I have some exciting news! I've begun a Patreon for my original novel work! Patrons will get early access to character artwork, worldbuilding posts, and excerpts from the story every month (as well as early access to the book itself once it's finished) and hopefully more along the way! If you can't commit to a pledge at the moment however, don't worry; everything will be posted for free users to see as well after an early access period on my Patreon, Twitter, and Tumblr.
Please consider checking it out!! And in the meantime, here’s my first Patreon post, featuring my novel’s protagonist, Aisling Fancy!
Aisling Fancy is the protagonist of the High Witchery story (at least, the first one lol). She’s an engineer who’s been down on her luck for quite a long time, at least until the mysterious and eccentric Early Clockwork walks through the door of the shop she works at and informs her that she is, apparently, a witch--and not just any witch, but she’s been selected by the Face of Magic as the sixth High Witch of the Council of High Witchery.
Aisling is a no-nonsense sort of person who absolutely adores machines. She built her replacement leg herself, though due to her lack of resources, it’s usually not quite the right size. She doesn’t have much faith in magic at all, but she’s curious about a lot of things and willing to learn more about it--still, she’d rather put her faith in her tools above all else, and doesn’t really believe that she’s a witch since she’s never done any magic before in her life.
Tomorrow I’ll be introducting the aforementioned Early Clockwork, but below the cut, there’s a small excerpt of Aisling’s introduction in the text >w<
The door swung open with a faint jingling, causing Aisling Fancy to swear in spite of herself. She quickly yanked her currently useless metal leg off of the table and laid it across her lap, cheeks heating up.
“Welcome to Tick Tock Emporium,” Aisling said. “How can I assist you today?”
“Ah!”
The woman paused halfway across the floor to the desk. She was a strange character, but it wasn't like Aisling didn't see strange characters every day wandering into the shop. Clearly taller than Aisling, she was a slender woman, clad in a pure white coat that seemed, somehow, to have avoided picking up any of the dirt and grime that was native to the slums. In fact, everything about her looked far too fine to be walking through Aisling's doors, and that was always a sign to be wary.
Aisling pressed her lips together as the woman tugged her dark glasses down to the edge of her nose, considering Aisling. Aisling sighed.
“Yes, I'm Vareese,” she said, holding up one dusty, dark brown hand. “No, I cannot tell you how to attain the seventh plane of Nivarr.”
The woman blinked, lips parting. And then she laughed. She almost doubled over from it, pushing her glasses back up onto her nose.
“Oh dear! My apologies, I did not mean to stare—and I wasn't about to ask, either.”
She smiled with perfect, straight white teeth, making Aisling press her own lips together against her own crooked teeth despite herself.
“Can I help you today?” Aisling said, trying to keep her composure. Jellan would scream at her if he found out she had acted like that towards a customer. At least the woman seemed to be jovial about it.
“Ah, yes, my apologies...I was simply excited to meet you,” the woman said.
“Valors...you are all the most ridiculous, messy, annoying thing to have ever intruded on my life. And if I had the choice to do it over, I’d choose to meet you all again.”
