#FOTF
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jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Notice" from FotF #1, Fight or Flight

AL gets quite literally surrounded by harsh whispers of gossip from the other workers, during a crew call; everyone commenting to each other about AL's relationship with Molly.

It's unpleasant, but AL is a little bit used to unpleasant…
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 1, Fight or Flight: "Foreman didn’t seem to notice. Not them, at least - but his eyes sure burned right at me as I glanced over darkly. As if taunting me, daring me to make a move so he could punish me for it. He didn’t seem to half care if all the other coalboys had fun with their whispers and all, but at one point I took a deeper than normal breath and I figure he must’ve thought I was about to turn and lash back at them, because his hand went to the rod at his belt like a flash. I held my tongue though. Held my tongue and wished my cheeks would stop burning and just tried to keep my head straight as their whispers surrounded me like waves on the ocean, like rough clouds in a storm-split sky, and all I could do was try to keep from being overwhelmed by it."
January 25, 2026 at 2:10 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Tattoo" from FotF #5, Seen or Unseen

AL goes to a circus sideshow, and ruminates on the general concept of them.

…I think there are some folks in our real world who fall into this category. Who'd be better of, if they knew a few more people.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 5, Seen or Unseen: "Suppose I didn’t find them that fascinating for a few reasons, those mostly boiling down to the same. I think they were real popular with folk hadn’t seen much - those who’d mostly lived their own little lives and not met many sorts of people. Read books maybe, but not seen with their own eyes. To them, I imagine someone with a different colour skin was a shock. Someone with piercings or tattoos embedded in their skin, someone with growths or amputations, a few body parts too many or too few. Could be a real shock, I’d imagine, if you’d only ever met yourself and your parents and your nan."
January 22, 2026 at 11:07 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Bone" from FotF #1, Fight or Flight

AL contends with a fire and contemplates retreat - as well as inklings of how much their life has changed in a short while.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 1, Fight or Flight: "Two of the older ones ran to the hose, one at the pumps and the other holding the nozzle in his hands. They started spraying a thick stream of water at the fires, at the boilers, at everything, but it was a losing battle. The water sprayed over, pushing the flames back, but then it sizzled away in seconds and the flames returned every bit as thick. Every bit as thick, but growing thicker by the moment, along with the smoke. I coughed, pulling my coalrag over my nose and mouth, but it did nothing to stop the stinging in my eyes or the pain in my skin, my muscles. The meat of me, slowly being cooked on the bone. I couldn’t stay in there long and neither could any of them. “What’s worth more to you,” I demanded of a passing coalboy, “your wage or your life?” He looked back, and he didn’t even need to answer. I saw it in his eyes, the clear and plain answer that they were one and the same, so it was a pointless question. One without the other didn’t matter in the slightest. Not to him. It hadn’t, to me, either."
January 24, 2026 at 11:33 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Activity" from FotF#5, Seen or Unseen

AL and Molly have been hoping to rile up a bit of a disturbance as a smokescreen, letting them get out of a city which is unfriendly to them. They've succeeded more than just a bit…
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #5, Seen or Unseen: "Back into the alleys, back into the dark, and so close to being done. We emerged at the end of our path unharried, unhalted, unstopped and standing stooped in a rusted culvert at the edge of town. Industrial outflow, but the factory had maybe shut down activity for the season or something like that, because there’d been nothing in its drainage any time I’d been by to look. Night sky was dark above, and a glance over past town showed the spotlights burning brightly in the night, but not pointed toward us. Not pointed toward the trains at all, in fact, because the trains were just doing what trains were meant to do, traveling on the rails. It was the city that was acting out of character. Neither of the bipedal walkers was out there, both presumably having reacted to head in to the city, and the six-legged one had stepped further away from the tracks to squat heavily over a road. A red flare burned in the sky overtop of it, and glancing back at the city I saw dozens more there along with dozens of green ones. Riot, we’d been aiming for. Ruckus. Revolution felt more like what we’d struck upon."
January 21, 2026 at 11:38 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Remain" from FotF#1, Fight or Flight

AL? Push theirself too hard? Nonsense, they would never!
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 1, Fight or Flight: "Collapse. My face hit sand and I tried to push myself up and carry on, but my arms didn’t move. My arms, my legs, my whole body - as if somebody had blown the boiler and now there was no more steam left, nothing remaining to push the joints around, and I suppose that was very nearly true. I’d stoked the boiler as high as it would go and that was always a risk, and as blackness swallowed me up and I fell into unconsciousness, I paid the price of that risk in full."
January 18, 2026 at 9:55 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Drain" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

After the first book abounds with oft-harsh rumours of AL and Molly getting together, Molly's now insisting that AL gets to stay in her quarters wth her. She's…a fair bit more self-certain than AL is - and/or more oblivious to some things! XD
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book two, Sink or Swim: "I froze, halfway through the turn, as I saw the expression which shifted over his face. The way his eyes met mine, and held them. He seemed to know most things aboard his ship, at least generally – knew enough to know my name, at least, and supposedly how long I’d been around. He must have heard the rumours. It seemed everyone had spread them, coalboys and Corpsmen and more, all chatting away like sewer rats about how Al and the Faekyn were getting up to all manner of sheet-twisting activities, and I was sure the Captain couldn’t have avoided them all. I felt as if the blood was draining from my face as he looked at me, as all the words I’d heard called out from doorways and whispered behind my back all piled up on me from the shadows of my memory."
January 19, 2026 at 12:19 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Gold" from FotF#1, Fight or Flight

The Compass is under attack by unknown forces, but AL thinks they've surmised the assailants' identities…
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 1, Fight or Flight: "Distantly, as I ran along the deck, I wondered why the pirates hadn’t just gone for the envelope above us. It would’ve been an easy way to scuttle the whole ship, but even in the maelstrom I knew the answer had to be the obvious one: they were looking for something. They were pirates, not simply killers, and they would be looking for some loot or plunder, gold and coins and weapons probably. They might have found themselves disappointed in the aftermath of the struggle given that the Compass was not a merchant vessel and didn’t really have that much on her save for what was needed for day-to-day operations, but it was difficult to feel much sympathy for the pirates’ eventual disappointment."
January 17, 2026 at 2:04 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Brain" from FotF #1, Fight or Flight

Hint: it's not actually mind magic.

(…or is it?)
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book one, Fight or Flight: "Gently, she raised up my chin - enough so that I could’ve pulled free easily, if I’d wanted to not look at her face. I knew what would happen if I did. Seemed like it always did. I’d get caught. Caught up like a fly in a spiderweb, like a little fish in a net or in her chopsticks, but in her eyes. I’d fall into those black pits and it seemed like it always made my brain stop working - couldn’t think straight, couldn’t lie right, my mouth started just running away on itself. Right then, though, I thought I could really use a little hypnosis to just numb everything out."
January 16, 2026 at 11:35 AM
spiritomb.bsky.social
imagining a world where fotf shames people for spaying and neutering pets instead of letting god's creatures breed uncontrollably
January 16, 2026 at 5:58 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Current" from FotF#2, Sink or Swim

Molly and AL are having a bit of a discussion about sex, and- well, what a fun place for a chapter end, eh?
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #2, Sink or Swim: "I’d thought about other people and sex, but never really about me. Me and other people, at least, because there was a hurdle that was always in place that I never considered the possibility of leaping over. Not until I’d met her and just launched myself over it without much consideration at all. Swept up in excitement, pulled along by the current behind the storm, and I didn’t dislike where I’d ended up at all. I loved it. “I think-” I swallowed heavily, my heart skipping in my chest. “I th- I don’t know, maybe, I mean I think-” My head felt light, and it occurred to me – only then, and only very vaguely – that I couldn’t really see, even though my eyes were open. Molly’s face was faint, blurred, and I didn’t think it was because the sun had gone down. It couldn’t have, so suddenly. The twisting in my gut and the lightness in my head resolved into a spinning, swooping swirl, and I swallowed again heavily. “I th- I think, Molly, that- think I might pass ou-” "
January 14, 2026 at 11:33 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Table" from FotF #1, Fight or Flight

Bit of dialogue between AL and Saxon, a former coalboy turned Corps cadet (and, AL is somewhat starting to suspect, former friend as well…)
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book one, Fight or Flight: "“Minors? I’m older than you, and I’ve been here years longer-” “You know that’s not what counts.” He was right, but I didn’t like it, and a retort caught in my throat where I had to swallow it bitterly down. He was right and it had always been that way and I knew it, but I didn’t like it. “Heard there was a problem with number three, other day.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Yeah, big problem. Unzipped like a sailor’s fly after he drops a coin on the bedside table. Took three boys with it.” Saxon dipped his head for a second, a moment’s respect for the dead, which was more than they’d likely get from anyone else in blue. “We’ve been running half-steam ever since,” he pointed out. “I know that.” “They’re not happy about it.” “I know that, Saxon, but I can’t change it, so-” “Watch your tone, Al.” His grip tightened again, his eyes darting to a nearby open door. “And keep it the fuck down, wouldja? You can’t talk to me like that anymore, I don’t gives a shit if you’re older, you’re not more important. You hear me? You know what they’d do if they heard it?”"
January 9, 2026 at 11:29 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Canvas" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

Gallows humour? Never met her XD
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 2, Sink or Swim: "“I’ll see what I can do to repel them,” Molly’s words came over my shoulder, close in my ear, sending some goosebumps down my neck despite the cold. “I don’t think they’ll have much quarrel with us though. They don’t eat canvas or wood and that’s the bulk of what we have.” “We’ve got lads aplenty!” I still had to run. She wasn’t strong enough on wing to hold me up and just fly me there, it seemed, but it kept me upright even as the deck swayed below us. I saw the articulated sailfins rising and falling over the horizon of the deck. “They’re mostly made of meat, y’know!” She laughed. “Please, I’ve seen them, they’re more bone than meat. These drakes would rather eat fish or some fat birds, I’m sure. They wouldn’t go to all this trouble for one measly ship.”"
January 8, 2026 at 2:20 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Lock" from FotF #2

AL returns from a shift in the boiler room during which they got a little carried away and focused. Molly'd love to help, but the touch of glittercoal causes errant magical discharges.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book 2, Sink or Swim: "Her eyes flicked up and her words cut off immediately, a sudden and sharp frown overtaking her lips. “You’re hurt.” I followed her gaze down to my hands, which looked fine. They looked perfectly fine, dirty with coaldust but not wounded. Until I turned them over. The backs of my hands had spatter burns all over them, one or two of them large and bad enough to be oozing a little, but not bleeding. As if the sight of them was a key in a lock, they started suddenly to hurt – to sting, to throb, to ache, and I hissed a breath through my teeth. “So I am.” My jaw clenched down tight and I pursed my lips, blowing over the burns to try to cool them, to soothe them. Her wings were better at that, as it turned out. As she came over, swiftly, hovering, a wash of wind came from her wings and felt ten times as good as my own warm breath, but I pulled away when she reached out for my hands. “Wait!” I sighed, shaking my head. “Glitter.”"
January 7, 2026 at 11:37 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Low" from FotF #1, Fight or Flight

This becomes a bit of a shorthand between the two of them - "you have quite a low threshold for what might upset me," rooted in this exchange; an in-joke as well. It's nice.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #1, Fight or Flight: "“On account of my wings, my teeth, my eyes?” She looked at me with those black pits. “On account of the fact that I am Faekyn? Yes, of course, they don’t seem to think much of me for it - and my my, might I say, you seem to think I have quite a low threshold for which of your sayings will upset me. You mightn’t need ask so fervently whether I mind you saying them.” I felt a little blood rush to my cheeks, bringing warmth with it. “Well I only meant- I didn’t want to make you feel bad by bringing it up is all, Miss, I didn’t mean-” She laughed lightly. “Relax, Al, I was only teasing you. I’d say you’re quite unlikely to upset me, you’re not really the type - and as for them? Well…” she sighed, looking off into the distance. “Their thoughts hardly matter, do they? They hardly matter. They’ve made their decision already, based on the shape and details of my face, and I hardly think anything I can do will sway them on the matter.”"
January 6, 2026 at 2:50 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Home" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

Getting home is pretty much the point of the book XD so, lots of options for today's word. Went for this one - a storm threatens the crew's return home.

(aaaaaand just noticed a missing word; should be "*neither* the storm nor anything else" oops)

<3
Screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book two, Sink or Swim: "“The lightning isn’t our greatest danger,” Molly laid a hand on my shoulder, shifting beside the warning bulb so I could see her and it at the same time. “What makes the lightning is.” “The- clouds?” I shook my head, trying to free my eyes of the rain that filled them without blinking, without reducing my time to react by even one half of one second. “What’s making it?” She shook her head firmly, water running down her face in rivulets, her nostrils sealed shut. “I don’t know, Al. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s anything good. Powerful elemental magic, beasts of magical might-” “What, electric griffins?” I barked a laugh, although it was a terrifying prospect, but sometimes those were the ones that made you laugh the most. Sometimes a laugh was the biggest weapon you were afforded, even though I’d never heard of someone being slain with one, but it was something. That one tiny defiance. Molly laughed too, but hers didn’t sound as defiant. As forceful. As forced. It made me feel a little better. She always did. “Doubtful,” she grinned, “though if it proves the case, I apologize in advance.” “For?” “Trying to capture one to bring home, of course.” There was such a grin on her face, and it was there – the defiance, maybe pride as well. That idea that the storm nor anything else would make her crumple, and there I was laughing alongside her just the same."
January 4, 2026 at 2:12 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Calm" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

Storms threaten to sink what survivors remain, and AL's sarcasm might be a little bit threat-activated. Or, rather, it only *escapes* when there are bigger threats, otherwise AL tends to swallow it down XD
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates book 2, Sink or Swim: "“I know,” the Captain chewed on the words as if they were tobacco, but if they were, they were one that didn’t seem particularly strong in taste. Not offensive in any way to him, as his lips didn’t scrunch or pull back, his nose not wrinkling, his brow staying smooth as ever. He considered the words, the idea, but only calmly. I suppose it should have been reassuring, but it most decidedly was not. I still barely had my feet under me from the gust and felt like a hatch at the bottom of my gut had come unlatched and fallen open, and not been closed back up tight, and he seemed perfectly calm. Calm was good, but at that moment all it made me think was that he wasn’t appropriately aware of the dangers of the situation. That he must have finally snapped, thinking of the whole thing only as numbers on a page and forgetting that there were real lives attached to them. “One wrong gust,” I huffed. He nodded. “Yes.” “We’ve not got swim masks, sir.”"
January 3, 2026 at 12:53 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Resolution" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

From the epilogue (you can tell from the tense XD).

Reylahduuz - who is a mind reader with local omniscience - is so much fun to write! I just love it!
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates, book two, Sink or Swim: "She knows already what he will ask. “Can-” He swallows, and she knows that he will hesitate, panic, and try to abort the question, but that he does not have within himself enough desire to go unharmed as to stop himself from asking it. He fears the question will mean reprimand, harm, or even death. That isn’t to say that he sufficiently fears death, however. He hesitates, panics, and tries to abort the question; his desire not to raise her ire and risk what harm might follow warring with his desires both for satisfaction of the mind and satisfaction of the flesh. She feels the tension in him not snap but slide away, sinking into the depths of melancholy – though he doesn’t follow his tension. He stands on a tiny island of resolution within those same churning melancholic waves in his mind, and meets her eyes. “Can I have a kiss? I want one.”"
January 2, 2026 at 2:14 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "End" from FotF #1, Fight or Flight

The occasional philosophical proposition *may* sneak through in my writing. XD
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #1, Fight or Flight: "She looked at me steadily. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in fifty years of research, Al, it is that there are many truths.” Her words were soft, and a little sad - they matched her face in that much. “Just… do be wary, if you go searching for it, that it is what you wish to find. So many people think they want a true answer when what they really would prefer is an easy one.” A slight frown took my lips, my brow creasing. “Miss Molly… I never did have an easy answer before. Suppose that means I don’t know what I’d do with one, but…” I couldn’t end the sentence. Not that I couldn’t bring myself to, but just that I didn’t know what the ending was. Nor even really what she was saying, what she was proposing - she seemed to often talk about things only halfways, referencing but not actually saying. Was she saying I was a mixblood but that my life would be worse if I knew? Or was she saying I wasn’t and it shouldn’t matter because it wouldn’t be easier anyway? Or something else?"
December 31, 2025 at 11:48 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Sun" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

AL has a totally normal and healthy relationship with the job they held for over a decade, yeah. Completely ordinary. Definitely not gently traumatized. Nope.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #2, Sink or Swim: "Maybe I was a year or two older than I’d thought. Lost count at some point in the weeks that would stretch by without even seeing the sun, presuming that each shift meant a day and trying to differentiate one payday from another to track the time. I’d tried to keep a calendar for a while, but it made me sad to look at before long. Felt too much like a prisoner scratching lines on his wall."
December 30, 2025 at 5:01 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Clobber" from Fotf #1, Fight or Flight, with vibes today! Punch and hit but no clobber by name

cw: sexual assault (interrupted with violence)

AL relates a story about Saxon, a friend - or sadly sort of former friend - who has a bit of a mean streak. Sometimes that's not so bad though.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates book one, Fight or Flight: "“We were out going to the marketplace. Sax wanted a sweetroll. I wanted a book. I- I learned how to read, or some at least, real young, so I taught a lot of the other boys on ship. Anyways. Sax was maybe… nine or ten, I think? And we heard this scream, from an alleyway.” My gut turned and trembled a little even just at the memory, even though it was years distant and who knew how many miles away. Even though Sax was gone. “There was a girl in there, and three lads - they probably would’ve said they were just trying to have a spot of fun. That’s how that kind of trash always describe it, innit? Spot of fun.” The words came out bitter, which made sense. It was how I felt over the whole thing. “They’d managed to rip her shirt off, but I guess she pulled a bit free of ‘em to scream - and they didn’t like that. One of ‘em hit her, in the face, and- next thing I knew, Sax was in there. Just yelled and bolted, started throwing punches and-” I shook my head again, “-and she ran off in the scuffle, and so did one of the lads. One of ‘em started sobbing, apologizing, telling Sax to just go away, yelling for help - whatever he could.” Miss Molly’s jaw tensed up as her eyes flicked swiftly to the crystal, her wings twitching behind her. “And the third?” “That’s the one who’d hit her,” I whispered, “and I don’t rightly think he was likely to ever stand up again, Miss.”"
December 29, 2025 at 2:01 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Type" from FotF #2, Sink or Swim

AL - and the others - are trying to make their way home on a salvaged ship, and AL has no intention of sailing with the Corps after they get back.
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates book 2, Sink or Swim: "“Are you dying, Al?” My eyes shot to the one who’d asked – middling in age, size, and everything else. I couldn’t have picked him out of a lineup, but apparently he knew me. “Just,” he shrugged, “seems you’re willing to rack up plenty red, and…” Another shrug. I knew what he meant though. Knew exactly what he meant, that the only type of person who was willing to go into such debt was someone who didn’t plan on being around to pay it. Which either meant I was dying, or I was lying. “I’m not dying,” I replied swiftly, “and I’m not lying either. I’m leaving.” “They’ll come after you for the debt, you know that-” “I do.” I shook my head. “I don’t care. I’ll carry it and I’ll swear that to all of you, but out there right now, there’s-” Something struck the hull. Struck and scraped and I heard a lad scream that we’d struck rock, but I knew better. I pointed to where the sound had been, port side, and a moment later one came from starboard. Three scratchy scrapes in a row, but distinct from each other. Rock didn’t really take swipes like that."
December 26, 2025 at 11:27 AM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Delicious" from FotF #6 (untitled as of yet)

AL enjoys a drink and the local sights! As we all should perhaps try to do today (and maybe most or all days)!
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #6, untitled: "The two of us had sat out at a little table, me with my cup of tea and him with a glass of Faekyn drink made of diluted vinegar, which despite my initial confusion over and mockery of, had actually turned out to be quite delicious. Around us, the Embassy spread, underneath its glass roof, streets stretching off in every direction and buildings growing up from them. Three storeys, five storeys, some as high as eight - not exactly colossal, but given we were inside another building, quite impressive. A town full of buildings, inside a building the size of a city block inside of a city in turn, like those nesting dolls they had at ports sometimes."
December 25, 2025 at 1:12 PM
hilarylauer.bsky.social
2/2 for all the wonderful, caring, sensitive, empathic, lovely #FOTF who are creative, witty, fun, have a wicked sense of humor… Such a gift to be part of this amazing community✨🐾💛🤍🤎
December 24, 2025 at 6:04 AM
ajasmineman.bsky.social
If you like those sorts of rabbit holes watch fundie Fridays on YouTube. They've been vital in explaining my weirdo upbringing to people. I don't think they've talked about the Paulks yet but they talked about FOTF when James Dobson croaked and the Pearls and purity culture and quiverful.
December 23, 2025 at 8:44 PM
jaredgoring.com
#WIPSnips "Angle" from FotF #6 (untitled as of yet)

Had a whole bunch of "tangled," "dangled," and a few repeat segments, but went for this instead!
Ebook screenshot from Flight of the Fates #6, currently untitled: "He nodded, and didn’t really react otherwise. I hadn’t really seen him like that before, not mad and not irritated, sort of melancholy. Didn’t droop in the shoulders exactly, not geometrically, not physically in form or posture, but it felt like he did. Didn’t dip his chin or anything of the sort. Walked the same, as far as my eye could calculate in terms of angles and any measurement it could gather. Something in my gut, though. Something in my heart, something measuring in a way I couldn’t describe or maybe even fathom, told me - notified me of Drallzyn’s melancholy, and it made it feel like he dragged his feet even though his steps were as crisp as ever. Made it feel like his eyes studied the floor in front of himself, even though they directed themselves clearly outward as ever. Made it feel like he was slumping forward, shoulders drooping and wings dangling limply downward, even though they stood as proud as ever and occasionally trembled. Maybe not quite as proud as ever. Proud, still, though."
December 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM