#ciderbomb

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Finally finished the full-body rendering of the spider-lady herself, Lara Astley!

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LMFAO So here’s the doodle. No, but seriously, I have a picture lined up and it’s based on these two.

Can you guess who they are before I post the actual picture? B) Brownie points and a username mention for anyone who can guess.

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Finally earned it yesterday when I couldn't sleep before a final - and wiped out in the next couple of hours after the test.

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The first spark of inspiration of drawing that I felt in a while. I had to drop everything else when school came up and got two jobs, but at least I can still reach back to my roots. Her name's Zyanya, and she's a Furfrou Gijinka for an active group on DeviantArt!

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More Addition to Strange Magic Story (should I be labeling these things? seriously? this is becoming a series...maybe a title?)

Urggghhhh…I’ve been trying to finish this since the second installation. I’m losing my mind, this thing just won’t freaking die! On the other hand, at least you guys are getting a nice “ROMANCE ISN’T HAPPENING IN A MINUTE” kind of thing.

People noticed that the Bog King and Marianne sort of fell in love in like 10 minutes? So…yeah, here you go. Drama and dragged-out romance. Hope somebody’s liking this, LOL, because it’s not quite over yet.

———————————-

After a tumultuous night of nightmarish dreams, Leland re-awakens to find himself laying spread-eagle across Renatta’s back. He starts and falls off her back, comedically. She glances back at the noise and chuckles, though she stuffs a fist in her gob when he gives her a glare.

She takes a moment to explain what had happened, and Leland gives her a nod of approval before she starts walking back. He starts walking beside her, and she gives him a mildly-surprised look.

"Fergot abou’ yer wing?" she reaches a clawed hand to run along his stitched-up wing, "Don’t ye fairies love flyin’?"

Leland pulls his wing back, but continues to walk on the ground.

"No, not all fairies love flying," he retorts, "Some even hate it."

News to Renatta. She decides that the long walk back would be a good opportunity to get to know Leland more, though she swore that it would end if it got too personal. The situation back home weighed heavily on her mind.

Upon her prodding, Leland dodges her questions and turns the tables on her: because he too wants to know more about her. For instance, what sort of sorcery did she have that could transform her from having the legs of a spider to the legs of a fairy?

She laughs heartily, and explains that magic has always come naturally to the Spinstrels - able to channel and weave magic as deftly as web.

Now that she is closer to the leylines of magic, she demonstrates by spinning thread into a delicate lacework of butterflies. Then, she blows and summons the creatures to spring to life, little wispy butterflies that fluttered then stuck to whatever it touched and dissolving back to web.

Impressed, Leland asks for more, but she shakes her head. One could only pull so much from the earth, and the leylines needed time to regain strength. Even the tiny bit of magic she borrowed for her trick would need to be replenished over a day - at least here, where the magical leylines weren’t strong. Stronger leylines meant they could draw more without fear of harming the landscape or completely drying out the source. She also explains that Spinstrels could store magical power for when they needed it, but were “disconnected” - which is what Renatta used when she had changed herself back in the human dwelling.

Leland begins to re-visit the memory of Renatta with only two legs, and for a few minutes, he is oblivious to his surroundings. He stops when she waves a hand in front of his face, though, and blinks at a large branch that was about to smack him had he not halted. She’d been trying to get his attention to continue her explanation, but he hadn’t responded, and it was worrying her.

Not wanting to admit what he was thinking about, he clears his throat and walks on, mentioning that his daughter is waiting for him. Renatta holds onto the thread of the conversation by bringing up his daughter, and she sees him smile for very first time.

He describes her as sunshine, bright and blinding, coming over the edge of a green, flower-filled hill.  She smiles, and listens to his description with warmth, but Leland freezes when he mentions how much Noelle is like her mother.

An uncomfortable silence fills the air, and Renatta decides to get to the heart of it.  She asks him what his wife was like, and he stiffens, his blue wings folding against his back with a snap.  He tells Renatta to mind her own business, and that they should be focused on getting back to the kingdoms.  Not sure what she deserved to get such a reaction, she responds in kind, remarking snappily that he should be flying then.

Again, tension builds, and as night falls, they eye each other warily. Renatta chooses to sleep in a knothole of a rotted stump, stringing her web over the entrance of it to alert her whether a sneaky fairy may or may not decide to cross through. Leland does the same, finding shelter under a winding branch and draping it with dry leaves and sticks in case a spider fae would try to eat him.

They both try to fall asleep, but find it hard, and lay awake, gazing up at the stars. And for some reason, not a creature is heard or seen. Not even the forlorn hoot of an owl, or the high shrill of a cricket.

Renatta, a nocturnal being herself, had her sleep schedule thrown off these past couple of days - she should be awake now, hunting and jumping through her territory like the wild Queen that she was. Singing songs of triumph and the dark - both beautiful and deadly. Anything to keep her mind off of the thoughts that had plagued her since the day she’d been brushed off by the Bog King, and banished from court.

Leland attempts to sleep once more when he hears a soft voice, echoing from beyond his quarters, and shuffles towards the entrance to listen. It starts low, but as it grows louder, the pitch changes to a comfortable vibrato - a woman’s voice. Renatta’s voice.

She sings of a hunt, tracking a deadly beast, and standing proudly amongst her sisters with its head in her hand. A bit crude, but the Scottish lull of her voice is pleasant, and Leland opens the curtains to his ramshackle sleeping quarters to gaze at the tree stump.

Renatta is there, as expected, but not in the knothole. She’s crawled out to the edge at the top, and looks at the bright moon peering out through the thick clouds. Lonely and hauntingly, her Scottish melody ends with a plea to be returned to her sisters. Leland is reminded of Noelle, and feels a similar type of heartache in his chest. He ducks back in when he sees her turn around, and Renatta doesn’t miss the subtle shift below her.

Long is her anger gone, but she doesn’t know what to say. Neither does Leland. So, the spider fae returns to the knothole, not disturbing the awake-fairy that peeked out behind its curtains.

However, he does catch the soft ‘goodnight’ that she bids him, and he returns the words.

"Good night…Renatta."

It’s the first time he speaks her name, and she goes to bed with his voice echoing in her mind.

———————————————-

While the pair slept, the light and dark sides of the forest have started to poke and prod at their borders. Marianne and the Bog King are hesitant to leave and search for Renatta and Leland, knowing that taking such a large force of Spinstrels and Fairy Guard would leave the kingdoms at the mercy of their many subjects.

Marianne wants to ask her father, but in trying to become a better match for Bog, tries to resolve the matter on her own. She decides to trust that the two generals will make it back on their own, but the Bog King - who was raised with Renatta and thinks of her like a sister - cannot help but disagree. Dawn throws in her own thoughts, having spent time with Noelle, and wants Leland to be found as soon as possible.

The soon-to-be Fairy Queen argues that war is coming, and now isn’t the time to be divided. Dawn is shocked at her sister’s coldness, and heads back to the castle in tears. The Bog King understands what Marianne is saying, and stays to comfort her as she bottles up the urge to chase after her sister, needing to stay and deal with the problems at hand.

However, he does try to encourage Marianne to follow her heart, rather than her head in times like these. For whatever she chose, the Bog King would stand by her side without doubt.

Sighing, Marianne knows that she’d rather go after Leland and Renatta, but can’t bring herself to rid the fear in her heart. And as much as she wants to explain herself, she believes that the Bog King would want her to be the same “tough girl” that he’d come to know and love.

She shakes her head, and asks that the Bog King help organize a small scouting party to go instead as a compromise. He can sense that she’s lying, that something’s amiss, but he promised to stay her side, and bows to her command. Together, they try to figure out who to send, but it must either be all Spinstrel or all Fairy, seeing as how the two are ever at odds. Marianne argues that Fairies could cover more ground, as they could fly, but the Bog King believes the Spinstrels would be able to find the quicker using the magical leylines in the forest.

Their first fight.

Luckily, before it escalates, a Fairy Guard intrudes and warns Marianne that Dawn and Noelle have disappeared.

And Marianne can only assume one thing: the pair have gone after Leland and Renatta.

In a panic, she orders them to fly out, and that she’ll be coming along shortly. However, the Bog King stops her. With Dawn gone, Marianne was the only royal heir left. If anything happens to her, too……

She begins to break down, torn and frazzled, and comes clean: she has absolutely NO IDEA what she’s doing. Sure, she can sword-fight with the best, and give a mean right hook, but leading military ventures? Governing an entire kingdom, full of different species? Political…’stuff’???

"I didn’t prepare for this, Bog," she admits sadly and angrily, gripping her brown locks in fists, "Everyone assumed that I’d just marry someone to be King and he’d be the one to do this…no one ever taught me how to rule by myself. I just…I can’t do this…"

"No one expects ya to, tough girl," the Bog King takes her gently by the arms and hoists her up to look at him, "Ya have me by yer side, rememba’?"

"But…but you’re already a King," she insists, squeezing her eyes shut as she tries to hide the tears.

"Well, yeah, but I didn’t ge’ a choice. M’father died early on…" he sees her freeze and stare at him, "So, I didn’t get much prep time either, Marianne. I had to learn th’ hard way. And it’s hard doin’ it alo-ne."

He slides his hands down her arms to hold hers delicately.

"When yer t’be my Queen," the both of them flare up, varying shades of red tinging their cheeks and ears, "I nev’r want ya t’be doin’ this alo-ne. I want us t’do it together. We’ll be ruling side-bah-side, ‘til th’ end."

The heartfelt moment lasts a lifetime in Marianne’s eyes, but it unnerves the Bog King who is waiting to see how she reacts. He is pleasantly surprised by her throwing her arms around his neck, and giving him a deep, memorable kiss. She giggles when she draws away from him, as his eyes are still closed and his dark lips are pursed in an ‘o’ shape.

Reassured, she takes the Bog King’s advice and flies over to her father, who helps her plan what to do next: he will head the charge to find Dawn and Noelle, while she and Bog stay and continue to ease border tensions.

The Bog King, satisfied with the result, looks up at the moon, and hopes beyond measure that his Spinstrel commander is alive and well.

—————————————————-

Leland and Renatta both awaken when a squeak sounds off near their position. Afraid that the rat from the daycare had followed them, they prepare themselves before confronting the beast: and finding a squirrel in its place.

Renatta, armed with her claws and a makeshift spear, is about to strike, but Leland waves her off. Confusion washes over her. Squirrels were known to be quite savage bug-eaters, and she’s lost a couple of her own sisters to foraging rodents like these. He approaches the twitching ball of fur, and she prepares to jump in if necessary, but Renatta is surprised by the squirrel’s instant relaxation at Leland’s outreached hand.

She questions if he too has sorcery in him, but he only laughs. Most animal life are friends of the light side of the forest, and it doesn’t take long for him to persuade the beast into letting him sit on its neck.

Leland looks down on her, triumphantly so for the first time due to her larger spider-half, and reaches a hand down for her to climb up.

Renatta remains uneasy, and declines the offer, choosing to walk behind the squirrel at a safe distance. He shakes his head, and they march onwards - until they encounter a centipede. Leland assumes the squirrel would avoid it, but is jolted when the furry rodent bristles and hisses. The centipede does likewise, and the spider fae can sense the danger.

She shoots a web out to slap against Leland’s back, jerking it back to let him unceremoniously land on his ass in front of her. Leland is about to yell at her when she points at the spectacle in front of them.

Like a fight to the death, the centipede is wrapped around the squirrel like a constrictor, its antennae wriggling wildly and its pincers sinking into soft fur. The rodent was doing just as much damage, trying to rip the sectional insect at its seams, biting down on crunchy, weak legs. Leland stands up, drawing his sword, but Renatta holds a hand out, telling him to let things fall where they may.

In the end, the centipede manages to kill the squirrel, having bitten its eyes, but as it crawls away, it too succumbs to its injuries. Renatta approaches the dead animal and insect, shaking her head as she mourned the loss of life.

Angrily, Leland asks why she stopped him, and she explains that nothing could’ve been done to stop them - they’d been enraged beyond reason, even beyond Leland’s persuasion. She closes her six eyes and reads the magical leylines, grimacing.

"The leylines have been corrupted here," Renatta withdraws her hand from the crumbling soil, staring into the distance from which the centipede had come from, "It’s poisoned the creatures here…and the earth. And the corruption is spreading."

Leland grips his sword, asking her quietly how such a thing could happen. And she answers with a chilling, cold response: fae.

A fae had done this - upset the natural order and tampered with the leylines to cause chaos. Renatta grabs her spear and starts to head towards the kingdoms once more, Leland falling in line with her quickly.

"Is the corruption heading towards the Forest? Towards the Fairy Kingdom?" Leland asks, a steely, hard set line on his face.

"Aye," she nods, hurrying as fast as her spider legs could go and giving Leland a run for his money, "An’ towards mine. Somethin’ nasty’s comin’ fer our kin."

She looks down at Leland, still running along and refusing to fly. Renatta sighs exasperatedly, and extends her arm pushily.

"Climb on, ye doaty dobber," she urged him.

"What did you just call me?!" he shouted, but she just grabbed him by the scruff of his armor in exasperation.

"Jus’ get on!" Renatta shakes her head, tossing him onto her back, "Why’d I even bather fixin’ yer damn wing if’n ye ain’t gonna use it?!"

With that, the pair head back towards the kingdoms, hoping beyond hope that they aren’t too late.

[ciderbomb]

Another Addition to the Strange Magic Story

This is really turning into a story. WTF, brain?

————————————————————

Due to the laws dividing magical and non-magical creatures, Renatta and Leland are only seen as a large spider and a butterfly in the eyes of their human captor. A relief, to the both of them, as the discovery of their magical kingdoms could lead to their destruction.

Unfortunately, the human that captured them is a child, who separates the two of them in different bug jars, and begins to shake Renatta’s jar without mercy. It seems the child doesn’t like spiders, and the poor spider fae is knocked around, injuring several of her legs and crushing a part of her thorax. Leland is not without his own punishment, receiving accompanying jostles.

Afterwards, the child finally relinquishes them to an empty aquarium tank in a child’s daycare facility, and they’re still extremely angry at each other despite the beating they took.

However, both are too tired, too injured to continue the fight, and reluctantly retire to opposite corners of the aquarium. Their thoughts are on returning to their kingdoms, as soon as possible.

In the morning, Leland is taken from the tank by a larger human, a teacher, and displayed for the children in a bug jar, who feed him sugar water and various pieces of fruit. Renatta doesn’t miss the smug look on his face, being adored and giggled at. Then, the children move from him over to Renatta, who receives horrible glass taps instead, and even Leland can’t help but have the tiniest shred of pity.

Leland and Renatta continue to receive their respective human treatments, and are in the same aquarium together by the end of the day. They each search for a way to escape their prison, but as soon as one is close to leaving, the other somehow manages to get in their way. After several set-backs, the tension builds and breaks.

They begin to fight once more, but when a stray rat wanders into the room and eyes them hungrily, they choose to put their differences aside to be on guard. To stay up, they exchange a few neutral words - discussing their mutual duties and guardsmen/clan sisters. There was even mention of Leland’s daughter, which Renatta softens against. Many had expected the Queen of the Spinstrels to have already found a mate and birthed several heirs, but still she remained single. Her sisters scolded her playfully on this subject, but it was a rather sore point for her, and she would often watch her sisters with envy as they raised their daughters and sons.

Meanwhile, on the second night of Leland and Renatta’s abduction, the Fairy Kingdom and Goblin Kingdom are on edge. Marianne takes control of the Fairy Guard in Leland’s stead, though she doesn’t have a great deal of experience in leading. It also doesn’t help that Marianne has to take care of Leland’s daughter, Noelle, as he didn’t really have any close friends of family. Luckily, Dawn has a close affinity to Noelle, and the two of them play while Marianne deals with the military consequences of Leland’s absence.

The Bog King does likewise, taking over Renatta’s position, but due to the misunderstandings and previous dismissal from the court, the Spinstrels treat him with suspicion and cold stiffness. Griselda has more luck, considering she was the previous Queen, and persuades them to stay for the time being.

But this is a buffer at best - for sinister forces are stirring on both sides of the forest. And they would love nothing more than descending both kingdoms into chaos.

"War is coming," say the whispers.

At a loss, the future King and Queen of both kingdoms meet again, despairing over the possible war looming in the near future, but gain strength as they reassure one another.

"We’ll get through this together."

They begin planning for the reclamation of their respective commanders, and pray that they aren’t too late.

On the third day, Leland and Renatta are exhausted, having stayed up late through the night to guard against the rat. They’re given no rest, though, as the children repeat the routine of taking Leland out, and letting Renatta stay in the aquarium. This time, however, they let Leland out onto their teacher’s desk, and watch him expectantly. No bug jar this time, just left to wander the wooden piece of furniture freely.

Renatta stares at the awkward situation until Leland stares back, shrugging his shoulders tiredly. They’re not giving him anymore sugar water…just…staring. He notices the tall human isn’t in the room with them, and it makes him feel uneasy.

Then, one children takes a bottle of sugar water and puts a drop on their finger, holding it up high above Leland’s head. It takes Leland a while to understand that they want him to fly. Snorting, he ignores them and takes the time to survey the exit points instead, taking advantage of what he could see behind the aquarium tank. He curses his inability to fly when he notices an open window just above the aquarium tank.

As he ignores them, this upsets the children, who begin to poke him, grab his wings, and blow on him to force him to fly.

Now, despite all the misgivings between them, Renatta begins to feel sorry for him. He has a daughter, after all, and she couldn’t make a child - even a fairy child - an orphan while she could do something. Still injured, Renatta at least has the strength to jump and smack herself against the glass, drawing the attention away from Leland back onto her.

The teacher returns luckily and scolds the children for taking the butterfly out of the tank without her there. Upon learning that Leland can’t fly, however, she puts Leland back in the tank and takes Renatta out instead.

Terrified, Renatta reaches out for Leland, who does take her hand and mounts her spider-half. He begins to smack the teacher’s hand with his wings, and Renatta uses her claws and teeth. Surprising her, the teacher drops Renatta back in, and they’re left alone for the remainder of the day - the children staring widely at the strange pair of insects.

Leland and Renatta share an awkward moment: the spider fae trying to say thank-you, and the fairy trying to brush it off. In the midst of their stumbling words and quiet pauses, Renatta notices Leland holding his arm - and finds out that it had been broken when the teacher dropped them. She offers to splint it, at least, for his help, and he surprises her with a ‘yes’.

They don’t talk, afraid that they’d start fighting when they were really too tired to, but Leland begins to see a softness to Renatta that was hidden beneath her hard carapace. Once bound, she offers him a blanket made from her silk, and he offers some sugar water in return. They begin to grow closer.

The next morning brings surprise for both fairy tale creatures: their tank had been moved to the middle of a large playroom on a center table. And the number of children had grown triple.

The two of them are taken out and placed in the same bug jar, the closeness making things more awkward after the truce that was called the night before. What’s worse: pairs of human eyes surrounded them, intent on watching. Renatta begins to feel fatigued, only having had the sugar water from Leland to sustain her, and most of her energy was diverted to healing herself.

Leland tries to help her, but she waves him off insistently, her instincts to eat the pretty-winged fairy growing. But he is stubborn - and sits squarely on her spider-half again, assuring her that this is the only safe place, considering she can’t turn around to grab at him.

Renatta can’t argue it, and settles into a comfortable corner to rest, Leland watching over her as the humans come closer to stare. The shiny black spider and the beautiful blue butterfly. It was an unusual, but pretty sight to see. And it elicits a fair amount of sympathy, as the teacher knows the spider hasn’t been fed in the last three days. She had expected it would’ve eaten the butterfly - it couldn’t fly, after all - but it never did happen. Whatever strange relationship the two had, it was strong enough to the point of the spider starving itself.

So, as the daycare closed its doors, she drops a few live crickets into the tank without anyone looking.

Renatta is took weak to catch the blasted things, though, so Leland offers to do it for her. It’s impressive, considering he can’t fly, but she does laugh a little every time his “Captain of the Fairy Guard” mask falls.

"Frustratin’ li’l beasties," she teases, "Ain’t the’ Cap’n?"

Hunting is not a fairy’s strong suit, and he ditches his armor and things to make moving easier.

By the end of it, she is very grateful when he presents her with two of the mad-hopping beasts, and stifles any laughter she has left. His hair and wings are covered shavings and bits of leaves, evidence of his harrowing feat.

There’s a fair amount of embarrassment when she tries to eat, though, as he’s staring at her, and she urges him to look away. Spider fae feeding was not for the faint-hearted, but he refuses, wanting to make sure she eats the damn things for the trouble he went through. With a shrug, she begins dissecting them, slurping their insides, and revealing her massive, capable-of-eating-fairy-sized jaws to swallow various pieces of the cricket whole.

Leland regrets his decision.

Yet, as she finishes her meals and looks at him softly, smiling with that melty, half-lidded and satisfied gaze you can only get after eating to your heart’s content, it makes his wings flutter and his stomach do somersaults - not out of disgust, mind you, but something…indescribable.

As thanks, she offers to patch his wing with her silk, and he wants to turn her down. However, her strength has been restored, at least partially, and she snags him with her arms before he can escape.

She doesn’t ask how it’s been damaged, though Lord knows she wants to, but can see that it’s a painful subject for him. Leland shifts uncomfortably as she mends the sticky web to his wing, but the uncomfortableness doesn’t come from that. Two of her arms are occupied on his wing, but the other two are distracting him by holding onto his chest and stomach, near his twitching, crossed lap - as if it were natural. And every time he moves to flee, they squeeze him there, gently and firmly all at once.

He chooses to sleep away from her this night.

In the morning, Renatta finds that she’s nearly better, the energy from the food she’d ingested helping fuel her magic to heal her faster. She and Leland both agree that getting out of the daycare would be faster if they could work together, and plan their escape - their tank had been moved back to the first room again, which meant the open window was behind them once more.

Good thing Renatta repaired his wing - they’re going to need it.

They wait from morning until the noon time, when the children and teacher leave for whatever reason (the word ‘recess’ reaches their ears), and begin. The tank to the aquarium is heavy, but Leland remembers when the teacher used a small hatch to let the crickets in.

He takes a large spool of Renatta’s thread and flies up to the hatch, attaching the ends of her web around it. She climbs up, and uses brute strength to bash it open. Leland flies out, and watches for the humans as Renatta squeezes through the hatch herself. But just as they both get free, they notice that the window behind them is shut. Freedom was so close, yet now so far.

And the children are due back any moment.

Leland notices another open window, however, and points it out to Renatta. The only problem? It lies on the opposite end of the daycare room, which was like an ocean for the two tiny fae. They don’t have much choice, though - if they get moved back to the large daycare room which has no windows, they would be trapped forever.

So, Renatta asks him to fly the two of them over. Leland is about to mention how much larger she is in comparison to him, and the improbability of being able to carry her due to her weight…but any way he puts it, it sounds rude and insulting.

While trying to find a different way to say it, Renatta already understands his concerns, and sneaks off to the side to prepare a spell.

Renatta’s magic was limited, being so far away from the magic leylines of the forest, but she could do the basic transformation, at least. In a waft of purple smoke, she disappears her spider-half and replaces it with something like a fairy’s: only one pair of long legs with her remaining six legs dwindling to tiny bony appendages on the side of her hips.

Leland, finally finding the words, turns to her and is surprised at her change of appearance. No words are said, as he wonders if he’s hallucinating, but Renatta breaks the silence with a cough. The humans are coming back, and the longer he stares, the less time they have.

Awkwardly, they try to figure out how Leland is to carry her, and they settle with her wrapping her four arms around his neck and shoulders in a hug.

Neither one are comfortable with the situation, and every accidental shared glance makes them embarrassed.

However, they finally take flight when they hear the door clicking open, and speed away towards the window. They make it half-way across the room when they’re spotted, and all feelings of embarrassment disappear as the children rush to snatch them from the air. Leland focuses on flying as Renatta uses her web, flinging it at the children to make them reel away.

One child grabs a cup of water and splashes it towards them, causing them to tumble and crash against the window. Yet, it’s just enough as they scramble up over the edge, and fall into the green bush below. Leland is knocked out during the fall, and Renatta changes herself back, carrying the unconscious fairy towards the safety of the forest. She manages to make it to the edge before collapsing in sheer relief - they made it.

Then, the reality of their escape hits her. Spinstrel. Fairy. Queen. Captain. Two very different fae, on opposite sides of the Forest. And all the pressures that came with it.

She looks over at Leland’s unconscious body. Four days ago, she would’ve left him in the aquarium tank - or eaten him. Four days ago, she couldn’t stand the sight of him and wanted to tear out his throat. But that was four days ago.

In the shortest span of time, Renatta had gotten to know him, and all of his flaws and strengths. And a warmth blooms where her spider heart lays. He is a good fae. If he were a Spinstrel male, she would have……..

The thought crosses her mind innocently enough, but once realized and caught, Renatta slaps her forehead.

She likes the bloody fairy - enough to not eat him, at least. A certain word bursts through the threshold of her mind, but she denies it vehemently. When they got back to the kingdoms, they would resume the positions they held, and be at odds once more. For neither could turn their back on their kinsmen/women. They were too stubborn and too loyal to do so - and this, whatever “this” is, could not be.

So she closed herself up. Layered her heart. And prayed that by the time they got back, whatever she was feeling would be gone.

[ciderbomb]

More Strange Magic Story

So…wanna hear more head-canon? If you do, read on. If not, just keep scrolling awayyyy……..

Ahem, on the other end of the spectrum, I mentioned the Fairy Kingdom has their share of disapproving magical creatures and fae?

After Roland is gone, there is no apparent leader who can take over the Captain’s position. So, the Royal Family asks the soldiers to vote one of their own forward, and are surprised by the candidate: Leland.

Leland is an unusual fairy fae who has lost his ability to fly - one of his wings having a large scar torn through it by an incident long ago. Refusing to quit the service, however, he continues to keep up with patrols and duties using tools of his own making - grapple hook, rope, and etc. When inactive and at the castle, Dawn and Marianne see him brooding and planning alone.

Unbeknownst to the Royal Family, though, Leland had earned the respect and approval of his fellow guardsmen through years of dedication and a strategic mind that even Roland appreciated. He is also a single father to one very bubbly daughter, who visits the barracks nearly everyday. The circumstances surrounding his wife were always vague, as Leland refused to speak about her, but they never pushed too hard, due to the tragic face he made regarding it.

Proud and steely, Leland accepts the honor stoically, and the men would have celebrated - except they need to quell the disagreements and fights that broke out in the kingdom.

Finally, when both kingdoms get a brief period of peace, the Bog King and Marianne begin to plan for their wedding by throwing a ball to meet their new respective subjects. And both bring the heads of their security: Renatta and Leland.

Renatta, a constant thorn in Marianne’s side, has been testing and prodding the woman nearly nonstop since she’d been brought back. Instead of complaining to the Bog King, however, the Fairy Princess chooses to take it as a challenge and proceeds normally, impressing the Spinstrel Queen mildly. Marianne even manages to sneak in a few jabs of her own, and the two begin to see eye-to-eye.

Leland, an unspoken disapprover of Marianne’s choice in marriage partner, attends with a trained eye on the Bog King. Every hand gesture, touch, and motion is observed, and the Scottish dragonfly is not very appreciative. The shy bug-king is still getting used to publicly displaying his affection, and he wrestles with his urge to hold his beloved and his embarrassment at being watched.

Griselda, matchmaker and mother, is up to her old tricks and takes a page from Marianne and Bog King’s book - setting up people from both sides of the kingdoms. Light and Dark. Fairy and Goblin. And for the most part, people enjoyed her funny, but futile attempts.

Then, she spots Renatta and Leland.

Mischievously, she sets her sight on them and locks on, pursuing the two of them doggedly. At every opportunity, Griselda tries to push them together, and every time they evade the woman’s gestures.

Finally, having had enough, Leland speaks out against Griselda angrily, telling her to go away. Renatta loves the goblin woman like her own, and defends her against Leland’s outburst. Slowly, the yelling grows, and harsh insults are exchanged. The ball grinds to a halt, both Captain and Queen drawing the attention of every creature there. Not even Marianne or the Bog King can get between the two of them, and it gets worse as the Fairy Guard and the Spinstrel Clan gather behind their respective leaders in preparation.

Before a fight is ignited, luckily, they are disturbed by an outside force - a HUMAN. While Renatta and Leland were fighting, no one was watching the borders like they were supposed to, letting the human trespass unnoticed. Traipsing clumsily like an oafish giant, the human literally crashes the party, and scoops the Captain and the Queen into a bug jar, interested in the non-flying butterfly and the large spider. The human can’t see the enchanted creatures for what they are, fortunately, but that doesn’t mean the danger is any less real.

As the human leaves, Marianne and the Bog King survey the damage in shock, and the tentative peace wrangled by their guards is broken. Blame is placed on both sides, and the Spinstrel Clan and Fairy Guard are now closer than ever to a war.

…;u; This is slowly turning into a long story, LMAO.

[ciderbomb]

And here's some concept art for Spinstrels. I tried making them somewhat punk-ish, but so far, they look like an angry gang of biker chicks. LOL I'll figure out how to diversify them later, but yeah. Spinstrels. Scottish berserker spider fae from the dark side of the forest. Loyal body guards to the Bog King - and soon-to-be Queen.