#campaign box

[pandoras-comment-box]

Dragn_D0ve, part 3

<- Part 2 (Beginning)

Lights seared shadows with a neon glow while the bass tenderized the building. People moved against and around each other, dancing, laughing, arguing. Dove watched.

The VIP section in this club rose above the dance floor below, and Dovenroc liked sitting, one leg over the railing, one eye on the normal people partying, while he gossiped with his crew.

"What's wrong with Dove?" Lucas yelled at the group.

"Huh?" Dove replied.

His mental tally didn't add up to something being "wrong". His horns were as large and proud as always. His hair was carefully swept, over, under, and around each one before he'd cemented it in place with gel and hair spray. His tawny skin glowed through the gauzy teal tank top he'd thrown on over expensive--and short--leather shorts. His earrings, watch, necklaces, and bangles all chimed and sparkled with every breath. Hell, Dove had even done his dragon eyes and scales all the way to his biceps tonight.

Dovenroc was in top form for a night of careless partying.

"I've only seen you do tequila shots all night!" Lucas reasoned.

"Really?" Francesca gasped. Perhaps a little too exagerated a response, but she was already well past drunk and on the way to hammered, so what could they expect.

"Yeah. Not a single other complicated cocktail recipe, thousand year old brandy, or wine I can't pronounce all night. Did you let Kyle borrow your daring?"

"Who's daring did I borrow?" Of course that was enough to get Kyle to stop whispering sweet nothings into his new friends' ears. He'd gotten some serious swagger off of an athlete earlier that week and had been delighting in showing off all night with the three ladies he'd already managed to pick up.

"Dove's!"

Kyle gave Dovenroc the Look, the one that picked all of a person's strengths out of their core like a pearl from a rotting oyster. "Nah, he's still got it! Wouldn't be tempting a broken ankle falling into the piranhas below if I'd gotten my paws on it."

"Dove'd have to be smart enough to know he'd break an ankle."

"Fuck you. I can fly," Dove threw back, turning just enough on his perch to let give himself enough room to shift his wings out. He blocked the strobe lights with a nearly ten foot navy blue wingspan. The crowd noise carried on, immune to the overly dressed mad man posturing above them.

Francesca patted his cheek. "Yes, yes, you're super cool. No one else can here can fly, certainly not Charles or Mikey."

"Put your wings away, parakeet," Kyle muttered. "Fuck is wrong with you tonight?"

"Nothing," Dove said quickly, closing his eyes. His human cells were stretching, called to his dragon shape, and Dovenroc did not feel like stripping out of all of his jewelry just yet. His hair had taken too damn long and looked too fucking hot to swap for scales before the party was over.

So Dovenroc sat with his eyes closed, pulling the parts of himself back into line, redirecting the portion of his thoughts keeping his half-shifted features back to simple aesthetics, not the feeling of being a thirty foot long fire breath--

It took him a quarter of an hour to finally settle enough into human to rejoin his friends' conversation. Most of them had gone for alcohol or dancing by now. Lucas was shuffling through something on his phone. Dove was bored.

Dancing? Nah. Girls? Not with fucking Kyle on his shit. Booze? Basic bitch only. When did this club get so crappy?

Now Lucas was giggling. Well at least one of them was entertained.

Maybe a fight? Dove wondered, then snickered. Latrebor would fucking love that.

Before Dovenroc could find the biggest guy in the club to insult, Lucas barked a laugh and shoved his phone, playing a brightly colored video, into Dove's face.

"Dude, you gotta check this out."

[pandoras-comment-box]

I was playing with Dragn_D0ve part 3 tonight. I am quite pleased with this:

"Kyle gave Dovenroc the Look, the one that picked all of a person's strengths out of their core like a pearl from a rotting oyster."

[pandoras-comment-box]

I haven't written creatively for over a year, and I probably won't be getting back to #Plot Armadillo for at least another year due to Life. BUT I love my losers that live in my brain. I still want to play doll's sometimes, just less pressure low stakes doing it live dolls. Hence, I am going to write up scenes of Dovenroc, my dragon boy, as he goes from being a college drop out with a trust fund to a multimillion dollar lifestyle brand empire. Let's see if he actually becomes a better person along the way.

Dragn_D0ve

"Thank you. Come again," Dovenroc said as he handed the customer their receipt. Checking the tiny clock at the corner of the register, he saw the time flash to 15:30 exactly. Clocking out!

He tore off his horrendously brown apron, catching the small dragon pin Symone had stuck on a strap in his hair. Frowning, he put his apron back in the break room, and pulled his bag and his compact out of his cubby.

Replacing each strand of dark brown hair around the two horns swooping back off his forehead would have been much easier with two hands. Dovenroc continued to labor with one while the other held the mirror at exactly the right angle needed; the staff bathroom at this grocery store was disgusting and disgustingly small. He'd been in it once and refused to step foot inside again. It took twice as long, and some random contortions to get his hair just right, but Dovenroc made the time.

Once that was fixed, he surveyed his face. Mahogany eyeliner sharpened his green eyes, but he hadn't bothered with other make up for his shifts today. And now he was bored.

Average face, Dove sighed. Blinking quickly with the itching at the corners of his eyes as his scales in shades of dark blue erupted through his skin. Better.

Replacing his compact in his bag, he swung it over his shoulder and grabbed his bike helmet.

A young woman wearing the bland brown apron over a light yellow floral dress walked in as he was leaving. She smiled warmly on catching sight of Dovenroc.

"Heading out? Thanks so much for helping out today Dove!"

He nodded once and held up a two finger wave. "See ya."

"We'll call you about next week, 'kay?"

Next week? Maybe. Might be lifeguarding at the beach if that CPR thing goes through.

Dovenroc unlocked his bike and strapped on his helmet while he let his horns retract.

Safety first. He laughed. I'm hilarious.

The animals at the shelter didn't think he was all that funny.

"Still couldn't convince the dogs to let you pet them?" Bob laughed as he watched Dovenroc stare at a spaniel sitting as far away from him as possible while he cleaned their kennel.

"Nope," he sighed.

"Well, you might have better luck if you didn't look like a dragon every time you came in."

Why did everyone have a problem with the horns? The horns stay.

"Tch. Nah. My brother says dogs just don't like dragons. He's always wrong. I'll pet 'em eventually."

Dovenroc had done a lot of things in the year and a half he'd been volunteering at the animal shelter, helping out where anyone asked. He played with cats, fed bunnies, tamed lizards, and even trimmed parrot claws. The only animals that didn't like him were dogs. He was determined to pet one, one day.

His supervisor just shook his head, smiling all the while.

Without a signal of recognition, Dovenroc finished up the spaniel's kennel and moved on to the shepherd's next door. The shepherd snarled as he entered, but Dovenroc snarled back, convincing the dog to sit in the corner with his head between his paws.

By the time he'd scrubbed the rest of the kennels, his muscles were sore and his sheer bright blue tank top had caught more fur than a spider's web caught bugs. At least he could go change now that he was done.

"Thanks for your help Dovenroc," Bob said as he headed out.

Alice, one of the ladies who handled the administration, smiled when he waved a good bye. "Just remember to give us a call the next time you want to come in!"

She really does hate spontaneity, he mused.

The controller bounced off a pillow and into another pile of four. Dove sighed, rolling onto his back arms flung wide. The bold red letters flashed over a black field, mocking him, proclaiming in foot tall letters on his big screen TV, "You have been annihilated. Play again?"

The online chat room cackled in his head set. Always the same thing with this game. Dragn_D0ve never made it to the end of the round. He wasn't sure why that always caused the chat to dissolve into laughter; it's not like he claimed he was the best video game player.

A pillow hit Dovenroc in the face, before rolling off, only to get hung up on his horn. He turned his head, but the pillow was stuck.

"Have you been playing all day?"

Great, now Latrebor's laughing too.

His older brother stood in the door to his room, picking up another of Dovenroc's pillows that had escaped his bed. No doubt, he'd be making it into another projectile.

"How long have you been back?" Dovenroc replied instead.

Latrebor smiled, "Missed me? I got in this morning. Father wanted me to go into the office and fill out some of my starting paperwork."

Ugh, came back just for stuffy office work?

After college and finishing a finance degree summa cum laude, Latrebor had taken off for the mountains in Europe. Dovenroc had hoped that meant his brother had finally realized how boring his perfect life was and was doing something about it. Maybe he'd gone off to just be a giant lizard full time like Uncle Raizenrot. Apparently Dovenroc had hoped for too much from Bore.

"Mother told me you'd dropped out, but I had hoped that you were doing *something*," Latrebor mused. "You do remember that Father said you needed to have career to keep access to your trust fund? Losing video games isn't a job."

Dovenroc remembered all of his father's requirements. Unfortunately, his father's requirements were boring. He had to have a job with "career potential". Careers got so repetitive.

Video games could totally be a job, Dovenroc thought. What he said out loud instead was, "Yeah, whatev'."

Part 2 ->

[pandoras-comment-box]

Writing I've Posted

If you've found your way to this post, you must be curious about something I ranted about. This is mostly a list for me to find previous posts quickly, but the writing is still there for anyone who'd like to read.

Short Stories

A Barbarian Becoming

Silent Halls, from PAL

Reeve Meets a Rival, the closest thing I've written to fanfiction

Snippets

Goddesses and a fae

Snow, as a person

Villain kidnapping too often

Friends to enemies not friends, with a castle

Dovenroc and Latrebor, dragons, from PAL, scene from longer short story WIP

Saoirse, lumokinetic, from PAL

Fae releasing the hunting wolves <-- Not canon PAL fae, btw

Finder's Flaw

Cal and Finder lost

Werewolf, from PAL

Finder's First Day

Latrebor wrangling Dovenroc from PAL

Lena chasing a bounty

Description of someone crying

Description of someone being irritable

Dovenroc + Grocer's

Hero's Bad Day

Dragon Romantic Partner, PAL compatible

[pandoras-comment-box]

heyy Box, happy STS!! if you were to write a separate story centered around one of your secondary characters, who would it be and why? what kind of story would you want to tell about them?

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Thank you for the ask!

I sort of already did write a secondary character's story. They're in Silent Halls. But, I can't tell you which one because Spoilers™. That whole story is the result of telepathic mind control, so I can't explain why I wrote it.

I've considered a story about Saoirse, the half-fae lumokinetic who may or may not end up in #plot armadillo. My fae are really insulated people, so the fact that she's half must be its own epic. Who knows what the main plot would be about, but there would be a lot of themes about not fitting in and embracing being unique, of course.

Then, once she's not missing anymore and has a name, the missing character would be a RIOT to write a story about. She's the spicy sarcastic bad ass kind of chaos demon I find easiest to write.

I really really like spin offs. Plus, when I really like my characters, I just want to keep playing with my dolls telling different stories in the same world. Any good secondary character for me has their own story to be told. There's barely enough room on the page for just Cal and Finder. I'd definitely need to give the rest of the cast their own books.

[pandoras-comment-box]

So I've been working on a short story with dragons. I don't know if the plot idea is going to stay the plot idea or if it will even stay a short story (I'll be honest, my short stories are never as short as I intend). At some point I might post the whole story, but for now, I just really wanted to share this little scene between my two dragon characters. (The only editing this has had is while I'm transcribing from my notebook.)

Context: Dovenroc is the main character and the younger brother, Latrebor is the older brother who's just getting back from the equivalent of taking a year long backpacking trip after college. Both of them are dragons. This is the same world where #plot armadillo is set but in a different city.

The evening passed as it usually did. His mother was irritated. Dovenroc was apathetic. He'd eaten enough Chinese food to feed any other college student for a week before joining an online battle royale.

He was nearly finished with the sixth round, surprisingly in the lead, when Dovenroc was interrupted by a pillow against his head. The propelling force was enough to not only knock Dovenroc sideways but skewer the pillow on his right horn. The evening's ennui dissipated as fast as the feathers coated his room.

"What the hell?!"

Latrebor stood in his door, shaking with silent laughter. Tears started to gather at the corner of his eyes. Dovenroc's scowl colored with a blush spreading across his visible skin.

"You look like an idiot," Latrebor sputtered when his laughter slowed enough for breathing. "And now Dove's got more feathers for his nest."

Fabric ripped as Dovenroc pulled his horn through the pillow. "Ha, ha. Bore is back, and the first thing he does is a grade school joke."

"Yeah, I've been trying this thing on for size. Fun, I think it's called? Pretty cool. But, seriously Dove, I tried a boring Bore hello first. You weren't listening."

"I was in the middle of something!" Dovenroc gestured wildly towards his TV where the game had ended with him at the bottom of the standings.

"I've been standing here since before your last round ended. How you can be so focused on that game you can't hear your dear big brother, returned after more than a year away, but retain enough room in your compromised brain for your vanity horns. I cannot understand."

"Same as you and your eyes," replied Dovenroc, pointing at his own as they flashed from human green to reptile silver and back.

Latrebor rubbed between his own gray-green reptilian eyes. "Not the same. I lost my glasses."

Now it was Dovenroc's turn to laugh. "Probably less than a month after you left."

His brother gave a tight smile as he pulled Dovenroc to his feet for a bear hug. After a moment, he returned the squeeze.

"It's good you're back," Dovenroc mumbled into Latrebor's shoulder.

"Mother driving you to pluck out your eyes?"

"Harpies gonna harp."

"And Dad?"

"In and out. Said something about a lot of new investor connections in Asia. At least he took Mother with him for a month."

The brothers separated with Latrebor giving a sturdy pat on the back. He pulled out a desk chair while Dovenroc started another round of his game. This time with half a thought split for Latrebor.

Latrebor sighed, "You're not going to like this, but Mother wanted me to talk to you about school. It was the first thing she said to me after the damn shoe nagging."

He got no reply.

"Dove, you said you were excited to start college before I left. Now Mother's annoyed you dropped out. Why?"

Dovenroc shrugged, "Got bored."

"You got bored with both electrical engineering and the drama department?"

"Yep."

"So being unemployed and playing video games is more interesting?"

"Not unemployed," he said as his eyes shifted again and scales spread on his skin. "I've waited tables, checked people out at the grocery store, busked, volunteered with the fire department, watched people's kids, worked security at some of the clubs, cleaned offices, and delivered stuff with my bike. Sometimes I have more than two jobs at once. And if I could figure out how to get the dogs to let me walk them I'd do that too."

Latrebor nudged Dovenroc with his foot as his brother's neck started to grow. "Hey, the horns are one thing, but put them away if you can't focus on them. Your room will explode if you don't stay human-size."

"You sound like Mother now. Why are you always against the horns?" Dovenroc didn't catch Latrebor's reply as he shifted his focus back to his game and his head.

[pandoras-comment-box]

Favorite Lines Tag Game

@sunset-a-story tagged me in this game a long time ago, and I immediately put it in my drafts to ferment while I worked on my setting exploration writing exercises. Then I was unhappy with my writing exercises and forgot this was waiting until recently. I'm taking a little bit of liberty with the rules too and doing a segment, not just one line.

This is from the dragon short story I'm having a lot of fun with.

Received 05:22: gettin the sparks out in the mountains Received 05:25: not kidnapped or dead Received 05:25: bbs It was probably more suspicious than if he had disappeared, but Latrebor was like that. He also grew into a thirty foot long flying lizard with teeth the length of an average person's hand. He'd take care of himself.

Has it been long enough that I can just tag @sunset-a-story back? You've got more favorite lines, right?

[pandoras-comment-box]

Happy STS!

Do you like to write the same characters over and over or do you prefer new ones? Do you bring them back in other stories, do you keep making up AUs, or do you rather make up a completely new cast for a new work?

At this point in time, my characters are usually one work one setting kind of people. Story ideas usually present themselves character first, so I have more possible characters than I really need at any given point in time. However, I adore series and settings where old characters whose arcs are finished return for a victory lap. If I ever get this current WIP finished, these characters will definitely be on deck to flavor the background of future stories.