anathemafiction

Your Inner Child

If your Romanus could say something to their past selves, what would it be? Would it change depending on their origin, or would it be something unifying across all three walks of life?

And just to make it fun, what would they tell their Mother? 

Inspiration Needed

Hello!!

Honestly, I'm hitting a block when it comes to this month's bonus content. I wrote, erased, and re-wrote two short stories that are just not coming together. It's uninspiring, I can feel writing it, and you will certainly feel reading it. 

Do you have any questions for me? Anything that you'd like to see? I'll snoop around the other Q&A...

Sneak Peek

Was it an honest stutter or a Freudian slip? 🤔

Hadrian's gaze softens. "Thank you, lo—" He coughs. "Thank you, ${Name}."

You cock your head at his flushed cheeks. What was he going to call you? Did he almost get your name wrong?

Of Brushes and Needles — Alain & Ysabella

You walk across a wide, expansive bedroom chamber with ceilings almost as high as a cathedral and tapestries more expensive than all the decor of Tarragona's commoners put together. 

Alain Theer waits for you at the doorway with a crooked grin and admiring brown eyes. You smile as you near, wondering where he'll take you, but halt when you catch something i...

Bar of Soap — Lance & Vallen (Mature)

Blue hair spills over your palms.

It's soaked in water, the strands clumped together in the kind of undulating weighty mass that hairs do when they're wet. The universal smell of soap fills the tiny room — the scent of cleanliness, of scrubbing your soul from the sins the world has stained upon you.

Lance closes his eyes with a content sigh.  

You ...

Of Blood and Stars — Hadrian & Alessa

The trail is narrowed and obscured beneath a fresh coat of shrubbery, but your feet follow it with a grace born from years of practice. 

Alessa is not far behind. 

You can feel her warm breath at the back of your neck and her looming crunching form when you lower yourself close to the ground. "It's near," you announce in a voice like the whisper of wi...

Progress Report

Hello!!

March is ending, giving way to April, and Spring will finally hold the brush that paints over the world.

As flowers and green push the grey of winter aside, I'm almost done with the first big half of Chapter Three!!! Finally 😭. As I was writing the second draft from my notebook, I suddenly thought of a way better start to the chapter, which had me start...

Spicy Q&A — Part Two (Mature)

• To all the ROs: “Are there any turn OFFS I need to be aware of? I want you to feel comfortable and have a good time, after all."

It's hard for Hadrian to think of anything that turns him off on you. It's almost inconceivable. He's happy, enthusiastic, really, to do anything as long as it's with you.

But when you ask him to hurt you, Hadrian fr...

Q&A — Part Two

· Vallen, what were you thinking the first time you saw Romanus' scar?

Vallen cocks her head. "You have a scar on your face?" she asks without a shred of concern in her tone. "Since when?"

I know I discussed this on Tumblr, but she really hasn't seen Romanus's scar yet. It's not so visible that she'd notice it at a distance, at night, with a hood over your head......

Lingering Glance

One of the benefits of writing for a niche genre is that I can make tributes to people and works I admire.  

(Choices are taken out for a better flow)

-

"Why did you decide to go for music?" you ask, leaning on the wall next to him. "Why a bard of all professions?"

Lance takes his eyes off Chouriça when he turns his head to look a...

Intimate Q&A — Part One (Mature)

• Where do you like being kissed the most?

Hadrian smiles at the ceiling. "Uh. Anywhere you want to kiss me?" he says, fingers tickling the bare skin of your ribs.

"Come now, big man," you say, turning your head on his stretched arm to poke his jaw. Hadrian's smile widens. "Don't give me your sweet, caring answers. I want the honest truth."

...

February Q&A — Part One

• If you could go back in time to before you met MC knowing what you know now about them, would you change the way you first met?

You can read about Alessa and Hadrian's first meeting with Romanus here!

Hadrian considers this for a moment. "�...

Cupid's Q&A

Happy (delayed) Vallentine!

I hope you had a great day, whether you have a darling one or rock life on your own. But, it got me in a romantic mood, and as I was planning this month's mature content, I thought... let us make this a bit more interactive. 

So, in tandem with the other Q&A going on this month, do you happen to have less than innocent questions to ask the ROs? I...

Cupid's Bow

In honor of the late Valentine's Day, what would be the perfect gift for your Romanus to receive from their RO? What item, or gesture would mean the most? You can imagine the RO in question knows some — or most — of your Romanus' backstory if that helps. 😊

In that same vein, what would your Romanus give their RO (or ROs)? What do you think they'd appreciate more? A gift or a gestu...

Sneak Peek

"Where did you learn?" Hadrian leans in with his elbows over his knees to peek at her work. "Your craft, I mean. You didn't just take it up from your grandmother."

Salina stops mixing the green paste to slowly raise her head at Hadrian. Candle-light dances on the whites of her eyes and glints off the relief of her scars.

Hadrian, almost uncharacteristically, doesn't heed the warning...

Traditional Q&A

Hello, hello!

I'll do a long-overdue progress report tomorrow, but as of right now, I was hoping you could lend me a little bit of your needed help.

I'm thinking of doing yet another Q&A — I've got five people asking me to do one 😋— but I thought, "Let's make it a little bit different."

Or, in this case, a little bit more true to the name. You ask questions to a cha...

Lost on You

Tell me, are they lost on you?

Lance Silverthread watches you from the dais. Smoke rises like a curtain from the dozen different pipes hanging from strangers' lips. His eyes sting, his tongue tastes of ash, and his stiff fingers hurt every time he plucks a new note from his lyre.

Still, Lance does not stop. The spy isn't sure he could have.

Music swir...

Soothing Hands — The Pirate King & Neia (Mature)

Light makes the little bottle go from black to azure blue.

"Feeling adventurous?"

You hide your smile with a shake of the head. "Where did you even get that?"

The Pirate King taps a nail against the thick glass. "Does it matter?"

“Does it matter where the mysterious liquid you want to coat my skin with comes from?” You cross your arms. “I’d say a...

My Scars Need Patience, Love of Mine

"I adore your eyes."

The compliment is unexpected, but that's not why your breath catches. "What?" you croak.

Alessa's fingers don't cease their idle caresses over your chest. "I have always thought so, but I believe I have never expressed it." You feel her chin dig into the crook of your shoulder as she tilts her head to look at you. "I... desire to communicate it ...

Sticks and Stones...

I saw Seraphinite, the author of the Wayhaven Chronicles, do a little exercise, and I thought: That's a great idea.

I answered on Tumblr what each RO needs, wants, and dreads to hear from Romanus — you can see the post here. But what do YOUR Ro...

Sneak Peek

Alessa's eyes snap to you. "${Name}," she calls from across the chamber, her tone one of relief.

"No greeting for me," Hadrian mutters under his breath.

"The favorite becomes obvious," you say with quirked lips.

Hadrian's exhale is the ghost of a chuckle. "It was always obvious," he says, resting a hand on your lower back to give you around a table. "I never stood a chance. It...

Finished the First draft of Chapter 3!!!!

It is done. Finito. Acabado. Cesado. COMPLETED!!!!!

My God, this one was both a war and ballad, a struggle and a midnight cuddle, wrapped in sheets of silk. This one tested me. I'm happy to report the test, in my most humble of opinions, was passed, and the burdens were worth it.

Excuse the...

Dark Omens — Hadrian & Alessa (Mature)

And if I only could

You fall to your knees.

Hadrian runs as fast as he can with all the strength he has left, and then, when that runs out, with the strength he hasn't. But reality feels heavy, as if the air itself fights against him, and Hadrian runs – he runs with pleas on his tongue and eyes blown wide in shock and fear and gut-wrenching sorrow... but ...

Progress Report

Hello, hello!

Last week, I finished the third scene of Chapter 3 and got a headstart in the final one! I think I've said it before, but this scene varies a lot at the end depending on who you want to spend time with, who you're romancing, who doesn't like you very much — but, in all, there's a necessary revelation. I've been brainstorming how to write different variations based on all t...

Quiet Distress

• Continuation of the prompt: Romanus is upset and is being cheered up — read Part One here.

You can't keep your hands still.

You snap a stick in two, toss the parts to the side, and immediately latch on a thin leaf with soft, transparent fur on the undersid...

Sneak Peek

Rafael looks down at the bottle in his hands. His thumb circles the mouth in slow, melancholic loops.

You lift your head to the night sky, setting your eyes on the dark clouds hiding away the stars. The rain falls harder under the canopy of the building, making a thick veil of shifting water.

It should be cold. Tonight, this moment, should feel cold.

"I'm gonna kill Tarek," Ra...

No Ache like Longing

I had a dream

Hadrian stares at the ceiling, green eyes half-lidded in the gloom of night. The moonless sky is void of clouds, but still, there's not a star in sight.

His hands rest on his stomach, slacked and powerless, useless, as his head makes leaps and laps and runs in circles. Sleep has long abandoned him, but while Hadrian has no hope of resting, he ...

Progress Report

Hello, everyone!

I'm so sorry to have been silent this first week of the month. I had the chance to go on an unexpected trip to Barcelona — one of my dream locations — so I jumped at the opportunity. 

It was... incredible but, most importantly to you, it filled me with inspiration. After two particular nights where I watched a Flamenco show and a classical concert in the Pa...

Art Query

I have a question for you all. Regarding the art going forward, would you prefer if I keep commissioning the ROs in different poses and from different artists, or would you like to see some other characters as well? 

Characters like Billy, Master Vaughn, Matilda — the Devil's Guardian, Lord Rowan, Mist, Salina, Tarek, Captain Cynthia, etc. 

I'm fine with both options! I ...

The Pirate King

The King of Pirates by the talented macomico. I adore the way they drew his axes. ❤️