Spectacularly Stupid by tatapb

[tatapb]

SPECTACULARLY STUPID

 

I am back(ish)! Sort of! Idk, it's been a hell of a year   Last March I tried to get in on the NaNo train and ended up collapsing under the weight of my own anxiety. Ended up not writing for a full three months, which was a special sort of hell to be in.

This time, I spent October prepping rather than just diving into the cold, unforgiving waters. Easing myself in, writing a bit every day, that sort of thing.

Anyway, this NaNo I bring you Spectacularly Stupid, a slightly different Scorose that my brain latched onto about a year ago. 

 

Quote

"I know you hate the damned thing," he scoffed. "I meant why go to all that trouble to pin it on me."

"I don't know what you mean." There was a smile curling her lips and his hold tightened ever so slightly at the sight of it. "It's always a pleasure to pin things on you."

"Rose…"

Was it a weird cry for attention? They'd been hanging out pretty often, cleaning cauldrons together - or fine, him scrubbing cauldrons and her lying around and grinning at him while he scrubbed cauldrons - there was no reason for her to--

Oh.

His cauldron time was almost up.

"You do know that if you just want to spend time with me there are better, easier, less detention-y ways of achieving it," he enunciated slowly. "Ways that don't involve--"

"Yes," she agreed, a sly smile on her face, "but where's the fun in that?"

"We could go to Hogsmeade if you only let me have a week when I'm not stuck mucking the dungeons or polishing trophies."

"We can go to Hogsmeade any day you'd like," she chimed with a grin. "In the middle of the night and without a permission slip as the Founders so obviously intended."

He rolled his eyes, letting her go. "I'm late for Charms."

"I'm on the Wing." There was a glint in her eye as she floated away. "Nasty case of the Fictitious Shivers."

"I hope you fictitiously die from it. Run along, you pest."

Before she turned the corner she stopped abruptly and looked back. "Potions room, eight o'clock?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said wryly. "I'll bring my nicest toothbrush."

"It's a date."

 

The story starts ten years prior in the last of their Hogwarts years, somehow showcasing their unusual... "friendship". I say "friendship" because it's really a weirdass thing and while I love her, Rose isn't exactly the most well-adjusted individual. 

-------

Skip to present where they haven't spoken in ten years:

Rose Weasley has grown up to be an "independent consultant" (whatever that means) for the Auror Department with a particular penchant for bullshitting her way through life. A little Polyjuice goes a long way in this world, and information is just gold you don't need to pay taxes on.

Scorpius Malfoy has become a paranoid, dry git over the last ten years. He's made a living bottling emotions into spirits: a shot of Accomplishment, Pride neat on the rocks, Strawberry Lust... the works. Now the owner of Bliss, an up and coming bar in Knockturn Alley, he makes his employees sign Unbreakable Contracts to make sure their signature recipe stays a secret.

-----

Everything becomes far more complicated when an eye witness claims they saw Scorpius Malfoy cast the Dark Mark during the Diagon Alley riots. Not to mention the Anger in the victims' stomachs has awfully similar effects to Bliss' trademarked cocktails... only with disastrous, bloody results.

The only person who actually believes him is the one person he promised himself he'd never trust again.

[shadowycorner]

oooooooooh

i mean, i am so tragically sorry i still haven't finished witch slap, but still, your scorose is the stuff of dreams! this sounds incredibly intriguing! i love the crime aspect to it, the mystery, dubious alliances and questionable trust...it spells super delicious drama and i love it!

It seems like you've already started writing this project, how far along did you get?

Favorite scene or exchange you're looking forward to writing?

How are Rose and Scorpius different from their Witch Slap versions?

Good luck!

[victoria_anne]

Hey Maria! I'm sorry writing didn't start that well for you this year, but I'm happy you're attempting NaNo and I hope it helps you to get some words down! This idea sounds great and I can't wait to hear more about it and hear how you go with it! 

1. How are you preparing for NaNo this year? What does your planning process look like?

2. What is you love about Rose and Scorpius as a (possible) pair?

3. What song (if any) do you associate with this story?

4. Do you know how this story is going to end? How long do you anticipate it to be?

Good luck 

[tatapb]

On 10/30/2020 at 8:43 PM, shadowycorner said:

i mean, i am so tragically sorry i still haven't finished witch slap, but still, your scorose is the stuff of dreams!

I haven't finished writing it, so you're in good company  WS is kind of on the backburner for November. Among other things I managed to write a one-shot and a new chapter this past week, just so I have something new to publish mid-November. Good news is, after 23 chapters, the ship is sailing. It's also sinking, but it's sailing at the same time.

On 10/30/2020 at 8:43 PM, shadowycorner said:

It seems like you've already started writing this project, how far along did you get?

I actually started drafting it more seriously in October and somehow managed to get to 30k words of drafts and just snippets of scenes and dialogue. Most of it will probably be scrapped as I re-write and turn it into a cohesive project, but it's more concrete and planned than anything else I've ever written before. I have beat sheets and everything    Yesterday I decided it was all wrong and I'm starting semi-afresh, but it's good to feel like I have a solid basis and understanding of the characters I'm dealing with.

On 10/30/2020 at 8:43 PM, shadowycorner said:

Favorite scene or exchange you're looking forward to writing?

I'm not entirely sure how not to spoil this, so I'm not even going to try. When the story really starts, they haven't spoken to one another in years and the first meeting between them is a whole angsty, angry but also sort of funny chat where she pops past his alarm wards and just waits for him in the dark like a creep. 

On 10/30/2020 at 8:43 PM, shadowycorner said:

How are Rose and Scorpius different from their Witch Slap versions?

In WS, Rose and Scorpius always had an equivalent relationship - so far anyway. It was never too unbalanced.

In SS they are completely unbalanced at the start. Scorp's a sweet pushover who she takes constant advantage of. It's the female version of "pulling the pigtails means he cares" and I definitely don't condone it and it is toxic af. She's never genuine or real and he's become hurt and bitter and paranoid. NGL, when I was drafting this for the first time I was like "omg, this is absolutely horrible" but the concept fascinated me immensely.

Rose isn't a trainwreck, she's the person laughing on the sidelines as the trains collide. She's also possibly the person who derailed the trains in the first place.

Scorp, on the other hand, is an embittered, cynical wanker who trusts nothing and no one, which means he's gone full circle and ended up worse than when he started.

When they finally do meet, he has far more defences against her than his teenage self did and she's far less gratuitously chaotic. Ten years have made them different and my hope is when they get to the end, they'll have found common ground where they can establish something healthy and new.

On 10/31/2020 at 1:03 AM, victoria_anne said:

Hey Maria! I'm sorry writing didn't start that well for you this year, but I'm happy you're attempting NaNo and I hope it helps you to get some words down! This idea sounds great and I can't wait to hear more about it and hear how you go with it! 

1. How are you preparing for NaNo this year? What does your planning process look like?

Thanks so much Bianca! I'm slowly recovering myself, I've been writing a lot this last month. I wrote about thirty beat sheets with the structure for the story until I finally got one I liked, wrote 30k words in drafts, read about 15 romance novels (yes, that counts as research) and overall my hopes are... contained. I've been trying to ease myself in and I'm pleased to say NaNo struck and I'm not just panicking.

On 10/31/2020 at 1:03 AM, victoria_anne said:

2. What is you love about Rose and Scorpius as a (possible) pair?

This specific Rose and Scorpius are... difficult. I feel like she makes him take risks and stop trying so hard to prove himself as worthy and Scorp's the one person who can extract any genuineness from her. They're polar opposites and, honestly, I'm still not sure how they're going to work out.

On 10/31/2020 at 1:03 AM, victoria_anne said:

3. What song (if any) do you associate with this story?

Usually I have a bunch of issues with figuring out music to associate with what I write, but Toxic by Britney fits them to a T.

On 10/31/2020 at 1:03 AM, victoria_anne said:

4. Do you know how this story is going to end? How long do you anticipate it to be?

  I do, actually. Rose breaks up with him and vanishes for a year to "work on herself". When she finally comes back she's spouting stuff like "My therapist tells me I need to give more of myself. For free, I know, it's ludicrous." but overall the idea is he accepts that she's insane and that he may occasionally get Obliviated for his troubles and then SHE decides that if he's willing to accept that, she has to be willing to change. The running theme is "people don't change unless they want to".

I'm expecting it to be somewhere between 50-60k which means odds are I won't finish it by the end of NaNo, but it's a good start.