Rey N. Ath

QUEER LITERARY FANTASY x Sand & Sorcery: HEART OF THE TIERS #Q #F #A 🦓🦓🦓 x lyrical Japanese mythology: THE SONGBIRD SOVEREIGN #W #F #A 🌸🌸🌸 x Addictive danmei romantasy: NIGHTSILK #W #R #F #A 🪷🪷🪷 Leading with heart, Rey N. Ath writes the evocative LGBTQIA+ fantasy of tomorrow, today. #Bluepit

#Nightsilk Later, he remembered that first, rattling breath blooming like skyfire in his chest. He didn't remember when it stopped hurting, or how the agony transformed when he had Laethe on the bank and began pushing air from his own lungs into the unmoving man. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk The garments were less revealing, but they suited him just as well. The shade of red he wore was much deeper, a dark crimson paired with black. The sleeves tapered out toward the wrist, creating a flowing silhouette. Even modestly covered, he cut a stunning figure. #WIP #WIPSnips

#Nightsilk Giving in had been inevitable. Kalendria had the right of it. But he was used to walling in those rusty old feelings and pretending they weren't there, slamming their fists against his restraint. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS He paused, distance settling behind his eyes, seeking visions through the walls and up the mountainside. "There are many spirits on this mountain. I glimpsed as I woke a nekomata with little love for humankind. Stay vigilant." #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk "Is that why you killed her?" "I killed her because there was a contract out on her." "As there is on me." "Yes." "Yet Lark is dead and I'm here, still breathing." #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk 100% NSFW 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Tingling cool warred with the heat within, twisting, stretching strokes making Fallon shiver in delicious contrast. He writhed and whimpered as Nightsilk petted him from the inside out as though admiring the give of a flower's petal. "Please." 🪷🪷🪷 #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS Withered and gnarled, like winter branches sapped of all succor, his crooked hands shelter within voluminous swathes of fabric. The pale colors pay homage to the season, sampling the pink petals scattered across faded teal with a fold of lilac beneath. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

For some reason, I chose the middle of an insane work week to suddenly make midnight inroads on The Songbird Sovereign. Very exciting progress. The 2nd movement of this literary symphony is about halfway complete! #TSS #WIP #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

#TSS Guards did not enter his sleeping chamber in the dead of night. Guards did not exhibit signs of fear. Guards did not call him by terms of loyalty, only those of false respect. "I can get you out of here. Now. Tonight." #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Nightsilk approached with the light steps of a dancer, but there was no excuse for failing to hear the clanking armaments of his escort. Fallon berated himself for so quickly forgetting to stay on his guard. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk There was an eerie beauty to Carrion if one didn't look too closely at what lay in the shadows beyond the well-lit thoroughfare. The vilest businesses nestled in dark nooks where the bone ran blackest, while trapped, mortal denizens dwelled in grey zones of perpetual twilight. #WIPSnips

#TSS "Yanagi?" he called, pressing his hand to the smooth, cool bark. "Are you there? I have something to share!" Excitement welled in him―the joy of voicing his accomplishment to one whose opinion mattered. "Yanagi?" #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Stunned to be so thoroughly disillusioned as to his own attempt at avoidance, Xanthys recoiled. Guiltily, he sought to observe Fallon once more, already wending his way toward the room’s center of gravity. Xanthys, too, was drawn to that pool of red silk and evocative shadow. #WIPSnips

#TSS Sono does not disturb him. He envisions a natural bluff from which he can observe, sitting and swinging his feet so that the moisture flings from them, cool air drifting between his toes. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk In Xanthys's sour opinion, there were too-few lanterns lit within the wider pavilion, let alone around the perimeter. It was not his duty to meddle in Fallon's household affairs, but the matter of safety was always his prerogative as Phoenix Guard, wherever he guested. #WIP #WIPSnips

This is a dance off! If you see this, post a dance! ...I yield. The best dance has been danced.

This is a dance off! If you see this, post a dance!

#Nightsilk 🪷 Fallon went to his knees without thought, reaching up to brush cheekbones unveiled and shining in the dawn light streaming through the wooden artistry of the window. It cast shadows where the beams wound and interlocked, like the intricate bars of an ornamental birdcage. 🪷 #WIPSnips

#TSS 🌸🌸🌸 His eyes were fine. What had impeded his vision was a leafy curtain into which the boar thudded and became entangled, squealing piteously as it was lifted into the air and flung into the stream. 🌸🌸🌸 #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk They hadn't known each other long, but it seemed he hadn't made any effort to know Laethe at all. That wasn't fair. It wasn't in balance. Because Laethe had been trying to get to know Xanthys all along. He wanted Xanthys to crave knowing him in return. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS Cool droplets on his brow. A soft trail of leaves, spreading the sensation. A gentle hum, like wind through a willow's branches. With great effort, Jinya peeled his gummy eyelids apart. He may as well have kept them closed if he was only waking into a dream. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS There was always music to be found in the world. From the buzzing of bees and chirping of crickets to the trickle of a stream or call of the wind. He couldn't help but take part in it in his own humble way. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Continuing to eat, he called out to permit entry. The privacy screen between himself and the door was, again, a thrilling little temptation of fate. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Xanthys held the woman against his chest while her hitching recitation of events deteriorated into sobs. She was cold by reputation, and considered a shrewd strategic mind, but there was a heart under that cynical exterior. She was a gentler soul than she credited herself for. #WIPSnips

lol #Nightsilk just went from low magic wuxia/xianxia-inspired romantasy to having a Ghost City style underrealm. Shit just leveled up. #WIP #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

#TSS The hanging sleeves were custom-designed to close over his hands, affording them natural concealment. The kosode lent him a grace he didn't feel, flowing with the motion of his arms and distracting from his hidden hands with their floral beauty. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Overtaxing his shoulder with the death stroke would only put him at a disadvantage when the truth finally dawned on the distracted general. The plan was to be gone by then. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk What he did remember was the instant of relief so sharp it cut when the most elegant man he had ever known spat up river water, coughing and groaning. Hot tears burned trails down Fallon's frigid cheeks as exhaustion took him with a vengeance. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Of all the things he could have said―had said―Laethe would never quite understand why that was the confession that finally brought Xanthys down on him, all tongue and teeth, and gloriously unhinged wreckage of that stubborn repression. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS He gritted his teeth against the strain of old scars tugging all over his back. They would never have the tender stretch of unmarred skin, but the subtle fluctuation as his body curled did them good. It was worth the inevitable ache. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

Closeups of title page, and #Nightsilk and Dayshade character pages. #WIP #WritingCommunity #Scrapbooking

I spent the day scrapbooking! Behold, the title spread for #Nightsilk (/Swansong?) and the character pages for Dayshade and Nightsilk.

#Nightsilk He could have pulled the same disappearing act the moment he discovered the general waiting for him. Instead, he had wasted precious time bandying words and mentally shedding clothing. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS He might have been soothed, had he felt Yanagi Kodama's presence, but there was only solid wood and damp loam. Deflated, Jinya sank into the oppressive mire of mental and physical depletion. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS Natsune, he later learned, had lost her womb not to a bear's claws but by running the beast and her own self through on her wickedly effective naginata. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk "Not tradition. Preference. Butterfly swords have a long history in dance, but they are just as effective for practical purposes. I simply see equal beauty in lethality as in elegance." #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS Sono drifted through to the main veranda that looked southwards over the tamed garden reserved for his personal non-use, beyond which lay a serene pool reflecting the sky. There, with that distant pool a balm and a torment, he slaked his thirst. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk The lacquered rail overlooking the Falcon Garden, ablossom with a blizzard of red and white petals drifting down on the golden statue was as good a prop as any. Xanthys leaned on it, his back to the lord who had taken in a general raised on merit with nothing to his name. #WIP #WIPSnips

My summer cold is finally better, but I've been sleeping more than the cat for the last week! I hope to be back in the groove soon! #CatsofBluesky

#TSS Snapping bamboo and a low, heavy huff preluded the appearance of rough, chipped tusks, bright against the darkness. Jinya barely had time to comprehend the size and boldness of the boar before the fox's hind paw sank into his fire. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk “Don’t you have anything stronger?” he addressed halfway between the two men, unsure whose idea it was to sip at tea when a strong starch wine was wanting. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Laethe went along with the diversion. It was a relief, to be fair. He didn't want to deal with Xanthys's true feelings anymore than Xanthys did. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS The press of tender lips brushed against his memory. "Not without you," he promised. "My shikigami." Peering through a fall of hair from his low angle, Yanagi returned Jinya's soft smile. "No, never without me," he agreed, fading into pure light. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Robes came apart to reveal an unremarkable torso, utterly free of scars. A sweet swell of untrained belly gathered at the lip of his sash. Nightsilk pressed his lips to that excess, wanting Fallon to feel confident in his skin. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #BodyPositivity

#TSS Squinting, Sono follows the sound and gasps. An immense fish has surfaced where the ocean dips deep, blowing from its dark back a plume of water into the sky. No, not a fish. He has heard of these creatures, these whales! #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity 🐳🐋🐳🐋🐳🐋🐟🐋🐳🐋

#Nightsilk A guise that masterful had purpose. None greater than to allow a feared killer to walk about in broad daylight without consequence. Such was the origin of the name, after all. Dayshade. A dichotomy of light and darkness, safety and peril. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#TSS "Twenty springs without a sniffle, and you decide to fall ill just as I've arranged for you to perform at the Tengu Festival," his father grouched. #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#Nightsilk Sobs subsiding to a sniffle, Kalendria pulled back a little. “Why are you slippery? And stinking like an herbalist’s wet dream?” #WIP #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

I haven't been scrapbooking lately because of how sick I've been. But over the last few nights, I've been sorting and cutting to prep for when I finally have the mental and physical energy.