hitting each other with wooden swords and yelling at each other in pirate talk. Older people, the fathers and mothers of the sailors, were mingling amongst other parents about their children. The Jamaican town was abuzz, and only became more and more excited as the creamy sails became visible in the Atlantic.
“Caleb, Judith, come now,” Melinda Richardson called to her children, rounding them up beneath her hands. “Your father is captaining on that ship right over there, you see. Soon, he will be with us once more! He has gathered up goods for this colony back on England, doing great service!” She kissed each of them on the forehead anxiously.
More and more people celebrated as the boat carried itself to the space beside them, waving to the sailors aboard. They grinned as well, pausing their duties for long enough to wave back at their families.
“Jonathon!” Melinda called, her eyes trained on the figure at the wheel. He was lankier than she remembered, but he still had the broad shoulders and the tanned skin she remembered. His hair was kept short, as she could tell under his hat. I never gave him a hat, she thought absentmindedly. It must be new.
“Daddy!” Judith yelled, jumping up and down.
Caleb nudged her out of the way. “Captain!” He called with a childish smile. That did catch Jonathon’s attention on board, it seemed. He turned his head, the hat marring most of his features. His jaw was no longer clean shaven, but stubbled with prickly black hair. Melinda didn’t mind, though, as long as she had her husband back.
The captain raised a hand to them, waving with what seemed to be a tight smile. They didn’t notice the tenseness of it, however, and only cheered and waved to him more.
Soon, more and more sailors were climbing off the ship, running into their families’ arms. Jonathon took his time on the ship, going back into his quarters presumably to fetch a few things. All the men were chatting away, staying for the governor’s announcements that were surely soon to come.
“Damn it,” Melinda whispered under her breath, making sure nobody heard her speak the unladylike words. “Come down to your family.” As if he could hear her words, he emerged.
“Jonathon!” Melinda cried, running into his arms as soon as his feet touched land. He smelled of salt and spices, from months overseas. He held her back in his strong arms, steadying her frame that was shaking from joy.
Without warning, she leaned back and kissed him, pushing herself as much against him as what was socially acceptable. After a surprised pause, he kissed her back, winding one arm around her waist and the other against the back of her head. She laughed against his lips, throwing her arms around his neck and knocking off his hat.
Judith screamed.
Long clumps of hair flew over Melinda’s arms, and her eyes immediately widened. Instead of warm brown eyes, she met ones that were intensely black, smudged in kohl. She flew away, pushing him back into the group of sailors behind him. Yells erupted, and guns were soon cocked to his head. The man eyed the weapons distastefully.
“Alright, alright, I see what this is about,” Captain Jack Sparrow began, bending down to pick up his hat. The barrels of the guns followed him as he did, but he showed no anxiety. He grabbed it, blowing off the dirt before placing it back on his head. “Ye all want to throw a party for me, innit? Well, don’t let little ol’ me spoil yer plans, go right on ahead.”
from my thor fic, with the rain:
...
Jane was only about ten minutes away from the lab when the lightning struck her car.
She slammed the brakes, the seatbelt ripping at her neck as her body jolted forward. But, of course, if that wasn’t enough, her arms twitched at crazy angles, skidding the car off the narrow road and onto the soft grass beside it. Luckily, it was only a slight decline, so she hurriedly shifted the car into park as it leveled out. Tearing off the seatbelt that burned at her neck, she tried to calm her racing nerves, audibly breathing in and out with a desperate whine in her lungs.
Jane was never one to handle shock too well, at least not immediately.
While the rain was pelting at her windshield, there was one thing she could see; the dent on the hood of her car. No, not a dent. The middle of the hood caved in, where the paint was completely chipped off, and hit so deep that it was broke in some places, so the black machinery could be glimpsed underneath. Uncaring of the rain, she threw open the door, a groan dragging through her teeth.
She knew enough about cars to know that this one wasn’t going to be safely driven again anytime soon. Or ever. Wires were peaking through the uneven hood, torn at the edges and sizzling a bit as more waterdrops hit the twisting metal. A line of obscenities were already in a line behind her lips, when a sharp glint of metal reflected from another swipe of lightning in the sky. She turned with a start.
“Ah!” Jane yelped in surprise, her heart beating harder than it had just minutes earlier. A hazy shape was crumpled over in the middle of the road, tense against the impacted gravel. She then realized with horrifying jolt that it wasn’t lightning that had hit her car; it was a person.
“s**t!” She exclaimed, running over to the road without hesitation. Her eyes ran over the body, and she realized something quickly with a jolt: this is an Asgardian man. A solid green fabric was draped from his shoulders onto the ground, ripped at the ends. A cape. What it was connected to was a simple mantle of gold, the same elongated shape as his broad shoulders that capped itself down his arms with refined plating. It continued on down his body, sharp cuts in the metal that melded with a leather-like black, all the way down to the tight plated boots. His sideways fetal position shouldn’t have been possible, but it seems that the constricting gold was made to follow his movements, not just to put on a show… Armor.
“Hey!” She yelled over the rain, pushing the shoulder as hard as she could. It slumped back to it’s original position, otherwise relaxed past the rigid armor. No, not relaxed; unconscious. She anxiously flickered her eyes up to his face, but it was turned away from her, his neck bent at an awkward angle to allow his unresponsive head to slump to the ground. Not a broken angle, just a strained one. Long hair was covering the entirety of what features could be seen, wetly strewn and black as midnight. Suddenly, thunder boomed overhead as lightning lit up another object just feet away.
She squinted her eyes, trying to identify a shape. It was circular, with two matching curves branching out from it elegantly into the air. And it looked strikingly familiar. Almost like... A helmet.
A helmet with horns on it. A green cape. Slick black hair that hugged his face. Long pale fingers buried under the gravel. Asgardian armor. Jane was stuck between hope and fear at the imminent discovery weighing and pelting down on her harder than the rain.
There was only one way to discover the truth.
Reaching over his shoulder, she cradled his head and swiped her fingers over his face, pulling back his hair while turning his head to look back up at her. She leaned down, squinting past the rain.
And then soon dropped his head back on the ground like a burning metal when sharp green eyes, rigid from the pain, snapped open and trained on her face with a flurry of emotions, the most prominent one being amusement.
“Hello, Jane Foster.”
from a random sherlock fic:
...
Before they stepped outside the theatre, Sherlock paused to look sideways at John. He licked his lips. "Take-out, you pay. It's your fault for bringing me to a mediocre film, anyway."
"You chose the film," John reminded, unwrapping the tie from his umbrella. "I only suggested the theatre for our first night off in months. I thought that it would be fun."
Sherlock grimaced. "I should've known better. That Disney film seemed delightfully mind-numbing, yet I chose this one instead. I thought that paranormal would be a nice change. My mistake. You're still paying for takeout, though."
John held the door open for them. "I never said I wasn't, Sherlock."
"You were thinking it. Rather loudly, in fact." He unfolded his own umbrella, peeking up at the night sky and sniffing the air lightly. "This isn't going to be a drizzle. Let's get back to the flat before the storm hits."
"Stop faking, Sherlock. I saw you check the weather app on your phone."
The man was taken aback. "Why, I never!"
"Of course not." John eyed down the road, to the corner that turned onto Baker Street, and he looked up to Sherlock with a glint in his eyes. "Care for a race?"
Sherlock turned up his nose. "Please, John. I'm hardly in the mood at this point for a race."
"Suit yourself, I'm still going for a run." He began to jog, and called over his shoulder, "Be careful, you know now what happens in the dark!"
There was a loud scoff from behind and, just as John had expected, the sound of additional feet slapping against the pavement.
"Only because I'm tired!" Sherlock yelled, easily matching pace with the other man. "And hungry! Please, do keep your ignorant comments to yourself from now on."
John only laughed, and broke into a sprint.
from my ouran fic, i wanna love!:
...
“Uh, senpai…”
“Oh, Haruhi, you look so cute! Here, let me fix your hat~”
“No, you don’t under-“
“Now, your pants aren’t tucked into your boots very well! Let’s see what I can do~”
“Listen, I don’t think-“
“You have to button up the last one, I don’t want them seeing you exposed~”
“SENPAI!”
Tamaki Suoh finally looked up, but Haruhi’s tone scared him. Was she angry with him? His violet eyes widened and tears began to bubble up. “What? Is it too tight? Oh, Haruhi, you should’ve told-“
She smacked his grabbing hands away, huffing in annoyance and exasperation. Tamaki went to flee in his corner, but the twins intertwined their arms to stop him. When he looked at them with an urgent expression, they just stuck out their tongues in unison and laughed ‘nuh uh uh’.
Haruhi grumbled nothings, unbuttoning the choking top notch of her plaid shirt and taking off her hat. “With intended offense, this theme isn’t one of your best ones, senpai. In fact, I’d say that it’s one of the worst. America isn’t just about cowboys, just like how Japan isn’t just about sushi.”
Tamaki sighed loudly, his sadness miraculously gone. He raised his hand, sweeping the surroundings with stars while lying his other palm against his chest. “Oh, Haruhi, of course you didn’t notice! Don’t you see? It’s not just Cowboys. It’s Cowboys in Space! That pulls the whole theme together!”
“See, Haru-chan!” Honey laughed, jumping from a moon ‘replica’ hanging from the ceiling. He laughed, sailing through the air into Mori’s waiting arms. “It’s fun, ne? Tama-chan is also serving cheeseburgers and root beer. It’s very American, huh, Takashi?”
“Ah.”
“See, he thinks so! Takashi, take me over to the apple pie!”
“Ah.”
As they left, both Hikaru and Kaoru leaned on Haruhi nonchalantly. She grumbled once again, but was too used to it to protest. All she really needed to do was get out of these size-negative-16 jeans. She was starting to think that these three men had some sort of a fetish with her and tight clothes.
“She’s right, tomo,” Hikaru began, absentmindedly twirling the hair at the base of Haruhi’s neck.
“I mean, you’ve been to America before, right?” Kaoru added, straightening her belt buckle.
“We know the truth,” they both finished together, straightening each others’ cowboy hats and turning back to the man to smile evilly. “Sounds to me like you don’t care about America.”
“Nonsense!” Tamaki cried, grabbing Haruhi away from their clutches and wrapping his arms around her. “America is one of the best countries in the world! Of course I care about it! Saying I hate America is like saying Honey hates cake!”
“Wha?” Honey cried from the other side of the room, tears already visibly welling up in his eyes. “I don’t hate cake! Takashi, do people think I hate cake?!”
“No.”
“Oh, okay.”
Haruhi pushed away from the princely character again, crossing her arms stiffly. “Look, I don’t care about your feelings on the country. It’s just uncomfortable in here and, for once, I’d rather be doing a theme like ‘under the sea’ or ‘mystical garden’ or something.”
“I may have to agree with Haruhi on this one,” Kyoya began, standing up from the table he was sitting at. He himself was wearing an old-fashioned sheriff’s uniform, and was looking as uncomfortable as Haruhi felt. Handsome, but stifled. “We’re running out of things to sell, and even if I took pictures for this, the young ladies would still be bored with it. Frankly, there’s too much familiar scenery that repeats itself over and over. Remind me to never humor you again, Tamaki.”
Tamaki let out an exasperated cry, flinging up his hands in an oddly graceful way. “It’s already set up, and we open any minute! If the women are going to be unhappy, then I don’t want them to see us like this! What now, Mother?” He sobbed out the last line, his eyes becoming round lavender pools and his bottom lip quivering. Honey suddenly showed up next to him to join in on the cute-parade.
There was silence for a moment, until Kyoya hmmed. “Well, there is an option. But it’ll require pulling of strings.”
“Anything!”
“The last time I checked, we all (excluding Haruhi) have business in America for one reason or another. Which means our families shouldn’t oppose us visiting. And this would be a great opportunity for more merchandise, as America is just the right amount of foreign with enough tastes to satiate the source of our income- I mean, our customer’s enjoyment.”
The twins scoffed. Always about profit. Hikaru yawned, feigning interest.“Alright, that sounds cool and all, but what about school?”
“Those are the strings I’m talking about. I’m sure we – well, I – could convince the administrative board of something before we leave. Worse comes to worse, we would have to do a few worksheets while we’re there. How would that sound, though? It seems like a reasonable offer for many different reasons, really.”
They all chimed their agreements. Except for Haruhi, who was staring intently into thin air, counting on her fingers. The club watched her adorably mouth words and then slightly wince.
“I don’t know, Kyoya-senpai. I don’t have a passport, remember? And I have to keep first place, so missing a few tests would…”
He waved his hand, as if these serious notions were no problem to him. Probably so. He pulled out his cell phone. “I made you one after our last field trip, as our restrictions on your account was beginning to become unfair to the rest of the club. And leave the rest to me.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly at his words, but decided to go along with it. “Okay, then. When do we leave?”
“Oh, how about, say… tonight?”
“Eh?!”
from my other thor fic, the books of bloodoak:
...
His voice was still past his ragged teeth, melodically deep as he murmured foreign words into the air. His magic wasn’t a flash of green anymore, now taking the color of ivory as it fogged from his mouth, aided by silver vapor. Jane knew that she was enspelled at that very moment, pulled deeply into the curse that he was chanting with his familiar, velvet baritone. The mist clouded down to his fingertips even after his words halted, pulsating with hidden power.
“Mesmerizing, isn’t it?” Loki murmured, his hand turning over so his palm was facing the sky. He splayed out his fingers, watching the silvery magic cloud over the blue that dyed his hand. “I no longer have magic learned of an Asgardian, but now the sorcery of the Jotuns. Because I am already familiar with the art, I never had to learn of how to hold it. But…” His eyes narrowed, his thick eyelashes tangling together over the vibrant red. “The only way to yield it is by the native tongue, which I seldom made myself familiar with.”
Jane let her eyes trace over his unnerving features once again, committing the lines and swirling finish to her memory. She considered his words, and trailed down to the tome in his right hand. “So, that book... it’s like a spellbook? Like the kind used in black magic, and wizardry?”
He smirked. “I suppose. The difference being, I won’t be burned at the stake for it.”
“Shame.”
His smirk widened into a grin, black and filed to fangs, tinged with madness, and he closed the ancient book with a snap! He waved his glowing hand beneath her eyes. “Now now, dear Jane. There is no need to be hostile with the one healing your injuries, is there?”
She swallowed, her eyes darting between his face and the frosty magic tingling the space near her chin. She settled on tilting her head up, away from his unnerving appearance. “No.”
“Very well. Now, this shouldn’t hurt at all, but it will feel odd. I’m sure you can handle it.”
She settled with a tight nod. He hummed in approval, and she heard him shift to reach over her body, placing his hand on her swollen ankle.
He was right, it didn’t hurt. His hands, while incredibly cold, were firm yet feather light as they danced over her skin. She felt muscles tightening, connecting and working together to roll the bone back into place. When it did, when his hand lifted from her leg, she flexed her ankle experimentally. It moved and felt as it should, before her arrival to Jotunheim. Intrigued, she tilted her head down and watched as his hand tentatively brushed her opposite calf.
It was strange, watching the sinews ripple on their own accord beneath her skin. “How do you do that?”
He pursed his mouth, the dimple that flashed on his cheek unseemly against his marble skin. “That, I do not know. My Asgardian magic was morphed by my thoughts, so I was always in full control. This…” He gestured with one hand towards the spellbook that was placed on the foot of the bed. “It’s predetermined. If I wanted to make something that had no translation into the Jotun tongue, it could not be done.”
“Predetermined by what, exactly?” Discomfort aside, she was definitely curious, and probed him further on the land he now ruled. “If the Jotun language is the same as the tongue in that book, what’s keeping everyday conversation from turning into an all-out magical battle? There has to be some fine line between all of that.”
“Ever the scientist, even this far from home,” he commented, drumming his fingers against her knees to mend the broken skin. “What you ask is valid, being a concern of mine when I first arrived. It’s all about the frame of mind.” He tapped a finger to his temple, emphasizing his words. “If you weave magic with your voice, what you say becomes reality. It takes a certain amount of restraint to keep magic from becoming too powerful when released, though, so many use this book of spells for further control.”
She held back a smirk, and instead jabbed at his ego. “So, what you’re saying is that you don’t have a very strong restraint?”
He barked out a laugh, his sharpened black teeth bared. “No, dear Jane, but you’re too weak for my magic without hindrance. To make sure that you don’t become completely morphed together into the human equivalent of what was once called ‘Pangea’, I suggest you leave well enough alone and allow my conditions.”
She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Fair enough. But, you never answered my first question.”
“My apologies,” he said blandly, inspecting a bruise on her upper thigh with his unusually sharp red eyes. “Refresh my memory.”
She bristled at his obvious devil-may-care attitude, but ignored it otherwise and instead voiced her thoughts. “This spellbook... Who is it predetermined by?”
He flitted over her shorts and instead hooked his thumb at the hem of her shirt, yanking it up to just underneath her breasts without warning. He didn’t pay any mind at her obvious surprise, and instead dragged his gaze over her middle with a critical eye. “It’s not certain as to whom it was made by. Maybe Laufey, maybe Thrym, maybe others in that Norse mythology you people on Midgard know so well. I’ve come to realize that it’s all the same, what’s happening here as opposed to what is written in the books there. The only difference is what I make of it.”
She blinked at him. “How… valiant of you.”
He scoffed. “Hardly. ‘Valiant’ isn’t in my vocabulary, nor should it be in anyone’s while addressing my person. Now, stop talking, and limit your breathing. Your ribs will be tricky to mend even without your incessant blabbering.”
from my original book, the yeti:
...
Something in the night stirred the man to wake up, darkness surrounding him.
He was warm under the blankets, his wife and teenage children were asleep, the tent was still in the slow wind... Nothing out of the ordinary that could cause the man to jolt awake. He rubbed his eyes, the air suddenly too humid. Standing up into a bent-over position, he slowly unzipped the tent flaps, closing them quietly and walking out into the camp. He slid on his shoes and tied them back up haphazardly before standing up straight.
Tall posts with flickering lanterns surrounded the Base Camp, not bringing warmth but rather light to the nearly-full clearing. The man stood still for a moment, just to level his breathing to the cool air, and then searched his pockets for a cigarette.
He was just pulling one out when something shuffled behind him. It would've been nothing, if not for the prickling that suddenly crawled up along his spine. His fingers froze, halfway to his mouth, and he whipped around quickly enough to glimpse a shadow against the base of Everest. Alarmed, he began to venture forward towards the mountain.
"Hello?" He called out, careful between the many tents in his path. He tried to keep his voice quiet, yet searching above the low wind. The shadow was already out of sight, so he sped his pace and looked around the corner.
There was a loose rope across the entrance straight ahead, the mountain path beyond it inscrutable in the foggy darkness. But there was something he could see: the outline of someone hiking a leg up over the rope. The man dropped the cigarette and held up both of his hands.
“Hey!” He yelled, not caring if the other sleeping climbers awoke to him. He wracked his brain for something to say in the Tibetan language, anything that could alert the person to stop trespassing into the dangerous terrain. “Ma-rey! Uh… ka-rog-nang!”
The person stopped, already on the other side of the rope. The man could distinguish that it was a young woman, possibly a teenager, with a misshapen bag hung off of her shoulder. Her head tilted in the miniscule light. The man licked his lips, trying to find more words other than just ‘no’ and ‘stop’.
“Ri…” He began, pointing to the mountain. He then hunched over, rubbing his hands over his arms and pretending to shiver. “Thrang-mo du.”
It was silent for a moment, and he wondered if he said something completely wrong, like ‘the rice is purple’ or ‘you smell like dumplings’. But then, over the quiet, he heard a laugh. It was traced with bitterness, like his attempts were like that of a child who wanted to play with their uninterested older sibling. But other than that, above the sour undertones, it was full of an airy amusement as if she hadn’t laughed in a long time. She shifted the bag to her other shoulder.
“I speak English, you know.” Despite her clear words, she had a slight, if prominent, accent. But it didn’t have the smoothness of a Tibetan accent, like the Sherpas who ran the camp. It was entirely spoken in the back of her throat, her vowels sharp, like Mandarin. She grasped the rope in both of her hands, but made no move to return to the other side. “Your Tibetan needs work, but your accent is advanced. There may be hope for you.”
He looked at her, flabbergasted at her response. He shook his head. “I don’t care about that.” He jerked his hand to the space above her, pointing at the mountain with more fervor. “You shouldn’t be going up to the mountain. It’s nighttime, there’s no guide, you don’t have any oxygen tanks with you…” He counted these bullets off on his spare hand, before breaking off from his trail of thought and gesturing at her. “Regardless of all of that, it’s forbidden. There's dangerous stuff out there, you don't know what could happen. Especially so unprepared like this.”
The girl took humor in what he said, her breath fogging in the air as she chuckled. “I’m sure your heart is in the right place. So you should know that there won’t be another death in the mountains tonight. At least, it won’t be identified as me.”
Her voice was sad, almost like… she wished she could be another death. The man blinked, not finding the words to respond. He could only watch as she tsked in the mountain air, letting go of the rope and dusting off her frosty hands against her pants. She nodded to the man in finality, and began to step away.
“Wait!” He yelled, breathless. He dug around his pockets hurriedly, pulling out a lighter and fumbling as he held it out. “T-take this, at least. The mountain… it’s not as dangerous if you can make fire whenever you need to...”
She was shaking her head before he finished speaking. His words died off deep in his chest, and he knew that she wasn’t going to accept his help. He felt his heart hammering, felt himself fearful of this girl’s immediate future. But she just smiled, her teeth the same shade as the icy flakes that were beginning to fall from the sky. As she turned around to walk out of sight, though, she paused and turned her head, her voice full of unexpected compassion.
“I dearly hope we never meet again.”
And then she left, leaving the man as cold and as silent as the fleeting snow that disappeared into the Himalayas.
100
