the heart is the philosopher's throne

the fight goes on in this the babylon
FF7 || NC-17 (sex, mild D/s, trauma recovery); post-AC || Sephiroth/Cloud || ~29.5k words

When Sephiroth is discovered in the heart of Aeris' church, floating naked on his back in the shallow pool of rainwater, time stands still. It stands still like every cliché in which Cloud's heart stops, fear and hatred and his heart clawing at his throat like rats. It stands still and for a moment Cloud exists as a hollow shell, a rain of bullets on a lonely cliff, a sword through the back and the slow fall of a little marble into a still lake.

[AO3]

the world cuts deeper (when love's in my hands)
Dishonored || PG-13: classism, racism, sexism || Billie Lurk || 3,800 words
When Daud dies, Billie is heading for a ship to take her to Morley.

• Present for ochrelock for the Dishonored Secret Santa - happy winter, hope you like it.  :D


• High Chaos!Corvo, Low Chaos!Knife of Dunwall


• Warnings: classism, racism, sexism, brief mention of past attempted sexual assault (not against Billie)


• Past casual Billie/Delilah


• Title from Tryad's "My Piano Sings (Part 4)"

[AO3]

1. Got an apartment downtown with Boyfriend and another friend and we're three blocks from my fave coffee shop, you can see my priorities here.  Also a ten minute walk from the wharf with all the hacking of sea lions and the pervasive smell of ocean that creeps through your window at night.


2. (Which reminds me, fateofshadow, I keep meaning to send you more saltwater taffy.  Goddamn international shipping costs.)


3. Stealing sporadic Internet from various coffee shops and the community center across the street, but since it is so sporadic I've done more actual reading of books in the last two weeks than the last several months.  Somehow I fail to regret this.


4. Discovered I still have a problem with spending grocery money on books.  Exacerbated by now living four blocks from the nearest bookstore.


5. OH SHIT I'm going to be representing the 'sky' realm in the upcoming three-realm-Celtic-inspired Samhain ritual, which means ritual performance!  In public!  In front of other people!  With the Morrigan!  Why the fuck did I volunteer for this!


6. Found a leather jacket for ten bucks today.  Booya.


7. Still no full-time job AHAHA who needs to eat


8. The Assassin's Creed series is giving me feelings.


9. Writing fic, what does that mean.

• warnings for human sacrifice, descriptions of slavery, and the aftermath of torture


• iambickilometer's belated birthday gift, woot


• for your edification, my rambling on why I wrote the myth bits the way I did

"In the beginning was the Void – "

"But what made the Void?"

"Emily," Corvo murmurs at the same time Samuel says, "Beggin' your pardon, Your Majesty, but that's the kind of question best left to people more learned than I."

"Go ahead, Samuel," prompts Callista.

• A lot of this was based off info from the Dishonored Wiki, particularly the way the individual Isles relate to real-world nations.  More of it was inspired by Peter Jeans' Seafaring Lore and Legend, which I admit I bought purely because of this goddamn game.  I don't have the book on me because Boyfriend is borrowing it, and I can't cite specifics off the top of my head, but if you have any questions let me know and I will happily get back to you.


• A couple unnamed characters come from the cultist scribblings in the Knife of Dunwall DLC.


• I'm going to wait for the Brigmore Witches DLC before attempting anything about them; I figure enough of this is going to get Jossed as it is.