#ficwip

Second time participating there! Fair warning: while the passage doesn't feature sex, it certainly is a lead-in to that.
=-=

"I see your idea of sex is so… cold. Typical for an empress like Natla—" She yelps from the redhead suddenly lunging at her with a furious roar, though it doesn't stop Lara from gripping into her clone's arms and pinning them to the floor. "—Sorry. Didn't mean to say your—"

"It's… it's fine, Lara. I'm still not over her influence, so saying her name is like a reminder of that," Yulia explains amid her heavy breathing.

Nodding, Lara realizes where she's stopped at, and, leaning closer to her copy, says, "I'm more than glad to correct that, but I need your consent." She makes a careful two-finger grip on Yulia's chin, making her whine needily. "Your obedience will be rewarded. Do you want me to do that?"

From:

The mechanics of what the "influence" possibly looks like in this universe and what exactly it would take to reduce it completely is very interesting to consider - is it a ritual, a spell, a conversation? It's nice of Lara to apologise for her mistake and then ask for consent, it tells me she really cares about Yulia.

From:

Well, in the case of "influence", she (Yulia) is actually referring to being bound to Natla's command of "Ohk eshivar" for so long (and having to contend with heavy emotional and physical abuse, might I add). I headcanon that, even after the Doppelganger's freed from this trigger phrase, her actions under her former mistress' control haunt her (that, and also being stuck in a four-year personal hell can fuck up with one's mental state), which is why she'd fly off the handle whenever the name "Natla" is said within her earshot. Reducing it completely, IMO, would be harder, since (undiscovered in 19th century) C-PTSD is a bitch to treat - it'd be more like a mix of art therapy and opening up about the lengths the empire she's once served using her as a punching bag.

It's nice of Lara to apologise for her mistake and then ask for consent, it tells me she really cares about Yulia

Yes, I do wanna expand on Lara's niceness beneath her violent, lone-wolf personality.

From:

Lara seems to be threading a complex situation here (from what i grasp from the other comments too). in any case it's visible that name is like a trigger for Yulia. Also: clone sex??? is it clone sex? :D

From:

Also: clone sex??? is it clone sex? :D

Ack, sorry for the late reply, but yes, it's clone sex! I just want Doppelganger to be thoroughly spoiled by her template.

Edited Date: 2025-10-30 06:34 pm (UTC)

From:

No worries please, i also could just check dreamwidth late at night!

awesome, i can tell Doppelganger is gonna have a great time :3333

From:

Perhaps he finds rewards humiliating, and giving him points for failing a quest is a sufficient punishment...?

From:

blackiceboba

Ooooh. I don't know what's going on but I love the idea of like. . .just rewarding someone is enough to punish them. Very good.

From:

Haha thank you :D I love having no context for these, I feel like that's the fun of this game on dreamwidth: it makes for fun guesses, space for imagination to run wild, a start of a conversation, and then--when you (maybe) learn the answer--cause for laughter or a self-pat on the back.

It would be very interesting to write a character/story where rewards are seen as punishments, that's such a great idea 👀

From:

nicky_gabriel

Okay, this was unexpected :)
But giving food for thoughts! Thank you!

From:

Haha, no worries, the "talking" character is also very confused by this :D Thank you!

From:

wandering_fox

I like this sentence. There's a lot going on, so it begs a lot of questions. Is this devious or is the speaker genuinely looking for a loophole? Why would one believe the person being spoken of wouldn't want to be rewarded? Lots of room for speculation.

From:

Thank you! It is a rather "...eh? What's going on?" sentence, isn't it? The "speaking" character is also confused and doesn't know what to make of an earlier part in that WIP, so conclusions are being made.

The context is this: you as the reader have the power of controlling the story of a character you're about to read (choose your own adventure style), and you also get to reward or punish the character for how they do within the story. This sentence comes from a tutorial of sorts where you - the reader - are presented with a scenario where the character fails a task and you're supposed to punish or reward him. The obvious choice is to punish him, but if the you are cheeky and choose the "reward" option, the tutorial-giver is a little bit confused but doesn't want to discourage, so it praises you anyway c:

From:

Wow. Didn't expect that coming for sure.

From:

That's wonderful, I'm glad it is surprising, exactly the tone I was going for 💪 Thanks!

From:

even without context i can see why an 'underserving' reward could be humiliating, like coddling or hurting someone's pride.... now the intentions of the person who is debating this decision is also curious to me :3 do they really want to punish or not...

From:

Oooh, yes, you're very right about that, I see the point about it being a case of pride. Hehe, about the intentions :3c The speaking character simply wants the story to be satisfying. "What's satisfying in wrong choices not being punished? To each their own, I guess..." Thank you 💕

From:

Oooh so they are looking for the most interesting story that's cool :3 and relatable as a writer hehe sometimes what is most satisfying isnt so obvious... very intriguing!!

From:

It really isn't always obvious, isn't it? Sometimes it only comes to you, against your outline, when you're already two-thirds into your story :D thank you 💕

From:

wandering_fox

"I've already sent them to some rooms I have in town, a reward for all their hard work getting ready for the party."

From:

Ah, some much needed respite for some workers. I just wish I could be here too.

From:

that sounds like a nice gesture for a rest, even if maybe something is building to happen in this party!

From:

Here's to hoping everything goes well with the party 🤞 Makes me wonder what that hard work consisted of, how exactly "they" got ready. Are they about to perform? Are they the waiter staff? Who is the person rewarding them?

From:

“I do feel lighter like this, specially in this hot weather. Thank you. It’s perfect.” Karl grinned widely, looking at Solomon’s reflection on the mirror and feeling his hands placed on his relaxed shoulders.

“My pleasure, dear Karl.” Solomon puffed his chest with the pride of a job well done, rewarded with Karl’s smile and the pleasant process of braiding his hair with no rush or goal besides having a good time together.

“Now, for a final touch, if you want.” Solomon reached his pocket, showing Karl a small hairpin of white lotus flower.

Edited Date: 2025-10-30 12:08 am (UTC)

From:

The care, the thought, the gentleness 💕 That's such a lovely excerpt. I love that taking care of Karl's long hair feels like a reward to Solomon (and I agree, having it away from your back and face when it's hot is soooo good). My first thought when I saw the title and the character names was "!!! they're vampires???" and a laugh, I remember Karl being a stammering mess in the other snippet, was he a vampire there, too? And I'm curious about the way vampires work in this universe since Solomon has a reflection in the mirror (no criticism, I'm genuinely curious!).

I aww'd at the white lotus hairpin - the flower has some significance in my fandom, it's tied to innocence and Good Old Times, so I wonder if there's also something like this that it symbolises here?

Edited (fixed formatting) Date: 2025-10-30 05:31 am (UTC)

From:

aaa thanks so much, i feel extra cheesy every time i write them xD they just suffered too much in canon so i spoil them a lot in general.

ah yes!! they are always vampires dkljdkj or the equivalent of vampire from the anime! The series is Blood+ and indeed the vampires are different in many ways. They are called 'chiroptera' in universe, a species of bat monsters who drink blood rather than classic living dead etc. Humans can be turned only under special circumstances so they are very rare too. But in general they don't have vampire weakness such as daylight, mirrors, etc. Quite OP tbh xD it's balanced in the sense that only a Queen can create those so there aren't many around. And they have full monster forms too :3

Thanks for asking about the white lotus too!!! Karl is vietnamese and it's one of the country flowers meaning purity and resilience, the relation is 100% my headcanon about how Solomon likes to spoil him and relates him to this flower. Karl relates Solomon to yellow apricot, another flower proeminent in vietnamese culture that means good fortune and prosperity. plus solomon is a blond xD

From: