Sometimes I get swept up trying to survive this world and forget I get to live too. Making my life a little brighter and keeping my sanity a little longer.
On their first real adventuring job, rookie partners Jaon and Egg find themselves hiding in a bush after their owlbear hunt goes terribly wrong. What was supposed to be a simple feather-collecting mission turns into a tense standoff with a massive, dangerously close owlbear.
The underbrush barely covered them.
Jaon crouched low, fingers white-knuckled around the shaft of his spear. His breath came shallow, trying not to stir the leaves. Egg knelt behind him, pressed so close their breath tickled the back of his neck but neither of them dared shift.
The forest was silent.
Too silent.
Even the birds had gone quiet.
Then—a heavy thud.
Another.
The branches ahead shook. A low growl, half beast, half bird, rumbled through the clearing like thunder swallowed in feathers. Egg leaned in, voice so faint it barely existed. “Is that… an owlbear?”. Jaon didn’t answer. Just raised one finger in warning, eyes fixed forward. He could see it now… massive. Hulking. Feathers matted with dirt and dried blood. Its beak glinted in the dappled light. Egg swallowed. “It’s not supposed to be this close to the road.”
“It’s not supposed to be this big,” Jaon whispered back. The owlbear’s head twitched. Sniffed. Egg stiffened. Their hand grazed Jaon’s reaching, not for comfort, but for grounding. Jaon didn’t move.A low snort. The owlbear turned, feathers rustling like dry grass. It took a step. Then another. Closer. Right past them.
It paused.
Sniffed.
Jaon didn’t blink. He couldn’t. He could feel Egg’s breath freeze behind him.
One wrong move.
One shift of weight.
Then, mercifully… a birdcall.
Distant.
The owlbear huffed and lumbered toward the sound, the brush shaking violently in its wake. And then it was gone. Jaon exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Egg let go of his hand. “I hate this job.” Jaon turned slowly. “We still getting that feather?”. Egg gave him a long, deadpan stare. “Gods no.”
Merina was once a gentle-hearted otter, content in her quiet riverside life until everything was stolen from her. Her husband was murdered, and she was left for dead. Now, driven by grief and a longing stronger than vengeance, Merina turns to the forbidden path of necromancy, not just to punish those who wronged her, but to defy death itself and see her love once more.
Below is a small snippet of the first chapter but it’s still baking.
The sun was rising when Merina awoke, half-buried beneath ash and splintered reeds. Her fur was caked with dried blood, the scent of smoke thick in her throat. Each breath stung. For a long moment, she didn’t move because she couldn’t remember why she should.
Then it came back in broken flashes.
The screams.
The fire.
His voice… her husband’s voice… shouting her name before it was swallowed by something final.
Merina dragged herself upright, claws sinking into the scorched earth as she looked around what remained of their village. The quiet was worse than the fire. No birdsong. No laughter of the riverfolk. Just blackened huts and the twisted skeletons of once familiar homes.
She stumbled toward their den, or what was left of it, heart pounding with a desperate hope. But it was gone. Burned to its bones like the rest. And there, just beyond the threshold, she found him.
Her husband’s body lay in the soot, his hand stretched out as if he had tried to reach her.
The cry that tore from her throat didn’t sound like her own. It echoed, empty and cracked, across the ruins.
That was the moment something inside Merina broke and something else took its place. Not hatred. Not yet. But something deeper. A seed. Cold, slow-growing.
Prism(my wavy haired girly) is a certified sleeping beauty. She loves a good warm nap spot and will scream for food like she’s been starving for years. She’s thinks my husband is her personal heated pillow and will suffocate us by laying directly on our face while we sleep.
Seaweed(my lovely tortishell) is a true menace. She’s born for the streets but we keep her inside for the sake of the frog population. She loves a good hunt and will hunt just about anything she deems lesser than her including our toes… especially mine for some reason… we love her regardless!
Namekians have white fingernails in the anime but since they started to be more accurate to the manga's color in Super Hero, I hc Piccolo got his nails painted black there (maybe Pan's idea and got Gohan to do it too). Just wanted another reason to draw Piccolo and Gohan's family :^)c
My style changes every time I hyper focus on a new anime/manga I’m into at the moment. I’ve watched all the big ones so far and am now on the hunt for some good romance animes🥰 I need a good slow burn heartfelt romance to ease the pain.
P.S.~ my oc’s are based off of me and my husband. He’s my muse🤭 so is the DND au if you’ve haven’t put that together already, some lore for y’all.
Jaon(left) and Egg(right) are my oc’s from an old DND campaign! My very first time creating characters really stuck with me🥰 if I feel up to it I’ll put their full breakdowns later.
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