More Feathered Hearts on Sunday · 4:18pm Sep 18th, 2021
Well, folks, after a very successful release of all my previously unpostable Feathered Heart chapters—five new likes! 
—there is one last order of business for me to finish before I shift over to Unleash the Magic for the next six weeks, and that’s the promised next chapter of Feathered Hearts.
Titled Explanations and Epiphanies, this will push the boundaries a bit and set up yet another side story chapter or two. Ideally, I’d rather have that side story chapter ready before publishing so I can release them jointly and get the cross-pollination benefit, but if I wait, I’ll have to delay Unleash the Magic, and I know some readers are anxious for me to resume that. So am I, for that matter.
I admit, I have some concerns about how this latest chapter will be received, starting with my prereading crew. Only one of my three prereaders has seen it so far, but I’m gratified to report that I got two thumbs way up on it from AJ_Aficionado. Doubly so since I actually changed my mind on this chapter no less than three times, writing multiple endings to it before my muse finally said in no uncertain terms that this was what we were doing.
I emphasize that it will not exceed a T-rating except maybe in terms of innuendoes, but the implied action will got hot and heavy towards the end in spite of that as things finally come to a head between Marco and Gilda. Why would this happen here? Well, let’s just say that Marco honored and flattered Gilda in a way he wasn’t even aware of, but that she couldn’t ignore. And that there might be some lingering aftereffects of the cider and fertility potion.
Yes, it’s possible to write T-rated adult scenes. Closest analog I can think of that I’ve done previously is a brief but intense scene with Twilight and Phoenix towards the end of chapter 59 of Turnabout Storm.
As for why I’m doing this, quite simply: I want to. It’s pretty much as simple as that. I have no idea what DEL was planning for Gilda and Marco, but it’s clear they were going to have sex eventually in the course of the original story, even if the romance aspect got a little lost at times in favor of the war one.
Speaking of which, for those of you impatient to get to the military action, it’s coming. After this chapter release, the first appearance of the Cloven will be but two more chapters away. And once they appear... well, then I go into Firefly mode on this thing. 
And you know what I can do with that.
Nothing left to say but thank you all for indulging me. I extend a warm welcome to all new readers, and I’d like to express my gratitude again to the mods for making an exception and allowing me to post all my chapters here—even those chapters that are edited and expanded versions of the old ones. This is the one of the latter, corresponding roughly to the last half of the original story’s chapter 4, though parts of it are rearranged.
Chapter 13 goes live tomorrow morning, or even sooner if prereads are in. See you then, and hope you enjoy.
EDIT: Forgot to mention my ongoing recovery. It took nine days, but my pain finally broke fully yesterday, leaving it much easier for me to eat. And none too soon--I’ve lost 7lbs already, which was fine, but I was also at wits’ end with my food choices and not being able to eat all but the softest and most boring of foodstuffs. Now enjoying some spaghetti and meat sauce. Need to still keep things soft, but at least I’ve got more choices and ability to eat, now.
We love our readers, we really do. But at the end of the day, we write for us, first and foremost. That said, I hope detractors will give this scene a fair hearing. It's a very small part of the overall chapter and is entirely congruent with the rest of the writing. It's really well-written dialogue too and I have a pretty high standard for that, being one of Shakespearacles's followers.
Congrats on last chapter's release, Sensei. 5 upvotes in a single release is a HUGE get in late 2021.
Have I mentioned before that I love alliteration?
I love alliteration.
As for DEL and action, maybe not in the main story ever, but they had that one standalone, so it was certainly going there eventually.
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So do I! I consider alliteration an essential part of my writing. Proper use helps phrases and sentences stick in the mind of the reader.
The sex tag was lit on the original story for a reason. It would have happened at some point. Still, it’s the one major story he wrote where sex didn’t figure prominently. That’s a rarity in not just his works, but the G4M verse in general.
I enjoyed the pre read strongly. Great chapter. Interessting aftermath
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I’m glad! You won’t have wait this time. And I think you’ll like this one even more.