Heads Up, Seven Up

Who is your favorite side character in your wip Bloodmage? What's one thing that character hates?

Thanks for the question!

That's a tough one. I have mainly focused on developing my main cast. Of the side characters that I have done more work on, though, one comes to mind more than the others.

Alasdair the King's right hand.

He's a half elf who was chosen as the king of the Fairies Bodyguard. He is a skilled fighter and considered the most dangerous of all fairies in combat despite his heritage. Due to his mixed blood, he is far bulkier than traditional elves, giving him an edge in pure strength.

There is a council of criptids that govern their groups and hold annual meetings to coordinate grievances and trade deals. During a heated argument, the king of the fairies picked a fight with the Representative for the blood mages Luis. During the insuing fight, Luis ripped Aladair's wings off and destroyed his left arm.

Even with this handicap he is still considered the most fit to be the bodyguard of the King, a fact that Luis uses to taunt the proud race when he gets irritated by them during the meetings.

Aladair dislikes Luis for the shame that he brought on the fairies, but he respects the bloodmage's strength. He hates himself for failing to protect his king's honor and is actively training other warriors to take his place.

Unsent letter

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Also, happy belated 6th anniversary and 300th prompt 🥳

Description: An unpolished letter written in anger but never sent. (I wanted to try something a bit different for the milestone)

I stand now at a crossroads of significant divide. Where need and will have chosen to once more diverge. I need from her many things, her company included, but after this, I can not just pretend that the walls are not fractured.

Don't make decisions when you are upset. Don't burn bridges that you still need to cross. Money will be given, and debts repaid in kind. I will not be forgiven by her words, and in this, I can not find reason to forgive.

Will you look at me differently once the madness has retreated? Will smiles adorn your face once the storm has passed? I am to be rational and care as always, but you have a life left to lead, and I have no place stopping that, only the desire to keep you safe. In doing what I thought best, I have hurt you, and for that, I am sorry, and by your own actions, I have seen a folly in my resolve. I can not save you if you do not wished be saved, no matter how much it pains me to watch.

I have benefited greatly from your kindness and thoughtfulness, but I have also suffered greatly under the weight of your wrath. I curse my heart for still being affected by this, but I will do my best not to let this affect our partnership. Instead, the roots shall be gradually trimmed, and I will do my best to quietly let you go.

Desire Or Dispair

I would be much abliged if you could share a snippet of your character(s) experiencing either a moment of desire or despair.

Desires for anything from food to people and Dispair from betrayal to loss, I'm interested in how other people's characters express themselves.

Idk where this came from, but I figured it might be fun.

No pressure tagging: @renasdoodles @kuebiko-writing @wyked-ao3 @creatrackers ,

@somethingclevermahogony @laisley-writes @leahnardo-da-veggie +open tag

My own contribution below the break.

Warning for mentions of injury and medication administration.

Desire: Broken Script

Stepping forward onto the balcony with a glass of wine held lazily in his hand, Nihil examined the guests with a bored expression until his eyes landed on Alexia. The glass fell uncerimoniously from his hand as Nihil recognized the familiar robe that had somehow been fashioned into a dress.

As the glass shattered, Alexia looked up at him with a coy grin, batting her eyes in a playfully taunting gesture.

A smile played at the corner of his own lips as he considered her challenge. He'd never bothered to dip his toes in the field of romance before, but she was well on her way to changing his mind.

Despair: Blood Mage

Hati could tell that the injury on his neck was nothing to scoff at, that he might die here to a blasted Vampire after surviving all of thease years, but seeing Billy's arm being torn off so easily by the rampaging vampire made his blood run cold in a way he hadn't felt since he was burried under a mound of dirt watching his people being torn to pieces.

The hiss of pain that followed the creatures sudden retreat sent his brain into overdrive as the worst-case scenarios flooded into his terror stricken mind.

He couldn't lose his family again, not to the tech witches, and definitely not to some overgrown leech. Scrambling towards the snipper, he began babbling incoherently at the oozing injury until something cold peirced his neck, and he caught a quick glance of Owen before crumbling into Billy, panic still coursing through his veins.

Hope that you had a good Christmas!

4. What was your favorite line that you wrote this year?

Thank you for the ask <3

Admittedly, I have a few candidates for this one, and here's one of them (it comes from the start of A Pawn for a Greater Cause)

"You're but a glorified guard to her, a pretty knife at her disposal. Have you ever dreamt of freedom?"

— Unnamed Helindian minister

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.

Waiting for Reinforcements

Thank you for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Walking across the dark field towards the barricade, Silus couldn't help but feel a bit melancholy despite the fact that Null had already been passed on to a more fitting vessel. He should have been pleased to rid himself of the burden, but it only felt like his shoulders had started to get even heavier them before.

Rose said it was nerves, and while he knew it wasn't helping things, this was different from the nerves that he'd grown accustomed to.

"Still brooding?" Silus jumped slightly as he noticed her waiting in the shadows with a bottle quietly extended toward him. He accepted it easily for a sip and quickly returned it before the drink could draw him in fully.

"Any word?" She shook her head with a sour expression as she finished off the last several drops of bottle before smashing the glass against the ground.

"No,if we can hold out another day though..." her voice trailed off, unconvincing even to herself it seemed, but he appreciated her attempts. Worrying wouldn't get them anywhere, especially with the mess they had to clean up tomorrow.

"I'm sure they're on their way." He tried to force a smile, but the corners of his mouth felt strangely heavy. He hoped for all of their sakes that they were on the way, because if anything happened to Nulls' new vessel... His newfound freedom would be quite short-lived.

( I'm very tired today, so I just got a rough sketch done)

Finnaly...

Normally, I wouldn't post something about my gaming, but I literally got over 3k words written because I forced myself to write something every time I died to this child...

It was a surprisingly effective method for circumventing my procrastination, but I think it is one I should use sparingly for my own sanity....

UNSEEN

@flashfictionfridayofficial , I'm glad you enjoy the drawings! Thank you so much for the prompts every week!

This one is a bit over 400, so on the shorter side for me, but I was pretty busy today and am writing this as half of my brain falls asleep so sorry if some things seem a bit weird.

Warning:Mentions of injuries and coercion

Neither of them spoke as Rose continued to clean the glass in his hand like nothing was wrong. How many times had his cloth polished this surface? Did it matter?

The silent man in front of him kept his eyes fixed on the area just above Rose’s left shoulder which had now become nearly numb with a strange pulsing pain that threatened to steal control of his arm at any moment. A chill swept through the silent inn dinning room as the coins that had been offered remained on the table untouched by either party since the stalemate had begun.

If it hadn’t been for the sound of Rain beating down against the rafters in heavy torrents you could have heard a pin drop. Whatever monstrosity had managed to blow in with the wind. He couldn’t see the creature, he should have been able to, given how loudly it was breathing right next to his ear. He’d taken several side glances though and never once had he been able to catch even a shadow of the nightmare tormenting him.

“I didn’t mean anything by it…”

The man before him finally lowered his head in frustration, the scar around his throat being obstructed for the first time since he’d entered the inn tonight. A pang of some unknown regret passed through Rose as he tried to say something encouraging but quickly stopped himself as a stab of icy pain shot through his shoulder making him flinch.

{You can’t keep things from me puppet}

The voice reverberated through the air, freezing his blood. The thing had spoken in a twisted voice that seemed to be clawing through unwilling lips, dripping with desire. He’d been lusted after by many strange and terrible people, but never had he felt more disgusted as by this voice. It made no attempt to hide its purpose, but even from the brief words Rose could tell that for once he wasn’t the object of interest.

He looked at the familiar stranger with pity as he watched him struggle with something before finally regaining a hold on himself. In no less than a moment, the doomed man before him suddenly straitened with something resembling resolve before resolutely turning and leaving through the door without another word or mention of his purchased drink. As the man walked away, Rose felt the dark presence leave him, and he collapsed to the ground, panting.

Writer Questionnaire Tag

Thanks for the tag @renasdoodles !

What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had?

I really don’t know honestly, there have been so many that I’ve been scared to touch for years at this point. I couldn't pin down a favorite though, my top favorites are all there for different reasons.

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes? 

‘Are you a cat person or a dog person?’ This one always gets me conflicted because by all accounts I would say a cat person because I am far closer with them, but I also really like dogs. It’s a bit of a stupid question to keep thinking on, but it keeps popping back in my head at the most random times. 

What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

I love being able to write the stories that I want to read, sometimes I go back to a draft that I abandoned months ago and re-read it to find that I'm really interested in what happens next, and that's a really fun experience. 

What I don’t particularly enjoy is probably when I leave notes for myself to fill stuff in later and it really isn’t enough information to know what in the world I was intending to write. 

What is your greatest motivation to Write/create? 

When It comes down to it I really want to be able to reach a point where I can write the stories from my mind in a way that does them justice. I also want to be able to draw the things that are rattling around in my head.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever heard or been given as a writer? 

First drafts aren’t meant to be perfect, you are just getting the ideas down on the page and setting the ground work for your story to start solidifying your next steps. I particularly struggle with this one since I want to have everything perfectly in place but for my writing style that just isn’t realistic. 

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

Don’t be scared to ruin your stories, just write them. If you get to scared to even try working on something it will die in your mind forever unspoken and for me that is worse than failing because I gain almost nothing from the wasted creativity.  

What is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

Honestly, I’ve disappointingly only been able to finish a couple of fan fictions since I developed a really bad habit of abandoning story ideas out of fear for the results. I’m trying to get myself back on track but it’s just a bit of a task to keep myself in line. ;-; Sometimes I wonder if the writer part of my brain got switched with that of a hyperactive child. Of the Fan Fictions I've managed to post on Ao3 'A Bit of Clean Water' Fandom: Vampyr (Video Game) is short little story that I'm pretty happy with.

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you particularly feel about their ideals? 

I won't mention the character but their mindset is that people are inherently weak short minded creatures that are incapable of governing themselves. No matter how great a thing they might make it can be devastated in the span of a generation because their will could not be inherited by their successor. The character believes that because of this people are inferior and do not deserve to stand at the top of the food chain.

I personally understand some of where he's coming from because it is pretty scary how easily something great can be destroyed by a bad successor no matter how great the founder might have been, but I feel like this character is a bit to critical of the race and extreme with his execution.

If you when you first started writing met you now, what would younger you think? 

Probably be a bit horrified at first, but the first story I wrote before I was ten ended with the main character dying in a car crash after someone cut her breaks for a petty reason, so I like to think that my younger self would at least somewhat understand where i'm coming from with my writing. As for my personality... That would probably be a much harder sell. (Younger me could barely play mobile games that had any community features, knowing that I put my writing out for people to see might give younger me a heart attack)

No pressure Tagging:

@kuebiko-writing @wyked-ao3 @creatrackers @davycoquette,

@somethingclevermahogony @laisley-writes @flurrysahin @zaynabameen,

+Open Tag

Callisto- a current representative of one of the United cryptids self-government.