Working On The Color Palate For Them. But I'm Not Quite Happy With It Yet, So More Work.

Bold the Facts tag

Thank you, @renasdoodles, for the tag!

This is for one of the stories that I am trying to pin down to paper, but it is proving quite elusive thus far... It leans more into absurdity and just makes me happy to talk about it. The problem is that it is a far cry from what I usually write, so that throws me off.

Anyway, this is for Owen the Medic as he is formally known.

~~~~~

Killed Someone Under Orders | Had Someone Killed On Their Orders | Killed Someone In Self Defense | Spared Someone’s Life | Invented Something | Been Hungover | Kissed Someone | Slow-Danced | Been In A Long-Term Relationship | Had Sex | Had Sex And Regretted It | Had A One-Night Stand | Had A Threesome | Experimented With Their Sexuality | Had A Kid | Adopted A Kid | Wanted To Have A Family With Someone | Done Something On Impulse They Regretted | Gone Traveling | Had A Bounty Put On Them | Eaten An Insect | Been Groped/SA'd | Been Dumped | Dumped Someone | Smoked | Gotten High | Put Someone In A Headlock | Won A Bet | Lost A Bet | Forgiven Someone Who Wronged Them | Indulged In Petty Revenge | Hallucinated | Gotten A Noticeable Scar | Kneed/Hit Someone In The Groin | Had An Unattainable Crush | Laughed Themselves To The Point Of Tears | Been Kidnapped | Been Brainwashed/Hypnotized | Had A Recurring Nightmare | Been Bullied | Bullied Someone | Experienced Survivor’s Guilt | Been Tied/Chained Up | Given Someone A Massage | Received A Massage | Been Backed Up Against A Wall | Shot Someone | Stabbed Someone | Saved Someone’s Life | Cheated On Someone | Been Cheated On | Been In An Open Relationship | Had A Friendship With Benefits | Been In A Queerplatonic Relationship | Had A Stalker | Been Betrayed | Been A Traitor | Been Possessed | Been In A Bar Fight | Been Thrown Out Of A Bar | Been Arrested | Broken Out Of Jail | Been To A Funeral | Been To A Brothel | Had Surgery | Broken Someone’s Trust | Broken Someone’s Heart | Had Their Heart Broken | Broken/Damaged Something Out Of Anger | Broken/Damaged Something Out Of Spite | Gotten A Piercing | Gotten A Tattoo | Used A Fake Name | Been Beaten Up | Been Tortured | Tortured Others | Been Abused | Been Blackmailed | Gotten Away With A Crime | Framed Someone Else For A Crime They Committed | Shared A Bed Platonically | Been In Love | Suffered From Sleep Paralysis | Been Forced To Flee Their Home | Learned A New Language | Joined A Rebellion | Fought On The Losing Side Of A War | Fought On The Winning Side Of A War | Become A Godparent | Become An Aunt/Uncle

~~~~~

I'm still working out the kinks of his design, but this is close to how he looks. (He's usually more happy looking, but I had trouble expressing that in the drawing...)

Tagging

@kuebiko-writing @flurrysahin @davycoquette + open tag

(No pressure with the tag! If you want to be removed, just let me know!)

Thanks for the prompt, @flashfictionfridayofficial !

6936

Another random story based solely on the prompt. I hope you enjoy.

Warnings: Referenced Infidelity and Gaslighting

The flowers bloomed too early that spring, and an unexpected chill froze the golden buds even as they swelled with life.

Trudy stepped through frozen blades of grass, her bare feet blue from the cold. She didn't notice, couldn't feel her blood turning to ice with every step she took. 

The house behind her cast a looming shadow in the half light of morning. It had made her happy once, knowing that the old building cared for her. It cared for him more, though, concealing him protectively as he ripped her heart out over and over again. 

She had awakened twenty years ago, her power a simple enhancement of the senses, so trivial that she had been embarrassed to mention it to anyone. Too embarrassed to mention it to him. Trudy now wished that she had, he might not have brought so many mortals to their bed while she carefully tended to their garden if he had known. 

She'd done her best to ignore it at first, thrown all of her love on him, because she had loved him dearly, but with every self satisfied look cast towards her by departing mortals, a piece of Trudy’s love had been chipped away. 

"They are on quests, dear. I'm sharing my wisdom, allowing them a place to rest. I couldn't stand if these weak creatures were without guidance like your brother."

He always used her brother, always trying to make her feel like she was overreacting. It had worked before her awakening, but after she learned of his betrayal, it just made her bitterness grow.  

Stepping to the edge of the shadow, Trudy breathed deeply and stepped into the light. Her skin cracked under direct exposure. Even today, he had asked her to tend to the flowers, even today he had defiled their wedding bed. The finality of the action tipped the scales in her heart, emptying the last slivers of love from her soul.

Trudy bent down and picked a small bud, half opened and covered in frost. She'd watched this bud grow from a seedling, nurtured it through every stage of growth. It had been so full of life yesterday that she had already planned where in the house she would place it. Now, it would rest in her hair. 

With one last look towards behind her, the ice in Trudy’s veins turned to fire as a manic joy flooded every fiber of her being. Trudy had come to the property line six-thousand nine-hundred and thirty-five times before this one, but some sliver of affection had always held her at bay. 

Today, she skipped over the line gleefully. Disappearing from the home she had known for almost fifty years, with a long dead sense of wonder now burning in her chest. 

The fluff hair is fun to draw. I think I like purple for his eyes. He keeps his hair up when he has work and lets it down whenever he gets a breather.

Recall

@flashfictionfridayofficial thanks for the prompt!

It's not my best, but I am tired and have done what editing I can.

While trying to come up with a suitable partner for the arsonists of my group, I realized that i had missed a golden opportunity and decided to capitalize on that.

Warnings for imprisonment, violence, starvation tactics, referenced abuse.

He didn’t have a proper name, at least as far as he knew. He was mostly referred to as it or thing since he’d been woken, but when the lights of the circus came on, he was Blaze the fire abomination, one of the wonders of the modern world. It took him many beatings and nights of starvation to associate with the name, but after a time he supposed it became what he was, without any memories of what he had been before, there was little choice for him.

Cold Iron poked at his side, disturbing him from his fledgling slumber. Looking up with bleary eyes at the cold disgust half heartedly focused on him did little to ignite the flame in his chest, but little by little as Blaze started breathing again he could feel the pumps in his chest turning up the heat until the metal encasing him glowed with an orange hue. Never enough to burn through the metal, they didn’t give him enough fuel for that, just enough to make a spectacle of himself.

His captor was saying something again in a frustrated tone, but Blaze wasn’t sure what he had done now, and he didn’t bother to try and understand their vulgar words anymore. When the door to his cage was indicated with another prod to his ribs, he moved towards the slowly opening gate. There was no point in rushing himself. They would just take that as an attempt to flee. As it stood, his supply of fuel was getting dangerously low, and if this persisted much longer, he wouldn’t make it through another winter. Everything was so cold already that he would be surprised if he made it to the end of the summer.

Sweat trickled down his captors face as Blaze stepped out of the metal cage, almost instantly setting the wooden boards of the stage ablaze. Grunts and exclamations of fear and confusion drove him back into the protection of his cage as he watched the fire being quickly extinguished and the boards being replaced by metal plating. It was all part of the routine. He just had to make it believable. So he mimicked the fear that they had trained him to exhibit and let out a roar of false defiance, causing members of the crowd to gasp in fear.

With a practiced motion, the end of his leash was quickly secured before his flames had a chance to properly ignite. The shackle on Blaze’s remaining arm had fused with his skin, making each tug the chain pull his wrist uncomfortably. He’d be paraded through the town again all the way to the circus grounds, and then he’d be put on display like every other town that he’d been to. To pass the time, he surveyed the crowd, making low grunts and growling sounds to elicit fear. His dull eyes flickered over the faces filled with fear and contempt until Blaze’s attention was suddenly drawn to a hooded figure exuding a strange smokey aura that stopped him dead in his tracks The sound of the busy street faded into dull echoes as the fire in his core began to roar louder than it had in years.

He took a step towards the hooded figure deftly pulling his chains along with him until he stood there instinctively straitening his twisted back until he was towering over them. At this, the figure leaned back its head, revealing a smile that made his roaring furness flicker with excitement.

‘you blaze like the sun’

A grumble of garbled words echoed from his soul as he tried to convey his admiration for this thing before him, but he’d been mute for so long he feared that the thing would fear him like all of the others. A burn scared hand shot out from under the robes, embracing his cold hands, sparking life into his withered bones.

“I accept.”

The figure let her cloak fall back to reveal a face twisted with scars, radiating a warmth that spread through him like a wild fire. The world was once more as it should be, burning in glorious flames. It was so simple, how could he have forgotten?

Introducing (drum roll) fire spirits (opposite of the forest guardians.

Happy Halloween, What would your OC's do if they saw an army of ghost approaching them on Halloween?

Thank you so much for the ask!

When faced with an army of ghosts, most of the main bloodmage squad would realize that there isn't much to be done against such creatures and retreat until Hati or Ma could come up with a counter measure.

The sole acception to this would be Ember. In a ghost army scenario, she would definitely have to get dragged away with the others while trying to see what it took to burn a ghost.

Beautiful Things

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt

Summary: A snippet of lore for the story I have been attempting to write. Pulling back from a crazy world, is it any suprise that the universe could be just as odd?

He’d watched over the small egg for millennia, protecting it from harm. It hadn’t been the only one. It was just the one that had yet to hatch. As the centuries passed and the number of guardians slowly dwindled, *** had chosen to stay. They had warned him that if the little one could not break its shell, then it could not last in the expanse, that its light was not worth protecting. *** had stayed silent and watched the other newborns hatch one by one, following the guardians into the expanse of space to learn of the universe and their place in it.

Guardians labeled him foolish while retreating, but *** waited for the child to form. He could hear the growing heartbeat through the shell getting slightly louder with every passing century until it was just as strong as the others who had hatched before it. Then he could feel its will and knew the child should have been strong enough to break its prison, but still, it did not act. After waiting for a century more, *** pressed his conscious forward to question the child. He asked if it required help breaking the shell.

While guardians were forbidden to interfere with the hatching, *** had been helped as a newborn, and he would not let this newborn rot because of tradition. Even through the shell *** could feel that despite what the others had said, this little one’s light would be something truly beautiful.

{I don’t want to go… I love these creatures too much to destroy them.}

Its voice was stronger than he had expected, but *** understood the newborn’s conviction. The creatures that lived on the surface of its egg were fragile beings that would not survive the hatching process. He’d watched countless species destroyed that way as he sat among the dying husks of empires.

Reaching out again, *** warned the newborn that if it did not hatch after developing, then it would surely parish. Then, after rotting, it would lead to the death of the creatures that it cared so deeply for. They had good lives, and they had been given millennia to grow and experience so much. *** explained that this was simply the conclusion of their natural existence, but he could feel that the newborn’s conviction did not waver.

{No… I have heard their song and it is too beautiful to be lost, so I will give them what time I can until my end comes.}

*** frowned and reached out a finger boring deep into the surface of the egg. If the newborn felt so strongly, then there was another way, but it would have to commit to a lesser form until it had seen the terrifying nature of the song that it longed to protect.

Pulling back, *** caught a glimpse of the newborn’s light through the opening he had formed and knew he could no longer watch the child if he wanted to respect its wishes. Without him, the newborn would be alone for the first time in its existence, and *** shed tears, which fell like stars smoldering in their dissent. *** knew its light would have been the most precious to behold, but its memory would have to be his alone.

{Thank you}

Unwanted Summons

***Chrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiissssssssss***

Margaret struggled to open her eyes, let alone lift her head from the countertop. She'd somehow managed to make it out of the shower and to the kitchen without killing herself, a miracle in and of itself.

Still, deep down, she had hoped to at least be semi-finctional before interacting with anyone from work today, but with the coffee machine still sputtering away, it seemed that she had used all of her luck safely reaching her current resting place.

They could just hang up? Sometimes, they did when trying to call her before she came in.

***Chrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiissssssssss***

...

***Chrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiisssssssssss****

*Tsk*

Looking towards her clock, Margeret frowned. It was only ten forty-eight. Why was he calling her so early?

"Hello."

Without the jumpstart from her usual dose of caffeine, her tolerance was about as presant as her father, but John knew the risk of calling her when she wasn't on the clock.

"Is this Mrs. Margret Moore?"

Straitening into an upright position in an instant, her mind began to run wild after registering that she didn't recognize the monitone voice.

"What do you want?"

Pacing over to the dripping machine, Margaret poured as much as was ready into her mug and shoved the pot vaguely back in place to fill more.

While the voice may have been enough to temporarily scare her awake, that rush would only take her so far. She'd learned her lesson the last time she had fallen asleep on the phone, and it was still too fresh in her mind for her to repeat.

"You are to report to Station Seventeen within the next hour to identify one John Moore. If you do not comply, an officer will be deployed to escort you to the station in accordance with the compliance act."

Margaret opened her mouth to respond when the call was unceremoniously cut off.

"Blast it."

Station Seventeen was fifty minutes away from her apartment, but with traffic picking up soon, it was a toss-up if she could make it before they sent someone to get her.

Pocketing her phone, Margaret made a dash for her car, still holding the mug firmly in her other hand.

Just wanted to pop in and say I like your art, and your oc Margaret! No pressure but I'd love to see more of her. 😊

Thank you so much! Sorry for the late response, I'm not great with this app, so I just found this message 😭. I'm really glad you like my art since I'm a bit over critical with my own work. I struggle with my motivation and anxiety about posting things, so I really appreciate your encouragement! I look forward to seeing your work as well!

A New Start

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Coming back to a background story from one of my WIPs Bloodmage. Luis first meets Jade.

Chapter warnings: some body horror

A flurry of minute red crystals flowed from his lungs. Mixing with the frosty air, the fragile shards easily shattered, sparking an array of pinpoint explosions. Fragments ricocheted wildly, tearing up more of the ground around his still form. As he lay still as a corpse, a particularly robust fragment landed in one of his unblinking eyes, embedding itself slowly into his cornea; he hadn’t been particularly interested in the view, but it would be a shame to lose his sight before the end.

“What manner of creature are you then?”

A voice rang out to his left, pulling his focus from the cloudless expanse above him. Opening his mouth to speak, he found that his voice refused to work, his heart still too dead to manage even that. He frowned in frustration, but without the energy or will to move, he was trapped here, like he had been for many years.

“It’s rare for someone to have destroyed more humans than plants… You seem to have put most of my little ones to shame.”

What looked to be a deer skull hovered over him, finally coming into full view. Pink hair ran across the top in a messy array, reminding him of cherry blossoms in spring. He’d always enjoyed watching the delicate petals dancing through the wind.

His breath hitched suddenly as a strange surge of power coursed through his skull as one of the creature’s fingers gently rested against his cold face. Whatever this creature was, it was humming with a strange and beautiful power that was strong enough to steal his breath away.

“Don’t give up yet. There is much to this world worth living for.”

He could sense the creature’s disappointment in him and his decision. As the hand began to pull away, a piece of his fractured soul suddenly sparked at those simple words. He’d counted everything lost, felt that this world had nothing more to show him, but this feeling. He suddenly felt that he needed more of it.

“W…it”

The creature’s attention turned to him once more, filling his mind with a strange spark of excitement. He took in a deep breath and let out a choked laugh at his own pathetic efforts. The creature returned the laugh with a trill, and he could almost imagine that it was smiling at him.

“Good, warriors shouldn’t fall so easily.”

The creature’s clawed hands gently encircled him, pulling Luis free of the earth.

Just a little sketch of a sad, overworked man.