Her Special Day

Writing share tag

Thanks for the tag, @aalinaaaaaa !

(I haven't been getting much original writing done lately for reasons... this is a small snippet of a story I come back to every so often whenever inspiration strikes)

Warnings for: mild self harm and withdrawal.

Withdrawal

Scraping his nails against the cobblestones, 408 looked down at the pouch around his neck. The blood in his veins was like fire, burning his reason and making his will falter. He just needed to hold out for another couple of hours, just until the sun set. Looking up at the blinding light, 408 cursed the spirits, longing for time to start moving again. Illusions flickered past his vision, and spikes of pain stabbed his heart with every half breath that he took. The last thing he wanted was to go mad, but he would tow that line as closely as he needed to if it meant that he could feel something again.

The pouch around his neck weighed like lead against his skin, silently offering a cool release from the pain. He’d told himself that he would wait until this evening, but the temptation seemed to double with every second that passed. His fingers began to reach for the bag without his mind’s permission. One of the pills was pressed to his lips by the time he realized what he was doing. 408 slammed his hands to the ground more forcefully than the last time, digging his fingers further into the stone until he drew blood. He’d set out to change his fate, and he wouldn’t accomplish anything by backing down now.

No pressure tagging @renasdoodles @kuebiko-writing @wyked-ao3 @creatrackers @somethingclevermahogony , @laisley-writes +Open Tag

The most frustrating experience as a writer is having a clear vision in your mind of the story you want to tell but being too afraid to put pen to paper for fear of failing to do the story justice. I’m so scared that my actual execution will fail to meet my expectations that I’m paralysed to even start.

Tell yourself the story

Don’t worry too much about over-describing in your first draft. Your first draft is all about the discovery, and you never know what elements will be relevant later.

Tell yourself the story, and worry about trimming the fat later, when you start your first edit.

Attack of the dead men 

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Note: Given the prompt, it didn’t feel right spin things into a story completely of my own, so I decided instead to summarize a story that has firmly embedded itself into the back of my mind. I became aware of this story because someone showed me the song ‘Attack of the Dead Men’ by SABATON. While gruesome in nature, it presented me with pestering question of how people can drive themselves past impossible limitations while unprepared in the face of death. 

Warnings!!!: Discussion of warfare including the deployment and descriptive effects of weaponized Chlorine/Bromine Gas. 

Chlorine and bromine. While still dangerous, these chemicals have proven to be significanly useful tools for disinfection among other things. The result of their combination in a gasious form though? A toxic cloud that can devistate both humans and the environment, corroding tools and nature with almost instantanous effect.  What then of the human body? How might it react with living cells?

 For the 800 men guarding the Osowiec Fortress in 1915 without the protection of gas masks, those effects were almost completely fatal. Of the entire garrison only 100 soldiers survived due to their distance from the gas batteries. As the gas gradually dissipated and reinforcements arrived, the burned and dying survivors crawled up from their trenches like the living dead to attack the charging enemy. While coughing up their own lungs even as their organs were slowly being desolved by the resulting hydrochloric acid formed from the moister in their lungs and the chlorine gas, they stumbled towards the attackers without hesitation. The sight of their horrific forms was enough to cause bedlam in their enemies ranks, and paired with a concentrated artillery strike form the reinforcements, the soldiers were able to temporarily secure the garrison in the face of overwhelming odds. The victory was short lived however as the reinforcements were later forced to retreat from the garrison at a later date. It is a haunting story from a haunting time that can leave one to ponder the limits that the human will can force a broken body to ignore. 

Termination

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Lan decides to make a move after learning that his deal with the council has been voided.

Warnings: Violence and death

“I heard an interesting rumor.”

Ripples cascaded across the wine soaked floor as council members looked up from their drunken revilry.

“It was such a silly little thing, but I knew that it was the perfect tale to end things on.” Water droplets danced around Lan as he took another step forward, once more disrupting the wine underfoot. “Besides, I just know you’d be interested to hear it.”

Several of the more grounded members began to stir, reaching for their stupid little bells with shouts of panic that only grew more desperate as the metal melted into puddles of burning liquid.

“Oh… Not interested then?” Streams of water began running from the ceiling, twisting together to form thin serpentine constructs.  “I guess there really isn’t a need to go over things.”

The serpents began to slither down the large pillars of the hall, quickly gliding towards their prey. Lan continued to advance, walking just slowly enough for his constructs to begin feasting. The council desperately struggled, arms harmlessly passing through the serpents' bodies, only serving to further entangle them. It was a wasted effort. Their fates had already been set in stone the moment they broke their word.

“Such a pity, Rue would have enjoyed this.” But the love birds would be busy, wouldn’t they? 

Half smiling, Lan stepped onto the platform, reaching out to one of the feasting serpents. It raised it’s head and quickly abandoned the others to gently offer up a gilded skulls it had collected. Blinking in surprise at the already smooth surface, Lan couldn’t hold back a chuckled. Even for pigs, their hides had been softer than he expected. 

Which character has the most symbolism surrounding them?

Thank you for the ask! Sorry, I'm so late with the response. This week has been something else 😅

Honestly, I might have to say that MA fits that bill the best. Without giving too much away, her story is mainly rooted in the idea of innocence vs. The worst of human depravity.

There's more to it, but it's hard for me to properly explain without giving away a plot point that I'm still debating on.

She is the heart and soul of the main group of misfits, and to slight her is to make an enemy of them all.

Hope that you had a good Christmas!

4. What was your favorite line that you wrote this year?

Thank you for the ask <3

Admittedly, I have a few candidates for this one, and here's one of them (it comes from the start of A Pawn for a Greater Cause)

"You're but a glorified guard to her, a pretty knife at her disposal. Have you ever dreamt of freedom?"

— Unnamed Helindian minister

Who is your favorite side character in your wip Bloodmage? What's one thing that character hates?

Thanks for the question!

That's a tough one. I have mainly focused on developing my main cast. Of the side characters that I have done more work on, though, one comes to mind more than the others.

Alasdair the King's right hand.

He's a half elf who was chosen as the king of the Fairies Bodyguard. He is a skilled fighter and considered the most dangerous of all fairies in combat despite his heritage. Due to his mixed blood, he is far bulkier than traditional elves, giving him an edge in pure strength.

There is a council of criptids that govern their groups and hold annual meetings to coordinate grievances and trade deals. During a heated argument, the king of the fairies picked a fight with the Representative for the blood mages Luis. During the insuing fight, Luis ripped Aladair's wings off and destroyed his left arm.

Even with this handicap he is still considered the most fit to be the bodyguard of the King, a fact that Luis uses to taunt the proud race when he gets irritated by them during the meetings.

Aladair dislikes Luis for the shame that he brought on the fairies, but he respects the bloodmage's strength. He hates himself for failing to protect his king's honor and is actively training other warriors to take his place.

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt

A Bad Time to Remember the Past

I wasn't planning on putting this guys perspective up yet, but it seemed to fit for the prompt, so I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Discriptions of medical procedures, violence, blood, burning skin, laceration, and dismemberment.

@wyked-ao3 (a bit more on the villain of my story. He now has a proper name! Albrecht)

Glossary:

(In case you are curious about any of the terms in the medical procedure)

Topical Benzocaine: a gel spread on skin to numb before injections.

Articaine: a type of numbing agent injected locally in tissue to numb an area.

Epinephrine: used in local anesthesia to increase the duration of numbness by constricting blood vessels in the area and preventing the local anesthesia from being absorbed by the blood stream as quickly.

Buccal: the gum tissue covering the outer side of teeth.

Palatal: tissue over the top of the mouth on the inner side of the teeth.

Maxila: upper jaw

Nerve block: an injection that targets higher on a nerve branch to numb more tissue at once.

Infiltrations: injections that target a specific area and numbs the nerves directly adjacent to the injection by targeting the approximate location.

Now, back to the story.

Topical benzocaine followed a minute after by 2 carpules of Articaine HCI 4% 1:100,000 epi. Infiltrations for the buccal and a nerve block for the palatal side of the right maxila. Within minutes he’d watched as the surgeon took out a scalpel and carefully cut gum tissue down to the bone and gently peeled it back as the patient lay, mouth open, not even flinching. Then the drill had come, and with a whir of mechanical power, the bone was carefully bored down to expose the gaping sinus.

Of all the things that Albrecht had been forced to observe in his mandatory job placement hours, this was the one that really stood out to him. It was fascinating what a little chemical compound could do to dull the senses. He’d even been able to hold a mundane conversation with the man about his line of work while the surgeon scurried off to attend some other matters.

Another wave of explosions rocked by him. Albrecht’s head screamed in pain as that long forgotten memory snapped back into the recesses of his mind where it belonged. With both armies cowering in the darkness, he should have been on the cusp of his victory, the whole world bathed in beautiful darkness by his machines. Yet here he stood, recalling the memories of a child, a fool who didn’t understand the meaning of his own destiny.

Looking about him in confusion Albrecht’s teeth gnashed at the husks of his elite soldiers, boiled in their own skin at the shine of an artificial sun. Ever calculating, he could already see that what remained of his force wouldn’t last long after such a devastating attack. Ten blasted years of preparation… all for something like this? The fangs under his mask ached as he fought for control of his raging mind. His careful planning should have seen him to the end, in the way that it always had.

The power coursing through his veins spiked as the pieces of his strength once gifted to his thralls all began to converge back into him in a wave of sickening pressure. The feeling blinded him, and for the first time in his long life, Major Albrecht lost his ever firm grip on reason. Head snapping towards the source of his misfortune, he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.

Using his powers, the Major smoothly dropped into the shadows and quickly traveled in their protection until he came upon the small vehicle, still driving away at a speed far beyond its natural means. There were four, no five of them, as far as he could tell, but it made no difference. They would all be dead soon enough.

With an enraged roar, Albrecht materialized in the shadow of the car and dug his teeth into the little warlock at greatest fault for this downfall. The man yelped in pain and raised one hand to secure the hat on his head before using another to push Albrecht away so he could stop the bleeding. He had no intention of letting him live.

A glimmer of something shiny peaked out from underneath, but he had little time to dwell on it as a stake was driven almost into his heart. Whirling around on the would-be attacker, the Major sunk his claws deep into their forearm, tearing through it with a growl of surprise at the strangely wooden texture. He grinned in satisfaction as a sharp hiss of pain rang out from whatever the thing was. It still felt pain, so even if it wasn’t human, he could still break it.

Half drunk on this strange ecstasy, he almost missed the smell of steel. His mind suddenly flared with a sense of danger, and he pulled away as a shot rang out, hitting the side of his helmet and exposing part of his face to the blasted false sun.

Like a bucket of boiling water, the pain brought him back into focus, and Albrecht immediately retreated into the shadows, taking the limb he’d managed to sever with him. With his armor damaged even this much, he wasn’t fool enough to risk an end to his plans even with his spiked blood lust.

Note: The procedure mentioned at the beginning of the chapter is for a sinus lift to increase the bone level enough to place a dental implant.

Poem Writing challenge

Thanks for tag @renasdoodles

I don't write poetry much, but this was fun! Thanks for sharing the prompt.

Waiting

Staring at a wall of clocks,

He timed the tics, counted the tocs.

He waited in her favorite chair,

Sitting with a quiet stare.

Till suddenly with grave despair,

He saw her spirit floating there.

It smiled in a simple way,

As her visage faded into grey.

Staring at a wall of clocks,

He couldn't hear their muffled knocks.

He stood up from her favorite chair,

Left with nothing but despair.

Tagging @kuebiko-writing @davycoquette @flurrysahin +open tag

(if you would like to be removed from the tag list, please let me know!)