#hsfbl

[viscer-aa]

Here’s a little portrait I did in my phone of Yaara*, a major character in He Speaks From Bloodied Lips.

*edited 2025, she is a woman and a different character has her old name. Also the project is named Leviathan Child now.

[viscer-aa]

Scrapped HSFBL Prologue 🍑🦷

[heres the prologue I scrapped and had to rewrite the backstory. Ive figured out what i want for the new one so have no fear ill be rewriting this soon]

Prologue

The inn was warm and merry. The fire crackled brightly in its place, lapping the pot of stew, whose aroma hung in the air with the ale and sweat from the dancers. The bard played a jaunty tune on his flute as a woman with a tambourine spun and tapped her feet to the tune, the little bells on her fur coat jingling. A man approached her, swaying as he stepped, taking her free hand in an attempt to dance with her, only for her to scoff and push the drunken man back into his seat by the fire. His comrades roared with laughter, spilling their drinks on the wood floor. The barkeep would’ve scolded them for this, if she too wasn’t laughing.

“Blimey Gunter, what did ye think was gonna ‘appen?” A bearded man to his right hiccuped, slapping his companion on the back. Gunter shoved back causing the man to drop his drink, ale soaking into his blood-splattered boots. The bearded man froze, then gasped dramatically. “You bastard!” He cried accusingly, a grin spreading over his features despite himself. He lunged at his friend, pulling him into a headlock and digging his knuckles into his scalp. Gunter coughed and grabbed at the arm, but was weak from laughter. His companion howled, “Are ye tired from th’ wench earlier? Ye’r hardly strugglin’!”

Gunter scoffed, “Ah please, as if you’re any trouble after such a docile vamp like that!” and dropped his own mug in favor of wrapping his arms tight around his friend’s middle and slamming him onto the ground. The barkeep hollered over the din.

“Oi! boys! Knock it off!”

“Ease up, Hilda!” The dancer smiled, still tapping on her tambourine. "You shouldn't be too hard on them, they're heroes after all!"

"No hero of mine goes around vanquishing floors!" Hilda bit back, stern demeanor ruined by a bubble of laughter. The other patrons watching the spectacle laughed and laughed. After watching Gunter deliver a swift elbow to the other’s stomach, a fellow hunter decided that that was enough and pulled the two off of each other and back onto their chairs. “Thank you Magni!” Magni smiled warmly at the barkeep with a nod of his red head.

A fourth hunter seated on Magni’s left punched his arm. “If you get any sweeter on that girl I think I’ll vomit!” Laughter flared up again as Magni’s face went as red as his hair. Hilda chuckled and smiled warmly.

“Well I’m sweet on him too, seeing as he’s the only one with any manners among you.” Magni turned even redder than his hair at that. A fifth voice spoke up from the front of their circle facing the fire, which cast long shadows over his face. His beetle-black eyes dimly reflected the glow of his pipe.

“Watch yourself, boy,” He spoke in a voice cracked and worn with age. “Quick love like this only makes one stupid. I would think you’d be smarter considering what just happened with Kieran.” Any residual bits of laughter were sucked up as the old hunter took a drag from his pipe. Magni’s face went back to its usual pale, though he felt nearly green with sick at the implication of the words. The smell of the fire was suddenly heavy.

“... Poor Kieran.” He muttered, barely over the crackling of the fire. The fourth hunter reached over and patted his shoulder.

“It had to be done, you know that.”

Magni’s face scrunched up in distress, then released in a sad huff. “I know, I know,” he sighed and wrung his hands. “It just that I’d never seen Kieran happier.”

The older man held no such sentiment. “That monster bewitched him. He’ll be right in no time now that she’s gone,” He said, punctuating the statement with another puff of his pipe.

Gunter, ever the optimist, let out a hearty laugh and patted Magni on the shoulder. “Hear that?” He shouted. “He’ll be right as rain in no time!” He leaned in close and whispered, or at least tried the best a drunk man could to whisper. “Here, I know just what you need to lift your spirits. Hilda! Another round!” He turned and yelled across the tavern.

“I think you’ve had more than enough ale-” Magni began.

“Nonsense! There’s no such thing as ‘enough ale’!”

And with that, the jovial atmosphere was restored as Hilda loaded up the rusted metal tray with tankards. “If you spill another mug, Gunter, I’m going to make you sleep outside with the horses.” Passing them out to the five hunters, she leaned in close and whispered to Magni. “When you decide to turn in, perhaps you’d like to come join me? Take your mind off of things?” To which Magni was immediately bright red. “Just a thought,” Hilda winked, and walked back over to the bar.

The hunter on Magni’s left nearly fell out of his chair from laughing so hard as the bard began a love song on his flute. The old man huffed and muttered through his pipe.

“I see you’re pointedly ignoring my advice.”

The hunter, now actually on the floor, wheezed out between giggles. “You said it yourself old man; Kieran was just under a spell from that witch! Magni will be just fine, unless Hilda’s secretly a vampire or something.”

The bearded man spoke up. “I would hope not. I warded this place myself.”

“Hilda!” The man on the floor called out, “We don’t have to worry about you bewitching anyone, do we?”

“Igni, all you have to worry about is what I’ll do to Gunter if he spills any more of my ale.”

“Well said!” Igni raised up his mug and took a hearty swig, effectively spilling the entire thing on his face, inciting a harsh yell from the barkeep. Gunter prodded him to get back up as the bearded man leaned forward towards the old man.

“Say, Ragnvaldr,” he began. “How long will it be ‘til this spell on th’ boy wears off?”

Ragnvaldr sprinkled more tobacco into his pipe. “It should’ve worn off after we killed the vampire.”

Magni shifted in his seat uncomfortably, scratching at his beard in thought. “...Where is Kieran, anyway? It’s been so long.”

“Aye, it has,” The bearded man agreed. “Th’ hell has he been up to?”

After a few flicks of a lighter and a long drag, Ragnvaldr sighed out, “He’s working as a sawyer. Last I’d heard he was headed to Stoclyn on business, but he should be getting back about now.” Igni finally sat up, intrigued, after effectively ignoring Gunter’s attempts to get him up.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for him, then?”

“Calm down, son,” Ragnvaldr chided as he nudged Igni all the way up with his boot. “I left a note at his home telling him where we are. If everything went well, he should be on his way now.” Igni settled back into his seat with a contented sigh, flashing a smile at Magni, who was positively beaming.

With the tension in the air properly dispelled, the night continued on filled with joyous music, gripping stories, and delighted cheers. Gunter had finally gotten his dance with the tambourine woman (albeit mostly out of her pitying him,) as the others regaled in the evening pleasantries. Ragnvaldr sat still in his chair with his pipe, yet looked on his companions with a sort of fatherly fondness in his dark eyes. The hours had melted away by the time the door to the inn swung open with a thundering crash and the whipping of the winter wind. A woman swaddled in a cloak next to the door muttered a complaint about the cold. All eyes turned towards to see. Magni and Igni leapt out of their seats eagerly to catch sight of the newcomer.

In the doorway stood a dark figure, short and stocky, dark hair and coat peppered white with snow. The firelight didn’t reach his sunken eyes.

“Kieran?” Igni called out. The figure didn’t answer, and instead stood there, expression unreadable.

Ragnvaldr slowly stood and turned towards the man. He smiled warmly at him, black eyes brimming with tears. “Welcome back, son,” He spoke softly.

“Danika,” Kieran whispered; an empty sound as if he hadn’t even heard Ragnvaldr.

The elder hunter tensed up momentarily, then sighed and moved to wrap his arms around the boy in a comforting embrace.

[and then we were gonna have a very dramatic “you killed my wife!!!” deal and the hunters try to argue that Danika never loved Kieran and only bewitched him and Kieran was gonna deliver some badass line like “i’ve never been more sober in my life” and kill everyone in the inn with a hatchet, end prologue]

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Weekly Goals #5 🍑🦷

Yeeehaww im sleepy

IM AT INTERNATIONAL STATE DECA IN ORLANDO!!!!!!!! I’m super excited but also I won’t be able to get much writing done this week. I do have some downtime though so I’ll do a little bit when I can.

My goals this week are:

HSFBL:

-Outline up to Ariel’s reintroduction

That’s it.

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Weekly Goals 4 🍑🦷

I forgot I did these for a hot second but I’m Back.

I have exciting news!! My friend Elizabeth asked me to cowrite her book series The Legend of Hallica!!!! I’m still gonna be working on He Speaks From Bloodied Lips, but progress may slow down just a little bit since Elizabeth and I outlined precisely when we want the draft of Journey to Hallica to be done.

Here’s the goals from April 15-21:

HALLICA:

-Rewrite chapter 5 fight scene

-Make the dream sequences more surreal

-Lengthen the escape from the castle

HSFBL:

-Add another page to the prologue

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Updoot 🍑🦷

I’m labelling this one as an update so I don’t have to track down what number weekly goal I’m on

Anyhow I’ve been pretty bad lately about working on HSFBL. I’ve made an aesthetic board for the sequel and drew Kieran once so like,, productive procrastinating is all I’ve been up to. My spring break is almost over and just like last year I was nowhere near as productive as I hoped. I’m probably not gonna be very productive for the rest of break either since I have plans with a friend in two hours and tomorrow I have to work on my painting for art class. I also wanna clean up my desk since she’s a hot mess rn.

Basically idk how much I’ll really get done but I want to write more of the prologue and outline some more.

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Weekly Goal #3(?) 🍑🦷

I’m bad at updating idk which number this is but we’re going with three.

I’ve figured out what I want for the new prologue after having to scrap the old one due to a plothole akin to the potholes in my city, seriously the roads fucking SUCK. I also changed Kieran’s backstory to compensate and changed around the timeline and ages of characters a little bit.

Official Actual Age List That I’m Not Gonna Change Again I Swear:

Kieran- 18

Ariel- 19

Michael- 16

Birgitta- 16

Adrasteia- 20

My goals for this week is to work more on the prologue. I’m definitely not gonna get it done this week simply because I just started writing it out yesterday. My productivity might be a bit stunted for the rest of the week because I’ll be out of town for State DECA tomorrow and Friday, but I’m on spring break next week and planning on meeting with an author friend to work!

I might work a little on art too for HSFBL but that’s pretty secondary, plus I’m trying to do pixel art for my dnd campaign I want to turn into a little rpg.

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Update 🍑🦷

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH

(Ignore how I didn’t post updates all week)

I ended up getting attached to the characters in the prologue, like a DUMBASS, and also realized that having Kieran brutally murder all of them would have Serious Consequences later on that I forgot to fuckn give room in the plot for

SO THIS MEANS REWRITING BACKSTORY AND REWRITING THE PROLOGUE 🤪🤙🏻

I’m clearly a professional

Anyways I’ll post the old prologue here for y’all to read, and this week I’ll be working on remaking Kieran’s backstory.

-vp

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End of Week Update 🍑🦷

I meant to post this yesterday djshfjd

I did not quite meet my goals 🥴

I got close though, so that’s good! This week I’ll just focus on finished the prologue and outlining more. The burst of inspiration/motivation is pretty much gone unfortunately, but the art funk is over at least!