#scratching my head about my webcomic um | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ripslingerfan13 · 9 months

Text

Chapter 5: Hisashi & Relization

“Um,…I think we’re both good, thank you.” Unlike Laverne, Frederick had calmed down realizing that Whitney was no threat…neither unaware of a fourth companion.

“Hisashi, how is he doing?” The mystery female voice ‘Sensei’ asked her young student Now Hisashi, “No need to worry Sensei, looks like this guy is no threat to Frederick.” Hisashi gave a wave of his red furry paw reassuring his Sensei. “Good, now remember you are only allowed to interfere if Frederick is in danger.” Hisashi laughed a little “Sensei! You’ve told me that like 5 times already! I promise I won’t do anything that I don’t need to do!” “Alright then Hisashi, I’m trusting you, good luck.” “Thanks Sensei.” Hisashi was sitting on top of a tree several feet away from them, keeping himself invisible as he watched the two conversed.

“…I wouldn’t want to subject a kid to such a grueling tale right now.” Whitney held his head down as both Frederick and Hisashi stared at him curiously. “But to put it lightly…” looking up to give Frederick direct eye contact “I used to be a really bad person…” Hisashi’s ears perked up at this as he listened in, of course saying something like that would make anyone suspicious.

“…I was a person who spiraled out of control in pursuit of getting everything I thought I was entitled to.” Whitney sulked in shame as he thought back to what he had done to Calpernia. “It got to a point where I didn’t care if it ruined people’s lives…or if it almost cost me my own.”

Damn dude! What the hell did you even do?! Hisashi thought as he continued listening in.

“That’s just the way things were in my family.” Both boys were shocked to hear this. Wait what?! Hisashi leaned over as if he needed to be closer to hear even better than he already can, ears perked up as he listened closer, curious and a little concerned as to what this guy’s family had taught him.

“We were taught to always defeat anyone who stood in our way and to take what we wanted…Especially from each other.” WHAT?! Hisashi's teeth clenched, snarling, his four tails wagged fiercely, yeah he was definitely pissed. You’re supposed to teach your children to be fair and kind to each other! Not to turn your backs on each other just to get what you want?! Just hearing that, Hisashi was already concerned about Whitney’s family. “Then I got these stripes and had to immediately abandon my home forever. I was forced to leave behind all the titles, possessions, and comforts I grew up with…” Whitney raised a hand to caress his tiger striped cheek. “…but also all the toxic habits I grew up with too. And eventually I realized I was much better off without any of them.” That’s good, at least he knows he's better off without his toxic family…though I can’t help but feel like I’m jumping to conclusions. “The endless competitions and comparisons...” Sensei says I should always hear both sides of the story…but? “The violent, gladiator-style fights to win Father’s affection each week…” Uh… and just like Frederick, Hisashi went pale trying to comprehend what he had just heard. “The contest to see which son could most effectively torture political prisoners…” Huh?! Face now green, ears flat against his head as he started to shake. “Oh! Did you have to recite those daily Machiavellian chants too?” S-Sensei~ Hisashi was now shaking like a leaf. “I heard Hisashi…just pray to Inari we never run into them.” Sensei too sounded just as horrified.

“Um, to be honest, listening to you kinda makes me feel like a jerk for ever complaining about my dad.” Frederick scratched the back of his neck, still a bit shaken by Whitney’s story. “Sure, I feel like a disappointment to him all the time, but there were no…um, gladiator fights…” “Your name is Frederick, right?” Whitney inquired, finally pulling off his hood, “You know, getting these stripes on my face wasn’t what made me change my outlook. It was due to the guidance of some very kind people I met that I could start to set my life straight.” Whitney held up a finger as if he was about to give some wise words “So, allow me to pass along some kind words I heard. --They’re also coincidently the same words I wish I could tell my father when he had me and my siblings see who could torture prisoners better:” Hisashi shuddered Can he please stop talking about that! “Pain is not a competition.” Heh, now these guys I’d like to meet. Hisashi relaxed a little as he layed back down on the tree branch. “It is also not what you look like on the outside but who you are on the inside.” Frederick perked up at this, during their conversation Frederick had explained to Whitney what had happened the last week and a half, including Lance and his father. “The painful emotions you feel are valid, Frederick. But you get to choose when you’re ready to heal from them and change your story.”

This is the weirdest dude I’ve ever met… Both Frederick and Hisashi thought in unison as Hisashi laid on the tree branch tails and a leg hanging off as he continued to tiredly watch the two converse… He couldn’t help but chuckle as Frederick got flustered when Whitney asked him why he was traveling. What’s the matter, kit? Don’t wanna admit that you were so desperate to see your girlfriend that you ran out without thinking! “Sorry that’s another consequence of this cur--I mean these tiger stripes...I became really keen at sensing fear and panic in others.” Ok, is this guy part tiger or something?!...And it sounded like he was going to say something else? “Y-you know, actually, I feel really refreshed after that stew!” Frederick stood up abruptly, “So I think we’re just gonna head back home now!!” Using his tails to scoop up Laverne, “Let’s go, Laverne” “Bleaaat!” Much to her dislike. Ah! Here we go! Hisashi stood up as he saw Frederick was ready to leave…he relaxed after Whitney convinced them to stay the night.

…1 hour later…

Can that guy stop staring like that?! It’s seriously creeping me out!!! Hisashi had tried turning around hoping that not seeing would help to ignore the fact that Whitney was staring out in random directions, despite even knowing that he cannot be seen sadly did not make sleep any easier…

…The next morning…

When Frederick awoke, though slightly annoyed to find Laverna sleeping on top of him found that surprisingly she wasn’t as heavy as she used to be, using his tails to pick her up and set her down next to him. He stood up and stretched before catching a whiff of something… something that also awoke Hisashi.

Mmm…Something smells great! Hisashi’s nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff and cracked open an eye to see that Whitney had caught a deer and was cooking some of its meat over a freshly lit fire. He stood up from his tree branch stretching as he shook the tangles out of his tails, taking a swipe at his face with a paw before eyeballing the abandoned deer carcass, licking his lips as his tails wagged behind him. Hisashi no. Sensei’s voice echoed in his ear as Hisashi’s ears flattened. Aww, come on Sensei! It’s still fresh! Hisashi whined as he slumped on his tree branch. And they would notice if it suddenly disappeared. Hisashi gave a small pout as his tails seized wagging. Look, Hisashi, Whitney is obviously no threat. Take a break, clean up in the river and catch yourself some breakfast. I will inform you if Frederick decides to leave. Hisashi quickly perked up Really! Sensei arigatō! Hisashi gladly hopped out of his tree, still invisible, heading away from the two and off to clean up and catch some food…

Feeling that he was far enough away from the two Hisashi finally made himself visible, looking very similar in appearance to Frederick, well his fox parts at least. Slightly pale skin tone with bright red fur, small tips of white on the ends of his four tails, claws and a diamond shaped patch on his back. His hair was about shoulder length and just a little bit spikey at the ends. His dark eyes spotted a small river just ahead of him as he trotted over and jumped right in…once finished bathing shook himself before using his flames to dry out the rest of his fur. Hisashi is a ‘Kasai’ , a fire type kitsune. There are 13 types of kitsunes, Tengoku(heaven), Kukan(dark), Kaze(wind), Seishin(spirit), Kasai(fire), Chikyu(earth), Kawa(river), Umi(ocean), Yama(mountain), Mori(forest), Sanda(Thunder), Jikan(time), and the Ongaku(Sound). There is not much known about kasai, but it is believed that their ability to control fire is due to their omnivorous diet which allows them to adapt and thrive in different environments. Or perhaps it is simply an adaptation to their environment, a way to keep warm in cold environments and ward off predators.

Once dry Hisashi scanned the area carefully, sniffing the air to find his closest meal… Oh! His ears perked up as he caught a whiff of a jaguar! Perfect! I always loved a good chase! Great way to work up an appetite! Hisashi always preferred to go after larger and faster animals for his meals, not only were they a lot more filling then the other smaller animals, but the chase and often fights helped him to improve a bit on his hunting skills. Alright… Hisashi licked his lips as he made his way to his morning breakfast. Kari o hajimemashou. (Let the hunt begin.) The jaguar was lying down licking its paws, when it caught a whiff of its visitor and quickly stood up turning to Hisashi’s direction ready to fight…until it took another sniff and his scent made the jaguar nervous. Crouched down in the grass Hisashi grinned when he saw the jaguar’s ears flattened as he started to back away. “That’s it buddy, go ahead start running.” It turned and took off, Hisashi leaned forward before leaping from the grass and started in a pursuit of the fastest animal in the world…or not. Yeah, it didn’t take long for Hisashi to catch up, swiping at the jaguar’s hind leg causing it to stumble a bit to where Hisashi leaped forward and clapped his jaws into the animal’s backside. It let out a yowl crumbling to the ground as it turned to swipe at his face causing him to jump back a little but Hisashi was quick to wrap a tail around its midsection. Pulling it close as Hisashi clamped his jaws tightly around the jaguar’s neck, not letting go squeezing harder until…snap! it finally stopped moving. “Wahoo! Hisashi 1 Jaguar 0!” Hisashi cheered for himself as he laid down and began to dig in.

…Don’t worry guys I won’t go into any details, so in the meantime let’s check back in on Frederick and Whitney…

Frederick still wasn’t quite sure if he should continue on to the Pastel Kingdom or just head back home, he was certain of one thing that his brothers have to be at the Pastel Palace by now. They have to be worried, wondering where I am…but… Frederick glanced down at his ‘claws’ once more as his chest tightened and tears threatened to fall. But after what I did to Lance…Blaine stayed with me in that forest for over a week, but Lance…H-he- Frederick sucked in a breath as tears filled his eyes. He-He has to be scared of me after that. And I wouldn’t blame him! Frederick wiped away the tears that threatened to fall, he wasn’t sure what to do. I can’t face him after that! And I can’t go home either after I did the same thing to father! And Gwen! I tried to hurt her too! I can’t go to the Pastel Kingdom either!

Unable to stop it Frederick burst into a fit of tears! “I don’t know! I didn’t even know what I was thinking coming here! I was so confused then, but now I’m even more confused!” Frederick struggled to wipe away the tears that just wouldn’t stop. “I can’t go home! I hurt my family and I tried to hurt my friend too! I can’t face her, I can’t face any of them after everything I’ve done! I can’t go anywhere not like this! I have no home! I’M A MONSTER!!!” Frederick wailed, tears streaming down his cheeks!

“Oh,...well I can help with that if you want.” Whitney stated unusually calm to the situation. “Huh?” Frederick looked up, still trying to wipe away his tears. “I can show you one of the things I learned from the people who took me in after I left my kingdom.” “What?...Really?” Frederick took a moment to completely dry his tears. “You know…You keep saying you were this awful person or whatever, but you turned your life around after meeting these amazing people. Who are they…?” Whitney put a finger to his chin and thought “Hmm, I guess I would describe them as…beings that I couldn’t even believe existed when I was younger…”

Beings that he couldn’t believe existed when he was younger? Frederick raised an eyebrow in confusion. They sound like mythical or even magical…mythical? Frederick suddenly thought of something but that thought was quickly interrupted when Whitney continued speaking… Once again, even though he seems odd, I can really relate to what he says sometimes… Frederick thought as he listened to Whitney’s story “All the horrible things I used to think…All the regretful things I’ve done…” “...” “All the torturing of others in the torture dungeon,-” And once again Frederick went pale as Whitney reminded him yet again just how insane his family is. NOPE, I take it back again…!! “UGHH, ok ok! I get it!! Jeez!!”

“Anyways, I learned that those memories aren’t trying to hurt us.” Whitney continued on with his explanation. “But they can get a little out of control and fill our heads with thoughts that aren’t useful to us anymore.” Frederick looked back up at this, “So if you can clear some of that clutter away, you can sometimes start to see what’s really in front of you in a different light.” “...H-how would I even do that?”

“By sitting and making some room…would you like to try?”...

…After calming down completely, Frederick moved to sit down with Whitney in a more spacious part of their camp. “It may not be right for everyone, and it will be hard at first, but the more you do it, the easier it will get.” Frederick tilted his head “But for starters…just close your eyes and sit quietly.” as he watched Whitney close his eyes and take a deep breath, before doing the same “...Uh…ok.”

…loser loser loser… “...Hm?”

LOSER LOSER LOSER FAILURE FAILURE FAILURE!!!...MONSTER!!!

“AAH…!!” Frederick’s eyes shot open, before sulking in his spot “...Um…I don’t like this.” Whitney turned confused when he heard Frederick shout “There’s a very mean voice in there. I-it’s kinda always there, but I’m pretty good at blocking it out usually. Not if I do this, though…” And now there’s something worse… Whitney thought for a second “Hm…do it just once more if you can. But this time, try to listen to where the voice is coming from.” Frederick seemed very nervous. “And if you do meet the source…be kind.” ‘Meet the source…?!’ What is he talking about…? And confused… “Uh…sure just once more.” He took a deep breath and let it out before trying once again…

LOSER LOSER LOSER FAILURE FAILURE FAILURE!!! Frederick shuddered as he listened to the voice trying not to run away this time… “...?” Only to look to his right and find a younger version of himself sitting in a trunk repeating the same two words over and over again… So after having a talk with his very rude younger self… “There’s no time for books and hobbies anyway! We have to catch up to Blaine and Lance!” Younger Frederick shouted to where Frederick just cocked his head in confusion. “Um…do we really though? I mean I know they still go along with those ridiculous ideas of father wanting them to be perfect, but they don’t really care about those things honestly. And they…” Frederick finally gave a small smile “They still care about us.” Then Younger Frederick retorted “Yeah! They’re the only ones who give a crap about us while to father we’re nothing but the family failure!! He doesn’t even want to be associated with us!” that smile faltered

“And after what you’ve done to your own brother,” Frederick froze a chill going up his spine as a new darker scarier voice joined in. “Your ‘oh so loving brothers’ will soon feel the same.” He turned to find another figure entering the room, it was of him in his current state…except his appearance was far more frightening! His claws and mouth were coated in blood, and while only Frederick’s irises were red at the time, this ‘monster’ Frederick his eyes were fully red. And finally his fur wasn’t even white it was pitch black and had an almost shadowy aura around it. “W-what?! Who are you?!” Frederick took several steps back, unable to take his eyes off the monstrous version of himself. “Why, I’m you of course. At least what you are now.” He stepped forward, getting into Frederick’s face with a wicked grin on his own. “It won’t be long before Lance and Blaine want nothing to do with you, why they might even kick you out of the kingdom.” “THEY WOULD NEVER DO THAT!!!” Frederick shouted back a voice filled with anger and rage that a part of him would even think that. “LANCE AND BLAINE ARE MY BROTHERS!! THEY LOVE ME!! THEY WOULD NEVER ABANDON ME!!” Then it hit and Frederick now knew what he needed to do. “That’s right, Lance and Blaine would never leave me…so how can I do the same to them!”

Frederick stood up from his spot abruptly startling Whitney a little as he saw the look in Frederick’s eyes, “Uh, hey…How’d it go? You realize anything?” “Y-yeah…I realized…” Now that a part of him seemed a little clearer now “That I need to see my brothers now!”

Hisashi had arrived at this moment, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me!! The next time I see you again, I promise I’ll repay you!!” Oh! Hey Sensei looks like I got back just in time. Looks like Frederick’s getting ready to leave. As he watched Frederick run to the tent to get Laverne. That’s good, Hisashi, now remember to be extra careful once you enter the kingdom. You got it Sensei! “--Wait! I don’t care about that, but you need to know that one session of this isn’t enough to change your mindset forever!! Your will power--will run out…” Whitney trailed off realizing that Frederick wasn’t listening. “Laverne, it’s time to get up!--OW! Don’t slap my hand away!”

…Hisashi was running at full speed to keep up with Frederick, Damn! This kit is pretty fast for a newbie! He was definitely surprised at how fast Frederick was given that he still has a lot to learn about his new body. Frederick was running faster than he ever had before with a not to happy Laverne wrapped in his tails, silently begging Frederick to just let her walk, neither of them aware that Whitney is slowly walking behind them heading in the same direction…Right now the only thing on Frederick’s mind was getting back to his brothers!

I need to get to the Pastel Palace! I have to get to Lance and Blaine!

Note: So yeah unlike the comic Frederick's first concern is his brothers once that is settled will it get back to Gwen. And in case you haven't figured it out, yes Hisashi is now alone keeping an eye on Frederick while his sensei is away.

Also I need some ideas on what 'Sensei's' name should be? It needs to be majestic, beautiful, and powerful, it needs to be a name that represents power, wisdom and heart. Comment below your name ideas!

#ao3 works #cpc #cpc fanfiction #cpc frederick #cursed princess club #fanfiction #read on ao3 #cpc whitney #kitsune

1 note · View note

vampireharker · 4 years

Text

Sunshine and Cigarette Smoke

Nervous Jonathan delays bringing up a relationship changing question by telling his girlfriend Mina of the time he unwittingly ruined a young lady's reputation when he was only fourteen. A writing exercise in relationship dynamic and worldbuilding for my upcoming Dracula webcomic. This series of exercises dig deeper into the details of the world that won’t fit in the comic.

Original universe. Dialogue heavy. Mature. Horny on main. There is no smut but the dialogue is a bit nsfw.

Something about the sunny weather, the cool breeze, and the fact that there was no-one in this park made Mina feel particularly mischievous. Or maybe it was the wine Jonathan had brought along on their little spring picnic. Or the handsome way he lounged on the blanket against his elbows, head tilted back and cigarette hanging from his mouth as he took in the sunlight.

He was smoking again. He only ever did when he was stressing over something. Mina thought it had been his law exams this past winter, but he’d passed those with such high scores there was no way the Incorporated Law Society wouldn’t accept his Solicitor application even if they were taking forever to make a decision. But it was such a pretty day, and Mina didn’t want to ruin this nice moment by digging up a troubling subject so she sighed instead.

“Something wrong, babe?” Jonathan asked, popping the cigarette out of his mouth. He sat up, staring at her. “You sounded worried just now.”

Said the stress smoker.

Mina’s thoughts raced for an excuse, and then that mischievous mood she had been in came back full force. A proper lady had all the tools she needed in her frills to dig specific information out of a man, it was just matter of applying them with the right amount of effect. She smiled cutely, and her skirts ruffled as she scooted closer to him. The air was warm with late spring, so her gown had short sleeves and a low cut that revealed enough to be teasing, but covered enough to not be the talk of the town. She enjoyed pushing the boundary of modesty whenever she went out with Jonathan, mostly to tease him, and because she didn’t give a hoot about propriety when it came to him of all people. And it was hot out here. Sometimes the girls needed to breathe, too.

Mina snuggled against his shoulder, angling herself just right so that there would be little left to the imagination from his view. He smelled of warm musk and methanol and a natural sweetness just beneath his skin. His dark eyes, appreciating what she offered, suddenly narrowed in suspicion. “You’re up to something,” he said matter-of-factly with a slight frown.

“Mmmm, perhaps,” she replied coyly, not even bothering to feign innocence. Then her lips spread in a wide, playful grin. “I heard you last night.”

“Huh?”

“In the shower.”

Jonathan choked on the smoke he’d just inhaled, dark cheeks brightening with hot red. “I-I-I don’t know what you’re on about,” he wheezed.

“Oh, please. You were loud. Must have been quite the fantasy.” She pouted. “You could’ve invited me. We only get to stay with each other on the weekends, you know, when Tim's away.”

“It was all very quick, you wouldn’t have enjoyed it much,” Jonathan countered. He flicked the ash of his cigarette into the grass. “Sometimes you get the urge and have a go. Besides, you were busy grading essays, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Sure, sure. What did you think about?”

He gasped. “My lady!” he cried in feigned shock. “I hardly think this is proper conversation. Also, nothing in particular. I told you, it was quick. It caught me by surprise.” He took a thoughtful drag, then flicked more ash away. “Damn, I don’t think I had that happen to me since I was in secondary school.”

“Wait, waitwaitwait, you wanked it back then?”

“Yes?”

“But you were so… so proper!”

“Um, I’m still proper, thank you, you’re the one bringing up an indecent subject like a Godless heathen, Miss Schoolteacher.”

She waved him away. “We’re focused on you, Mr. Harker. So bitch the pot. You can't just leave it at that.”

He shrugged. “What’s there to tell? I was your typical adolescent boy with healthy urges. …Why are we even going into this? Is it really that odd for you to picture it?”

“Yes.”

He burst out laughing. “Seriously? We had a tiff behind a dumpster once, the smell was quite awful.”

“That was after I took your innocence!” Mina cried. “Before I got my grubby mitts on you, you were this pure proper little virgin who didn’t know anything about anything, and now you're telling me that you wanked? Can't picture it, not with the way you were when we got together.”

“I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

“No, but that’s because I have fun teaching you. But I can’t help feelin’ a bit sorry for the poor girl that would’ve had to bear that responsibility if I hadn't came along.”

"Rude," Jonathan snorted. “Well, you came at a good time then because I had my eyes on someone else for a moment there, and it was all very humiliating.”

He took another long drag. “Okay,” he said, after turning his face to the side to release some smoke. “This should amuse you. I was fourteen so this was before you transferred to St. Joshua's. One of my mates had this older sister. Rebecca. Very pretty, smart like you; she was, I think, sixteen. Or almost sixteen. Anyway, her coming out was approaching very soon so I think she went a little wild before joining with high society.”

“Wild?”

“Did all kinds of improper things. The guys really liked her.”

“I think I would’ve liked her.”

“You two would’ve gotten on great because it gets worse. You know, I’m a young lad, weird body things are happening that I don’t know what to do with. I hadn’t became popular yet, so I was still a bit of a loser. Before the growth spurt.” It was true. Jonathan used to be below average in height until a growth spurt the summer he turned sixteen. Now he towered over most people at 188 centimeters. The top of Mina's head could barely reach his shoulder.

Mina nodded. “By the time I arrived, you had that gaggle of giggling girls at your heels and leaving notes in your locker.”

“And then you took them all away.”

“That I did. And we were rivals all the way up until our last year when you told me that you loved me.”

“But before then, everyone wanted us to date. They shipped us hard, it was weird. Little did they know…”

Mina grinned widely. “The football team's shower room.”

“The bleachers.”

“The pool at night where I got that nasty UTI.”

“Sorry about that. Then there was behind the stage near the paint room.”

“And following that, the kitchen when we were on cafeteria duty.”

“The stables, but was that before or after the library?”

“Before the library, because then we moved on later that day to the dean’s office.”

“WE DID NOT.”

Mina laughed. “Oh, but we did, Mr. Harker. Right on his desk. You can block it from your memory all you’d like, but I have pictures to prove it. I wonder if he ever noticed the scratch marks on the wood?”

Jonathan sat there for a moment, looking completely mortified. “He had so much trust in me,” he finally said with a slight sob.

“Well, what else is the girl you’ve been playing at St. George with supposed to think when you invite her into an office alone?”

He paused, cigarette still in his hand. “…I don’t recall you being on top that time.”

“Oh, now the gentleman remembers.”

“I remember you on that desk, vividly, I just blocked out where that desk happened to be and now I know why. Did we clean up at least?”

“We're not animals. But now that we’ve gone over at least half the history of our canoodling, what about Rebecca?” Mina had to bring the conversation back to the original point before they started reminiscing too deeply about their very proper and not at all sexual relationship. “Within a few months, I had you in every way all over the school grounds, but you went absolutely nowhere with this girl?”

“Hey, fourteen-year-old boys are very intimidated especially by older women. Also, we’re getting to that. So there I am, before the growth spurt that would change my life, still kinda awkward and short and completely unnoticed by her. Or so I thought. Turns out, that wasn’t the case at all.”

#dracula #jonamina #jonathan harker #mina murray #webcomic: tuatl #shardy writes #long post

1 note · View note

ravenvsfox · 5 years

Note

ok bitch: 4, 6, 8, 15, 18, 41, & 48 for the fic writers ask meme

oh SHIT look at you go!! thanks babe ✨

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

man I wish I could say I’m strong and multi-faceted but I actually gotta pass on fantasy and sci-fi

who has the time to build a world?? from scratch?? what the fuck

my wheelhouse tends to be drama and horror, plus the kind of magical realism that lends itself to fanciful description. I have lots of ideas for images and almost no ideas for plot, so I write kind of sad, wistful, circular stories lmao

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

ah ew

I have a buried fanfiction.net account that is FULL of completely humiliating fic that I would actively chew up and swallow just to be rid of it

My whole hard drive is full of fic so self indulgent and terrible that it never saw the light of day, thank CHRIST

we’re talking criminal minds self insert fic and glee crossovers, man

(also my first couple of prompts for aftg were like mediocre smut that can..... go)

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Like I read a lot a lot a lot, if I’m not reading novels for a few months I genuinely read hundreds of thousands of words of fanfiction

and I often find that I read a phrase in a story or poem and I’m like oh dope!! how can I steal that in a way that makes it totally different and also mine

Sometimes my mind is blank and I try to snap my fingers and make a metaphor, and what comes to me is the last thing I studied in class. So maybe I was reading about Actaeon, ripped apart by his own wolves. And that’s such rich territory to talk about like self doubt or betrayal. Or I learned about the naming system in ancient Rome -- I could talk about how sad it is to be a contortion of your father.

I was recently listening to the audio book of I’ll give you the sun and I was like ohhh yah this book majorly inspired my style, and so did stief, and so did the way my brother talks, and so did griffin mcelroy, etc, etc

You inhale your culture and you exhale a story that’s how it goes, homie

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

keeping in mind that I’m the worst titler in the world lol

Honestly I usually just wrack my brain for the name that seems to fit the character outline and then I change it like 18 times when they inevitably sound too ebony darkness dementia ravenway

I had this wip where there was a fire-starter named simon, and then he became enzo like lorenzo (which is off the walls), and then I started calling him ren in my head a la footloose

and then sometimes I’m like okay this character is a leader and she’s from japan siri search japanese baby names meaning strong lol

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Yeah dawg im tired

I was writing a doctor/patient au that I scrapped bc I got swept away in so many prompts

I started writing a oneshot where the feds arrest neil for the murder of his mother bc someone digs up her bones and they find his dna everywhere but I was like..... this is not that exciting a premise, so I left it for a rainy day ya know

I also wrote the first few chapters of a webcomic that eventually fizzled when the artist and I got busy, so yeah I feel like it’s usually more of a lack of time than a lack of passion.

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written?

um idk if anyone remembers the shopkeeper that I wrote into my story about the twins?? A convenience store employee mistakes Aaron for Andrew and I liked that she was a sort of homely no nonsense person who liked drew better than aaron. like. what a character she would have to be for that to be true

I’ve written lots of tiny OCs that I probably like more, but this was one of my few fanfic characters that I was like. yeah. I could write 50 late night interactions between her and andrew

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

I really like writing like... drift compatibility?? or its equivalent??? soulmates maybe? I love when two characters are very very in sync, and fiercely protective over one another to the point of self sacrifice

I also dig love confessions it’s my dirty secret as an andreil writer lmaooo I love tender helpless vocal love

Fanfiction Writer Asks

#thank you for these rad ass questions sam I'm sorry it took me forever to respond #ask meme #long post #philosophium #ask

8 notes · View notes

destiny-smasher · 6 years

Text

Spirit Batteries (Commission)

You can read this on AO3 if you prefer.

A/N: This is a giftfic commission from Twitter user @Porecomesis for Hayley @sakura-rose12 as a birthday gift! It is strongly recommended you have read her webcomic Dame Daffodil as well as played the FREE Life is Strange episode The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. (I take a major liberty from the vague ending of the episode to make this fic work)

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a free downloadable side story in the Life is Strange Universe. Dame Daffodil is an original webcomic.

It's strongly recommended you have experienced both before reading this short story.

If you'd like to commission me to write for you, feel free to send me a message! No budget is too small, we can always make something work!

~~~

“You got 'em?!” Her arms were starting to get some rope burn from how taut the whips were around them. “I've-” Alesea grunted out, her footing slipping slightly. She regained it. “I've got them!” She wrapped her mystical whips another loop tighter around her arms, trying her best to dig into the street curb. The black beast that they were attempting to subdue was proving to be an inconvenience. They all were, of course, but Alesea had convinced Charo – er, that is, since Lady Lily had convinced Dame Daffodil – that they ought to try striving toward safer, less destructive resolutions. While that had sounded simple enough in Alesea's head, in practice it was quickly becoming quite a pain, even with the two of them working together. Ales-...Lily had tied the creature with her whips, using two street signs as support to keep the creature from moving – a trick she had self-taught on a football field not long ago. Daffodil had needed some time to deal with the smaller creatures it had spit out. “I feel-” Daffodil zapped one. “-sorta bad-” Zapped another. “-'cause they're kinda cute.” And another. “Cute, perhaps,” Lily panted out. “but...still dangerous!” “Just like someone I know!” said Daffodil with a wide grin and a wink – all the while frying another creature. Lily smirked in spite of their circumstances, her eyes rolling a little in endeared amusement. Lily's gut reaction had been to gather these small beings up rather than outright destroying them – but they had no idea how these beasts functioned yet, and no real means of containing them. Where would they even put them? And how would they have any assurances they could even be contained? The creatures had demonstrated unnatural speed and strength. Yet if they left so many little ones out to roam, who knew what could happen? They could grow – multiply? It would be quite a mess. For the time being, it was unfortunately safer to try and attract their attention, and, well...get rid of them. Keeping their...mother? How did these things work? Well, keeping their parent creature subdued and angry seemed to be keeping the creatures nearby, hostile, yet their small size and scattered formation made them easy for Daffodil to deal with. Lily was getting tired out from keeping the larger creature pinned down, however. With a skip in her step, Daffodil taunted and clapped, drawing the remaining little ones near her, while Lily trembled and burned from the work she was doing. Daffodil airily posed, “Having a partner to help out is making this monster-fighting stuff so much easier, huh?” -zap- “Two flower-powered heads are better than-” “Daffodil,” Lily grunted through clenched teeth, her strength starting to give out. “Yup!” Daffodil squeaked sheepishly, focusing more deliberately on her task. As more small, growling black monsters were getting...killed? They seemed like living creatures, yet...also sort of not? Alesea's mind was filled with moral problems with all of this as it was. But regardless of how Alesea felt about these matters, Lady Lily was still obligated to protect human beings, first and foremost. Her feet had been using a street curb to bolster herself, but her sore legs gave way long enough for her slip a little. That slight slide, however, was exactly the moment the black, multi-legged beast had been waiting for. With Lily's whips slack for a second, the monster wriggled free, its spider-like legs rampaging at its captor in a spiteful charge. Lily stumbled backward from the disconnect, falling over. Her concentration broken, her whips' power faltered. Her heart froze for a moment as the spear-like feet of the monster punctured small craters into the pavement, heading straight for her. Its eyeless face was somehow filled with rage as its mandibles snapped. Lily re-focused her whips, trying to slash them at the beast – anything to mitigate its advance. Minimal effect, a few grazing scratches which barely slowed the monster down. “Alesea!” cried Daffodil with alarm, dashing toward the impending threat and firing off a beam – but the monster was too quick, and her attack instead cut through one of the street signs, sending it toppling over. The smaller creatures took the opportunity to swarm at Daffodil – and while most had been disposed of, enough still remained where their gnawing bites crippled the Dame to her knees to try and blast them off. “I-CHANGED-MY-MIND-THEY'RE-NOT-CUTE!!” Having scrambled to her feet, Lily had second or two to spare before the larger monster reached her. She cracked her whips at its feet, attempting to tangle them up. This somewhat succeeded, but rather than trapping the beast, it merely sent it skidding briefly before its multiple legs regained traction and cut through the whips again. Daffodil, still scraping spider-like biting from her legs, fired off another beam in a panic. This, too, missed its mark, nearly clipping Lily on the way – a gust of air pushed at her in the beam's wake. The monster lunged. Lily pulled her whips back in. But there wasn't enough time. -snap- Lily fell to her back. -snap snap- But...the creature had missed? An odd hissing. The monster was...floating. Right in front of Lily. Thrashing its mandibles in her direction, swiping its sharp legs every which way, yet...stationary in the air. It was pretty strange, all right. And Lily surely had not stopped its advance. But Daffodil, squashing and zapping small creatures off of her, looked just as puzzled. A weird moment of quiet fell over the the lot, and the monster even gave up its struggle. -zap- The beast exploded into black dust with a weak screech as Dame Daffodil finally hit her mark. The suddenness of it threw Lily off guard, another gust of air rushing past her from the destructive blow. A piece of black dust landed where the monster had just been, and a black flower quickly sprouted from its position. Daffodil was scrambling through a small batch of black critters to reach her partner. “You OK?!” Charo cried out, tripping up a bit on the beasties. “Cut it-!” she growled at them, shaking them off. “Alesea?!” “I-I'm all right,” Alesea replied, baffled at what had just happened. “How did you do that?” she asked, pulling her whips back in and ready to squash some more...'bugs?' “Do what?” Daffodil panted, kicking a couple more off of her feet. She zapped one. “Couldn't hit it until you got it to stop moving. Good stuff!” “I didn't...-” Lily noticed how tuckered out Daffodil was, but there were still maybe ten or so of the annoying pests to deal with. The poor girl's legs were all...nibbled. Yikes. Was going to be fun explaining that one to Sel...An impromptu hiking trip gone wrong? Or maybe she'd...fallen on her bike? Charo...didn't have a bike. Or maybe-? Alesea then realized that the remaining monsters were...also floating, now. Slowly being shoved together into a black, fuzzy ball. “Whoa,” Daffodil murmured in awe. “You get a new power already? ¡Guauu~!” She was pressing her wrists to her cheeks, glowing a smile of admiration at Lily, who...wasn't doing anything. “I-...It's not...-” Lily gestured a confused hand at the blob of creatures, writhing around one another and emitting their strange hissing squeaks. “My Lady's the best,” Charo smugly cited, snapping a finger at Alesea with one hand, while zapping the beasties to dust with the other. “Teamwork makes the dreamw-” “Why do you keep doing that?” Lily and Daffodil both froze at this, spoken from somewhere to their side. There was...a boy there, emerging from a payphone booth, his hand extended toward them. He sighed, letting his hand drop. He was...dressed in spray-painted cardboard, a cape, and a face-painted mask of blue. Couldn't have been much older than ten, if even that. As he approached them, he dejectedly pointed out, “Heroes aren't s'pposed to kill people...” Lily felt her face flush at this, and she glanced at Daffodil nervously. “Th-Those weren't people,” Daffodil sheepishly defended. Slamming her fists on her hips, she said with a prim nod, “Those were monsters. We-...We're saving people.” “But aren't you super heroes?” the boy asked. “I thought you don't kill - that's what makes you super.” The color probably drained from the heroines' faces as they offered squeamish smiles at that naive idea.

“We don't...hurt people,” Daffodil pointed out, with a shrug. A shrug?? Not exactly convincing... “We don't want to hurt anyone,” Lily explained. Traffic was starting to pile up a bit and police sirens could be heard approaching from the distance. Admirers of the flower-blazoned heroes were cautiously making their approach, phone camera snapping and all. Dame Daffodil went about greeting her enthusiastic fans and explaining things, while Lily pulled the child off the street. “Look, um...-” She noticed him rubbing at his eyes, squinting at her. Oh, right – some magic about their costumes made it so people couldn't see their faces. “I'm Lady Lily. What's your name?” The kid tightened his cape and nodded, hands at his sides. “I'm Captain Spirit,” he announced, deepening his voice. Lily giggled a bit at this, smiling. A hero wannabe, huh? His accent, though...- “You're not from around here, are you, Mr. Spirit?” “It's Captain. And no. I'm-...I, uh, am on a mission to explore for new allies. We need all the help we can to take down the mastermind Mantroid.” “Oh, um....Mantroid, is it?” Lily nodded seriously. “I think I've...heard of him before.” “Really?” the kid checked, his 'hero' act fizzling into suspicion. “W-well, Lady Lily has heard of him.” She winked. Then wondered if he could even tell. But based on the way his lips went agape, his eyes narrowed, and he nodded back, she sensed he could. “He's quite...a bad...egg. Isn't he?” “Um, well, he's more of a...force of negative energy that...-” “So!” Dame Daffodil pounced upon them, startling them both. “Does this kiddo wanna join the team?” she teased with a sly-eyed grin. “Oh, no, Ma'am,” Captain Spirit insisted with his deepened voice, crossing his arms over his measly but puffed chest. “I already have a team of my own. But I am looking for allies to join our cause against the killer Mantroid and his-” “Hey, who's the kid?” Some of the gathering passersby were getting eager about their, er, new acquaintance. “Uh, actually, yea,” said Daffodil, “what's your name, buddy? Where's your parents?” “I'm Captain Spirit, fellow crime-fighter. My, um-...W-well, I...-” Lily gently placed a hand on the kid's frail shoulder. “It's all right,” she gently assured. “You can trust us with your secret identity, and we can help you find your family.” “Yea, we're real super heroes,” Daffodil said cheerfully. “We know how to keep a secret.” “Hey, I am a real super hero, too,” the child claimed, shrugging out of Alesea's grasp. “I helped you beat those monsters, remember?” Aaaand then Alesea suddenly remembered – that strange stuff that had happened, which had no accounted explanation. “Whoa, wait,” said Daffodil, leaning over Lily, who was bent over toward the kid. “You serious?” She whispered at Lily, “Is he serious?” The police cars had shown up and were surveying the damage – minimal, compared to what could have happened. A car crash in the middle of the intersection from when the monster had first attacked, and Daffodil had escorted the drivers – safe, thankfully. Other cars had piled up, and it wasn't the busiest road. A damaged street sign, another one bent over, and some potholes. So, not as bad as it could've been. But, still... “Time to go,” Lily decided, nudging Daffodil off her. Her partner slipped off her shoulder, rolling sideways and nimbly skidding onto her feet. “Let's get you back to your family, Mr. Spirit.” “It's Captain. Not Mister.” “Right! Sorry.” “Are your folks nearby?” Daffodil asked, surveying the crowd and waving to a police officer. “Uh, no, they...-” The boy's were quivering a bit at this question, which had Alesea worried. “My...grandparents are...probably still at the hotel, but...-” “Do you know the way there?” Lily asked. The child nodded with hesitation. “Off we go, then,” Daffodil declared, scooping the boy up in one arm and tucking him over her shoulder. “Wah-!” he was appropriately surprised. There were some startled sounds from the small crowd that had gathered at the intersection. “This-...This missing boy was separated from his family!” Lady Lily assured with a bashfully courteous wave, raising her voice at the lot. “We're...escorting him home!” “Definitely not kidnapping!” Daffodil added, bounding off with the child in tow. ~~~ Having gotten themselves far enough away from the little monster incident back there, Daffodil and Lily stopped between a deli shop and a liquor store – a cozy little alleyway would offer enough cover for them to sort this all out. “All right, I think we should be good here,” Lily advised. Daffodil nodded, setting the boy down – he groaned and grumbled a bit, straightening his cardboard armor, shuffling his hair a bit, and adjusting his cape. “You OK?” Daffodil checked. He nodded, but definitely appeared to be perturbed. “Why were you hiding?” Lily asked. “I mean, why aren't you with your family?” Daffodil excitedly squealed, “And was that you who did the cool, like, levitation-y thing?” He raised a brow at Daffodil, who was looked quite bright-eyed and eager. “It's all right,” said Lily, deactivating her ring. Her magical appearance flashed away, revealing her everyday form – currently dressed in khaki shorts and a white tanktop. With a wry smile at the boy's shocked expression, she told him, “See? We know what it's like to have to keep these sorts of things a secret...” “Whoa,” the child murmured. “How do I get my superhero costume to do that?” “Well!” spouted Daffodil, thrusting up a proud finger. “First of all, you've gotta-” “Charo...Can we maybe...take this one step at a time?” “Oh. What?” Lily just tilted her head and curved her brows, gesturing toward her attire. “Ah.” Daffodil reverted to her chipper Charo self, wearing baggy sports shorts with brightly colored t-shirt that looked like a bi-product of a 90's commercial.

“Wow,” sighed the child, clearly envious at their transformations. So, whatever power he had...it wasn't quite the same as theirs, was it? How had he seemed so nonplussed by their abilities before, yet suddenly so surprised at their magical outfits?

“My name – my real name – is Alesea.” She extended her hand downward, and he took it, star-eyed. “And this is Charo.” Charo, naturally, leaned against the brick wall with her arms crossed, trying to look all suave. She slipped a little, the wall having been further back than she'd thought. “We can totally keep the whole 'secret identity' thing a...secret,” Charo insisted, nodding as she undid and redid her spiky little ponytail. “We've been doing this stuff ourselves for a while.” “So,” said Alesea. “What's your name?” The boy swallowed nervously, evidently embarrassed by his hand-made costume. Aw, poor little guy, that wasn't...why they'd...- “Those are fancy names,” he mumbled, shrugging. “I'm just...Chris.” “Chris is still a nice name,” Charo tried to placate. “A-and I mean, Captain Spirit? Wow, you, um, you've got us beat with that superhero name, huh? Way cooler than...erh...-” She shrugged, trailing off. “So, Chris,” Alesea began slowly. “You saw us using...um, abilities. Do you really have something like that, yourself?” Chris nodded, his bout of bashfulness giving way to a sudden excitement. He gave Charo a determined look. “It's my turn to pick you up,” he said with a mischievous little chuckle. “Eh?” Charo said, her expression wavering as the boy stuck his palm out toward her. “Wahhp-!” Charo squeaked as she slipped backward, drifting slowly up in the air. She began to giggle, watching a crushed beer can and a few pebbles start to float up beside her. She thrust out her fists, tucking her legs in and trying to spin around, but was realigned upward. Alesea studied the boy's form as he kept this up for a moment. He looked intently focused, his hand trembling, like he was wrestling with an unseen force. “Our lad here's got a juicy magic ability~” Charo snickered, trying to sway herself around. She tapped at the hovering beer can, and it moved, but wobbled back into the space it had occupied. “Like, OJ with pulp juicy!” Alesea burst into a snort-giggle, covering up her face to stifle her own aroused laughter. Charo had to stop being so adorably weird in public, it was rather distracting... Charo stretched out her legs, downward, and slammed her fists on her hips. Chris let her drop, and she landed, flat-footed, with a joking pride about her. This dissipated into some giggles. Chris, however, while smiling at first, began to cough and sputter some. Alesea and Charo practically swarmed the lad with concern. His frail hand shooing them off didn't stop Alesea from patting his back. The coughs worsened momentarily before they cleared up. “Whoa,” Charo winced he recovered. “That, um-...All that juice means you've gotta squeeze some oranges...huh?” “...What?” Chris groaned, still fuzzy-headed. “Looks like you're still learning how to use your abilities,” Alesea sympathized. She rubbed his back a bit more until he seemed to level out. He nodded in reply to her observation, and she explained, “Well, don't worry. So are we.” She accented her words with an encouraging smile. “Practice makes better,” Charo assured. Chris retorted, “Isn't it...practice makes perfect?” “Huh?” Charo's eyes slid upward as she tapped at her chin. “Sure, people say that, but...-” “Just...-” Alesea's smile withered nervously. “-...don't overexert yourself, Chris.” “I don't...know what that word means,” Chris admitted with a shrug. “Oh, um...-” Alesea's lips pouted out uncertainly. Maybe she was being a little too intimidating with how she spoke? Charo tagged in for this one. “You don't wanna push yourself so hard, buddy.” She ruffled his hair a little and he grunted a laugh, taking a step back. “Don't want you to choke on all that...superpower pulp.” “I don't like pulp in my orange juice, anyway,” Chris declared. “Smooth juicin' from here on out, then,” decided Charo, smacking one palm against the other arm's flexing bicep. Alesea shot her partner a bemused look, smirking. What was she going to do with this dorky Dame? “Anyway,” Alesea sighed out, shaking off her warm fuzzies. “How did you get this power, Chris?” Chris shrugged. “It just...happened one day. I fell, but...-” He stared down at his extended hands, flexing his fingers in, then out. “Then I...caught myself.” “No magical transformation, huh?” pondered Charo. “Did you maybe, like, feel the power coming from...something you're wearing?” “Oh, w-well-” He fluttered his cape. “-Captain Spirit's cape boosts his powers, but...-” “You can still do this without the cape,” Alesea noted, to which he nodded.

Alesea and Charo shrugged at one another. Strange. Whatever abilities this boy had, it sure wasn't related to their own. Then again, he definitely wasn't from their neck of the woods, so perhaps that was hardly a surprise. “Actually,” Alesea began, leading the trio out onto the street and out of the alleyway. “Where are you from, Chris? How did you end up out here?” “Yea,” Charo chimed in, “Are you lost?” “Maybe a little lost,” Chris mumbled with a shrug. “I'm from America.” “Ah, wondered about that,” said Charo. “This is, um, a long way from there...” “Ha, yea, the airplane ride was super long,” Chris sighed. “My grandparents fell asleep for most of it so I got really bored. I watched, like, three movies. And I'd already seen two of them.” Alesea and Charo smirked at each other over the boy's shoulders as they reached a street corner. “Is this the way back to your family?” Alesea checked. “Uh...-” Chris paused, surveying the street signs. “Actually...I'm not sure.” Oooh, boy. The child sighed deeply, and he wobbled a little with a yawn, then a cough. “You don't look like you're feeling so well, there,” Charo muttered warily. “How about-...Well, my place isn't far from here, why don't we get you there-” Charo exchanged looks with Alesea, who nodded primly in approval. “-um, get you something to drink, let you, ya know, have a sit, and...we can help you figure out what's going on?” If worse came to worse, they could ring the authorities, but given the child's predicament, the idea of putting him in police care was concerning. Who knew what could happen if they discovered what he was capable of? And some paint on his face wasn't going to work the way their magic did. “Sounds...guh...-” Chris' form slipped over to one side, and Charo caught him fretfully. He snapped awake, stumbling back upright and rubbing at his eyes. “I think that's as good idea as any right now,” Alesea agreed with her partner's notion. ~~~ Alesea could feel her face pale at his expression, stoic and deadpan, staring down at the young boy napping on his lounge. He took a quiet, judgmental sip of his canned coffee. “And you...found him?” Sel dryly posed. “Y-yes, exactly,” Alesea mumbled. She took her own sip of iced coffee from her own can, trying to mask her embarrassment. “There was-...Well, we were out hiking, and Charo had a, um, tumble, and...-” “Is that what happened to you?” Anselmo suddenly balked, nearly choking on his coffee. He thrust a finger at Charo, who had just come out of the loo, her legs now plastered with bandages. Sel grumbled out, “What kind of hiking spot around here was so rough where that could've happened?” Charo shrugged, teeth grit. “Dunno, but I'm fine. Really.” “How do you two keep...-?!” Sel's face looked like a kettle ready to explode for a second, there. “That's not important right now,” Alesea interjected, sticking her more confident foot forward. “Is it?” she retorted, gesturing toward the tuckered out child. “I mean, maybe it's a good thing we wandered outside of our...normal...hiking route, or else this poor boy might've...passed out all on his own out there.” Charo lifted her brows, stuck her hands out toward Alesea, and nodded at her brother. His frustration fizzled out and he groaned audibly, slurping more of his coffee. “You two just have to try playing the hero, don't you?” Anselmo took a deep breath and fluttered his lips against the edge of his coffee can. Alesea and Charo exchanged wary smiles at his remark. “All right, so.” Sel wandered off to the kitchen, and the pair of partners followed him. Sel scooted his chair out a bit, crossing one leg over the other. He perused the contents Charo had scooped out of the boy's pockets when they'd de-armored him for his nap. A library card. “Chris...Eriksen, huh? Beaver Creek?” Anselmo noted the town logo displayed on the card. “Where's this boy from?” “America,” Charo replied with a shrug. “It sounded like he's here visiting with his family,” Alesea pointed out. “He mentioned his grandparents at a hotel nearby.” Anselmo slid another card around on the table, which had a big triangle near the top. “Must be a keycard for their room,” he observed. “Mm,” he hummed through a sip of coffee. “Aah. I recognize this place.” He passed it to Charo. “You should look up their number, give them a call.” Charo gawked at the card, a bit baffled at first, but then nodded and headed off for her bedroom. As Charo waddled off to her task, Alesea didn't know what to do with herself, hovering in the kitchen's doorway. She drummed her fingernails against the half-empty coffee can she was slowly working through. Then she felt Anselmo's critical gaze land on her. He sipped quietly, his dead eyes laser-firing a sting of disappointment at her. She felt her face turning pink with some shame and sipped in defense. “She was-” “How did-” They both had started to murmur at each other at once, keeping their voices down. Alesea pushing loose hair behind her ears, nodding complacently at Sel to let him go first. “How could you let her take a tumble like that?” “It was...-! She was...-! That...boy, we got...distracted – um, alarmed – he was in danger, and Charo, she-” “In danger?” Nnnnnnn maybe that made it sound worse...! “Oh, what? N-not, like, danger danger, I mean, he was...all by himself, and he could've...fallen, and so-” “So Charo fell instead? To prevent him from falling.” “S-Something like that, I...-” Anselmo took a deep breath, squinting his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nostrils.

“All right. That's enough.” Anselmo slurped the last of his coffee and planted the empty can on the table. “I don't know why you're lying to me. But I'm sure it must be to protect someone over something.” Alesea twitched a nervous shrug through her grimaced smile. “I guess at the end of the day, I'd rather my sister get some bug bites and scratches than let a lost child have a heat stroke. So...you did good.” “Mm...-!” Alesea grunted her gratitude through her coffee can.

Ansemlo breathed out tiredly as he rose from the table, grabbed the can and rinsing it in the sink. “Just wish you two would stop trying to take on these kinds of things, especially with...this monster business going on.” He flicked water from his fingertips and dunked the can into the recycling bin. “You could've called the cops or something, instead of...-” He warily flicked his wrist toward the lounge room. “We panicked,” Alesea confessed, clutching her can daintily with both hands, almost like a shield before her. “He was...over-excited about...finding someone who was...willing to help, and he had a dizzy spell – passed out. And we weren't...sure what else to...-” She swallowed a gulp of cold coffee and shook her head with shrug. Her stomach felt weird from the sensation of, well, lying to Sel. Again. This feeling was getting old, and fast. But what other choice did she have? Charo emerged from her room, still on her phone. “Yup!...Mm-hmn...Thanks.” She let loose a raspberry sigh as she ended the call. “Why'd you make me call them? Talking to random people on the phone is terrible. Mean Momo.”

As she grouchily pouted her way into the kitchen, she put her phone into her pocket as Anselmo gave her a pat on the head. “You brought him here,” Sel pointed out, heading toward the cupboard. “That makes you his host. And a good host would make those kinds of arrangements for their guest.” Alesea squirmed her way over and gave Charo a gentle rub on the back, complimented by a warm little smile, which she received back in turn. “Well?” Sel pondered, digging into the cupboard. “What did they say at the hotel?” “Oh, erh,” Charo scratched at the tip of her nose. “Sounds like his grandparents are the ones he's traveling with, they'd fallen asleep. Guess they'll be on their way to pick him up soon.” “Ah, good,” said Alesea, relieved to hear it. “In the meantime,” decided Sel, “we should probably give him something to eat, if he's been out out there in this heat. Now, I mean, it's been a while since I was his age,” Sel pointed out, “but I figure...-” He flashed them an unopened package of Hobknobs. “-...milk and biscuits, that's gotta be one way to pick up a boy's spirits, right?” “Chh, 'spirits,'” Charo snickered, elbowing Alesea. She couldn't help but giggle as another warm tingle swept up her neck. “What?” Sel prodded, slightly irate at their mocking. “It's just cute,” Alesea dismissed, nodding as she drank the last of her coffee. “I think it's a brilliant idea.” “I'll get the milk,” Charo decreed, heading off. Alesea gave her a pat on the arm to send her on her way. “I'll go wake him,” decided Alesea. Like their own little team, they went about their tasks with efficiency. Small as it was, it felt good working on the same side as Charo's brother, instead of working around him. Alesea knelt down over the couch, brushed her ponytail behind her shoulder, took a deep breath, and nudged a cautious hand at the child's shoulder. He moaned and sputtered nonsense for a moment before his eyes slowly opened. “...nfgh...th'prncess...” “Chris?” Alesea checked when his eyes closed again. “Hey. We've got a snack for you.” Chris opened his eyes again, wider this time. Alesea smiled at how adorable this kid was. “...nnn...have a pretty smile,” Chris mumbled, still half-awake. Alesea felt her face light up. “Like my mom's,” Chris yawned out. Alesea chuckled through her nose, not sure if she was more embarrassed for her, or for the boy. “What?” Charo prodded, amused but confused as she entered with a glass of milk, complete with ice cubes to keep it cold.

Alesea just shook her head, smirking, and gave her befuddled partner a rub on the arm. Charo set the glass down on the coffee table, and Anselmo sighed – loudly – as he put a platter of Hobknobs down beside it. Chris seemed a bit perplexed by this new figure, but not as startled at the change of scenery as one might expect. Anselmo was giving Charo a glare. She beamed innocently at her brother as she scooted a coaster beneath the glass of milk, appeasing him. Chris sat up, rubbing at his face some more. He scratched at his chest, and then the surprise kicked in. “Wh-? Where's my...-?” “Your gear is over there, Captain Spirit,” Charo quelled, nodding toward the front door. The boy noted his cape and cardboard armor sitting on the floor by everyone's shoes and, after a moment, nodded his contentedness about the matter. “He's a superhero,” Charo said to her brother, waggling her brows and nudging him with the back of her wrist. Jeez, Charo, do you really need to...-?? “Uh-huh,” Anselmo said dully. “Must be getting swept up in all that hype over those...'heroes'-” He air-quoted. EXCUSE HIM?? “-that the news is obsessed about.” Chris cleared his throat, “Mmph, I...used up my energy fighting off a monster attack.” He coughed drylu – ow, hopefully he was OK? “It's time to recharge...” He took a swig of ice-cold milk, humming pleasantly. “I can feee~eeeel the power.” Alesea had to contain another snort-giggle from escaping. “Heh.” Even Anselmo seemed a bit charmed, which was saying something. “Well, uh, every superhero needs to keep their strength up. We, uh, got you some Hobnobs, here, so...have at it.” Chris – well, Captain Spirit – frowned at this. Breaking character, he asked, “What's a hobnob?” Charo gasped with shock at this. “No. You eat those,” she commanded, jabbing a finger out. “You take one of those, and you stick it in your face-mouth-place, and you bite at it, and you eat it, and it is w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l...!” The kid seemed taken aback at this. “I-...I don't...-” “Like this!” Charo grabbed a biscuit and bit into it. “One nibble and your hobnobbled,” Charo quoted, not being dignified with a reaction. “I think you're scaring him,” Anselmo grumbled, clutching his sister by the skull to get her hyperactivity to settle down a peg. “They're just biscuits,” Alesea explained gently to Chris. “Go on, try one.” “Biscuits...?” He looked skeptical. He carefully picked one up, studying it. “Looks like a cookie.” “Oh, right,” Alesea blurted sheepishly. “American...” Through mouth full of Hobnob, Charo asked, “Whuff's uh googi emmeeweh?” Chris took a bite, seemed to approve, and then devoured the rest of the thing, glugging some milk along with it. A gentle rumble emitted from Charo's hip – her mouth still chewing at a Hobnob, she pulled out her cell phone. Swallowing and flinching at the under-chewed biscuit going down her throat, Charo greeted, “Hello?” She glanced at Chris, who was going to town on his snack. “Ah, yes! That was me. We-...Uh-huh. Yea, he's fine.” She nodded down at the boy, and then glanced at Alesea, who nibbled on a Hobnob herself, smiling back. “Directions? Erh-...I'm...-” She grimaced, tugging at Sel's sleeve. “Lehhhht me pass you to my brother, he can-...Ahhh, yea,” she said through a sheepish laugh. “Juh-...Yea, just a...-” Her eyes popped open wide, a flash of impatience as she handed her phone to Anselmo, who gave her a stern look before taking it. “What are these called?” Chris asked, breaking one of the biscuits in half. “Hobgoblins?” “Oh, uh-” “Hello, yes? This is Anselmo.” “They're good,” Chris blurted. “Mm,” Alesea lifted a finger toward him. “I'm her older brother. He's-” Chris rammed the two Hobnob halves against each other, growling and crying as he played. “...Mm.” Anselmo frowned briefly, then began to walk off. “He's safe. Just...having a snack, he-...Oh, well, it...sounded as if he could've been dehydrated, but-...Wait, from what hotel?” “-rreeEEOWW, ksshhh-ksshhh, shuh-WING~ ” Hoo. Kid was maybe having a bit of a sugar rush, or something? Charo grinned, grabbing a Hobnob and thrusting it toward Chris' dualing makeshift toys. She began to make weird little hissing noises – evocative of the kinds of black beasts they had been contending with. Chris rotated his pieces to face Charo's encroaching 'monster.' “ahhh watch out! it's a mega spike spider! It's heading right for us, I don't know if I can hold it off! captain spirit captain spirit! please lend us your power!” He set down the pieces, sticking out his hand. “Don't worry, Captain Spirit will protect you from far away. Hnnnnnn-” “O-OK, now,” Alesea chimed in warily, reaching out a hand to Chris's arm. “Just...don't...really use-” “I'm just playing,” Chris matter-of-factly advised. He nodded his head with raised brows off toward where Anselmo had gone, adding in a whisper, “There's still a civilian around...” Alesea smiled with bemusement, receiving a smirk from Charo. “Hnnnn-”

Charo began to wobble the biscuit around, slowly pushing it toward Chris' hand. She squealed and hissed angrily, making an adorably authentic face to match. “It's...so strong,” Chris grunted. “It's taking...all my power...just to-...urgh...-keep it from attacking...!” He scooped up his two biscuit halves suddenly, while still holding out his hand. “thank you thank you let's get outta here!” He waddled them off, tucking them behind his milk glass. He then drank a sip of milk while the thought occurred to him. “Now what?” Charo asked quietly, still thrashing her biscuit around. “You can't just...let it go free, can you?” “Uh...-” Chris seemed taken aback by the question. And Alesea was a bit alarmed at that being brought up again. “It'll hurt people,” Charo pointed out, squeezing in some more little monster growls. “So, what'll you do?” “I...erh...-” Chris scratched an itched on his nose, flustered. “Uh-oh,” Charo gasped, jerking the Hobnob about. “It's...breaking free...!” “Hnnnn-” Chris refocused his hand at it. “You can't keep this up forever,” Charo whispered in an eerie, villainous voice. “Sooner or later, you'll slip up...” “I-...I can throw it into space,” Chris theorized. “It can't hurt anyone up there!” “Can you throw it into space?” Charo growled with her cracking voice, brows narrowed. “I've never seen Captain Spirit wield such power. You're bluffing.” “I...could...put it in the ocean.” “haha, yessss, throw it in the sea~ It will make babies and consume the innocent animals!” “Charo,” Alesea snipped, giving her a sharp but gentle slap with the back of her wrist. She shrugged defensively. “If you can't destroy a monster,” Charo quietly rumbled, “how can you protect a person from it?” “Heroes can't kill,” Chris huffed. “I thought you were a hero, how come you're doing this?” Charo sighed, fluttering her lips and setting the biscuit back onto the plate. Agh, Charo...your fingers have been all over that... “Sorry,” Charo mumbled, shedding her facade. “It's just...being a hero, sometimes that means you can't...just...do the nice always.” “Then what's the point?” Chris raised. Charo gawked back at him. “It-...You're helping people,” she said. “Protecting them.” “But,” Alesea intervened, “what if there's another way to do it?” “Like what?” Charo puffed, her patience slipping a little at the implication. “What if I trap it?” Chris decided. “Keep it in, like, a monster cage. That way, we can get...a scientist to do research on it.” Alesea smiled at the notion. She wasn't so sure that would work in their particular case. But it was the thought that she got behind. “Mmmm,” Charo hummed, shrugging uncertainly. “That's...maybe harder to do than to say.” “Maybe you could...tame it?” Chris pondered, taking one of his biscuit halves from before and dipping it into his milk – a ways down – before eating it. “Like a stray dog?” he said through a cheekful of biscuit. Charo and Alesea traded thoughtful looks of consideration, neither sure of what that would entail, much less where they'd keep the things. “Do you want to keep a monster at your house?” Charo asked him. “Also – wouldn't it give away your secret identity? Also, what if those monsters keep coming all the time? Where do you put them all?” “Hm.” Chris crossed his arms, swallowed his morsel, and rubbed his chin blatantly. “Well, where do the monsters come from?” Alesea and Charo both paused at this. They didn't know. “Uh...up?” Alesea muttered, pointing a finger skyward, her face wrinkling with dissatisfaction at the blindness of their situation. “They fall from the sky.” “Whoa, like aliens?” Chris said quietly, in awe. Charo and Alesea gave each other bug-eyed shrugs. For all they knew...- “Maybe you can't throw them back up to space,” Chris admitted. “But if they got here, there's gotta be a way to go back where they came.” “Possibly,” Alesea decided. “Or at least a way to figure out what they really are,” she said to Charo, rubbing her partner on the shoulder. “It sounds like a better idea than trying to...keep this up, anyway.” Charo took a deep breath, her glazed-over eyes wandering off as an ashamed pout slipped over her face. Alesea squeezed her hand down, rubbing her thumb against Charo. “These are the kinds of complicated messes heroes get themselves into,” she said. She glanced to Chris and added, “And it takes a brave person to try to do something about it, even if they might do it in a different way.” She let her forehead press itself against the side of Charo's head. “Being a hero means making some mistakes along the way, but as long as you're keeping people safe...-” She sighed into Charo's neck. “-...you're still doing something important. And courageous.” Charo leaned back into Alesea, their skulls pressing together gently for a moment. “I'm glad I don't have to fight monsters like you do,” Chris decided, grabbing the biscuit that Charo had placed down. And putting it IN HIS MOUTH Aughh, Chris, Charo put her fingers ALL OVER THAT. “It's...pretty scary.” “Ah, well, every hero needs someone to help watch their back,” Charo replied, tapping Alesea's back with her chubby palm and scratching a little. “It's less scary that way,” she said, looking at her partner with a pink-cheeked grin. “A lot less scary,” Alesea agreed. “But...still scary.” Anselmo entered the room, thumbing the front door with the phone still to her ear. “Chris?” “Yea?” “I think your grandparents are here to pick-...Huh?” He side-eyed Charo's phone. “Yes, he's right-...Uh-huh.” “Oh.” Chris had a bit of a mopey look to him. Looking up to Charo and Alesea, he assumed, “Guess I should probably go, then, huh?” “You've got people waiting on you,” said Charo. “Gotta keep them safe, too, right?” “Keep them safe from driving on the wrong side of the road,” Anselmo muttered under his breath, handing Charo's phone back to her. Running his hand through his hair, he sighed. “Anyway. Uh...So, Captain Strange-” “Spirit.” “Captain...Spirit. Next time you've got monsters to fight, uh...make sure to check in with your family first, all right?” “Roger.” Chris bounded up from the couch and give Sel a salute. He grabbed another Hobnob, stuffing it into his face, and guzzling down the last of the milk. Heh. “Gotta stayed fueled,” Charo encouraged, ruffling his hair roughly as he wiped a milk mustache from his lip. “Make sure you don't, ya know, drain your Spirit Batteries when you fight evil.” “Yea,” Chris agreed, looking up at Charo with an admiring smirk. As he rounded the table and passed by Alesea, she gave him a pat on the shoulder. She leaned down and said to him with a cautious tone, “I think you're right, that heroes should try to not hurt anyone – even monsters. Just remember that sometimes...people are the monsters.” “So...” Chris gave her a thoughtful nod with a gleam in his eye that she very much approved of. “That means it's super important to try to save them. Those people, I mean.” Alesea beamed down at him and nodded emphatically. She escorted him to Charo's front door. He gathered his armor and stuck it on. A car beeped from outside. Alesea concluded, “I'm sure you'll figure that stuff out as you go, um, Captain Spirit. Even the most super of heroes have to figure out these kinds of things. Whatever you do, I just hope you can learn to be whatever kind of hero you need to be.” “You've definitely got the stuff to be super~” Charo assured, helping tighten his cape on and nudging him along out the door. Heading to the driveway with him at her side, Charo pumped up a fist. “When you get back home, you've gotta find your own way to be someone's hero!”

#Dame Daffodil #Captain Spirit #Crossover #One shot #writing commissions

8 notes · View notes

findingafreenameishardwork · 7 years

Text

I mentioned that I’m writting a little fanfic for Daughter of the Lilies (a great webcomic by @bludragongal, go read it, if you haven’t yet). This thing is now done :) I hope you’ll enjoy it, even if English is not my native language

Brent goes shopping

"Is tradition", explained Orrig as Thistle added her own token into the inconspicuous looking leather satchel: "Ve do it every solstice. As new one in team you can choose drafting order."

Hesitantly Thistle looked around the group of fellow adventurers and then chose the order that she thought of as the most neutral one existing: "Um... alphabetically?"

“That makes Brent first”, Orrig declared unceremoniously and hold the satchel in his direction.

Brent used one hand to cover his eyes and grabbed with the other one into the bag.

Highly concentrated he shuffled around before he decided which one to pick out. He would have never admitted it openly, but this whole affair made him anxious; he would have no trouble with Lyra or Orrig – but Thistle? Thistle was his worst case scenario.

He could imagine the secret gift exchange vividly in his mind; with Lyra it would go something like “Oh you bought me a bottle of the fancy stuff! That’s exactly what I wanted! Thanks Brent!” followed by a hearty pat on his back. And Orrig would get a box of his favorite sweets and say “Good choice. I like this present” before giving him a hearty pat on the back. But Thistle? When trying to imagine giving her a present, his mind only conjured an image of chirping crickets. He had absolutely no idea what to get for her! So no matter what, he had to pick one of the others.

“How much time do you need to draft, Brent?”, Lyra asked annoyed, so he swallowed and finally grabbed one.

“Great demonstration of patience”, he retorted, while Lyra simply let her hand swiftly dive in and out of the bag in one flowing motion.

“Patience, my <censored>”, she returned: “I don’t need to have patience with people who deliberately waste my time.”

“Enough!”, interjected Orrig and made his own pick: “This solstice tradition, so be nice.”

He gave the satchel over to Thistle who took the last token.

Brent watched her interested as she found out who her secret solstice gift receiver was; did her expression change?

He realized that he hadn’t found out his draft yet and looked at his clenched fist, where the secret still lay inside.

“Ve vill split up now and meet again in four hours at inn for traditional solstice dinner. Don’t forget to stay vithin price limit”, Orrig said and the group split up.

Brent deliberately let himself fall a bit more behind, prolonging the moment before he found out who he got. It was not like he disliked Thistle or anything; but he liked the solstice tradition too much and didn’t want to ruin the mood by disappointing the newest addition of the group. But he probably had no problem, the chances totally were in his favor, the more he thought rationally about it, the less it seemed possible that he got her of all things.

Unconsciously he held his breath when he opened his fist to unveil the pick. A long sight followed.

Nervously Brent scanned the sign of the shop before him, and scratched his arm uncomfortably. He could do this. It was not his kind of store, but he wasn’t some dumb insecure teenager. Compared to the REAL dangers and challenges he faced daily as part of his work, this was… still scary.

‘Don’t be a sissy elf!’, he spurned himself mentally and went into the shop with grim determination.

He just needed to grab some random appropriate book and everything would be alright, wouldn’t it?

Inside the bookstore there were myriads of books crammed into overflowing shelves, with the sole store salesdwarf sitting at a tiny looking desk looking bored. But that immediately changed, as he (or she? One could never be completely sure with those) noticed him. His face lit up brighter than Wu’s scales in a dark night and he happily went into selling mode: “Welcome to ‘Books, books, books!’ the best and sole bookstore in town! What can I help you with?”

The dwarf came over to him, surprisingly speedy and stopped uncomfortably close to him, smiling at him with a grin wide enough to scare a lesser Drath away.

“Erm...”, Brent stammered intimidated: “I want a book.”

“Great!”, the salesdwarf exclaimed, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice: “We have those! Do you have a certain one in mind?”

“Errr… Well..” Brent hesitated because he felt so utterly uncomfortable at this place. It was not like he couldn’t read at all, but his experience with reading till this day had been less than stellar. He was never able to get the appeal of it and the few times he gave this another chance had made him feel inadequate. Somehow lesser. Stupid.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The stupid half-orc, that wasn’t even able to read out words like extraordinarr... eckstraor… special words without stumbling over his own tongue.

“We have books by R. G. Wells and also books about building wells, the whole line by B. A. Cons’Tructor, to be precise. Does that sound like the kind of reading you are looking for?”, the dwarf inquired.

“Um… no?”

The dwarf’s brow began to twitch slightly, barely noticeable: “How can I be of service then?”

“I’m looking for”, Brent started, unsure how to go on. “...a book. A good one!”

“That’s great”, the seller repeated affirmatively: “So, what do you want to read?”

“Oh… no, no. It’s not for me, but for my colleague!”

“Ahhh”, the dwarf began to nod appreciatively, “so, what does your colleague read?”

“I… don’t know exactly.”

More brow twitching. “Does your colleague have any special interests? What is his or her occupation? Do you know any of the books he or she read?”

“Um… She seems to like flowers a lot. And magic. She’s a mage.”

“Perfect, I can work with this information!”

The dwarf whirled around and picked unerringly books out of the shelves. With a staple higher than his own head he returned to Brent and set it gently down on a stool. He took the first book of the pile and held it in the most scenic way possible, so that the cover was in perfect sight.

It showed a plain, yet beautiful, young maiden in a long flowing dress, who lay in he arms of a handsome and surprisingly ripped mage, as indicated by his long impressive staff and strategically torn robes. Both were surrounded by perfectly red roses, which glistened. Crowning this was the books title; which was to embarrassing for Brent to notice.

“This book is extremely popular with our female readership”, the dwarf explained: “And it has elements that perfectly cover the topics you mentioned.”

“I don’t think that’s the best choice”, Brent said full of doubt: “I don’t think she is very girly… I can’t imagine her being into typical feminine stuff. You now, cooking and fashion and… you know what I mean. She’s more the smart type.”

“No problem!”

The dwarf gently put the book down and picked up the next one. It had no illustration on its cover, just the title “Pride and Maguerites”.

“This one is a bit more… intellectual, a classical story, so to speak. Still very much appreciated by our female clientele.”

Brent scratched his chin: “I’m not sure. Can you tell me a bit what this book is exactly about?”

“Oh, it’s basically about a young aspiring woman, that meets this young suitor who she at first utterly refuses-”

“Pass!”, interjected Brent and underlined his point with a swiping gesture: “I don’t think you got it. She’s like really smart. Smart smart, not pretend smart.”

“Okay, okay.” The salesdwarf took this book and several others from the staple: “If you don’t like belletristic, we still have a nice selection of books with a more scientific approach. This here is by the way a personal favorite of mine.” He gave a book over to Brent, who read its title “Thoughts on taxonomy of the plants by Carolus Linnaeus”. Turning a few pages he quickly realized what was wrong with it: “Were are the pictures?”

“Well, not every book needs to be illustrated, Sir.”

Brent gave the book back, not without visibly wrinkling his nose: “It’s a present. Without pictures it just looks so dull. I don’t want to give something like this, in the end she thinks she is dull herself!”

The dwarf almost sighed, but regained his composition fast enough. He took another book from his staple: “Okay, perhaps this one might be more to your likening. It has some very nice diagrams in it and absolutely no romantic content. And only a smart person versed in the arcane arts would get and appreciate it.”

Brent looked doubting at the dragon-like insignia at the front.

“I don’t exaggerate when I claim, that every decent mage’s library should have its own exemplar of the ‘Assorted Essays by Master Hym’.”

Brent shook his head: “But then she probably has already got her own one, won’t she? I can’t give her a book she already owns, can I?”

“Fine” the dwarf replied and took the bottom book from the pile, which was quite thick and heavy: “I doubt she’d have an exemplar of this book, because it was publishes just a week ago.”

He presented the book to Brent, who inspected the cover. The title was 'Plants – what they tell us' illustrated with a lovely thistle. He turned a few pages and he immediately liked it; there were detailed drawings of plants and charts everywhere and still enough written text, so that it would last a while even for Thistle. He couldn’t suppress a smile: “Now that’s a viable choice. How much?”

“Oh, it’s really cheap, all things considered.”

“Ho much?”, Brent asked again, while a bad feeling started crawling around in his stomach.

“A very low price for such a quality book, just look at all these illustrations!”

“How. Much?”

“Two point five. Almost a steal.”

Brent got his purse out and picked three coins out.

At that sight the dwarf started chuckling: “Is that a joke? Two point five means two hundred and fifty coins!”

“What?! No, that’s way too expensive! I’m on a budget.”

The dwarf couldn’t suppress a sight anymore. He reached into his pocket and looked onto his pocket watch: “Please, just listen, Sir. You could tell me how much money you want to spend and I’ll look if I find something suitable. It’s almost four o’clock now and I want to close in time to celebrate the solstice with my family.”

Brent turned pale: “It’s that late already?! I have to go!” He turned around in place and darted out of the shop. Quickly he ran to the inn, but not without making a quick stop at a market stand with a variety of colorful drapery. Women liked fabric, didn’t they?

“Hello I need something for a solstice present!”, he announced immediatly and hold out his complete budget.

“Oh, okay”, the seller responded mildly confused because Brent disturbed her during packing up for the evening. “Do you want something specific?”

“Just something solstice-y! And please wrap it, it’s a present!”

The seller grabbed some fold-up kerchief-thingy and put it neatly onto some packing paper.

“Please hurry, I don’t have time left!”

The seller swiftly wrapped up the textile and returned to Brent a definitely misshaped package.

Brent grabbed it: “Thanks, great, here!” He dropped the coins into her hand and ran faster than a really slow arrow from Lyra to the inn.

The big city clock was sounding the last chimes of the hour, when he reached his destination. He went into the building, where the rest of the team already sat around a big table on which the first course of the solstice dinner was waiting.

“I’m on time!”, Brent wheezed, gasping for breath. He sat down on the only free chair.

“You are!”, Lyra acknowledged and grinned: “Good that Orrig does not like us to bet, otherwise I would be a few coins poorer now.”

“Stop it”, Orrig interjected: “Ve now solve the secret gift exchange. Thistle, choose order.”

The attention shifted and the hooded mage seemed to shrink a little bit: “.. em, alphabetically again, please?”

“Is good”, Orrig nodded and put a package onto the table and pushed it over to Brent.

The quarter orc looked at it and then started unwrapping. He found a piece of high quality sharpening leather inside. “Oh… thanks.” He needed a few moments to process the gift, but then he smiled: “I can definitely put that to good use. Thanks!”

“I vought so.”

Lyra cleared her throat: “I’m next!”

She put a big bottle on the table and angled herself on her chair to look sideways: “Lyra! I got you!”

She turned directly around: “Really? Who would have thought, what a surprise!”

Turning back: “I got some of your favorite brandy!”

And again: “Aww, how nice, it’s 'Le fancy stuffe'. You always know exactly what to get for me!”

She grinned and unstopped the bottle with her teeth to treat herself to the first sip.

“People could get themselves?”, Thistle asked, mildly confused: “Doesn’t that kinda undermine the premise of a secret gift exchange?”

“Is part of tradition”, Orrig explained, while shrugging with his shoulders.

“Okay”, Thistle replied and put a small package on the table and pushed it to him: “I.. well… hope you like it, it’s not very special, but I really tried to find something nice… and well.”

The orc opened the packet and found a few balls of green wool and a crotchet hook.

“I heard you like to knit, but then stopped for some reason and so I thought that you maybe would enjoy crocheting?”

“Is good choice”, he replied: “I like this present.” Followed by a light, but not unhearty, pat on her back.

Now all eyes wandered over to Brent. He needed a moment, but then realized: “Oh it’s my turn!”

He threw the misshapen package over to Thistle, who utterly failed at catching and dropped it onto the ground.

“Oh, sorry!”. Brent nervously cleared his throat. Oh, what had he done? He were so fixated on arriving on time, that he didn’t take great care in choosing a present in the end.

‘Great way to ruin the mood, Brent’, he thought to himself: ‘This may be the only thing you’re actually competent at.”

The mage meanwhile carefully unwrapped the paper and gracefully unfolded the fabric. It was a shawl, slightly transparent in the shine of the inn’s light installation and intricately embroidered with little flowers and butterflies. A few moments she did nothing, but then she sniffled.

‘Oh dammit!’, Brent thought, but Thistle suddenly blurted out: “This is soo pretty! One of the nicest things I ever got!” This was followed by an impromptu hug; which she held for around three seconds, before she realized what she was doing. “Oh, I’m sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” She unhugged Brad immediately and jumped up: “I… I… think I need a moment. Alone!” She half ran, half stumbled to the outside, while the rest of the group just locked after her.

Finally Lyra took the word: “Great done, Brent. You made her cry.”

“Shut up, Lyra!”, he returned sharply and folded his arms. But all he could think about was how soft and nice and warm that hug from Thistle had been...

As far as disappointments went, he wouldn’t have minded a repetition of this particular one.

#dotl #dotl fanfic #brent #bristle #precious cinnamon roll

87 notes · View notes