ddwebb

H - 26: We Are Leaving

It was far from Kaln’s best performance.

He was still slightly rattled by Izayaroa’s casual revelation about Verdi culture and why they should absolutely not have been carrying on as they had been on this trip—and particularly about the fact that she hadn’t so much as mentioned any of this to him b...

H - 25: It's Not Just Him

For once, the soft warmth of Izayaroa cuddling against his side added to Kaln’s discomfort…but also alleviated it, paradoxically. Even when her proximity was a reminder of how carried away they’d gotten, she was a comfort and a pleasure to drape his arm around, one he couldn’t resist even as he resolved to control him...

OVDT - 4.48: In Which the Dark Lord is Struck Down

I hadn’t known this, but Biribo had informed me during one of our recent conversations that most of the time, a person will survive a single lightning strike. Given the very good reason that being struck by lightning is colloquial shorthand for “statistically almost impossible,” I think I can be forgiven for not having ...

Hard reset

This just does not get any less frustrating no matter how many times it happens...

I'm sure everyone has noticed the lack of content for the last week...actually I believe it's been more than a week. Those who are on my discord server and reading my updates will already be aware of how things have been going for me. I...

H - 24: We Have Been Inconsiderate

It took an ironic amount of effort to relax—or at least, to remember how. Kaln had spent a couple of days in wonder and discovery constantly tinged with the need to manage his bizarre new situation under pressures he didn’t fully understand; before that had been a year of toil and deprivation, eking out ...

H - 23: Command It To Be Done

Paradoxically, escaping from the staid avenue outside into the comparatively raucous entertainment district bought them some peace and quiet, just because nobody here was paying attention to the pair of them directly, yet.  With Kaln and Izayaroa on the hook and into their domain, the Nhiyah touts went back to catcalling...

H - 22: You Have Done Well By Us

“Understand that this is not a deflection—I simply feel it appropriate to clarify something first.  I am making it a point of practice…and, I suppose, principle…not to take this opportunity to undercut the others in their absence, which obligates me to give full credit where I deem it deserved.”

He nodded...

H - 21: I Must Insist We Abstain From Any Disembowelment

Just beyond the market area was a semicircular plaza kept clear of stalls, though it was lined by storefronts; streets branched off it in three directions, and its purpose was made obvious by the presence of vehicles, many waiting patiently for use.  Several wagons were being unloaded or loaded by porters carrying goods ...

H - 20: You've Lost This One

Or so Kaln eventually understood; it took him a moment to parse.

He didspeak Filvallin, but only because it was necessary to read it—a scribe of the Royal Archives of Rhivkabat could not fail to be literate in at leastthe three most widely used languages of the continent.  But even aside from hi...

H - 19: Everything is Soon to Change

The kingdoms of the Evervales were small, disorganized, and generally not well-respected.  They were mostly cut off from the other landlocked civilizations that neighbored them, having only maritime trade and travel as, for whatever reason, Atraximos the Dread had preferred to keep his depredations inland and very rarely...

H - 18: I Want This Place Cleaned Up

“This is the central area, as I described.  You see what I mean.”

Kaln came to a stop at the top of the stairs, gesturing across the huge expanse of the lair’s main chamber and looking aside at his companion.  The spectral soldier came to parade rest and nodded once.

They were unnerving to...

H - 17: Simple Problem, Simple Solution

“Well, that’s nothing,” Vadaralshi said minutes later.  “Simple problem, simple solution!”

Kaln had teleported over to join the group and explain his predicament, and also tucked away his meager lunch because no amount of hunger was going to get it down his throat at this point.  The dragons had opte...

H - 16: Don't

“My wife,” Kaln corrected.  “Since you’re surprisingly up to speed for someone who claimed they were too scared to approach the dragons, I assume you know that much.  And I’m not just being pedantic.  She is mine, and also the ruler of my homeland.  I would rather you spoke of h...

H - 15: You Seem to Have Misunderstood

It seemed strange that Kaln’s first and strongest reaction was confusion.

Not that being towered over by an aggressive dragon was not viscerally alarming on a deep, animal level, but even that wasn’t the reaction that most preoccupied his mind.  Maybe it was because he was growing accustomed to dragons, maybe b...

H - 14: It Requires a Dragon

Kaln stepped carefully onto the platform, testing the effect of its soft surface.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad: plenty firm enough to provide good footing, just yielding enough to mitigate injury if one were to fall on it, which was undoubtedly the point.  In Rhivkabat, the guard training areas he’d seen were c...

H - 13: Nobody Gets to Pick Their Own Nickname

She was in her larger form, of course.  Kaln couldn’t yet be sure whether they defaulted to that out of personal preference or lingering habit from the years of Atraximos’s demands.  Regardless, it was the only way he could see her directly, now, as even with the cleared paths between the doorways, the main floo...

H - 12: It's Hard to Argue With Math

She was so soft.

After the hours he’d spent in Izayaroa’s arms, the hardness of her wasn’t a surprise.  She had scales in all the same places, arms and legs and the spiky ridge of them running all the way up her spine.  Plus the claws, and those fangs that kept nicking his lower lip thanks to th...

H - 11: Allow Me to Show You

He very nearly let her get away with it.

It was the posture and bearing; Kaln would have more instinctively controlled himself if confronted by a rampaging monster, but in that moment Emeralaphine was a stern, disappointed librarian—a kind of being with which he was well familiar, and to which he had a deeply-ingraine...

H - 10: I'm a Celestial Maggot

He barely noticed the plaza onto which the door opened, a mirror of that which lay before the front entrance to the lair.  Kaln rushed across it, past the pristine Timekeeper architecture, and grabbed the waist-high Timestone balustrade, leaning out to gape at the vista which opened before him.

The valley was surro...

Still here, still working

I've posted a couple of updates on my discord server, but since the problem is ongoing and not everyone is on it, I wanted to add a quick explanation here.

It's brain problems, as usual.  Doesn't seem too intense, as depressive episodes go; at any rate, I'm not suffering terribly from the residual problems that alw...

D - 0 - 10

“Without teachers, it turns out a school isn’t much of anything,” Tzi murmured, slowly leafing through the pages of her Grimoire to read about the new spells she’d just acquired.

“On the contrary, master!” the Grimoire replied.  “We have already gained new spells, which was the entire point of this en...

D - 0 - 9

Tzi and Scio stood rigidly still under the collective stares as if paralyzed for several seconds before the shock wore off enough that they could move, at which point Scio pressed herself against Tzi's leg, flattening her ears back against her skull.  Tightening her grip on her wand, Tzi resisted the impulse to raise it,...

D - 0 - 8

Tzi and Scio both screamed, stumbling backward, and once again she lost Sunbeam; the spell required constant focus to maintain, which was the reason she didn't prefer using it for light.

“Master?”  The Grimoire's voice was slightly muffled; Scio had seized and clung to Tzi from behind, pinning it in its pouch w...

D - 0 - 7

Her pensive frame of mind continued all the way back up the trail out of the forest, though at least it didn't become a psy-draining dark mood.  The more times she walked up and down this particular stretch of path without encountering any danger, the more Tzi could appreciate it.  The forest truly was beau...

D - 0 - 6

“That was quite instructive,” Tzi's Grimoire commented as she headed up the path toward the inn, Kino and her family having gone back down the other branch in the direction from which they'd come.  Which, apparently, was south.

“I noticed you kept quiet in front of them,” Tzi replied.

“It seemed wis...

D - 0 - 5

One of the first things Tzi decided to do when she was able to have conversations with Mirbals was figure out what kind of diurnal rhythm they had.  It was disorienting, waking up and not knowing what time of day it was, or whether “day” was even a thing; the light shifted in color and intensity depending on the posi...

D - 0 - 4

“Well, the fourth path has to be this,” Tzi said aloud, standing in the middle of the crossroads some minutes later.  While she'd been inside the inn, the sky had shifted, and the titanic blue planet now filled most of it, rings and all.  The overall level of light seemed brighter, and bluer—but not by much in...

December status report

As laid out in my previous update post, I'm in the midst of a big experiment seeking to reconcile my need to put out content with my ongoing mental health struggles.  This post is to bring everybody up to speed on my discoveries halfway through, and to solicit some feedback.

The short version is my results have bee...

D - 0 - 3

The door opened onto a scene of such refreshing normality that for just a moment, Tzi wanted to cry.  She repressed that impulse, instead stepping inside and shutting the heavy door on the whole insane world outside.

A cozy fire blazed merrily away in a large stone hearth, casting warm light and a comforting crackl...

H - 9: I Thought You Might Appreciate This

Food was going to become an issue.

The dragons had drifted off to their own inscrutable business after a luxurious bath and two surprisingly affectionate farewells.  Well, not so surprising in Izayaroa’s case, not after last night, but Tiavathyris also kept making her interest clear, culminating in warm, lingerin...