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We Are All Mad Here
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Once Upon a Tryst Waiting Room Blues
[Faye] Waiting rooms are a dark, soulless void that can make one lose all sense of time. I can’t be sure how long we have been sitting here, but it feels like hours have passed. Embyr has resorted to watching makeup fails videos on social media while listening to music on her phone with her oversized headphones. Devona is trying to look bored, and nonchalant, but is failing as she sits alert, her spine straight, cleaning her fingernails with the longest dagger I’ve ever seen. Occasionally she stops to twist her wrist in a figure 8, practicing various holds and rotations. Where this knife has been hiding this whole time is a mystery to me. She pulled it out of her pants pocket. How did she have that in her pocket this whole time and I had no idea? Also, why is she using it to clean her nails?The nu
Once Upon a Tryst Gwendolyn
[Arthur] When I wake up my room is mostly dark. I am not alone, Queenie sits slumped in a chair sleeping in what looks like a weirdly uncomfortable position, snoring loudly. It’s a miracle I didn’t wake sooner. I guess the drugs they gave me were strong enough to block out that boar mating call coming from her mouth. No offense meant to the boars. I wish I knew what Queenie is doing here, messing with my life. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, our parents practically raising us together. She was always a bit of a bossy little brat, able to convince her parents and anyone else around her to do whatever she wanted them to do, even from a fairly early age. I’ve always been amazed at how well she could
Once Upon a Tryst Falling Forward
[Faye]I know it might sound strange, I still am and have always been a little afraid of the dark. Actually no, that’s not quite accurate. Terrified would be the appropriate word. Terrified of the dark. I know all little kids fear the dark a little bit at some point, but the terror I feel go beyond the regular childhood fears of monsters under the bed or in the closet. I don’t fear being in the dark. I have an honest fear of the darkness itself. When I stare out into a complete deep shadow, it doesn’t feel empty, it feels overwhelmingly full. And I know that when I look at the dark, the dark is looking back.But try explaining that to any
Once Upon a Tryst Lost and Found
[Arthur] After Queenie left, I wasn’t expecting anyone else to enter through that door so quickly. To be fair, she didn’t actually use the door when she entered. Sitting here in my bed, stunned at how Queenie took pleasure in my situation, a blackness forms in the space that should be my door. The darkness expands, like a large mouth opening. I see a figure running towards me, first small, and then bigger and bigger. A blur of red rushes towards me and then there she is. Standing in front of me, breathing hard and shedding shadows is Faye. Faye Archer. My girlfriend. My fate. She found me.
Once Upon a Tryst Doubletap
[Faye] I feel the shadows curl around my ankles protectively as I stare ahead at the figure before us. Tendrils swirling at my feet, they create a circle of impenetrable darkness. The darkness calls to me, wanting me to become one with it, to use its power again. It’s call continues to sing to me as these shadows whip around us, flowing into me, filling me from the souls of my feet, to the whites of my eyes. The man begins to stalk forward. I just stand there, unblinking, watching him approach. Waiting. “Faye” Arthur shakes me. “Faye, we need to run.”
Once Upon a Tryst Gilded Cage
[The Queen] Kneeling before me is one of my best horsemen, or so I believed until this evening. He came back to me with a story, and as I listened, I found myself growing more and more angry.How did this little mongrel keep escaping my efforts to bring her here? What is so different from this version of herself than any others? First I send out my Merlin, then I send out my horsemen, and nothing has worked. I love watching him wither under my gaze as he mumbles. When I took him into my court, binding him to my power and trapping him and the others with the curse of the shadowborn, I gained the power of each of their magics, enhancing my own, leaving them a withered husk of their former selves. Spellbound, they belong to me entirel
Once Upon a Tryst Visions of You
TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of DEATH, VIOLENCE, and RACISM. Please read at your discretion. [Faye] The drive south is quiet. I can hear the sound of the cars moving past, and the growing sound of the waves on the ocean. My eyelids feel heavy. I yawn and… [England, 1595] …I hear music and can smell roast boar. There is singing and laughter around an open flame. I look down and see a slim dress of simply woven cotton, onion-dyed a faded yellow, and hand embroidered along the borders with roses and bluebells--a symbol of my position as one of the Queen’s Ladies. My stays
Once Upon a Tryst Broken Mask
[Devona] I can see it in her eyes. She recognizes me. Her spirit recognizes me. In all the times I have watched her awaken, this is the first time I’ve seen this clear look of recognition. Yes, there have been embers, sparks but this…. This is fire. Could it be that she remembers me? I feel my heart rate increase as I watch her blink
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Once Upon a Tryst NOVELLA Side Quest 004: Peace, Balance, Tranquility, Grace
[Kaydence]I place a hand on her wrist. "Stop."She blinks up at me. In my mind I trace the rune for "peace" and watch in amazement as her body begins to relax, the flames melting away as her breathing stilled.Queenie's first reaction is relief. Her face goes still, every crease leaving her features. But then just as suddenly her relief turns to anger."How dare you!" she screams pushing over the table and running for the back door. The other players stand in a rush as drinks, cards, and chips go flying. Shouts chase her retreating form as she dashes between players."Balance," I call out, tracing the rune with my hand and watch in amazement as Queenie falls backward, her arms pinwheeling."Tranquility," the room goes still, everything stopping as if time itself couldn't be rushed. The people who were once angry and pushing their way towards us stopped moving. Soon Queenie and I are the only ones moving."Grace," I finish the incantation, moving with the speed and agility of a dancer,
Once Upon a Tryst NOVELLA Side Quest 003: Queen of Hearts
[Queenie]We are getting low on supplies. It takes quite a bit of baneberry juice to make the sleep potion. Because we need to keep him perpetually asleep, I need a constant supply. In Torq, baneberries are not very common and the cost of exporting them is stretching our finances thin, even with Mab’s hidden stash of gold.“This is why we should have stayed in Delas,”Mab argues.“We didn’t need to buy anything when we were still there and…”“It was teeming with knights. I had to stay indoors the entire time,” I argue. “Torq is better. I can actually go outside and talk to people here.“You
Once Upon a Tryst NOVELLA Side Quest 002: The Search
[Kaydence]The morning is bright. Too bright. My eyes hurt from too much mead and not enough sleep and I find myself for not the last time wondering why I let Devona trick me into this quest.I must have been getting on her nerves. Either that or she just needed me to find something to do so that she could focus all of her attention on the queen. It doesn’t matter.“Are you still with us, Sir Kay?” Gawain is annoyingly chipper. He’s a morning person. He also has this annoying habit of deadnaming me that is getting under my skin.“It’s Kaydence, you dumb ass,” I grumble, blinking at him while I shield my eyes, my other hand firmly placed on the pommel of my saddle.He
Once Upon a Tryst NOVELLA Side Quest 001: The Mission
[Kaydence]It's been two months since we lost Arthur in the battle for Avalon.Two agonizing months since my best friend fell into an enchanted sleep. I watch my mentor, Merlin Devona, cry over her every night. She tries to hide it from everyone else, but I know. How could I not? We spend most mornings together working on my skills as a paladin. I'm getting stronger, and more skilled, but not nearly as strong or as skilled as I was in my past life as Sir Kay. Kay had a lifetime to learn. I've only been at it a couple of months, and I know this, but it still doesn't keep the whole situation from feeling pointless and frustrating."Tell me why I have to do this?" I whine as Devona grinds some herbs in her pestle. "This has nothing to do with fighting.""All g
Once Upon a Tryst EPILOGUE
“Good night, my love,” I kiss her brow before sitting by her side in an old wooden chair, its velvet cushion long shredded with time. Faye does not respond, her eyes closed tight, her breath shallow. She has been like this since the night of the battle, unresponsive and unmoving, preserved by her own magic, for the last three months. Technically we won; Mab is dead, her forces are scattered, and I am serving as regent, bringing the powers of Avalon back together once more as we work together to reconstruct our world. But we also lost. Arthur is gone, missing. I cannot feel him through the bond, not since I saw Mab pierce him through the heart with her bone blade. Nobody is sure why his body was taken. Some suspect that Mab had one final plan in place and that somehow he plays a part in it. We are searching for him, following every lead throughout this world and the next, but each time we th
Once Upon a Tryst Falling (part 2)
[Faye]I can't breathe. Something is in my throat. Choking, I sit up. Monitors in the room begin to ding erratically as I continue to gag, my heart beating fast."Hold on, Mrs. Drake" an agitated voice advises. "We just need to remove your breathing tube."Breathing tube?"Heart rate is elevated," a nurse records. "All other vitals seem to be within normal ranges."The long tube is removed from my lungs and I almost vomit at the pulling sensation. Like a fish caught on land, I begin to gasp."Breathe, Mrs. Drake, breathe," a calm hand rubs my back. “You’ve been incapacitated for a few days. We had to put you on a ventilator when you stopped breat
Once Upon a Tryst Falling (part 1)
[Queen Mab] The moon is rising full and bright over the fields of Camelot. My head is light, heady with the power of nearly a thousand souls, freshly harvested. The blade I carry was crafted from the very bones of my enemy, Morgana, whose rotted corpse lay buried beneath the tower itself, along with her granddaughters, the famous oracles who predicted my doom. There is something satisfying about destroying their legacy with their own bodies that provides me with a sense of peace. Stretching my limbs, I feel invincible, unstoppable, as I prepare to move through the battle. My agents have served me well. Guinevere, ever the loyal servant, was more than eager to take her position mixed amongst Arthur's trusted advisors, staying invisible, passing the corruption of my curse onto those two gullible knights as she waited for my signal to attack. She knew that she’d
Once Upon a Tryst Old Friends
[Arthur]A page helps me into form-fitting leather armor I’ve never worn in this lifetime as I suit up and prepare for war. It doesn’t matter that I am only 19 years old. I am the king, whether I want to be or not. I was born to this, it is my destiny. It doesn’t matter that I have no memory of living this life. As soon as I pulled Excalibur through time to my hand I became the leader of these troops in the fight that has been building for centuries. No, millenia. Now the enemy is sitting just beyond the gates, setting up camp, watching and waiting for the right opportunity to strike.It is my duty to lead these soldiers, these knights into battle. But what do I actually know of war? I have tried to access the memories of my previous life, but unlike Faye and Kaydence, I do not have a deep connection to the King Arthur I was. I have flas
Once Upon a Tryst Missed Connections
[Lance]Holding my head, I scream, falling to my knees.“Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot…Camelot”“Monsieur,” a hand shakes my shoulder, “Est-ce que ça va monsieur?”“Non,” I shake my head, “non…non…non…non…”The earth starts to shake. Glasses on tables begin to rattle, some falling to the stone floor of the cafe. People sitting at tables continue their conversations, laughing as if they do not see or hear everything else happening around them. Even my screams, echoing through this restaurant, are something they are trying to ignore.On the edge
