FFXII Fic: Sting Bite

[aorin]

While I might be horribly unproductive and a sloth, other people in the fandom surely isn't. Three of my four prompts have been answered by four fics and all of them are so wonderfully written XD What can I say, my lucky stars must have been shinning brightly over my head that week. My hidden cravings for Noah/Penelo had somehow been answered and satiated :D

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astrangerenters wrote Fran giving a smooch to the cry-baby sky pirate wannabe Ffamran. The things that she's willing to do just to have some peace and quiet.

delylah wrote a brutal piece of Noah and Penelo sharing a savage, painful lip-lock in a disreputable tavern. Domineering Judge Magisters and hard-headed dancing girls just don't see eye-to-eye.

manic_intent wrote a hilarious exchange between Basch and Noah in Brotherly Affection, a kiss that was immortalized in a famous magazine. Photoshoot AU.

Wonderfully generous sarasa_cat wrote an incredibly long and touching piece with Penelo giving Noah a gentle kiss that he doesn't want in Another War Orphan.

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As for the part that I played in this year's FF Valentine kissing challenge: I actually eyed a few prompts but in the end, I only succeed in completing one of it. T__T Currently, the ideas are still swimming around my head and I might eventually write it someday, though it's no longer for that kissing challenge anymore. Perhaps, maybe, unlikely... :3

Title: Sting Bite
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Character(s): Basch, Penelo, and a dead Cactuar.
Rating: G
Summary: There is no medicine better than a captain's kiss.

“Ouch!” Penelo hissed as she drew her hand away from the Cactuar, the party’s recent catch, and their supposing dinner. Every day, the party drew lots to decide upon the chores which were to be assigned to each party member, and that evening, Basch was to cook dinner while Penelo was to help him prepare. The sun was bearing down perfunctorily; drawing elongated shadows behind her, and that gave Penelo a sense of urgency to finish preparing the meal as quickly as possible, not wanting Basch to think her an incompetent and bothersome brat. But, in her hurry to remove the needles, she had speared herself.

 

“What’s wrong?” Basch turned his head towards her, and his eyes traveled to her hand.

 

“Oh no, nothing, it’s just me being clumsy,” said Penelo, mustering a nervous smile, as she quickly hid her injured finger behind her, shaking it softly to ease the sting. Damn Cactuar, she thought to herself, heatedly.

 

Basch eyed her curiously for a while, and then, turned around to face her completely. His face was stern but not menacing; he held out his hand and said in voice that left no room for argument, “Let me see your hand.”

 

Reluctantly, and with much embarrassment, she showed him her palm, like a child who had been asked to reveal her dirty hands after stealing from a jar of cookies. Taking her small hand into his own, he hunched down and examined her slightly swollen index finger with care. A line of blood was streaming from the tiny dot on her fingertip; while she wasn’t bleeding profusely, it didn’t show signs of stopping soon.

 

Then, without notice, Basch lowered his head, and put her finger into his mouth and began to suck it gently. After what felt like forever (which was actually only a couple of seconds), he finally lifted his head and spat the blood to the ground. Turning back to her again, he blew softly against her puncture wound, and was pleased to see the bleeding had finally stopped.

 

“That should do it,” he said, not releasing her hand and making sure to keep it leveled with her heart. With one hand, he unclasped the cap of the water pouch and he took a mouthful of water and gargled. “Some of the Cactuar needles may be poisonous,” he added, somewhat incoherently.

 

At that moment, the only thing that Penelo was capable of was to nod at his every word, and stare at him blankly while he washed the cut. The shade of her cheeks rivaled the puddle of blood, causing her to look slightly feverish. After a few moments, she steered her gaze away from him bashfully, and chewed her lower lip in an anxious manner.

 

Basch looked at her worriedly when he felt her trembled, and he thought that perhaps the injury was worse than he expected. Releasing the grasp on her hand, he stood up and dusted the sand from his pants, “Keep your hand above heart level and stay right here. I’ll get some disinfectant.” And he left her, racing off to where he presumed the party was seated.

 

Alone, Penelo turned to stare at the stupid lifeless Cactuar beside her, and she muttered shyly under her breathe, “Damn Cactuar.”

Comments

[aorin.livejournal.com]

You like the header... or the subject of the header ;)

So, let's see what I have stored up as my favourite lists:

Multi Chapters
1. Calamity of the Serene, by Sita Silver-Breeze
2. Charades, by Laguna's Twin Sister
3. From Want to Need, M'gana
4. Locked in my Heart, Earisu
5. Magical Carnival, Earisu
6. Tattered Ends and Souls, by landis icelily
7. Captive Grace, by shinsetsu

And of course, the Swansong series by Mithrigil (her stories are brutal, serious and m-rated, but it is also famous for its exceptional qualities, she use to have the entire list on her LJ but it disappeared sometime ago ;) Also, those author that I've mentioned above has other fics as well, and perhaps, you can check them out :) Since a few of them, like Baschashe, writes primarily about Basch/Ashe.

One-Shots
1. Comeuppance, by hiding duh
2. Crown and Shield, by Diorelli
3. Of Bars and Bets, by TheShoelessOne
4. Penitence in the Ashes, by Captain Lynza
5. Of Love and Loyalty, by danakate (she has 3-4 more one-shots)

I swear I have read more than this, but I can't seem to remember anything else X3 Most of those that I've mentioned here are from ff.net as I didn't keep record of those in LJ. Hmm... if I self-promote, would I be considered as shameless? XD

[navi-glow.livejournal.com]

Both- it's a beautiful piece of art/graphics and of course it's even more lovely because of the subject <3 Did you make it?

Ooh lots of recommendations! Your an angel! I will check all of these out XDD thanks so much!

Haha I shamelessly self-promoted *shrugs* I think it's great when people let you know their's something new about. Too many people keep their fic journals secret... I was going to because I was embarassed but then I thought, well what's the point then? ;)

[aorin.livejournal.com]

Nope, the original fanartist is Toounit from dA, while the banner was made exclusively for me by my younger sister a while back. I'm such a noob in PS, and it's impossible for me to come up with anything decent and worth-looking. The only thing that I could claim was paying for the commission artwork of this fanart and the idea of using a blue colour scheme X3

Oh, please do when you have the time, most of it are really well-written ;) I follow them religiously, and I'm hoping to find time in reviewing each and everyone of it. Hmm... let me finish up the latest chapter of this darn fic that I'm writing then I'll start with my backlogs... XD

I think a healthy form of self-promotion is good. As long as one doesn't force the other to read and review, I think it should be fine. And it's really pointless in writing it and keeping hush about it, unless it's really meant for your own satisfaction. But if that's the case, why put it up in a fic journal, why not keep it for youself? XP

[navi-glow.livejournal.com]

It's so lovely, I'm jelous XD

I read a few last night and they were fantasticly written! I couldn't find the Swansong series by Mithrigil :( I will read more of them tonight ^^ They inspired me (along with the Atonement Soundtack I discovered lol) to get on with my fic so I've written the first half until I got a bit of writers block!

Yeah, I gave up trying to get people to review. I have invisible hit counters from statcounter.com if I want to know whether people read it or not, and a surprising amount have and that's good enough for me ^^

[aorin.livejournal.com]

Hehehe ;D 80% of the Basch/Ashe fics are high quality fics, with about 30% of it being top-notch, if you ask me. Most of them are pretty addictive and inspiring as well XD (And don't ask me why am I being so smug about it when it's not even my own works X3)

Argh... it sucks when you have writer's block :( Especially when you are already half-way through the fics, and it's stopping you from completing it :3

Oh... strangely, I get more depressed when I see the statcounters and hit increase but the lack of reviews. I mean, I know 90% of the reades don't have a habit of reviewing (I used to be one), but still, I can't help but think that it's something that I did wrong. But then again, I do have a tendency of being a pessimist XP

[navi-glow.livejournal.com]

Hehe I thought the same. I'm also a total pessimist. I'm still obsessing over my new years resolution to become an optimist ;p. Like on fanfic.net, valley of the dead had about 120 hits for chapter 1 which dropped to about 40 for chapter 3. Lol! But then I thought 'that's still 40ish people who wanted to read on.' I know my writing is really not good but that's why I'm writing- to get better seeing as I'll be doing a degree which includes a lot of scriptwriting in September.

I also think it's much easier to comment on a batch of icons than a fic. Sometimes I can't think what to say in a review..

[aorin.livejournal.com]

Depends I guess, it's different about commenting on a batch of icons than a fic. One, you are commenting on a whole bunch of icons and you don't need to be as specific. As for fics, well, you tend to talk more and explain about what you like XP

Oh god, I need to catch up with the fandom :( I've just got a new job and while it's not bad (so much better than my previous one), I still need to settle down properly first and adjust my schedule. I want to go back to school TT^TT Must read and review fics, if not, I'll be losing the last sense of humanity that I possess X3