Amruniel's Ramblings

And here it is: The final chapter. Thank you to those who came along, for your wonderful comments and encouraging words. I can promise that I still plan on finishing the Year of the OTP event, which would mean four more ficlets set in this world. Three of those are already written! And to tide you over, there are some bonus features. In case you hadn't noticed - all the books mentioned in this story do actually exist. This includes Viggo's Matthew Quinton books. If any of the books mention sound interesting to you, feel free to check back with the bibliography for more info. Also, because I had so much fun doing it last year for "The Journey", I wrote a Making-Of. I quite possibly went a little overboard with it (it's over 5000 words long), but there are so many more things I wanted to tell you about this world and about the why behind it. So, if you're at all interested in my writing process or in how in hell this story even came about. Feel free to drop by.

Title: Broken Wings
Author: Michelle
Email: michelle [at] waking-vision.com
Summary: Orlando works in a public library in a small town in Idaho. When one day a man comes in to donate a box of books, Orlando’s life takes an unexpected turn.
Series: Library-AU
Pairing: Viggo/Orlando
Genre: slash, romance, some angst and h/c
Warnings: AU, medical condition, epilepsy
Rating: Explicit
Disclaimer: Viggo and Orlando belong to themselves, but every woman needs a hobby.
Author’s Note I: This story was inspired by Freya Sampson’s “Last Chance Library”, even though my story and her book have absolutely nothing in common apart from the fact that there’s a library involved. My basic idea Orlando works in a library took a very wild turn very early on and this story is the result. In the end, the library turned out to be a minor side-plot, but I did include a number of books. All the books mentioned in this story exist; I will provide a bibliography once I’ve finished posting in case you’re interested in reading any of them.
Author’s Note II: Please take the warnings on this story seriously, as they are basically the centre of the plot. This story contains graphic depictions of epileptic seizures, please proceed with caution if you’re unsure whether that’s something you can stomach. I have spent a lot of time researching, because I wanted to at least attempt a realistic picture. I am using artistic license in some areas, though, because – in the end – this is fiction. I’ve tried to develop the medical part of the story organically without it becoming overly info-dump-y, so it is totally okay to read this without knowing anything about epilepsy.
Author’s Note III: For research reasons this story is set in 2024. I didn’t know beforehand how detailed I wanted the medical facts to be (e.g. medications, treatments and the like). Therefore I didn’t want to confuse myself further by setting this in the (even not so distant) past. Characters are aged down to 42 (Viggo) and 23 (Orlando). Title comes from the Mr. Mister song. The lyrics go something like this: Take these broken wings / And learn to fly again / Learn to live so free / When we hear the voices sing / The book of love will open up and let us in / Take these broken wings