#goddessalthena
Writing Dialogue:
Me: Okay, looks like we’re right about where we need to be in the conversation, I’m just going to have you say this and that’ll do it.
Character: *says something completely unexpected*
Me:
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 7: HUGS
This is my contribution for Day 7: Theme—Hugs
Getting this one in late as well; I had to work on it a little longer than anticipated in order to be happy with it, but I think it’s a nice piece to end the week on. ♥
So many thanks go to @idesofnovember for putting together this challenge. Thank you for working all week to make this possible, you’re a star. Props to all of the participants: you’ve created an amazing assortment of new content in a very short time, and I am in awe of each and every one of you.
This has been a breath of fresh air for me. I’ve had myself locked away in a hole for some time revising a long-fic, and taking a break to do this challenge has been like popping my head up from underground for some much needed sunshine. Its been lovely to interact with some of the community as well, and while I must now return to my solitary task, I certainly hope to be seeing all of you again!
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 6: THE END OF THE WORLD
This is my contribution for Day 6: Theme—The End of the World
Though there are so many moments that come to mind for this prompt, the piece I chose to write is set near the end of the R movie, because what Sailor Moon fan doesn’t love that ending?
@idesofnovember has been hosting this event all week, and is my own personal hero right now…can’t believe I’ve managed to get 6 submissions done. Never would have happened without you putting this out there!
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 5: FREE DAY/AU
This is my contribution for Day 5: Theme—Free Day/AU
This one-shot is set in an AU reality, unlinked to canon. It’s written “in medias res” as it is actually a rework of a deleted scene from an AU longfic of mine. I always loved the scene, but it didn’t have a place in that narrative. I’m happy to return it here. Though there is a lack of broader context, I don’t believe the piece suffers for it. Hopefully the few blanks will serve to stir questions and imaginings in the reader’s mind.
Thanks as ever be to the magnanimous @idesofnovember for hosting this event. I have not gotten much sleep this week, but so many worrrrddddds, my heart trembles with delight.
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 1: FRENEMIES
This is my contribution for Day 1: Theme—Frenemies
I love me some season one bickering, so this was lots of fun to write.
Yes, regrettably it is indeed several days late (today actually being day 5), but it turned out much longer than I initially expected. I guess that’s what happens when your game plan is, “Hey, I like the painting episode, maybe I should write something about that one.” I’m a real pantser this week.
Considering this officially bumps me over the halfway mark (4 under my belt, which is at least 3 more than I expected to do) I want to give a shoutout to @idesofnovember and all the other participants writing fic.
(If I missed anyone, my apologies) You’re all amazing, and while some of you are definitely swimming laps around me, I’m just happy to be splashing around in the water with you.
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 4: CHILDREN/PETS
@idesofnovember is our gracious host, and has links to all the delicious goodies that everyone has been posting :)
This is my contribution for Day 4: Theme—Children/Pets
I guess I chose children, though a weak argument could be made that I went for both… This one is a goofy bit of fluff set after SuperS, a change of pace from my heavy Day 3 submission. Hope you enjoy!
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 3: CRISIS
Thanks to @idesofnovember for hosting UsaMamoWeek2021!
This is my contribution for Day 3: Theme—Crisis
Angst warning, this one is set during the break up arc (Episode 69 to be exact). Usagi finds the nerve to say her piece.
Had hoped to get this in on time, but the length got away from me. Better late than never? Really wish I’d prepared for this week instead of flying by the seat of my pants, but it’s been fun so far!
UsaMamo Week 2021 DAY 2: HOME
@idesofnovember is hosting UsaMamo Week 2021 July 25–31
This is my contribution for Day 2: Theme—Home
Light fluff between our OTP
Decided to try my hand at this last minute in order to get a few extra one-shots under my belt on an old project. Kinda fun melding the two. I’m still working on Day 1’s piece as it wound up becoming much longer than I’d intended.
The Death of a Star
What if Usagi had perished in battle? How would it affect those left behind? Character drabbles. Not upbeat. WARNING: Character Death, Angst. Written in response to the Death of a Moon Challenge.
***
The flame dances and crackles, shooting sparks that land dangerously close to her knees.
She doesn’t notice.
The sacred flame no longer speaks to her.
She’s numb. Cold. Her legs ache.
The flame offers no warmth, no guidance.
Ashes stir and tumble from her lap as she stands and exits the room.
The flame waits, ever patient.
She returns moments later, solution in hand. Resolved, she raises her burden and turns it over. Water rushes out in a torrent, dousing the flames below in one fell swoop. The embers smoulder and hiss in the aftermath, leaving her in darkness.
Alone.
The Death of a Star
What if Usagi had perished in battle? How would it affect those left behind? Character drabbles. Not upbeat. WARNING: Character Death, Angst. Written in response to the Death of a Moon Challenge.
***
The words blur and she frowns at the droplets blotting the pages of her medical text. She moves to wipe them away, but more fall.
Slamming the book shut, she mashes balled fists against her eyelids in order to stem the tide of tears.
She takes a deep breath in…
…and then out.
The tears subside and she turns back to the text, reaching out to find her page, but stopping short. Her fingers tense, then curl into a fist.
The book won’t help. It won’t offer answers…solace. It won’t explain why she’s here…
…and why Usagi is not.
The Death of a Star
What if Usagi had perished in battle? How would it affect those left behind? Character drabbles. Not upbeat. WARNING: Character Death, Angst. Written in response to the Death of a Moon Challenge.
***
I close my eyes and all I can see is her face; marred by battle, streaked with blood, yet hauntingly serene. I press the palms of my hands to my eyes, desperate to wipe the memory from my psyche…I cannot bear to relive that moment again.
The others, though similarly affected, may still go on to lead their lives, but not me. The centre of my universe, my reason for being, has been stolen from me.
Full of resolve, I press down on the cold steel, relishing in the anticipation of the release to come.
“Aishiteru, Usako. I’m coming.”
The Death of a Star
What if Usagi had perished in battle? How would it affect those left behind? Character drabbles. Not upbeat. WARNING: Character Death, Angst. Written in response to the Death of a Moon Challenge.
***
I feel the life slowly trickle from my body and liken it to a steady flow of blood without ebb. I realize now that I must indeed be bleeding, my body broken, but such details seem trivial in this moment.
I hear their quiet sobs surround me, although they are faint, as though muffled by some growing barrier. They wish me to use the ginzuishou as always, but I do not know how to tell them. There will be no ginzuishou this time. No revival…no renewal. This must be my final sacrifice, and I shall have peace.
Gomen, minna.
She stared straight ahead, fixing blank, red-rimmed eyes on the reflection as it stared right back at her. Red blotches mottled her tear-stained cheeks, making for an unflattering combination. She looked…hollow, but then, that was how she felt. The words - his words - repeated inside her head on an endless, soul-shattering loop.
“I don’t love you anymore.”
He’d been so cold, so removed.
“Don’t make me say it again.”
Her pleas had only made things worse. His frustration had been palpable; embodied in his tense jaw, his clenched fist… Not to mention the fact that he’d refused to even look at her.
“Why do I have to be your boyfriend just because I was in a previous life?”
When he’d punctuated the harsh statement by slamming his fist against the wall, she’d known he was serious. Granted, she had only just begun to know him, but the action was so unlike him, so out of character. What had she said, what had she done, to make him so angry with her? To make him stop loving her?
That was, if he’d ever really loved her to begin with. From the moment Luna had restored her memories after defeating the Dark Kingdom she’d been so convinced, so determined to help him remember that she hadn’t even stopped to consider if she should.
He had a point; why should it matter who they were to each other in a previous life? In this life they’d shared nothing more than a passing acquaintance. Their contentious interactions were hardly the stuff of romance. Before their past identities had been revealed had there ever been a time when he had shown the slightest hint of affection for her?
Their short-lived relationship lacked any sort of stable foundation; hastily pieced together from the ruins of an ancient romance that had ended in tragedy. Why hadn’t any of this occurred to her before now? Had she been so blinded by her own instantaneous acceptance of their history that she’d completely dismissed the reality of their present?
She thought he’d felt the same…hadn’t he told her so? Hadn’t he promised that they would be together? Had it all been a lie? Or had he spoken too soon, pledging loyalty before he could fully think things through? Perhaps he’d entered into this with certain expectations and she had failed to meet them. Maybe Tsukino Usagi wasn’t who he wanted, maybe he had expected someone else, someone…better.
“May I help you miss?”
She blinked at the question and looked up from the mirror to find a comely shop attendant standing across from her behind the counter. Usagi studied the woman’s impeccable makeup before glancing back at the mirror with a dejected wince. Would Mamoru feel differently if she looked more like this woman? Was she too childish and plain? Could that be the problem?
“Do…do you have anything that might…” Unsure of herself, she struggled to get the words out. The shop attendant looked down at her with a patient expression, and Usagi tried again. “Do you have anything that will make a boy fall in love with me?”
As soon as the words left her mouth she realized just how foolish they sounded. She wasn’t going to win Mamoru’s love with lipstick and eyeshadow. She may not know everything about him, but she knew he wasn’t shallow. She’d been silly to come here; too distressed by the sharp sting of heartache to think straight.
The lady was already lining up a small fortune worth of products and babbling on about a proper skincare regimen, but Usagi just shook her head and turned away. If there was a solution to her problem, this wasn’t it. What she needed to do now was go straight home, crawl into bed, and bring this awful day to an end. At least things couldn’t get any worse.
When the hand clamped down on her wrist with vice-like intensity, a sickening wave of dread assured her she was wrong.
The high pitched beeping woke her, muffled though it was. She rolled over onto her side with some effort and forced her eyes to open. Bleary vision made it a struggle to decipher the numbers on her alarm clock; midnight. A low groan rumbled from her throat as she reached for the communicator on her nightstand and pressed the blinking red button.
“What?” she grunted, scowling at the bright display and its current inhabitant.
“There’s a youma in Juuban park. Mercury is already there and I’m on my way. Get out of bed and get over there.”
Mars’ stern face disappeared as the small video screen went blank. Usagi exhaled a weary sigh and allowed her heavy lids to close as her arm fell against the bed. The communicator slipped out of her loose grip, tumbling to the floor below. Sleep beckoned her with its seductive siren call, urging her to return to the relaxing embrace of peaceful slumber. Her toes curled beneath the down-filled comforter as Mars’ clipped directive echoed in her thoughts. Releasing a moan of severe displeasure, she threw back the covers and forced herself out of the bed, pausing only to grab the circular brooch on her dresser before she climbed out the window.
***
“Thanks for nearly barbecuing me tonight. You want to try aiming for the youma next time?” Usagi snapped, brushing at the singed edges of her skirt.
“Why don’t you try staying out of the way?” Mars clapped back, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. “You’re such a klutz, sometimes I wonder why you’re even here.”
Usagi had thought that very same thing at least a hundred times, but she had no intention of telling Mars when she was being so snotty. “I’m here because you called me an hour ago and told me to come. Feel free to take care of it by yourself next time, I’d much rather stay in bed than dodge your fireballs.”
“But then you wouldn’t be able to flail around the battlefield like a spaz until Tuxedo Kamen swooped in to save your butt.” Mars rolled her eyes with a derisive snort. “I’d be putting the poor guy out of a job.”
Usagi scowled as she felt the heat rush to her cheeks and clenched her fists at her sides. Just once she’d like to come out of a battle looking good. Just once she’d like to see Mars trip over those ridiculous high heels and know what it was like to feel foolish. Just once she’d like to get through a week without being summoned from her bed to fight evil by moonlight.
She was tired, she was cranky, and she was in no mood for Mars’ snide criticism. A meek-faced Mercury stepped forward to intercede, but Usagi had no fight left in her. It was late, she had a test in the morning, and there were precious few hours of potential sleep left to her before then. She offered Mercury a weary smile, tossed a rude gesture in Mars’ direction and turned on her heel to head home.
She had been summoned from her warm bed in order to deal with a vile, rabid youma. During the skirmish she had managed to fall down three times, been thrown into a tree, narrowly avoided being incinerated, and had made a complete fool of herself in front of the man of her dreams. She was more than ready to put this night behind her.
Nothing good ever happened after midnight.
#20: sword
This isn’t new, but I realized the other day that lazy me never posted this to Tumblr, and fastidious (read: anal) me demanded that I do for posterity’s sake.
This one was a little offshoot about Serenity & Endymion that spawned while I was sequestered with my WiP. It is also the closest I have ever gotten to “adult material”. I shall remain in fade to black land until someone has “the talk” with me (paging @linlamont). Haha, I kid (or do I?). It also contains the hint of a head-canon.
Anyway, I can now rest easy knowing that it is filed away in the annals of Tumblr.
Just posted my latest one-shot #28: hidden identity
First season, canon-divergent setting starring my two favourite characters.
The idea spawned from a discussion in the Moonlight Legends Discord server, special shout-out to @caelenath, who was surfing the same brain wavelength! ♥
Happy Birthday Rei
A special birthday post for my favourite fire slinger.
Fire Soul Forever.
Dendy Week 2022 - Day 7 - Free Day
Submission for Day 7 - Free Day
Summary: What might it take to turn a friend into a foe? A hero into a villain? A man into a monster?
An imagining of Mamoru’s corruption at the hands of the Dark Kingdom.
COMPLETE.
Dendy Week 2022 - Day 6 - “Please, for me.”
Submission for Day 6 - Locket/“Please, for me.”
Summary: What might it take to turn a friend into a foe? A hero into a villain? A man into a monster?
An imagining of Mamoru’s corruption at the hands of the Dark Kingdom.
Dendy Week 2022 - Day 5 - Bound/“You will do as I say.”
Submission for Day 5 - Bound/“You will do as I say.”
Summary: What might it take to turn a friend into a foe? A hero into a villain? A man into a monster?
An imagining of Mamoru’s corruption at the hands of the Dark Kingdom.
Happy Birthday Essie-Lin ♥
