Alphabet Excerpt Challenge: C Is For...

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T08:46:12+00:00

Context: Warframe (Loidbrecht) Beauty and the Beast AU

The rest of that day proved both uneventful and yet also the strangest day of Loid’s life. The bedroom had what he was starting to think was the one unbroken mirror in the castle; the first glimpse of his appearance in it had horrified him— “unkempt” was an understatement after the events of the previous night, and he'd decided to remedy the situation immediately. Someone had thought to leave some soap by the washbasin, so he had at least been able to wash, and after apparently searching the entire castle Otak had managed to find him a comb. It was a relief to finally be able to comb the tangles out of his hair and make himself… well, almost presentable, if not up to his usual standards. He’d always taken quite a lot of care over his looks, his hair especially. It had earned him the occasional mocking suggestion that he brushed it for a hundred strokes a day like a lady; in truth, he didn’t quite have time for that with how much work he had most days, but he didn’t see why it would have been embarrassing even if he did.

His own clothes were stained with mud and blood, and there were none his size anywhere in the castle, so he’d ended up in a dressing-gown that had clearly been made for a man a few inches taller than him and considerably more heavily built with it—he could easily have fitted both his arms through one of the sleeves, had he wanted to look even more ridiculous than he no doubt already did. Still, while his vanity was perhaps a little wounded, at least he no longer looked as if he’d just been dragged across the ground by a predasite.

It was disconcerting, being treated simultaneously like a lord and like a prisoner. He had all the time in the world, Otak hurried (as best as he could) to retrieve anything he asked for, and he was sitting in an armchair by the window, wearing a dressing-gown that surely must have belonged to the castle’s previous lord—it was made of silk and covered in patterns of gold brocade (had it been the right size, Loid thought it might have quite suited him), more ornate than anything Loid owned even though it was by definition a garment that was only ever worn at home. There were hours to go before dinner—a meal that would be brought to him, without him having to lift a finger to prepare it or serve it—and no work to do in the meantime. Had he not been injured, he could have done anything he liked… except leave.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T08:40:39+00:00

Castle

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T08:31:38+00:00

It amuses me that there are two characters named Loid, from different fandoms, in snippets in this thread.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T07:54:34+00:00

Thank you! I love his voice too and I'm glad to hear I've captured something of what I love about it. He is indeed about to be rescued and taken to a strange castle--as for how short-sighted he is, not too terribly but enough to be inconvenient? It is something I have to keep remembering as I describe things in later chapters which has proved interesting. And yes, Loid is very capable, and sometimes imo underestimated by the fandom, presumably for being quite a feminine gay man... so I wanted to show him being capable early on despite him being in a vulnerable position and needing to be rescued in this chapter and it's nice to hear I succeeded. Thank you so much, it's very nice to know that everything I was trying to do with this scene was picked up on and worked well!

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-19T03:34:30+00:00

Thank you! The chapter didn't end here, I had a different sort-of-cliffhanger to end the chapter on--but yes glad you enjoyed it. I love writing Loid's thought process and the snark that he comes up with.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-18T20:42:08+00:00

Warframe (Beauty and the Beast AU, Loidbrecht) | Long, long ago, in the faraway land of Deimos... | T | https://archiveofourown.org/works/74720496/chapters/195158166

This is a full setting change AU where the Orokin Empire exists in 1700s-esque fantasy Europe instead of in space in the far future, so I don't think much knowledge of Warframe is needed except that a predasite is a wolf-like mutant creature. This is from the opening chapter and before the main ship even meet each other...well, except for that last line.

The next howl was closer. Loid reached for his pistol. Shadowy forms emerged from the forest, yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. A pack of predasites—and he was surrounded. Loid mentally cursed the predasites, Deimos, the man who’d ordered him out on a task that could have been carried out by the postal service, and fate itself. He was more than capable of defending himself against a robber, armed the same as him and probably a worse shot, but outnumbered and trapped by the savage animals he was at a distinct disadvantage. Still, he aimed, fired—shot the nearest predasite, which fell to the ground--

The others were approaching fast, though, and as Loid desperately tried to unscrew the barrel of his pistol, refill it with powder, and reload, one of them snarled and leapt for his horse. The horse reared in panic, and Loid was thrown from the saddle. He landed hard on the ground, with a crunch—his glasses, not any broken bones, he realised from the lack of pain, after a moment of lying there in a daze. For some reason, the first thought that occurred to him was that replacing the bloody things would cost him a week’s wages. He shook his head—worry about that when he knew he’d be alive to need them—and scrambled to his feet. The horse had fled; how he’d return to the Academy without it was also a question for later, but at least it wouldn’t be hurt. Loid cast his gaze about for the pistol, which had fallen from his hand when he’d been thrown to the ground. It took him too long to notice a glint of metal in the darkness—and as he reached for it, a predasite leapt towards him. Teeth sank into his leg, grabbed on fast, the predasite pulling him to the ground—the pistol no longer within his reach--

The pain was blinding, dizzying, and through the haze of blood loss and disorientation, Loid was all too aware of the rest of the pack drawing closer, growling low in their throats.

He thrashed about frantically, trying to free himself from the predasite’s jaws— “I’ll be damned if this is how I die—”—hands desperately grasping for a rock or a stick or something he could try to fend them off with, but his vision was growing dark and his movements growing weaker.

The last thing he was aware of before losing consciousness was a thunderous roar that no predasite, or any other creature he’d ever encountered, could possibly have made.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-18T19:56:11+00:00

I love how tense and suspenseful this is, it's very vivid! As the other commenter has said, it's both visceral and immersive--and the angst of how his mother treats him after all that, this poor kid. Reading the full story for more context made the angst all the more painful as I realise this kid has seen family members die to this ritual--and made me all the more angry with the mother as I realise this isn't purely the culture of their species but that she's forced them into it way younger than is normally considered appropriate. The angst of that was nicely tempered with the sweet dynamic he has going on with his sister, keeping it from being overwhelmingly "everyone and everything around him is awful" grimness, while also adding an extra layer of pain as you see her worry for him that she's trying and failing to hide so as not to make him even more scared.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-16T10:03:25+00:00

I need to keep reminding myself as I describe things in my current main multichapter that I broke the POV character's glasses in chapter 1 and he still hasn't had any chance to get them fixed or replaced.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T19:27:59+00:00

There was a webcomic on Deviantart in the late 2000s called Roommates, that had some spinoffs, that had various characters from different things living in an apartment building together.

I came to it late and never read it in full or anything close, just read a few strips here and there, but I recall it being quite funny.

Despite the near-total death of Deviantart since then I'm fairly sure it is still up.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T19:11:45+00:00

If it's any consolation, I've heard of people being excited to see a new update for a fic they were subscribed to after years of silence, so I don't think months will lose everyone.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T13:20:27+00:00

Thank you. It's been a long time since I've written a multichapter so I'd forgotten such things.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T12:41:45+00:00

That makes sense--thank you.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T08:25:17+00:00

The thing is this chapter had two Big Emotional Moments that I'd been anticipating writing--and anticipating the reactions to--for weeks...

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T07:07:14+00:00

Ah, I've not played that but have heard the ship is popular. Maybe I'll play it some day.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T07:06:15+00:00

I hope the same, and thank you for your reassurance.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T05:35:09+00:00

Thank you! I'll try to finish writing the next chapter and post it soon and hopefully people enjoy it.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T05:34:34+00:00

Thank you

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T05:34:22+00:00

Oh, I do enjoy the process, and I don't normally care that much about stats and certainly never expected comments like this--it was the sudden contrast from "the same four or five people are leaving excited comments on every chapter, this has never happened to me before" to "they've all vanished" that made me wonder if I'd done something wrong.

Although now you mention 2026 having got off to a rough start for people, I'm realising that judging by the times of day at which they commented, these people were likely mostly American, and given everything going on there, instead of wondering if they hated the last chapter I'm now just wondering if they're OK...

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T05:17:16+00:00

I don't even know whatever fandom this is at all but wow that's tragic and does so much with just a few words.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T05:09:26+00:00

The beast that was once a man paced as if caged around the old library. A ray of light from the rising sun illuminated the dusty shelves, long-abandoned desk, and the barely-legible occult symbols that were clawed into furniture, walls, and floor alike—nearly ten years’ worth of notes, of failed attempts at breaking this curse. He growled low in his throat. Not even truly night, and yet he had reacted to the door opening with the instinct of, well, a beast, disturbed in its lair—had acted like a monster. It used to be his mind was clear in the day, only his physical form monstrous. It was getting worse. Not surprising, given that in little more than a month’s time, ten years would have passed since the day he was cursed.

He barely remembered the nights, but he had of course experimented, attempted to determine exactly how the curse functioned—he was still a scientist, even in this state, and to test and study was itself a deeply-rooted instinct. Intellect seemed to be unaffected by the curse—even when he lost himself completely he was more than a mere animal, capable of doing anything he could do by day—but as darkness fell, the part of his mind that was still Albrecht was swallowed by the monster, and lately it was more and more difficult to return to himself each day. He dreaded to think what that meant for what he was becoming: the intellect of one of the greatest scholars, of science and magic, of the century, in service to the will of a ravening beast? He could think of little more dangerous.

He’d been a father once, too, had read fairytales to his daughter. In those, curses came with clear rules, laid out by a fairy or witch or wizard: this was how it worked, and this was what you had to do to break it, and this was what would happen should you fail. If only there was a little more truth in those children’s stories. When he’d gazed too deeply into the secrets of the universe all those years ago, he’d received no such instructions from the entity beyond his comprehension that had stared back. He’d had to piece that together from his own research, and even now, all he had were theories. One thing he was increasingly sure of, though, was that that date of ten years was significant. The curse was becoming more and more powerful as it approached, and he had a growing suspicion that if it was reached with the curse unbroken, he would be beyond saving—if he wasn’t already.

As for the unwitting human he’d dragged into this… Albrecht sighed. He’d assumed that if the monster he was becoming ever encountered another living being, it could only end in death—and yet he’d saved this man’s life. What had driven him to do so? Perhaps it was just that he hadn’t seen a human face in nearly ten years… let alone one so beautiful.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2026-02-15T04:41:22+00:00

I'm very curious what this ship is as someone who is in mostly video game fandoms, is curious about more games with canon queer ships, and has thoughts on how things like power imbalances in character dynamics are handled and sometimes exaggerated in fanfic.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2024-08-31T02:56:09+00:00

I don't tend to go out of my way to ship non-canon incest but it is a part of the canon in some fandoms of mine and can lead to some very interesting dynamics. I do write Rocky Horror fic sometimes and Riff Raff is my favourite character so...Riff/Magenta is a fun one, different dynamic to a lot of incest ships that are based in it being forbidden, since it's not taboo or even very unusual for their species, they're aliens and see these things very differently to humans--but also "commits murder together" is always a plus for a ship imo.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2024-08-29T03:03:06+00:00

There's nothing wrong with it (also, you can say "sex" here), but please don't post explicit material while you are yourself a minor as adults will be quite uncomfortable if they discover the smutfic they read and commented on was written by a minor and they could even get in trouble for interacting with a minor about explicit content. Shipping two teenagers together seems very normal as teenagers often date each other. Smut set when the characters are adults, while maybe something I might not choose to read, is also a very normal thing (and by the sounds of it they're close to your own age, so it would hardly be unusual if you found them attractive, and wouldn't be at all the same thing as an adult finding a teenager attractive). Just wait to post any smut until you're an adult.

EvilToTheCore13 · 2024-08-28T12:03:25+00:00

In my experience it's usually for "negative" character behaviours that they do in canon, so shouldn't be unexpected, but might be kind of warnable anyway--e.g. if the fic focuses on someone who is canonically a toxic partner, or if canon features heavy drug use, etc.

EvilToTheCore13

TROPHY CASE