mistressofmuses

This is "so far", just being the fics I did manage to complete during August. The collection remains unmoderated through September, so I'm planning to try and finish the prompt list by the end of September. We'll see if I manage it!

I did very well for a while on the fic-per-day pace, but crapped out between halfway and two thirds of the way through. I had a few days where I wasn't able to write, and then (as is typical for me when I break a habit) I just... couldn't really get back to it.

There's that joke about self-imposed deadlines being a struggle because "I know the guy enforcing them, and they're a total pushover"? Yeah, that, lol. I can keep to a strict schedule, but once I realize that all the consequences for not sticking to it are utterly fake, I lose the power to make myself do shit, lol. Perhaps I will suddenly possess that ability to a much greater degree than I previously have, lol.

I did previously post the first six fics for the month.

Day 7 - Boarding School AU
"Area of Study" - Kingdom Hearts - Kairi, vague hints of pre-ship SoRiKai - G - 1031 words
Summary: Four years ago, Kairi was whisked away from her life on the distant planet of Port Destiny. She was brought to the hub planet of Radiant Garden, so she could study at their prestigious university. She knows that succeeding there, and making it through their six year curriculum is the only way she'll ever be able to return home, and bring Sora and Riku with her.
A prequel/tie-in to "Asteria," the fic I wrote for the Set Sail zine.

Day 8 - Robots & Androids AU
"Spontaneous Generation" - Kingdom Hearts - Riku & Kairi + Riku & Sora, pre-ship-ish - T - 809 words
Summary: It had been decided that, while the androids superficially resembled humans, they would not be permitted hearts. Humans had hearts, and the warriors of the light protected those hearts, but hearts were also inherently weak, fragile things. Much as it was not considered beneficial for them to feel pain, it was not considered beneficial for them to feel anything else.

Day 9 - Cleaning Crew AU
"Cleanup" - Kingdom Hearts - Sora & Riku & Kairi - G - 633 words
Summary: The world in question had fallen months before, the corruption at its heart at work for some time longer than that. Some worlds fell fast, the darkness overtaking them as a swarm, devouring everything in an unstoppable progression until there was nothing left. Most fell slow, the darkness sinking into the heart of the world and spreading like rot, decaying things just below the surface until it was too late to save.

Day 10 - Exiled AU
"Kept Safe" - Kingdom Hearts - Kairi - G - 944 words
Summary: The one thing that everyone agreed on was that Kairi needed to be kept safe.
Her heart contained the purest light that Radiant Garden had to offer, the most perfect fragment of the worlds’ own heart, and keeping that safe was of the utmost importance. With that light safe, it did not matter what else happened to Radiant Garden. It could be corrupted by the oncoming darkness. It could fall entirely. Anything could be overcome eventually as long as Kairi, and the heart within her, was unharmed.
...
Best to remove all possibility of contact, to ensure there was truly no chance of someone doing her harm.

Day 11 - Doppelganger AU
"Doppelganger" - Kingdom Hearts - T - SoRiKai pre-ship - 1480 words
Summary: It starts with a feeling of being watched. Then seeing motion in the shadows. Then a figure standing in front of the mirror...

Day 12 - Book Store AU
Blind Date With a Book - Kingdom Hearts - G - SoRiKai - 1193 words
Summary: Kairi gets dragged out to a local "blind date with a blind date with a book" event, where participants are matched up based on the books they've selected. She doesn't have high hopes for the event, though the man who makes small talk while they pick their books - and the friend he came along with - are both quite charming.

Day 13 - Behind the Mirror AU
"Through the Glass" - Kingdom Hearts - T - SoRiKai pre-ship - 1519 words
Summary: Stalked by his doppelganger, it seemed obvious that Riku wouldn't be safe at home, so Sora and Kairi drag him to Sora's apartment instead. The three of them take turns staying awake, waiting for the thing to appear, because none of them are convinced it won't follow.
Direct sequel to Day 11's "Doppelganger".

Day 14 - Wizards & Witches AU
"Fire and Water" - Kingdom Hearts - G - SoRiKai - 1040 words
Summary: They’d all agreed that the ocean would be the first place all three of them went.
Kairi knew that choice had really been made for Sora more than for her or for Riku. Not that they were opposed, it just held a little less excitement for them. Riku had grown up on an island, and for Kairi, well… water wasn’t dangerous to her the way it had been such a short time ago, but she was still a fire spirit. Mostly.
Sequel to my longer Howl's Moving Castle fusion, "All Strange Wonders".

Day 15 - Ancient History AU
"Excavation" - Kingdom Hearts - G - SoRiKai - 2128 words
Summary: Arrival on the island felt… momentous in a way that she’d fully expected, yet hadn’t been able to prepare for. It had been such a long time. Impossibly long. She’d never thought she’d be back at all.
Nothing was the same. That was a given. Nothing was as different as it could have been.
There was no village. There were no familiar trails to find where the village had been. But no new cities had been built on top of it. The trees all looked the same, just in new places. Flowers she never thought she’d see again bloomed in the undergrowth. The air felt right. It smelled like home. If someone had asked her to name those things, or even to try and remember them, she would have told them she couldn’t, that it had been too long. Now the familiarity was like a kick to the chest.
Part three of the immortals series, set after Day 2's "Immortal" prompt, and Day 3's "Writer" prompt.

Day 16 - Road Trip AU
"Detour" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai, Naminé - G - 1770 words
Summary: Riku, Sora, and Kairi are on a road trip. They wind up making a strange detour.
(Spooky, hitchhiking ghost, road trip vibes.)

Day 17 - Fallen Angel AU
"The Potential to Fall - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai - G - 500 words
Summary: An angel loved their fellow angels, and he loved Kairi.
A guardian angel loved their charge, and he loved Sora.
It had become very clear that the love he was feeling was not the angelic kind that he should have been feeling.
Set in the same unwritten angel and demon AU as one of the 2020 AUgust fics, "Falling".

Day 18 - Time Travel AU
"Reset" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai - T - 2684 words
Summary: The first rewind happened out of desperation.
When Radiant Garden fell, it fell fast. There was no long, slow lead-up; no quiet stirring in the shadows hinting at worse to come. No warning. The darkness overran it in mere hours, first targeting the people who would have been most able to stand against it, overwhelming them by surprise and sheer numbers before spreading out to the rest of the then-unprotected citizenry.
Timeloop!

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This leaves 13 fics for me to try and finish this month. Oof, we'll see if I can do it.

Definitely fallen pretty far behind! I'm one day behind in my AUgust fics, I'm way more than one day behind here, I basically just quit doing my habit tracking a week ago...

It's frustrating to feel like I have a lot to catch up on, and to struggle so badly to find the time to get caught up. (Especially when a lot of that stuff is little and shouldn't be so difficult to do.)

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I have gotten 6 AUgust fics written, though as I said, I've fallen a day behind. I have not even started prompt #7, and it's pretty unlikely I'll get it written tonight. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a chance to write two fics.

So far I've got:

Day 1 - Sightless AU
"Sightless" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai - G - 594 words
Summary: Sora and Kairi provided a sort of calibration for whatever this sense was. The brightest lights he’d ever encountered.

Day 2 - Immortals AU
"When It Began" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai pre-ship - T - 683 words
Summary: Eventually it was clear there was something extraordinary about it, when aging slowed, then stopped for the three of them, even as it marched on for everyone else. They had to face the twin elation and horror of their “condition.” Nothing brought them lasting harm… yet they would begin to lose everyone else around them.

Day 3 - Writer AU
"Finding Pages" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai - G - 3219 words
Summary: It's been centuries since immortals Riku, Sora, and Kairi were forced to flee their island home. It's been at least a hundred years since they were all together. Sora and Kairi both have gotten close to finding Riku, only to find the writing he's left behind.

Day 4 - Runaway AU
"While We Still Have Time" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai - G - 1858 words
Summary: Riku, Sora, and Kairi have one final night to spend together, before they go off to separate futures that none of them want. They have one enormous decision to make: do they walk onward down those paths that were chosen for them, or do they create their own?

Day 5 - Pet Sitter AU
"Double-Booked" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai pre-ship - G - 1692 words
Summary: Kairi and Riku are both pet-sitters, with a fairly intense rivalry after a previous falling out. So they're both understandably surprised to discover they've apparently been booked for the same pet-sitting gig...

Day 6 - Domestic AU
"To Find a Balance Between" - Kingdom Hearts - SoRiKai - G - 1014 words
Summary:
The feeling tended to creep up on him by surprise, and when it did it was overwhelming.
This would have seemed impossible for so long.
-
Years after they decided to leave, Riku thinks about where they are now. Direct sequel to day 4's "Runaway" AU.

Outbreak on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 17
Fandom: Silent Hill (video game series)
Rating: M
Ship: none

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Illness, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death

Summary:
"In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake." -The Rosewater Memorial in Silent Hill
The town of Silent Hill has long been known for strange events. In 2016, a virulent illness tears through the town, progressing rapidly through an array of horrific symptoms before the patients die. Worse, it has no identifiable cause. Epidemiologist Anna Garcia is sent to record everything she can about the sickness, in the hopes of tracing it to some point of origin, or discover something to combat it. She finds far more to the history of the town and its strange past.

Alternates between epistolary "reports" and prose chapters.

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In chapter 17, Anna completes her epidemiological report. Symptoms are "miraculously" in remission for the remaining patients... so why doesn't it feel like everything is over?

Outbreak on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 15
Fandom: Silent Hill (video game series)
Rating: M
Ship: none

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Illness, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death

Summary:
"In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake." -The Rosewater Memorial in Silent Hill
The town of Silent Hill has long been known for strange events. In 2016, a virulent illness tears through the town, progressing rapidly through an array of horrific symptoms before the patients die. Worse, it has no identifiable cause. Epidemiologist Anna Garcia is sent to record everything she can about the sickness, in the hopes of tracing it to some point of origin, or discover something to combat it. She finds far more to the history of the town and its strange past.

Alternates between epistolary "reports" and prose chapters.

-

In chapter 15, Anna interviews Amber about her experience with the illness, and learns of a possible historical connection.

Outbreak on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 14
Fandom: Silent Hill (video game series)
Rating: M
Ship: none

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Illness, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death

Summary:
"In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake." -The Rosewater Memorial in Silent Hill
The town of Silent Hill has long been known for strange events. In 2016, a virulent illness tears through the town, progressing rapidly through an array of horrific symptoms before the patients die. Worse, it has no identifiable cause. Epidemiologist Anna Garcia is sent to record everything she can about the sickness, in the hopes of tracing it to some point of origin, or discover something to combat it. She finds far more to the history of the town and its strange past.

Alternates between epistolary "reports" and prose chapters.

-

In chapter 14, Jeremy seals himself in his house for protection. He's not paranoid; he's just the only one who knows what's going on out there. he is extremely paranoid

Outbreak on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 13
Fandom: Silent Hill (video game series)
Rating: M
Ship: none

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Illness, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death

Summary:
"In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake." -The Rosewater Memorial in Silent Hill
The town of Silent Hill has long been known for strange events. In 2016, a virulent illness tears through the town, progressing rapidly through an array of horrific symptoms before the patients die. Worse, it has no identifiable cause. Epidemiologist Anna Garcia is sent to record everything she can about the sickness, in the hopes of tracing it to some point of origin, or discover something to combat it. She finds far more to the history of the town and its strange past.

Alternates between epistolary "reports" and prose chapters.

-

In chapter 13, Anna's investigation begins to catch up to her present in the town.

Outbreak on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 12
Fandom: Silent Hill (video game series)
Rating: M
Ship: none

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Illness, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death

Summary:
"In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake." -The Rosewater Memorial in Silent Hill
The town of Silent Hill has long been known for strange events. In 2016, a virulent illness tears through the town, progressing rapidly through an array of horrific symptoms before the patients die. Worse, it has no identifiable cause. Epidemiologist Anna Garcia is sent to record everything she can about the sickness, in the hopes of tracing it to some point of origin, or discover something to combat it. She finds far more to the history of the town and its strange past.

Alternates between epistolary "reports" and prose chapters.

-

In chapter 12, nurse Rebecca Shelredge begins to grow sick after being attacked by a patient.

Outbreak on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 11
Fandom: Silent Hill (video game series)
Rating: M
Ship: none

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Illness, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death

Summary:
"In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake." -The Rosewater Memorial in Silent Hill
The town of Silent Hill has long been known for strange events. In 2016, a virulent illness tears through the town, progressing rapidly through an array of horrific symptoms before the patients die. Worse, it has no identifiable cause. Epidemiologist Anna Garcia is sent to record everything she can about the sickness, in the hopes of tracing it to some point of origin, or discover something to combat it. She finds far more to the history of the town and its strange past.

Alternates between epistolary "reports" and prose chapters.

-

In chapter 11, Anna continues her investigation. The first out of state experts arrive, and violence escalates as a symptom.

All Strange Wonders on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 17
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Rating: T
Ship: Sora/Riku/Kairi

Summary:
Sora is cursed by a warlock to become nameless and forgotten by anyone who knew him. Hoping to find a way to lift the curse, he finds Riku - known as "The Heartless Sorcerer", a man rumored to devour hearts - and Kairi, Riku's contract-bound fire-spirit. Sora strikes a deal with Kairi: if he can help her out of her contract with Riku, she'll help him with his curse. Soon it becomes clear that Sora may not be the only one operating under a curse... and Riku's could possibly be deadly if nothing stops it.

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In Chapter 17: The day of the solstice arrives, and everyone awaits the arrival of the curse along with it. Sora is unexpectedly reunited with people he didn't expect to see.

All Strange Wonders on AO3
Or directly to Chapter 16
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Rating: T
Ship: Sora/Riku/Kairi

Summary:
Sora is cursed by a warlock to become nameless and forgotten by anyone who knew him. Hoping to find a way to lift the curse, he finds Riku - known as "The Heartless Sorcerer", a man rumored to devour hearts - and Kairi, Riku's contract-bound fire-spirit. Sora strikes a deal with Kairi: if he can help her out of her contract with Riku, she'll help him with his curse. Soon it becomes clear that Sora may not be the only one operating under a curse... and Riku's could possibly be deadly if nothing stops it.

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In Chapter 16: Sora and Naminé have a conversation, and it turns out that a lot of people have known more about the whole situation than they've let on. And the deadline on Riku's curse grows closer...