renfys

Year: 11

Gladis has continued to excel here at the school. She has become a mentor to new students, and is part of our school welcoming committee. We are very pleased with her progress here at the school. She has always understood the purpose of the school and her reasons for being here and accepted them well.

Her proficiency with a greatsword has already surpassed that of her peers, and has won several bouts against other of her class. We see great things for Gladis, she commands every room she enters an we predict her to be in a leadership role of some sort before the end of her stay here.

This year I am hopeful that she will settle on her choices of skills and class, she has been reluctant to choose a specialism, more out of the fear of missing out rather than insecurity of her skills. I believe she has the ability to excel at any of the warrior classes but needs to choose by time the new term starts.

Academically is doing well, showing good progress in maths and English, though her encyclopedic knowledge of history – both of the school and the world have been excellent throughout her time here.

Anna grabs Recky’s hand, spotting her friend as soon as she enters the storeroom between their two departments. She pulls her down behind the grey metal boxes as she walks past. Recky’s shoulder connects with one sharp corner and she hisses, goes to complain until Anna presses her finger to her lips, covering Recky’s mouth at the same time. Recky’s hands go wide, pulling away, only to smack her head on the edge of the box. She goes to swear, the sound muffled beyond recognition by Anna’s hand.

Dizzy, she manages to pry Anna’s fingers from her mouth and gives her a pointed look. Anna shakes her head and points over the box to the other side of the cargo bay. Recky shuffles around on her knees and peaks over the box.

Over by the walls, hidden in shadows, their two supervisors deep in conversation.

She wants to say something but even though they can’t hear what the two people are saying, it doesn’t mean Anna and Recky can’t be heard in return. Especially seeing as her own supervisor Alvis is Canaren and can hear much better than humans. She’s surprised they can’t hear them already given the noise Recky made hitting her head. She doesn’t want to spy, but she’s aware now that they’re here, tucked into the corner, they’re stuck until the two are done.

She can’t imagine what they’re talking about, not standing as close as they are, down in the bowels of the complex. The two are friends, certainly, but she’s not known either of them to really spend much time with each other. They’re in different departments, but then, perhaps like she and Recky, they knew each other before they joined the complex.

She isn’t sure, Canarens aren’t really sharers.

Recky is grinning though, seeing something in their conversation she is missing. She’s desperate to ask her what she thinks, what she knows, but keeps her mouth shut.

Eventually, she sees for herself.

Recky’s supervisor is human, like them, a tall lithe man that Anna definitely does not have a crush on. Nor is Devon the reason she spends her tea break with Recky’s department rather than her own. Not at all. When he bends over, down to Alvis, she’s confused, until they shift slightly into the starlight coming through the viewport and she sees their faces clearly for the first time.

They’re kissing.

Recky is grinning, wild wide eyes and turns to Anna and winks.

Anna glances at her, opens her mouth to say something before, looking back at Devon and Alvis whose lips are moving slow, their hands following the lean lines of each other’s bodies. She shifts for a better look, hissing when she kneels on a screw.

Recky chuckles, rubbing the back of her head, then flops down on the floor suddenly. Anna looks back over at the two supervisors and sees them looking their way. She ducks down too, trying to squeeze herself further into the corner. The two of them wait, listening to the hum of the station as it maintains it’s orbit and finally, finally, the light footsteps approaching them.

Recky sucks in a breath, Anna closes her eyes.

A shadow passes by them, then another. The door opens with a swish and she dares to open her eyes for a moment. Recky is no longer grinning but when both Alvis and Devon leaves, she smiles again and Anna lets out a long huff of air the moment the door closes.

They look at one another, unsure what to say and Recky scrambles to her feet first, helping Anna out of the corner and cramped condition she’s in. She opens her mouth the say something but this time Recky puts a finger over her mouth and shakes her head. Anna nods, there’s a reason the two met this deep in the complex after all she supposes.

After a few beats, they link arms and head out the door themselves.

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Contest on writing.com: write a story under 700 words with no dialogue. Prompts was secrets.

Total word count: 103887

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? Way more. Basically, before July I hadn't written any fiction for a year. It's been a rough 18 months.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? I didn't expect to be writing at all.  I've written about as much femslash as I expected, I didn't think I would be writing much original stuff. 

What's your own favourite story of the year? Not necessarily the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? I'd say it was a tie between Wire to Wire - Cassandra/F!Hawke (E) and Proper Lawn Maintenance - Gen (G) which is basically Leliana recruits Ser Woolsey to keep the lawns of the Grand Cathedral trimmed and tidy. My Reverand has a local farmer let his sheep lose in the cemetery at my church to do the same thing.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I started writing non-binary characters and using they/them pronouns in stories. Which isn't a risk more than it was new and difficult to do. I'm non-binary too but it's new to me (a few years or so) and I use all the pronouns, and I wanted to write non-binary characters but if you've only ever written binary characters it's not an easy thing to do. And even I don't know as a enby person what I want to read (esp. in smut) so how do I know what I want to write. It's a learning curve and I'm sure I'm not the only one. And I might wirte more about it later.

From my past year of writing, what was....

My best story of this year: Code and Cake - which I posted on my patreon but needs some editing. 

My most popular story of this year: Just A Few Minutes – Josephine!solo, Josephine/F!Trevelyan - E by hits and Repetition – Leliana/F!Trevelyan - G by kudos

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:  Radiance – Lace/Josephine - T

Most fun story to write: Proper Lawn Maintenance - Gen (G)

Most difficult story to write: Faith – Cassandra/Josephine - G cause it could never be a happy ending. All the smut. 

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:  I Don’t Know What I Want – Cassandra/F!Lavellan - T - Though it's not very unintentional. Being rejected by Cassandra in-game is the worst thing ever. How is she not gay af or at least bi.

Do you have any writing goals for the new year? Yes! I have pledge over at Get Your Words Out to write 200,000 words in 2019 and I plan to write and finish a novel.