Promote your story but JUST with an excerpt that mentions an article of clothing

Leyelle 2024-01-16 16:51:10 UTC #1

I hand him the plate and I start to turn back toward the kitchen, but hear him laugh-

“What? You didn’t trim the crusts off! The service at this place is terrible!”

I decide to ignore him, rolling my eyes and heading back to the kitchen, but with a “Hey-” he reaches out and tries to snag me by the sash, which comes undone, and slides unceremoniously to the floor.

I turn beet-red, crouching quickly to retrieve the sash from the carpet, avoiding his face as his gaze burns into the top of my head.

“Getting into the Christmas spirit?” He laughs as I retie the sash aggressively, burning with embarrassment and frustration simultaneously.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“You look like a Christmas present all tied up with a bow,” he jokes, smiling up to his eyes, glowing with enjoyment. I turn redder still.

I grab the stolen hoodie from my bedside table slipping the ocean of cloth over my small frame - and pull hard on the drawstrings - with all the force of the misery - making the faded fabric hold me.

KevinReijnders 2024-01-16 17:12:11 UTC #2

This part of the script from Trespasser Chapter 01:

"So what do you say, wanna try him out.” Zack says.
“Oh absolutely.” Kyara says while taking off her blue tunic and her boots.
“You… You don’t have to undress…” Zack says a bit embarrassed.
“Rules of the dojo Zack, no shoes, no uniform. Gotta respect them.” Kyara says while taking on a stance, her empty hand spread out in front of her, the combi-stick held behind her.
“This is not a SenSec dojo Ky.” Zack mumbles
“Shhh, just let me do my thing.” Kyara replies softly.

Which became this in the comic. (Slight rewrite of the dialogue in the comic itself haha)

Leyelle 2024-01-19 21:09:31 UTC #3

Then he smirks, flashing a coquettish smile, and leaning forward with a teasing shake of his head.

“But you really don’t have to look that hard for beautiful things, though. You were prettier than the exhibit, yourself, at the grand opening, in that cute pink dress. My mom sent me the pictures last night after the event was over. Too bad you had to come visit me dressed like the awkward lead of a teen sitcom.”

“Aish,” I sigh halfway between embarrassed and annoyed, “Excuse me for not wanting to wear dirty clothes to come see you.”

“Don’t even begin to pretend you change your clothes daily. You used to wear the same pair of jeans for ten days straight when we were in college.”

“Maybe I’ve grown out of that,” I say argumentatively. He just raises one eyebrow as if he doesn’t believe that for a minute.

Leyelle 2024-01-30 23:30:53 UTC #4

The frozen night gnaws at my face like it hasn’t eaten in days, alive with a bouquet of red currants, and fanfare. The smell of perfume slips silently out of the after-party and down the spiral staircase, escaping through the closed door in lusty drafts like a flower garden on steroids. Our footsteps echo - too loud in the crowded, solitary parking garage. Everything feels amplified tonight, and yet far away - like I’m listening to - reaching out and existing through a glass wall. The click of my high-heels on the concrete… The heartbeat of the alcohol in my bloodstream…

She - I stand shivering in the burning red cocktail dress we rented just for the occasion as Kattar makes a ceremony out of opening my door.

(and a spoiler)

“Um…” I say a tad slowly, fighting the embarrassment tying my tongue into knots, “Do you think, maybe, we’d be able to get dinner together sometime before then, just the two of us?”

“Oh.” His lips part - eyes getting a little rounder than usual. “Oh, y-yeah. I think so. I’m supposed to be released Wednesday, and Utkaresh is gonna drive me home. It’ll be so nice to be in my own clothes again.” He adds with a cross between a laugh and a sigh”

“You must have been dying stuck in that white dress for all this time,” I can’t help teasing, “It’s not even stylish.”

He smiles roguishly, and I realize too late that I’ve walked right into the rebuttal-

“Yeah, it looks kinda like something you would have bought.”

Leyelle 2024-02-23 15:50:38 UTC #5

“Yes…tragically, I have no adroitness in that arena. I studied interior design for a little while, but when it comes to fashion I’m a total wreck. Even my Drigo stops me at the door some mornings like ‘Mom, you’re not going out like that.’”

“Aish,” I laugh through the breathlessness. “I’m honestly the same way. My friend won’t get off my back about the amount of tee-shirt dresses and turtlenecks that I own, but it’s so hard to find anything cute in our size.”

“Don’t get me started. Everybody says, ‘There’s always the children’s aisle.’ Not when you’re a grown woman with a job there isn’t! Who makes blazers for 12-year-olds? That’s what I want to know. My boss isn’t about to let me show up in a pair of pants with flowers on the pockets.”

BlueJourney121 2024-02-23 15:58:57 UTC #6

Uhh...i dont know exactly what to put but here

Leyelle 2024-03-15 21:05:18 UTC #7

I don’t know how long I’ve been standing there entranced when a door seems to open out of the paintings and a tall woman in a velveteen, purple pantsuit, steps out.

For a minute I doubt what I’m seeing, and wonder if she isn’t one of the paintings come to life, until she sneezes into a white handkerchief, eyes tearing up behind her glasses.

Leyelle 2024-04-04 15:25:08 UTC #8

My phone buzzes in my trench coat pocket like an angry bumble bee, making the fabric tremble and writhe on the chair. Kattar rolls his eyes, lovingly exasperated, as I sit back in my chair, and swallow the whole of the bonbon myself, with a teasing smile. I jump up quickly and retrieve the irritable robot from where I left it lying in the plastic chair by the television.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta take this one - It’s the queen,” I say tauntingly, holding out my phone to show him his mother’s caller I.D. He just shakes his head, crossing his arms over the hospital gown and leaning into the pillows with something like a sigh, as I put the cell to my ear.

Leyelle 2024-04-08 22:25:45 UTC #9

Even with all the things I told him back in high school, I guess there’s a part of me that doesn’t want him to know just how ugly we are.

So shoving my phone into my back pocket, I suck it up and grab my keys, my faded trench coat, heading to the car in a watery black cloud.

The shadows from the bedroom follow me.

Every mile of the drive to his place, the night seems to grow blacker.

It probably literally is.

Isn’t that science? Darkest before the dawn or something like that.

It feels weird to be riding the elevator this late at night - my mind is brought back to the award show - leaving that hotel we never actually spent the night in at a quarter to 8, wearing that blood-red dress.

It was already pitch black by the time we left for the venue because of the season.

The sun set while we were getting me ready for the ceremony.

In retrospect, it tastes like a warning. But retrospect doesn’t help anything.

Mansi_Gu 2024-04-08 22:40:19 UTC #10

He was wearing an uniform.

It was black, tall-necked and long-sleeved. There was a tag attached to his arm. His shoes… where were they? He patted his own cheeks and found them covered in band-aids - and some spots stung.

What was going on?

He patted his own hair. It was still fluffy, of course, but it was longer, and there were no shaved sides.

Was he… a kid?

(I loved writing this chapter so much (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ)

========================
Novel info: https://tapas.io/series/Complex-Love/info
Novel (PT-BR): https://tapas.io/series/Complex-Love-PT-BR/info
Genres: BL; romance; comedy; fantasy; drama
Status: Ongoing
Updated every Wednesday and Saturday!

Leyelle 2024-05-07 23:47:16 UTC #11

I fidget in my chair like a kid in detention, making too much noise as I chafe my double-stockinged knees, but Mrs. King is kind enough not to comment on it.

I look at my hands, look at the floor. Glance at Mrs. King.

There’s a line about this in something, but for the life of me, I can’t remember whether it was a Dickens novel or some obscure poem I read in a library book. I just know it’s gonna nag me until I can remember. I watch her painted hand, thinking of Mrs. Moon.

I should have just waited in the lobby. I wore two layers of tights on purpose so I wouldn’t freeze to death, but she offered, and I don’t know how to say ‘no’ without coming across as rude.

I should’ve stepped around the corner and gotten myself a hot cocoa. At this point, I would have had time.

I’m a lot-tle early, but that was an accident. I overcompensated, so used to taking the train at this point. I didn’t want to mess anything up, and that’s exactly what you SHOULD think if you want to make a thousand tiny mistakes - make a fool of yourself.

My phone reads 3 p.m. as I check my makeup in the selfie cam. I tried to look neat and casual, professional and pretty at the same time. I tried to look like my hands weren’t shaking nearly as much as they were. I only managed one of those - a relatively pristine layer of barely red-gloss.

Leyelle 2024-05-29 17:22:57 UTC #12

Alicia's hideous dress that Melissa gave her!

It takes a second for his eyes to unglue themselves from the screen, his gaze seeming to move through water as he glances up at me. Then his eyebrows knit together, his expression a canvas of mingled horror and disgust in mild shades of disbelief.

“Nu-uh…”

I can’t help but start laughing.

“Is that a plaid tee-shirt dress? Where do you even find this stuff? Why did you change out of the black dress?”

“Just wanted to,” I say teasingly, pushing my hair back. “Why? Why are you so stuck on the black one anyway?”

He manages to keep his expression impassive and disinterested, as he says flatly, “When you only have two tolerable dresses in your entire wardrobe, I think it’s only natural for me to try to mitigate the suffering you inflict on my eyes.”

Hmm.

Not even the faintest vestige of embarrassment, color, or discomfiture shows on his face, and for some strange reason that bugs me - like an insistent light drizzle drumming on my psyche at 100 bpm.

What is with you, you little creep?

Taking the scrunchie off my wrist, I pile my hair up onto the top of my head and adjust the sleeve of the dress.

“That’s better.” I smirk, “My hair got in the way of the embroidery. Check it out, there are these little flowers around the sleeves.”

Leyelle 2024-05-31 16:33:31 UTC #13

Imma cheat and count makeup

I feel like Adam and Eve must have - trying to ignore the sound of our parents downstairs in the living room asking where we are - if we’ve come home from school yet-

I almost shut the bathroom door, leaving my foot in the space between the door and its frame - whispering harshly for all my panic-

“Wash your face.”

Riley obeys. Plunging his hands into the ice cold water vomiting from the sink, he wipes the last delicate dribbles of golden bile from his lower lip, and I shove the door open again with a violence that makes it slam against the wall behind it - leaving a dent like a pitted scar-

“Now hurry up and get to your room and your homework before they come up here.”

This he does too, without a word, and I pretend not to notice the smudging in his eyeliner - hoping mom and dad won’t notice either.

(this is available for free for everyone to read on my Patreon public Posts)

binahwrites 2024-05-31 21:26:27 UTC #14

I skipped to the table where Higen had made breakfast, some toasted bread, and fruits “Good morning, Ozwald, quick! If you don’t eat in the next fifteen minutes we are going to be late to be early to explore the school” he placed a plate in front of me and started to eat, “about that Higen…” he looked at me with a mouth full of bread, I showed him what I did, “listen I know you love your cape and you have been feeling blue without it so I made you this” I had taken a black sports jacket from the clothes we were given and with some of the thread and my new sewing machine I sew the logo of the guards on the back.

“I… I… I” he was dumbfounded “I know it´s not the best, I had to practice with the sewing machine and…” he threw himself at me and gave me a big bear hug “I… I have no words for this, I love it, thank you so much Ozwald!” “don’t mention it so what are you waiting for try it on” he let go of me and put his new jacket on, it fit perfectly “I’m never taking this off!” he was back to the normal happy Higen I knew, I sat on the chair and started to eat, “remember to clean it often then.”

euphridia 2024-05-31 23:12:02 UTC #15

“Who do you want to dress up as, then?” Eura asked with a tinge of amusement in her voice. Somehow, it felt like a challenge.

“Laverna!” I answered thoughtlessly. Oh, wait…

“Did you forget about her halter top?” Nora reminded me.

“Grah! Fine!” I supposed Raelynn did make the most sense for me after all. I at least knew when to pick my battles.

“Too bad the armor pieces are only cheap replicas, so we’ll skip them,” Eura said. “You’re dressing up as Rae did when she met with the chief of the tiger clan.”

I looked at Nora. “Remind me what happened?”

“Rae wasn’t allowed to bring her weapons or armor into the sacred bamboo forest when she sought Iron Tiger Tetora’s help, as it would signify suspicion and distrust. It seemed a little unfair to me because that rule didn’t apply to the tiger clan themselves.”

“Got it. Well, at least let me pick the cloth headband.”

“Hachimaki,” Nora and Eura clarified in unison.

Only a blue one was available, so I didn’t get to choose after all. Although I could tie it around my head without help, I had trouble keeping it in place with the knot behind my ear. I finally gave up and put the knot down in the back.

“That’s not how Raelynn wears it,” Eura commented disapprovingly.

“It keeps popping off.”

“You’d look better with longer hair,” Eura opined. “Short hair doesn’t suit you.”

I glanced at Nora, hoping she’d stick up for me, but she nodded in agreement with Eura. I silently marked her as a traitor. “I’ll consider it.” That was my usual way of saying no.

“The glasses won’t work with your ensemble either,” Eura noted.

“Unfortunately, I need them to see, so they stay on my face.”

“I thought they were just a fashion statement!”

I blinked. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Uh. Well… couldn’t you just… Well, no, that wouldn’t work. I don’t know, get surgery or something to fix them?”

I was so perplexed by her suggestion that I couldn’t even get mad at the audacity. Maybe I was just getting used to it. “Surgery can’t fix them, as far as I know.”

“How tragic…”

Welcome to the real world, princess.

rainwang 2024-06-01 17:58:38 UTC #16

From a previous chapter:

"Right? Our housekeeper, having the ever-proper manners, greeted her. The Headmaster looked at her funny!"

The whole table gasps. "She has other expressions!?" the boy in a hood suddenly seems to have found sobriety.

Synopsis:

Twelve years ago, Azure Skylar, the Knight of the Cross of the unparalleled syndicate, the Chapel, was favored by the Pope himself to work on a mission that would determine the fate of their entire group against their growing rival, the Empire.

Twelve years ago, Azure met Caramella Red Aberdeign and found a friend in her. For once, he knew rest, quiet, peace, and comfort. Little did he know that Caramella Red was also the infamous Sweet Crimson, the ace assassin of their growing rival, the Empire.

A mistake, a wrong decision, a missed opportunity, all wrapped in the same regret that led to the ink on paper weeping about all that should have been said and done before time came and went. A story inspired by Taylor Swift's Evermore, Letter Addressed to the Fire will take you to a trip down the star-crossed soulmates' memory lane and tell you about all that was only whispered in the wind twelve years ago.

quintellit 2024-06-01 20:15:33 UTC #17

Kayden -" Oh and... New uniforms!"
Oliver-" Wow! These are nice!"
Kayden-"You can thank Alice for that!"
Oliver -"Who?"
Ty-"She's the fox that was here yesterday."

Leyelle 2024-06-25 14:52:38 UTC #18

Might as well mention Tiffany's padded shoulders here:

Tiffany roughs up her words with a growl that would give anyone else a sore throat as she marches down the narrow hallway and I try to avoid brushing against her padded shoulders, until I can overtake her.

“Monica” is watching Marvel trailers as we pass by, swiveling in her office chair, both her stockinged feet resting on her desk next to the dusty name plate that says ‘Muñeca Guerrera.’

“If you were reborn as a hot dog slicer, you’d still be more useful than you’ve ever been in this life,” Tiffany fires at her as I slide past the desk and into the overly bright meeting room.

“Can’t hear you. Take a number,” Muñeca buzzes, sounding like Rosie Perez. She waves Tiffany away like a horsefly, and Tiff closes the meeting room door too forcefully.

Leyelle 2024-07-18 15:25:40 UTC #19

This is a teaser for an unreleased chapter, but here we go:

Rummaging through my closet, I search for something without a stain on it to change into and some heels to match. Wearing my work clothes on the date is not an option. Besides the fact that it would make it look like I’m not even trying to look nice, Ayla accidentally touched my clothes with her dirty hands after dinner, and there are baby-sized barbecue fingerprints everywhere.

Mansi_Gu 2024-07-18 19:00:13 UTC #20

Addai was still silent and just nodded, staring at the door with fervor (even though his red ears gave him away). Meanwhile, Mine opened the wardrobe and looked for minimally satisfactory clothes. His fingers slid over fabrics, fuzzy textures, and a robe meant to be used for other things.

"There!" Mine took an outfit from the wardrobe and placed it on the nearest chair.

Mine finished ripping his pantyhose and threw them on the bed, leaving him with just the corset and skirt. He also took the rose decoration from his head and placed it on the bed - next to the latex gloves. When he attempted taking off the corset, Mine realized that they had tied it so tightly that he couldn't untie it himself. He didn't want to ask for help, so he squirmed around on the bed to get the thread to untie it.

With the effort, he felt the skirts detach from the corset and fall to the floor along with their decorations. Addai hesitated a few times, and Mine noticed that.

“KEEP STARING AT THE DOOR NO MATTER WHAT!” Mine angrily shouted, managing to grab the corset’s thread.

"I am!" Addai shouted back after a brief startle.