Yukiko moves her hands from covering her face to placing them on Xandria's knees and looking up into the red head's eyes, hyperventilating through sobs but managing to answer through sobs. “It was my fault! I told him to go ahead! I didn't know! I didn't know he'd-”
Deliver:
“Hey… Yukiko…” He’s awkward as ever. “I know it’s kind of short notice, but we have… uhh… that test coming up? In Green’s class? I was just wondering… Uhm… If maybe you could help me study? I swear, we’ll just get some cheap delivery food and I’ll really try getting the answers right this time. I can pay for the food too if you’d like!… I mean… I am the one who brought up food, so I should pay for it… I mean… O-only if you wanted to… err… s-sorry I have to go. Bye!” Next message.
Similar:
"How did you know who I am?"
"In the letters he sent home, he talked about someone with a similar description. I'm glad you ended up befriending him... in his more recent letters he talked a lot about that match you challenged him to next week. He was really becoming more confident recently thanks to you and your... encouragement." She laughed softly, though it didn't reach her tired eyes. "Think he would have impressed you in that match?"
"Yeah...I think he might actually have kicked my ass... at least in the next match."
Swing:
Veridia barely manages to dodge the swing aimed at her face, the force of Argyro's fist cutting through the air just a hair from the tip of her nose.
Giving a tag to... @aziz-reads - @worldstogetlostin - @eccaiia - @ink-flavored - @toribookworm22
Lil snippet from chapter one of Dread Secrets~ (unedited drafts my beloved~)
They could, in theory, gain the attention of the God of Celebration and Laughter or the God of Pleasures and Sex Workers. Though Neph doubted that Xadrian or Runais were in much need of immortals. Especially with how many devout followers were here in Rudrian. Neph was likely a grain of sand in the ocean for those two.
“Neph! Why are you just standing around?! Come on over!”
Neph’s head snapped to the sound of the familiar and cheerful voice calling to them.
Rune, one of the Immortals in Rudrian, stood on the balcony of a tavern, lowering the hand that had been cupped around his mouth. Dark brown hair neatly messy and light pink eyes glimmering with a mischief that matched his grin. His habit of rarely wearing a shirt unless it had a plunging neckline exposed the lightly tanned skin of his chest while his signature mousy brown fur coat hung from his shoulders.
“Hey! You can’t have them all to yourself! They’ve gone over there three times this week,” another voice shouted from the other direction.
‘Oh, here we go,’ thought Neph as they turned towards the other voice, already knowing the two immortals were about to argue again.
Xander’s green eyes stare up at Rune, eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed. The immortal’s long, black locks of hair were ornately decorated with golden cuffs that stood in stark contrast to his warm, umber skin.
They proceed to argue for the next five minutes over who has rights to Neph's company...
I'll offer a gentle tag to: @sunkissed-pink , @ink-flavored , and @orphanheirs as well as an open tag to anyone else who may want to play~
The only thing I've been working on is for Dread Secrets, so have a bit of what Xiang is up to~
~~~~~~
A narrow tunnel hides in one of the corners of the room, so narrow and low one had to get on their stomach to look into with barely enough room to fit one's head inside of.
Phelan had once tried to see if he could tell where the tunnel led to, using a candle to try illuminating the space. They discovered that the tunnel lead out to a wall in the library, hidden behind a column. Xiang had volunteered to go into the library and see which column it was in case they wanted to sneak books or scrolls from the library to the secret room and back. It'd taken an incense time to figure out which pillar the tunnel was hiding behind, even with Scy peering out and trying to get Xiang's attention with mental images.
Inside the tunnel are different sizes of claw marks and some scorch marks, meaning the tunnel and room had likely been used by the creatures that lived here before Literia and Prophis were separated to different realms. Prophis stayed in this realm, Eludell, while Literia, the ancient library that stored the world's knowledge, had been transported to the Immortal realm of Elorial.
This discovery had brought on the conversation of how many other secrets had stayed here in Prophis. Rooms and tunnels that hadn't been used in centuries thanks to the knowledge of the hidden passages being forgotten or never rediscovered. How many of these smaller tunnels remained that the creatures of Literia had once used to traverse from one part of the once colossal castle to the other?
The three friends had all but disappeared for a full week, competing to see who could find the most amount of creature tunnels and hidden passages. Thankfully, it had been Lorne who discovered what the trio had been up to.
The old "Grand Historian" liked the three, especially Xiang since Lorne had taken on a parental role since finding the younger man abandoned in a forest when he was very young and on death's door. The old man kept the trio's secret, under the condition they tell him about any interesting adventures they get up to while exploring. With the trio's promise to let him know, the God covered for them and kept the Grand Historians from punishing the three for missing classes and disappearing without a trace. As immortals, they couldn't argue or disprove a God.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Gently tagging: @kuebiko-writing @breath-of-eternity @mxxnlightwriting @ryns-ramblings and @eccaiia (as well as open tag to anyone else who wants to share their writing, let me know if you want to be tagged in future or don't like being tagged xp)
Tagged lines: a line with food, a line with temperature, a line with fear, a funny line and a line with color.
Gently tagging: @stuffaboutwriting , @theunboundwriter , @dogmomwrites , and Open tag~!
Your lines shall be: A line with a drink, a line with light, a line with fire, a funny line, a line with an animal
My lines writing below:
A Line With Food (From: Deja Vu)
“How was shopping?” Jasper gave Zahirir his cup so that the other would get him a refill while he spoke with Keon for a minute.
“We got what we were after. Some snacks for the stockpile in our room.” Though Jasper hadn’t asked, yet, what Keon and Song had gone out for, it was an inevitable question that Keon answered without having to be asked.
“I knew there weren’t any cupcakes in the pantry that day. It all makes sense now.” Jasper leaned back and threw his arms in the air as though he had just come to an epiphany. Even Phin had wondered where those cupcakes came from a few weeks back, though he had apparently not stewed over the information as Jasper apparently had been.
This time, Keon gave an audible laugh. It was quiet, from the chest, but a true Keon laugh nonetheless.
A Line With Temperature (From: Dread Secrets)
Xiang is sitting under an opening in the roof, leaving him unprotected from the cold raindrops falling. Looking up, Xiang notes an orange light illuminating the branches of twisted trees that hang over where the roof would be had it not caved in. Maybe the raindrops are just falling from the branches and leaves overhead.
Xiang determines that it must be early morning since there is a layer of fog or mist clinging to the ground and trailing into the house. Xiang stands, brushing a bit of the dirt off of his clothing and side of his face.
A Line With Fear (From: Dread Secrets)
Xiang hyperventilates, clutching his chest. The smell of smoke, blood, and mud fill his nose and throat. He stumbles backwards from Celesto falling to the ground, his back hitting a wall. Fire suddenly ignites all around and he watches in horror as the Grim Twilight Ivy on the walls envelops him, the last thing he sees is Celesto raising her hand towards him and her gaze locking with his.
A Funny Line (From: Dread Secrets)
Though Xiang doesn’t know for sure, Lorne glances at Scy as though the other man had asked something. “Ah. We’re heading to a little nook of mine I go to sometimes to get away from those old historian geezers. It’s not too much further, we’ll hear what Xiang wanted to say there.”
‘Again with calling the actual Grand Historians old geezers… As if you aren’t not-so-secretly centuries older than any of them,’ Xiang thinks to himself.
After some time, they come to a staircase leading further up with a door that has the bookcase symbol they’d been following carved over it.
A Line With Color (From: Dread Secrets)
A scream echoes out from the cave the wolf guards, causing hairs to rise and even the trees of the surrounding forest to shiver. Those closest to the cave’s entrance freeze despite themselves, citizen and soldier alike regardless of kingdom affiliation.
A body clad in white, gold, and silver flies from the mouth of the cave, crashing harshly across the ground for several meters. His white cape with a flying, golden kestrel flutters to the ground, ripped from its place on his back. The man lies face down in the dirt, body limp and unmoving save for the twitch of the fingers of his right hand.
She is a Beast Folk (specifically A Black-footed Cat). She is 4'8" (142 cm). One of the first Gods to ascend from a mortal soul. Upon her ascension, she grew a second tail and many of her scars healed. The scars on her leg and right side of her body (just under her ribcage) stayed despite being her oldest scars inflicted by a boar hunt in her youth. A turning point in her life when she was finally seen as a respected hunter and gained the attention of The Maker.
Her bow, a gift from her beloved uncle, became gold and her quiver never runs out of golden arrows.
Excerpt of "Ascension of The Hunter":
"Her green eyes brightened to an unnatural shade and her pupils shone white as her paws stepped lightly on the ground of Elorial. Her spine straightened as her body grew lighter; the stiffness of her once old joints became but a distant memory. Two tails dance behind her where only one had been, but it did not feel unnatural. Exalos' arms opened to embrace her and become part of each other. She welcomes the embrace of Exalos, becoming one with the world as no Beast Folk before her had."
Not a lot of words today, but I think that's alright. Still close to 1k. Heading to bed early today rather than not letting myself sleep until reaching close to daily word count~. Sleeping early and getting an earlier start tomorrow will likely bump those numbers up :3
Progress: 2476/51000
Excerpt from today: (ignore grammar/spelling mistakes)
The Ancient of Forests, the true master of the Dread Forest, swivels its head slowly from one side to the other to survey the ruins of the kingdom in its domain. A hollow sigh echoes from its skeletal face as glowing red eyes take in the destruction. The pale, ram-like skull pushes out further from the shadows, large enough to eat a grown man in a single bite if it so pleased. Its twisted horns growing from its skull aid in its appearing more dangerous and threatening, especially being illuminated by the light of the fires before it that contrast harshly with the shadows of the forest that absorb the light hungrily around the creature. Its glowing red eyes piercing the soul of any unlucky enough to be caught in its gaze. The rest of its large body is hidden in those shadows and among the foliage of the treetops.
A low growl, like the creaking of an old tree about to fall, is felt in the bones of everyone present. Despite the chaos all around from the siege, everyone was still as the surrounding trees. Not even daring to take or release a breath in the ancient's presence.
30 words less than the target of 1700 words, but let's fuckin' gooo~! Almost made word goal for the first time in my life~!
Progress: 1670/51000
Excerpt from today: (ignore grammar/spelling mistakes)
"Ansellus Kestrel," a voice echoes out from within the cave, undeniably belonging to a very angry Celesto.
Ansellus whips his head to look behind him, his body following so he now sits on the ground facing the cave's entrance. His brown eyes wide and hair sticking to the sweat on his face giving him a wild look.
Tendrils of dark vines snake out from the entrance of the cave, clinging to the dirt and rock as though trying to suffocate or smother. Flowers, dark purple in colour, bloom from the vines as they grow. Celesto's Grim Twilight Ivy is unmistakable to identify, a bastardized version of the Twilight Ivy that grew peacefully in natural environments. Celesto emerges next, gripping the wall of the cave as she drags her right leg. The fires of her kingdom ablaze illuminate her horrifying sight as she looks over the ruins of the kingdom she'd begun creating from the betrayal of those who'd believed in and loved her.
The cost of her betrayal and subsequent strength and power is as clear to see as her ribs, exposed by the rags of a torn dress that had not been mended but instead tied around her hips by a rope where it had been severed from dress to tattered shirt and skirt. Her clothes are dirty, smeared with blood and caked in dirt. Her feet bare.
Her face is hidden behind a dangerous looking, eight point stag's skull. Mismatched eyes of blue and red that hold anger, hatred, and something else indescribable shine from beneath. Barely concealed burns on the right half of her face, shoulder, and arm are red and raw. Sizzling and bubbling as though they had not been healed to scars several years ago. Other, more fatal, wounds also still bleed regardless of how new or healed they are. Most noticeable is the clean slice across her throat and jagged slash that barely keeps her entrails from spilling out.
Despite how frail, wounded, and weak she should look in such a state, her presence alone is enough to strike fear into anyone unlucky enough to be in it.
In her free hand, she holds one of her weapons, a sixteen centimeter dagger with handles made of four point deer antlers, though she doesn't bother to use it.
Soldiers at the entrance of the cave who'd been fighting the wolf beast are dispatched in the blink of an eye, the vines lashing out to impale or throw their bodies this way and that. She limps her way out of the cave, a thick vine reaching out to her to be snapped from the plant and used as a walking staff to aid her movement. Without the vines, she would be easy to overwhelm and dispatch. But no one is able to get close enough to her, the vines growing out in front of her with every step she takes to lash out and dispatch anyone in her way or attempting to attack from the sides or behind. If those witnessing her hadn't known better, they'd have thought the vines were sentient and not being controlled by Celesto without so much as a flick of her wrist.
-Currently part of the working "prologue" of a new WIP I thought up. This is as far as I'll write for a while while I try focusing on more fleshed out WIPs (primarily Dread Secrets), but I like how this bit turned out. There is no WIP title for this. -
~~~~~~~~Writing Below~~~~~~~
I’ve run for so long, I’m delirious. Every movement as I run feels as though I am being shot by arrows from every direction. The arrows that are real and find my body, pierce deep but somehow give me relief for a few moments from those arrows that are not real. As long as I can run, as long as I can keep moving, they will make it.
They’ll make it. They’ll make it. They’ll make it. They’ll make it.
Everything will be fine as long as they make it. That belief has been the only thing to fuel me during this, third day of not sleeping. Only running. Only fighting. Only stopping for long enough to break the shafts of the arrows that pierce my flesh. If I pull them out, I’ll bleed out. If I bleed out, I won’t be able to give them the time they need to make it. The longer I can go, the better their chances are.
I haven’t been able to easily fold my fingers into fists since yesterday, throwing a punch uses every minute bit of strength my hands have to offer just to curl in their fingers.
My throat threatens to close with every breath, my lungs not wanting to draw another breath despite their need. Each breath burns to inhale or exhale. The difference between sweat and blood that causes my clothes to stick to my skin is no longer discernible. Am I even still able to sweat? When did I last drink something? Perhaps I am drinking the rainwater that drips into my mouth?
I don’t see the root in my path. My ankle I either twisted or broke yesterday is the one that catches the root. At least the mud that fills my mouth and nose is cooling. I feel the arrow in my right forearm sink deeper into my skin as I unconsciously try to use it to break my fall. As does one in my left thigh as it hits a rock head-on.
Once I stop rolling, I cough and try spitting the mud out of my mouth. I lay, face down in the mud, my body trembling and too exhausted to roll over out of the puddle that rinses the mud out of my mouth and nose. At least I landed with my face turned to the side, so I won’t drown yet.
Maybe I’ve done enough. Maybe… maybe I can rest now.
For the first time in three days, I try relaxing my body.
