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Skirts: Five by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
Skirts: Five
Five
Somewhere, Deryn was furious.
Or at least, Alek hoped she was. Because she wouldn't be Deryn if she wasn't.
It had not been Alek's idea for Deryn to wear the heavy, gaudy blue dress. Though he had agreed with his advisors that the dress closely matched the colour his wife's eyes had been, he had objected to the fact that it wasn't her. Deryn would have wanted to be in a flight suit, as if in preparation for her eternal flight. His advisors argued that they were talking about an Empress, not a soldier (something Alek did not agree with) and that she needed a proper, traditional ceremony. Dr. Barlow wasn't even there to argue in her def
Skirts: Four by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
Skirts: Four
Four
Deryn was happy.
Being an Empress was just as awful as she had feared at times, but it was great in others.
Women were allowed in the navy and the airforce now in Austria-Hungary, although she had had to fight hard against her council to make it so. Currently, she was working on getting the same rights in the army, where apparently there was 'increased risk' or some stupid piss poor excuse of the same sort.
The people of Austria-Hungary had learned to accept their rough and tumble Empress and her gentle and wise husband, who had both changed things for the better in the country that had almost been torn apart by war.
The biggest cha
Skirts: Three by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
Skirts: Three
Three
Dr. Nora Barlow found the upcoming Empress sulking in her chambers, practically drowning in skirts. The dress was disgustingly extravagant; a big puffy ball gown of gold and heavy jewels that ballooned from her hips outward with a ridiculously long train. Every time Deryn looked at it, she couldn't help but think that the money put into this one dress would feed the men and beasties of the Leviathan for 10 years at least. Besides, this was the dress for an Empress...not a cross-dressing bird from Glasgow.
"Hello, Miss… Empress Sharp von Hohenberg," Nora said quietly. "That's quite a…lovely dress."
"No, you know barking full
Skirts: Two by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
Skirts: Two
Two
"Barking spiders, can't I wear dress pants?" The soon-to-be Mrs. Von Hohenberg huffed from inside the bathroom of the newly refurbished castle.
"Deryn, if things had gone my way I'd let you wear whatever you bloody well like. But everyone else, including the groom, is pulling for a dress so I guess you'll just have to shut up and deal," Lilit replied, standing outside the bathroom door in her bridesmaids dress of rich maroon silk and gold lace, beginning in a strapless corset and hitching in folds at the waist down to the floor. It had gold embroidery running up one side of the corset and some at the top, as well as some hitched around
Skirts: One by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
Skirts: One
One
"Ms. Sharp, what in the world is taking so long?" Dr. Barlow asked, pressing her ear against the door. She was dressed in a fancy black and blue gown made of silk, one that flowed down her body in a sleek, sophisticated way.
"It's these blasted skirts, ma'am. There are too barking many of them!" A muffled voice grumbled, and Alek had to smile. Since he had found out that his mate Dylan was actually a girl named Deryn, he was still surprised at how little her personality had changed.
Well, except for the love part. That, he was still getting used to (even after two and a half years).
"Ms. Sharp, we all know this is not the first time y
Break the Ice by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
Break the Ice
Chapter 2: Break the Ice
"Barking ninny—what did I expect—stupid blokes—good for nothing—complete dummkopf—what a complete mistake…" Deryn muttered to herself, shutting the door to her quarters silently as to not attract attention. She knew she was sulking, but she couldn't seem to shake her dreadful disappointed feelings. Despite what her mind thought of the matter, her heart had hoped for a better outcome.
Well, he asked for it, she reasoned, he wanted to know, and I told him exactly how I felt. But despite how hard she tried to pin the blame on Alek, she knew it was really all her fault. She had lied the who
A Deafening Silence by teambookwormm, literature
Literature
A Deafening Silence
"I'm a girl!" The midshipman Deryn Sharp announced, closing her eyes in shame. She waited for a response, but in the silence that followed none came. She finally opened her eyes to be met with the wide green eyes of her best friend Alek, son of the late Archduke of Austria-Hungary. He seemed to be in shock, but Deryn wasn't surprised. She had been disguising herself as a boy for months now, and Alek was learning the truth for the first time.
"I beg your pardon?" Alek sputtered, polite as ever despite his surprise. He pushed his reddish brown hair through his fingers roughly, no doubt trying to set his thoughts in order.
"I'm a girl, Alek,"